YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE LIBRARY OF THE
DIVINITY SCHOOL

THE PAULINE EPISTLES

PRINTED BV
MOKRI.SON AND GIBB LIMITED,
FOK
T & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH.
LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO. LIMITFP.
NEW VORK : CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.

The Rights of Translation and of Reproduction are Reserved.

THE
PAULINE EPISTLES
INTROD UCTOR Y
AND EXPOSITORY STUDIES

R. D. SHAW. D.D.

EDINBURGH

SECOND EDITION

EDINBURGH
& T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET
1904

PREFACE.

Two of the leading literary critics of the past genera
tion expressed very different views of St. Paul. Kenan
thought that his day was over, and his influence spent at
the Information. Matthew Arnold declared that his day
had not yet come, that tlie true Paul sleeps, but that one
da)r theie will be a resurrection, when his meaning will be
apprehended, and happier generations will consent and
applaud. Both critics, I venture to think, were wrong:
Penan palpably so, as a matter of history ; Arnold scarcely
less so, as a matter of interpretation. One thing is certain,
apart from the Gospels, there are no portions of Scripture
more clearly recognised to-day as of vital importance to
Christian Theology than the Pauline writings, none more
engrossingly occupying the study of Christian scholars,
none more influential and authoritative in the faith and
life of the Christian people.
The purpose of the present book, as the sub-title
indicates, is twofold — critical and historical. It en
deavours to discuss the leading questions of literary
criticism raised in connection with the Epistles, and at the
same time to exhibit the historical setting of each Epistle
and its characteristic message.
It can no longer be said that there are any of the
Pauline Epistles free from the attacks and suspicions of
criticism. Time was when those to the Galatians,
Corinthians, and Romans, stood clear and undoubted.
The Tiibingen school, in all its various modifications,
always accepted them and worked from them. Within
recent years, however, the question has been vigorously

PREFACE vii
raised whether the same principles which led to doubt in
the ease of the other Epistles, should not also have a
similar issue in the case of the favoured four. This is the
contention of the Dutch school. Professor Van Manen,
its most distinguished exponent, has recently set forth his
leading ideas in the pages of the ETicyclopcedia Biblica, and
in the following Studies an attempt is made to review his
position. The Captivity Epistles are of course an old
battlefield, and the main questions of criticism have to be
faced in taking up especially the Epistle to the Ephesians.
The Pastoral Epistles, in the opinion of many recent
writers, are also losing ground, and perhaps no better
introduction to the study of modern methods of criticism
could be found, than to fix attention on what has of late
years been published with regard to these Epistles. It
seems to be increasingly believed either that they are
entirely pseudonymous, or that, if there be any parts of
them genuine, these are so riddled and shattered by
interpolation and other literary handling as to be almost
beyond recognition. Weizsacker passes them over ; Sabatier
reluctantly drops them ; Beyschlag, McGiffert, and Moffatt
do the same. To prove them Paul's to demonstration may
not be possible. But that negative criticism, in taking up
the burden of proof, has come to a triumphant conclusion,
is, I believe, far from being the true state of the case.
The predominant aim of the Studies, however, is to
deal with the Epistles in the historical spirit : that is, to
set them as vividly as possible in their original environ
ment, to show their relation to the life of the man who
wrote them, and also to the needs and circumstances of the
readers to whom they were addressed. This, if it can be
accomplished with any measure of success, is undoubtedly
one of the most helpful services that can in these days be
rendered to students of the Books of Scripture.
The field of Pauline study is so large that it might well
absorb the leisure of a lifetime. The writings themselves
are many-sided and profound, the literature that has
gathered round them is voluminous, and the questions
raised are often those that penetrate to the very essence of

vm PREFAt E
the faith. It is impossible within reasonable limits to
deal with every issue, or to meet every new opinion,
weighty or otherwise, but an attempt has been made to
render the survey as complete as possible ; and a sufficient
end will perhaps be gained if these pages are felt to afford
some guidance in the fascinating and often difficult study
of these important Letters, and to aid in the elucidation of
their teaching.
In discussing the Organisation of the early Church
(Ephesians and Pastorals), I regret that I was unable to
make use of Principal Lindsay's valuable work on The
Church and the Ministry in the Early Centuries, especially
as it adds all the weight of his scholarship to the
view regarding the origin of the episcopate which was
commonly held previous to Hatch and Harnack, and
which I have endeavoured to support. His book appeared
when my manuscript was already in the printer's hands.
To my friends, the Rev. Professor Oer, D.D., Glasgow,
and the Rev. D. W. Forrest, D.D., Skelmorlie, I desire to
express my sincere gratitude for their great kindness in
reading the proofs, and for many valuable suggestions
while the book was passing through the press.
R D. S.
Edinburgh, February, 1903.

CONTENTS.

Introduction

PAGE 1

I. THE THESSALONIAN EPISTLES.
1. I. Thessalonians .....
2. II. Thessalonians .....

19
35

II. THE FOUR GREAT EPISTLES.
1. Galatians ........ 63
I. The Dutch School and the Four Great Epistles . 63
II. Destination and Occasion of Galatians . . .84
III. Argument of the Epistle . . . .106
2. I. Corinthians ....... 127
3. II. Corinthians . — . - r~ ." . . . 149
4. Romans ........ 163
I. The Historical Setting . ... 163
1. Pagan Rome ...... 163
2. Jews and Christians in Rome .... 183
II. The Epistle ....... 205
1. The Gospel of Salvation (i. -viii.) . . 205
(A) The Need of Salvation (i. -iii. 20) . . 208
(B) Its Reception (Justification by Faith, iii. 21-v.) 222
(C) Its Completion (Sanctification, vi.-viii.) . 231
2. Historical Relation of the Gospel to Mankind, especially
to the Jews (ix.-xi.) . .... 248
3. Application to Christian Life; and Conclusion (xii. -xvi.) 263

III. THE CAPTIVITY EPISTLES.
1. Colossians ......
2. Philemon ......
I. The Epistle and its Purpose .
II. Slavery in Ancient and Modern Times
III. Causes of the Mitigation and Abolition of Slavery
IV. Slavery and the Bible

273297 297305
313 322

CONTEXTS

3. Ephesians .
I. Ephesus and the Epistle
II. Authenticity of tho Epistle
III. Its Destination
IV. Its Distinctive Message
4. Philippians .

I'Ati K
331
331341
369
379 401

IV. THE PASTORAL EPISTLES.
I. The Epistles and Criticism
II. Authenticity of the Epistles
(A) Liter.iry Characteristics
(B) Historical Objections, connected with
1. Paul's Personal History
2. Development of Doctrine
3. The Ecclesiastical Situation
III. Pseudonymity and Interpolation
IV. Message of the Pastorals
Conclusion .
Index: (I.) Subjects and Contents
(II.) References and Authorities

125
435435
4444)4448 457 177
487
489499
504

SCHEMES OF CHRONOLOGY AND ORDER OF THE EPISTLES.

Paul's Conversion

Turner.*

Harnack.2

Zab.n.3

Ramsay. 4

Clemen.5

Lightfoot.^

MeGLTerU

Moffatt.s

29
35-36

30 (29)
30

3035

3033

37

[30] 34

c. 30
31 (32)
34 (35)
Date of Council

c. 30 (31)

First Visit to Jerusalem
Second Visit :

3846

33
[44]

3844

35-36 46

40

37 45

34

First Missionary Journey

47

45

50

47

40-45

48

Before 45

To 48

Council, and Second Journey
Corinth reached, late in

4950

47 (46)
49

5252

5051

f Jour. 45-50 1
t Conn. 54 j
47

5152

( Jour. c. 46 1
( Coun.45 or46)

49 50

/. Thessalonians

II. TJiessalonians
Fourth Visit ; Third Journey
52
50
54
53
52
54
Jour. 49
52
Galatians (eve of starting)
Ephesus left 
55
53 (52)
57
56
54
57
52
55
/. Corinthians (before leaving)
11. Corinthians (shortly after leaving)
Romans (during Winter in Corinth)
Fifth Visit : Arrest at Pentecost .
56
54 (53)
58
57
58
58
53
56
Rome reached, early in
Colossians
59
57 (56)
61
60
61
61
50
59
Philemon
Ephesians
Philippians
Acts closes, early in
61
59
63
62
63
/. Timothy
Titus
II. Timothy
Peter's Martyrdom ...
64-65
64
64
80
64
64
Paul's Martyrdom
64-65
64
66-67
65
64
67
58
1 Art. on Chronology of the N.T., Hastings' Diet, of the Bible, i. 416 sqq.
zGesch. der altchnst. Litteratur, Zweiter Theil, Die Chronologie, i. 233-244
and 717-718. s
3 JSinleitung, ii. 640-642.
4 St. Paul ike Traveller and the Roman Citizen, pp. 395-396.
5 Die Chronologie der paulinischen Briefe, pp. 285-286.
0 Biblical Essays, pp. 221 sqq.
' Apostolic Age, p. 680.
8 Historical New Testament, pp. 123 sqq., with many valuable tables and
references.
INTRODUCTION.

Tracts for the times, they are tracts for all times. Children of the
lleeting moment, they contain truths of infinite moment. They compress
more ideas in fewer words than any other writings, human or divine,
excepting tho Gospels. They discuss tho highest themes which can
challenge an immortal mind. . . . And all this before humble little societies
of poor, uncultured artisans, freedmen and slaves ! And yet they are of more
real and general value to the church than all tho systems of theology from
Origen to Schleicrmaeher — yea, than all the confessions of faith. For
eighteen hundred years they have nourished the faith of Christendom, and
will continue to do so till the end of time. This is the best evidence of
their divine inspiration.— Schaff.

THE PAULINE EPISTLES.

INTRODUCTION.
No fewer than twenty-one of the twenty-seven books of
the New Testament are in the form of letters. Among
these the writings attributed to St. Paul will always
occupy a foremost place, both on account of their intrinsic
value, and because of the extraordinary influence they have
exerted on the history of the Christian religion. The
Epistles that bear his name are fourteen in number ; and,
with one exception, they may all fairly, though with very
various degrees of certainty, be accepted as his. The
exception is the Epistle to the Hebrews, whose authorship
it seems impossible to determine.
The New Testament arrangement of the thirteen
Pauline Epistles x is unfortunate, for it appears to be
destitute of any real significance. It evidently proceeded
on tbe artificial principle that guided the arrangement of
the prophecies of the Old Testament, that the longest
should come first. Perhaps some consideration was also
given to the presumed importance of the parties to whom

1 The distinction so interestingly elaborated by Deissmann in his Bible
Studies between true letters (i.e. intimate personal communications in a
written in lieu of a spoken form) and literary letters or epistles (i.e. com
positions intended for publication, and framed in the letter style simply as
a convenient literary eidos), is no doubt real, and of considerable importance
for purposes of criticism. All the Paulines are "letters" in the strictly
technical sense (though Deissmann would except the Pastorals). Yet in
common usage with regard to the apostolic writings the words "letters " and
"epistles" are practically interchangeable, and there need be no misunder
standing in continuing to speak of the Pauline Epistles.
3

4 INTRODUCTION
the letters were addressed. But clearly the best order in
which to study them is the historical. We can never
understand them unless we pay respect to tho circum
stances out of which they sprang.
Happily the Epistles may be naturally arranged into
four well - defined chronological groups, regarding which
scholars are in pretty general harmony.
1. It is impossible to fix the date of the Apostle's birth,
though we cannot be wrong in regarding him as a slightly
younger contemporary of the Lord Jesus. It is certain
that his conversion on the way to Damascus took place
within but a few years of the Crucifixion,1 say in 34 A.P.,
when he would be about thirty years of age. A few years
more and he was launched on his great career, which lasted
for fully other thirty years. It is not at first, however,
that we have any writings bearing his name. If any ever
existed dating from an early period of his ministry, they
have not been preserved to the Church.2 No less than
fifteen years, about half of the whole period of his evan
gelical activity, pass away. The early labours in Antioch
are over, and the First Missionary Journey is over. It is
not till the close of the Second Journey, which led him
through Asia Minor and Macedonia to Greece, that we
have the first two of the preserved Epistles, and, indeed,
most probably the earliest writings of the New Testament,
the Epistles to the Thessalonians. These form the first
group, and are to be dated about the year 50 or 51 A.D.
2. After an interval of a few years, we have the second
group, consisting of the four "great" Epistles — those to
the Galatians, Corinthians, and Eomans. They belong to
the Third Missionary Journey, and range between the years
52-56 a.d.
3. Once more we have a period of about four or five

' Hausrath and Harnack allow one year's interval, Keim and Volkmar
less than two years, Ramsay three, Lightfoot four, Renan four or five /aim
five, and Turner between six and seven.
2 On the probability of lost epistles, cf. Jowett, Thessalonians, etc., i.
104 (ed. 1894) ; Weiss, N.T. Introduction, i. § 16, 2 ; Lightfoot, Philippians,
pp. 138 sqq.

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF THE EPISTLES 5
years' literary silence, bringing us to the period of the
Eoman captivity, 59-61 a.d. During the comparative
liberty of his confinement in his own hired lodging, the
Apostle wrote other four of the Epistles now in our posses
sion, the third group, Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians, and
Philippians. 4. We have considerable reason for believing that at
the close of two years Paul was set free from captivity in
Eome. We infer that he returned with renewed energy to
his cherished labours. He is probably to be followed east
ward to Macedonia, Asia Minor, and Crete, then westward
to Spain and possibly to Gaul, and finally back again to
the Churches and missions of the East. A period of three
or four years would be occupied in these journeys. Then
we have the fourth and last group of his writings, in
64-65 a.d., the three Pastoral Epistles: the First to
Timothy, written probably from Macedonia ; the Epistle
to Titus, most likely from Corinth ; and the Second to
Timothy, from the malefactor's cell in Eome, on the eve of
hurrying martyrdom, when the dusty Ostian Way became
his Via Dolorosa, and the little hollow among the blue
Italian hills the scene of his exodus " to be with Christ."
During this period of fifteen years it is obvious there
is room for development, and it is quite natural to en
deavour to trace the progress and expansion of the Apostle's
thought through his Epistles. It is important, however, to
bear in mind the late stage in Paul's history at which his
writings appear. His letters are but a fragment, and not a
complete record of his Christian experience. Much had
taken place before they were written. The three quiet,
critical, formative ' years ' in Arabia, which doubtless saw
the deep-laid foundations of his convictions regarding the
Eedeemer, were long past. Friendly visits to the leaders
of the Church at Jerusalem had taken place ; controversies,
too, had been keenly engaged in. Peter had been with
stood and persuaded at Antioch, and the Council of Jeru
salem had favourably uttered its voice on the crucial
question of the relations between Jewish and Gentile
Christians. Paul, moreover, had been busily employed in

6 INTRODUCTION
the clarifying process of preaching and expounding his
views for many years and in many lands — in Syria, in
Cyprus, in Asia Minor, and in Macedonia, So that now,
in his forty-fifth year, we may believe he had well beaten
out his music, had reached clear conceptions of Divine
truth, and understood as perfectly the great saving doctrines
which it was his delight to preach, as ever he did in the
remaining years of his life.
In point of fact, while it would be absurd to preclude
all possibility of change in Paul's religious opinions, the
development which manifests itself in the sequence of his
Epistles is rather in the mode of presenting the gospel
than in its essential conceptions. It is what has been
properly called an historical development. Even when we
perceive what we call advance, we need not mistake for a
new building what is only the rising heavenward of the
old. Natural growth and radical change are two very
different things. It is only what we should expect if we
come to trace the lines of the former in the writings of the
Apostle. " A mind like his," says Hort, " in constant living
contact with truth, needing and receiving fresh enlighten
ment from day to day, for dealing with new and changing
needs of the Churches, must assuredly have known growth.
New experience must have brought new light, giving com
paratively clear vision of truths hitherto imperfectly grasped
or even overlooked altogether, and often changing the
relative importance of truths already familiar. And, sup
posing such a growth to have arisen, it would be strange
if it left no traces in the extant Epistles of different dates.
The supposition does no injury to their authority as books
of Scripture ; it only helps to wean us from the delusively
and unreally simple habit of using them as detached oracles,
and helps us to understand better the manifoldness of truth
through their manifold adaptation in respect of time and
place and circumstance."1
The absence in curlier Epistles, therefore, of thoughts
which are prominent later, must not lead us to suppose
1 Prolegomena io Romans and Ejihesiaru, pp. 123-121.

DEVELOPMENT IN THE EPISTLES 7
that such thoughts could not have been present to Paul's
mind at the earlier stage, but simply that the circumstances
of the earlier Epistles did not call them forth. In other
circumstances he had not only to express his characteristic
conceptions of Christian truth, but to defend them, setting
them forth in forms crystallised by long spiritual experience,
or determined by the nature of the opposition they were
likely to meet. Thus the formulation of doctrine to check
the advances of Judaic antagonists was not needed in writing
immediately to the young converts in Thessalonica, but was
demanded a few years later, with all the force and dialectic
skill the Apostle could command, when he was called on
to address the Churches of Galatia, Corinth, and Eome.
Similarly, later still, the incipient heresies of a theosophic
and Oriental type, which crept into the Churches of the
Lycus valley, mystifying and deluding the faithful, and
derogating from the supremacy of Christ, led to a new cast
of thought, a new revolving of the flashing lights of faith,
fresh utterances for fresh needs ; and such we find in the
Epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians. Last of all,
when the end was drawing nigh, when others who should
take up the great work had to be thought of and selected,
when the Churches were developing an organised life, and
required guidance for the days to come, we have the last
three Epistles, with their earnest counsels, their wise direc
tions both for pastors and people, addressed to the trusted
friends and associates who were to be left behind.
Like all true letters, those of St. Paul were occasional
in their origin. He did not compose them as studies in
theology, or as treatises on Christian doctrine which he
desired to give to the world ; even the Epistle to the
Eomans is only an apparent, not a real, exception.1 Events
of moment to him and his converts called them into

1 The modern "radical" school, however, — conveniently called the
Dutch, from the nationality of its leading exponents, — takes a diametrically
opposite view with regard to Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians, namely,
that they are "epistles" in the strict sense, books or treatises, intended as
standards for doctrine and morals. See later, on The Dutch School and the
Four Great Epistles, pp. 71 and 72-74.

8 INTRODUCTION
being. He was appealed to on some point of faith or
conduct, and he replied. Or, he heard good news, or
received tokens of affection, and he wrote to express bis
joy, to encourage, and to exhort. Again, he heard of the
presence of teachers who calumniated him, denied his
authority, and undermined the faith of his followers. This
drew forth his bold definitions of doctrine, his impassioned
defences of the gospel, and his no less impassioned apologies
for his own life.
These things naturally affected the style in which the
Epistles were composed. There never was a writer whose
style more clearly reflected the mood and purpose of the
hour. It completely reveals the man, and its rapid changes
are just the lights and shadows flitting over his face. It
indicates the pulses of his feeling, shows him quivering
with nervous excitement and anxiety, or flashing with in
dignation, jubilant with Christian triumph, or calm with
the hidden depths of Christian peace. It is not polished
or careful as to form, rather the reverse ; it not seldom
labours under the burden of the thought, becomes involved,
digresses, goes off at a word, draws clause out of clause in
telescopic fashion, as one new idea suggests another, until
the main purpose is almost forgotten, and there is either a
violent turn to recover it, or an abrupt conclusion and a
new start altogether. Sometimes the Apostle seems verily
to wrestle with words, struggling to express some great idea
that almost passes knowledge. In this respect he has been
compared with two very different men — Thucydides and
Cromwell : " In all three there is a disproportion between
thought and language, the thought straining the language
till it cracks in the process — a shipwreck of grammar and
logic, as the sentences are whirled through the author's
mind — a growth of words and thoughts out of and into
each other, often to tlie utter entanglement of the argument
which is framed out of them." ' Paul was also fond ol
expressing the most spiritual conceptions in poetic and con
crete symbols; delighted, like a true Hebrew, in elaborate
1 Stanley on Corinthians, p. viii.

STYLE OF THE EPISTLES 9
parallelisms and antitheses; loved to startle his readers
with a paradox, or to confound his opponents with a
dilemma. A born debater, he frequently uses the quick
thrust of short, sharp sentences, the rapid fire of triumphant
interrogation; spiritually -minded, he rejoices to wind up
a paragraph with an outburst of praise or prayer; and a
child of feeling, he sometimes suffers the depression of the
moment to display itself in passages that are sombre and
heavy, without lilt or gleam. Such characteristics vary in
the different Epistles. Sometimes he wrote in peace and
gladness, at other times under the keenest tension, when
his thoughts were fire and his words were battles. Much
depended on the conditions to which he addressed himself.
He was affected by these in the highest degree, and no
style was ever less trammelled and stereotyped. Hence, in
studying the Epistles, it is necessary to be guarded against
basing too much on mere arguments from style. We have
to do with a genius so sensitive and versatile, that nice
balancing of probabilities of authorship, and narrowing and
fixing of dates, must never be made to depend too ex
clusively on our conceptions of what might or might not
have been its product.1

1 The following passage on Paul's style, from the pen of Dean Alford
(Edinburgh Review, Jan. -April 1853, p. 112), may be quoted : — "There [in
Corinth] commenced that invaluable series of letters in which, while every
matter relating to the faith is determined once for all with demonstration of
the spirit and power, and every circumstance requiring counsel at the time,
so handled as to furnish precepts for all time, the whole heart of this wonder
ful man is poured out and laid open. Sometimes he pleads, and reminds,
and conjures, in the most earnest strain of fatherly love : sometimes play
fully rallies his converts on their vanities and infirmities : sometimes, with
deep and bitter irony, concedes that he may refute, and praises where he
means to blame. The course of the mountain torrent is not more majestic
nor varied. We have the deep still pool, the often returning eddies, the
intervals of calm and steady advance, the plunging and foaming rapids, and
the thunder of the headlong cataract. By turns fervid and calm, argu
mentative and impassioned, he wields familiarly and irresistibly the varied
weapons of which Providence has taught him the use. With the Jew he
reasons by Scripture citation, with the Gentile by natural analogies : with
both, by the testimony of conscience to the justice and holiness of God.
Were not the Epistles of Paul among the most eminent of inspired writings,
they would long ago have been ranked as the most wonderful of uninspired. "

10 INTRODUCTION

ie

It is unlikely that the Apostle wrote any of tl
Epistles we possess entirely with his own hand. He
made his mark or sign in them; as he says in doing so,
" In every Epistle so 1 write " ; but he seems usually to
have dictated his message to a friend or amanuensis. This
also left traces on the style. We feel we are all the time
listening to a s/>rnlrr — one whom we may imagine walking
up and down his room, while the pen of the shorthand
writer flies swiftly over tho parchment to keep pace with
the utterance. All the Epistles have this air of being
spoken, reported, and passed on without much revisal.
Hence the broken sentences, the occasional obscurity, tho
natural digressions, as well as the freedom and buoyancy,
by which they are so much distinguished.
We could scarcely have imagined a literary form less
likely to be chosen to convey a great religious revelation
to the world.1 Yet its advantages are obvious. How living
it makes the page ! How vivid, natural, and full of human
interest ! Such records do not seem hand-written, but heart-
written : as Luther said, " They are not dead words ; they
are living creatures, and have hands and feet." Here, we
perceive, is a man who has lived tlie great life and under
stands it ; who believes and therefore speaks ; who thinks,
and says what he thinks ; who is filled with the Spirit,
and speaks as he is moved by the Holy Ghost.
1. Thus the first general characteristic of the Epistles
is that they are extremely personal, and afford a very
complete revelation of their author. He was a man of
God in the truest sense, perhaps the most gifted, the most
loyal, the most heroic, that the Divine Spirit ever sent
forth to labour for Christ in the world.
St. Paul was a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, a city
famous for its university life and Grecian culture.
According to Strabo, its university excelled all the schools
of the time, not excepting even those of Athens and
Alexandria. In its classes it is possible Paul lirst became
acquainted with tbe poets whom he quotes in his writings.
* But cf. Deissmann, quoting Dictcrich, Bible Studies, p. 33.

PAUL REVEALED IN THE EPISTLES 11
It is generally believed that he belonged to a family of
good position, and, with bright hopes and prospects, he
doubtless received as excellent a training as the times
could give. Eeligiously he was brought up. in the popular
sect of the Pharisees, and completed his education in
Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the most liberal-
minded men of his race. Moreover, Paul was a Eoman
citizen. Of this he made proud boast, and called his
citizenship to his service more than once in the perils of
after years. It also had its influence on him intellectually,
and widened the horizon of his thoughts. The magnificent
organisation of the Empire, the majesty of its law, and its
all-embracing power, made their silent impression upon his
mind, and guided him to characteristic ideas of a universal
spiritual sway still mightier and nobler.1
On him, so trained and gifted, the Spirit of Christ
fell with overwhelming power. We are familiar with the
story of his conversion on the way to Damascus. It was
a turning-point not for him alone, but verily in the
spiritual history of mankind. Thenceforth Paul became
Christ-possessed, and " knew nothing " but Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. All his gifts, his zeal, his perfervid
genius, his invincible persistence, were consecrated to one
great end — to declare the fulness of the blessing of the
gospel of Christ. This focussed and directed all his
energies. The Epistles show us how a life of such
splendid devotion was spent. In season and out of season
he proclaimed his message ; through perils and persecu
tions, weakness and disaster almost more than flesh could
bear, disowned by his kindred and hated by many whom

1 "Law and justice," says Harnack, "radiated from Rome to the pro
vinces, and in their light nationalities faded away, and a cosmopolitanism
was developed which pointed beyond itself, because the moral spirit can
never find its satisfaction in that which is realised. . . . The Church by
her preaching would never have gained whole circles, but only individuals,
had not the universal State already produced a neutralising of nationalities
and brought men nearer each other in temper and disposition " (History
of Dogma, i. 122). Cf. also Merivale's Boyle Lectures (1864) on The Con
version of tlie Roman, Empire : Lecture on the Expansion of Heathen Belief
by the Ideas of Roman Jurisprudence.

1 2 INTRODUCTION
he meant to serve, he pushed on through the dreary deserts
of paganism, establishing his missions, dotting them here
and there Hke stars over the vast Empire — most humble
beginnings, yet destined to become centres of light to the
whole modern world. Through every page we hear him
rejoicing, uttering the accent of hope, and cheering himself
with undying confidence in Christ ; ever Ufting himself and
his readers out of petty, finite troubles into the clear air
of the eternal — " never ceasing in his upward flight until
lie, and all the poor subjects of contention with him, seem
lost, Hke grains of sand, beneath the bending sky." 1
2. The Epistles are also a record of the life and develop
ment of the early Church, and mirror for us many aspects
of the conflict which the Church in every age must endure.
They bring before us the doubts, the fears, the failures, the
errors, the joys, the hopes, the aspirations, the achieve
ments, the heroic endurance of the converts, their ideals
of sainthness, the questions that troubled their awakened
conscience, the environment and tendencies that were anta
gonistic to the faith, the efforts made to conserve the
common life, and to oi'ganise and extend the influence of
the Church. And while it is true that in special form
many of tlie things recorded have long since passed away,
yet in nature and essence they never pass. In the deepest
experiences the human soul is always the same, and what
ever has once reached it in its depths, and has touched and
quickened it there, whispering to it words of mercy and
hope, and raising it to nobler and purer levels, must mani
festly possess a virtue which the world can never afford to
despise. 3. Further, the Pauline Epistles are a noble testimony
to the Lord Jesus. They presuppose the Life of the
Gospels, and illustrate the marvellous power that had
begun to flow from it.
It is urged, indeed, that this testimony merely gives us
the Christ of Paul's conception, a subjective interpretation
rather than a record. Apart from simple statements and
1 R. H. Hutton, Tlteol. Essays: review of Renan's St. Paul.

NATURE OF THE TESTIMONY TO CHRIST 13
references to facts, this is no doubt true. Paul not only
sets forth Christ, but in a large degree is occupied in
exhibiting the spiritual significance of Christ. It cannot
be said that this is a matter for regret. Eather, had it
not occurred, we should have devoutly wished it had. The
interpretation of Jesus was of the first moment, and was
inevitable as soon as men began to make Him the burden
of their message. Not Paul alone, but all the Apostles,
when they preached the gospel, set forth their conception
of Christ. They could not do otherwise ; and the remark
able thing is that they all did it in the same way. They
are in perfect harmony in all the essential lines of their
message.1 Not only so, but Christ Himself put a spiritual
interpretation on His Life and Sufferings, and the apostohc
representation is in deepest harmony also with that, We
only escape this by denying some of the most characteristic
utterances attributed to Jesus — an arbitrary and suspicious
practice to which there seems no limit. Further, it was
expressly for the full understanding of the Gospel Life, in
all its Divine and human relations, that Christ promised the
Holy Spirit. To turn away from the unfolding is much
the same as to deny the dispensation of that Spirit. We
have to guard, therefore, against dismissing the witness
simply on the ground that it presents an apostolic " con
ception." There is a desire to get back, it is said, simply
to the workshop of Nazareth and to the Sermon on the
Mount, to give ear only to the gentle idyls and parables
of the Galilean and Judean hills. It is curiously im
plied that no dogmas existed there. As if from the lips
of Christ we had no hints of a saving faith, a vicarious
sacrifice, a regenerating Spirit ; no Divine claims, no accept
ance of Messianic prophecy, no new attitude to the Law,
no hard sayings of mystic union with Himself, no dark

1 Paret, for example, in his Paulus und Jesus, pp. 60, 61, declares "that
any essential distinction between tho preaching of Paul and the primitive
Apostles as to the teaching, life, sufferings, and resurrection of Jesus is
inconceivable in itself, and no trace of it can be found either in the New
Testament or the literature of the sub-apostolie age." Cit. Knowling,
Witness of the Epistles, p. 158 n,

14 INTRODUCTION
outHnes of the Last Things ! To escape doctrine by the
process of " returning " to Jesus is one of the most surpris
ing delusions of modern times.
In considering Paul's testimony, it is, in the first place,
a great mistake to ignore that he himself does take us
literally " back to Christ." The historic Clirist, the Christ
as we know Him on tlie page of the Gospels, appears or
is implied on almost every page of the Epistles. " It has
been forgotten," says Ptieiderer, "that the work of Paul
presupposes as its indispensable basis the personal history
of Jesus, without which basis it would be as a castle in
the clouds." x Many of the apostolic dogmas could never
have been formulated apart from the antecedent historical
data. Indications of such historical knowledge are so fre
quent as to give reahty to the saying that " the Epistles
are also Gospels," or to Thenius' phrase, " the Gospel with
out the Gospels " ; and even if, as is manifest, the Epistles
do not give us the same wealth of details, they are for the
history of Jesus, as Hase acknowledges, still more valuable
than the Gospels themselves as " authentic vouchers."
Similarly, it is the opinion of Wendt, that the Pauline
Epistles may actually be taken as the primary basis for
estimating the historical trustworthiness of the Gospels,
and that we are justified in arguing back from them alone
" to the actual contents of the conceptions and teaching of
Jesus which they presuppose." 2 Paul possibly never saw
Jesus in the flesh, but it is evident that he knew His
story well. It is not only that it must have been so
from his early intimacy with the Pharisaic circle and
from his attitude as a persecutor, and later from his inter
course with the friends and relatives of Jesus, but that
the Epistles themselves reveal the fact in many direct
statements, and above all in still more numerous indirect
allusions and general references, implying a common his
torical knowledge between his readers and himself, without
1 Tlie Influence of Paul on the Dr r.-lopment of Christianity, Hibbert
Lecture, p. 10.
2 Cf. Knowling, Witness of the E/rix/lrs, p. 101 ; Wendt, Tracking of
Jesus, i. 29.

NATURE OF THE TESTIMONY TO CHRIST 15
which such allusions would have been mere enigmas desti
tute of significance. Even in the Epistles, therefore, there
is much to be gathered of the Hfe and passion, the birth
and death and triumph, the mind, the teaching, the com
mandments, the meekness and gentleness and patience,
of the Man who walked and taught among the Galilean
hills.1 In the next place, Paul advances beyond this, as all
the Apostles do, because he keeps in the presence of the
risen and ascended Lord. He does not stop at Calvary,
or at the empty tomb, or on the hill-top near Bethany.
He sees Jesus " crowned with glory and honour," living,
exalted, reigning, and preparing all things for His return.
And perhaps this is to some the front of his offending.
He does not sadly and reverently close the record with the
Cross. He keeps the page open, because he believes that
Christ will still inscribe upon it. He believes, in short,
that the heavenly Lord fulfils His earthly word : Christ
manifests Himself, and the Spirit, whose activity He fore
told and promised, takes of the things that are His and

1 According to Keim (Jesus of Nazara, i. 52) there ean be no doubt
whatever that Paul's faith in Christ rested on a knowledge of Christ's life
" sufficiently comprehensive to justify all the results of his reasoning, and
to present to his mind, either on the ground of his own observation or that
of others, the picture of a character without spot and full of nobility.
Moreover, this knowledge of the Apostle's is not the fruit of a blind accept
ance of unexamined Christian tradition, picked up here and there, but, as
the case of his inquiry into the evidences of the resurrection shows, was
arrived at by means of a lucid, keen, searching, sceptical observation, com
parison, collection and collation of such materials as were accessible to him."
Commenting on Keim's examination of Paul's testimony, Knowling ( Witness
of the Epistles, p. 49) says, "What strikes us is, not merely the remarkable
harmony which he admits between the Epistles and the Gospels, but also
the value which he attaches to the character of the witness, a value which
might at least suggest more careful consideration to the shallow thought
which dismisses St. Paul without more ado as 'this strange man,' this mad
man, this fanatic." On Paul's knowledge of Christ, cf. Knowling's Witness
of the Epistles, chs. i. and ii., especially the interesting historical retrospect
of the latter ; Beyschlag's N. T. Theology, ii. 20 ; Somerville's St. Paul's
Conception of Christ, pp. 263-265 ; Forrest's Christ of History, pp. 325-328 ;
Keim's Jesus of Nazara, i. 48-59 ; Weiss' Biblical Theology of the N. T.,
i. 277 sqq. ; Sabatier's The Apostle Paul, pp. 70-85.

16 INTRODUCTION
shows them unto men. Paul knows more, because, guided
by Him who guides unto all truth, he follows on to know.
He declares the living Christ, revealed to him in the
solemn experiences of his own soul and in historic fact ;
and to the chariot wheels of this Saviour, still travelling
in the greatness of His strength, he enchains his life.
Finally, the Christ whom Paul presents is the Christ
who has proved to be the saving power of the world. It
cannot be denied that the gospel which was received with
gladness, which began to change the Hfe and traditions,
and to overthrow the reHgions and philosophies, of the
ancient world, was the gospel that Paul preached. It is
the same gospel that has aroused, and set on fire for Christ,
most of the renowned leaders of Christendom. It has been
the inspiration of the great reformers and missionaries,
whose labours have blessed the world and added lustre to
the name of Christian. It has formed the golden links of
the chain of the evangeHcal succession. It has also been
the strength and marrow of the leaders of Christian
thought and poUcy in the modern world. Far from being
effete, it is the profoundest theme occupying the attention
of Christian scholars at this hour. Above all, it is the
good tidings of great joy that are still welcomed in the
experience of countless humble behevers who lay them
selves at the feet of Christ. The Saviour is to-day what
He was to the Apostle at the beginning, the Christ who
died and rose and lives ; deHvered for our offences, raised
again for our justification, by whom also we have access by
faith into grace, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

L
THE THESSALONIAN EPISTLES.

Now this straining of the whole forces of tlio soul, and tho overpowering
conviction of so great and glorious a possession, were inevitably attended by
a danger, the danger, namely, of excitement and self-glorification. The
mere excitement might cause a believer to feel himself no longer at homo
within the limitations of common life, to imagine that all it offered him was
insufficient, to think that every moment should be entirely devoted to the
sacred cause, and, wherever possible, to public exertions on its behalf.
Therefore the task which we now see the Apostle performing was especially
urgent in this early period. He sought to prune away this excrescence, and
ranked with his fundamental warnings and counsels the necessity of seeing
that their honour was involved in living quietly, in each attending to his
own business, and working with his own hands. — Weizsacker.

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE
THESSALONIANS.

This, it is almost universally allowed, is the earliest of,
Paul's Epistles. It was probably written late in the year
50 or early in 51, about fifteen years after his conversion,
and about twenty years after the death of Christ.
It is thus not only the first of Paul's writings preserved
to us, but very probably the earliest book of the New
Testament.1 It was written before any of the Gospels
were reduced from notes and oral tradition to their present
form. Hence it is a book of exceeding interest and value.
In it we have our first testimony to the Lord Jesus,
reaching back to within easy memory of His time. Already
we behold Him spoken of as Lord and Son of God, who
died for us, who rose again from the dead, who ascended
into heaven, there to be interceded with as the guide and
strength of His people, while His Apostles and followers
continue on the earth, receiving His word and His Spirit,
abounding in the labour of faith and love and in the patience
1 Some authorities, e.g., Zahn, place Galatians before 1 Thessalonians by
some two or three months, and the Epistle of James about three years before
either. Zahn's date for James' Epistle is c. 50 a.d. (Einleitnng, ii. 645).
Michaelis, Hanlein, Hausrath, aud Pfleiderer also reckon Galatians the first
of the Paulines. Cf. Clemen, Die Chronologie der paulinischen Briefe,
p. 292 ; and Knowling, on Paul. Epp., Ency. Brit., 10th ed., xxxi. 583-4.
The authenticity of 1 Thessalonians has been challenged by Schrader,
Baur, Holsten, and the writers of the Dutch school. But it is accepted
with little or no hesitation by the great majority of scholars, including not
only all English writers, but men of such various standpoints as Pfleiderer,
Holtzmann, Lipsius, Hase, Hilgenfeld, Mangold, Wittichen, Jiilicher,
Harnack, Renan, Godet, De Pressense, Reuss, Sabatier, Schmiedel, Von
Soden, Clemen, and Zahn. 19

20 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
of hope, looking for that hidden but glorious time whon
He shall come again with all His saints, aud when thoy
who remain shall be caught in rapture to be for ever
with Him.
This Epistle comes, then, when Paul was already
midway in his Christian career, deeply experienced as a
preacher of the gospel, and far advanced in missionary
service. We may briefly recall his relations with the
Macedonian city to whose converts it was written.
The first series of labours which had Pisidian Antioch
for its centre, and which extended through the southern
cities of Asia Minor, was over, and the second had begun.
This also included many cities in Asia Minor, but it was
destined to pass far beyond them. Under the guidance of
the Spirit, Paul came to the sea-coast of Troas, and to the
borders of a new world. There he stood hesitating, not
knowing whether to venture farther West, or to turn back
and labour anew in the weU-known fields. It was a crisis
in his career, and the appealing vision of the man of
Macedonia decided him. He made the crossing that
proved so momentous, not only in his own history, but
in the history of the Western world. He landed on
Macedonian soil, and preached the gospel first in the town
of Phihppi. But he was not permitted long to engage un
molested in his good work. A tumult was raised against
him in Phihppi, and, in spite of his Eoman citizenship,
he was beaten with many stripes and cast into prison —
the first prophetic reception of the herald of the Cross in
Europe. But having put his hand to the plough, Paul was not
the man to look back, however arduous and discouraging
his task might be. With Silas, and probably also with
Timothy, he departed from Phihppi, and still continued to
hold his face to the West.
To his wearied and disappointed heart, stung with the
ignominy of his treatment, and to his frail flesh still
tingling with the cruelty of his scourging, the journey on
which he now entered must have been a refreshing balm.
All nature seemed to bend over him in a ministry of love.

PAUL ENTERS THESSALONICA 21
He proceeded through a smiling valley, surrounded by
lofty mountain peaks. Large villages were to be seen
lying in every fold of the hills. The splendid Eoman road
was made of great blocks of marble, and, almost at every
step, deep wells of limpid water, and the shady foliage of
spreading plane trees, offered themselves to him. Down
by the sea he passed through the busy town of Amphipolis,
and then, turning inland, through Apollonia. But he did
not halt in these places. On he went until he had com
pleted a journey of about a hundred miles, when, crossing
a low range of mountains, he came within sight of his
goal, the great seaport of Thessalonica, lying under the
very shadow of snowy and fabled Olympus. There that
god-haunted hill is seen to tower aloft in all its splendour.
" The snows of its summit look like an ethereal dwelling
suspended in space. But, alas ! the holy mountain was
already desolate. Men had climbed it, and perceived that
gods no longer dwelt there." 1
We imagine him, then, entering this great city of
about 200,000 inhabitants. He comes with no pomp,
heralded by no praise ; he is neither expected nor desired.
A poor, unhappy-looking man, a member of a despised
race, and a toiler at a common trade, tramping along the
dusty road, with nothing remarkable about him, save
perhaps the light of a strange enthusiasm burning in his
eyes, he plunges into the city, and is immediately swallowed
in the busy crowds of its streets. The place is famous for
its market in goats' hair, and that suits him. He seeks a
humble lodging, and begins to work for wages at his trade,
weaving the coarse black hair into serviceable tent-cloth.
Who could have thought that an entrance so lowly, so
insignificant, was to be fraught with such memorable
results, and that the chief thing now to interest the
Christian world in that proud city is, that it sheltered the
Apostle of Jesus for a few months, gave him the oppor
tunity to make a few humble converts, and then rose up
against him and caused him to flee from its gates ? How
1 Renan, St. Paul, p. 157.

22 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
little we are able to appreciate the true significance of
events happening amongst us ! We are so keen-sighted,
and yet the trickling streams and sources of history are
despised till they become mighty. So it was amoug the
wise and prudent in Thessalonica.
It was a famous city in Paul's time, and had enjoyed a
history of increasing prosperity for nearly four hundred
years. It rose in gently-sloping terraces at the head of a
magnificent bay in the .Egean, and through it ran the
great Egnatian highway that connected Eome with tho
East. Thus both by land and sea it was fitted to become
a commercial centre. It was the capital of one of the
divisions of Macedonia, and was endowed by Eome with
all the liberties of a free city. Cicero, who visited it
often, and sought its shelter in exile, spoke of it lovingly
as " lying in the very lap of the Empire."
To-day it has sadly dwindled, and fallen from its high
estate. It is under the rule of the Turk, and its popula
tion of some 80,000 or 90,000 is almost equally composed
of Turks and Greeks and Jews, many of the last being
descendants of exiles from Spain. Its prevailing religion
is Mohammedan, and its noble Byzantine churches have
long been turned into mosques.1 Sailing into its harbour
from the sea, one will still find it lovely as a dream. Its
white and painted waUs, its domes and glancing minarets,
its groves of cypresses, its crowning citadel, and its back
ground of opalescent snow, enchant the traveller. But
come nearer, and all the glamour of its beauty fades away.
Its variegated crowds are as fanatical and as turbulent as
of old ; and its narrow, tortuous streets, with their muddy
puddles, and wallowing cattle, and ruinous houses, are as
squalid and pestilential as only those of a Mohammedan
seaport can be.
Paul, however, found it in the heyday of its repute.
But he had not entered it merely to weave tent-cloth,
maintaining himself partly thereby, and partly by the gifts

1 Tliis, however, may be counted a »;ain in some ways, as it has secured
their almost perfect preservation.

MINISTRY IN THESSALONICA 23
which friends in Philippi were good enough to send him
once and again. He had come to preach the gospel.
Sabbath wore round, and he began in the Jewish synagogue.
His audience were surprised at his message, and for three
successive Sabbaths they came together to hear him. Then
their surprise gave way to indignation and contempt. For
he told them, what had once filled his own breast with ire,
that the Messiah had been outcast and crucified. They
could not permit him to defile their courts with such
blasphemous teaching. He accordingly turned to the
Gentiles. They Hstened to him, and he began to make
converts. It is recorded that some well-connected Jewish
women also adhered to him ; but undoubtedly the behevers
were chiefly composed of the humble toilers of the city,
men who welcomed the call to become members of a
spiritual kingdom, and who dared to lift their thoughts to
a heavenly life through the crucified Christ. They were
not rich, and they had no church. They only met
together in the rooms or courtyards of their own houses.
But they met, and they were organised and built up in a
humble way. They turned from their idols to serve the
living God, and with timid yet hopeful hearts they accepted
the new way as the law of their life.
But this state of things did not last very long.1 The
Jews pursued their fellow-countryman with malicious eyes.
They were the more enraged because they perceived that
some of their number still wistfully clung to him. Deter
mined to put an end to his labours, they called to their aid
the idle rabble, the loiterers of the streets and wharves,
the riffraff lazzaroni, who were ever ready for any kind of
mischief. They soon succeeded in raising a tumult. They
gave out that Paul was a disloyalist, a sower of sedition, a
man who set up a new king as a rival to the imperial
Csesar. The house where he lived was surrounded, and
Jason, his host, was seized, dragged before the magistrates,
and with proper irony bound over to keep the peace. As
for the Apostle, kind hands concealed him, and kept him from
1 Paul probably spent the summer of the year 50 in Thessalonica.

24 THE FIRST EriSTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
the outrages which would undoubtedly have been heaped
upon him. Under cover of night he fled from tho city.
We now behold him courting the shadows and the
darkness, speeding along the narrow winding streets while
men slept, out through the western gate, and on with rest
less haste for fifty miles, dreading at every turn lest he
should be overtaken and dragged back to persecution and
prison. What a strange triumphal entry the gospel had
into the West ! What colossal faith and courage were
required to persevere with it ! We talk of heroism, but
there is no heroism in human history to excel this — the
plodding westward march of this feeble, despised, but
undaunted Jew, going he knew not whither, to meet and
accomplish he knew not what, only assured that God was
with him, and that his mission was one of grace and love.
Paul came to Berea, and from Berea, finding himself
still pursued by the enmity of the Jews, he sailed round
to Athens. All the time his heart was consumed with
anxiety for the converts he had left behind him. He knew
the kind of storm they would have to face, and the bitter
ness of the attacks their tormentors would make upon
them. In his vivid imagination and sensitive sympathy, he
could understand all that was happening, all the insidious
movements against their faith, all the Hes and slanders, all
the interests and temptations that would combine to drag
them back to the old life. Would they be able to bear it,
those humble artisans of Thessalonica ? Would they resist
and overcome, or would they be broken up, and all his
efforts to evangelise them swept to the winds ?
This was the state of his mind regarding them when
he was at Athens. Fain would he have gone back to
them had it been possible. As it was, unable to rest, he
sent Timothy to bring him news. He was in Corinth 1
when his messenger returned with good tidings. The
Thessalonians were not only steadfast, but were making

1 The arrival at Corinth was probably at the close of the year 50 ; the
Apostle stayed there about eighteen months, two winters and a summer,
leaving in the late spring of 52.

OCCASION OF THE EPISTLE 25
progress. They were unshaken in their faith ; and not
withstanding broadcast calumnies against the Apostle's
disinterestedness and courage, their attachment to him
increased. They sent him the kindliest greetings, and
assured him of their affection. And so the great heart had
its load of anxiety removed, and, in his own graphic way,
he says " he lived again." His soul was like a watered
garden, and he knew not how to praise God enough for so
signal a mercy.
It was in these circumstances that the Epistle was
written. Paul wrote it to give vent to his feelings of
gratitude and joy. We do not wonder, therefore, that its
characteristics are those of gentleness and tenderness.
There is little declaration of doctrine in it. There did not
need to be. It is absurd to be always looking for the
Apostle to say the same things. Criticism is a blundering
tool when it is untempered by the saving graces of imagina
tion and common sense. It is most likely, from his
circumstances and natural temperament, that Paul was a
very frequent writer of letters ; it is most unlikely that he
felt bound to frame them all after one model, and that the
Epistle to the Eomans. No one can realise the occasion
which called for this brief Epistle without perceiving how
simply and naturaUy it fits that occasion, how well it fulfils
its purpose, and expresses the mind of the Apostle at the time.
The Epistle rejoices at the good news from Thessalonica.
Yet it is not altogether confined to congratulation. That
would scarcely have harmonised with all the facts of the
case. The clouds of calumny that hung over the memory
of Paul's life in Thessalonica might be the better of being
dispelled by an electric flash. A sad perplexity also, that
had arisen in the case of some who had lost friends, whom
they had expected to remain alive till the glorious Coming
of Christ, had to be dealt with. Besides, there could not
fail to be need for notes of warning and good counsel.
Converts only a few months redeemed from paganism,
could not possibly be already perfect. Some taints of the
past, falls in the present, and doubts and misapprehensions
regarding the future, were certain to exist among them.

26 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
Accordingly we find references also to such a tempted and
imperfect life.
The Epistle consists of five chapters, and clearly
divides itself into two parts at the close of the third
chapter. The first part is tender and personal ; the second
more practical and didactic.
Paul begins, as he usually does in his Epistles, by
thanking God for all the good he has reason to think is in
his hearers, their labours of love and patience of hope. Ho
recalls with deHght his own short stay and experience
among them, the power and assurance of the gospel, the
readiness with which they received it, the fame with which
they spread it abroad. He speaks also in earnest tones in
a kind of self-defence, quite conscious that some are at
work undermining his influence, misrepresenting his
motives, and defaming his good name. It evidently
touches him aU the more keenly that these enemies are
chiefly among his own brethren, the Jews. Seldom has he
any harsh things to say of them. Usually his mood
towards them is one of intense longing for their salvation.
But now he cannot withhold a glance of righteous indigna
tion in their direction. It is provoked by all he has
recently suffered at their hands, by the knowledge that
their enmity does not diminish, and by the sad thought
that there seems httle HkeHhood of any change in their
attitude to Christ. Perhaps also his language is intensified
by his experiences in Corinth itself. Even if the letter
were written before the Jews haled him there to the
judgment-seat of GalHo, it was probably not written before
he had had experience among them of many alien looks
and unfriendly acts, harbingers of the coming storm.
Against such malignant detractors Paul defends his
ministry. He declares that he delivered only what he had
received from God. This he had done with all dis
interestedness and gentleness, maintaining his independence,
and seeking no glory or favour of man, as his converts
very weU knew. Then he speaks of his present relations
and feelings towards them, and how much he desires to
come to them again. Yea, it is his prayer day and night

MESSAGE OF THE EPISTLE 27
that he may see them once more, and continue to serve
them in the faith. The first part of the letter concludes
with a prayer, that the Lord would make them to increase
and abound in love, and estabhsh their hearts unblamable
in holiness, at the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with
all His saints.
In all this we see the closeness and tenderness of the
tie that bound the Apostle to his adherents. Verily, he
sought not theirs, but them. The good news of their
faith and charity was the very breath of his life, and in
his great love he was ready to impart his own soul to
them. He describes them as his hope, and joy, and crown
of rejoicing ; and he could sincerely say, " For now we live,
if ye stand fast in the Lord."
The closing section of the Epistle, including the fourth
and fifth chapters, is intensely practical, and is of even
more lasting importance. It deals with some of the
greatest subjects of the Christian life, and ends with a
perfect shower of pithy sayings, designed to linger in the
mind and stimulate to earnest and godly devotion. Such
are : Eejoice evermore ; pray without ceasing ; in every
thing give thanks ; quench not the Spirit ; despise not pro-
phesyings ; test all things ; abstain from every form of evil.
But there are some things in the Epistle on which we
cannot but perceive that the Apostle lays special emphasis.
These more prominent subjects may be specified as : (1) the
sanctifying of the new life, (2) its good order, and (3) its
peculiar hope, the Coming again of Christ.
1. Paul lays much stress on the necessity of sanctify
ing the new life. He is deeply concerned for a life of
social purity among the Thessalonians, and he says so very
plainly. He reiterates with great distinctness, as a com
mandment of the Lord Jesus and the will of God, that
Christians are not called to uncleanness but unto holiness.
This was a high ideal to raise before the minds of the
dwellers in that old Graco-Boman city by the sea, and
there was only too much reason for it to be raised. Paul
knew very well that the pagan religion from which his
converts were called, had given even sensual vice a place

2S THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
in its sacred rites, and that few were taught to regard such
impurity with any sense of shame. He was writing, too,
in Corinth, the most profligate city in the world, and under
the shadow of a rock whose gleaming heights were crowned
with a temple openly dedicated to lust. He saw before his
eyes all the mad and ruinous results of the vicious life.
He saw it eating like a canker into the heart of society,
bhghting like a plague all that was good in men, under
mining and destroying the life of the individual, the family,
and the State. Above all, he beheld its deep and essential
antagonism to the new life of the Spirit. He does not
indeed labour, as a moralist might, to bring home to the
conscience the awful physical and social havoc which
impurity works. It is characteristic of him that he lifts
the matter at once into the highest sphere of all. He is
speaking to those who believe in a spiritual life, a life of
Divine fellowship, united to Christ, and he warns of an
evil which will inevitably strangle that life at its birth.
A social wrong, and a sure sowing, whose infallible reaping
is a whirlwind of misery and distress, it is yet more than
that, a defiHng of the temple of the Holy Ghost, driving
Him from the breast in which He has come to dwell.
More surely than in the desecrated Temple of old, when
ruthless feet invaded its sacred courts, is there heard in the
unclean heart a rustHng of holy wings, and a whisper of a
Divine voice, saying, " Let us depart." There was one in
that ancient world who knew this well, and who at one
time would have brushed such warning aside as " unmanly
advice." But by God's mercy he Hved to cry, " My life
being such, could it be called life, 0 my God I"1 This is
the profoundest and saddest view of the evil against which
Paul so solemnly warned — it is not Hfe, but living death.
It is death to all that is spiritual and best, paralysis in
goodness, blindness to God Himself —
" That sense of ruin, which is worse than pain,
That masterful negation and collapse
Of all that makes us men."
1 Augustine, Confessions, bk. iii.

UNREST AMONG THE CONVERTS 29
Well, therefore, does the Apostle call on the converts to
reflect upon this, that it is not so much the despising of
man as the despising of God, who has bestowed upon them
His Holy Spirit. And well might he pray that God would
sanctify them wholly, that spirit, soul, and body be pre
served blameless unto the Coming of the Lord Jesus.
Without the growing witness of purer lives, they would
give the lie to the faith that their Lord dwelt in them as a
redeeming power.
2. Another matter evidently lay much on the
Apostle's mind. He strives to impress upon his converts
the need of good order in the life to which they are called.
This appears in many forms in the Epistle — in exhorta
tions to brotherly love, to honesty, to diligence, to peace,
to patience, to the following of good, to the esteem of those
who labour among them in the Lord.
There were many things undoubtedly that must have
tended to a spirit of unrest and unsettlement. The life to
which these converts were called was new and strange ; it
was spiritual, and had elements in it of great mystery. It
must have roused many questions, and stirred much specu
lation. Besides, the old was not to be doffed in a moment.
It clung to them with its deeply engrained habits, and
with many customs whose inherent evil they could not
easily perceive. What relations were they to have with
those who still stood rooted in the old beliefs, and whom
but yesterday they had been accustomed to love and
revere ? Were they to renounce them ? Must they break
entirely from them ? Were there not many neutral points
in common life where they might meet and have inter
course as before ? Some would raise scruples of con
science, and some would entertain none. Debates would
arise, and divisions, and inner circles would be formed who
would say, " We are holier than ye." Many, no doubt,
would lay hold of the great watchwords of the faith, still
imperfectly understood, and would abuse them. The very
liberty to which they were called would prove a snare.
It would lead untutored souls to rebellion against their
teachers, and to false notions of independence and duty.

30- THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
Indeed, the greater the power with which they dealt, tho
more grace and enlightenment were needed to use it well.
And grace and enlightenment among them were yet in then-
infancy. Above all, the supreme doctrine of the Coming
again of the Lord in power and majesty, as an event daily
and hourly to be expected, when the present affairs of this
sad, sinful world should be wound up, and a new kingdom
established, with the glorified faithful as princes in the
Messianic train, was a doctrine which manifestly had in it
strong temptations to indifference and contempt of earthly
things. Workmen would fling down their tools, merchants
forget their trade, and parents neglect their homes. Why
should a man toil, when to-morrow he was to become an heir
of glory ? Why should he care to preserve what should so
soon be dispersed and destroyed? Days would be spent
in dreamy speculation and indolent gossip, and this, no
doubt, would be dignified by many aB "" waiting for the
Lord." These are the things Paul seems to have been aware of,
and to have dreaded. They lead him to the exhortations
of which we have spoken. He is jealous of the reputation
the converts will make in the world. The lives of
Christians are the open book that all men read. What
unspeakable loss if these Hves are distinguished only by
a lamentable display of wrangling disputes and lack of
charity ; if, after all, that which is good is not supreme, if
the unruly are unchecked, the feeble despised, that which
lies to the hand to do is left undone, and spiritual pride,
and an idle fanaticism and futile gazing into heaven, stand
forth as the distinguishing marks of the Christian faith !
No wonder in such a case if the world should scoff, and if
the chariot of the kingdom should lumber and drag. Not
only so, if these things are not mastered, the life of
Christianity itself will dwindle and perish. It will be
choked by a rank growth of what are not the fruits of the
Spirit. Things will Hve and be rampant which are not
the things of Christ. Let us remember that the lowly
graces which are despised are the most essential. For
bearance, charity, patience, the seeking of that which is

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 31
good both among ourselves and for all men — it is the
highest wisdom to direct attention to these. There we
find the true expression of our faith, and there we have
the surest witness that the Lord of all grace abideth in us.
3. Finally, and most important of all, Paul speaks
much in this Epistle of the Christian hope, the Coming of
the Lord Jesus. This, indeed, is the distinctive feature of
the Epistle. There can be no doubt that at this time the subject
of the Second Coming was very much in the Apostle's
thoughts ; and when he was in Thessalonica it must have
entered very largely into the burden of his message. It
had appealed powerfully to the imagination and conscience,
to the hopes and fears, of his hearers.
Among all Christians in that first age of the faith, so
soon after the disappearance of our Lord from the earth,
there was a very confident expectation of His speedy
return. It was thought that the existing generation would
not pass away before He would be seen descending to
establish His reign on the earth. Jewish elements and
mundane conceptions were largely mixed up with this hope.
Nor was it wholly unnatural. Our Lord had undoubtedly
spoken of the Coming of the Son of Man in more senses
than one ; and in one sense, in such an historical crisis, for
example, as the Fall of Jerusalem, it was imminent enough.
But reflection on much that He had said of the growth of
His kingdom in the world, might have led them to
anticipate that the Coming, in the sense of the Final
Judgment, would not be to-day or to-morrow. All His
sayings and parables that pointed in a missionary direction,
to the preaching of the gospel to all nations, to the growth
of the seed, and to the ripening of the harvest, suggested
something of the nature of an evangelical era, and a slow
development. Paul himself was absorbed with the mission
ary idea. The consuming passion of his life was the
conversion of the Gentiles. That, he saw clearly, was the
Master's will. He needed perhaps to see more clearly that
it would take time to fulfil it, and that the Divine Husband
man could wait with patience.

32 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
For Paul, too, seems to have expected that the Lord
would return lie fore he died. In his great ardour, he did
not apparently think that the compassing of the Gentiles
with the gospel would require more than his own lifetime.
Experience gradually taught him to modify this conception ;
and if his language in this Epistle leads us to believe, that
personally he had a hope that he would be living when
Christ came again, we soon find in other Epistles that he
has come to think of himself rather as meeting Christ only
through the gate of death, and that he also will be one of
those whom God wiU " raise up." x
Even now, however, he sees enough to believe that it
will be no real loss if it should be so. " The dead in
Christ shall rise first " ; and they " that are alive," that are
left unto the Coming of the Lord, " shaU in nowise precede
them that are fallen asleep." That is to say, death, even
if it come, does not really annihilate the Christian hope.
To such a declaration the Apostle was led in a very
pathetic way. Though it were at most but a few months
since Paul had been in Thessalonica, death had already
been busy in his Httle congregation there. Sorrowing
hearts were perplexed. Those who had died were beHevers,
and it seemed as if the interment in the " narrow shelves "
were a cruel mockery of the hopes they had entertained.
They were dead ; they would not participate in the glories
of the Lord's appearing. It is in answer to this perplexity
that Paul writes his classic passage, a passage that has
been read in so many darkened homes, and by so many
gravesides, for eighteen hundred years : '' I would not have
you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are
asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
them also who sleep in Jesus wiU God bring with Him."
How many hearts have been cheered and comforted by
these great words ! The hopeless grief of the pagan world,
the inconsolable mourning — how they are dispelled as by
a beam of light ! Here is no thought of a final extinction
1 1 Cor. vi. 14; 2 Cor. iv. 14.

TRIUMPH OF THE CHRISTIAN HOPE 33
or an endless night,1 no encouragement to the funereal
wailing which Chrysostom so eloquently rebuked, because
it showed that the Christian heart belied the Christian
faith. Eather here is the sweetest and tenderest assurance,
a blessed apocalypse. They that " sleep in Jesus " !
Surely if they sleep they shall do well. They shall wake
again, and come in His happy company. Not without
them shall they who are alive at the Coming be caught up
into a glorified life. What matters it then ? Living or
dead, they shaH be for ever with the Lord.
We must not misunderstand the Apostle. He may
have had the hope that the Lord would come even in his
day. But it was not all his hope. Though he be dis
appointed of that, he is not left in dismay. If not in that
way, yet through an entrance scarcely less glorious, he too
will come to be with Christ. He very clearly perceived
that the quenching of this special hope was not the
annihilation of his portion in the kingdom of heaven.
Christ had not redeemed him merely to let the grave steal
an ignoble victory at the close. Deeper than all dreams
and desires, however bright they might be, lay this rooted
assurance, that whether living or dying he was the Lord's.
Yet Paul believed in the Coming. He was not in any
vital sense resiling from what he had already said. He
was certain it would take place. He was only uncertain

1 On the views of the ancients regarding a future life, cf. Salmond's
Christian Doctrine of Immortality, bk. i. ch. vii., On the Beliefs of the
Greeks and Romans. Also Dollinger, Gentile and Jew, ii. 139-146, and
Pfleiderer, Philosophy of Religion, iv. ch. vii.
In Studies Subsidiary to Butler, Mr. Gladstone writes : "The doctrine of
immortality has impressed but slight footprints upon the Roman literature.
The letters and poetry of consolation, which antiquity has bequeathed to us,
are especially instructive in this respect. They are miserably pale and thin,
although in various cases singularly touching. Nor did matters improve
with the lapse of time. Lucretius rebukes the folly of those who quail
before the idea of punishments after death, and bends the whole force of his
great genius to constructing a magnificent apology for the doctrine of
extinction : and the grave Juvenal informs us that none in his day believed
in the survival of the soul, unless such as had not emerged from boyhood."
P. 159. Cf. the letters that passed between Sulpicius and Cicero on the
death of Cicero's daughter Tullia, Letters of Cicero, bk. xi. letters iii., iv.

34 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
as to when. He could not and dared not rashly define
that great hour. He knew that the times and the seasons
God kept to Himself. One other thing also he knew, that
Christ had warned that He would come unexpectedly,
taking a careless world unawares, even as a thief cometh
in the night.
But there are some for whom the coming of a thief
has no terrors. These are they in whose life there is no
night, no deep shadows of sin, no blackness of darkness.
By a beautiful turn of the metaphor Paul finds his
way to a most earnest and practical conclusion of his great
theme. " Ye are the children of light," he says, " and the
children of the clay." If so, it means that for you there is
no fear. But it means this also, that, being so, you will
not be guilty of the things of night : sleeping — that is,
heedless and unconscious of the great interests of time and
eternity ; drunken — that is, drowning in sensuality that
Hfe of spirit and soul and body which God meant to grow
in holiness. Not these will distinguish you if you are
worthy of this great name, " children of light," but sobriety,
and the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of
the hope of salvation, the intense longing that God may
sanctify you and preserve you blameless to the Lord's
Coming. For sooner or later He shall come. It is the great
hope from which the Church has never gone back. To it
she still turns her expectant eyes.
" Lord, come away ;
Why dost Thou stay ?
Thy road is ready ; and Thy paths, made straight,
With longing expectation wait
The consecration of Thy beauteous feet."

THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE
THESSALONIANS.

This Epistle, like the First, was occasioned by news from
Thessalonica while Paul was still in Corinth. This later
news, probably only a few months later, was not so
favourable as the first had been. For one thing, the
Christians in Thessalonica were, like Paul himself, enduring
increasing persecution. Nevertheless, by God's grace, both
he and they were surmounting such trials with invincible
steadfastness and patience. Sad therefore as the suffering
was, it was not without spiritual compensations. The
shadows only intensified the lights in which the Christian
heart must ever rejoice.
It was another part of the tidings that filled Paul with
the greatest concern. Certain elements in his teaching at
Thessalonica, and indeed some parts of his former Epistle,
were being woefully misrepresented. These had regard to
the Second Coming of Christ, and to the end of the present
world. It has never been easy for any one to speak or
write on these subjects without being misunderstood. Men
quickly allow their imaginations and emotions to play
around such themes. They fly off at a hint. They
dogmatically interpret the most cautious reference. A
vague longing becomes the most inspired certainty, and the
most obviously figurative language is interpreted with a
fatal literalism. So Paul now found.
Many in Thessalonica understood the Apostle to mean
that the day of the Lord had dawned, and that their eyes
were to behold the Last Things and the Coming in glory.
It was in vain that he had carefully avoided so positive an

36 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
assertion, and that by word and deed he had rather shown
that there was no call to be other than "diligent in
business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." Tho con
trary belief obtained master)' over some. The)' assumed
that the very heart of the new message was, that the
return of the Lord was imminent, and that the old world
was ripe for doom. The consequence was that Paul heard
that the Christian community in Thessalonica was in a
state of perilous excitement. Men's thoughts were
occupied with little else than this. They could think and
speak only of the great world-catastrophe which they daily
expected. Some were on the border of religious mania ;
some no doubt had crossed the border. Many forsook
their employment, and bitterly upbraided those who differed
from them.
The fact is that when Paul came westward, and began
to preach, as he undoubtedly did, the doctrine of the
Second Coming and his expectation of beholding it, he
found a state of society peculiarly ready to receive this
doctrine. Men seized on it as the chief part of his
message, simply because it harmonised so well with their
prevailing moods.
All through the Eoman Empire at this time, there was
an uneasy and undefined feeling of impending change, a
nervous anticipation and dread of it. Tacitus and other
historians unite in depicting an almost universal fever of
expectation and alarm.1 The atmosphere of the political
world was still and oppressive, Hke the sultry calm that
precedes a storm. Under the debauchery of Claudius and
the shameless intrigues and crimes of Agrippina, the
imperial court was sinking into an abyss of infamy and
contempt. Men's minds were strained. Every event of
an unusual or startling kind was interpreted as a sign from
the celestial or the infernal powers. With superstitious
sensitiveness people looked for auguries, and beheld them
everywhere. Natural phenomena that in a normal state
would have produced no impression, were regarded with an
1 Cf. Annals, bks. xii. and xiv.; also Renan, L'Anlechrisl, pp. 321-339.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES 37
exaggerated importance, and spoken of with bated breath.
Birds of evil omen and swarms of bees were said to have
settled on the Capitol. The standards and tents of the
soldiers were set in a blaze by lightning. Monstrous births
were recorded, and significant deaths. Scanty harvests
and consequent famine were regarded as heralds of still
greater calamity. Above all, frequent earthquakes were
sending moral tremors through the world. Many towns,
especially in the East, were continually tumbling into ruin.
Fiery clouds were seen in the heavens, weaving themselves
into fantastic and portentous shapes ; spectral warriors
fought fiercely in their crimson depths, and the showers
that fell from them were showers of blood. Flaming
comets were also observed trailing their trains of fire across
the sky, and the sun itself " was sick almost to doomsday
with eclipse." Thus the physical and the moral worlds
were convulsed together. Everywhere people spoke of the
wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath,
and hailed them as " the prologue to the omen coming on."
" When these prodigies
Do so conjointly meet, let not men say
' These are their reasons, they are natural.' " 1
It is clear that with such a state of things the message
of Paul marvellously chimed, or seemed to chime. He
spoke of the Lord descending from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
1 Such seasons of unrest and foreboding have not been uncommon even
in the history of the modern world. Readers of Church history will recall
the violent commotions caused by the Anabaptists in the sixteenth century.
The period also immediately preceding the political changes in our own
country in 1832 affords an interesting parallel. "Everywhere the signs of
change were visible. The horizon was overcast with the dark clouds of
coming danger. Natural disasters were added to political alarms. A
mysterious and intractable pestilence ravaged the great cities. Men's hearts
were failing them for fear and for looking after those things that were
coming on the earth. Religious people, assembling themselves together for
the study of sacred prophecy, discerned all around them the signs of the
end, and persuaded themselves that the world had already entered upon
that Great Tribulation which is appointed to precede the Second Coming of
Christ " (G. W. E. Russell, Life of Gladstone, p. 27).

38 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
God. He undoubtedly appeared to imply that thoy who
were then alive would behold this Advent, and be caught
up with the saints in the air.
The consequence was that men who naturally were
incHned to extreme views, and who were excitedly ready
for the most dramatic issues, eagerly claimed the Apostle
on their side. Some declared, perhaps believed, that they
were under the influence of the Spirit, and had been
divinely inspired to teach this doctrine. Others, still less
scrupulous, appear to have brought forward letters which
they averred had the Apostle's authority. Paul disowns
these, and to guard against their repetition he begins in
this Epistle to take precaution by writing the closing
salutation in his own hand. " This," he says, " is a token
in every Epistle : so I write."
It was the news of all this misunderstanding, this
religious ferment and disorder, that impelled the Apostle
to write so soon a second Epistle to the Thessalonians.
This error of theirs had already borne unhappy fruits, and,
unchecked, was likely to bring the name of Christ into
disrepute. His purpose therefore is to check it. The
chief aim of the new Epistle is to correct, to calm, to
steady, the excited life of the infant Church. It is a
much shorter letter than the first. Its tones are deeper ;
its shadows are more sombre. To us it has some passages
that are almost incomprehensible in their mystery, however
weU they may have been understood by those to whom
they were first addressed. At the same time it has many
utterances of deep practical wisdom, great earnestness, and
lofty spirituality.1
Paul attempts to meet the case in a threefold way :
1 The authenticity has been questioned not only by those who reject
1 Thessalonians, but even by some wdio accept that Epistle. Adverse
criticism arose only in the nineteenth century. Among recent writers who
reject 2 Thessalonians are Hausrath, Holtzmann, Pfleiderer, Weizsacker,
Von Soden ; favourable to it are most English scholars, also Renan, Reuss,
Godet, Weiss, Sabatier, Jiilicher, Oloel, Klopper, Bousset, Lipsius, Zahn.
It has been thought iu some respects not to harmonise with 1 Thessalonians,
and to exhibit anachronism, but the chief ground of objection is that the
apocalyptic passage on the Man of Sin is regarded as un-Pauline.

THE DAY OF RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT 39
(1) by more clearly defining his teaching regarding the
Coming of Christ ; (2) by renewed exhortations to dfligence
and good order, pointing out the necessity of maintaining
discipline against those who persistently disregard such
rules ; and (3) by a tender, prayerful spirit, whereby he
invokes the Divine aid, earnestly commending his converts
to the grace of God for patience, for consolation, and for
peace.

The Apostle endeavours more clearly to define his
teaching regarding the Coming of Christ.
The first reference to the subject is in the first chapter,
but there it is with regard to a matter of which there is
no doubt, concerning which he and his readers are in
perfect harmony. This is, that the Coming of the Lord
is a Coming for Judgment, for the adjustment and holding
level of life's balance ; when the mountains shall be brought
low, the valleys exalted, and the crooked things made
straight ; when good men shall receive the reward of their
goodness, often so ill-requited now, and evil men shall
receive the reward of their iniquity, and find how bitter is
the retribution of their present wrongdoing.
This assurance rests securely on a twofold basis ; on
the one hand, that his brethren are now enduring cruel '
wrongs and drinking of the Master's sorrowful cup, and, on
the other, that God is righteous, holy, just, and true, and
will not, in a universe in which He is supreme, suffer these
sad experiences to be the final issue. A blessed compensa
tion is in store for those bleeding, persecuted lives. It is
vain to tell men who are suffering unjustly that it would
be nobler if they simply endured without looking for a
time of coming peace and restitution. Paul touches a
deeper conviction of the human heart when he teaches that
the affairs of this world need righting, that only God can
do it, and that God will clo it. Good men are entitled to
entertain this as a sure hope. Some, alas ! can look to it
only with feelings of dread. The seed they have sown lias

40 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
been so bad, so displeasing to God, that their harvest can
only be one of indignation and loss. It is different with
those who, tried by many a fiery trial, have followed in
their Master's steps, enduring the cross and despising the
shame. For them, as for Him, there is the joy set before
them. It was to them He said : " Eejoice and be exceeding
glad : for great is your reward in heaven : for so persecuted
they the prophets which were before you."
But it is only in passing that Paul makes this reference
to the Last Things, so full of consolation and cheer to his
readers. Having made it, he very earnestly sets himself in
the second chapter to correct the error into which they had
fallen regarding the expectation of the immediate Coming
of Christ. He does so by calling to their remembrance, what they
were inclined to overlook, how he had told them that
many things must take place before the Lord would come.
Time was required for the development of these events.
True, a very long time might not be necessary ; many of
them might live to see it ; still, a period long enough to
make it quite false to represent the day of Christ as
" already come."
This is plain and definite enough. The difficulty, how
ever, arises, for us at least, when the Apostle proceeds to
specify the things he declares must first take place. These
are three in number. (1) First there must come the
apostasy of which he had told them. (2) The Man of Sin
or Lawlessness shall be revealed, an incarnation of evil,
the deceiver of men's souls, seating himself in the Temple
of God, and usurping the very attributes of Deity. Even
now he is at work, in a veiled and undeclared manner.
But there is one who hinders him, so that his complete
manifestation is restrained. (3) The time shall come,
however, when the restraining power shall be taken out of
the way, and then the full flood of iniquity shall set in,
when this Wicked One shall be revealed, only to be over
whelmed by the personal Advent of the Lord, and to be
consumed by the breath of His mouth.
This wonderful passage has been caUed the Apocalypse

THE PAULINE APOCALYPSE 41
of St. Paul, and in all his writings there are few more
difficult to interpret. None has given rise to more idle
and fantastic opinions, or brought more justly into con
tempt those who have applied it unwisely. Happily the
day has gone by when men of reputation confidently gave
it a definite and exclusive reference.
Several considerations have to be borne in mind. In
the first place, Paul is dealing with a common and tradi
tional expectation. He is not handhng any new revelation
peculiar to himself. In point of fact he adheres very
closely to Christ's discourse on the Last Things, which is
recorded in Matthew xxiv., and with which he has already,
in his First Epistle, shown himself acquainted. He also
unmistakably quotes certain utterances of Old Testament
prophecy that must have been familiar to him and to all
devout Jews as household words. The anticipation of dire
distress and of awful manifestations of evil, as signalising
the final struggle of good and evil and the Coming of the
Christ in Judgment, was a kind of common property in
Jewish thought. Even the Galilean disciples knew that
there would be " signs " of His Coming, and earnestly
besought our Lord to define them. The prophecies of
Daniel were the chief source and starting-point of such
expectations. It is possible that they may be traced
farther back, and that they even have analogies in other
religions, but in Daniel they are stamped with a character
istic impress which they retain to the close of the New
Testament, and indeed far beyond it.
But while these expectations were fundamentally
eschatological, looking forward in an ideal way to the end
of the world, they continually tended to become concrete,
and to take on contemporary colours. This was the more
inevitable when the times were troublous, and when the
whole environment seemed portentous and ominous of evil.
Then the shadows began to take shape, and men ventured
to give their fears a local habitation and a name. At the
time when Paul wrote he was himself under the influence
of this ' contemporary ' expectation. He looked for all
the signs to be fulfilled, and for the final catastrophe to

42 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
take place, not immediately indeed, but clearly beforo his
earthly career was ended. He gradually ceased to entertain
such an assurance, but there can be no question it was in
his heart at this period. It is this blending of the ideal
with the immediate outlook, which makes the interpretation
so particularly difficult. In fact they are almost inextric
ably entangled.
Further, the difficulty is heightened by the fact that
the passage is dominated by an evident reticence. We
can scarcely doubt that Paul had definite conceptions
in his own mind, and yet he prefers to be allusive and
enigmatic. This is clue to two causes : first, to the actual
relation between himself and his readers on the subject ;
and secondly, to the nature of the subject itself. Paul
feels that he does not need to be detailed and expHcit to
the Thessalonians ; he simply needs to remind them. He
had told them already what he beheved, and a few general
statements were all that were now necessary to recall it.
We may wonder that they should so soon have forgotten
such momentous matters. But it was human. They
overlooked the intervening stages, in their consuming con
cern for the final issue. Again, the subject itself was one
that called for caution in the mode of expression, both
because it was to a large extent shrouded in mystery, and
also because an expHcit announcement would prove offens
ive and perilous. In this respect also Paul followed the
model both of Daniel and of Christ. In Daniel there is
the call to ' understand ' and ' consider,' and from the
manner in which Christ's sayings are recorded, it is evident
the evangelist was aware that far more would be under
stood by an intelhgent man than was actually expressed.
This has always been a characteristic of the treatment of
such subjects. Hence the saying of Hippolytus: "This,
beloved, I communicate to thee with fear. . . . For if the
blessed prophets before us, although they knew it, were
unwilHng openly to proclaim it in order not to prepare any
perplexity for the souls of men, but imparted it secretly
in parables and enigmas, saying, ' whoso readeth let him
understand,' how much more danger do we run if we

THE APOSTASY 43
openly utter what was couched by them in covert
language ! " 1
Paul, then, speaks of an apostasy as one of the signs
which should precede the " day of the Lord." It has been
suggested that the word might have a political significance,
and be used to indicate a rebellion of the Jews against
Eome, which would lead to such a catastrophe as actually
took place in the Fall of Jerusalem.2 The general view,
however, is preferable and more natural, that the reference
is to a decay of faith, a falling away from loyalty to the
living God, on the part of those who once held it. We
have no doubt that those thus guilty, are those who are
also described in ver. 12 as having disbelieved the truth,
and had pleasure in unrighteousness. We also believe it
most likely that Paul is thinking of the Jews as those who
are about to fall into this great defection. Their rejection
of Jesus, and their constant and bitter opposition to His
Apostles and their message, undoubtedly appeared to him
as a disastrous denial of the grace of God, and one that
grew rather than diminished. Perhaps at this stage the
thought of a Christian apostasy was slightly foreign to
Paul's mind, but experience, as well as express revelation,
taught him ere the end of his life that that also would be
a sad part of the latter-day signs (1 Tim. iv. 1). It seems
to us highly probable that in the thought of the apostasy
1 Ch. xxix., cit. Bousset, Antichrist Legend, p. 31.
2 Mr. Askwith, Introduction to Thessalonian Epistles, ch. v., adopts this
suggestion with some hesitation, and uses it in connection with an ingeni
ous solution of the problem in the blasphemy of the Emperor-worship, and in
the ' overcoming ' of the world-power of Rome at the end of the struggle
of the first three centuries ; yet in a way, to use his own favourite expres
sion, that is not convincing. There is an error in all theories that seek to
define Paul's contemporary expectation, and then to work out its historical
fulfilment. Paul's conceptions were not thus fulfilled. The conversion of
Rome to Christianity in the beginning of the fourth century was in no
respect the appalling " day of the Lord," the final consuming of the Lawless
One with the "breath of His mouth," in any sense that Paul would have
attached to these phrases. We are accustomed justly enough to speak of
such events as "comings of the Lord," but the idea in Paul's mind was of
the last times in the strict and absolute sense. This is not to say that his
thoughts were destitute of all basis, but only that it is impossible to show
that any personal and present application fulfilled his prophecy.

44 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
the saying of Jesus may have haunted the Apostle's mind :
" Many false prophets shall arise, and shaU deceive many.
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall
wax cold."
Paul also reminds the Thessalonians that the Man of
Lawlessness, as an evil power of the most blasphemous
presumptions, is ah-eady at work, but as yet only as a
" mystery," that is, as a secret force not fully manifested.
It is not necessary to speculate as to what was exactly in
his thoughts. There was enough evil in that dark world
both to sadden and alarm the heart. Elymas was not the
only sorcerer who was a " child of the devil, and enemy of
all righteousness," nor Simon Magus the only one who was
in the " gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity." Paul
might have said with John, " Even now are there many
antichrists." One cannot help thinking also that Caligula's
impious attempt (a.d. 40) to set up his statue in the
Temple at Jerusalem, had a sting in it that continued to
rankle. It had roused the Jewish race to the very core.
No wonder, though it failed, that such imperial arrogance
seemed a portent, and a dark shadow of coming events.
There is, however, a force operating, that for a time
holds back the blasphemous outburst with all its attendant
havoc. This is the next thing of which Paul reminds the
Thessalonians. When he was with them he had spoken
of this, and they knew what he meant. And here we have
a point in the interpretation on which there is almost
universal agreement. This restraining power, capable for
the present of holding all turbulence in check, is the power
of Eome, personified in the Emperor. The Apostle does
not say so distinctly, simply because he at the same time
declares that this power shall be " taken away." A definite
statement would have put into the hands of his enemies
a weapon that they would have dearly loved to use. But
his view regarding Eome as a temporary safeguard was
well known to his friends, and in the Christian tradition
it became common and universal. The imperial power,
imperfect in many respects, was yet the bulwark of law
and order; after it the deluge. Hence one of the most

THE RESTRAINING POWER 45
powerful reasons for Christian supplication on behalf of the
Empire. Says Tertullian : " We have also another and a
greater need to pray for the Emperors, and moreover for
the whole estate of the Empire, and the fortunes of Eome,
knowing, as we do, that the mighty shock which hangeth
over the whole world, and the end of time itself, threaten
ing terrible and grievous things, is delayed because of the
time aUowed to the Eoman Empire. We would not there
fore experience these things, and while we pray that
they may be put off, we favour the long continuance of
Eome." x
Whether Paul thought that this restraining power
would cease with the reign of Claudius, or whether he
believed he discovered signs of the momentous change in
some other direction, it is quite impossible to say. We
only know that it was his conviction, that it would ere
long cease, and that then the arch-enemy of God and man
would display himself openly. He would deceive men with
lying wonders, would seat himself in the Temple of God,
and would arrogate to himself the honours due to God
alone. He is the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition, that
Wicked One, whose coming is after the working of Satan.
No doubt Paul thought of a distinct person, an incarnation
of evil, of whom all other evil workers had been but the
heralds and the passing representations. But it does not
follow that he thought of any one historically notable at the
moment. He may have had such a one in his mind's eye,
just as Daniel thought of Antiochus Epiphanes when he
used the most lurid descriptions. Yet it is not necessary
to believe this, or to distress ourselves with futile guesses
as to any particular reference.
We think it much more probable that he simply thought
of the Satanic spirit clothing himself in human form, the
better to approach men and to deceive them, and thus to
make his final and desolating effort against God and His
kingdom. He would take the guise of a Messiah, and
1 Apology, xxxii. So also Cyril, Jerome, Chrysostom, Lactantius,
Theodoret.

46 ' THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
thereby secure his place in the Temple, leading into still
deeper spiritual bondage those who had already rejected the
truth. This also was in the line of the prophetic tradition.
Daniel spoke of the abomination that maketh desolate
being set up in the place of the daily sacrifice; Isaiah
described Lucifer's ambition as a desire to sit upon the
mount of the congregation; and Christ Himself repeated
the language of Daniel regarding the abomination of desola
tion standing in the holy place. The Apostle's idea, there
fore, runs on Jewish lines, and has a Jewish character.
The bHndness of the Jews in faihng at the feet of the
false Messiah when they had rejected the true, is judicial.
Their retribution is that they " believe a lie." It would be
as Christ had said : "lam come in My Father's name, and
ye receive Me not ; if another shall come in his own name,
him ye will receive." Paul uses only general language in
describing this incarnation, but later on, in 2 Cor. vi. 15,
he uses the expression, " What concord hath Christ with
Belial?" and it is believed that the Greek expression
" Man of Sin " is almost certainly a translation of this
Hebrew name for the Evil One, the adversary of God and
man.1 Paid does not use the word Antichrist, which first
occurs in John's First Epistle, but Belial and Antichrist
by and by became interchangeable, as we see, for example,
in the Ascension of Isaiah, iv. 2 : " Beliar the great ruler,
the king of this world, will descend ... in the likeness of
a man, a lawless king." 2
Paul, therefore, we are incHned to believe, is, in this
obscure passage, keeping largely on the Hnes laid down by
Christ, and also on the lines of Old Testament prophecy,
and, so far, of his own experience. For his experience had
very naturally led him to the conviction that, hard as the
Gentiles were to convert, it was in unbelieving Judaism
that, as Weiss puts it, " the real seat of radical hostility
1 So Bousset, p. 153, and Charles, Ascension of Isaiah, p. lxii.
2 So also in the Sibyls. Cf. Bousset, p. 136; and on the. fusion of
Antichrist and Belial in 2 Thessalonians and before 60 a.d., cf. Charles,
pp. Ixi-lxiv. The Ascension of Isaiah, as we now have it, existed as early
as the latter half of the second century.

THE MAN OF SIN 47
to Christ " was to be found.1 Further, this hostility,
growing by what it fed on, would culminate in a still
sadder apostasy. Out of the heart of it, almost as its
natural product and efflorescence, would spring the False
Prophet, who would debase the faithless by his wonders 2
and seductions, and even in blasphemous arrogance attempt
to usurp the place of the Almighty. It is a catastrophe,
however, which the iron grasp of Eome has stiU power to
check ; but when that is removed, and the iniquity is
full blown, then there will be but one issue, the day of the
Lord will have arrived, and Christ in His glory will blast
that Wicked One with the breath of His mouth.3
So writes the Apostle, telling the Thessalonians no new
thing. But he has evidently no great passion for the
theme, for he never again returns to it in his writings.
He ceases to speak in such terms. Henceforth he rather
loves to dwell on the believer's spiritual union with the
Eedeemer, on the Hfe which dies and rises with Christ, and
which, in blessed harmony with Him, shall finally participate
in His perfection and glory.
Nevertheless, his words remain a scriptural prophecy ;
and it is a legitimate object of Christian faith for those
who do not think that this prophecy has received its ful
filment in the past, to hold that it will yet receive it in
the future. Here again it is important to observe, that the
revelation of the Man of Sin is linked with the final and

1 Bib. Theol. N.T., i. 305. Weiss and Bousset both maintain with great
ability the Jewish origin of Antichrist. On the other hand, Baur, Hilgen
feld, Dbllinger, Holtzmann, Schmiedel, Jiilicher, and Sabatier, look rather
to a Gentile origin. Cf. Charles, Eschatology, p. 381 n.
2 On the wonders expected to be wrought by Antichrist, cf. Charles,
Ascension, pp. 26-27, and Bousset, ch. xii.
3 On the whole subject the literature is voluminous, but cf. especially
Bousset, Antichrist Legend, and his article on " Antichrist " in Ency. Biblica ;
Weiss, Biblical Theology of N.T., i. 305-311; Beyschlag, N.T. Theology,
ii. 256-258; Spitta, Urchristentum, i. 134 sqq. ; Kabisch, Die Eschatologie
des Paulus; Charles, Ascension of Isaiah, Introd. li-lxxiii; Jowett,
Thessalonians, i. 86 sqq.; Schmiedel, H.-Comm., pp. 38 sqq.; P. Fairbairn,
Prophecy, pp. 360 sqq.; Eadie, in Thessalonians; S. Davidson, in Ency.
Britannica ; Askwith, Introd. to the Thessalonian Epistles, ch. v. ; H. St. John
Thackeray, Paul's Relation to Contemporary Jewish Thought, pp. 136-141.

48 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
personal Advent of Christ. This at once sweeps away a
whole host of intermediate and wholly inadequate, and
sometimes grossly unhistorical and uncharitable, interpreta
tions. If the experience of centuries has shown us that
Paul's expectation of the one Advent has had to be pro
jected into the distant future, so must it be with the other.
When they come they will come together. If the one had
already been revealed, so would the other. It is a dark
and appalhng figure that the Apostle casts upon the canvas,
but it is one that the eyes of men have not yet in reality
seen. And yet we may say it is not an impossible, perhaps
not even an extravagant, anticipation. There have been
some, during these eighteen centuries of human story, even
among popes and emperors, who have exhibited in hideous
depravity now one and now another of those features which
the Apostle describes. History has shown us men in high
places, whose coming has been after the working of Satan,
who have deceived others with signs and lying wonders, and
led them astray from the truth ; we have known some who
were almost ready in their insane pride to exact a homage
and reverence that could only be rendered to God Himself ;
and we cannot think it altogether extravagant to anticipate,
that there should at some time be a gathering up of all
these evil quahties into one, a supreme Satanic effort on
the earth, a Man, no less than fiend incarnate, who shall
set himself up against the Almighty, the true Antichrist,
of whom there have been many imperfect types, and whom
the glorious appearing of the Lord from heaven shall over
whelm. Even now — to extend Paul's saying — we may see
this mystery of iniquity at work in every sin and crime
wrought among men, in every falling away from the faith,
in every oppression or outburst of lawlessness and terror, —
in all evils that are only restrained from coming to a head
of irresistible anarchy by the good sense, the good govern
ment, and all the stiU potent forces of moral and social
order in the Christian world. It may be that the dark
culmination of evil here prefigured, is the state which our
Lord Himself pointed to when He said : " When the Son

CLIMAX OF APOSTASY IN THE LAST TIMES 49
of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth ? " as if
He meant to warn us that the antagonism of sin would
increase, that it would not, even in His own bitter experi
ence, exhaust its strength. In the fulness of time, when
it covered the world with its baneful shadow, He at His
Coming would find it so, and finding it would destroy it, as
only He can, " with the breath of His mouth."
It may indeed seem strange that if Christianity, in its
onward history, is to extend in influence over the world,
there should be such an intensification of the power of
apostasy at the last. The natural thought is that by that
time the true religion, having already overcome the inner
principle of evil, should rather find its foe increasingly
enfeebled and ready to perish. Dorner, we beheve, points
to the true explanation of this when he says :
" Since the process of Christian grace is and remains
ethical in character, i.e. since it is conditioned by human
freedom, it follows directly from the growing influence of
Christianity in the world, that those who nevertheless per
severe in resistance, will be impelled and hardened by the
stronger revelation of Christ, to more and more malignant,
especially to more spiritual, forms of wickedness, in order
to hold their ground against it. In this way, then, the
apostasy, supported by lying and the semblance of spiritual
being, is the more seductive and contagious, and thereto
even outward apostasy in further extension may attach
itself, in further development and revelation of the inner
state. But the transition to this is formed by the inner
apostasy through falsification of Christianity, which when
it assumes a spiritual garb is capable of the greatest
diffusion. Other religions of a higher class look for exten
sion by simple growth, and at least uniform victory in the
main. Christianity shows such confidence in its truth and
victorious strength, that it predicts a great apostasy in
relation to the very time when its influence on humanity
has become greatest, while conscious also of being a match
for the apostasy. Certain of its indestructibleness, from
the first it reckoned on this fact. Momentary overthrow
it will convert into the foil of its all the more glorious
triumph." * 1 System of Christian Doctrine, iv. 397-398.

50 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS

II.

But there were other efforts made by Paul to counteract
the unseemly and perilous restlessness that had arisen in
Thessalonica over the Second Coming. He not only
pointed out that many things must first take place before
that divine event, he earnestly exhorted that it is needful
to give a more dihgent attention to the common duties of
Hfe. He had done so in the First Epistle. He does so
now even more earnestly, and perhaps we may say more
sternly. Paul evidently beheves, in spite of all the trials that
have come upon them, and all the agitation that has taken
place, that the hearts of most of the converts in Thessa
lonica are sound. He affirms his confidence that the
majority of them are really true to the gospel he has
dehvered, and that they will loyally strive to carry out its
ideals. But those who have seriously yielded themselves
to evil influences and erroneous views, though they be only
a minority, are yet a very troublesome and dangerous
element. It is in their power to imperil the peace of the
Church, that essential treasure on which its progress and
very life depend. Hence the Apostle cannot speak of the
situation but as one of the utmost gravity. He makes the
most solemn appeals, and he even points to the necessity
of severe steps of discipline in dealing with it.
He describes the converts who disappoint him as those
who walk " disorderly." They are not charged with moral
iniquity, nor have they fallen away from faith in the
gospel, but they jar and disturb the harmony of the
common life. They have got out of step with the steady
onward march of their brethren. The word Paul uses
enshrines a miHtary metaphor. It suggests that they are
Hke undisciphned troops, who really may cause more havoc
in the army than the foe himself. The root of it all, no
doubt, is the misguided opinion which has already been
corrected The practical fruits, however, are idleness, and
aU the mischief which idleness ever finds at its hand.

THE DISORDERLY IN THESSALONICA 51
Men are giving up working at their business, and what are
they doing ? They are going about interfering with the
business of their neighbours. Not working, they yet work
too much. Not busy, they are busybodies. Their idle tattle,
their gossip, their prying and talebearing, cause endless
annoyance. They are the enemies of charity and concord,
just as serious a thing as to be the enemies of faith.
Moreover, earning nothing for themselves they necessarily
are a burden on the earnings of others. This appears to
have been carried beyond the verge of endurance. They
took advantage of the acknowledged claims of Christian
brotherhood, and exploited the Church. They put nothing
in, but took everything out. It seemed good to belong
to a society whose fundamental principles were that the
strong should help the weak, and that they who had
should give to them who had not. The Church of Thessa
lonica was not pledged to a state of communism, but the
disorderly evidently acted as if it were, and as if it never
occurred to them that their selfish claims upon its gener
osity could be too far or too insolently pushed. They had
to learn that the Christian conscience has also another
view, that it is a sin to give when giving only ministers to
evil. Hence Paul earnestly commands and exhorts, even " by
our Lord Jesus Christ," those brethren who are behaving
so ignobly, to work, to work quietly, and to eat their own
and not another's bread. He reminds them of his example
when he was among them, how he toiled night and day
at his task, not being chargeable to any of them, "not
because he had not power," but because he wished to give
them the pattern of a diligent and independent life. He
even reminds them of the maxim that had been so often
on his lips, that " if any would not work, neither should
he eat." Here, undoubtedly, we have sound Christian teaching on
the subject of labour. In the first place, this exhortation
of the Apostle represents labour as a social necessity. The
whole framework of society depends upon it, and the Hfe
of the man, of the family, and of the nation, demands it.

52 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
Every man is expected to do his part. If health be given
him, and if work be at hand, he is inexcusable if he
remain in the ranks of the unemployed. It is a crime to
be a mere idler. Idle rich and idle poor alike exist on
sufferance, and social parasites, hangers-on, and men who
prey and batten on the fruits of other men's toil, have
really no title to Hve. Paul went that length. Starvation,
he thought, should be allowed to work itself out as the
consequence of incorrigible idleness.
Further, it was his opinion that labour was an excel
lent safeguard of Christian morals. He would find in a
steady apphcation to the duties of life the true antidote
to spiritual restlessness and fanaticism. No doubt he was
right. Occupation is one of the first essentials of a good life.
A wise man will never have any desire to shirk his work,
but a consuming desire to stand to it and fulfil it. It is
not a perfectly common view. Some cynic has said that
life would be very tolerable but for its pleasures. It is a
more popular impression that it would be very tolerable if
it were not so full of labour. The ideal of many hearts is
to escape work, and to be above it ; as if one could ever
be above that which '-'Hfts its summit into the very
heavens." The common beUef iB that to become a man
of leisure is the only way to extract the good of life.
There never was a profounder mistake. It is the men of
leisure who are the most bored, and the men of pleasure
who become blase. Work, even hard work, of some
honourable kind, is a man's salvation. Along that line
God sends peace and joy, purity and strength. Some may
have too much of it ; the burdens of the world may not
seem well adjusted. And yet to have none at all would
be a greater evil than to have too much. The devil enters
by the door of idleness, and the heart that is "empty,
swept, and garnished," is his surest dwelling-place. There
he finds the best soil for the tares of morbid habits and
ruinous vices. No sounder doctrine was ever preached than
that the man whose hours are full of toil is the man who
Hves the safest Hfe.
Not only so. all honest labour, however humble, is a

THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF LABOUR 53
means of grace. It is an imitation of God Himself, and
brings a man nearer to heaven. Any discontent with the
work that lies to our hand is never inspired by a true
seeking after God. It is the surest way of turning from
Him. A manuscript recently discovered in Egypt, and
probably dating back to the close of the second century,
has preserved some traditionary " Logia " or sayings of
Jesus. Among them is the striking one : " Eaise the
stone, and there thou shalt find Me ; cleave the wood, and
there am I." If that be a true utterance of Jesus, we
may interpret it as illustrating the principle of which we
speak. To hew stones is a humble enough task, and yet
Christ may be found there. To cleave the wood is no
lofty calling, and yet the spirit of the Master Himself may
be revealed at every stroke.
It is a gracious lesson for us to learn that God has, as
Carlyle said, " wrapped the Ideal for us in the Actual " ;
that we do not need to cry to Him for another kingdom,
because He has put the key of the kingdom of heaven
into our hands now, if we would see it. It Hes in the
daily duty we think so little of, and in the common task
we are so prone to despise. A man might discover it in
his business, a woman in her home. That which is near,
not that which is remote, is what God means us to do.
There it is possible for us also to " manifest the works of
our Father." But it is one thing for the Apostle to lay down a noble
and helpful doctrine, it is another thing to find it heartily
accepted. Paul conceives a case in which it is not obeyed.
He supposes that there may be a man with whom such
pleading and remonstrance are in vain. The disorderly
may despise authority, and refuse to be controlled. What
then ? Is there no remedy ? There assuredly is, and that
within the power of the Church herself. Such a man may
be noted, and the believers may decline to have fellowship
with him.
This is a very significant utterance. It is the first
mention of discipline within the Church. And it is
significant because it so simply takes for granted the

54 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
autonomy of the Church, her inherent right to regulate
her own membership, and to decide what shall be the
terms of her communion. Paul never dreams that the
right can be questioned. Nor can it, except by a claim
for unlimited individual liberty. To join a society, and
participate in its benefits, necessarily imphes a counter
balancing restriction in submitting to its laws. It is
impossible to be a member of any community, whether
sacred or civil, without some certain curtailment of per
sonal freedom. " A person who claims to belong to the
Church," it has been said, " and yet resents the bearing of
the general Church feeling upon his way of life, is really
asserting the unmodified separateness of each individual
soul ; a position which is hard to sustain even in political
theory, and is not consistent with a complete adhesion to
the New Testament, or with the principles which emerge
throughout Church history. It is only by this isolation of
each individual that the right and the obligation of the
Church to enforce disciphne upon its members can be
vahdly set aside." 1
But, it may be asked, what of a case of error in a
decision ? Suppose a man feels aggrieved by the action
taken against him by those who are in authority in the
Church or congregation to which he belongs. Suppose he
believes the decision has been come to with imperfect
knowledge, or by wrong methods, or even under the
influence of unworthy motives. In most of the organised
branches of the Christian Church he has carefully safe
guarded interests, and a right of appeal to higher tribunals.
In the divided state of Christendom he may even perhaps
seek in one ecclesiastical denomination a refuge which is
denied to him in another. Belief has sometimes been thus
enjoyed. Instead of enduring bitter persecution, a man
may happily find himself in a new atmosphere of sympathy
and respect. It is one of the possible compensations for
the many evils attending the sectional condition into which
the Church has faUen. And yet it must be said that this
1 Strong, Christian, Ethics, p. 364.

CHURCH DISCIPLINE 55
may itself be turned into a great evil, a deep aggravation
of the " sin of schism," if it be used merely as an escape
from discipline, and if its tendency be to promote laxity in
any body of Christians who are tempted to grow, at least
numerically, at the expense of their neighbours. But fail
ing, even within the bounds of the section of the Church
to which he belongs, to obtain what he believes to be
justice, a man may still appeal to the Christian conscience
and judgment of mankind. Great hearts have been righted
there when none of the " rulers " have shown them a single
ray of grace. Yea, even beyond all fallible human scenes,
a good man may lift his eyes to another tribunal, to a
great and holy Judgment Seat, where no error is made,
and where the Eternal Lord Himself is Judge. In the
historic square of Florence, in front of the Old Palace, when
Savonarola was being unfrocked before being committed to
the flames, the Bishop of Vasona said, " Thus do I separate
thee from the Church militant and triumphant." For a
moment the old light gleamed in the martyr's eyes as he
replied, "From the Church mihtant, yes. From the Church
triumphant, no ; it is not thine." Like Stephen, he also
beheld the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing
on the right hand of God.
It is no doubt easy to understand how, in the
beginning of Christianity, when the Church merely existed
in the form of a series of smaU voluntary societies, dotted
here and there through the great cities of the Empire, her
right of self-regulation should seem clear. Things, how
ever, have appeared to some more complicated and con
fused as her history rolled on, and as she assumed a
powerful place in human society. For then her member
ship naturally conferred on a man a certain status, which
carried with it interests not merely spiritual but material.
In that case, to deprive him of Church fellowship would
also be to affect and injure these material interests. But
even in such a case there can be no just complaint against
the Church for disturbing interests which she herself has
created, and for exercising her simple right of exclusion
within her own province. Eisk of such loss must be taken

56 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
by her adherents.1 Many receive material blessing
through the mere establishment of Christianity in the
community, who never aid in its maintenance, or even
give it countenance. Such gain is accepted without
acknowledgment ; there may sometimes be cases when the
loss must be incurred without complaint. These really are
the accidents of the position. They depend very much on
the mere popularity of the Church. If she be held in
esteem, undoubtedly a man will lose by the exercise of
disciphne against him ; but if she be unpopular, herself in
disrepute, such a matter would be of little external con
sequence to him, certainly no injury. In any case, such
considerations cannot overthrow the native right of such
an institution to declare who are and who are not fit to be
within her pale, or to exercise her spiritual offices. The
claim is not put too strongly when it is said: "The Church
in its own affairs remains the only rightful and the highest
court of appeal on earth, and any outward judicial
authority which would display itself in it, or has done so,
in order to rule over it, and hold it in tutelage, is false,
illegal, and condemned by Christ in advance." 2
One underlying motive, therefore, of Church discipline
is obviously self-preservation. No organised body could
long exist without the power of deaHng with what trans
gressed its ideals, or irritated and threatened its life.
" Neglecting discipline, it would necessarily come to a
stand, impUcate itself in the sins of its unworthy members,
give free scope to the poison in its own organism, and thus
procure its own dissolution." 3
But Paul indicates also another motive, one that has
respect to the offender. Discipline does not spring from
any wish to inflict punishment upon him, but from a pure

1 Of course this does not deny the obvious power that the State in its
province has over all its citizens, so that, if one should injure another, the
aggrieved may appeal to that power. The civil authority deals with the
matter simply as a civil question, judging whether the civil law has been
transgressed or not.
2 Beyschlag, N.T. TJicology, i. 171.
3 Schaff, History of the Apostolic Church, ii. bk. ii. eh. ii. sec. 122.

MOTIVES OF DISCIPLINE 57
desire to secure a change in his mind and life. It seeks
his return to the better way which the Church believes he
has forsaken. The State may sometimes inflict its penalty,
and exhibit no concern whether its action may lead to the
sinner's amendment or not. The Church never can, never
dare. Her love is not extinguished because she withstands
a brother ; it rather takes a fresh start, and regards him
with a new concern. She cannot be fully satisfied until
she sees him again in full accord with what she devoutly
believes to be the will of Christ. The resistance with
which she has met him, has been painful to her as to him,
perhaps most of all to her. If she has proceeded in the
spirit of the gospel, she has proceeded reluctantly, patiently,
with all tenderness, and with all charity ; yea more, with
deep humility and meekness, remembering her own un
worthiness. Like God Himself, she cannot love the death
of the sinner, but rather that he would turn from his evil
way and live. Ten thousand times rather would she be
reconciled than admonish, receive than rebuke, restore than
suspend. Deep in her heart is the spirit of redeeming
love, the yearning to be at one.

III.
Finally, the Epistle shows us how, in all his anxiety
and warnings, the Apostle himself never ceased to display
this noble spirit. In his eager desire to set at rest the
disturbed Hfe of his converts, and to uphold them in their
manifold trials, he did not neglect to use the highest means
of all. Again and again he bore them to God's Throne in
prayer. Mightier than any power he could put forth was
the grace divine. He believes in it, and knows its potency.
Hence his longing that the Lord Himself, who can move
and control the hearts of all men, who can turn their
stormy passions into calm, and the night of their darkness
into the clear light of truth, would direct his brethren into
" the love of God and the patience of Christ."
Beautiful prayers close each of the chapters, and they

58 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
are very touching when we remember the lives of those
in whose interest they were so fervently breathed. Many
foes raged against them, and many defections disturbed
them. These gave pathetic point to the supplications that
God would count them worthy of their calhng, and fulfil
the work of faith with power, that the name of the Lord
Jesus might be glorified in them; that the Lord Jesus
Himself, and God their Father, who had loved them, and
given them everlasting consolation and good hope through
grace, would comfort their hearts, and stablish them in
every good word and work; and finaUy, that the Lord
of peace Himself would give them peace always, by all
means. After aU, these were the things those Christians
needed most, and we could not conceive Paul faihng to
seek them at the only source from which they could come.
" More things are wrought by prayer than this world
dreams of." It instils sweetness into many a bitter cup,
and opens the door of mercy to many laden souls. Yet it
entertains no quixotic task of changing the divine wiU, or
childish presumption of informing or directing the infinite
wisdom. It rests in a far deeper philosophy. " The whole
confidence and glory of prayer," says Buskin, " is in its
appeal to a Father who knows our necessities before we ask,
who knows our thoughts before they rise in our hearts, and
whose decrees, as unalterable in the eternal future as in
the eternal past, yet in the close verity of visible fact,
bend, Hke reeds, before the foreordained prayers of His
children." 1
Lastly, these prayers not only inspire us to pray " both
for ourselves and those who call us friend," but appeal to us
also by the high things which the Apostle ventured to ask,
the noble ideals he believed to be attainable by those lowly
converts freshly drawn from the darkness of the pagan
world. There was nothing pure or lofty in Hfe to which
he did not caU them, to which he did not believe but that
God in His mercy meant to bring them. If for them such
1 On the Old Road, ii. 376, § 2S6.

THE APOSTLE'S PRAYERS 59
ideals were possible, surely also for us. It is a high
calling to be citizens of the heavenly kingdom. We forget
it too often. Amid the din and turmoil of our earthly life,
amid its absorbing cares and toils, the glory and the fresh
ness of the dream fade into the grey light of common day.
The Apostle turns the heart again to God who is its home.
To listen to his clear notes is like having the face fanned
by a fresh breeze ; he suffuses hfe with the glow of a holy
purpose, and speeds it to its goal with a deathless hope.

II.
THE FOUR GREAT EPISTLES.

GALATIANS.
1 CORINTHIANS.
2 CORINTHIANS.
ROMANS.

Attacked almost simultaneously at every point of his work, Paul does
not shrink from the contest ; he redoubles his energies, and makes himself
almost ubiquitous, everywhere confronting his adversaries and never for one
moment doubting of victory. For four or five years this groat controversy
absorbed his whole thought and energy ; it was the leading fact which
dominated and distinguished this second period. Our great Epistles are
the issue of these truly tragic circumstances, and can only be thoroughly
understood in their light. These Epistles are not theological treatises, so
much as pamphlets ; they are the crushing and terrible blows with which
the mighty combatant openly answered the covert intrigues of his enemies.
The contest is in reality a drama, which grows larger and more complicated
as it advances from Galatia to Rome. — Sabatier.

02

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.

THE DUTCH SCHOOL AND THE FOUB
GEEAT EPISTLES.
The two Epistles to the Thessalonians stand in a group by
themselves as tho earliest of Paul's writings that have
come down to us. But after a few years' interval there
follows a series of four Epistles, the most remarkable of all
the utterances of the Apostle.
These are Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Eomans,
a group which is usually distinguished as the four great
or principal Epistles. This distinction is given them
because of their intrinsic worth, and also because of the
highly favourable opinion which critics of almost all
schools have held regarding their authenticity. Every
earnest student perceives the immense importance of the
fact that at least one portion of the field consists of
writings which, by almost common consent, are genuine
writings of the Apostle. If Paul wrote them, they take us
right back to a period of about twenty-five years from the
Crucifixion. He is then far advanced on his career as a
missionary, and there can be no dubiety as to his essential
standpoint and teaching. He sets down with great fulness
and distinctness the doctrines of grace, and the way of
salvation as the Church from the first declared it. Such
writings, therefore, are to be regarded as of inestimable

64 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
value, the strongest and surest defence of historical
Christianity. It is well known that the early date of the writings is
strongly attested by Christian writers of the sub-apostoHc
age, and that for eighteen centuries the tradition has been
unbroken, that in these pages we have the very mind and
heart of the Apostle. It will suffice to say that the
Tubingen school, which doubted or denied the authenticity
of all the rest of the Epistles, frankly acknowledged the
genuineness of these. This also became the general verdict
of the ' critical ' school which followed that of Tubingen,
and which, in many branches, has included the names of
tho leading German scholars to this day. Baur's language
was : " There has never been the slightest suspicion of
unauthenticity cast on these four Epistles, and they bear
so incontestably the character of Pauline originality, that
there is no conceivable ground for the assertion of critical
doubts in their case." 1 Eenan said : " They are incon
testable, and uncontested." 2 And Professor Eamsay writes
recently of them as "the unimpeached and unassailable
nucleus of admitted Pauhne writings." 3 We may presume
that these opinions were based on some critical examina
tion of the writings, and that they were well weighed
before they were uttered. The last thing in the world we
should think of, would be that such judgments were dictated
by a slavish deference to tradition, or that, through some
strange shyness and constraint, the men who delivered them
feared to utter the truth which they must have perceived.
Nevertheless, so grave a charge is now confidently made
against them. It did not seem to us conspicuously obvious
that such writers, or their followers in such opinions, were
" unfaithful to their principles respected everywhere else " ;
that they would not in this case " take serious account of
objections," that " hearing they would not hear, and seeing
they would not see"; that, in short, these four Epistles

1 Paul, i. 246.
'* St. Paul, Introduction, p. v.
8 Hastings' Did. of tlie Bible, i. 484b

ORIGIN OF THE NEGATIVE CRITICISM 65
had exercised over them an amazing and unaccountable
glamour, which straightway caused them to forget what
manner of men, what good comrades in critical fields of
" untrammelled scientific research," they had always hither
to been. Yet hard sayings like these are now spoken of
them by a new circle of critics, who have discovered that
the four principal Epistles are no more genuine than the
rest, that they have been all along the objects of an
ignorant fetish-worship, from which the world is now
happily to be delivered. It certainly becomes us to listen
to the new voices, to learn what their message is, and how
they have reached it, especially when we are aware that
they are the voices of men of undoubted learning and
sincerity.1 The genealogical line of objection to the genuineness of
the Epistles is not a very long one, and may soon be
traced. It began with Edward Evanson, a retired English
clergyman, who published in 1792 his " Dissonance of the
Four generally received Evangelists," in the course of
which he maintained that he could not regard an Epistle
to a Church in Eome as historically possible in Paul's
time, for the simple reason that, according to Acts, no
such Church was then in existence ; he also thought there
1 Our acquaintance with the Dutch school has been largely derived from
the able chapters on "Recent attacks on the Hauptbriefe" in Knowling's
Witness of the Epistles, from Clemen's Die Einheitlichkeit der paulinischen
Briefe, from the references in Sanday and Headlam's Introduction to their
Commentary on Romans, those of Godet, Jiilicher, and Zahn in their Intro
ductions, of Schmiedel and Lipsius in the Hand-Commentar, and other
passages in English and German, more or less informing ; but above all from
a series of three interesting articles by Van Manen himself— who, as Cheyne
declares, might without immodesty say of the whole discussions, Quorum
¦pars magna fui— in the Expository Times, ix. 205, 257, 314 ; and, still
more recently, from his frank and lucid exposition of the "main con
tentions " of the later criticism, in the portions contributed by him to the
article on Paul in the Ency. Biblica, vol. iii. Van Manen would doubtless
not regard this as quite sufficient ground for judgment. He appears
anxious that all the writings of the school should be studied, down, we
suppose, to every " i " they have dotted, and every "t" they have crossed.
But his own articles present matters with admirable clearness, and even, we
feel, with adequate fulness. They enable us to form a definite opinion
regarding at least the main positions.
5

66 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
were passages in the Epistle which referred to a period
after the Fall of Jerusalem, and which consequently could
not have been written by a man who died a consider
able time before that event. This book was re-issued in
1805, and was answered by Falconer in his Bampton
Lecture, 1810. The next writer to herald the dawn of tho
newer criticism was Bruno Bauer (1809-1882). Bauer pro
fessed to carry the work of Strauss to its logical issue. He
represented the Gospels as unhistorical, the mere dramatic
products of the human consciousness. Mark was the original
author of the romance, which the other evangelists only
added to and embelHshed. The simplest statements of
facts are supposed by Bauer to have been concocted with
dogmatic aims, intended to exploit a credulous and super
stitious people. On the Pauline Epistles ho wrote a series
of three critical pamphlets (1850—1—2), in which the
four principal Epistles are summarily relegated to the close
of the second century. Bauer lost his professorship at
Bonn for his opinions, and, regarding himself as a martyr,
launched into a bitter Ishmaelite career in the literature
of theology and pohtics, in which he displayed the most
inordinate vanity and venom. As to theology, " lie denies
its scientific value ; he hates it with an unutterable rage ;
he outrages it, and persecutes it with the inverted fanati
cism of the old Theologian." 1 Even those who largely
agree with his results, speak of him as the " most rash " of
all critics of the Bible. Yet he is generally regarded as
the man who gave the real impulse to those new views,
whose more reputable advocates began rapidly and vigor
ously to make themselves heard, chiefly in Holland, from
the eighties onwards.
There Pierson and Naber in 1886 published their
opinion, that coincident with the appearance of Christianity
there was a revival of spiritual Judaism in the form of an
anti-Pharisaic party, one of whose most distinguished
members was the real originator of the spiritual ideas we
are famiUar with in the Pauline Epistles; but, that the
1 Lichtenberger, German Theol. of the Nineteenth Century, p. 376.

HISTORY OF OPINION 67,
actual author of these Epistles was a Christian ecclesiastic
of the second century, a certain Paulus Episcopus, of
whom nothing else is known, who filched the ideas of the
nameless but spiritually-minded Jew, and arrayed them in
the form of these fictitious letters, only interpolating here
and there some timid and apologetic portions of his own.
Paul the Apostle was an historical reahty, but hazy and
uncertain, nothing like the man we are supposed to know
in the Acts and Epistles, although his namesake, the Bishop,
thought it worth while to personate him, while the
Churches which he addressed in this guise, accepted every
thing in verity. Dr. Loman, however, about the same
time (1882—1886), endeavoured to put the criticism on
a more scientific basis. According to him, Paul, as we
think we know him, was in the main a legendary character,
and even Jesus Himself never really existed, but was an
ideal name, used only as the symbol and personification of
spiritual thoughts and principles which came into vogue in
the second century. The Epistles were written in the first
quarter of that century, and as Paul was believed to be a
reformer of anti-Judaic sympathies, he was chosen as the
patron of the movement, and the writings were published in
his name. The aim of this whole series of pseudepigrapha,
was to further the interests of this circle of clever and
elevated men, who, partly imbued with Hebrew ideals, and
partly with the speculations of Greek and Alexandrian
philosophy, desired the spread of a universalistic Chris
tianity and true Gnosis. For this end they perceived
it necessary that Jewish legalism should be neutralised,
and that the narrow national element should be expelled
from the Messianic idea. Hence the Epistles. This, it
may be said, remains the accepted hypothesis of the origin
of all the Pauline writings, although most of the later
writers expressly decline to commit themselves to Loman's
theory respecting the gospel history. Following Loman,
come especially Steele of Bern, Volter of Amsterdam,
Van Manen of Leyden. It is unnecessary to go into
details regarding the ingenious dissections and theories
of interpolation, in which some of the writers of the

68 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
school have been bewilderingly prolific.1 It will be
sufficient to indicate what are described as the main
contentions. The aim of the newer critics is professedly to complete
the work that Baur of Tubingen and his followers left un
finished ; to do for these Epistles what had already been
accomplished for the others. The reason why Baur stopped
where he did, is a puzzle to them. It is strange that lie
did not discuss the question of the genuineness of the four
Epistles ; if he had only done so, it is thought, he must have
come to the conclusions that are now reached. At any rate
it is deeply regretted that Baur simply assumed the authen
ticity, without attempting to justify it. The new school
will have no assumptions, at least of this kind. All that
ever was written, whether principal Epistles or minor
Epistles, must come to the bar of criticism and be judged.
It cannot be expected, of course, that the judgments should
in every respect be identical. The writers differ in details.
Nevertheless, in broad, general results they are very much
at one, and it is with this consensus that we are chiefly
concerned. In the first place, to think of Paul is to think of
the book of Acts. But this book " cannot be regarded "
as a " true and credible first-hand narrative of what
actually occurred." It is in character partly " legendary-
historical," and partly "edifying and apologetical." As a
work it is a substantial unity, but based evidently on older
authorities, the chief of which are designated (1) Acts of
Paul or Pcriodoi Paulou, and (2) Acts of Peter or Periodoi

1 Cf. the painstaking collection of this mass of conjectural criticism in
Clemen's Evihcillichkeit, a task which Van Manen speaks of as performed
with "talent to a considerable extent, but not faultlessly." He means
that we must read all the books referred to, or our impression will be
incomplete. On the integrity of the Galatian Epistle Ramsay is character
istically emphatic. " And this letter is pronounced by some of our friends
in Europe to be an accretion of scraps round and between bits of genuine
original Pauline writing. How blind and dead to all sense of literature and
to all knowledge of life and human nature must the man be who so judges
—a mere pedant confined within the narrow walls and the .lose atmo
sphere of a schoolroom and a study ! " (Hist. Comm. pp. 474-475).

COMPOSITION OF ACTS AND THE EPISTLES 69
Petrou. These, with oral tradition, and a few borrowed
details (say, from Josephus) make up the sources. The
author has kept well to his authorities, and yet at the
same time he has woven them together in quite a free
way of his own. His name is not known, but he took the
name of Luke, Paul's companion, and, having his home
perhaps in Eome, perhaps in Asia Minor, he flourished
about the second quarter of the second century. This
book informs us " how the Christianity of the first thirty
or thirty-five years after the Crucifixion was spoken about,
estimated, and taught, in influential circles, about the
years 130-150 A.D."
As for the canonical Epistles, all of them, without
exception, are pseudepigrapha. As a group they are
distinguished by an obvious unity, not by any means unity
of authorship, but as having originated " in one circle, at
one time, in one environment." As to this origin, external
evidence tells us nothing ; such evidence never in any case
can testify to much more than existence at a certain time ;
but internal evidence, the only positive evidence, points
strongly to the conclusion that the Epistles are not the
work of Paul. Whose then ? The circle or environment to
which they owe their origin, had its home somewhere out
side Palestine, " probably in Syria, particularly in Antioch ;
yet it may have been in Asia Minor '' ; and was composed
of certain " heretical " disciples who, as " friends of Gnosis,
of speculation, and of mysticism," had ceased " to regard
themselves as bound by tradition, and felt themselves free
to extend their flight in every direction." This is the true
home of Paulinism. With the historical Paul, Paulinism
has reaUy nothing to do. It is altogether " the later
development of a school of progressive believers who named
themselves after Paul, and placed themselves as it were
under his aegis." The Epistles, one after another, are only
a series of reflections of this movement from different
points of view. Is there really, then, any historical Paul ?
It is not, on this theory, a question of very great moment.
Opinions vary. Steck still recognises a really " human and
beautiful " Paul in the Acts. To Van Manen this is too

70 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
conservative. It is not denied that there was an early
disciple named Paul, but he is a very indistinct personality,
an itinerant artisan-preacher, who " with reasonable cer
tainty " made one journey towards the end of his life,
Troas-Philippi-Troas-Jerusalem-Eome (Acts xvi. 10-17,
xx. 5—15, xxi. 1-18, xxvii. 1-xxviii. 16), though why
there should be this concession is not quite clear. We
must not, however, think too much of it, for even in this
journey-narrative he comes before us "now enveloped in
clouds, now standing out in clear light ; now a man among
men, and now an ideal figure who is admired but not
understood." Although the representation is in the main
from the life, the reader is "at every point conscious of
inaccuracy and exaggeration, and finds himself compelled
to withhold his assent where he comes across what is
manifestly legendary." This legendary element is easily
recognised: it includes everything that borders on the
supernatural, from the story of the conversion onwards.1
Eegarding his ideas, " it does not appear " that Paul was
in any way greatly in advance of his fellow-disciples ; he
was no more emancipated from Judaism than they were,
and had no thought of any breach with it. He remained
to the last in his own consciousness a Jew, with this sole
distinction from the children of Abraham, that he preached
" the things concerning Jesus." For all the rest, " legend
has made itself master of his person."
Such, then, is the message of the new teachers, to
which they so earnestly summon us to listen. It is the
result of what they consider " conceivable," what they think
may rationally be " supposed."
If we inquire more particularly what are the reasons
why the four principal Epistles are judged unauthentic, we
have them clearly and succinctly stated by Van Manen in
seven points. In order to understand him we must make
a brief note of these. If we can accept them, they are the
stepping-stones into the realm of the newer light.
1 Cf. Ency. Biblica, iii. col. 3C33, for a partial list of this huge body
of "legendary " matter.

REASONS FOR REJECTING THE FOUR EPISTLES 71
1. In respect of form, the writings are not letters,
but, strictly speaking, epistles, books or treatises set forth
in the form of letters. They are intended particularly as
documents of edification to be read at religious meetings ;
and though the names of Paul and his associates are used
to gain a tone of authority, and the object is to make it
appear as if they were alive at the time of composition,
these personages had in point of fact long passed away.
2. The other six points concern the substance or con
tents, the Paulinism of the Epistles.
(1) If the Epistles are genuine, it is impossible for us
to form " any intelligible conception " of Paul's relation to
the three Churches concerned ; or even of the schools and
parties that are referred to. Since we cannot form such
an intelligible conception, the inference is that the Epistles
cannot be genuine.
(2) The Epistles contain doctrinal and ethical ideas of
such magnitude and depth as were not possible to Paul
within a few [twenty-five] years after the Crucifixion.
(3) In these Epistles there is a substratum of inherited
doctrine, or older Paulinism, long famihar to the supposed
readers ; but some, especially in Corinth, have got beyond
this stage ; while others, the Judaisers of Galatians, have
actually gone back from it to the still older Jewish or
Jewish-Christian view. These groups " one can hardly
imagine " existing in such force in Paul's time.
(4) What is the Paulinism expounded and defended
in these Epistles ? It is " the fruit of a thorough-going
reformation of the older form of Christianity." It mani
festly could not be reached until the " original expecta
tions of the first disciples " had been altogether or in part
given up. Time, no little time, is needed.
(5) There are problems in the Epistles, which we can
" see " do not belong to a period so early as twenty or
thirty years after the Crucifixion. Such are : problems of
the relation of Law and Gospel, of justification, of election,
of Christ according to the flesh and according to the Spirit,
of the value of circumcision, the Sabbath, visions, marriage,
the authority of the Apostles, and a multitude of others.

72 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
We must not bo deceived. Although Paul is represented
as speaking, " the tone is everywhere retrospective."
(6) A special kind of Christian Gnosis occupies many
of the highly-developed minds ; Israel's rejection is spoken
of in a way that could not possibly have preceded the Fall
of Jerusalem ; moreover, we are in the presence of bloody
persecutions. Further, we have the Church ' rich,' many
of its members 'perfect,' 'spiritual,' full of 'understand
ing,' capable of following profound discussions. There
are ' traditions ' also ; the fixed customs and usages of
organisation, collections, ordinations. In short, time has
rolled on, and the historical background of the Epistles is
that of a later age.
We are grateful to Van Manen for such a lucid pre
sentation of these arguments. We long wished to know
where the Dutch critics were, and how they got there.
Yet almost every one of these arguments has in principle
been familiar in connection with the later Epistles. The
sounds are old ; the apphcation alone is comparatively new.
And in fact, when we consider them, these last six points
really resolve themselves into two : the first, and the five
others. (1) In the first place, this : There are relations in
the Epistles so difficult to understand that, since we cannot
properly understand them, the Epistles are not trustworthy.
(2) In the next place, the development, religiously and
ecclesiastically, is so great that not merely twenty or thirty
years, but seventy or eighty more are required, if we are
to be able rationally to conceive it ; to accept the situation
at any earher date is simply to accept what cannot possibly
have been. We trust this does not reduce the "main
contentions " to too naked a condition, for it is good to get
to first principles. But if this really be the materia prima
of the newer critics, need they be so indignant that the
world has not gone in a blaze? We shall state a few
reasons why, to us at least, the whole theory seems im
possible of acceptance.
1. We cannot share in the objection to the form of the
four Epistles. They profess to be letters, but we are told
they are obviously treatises in an epistolary form. The

THE FORM OF THE EPISTLES 73
critics are certainly entitled to this opinion. It is a
question of literary taste. It ought, however, to go for
something, that nearly every one else regards them as bear
ing abundant and beautiful marks of being true letters.
To our eyes it is as clear as day in the case of Galatians
and the two to Corinthians, and not very obscure even in
the case of Eomans. But we will cite (we hope not at
unpardonable length) an authority whom we know Van
Manen will receive with every respect. In the course of
his articles in the Expository Times (ix. 210), the Dutch
Professor speaks of that part of Deissmann's Bible Studies
where the distinction between letters and epistles is
so ably drawn, as, in his regard, " perfect." It is very
interesting, therefore, to see what Deissmann has to say
of this distinction when applied to the four principal
Epistles. Van Manen will not have failed to remark
Deissmann's insistence that the two categories, " doctrinal
letter " and " epistle," must not be amalgamated. Deiss
mann says that he " has no objection to any one breaking
up the Pauline letters into several subdivisions, and sub
suming some of them under the species doctrinal letter ;
only one should not fondly imagine that by means of the
doctrinal letter he has bridged over the great gulf between
letter and epistle. The pre-literary character even of the
doctrinal letter must be maintained." He has been speak
ing of Philippians. But he goes on to say that this holds
good even of the " great Epistles."
" They, too, are partly doctrinal ; they contain, in fact,
theological discussions : but even in these the Apostle has
no desire to make literature. The Letter to the Galatians
is not a pamphlet 'upon the relation of Christianity to
Judaism,' but a message sent in order to bring back the
foolish Galatians to their senses. The letter can only be
understood in the light of its special purpose as such. How
much more distinctly do the Letters to the Corinthians bear
the stamp of the true letter! The second of them, in
particular, reveals its true character in every line ; in the
author's opinion, it is the most letter-like of all the letters
of Paul, though that to Philemon may appear on the surface
to have a better claim to that position. The great difficulty

74 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
in the understanding of it is due to the very fact that it is
so truly a letter, so full of allusions and familiar references,
so pervaded with irony and with a depression which struggles
against itself — matters of which only the writer and the
readers of it understood the purport, but which we, for the
most part, can ascertain only approximately. What is
doctrinal in it is not there for its own sake, but is altogether
subservient to the purpose of the letter. . . . The Letter to
tlie Romans is also a real letter. No doubt there are sections
in it which might also stand in an epistle ; the whole tone
of it, generally speaking, stamps it as different from the
other PauUne letters. But nevertheless it is not a book,
and the favourite saying that it is a compendium of Paulin
ism, that the Apostle has, in it, laid down his Dogmatics and
his Ethics, certainly manifests an extreme lack of taste. No
doubt Paul wished to give instruction, and he did it, in part,
with the help of contemporary theology, but he does not
think of the literary pubhc of his time, or of Christians in
general, as his readers ; he appeals to a little company of
men, whose very existence, one may say, was unknown to
the public at large, and who occupied a special position
within Christianity. . . . The fact that the Letter to the
Eomans is not so enlivened by personal references as the
other letters of Paul is explained by the conditions under
which it was written ; he was addressing a Church which he
did not yet personaUy know. Considered in the light of this
fact, the infrequence of personal references in the letter
lends no support to its being taken as a literary epistle ; it
is but the natural result of its non-literary purpose. More
over, Paul wrote even the ' doctrinal ' portions in his heart's
blood. The words ru\a.i<?rupo; eyu &v(lf>wj6s are no cool rhe
torical expression of an objective ethical condition, but the
impressive indication of a personal ethical experience: it
is not theological paragraphs which Paul is writing here,
but his confessions." 1
We need not add to these extracts by adducing the
opinions of others who are also well qualified to speak on
questions of form. It is enough to quote this distinguished
writer, whose insight and judgment Van Manen himself
recognises. 2. The new theory absolutely discards the super-
1 Bible Studies, pp. 47-49.

DENIAL OF THE SUPERNATURAL 75
natural, though that itself is not new. This is really at
the bottom of everything. No doubt Van Manen would
confess that here we are at the parting of the ways, and
that he does not expect to commend himself to all his
readers. At the same time he is strong on the matter of
assumptions, and it is needful to insist that he himself
makes the most vital assumption of all. Everything that
in any degree transcends ordinary experience is taken
away : removed forthwith to limbo. So far as his articles
go, he simply shrugs his shoulders, like Matthew Arnold,
and says, " miracles do not happen." If this be true, there
is not much use discussing the genuineness of the Epistles,
or of the Gospels either ; most of us had better return to
our boats and nets ; but if it is not true, then nine-tenths
of Van Manen's arguments fall to the ground. We cannot
expect him to write a treatise on miracles every time he
cuts up the narrative, but only wish to make clear his
final criterion oi fact. He probably knows he would have
hard work to convince all scholars that his starting-point
is quite philosophical. Says Principal Fairbairn : "Whether
there is anything supernatural in a history is not a matter
to be decided by the play of critical formulae on a litera
ture, nor by the study of periods or events in isolation.
It belongs to the whole, and is to be determined as regards
any special person by his worth for the whole and by the
degree in which he is a factor of its good." 1
3. The criticism, having dismissed the supernatural, is
dominated by a rationalistic theory of development, to whose
rigid lines all the records must yield. There is a small
indefinite starting-point of apostolic tradition, to be re
cognised by its primitive and natural way of regarding
Jesus, and also by its intensely Jewish characteristics. At
the other end, there is the highly developed system of
specifically Christian conceptions, the spiritual and specula
tive wisdom, and the universalistic outlook, represented by
the Epistles. This evolution is due to contact with the
great civilised world and its philosophers, such as Plato,
1 Philosophy of the Christian Religion, p. 308.

76 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
Philo, and Seneca. Layer by layer the mental develop
ment can be traced, and the age fixed as certainly as
geologists deal with the strata of the earth. For ourselves,
we cannot believe in a theory of mental evolution so exact
as this, nor accept it as the touchstone of history. For
one thing, the facts of the ages are not so. The greatest
personahties in pohtical history, in philosophy, in literature,
and in science, with the results they have achieved, have
not obviously been the product of their environment, and
if they have been due to evolution, it has certainly not
been an evolution so simple and straight-forward in its
modus operandi as that which here accounts for the origin
of the Christian rehgion. It has had its surprises, its
Shakespeare from Stratford, its Napoleon from Corsica, its
Lincoln from the backwoods ; but there must be no sur
prises of any kind in the New Testament. The radical
criticism, indeed, cannot admit a dominating and creative
personality, such as Paul is said to have been, simply
because he comes too soon. We must, in the interests of
a smooth theory of things, give at least seventy or eighty
years more, for thoughts like those attributed to him to
blossom into fruit. Then, of course, the personality comes,
because the Hterature is really in existence, surprisingly
soon it must be confessed, but not any longer to be denied.
This personality is the most distinguished of a very re
markable group, but unfortunately we do not know any
thing either about him or about them, and as the first
quarter of the second century is otherwise a pecuharly
barren period, it is perhaps better to hazard no names.
When a name was ventured upon, the rude world only
scoffed. It is further to be observed that what is recognised as
primitive tradition, and what is held to be future develop
ment, are not for a moment to be thought of as mingling
and coinciding, as surely might be the case in a stage of
transition, and under the influence of a very active and
high intelligence; they must be decisively separated and
distinguished. There must be a scientific process, a kind
of chemical analysis, in which we resolve our materials

RATIONALISTIC THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT 77
into their elements. In such a process of differentiation,
it behoves us to be above all things carefully and punctili
ously just, otherwise our conclusions will be vitiated. The
Dutch scholars have no doubt striven to see with clear
eyes, and to state things fairly. Nevertheless it looks as
if, while they minimise the so-called primitive tradition in
an arbitrary manner, they greatly exaggerate much of the
development. It seems to us, for example, a gross ex
aggeration to make out that the Epistles are written in
the interests of a universalistic Gnosis, such as was pre
valent in the second century. This is to read into them
far more than is present. We know what the ripe fruits
of second century Gnosticism were, and they were not at
all comparable to anything discovered here. The argument
that has some apparent force in relation to Colossians, is
very lame and halting when applied to Corinthians. The
Epistles present what we may call, with Eeuss, " sporadic
symptoms " ; but they make no approach even to an out
line of philosophic systems. We are in fact in a primitive
environment, whence Gnosticism itself may have derived
not a few seed-thoughts, but we are not in the presence
of the diffused and developed theosophies of the second
century. No one denies development, or that there is marked
evidence of it in the Pauline Epistles. But we come to
a radical divergence in the method of accounting for it.
The Dutch critics account for it by a crushing Juggernaut
process, which levels down everything until we get safely
beyond the boundaries of the apostolic age. There may
be a good deal of " elevation " after that ; still, all natural
and within reason. We believe, however, that room can
be found for an account, even a rational account, of the
Christian conceptions of the Epistles, within the first fifty
or sixty years of the Christian era, if we allow that a
period of great spiritual intensity was likely to be the
result of such events as the Crucifixion and the Eesurrec-
tion. We should consider this far more probable than
securing a fruitful environment for them, by conjuring
into vigorous life the comparatively unknown period that

78 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
succeeded, and by gratuitously furnishing it with creatures
of our own imagination. Besides, we should like to con
tinue to attribute something to the mediation of the Holy
Spirit. At this point Van Manen vanishes, if indeed he
did not disappear when we mentioned the Eesurrcction.
To retain his company, all special references to the Holy
Spirit must be excluded. They do not belong to the
primitive tradition. When the real Paul lived, the Paul of
the supposed 'Acts of Paul' document — Pcriodoi Paulou,
Van Manen desires to call it — the days of the Holy Ghost
had not arrived. " Nobody then knows that Holy Ghost.
Nobody thinks himself guided by Him." This is ever the
impasse to which we come. The supernatural influence is
ruled out by hypothesis, and marvellous are the generalisa
tions and the insights of the historic critic, the strenuously
scientific inquirer, who will " assume " nothing. For our
part, we confess we still prefer the narrative that attributes
the new ideas to a known enthusiast immediately following
in the wake of the great gospel history, rather than the
tale of a great unknown some hundred years later.
4. The new criticism studies the Epistles in an atmo
sphere laden with suspicion. The documents are approached
with the certain conviction that they too, hke all the rest
of the New Testament, wiU be found spurious. If Pro
fessor Van Manen imagines that he sits down to their
study unprejudiced and unbiassed by previous ideas and
findings, we fear he is under a delusion which deceives no
one but himself. It is his boast that he is unfettered
" by any traditions, dogmatic or scientific." Not by any
manner of means. He too arrives on the scene, haunted
by preconceptions. He complains that conservative writers
have first formed their conception of Paul, and then have
tested the documents by the qualities they have themselves
attributed to him. If this were so, it would seem indeed
to be a vicious circle ; but the Professor is himself in this
very illogical plight. The difference appears to be, that
the one conception is traditionary, and is supported by the
Acts and Epistles received as honest and trustworthy
records, while the other has been arrived at by a process

THE HISTORY ENTIRELY FICTITIOUS 79
of elimination and dissection, based chiefly on personal
idiosyncrasies and predilections.
5. The new theory is distinguished by the facility
with which it creates history to fit itself. The ' circle '
from which the Epistles are supposed to spring is wholly
imaginary. There is not a single historic name mentioned
in connection with it. What would the critics say to this
in the case of a New Testament writing ? As for poor
Paul the Bishop, he sadly lacks verisimilitude ; he is too
much even for Van Manen's gravity. We are told the
date of the great new movement — it is 120—130 A.D. ; and
we are told that the place was probably Syria, though
perhaps it may have been Asia Minor. Then further, we
are informed that the counterfeit Luke flourished about
the second quarter of the second century, with a home
that may have been either in the East or in the West.
A guarded scepticism mingles with a credulous invention.
The critics, for instance, do not know the date of Clemens
Eomanus, or of Basilides, and such external witnesses to
the canonical writings ; yet they do know the date of the
new St. Luke, and, looking back over eighteen centuries
to an obscure period, they are able to tell, to a narrow
margin, the time within which a spiritual idea could or
could not have been begotten in the human mind. Ac
cording to the Dutch school, Christianity enshrines noble
ideals, great spiritual truths, and has a message to man
kind of the very highest importance ; yet they prefer to
search the earth for some imaginary birth-place for this
lofty spiritual religion, rather than grant it the origin that
all the Christian ages attribute to it. If their fundamental
principles compel them to such shifts and speculations,
there is a strong a priori presumption that these principles
themselves need a thorough re-examination.
We should like to add to this a word on the supposed
romancing of the Epistles.
In the fascinating art of making history the pseudepi-
graphist of the second century is facile princeps. Modern
efforts are pale and ineffectual compared with his. He did
not hesitate to invent names and incidents. He had

80 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
"1'audace, toujours l'audace." The Epistles are charged
with passages of the most vivid personal description. They
depict a man called Paul, and certain associates of his, in
the most artistic manner, absolutely glorying in minute
and life-like details, with results that have printed them
selves indelibly on the memory and imagination of mankind.
Now, we put it to one's judgment whether such delinea
tions have the air of romance or of truth ; also, whether
it is likely that so great a Hterary prodigy as their author
existed and remained unknown in the beginning of tho
second century. There is such a thing as the literary
sense, and it does not require to be present even in any
very refined degree, to enable us to come to some conclu
sion on this matter. Take the first two chapters of
Galatians ; or the remonstrance in the ninth of 1 Corin
thians ; or the first few verses of Eomans ninth ; or such
words as these from 2 Corinthians seventh : " I am filled
with comfort, I overflow with joy in all our affliction. For
even when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no
relief, but we were afflicted on every side ; without were
fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless He that com-
forteth the lowly, even God, comforted us by the coming
of Titus ; and not by his coming only, but also by the
comfort wherewith he was comforted in you, while he told
us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me ; so that
I rejoiced yet more. For though I made you sorry with
my epistle, I do not regret it, though I did regret ; for I
see that that epistle made you sorry, though but for a
season." Or, the earlier anxious passage in the second
chapter of the same Epistle : " Now when I came to Troas
for the gospel of Christ, and when a door was opened unto
me in the Lord, I had no rehef for my spirit, because I
found not Titus my brother : but taking my leave of them,
I went forth into Macedonia." Or, again, the never-to-be-
forgotten passage in the eleventh chapter : " Of the Jews
five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I
beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered
shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep ; in
journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers,

THE CRITICISM ARBITRARY AND SUBJECTIVE 81
in perils from my countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles,
in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in
the sea, in perils among false brethren ; in labour and
travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings
often, in cold and nakedness."
It is needless to multiply quotations. Such passages
are scattered all over the Epistles. We simply ask : Is it
possible to believe them purely fictitious ? Are we merely
in the presence of an exquisite stylist, who deceives us at
his will with prolific passages of masterly delineation ?
Does Van Manen believe it ? Bomance, forgery, fiction !
" Credat Judeeus Apella."
6. Finally, the new criticism proceeds on arbitrary
and subjective principles by which all historic literature
could be proved untrustworthy. Historical problems are
not to be solved or dissolved by the simple alchemy of
the phrases, " it is not conceivable," " we cannot under
stand." The critics must sedulously curb their propensity
to begin their sentences with the formula, " We may suppose."
That way lie phantasy and illusion. The habit is the more
amazing when we are being continually reminded that we
are to have no more assumptions. Certainly the critics do
not let their left hand know what their right hand doeth.
When Van Manen pleads that he cannot form " any intel
ligible conception " of this or that — what does he expect to
follow from such a confession ? That the stubborn state
ments will forthwith vanish into thin air ? But many
excellent men have studied the Epistles, who have not been
overwhelmed by the pressure of these perplexities. It is
also evident that if our criterion of truth is to be our easy
comprehension, a good deal even of very modern history
will be in a perilous state. We would point out further,
that, as true letters, the Epistles belong to the class of
what is called occasional writings. In such documents
much always will remain between the writer and his
readers, which a later student, far off from the times and
incidents, will find it very hard to understand or recon
struct. If this is true of all such literature, why should it
be such a stumbling-block simply because the literature is
6

82 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
within the covers of the New Testament ? " Every litera
ture," says Gloel, "supplies instances of writings which
are 1 iy no means free from obscure surroundings, if we seek
to know every detail of their composition, but which are
nevertheless ascribed without hesitation to a definite author.
Xo one, e.g., denies that ' Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott '
was the work of Luther, although its exact date and the
particular circumstances which caUed it forth are lost in
obscurity. . . . The prudent historian must often be content
to stand in his inquiries before unsolved and insoluble
puzzles ; and the theologian, in the same manner, when
face to face with the New Testament, must recognise many
historical difficulties which he cannot remove. The scien
tific task will often far rather consist in the recognition of
existing difficulties than in their smooth solution." x

Van Manen is exceedingly sore on the point that tho
four Epistles are merely assumed to be authentic. Ho
complains that his predecessors have been guilty of a " lack
of desire for impartial research." Ho cannot have forgotten
a book entitled, Lie sogenanntcn Pastoralbriefe des Apostcls
Paulus, by F. C. Baur ; or another, Kritih der Ephescr- und
Kolosscrbriefe, by H. J. Holtzmann. Was there any un
willingness in these books either to study or to spare ?
Does he really believe that Baur and his school, and their
successors in the German ' critical ' school, and Eenan him
self, and many others of the old advanced guard, did not
study the four Epistles critically, although they wrote a
great deal about them ; or that they deliberately blinded
their eyes to the difficulties that are now so obvious, and
point-blank refused to entertain them ? If he does, he
must not expect the world to beheve that. Whatever they
were, these men of earlier renown were not of souls so
abject. Had they seen any reason to doubt these Epistles,
we should have heard of it very distinctly. This, there
fore, is another kind of assumption : that scholarship has
1 Cit. Knowling, Witness, etc., p. 177.

THE 'RADICAL' AND 'CRITICAL' SCHOOLS 83
not dared to call its soul its own until the emancipation
heralded by Bruno Bauer and the creators of Paulus Epis
copus. Holsten has said of the new critics: "A Hght
footstep of two or three men — the sand shook, yielded,
sank away, and the building collapsed." We fear the irony
is not unmerited. Even in the paragraphs of the Encyclo
paedia Biblica there is too httle of the spirit of modest
quest, too much of the air of Daniel come to judgment.
Yet there is another mood which is more admirable, and
Van Manen is not a stranger to it. Ere he closes his
articles in the Expository Times, he says, "Tandem bona
causa triumphat." This is more the manner in which
champions in the past have borne themselves. It certainly
cannot be pleasant to have one's method described as " Die
moderne Pseudokritik," or one's serious hypotheses dismissed
as " unfounded phantasies." But if they are not really so,
then, like Galileo and Bruno, the new critics will one day
have their revenge. It is enough for the wise and the
strong. To be contra mundum is frequently heroic ; some
times it is to be in the right, not seldom in the wrong ;
but in any case it never becomes Athanasius to be im
patient. Van Manen, who is of fighting instincts, is saddened
because Holtzmann and Jiilicher do not seem to regard him
and his friends as foemen worthy of their steel. The new
writers are only " put in the corner with a few great words,"
and that is all. As we have just said, to be thus neglected
and treated ' ganz kurtz,' is hard for flesh and blood to bear.
And we express our sympathy, because the quarter from
which such contempt has come is not the quarter from
which it was to be readily expected. Van Manen might
say, " Et tu, Brute ! " His arguments, after all, are in the
main the arguments applied by the ' critical ' school to
other Epistles. May not the Dutchmen protest, ' We
have only turned to another part of the field the guns you
yourselves taught us to fire ' ? Much of the offence may
lie here. There are circumstances in which men do not
Hke to see their principles inexorably pushed. Harnack,
we think, has spoken fairly of the later writers. He says :

84 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
" They have then- strength in the difficulties and riddles
which are contained in the history of the formation of the
Catholic tradition in the second century." And yet he
also adds : " The single circumstance that we are asked to
regard as a forgery such a document as the First Epistle of
Paul to the Corinthians, appears to me, of itself, to be an
unanswerable argument against the new hypotheses." l
We do not think, therefore, that any apology is needed
for still standing in the Hne of the old tradition, hitherto
held by both liberal and conservative ahke. We too have
no doubt studied with our preconceptions. Yet we are
most firmly convinced that truth is not found along the
route Van Manen opens. After reading and re-reading his
pages, we feel persuaded that the old view of the Epistles
is saner, more true to human nature, and even, as he
himself might say, to a really " intelligible conception " of
things. If we cannot say universally, we can still say that
almost universally, the four great Epistles are regarded as
indubitably what they profess to be, genuine letters of the
Apostle, and, as such, a treasure of priceless value -to the
Christian Church.

II.
DESTINATION AND OCCASION OF THE
EPISTLE.
Not the least important of the four principal Epistles,
is the one which we take first, the Epistle to the Galatians.
It is one of the most powerful pieces of literature that
have come down to us from any age. It is earnest, elo
quent, dramatic; weU-ordered, concise, consistent; and it
handles one of the most important themes with the most
significant results.
From the first chapter to the last there is one great
aim, never lost sight of — to unfold the banner of Christian
1 History of Dogma, i. 52 n.

THE DESTINATION UNCERTAIN 85
liberty, and nail it to the mast. The Church can scarcely
reckon how much she owes to such a writing. It is the
Magna Charta of her spiritual emancipation, and every
verse is " half -battle for the free." It has been com
pared to the unfurling of the Standard of the Scottish
Covenant. It has also been compared to the nailing of
the Theses on the door of the Schlosskirche at Wittenberg,
when Martin Luther roused the echoes of the world. In
reality it is far greater than these, for it is the fount and
origin from which they sprang. Luther had never been
possible without Paul, and it was in Paul's Galatians that
he found his freedom, and the use of his mighty wings.
" This is my Epistle," he said ; " I have espoused it ; it
is my Catherine von Bora." From this masterpiece he
learnt the lesson he strove to teach the world- — " to
stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free." Yet in some respects this Epistle is a subject of most
perplexing controversy. This is not as to its genuineness, or
as to its general drift and interpretation, for the Christian
world is largely agreed on these things ; but as to its
exact place in Paul's life, and the persons to whom it is
addressed. Clear and inteUigible as it is in almost all
other respects, it gives us little guidance on these questions,
with the result that scholarship can scarcely yet be said to
have reached finality, in deciding either as to its destination
or as to its date.
The opinion commonly held, till at least comparatively
recent years, is that the Galatians were converts whom
Paul brought to the knowledge of Christianity during his
second missionary journey, when, after passing through
Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium, and the Spirit having for
bidden him to speak the word in the province of Asia, he
turned his steps northward to the district commonly known
as Galatia. There he was detained by illness, and, being
kindly treated, remained for some time evangelising the
people. The chief towns of this district were Pessinus,
Ancyra, and Tavium, and it has been thought that these
were the places indicated by the expression " the Churches

86 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
of Calatia." It is not necessary, however, to commit one's
self to these particular cities, and more recent and cautious
writers (e.g., Zockler and Zahn) would rather restrict their
thoughts to unnamed localities in the western and south
western borders of Galatia. But nowhere in Acts or in
Paul's Epistles have we any mention of such places,
although we know a little from secular history of the
region referred to.
As far back almost as the light will carry us, we find
that the country where these towns were situated was in
habited by the Phrygian race. The Phrygians were "a
warrior tribe of conquerors who crossed the Hellespont
from Europe, and penetrated gradually into Asia Minor." 1
"Mail-clad warriors" when they conquered the primitive
people and settled among them, they in course of time lost
their warhke character, and became in their turn an easy
prey to a new horde of invaders who again swept into the
country from the West. These were tribes of Gauls, who
eventuaUy gave the name Galatia to the country. In the
fourth century before Christ, the Gauls began to move rest
lessly out of their forests in northern and western Europe.
They overran Italy, and sacked Eome in the year 390 B.C.
A century later they invaded Greece, and passed through
Thrace into Asia Minor. For a while they carried every
thing before them, but at the close of the third century
B.C. they were pretty well confined to the central moun
tainous districts, where the three cities we have named
became the capitals of their clans. In the year 189 B.C.
they were conquered by the Eomans, although a succession
of their princes was allowed to govern until the time of
Augustus (25 B.C.). Their country was then formed into
the Eoman province of Galatia.
The inhabitants, however, were not all Gauls ; indeed
men of pure Gallic blood must in Paul's time have been
greatly in the minority. A large Phrygian substratum

1 Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phi-agin, p. 7. In hia Hid. Comm.
on Galatians, p. 1S.">, he speaks of the Phrygian conquest as about the tenth
century B.C.

NORTH-GALATIAN THEORY 87
still remained, and although the name " Phryx " had grown
to be a term of contempt, a mere synonym for slave, the
old Phrygian religion, with some peculiarly wild orgiastic
rites, seems to have persisted and become dominant. A
Greek element, probably dating from the successors of
Alexander the Great, was also present, although there does
not seem to have been any pronounced Hellenic stamp on
the population. Naturally the Eomans were in evidence,
and also, to some extent, the Jews. But traces of the
latter are rather scanty. The country was not thoroughly
opened up to commercial prosperity until as late as the
third century a.d., and the Jews who found their way to
the northern parts of Galatia previous to that time, were
simply " immigrants of a secondary kind," removing from
the busier and more advanced southern provinces.
If these northern parts were indeed the scene of Paul's
labours, it naturally becomes a matter of interest to trace
references in his Epistle that correspond to the character
istics of the inhabitants. This, however, has to be done
with great caution, and elaborate parallels between the
qualities attributed to the Galatians in the Epistle and the
supposed peculiarities of the Gallic or Keltic race have,
despite the glowing pages of Bishop Lightfoot, fallen into
disrepute. The Epistle contains warnings against drunken
ness and revelling, rebukes of niggardliness, of strife and
vainglory, and of passionate anger. It brings before us also
a natural impulsiveness, a quick acceptance and effusive
hospitahty, and no less a rapid forgetfulness and volte
face; it refers also to superstitious tendencies to rituahstic
observances, and an easy submissive servility to priestly
authority. But it is not safe to argue from this that the
readers must have been Gauls. Luther and others have
pointed to the same characteristics as proof that they were
Germans. These features are indeed too human for con
fident particularisation, and such a line of argument, even if
we could possibly believe that most of Paul's converts were
of true Gallic descent, is better avoided.
This traditionary view, however, which attributes the
destination of the Epistle to the northern districts of

88 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
Galatia, has in recent years been somewhat rudely shaken.
Opposed to it is the theory that Paul's " Churches of
Calatia" are to be looked for farther south, in regions
much better known to Scripture.
According to this theory, it was on his first and not
on his second journey, that Paul entered the district which
included the Churches addressed in the Epistle. He then
visited the well-known towns, Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium,
Lystra, aud Derbe, and it is the converts made in these
places whom he styles " Galatians." These towns are made
very familiar to us in the book of Acts. The Apostle
visited them again and again, and his experiences in them
are recorded in considerable detail.
Crossing from Cyprus on his first journey, Paul landed
on the mainland of Asia Minor at Perga in PamphyHa.
Here, it is believed, he was seized with illness (Gal. iv. 13),
which necessitated his moving farther inland, to the healthier
mountain region that surrounded Antioch in Pisidia. Pro
fessor Eamsay is of opinion that this illness was malarial
fever, which in certain of its forms would afflict the Apostle
in a humiliating and painfid way, and might very well be
described as a " thorn in the flesh." x From Antioch a
tour with Barnabas was made eastward and southward to
Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. On the second missionary
journey these towns were again visited, but in the reverse
order ; and similarly on the third journey. In this district
we are still in the presence of a large Phrygian element
among the population; the Greek and Eoman elements,
however, are more pronounced than in the northern
country, while a strong Jewish influence is more clearly
discerned and accounted for. Changeableness, impulsive
ness, passionate anger, and superstitious ceremonialism, are
not now merely to be inferred as racial characteristics, but
are as matter of fact writ large in the narrative of the
book of Acts.
Not many facts are to be gleaned regarding the history

1 St. Paul tlie Traveller, pp. 94 sqq. ; Hist. Comm. pp. 422 sqq. But the
matter is much controverted.

SOUTH-GALATIAN THEORY 89
of these towns. They all lay on the lofty tableland of
south-central Asia Minor, and were in the most favourable
position to share in the march of Grseco-Boman civilisation,
in the centuries immediately preceding and following the
beginning of the Christian era. Antioch, the chief city of
the group, lay on the rugged slopes of the great moun
tainous " backbone " of the country, about 220 miles east
of Ephesus. It overlooked a vast plain, which was dotted
with undulating hills, and flanked by precipitous mountains.
It was a foundation of the Seleucid dynasty, and was
accordingly strongly Hellenised in its civilisation. A few
years before the birth of Christ, Augustus planted in it
the veterans of the Fifth Legion as a Eoman colony. This
naturally threw a reflected glory on all its inhabitants, who
now felt themselves more closely identified with the great
Empire than their rustic neighbours were. Iconium lay
between 70 and 80 miles farther east, and was important
as a Phrygian frontier city, overlooking the plains of
Lycaonia. Its site is spoken of as equal to that of
Damascus for the luxuriant fertility of its surroundings,
and as not far behind it in beauty. Some 20 miles south
was Lystra, also made a colony by Augustus ; and not far
off to the south-west was Derbe. These last two were
Lycaonian towns, although it is only within recent years
that their sites have been identified with any approach to
certainty. The language spoken by most of their in
habitants was probably that of the aboriginal settlers
before the Phrygian conquest.
The district which included these four towns was, in
New Testament times, rich and highly cultivated, but it
owed its chief importance to the fact that the great high
way from Ephesus to the East ran through it. Commerce
and administration both passed over this route, ensuring a
high advance in prosperity and civilisation. The Greek
spirit and speech usually followed trade, and Antioch and
Iconium especially were Hellenised long before the Eomans
came to rule over them. The Jews had also been in
troduced in large numbers as proteges of the Seleucid
monarchs, and enjoyed many privileges. It is evident that

90 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
they made impressions on the thought and religion of their
neighbom-s, but their influence with the rulers, due largely
no doubt to then wealth, was a cause of constant jealousy.
At bottom, however, in manners and customs, the bulk of
the population remained Anatolian in type. It was never
Rome's policy to interfere more than could be helped with
the habits of the subject races. The native religions were
permitted to flourish, and although it became fashionable
to identify their gods with those of Greece and Eome, these
gods yet remained essentially Asiatic. As a consequence,
ingrained superstition and theosophical tendencies persisted
long after the lands were brought under the Cross. " The
Christianity of Phrygia," says Eamsay, " was never like
the Christianity of Europe : sects of enthusiasts who per
petuated the old types in the new religion always flourished
there, and the orthodox writers frequently inveigh against
the numerous Anatolian heresies." 1
The state of opinion as to these rival theories of
destination — distinguished as North-Galatian and South-
Galatian — is very much divided. It cannot by any means
be said that the latter is in the majority, though we believe
it is at present growing in favour with many scholars.
Godet, Weiss, Wendt, Schurer, Blass, Zockler, H. J. Holtz
mann, Lipsius, Holsten, Schmiedel, Jiilicher, Sieffert, with
Lightfoot and most Enghsh commentators, uphold the older
theory. Lightfoot's Galatians, and his reply to Eenan in
Colossians, are indispensable to its study. On the other
hand, Niemeyer, Bottger, Thiersch, Eenan, Weber, Hausrath,
Pfleiderer, Weizsacker, 0. Holtzmann, Sabatier, Perrot, and
above all Eamsay, are champions of the South- Galatian
view. McGiffert in his Apostolic Age, Eendall and Sanday
in the Expositor (Series iv. vol. ix., and Series v. vol. iii.),
and Askwith in his Norrisian Essay on the Destination and
Date of Galatians, give their adherence to the same theory.
So also does Zahn in all essential points, although the

1 Hist. Geog. of Asia Minor, pp. 24-25. On the characteristics of the
old Phrygian religion, and its persistence after the conquest by the Gauls,
cf. Hi.'t. Comm. on Galatians, pp. :',7-44, and 86 sqq.

ARGUMENTS FOR SOUTH GALATIA 91
dubiety existing in his mind as to the interpretation of the
phraseology in Acts bearing on the question, leads him to
think that certain unnamed localities in North Galatia
ought to be included. Eamsay's books and articles, how
ever, are by far the most important contributions yet
made to this side of the subject. He is controverted
in minute detail by Schmiedel's portion of the article
on " Galatia " in the second volume of the Encyclopcedia
Biblica. On the whole, considering the short time it has
been fairly in the field, the weighty support the South-
Galatian theory has secured seems significant, if not
prophetic. First of all, it is on the face of it an exceedingly
probable theory. It takes us at once into well-known
Pauline territory, which the rival theory cannot be said to
do. It seems a most likely thing that the Apostle should
write thus earnestly to Churches where we know his interest
was profound, and where he spent a great deal of time
and strength. We should naturally marvel if Churches
that originated such a keen controversy, and drew from the
Apostle such a weighty Epistle, had disappeared so com
pletely from Christian memory that no definite trace of
them is to be found in Acts or elsewhere, and that their
very existence is matter of conjecture. So complete a
silence in such a case weighs largely in the mind, and
however acutely the North-Galatian theory be pressed, the
feeling persists.
The door, moreover, is quite open to the South-Galatian
theory as an historical possibihty. Paul in the name
' Galatia ' follows his usual custom of adopting Eoman
provincial titles in the grouping of his Churches, e.g., Achaia,
Asia, Macedonia, etc. — as Peter also clearly does in the
First Epistle. But the Eoman province of Galatia in
Paul's day was not confined to those regions which may be
styled Galatia proper. It extended far beyond them. It
was the Galatia taken into the Empire by Augustus on
the death of King Amyntas in 25 B.C., and included the
southern districts of Lycaonia, Isauria, south-eastern Phrygia,
and a part of Pisidia. "After the Eoman division into

92 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
provinces," says Hausrath, " the province of Galatia in
cluded all districts between the Taurus and Bithynia;
Upper Pisidia, therefore, Upper Phrygia and Lycaonia,
together with Calatia proper on the Halys; so that ex
cepting Perga, aU the places visited on the first journey
lie within the limits of the province of Galatia." 1 This
is now universally acknowledged to be " established beyond
dispute."2 For three-quarters of a century, therefore,
before Paul wrote, the regions in question were ' Galatian,'
according to Eoman nomenclature, and they continued so
for about another hundred years. In the middle of the
second century the boundaries of this large province were
changed ; Lycaonia was made a province by itself, and the
Galatian province was restricted to the region commonly
known thereafter as Galatia.3 The consequence was that
in the Christian centuries men gradually forgot, or ceased
to know, that the name ever had a wider reference. It
was not until the nineteenth century that this knowledge
became again the common property of history.
Further, the name ' Galatians ' was a suitable form of
address to apply to the dwellers in this southern region.
It is difficult, indeed, to conceive what other single name
could be used to designate collectively the inhabitants of
Galatic Phrygia and Lycaonia and Pisidia. It is not
strictly an ethnical title ; it does not mean to assert the
Gallic descent of the people addressed ; it is entirely a
generic term, such as any Eoman writer or speaker would
have used in the same circumstances. " When the Eomans
caUed a province by a definite name," says Eamsay, " they
summed up the inhabitants of the province by the ethnic
derived from the name. That is an axiom from which all

1 N. T. Times: Time of the Apostles, iii. 146 n.
- So Schmiedel, Ency. Biblica, ii. col. 1597.
3 In his Hi.it. Gcog. of Asia Minor (p. 254) Ramsay gives a table to show
the many changes of boundary through which the Roman province of Galatia
passed during the first three centuries. The limits appear to have been
altered no fewer than six times. The period of widest extension was from
C3 a.d. to 78 a.d., and that of greatest shrinkage from 140 or 150 a.d. to
297 a.d.

THE FORM OP ADDRESS 93
historical and archaeological students start. It was neces
sary in the administration of a province to have some
designation for the whole body of provincials: Afri, all
the people of Africa Provincia, whatever their race ; Baeiici,
of Baetica Hispania ; Asiani, of Asia ; and Galatae, of
Galatia." 1 It was not only, therefore, a natural form of
address, but it was one likely to be very pleasing to the
audience. It recognised them as part of the great Empire
that was so popular and powerful among them, and as two
of the cities ranked as colonies, they might have demurred
to any other treatment. Mr. Askwith compares this use
of the name ' Galatians ' to that of the word ' British '
as including both English and Scotch without offending
either. To us such a usage on Paul's part seems no more
strange than if a German writer, fifty years hence, should
call the inhabitants of Alsace and Lorraine ' Germans,'
supposing that after the lapse of two or three generations
these provinces are still embraced in the German father
land. Even now, it is said, within a generation of the
annexation, and after much bitterness of feeling, there are
Alsacians who are quite ready to call themselves Germans.
Some might prefer to be called Alsacians, but Germans
would be neither unnatural nor wrong. And we must
remember that, in the case of the South Galatians, there
was no ill-feeling to overcome. They would not be re
pelled by the implication of the Eoman connection. They
were proud of it. It is very doubtful whether they would
have welcomed any purely ethnical address, whether as
Phrygians, Gauls, or Lycaonians.
To Professor Eamsay is also largely due the elucidation
of the history, which makes the inhabitants of South Galatia
much more probable recipients of the Galatian Epistle than
their neighbours in North Galatia. The Epistle implies
on the part of its readers no smaU standard of educated
and civilised life, as well as familiarity with Greek usages
and laws. It is an historical certainty that in Paul's time
there was a distinct line of demarcation between the peoples
1 Hist. Comm. p. 319.

94 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
of North and South Galatia in these respects. In the first
century, as we have seen, the advance in South Galatia
was obvious and easily accounted for. In North Galatia
there was not at that period much intercourse with the great
world either East or West. The highway did in time come
to pass through the northern districts, when they made
rapiil progress, but it was not until after the days of
Dionysius, at the close of the third century. Up to that
time, North Galatia lay aside in one of the mere backwaters
of the Empire. Eome did not find it with the same Greek
impress that had already long distinguished the South.
" The evidence," says Eamsay, " is overwhelming. About
a.d. 50 Galatia was essentially un-Hellenic. Rinnan ideas
were there superinduced directly on a Galatian system,
which had passed through no intermediate stage of trans
formation to the Hellenic type." Again, " Paul's allusions
presuppose a considerable amount of education among the
Galatians. He does not address them as a mere set of
ignorant and untutored rustics : he addresses them as
persons Hving amid the organised administration of cities." x
No doubt Professor Ramsay's account of matters will have
to stand the examination of qualified scholars. He him
self, however, is universaUy recognised as one of the first
authorities on the history and geography of Asia Minor.
He has made this field peculiarly his own. And whatever
may be said of a few isolated deductions in which the basis
of first-hand evidence is not great, his recent Commentary
on the Epistle produces a cumulative effect which is not
Hkely to be altogether effaced.
Again, the South - Galatian theory harmonises with
the account Luke gives of Paul's movements in Acts xvi.
(second journey), and xviii. (third journey). Both sides
are agreed that the correct rendering of the geographical
phrase in Acts xvi. 6 is, " the Phrygo-Galatic region." This
means a region to which both terms, Phrygian (ethnologi-
cally), and Galatian (ofliciaUy), were applicable ; and it
exactly suits the region round about Iconium and Antioch.
1 Hist. Comm. pp. 160 and 370.

HARMONY WITH ACTS 95
Phrygia was a large country, and lay partly1 in the
province of Galatia, and partly in that of Asia. The
compound expression correctly defines the part of Phrygia
which was included in Galatia, as distinguished from that
part which lay in Asia ; a distinction Luke is led to make
by the consideration, that he is just about to refer to the
fact that the missionaries were forbidden to speak the word
in Asia. On the other hand, the North-Galatian theory
takes the phrase to refer to Galatia proper, the territory
originally conquered and peopled by the Gauls. But if so,
it must be asked what explanation can be given of the
periphrasis ? Why did Luke in such a case not use the
simple name ' Galatia ' ? To represent his language as
equivalent to " the country once Phrygia now Galatia,"
imputes to him a " pedantic antiquarianism," of which he
could not possibly have been guilty. Eamsay is war
ranted, we believe, in his strong deduction : " The term
Galatic excludes Galatia in the narrow sense ; and xvi. 6,
when taken according to contemporary usage, asserts that
Paul did not traverse North Galatia." 2
Acts xviii. 23 refers to the third journey, in which
Paul entered the country through the Syrian and Cilician
Gates, having for his objective the Asian province, where
he had on the second journey been forbidden to speak the
word. In making progress to this province it is said he
went through " the Galatic region and Phrygia " (for the
Greek word here rendered Phrygia ought, we think, to be
taken as a noun). He went through it, Luke says, " in
order, stablishing all the disciples," so that old ground, and
all of it, from first to last, is meant to be covered by the
expression. It includes therefore all Churches from Derbe
to Antioch, that is, to where the new territory (the Asian
province) begins. Hence it takes in a part which was not
Phrygian but yet was Galatic, namely, the* two Lycaonian
1 Ramsay has proved from authorities contemporary with Paul that the
term 'Galatic' was regularly used to denote "parts of the province of
Galatia." He says that it was this discovery that first convinced him that
the North-Galatian theory is irreconcilable with Acts.
2 Church in the Roman Empire, p. 81.

96 THE EPISTLE TO THK GAl_A.nA>5
5. :wn5 Lystra and Derbe with tbeir earirons. which were
then a part ot tbe province of Galatia. They were
Lyeaouo-GilirLc if listizguished from Fhry go -Galatic..
The siztrle word Fhry-ii is now to be taken as eqmnaknt
to the compound expcessiem or x*i 6, and may cow be so
used without ambiguity, because AsLm-FLrygia Ls no longer
to be excluded.
We hare farther to determine what is to be ondeisfcmd
by tbe participial phrase in xri. 6, •*¦ forbidden to speak the
word in Asia.' The <zjmz.cc is. most this phrase ueces-
sardy be retrosreotiTe and causal, gjwin:: the ri:is»~ why
* they went through tbe Phngo-Ct aktie redoa ' ? or, may
it be ttsed predieativelyr and bear the meaning, glvst: it by
the Authorised Version, "and were forbidden." thus indi-
¦¦:ir>- thai; tbe prohibition wis sa$at>£<anU to the journey
through this recton? There can only be one answer-
Such, a predicative use :: the participle is not onhr possible.
but, though a Lxse a ¦ est ruction, was perfectly common.1
If we accept it in this case, it su' star-trites the Socth-
Galanan view, Ie-:ause it uioaios that the reeve, lesen ei
as Phrygo-Galatte wis passed throngb before the prohibi
tion (or before the prohibition became operative) recanimg
the province or Asia.
This diseusaon of Acts is really of first importance,
though not sc much for the :?o uth-G ahtiaii theory T.s for
its rivaL For. whatever view we take of it, it does not
affect the " established ' fact that Antioch and the other
three cities were part and parcel of fee pimime of Galatia.
This is the sure Iv-sis on wbieh the S- uth-GaLitian theory
rests, and it can only Lave been a temporary forgetfulness
of the true position, that led Dr. Chase to speak abont the
theory "¦ mating shipwreck on the rock of Greek .-i-T'tr/
It is for the Xorth-Galatian theorists that these passages
in A.ts are so exceedingly eraoaL They mast find
foundation here, or they wfll find it nowhere; and it is
evident they wfll find it here only with great difficulty.

Ct '.'"•¦ examples aad wfafe (Ssevraon at A*t»ui's tkaa eaafter,
ai Data tfftoMUmrm.

FIN.U, CONSIDERATIONS 97
Rut even if it were proved that Paul turned into the
" borders " of North Galatia a,t this point, the mind must
be disabused of the notion that tho Houth-Galatian theory
therefore falls to the ground. This is what Zahn perceives.
lie thinks it likely thai, Paul went into tho south-west
part of North Calatia ; but this does not at all disturb
the fact that the Churches of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra,
and Derbe, were "Churches of Calatia." Antioch and hoi
neighbours hold tho field ; and theso obscure references of
Luke, even if taken in a sense different from that which
we believe to be correct, cannot thrust them out.
The debate is pursued into a great many minor details,
which it is unnecessary to discuss at length. When we
try to harmonise the timo and labours of the second
journey, it becomes almost impossible to include a sojourn
in North Calatia of sufficient length for the implied results;
nor is it easy to understand where Paul intended going, if
he took ill in North Calatia. en route. Further, when he
starts on his third journey, it is expressly to visit the
Churches "in order, stablishing all the disciples"; but this
cannot have been done if the district referred to in Acts
xviii. 23 were exclusively North Calatia; important parts,
already evangelised, were then left out. Again, if Calatia
means North Calatia,, then the southern Churches seem never,
as far as our records go, to have been included in .1 'aid's
exhortations to join his great scheme of a Collection for
Ihe Saints. Yet, in point of fact, we lind deputies from
them (Acts xx. 4) taking part in this important scheme,
while no mention is made of deputies from the northern
cities. And not only are they not appealed to for the
Collection, they are, on this hypothesis, dropped by Paul
out of all further reference whatever. Churches, whose
very existence we have to imagine, receive the attention.
These considerations weigh against the North-Galatian
theory. On tlie other hand, there are details which sup
port its rival. For example, in the second chapter of the
Epistle (ver. 5), we lind Paul saying that the conflict at
Jerusalem was " that the truth of tho gospel might continue
with" his readers. This conflict, we believe, took place
7

98 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
before the second journey, whence we naturally infer
that the Galatians J were converts of the first journey, or
South Galatians. Lastly, certain more minute matters,
such as the references to Parnabas, to the inconsistency
as to circumcision (allowed to be an implied reference
to Timothy), to the working of miracles, and to the
' marks of the Lord Jesus,' are in obvious harmony
with incidents of the recorded visits to the southern
cities. With regard to date, no decisive information is given
in the Epistle itself. Nor does it necessarily follow from
the adoption of the South-Galatian theory that the chrono
logical position must be first in the new group, although
that theory makes this very probable. Paul, we believe,
indicates that he had visited his readers twice before he
wrote,1 and therefore he would appear to be writing at a
period between his second and third journeys. Though he
marvels (i. 6) that his converts are removing from him to
a different gospel " so quickly," this must not be forced to
mean " immediately." 2 Their change was relatively rapid
enough, even though he did not know of it until he was
just on the eve of starting to see them for the third time.
Many writers, however, hesitate to put the Epistle first in
the group. They do so chiefly on grounds of subject-matter
and style. Its similarities on these points to 2 Corinthians
and Eomans, are great and obvious. The battle against
the Judaistic Christians links it to the former, and the
clear enunciation of the doctrine of Justification by Faith
brings it close to the latter. Hence it is placed between
2 Corinthians and Eomans. Bishop Lightfoot has elabor
ated this argument to perfection. Many distinguished
scholars have followed in his train, unable to shake them-

1 It is generally thought that the expression rb irpbrepov (iv. 13) indicates
that two visits had taken place before the letter was written. At the same
time it is not so absolutely decisive as to preclnde the possibility of more
visits than two, and therefore also of a later date.
- Cf. Lightfoot in loc. "Quickness and slowness are relative terms.
The rapidity of tt change is measured by the importance of the interests at
stake " (Introd. to Galatians, p. 42).

DATE OF THE EPISTLE 99
selves from the conviction, that so much similarity can
only be accounted for by simultaneity. One may venture
to think, however, that too much stress has been laid on
the principle, that thoughts and expressions so similar could
only be " the offspring of one birth in the writer's mind." 1
If a man finds it necessary to write more than once on a
theme over which he has worked much, and taught much,
and felt deeply, it is certain that, even though there should
be a considerable interval between his writings, he will
repeat himself on the later occasions. The old modes of
expression will inevitably spring to his pen, all the more
if the subjects are those he frequently handles in his
ordinary labours. Besides, although the family likeness is
undoubted, Galatians and Eomans are not exactly twins.2
Most readers readily perceive that in many respects
Eomans is the child of a maturer growth. Lightfoot
acknowledges that it is an obvious advance on Galatians,
and that the difference between them may be compared
to that between a rough model and a finished statue.3
There does not, therefore, seem any insuperable barrier to
giving the Epistle a somewhat earlier date than most
English writers give it. No doubt it belongs to the same
group as Corinthians and Eomans, but its relative position
may quite as well be before them as between them.4 The
majority of Continental scholars, even though upholders
of the North-Galatian theory, place it early. With our
present knowledge, the matter is only one of probability at
the best. On the whole it seems a very likely suggestion,
that Paul wrote the Epistle from Syrian Antioch when he
was about to start on his third journey, and when he first
heard, probably through Timothy, of the Galatian defec-
1 Professor Findlay, The Epistles of Paul, p. 291.
2 On the relation between them cf. P. Wernle, Der Christ und die Siinde
bei Paulus, pp. 91-92.
3 Galatians, p. 49. Cf. Sabatier, p. 155, "It is indeed a masterly
sketch ; the Epistle to the Romans turns the sketch into a picture."
4 "The argument which Bishop Lightfoot based on resemblances of
thought and language between Galatians and Romans rests upon facts that
are indisputable, but does not carry with it any certain inference as to
date " (Sanday and Hcadlam, Romans, p. xxxviii).

100 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
tion.1 This, according to Tumor's chronology, would be in
the year 52 ; according to Eamsay, in So.
Happily the Apostle's message is not in itself greatly
affected by the question whether he wrote to the Galatians
of tlie North or South, or whether he wrote a few years
earlier or later. The condition of affairs with which he
deals, aud his mode of dealing with it, are matters of no
uncertainty. The Epistle is a noble plea for the emanci
pation of Christianity from the bondage of Judaism. Had
that not been accomplished, Christianity, instead of stretch
ing out to a world-wide dominion, would have shrunk to
the dwindling career of a Jewish sect.
We shall briefly recall how the contlict had arisen, and
the necessity for the Epistle.
Drawn from comparative seclusion in his native Cilicia,
Paul had joined Barnabas with great ardour in evangelistic
labours at Antioch in Syria. Out of their success in that
work sprang the first missionary journey. By divine call,
and by the solemn prayers and laying on of hands of the
brethren, the two friends were sent forth as messengers of
the Church of Antioch. They passed across Cyprus, and
came to the city of Antioch in Pisidia. Their custom was
to go direct to their Jewish brethren in tlie synagogues,
and to endeavour to spread the good news among them.
It was the most obvious and natural method, and hitherto
1 Cf. Pa ni the Traveller, pp. 191, 192. As there is no mention in tho
Epistle of the general Collection for the Saints, it is thought we have an
other reason for probably dating the Epistle before Corinthians and Romans,
in which such a theme bulks largely. The words in 1 Cor. ix. 2, "If to
others I am not an Apostle, yet at least I am to you," may possibly point
back to the Galatian challenge of his authority.
Professor Bruce in St. Paul's Conception of Christianity, pp. 52-55, places
Galatians before Corinthians and Romans on logical grounds, meaning
thereby that Paul was likely to be called on to defend himself in the
following order : (1) his peculiar view of the Law (Galatians) ; (2) his per
sonal Apostleship (1 and 2 Corinthians) ; (3) his view regarding the value of
Israel's election (Romans). But no great stress eun be put upon this. Wo
cannot argue that because a situation comes first logically, it must have come
first in reality.
In his article on the chronology of the New Testament in Hastings'
Bililc Diet. i. 4'23, Mr. Turner leaves the date of Galatians open between a
period of five years, 50-55 a.d.

ORIGIN OF THE JUDAISTIC CONTROVERSY 101
conversion to the Christian faith had taken place to a
large extent under the shadow of the synagogue. But at
Pisidian Antioch there was a most important change, forced
upon the missionaries by the opposition of the Jews. Paul
and Barnabas were emboldened to speak the memorable
words : " Seeing ye judge yourselves unworthy of ever
lasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." The Gentiles
heard this utterance with joy ; many believed, and, despite
the violent opposition of the Jews, " the word of the Lord
was published through all the region.''
When the two missionaries returned to their starting-
point in Syria, they proclaimed how God had opened the
door to the Gentiles, and the Church of Antioch seems to
have rejoiced with them in the fact. But irritation and
alarm were felt elsewhere. The Church at Jerusalem
was naturally most conservative in clinging to the old
order of things. Among the converts there, Christianity
had been superimposed upon Judaism, and Judaism seemed
to them the only foundation on which it could rest. It
was their custom still to attend the Temple, to keep the
feasts, to observe sabbaths and new moons, and clays and
months and years. They believed that the whole Mosaic
legislation continued in force, not for themselves alone, but
for all who would enter the kingdom of God. Their
motives, as Paul asserts (vi. 12-13), were not always pure.
But most of them no doubt were honestly persuaded that
the Gentiles also must conform to the rites of the Law.
Hence the admission of Gentiles into the Church quite
independently of Judaism, was a rude blow to their con
ceptions of the relation between the old faith and the new.
Anxious emissaries proceeded from Jerusalem to Antioch,
to declare that circumcision was necessary to salvation.
Immediately the fires of controversy were kindled round
this crucial point. Paul and Barnabas went up to the
Apostles and elders at Jerusalem, to have it discussed and
set at rest. Paul was strenuous and irresistible. He had
conference with the three leaders, Teter, John, and James
the Lord's brother, who was now president of the Church
at Jerusalem. He explained what he had done among the

102 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
Gentiles, and eagerly sought, not that they should give
such action their authority, for he knew he had authority
for it from a far higher source, but that they should see
eye to eye with him in the matter, and save the Church
from scandal and calamity. Things hung in the balance ;
nevertheless the three " pillars of the Church " did endorse
the action of the missionaries, and when the Apostles and
elders met and the Council was held, the initiative was
taken by Peter in a truly noble and generous speech.1 He
was followed by Paul and Barnabas, and finally by James,
with the result that it was decided that the Gentiles were
not to be bound to accept Judaism, though certain forms
of abstinence were commended as needful in the transition
from the old life.2 This was the famous decision of the
Council of Jerusalem, based not on abstract theory, but
simply on the guidance of plain providential facts in tho
success of Gentile missions — the issue of the conflict in
which Paul tells the Galatians he had striven in their
interest, that " the word of the gospel might continue with
them." It is very important, however, to note the decision to
recognise two spheres of missions, that of the circumcision
with Peter as its leader, and that of the uncircumcision
with Paul as its leader. It did not at once dawn on the
Church that if the gospel freed the Gentile from the Law,
it must also free the Jew. This was bound, as we shall
see, to become a source of trouble when Jewish and Gentile
Christians existed side by side.
The matter, therefore, did not really end with the
Council. So far as its decision was favourable to tho
liberty of the Gentiles, it cut too deeply into Jewish

1 "This act of noble, self-denying magnanimity,'' says Pfleiderer, "saved
the future of Christianity in a critical moment ; and for that reason the
Church justly holds the memory of Peter in high honour" (Hibbert
Lectures, pp. 107-108).
- These injunctions recall the Noachid rules, intended for Gentiles who
dwelt within the gates of Israel. Of. Schiirer, Jcvish I'm-plc, n. ii. ?,1H m.
The meaning was that converts should at the very Vast abstain from thiio's
that were peculiarly offensive to the Jews.

STRUGGLE FOR CHRISTIAN LIBERTY 103
prejudices and convictions, and there were many ardent
Jewish Christians who could not accept it. Paul and
Barnabas returned from Jerusalem to Antioch, and shortly
afterwards Peter came down to Antioch also.1 In harmony
with the decrees, and doubtless with his own truest in
stincts, Peter at once associated with the Gentile converts,
as if there were no distinction between them. Then " certain
from James " appeared and reproached him, so that he
changed his conduct and withdrew from social relations
with uncircumcised brethren, influencing others, even
Barnabas himself, to follow his example. The consequence
would likely have been disastrous, had not Paul again
proved himself equal to the occasion. He withstood Peter
to the face, and though we have no account of how the
dispute proceeded, we may infer that Peter acknowledged
his error. At all events, Paul was not compelled to break
with the Apostles, but, continuing in harmony with them,
went forward in perfect liberty to do as he had clone,
namely, to hold open the door of a free gospel to the
Gentiles. Nevertheless, the freedom for which Paul strove, was
not to be gained in one or two encounters. It had to be
fought for in many battles, and almost wherever the gospel
was preached. Judaistic Christianity took shape in a very
definite and uncompromising form. The Apostle of the
Gentiles soon felt how subtle and indefatigable was the
opposition he would have to face. His opponents would
carry the war into every field, and even on the dearest
spots where he had suffered and bled to win a foothold,
they would spare no effort to undermine his position.2
1 Some regard the encounter with Peter at Antioch as preceding the
Council at Jerusalem. This would save Peter from the charge of vacillation.
Yet at Antioch there was the new issue — Jewish liberty.
- Jewish zeal in contact with the Gentiles was of course quite familiar
with the admission to Judaism of Gentiles who did not conform to the whole
law. These were simply the ' God-fearing ' (o-e^ofienoi), and many were con
tent to remain at that stage. But the natural desire of earnest converts was
to press farther, and there were plenty of zealots to encourage them to accept
the whole law, and so become in the true sense 'proselytes.' The experience
of King Izates of Adiabene, who was freely admitted to Judaism by one

104 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
It was so in Galatia. Paul visited his Churches there
a second time, when he did not apparently find any great
cause for alarm, though he seems to have given them
serious warnings (i. 9). But in his footsteps there soon
appeared the teachers whom he had reason to dread. They
laboured diligently and insidiously, and, saddest of all, with
a great measure of success. So startling was the change
they produced, and in so comparatively short a time, that
Paul could liken their influence only to a bewitching spell.
Called into liberty, and obtaining the quickening of new
life in perfect liberty, the Galatians nevertheless yielded to
the persuasion that Paul was in error, that his gospel was
unauthorised and defective, and that it was needful for
them to accept the ancient Law, which God had clearly
given, and which it could not be shown He had ever abro
gated. When news reached the Apostle of this lamentable
change, it fell on him like a bolt from a clear sky. He
had not anticipated that a position so gloriously won could
be so easily and so ignobly surrendered. He was filled
with grief and alarm. He sat down to write a letter 1 that,
Rabbi, and finally was persuaded to accept circumcision by another, was
very typical. The Jewish Christians of Palestine appear nearly all to have
held extreme opinions, and to have bitterly resented a full entrance into the
Messianic hopes, if their peculiar distinctions were not accepted. Cf.
Josephus, Antiq. xx. ii. 4 ; Dercnbourg, Palestine, pp. 224-225 ; and
Graetz, History of (he Jews, ii. 217 sqq., and 387-388.
1 Literally, of course, he dictated to an amanuensis. Only the closing
part is autographic. Deissmann (Bible Studies, pp. 346 sqq.) has a curious
note on the words, "See with how large letters I write unto you with mine
own hand " (vi. 11). He thinks this is a piece of amiable irony, playfully
designed to humour the Galatians ere the Epistle closes. ' ' Large letters are
calculated to make an impression on children ; and it is as his own dear
foolish children he treats the Galatians." This cannot be said to commend
itself for its insight into the relations between Paul and his readers. His
purpose was clearly emphasis, not levity. Deissmann also (pp. 350 sqq.),
following a suggestion of Stade, gives a novel interpretation of the "marks
of the Lord Jesus " (vi. 17). He regards these as protective signs, and thinks
that Paul, in a mixture of earnest and amiable jest, speaks of his wounds
received in apostolic labour, as the marks of Jesus which protected him as by
a charm. He supports this by references to analogies in a third century
papyrus, preserved in the Leyden Museum. But again his suggestion is
more ingenious than probable.

NATURE OF THE OPPOSITION IN GALATIA 105
by God's grace, would save his converts from their folly, by
reviving the earlier and nobler spirit, and by exposing the
fatal nature of the exchange they were making.
It is not difficult to gather, from the tenor of the
Epistle, what was the character of the opposition which
the Jewish emissaries directed against the Apostle. It was
weighty and subtle, and could not be despised. Those who
engaged in it were apparently men of note and reputation.
Paul indicates one especially, whom he does not name, but
whose personahty might prove dazzling to the converts
(v. 10). The great aim was to propagate the gospel of
the circumcision, inculcating with that many other Jewish
rites. This was represented as an advance ; not a giving
up of the religion of faith, but a making of it " perfect."
To ensure the success of such a propaganda several
methods were adopted.
1. First of all, it was necessary to sweep away the
influence of the Apostle. His authority was denied. Who
was he, and whence had he derived his mission ? He was
no Apostle ; he was a mere subordinate of the Apostles.
They had given him any knowledge of the gospel he
possessed, and yet he dared to pit himself against them,
and to move on lines of his own. Moreover, he was a
deceiver and inconsistent. He was ready to do anything
merely to 'persuade' and to 'please men' (i. 10). He
was against circumcision in Galatia, but elsewhere he
'preached' (v. 11) what here he so vehemently con
demned. Who could trust such a man ? He was a time-
server, zealous for his own glory, and not for the truth.
2. Not only so, his gospel was imperfect, and fatal to
the highest interests of his hearers. It cut them off from
the promises, and from the great religious revelation of the
past. There was only one way of becoming children of
Abraham, and children of Abraham were the only heirs of
the divine covenant. This self-styled Apostle taught them
to regard as dispensable and of no moment what God Him
self had ordained. Yet the Law was binding, and power
and blessedness could never rest on those who despised it.
3. Further, not only was this doctrine of Paul false in

106 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
principle, it was certain to prove fatal in its results. The
Law was the only safeguard of a moral life. To abolish it
was to remove the surest barrier against the pagan and
vicious life, from which many had been redeemed. The
helps and checks and discipline it afforded would disappear.
Liberty from the Law would spell lawlessness in the end,
and the inevitable fruit would be licence, ruinous and un
restrained. Such was the opposition which was at work among tho
Churches of Galatia, and which drew from the Apostle his
weighty Epistle.

III.
AEGUMENT OF THE EPISTLE.
It was necessary for Paul to adjust his defence to the
nature of the attack made upon him. With a writer so
emotional and impassioned, it is not to be expected that
the argument will flow in absolutely clear and undeviating
channels. The swelling flood will sometimes overflow its
banks. In all parts of the Epistle there are indignant
repellings of the personal accusations against his disin
terestedness and good faith. But in the main the lines
of the reply are very distinct, and, as it happens, oui
divisions into chapters mark them clearly. There are six
chapters in the Epistle : in two, Paul defends his authority
and independence as an Apostle ; in two, he defends the
truth of his message ; and in two, he defends and commends
the new life in the Spirit.
I. Paul soon enters the lists against the attacks upon
his authority. An Apostle ! Who makes an Apostle ?¦ Is
it man, or Jesus Christ and God ? From tho divine source
he derives his right to be heard. He has preached a
gospel because God gave it to him, and no human being
ever inspired it, or added to it one iota. In very simple
and touching language he recalls his conversion. It was
for him the pivot round which all else revolved. He does

PAUL DEFENDS HIS APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY 107
not go into details, for doubtless it had been an oft-told
story among the Galatians. But he brings out the fact,
essential for his purpose, that it was by the revelation of
Jesus Christ, the good pleasure of God revealing His Son
in him. It was no sermon of Peter at Pentecost, nor
appeal of Stephen before his judges or in the hour of
death, that had subdued his soul and illumined it with
the truth of the gospel. It was the overpowering light
that shone on the road to Damascus, the vision and voice
of the crucified but living Christ. From that holy and
transcendent source, his gospel to the Gentiles sprang.
Could any of the Twelve show an authority greater or
more decisive ?
They said he was instructed by the Apostles. Let
his readers, then, consider what his intercourse with the
Apostles had been. For many years he scarcely even knew
them. The result of his conversion was not to send him
flying into the arms of the Apostles. It led him " to confer
not with flesh and blood." He retired into Arabia, and
afterwards returned to Damascus. It was not until three
years had passed that he went up to Jerusalem. There he
saw Peter, and also James the Lord's brother, but he was
not with them more than a few days. He next spent many
years in the regions of Syria and Cilicia. The Churches of
Judea would not have known him even by sight. All they
knew was that he who once persecuted, now preached the
faith, for which they glorified God. How absurd, therefore,
to say that he owed his instruction to Jerusalem ! He had
laboured in the gospel, and attained fame as a preacher,
during long years in which his relations with Jerusalem
were of the slightest possible kind.
But they said also that he was inconsistent. He con
tended for a liberty in Galatia, which he was prudent
enough not to say much about in other places. That he
was misrepresented could easily be shown by the simple
facts. Would it surprise them to learn two things : first,
that he had vigorously contended for this very liberty
among the leaders in Jerusalem ; and again, that for its
sake he had withstood Peter to the face in Antioch, and

108 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
that on both occasions he had triumphed ? There was
inconsistency somewhere, but it was not in him.1
And so, in the first ten verses of the second chapter,
Paul gives an account of what took place in the memorable
discussion at Jerusalem, which ended in the decrees of the
Council, almost entirely in his favour.2 He shows clearly,
that not merely did that conference add nothing to him,
but that it completely endorsed all that he had done among
the Gentiles. The gospel of the uncircumcision was recog
nised as winning success by the same divine power that
inspired the gospel of the circumcision. Far from inter
dicting him, the ' pillars of the Church,' James and Peter
and John, gave him the right hand of fellowship, and bade
him God-speed on his mission. Not only so, a very signifi
cant thing took place at Jerusalem — a test case. Titus
was with him, and there were important personages who
would have liked well to see his Greek friend circumcisod.8
1 In the second chapter Paul is still recounting his intercourse with tho
Apostles, and it is of course in his mind to show how little ho was indebted
to them. But it is plain that at the same time he is bent on bringing out
his championship of gospel liberty elsewhere than in Galatia. In so doing,
it will be observed, he refers to comparatively recent experiences. It is
probable that at an early stage of his career he had not been so clear in
his views of the relation between the law and the gospel. In oh, v. 11 he
does not explicitly deny that he had ever preached circumcision. What ho
denies is that he continued to preach it. His views had been clarified,
partly by controversy, but most of all by providential leading, and by
doepor spiritual insight into the nature of tho gospel.
2 Probably Paul would rather have had the decision without tho three or
four recommendations of abstinence. But these were not likely to do much
harm. Soon all reference to them seems to have been dropped.
It is almost the unanimous opinion that in this passage (ii. 1-10) Paul is
recounting what took place during his visit at tho timo of the Council.
A few, however, think that in these first and second chapters ho is giving
a seriatim accouut of all his visits to Jerusalem, and that consequently
this is an account of the visit with the gifts from Antioch, recorded in
Acts xi. 30, which otherwise would not bo enumerated. Professor Rarnsay
strenuously maintains this view, although he stands almost alone in the
opinion. 3 " Being a Greek " (ii. 3). "There seems to lie a tacit allusion to the
case of Timothy. 'You maintain,' St. Paul sw ras to argue, 'that I
allowed the validity of the Mosaic law in circumcixing Timothy (Acts xvi.
1, 3). But Timothy was half of Jewish parentage. How did I act in the case
of Titus, a true Gentile 1 I did not yield for a moment ' " (Lightfoot in loc.).

A REVIEW OF THE PAST 109
Did he yield to them ? Not for a single hour. Imposing
as they seemed to be, they could not win from him a
surrender so compromising.
He will relate also what took place at Antioch. Peter
(and Barnabas too, alas !) had first associated with the
Gentile converts, and then, under baneful influence from
Jerusalem, had refused to clo so. How deplorable was
such conduct ! It sent a line of cleavage into Christian
society. It introduced a system of caste, whereby Gentile
Christians would be discouraged, and made to feel that
they were inferior. It said to them : ' You may be worthy
to be received into the Church of Christ, but you are not
worthy to associate with us who live at a higher level.
Faith in Christ is good, but faith in Christ is very im
perfect if you do not add to it the righteousness of the
Law.' Could a more striking object-lesson be given, of the
extreme peril of the course against which he, Paul, con
tended ? Had he not condemned this, he would have been
unfaithful to his divine trust. Who was inconsistent ?
Not he : but the man who at Jerusalem encouraged the
gospel of the uncircumcision, and at Antioch turned his back
upon it ; who, himself a Jew, lived as a Gentile, and yet
sought to force the Gentiles to live as the Jews !
More than this, Peter's error was not merely a weak
vacillation under pressure, it was a sin against the light.
He was a Jew, as Paul himself was. And what had they
as Jews proven beyond all dispute ? This — that no man
among them was ever justified by the Law, but by faith in
Christ. On that common ground they became Christians.
They had been forced to leave the Law, and cast themselves
on Christ. And now it was declared essential to go back
to that which they acknowledged never did and never
could save them!
In brief but most pregnant and significant words, Paul
gives his own experience (vv. 19-21). The Law con
demned him. Far from achieving righteousness by it, he
found himself overwhelmed, brought under the judgment
of death. But the Son of God loved him, and gave
Himself for him. If Paul must die for sin, he died — but

110 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
how ? In a mystical union with liis Eedeemer : he was
" crucified with Christ." Did he die then ? Literally, no ;
but in relation to the Law in all its power and effects, yes.
He lived, but what life ? A new life in the flesh, even a
hfe transformed and upheld by ardent devotion to the Son
of God. Mysterious as it may seem, it was for him a
profoundly true experience, — the life he hved was Christ
living in him. To think of any other hfe would indeed
make the grace of God in vain. If they talked of
righteousness by the Law, let them answer this : For what
purpose did the Messiah die ? The awful dilemma confronts
them : either Christ saves, and the Law is vain for salvation ;
or the Law stands, and the Cross of Christ is of no effect.
In his own life Paul had thus experienced the truth
and power of his gospel But he was not the only one
who had thus proved it. He appeals to the experience
of the Galatians themselves (hi. 1—5). They too knew
what the gospel of faith in Christ had done, and was able
to do. They were glamoured and unsettled for a moment.
But let them recall how it was, when at first the crucified
Christ had been " placarded " before their eyes. Was that
not a time of joy and grace ? What marvellous works
were wrought among them ! Eevive that blessed past,
and reflect — what was the secret of its power ? Was
it by works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith ? Their
own experience was eloquent, if they would only let it
speak. The works of the flesh did httle for them. How
can they ever dream that to return to them is the way
of " perfection " ? That is no advance. Alas ! it is foolish
retrogression. II. But it was not sufficient for the Apostle to appeal
to experience. His opponents appealed to authority.
They professed not only to have the Church of Jerusalem
with them, but to be really standing in the line of the
divine revelation. They claimed that the Scriptures
themselves were on their side. It is clear that if such
a claim were estabhshed, the position of the Apostle would
be sadly shaken, and his appeal to experience rendered full
of suspicion.

THE APPEAL TO SCRIPTURE 111
How, then, did Paul meet this view of the matter ?
He did not shrink from the challenge, but turned to
Scripture with even more confidence than his opponents.
The revelation of the past seemed to be in tlieir favour
only because it was not understood.
His thesis must be kept distinctly in mind — salvation
is by faith, and not by the works of the Law. The
establishment of this is the pith of the Epistle. Close-
packed as his argument from Scripture is, it is not difficult
to make out the line along which he moves.
1. First, he begins by citing the case of Abraham.
Nothing seemed to him surer than that Abraham's accept
ance with God was through faith. The Old Testament
itself recorded that " he believed God, and it was accounted
to him for righteousness." Shining like a star, therefore,
in the forefront of the Eevelation, is the Father of the
Faithful himself. And because it was the divine intention
to receive the nations, just as Abraham had been received,
God gave the gospel to the patriarch when He said : " In
thee shall all nations be blessed." Abraham owed all to
grace, and when men of any nation come to God in the
same spirit of lowly faith, they are the true children of
Abraham. The relationship with him is not one of blood,
nor does it need to be marked by any external seal. It
is deeper and truer because it is spiritual. Thus Abraham
is to Paul the " pioneer of a religion of grace and faith
destined for all nations " ; " the spiritual ancestor of
Christianity and of Christendom. Before there was an
Israelitish nation and commonwealth, before there was a
Mosaic Law as the foundation for that commonwealth,
there was formed between the heart of the Father in
heaven and a solitary human heart, which sought God
above nature, a covenant of personal intercourse of fatherly
disclosures and filial acts of confidence which continued
and was developed as a sacred tradition — first in a family
of friends of God, and then in a nation growing out of
the family; and that covenant was the germ of the
religion of salvation for all the nations of the earth. That
is the element of most certain truth in the biblical

112 THE EriSTLE TO THE GALATIANS
story of Abraham which the penetration of the Apostle
discovers.'" l
2. ('insider, on the other hand, Paul continues, how it
is with the Law. Blessing is promised in Abraham, but
does the Law bring blessing? Nay verily; it brings a
curse (hi. 10). Why? Because no man is able to keep
it perfectly, and sooner or later it whispers in every heart
the sentence of death. If it be necessary to continue in
all things that are written in the book of the Law to do
them, it is surely plain that no flesh will be justified in
Cod's sight. The Apostle declares that it is not he alone
who says this. The prophet Habakkuk had a true if
incomplete prevision of it, when he said : " The just shall
live by faith." The Law itself has only the sad message,
' There is hfe in obedience.' Over disobedience there hangs
the curse, beyond the power of the Law to remove. But
cannot the curse be removed ? It can be, and it has been.
Christ has taken it upon Himself on the Cross. He bore
it for us, not for Jews only, but for the Gentiles also, that
they might receive the blessing of Abraham, the promise
of the Spirit through faith.
The Law, then, is powerless to save, simply because its
way of salvation, perfect obedience, is not possible.
3. It is not the Law, but the promise to Abraham,
which stands first. Take an illustration from ordinary
affairs. When a man has made a Will, and it has been
duly confirmed, no one can alter or undo it (iii. 15).2
Much less, we may depend upon it, did God mean the Law,
which came four hundred and thirty years after the promise,
to disannul His covenant. The promise of the inheritance

1 Beyschlag, N.T. Theol. ii. 124-125.
- Ramsay alleges that irrevocability was a characteristic feature of Greek
law which the South Galatians would well understand. Cf. Hist. Comm.
pp. 351 sqq. A second Will might be made adding to the first and confirm
ing it, but not revoking it, after it had been registered. It is questionable,
however, whether he has proved this quite convincingly. Moreover, it
seems to miss the point. The question is not whether a testator could
revoke his Will, but whether any other person could make it void. The
intervention ruled out is that of the Law, regarded as given, not by God,
but by angels acting through Moses.

PAULS VIEW OF THE USE OF THE LAW 113
moves straight on from Abraham, in a definite and un
broken line, to find its fulfilment in Christ, the true " seed "
of Abraham.1 And it may also be pointed out, that the
Law is not only subordinate in point of time, it is inferior
in origin. God Himself is not regarded as giving it
directly. It came indirectly, ordained by angels, who
used Moses as a mediator. The very fact of his being a
mediator, shows that Moses was acting for many (i.e. for
angels) and not for God, for a single person does not need
a mediator.2 4. But the question will be asked, If all this is true,
then what is the use of the Law ? What purpose has it
served ? If it be antagonistic to the promise, is not its
revelation entirely stultified ? To this the Apostle gives
a most significant and paradoxical reply : I do not say the
Law is against the promise ; God forbid. I have a
reverence for the Law, though it be not of the kind
entertained by some of you.3 The Law came subordinate
to the promise, but most helpful to it. How ? Because
it came " for trangressions." You say it came for the sake
of righteousness. I say rather, it came for the sake of
sin. Let us understand. By the giving of commandments
a great step is taken in moral development. The sense of
sin is awakened and intensified when the soul is made
conscious of transgressions. A man scarcely condemned

1 The founding of an argument on the use of the singular instead of the
plural number, seems at first sight rather too strained. It is not so surpris
ing, however, if we keep in mind Paul's constant view of Christ, as, not a
mere man, but the Head and Representative of all the children of God. Cf.
Pfleiderer, Hibbert Lectures, pp. 126-127. Ramsay thinks that he was using
a kind of distinction quite customary in Greek thought long before and long
after he wrote. Hist. Comm. pp. 355-356.
2 Paul was trained as a Rabbi, and he cannot throw off a certain inclina
tion to argue in some ways as a Rabbi might. What he says of the origin
of the Law is in conformity with accepted Jewish tradition of bis day. Cf.
also Stephen's speech, Acts vii. 38, and the Epistle to the Hebrews ii. 2.
It is said that there are no less than three hundred different interpretations
of this difficult verse. Gal. iii. 20.
3 "Paul's whole life was a struggle about the Law, but never against it.
He stands for it even when he opposes it" (Adolph Zahn, Das Gcsttz Gottes
nach der Lchrc des Apostel Paulus, p. 81).
8

114 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
himself when there was no Law. He must condemn
himself now. Every day the knowledge of his inability
and failure is thrust upon him. Conscience is quickened,
and life, if it be earnest, becomes a burden, bowed down
with vain regrets. And what is the purpose served r
The soul is completely shut up to God's way of salvation.
In a word, it is driven to Christ. Do not say, therefore,
that I make the Law of no effect. Without the lightnings
of its condemnation, we should never have turned so
eagerly to our divine Refuge. Let me use a figure. It is
a " schoolmaster," that is, a pcedagogus, not a teacher but a
guardian, a faithful slave ; according to the Greek custom,
its function is to lead the children to the true Master, yea,
even to bring them to Christ. It has accomplished this
by its bonds. But once in tho keeping of the Master, tho
children no longer need the assistance of tho slave.
5. In the fourth chapter Paul strives to make this
subordinate and temporary character of the Law still more
apparent. He takes another analogy from common life.
A child, even though he be an heir, is under tutors and
governors, until the father is pleased to free him from such
bonds. Even so, the era of the Law was an era of tutelage.
The hour of emancipation came with Christ, when the rudi
ments and restraints passed away. The work of redemp
tion means, bringing us out of an unworthy subjection into
the hberties of sonship. These liberties are the privileges,
not limited but full and complete, of the adopted sons of
the divine Father. Who, having reached that glad estate,
would desire to return to the " weak and beggarly elements,"
the material and sensuous bondage of the Law ? Yet that
was the issue to which they were being led, in theh' now
scruples of " days, and months, and times, and years."
It should be observed that sonship by adoption, though
alien to Jewish conceptions, was a well-known principle
both in Greek and Roman life, and was so absolute that it
did not appear in the Apostle's eyes in any way inferior to
natural sonship. Sonship of either kind carried heirship
with it, and so his readers would understand. It seems to
Paul a happy illustration of the blessed change effected by

ADOPTION. LOVE OF THE CONVERTS 115
the gospel, in leading from a state of legal bondage into one
of liberty. It is only an illustration, however, and we must
not push it to an extreme, as if Paul believed that men
were in no sense sons of Cod before then: salvation, or that
after their salvation they became sons only by a kind of
legal fiction. Sons they are ; though, unredeemed by Christ,
they are in a sad plight, scarcely to be distinguished from
slavery — "in nothing differing from slaves" (iv. 1). The
Apostle's aim is simply to show, in a graphic way, that
through Christ the Christian passes as it were from the
tyranny and misery of a bad home, where he had no liberty
or joy, into a new home, under a gracious Father, where love
and freedom are complete, and where all high privileges,
dignities, and duties, become his, as surely as if he had been
bom to them and never lost them.
The vivid realisation, then, of the Galatian backsliding,
now leads the Apostle into a momentary digression (w.
11—20;. He trembles for his converts, lest his labour
among them should be in vain. His love for them springs
to the surface, and his language grows more tender. He
and they are "brethren," although evil tongues would
represent him as their " enemy." How could they dream
of enmity in him ? Had they ever injured him, so as to
rouse his resentment ? Far from it. He cannot recall
their kindness without gratitude and emotion. His sad
" trial in the flesh " had been no barrier to their affection.
They had not despised him for it. As a strong friend
would pour his life-blood into the veins of the beloved sick,
even so they, had it been possible, would have plucked out
their eyes, and given them to him. Was that likely to
make him their foe ? Or, is enmity proved because he j
has dared to speak the truth ? The truth may pain, but
it is a high token of friendship to be faithful. But the
real cause of any threatened breach between them, is the
miserable intrigue of those who trouble them. These men
wish to awaken zeal, and it is good to be zealous always
in a good cause. The misfortune now is, that their
cause is evil Would that he were with his friends at
this moment ! How he yearns for them, as he realises the

116 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
ordeal they arc enduring ! They arc his " little children."
His anxiety is quick and sharp, like the pain of bringing
them to birth again, even to the new life in Christ.
Once more returning to his argument, Paul seems to
feel that something must be added to what he has said
about sonship and heritage. Is it really open to doubt
who are the true sons ? Do any dare to cast it in tho
face of the Gentile converts, that they are by nature
inferior to the children of Abraham after the flesh ? It is
true the Jews are such children, but everything in the
Law is not just what it seems on the surface. The Law is
spirit as well as letter. It is full of allegory and symbol,
dim shadow pointing to the abiding substance. Let them
remember — for they hear it read frequently — that Abra
ham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. And let it be
granted that the son of the slave-woman is a slave. But
ask now, which genealogy really represents the Jews, ami
which the Christians ? Not what you think literally, from
the order of natural generation, or what certain interested
ones may tell you. Ishmael was the son of the bondwoman,
Isaac the son of the free. But while Hagar represents in
reality the covenant of Sinai, and the legislation that
flowed from it, Sarah and her child of promise represent
the heavenly Jerusalem, and all those who come to the
promise by being born of the Spirit. They are the truly
" free." But the hand of Ishmael was ever against his
brother, and so the harassing which is now endured from
the earthly Jerusalem was foreshadowed. Yet something
more was also prophesied in the symbol, namely, that the
bondage should be cast off, and that the heirs of promise
shoidd freely enter on their inheritance. This is what is
taking place in the dispensation of the gospel. The future
is with us, says the Apostle triumphantly, for we are the
children of the free.
In this daring illustration, Paul goes, quite logically, to
an extreme, in showing that the gospel superseded the Law.
He has vision to see that the distinctive sphere of the
' circumcision ' cannot be maintained. Jewish as well as
Gentile Christians, will become free. Controversy has

ESSENTIAL TRUTH OF PAUL'S VIEW 117
perhaps betrayed him into a certain harshness of presenta
tion, but he presents the truth. He expects, however,
that Israel will yet inherit her promises through Christ.
She will not always be " outcast." Her glorious inclusion
will be his theme later, in the Epistle to the Eomans.
Such was the masterly and strenuous way, in which
Paul strove to maintain the truth of his message, and its
harmony with Scripture. It may be granted that there
are modes in his reasoning which are apt to seem more in
genious than convincing. Yet in the heart of the matter,
he was invincibly right. The Law is impossible as a way
of salvation, and that simply because no human flesh can
keep it in perfection. Even in that part of his argument
which to the Jewish ear would sound most scandalous, he
undoubtedly touched the core of a great spiritual truth.
No Jew would ever allow that Paul's view of the purpose
of the Law — that it was sent for transgression — was a
scriptural view.1 There is no hint of such a thing in its
enunciation, or in the interpretation and experience of later
ages. It was expressly given for fulfilment and " life,"
and no one suspected anything else. And so far Paul
agreed. None knew better than he, that there were good
men in Old Testament times, but what he was also sure
of was, that the essence of their goodness did not he in
legal obedience. Neither Abraham nor David would have
claimed acceptance with God on that ground. In making
such a conviction clear, he may seem to flout the Law,
while he yet recognises that the fault is not in the Law,
but in the heart of man himself. The Law in itself was
good, and if life had been possible by any Law, this
assuredly was the Law that would have secured it. But
the Apostle is engaged in a polemic, not against abstract
theories, but against the concrete realisation of things as
it existed around him. It was this that made his language
stronger and narrower 2 than it would otherwise have been.
1 Cf. Ed. Grafe, Die paulinische Lelire vom Gesetz, pp. 13 sqq.
" Narrow, that is, in so far as it omits any direct and express recognition
of the soul of good possible even in tho rites of the Law. These were
symbols that, in their deepest and purest intention, might lead to spiritual

118 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
He seems undoubtedly to be thinking more of the ritual
than of the moral side of the Law, although ho draws no
distinction; and it was the awful hollowness of the Phari
saic legalism of his day that loomed in his mind, and
harrowed his soul. Ho had been a Pharisee, and he knew.
His neck had been fretted in that yoke. Hence his revolt
was so decided, and his welcome of the liberty of faith so
full of joy.
A modern instance presents us with an exact parallel,
and helps us to understand the situation. Luther was
like-minded with Paul in his revolt from " works of the
Law," and for a very similar reason. " We ought never
to allow ourselves to forget that they were altogether
special circumstances which led Luther so unweariedly
to proclaim the comfort of troubled consciences in the good
news of justification through Christ. It arose from the
circumstance that Luther had pursued so long and so
passionately the opposite course of seeking to make him
self just with God through the merit of his ascetic (and
therefore not even socially profitable) works. From his
recollection of the energy with which he had sought to
carry out this error of his monkish life, Luther derived a
great part of that persistency, which he showed in laying
so frequent and urgent stress on the consolation of the
gospel and the method of its appropriation." 1
So it was with Paul In point of fact, though he
argues back upon Scripture, Paul had not himself reached
his standpoint by such reflections. These reasons came
afterwards. He flashes back upon the Law the light of
the great experience through which God had brought his
own soul. His view of the purpose of the Law arose from
the conviction, that what the Law had actually accom
plished was what God had intended it to accomplish — a
safe inference in this instance, no doubt, though not neces
sarily or universally safe. And what had it accomplished?
ideas, types pointing to great antitypes. This view was not foreign to
Paul's mind (cf. Col. ii. 17), but he doubtless felt that the point of such an
argument was scarcely sharp enough for his present purpose.
1 Ritschl, Justification and Reconciliation, i. 163.

THE PERIL OF LIBERTINISM 119
In his own case — how bitterly he reahsed it ! — it had
produced a sense of unworthiness, an intensification of
guilt and sin, that made hfe a burden, and crushed it with
a daily sorrow. That was its outcome. Did he dare too
much when he ventured to say, God meant it so to be ?
Verily the Law was a minister of God. It was the slave
who compelled him gladly and blessedly to anchor the
hope of his salvation in the faith of Christ.
III. We now come to the third and last part of the
Apostle's defence. He claimed not only that his gospel
was divinely inspired, and in harmony with Scripture,
but also that it was the true way of attaining a holy life.
His opponents professed to attack him in the interests of
morality. He had declared there was a danger of Pharisa
ism in the Law ; they retorted that there was a greater
danger of libertinism in his gospel.
Men are always glad to hear the utterance of the
word ' liberty.' There is music in the sound. But many
welcome it who do not understand it. They interpret it
in an absolute way, and turn it to the grossest abuse.
This is true of political liberty, and no less true of
spiritual. The taunt was flung at the Apostle : ' You go
about preaching liberty from the Law ; you will soon dis
cover to what that leads. It is just what men of loose
life desire. Your liberty will be the most welcome thing
in the world — to the libertine.'
This was a serious charge, and Paul felt it. It was
fatal, if only it were true. A doctrine cannot survive, if
it be convicted of tending to immorality. No matter with
what enthusiasm it is preached, or with what skill it is
maintained, should its practical results be demoralising, it
must fail, and pass out of men's regard. It cannot be
from above, if its fruits are plainly from beneath.
Now the Apostle did not attempt to deny the danger.
He confessed it, not because there was any inherent defect
in the truth of Christian liberty, but because the human
heart might abuse it.
As a matter of fact it was misunderstood. Even in
the Apostle's lifetime, sects of a Gnostic type arose, who

120 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
seized this doctrine of liberty, and used it as an excuse
for the most vicious sensual indulgence. Carnal things,
they said, were indifferent ; these could not taint their
lofty spiritual life. We shall see this coming out very
clearly in the Epistle to the Colossians, and subsequent
history furnishes us with many examples. We may com
pare the fanatical licence of the Gnostic Carpocratians in
Alexandria in the second century, and of the Anabaptists
of Miinster under John of Leyden in the sixteenth. A
similar perversion also characterised the morality of many
of the Greek Stoics and Cynics. " Generally the wise
man, who bears within him the consciousness of his god
like nature and righteousness, is placed above all human
law and custom. And so the rigorism of the Stoic morality
strikes into the most unbounded caprice of the individual.
The wise man is to himself the law of the good ; whilst
he follows his nature, he follows the divine reason. In
one word, there is no human law objective to him and
independent of him. With him the end rectifies the
means ; what he does is good and perfect, for the reason
that he does it. . . . On this ground he can allow himself
in everything, reconcile himself to law and custom, or set
them aside." 1
In Paul's day and since, men have argued that if
grace " sets free from the Law/' it is of no importance if
we do not keep the obhgations of the Law. Conscience
may sit easy, for faith in Christ will rectify every trans
gression. We do not understand the human heart, if we
think this fallacy so obvious that it would not deceive
even a httle child. Full-grown men can argue worse than
children when it suits them. " In all ages," writes Mar
tensen, " men may be found in the Church who imagine
that they can sin because of grace, that they can permit
themselves transgression and neglect, because the forgive
ness of sin always stands open, and it is not deeds, but
faith, on which our safety turns. As one example among
man}-, we quote the following piece of reasoning, which is
1 Diillinger, Gentile and Jew, i. 356-357.

ANTINOMIAN SOPHISTRY 121
not imaginary, and in various forms repeats itself in actual
life : — ' God has remitted to me an infinite debt, has
forgiven me all my sins. Then He may certainly also
forgive me the five rix-dollars which I owe N. N., and
which it is inconvenient for me to pay. I don't intend to
pay them, although N. N., who looks at things from the
standpoint of the law, and as a Philistine and a matter-of-
fact man, priding himself on his social uprightness, con
stantly importunes me for the money. But if the Lord
forgives me this trifling debt, — and that of course He will,
since He has forgiven me the infinitely great one, — I do
not concern myself about what the children of this world
call obligations.' " 1
Further, it is frequently argued : ' The gospel emanci
pates ; it sets free from the terror of tyrannous laws, and
gives us liberty to live out our own lives, to obey the im
pulses and natures God has given us.' This claim is vaunted
as a noble thing, and far in advance of the views of
common people, who are ridden by the standards of common
morals. It is exhibited in many modern dramas, and
runs like a polluting stream through the pages of many
modern novels. Worst of all, it is the tacit claim of many
a headstrong and unhappy hfe, which discovers the mocking
sophistry only too late. A man frequently says within
himself : ' My nature is as God made it ; to obey it, there
fore, cannot be the hideous thing which some would have
me believe.' But he does not reflect, — Is it clean and
pure, just as if it had come straight from the hand of God ?
Is it strong, angelic, and incapable of evil ? Is it not
tainted in any degree ? Are its judgments never wrong ?
Are its passions never blind and full of havoc ? Yet he
would obey it ! Claiming to be free, he is in reality
making himself one of the saddest of slaves.
Paul indeed declares (v. 17) that there is a dualism
of a moral kind in our human life. There is a conflict,
like that of a house divided against itself. The ' flesh '
and the ' spirit ' strive against each other for the mastery,
1 Christian Ethics (General Part), pp. 386-387.

122 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
the one swaying to evil, the other to holiness. In this he
is not philosophising, but simply depicting experience, his
own primarily, and that of all earnest men as well. Even
before a man is a Christian he knows something of this,
and afterwards he knows it still better. The new spirit
bestowed upon him, intensifies rather than diminishes the
conflict, although at the same time it brings the glorious
assurance that the victory of good is more certain. Do
not let us mistake. Paul does not regard the 'flesh'
as essentially evil. Greek psychologists argued so,
but the Christian Apostle does not. In speaking of the
flesh he is rather warning us where sin works, than
speculating as to where it originates. The flesh, as well as
the mind, came originally from God, and by divine grace
the Christian is capable of cleansing it from all defilement
(2 Cor. vii. 1). But it is regarded as the foe of holiness,
because it is the principal seat of corruption in fallen
humanity, and the chief sphere in which sin manifests
itself ; and this, not as its normal state, but as something
abnormal, and to be deplored, resisted, overcome. The last
thing in the world that Paul would have dreamt of, would
have been to counsel any man to yield to the dictates of
the carnal nature. Whatever the liberty of Christ meant,
it was not liberty to let this side of life have free play.1
The Apostle, then, is perfectly alive to the abuse that
may be made of his doctrine. He earnestly exhorts the
Galatians to be on their guard, and not to use their liberty
1 Holsten, Liidemann, and some others, maintain that Paul does hold
the Hellenistic idea of the essential sinfulness of the 'flesh.' A brief but
instructive criticism of such a theory may be found in Gifford's Romans,
pp. 48-52. Cf. Rom. vii. 14, where "the opposing principle is Sin, and
the flesh is only the material medium of sensual impulses and desires. This
is St. Paul's essential view, of which all else is but the variant expression,"
Sanday and Headlam, Romans, p. 181. Cf. also Dickson's St. Paul's Use of
the Terms Flesh and Spirit; Weiss, Bib. Theol. of the N.T., i. 339-351 ;
Beyschlag, N.T. Theol., ii. ch. ii. ; Reuss, Christian Theology, ii. 23 sqq. ;
Weizsaeker, Apost. Age, i. 151 sqq. ; Hausrath, Paulus (ed. 1872), p. 148 ;
Kabisch, Die Eschatologie des Paulus, 115 sqq. ; Clemen, Die christliche
Lehre von der Siinde, pp. 188 sqq. ; Teichmann, Du paulin. Vorstellungen
von Aiiferstehv.ng und Gericht, pp. 41 sqq. ; Theo. Simon, Die Psychologie des
Apostels Paulus, pp. 15 sqq.

FLESH AND SPIRIT. UNION WITH CHRIST 123
"as an occasion to the flesh" (v. 13). Never let them
imagme that the gospel is content with a lower standard
of hfe than the Law. Rather, the aim of the gospel is to
secure the highest. To say the contrary would be to deny
the perfect goodness of the Lord Jesus Himself. The goal
which the Master sought, in His hfe and example, in His
death and passion, was the redemption from all sin. With
out that, salvation has no meaning. If sin be ignored and
iniquity still indulged, the Apostle solemnly declares and
reiterates that there can be no entrance into the kingdom
of God (v. 21). "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a
man soweth, that shall he also reap."
Paul's divergence from his opponents, it is clear, is not
as to righteousness, but as to the way of attaining it ; not
as to the necessity of good works, but as to the source
from which they most certainly spring. The Jewish
Christians counselled that the Mosaic Law, with its com
mandments and ordinances, should be continued in order
to supplement the Cross, to help the believer to attain
the ideal life. Paul rejected this with his whole strength.
For one thing he did not beheve the proposal was sincere
(vi. 12-13); for another, he was perfectly sure it would
be futile, and that from point to point the Christian would
be drawn back to the whole intolerable bondage, which the
Jews themselves had not been able to endure.
What, then, is the more excellent way to which he
points ?
1. First of all, he would have the Christian to appre
hend what it really means " to be in Christ Jesus." The
secret lies there. Union with Christ is not for justification
and pardon merely ; it is for hohness also. It is not only
for one supreme moment, and for one particular gift ; it
is for ever, and for everything. No man has ever really
been united to Christ, who understands it otherwise. We
are ' in Christ ' in order to live like Him and by Him.
He is Master, and His will is our law. Yes, — law. So
far the contention is right. It is impossible to hve with
out law. All the universe is bound by law. Nature
would be a crashing chaos, and human nature overwhelmed

124 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
in anarchy without it. The soul of the Christian must
bow to it. Not, however, the law of external command
ments, but the law of the spirit of hfe ; principles binding,
not because they are parts of a code, but because they are
written in the heart. Paul calls this the " law of Christ "
(vi. 2). The authority of Christ rises in majesty before
him. Every expression of the perfect mind of Christ, in
word or deed or revelation of the Spirit, is law to the
Christian. It leaves no part of bis life uncovered. It
searches into every motive and desire, down to the very
roots of his being. Take it by itself, and in our own
strength, and we will find such a law unattainable, the
hardest of all laws, because it is the highest and the
holiest. Take it, however, in the way Christ gives it, and
we find, not in a moment but in time, that its command
ments are a yoke that is easy, and a burden that is light.1
2. For how does Christ give His law to His disciples ?
Not by itself alone. If He did, that would be the end.
He gives it, first of all, with a new heart. This is all-
essential, making both circumcision and uncircumcision seem
of no moment — the new heart as His own creation (vi. 15),
without which obedience would never be possible — a
mysterious change by the Spirit at the very springs of hfe.
Then further (and of this Paul at the moment is thinking
most), it is the gracious mission of the Spirit to strengthen
and inspire. He does not leave us alone. Therefore,
" Walk in the Spirit," says the Apostle, that is, obey His
impulses, suffer His direction and control, seek His ends,
walking with Him because you are agreed with Him, " and
ye shah not fulfil the lusts of the flesh."
Herein Paul is not teaching anything mystic and
esoteric. He is applying a most familiar principle. He
simply means that it is obedience to the law of the higher,
which sets free from the bondage of the lower. It is as if
a man should cease to creep, because he has learnt to
walk ; as if he should cease to walk, because he has learnt

1 Cf. an interesting passage on " Union with Christ," in Sanday's Concep
tion of Priesthood, pp. 169-170.

LOVE, THE FULFILMENT OF THE LAW 125
to soar in the unclouded light of heaven. It means cherish
ing good in order to eliminate evil — the only sm-e mode
that the world has ever known : " imprinted on Egyptian
monuments of unknown antiquity, and maintained by
Chinese moralists before the time of Confucius." * It
enables a man to say : ' I am not now tempted by that vice,
for I have no delight in it ; it has lost hold upon me, since
I became occupied with nobler things ; the glow, the
enthusiasm, and the joy of the new life have driven out the
passions of the old, just as the withered and persistent
leaves of winter are shaken off by the rising sap and
bursting buds of spring.'
3. Above all, the man who is " in Christ " will realise
that the deepest principle in the new life is Love (v. 13—
14). Hereby faith works for hohness, and the "whole
law," even in its moral aspects, may be fulfilled. For you
cannot kill if you love ; nor can you covet or bear false
witness. Where love is, injury, and sin, and wrong, will
vanish away. They cannot live in its sight. They will
never be entertained by its heart, or executed by its hand.
The bulwark of all righteousness is love. All errands of
mercy and benevolence, all burdens of forbearance and
meekness (vi. 1, 10), are inspired by it. It makes men
and women stand firm when all lesser motives fail. It
seeks the lost to the ends of the earth ; it stoops over the
fallen and the weak ; it has compassion for the oppressed ;
it battles for the wronged. There is nothing that makes
humanity so radiant, so like God. The religion, therefore,
that inspires it can never be the foe of goodness. All
morality lies clustered in its heart. To have it, is to
" dwell at the very fountain-head of perfect life," where
Christ Himself is the source. He best fulfils the Law
who says, not ' I obey because I fear to transgress,' but
' I obey because the love of Christ constraineth me.'
It is impossible to turn from this great Epistle, without
feelings of deep reverence and gratitude towards the man
1 E. Caird, Evolution of Religion, i. 202.

126 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
who wrote it. There is much in it that may scorn
obvious to us now. Yet what Paul strove against was a
stupendous danger, which sprang indeed not from passing
but from permanent tendencies of the human heart. Most
of all should we admire the courage with which this heroic
soul, almost single-handed, and at the cost of unbounded
suffering and persecution, fought the good fight of faith.
It is easy to sail the track that has been sailed ten
thousand times. It is not easy to launch away first into
the unknown deep. Yet we behold Paul breaking
resolutely with an old and venerated past, while the gospel
of complete salvation by faith in Christ was yet unproved.
" He was the first that over burst
Into that silent sea."
Not one in millions would have dared so sublime a
venture. He apprehended with the vision of genius, nay,
of inspiration, the perfect mind of Christ, and he was
willing to lay clown his life, that tho " liberty of Christ "
might be handed on in triumph to mankind. For this ho
is entitled to be ranked as one of the greatest religious
leaders of the world.

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE
CORINTHIANS.

Some four years before this Epistle was written the
Apostle Paul had sailed round from Athens, and first set
foot in the city of Corinth. It was a wonderful city then,
though it presents such a miserable appearance to modern
eyes. It had long been sinking into decay, when the
Greek war of Liberation against Turkey completed its
downfall, and left it a mere heap of smouldering ruins.
Mr. Lewin visited it in 1851, and counted only some
forty or fifty wretched houses, a picture of utter desolation.
Since that day, though devastated by earthquake in 1858,
it has considerably improved, and is now a town of about
seven or eight thousand inhabitants. But all traces of its
former glory have been Swept away. Wherever else one
may find the famed Corinthian pillars, it is not in Corinth.
Only a few massive Doric columns still stand hke silent
monuments of the mighty past. Beyond these, and earth
and sea and sky, there is nothing on which we can say the
eyes of the Apostle rested.
Within times not very remote from the Christian era,
Corinth had come through strange vicissitudes. In the
year 146 B.C. Eome had found it necessary finally to
subjugate Greece. The fair old land of sages and poets, of
gods and heroes, had her neck put under the iron heel.
Corinth was one of the cities that suffered most severely.
Its defences were completely destroyed, and its almost
fabulous wealth became the loot of the Eoman soldiers.
Its marbles, its statues, its pictures, and all the gold and
127

128 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
silver ornaments of its luxury and pride, were plundered
to decorate the walls and gardens of the Eoman villas.
Fire completed the destruction which a ruthless rapacity
had begun. Ancient Corinth, so celebrated for its riches
and its navy, and so notorious for its ineradicable vice,
was left an unsightly mass of blackened ruins. Thus it
remained, in mourning and ashes, for a hundred years.
The strategic position, however, was too obviously
important, for Eome to leave unused. In the year 46 B.C.
Cwsar gave orders for the re-building of Corinth, and por
tioned it out among a strong colony of Eoman veterans
and freedmen. As if by magic, a new and mighty city
rose from the plain. When Paul entered it a century
later, it was to find it in many ways vieing with, and
even excelling, its ancient renown. By that time its
population was between six and seven hundred thousand,
a large majority of whom were slaves. Its bays were
crowded with ships, and its streets swarmed with sailors
and merchants, gathered, one might almost say, from every
nation under heaven.
Corinth owed its marvellous prosperity, both in the old
era and the new, to its splendid natural position. A
single glance at the map reveals the secret. The southern
part of Greece hes hke a mulberry leaf on the sea. It is
almost an island, What connects it with the mainland is
the narrow strip of land called Isthmus — the Isthmus
which has given its name to all others, and which at its
narrowest point is only four miles across. On the opposite
sides of the Isthmus lie two magnificent bays, the one
stretching out its arms to welcome the commerce of the
East, the other to embrace the navies of the West. On
the broadening south end of the Isthmus rose the city of
Corinth, not more than two hundred feet above the level
of the sea ; and behind it, protecting it, hke a giant
sentinel, and not it alone but all Achaia which lay beyond,
the ' tower-capp'd Acropolis,' rising more than eighteen
hundred feet, precipitous, and almost inaccessible, abrupt
from the plain, like Gibraltar from the sea, and crowned
on its summit by a castle and a temple of Venus,

THE CITY OF CORINTH 129
emblems of the strength and weakness of the ancient
city. From the brow of this hill was to be obtained one of
the most interesting views in Europe. At one's feet there
stretched the noisy streets, the markets, the temples, the
statues ; the black cypress trees of the cemetery, and the
pine groves whose branches were used for the garlands of
the victors in the Isthmian games. On the Isthmus
itself were the shrine of Neptune, and the long straight
Stadium, where every third year the games were held,
which all the world came to see, and over which all
Greece went demented. To right and left lay the famous
seaports, to the nearer of which the city was joined by a
strong protecting wall ; and, from sea to sea, especially at
that narrow part where Nero was soon * to cut the first
sod of his never-completed canal, went on an incessant
traffic — ships rolled across on wheels to avoid the stormy
passage round the cape, or, when such transit was not
possible, having their cargoes carried over in huge bales by
innumerable gangs of porters, beasts of burden, and great
lumbering wagons. When the eye was weary of gazing on
these busy scenes, and was lifted to look away over the
sparkling blue seas, it beheld on the one hand the jutting
promontories and rugged hills of the Bay of Corinth, and on
the other the horizon enclosed by the snow-clad heights of
Thessaly, and nearer, only some five and forty miles away,
clearly glancing in the sun's rays, that other rock, even more
renowned than this of Corinth, the Acropolis of Athens.
So fair and mighty was the city of Corinth when Paul
entered it long ago. Yet we may linger too much on
these things. For whatever Paul was, he was no mere
pilgrim in search of the picturesque.2 He was not attracted
'a.d. 66 or 67.
2 " It is a curious fact," says Professor Fisher, "that the relish for wild
and romantic scenery, especially mountainous scenery, is of recent origin.
It seldom appears in the literature of antiquity, or of the middle ages. It
is not until the eighteenth century that this taste manifests itself to any
considerable degree. The changed feeling, as contrasted with times previous,
on this subject, may almost be said to date from Rousseau. Ruskin has
called attention to tho remarkable difference between modern and ancient

130 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
to Corinth by its natural beauty, nor yet by its commercial
greatness. He was attracted by the throbbing human life
within its walls, a hfe on whose shoreless, fathomless sea
he longed to launch himself, to prove the power of his
gospel as the redeeming grace of God.
It was a bold and perilous venture. Never, humanly
speaking, did a task seem more hopeless and quixotic, the
most forlorn of all forlorn hopes.1 To evangelise Corinth !
gay, self-satisfied, worldly, dissolute Corinth ! a city in
which all the brutality of the West and all the sensuality
of the East met and were rolled into one. It was a task
somewhat hke that which Gordon faced when he rode alone
over the desert, into the vast provinces of the Soudan, to
put down slavery. " Ah," he cried, " you might as soon
try to take the stains out of blotting-paper as to remove
slavery from these lands. It is hke putting your hand over
a spring. The moment you remove your hand the water
just wells up again."
Of religious life in Corinth, as we understand the
words, there was, beyond perhaps the narrow bounds of the
Jewish colony, literally none. Of the cult of Aphrodite
Pandemos, Oriental rather than Greek in its obscene cele
brations, there was too much. A witty writer has compared
the city to an amalgam of Newmarket, Chicago, and Paris.2
It had the worst features of each, all mixed together. At
night its streets were hideous with the brawls and lewd
songs of drunken revelry. In the daytime its markets
and squares swarmed with Jewish pedlars, foreign traders,
sailors, soldiers, athletes in training, boxers, wrestlers,
charioteers, racing -men, betting -men, courtesans, slaves,
idlers and parasites of every description — a veritable pande
monium ! Even in that old world the evil name of the

feeling in this particular" (Beginnings of Christianity, p. 65 n.). Cf. Fried-
lander's SUtengeschichte, ii. 188 sqq. : Die Reisen der Touristen 7. (c). Das
Interesse fur Natur. Also, Shairp's Poetic Interpretation of Nature, chs. ix., x.
1 See the appended note (p. 146) from Milman's Bampton Lectures, on
the difficulties that would confront the missionary in those large Eastern
cities. 2 Baring-Gould, A Study of St. Paul, p. 241.

THE GOSPEL IN CORINTH 131
city was proverbial. To accuse a man of " behaving as a
Corinthian " was to accuse him of leading a low, shameless.
and immoral hfe. It is said that no Corinthian name
celebrated in literature, arts, or philosophy, occurs in all the
annals of Greece.
Into this city Paul ventured with his gospel. No
wonder he said he approached it with " fear and trembling."
No wonder he resolved to cast behind him all words of
human wisdom, all mere efforts at enticing speech. With
an almost audacious hopefulness, he determined to know
nothing in Corinth save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
It was a place in which his work would be tried by
fire. If it could abide here, it could abide anywhere.
If it could root and win souls here, there was no place
on earth so degraded as to be beyond the reach of its re
demption. Paul had the full consciousness that in Corinth
his missionary cause approached its crisis. Earnest and
faithful everywhere, he was tenfold more earnest here. He
resolved to cling to the most radical and blessed power he
knew. He would triumph by the name of the Crucified
alone, and proclaim it through this seething society as
the only name given under heaven whereby men must
be saved. It was thus a noble and heroic purpose that burned in
the breast of the solitary man as he passed on through the
streets of Corinth. And we know from the book of Acts
and his own Epistles how he carried it out.
His first business was quietly, and hke a sane man, to
settle down and occupy himself with his trade. In this
way he came into friendly contact with two Jewish Chris
tians, Priscilla and Aquila, who, after the edict of Claudius
against the Jews in Eome, had left the Capital to come to
Corinth. Like draws to like even in the largest city.
Very soon Paul repaired to the synagogue, trying first to
succeed among his own brethren, though ere long he was
compelled to separate from them in indignation and anger.
Turning earnestly to the Gentiles, he made wonderful im
pressions, and gradually drew around him a little com
munity who were received into the faith. Out of such a

132 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
population as we have described, and even very largely from
its lowest classes, he made his converts. Month after montli
sped on, and the cause prospered. He took a special
delight in it. It was a work almost peculiarly his own ;
a spot on which no other had founded ; a field where prob
ably no plough save his own had ever drawn furrow. To
change the figure again, he was the father of this Christian
community, and every member of it seemed to him like his
own child.
The inevitable experience, however, soon followed — an
outburst of Jewish intolerance. The Jews, led by Sosthenes,
haled Paul before the judgment-seat of Gallio, the Eoman
proconsul. But Gallio was a man of excellent perception.
He saw that the dispute was one of Jewish religious law,
and that consequently it did not lie within his province.
He therefore dismissed it from his court. The Greek rabble
was not slow to rejoice that the despised Jews had received
so " marked a snub." They took the law somewhat rudely
into their own hands, and beat Sosthenes. Gallio appeared
to think that no substantial injustice had been done. He
winked at it, and that is the meaning of the famous phrase,
" he cared for none of these things.''
Yet it was significant, if wo reflect on it, this meeting
face to face of Gallio, the cultured, amiable, and gentle
Gallio,1 and Paid, the eager missionary of Jesus Christ.
Gallio, the brother of Seneca, and like him a native of
Cordova, represented all that was most characteristic of the
polite Eoman world of his day, its courage, its courtesy, its
culture, its cynical philosophy, its dominance, its proud dis
dain of all that did not actually belong to itself ; and Paul
represented a religion that was to turn the Eoman world
upside down, to change the whole face of its society, to fill
its temples, its forums, its camps, to confute its philosophers,
and to dethrone its gods. But in Gallio's eyes Paul was
only a humble tent-maker, a man who evidently meant no
ill, though he were narrow and fanatical, meddling with
matters which he would he much wiser to leave alone.
JCf. Hausrath, Der Apostel Paulus, p. 323.

GALLIO AND ST. PAUL 133
He took little notice of the Apostle, probably because he
seemed only an artisan, and far beneath his attention. The
prejudice involved in the old question, " Is not this the
carpenter's son ? " was at work, blinding as it always does.
Says an acute observer of men : " Gallio was well inspired
in declaring himself incompetent to decide a question of
heresy and schism ; yet even clever men are sometimes
most lacking in prevision ! It revealed itself later on, that
the quarrel of these abject sectaries was the great affair of
that century. ... A strange thing ! Behold on the one
hand, one of the most intellectual and inquiring of men, and
on the other one of the strongest and most original souls of
his age, and yet they passed without either affecting the
other. . . . One of the things which lead men of the world
to make most of their blunders, is the superficial repulsion
with which they are inspired by those of a lower social
grade or lacking in manners ; yet manners are only a
matter of form, and those who have none are sometimes
found to be in the right. The man of society, with his
frivolous disdain, continually passes without knowing it the
man who is about to create the future : they are not of
the same world ; and the common error of people of society
is to think that the world in which they move is the only
world which exists." 1
Gallio, however, threw the protecting Eegis of Eome
over the Apostle at this moment, and no doubt helped to
form a precedent for the future. " That which hindereth
will hinder." The power of the Empire might be about to
pass away, but while it stood, it mercifully stood against
the fanatical fury that would have destroyed the faith.
Paul continued a considerable time labouring in Corinth,
and seems to have had one strange success, worthy of notice.
How it came about we cannot tell ; but this Sosthenes who
led the persecution and suffered for his pains, is most
probably the Christian " brother " whose name stands linked
imperishably with the Apostle's at the head of the Epistle.
In the year 52, after eighteen months' joyous and suc-
1 Renan, St. Paul, ch. viii. 223-225.

134 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
cessful labour, Paul left this memorable scene. Ho paid a
brief visit to Jerusalem, and then coming round by Antioch
and the Galatian Churches, he took up his abode at Ephesus.
In that busy city he remained between two and three
years, making it a centre for missionary labour, working
fruitfully, yet at times enduring the extremity of hardship
and persecution.1 During this sojourn he wrote this
Epistle, which was probably borne to its destination by the
hand of Titus.2
And there was need for it. Even these brief years
had brought great changes among the converts in Corinth.
The struggle between the infant Church and the world,
took place at what seemed irresistible odds. Perhaps the
Church had grown too quickly for its strength, and the
world looked by far the mightier force of the two. At
times it must have appeared as if the converts were to bo
completely drawn back into the whirling vortex of the
paganism from which they had been delivered.
Paul had doubtless very full information of the de
velopment of events. Ephesus was not very far from
Corinth, and news must frequently have come to his ears.
We know that members of the household of Chloe s came
from Corinth and brought him tidings, and we may believe
that, in the constant coming and going between the cities,
other friends would arrive, although we have no record of
their names. It is most probable also that Paul wrote a
letter4 on the state of existing evils, and received one in
reply, both of which are now lost. Then, as his anxiety
grew, the Apostle sent Timothy on a mission to the
Corinthians with many commendations.5 Apollos too, the
eloquent preacher, who had done so excellently at Corinth,
though his efforts there were unhappily misrepresented, had
come to Ephesus, and appears to have been on the most
1 Cf. the touching verses, 1 Cor. iv. 11-13.
2 Opinion is divided as to the date of the Epistle. Tlie spring of the last
year of Paul's sojourn in Ephesus is possible, but the spring of the preced
ing year seems more likely. See later, on the reconstruction of the interval
between 1 and 2 Corinthians, pp. 153-154.
3 1 Cor. i. 11. 4 1 Cor. v. 9. « 1 Cor. iv. 17.

OCCASION OF THE EPISTLE 135
friendly terms with Paul. Moreover — and this was the
immediate occasion of the Epistle — a letter was received
from the Church of Corinth itself, explaining difficulties, and
making requests for guidance. This letter was borne by
the hands of three faithful friends, Stephanas, Fortunatus,
and Achaicus,1 and from them we may suppose a great
deal of supplementary information would be gained. Paul's
Epistle, therefore, is no drawing of a bow at a venture. It
deals with facts of which he had abundant knowledge, and
it casts a strong and somewhat lurid light on the state
of the Church which he had founded with so much joy.
Briefly the condition of affairs was this. The Apostle's
beloved Church had broken into factions, and was divided
and rent by party cries. Some of its members were living
openly scandalous hves, and courage and fidelity in dealing
with them seemed to be lacking. Others had quarrels,
which, without even attempting a Christian solution, they
brought to an issue by dragging one another into the
heathen courts. Great differences and discussions had
also arisen with regard to marriage and the social relations
generally ; with regard to banquets and the eating of food
offered to idols ; with regard to the behaviour of women
in the assemblies, to the Lord's Supper and the love-feasts,
to the use and value of spiritual gifts, and even with
regard to the hope of the Eesurrection.2
Paul must have heard and read the news that re
vealed these things with deep sorrow and sinking of heart.
There was much to fill him with grief ; there was much
also to stir him with indignation. The revelation of so
much laxity and disorder was bad, but the complacent self-
satisfied tone of the Corinthians was still worse. They
were ready to weep, but not for themselves. They were
1 1 Cor. xvi. 17.
2 Weizsacker thus distinguishes the nine matters to which the Apostle
makes specific reference in his Epistle : (1) three main topics introduced by
the letter from Corinth itself, namely, marriage, meat offered to idols, and
spiritual gifts ; and (2) six subjects on which Paul had obtained information
by conversation with others — the factions, the case of incest, the lawsuits,
the free customs of the women, the abuse connected with the Supper, and
the denial of the resurrection. Apostolic Age, i. 324-325.

136 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
eager to discuss a great many questions in a lofty, intel
lectual way, without seeming to perceive their real drift, or
the life and spirit that lay imperilled at their heart. It
was this callous conceit that at once wounded and roused
the Apostle. Smitten with disease at the very roots of
hfe, insensible almost to the very rudiments of Christian
feehng, the Corinthians perceived not that they were poor,
and blind, and naked.
The first impulse no doubt was to hasten to Corinth.
It was the simplest thing to do, but it would have been
the most perilous both for him and for them. The Apostle
was so moved that, coming " with a rod," as he said, he
might have come too sorrowfully and severely. The letter
therefore was written instead.
It cannot have been an easy thing for Paul to write
in a case in which his deepest feelings and convictions
were so greatly involved. But difficulties like these make
men. Never did the Apostle do better than when he was
most tried. This noble Epistle is a witness. It is great
in its self-restraint, its strength, its masterly grasp of
principles, its keenness and wisdom in their apphcation ;
calm and full of reason, clear and balanced in judgment.
It is very varied in its lights and shadows, in its kindness,
its gravity, its irony. Again and again it bursts into
passages of glowing imagination. Now it moves with firm
tread among the commonest themes, and now it rises, as
with the beat of angel's wing, into the loftiest spheres of
thought and vision. It rebukes error, exposes and con
demns sin, solves doubts, upholds and encourages faith,
and all in a spirit of the utmost tenderness and love, full
of grace and truth. It is broad in its outlook, penetrating
in its insight, unending in its interest and apphcation.
Although he has so wide a field to cover, perhaps just
because it is so wide, the Apostle is very orderly in this
Epistle, and it is not difficult to follow him as he moves
from point to point through its pages. We need not offer
a detailed analysis, but only broadly sketch the outhne of
his thought. After salutation and thanksgiving, Paul begins by

CHARACTER AND CONTENTS OF THE EPISTLE 137
referring to the internal divisions among the Corinthians,
and to those unworthy and misguided party cries that had
arisen among them : " I am of Paul ; and I of Apollos ;
and I of Cephas ; and I of Christ " : offering at the same
time an elaborate defence of his gospel ministry, and urging
his claims upon them as his " beloved sons," " begotten in
Christ Jesus." He boldly speaks of a notorious offender
whom they harbour in their midst, though even heathen
society would be disgraced by him, and he solemnly orders
them to expel him, and to cut him off from the Church.
He also points out how unseemly it is for them to hale
one another before the heathen courts, when they ought
rather to strive to heal their differences quietly among
themselves. Such is the first section of. the Epistle,
occupying six chapters.
In the four succeeding chapters (vii.— x.), Paul
explicitly refers to two of the leading subjects raised in
the letter from Corinth. Questions regarding marriage he
treats with great delicacy and circumspection ; careful,
however, to distinguish between what he has received as
the direct word of the Lord, and what he only delivers
as his own opinion, the utterance of his own sanctified
common-sense, yet an utterance to which the good spirit
within him gives weight. The scruples and casuistries in
connection with the eating of meat that has been offered
to idols, he also handles with excellent wisdom, and lays
down a rule for the Christian conscience of a far-reaching
kind, happily expressed : " All things are lawful ; but all
things are not expedient. All things are lawful ; but all
things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but each
his neighbour's good." He finds the solution of many
difficulties by lifting them into the clear atmosphere of
duty and love. He also in this section makes another
notable defence of his apostolic ministry.
Then follows the third part of the Epistle, in five more
chapters (xi.-xv.). It deals with errors and defects
which have crept into the inner life of the Church. Such
have regard, in the first place, to the deportment of women
and their veiling in church, a serious enough matter

138 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
apparently at that time ; then to graver and more dis
orderly affairs, gross abuses, such as drunkenness and
gluttony at the Lord's Supper, in dealing with which
the Apostle gives that deliverance regarding the institu
tion, which it is customary to include in the Communion
Service. Thereafter he refers to the diversity of spiritual
gifts, and to the confusion and jealousy which they raised,
obscuring that " more excellent way," the Love which
transcends them all, which never faileth, the greatest of
Christian graces, whose praise he sings in language of
surpassing beauty. He strives also to correct the disorder
arising from the abuse of the gift of tongues — their Church,
it has been said, was mostly gone to tongue — many
desiring to speak at once, and many speaking only a vain
babble which no one could understand, thinking themselves
specially gifted " the more evidence they gave that they
had taken leave of their senses." Next comes the
immortal fifteenth chapter on the Eesurrection, anchoring
the faith, first of all, to the Eesurrection of Christ, and
then proceeding by reasoning and analogy to brush aside
many flimsy objections to the great doctrine of the rising
again of them that " sleep in Jesus " ; closing with the
ptean : " Death is swallowed up in victory. 0 Death
where is thy sting ? 0 Grave where is thy victory ?
Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ."
Finally, the Epistle closes with kindly exhortations and
counsels, and the promise of a visit at a later day.
One outstanding feature of the Epistle is the strong
hght it casts on the state of that primitive Church, about
which we sometimes talk so vaguely and so unwisely. It
seems difficult for some to realise that the early Church
was but the humble and imperfect beginning of a develop
ment, and not the developed thing. There were many
excellent things about it, and we are often called on to
admire the first fine flush of its enthusiasm, its brave,
patient, and heroic spirit. But there is no halo of per
fection. To talk of getting back to its life, is simply to
talk of what we do not understand. Paul's great endeavour,

COMPREHENSIVENESS OF THE NEW FAITH 139
his mighty struggle and incessant prayer, was to get it
away from its own feeble life, to lift it to a higher level
and a purer air.
Nor let us fail to observe the significance of the noble
effort of the Apostle to grapple with the difficulties before
him, and to follow the evils he saw into all their relations
and details. He would leave nothing untouched, no dark
corner unillumined, no ill thing unslain. Should we ever
be tempted to regard Christianity as a narrow thing,
cribbed, cabined, and confined within the petty circle of
a few ideas, we should remember this. Consider the multi
tude of questions that Paul here deals with, questions of
common thought, of daily life and experience, of social
intercourse and relations, of things to cultivate and things
to avoid. Behold the expansiveness of the new faith.
It comes to fill, not a part of life, but the whole life ; it
lays down principles that follow us to our homes, to our
most private sanctum there, out again to the world, to the
market-place, the place of amusement, the place of tempta
tion, the place of service, of trial, of worship and prayer.
And this is all profoundly in harmony with Paul's declara
tion that he would know nothing among the Corinthians
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is a mistake to
regard that as a narrow restriction, as if it were exhausted
merely by the repetition of a few words. Paul treats it as
a large and ever-expanding principle. He maintains his
consistency simply because he deals with all these things
in the spirit of Christ, and ever brings them to the
standard hy which the Christ of love and sacrifice would
test them. That spirit and standard must follow us
through the whole range and experience of our life. If
the shadow of the Cross does not fall on us wherever we
go, it simply is because we have dwarfed and belittled the
Cross. We have not set it on the same eminence as Paul
did. With him it towered so high that the shadow it
threw covered the whole activities of human life.
There are passages in the Epistle of great doctrinal
importance, dealing with the Person of Christ, the Holy
Spirit, and the Lord's Supper; there are also many

140 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
luminous verses on the nature of the religious meetings
and services of the early Church.1 Several of these recur
as the chief points in later Epistles. Meantime we would
indicate three broad practical lessons which the Epistle
conveys. 1. In the first place, there is a very earnest warning
to the Church against a factious and party spirit. The
Corinthians were imbued with the party spirit of Greek
democracy, and were infected also by the sporting spirit of
the great games that entered so largely into their life. They
transferred these things to the Church. They backed their
preachers as they did their pugilists and their charioteers.
They listened to them with itching ears, not as men who
wished to learn, but as partisans who sought occasion
either to applaud or to condemn. They were "feather-
headed," and probably were not able to detect a straw of
difference between the doctrine of Paul or Cephas or
Apollos ; and even those who took the name of Christ
may have done so out of a pride that, affecting to belong
to no party, was the most deeply partisan of all.2
It was not doctrine, then, that yet divided them, or
that now occupied Paul's attention. He and Apollos
were pitted against each other as competitive preachers ;
and yet he and Apollos Were even now living together in
1 Weizsiicker gives an excellent account of these, Apostolic Age, ii.
246 sqq.
8 Many theories have been formed as to the exact significance of this
so-called " Christus-party. " Cf. Godet's Introduction, pp. 250 sqq. ;
Stanley's Corinthians, pp. 29-30 ; Farrar's St. Paul, ch. xxxi. ; Pfleiderer's
Paulinism, ii. 28-31 ; Weiss' Introduction, i. 259-265 ; Weizsiickcr's Apos
tolic Age, i. 325-333, and 354 sqq. Weizsiicker holds that the name, like
the other three, indicates the relation of those adopting it to an Authority,
and their exclusive claim to its possession. Pfleiderer argues that the name
was taken as a party watchword, to bring out the apostolic inferiority of
St. Paul as compared with the original Apostles who had enjoyed immediate
personal companionship with Christ during His historical life, and that
really those who adopted it were essentially identical with the Petrine party.
Similarly also Baur, Paul, i. 266 sqq. On the other hand, for a defence of
the view that the name does not strictly-speaking indicate a party at all,
but rather designates those who were disgusted at the display of all party
spirit, and with whom Paul was in hearty sympathy, see McGiffert's
Apostolic Age, pp. 295-297.

CONDEMNATION OF PARTY SPIRIT 141
perfect amity, minding the same things, furthering the
same work. " I planted, and Apollos watered," is not the
language which Paul would have used, if there had been
any deep and vital distinction between them.
Paul's condemnation, therefore, is directed against
division in the Church, which has for its basis only the most
paltry personal predilections. It cannot be doubted that
such partisanship has frequently wrought great evil to
Christianity. It appeals to the lowest elements in human
nature, and though any reason for its existence may be of
little magnitude, yet it often kindles fires which genera
tions cannot quench. So great estrangement has often
arisen where the difference has been unsubstantial, and
not easily distinguished by those outside the circle of
controversy, that grave scandal has been caused in the
eyes of men, and hurtful wounds have been inflicted on
the Body of Christ. Lord Bacon, in his own wise way,
warns us that " men ought to take heed of rending God's
Church by two kinds of controversies. The one is, when
the matter of the point controverted is too small and light.
not worth the heat and strife about it, kindled only by
contradiction. . . . The other is, when the matter of the
point controverted is great; but it is driven to an over-
great subtilty and obscurity ; so that it becometh a thing
rather ingenious than substantial. A man that is of
judgment and understanding, shall sometimes hear ignorant
men differ, and know well within himself, that those which
so differ mean one thing, and yet they themselves would
never aoree. And if it come so to pass in that distance
of judgment which is between man and man, shall we not
think that God above, that knows the heart, doth not
discern that frail men, in some of their contradictions,
intend the same thing, and accepteth of both?"1
But in his condemnation of party-spirit Paul goes
below the surface, and reveals the foundation of all true
Christian unity. It must be " in Christ." Other founda
tion can no man lay. And he who builds upon it, be he
1 Essays: III. Of Unity in Religion.

142 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
what he may, and call him what we may, is a Christian
builder. High up on the walls of the great cathedrals,
beneath the vaults and arches, we may sometimes observe
certain quaint and curious marks. They are the marks,
sometimes the names, sometimes only the initials, of the
masons who worked on the building. All have their
share and credit in the noble result, for all wrought to
the one great end, and in harmony with the one great
design. They were wise builders, not because they
indulged in erratic ways of their own, but because, though
each did differently, and shaped different parts, they all
laboured to glorify the master-work of the master-mind.
Paul's principle, " in Christ," also offers us the solution
when we come to division on deeper and more serious
things : divergence on doctrine, on the interpretation of
the mind of the Spirit, on the final and infallible standard
of faith. In the dim human light, deep penetrating
differences arise here inevitably. They may be accom
panied on both sides of the cleavage with the purest
sincerity and the most saintly devotion. And though
Paul is not dealing with these things at the moment, his
teaching apphes. Any unity in such a case, still possible
to cherish and maintain, must be a unity in Christ. None
can be unchurched who cling to Him. None ean be
severed from the true and cathohc faith, who confess with
their hps, and testify with their lives, that He is Lord.
Widely as Christians may differ in other things, far apart
as they may drift in judgment of what they have honestly
tried to see, those can never justly be accused of schism
who still cling to the Head. In the great day when God
gathers all things into one in Christ , Jesus, they will be
found in Him, and the common hfe and brotherhood, which
could not be slain, will be revealed.
2. Once more, the Epistle lays down an important rule
for the guidance of the Christian conscience.
Ln matters where the issue is clearly one of the great
imperatives, of right or wrong, of purity or sin, the conflict
ought never to be long protracted for a truly earnest man.
He should see his way. But outside these, there are a

LIMITS OF CHRISTIAN LIBERTY 143
great many other matters that often cause us perplexity
and doubt. These are questions that relate to things
that do not seem to us to be wrong in themselves ; yet
their abuse or the offence they give to others, may
cause us to debate what ought to be our attitude towards
them. In Corinth, for example, meat offered to idols, and then
brought to table, was a stumbling-block to many Christians.
They said : ' If we eat this, it is consenting to idolatry ; we
will not eat it.' But there were some who had risen to a
higher level. They perceived that this was a groundless
scruple, and they said : ' An idol is nothing at all ; there
is only one God ; the meat, therefore, is really not affected
by such a superstition.' Accordingly, their higher know
ledge, their clearer and more rational view, gave them
liberty to eat if they pleased ; their conscience was
free. But was this really all that they, in this larger, saner
liberty of theirs, had to consider ? Some answer :
' Certainly. Are we to deny ourselves what we find to
be harmless, simply because we see a brother who is
stupid enough to magnify it into a terror, and to raise
the question of conscience where conscience is not
involved ? ' Paul acknowledges that this is the un
doubted answer of the law of individual liberty. But
it is not the final answer. There has not entered into
it a consideration of the mind of Christ. It is scarcely
Christian liberty unless it be willing to subject itself to
the law of love. Should it be able to indulge itself,
without caring whether its indulgence becomes an offence
and snare to another soul, it is not the liberty of the
Master, who, freest of the free, yet put Himself in
voluntary bonds, and pleased not Himself.
It is of great importance to reflect on the liberty
which we are sometimes so quick to claim, because we
have grown enlightened enough to perceive that some
amusement or recreation, or some sesthetic taste or
accomplishment, or some common social custom, is a
thing that is " lawful," not wrong in itself. This liberty

144 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
comes to us always fettered by at least a twofold
restriction.1 '
The first is, that we use it so as not to inflict injury
upon ourselves. It is an edged tool, and a man may easily
turn it inwards. He may pervert liberty to his own hurt.
Thus, a thing not wrong to him at the start may become
wrong by its excess or absorbing interest, or because of its
surroundings, the degradation into which it has fallen, the
unhappy associations with which it is wedded. Or, it may
be that its indulgence interferes with a nobler and more
spiritual ideal, to which his growing life has begun to bow.
If he be wise he will say : ' I once could have filled up
my time with that. But now I have seen greater things,
and I have put it away. It was not wrong, but now it is
superseded by loftier pursuits and by holier plans. It
has become impossible, simply because it would impede my
steps to a higher goal.'
The other restriction is one that springs from regard to
our neighbour. It is the restriction inspired by Christian
love. It demands that we should forgo our liberty for our
brother's sake. True, this demand can never be made
absolute. We should remember that it may even be
wrong to yield to it. If we did not resist it sometimes,
the weak brother would become a tyrannous dictator, and
the moral world would be made to stand on its apex rather
than on its base. Yielding might be so abused as to con
firm a man in his error, and drive him into deeper darkness.
It might hinder our own spiritual progress, compromise our
surest convictions, at the same time that it merely pandered
to his narrowness and folly.
But with this proviso, which love itself dictates, there
is still a valid claim made by Christian weakness on our
forbearance and our self-denial. Granted that the neigh
bour is short-sighted and over-scrupulous. That does not
quite relieve us. We are still bound to consider him

'Of course there are also other restrictions: e.g., a "not expedient"
that has reference to the non-Christian world, and a "not edifying" that
has reference to the Church at large.

THE POWER OF THE CROSS 145
because he is our brother. Christ considered him, and
Christ died for him. Dare we say, therefore, weak as we
believe him to be, that it matters nothing to us though we
offend him, or though we may by our liberty lead him to
go beyond his conscience, and thereby grievously to err ?
Although we see that his scruples are wrong, yet we may
not ride over them roughshod. To do so would be to put
ourselves wrong even more seriously. And need it be said
that if the matter be one, not merely of opinion, but of
obvious practical evil, so that the brother is not only
wounded in his conscience, but is encouraged by our freedom
to pursue what will end for him, and perhaps also for those
who are dear to him and dependent upon him, in a maimed
and ruined life, — then in such a case the obligation is
increased a thousand-fold, earnestly and prayerfully to
consider whether the demand upon our love is not now
intensified to a degree which we dare not resist ? Then,
perhaps, we might look in pity and compassion on the
wreck and havoc that are wrought, and conscience, not
aroused before, might awake now, and we might say like
the Apostle : " Wherefore, if meat make my brother to
offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth."
3. Finally, there is a third important lesson which
this Epistle bequeathes to the Christian world — an evan
gelical one, namely, that as in Corinth so ever, it is the
Cross of Christ which approves itself to be the power and
wisdom of God. Behold how it began to move and un
settle, to lift and change from its base, the life of that old
heathen world ! It was neither Paul, nor Apollos, nor
Cephas, who accomplished that colossal task. It was the
preaching of Christ and Him crucified. The Christianity
of Corinth and of Europe began with the gospel of the
Cross. In Calvary and the open tomb it found the secret
and power of its primal life. We shall profoundly mistake
if we think it can ever draw away with impunity from
these central facts. The river broadens and deepens as it
flows, but.it is never possible for it to dissever itself from
the living fountain from which it springs.
" The name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth . . . neither
10

146 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
is there salvation in any other: for there is none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved." "Such is the creed of the Christian Church. With
this creed she began ; in the faith of it her martyrs have
died ; and to-day, as eighteen hundred years ago, it is from
this creed that she derives her strength." 1

NOTE. See p. 130.
The following passage from Dean Mil man may be
quoted, for the sake of the graphic account it gives of the
kind of obstacles encountered by the early missionaries of
Christianity on entering the great heathen cities. Whately,
in his Rhetoric, cites it as an admirable illustration of the
aid which a vivid imagination may give to the true under
standing of history.
" Conceive then the Apostles of Jesus Christ, the tent
maker or the fisherman, entering as strangers into one of
the splendid cities of Syria, Asia Minor, or Greece. Conceive
them, I mean, as unendowed with miraculous powers, having
adopted their itinerant system of teaching from human
motives, and for human purposes alone. As they pass along
to the remote and obscure quarter, where they expect to
meet with precarious hospitality among their countrymen,
they survey the strength of the established religion, which
it is their avowed purpose to overthrow. Everywhere they
behold temples, on which the utmost extravagance of expen
diture has been lavished by succeeding generations ; idols of
the most exquisite workmanship, to which, even if the
religious feeling of adoration is enfeebled, the people are
strongly attached by national or local vanity. They meet
processions in which the idle find perpetual occupation, the
young excitement, the voluptuous a continual stimulant to
their passions. They behold a priesthood numerous, some
times wealthy ; nor are these alone wedded by interest to
the established faith ; many of the trades, like those of the
makers of silver shrines at Ephesus, are pledged to the
1 Harnack, Christianity and History, p. 17.

THE ENCOUNTER OF PAGANISM 147
support of that to which they owe their maintenance. They
pass a magnificent theatre, on the splendour and success of
which the popularity of the existing authorities mainly
depends ; and in which the serious exhibitions are essentially
religious, the lighter as intimately connected with the in
dulgence of the baser passions. They behold another public
building, where even worse feelings, the cruel and the
sanguinary, are pampered by the animating contests of
wild beasts and of gladiators, in which they themselves
may shortly play a dreadful part,
' Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday ! '
Show and spectacle are the characteristic enjoyments of the
whole people, and every show and spectacle is either sacred
to the religious feelings, or incentive to the lusts of the
flesh ; those feelings which must be totally eradicated, those
lusts which must be brought into total subjection to the law
of Christ. They encounter likewise itinerant jugglers,
diviners, magicians, who impose upon the credulous, and
excite the contempt of the enlightened ; in the first case,
dangerous rivals to those who should attempt to propagate
a new faith by imposture and deception; in the latter,
naturally tending to prejudice the mind against all miraculous
pretensions whatever : here, like Elymas, endeavouring to
outdo the signs and wonders of the Apostles ; there, throw
ing suspicion on all asserted supernatural agency, by the
frequency and clumsiness of their delusions. They meet.
philosophers, frequently itinerant like themselves; or
teachers of new religions, priests of Isis and Serapis, who
have brought into equal discredit what might otherwise
have appeared a proof of philanthropy, the performing
laborious journeys at the sacrifice of personal ease and
comfort, for the moral and rehgious improvement of man
kind; or at least have so accustomed the public mind to
similar pretensions, as to take away every attraction from
their boldness or novelty. There are also the teachers of
the different mysteries, which would engross all the anxiety
of the inquisitive, perhaps excite, even if they did not
satisfy, the hopes of the more pure and lofty-minded.
Such must have been among the obstacles which would
force themselves on the calmer moments of the most
ardent ; such the overpowering difficulties, of which it would
be impossible to overlook the importance, or elude the force ;
which required no sober calculation to estimate, no laborious

148 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
inquiry to discover ; which met and confronted them wher
ever they went, and which, either in desperate presumption,
or deliberate reliance on their own preternatural powers,
they must have contemned and defied " (Bampton Lectures
on The Character and, Conduct of the Apos-tles considered as
an Evidence of Christianity, pp. 269-273).

THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE
CORINTHIANS.

On reading this Epistle we soon discover that we are in
a very different atmosphere from that of the First. The
air is electric. The feeling is strained, intense, and full of
passion. The themes have changed. The events referred
to are new.
There is no more reference to the questions of casuistry
about meats offered to idols. We hear no more of women
and their head-dresses in the assembly, of gifts of tongues,
of marriage, of the Eucharist, of the Eesurrection. These
are all for the moment swept into the background, or
eclipsed and obscured by something more immediately
pressing. True, there is again an offender in this Epistle,
as there was in the last ; but it is not the same person,
and the offence is not the same thing.
Yet there is an obvious connection between the two
Epistles. It is not only found in the temptation to fall
back into a pagan and sensual life, more than once referred
to ; for such dangers were perpetual in Corinth, and could
scarcely escape notice in a letter earnestly dealing with
Corinthian life : it is above all found in reference to the
factions which had sprung up within the Church, and to
the dispeace which the factious spirit was sure to engender.
In the First Epistle Paul blamed the Corinthians for say
ing, " I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and
I of Christ." But in that Epistle this evil was little more
than threatening. It was only as a cloud no bigger than
a man's hand. Now it is a cloud that has rapidly risen

150 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
and darkened the whole heavens, and burst into a crashing
storm. There are enemies and deceivers at Corinth, seducing
the converts from their allegiance to the Apostle, and from
the simplicity of the gospel as he had declared it. They
have used every effort of slander and calumny in trying to
undermine his influence. They have come into his heritage,
a field in which they never laboured, and with the greatest
insolence have striven to draw away the hearts of his con
verts. They were Jews, for his bitterest enemies were,
like his Master's, among " his own " ; Jews who professed
Christianity, and who came bringing letters of introduction
and commendation from the Christians of Jerusalem. They
poured contempt on him as a man who had no commen
dation and no authority. They were of the " old religion,"
but who was he ? An upstart of yesterday ; isolated,
working for his own hand, and designing to make the
converts his prey. He was fickle, crafty, untruthful, as
even his own letters showed, saying that he would do
things which he never did. Moreover, he was a bully and
a coward, a contemptible fellow, who wrote great swelling
words from a distance, and when he came to hand was
" gentle as any sucking dove." Away, he seemed clothed
with thunder; among them, his presence was ridiculous,
and his speech hke that of an imbecile rather than of a
sane man.
This party, led by a ring-leader who was ready to go
all lengths against the Apostle, had by its very audacity
gained the ears of a great many of the less stable Christians.
What Paul dreaded was thus taking place. The infant
Church, whose only safety lay in union and peace, was hke
to be wrecked in a storm of discord and strife. It could
not endure this. Its hfe was still too feeble and undeveloped.
It was scarcely more than away from the brink of paganism ;
it might easily be hurled back. Nothing would more surely
accomphsh its ruin than a spirit that roused envy and
passion, that dragged men in a moment from the higher to
the lower, from the Christ-like to the Satanic.
It was such a danger that stirred Paul to the depths,

A SEA OF TROUBLES 151
and called him to put forth all his energies. The worst of
the storm is indeed past when he writes this Epistle ; but
wo can still see how deeply he was agitated, how keenly he
had been stung ; what an Atlas-load of misery and dread
was removed from him when he thought he could put
away fears of tho worst ; and with what earnestness and
force, yea, with what unsparing weapons, he was prepared
to fight, if only he could put his enemies to shame, and
rescue his beloved converts from their toils.
He succeeded, but it was at great cost. Never had he
gone through such a period of tribulation and distress.
Never had there fallen upon him such an accumulation of
sorrows. It almost seemed as if he must break down
under their weight, and as if that bow of finest steel, bent
too far, would snap at last. At no period of his history, if
we read aright this agitated Epistle, and understand some
thing of the dark background from which it sprang, is our
sympathy more deeply awakened for this sensitive and
heroic soul, who was ever willing to lay himself upon the
altar, to spend and be spent, though the more abundantly
he loved the less he was loved, and who, not lightly, but
under a pressure of tears and anguish, strove bravely to
say, " Seeing we have this ministry, as we have received
mercy, we faint not."
It would appear that after Paul wrote his First Epistle
he received news from Corinth of the zeal with which the
enemy was already working against him, and of the anarchy
that was likely to ensue. Probably this news was brought
by Timothy, who may have reported that the evil had
gone beyond his control, and that it needed Paul himself
to cope with it. Thus the fear expressed in the First
Epistle that he might have to go to Corinth " with a rod,"
was only too sadly fulfilled.
Suddenly, we may imagine, he left Ephesus, and made
with all speed to Achaia. He hoped that his presence
would suffice. But he had underrated the strength of the
foes he had come to meet, or rather the extent to which
they had succeeded in gaining the people. This took him
by surprise. The congregation was convened, but Paul,

152 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
alas ! found himself in a lukewarm environment. The air
was cold and chill about him. His friends were fewer
than he thought, and not so hearty and decided as he
wished. His opponents, on the other hand, put forth all
their strength. Their leader made himself specially offen
sive. Paul was wronged and insulted to his face, and
scarcely found a friend with courage enough to take his
part. The result was that his mission was a failure. He
was unable for the moment to maintain his position.
Overwhelmed with grief, and stung by the taunts and jeers
of his insolent foe, he left Corinth perhaps as speedily as
he entered it.
But he was not beaten, nor did he shake off the dust of
his feet against his faithless and ungrateful Church. He
believed the lapse was only momentary, that God would
yet give him grace and strength to surmount this bitter
trial, yea, would make him " mighty to the pulling down of
strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high
thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God."
He returned to Ephesus, and from Ephesus by the
hand of Titus he sent another letter to the Corinthians.
It is a letter now lost, though it is quite possible we may
have distant and surviving echoes of its thunders in the
last portion of the present Epistle.1 Yet strong as this is,
the other was stronger. It was a letter of challenge and
ultimatum, a letter in which the die was cast. The Corin
thians were made to feel that there could be no middle
course. They must be more faithful to the man who had
been their father in Christ, and they must decide against
the emissary who had wronged him. We cannot tell the
nature of the pressure he brought to bear upon them, or
revive the intensity of the fire he turned upon his foes.
The letter is gone, and probably Paul himself would not
have been sorry to know that it would soon disappear. It
was written, he tells us, in much affliction and anguish of
heart, with many tears (ii. 4). It was written with all the
force he could summon. It was so vehement that he
1 But spe note below, p. 156.

INTERVENING EVENTS 153
feared for it, and felt as if perhaps he had passed the
bounds. It was no sooner gone than he repented (vii. 8).
He began to be nervous about the result, and waited for
news of it with anxiety, having " no rest in his spirit "
(ii. 13). It must, however, be acknowledged that the whole
subject of the reconstruction of events in the interval
between 1 and 2 Corinthians is one of very great difficulty.
The data for absolute certainty are unhappily not in our
possession. We must be content with the balance of
probability. It is quite usual to represent the two Epistles
as in intimate and direct relation ; thus, it is the reception
of 1 Corinthians that Paul is anxious about ; it is still the
offender of 1 Corinthians that he is dealing with ; and the
letter to which 2 Corinthians ii. 4 refers, is 1 Corinthians.
These opinions seem very improbable. The language of
2 Corinthians ii. 4 is language that could scarcely be
applied to the First Epistle, even with the greatest stretch
to meet Oriental exuberance and hyperbole. The First
Epistle is earnest, grave, and sometimes stern ; calm, argu
mentative, and not seldom exalted ; but it would never
dawn on any one that it was a letter written with many
tears, and much affliction, and anguish of heart, still less
that it was one the Apostle could ever have regretted
writing. In the second place, Paul could surely never
refer to the offender of the First Epistle as a man who by
his offence (and by hypothesis nothing else has emerged)
had done him personal wrong (ii. 5 and vii. 12); nor
could he possibly have passed so lightly over a virtual
ignoring of the condemnation which he launched against
that offender in the Lord's name, and in the exercise of his
full apostolic authority. In the third place, the references
to a visit to Corinth, not the first visit of eighteen months'
duration, but a sorrowful visit resulting in " distress," a
second visit, are too obvious and direct to be explained
away. If it be impossible to allow time for both visit and
letter between the early spring of the last year of Paul's
stay in Ephesus, when it is frequently supposed 1 Corin
thians was written, and the autumn of that year when

154 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
Paul left Ephesus, then the date of the First Epistle must
be regarded as belonging not to the pre-Pentecost period of
the year closing Paul's stay in Ephesus, but to that period
in the preceding year. This gives ample time for the
intervening occurrences, and it is generally allowed that
there is no insuperable reason against it. A careful
rdsume' ot opinion, and a sifting of results on the whole
matter, are given by Principal Eobertson in his article on
2 Corinthians in Hastings' Dictionary. He believes in the
new crisis in Corinth, and in the lost letter intervening
between our two Epistles. He rejects, however, the per
sonal visit by the Apostle, though on grounds that do not,
in our judgment, seem to be very conclusive. Weizsacker
in his Apostolic Age, and Sabatier in his Note to the
Enghsh edition (1893) of his Apostle Paul, appear most
intelligently to reconstruct the history.
To resume : we conceive Paul waiting in deep anxiety
for news from Corinth. But he did not receive that news
in Ephesus. There he experienced sorrow upon sorrow.
His long labours were suddenly interrupted by a wild
tumult and threatening of death. Demetrius the silver
smith, as we know from the book of Acts, appealed to the
passions of his fellow-tradesmen, and roused the worst
elements of the mob against the new religion. The Apostle
had to flee from Ephesus, probably in danger of his life.
He went to Troas. There he hoped he would meet
with Titus. He waited long, but Titus never came. He
preached, and God blessed his preaching, and opened a
door for him. Yet even the love of preaching deserted
him. He could not be at rest. Had his heart been
opened at that moment, one word would have been found
stamped upon it, and that word was ' Corinth.' He left
Troas, and came on to Macedonia. There it was, perhaps
in Phihppi, perhaps in 'Thessalonica, that his messenger
met him.
What a load God then hfted from his heart ! What
tribulation he had endured ! and how a touch of the
merciful Hand dispelled it ! His letter had been success
ful It had administered the check, and wrought the

OCCASION OF THE EPISTLE 155
change he desired. The hearts of the Corinthians had
again turned to him. True, he had wounded and grieved
them. His words had been like goads in their side. But
they were the faithful wounds of a friend. Such sorrow
was a godly sorrow, for it turned to repentance. They
had obeyed his word. The offender had been made to feel
the weight of their displeasure. And yet they had not
cast him off altogether, a gracious decision in which the
Apostle himself hastened to concur.1
So far Titus' news had been favourable, and no doubt
his own tact and fidelity deserve their meed of praise in
this result. Yet he could not hide from Paul the fact
that some of the Judaising party still remained in Corinth,
who would be disagreeable if they could.2 Power for the
moment had been wrested from their hands. It would clo
good, however, if the congregation were further enlightened
as to their true character, and once more put on guard
against their insidious activity.
And so, under the impression made upon him by this
report of Titus, Paul sat down to write the present Epistle,
associating Timothy with him, and sending Titus back with
it to Corinth.
The Epistle extends over thirteen chapters, and
divides itself into two distinct parts by a middle portion
jjviii. and ix.) relating to the Collection for the poor Saints
at Jerusalem. But one clear purpose dominates the whole
Epistle, and that is to explain and defend his apostolic
authority. In the first seven chapters this defence is set forth,
with numerous digressions, in a very earnest but loving
and tender style, appealing to the majority of the Church
in Corinth, who have now^ signified their revived attach-

1 Ch. ii. 6, however, indicates that there was -, minority who thought
that the offender should be more severely dealt with. In an interesting
review of this passage, Dr. J. H. Kennedy makes out that these men were
zealous friends of the Apostle, who might be described as " ultra-Paulinists, "
and whom Paul himself earnestly counsels to moderation and forgiveness.
Second and Third Corinthians, pp. 102 sqq.
2 Dr. Sanday thinks this the Christus-patty. En.cij. Bib., i. col. 904.

156 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
ment. In the last four chapters (x.-xiii.) it is directed
in a more strenuous and scathing fashion, — as of a self-
defence that demands the crushing of an adversary — to those
who, the Apostle believes, would still withstand him, and
still need exposure. The difference of tone between these
two parts is very marked, but not sufficiently so to make
us think that they constitute two entirely different
Epistles.1 The note of defence is common to them both ;
the difference of tone may be accounted for by the fact
that the Apostle turns, in thought if not in actual address,
to those whose evil influence he even yet dreads, and at
whose hands he has already suffered so keenly.
Paul therefore begins by pouring out heartfelt expres
sions of gratitude for the relief that has been given to his
fears. He defends himself against charges of fickleness
and dishonesty in having altered certain plans about
visiting Corinth, and shows how he had refrained from
carrying out these plans really from a desire to spare the
Corinthians. He tells them all his anxiety of mind on
their account, and how it was the climax of many trials,
nearly overtaxing his strength, and almost unfitting him
for his labours.
1 Hausrath in 1870 (Der Vier-Capitel-Brief des Paulus an die Corinlher)
strongly urged the theory that these last four chapters are really tho inter
vening ' lost ' Epistle. We have thus preserved three Epistles to the
Corinthians, namely, (a) 1 Corinthians, (b) 2 Corinthians x.-xiii., and
(c) 2 Corinthians i.-ix. This view did not, for a time, win much acceptance.
Holtzmann, Beyschlag, Klbpper, Weizsiicker, Sabatier, Godet, Weiss, Zahn,
and others, decide in favour of tho integrity of the Epistle. More recently,
however, there has been a tendency to adopt the theory. Schmiedel
minutely expounds it, and Pfleiderer, Clemen, Kronkel, McGiffert, Adeney,
and Moffatt, givo it their adherence. Principal Robertson (Hastings'
Dictionary) and Professor Sanday (Encyclopaedia Biblica) seriously discuss
it ; tho latter declaring against it ; the former regarding it as decidedly not
proven. In its defence, Dr. J. H. Kennedy (Second and Third Corinthians)
presents the ablest argument that has yet appeared in English. He differs
from Hausrath in that he regards 2 Corinthians x.-xiii. and 2 Corinthians
i.-ix. as mutilated portions, from the former of which the first part, and
from the latter of which the last part, have perished, probably through
accident to the papyri (p. 154). Although we do not feel that the evidence
is decisive enough to warrant interference with the integrity of the Epistle,
it must be allowed that the theory is plausible, and that the case for it tends
to grow stronger rather than weaker.

CONTENTS OK THE EPISTLE 157
lie then — indirectly replying to those who boast of
the " old • religion " — contrasts the ministries of the old
covenant and the new, and shows how that of the new is
infinitely greater, as the abiding ministry of the Spirit and
of liberty; a ministry of suffering and weakness, yet one
whose glorious mission is to win the souls of men, verily a
ministry of " ambassadors beseeching men in Christ's
stead to bo reconciled to God." In all this, wrought out
in quickly varying moods, of joy, of regret, of love, of
anger, he shows how keenly he is conscious of the efforts
that have been made by the " commended " Jews to under
mine his work.
Even in the two chapters which follow (viii. and ix.),
and which speak of the Collection which was slowly in
progress for the poor of Palestine, this unifying conscious
ness is not absent. For in anxiety for these poor ones he
gives proof, and proof of tho noblest kind, that ho is not
isolated, as his enemies assert, not out of touch with the
primitive Church at the home of Christianity, but in pro
foundest and deepest sympathy with it. He has laboured
in Macedonia on its behalf, and he has laboured and will
labour in Corinth for the same end. Let the Corinthians
rouse themselves in this important matter. It will be a
true and tangible token of their willingness to hear his
voico and obey his message. He has boasted of them in
Macedonia. Let not his high confidence in them be put to
shame. Thoy are richer than the Macedonians ; let them
excel them in liberality, outvie thorn in good works. And
there arc higher motives. lie that soweth bountifully
shall reap bountifully, and Cod loveth a cheerful giver.
Evor eager to reach the principles that Bhould underlie
Christian action, Paul does not rest till he discloses the
ideal that should inspire tho followers of Jesus to deeds of
alms-giving and benevolence.
In tho four closing chapters of the Epistle, the Jewish
adversaries, never absent from the Apostle's mind, are
finally dealt with in a very strenuous manner. Paul
evidently takes up tho most important of the charges that
have boon made against him, tlieir sneers at his person,

158 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
their innuendoes against his character and motives, their
attacks upon his authority; and he repels them with
exceeding vigour and unrepressed indignation, angry but
sinning not, swept by stormy gusts of feeling, yet ever
remaining master of himself and of the storm. Now he
flashes on them with threats, now overwhelms them with
mocking irony, and now overtops them with the magnitude
and " folly " of Ins boasting — reluctantly compelled to do
what is so distasteful to him, to recount the seals of his
ministry, to set forth the hardships he has endured in
pursuing it, and the visions and revelations of grace
which his Master has vouchsafed to him.
Finally, he exhorts his readers to examine and prove
themselves, and to do no evil ; to be perfect, to be of one
mind, to dwell in peace ; closing the long, wonderful,
unique apology, which is at the same time a polemic, by
the solemn and tender benediction which the universal
Church loves to repeat as the last note in her worship.
To the stings and taunts of his enemies, therefore, we
owe this great Apologia of St. Paul ; not the first or the
last service of the kind which the wounds of adversaries
have rendered to the religious literature of the world.
Shortly after writing this letter from Macedonia in the
autumn of 55, Paul proceeded to Corinth, and spent the
following winter in the bosom of the Church he held so
dear. We have no record of what happened then. But
we know that the situation was meanwhile saved. The
Apostle triumphed, and no man renewed the attempt to
rob him of his crown of rejoicing in that virgin field where
he had been the first to sow and reap for the Master.
In the tranquillity of this visit he had leisure to think out
and compose, what could only have been done in peace, his
Epistle to the Eomans. Near the end of his life he again
visited the city, but only for a brief space. More than
thirty years later, about the year 95, long after the eager
spirit was at rest, Clement of Eome wrote a letter to the
Christians of Corinth, in which he appeals to the authority
of Paul as still acknowledged, exhorting them to read his
Epistle, and recalling how the " blessed Apostle " had

A HUMAN DOCUMENT 159
rebuked them for that divisive spirit which was again
unhappily reviving.1
To-day, undoubtedly, one of the chief elements of value
in the Epistle is the wonderful revelation it gives us of the
Apostle himself. Through all its changing moods and
manifold digressions, Paul, in perfect abandon, shows us his
very soul, — suffering, rejoicing, enduring, overcoming. It
has been truly said that " it enables us, as it were, to lay
our hands upon his breast, and feel the very throbbings of
his heart." Apart from it, we should never have so clearly
understood what the Apostle's life really was in those
toilsome journeys, when he plodded from province to
province, often persecuted from city to city, preaching the
Cross through the pagan West ; nor should we have known
so well wherein his noble heroism consisted, what were the
rugged obstacles he had to surmount, and what the
magnificent consolations by which he was upheld. What
a marvellous piece of compressed autobiography is
contained in those verses which begin at the twenty-third
verse of the eleventh chapter : " In labours more abundant,
in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in
deaths oft." Who does not find his heart melting to the
man, under the cumulative force of these pathetic phrases ?
And who is not humbled and rebuked by that indomitable
spirit, troubled on every side but not distressed, perplexed
but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down
but not destroyed ? " Therefore," he cries, " I take pleasure
in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake."
Especially in a twofold relation does the Epistle reveal
to us the heart of the Apostle, namely, in his relation to his
converts, and in his relation to his Lord.
1. First of all, it shows us how sensitive he was, how
easy it was to touch him on the quick, and to wound his
feelino-s. There were times when, clad in heavenly armour,
Paul could have faced whole legions of foes. There were
other times when even a child could make him wince;
1 Clement, Ep. to the Corinthians, § 47 : Lightfoot's edition, p. 144.

160 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
for many brave men have nerve-spots that he near the
fountain of their tears.
The Apostle was very human, and nowhere are his
kindred hmitations more obvious than in these present
incidents. He would be the first to acquiesce, if it were
said that even with him the creed was greater than the
life. In the hastily written, and nervously repented
passages of that lost Epistle ; in the restless wandering,
like a perturbed spirit, from Troas to Macedonia, to meet
the news and know the issue of his acts, we see a man
most lovable indeed, most like ourselves when issues hang
in the balance, but a man not already perfect, not yet
risen to the measure of the stature of Christ. We seem
to see One beside him whose supremacy he would have
acknowledged, One who never regretted what He had done,
never grew sleepless or distressed about anything He ever
said. In the defect of the Apostle we have our share,
deeper and sadder often than his. But Christ did not
share it. In nothing does He more clearly stand apart,
whose calm breast was never troubled by the thought that
He might have erred. Only One in the great roll of
humanity has been hke this ; only One, who never grew
nervous over the consequences of His deeds, who dwelt
in such perfect harmony with God that He could say : " He
that hath sent Me is with Me : for I do always those
things that please Him." x
\ Again, we are shown the intensity with which Paul
laboured in his ministry — the tenacity with which he held
to his mission, and the invincible courage with which he
returned to the fight for his imperilled Church. 1 He loved
those converts as only a great soul in Christ could love
them. His keenest sorrow came in the disaster that
threatened them, and he flew to their defence. He had
not only won them for Christ, he was willing to die that
he might keep them for Christ. Thrice-honoured servant
of God ! He held those souls with a grasp that would not

1 Cf. a very interesting passage in Forrest's Clirist of History and of
Experience : Leet. I. pp. 29-31.

THE SERVANT AND HIS LORD 161
slacken. We honour a soldier who holds a post with a
courage that no foe can beat down. What shall we say
of this man who wrote these burning words while yet the
sentence of death was in Iris heart ? An under-shepherd ?
Yes, truly. But how noble a study he has made of Him
who said : " The hirehng fleeth ; the good shepherd giveth
his life for the sheep " !
2. Once more, the Epistle brings very clearly before
us the relation that subsisted between Paul and his
Master. It is charged with a magnificent consciousness of his
high calling in Christ Jesus. He has been called with a
divine calling to the most glorious work in which a man
can engage, to be to this estranged and weary earth an
ambassador of heaven. Eeceived as divine, this vocation
is accepted with supreme devotion. Paul knows no other
rule, no other will but Christ's. Like a kneeling slave,
with upturned gaze fixed on the Master's face, he receives
his trust, and never for a single moment does he swerve
from its fulfilment.
It is true that this ministry has been a ministry of
sorrow. But what then ? Through it all rings the note
of abounding consolation in Christ Jesus. Paul has never
been left alone. There have been no sinking depths in
which he has not felt the touch of the Everlasting Arms.
It has been a ministry of strain, of suffering, of hair
breadth escapes with the bare life. He has had his thorn
in the flesh, and his buffeting of Satan. And yet never
was the " power of Christ," resting on frail humanity, more
signally manifested. What joy he had, and glory in his
infirmities ! What moments of rapturous solace ! What
raising into the heavens, what beatific visions, what
hearing of seraphic tones it was not lawful to repeat !
Dear to Christ, he never failed to receive the supply of
sufficient grace. And it has been so with thousands.
Many servants of God have followed in these steps. Yet
in palpitating sorrow, and in divine consolation, Paul
excelled them all. Eead once more that eloquent hst of
sufferings, embalmed in this Epistle, and say if he must
n

162 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
not have lain very close upon the Master's heart, who
thus endured these things, and who gloried in them that
the Cross of Christ might be of more effect.
Paul makes clear that he was hving every day with
Christ as his heavenly hope. The pressure of this last sore
time was telling on him. He felt as if the sohd earth were
trembling beneath his feet. No more did he expect to hear
with those mortal ears the shout of the archangel and the
trump of God. But he did expect " a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory." The earthly house of this
tabernacle would be dissolved. What of it ? There was
the homeland, eternal in the heavens, a building of God,
an house not made with hands. Christ would lead him
thither, and within its shining walls would for ever raise
His servant's head

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

I.
THE HISTOEICAL SETTING.
If we except the portraiture of Jesus in the Gospels, the
Epistle to the Eomans is undoubtedly the most marvellous
writing in the New Testament. It treats of the loftiest
themes that ean concern humanity, and it does so with a
grasp, an insight, and a holy audacity that the world can
never forget. In view of its great importance, it will be
necessary to consider it in somewhat greater detail than
the other Epistles. In the first place, the historical
setting is of immense interest. It may be treated in two
parts : first, Pagan Eome, of whose moral hfe the Apostle
has drawn an appalhng picture : and secondly, the Jews
and Christians in Eome, the former of whom were long
estabhshed there, the latter only just beginning to be
heard of. 1. Pagan Eome
The Epistle was written from Corinth early in the
year 56. The Emperor Nero then occupied the Eoman
throne. He was only twenty years of age, and had
succeeded Claudius about three years before. He had not
yet fully developed the character that has made his name
a byword in history, but it was fairly in the process of
formation. His mother, Agrippina, was a woman of
debased nature and unscrupulous ambition, and, according

164 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
to Suetonius, his wretched father, Domitius Ahenobarbus,
had prophesied that no child of theirs could ever be
expected to be aught else than detestable and pernicious.
He was fatherless at three years of age, and virtually
motherless also, for about the same time Agrippina had
been sent into exile.1 His early years were spent in the
home of his aunt, Domitia Lepida, who, caring little for
him, handed his education over to the influences of a
dancing-master and a barber. No guiding care or loving
restraint was to be expected, and such good qualities as he
possessed were entirely neglected. Self-control was not a
word in his vocabulary, and almost ere he was a youth
he was familiar with all the vicious pleasures of manhood.
When Seneca was recalled from exile to be his tutor, the
bias to evil was powerfully developed, though Nero was only
then entering on his teens. The utmost the philosopher
could do was to strive to keep the intractable spirit from
bursting all boumls, a service in which for a time he
partially succeeded.
The Eomans were not immediately aware of the diseased
vanity 2 and untamed savagery of the youth who assumed
the reins when Claudius died. The young Emperor played
and sang, carved and painted, and dabbled in verse in a
Hellenised and dilettante fashion ; while his midnight
revels, and his incognito brawling and braggadocio in the
streets, of which Tacitu3 tells us so contemptuously, were
looked on with good - natured indifference, as, if not
becoming to the purple, at least excusable on the score of

1 H. Schiller, Geschichte des romischen Kaiserreichs unter der Regierung
des Nero, p. 63 and note.
2 An amusing scene is depicted by Suetonius when telling of Nero's
tyranny over his audiences. During his musical performances no one was
allowed to leave the theatre on any account. Many, absolutely worn out
with hearing and applauding him, slipped over the walls, while others,
feigning to be dead, were carried out for their funeral !
Stories of his public rivalry of professional performers of all kinds, and
of liis insane and sometimes murderous jealousy of them, are well known.
It is said he had a salaried claque of 5000 robust young fellows, trained in
various kinds of applause, which they practised in his favour whenever he
performed.

CHARACTER OF NERO 165
youthful blood. He was genial, affable, liberal, and the
populace delighted in him, not merely for his own sake,
but for the sake of theh beloved Germanicus and Augustus,
from whose stock he sprang. When he appeared before
the Senate he delivered eloquent speeches, prepared by
Seneca, and charmed men's ears with his earnest promises
to govern after the best models of his ancestors. He
encouraged the reform of abuses, and very sensibly
lightened the burden of taxation. The most excellent
feature of his early reign was that he was content to leave
public affairs very much to the guidance of wiser and
better men. Burrus, the blunt and honourable soldier,
kept the provinces in hand, while Seneca and the Senate
ruled the city. The Eomans were content, and declared
that they had not been so well governed since the days of
Augustus. Fifty years after, looking back on the first five
years of the reign, Trajan spoke of the ' quinquennium
Neronis ' as a kind of golden age, outshining all other
administrations. These five peaceful years covered the period at which
Paul wrote, but they were, as all the world knows, only a
temporary lull, a sultry silence, preluding one of the most
violent storms of human passion of which history has
record. In the year 59 A.D. Agrippina paid for her many
crimes by being put to death by the ' monster ' to whom
she had given birth. The death of the chaste and gentle
Empress Octavia followed. Seneca himself suffered banish
ment and death ; and the second Empress, Poppsea,
perished by a vicious blow from the Emperor's foot. The
wind had been sown, and the harvest of the whirlwind was
reaped. Undoubtedly it was a supreme peril to the Empire
that it lay within the power of a single man, a madman, to
drag it so close to the abyss. The Emperors were auto
crats, deified in their lifetime,1 whose will was law, and
'Such titles were bestowed on them as — 'Dominus ae Deus noster;
prsesens et corporalis deus ' (Harnack, History of Dogma, i. 119). Cf. also
Emil Aust, Die Religion der Romer, pp. 96-97 ; and Schiller, Nero, p. 581.
In Britain, according to Tacitus (Annals, xiv. 31), a temple was erected to
the divine Claudius.

166 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
who held the hves and destinies of their subjects in the
hollow of theh hand. The nobles were crushed and power
less under such a regime. Driven from pubhc life, where
authority and office were mainly held by the ephemeral
puppets of an irresponsible monarch, the old patricians
retired into privacy, there to win by luxurious magnificence
and unparalleled extravagance, the fame that was not pos
sible in nobler fields.1 As for the populace, they were
held in check and kept in good humour by the unceasing
gratuities that were poured out upon them from an ap
parently exhaustless exchequer. Over all, the Emperor
pursued the career which his unbridled passions and
despotic will dictated.
In the Apostle's day Eome was hardly any longer
Eome. It was an epitome of the whole world. It ex
tended widely over its hills and valleys, huge, irregular,
and ill-built, with narrow, winding streets, and high top
pling houses, which, in spite of the pubhc improvements
and adornments, the palaces, temples, and pleasure-grounds
of the Augustan era, were fit fuel for Nero's conflagration.
A population of about a million and a half swarmed in its
steaming and unhealthy streets, making everlasting clangour
by day and night.2 These crowds were only in a small
1 Fabulous sums, e.g., were spent by them on the pleasures of the table.
The most distant parts of the earth were ransacked to furnish them with
dainties, and their menus were most elaborate and fantastic. Gluttony was
a prevailing vice, carried to a disgusting length. Cf. Mommsen, History of
Rome, ed. 1894, v. 387-388. It is said that of 400 books unearthed at
Herculaneum, almost all belonging to the privato library of a suburban
villa, the great majority were devoted to music, rhetoric, and cookery. Cf.
Huidekoper, Judaism at Rome, p. 91 ; Lyell's Principles of Geology, 9th ed.,
p. 393. On the Roman cuisine, cf. also Guhl and Koncr, Life of the Greeks
and Romans, pp. 501 sqq. On tbe whole, however, it may be doubted
whether ancient Rome exceeded modern London, Paris, or New York, in
the extravagance and vagaries of the table.
2 Friedlander thinks the population probably varied from one to one and
a half million, but discusses the difficulty of arriving at an exact' result.
Sittengeschichtc Ronis, Seehste Auflage, 1888, i. 25, and the detailed Note
appended, pp. 5S-70. Zumpt's computation of two millions has been often
accepted. Merivale, however, thinks it too high, while a few regard it as
too low. Cf. Smith's note in Gibbon, iv. 89 ; also Conybeare and Howson,
St. Paul, ed. 1877, .\xiv. 676-677 ; nnrl Schiller's Kr.ro, p. 501.

ROMAN SOCIETY 167
proportion Eoman. The old Latin race could scarcely be
distinguished among the chaotic masses of foreigners of
every race and clime, of every class and condition, that
were drawn into this vortex of whirling life at the centre
of the world. Tho conquered provinces of East and West 1
poured into it their ceaseless streams of adventurous spirits :
some merely attracted by the life that was there, the
luring hum of its pleasures and excitements ; others by the
opportunities of traffic and occupation, to pursue a career
or to amass a fortune ; some to be parasites of the rich and
panders to their passions ; some to escape the nemesis of
their crimes, to be lost to vengeance if not to vice in the
great multitude of the unknown. The very language was
strange in the Eoman streets. Nearly all spoke Greek,
and it was possible to live in Eome, as Plutarch says he
did, without knowing a single word of the tongue of Cicero
and Ctosar.2 And not only the language, but the habits,
tho dross, the fashions, the insolent swagger and the cring
ing servility, the immorality and superstitions, of the worst
cities in the Orient, were familiar under the shadow of the
ancient Capitol.8
At the head of the social order stood not the men who
boasted of noble blood, but the men who were merely rich.
These wore continually changing, in a kaleidoscopic manner,
according as freedmen or parvenus found their way by an
infinity of devious routes to the surface.4 It was they who
alternately corrupted the masses by the prodigal folly of
their bounties, and crushed them by their inhuman and

1 Cf. Niobuhr's Lectures, Sohmitz' od., iii. 166-167 : Leot. OX.
a "The Grooks were tho most energetic, as they were also the most
intelligent and enquiring, of tho middlo classes in Rome at this time. The
sucoessM tradosmon, tho skilled artisans, tho oonfidontial servants and
retainers of noble houses— almost all the activity and enterpriso of the com
mon ponplo, whether for good or for evil — wore Greok " (Lightfoot, Philip
pians, p. 20).
3 Frioilliinder draws a graphic picture of the Moors, Egyptians, Greeks,
Hindus, Oriontal princes and their retinues, blonde Flomings, and tatooed
savages from Britain, to bo seen in the Roman streets. Sittengeschichle, ut
supra., i. 23, 24.
4 Cf. Fiiedliinder, i. 392 sqq.

168 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
uncivilised tempers. At the bottom of the scale were the
people, not the sturdy and virtuous plebs of the old days
of the Eepublic, but a mere conglomerate rabble, living in
idleness, debauched by largesses, unconscious of. patriotism,
fired by no ideals, and destitute of almost any real power
in the State. One common vein ran through the whole of
society, from the highest to the lowest ranks — the lust
of gold. " Money was the supreme deity that all men
worshipped." x The conquest of the world had swollen the
Capital with its treasure, and the consuming desire of the
citizens was to lay hands upon it. Those who ' had not '
desired to have, and those who ' had ' desired to have
more. All wits and energies were bent to this end.
Legacy-hunting was a fine art, openly and shamelessly
pursued, and almost the only occupation that multitudes
knew. " To be poor was not only the sorest disgrace and
the worst crime, but the only disgrace and the only crime ;
for money the statesman sold the State, and the burgess
sold his freedom ; the post of the officer and the vote of
the juryman were to be had for money. . . . Men had
forgotten what honesty was ; a person who refused a bribe
was regarded not as an upright man, but as a personal foe." 2
But Eome not only stumbled over the temptations of
the vast wealth that had poured to her feet, she had grown
rich in goods and chattels of a kind that led, if possible, to
still greater perils. Slavery was the curse of Eome, the
I festering sore that consumed her, the deepest source of her
corruption and her shame. It has been estimated that the
i slaves in Eome at this period outnumbered the freemen by
two to one, some say by three to one. At least two men
out of every three who walked the streets, crowded the
forum, or swarmed at the games, were slaves. The house
hold was beneath consideration that had not ten. Some
of the nobles owned them by tens of thousands. Five
hundred was a common number. So thickly was the city

1 Friedlander, i. 412-413, gives a startling account of the prevailing
materialism and self-seeking.
2 Mommsen, v. 390.

SLAVERY AND ITS EFFECTS 169
choked with them, that the rulers dared not let them wear
a distinctive dress lest they should become dangerously
conscious of their strength. All the nations under heaven
furnished their quota to the ranks. There were Persians,
Syrians, Lydians, Phrygians, Cappadocians, Libyans and
Moors, Getse and Iberians, Celts and Germans. Over this
variegated population the masters had almost unlimited
power. Slaves were " possessions," and Eoman law inflex
ibly conserved the right of a man to do what he pleased
with his own. We may guess what that meant, in a day
when free play was given to every gust of passion and to
every suggestion of lust. Sometimes the slaves were treated
with kindness and even with affection. They were often
far more cultured than their masters. They could give
instruction in many arts and refinements, and were gay and
entertaining companions, capable of showing the Eoman
how to embellish his home or how to enjoy his fortune.
But too often they were treated with great cruelty,
punished brutally for the smallest offence, herded together
in noisome and pestilent cellars or ' ergastula,' accorded
no privileges and no rights, and used or abused in the
mere wantonness of caprice.
For all this there was a terrible nemesis. In the first
place, slavery destroyed the trade and industries of Eome,
and thus gradually supplanted one of the most stable
elements of the population. In the country districts their
presence ousted the once prosperous peasantry, who con
sequently flocked citywards to swell the ever-increasing
ranks of the idle and pauperised mob. The number of
those who thus came to live on the free bounties of the
State reached enormous proportions. It is calculated
that in the time of Augustus gratuitous provision had
to be made for 200,000 men, not counting their wives,
sisters, and daughters.1 These hung about the houses of
the great, clamoured for corn in the arena, swayed by their
turbulence the policy of the rulers, and were ready at all
times for every kind of tumult and excess. Vast regiments
1 Dbllinger, Gentile and Jew, ii. 278 ; Brace, Gesta Christi, pp. 97-9S.

170 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
of vagrants and beggars lounged near the city gates, and
haunted the steps aud colonnades of the temples. Every
where work was regarded with profound distaste as beneath
the dignity of freemen.
Moreover, every year and every month of the year
I many of the slaves of Eome were attaining freedom. By
the goodwill of their master, or at his death, large numbers
were floated out among the ' liberti.' They took with
them the manners and spirit of the slave. Into the many
offices which they held, in the courts, in ihe army, in the
palace, they carried their " ingrained propensity for lying
and deceit," and polluted the very stream of public life at
its source. They hired themselves out for every kind of
unworthy and degrading task, and it was they who sup
plied the large army of spies, panders, charlatans, low-bred
artists, actors, mimes, and such like ' professors,' by whom
the whole city was cursed.
Worst of all, they debauched Eome. They brought
into it many new, unnatural, and abominable vices, by
which they not only corrupted their masters, but sowed the
, seeds of untold evil among the children. They were the
! nurses, the pedagogues, the tutors, the daily companions of
young Eome. Life had taught them to fear only one
thing, the wrath of man ; and, animated by purely selfish
rconsiderations and totally devoid of conscience, they set
themselves with the utmost sycophancy and artfulness to
win the interest and goodwill of their future lords. The
most childish desires and growing passions of that sad
jeunesse dorie were met and ministered to. In the fellowship
and under the direction of slaves, the Eoman youths learnt
all they had to learn, their chief schools being the purheus
of the baths, the circus, and the stage. No wonder most
of them grew up swollen with vanity and conceit, tyran
nical and uncontrolled, effeminate and enervated, old, jaded,
and wearied of hfe before they had well-nigh left their
teens. Slavery has exacted a fearful tax from every
nation that has used it, but from none more than from
Imperial Eome. It dragged its masters down to a bondage
even deeper and darker than its own.

CARNAGE OF THE ARENA 171
Iii nothing was this deeper bondage more apparent than
in the amusements which characterised the age. Few
things lay bare the heart of a nation more surely than its
sports. In throwing themselves into these with complete
abandon, men reveal the trend and spirit of their hfe.
Tried by this test, the Eoman world to which the Apostle
so eagerly looked, presents the saddest of sights. The
gladiatorial shows of ancient Eome can scarcely come under
the category of manly sports. They were simply scenes of
organised carnage, in which the strong odour of saffron was
not able to extinguish the still stronger odour of blood.
The Emperor, of course, gave the grandest spectacles, other
wise his popularity would soon have been on the wane.
But senators, generals, nobles, and rich merchants, who
were eager to advertise themselves or to win notoriety and
applause, vied with him in the magnitude and costliness of
their displays.
The Colosseum held 80,000 spectators, and the Circus
Maximus thrice that number.1 They were frequently
crowded with yelling and maddened multitudes of men,
women, and children, drawn from all ranks of life. Day
after day the spectacles were continued, the city meanwhile
being maintained in a state of turmoil and excitement.
Trajan, it is said, on one occasion brought 10,000 men
into the arena in a carnival of blood that lasted for 123
successive days. Under Claudius, the number of those
slain in pubhc was so great that the statue of the divine
Augustus had to be removed, lest it should either be con
stantly gazing on murder, or " need to have its eyes con
stantly veiled." 2 Under Titus 5000 animals perished in
a single clay, and under Caligula 5000 bears. Nero was
not behind. He matched 400 tigers against bulls and
elephants; and his soldiers fought with 400 bears and 300

1 According to Pliny, 250,000. Cf. Friedlander, ii. 323.
2 So writes Dion Cassius. The idea of blindfolding a god is very charac
teristic of the time. Cf. Huidekoper, Judaism at Rome, p. 75 n.
The carnage was not confined to land. Tacitus (Ann. xii. 56, 57) gives
an account of a naval display on Lake Fueinus (Celano), where Claudius
exhibited 19,000 mariners in battle.

172 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
lions. Even giraffes, stags, crocodiles, and serpents were
brought in to whip up the sense of novelty and excitement.
Women, too, were trained to fight in the arena, and there
were combats of dwarfs and of bhndfolded men. Slaves
were led in naked, unarmed, and chained together, while
their frantic and impotent struggles were gloated over with
fiendish dehght.
The professional gladiators were the true heroes of
Eoman hfe. Men talked of them, quoted them, chronicled
theh doings, extolled their points, backed them, almost
1 adored them, just as men treat the matadors in Spain
to-day, and the pugilists nearer home — all at one low level
of debasing brutality. There were training-schools for
the gladiators where they learnt their strange trade, and
bartered their hves for food, pledging themselves to fight
till they fell, and to be ready to meet the friend of to-day
as their mortal foe to-morrow. Noble Eomans were the
aficionados, the ' fancy,' who supported them, and Eoman
ladies entertained them, and inflated their vanity with the
most flattering favours and adulation.1 The eyes of the
patrons of bloodshed had been accustomed to the arena
since they were children. They saw no degradation in it.
Their ears had never heard anything more highly praised,
more eagerly longed for. It was the continual topic of
conversation in street and in home ; the boys mimicked its
strife in theh games, and the orators turned to it for the
most telling figures of their rhetoric. But the human
spirit could not indulge itself in this fashion with impunity.
Cruelty became a commonplace in Eome, and life itself a
mere 'drug in the market.' Eefinement and gentleness
could not survive such fierce and clamorous blows upon
the heart-strings. The inclination to softer manners and
kindlier deeds perished amid the intoxication of the games.
Men feverishly waited for the next display, and only
prayed that it might be more frenzied than the last.
Other amusements were compelled to stretch themselves
to the most extravagant Emits, and to venture on the most
1 Cf. Friedlander, i. 484-185.

DECAY OF THE ROMAN RELIGION 173
startling realism, if they were to hope to entertain an
audience for a single hour. In the insane straining for
sensation, the theatre and the ballet became indescribable.
Few men questioned such things ; still fewer protested
against them ; and yet Seneca confesses, what we can well
credit, that he returned from them " the greedier, the more
ambitious, more sensual, more savage and inhuman." x
One can easily believe that in such a state of society
religion must either have been non-existent or very largely
a misnomer for something else. It can have had no re
lation to morality, no elevating influence upon life. In
point of fact, such as it was, it existed in a multitude of
forms. If Paul had visited Eome he could have said of
it, as he said of Athens, that he perceived it abundantly
" religious." Its hills and streets were literally crowded
with temples, and with statues of gods and deified men
and women. These were not the heirlooms of an ancient
cult, but were mostly the pious splendours of the religious
revival under Augustus, and were even now being con
tinually added to and adorned.
Yet the old Eoman religion was dying daily. Men
had lost faith in it. It was hke a " rotten machine creak
ing at every joint," ready to fall to pieces. The gods, in
number thick as autumn leaves, were mere fanciful human
creations, personified to preside over almost every conceiv
able state of political and domestic life. They were but
" abstract imps of momentary act and quality." 2 The
simplest act was analysed, and each moment shaped into
a deity of its own. There was no end to such a process ;
" the god-casting business could never be wound up." 8 It
was almost beyond human memory to recall the names and
functions of the gods. The minutice of life were so ringed
round by them, that there were deities to be invoked at
every step, eating, sleeping, sitting, walking, talking, travel-
1 Dollinger, Gentile ami Jew, ii. 283. Cf. also Lecky's European Morals,
i. ch. ii. ; and Friedliindcr's exhaustive account, ii. : III. Die Schauspiele.
2 W. Wallace, Lectures and Essays on Natural Theology and Ethics,
p. 29. 3 Dollinger, Gentile and Jew, ii. 14.

174 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
ling. " There is a little god who causes the infant to utter its
first cry ; there is another who presides over its first word ;
one who teaches the baby to eat, another to drink ; finally,
one who keeps it quiet in its cradle . . . deified abstractions
of Fear, Cough, Fever, Fortune, Modesty, Safety, the genius
of the Custom-house, and above all, the Safety of the Eoman
People ; — in the full force of the word, a civil religion." 1
Moreover, man created these gods not to be worshipped
or obeyed, but to be the instruments of his own selfish
desires. Prayer had thus no moral signification. It was
never directed to any spiritual ends. No man ever thought
of unburdening his soul, or telling the ' plague of his
heart,' to the gods. But he invoked them if he wished
prosperity in his enterprises, success in his fortune, or
furtherance in his intrigues. No passion was too vile, no
crime too dark, to be laid before them. A man would
pray for the death of his relative, that he might inherit his
wealth, or for success in adultery, forgery, or theft. For
such purposes the gods were coaxed and wheedled, and
tempted with the promise of offerings. Should there be
success, the vows were perhaps remembered ; but in case
of failure, bitter complaints and blasphemous denunciations
were not ¦ forgotten. Deathbed execrations of the gods
were very common. For a disaster at sea, Augustus caused
the image of Neptune to be excluded from the processions
of the gods ; and it was not infrequent for disappointed
suppliants to pelt the dumb deities with stones, and to
heap other indignities upon them. On the stage the gods
were the favourite subjects of ridicule and ribald mirth,
and no representation was ever too scandalous for the taste
of the mocking crowd.
Nevertheless, the forms of worship were not neglected.
The temples were thronged, and the priests were grave,
although many wondered, like Cato, how two augurs could
possibly meet without laughing.2 Behef was gone, but

1 Renan, Influence of Rome on Christianity, Hibbert Lectures, pp. 11-12.
Cf. also Granger's Worship of the Romans, pp. 134-135.
2 Quoted by Cicero, De Dii-in., n. xxiv.

STEEPED IN SUPERSTITION 175
ceremony was faithfully observed as a matter of pohtical
expediency and good manners. Some devotees were no
doubt still haunted with a kind of hopeful credulity.
Seneca gives us a ciuious description of scenes that took
place, acknowledging that they look marvellously like sport
or madness. " Go to the Capitol. One is busy suggesting
divine commands to a god ; another is showing Jupiter the
time of day ; one poses as a lictor ; another as an anointer,
pretending by gestures to rub in the ointment. A number
attend on Juno and Minerva as hair-dressers, and make
pretence of curling with their fingers, not only standing
far back from the images but even from the templa Some
hold the looking-glass to them : some are soliciting the
gods to stand security ; while others display bundles of
documents before them, and instruct them in theh law
pleas. A learned and distinguished comedian, now old
and decrepit, daily went through his antics and mimicry
on the Capitol, as though the gods would gladly be spec
tators of that which men had ceased to admire. In short,
all sorts of artistes spend their time in the temples, and
offer theh services to the immortal gods."1
It is plain that everywhere the grossest superstition
was alive and whole-hearted. From the Emperor to the r
meanest of his subjects every one believed in auguries, *
astrologies, witchcraft, fortune-telling, necromancy, charms,
incantations,2 and above all in dreams. Hence the city
swarmed with augurs, diviners, wizards, and quacks of
every description ; and for great and sinaE things, for
blessing and cursing, men and women repaired to them
as their willing dupes. Cicero reproved men for regulating
the purposes of life by the cries of crows and jackdaws,
but he reproved in vain. Tacitus relates as proof of
treachery in the death of Germanicus, that human bones,
incantations and spells, leaden tablets with his name in
scribed, half-burnt cinders smeared with blood, and such

1 Seneca, as quoted by Augustine, Cii: Dei, vi. 10. Cf. Dods' translation,
City of God, i. 254.
- Cf. Aust, Du Rdigioti der Romer, p. 79.

176 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
hke horrors, were found in the floor and the walls of his
house.1 Comets, meteors, earthquakes, and all natural
phenomena, however trivial and common, down to the
twittering flight of a bird across the footpath, were re
garded as portents. According to Pliny, hghtning had at
least eleven degrees of significance.2 It was specially
directed against the mighty. Augustus guarded himself
against it by wearing the skin of a sea-calf ; Tiberius had
more faith in laurel leaves ; Cahgula crept under the bed.
Evidently such multifarious superstitions must have
hung as a terrible yoke round men's necks. It was im
possible to go anywhere or do anything without paying
respect to them. Men were pursued and thwarted, en
couraged and betrayed, by the almanac. And the gods
were specially busy with humanity when it was asleep.3
In obedience to a dream, if we may credit Suetonius,
Augustus plodded the streets of Eome and gathered coppers
as a beggar ; and Nero — though this is no mystery — after
the murder of his motlier, was lashed by dreams into a
state of abject misery and terror. " Nowhere can men be
tranquil of heart," says Cicero, " not even in sleep, for
the greatest number of anxieties and alarms spring from
dreams." All believed in their divine significance. A
vast literature was concerned with them, and learned men
occupied themselves day and night with the science of
theh interpretation.4 People troubled by them tried to
wash off their influence in the sea, or sat a whole day
inert on the ground, smearing themselves with filth. The
last thing thought of was to ignore them.
If the old national deities had somewhat sunk into
disrepute under the Empire, their place was rapidly taken
J by legions of others. Ever on the alert for new modes of
appealing to the unseen, the citizens of Eome found a
1 Annals, ii. 69.
2 Cf. Lecky, Eur. Morals, i. 367, ed. 1882.
3 Cf. Granger's Worship of the Romans, On Dreams and Apparitions,
pp. 2S-52.
4 Cf. Friedlandcr's account of tbe Dream-book of Artcmidor (second
century), iii. 570-571.

POPULARITY OF THE ORIENTAL RELIGIONS 177
wonderful field for their superstition in the creeds of the 1
slaves and strangers within their gates. The Italian gods
had shown themselves powerless ; it might be that the
gods of Greece and Egypt were better. One of the most
marked characteristics of the age was the eagerness with
which Eoman society began to transfer its allegiance to
the Oriental religions. These were at first tolerated as a
matter of policy, and now adopted as a matter of interest.
Their sacred mysteries, their dread yet alluring initiations,
and their sensuous ceremonies, were a new experience, a
welcome excitement, if no more, to the enfeebled volup
tuaries of the Capital. Aphrodite, Cybele, Mithras, claimed
their votaries, their victims. But the most fascinating of all
were " the wearisome mystical host of the grotesque divinities
of Egypt — Isis the mother of nature with her whole train,
the constantly dying and constantly reviving Osiris, the
gloomy7 Serapis, the taciturn and grave Harpocrates, the
dog-headed Anubis." 1 In Paul's day the worship of Isis
in Eome exceUed that of all other deities in delirious
popularity. She was represented as the supreme mother
of all things, the revealer of all secrets, the healer of all
troubles. Her worship was at bottom the symbohcal ex
pression of the consciousness of the tyranny of nature over
humanity, the fit product of Egyptian experience of arid
desert, burning sun, rising and falling river. Her dark
windowless temples, shunning the sunlight, multiplied
enormously, and processions in her honour were continually
in the streets; "white figures of women robed in thin
gauze, with mirrors on their backs, shrill flute-players, men
rattling the sistrum to scare away Typhon, priests with
shaven heads, boat-shaped lamps, branches of palm, caducei,
baskets, and golden breasts dropping milk. Then wander
ing figures bearing the masks, dog-headed or hawk-headed,
of gods ; finally, the goddess herself with the moon's disk
on her head." 2

1 Mommsen, v. 446.
2 Hausrath, Time of the Apostles, i. 89-90. Cf. also the more detailed
account in Aust, Die Religion der Rower, pp. 158-159.
12

178 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
The saddest feature of all was the shameless impurity
with which the Oriental rehgions were associated. The
wild orgies of the groves, connected with the worship of
Aphrodite and Dionysus and Cybele, were only possible in
a state of society where all sense of shame and self-respect
was lost. Even the shaded courts of Isis and Antibis were
stained with the prevailing immorality.1 Paul knew of
what he spake when he said : " They changed the glory of
the uncorruptible God into an image made hke to cor
ruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and
creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to
uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts."
At the same time, such sketches of unreheved gloom
must by no means be presented as the whole truth regard
ing pagan Eome. It is impossible to draw up a just
indictment against a whole nation, nor can we in a few
pages adequately sum up the characteristics of an age.
General statements are never more than generally true ;
they are always open to specific exception. It becomes
us to remember that there were brighter and fairer features
to be found in the social life even of the luxurious Empire ;
and hberal-minded historians, hke Merivale, Lecky, and
Eenan, do not ignore them. Eenan 2 reminds us that the
true decadence did not come until two centuries later ; thao
men of high character surrounded the throne of Nero, and
that there were still families that were models of order,
and duty, and concord, and virtue. Merivale writes:
" Even at Eome in the worst of times, men of affairs,
particularly those in middle stations, most removed from
the temptations of luxury and poverty, were in the habitual
practice of integrity and self-denial ; mankind had faith in
the general honesty of their equals, in the justice of their
patrons, in the fidelity of their dependants : husbands and
wives, parents and children, exercised the natural affections,
and relied on theh being reciprocated : all the relations
of life were adorned in ton with bright instances of

1 Cf. Friedlander, i. 501 ; and Aust, op. cit., passim.
*Les Apdtres, pp. 306-308 ; also Hibbert Lects., p. 23.

GENERAL SOCIAL CONDITION 179
devotion, and mankind transacted their business with an
ordinary confidence in the force of conscience and right
reason." 1
Nothing is more abhorrent than the pharisaic boasting
of one age over another. The immorality of Imperial
Eome has been exposed with a brutal frankness by its
own historians and poets.2 Other ages have sunk deeply
enough, but with a more pohtic reticence, and the worst
possible use to make of the study of history is too lightly
to lay flattering unctions to the soul. A consideration
even of Christian history gives a moralist too much to
blush for. Cruel and inhuman laws, fanatical intolerance,
pitiless tyranny, open and concealed vice, the sensuahty
and debauchery of great cities, the intemperance, gambling,
and prevailing covetousness of whole nations, are black
facts which even the modern era has not banished from the
world. Nevertheless, even the writers who are most willing to
be guarded and generous are compelled to use language of
a very startling kind regarding ancient Eoman society.
" Things had come to a point," says Niebuhr, " at which no
earthly power could afford any help." 3 " It was the most
frightful feature of the corruption of ancient Eome," writes
Lecky, " that it extended through every class of the com
munity." 4 " The criminal statistics of all times and
countries," says Mommsen, " will hardly furnish a parallel
to the dreadful picture of crimes — so varied, so horrible,
and so unnatural — which the trial of Aulus Cluentius
unrolls before us in the bosom of one of the most respected
famihes of an Italian country town." 5 And Merivale also
may be quoted to the same effect : " Sensuahty in its most
degrading forms pervaded all classes, and was fostered by
the publicity of ordinary life, by the allurements of art,

1 Romans under the Empire, ch. liv.; ed. 1890, vi. 455.
2 On the caution with which the accounts of the Satirists should be
received, cf. Dill's Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire,
bk. ii. ch. i.
3 Lects., iii. 169. 4 Eur. Morals, i. 262.
6 History of Rome, v. 390.

180 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
sometimes by the direct injunctions of a gross superstition,
to a degree of shamelessness which has made it the oppro
brium of history." 1
It is well to let such statements sink into our minds,
if we are to understand many things to which Paul refers,
and the awful background of iniquity that was in his
thoughts when writing certain parts of his Epistle.
It is chiefly among adherents of the philosophical sects
that we must look for examples of the more austere side of
Eoman life. Even the Sceptics did much to pave the way
for the new religion by the merciless manner in which they
exposed the old. Doubt and inquiry broke up the fallow
ground for truth, and floods of satire were poured on the
superstitions of the time. The noblest spirits, however,
almost all belonged to the school of the Stoics. They
drank from the purest springs of Greek tradition, and
inculcated a high morality, with lofty conceptions of duty.
They were the guides and counsellors whom men sought in
perplexity, the sympathetic advisers to whom they looked
in affliction. They were the means, too, of adding many
just and humane laws to the statute-book of their country.
Seneca, Epictetus, Aurehus — a statesman, a slave, an
Emperor — are stars of the first magnitude, sufficient to
give lustre to the history of any age. Seneca was a con
temporary of St. Paul, and may be taken as one of the
best types of his school. It is too true, indeed, that he
was subdued to what he worked among, and his conduct
was often inconsistent with his lofty utterances. "His
life utterly contradicted his philosophy," says Dion Cassius.
" He denounced tyrants, and was the tutor of a tyrant ; he
sneered at the companions of kings, and was never away
from the palace. He blamed the rich, and yet in a few
years amassed a fortune of 75 milhon denarii" (about
three million sterling). His somewhat Machiavellian
counsels to young Nero, his panegyric of Claudius, almost
immediately followed by the most vicious lampoons, and
his attitude at the death of Agrippina, are undoubted blots
1 Romans under the Empire, vi. 453.

SENECA AND THE STOICS 181
upon his good name.1 Dion's judgment, however, must be
accepted with caution. " It contains much that is true
and correct," says Niebuhr, "but he exaggerates in his
censure, and is altogether unable to perceive that Seneca
rises like a giant above all his contemporaries."2 It is
possible to accuse him of a hollow declamation and high-
sounding commonplace, and to condemn his style as affected
and sentimental ; yet he was the accepted oracle of all who
sought after better things in the Eome of his day, and it
may be frankly acknowledged that many passages of his
writings, on the follies and vanities of the age, on duty, on
providence, on the solidarity of mankind, on the deep-
rooted nature of sin, the conflict between flesh and spirit,
the longing for a purer hfe, and the immortality of the
soul, might almost have come from the pen of the Christian
Apostle.3 It was on the practical side that Seneca and all
his school most conspicuously failed. There was nothing
of the nature of an earnest endeavour to bring their
doctrine to bear on the lives of men. It was thought vain
to take the word of philosophy to the masses. Its message
was for the ' wise and prudent,' and had no meaning for
common people. To them it was but a sounding brass and
a tinkling cymbal. Stoicism thus articulated a body of
doctrine ¦ to which it really never gave hfe. It failed
lamentably in its lack of sympathy. Entirely selfish in
its conceptions, it had not even a pulse-beat of love for
humanity. " Men who taught that the husband or the
father should look with perfect indifference on the death

1 Of. Schiller's Nero, pp. 295-296 ; Hausrath's Time of the Apostles,
iv. 80 ; and Lightfoot's Dissertation in Philippians.
" Lects., iii. 192.
3 Passages showing the close approach of Seneca and the Stoics to
Christian thought are culled by Merivale, Lightfoot (loc. cit.), Fisher
(Beginnings of Christianity), and Farrar (Seekers after God), and may be
met with on almost every page of the translations of Long and Stewart.
The question of a possible Christian influence on Seneca has been much
discussed. Cf. Orr's Neglected Factors in the Early History of Christianity,
pp. 176-1S4, and references. Huidukoper, in his Judaism at Rome, has an
interesting chapter on the influence which Judaism had on both the Greek
and the Roman Stoics.

182 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
of his wife or his child, and that the philosopher, though he
may shed tears of pretended sympathy in order to console
his suffering friend, must suffer no real emotion to pene
trate his breast, could never found a true or lasting rehgion
of benevolence. Men who refused to recognise pain and
sickness as evils were scarcely likely to be very eager to
relieve them in others." x The Stoic ideal was to harden
itself against all human distress, and its panacea for every
ill was — death. " If the house smokes, get out of it," was
the counsel of Epictetus. Suicide was the highest human
-prerogative. With so sovereign a remedy at command no
man need complain. If he were in bondage, lo, every
throbbing vein of his body pointed the way of escape. He
need not be a slave when liberty was ever at the door.
" Do you see your neck, your throat, your heart ? " said
Seneca. " These are the places of salvation." The last
and noblest triumph was, with philosophic calm, to " shuffle
off this mortal coil"
Hence, amid all the wealth and luxury of the age,
there was a profound and almost universal note of sadness.
It wails through the writings of the philosophers, the
historians, the poets, and " doubt and infinite pain are
the impress of the time." Everywhere there is a burden
some sense of unworthiness, and a hopeless consciousness
of inability to escape from it. Impossible to ignore, equally
impossible to cure ! " One and all," cried Seneca, " we are
slaves to sin ; and it always will be so. No man can
help himself. He needs another's hand." Human ideals
were set up as a stimulus to the mind. " We need a man,"
said Epictetus. But soon " Diogenes was not poor enough,
nor Epaminondas brave enough, nor Cato enough of Cato.
The quarrel as to which was greatest made them all little." 2
The longing for a perfect exemplar was pathetically and
perpetually baffled. Moreover, men were wearied of the
hopeless polytheism in which they were entangled. As
the unity of mankind was more and more realised, there

1 Leeky, Eur. Morals, i. 192.
s Hausrath, Time of tlie Apostles, i. 48-19.

LONGING FOR BETTER THINGS 183
was a feeling after one living God, who should be for all,
and over all. In Him might be found the salvation that
could not be found in nature or in man. " A God they
must have and they coveted, whom they could in all
sincerity address in prayer, who, as all-ruling lord and
judge, would be the object of dread and fear, and, as all
holy and merciful, the cynosure of homage and love, satis
fying every want of the troubled and longing heart. . . .
The vessel was ready, and waited for the wine of the new
doctrine which it was destined to receive." x That highest
of all boons was to come through a despised race and a
crucified Messiah. Judaism opened a way, and the heralds
of the Cross were already treading it, right into the great
needy heart of pagan Eome.
2. Jews and Christians in Eome.
Various circumstances conduced to the rapid spread of
the gospel in the Eoman Empire. The universal use of the
Greek language, the easy and safe means of travel, and the
general toleration extended to the subject races and their
religions, were important factors. But the most important
of all was the widespread dispersion of the Jewish people,
and the position and influence which they had gained in
the great cities. Their settlements were the centres to
which the evangelists naturally and immediately turned,
and they and their proselytes were as a rule the first-fruits
of the conversion. So far the way was prepared, and the
channel already opened, along which the spirit of the new
religion was to run.
Nowhere had the Jews obtained a stronger hold than
in Eome itself. They had set foot in the city as early as
the days of the Maccabees, when more than one embassy
was sent to the Senate. But their first important appear
ance was when Pompey, after the conquest of Jerusalem
in B.C. 63, carried many of them away into slavery.
The majority seem soon to have acquired their hberty,
1 Dollinger, Gentile and Jew, ii. 286, 288.

184 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
though the reason is not given. Philo attributes it to
the generosity of the Eomans, who were reluctant to do
violence to the rehgious scruples of the Jews ; others think
that these scruples were so troublesome that the masters
found theh new slaves rather a nuisance ; while others
again conjecture that there may have been rich settlers
in Eome, who, with characteristic national spirit, bought
the hberty of their countrymen.1 However it may have
been, the number of the Jewish freedmen or ' libertini '
increased rapidly. In the clays of Csesar, of whom, as
the rival of Pompey, they were zealous partisans, kindly
patronage and toleration were bestowed on them ; and
under Augustus theh privileges were still further extended.
Eesidence in the capital thus became attractive to the
Jews. Herodian princes travelled to it for education, as
well as to plunge into the gaieties of its courtly life, while
some of them spent the most of tlieir days in it as hostages
to the Empire.2 Above all, the opportunity of commerce
and petty trading, at which the race were notorious adepts,
drew thousands of them to Eome. About the year of
Christ's birth, some 8000 Eoman Jews joined themselves to
a deputation which came from Palestine ; and in the reign
of Tiberius the Jewish element in the population of the city
is estimated at 60,000.3 The headquarters of this large
community were the low districts of the Trastevere, on
the right bank of the river, on the slopes of the Janiculum.
There they formed their ghetto, such as many European
cities have known, and none has ever greatly loved. But
they were not confined to the Trastevere ; they spread all
over the city, and had distinctive settlements even in the
most aristocratic quarters. The names of at least seven
organised rehgious communities have come down to us
on inscriptions : three called after noble patrons, with
whose households their members were probably chiefly
1 Cf. Milman, History of the Jews, ed. 1883, ii. 451-452 ; also Hausrath,
Der Apostel Paulus, p. 474.
2 Huidekoper, Judaism at Rome, p. 113 ; cf. also Schlirer, Jewish People
in the Time of Christ, Div. II. ii. 239 n.
3 Hausrath, Time of the Apostles, iv. 147; Der Apostel Paulus, p. 475.

THE GHETTO IN ROME 185
associated, synagogues of Augustus, Agrippa, and Bolumnus;
two, after particular districts in whose neighbourhood their
members resided, the synagogue of the Campus, that is the
select Campus Martius, and the synagogue of the Subura,
the industrial quarter of ancient Eome ; one named signifi
cantly ' of the Hebrews,' because its members still adhered
to the native tongue; and one called the synagogue of Elaia.1
These separate communities enjoyed many privileges ; they
were not only allowed free exercise of their religion, but
also had the right of internal jurisdiction. Their Sabbaths
were respected, and they were permitted to collect and
administer their own funds, such as the tax for the Temple
at Jerusalem. They were exempted, too, from service in
the army, while as free citizens they had the right of
appeal to the Emperor, and could not be subjected to
degrading punishments, such as scourging and crucifixion.
Many Jews in Eome, thus tolerated and privileged,
rose to high rank and public office, and were distinguished
as senators and knights, while many more were honoured
as physicians, exorcists, tutors, poets, editors, and actors.
But the great bulk of them were traders of all shades
and complexions, often commanding the markets, and often
stooping to services in which no others would engage,
never disdaining to turn a denarius, honest or otherwise :
were vendors of matches, dealers in small-wares and cast-
off clothes, barterers of sulphur-sticks for broken glass,
porters, money-lenders, fortune-tellers, brokers, ragpickers,
pedlars, pilferers, and whining mendicants, trained and to
the manner born, chiefly frequenting, with a basket and
bundle of hay as their sole menage, the environs of the
1 Cf. Berliner, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, i. 62-64, and pp. 72 sqq.,
where translations of the inscriptions are fully given. There is diffeience
of opinion as to the synagogue of Bolumnus. The inscription speaks of a
proselyte named Sara, "mother of the synagogues Campus and Bolumnus."
Berliner regards Campus and Bolumnus as the name of a united district.
Schurer, loc. cit., p. 247, takes Bolumnus as equivalent to Volumnus, the
name of a patron. As to the synagogue of Elaia, Schurer says it was
"so called from the symbol of the olive." Garrucci thinks the reference
is to the prophet Elia. Berliner suggests that the word stands for Velia,
a district adjoining the Palatine.

186 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
synagogues, the markets, the bridges, the sacred grove of
Egeria, and the ' dripping gate of Capena,' x which led out
to the Appian Way. The Eomans regarded them on the
whole with infinite disdain, and historians hke Tacitus,
and poets hke Juvenal and Martial, pour on them all the
vials of theh contempt. They were disliked equally for
their industry and for their meanness, for their virtues and
for their filthy habits ; while they were daily butts for
ridicule on account of their peculiar abstinences and cere
monial rites. Their unsocial quahties, their spiritual pride,
their unconcealed scorn of the prevailing idolatries, their
refusal to do homage to the deified Emperors, and even
more personal matters, such as their marked physiognomy,
their sanctimonious expression, their shuffling gait, their
shabby clothes, and their malodorous bundles, were all
grounds of offence.2 It was said they worshipped Bacchus,
and paid homage to the head of an ass, and even to- the
pig ; that they were guilty of human sacrifice ; that their
vaunted Exodus from Egypt was in reahty an expulsion of
lepers ; and that their clay of rest was but an excuse for
idleness. No language, indeed, was too vile for the Eomans to
apply to the Jews. Tacitus himself was perhaps one of
the greatest sinners in this respect. In a notorious section
of his History (v. 5) he scoffs at the idea of the Jews
being worshippers of so jocund a deity as Bacchus — a
notion which Plutarch seriously discusses — because they
were a miserable people, ' absurdus sordidusque.' He charges
them with hatred of the human race, and bitterly com
plains that theh first injunctions to their proselytes are
to despise the gods, to abjure country, parents, children,
brothers. He also imputes to them indulgence in the
most abominable vices.3 He is so supremely indifferent
to truth, and even to consistency, that in the same chapter
1 Juvenal, Sat. iii. 11, "madidamque Capenam.'' An aqueduct passed
over the gate.
2 Cf. Renan, Les Ap6tres, pp. 290-291 ; Graetz, History of the Jews, ii.
204 ; Reinach, Textes Relatifs au Judaisme, Prei. xiv, xvii sqq.
8 " Projectissima ad libidinem gens ; inter se nihil illicitum."

CALUMNIES AGAINST THE JEWS 187
he gives us in full bloom the fable about the ass's head,
and almost immediately follows with assertions of the abso
lute spirituality of Judaism and its intolerance of every
kind of idol, even relating the experience of Pompey who
entered the Temple and found it empty. This particular
calumny may be traced as far back as the time of Mnaseas,
276-195 B.C., and Tertullian tells us that it was after
wards made against the Christians. The reason commonly
given for it was, that a herd of wild asses had revealed
water to the Israelites in the desert. Tacitus also, in the
same chapter, takes up the charge of expulsion from
Egypt on account of leprosy, which Josephus deals with
in his writing Against Apion.1 That the Jews should be
charged with worshipping the pig may seem strangest of
all, yet this animal was a subject of rehgious reverence in
many of the western parts of Asia Minor. It was used
as a purificatory sacrifice, and its image accompanied the
dead to their graves.2 The Semites, however, shrank from
it ; and, in the case of the Jews, the Eomans interpreted
this as a superstitious fear. Plutarch discusses whether
the Jews abstained from pork from veneration or aversion,
and gravely suggests that the pig was honoured because its
use of its snout gave the first idea of a ploughshare. The
general opinion was, that abstinence from swine-flesh was
due to the behef that so foul-hving an animal spread
skin disease, especially leprosy. The charge of annually
sacrificing a human being is also discussed by Josephus
Against Apion.3 Finally, it may be noted that Alexandria
was the prolific source of most of the calumnies.4
The Jews, moreover, bore the character of being easily
excited and roused to turbulence. They gave immense
trouble by their frequent complaints and persistent peti
tions. The magistrates dreaded them, and even Cicero,
when delivering one of his great orations, lowered his voice
1 I. 34-35. 2 Ramsay, Hist. Geog. of Asia .Minor, p. 32.
3 II. 8.
4 The original authorities are admirably traced by Reinacb, Textes
Relatifs, passim. Reference to modern monographs and histories are given
by Schurer, Jewish People, n. ii. 292 n.

188 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
at certain parts, lest he should rouse the ire of the Jewish
listeners. They were guhty of frequent quarrels and
tumults among themselves, which were all the more
bitter that they were religious, and, in the reign of
Claudius, theh assemblies had to be forbidden, and many
of them forced to leave the city. The rulers seem to
have been only too glad when the hated race could be
let alone, for theh clannish vindictiveness was proverbial ;
and it is said that a governor who abused his power in
Palestine, might certainly reckon on being hissed and in
sulted when he trod again the streets of Eome.1
Such records reveal the large amount of notice this
despised people drew upon themselves, and the influence
which, in spite of scorn and opposition, they exerted.
" Yielding and yet tenacious, they were in the ancient
as in the modern world everywhere and nowhere at
home, and everywhere and nowhere powerful."2 Their
power, such as it was, was a matter of supreme irritation
to the Eomans. It displayed itself chiefly in the insidious
and successful propagation of their faith. Seneca is re
ported by Augustine as having said of them that " the
conquered gave laws to the conquerors," and he can only
have meant the laws of rehgion. Juvenal complains of
those who, "Taught the Roman ritual to deride,
Cling to the Jewish, and observe with awe
All Moses bade in his mysterious law."3
1 Cicero's case is very significant. He seems to have thought it an
act of special courage to speak publicly against the Jews in Rome, a venture
which he made with much trepidation in his speech in defence of Flaccus,
who was accused of seizing the Jewish Temple-tax when he was a governor
in Asia Minor. Jewish freedmen crowded the court, and the renowned
advocate was afraid : ' ' Sequitur auri ilia invidia Judaiei. . . . Summissa
voce again, tantum ut judices audiant ; neque enim desunt qui istos in
me atque in optimum quemque incitent: quos ego, quo id facilius faciant,
non adjuvabo."
2 Mommsen, v. 417.
3 Sat. xiv., Gilford's translation. In the context Juvenal throws in
teresting light on Jewish practices and common opinion about them ; on
tlieir numerous proselytes, their observances and abstinence from swinc-
flesh ; their supposed worship of the heavens and the clouds ; their detestable
exclusiveness, and their sabbatic indolence.

JEWISH PROPAGANDA 189
From the very beginning Judaism had made provision
for being a missionary religion. Its law, its psalms, its
prophecies, its histories, are full of references to the wider
outlook, and to the generous admission of the stranger to
the fold.1 It was a flattering thing to Jewish pride to find
the Gentiles willing to accept the Jewish creed, and the
sacred business of propaganda was never neglected wherever
the adventurous children of Abraham wandered. Some of
the more bigoted Eabbis regarded such efforts with pro
found distrust ; they spoke of the converts as the " scab of
Israel," and said that the proselytes should not be trusted
even until the fortieth generation. Nevertheless, the
tendency was to leaven the heathen world, and many
were zealous enough to compass sea and land for the
minutest gain in that direction. They succeeded not
merely among the ignorant and ignoble, but even markedly
among those of high station and culture. If it could not
be said in Eome that the world was gone after them, yet
they had their wilhng adherents in palace and mansion,
in camp and lowly dwelling. Members of the proudest
patrician families were not ashamed to be ranked as
proselytes. These at first were chiefly women,2 but the
men followed. Jewish places of meeting began to be
frequented by strangers ; the Sabbath was observed, and
the books of the law, the sacred poesy, and p-ophecy,
were carefully studied. Moses was spoken of as a great
religious reformer; and the simplicity and spirituality of
the synagogue services were contrasted with the wearisome
and sensuous ceremonies of other rehgions. A number of
the converts, no doubt, hung merely about the fringe of
Judaism. When the Empress Poppsea was boasted of
as a proselyte, and the palace itself became ' a nursery of
Jewish usages and opinions,' it is easy to understand that
a kind of fashion was set, and that attendance at the
synagogue was with many no more than a dalliance. Yet
1 Cf. Graetz, ii. 216 sqq.; Cheyne, Jewish Religious Life after tlie Exile,
Lect. VI. ; and Plumptre, s.v. Proselyte, Smith's Diet, of the Bible.
2 Cf. Derenbourg, Palestine, pp. 223-221 ; and Friedlander, S Uteri-
geschichte, i. 502.

190 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
others were deeply in earnest. Some even accepted the
utmost demands of Mosaism, and willingly subjected them
selves to a complete ritual. We cannot doubt their
sincerity or the purity of their motives. If exemption
from military service and profitable commercial connec
tions were allurements to some, others can only have
thought of being rewarded in more sphitual ways. Their
proselytism meant to them immediate loss, and no small
amount of suffering. We are compelled to admire them
for what they must have endured, in the estrangement of
their kindred, and in the contempt and persecution of the
devotees of the all-pervading idolatries.
Such gains must be reckoned as the triumph of a pure
sphituality in religion. Personally the Jews were only
the objects of scorn, and yet theh worship came to be
recognised as something better and nobler than even Greece
and Egypt were able to teach. The propaganda was no
doubt carried on in a very tactful manner. The Pharisees
especially were adroit and persuasive missionaries. The
easiest side of things was presented to the inquiring Gentile,
and he was led on quietly from stage to stage. A con
siderable literature, of an apocalyptic cast, and mostly
cloaking itself under assumed and imposing names — what
Graetz calls ' a pious fraud ' — was employed to further the
movement.1 But the chief causes of success were in the needs of
the surrounding world, and in the way in which the religion
of Israel promised to meet them. The Eomans, as we have
i seen, were longing for deliverance from the awful tyranny
of evil within and around them. " On all sides, and to a
degree unparaUeled in history, we find men who were no
longer satisfied with theh old religion, thirsting for behef,
passionately and restlessly seeking for a new faith." 2 To
them it appeared that salvation was of the Jews, and the
word of Zechariah was fulfilled : " Men shall take hold of
1 Cf. Graetz, ii. 206-209 ; Hausrath, Time of the Apostles, i. 112 sqq. ;
Huidekoper, Judaism at Rome, Appendix ; and Hudson, Jews in Rome, pp.
45 sqq. 2 Lecky, Eur. Morals, i. 387.

THE HOPE OF ISRAEL 191
the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with
you : for we have heard that God is with you." In
Jehovah, all-knowing and all-powerful, caring for men with
an infinite wisdom, and filling their hearts with His perfect
love, it seemed as if the aspirations, the imagination, the
conscience, of the Gentile world, were at length to be satis
fied. The monotheistic longings of an age wearied with
many gods, reached a welcome resting-place in His all-
embracing supremacy, the more to be trusted that it came
as no tardy philosophic speculation, but as the original
conception of a faith already hoary with antiquity. No
degrading myths were associated with His name, and no
idols were permitted in His courts. He stripped the
crown from every other head, and brooked no rival by His
side. Isis and Osiris were plunged in Egyptian gloom,
never to be found again, and the great Sun-God himself
had to sink in everlasting night.
" Thou art but as a word of His speech,
Thou art but as a wave of His hand ;
Thou art brief as a glitter of sand
'Twixt tide and tide on His beach ;
Thou art less than a spark of His fire,
Or a moment's mood of His soul :
Thou art lost in the notes on the lips of His choir
That chant the chant of the Whole."
Above all, Judaism was a religion of hope, whose face i
was turned to the dawn of a great day, and whose golden |
age did not he pathetically behind. The Messianic kingdom
and the great apocalyptic visions were yet to be. This
sad, sinful world, so rotten to the core, would be over
whelmed at the Divine Coming,1 and happy would they be
who were found in the Messiah's glorious train ! Even
now they could be saved by hope, and could enter into
1 On the belief in Rome's impending destruction, and the passages of the
Sibylline Oracles on the subject, see an interesting account in Huidekoper,
ch. vi. and Appendix ; also Dollinger, Prophecies and the Prophetic Spirit
of the Christian Era, p. 17. It is thought that the view originated in the
horror caused by Pompey's desecration of the Holy of Holies.

192 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
a purified and higher hfe. It is not to be marvelled at
that the troubled and the heavy-laden of pagan Eome
came and sought to lay their burdens down under the
shadow of the Almighty. The strongest and beyond all
doubt the surest cord that drew the proselyte to the syna
gogue, was the ' hope of Israel '

And now this hope was declared to have had a
strange and ' unexpected fulfilment. Messiah had come,
lowly in guise, rejected and crucified, yet Israel's
King! Judean rumour ran fast along the hnes of the Jewish
dispersion. News of all that took place in Jerusalem
passed with almost incredible rapidity to the remotest
towns and cities of the world. Every wind that blew over
the sea sped the Jew upon his journey, and the continual
dust along the great highways of the Empire was largely
the dust of his restless feet. Hence we may be sure the
doings of Caiaphas, and Herod, and Pilate, were soon the
common talk of many slaves and freedmen on the Eoman
Palatine, and in the shops and hovels of the Trastevere.
The labours, the words and deeds, and the awful death of
Jesus of Nazareth, must often have been thus recounted.
And swiftly on the heels of such tidings would come the
rumours and the breath of Pentecost. The ' sojourners of
Eome,' returning from their pilgrimage, could tell of the
memorable things that took place then — the strange
sounds, the gathering of the vast crowd, the swaying of it
by the Gahlean peasants, the tongues, the signs, and the
enormous conversion to the faith in the crucified and risen
Jesus. And other messengers, some of them no doubt
converts, would follow these, not from Jerusalem alone,
but, — as the influence of Stephen, and Peter, and Paul
spread out in ever-increasing rings, — from Samaria and
Damascus, from Cesarea and Antioch, from Ephesus and
Corinth. Let but a few years pass, and, as town after
town is lit up with the beams of gospel light, it is not only
conceivable that events in the East were thoroughly well

THE EDICT OF CLAUDIUS 193
known in Eome, but rather it would be utterly inconceiv
able if they were not.
Yet the Jews could never see eye to eye in matters
of rehgion. The news of the Messiah was but the signal
for fierce discussions ending in fanatical tumult. It was
because of riots over ' Chrestus ' that the edict of Claudius
was launched against the synagogues. This was in the
year 51, and shows that long before Paul wrote his Epistle,
the followers of Jesus in Eome were already in evidence
strong enough to arouse an opposition whose violence
could only be dealt with by the intervention of the
powers.1 To Eoman eyes, however, the Christians were still
only a Jewish party, and the edict made it prudent and
even necessary for many of them to leave the city.
There was good wrapped in the heart of this evil.
Aquila and Priscilla, probably already prominent Chris
tians in Eome, went to Corinth, and there came into
intimate fellowship with Paul. Most likely they were
not the only Christian refugees who had such an experi
ence ; and as the edict of Claudius does not seem to have
been either very long or very rigorously enforced, we may
believe that many who soon quietly returned to their
places in Eome, were greatly confirmed and enlightened
by contact with the Apostle in his labours among the
Gentiles. Such is the most probable account we can give of the
origin of the Christian Church in Eome. There is no
1 There are three ways of interpreting the famous passage of Suetonius :
" Judaeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes Roma expulit." Chrestus
may have been the name of a riotous slave ; or may refer to Jewish Messi
anic expectations, a constant source of excitement ; or to the distinctively
Christian hope, already powerfully agitating men's minds. The last is the
view held by the majority of scholars. The ' expulit ' of Suetonius is prob
ably too strong. Dion Cassius (Hist. Ix. 6. 6) gives the edict a milder form.
(See his words quoted by Reinach, Textes, p. 188 ; or by Milman, Jews, ii.
453 n.) He says their vast numbers made it difficult to carry out an
expulsion of the Jews, but that they were forbidden to hold their religious
assemblies. This would probably suffice, especially if, after all, it was not so
much in Rome as in Judea that a revolt of the Jews was at this time dreaded.
Cf. Lewin, Life and Epistles of St. Paul, i. 275.
13

194 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
definite information about it in the Scriptures. It seems
to have originated in a very natural and spontaneous way,
formed, as it were, by " a process of quiet and fortuitous
filtration." x
Needless to say, such a simple and humble origin did
not long suit the pretensions of the proud Church that
ultimately was established in Eome. The tradition arose
as early as the end of the second century that it had been
founded by St. Peter ; and considerably later it was asserted
that the Apostle had spent a period of twenty-five years
as its Bishop, until his martyrdom in the year 6 7. Neither
of these traditions is historically verifiable ; on the con
trary, they have been frequently proved to be almost
impossible. Few would now endorse the dictum of
Dollinger : " The Church must have been founded by an
Apostle, and that Apostle can only have been St. Peter." 2
The necessity for an apostolic foundation lay, he believed,
in the importance of the situation : such a field could not
be left to chance ; " it must have been seriously enter
tained." But this is scarcely argument. Indeed, the
[assumption that every important Church of the first age
Imust have had an apostolic origin, is quite unhistorical.
" With regard to the spread of Christianity locally, we
should not ascribe too much to the personal exertions of
the Apostles. There seem to have been a great number
of Christian Churches at a very early date in countries
which there is no evidence that any of the Apostles ever
visited." 3
Dr. Dollinger also lays stress on the view that Paul
would not visit Eome — withstood his longing to visit it —
because he would not build on another man's foundation.
But this does not correctly interpret the Apostle's mean
ing (xv. 19-25). Paul really says he was frequently
hindered from coming to Eome, because he was so busily
engaged elsewhere opening up new fields for the gospel.

1 Hort, Prolegomena lo Romans, p. 9.
2 The Church of the First Age, ed. 1867, p. 94.
3 Baur, Church History, i. 66 n.

ST. PETER AND THE ROMAN CHURCH 195
He had meant again and again to come, had he been able.
Now the way is clear, because his work ' in these regions '
is over. Only, at the present moment, he must still
refrain from visiting Eome, not on account of any scrupu
lous principle, but because affairs of a pressing kind are
calling him to Jerusalem. When that task is over he will
come to Eome. It is to make much out of small material,
to infer that the tone of " apologetic respectfulness " which
pervades the Epistle, is due to Paul's consciousness that one
so honoured as Peter had already occupied the field. It is
due simply to the fact that, while he knows many of the
Eoman Christians, there are many more who are unknown
to him. To address strangers in Eome, as in Athens,
would naturally appeal to the innate courtesy of the
Apostle. Had Paul been conscious of Peter's presence in
Eome, it would have been impossible for him to have
avoided all mention of the fact ; while, on the other hand,
his reference to Eome as lying within his sphere as Apostle
of the Gentiles, expressly excludes the presidency there
of the Apostle of the Circumcision. Peter, we may well
beheve, visited Eome late in life, very likely after Paul's
imprisonment.1 From that ' Babylon ' he probably wrote
his- Epistle, and the tradition that he suffered martyrdom
there under Nero, is generally accepted. But the claim
that he founded the Church in Eome, and ruled it for five
and twenty years, has long fallen to the ground. Fain
would the Church, whose reliance on ' authority ' is one of
her most notable characteristics, find her origin in the
' Petrus ' of whom she believed the Lord spoke so highly,
and thus trace her ' power of the keys ' straight back to
the Master's hand. And yet it is obvious to many that
" if there is anything in the world that Jesus did not in
stitute, it is the Papacy." 2
Without the direct help of any of the Apostles, Chris
tianity gradually rooted itself here and there in different
1 On Peter at Rome, cf. Renan, V Antechrist, p. 186 and Appendix ; Baur,
Paul, i. 228 sqq. ; Hatch, s.v. Peter, Ency. Brit, xviii. p. 696 and note ;
Chase, Hastings' Diet. iii. 777.
2 Renan, Hibbert Lectures, p. 64.

196 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
quarters of Eome.1 Freed from the irksome restrictions
of Judaism, and appeahng to the sympathies and affections,
and to moral and spiritual ideals, in a way the prevailing
cults and philosophies never did, it met the needs of all
classes in the pagan world. In so vast and mixed a
population it is only natural to believe that its adherents
were of varied types. Many earnest-minded Jews doubt
less accepted the Messiahship of Jesus. Still more would
there be a readiness to believe among the proselytes, and
especially among those simply styled ' devout.' 2 The Jews
were born into Judaism ; the proselytes had only chosen
it, and no doubt felt themselves free to choose again when
something better offered. Many must have been added
directly from the ranks of paganism, although even they
had probably some antecedent knowledge of Judaism and its
revelation of God.3 In course of time these would indeed
form the predominant element. Wo may well pay homage
to the courage of their decision. They must have suffered
even more than the proselytes to Judaism. The religion
of Israel was tolerated and privileged in Eome, and had a
national prestige and age-long traditions, whereas Chris
tianity was a new creed, and its adherents were looked on
as a pestiferous sect. They were not only regarded as
holding the- most shameful and atrocious superstitions, but
as being animated with positive hatred to the human
race.* To cast in one's lot with a class so despised and
maligned, was virtually to cut one's self off from the com-
1 Says Lightfoot, ' ' A heterogeneous mass, with diverse feelings and sym
pathies, with no well-defined organisation, with no other bond of union than
tbe belief in a common Messiah ; gathering, we may suppose, for purposes of
worship in small knots here and there, as close neighbourhood or common
nationality or sympathy or accident drew them together" (Philippians, p. 13).
2 Vide supra, p. 103 n.
3 Cf. Harnack's Hist, of Dogma, i. 91 u.
1 Tacitus, Ann. xv. 44. Christianity is " exitiabilis superstitio " ; and
Christians "were condemned, not so much for the burning of Rome, as for
the hatred of humanity." They were, of course, ' atheists ' and 'traitors';
"but there were mysterious whispers of darker horrors than these; hideous
orgies which rivalled tbe loathsome banquet of Thyestes, shameless and
nameless profligacies which recalled the tragedy of the house of Laius"
(Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 27).

SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL IN ROME 197
monest and dearest associations of Eoman life. " The
innumerable deities and rites of polytheism were closely
interwoven with every circumstance of business or pleasure,
of public or of private life ; and it seemed impossible to
escape the observance of them, without, at the same time,
renouncing the commerce of mankind, and all the offices
and amusements of society." 1 It was the bitter experience
of the converts to be ostracised from the society in which
they had been accustomed to move, and to find that their
most pitiless foes were those of their own house.
In spite of such obstacles the contagion of the gospel
spread ominously among all classes. It penetrated the
'household' of the prince Aristobulus, and also that of
the great freedman Narcissus.2 There is some ground for
thinking that Priscilla herself was a lady of noble birth.3
The ' foreign superstition ' attributed to Pomponia Gra?cina,
' insignis f emina ' as Tacitus calls her, wife of Aulus Plautius,
the conqueror of Britain, is generally believed to have been
the Christian religion. Lanciani avers that recent dis
coveries put the matter beyond doubt. An inscription,
bearing the name Pomponios Grekeinos, has been found in
the cemetery of Cahxtus, together with other records of
the Pomponii Attici and Bassi. " Some scholars think
that Grsecina, the wife of the conqueror of Britain, is no
other than Lucina, the Christian matron who interred her
brethren in Christ in her own property, at the second
1 Gibbon, Smith's ed., ii. 166.
2 This is assuming that Aristobulus, referred to in ch. xvi. , was a scion cf
the house of Herod ; and Narcissus, the favourite of Claudius.
3 So Plumptre, Biblical Studies, pp. 422 sqq. , and Hort, Prolegomena,
pp. 12-14. On the other hand, Sanday and Headlam suggest that Aquila
and Priscilla were freed members of a household of the Acilian gens, and
think it " hardly probable that a noble Roman lady would travel about with
a Jewish husband engaged in mercantile or even artisan work " (Romans,
p. 420). According to Lanciani, Aquila and Priscilla's home in Rome was on the
spur of the Aventine which overlooks the Circus Maximus. Here they
opened a small oratory — ecclesiam domesticam — in their house, one of the
first opened to divine worship in Rome, and the walls of which are said to
have been discovered in 1776 close to the church of S. Prisca. Pagan and
Christian Rome, pp. 110-111,

198 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
milestone of the Appian Way."1 A generation later the
penetration to the higher circles became more marked,
when many near relatives of the Emperors Vespasian and
Domitian were condemned for 'atheism,' the common
charge against the early Christians.2 Lanciani (1892)
declares that recent excavations in Eome give quite
startling evidence of how the gospel found its way at an
early period to the mansions of the great, and even to the
palace of the Caesars. He refers especially to inscriptions
in the crypt of the Acilii Glabriones in the catacombs of
St. Priscilla (Via Salaria), and in the catacombs of
Praetextatus. He says : " I may also cite the names of
several Cornelii, Caecilii and iEmilii, the flower of Eoman
nobihty, grouped near the graves of S. Crecilia and Pope
Cornelius ; of Liberalis, a consul suffectus, and a martyr,
whose remains were buried in the Via Salaria ; of Julia
Clementina, a relative of Jallius Bassus, consul before A.D.
161 ; of Catia Clementina, daughter or relative of Catius,
consul A.D. 230, not to speak of personages of equestrian
rank, whose names have been collected in hundreds." 3
It was chiefly, however, among the poorer classes,
among the slaves, the toilers, the oppressed and unhappy,
that the religion that breathed of liberty and peace made
at first its greatest advances. It was flung as a taunt
against Christianity that it found its advocates among
spinners, cobblers, and tanners, the most illiterate and
clownish of men, and that tliese addressed themselves
particularly to women and children.4 Yet it was the glory
of this rehgion that it demanded no external distinction
as the passport to its kingdom, but rather answered " the
cry of all tender and weary spirits." Its divine life
' Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 9.
2 It has been common in all ages to call 'atheists,' not those who denied
Cod, but those who simply differed in tlieir ideas of God. To the Eiahmans
Buddha was an atheist ; to the Greeks, Socrates ; to the Romans, the Chris
tians ; to the Christians, the Arians ; to Servetus, Calvin ; to Edinburgh
Presbyterians of the seventeenth century, the Deists. Nor did tho tendency
stop even then. Cf. Max Miiller, Origin of Religion, ed. 1891, pp. 311 sqq.
3 Op. cit., p. 10.
4 Cf. Patrick's Apology of Origen, pp. 38 and 249.

CAUSE OF THE SUCCESS 199
entered into the lowliest and most depressed conditions,
and shone brilliantly in weak and despised vessels.1
Many have speculated on the causes of the rapid
progress of Christianity in Eome. And no doubt it is
important to account for the key that so admirably fitted
the lock. Gibbon's ideas are well known. He writes of
the zeal of the Christians, their doctrine of a future life,
their miraculous powers, their austere virtue, their strong
organisation. But these are ' causes ' which themselves
need to be accounted for. Strictly speaking, they are not
really causes but effects. Even if they were operative
forces the most marvellous thing about them is their
coincidence. " Until this is explained, nothing is ex
plained, and the question had better have been left alone.
These presumed causes are quite distinct from each other,
and the wonder is, what made them come together ? " 2
What Gibbon could not bring himself to do, was the
simplest and most natural thing of all — namely, to con
sider what the men who were engaged in the great work
themselves said of it. They did not plume themselves on
their zeal, or boast of their miraculous gifts. These were
not the powers on which for a single moment they relied.
But with a strange unanimity they spoke of Christ cruci
fied, and Christ risen from the dead. They knew nothing
among men, neither in dissolute Corinth nor in luxurious
Eome, save this Christ. It was He who filled their minds,
occupied their hearts, and smote all the deepest chords of
their lives. Jesus, living a human life of perfect holiness
and love, dying a death that bore away the sins of the
world, and imparting a new power of grace and goodness to
all who trusted Him, was the supreme source of their
marvellous power. This was the key that fitted the wards
• — the Cross of Christ proving itself the power and the

1 Cf. Neander, Church History, Bohn's ed., i. 107.
2 Newman, Grammar of Assent, third ed., p. 451. Lecky, Eur. Morals,
ch. iii., in accounting for the triumph of Christianity, moves along lines very
similar to those of Gibbon. He writes eloquently of all the intrinsic excel
lences of the new religion, but the question still remains behind, how did it
come to possess them ?

200 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
wisdom of God ; the uplifted Saviour beginning to draw all
men to Himself. Mysterious, no doubt, but only with the
mystery common to all the primal movements of the
Divine Spirit.
This faith was already winning its way in Eome when
Paul wrote his Epistle. There were labourers in the
Eoman Christian community whom the Apostle loved and
trusted, and who were well qualified to lead the brethren to
a high state of attainment. In the sixteenth chapter Paul
sends greetings to a large number of these friends. It is
a matter of debate, however, whether the passage contain
ing the salutations is an integral part of the Epistle. It
has been suggested that the Epistle was used as an
Encyclical, and that this particular passage belonged to the
copy sent to Ephesus. It is thought that when Paul
wrote his Epistle he was much more likely to have had
such a number and variety of friends in Ephesus than in
Eome. However plausible such a conjecture may be, it
scarcely entitles us to expunge the passage from our
Epistle addressed to the Eomans. The burden of proof
really lies with the upholders of such a theory, to show
that such a group of friends was impossible in Eome. Far
from being impossible, however, it seems most probable.1
The incessant intercourse between Eome and the great cities
of the East, makes it perfectly conceivable that Paul in his
labours in these cities had made many friends who after
wards went to Eome. Besides, in the sepulchral inscrip
tions on the Appian Way, which record the names of
members of the Eoman Imperial household, almost all the
names here given, even the most peculiar of them, such as
Tryphaena and Tryphosa, occur. This shows that such a
mixture of nationalities as is indicated in the list, was
quite possible in Eome, and certainly there was no
city in the world where it was more likely. As to
Aquila's presence in Eome, he seems to have been a
1 On the incessant travelling to and fro during the first three centuries,
and the share Christians took in it, see a paper by Zahn, Skizzen aus dem
Leben der Alter, Kirchc, pp. 1-41, especially pp. 14-16. Cf. also Friedlander,
it. ii., DieReisen der Touristen, 4 and 5.

PAUL SALUTES MANY FRIENDS 201
perfect nomad in his habits. A native of Pontus, he has
business in Eome ; leaves Eome for Corinth, labours there
awhile, and then removes to Ephesus. His missionary
zeal may have led to such movements, and the nature of
his business may also have had something to do with them.
It is quite natural that he should go back to tbe work he
had left in Eome, say, when the death of Claudius, and the
auspicious start of Nero's reign, opened a clear way.1
Conspicuous, then, among the friends now gathered in
Eome were Aquila and Priscilla, whom Paul salutes as his
" helpers in Christ Jesus," who (probably in Ephesus) had
been ready to sacrifice their lives for his sake, and to
whom all the Churches of the Gentiles owed a debt of
deepest gratitude ; Epaenetus his well-beloved, first-fruits
of Asia unto Christ ; Andronicus and Junia, kinsmen and
fellow-prisoners, who were of note among the Apostles, and
converted to Christianity before him ; Mary, Ampliatus,
Urbanus, and Stachys, and many other devoted and ap
proved labourers in the Lord. Paul greets no fewer than
twenty-four by name, using terms of affection which show
how intimately he had been related to them ; while in
addition there is the ' church in the house ' of Aquila,
the ' households ' of Aristobulus and Narcissus, and the
' brethren ' and ' all the saints ' associated with other
groups of friends. All this points to a thriving and well-
rooted society of Christians, and it is plain that a large
part of the Apostle's heart was in Eome. It is not to be
1 Schulz, Ewald, Renan, Eeuss, Weizsiicker, Farrar, Moffatt, and many
others, hold the Ephesian theory. Cf. Renan, St. Paul, Introduction, pp.
lxvi sqq. ; Farrar, Messages of the Books, pp. 290-292. On the other side see
Lightfoot, Philippians, pp. 171 sqq. ; Gifford, Romans, pp. 20-30 ; Sanday
and Headlam, Romans, pp. xciii, 418 sqq.
Gifford makes the suggestion that the passage originally belonged to a
second letter addressed by Paul to the Roman Church after his release from
his first imprisonment at Rome.
On the question whether the last two chapters originally belonged to
the Epistle, it is sufficient to refer to the discussion between Lightfoot
and Hort, reprinted in Lightfoot's Biblical Essays, pp. 285-374. If the
letter were used as an Encyclical, the division at the fourteenth chapter
was probably due to the example of Marcion, who, according to Origen,
"expunged and cut away the last two chapters."

202 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
wondered at, that he sought to communicate with his
brethren there, to confirm them, to impart to them, even
as he would have done by a visit, some spiritual gift, and
himself to enjoy spiritual comfort in their mutual faith.
Many might expect that he would now visit them, and
friends so close and dear as some of them were, must have
longed to see him again in tho flesh. Compelled for the
present to forgo so sincere a pleasure, he endeavours to
make up for it by pouring out his heart in his great
Epistle. So far, his motive is perfectly simple and easy to
comprehend. What is harder to understand, however, is
why the Epistle took its distinctive form. This has
become one of the vexed questions of Biblical Criticism.
No less than sixty authorities have reasoned on it, and
have all more or less differed in their solutions.1 Is the
motive polemical, eirenic, or dogmatic ? Does Paul wish
to confound opponents in Eome as in Galatia ; or does he
wish to bind contending parties together ; or is it his
purpose to present a reasoned and exhaustive system of
Christian doctrine ? Some look for the decisive elements
of the problem in the peculiar circumstances of the
Eoman Church ; and others seek to find them entirely in
the Apostle's own mood of mind, and in the recent
experiences of controversy through which he has passed.
Probably both of these should be taken into account. It
would be very strange if Paul wrote to his friends a mere
theological treatise which had no reference whatever to their
particular situation, and quite as strange if he wrote
without being moved or influenced by the pressure of his
own experiences. Most probably the prevailing element
in the Eoman Church was Gentile. The Epistle itself
abundantly recognises its Gentile character. Nevertheless,
the Church had sprung out of the synagogue, and there
was in it a strong and influential Jewish element. Nor
must we forget the large class of converted proselytes, who

1 An interesting resume of opinion on the subject is given by Gudet in his
Introduction, pp. 376 sqq.

OCCASION OF THE EPISTLE 203
would at least perfectly understand the repeated and
familiar references to the Jewish Law.
It may possibly be inferred, too, that there was an
ascetic tendency among the Eoman Christians, and that, as
in Corinth, though not perhaps for exactly similar reasons,
it was possible to speak of those who were ' strong ' and
those who were ' weak ' in respect of such external matters
as meats and clays. There were restless and excitable
souls who needed to be warned that their subjection to
the heavenly King did not absolve them from all obedi
ence to theh earthly rulers ; and that it was incumbent
on them to avoid giving offence to the world without.
Still further, there were those who threatened to cause
division on matters of doctrine, not serving the Lord
Christ, but by fair speeches drawing away the simple from
the faith. It can scarcely be doubted that Paul, in this doctrinal
danger, recognises the kind of opposition which his gospel
had so abundantly met with in other fields from Jewish
Christians. These certainly do not appear in open antagon
ism to him in Eome, but he has the profoundest reason to
dread them. Sooner or later they will be there, as they
have been elsewhere, and although the whole tone of his
Epistle shows that he is perfectly conscious that many to
whom he is writing are friendly and hke-minded, yet the
enemies of the gospel of faith are to be looked for and met
by anticipation. The Apostle's mind is still heavy with
the burden of his relation to his Jewish brethren. He
knows the sleepless and obstinate nature of theh opposi
tion to the characteristic features of his gospel. It is
good that from his own hand the friends in Eome shoidd
know what these features really are. They do not need
to be instructed in the elements of the faith, and he can
well afford in writing to them to take for granted many
of the first principles of their rehgion. But they do not
all understand the ground of liberty in Christ Jesus, for
which it has been his special life-work to contend, namely,
the doctrine that Christ is " the end of the Law unto
righteousness to every one that believeth." Solemnly and

204 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
earnestly, and with great care and skill, he enters into
this matter ; and all the more earnestly because he feels
that, strong as his hope is that he may " see Eome also,"
it is quite possible that he may be disappointed in his
desire to visit them. His face must be turned to Jeru
salem, and God only knows the issue of that journey.
Even now rumours are in the ah of an enmity that is
plotting against his hfe. If it be God's will that he
should never see Eome, then let his friends there, in a
Church which is so dear to his heart, and which, situated
in the Capital of the world, has so sure and influential a
future before it, receive from him now, as it were a sacred
legacy, the clear enunciation of truths that he holds more
precious than life.
Along with this, Paul wishes his readers to understand
what his real feelings to his Jewish brethren are, and
what he beheves are God's deep meanings of love - in all
His dealings with them. God is his witness that he
longs for the salvation of Israel, and that he believes it
will be accomplished. It is his fond desire to keep on
terms of amity with Jerusalem. Even now he is pre
paring to take thither large gifts from the Gentile
Churches, to show that at bottom they are in the pro
foundest sympathy. At whatever risk, he will do this
personally, that no man may say his heart is not in it, for
even as Israel has its place in the love of God, so has it
deeply in his.
Thus, in the calm of his winter stay in Corinth, in the
hospitable house of Gaius, and surrounded by many friends,
Paul prepares his message for the Christians in Eome.
It is needless to say it is worthy of the great cause in
which it was written, transcending in importance all the
other Epistles, and well fitted to exert the profoundest
influence on the thought and life of the Christian
world.

IMPORTANCE OF THE EPISTLE 205
II.
THE EPISTLE.
1. The Gospel of Salvation (Chs. i.-viil).
One must always approach an exposition of the Epistle
to the Eomans with extreme diffidence. Great intellects,
like those of Augustine and Luther and Calvin, have dis
cussed it only to discover depths beyond their depths ; and
many Christian philosophers, pursuing its themes of pro
vidence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, " fixed fate, free-will,
foreknowledge absolute," have found themselves "in wander
ing mazes lost." Coleridge spoke of it as " the profoundest
book in existence." " At every word," says one of the best
of our modern commentators, " we feel ourselves face to
face with the unfathomable." He compares it to that
great masterpiece of architecture, the Cathedral of Milan,
where we do not know which to admire most, " the
majesty of the whole or the finish of the details, and
where every look makes the discovery of some new
perfection." 1
The Epistle, indeed, raises some of the hardest ques
tions in religion and philosophy, and it does so in a way
that has led to innumerable divergences of interpretation.
Every chapter, almost every verse, is strewn with the relics
of contending theologians and rival sects. Creeds the
most radically opposed equally claim it as their basis and
authority ; and, while all honour it, few are in complete
harmony as to the significance of its parts, and their
bearing on one another. Some exaggerate a word or a
phrase into an extreme importance, and base on it doctrines
of the most uncompromising description ; and others pass
1 Godet. When Professor Godet was lecturing on Romans, and prepar
ing his Commentary, he told the present writer that there were passages in
the Epistle on which he had written ten times, and even then was not
satisfied. He specially referred to the immense difficulty of the fifth
chapter.

206 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
by distasteful or puzzling passages, as if they were no more
than mere padding or dubious Orientalisms. The keynote
is said tu be now here, now there; and while some push
the Apostle along nairow paths to issues he probably never
dreamt of, others feel constrained by him to accept posi
tions to which they never thought of being committed.
The knowledge of ah this tends to produce a fooling of
paralysing carefulness, so that it becomes possible to miss
the guidance of the Epistle, in over anxiety to discern the
pitfalls into which its interpreters have fallen. Yet it
ought not to be impossible to set forth the main drift of
the Epistle, without finding it necessary to apologise for
the Apostle at every step.
Paul begins with greetings to his readers, putting
himself in kindly touch with them by speaking of their
mutual faith, and of the deep interest he has in their
well-being. His introduction is rather longer and more
elaborate than usual. Doubtless this is due to the fact
that his mind is already full of the solemnity of the
subject he means to handle ; and partly also because he
feels that many whom he addresses will hear him for the
first time, are strangers to him, and strangers dwelling in
Imperial Eome. This makes him slightly formal, as if he
were particular at the outset to define clearly his relations
and theirs to the Lord Jesus and to each other. He was
called to be an Apostle ; they were called to be saints ;
and both are believers in the gospel of God concerning
Jesus Christ, who according to the flesh was of the seed of
David, but according to the spirit of holiness was declared
to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead.
Was it not natural that, as the Apostle of the Gentiles, he
should seek to have some fruit among them even as among
other Gentiles ? For this end he had greatly desired, and
still desired, to preach among them. He would impart to
them some spiritual gift, and he would also receive from
them, what they were well able to impart, stimulus and
comfort in the common faith ; for it was well known, and
he never ceased to thank God for it, that their faith was
spoken of throughout the whole world. He was ready,

GREAT THEME OF THE EPISTLE 207
then, if only he had opportunity, to preach the gospel to
them that were in Eome also.
This leads him directly to specify the subject on which
he means to write. It concerns the gospel of Christ,
which he would have delivered by word of mouth if he
could, which was spoken against in many places, but which
he would not be ashamed to declare even in the great
Capital itself. He defines it in a few pregnant words
(vv. 16—17). It is the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth — offered naturally, in point of
time, first to the Jew in whose land it originated, but offered
to the Greeks, the Gentiles, also. And it is a gospel of
salvation, because in it there is revealed what humanity
has hitherto sought for in vain — righteousness : a " right
eousness of God," or from God, by faith, offered to the
acceptance of faith. Foreshadowing this, the Scripture
itself had said : The Eighteous shall live by faith.
The theme, therefore, to be unfolded is the gospel of
Salvation by Faith.
From this theme the Epistle never diverges. From
beginning to end it is a unity. There are, however, three
well-marked divisions in the treatment. The first runs on
to the end of the eighth chapter, and is a general exposi
tion of what Paul means by his gospel ; the second, which
includes three chapters, the ninth, tenth, and eleventh,
shows the historical relation of the gospel to mankind,
especiaUy to the Jews ; the third, in the remaining chapters,
indicates the practical application of the gospel in the
Christian life.
First, then, we have to deal with the exposition of the
gospel of Salvation by Faith, as given in the first eight
chapters. Here, again, we are able to recognise a threefold
division. (1) To the twentieth verse of the third chapter,
the Apostle is occupied in showing the need of this salva
tion ; (2) thereafter, to the close of the fifth chapter, he
shows how it has become possible, and may be received
(Justification) ; and (3) in the sixth, seventh, and eighth
chapters, he treats of the process of its perfection in the

208 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
believer (Sanctification). We may briefly summarise these
stages of his exposition as, the nerd of miration, its recep
tion, und its completion.
The general line of thought in these eight chapters is
well given in the following easy and rapid summary by
Matthew Arnold : " The first chapter is to the Gentiles.
Its purport is : You have not righteousness. The second is
to the Jews ; and its purport is : No more have you, though
you think you have. The third chapter announces faith in
Christ as the one source of righteousness for all men. The
fourth chapter gives to the notion of righteousness through
faith the sanction of the Old Testament and of the history
of Abraham. The fifth insists on the causes for thankful
ness and exultation in the boon of righteousness through
faith in Christ ; and applies illustratively, with this design,
the history of Adam. The sixth chapter comes to the all-
important question : ' What is that faith in Christ which I,
Paul, mean ? ' — and answers it. The seventh illustrates and
explains the answer. But the eighth, down to the end of
the twenty-eighth verse, develops and completes the answer.
The rest of the eighth chapter expresses the sense of safety
and gratitude which the solution is fitted to inspire." l
(A) The need of Salvation (Chs. i— iii. 20).
We have first, then, to follow the Apostle in his demon
stration of the need of humanity for the gospel of salvation.
The whole world, he declares, is lying under the doom of
the divine displeasure, for the holy anger of God is revealed
in the deep sinfulness into which mankind has sunk.
1. The need of the Gentiles. He points to the moral
and spiritual condition of the Gentile world. We must
carefully note the way in which he presents this.
1 St. Paul and Protestantism, popular ed., 1887, pp. 63-64. Mr. Arnold's
literary instinct was unerring, although one must often differ from him in
his interpretation of the Epistle. The chief fault of his brilliant essay is the
application of a fundamental principle which leads him to discount whatever
appears transcendent and unverifiable by experience. His criterion results
too often in cavalier dismissals which really prove nothing, and had it
been consistently carried out, it would have stripped the poet-critic him
self of much— ideals and deep insights— which he would not have cared
to dispense with,

GENTILE KNOWLEDGE OF GoD 209
(1) First- he speaks of the Gentile knowledge of God.
This is important; it is indeed the basis of the condemna
tion of tho Gentiles, for if they had never known God they
could never have been charged with tho guilt of offending
Him. But how had thoy known Cod ? He had revealed
Himself to thorn by tho works of His hands. The whole
creation had been eloquent to them with its thousand
tongues. By earnest rcllection on the structure and order
of tho great world in which they were placed, they had
been able to infer His eternal power as well as other
attributes of His divine nature.1 They had perceived
enough to lead them to adore Him and to lift up their
hearts to Him in thanksgiving. Paul's speeches in Lystra
and Athens find their echo hero. Ho pointed to the God
who had made the world, and who had not left Himself
without witness, in that He did good, filling men's hearts
with food and gladness. Wo arc reminded, too, how
similar his expressions arc to those in the apocryphal Book
of tho Wisdom of Solomon ; and no doubt Paul knew that
book, although his ideas in this passage are far in advance
of it. The world, therefore, had known God. Ho had mani
fested Himself to the understanding and consciousness of
His children in the open book of creation. It is not
necessary to discuss the question whether the primitivo
religion of mankind was natural or revealed. The study
of human history makes it perfectly clear that, whatever
else man may bo, ho is essentially a religious being, and
that impelled by his own native instincts, he ever seeks
Cod " if haply ho may feel after Him and find Him."2 Far
as they may have drifted apart, " God and man arc, as it
were, old friends. . . . Man away from God and having

1 On tho significance of Qulirns cf. Trench, N. T. Synonyms, pp. 6-9.
2 Cf. Do la Saussayo, Science of Hcligion, chs. iii. and vi., and rol'or-
enecs ; and Tylor, J'riniilire Culture, i. :i77sqq., on the universality of
religious ideas. "The thoughts and principles of modern Christianity,"
says Tylor, "are attached to intellectual clues which run back through far
pra'-Cliri.sliaii ages tu tho very origin of human civilisation, perhaps even of
human existence" (p. 381). Also Salluonil, Immortality, bk. i. eh. ii,
14

210 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
lost sight of Him, is as constantly persuaded that He is
opening a way back to Himself, as it were, giving signals
and beckoning from the darkness in which He dwells." 1
Whether these intimations are gathered from nature or
experience they are entitled in a perfectly true sense to
be called revelations of God, and ' natural religion ' and
'revealed religion' have one Source. For Paul's present
purpose it is sufficient to assert the fact that the Gentiles
possessed lofty conceptions of God, which nevertheless had
not proved to them the way of salvation. This true
knowledge had been attained very largely through a right
apprehension of the natural world, which in all ages has
been the ' living garment' men have seen God by.
Since the days of Kant, however, it has been customary
to acknowledge that arguments for the existence of God
drawn from nature are logically halting and incomplete.
Logical demonstration is really impossible from the nature
of the case. An Infinite Being can never be logically
comprehended in any arguments which the human mind
can frame. But this is not to deny that such arguments
are possessed of very great force. No one ever admitted
this more fully than Kant himself. Granted that the
physico-theological ' proof, ' based on the constitution and
disposition of the phenomena of the present world, is in
itseh insufficient, inasmuch as it proves the existence
rather of a Designer of the world than of an all-sufficient
Creator, it has nevertheless an irresistible cogency and
authority. "Everywhere around us," says Kant, "we observe a
chain of causes and effects, of means and ends, of death
and birth; and, as nothing has entered of itself into the
condition in which we find it, we are constantly referred
to some other thing, which itself suggests the same inquiry
regarding its cause, and thus the universe must sink into
the abyss of nothingness, unless we admit that, besides this
infinite chain of contingencies, there exists something that
is primal and self-subsistent — something which, as the cause
1 Wallace, Levis, and Essays on Natural Theol. and Ethic*, p. 192.

THE PROOF FROM NATURE 211
of this phenomenal world, secures its continuance and pre
servation. ... It would be utterly hopeless to attempt to
rob this argument of the authority it has always enjoyed.
The mind, unceasingly elevated by these considerations,
which, although empirical, are so remarkably powerful, and
continually adding to their force, will not suffer itself to
be depressed by the doubts suggested by subtle speculation ;
it tears itself out of this state of uncertainty, the moment
it casts a look upon the wondrous form of nature and the
majesty of the universe, and rises from height to height,
from condition to condition, till it has elevated itself to the
supreme and unconditioned author of all." 1
It would rather indeed be wholly irrational to refuse
a conclusion to which reason itself so universally points.
Our minds are so constituted that it is their natural and
everyday occupation to argue from the seen to the unseen,
and to pass from the adaptations of nature to the cause
that hes behind. Hence the argument from the work to
the Worker, from nature to God, has an invincible attraction.
The greatest thinkers of the world have been impressed by
it, and we may be sure it will always hold its place in
men's minds. It exists as a fundamental element in every
historic religion in the world, and of nothing may it be
more truly said : " Securus judicat orbis terrarum." 2
But if the knowledge of God derived from nature and
from conscience — for Paul's reference to the moral side of
the question must not be overlooked (ch. ii. 14-15) — is
thus a reahty, a few brief references may help to illustrate
how the Apostle's assertion that the Gentiles possessed
1 Kritik of Pure Reason, Bonn's ed. , pp. 382, 383. Kant in a later passage
also uses the following language: " Teleological unity is so important a
condition of the application of my reason to nature, that it is impossible
for me to ignore it. . . . But the sole condition, so far as my knowledge
extends, under which this unity can be my guide in the investigation of
nature, is the assumption that a supreme intelligence has ordered all things
according to the wisest ends. . . . The expression of belief, in such a case, is
an expression of modesty from the objective point of view, but, at the same
time, of firm confidence, from the subjective " (pp. 500, 501).
2 Cf. On-, Christian View of God and the World, Lect. III. and notes ;
Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, bk. i. ch. i. ; Illingworth, Persmialily Human
and Divine, Lect. IV.; Caird, Philosophy of Religion, ch. v.; Pfleiderer,
Philosophy of Religion, iii. 253 sqq. ; Flint, Theism, Lect. III.

212 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
such knowledge is historically verifiable. Paul is writing
from a Creek city, and he is writing to Eome. Long ages
before he wrote, the Aryan race, from which both Greeks
and Eomans sprang, had conquered for itself a home in
the Punjab. In the hymns of the Veda their religious
thoughts and ideas, based on a keen observation of the
principles of nature and the order of the world, have been
handed down to us. If we cannot say that they convey
a pure monotheism, they yet show no mean approach to
such a conception.1 " What more could human language
achieve in trying to express the idea of a divine and
supreme power, than what a poet sings of Varuna : ' Thou
art lord of all, of heaven and earth ; thou art the king
of all, of those who are gods, and of those who are men ' ?
Or again : ' To whom shall we sacrifice ? He through
whom the sky is bright and the earth fair ; He to whom
heaven and earth, standing firm by His will, look up,
trembling inwardly ; He the righteous, who created the
heavens ; He also created the bright and mighty waters.' " 2
The omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence of deity
are expressed in the Vcdas in language not unlike that
of many of the Hebrew psalms ; and many of the hymns
are prayers, longings of the human spirit for the divine
blessing, for the forgiveness of sins, for the restoration
of peace. Morality and religion are also closely allied,
at least in the later hymns. There is a deep sense of
guilt, a recognition of the necessity of faith, and even the
doctrine of immortality glimmers like a star through the
gloom. Let a thousand years pass, and come down to the
Creek descendants of that Aryan race in their European
home. Has the light grown dim or faded away ? It
1 Henotheism, in Max Midler's sense, i.e. not one only God, but one
Cud thought of at the moment of worship as supreme above all others.
- Max Midler, Chips from u. Gn-nain Workshop, i. 26-27; cf. also his
Lectures on the Origin of Religion, The Science of Religion, Natural. Theology,
etc.; Tylor, Primitive Culture, passim; Pfleiderer, Phil, of Religion, iii.
eh. ii. ; Tiele, History of Religion, ch. iv., and article in Eney. Brit.; aud
I'.aith, Religious of India, who, however, does not regard the Yedic hymns
as expressions of a popular religion, but as the refinements of an initialed or
priestly cute.

TESTIMONY OF THE ARYAN RACES 213
shines with even greater splendour and power. "When
we ascend to the most distant heights of Greek history,"
writes Max Mulier, "the idea of God, as the supreme
Being, stands before us as a simple fact."1 Polytheism
no doubt aboiuided, yet Plato speaks of " the Kingly Spirit
and living creator of the world." "What is the true
conception of Deity ? " asks Celsus. " I state nothing
new — only traditional beliefs long admitted. God is good,
and beautiful, and blessed, and possesses these qualities
in perfection." And in so saying he was drawing on his
knowledge of the Phcedo of Plato.2 All readers of Xeno-
phon's Memorabilia remember how Socrates recognised the
designing wisdom of the Deity in His works. "As a
historical fact," says Dr. Flint, " reason in Greece had
discovered the chief theistic proofs still employed, and
attained in many minds nearly the same belief in God
as now prevails." 3 " The whole tendency of Greek philo
sophy," writes Professor Wallace, " was to conceive a God
as the great principle of the natural order, as the supreme
reality, as the object of all objects. He is the order, or
He is the source and author of the order, of the physical
universe. He is the supreme condition, on which for the
philosopher depends the intelligibility of nature, the final
source of all its movement, the goal of all its becoming." 4
Finally, come down some centuries later, and in that very
Eome to which Paul is writing the light is still shining;
through all the denseness of the niurky night. Cicero
beheved that the order implanted by God on the world
without, was to be imitated in the order and consistency
of human lives ; and almost at the very hour of Paul's
Epistle, Seneca was writing Epistles of his own, in which
we have the most striking and deep-felt notes on human
weakness, the impossibility of self -salvation, along with a
recognition of God as the perfect Spirit, the supreme,
all-knowing, wise and kind Eeason, which orders and rules
1 Cliips, ii. 151, reviewing Welcker's Mythology.
" Patrick's Apology of Origen, p. 42.
3 Theism, p. 24.
4 Lects. and Essays, p. 37.

214 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
all things according to a purpose, and cherishes a fatherly
care for men.1
Such illustrations help to justify the first important
step in tho Apostle's argument. The light had come even
into the G entile world. The truth was reached, whatever
men made of it. AVhether it should grow from more to
more, or be repressed in unrighteousness, was the all-
important question. And it is something to know, what
a glance into the history of mankind reveals, that " at
no time and in no part of the world, has Cod left Himself
without a witness, that His hand was nowhere beyond the
reach of the outstretched hands of bal ies and sucklings." 2
(2) The Apostle takes the next stop in his argument
• — there was a turning away from the light. The Gentile
knowledge of the truth was repressed. What had been
attained was not fostered, confirmed and developed, but
gave place to vain reasonings and foolish imaginations.
The higher was hard to hold ; the lower was easy and
popular ; and, with Greek natures at least, a sensuous
idolatry was jesthetically alluring, and consequently cap
able of a quick apology. We must note that the know
ledge of God is not represented as departed from because
it was imperfect, but because there was that in man which
seduced him from it, and led him to despise it. It is not
weighed in the balance and found wanting ; it is simply
put away that baser things may take its place. It is hke
the spiritual worship of David sinking into the Baal and
Ashtaroth worship of Ahab ; or the religion of the Upani-
shads exchanged for the grovelling animal worship of many
modern Hindus. The tendency is in the human heart.
Paul sees " the glory of the incorruptible God " changed
"for the hkeness of an image of corruptible man, and of
birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." He
was doubtless thinking of the anthropomorphism so char
acteristic of the Greek religion, and of the animal worship
which the spread of the Egyptian cults was making fashion-
1 Pfleiderer, Phil, of Religion, iii. 115.
- Max Midler, Preface- to Collected Works (1898), p. xix.

FORSAKING THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 215
able all over the Eoman world. The latter seems very
difficult to account for. Herodotus says that the Thebans
believed that in answer to the human longing, God veiled
Himself in the covering of an animal, and so came near
to man. The mysterious being and instincts of the animal
creation, apparently so unintelligible, may also have helped
to confirm the notion that the beasts were the dwelling-
place of spiritual beings, who used them as a means of
coming into close relations with humanity. At all events
the cult developed most elaborately. The sacred animals
were luxuriously housed and fed, while there were multi
tudes of men and women whose sole duty was to look
after them, and whose office was sacred and hereditary.
Incense was burnt before them ; they were washed, anointed,
richly apparelled, and slept at night on soft cushions. As
each house and family had its holy beast, the sorrow when
it died was like that for a beloved child. If a cat died,
all the members of the household shaved their eyebrows ;
but if a dog died they shaved their heads and their whole
bodies.1 The effect on morals was direct and disastrous. Men
do not rise above the level of their gods. It is impossible
to describe the sinful degradation that was associated with
the idolatries of which Paul speaks. The immoralities of
the Pantheon and the temples were naturally reflected in
the lives of the worshippers. The whole system moved in
a vicious circle : first men imputed vices to the gods, and
then they indulged in these vices with a divine sanction.
The Apostle only spoke what he knew and testified what
he had seen, when he wrote of the uncleanness and dishonour
and perversion of pagan life ; and no dweller in that great
city to which he wrote, and which had become the sink
into which all the dregs of the hcentious East had poured,
would ever have ventured to deny the truthfulness of the
picture which he drew.

1 Dollinger, Gentile and Jew, i. 454 sqq. ; Rawlinson, Herodotus, ii.
77 and 110-111; Wilkinson, Ancient Egypt, ed. 1878, iii. 250-257, and
ch. xiv. generally.

21 G THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
(.°i) The next thing, however, to observe is that Paul
represents this degradation not merely as the natural con
sequence of idolatry, imt as the judicial consequence inflicted
by Cod. This is the third step in his argument — the
doom of the God-forsaken life. Three times he declares,
" God gave them up." They refused to have Him in their
knowledge, and the awful result was that He left them to
pursue their downward course to its bitter end. " Ephraim
is joined to his idols ; let him alone." If we understand
it, it is the most terrible sentence that can be spoken over
the lives of sinful men. And yet, do not let us think,
fearful as it is, that there is in it the least atom of vindic-
tiveness. It is more in sorrow than in anger that the
father gives the prodigal his portion, and suffers him to
wander into the far country. And there is love in it too.
For that wretched son, it is the long way round that will
be the shortest way home. The famine and the com
panionship of beasts, doom though they be, are also the
means of awaking a great cry, and a blessed longing to
arise and cast himself again on his father's breast.
Glancing back for a moment on this whole passage,
we should be careful not to mistake what the Apostle
has done. He has not been showing the imperfections
of the Gentile knowledge of God. That would be a mis
understanding. It is essential to his argument that this
knowledge was true and good. The hinge on which
everything turns is the forsaking of the knowledge. Evil
tendencies in human nature may account for it ; but Paul
at the moment is not seeking to account for it; he ie
simply observing it and asserting it. It is no argument,
however, to say that as the sins of men under the Christian
dispensation are appalling and widespread, therefore the
impotence of Christianity to save is equally demonstrated.
Where Christianity does not save, Christianity has not been
truly tried. The theism of the Gentiles failed, so far, for
a like reason ; not because its light was delusive, but because
its light was not used. The two things to this extent are
perfectly parallel. Would it have been sufficient, then, if
paganism had been leavened simply with its own theistic

GENTILE AND CHRISTIAN VIEWS OF SIN 217
truth ? That is a different question. Paul's answer to it
would have been an emphatic negative. History would
only have repeated itself. Theism would have succumbed
once more to the evil tendencies of human nature. The
supreme value and distinction of his gospel were, that it
came with new elements and greater powers, to fight a
winning battle against the evils which the heart had not
previously been able to withstand. It was the power of
God towards an end which the power of man had failed to
reach. Nor is Paul to be understood to mean that the Gentile
world of which he wrote, was lying in universal wickedness,
unredeemed by even a single ray of human goodness. In
the next chapter he speaks of Gentiles who by nature keep
the law of conscience ; and, as we have seen, it would be
a gross error to ignore the Gentile lives that rose in many
respects far above the sinful degradation which has been
depicted. But even judging paganism by these, we must
remember that the best of them are just those who are
keenest and most intense in their acknowledgment of all-
pervading sin. Indeed it is only from the best we should
expect such cries and confessions ; yet these differ from
the lamentations of an earnest Christian, say, like the
Apostle himself, in this essential respect, that they have
no hope. Hence the Eoman sages were merely philosophers,
never prophets. Paul confessed indwelling sin as sadly as
Seneca ever did; but Paul had hope where Seneca saw
none. That was the mighty difference, and but for that
Paul would never have put his pen to the description of
pagan iniquity. It was because he knew and believed
in a way of salvation, that he suffered himself to dwell
on a theme in itself so utterly dismal and repulsive.
The deep darkness existed beyond all controversy, and
he approached it with no mere historic interest, but as
a joyful evangelist who was able to flash into it ' the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God.'

2. The need of the Jews. There was another class of

218 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
men whom Paul had to consider. The world was divided
by him, as regards religion, into two sections, the Gentiles
and the Jews; those who had merely the light common
to all humanity, and those who had received a special
revelation of God. What of the Jews ? Had they, in
spite of all their privileges, failed to attain righteousness,
and were they, in God's sight, in the very same need of
salvation as the Gentiles ? With this side of the question
he now deals.
The Jew, as Paul well knows, reckons himself, in
relation to God, an exception to all the rest of the world.
He agrees heartily with all that has been said of the
Gentiles, but the matter only ministers to his conceit,
and never touches his conscience. He lifts up his eyes,
and thanks God he is not as ' this publican.' It cannot
be an easy task to arouse a sense of the need of the
gospel in such circumstances, but the Apostle attempts
it with very great skill.
He approaches his subject indirectly, desiring first of
all to establish a general principle. Suppose a man assent
ing to what has been said, assuming a critical attitude
and sajing, ' That is exactly my judgment on this sin-
steeped paganism ' ; and suppose that in point of fact
these very sins are not ahen to his own life, that he
is just as guilty of them as those whom he condemns —
will his mere assumption of superiority excuse him ? Let
it be the case that he has hitherto escaped punishment ;
that God in mercy and longsuffering has delayed his doom ;
but that instead of such Divine forbearance leading him
to repentance, it is actually misinterpreted as favouritism
and indulgence — will not that be the greatest aggravation
of his sin ? The general principle on which we must
stand is this — that God will render to every man accord
ing to his works. The Divine judgment will base itself
on conduct, and will proceed impartially without respect
of persons ; blessed for all who clo well, terrible for all
who transgress, whether they be Jews who have had an
express Law such as that of Moses, or whether they be
Gentiles who have had a law of conscience written in

THE JEW CONVICTED OF SIN 219
their hearts : all alike shall come at last under the
judgment of the unerring God.1
Having advanced under cover of this general principle,
axiomatic even in Jewish eyes, the Apostle (ii. 17) suddenly
unmasks his battery, and turns with dramatic directness
to the Jew. There are two chief props on which the Jew
rests — the Law and Circumcision, and Paul sweeps each
of these in turn from beneath his feet. Both might be
of supreme value did the Jew maintain a state of perfect
righteousness, but neither will help him much in a state
of flagrant transgression. What gain can it be to boast
in the Law, and strut in vain pride over one's higher
knowledge and clearer light, if the Law is broken to
pieces every day, and if the knowledge and the light
are openly contradicted by the conduct ? You preach
honesty, and are yourselves dishonest ; you preach purity,
and are yourselves defiled ; you disdain idols, but you
pilfer from their temples ; you praise the Law, and at
the same time bring it into such dishonour that the very
heathen mock and blaspheme ! Again, you say you are
circumcised, that you bear upon your very bodies the seal
and pledge of the Divine Covenant. What an idle dream
to think that this can save you, when on your side the
Covenant itseh is shattered into a thousand fragments !
It is in the heart of goodness and obedience that the Lord
looks for the true marks of His children. Whence it may
happen that a Gentile, obeying the Divine Will, may have
the ' circumcision of the heart/ while a Jew, defying that

1 It is sometimes alleged that there is a contradiction here to the doctrine
of Justification by Faith. This is not really so. Two things may be noted :
(1) Paul wishes the Jew to feel that even on a standard which he accepts, he
cannot be justified ; and he here asserts that standard in the form of a
general moral principle freely acknowledged in the Old Testament. Cf.
Job xxxiv. 11 ; Ps. lxii. 12 ; Jer. xvii. 10 and xxxii. 19 ; Ezek. vii. 27
and xxxiii. 20. (2) Good works really occupy a most important place in
Paul's system ; but he believes they are possible only as the result of certain
religious conditions which are not here under consideration, but which he
will explain when he comes to treat of Sanctification. If, under faith, there
be not the good fruits for which the Master looks, it will simply prove that
the faith has been an insincerity.

220 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Will, may put himself into that very category on which
he lavishes so much disdain. A doer of the same things
as the heathen, a transgressor of the Law, a breaker of the
Covenant — these are the dark reflections in the moral
mirror in which the Apostle challenges the Jew to behold
himself. But a question starts to his mind, on which he will
fix attention for a moment (iii. 1-8). Indeed it will occur
to most minds. ' What then is the use of the Jew ever
having had any privileges? You talk of acknowledged
privileges, and then prove that they are powerless for
salvation.' Modern Christianity is quite familiar with
the same question : ' What is the good of the Sacrament
or the means of grace ? If they are not essential to
salvation, why make such insistence on their importance ?
I was baptized and I have partaken of the Communion
and instead of securing me, these things, I am now told,
may only prove my greater condemnation.'
Paul, therefore, raises a very common objection when
he says : " What advantage is there in being a Jew ? "
It is a question that probably occurred to him at his
own conversion when he gave up resting on the Law.
He may have thought much of it ' in Arabia,' and cer
tainly he would have to deal with it daily when he began
to preach the gospel. His present treatment of it is very
brief and succinct, and therefore a little difficult to grasp.
The reason is that he only touches the matter now en
passant, and that he means to handle the same difficulties
with greater fulness, when he comes to speak of the
Election of Israel (chs. ix— xi.), and when he discusses
the charge of antinomianism so commonly made against
his gospel (ch. vi.). Meanwhile the key to the passage
is this ruling idea — the Jew wishes to wriggle out of
the position that he, a chosen child, will come under the
wrath and condition of God hke a common mortal; and
Paul on the other hand wishes to prevent such an escape.
The Jew has privileges, and yet God is perfectly justified
in judging and punishing unbeheving and unrighteous
Jews. Such is the Apostle's contention.

CASUISTICAL OBJECTIONS 221
Paul freely grants that many advantages lie on the
side of the Jews. He does not now catalogue these, but
contents himself for the moment by naming the pertinent
and pre-eminent one, that they were entrusted with the
oracles of God. The phrase is comprehensive, but it here
practically points to the promises and prophecies regarding
the Messiah. This is clear from the ' unbelief ' imme
diately spoken of. The Jews are not guilty of disbelieving
all the Divine revelation, but in Paul's view they are guilty
of rejecting the Messiah, that is, Jesus. Here, then, arises
a short series of casuistical objections, which Paul in swift
phrases demolishes one after another.
The Jews have the promises, and yet some Jews reject
them as fulfilled in Jesus. If it be granted that that
fulfilment occurred, does it not appear as if the unbelief
of such Jews had brought to naught God's fidelity to
His word ? Nay, but God in His own time and way,
even by the gospel, will be found true, though not ' some '
merely, but all men were to prove false. Further, it will
be objected : ' If our unrighteousness serves, as you say,
to commend the righteousness of God, where is the justice
of God in punishing us for what results in His glory ? '
(But Paul apologises for speaking of the Almighty in
this familiar manner.) The question may seem to cut
deep, but it is sheer madness. In the first place, it does
not distinguish between results which God secures, and
iniquities for whose guilt the sinner is responsible. If
this responsibility were to be lost sight of, simply because
it pleases God to bring good out of evil, there would be
no Judgment of the world possible ; whereas nothing is
more certainly beheved among us than the Divine Judg
ment. But more than that, if the objection is baseless
from the point of view of a God who judges, it is in the
second place vicious from the point of view of the sinner
himself. Why ? Because it would land him in the
grossest moral perversion. It would lead him to say,
' Let us clo evil that good may come.' This is a favourite
slander, says Paul, to hurl at my head ; I could say much
upon it, and do not mean to let it pass ; but for the

222 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
present I will only say this, that the condemnation that
will come on every man who can so believe, will be richly
deserved. This brief discussion has been a digression, though
a very important one, and the Apostle resumes his argument
at the ninth verse, only to sum up on the whole general
question of the common guilt of Gentile and Jew. They
are all under sin. And, as he loves to clo, he bases himself
on Scripture, drawing forth from its pages verse after verse,
to show that seers and prophets of old had the same con
viction, " that every mouth may be stopped, and all the
world brought under the judgment of God."
The first part of the great argument is thus completed.
The universal reign of sin is the dark and stormy prelude
to the revelation of the gospel. In no section of the
human race is there to be found justifying righteousness
in the sight of God. In proving this Paul has been
content simply to appeal to experience, and to point to
facts which it is impossible to deny. How these facts
should be as they are, whence their universal source, he
does not inquire. He has ideas on these points, and some
of them are expressed in the Epistle. The origin of sin
he never discusses, but he believes that it entered into the
world by the fall of Adam, and that it has established
its chief seat in human flesh. For the present it is enough
to show that by the works of the Law, by conduct in the
light of manifest knowledge, no living soul can be regarded
as righteous in God's sight.
How, then, shall a man be just with God ? Is it ever
possible to return to a reconciled life, and to be delivered
from the burden of guilt and the Divine condemnation —
" the revelation of wrath " ? Paul believes that it is, and
the constant joy of his life is to declare his faith. It is the
new "revelation of the righteousness of God."
(B) The Ecccption of Salmliun. (Jvslijirn/wn Ig Fnilh,
Chs. iii. 21-v.)
Paul now begins to set forth the first essential part of

CENTRAL PLACE OF THE EPISTLE 223
his gospel — even the righteousness which God has now
revealed, and which is by faith in Christ. Starting at the
twenty-first verse of the third chapter, the section extends
to the close of the fifth chapter. It contains the very
core of the Pauline message. The first few verses (hi.
21-26) have provoked volumes of controversy, and all
that the Apostle himself has subsequently to say in this
part of his Epistle, amounts only to their elucidation and
defence. It was at the twenty-fifth verse that Luther scored his
Bible, and wrote his marginal note : " Merke dies ; this is
the chief point and the very central place of the Epistle,
and of the whole Bible." Calvin wrote of the twenty-
fourth and following verses : " There is probably no passage
in the whole Bible that more exhaustively exhibits the
justifying righteousness of God." " This whole period,"
says Melanchthon, " contains the very head and front of
Paul's discussion." According to Stolz, it is the quint
essence of the Pauhne doctrine concerning Christ : " Who
soever understands it, understands the Apostle ; whosoever
misunderstands it, runs the risk of misunderstanding the
entire Epistle." Infinitely precious in every phrase, the
passage has been abundantly used of God in converting
and comforting the troubled souls of men.
" It was in the twenty-fifth verse that the poet Cowper
found peace to his spirit, after it had well-nigh drifted into
utter despair." " I flung myself," he says, "into a chair near
the window, and seeing a Bible there, ventured once more
to apply to it for comfort and instruction. The first verse
I saw was the 25th of the 3rd of Eomans : — ' Whom God
hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in His
blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins
that are past, through the forbearance of God.' Immediately
I received strength to believe, and the full beams of the
Sun of Eighteousness shone upon me. I saw the sufficiency
of the atonement He had made for my pardon and complete
justification. In a moment I believed, and received the
peace of the gospel." — "Unless," he adds, "the Almighty
arm had been under me, I think I should have been over
whelmed with gratitude and joy. But the work of the Holy

224 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Spirit is best described in His own words; — it is 'joy un
speakable and full of glory.' " 1

Let us endeavour briefly to paraphrase this famous
passage, taking with it the supplementary verses of the
fifth chapter (6-11).
By the works of the law, whether it be the law of
Moses or the law written in the human heart, no flesh
can be justified. The condemnation of God hangs over
all. But, says the Apostle triumphantly, " a righteousness
of God " has been revealed ! What man could not achieve,
God in His infinite love and wisdom has provided. Though
it be apart from law, do not let us scout it, for even those
who revere the Scriptures will find, if they look deeply,
that the Law and the Prophets themselves bear witness
to it. I speak of that particular ' righteousness ' which
has a divine and not a human origin, and in virtue of
which God accepts all without distinction who believe in
Christ. All need it, and all may have it, for it is offered
freely by His grace to Jew and Gentile alike. Because
of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, God holds all
who believe as ' righteous.' This may seem a moment
ous issue, but it flows from a momentous fact — even the
blood of Jesus the Messiah. Jesus lifted up on the Cross,
— what was that but God openly displaying Him as a
propitiatory sacrifice which all men might behold ? And
why ? For two great ends : in the first place, to manifest
the essential Eighteousness of the Almighty, lest men
should think He paid small regard to sin, because they
misinterpreted His tender forbearance in bygone times
in not visiting human iniquities as perfect Eighteousness
might seem to require; and in the second place, and
as a direct consequence of that Eighteousness, that He
might be able to regard all those as delivered from the guilt
of sin who by faith identify themselves with the crucified
Jesus. Most gloriously hath God commended His un-

1 Taylor's Life of Cowper, pp. 37-38, ed. 1835. This and the preceding
quotations are from Morison, Romans Third, pp. 2C9-272.

CHRIST S DEATH A PROPITIATION 225
speakable love ! For while we were yet shiners, lying
under wrath, Christ died for us. Eesting in this great
love, we are bold to believe that if even now we are
reconciled by so great a sacrifice as the Eedeemer's death,
much more, looking forward to eternity, shall we be saved
from wrath in the day of Judgment on account of our
participation in His perfect life.
The grand theme of this passage, it will be seen, is
Eedemption by faith, and the ground on which it rests
is the Eedeemer's death. In the Divine Holiness there
is an inherent antagonism to human sin, and if men
doubted it before — because God waited for the fulness
of time to display it — they can doubt it no longer. But
the death on Calvary was no mere scenic display ; it was
profoundly real, and as such was of transcendent moment.
It was the climax of the suffering humiliation of a holy
and Divine Being, who voluntarily identified Himself with
humanity that He might bear its burden. It was not
on His own account He died, but as a supreme and perfect
sacrifice for others, in virtue of which the remission of
their sins might become possible. Men were guilty, and
the Cross did not by any mysterious internal change make
them good ; but it made it possible for God in His majesty
and holiness not merely to forgive, as men speak of for
giveness, but, deeper and more blessed still, to pass by
and obhterate human guilt itself. Identifying themselves
with Jesus by a lowly faith, believers become free as those
who are 'bought with a price.' The cloud of Divine
wrath, at first in human history no bigger than a man's
hand, has risen, revealed itself, darkened the whole sky,
burst over the Cross and rolled away. On Calvary there
is the clear shining after the rain, and men, who, in the
union of faith, are willing to ' die with Jesus ' there, have
peace with God, a peace which may ' pass understanding,'
but which Christian experience has abundantly verified as
the .most real and precious blessing upon earth.
This is what Paul most evidently believed. If he was
mistaken in this belief, he alone was not mistaken. The
whole New Testament shares in the mistake. From first
iS

22G THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
to last in the message of salvation as delivered by the
Apostles, the death of Christ appears as the central,
supreme, and all-essential fact. It does not stand alone :
it is linked indissolubly with the suffering incarnate hfe
before, and with the risen and glorified hfe after ; but it
is never lost sight of, never ignored, rather is ever in
evidence, whether by direct statement or by obvious im
phcation, as the indispensable condition of salvation. It
would be a great error to regard this importance as peculiarly
Pauline, something evolved from the Apostle's inner con
sciousness, and so far liable to be discounted. Take the
death of Christ away, as a fact of supreme significance,
from the writings of Peter and John, from Hebrews, and
even from the Gospels, and the whole revelation verily
tumbles to pieces.
It is not hard to see how the death of Christ gained its
irresistible hold on Paul's mind. Whenever he became
convinced of the Messiahship of Jesus, he could not possibly
regard the Cross as a mere incidental episode. There rose
at once the greatest of all problems before his mind — Why
did the Messiah suffer and die ? Familiar knowledge of
the Old Testament Scriptures rushed to his aid. The
prophecies of the suffering ' Servant of Jehovah,' and
above all the great passages of Isaiah liii., cast a light
of almost dazzhng brightness on the Cross ; while all the
ritual sacrifices of the Old Dispensation were seen to
have their fulfilment in the " propitiation in the Messiah's
blood." Coming afterwards into contact with the Apostles
in Jerusalem, he would find that this was their view also.
It had indeed been presented to them in the most solemn
and significant way by the Master Himself. Above all,
the institution of the Supper taught them that Jesus
regarded the breaking of His body and the shedding of
His blood as having a sacrificial value. They would have
been bhndest of the blind had they not perceived it
there. And the Christian Church, amid all its controversies
on the subject, has never to any important extent lost
sight of this great truth. It can trace it directly to the
lips of the Saviour Himself ; and truly if Jesus did not

FACT AND THEORY OF THE ATONEMENT 227
mean that His violent death was to be a sacrifice for the
remission of sins, He was at most inexplicable pains, not
only to conceal His true meaning, but even to inculcate
another. It is not, however, regarding the fact that human
Eedemption is closely associated with the death of Christ,
that the great controversies have arisen. It is rather
regarding the interpretation and explanation of the fact.
Paul does not explain ; he only asserts, and he rehes
on experience for his supreme verification. Figurative
analogies that lie embedded in his expressions must not
be pushed to extreme issues, otherwise we shall find that,
like all analogies thus unwisely ridden, they may lead us
to the crudest error. He uses language that best seems
to him to convey the- truth, but he is in a sphere where
human language never can adequately express the full
contents of the Divine mind or the Divine acts. It must
be humbly acknowledged that no theory, from the most
baldly forensic and matter-of-fact, to the most subtly
speculative and transcendental, has ever completely satisfied
men's minds in explaining the relation between the atoning
sacrifice of Christ and the forgiveness of human sin. But
it is one thing to find depths ' deeper than ever plummet
sounded,' and quite another thing to assert that there is
really no bottom to these depths. Human experience
teaches a lowlier wisdom. Many things that are them
selves a mystery still remain ' the master-light of all our
seeing.' Ah reverent theories of the Eedeemer's sacrifice
are helpful, and doubtless contain various hints and gleams
of the ' manifold wisdom of God,' that may do much to
confirm us in an intelligent faith. At the same time the
surest verification is not in a logical rationale but in
Christian experience. Paul anchored his faith there, and
countless thousands have f ollowed him in his confession :
" Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." There is many
a great truth in God's universe of which it must be said
— Solvitur ambulando. The only way of becoming con
vinced of the Atonement is in humble faith to rest the

228 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
burden of our guilt on the Saviour's sacrifice. The surest
way to miss conviction is to wait till it is explained. We
may well lay to heart the rebuke of one who at least does
not approach the matter from any professional point of
view, but who expresses amazement that we should treat
this Christian doctrine as we do not treat the doctrines
of Science, that is, rejecting it simply because of imperfect
explanations. " In cases," writes Mr. Arthur Balfour, " where the belief
is rather the occasion of an hypothesis than a conclusion
from it, the destruction of the hypothesis may be a reason
for devising a new one, but is certainly no reason for aban
doning the belief. Nor in science do we ever take any other
view. We do not, for example, step over a precipice because
we are dissatisfied with all the attempts to account for
gravitation. In theology, however, experience does some
times lean too timidly on theory, and when in the course
of time theory decays, it drags clown experience in its fall.
How many persons are there, for example, who, because
they dislike the theories of Atonement propounded, say, by
Anselm, or Grotius, or the versions of these which have
imbedded themselves in the devotional literature of Western
Europe, feel bound ' in reason ' to give up the doctrine itself ?
Because they cannot compress within the rigid limits of some
semi-legal formula a mystery which, unless it were too vast
for our full intellectual comprehension, would surely be too
narrow for our spiritual needs, the mystery itself is to be
rejected! Because they cannot contrive to their satis
faction a system of theological jurisprudence which shall
include Eedemption as a leading case, Eedemption is no
longer to be counted among the consolations of mankind ! " 1
But while the truth of Paul's declaration of the way
of salvation is not dependent on its explanation, there are
a few things regarding his present statement of it that
we should be careful to bear in mind.
1. God the Father is Himself the source of Eedemp
tion. The Lord Jesus is not to be regarded as coming
to persuade God to do what it was not in His heart to do
already. Christ conies and gives Himself ; but the Father
1 The Foundations of Belief , Sth ed., pp. 356-357.

FAITH NECESSARY FOR JUSTIFICATION 229
also gives Him, sends Him, and sets Him forth. Father
and Son are one in perfect harmony from the very incep
tion of the great Divine movement for human salvation.
Further, there is no discord in the Divine nature needing
to be harmonised. God is One, and what He does the
whole Divine Personahty does. There is no such thing
as an antagonism between His attributes. His righteous
ness is conspicuously displayed in the Cross, but no less
so are His grace and His love.
2. On the human side the Apostle insists on the
necessity of Faith. This alone ought to warn us that
the doctrine of Justification is not fully conceived by
merely forensic or legal analogies. Moreover the ' faith '
of which Paul here thinks is not a mere assent of the
mind ; it is rather an ardent self -committal to Christ, a
giving of ourselves so completely to Him that a spiritual
union results, in virtue of which all that He is and does
becomes appropriated by us. " Faith, according to Paul,
is at once an act of the reason or conviction, an act of
the heart or trust, an act of the will or self-surrender
— the last the most important of the three." 1
3. Justification by faith does not represent a completed
salvation. Paul has condemned the world for lack of
righteousness. But the righteousness to which he now
points is not in itself an actual righteousness in the
bejiever, but rather a righteousness which for Christ's sake
God regards him as possessing. It is therefore equivalent
to forgiveness in the deep divine sense of the taking away
of guilt. It enables a man to start " with a clean record " ;
yet it only enables him to start. If actual righteousness
1 Reuss, Cliristian Theology in the Apostolic Age, ii. 90. Sanday and
Headlam distinguish seven different senses in which Paul uses the word
' faith ' in this Epistle : fidelity ; the foundation for exercising spiritual
gifts ; trust in fulfilment of promises ; a standing attitude towards God ;
acceptance of Christianity ; a firm planting of the character on the service
of Christ ; and lastly, a crowning sense of greatest significance, enthusiastic,
personal adhesion — the highest and most effective motive-power of which
human character is capable. " It is well to remember that Paul has all
these meanings before him ; and he glances from one to another as the hand
of a violin-player runs over the strings of his violin " (Romans, pp. 33-34).

230 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
were not to follow, salvation would be but a beginning
without an end. Hence we speak of Justification as the
reception of salvation, meaning thereby that it is the
initial part of a process of which the goal is yet to be.
That goal is complete Sanctification, the conformity to
the image of Christ. Only when this is reached can we
truly speak of salvation. The sanctifying of life, therefore,
is the subject of Paul's next great division of his Epistle,
not to be regarded as really separate from Justification,
but as directly and inevitably springing out of it, and
carrying it on to its proper fulfilment.
It is not to be marvelled at that the Apostle contem
plates this ' revelation of righteousness ' with exultant
joy. Ah self-righteous boasting is excluded, for though
indeed it be a right thing ever to have faith in God, there
is yet no merit of righteousness in saving faith. The
reconcilement whereby we enter into peace with God is
of grace. And as God is the God of all His children, Jew
and Gentile stand before Him in this respect on the same
level. Does the familiar objection arise, ' This makes the
Law of no effect ' ? Far from it, says Paul. The matter
is not exhausted. We have but begun ; we shall go
farther and see that Law, in its deepest moral and spiritual
demands, is thus, and only thus, firmly established.
This would naturally lead the Apostle, by direct transi
tion, to the third part of his Exposition, namely, the
completion of Salvation. Only, he is so eager to make
clear that his doctrine of Justification by faith is not in
contradiction to the older revelation, but is in essential
harmony with it, that he pauses for a little to show how
it lay embedded in the Old Testament. As in writing to
the Galatians, so now (ch. iv.) he takes the case of
Abraham as the crucial test, crucial, that is, from a Jewish
standpoint. It is not necessary to linger again on his
triumphant proof that Abraham, trusting in the Divine
word and its fulfilment, had his faith reckoned to him as
righteousness. Nor need we dwell on his striking and
detailed analogy between Adam and Christ at the close
of the fifth chapter. Paul believed that, in consequence

ANALOGY BETWEEN ADAM AND CHRIST 231
of what in modern phrase is called the solidarity of the
race, death and all our woes, our tendency to sin and our
hability to its punishment, were the direct fruits of man's
first disobedience, the ' work ' of one man. This familiar
belief the Apostle uses as an illustration to magnify, both
by likeness and by contrast, the work of Christ. If such
great results could flow from the disobedience of one re
presentative man, how much more may we believe that
greater results of another and blessed kind, even the
healing of the wounds of humanity and the renewing of
its life, may flow from the obedience of a Second Adam,
who, to use the expression of Irenteus, " has recapitulated
the long development of humanity into Himself." * The
passage very excellently serves to make graphic the element
of universality in Christ's redeeming work. United to
Adam by birth all die ; united to Christ by faith all live.
It is only necessary that as the union by birth is a reality,
so the union by faith should be a reality also. Given
that, there is no limit to the efficacy of the righteousness
that is in Christ Jesus. In this way the illustration is
a fitting close to the great section of the Epistle whose
theme has been the possibility of a Justification too sadly
recognised as universally needful.
(C) The Completion of Salvation. (Sanctification,
Chs. vi— viii.)
In these chapters Paul is still continuing his exposition
of the gospel as the power of God unto salvation, but he
enters on the third and last part of it. He has to show
how, if salvation begins with a righteousness reckoned to
the believer, it goes on to its true fulfilment in a righteous
ness which becomes inherent in him. Through faith-union

1 Adv. Hot., iii. 18. 1, cit. Liddon, Divinity of our Lord, p. 8 n.
" It should be noted," says Beyschlag, " that Paul does not make Adam
the subject of consideration for his own sake, or merely with the view of
solving a theoretic problem, but that he regards him as a means of instruc
tion—a means of making plain by this antitype the whole significance of
Jesus for humanity and history" (N.T. Theology, ii. 63-64).

232 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
with Christ there is not only forgiveness, there is renewal
of hfe. " In the cure of the soul," says Godet, " pardon
is only the crisis of convalescence; the restoration of
health is sanctification." 1
The Apostle, however, occupies two chapters (vi.-vii.)
before he begins to describe the actual manner in which
the salvation of the Christian is carried to completion,
namely, by the co-operating power of the Holy Spirit.
First, he wishes to show that the grace of God of which
he has spoken is not a doctrine which imperils hohness but
rather securely estabhshes it — Sin and Grace (vi. 1-vii. 6) ;
and secondly, to show that the moral law, without Divine aid,
is hopeless for sanctification — Sin and the Law (vii. 7-end).
1. Sin and Grace. Grace abounding over sin was the
triumphant note on which the passage on Justification
closed. But the very phrase starts a difficulty, which, as
we have seen (iii. 1-8), arises at once whenever sin and
grace are brought into antithesis. Shall we sin that grace
may abound ? Is this what ' justification by faith ' must
result in ? Is it essentially an immoral doctrine ? Shall
it see law given to the wind, or shall it rather lead to the
perfect establishment of the law of holiness ?
How does Paul answer this question ? Exactly as he did
in writing to the Galatians, by showing that persistence in sin
would be an absolute contradiction of our union with Christ.
How shall such as we, he exclaims, who died to sin,2

1 Comm. i. 392.
2 Various views have been held of Paul's meaning by this expression (of.
Godet, Comm., i. 402 sqq.). That the believer is 'dead to sin' in a com
plete moral sense, perfectly free from its power and seductions, is manifestly
untenable. Paul did not believe that. His language must be interpreted
by the justifying death of Christ on which the Christian rests, and in virtue
of which, accepted as his own by faith, be is said to die. That is to say, its
sense is relative to the condemnation of the Law. Paul passes to a moral
meaning, however, when he speaks of not 'living' any longer in sin. And
the moral element may also be recognised as to some extent present in the
'dying,' if we reflect that no man ean truly accept Christ's great sacrifice
for him without at the same time desiring to be free from that which brought
such woe. Moreover, from the first moment of union with Christ, there is a
reception of the Spirit of Christ, who immediately begins to work with us for
holiness.

DYING AND RISING WITH CHRIST 233
live any longer therein ? Died to sin ! Does the phrase
surprise you ? It ought not if you understand what the
very initial stage of your Christian profession implies.
Consider for a moment that when you accepted the Ee-
deemer by faith, your faith was in His death. You were
then baptized, and your baptism was the sign and seal of
this relation to His death. It symbolised a union with
Christ so close that what He did you did also. The death,
therefore, of which I speak is the death you died with
Him. And how fitting is the symbol of your immersion,
for is it not a kind of burial ? Had you not been joined to
Christ in His dying you would never have been baptized.1
Now Christ died unto sin — not that He ever sinned, but
that ' for us ' He came under its burden, and bore its
malignity and its curse. Is it possible that a man could
perceive this, humbly and joyfully accept the blessed
results of the sacrifice, and yet persist in submitting him
self to the thraldom that has caused such infinite sorrow ?
It is not possible ; the man has never truly accepted Christ
who can continue to live in the sin that slew Christ.
Deep in its heart the acceptance of the Saviour carries the
abhorrence of sin. The reahsation of perfect holiness may
be at the end of a long process, but in principle the
complete severance with sin takes place on the acceptance
of Christ by faith. The will undergoes a complete change
regarding it. Its dominion at the seat of hfe is broken.
Yea, take the figure of baptism one step farther, and you
will realise the truth even more clearly. The waters pass
over your head, but it is only for a moment. You emerge
again ; and therein is symbohsed your participation also in
Christ's rising from the dead. Your union with Him is not
partial but complete. It implies not merely dying to sin,
but hving unto righteousness, ' walking in newness of hfe.'
As He died to live for ever with God, so must we regard
ourselves as entering with Him on a risen hfe of Divine
1 Naturally Paul is speaking of adult baptism, for he is addressing those
who, having received Christ in ripe years, had observed the rite in this form.
It would, however, be pressing his illustration too far to argue from this that
he would have excluded the children of believing parents from the ordinance.

234 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
communion. The appeal of Christian faith to holiness is
therefore direct, obvious, and inevitable. The reign of sin
in our mortal bodies is over ; we are under domimon to
another Lord, to present our bodies to Him henceforth as
the instruments of righteousness alone.
Here we have the great doctrine of the Christian's
mystical union with Christ. It is evident how in a
moment it hfts the doctrine of Justification by faith out of
any mere logical peril of antinomianism. It saves it by
exhibiting it not as an independent and isolated experi
ence, but as in intimate and inseparable relation with the
eternal hfe of Christ. Here the Pauline conception of
faith merges into that of love. For a perfect love has
this very unifying and transforming power. The Divine
Spirit no doubt guided the Apostle in the enunciation of so
bold a doctrine, which has its parallel to a certain extent
in other writings of Scripture. But above all, Paul is
transcribing from his own experience. This is what faith
in Christ had meant to him, — union complete, personal,
irrevocable, the vision of a perfect and all-absorbing love.
We know the power that love has of identifying itself with
its object, so that the very life of the one, with all its
thoughts and desires, actually becomes the life of the other.
In declaring such a relation to the Saviour, Paul points the
Christian to the possible happy solution of all his moral
problems and conflicts. " The struggling stream of duty,
which had not volume enough to bear him to his goal, is
suddenly reinforced by the immense tidal wave of sympathy
and emotion." 1 What he cannot do of himself he will be
able to do by the power of faith working through love.
Self-sacrifice and self-conquest will become easy to him by
this constraint. So constant and inspiring will Christ's
spiritual presence with him be, that in his resistance and
triumphs it will seem as if it were no longer he that lived
but Christ that lived in him.
In further enforcing the fact that the Christian has
passed over completely from the old life of sin to the new
1 M. Arnold, St. Paul and Protestantism, p. 47.

THE LAW IN RELATION TO SIN 235
life of righteousness, Paul uses two illustrations, the first
from slavery (vi. 15-23), and the second from marriage
(vii. 1—6). At conversion a great change was made, but it
was after all only a change of masters. It would be a
profound mistake to think that freedom from the bonds of
sin means absolute freedom to do henceforth as we please.
It means freedom to enter on the service of the Divine
Lord, — henceforth to become His slaves, whose duties are
duties of righteousness, and whose rich reward is eternal
life. Or, in the old life we were as one wedded to a bad
husband. But that old tyrannical lord died, and the
claim of the law which bound us to him passed away, so
that we are free to enter into union with another, even
Christ, the fruit of union with whom will not be sinful
passions, such as wrought through the Law, but holiness
unto God.
At this point Paul might have passed on to speak of
the indwelling Divine power by which the fruits of holiness
are attained. But he has just used some strong expres
sions which he desires to guard against misunderstanding.
He has spoken of the Law as an oppressive dominion, and
of sinful passions working through it. He knows this will
raise a difficulty in many minds, because many, especially
of his countrymen, regarded the Law as the truest safe
guard of morals, and would at once repudiate any theory
which seemed to disparage it.
2. He has therefore to deal with this question, the
relation between the Law and Sin — to show not that the
Law is sinful, but that it is powerless to produce hohness.
It is important to keep his particular aim carefully in
view. If we lose sight of it, we shall altogether mistake
the passage that follows. His intention is not to expound
any abstract or exhaustive theory, but in a rapid and
graphic way to make clear that the Moral Law of God in
its widest sense, though with the Mosaic Law in the fore
ground as its most concrete expression, is unable of itself,
and never by itself was intended, either to justify or to
sanctify a human soul.
This subject occupies from the seventh verse to the

236 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
end of the chapter. It is very obviously divided into two
parts at the close of the thirteenth verse. In both parts
Paul speaks in the first person, but in the first part he
speaks in the past tense. About the first section there can
be no difficulty. It is quite parallel with his teaching in
Galatians as to the relation between Sin aud the Law. To
make the matter clear, he says, let me put it as my own
experience, not because that was exceptional, but because I
believe it was perfectly typical and common. There was a
time in my life when I might be said to be living without
the Law ; that is, I was scarcely conscious of it ; it never
troubled me ; I lived as I desired, careless and happy, in
my youthful ignorance, neither concerned nor alarmed by
the awful authority of the Law. But that period did not
last. The Law came home to me in its majesty and
holiness. With what result ? It overwhelmed me with
the sense of sin. Nay more than that — perfect proof of
the ingrained evil of my hfe — its very commands, opposing
themselves to my inclinations, roused these inclinations
into new activity and strength. Take that great word :
" Thou shalt not covet." Is it not obvious that the very
moment I became conscious of that as the Divine Will,
penetrating to the root of all evil thought and desire, a
new evil would arise within me ? By the very perversity
of my nature, that which pointed me inexorably to holiness
only made more clamorous and turbulent the evil passions
that should be quelled. Holy as the Law was, sin took
occasion by it, deceived me, and by it slew me. Was the
end wholly evil ? God forbid. Eather this good was
accomphshed — Sin was revealed in its intense enmity,
" exceeding sinful."
So far there is httle difficulty of interpretation. But
when we come to the passage beginning at the fourteenth
verse there are many sayings that startle us, and that have
given rise to the greatest divergence of opinion. Paul still
speaks in the first person, but now he speaks in the present
tense. And how does he represent himself — if it really be
himself he is describing — an apostle " in Christ " for so
many devoted years ? As " carnal and sold under sin " !

A STARTLING CONFESSION 237
As having the will to do what he finds himself impotent to
accomphsh, nay, verily doing what he hates ! Dehghting
in the Law of God in his inmost being, he is yet conscious
of " another law " also in him, that is in his flesh, in his
members, where Sin seems to dwell as a personal and
antagonistic power, warring against the good and bringing
him into woeful captivity. Unhappy and wretched, how
shall he be delivered ? There is but one way — thank God
for it — " through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Now, how is this dark and appalhng analysis to be
understood ? Does Paul really mean to describe his own
state, and his own present state ? Some say : This is
impossible ; it would be to describe the dismal failure of
Christianity itself. We do not deny a Christian conflict,
but this conflict here represented is one of inevitable
defeat, in which there is not a single ray of victory.
Hope is shut out, all distinctive Christian references are
excluded, until in misery we are brought as the chmax of
the experience to cry at last for the Saviour Christ. We
must not be misled by the present tense : that is only due
to the keenness of the realisation of an indehble memory.
Paul is manifestly describing a state where union with
Christ is not yet accomplished, and where there has been
no actual entrance into the glorious liberty of the children
of God. Many learned and evangelical writers hold, therefore,
that the reference is to man in his unregenerate and pre-
Christian days. And it would undoubtedly be a relief in
many respects if we felt compelled to acknowledge that
such language could not possibly refer to the experience
of a Christian man. Nevertheless, we feel constrained to
believe that Paul means us so to understand it. If we
simply ask ourselves how we should naturally interpret
such a passage, if we had no haunting dogmas in the back
ground of our minds to consider, the answer ought to be
obvious. In such a case two things would surely be quite
clear — first, Paul is speaking of himself, and secondly, he is
speaking of his present experience. If he is not, then his
language seems not only incomprehensible, but culpably so.

238 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
We cannot escape from the present tense by simply saying
that Paul now desired to be specially graphic and im
pressive, to give " life and strength to his paragraph," and
therefore used an oratorical device "specially common
among writers of Greek." He was quite graphic and
impressive in the previous verses where he spoke in the
past tense ; and if he had meant us to think that he
continued to refer to a completed experience he would still
have used that tense.
Moreover, we ought not to overlook the fact that the
light of Christian experience does shine conspicuously amid
all the gloom of this subtle passage. Whence that will to
do good ? that veritable delight in the law of God after the
inward man ? that hatred of evil, groaning under its burden,
and longing for deliverance ? Here is not speaking a man
who is at enmity with God and the Divine Law, but one
who in his inmost being is in essential harmony with them.
In his unjustified state it was totally different. Then he
united in desire with the ' flesh ' against the Law, now he
unites with the Law against the flesh. The character of
the conflict has profoundly changed. Formerly it was
external, when the whole man, will and appetite allied,
joined against the commandment ; now it is internal, when
the man is divided against himself, will and Law, the new
allies, arrayed against Sin reigning in the flesh. How is
such a complete reversal to be accounted for ? Can such
be the description of a soul unregenerate and without
Christ ? If so, it is not the kind of description that Paul
and the Bible elsewhere give.
But what of that acknowledged impotence ? and what
of that vaunted union with Christ, which from its very
inception meant victory and freedom from sin and death ?
Is the Christian life nothing but a paradox and a self-
contradiction ? This is of course the crux of the matter.
Why does Paul, if he is describing Christian experience,
hold specific Christian grace in the background, and
represent the conflict as if the aids of grace did not exist ?
We think because he is remaining true to the point from
which he started, and which we are apt to forget, namely,

IMPERFECT SANCTIFICATION 239
that he wishes to demonstrate the powerlessness of the
Law and the human will, even the renewed will, to work
out a sanctified life apart from the Divine supernatural aid.
Christ essential to start with, and Christ essential right
through — that is his point. And how could he better
show that Christ is essential than by showing how fatal it
is to dispense with Him even for a moment ? But it may
be said, the aid of grace is at once given, and is inalienable
from a converted man. And yet in Christian hfe the
separation is practically very common. Holiness is not
produced by compulsion ; it is realised by a Christian's free
self-determination with the Spirit. Moreover, union and
distinction are by no means incompatible ideas.1 The
Spirit is given, but He is given as a Personality, not as an
immediately penetrating and pervading essence. Even as
Christians we are yet in our inmost being so much
ourselves that at times we ignore the Spirit's presence, and
move independently of Him in our own unaided strength.
The treasure is in earthen vessels, and it is possible,
as Augustine said, for the grace to be at once present and
profitless.2 In short, is it not in harmony with Christian
experience to say that spiritual as we become on union
with Christ, evil is yet ' present ' with us, we are still
1 flesh,' and almost every day and hour of om- lives we
have reason to know that this flesh, as the chief seat
1 Cf., e.g., the doctrine of the Trinity ; and in ch. viii., the union and
distinction between Christ and the Spirit, and between the indwelling Divine
Spirit and the human spirit, e.g., in vv. 16 and 26. Beyschlag seems rather
to force the meaning of such passages in contending that tbe Holy Spirit is
not to be conceived as a Divine Person at all, but only as a penetrating gift,
sometimes poetically or rhetorically personified (N. T. Theol., ii. 207-208).
Cf. also Reuss, Theol. of Apost. Age, ii. 115.
Pfleiderer thus expresses his interpretation of the union: "that the
Divine Spirit and the natural human spirit coalesce in the Christian into the
unity of a new subject, a new or spiritual man (they unite therefore in
substance, comp. 1 Cor. vi. 17), but yet in such a way that this union is not
absolutely complete from the beginning, but always progressing merely, and
therefore always in part not existing ; consequently both substances are
always in another sense distinct, and related to each other as that which is
active and giving, to that which is passive and receiving" (Paulinism,
i. 215). 2 Cf. Lux Mundi, p. 333.

240 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
of indwelling Sin, is a reality and power to be dreaded and
lamented ? Nay, the better the inward will becomes, and
the more we delight in God's Law and sincerely desire it,
the greater distress do we feel over the fleshly environment
in which Sin still resides, those " outer works of the
fortress " where the footing of the foe is still firm, — a
distress, moreover, which is begotten not so much by the
actual magnitude of the victories Sin obtains, as by the
terrible significance of its reahty and its persistence.
Hence Paul's agonising conflict even as a Christian, his
call to " mortify the deeds of the body," his " fighting not
as one that beateth the air " ; and hence the sad cries
dc profundis in which the most noble and saintly souls of
Christian history have echoed his experience. This was
the prayer of Bishop Heber, not before his ' conversion,'
but shortly before his death : " 0 my Father, my Master,
my Saviour and my King, unworthy and wicked as I am,
reject me not as a polluted vessel, but so quicken me by
Thy Spirit from the death of Sin that I may walk in
newness of life before Thee. Lord, I believe, help Thou
my unbehef ! Lord, I repent, help Thou my impenitence !
Turn Thou me, 0 Lord, and so I shall be turned. Be
favourable unto me and I shall live." 1
The way is now clear for Paul to enter on the subject
to which he has been leading up since the opening of the
sixth chapter — life perfected by the Spirit. The various
objections and difficulties that intervened have been swept
away. He is free to declare the power by which the
justified soul is brought on towards a complete salvation.
There is reason for that Godward glance and cry of
gratitude at the close of the last chapter. For awful as
the strength of indwelling Sin may be, there is another
Indweller, closer and mightier, even the Holy Spirit.
In a sense it is no new doctrine that Paul has to
1 The difficulties of interpretation in this passnge are ably discussed by
nodge in his Commentary on Romans, pp. 237-213. Cf. also the exposition
given by Principal Dykes in ch. xix. of his Gospel aeeording to St. Paul— a.
chapter admirable for its spiritual insight, and for the felicity and beauty of
its expression.

MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 241
deliver in declaring the influence of the Divine Spirit on
man. It is a doctrine that runs through the whole of the
Bible from Genesis to Eevelation. But there is a very marked
development. In the Old Testament the Spirit is repre
sented chiefly as a power going forth from the Almighty
to create and sustain the world, an omnipresent ' force '
that underlies all things, without which there is no life or
strength. He inspires the human faculties with wisdom
and skill, and upholds them in their noblest undertakings
and achievements. He guides the designing mind and
cleft hand of the artificer, the ruling and conquering hand
of the king, gives sweet utterance to the singer of sacred
songs, and lays upon the prophet the burden of the
spiritual vision and the divine word of righteousness and
judgment. Only very occasionally, and rather as a gleam
of anticipation than as a common and accepted faith, clo
we find Him represented as specially and peculiarly active
in aiding, comforting, and controlling the spiritual life of
God's children. But this conception distinctly appears
when we come to the New Testament ; not immediately,
indeed, even in the Gospels, but certainly very clearly and
explicitly in the last words of Christ to His disciples.
In that tender and significant discourse on the eve of
betrayal, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the substitute of
Christ, the other Advocate, is distinctly portrayed. He is
there represented not as an influence or power merely, but
as a Person who consciously purposes and acts : witnessing,
teaching, guiding, speaking, taking, hearing, declaring,
pleading, convincing. And after Pentecost the Apostles
and all the disciples live in the conscious joy of the fulfil
ment of that great promise. The book of Acts is full of
the Spirit's presence and activity in every movement of the
Church in council and missionary service, and no less in
the conversion and leading of the individual, and very
specially in the bestowal upon him of spiritual gifts. Paul
as a Christian entered into such a faith and experience.
But — and this is his great distinction— it was given to
him in a special manner, not indeed to declare a thing
altogether unknown, but to bring out into clear relief, and
16

242 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
to develop in all its transcendent importance, the relation
of the Spirit to the inward hfe, His ever-present co-opera
tion with the renewed man for holiness and ultimate glory.
Ah other activities of the Spirit seem henceforth to be
eclipsed by this — the part He plays in Salvation, leading
men to Christ, and bringing them at last into perfect
conformity with Christ both in character and in destiny.
This is the grand theme of the eighth chapter of
Eomans. In treating it, the Apostle, while not quite free
from language which suggests the idea of the Spirit as an
emanating power, distinctly and pre-eminently presents to
us the idea of a Person, ' indwelling ' in a mystical and
humanly inexplicable way, yet acting as only a Person can,
and so intimately associated with God and Christ in Divine
acts and relations (His very name being synonymous with
theirs), as to lead us to regard Him as really partaking of
the essence of the Divine Being. Nor is the agency of the
Holy Sphit to be regarded as solely connected with the
process we entitle Sanctification, although it is brought so
prominently forward in this connection. Already Paul
has said (v. 5) that it is through Him the love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts, and elsewhere we are told that
no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy
Spirit. He is therefore beneficently and effectually
present from the first stage of the new hfe to the last. It
may be said of Him, as is said of Christ, without Him we
can do nothing. Christians should realise His presence not
as a merely possible and superadded grace, but as all-
essential and vital. It is not only that they may have the
Spirit, but that they must have Him. " Now if any man,"
says the Apostle, " have not the Sphit of Christ, he is none
of His." We start by receiving Him, and we only make
progress and are blest by ' walking ' with Him. It is on
this that Paul now almost rapturously fixes his attention
and that of his readers. As we maintain this walk and
reahse it, so are we led into the liberty of the glory of the
children of God.
The account which the Apostle gives of the perfecting
work of the Holy Spirit may be represented in various

LIFE IN THE SPIRIT 243
ways. It has been regarded as a two-sided process,
negative and positive, corresponding to the dying and
rising again of Christ ; for Paul never for a moment loses
sight of his fundamental principle that in a deep true
sense the Christian experience is to be a repetition of the
experience of Christ. The negative side is therefore
represented as a crucifying or mortifying of the flesh in so
far as it is the seat of sin, and also as a " suffering together
with Christ," that is, as an enduring of the evils of life for
Christ's sake and in Christ's manner. To this is related
the positive side, as the resurrection is related to the dying,
a life in newness of the Spirit, led and ruled by the law of
the Spirit. The resultant is Christian virtue, displayed in
its numerous manifestations, and that not merely as the
necessary fruit of accepted salvation, but also as the
indispensable means and condition of the perfect and final
salvation.1 It is necessary, however, to keep somewhat more
closely to the line of thought at present before us. The
chapter is difficult to divide, because the transitions are so
subtle, and the whole forms so perfect a unity. There
seem three distinctions which we may make, and which we
may entitle characteristics of life in the Spirit : — (1) the
believer's victory over sin and death (vv. 1-13); (2) his
perfect sonship (vv. 14-17); and (3) his participation in
the sufferings of Christ as a preparation for a divinely
destined glory. Then, as the wings of thought bear us
very near the Throne, there is a closing passage which
takes the form of a rhythmic and impassioned challenge :
" Quis ergo nos separabit a charitate Christi ? "
1. For a moment Paul glances back on what has been
already established, that God sending His Son in the like
ness of sinful flesh has condemned sin in the flesh, not
only showing it ahen to humanity, but atoning for it, and
casting it out. Itself condemned, it can no longer condemn
them that are in Christ Jesus. But more than that, God

1 So the subject is suggestively handled by Pfleiderer in his chapter on
the Development of the New Life, Paulinism, i. 215-228.

244 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
designs in them the fulfilment of all the righteous demands
of the Law. This is to be accomplished by " walking after
the Spirit," submitting to His rule and guidance, just as
before redemption the feature of hfe was a submission to
the impulses and control of the " flesh." This leads the
Apostle to contrast the two lives, the new and the old, in
their aims and results. The hfe after the flesh seeks the
earthly, the sensual, the perishing ; the hfe after the
Spirit seeks the heavenly, the spiritual, the eternal. The
results are widely apart ; death for the one, and life for the
other. Aud these results are not arbitrary, but as it were
necessary and inevitable. That which is " enmity to God "
can never hope to live in any good or worthy sense ; and
that which " pleases Him " may be assured, not merely
that it cannot die, but that it will hve indeed, and be
filled with the holy calm that is possible only to a soul in
harmony with heaven. Yea, says the Apostle, the life
given by the Spirit, will extend even to our mortal bodies,
because to be possessed by the great Life-Giver is a pledge
of immortality even for them.
2. The essence of the new life consists in our sonship.
If we perceive that the Spirit has led us into this perfect
relationship to God, then we must also perceive that all
that makes hfe blessed flows from it. The oppressive
sense of bondage and fear passes away ; we are sons and
daughters again in our Father's house, and the Spirit by
all His good fruits in us, such as love, joy, peace, testifies
that it is so. The Apostle here, as in Galatians, uses his
characteristic expression of "adoption." It has both a
figurative and a real significance. In so far as it is
metaphorically legal, it expresses our acceptance in Justi
fication, when we are regarded as God's sons, and thus
brought into a state of confidence. But there is more
intended than a mere legal transference from one condition
to another ; we clo effectually and essentially become sons
by the Spirit, so that henceforth we live with all those
filial impulses that lead us to fulfil the Father's "Will.
Nay more, the son is of necessity also an heir. We are
assured therefore of a glorious destiny, even to share in the

FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTS SUFFERINGS 245
heavenly inheritance with Christ. In this way everything,
from the beginning to the end of Salvation, is implied in
our possession of the Spirit who gives " adoption."
3. Nor are we for a moment to think that this
glorious destiny is belied by the fact that at the present
time suffering and tribulation abound. Let us remember
our complete " sohdarity " with Christ by the Spirit. It is.
only a deep testimony to our union with our Lord if so be
that we suffer with Him. " Is it fit," says Archbishop
Leighton, " that we should not follow where our Captain
led, and went first, but that He should lead through
rugged, thorny ways, and we pass about to get away
through flowery meadows ? If we be parts of Him, can
we think that a body finding nothing but ease, and bath
ing in dehghts, accords with a Head so tormented ? I
remember what that pious Duke said at Jerusalem, when
they offered to crown him king there, Nolo auream, ubi
Christus spineam: No crown of gold, where Christ was
crowned with thorns."1
Let suffering, then, be accepted as a sign of our
profound ' sympathy ' with Christ, and as in His case so
also in ours it will be but a preparation for . the glory yet
to be, so incomparably precious that the present cross
fades into nothingness before its anticipation. All suffering,
if we view it aright, contains in its heart a hope and
prophecy of coming into the liberty of the glory of the
children of God. It is not a final issue but a transition.
In this sense let us regard it, and interpret its universal
voices. These are the moans of prisoners, but "prisoners
of hope." The whole lower creation of animate and
inanimate things joins with man in his cry and expectation.
It too suffers with its head, waiting for the manifestation
of the sons of God.
It is no new thought to regard the natural world as in
sympathy with man, clouding its face at his sorrow, and
clapping its hands at his joy. The Old Testament is full
of such conceptions, and they are common to the poetry of
1 Comm. on 1 Peter, ed. 1870, ii. 672 ; citing Godfrey of Bouillon.

246 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
all ages. " Nature," says Schelling, " with its melancholy
charm, resembles a bride who, at the very moment when
she was fully attired for marriage, saw her bridegroom die.
She still stands with her fresh crown and in her bridal
dress, but her eyes are full of tears." * But Faul goes
farther than a mere poetic conception of sympathy.
Human sin is to him " an all-penetrating sacrament of
woe." He interprets the tears and disappointment of the
world as in causal relation with the fallen state of man.
The creation, for man's sake, is unwillingly subjected to
" vanity " — not to death or corruption merely, but to
something even more dreary and appalhng, " to purposeless-
ness, to an inability to reahse its natural tendencies and
the ends for which it was called into being, to baffled
endeavour and mocked expectation, to a blossoming and
not bearing fruit, a pursuing and not attaining." 2
Such a representation has occasioned no small amount
of perplexity. No doubt the passage has conceptions that
are quite in harmony with cherished ideas of modern
science. Science has no quarrel with the teaching that
finality is not yet reached in the evolutionary process, that
there is a unity in the created world, and that man is the
crown and head of that world. But in making the
sufferings of the lower creation dependent on human sin, it
is not quite so easy to see how the Apostle's language is to
be harmonised with our scientific knowledge of the world's
history before man appeared. Decay and rapine, destruction
and death, were there already. Some have found relief in
believing that there was a divinely designed anticipation in
the suffering of the creatures before man's advent ; that is
to say, that the Creator, foreseeing the issue of human
freedom, anticipated its evil consequences in the constitution
of things from the first. Apart from this, however, the
causal relation may be at least partially justified when we
observe how human sin, in its cruel tyranny and havoc,
works with malignant force over the whole face of nature.
1 Cit. Godet, Comm. , ii. 95.
* Ellicott, The Destiny of the Creature, p. 7.

QUIS SEPARABIT? 247
It not only acts as a hindrance to a cosmic development
which was in process from the beginning of the world, but
it produces a fearful intensification of the suffering which
already had its place in that development. Although we
may thus in some degree satisfy ourselves that Paul's bold
glance into the mystery of the " vanity " is not baseless, it
must be confessed that from the nature of the case ' proof '
is not possible on either side, and no theory can be devised
that will absolutely convince the mind on so obscure a
subject.1 What we should mark very clearly is the goal to
which the whole passage tends. Paul's gaze is one of glad
rapture towards that " far-off divine event to which the
whole creation moves," even the new heavens and the new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. To his listening ear,
in all the plaintiveness of the cry that is heard not only
in nature but in man, and even in the mysterious
sympathy of the Spirit who cries with us in making us
cry, there is distinguishable the accent of assurance that
the murmur will reach the Divine heart, and move the
Divine hand. He who searcheth the hearts knoweth the
meaning even of these inarticulate longings and desires, the
truest of all prayers, the mind of the indwelling Spirit,
who maketh intercession for the saints. Let us hold fast
therefore our hope. Nothing will more triumphantly
distinguish life in the Spirit than this conviction, that " all
things work together for good to them that love God."
Carry your thoughts on to find their holiest assurance in
Him. There are golden chains that bind us to the throne
of God. They descend and ascend, stretching from heaven
to earth, and back again from earth to heaven. Not one
of their links can be broken. They are divinely wrought,
and they are secured in the infallibility of the Divine
Will. Two links are eternal and in heaven, that God
foreknows and predestinates those that are to be conformed
1 Cf. Dorner, Christian Doctrine, ii. 65-67 ; Bushnell, Nature and the
Supernatural, ch. vii. ; Ellicott, Destiny of the Creature; Orr, Christian
View, p. 227 ; Forrest, Christ of History and of Experience, p. 422 ; Cox,
The House and its Builder, pp. 49 sqq.

248 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
to the image of His Son ; two are for time and on the
earth, that He calls them and justifies them ; and one
stretches back again to heaven and the eternal future, that
them He also glorifies. At this point believing assurance
can no farther go. If glory be reached, surely ' salvation '
is then complete ; and that it will be reached we know,
because salvation is anchored in the perfect love of God
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So sublime a passage has only one possible conclusion
— an impassioned hymn of triumph. Challenge follows
challenge in rapid succession, waiting for no answer where
no answer is possible. In a flash of seraphic joy the
Apostle declares that nothing, no conceivable power in
heaven or earth, is able to break that golden chain, or to
intervene between those who are " in Christ Jesus " and
the omnipotent love that holds them there.
2. Historical Eelation of the Gospel to Mankind,
especially to the jews. (clis. ix.-xi.)
The Apostle has now completed the exposition of the
gospel as the power of God unto salvation. He has shown
the universal need of such a salvation, how all men may
receive it by faith in Christ Jesus, and how it is carried on
to a glorious issue by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
He now devotes three chapters to the consideration of the
historical relation of the gospel to the nations, and especially
to the Jews.
It is perfectly obvious how he was led to deal with
such an aspect of his subject. It was not before his mind
as a matter of mere speculative interest, but as one of
constantly pressing and practical moment. He never could
at any time dilate on the glory and blessedness of Christ's
kingdom, without having the thought immediately presented
to his mind — the Gentiles have come in, but the Jews are
excluded ! This was not only a profound grief to him as
a patriotic Jew, but it raised a startling problem, whose
difficulty he found quick-witted and unbelieving Jews ever
ready to urge. The Jews were confessedly the chosen

THE PAULINE THEODICY 249
people of God. To them and their fathers the promises
were made. How does it happen, then, that when the
Messianic kingdom appears, it is just they who are specially
distinguished by remaining outside it ? Is it not clear —
either Jesus is not the Messiah, or, if He is, the Divine
promises to Israel have been a delusion ? We can have
little doubt that such a dilemma had immediately forced
itself on Paul's mind when he became a Christian, and
there can be just as httle doubt that it would be raised by
others wherever he afterwards advocated his faith. What
he now proceeds to do is to show how he himself resolved
the difficulty ; how he verily believed both things, that
Jesus was the promised Messiah, and that even in the
present Jewish rejection the word of God still stood.
The chapters are thus of the nature of a Theodicy,
a justification of Divine dealings with men. They have
raised many hard and really insoluble questions, and are
among the most controverted passages of the whole Bible.
If we are to have any hope of fairly comprehending them,
two things must be premised.
1. In the first place, we must keep steadily in mind
that the whole passage is a unity. Judgment should not
be passed on it till the whole is heard. None of the
chapters is in itself a complete presentation of the Apostle's
thoughts, but all three together are. Nothing could be
more dangerous or more surely fruitful of error than to
treat, say, the ninth chapter as if it stood isolated and
alone, complete without the others. Paul will reach a
conclusion, but he will reach it at the end and not in
the middle of his argument.
2. In the second place, we must remember the occa
sional character of the passage. The Apostle is not engaged
in any purely abstract discussion. He does not for a
moment dream of laying down final and infallible dicta
regarding the " unsearchable wisdom of God." He has
some modesty, if certain of his interpreters have had little.
There is one particular aim before him, namely, to make
clear how the prevailing rejection of the Jews is compatible
with the truth of his gospel. The form which his treat-

250 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
ment of this subject takes is determined by the nature of
the objections that were actually presented to him. He is
not wrestling with the elaborate distinctions of modern
metaphysics, but directly opposing such objections as a
Jew, and especially a Pharisaic Jew of his own time, would
naturally urge.
Such an opponent was evidently accustomed to state
the position in a very high-minded manner, distinguished,
as it seemed to the Apostle, almost equally by impious pride
and delusive error. ' The Messianic Kingdom ! When it
came, nothing was surer than this, that he and Ins whole
race would stand at its centre. God had pledged Himself.
Not only would He bestow His blessing on the Jews, but
He must do so. He had committed Himself in His
promises. The seed of Abraham simply cannot miss the
kingdom of heaven. The Christ of God will be " the
glory of His people Israel." Any so-callecl gospel that
ignores this has falsehood written on its front. Eejection
after election is a notion to be met only by ineffable
scorn.' Paul addresses himself to the matter put in such a
way. If this be the true conception of things, then God's
hands are tied, and He cannot help blessing the Jew
whether the Jew deserves it or not.1 The Apostle re
pudiates such a presumption with intense earnestness. He
flashes upon it with arguments which his opponent could
not gainsay. He shows him that it leads to ideas of God
which all his scriptures contradict, and all past history
falsifies. God is above all things free ; His promises are
conditioned by human action, and His justice is to be
vindicated, not in the broken moments of time, but in the
great eternal purpose.

1 That this is no perversion of the idea the Rabbis hail of their •election,'
see the striking quotations from "Weber given by Sanday and Headlam,
p. 249. One part, too, of the Messianic promise many Jews had almost
forgotten— "a light to lighten the Gentiles." "The Jew believed that his
race was joined to God by a covenant which nothing could dissolve, and that
he and his people alone were the centre of all God's action in the creation
and government of the world." Ibid.

THE DIVINE LIBERTY 251
The argument is thus threefold. Paul views the
matter first from the Divine side, secondly from the human
side, and finally in the light of the final issue. Or we
might put it otherwise: he speaks first of the Divine
liberty and fidelity in the present rejection of Israel ; of
the Divine justice of it; and lastly of the Divine pur
pose in it, for after all it is only partial and for a
time. 1. The question from the Divine side — God's liberty
and consistency (ch. ix. 1-29). Paul begins in the most
earnest and touching manner by declaring his profound
longing for the salvation of his kinsmen, and his hearty
recognition of all the special privileges God has bestowed
upon them.1 He then passes on without any direct state
ment to the consideration of the problem of their present
rejection. He has before his mind such an opponent as he
had often listened to, and he debates with him. Israel
must be of the kingdom, you say, otherwise God's word
comes to naught. But consider a moment concerning
God's word and His manner of fulfilling it. Who
are meant by the Israel of the Divine promise ? You
think all are included who spring from Abraham by here
ditary descent. I do not think so, and the very facts
of the case are against you. Look back on the history,
and you find a process of selection going on within the
family of Abraham from the very beginning. Isaac was
chosen, but Ishmael was rejected ; Jacob was chosen, and
Esau was rejected ; and not only so, but in the latter case
the choice was made before either was born, and when it

1 The close of verse 5 is exceedingly important. It depends on punctuation
whether the phrase "God blessed for ever" is to be referred to Christ or
not. Few scholars would have the slightest doubt that such was the refer
ence if they did not come to the verse with doctrinal prepossessions. Grammar
and the general sense of the passage obviously demand it. Cf. Gifford,
Romans, pp. 178-179, who says : " When we review the history of the inter
pretation, it cannot but be regarded as a remarkable fact that every objection
urged against the ancient interpretation rests ultimately on dogmatic
presuppositions, and that every alternative that has been proposed is more
or less objectionable both in the form of expression and in the connection of
thought." Cf. Sanday and Headlam, pp. 233 sqq.; Godet, ii. 139 sqq.

252 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
was impossible therefore for personal merit to be the
ground of it. It was clearly the free election of God
according to the infinite wisdom of His purpose. As
actual fact, then, God whom you would 'necessitate' has
plainly exercised His liberty. But, you say, if He has
made choice independently of human will and endeavour,
it can scarcely be regarded as a righteous choice. I reply,
for the present, that He has done it according to His word,
as He said to Moses in the case of mercy, and as He said
to Pharaoh in the case of severity. For you and me that
is sufficient, for neither of us dreams for a moment that
God could either say or do wrong. You turn, however, to
another point and say, ' If God acts so, human responsi
bility disappears. If, in being rejected, I am but a help
less instrument of His will, no blame can attach to me ;
I am simply in the hands of an irresistible fate.' Paul
replies to this by declaring the impiety of the creature in
challenging in any way the action of the Creator. He
uses the f amiliar illustration of the potter and the clay ;
and quotes from the prophets to show that God had fore
told His intention to exercise the hberty of His grace in
calling the Gentiles and rejecting all but a remnant of the
Jews. Amid ah his hberty, of course, the potter works,
it is presumed, not with arbitrary caprice, but with wisdom
and with a recognition of fitness. The Apostle, however,
does not hint at any such mitigation. There is nothing in
his language but the simple assertion of the Divine sove
reignty. One perhaps feels that the difficulty has been
met rather with a knock-down blow than with an argu
ment, and that if Paul's writing had stopped here we
should have hstened to him in surprise as teaching an
uncompromising fatalism. Nay more, we should have been
quite unable to reconcile him with a hundred other evan
gelical and pleading utterances of his own. In truth, if
this image were to be taken as, what it manifestly is not,
the last word of the Christian faith, " it would be a bitter
mockery of ah the deep yearnings and legitimate desires
of a soid aspiring after God. It would be at once the
satire of reason against itself, and the suicide of revela-

ISRAEL'S REJECTION JUSTIFIED 253
tion." x We may therefore be certain we are hearing but
part. Paul devotes himself for the moment to one point,
namely, to establish the complete liberty of the Divine
action. If we run off with this truth and wrest it to our
own destruction, the fault is ours rather than his. We
shall not misconceive Paul if we think of him as saying :
I wish you to realise that God is not fettered in the
way you so delusively dream, and that He has not
broken but rather fulfilled His own word. On what
conditions it pleases Him in His infinite wisdom to
exercise His hberty, is a further question on which He
has by no means left us in the dark. "Audi alteram
partem." 2. The human side — God justified in the rejection
(ch. ix. 30— x. 21). Has God, in point of fact, proceeded
without the consideration of righteousness ? Far from it.
Eighteousness has been the very basis of the choice of the
Gentiles and of the rejection of the Jews. The Gentiles
indeed were not distinguished for seeking the righteousness
of obedience, nevertheless they have attained the righteous
ness which is by faith, and which has been already ex
plained. It is just here the Jews have failed. They
have clung to the impossible. They have endeavoured to
establish their own righteousness by works, and it has been
futile. Zealous as they have been, they have stumbled at
the Divine way, which is " Christ, the end of the Law
unto righteousness to every one that believeth." This way
was as open to them as to any. There has been no
distinction in the offer of the saving grace. It has been
universal and free. The message even already has prac
tically been delivered all over the earth, wherever the
Jewish race are scattered. They have heard and under
stood, but they would not accept the glad tidings. Is it
a strange thing ? Nay, it was foreseen of old, and the
very heart of the whole matter lies in these bold words of
Isaiah : " To Israel He saith, All the day long did I spread
out My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people."
1 Reuss, Christian Theology, ii. 102-103.

254 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
Israel is rejected ! Let Israel look into its history and
heart, and learn the reason why.
3. The final issue — the Divine purpose in the calling
of the Gentiles and the rejection of Israel (ch. xi.). Do I
speak, continues Paul, as if Israel were wholly cut off?
Not so. Heavy as my heart is over the indisputable fact
that the great mass of my countrymen will not listen to
the gospel, yet do I thank God that even now there is a
remnant according to the election of grace. I myself, of
the seed of Abraham, am a witness, and there are others
besides, for it is as in the days of Ehjah, when, amid the
prevailing defection, God still preserved for Himself the
thousands who had not bowed the knee to Baal. There
are too many, alas, who are fulfilling the dire prophecy of
judicial blindness and stupor, yet even of them let me
declare my deep and happy faith. It will not be ever
thus. Their stumbling is not a final fall ; they will rise
again. One clay the Gentile joy will stir their emulation,
and they will come in. Even now I can see in their
stumbling a Divine purpose of grace, for it has been the
occasion of the incoming and riches of the Gentiles. Ah,
let me speak to you Gentiles ! Let me rouse in your
hearts some spark of my own love and longing for my
kinsmen. Do not despise the Jews. They are like
broken branches now, but God is able to graft them in
again to the holy stem from which they have fallen. Do
not be puffed up with pride over them. You are enjoying
blessing from which they are excluded, but one day they
shall enter into the kingdom, and what an hour of seven
fold revival and refreshing that will be ! Eemember how
it is written that ungodliness shall be turned away from
Jacob. If you might say that all Israel is now against
us, God's time is coming when it shall be the reverse, and
all Israel shall be saved.1 Is it not true that the bondage
1 "The words of St. Paul mean simply this : the people of Israel as a
nation, and no longer dird pApovs, shall be united with the Christian Church.
They do not mean that every Israelite shall finally be saved. Of final
salvation St. Paul is not now thinking, nor of God's dealings with individuals,
nor does he ask about those who are already dead, or who will die before

THE FINAL ISSUE 255
and sorrows of disobedience drove you in gladness to the
Cross ? And will not the same Divine process have its
perfect fruit in them ?
"My own hope is, a sun will pierce
The thickest cloud earth ever stretched ;
That, after Last, returns the First,
Though a wide compass round be fetched ;
That what began, best, cau't end worst,
Nor what God blessed once, prove accurst."
No wonder the Apostle, whose heart has again worked
its way so nobly through all perplexities and doubts, and
is once more glowing with Christian faith and love, closes
the passage in ascription of praise and glory to God. He
has had glimpses of heights that rise far above him, and
of depths that are beyond his power to fathom. He does
not foolishly profess to have perfectly compassed the in
scrutable ways and unsearchable judgments of God. But
he does beheve that he has seen gleams of eternal hght
and truth, flashing in both the eastern and western skies,
and that they proceed from one Divine and central Sun,
God Himself, " of whom and through whom, and unto
whom, are all things : to whom be glory for ever."
Some of the questions raised by these important
chapters may be further briefly referred to.
1. Great difficulty has been found in harmonising
chapters nine and ten, which set side by side in apparent
antinomy the Divine sovereignty and human freedom. The
difficulty, however, is not one that belongs to Paul's state
ment alone, or to theology ; it is inherent in the nature of
the case, and has been the age-long riddle of philosophy
itself. On the one hand omnipotence is part of our con
ception of the Supreme Being, and on the other hand

this salvation of Israel is attained. He is simply considering God's dealings
with the nation as a whole. As elsewhere throughout these chapters,
St. Paul is dealing with peoples and classes of men. He looks forward
in prophetic vision to a time when the whole earth, including the king
doms of the Gentiles (t6 irX-ripoipa rwv iSvOiv) and the people of Israel
(iras 'lo-parpX), shall be united in the Church of God " (Sanday and Headlam,
Romans, p. 336).

25G THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
human freedom is witnessed to by the final test of human
consciousness, and is the essential postulate of all morality.
But how all that happens should not only be foreknown
but foreordained by God, and how at the same time man
should be free and responsible from step to step, is a
problem which, in spite of all the labours expended upon
it, remains unsolved and insoluble. Paul does not attempt
any explanation of the difficulty. He does not seem oven
to have been troubled by it ; for in point of fact the tenth
chapter is rather the recognition of a new set of truths
than an apologetic qualification of anything already said.
What he does is to set the two statements together as each
a side of truth he had good reason to hold and believe.
" God rejected Israel of His own good pleasure ; and yet it
was by their own fault. How are we to reconcile these
conflicting statements ? They do not need reconciliation ;
they are but the two opposite expressions of a religious
mind, which says at one moment, ' Let mo try to clo right,'
and at another, ' God alone can make me do right.' The
two feelings may involve a logical contradiction, and yet
exist together in fact and in the religious experience of
mankind." 1 It would certainly have augured apostolic
wisdom if contending theorists had thus been content to
let the matter stand as Paul did. Calvinists would not
then have anchored themselves so exclusively to the ninth
1 Jowett, Thessalonians, ii. 384. An ingenious argument against Deter
minism is made by Professor W. James in one of his essays in The Will to
Relieve. He argues that free-will aud Providence are not incompatible if
only we allow God to provide possibilities as well as actualities to the
universe. In that case there would be ample room for 'chance,' uncon
trolled human choice, and the course of things would thus remain ambiguous
from step to step, although the end would rigorously be secured as God had
from all eternity intended. That is to say, the upshot is never ambiguous,
and this must become more and more apparent as time rolls on. In which
case the difficulty is not really escaped. Determinism is only made a
question of time and degree. Divine control appears, and merely to refine
it as 'invisible,' 'molecular,' 'slowly self-sunimating,' 'inspired' or
'delegated,' makes no difference to the fact. The illustration of a novice
playing chess with a Master cannot be said to bo very consoling. The
'liberty' man enjoys is very much that of the fish on the hook. A certain
amount of sulk and dash is possible, but the landing-net is the inevitable
finale.

PREDESTINATION AND FREE WILL 257
chapter, nor Arminians entrenched themselves so com
pletely in the tenth. As it is, the air has grown heavy
with the dust of battle, and the study of the strife has
become a weariness to the flesh. In modern theology at
least the acrimony of the ancient controversy is passing
away. The subject is one of alluring speculative interest,
and will always have its place in the schools, but it is not
likely to be treated by wise men with the old dogmatism,
or to cause the old divisions.
" The endless controversy concerning Predestination and
Free Will," writes Dean Mansel, "whether viewed in its
speculative or in its moral aspect, is but another example
of the hardihood of human ignorance. . . . This mystery,
vast and inscrutable as it is, is but one aspect of a more
general problem ; it is but the moral form of the ever-
recurring secret of the Infinite. How the Infinite and the
Finite in any form of antagonism or other relation, can
exist together ; — how infinite power can coexist with finite
activity : how infinite wisdom can coexist with finite con
tingency : how infinite goodness can coexist with finite evil :
— how the Infinite can exist in any manner without ex
hausting the universe of reality : — this is the riddle which
Infinite Wisdom alone can solve, the problem whose very
conception belongs only to that Universal Knowing which
fills and embraces the Universe of Being. When Philosophy
can answer this question; — when she can even state in
telligibly the notions which its terms involve, — then, and
not till then, she may be entitled to demand a solution
of the far smaller difficulties which she finds in revealed
religion : or rather she will have solved them already ; for
from this they all proceed, and to this they all ultimately
return." 1
2. Again, the severe onesidedness of Paul's statement
of the Divine sovereignty in the ninth chapter has been
keenly and oppressively felt by all students of the passage,
and not least by those who have most logically and
strenuously upheld it. The ' hating ' of Esau, the
' hardening ' of Pharaoh, the ' vessels of wrath fitted unto
1 Limits of Religious Thought, pp. 152, 156. Cf. also Mozley, Treatise
on Predestination (ed. 1855), p. 327.
17

258 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
destruction ' have fallen on Christian ears as hard sayings.1
Many attempts have been made to mitigate them. Some
find relief in the thought that the ' reprobation,' if it be
such, is decreed in harmony with the Divine foreknowledge
of the human perversity. We are referred to ch. viii.
29-30, where foreknowledge seems to be made the basis
of predestination, and it is suggested that, though Paul does
not attempt to resolve the speculative question, it would
have been in this direction that he would have looked for
its solution. It is doubtful, however, whether this be a
correct interpretation of what Paul meant by ' foreknow
ledge,' and the explanation certainly seems to evade the
unshaded force of the declaration of the sovereign ' will '
(ix. 18).2
Others deny that anything like final reprobation enters
into the Apostle's mind at all. He is not referring to
individuals but to nations, and not to any eternal judgment
but solely to rejection and disciphne in the sphere of time.
It is undoubtedly true that the general drift of Paul's
thought concerns the historical relation of the gospel to
nations, yet it is scarcely possible to read the particular
statements in question, and to think that all individual
reference is excluded from them. Even if it were, the
difficulty would not be escaped. If there is severity to
nations, surely there is severity to the individuals who
compose the nations. " If we admit the principle that the
free choice of nations is not inconsistent with Divine justice,
1 Paul does not say "fitted by God unto destruction," yet a fair exegesis
of the passage would seem to lead to this meaning. Gifford regards both God's
judgments and man's perverse will as affecting the result. Sanday and
Headlam think Paul purposely refrained from expressing the agency, because
it was the result rather than the agent that was important to his argument.
Meyer regards God as the agent ; and Pfleiderer's note in adopting the same
view is pretty decisive : he points to the parallelism of the clauses, and asks
if it is not precisely the purpose of the whole section (vv. 14-23) to prove
that hating as well as loving, severity as well as mercy, are matters of the
free determination of the will of God. "Any admixture of subjective
human causality in connection with these is a distortion of the sense, which,
as clearly as possible, by the consistently worked out figure of the potter
and his vessel, excludes all human causality" (Paulinism, i. 247).
2 See the view discussed by Pfleiderer, ibid. i. 251-254.

A NEW ANTINOMY 259
we cannot refuse to admit the free choice of persons also.
A little more or less of the doctrine cannot make it more
or less reconcilable with the perfect justice of God." x Nor
is it possible altogether to banish a significance beyond
present experience from Paul's description of the Divine
judgments. Such parallel phrases as " fitted unto destruc
tion " and " prepared unto glory," have obviously more than
a mere temporal meaning.
On the whole it is perhaps better frankly to acknow
ledge that here again we are confronted with a problem
beyond our power to solve, a new antinomy — on the one
hand the Divine election and rejection, and on the other
the free offer of salvation to all men, accompanied with
warnings to the accepted lest they fall away, and with
appeals to the unprivileged to yield themselves unto God.
No man can reconcile these opposite poles of the Apostle's
doctrine. But it would be a hard thing to say that they
are irreconcilable to a higher intelligence than ours. Paul
at all events never understood the 'rejection' in such a
sense as to refrain his lips from the tenderest appeals and
intercessions. Nor did he ever dissociate Divine judgments
from thoughts of Divine righteousness. God acts in perfect
liberty, it is true, but that is a totally different thing from
representing Him as acting independently of all moral
considerations, in the mere wantonness of caprice. It was
not so even with Pharaoh, nor was it so with the Jews.
Nor should we allow the Divine purpose of " mercy upon
all " entirely to escape from our thoughts. We can read
it back into these puzzling verses as an inspired corrective
against too decisive and strenuous conclusions. It is quite
clear that Paul had Jeremiah in his mind when he used
the image of the potter and the clay. It is not suitable
to his present argument to recall all that the prophet learnt
1 Jowett, Thessalonians, ii. 382. Beyschlag is the chief modern advocate
of the national, historical interpretation, and the same view is also held by
Gore in his paper in the Studia Biblica, iii. 44. Beyschlag's opinions are
given in his N.T. Theology, ii. 114-120. He has also published them at
greater length in a monograph entitled, Die paulinischc Theodicee: Romcr
ix.-xi. (2 Aufl., 1895). But cf. Kiihl, Zur paulinischen Theodicee (1897).

260 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
when he saw the potter at work upon the wheel. But the
Christian Apostle no doubt agreed with the latter part of
the ' sign ' quite as much as with the former. " The vessel
that he made of clay was marred in the hands of the
potter : so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good
to the potter to make it." x Paul, we may believe, would
gladly have cast his problem back on the unbaffled skill
and infinite wisdom of the Divine worker. So should we.
There is One whose omnipotence is able to save even to the
uttermost, who, impossible as it seems to our eyes, can yet
" Amend what flaws may lurk,
What strain o' the stuff, what warpings past the aim ! "
3. Finally, in these remarkable chapters Paul, as we
have said, is viewing the gospel very largely, if not entirely,
in its historical relations, and the election that he has
chiefly before his mind is the election of nations. He
thinks of their high calling of God, and the response they
make to it. He thus expresses a philosophy of history
from the rehgious point of view. He sees God's increas
ing purpose running through the ages, and he summarily
expresses it by the phrase (xi. 32) "that He might have
mercy upon ah," that is, that all the nations of the earth
might be brought into the kingdom of grace. If we reflect
upon the utterances of God's inspired servants, and if
above all we have eyes to perceive the meaning of His
past actions, we can see the method by which He fulfils
this purpose, and bears the world on to the Divine event.
He works by a process of election. In His Divine wisdom
He chooses some in preference to others to accomplish His
ends. They are not distinguished by special merit but by
peculiar fitness. In so far as they fulfil their designed
mission the elect are blessed, and even those who for a
time are rejected are not unblessed, should the discipline
of theh rejection lead ultimately to holier aspirations and
a fuller faith. It is possible both for those who are chosen
to fall away from their high calling, and for those who have
1 Jeremiah xviii. i.

THE ELECTION OF NATIONS 261
temporarily slipped from their ideal to return to it again.
Over all, God works as an Almighty power, giving and
withholding, not to be judged at any moment by our im
perfect understanding, and by our limited and partial
vision, but justifying Himself at last in the final issue and
in the eternal purpose of mercy and love.
We are able to discover this method of election at
work, not in the history of the Jews alone, but in the history
of all nations. We need not limit it even to directly
religious ends, but may regard it as embracing everything
that civilises, and that has a bearing on the Divine educa
tion of the human race. A lesson has to be learnt, and
God, as it were, makes it graphic and emphatic by narrow
ing the circle within which it is expressed. It is intensified
by limitation. It is made clear to the world in a nation,
or even in the lives and voices of a nation's representative
men. Thus Greece and Eome, with their heroes and sages,
had their vocations no less than Israel and the prophets.
And it ought to concern us that the Divine mode did not
cease when the history of the world passed into the Christian
phase. There is an election among the nations still. It
was the opinion of our fathers, and should be ours, that
Britain herself has been chosen of God for Divine ends.
We cannot forget the lofty way in which Milton spoke :
" Yet that which is above all this, the favour and the love
of heaven, we have great argument to think in a peculiar
manner propitious and propenchng towards us. Why else
was this nation chosen before any other, that out of her, as
out of Sion, should be proclaimed and sounded forth the
first tidings and trumpet of reformation to all Europe?
. . . Now once again by all concurrence of signs, and by
the general instinct of holy and devout men, as they daily
and solemnly express their thoughts, Gocl is decreeing to
begin some new and great period in His Church, even to
the reforming of the reformation itself ; what does He then
but reveal Himself to His servants, and as His manner is,
first to His Englishmen ? " 1
1 Areopagilica, Prose Works (Bonn's ed.), ii. 91.

262 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
If we would still think and speak thus, let us re
member that two things are implied in a Divine calhng :
first, that it is towards a God-like end ; and secondly, that
there is maintained a peculiar fitness and readiness for it.
The potent phrase, " British interests," can scarcely be held
to represent a high or ideal calling, if its reference be only
to British dividends and aggrandisement. It would be
nobler and truer if we recognised that the highest of
British interests is " the kingdom of God and His righteous
ness." It were wisdom to apprehend the justification of
the rejection of Israel. Israel thought of her election
not as a vocation but as a destiny. Her profound mistake
was that she regarded herself as called not so much to
service as to privilege. It has been well said : " This is
the besetting sin of all privileged classes. They turn into
a monopoly of favour what Providence meant to be an
opportunity of universal service. It is a grievous offence
against the moral order of the world and the interests
of mankind. Ultimately the offenders themselves are the
greatest sufferers. An elect race, an ilite section of society,
that has got into the way of thinking only of its superiority,
is a savourless salt whose inevitable doom is to be trodden
under foot of men." x
There are some who believe that there is a danger of
Britain faihng into this error. God has " raised her up,"
and has enabled her to cast her branches over the sea, but
not simply for her own prestige and glory. Something
worthier must lie in the heart of it, and they are the true
' saviours ' of her Empire who recognise in it a mission
that is concerned with the Divine purpose of the ' fulness
of the nations ' and the ' mercy upon all.'
"God of our fathers, known of old —
Lord of our far-flung battle line —
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Domimon over palm and pine —
Lord God of hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget — lest we forget !
1 Bruce, Providential Order, pp. 304-305.

THE GOSPEL AND CHRISTIAN LIFE 263
If drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe-
Such boasting as the Gentiles use
Or lesser breeds without the law-
Lord God of hosts, be with us yet—
Lest we forget — lest we forget 1
For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard —
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard —
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord ! "

3. Application of the Gospel to Christian Life;
and Conclusion (Chs. xii.-xvl).
We come now to the last section of the Epistle — the
application of the gospel to Christian life.
All-important as union with Christ and the indwelling
of the Spirit are, their ends are not accomplished without
regard to human effort and activity. Man is a fellow-
labourer with God in salvation, because he must work out
what God worketh in him both to will and to do, for His
good pleasure. For " if our virtues did not go forth of us,
'twere all ahke as if we had them not." And one who has
lived long with Christ, like the Apostle, and has drunk
deeply of His Spirit, has a title in the very riches of his
experience to speak of the maxims and principles that
should guide the daily life of his brethren.
Thus the Epistle passes from the great themes of faith
and destiny to the common practical duties of every day,
the relation of believers to one another, and to the affairs
of the great world by which they are surrounded. " One
portion of it follows the other, like the different divisions
of a great musical composition, in which an opening,
wonderful at once with storm and with light, full of concep
tions and passages which strain our thoughts to the utmost
and search out the very depths of emotion and sympathy,
is succeeded by a movement which relaxes the tension

264 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
of our minds, transporting us into a new domain of feeling,
incorporating and yet giving new significance to familiar
melodies, which speak of the trials, the affections, the duties
of our common life." 1
Broadly speaking, this final passage (chs. xii. 1-xv. 13)
deals with three subjects, the ordinary hfe of the Christian,
his relation to the civil power, and his bearing in contro
versy as to scrupulous points of conscience.
The first part is prefaced by a call to complete conse
cration as the necessary foundation of Christian character.
Henceforth, if we have accepted the gospel, we are entirely
God's, " not our own, but bought with a price." Starting
from that, we should recognise om' responsibility in the
special gifts for service which God in His grace has bestowed
upon us. However varied these gifts may be, one great
law applies to them, namely, that we should thoughtfully
and modestly devote ourselves to their exercise, with the
supreme desire to advance the welfare of the whole body
of believers. Following that counsel, many rules are given
for the guidance of the Christian in his social relations.
In the Sermon on the Mount our Lord laid the foundations
of the practical life, and Paul clearly shows that echoes of
that Sermon were present in his mind. He had often
heard reports of it, and perhaps it had already been re
duced to writing.2 His leading thoughts are a high
standard of righteousness and zeal, and a pervading spirit
of love and peace. The Apostle desires, like the Master,
1 Dean Church, Human Life and Us Conditions, p. 34.
2 The resemblances have been often noted. "It is not too much to
add, " says Knowling, " that the Apostle's description of the kingdom ol Ood
(ch. xiv. 17) reads like a brief summary of its description in the Sermon on
the Mount : the righteousness, peace, and joy, which fonn the contents of
the kingdom in the Apostle's conception, are found side by side in the
Saviour's Beatitudes" ( Witness of the Epistles, p. 312).
Only one conclusion can be drawn from such resemblances of thought
and expression, and that is " that there must have been a common teaching
of Jesus behind the Apostle's words, which was identical in spirit, and
substantially in words, with that contained in our Synoptic Gospels. . . .
It is very probable that much more of the common teaching, and even
phraseology, of the early Church than we are accustomed to imagine goes
baek to the teaching of Jesus " (Sanday and Headlam, Romans, p. 382).

RELATION TO THE CIVIL POWER 265
that Christians should be distinguished as hghts in the
world, and that they should not easily suffer their unity
and harmony to be broken. Sincerity, zeal, steadfastness
in persecution, diligence, prayerfulness, benevolence, sym
pathy, humility, forbearance, forgiveness, earnestness, alert
ness, purity, are earnestly commended, one after another, in
pregnant and memorable phrases.
Paul then passes to give his counsel regarding the
attitude of the Christian to civil life. The question might
arise in some minds : ' If vengeance be the Lord's alone, as you
have just said, does that mean that it is not permissible for
any human power to restrain men in their transgressions ? '
Nay, answers the Apostle, there must be such a restraint,
otherwise all social order would be at an end. For many
purposes, and chiefly as a terror to evil-doers and a praise
to them that do well, God has delegated a certain authority
to the rulers of the State. They are, in a sense, God's
ministers, and their power of control, being for the social
welfare, has a Divine sanction. It is a Christian's duty,
therefore, to submit to them, not as good policy merely,
nor as a necessity of force majeure, but as a matter of
conscience, because he recognises in their office an appoint
ment of God. Paul cannot forget that in enunciating this
principle he is writing to the very headquarters of human
authority, the fountain of civil law and order, whose in
fluence and power were felt over the whole civilised world.
He may have been conscious, too, that in that Capital many
of his countrymen had earned an evil reputation for tumult
and insubordination. Jewish rebellion against the Imperial
yoke had more than a national impulse. With many it
sprang from a religious conviction, depending on their
theocratic views. God alone should be their lawgiver,
and it was a question that lay deep with them whether
it were ' lawful ' to give tribute to Csesar. Paul may also
have observed that there was a similar tendency among
certain Christians. Christ had become their lawgiver and
their king; was it not a disloyalty to Him to yield
obedience to another? The Apostle earnestly answers,
No : because there is a sense in which the authority of

266 THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
the other is also His. Christ's aims are wider than you
think. He takes under Him also the relations of social
hfe. Good order in that hfe is part of His Divine will.
To transgress it is to sin against Him. Therefore, of all
men Christians ought to be the best citizens, simply be
cause they are bound to make conscience of submission.
Of course such teaching goes far, and rightly so, but it
is evident it is not without limitation. It were mere mad
ness to deduce from it a doctrine of absolute non-resistance,
independent of all considerations. The civil ruler should
be a minister of God for good. That is the ideal. But
what if he should annul his own ideal, and become rather
a minister of evil ? Eevolutions have sometimes been
justifiable, and the cry of passive obedience in such cases has
been the mere screaming of selfish sycophancy. Granted
the Divine right to rule, the question may arise, Is that
right yours ? Can you justify your claim ? On what does
it depend ? Or, suppose that the ruler crosses into a
sphere that is not civil but spiritual, and that there he
legislates and coerces on matters not committed to him.
In Bible language, he " lords it over God's heritage." To
insist on passive obedience then would be to blot out
some of the noblest episodes of human story. Clearly
there are things which are not Ca;sar's. Clirist saw the
distinction, and so did Paul. The pity is that in the
history of Christianity it has been so often obscured.
Church and State have encroached on each other's sphere
ever with sorrow and disaster to both. In Florence in
Savonarola's day the Medici used to say : " The State cannot
be governed by paternosters." On the other hand, it has
to be said : " Neither can the Church of Christ be governed
by Acts of Parliament." A free Church in a free State
would not be alien to the Pauline conception. But a
Church controlled even partially by unbelievers, or a State
manipulated in the interests of priestcraft, decidedly would.
" For the lawyers," writes Core, " trained for quite other
purposes, to be exercising the Church's right of spiritual
judgment on matters of Christian doctrine and worship,
seems to many of us an intolerable instance of misplaced

THE PRINCIPLE OF TOLERATION 267
authority, which it is our sacred duty not to admit. . . .
It makes an enormous difference whether it [the Church]
is a self-governing society or no. . . . The idea of the
Eoman State controlling or legislating upon matters of
religion did not occur to the Apostle. If the idea had
suggested itself to him, we cannot doubt that his reply
would have been in the spirit of Christ's words, 'Bender
unto Csesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the
things that are God's.' It is really as much out of place
to quote ' the powers that be are ordained of God ' with
reference to State control of Christian doctrine or worship,
as it would be to quote 'we ought to obey God rather
than man ' as a justification for refusing the reasonable
obedience of a citizen to the ordinary law." *
Finally, the Apostle treats of conscientious differences
among Christians themselves. Such differences arose in
evitably in almost all the Churches. Some started scruples
about such things as meats and the rehgious observances
of particular days, and the brethren who had never experi
enced such difficulties were immediately drawn into dis
cussion. The supreme aim of the Apostle is to inculcate
the principle of mutual forbearance and toleration. There
are many things that can scarcely be said to enter into
the substance of the faith, and it is a sign of gracelessness
to allow them to become sources of dissension. Wrong as
it is to override conscience, even in a small matter, it is
a still more terrible fault, if Christians would realise it,
to rupture the Body of Christ. Whether Paul is actually
referring to a definite division of opinion in the Church
at Eome, is not altogether clear. If there were a real
cleavage on such matters, it is probable, but only probable,
that a minority of Jewish converts, holding views of an
Essenic type, had entered the Church.2 On the other

1 Gore, Contemporary Review, April 1899, pp. 462-463. Cf. also Godet's
instructive note, Comm. ii. 318-319.
'-Hort, Judaistic Christianity, p. 128, says that there is no tangible
ovidence that Essenism had penetrated beyond Palestine. This may be
perfectly true, and yet human influences are very subtle and penetrative.
It is quite possible to conceive that men who were not Essenes, yet who knew

26S THE EPISTLE TO THE R'"'MANS
hand, it is quite possible that t/.: •;_':. ;: the r •"."¦ige
Paul is ¦:>nly in a general way anticipating evil-?, which
hi? experience Lad abundantly might Lim mu-t be guarded
ag:.ir>t. His own evident sympathy is not with the
' weak ' but with the ' strong.' th.it is. with the men of
larger and more liberal views, who were really persuaded
that ' r. -thing is unclean of itself.' But he would not
have been of large and liberal views if he had regarded
the scruples of others only with contempt and derision.
That :? where t many fail and lose theh largeness.'
Biul holds the balance level. Men are to be persuaded
in theh own minds. They are to remember that Christ
> the Judge of all. and that their present chief concern
should be lest one should put an occasion of falling in
another? way. I have liberty. says the Ar ?t"e, and I
rejoice in it. But I would a thousand times rather curtail
it, than by using it cause my brother to offend. The L •: 1~
example should ever rise in m.vesty before our eyes. " For
Christ also pleased not Himself." Thu.~ the call to love.
and to love like Christ, is the supreme rule of Christian
character. In it lie- if not the solving of all our prob
lems, at least the healing of all our strife.
With many friendly greetings.1 notes of lowing a-lmi ra
tion, and kindly intimation of his i-ersonal plans, the
Ap:-?tle brings his great Epistle to a close. It has
occupied us long, but not longer than its mightv themes.
and its unique handhng of them, demand. If to any
extent we have elucidated the great paradoxes of I'.v.l-
faith, such sayings as even an apostolic writer found 'hard
to be understood,' or made clear, not so much what has

whit Ei?er_:-tr. was, r_:rh: leave Palestine, and after.vit??. tinder the in
fluence of new reP_r; u; fe-f-l:- _->. might develop ideas asi custom? that were
of a di?tir.::Iv E??enie type. E -.-.: H:rt agree? tha: 'the relations of Jew
and Gentile were dire t. - ot indirectly involved in th re! it: :.ns of the weak
and the ?rr:r-" Pr-l.yK,in<-\a j R, :-- .*"!.•. r. 29'. Gilford think? the weak
were the Je— i?h eir.-rert?. atti the pas?; j-r a proof that they were not the
predomin.;Tit part of the Church at R : .e. R: -urns, p. it'.:.
1 T..-?o rive a'.rciiy leen referred to. ani the erit: oil question considered,
whether they belong t: the Et -title, or are port of a -N-;:e to Ephe?u?. V.dc
tipr-z. pp. ¦-V.-.-.1.

CLOSE OF THE EPISTLE 269
been the interpretation of this school or that, but what is
at least the broad trend of the Apostle's thought, the time
spent will not have been in vain. Paul's own conclusion
is a perfect summary, both in thought and spirit, of all
that he has said :
Now to Him that is able to stablish you according
TO MY GOSPEL AND THE PREACHING OF JESUS ClIEIST, AC
CORDING TO THE REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY WHICH HATH
BEEN KEPT IN SILENCE THROUGH TIMES ETERNAL, BUT NOW
IS MANIFESTED, AND BY THE SCRIPTURES OF THE PROPHETS,
ACCORDING TO THE COMMANDMENT OF THE ETERNAL GOD,
IS MADE KNOWN UNTO ALL THE NATIONS UNTO OBEDIENCE
OF FAITH ; TO THE ONLY WISE GOD, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST,
BE THE GLORY FOR EVER. AMEN.

TIL
THE CAPTIVITY EPISTLES.

COLOSSIANS. PHILEMON.
EPHESIANS. PHILIPPIANS.

871

Clo?e acquaintance with the strange doctrines and misconceptions that
were being taught in the Lycus valley furnished the Apostle with startling
parallels, striking antitheses, and grand and decisive words, which widened
the field of the gospel preaching, and at the same time favoured its scientific
working out. There was developed from this contact with new opposites a
gospel metaphysics, which held fast to the doctrine of the divinity of the
person of Jesus, but took God as the standpoint whence to view the work
of salvation, rather than the individual consciousness, as had been usual
before. — Reuss.
The Epistle to Philemon brings out the marked difference between the
Gospel method of action and the way in which men set to work to accom
plish social revolutions. It was not by calling on the unhappy slaves to
rise in armed rebellion against tlieir masters that the Gospel struck off their
fetters. It rather melted them by tho fervour of Christian love, and so
penetrated society with the principles of the Gospel that emancipation
became a necessity. — Godet.
To all ages of the Church — to our own especially — the Epistlo to tho
Philippians reads a great lesson. While wo are expending our strength on
theological definitions or ecclesiastical rules, it recalls us from these dis
tractions to the very heart and centre of the Gospel — the life of Christ and
the life in Clirist. Here is the meeting-point of all our differences, the
healing of all our feuds, the true life alike of individuals and sects and
churches : here doctrine and practice are wedded together ; for lure is tlie
'Creed of creeds' involved in and arising out of the Work of works. —
Lightfoot.

272

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS.

The third group of the Epistles consists of Colossians,
Philemon, Ephesians, and Philippians. They are all
Epistles of captivity. The three first-mentioned are in
timately related ; they were written about the same time,
and carried to their destination by the hand of the same
messenger. Philemon is simply a private appendix to
Colossians, while between Colossians and Ephesians there
is great similarity in theme and phraseology. Philippians
stands by itself, though the interval of separation from its
companions is probably not great.
We know that Paul's forebodings about his visit to
Jerusalem, when he bore thither the Gentile offerings to
the poor Saints, were only too sadly verified. As the
result of a fanatical Jewish outburst, he fell into the
custody of the Eomans, and was retained a prisoner for
over four years. Two years were spent in Cassarea, and
two, after a long and memorable journey, in Eome. The
question, therefore, arises— to which period of his captivity
do the Epistles belong ? Were they written in Cassarea
or in Eome, or partly in the one and partly in the other ?
If we start with the point which seems most certain,
and on which there is the greatest amount of agreement,
we may safely say that Philippians was written in Eome.
The very fact that the issue of the trial is spoken of as
one of hfe or death, is almost in itself conclusive, because
such an issue could scarcely have been contemplated in
Caesarea, where the Apostle knew that at any moment
he could exercise his right of appeal. Moreover, the
18

274 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
evangelical outlook of the Epistle, the keen anxiety, and
yet the hope of speedy deliverance, the reference to the
saints of Caesar's household, and to the ' pra'tunum ' in
the permissible sense of the Pra'toriau Guard, all point
in the same direction.
Now, if we could conclude that Philippians preceded tho
three Asiatic Epistles, then of course it would follow that
they also were written in Eome. But the relative dates
are a matter of much uncertainty. Lightfoot has argued
strongly in favour of giving the priority to Philippians.1
His more positive reasons are mainly based on considera
tions of subject-matter, which incline him on the one hand
to put Phihppians as near as possible to Eomans (yet
after all not nearer than three years),2 and on the other
hand to remove the three Epistles with their new themes
and peculiar expressions 3 as far away as possible, in order
to allow for the necessary development. No doubt it is
a sound principle that development requires time. But
it is doubtful if the application is of great value with
regard to the point at present at issue. Theological move
ment at Colosse, and Paul's power to deal with it, do not
necessarily imply that a contemporaneous or subsequent
letter to Philippians must be coloured by such facts.
Date Colossians when we may, Philippians might still
come after. Paul had sufficient faculty of intellectual
detachment to write to Philippi exactly as the occasion
required, and it would have been very unlike him at any
stage, late or early, to write to his converts there on
matters that were probably quite foreign to their religious
experience. Let the Epistles be drawn apart as far as
possible, yet within the Eoman period there cannot be
more than fifteen months at the very utmost between

1 Philippians, pp. 32 sqq.
2 A few commentators get Philippians much nearer to Romans hy regard
ing it as written in Caesarea. So .Macpherson, E/ihesians, pp. 8C-S7.
3 It should also he remembered, however, that there is a remarkable
affinity in thought and expression between Colossians and Philippians.
These resemblances have been discussed by Von Soden, and are enumerated
by Abbott in the International Crit. Comm. on Colossians, pp. lviii-lix.

OIMINH, OK TIN'! GAl'TIVITV I'll'INTUOH 27 '¦>
tlioin — a eniinidorulion wliicli (Iooh nuich to deprive of
oojj;oney any argument uh to priority drawn from develop
ment. On the other hand, tlm iuilieul.iouH in Philippiuim Mm!
it wiih written towai'ilH tlm el oho. of the inipriHoiiiiiont urn
not uiiHily Hot asido, Thoro huvo ovidontly boon ooininuni-
catioiiH between Philippi and Koine, poHHibly fhroo or four
in number, which iiiiihI huvo occupied hoiiio niontliH. Paul
ill ho doHcriboH the iulluonco of his example "in bonds"
both on thoHo who arc Christian und on Uioho who uro
not, in u way that not merely implies u coiiHidcrublo
roHidonco, hut HUggoHlH a ]iroininonc-o such uh wuh moHt
likely during tlm actual trial. Timothy m with him
when all tho Kprnflon urn written, but when PhilippiutiH
!h written it iH Huid fhut ho will Hhortly ho Houl to the
EuhI. Iiiiko und AriiiturehuH, it m generally believed, uro
with him when ho urrivoH in Pome, und thoy arc nmntionod
in CoIohhIuiih und Philemon, hut uro not mentioned in
Philippians, und indeed could Hoarcoly huvo boon present
when ho wrote tho worilH, "I huvo no one like -minded."
Hilt nhovo all, tho whole tone of I'liilippiaim hooiiis to
rovoul fhut Paul iH conHoiouH fhut ho now hIhihIh ut the
very crirtin of hm ull'uirH. Tho |iossibility of a Had isHuo
to Iuh trial is roul enough to throw over him many HhadowH
of anxiety. Nor do his friends Hland by him oithor ho
Hfoufly or ho nunmroiiHly us ho could wish. NovortholoHH,
ho has nuich to »*luu»r him, and ho cannot lot go the hope
that tho decision which ho soon oxpoefs, will bo in his
favour. Simh ultornufioim of hope und four doopon tho
impression that tho 10] >it-tl.l*> belongs to the close und climax
of tho period rather than to its beginning.
If Him bo ho, then tlm three earlier Epistles arc sot
I'roo, and it is possible thuf thoy may huvo boon written
in Cu'sarou. A considerable number of scholars adopt this
view.1 Thoir loading arguments may ho described as
geographical and historical. In Philippians, Paul, writing
1 K.g,, Scliul.', Thicrscli, Sclicukcl, /.octlcr, Meyer, Uciish, lltiuumth,
I'llcldcior, Weiss, Sulmllor.

276 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
from Eome, announces his intention of proceeding after
his release to Philippi ; but in Philemon he speaks of
going to Colosse. It is thought that the difference shows
that he did not write Philemon also in Eome. It is again
urged that his manner of ordering a lodging to be ready
for him at Colosse, would have been very strained if he
wrote from a place so far distant as the Capital. Such
criticism, however, is too rigid. Paul may surely be
allowed to modify his problematical plans as circumstances
dictate ; nor was there anything to prevent him journeying
from Pome to Phrygia vid Macedonia. As to the lodging,
the order would be strained enough even from Caesarea
if taken de rigueur, and, as Hort suggests, we should
doubtless take it as a playful yet earnest announce
ment to Philemon that the Apostle meant to see with
his own eyes how it would fare with the returned
slave. Weiss further recalls the account Tacitus 1 gives of an
earthquake which destroyed Laoclicea in A.P. 60 or 61
(" Nerone iv."), and which he thinks may probably be
the same as one mentioned by Eusebius in which Colosse
also suffered. If, therefore, Paul wrote to Colosse about
that time, when he was in Eome, he must surely have
made reference to the catastrophe. On this Vincent
wittily remarks that " it is possible to found a valid
argument upon an earthquake ; but in this case the
tremors of the earthquake pervade the argument." 2 It
is really impossible to lay stress on it, for the simple
reason that Tacitus is a very untrustworthy guide on such
a matter. The date Eusebius gives is four years later,
when both periods of captivity were over, and according
to critics most entitled to give such a judgment, Eusebius
is much more likely to be correct.3 In any case an
inference from mere silence is too precarious.
Lastly, in favour of a Eoman origin in preference to
1 Annals, xiv. Ti.
- I'hiliji/iians and Philemon, p. 161.
3Cf. Schiller, Nero, p. 160 n. 6; 172 n. 6; and Lightfoot, Colossians
pp. 39-40.

WRITTEN IN ROME 277
. Ceesarean, not only should Lightfoot's argument from
development have here considerable weight, but the im
perialistic ideas and illustrations which characterise the
Epistles seem to indicate that Paul had breathed the
atmosphere of the Capital. Nor ought we to omit to
notice that it is more probable that the runaway slave,
Onesimus, should flee to the city of Eome as a hiding-
place, and that he should there be allowed to approach
Paul in the liberty of the hired house, than that he should
have gone to Caesarea, and found a ready admittance to
the palace.1
On the whole, therefore, we may accept the general
opinion that the three Asiatic Epistles were also written
in Eome. Whether Colossians or Ephesians should come
first in the group is comparatively a small matter, on
which we really have no data of a decisive character.
The grounds on which priority is usually based are
mainly of a subjective kind, according as individual writers
think that a general or a special treatment is the more
likely to have come first. The opinion expressed by
Godet seems very probable : " that of two letters the
one complementary to the other, the one that was evoked
by a positive request and a determinate need, preceded,
and that the other, not more general, as is often wrongly
said, but more devoted to a subject closely related to
that of the first, was due to the more extensive con
sideration that the composition of the former had called
forth."2 Paul, then, was a prisoner in Eome when he wrote
the Epistle to the Colossians. His captivity was not of
a very stringent character. The centurion who brought
him to Italy delivered him into the hands of a superior
officer, who thenceforth became responsible for his safe

1 Cf. Klopper, Der Brief an die Colosser, p. 50. On the contrary, of.
Meyer, Ephesians (ed. 1895), p. 19.
2 Introduction, p. 491. Cf. also Weiss, Introduction, i. 347 : " It is most
natural to suppose that the Epistle designed for concrete needs was written
first." Klopper, Der Brief an die Epheser, p. 7, describes Ephesians as "a
remodelled, catholicised Colossians."

278 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
custody.1 He was allowed to live — most likely in close
proximity to the soldiers' quarters — in a hired lodging
of his own, where his friends had every liberty of access,
although he himself was under the constant surveillance
of a guard, to whom he was lightly chained by the wrist.
Thus at last he beheld the great city he had longed so
much to visit. It was passing through a strange and
ominous time. The Emperor's mother was dead, and his
wife was divorced ; the influences of his noblest general and
of his sagest counsellor were fast waning, while every day
the star of the licentious Popprea Sabina was rising in the
ascendant. Nero's true character was plainly revealing
itself, and the mad and criminal career had begun which
has handed his name clown in infamy through the ages.
Paul could not be ignorant of such things. The soldiers
and his friends would bring them often enough to his
ears. But he makes no allusion to them in his Epistles.
Doubtless it would not have been safe ; aud besides, his
mind was deeply occupied with other concerns. The
imperial movements did not yet touch him closely, though
the day hurried when they would rush round him like
an angry storm, play havoc with the Church, and sweep
away his own feeble hfe like a trembling leaf upon the
gale. But much had to happen, and Eome itself had
to spread its lurid flames over the sky, before the sword
of the first imperial persecution leapt from its scabbard.
There was no haste displayed in bringing the Apostle
to trial. The Emperor probably heard of his appeal with
complete indifference; and those who had to sustain
against him the charge of sedition were but little en
couraged by the report of Festus, and doubtless found
it somewhat difficult to collect their witnesses, and get
1 The phrase specifying the " captain of the guard " in Acts xxviii. 16
cannot be retained in the text ; yet it doubtless represents a correct
tradition. It is doubtful, however, if the word a-TpaToireddpxos refers to
so exalted an officer as the Prefect of the Pratorians. Ramsay, following
Mommsen, identifies the title with Princeps Peregrinorum, the chief of
" soldiers from abroad," i.e. those who had been detached from legions in
the provinces for special service, and whose camp in Rome was situated on
the Ovlian Hill. St. Paul the Traveller, pp. 347-348.

EPAPHRAS ARRIVES FROM COLOSSE 279
their case in train. Paul thus found himself for a while
at leisure to devote himself to the work he loved better
than hfe. Tlie members of the Christian communities
soon discovered theh way to his dwelling, and in course
of time others also had their interest awakened, and came
from sympathy or curiosity to listen to his preaching.
The continual intercourse with the soldiery gave him
unique opportunities which he was quick to use, so that
strange ears heard his message, and his very limitations
gave him scope. With joy he beheld the word of life,
like a new wonder, growing and multiplying in his hands.
Many personal friends, too, stood by him in the early
days, and made the yoke of his captivity hght.. Luke
and Aristarchus had apparently travelled with him from
Syria, though it is not necessary to think that they did
so as his " slaves." 1 Timothy and Tychicus soon joined
him, and Mark also, with whom he was now happily
reconciled. In a short time many of the most distant
Churches were represented in his circle. He delighted
to feel that their care was still upon him, and to hear
of their welfare from the lips of men who had most
recent and intimate knowledge of their affairs. Con
spicuous among such bearers of good tidings was Epaphras,
the minister of Colosse, and it was his arrival that gave
rise to the present Epistle. The Church at Colosse had
not been founded by Paul, nor had he ever seen it. On
the third missionary journey, according to the South-
Galatian theory, Paul proceeded from Pisidian Antioch to
Ephesus. The great highway that ran between these
cities passed through Colosse and Laodicea. The Apostle,
however, does not seem to have taken that frequented
route, but one farther north and more among the hills,
indicated in Acts xix. 1 by the phrase, "having passed
through the upper country." This road was at that time
of the nature of a footpath among the hills, but it after
wards formed part of the Byzantine route through Asia
Minor when the ancient highway fell into disuse. Yet
1 So Eamsay, St. Paul the Traveller, p. 316.

280 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
although Paul had never actually visited (lie Church of
Colosse, it was one of the outlying results of his missionary
labours in Ephesus, so that he was well entitled to address it.
In ( riieco - Eoman times a great road ran directly
eastward from Ephesus across Asia Minor towards the
Euphrates. About a hundred miles inland it entered the
valley of the Lycus, which takes its name from a stream
that flows forty miles westward from Lake Anava to the
Meander. This valley slopes gradually upward to the
great central plateau of the country, and is divided into
two long stretches of about equal length by a step or ridge,
which rapidly raises the more inland part several hundred
feet abpve the level of the other. In the centre of the
lower valley lay the cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis,
while Colosse stood near the ridge which marks the start
of the eastern glen. The highway passed through
Laodicea and Colosse at a distance of about eleven miles,
while Hierapolis lay apart on the hillside about six miles
north of Laodicea. The three thus formed a small tri
angular group of inland towns, belonging to the proconsular
province of Asia, and in all of them the light of the gospel
was already burning.
Laodicea is not only mentioned in this Epistle as the
recipient of a Pauline letter, but is also famous as being
one of St. John's " Seven Churches of Asia." It was a
busy centre of commerce, well situated in the midst of a
pastoral district, noted for its wool, glossy and black as a
raven's wing, and for its manufactures of cloth, rugs,
carpets, and such like. It was indeed " rich and had need
of nothing," a city of bankers and capitalists, so wealthy,
the historian tells us,1 that when it was devastated by
earthquake, it speedily rose again, like a Phoenix from the
dust, without needing any assistance from the State. It
was celebrated for its medical school and its devotion to
iEsculapius, its physicians being specially distinguished in
treating diseases of the eye.2 Hence there was peculiar

1 Tacitus, Ann. xiv. 27.
2 Ramsay, Cities anil Bishoprics cf Phrygia, i. 52.

CITIES OF THE LYCUS VALLEY 281
fitness in the warning metaphors of Eevelation: "I
counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that
thou mayest be rich ; and white raiment, that thou mayest
be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not
appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou
mayest see." The city remained notable in Christian
annals down to the time of the Mohammedan invasions,
when it was laid waste never to recover. To-day it
presents a melancholy appearance, with little about its
grey ruins to attract attention. Multitudes of reptiles
swarm among its scattered stones, and humanity gives it
a wide berth, save for a few gipsies who camp near it in
the spring-time, and occasional groups of masons from
Denizli who hew its sculptured marbles into tombstones.1
Hierapolis was even more famous in olden time, and is
now, if possible, even more desolate. It rejoiced in what
Laodicea had not, a magnificent situation of almost unique
attractiveness. It stood on a large plateau on the top of a
precipitous cliff, and was flanked and sheltered by finely
wooded hills. Its air was pure and delightful, and the
view it commanded to the east and south and west, over
fertile fields and winding rivers, was one of entrancing
beauty. The cliff2 on which it rested was one of the
wonders of nature. Seen from a distance it gleamed with
dazzling whiteness, and near at hand it had the appearance
of a vast frozen cascade, as of waters arrested in their fall,
their petrified masses taking the most varied and fantastic
shapes. This was due to the fact that hot springs bubbled
up in the centre of the plateau, and sent over the cliff
streams strongly impregnated with carbonate of lime,
which constantly deposited its fine silvery crystals, and
incrustated everything it passed over. The phenomenon
still exists, and the results are still wonderful. The
stream has passed over the edge by different channels, and
has formed innumerable pools or basins of various levels
1 Cf. Hamilton's Researches in Asia Minor, i. 515 ; Svoboda, Seven
Churches of Asia, pp. 24-26 ; Davis, Anatolica, p. 96.
2 According to Svoboda, 400 feet high, and more than 1000 yards in
extent.

o

282 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
and sizes, many of which are supported by thick stalactite
columns in regular rows like the pipes of an organ.1 The
pearly grey and blue water is continually glancing and
flowing in these pools, with the most beautiful opal
escent effects, as if the whole cliff were in motion.
Farther across the plateau, and near the foot of the hills,
is another spring, whose waters are charged with carbonic
acid gas and sulphuretted hydrogen, exhaling vapours that
are deadly to animals, as the ancients believed, and to all
men also except the priests.2 This well appears at one
time to have been enclosed by a temple, as the bottom of it
is now strewn with columns and sculptured debris, probably
cast there by the Christians, who would look on the place
as a kind of outlet of Tophet. Thus endowed, Hierapolis
enjoyed a great reputation, sedulously cultivated, as a
holy city, and was much frequented as a health resort by
wealthy invalids. Claiming to cure all diseases, it was the
Lourdes and Spa of Phrygia, splendidly adorned with many
costly and magnificent buildings. Its most significant
remains to-day, however, are its tombs. These are in
numerable, monumental, and highly artistic, stretching
away to east and west in long, pathetically eloquent
streets. Hidden by jutting hills from view from Hierapolis,
Colosse lay on the banks of the Lycus at the spot where
that river makes a rapid and turbulent plunge through a
deep ravine to the valley below. It had so utterly passed
from ken that it is only in recent times that its site has
been correctly identified.3 It once enjoyed a reputation
very similar to that of Laodicea, but waned doubtless as
its rival prospered, and finally decayed altogether as the
new Byzantine routes diverted the traffic from the old

1 Cf. the interesting photograph in Davis's Analolica, p. 99.
2 It is the carbonic acid that holds the lime in solution, until the gas
escapes into the air, when the lime precipitates. Frankland, in Svoboda's
Appendix. 3 By Hamilton, Researches in Asia, Minor (1842), i. 509, in October,
1836 ; by Laborde also, but less precisely, in 1826, Voyage de I'Asie
Mineure.

OCCASION OF THE EPISTLE 283
highway.1 The spot to-day is only marked by a bridge, a
few wretched mills, and heaps of stones scattered on both
sides of the river. We know nothing of the origin of the
town, and cannot fell even the meaning of its name. Its
memory lingered till tho close of tho eighth century, hut
after that it was so completely forgotten that some
believed Paul's Epistle was written to the Ehodians, who
were also called Colossians from their famous colossus.2
But though Colosse may have been a place of small
importance in itself, there had arisen a state of matters in
the Church there, and probably also in the neighbouring
Churches, that threatened deeply to affect the gospel.
Views of a subtle heretical character began to show them
selves, and gave alarm to the anxious heart of Epaphras.
He felt unable to deal with them, and apparently thought
it imperative to make the long journey to Eome for the
purpose of seeking Paul's advice. The Apostle was quick
to perceive that the new views contained elements of
grave danger. They were not likely to die down of
themselves ; they must be met and confuted : hence his
Epistle. Nor was this danger to evangelical truth much to be
wondered at. Colosse was a Phrygian town, and as such
offered a soil peculiarly fitted for the reception of fantastic
notions in religion. The worship of Cybele, with all its
manifold mysteries and superstitions, was deeply rooted
in the district, and gave the native mind a tendency to
mystical extravagances, from which it never, even in the
Christian centuries, shook itself free. Moreover the town
was on the highway that connected the East and West,
and was constantly affected by the influx of travellers,
frequently zealots, who brought with them the opinions
and speculations of the outer world. The ubiquitous Jews
had also been long estabhshed in the valley of the Lycus.
Not only do we know that Antiochus the Great had
planted large colonies of them there, but in Cicero's
1 Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics, p. 209,
2 Ibid. p". 21-1.

284 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
defence of Flaccus the Temple-tax referred to is so large as
to imply a very considerable Jewish population.
What the state of affairs actually was we can only
infer from the Epistle itself. Evidently the heretical
teaching had not done vital injury, but was threatening to
do so. The Apostle addresses the Colossians as if they
were not yet ' moved away from the hope of the gospel,'
and as if it were needful only to exhort them to ' continue
in the faith.' He speaks even in admiration of their faith
and steadfastness. We are therefore in the presence, not
so much of a direct antagonism to the gospel, as of certain
specious and enticing errors which threatened to supersede it.
The intention was to lead to something higher ; and therein
lay the insidious peril. Christ was not denied, but He
was in danger of being passed over. The central purpose,
therefore, which has possession of the Apostle's mind, is to
make clear the fatal error of superseding Christ in any
way, of vainly dreaming that a higher knowledge or a
fuller hfe can be attained without Him. In Him alone
we are ' complete,' ' perfect ' ; and in Him all ' fulness,'
and ' all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,' dwell.
This dreaded teaching Paul describes generally as
enticing words, the philosophy and vain deceit, the tradi
tion of men, the rudiments of the world. More particularly
he indicates that it incidcated scruples regarding meat,
drink, holy days, new moons, sabbaths, and that it was
characterised by voluntary humility, worshipping of angels,
visions, ascetic ordinances, will-worship, and severity to the
body. From his use of the terms wisdom, knowledge,
philosophy, we may infer that he is rebutting a certain
pretentiousness that posed as something higher than the
ordinary. He seems also to dread a tendency to spiritual
exclusiveness in opposition to the spirit of the preaching
which warns every man, teaches every man, and seeks to
make every man perfect, whether Greek or Jew, circum
cision or uncircuincision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free.
From the references also to the angelic hierarchies, the
principalities and powers of the invisible world, as well as
to visions and angelolatry, it is evident he is nervously

THE COLOSSIAN HERESY 285
conscious of teaching in the highest dogroo inimical to tho
supremacy of Christ.
Here, then, wo have obviously two main elements
closely related to each other. The one is a kind of
theosophy, familiar to tho Oriental mind, in which men
sought to doline the relation of the Supreme Being to a
sinful world by means of a series of intermediary exist
ences, whoso gradually fading remoteness from Him mado
evil conceivable. Allied with this, indeed at its base, is
tho further notion that evil resides in material and perish
ing things ; and that consequently the way of emancipation
is by a rigorous asceticism, a stern repression of the body,
whoreby we are not only freed from sensual bondage,
but enabled to enter into closer communion with tho
spiritual world, and first of all, in a becoming humility,
with the lower stages of its life. Ouly thoso who entered
upon this path could over hope to become perfect, and tho
wisdom or knowlodge they attained was true philosophy.1
Undoubtedly it is a matter of interest to consider
whence such doctrines wero derived, and how they came to
bo mixed up with the Christianity of Colosse ; but it is
quite impossible to point to any precise historical origin.
Such views wore in tho air at that time, and here we are
ovidently meeting tho first elementary stages, in thought
and language and life, of what in a few generations later
bocamo the well-defined systems of Christian Gnosticism.2

1 Doan Mansol, Gnostic H-resies, p. 63, dofinos tho incipient Gnosticism
present in Colossians as follows : " First ; it protonded, under tho plausible
name of philosophy, to be in possession of a higher kuowlodgo of spiritual
things than oould bo obtaiuod through tho simplo preaching of tho gospel.
Seoondly ; it adopted tho oonunon tonot of all tho Gnostio soots, that of a
distinction between tho supreme God aud tho Dcmiurgos or croator of tlio
world. Thirdly ; by virluo of its protondod insight into the spiritual world,
it taught a theory of its own concerning tho various orders of angols and tho
worship to bo paid to thom. And fourthly ; in connection with those
theories, it onjoincd and adopted tho praotioo of a rigid ascotioism, extend
ing and exaggerating tho ceremonial prohibitions of the Jewish law, and
probably connoeling them with a philosophical 1 hoory concerning tho evil
nature of matter."
2 The genuineness of Colossians is considered, and furtlier reference made
to Gnosticism, in discussing Ephesians : pp. 348-352 ; 361-368.

286 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
A moment's glance discovers a Jewish influence. The
references to new moons, sabbaths, and circumcision, make
that obvious, and the phrase, ' the traditions and command
ments of men,' was a common one to apply to Pharisaic
customs. Nor is it necessary to go outside Jewish circles
for the ascetic practices and the cult of the angels. These
were well-known features of Essenism, and even though
there is no distinct evidence that the sect of the Essenes
existed beyond the bounds of Palestine, its tenets and cus
toms must have been to some extent a portable property
with the Jews wherever they wandered. This was the
case in Alexandria and Eome, and may easily have been
so in Ephesus and Colosse. It is accordingly the common
opinion that the heresy with which Paul deals is an in
cipient Gnosticism, due more or less to Essenic influences.
It is scarcely necessary, however, to enter into researches
in Essenism on this account ; for, after all, Essenism as
a system is more conspicuously absent from the Epistle
than present. Contact of the Jewish mind of the Disper
sion with the speculative Orientalism which was to be
found everywhere in the first century, is quite sufficient to
account for the facts ; and while it would no doubt be a
mistake to ignore the implicit references of the Epistle, it
is on the other hand as great a mistake to read too much
between the hues.1
Sincerely alarmed, yet confident it was not too late tc
deal with the situation, Paul wrote his Epistle. He begins
with very kindly references to the brethren whom he has
never seen, rejoicing in the good report of their faith and
love. He assures them of his unceasing prayers on their
behalf, that they may be strengthened in the Lord, and
that they may fully recognise how much they owe to the
goodness of God in drawing them into the kingdom of His
1 It would almost seem as if Hort had fallen into the former error and
Lightfoot into the latter. Cf. Hort's Judaistic Christianity, pp. 116 sqq. ;
Lightfoot's Colossians, pp. 70 sqq. One cannot but rejoice, however, that
Lightfoot's views led him to his Dissertations on the Essenes. The Essenic
influence is also very fully discussed by Klopper, Der Brief an die Colosser,
Einl. § 8, Die Irrlehre.

CONTENTS OF THE EPISTLE 287
dear Son. The mention of Christ introduces a rapturous
description of His pre-eminent glory : the Image of God,
the First-born of all Creation, by whom and for whom all
things were created, and through whom all are reconciled
to God ; the Head also of the Church, and not least the
Saviour of the Colossians themselves, that is, if they should
continue in the faith of the gospel, that blessed ' mystery '
of divine grace, of which he, Paul, is himself honoured to be
a minister, for which he suffers joyfully, and by which he
labours for the blessing of all men, that all may be made
perfect in Christ.
A few more words of renewed affection, and the Apostle
speaks directly, in tones of earnest warning and appeal, of
the teaching whose enticing words and perilous tendencies
fill him with so much concern. Its central error is that it
ignores the supreme place to which Christ alone is entitled ;
the Lord to whom they owe everything, who died for them,
having the indictment against them nailed to His Cross, in
which also God openly triumphed over principalities and
powers. The true way to spiritual life is not by turning
from Him, but by ever chnging more closely to Him, and
verily sharing by mystical union in His dying and rising
again. By that union alone all evil that afflicts the soul
shall cease, shall be put off as a filthy robe ; and the graces
which truly adorn and bring near to God, shall be put on
after the image of Christ. Abiding thus ' in the Lord,' the
result wiU be seen not only in the new and richer life of
the Church, but in all the relations of life, pre-eminently in
that centre of Christian felicity, the home, among wives
and husbands, children and servants.
Finally, with loving commendations of his messenger,
and salutations from friends around him in Eome, not only
to the Colossians but also to the brethren in Laodicea who
are to share in his counsels, the brief but faithful and
important letter comes to a close.
Eeverting now to the passages which undoubtedly
contain the distinctive purpose of the Epistle — those in
which Paul makes express reference to the Colossian
heresy (ii. 4, 8, and 16-23), and those in which it is

288 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
reasonable and almost necessary to assume that that
teaching is in his mind (i. 15—20), — we find a double line
of treatment, corresponding to the two elements to be
traced in the heresy, the one transcendental, and the other
practical. The former deals with the pre-existent life of
Christ, the origin of the universe, and of the new- spiritual
creation, the Church ; the latter, wdth the manner in which
the redeemed life is to be guided and controlled, its
emancipation from mere ceremonial observances, earthly
rudiments of religion, and severe and arbitrary austerities
of the flesh. In treating these two aspects of things Paul
has but one solution, and that is Christ. On the one
hand, Christ the Divine Son is at once the origin and goal,
the beginning and end of the whole created world, and in
Himself fills the entire space between the human and the
divine ; and on the other hand, in Him redeemed humanity
finds its completeness and perfection, in Him the only
deliverance from a guilty past, the only hope of a
blameless future.
Generally speaking, there is nothing essentially new in
this doctrine. The central importance of the Cross, and the
mystical union of the believer with the crucified and risen
Christ, have been clearly and fully stated in earlier
Epistles ; and the view of Christ as the Eternal Word, the
manifestation of God, the source and goal of all creation,
is not only in complete harmony with other apostolic
teaching, especially Johannine, but has already, though in
less developed form, been enunciated by Paul himself both
to the Corinthians and to the Eomans.1
The main features of the Epistle, therefore, which we
ought to grasp, are, first, the supremacy of Christ in His
Person and Office, and, secondly, His all-sufficiency in the
Christian Life.
1. (1) In two striking phrases Paul describes the
unique relation of Christ to God the Father. He is the
1 Cf. 1 Cor. viii. 6, and xv. 27 ; 2 Cor. iv. 4 ; Rom. x. 12, and most
probably ix. 5. On this last reference (" Who is over all, God blessed for
ever") vide supra, p. 251 n.; and for authorities on the inteiprctation, cf.
Stevens' Pauline T/uvlvgy, p. 201 n.

THE IMAGE AND FULNESS OF GOD 289
Image of the invisible God, and in Him all the Fulness of
the Godhead dwells. Both words, Image (eltcoov) and
Fulness (irXrjpafia), as applied to the Logos or personifica
tion of the divine energy, were common in the Alexandrian
theosophy of Philo, and were doubtless frequently on the
lips of the errorists of Colosse. The Apostle, however,
applies them to Christ in the most absolute sense. God
the Father, by the very infinitude of His glory, dwelleth in
light inaccessible, as One whom no man hath seen, neither
indeed can see. But there is One who is His Image, not
because He is merely hke Him, or in some faint way
reflects certain of His quahties, but because He is His full
and perfect representation, verily revealing Him in the
only way He ever can or will be known.
How vain, therefore, to seek to know God along other
lines ! How needless to approach Him by any sloping
stairs of darkness ! He is nigh, and may be known directly
in Christ. " The Word became flesh, and we beheld His
glory." Nay more, to receive spiritual aid or blessing it is
unnecessary to repair to any other source. For in Him all
the Fulness of the Godhead dwells, that is, He contains
the complete sum of all the divine powers and attributes.
Omnipotence and omniscience are His, infinite love, pity,
and compassion. All the grace and goodness that we
conceive when we think of God, reside in Him. How is
it possible, then, to kneel in worship before any other ? to
adore or fear any other ? " See the Christ stand " : God
manifest in the flesh, and thus manifest that there may
flow from Him to us, who are flesh of His flesh, every good
and perfect gift. This strips the crown from every other
head, for it brings One into vision before whom every knee
shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord. No
other stands to God in such a relation, at once the express
Image of His Person, and the hving and brimming
Fountain of His goodness, not for a moment merely, or for
a brief and brilhant earthly ministry, but eternally,
abiding and unimpaired, for in Him all the Fulness
dwells. (2) Now, if this be Christ's unique relation to God,
19

290 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
does it not follow as a thing most assured that He is
supreme over all creation ? He is at once its origin and
its end. He is the Firstborn of every creature, that is, in
existence before them all, and their natural Euler and
Lord.1 For by Him all things were created, things in
heaven and things on earth, visible and invisible, however
exalted any of them may seem to be, however noble the
parts assigned to them, " thrones or dominions, princi
palities or powers " : they were created through Him,
yea and for Him — all to find in Him their destiny ; and
without Him not one for a single moment subsists, for He
is the pre-existing power on which they all depend. How
perilous, therefore, is any doctrine which puts that which
is created in the place of Him who creates ! The universe
owes its being to One, and only to One. Every star that
shines in the sky, and every flower that blooms on earth,
every seraph that stands before the Throne, and every
insect that spreads its gauzy wings in the hght, in Him
hve and move and have their being. He called them forth,
and because He is almighty they do not faint or fail. For
His glory they came into being, for His glory they continue,
and, in the consummation, at His feet they shaU fall. The
voice of angels and of all created things is : " Worship
Him." (3) Still further, there is the new creation, the
creation of the redeemed and reconciled, and over this
also the same Lord is supreme. " He is Head of the body,
the Church." The Church ! Believers, called out from
the world, under whatever chme, by whatever name they
are named, whatever tongue they speak, in Imperial Eome,
or in provincial Colosse — are a mysterious unity, sharers
in a common life and an eternal hope ; and that unity, that
1 On TrpurbroKos wdo-ns Krtaeoi! cf. Lightfoot, Colossians, p. 144. That
the genitive is not partitive is quite evident from the very next sentence,
"For by Him," etc. A similar comparative use of the genitive occurs in
English in Milton's well-known lines :
"Adam the goodliest man of men since born
His sons ; the fairest of her daughters Eve."
Par. Lost, iv. 323-324.

THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH 291
life, that hope, they all owe to Christ. As the head is to
the body, truly regarded as the sine and non of its existence,
without which it decays and ceases to be, the nervous
centre of its thought and feeling, the source of its strength,
the spring and guide of its activity — so is Clirist to the
Church. In Him it begins, not in any transcendent
sphere, but in the realm of history and experience, inas
much as He first rose from the dead, in order that, living
and ascended, He might lead many sons unto glory. Yea,
it is not the body of believing men alone who are thus
blessed in Him. The peace " through the blood of the
Cross " runs as a whisper of divine love through the whole
universe. By the Christ of Calvary it pleases God " to
reconcile all things unto Himself, things on earth and
things in heaven."1 The whole creation that has so long
travailed and been in pain, shall be blest in this Pax Dei,
and even the angelic beings — may we not conceive it ? —
dismayed by the awful prevalence and dominion of sin, and
bewildered by the divine attitudes and movements towards
it, by the long-suffering of God and the condescension of
divine self-sacrifice, shall be drawn in a blessed access of
rapturous adoration nearer to the God of redeeming love,
and at last understanding what they long desired to look
into, shall praise Him through infinity in the Song of the
Lamb. How humbly it becomes us, therefore, to abase
ourselves before a supremacy so absolute and so dearly
won ! The man who thinks he is a Christian, and yet even
for a moment suffers any other than Christ to usurp the
throne of his deepest affections, to dictate or control his
actions, does not understand. He is severing himself from
what alone supplies true dignity and worth to his life. He
should rather be jealous of every voice that drowns the
1 Col. i. 19-20. Dr. Charles, in his Jowett Lectures on Eschatology,
pp. 404-405, strongly maintains that Paul means both in Colossians and
Ephesians to teach that the fallen angels must share in the atonement of the
Cross. He thinks the word "reconciliation" incapable of any other inter
pretation. But cf. on the contrary Weiss, Bib. Theo!., ii. 106-107 and note.
Cf. also Denney (Death of Christ, pp. 194-200), who finds the scope of the
reconciliation due to the cosmical view of Christ's Person, and declines to
lay stress on ideas that are at best "quasi-poetical."

292 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
voice of Christ, eager to flee from every hand that would
loose the cords that bind him to so great and dear a Lord.
Without Him new hfe had never begun to be, and without
Him it can never be made perfect. In all things He must
" have the pre-eminence."
In such a way, by such magnificent and comprehensive
conceptions, Paul strove to meet the dangers that beset the
Church at Colosse. Christ first, Christ last, Christ all the
way through, in the universe and in the Church, was a
faith so great that no atom of room was left for a desire
to people the unseen with visionary hosts of angehc
powers, helpful or hateful, to whom it were needful to
pay any tribute of adoration or fear. They faded away
hke pale ghosts before the glorious dawn of this heavenly
Sun. The true antidote to the haunting and perilous myths
was simply to understand Christ better. The Colossians
revered Him for much, but not for nearly enough. They
did not perceive how the ' much ' really implied infinitely
more. The Apostle ventures with them into the invisible
world. But he has a great advantage over them, and the
consciousness of it makes him radiant. What were their
doctrines after all ? They were almost entirely imaginary,
and ah the angehc beings whom they presented as the
agents of God and authorities over men, were, even granting
that they existed, unknown by any definite knowledge or
experience. It was vain to arrange them in ranks, and to
whisper their names in initiated circles. No man knew
such things. But the Apostle found, pervading and
dominating the whole created world, One who once trod. the
earth in human form, and who in sight of human eyes had
ascended into heaven, whence He had revealed Himself as
dwelling in power and glory. For this belief, therefore, he
had an historic basis of a nature that made all he had to
say of the supremacy of Christ inherently probable. Of
One who was confessedly God manifest in the flesh, who
triumphed, as they all believed, so wonderfully on the Cross,
and who was now exalted as a Prince and a Saviour at the
right hand of God, surely it was utterly impossible to

PRACTICAL RESULTS OF THE HERESY 293
believe that His absolute beginning was as a babe in
Bethlehem, or even that it was adequate to give Him a
vague and limited place among the angels. What they
knew of Him demanded far more than that, no less than a
pre-existent state of ineffable glory.1 Let them enter,
therefore, the transcendental sphere if they will, but let
them find there, as reason itself compels them to find, One
who when on earth delighted in the sons of men, but
who Himself was the delight of the Father before the
world began.
2. But the false teaching was not without a direct
bearing on conduct. It might be but the baseless fabric of
a vision, yet all who were enticed to entertain it were also
led to adopt on its account very rigorous rules of practical
life. Creed and conduct go hand in hand whatever the
creed may be ; and Paul learnt that the creed of Colosse, as
he might have guessed, was resulting in the old relapse he
had so often striven against, an enslaved life that returned
to tremble beneath the Law, and that sought to make itself
perfect through the flesh.
The cult of the angels as exhibited in Paul's time, may
be said to have had a twofold reason for its existence. It
had vogue, partly because men desired to account for the
existence of evil, and partly because they desired to escape
from it. The theory of angelic emanations, proceeding from
God in an almost endless series towards materialisation,
accounted for its existence, and was an outcome of a revival
of Platonic dualism, according to which the seat of all evil
was beheved to be in material things : and the escape was
to be by the cultivation of the spiritual mediating powers
that were deemed friendly to man, and by punctilious and
humble servitude towards those that were antagonistic.
Hence the Law " given by angels " must continue to be
fulfilled, and the physical relations which, as essentially
evil, degraded the soul and held it in bondage, must be
overcome and contemned. That is to say, the practical

1 On this "inference backward" of. Weiss, Bib. Theol. of the N.T., i.
413-414.

294 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
result was the endeavour to achieve a sanctified life by
the impossible routes of legalism and asceticism.
Against these resultant errors Paul warned with all his
strength. They were both due to the serious misunder
standing of Christ : the one forgetting that He had for ever
abolished the servitude of the Law by His Cross ; the other,
that the only true way to a higher life was by continuing
in union with Him who had risen to the right hand of
God. The Law indeed was ' good,' but it was no longer
a standard of judgment for those for whom the bond of
ordinances had been nailed to the Cross. Its ritual once
served to point to Christ, but was not binding now that the
substance to which it pointed had come. Any ' powers '
who sought to press it as a perpetual and unendurable
yoke, had been divinely spoiled and made a show of openly.
The starting-point of the new life was the end of the old.
As for ascetic discipline of the body, they must never
dream that merely to despise the body was a sure way to
escape from the temptations and corruptions of which it
seemed the channel. Experience only too sadly shows that
hard treatment of the body is no real remedy for the
passions of the soul. Penance and self-humiliation have a
" show of wisdom," and they deceive many ; but they have
never proved a specific against the indulgence of the flesh.1
Christian history has assuredly echoed back the warning
word. The hermits in their cells, and the monks in their
monasteries ; St. Francis contemning his ' brother the
ass,' 2 tightening his girdle about him till he bled, and roll
ing himself in the pitiless snow on the recurrence of what
he deemed an evil desire : none of them by self-inflicted
stripes found deliverance from this ' body of death.' Paul's
solution is now as ever wholly spiritual. He knows that
it is a profound mistake to identify sin with external
things. Its seat is in the inner life and will : " the heart
aye's the part aye that makes us right or wrang." Hence

1 "Not really of any value to remedy indulgence of the flesh " ; this
seems the meaning at the close of ver. 23. Cf. Lightfoot, Colossians, p. 204.
-I.e., his body.

ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST 295
the inward change, the new heart, alone avails. And this
is secured only in one way, " in the Lord " ; by so intimate
a union with Christ that the believer spiritually dies
Christ's death, and lives Christ's life. The sole secret of
sanctification is that " Christ is our life," and that hence
forth it is not we who live but Christ who hveth in us.
It is by the daily dwelling in Him and He in us, whereby
His will becomes ours, and His strength ours, that the new
man is put on " after the image of Him that created him,"
and that the daily transfiguration takes place which alone
makes human hfe sublime.
It is impossible to turn from this short Epistle without
feeling that though it deals with " unhappy far-off things,
and battles long ago," it yet touches tendencies and errors
that are ever prone to show themselves in the human
heart. Among Christians it should be ever precious for the
lofty ideas it gives of the pre-eminent glory of Christ. No
higher place can ever be given to Him by the human mind
than is given to Him here. He stands behind all created
things ! The revelations of Science, therefore, only shed
new rays of glory upon Him, and the march of history and
the experiences of providence obtain a marvellous security,
and have round them a fresh halo of righteousness and
tenderness, when we cling to the faith that He is at the
centre, and that One who has stood so close to our
humanity, and who knows it to its profoundest depths,
holds the control in His pierced hands, and makes all
things work together for good to them that love Him. He
fills the whole space which the human heart so often
yearns to bridge, the awful gulf that lies between God
and fallen man. He is the fellow and the friend of both.
To know Him is to know that there is no need of other
mediation, that merely to think of it is to put a slur upon
a divine sufficiency, and to deny that our Lord's power and
sympathy, His divinity and humanity, are as real as we
have confessed. Saints and angels, whatever their place in
His great universe, are not and can never be mediators
between our souls and God. We have drifted far from the
apostolic faith if we ever dream so vain a dream. .And we

296 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
are equally astray if we turn to rest in the mere ritual and
ceremonial exercises of religion, as if these in themselves
had any propitiatory or reconciling force. Very acutely
has it been remarked : " The letter to the Colossians was
sent from Eome. Would it not be well to send it back
to its cradle ? " 1 We must joyfully continue to hold, alike
for the Church which is sometimes tempted to lean upon
another arm, and for the individual Christian who seeks
refuge beneath other wings, that the heartmost message of
the Epistle abides : " Ye are complete in Him, who is the
head of all principality and power."
1 Godet, Studies on tlie Epistles, p. 191.

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON.

THE EPISTLE AND ITS PUEPOSE.
If we sought to show the secret of Paul's success as a
missionary, we should certainly turn to this brief Epistle in
preference almost to any other. For that secret did not lie
so much in his masterly generalship of the Churches, or in
his great ability in the statement and defence of the gospel,
as in his devoted love to individual souls. It was by his
affectionate personal interest that he undoubtedly obtained
his singular hold upon men. Wherever he went hearts
responded to this winsome attachment. The sunshine of
his solicitude seemed to focus itself on each single life, and
to make that life its pecuhar care. Great as he is when
panoplied in theological armour, " sheathed with logic and
bristling with arguments," he is greater still as he lavishes
himself in the personal ministry of love, and seeks to win
his crown in the growing grace and peace of the souls
whom he has brought into the kingdom of Christ.
We might indeed have gathered so much from allusions
in other Epistles, but this one makes it particularly vivid,
and indeed presents us with a quite unique picture of the
Apostle in all the charm of his intimate intercourse with
his friends. Moreover, it is the only Pauline we possess of
so very personal a nature. We can scarcely doubt that as
his messengers went to and fro they must frequently have
borne such notes of kindly counsel. Yet there has been
297

298 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
preserved only this gem. Every one recognises that it
shines with a rare lustre. Eenan speaks of it as a
chef-d'ceuvre in letter-writing, although it is really too artless
and natural to suggest the atelier. It is characterised by
the most channing courtesy and tact, but only as the
expression of innate delicacy and good-feeling. It may
indeed be said to have disarmed criticism, for few have
cared to lay a rough hand upon it. Its authenticity has
hardly been seriously questioned. Baur rejected it, but
amid compliments and with an air of apology. He could
only suggest that it was an " embryo Christian romance."
Weizsacker and Pfleiderer prefer to speak of it as an
" allegory." But these writers scarcely deal with it on its
own merits. Noscitur e sociis is for the moment their
critical maxim. For Philemon is so closely linked with
Colossians, and gives that difficult Epistle such invincible
support, that it is felt to be quite impossible to admit it.
It must go simply because Colossians must. As Sabatier
says, we have here the wolf's argument against the lamb :
"If it was not you, it was your brother." Yet Paul's
impress is all over the letter, in every sentiment and
syllable, and we may conclude that he never wrote any
thing if he did not write this. " Nothing," said Erasmus,
" could be more perfectly Pauhne." " It can only be set
aside," adds Sabatier, " by an act of sheer violence."
Paul's purpose in this Epistle is a very transparent
and yet a very delicate one. It is to reconcile a master to
his slave. Onesimus had abused his trust in Philemon's
household, and had fled from his service. Paul, however,
had now brought this fugitive slave into the faith of Christ,
and had conceived for him a deep affection. Both master
and slave were his friends ; both owed him life in Christ
Jesus ; and he felt he might bridge the gulf between them
by an appeal to that Lord in whom there is neither bond
nor free. The Epistle is not, strictly speaking, private. The
address is to Philemon, to Apphia and Archippus, and to
the congregation of Christians who meet in Philemon's
house. Yet the matter is one in which Philemon is chiefly

NATURE OF THE EPISTLE 299
concerned, and the body of the Epistle is definitely written
to him. We ought not, however, to regard the inclusion of
the brethren in the address as a matter of small significance.
It is no doubt an act of kindly remembrance, but it is
something more. Had it been no more, we should have
found these friends mentioned simply in the greetings at
the close. It seems certainly implied that though Philemon
is sole legal arbiter in the matter, the appeal to be made to
him is one of such a distinctly Christian character that not
he alone but also the Christians around him, and especially
they of his own house, are to be regarded as deeply
interested. The new rehgious relation in which they all
stand has its obligations. There is thus a delicate but
unmistakable influence brought to bear on the Christian
master at the very start. He cannot escape the conscious
ness that however he may act, he will act as a member of a
spiritual association, whose bonds are the bonds of grace
and peace. Undoubtedly also Paul must have felt that
what he was about to say should have more than a mere
individual effect. He dealt with what was a common
experience in Christian homes. His words would do very
valuable service if they tended to alleviate the general
social condition, and to lead to kindlier relations between
master and slave in more cases than one.
Philemon seems to have been a man of wealth and
position in the town of Colosse. He was distinguished for
his benevolence, and had thrown open his house as a
meeting-place for the Christian converts. He himself had
been brought to Christ by the Apostle's influence, probably
when Paul was at work in Ephesus. It is generally
believed that Apphia was his wife, and Archippus their
son. From a passage in Colossians it is also inferred that
Archippus was an office-bearer in the neighbouring Church
of Laodicea. Onesimus was most likely only one of many slaves in
this household. His name — 'profitable' — was a very
common one for a slave to bear. But he had not been
true to his name, as Paul indicates by his good-humoured
play on the word (ver. 11). He had apparently defrauded

300 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
his master (vv. 18-19), and we may also judge that his
case was a bad one, if not in the actual amount of the
dishonesty, which Paul pledges himself to repay, at any
rate in its accompanying circumstances. A mere case of
petty pilfering, an incident so common that ' thief ' and
' slave ' were almost synonymous terms, would never have
compelled him to take a step which would itself have
brought on him an extreme penalty.1 Nor would he have
been likely to flee for a small offence from a master whose
clemency and benevolence were well known. The dread
that inspired him was probably a moral one. He may
have stood on terms of high esteem with his master, and
enjoyed his confidence. The Epistle shows that there was
much that was attractive about him, and that his nature
was one of earnestness and depth. It is quite possible,
therefore, that the impulse that drove him away was rather
shame than fear. Slaves were often as cultured and sensi
tive as their owners, and if Onesimus had fallen from his
high place on some sudden temptation, we need not wonder
if he felt too much ashamed to face Philemon. At all
events he fled from Colosse, and with the true instinct of
a fugitive he made for the covert of a great city. It was
easier to lose himself amid Eome's teeming population than
anywhere else in the world. He wished the waves to go
over him, that he might be unrecognised, unheeded, and
forgotten. It is on the whole too far-fetched to imagine that
Onesimus expected to find in Eome salvation either spiri
tual or civil. It has been thought that he knew of Paul's
imprisonment, and that he definitely went to seek the
Apostle. It is very possible he may have seen Paul in
1 Runaway slaves when retaken were usually branded on the forehead, or
maimed, or forced to fight with wild beasts. They were pursued by hue
and cry ; bills were circulated with their description, and with offers of
reward for their restoration ; and there was a regular professional class
(fugUivarii) employed to hunt them down. There were also insurance
offices that insured the master against loss incurred by the flight of his
slaves. Cf. Smith's Diet, of Greek and Roman Antiquities, s.v. Servus, p.
86S«. Also Blair's Inquiry inlo the State of Slavery amongst the Romans,
p. 109 ; and Boeckh's Public Economy of Athens, i. 100.

ONESIMUS IN ROME 301
Ephosus, and may havo hoard him proclaim the liberty
wherewith Christ makes men free. Hut it is not likely
that that memory now inspired him to cast himself on
Paul's sympathy. Had ho interpreted Christianity so pro
foundly, he would never havo left his Christian master.
Moro probably it never entered his dreams that tho
Apostle's language pointed to a loosening of the bonds
of his literal slavery. And if he know Paul was a friend
of Philemon, to meet him would be tho last thing he
would desire.
But the great world is not so very large, and tho most
unexpected meetings often take place when all the so-called
chances aro against them. In somo way quite unknown
to us, Cod's providence caused Onesimus to be met and
recognised in those busy streets. The eye of the Lord
was on His wandering sheep. Even when he thought
himself most concealed, Onesimus was most observed.
Kloeing from tho earthly muster, he ran into the arms
of tho heavenly. Little do wo know the issues to which
our stops uro leading, or the strange turnings that will
sin prise us in tho lunos of life. Out of our very sins
and follies it pleases Cod to unfold the opportunities of
grace. Sometimes we refuse them, aud tho baud of the
Good Shepherd is shaken off in misunderstanding and
disdain. But Onesimus did not so refuse. Perhaps he
hail been long enough at tho black heart of that iniquitous
city, and had tasted sufficient of its wretchedness and
horror. His soul grew lean on tho husks with which
ho was fed. When a friend came in his way, and when
that friend brought with him the air of a better and purer
life, he did not turn from him. There was something that
inclined to good in the heart of the runaway. Let us
suppose it was Epaphras of Colosse whom he met. He
was not sorry. Tho thought of the fair homeland valley,
with ifs gloaming streams and sheltering hills, leapt up
in his homesick heart at the sight of that known face.
lie was willing to go with him; und so Epaphras brought
him to Paul, and Paul brought him to Christ. It is the
story that has repeated itself so often in the long history

302 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
of the gospel. The unhappy and forlorn wanderer finds
a friend on the world's highway, and the face of tho friend
fades into the face of Christ.
Paul brought Onesimus far on into the kingdom of
light, and his heart went out to him with special fulness.
There was no barrier between them. The divine love that
had begun to renew the face of the earth bore every barrier
clown. And there was much that was worthy of love in
this man who had sinned and repented. When the deep
chords were touched there was music in his life also, lie
was faithful and devoted, ' profitable ' now in the transfor
mation of grace. His gratitude flowed back on the Apostle
hke a river. He became so welcome that to part with
him, Paul declared, was like parting with his own heart.
Yet to part with him was right. Paul dared not
absorb this goodness and service. Philemon had a prior
claim. The Apostle saw this clearly, and he made Onesi
mus see it also. Both were agreed that in the Christian
view there was only one thing possible, and that was that
reparation should be made for the wrong which had been
done, and that the freedman of Christ should not go
through the world branded as an unpardoned fugitive.
Paul did not anticipate that the return would be so painful
as Onesimus probably feared. He had little doubt of the
issue. It is true that even the best of men are sometimes
inchned to be sceptical of a sudden profession of faith,
when it is employed as an argument for secular advantage.
But the Apostle knew Philemon, and knew that the
Christian appeal would not be made to him in vain.
When Tychicus went to Colosse, Onesimus would go under
his wing. Tychicus would not only speak for him, he
would bear this letter of reconciliation from Paul's own
hand. It would relate how highly the Apostle thought
both of master and of slave, and how inexpressibly dear
they both were. It would recall Philemon's already noble
record, and gently remind him that noblesse oblige. If it
spoke of debt, it would hint at a still greater debt that
Philemon himself owed — even his own soul. It would
say, too, that Paul hoped soon to visit Colosse, implying

RESTORED TO PHILEMON 303
what joy it would be to him to see a happy issue with
his own eyes. It would ask the master to do graciously,
and it would even express confidence that he would be
likely to do more than it ventured to ask. And what
would that be ? Surely to bestow that ' liberty ' which
the Apostle valued so highly, and which he had already
told Christian slaves was — though not indispensable to
their goodness — a gift to be welcomed.1 " Not without
reason," says Zahn, " is ver. 2 1 interpreted of emancipation."
The word emancipation is not uttered, says Lightfoot, but
" it seems to be trembling on the lips."
So the letter was written ; very brief, but very precious.
We are not informed of its effect, but we need not doubt
it. If Paul ever visited the fair valley of the Lycus in
happier days, we may well believe he had cause to rejoice in
both his friends. Legend grew busy with the names of the
slave and his master. Philemon, men said, became bishop
of Colosse, and won the martyr's crown at Eome. But
no faith can be put in these traditions. Similarly with
Onesimus ; he became bishop of Ephesus or Berea, preached
in Spain, perished at Puteoli. Yet the veil of history
really falls over him when this Epistle closes. The re
deemed slave is sent on his way with a great earthly and
heavenly hope, and that is all we know.
As for the Epistle itself, there was a time when men
spoke of it slightingly, and passed it over with scant
regard. They thought it concerned with a small matter,
unedifying, and unworthy of a place in the Bible. That
was chiefly in the fourth century when theologians were
engaged in fierce battles of creeds and councils, and found
no ammunition for their strife in its kindly words. Other
ages have seen it with other eyes, and have exalted it
to a high place in Christian esteem. Strange to say,
classical antiquity has left an Epistle strikingly similar
to this, and one with which it has often been compared.

1 1 Cor. vii. 21. The meaning of this verse is much disputed by inter
preters. But that here adopted appears not only legitimate, but the one
most entitled to acceptance.

304 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
Phny the Younger was a distinguished letter - writer,
although he wrote with the public in his eye, and one
of his Epistles, like this of Paul's, is addressed to a friend,
and pleads for a slave. It is very pohshed and elegant, as
became the production of the paragon of his age. It is full
also of touching and noble sentiments.1 Nevertheless, it is
excelled by Paul's Epistle. In gracefulness of diction it
could not indeed be expected to fall behind ; but in depth
and delicacy of feeling, in the fine ring of genuine sym
pathy, in the total unconsciousness of superiority or of
speaking from any higher level, above all in the profounder
motives of appeal, the balance is very clearly on the side
of him who had learnt in the school of Christ.
But it is not for its literary value that the Epistle is
so precious. It is the intrinsic worth of its message, and
the far-reaching effect of its principles, which render it
priceless. That Onesimus should have been willing to
venture back to Philemon, and that Philemon, as we may
assume from Paul's confidence, should have been willing
to receive him, are in themselves a striking instance of the
reality of the influence of the gospel. Any one who knows
what the relations between master and slave were in that
old Grseco-Eoman world, knows how little hkely, in an
ordinary case, the one would be to expect forgiveness, or
the other to grant it. But even if by nature Philemon
were a kindly man, and Onesimus a faithful servant, it is
on higher grounds that their reconciliation proceeds. " Not
as a slave," says Paul, " but above a slave, a brother be
loved." Eeconciliation was to take place because each
now stood in an entirely new relation to the other. They
were master and servant still, but they were more. There
was a kinship between them that was spiritual and eternal.
It was not merely that the blood of both was red and
human, but that both were one in the hidden life of
Christ. By as much as they cherished that hfe, by so

1 Pliny's letter is quoted at length by Lightfoot, Colossians and Philemon,
pp. 316-317, and by many of the commentators. See also Firth's tr. (Scott
Library), ii. 182.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE EPISTLE 305
much must they cherish each other. Should the one now
fear to return, and the other only seek revenge, they would
deny the faith. The power of Christ is thus glorified in
them equally. It has begun, as no other power on earth
ever attempted, to bind together, not by constraint but
by love, the most diverse sections of society, those that
by rank are farthest apart, and whose interests have not
hitherto been regarded as the same.
The Epistle is thus of great significance, and plays an
important part in discussions regarding the social influence
of the Christian religion. It gets to the very bottom of class
relations and distinctions, and reveals a universal unifying
principle such as men look for elsewhere in vain. " The
rich and the poor meet together ; the Lord is the Maker
of them all " — but Maker now in a unique and specific
sense, higher and nobler than any that the man who first
wrote these words could conceive. Very specially has the
Epistle figured in controversy on the subject of slavery.
It has been confidently appealed to on both sides, for
sanction and for abolition. It has also raised a question
that lies behind this, bearing on the nature of Bible revela
tion. It is therefore of importance to understand how it
relates itself to this matter. One indeed may feel of
slavery as Carlyle felt of the Corn Laws : " Here," he said,
" we have no chapter on the Corn Laws ; the Corn Laws
are too mad to have a chapter." But the attitude of
Christianity has been too much misunderstood, and its
influence too frequently misrepresented or denied, to permit
the subject to be passed over.

II
SLAVEEY IN ANCIENT AND MODEEN TIMES.
The essence of slavery lies in the complete subjection
of the slave to the will of his master. The master possesses
him absolutely to use or dispose of. Law, conscience,
custom, the feelings of rehgion, common humanity, love or
20

306 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
fear, may step in to modify the relation, but in its hteral
significance slavery is the claim of one man to treat
another as a piece of property. The term, however, is
often used when the absolute sense is not quite intended,
and even when ' rights ' of a more or less definite kind
have been conceded to the bondsman.1
The custom has been variously accounted for. The
most radical opinion is that it arises from a fundamental
distinction between men. Some are born to be free, and
some are born slaves. This is the well-known view which
Aristotle defends in the early chapters of his First Book
on Politics. " It is evident," he says, " that some persons
are slaves and others freemen by the appointment of
nature." " Whoever, therefore, are as much inferior to
their fellows as the body is to the soul, or the brutes to
men, these, I say, are slaves by nature. . . . He then is
by nature formed a slave, who is fitted to become the
chattel of another person, and on that account is so."
Slavery by conquest or by law he repudiates as an injustice
and a degradation ; for it might happen to men of the
nobler birth, and those who are thus enslaved are not really
slaves, and should not be called so. The real slaves by
nature, and those properly so styled, are the ' barbarians,'
that is, all who are not Greeks. For Aristotle quotes the
poets with satisfaction :
"'Tis meet that barbarous tribes to Greeks should how."
The essential fallacy of this distinction has, of course,
been abundantly proved by history, for the very races
1 It is interesting to note the derivation of the word ' slave.' It comes
directly from the name of a people, the Slavs, who were often brought under
bondage by their Teutonic neighbours, but the Slavs themselves, it is
believed, took this name from a proud word, slava, meaning 'glory.' Such
is the opinion of many scholars, including Gibbon, who traces the degrada
tion of the name, "by chance or malice," to the eighth century, in the
Oriental France, where the Princes and Bishops were rich in Slavonian
captives. Smith's Gibbon, vii. ch. lv. p. 66 n. Others, however, have,
since Gibbon's day, preferred to derive the Slav national name from a word,
slovane, 'speaking men,' in contrast to niemetz, 'dumb men,' which in
modern Slavonic is simply equivalent to 'German.' Cf. Smith's note to
Gibbon, v. 168 ; or Ency. Brit., s.v. Slavs, xxi' 146a.

ARISTOTELIAN VIEW OF SLAVERY 307
Aristotle would have classed by nature as ' barbarians and
slaves' are now leading the van of the civilised world.
Apart from that, however, we must not regard him,
because of his principle, as destitute of humane considera
tions. On the contrary, we find him laying down several
excellent rules for the guidance of masters in the treatment
of slaves, and in his Economics he urges that the prospect of
liberation should be held out to them as a reward of good
behaviour. Although the Greeks generally agreed with
Aristotle that slavery was necessary for the existence of
the State and of the family, and that the case for it was
self-evident, yet many of them did not follow him in his
theory of origin. The Eomans on their part differed from
it entirely. Eoman philosophers did not indeed trouble
themselves much with the abstract question, but when
they did, it was to declare that liberty is the natural
state of mankind, and that slavery has no foundation in
nature ; that it is merely an institution of society, a
creation of the civil law. Modern times, however, have
witnessed a recurrence to the Aristotelian view in its
frankest form. In the fierce discussions that preceded the
American Civil War, the champions of negro slavery
boldly asserted the inherent distinction of race. In the
pulpit, on the platform, and in the statute-book, the negro
was defined in Aristotle's very phrase as a "chattel
personal." He was but a "living instrument," differing
only from the ox or the horse in having the faculty of
reason. " If there are sordid, servile, and laborious offices
to be performed," said one leader of opinion, "is it not
better that there should be sordid, servile, and laborious
beings to perform them ? " x The negro, it was commonly
said, " is created on a lower plane than the white." " The
defence of slavery in the popular mind," said Emerson,
"was the inferiority of race."2 The curse upon Canaan
was regarded as still lying upon his descendants, and it
1 Chancellor Harper hefore the South Carolina Institute : cit. Goldwin
Smith, Docs the Bible Sanction American Slavery? p. 116.
- Cabot's Memoir of Emerson, ii. 49.

308 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
could not be wrong, not merely to recognise the curse, but
even to give pious aid in fulfilling it.
It ought not to be difficult, however, to reach saner
views on the matter. It is a very intelligible and reason
able opinion, and one in harmony with our knowledge of
human nature, that the custom of servitude arose naturally
under the most primitive form of family and tribal govern
ment. Its origin lay in the demand of the head of the
family for the service of others, and, if need were, in its
enforcement. Those who were not of the blood, but who
were added to the family or the tribe by subjection or for
the sake of maintenance, naturally became servants. The
origin of slavery, as Goldwin Smith puts it, " lies enfolded
in the patriarch's tent." The matter has also been well
stated by Becker : " The root of slavery lies everywhere,
and must be rather sought in the general disinclination
to menial labour, and that abhorrence of servitude, based
on false notions of liberty, which first made the possession
of slaves desirable. In process of time this grew into an
imperious necessity, which refused to take into considera
tion the justice or injustice of the case." 1
This demand soon created for itself many sources of
supply. The first and most obvious was conquest. Those
who were spared by the weapons of war, were dragged into
pitiless captivity, only a stage better than the cannibalism
which in many cases would have been the alternative
method of theh disposal. Then arose the traffic in slaves,
which attained great dimensions in the ancient world.
Sometimes free men sold themselves or their children for
the sake of gain ; but far oftener the markets were stocked
by raids on homesteads and villages, and by systematic
processes of kidnapping, which made life in certain parts of
the world a perpetual terror. The dread of capture, it has
been said, hung hke the sword of Damocles over all heads.
The fairer the captive, or the more educated and refined,
the higher the price. Beautiful women, and talented or
skilful men, writers, actors, and physicians, were the most
1 Charicles, Excursus to Scene vii. : The Slaves.

FEATURES OF ANCIENT SLAVERY 309
valuable.1 The trade was considered disgraceful, and un
worthy of an honourable citizen, nevertheless many
took part in it for the sake of the huge fortunes it
enabled them to amass. The children of slaves also
helped to increase the ranks of the class into which they
were born ; while in many cases bondage was a feature of
religious persecution, as well as the frequent penalty o'f
debt and crime.2
In the Eoman Empire, in the early part of the
Christian era, the slave population far outnumbered the
free. In Attica the proportion is moderately stated as
three or four to one ; and in Eome it was probably not
much less. According to Gibbon, the population of the
Empire under Claudius was one hundred and twenty
millions, of whom half were bondsmen.3 Many slaves
were held for the sake of profit, and many more merely to
minister to the domestic wants and luxurious indulgence
of their masters. The first feature was more characteristic
of Greek slavery, the second of Eoman ; on the whole also
the Greeks were the more kind and indulgent to their
slaves, while the Eomans offered them greater facilities
of obtaining freedom. Both thoroughly exploited them,
however, for the sake of revenue, training and hiring
them, and trading with the products of tlieir industry
and skill. In spite of the odium attaching to commerce
in their persons, many of the noblest famihes engaged in
it, and it is said that even the immaculate Cato was a
member of a slave-trading firm under an assumed name.4
As it was considered a degradation for a freeman to work,
nearly all trades, arts, crafts, and professions, were in the
hands of slaves. Apart from the swarms of merely
labouring and domestic slaves, architects, painters, sculptors,
actors, musicians, poets, physicians, surgeons, secretaries,
1 On the market-price of slaves, cf. Boeckh, Public Economy of Athens,
i. 92 sq.
2 Cf. Blair's Inquiry, ch. ii.
3 The computation, however, is much disputed. Cf. Blair, ch. i. and
notes ; also Boeckh, i. 52-53.
4 Dollinger, Gentile and Jew, ii. 261.

310 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
some of them very highly accomplished, were of the servile
class.1 Yet slaves practically possessed no rights, and
were not deemed persons in the eye of the law. Their
testimony was only taken in court under torture, and
professional torturers, who were adepts in the most
ingenious forms of cruelty, were employed for the purpose.
The power of the owner was virtually absolute, to sell or
to slay, and the slaves were counted " pro nullis, pro
mortuis, pro quadrupedibus." 2 It was to illustrate this
arbitrary despotism that Juvenal put the famous words
into the mouth of a haughty dame who ordered the death
of an innocent slave :
"Hoc volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas."3
Long after the Empire became converted to Chris
tianity the institution of slavery remained a part of the
constitution of the State. No man dreamt of abolishing it,
though many strove to amend it. The progress of the
Christian centuries is marked, however, by a gradual
change in the absolutism of servitude, and when mediaeval
times are reached the relation is so greatly modified that
it requires to be described by a distinct name. This
middle period of modification was still one of bondage,
but it was the bondage of serfdom rather than of slavery
proper. It is a very difficult task to mark the transition
from slavery to serfdom, and to point out how it was
accomplished. In the later clays of the Empire there was an insti
tution whose exact origin is wrapped in complete obscurity,
but which must have had a marked effect as constituting a
well-defined middle status between the slave and the free.
This was the class called coloni, persons attached to the

1 Cf. Guhl and Koner, Life of the Greeks and Romans, pp. 511-512.
Blair, Inquiry, pp. 131-141, makes an interesting classification of Roman
slaves. He enumerates more than 250 varieties. As to the Creeks, cf.
also Boeckh, i 53.
2 Babington, Hulsean Lectures on Christianity and European Slavery,
p. 11. 6 Sat. vi. 223.

TRANSITION TO SERFDOM 311
soil, and not capable of being ahenated from it, either by
their own act or by that of the patromis. They were
called servi terrce and ascripti gleboz, and they and the
estate always passed together. They paid a fixed rent for
the land on which they hved, and the fact that they were
hable to the poll-tax made them of financial interest to
the State as well as to the owner of the land. It was
further thought that their inalienable attachment to the
soil was an arrangement highly favourable to agriculture.
They had a right to retain as their own, though not quite
absolutely, whatever they made out of their holdings
beyond the rent, and above all, in marked distinction from
the slave, they had all the family rights of freemen.
Frequent reference is made to them under the Emperors
of the fourth century, and in the Codes of Theodosius and
Justinian, and although it may not be possible to estab
lish any direct historical relation between them and the
serfs, the analogies of their condition are very striking.
As to their origin, Dr. Kells Ingram writes : " The class
of coloni appears to have been composed partly of tenants
by contract who had incurred large arrears of rent
and were detained on the estates as debtors (obserati),
partly of foreign captives or immigrants who were settled
in this condition on the land, and partly of small pro
prietors and other poor men who voluntarily adopted the
status as an improvement in their position." 1
In many of the mediaeval European countries the serfs
were no doubt largely composed of the humbler classes of
the original but now subjugated inhabitants. Many of
them were simply poor freemen who, as the importation
of slaves fell away, took their places in servitude, and
bartered hberty for the prospect of food and protection.
Famine and failure, debt and distress of various kinds,
continually augmented the multitude who were driven into
a state of dependence ; and not infrequently the rapacity

1 Article on Slavery in the Encg. Brit. xxii. 135 sq. Cf. also Sandars.
Institutes of Justinian, pp. 96-97 ; and the article in Smith's Did. of Greek
and Roman Antiqq., s.v. Prsedium, based on the researches of Savigny.

312 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
of powerful lords made an easy prey of a weak and
impoverished peasantry. The bondage of the serfs de
scended by heredity to their children. Its characteristic
feature, however, was that, like the Helots of Sparta, the
serfs were attached to the land, and belonged rather to the
estate than to the master. Custom and law varied greatly
in different countries and ages, although on the whole it
may be said that the serfs had a much better position than
the slaves. Their human nature was recognised and
respected, and it was rather their labour and its products
that were the property of the master than their persons.
The important point is, that though this feudal relation
was servile and often miserable in a high degree, it was
essentially an advance on slavery. The serfs had certain
civil rights, and there was a gradual approximation in
their case to free labour. Serfdom was in fact a transition
state, and had in it elements which inevitably worked in
the direction of complete personal freedom. In the large
centres of population the serf tended to become a free
labourer, and in the rural districts to become a free tenant.
Many causes contributed to this issue," which was slowly
but surely reached in one Christian country after another.
By the beginning of the fourteenth century the emancipa
tion of the serf was practically accomplished in France ; in
England serfdom disappeared more slowly, and not so
much by definite legislation as by a lingering and natural
process ; in Scotland its extinction was not thoroughly
accomplished until the close of the eighteenth century ;
in Germany it was finally abolished by the middle of
the nineteenth; and in Eussia, in 1861, the edict of
Alexander n. gave freedom to no fewer than forty
milhons of serfs.
But as the servile relation, in its second and modified
phase, was slowly dying out in Europe, the history of the
Christian era unhappily presents a recrudescence of slavery
in its most virulent form. The settlers in the colonies of
the New World found the Indian unfitted for the hard
work of the plantations, and the negro was accordingly
imported to take his place. Thus in the sixteenth and

NEGRO SLAVERY 313
seventeenth centuries, under the Christian banners of
Spain and Portugal and England, began the long black
story of African wrong at the white man's hand. It has
been one of the darkest crimes in modern history, and
friutful of untold evil. The struggle against it began in
earnest towards the close of the eighteenth century, and
was crowned with success in the early part of the nine
teenth. It sounds strange in our ears that negro slavery
was ever boldly defended as an advance in civilisation, a
system that gave the master leisure " to improve his
mind," and that vindicated its claim to the approbation of
an enlightened humanity. The "advance" that flogged
women, and measured the punishment by the time it took
the master leisurely to smoke out his pipe, does not strike
one as very conspicuous. The traffic was first stopped by
Denmark, and then by Great Britain, the United States,
and France. In abolition Great Britain led the way in
her West Indian Colonies, and other European Powers
followed more or less completely. America, in 1862-
1865, achieved emancipation only by a tragic outpouring
of blood and treasure. Here and there, in distant isles
of the sea, in various forms and under various disguises,
enslavement still refuses utterly to perish, but it may be
said, perhaps not too rashly, that the civilised Christian
world virtually with one voice condemns it, and that,
wherever Christianity dominates, the curtain has been
rung down on it for ever.

III.
CAUSES OF THE MITIGATION AND ABOLITION
OF SLAVEEY.
The causes operating in Christian times in favour of
the modification and ultimate extinction of slavery were
undoubtedly very complex. The simpler we seem to find
them, the farther shall we be from the truth, and any
attempt to reduce them to one, and to caU it Christianity,

314 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
will be quite impossible. In the social changes of the
long centuries, war, pestilence, and famine have played
their part ; so also have peace, the feudal relations, the
revival of industry and learning, the experience of the
impohcy and false economy of slave labour ; but, chiefest
of all, the growth of humane feelings, the truer perception
of the inherent rights of man, and the leavening influence
of the Christian religion. It will suffice briefly to refer to
the more important causes under these four categories,
political, economic, moral, and rehgious.
1. Undoubtedly it was the concern of government to
endeavour wisely to control a system which was so vital a
part of the body politic. The enormous size of the slave
population, and its frequently threatening attitude, were
bound to occupy the gravest attention of the legislature.
Of all disturbances in the political world, servile insurrec
tion was to be most dreaded.1 The safeguards taken were
very often repressive, but at times it was deemed wiser to
relax the severity of the bondage, to reconcile the slave to
his position, and as far as possible to eradicate from his
bosom the rankling sense of injustice. Hence, before the
time of Constantine, we have many edicts tending to relieve
the situation ; and while a growing humanity, and a con
cern for the development of industry after the period of
imperial conquest was over, have no doubt to be recognised
in these edicts, political considerations were also operative
in a high degree. Even the amusements and pleasures of
the slaves were matter of public concern. Ambitious men
were also known to free their slaves in large numbers for
the purpose of swelling theh political clientele. In the
age of serfdom the political motive very clearly led to the
mitigation of the bondsman's lot. Kings and rulers
frequently threw over him the segis of their protection, and
increased his privileges, not so much for his own sake, as
to check the ambition and curb the powers of the barons.

1 On the conspiracies and outbreaks of the servile classes, cf. Blair,
Inquiry, pp. 201-202 ; G. Smith, Does the Bible, etc., p. 85 ; and Brace, Gesta
Christi, pp. 232 sqq.

POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CAUSES 315
Even in American emancipation the pohtical element
played no small part. It was a watchword of Lincoln's,
" A house divided against itself cannot stand : The country
must either be all bond or all free." That is to say;
abolition was felt to be essential to the political union of
the States. 2. Nor can it be denied that economic reasons
operated powerfully to reconcile men to departure from the
slave-system. It was found to be an expensive and losing
system. Slave labour produced less than free labour, and
produced it at greater cost. The master came to find that
it paid him better to let the worker have some interest in
the results of his labours, and to work in the first instance
for his own hand. " The experience of all ages and
nations, I believe," writes the author of the Wealth of
Nations, "demonstrates that the work done by slaves,
though it appears to cost only their maintenance, is in the
end the dearest of any. A person who can acquire no
property, can have no other interest but to eat as much,
and to labour as little as possible. Whatever work he
does beyond what is sufficient to purchase his own main
tenance, can be squeezed out of him by violence only, and
not by any interest of his own." 1
The Greeks and the Eomans were quite alive to this
consideration,2 and it was very keenly perceived in the
modern world. Under feudalism it became the interest of
the master to set his serfs free. He frequently raised
money by demanding the payment of fees for this freedom.
" Since the serfs became his free tenants, and must remain
and till his land, he really lost nothing by setting them
free, but rather gained." 3 In the slave-using Enghsh
colonies, it was found that the profits on sugar and tobacco
were great enough to allow slavery, but that in districts
where the principal produce was corn, men could not afford
it. As regards America, Professor Wayland writes, "No

1 Wealth of Nations, hk. iii. eh. ii., Bax' ed., i. 393.
s Adam Smith instances Aristotle, Pliny, and Columella, op. cit, i. 393.
s Thatcher and Schwill, Europe in the Middle Age, p. 225.

316 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
country, not of great fertility, can long sustain a large slave
population. Soils of more than ordinary fertility cannot
sustain it long, after the first richness of the soil has been
exhausted. Hence, slavery in this country is acknowledged
to have impoverished many of our most valuable districts." *
Since the American Civil War.it is found that the produce
of cotton in the South by free labour greatly exceeds what
was produced by slavery. The annual average for the first
twenty years after slavery, exceeded that of the twenty
years immediately preceding abolition, by no less than 6 5 '3
per cent. "This shows," says Lecky, "that the Southern
behef that utter and imminent ruin must follow abolition
was an absolute delusion." 2
Such an element in the case must therefore be fully
recognised. At the same time, some writers greatly err in
hailing it as really the one efficient cause of emancipation.
Sismondi declares "that neither philosophy nor religion,
but personal interests alone " abolished slavery in Italy.3
Mr. Belfort Bax, in editing the Wealth of Nations, adds a
note (in this instance unable to refrain from contradicting
his statement in the Preface that he will only annotate
when absolutely necessary as a corrective of the text), in
which he praises Adam Smith's perception in this matter,
and says, " ' Philanthropy ' got the credit of what was at
bottom a purely economic revolution. . . . Had economic
conditions not favoured [the Northern States in their
decision], the eloquence of a Fox or a Wilberforce would
have been expended in vain." 4 This is altogether too
cynical and purblind. It is just as false to attribute aboli
tion entirely to economics as it would be to attribute it
entirely to rehgion. If the clergy have sometimes gone
to extremes in their interpretation of history, no less have
the secularist and the man of science. Human motives

1 Wayland, Elements of Moral Science, Edin. ed. (1847), p. 200.
2 Democracy and Liberty, i. eh. v., ed. 1889, p. 490. For many inter
esting details on the economic view of the subject, cf. Chambers, American
Slavery and Colour.
3 Italian Republics, cit. Babington, Hulsean Lect., p. 173.
4 I. 394.

HUMANITARIAN MOTIVES 317
have been a great deal too complex for both parties.
There is a passage in Guizot's Lectures well worth recalling
in this connection. "I fear," he says, speaking of St.
Boniface, " that you are tempted to see more especially in
this conduct the influence of temporal motives, of ambitious
and interested combinations : it is a good deal the disposi
tion of our time ; and we are even a little inchned to boast
of it, as a proof of our hberty of mind and our good sense.
Most certainly let us judge all things in full hberty of
mind ; let the severest good sense preside at our judgments ;
but let us feel that, wherever we meet with great things
and great men, there are other motives than ambitious
combinations and personal interests." x
3. Such other motives undoubtedly had place in the
mitigation of slavery even from the beginning, and were no
small factor also in its abolition. It is only due to our
common nature as well as to actual evidence, as clear as
evidence of motive ever can be, to recognise the moral
and humane element. We ought also to distinguish it,
especially at certain stages of history, from the purely
religious or Christian motive. There came a time when
Christianity, with its distinctly ethical and benevolent
teaching, had so spread over Europe, and had obtained
such influence, conscious and unconscious, on the minds of
men, that it becomes exceedingly difficult to distinguish
between what is due to it, and what ought fairly to be
attributed to a more universal and merely humanitarian
instinct. Men have sometimes claimed to be animated by
motives that are simply philosophic and humane, and have
spurned the religion which has been impregnating the
atmosphere with their principles for centuries. They have
no more been independent of this influence than they have
been independent of the air they breathed. Eevolutionary
France has been lauded for its cry of "Liberty, Equahty,
and Fraternity," as if these had first burst on the world
with the tumbrils and the Marseillaise. France neither
invented the ideas, nor yet taught the world how to attain
1 History of Civilisation, Lect. XIX., Bonn's ed., ii. 177.

318 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
them. They are at least as old as the Epistle to Philemon,
if men would consider.
But previous to Constantine, it is quite right to recog
nise that there was much said and done in favour of the
slave in which the Christian religion can claim no share.
Plato, Aristotle, and Zeno had long inculcated the principles
of humanity in the treatment of slaves. The Stoic school
generally uttered many noble sentiments on the subject.
Seneca, in some of his Epistles, shows a liberal and kindly
sphit worthy of a Christian morahst. Horace and Plutarch
commend forgiveness and lenity to slaves. Pliny, both by
word and deed, raised an excellent ideal of mastership.
Nor was the popular conscience altogether quiescent. We
may take it as to some extent reflected by the popular
poets, for Juvenal, Persius, and Martial, scathingly satirise
tyrants. Seneca also tells us that masters guilty of cruelty
were " pointed at and insulted in the streets." The temples
and the statues of the Emperor were sanctuaries to the
slave. In legislation, the Lex Petronia, which belongs to
the Neronian period, restricted masters in condemning their
slaves to fight with wild beasts, and it was by no means
the only humane act of the same period. Claudius regulated
the treatment of sick slaves, and decreed that a master who
kdled a sick slave was to be held guilty of murder ; further,
that a slave abandoned by his master on account of disease
or infirmity should be free. Domitian forbade certain cruel
forms of mutilation, and Hadrian took away the right of
life and death from masters altogether. The latter Emperor
was indeed specially distinguished for his reforms. He
swept the infamous ergastula, or underground slave-prisons,
out of existence ; he appointed magistrates to judge of
complaints of slaves against their masters ; and he sent at
least one Eoman lady into exile for five years for atrocious
cruelty. Kidnapping came to be punished by death, and
mutilation by exile. No doubt the general treatment
remained abominable, and that in spite of all the efforts of
legislation : so abominable, that slaves in large numbers
were driven to suicide to escape their misery. Nevertheless,
the tide had turned in favour of better things in pagan

DIRECT INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY 319
Eome ; and " when to these laws," says Lecky, " we add the
broad maxims of equity asserting the essential equality of
the human race, which the jurists had borrowed from the
Stoics, and which supplied the principles to guide the
judges in their decisions, it must be admitted that the slave
code of Imperial Eome compares not unfavourably with
those of some Christian nations " x — an opinion which no
student of Colonial history can venture to challenge.
4. The influence of the Christian religion, however,
we still hold to have been the paramount influence in the
amelioration and cessation of slavery. This influence has
had its imperfections and retrogressions, but it has sup
ported and worked alongside other influences in the same
direction ;• it has gone deeper than they, and it has been
more persistent and abiding. We need not lay stress on
the enactments of Constantine as due in any great measure
to Christian influence, but in the reforms of Theodosius
that influence is undoubted, and in those of Justinian it is
most conspicuous. Justinian laid down lines of legislation
that made straight for the extinction of slavery, and if his
policy had been better followed out by his successors, the
consummation would have been been reached far earlier
than it actually was. He earnestly encouraged the manu
mission of slaves, and greatly strengthened the hands of
the Church in its efforts in that direction ; above all, he
secured that the slave when he was freed should have
open to him all the privileges of citizenship. But the
influence of Christianity is not to be read in the statute-
book solely or even chiefly. We accept the verdict of
Mr. Lecky, whom it is important to quote, if only for the
simple reason that he is so far removed from any suspicion
of holding a brief for the Christian rehgion. He says :
" The services of Christianity in this sphere were of three
kinds. It supplied a new order of relations, in which the
distinction of classes was unknown. It imparted a moral
dignity to the servile classes, and it gave an unexampled
impetus to the movement of enfranchisement." Again, he
1 European Morals, i. 308.

320 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
says of the Church, that it " never failed to listen to the
poor and the oppressed, and for many centuries their
protection was the foremost of all the objects of its policy."
Once more, speaking of the monasteries and their example,
the busy communities that often gathered round them, and
the incessant endeavour to break down the old antipathy to
labour, and to commend toil by its fruits, he says : " By
these means the contempt for labour which had been
produced by slavery was corrected, and the path was
opened for the rise of the industrial classes." x
Every one of these statements has been abundantly
verified by history. But the Christian influence has been
essentially progressive. It did these things, but it did
more, for undoubtedly its hand was on the hammer that
ultimately struck the shackles from the slave ; and its voice
was the voice that brought the human conscience to a
point from which it will be hard for it to recede, the point,
namely, of recognising the inherent wrongfulness of the
slave system. It is perfectly true that the Christian
Church did not take up this position from the beginning.
It was not so led, and that is why we say its influence was
one of growth. The Church itself grew in perception and
in experience. Christian bishops and martyrs were in
their time owners of slaves, and the Church did not begin
by laying its axe at the root of the tree, because it did not
at first perceive that the tree must perish. Its method
was not one of assault, but of very slow and patient under
mining of a position, yet a position which it did not
consciously mean to destroy. This is simple recognition of
fact. But the process of undermining was real all the
same. The Christian rehgion, simply because it was
Christian, though not in a perfect degree, began to introduce
principles which were bound at length to produce great
changes in the social relations. It fostered the most
humane sentiments, and championed the cause of the
down-trodden. No fewer than thirty-seven of its Councils
passed acts in favour of the bondsman. It made no
1 European Morals, ii. 66 ; Rationalism in Europe, ii. 239, 240.

THE CHURCH AND THE SLAVE 321
distinction between the slave and his master at the altar.
It administered the same sacraments to both, and pro
nounced over both the same benediction. If it favoured
one class above another, it was rather the class that served
than the class that ruled, and it crowned its martyred
slaves with an aureole which it denied to princes. " The
first and grandest edifice of Byzantine architecture in
Italy — the noble church of St. Vital, at Eavenna — was
dedicated by Justinian to the memory of a martyred
slave."1 Further, the Christian Church perpetually encouraged
the manumission of slaves, and made it a meritorious
act. It carried out the change with solemn celebrations
as a religious service, and its sons and daughters were
accustomed to declare that they freed their bond-servants
" pro amore Dei," and " pro remeclio anhnse." The doors of
the monasteries were open to slaves, and, when their
purpose was beheved to be sincere, theh emancipation took
place the moment they entered the service of the Church.
The highest offices of the Christian priesthood were open
to them, and he who once had been a slave was often in
the position of rendering the most sacred services to the
kneeling figure of his erewhile lord.
It cannot be doubted by any reasonable student on
what side all this persistent influence lay, and what was
likely to be its ultimate issue. It is true the modern
world witnessed a startling retrogression. It has been
sufficiently confessed, and perhaps even in blood sufficiently
atoned for. But it was epoch-making in this respect, that
it opened Christian eyes as they had not before been
opened. The truth was indeed descried before, but only
here and there, as it were by isolated heralds who reached
the mountain-top. It was especially over the question of
American slavery that the light flashed full on Christendom,
and that its conscience was finally awakened and delivered.
Even then there was resistance within the Church's pale, but
it was essentially so far astray that it will not bear restate-
1 European Morals, ii. 69.

322 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
ment. Christianity saw for the first time in clear hght
what its Scriptures really meant, and what was the message
that actuahy lay at their heart. It had taken long to
make the discovery that slavery was absolutely antagonistic
to the root principles of the gospel, but it was made in a
ripe hour, and once made, we do not anticipate that it will
ever be let go. Never perhaps was there a movement
more distinctly Christian than that which began with
Clarkson, Granville Sharp, and Wilberforce, at the close of
the eighteenth century, and which reached its final goal
well on in the nineteenth. Its inspiration and its strength
were found in religion. The closing words of Clarkson's
famous Essay (1786), On the Slavery and Commerce of tlie
Human Species, were these : " No custom estabhshed among
men was ever more impious ; since it is contrary to reason,
justice, nature, the principles of law and government, the
whole doctrine, in short, of natural rehgion, and the revealed
voice of God." Such sentiments were soon taken up and
reiterated on the floor of the House of Commons ; they
roused responsive echoes in the popular conscience, and
they were the herald of a national Act of Abohtion which
has been truly described " as among the three or four
absolutely virtuous pages comprised in the history of
nations." The change was possible and was effected
because men's hearts were changed, and they were changed
by the only power on this earth that has ever resolutely
and hopefully set itself so to change them.

IV
SLAVEEY AND THE BIBLE.
Has Christianity in this matter run contrary to the
Bible, or has it even run ahead of it ? It would be strange
if it had reached its goal by appeahng to teaching from
which nevertheless it is essentially divergent. It has been
asserted, however, that this is so, and that not abohtion but
slavery has the real sanction of the Divine Word. In

SLAVERY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 323
which case, again, it is very remarkable that apart from
the Bible, and outside its influence, the world has never in
all its history witnessed any current of opinion against
slavery, much less a wide-spread moral aversion to it, and
a determined resolve on its extinction. Those who think
the Bible to blame for its reticence and low tone on the
matter, have never solved this historical problem, or even
seriously attempted to solve it.
The Old Testament has naturally been made much use
of in this controversy. Domestic slavery was a patriarchal
custom, and it was continued and minutely regulated
in the Mosaic legislation. Modern upholders of slavery
appealed to this in support of the system. Some of them
exclaimed, with an approach to blasphemy, " It is the
Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes : The statutes of
the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart." x This particular
Mosaic institution, however, was the only one of which
they were so enamoured. Other features of Jewish legalism
were still regarded as a yoke from which happily Christ
had set men free. Not this. It is not necessary to ask
why, or indeed to discuss the matter at all. Jewish hearts
were hard, and many things were allowed them, which
were never meant to be of perpetual and universal obliga
tion. Christ Himself taught men so, and divine revelation
is quite consistent with the progressive character of the
education of the race. But besides that, the Mosaic
legislation was essentially mitigating and restricting. It
neither introduced slavery nor meant to perpetuate it. It
'ringed it round with restraints and obligations, which the
modern slave-system quite ignored and despised : so much
so that if Hebrew slavery had truly been taken as a model,
the Christian world would have been spared not merely
many an inhuman scene, but many a disgraceful statute.2

1 Cf. Chambers, Slavery and Colour, and Mrs. Stowe, Key to Uncle Tom's
Cabin, for these and similar sentiments.
2 Cf. especially Sections ii. and iii. of Goldwin Smith's Does the Bible
Sanction American Slavery? Professor Smith has said that this little
book was written when he was still "in the penumbra of orthodoxy," and
that it would now need to be greatly modified (Guesses at the Riddle of

324 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
It is with the attitude of the New Testament, however,
that Christians are more deeply concerned. The Lord
Jesus, so far as is recorded, never denounced slavery, or
indeed dealt with it specifically at all. Neither did His
Apostles. They found it everywhere prevailing, and their
immediate pm-pose was not to criticise the social system
but to convert men to the kingdom of God. As Zahn
] aits it, the gospel set out not as a programme of world-
reform, but as the proclamation of a world-salvation.
Hence the efforts of the first preachers were rather to
make masters and slaves good men than to sever the
relation between them. It was not even expressly
indicated that the relation was one that ought to be
severed. The subject did not present itself in such an
acute form to the Apostles' minds. They were under the
influence of great spiritual hopes and ideals wdiich threw
mundane matters for the time largely into the shade. The
liberty of the Spirit, and the coming of the kingdom of
heaven, seemed to make all that was now endured but a
" light affliction." There was something better prepared, and
something better even now enjoyed. They could have said,
" Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage ;
Minds, innocent and quiet, take
That for an hermitage."
Above all, they laid exultant hold on immortality and the
life that is hid with Christ in God. This made all else
appear insignificant, a possession that would be theirs when
the great globe itself dissolved, and left not a rack behind.
" The soul, secured in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years ;
But thou shalt nourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,
The wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds.''
Existence, p. St n.). That may be so, but we are more than content with it.
The Professor has written much since he passed out of the eclipse, but never
anything finer or truer than this. It will remain a classic when much else
from his pen has passed into oblivion.

ATTITUDE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 325
With such thoughts and themes they were most profoundly
occupied. At the same time they were engaged in a work
that was destined to go deeper than they knew. They
delivered the message of the Spirit, and in the history of
the ages that message has unfolded its inherent power, and
made applications and expansions, which it was not the
least needful for the Apostles themselves to particularise or
foresee. Eegarding this whole subject there are several con
siderations of importance to bear in mind.
1. In the first place, this attitude of Christ and the
Apostles was their attitude not merely to slavery but to
the whole social system of theh day. Slavery was not the
only gigantic evil with which they were face to face. It
was one of many. Yet in every ease the attitude was that
of patient submission. If we argue that the New Testa
ment approves of slavery because it does not directly
denounce it, it will be valid also to claim its support in
favour of some of the worst evils that have ever afflicted
the world. Some have gone that length, but not reasonable
men. The attitude of Christ and His Apostles to all the
institutions of their evil world was one, says Goldwin
Smith, " of deep spiritual hostility and of entire political
submission. . . . The things wdiick are Caesar's are rendered
unto Caesar, though Caesar is a Tiberius or a Nero. To
endure patiently the dominion of those monsters, it has
been truly said, was the honour of Christianity and the
dishonour of mankind."1
2. Hence the second consideration. Not to denounce
is not the same thing as to sanction. Yet opponents of
the Bible have continually confused the two things.2 To
mitigate and regulate slavery with earnest counsels, to
exhort converts on both sides to play their parts in a
manner worthy of the new spirit they profess to breathe,
slaves to do good-will service, and masters to render what
is just and equal, is very far from being tantamount to an
1 Does the Bible, etc., p. 97.
3 Cf., e.g., again and again in F. W. Newman's Piloses of Faith, eh. v.

326 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
assertion that the relation is in itself ideal and perpetual.1
It would be preposterous to think that when our Lord
counselled the patient submission of both cheeks to the
smiter, He thereby meant to consecrate personal violence
And although an Apostle exhorted to ' honour the King,'
no apologist of slavery would ever have allowed that such
a saying was sufficient to sanctify all royal acts, or even to
make Eepublicanism an impossible form of government in a
Christian State. Paul's return of Onesimus to Philemon has
been triumphantly regarded as a clear evidence of ' sanction,'
but only when the fact is stated baldly by itself, and when
the letter and sphit of the Epistle are totally neglected.
Paul did return Onesimus, but not without the words, " not
as a slave, but above a slave, a brother beloved." It is
intense blindness that does not perceive something radical
and far-reaching there.
3. We have, therefore, to bear well in mind that the
New Testament does in point of fact lay down principles
which are utterly subversive of slavery. This it does, not
here or there but broadcast, and not in words merely,
but in deeds that are even more eloquent than words.
Christ showed compassion on slaves by direct acts of mercy,
and He opened wide to them, as to all other men, the
door of the kingdom of heaven. He taught the universal
love and Fatherhood of God, from which the brotherhood
of man flows as a necessary corollary. He taught what
the world recognises as the Golden Eule, — a great word,
' It must be remembered that it is an argument against the ' Church '
and not against the Bible when Mr. Newman argues that Christianity
strove to free and secure the rights of the slave because he was a Christian,
and not simply because he was a. man. Bible Christianity, if the distinc
tion must be made, welcomes all men with equal freedom to whatever
blessings it confers : nor does the Apostle so distinguish as to tell the
master to be just merely to converted slaves, or slaves to be faithful only to
converted masters. Besides, Newman's argument is very lame as it relates
even to the Church ; for when the Church began openly and vigorously to
champion the slave the Empire was no longer pagan, and all slaves dealt
with were in countries that were at least nominally Christian. Still further,
even if Newman were right, the Church did not end in its activities in Hie
Middle Ages, and the very age in which he wrote was daily giving the most
conspicuous contradiction to his contention.

PRINCIPLES SUBVERSIVE OF SLAVERY 327
which turns a very keen edge on a man's treatment of
his fellows. And the Apostles followed in His steps.
They welcomed slaves and masters alike into the house
hold of faith, with ah the deep significance which that
imphed. They taught that God is no respecter of persons,
and that distinctions of race and rank are nothing in His
holy sight. He has " made of one blood " all the nations of
the earth, and in Christ Jesus there is neither Greek nor
barbarian, bond nor free. It is absolutely impossible to
ignore what these things would grow to. Slowly and
surely as they gained strength they would revolutionise
the world. Everything might not be present to the mind
at once, but seed was sown that could not miss its harvest.
Abolition is in the New Testament as the oak is in the
acorn, as the flower is in the root.
"There is a day in spring
When under all the earth the secret germs
Begin to stir and glow before they hud.
The wealth and festal pomps of midsummer
Lie in the heart of that inglorious hour
Which no man names with blessing, though its work
Is blessed by all the world."
4. Let us further remember that a revelation of the
Divine Will is none the less valid though it come
indirectly. It is absurd to attempt to define the mode,
the manner, and the time in which God shall make His
mind flash absolutely clearly on the minds of men. To
argue that if slavery be essentially wrong, and if the
Bible be in a true sense the Word of God, then the New
Testament must at once and explicitly have denounced
it, is very great presumption as well as manifest folly.
Whether God say " Thou shalt not," or whether He leave
His meaning to be gathered by inference, makes no
essential difference to revelation as such. Our Lord
warned His disciples that there were many things He
could not tell them now ; and promised that by and bye
the Spirit would take of the things that are His and show
them to His followers. That revelation when it comes
is no new revelation ; it is but the unfolding of what lay

328 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
in the bosom of the old, and it has the characteristic of
every truly divine word, that it is absolutely binding at
whatever moment it is recognised.
5. This leads to the last consideration. Never was
there a more signal mark of divine wisdom than in the
way the Apostles were led to speak and to act, in
face of the social and political problems of their age.
No just-minded man believes that they were guilty of
compromise and accommodation, consciously withholding
truth in order to save themselves and their converts.
We simply distort things if we represent the policy as
one of calculated expediency. But in the training and
discipline of the race, God leaves something for man him
self to do and discover. Not with regard to slavery alone,
but with regard to all social evils, man must work out his
salvation. This goes on slowly, and painfully, and im
perfectly, inasmuch as the progress depends not so much
on the carving and redress of circumstances, as on the
changes of the human heart. As water cannot rise above
its level, so neither can human society be better than the
spirits of the men who compose it. Each age has its
possible best, and that best is always according to the
attainment of Christian grace.
Now, in the case of slavery, God is in partnership
with man, a fellow-labourer with him, in ridding the
world of a great curse. The part He plays is that of
instilling, ' working in,' good principles, which He sets
like seed in the hearts of His children. It is His true
concern that that seed shall not be trampled to death
before it has even got a chance to germinate. He leads
and guides and conserves towards that end ; and it is to
our eyes the complete justification of the revelation which
some have presumed to declare should have been more
explicit and direct. We could scarcely, on the contrary,
have recognised any spirit of wisdom had the Apostles
been led to launch themselves out on the sea of political
revolution. The message they had to deliver, which went
to the root of slavery and all other social wrongs, and
which enshrined within itself the hope of the ages both

THE METHOD OF MORAL REVOLUTION 329
for this life and for that which is to come, would have
been choked and stifled in its very utterance. God had
prepared some better thing for it and for the world. It
was to live and blossom and bear fruit, and not from the
start to lie mangled under the heel as a political sedition.
The gospel takes a certain course, not by the craft of
men, but by the over-ruling providence of God; not
because the Apostles were in league for the suppression
of truth, but because another Hand than theirs was
infallibly guiding to its full disclosure. The words of
Professor Way land express the matter very admirably :
" The gospel was designed, not for one race or for one
time, but for all races and for all times. It looked, not at
the abohtion of this form of evil for that age alone, but for
its universal abolition. Hence the important object of its
Author was to gain it a lodgment in every part of the known
world ; so that, by its universal diffusion among all classes
of society, it might quietly and peacefully modify and
subdue the evil passions of men ; and thus, without violence,
work a revolution in the whole mass of mankind. In this
manner alone could its object, a universal moral revolution,
have been accomplished. For if it had forbidden the evil,
instead of subverting the principle; if it had proclaimed the
unlawfulness of slavery, and taught slaves to resist the
oppression of theh masters ; it would instantly have arrayed
the two parties in deadly hostility throughout the civilised
world : its announcement would have been the signal of
servile war; and the very name of the Christian rehgion
would have been forgotten amidst the agitations of uni
versal bloodshed. The fact, under these circumstances, that
the gospel does not forbid slavery, affords no reason to
suppose that it does not mean to prohibit it; much less
does it afford ground for behef that Jesus Christ intended
to authorise it." x
In the fierce agitation that preceded the American
Civil War, those who took the side of Southern slavery
were wont to hurl at theh opponents, and especially at
Great Britain, the taunt '' Physician, heal thyself." They
were keen-sighted in discovering the faults that still
1 Elements of Moral Science, bk. ii. pt. ii., eh. on Personal Liberty.

330 THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
lingered in our social system, and roundly told us that wo
were not in a position to take the mote from any one's eye.
It is a common polemical method ; the most iminstructed
dialectician always knows instinctively how to lay his hand
on so facile a weapon. Yet, though it be no defence of
the evil it is meant to shield, it may have in it much
justice, and it is well to pay heed to it, and bow before it.
The Americans heard the cry of our children, the curses
of our proletariat, and the groans of the white-slaves of
our sweating systems.1 The social condition was not yet
perfect that united master and man chiefly by the cash-
nexus, and scarcely by any living interest or sympathy
The nation should be dumb whose own vices are in such
scandalous contradiction to its high professions, and should
first reckon with these. There are other slaveries than
those of the plantations. There is the slavery of passion,
of strong drink, of lust, of covetousness, and these drive men
into degradation as deep as the negro ever knew. All that
we heard. AU that we needed to hear, and to remember.
Finally, as we turn from this memorable Epistle, the
words of Luther haunt our ears : " We are all God's
Onesimi." There is no such thing in the world as absolute
freedom for any man. In the most orderly human society
each man's liberty is limited, and the wise man consents,
because he perceives that liberty is thereby the better
secured. So is it also with the spirit. It is our wisdom to
say, " Our wills are ours to make them Thine." It is only
then they move with full and happy freedom. Christians
remain slaves for ever — the slaves of righteousness. The
glorious liberty wherewith Christ makes us free, is liberty
to enter the service of the Highest. Until we recognise
this deeper truth, this paradox of liberty by subjection and
service to the divine ideal, we are fettered and earth-bound.
" Freedom s secret wilt thou know ?
Counsel not with flesh and blood ;
Loiter not for cloak or food ;
Right thou feelest, rush to do."

1 Cf. N. Adams, South-Side View of Slaver g, where ch. xiv. is taken up
with the recrimination of Great Britain.

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.

I.
EPHESUS AND THE EPISTLE.
It is almost certain that Paul did not write this Epistle
to the Christians of Ephesus exclusively.1 At the same
time it is most probable that they shared in its reception ;
and as the city had so intimate a relation with the Apostle,
and was itself so full of interest in apostohc times, we
may briefly refer to it.
The site of Ephesus is to-day only a pestilential swamp.
There are even very few ruins to be seen, the most notice
able perhaps being some melancholy traces on the mountain
side of the great theatre where Demetrius of old led the
uproar against the Apostle, and where the excited mob
shouted its dehrious cry for the space of two hours. The
famous inland harbour and its canal are made out chiefly
by the luxuriance of the rushes which choke them,2 and,
at some seasons of the year, by the magnificent bloom of
the yellow iris. The course of the Cayster to the sea is
traced by bogs and lagoons, and has no sign of life about
it, save a few scattered fisher-huts near its mouth. Fire,
sword, and pestilence, and the silting deposit of many
winter floods, have done their work ; " the land is guarded
by Divine vengeance from the intrusion of thoughtless

1 On the Destination, see later, pp. 369-379.
2 The rushes grow to 15 ft. Wood, Discoveries at Ephesus, pp. 4-5.
331

332 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
man, by the scorpion and centipede, by marshes infested
with myriads of serpents, and by attendant fever, dysentery,
and ague." 1
A few signs of humanity, however, are to be found
about a mile farther inland near the site of the renowned
Temple of Diana. A poor Turkish village of some two
hundred inhabitants clusters here, and boasts of a station
on the Ottoman railway.2 Its name of Ayasalouk is
supposed to be a corruption of "^740? ©£0X0709, the title
of the revered Apostle John. Here a church was built
in his honour in the sixth century under Justinian, and
on its site now stand the picturesque ruins of the Mosque
of Isa Bey, both buildings having doubtless owed much of
their glory to the prostrate shrine of the ancient goddess.
It was not till the latter half of the nineteenth century
that the discovery was actually made that the Temple of
Diana had stood here, a mile outside the city. The honour
of the discovery is due to the patient excavations of Mr.
J. T. Wood, who came on the remains of the surrounding
waU some twenty feet below the surface, on the last day of
the year 186 9. 3 The story reads like a romance, though
little but the certainty of the site was found : only " the
substructures of the walls, the base of a column, and some
fluted drums." * Truly a difficult task, to reconstruct from
these the splendour of the sixth wonder of the world !
" Hereafter, turned to dust
Diana's fane, reared high in Ephesus,
Shall in the stress and shock of the whelming sea
Sink like a ship sucked down by the sea-waves,
And fallen Ephesus wail upon the strand
Seeking her temple still, where none dwells more."5
But the scene was very different in Paul's day.
Ephesus was then a large and prosperous city, sharing
1 Falkener, Ephesus and the Temple of Diana, pp. 5-6.
- G. Weber, in Murray's Handbook to Asia Minor, ed. Sir C. Wilson,
ISO.". " Discoveries, p. 105.
4 Weber, loc. cit.
5 Jewish Sibylline Oracles, cit. Hausrath, Time of the Apostles, iii. 258.

ANCIENT EPHESUS 333
with Smyrna the title of " the light of Asia." It owed its
prosperity very much to its fine natural position on the
great highway between the East and the West.1 Through
it poured the merchandise of Egypt and Italy and Greece,
en route for Persia and inner Asia. Its crowded harbour
lay some three miles up the river from the sea, and was
peculiarly safe from storms and foes. The river itself
teemed with fish. The fields and sunny slopes of Mounts
Prion and Coressus were covered with vineyards and
yielded abundant harvests. Traders were keen and made
hay while the sun shone, being noted all over the world
as dealers in gold and silver, jewellery, amulets and charms,
marble, red-lead and vermilion from the mines, unguents
and dyes of all kinds, tents, honey, and valuable slaves.
No wonder they chose the industrious bee as their city
emblem, and stamped it on their coins. Nor was there
lack of fame in other directions. It was a city of poets,
philosophers, physicians, painters, sculptors, and archi
tects. Heraclitus, Hipponax, Parrhasius, and Apelles, were
natives, while Phidias, Praxiteles, Polycletus, and Scopas,
did much of their most famous work within its walls.
Paul must have seen, whether or not he paused much to
admire, the great pubhc buddings which had recently been
reared under the munificence of Augustus and Tiberius.
Above all, his eyes must often have rested on the
Temple of Artemis which gleamed like a meteor on the
brow of the hill beyond the gates. It was universally
acknowledged to be one of the most sacred and most
beautiful shrines in the world. Poets like Martial com
pared it to the wonders of Babylon, the pyramids of
Egypt, and the Colosseum of Eome. It had been seven
times rebuilt on the same site, and covered a huge area.
Its style was Ionic, the design of Dinocrates, the architect
who planned Alexandria, and is described as being of
remarkable purity and grace. It was raised on a broad
pavement ten feet above the ground, surrounded by double
colonnades of richly sculptured pillars, " one by Scopas "
1 Cf. Ramsay, Hist. Geog. of Asia Minor, p. 59.

334 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
it is proudly remembered, and " each the gift of a king." 1
The building immediately preceding this was destroyed
in the fourth century B.C. by Erostratus, an old-world
anarchist and madman, who could only think of achieving
notoriety by crime. He set fire to it on the very night
on which Alexander the Great was born, when Artemis
was naturally absent in Macedonia, as Hegesias of Magnesia
said — a ponderous joke, adds Plutarch, dull enough to have
extinguished the fire.2 Later on, Alexander offered to
rebuild the Temple at his own expense, should he be
permitted to inscribe his name on the dedication. The
wily priests, wishing to offend neither Persia nor Greece,
escaped the dilemma by replying that " it was not fitting
that one god should budd a Temple to another."
The dark interior of the Temple possessed the famous
image " which fell from Jupiter," and which ought much
rather to have been called Cybele than either Artemis or
Diana.8 It evidently symbohsed the Mother-power of
Nature, and is too weU known to need description. Mum
mified and many- breasted, hideous and inartistic, it was
nevertheless regarded with supreme veneration, and so
great was the atmosphere of superstitious dread that sur
rounded it, that the Temple precincts were considered the
safest bank in the world. Untold treasure is said to have
been deposited in its secret chambers. " The great goddess
had from time immemorial kept in her temple a bank of
deposit ; her credit was so good that for centuries the
treasures of kings and of private persons were confided

1 Cf. the ideal restorations in the works of Falkener and Wood.
2 Life of Alexander, Stewart anil Long's ed., iii. 302.
3 "The Ephesian Artemis, whose original name is supposed to have heen
Upis, was one of several deities in Asia Minor, whose worship the Greek
settlers found much too firmly established to be rooted out, and whom they
therefore adopted in their own systems of mythology. . . . The types of
these primitive deities are barbaric and un-Hellenic. . . . Herr Curtius
thinks that the worship of Artemis may have been founded at Ephesus by
the Carians and Phcenicians, to whom the abundance of springs here may
have suggested the dedication of a shrine to the great goddess of nature,
wdio makes the earth fertile by humidity" (Edinburgh Review, Jan. 1877,
p. 207).

ARTEMIS WORSHIP 3oVr""
to her care." x The interior was also adorned with price
less works of art, among which was the masterpiece of
Apelles, his portrait of Alexander wielding the thunderbolt,
for which he is said to have received the fabulous sum of
twenty talents of gold, nearly forty thousand pounds of
our money, and regarding which it was remarked : " There
were two Alexanders : the one begotten of Philip, and he
was invincible ; the other painted by Apelles, and he was
inimitable." 2 The Temple had also other distinctions.
It was the centre of a most immoral worship ; its
privilege of ' sanctuary' protected and encouraged crime
to an alarming extent ; and all its surroundings were the
notorious purheus of vice. A writer contemporary with Paul
" describes Ephesian hfe in terms of fierce contempt, their
lusts natural and unnatural, their frauds, their wars of words,
their legal contentiousness, their faithlessness and perjuries,
their robberies of temples. He denounces their vices in
connection with the worship of Cybele and Dionysus, and
with rehgious vigils and banquets, and alludes to details of
sensuality associated with these meetings." 3 Moreover
a gross superstition spread from the Temple, and fostered
among the people a fond trust in all kinds of sorcery.
Ephesian love-philtres, kabbalistic letters, spells, amulets,
and charms, were well known all over the world, and
formed the staple of a very lucrative trade.
Yet it was here that Paul spent one of the most
active and fruitful periods of his life. He laboured among
the Ephesians for ' three years,' going from house to house,
and ceasing not to warn them day and night with tears.
His parting with the elders at Miletus — one of the noblest
and most touching scenes in the Bible — shows how close
and tender his relations with them were. A large part
of his heart was theirs. And he not only obtained a firm
hold for the gospel in the city itself, he made Ephesus
1 Edinburgh Review, Jan. 1877, p. 214.
2 Plutarch, Or. II. de Fort. Alex., cit. Falkener, p. 310.
3 Gore, Ephesians, App. Note B, p. 255. On the so-called "Letters of
Heraclitus," the work of a Stoic of Paul's day, cf. also Hausrath, Time of
the Apostles, iii. 255-257.

336 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
the centre of an active propaganda that carried his
Master's message into the interior, resulting in the forma
tion of such Chuiches as those of Laodicea, Hierapolis,
and Colosse. The Church in Ephesus was thus a kind
of mother-church, and maintained a leading position for
several centuries. No less than six of the early ecclesi
astical Councils were held under its shadow. It decayed,
however, as the importance of the city itself steadily
dwindled away. Bad engineering had long aided in the
silting up of the river, which gradually ceased to be navig
able ; in the third century the Goths sacked the town,
and finally destroyed the Temple ; and probably by the
time of Justinian most of the inhabitants had crept back
to the original home of the population at Ayasalouk, while
the crumbling ruins of the once glorious city were left
to the vulture and the bat. The ' candlestick ' was at last
removed out of its place.
Considering the long and intimate relations of Paul
with Ephesus, it is very natural that among his Epistles
we should have one directed to the Church there, all the
more that Tychicus, the messenger from his Eoman cap
tivity, was about to pass through the city on his way to
Colosse. According to age-long tradition the letter before
us is such an Epistle. An unbroken testimony of such a
kind is undoubtedly of great weight, and, other signs being
in harmony with it, it would naturally be regarded as
decisive. But examination of the Epistle leads to certain
questionings, if not to doubts, and two things have to be
considered ; whether after all the Epistle is Paul's, and,
even if it be, whether it could possibly have been addressed
to the Ephesians.
It will be well, however, in the first place, to gain a
clear idea of the contents of the Epistle.
The opening verses contain a salutation similar to that
in Colossians, except that the name of Timothy is not
mentioned. Thereafter there is a division into two main
parts at the close of the third chapter ; the first three
chapters being mainly doctrinal and didactic, the remaining
three practical and hortatory.

CONTENTS OF THE EPISTLE 337
1. Chapters i.-iii. This section opens in Paul's usual
manner with Praise and Prayer ; thereafter deals with the
Eeception of Gentile Christians into the Household of God,
and with the Apostle's personal relation to such a gracious
dispensation, finally concluding with a renewed Prayer and
Doxology. (1) Praise (i. 3-14). God is praised — "Blessed be
God" — not at the moment for any particular gifts or
graces bestowed on the readers of the Epistle, but gener
ally for the rich spiritual blessings bestowed on all
Christians. The whole passage, however, is very difficult
and involved, full of curious parallelisms, loosely strung
sentences, and recurrent phrases, in which the Pauline
" telescopic " style of composition is carried to excess. It
is not very satisfactory to divide by the recurrence of
the rhythmical phrase " to the praise of His glory "
(vv. 6 and 12), if simply for the reason that vv. 11—12
are thereby erroneously separated from vv. 1 3—1 4. Again,
God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are all
represented in the outpouring of grace, but it is a mistake
to group the references to the blessings round these names.
To do so may be theologically sound, but it is artificial,
and not interpretative of any guiding thought in the mind
of the writer. The thought of God the Father as the
eternal source of the blessings, which spring from His
grace and good pleasure and are for the praise of His
glory, dominates the whole passage ; Christ also appears
continuously as the sole Mediator of the blessings ; while
the Holy Spirit is spoken of only in particular connection
with the last one (ver. 13). If division be attempted, a
threefold line of praise may be distinguished : (1) for God's
eternal choice of believers as adopted sons in Christ, to
the end that they should be in His sight holy and without
blemish in love (vv. 3-6) ; (2) for Eedemption through
the Cross of Christ, and for the revelation of this 'mystery'
of the Divine Will so long concealed ; namely, the carrying
out of a redemptive dispensation to be completed in the
fulness of the times, whereby all things in heaven and
earth are to be brought into entire harmony in Christ as

338 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
Head (vv. 7-10); and (3) for the predestined portion or
heritage assigned in Christ both to those who, like the
writer, had had a previous hope in the Messiah, and to
those, like the Gentile readers, who, after hearing the
gospel, beheved, and were sealed by the Holy Ghost,
whose indwelling power is the universal mark of the
privilege, the obligation, and the security of the common
inheritance, purchased but not yet fully possessed.1
(2) Prayer (i. 15— ii. 10). Paul has heard with
increasing thankfulness of his readers' faith and love, and
tells how he prays for them that God would bestow upon-
them a still higher knowledge of Himself, in the hope of
His calling, in the riches of His inheritance, and in the
exceeding greatness of His power.2 This power has already
had two signal manifestations: in Christ (vv. 20—23), and
in Christians (h. 1-10). In Christ it has been exhibited
in His Eesurrection, in His heavenly exaltation far above all
other powers that can be named, present or to come, and in
His supreme Headship to the Church, His mystical Body,
which is penetrated and filled by Him who even fills the
universe with His omnipotent and continuous activity.3 In
1 Von Soden, Hand-Comm. (ed. 1893), pp. 106-110, defines such a three
fold division of the blessings as (1) their Eternal Decree, (2) their Historical
Realisation, and (3) their Appropriation to tho Elect of the two pre-
Christian classes, Jews and Gentiles.
2 "The three objects to be known are in reality one and tho same under
different points of view; the content of the "hope of the calling" is the
inheritance, and this again in its realisation is an effect and proof of the power
of God. Thus the object of the knowledge is the blessing to be obtained in
the future kingdom of God " (Abbott, Int. Crit. Comm., Ephesians, p. 30).
3 T6 TcX-qpupa seems here equivalent to rb ire-ir\-qpwpIvov. Cf. Meyer, in
lie. Also Lightfoot, Colossians, p. 261, who refers to the different points
of view in Colossians and Ephesians as leading to a corresponding difference
in the use of n\-f)pwp.a. Here it is "that plenitude of Divine graces aud
virtues which is communicated through Christ to the Church as His Body."
So also Von Soden, in a well-reasoned passage, Comm., p. 116. On tho other
hand, Abbott, p. 37, favours Chrysostom's interpretation: "He says ir\ripaua,
just as the head is completed by the body." So also Aquinas, Beza, Baur,
Pfleiderer, Oltramare, Weiss. "However complete He is in Himself, yet as
Head He is not complete without His Body," — the last clause of the verso
immediately correcting any superficial inconsistency in the expression.
Both inter] ire tations are logically possible, but on the whole critical
opinion is in favour of the first.

RECEPTION OF THE GENTILES 339
Christians, whether Gentiles or Jews, it has been exhibited
in the merciful and loving quickening of (heir dead sinful
nature into newness of life, raising and exalting them with
Christ, to display the riches of Divine grace, which saves
not on account of good works but that good works may be
accomplished. (3) Eeception of the Gentiles (ii. 11-end). Such
marvellous tokens of Divine love must rouse strange
thoughts in the Gentile heart. The readers of the Epistle
must recall their former sad spiritual condition, and con
trast it with their present position in the Divine kingdom,
remembering to whom this is due and how much it signifies.
Formerly they were without Christ, aliens from the common
wealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise,
without hope, and without the knowledge of God ; but now
that dark state of alienation has been changed by Christ
through the Cross, whereby He hath accomplished a
glorious twofold work of peace, both removing every
divisive obstacle between Jew and Gentile, making one new
humanity that is neither Jewish nor Greek, and at the
same time reconciling them all to God in one body, giving
them all the same access to the Father in one Spirit. They
are therefore no more strangers and foreigners, but by
divine right arc fellow-citizens with the saints, and members
of tho Household of God. To change the figure, they have
been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Chris
tian prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the essential and
indispensable bond, the chief corner-stone. In Him all
that are so built, however separated by nationahty or
by diversity of experience, being fitly joined together,
gradually grow unto a holy Temple in the Lord, a
habitation of God, of which even now, in tlieir ingathering
and redeeming, the readers themselves are being made a
part.1 (4) Paul's personal relation to this Divine Grace (iii.
1 "The imago is that of an extensive pile of buildings in process of
construction at different points ou a common plan. The several parts arc
adjusted to each other so as to preserve, the unity of design." Abbott, p. 75,
substantially reproducing Findlay, Ephesians, Expos. Bible, p. 116.

340 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
1— 13).1 It is on account of this reception of the Gentiles
into the Divine kingdom that Paul is now enduring im
prisonment, so that his friends must not lose heart at
tribulations which have so glorious a cause ; that is, if he
may take for granted, as he surely may, that they have
heard of the grace given to him for their sakes : how that
the mystery was revealed to him — what he has just briefly
written will show how well he understands it 2 — the
mystery, iu earher ages not made known, but now revealed
to the holy Apostles and prophets, namely, that the
Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and of the same Body, and
partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the
gospel. Of this gospel he himself became a minister by the
grace and power of Cod. He can never forget so sacred a
trust. It fills him at once with the deepest humility and
with the sincerest joy. Though less than the least of all
saints, it is given to him to preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make clear the Divine
arrangement of the ' mystery,' that through the Church
should be made known even to principalities and powers in
heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God — formerly
too hard to follow in its veiled and intricate relations to
mankind, now marvellously shining forth in its glorious
issue, the eternal Divine purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(5) Eenewed Prayer and Doxology (iii. 14— end). For
this cause — that is, the glad inclusion of the Gentiles — he
earnestly prays for them that they may have in the inner
higher hfe of the soul the indwelling strength of the Spirit

1 Verse 13 is prohahly the completion of the thought in verse 1. Some,
however, think that the thought of ver. 1 is held in suspense until the
beginning of ch. iv., only to be again suspended until iv. 17. So Gore,
Ephesians, p. 142.
2 The reference is usually understood to be to i. 9 sqq. Gore (p. 131 ) thinks
it is to Colossians (cf. Col. i. 25 sqq.). Hort, Prolegomena, p. 150, would take
"read" in a technical sense as referring to the Old Testament Scriptures.
Paid would thus seem to mean that when the recipients of his Epistle read
the Old Testament prophecies, and compared them with his teaching, they
would see how correctly he had apprehemled the mystery of Christ. This
interpretation, if it could be accepted, would remove a certain difficulty con
nected with the strangeness of the appeal as usually interpreted.

NATURE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY 341
of Christ ; that thereby with all saints they may com
prehend the surpassing greatness of Christ's love ; and
finally, that they may be filled with all the communicable
grace of the fulness of God.1 Now unto the omnipotent
God be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus unto all
generations for ever.
2. Chapters iv.-vi. The practical exhortation now
follows. The readers of the Epistle behold the high
vocation with which they are called : let them walk worthily
of it. The virtues which they should conspicuously display
are humility, meekness, long-suffering, forbearance, in order
that the all-embracing unity of the Church, now given and
enjoyed by the Spirit, may be preserved.
The mention of this unity leads to a brief doctrinal
parenthesis (iv. 4—16), in which Paul gives a very emphatic
and impressive declaration of the essential nature of Chris
tian unity : one Body, one Spirit, one Hope ; one Lord, one
Faith, one Baptism; one God and Father of all. Yet this
unity embraces great diversity of gift, every member having
his own special grace from Christ. For Christ's ascent
into heaven is followed as its natural consequence by His
descent again to earth, in order to give His gifts to men —
such a spiritual coming as has aheady been referred to in
His " preaching peace " and " dwelling in the heart by
faith." 2 Thus, they are His gifts who labour as Apostles,
as prophets, as evangelists, as pastors and teachers ; and all
tend to the same gracious end, the perfecting of the saints,
the edifying of the Body of Christ, a work that gradually
grows perfect in faith, in knowledge, and in steadfastness,
deriving all its strength from Christ the Head.
1 ' ' That ye may be filled with divine gifts of grace to such an extent that
the whole fulness of them shall have passed over upon yon." Meyer, in loc.
- Cf. Von Soden, pp. 135-136 ; Abbott, pp. 115-116. Against the inter
pretation of a descent into Hell, cf. Weiss, Bib. Theol. of the N.T., ii.
100 n., and Pfleiderer, Paulinism, ii. 170 n. ; Eadie, Ephesians, pp. 291 sqq.
(ed. 1S83) ; Macpherson, Ephesians, pp. 301-302; Winer, Grammar, p. 666
(ed. 1870); Grimm-Thayer, Lexicon, p. 341b. On the other hand, 'cf. Meyer,
Ephesians, pp. 213-214 (ed. 1895) ; and Klopper, Der Brief an die Ephcser,
pp. 127-128.

342 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
In verse 17 the Apostle recurs to his exhortation.
Christians must turn theh backs for ever on the old
Gentile ways, which were so ahen from the hfe of God and
from the Sphit of Christ, and must exhibit the graces of
the new hfe in righteousness and holiness of truth. He
particularly warns against falsehood, anger, dishonesty,
evil-speaking, and exhorts rather to forgiveness and love on
the Divine model. They must jealously watch against the
manifold and deceitful forms of vice which were common
around them, walking as wise men, redeeming the time,
shunning every exhilaration that is not sphitual and uplift
ing. Above all, theh Christian homes, in all their intimate
relations of husbands and wives, children and parents,
masters and servants, must be well-ordered and pure — the
relation of husbands and wives being specially enforced and
illumined by comparison, as far as such comparison is
possible, with the relation of Christ Himself to the Church,
now the subject of so profound a revelation. Finally, the
readers must fit themselves for theh sphitual conflict, by
putting on the whole armour of God, described in a passage
of great animation and beauty.
In concluding the Epistle, the Apostle commends his
messenger Tychicus as one who will give full tidings of his
affairs, and utters a benediction on all who love our Lord
Jesus Christ with a sphitual and imperishable love.
The Epistle is thus seen to be quite an orderly structure.
It proceeds on definite lines, clearly distinguished, and ably,
if sometimes rather copiously, developed. The writer
makes no reference to any personal relations with his
readers, and he does not, at least directly, combat any
heresy or defection within theh ranks. They are Gentile
converts, and he warns them very earnestly against the
allurements and seductions of the old hfe that still surges
so powerfully around them, and also against the subtler and
darker powers of sphitual evil that are sure to assail them
with many temptations. But above all, he entertains a
deep joy and ceaseless wonder at the divine grace which
has gathered them hito the great Household of God. That
Household is one and all-embracing, deriving its unity, its

RELATION TO COLOSSIANS 343
life, its growth, its strength, its perfection, from Christ
alone. He is its supreme and ever-living Head. Nothing
can be more needful than to preserve the unity which
is created and exists in Him.
The likeness to Colossians is immediately apparent.
The substratum, the general outline, the representations of
the writer's chcumstances, the Gentile- Christian class of
readers, the commission given to Tychicus, are essentially
the same. Several of the leading thoughts recur, and are
presented in identical language. The relations of Christ to
the universe and to the Church are a dominant theme in
both ; the references to the spirit-world and its prin
cipalities and powers, and to the need of divine wisdom
and knowledge among the readers, are common ; and the
ethical teaching is strikingly similar, both in its precepts
and in its lines of application. On the other hand, the
divergences are very marked. In Colossians everything is
definite and local ; here, indefinite and general, nor have
we any such personal references as those at the close of
Colossians. In Colossians there are clear sounds of
antagonism, but none here that are very distinct : the
former Epistle is polemic, this is designed rather to ward
off strife. Again, the relation of Christ to the universe
receives the chief emphasis in Colossians, while in Ephesians
the emphasis is laid on the relation between Christ and the
Church. Ephesians, moreover, is eminently rich in matter
of its own. The unity of the Church in all its phases, and*
its continuance in a redemptive dispensation of slowly
developing growth and perfecting, are central and glowing
thoughts; the activity of the Holy Spirit is very pro
minent ; while the analogy between Christ's relations to the
Church and that of husband and wife, the contrast between
sensual and spiritual fulness, the liturgical passage in the
third chapter, the elaborate description of the Christian
armour, and the form of the closing benediction, are notable
peculiarities. The affinities with other New Testament scriptures are
also very evident. The views of the Gentile pre-Christian
life of sin, redemption through the blood of Christ, recon-

344 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
ciliation by the Cross, salvation by faith, the slaying of the
enmity, the mystery of the gospel revelation, the unifying
of all, especially Jews and Gentiles, in Clirist, the functions
of the Holy Spirit, the figures of the building and the
body, with their suggestions of unity and diversity, the
indwelling of Christ in the heart, the contrast between the
old man and the new, the Headship of Christ, the inherit
ance of the saints, the death in sin and quickening again hi
Christ, election and predestination, the abasement of self
and the magnifying of office, the opposition of light and
darkness, the Church as the bride of Christ, and the
donning of spiritual armour — these all have their parallels,
more or less distinct, in the Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and
Apocalypse. The relations to the First Epistle of Peter,
and to the Gospel of John, are very obvious. One cannot
but think that the writer, in treating of the catholic unity
of believers, must have had in his heart the very expressions
of our Lord's Intercessory Prayer, perhaps heard from the lips
of John himself. Peter also must have given or received
influence (almost certainly the latter), though in his Epistle
one is struck at once by the darker and more definite
anticipation of immediate suffering among the Christians of
Asia Minor. II.
AUTHENTICITY OF THE EPISTLE.
We turn now to the question of authorship. The
Epistle claims to be Paul's, and the ancient Church never
for a moment doubted the claim.
Outside the New Testament the Epistle is admirably
attested. We have very early reference to it. Two
witnesses go back to the first century, Clement of Eome
(c. 95 A.D.), and the Two Ways (Barnabas), part of the
Didache. Both use language that leads to the highest
presumption of acquaintance with the Epistle. A few
years later Ignatius, Hermas, and Polycarp (a disciple
of St. John), make the existence a certainty for the

LANGUAGE AND STYLE 345
first or second decade of the second century. About
140 a.d. Marcion includes it in his collection of Pauline
Epistles, though under another title. Thereafter Irenseus
(c. 170 A.D.), a disciple of Polycarp, first attributes the
authorship to Paul by name, and is followed by all other
tradition.1 Thus, strange to say, the Epistle so much
challenged in modern times is the one most clearly testified
to in the ancient Church. In the face of this testimony,
most writers, whatever their view of its authorship, agree
as to its early composition and reception, and the old
off-hand relegation to the " middle of the second century,"
the favourite era of uncritical critics, is now quite dis
carded. - The internal study of the Epistle, however, has raised
many grave questions regarding the Pauline authorship.
(A) In the first place, difficulties have been found in
the language and style.
The list of words found only here is undoubtedly
large : 2 but the occurrence of peculiar words is charac
teristic of all Paul's Epistles, and we must bear in mind
that such of his writings as we possess are few in number
and spread over a long period of time; the subjects of
which they treat are usually special ; and the writer him
self is not only a man of extreme sensibihty, but of great
originality, fertility, and freedom. To note such verbal
peculiarities, therefore, may be a matter of literary interest,
but does not afford just ground for scruples as to authen
ticity. Besides, in the case before us, a large number of
the peculiar words have to be immediately discounted. To
intrude them into the question is really inept and trifling.
Such are those occurring in direct or indirect quotations,
others naturally called for by the singularity of the subject
(e.g., on the Christian armour and on Christian unity), others
that are perfectly common, and many that have their cog-
1 The original references from Barnabas to Jerome are collected by Char-
teris, Canonicity, pp. 237-242.
2 They are reckoned at 76, of which 37 (or 35) are foreign not merely to
Pauline writings but to the whole New Testament. Cf. Von Soden, Comm.,
p. SS ; Holtzmann, Einleit., p. 289, and Kritik, pp. 100-101.

346 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
nates in previous usage, and that now differ only as different
parts of speech.1 " Lists of this kind," says Hort, " are
always delusive if taken in a crude numerical fashion. He
must be a very monotonous writer indeed who does not
use — for the most part imconsciously use — in each of his
books a certain number of words which he does not use in
his other books. . . . No one doubts that the great balk
of the vocabulary of this Epistle is in accordance with
Pauline usage. . . . Indeed ah this evidence drawn from
the mere presence or absence of words on comparison with
other books of the same author, or of other authors, can
never have much value unless it be copious or very peculiar,
— much more so than is the case with respect to this
Epistle." 2
It is quite acknowledged that the style of the Epistle
is heavy and dragging in several places, though not alto
gether in a fashion unparalleled in Paul's writings. There
is a tendency to accumulation of epithets, a fondness for
synonyms, and a drawing out of subordinate clauses, which
contrast with the general vivacity and forcible brevity of
Paul's earher manner. The difference has been thus de
picted, with acknowledged breadth of treatment : " We
shut the Epistle to the Eomans, and we open that to the
Ephesians ; how great is the contrast ! We cannot speak
here of vivacity, hardly of energy ; if there is energy it is
deep down below the surface. The rapid argumentative
cut and thrust is gone. In its place we have a slow-
moving onwards-advancing mass, hke a glacier working its
1 Cf. Zahn's analysis, Einleit. , i. 366-369 ; Hort, Prolegomena, pp. 154 sqq. ;
Oltramare, Comm. sur les ipitres aux Col., aux Eph., et d Phil., 1892,
ii. 80. 2 Hort, loc. cit., pp. 155, 158. The following interesting parallel is fur
nished by Prof. Mahaffy, quoted by Salmon, Introd., p. 419 n. ; "Tho works
of Xenophon show a remarkable variation in their vocabulary. Thus I. and
II. of the Hellenica, which are his earliest writings, before he travelled,
contain very few Ionisms, Dorisms, etc., and are written in pure Attic. His
later tracts are full of un-Attic words, picked up from his changing sur
roundings ; and, what is more curious, in each of them there are many
words only used by him once ; so that, on the ground of variation in
diction, each single book might he, and indeed has been, rejected as non-
Xenophontic. "

ARGUMENT FROM STYLE INCONCLUSIVE 347
way inch by inch down the valley. The periods are of
unwieldy length ; the writer seems to stagger under his
load. He has weighty truths to express, and he struggles
to express them — not without success, but certainly with
little flexibility or ease of composition. The truths un
folded read like abstract truths, ideal verities, ' laid up in
the heavens,' rather than embodying themselves in the
active controversies of earth."1
But the delineators of this contrast — which, it should
be noted, is truer of the earlier portions of Ephesians than
of its close — are by no means at a loss to account for it.
The cause does not necessarily he in difference of author
ship, but in difference of subject, difference of circumstances,
and difference due to the special temperament of the
Apostle. When Galatians was written Paul was in the
thick of a great controversy, and even in Eomans "the
echoes of war are still in his ears." In Ephesians that
excitement has died away, and new, difficult, and tran
scendent matter is on hand. Besides, Paul is in prison,
and far from the Churches whose case is before him, and
only before him by hearsay; it would not be astray to
depict him worn and weary with the monotony and de
pression of his confinement; no longer the gladiator with
his sword drawn, but "such a one as Paul the aged."
Style depends very much on mood, and theme, and circum
stance ; and the most curious results in criticism would
follow if discrepancies of manner were to regulate questions
of authorship. By this method it would be easier to prove
that Ivanhoe is not Scott's than that Ephesians is not
Paul's ; and criticism has assuredly reached the nadir of
complete absurdity, when it is based on a principle whose
logical issue would render it impossible ever to ascribe two
books to the same pen. Questions of style, moreover, are
very much a matter of opinion and of predisposition. To
some this Epistle seems tame, sluggish, verbose, scholastic,
phlegmatic ; to others it is one of the divinest compositions
of man, deep, recondite, exquisite. Perhaps Erasmus came
1 Sanday and Headlam, Romans, p. lv.

348 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
nearest the truth. He clearly perceived the peculiarities,
yet he felt throughout the throbbing of the Pauhne pulse :
" Idem in hac epistola Pauli fervor, eadem profunditas, idem
omnino spiritus ac pectus."
(B) Much more serious, however, have been the objec
tions taken to the Epistle on account of its subject-matter.
1. In the second quarter of the nineteenth century, critics
began to assert that both Colossians and Ephesians were
manifestly non-Pauline in large portions of their contents,
and could not possibly belong to the apostohc age. One
of the most formidable opponents was Baur, whose views
were fully expressed in his famous work on Paul, first pub
lished in 1845. He attributed both Epistles to a period
at earhest approaching the middle of the second century,
when the clearly developed Gnosticism, which he thought
pervaded them, was alone possible. "We are here trans
ported to a circle of ideas which belongs to a totally
different historical era, viz., to the period of Gnosticism." x
The evidence of this he found in the conception and repre
sentation of Christ in absolute pre-existence, the centre
of the entire spirit-realm, and the unifier of all things in
heaven and earth ; in the Gnostic idea of the Pleroma ;
the representation of the Church as a Syzygy with Christ,
His Bride, Body, Pleroma ; the manifold Wisdom of God ;
the pm-pose of the iEons (ih. 9) ; the Descent into Hell
(iv. 8, so interpreted), as indicating the full extent of the
activity of Christ as an absolute Pleroma ; and many char
acteristic expressions, such as, mystery, wisdom, knowledge,
aeon, hght, and rulers of the darkness of this world. He
even found indications of Montanism (anti-Gnostic) in the
representation of the Spirit as the distinctive principle of
Christian consciousness and life, and in the co-ordination
of prophets with apostles as founders of the Church (Ter
tullian) : regarding which it has only to be said, with
Holtzmann, that on such grounds Montanism might be dis
covered in all Paul's Epistles ; and further, that Montanus
did not come into notice in Phrygia before 156 A.D.,
1 Life and Works of Paul, ii. 7.

ORIGIN OF GNOSTICISM 349
whereas our Epistles were in Marcion's collection nearly
twenty years earlier.
It is unquestionable that in both Epistles there are
expressions and ideas which were common in the Gnostic
systems of the second century. But it is unhistorical to
assume that these were not possible at a much earlier
period. Gnosticism was a composite and not an original
phenomenon. It gathered up speculative notions that had
long been in vogue, and allied them as far as possible with
Christian redemptive conceptions, which greatly served to
give it the vigour it possessed.1 Judaism, Hellenism,
Parsism, and the mythologies of Egypt and India, were all
contributory streams. Very specially the Zoroastrian dual-
istic view of the universe, with its Powers of Light and
Darkness in eternal conflict, and its doctrines of heavenly
hierarchies and emanations, had a powerful fascination.
Such influences were at work not merely by the second
century, but even before and through the first. Hence
the utter baselessness of tbe opinion that teaching of a
Gnostic type coming into touch with Christianity, is an
argument for the late date of the Epistles. As Jiilicher
says, " The Gnosticism with which Colossians is at strife is
even older than Christianity itself." " The false teachers
with whom the Epistle makes us acquainted could have
made their appearance within the Christian Church in the
year 6 0 a.d. just as easily as in 12 0." 2
As matter of fact, the traditionary sources of the
Talmud, the doctrines of the Essenes, the Apocryphal
books of Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon, and
the writings of Philo and the Alexandrian School, clearly
show how deeply it was possible for Judaism to have
1 The Gnostics specially adopted the Pauline teaching regarding the
connection of redemption with creation, which they endeavoured to under
stand speculatively. Cf. Neander, Ch. Hist., Bohn's ed., ii. 8. Their views
of the origin of the evil from which Christ redeems were, however, radi
cally different from those of the New Testament. The latter traces it to
the human will, the Gnostics found it in the very constitution of the
world. 2 Einlcit., p. 105, and Ency. Bibl., i. 864. Cf. also Reuss, Hist, of the
N. T. Writings, pp. 65 sq.

350 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
intermingled not merely with Greek philosophy, but also
with Oriental speculation, long before the time of Paul.
The composition of the theosophical books of the Jewish
Kabbala — such as the Book of Creation and the Book of
Zohar — no doubt belongs to a very late period, but the
Kabbalistic traditions themselves certainly "embody many
opinions and doctrines which obtained among the Jews prior
to the time of Christ." 1 Simonian Gnosticism, although
developed in the second century, undoubtedly had its basis
laid in Samaria by Simon Magus himself, " the great power
of God," who was the forerunner of Gnosticism, if not its
founder as all the early Fathers thought. "His system
at bottom," says Eenan, "has much analogous to that of
Valentinus." 2
Philo's language is particularly worth noting in con
nection with the Colossian and Ephesian Christology. In
his writings the Divine Word is the Image of God, the
Firstborn Son, " neither unbegotten as God nor begotten as
man," the Maker of the World, who sums up and com
prehends the whole intelligible Cosmos, who holds together
and administers the universe, and is the instrument of
creation and providence, the steersman and pilot of the
world ; while the Divine Wisdom is the unfailing fountain
for the understanding, the " many-named," the beginning
and image and vision of God.3
1 Ginsburg, Ency. Brit., xiii. 814"; Diet. Chris. Biog., i. 363. Mansel
(Gnost. Heres., p. 39) sees a. Persian impress. Cf. Westcott, Study of the
Gospels, p. 144. On Gnostic speculations in Judaism antecedent to the Chris
tian era, cf. M. Friedlander, Der Vorchrislliche jiidische Gnostieismus (1898) ;
and specially on the Babylonian origin of the leading ideas of Gnosticism,
cf. Wilh. Anz, Zur Frage naeh dem Ursprung der Gnostizismus (1897).
2 On Simon, cf. Harnack, Hist. Dogma, i. 243-245, and art. Ency. Brit.;
Mansel, Gnostic Heresies, ch. vi. ; Renan, Les Apdtres, eh. xv., and L'Eglise
chritienne, ch. ix. "Simon appears to have taken into his studies of Greek
philosophy a system of syncretic theosophy and of allegorical exegesis
analogous to that of Philo" (Les Apdtres, p. 267). He may have been
acquainted with "the theosophic ideas of the Logos," "of which we have
the germ in Colossians" — an Epistle " tres-probablement authentique"
(p. 272).
3 Cf. Principal Drummond's Philo Jueleeus, ii. ch. vi. ; Jowett's Essay in
Thessalonians, etc. (1894) ; Ueberweg's History of Philosophy, i. 222 sqq.
On the sphit- world, the families in heaven, the angelic hierarchies, the

UNIVERSAL SPIRIT OF SPECULATION 351
These influences were not isolated and confined during
the first century. They were broadcast. Men in those
days did not divide their lives into compartments. They
travelled with their opinions, and were only too eager to
discuss them, to impart them, and to find affinities with
them elsewhere. Owing to the conquests of Alexander
and the spread of the Eoman Empire, the Eastern and
Western worlds, by the time of the Apostles, had much
mingled — the Orontes had emptied itself into the Tiber —
and in no part was the confluence more evident and potent
than just in the districts of Asia Minor to which the pre
sent Epistles are directed. Greek cities, too, like Corinth,
were very open to such intercourse, and it is noteworthy
that in both Paul's letters to the Corinthians we have
probable allusions to germs of Gnostic teaching.1 Nothing
is more likely than that Paul himself had come into con
tact with many who aired speculative opinions ; he must
even have been familiar with them when a student in the
Jewish schools ; and, as a Christian evangelist, he must
clearly have perceived the clanger of theh alliance with
the doctrines of the gospel. It is easy also to believe that
such contact tinged his vocabulary, and that when the
danger actually arose as it now did in the Lycus valley,
his thoughts were naturally set working on new and tran
scendental lines. It was as if he said : ' Yet show I unto
you a more excellent way. There is a solution of all these
problems of origin. But it is in Christ, and in Him alone.
He is the Beginning and the End, the true Pleroma, the
true Mediator, the Head of all Powers above and beneath,
the Deliverer of the Universe.' It is, however, decidedly
heavenly places, etc., cf. ch. vi. of H. St. John Thackeray's Relation of St. Paul
to Contemporary Jewish Thought. Philo's "many-named" wisdom, wo\v-
dwvp.os, may he compared with Paul's 7roXinroiiaXos (Eph. iii. 10), "much-
variegated," a word in which Baur thought he perceived the mark of the
second century.
1 Cf. 1 Cor. viii. 1, 2, xiii. 8, 10 ; 2 Cor. xi. 6. Mansel thinks that it
is not improbable that Gnostic doctrines are at least partially and indirectly
combated, along with errors of a similar character, in the Apostle's
elaborate and triumphant argument for the resurrection of the body in the
fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle. Gnost. Heresies, p. 50.

352 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
a forced interpretation that finds in his language anything
like the significance which the same terms possessed when
employed in the full-blown heretical systems of the second
century. One cannot but feel, as Baur writes of the Pleroma,
the Divine Wisdom, the Syzygies, the ^Eons, etc., that he
is finding a great deal more in the Epistle than is really
there. His interpretations seem forced in the interests of
a preconceived theory. His Hegelian principle of develop
ment proceeding by the mediation of opposing tendencies,
led him to account for the whole history of the early
Church by a deep and incessant conflict of Petrine and
Pauline parties, which only found a cathohc settlement by
compromise and conciliation well on in the second century.
All writings, therefore, that were irenical rather than
polemical, had to be late in their origin from the nature of
the case, and the Gnostic elements in phraseology and
thought are here seized upon to give colour to this con
clusion. It must have been a strange way, however, to
attempt to secure concihation by the use of a system which
both parties in the dispute equally abhorred. Baur un
doubtedly gave an immense stimulus to thought and
research, but his views on the present question are no
longer accepted by scholars save in very modified forms.
The opposite order is generally allowed, namely, that the
Gnostics of the second century were more hkely to be the
borrowers from the canonical writings.1
2. Although Gnostical references by no means suffice
to relegate the Epistle to the second century, there
is still, in view of the subject-matter and its treat-

1 Cf. Holtzmann, Krilik der Epheser- vnd Kolosserbriefe, p. 302. "The
New Testament ideas are the sources of the later Gnostic systems, which on
their part cannot be regarded as original creations : the Gnostic aoipia, for
example, is u. development of Rom. xi. 33 ; 1 Cor. ii. 6, 7 ; Eph. iii. 10."
Cf. also Reuss, Hist. NT., pp. 116-117, and 124-126. "It seems clear,"
says Lightfoot, writing of the adaptations of Valentinians, "that in several
instances at least tlieir nomenclature was originally chosen fur the sake of
fitting the theory to isolated phrases and expressions of the Apostolic
writings, however much it might conflict with the Apostolic doctrine in its
main lines" (Colossians, p. 269).

THE PERSONAL PASSAGE 353
ment, a large consensus of opinion in favour of a date
in the last quarter of the first century, which may be
described as the Johannine rather than the Pauline
period. To begin with, considerable difficulty is felt in attri
buting to Paul the personal passage at the opening of the
third chapter. Holtzmann, Weizsacker, and others, are of
opinion that the hand of another writer is here clearly
betrayed. The passage certainly insists strongly on Paul's
special knowledge and qualification in dealing with the
mystery of the gospel ; and there is a peculiarity in the
fourth verse, which would in some degree be relieved if
Hort's interpretation, already referred to, could be accepted.1
As to the inclusion of the Apostles as in full agreement
with the reception of the Gentiles, it is really in essential
harmony with the facts,2 and could only be an anachronism
if we were to maintain that the early debates were not got
over nor the breaches healed in the lifetime of St. Paul —
a view that has no justification or likelihood.3 On the
whole the magnifiying of his office, accompanied with lowly
personal abasement, as in verse 8, in view of the Divine
grace bestowed upon him, is quite in the Apostle's mode,4
and is very germane to his present purpose of commending
his authority to unknown Gentile readers, in whose interests
he is even now in bonds. Taken alone, such difficulty as
the passage presents would never warrant a conclusion
adverse to Pauline authorship, although naturally it
gathers force when used cumulatively along with other
evidence. The weightiest objection, however, is taken on the
ground of a clearly defined development, both in doctrine
and in ecclesiastical situation, presented by the Epistle.

1 Vide supra, p. 340 n.
2 The right hand of fellowship is already given in the account of Gala
tians ii.
3 It is scarcely logical to represent Paul as in deep and perpetual conflict
with the Apostles, when it is abundantly clear that he was particular to
count himself among them.
4 Cf. Gal. i. 13-16.
23

354 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
The chief matters have reference (1) to the Person and
Work of Christ, and (2) to catholic or universal concep
tions of the Church.
(1) It has to be premised that it is scarcely main
tained that the new views are essentially inconsistent with
genuine Pauline teaching. They are almost unanimously
regarded as a natural development, not un-Pauline but
non-Pauline, due most likely, so close is their affinity to
the Apostle's acknowledged thought, to one who was an
ardent disciple if not a personal friend. This reduces
the issue to very narrow limits. It also makes it more
difficult to decide, because the question tends to resolve
itself into a matter of opinion. It is a crude supposition
that Paul in his earlier Epistles has told us all that was
in his mind at the time. He too, like his Master, could
have said, and practically did say, " I have many things to
say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." 1 It is
quite as erroneous to suppose that his mind remained
stationary during five or ten most stirring and eventful
years. The dictum that this or that " goes beyond Pauline
limits," should certainly be used with caution and reserve.
A man " led by the Spirit " may very rapidly come to see
and to teach, not really differently, but more. Given the
circumstances that would naturally call forth vaster con
ceptions, it would be the hardest of all things to maintain
that Paul was not equal to them. Events and ideas move
pari passu. Thus, to touch the facts for a moment, if the
Apostle does not now strenuously discuss the right of the
Gentiles to free admission to the kingdom on the ground
of faith alone, surely it is simply because he has not
hitherto laboured in vain. Their admission is a realised
fact, and it is perfectly futile to attempt to pin Paul down
for ever to a battle against Jewish ceremonialism. Much
may happen in a " ten years' conflict." In this case it is
very conceivable that victory has happened, and not long
happened, if we rightly interpret the glad wonder wdth
which the writer regards it.
1 Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 1-2,

CONSISTENCY OF PAULS CHRISTOLOGY 355
The Christology of Ephesians is fundamentally the
same as that of Colossians. The pre-existence of Christ
is implied, and the cosmical issues are identical. Believers
are chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the
world, and in Him as Head all things both in heaven and
on earth are gathered into one. This is certainly not the
early antithesis between the First and Second Adam. Yet
it is far from being its contradiction. Even in 1 Cor. xv.
47 "the Second Man is the Lord from heaven"; and in
Gal. iv. 4 and Eom. viii. 3 the Father's " sending " of His
Son into the world, is represented in such a way as to
suggest that the Apostle did not simply think of Christ as
absolutely coming into existence at His human birth. The
language in 2 Cor. viii. 9 is quite clear : " Though He was
rich, yet for your sakes He became poor." The cosmical
significance of Christ, moreover, has not merely its germ
but its evident expression in the words of 1 Cor. viii. 6 :
" One Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we
by Him." What we have, therefore, in the later Epistles,
is simply a more definite and extended presentation of
thoughts that were not foreign to the Apostle from the
beginning. And the historical circumstances are quite
adequate to account for this presentation. Paul had
tidings from Asia Minor of a dangerous form of teach
ing that was most possible and probable in his time,
and the news was perfectly sufficient to draw from him
such a line of evangelical defence as we find in the
Captivity Epistles. A similar explanation may be given
regarding the new aspects of the Eedeemer's work. The
matter is carried into the universal sphere because the
Colossian speculations invited it thither. Moreover, old
modes of statement naturally drop into a subsidiary posi
tion, not because they are untrue, but because they do not
meet so clearly the new necessities. This is the reason
why the earlier watchwords of Justification by Faith are
not prominent. They did not need to be. Yet all the
time they are absent rather in word than in idea. In the
views of sin, faith, good works, and the Christian hfe, it is
acknowledged, there is no departure from the standpoint

35G THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
of Paul.1 The Cross still remains the ' centre of gravity,'
and the historical Christ is held fast even when the cosmical
is most revealed : the ground of redemption is the blood
of the Beloved, and the Christ who is the exalted and
universal Head is the Christ who died and rose again.
Even if the Son is now represented as doing what has
formerly been attributed to God Himself, reconciling and
giving gifts, yet there is no essential contradiction of
earlier views of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Thess. i. 1—2),
and the extension of function and activity is quite in
harmony with the enlarged conceptions of His Person.
Nor should we omit to observe, on the other hand, that
along with this the note of subordination of the Son to
the Father is quite distinct (i. 3 and 17), while there is a
significant variation of the relation in iv. 32 and v. 1, 2.
On the whole, therefore, the opinion is justifiable that
while the Christology of Colossians and Ephesians is an
advance, it is no greater an advance than the historical
circumstances make natural and consistent for St. Paul
himself. (2) The doctrine regarding the Church is the leading
doctrine of the Epistle, and here also it is maintained that
there is a development such as precludes the theory of
Pauline authorship. Preference is chiefly made to four
matters — the teaching on the catholic or universal char
acter of the Church ; its relation to Christ ; its apostolic
foundation ; and its continuance through the ages.
(a) It is true that the Church is a term here used in
the very widest sense, universally inclusive of all believers.
This is supposed to be the mark of a later time, though
some, as Eenan, reduce the difference on this account to
the almost negligible margin of ten or fifteen years. It is
certain the usage here is not so late as that of Ignatius and
Polycarp, nor are there any tokens that it is due to a
desire on the part of Christianity to draw itself together
in the face of external opposition and persecution. The

1 Cf. Pfleiderer, Pavli-nism, ii. 183, 189; Oltramare, Comm., ii.
Sabatier, Paid, p. 239.

PAULINE CONCEPTION OF THE CHURCH 357
origin is altogether more primitive. It is suggested by
the simple fact that the writer happily perceives Jews and
Gentiles becoming united in one fold, on the ground of
a common reconciliation to God in Christ. Its basis is
therefore essentially universal — a universal salvation for
mankind who are in universal need of it, a distinctly
Pauline conception. Nor is the writer thinking of an
organised unity of different Churches scattered here and
there throughout the world. The solidarity in his mind
is one to be secured among believing men irrespective of
race, by bonds that are spiritual and invisible, the grand
aim being a unity of faith and knowledge. This thought
indeed, as Oltramare puts it, is not so much the unity of
the Church as unity in the Church. It is difficult to see
how such a purely spiritual conception must have lain
beyond the range of the Apostle. In point of fact, he
has not hitherto confined himself to a use of the word
in an exclusively local sense. He has already spoken, in
1 Corinthians and Galatians, of the Church of God, referring
to the communities he persecuted before his conversion.
Moreover, in the last verses of Eomans he speaks, quite in
the manner of Ephesians, of the mystery of the gospel now
to be made known to all nations. Circumstances also
make the inclusive and general aspect a very natural one
to the Apostle. He is led to reflect on the historical fact
that now in many parts of the world the great dividing
line that hitherto separated humanity — for to the Jewish
mind there was only one hne of rehgious demarcation
among men — has been abolished, and that, from both sides,
Jews and Gentiles come together on common ground that
is neither Jewish nor Gentile but Christian. And as he
reflects, he recognises an eternal counsel of God, glorious and
worthy, now beginning to be reahsed, even the gathering
together of all in Christ. This is the natural counterpart
of the great doctrine with which his mind is filled, namely,
the transcendent Personality of the Eedeemer. And the
use made of the idea is eminently characteristic of St.
Paul. Who more likely than he to perceive at once the
immense spiritual and ethical value of such a conception ?

358 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
Once grasped, it offered the highest impulse to mutual lovo
among believers, and to a holy life in the world. It is a
high calling wherewith they are called ; let them walk
worthily of it. If this be not Paul, it is similitude on
the very borders of identity. Nor ought we to forget an
influence that may have contributed to the shaping of this
catholic conception in Paul's mind, namely, his presence in
Eome. He must have felt something of the imperial air
of his surroundings, and have been impressed with the
wondrous sense of world-wide interest involved in the
simple fact of Eoman citizenship. " Here he must have
been vividly reminded of the already existing unity which
comprehended both Jew and Gentile under the bond of
subjection to the Emperor at Eome, and similarity and
contrast alike would suggest that a truer unity bound
together in one society all believers in the Crucified
Lord." 1
(b) Little can be made of the peculiar relation of the
Church to the Headship of Christ as an idea at all likely
to be foreign to the mind of Paul in the circumstances
which the Epistle supposes. Criticism here resolves itself
into a fastidious and puerile hair-splitting about metaphors.
Because in Eomans Paul spoke of believers as a complete
body, with Christ as the uniting principle, it would be
inconsistent for him now, several years later, to speak of
believers as the trunk of a body, which has Christ for
its head 1 2 One may be excused from entering on such
a discussion. As a serious allegation against Pauline
authorship the objection is perfectly grotesque. It is
much more important to notice that the Church is now,
in virtue of her relation to Christ, represented as the
'Hort, Christian Ecclesia, p. 144; cf. also Lock, Paul tlie Master
Builder, pp. 43-44.
2 Dr. Cone, e.g., says that the idea of the Headship cannot he combined
with the earlier representation without confusing the Apostle's entire con
struction of the matter. Pawl the Man, the Missionary, and the Teacher,
p. 414 n. But it is not necessary to strive after such a, ruinous combination
of long separated metaphors. There might be sumo small amount of force
in the objection if the figurative incongruity had appeared in one and the
same Epistle.

APOSTOLIC FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH 359
Pleroma of Christ, who Himself in Colossians was the
Pleroma of God. The expression is new and bold. We
understand it to mean that the Church is to be so united
to Christ, and so open towards Him, that she will ulti
mately be filled with the perfect fulness of all His grace
and power.
(c) It is further thought that the association of Apostles
and prophets as founders of the Church, is not a mode of
speech that Paul was likely to employ, and that still less
likely, on general and personal grounds, was he to call
them " holy." Many have felt a special difficulty with
regard to the latter part of this objection, and it has even
been suggested that the expression must be a gloss on the
text.1 But Paul has not hesitated to plead a great deal
on behalf of the " saints " in Jerusalem, and the expression
is freely applied to believers throughout his Epistles. It
does not in fact specially express veneration on account of
superior sanctity, but is simply used to distinguish those
who have received the Divine message of the gospel. It
is perfectly natural as applied to those who have at least
consecrated themselves to a holy ideal, and who have been
led thereto by the Holy Spirit. Paul would probably have
hesitated to apply the word individually and directly to
himself ; but such a feeling is covered so as scarcely to
operate when the application is to the whole body of those
who had been chosen as the recipients of Divine revelation.
It is true the Apostles and prophets are represented, in a
pleased and almost retrospective way, as the foundation
of the Church, with Jesus Christ as the chief corner-stone.
But there is nothing in this of the nature of vital contra
diction to previous representations.2 We have only a
figurative statement of actual fact as regards the mission-

1 In 1 Thess. v. 27, in the phrase "holy brethren," the adjective is a
gloss from the margin.
2 Not even to "other foundation can no man lay," etc., 1 Cor. iii. 11.
As Hort says in his admirable treatment of this objection — "There he is
not speaking of the Christian society, but the Christian faith : what is there
spoken of as built on the foundation is not men but teachings or ways of
life " (Prolegomena, p. 147).

360 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
ary work of the apostolic age, and a simple recognition
of those wdio were ever in the front rank of the Divine
gifts bestowed on the Church. Moreover, the comparison
of the Messiah to the Headstone of the corner, the in
dispensable bond of the building, though actually new
in Paul's writings, was quite common property in the
religious thought of his time, adopted by our Lord in
one of His parables, and used by Peter both before the
Sanhedrim and in his Epistle.
(d) The last point of importance to which exception
is taken in connection with the doctrine of the Church,
is the teaching regarding its continuance through the
ages. This is believed to be inconsistent with the Pauline
anticipation of the Parousia and approaching end of the age,
characteristic of the earher Epistles. But even before the
period of Captivity we have intimation that the logic of
events was having its effect on the Apostle's mind. In
this respect Paulinism had begun to ' fade ' even in the
Epistle to the Eomans. There, as we have already seen,
there was an evident anticipation of an extended evangel
ical dispensation and an age-long development. Growing
years and experience had only made this anticipation more
sure. So far, therefore, as subject-matter is concerned, we
can scarcely think that a sufficiently strong case has been
made out against the Pauline authorship. We have pre
sented what may fairly be regarded as at least the main
lines of criticism.1 But the Epistle has been studied with
great minuteness, and many additional details of greater
or less plausibility have been urged against it. Such arc,
its theory of marriage, its forbidding of theft, the unusual
form of the final salutation, the supposed implication that
the earthly Jerusalem has been destroyed (ii. 6), the signs
of a developed sectarianism (iv. •''— 14), the Divine charac
teristics in i. 17 and iii. 15, the catalogue of social duties,

1 Specially worthy of study and comparison arc Pfleiderer (Paul in ism)
and Hort (Prolegomc n a to Romans and Ephesians), who write respectively
against and for the Pauline authorship.

ARBITRARY GROUNDS OF CRITICISM 361
the code of commandments for different classes, the de
preciation of circumcision and uncircumcision, the arbitrary
use of a passage from the Psalms (iv. 8), and the authority
given to an Old Testament promise in vi. 3.
But there is a good deal of questionable exegesis about
these details, and in some of them the text is manifestly
charged with more than it can bear. Oltramare truly
says that many of the charges, when examined in their
context, are seen to be due to very exaggerated scruples,
and in reality more frequently bear witness to the ori
ginality and authenticity of the Epistle.1 Eegarding the
somewhat narrow and arbitrary grounds on which a good
deal of the allegation of un-Paulinism is based, Dr. Sanday
makes a very forcible protest in writing on Colossians :
" There ought to be a clearer understanding as to the
nature of the disproof of genuineness both in thought and
expression. It is not a sound method to take certain
standard documents and to say all that cannot be paralleled
out of these documents is interpolation. It is not to be
supposed that a writer of so much originality as St. Paul
would simply go on writing in a circle and repeating
himself. . . . The onus probandi certainly lies on the
side of the critic, whose duty it is, as Von Soden rightly
urges, not ' to leave nothing but what is undoubtedly
Pauline,' but rather ' to remove nothing but what is
decidedly un-Pauline.' There is a broad distinction be
tween these two positions — a distinction which really
covers the greater part of the matter in dispute." 2
(C) We now come to the last stumbling-block to
the authenticity of the Epistle — its relation to Colos
sians. This is certainly one of the most complex literary
problems in the study of the New Testament. The nature
of the resemblances and differences between the two Epistles
has been already pointed out (see p. 343). The problem
is to account for their combination.

1 Comm. ii. 102-103 n.
2 Smith's Bible Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1893, vol. i. pt. i. p. 626a.

362 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
Three theories have to be considered.
1. Paul, after writing Colossians, may have entrusted
the composition of Ephesians to a disciple — Timothy or
Tychicus — to be carried out under his eye and in his
name. 2. In Colossians we have a primitive document, which
a later writer has used, partly from sympathy with its
teaching, and partly, by identifying himself with the
Apostle, to secure authority for teaching of his own.
There are several modifications of this second theory.
Many who accept Colossians as entirely authentic, simply
regard Ephesians as a pseudonymous writing of the next
generation, based almost entirely on Colossians, and the
work of an able and ardent disciple who quite honourably,
according to the custom of his own and preceding times,
sought to apply to the needs of his age such arguments
and appeals as he could conceive his master himself would
have used.
But others find Colossians only in part authentic.
According to Holtzmann, the original Pauline nucleus is
scattered through the Epistle, and amounts only to about
forty-one verses ; all the rest is interpolation.1 Eecent
scholarship on his own lines, however, has greatly reversed
his conclusions. Thus Von Soden finds Colossians wholly
authentic, with the exception of eight verses and a half.2
Hausrath, Pfleiderer, and Mangold express theh approval
of the main lines of Holtzmann's work, but no writer has
during thirty years adopted his findings in theh entirety.
Pfleiderer indeed differs totally from him as to the author
ship of the interpolations in Colossians, being strongly of
opinion that the identity of the interpolator with the writer
of Ephesians is a view absolutely to be excluded. Holtz
mann is quite as persuaded that the interpolator of Colos
sians and the author of Ephesians were one and the same
man.3 As further illustrating the apparent impossibility
1 Kritik der Epluier- unci Kolosserlriefe, pp. 148 sqq.
- These excluded verses are i. 15-20, ii. 10, 15, 18 (partly, i.e. from 8t\un>
to epfiaTeowv), Hand-Comm., p. 3.
3 Pfleiderer, Paulinism, ii. 165 n. ; Holtzmann, Einleilung, p. 295.

THEORIES OF RELATION TO COLOSSIANS 363
of agreement when the authenticity is denied, Pfleiderer,
it may be noted, thinks the interpolation of Colossians
preceded the composition of Ephesians, while Von Soden
regards it as subsequent.1
3. The third theory is that the writer of both Epistles
was the same man, writing at almost the same time to
Churches whose circumstances were very similar. If Colos
sians be Pauline, Ephesians accordingly goes with it to the
same source. If not, the burden of proof has to be taken
to show that neither is Pauline.
The first theory, that of composition by an amanuensis
— Timothy or Tychicus — who had Colossians before him,
was originally, suggested by Schleiermacher, and had the
approval of Ewald and Eenan, but is now virtually dis
carded. It is scarcely consistent with the frequent em
phatic use of the first person,2 and the absence of a second
name in the address which was so much Paul's custom ;
nor can we readily think that in subject-matter so original,
and of such universal Christian interest and importance,
the Apostle would be content to leave the work to the
hand of an assistant. Moreover, if " under his eye and
in his name " mean that he virtually dictated the thought
and expression to his disciple, the theory is superfluous.
It is probable that most of his letters were written so.
" Qui facit per alium facit per se."
The only question which really deeply divides
scholars is whether the relation between the two Epistles
is one of identity of authorship, or of dependence and
imitation. One valuable result of Holtzmann's patient comparison
of the Epistles, is to establish the fact that it is impossible
to set up the one Epistle as having greater claims to
originality than the other. When the parallel passages
are carefully contrasted, the cases in which priority seems
due to Colossians are exactly counterbalanced by an equal
number of cases in which priority seems as decidedly due

1 Hand-Comm., p. 3.
2 In i. 15, iii. 1-13, vi. 19-22. Cf. Von Soden, Hand-Comm., p.

364 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
to Ephesians.1 If, therefore, we cannot justly say that the
one is dependent on the other, the presumption against an
imitative authorship is very strong.
The more the obvious resemblances 2 of the Epistles
are studied, word compared with word and phrase with
phrase, the more students appear to be oppressed by a
kind of linguistic nightmare. In the intense inspection
of verbal coincidences, they grow incapable of perceiving
the wood for the trees. The general judgment would seem
to be that an imitator must have been at work because it
is inconceivable that Paul should have repeated himself so
closely. This is a merely subjective and arbitrary opinion.
It also tests the Apostle by a criterion which in his time
did not exist. Paul was a preacher rather than a writer,
and this is often quite forgotten. He was no litterateur
in the modem sense, and was not hkely to be affected by
any fastidious hesitancy as to words and phrases. He had
no thought of either literary blemish or merit, and it is
quite clear that the sensitive dread of self-repetition did
not affect him in writing Eomans after Galatians, or Philip
pians after Eomans. Even if, on a probable hypothesis,
he meant the two letters to be interchanged, no difficulty
would present itself to him on that account. He would
simply be aware of what is sufficiently apparent — the
general diversity of aim in the two Epistles, and the need
of the one to supplement the other. It would certainly
1 Priority is attributed to Ephesians in seven parallels, and again to
Colossians also in seven. K-riiik, pp. 46-83.

Priority of

Ephesians.

Priority of Col

ossians.

(1) Eph. i. 4.

Col. i. 22.

(1)

Col. i. 1-2.

Eph. i. 1-2.

(2) i. 6, 7.

i. 13, 14.

(2)

i. 3-5, 9.

i. 15-18.

(3) iii. 3, 5, 9.

i. 26, ii. 2.

(3)

i. 5.

i. 3, 12, 1
(4) iii. 17, IS.
i. 23, ii. 2, 7.
W
i. 25, 29.
iii. 2, 7.
iv. 16.
(5)
ii. 4-8.
iv. 17-21.
ii. 20.
'6)
iv. 5.
v. 15, 16.
',) iv. 10.
ii. 19.
(7)
iv. 6.
iv. 29.
(6) iv. 22-21.
iii. 9, 10.
(7) v. Id.
iii. 16.
2 According to
S. Davidson, "ou
t of the 155 verses
contained in o
Epistle, 78 contain expressions identical with those in the Colossian letter'
(LUroduciion, cd. 1894, ii. 276).
THEORY OF IMITATION IMPROBABLE 365
be the merest pedantry for a man — even the most modern
— to say that he could not bear to read Ephesians after
Colossians because it is too painfully similar. Zahn relates
that he once heard Bismarck speak twice on the same day,
with only a brief interval between the speeches. The first
speech was addressed to a small body of Professors, and
the other to a large gathering of between four and five
thousand students. In spite of the fact that there were
words and phrases and even whole sentences the same,
and that there was much similarity in the general ground
work of the speeches, yet there was such variation on the
whole, so great a change of environment and tone, that no
man felt a bit less willing to listen to the second speech
than to the first.1
In point of fact, the parallels themselves reveal signi
ficant differences. The repetitions are not in the manner
of a cautious and scrupulous imitation ; words and phrases
are rather handled with a perfect mastery, sometimes in
totally different connections, and in developing different
lines of thought.2 Paley correctly expressed the matter
when he wrote : " Although an impostor might transcribe
into a forgery entire sentences and phrases, yet the dis
location of words, the partial recollection of phrases and
sentences, the intermixture of new terms and new ideas
with terms and ideas before used, which are the natural
properties of writings produced under the circumstances
in which these Epistles are represented to have been com
posed — would not, I think, have occurred to the invention
of a forger; nor, if they had occurred would they have
been so easily executed. This studied variation was a
refinement in forgery which I beheve did not exist." 3
There are also other considerations that make it diffi
cult to believe in an imitator writing in a later age.
There is no consistency in the various conceptions of him.
In many respects, and these often very difficult, such as
1 Einleilung, i. 364.
2 Cf. Reuss, Hist. N.T. Writings, p. 110; Oltramare, Comm., ii, 113
sqq. ; Weiss, Introduction, i. 349 u.
3 Horce Paulina, ch. vi, 1, 2,

366 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
subtle and intricate reproductions of Paul's modes of
thought and expression, he is Pauline ; and in other
respects, according to much of the negative criticism,
he is amazingly un-Pauline, imt only giulty of glaring
anachronisms, but taking very udd liberties,1 and giving
evident token of his hand, even when he most elaborately
tries to conceal it (hi. 1—8). The two things do not
harmonise. They present us with an almost incredible
mixture of extreme skill and extreme stupidity. More
over, we can scarcely think his own and the succeeding
age so absolutely uncritical as to have detected none of
the discrepancies which are now seen to loom so con
spicuously on the page. If the Gnosticism, for example,
be so very pronounced as to be quite impossible for St.
Paul, then not only was the pseudonymity veiled in a
very bungling manner, but it could not possibly have
escaped the notice of the Fathers who never spared a
Gnostic when they found him. Some protest might have
been expected, at least from Colosse, if, as on Holtzmann 's
theory, its cherished Epistle was so freely interpolated,
and handed round the Christian world in so false and
garbled a form. Still further, the first business of an
imitator is to imitate, and yet here the very points he
should almost certainly have repeated are those most
conspicuously absent. Such obvious usages as the associa
tion of a companion in the address, personal salutations,
and touches here and there of local colour, would surely
have been reproduced. If it be said that the writer was
only consistent in this to the general encyclical cast he
meant to give to the Epistle, yet he has not followed the
form so far as we have it from Paul in Galatians and
2 Corinthians. Least of all would such an explanation
be vahd for those wdio, with Holtzmann, assert that it was
not Paul's habit to write circular letters at all. In that
case the imitator is in a worse plight than ever.

1 E.g., as Weiss (Introd., i. 348 n.) justly says, the reference to Tychicus
in vi. 21 would be more likely to give offence than to lend the appearance
of genuineness to his composition.

TRUE RELATION OF THE TWO EPISTLES 367
On the whole we cannot resist the conclusion that
the theory of single authorship is the simplest and most
natural solution of the difficulty raised by the combination
of differences and resemblances between the two Epistles.
Baur's instinct was not wrong in this respect, and Weiz-
sacker, and Holtzmann (to the full extent of the interpola
tions) give weight to the same view. Similar expressions
were very likely to spring to the pen of a man writing
to neighbouring Churches at a time when his mind was
dominated by certain new and peculiar conceptions. In
both Epistles the doctrinal materials with which he works
are the same, but the general aims are different. In the
one he sets forth the unique supremacy of Christ in
universal redemption ; and in the other he dwells on the
corollary of that, the absolute dependence of the redeemed
Body on its ever-living Head. Yet these themes are mani
festly so closely allied that it is quite natural to find their
treatment crossing.
Baur was of opinion that the kindred matter of the
Epistles was divided between them according to positive
intention. This undoubtedly points to their true relation.
The one is supplementary to the other. Colossians is one
magnificent segment of the doctrinal circle, but the circle
is not completed till its sister Epistle is written. It may
be a matter of surprise, however, that the false teaching
so clearly referred to in the one Epistle is almost out of
sight in the other. It is quite possible that the trouble,
when Paul heard of it, was in its extreme form distinctly
localised, and that a sense both of delicacy and of justice
would forbid reference to it where its existence was not
alleged. At the same time, although the heresy be not
directly mentioned in Ephesians, it is perhaps a mistake
to think that there are no signs whatever of its influence.
Not the least certain of its evils would be dispeace in
church and family life, disturbance to the faith, unruliness
and disintegration. In the earnest warnings and counsels
of the Epistle, it is permissible to recognise its presence in
spirit if not in letter. Once more, it is the natural conse
quence of general change of standpoint in Ephesians that

368 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
leads to the prominence given to the Holy Spirit there.
In speaking of the Church practically striving to reach
its high calling in Christ, it was impossible to escape
frequent reference to the inner principle and inspiration
of its life. Finally, if the two Epistles are to be regarded
as from the same hand, decision as to whether that hand
were Paul's depends on such questions of external and
internal evidence as those with which we have already
dealt. The conclusion to which our study points is that a
late origin for the Epistle has not been made out. From
the nature of the case it is impossible to prove to demon
stration that it is Paul's, and it is always easy to say that
the most characteristic Pauline marks are simply due to
clever imitation.1 On the other hand, the negative opinion
is certainly not proven. Nothing that has been alleged
against the Apostle's authorship appeals with self-evident
or decisive force. A very great deal rather seems petti
fogging to a degree. One has often reason to be surprised
at the trivial points which a scholarly and ingenious
opposition has thought it worth while to raise. To our
mind it seems that the early universal testimony to the
Epistle ought to weigh far more than it does. Modern
criticism brushes it too cavalierly aside. The Church of
the first age undoubtedly cherished her literary treasures
very carefully and jealously, and it is quite unaccountable,
if the case be as strong as some would have it, that no
whisper should have arisen against the Epistle until the
third decade of the nineteenth century. The general
harmony of tone and teaching with admittedly Pauline
and other apostohc writings, surely makes it much simpler
to receive the Epistle as the work of the Apostle than to
1 "Criticism," says Wace, "which at one moment uses differences to
prove that an Epistle is not St. Paul's, and at another uses resemblances to
show that it was the work of an imitator, is too hard to please to be worth
much consideration " (Introduction to Pastoral Epistles in Speaker's Comm.,
p. 758b). It must be confessed that there is (if the expression be permissible)
a little too much of the " Heads I win, Tails you lose " principle in a great
deal of the negative criticism. At the same time, apologists have to take
heed lest the reproach be justly turned upon themselves.

A JUSTIFIABLE VERDICT 369
attribute it to some great Unknown in the unfertile age of
Barnabas and Clement. Among those by whom Colossians
is accepted as genuine, Ephesians is entitled to considerable
presumption in its favour on account of the marked affin
ities between them ; nor ought it to be forgotten that the
short Epistle to Philemon, which few contest and fewer
still interpret allegorically,1 gives weighty support of a
natural and historical kind to its companion Epistles.
The glad wonder also with which the inclusion of Jews
and Gentiles in a common fold is regarded, seems much
more likely to be the mark of an early than of a late age.
Finally, if the Epistle came after the outburst of Imperial
persecution and the Fall of Jerusalem, it is almost incon
ceivable that there should not be even the shadow of
a reference to events full of such dire consequences to
both Jewish and Gentile Christians. All in all, Principal
Eobertson's conclusion seems highly justifiable : " We
accept the Epistle's own account of its authorship, sup
ported by the unanimous testimony of antiquity, and
uncontradicted by any decisive test, or by the claims of
any equally probable theory of its origin." 2

III.
DESTINATION OF THE EPISTLE.
Who were intended to be the recipients of the Epistle ?
When this question is raised, several subjects emerge of the
deepest interest to a student of the New Testament. He
has to examine the title, the text that contains the address,
and the general tenor and contents of the Epistle. If he
has come to the conclusion that he may accept the Epistle
as genuinely Pauline, he will now have to consider whether,
1 " Its allegorical character," says Weizsiicker (Ajjos. Age, ii. 245), "is
at once apparent in the name Onesimus " — one of the commonest of slave
names ! The biography of any one whose name happens to be figurative
might be resolved into allegory on this principle.
3 Art. in Smith's Bible Diet., 1893, pp. 963-964.
24

370 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
or with what qualifications, the generally received title can
stand as correct.
The titles of the New Testament writings cannot
be regarded as parts of tbe original documents. Any
authority they have is entirely clue to tradition.1 Now,
our Epistle bears the title " To the Ephesians," as far
back as we have any Icnowledge of it. We never find it
without its title ; within the bosom of the Church the
testimony is absolutely unanimous — semper, ubiquc, et ab
omnibus. The only exception of any kind is that Marcion
(140 a.d.), in his collection of Paul's Epistles, entitles it
" To the Laodiceans." Beyond this no one seems to have
called in question the ascription to the Ephesians. Mansion's
testimony at the same time favours the great antiquity of
tbe received title, for, as he is said to have changed it, it
must have been in existence within the period of seventy
years or so that separated his collection from the time of
Paul's captivity. So far, therefore, as tradition goes — the
Veritas ecclcsice, which was the final court of appeal with
the Fathers — the testimony could not be stronger. Doubt
and difficulty arise only when we come to consider the
text of the address (i. 1), and the tone and contents of the
Epistle. 1. The text of the address. The ordinary reading in
i. 1 is, " to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the
faithful in Christ Jesus." This is perfectly in accordance
with Paul's manner of address, but critical editions of the
text now either omit the words " at Ephesus," or enclose
them in brackets as uncertain.
For this critical change there are very strong reasons,
consisting chiefly of (1) the testimony of certain of the
most ancient manuscripts, and (2) inferences drawn from
interpretations and statements of the Fathers.
(1) The oldest and best manuscripts we possess are
the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, both belonging to the fourth
1 Cf. Westcott and Hort, N.T. in Greek, ii. 321: "Their ultimate
authority is traditional, not documentary. In employing them according
to universal custom, we neither affirm nor question their accuracy in respect
of authorship or destination."

TEXT OF THE ADDRESS 37 1
century.1 The former is jealously preserved in the Papal
Library at Eome, and has been very little submitted to the
inspection of Protestant scholars.2 It does not contain the
words " at Ephesus " in the text, although these words are
written in small uncials in the margin, by the first hand,
as some think, but by the second according to Tischendorf
(1847), who was granted various brief opportunities of
examination. The Codex Sinaiticus was brought by
Tischendorf from the monastery of St. Catherine on Mt.
Sinai in 1859, and is now in St. Petersburg. It also
omits the words in question, though they have been
supplied by a later, probably the third, hand. A similar
witness for the omission of the words is found in a correc
tion (the second hand) which expunges them from Codex
(67), preserved at Vienna. This Codex is variously dated
between the ninth century and the twelfth, but its correc
tions, according to Hort, are taken from a manuscript of
great excellence, and one quite different from those already
cited.3 On the other hand, all the remaining Greek
manuscripts, and all the early Versions, read "at Ephesus."
(2) The testimony of the Fathers is exceedingly in
teresting. The first witness is Tertullian (150-220).
He wrote against Marcion about the year 208, that is,
about sixty-eight years after the date usually assigned
to Marcion's collection of Paul's writings. He charges
Marcion with changing the title, so as to read, not "To
the Ephesians," but " To the Laodiceans." i It is in all
1 Nestle and others think Sinaiticus more probably belongs to the
beginning of the fifth century. Textual Criticism, pp. 53-55.
2 Cf. the accounts given by Scrivener (Introduction to the Criticism of the
N.T.) of the experiences of Tischendorf and Alford. Leo xiii., however,
caused a photographic reproduction to be issued in 1890. Cf. Swete, Intro
duction to 0. T. in Greek, p. 127.
3 Prolegomena, p. 75. Similarly Lightfoot, Biblical Essays, p. 380.
4 In Adv. Marcion, v. 11, Tertullian writes: "Prsetereo hie et de alia
epistula, quam nos ad Ephesios prsescriptam habemus, hseretici vero ad
Laodicenos." A little later, in v. 17, he says: "Ecclesise quidem veritate
epistulam istam ad Ephesios habemus cmissam, non ad Laodicenos, sed
Marcion ei titulum aliquando interpolare gestiit, quasi et in isto diligentis-
simus explorator. Nihil autem de titulis interest, cum ad omnes apostolus
scripserit, dum ad quosdam."

372 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
likelihood to be understood that he does not refer to the
text of the address but to the title in the strict sense a —
the inscription at the head of the Epistle. He does not
think ' titles ' are in themselves subjects of the highest
interest, but he claims for this one what he thinks should
overwhelm a heretic — the universal tradition of the Church ;
and he also sarcastically suggests that Marcion had no
better reason for his change than a desire to appear as
" a most dihgent investigator." Now, if Tertullian could
have pointed to the words " at Ephesus " in the text, this
is not the kind of language he would have employed. He
would have given a harder stroke than is implied in an
ironical phrase. He would have charged Marcion with
falsifying the document, and he would have produced the
text that would have covered him with confusion. He
did not because he could not, and the only inference wc
can draw is that at this very early period neither he nor
Marcion had the words " at Ephesus " in their copies.
The next witness is Origen (185-254). His com
mentary on Ephesians is lost, but, while he regarded the
Epistle as to the Ephesians, an extract has been preserved
which directly cites his interpretation of the text of the
address, from which it appears that he cannot have had
the words " at Ephesus " before him in the first verse.2
For in his interpretation he seeks the meaning of a pro
position that evidently does not contain such words, namely,
" to the saints who arc and faithful in Christ Jesus." He
gives the words, " who are " an absolute or transcendental
sense, as if the saints, in virtue of their union with God,
now shared absolute existence with Him who called Him
self to Moses " I AM." He also quotes in support of such
a usage Paul's own language about God choosing the things
that are not to bring to naught the things that are.
Following Origen comes Basil, Bishop in Cappadocia (330-
379). Neither can he have read "at Ephesus," for he

1 But cf. Lightfoot, Biblical Essays, p. 382 and note 3.
2 Cf. the quotation in Cliarteris, Canon icily, p. 241. The extract is
given in more extended form by Oltramare, Comm., ii. 11-12.

TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS 373
agrees with the metaphysical interpretation of "his pre
decessors," and cites his text, appealing to the testimony
of " the oldest manuscripts," which he professes to have
examined. This last statement indicates a comparison
with more recent manuscripts, whose testimony was evi
dently beginning to run in favour of the insertion of
a local name, so that Basil was compelled to defend
his interpretation in the way he does. Finally, Jerome
(c. 420), in his commentary on the Epistle, refers to the
abstract interpretation of i. 1 as an unnecessary refine
ment, and approves of the more simple rendering which
finds a reference to the Ephesians. He is thinking of
Origen's difficulty, because evidently the inclusion of the
local name has now become common, and is approved as
the obvious and natural reading.1
This testimony seems pretty clear : our oldest manu
scripts are without the words " at Ephesus," and we have
evidence from different writers that other manuscripts
in the third century, and even early in the second, did
not contain them. It is only in the fourth century that
the disputed words begin regularly to appear, most likely
because it was felt, not merely that the title and Pauline
analogies suggested them, but that without them it was
impossible to give the passage any satisfactory sense. And
this is the very general opinion of modern scholars. At
the same time, it is scarcely fair to say that the Greek is
absolutely incapable of a rational explanation without such
words. Origen was certainly a Platonist, but he also
understood Greek ; and at least some moderns are quite
willing to accept the text as he had it, and to make the
best of it. Bengel, Stier, Credner, Weiss, Milligan, are of
this number. Milligan even thinks the rendering as
difficult with " at Ephesus " as without it.2 Various
translations have been adopted. Weiss is of opinion that
the rendering should be " saints (i.e. of the old or Jewish
1 Jerome's language, however, is not quite free from ambiguity, and at
best his evidence in favour of early omission, leaning as it does on Origen's
interpretation, can scarcely be regarded as independent.
2 Art. in Ency. Brit., viii. 459 n.

374 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
covenant) who are also believers in Christ Jesus" — thus
making the readers in the main Jewish converts, which it
is plain they were not. Credner renders, " To the saints
who are at the same time true believers," that is, in the
Pauline sense, although Paul would surely never have
made such a distinction, especially in an Epistle with the
unifying aim of the present one. Even Westcott and
Hort say, "Nor is it in itself improbable that he should
write ' to the saints who are also faithful (believing) in
Christ Jesus.' " 1 One is not therefore entitled to say that
the sentence without the name of a place would yield no
sense ; but it is almost universally felt that it would
scarcely yield a satisfactory sense. It is difficult and
peculiar, and the fact that it contains the very phraseology
which Paul elsewhere uses to introduce a local reference,
inclines us strongly to believe that such a reference was
originally intended. How then account for the fact that
the ancient copies have no such reference ? Everything
that naturally calls for the insertion makes the omission in
their case the more inexplicable. It can only have been
that the words were really not a part of the original text,
however hard we may find it to give a perfectly satis
factory account of such a peculiarity.
Nor is it easy to say what led to the change in
Marcion 's case. We may be almost quite sure he did not
read "at Laodicea" in his text,2 as a retort to Tertullian
would then have been too obvious, and Tertullian's lan
guage, we believe, makes it clear that the question between
them was not a question of text. Marcion was a native
of Pontus, the son of a Bishop, and although it is going
too far to regard him as representing an " Asiatic tradition,"
it is quite probable that he may have had some reason,
perhaps gathered from a visit to Laodicea, for associating
the Epistle with the Laodiceans. Moreover, Tertullian's
1 NT. in Greek, ii., App. p. 124. It is not meant that they accept
this rendering, but only that they point it out as one not capable of being
dismissed as a mere "unmeaning platitude." Cf. also Hort, Proleijg.,
pp. 86-87.
- Yet Sabatier, p. 232, and McGiffert, pp. 380, 381, believe he did.

NOT TO EPHESUS ALONE 375
phrase, " diligentissimus explorator," may point to the fact
that Marcion drew his conclusion from a study of the
Epistle, and particularly from the reference Paul makes in
Col. iv. 16 to an " Epistle from Laodicea." He conjectured
that our present Epistle was the one referred to, and
accordingly ventured on his alteration of the title. And
to a certain extent he may have been right. The Epistle
before us may be, probably is, the one Paul spoke of ; yet
he does not say it was an Epistle to the Laodiceans, but
an Epistle that the Colossians would receive "from
Laodicea." Marcion leapt too hastily to his conclusion,
although, as we shall see, his title may share with the
traditional one in representing a portion of the truth.
2. If criticism of the text leads to the conclusion
that the words " at Ephesus " cannot stand as a sure part
of the original, consideration of the tenor and contents of
the Epistle undoubtedly seems to point in the same
direction. Paul's relations with Ephesus were very intimate and
extended. He was united to the Christians there by the
closest bonds of faith and suffering. No one who re
members the narrative in Acts of his activity among them,
and of his pathetic parting with their leaders at Miletus,
would be surprised to find that he had written them an
important Epistle, and that such an Epistle, once appearing i
with their name, went on bearing that title everywhere
unchallenged. But one would be surprised that in such
an Epistle there should never from beginning to end be
the slightest allusion to any former intimacy, no reminis
cences of the past, no affectionate greetings, nothing but a
calm review of Christian principles and their application,
suitable for any number of Christian Churches, but passing
strange if addressed to the Ephesians exclusively.
And this is how the matter stands. No companion is
associated with Paul in this Epistle, though there were
those with him who were well known at Ephesus ; and
although he can salute friends at Colosse and Laodicea, in
Churches he had never seen, he has evidently no acquaint
ance to recall in a Church whose very name must have

3 76 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
been inscribed ou his heart. Moreover, there are passages
in the Epistle which, if they do not actually imply that
the readers were quite unknown to him, certainly cannot
easily be reconciled with the idea that he is directly
addressing the Ephesians. He speaks (i. 15) of having
" heard " of their faith and love, and twice over he says of
them "if ye have heard " (hi. 2 and iv. 21), referring in
the one case to a knowledge of his own divine commission
to the Gentiles, and in the other to an elementary know
ledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. It is really impossible
to believe that the long personal explanation of ih. 1-8
was mtended for the Ephesians alone. It does not satisfy
to say that it was mainly intended for those who were
converted since he was in Ephesus, for such a distinction
would surely have been made clear, had it been in the
writer's mind. It is quite possible, however, that the
force of the expression " if so be," really amounts to an
indirect affirmation of what he well knew to be the case ; 1
and it must also be conceded that none of the passages
/referred to could justly be considered as debarring the
Ephesians from participating in the letter, if they knew
they were sharing it with a wider circle of readers, of
whom the great bulk were personally unknown to the
Apostle. That is to say, the passages seem decisive
against the theory that the Ephesians are the sole
recipients of the Epistle, but they clo not absolutely shut
them out from all conceivable interest in it.
What theory of destination, then, is most likely to fit
the circumstances ? We have to keep in mind the
unanimous ecclesiastical tradition, the absence of a local
designation, and the general character of the contents,
combined with a total lack of personal associations.
Most of the arguments which decide against Ephesus
exclusively, apply equally against Laodicea exclusively. It
1 On eiye cf. Grimm-Thayer's I, eieon ; Winer-Moulton's Grammar of
N.T. Greek (1S70), pp. 561-562; Ellicott, in loc; Meyer, in loc; Hort,
Prolegomena, pp. 95-97. Hort points out that if ciye in these pas.sage-s
really is meant to express a doubt, it excludes all the other Churches of
pro-consular Asia as well as the Church of Ephesus.

NOR TO LAODICEA ALONE 377
may be taken, however, as probable in a high degree that
our Epistle is the Epistle referred to in Col. iv. 16 as
coming from Laodicea. It would admirably supplement
the special Epistle Colosse had already received, while
Laodicea as a neighbouring town, not unlikely to be in
clanger of the heretical teaching, would also benefit from
the exchange. It is not easy, however, to get rid of a
certain doubt connected with the itineracy of Tychicus,
who, naturally passing from Laodicea on to Colosse, could
have brought a copy of the letter with him. Oltramare
plausibly suggests that this was merely an affair of order ;
that two letters at once would have confused the special
mission of Tychicus to Colosse, and that it was well that
their own special letter should be left for a time to have
its full effect on the minds of the Colossians. Be this
as it may, our Epistle cannot have been an Epistle to
Laodicea alone, if for no other reason than that, had it been
so, it would have contained its own salutations, and not
have left them to be conveyed by the roundabout way of
Colosse (Col. iv. 15).
A few writers regard the letter as one of a veryv
general character, addressed not to any Church or Churches,
but rather to a peculiar class of readers, namely Gentile -
Christians as such.1 This theory, however, leaves the
ecclesiastical tradition unaccounted for, and also the
absence of any designation in the address. Moreover, it is
unlikely in itself, and does not harmonise well with the
kind of mission entrusted to Tychicus. It would have
entailed, when he reached the several communities, an
invidious distinction, quite out of keeping with the spirit
of the Epistle ; unless, indeed, it be assumed that all the
Churches in Asia Minor were now predominantly of a
Gentile - Christian character, an assumption which is
probably true, but which makes the distinction implied by
the theory superfluous.
The only hypothesis that finds anything approaching
general acceptance at the present time, is the circular
1 So Ewald and Milligan.

378 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
hypothesis, " suspected " by Beza, but first actually put
forth by Archbishop Ussher in 1650-1654. It is adopted,
with various modifications, by the great majority of
modern writers. In its general form it represents our
Epistle as a kind of apostolic encyclical, addressed to the
Churches of proconsular Asia, a region to which Tychicus
was bound, and of which Ephesus itself was the first and
most important city.
On the whole this is a very natural suggestion, and
one in which many of the peculiarities of the problem find
a solution. It cannot be said, indeed, that it is altogether
free from embarrassments of its own. It certainly ought
not to be curtly dismissed on the ground that " Paul did
not write circular letters," a statement quite on a level
with the famous dictum that "miracles do not happen."
It may, however, be said that we have no other example
j from Paul of a chcular of this particular type. Galatians
and 2 Corinthians are Pauline encyclicals, and the address
indicates this in each case. Why, then, did not Paul use
some such language in the present address ? On the
contrary, he is supposed to have left a blank space, to be
afterwards filled up at various places understood by his
messenger. This is the great stumbling-block to the
acceptance of the theory. One can scarcely say it is an
inconceivable thing, seeing that so many distinguished
writers of all schools of opinion are willing to endorse it.
Nor does it quite merit the contemptuous ridicule that is
sometimes poured upon it. At the same time, it is
difficult to accept such a device as a mode of procedure
Paul was likely to adopt.1 All defences of it seem more
or less laboured, and rather suggest doubt than relieve it.
It is scarcely possible, however, as we have seen, to resist
the critical evidence that a place-name was not part of
the original text. We have, therefore, only a choice of
difficulties, and the circular hypothesis, if adopted, must be
taken, not as a triumphant solution, but as on tbe whole
1 Klopper, e.g., speaks of it as "ctwas zu modern" : Der brief an die
Ephcser, p. 8. So also McGiffert (Apos. Age, p. 381) and others.

THE CIRCULAR HYPOTHESIS 379
offering the most satisfactory explanation that can be
given. It agrees with the general tone, and with the
marked and evidently intentional silences of the Epistle.
It is in harmony with the instruction to Tychicus to give
news of the Apostle by word of mouth, and accounts for
the somewhat unusual general terms of the closing-
benediction. Besides, and not least important, it har
monises with the universal tradition. It gives Ephesus
a prominent share in the Epistle, and thus permits of
a natural explanation of the superscription. " To the
Ephesians " was so far correct, and as Ephesus was the
chief city with which the Epistle was associated, and
the centre from which in course of time copies radiated
to the other Churches of Christendom, it is perfectly com
prehensible how the traditionary title arose and persisted.

IV.
DISTINCTIVE MESSAGE OF THE EPISTLE.
The prominent feature of the Epistle is its doctrine
of the Church. Hitherto the name has been applied to
definite local communities of believers, and also to groups
of such communities in certain districts. Now it is applied
to the universal community of all the Eedeemed in Christ l
Jesus. The term ' catholic ; is not employed till the time
of Ignatius, but the idea and its most clear and compre
hensive definition belong to this Epistle.
The Apostle of the Gentiles who had fought and won
the battle of their admission to the Church of Christ, has
now become the Apostle of catholicity. Perhaps we have
thought of him too much as the champion of a side ; we
now see him as the friend of all sides in Christ. He is
not laying any new or wider foundation, far less is he
making any new condition of Church membership. That
which made a man a member of the humblest local Church,
at the same moment made him a member of the Church
universal. The conception was a simple and harmonious

380 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
one, which men's minds readily grasped. Through all the
scattered bodies of Christians there was from the beginning
a consciousness of community, which found expression in
many acts of sympathetic intercourse. The Book of Acts
and the Epistles give constant evidence that Christians felt
the new brotherhood to be a reality, transcending every
distinction of race and clime. It is Paul's present task to
fix this idea in imperishable definition, to trace it to its
divine source, and to point to its manifold issues immediate
and remote.
The causes which probably led to such a subject at
such a time, have been already referred to. The outlook
from Eome, the very heart of a world-wide Empire, no doubt
had its influence, though it need not be pressed unduly.
The influx of the Gentiles into the Church, and their
assured position there along with the Jewish Christians on
the ground of a common salvation, were obviously fitted to
awaken conceptions of a comprehensive kind. Especially
was this so with a mind like Paul's, distinguished by a
passion for generalisation, and for pushing facts back to
their ultimate principles. But above all, we believe the
circumstances of his readers were a strong determining
factor. Excursus and dissertation were not his habit. He
was little likely to devote himself to a mere thesis. He has
before his mind a definite circle of men, and he addresses
them in a way that shows he is deeply concerned with the
interests of their higher life. He is quite conscious that
clangers beset them wdiich threaten to unsettle their faith,
and to hinder their progress in Christian grace. The
triumphant ingathering of the Gentiles was itself not
without a perilous tendency. The Jew at first had despised
the Gentile from pride of race and religion, and it was just
possible the Gentile might now begin to despise the Jew
from pride of numbers. The Apostle who held the balance
level at the beginning, holds it level now. And he does
so at a spiritual height that is beyond all cavil. He had
been moving on high ground in writing to the Colossians,
but he did not then exhaust the significance of the preg
nant thoughts he expressed. He will return to it now.

THE CHURCH IN THE ETERNAL COUNSEL 381
That is to say, a theological as well as an historical impulse
impels him to write as he does. The transcendental view
of Christ not only sets Him at the centre of the universe
for worship and faith, but also for life. The actual history
of redemption will continue to flow out from Him, and
from Him alone. The new creation, in which there is no
human distinction, will be realised only in Him, and in
Him will live and move and have its being. Nothing
could be more intimate and vital than this relation. " He is
the Head over all things to the Church which is His Body."
What this conception implies not only for the Church but
for the universe itself, is the theme of the Epistle.
Certain characteristic features of the treatment have
to be noticed. In the first place, Paul traces the idea of
the Church to an eternal Divine origin. It is not an
afterthought on God's part. It existed in Him before the
foundation of the world. Believers, that is to say, lay in
the Divine mind, purposed to redemption and sanctification,
from all eternity. This was a great and daring thought,
possible only because it was believed that the Eedeemer
Himself was in the eternal counsels of God. It flowed
naturally from that belief, although it must have sent a
thrill of wonder and awe into the hearts of those who first
received it. Their calling, no less than the Apostle's, was
" not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God
the Father." Thus, with the Christ Himself, those who
were " in Him " were carried back in origin into " the
heavenlies." Further, this Divine idea has begun to have an historic
realisation. It connected itself with " the truth as it is in
Jesus." In the fulness of time God's Son was sent and
came, and thenceforth the Church, purchased by His blood,
was to be seen in process of formation. It has an ideal
goal to which it moves, a perfect manhood in Christ, but
it proceeds towards it by slow, up-building stages, hampered
in the sphere of time by many adversities and conflicts, yet
ever gathering strength as the Spirit of the Lord in every
added part gains fuller and wider scope. Thus a move
ment of the Church is expressed, " constantly advancing

382 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
throughout the course of the world's history — a growing
maturity up to that age when Christ, who filleth all in all,
will impart to her the whole riches of His being and His
gifts, and fill her with Himself as a vessel containing
nothing else." 1
But not only so, this consummation will carry with it
the gathering together in Christ of all things in heaven
and on earth into one. The end will be commensurate
with the Divine purpose and power in a universal restora
tion. As sin has caused estrangement and rupture in the
universe, far beyond anything that we can conceive, so
will these end when sin itself is finally abolished, and the
kingdom of darkness is overcome by the kingdom of light.
This is not a new thought to Paul or to the Bible, but it
penetrates to regions impossible for us to explore. It is
the far-off divine event to which creation and redemption
move. The Apostle believes in it because he believes so
devoutly in God and in Christ, and yet it is a faith which
he holds simultaneously with many sadly apprehensive
thoughts, expressed in warnings even in this Epistle (v. 5),
regarding those who can have no inheritance in the
kingdom of heaven.2
r The crowning feature in the teaching, however, is the
manifold way in which Christ is set forth as ever central
and essential to the Church. He is all in all to every
individual soul of which she is composed, the beginning,
continuance, and end of their new existence. By Him all
believers become fellow-citizens in the city of God, glad
members of a Divine family which never breaks up, and
whose spirit is one of perfect love. Several striking figures
arc employed to express the relation of the Eedeemed to
theh Eedeemer ; and these have become so familiar to the
Apostle that they often melt into one another, and without
any sense of incongruity he uses the one to supplement
and complete the other.

1 Dollinger, First Age of the Church, p. 214.
2 On the summing up of all things in Clirist, cf. Salmond, Immortality,
2nd ed., pp. 543-545.

THE BUILDING, THE BODY, AND THE BRIDE 383
Thus, Christians are the Building of which Christ is
the all-essential, binding, unifying chief -stone of the corner.
Stone is added to stone, life to life, and all are held
together by Him until there results a Temple or Sanctuary,
fairer than any designer on earth could fashion it, in which
God Himself will delight to dwell. Again, Christians are
a Body of which Christ Himself, though now in heaven,
is the ever-living Head, continuing with them in close and
vital union, inspiring them with His Spirit, guiding and
leading them by His wisdom and power, sending the fresh
pulses of His thought and life to the very remotest and
humblest of their number. This figure is the one in which
the idea of the unity of the Church may be most fully
apprehended. It is as old as the time when man first
began to reflect on the reality and significance of a
corporate life, social, political, or religious. For Christians
it is inexhaustible in the riches of its suggestion both
of privilege and of duty. All their hope and all their
responsibility are bound up in the union it portrays. And
yet it is not the brightest or most alluring image. The
Church of Christ is His Bride, He her Bridegroom. Here
we have a personification, yet without the idea of
independence, for the Bride as a Bride has no existence
apart from Him who is to be her Husband. The Church
is the beggar maid whom the King has found. He
condescends to her in her low estate. He selects her
for Himself, and by purifying and long education in love,
He prepares her for her final participation in His glory.
The relation is one of mutual affection and exclusive
devotion, the most intimate, the most blessed that heart
can conceive. To the Church there is One only supreme,
her heart's longing and desire, without whom nothing is
perfect, nothing worthy, at once the brightness and the
law of her Ihe, to whom to be in subjection is true
freedom, and whom to perceive and adore is even now a
beatific vision.
Such, then, is the conception of the Church with
which the Apostle desires to fill the minds of his readers.
It was certainly worthy to awaken a holy enthusiasm, and,

384 THE EPISTLE TO THK EPHESIANS
entering theh hearts with the expulsive power of a new
affection, to sweep away all ignoble thoughts and desires.
The community to which they belong is presented to them
in the most winsome guise, spiritual, transcendent, glorious,
casting the relations of all earthly associations, however
ancient or imperial, into shadow.
Yet the most important thing is, that this ideal is not
a mere apocalypse or dream of the heavenlies. It struggles
towards its realisation here and now, and the men and
women addressed are its living constituents, taking
conscious part in its development. It deeply concerns
them to think of the earthly side of its fulfilment, for it
contains a strong missionary and humanitarian appeal.
They must work for it, and live for it. The more it is
a consummation devoutly to be wished, the more it must
inspire their zeal. If they understand it, it so smites the
chords of life that Self, " trembling, passes in music out of
sight." It is designed to be a universal brotherhood, and
they cannot proceed to realise it by ways that are contrary
to its inmost principle. If it win, it will be as they
f themselves were won, by attraction. Christians must ever
.'seek to know what theh Divine Head is desiring, and
what are His plans for men. He died for all, and now
lives that all may be brought into the fellowship of
grace. A mission of love, therefore, lies at the centre of
this ideal conception. The man has never comprehended
it, whose heart does not leap at the thought that the
Household of God is to be made up of many sons and
daughters who are not yet home. The home-love beats
for them all. They are all in possibility brothers. The
solidarity of humanity must be revealed in grace and
blessing even as truly as in misery and sin. And in no
other way can it be so revealed than by Christ and His
constraining, universal love. There is no enthusiasm for
humanity to compare with that which He has begotten.
It is possible to filch the idea, but not without Him to
secure the motive and the power. It is profoundly true
that " the world can only be reconciled to itself by being
reconciled to God"

ETHICAL FORCE OF THE CONCEPTION 385
" When one who disbelieves in God and His Son tells his
fellowmen to be one, can he also reasonably and consistently
tell them in what measure or according to what model they
are to be one ? No. He can find no rule in the history of
the past, stained as that has been with hatreds and dissensions.
He must not be content with merely pointing to good men,
for clearly the best human lives have been very defective,
and in many respects warnings rather than examples. If he
say, ' love and be at one as far as is for the greatest good
of all,' he gives us a problem to calculate instead of an ideal
which can at once elicit and measure, which can at once
sustain and regulate love and unity. If he say, ' love and be
at one as you ought,' he forgets that the very question is,
How ought we to love and be at one ? Human unity is a
derived and dependent unity, and its standard can only be
the ultimate and uncreated source of unity — in the indwell
ing of the Father in the Son, and of the Son in the Father." s
The Apostle's conception is thus one that immeasur-'
ably deepens the sense of Christian obligation. It is a
high calling, and because it is so, it is a great ethical force.
It runs deep to the roots of conduct and duty. Both the
social and the individual hfe are transformed by it. Chris
tianity does not indeed set itself in revolutionary opposition
to the natural institutions of society. Its aim is rather to
purify and refine them, and, where they are wrong, gradu
ally to change and correct them. It is a new humanity,
but, as has been truly said, " within the bosom of the old." 2
The family and the State wiU not find it their foe, but
rather their friend, inasmuch as it proceeds to leaven the
whole mass with higher ideals. It was undoubtedly on the
social and ethical side that the early Christians felt most
strongly the strain and pressure of their new position.
Paul deals tenderly and earnestly with that. The air of
the home, newly redeemed from the usages and sentiments
of paganism, will be purer and sweeter if his counsels are
obeyed, and there, where it is sometimes hard just because

1 Flint, Sermons and Addresses, p. 17. Ct. also Westcott, Social Aspects
of Christianity, pp. 9 sqq.
2 Denney, Studies in Theology, p. 1S8.
25

386 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
the relations are so intimate and so continuous, the spirit
of the new faith will have its best triumphs and its richest
fruits. And the individual Christian must realise the re
sponsibility of the new creation in his own heart. That
which formerly brought no blush of shame to his cheek
must now be abhorrent. It must be cast utterly from his
thoughts. Union with the Body of Christ is either a rela
tion of virtue, or it does not truly exist. The spirit which
flows from the heavenly Head cannot be unhealthy or
impure. Yet the relation does not imply that there is no
responsibility on the part of the Christian. His obligation
is rather increased, and the figure is not pushed to the point
of fallacy and error. A man is not safe even as a Christian
who does not put on the whole armour of God. That also
is part of the Divine provision. In the conflict with evil,
often dark and mysterious in its origin and process, the more
terrible the more it is unseen, the good soldier of Jesus
Christ can never lay his weapons clown. He has to stand
in the evil day, until at last he too is crowned a victor.
There is, however, one paramount Christian duty now
before the Apostle's mind, and he refers to it at the very
outset of his exhortation, in a passage most classic and
memorable. Members of the Church of Christ, which is
His Body, are to preserve its unity. They are not to
create it. Christ's Spirit creates it : they are to preserve
it, and hold it fast.
The Apostle here deals with a subject of the very first
moment, whose difficulty and importance seem rather to
increase as the Christian ages roll on. We cannot be too
grateful for the fact that he so clearly defines it, in such
manifest harmony with the mind and intercessions of the
Master Himself. No gain could be greater to the modern
Church than to apprehend this message, and to perceive its
imperative necessity for the realisation both of its mission
and its life.
For in the eyes of the world, the most prominent fact
regarding the Church is not its unity but its disunion. In
the course of its development it has shown a sad capacity
for division, and the lines of cleavage have been both wide

CHURCH SCHISMS 387
and deep. We have first the great schism of the Eastern
and Western Churches, and then the Western divided
into Eoman and Protestant, and the Protestant into
Anglican, Presbyterian, Independent, and various other sec
tions, not merely governing themselves in diverse modes on
which more or less stress is laid, but occupying much of
their strength in defence and attack in such a fashion that
the warfare of the Church militant has been largely within
its own borders. Undoubtedly many of the separations
may have been highly justifiable, and may have em
phasised or striven to conserve aspects of truth that were
being hidden and despised.1 There may have been multi
plication by division. But the gain, even when there has
been gain, has been accompanied by loss along other lines,
and wherever the blame may rest, it is not possible to esti
mate the evil that has resulted from the impression that
Christian separation has made on the world. Sport has
often been made for the Philistines, and many Christian
hearts have been sickened and discouraged, by such things
as periodic scrutinies of statistics, comparison of funds, im
putation of evil motives and methods, for all the world as
if neighbouring Christian denominations were rival com
mercial estabhshments, and as if none could be happy
without the depreciation of the others. The harvest to be
reaped from this can only be of one kind. And in the
presence of many sad evidences of its nature, it behoves
Christians to consider how grave is the necessity to
preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.
It is of course a spiritual unity which the Apostle has
in his mind, and there is a certain element of consolation
in the reflection that that may stiU exist while other and
more external forms of harmony have ceased. The Church,
1 ' ' When the Church is actually divided, we have no right to say that
this body which has seceded from the Church is a mere schism, while that body
which has been seceded from is the true Church of Christ. . . . Sometimes the
balance of blame may be on one side, sometimes on the other, sometimes on
neither, except so far as mere ignorance and error and misunderstanding are
objects of blame. Schism is always an evil, but sometimes it is a duty. It
is a sin only in so far as it is wilful and unnecessary" (Rashdall, Doctrine
and Development, p. 254).

388 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
it is true, has never been so entirely broken as to lose its
character as a Church, and become quite identified with the
world. " Nothing," says Dorner, " but sin, and indeed
accumulated sin, can spht the one Church in its manifesta
tion into a multiplicity of Churches, which surrender posi
tive communion with each other, Church divisions being
always a grievous judgment on the visible Church. But
still the unity of the Church can never be utterly abolished.
Even the divided Churches in their character as Christen
dom stand in contrast with the world ; and the circle
where the hght of Christianity still shines, be it ever so
dimly, is never quite identical with the circle where it is
extinguished or does not shine." J Moreover, the unity
being one of faith and hfe has had its reality witnessed to
by the presence of the Spirit in many different Churches,
quite independently of tlieir external distinctions. It is a
note of true cathohcity to rejoice in the fruits of the Spirit
wherever they are found. In all ages and countries one
Christian ought ever to be able to recognise another. If a
man be Christ's, he has certain marks and lineaments that
are never effaced. Be he Greek or Eoman, Anghcan or
Presbyterian, he has the family likeness ; he has tones and
accents of the family speech.
Hence it is that all down the Christian ages there
have ever been certain essential things which, among true
Christians, have varied very little even in modes of expres
sion. Chief of all is personal devotion to the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is always the same in kind, whether in
Thomas a Kempis or in the latest recruit of the Salvation
Army. Unvarying also, the Christian faith in the Father
hood of God, and in the work and influence of the Holy
Spirit. Even in ethics, and in conceptions, if not always
in realisations, of righteousness, we can trace strands of
the same thread running through all the Christian ages:
ideals of truth and duty, of justice and goodness, which
distinguish a Christian, and which in a moment would
un-Christianise a man if he were to deny them. Not less
1 System of Christian Doctrine, iv. 370.

THE CHURCH VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE 389
strikingly we have abiding and universal marks in many
forms of Christian devotion and praise, familiar from the
beginning until now. Echoes of apostohc speech, chaste
and devout expressions of the Christian Fathers and other
saintly souls, breathe and mingle in the prayers of world
wide Christendom to this hour; and the hymns we sing,
often with intense reverence and joy, are hymns of ah the
Christian centuries and all the Christian countries, corninc
sometimes we know not whence, only that they have the
marks of the one universal Spirit, theirs once, ours now,
simply because they are His ever.
There is thus a sense in which the unity of the Body
of Christ is inviolable. It embraces the whole circle of the
Eedeemed no matter under what ecclesiastical clime they
have been born and live. It is independent of the human
will either to create it or absolutely to destroy it. In the
fundamental idea it is the Spirit of Christ who makes
Christians, and He alone. When He has united a living
soul by faith to the living Christ, no man can put them
asunder. They abide in one. The Eeformers were per
fectly right, and by no means essentially at variance with
Paul's conception, in the distinction they drew between
the Church visible and invisible. The development of the
history of the Church forced them to that distinction.1
They were declared un-Churched because they separated
from the Church of Eome. On the contrary they main
tained that only separation from Christ could un-Church
them, whereas they had separated from the Pope and not
from Christ. They adhered to a communion and fellow
ship with all saints, and the Church was invisible because
the essential faith that united to Christ, and the work of
the Holy Spirit in the soul, remain unseen of men and
known to God alone. Yet the Church was visible also,
because it consisted in a community of men and women
who united on the profession of a common faith, and whose
lives of Christian fidelity and endeavour produced visible

1 On the Reformers' view compared with that of the Apostle, cf. Forrest,
Christ of History and cf Experience, p. 283.

390 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
fruits ; and yet, inasmuch as their profession might some
times be false and their manner of life corrupt, the borders
of the Church visible might be much wider than those
of the Church invisible, and some might be ranked as
Christians who had no real title to the name. Such a
distinction is quite vahd, although undoubtedly it is capable
of illogical and even self -contradictory presentation. It is
well to be able to fall back upon the truth, that it is
union to Christ which alone secures union with His Body,
the Church. At the same time we must never make this
an excuse for turning our backs on the consequent duty of
love and communion between all the members of that Body.
The fundamental factor, therefore, in Christian unity
is the faith that unites to Christ. It is this which gives
common participation in the common hfe with all its
privileges and obhgations. This is the " one faith " of
which Paul speaks. It never varies. It is always the
same thing, saving trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We
must not imagine that the meaning is one creed, fides qy.ee
creditur.1 No doubt it is impossible to have faith without
creed. A man must believe certain things about the Being
in whom he puts his trust. These things in a sense are
his creed. But, in the more technical sense, what we
understand by creed is an authoritative expression of the
articles of belief, " which are regarded by the framers as
necessary for salvation, or at least for the well-being of
the Church."2 Confession of this belief is made on enter
ing the membership of the Church. When Paul wrote,
and when Christian unity existed in its primitive state,
such a confession can only have been expressed in a very
simple form, and probably not everywhere in exactly the
same language. It would not even be written, far less
defined with any conscious attempt at logical precision.
Most likely it did not exceed what is contained in the
1 That "faith" is not here used in the sense of creed is clear from the
fact that it is mentioned side by side with other elements of unity, all of
which, if it meant creed, it would really include, one Lord, one God and
Father, etc.
- Srhalf, Creed i of Christendom, i. 4.

UNITY WITH DIVERSE ORGANISATION 391
formula of Baptism, and in the words of institution of the
Lord's Supper. The urgent necessity for the Church
more fully and particularly to define the nature of its
belief, arose with the doctrinal conflicts of the second
century. Ever afterwards there has been a tendency to
error in elevating dogmatic inferences to the place of
essential verities of the faith, with consequent danger of
rupture, intolerant zeal on the one hand, and conscientious
protest on the other. " Two cannot walk together except
they be agreed." But to magnify and extend the minutiae
of agreement with a perfect metaphysical subtlety, is a sure
way to make walking together impossible. It has been the
constant peril and temptation of the Church to make its
unity dependent on scrupulous identity of doctrine, long
after its formulae have developed by accentuated conflict
into elaborate systems of divinity.
No less has it been tempted to lay the foundation of
unity where the Apostle did not lay it — in uniformity of
ecclesiastical organisation. Mode of Church government
has not been a definite matter of revelation or Divine
ordinance. The opposite tenet has only landed Christen
dom in endless controversy and confusion. A different
form of polity is no more a contradiction of Christian unity
than monarchy or republicanism is a contradiction of
human brotherhood. Christ is honoured, and the fruits
of His Spirit appear, under polities the most diverse,
episcopacy, presbytery, independency. Church government
was a natural evolution, and though it is impossible his
torically to trace its early stages, it clearly by the second
century had begun to assume very distinct features. But
there was no Divine right. So far as the New Testament
goes there was not even any fixed or crystallised form.
" As far as can be gathered from the simple interpreta
tion of the text, without the interpretation which history
has given it," the polity of the New Testament, says Hatch,
" seems to have been capable of taking several other forms
than that which, in the divine economy, ultimately estab
lished itself. It has the elements of an ecclesiastical
monarchy in the position which is assigned to the Apostles.

392 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
It has the elements of an ecclesiastical oligarchy in the fact
that the rulers of the Church are almost always spoken
of in the plural. It has the elements of an ecclesiastical
democracy in the fact, among others, that the appeal which
St. Paul makes to the Corinthians on a question of ecclesias
tical discipline is made neither to bishops nor to presbyters,
but to the community at large. It offers a sanction to
episcopacy in the fact that bishops are expressly mentioned
and their qualifications described : it offers a sanction to
presbyterianism in the fact that the mention of bishops is
excluded from all but one group of Epistles. It supports
the proposition that the Church should have a government
in the injunctions which it gives to obey those who rule.
It supports on the other hand the claim of the Montanists
of early days, and the Puritans of later days, in the pre
eminence which it assigns to spiritual gifts. Which of
these elements, and what fusion of them, was destined in
the divine order to prevail, must be determined, not so
much by exegesis, as by history." 1
The Anglican is therefore justified in brushing aside
the claim of the Eomanist to found the unity of the
Church in submission to a "common authority in belief,
worship, and government." But he himself falls into an
error equally grave, when he lays supreme stress on the
apostolical succession of the ministry. He regards the
outward unity of the Christian society as secured not only
by the existence of the means of grace, but also by the
existence of " a ministry spiritually endowed and com
missioned." " The necessity for each individual Christian
to remain in relation to these commissioned stewards if he
wishes to continue to be of the divine household, has kept
men together in one body." 2 But this is the discovery of
a necessity which neither here in Ephesians, nor elsewhere
in the New Testament, is asserted or revealed. Paul
writes of the gifts which the Lord bestows on His Church
for the service and perfecting of His people, but he does
not lay down any formal and indispensable divine law.3
1 Organisation of the Early Christian Clmrches, 5th ed., p. 21.
• Gore, Ephesians, pp. 167-168.
3 He is dealing with functions not with offices. "Much profitless
labour," says Hort, "has been spent on trying to force the various terms

APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION 393
" Ecclesiastical office existed, no doubt," writes Hatch, " by
divine appointment, but by divine appointment only ' for
the edifying and well-governing' of the community. Of
the existence of the idea that ecclesiastical office in itself,
and not as a matter of ecclesiastical regulation and arrange
ment, conferred special and exceptional powers, there is
neither proof nor reasonable presumption." :
To make the unity of the Church dependent, therefore,
on the permanence of a particular official caste, is as errone
ous in interpretation as it is fatal in practice. Seldom has
so momentous a doctrine, with such far-reaching unhappy
results, been founded on so slender and uncertain a basis.2
There can be no shadow of doubt that Paul thought
of Christ as represented by His Body, the Church, and not
by any special class of officials. Few forces have more
powerfully rent Christendom than insistence on the opposite.
Yet the opposite is still insisted on by many earnest men.
Bishop Gore speaks of apostolical succession as alone
affording " a possible basis of union," " a fundamental law
of the Church's life," a possession which Episcopal Churches
simply " cannot be asked " to regard as only one of many
permissible forms of government.3 On this doctrine, to
use his own expression, he " drops his anchor." It seems
used into meaning so many definite ecclesiastical offices. Not only is the
feat impossible, but the attempt carries us away from St. Paul's purpose,
which is to shew how the different functions are those which God has
assigned to tho different members of a single body " (Christian Ecclesia,
pp. 157-158).
1 Hatch, loc. cit., p. 139.
2 " It is not to the apostle," says Lightfoot, " that wo must look for the
prototype of the bishop. . . . The episcopate was created out of the presby
tery. . . . This creation was not so much an isolated act as »- progressive
development, not advancing everywhere at an uniform rate, but exhibiting
at one and the same time different stages of growth in different churches "
(Philippians, pp. 196, 227). Again, " For communicating instruction and
for preserving publio order, for conducting religious worship and for dis
pensing social charities, it became necessary to appoint special officers.
But the priestly functions and privileges of the Christian people are never
regarded as transferred or even delegated to these officers. . . . The only
priests under the gospel, designated as such in the New Testament, are the
saints, the members of the Christian brotherhood" (pp. 184-1S5).
s Church and Ministry, 4th ed., pp. 312, 313, 316.

394 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
a thousand pities to drop it just where large sections of
Christendom are never likely to agree with him. One
must certainly adhere to his convictions though the heavens
should fall, but is it so very evident that truth is on the
side of the Bishop ? There was much in Browning's in
stinct that what God blessed once will not prove accurst.
We may welcome the assurance, due to the courtesy of
Christian instinct, that it is not meant to "judge" men
who are presumed to be outside the "succession." But
as matter of fact they are judged, and not they alone but
the Holy Sphit Himself, who has been pleased abundantly
to acknowledge them in the specific work of the Christian
ministry — the ingathering and edifying of human souls.
That there has been such manifest blessing is not denied,
at least by such eminent writers as Dr. Gore.1 The diffi
culty is to account for it on this theory. Perhaps it is
the one thing that in his secret heart makes many a good
Anglican feel not quite sure. " In all denominations," says
Dr. Llewelyn Davies, " we are not so sure of ourselves ;
we see in those who are not of om' communion signs of
truth, proofs of goodness, which forbid us to assume that
Christ has not taught them, that His Spirit has not moved
in them."2 What answer does Bishop Gore make? "The
blame for separations lies, on any fah showing, quite
sufficiently with the Church to make it intelligible that
God should have let the action of His grace extend itself
widely and freely beyond its covenanted channels." 3 But
if so, should there not be grave searching of heart as to
the absolute indispensableness of the apostolical succession?
It is granted that God can and does work outside it, but
1 Cf., however, what Dr. Sanday says about the "rank and file," in his
Conception of Priesthood, p. 97. In noting Moberly's refusal to judge those
whom God has blessed outside the "succession" (Ministerial Priesthood,
p. 61), he writes : " It were only to be wished that the same caution would
extend more completely to the rank and file. It would save them not only
from exciting much just resentment against the Church of which they boast,
but also from many a departure from Christian humility and charity in
themselves." - Spiritual Apprehension, p. 206.
3 Church and Ministry, p. 314.

ISSUES OF HIGH CHURCH TEACHING 395
it is declared that any expectation that He will do so is
most "precarious and insecure."1 This is surely risky
ground for the anchor to hold in. For it concedes that
there were times when, in the sight of the great Head of
the Church there were matters of far more importance
than even apostolical succession. How is it consistent
with the notion of the ruling wisdom and truth and power
of the Eisen Lord, that He should not only have per
mitted His grace to extend itself beyond the "covenanted
channels " at historic moments of error and disagreement,
but that He should have continued to allow that grace
to flow and expand with ever-increasing volume for long
generations ? Does it not forcibly suggest that He does
not lay supreme stress where we are invited to lay it ?
He sits loosely to, or rather far above, this mere matter
of official arrangement. He blesses with it, and without
it. Episcopacy may be wise, expedient, ancient, and
historic, but He has abundantly shown that it is not an
indispensable bond by which His Spirit is bound. " Christ
is not so poor," said the Eeformer Callixtus, " as to have
His Church only in Sardinia." One owes so many debts
to Dr. Gore that it would be a matter of regret to mis
represent any cause with which he is so prominently
identified. But the controversy is old and vexed, and the
essential working of the principle, and its bearing on
sacramentarian doctrine, are well understood. Even dis
counting the priestly arrogance it has so often engendered,
1 It would scarcely be worth while to refer to anything so palpably out
rageous as the following, but for the assurance that such statements are
made pretty broadcast by a certain section of the Church of England :
"The Catholic Church is the home of the Holy Ghost. It is His only
earthly home. He does not make His home in any dissenting sect. Some
times people quarrel with the Church, and break away from her, and make
little sham churches of their own. We call these people dissenters, and their
sham churches sects. The Holy Ghost does not abide— does not dwell—
with them. He goes and visits them perhaps, but only as a stranger.
Dissenters can never be quite sure when the Holy Spirit will come to them ;
or when He will stay away. But He is always in the Church. Our Lord
said, speaking to the Apostles, 'He shall abide with you for ever.'"
A Book for the Children of God, p. 77 : a Manual for Confirmation Candi
dates, 3rd ed., 1899. Published by W. Knott, 26 Brooke St., Holborn.

396 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
it cannot even be seriously thought of as an absolutely
essential basis of Christian unity, a sine qud non of the
Church of Christ.
At the same time, it ought to be said that many
vigorous protests have been made within the Anglican
Church herself against this perilous assertion of Episcopacy
as an indispensable condition of the Church. Undoubtedly
the clearest demonstration we possess that Scripture itseh
gives no foundation for such an assertion, has been made by
Lightfoot and others of her most distinguished scholars.
" It should be distinctly borne in mind," writes Dr. Sanday,
" that the more sweeping refusal to recognise the non-
episcopal Eeformed Churches is not, and can never be
made, a doctrine of the Church of England. Too many of
her most representative men have not shared in it.
Hooker did not hold it ; Andrewes expressly disclaimed it ;
Cosin freely communicated with the French Eeformed
Church during his exile. Indeed, it is not until the last
half of the present century that more than a relatively
small minority of English Churchmen have been committed
to it." x The following may also be cited, although it stands
alongside much that it would probably not become a
Presbyterian to utter :
"As to Episcopacy," writes Archdeacon Hare, "the
utmost that can with reason be said, is that which Bramhall
has said, that it is requisite to the perfection of a Church.
But so too is the full development of all the other elements
of the Church, as has been admirably shown by my beloved
and revered friend, the Chevalier Bunsen, in his treatise on
the Church of the Future; the full development of the
Presbyterian element, of the Diaconate, in its true original
purport, and of the Laity, as taking their appropriate part
in all matters concerning the life and government of the
Church. The rightful development of each of these great
organs of the life of the Church is to the full as important
as that of the Episcopate ; and if we do not refuse the title
of a Church to a body where others of these organs are im
perfectly developt, or maimed, or latent, we have no right
1 Conception of Priesthood, pp. 95-96

PROTESTS AVITHIN ANGLICANISM 397
to refuse it to a body where the Episcopal element, which
manifestly is of less moment than any of the others for the
actual life of the Church, is wanting. If the body holds to
the One Head, and is animated by the One Faith, and is
sanctioned by the One Baptism, it is a Church before God ;
and woe to us, if we deny that it is so ! Our denial will
recoil upon our own heads ; and we shall only cut ourselves
off from the blessings of Christian communion with those by
whose faith and knowledge and love we might otherwise be
instructed and edified." x

But though there have been many perilous departures
from the simple spiritual basis of Christian unity, the
Apostle was very far from thinking that that unity was to
exist only in idea and not in concrete fact. It is essential
to his conception that the Church is a community having a
visible corporate life, a succession of redeemed persons as
well as of redeeming influences.2 A Church wholly in
visible would, as we have hinted, be a contradiction, some
thing quite incapable of the life, testimony, and conflict, to
which Paul exhorts. There is one faith, but also one bap
tism, that is, an open profession of the inner faith, and a
visible entrance into the Christian body. There follow
some obvious and important consequences.
First of all, for the individual. A believer in Christ
1 J. C. Hare, Mission of the Comforter (1846), ii. 1011.
Amid a voluminous literature on this momentous question, reference may
be made to Gladstone, Church Principles ; Gore, Church and Ministry, and
The Mission of the Church; Moberly, Ministerial Priesthood; Lefroy,
Christian Ministry ; Hatch, Organisation of the Early Christian Churches;
Lightfoot, Dissertation on the Christian Ministry, in Philippians ; Fairbairn,
Christ in Modern Theology ; Hort, Christian Ecclesia ; Brown, Apostolical
Succession; Sanday, Conception of Priesthood; Lindsay, Church and Ministry.
The validity of the Anglican Orders is of course itself denied by the
Church of Rome. Cf. the recent Bull Apostolical Curve of Leo xm., 1896 ;
the Answer of the English Archbishops, 1897 ; and the Vindication by the
Roman Catholic Archbishop and Bishops of the Province of Westminster,
1898. 2 Gladstone was no doubt right in saying that the essence of a Church
necessarily implied a succession of persons, not merely of doctrines. Under
stand "redeemed persons," and who could demur ? But the High Anglican
interpretation is to understand persons of a special official caste, wdiich is quite
different.

398 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
cannot remain absolutely detached from his fellow-
believers. An " unattached " Christian is really a contra
diction in terms. He breaks the relation of bodily union
with the hving Head, and refuses to aid in fulfilling many
functions that can never be fulfilled by isolated and solitary
souls. He must show himself a part of the great com
munity by which Christ manifests Himself in the world, and
by the consecration of all his powers and gifts he must
strive to fulfil the whole Will of his Master in such mani
festations — that is, must contribute his share, as Christ
animates and endows him, to the edifying and increase of
the Body. To refuse to do so, and yet profess to be " in
Christ," is to deny the Christianity of the Bible, the
only source from which our conception of Christianity
springs. Further, the consequences of the doctrine of Christian
unity are equally important for the various denominations
of Christians. They must keep this before them as an idea
to be reahsed and made manifest. To ignore and despise
it is one of the gravest calamities. Men are not impressed
by talk of a unity the signs of which they cannot see. We
have been very earnestly reminded — and the estrangement
from Christianity of many in ah classes of society affords
some support to the contention — that " the world will
never be converted by a disunited Church." 1 If only we
understand that it is not imperative that unity should be
expressed by a uniform polity, such a statement demands
very grave consideration. For it cannot be denied that
the divisions of Christendom have to a large extent shorn
her of her power. Her voices have grown confused, and
the force of her witness-bearing has been diminished. The
strength that unity alone can give, is not brought to bear
on the minds and hearts of men, and the cause of Christ
suffers at the hands of His friends. It is incumbent, there
fore, on earnest men in all the Churches to seek a remedy.
Above all, there should be an end to an easy discovery of
causes of division. The individuahsm of Protestantism has
1 Milligan, Resurrection of Our Lord (1899), p. 207.

UNITY SHOULD BE VISIBLE 399
run to excess, so that men have almost come to think as
lightly of " forming a Church " as of forming a club. All
sense of responsibility is thus taken away ; and the
Apostle's belief that there is in Christian unity something
worth striving to preserve, is not only forgotten, but his
exhortations to lowliness and long-suffering have become
peculiarly superfluous.
It is a serious question what may be done by way of
healing breaches that are already made. History proves
that it is easier to separate than to unite. " Sed revocare
gradus, Hie labor, hoc opus est." Yet it is not needful or
desirable just to retrace the steps. What we have to think
of are new steps to something larger, nobler, and more in
harmony with the will of Christ. If there be true harmony
of spirit, there ought to be outward expression of it by
intercommunion and co-operation in Christian service. It
is the policy of continual aloofness that is fatal. Closer
contact and intercourse in Christian life would probably
dispel more than half the clouds and misunderstandings
that estrange Christians. If men are agreed on the
essence of the gospel, it should not be impossible to meet,
not merely in semi-strangeness on philanthropic platforms,
but in manifest unity in one another's pulpits, and even at
the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. Few things would
be more speedily impressive of actual spiritual unity.
It may be we have need to humble ourselves in order
to learn the first principles of the Apostle's doctrine. The
true safeguard of Christian unity is the cultivation of the
Spirit of Christ, and it has often been acknowledged that
it is not our differences that divide us so much as the
passions that gather round them. What, we forget too
easily is the meekness and forbearance in love. In the
transgression of these the Body is hurt, and quivers in all
its limbs. As we have said, the unity of one vast universal
Church organisation is a thing that need not, perhaps
should not, enter our dreams ; but there are local approxi
mations that would. obviously be precious, and these should
never be absent from our prayers. In their realisation in
the spirit of love, and for the greater glory of Christ, the

400 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
Church would put on her beautiful garments, and go forth
" fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an
army with banners." Her " frost-bound love," her waiting
leaves and fruits, would have found their " summer " :
Congregatio societasque hominum in qua fraterna eharitas
opcretu r.

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS.

Paul passed through some strange experiences during his
second missionary journey. Never since the day on the
road to Damascus had he been so directly and mysteriously
under the constraint of the Divine hand. It is clearly
providential, in view of the westward course into which he
was carried, that Silas, the Eoman citizen, became his
companion. Paul's idea was simply to confirm the
Churches aheady established, but God's Spirit led him
far afield. Again and again barriers were put in his way,
and he was guided onwards by a series of seemingly in
explicable negations. He fell sick in Galatia, was not
permitted to preach in Asia, and was turned aside when
he assayed to enter Bithynia. His course was one of
continual compulsion down to the windy plains of Troy
and the margin of the iEgean. Then for the first time
the leading became positive, and the Voice called him
over the sea to new and untrodden soil. It is scarcely
correct to speak of his voyage to Macedonia as a passage
from one continent to another. The distinction between
Europe and Asia was not existent in his day. He only
thought of entering a new province of the great world
wide Empire.
Three faithful companions were now with him. Silas
had either accompanied him from Antioch, or had agreed
to meet him in Asia Minor after returning from Jerusalem;
Timothy had joined him at Lystra ; and now a thhd
appears on the scene at Troas. For in Acts xvi. 10 the
narrative suddenly begins to speak in the first person ; it
26

402 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS
does not resume the third until Paul and Silas are mal
treated and compeUed to leave Philippi ; and it reverts to
the first once more, when, five years later (ch. xx.), the
Apostle returns. We are thus in the presence of an eye
witness who describes events at firsthand, who travels from
Troas to Philippi, and there abides until he is taken up
again a few years later. It is a very general and probable
opinion that this companion was the writer of Acts
himself, the " beloved physician." Tradition, since the
days of Jerome and Eusebius, has regarded Luke as a
native of Antioch, where Paul made his acquaintance.
The Apostle certainly needed his presence and skill at
Troas, but it is impossible to think that Luke had been
summoned thither, for the simple reason that Paul, as we
may say, was led to Troas blindfold, not knowing whither
he went. This meeting was not therefore prearranged.
Although Luke may have had relations with Antioch (and
Eusebius implies no more), it seems more hkely that he
was settled at Troas, and that Paul first met him when he
sought his professional aid. The physician visited the
Apostle on his sick-bed, the one rendered the other service,
and the noble hfe-long friendship was begun. Eenan and
Eamsay make a further suggestion, that Luke was a
Macedonian who knew Philippi well, and, perhaps even
better, Neapolis, where he may have imbibed his evident
love of the sea. He may have talked frequently with
the Apostle about his native land, and so impressed its
needs and opportunities on the mind of the intrepid
missionary, that it would be no wonder if he were the
" certain man of Macedonia " who figured in the vision,
and whose pathetic pleading, " Come over and help us,"
seemed to indicate the Divine will, and to solve all the
mysteries of the Divine compulsions. It is a fascinating
and probable conjecture, though whether it represents
actual fact or not, it is of course impossible to say. We
only know that an open gate to a fah field now presented
itself, and that the Apostle resolved to enter in. Mace
donia had need of him. Famous though it were in story,
its homes were steeped in pagan superstition, and the

PAUL CROSSES THE iEGEAN 403
yearning cry of its restless spirit was for some word of
grace and truth such as the messenger of Jesus alone could
bring. So Paul crossed the iEgean, the very winds of heaven
favouring his course.1 The first evening brought him
under the shadows of the lofty mountains of Samothrace,
and the next saw him ready to land at the port of
Neapolis. This is the modern Kavalla, and, like most
Mediterranean towns, it looks charming from the sea. Its
houses rise in clustering tiers on the gentle slope of a
jutting promontory, and its many-coloured walls and
towers flash gaily in the sunshine. It is but a small place
of four or five thousand inhabitants, and owes much of its
embellishment to the munificence of Mehemet Ah, who, in
the early part of the nineteenth century, mastered Egypt
so thoroughly by the help of his Albanians, and who never
forgot Kavalla as his native city.2 When Paul saw it,
its chief ornament was the temple of Diana, which is said
to have been built on the model of the Parthenon, and
which crowned the apex of the hill. But what mainly
attracted travellers was the fact that the town was a ter
minus of the great military highway, the Via Egnatia, which
here touched the sea, and which formed one of the chief
means of communication between the East and the West.
This highway Paul sought, for he does not appear to have
done more than merely pass through Neapolis. On the
morrow, in the beautiful autumnal light, he struck north
wards up the broad paved way that had so often resounded
to the tread of the Legions. The pass was an easy one,
through a natural gateway among the lofty peaks of
Pangaeus, and his objective, Philippi, was only eight miles
inland. When he reached the summit, a fair scene met
his vision. Eanges of lofty mountains (some of them
covered with snow), shut in on all sides save the west
an immense and fertile plain, threaded with rivulets,
1 He accomplished in two days what took him five on his return journey.
2 Mehemet Ali erected a large Mohammedan College in Kavalla, part of
his endowment furnishing a kind of charitable foundation analogous to that
of Christ's Hospital in London, or of Heriot's Hospital in Edinburgh.

404 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS
oozing with springs, and retaining in its centre a long
marshy lake, whose tall reeds almost hid from view
the herds of cattle that loved to wade in its waters.
Stately poplars and drooping willows made welcome shade,
and fruit trees and trailing vines and wild roses every
where fihed the air with fragrance. On a spur of the
mountains, directly opposite the pass, was built the town
of Phihppi, with citadel and temples and amphitheatre
on its heights, and forum, market-place, and dwelling-
houses, sloping downwards far into the valley. The Via
Egnatia passed the east end of the lake, and led straight
into the market-place.1
Philippi had in some respects a notable history. Of
old it was simply called Krenides or " The Springs," but
when Philip of Macedon added it to his kingdom, he gave it
his own name, and used its strategic position as a frontier
fortress against the Thracians. He also worked tho gold
mines in the neighbouring hillsides and valleys, for the
district was reputed to be one of fabulous wealth. Indeed
he almost exhausted the mines, extracting from them an
annual revenue of over a thousand talents of gold,2 and
thereby securing a weapon of conquest almost as powerful
as his celebrated phalanx. In spite of the fact that the
peasantry verily believed that the gold "grew" in the
fields, and that the precious grains were turned up with
every furrow of the plough, very little was left for the
Eoman period, and mining was scarcely known at Philippi
when the Apostle appeared.
But there was a still more memorable association, and
one that left its stamp on the town very vividly even in
Paul's day. On this plain of Philippi, nearly a century
before, the great battle had been fought which decided
the fate of the old Eoman Eepubhc. Here two hundred
thousand Eomans rushed together in deadly onslaught, and
the famous leaders, Brutus and Cassius, " the last of all the
1 For descriptions of Philippi, cf. Renan, St. Paul; Leake, Northern
Greece, iii. ; Lewin, St. Paul, i. Lewin gives the results of the French
researches of Heuzy and Daumet, who wore sent out by Napoleon m.
2 Cf. Boeckh, Public Economy of Athens, i. 15.

THE TOAVN OF PHILIPPI 405
Eomans," met their fate, the fortune of war declaring for
the Caesarians. In honour of this victory Augustus made
Philippi, as Luke proudly records, a Eoman " colony,"
with ah the privileges of the Jus Italicum, which meant
not only that it was governed on the Eoman model, but
that its territory was regarded as a veritable piece of
Italian sod, exempt from the taxation which less-favoured
provincial cities were compeUed to pay into the Imperial
exchequer.1 Hence the Apostle found himself amid a
population more than half Latin, for many veterans of the
great campaign were settled in the city, and still more
were added eleven years later, when the infatuated Antony
made his ignominious flight from Actium in the wake of
the purple saUs of Cleopatra. But there was also a solid
foundation of the old Macedonian stock in Phihppi, a race
that has always been notable for its sturdy, warlike
quahties, its loyalty, its generosity, and its fidelity. The
blighting shadow of paganism hung of course over the
whole society, and the worship of such deities as Dionysus,
Silvanus, and Diana, was universally prevalent.
Phihppi was not a commercial centre, and Jews were
not present in large numbers. Yet their religion was in
evidence ; and walking out about a mile beyond the city
walls, along a line marked nearly aU the way by the
sepulchral monuments of wealthy families, the Apostle
came on the Jewish meeting-place, a small " proseucha " or
synagogue,2 on the banks of the Gangites. It was on the
very site of the battle, and in the neighbourhood of the
old mines. But another kind of victory was now to be
won, and a finer gold to be gathered. Here Paul con
verted Lydia, the purple-seller of Thyatira, — a woman and
an Asiatic, the first-fruits of the gospel in Europe ! The
1 On the privileges conferred by the Jus Italicum, cf. Ramsay's Hist.
Comm. on Galatians, p. 204. "Those rights — which included freedom
from direct taxation, freedom of constitutional government, and the right to
hold and convey land according to Roman custom — of course, belonged in full
only to the coloni, and not to the incola; the old inhabitants."
2 Cf. Schurer, Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Clirist, ii. Div. ii. pp.
6S-73. Schurer, in opposition to the common view, makes it clear that
there was no real distinction between a proseucha and a synagogue.

406 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS
story, in the light of after days, will never fad to impress
the imagination. It is hke coming on the source of a
mighty river away up amid the moss and the boulders.
" The kingdom of heaven cometh not with observation."
How the Philippians would have scoffed had they been
told that this humble meeting would keep the name of
their city green long after there was not left one stone of
it standing on another ! Lydia came into the faith with
her whole house, and others, both men and women, soon
followed her example. She proved indeed a fervent and
hospitable adherent, and seems almost to have impressed
her own kindly and gracious character on the young
Christian community that was formed. Ere very long,
however, came the episode of the epileptic slave girl,1
which led to proceedings that abruptly stopped the labours
of Paul and SUas, and ultimately caused them to leave the
city. The masters of this poor creature, seeing theh gains
go from them — a syndicate touched in its tenderest part —
fanned a persecution in whose tumult Paul for the first
time endured the torture of a Eoman scourging, and made
the acquaintance of the dark and noisome " inner prison."
Our memory retains the story of the earthquake and the
jailer, and also that of the humiliating plight of the vain
and timorous magistrates, when they discovered the citizen
ship of the prisoners, and trembled for the consequence of
their barbarity, not because it was inhuman, but because it
was grossly illegal.
Paul thus accomplished one of the most memorable
missions of his hfe. He made friends with whom first
love was never to wane. Through all his after career he
had almost no fault to find with them ; they remained his
"joy and crown." Nor did he ever lose an opportunity of
returning to them. At the critical time when he was
filled with anxiety regarding the result of his first letter to
the Corinthians, he left Ephesus and went into Macedonia,
1 A Pythoness, possessed with the spirit of the Pythian Apollo, or simply
with a spirit of divination. Cf. Baur, Paul, i. 117-151. Plutarch and other
writers describe such a one as 4yya<rrpip.v6os, whence this girl is often spoken
of as a ventriloquist; e.g., by Eamsay and many others.

IGNATIUS AND POLYCARP 407
which doubtless meant a visit to Phhippi ; again, when the
riot of Demetrius compeUed a departure from Ephesus,
he visited his old friends and imparted to them "much
exhortation," easdy enlisting their sympathies in favour of
the great Collection which then occupied his mind ; three
months later, after a short sojourn in Greece, he was back
once more en route for Jerusalem, and spent Easter week
at Philippi, scarcely able to tear himself away. Further,
if the Pastorals refer to a period of release, he visited
Macedonia once more, very probably twice. Apart, there
fore, from the present Epistle, we might easily have inferred
how large a place the Phihppians held in his heart. They
were the magnet whose attraction he could never resist.
The prominence of the Church in Philippi ceased,
however, with the Apostle's Ihe. It is not again heard
of until more than half a century has elapsed, when it
emerges into the light for a moment in connection with
Ignatius and Polycarp. The cruel guard of " ten leopards,"
as Ignatius himself calls them, led the aged Bishop of
Antioch along the military highway that Paul trod, and
consequently through Philippi. The Philippians did not
despise his chains, but rather regarded them as the entwin
ing of " saintly fetters, the diadems of the truly elect " ; and
they generously escorted him on his westward march far
clown the valley towards the Strymon. They wrote to the
bereaved Church of Antioch, as he requested them, and
sent theh message through Polycarp of Smyrna. This led
Polycarp to write them his well-known Epistle, in which
he heartily commends them, recalling theh early reputa
tion in the gospel, although indeed he grieves over a
member and his wife who seem to have sullied the fair
fame of the Church by some notorious act of avarice.
Above all, he refers to the blessed Apostle, whom he can
never hope to equal, and who taught them " both by word
of mouth and by ' letters,' which will still edify them in
faith, and love, and hope." 1 Thereafter, save for the fact
1 Cf. Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, pt. ii. ; Ignatius and Polycarp, i. 36-37,
iii. 313-314, and 327 n. Also Comm., pp. 62 sqq., and 138 sqq.

408 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS
that its bishops are mentioned once or twice as present at
Councds in the fourth and fifth centuries, the Church sinks
back into final obscurity. There has been no Church in
Philippi for ages, nor does the town itself any longer exist.
A few wretched Turkish hovels, pitched a little lower in
the valley, have perpetuated the name (Felibejik), but the
site itself is only marked by scattered slabs of ancient
tombstones and sarcophagi, a few sculptured stones, and
three or four melancholy pillars, supposed to mark the site
of the forum where the lictors' rods tore the flesh of the
evangelists. " Born into the world with the highest pro
mise," says Lightfoot, " the Church of Philippi has lived
without a history, and perished without a memorial."
One thing, however, will never be forgotten — its affec
tion for the Apostle, and its warm and generous remem
brance of him in his affliction. Therein the " saints " of
Phhippi, and the office-bearers, and the devout women not
a few, broke theh alabaster box of ointment, exceeding
precious, and filled the House of God with the fragrance.
Twice they sent gifts after theh beloved teacher to Thes
salonica, once to Corinth, and now their care of him
blossoms again as he languishes at Eome. Only from
friends who lay deep in his love and confidence would
Paul have received gifts of money. We can measure his
tenderness for them by the strength of the principle which
absolutely forbade him to take such help from any others.
He not only knew that by them he would never be mis
understood, but he could not find it in his heart to refuse
aught they offered. It is the way of love to reveal itself
as much by what it will receive as by what it bestows.
Acceptance is not merely for its own joy, but even more
for the joy of them who give. Paul, therefore, is grateful
for the gift for its own sake, but he magnifies it still more
for the grace and goodness from which it sprang.
It is this loving remembrance of him that is the occasion
of the Epistle. The Philippians had doubly enhanced then-
gift by sending with it an honoured messenger. Epaphro-
clitus shines like a star in the fulfilment of his congenial
embassy. He is so much in harmony with the Apostle

CHARACTER OF THE EPISTLE 409
that he throws himself with ardour into the work at Eome,
and greatly refreshes Paul's heart. Indeed he attempts to
do too much ; and either because the malaria seizes on his
exhaustion, or because his weakness quickens the seeds of
previous disease, he falls grievously ill, " nigh unto death."
But Paul's prayers for his beloved companion are answered,
and the Apostle is thus saved sorrow upon sorrow. The
friends at Philippi have also to be assured, for they have
heard of the illness with alarm. Epaphroditus himself has
grown a httle homesick, touched no doubt by the tender
ness of their solicitude. Accordingly Paul resolves to send
him back, and at the same time makes him the bearer of
his missive. The authenticity of Philippians has been little chal
lenged, or at least not with sufficient force to affect the
general judgment of scholars in its favour. Weizsacker
does it no more than justice when he classes it with 1 Thes
salonians, and says that the reasons for attributing it to
Paul are " overwhelming." " There is nothing in it," says
McGiffert, " which need cause doubt as to its genuineness.
It deserves to rank alongside of Galatians, Corinthians, and
Eomans, as an undoubted product of Paul's pen." 1 Indeed it
is utterly purposeless if it is not genuine. Neither doctrinally
nor ecclesiastically is there any reason for its fabrication,
and if Paul did not write it, it can only be taken as a pure
essay in Style, an exceedingly subtle and successful exercise
in Composition, which is practically inconceivable.
The Epistle is just such as we should have expected
it to be from the nature of the case, very intimate and
personal. There are few references in it to doctrine, and
such as they are, and important as they are, they come in
incidentally, rather for practical than for didactic reasons.
Its style is flowing and free, very hke that of a spoken
address, and quite untrammelled by any difficulties of dis
cussion or polemic. It is an outpouring of the heart, in
which Paul sees nothing but the faces of his friends, and
listens to nothing but the voice of his own affection for
1 Apostolic Age, p. 393.

410 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS
them. Sometimes it is touching and pensive, as it could
not fail to be, but the sunshine of hope swiftly breaks
through the clouds, and the dominant note is always one
of joy. In none of the Epistles does the Apostle reveal
himself in more alluring tenderness and magnanimity. A
few severe words do indeed fall from him ere the letter
closes, provoked doubtless by some personal and galling
experience, but over the whole there is the undoubted
charm of a boundless charity and a profound peace. We
are conscious how happy the Apostle is, as there passes
before his mind's eye the wholly sympathetic gathering
that will receive his message under the shadow of the
Philippian hdls.
It cannot be said that there is any definite plan in
the Epistle, and it does not therefore lend itself easily to
division. Not that it is quite structureless, but that its
logic, as Sabatier says, is rather that of feeling than of
thought. Only if we can put ourselves in touch with the
Apostle's intimate and friendly relations with his readers,
and his whole-hearted trust in them, shall we understand
the frequent transitions which do not break the current
but only distinguish its natural windings. It is the crudest
of all criticism, totally devoid of insight, which can only
account for changes of tone by postulating the interpolation
of " another Epistle." We require but small perception of
the characteristics of a free and familiar correspondence,
to recognise that one's thoughts frequently refuse to be
bound by the rigidity of logical sequence, and that nothing
is more natural than to finish up and then to start again.
The unity of the Epistle lies in the impulse of affection,
and in the affinity of interest, between the writer and his
readers, so that what affects the one intimately affects the
other. There are but two subjects uppermost in the mind,
the Philip] dans and the Apostle himself. To remember
this gives all the clue we need, and all that is possible.
The matters dealt with will be found simply to alternate
between these two subjects.
The Epistle is addressed to the " saints in Christ Jesus
which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons."

LIGHT AND SHADOW IN ROME 411
Those office-bearers are perhaps too sharply defined to our
modern minds by such technical titles, and the words
describing them ought to bo rendered in the most primitive
way as simply " those who have oversight and those who
take part in tho ministry or service of the Church." Thoy
arc thus honourably distinguished cither because the initia
tive of the Philippian liberality proceeded from them, or
beoaiiHo it naturally fell to them to carry it out. The
introduction (i. '.', -II) is a beautiful piece of thanksgiving
and prayer. Tho I'hilippians are enshrined in the Apostle's
memory; in truth he has them all "in his heart." They
are never absent from his prayers, and hm ardent longing
for them is that they may grow moro and more in love and
knowlcdgo and discernment ; that their approval may be
only of high things, their lives unsullied and inoffensive,
abounding in tho fruits of righteousness.
Then follows (vv. 12-26) tidings about himself. He
describes his situation as only he could have thought of
it, not one or dospondency but of hope and oven of good
success, in which the very limitations of his bonds have
proved a marvellous furtherance ol' the gospel. For tho
soldiers of the Imperial guard have listened to the story of
the (Jross, and have roused an interest which has spread
far beyond thorn. Even his friends in tho city havo taken
courage from his example, and Tar from being cast clown
by his chain have boon stimulated to greater zeal and freer
testimony. It iH true there are others who do not mean
to bo hiH friends, and yet they also are the occasion of
joy. They are not in sympathy with him ; thoy are rather
personally antagonistic and partisan, and would not rogrot
to increase his humiliation; but all the samo they "preach
Christ," and moroly to think of tho familiarising of men's
cars with that groat name is a cause of rejoicing. Besides,
ho knows well that these very trials will havo a sanctifying
effect on his own spiritual lil'o, and that his sure hope of
never being ashamed as a preacher of tho gospel will be
fiillillod, sn that Christ will bo magnilied by him whether
living or dying. Living or dying! he is so certain of gain
either way that ho knows not which ho should choose.

412 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS
His own desire is to be " with Christ." But the thought
of contmued service to those he loves draws him back.
Something assures him that he will yet be spared for their
sakes, and that they will have reason to glory abundantly
when he comes among them again.
As he thus speaks of seeing them, his thoughts fix
themselves upon his friends (i. 2 7 — ii. 18), and we have an
earnest and eloquent passage exhorting them to unanimity
and fidelity in the Christian life. They too have adver
saries who would terrorise them, and as it had been to him,
so still to them, Phhippi is a cruel environment, prolific of
much suffering for Jesus' sake. But above all, he most
tenderly beseeches them, as they love him and would give
him perfect joy, to stand fast in one spirit, to be of one
accord, of one mind. The inward hfe is of the first
moment, and it has no greater foes than strife and vain
glory. Alas, when personal ambition and vanity go so far
as to divide the Church into parties I There is but one
way to avoid it : humility ; self-abnegation. Was there
ever more glorious example than that which the Lord
Himself gave ? Has He not impressed it on the Christian
heart for ever ? For though He pre-existed in the form
of God, yet He did not selfishly chng to the prerogatives
of the divine majesty, but rather laid aside His heavenly
glories, and took on Him the form of a servant, assuming
the likeness of men. Nay more, as a man He humbled
Himself, becoming obedient to God unto death, even the
death of the Cross. This was supreme self-humihation,
and yet every step of lowliness was an advance towards
the truest exaltation. God raised Him to the highest
eminence, that in His name all creatures should pay
homage and confess Him Lord.1 Under the stimulus of

1 It is very remarkable that this famous passage occurs in such a per
fectly incidental manner, not for the purpose of defining Christological
doctrine, but solely to stimulate the Philippians by their Lord's sublime
example of humility. It does not go beyond previous Pauline thought on
the matter (cf. 2 Cor. viii. 9), but it has been a fruitful field of debate, and
one of its expressions, iavrbv iKivaae, has been the basis of some of the
most important and vital theories regarding the Person of Christ. In

THE HUMILITY OF CHRIST 413
this Divine example, the beloved Philippians must anxi
ously labour to achieve that perfect salvation to which God
Himself inspires them, approving themselves pure, guileless,
and blessedly faithful in their influence, amid all their dark
and ungodly surroundings. For their triumph will be the
Apostle's crown in the day of Christ, and even if his life-
blood be poured out as a libation along with the offering
of their faith, it will only be the greater cause for theh
mutual congratulation and joy.
Here the Apostle pauses, and then turns again to
speak of his own purposes and experiences (h. 19— iii. 16).
He says that as soon as he perceives how his trial will
issue, he wUl send Timothy to visit them. They know
Timothy well, and will welcome him. Would God there
were others as unselfish and devoted as he ! And ere very
long Paul hopes to come himself. Meantime, however,
he will send Epaphroditus, their kindly messenger, restored
to them by God's grace from the very jaws of death, and
worthy of all the love and honour they can bestow upon him.
At the beginning of the third chapter, the Apostle
thinks of what more remains to be said, little indeed
beyond what he has already written, either in this letter
or in others. He wdl not omit to warn them of
Jewish opponents whom he cannot refrain from speaking
of with contempt, who shadow his afflicted life even in
Eome, and who, whether they have yet shown themselves
in Philippi or not, may certainly be anticipated there.
He contrasts himself with them in a passage of intense
interest. A Hebrew ! He too is a Hebrew, and transcends
them in all those proud matters of which they so con
fidently boast. But every one of such carnal distinctions
he has counted loss for Christ. In Christ alone he desires
to be found, radiant in no legal righteousness, but in that
perfect righteousness which is of God by faith. It is the
goal and consummation of all his hopes, not yet attained,

addition to discussions in the Commentaries, Gifford's Incarnation deals
exclusively with the passage ; but cf. also Brace's Humiliation of Christ ;
Powell's Principle of the Incarnation ; and Hall's Kenolic Theory.

414 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS
but ever pressed for, the mark for the prize of the high
calling of Cod in Christ Jesus. And all who are of such
a mind will be led of God, even in things where their
views are dim and tlieir steps uncertain, always provided
that they never really turn aside from the Godward course.
Once more (hi. 17— iv. 9) Path's thoughts turn very
definitely to the Philippians, and to most earnest and
loving counsels. He ventures to call them to follow his
steps. Far be it from them to fall back among those, of
whom he cannot speak without tears, whom he once hoped
to gain for the kingdom, but who remain lawless, sensual
and earthly, the enemies of the Cross. Bather let them
ever remember that they are, with him, citizens of heaven,
and that they have a glorious hope there at the appearance
of their omnipotent Saviour. In Him they must stand
fast, even as they are more dear and precious to Paul's
heart than tongue can tell. Yea, he will now be very
personal. He has heard of the estrangement of these two
— Euodia and Syntyche. They have been very helpful
and zealous, and perhaps their very zeal has betrayed them.
He beseeches them to make up their quarrel, and entreats
others to make it easy for them, especially him who is
well named Syzygos, that is a yoke-fellow,1 and Clement,
and other fellow-labourers. Nothing will better conduce
to harmony than to keep the eye fixed on Christ, and to
rejoice in Him both now and in all stress that still may
come. Let a gentle and enduring forbearance be their
distinction. The Lord is nigh ; why should they be filled
with anxious cares ? Let them confide in God, and His
surpassing Peace, hke a faithful sentinel, shall guard their
hearts. Finally, summing up as Paul only can, in noble,
elevating, and comprehensive words, he bids them fill their
minds with all that is virtuous and worthy of praise, acting
1 Such a play on the name would be quite in Paul's spirit (cf. Philemon,
ver. 11), and yet we cannot say that there is more than probability in this
interpretation. Renan suggests Lydia, but his theory, like many others,
perishes on the rock of Greek grammar, for yvi}<ne is masculine. His further
suggestion (following some ancient traditions) that Lydia was Paul's wife, is
quite at variance with the Apostle's words in 1 Cor. vii. 8.

THE CHRISTIAN PHALANX 415
out all he has ever told or shown them, and promises that
the God of peace shall be with them.
Then come (iv. 10 -end) the final words of gratitude for
the gift which had refreshed him like a sweet spring.
With tactful delicacy, maintaining his independence, yet
covering them with praise, he pens this admirable passage.
True though it be that his Lord ever suffices and will
never see him fail, they have done well to remember his
affliction. And theh token of love is trebly precious
because it is the flourishing again of their old goodness.
They may be assured that even as they have supplied his
wants, so his God shall supply all theirs, according to His
riches in glory by Christ Jesus. With simple doxology and
benediction, enclosing salutations from all the brethren,
chiefly " them that are of Caesar's household," x the winsome
Epistle comes to an end.
We may now look back on these alternating passages,
and bring together the parts of the twofold picture they
present, first of the Philippians, and then of the Apostle.
1. Three things are conspicuous concerning the Philip
pians — their character, their troubles, and the counsels Paul
thought it needful to give them.
(1) It is most interesting to reflect on a Church in
which the Apostle found almost no fault or blemish.
Nowhere, according to Eenan, had he met with so much
heart, nobleness, and simplicity. " As for Macedonia, it
was probably the region the most honest, the most serious,
the most sane in the ancient world." 2 Hausrath declares
that Paul met " men " first at Philippi. He means to dis
tinguish the Macedonian from the dreamy and languorous
Asiatic, and from the fickle and irritable Greek. "The
material was harder to work in, and offered somewhat
stubborn resistance; but the work, once done, endured.
The Macedonians became the phalanx of Pauhne Christi-
1 The ' domus Cresaris ' comprised the whole multitude of persons in the
Emperor's service, whether slaves or freemen, so that there is no ground
whatever for suggesting that Paul was proudly thinking of any converts of
special distinction.
2 St. Paul, p. 136.

o

416 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS
anity, his ' fellow-soldiers,' as he calls them, whom he loves
to address in military phrase. The firmness of character
for which they became proverbial through centuries of the
world's history, did not behe them now." 1 The Epistle per
fectly reflects such characteristics. It pulses with affection,
and even with admiration. ' Stand fast ' and ' rejoice ' are
its watchwords, and strength and gentleness, fidelity and
generosity, are the noble qualities it throws into relief.
Nor was it that love had made Paul blind. The
Phdippians were friends whose adoption he proved ere he
grappled them to his soul with hoops of steel. He ever
found them his most devoted adherents, and they re
mained to the end dearly beloved and longed for.
(2) Yet the Phihppians, like himself, had to endure a
reat fight of afflictions. It was not as parlour-soldiers he
addressed them. Their panoply was needed, but not for
parade. His own flesh had been lacerated in their forum,
and no doubt he left them a legacy of persecution. It was
not only the high looks or threatening words of their
adversaries that could terrorise them. The world around
them was pagan and superstitious, " crooked and perverse,"
and we can well believe that the waves of opposition some
times broke over them in bloody spray. So great a price
must they pay for their diadem ; so intensely real was the
rallying cry " to stand fast in rank and order."
But there is revealed also a trouble within the circle
of their own Church hfe, and this is dealt with even more
anxiously than the other. Paul always viewed internal
clangers most seriously. He believed that, as with a. man
so with a Church, the deadhest foe is ever the one that
lurks within. The danger now was not doctrinal ; it was
entirely personal. It was perhaps all the more likely to
be factious and distressing on that account. Cross currents
of jealousy and ambition, leading to the formation of rival
parties and cliques, soon play havoc with congregational
peace. This seems to have been the trouble that Paul
sought to heal. He associates it with the names of Euoclia
1 Time of the Apostles, iii. 203-204.

LOWLINESS AND FIDELITY 417
and Syntyche, and he beseeches them to be reconciled.
We know historically that women had great social freedom
and influence in Macedonia, and their marked prominence
in the Church of Philippi no doubt largely helped to give
that Church its noble distinction of fidelity and generosity.
But it also seems to have added an element of weakness,
which produced the signs of cleavage so much deplored.
Although their feelings or interests had thus unhappily
clashed, Euodia and Syntyche were devoted workers, and
Paul makes no distinction between them. He wishes both
sides to remember that he is the friend of both, and it is
impossible to doubt but that an appeal so touchingly made
would be successful. If he did indeed visit Philippi again,
it must surely have been to find his joy fulfilled.
(3) The counsels of the Apostle naturally run along
the line of the troubles, both those present and those that
may be foreseen.
With earnest emotion he pleads for concord, and points
out that the only way to it is by lowliness and self-
effacement. Never was the grace of humility more closely
pressed on the conscience, or its excellence more divinely
displayed. The marvellous example of Christ would
strike every hearer dumb. Vainglory and pride would
perish in that subhme appeal, and the heart that could
harden against it would straightway un - Christianise
itseh. Again, the conflict and pressure of the dark and alien
world give rise to recurring calls to fidelity. The Christian
Ihe is strenuous and in the open field, and its movements
are the quick and alert movements of the arena. " I can
not praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue," says MUton,
"unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and
seeks her adversary, but slinks out of the race, where that
immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and
heat." This also was the mind of Paul, and the note he
sounded to the Macedonians. The "dogs" who trouble
him so much may not yet bite and devour in Philippi, but
they will come ; and even now there are in plenty those
friends of the old pagan hfe who would draw his readers
27

418 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS
back into the maelstrom. The Philippians must therefore
keep before them the high standards of the spiritual life.
They must remember that the power most expulsive of
evd is nourished by things true, honourable, just, pure,
lovable, and of good report. It is thehs to sanctify them
selves by working out the good which God works in.
Nor towards the unconverted world must they be merely
antagonistic. They must strive to attract by the winsome-
ness of theh forbearance. Never will they be the 'light'
of which Jesus spoke, if they rouse no admiration by their
readiness to succour and forgive, or if they neglect to hold
out the word of life to the perverse. The world needs
them more to help it up than to frown it down, and
strength is not to be interpreted as the contradiction of
sweetness and light. It has been well said : " Were there
no one prompt to help a brother first, and find out after
wards whether he were worthy ; no one willing to drown
his private wrongs in pity for the wronger's person ; no
one ready to be duped many a time rather than live always
on suspicion ; no one glad to treat individuals passionately
and impulsively rather than by general rules of prudence ;
the world would be an infinitely worse place than it is
now to live in. The tender grace, not of a day that is
dead, but of a day yet to be born somehow, with the golden
rule grown natural, would be cut out from the perspective
of our imaginations." 1
Lastly, Paul never wearies in calhng the Phihppians
to rejoice. The source of their joy is inexhaustible, for it
is " in the Lord." The clouds have doubtless gathered
darkly, and the horizon may be blacker still He himself
is near the sword, and the hfe of their beloved messenger
has been hanging in the balance. It is not surprising if
they have felt a httle despondent. Nevertheless, they must
the more earnestly fix their eyes upon Christ. Their glad
ness proceeds from the Light that is ever rising, never
setting. Through Him at last they shall enter into un-

1 Prof. James, Gifford Lectures on Varieties of Religious Experience
p 356.

PAULS MAGNANIMITY 419
clouded joy. For " after the fever of life, after wearinesses
and sicknesses, fightings and despondings, languor and fret-
fulness, struggling and succeeding ; after all the changes
and chances of this troubled, unhealthy state, — at length
comes death, at length the white throne of God, at length
the beatific vision." x
2. Further, the Epistle is like a window into the
Apostle's own bosom. It lets us see how wondrously he
triumphed in his bonds, how impossible it was for suffer
ing to embitter his heart, or to shake his confidence in
Christ. (1) In the first place, his magnanimity with regard to
his opponents in Eome is very striking. It shows not only
how he had mellowed and broadened, but how justly he
measured the proportion of things. It is true his adver
saries, though Jewish, were not of the extreme type
that threatened the very life of Christianity in Galatia.
They did not strike at fundamental doctrines, or seek
to propagate anything essentially different from his own
message. For he says they " preached Christ." Their
antagonism was rather to himself than to his Lord. He
acknowledged the difference. Galling as it might be to
be personally depreciated and despised, he was able to look
above such an experience, and therein he showed his great
ness. It was the greatness of him who said : " He must
increase, but I must decrease." Eoman Christianity was
not to be altogether within Paul's grasp, or moulded
entirely to his mind. In many ways it might develop
away from lines to which he was devoted. He could not
be blind to this tendency, even at so very early a stage,
yet it did not disconcert him. All that he could think of
now, amid the tumult and passion of that great Babylon,
was that the name of Christ was heard, and that it was
being proclaimed by many tongues. He could only wish
Godspeed to such a work. He had the magnanimity to
say : ' There are many who do not quite think as I do, and
I regret the spirit they sometimes display, yet they keep
1 J. H. Newman, eit. M. Arnold, Discourses in America (1885), p. 140.

420 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS
ever raising the one living issue, and therein I do rejoice,
yea and will rejoice.'
And there were other classes of men opposed to him,
of whom he also speaks, of some sharply, and of others
sadly. It is not easy to account for the swift transition,
in the third chapter, to the 'dogs' of the concision. It
may have been clue to some experience so recent and
poignant that it forced a reference to his lips. It seems
correct to think that he had in his mind some episode
that concerned himself at Eome, and that those guilty of
offence were unbelieving Jews.1 We know how widely
spread they were in Eome, and how bitter and persistent
they were in their opposition to the Christians. The fault
now thought of was their spiritual and ceremonial pride.
It rouses the Apostle's ire and contempt. For he was
able to speak of all that from the inside. He had been
everything they boasted of being. He had possessed the
distinctions on which they doted. And what were they all ?
Dust beneath his feet compared with Christ. And what
could they accomplish ? Nothing, and less than nothing,
compared with the perfect righteousness of faith. For a
moment Gospel and Law flash over against each other,
and are seen on opposite sides ; but it is because the
adherents of the Law proudly refuse to recognise the
Divine grace, and to pass on to the freer life that would
be its fulfilment.
It is true this message of a freer life was a snare to
some. It had always been misunderstood, and was so now.
Some men had hstened to Paul's preaching, and the only
word they caught from his lips was " liberty." With that
they turned away, and perverted it to their own destruction.
They had heard but half, and, obeying only half, became
the enemies of the whole. Their case is so sad that Paul
1 Such is the very general opinion. Weiss indeed speaks of it as " uni
versally admitted," Introduction, i. 364 n. Cf. also Lipsius, Hand-Comm.,
p. 234 : "Jewish fanatics who persecuted the preachers of the gospel." So
also McGiffert, Apos. Age, p. 390. Weizsacker and some others, however,
think the reference is to Judaising Christians in Philippi, Apos. Age
ii. 135.

A LIFE CENTRED IN CHRIST 421
cannot speak of it without weeping. For what can be
sadder than to turn the truth so as to make it a lie ? to
wrest some great word of a pure and holy religion so
that it becomes the very minister of evil ? The world has
seen this spectacle in every age and in many forms. Men
have talked of liberty when what they meant was licence,
and, instead of being free, have become sevenfold more
enslaved than before.
(2) Finally, the Epistle is very eloquent of the triumph
of faith. This is a recurrent note in aU our reflections on
the career of the Apostle. But it is so conspicuous here
that it is impossible to pass it over. Few men, in so sad
a case as Paul's, would have maintained so brave a front,
or would have so resolutely persisted in recognising the
bright side. The furtherance of the gospel ; the sanctifying
of his own life ; the happiness with Christ in glory, which
may be near, or, if it please his Lord better, the blessedness
of continuing to serve others ; the mark for the prize to
which he presses with such zest, and which gleams so
brightly in his vision : these shine on his page like stars,
and make all the darkness light. Living, he finds what
delights him ; dying, he will find it still more. If he is
abased, he is content ; when he abounds, he does not
misunderstand. On the high places his feet do not shp,
and in the valley he does not stumble. It is a supreme
achievement to live a life so poised and centred in Christ.
Fragile and limited as he is, there is nothing he dare not
face, no adversity that will overwhelm him, because of the
strength his Lord imparts. We think of Seneca's great
saying, and find it exemplified : " Vere magnum, habere
fragilitatem hominis, securitatem Dei " ; it is truly great to
have in one the frailty of a man, and the security of a God.
Never can we cease to rejoice that the afflicted Apostle
attained this greatness, and that for our hope it pleased
God to enable him to make his ideal present fact. We
read again his brave words, and they infuse new courage
into the blood. They come from prison walls, and from a
sea of troubles, but they reveal the heart unbroken, and
the faith undimmed. They show how all hindrances may

422 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS
be overcome, and every trial surmounted. Nay, had the
furnace not been so fierce, the gold would not have shone
so brightly. It is the day of adversity that has brought
out the lustre and the gleam.
" Then, welcome each rebuff
That tum= earth's smoothness rough,
Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go !
Be. our joys three-parts pain !
Strive, and hold cheap the strain ;
Learn, nor account the j *l~ ; ; dare, never grudge the throe '. "

IV.
Till] PASTORAL IfllMNTLIM.

I. TIM(
11 ri is.
II. TIM

Paul's living utterance makes itself heard in these severe and lofty tones,
not that of some actor on the ecclesiastical stage wdio has assumed his mask,
some impostor hidden under the dead lion's skin. Words, thoughts, spirit
in these letters alike speak for their great author — great in his latest work,
wise and far-seeing in his care for the flock of Christ, skilful to fence its fold
against the approaching wolves, as he had been mighty in word and doctrine
in those wondrous years when he founded Gentile Christendom, and built
up the imperishable fabric of the New Testament theology. The second
century never spoke as these Epistles speak. By their voice we discover the
Apostle still alive, when all other clear record of him has perished amid the
confusion of the latter years of Nero's rule. He has lived, happily, to send
to the Church out of that time of fear and darkness a last watchword, — his
message of farewell to the men he trusted most, and to us all through them.
It is a word full of hope, and full of solemn warning, — a message of discipline,
of courage, and of unchanging faith in Christ. — Findlay.

421

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES.

THE EPISTLES AND CEITICISM.
The Epistle to Titus and the two to Timothy are usually
grouped together under the title of the Pastorals, a name
not strictly appropriate, yet sufficiently warranted by the
fact that they consist largely of counsels to those engaged
in the discharge of ministerial duties.1 Although they are
addressed to individuals, the nature and importance of the
matters they deal with give them an interest to the whole
Church, and it is scarcely likely their author anticipated
that their mission would end in their private reception.
Timothy and Titus, though Paul's juniors by many
years, were his intimate friends and associates. It is
probable that they both owed their conversion to him,
Timothy at Lystra, and Titus at Antioch. Timothy
especially was closely related to him during a very long
period. He accompanied him on his travels with but
little interruption from the time of the second missionary
journey to the Eoman imprisonment. He was associated
with him in the writing of several important Epistles, and
was from time to time entrusted with various delicate and
responsible missions. He was never regarded, however,

1 According to Zahn, the employment of this title can be traced no
farther back than to Anton (1753), Wegscheider (1810), and Eichhorn
(1812). Einleitung, i. 445. 425

426 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
merely as a fellow-helper or assistant, but rather as a son
tenderly beloved, the centre of many hopes, anxiously
cared for and counselled. He seems to have been of a
gentle and sympathetic nature, not perhaps very self-
reliant, needing to be strengthened and encouraged in the
face of men, yet of unquestionable fidelity and readiness
to be spent for the cause of the friend he loved. Titus
is hitherto known only by references made to him
in Galatians and 2 Corinthians. He also was a loyal
" partner and fellow-helper," as staunch as the other, and
evidently of somewhat greater strength of character,
though he never roused quite the same warmth of personal
affection. He rendered the Apostle distinguished service
at a critical time by being the bearer of his First Epistle to
the Corinthians, when he acquitted himself so admirably
as to merit high eulogy in the Second Epistle. He could
be implicitly relied on to represent the Apostle with tact
and judgment, and was well worthy of being called a
" strong support of the Faith, and the clear utterance of
the tongue of St. Paul."
The First Epistle to Timothy presents itself as directed
to him in Ephesus, encouraging him to continue there in a
much-needed mission of steadfast evangelical teaching and
orderly consolidation. Evidently he was in a difficult
position, and the task entrusted to him seemed almost
beyond his power, and was perhaps also against his
disposition. The outstanding element of concern was the
presence of false teaching of a peculiar and mischievous
kind. This teaching is immediately dealt with, and is
never lost sight of throughout the Epistle. In the first
place, it is represented as a different doctrine from the
Apostle's, put forth by those who have swerved from the
faith, who gave heed to fables and genealogies, and who
wished to appear as teachers of the Law, although they were
ignorant of the most elementary purposes for which the
Law existed (ch. i.). Further on (ch. iv.), the asceticisms
of this teaching, 'forbidding to marry and commanding
to abstain from meats,' are denounced, and godliness is
commended instead as the true asceticism of the sphit.

CONTENTS OF FIRST TIMOTHY 427
Once more (ch. vi.), it is spoken of as a haughty and
ignorant logomachy, leading to envy and strife, and above
all, to avarice, seducing and corrupting men by the ruinous
love of gain. Finally (close of the Epistle), it is condemned
as profane and vain babbling, dealing with scholastic
' antitheses ' or ' oppositions ' under the specious pretence
of superior 'knowledge.' Timothy is earnestly exhorted
to do everything in his power to counteract this false
teaching, and he is particularly counselled how to bear
himself in certain cardinal matters. It is important, in
the first place, that public worship should be well regulated
and looked after (ch. ii.) ; above all, that intercessory prayer
should not be restricted, and that women's part in the
sanctuary should be one of modesty and silence. Again,
it is of moment that the office-bearers of the Church should
be men of irreproachable life, and therefore the moral
quahties that should be conspicuous in bishops, deacons,
and such women as act officially, are particularly defined
(ch. hi.). Once more, no matter is more difficult and
delicate, or fraught with better results, than the correct
attitude of one in authority to all sorts and conditions of
men and women in the congregation ; and accordingly
earnest hints and counsels are given, bearing on relations to
the aged and the young, both men and women, especially
to those widows who were worthy of charity and those
who rendered service to the Church, and also to proselytes
and slaves (chs. v.-vi. 2). Timothy is particularly charged
with authority to judge the elders, but warned to be
cautious and impartial. He is, throughout the Epistle,
addressed with much friendly consideration, and yet there
is evident anxiety as to his conduct in the whole situation ;
appeals to him are couched in the most solemn terms, and
the whole tone is firm and decided, almost peremptory and
commanding. There are no greetings in the Epistle, and
but httle reference to personal relations of any kind.
Neither is there any indication of where or when the
letter was written, although it may be gathered that Paul
was at hberty, and that he probably had accomplished the
journey to Macedonia which he refers to at the beginning.

428 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
The Second Epistle to Timothy finds that disciple in
much the same situation as the Fhst. He is apparently
in Asia Minor, and in the presence of the same difficulties
regarding false teachers. But with the writer the situation
has altogether changed. The Apostle writes from prison
in Eome, with a dark and ominous outlook. The bonds
have tightened round him ; he is lonely and almost
friendless ; and he ardently longs for the sympathetic
presence of his beloved disciple in view of a clearly
approaching end. The whole Epistle is very personal and
tender. It opens with grateful and affectionate memories
of the past, and exhorts Timothy to stir up his gift and
not to be ashamed of the glorious gospel, to remember the
Apostle both in his teachings and sufferings, and to be
ready himself to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ. The false teaching is stiU ' profane babbling,' and
the enemy of godliness ; it maintains, moreover, that the
resurrection is already past, and overthrows the faith of
some. It is best to be met by a pure and gracious life,
by avoiding controversy and foohsh questions, and by
clinging in faith and love to the old and well-known
message, Paul's own pattern of sound words. No mention
is made of office-bearers, further than that Timothy is
enjoined to hand on the truth he has received to faithful
men who will teach it to others in theh turn. The
distinctive feature of his own ministry is described as the
work of an evangelist, and the right handling of the word
of truth. Eeferences to suffering and persecution are
frequent and sad, and lurid clouds are descried on the
horizon of the Church's history. The Apostle foresees that
grievous times will come in what he caUs the ' last days ' ;
the stormy petrels of those times are already present in
the form of men of motley hue whom the servant of God
must shun, men guhty of notorious and scandalous vices,
corrupt in mind and reprobate concerning the faith.
Nevertheless Paul is not despondent. He is confident
that the career of those who harass the faithful will be
checked, and their folly manifested to all men. Personally
he has nothing to regret, nothing to fear. In noble and

SECOND TIMOTHY AND TITUS 429
touching language, from which the note of triumph is not
absent, he speaks of his finished course, his well-fought
fight. He has everything joyfully to anticipate from the
" righteous Judge." Then, in spite of the fact that he has
just dealt largely with work that Timothy must accomplish
in his distant charge, the yearning heart of the Apostle
calls his friend to his side, and repeats the call. The
Epistle closes with many greetings, and with news of the
disciples, old friends and new, some of them at work in
familiar places, and some, like Titus, pioneering in new
ground.1 The frequent flitting of light and shade harmon
ises well with the whole situation. It is exactly such a
letter as we could suppose the brave heart would have
written in the circumstances. As Eeuss justly remarks, it
is all absolutely natural, an effusion that at once evokes
sympathy and disarms criticism.2
The Third Epistle of the group is addressed to Titus,
who is at work in Crete according to the directions of the
Apostle. The island of Crete had been part of a Eoman
province for about a hundred years, and Jewish emigrants
had probably settled in it for a much longer period (since
362 B.C.). There were Cretans present at Jerusalem on
the day of Pentecost, but the origin of Christianity in the
island cannot be traced. It is possible that missionaries
may have visited it during Paul's labours in Ephesus ; but
the only mention in Acts connected with Crete is when
the vessel that bore him a prisoner is described as detained
there by the storm. Paul, however, had evidently been
on the island, accompanied by Titus, shortly before the
Epistle was written. He was struck with the imperfect
organisation of the Churches, and general defects of their
Christian life. These defects were shared in by only too
many communities of the time, but Paul indicates that
there was also a special Cretan taint, due to the notoriously
low character of the islanders. He thought it of high

1 The tradition is that Crescens went to Gaul (Galatia) ; Titus to
Dalmatia. Paul of course had himself been in Illyria (Rom. xv. 19).
2 Les Epitrcs pauliniennes, p. 249.

430 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
importance to leave Titus behind him, with authority to
organise and direct this imperfect type of Christianity, and
the letter was written mainly for his friend's guidance and
encouragement. At the same time Titus cannot be spared
for long. Paul summons him to join him at Nicopolis (in
Epirus) for the winter, and promises that his place shall
then be taken either by Artemas or Tychicus. There is
no indication where Paul himself was at the time of
writing. He was not yet at Nicopolis. Probably he was
in Greece, and it may be inferred from the mention of
Apollos that he was in Corinth.
The Epistle is clear and definite in purpose, practical
and business-like. It opens with a rather long and un
common preamble, such as only the Apostle himself would
have ventured upon, and then immediately proceeds to give
directions for the proper organisation of the Churches.
Apparently Cretan Christianity was as yet too poorly
developed to require deacons ; at all events they are not
mentioned. Attention is solely given to the office of the
elder or presbyter, who is also styled a bishop, in virtue no
doubt of his supervising function. Stress is above all laid
on his moral qualifications, what he must and must not be,
and also on his knowledge of the faithful doctrine he has
been taught, and on his abihty to expound and defend it.
For there are those against whom it must be defended,
false teachers who must be rebuked and silenced. They
do great injury in Christian families, and are venal and
self-seeking, striving to serve both God and Mammon. They
give heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men, and,
professing in their austerities to honour God, they really
misrepresent Him, and are reprobate unto every good work.
Later on (ch. iii. 9), they are noted as dealing with foohsh
questions, genealogies, contentions and strivings about the
law. As heretical, that is, as men who cause division
among the faithful, they are to be vigorously admonished,
and, if impenitent, to be shunned altogether. The second
chapter is entirely devoted to good counsel for regulating
the conduct of the different classes in the Christian
community. Those specified are the aged men and women,

EXTERNAL TESTIMONY TO THE EPISTLES 431
young women, young men — to whom the pastor himself
must be a conspicuous example — and finally the slaves,
who seem everywhere to have felt the appeal of the gospel.
These are all directed to pure and lofty ideals, that they
may adorn the Divine doctrine, and live a sober, righteous,
and godly life ; for inevitably those who have been redeemed
will also be zealous of good works. The last chapter deals
with the relation of the converts to the still unconverted
world, basing tlieir good and gentle conduct on that which
makes the change in all Christians, the saving grace of God
through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Finally, the
Epistle closes with kindly greetings, and the commendation
to Titus and his people of hospitality and good works.
It cannot be denied that there is something very
natural about these Epistles. Nothing is more likely than
that the Apostle should have written letters to friends and
colleagues so dear and indispensable. Moreover, it is just
what we should expect, to find him taking doctrine
largely for granted, and dealing rather with practical
matters, the phases of Christian life and work that
presented themselves at the moment, or that might
be expected sooner or later to develop. Further, this
would be all the more natural if the letters were
written far on in his career, when he could not but be
conscious that the care of the Churches must soon fall into
other hands.
The testimony of sub-apostolic literature to the early
existence of the Epistles, cannot justly be said to be
unfavourable. "We find them," says Weiss, "exercising
an early and widely extended influence on ecclesiastical
literature ; nor is there any perceptible difference in the
case of any one in frequency of usage, which is about
proportioned to their length." x No great stress should be
laid on a few brief resemblances in Barnabas and Clement
of Eome, which, if admitted as references or quotations,
would carry us back to the close of the first century. As
Holtzmann says, these might be due simply to a common
1 Introduction, i. 203.

432 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
ecclesiastical atmosphere.1 But the testimony becomes
clearer in Ignatius and Polycarp,2 the latter of whom had
beyond question seen the Epistles and tm-ned them to
account.3 Here, therefore, we have a sure terminus ad
qucm. Later in the second century, in the Peshito and
Old Latin Version, the Muratorian Fragment, Irenaeus,
Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria, their acceptance as
Pauline and canonical is perfectly explicit. On the other
hand, they are omitted from Marcion's canon, though
nothing greatly adverse can be drawn from such an
omission. Marcion was notoriously governed by strong
dogmatic prepossessions in his treatment of the New
Testament writings ; moreover, from Tertullian's profession
of surprise at his rejection of the Pastorals while he
accepted Philemon (ad unuin hominem), it may be inferred
that his main reason for rejection was the private character
of the Epistles.4 So far, therefore, as external testimony
goes, it may be concluded, with some slight degree of
probabihty, that the Epistles were known by the end of
the first century ; and, with certainty, that they were known
and accepted by the middle of the second. Even if this
testimony were weaker than it is, we should make some
allowance, as Wace points out, for the fact that, after all,
personal letters are not on the same footing as public
documents. It is unnecessary, however, to go minutely
into this part of the subject, because it is now generally
admitted that the question of authenticity must be
determined entirely by internal considerations.

1 Pastoralbriefe, p. 259.
2 The witness of Ignatius belongs to the second decade of the second
century. He died about the year 110. Polycarp died about 155. This
is the date adopted by Waddington, Lightfoot, Nestle, and others. But
neither the date of his death, nor that of his Epistle to the Philippians, can
be fixed with absolute certainty. Both Ritschl and Harnack give the letter
far too late a date (140). It links itself to the death of Ignatius. Polycarp
is supposed to have been a centenarian at the time of his martyrdom.
3 Von Soden, Hand-Comm., p. 155; Clemen, Einhcillichkeit, p. 174.
Holtzmann, Jiilicher, and Davidson, also agree as to their certain use by
Polycarp. 1 Cf. Sanday, Inspiration, pp. 19 and 364.

HISTORY OF CRITICISM 433
The Christian centuries, until the beginning of the
nineteenth, found no fault with the Pastorals on account
of their contents. The three Epistles, like their com
panions in the canon, were universally revered for their
authority and intrinsic merit. This itself is not a little
in their favour, and can only be dismissed on the lofty
presumption that until this late age they were never
studied with any real insight or intelligence. But when
doubts were once raised, it must be confessed they grew
apace ; and it is rather disconcerting to find a long
succession of scholars, of many various schools, giving their
deliberate verdict against the Epistles. To some extent it
has perhaps been felt that as no essential doctrines of faith
are at stake, it is permissible to treat the Pastorals more or
less cavalierly. The issues raised, however, are as important
as they are difficult and complex. They can by no means
be said to be settled ; many of them are in a state of
somewhat dehcate balance ; and, though decided opinions
are not lacking on either side, it will frequently appear
that finalities are reached by the oversight or neglect of
important factors.
The history of criticism has often been sketched, and
only a few words are necessary to recall it. Schleiermacher
(1807), if not absolutely the first to raise doubts, was the
first to give them force. He rejected 1 Timothy chiefly
on grounds of history and style. He was soon followed
by Eichhorn, and by De Wette, who, however, found the
criticism valid against all three. The Epistles are so
obviously bound together by common and distinctive
features, that it has become conventional to say that they
stand or fall together. This may be said to be the general
judgment of scholars, and yet it ought not to be assumed
as axiomatic. In addition to Schleiermacher, critics like
Bleek, Neander, Eitschl, and Eeuss accept 2 Timothy
alone ; and many who would not go so far as wholly to
accept the Epistle, nevertheless regard it as standing
favourably by itself.
Of all the attacks upon the Epistles the most formidable
was that of Baur (1835). The importance of his criticism
28

434 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
lay in the fact that it was not merely negative but
constructive. That is to say, he endeavoured to account
for the existence of the Epistles, and to give them their
historical setting. In his idea they were pseudonymous
anti-Gnostic documents of the latter half of the second
century, written particularly to oppose the heresies of
Marcion, to confirm the unity and episcopal constitution of
the Church, and also, in their modified Paulinism, to
furnish an eirenicon between supposed Petrine and Pauline
parties.1 This theory long held the field among negative
critics, and even now is not discarded in general principle,
although several of its details, particularly the very late
date and the recognition of a definite Gnosticism, have
been largely resded from. Mangold, Meyer, Holtzmann,
Weizsacker, Jiilicher, Beyschlag, Davidson, and Hatch,
with various concessions, virtually regard the Epistles from
Baur's standpoint. All along, however, in addition to many
who continued to hold the traditional view, there were
those who, while unable to accept the Epistles as they
stand, were not prepared for their absolute rejection.
There seemed to them insuperable objections historically to
an entirely pseudonymous origin, not to speak of passages
so decidedly stamped with the genius of the Apostle as to
make it almost impossible to attribute them to any other
pen. Accordingly, there is the hypothesis of interpolation
and compilation, a kind of via media which has at the
present clay many able upholders. These recognise in the
Epistles certain fragments of genuine Pauhne letters, which
a later writer has used in order to give verisimilitude to
opinions that he wished to be accepted as apostohc. The
apphcation of the theory has varied in its results in the
hands of each individual writer, and the residuum of general
consent is very small. Among those favourable to it in
varying degrees are Credner, Hitzig, Ewald, Immer,
Hausrath, Krenkel, Hesse, Pfleiderer, Harnack, Eenan,
Sabatier, Eeville, Von Soden, Lemme, Knoke, Clemen,
McGiffert, Bacon, Moffatt. Writers who, with more or
1 Paul, ii. 98 sqq. ; Church History, i. 127-128.

LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS 435
less thoroughness and acknowledgment of difficulty, still
adhere to the authenticity as a whole, include Zahn, Weiss,
Huther, Godet, Bertrand, Spitta, Steinmetz, Lightfoot,
Hort, Wace, Sanday, Salmon, Humphreys, Plummer,
Gilbert, Macpherson, Eamsay, Bernard, Dods, Farrar,
Conybeare and Howson, Adeney, Alford, P. Fairbairn,
Plumptre, Findlay. Dr. Moffatt is therefore scarcely
warranted in saying that ' criticism ' is practically unani
mous on a date about the beginning of the second century.
Such an exclusive appropriation of the word ' criticism '
is probably due to extreme familiarity with the modern
Teutonic manner, but it clangs the door rather uncere
moniously in the face of a large number of otherwise
respectable people, who are at least entitled to an opinion,
and who have long passed the stage of the primer and
the handbook. ' Best ' and ' most reasonable ' criticism is
naturally the criticism with which a writer agrees, but
this too often exhausts the meaning of the adjectives.

II.
AUTHENTICITY OF THE EPISTLES.
The internal grounds on which the denial of the authen
ticity is based, are twofold, literary and historical. The
historical issues are raised by the three questions : Can the
Epistles be fitted into Paul's life? Is the theological
position consistent with his authorship ? Are the
ecclesiastical views too advanced for his age ? That is
to say, this class of objections has to deal with Paul's
personal history, the history of doctrine, and the history
of Church polity. (A) Literary Characteristics.
These have been subjected to very keen scrutiny, and
yet deductions from such premisses ought to be made with
great caution. Critics have frequently gone far astray in

436 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
deciding the authorship of anonymous writings of con
temporaries, who were otherwise well known and who
assumed no deceptive style, and the air of dogmatic
certainty regarding writings of the first century is apt to
be a delusion and a snare. l Lightfoot in his Biblical Essays
deals with the literary features of the Pastorals, but chiefly
to deduce the conclusions, that all three belong to much
the same time, and that a considerable period must be
interposed between them and the other Paulines. Sabatier
strongly argues in the same way that the Epistles, if Paul's,
must have come together, and cannot admit of any other
Pauhne between them. So much, it is generally allowed,
the literary qualities make certain, but the question of
authenticity remains. Baur believed that the literary test
told against the genuineness of the Epistles, although he
did not make it his chief objection. Holtzmann, however,
regards it as perfectly decisive. His seventh chapter is
devoted to this part of the subject, and is a masterpiece
of detailed discussion. He holds that the Pastorals are in
vocabulary and diction further apart from the whole body
of the accepted Epistles, than Thessalonians, the earhest,
is from Phihppians, the latest.2 Their differences are so
manhole!, and at once so obvious and so subtle, that their
total effect entirely precludes the possibihty of Pauhne
authorship. He is ably answered by Professor Findlay,
both on particular and general grounds, in the appendix to
Sabatier's Paul ; 3 and Professor Eamsay has also, while
confuting him on other lines, objected to the unscientific
' Illustration of the difficulty occurs continually in the case of magazine
articles. Cf. also the impossibility of distinguishing the individual con
tributions to the collaborations of Besant and Rice ; or the story of 77k;
Daughter of Heth and the Saturday Review, as told in Sir Wemyss Reid's
Life of William Black. Leslie Stephen, in his Georeje Eliot, relates that
when that writer published Scenes of Clerical Life Thackeray beheved the
author to be a man, Dickens guessed a woman, while Mrs. Carlyle (precursor
of the subtle literary critics of the Bible) suggested something more complex,
" first cousin to a clergyman, with a wife from whom he got the ' beautiful
feminine touches'" (p. 55).
2 Pastoralbriefc , p. 104.
3 Pp. 353-362. Also most acutely by Bertraud, Essai critique sur
I ' authenticili des E-pilrcs pastorales.

PECULIARITIES IN THE VOCABULARY 437
and unhistorical use he makes of analogies to writings of
a later period.1 On the whole, Holtzmann's discussion,
able and learned as it is, leaves the impression that it is
overdone, and his elaboration of minute details raises
distrust of the whole method. It seems an effort to win
by mass, rather than by any great cogency of evidence.
All that is said of the vocabulary is matter of fact
and beyond dispute.2 According to Holtzmann (p. 86),
there are over 897 words in the Pastoral Epistles; of
these, 171 are not found elsewhere in the New Testament,
and 133 are not found elsewhere in Paul's writings.3
Every other book has, of course, its own share of peculiar
expressions. Many changes of such a kind may no doubt
be accounted for by the emergence of fresh subjects or
fresh thoughts regarding old subjects, by the parties
addressed, by the mood of the moment, or by recent
impressions from men and books.4 Here, however, the
proportion is so very great as to arrest attention.
Mr. W. P. Workman, in an interesting paper in the
Expository Times,5 has very clearly brought out this pro
portion as compared with that in the other letters of
Paul. If we take uniform pages of the Greek Testament,
Titus and 1 Timothy are found to have 13, and 2 Timothy
12, peculiar words to the page; Philippians has 6'8 ; and
so on, in generally decreasing ratio as the Epistles are

1 Church in the Roman Empire, p. 248 n.
What Macaulay said of Lord Bacon may be applied to Holtzmann : "In
wit, if by wit be meant the power of perceiving analogies between things
which appear to have nothing in common, he never had an equal. He
possessed this faculty, or rather this faculty possessed him, to a morbid
degree. . . . But, like several eminent men whom we could name, both
living and dead, he sometimes appeared strangely deficient in the power of
distinguishing rational from fanciful analogies, analogies which are argu
ments from analogies which are mere illustrations."
2 The full list of peculiarities is given in Grimm-Thayer, pp. 706-707.
3 Of course it is not meant that Paul could not have been familiar with
these words. Nearly half of them occur in the Septuagint.
4 It is said there are traces of 2 Maccabees in the Pastorals. But there
is really nothing remarkable in that. The attempt to make capital of such
small matters actually weakens the case.
6 VII. 418.

438 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
earlier in date, until the lowest proportion, 3'6, is found
in 2 Thessalonians. That is to say, the Pastoral Epistles
" present twice as many unusual words as any other of
Paul's, and three times as many as most." Mr. Work
man takes this as an illustration of a general principle,
namely, that the number of unusual words in the writings
of any author is a very variable quantity, and that even
a variation so great as 3 to 1 is not extraordinary. He
supports this by reference to Shakespeare. Using the
lists of words that occur only once (dVaf Xeyo/ieva), given
at the end of the plays in the Irving edition, he shows
that the proportion in Shakespeare varies from 3 '4 to 10 '4
per page. The writers are of course very dissimilar ; but he
is not comparing Paul with Shakespeare. He is comparing
Paul with Paul, and Shakespeare with Shakespeare. He
shows that each is an illustration of his general principle.
The argument is legitimate and forcible, and could
easily be extended. Let us take, for example, the case
of Milton. Professor Masson, in his edition of Milton,
brings out some striking facts regarding the poet's vocabu
lary and self-variation.1 In L' Allegro Milton shows only
1 0 per cent, of non-Saxon words ; in II Pcnscmsu, he
shows 1 7 per cent. ; and in Paradise Lost, in Book VI.,
20 per cent., and in other places even 30. Further, the
Professor remarks on the general question that " the aira%
Xeyopeva of any writer will be found on examination
greatly more numerous than might have been supposed
beforehand." Under the letter A alone, he finds in the
concordances 118 words that occur only once in Milton's
poems ; and of 3 7 5 words beginning with the letters Un,
no fewer than 241 occur only once. "Altogether I should
not be surprised," he adds, " if between 2,000 and 3,000
of the 8,000 words of Milton's total poetical vocabulary
were found to be aira^ Xeyopteva." If we take similar
tests in the case of Shelley,2 we get the following results :
under the letter A, excluding proper names, there are some
039 words, and of these 295 occur only once ; while of
1 Poetical Works, i. ix-xiii. * Ellis's Concordance, 1892.

GENERAL STYLE AND STRUCTURE 439
words beginning with Un, which are 478 in number, no
less than 266 are but once used.
Beyschlag is impatient that the question of authen
ticity should be any further discussed ; it is at least per
missible to hope to hear much less of aira^ Xeyo/ieva in
connection with it. Nor should we fail to observe that
argument from a strange vocabulary rather cuts the
opposite way. A large number of peculiar words and
phrases is just what an imitator, such as certain theories
suppose, would have most sedulously avoided. He would
rather have sought to lull suspicion by a continuous parade
of familiar and characteristic expressions. In fact, the
only man who can afford to differ largely from previous
compositions is the author himself.
A more important matter than the vocabulary is the
literary form, the general style and structure of the
Epistles. Lightfoot recognises that the syntax is " stiffer
and more regular than in the earlier Epistles, more jointed
and less flowing " ; also that " there is a greater senten-
tiousness, an abruptness and positiveness of form." It is
practically conceded by writers on the positive side that
there is a marked difference in style as compared with
the usual sustained force and intensity of the earlier
writings ; not that flashes of the old brilliancy of ex
pression, or verses palpitating with emotion and moving
with natural pathos, are altogether absent, but that on
the whole the construction is more loose and inconsequent,
and the utterance more tame and prolix, than Paul has
accustomed us to. The question is as to the inference
to be drawn from the facts. Few deny that a man's style
may vary, but is it possible to account for variations so
pronounced as these in the short interval of a few years ?
It is a hazardous thing to dogmatise on such a question.
If Paul dictated the letters, then, to use Eenan's phrase,
we have a kind of " stenographed conversation," and it is
possible that the amanuensis, perhaps a new one, whom
the Apostle trusted to put his message into form, may
have been responsible for a good deal. In addressing
familiar friends, too, a certain latitude would be allowable ;

440 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
there would be no need felt for great precision, and the
cropping up of familiar and of crystallised expressions and
watchwords, well known to both parties, would be perfectly
natural. Besides, weariness and iU-health, gloomy pro
spects and growing years and cares, might all be important
factors in the case. A better knowledge of the details
of the situation might reveal to us influences that would
explain everything. All such matters are conjectural, but
if not in themselves unreasonable, they certainly ought to
be permitted to relieve the pressure of the adverse argu
ment. Here also we must remember that that argument
has a double edge. What are we to think of an imitator
who so perversely neglected to imitate ? and who, with
so jejune a performance, hoped to palm off his utter
ances as those of the most brilliant leader of the Church ?
Moreover, we ought not to exaggerate the faults. The
Pauline ring is well recognised in occasional passages.
Davidson goes to extremes in his wholesale condemnation
of the Epistles as " without vigour, point, spiritual depth
or richness." He forgets even to be consistent ; for just
before his bizarre assertion that the style cannot be con
sidered authentic " without disparagement to the Apostle's
intellect," he has remarked that " the language of the
Epistles is generally superior to Paul's in clearness."
Eenan x thought some of the passages " so beautiful " that
he was constrained to ask whether authentic Pauline
letters must not have been in the hands of the imitator.
Sabatier declares that neither in form nor substance are
the Epistles unworthy of the great Apostle ; 2 further, he
simply repudiates the notion that any " contemporary of
Justin Martyr " ever wrote the first and last chapters of
2 Timothy.3 Dr. Moffatt has no admiration for the style
of the Pastorals ; he finds it radically un-Pauline, and
cites the strongest utterances of Jiilicher and Holtzmann
against it. Yet he quotes with approval a passage of
Simcox', in the course of which it is said that the Epistles
1 L'tiglise chritienne, p. 95. 2 Paul, p. 269.
3 Cit. Bertrand, Essai critique, p. 11.

COMPARED WITH SUB-APOSTOLIC BOOKS 441
are " so ancient and so hke Paul " ; and, earher, in assert
ing a common atmosphere for them and the writings of
the apostolic Fathers, he says that the Pastorals are
" astonishingly superior." As they are regarded as prac
tically identical in matter, the superiority presumably
lies in the style. If so, the witness is true, and the
comparison suggestive. The sub-apostohc writings are
well known. Let the Pastorals be read along with any
of them, and it will be strange if the result even in
regard to style is not as surprising as Dr. Moffatt says.
Godet's judgment may be rhetorically expressed, but it
would be difficult to gainsay its truth : — " When one has
had enough of the pious amplifications of Clement of Eome,
of the ridiculous inanities of Barnabas, of the genial oddities
of Ignatius, of the well-meant commonplaces of Polycarp,
of the intolerable verbiage of Hermas, and of the nameless
platitudes of the Didachd, — and after this promenade in
the first decade of the second century, reverts to our
Pastoral Epistles, one will measure the distance that
separates the least striking products of the apostolic
literature from what has been preserved to us as most
eminent in the ancient patristic literature." 1
There is still, however, a matter that may here find
most convenient notice. Do the Pastorals harmonise
with the supposition that Paul is writing to his most
intimate friends, the one in Ephesus, and the other in Crete?
Are they natural in such a case, or do they in any way
offend our sense of the fitness of things ?
With regard to 2 Timothy there need be few doubts.
Take it all in all it corresponds admirably with the situa
tion, and Eeuss was justified in saying that had it stood alone
there would probably never have been any talk of the
second century. Neither does the Epistle to Titus seem
out of the way, if we consider that the Churches in Crete
were but of recent origin, and that Paul as he wrote was
addressing himself quite as much to them as to the disciple
whose hands he wished to strengthen.
1 Introduction, p. 600.

442 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
It is with regard to 1 Timothy and the Ephesian
Church that most difficulty is felt. The tone is strangely
pedagogic. Timothy is addressed as an immature youth
who needs very elementary lessons in hfe and duty, and
whose authority and capacity are somewhat uncertain; and
yet he had been a long time in Ephesus and under Paul's
personal influence, and had been entrusted with responsible
tasks both among the Macedonian Churches and in Corinth.
It also sounds strange that to him above all Paul should
think it needful to make strong assertions regarding his
apostleship and his truthfulness. In short, he tells Timothy
a great deal that he must often have told him before, and
he tells it in rather a stern manner on the whole. Further,
it is surprising that although the destination is Ephesus,
a town the Apostle knew so well and where he had so
many friends, there is not a single salutation or touch of
local colour. It is also difficult to think that many of the
instructions as to organisation could have been necessary
in a Church that had been so long established, and that
had originally enjoyed Paul's own personal superintendence
for a series of years.
It must be confessed that there is much in such ob
jections that is very hard to explain, and sufficiently
justifiable of doubt. It is a question, however, whether
it is strong enough to break the tradition, or to annul
the support that the Epistle receives from its stronger
companion. We are very ignorant of the precise circum
stances, and of the needs of the moment, and a priori
considerations as to the personal relations are therefore
not to be relied on. One thing is certain, a sexagenarian,
amid the deepening shadows, would very naturaUy speak
of a companion as a " young man," even if he were 3 0
or 40 years of age ; such a thing happens every day in
the world. The absence, moreover, of any friendly allu
sions to the Ephesian Christians tells equally against a
mere imitation of the Pauhne manner ; and any one who
holds, with Holtzmann,1 that the same writer had dared to
1 PastoraVyricfe, p. 122. " In Wahrheit ist gerade hier Alles Copie."

SPECIAL DIFFICULTIES IN FIRST TIMOTHY 443
concoct the closing chapters of 2 Timothy in order to
give the Epistle an apostolic air, must find it hard to
account for the fact that he makes no such venture,
however modest, here. Nothing can be made of what
Eeuss calls the " police regulations " regarding the charity
to widows in the fifth chapter, as indicating such a falling
away from primitive goodness and unselfishness as could
not yet have taken place. Paul had long since been under
no delusion as to the mixed motives that showed themselves
in the Church where he had warned many " night and day
with tears." No relief is to be expected in the case of
this Epistle from a theory of interpolation, for the ten
dency of adverse criticism seems to be to regard 1 Timothy
as a compilation pure and simple. Thus Professor McGiffert
says it may fairly be doubted whether there is any genuine
element in it ; and certainly his suggestion that the greet
ing may be a clipping preserved from a true Pauline,1 is
but a poor offering at the shrine of tradition, and one for
which he is likely to escape the embarrassment of profuse
gratitude. Dr. Moffatt, in his translation, does not print
a single line in clarendon type, thereby indicating his
opinion that not an atom rests on genuinely Pauhne
tradition, or that, if the compiler had any original sources
at his command, he has used them so freely that they
cannot now be made out.2 Possibly the decisive element
on the positive side is the apparent impossibility of sepa
rating First Timothy from Second. The man who wrote
the one almost undoubtedly wrote the other. From the
nature of the point at issue, it is a case where the stronger
of the twin Epistles carries the other with it, rather than
that the latter discredits the former.
On the whole our conclusion on this part of the sub
ject would be that while there is much in the literary
characteristics to warrant critical discussion, the grounds

1 Apos. Age, p. 413.
'Historical NT., p. 703. Others do not go to this extreme. Some
cannot resist the impression that 1 Tim. i. 12-17, ii. 1-6, vi. 9-12, are
indubitably Pauline. Knoke recognises three documents in the Epistle,
two of which he believes were letters of Paul to Timothy.

444 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
of objection are not strong enough to be decisive against
the authenticity of the Epistles.

(B) Historical Criticism.
1. Paul's Personal History.
The first historical objection is connected with Paul's
personal history, and arises from the difficulty of finding
a sure place for the Epistles in his life.
The problem with regard to 1 Timothy is to determine
when it was that Paul on a journey to Macedonia ordered
Timothy to abide in Ephesus ; with regard to 2 Timothy,
to reconcile the situation with the features of the im
prisonment described in Acts and in the Captivity Epistles,
particularly to determine when it was that Paul had been
at Troas, that Erastus abode at Corinth, and that Tro
phimus was left sick at Miletus ; and finally, with regard
to Titus, to make out when Paul had visited Crete and
left his disciple there, and when it was he purposed
wintering at Nicopolis.
There are three general views : that everything is
feigned and unhistorical ; that room can be found for
the events in the lacunm of the Acts narrative ; and
lastly, that the references are, in the case of 1 Timothy
and Titus, to a period of hberty after the captivity re
ferred to in Acts, and, in the case of 2 Timothy, to a
second and final captivity. The first is the view of Baur,
Holtzmann, and the adherents of the Tiibingen school
generally ; the second is in the main held by those who
regard at least the personal passages as genuine Pauhne
fragments ; while the third is usually, but not always,
adopted by those who receive the Epistles as wholly
authentic. The remarkable thing is that on the modern inter
polation hypothesis the personal historical passages, in
spite of all their difficulties, are the very portions that are
widely accepted as clearly genuine. This concession is now
made by a whole stream of writers from Hausrath onwards,

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE HISTORY 445
many of whose names have been already mentioned. It
has been described as " a return to sounder methods," and
is unquestionably of the first importance in the criticism of
the Epistles. It is felt that the wholesale concoction of the
historical references is virtually inconceivable. No well-
disposed disciple who had the slightest wish to have his
composition accepted, would ever have ventured on such
palpable flights of imagination. In the next place, if this
concession be made, it relieves the Eelease-hypothesis, so
far as it is connected with the Pastorals, of one of its
greatest weaknesses, namely, that it frequently tended to
argue in a circle ; for it was apt to account for the history
by a release, and then to buttress the release by appealing
to the truth of the history. Moreover, if the personal
portions are now to be accepted, the result is undoubtedly
to strengthen the other parts, and to reduce the objections
to them very much to a subjective basis. As long as it
was otherwise, and the personal references were regarded as
false, it was almost impossible to believe that any other
part could be true.
The attempts to construct the history, whether before
or after the Acts period, are on both sides equally con
jectural. If, on the one hand, Lightfoot and his followers,
believing in a release and a second captivity, venture on an
outline that is quite hypothetical ; on the other hand, the
suggestions of Eeuss, McGiffert, Macpherson, Bartlet, and
others, who confine themselves to the gaps allowed by the
records in Acts, are no less in the same region of hypothesis.
One side need not fling the word " conjecture " at the
other. Both are in the same condemnation, and the only
question is, which is maintaining the more justifiable
position. Suppose that there be no real historical grounds for
maintaining that Paul was released from his imprisonment,
and that the very suggestion of his release is " absolutely
gratuitous" (Eeuss), shall we then find ourselves in a
position, not free from difficulty indeed, but even reasonably
preferable ? We doubt it very much. No man has yet
been able to fit in the personal references to the Acts

446 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
period with any great assurance. Eeuss acknowledges that
his own attempt is not really a success. Dr. McGiffert
labours hard, but certainly not with any sense of triumphant
conviction. Speaking generally, and simply recording the
impression made on our own mind by such attempts, we
should say that the Apostle's sojourn in Ephesus is broken
up in a way that is not tenable ; and, above all, that the
Epistles have to be separated from one another by con
siderable intervals, and 1 Timothy thrust into a position
among the great Epistles, which, if there be any value in
internal evidence, is morally impossible. We acknowledge
the dilemma, to which Sabatier, Godet, Weiss, Eamsay, and
others, confess they are forced, either that Paul's career did
not end where Acts leaves off, or that the Epistles are not
authentic. How, then, does it stand with regard to a release and a
second imprisonment ? It is absurd to say that the use
made of this hypothesis is only an instance of " the
ingenuity of exegetical despah " — more especially when the
taunt comes from a quarter whose ingenuity in conjecture
is colossal. The belief in a release was widespread in the
early Church, ages before the question of authenticity was
mooted. It is not a spirit conjured from the vasty deep,
merely in the interest of agonising expositors. Existing
independently, it seemed a natural key to the present
problem. The proper question regarding it is whether it
rests on solid historical grounds. It must be acknowledged
that in this respect there is no certainty. Historical proof
does not exist for either the one side or the other. The
oft-quoted passage in Clement is a confused piece of
rhetorical panegyric, and the corrupt lines in the Muratorian
Fragment cannot be pressed as testimony. Neither does
Eusebius profess to know, although he does not throw any
doubt on the tradition he quotes. At the same time, it
seems much more probable that, by the phrase " bounds of
the West," Clement meant Spain rather than merely Eome
itself where he was writing ; and further, that a general
and unchallenged early tradition is more likely to have
some ground for its existence than to be absolutely base-

THEORY OF RELEASE 447
less. But with our present knowledge a verdict cannot be
claimed on historical grounds, and at the best the issue
depends on a balance of probabilities. Each student must
decide for himself to which side the scales incline. The
statement at the close of Acts leaves the question open,
but our opinion is that had the two years ended in death,
we should have heard of it there. The favourable rescript
sent with the Apostle when he made his confident appeal
to the Emperor, and the state of Eoman law 1 at the time
regarding such a case as his, also lend weight to the
probability of release. It is quite evident, too, from
Philippians and Philemon that, though Paul was prepared
for either issue, he fully anticipated his freedom, — which he
no longer did when he wrote the last chapter of 2 Timothy.
Lastly, if these personal historical passages in the Pastorals
are now allowed to be authentic, whether they belong to a
few original letters or to many, it is legitimate to use them
as evidence in support of a theory which fits them, and
which is by no means otherwise unsupported ; and it is
really much more reasonable to do so than to fall back on
problematical situations, to which no ingenuity seems able
satisfactorily to adjust them. If, then, we accept the
release, Lightfoot's conjectures (Biblical Essays) may be
regarded as on the whole a highly probable sketch of the
close of the Apostle's career.2
Professor Eamsay has the credit of adding a strong
historical reason in favour of the early date of the Epistles.
Nothing occurs in the Pastorals to indicate that persecution,
though imminent, is organised and directed by Government ;
and Paul (2 Tim. h. 9) declares that personally he is
suffering " as a malefactor." This exactly harmonises with
the attitude of Nero to the Christians, but not with that of
1 Church in the Roman Empire, p. 245.
2 Credner, Neander, Ewald, Bleek, Renan, Godet, Lightfoot, Ramsay,
and most British writers accept the release. While Zahn (Einleitung, i.
443), Spitta (Zur Gesch. und Litter, des Urchristentums, i. 1), and Steinmetz
(Die zweite riimische Gefangenschaft), have recently in Germany written in its
favour, Macpherson (Amer. Journal of Theology, iv., 1900), Moffatt (Hist.
N.T.), Bacon (Introduction), and McGiffert (Apos. Age), have declared
against it.

448 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
his successors. Under Nero the principle was that Chris
tians were punished for " definite crimes connected with the
Name." After Nero, and between 68 and 96, proof of
crime was no longer required, but " acknowledgment of the
Name alone sufficed for condemnation." With Nero Chris
tians must be shown to be criminals; with Pliny and
Trajan they were ipso facto outlaws and brigands. The
whole tone of the Pastoral Epistles with regard to social
life and persecution is " consistent only with an early date."
" It is difficult," continues Eamsay, " for the historian oE
the Empire to admit that they were composed after that
development of the Imperial policy towards the Chris
tians which occurred under the Flavian Emperors." x His
argument is carefully wrought out, and is of high import
ance. Should it come to be accepted it will practically
enclose the Epistles within the Neronian period.
2. Development of Doctrine.
The second line of historical objection to the authen
ticity of the Epistles is connected with the history and
development of doctrine.
In the hands of Baur and his immediate followers this
was made the most decisive test. Yet it has been the
department in which there has perhaps been the most
palpable breakdown. Although it still has vogue, it has
itself become, like its own description of the Paulinism
of the Pastorals, ' faded ' and ' attenuated.' Its history is
largely characterised by concession and recession.
Two matters present themselves for consideration : (1)
the false teaching referred to in the Epistles ; and (2) the
_gositive doctrine. It is argued that the former represents
a developmentTbf error within the Church scarcely possible
in Paul's time ; and that the latter contains marks, if not
radically different from Paulinism, at least of a departure
from the form in which Paul himself would have stated
Christian truth. 1 Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 245, 248.

THE FALSE TEACHING 449
1. With regard to the false teaching, attention is
fixed on two points ; first, the description given of it, and
secondly, the method of dealing with it.
The attempt to identify the errors with any known and
determinate system of second century Gnosticism, is fahly
abandoned. No one now professes to recognise Marcion
and Valentinus in the Epistles. It is also generally agreed
that but one type or party is referred to ; any attempt to
divide up the references and apply them variously, is not
only unwarranted, but results in hopeless confusion. Again,
the errorists are not outside but inside the Church, although
their views are naturally tinged and affected by outside
influences. They have fallen away from the profession of
simpler and more wholesome opinions, and have become
factious and mischievous. They were probably an inferior
type of proselyte, led into the Church originally by motives
of curiosity or self-interest. Hatch's description would suit
them admirably : " half converted rhetoricians who brought
into Christianity the practices and beliefs of degenerate
phdosophical schools." Their characteristics are only
vaguely and generally outlined. They are Judaic, " of the
circumcision," " desiring to be teachers of the Law," and
also Gnostic, after a rudimentary fashion, not essentially
far removed from the false teachers referred to in Colossians
and Ephesians, although there are some additional features.
They occupy themselves with vain and trivial logomachies,
with myths and fables, and endless genealogies — doubtless
a reference to the " rank growth of legend respecting the
patriarchs and other heroes of early Mosaic history which
had grown up among the Jews, both in Hebrew and in
Greek, before the time of the Apostles." J They are also
self-seeking and venal, given to easy propaganda among

1 Hort, Judaistic Christianity, p. 136.
Absurd difficulty has been found over the word "antitheses," the
oppositions of pseudo-Gnosis, because it accidentally coincides with what is
believed to be the title of a book of Marcion's, a mere "seductive verbal
coincidence." It may easily refer to casuistical methods of the Scribes,
founding on endless distinctions, and setting one point against another
(Hort) ; hut it is sufficient to be content with the simple rendering " counter
29

450 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
silly women, and addicted to black arts very suitable to an
Ephesian environment. They deny the resurrection except
in a sphitual sense, forbid to marry, and make distinctions
in foods, evidently founding theh asceticism on a more
pronounced dualistic basis than has been formerly met
with. But, above all, their influence is highly immoral and
corrupting, wrecking the peace of families and of the Church.
It has been attempted to associate them with the Phrygian
Ophites (Lipsius, Pfleiderer, and, very specially and clearly,
Lightfoot). Others see in them the fountainhead of the
Jewish Kabbala (Grotius, Baumgarten, Godet). But it is
perhaps safer not to name any system, but simply to find
sufficient warrant for theh appearance in the weU-known
fact that Judaism was largely permeated by the spirit of
Oriental thought and speculation at the beginning of the
Christian era (Neander, Eeuss, Schaff). At aU events, the
description of the errorists in the Pastorals gives no ground
for seeking a date posterior to the Apostle. '' Until it
is proved," says Eeuss, " that all charlatans, exorcists,
astrologers, magi, and all others of the tribe, by whatsoever
name they may go, Simon included, shot forth out of the
earth aU at once, like mushrooms, and not until after the
year 150, this department of polemics is intelligible fuUy a
hundred years earlier." 1
But if negative critics have largely receded from
extreme positions in this respect, it is still urged that the
method of deahng with the errorists is not one that we can
conceive Paul would have adopted. It is so forcibly feeble
that to attribute it to him does a gross injustice to his
intelligence (McGiffert). That is to say, he is first blamed
for having no clear conception of his opponents, and then he
is blamed for not confuting them in a masterly manner.
The one fault might be recognised as carrying the other
with it ; and it is at least a curious and ingenious method
or opposing statements." The word 'gnosis' need not drag us into the
second century ; and the ' knowledge ' is fairly described as not the true
thing, but "falsely so-called," when its results are seen to be so miserable
and vain ; it is like the 'gnosis ' of 1 Cor. xiii. which " pulfeth up."
1 Hia. of the NT., p. 125.

THE WISEST WAY TO DEAL WITH IT 451
to try to reap advantage of both sides at once. But the
truth is, the writer of the Epistles does not propose severely
and systematically to define the dogmatic position of the
errorists, nor does he mean to treat them in a rigorous and
scientific fashion. We must judge him by his obvious
intentions, and his self-selected standpoint. What he is
thinking of almost exclusively are the ethical and practical
effects. It is these that rouse his indignation and inspire
his invectives ; and if these things did not slip from our
vision so easily we would not find so much fault with his
denunciations.1 The fruits are bad, and yet the roots from
which they spring are merely contemptible. ' Sound
doctrine ' would be theh best antidote, for sound doctrine
leads away from childish things. And good morals would
most successfully resist them, for a clear conscience is the
very eye of the soul. Far from insulting the intelligence
of the writer, we perceive in him a sounder wisdom than
his critics allow. He chose his weapons skilfully for the
purpose on hand. He does not antithetically formulate the
true doctrine, simply because he has not first formulated
the false. Take him on his own ground, and he acts
sagaciously, not according to the schools, but according to
common sense. It is not to disparage him if we cease to
think of him as a doctrinaire, and prefer to regard him as
a force in practical life. Suppose 1 Timothy is what it
professes to be, it is surely sufficient for Paul to suggest to
his friend to hold fast the sound doctrine. There is no
need to enter into elaborate definitions. Timothy knew
well the correct answer to the errorists. It was more
needful to remind him of the correct behaviour. Attitude
is often much more potent than argument, and it is perilous
for a Christian leader to make false steps in conduct. The
counsel stands for all who are in authority and from whom
influence radiates. A very efficient safeguard against error,
not perhaps error of the systematised and philosophic type

1 Cf. Acts xiii. 10, where Paul almost fiercely denounces Elymas, also a
Jew wdio had fallen away, and who was "the enemy of all righteousness, and
a child of the devil." Cf. also Drummond, Apostolic Teaching, p. 166.

452 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
of a later age, but of the type now before us, is the
blameless and holy life here commended. The method is
therefore in admirable harmony with the situation. In a
large document expressly meant for the public eye and
consideration, a clear doctrinal statement of reasons and
principles would have been most appropriate ; but in
Epistles of at least a semi-private nature, primarily written
for the guidance of familiar and like-minded friends, nothing
could be more natural than this : ' You know the truth of
the matter, but let me remind you of the best way to treat
these corrupt and contemptible characters, and of the
proper precautions to take against them.' Though a
scientific treatise be withheld, the frank outburst and the
sane practical counsel may yet have served an excellent
purpose. 2. The positive aspects of Christianity presented by
the Epistles have further to be considered. It is strange
that Epistles which are most acutely criticised for ex
horting to " hold fast " the tradition, are at the same
time denounced for letting the tradition go. Their
preaching and theh practice apparently differ. The
author is not so sound and genuine a Paulinist as he
thinks he is.
Here also, however, the voice of adverse criticism is,
except in a few cases, not so confident as it once was.
Many concessions are made, and if it be true that doubts
of the authenticity of the Epistles still grow, they grow
alongside increasing reverence for the lofty and apostolic
nature of large portions of their contents. Eeuss declares
that no dogmatic differences from genuine Paulinism are
really to be found in the Epistles ; J Sabatier is of opinion
that though the controversial arguments of Galatians and
Eomans have disappeared, yet " the doctrine that underlies
these Epistles is expressed in all its energy and pro
fundity " ; 2 and Pfleiderer, whose judgment on such a
matter is of the highest value, while he recognises modifica-

1 Les X pi tres pauliniennes, ii. 314.
8 Paul, pp. 269-270.

A GENUINE PAULINISM 453
tions, yet believes that we have here the " main traditional
doctrines of Paulinism." 1
At the same time we could scarcely imagine that the
letters were Paul's, if there were not some things in them
hard to understand. That at least remains as the perpetual
sign-manual of the Apostle. It is difficult to say what
was " beyond Paul," and the only thing that would much
affect the question before us, would be to establish some
thing of the nature of an absolute contradiction, or at least
of such vital inconsistency that we could not conceive him
capable of accomplishing it. We do not think that
because he ascribes salvation to God the Father, or glances
for a moment at the Law in its general moral aspect, he
can therefore be convicted of departing from what has
already been said or implied in Galatians or Eomans.
Nor if " faith " be linked with love (cf. Gal. v. 6), and
even used frequently, though not always, in an objective
sense as fides quos creditur (cf. Eom. xh. 6 and vi. 17); nor
if practical piety and godly living are inextricably associated
with salvation, do we find any fundamental departure from
the standard of the four great Epistles. We rather believe
that all these things are in perfect harmony with the
Pauline norm.
It is true that in Titus hi. 5 there is a reference to
baptism that has no exact parallel in previous Pauline
teaching : " God saved us by means of a bath of regenera
tion and renewal by the Holy Ghost." The language is
difficult, and it is possible that the whole clause might be
covered by the genitive which expresses the agency of the
Holy Spirit. At any rate, although baptism as a condition
of salvation appears as early as the Epistle of Barnabas and
very frequently thereafter, it is not a Pauhne conception.

1 Paulinism, ii. 205.
Dr. Moffatt who, like Dr. McGiffert, reflects Beyschlag's general attitude
to the Pastorals, says the three Epistles represent "the historical climax of
Paulinism within the N.T. They are not Paul's but Pauline" (p. 561).
It is very difficult, however, to harmonise this with a previous statement
(p. 558), that the "characteristically Pauline interests are obliterated." If
they arc obliterated, what does the historical climax mean ?

454 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
However highly the Apostle regards the ordinance, he
never announces it as the indispensable medium of
redemption. He is rather in the habit (like Peter in
1 Peter iii 21) of referring to it in an ideal and mystical
manner, as we see in Eomans vi. 3—4, Galatians hi 27,
and Colossians h. 12, applying it to the believer's union
with Christ. Calvin says regarding this verse : " The
Apostles are wont to deduce an argument from the sacra
ments to prove the reahty sealed therein ; since that
beginning ought to convince pious minds that God does not
mock us with empty figures, but by His own power
inwardly accomphshes what He exhibits by an external
sign." H it is so understood, there is no touch with later
ecclesiastical errors. And in point of fact the whole
context is permeated by the redemptive activity of Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, in a way that is absolutely anta
gonistic to materialistic views.
It is also thought that the qualification deshed in a
bishop that he should be " the husband of one wife '
(1 Tim. iii 2), clearly reveals the spirit of the second
century. So it would, if we attributed a second century
meaning to the words. It was then thought to forbid a
second marriage, so that one who was weak enough to wed
a second time was unfit for the ministry. But Paul did
not regard second marriages as in themselves improper
(cf. 1 Cor. vii 9 and 39); and if the other qualifications
here required are simple matters of common morality, it is
not to be inferred that he is thinking of anything different
in this one particular ; or that he intends, in so casual a
fashion, to establish a new and peculiar principle, involving
a higher standard of self-control and moral strength in one
class of Christians than in others. Christianity demands
essentially the same morality right through from minister
to member. We have not the shadow of a doubt that the
writer means to guard against impurity. It would have
been strange indeed if he had warned against covetousness
and insobriety, and had made no allusions to habits that
were even more notorious in the Creek cities of Asia
Minor, and that vrere not easilv shaken off even at the

ONE CODE OF MORALS 455

entrance door of the Christian Church.1 It was his eager
desire that aU office-bearers, deacons and widows as well
as bishops, should be above reproach in their social
relations ; not because they must obey a higher standard,
but because they must be shining examples of a universal
standard. The whole tone of the Epistles is utterly against
esoteric distinctions. The writer no more believed in
exclusive virtue than in exclusive knowledge. In this
respect he saw infinitely more clearly into social matters
than the men of the ages that succeeded him ; and far from
taking offence at his references, we ought rather, with
Eenan, to pay him some tribute for his uncommon good
sense. If only the bishops of a later day had shared his
views, Tertullian's taunt would not have been possible,
that some were so brazen that they did not even blush
when the Pastoral Epistles were read.2
Further, in perfect Pauline harmony is the view of
God presented in the Epistles, and especially in its soterio-
logical aspects. God is not only regarded as desiring the
salvation of all men (1 Tim. h. 4), who are all therefore
implied to be in need of it, but His favour is from the
beginning of the world, and is historically manifested by
" the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ." Matters are
also quite Pauhne with regard to the Person of Christ. If
His humanity is strongly emphasised in 1 Timothy ii. 4,
His divinity and pre-existence are both clearly implied a

1 If we translated literally, "a man of one woman," it might be more
offensive to our ears, but it would certainly point our thoughts to the true
meaning. In fact re-marriage is not even a tolerable inference from the
words. If a man's wife dies and he marries again, it would be absurd, since
death dissolves the union as Paul believed (Rom. vii. 1-3, and 1 Cor. vii.
8-9), to speak of him as a husband of two wives. The warning is devoid of
meaning unless both women are living at the same time. The text is an
admirable illustration of how easy it is to put the emphasis on the wrong
words. Suppose we read that a bishop, to be -without reproach, must be the
husband of one wife, then marriage is compulsory, and a celibate not to be
permitted. An excellent discussion of the subject in its moral and historical bearings
will be found in Appendix B, pp. 416-432, of Principal Patrick Fairbairn's
Pastoral Epistles (1874).
2 De Monog., xii.

456 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
httle later on (ch. ih. 16), in the phrase "God manifest in
the flesh." Again, the very core of. Paulinism is repre
sented in the doctrine of salvation by grace, in Titus iii. 4
(where the idea of sonship, ' heirs,' is also present) ; and is
expressed with admirable fervour not only there but also
in 2 Tim. i 9—10. We ought not to expect to find in
every Epistle an exposition of " vicarious sacrifice," or
reassertions of the mystic union with Christ by faith, and
we can certainly readily understand the passing over of
such fundamental doctrines in letters hke these. It is
absurd to demand from them a complete confession of
faith or a rounded system of theology. The practical side
of Christianity, the importance of its blameless and bene
ficent life, is the chief concern ; and our conception of the
Apostle would need to be completely recast if we con
sidered that beyond his limits. A powerful emphasis on
the moral and social value of good works, not as the merit
which wins salvation, but as the fruit without which salva
tion as a continuous state is inconceivable, is assuredly no
more foreign to Paul than it was to his Master. It is but
the one side of the shield whose reverse is also shown in the
Epistles, when they recognise the necessity of the response
of the human will to the preached word, and of faith in
Him who must be " believed on in the world."
Finally, too much has been made of the references to
the "wholesome doctrine," and of Christianity as now
appealing to tradition. It is possible that Paul's concep
tion of doctrinal development and that of many of his
critics, may radically differ. They may have ideas of
progress of a kind which he would have earnestly re
pudiated. He verily believed in the "good deposit,"
something once for all revealed and received, the faith
dehvered to the saints. To his mind there was a " gospel,"
a message which could have no "development." The
thought of some essential advance yet to be made in saving
truth, was perfectly foreign to his mind. Far, therefore,
from attributing his conservatism to a mere egotistic
instinct, we ought to learn the lesson of its bearing on the
Christian mission. The constant references to the " good

DEVELOPMENT IN TOLITY 457
deposit" are evidence that the evangelical revelation is
closed. Our belief in this would enable us to see eye to
eye with the Apostle in a fundamental matter, and to
recognise that the anxiety for the " tradition," which the
Epistles so frequently display, is natural and inevitable
from this standpoint. Nothing do we conceive to be more
Pauline than the iteration which seems to some an irrita
tion : " Hold fast the form of sound words." It is not due
to the hardening of ecclesiasticism. It is Paulinism in one
of its most characteristic and central convictions.
3. The Ecclesiastical Situation.
The third historical difficulty is connected with the
ecclesiastical situation. It is argued that the official
organisation points to a time considerably later than the
lifetime of the Apostle. This is perhaps the most strongly
pressed of all the critical objections, and certainly it is
primd facie the most formidable.
The views are twofold. In the first place, it is
considered that official and hierarchical tendencies are so
marked that we are inevitably carried beyond Pauline
limits. On the other hand, it is contended that the
development referred to is greatly exaggerated, and that
the state of things is by no means incompatible with a late
date in Paul's lifetime.1
It is clear that Christian Churches not only increased
rapidly under the preaching of the gospel, but that they
1 It is rather interesting to find Bishop Gore (Church and Ministry,
ed. 1900, ch. v. p. 229 n.) pointing out that the upholders of both of these
positions have ' motives ' for their opinions regarding the ecclesiastical
situation. For it is frequently felt that this is just the chief fault of dis
cussions from the High Anglican standpoint, that they are continually
haunted and hampered by the arriere pensie. Dr. Sanday makes a candid
confession (Expositor, iii. v. 114), when he says in this connection : "We
are too apt in England to let our thoughts run ahead of the argument, and
to be speculating anxiously about the end before we have well got beyond
the beginning. So the whole of our mental vision is troubled and dis
turbed ; we do not look straight at the facts, but we are always casting our
eyes askance at their imagined consequences." High Churchism of course
accepts both the hierarchical teaching and the Pauline authorship.

458 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
began at once to regulate theh own life. They can never
at any time be said to have been without form and void.
Jewish founders had many elementary methods immediately
suggested to them by theh past experience, and even
converts familiar only with Gentile organisations would be
ready enough with suggestions. Eeferences to actual facts,
however, both within the larger and earlier part of the
New Testament and for a considerable space beyond, are
so few and so indefinite that it is a matter of the greatest
difficulty to trace with any confidence the origin and
development of the ecclesiastical constitution.
In the Gospels, Jesus gathers the Apostles round Him
that they may be qualified to bear witness of Him, and to
publish the gospel to aU men. But there are no distinc
tions of rank, no rule for the transmission of office, no hint
of any ecclesiastical organisation. The reason doubtless
was that the Lord Himself promised to be perpetually pre
sent, so that His people could rely on sphitual guidance
when occasion arose. After His ascension, the Apostles
became the natural leaders of the disciples, and were
revered in virtue of the evangelical trust committed to
them, theh high spiritual endowment, and their intimate
knowledge of Jesus, although they by no means ruled with
autocratic authority. Organisation appears to have come
spontaneously, not after any uniform or essential pattern,
but freely as seemed demanded by the growing conditions.
Thus the first recorded step was the election of the Seven
to relieve, the ministry of the word by the ministry of
tables. FoUowing that, we find frequent mention of
" elders " or " presbyters," although no indication is given
of the occasion that brought them into existence. The
obvious need of good order and disciphne in the Christian
communities, and the familiar model of the synagogue, are
doubtless sufficient explanation. In the Epistle of James,
the Christian assembly is even called a synagogue, and the
elders are described as those entrusted with the care of the
disciples. Among the presbyters of the Church in Jeru
salem the place of honour and leadership was in time
accorded to James the Lord'3 brother, probably on account

ORGANISATION IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 459
of this kinship, although the exact nature of his position is
loft quite in the vague. Tu the Church at Antioch, at a
very early stage, there was a ministry of " prophets and
teachers," who, under the direction of the Spirit, with
fasting and prayer, " laid their hands " on Barnabas and Sa.nl,
and sent them out on the specific work to which the Spirit
called them. These two missionaries themselves, on their
first journey, " chose elders in each Church." The con
ference at Jerusalem which considered the question of
circumcision was composed of "the apostles and elders,"
although the "brethren" and the "whole church" wore
associated with them in thoir decision. In his important
address to the elders of Ephesus at Miletus, Paul describes
them as " overseers " or " bishops " of the flock, and gives
them earnest exhortations as to the watchful discharge of
their trust in view of troublous times and distinctive
errors which he foresees.
In the earliest of Paul's Epistles, the Thessalonians are
called on to obey them that "havo the rule over them ";
and when the four great Epistles are reached, we find a
very striking recognition of organisation, definite arrange
ments for teaching, for the care of the poor, for the
regulation of worship and of the Lord's Supper, with
manifold ministerial functions: first, of those chosen and
endowed by tho Spirit for the ministry of the Word,
apostles, prophets, and teachers, who were not for any
particular church but for all Christendom ; and then,
alongside those, a diversity of ministries or managements,
helps and governments, defined in each individual case by
the naturo of the free gift bestowed by the Spirit. In
1 Cor. xi. and in Eom. xvi, wo have the recognition of
women in ministerial service ; in Ephesians, " evangelists "
along with apostles and prophets form a missionary
ministry, and " pastors and teachers " a congregational or
local one; whilo in the salutation of Philiiipians wc have
the first mention of bishops and deacons together. No
where, however, in these Epistles is it hinted that there is
any ecclesiastical authority over the Church as a whole, or
even over any group of Churches. Each Christian com-

400 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
munity is autonomous, and perfectly independent in the
administration of its own affairs. Hebrews adds nothing
to this, except that it effectively liars sacerdotalism. In
1 Peter, the Apostle exhorts the " elders of the Church " to
be faithful as overseers or bishops, and describes himself as
" also an elder." In John's letters to the Seven Churches,
the reference to the " angels " is probably too symbolic to
be greatly pressed. In his third general Epistle, at the
close of the century and of the canon, he strongly condemns
those who "love the pre-eminence."
During a quarter of a century, therefore, after Paul's first
imprisonment, we are almost entirely destitute of informa
tion regarding the progress of organisation. And yet that
must have been a very formative period in many ways,
both under pressure from within and from without. A
good deal of persecution was endured, and it is easy to
conceive that local rulers of the Churches would have their
hands more and more fully occupied with the temporal and
spiritual affairs of the people, as the first and second
generations of Christian teachers, especially apostles and
prophets, began to disappear. With the closing years of
the first century, however, and with the opening years of
the second, the light shows once more, and we find our
selves face to face with results whose process we may
conjecture but cannot clearly trace.
The evidence of the Didache (Syria, c. a.d. 100) is
slight but important ; it exhorts (ch. xv.) the Christians to
" elect therefore for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy
of the Lord, men who are meek, not lovers of money, and
also true and approved " ; but its chief importance is that
it indicates that these settled local officials are now taking
the place and fulfilling the duties of the itinerant prophets
and teachers : " for unto you they also perform the service
of the prophets and teachers " : which clearly imphes that
the visits of the highly-gifted men of the earher age were
growing few and far between, and that theh functions in
pubhc worship needed to be supplied. Clement of Eome,
about the same period, writes from the Church of Eome
to the Christians of Corinth concerning a factious revolt

CLEMENT, IGNATIUS, AND IRENAEUS 461
among them against certain of their rulers. He mentions
bishops and deacons, and presbyters as apparently synony
mous with bishops, and traces their appointment to the
Apostles ; he also says that the Apostles gave injunctions
regarding the succession to such offices (but not referring
thereby to " apostolical succession " x), and that it is sinful
to eject any one from the bishop's office who blamelessly
fulfilled his duties. Clement is the first to apply the term
" laity " to members who do not hold office.
But the most important testimony of all is that of
Ignatius. His letters belong to the second decade of the
new century, and, in view of threatening schism in Asia
Minor, they are largely occupied with an enthusiasm for
organisation. Bishop, -presbyters, and deacons appear in
three distinct and graded orders, the bishop being
magnified as the representative of God, the central and
sovereign authority round which the whole congregation
should cling. The very urgency, however, with which he
exhorts to this organisation seems to imply that it was not
yet a mode everywhere existing; it did exist, but not so

1 Dr. Moberly, in his Ministerial Priesthood, pp. 114-116, puts, we
think, too much stress on Clement's statements. We must be careful to
distinguish quite clearly between an orderly succession in the ministry and
"apostolical succession" in the technical sense. Clement, moreover, speaks
of the appointment of bishops and deacons "with the consent of the whole
Church," and in another passage makes "the things ordained by the whole
assembly of the people " the highest authority in the Church. The
appointment of deacons he traces to the Apostles, just as he does that of
bishops ; and he does not at all indicate that he is thinking of the trans
mission of apostolic grace and authority, or that he means to affirm the
principle that the right to exercise ministerial functions is derived solely
from succession from the Apostles. It is a sin for the people to depose a regu
larly chosen bishop, if he has been without blame ; which implies that there
might be circumstances in which they could depose him, and that therefore his
office does not rest securely and independently on apostolic descent. All
through, Clement is striving to heal a breach of the peace in the Church of
Corinth, and his whole drift is summed up in his own words, "There is
order everywhere." That his theory, as Hamack says, " is devised to meet
an emergency that had arisen, appears from the vague and general character
of the statement, the reference to all Apostles, and the attempt which is not
fully carried out, to give to the bishops the right of appointing their
successors" (Expositor, iii. v. 332). Cf. also Gore, Church and Ministry,
ch. vi. iv, Results (2), ed. 1900, pp. 290-291.

462 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
widely or so perfectly as he would like to see it. It is
rather as yet the ideal than the real ; as Professor Eamsay,
following Sanday, puts it : " He is not a historian describing
facts ; he is a preacher, giving advice as to what ought to
be." Ignatius also declares that he had not received this
from men, but that it was to him a " special revelation of
the Spirit." Though it would obviously greatly have
strengthened his case, he significantly makes no appeal to
the authority of the Apostles. He left that for another
distinguished writer, Irenseus, an Oriental settled in the
West, who wrote in the last quarter of the second century.
Irenaeus not only recognised the episcopal supremacy, but,
in view of the fierce controversy with Gentile heretics, he
formulated the doctrine of the apostolical succession, as the
true bulwark of evangelical tradition. That is to say,
Ignatius advocated the supremacy of the bishops, in order
to conserve the unity of the Churches ; Ireneeus, their
descent from the Apostles, in order to conserve the
doctrine.1 The question is, what is the natural place of the
Pastoral Epistles in this development, which is so com
plicated, and which clown to a late date, is so vaguely
defined ? That they are much more detailed than previous
Pauline references to organisation is evident, but do they
indicate an advance such as could not have been reached
in Paul's time ?
Two objections are made in limine. Baur 2 thinks that
nothing but Gnosticism can account for the well-defined
episcopal constitution of the Church. But in the first
place, Gnosticism, such as Baur meant, is not present in
the Epistles ; and in the second place, neither is the
episcopal constitution. Baur was past-master in the art of
1 Regarding the view that the Ignatian Letters have been freely
interpolated in the interests of episcopacy, Lightfoot says: "If the writer
of these letters had represented the Churches of Asia Minor as under presby-
teral government, he would have contradicted all the evidence, which
without one dissentient voice points to episcopacy as the established form of
Church government in these districts from the close of the first century"
(Apostolic Fathers, Ignatius and Polycarp, i. 422).
2 Raul, ii. 102.

A NATURAL PLACE IN THE DEVELOPMENT 463
reading into an Epistle what he wanted to find. It is
utterly impossible to represent the ecclesiastical standpoint
of the Pastorals as equivalent to that of Ignatius, much
less to that of Irenaeus. The writer does feel impelled to
lay stress on Church arrangements in face of adverse
circumstances ; but when we think of the trouble Paul
already had at Ephesus, and of the greater trouble he
foresaw, such impelhng circumstances were certainly not
absent in his case. We know that the state of the Asiatic
Churches filled him with great anxiety, and it was most
natural that, in writing to his associates and representatives,
he should point out the way to meet the present and
coming trials. Where false teaching tended to unsettle
and demoralise, surely it was very obvious wisdom to lay
down rules for good order and sound words.
Baur further remarks that it is a suspicious thing in
itself to find Paul so much concerned with organisation,
when he had never betrayed the slightest interest in it
before. But from the very start of his missionary labours,
the Apostle had recognised the importance of the official
regulation of the young Christian communities ; and his
Epistles to the Eomans, the Corinthians, the Ephesians,
give abundant evidence that he had thought a good deal
about the matter from the point of view of unity, good
order, and edifying service.1 The fact is, Baur's principle
would not admit of any development in the Apostle's
ministry ; it would equaUy close the door on Colossians
because it develops the doctrine of the Person of Christ,
and on Ephesians because it advances that of the Church.
We must bear in mind that the Pastorals do not consider
organisation philosophically or in abstracto ; they treat of
it in direct relation to concrete and particular needs ; even
distinguishing (e.g., in the matter of the deacons, the
widows, and the estabhshing of elders by Titus) between
an old community like Ephesus and a new one like Crete.
Moreover, it is a mistake to say that " the official and
1 For a detailed examination of passages, of. Kiihl's Gemeindeordnung in
den Pastoralbriefen, pp. 144-147. Cf. also Beet, Ephesians, pp. 392-393.

464 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
ecclesiastical spirit dominates the three Epistles " (Moffatt).
It certainly does not dominate 2 Timothy. Nor does it
occupy the other two at any inordinate length. The
perspective is lost, if we fail to keep first things first. The
paramount aim of 1 Timothy and Titus is not to advance
Church orders, but to conserve Christian life and truth.
That is the end towards which the wisely suggested means
is a firmer consolidation of those who minister.
(Consideration of particular objections.)
In addition to the two objections which have just been
considered, many others are made on matters of detail.
It is necessary to take account of those that are most
frequently urged.
1. It is thought that public worship is represented
as too developed for Paul's time. Prayers are to be made
for all men, for kings, and for all who are in authority ;
but surely it is drawing too fine a distinction to exclude
this from Pauhne possibihty after a large-hearted and
evangelical ministry of thirty years. And even if we have
some traces of a hymn in 1 Timothy iii. 1 6, and forms of
expression here and there that indicate a rule of faith in
course of development, we cannot but feel that such things
were eminently natural with men who were continually
conducting public worship and handling divine truth, and
that it was most natural of all to repeat them in letters,
especially in the case of a master putting an assistant " in
remembrance." Again, it is clearly a mistake to think that
the public reading of the Old Testament (1 Tim. iv. 13)
is evidence of a later date. On the face of it, such reading,
wherever copies of the Scriptures were available, would
certainly be one of the earliest of Christian customs. From
the first the Apostles based their exhortations on the
Hebrew revelation, and Paul's own frequent references to
the Old Testament would be unintelligible, if it were not
implied that the readers of his Epistles were more or less
familiar with such Scriptures.
2. The enrolment of aged widows (1 Tim. v. 9) is

ENROLMENT OF WIDOWS 465
regarded as a further objection. Baur thought this a very
decisive proof of late origin. He said it could only be
explained by the ecclesiastical vocabulary of the second
century, and insisted on translating the first clause of ver.
14 in a way that suited his theory : " Decline young women
as ' widows ' " 1 But it is a question of interpretation in
the first place, and thereafter of opinion as to the stage of
development. The Apostle says : " Let none be enrolled
as a widow who is less than sixty years of age," and except
she be irreproachable in character, and distinguished for
good and beneficent works. What was the purpose of this
enrolment? One's first natural impression is that it is to
assist the regulation of the almsgiving. This is the matter
with which the context deals, and care, even extending to
age and character, was not out of place in adjusting the
poor-roll, if for no other reason than that enrolment would
tend to be permanent. As for younger widows, they might
soon cease to be proper objects of the Church's bounty.
On the other hand, it may be strongly urged that the
registration was for the purpose of ecclesiastical service,
inasmuch as the qualities now referred to are not
primarily those entithng to charity, but rather point to
fitness for Church work ; and that consequently we have
here something of the nature of that " order of widows "
of which Ignatius and especially Tertullian speak, but
which did not long survive the establishment of the
monastic system. It might be a matter of opinion
whether the age were not too high, and in point of fact
so sweeping a restriction was not observed in second
century practice. But suppose this interpretation accepted,
why must we conclude that it represents something that
Paul could not have promulgated ? In the Epistles to the
Corinthians, the Eomans, and the Phihppians, the Apostle
recognises the Christian service of women, and it is easy to
understand how he might approve of some of the more
experienced and devoted pensioners of a congregation being
1 Paul, ii. 103 n. He takes ' young women ' as subject, and ' widows ' as
predicate ; "a quite untenable expedient," says Holtzmann.
3°

466 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
enlisted as a corps of valuable assistants (cf. also Titus
ii. 3). There need be no difficulty in admitting apostolic
reference to so simple and reasonable an organisation, and
even to seeing in it the germ of the later temporary
institution.1 In connection with the position of women in the
Church there is a much clearer hint as to date in 1 Tim.
ii. 12, where it is said : " I suffer not a woman to teach."
This embargo is not only characteristically Pauline (cf.
1 Cor. xiv. 34), it points to the early period when speech
in the Church was free (men are still free in ver. 8),
and when such a restriction would therefore have real
significance. 3. The Pastorals are regarded as " tendency "
writings composed in the interests of the episcopal con
stitution. Two points have to be considered : (1) what
is said of presbyters and bishops, and (2) the position
assigned to Timothy and Titus.
(1) Episcopacy has for its elements the three graded
orders, bishop, presbyters, deacons, the bishop being
supreme. It is fully brought before us in the Epistles of
Ignatius, and thence onwards it is the accepted type of
government, though it did not everywhere advance with
uniform steps. Do the Pastorals so represent matters that
it is legitimate to conclude that they seek to give apostohc
authority for such a constitution ? The distance is great,
says Eeville, between the bishop of the Pastorals and the
bishop of Ignatius.2 The question is, how great ? He
does not think it huge, because he believes in an original
and essential distinction between the functions of the
presbyter and of the bishop. This is the central matter.
Nearly all schools of opinion are agreed that there was an
1 The word ' widows ' in 1 Timothy is used quite in a natural sense, and
it is perfectly gratuitous to force upon it the later technical meaning, as, e.g.,
in Ignatius, To the Smyrnceans, sect. 13 ("virgins who are also called
widows "). Bertrand (Essai Critique, p. 152) points out the parallel case in
Galatians of the name "catechumen," one who receives instruction, gradually
becoming technical in later times. But who, as Godet says, would derive
from that an argument against the authenticity of Galatians 1
- Les Origines de V fipiscopat, p. 304.

PRESBYTER AND BISHOP 467
early time in the development of the organisation of the
Church when presbyter and bishop were synonymous terms.
They are so in Acts, and, though the name ' presbyter ' does
not occur in Paulines previous to the Pastorals, one of
the most marked instances of the application of the title
' bishops ' to tbe presbyters occurs in the Apostle's speech
to the Ephesian elders at Miletus. It can scarcely be
doubted that the Pastorals link themselves to this usage.
The passages 1 Tim. ih. 1—7 and Titus i 5 and 9, are
incapable of any other explanation, and Lightfoot's
Excursus on the question in his Philippians (pp. 95—99)
may be accepted as final. Scholars so opposed in their
views on the Pastorals as Holtzmann and Pfleiderer on the
one hand, and Moberly and Gore on the other, quite agree
on this point.1
The Pastorals, then, on this test are sharply separated
from the differentiation of the offices that appeared in the
second century. As exhibiting the identification of bishop
and presbyter they might be considerably later than Paul,
but they could not be so late as Ignatius. A few sentences
from an Ignatian Epistle, also addressed to Asiatic
Christians, will show how different is the atmosphere.
" Do ye all follow your bishop, as Jesus Christ followed
the Father, and the presbytery as the Apostles ; and to
1 If we make the notable exceptions of Hatch, Harnack, Weizsiicker, and
EiSville, to whom may be added Bernard, and Allen, we may say that it is
almost universally believed that bishop and presbyter were not originally and
fundamentally distinct. Hatch traced the presbyter to a Jewish, and the
bishop to a Gentile, origin. Harnack followed and supplemented. Sanday's
lucid articles in the Expositor, iii. v, must not be passed over. He will
command a very wide assent to his view that iwlaKOTvos as well as
irpeo-ptirepos owes its origin to Old Testament -influences. It is also
undoubtedly a correct view that the word 'bishop' or 'overseer' was
originally introduced to describe the function of superintendence which the
presbyter exercised. Says Loofs, ' ' iivio-KOTvos ist eine Funktionsbezeichnung. "
See Sanday's Conception of Priesthood, pp. 61-62. Kiihl also says of the
presbyters : " sie waren von Anfang an Trpeafivrepoi emo-KoirowTes "
(Gemeindeordnung, p. 130). Vincent's Excursus in the Inter. Crit. Comm.
on Philippians, pp. 36-51, is an interesting discussion of the whole question,
valuable for its references to recent opinion ; he concludes adversely to the
identity. Lindsay (Church and Ministry, pp. 157 sqq., and App.) maintains
the identity, and gives an admirable review of the history of the controversy.

468 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
the deacons pay respect, as to God's commandment. Let
no man do aught of things pertaining to the Church apart
from the bishop. Let that be held a valid eucharist which
is under the bishop or one to whom he shall have com
mitted it. Wheresoever the bishops shall appear, there
let the people be ; even as where Jesus may be, there is
the universal Church. It is not lawful apart from the
bishop either to baptize or to hold a love-feast ; but
whatsoever he shaU approve, this is well-pleasing also to
God ; that everything which ye do may be sure and valid "
(To the Smyrnaeans, sect. 8). Again : " Let all men respect
the deacons as Jesus Christ, even as they should respect
the bishop as being a type of the Father, and the
presbyters as the council of God and as the college of the
Apostles. Apart from these there is not even the name of
a church" (To the Trallians, sect. 3).1 In the Pastorals
there is nothing at all to compare with this insistence on
ecclesiastical authority, divine analogy, and sacramental
validity. Things are far more primitive, and the official
qualifications are not only mainly moral, but almost
identical for both bishops and deacons. It may further
be added that the counsel (1 Tim. hi 6) not to appoint a
neophyte or new convert, which is not appropriate to a
newly founded congregation, fits well the older Church of
Ephesus, and is not repeated in the case of Crete.
(2) But it is said that the positions assigned to
Timothy and Titus clearly show the differentiation we
speak of. These " delegates " are palpable dehneations of
the bishop in the later sense. They are " personifications
of the bishop," says Holtzmann ; they are probably " fore
runners of the later monarchical bishops," adds Beyschlag ;
while Pfleiderer thinks that the pre-eminent duties assigned
to Timothy represent an attempt " to estabhsh the primacy
of the bishops against the presbyters."2 Others have
detected in Timothy and Titus the prototypes of the arch
bishop and the metropohtan. But why should " enigmas "

1 The translations are Lightfoot's : Apostolic Fathers, ii. ii. 569 and 555
- Pastoralbriefc, p. 224; N.T. Theology, ii. 515; Paulinism, ii. 205.

TIMOTHY AS MONARCHICAL BISHOP 469
be found in so obvious a matter ? Why ask so mys
teriously, " Who are meant by these apostolic legates ? " and
why print the names " Timothy " and " Titus " in inverted
commas ? This is to beg the question, and to create the
enigma. It is surely possible to take the Epistles in their
plain sense. Why should it be a thing incredible that
Paul entrusted his friends with missions such as these ?
He had at other times sent them to represent him in
difficult and delicate tasks, and the nature of the duty
has now changed simply because the circumstances have
changed. Because there are here some points of analogy
with later conceptions, with regard to teaching and adminis
tration and discipline, it is by no means imperative to
conclude that everything is written in the interest of these
conceptions. Moreover, the second century writer who intends this
picture of Timothy to be a valuable dehneation of what a
bishop ought to be, must be regarded as a very blundering
artist. He could scarcely have accomplished his task in a
more ineffective manner. Timothy, a type of the dignified
and autocratic vicar of God ! He would probably have
been glad to escape from his mission. It is more than
hinted that he was lacking in courage ; he is threatened
with dechne of his gift, which needs to be " stirred up " ;
and he is generaUy counseUed and admonished in a manner
no falsarius, with episcopal ideas to uphold, would ever
have ventured to employ. He is not even once called a
' bishop ' or ' archbishop,' which would at least have been
easy. He is called an ' evangelist,' however, and though
he is temporarily setting a congregation in order, and
acting on firm instructions whose authority the Ephesians
will be httle hkely to dispute, his own proper work is the
preaching of the Word, and this he will resume when the
present service is over, or when the Apostle calls him to
another. It is aUowed that 2 Timothy is exempt from all such
difficulties, because there is no trace there of the notion of
ecclesiastical office : " his whole work," says Pfleiderer, " is
made to depend, not on his position, but on his personal

470 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
worthiness." But if so, is the presumption not strong that
the characterisation is not really intended to be different
in the companion Epistle ? Lastly, of Timothy as a
metropolitan prototype, Eeville justly says : " It is really
useless to discuss suppositions that attribute to the Churches
of the first century institutions that did not appear until
the fourth."1 Sanday also, in studying the origins of
episcopacy, deprecates controversies " on lines which seem
to lead nowhere " ; and adds : " Among these irrelevant
and inconclusive arguments I should include that which
sees in Timothy and Titus the direct and lineal ancestor
of our modern bishops." 2
4. There are two matters in the Epistle that are
supposed to be inconsistent with Paul's conception of the
free gifts of the Spirit as qualifying for service. These are :
(1) the appointment of elders as teachers, and (2) the
connecting of Timothy's sphitual gift with the " laying on
of hands." (1) In both 1 Timothy and Titus, elders are to take
up teaching; but in early Paulines (1 Thessalonians,
Galatians, and especially 1 Corinthians) this duty is re
presented as distinctly charismatic, wholly dependent on
spiritual endowment. It now seems that the free gift is
"subordinated to the regular office" (Beyschlag, ii. 514).
But it is to be observed that we are yet at a period
when the free gift is quite strongly in evidence. In the
case of women its exercise is curtailed ; in the case of men
it is commended ; and at the same time the false teachers
were notable instances of its abuse. In the nature of
things this very liberty was certain to be one that would
soon show the defects of its quality. Nothing is more
likely than that the Apostle would frequently have to con
sider what means might best be devised to prevent the
licence that would turn Christian assemblies into a species
of theological bear-garden. We must remember that we
are not at the beginning but at the end of a long experience,
1 Les Origines de I' Episcopal, p. 284.
2 Expositor, iii. v. 112.

THE LAYING ON OF HANDS 471
and that the tightening of the grasp is largely due to the
logic of events. Besides, there is evidence that the charis
matic power gradually faded, and we may even trace some-
thing of its decline in Paul's Epistles. In Colossians and
Philippians we have no mention of " gifts " at all ; while,
particularly affecting the matter in hand, in Ephesians the
class of local ministers is described by the double designa
tion of "pastors and teachers." We cannot, therefore,
conclude that the policy now indicated was necessarily
beyond Pauline limits.
(2) In 2 Timothy i. 6, Paul counsels Timothy regarding
" the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my
hands"; and in 1 Timothy iv. 14, he says: "Neglect not
the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy,
with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery."
" Paul," says Beyschlag, " would never have written any
thing like that ; to him the charism was an effect of the
free Spirit (1 Cor. xii. 11), not of the laying on of human
hands." 1
In the first place, let us say, the two references are
probably to the same act, when the Apostle took part
with the (Lycaonian) elders in the consecration of his
friend. In 2 Timothy it was natural for Paul to speak
only of himself, for, as Hort remarks, the personal relation
at the moment was everything.2 Again, the meaning of
the phrase, " given thee by prophecy," is elucidated by the
expression in 1 Timothy i 18, where it is intimated that
Timothy's suitability for the work entrusted to him, as
evangelist and companion of the Apostle, was first indicated
by prophetic voices.
What are we, then, to understand as the exact signi
ficance of the imposition of hands ? In the Christian
Church this was undoubtedly a Jewish inheritance, and
was a solemn and expressive symbol that a chUd of God
was henceforth specially received or specially set apart for

1 Cf. also Reville, Les Origines, p. 279, n. 1. "Le eours du Saint-Esprit
est deja canaliseV'
3 Christian Ecclesia, p. 187. Cf. also Ktihl, Gemeindeordnung, p. 58.

472 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
particular service. It was used " not only in admission to
office, but also in the admission of an ordinary member,
and in the readmission of a penitent." The New Testa
ment, however, makes so little of it that it cannot possibly
have been considered absolutely indispensable. Even in
later times it has been shown that it was not universal,
and, as Hatch pertinently argues, if it was not universal, it
is impossible that it can have been regarded as essential.
In his own case Paul would never have allowed that he was
destitute of missionary qualifications apart from the action
of the prophets and teachers at Antioch (Acts xiii.). Indeed,
the Book of Acts never represents the imposition of hands
as the necessary channel of spiritual gifts, but simply as
the solemn recognition and confirmation of their presence.
Thus when the Seven are introduced to office by prayer
accompanied by the laying on of hands, they are charac
terised as men already full of the Holy Spirit.
The question then is : Do the two passages in the Pas
torals convey anything more than this ? Do they signify
that the gift would never have been imparted to Timothy
but for the imposition of hands ? If they do, then these
passages at least are beyond Pauline limits, and indeed are
fundamentally foreign to his conceptions and his age. But
we are not convinced that such stress is meant to be put on
the action. In the first place, the statements themselves
vary: if in the one case the preposition means strictly " by,"
in the other it only means " along with " or " accompanied
by." Besides, a great deal else in the Epistles is quite out
of harmony with the idea that the laying on of hands was
indispensable to the gift. For if this be the true signi
ficance, it is hard to understand why there is no mention
of the act in the letter to Titus, where there are occasions
when it would have been most natural to refer to it.
Further, if this be the conception in the author's mind,
then the rite is one of such paramount importance that we
should certainly expect, since it has never before been
made clear, that the assembly of elders would be carefully
instructed not to omit it; but any such instructions are
conspicuously absent. Moreover, it should be kept in

CONSERVATISM OF THE EPISTLES 473
mind that the word " gift " (xdpia/j,a), as Hatch points out,
had a very wide meaning : " to be a Christian Was itself a
gift ; to be orthodox was a gift ; and in the same way, to
hold office in the Church was a gift." x Timothy's laying
on of hands (1 Tim. v. 22) probably refers to the act of
blessing by which penitents were received back into com
munion.2 Finally, the reference to " prophecy " in the
immediate context, and the repeated use of the word
¦^dpiafia without any sense of incongruity, are clear
indications that we have not yet reached the period of
rigidly ecclesiastical, or what are caUed catholic, conceptions.
What Timothy is represented as receiving is no succession
to apostohc authority and exclusive privilege, but simply
a gift or spiritual capacity which enabled him to fulfil the
work of an evangelist, and which needed to be revived
and so used that he would not be despised.
5. There remain two closely related objections, con
nected with the conservation of Christian doctrine: (1) the
prominence given to apostohc tradition, and (2) the idea of
a church as a mainstay of the truth.
(1) Timothy (2 Tim. i 13, ii. 2, hi. 14; cf. also
Titus i 9) is exhorted earnestly and repeatedly to hold
fast the form of sound words, the things he has learned
and been assured of, and also to commit them to faithful
men who must be able to teach and defend them. But
this kind of conservative anxiety has been a mark of the
Apostle aU through. There is scarcely one of his Epistles
from which it is absent. The Thessalonians (2 Thess. h.
15) are exhorted to hold fast the tradition which he has
taught them by word or Epistle ; the Galatians (i 6-9) are
warned against any other gospel than that which he has
preached to them; the Eomans (xvi. 17) must avoid those
who act contrary to the doctrine which they have learnt ;
and the Corinthians (1 Cor. xvi. 1-11) must stand in the
1 Organisation of the Early Christian Churches, p. 136 n.
2 So Pfleiderer, ' Paulinism, ii. 205 ; Ellicott, Pastoral Epistles, in loc. ;
and Hort, Christian Ecclesia, pp. 214-215. But the application to office is
the traditional view, and though it may not suit the context so well, it does
not contradict it.

474 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
gospel which he delivered and they received. This gospel
was even a trust to himself ; he also had " received " it,
and it was his boast that he kept it to the end. The
present anxiety, therefore, is quite in harmony with life
long conceptions, and it is only naturally accentuated by
the presence of disturbing influences, doctrines that are
unsound and corrupting. " We must never weary of
repeating," says Sabatier, " because it is continually for
gotten, that Paul was an Apostle before he was a theo
logian. To him the need of conservation was more urgent
than that of innovation. . . . The greatest misfortune
which can befall those who have received his message is to
betray the trust." 1
(2) In 1 Tim. ih. 14—15, we have a passage which has
been much misunderstood because it has been so often
mistranslated. The definite article is not present, and the
translation should be : " that thou mayest know how men
ought to behave themselves in a household of God, which
is a church of a living God, a pillar and stay of the
truth." " There are few passages of the New Testament," says
Hort, " in which the reckless disregard of the presence or
absence of the article has made wilder havoc of the sense." 2
The writer is speaking not of the Church in a universal
sense, but of a church in a local or congregational sense,
and his meaning simply is that every Christian community,
by its weh-ordered life in the Household of which God is
the Master, is a strength and support to the truth : that
is, it takes a share in commending it and upholding it
before the world. In 2 Tim. ii 19, again, the Christian
community is similarly described as the firm foundation of
God. Beyschlag finds a difficulty, because, he says, this
community is immediately described as a mixed body of
good and evil members, in a way in which Paul would not
have described it, and which at once undermines the
security that has been asserted. This is because the critic
misinterprets what is said. It is not said that the society
1 Paul, p. 270. a Christian Ecclesia, p. 174.

ALLEGED GROWTH OF OFFICIALISM 475
is mixed of good and evil ; it is simply said that in a
great house some vessels are of gold and some of iron;
some for honour, and some for dishonour — quite a dif
ferent thing : all may be clean and pure, all meet for the
Master's use, and that is what the Apostle never ceased to
deshe. Again, it is a question of interpretation when Dr.
Moffatt says that " Institutions are coming to be more than
ever [why " more than ever " ?] the condition of orthodoxy,"
and gives as authority for so important a deduction, 2 Tim.
ii. 15: " Make every effort to present thyself genuine to
God, a worker with no cause for shame, handhng the truth
aright." x A reader would have to con this verse very
studiously before the thought of "institutions as a con
dition of orthodoxy " would dawn upon him. Dr. Moffatt
also believes that " a guarantee for the soundness of the
dogmatic principle is being shifted from the individual
faith and consciousness to officialism " ; and his reference is
to Titus i. 9, where a qualification of a bishop is said to be
"holding the sure word which is in accordance with the
doctrine, so that he may be able to give exhortation in the
sound doctrine and also to refute objectors." If this points
to a guarantee in officialism, it is at the most rudimentary
stage conceivable, and a stage simply inseparable from the
very appointment of a Christian teacher. It has very
little in common with the later ecclesiastical dogma which
Dr. Moffatt evidently means to suggest. It is a simple
description of an important function which a certain office
bearer will naturally be expected to fulfil, if there is to be
any meaning in his office at all. But if we say it is
important that a minister should hold the gospel and be
able to preach the gospel, we do not necessarily imply that
the soundness of his teaching is guaranteed by the mere
fact of his holding office. Large conclusions are easy, but
the premisses must first be able to bear them.
We do not, therefore, believe that a fair and natural
interpretation of the text leads us to a stage of ecclesiastical
1 Historical N. 'P., p. 563.

476 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
development so pronounced as is frequently asserted. The
organisation will not bear comparison with that of the
Ignatian period : it is not strong enough to flourish in that
ah. On the other hand, though the Epistles enter into a
few details as to qualifications and functions — not as to
ranks and dignities — they are not essentially one iota in
advance of the simple statement of Phihppians that there
were "bishops and deacons" in the Church of Phihppi.
And the instructions are not only elementary, they fit
most naturally the assumed situation, namely, that the
Apostle, near the end of his career, perceiving many clouds
hanging over his beloved Churches, writes these things for
the guidance of the younger generation who must soon
take the work from his faihng hands.
FinaUy, and with regard to the whole discussion, it
would be futile to pretend that there is nothing in the
Pastorals to give occasion for doubt. Many scholars of
the highest repute have decided adversely to theh authen
ticity, and the minds of others are still in a delicate state
of balance. A review of the evidence, we believe, should
lead to the conviction, in the first place, that there is no
adequate reason for denying the authenticity of 2 Timothy ;
and, in the second place, that the affinities between that
Epistle and the other two are so strong that theh detach
ment is scarcely possible. The most reasonable objections
are almost entirely connected with 1 Timothy and Titus, and
yet there is perhaps not one of these objections incapable
of mitigation or explanation, even if complete solution, in
our present imperfect knowledge of the period, cannot be
claimed. But until the attack has overthrown 2 Timothy,
it will never be able to secure a decided verdict against
the Pastorals as a whole. Far from having yet succeeded
in this object, it has, in our opinion, conspicuously failed.
In fact the tendency is rather to establish this Epistle, and
to find it " so close to the Pauline tradition " that to
separate it from the Apostle is rather a matter of critical
finesse than warranted on any rational grounds.

THE ' ARDENT DISCIPLE ' MYTH 477
III.
PSEUDONYMITY AND INTEEPOLATION.
It ought not to be imagined that merely to find the
Epistles unauthentic is to solve the historical and dogmatic
problem. It rather raises it in a still more acute form.
Baur made the attempt to fix the Epistles in a post-
apostolic environment, and where he faded no one else has
succeeded.1 If the Pastoral Epistles will not suit the
apostolic age, we want to know what age they exactly
will suit, and what can have been the motive of their
composition. It has not been even plausibly shown that
their doctrinal and ecclesiastical phenomena fit any period
more naturally than the apostolic, or that any reason for
their existence is to be preferred to the simple one that
they bear on their face.
Moreover, if Paul did not write them, the supposition
of an " ardent disciple," whether in the next generation or
at the beginning of the second century, will not surmount
the difficulties. This enthusiastic disciple, who considered
himself a " genuine Paulinist," at once so skilful and so
obtuse, following so closely yet differing so daringly,
inventing impossible personal situations with the utmost
sang-froid while he yet breathes an air of the profoundest
reverence for truth, conspicuously able and fruitful in an
age of conspicuous feebleness and barrenness, pretending to
honour his master, conjuring with his name, in the very
act of flying in the face of his most solemn warnings and
attenuating his most cherished doctrines — is an absolute
chimaera. It wiU certainly have to be explained, why,
if in 2 Timothy he shows himself admirably capable of
catching Paul's manner, and especially of devising long
personal passages fuU of touches only designed to secure
deceptive effects, he yet leaves 1 Timothy entirely destitute
1 E.g., the account of the purpose and genesis of the Epistles given by
Prof. McGiffert, Apostolic Age, pp. 412-413, seems to us very unconvincing.

478 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
of such imitative marks ; for their concoction was so easy
to him, and he had, by hypothesis, such astute appreciation
of theh utility. It is of course true that to prove the
Epistles do not belong to a certain writer, is to take only a
first step in the process of criticism, and quite a legitimate
one, if it can be accomplished. But it must be pointed
out that criticism cannot rest there. No advance has
really been made, as long as we are left in dubiety and
darkness stiU more profound than before.
If the Epistles are entirely spurious, then they are not
merely anonymous but pseudonymous compositions. They
profess to be Paul's, and they personate him most
elaborately. This raises several interesting questions.
Can they have been produced in good faith ? Would the
Christian contemporaries of the writer, understanding his
writings to be purely fictitious, yet receive them with
honour ? Is it possible still to retain them in the
canon ?
Pseudonymous writings were certainly very prolific in
the early Christian eras, and predominated to such an
extent over genuine compositions that Jiilicher declares it
would be wonderful if none of them were found in the
canon, and passing strange if so large a collection of letters
as that of the New Testament could escape the spurious
element. This, however, is an a priori opinion on a
matter that can only be decided by evidence as to fact.
The questions that primarily concern us are, whether it
was a general feature of those early pseudonymous writings
that they were composed in perfect honesty, and what
were the views seriously taken of them by Christian
authorities.1 It is frequently asserted that the bona fides of the
supposed pseudonymous author of the Pastorals is quite
possible, because such a device as his was in harmony with
1 On Pseudonymity cf. Jiilicher, Einleitung, pp. 38-40 ; Reuss, Hist, of
N. T. Writings, sect. 247 sqq. ; Deissmann, Bible Studies, pp. 12-16 ;
Moffatt's carefully written section in his Appendix, Histor. N.T., pp.
619-624; and Prof. Candlish's two important articles on "The Moral
Character of Pseudonymous Books," Expositor, iv. iv. 1891,

PSEUDONYMITY IN THE EARLY CHURCH 479
the moral and literary standards of his time. This dictum,
however, has never been made the subject of detailed proof.
Neander condemned it, if put forth without modification,
as a "purely arbitrary assumption." Professor Candlish,
after a careful survey of the external evidence, writes :
" It would seem that so far from innocent and recognised
fictions in composition being more common in ancient than
in modern literature, the very opposite is nearer the truth ;
for of ancient pseudonymous books a far larger proportion
was meant to be received as genuine than of modern ; and
indeed it seems doubtful whether any but a very few were
written in perfect good faith." Again : " It would seem
that in the early Christian centuries, when any work was
given out as of ancient or venerable authorship, it was
either received as genuine, which was done with very great
facihty of belief, or regarded as an imposture ; that such
fictions, though very common, were regarded, at least by
the stricter Christian teachers, as morally blameworthy ;
and that the notion of dramatic personation as a legitimate
literary device is never mentioned, and seems never to
have been thought of as a defence of such compositions." 1
Dr. Sanday also, speaking of the Jewish view, reminds us
that " the ancients were not themselves so indifferent to
the moral character of literary impersonation as is some
times supposed." 2 We may readhy infer that the early
Christian standpoint was not likely to be lower, although
it is true that by the fourth century the Church did
become largely saturated with the vicious principle that
wrong is permissible for a good end. In very early times
indeed, and above all in Pauline circles, it is scarcely
credible that the Christian exaltation of truthfulness was
universally ignored. Paul earnestly warned the Thessa
lonians (2 Thess. ii. 3) that spurious words and letters " as
from him " were to be looked for, and his warning shows
us what he at least would have thought of the disciple
who made such an abuse of his name as is here implied.
Tertullian (De Baptismo, xvii.) teUs us that the
1 Loc. cit., pp. 97 and 103. 2 Inspiration, p. 224.

480 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
presbyter who confessed that he had composed the Acts of
Paul and Thecla "from love of Paul," was summarily
dismissed from his office. At the same time, Weiss and
others are perhaps slightly mistaken in regarding this as
clear evidence of how carefully the Church " guarded
against the admixture of anything spurious." The disci
pline may possibly have been exercised rather on account
of heretical and unpalatable doctrine (i.e. regarding the
right of a woman to preach and baptize) than on account
of literary fabrication as such. Very numerous warnings
against Pseudepigrapha soon occur in Christian writings,
but their insistence is chiefly because of destructive
tendencies in the teaching. Thus the Muratorian Fragment
speaks of the exclusion of certain spurious Paulines, but
why ? Because " fel cum melle non congruit." Origen
says that Celsus charged the Christians with interpolating
the Sibylline Books, which clearly shows the handle that
. could be made of such a practice at the close of the second
century. At the same time, we must recognise that the
view of pseudonymity and that of interpolation might be
very different.
Bishop Gore expresses the matter very clearly when
he says that the element of fraud and forgery rightly
comes in, if a writer has employed " methods other than
those sanctioned by the literary conscience of the time."1
He further lays down the principle, that the evidence of
forgeries properly so called " would he in the fact that
the author could not have afforded to disclose the method
and circumstances of theh production." The principle is
sound, and very apphcable to the present case, if only we
clearly understand what is meant by the phrase " could not
have afforded" Would it or would it not — not among
pagan philosophers, but among the Christian leaders of the
sub-apostohc age — have been fatal to the influence and
authority of these writings, if the fact had been well
known that they were entirely fictitious ?
It is impossible to give a dogmatic answer to this
1 Lux Mundi, 10th ed., p. xxx and u.

WRITTEN TO DECEIVE 481
question. But if we may rely on the results of Dr.
Candlish's induction, which we have just quoted, the
strong presumption is that if the non-genuineness of the
writings had been recognised, we should have found them
somewhere condemned, or at least have had some indication
that their true character was well understood. Even if it
be true that doctrine would be much more thought of than
literary form, it is most unhkely that the elaborate
personation of the Apostle, with its purely imaginary
situations, would have been universally accepted without
reference or demur, especially by those who stood so
comparatively near the actual history. What alone would
account for such a completely favourable reception would
be that the writings were really accepted as genuine,
which is contrary to the hypothesis.
If, however, the Epistles were universally accepted as
genuine, that would mean that the age which produced so
consummate a literary artist, produced no one capable even
of suspecting him. That might be, but it is not very
probable. Our opinion rather is that if the Epistles were
taken for genuine, it was because the author meant them
to have such a reception, and was at great pains to secure
it. That is to say, he not only deceived his generation,
but he intended to deceive. His productions stand
absolutely unparalleled in their age, both for the careful
restraint and for the minute and manifold adroitness of
their imitative skill. It is this very subtlety which is to
us decisive of their bad faith. The external evidence may
only raise a presumption against them, but the internal
leaves not the shadow of a doubt. We are not now
thinking of contemporary opinion, but taking the writings
on their own merits. For it will be of importance if we
come to a clear conviction as to the moral quahty of the
composer himself. Is it really possible to accept the
postulate that all is naive and innocent, childlike and
bland ? For our part we find it incredible that there is
no purpose of deception in the case of a writer of the
second century who, to serve party ends, and to throw
over his work the glamour of veracity, invented such
3i

482 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
subtle touches as the tears that Timothy shed in Paul's
presence, the medical advice to Timothy, the cloak and
parchments left at Troas, the sickness of Trophimus at
Miletus, the summons of Titus to winter at Nicopolis, the
Apostle's earnest assertion of his own authority and
truthfulness, and his declaration that he is the chief of
sinners. No matter how high the moral exhortations of
the writings may be, the morality of the writer himself is
below the Christian standard. He must have been
conscious of insincerity, and is an illustration of the vice,
which he himself specially condemns, of " speaking falsely
in hypocrisy." But if we be convinced that the author was guilty of a
studied attempt to deceive his readers, there follows the
question with regard to inspiration. It is freely granted
that any form of literary composition which came most
naturaUy to an inspired man, would be a proper vehicle for
the conveyance of his message, whether poetry or parable
or the very plainest of plain speech. If there were no
conscious transgression of any moral principle, it would be
impossible to refuse inspiration to a pseudonymous writing
on the mere ground of its pseudonymity. But if there be
the conscious insincerity that we beheve there must have
been, then we have to consider the question : Could we
conceive such a writer, under the Christian dispensation,
a medium of revelation such as the Spirit of truth and
holiness would use ? It is very difficult to think of any
but one answer to this question. If we are " to try the
spirits whether they be of God," what better test can there
be than that now applied ? It seems to us that if the
case of Christian morality breaks down, and we certainly
regard it as in a condition of utter collapse, the claim to a
place in the canon must go with it.
Modern theories, however, are working round to the
position that the Epistles are not entirely fictitious, but
that they contain fragments, of greater or less extent,
belonging to indubitably Pauline letters. This will not,
in om opinion, relieve the moral question ; it will rather
greatly intensify it. We could more easily believe in the

CRITICISM AND UNREASON 483
good faith of pure pseudonymity than in that of palpable
patchwork. Moreover, it is a flagrant anachronism to
suppose that ingenious literary mosaics were customary
among Christians of the second century; and critics have
fallen into the error of attributing modern refinements of
deception to an age that knew little or nothing of them.
As Bertrand remarks, no writer of the age referred to
would ever have dreamt of carefully preserving a few
authentic fragments which in his eyes could have no im
portance whatever, much less would he have thought of
using them as literary precautions to give to his own work
the appearance of authenticity.
But the interpolation theory is legitimate enough from
the point of view of literary criticism. It is perfectly
proper to recall the vicissitudes through which the Christian
literature would naturally pass in the early eras of its
existence. At the same time, such an admission does not
throw open the door to rampant havoc according to the
idiosyncrasies of individual students. The interpolation
hypothesis must be strictly limited by principles of psycho
logy and reason, and is not even warranted in application
save as a last resort. This is not how a large number of
modern critics have regarded it. It is their first and last
appeal, the easy solution of any difficulty that presents
itself to their imaginations. Each writer feels free to
give the kaleidoscope a fresh turn, and then records with
blissful confidence what are called the ' latest results.'
Unfortunately this passes with many for learned acumen.
The whole method proceeds in its apphcation on a
totally false and unphilosophic basis, and is even childishly
blind to the most elementary characteristics of human
nature. It really postulates that a writer must always
preserve the same dull monotone, or always confine himself
to the same transcendental heights. He must never break
out in a new direction, never descend to the vaUeys or the
busy scenes of common life, above all he dare not widen
his thoughts with the process of the suns, or differ from
the utterances of his early days. He must see and say
everything at once ; having had his vision and his dream,

484 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
he must henceforth be like a star and dwell apart. It is
not permissible having been grave ever to be gay, or gay
ever to be grave. To be stereotyped is his only salvation.
Thus do the men of the midnight oil understand the men
of action and life. On such principles there is not a
writer of note, and there never has been a man in public
life, or a student in the stream of a progressive science,
large parts of whose sayings and doings could not be
proved to be by some one else. It cannot be conceived
that the author of Sordello could ever have written the
simple lyric of Evelyn Hope; or that the mind that pro
duced In Mcmoriam could sink to the bathos of " Old Year
roaring and blowing, And New Year blowing and roaring."
Burns could never have written half the poems attributed
to him ; for there are ' radical and inexplicable differences '
in the very nature of the poet who wrote Tarn o' Shanter,
as compared with the other poet who wrote To Mary in
Heaven. And not only so, some of the poems differ so
wonderfully within themselves, that they cannot possibly
be homogeneous or all from the same pen. Surely it is
time that such vagaries of criticism were laughed out of
court. The interpolationists in many cases have reached
the very ne plus ultra of absurdity. We know nothing
more worthy of their attention than Lord Bacon's warning.
" It is the vice," he tells us, " of subtle minds to attach too
much importance to slight distinctions ; it is the vice, on
the other hand, of high and discursive intellects to attach
too much importance to slight resemblances." And he
adds that, " when this last propensity is indulged to excess,
it leads men to catch at shadows instead of substances." 1
It is certainly a mild judgment on the interpolation
theory to say that " it does not work out well in detads "
(Hort). How can it, when each man has become a law
unto himself, and disports himself at will in the shoreless
sea of an unlimited hypothesis ? Dr. Clemen's Einheitlich-
keit is a very valuable book in this respect. It is in large

1 Novum Organum, Lib. i. Aph. 55 ; quoted in Jlacaulay's Essay on
Lord Bacon.

'DIM AND PERILOUS AND ARID 485
part a bewildering collection of interpolation views on the
Pauline Epistles, and is a solemn warning of the ease
with which interpreters sink in the Serbonian bog of a
sophisticated subjectivity. No wonder that Holtzmann
and Jiilicher utter vigorous protests, for they clearly per
ceive that such untrammelled licence is likely to drag
legitimate criticism into contempt. It will speedily bring
matters to the level of the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy,
and the picturesque results of a variegated Bible will have
no more value than the " grotesque gabble of the cipher."
We have had occasion to differ in not a few cases from
Dr. Moffatt's judgment in his learned book on the New
Testament, and we have therefore all the more pleasure in
gratefully recognising the service he renders in certain of
his strictures on the apphcation of the interpolation theory.
He is in this respect a true disciple of his school, whose
leaders express themselves in much contempt of the "in
sanity " of the methods pursued in the Netherlands. The
matter could not be better stated than in Dr. Moffatt's words :
"It is a delicate question to follow the movements of
a writer's mind from one topic to another, or to be sure
that any given passage is a foreign interpolation, and not
an episode or an outburst. The problem becomes trebly
difficult, when, as is often the case, external evidence fails.
Then especially, it is not easy to get a footing on reliable
arguments. In the case of a letter, above all, the psycho
logical method must be fairly tried before a section or
clause is finally abandoned. The connection of thought,
particularly in Paul, does not always lie upon the surface ;
and what is apparently abrupt may ultimately resolve itself
now and then into an inner continuity. In employing the
hypotheses of interpolation and compilation it is easy to be
arbitrary. . . . These hypotheses are often handled with a
brilliance that is really specious . . . their way of handling
the facts is dim and perilous and arid. Ingenuity of this
mechanical kind does not always get upon the track of
simple and spontaneous expression." 1
Whatever Dr. Moffatt's practice may be, we have every
1 Histor. N.T., p. 624,

486 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES

reason to be grateful for his theory. His warning is as
needful as it is admirably expressed. Were it remembered,
it would free a legitimate science from many a " frolic of
paradox and conjecture."
The literary criticism of the Bible is an absorbing
pursuit. It is of course all that ' Higher Criticism ' really
means, although that unfortunate phrase is often taken to
mean something different. Eichhorn introduced the name
in the nineteenth century, merely to distinguish the method
from that of Textual Criticism, and it has been used ever
since for better or for worse. Many, who should be
better informed, think that ' higher ' is intended to suggest
something superior, and ' criticism ' something necessarily
hostile, with the result that the phrase is flung about con
temptuously as if it contained an equal mixture of heresy
and conceit.
The truth is, the study of the Bible as literature cannot
be avoided even if we would. And yet a caveat here also
may not be amiss. Such study is so apt to fix our atten
tion exclusively on the mere dress that we sometimes
forget the man who wears it ; it is all of the lexicon, and
too little of the life. Further, in this country most of
those who are devoted to the literary criticism of the
Bible, are men who have also undertaken to preach the
revelation which the Bible enshrines as a living message
of salvation. The clanger in their case is to attempt to
box the mind into compartments, so that the Bible is
regarded as a dead thing at one moment, and as a living
thing at another. This will not affect men who are mere
students ; it will affect students who are also ministers.
A ministerial critic should never forget that ruthless
criticism at his hands is not dissection but vivisection.
We do not for a moment mean that he should not be as
earnestly critical as it is in his power to be, but only wish
to point out that he at least can never view the Bible
entirely ab extra, or treat it as a ' vile body,' while it is
the most sacred duty of his life to unfold its contents as
the power and the wisdom of God. Study with him should
not grow less, but reverence should grow from more to more.

THE EVANGELICAL MOTIVE 487

IV.
MESSAGE OF THE PASTOEALS.
CONCLUSION.
Through the storm and stress of many long centuries
the Pastoral Epistles have been held in high esteem by the
Church, and have fulfilled a noble mission. If they had
never been written, many hearts engaged in the service of
Christ, often weary and baffled with their labours, would
have missed one of their truest friends. They tell us how
a servant of the Lord must bear himself in a church of a
living God, how unsullied must be his Ihe, how prudent
and kindly his relations with his flock, how single-eyed and
steadfast his attitude to that message that makes wise unto
salvation. They can never be read without gratitude by
any one who earnestly seeks to fulfil the Christian ministry,
yet who is often troubled by the form and pressure of his
times. To all such they speak a word in season, and in
the spirit of love and power and of a sound mind.
The true standpoint of their interpretation is secured
by simply bearing in mind the motive that dominated the
Apostle's Ihe — his zeal for the cause of Christ, his con
tinual longing to bring men into the kingdom of grace.
He writes because he loves the souls of men, and because
he believes they may be redeemed unto holiness, and made
heirs of eternal life through the gospel. Without this
background of evangelical love and hope, the Epistles have
no great significance ; with it, each part at once falls
into its true perspective. Only let us keep this Pauline
' characteristic ' in view, and there will be no difficulty in
understanding the other interests that are displayed. It
is for this sake that the concern about the sound words
is shown, and that the lines of discipline and good order
are laid clown. The motive is not ecclesiastical in any
narrow sense, but purely evangelical and apostohc. Neither
sound doctrines nor orderly organisations are ends in them
selves. Some Christians have almost made shipwreck by

488 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
so regarding them. The writer of these Epistles is not
guilty of so gross a blunder. He worships neither creed
nor polity, although he is alive to the high importance of
both. The life of grace is supreme, eloquent of God as it
blossoms in piety and good works, the consummation ever
to be desired. But it is this supremacy of Life that alone
gives value to the means that lead to it, the instruments
and channels that serve it best. For this cause the word
is more precious than gold, yea than much fine gold ; and
the good order of a household of God is priceless as at
once a source of peace and purity within, and an influence
of grace and power beyond. The peril is to make a fetish
of the means, and, in our idolatry of ' helps and govern
ments,' to forget the goal to which the Cross leads on.
The Pastoral Epistles do not minister to this forgetfulness,
but wisely remind us that there are things with which we
dare not part, and that there are methods at hand by
which such a goodly heritage may both be conserved and
used for still larger fruits.
There is also another function fulfilled by the Epistles.
They give us invaluable glimpses of the close of a great
career, whose energy and faith, whose grace and tenderness,
are unabated to the end. There is no falling away, or
feebleness, or doubt. Age has found the Apostle only
more deeply rooted in Christ. Trial and tempest have
only more firmly bound him to that living Lord.
For Paul's sun is setting fast when 2 Timothy is
written. There is much that is touching in his isolation
and in his craving for sympathy. Like his Master he
treads the wine-press alone. But there is no ignoble
murmur on his lips. There is not even a shadow of fear
in his heart. He does not expect his Lord to come as he
once did, but he expects to go to Him, which is much
the same. And the end probably came swifter than he
thought. It is not likely that Timothy reached him before
the judgment was given. He was denied the comfort of
that dear presence. And when the sentence of death was
uttered, there was no influence or clemency to stay its
execution. In the shimmering light of a mid-summer morn-

ON THE OSTIAN AVAY 489
ing he was led forth to his doom. Perhaps a morbid and
curious crowd followed the heels of his escort, and, afar off,
would be the few friends who still dared to keep him in
sight. He was taken out through the city-gate that now
bears his name, and along the dusty Ostian Way a mile or
two, until he reached a small green hollow surrounded by
lowly knolls. One last lingering look was his on the deep
blue sky, and on the soft undulating hnes of the Itahan
hills, and then the lictor's sword flashed for a moment in
the hght, the bowed head was smitten from the body, and
one of the best and bravest souls that ever breathed went
home to God. The crowd dispersed. But the friends
gathered the bleeding body, and bore it back to a little
garden by the wayside, where they reverently made its
sepulchre, in a spot which the veneration of Christians has
marked time after time with the noblest piles of masonry
and the richest treasures of art.
So perished the great Apostle whose life-story these
writings so clearly reveal. Little could he dream that for
long centuries his living words would inspire the heart of
the Christian world, would fire the imagination of its
saints, and call forth the deepest thoughts of its wisest
men. They have been the quickeners of life and liberty,
the spring of some of the mightiest movements that have
affected human history.
Very conspicuously do these Epistles of Paul, taken as
a whole, reveal his character, and endear him to us for his
own sake. Of his relation to Christ they suggest but one
word : " Behold how he loved Him ! " Never was there
devotion more complete than that which followed the
" apprehension " on the way to Damascus. Perhaps in all
human story there has never been a hfe that surpassed
Paul's in its abandonment to one great purpose. He could
say as almost none other ever could : " This one thing I do."
The love of Christ, the service of Christ to which that
love inspired, and the consuming desire to be hke Christ,
were the master-impulses of his life. No earthly terror
or prize or ambition could ever draw him from his
allegiance.

490 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
Not only so, loving Christ, he loved all for whom
Christ died. He was a man of the widest and tenderest
sympathies. He longed for the salvation of aU men, and
was ready to spend himself to the uttermost if by any
means he might win some. We marvel at his anxiety and
tears for those humble converts in Greek and Eoman cities,
who had heard his message, and were turning, amid awful
hindrances and temptations, from the deep darkness of
paganism into the light and liberty of the knowledge of
Christ. How gentle and courteous he was towards them !
How he remembered their names, and encouraged them in
their faith ! " Who is weak, and I am not weak ? who is
made to stumble, and I burn not ? " A man of exquisite
tact and most disinterested affection, " he had a thousand
friends, and loved each as his own soul, and seemed to
live a thousand lives in them, and died a thousand deaths
when he must quit them." x
Yet with aU the focussed unity of its magnificent
purpose Paul's hfe was most complex, and is found most
difficult to summarise. Schurer says of him that " he was
the most living and mobile spirit the world has ever seen."
He was so versatile in his gifts and interests that we have
scarcely noted one distinguishing trait when we feel we
must set another beside it that looks like its opposite.
His personahty was magnetic ; he attracted and repelled
with equal force. Many never omitted to notice his
insignificant stature, his marred visage, his weak and often
distorted frame, his unpolished and provincial speech ; but
to others the bright spirit, the tender heart, and the
shining hght of the inspired eyes, so transfigured him that
they saw no defect, and were ready to receive him as " an
angel of God." He boasted of being both Jew and Gentile,
and he sometimes showed the narrow strength of the one,
and sometimes the cultured humanism of the other. He
loved perfectly, and he also hated with all his might. At
times he soothes with the gentle touches of a friend, but
he can also lash with the fiery indignation of a foe. He
1 J. H. Newman, Subjects of the Day, p. 404.

CHARACTER OF THE APOSTLE 491
is equally to be dreaded by an adversary when he en
deavours to persuade and when he determines to confound.
There are moments when he is prudent and cautious to
a degree ; anon he is impetuous and impulsive to the very
verge of rashness. Moods of passion and of peace, like the
changes of April skies, alternate in his hfe. Now he is
so moved with anxiety that he cannot rest or restrain his
tears ; again he is so confident in God that no disaster or
'infirmity' can make him dismayed: now he is humble,
self-abased, seemingly abject in his own eyes, and again
he is radiant and jubilant, absolutely confident in
the power and triumph of the indwelling Christ. One
wonders if the same man speaks, and whether a single
soul could ever compass in its experience such heights
and depths.
Mr. Holt Hutton, in his Theological Essays, has a
passage on Paul's character, written with great sympathy
and spiritual insight. At the close of his review of
Eenan's Saint Paul, in summing up his impressions of the
Apostle, he says he can never think of him —
" with his tender remembrance of all the old women and
slaves in his various little Churches, his ' outward fightings
and inward fears,' his visions and his humiliations, his signs
and mighty deeds and his fears and tremblings, his anxious
distinction between that which his Lord had told him and
that which he had thought himself; that fine tact which
might have been strategic ; that fiery temper which was
sometimes fierce; the flesh which struggled against the
spirit, and the spirit which dissolved away the flesh and
painted man as, at his best, hardly approaching anything
so purely good as a vacuum for God to fill; his rapidly
mounting eloquence that rushes with the whole universe
into the presence of God, and his sudden cries of shame
and sin, — without feeling that in him we reach the highest
conceivable degree of that human virtue which is not moral
beauty, and that lovableness of spirit which is not sweetness
or harmony. I have never felt that I could heartily apply
to our Lord those words of Isaiah usually referred to Him,
concerning His having no beauty that we should desire
Him, for surely He is ' the first and only fair.' But I can
apply them with my whole soul to St, Paul : — ' He hath no

492 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
form nor comeliness, and when we see him there is no beauty
that we should desire him ; he is despised, and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; he was
despised and we esteemed him not.' Yet is not his the
sort of despicability which is better honoured and better
loved than anything else that ever entered into our world,
except indeed the light which it reflects, and the love
which it reveals ? "
Of Paul's message to mankind there are a few out
standing features which, in closing, we may briefly
define. 1. In the first place, his starting-point is the con
viction that the Dying and Eisen Christ is the ever-living
Saviour of men.
Jesus lives in glory on the Throne, and He lives to
save. In that light all else seems plain to Paul. The
Cross is a tragic mystery, yet it is the revelation of the
great love wherewith God hath loved us. It is the Son
yielding to death, stooping to conquer, tasting death for
every man, that many sons may come unto glory. He
rises again, and the curse of sin is taken away, and all
who are in Him, by the regeneration of the Spirit, have
peace with God.
But that is not all. The death and risen life of Christ
are repeated in every believer as a dying to sin and a life
unto righteousness. This is the supreme evidence of their
reality and power. If these results have no place with us,
then, Paul would have said, Christ is not our Saviour.
Dying to live, crucified in humiliation to rise in glory,
every saved man repeats and reflects in his inmost soul the
passion and triumph of his Lord. And how is it accom
plished ? By lowly penitence and faith, faith that lays
fast hold of Christ, and faith that works by love. And
at the same time, by the indwelling of the Spirit. It
is He who inspires and sanctifies the feeble life, and
finally brings it into conformity with the perfect life of
Christ. To Paul all this is verified by experience. He knows
that he is in the kingdom, because the kingdom has become

FEATURES OF HIS MESSAGE 493
for him righteousness, and peace, and joy. The witness
rises and sings in his own glad heart, and no man can
silence it :
"Yea, with one voice, 0 world, tho' thou deniest,
Stand thou on that side, for on this am I."
Thus the Epistles are human documents, transcripts of
life. Paul could say like the Psalmist : " I will declare what
God hath done for my soul." And he does not think it a
strange thing. He does not believe it to be unique, but is
assured that others also have the same experience. There
are many brethren around him. He has many sons in
the faith. He never doubts that all have the same
knowledge of Christ's saving power. Sinful and weak
though they are, lost to spirituality and the secret of the
Divine life as they may have been, all may come into the
fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.
2. Thus the second broad deep note in his message is
that Christ is a Saviour for all men.
The ship of the gospel may be said to have " lain in
the stocks " till Paul awoke. It was he who, by God's
grace, launched it abroad into the deep. The Church clung
to Jerusalem, hving almost in communism, so that it
seemed, as has been said, as if the religion of Jesus was in
danger of perishing in a mere " sociological experiment."
But Paul from the first knew that he was called to be an
Apostle to them that lay far beyond the bounds of the
holy city. The gospel given him was not for the Jews
alone, but for all God's children on the face of the earth.
The Epistles reveal how earnestly he held this, and what a
warfare he had to wage in order to get it accepted in the
fullest sense. It not only meant that the Gentiles might
enter the kingdom, but that they need not enter through a
Jewish door. How bitterly he was opposed on that point !
And what a victory he achieved ! It was the victory of
spirituality. It meant that men could not be saved by
ritual and ceremony, but by Christ alone. Herein lay the
possibihty of converting the nations, and bringing all men
to the feet of God. Paul was quick to see it, and he spent

494 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
a large part of his life in fighting for it. It was his ' good
fight of faith,' and his triumph was " not the actual con
versions he made, but the principle which every conversion
involved." At every step onward to the West " he tore up
the prejudices of ages." To every stranger whom he took
by the hand he could say : " In Christ Jesus there is neither
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian,
Scythian, bond nor free : but Christ is all and in all."
3. It was also Paul's joy to declare that Christ Jesus
gathers all His people into one even on this earth.
All become one Body in Christ. This seems the true
communion of saints, the catholicity and solidarity of the
Church. Hence the eagerness Paul displayed to conserve
tbe common hfe among Christians, and to direct their
energies into channels that would glorify Christ. If the
Church be Christ's Body, it must draw its power, its ethics,
and its ideal from its living Head. It exists to manifest
His life. It must be hands and feet and eyes for Him. It
must be the living presence that men see Him by. This
is Paul's noble conception. And herein is the secret of
joy for the humblest believer on earth, because in saving
him Christ unites him to Himself, and in so uniting him
makes him, lowly though he be, a living part of His living
Body. No human power can touch that union. None
can sever when Christ has gathered into one.
4. Finally, Paul believed and declared that when the
Lord comes again, He shall usher in a glorious destiny for
all them that love His appearing.
His gospel is ever iUumined by this glowing hope.
With Paul it is ever : " The best is yet to be, the last of
life, for which the first was made." He leads every
disciple upward to the heavenly vision, and when the heart
is weary and broken he rouses it by whispering : " We
shall be like Him. Eye hath not seen nor ear heard what
He hath prepared." It is ours to have a part in the new
heavens and the new earth, a place in the restitution of all
things, a happy re-union with them that have slept in
Christ before us, and an eternal fellowship with the Lord
Himself.

THE ALPHA AND OMEGA 495
Such was the message. It is well to hear it, for sage
or poet has never given better. It is as if the veil were
rent, and the light of eternity streamed through. And
Christ is the centre of all, the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end.
" Christ ! I am Christ's ! and let the name suffice you,
Ay, for me too He greatly hath sufficed :
Lo with no winning words I would entice you,
Paul has no honour and no friend hut Christ.
Hearts I have won of sister or of brother,
Quick on the earth or hidden in the sod:
Lo every heart awaiteth me, another
Friend in the blameless family of God.
Surely He cometh, and a thousand voices
Call to the saints, and to the deaf are dumb ;
Surely He cometh, and the earth rejoices,
Glad in His coming who hath sworn, I come.1'

INDEX.

32

INDEX.

(I.) SUBJECTS AND CONTENTS.

Abraham, 251 ; justified by faith,
111, 230; his 'seed,' 113.
Acts, Dutch school on, 6S-9 ; passages
bearing on Galatian theories, 94-8.
Acts of Paul and Thecla, 480.
Adam and Christ, 230-1.
Adoption. See Sonship.
Anabaptists of Miinster, 120.
Angels, and the Law, 112-3 ; and the
Cross, 291 ; worship of, 285,
292-3.
Anglican Orders, their validity, 397.
Animal suffering, 246-7.
Animal worship, 214-5.
Antichrist. See Man of Sin.
Antinomianism. See Sin and Grace.
Antioch in Pisidia, 89, 100-1.
 in Syria, 100 sqq., 109.
'Antitheses ' in the Pastorals, 449.
Apocalypse, Pauline, 39 sqq.
Apostasy in the Last Times, 43, 49,
428.
Apostolic succession, 392 sqq., 461.
Aquila, 131, 193, 197, 200-1.
Artemis, temple and worship in
Ephesus, 332-5.
Aryan Theism, 212-4.
Asceticism, 294.
'Atheism,' charged against Chris
tians, 196, 198.
Atonement, in fact and theory, 225-8.
•Back to Christ,' 12-14.
Baptism, its significance, 233, 453-4.
Belial, as Antichrist, 46.
Belief and its explanation, dis
tinguished, 227-8.
Bible and Slavery. See Slavery.
Bishop. See Episcopacy.
Britain, 330. See Election of nations.

' Ciesar's household,' 415.
Calumnies. See Rome, Jews and
Christians in.
1 Captain of the Guard,' 278.
Catacombs, inscriptions in, 197-8.
Catechumen, 466.
Charisma. See Gift.
Christ : testimony of the Epistles,
12-16, 19, 63, 264; interpreted
His sufferings, 13, 226-7 ; moral
self-consciousness, 160 ; His death
propitiatory, 224 sqq. ; the Second
Adam, 230-1 ; Divinity, 251, 288 ;
Sermon on the Mount, 264; unique
relation to God and the universe,
289 sqq. ; pre-existence, 290, 292-
3, 412, 155 ; Head of the Church,
290 sqq., 358, 360, 382-3, 386 ;
all-sufficiency, 295-6 ; relation to
the State, 325 ; descent into hell,
341. See also Second Coming ;
Union ; Law ; Pleroma ; Kenosis.
Christians in Eome. See Rome.
' Christus '-party, 140, 155.
Church : discipline, 53-7 ; and State,
56, 265-7, 325 ; imperfection, 138 ;
and Slavery, 319 sqq., 325 ; a
building, 339, 383 ; body and
bride of Christ, 383 ; Pauline
conception, 356-60, 385-6 ; apos
tolic foundation, 359 ; doctrine of
its origin, catholicity, and unity,
379-400 ; visible aud invisible,
389, 397 ; organisation, 391 sqq.,
457-62 ; creed, 390-1 ; schism,
387, 398-9 ; party spirit, 140, 412,
416-7. See also Christ ; Pastorals ;
Pleroma.
Circular Epistles, 200, 201, 366,
378.

490

500

INDEX

Circumcision, gospel of, 102 ; Jewish
trust in, 101, 219.
Collection for the Saints, 97, 100,
157, 407.
Coloni, a serf class, 310-11.
Colony, Roman, privileges of, 405.
Colosse, 276, 279-80, 282-3, 302-3.
Colossians ; date, 5, 275-7 ; authenti
city, 348 sqq., 361 sqq. ; occasion,
283 ; heresy, 284 sqq., 367; con
tents, 286 sqq. ; Christology, 288
sqq. ; results of the heresy, 293
sqq. ; relation to Ephesians, 343,
355, 361-9.
Comprehensiveness of Christianity,
139.
Conscience, questions of, 142 sqq.,
267-8.
Corinth, 24, 127-31. See also Paul.
1 Corinthians : date, 4, 134, 153-4 ;
a true letter, 73 ; occasion, 135 ;
contents, 136-8.
2 Corinthians: date, 4, 153-4 ; a true
letter, 73-4 ; relation to 1 Corin
thians, 149, 153-4 ; occasion, 155 ;
the minority, 155 ; contents,
155-8 ; integrity, 156.
Creed. See Church.
Crete. See Paul.
Cross, its power, 145-6. See also
Death of Christ.
Deacons, 410-11,427.
Death of Christ, the ground of re
demption, 224 sqq. ; cosmical sig
nificance, 291, 382.
Deification of the Emperors, 165.
Derbe, 89.
Descent into hell. See Christ.
Determinism. See Predestination.
Development in the Epistles, 5-7,
71-2, 75-8, 274, 353-60, 456, 462-4.
Diana. See Artemis.
Discipline in the Church, 53-7.
Dispersion, Jewish, 183.
Dreams, belief in, 176.
Dualism in the moral life. See
Sin.
Dutch school : 7, 19, 65 ; reject
the great Epistles, 66-72 ; review
of their position, 72-84 ; relation
to the 'critical' school, 64-5, 83,
485.
Dying to sin, 110, 232-3.
Earthquake at Laodicea, 276.
Egnatian Way, 403-4, 407.
Elders. See Presbyter.
Election, 251 sqq., 259 ; of nations,
260-3.

Elymas, 451.
Epaphras, 279.
Epaphroditus, 408-9, 413.
Ephesians: date, 5, 277; contents,
336-44 ; relation to Colossians,
343, 355, 361-9, and to other N.T.
writings, 344, 355-6, 357 ; authen
ticity, 344-69 ; destination, 369-
79 ; doctrine of the Church, 379-
400.
Ephesians, Note to, in Romans,
200.
Ephesus, 134, 279-80, 331 sqq. ;
decay of, 336.
Episcopacy, its origin, 393 ; value,
395-6 ; ' bishops ' in Philippians,
410-11 ; in Pastorals, 427, 454,
466-70 ; development in sub-apos
tolic times, 460-2, 467-8, 476.
Epistles, distinguished from letters,
3, 7, 71, 72-4.
 lost, 4, 134, 152, 156.
 Paul's : their number, 3 ; order,
3-5, 19, 98-100, 273-7 ; occasional
character, 7-8, 81-2 ; style, 8-10,
346-7, 439-41 ; dictated, 10, 362,
363 ; general features, 10-16 ; are
true letters, 7, 73-4 ; vocabulary,
345-6, 437-9 ; titles, 370 ; summary
of their message, 492-5. See also
Development ; Circular Epistles ;
Great Epistles.
Essenes, 267-8, 286, 349.
Euodia, 414, 417.
Faction in the Church. See Church.
Faith, Pauline use of the word, 229 ;
assurance of, 247 ; and works,
118, 219, 456. Sec also Justifica
tion.
Fall of Jerusalem, 43, 369.
Fictitious character of the Epistles,
See Pseudonymity.
Flavian policy to the Christians,
448.
Flesh and spirit. See Sin.
Foreknowledge, divine, 258.
Forgiveness by the Cross, 225.
Francis of Assisi, 294.
Future Life, belief of the ancients,
32-3.
Galatians: date, 4, 98, 100 ; >¦ true
letter, 73 ; destination and occasion,
84-106 ; North - Galatian theory,
85-8; South-Galatian theory, 88-
98 ; relation to Romans, 98-9 ; the
Judaising attack, 104 sqq. ; argu
ment, 106-26.
Gallio, 132-3,

INDEX

501

Gentiles : their need of salvation,
208-17; knowledge of God, 209sqq.
On their reception to the Church,
see Galatians, Romans, Ephesians.
Gift, spiritual, 470-3.
God : the proof from nature, 209-11 ;
in relation to the gospel of the
Cross, 224-5, 228-9, 455 ; the
Church in His eternal counsel,
381.
Gnosticism, 77, 285, 348-52, 366,
434, 449, 462.
Grace and Sin. See Sin.
' Great ' Epistles, the four : import
ance, 63 ; general acceptance, 64,
84 ; recent criticism, and rejection,
65 sqq., 71-2.
Greek language in Rome, 167 ; and
in the Empire, 183.
Guilt, and the Cross, 227, 229.
Headship of Christ. See Christ.
Hebrews, 1, 460.
Henotheism, 212.
Hierapolis, 281-2.
High Churohism. See Apostolic
succession.
'Higher Criticism,' 486.
' Holy,' use of the word, 359.
Holy Spirit. See Spirit.
Iconium, 89.
Imprisonment, Paul's. See Paul ;
also Pastorals.
Interpolation theories, 361-9, 410,
434, 444sqq., 482 sqq.
Isaac and Ishmael, in symbolic sig
nificance, 116.
Isis, 177-8, 191.
Isthmus of Corinth, 128-9.
James, the Lord's brother, 101, 102,
103, 108, 458-9.
Jason, 23.
Jerusalem, Council of, 101 sq., 108,
459 ; Paul's visits, 107-8.
Jews, and the Law, see Law ; and
gospel promises, 221, 249 sqq.,
254 ; their religious privileges,
220-1, 413, 420 ; their election,
250 sqq.
 in Rome. See Rome.
 in Thessalonica, 23, 26 ; in
Galatia, 87 ; in Corinth, 130 ; in
Lycus valley, 283-4 ; in Philippi,
405.
Judaistic party, 101, 105 sqq., 203,
354, 420.
Jus Italicum. See Colony.
Justification, 111, 222-31, 492.

Kabbala, Jewish, 350, 450.
Kavalla. See Neapolis.
Kenosis, 412-3.
Labour, Christian view, 51-3.
Laodicea, 280-1.
Laodiceans, Epistle to, 371, 375, 377.
Last things. See Second Coming.
("Law of Christ, 123-5.
 • Jewish : vain for salvation, 110,
112, 219 ; given by angels, 112,
113 ; Paul's view of its use, 113-4,
117-8, 294 : Jewish emancipation
from, 102, 103, 116-7 ; Jews con
demned by, 218 sqq. See also
Sin.
 Roman, a, preparation for Chris
tianity, 11.
Laying on of hands. See Pastorals.
Liberty, divine, 251 sqq.
 evangelical, abused, 119 sqq.,
420-1 ; its limits, 143-5.
Life in Christ.' See Union with
Christ.
 in the Spirit. See Spirit.
Love, fulfils the law, 125 ; in the
union with Christ, 234.
Luke, 69, 275, 279, 401-2.
Lycus valley, 280.
Lydia, 405-6, 414.
Lystra, 89, 209, 401, 425.
Macedonia, 20, 154, 401 sqq.
' Man of Macedonia,' 402.
Man of Sin, 40 sqq.
Marriage, case of bishops. See Pas
torals.
Ministry of tallies, 458.
Missionary motive of the Church,
384.
Montanism, 348.
Nations, election of, 260-3.
Natural Religion, 209 sqq.
Natural scenery, ancient and modern
feeling, 129-30.
Nature in sympathy with man,
245-6.
Neapolis, 402-3.
Negro slavery, 307, 313.
Nero, 129, 163-5, 171, 176, 180, 195,
278 ; attitude to Christians, 447-S.
New Life, its origin and character
istics, 124, 233-5, 243-8, 264-5.
294-5; 342, 418.
Nicopolis, 430.
Noachid rules, 102.
Onesimus, 277, 299-302, 303, 369.
Ophites of Phrygia, 450.

502

INDEX

Organisation of the early Church.
See Church.
Oriental religions in Rome,177-S, 215.
Osiris, 177, 191.
Paganism, confronting the gospel,
146-8. See also Rome in Paul's
day.
Parousia. See Second Coming.
Pastoral Epistles : date, 5, 444 sqq. ;
the common title, 425 ; contents
of the three Epistles, 426-31 ; the
false teaching, 426-8, 430, 449-52 ;
rules for worship and office-bearers,
427 ; their naturalness, 431 ; ex
ternal testimony, 431-2 ; history
of criticism, 433-5 ; authenticity,
435-76 ; question of second im
prisonment, 444-8 ; their true
Paulinism, 452-7, 470-1, 476 ;
'husband of one wife,' 454-5;
their conservatism, 456-7, 464,
473-4 ; place in ecclesiastical de
velopment. 462 sqq. ; as pseudony
mous writings, 469, 477-82 ; theory
of interpolation, 482 sqq. ; imposi
tion of hands, 471-3 ; a church a
mainstay of truth, 474-5 : their
message, 487-9.
Paul: birth and conversion, 4; life
reflected in Epistles, 10-12, 159-62,
353, 419 sqq., 488-93; testimony
to Christ, 12-14, 19, 63, 264 ;
Roman imprisonment, 5, 277-9,
411, 419-20, 444 sqq. ; Cesarean
imprisonment, 273, 275-6 ; inThes-
salonica, 20-23; Athens, 24;
Troas, 20, 401-2 ; Philippi, 20,
403 sqq. ; Galatia, 85-8 ; Corinth,
131-3, 151-4, 158, 204, 430; Crete,
429-30 ; Ephesus, 134, 154, 335-6,
446; Dutch view, 67, 69-70;
v/ conflict with Judaisers, 101 sqq.,
104 sqq., 354; 'preaching eircuni-
•J cision,' 108 ; Rabbinical influence,
113 ; relation to the Twelve,
107 sqq., 353 ; influence of Empire,
11, 358, 380 ; personal history in
the Pastorals, 444-8 ; martyrdom,
488-9.
'Paulus Episcopus,' 67, 79.
Perga, 88.
Peter, and the Judaistic controversy,
101 sqq., 107 sqq. ; and the Roman
Church, 194-5.
Philemon, 290, 302-3.
Philemon: date, 5, 276; authenti
city, 298 ; character, 298-9, 303-4 ;
contents, 302-3 ; significance,
304-5 ; supports Colossians, 369.

Philippi, 20, 402 sqq. ; battle, 404-5 ;
Paul's visits, 406-7 ; decay, 408.
Philippians: date, 5, 273-5; occa
sion, 408-9 ; authenticity, 409 ;
style and contents, 409-15 ; its
unity, 410 ; Paul and his readers,
415-22.
Phrvgians, S6 ; their religion, 87, 90,
2S3.
' Phrygo-Galatic ' region, 94-6.
Pleroma, Christ as, 289 ; Church as,
338, 341, 359, 382.
Prayer, 58.
Predestination and free-will, 255 sqq.
Presbyter, 393, 427, 430, 45S-9 ; and
bishop, 466-8 : as teacher, 470-1.
Priesthood in N.T., 393.
Priscilla, 197. See also Aquila.
Privilege, religious, 220, 420.
Propitiation. See Death of Christ.
Proselytes, 103, 189, 196.
' Proseucha,' a synagogue, 405.
Pseudonymous writings, 38, 69,
79-81, 354, 362, 365-6. 4 45,
477-82 ; when fraudulent, 480 ;
question of inspiration, 482.
Pythoness, at Philippi, 406.
Regeneration. See New Life.
'Reprobation,' divine, 258.
Restoration, universal, 382, 494. See
also Death o f Christ.
Revelation, indirect, 327 ; its channel,
482.
Righteousness, by the Law, 218 sqq.,
253 ; and by faith, 222 sqq. ; God's
revealed, 221-5, 230.
Roman Law, a preparation for Chris
tianity, 11.
Romans: date, 4, 163 ; a true letter,
74 ; tho salutations, 200-2 ; design,
202-4 ; the recipients, 202-3, 206 ;
written in Corinth, 204 ; exposi
tion, 205-69 ; the gospel of salva
tion (i.-viii.), 207-48 ; historical
relations (ix.-xi.), 248-63 ; applica
tion to lire (xii. to end), 263-9.
Rome in Paul's day : Pagan Rome,
163-83 ; population, 166-8 ; ma
terialism, 168 ; slavery and its
effects, 168-70 ; the spectacles,
171-3 ; religion, 173-8, 215 ; gen
eral social condition, 178-80 ;
Seneca and the Stoics, 180-2 ;
longing for better things, 182-3,
190-2, 217.
Jews : slaves and free, 183-4 :
the ghetto, 184-6 ; tbe syna
gogues, 184-5 ; calumnies,
186-7; turbulence, 187-8, 193;

INDEX

503

successful propaganda, 188-92;
edict of Claudius, 133, 188,
193 ; oppose Paul, 413, 420.
Christians: rapid spread of gos
pel story, 192 ; effect of edict
of Claudius, 1 93 ; origin of the
Church in Rome, 1 93 sqq. ;
calumnies, 196 ; success of the
gospel, 197-200 ; Paul's greet
ings, 200-2.
Rome, in the Pauline apocalypse,
, 44sq. ; in the Sibylline Oracles, 191.
Sanctification, 219, 229-30, 241-48 ;
confession of its imperfection,
237-40.
Sarah and Hagar, in symbolic signi
ficance, 116.
Second Coming, Paul's expectation,
31-4, 360, 428 ; effects of the
doctrine in Thessalonica, 30, 35-6 ;
the doctrine and general feeling in
the Empire, 36-7 ; Paul defines
his meaning, 39 sqq. ; 191.
Serfs, 311-2.
Signs of the Times, 37.
Silas, 401, 406.
Simon Magus, 350, 450.
Sin, and the Law, 113 sqq., 235 sqq. ;
origin and universality, 222 ; and
the Flesh, 121-2, 222, 237-40,
294 ; Gentile consciousness, 182,
217 ; and the Cross, 225 ; and
Grace, 119 sqq., 221, 232-5 ; and
animal suffering, 246-7.
Slavery, Roman, 168-70 ; fugitives,
300 ; ancient and modern, 305-13;
mitigation and abolition, 313-22 ;
and the Bible, 322-9.
Slavs, the name, 306.
Sonship of believers, 114-7, 244, 456.
Sosthenes, 132, 133.
Sovereignty, divine. See Predestina
tion.
Spirit, The Holy, 124 ; in union with
the believer, 239 ; ministry in O.
and N. Tests., 241-2 ; personality,
242 ; nature of His work in the
life of faith, 242-8, 368, 492.
State and the Church. See Church.
Stoics, 181-2 ; antinomianism of, 120.
Style, argument from, 347, 364,
435-41. See also Epistles.

Subjectivity in modern criticism, 81,
361, 368, 483 sqq.
Success of Christianity, its cause,
199.
Suffering with Christ, 245.
Supper, the Lord's, its significance,
226-7.
Synagogues in Rome, 184-5.
Syntyche, 414, 417.
Syzygos, 414.
Theism, insufficiency of, 216-7.
Theodicy, Paul's, 249 sqq.
1 Thessalonians : date, 4, 19 ; authen
ticity, 19 ; value as witness to
Christ, 19-20 ; occasion, 24-5 ;
contents, 25-7 ; pagan impurity,
27-9 ; good order, 29-31 ; the
Second Coming, 31-2 ; death and
the Christian hope, 32-4.
I? Thessalonians : date, 4 ; occasion,
38 ; authenticity, 38 ; Pauline
apocalypse, 40 sqq. ; the disorderly,
50-1 ; labour, 51-3 ; discipline,
53-7 ; Paul's prayers, 57-9.
Thessalonica, 21-2 ; Paul in, 23-4.
'Thorn in the flesh,' Paul's, 88, 115.
Timothy, 108, 134, 275, 279, 401,
413, 425-6, 442; as bishop, 468-
70.
1 and 2 Timothy. See Pastorals.
Titus, 108, 134, 154-5, 425-6, 429-30;
as bishop, 468-70.
Titus. See Pastorals.
Troas, 20, 154, 401-2.
Tychicus, 279, 302-3, 342, 366,
377.
' Unattached ' Christianity, 397-8.
Union with Christ, 110, 123 sq. ;
141-2, 232-5, 294-5, 390, 492.
Unity of the Church. See Church.
Ventriloquist. See Pythoness.
Widows, in the Pastorals, 464-6.
Will, the divine covenant, as irre
vocable, 112-3.
Women, service in the Church, 417,
427, 464-5.
Worship, public, in the Pastorals,
464.

504

INDEX

(II.) REFERENCES AND AUTHORITIES.

Abbott, T. K., 274, 338, 339, 341.
Adams, Nathaniel, 330.
Adeney, W. F., 156, 435.
Agrippina, 36, 163, 164, 165, 180.
Alexander the Great, 334.
Alford, 9, 371, 435.
Allen, A. V. G., 467.
Anton, P., 425.
Anz, Wilhelm, 350.
Apelles, 335.
Apollos, 134, 140-1, 430.
Aristarchus, 275, 279.
Aristobulus, 197.
Aristotle, 306 sqq.
Arnold, M., 208, 419.
Ascension of Isaiah, 46, 47.
Askwith, E. H., 43, 47, 90, 93, 96.
Augustine, 28, 205, 239, quoting
Seneca, 175, 188.
Augustus, 91, 165, 171, 174, 176, 184,
333, 405.
Aust, Emil, 165, 175, 177, 178.
Ayasalouk, 332, 336.
Babington, C, 310, 316.
Bacon, B. W., 434, 447.
Bacon, Lord, 141, 437, 484.
Balfour, A. J., 228.
Baring-Gould, 130.
Barnabas, 88, 98, 100 sqq.
 St., 344, 369, 431, 441, 453.
Barth, A., 212.
Bartlet, J. V., 445.
Basil the Great, 372-3.
Bauer, Bruno, 66.
Baumgarten, 450.
Baur, F. C, 19, 64, 68, 82, 140, 194,
195, 298, 338, 348, 352, 367, 406,
433-4, 436, 444, 448, 462-3, 465.
Bax, Belfort, 316.
Becker, W. A., 308.
Beet, J. Agar, 463.
Bengel, 373.
Berliner, A., 185.
Bernard, J. IL, 435, 467.
Bertrand, Ernest, 435, 436, 440, 466.
Beyschlag, If., 47, 56, 111-2, 122,
156, 231, 239, 259, 434, 439, 453,
468, 471, 474-5.
Beza, 338, 378.
Bismarck, 365.
Black, William, 436.
Blair, William, 300, 309, 310, 314.
Blass, 90.
Bleek, 433, 447.
Boeckh, A., 300, 309, 310, 404.

Bottger, 90.
Bousset, 38, 43, 46, 47.
Brace, C. Loring, 169, 314.
Brown, ,T. (of Bedford), 397.
Browning, R., 394, 484.
Bruce, A. B., 100, 262, 413.
Burns, Robert, 484.
Bushnell, 247.
Caird, E., 125, 211.
Caligula, 44, 171, 176.
Callixtus, Reformer, 395.
Calvin, 205, 223, 454.
Candlish, Prof., 478, 479, 481.
Carlyle, 53, 305.
Carpocratians, 120.
Cato, 174, 309.
Celsus, 213, 4S0.
Chambers, W., 316, 323.
Charles, R. H., 46, 47, 291.
Charteris, A. H., 345, 372.
Chase, F. H., 96, 195.
Cheyne, T. K., 65, 189.
Children of God, a, Confirmation
manual, 395.
Chrysostom, 33, 45.
Church, R. W., 263-4.
Cicero, 33, 174, 175, 176, 187-8.
Clarkson, Thomas, 322.
Claudius, 36, 45, 131, 163, 171, 180,
188, 193, 318.
Clemen, Carl, 19, 65, 122, 156, 432,
434, 484-5.
Clement of Alexandria, 432.
 of Rome, 158-9, 344, 369, 431,
441, 446, 460-1.
Codex (67), 371.
Coleridge, 205.
Cone, Orel-lo, 358.
Constantine, 319.
Conybeare and Howson, 106, 435.
Cowper, W., 223-4.
Cox, S., 247.
Credner, 373, 374, 434.
Cybele, 177, 178, 283, 334-5.
Cyril, 45.
Daniel, 41 sqq.
Danmet. See Heuzy.
Davidson, S., 47, 364, 432, 434, 440.
Davies, J. Llewelyn, 394.
Davis, E. J., 281-2.
Deissmann, G. A., 3, 73-4, 104, 478.
Denney, Prof. J., 291, 385.
Derenbourg, 104, 189.
Dickson. Prof., 122.

INDEX

505

Didache, 344, 441, 460.
Dieterich, A., 10.
Dill, S., 179.
Dinocrates, 333.
Dion Cassius, 171, 180, 193.
Dods, Prof. M., 175, 435.
Dollinger, J. J. I., 33, 120, 169,
173, 183, 191, 194-5, 215, 309,
382.
Domitia Lepida, 164.
Domitian, 198, 318.
Domitius Ahenobarbus, 164.
Dorner, 49, 247, 388.
Drummond, Principal, 350.
 R. J., 451.
Dykes, Principal, 240.
Eadie, 47, 341.
Ecclesiasticus, 349.
Eichhorn, 425, 433, 486.
Eliot, George, 436.
Ellicott, 246, 247, 376, 473.
Ellis, F. S., 438.
Emerson, 307.
Epictetus, 180, 182.
Erasmus, 298, 347-8.
Erostratus, 334.
Eusebius, 276, 402.
Evanson, Ed., 65.
Ewald, 201, 363, 377, 434, 447.
Fairbairn, Principal A. M., 75, 397.
¦  Principal P., 47, 435, 455.
Falconer, T., 66.
Falkener, Edward, 331-2, 334, 335.
Farrar, F. W., 140, 181, 201, 435.
Findlay, Prof. G. G., 99, 339, 424,
435, 436.
Firth, J. B., 304.
Fisher, Prof. G. P., 129, 181.
Flaccus, 188.
Flint, Prof. R., 211, 213, 385.
Forrest, D. W., 15, 160, 247, 389.
Friedlander, L., 130, 166, 167, 168,
171, 172, 173, 176, 178, 189, 200.
 M., 350.
Garrucci, 185.
Gibbon, 166, 197, 199, 306, 309.
Gifford, E. H., 122, 201, 251, 258,
268, 413.
Gilbert, Prof. G. H., 435.
Ginsburg, C. D., 350.
Gladstone, W. E., 33,397.
Gloel, 38, 82.
Godet, 19, 38, 65, 90, 140, 156, 202,
205, 232, 246, 251, 267, 277, 296,
435, 441, 446, 447, 450, 466.
Godfrey of Bouillon, 245.
Gordon, General C, 130.

Gore, Bishop, 239, 259, 266-7, 335,
340, 392, 393, 394-5, 397, 457, 461,
467, 480.
Graetz, 104, 186, 189, 190.
Grafe, Ed., 117.
Granger, F., 174, 176.
Green, T. H., 211.
Grimm-Thayer, 341, 376, 437.
Grotius, 450.
Guhl and Koner, 166, 310.
Guizot, 317.
Hadrian, 318.
Hall, F. J., 413.
Hamilton, W. J., 281, 282.
Hanlein, 19.
Hare, J. C, 396-7.
Harnack, 11, 19, 83-4, 146, 165, 196,
350, 434, 461, 467.
Harper, Chancellor, 307.
Hase, 14, 19.
Hatch, Edwin, 195, 391-2, 393, 397,
434, 449, 467, 472, 473.
Hausrath, 19, 38, 90, 92, 122, 132,
156, 177, 181, 182, 184, 190, 275,
332, 335, 362, 415-6, 434, 444.
Headlam, A. C. See Sanday.
Heber, Bishop, 240.
Heraclitus, 335.
Herculaneum, 166.
Hermas, 344, 441.
Herodotus, 215.
Hesse, 434.
Heuzy and Daumet, 404.
Hilgenfeld, 19.
Hippolytus, 42-3.
Hitzig, 434.
Hodge, Prof. C, 240.
Holsten, 19, 83, 90, 122.
Holtzmann, H. J., 19, 38, 82, 90,
156, 345, 348, 352, 353, 362, 363-4,
366, 367, 431-2, 434, 436-7, 440,
442, 444, 465, 467, 468, 485.
 O., 90.
Hooker, Richard, 396.
Hort, F. J. A., 6, 194, 201, 267-8,
276, 286, 340, 346, 353, 358, 359,
360, 371, 374, 376, 392-3, 397,
435, 449, 471, 473, 474, 484. Sec
also Westcott.
Howson. See Conybeare.
Hudson, E. H., 190.
Huidekoper, F., 166, 171, 181, 184,
190, 191.
Humphreys, A. E., 435.
Huther, 435.
Hutton, R. H., 12, 491-2.
Ignatius, 344, 356, 379, 407, 432,
441, 461-2, 463, 466, 467-8.

506

INDEX

Illingworth, J. R., 211. i
Illyria, 429.
Immer, 434.
Ingram, J. Kells, 311.
Iremeus, 231, 345, 432, 462, 463.
Izates of Adiabene, 103-4.
James, Prof. W., 256, 418.
Jeremiah, 259, 260.
Jerome, 45, 345, 373, 402.
Josephus, 69, 104, 1S7.
Jowett, B., 4, 17, 256, 258-9, 350.
Jiilicher, 19, 38, 65, 90, 349, 432,
434, 440, 478, 485.
Justinian, 311, 319.
Juvenal, 186, 188, 310.
Kabisch, 47, 122.
Kant, 210-11.
Keim, 14.
Kemiedv, J. H., 155, 156.
Klopper, 38, 156, 277, 286, 341, 378.
Knoke, 434, 443.
Knowling, R. J., 13, 14, 15, 19, 65,
82, 264.
Koner. See Guhl.
Krenkel, 156, 434.
Kiihl, Ernst, 259, 463, 107, 4a.
Laborde, 282.
Lactantius, 45.
Lanciani, 197—8.
Leake, W. M., 404.
Lerkv, W. E. H., 173, 176, 178,
179, 182, 190, 199, 316, 319, 320,
321.
Lefroy, W., 397.
Leighton, Archbishop, 215.
Lemme, 434.
Leo xm., Pope. 371, 397.
Lewin, T., 127, 193, 404.
LexPetronia, 318.
Lichtenberger, 66.
Liddon, H. P., 231.
Lightfoot, Bishop J. B., 4, 87, 90,
98, 108, 167, 181, 196, 201, 272,
274, 276, 286, 294, 303, 304, 338,
352, 371, 372, 393, 396, 397, 407,
432, 435, 436, 439, 445, 447, 450,
462, 467, 468.
Lincoln, President, 76, 315.
Lindsay, Principal, vii, 397, 467.
Lipsius, 19, 38. 65, 90, 420, 450.
Lock, Walter, 358.
Lorfia of Jesus, 5-3.
Loman, 67.
Loofs, 467.
Liidemann, 122.
Luther, 10, 85, US, 205, 223, 330.
Lyell, >ir Charles, 166.

Macaulay, 437, 481.
Maccabees, 183.
'! Maccabees, 437.
McGiffert, 90, 140, 156, 374, 378,
409, 420, 434, 443, 445, 446, 447,
450, 453, 477.
Macpherson, J., 274, 341, 435, 445,
447.
Mahaffy, Prof., 346.
Manen, Van, 65, 67-84.
Mangold, 19, 362, 434.
Mansel, Dean, 257, 2S5, 350, 351.
Marcion, 201, 345, 370, 371-2, 371-5,
432, 434, 449.
Martensen, 120-1.
Masson, D., 438.
Medici, 266.
Mehemet Ali, 403.
Melanchthon, 223.
Merivale, 11, 166, 178, 179, 181.
Meyer, 258, 275, 277, 338, 341, 376,
434.
Michaelis, 19.
Milligan, Prof., 373, 377, 398.
Milman, 146-8, 184, 193.
Milton, 261, 290, 417, 438.
Moberly, R. C, 394, 397, 461, 467.
Moffatt, James, 156, 201, 434, 435,
440-1, 443, 447, 453, 463-4, 475,
478, 485.
Mommsen, 166, 168, 177, 179, 188,
278.
Morison, Principal J., 224.
Moulton. See Winer.
Mozley, J. B., 257.
Mulier, Max, 198, 212, 213, 214.
Muratorian Fragment, 432, 446, 480.
Naber. See Pierson.
Napoleon, 76.
Narcissus, 197, 201.
Neander, 199, 349, 433, 447, 450,
479.
Nestle, 371, 432.
Newman, F. W., 325, 326.
 J. H., 199, 419, 490.
Niebuhr, 167, 179, 181.
Niemeyer, 90.
Oetavia, 165.
Oltramare, 338, 346. 356, 357, 361,
365, 372, 377.
Origen, 198, 201, 372, 373, 4 80.
Orr, Prof. James, 181, 211, 247.
Paley, 365.
Paret 13.
Patrick, Prof. J., 198, 213.
Perrot, 90.
p,.,hito, 432.

INDEX

507

Plloidoror, 0., 1-1, 1!), 33, 38, 90, 102,
113, 1-10, Hill, 211, 212, 21 I, 239,
25H, 275, 298, 338, !l-l|, Still, 360,
362-3, -131, -150, -152 3, 467, 468,
•1(111-70, 473.
Philip ol' Mnoodon, 40-1.
Philo, 18-1, 2M9, 319, 350, 351.
Piorson and Nubor, 00-7.
Plato, 21,3.
Pliny, 171, 170.
— the Younger, 30-1.
Pliinmior, -I :ir».
Pluinplro, 1HU, 197, 435.
PlliUroh, 167, 18(1, 331, 335, 406.
Polycarp, 3-1-1, 356, 407, -132, -III.
P'Hiipoy, 1,83, 1,87, 191.
I'omponiii. (li'iiM'ina, 197.
Poppieu, 165, 1,89, 278.
Powell, 11. 0., 413.
I'l'ONHUllH^, Do, 111.
Rnmsay, Prof. \V. M',,6-l, 68, 86, 88,
90, 91, 92, 93, 9-1, 95, 100, 112,
113, 187, 278, 279, 280, 2,83, 333,
402, 405, -106, -135, -136 7, 416,
¦1-17-8.
liiishdiill, II., 3S7.
Rmvlitison, (loorgo, 215.
Rointioh, 186, 1,8?, 193.
lvomi.il. 111, 21, 36, 3,8, (M, 82, 90,
133, 171, 178, 1.86, 195, 201, 298,
350, 356, 363, 402, 401, -114, 415,
¦131, -139, 110, 417.
Rnndn.ll, 90.
litmus, 19, 38, 122, 201, 229, 239,
252 3, 272. 275, 319, 352, 305,
429, 433, 4 13, 4 15, I III, 450, 4T.2,
478.
Ri'villo, .Iciin, 134, 16(1, 407, 470, 471.
Rilsohl, 118, 432, 133.
h'ohcrfson. Principal A., 151, 156,369.
Rousseau, 129.
Kuskin, 58, 129.
Russell, 0. W. V,., 37.
Snluitior, A., 15, 19, 38, 62, 90, 99,
151, 156, 275, 298, ;||\(i, ;17I, -IK),
¦181, 136, I 10, -l-ld, -152, -171.
Salmon, (!., 316, -135.
Snlnioud, Prini'ipnl S. D. F., 33,
209, 3,82.
Similars. T. C., 31 I,
Humid v, Prof. W., 90, 121, 155, 156,
361,' 391, 396, 397. 432, 435, 157,
167, 4 70, 179.
mid llcadlniii, (15, W. 122, 197,
201,. 229, 250, 251, 254-5, 258,
31 11 -7.
Ssiussiiyo. Oo la, 209.
Savonarola, 55, 266.

Sehall', P., 56, 390, 150.
Schelling, o|6.
Nr.himliol, 275.
Schiller, lleniianii, 16-1, 165 160
181, 276.
Sclileieriiiaobor, 363, 133.
Schiuiedol, P. VV,, 19, 47, 05, 90, 91,
92, 156.
Sell ruder, 19.
Schub!, 201, 275.
Sohilror, 90, 102, 103, 184, 1.85, 187,
405.
Scliwill. Soo Thulchor.
Scott, Sir W.. 317.
Scrivener, 871.
Seneca, 164, 165, 175, 180-2, 188,
213, 217, 421.
Septuagint, 437.
Sermon, ou, the Mount, 26-1.
Shairp, Principal, 130.
.Shakespeare, 76, 43,8, |S5.
Shelley, 438-9.
Sibylfiue Oracles, 40, 191, 332, 480.
Siolforl,, 90.
Siimiox, W. II., 4 10 1.,
Simon, Theodur, 122.
Sinaiticus, Codc.c, 370-1.
SisiiHindi, 316.
Smith, Adam, 315.
 Ooldwin, 307, 308, 31-1, 323,325.
Siinrakos, 2 1 3.
Soden, Von, 19, 38, 271, 338, 341,
315, 361, 362 3, 132, 131.
Sonuirvillo, I) , 15.
Spitta, K., 17, 135, -147.
Sl.udo, 10-1.
Stanley, A. P., 8, 140.
Stork, II. , 67, 69.
Sfoiniuolz, h'., 135, 417.
Sl.ophou, Sir Leslie, 436.
Stevens, Prof. G. I!,, 288.
Stier, 373.
Sl.olz, 223.
Stowo, Mrs. Hoeoher, 323.
Strong, T. It., IiL
Suotonius, 161, 176, 193.
Svobodn, 2,81, 282.
Swete, II. H,, 371.
Tacitus, 36, 16-1, 165, 171, 175,
186-7, 196, 197, 276, 280.
Talmud, 349.
Teiohniann, 122.
Tennyson, 18 I.
Torlu'llian, 15, 187, 371-2. 374-5,
¦132, -155, 179 80.
Thackeray. II. SI. John, 47, 351.
Thiil.oher and Srhwill, 315.
Thayer. See Grimm.
Thonius, 1-1,

508

INDEX

Theodoret, 45.
Theodosius, 311, 319.
Thiersch, 90, 275.
Tiberius, 176, 184, 333.
Tiele, C. P., 212.
Tischendorf, 371.
Titus, Emperor, 171.
Trajan, 165, 171.
Trench, Archbishop, 209.
Turner, C. H., 100.
Tylor, E. B., 209, 212.
Ueberweg, 350.
Ussher, Archbishop, 378.
Valentinus, 350, 352, 449.
Vasona, Bishop of, 55.
Vaticanus, Codex, 370-1.
Vedas, 212.
Vespasian, 198.
Vincent, M. R., 276, 467.
Volter, 67.
Wace, Henry, 368, 432, 435.
Waddington, 432.
Wallace, Prof. W., 173, 209-10,213.
Waylaud, Prof. F., 315-6, 329.
Weber, G., 332.
 V., 90, 250.
Wegscheider, 425.

Weiss, B., 4, 15, 3S, 46, 47, 90, 122,
140, 156, 275, 277, 291, 293, 338,
341, 365, 366, 373, 420, 431, 435,
446, 480.
Weizsacker, 18, 38, 90, 122, 135,
140, 154, 156, 201, 298, 353, 367,
369, 409, 420, 434, 467.
Wendt, H. H., 14, 90.
Wernle P. 99.
Westcott, B. F. W., 350, 385.
 and Hort, 370, 374.
Wette, De, 433.
Whately, Archbishop, 146.
Wilkinson, J. G., 215.
Winer-Moulton, 341, 376.
Wisdom of Solomon, 209, 349.
Wittichen, 19.
Wood, J. T., 331-2, 334.
Workman, W. P., 437-8.
Xenophon, 213, 346.
Zahn, Adolph, 113.
 Theodor, 19, 38, 65, 86, 90-91,
97, 156, 200, 303, 324, 346, 365,
425, 435, 447.
Zechariah, 190.
Zbckler, 86, 90, 275.
Zohar, 350.
Zuinpt, 166.

PT1INTED EV MORRISON AND GIUB LIMITED, EDINBURGH

T. & T. Clark's Publications.

THE NEW BIBLICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
A DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE,
Dealing with its Language, Literature, and Contents,
including the Biblical Theology.
Edited by James Hastings, M.A., D.D., with the assistance of J. A, Selbie,
D.D., and, chiefly in the Revision of the Proofs, of A. B. Davidson,
D.D., LL.D., Edinburgh; S. E, Driver, D.D., Litt.D., Oxford; and
H. B. Swete, D.D., Litt.D., Cambridge.

IN FIVE LARGE VOLUMES, IMPERIAL 8vo,
INCLUDING THE EXTRA VOLUME JUST ISSUED.
Price per Volume in Cloth Binding, 28s. Also in elegant Half-Morocco
Bindings, prices (from 34s. per Volume) on application.

'This great Dictionary. . . . Marked throughout hy ripe scholarship and by a remarkable
combination of fulness and conciseness.' - Times.
Tho Guardian says : (Vol. I.)—' We offer Dr. Hastings our sincere congratulations on the
publication of the first instalment of this great enterprise. . . . A work was urgently needed which
should present the student with the approved results of modern inquiry, and which should also
acquaint him with the methods by which theological problems are now approached by the most
learned and devout of our theologians.' (Vol. II.) — 'Dr. Hastings has brought out the second
volume of his great Dictionary in good time. . . . The critical articles seem to us to maintain the
same high level of excellence which we naturally expect from their distinguished writers. . . .
Dr. Sanday's article "Jesus Christ" will take rank as of the first importance for students of
theology.' (Vol. III.) — 'There is certainly no falling off in the quality of the work contained
in this volume,' (Vol. IV.) — 'We have no hesitation in recommending Hastings' Dictionary to
students of the Bible as the best work of the kind which exists in English.'
'That there was room and need for such a book is unquestionable. . . . We have here all
that the student can desire, a work of remarkable fulness, well up to date, and yet at the same
time conservative in its general tendency, almost faultlessly accurate, and produced by the
publishers in a most excellent and convenient style. We can thoroughly recommend it to our
readers as a book which should fully satisfy their anticipations. . . . This new Dictionary is one
of the most important aids that have recently been furnished to a true understanding of Scripture,
and, properly used, will brighten and enrich the pulpit work of every minister who possesses it.
. . . We are greatly struck by the excellence of the short articles. They are better done than in
any other work of the kind. We have compared several of them with their sources, and this
shows at once the unpretentious labour that is behind them. . . . Dr. A. B. Davidson is a tower
of strength, and he shows at his best in the articles on Angels, on Covenant (a masterpiece, full of
illumination), and on Eschatology of the Old Testament. His contributions are the chief
ornaments and treasure-stores of the Dictionary. . . . We are very conscious of having done most
inadequate justice to this very valuable book. Perhaps, however, enough has been said to show
our great sense of its worth. It is a book that one is sure to be turning to again and again with
increased confidence and gratitude. It will be an evil omen for the Church if ministers do not
come forward to make the best of the opportunity now presented them.'— Editor, British Weekly.
'Without question the most important contribution to the second volume is Dr. Sanday's
article on "Jesus Christ." There is nothing in English so full (it tikes up fifty pages in double
column), so trustworthy, or so modern, and it makes the volume which contains it indispensable
to students.'— Journal of Theological Studies.
' Will give widespread satisfaction. Every person consulting it may rely upon its trustworthi
ness. . . . Far away in advance of any other Bible Dictionary that has ever been published in real
usefulness for preachers, Bible students, and teachers.'— Methodist Recorder.

V Full Prospectus, with Specimen Pages, from all Booksellers, or from the Publishers.

T. & T. Clark's Publications.

e $rct cmaf tonal Critical Cnmmmfarg,
UNDER THE KDITORSIIlr OK
The Rev. S. R. DRIVER, D.D., Oxford; the Rev. A. PLUMMER, M.A., D.D., Durham;
and the Rev. C. A. BRIGGS, D.D., New York.
' The publication of this series marks an epoch in English exegesis.' — British Weekly.
The First Eleven Volumes are now ready, viz. :—
(1) Numbers. By Prof. G. Buchanan Gray, D.D. 12s.
(2) Deuteronomy. By Prof. S. R. Driver, D.D. Third Ed. 12s.
(3) Judges. By Prof. G. F. Moore, D,D Second Edition. 12s.
(4) The Books of Samuel. By Prof. H. P. Smith, D.D. 12s.
(5) Proverbs. By Professor C. H. Tot, D.D. 12s.
(6) St. Mark. By Prof. E. P. Gould, D.D. 10s. 6d.
(7) St. Luke. By A. Plummer, D.D. Fourth Edition. 12s.
(8) Romans. By Professor W. Sanday, D.D., LL.D., and Rev.
A. C. Headlam, B.D., Oxford. Fourth Edition. 12s.
(9) Philippians and Philemon. By Professor Marvin R.
Vincent, D.D. Second Edition. 8s. 6d.
(10) Ephesians and Colossians. By T. K. Abbott, D.Lit.
10s. 6d.
(11) Peter and Jude. By Prof. Charles Bigg, D.D. 10s. 6d.
(1) Church Bells says : ' Dr. Gray's commentary will be indispensable to every English
student.'
(2) Prof. G. A. Smith (in the Critical Review) says : ' The series could have had no
better introduction than this volume from its Old Testament editor. . . . Dr.
Driver has achieved a commentary of rare learning and still more rare candour and
sobriety of judgment.'
(3) Bishop H. E. Eyle, D.D., says: 'I think it may safely be averred that so full
and scientific a commentary upon the text and subject-matter of the Book of Judges
has never been produced in the English language.'
(4) Literature says : ' The most complete and minute commentary hitherto published.'
(5) The Bookman says : ' Must at once take its place as the authority on " Proverbs." '
(6) The Baptist Ma ejazine says: 'As luminously suggestive as it is concise and sober.
The commentary proper is thoughtful, judicious, and erudite — the work of a master
in hermeneutics. '
(7) The Record says : ' Dr. Plummer's work is, it need hardly be said, admirably done,
both in the introduction and in the commentary. Readers will peruse with pleasure
his treatment of the leading characteristics of the Gospel.'
(8) Principal P. H. Chase, D.D., Cambridge, says : ' We welcome it as an epoch-making
contribution to the study of St. Paul. '
(9) The Scotsman says : ' In every way worthy of the series which was so well com
menced [in the New Testament] with the admirable commentary on the Romans by
Dr. Sanday and Mr. Headlam. '
(10) The Expository Times says: 'There is uo work in all the " International " series
that is more faithful or more felicitous. . . . Dr. Abbott understands these Epistles
— we had almost said as if he had written them.'
(11) The Guardian says: 'A iirst-rate critical edition of these Epistles has been for a
long time a felt want in English theological literature . . . this has been at last
supplied by the labours of Canon Bigg. . . . His notes are full of interest and
suggestiveness.'
*?* A Prospectus, ejiving full details of the Series, with list of Contributors, post free.

T. & T. Clark's Publications.

CJtt Intairttonal C^ntogixnl SBfoarji.
EDITED BY
Principal S. D. F. SALMON D, D.D., and Peofessou C. A. BRIGGS, D.D.
' A valuable and much-needed addition to the theological literature of the English-
speaking nations. ' — A to demy.
The First Eleven Volumes of the Series are now ready, viz. : —
(1) An Introduction to the Literature of the Old
Testament. By Prof. S. R. Driver, D.D. 7th Edition. 12s.
(2) Christian Ethics. By Newman Smyth, D.D. 3rd Edition.
10s. 6d.
(3) Apologetics ; or, Christianity Defensively Stated. By Professoi
A. B. Bruce, D.D. 3rd Edition. 10s. 6d.
(4) History of Christian Doctrine. By Professor G. P.
Fisher, D.D., LL.D. 2nd Edition. 12s.
(5) A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age.
By Professor A. C. McGiffert, D.D. 12s.
(6) Christian Institutions. By Prof. A. V. G. Allen, D.D. 12s.
(7) The Christian Pastor and The Working Church.
By Washington Gladden, D.D., LL.D. 10s. 6d.
(8) The Theology of the New Testament. By Professor
George B. Stevens, D.D. 12s.
(9) The Ancient Catholic Church. From the Accession of
Trajan to the Fourth General Council [a.d. 98-451]. By
Principal R. Rainy, D.D. 12s.
(10) Old Testament History. By Prof. H. P. Smith, D.D. 12?.
(11) Old Testament Theology. By the late Prof. A. B.
Davidson, D.D. 12s.
(11 The Guardian says: 'By far the best account of the great critical problems con-
nected with the Old Testament that has yet been written. ... It is a perfect
marvel of compression and lucidity combined. A monument of learning and well-
balanced judgment. '
(2) The Bookman says: 'It is the work of a wise, well-informed, independent and
thoroughly competent writer. It is sure to become the text-book m Christian Ethics.
IS) The Expository Times says: 'The force and the freshness of all the writings that
Dr Bruce has hitherto published have doubtless led many to look forward with
eager hope to this work ; and there need not be any fear of disappointment.
(4) The CriUcal Review says: 'A clear, readable, well-proportioned, and, regarding it
as a whole remarkably just and accurate account of what the course and develop
ment of doctrine throughout the ages, and in different countries, has been.
(5) The Literary World says: 'A reverent and eminently candid treatment of the
Apostolic Age in the light of research.'
(6) The Christian World says: 'Unquestionably Professor Allen's most solid perform-
ance -and that in view of what he has already accomplished, is saying a great deal.
(71 The Baptist Magazine says: ' We know of no treatise so comprehensive as this. . . .
1 ' In factf there is scarcely a phase of pastoral duty which is not touched upon
luminously and to good purpose.' ,„,•>, , .
(8) The Bookman says : ' We are surprised by the strength and brilliance of this book
9 The Record says: 'A very learned, a very clearly stated, and a pre-emmently
readable book.'  . 
V Prospectus, giving full details of the Series, with list of Contributors, post free.

T. & T. Clark's Publications.

The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia.
The Gifford Lectures on the Ancient Egyptian and Babylonian
Conception of the Divine. By A. H. Sayce, M.A., LL.D.,
Professor of Assyriology in the University of Oxford. 8vo, 8s. net.
' Extremely interesting. . . . One can have no guide in these complex subjects more
learned or more considerate to his readers' difficulties than Professor Sayce. He
always writes from the amplest knowledge, and he always writes clearly.' — Spectator.
'Dr. Sayce has in the present volume given the learned world a very distinctly
epoch-making book.' — Record.
1 We have no work on the subject so thoroughly up to date, so exhaustive, or so
easy to be followed and understood.' — Glasgow Herald.
' The expositions all through are given in a clear and popular style, which will
secure for the book a wide circulation. All is done, too, with the firmness and definite-
ness of one long familiar with these subjects, and observant of every new thing that
tends to the better understanding of these ancient faiths.' — Critical Review.
Explorations in Bible Lands during the Nineteenth
Century. Edited by Professor H. V. Hilprecht. Large 8vo,
12s. 6d. net.
A work of special importance. The section on ' Palestine' is by Prof. Benzinger;
'Egypt,' by Dr. Steindorff ; 'Arabia,' by Dr. F. Hommel ; 'The Hittites,' by
Dr. Jensen ; and ' Assyria and Babylonia,' by the Editok. The volume contains
over 700 pages, and is enriched by over 200 Plates and Four Maps specially drawn
for it.
Messrs. Clark haoe pleasure in drawing special attention to this important work. In the opinion
of a well-known scholar in this country, 'it should be halted as by far the best account of the
Explorations. It is minute, but neuer obscure, and it Is most interesting in every part.'
' This work of Professor Hilprecht's will be welcomed by all students of human
origins ; for the account which he gives of the systematic explorations for the first time
reveals to us the astonishing discoveries that have been made.' — Times.
' The chief interest in this excellent volume will be found in the fact that it is the
first really scientific chronicle of scientific excavation in Babylonia. It will be most
gratefully welcomed by all students of Oriental history and archeology.' — Daily
Chronicle. ' We have found it as fascinating as a novel. It is a veritable romance of exploration
and excavation, and one found oneself getting more and more excited as the story of
discovery unfolded itself. We would advise all Bible students to get this book and
read it.' — Methodist Times.
The Oldest Code of Laws in the World. The Code of Laws
promulgated by Hammurabi, King of Babylon, B.C. 2285-2242.
Translated by C. H. W. Johns, M.A., Lecturer on Assyriology,
Queens' College, Cambridge. Crown 8vo, ls. 6d. net.
' The discovery and decipherment of this Code is the greatest event in biblical
archaeology for many a day. A translation of the Code, done by Mr. Johns, of Queens'
College, Cambridge, the highest living authority on this department of study, has just
been published by Messrs. T. & T. Clark in a cheap and attractive booklet. Winckler
says it is the most important Babylonian record which has thus far been brought to
light.' — Expository Times.
J The Code of Hammurabi is the most important " find" in the annals of Assyriology
—indeed, it is no exaggeration to say tbat a legal code forty-one centuries old is of no
little significance for the history of humanity in general ; whilst for its bearings upon
the Old Testament it is a particularly welcome document, which may claim to rank as
equal with, if not above, the now familiar Babylonian creation-legends and deluge-
myths.' — Guardian.

T. & T. Clark's Publications.

The Fatherhood of God in Christian Truth and Life. By the
Rev. J. Scott Lidgett, M.A., Warden of Bermondsey Settlement.
8vo, 8s. net.
This book is an attempt to establish the Fatherhood of God as the determining fact
of Christian life and the determining principle of Christian theology. Among the
subjects dealt with are : The New Testament Doctrine of the Fatherhood of God.
Place in New Testament Theology. The Eelation of the Old Testament Doctrine to
the Fatherhood of God. The Doctrine in Church History. Validity and Content.
Manifestation. ' Every reader will own the masterly skill with which Mr. Lidgett handles his sub
ject, the breadth of his reasoning, the wide knowledge which he brings to bear on
«very page of his work, and the zeal which fuses and transfuses the whole.' — Methodist
Recorder. ' Mr. Lidgett has certainly made an honest and valuable contribution to the study of
a very great doctrine.' — Guardian.
' This is undoubtedly a great book. Mr. Lidgett's scholarly, sober, and comprehen
sive judgment has worked hand in hand with ripe experience, deep insight, and a true
appreciation of tbe blessings that flow to men from the realisation of their true relation
to their Heavenly Father.' — Baptist Magazine.
The Pauline Epistles. Introductory and Expository Studies.
By Rev. R. D. Shaw, M.A., D.D., Edinburgh. Second Edition.
8vo, 8s. net.
' Of all the Introductions to St. Paul's Epistles I have read, this is the best.' —
Methodist Times.
' A thoroughly good and useful book. ' — Guardian.
' Ought to prove a very useful guide to the professional student as well as to the
inquiring layman. Nothing essential is missed which could aid the student to under
stand the circumstances which evoked the letters and the aim they sought to achieve.'
— British Weekly.
' This book is as genuine a surprise as we have had for many a day. Clearly Dr.
Shaw is one of the younger men of whom the Scottish Churches are so proud — steeped
in the literature of the subject he has chosen to write upon, and strong enough to
handle it with refreshing candour, and yet concerned always and most entirely to
reveal the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which the Pauline Epistles contain.' —
Expository Times.
The Words of Jesus. Considered in the Light of Post-Biblical
Jewish Writings and the Aramaic Language. By Professor G.
Dalman, Leipzig. Authorised English Translation by Professor
D. M. Kay, St. Andrews. Post 8vo, 7s. 6d. net.
' He who does not know that Dalman is necessary, does not know much yet about
the study of the New Testament in Greek.' — Expository Times.
' No German scholar has given us a volume so absolutely indispensable to the under
standing of the New Testament.' — British Weekly.
' We trust that Dr. Dalman's volume will be carefully studied and sifted. To use a
very hackneyed phrase, it is an epoch-making book. It is a very splendid piece of
work.' — Record. *

T. & T. Clark's Publications.

Eras of tbe Christian Cburcb.
Edited by John Fulton, D.D., LL.D.
Complete in TEN VOLUMES. Price 6s. each; ok £1, 5s. net, per set.
The Guardian says : 'These volumes certainly must be said to answer their descrip
tions admirably. The reader will find in them studies in the history of the Church in
a series of short chapters which are always interesting and often very pioturesque.'
' These " Eras" are histories that will be enjoyably read and easily remembered.'—
Literary World.
The Age of Hildebrand. By Professor M. R. Vincent, D.D.
The Great Western Schism. By Clinton Locke, D.D.
The Age of the Crusades. By James M. Ludlow, D.D.
The Ecumenical Councils. By Professor W. P. Du Bose, D.D.
The Age of the Renascence. By Henry Van Dyke, D.D.,
and Paul Van Dyke.
The Anglican Reformation. By Professor W. R. Clark,
LL.D., D.C.L., Trinity College, Toronto. (Editor and Translator
of Bishop Hefele's Councils of the Church.)
The Age of Charlemagne. By Professor Charles L. Wells.
The Post-Apostolic Age. By Lucius Waterman, D.D.
The Apostolic Age. By Prof. J. Vernon Bartlet, M.A., Oxford.
The Protestant Reformation. By Professor W. Walker,
Ph.D., D.D., Hartford.
The Essence of Christianity: A Study in the History of
Definition. By Professor W. Adams Brown, Ph.D., D.D., Union
Theological Seminary, New York. Just published, post 8vo, 6s. net.
' A remarkable book. It is remarkable for its thoroughness and its lucidity. The
subject is one of urgent importance. Dr. Brown sees that the very existence of
Christianity depends on an understanding; — and a reliable understanding — of its
essence. And he has given himself to this difficult task without reserve. . . . There
is no book of recent issue in America that is more likely to appeal to the English
student.' — Dr. Hastings in the Expository Times.
The Apostles' Creed : Its Origin, Purpose, and Historical Inter
pretation. By Professor A. C McGiffert, D.D., Author of ' The
Apostolic Age ' (International Theological Library). Post 8vo,
price 4s. net.
' Perhaps the easiest introduction to the Creeds which we possess, and yet it has
to be reckoned with, answered, or accepted, by the ripest creedal scholar.' — Expository
Times. ' The whole is a work exhaustive, lucid, convincing.' — Hibbert Journal.

T. & T. Clark's Publications.

CONCORDANCE TO THE GREEK TESTAMENT. MOULTON-GEDEN.
A Concordance to the Greek Testament : According to the
Texts of Westcott and Hort, Tischendorf, and the English Revisers,
Edited by W. F. Moulton, D.D., and A. S. Geden, M.A. In crown
4to (pp. 1040). Second Edition, Revised throughout. Price 26s.
net; or in half-morocco, price 31s. 6d. net.
**.* It will be generally allowed that a new Concordance to the Greek Testament is much needed
in the interests of sacred scholarship. This work adopts a new principle, and aims at providing
a full and complete Concordance to the text of the Greek Testament as it is set forth in the
editions of Westcott and Hort, Tischendorf (8th), and the English Reuisers. The first-named
has throughout been taken as the standard, and the marginal readings have been included. Thus
the student with any one of these three editions in his hands will find himself in possession of a
complete Concordance to the actual text on which he is engaged. While the method employed, it
may fairly be' claimed, precludes the omission of any word or phrase which, by even a remote
probability, might be regarded as forming part of the true text of the New Testament, on the
other hand passages disappear as to the spuriousness of which there is practical unanimity
among scholars.
Professor W. SANDAY, D.D., LL.D., Oxford, writes: 'There can be no question as to the
value of the new "Concordance." It is the only scientific Concordance to the Greek Testament,
and the only one that can be safely used for scientific purposes. '
•It would be difficult to overpraise this invaluable addition to biblical study. . . . For all
English students of the Greek Testament this great work is indispensable.'— British Weekly.
Prospectus, with Specimen Page, free on application.
The Historical New Testament : Being the Literature of the
New Testament arranged in the order of its Literary Growth and
according to the Dates of the Documents. A New Translation,
Edited, with Prolegomena, Historical Tables, Critical Notes, and an
Appendix, by James Moffatt, D.D. Second Edition. One large
8vo Volume, price 16s.
' The most important book on the credentials of Christianity that has appeared in
this country for a long time. It is a work of extraordinary learning, labour, and
ability. ' — British Weekly.
The Christ of History and of Experience. Being the Third
Series of 'Kerr Lectures.' By Rev. David W. Forrest, D.D.,
Edinburgh. In post 8vo, New and Cheaper Edition, price 6s.
' An exceedingly able treatment of a great and important subject.'— The late Professor
Calderwood. ' An eminently stimulating and improving book.' — Glasgow Herald.
' Displays marked ability, and possesses unusual interest.' — Manchester Guardian.
' ... It is scarcely necessary, however, to specify particular passages in a book
which throughout exhibits literary and theological powers of a high order, and which
abounds in observations and criticisms which could only have been penned by a
masculine and fearless, but reverent, thinker.' — Literature.
The Miracles of Unbelief. By Rev. Frank Ballard, M.A.,
B.Sc, London. Popular Edition, Revised throughout. Post 8vo,
2s. 6d. net.
* * By special request, Messrs. Clark have issued Chapter VIII., entitled,
'Jesus Christ: His Origin and Character,' in separate form, with cover, price
6d. net.
• Written by an expert in science as well as theology, a fair-minded man who faceB
reli<>-ious difficulties, not ignores them, and one who knows how to reason out his case
like°an accomplished advocate, without pressing it like an unscrupulous one. Mr.
Ballard has rendered valuable service to the cause of Christian truth, and given us an
excellent and useful book, deserving a large circulation. '—Prof essor W. T. Davison
in the Methodist Recorder.
' It is a perfect mine of quotation for men with little time for study, who are called,
as modern ministers are, to be not only visitors and workers but also preachers and
teachers.' — Guardian

T. & T. Clark's Publications.

Bible Studies. Contributions, chiefly from Papyri and Inscriptions,
to the History of the Language, Literature, and Religion of Hel
lenistic Judaism and Primitive Christianity. By Prof. G. Adolf
Deissmann, Heidelberg. Authorised Translation (incorporating Dr.
Deissmann's most recent changes and additions) by Rev. A. Grieve,
M. A., Ph.D. 8vo, price 9s.
' In every respect a notable book. ... As to its value there can be no hesitation
about the verdict. . . . Words, syntax, and ideas can all be tested over again by a
completely new apparatus of study, the lexicon of the New Testament can be enriched,
the grammar re- written, and the theology re-vivified and humanised.' — Dr. J. Bkndel
Harris in the Examiner.
Justification and Reconciliation. By Albrecht Ritschl.
Edited by Prof. H. R. Mackintosh, D.Phil., and A. B. Macaulay,
M.A. Second Edition. One large Vol. 8vo, price 14s.
'At last there is provided what has been a desideratum for years — a really reliable
translation of the great dogmatic work on " Justification," by which the most noted of
modern theologians chiefly made his mark on the thinking of his age.' — Critical Review.
' Dr. Mackintosh and his coadjutors have earned the gratitude of all theological
students in this country. . . . The present translation meets one of the most urgent
wants of the hour. Now the great systematic work of Bitschl is open to all.' — Prof.
J. Denney, D.D.
The Ritschlian Theology. Critical and Constructive : An
Exposition and an Estimate. By Professor A. E. Garvie, D.D.
Second Edition. 8vo, price 9s.
' Dr. Garvie's grasp of the subject is unsurpassed. . . . Nothing could be clearer or,
indeed, more fascinating in theological writing than this.' — Expository Times.
' Bitschlian literature is permanently enriched by this publication.' — British Weekly.
' The weightiest, warmest, and fairest work in English on its subject.' — Dr. P. T,
Forstth in tbe Speaker. BY PROFESSOR W. N. CLARKE, D.D.
line Bookman says: 'Dr. Clarke's charm both of thought and expression secure a
welcome for anything he may write.'
1. An Outline of Christian Theology. Twelfth Edition.
Post 8vo, price 7s. 6d.
' It is difficult to speak of this book in adequate terms without an appearance of
exaggerated praise. . . . Here at last the great vital truths of the Christian faith are
set along the lines of the highest thought of the liberal, reverent, modern mind, and
with consummate skill and fascinating interest. Theology is no doubt the queen of the
sciences, but, as usually presented, in somewhat austere, ponderous, antiquated guise,
has little human attraction. Here it is quick with human interest, answering to the
living thoughts of the living generation.' — Puritan.
2. What Shall We Think of Christianity? Crown 8vo,
price 2s. 6d.
'Dr. Clarke's "Outline of Christian Theology" had a reception rarely accorded to
an American book, and the sale is briskly proceeding. The new little book is written
in the same charming simplicity of language, and its thoughts are so great and simple
that it is likely to find an equally warm welcome beside its elder brother. There sre
three chapters: (1) The Christian People; (2) The Christian Doctrine; (3) The
Christian Power.' — Expository Times.
3. Can I Believe in God the Father? Crown 8vo,
price 3s.
'Dr. Clarke has here, as elsewhere, shown himself a master in the arts of popular
ising Christian apologetics.' — Christian World.

3 9002 05 V

. . _,

mm

:--/:

SsJSHgKSffiSj