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ANALYSIS 

OF CERTAIN OF 

ST PAUL S EPISTLES 



ANALYSIS 

OF CERTAIN OF 

ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

REPRINTED FROM 

BISHOP LIGHTFOOT S COMMENTARIES 

WITH PREFACE BY 

THE LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM 



EonDon: 
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED 

NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1906 

[All Rights reserved] 



Hatnbrtoge : 

PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. 
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 



SEP 61979 



PEEFACE. 

r I THIS little volume has been prepared in 
response to suggestions received by the 
Trustees of the Lightfoot Fund in their 
character of Bishop Lightfoot s literary ex 
ecutors. 

It was suggested that students of the 
Epistles of St Paul would welcome a consecu 
tive presentation of the marginal Summaries, 
often amounting to short paraphrases, which 
the Bishop regularly added to his Com 
mentaries on four of these Epistles, Com 
mentaries which made so important an epoch 
in English work upon the New Testament. 

Such a consecutive presentation is now in 
the reader s hands. It was found that here 
and there a small link was missing. But these 
links have been in every case supplied from 
the words of the great Commentator himself. 

HANDLEY DUN ELM. 

AUCKLAND CASTLE, 
Feb. 5, 1906. 



GALATIANS. 

ANALYSIS OF THE EPISTLE. 
I. 

PERSONAL, CHIEFLY IN THE FORM 
OF A NARRATIVE. 

I. 1 5. The salutation and ascription of 
praise so worded as to introduce the main 
subject of the letter. 

TAUL AN APOSTLE, whose authority does 
not flow from any human source, and whose 
office was not conferred through any human 
mediation, but through Jesus Christ, yea 
through God the Father Himself who raised 
Him from the dead together with all the 
brethren in my company to the CHURCHES 
OF GALATIA. Grace the fountain of all good 
things, and peace the crown of all blessings, be 
unto you from God the Father and our Lord 
Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins that 

L. 1 



2 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

He might rescue us from the tyranny of this 
present age with all its sins and miseries, 
according to the will of our God and Father, 
whose is the glory throughout all the ages. 
Amen. 

6 10. The Apostle rebukes tfie Galatians 
for their apostasy, denounces the false teachers, 
and declares the eternal truth of the Gospel 
which he preached. 

6 9. I marvel that ye are so ready to 
revolt from God who called you, so reckless in 
abandoning the dispensation of grace for a 
different gospel. A different gospel, did I say? 
Nay, it is not another. There cannot be two 
gospels. Only certain men are shaking your 
allegiance, attempting to pervert the Gospel of 
Christ. A vain attempt, for the Gospel per 
verted is no Gospel at all. Yea, though we 
ourselves or an angel from heaven (were it 
possible) should preach to you any other gospel 
than that which we have preached hitherto, let 
him be accursed. I have said this before, and 
I repeat it .now. If any man preaches to you 
any other gospel than that which ye were 
taught by us, let him be accursed. 



EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 3 

10. Let him be accursed, I say. What, 
does my boldness startle you ? Is this, I ask, 
the language of a time-server ? Will any say 
now that, careless of winning the favour of 
God, I seek to conciliate men, to ingratiate 
myself with men ? If I had been content thus 
to compromise, I should have been spared all 
the sufferings, as I should have been denied all 
the privileges, of a servant of Christ. 

This Gospel came directly from God. 

11, 12. He received it by special revelation. 

I assure you, brethren, the Gospel you 
were taught by me is not of human devising. 
I did not myself receive it from man, but 
from Jesus Christ. I did not learn it, as one 
learns a lesson, by painful study. It flashed 
upon me, as a revelation from Jesus Christ. 

13, 14. His previous education indeed could 
not have led up to it, for he was brought up in 
principles directly opposed to the liberty of the 
Gospel. 

My early education is a proof that I did 
not receive the Gospel from man. I was 
brought up in a rigid school of ritualism, 

] 2 



4 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

directly opposed to the liberty of the Gospel. 
I was from age and temper a staunch adherent 
of the principles of that school. Acting upon 
them, I relentlessly persecuted the Christian 
brotherhood. No human agency therefore 
could have brought about the change. It 
required a direct interposition from God. 

15 17. Nor could he have learnt it from 
the Apostles of the Circumcision, for he kept 
aloof from them for some time after his conver 
sion. 

1 Then came my conversion. It was the 
work of God s grace. It was foreordained, 
before I had any separate existence. It was 
not therefore due to any merits of my own, 
it did not spring from any principles of my 
own. The revelation of His Son in me, the 
. call to preach to the Gentiles, were acts of His 
good pleasure. Thus converted, I took no 
counsel of human advisers. I did not betake 
myself to the elder Apostles, as I might 
naturally have done. I secluded myself in 
Arabia, and, when I emerged from my retire 
ment, instead of going to Jerusalem, I returned 
to Damascus. 



EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 5 

18 24. And when at last he visited Jeru 
salem, his intercourse with them was neither close 
nor protracted, and he returned without being 
known even by sight to the mass of the believers. 

Not till three years were past did I go 
up to Jerusalem. My object in doing so 
was to confer with Cephas. But I did not 
remain with him more than a fortnight ; and 
of all the other Apostles I saw only James the 
Lord s brother. As in the sight of God, I 
declare to you that every word I write is true. 
Then I went to the distant regions of Syria 
and Cilicia. Thus I was personally unknown 
to the Christian brotherhood in Judsea. They 
had only heard that their former persecutor 
was now preaching the very faith which before 
he had attempted to destroy: and they glorified 
God for my conversion. 

II. 1 10. He visited Jerusalem again, it 
is true, after a lapse of years, but he carefully 
maintained his independence. He associated with 
the Apostles on terms of friendly equality. He 
owed nothing to them. 

1,2. An interval of fourteen years 
elapsed. During the whole of this time I had 



6 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

no intercourse with the Apostles of the Cir 
cumcision. Then I paid another visit to 
Jerusalem. My companion was Barnabas, who 
has laboured so zealously among the Gentiles, 
whose name is so closely identified with the 
cause of the Gentiles. With him I took Titus 
also, himself a Gentile. And here again I 
acted not in obedience to any human adviser. 
A direct revelation from God prompted me to 
this journey. 

3 5. But while I held conferences with 
the Apostles of the Circumcision, I did not 
yield to the clamours of the disciples of the 
Circumcision. An incident whch occurred will 
show this. Titus, as a Gentile who was 
intimately acquainted with me, was singled 
out as a mark for their bigotry. An attempt 
was made to have him circumcised. Concession 
was even urged upon me in high quarters, as 
a measure of prudence to disarm opposition. 
The agitators, who headed the movement, were 
no true brethren, no loyal soldiers of Christ. 
They were spies who had made their way into 
the camp of the Gospel under false colours and 
were striving to undermine our liberty in 
Christ, to reduce us again to a state of bondage. 



EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 7 

I did not for a moment yield to this pressure. 
I would not so compromise the integrity of the 
Gospel, the freedom of the Gentile Churches. 

6 9. The elder Apostles, I say, who are 
so highly esteemed, whose authority you so 
exclusively uphold for myself, I care not that 
they once knew Christ in the flesh : God does 
not so judge men; He measures them not by 
the outward advantages they have had, not by 
the rank they hold, but by what they are, by 
what they think and do well, these highly 
esteemed leaders taught me nothing new; 
they had no fault to find with me. On the 
contrary, they received me as their equal, they 
recognised my mission. They saw that God 
had entrusted to me the duty of preaching to 
the Uncircumcision, as He had entrusted to 
Peter that of preaching to the Circumcision. 
This was manifest from the results. My 
Apostleship had been sealed by my work. God 
had wrought by me among the Gentiles, not 
less than He had wrought by Peter among the 
Jews. This token of His grace bestowed upon 
me was fully recognised by James and Cephas 
and John, who are held in such high esteem, 
as pillars of the Church. They welcomed 



8 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

myself and Barnabas as fellow-labourers, and 
exchanged pledges of friendship with us. It 
was agreed that we should go to the Gentiles 
and they to the Jews. 

10. Henceforth our spheres of labour 
were to be separate. One reservation however 
was made. They asked me to continue, as 
I had done hitherto, to provide for the wants 
of the poor brethren of Judaea. Independently 
of their request, it was my own earnest desire. 

11 21. Nay more: at Antioch he rebuked 
Peter for his inconsistency. By yielding to 
pressure from the ritualists, Peter was sub 
stituting law for grace, and so denying the 
fundamental principle of the Gospel. 

11 14. At Jerusalem, I owed nothing 
to the Apostles of the Circumcision. I main 
tained my independence and my equality. At 
Antioch I was more than an equal. I openly 
rebuked the leading Apostle of the Circumci 
sion, for his conduct condemned itself. He 
bad been accustomed to mix freely with the 
Gentiles, eating at the same table with them. 
But certain persons arrived from James, and 
he timidly withdrew himself. He had not 



EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 9 

courage to face the displeasure of the Jewish 
converts. The rest were carried away by his 
example. Even Barnabas, my colleague, and 
fellow-apostle of the Gentiles, went astray. 

14, 15. Seeing that they had left the 
straight path and abandoned the true principles 
of the Gospel, I remonstrated with Cephas 
publicly. Thou thyself, though born and bred 
a Jew, dost nevertheless lay aside Jewish 
customs and livest as the Gentiles. On what 
plea then dost thou constrain the Gentiles to 
adopt the institutions of the Jews ? 

15, 16. Only consider our own case. We 
were born to all the privileges of the Israelite 
race : we were not sinners, as we proudly call 
the Gentiles. What then ? - We saw that the 
observance of law would not justify any man, 
that faith in Jesus Christ was the only means 
of justification. Therefore we turned to a 
belief in Christ. Thus our Christian profession 
is itself an acknowledgment that such obser 
vances are worthless and void, because, as the 
Scripture declares, no flesh can be justified by 
works of law. 

17 19. Thus to be justified in Christ, 
it was necessary to sink to the level of Gentiles, 



10 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

to become sinners in fact. But are we not 
thus making Christ a minister of sin ? Away 
with the profane thought. No ! the guilt is 
not in abandoning the law, but in seeking it 
again when abandoned. Thus, and thus alone, 
we convict ourselves of transgression. On the 
other hand, in abandoning the law we did but 
follow the promptings of the law itself. Only 
by dying to the law could we live unto God. 

20, 21. With Christ I have been crucified 
at once to the law and to sin. Henceforth 
I live a new life yet not I, but Christ liveth 
it in me. This new life is not a rule of carnal 
ordinances; it is spiritual, and its motive 
principle is faith in the Son of God who 
manifested His love for me by dying for my 
sake. I cannot then despise God s grace. I 
cannot stultify Christ s death by clinging still 
to a justification based upon law. 



EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 11 

II. 

DOCTRINAL, MOSTLY ARGUMENTATIVE. 

III. 1 5. The Galatians are stultifying 
themselves. They are substituting the flesh for 
the Spirit, the works of the law for the obedience 
of faith, forgetting the experience of the past 
and violating the order of progress. 

1. Christ s death in vain ? O ye senseless 
Gauls, what bewitchment is this ? I placarded 
Christ crucified before your eyes. You suffered 
them to wander from this gracious proclamation 
of your King. They rested on the withering 
eye of the sorcerer. They yielded to the fasci 
nation and were riveted there. And the life of 
your souls has been drained out of you by 
that envious gaze. 

2 5. I have only one question to ask 
you. The gifts of ^he Spirit which ye have 
received, to what do ye owe them ? To works 
performed in bondage to law, or to the willing 
hearing that comes of faith ? What monstrous 
folly is this then ! Will you so violate the 
divine order of progress ? After taking your 



12 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

earliest lessons in the Spirit, do you look to 
attaining perfection through the flesh ? - To 
what purpose then did ye suffer persecution 
from these carnal teachers of the law ? Will 
ye now stultify your past sufferings ? I cannot 
believe that ye will. 

6 9. Yet Abraham was justified by faith, 
and so must it be with the true children of 
Abraham. 

An offspring, countless as the stars, was 
promised to Abraham. Abraham believed, and 
his faith was accepted as righteousness. Who 
then are these promised sons of Abraham ? 
Those surely who inherit Abraham s faith. 
Hence the declaration of the Scripture that all 
the Gentiles should be blessed in him. These 
are the words of foresight discerning that God 
justifies the Gentiles by faith; for so only could 
they be blessed in Abraham. We conclude 
therefore that the faithftd and the faithful 
alone share the blessing with him. 

10 14. The law, on the contrary, so far 
from justifying, did but condemn, and from this 
condemnation Christ rescued UA. 



EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 13 

10, 11. On the other hand all who depend 
on works of law are under a curse. This the 
Scripture itself declares. It utters an anathema 
against all who fail to fulfil every single 
ordinance contained in the book of the law. 
Again the same truth, that the law does not 
justify in the sight of God, appears from 
another Scripture which declares that the just 
shall live by faith. 

12. Faith is not the starting-point of the 
law. The law does not take faith as its 
fundamental principle. On the other hand, 
it rigidly enforces the performance of all its 
enactments. 

13. Christ ransomed us from this curse 
pronounced by the law, Himself taking our 
place and becoming a curse for our sakes : for 
so says the Scripture, Cursed is every one that 
hangeth on the gibbet. 

14. Thus the law, the great barrier which 
excluded the Gentiles, is done away in Christ. 
By its removal the Gentiles are put on a level 
with us Jews ; and, so united, we and they 
alike receive the promise in the gift of the 
Spirit through our faith. 



14 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

15 18. Thus He fulfilled the promise 
given to Abraham, which being prior to the 
law could not be annulled by it. 

Brethren, let me draw an illustration 
from the common dealings of men. Even 
a human covenant duly confirmed is held 
sacred and inviolable. It cannot be set aside, 
it cannot be clogged with new conditions. 
Much more then a divine covenant. Now the 
promise of God was not given to Abraham 
alone, but to his seed. What is meant by 
" his seed " ? The form of expression denotes 
unity. It must have its fulfilment in some 
one person. This person is Christ. Thus it 
was unfulfilled when the law came. Between 
the giving of the promise then and the fulfil 
ment of it the law intervened. And coming 
many hundred years after, it was plainly distinct 
from the promise, it did not interpret the terms 
of the promise. Thus the law cannot set aside 
the promise. Yet this would be done in effect, 
if the inheritance could only be obtained by 
obedience to the law ; since the promise itself 
imposed no such condition. 

19 23. If so, what was the purpose of the 
law? 



EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 15 

It was an inferior dispensation, given as 
a witness against sin, a badge of a state of 
bondage, not as contrary to, but as preparing 
for, the Gospel. 

19, 20. Had the law then no purpose ? 
Yes : but its very purpose, its whole character 
and history, betray its inferiority to the dis 
pensation of grace. In four points this 
inferiority is seen. First; Instead of justifying 
it condemns, instead of giving life it kills: it 
was added to reveal and multiply transgressions. 
Secondly ; It was but temporary ; when the 
seed came to whom the promise was given, it 
was annulled. Thirdly ; It did not come direct 
from God to man. There was a double inter 
position, a twofold mediation", between the giver 
and the recipient. There were the angels, 
who administered it as God s instruments; 
there was Moses (or the high-priest) who 
delivered it to man. Fourthly; As follows 
from the idea of mediation, it was of the 
nature of a contract, depending for its 
fulfilment on the observance of its conditions 
by the two contracting parties. Not so the 
promise, which, proceeding from the sole fiat 
of God, is unconditional and unchangeable. 



16 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

21. Thus the law differs widely from the 
promise. But does this difference imply an 
tagonism ? Did the law interfere with the 
promise ? Far otherwise. Indeed we might 
imagine such a law, that it would take the 
place of the promise, would justify and give 
life. This was not the effect of the law of 
Moses. 

22. On the contrary, as the passage of 
Scripture testifies, the law condemned all alike, 
yet not finally and irrevocably, but only as 
leading the way for the dispensation of faith, 
the fulfilment of the promise. 

24 29. And so through the law we are 
educated for the freedom of the Gospel. 

23 25. Before the dispensation of faith 
came, we were carefully guarded, that we might 
be ready for it, when at length it was revealed. 
Thus we see that the law was our tutor, who 
watched over us as children till we should 
attain our manhood in Christ and be justified 
by faith. But, when this new dispensation 
came, we were liberated from the restraints 
of the law. 

28, 29. In Christ ye are all sons, all free. 



EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 17 

Every barrier is swept away. No special 
claims, no special disabilities exist in Him, 
none can exist. The conventional distinctions 
of religious caste or of social rank, even the 
natural distinction of sex, are banished hence. 
One heart beats in all : one mind guides all : 
one life is lived by all. Ye are all one man, 
for ye are members of Christ. And as members 
of Christ ye are Abraham s seed, ye claim the 
inheritance by virtue of a promise, which no 
law can set aside. 

IV. 1 7. Thus under the law we were 
in our nonage, but now we are our own masters. 

I described the law as our tutor. I 
spoke of our release from "its restraints. Let 
me explain my meaning more fully. An heir 
during his minority is treated as a servant. 
Notwithstanding his expectations as the future 
lord of the property, he is subject to the control 
of guardians and stewards, until the time of 
release named in his father s will arrives. In 
like manner mankind itself was a minor before 
Christ s coming. It was subject, like a child, 
to the discipline of external ordinances. At 
length when the time was fully arrived, God 
L. 2 



18 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

sent His own Son into the world, born of a 
woman as we are, subject to law as we are, 
that He might redeem and liberate those who 
are so subject, and that we all might receive 
our destined adoption as sons. Of this sonship 
God has given us a token. He sent forth into 
our hearts the Spirit of His Son, which 
witnesses in us and cries to Him as to a Father. 
Plainly then, thou art no more a servant, but 
a son; and, as a son, thou art also an heir, 
through the goodness of God/ 

8 11. Yet to this state of tutelage the 
Oalatians are bent on returning. 

1 Nevertheless, in an unfilial spirit, ye have 
subjected yourselves again to bondage, ye 
would fain submit anew to a weak and 
beggarly discipline of restraint. And how 
much less pardonable is this now ! For then 
ye were idolaters from ignorance of God, but 
now ye have known God, or rather have been 
known of Him. Ye are scrupulous in your 
observance- of months and seasons and years. 
Ye terrify me, lest all the toil which I have 
expended on you should be found in vain. 



EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 19 

[12 20. At this point the argument is 
broken off, while the Apostle reverts to his 
personal relations with his converts, and re 
probates the conduct of the false teachers.] 

12 16. By our common sympathies, as 
brethren I appeal to you. I laid aside the 
privileges, the prejudices of my race : I became 
a Gentile, even as ye were Gentiles. And now 
I ask you to make me some return. I ask you 
to throw off this Judaic bondage, and to be 
free, as I am free. Do not mistake me; I have 
no personal complaint; ye did me no wrong. 
Nay, ye remember, when detained by sickness 
I preached the Gospel to you, what a hearty 
welcome ye gave me. My infirmity might well 
have tempted you to reject my message. It 
was far otherwise. Ye did not spurn me, did 
not loathe me ; but received me as an angel of 
God, as Christ Jesus Himself. And what has 
now become of your felicitations ? Are they 
scattered to the winds ? Yet ye did felicitate 
yourselves then. Yea, I bear you witness, such 
was your gratitude, ye would have plucked out 
your very eyes and have given them to me. 
What then ? Have I made you my enemies 
by telling the truth ? 

22 



20 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

17. I once held the first place in your 
hearts. Now you look upon me as an enemy. 
Others have supplanted me. Only enquire 
into their aims. True, they pay court to you : 
but how hollow, how insincere is their interest 
in you ! Their desire is to shut you out from 
Christ. Thus you will be driven to pay court 
to them/ 

19. I have a right to ask for constancy 
in your affections. I have a greater claim on 
you than these new teachers. They speak but 
as strangers to strangers ; I as a mother to her 
children with whom she has travailed. 

21 31. The law indeed bears witness 
against itself. The relation of the two cove 
nants of law and of grace, with the triumph of 
the latter, are typified by the history of Hagar 
and Sarah. The son of the bondwoman must 
give place to the son of the free. 

Ye who vaunt your submission to law, 
listen while I read you a lesson out of the 
law. The Scripture says that Abraham had 
two sons, the one the child of the bond 
woman, the other the child of the free. The 
child of the bondwoman, we are there told, 



EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 21 

came into the world in the common course of 
nature : the child of the free was born in 
fulfilment of a promise. These things may be 
treated as an allegory. The two mothers 
represent two covenants. The one, Hagar, is 
the covenant given from Mount Sinai, whose 
children are born into slavery (for Sinai is in 
Arabia, the land of Hagar and the Hagarenes), 
and this covenant corresponds with the earthly 
Jerusalem, which is in bondage with her 
children. The other answers to the heavenly 
Jerusalem, which is free I mean the Church 
of Christ, our common mother. In her progeny 
is fulfilled the prophetic saying, which bids the 
barren and forsaken wife rejoice, because her 
offspring shall be far more numerous than her 
rival s, who claims the husband for herself. 

III. 

HORTATORY, PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS. 

V. 1 12. Hold fast by this freedom, 
which your false teachers are endangering. 

1. So, brethren, you as Christians are 
children of a promise, like Isaac. Nor does the 



22 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

allegory end here. Just as Ishmael the child 
born after the flesh insulted Isaac the child 
born after the Spirit, so is it now. But the end 
shall be the same now, as then. In the lan 
guage of the Scripture, the bondwoman and her 
offspring shall be cast out of the father s house. 
The child of the slave cannot share the inherit 
ance with the child of the free. Remember 
therefore, brethren, that you are not children 
of any slave, but of the free and wedded wife. 
I speak of that freedom, whereunto we all are 
emancipated in Christ. Remember this, and 
act upon it. Firmly resist all pressure, and do 
not again bow your necks under the yoke of 
slavery. 

2 6. Let there be no misunderstanding. 
I Paul myself declare to you that if you submit 
to circumcision, you forfeit all advantage from 
Christ. I have said it once, and I repeat it 
again with a solemn protest. Every man, who 
is circumcised, by that very act places himself 
under the law ; he binds himself to fulfil every 
single requirement of the law. You have no 
part in Christ, you are outcasts from the 
covenant of grace, you who seek justification in 
obedience to law. There is a great gulf between 



EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 23 

you and us. We, the true disciples of Christ, 
hope to be justified of faith, not of works, in 
the Spirit, not in the flesh. 

7 11. Ye were running a gallant race. 
Who has checked you in your mid career ? 
Whence this disloyalty to the truth ? Be 
assured, this change of opinion comes not of 
God by whom ye are called. The deserters are 
only few in number ? Yes, but the contagion 
will spread : for what says the proverb ? A 
little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Do not 
mistake me : I do not confound you with them : 
I confidently hope in Christ that you will be 
true to your principles. But the ringleader of 
this sedition I care not who he is or what rank 
he holds shall bear a Jieavy chastisement. 
What, brethren ? A new charge is brought 
against me ? I preach circumcision forsooth \ 
If so, why do they so persecute me ? It is some 
mistake surely ! Nay, we shall work together 
henceforth ! there is no difference between us 
now ! I have ceased to preach the Cross of 
Christ ! The stumblingblock in the way of 
the Gospel is removed ! 



24 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

13 26. But do not let it degenerate into 
license. Love is the fulfilment of the law. 
Walk in the Spirit, and the Spirit will save 
you from licentiousness, as it saves you from 
formalism, both being carnal. Your course is 
plain. The works of the Spirit are easily dis 
tinguished from the works of the flesh. 

13. They are defeating the very purpose 
of your calling: ye were called not for bondage, 
but for liberty. 

14. Ye profess yourselves anxious to fulfil 
the law; I show you a simple and comprehensive 
way of fulfilling it. 

15. The contest will not end in a victory 
to either party, such as you crave. It will lead 
to the common extinction of both. 

16 18. This is my command. Walk by 
the rule of the Spirit. If you do so, you will 
not, you cannot, gratify the lusts of the flesh. 
Between the Spirit and the flesh there is not 
only no alliance ; there is an interminable, 
deadly feud. (You feel these antagonistic 
forces working in you : you would fain follow 
the guidance of your conscience, and you are 
dragged back by an opposing power.) And if 



EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 25 

you adopt the rule of the Spirit, you thereby 
renounce your allegiance to the law. 

19. Would you ascertain whether you 
are walking by the Spirit ? Then apply the 
plain practical test. 

25. You have crucified your old selves : 
you are dead to the flesh and you live to the 
Spirit. Therefore conform your conduct to 
your new life. 

Let me add two special injunctions : 
VI. 1 5. Show forbearance and brotherly 
sympathy. 

As brethren, I appeal to you. Act in a 
brotherly spirit. I have just charged you to 
shun vain-glory, to shun provocation and envy. 
1 ask you now to do more than this. I ask 
you to be gentle even to those whose guilt 
is flagrant. Do any of you profess to be 
spiritually-minded ? Then correct the offender 
in a spirit of tenderness. Correct and reinstate 
him. Remember your own weakness ; reflect 
that you too may be tempted some day, and 
may stand in need of like forgiveness. Have 
sympathy one with another. Lend a ready 
hand in bearing your neighbours burdens. So 



26 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

doing you will fulfil the most perfect of all 
laws the law of Christ. But if any one asserts 
his superiority, if any one exalts himself above 
others, he is nothing worth, he is a vain self- 
deceiver. Nay rather let each man test his 
own work. If this stands the test, then his 
boast will be his own, it will not depend on 
comparison with others. Each of us has his 
own duties, his own responsibilities. Each of 
us must carry his own load. 

6 10. Give liberally. 

6. I spoke of bearing one another s 
burdens. There is one special application I 
would make of this rule. Provide for the 
temporal wants of your teachers in Christ. 

7, 8. What ? you hold back ? Nay, do 
not deceive yourselves. Your niggardliness 
will find you out. You cannot cheat God by 
your fair professions. You cannot mock Him. 
According as you sow, thus will you reap. If 
you plant the seed of your own selfish desires, 
if you sow the field of the flesh, then when you 
gather in your harvest, you will find the ears 
blighted and rotten. But if you sow the good 
ground of the Spirit, you will of that good 
ground gather the golden grain of life eternal. 



EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 27 

[11. Conclusion in the Apostle s own hand 
writing.] 

12 16. Once more : beware of the Ju- 
daizers, for they are insincere. I declare to 
you the true principles of the Gospel. Peace 
be to those who so walk. 

12, 13. Certain men have an object in 
displaying their zeal for carnal ordinances. 
These are they, who would force circumcision 
upon you. They have no sincere belief in its 
value. Their motive is far different. They 
hope thereby to save themselves from persecu 
tion for professing the cross of Christ. For 
only look at their inconsistency. They advocate 
circumcision, and yet they themselves neglect 
the ordinances of the law. They would make 
capital out of your compliance ; they would 
fain boast of having won you over to these 
carnal rites. 

14. For myself God forbid I should 
glory in anything save in the cross of Christ. 
On that cross I have been crucified to the world 
and the world has been crucified to me. 
Henceforth we are dead each to the other. In 
Christ Jesus old things have passed away. 



28 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

Circumcision is not and uncircumcision is not. 
All external distinctions have vanished. The 
new spiritual creation is all in all. 

16. On all those who shall guide their 
steps by this rule may peace and mercy abide ; 
for they are the true Israel of God. 

17. Let no man deny my authority, for I 
bear the brand of Jesus my Master. 

Henceforth let no man question my au 
thority : let no man thwart or annoy me. 
Jesus is my Master, my Protector. His brand 
is stamped on my body. I bear this badge of 
an honourable servitude. 

18. Farewell in Christ. 



PHILIPPIANS. 
ANALYSIS OF THE EPISTLE. 

I. 

I. 1, 2. Opening salutation. 

. 3 11. Thanksgiving and prayer for his 
converts. 

3 5. I thank my God for you all at all 
times, as I think of you, whensoever I pray for 
you (and these prayers I o ffer with joy), for 
that you have co-operated with me to the 
furtherance of the Gospel from the day when 
you first heard of it to the present moment. 

6, 7. I have much ground for thanksgiving ; 
thanksgiving for past experience, and thanks 
giving for future hope. I am sure, that as God 
has inaugurated a good work in you, so He will 
complete the same, that it may be prepared to 
stand the test in the day of Christ s advent. 
I have every reason to think thus favourably 



30 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

of you all ; for the remembrance is ever in my 
heart, how you yes, all of you have tendered 
me your aid and love, whether in bearing the 
sorrows of my captivity or in actively defending 
and promoting the Gospel : a manifest token 
that ye all are partakers with me of the grace 
of God. 

8. I call God to witness that I did not 
exaggerate, when I spoke of having you all in 
my heart. 

9. I spoke of praying for you (ver. 4). 
This then is the purport of my prayer (TOVTO 
Trpoa-ev^ofjiai), that your love may ever grow 
and grow, in the attainment of perfect know 
ledge and universal discernment/ 

12 26. Account of his personal circum 
stances and feelings ; and of the progress of the 
Gospel in Rome. 

12. Lest you should be misinformed, I 
would have you know that my sufferings and 
restraints, so far from being prejudicial to the 
Gospel, have served to advance it. My bonds 
have borne witness to Christ, not only among 
the soldiers of the imperial guard, but in a far 
wider circle. The same bonds too have through 



EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 31 

my example inspired most of the brethren with 
boldness, so that trusting in the Lord they are 
more zealous than ever, and preach the word 
of God courageously and unflinchingly. 

15 17. But though all alike are active, 
all are not influenced by the same motives. 
Some preach Christ to gratify an envious and 
quarrelsome spirit : others to manifest their 
goodwill. The latter work from love, acknow 
ledging that I am appointed to plead for the 
Gospel : the former proclaim Christ from head 
strong partisanship and with impure motives, 
having no other aim than to render my bonds 
more galling. 

19, 20. Is not my joy reasonable ? For I 
know that all my present trials and sufferings 
will lead only to my salvation, and that in 
answer to your prayers the Spirit of Christ will 
be shed abundantly upon me. Thus will be 
fulfilled my earnest longing and hope, that I 
may never hang back through shame, but at 
this crisis, as always, may speak and act cour 
ageously; so that, whether I die a martyr for 
His name or live to labour in His service, He 
may be glorified in my body. 

21 26. Others may make choice between 



32 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

life and death. I gladly accept either alter 
native. If I live, my life is one with Christ : 
if I die, my death is gain to me. Yet when I 
incline to prefer death, I hesitate : for may not 
my life this present existence which men call 
life may not my life be fruitful through my 
labours ? Nay, I know not how to choose. I 
am hemmed in, as it were, a wall on this side 
and a wall on that. If I consulted my own 
longing, I should desire to dissolve this earthly 
tabernacle, and to go home to Christ ; for this 
is very far better. If I consulted your interests, 
I should wish to live and labour still : for this 
your needs require. And a voice within as 
sures me, that so it will be. I shall continue 
here and abide with you all ; that I may 
promote your advance in the faith and your 
joy in believing : and that you on your part 
may have in me fresh cause for boasting in 
Christ, when you see me present among you 
once more. 



EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 33 



II. 

27 II. 4. Exhortation to unity and self- 
negation. 

27 30. But under all circumstances do 
your duty as good citizens of a heavenly 
kingdom ; act worthily of the Gospel of Christ. 
So that whether I come among you and see 
with my own eyes, or stay away and obtain 
tidings from others, I may learn that you 
maintain your ground bravely and resolutely, 
acting by one inspiration; that with united 
aims and interests you are fighting all in the 
ranks of the Faith on the side of the Gospel ; 
and that no assault of your" antagonists makes 
you waver: for this will be a sure omen to them 
of utter defeat, to you of life and safety : an 
omen, I say, sent by God Himself ; for it is His 
grace, His privilege bestowed upon you, that 
for Christ yea, that ye should not only believe 
on Him, but also should suffer for Him. For 
ye have entered the same lists, ye are engaged 
in the same struggle, in which you saw me 
contending then at Philippi, in which you hear 
of my contending now in Rome. 

L. 3 



34 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

II. 1. If then your experiences in Christ 
appeal to you with any force, if love exerts any 
persuasive power upon you, if your fellowship 
in the Spirit is a living reality, if you have any 
affectionate yearnings of heart, any tender 
feelings of compassion, listen and obey. You 
have given me joy hitherto. Now fill my cup 
of gladness to overflowing. Live in unity 
among yourselves, animated by an equal and 
mutual love, knit together in all your sympa 
thies and affections, united in all your thoughts 
and aims. Do nothing to promote the ends of 
party faction, nothing to gratify your own 
personal vanity ; but be humble-minded and 
esteem your neighbours more highly than 
yourselves. Let not every man regard his own 
wants, his own interests ; but let him consult 
also the interests and the wants of others. 

5 11. Christ the great pattern of humility. 

Reflect in your own minds the mind 
of Christ Jesus. Be humble, as He also was 
humble. Though existing before the worlds 
in the Eternal Godhead, yet He did not 
cling with avidity to the prerogatives of His 
divine majesty, did not ambitiously display His 



EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 35 

equality with God; but divested Himself of 
the glories of heaven, and took upon Him the 
nature of a servant, assuming the likeness of 
men. Nor was this all. Having thus appeared 
among men in the fashion of a man, He 
humbled Himself yet more, and carried out 
His obedience even to dying. Nor did He die 
by a common death : He was crucified, as the 
lowest malefactor is crucified. But as was His 
humility, so also was His exaltation. God 
raised him to a preeminent height, and gave 
Him a title and a dignity far above all dignities 
and titles else. For to the name and majesty 
of Jesus all created things in heaven and earth 
and hell shall pay homage on bended knee ; 
and every tongue with praise and thanksgiving 
shall declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, and in 
and for Him shall glorify God the Father. 

1 2 1 6. Practical following of His example. 

12, 13. Therefore, my beloved, having 
the example of Christ s humility to guide you, 
the example of Christ s exaltation to encourage 
you, as ye have always been obedient hitherto, 
so continue. Do not look to my presence to 
stimulate you. Labour earnestly not only at 

32 



36 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

times when I am with you, but now when I 
am far away. With a nervous and trembling 
anxiety work out your salvation for yourselves. 
For yourselves, did I say ? Nay, ye are not 
alone. It is God working in you from first to 
last: God that inspires the earliest impulse, 
and God that directs the final achievement : 
for such is His good pleasure. 

14 16. Be ye not like Israel of old. 
Never give way to discontent and murmuring, 
to questioning and unbelief. So live that you 
call forth no censure from others, that you keep 
your own consciences single and pure. Show 
yourselves blameless children of God amidst a 
crooked and perverse generation. For you are 
set in this world as luminaries in the firmament. 
Hold out to others the word of life. That so, 
when Christ shall come to judge all our works, 
I may be able to boast of your faith, and to 
show that my race has not been run in vain, 
that my struggles have indeed been crowned 
with success. 



EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 37 



III. 

17 30. Explanation of his intended move 
ments ; the purposed visit of Timothy; the 
illness, recovery, and mission of Epaphroditus. 

17, 18. I spoke of rny severe labours for 
the Gospel. I am ready even to die in the same 
cause. If I am required to pour out my life- 
blood as a libation over the sacrificial offering 
of your faith, I rejoice myself and I congratulate 
you all therein. Yea, in like manner I ask you 
also to rejoice and to congratulate me. 

19 24. But though absent myself, I 
hope in the Lord to send Timotheus shortly to 
you. This I purpose not for your sakes only 
but for my own also ; that hearing how you 
fare, I may take heart. I have chosen him 
for I have no other messenger at hand who can 
compare with him, none other who will show 
the same lively and instinctive interest in your 
welfare. For all pursue their own selfish aims, 
reckless of the will of Christ. But the creden 
tials of Timotheus are before you : you know 
how he has been tested by long experience, 



38 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

how as a son with a father he has laboured 
with me in the service of the Gospel. Him 
therefore I hope to send without delay, when 
I see what turn my affairs will take. At the 
same time I trust in the Lord, that I shall visit 
you before long in person. 

25 30. Meanwhile, though I purpose 
sending Timotheus shortly, though I trust 
myself to visit you before very long, I have 
thought it necessary to despatch Epaphroditus 
to you at once ; Epaphroditus, whom you com 
missioned as your delegate to minister to my 
needs, in whom / have found a brother and 
fellow -labourer and a comrade in arms. I have 
sent him, because he longed earnestly to see 
you and was very anxious and troubled that 
you had heard of his illness. Nor was the 
report unfounded. He was indeed so ill that 
we despaired of his life. But God spared him 
in His mercy; mercy not to him only but to 
myself also, that I might not be weighed down 
by a fresh burden of sorrow. For this reason 
I have been the more eager to send him, that 
your cheerfulness may be restored by seeing 
him in health, and that my sorrow may be 
lightened by sympathy with your joy. Receive 



EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 39 

him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, 
and hold such men in honour ; for in his 
devotion to the work he was brought to death s 
door, hazarding his life, that he might make 
up by his zeal and diligence the lack of your 
personal services to supplement your charitable 
gift. 

IV. 

III. 1. The Apostle begins his final in 
junctions; but is interrupted and breaks off 
suddenly. 

And now, my brethren, I must wish you 
farewell. Rejoice in the Lord. Forgive me, if 
I speak once more on an old topic. It is not 
irksome to me to speak, and it is safe for you 
to hear. 

He resumes; and warns them against two 
antagonistic errors : 

3 14. Judaism. 

He contrasts the doctrine of works with the 
doctrine of grace; his former life with his 
present. The doctrine of grace leads to a pro 
gressive morality. 



40 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

2 6. Be on your guard. Shun these 
shameless dogs, these workers of mischief, these 
mutilators of the flesh. I call it mutilation, for 
we are the true circumcision, we offer the 
genuine service ; we you and I Gentile and 
Jew alike who serve by the Spirit of God, 
who place our boast in Christ Jesus and put 
no trust in the flesh. And yet, whatever be 
the value of this confidence in the flesh, I 
assert it as well. If any other man claims to 
put trust in the flesh, my claim is greater. I 
was circumcised on the eighth day, a child of 
believing parents. I am descended of an old 
Israelite stock. I belong to the loyal and 
renowned tribe of Benjamin. I am of a lineage 
which has never conformed to foreign usages, 
but has preserved throughout the language and 
the customs of the fathers. Thus much for 
my inherited privileges ; and now for my 
personal career. Do they speak of law ? I 
belong to the Pharisees, the strictest of all 
sects. Of zeal ? I persecuted the Church. 
This surely is enough ! Of righteousness ? In 
such righteousness as consists in obedience to 
law, I have never been found a defaulter. 

6. All such things which I used to count 



EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 41 

up as distinct items with a miserly greed and 
reckon to my credit these I have massed 
together under one general head as loss. 

8. I suffered the confiscation, was mulcted, 
of all things together. 

10. That I may know Him. And when 
I speak of knowing Him, I mean, that I may 
feel the power of His resurrection ; but to feel 
this, it is first necessary that I should share 
His sufferings. 

Thus he is brought to speak secondly of 

15 IV. 1. Antinomianism. 

He points to his own example; and warns 
his converts against diverging from the right 
path. He appeals to them as citizens of heaven. 

12 16. Do not mistake me, I hold the 
language of hope, not of assurance. I have 
not yet reached the goal ; I am not yet made 
perfect. But I press forward in the race, eager 
to grasp the prize, forasmuch as Christ also 
has grasped me. My brothers, let other men 
vaunt their security. Such is not my language. 
I do not consider that I have the prize already 
in my grasp. This, and this only, is my rule. 
Forgetting the landmarks already passed and 



42 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

straining every nerve arid muscle in the onward 
race, I press forward ever towards the goal, 
that I may win the prize of my heavenly rest 
whereunto God has called me in Christ Jesus. 
Let us therefore, who have put away childish 
things, who boast that we are men in Christ, so 
resolve. Then, if in any matter we lose our 
way, God will at length reveal this also to us. 
Only let us remember one thing. Our footsteps 
must not swerve from the line in which we 
have hitherto trodden. 

17 21. My brethren, vie with each other 
in imitating me, and observe those whose walk 
of life is fashioned after our example. This is 
the only safe test. For there are many, of 
whom I told you often and now tell you again 
even in tears, who professing our doctrine walk 
not in our footsteps. They are foes to the cross 
of Christ ; they are doomed to perdition ; they 
make their appetites their god ; they glory in 
their shame; they are absorbed in earthly 
things. Not such is our life. In heaven we 
have even now our country, our home ; and 
from heaven hereafter we look in patient hope 
for a deliverer, even the Lord Jesus Christ, who 
shall change the fleeting fashion of these 



EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 43 

bodies the bodies of our earthly humiliation 
so that they shall take the abiding form of His 
own body the body of His risen glory : for 
such is the working of the mighty power 
whereby He is able to subdue all things alike 
unto Himself. 

Here the digression ends ; the main thread 
of the letter is recovered ; and 

2, 3. The Apostle once more urges them to 
heal their dissensions, appealing to them by 
name. 

I appeal to Euodia, and I appeal to 
Syntyche, to give up their differences and live 
at peace in the Lord. Yes I ask you, my 
faithful and true yokefellow, who are now by 
my side, who will deliver this letter to the 
Philippians, to reconcile them again : for I 
cannot forget how zealously they seconded my 
efforts on behalf of the Gospel. I invite 
Clement also, with the rest of rny fellow-la 
bourers, whose names are enrolled in the book 
of life, the register of God s faithful people, to 
aid in this work of reconciliation. 

4 9. He exhorts them to joy fulness, to 
freedom from care, to the pursuit of all good 
aims. 



44 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

Let your gentle and forbearing spirit 
be recognised by all men. The judgment is 
drawing near. Entertain no anxious cares, 
but throw them all upon God. By your 
prayer and your supplication make your every 
want known to Him. If you do this, then the 
peace of God, far more effective than any 
forethought or contrivance of man, will keep 
watch over your hearts and your thoughts in 
Christ Jesus/ 



V. 

10 20. He gratefully acknowledges their 
alms received through Epaphroditus, and invokes 
a blessing on their thoughtful love. 

It was a matter of great and holy joy 
to me that after so long an interval your 
care on my behalf revived and flourished 
again. I do not mean that you ever relaxed 
your care, but the opportunity was wanting. 
Do not suppose, that in saying this I am 
complaining of want; for I have learnt to be 
content with my lot, whatever it may be. I 
know how to bear humiliation, and I know also 



EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 45 

how to bear abundance. Under all circum 
stances and in every case, in plenty and in 
hunger, in abundance and in want, I have been 
initiated in the never-failing mystery, I possess 
the true secret of life. I can do and bear all 
things in Christ who inspires me with strength. 
But, though I am much indifferent to my own 
wants, I commend you for your sympathy and 
aid in my affliction. I need not remind you, 
my Philippian friends ; you yourselves will 
remember; that in the first days of the Gospel, 
when I left Macedonia, though I would not 
receive contributions of money from any other 
Church, I made an exception in your case. 
Nay, even before I left, when I was still at 
Thessalonica, you sent more than once to supply 
my wants. Again I say, I do not desire the 
gift, but I do desire that the fruits of your 
benevolence should redound to your account. 
For myself, I have now enough and more than 
enough of all things. The presents which you 
sent by Epaphroditus have fully supplied my 
needs. I welcome them, as the sweet savour 
of a burnt-offering, as a sacrifice accepted by 
and well-pleasing to God. And I am confident 
that God on my behalf will recompense you 



46 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

and supply all your wants with the prodigal 
wealth which He only can command, in the 
kingdom of His glory, in Christ Jesus. 



VI. 

21 23. Salutations from all and to all. 
The farewell benediction. 



COLOSSIANS. 

ANALYSIS OF THE EPISTLE. 

I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 
I. 1, 2. Opening salutation. 

PAUL, an apostle of Christ Jesus by no 
personal merit but by God s gracious will alone, 
and TIMOTHY, our brother in the faith, to the 
consecrated people of God in COLOSSI, the 
brethren who are stedfast in their allegiance 
and faithful in Christ. May grace the well- 
spring of all mercies, and peace the crown of 
all blessings, be bestowed upon you from God 
our Father. 

3 8. Thanksgiving for the progress of the 
Colossians hitherto. 



48 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

We never cease to pour forth our thanks 
giving to God the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ on your account, whensoever we pray 
to Him. We are full of thankfulness for the 
tidings of the faith which ye have in Christ 
Jesus, and the love which ye show towards all 
the people of God, while ye look forward to the 
hope which is stored up for you in heaven as 
a treasure for the life to come. This hope was 
communicated to you in those earlier lessons, 
when the Gospel was preached to you in its 
purity and integrity the one universal un 
changeable Gospel, which was made known to 
you, even as it was carried throughout the 
world, approving itself by its fruits wheresoever 
it is planted. For, as elsewhere, so also in you, 
these fruits were manifested from the first day 
when ye received your lessons in, and appre 
hended the power of, the genuine Gospel, 
which is not a law of ordinances but a dis 
pensation of grace, not a device of men but 
a truth of God. Such was the word preached 
to you by Epaphras, our beloved fellowservant 
in our Master s household, who in our absence 
and on our behalf has ministered to you the 
Gospel of Christ, and who now brings back to 



EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 49 

us the welcome tidings of the love which ye 
show in the Spirit. 

9 13. Prayer for their future advance in 
knowledge and well-doing through Christ. 

II. 

DOCTRINAL. 

The Person and Office of Christ. 

13, 14. Through the Son we have our de 
liverance, our redemption. 

9 14. Hearing then that ye thus abound 
in works of faith and love, we on our part have 
not ceased, from the day when we received the 
happy tidings, to pray on your behalf. And 
this is the purport of our petitions ; that ye 
may grow more and more in knowledge, till ye 
attain to the perfect understanding of God s 
will, being endowed with all wisdom to appre 
hend His verities and all intelligence to follow 
His processes, living in the mind of the Spirit 
to the end that knowledge may manifest 
itself in practice, that your conduct in life may 
be worthy of your profession in the Lord, so as 
in all ways to win for you the gracious favour 
L. 4 



50 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

of God your King. Thus, while ye bear fruit 
in every good work, ye will also grow as the 
tree grows, being watered and refreshed by 
this knowledge, as by the dew of heaven : thus 
ye will be strengthened in all strength, accord 
ing to that power which centres in all and 
spreads from His glorious manifestation of 
Himself, and nerved to all endurance under 
affliction and all long-suffering under provoca 
tion, not only without complaining, but even 
with joy: thus finally (for this is the crown of 
all), so rejoicing ye will pour forth your thanks 
giving to the Universal Father, who prepared 
and fitted us all you and us alike to take 
possession of the portion which His goodness 
has allotted to us among the saints in the 
kingdom of light. Yea, by a strong arm He 
rescued us from the lawless tyranny of Dark 
ness, removed us from the land of our bondage, 
and settled us as free citizens in our new and 
glorious home, where His Son, the offspring 
and the representative of His love, is King; 
even the same, who paid our ransom and thus 
procured our redemption from captivity our 
redemption, which (be assured) is nothing else 
than the remission of our sins. 



EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSI ANS 51 

The Preeminence of the Son; 

15 17. As the Head of the natural Crea 
tion, the Universe; 

He is the perfect image, the visible re 
presentation, of the unseen God. He is the 
Firstborn, the absolute Heir of the Father, 
begotten before the ages ; the Lord of the 
Universe by virtue of primogeniture, and by 
virtue also of creative agency. For in and 
through Him the whole world was created, 
things in heaven and things on earth, things 
visible to the outward eye and things cognisable 
by the inward perception. His supremacy is 
absolute and universal. AH powers in heaven 
and earth are subject to him. This subjection 
extends even to the most exalted and most 
potent of angelic beings, whether they be 
called Thrones or Dominations or Princedoms 
or Powers, or whatever title of dignity men 
may confer upon them. Yes : He is first and 
He is last. Through Him, as the mediatorial 
Word, the universe has been created ; and 
unto Him, as the final goal, it is tending. In 
Him is no before or after. He is pre-existent 
and self-existent before all the worlds. And in 

42 



52 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

Him, as the binding and sustaining power, 
universal nature coheres and consists. 

18. As the Head of the new moral Creation, 
the Church. 

And not only does He hold this position 
of absolute priority and sovereignty over the 
Universe the natural creation. He stands 
also in the same relation to the Church 
the new spiritual creation. He is its head 
and it is His body. This is His prerogative, 
because He is the source and the beginning of 
its life, being the First-born from the dead. 
Thus in all things in the spiritual order as in 
the natural in the Church as in the World 
He is found to have the preeminence. 

19. Thus He is first in all things; and 
this, because the pleroma has its abode in Him. 

The Work of the Son a work of recon 
ciliation ; 

20. Described generally. 

19,20. And this absolute supremacy is 
His, because it was the Father s good pleasure 
that in Him all the plenitude of Deity should 



EPISTLE TO TEE COLOSSIANS 53 

have its home ; because He willed through 
Him to reconcile the Universe once more to 
Himself. It was God s purpose to effect peace 
and harmony through the blood of Christ s 
cross, and so to restore all things, whatsoever 
and wheresoever they be, whether on the earth 
or in the heavens. 

21 23. Applied specially to the Colossians. 

And ye too ye Gentiles are included 
in the terms of this peace. In times past 
ye had estranged yourselves from God. Your 
hearts were hostile to Him, while ye lived 
on in your evil deeds. But now, in Christ s 
body, in Christ s flesh which died on the 
Cross for your atonement, ye are reconciled 
to Him again. He will present you a living 
sacrifice, an acceptable offering unto Himself, 
free from blemish and free even from censure, 
that ye may stand the piercing glance of Him 
whose scrutiny no defect can escape. But this 
can only be, if ye remain true to your old 
allegiance, if ye hold fast (as I trust ye are 
holding fast) by the teaching of Epaphras, if 
the edifice of your faith is built on solid found 
ations and not reared carelessly on the sands, 



54 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

if ye suffer not yourselves to be shifted or 
shaken but rest firmly on the hope which ye 
have found in the Gospel the one universal 
unchangeable Gospel, which was proclaimed to 
every creature under heaven, of which I Paul, 
unworthy as I am, was called to be a minister. 

24 27. St Paul s own part in carrying 
out this work. His sufferings and preaching. 
The mystery with which he is charged. 

Now when I see the full extent of God s 
mercy, now when I ponder over His mighty 
work of reconciliation, I cannot choose but 
rejoice in my sufferings. Yes, I Paul the 
persecutor, I Paul the feeble and sinful, am 
permitted to supplement I do not shrink 
from the word to supplement the afflictions 
of Christ. Despite all that He underwent, He 
the Master has left something still for me the 
servant to undergo. And so my flesh is privi 
leged to suffer for His body His spiritual body, 
the Church. I was appointed a minister of 
the Church, a steward in God s household, 
for this very purpose, that I might administer 
my office on your behalf, might dispense to you 
Gentiles the stores which His bountiful grace 



EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 55 

has provided. Thus I was charged to preach 
without reserve the whole Gospel of God, to 
proclaim the great mystery which had remained 
a secret through all the ages and all the gene 
rations from the beginning, but which now in 
these last times was revealed to His holy 
people. For such was His good pleasure. God 
willed to make known to them, in all its 
inexhaustible wealth thus displayed through 
the call of the Gentiles, the glorious revelation 
of this mystery Christ not the Saviour of the 
Jews only, but Christ dwelling in you, Christ 
become to you the hope of glory. 

28, 29. His anxiety on behalf of all : 

This Christ we, the Apostles and Evan 
gelists, proclaim without distinction and with 
out reserve. We know no restriction either 
of persons or of topics. We admonish every 
man and instruct every man. We initiate 
every man in all the mysteries of wisdom. It 
is our single aim to present every man fully 
and perfectly taught in Christ. For this end 
I train myself in the discipline of self-denial ; 
for this end I commit myself to the arena of 
suffering and toil, putting forth in the conflict 



56 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

all that energy which He inspires, and which 
works in me so powerfully. 

II. 1 8. And more especially of the 
Colossian and neighbouring Churches. 

I spoke of an arena and a conflict in 
describing my apostolic labours. The image 
was not lightly chosen. I would have you 
know that my care is not confined to my 
own direct and personal disciples. I wish you 
to understand the magnitude of the struggle, 
which my anxiety for you costs me for you 
and for your neighbours of Laodicea, and for 
all who, like yourselves, have never met me 
face to face in the flesh. I am constantly 
wrestling in spirit, that the hearts of all such 
may be confirmed and strengthened in the 
faith ; that they may be united in love ; that 
they may attain to all the unspeakable wealth 
which comes from the firm conviction of an 
understanding mind, may be brought to the 
perfect knowledge of God s mystery, which is 
nothing else than Christ Christ containing in 
Himself all the treasures of wisdom and know 
ledge hidden away. 



EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 57 

III. 

POLEMICAL. 
Warning against errors. 

4 8. The Colossians charged to abide in 
the truth of the Gospel as they received it at 
first, and not to be led astray by a strange 
philosophy ivhich the new teachers offer. 

I do not say this without a purpose. 
I wish to warn you against any one who 
would lead you astray by specious argument 
and persuasive rhetoric. For I am not an in 
different spectator of your doings. Although 
I am absent from you in my flesh, yet I am 
present with you in my spirit. I rejoice 
to behold the orderly array and the solid 
phalanx which your faith towards Christ 
presents against the assaults of the foe. I 
entreat you therefore not to abandon the 
Christ, as you learnt from Epaphras to know 
Him, even Jesus the Lord, but to walk still in 
Him as heretofore. I would have you firmly 
rooted once for all in Him. I desire to see 
you built up higher in Him day by day, to 



58 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

see you growing ever stronger and stronger 
through your faith, while you remain true 
to the lessons taught you of old, so that you 
may abound in it, and thus abounding may 
pour forth your hearts in gratitude to God the 
giver of all. 

The truth stated first positively and then 
negatively. 

Positively. 

9, 10. The pleroma dwells luholly in Christ 
and is communicated through Him. 

11, 12. The true circumcision is a spiritual 
circumcision. 

Negatively. Christ has 

14. Annulled the law of ordinances ; 

15. Triumphed over all spiritual agencies, 
however powerful. 

8 15. Be on your guard ; do not suffer 
yourselves to fall a prey to certain persons who 
would lead you captive by a hollow and deceit 
ful system, which they call philosophy. They 
substitute the traditions of men for the truth 
of God. They enforce an elementary discipline 



EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 59 

of mundane ordinances fit only for children. 
Theirs is not the Gospel of Christ. In Christ 
the entire fulness of the Godhead abides for 
ever, having united itself with man by taking 
a human body. And so in Him not in any 
inferior mediators ye have your life, your 
being, for ye are filled from His fulness. He, 
I say, is the Head over all spiritual beings 
call them principalities or powers or what you 
will. In Him too ye have the true circumci 
sion the circumcision which is not made with 
hands but wrought by the Spirit the circum 
cision which divests not of a part only but of 
the whole carnal body the circumcision which 
is not of Moses but of Christ. This circum 
cision ye have, because ye were buried with 
Christ to your old selves beneath the baptismal 
waters, and were raised with Him from those 
same waters to a new and regenerate life, 
through your faith in the powerful working 
of God who raised Him from the dead. Yes, 
you you Gentiles who before were dead, when 
ye walked in your transgressions and in the 
uncircumcision of your unchastened carnal 
heathen heart even you did God quicken 
into life together with Christ ; then and there 



60 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

freely forgiving all of us Jews and Gentiles 
alike all our transgressions ; then and there 
cancelling the bond which stood valid against 
us (for it bore our own signatured, the bond 
which engaged us to fulfil all the law of 
ordinances, which was our stern pitiless tyrant. 
Aye, this very bond hath Christ put out of 
sight for ever, nailing it to His cross and 
rending it with His body and killing it in 
His death. Taking upon Him our human 
nature, He stripped off and cast aside all 
the powers of evil which clung to it like a 
poisonous garment. As a mighty conqueror 
He displayed these His fallen enemies to an 
astonished world, leading them in triumph on 
His cross. 

Obligations following thereupon. 
Consequently the Colossians must not 

16, 17. Either submit to ritual prohibitions, 

18, 19. Or substitute the worship of inferior 
beings for allegiance to the Head. 

Seeing then that the bond is cancelled, 
that the law of ordinances is repealed, beware 
of subjecting yourselves to its tyranny again. 



EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 61 

Suffer no man to call you to account in the 
matter of eating or drinking, or again of the 
observance of a festival or a new moon or 
a sabbath. These are only shadows thrown 
in advance, only types of things to come. 
The substance, the reality, in every case be 
longs to the Gospel of Christ. The prize is 
now fairly within your reach. Do not suffer 
yourselves to be robbed of it by any stratagem 
of the false teachers. Their religion is an 
officious humility which displays itself in the 
worship of angels. They make a parade 
of their visions, but they are following an 
empty phantom. They profess humility, but 
they are puffed up with their vaunted wisdom, 
which is after all only the mind of the flesh. 
Meanwhile they have substituted inferior 
spiritual agencies for the One true Mediator, 
the Eternal Word. Clinging to these lower 
intelligences, they have lost their hold of the 
Head ; they have severed their connexion with 
Him, on whom the whole body depends ; from 
whom it derives its vitality, and to whom it 
owes its unity, being supplied with nourish 
ment and knit together in one by means of 
the several joints and attachments, so that it 



62 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

grows with a growth which comes from God 
Himself. 

On the contrary this must henceforth be their 
rule : 

20 23. They have died with Christ; and 
with Him they have died to their old life, to 
earthly ordinances. 

You died with Christ to your old life. 
All mundane relations have ceased for you. 
Why then do you you who have attained 
your spiritual manhood submit still to the 
rudimentary discipline of children ? Why do 
you you who are citizens of heaven bow 
your necks afresh to the tyranny of material 
ordinances, as though you were still living in 
the world ? It is the same old story again ; 
the same round of hard, meaningless, vexatious 
prohibitions, Handle not, Taste not, Touch 
not. What folly ! When all these things 
these meats and drinks and the like are 
earthly, perishable, wholly trivial and unim 
portant ! They are used, and there is an end 
of them. What is this, but to draw down 
upon yourselves the denunciations uttered by 
the prophet of old ? What is this but to 



EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 63 

abandon God s word for precepts which are 
issued by human authority arid inculcated by 
human teachers ? All such things have a show 
of wisdom, I grant. There is an officious parade 
of religious devotion, an eager affectation of 
humility ; there is a stern ascetic rigour, which 
ill-treats the body : but there is nothing of any 
real value to check indulgence of the flesh. 

III. 1 4. They have risen with Christ; 
and with Him they have risen to a new life, to 
heavenly principles. 

If this be so ; if ye were raised with 
Christ, if ye were translated into heaven, what 
follows? Why, you must realise the change. 
All your aims centre in he aven, where reigns 
the Christ who has thus exalted you, enthroned 
on God s right hand. All your thoughts must 
abide in heaven, not on the earth. For, I say 
it once again, you have nothing to do with 
mundane things : you died, died once for all to 
the world : you are living another life. This 
life indeed is hidden now : it has no outward 
splendour as men count splendour ; for it is 
a life with Christ, a life in God. But the 
veil will not always shroud it. Christ, our 



64 ANALYLIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

life, shall be manifested hereafter; then ye 
also shall be manifested with Him and the 
world shall ee your glory. 



IV. 

HORTATORY. 

Practical application of this death and this 
resurrection. 

Comprehensive rules. 

5 11. What vices are to be put off, being 
mortified in this death. 

So then realise this death to the world ; 
kill all your earthly members. Is it forni 
cation, impurity of whatever kind, passion, 
evil desire ? Or again, is it that covetousness 
which makes a religion, an idolatry, of greed ? 
Do not deceive yourselves. For all these 
things God s wrath will surely come. In these 
sins ye, like other Gentiles, indulged in times 
past, when your life was spent amidst them. 
But now everything is changed. Now you 
also must put away not this or that desire, 
but all sins whatsoever. Anger, wrath, malice, 
slander, filthy abuse ; banish it from your lips. 



EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 65 

Be not false to one another in word or deed ; 
but cast off for ever the old man with his 
actions, and put on the new, who is renewed 
from day to day, growing unto perfect know 
ledge and refashioned after the image of his 
Creator. In this new life, in this regenerate 
man, there is not, there cannot be, any dis 
tinction of Greek or Jew, of circumcision or 
uncircumcision; there is no room for barbarian, 
for Scythian, for bond or free. Christ has 
displayed, has annihilated, all these ; Christ is 
Himself all things and in all things. 

12 17. What graces are to be put on, being 
quickened through this resurrection. 

1215. Therefore, as- the elect of God, 
as a people consecrated to His service and 
specially endowed with His love, array your 
selves in hearts of compassion, in kindliness 
and humility, in a gentle and yielding spirit. 
Bear with one another, forgive freely among 
yourselves. As your Master forgave you His 
servants, so ought ye to forgive your fellow- 
servants. And over all these robe yourselves 
in love ; for this is the garment which binds 
together all the graces of perfection. And let 
L. 5 



66 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

the one supreme umpire in your hearts, the 
one referee amidst all your difficulties, be the 
peace of Christ, which is the destined goal of 
your Christian calling, in which is realised the 
unity belonging to members of one body. 
Lastly of all ; show your gratitude by your 
thanksgiving. 

16, 17. Let the inspiring word of Christ 
dwell in your hearts, enriching you with its 
boundless wealth and endowing you with all 
wisdom. Teach and admonish one another 
with psalms, with hymns of praise, with 
spiritual songs of all kinds. Only let them 
be pervaded with grace from heaven. Sing 
to God in your hearts and not with your lips 
only. And generally ; whatever ye do, whether 
in word or in deed, let everything be done in 
the name of Jesus Christ. And (again I 
repeat it) pour out your thanksgiving to God 
the Father through Him. 

Special precepts. 

The obligations 

18,19. Of wives and husbands ; 

20, 21. Of children and parents ; 



EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSI ANS 67 

Ye wives, be subject to your husbands, for 
so it becomes you in Christ. Ye husbands, 
love and cherish your wives, and use no harsh 
ness towards them. Ye children, be obedient 
to your parents in all things ; for this is com 
mendable and lovely in Christ. Ye parents, 
vex not your children, lest they lose heart and 
grow sullen. 

22 IV. 1. Of slaves and masters. 

1 Ye slaves, be obedient in all things to 
the masters set over you in the flesh, not 
rendering them service only when their eyes 
are upon you, as aiming merely to please 
men, but serving in all sincerity of heart, as 
living in the sight of your Heavenly Master 
and standing in awe of Him. And in every 
thing that ye do, work faithfully and with all 
your soul, as labouring not for men, but for the 
great Lord and Master Himself; knowing that 
ye have a Master, from whom ye will receive 
the glorious inheritance as your recompense, 
whether or not ye may be defrauded of your 
due by men. Yes, Christ is your Master and 
ye are His slaves. He that does a wrong shall 
be requited for his wrong-doing. I say not 

52 



68 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

this of slaves only, but of masters also. There 
is no partiality, no respect of persons, in 
God s distribution of rewards and punishments. 
Therefore, ye masters, do ye also on your part 
deal justly and equitably by your slaves, know 
ing that ye too have a Master in heaven. 

2 4. The duty of prayer and thanksgiving; 
with special intercession on the Apostles behalf. 

5, 6. The duty of propriety in behaviour 
towards the unconverted. 

2 6. Be earnest and unceasing in prayer; 
keep your hearts and minds awake while pray 
ing : remember also (as I have often told you) 
that thanksgiving is the goal and crown of 
prayer. Meanwhile in your petitions forget 
not us myself Paul my fellow -labourer 
Timothy your evangelist Epaphras all the 
teachers of the Gospel ; but pray that God 
may open a door for the preaching of the word, 
to the end that we may proclaim the free offer 
of grace to the Gentiles that great mystery 
of Christ for which I am now a prisoner in 
bonds. So shall I declare it fearlessly, as I 
am bound to proclaim it. Walk wisely and 
discreetly in all your dealings with unbelievers; 



EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIAXS 69 

allow no opportunity to slip through your hands, 
but buy up every passing moment. Let your 
language be always pervaded with grace and 
seasoned with salt. So will you know how to 
give a fit answer to each man, as the occasion 
demands. 

V. 

PERSONAL. 

7 9. Explanations relating to the letter 
itself. 

You will learn everything about me from 
Tychicus, the beloved brother who has mini 
stered to me and served with me faithfully 
in the Lord. This indeed was my purpose 
in sending him to you :" that you might be 
informed how matters stand with me, and that 
he might cheer your hearts and strengthen 
your resolves by the tidings. Onesimus will 
accompany him a faithful and beloved brother, 
who is one of yourselves, a Colossian. These 
two will inform you of all that is going on here. 

10 14. Salutations from divers persons. 
I send you greeting from Aristarchus who 
is a fellow-prisoner with me ; from Marcus, Bar- 



70 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

nabas cousin, concerning whom I have already 
sent you directions, that you welcome him 
heartily, if he pays you a visit ; and from 
Jesus, surnamed Justus ; all three Hebrew 
converts. They alone of their fellow-country 
men have worked loyally with me in spreading 
the kingdom of God ; and their stedfastness has 
indeed been a comfort to me in the hour of 
trial. Greeting also from Epaphras, your fellow- 
townsman, a true servant of Christ, who is ever 
wrestling in his prayers on your behalf, that ye 
may stand firm in the faith, perfectly instructed 
and fully convinced in every will and purpose 
of God. I bear testimony to the earnestness 
with which he labours for you and the bre 
thren of Laodicea and those of Hierapolis. 
Greeting also from Luke the physician, my 
very dear friend, and from Demas. 

15 17. Salutations to divers persons. A 
message relating to Laodicea. 

Greet from me the brethren who are in 
Laodicea, especially Nymphas, and the church 
which assembles in their house. And when 
this letter has been read among you, take 
care that it is read also in the Church of the 



EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 71 

Laodicean s, and be sure that ye also read the 
letter which I have sent to Laodicea, and 
which ye will get from them. Moreover give 
this message from me to Archippus ; Take 
heed to the ministry which thou hast received 
from me in Christ, and discharge it fully and 
faithfully/ 

18. Farewell. 

I add this salutation with my own hand, 
signing it with my name Paul. Be mindful of 
my bonds. God s grace be with you. 



PHILEMON. 

1 3. PAUL, now a prisoner of Christ 
Jesus, and TIMOTHY a brother in the faith, 
unto PHILEMON our dearly- beloved and fellow- 
labourer in the Gospel, and unto APPHIA our 
sister, arid unto ARCHIPPUS our fellow-soldier 
in Christ, and to the Church which assembles 
in thy house. Grace and peace to you all 
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

4 7. I never cease to give thanks to 
my God for thy well-doing, and thou art 
ever mentioned in my prayers. For they 
tell me of thy love and faith thy faith which 
thou hast in the Lord Jesus, and thy love which 
thou showest towards all the saints ; and it is 
my prayer that this active sympathy and 
charity, thus springing from thy faith, may 
abound more and more, as thou attainest to 
the perfect knowledge of every good thing 



EPISTLE TO PHILEMON 73 

bestowed upon us by God, looking unto and 
striving after Christ. For indeed it gave me 
great joy and comfort to hear of thy loving- 
kindness, and to learn how the hearts of God s 
people had been cheered and refreshed by thy 
help, my dear brother. 

8 17. Encouraged by these tidings of 
thy loving spirit, I prefer to entreat, where 
I might command. My office gives me au 
thority to dictate thy duty in plain language, 
but love bids me plead as a suitor. Have 
I not indeed a right to command I Paul 
whom Christ Jesus long ago commissioned 
as His ambassador, and whom now He has 
exalted to the rank of His prisoner ? But 
I entreat thee. I have a favour to ask for 
a son of my own one doubly dear to me, 
because I became his father amidst the sorrows 
of my bonds. I speak of Onesimus, who in 
times past was found wholly untrue to his 
name, who was then far from useful to thee, 
but now is useful to thee yea, and to myself 
also. Him I send back to thee, and I entreat 
thee to take him into thy favour, for in giving 
him I am giving my own heart. Indeed I 
would gladly have detained him with me, that 



74 ANALYSIS OF ST PAUL S EPISTLES 

he might minister to me on thy behalf, in these 
bonds with which the Gospel has invested me. 
But I have scruples. I did not wish to do 
anything without thy direct consent ; for then 
it might have seemed (though it were only 
seeming) as if thy kindly offices had been 
rendered by compulsion and not of free will. 
So I have sent him back. Indeed it may 
have been God s providential design, that he 
was parted from thee for a season, only that 
thou mightest regain him for ever ; that he 
left thee as a slave, only that he might return 
to thee a beloved brother. This indeed he is 
to me most of all ; and, if to me, must he not 
be so much more to thee, both in worldly 
things and in spiritual ? If therefore thou 
regardest me as a friend and companion, take 
him to thee, as if he were myself. 

18 22. But if he has done thee any 
injury, or if he stands in thy debt, set it down 
to my account. Here is my signature Paul 
in my own handwriting. Accept this as my 
bond. I will repay thee. For I will not insist, 
as I might, that thou art indebted to me for 
much more than this ; that thou owest to me 
thine own self. Yes, dear brother, let me 



EPISTLE TO PHILEMON 75 

receive from my son in the faith such a return as 
a father has a right to expect. Cheer and refresh 
my spirits in Christ. I have full confidence in 
thy compliance, as I write this ; for I know 
that thou wilt do even more than I ask. At 
the same time also prepare to receive me on 
a visit ; for I hope that through your prayers I 
shall be set free and given to you once more. 

23 25. Epaphras my fellow-captive in 
Christ Jesus salutes you. As do also Mark, 
Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow- 
labourers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
be with thee and thy household, and sanctify 
the spirit of you all. 



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