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THE 


LIFE    AND     WORK 


OF 


ST.    PAUL. 


7^         co.-^ 


THE 


LIFE  AND  WOEIv 


OF 


ST.  PAUL. 


BY 


F.    W.    FAREAE,    D.D.,    F.E.S., 

Late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge; 
Canon  of  Westminster ; 
and  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  the  Queen. 


VOLUME  IL 


NEW  YORK : 
E.  P.  BUTTON  &  COMPANY. 


TABLE  or  CONTENTS. 


l^ook    IX. 

EPHESUS. 

CHAPTER   XXXI. 

Paul  at  Ephesus. 

PAGE 

St.  Paul  leaves  Corinth— Nazarite  Vow — Ephesian  Jews— Fourth  Visit  to  Jeru- 
salem— Cold  Reception — Return  to  Antioch — Confirms  Churches  of  Galatia 
and  Phrygia — Re-visits  Ephesus— Its  Commerce,  Fame,  and  Splendour — 
Its  Great  Men — Roman  Rule — Asylum  —  Temple  of  Artemis  —  The 
Heaven-fallen — Megabyzi — Ephesian  Amulets — Apollonius  of  Tyana— 
Letters  of  the  Pseudo-Heraclitus — Apollos — Disciples  of  John— School  of 
Tyrannus — "  Handkerchiefs  and  Aprons  "—Discomfiture  of  the  Beni 
Sceva — Burning  of  Magic  Books — Trials  and  PerUs  at  Ephesus — Bad 
news  from  Corinth — The  Ephesia — Exasperation  of  the  Artisans — Artemis 
— Demetrius — Attempt  to  seize  Paul — Riot  in  the  Theatre — Gains  and 
Aristarchus — Speech  of  the  Recorder — Farewell  to  the  Church  at  Ephesus 
— Present  Condition  of  Ephesus  ....••••       1 

CHAPTER    XXXII. 

First  Letter  to  the  Church  at  Corinth. 

DifiBculties  of  Converts  from  Heathenism — Letter  from  Corinth — Various  En- 
quiries—  Disputes  in  the  Church — Apollos'  Party — Petrine  Party — The 
Judaic  Teacher — Disorderly  Scenes  in  Church  Assemblies — The  Agapse — 
Desecration  of  the  Eucharistic  Feast — Condonation  of  the  Notorious 
Offender — Steps  taken  by  St.  Paul — Sends  Titus  to  Corinth— Dictates  to 
Sosthenes  a  letter  to  the  Corinthians — Topics  of  Letter — Greeting — Thanks- 
givings— Party-spirit — True  and  False  Wisdom — Sentence  on  the  Notorious 
Offender — Christ  our  Passover — Christian  and  Heathen  Judges — Lawful 
and  Unlawful  Meats — Marriage — Celibacy — Widows — Divorce — Meats 
offered  to  Idols — Digression  on  his  Personal  Self-abnegation,  and  Inference 
from  it — Covering  the  Head — Disorder  at  the  Lord's  Supper — Glossolalia — 
Charity — Rules  about  Preacbing — The  Resurrection — Practical  Directions 
— Salutations — Benediction         . .     45 


vi  CONTEXTS. 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
Second  Letter  to  the  Church  at  Corinth. 

PAQB 

Anxiety  of  St.Paul— Short  Stay  at  Troas— Meeting  with  Titus— Effect  of  First 
Letter  on  the  Corinthians — Personal  Opposition  to  his  Authority — Return 
of  Titus  to  Corinth — Trials  in  Macedonia — Characteristics  of  the  Epistle — 
Greeting — Tribulation  and  Consolation — Self-defence — Explanations — Me- 
taphors— Ministry  of  the  New  Covenant — Eloquent  Appeals — Liberality  of 
the  Churches  of  Macedonia — Exhortation  to  Liberality — Sudden  change  of 
Tone — Indignant  Apology — Mingled  Irony  and  Appeal—  False  Apostles — 
Unrecorded  Trials  of  his  Life — Vision  at  his  Conversion — Proofs  of  the 
Genuineness  of  his  Ministry — Salutation — Benediction        .         .        .         .88 

CHAPTER   XXXIV. 
Second  Yisit  to  Corinth. 

Second  Sojourn  in  Macedonia— Brief  Notice  by  St.  Luke — Illyricnm  the  furthest 
point  of  his  Missionary  Journey — Institution  of  the  Offertory — His  Fellow 
Travellers  in  the  Journey  to  Corinth — His  Associates  at  Corinth — Condition 
of  the  Church — Two  Epistles  written  at  Corinth 119 

CHAPTER    XXXV. 
Importance  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians. 

Judnasing  Opponents  among  the  Galatian  Converts — Galatian  Fickleness — 
Arguments  against  St.  Paul — Circumcision  the  Battle-ground — Christian 
Liberty  at  Stake — Instances  of  Proselytes  to  Circumcision  among  the 
Heathen  Royal  Families — Courage  and  Passion  of  St.  Paul's  Argument — 
The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  the  Manifesto  of  Freedom  from  the  Yoke 
of  Judaism  ............  129 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians. 

Brief  Greeting — Indignant  Outburst — ^Vindication  of  his  Apostolic  Authority — 
Retrospect — Slight  Intercourse  with  the  Apostles — Co-ordinate  Position — • 
Kephas  at  Antioch — Second  Outburst — Purpose  of  the  Law — Its  Relation 
to  the  Gospel — Boldness  of  his  Arguments — Justification  by  Faith — Alle- 
gory of  Sarah  and  Hagar — Bondage  to  the  Law — Freedom  in  Christ — 
Lusts  of  the  Flesh — Fruits  of  the  Spirit — Practical  Exhortations — Auto- 
graph Conclusion — Contemplates  another  Visit  to  Jerusalem,  and  a  Letter 
to  Rome 140 

CHAPTER   XXXVn. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  the  Theology  of  St.  PatjIi. 

The  Jews  at  Rome — Numbers  of  the  Christian  Converts — Christianity  Intro- 
duced into  Rome— Not  by  St.  Peter — Was  the  Church  mainly  Jewish  or 


CONTENTS.  vii 

PAGE 

Gertile? — Solution  of  Apparent  Contradictions — Note  on  the  Sixteenth 
Chapter — Probably  Part  of  a  Letter  to  Ephesus — Main  Object  of  the 
Epistle — Written  in  a  Peaceful  Mood — Theory  of  Baur  as  to  the  Origin  of 
the  Epistle — Origin  and  Idea  of  the  Epistle — Outlines  of  the  Epistle  .         .  102 

n. 

General  Thesis  of  the  Epistle. 

Salutation — Tlianksgiving — Fundamental  Theme — The  Just  shall  live  by  Faith 

— Examination  of  the  Meaning  of  the  Phrase      .         .         .         .         .         .184 

m. 

Universality  or  Sin. 

Guilt  of  the  Gentiles — God's  Manifestation  of  Himself  to  the  Gentiles  in  His 
Works — Therefore  their  Sin  inexcusable^ Vices  of  Pagan  Life — The  Jew- 
more  inexcusable  because  more  enlightened — Condemned  in  spite  of  their 
Circumcision  and  Legal  Obedience 195 

IV. 

Objections  and  Confirmations. 

Has  the  Jew  an  Advantage  ? — Can  God  justly  Punish  ? — Eepudiation  of  False 
and  Malignant  Inferences — Jew  and  Gentile  all  under  Sin — Quotations 
from  the  Psalms  and  Isaiah 205 


Justification  by  Faith. 

"  The  Highteonsness  of  God  "  explained — The  Elements  of  Justification —Faith 
does  not  nullify  the  Law — -Abraham's  Faith-s-Peace  and  Hope  the  Blessed 
Consequences  of  Faith — Three  Moments  in  the  Religious  History  of  Man- 
kind— Adam  and  Christ — May  we  sin  that  Grace  may  abound  ? — The  Con- 
ception of  Life  in  Christ  excludes  the  possibility  of  Wilful  Sin — The  Law 
cannot  Justify — The  Law  Multiplies  Transgressions — We  are  not  undei 
the  Law,  but  under  Grace— Apparent  Contradictions — Faith  and  Works — 
Dead  to  the  Law — The  Soul's  History — Deliverance — Hope — Triumph       .  209 

CHAPTER    XXXVm. 

Predestination  and  Free  Will. 

Rejection  of  the  Jews^Foreknowledge  of  God — The  Resistance  of  Evil— The 
Potter  and  the  Clay — Man's  Free  Will — Fearlessness  and  Conciliatoriness 
of  St.  Paul's  Controversial  Method — Rejection  of  Israel — Not  Total  nor 
Final— Gleams  of  Hope — Christ  the  Stone  of  Offence  to  the  Jews — Pro- 
phesies of  a  Future  Restoration — The  Hcave-oifering — The  Oleaster  and 
the  Olive — The  Universality  of  Redeeming  Grace — Doxology       .         .         .  210 


CU^^TENTS. 


CHAPTEE   XXXIX. 

Fruits    of    Faith. 

Break  in  the  Letter — Practical  Exhortation — Christian  Graces — Obedience  to 
Civil  Powers — Value  of  Roman  Law — Functions  of  Civil  Governors — Pay- 
ment of  Civil  Dues — Ebionitic  Tendencies — Advice  to  "  Strong  "  and 
"  Weak  " — Entreaty  for  the  Prayers  of  the  Church — Benediction — Reasons 
for  concluding  that  the  Sixteenth  Chapter  was  addressed  to  the  Ephesian 
Church— Concluding  Doxology    . 257 

CHAPTER  XL. 

The  Last  Joueney  to  Jeritsalem. 

Preparing  to  Start  for  Jerusalem — Fury  of  the  Jews — Plot  to  Murder  St.  Paul 
— How  defeated — Companions  of  his  Journey — He  Remains  at  Philippi 
with  St.  Luke  for  the  Passover — Troas — Eutychns — Walk  from  Troas  to 
Assos — Sail  among  the  Grecian  Isles  to  Miletus — Farewell  Address  to  the 
Elders  of  Ephesus— Sad  Parting — Coos — Rhodes— Patara— Tyre— The 
Prayer  on  the  Sea  Shore — Caesarea — Philip  the  Evangelist — The  Prophet 
Agabus — Warnings  of  Danger — Fifth  Visit  to  Jerusalem — Guest  of  Mnason 
the  Cyprian — Assembly  of  the  Elders — James  the  Lord's  Brother — Presen- 
tation of  the  Contribution  from  the  Churches — St.  Paul's  Account  of  his 
Work — Apparent  Coldness  of  his  Reception — An  Humiliating  Suggestion — 
Nazarite  Vow — Elaborate  Ceremonies — St.  Paul  Consents — His  Motives 
and  Justification — Political  State  of  the  Jews  at  this  time — Quarrels  with 
the  Romans — Insolent  Soldiers — Quarrel  with  Samaritans — Jonathan — 
Felix — Sicarii — St.  Paul  recognised  in  the  Court  of  the  Women — A  Tumult 
— Lysias — Speech  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Mob — Preparation  for  Scourging — 
Civis  Romanus  sum — Trial  by  the  Sanhedrin — Ananias  the  High  Priest — 
"  Thou  Whited  Wall " — Apology — St.  Paul  asserts  himself  a  Pharisee— Was 
this  Justifiable  ? — Is  told  in  a  Vision  that  he  shall  go  to  Rome — The 
Vow  of  the  Forty  Jews — Conspiracy  revealed  by  a  Nephew — St.  Paul 
conducted  to  Caesarea — Letter  of  Lysias  to  Felix — In  Prison       .         .         .  272 

CHAPTER   XLI. 

Paul  and  Felix. 

Trial  before  Felix — Speech  of  Tertullus— St.  Paul's  Defence— The  Trial  post- 
poned— Discourse  of  St.  Paul  before  Felix  and  Drusilla — Riot  in  Caesarea — 
Felix  recalled — Two  Years  in  Prison 336 

CHAPTER    XLH. 

Paul  before  Festus  and  Agrippa  II, 

Fresh  Trial  before  Porcius  Festus — His  Energy  and  Fairness — St.  Paul  appeals 
to  Caesar — Visit  of  Agrippa  II.  and  Berenice  to  Festus — A  Grand  Occasion 
— St.  Paul's  Address — Appeal  to  Agrippa  II.,  and  his  Reply — Favourable 
Impression  made  by  St.  Paul .        •        .  346 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   XLin. 
Voyage  to  Rome  and  Shipwreck. 

PAGE 

Sent  to  Eome  under  charge  of  Julius — The  Augnstani — Prisoners  chained  to 
Soldiers — Plan  of  the  Journey — Luke  and  Aristarchus — Day  spent  at 
Sidon — Voyage  to  Myra— The  Alexandrian  Wheatship— Sail  to  Crete — 
Windbound  at  Fair  Havens — Advice  of  St.  Paul — Eejected — Julius  decides 
to  try  for  Port  Phoenix— The  Typhoon— Euroaquilo— Great  Danger— Clauda 
— Securing  the  Boat — Prapping  the  Vessel — Other  measures  to  save  the 
Ship — Misery  caused  by  the  continuous  Gale — St.  Paul's  Vision — He 
encourages  them — They  near  Land — Ras  el  Koura— Attempted  Escape  of 
the  Sailors — The  Crew  take  Food — Final  Shipwreck — The  Soldiers — Escape 
of  the  Crew 362 


TBook    X. 

ROME 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

Paul   at    Rome. 


Received  with  Hospitality  by  the  Natives  of  Melita — A  Viper  fastens  on  his 
Hand— Three  Months  at  Malta— The  Protos— The  Father  of  Publius  healed 
— Honour  paid  to  St.  Paul — Embarks  on  board  the  Castor  and  Pollux — 
Syracuse — Rhegium — Pnteoli — Journey  towards  Rome — Met  by  Brethren 
at  Appii  Forum — Tres  Taberns — The  Appian  Road — Enters  Rome — 
Afrauius  Burrus — Observatio — Irksomeness  of  his  Bondage— Summons  the 
Elders  of  the  Jews — Their  cautious  Reply — Its  Consistency  with  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans — The  Jews  express  a  wish  for  further  Information — 
A  long  Discussion — Stern  "Warning  from  the  Apostle — Two  Years  a 
Prisoner  in  Rome — The  Constancy  of  his  Friends— Unmolestedly        ,         .  383 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

The  First  Roman  Imprisonment. 

His  hired  Apartments — His  general  Position — His  state  of  Mind — His  Life  and 
Teaching  in  Rome — Condition  of  various  Classes  in  Rome — Improbability 
of  his  traditional  Intercourse  with  Seneca — "  Not  many  noble  "• — Few  Con- 
verts among  the  Aristocracy  of  Rome — Condition  of  Slaves — Settlement  of 
the  Jews  in  Rome — First  encouraged  by  Julius  Ca3sar — Their  Life  and  Con- 
dition among  the  Roman  Population — The  Character  and  Government  of 
Nero — The  Downfall  of  Seneca — Fenius  Rufus  and  Tigellinus,  Praetorian 
Prefects 398 

CHAPTER   XLVI. 

The  Epistles  of  the  Captivity. 

The  History  of  St.  Paul's  Imprisonment  derived  from  the  Epistles  of  the 
Captivity— The  four  Groups  into  which  the  Epistles  may  be  divided— The 


X  COA'TENTS. 

PAGE 

Characteristics  of  those  Groups — Key-note  of  each  Epistle — The  Order  of 
the  Epistles — Arguments  in  favour  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  being 
the  earliest  of  the  Epistles  of  the  Captivity — Parallels  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Philippians  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans — St.  Paul's  Conti-oversy  with 
Judaism  almost  at  an  end — Happier  Incidents  brighten  his  Captivity — Visit 
of  Epaplu-oditns — His  Illness  and  Recovery — The  Purity  of  the  Philippian 
Church — "  Eejoice  "  the  leading  thought  in  the  Epistle      .        .         •         .  410 

CHAPTER   XLVII. 
The  Epistle  to  the  Philippians. 

Greeting — Implied  Exhortation  to  Unity — Words  of  Encouragement — Even 
Opposition  overruled  for  good — Earnest  Entreaty  to  follow  the  Example 
of  Christ — His  hopes  of  liberation — Epaphroditus — Sudden  break — Vehe- 
ment Outburst  against  the  Jews — Pressing  forward — Euodia  and  Syntyche 
— Syzygus — Farewell  and  Eejoice— Future  of  Philippian  Church        .         .  424 

CHAPTER   XLVIII. 
The  Churches  op  the  Lycus  Yallet. 

Colossians,  "  Ephesians,"  Philemon — Attacks  on  their  Genuineness — Epaphraa— 
Laodicea,  Hierapolis,  ColossiE — The  Lycus  Valley — Onesimus — Sad  News 
brought  by  Epaphras^A  new  form  of  Error — An  Essene  Teacher — St. 
Paul  develops  the  Counter- truth — Christ  alone — Oriental  Theosophy  the 
germ  of  Gnosticism — The  Christology  of  these  Epistles — Universality  and 
Antiquity  of  Gnostic  Speculations — Variations  in  the  Style  of  St.  Paul        .  438 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 
Epistle  to  the  Colossians. 

Greeting — Christ  the  Eternal  Son — Grandeur  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Gospel — 
The  Pleroma— AVarnings  against  False  Teaching — Practical  Consequences 
— A  Cancelled  Bond — A  needless  Asceticism — The  true  Remedy  against 
Sin — Practical  Exhortations — Personal  Messages — Asserted  Reaction 
against  Pauline  Teaching  in  Asia — Papias — Colossaa  .....  455 

CHAPTER   L. 
St.  Paul  and  Onesimus. 

Private  Letters — Onesimus — Degradation  of  Slaves — A  Phrygian  Runaway — 
Christianity  and  Slavery — Letter  of  Pliny  to  Sabinianus— A  "  Burning 
Question  "—Contrast  between  the  tone  of  Pliny  and  that  of  St.  Paul .         .  4G8 

CHAPTER    LL 

The  Epistle   to  Philemon. 

Paraphrase  of  the  Epistle — Comparison  with  Pliny's  appeal  to  Sabinianus — 

Did  St.  Paul  visit  Colossa;  again  ? 478 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  LIT. 

The  Epistle  to  the  "  Ephesians.'* 

Genuineness  of  the  Epistle — Testimonies  to  its  Grandeur — Eesemblances  and 
Contrasts  between  "  Ephesians "  and  Colossians—  Style  of  St.  Paul — 
Christology  of  the  later  Epistles — Doctrinal  and  Practical — ^Grandeur  of 
the  Mystery— Recurrence  of  Leading  Words— Greeting— "  To  the  praise 
of  His  glory" — Christ  in  the  Church — Resultant  Duties — Unity  in  Christ 
— The  New  Life — Christian  Submissiveness — The  Christian  Armour — End 
of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles — St.  Paul's  Expectations — The  Neronian 
Persecution 482 

CHAPTER   Lin. 
The  First  Epistle  to  Timothy. 

Did  St.  Paul  visit  Spain  ?— Character  of  the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy— Pecu- 
liarities of  the  Greeting — False  Teachers — Function  of  the  Law — Digres- 
sions— Regulations  for  Public  Worship — Qualifications  for  Office  in  the 
Church— Deacons — Deaconesses — The  Mystery  of  Godliness — Dualistic 
Apostasy — Pastoral  Advice  to  Timothy — Bearing  towards  Presbyters — 
Personal  Advice — Duties  of  Slaves — Solemn  Adjuration — Last  Appeal        .  615 

CHAPTER   LIV.  \ 

The  Epistle  to  Titits. 

Probable  Movements  of  St.  Paul — Christianity  in  Crete — Missions  of  Titus — 
Greeting — Character  of  the  Cretans — Sobermindedness — Pastoral  Duties, 
and  Exhortations  to  various  classes — Warnings  against  False  Teachers — 
Personal  Messages — "  Ours  also  " — Titua  .  .,#,..   529 

CHAPTER  LV. 

The  Closing  Days. 

Gennineness  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles — The  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy — State 
of  the  Church  in  the  last  year  of  St.  Paul — His  possible  Movements — 
Arrest  at  Troas — Trial  and  Imprisonment  at  Ephesus — Parting  with 
Timothy — Companions  of  his  last  Voyage  to  Rome — Closeness  and  Misery 
of  the  Second  Imprisonment — Danger  of  visiting  him — Defection  of  his 
Friends — Loneliness — Onesiphorus — The  Prima  actio — St.  Paul  deserted — 
"  Out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lion  " — The  Trial — Paul  before  Nero — Contrast 
between  the  two — St.  Paul  remanded  .         ...*..  539 

CHAPTER   LVI. 

St.  Paul's  Last  Letter. 

The  Greeting — Digressions — Christian  Energy — Warnings  against  False  Teachers 
— Solemn  Pastoral  Appeals — Personal  Entreaties  and  Messages — Pudena 
and  Claudia— The  Cloke— The  Papyrus  Books— The  Vellum  Rolls— Parallel 
with  Tyndale — Triumph  over  Melancholy  and  Disappointment — Tone  of 
Courage  and  Hope .  561 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE    LVn. 

The  End. 

PAOB 

The  Last  Trial— The  Martyrdom— Earthly  Failure  and  Eternal.  Success— Tin- 
equalled  Greatness  of  St.  Paul — "  God  Buries  His  Workmen,  but  carries  on 
their  Work  " 576 


APPENDIX. 


Excursus  I. — The  Man  of  Sin 583 

Excursus  II. — Chief  Uncial  Manuscripts  of  the  Acts  and  the  Epistles  .  .  688 
Excursus  III. — Theology  and  Antinomies  of  St.  Paul  .  .  .  .  .  590 
Excursus  IV.  — Distinctive  Words  and  Key-notes  of  the  Epistle  .  .  .  692 
Excursus  V. — Letter  of  Pliny  to  Sabinianua  ...•••  693 

Excursus  VI. — The  Herods  in  the  Acts 594 

Excursus  VII. —Phraseology  and  Doctrine  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  .  601 
Excursus  VIIL— Evidence  as  to  the  Liberation  of  St.  Paul  .  .  .  .  604 
Excursus  IX.— The  Genuineness  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  ....  607 
Excursus  X. — Chronology  of  the  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  .  .  .  623 
Excursus  XI. — Traditional  Accounts  of  St.  Paul's  Personal  Appearance .        .  628 


THE 

Life  and  Work  of  St.  Paul. 


EPHESUS. 


CHAPTER     XXXI. 

PAUL    AT    EPHESUS. 

"  They  say  this  town  is  full  of  cozenage ; 
As,  nimbling  jugglers  that  deceive  the  eye, 
Disguised  cheaters,  prating  mountebanks. 
And  many  such-like  liberties  of  sin." 

Shaksp.  Comedy  of  Errors. 
*'  Diana  Ephesia ;  cujus  nomen  unicum  ....  totus  veneratur  orbis." 

AppuIj.  Metam. 

The  justice  of  Grallio  had  secured  for  St.  Paul  an  un- 
molested residence  in  Corinth,  such  as  had  been  promised 
by  the  vision  which  had  encouraged  him  amid  his  earlier 
difficulties.  He  availed  himself  of  this  pause  in  the  storm 
of  opposition  by  preaching  for  many  days — perhaps  for 
some  months — and  then  determined  to  revisit  Jerusalem, 
from  which  he  had  now  been  absent  for  nearly  three 
years.  It  may  be  that  he  had  collected  something  for 
the  poor ;  but  in  any  case  he  felt  the  importance  of  main- 
taining amicable  relations  with  the  other  Apostles  and 
with  the  mother  church.  He  wished  also  to  be  present 
at  the  approaching  feast — in  all  probability  the  Pentecost 
6 


2  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

— and  tliereby  to  show  that,  in  spite  of  his  active  work  in 
heathen  cities,  and  the  freedom  which  he  claimed  for 
Gentile  converts,  in  spite,  too,  of  that  deadl}'-  oppo- 
sition of  many  synagogues  which  had  already  cost  him 
so  dear,  he  was  still  at  heart  a  loyal  although  a  liberal 
Jew.  Accordingly,  he  bade  farewell  to  the  friends  whom 
he  had  converted,  and,  accompanied  by  Priscilla  and 
Aquila,  set  out  for  Cenchrese.  At  that  busy  seaport, 
where  a  little  church  had  been  already  formed,  of  which 
Phoebe  was  a  deaconess,  he  gave  yet  another  proof  of  his 
allegiance  to  the  Mosaic  law.  In  thanksgiving  for  some 
deliverance^ — perhaps  from  an  attack  of  sickness,  perhaps 
from  the  Jewish  riot — he  had  taken  upon  him  the  vow  of 
the  temporary  Nazarite.  In  accordance  with  this,  he 
abstained  from  wine,  and  let  his  hair  grow  long.  At  the 
legal  purification  which  formed  the  termination  of  the 
vow,  the  head  could  only  be  shaved  at  Jerusalem ;  but  as  it 
was  often  impossible  for  a  foreign  Jew  to  reach  the  Holy 
City  at  the  exact  time  when  the  period  of  his  vow  con- 
cluded, it  seems  to  have  been  permitted  to  the  Nazarite  to 
cut  his  hair,^  provided  that  he  kept  the  shorn  locks  until  he 
offered  the  burnt-offering,  the  sin-offering,  and  the  peace- 
offering  in  the  Temple,  at  which  time  his  head  was 
shaved,  and  all  the  hair  burnt  in  the  fire  under  the 
sacrifice  of  the  peace-offerings.  Accordingly,  Paul  cut  his 
hair  at  Cenchrese,  and  set  sail  for  Ej^hesus.  The  mention 
of  the  fact  is  not  by  any  means  trivial  or  otiose.      The 

1  See  Jos.  B.  J.  ii.  15,  §  1,  and  the  Mishna  treatise  Nazir,  ii.  3.  Spencer 
{Be  Leg.  Hehr.  iii.  6,  §  1)  thinks,  most  improbably,  that  i+  ff;n  dom  to  ib  air 
a  fair  voyage.     Of.  Juv.  Sat.  xii.  81. 

2  The  word  used  is  Ktipdixtvos ,  "  polling,"  not  Ivprta-dfiivos,  "  sha\'ing,"  or  as 
in  E.  V.  "having  shaved"  (see  1  Cor.  xi.  14;  St.  Paul  dislikes  long  hair). 
The  notion  that  it  was  Aquila  and  not  Paul  who  made  the  vow  may  bo  finally 
dismissed;  it  merely  arose  from  the  fact  that  Aquila  is  mentioned  after  his 
wife;  but  this,  as  we  have  seen,  is  also  the  case  in  2  Tim.  iv.  19 ;  Rom.  xvi.  3, 
and  is  an  undesigned  coincidence,  probably  due  to  her  greater  zeal. 


EPHESUS.  3 

VOW  wliicli  St.  Paul  undertook  is  Highly  significant  as  a 
proof  of  his  personal  allegiance  to  the  Levitic  institutions, 
and  his  desire  to  adopt  a  policy  of  conciliation  towards 
the  Jewish  Christians  of  the  Holy  City.^ 

A  few  days'  sail,  if  the  weather  was  ordinarily  pro- 
pitious, would  enable  his  vessel  to  anchor  in  the  famous 
haven  of  Panormus,  which  was  then  a  forest  of  masts  at 
the  centre  of  all  the  Mediterranean  trade,  but  is  now  a 
reedy  swamp  in  a  region  of  desolation.  His  arrival  coin- 
cided either  with  the  eve  of  a  Sabbath,  or  of  one  of  the 
three  weekly  meetings  of  the  synagogue,  and  at  once, 
with  his  usual  ardour  and  seK-forgetfulness,  he  presented 
himself  among  the  Ephesian  Jews.  They  were  a  nume- 
rous and  important  body,  actively  engaged  in  the  commerce 
of  the  city,  and  had  obtained  some  special  privileges  from 
the  Eoman  Emperors.^  Not  only  was  their  religion 
authorised,  but  their  youth  were  exempted  from  military 
service.  One  of  their  number,  the  "  Chaldean  "  or  "  astro- 
loger "  Balbillus,  had  at  this  period  availed  himself  of  the 
deepening  superstition  which  always  accompanies  a 
decadent  belief,  and  had  managed  to  insinuate  himself 
into  the  upper  circles  of  Eoman  society  until  he  ultimately 
became  the  confidant  of  Nero.^  Accustomed  in  that 
seething  metropolis  to  meet  with  opinions  of  every  descrip- 
tion, the  Jews  at  first  ofi'ered  no  opposition  to  the  argu- 

^  "  He  that  makes  a  vow  builds,  as  it  were,  a  private  altar,  and  if  he  keeps 
it,  ofEers,  as  it  were,  a  sacrifice  upon  it "  {Tebhmnoth,  f .  109,  2 ;  NedarUn, 
f .  59,  1).  The  views  of  the  Rabbis  about  vows  may  be  found  in  Enibhin, 
f .  64,  2 ;  Chagigah,  f .  10,  1 ;  Bosh  Hashanah,  i.  10,  1 ;  Nedarim,  f .  2,  1 ; 
f .  30,  2,  &c.  They  have  been  collected  by  Mr.  P.  J.  Hershon  in  his  Hebrew 
commentary  on  Genesis  exclusively  dra^vn  from  the  Talmud,  in  the  synopiieal 
note  on  Gen.  xxviii.  20.  They  throw  very  little  light  on  St.  Paul's  vow.  The 
rule  is  that  all  votive  terms,  whether  corban,  conem,  cones,  or  conech,  are 
equally  binding  {Nedarim,  f .  2, 1).  Perhaps  Paul  liked  the  temporary  ascetic 
element  in  the  vow  (1  Cor.  is.  25 ;  Jos.  B.  J.  ii.  15,  §  1). 

'  Jos.  Antt.  xiv.  10. 

3  Suet.  Nero,  40 ;  Dio.  66,  9. 
d    2 


4  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

ments  of  tlie  wandering  Eabbi  who  preached  a  crucified 
Messiah.  'Nay,  they  even  begged  him  to  stay  longer  with 
them.  His  desire  to  reach  Jerusalem  and  pay  his  vow 
rendered  this  impossible ;  but  in  bidding  them  farewell  he 
promised  that,  God  willing,^  he  would  soon  return.  Once 
more,  therefore,  he  weighed  anchor,  an^  sailed  to  Csesarea. 
From  thence  he  hastened  to  Jerusalem,  which  he  was 
now  visiting  for  the  fourth  time  after  his  conversion. 
He  had  entered  it  once  a  changed  man;^  he  had  en- 
tered it  a  second  time  with  a  timely  contribution  from 
the  Church  of  Antioch  to  the  famine-stricken  poor;^  a 
third  time  he  had  come  to  obtain  a  decision  of  the  loud 
disputes  between  the  Judaic  and  the  liberal  Christians 
which  threatened,  even  thus  early,  to  rend  asunder  the 
seamless  robe  of  Christ."*  Four  years  had  now  elapsed, 
and  he  came  once  more,  a  weak  and  persecuted  missionary, 
to  seek  the  sympathy  of  the  early  converts,'^  to  confirm 
his  faithful  spirit  of  unity  with  them,  to  tell  them  the 
momentous  tidings  of  churches  founded  during  this  his 
second  journey,  not  only  in  Asia,  but  for  the  first  time  in 
Europe  also,  and  even  at  places  so  important  as  Philipj)i, 
Thessalonica,  and  Corinth.  Had  James,  and  the  circle  of 
which  he  was  the  centre,  only  understood  how  vast  for  the 
future  of  Christianity  would  be  the  issues  of  these  perilous 
and  toilsome  journeys — had  they  but  seen  how  insignificant, 
compared  with  the  labours  of  St.  Paul,  would  be  the  part 
which  they  themselves  were  playing  in  furthering  the 
universality  of  the  Church  of  Christ — with  what  affec- 
tion and  admiration  would  they  have  welcomed  him ! 
How  would  they  have  striven,  by  every  form  of  kindness, 
of  encouragement,  of  honour,  of  heartfelt  prayer,  to  arm 
and  strengthen  him,  and  to  fire  into  yet  brighter  lustre  his 

»  James  iv.  15.  s  _^  j).  44.  6  ^^o^t  A.D.  54 

3  About  A.D.  37.  *  About  A.D.  50. 


A  VISIT  TO  JERUSALEM.  5 

grand  entliusiasm,  so  as  to  prepare  liini  in  the  future  for 
sacrifices  yet  more  heroic,  for  efforts  yet  more  immense ! 
Had  anything  of  the  kind  occurred,  St.  Luke,  in  the 
interests  of  his  great  Christian  Eirenicon — St.  Paul  himself, 
in  his  account  to  the  Galatians  of  his  relations  to  the  twelve 
— could  hardly  have  failed  to  tell  us  ahout  it.  So  far  from 
this,  St.  Luke  hurries  over  the  hrief  visit  in  the  three  words 
that  "he  saluted  the  church,"^  not  even  pausing  to  inform 
us  that  he  fulfilled  his  vow,  or  whether  any  favourable  im- 
pression as  to  his  Judaic  orthodoxy  was  created  by  the 
fact  that  he  had  undertaken  it.  There  is  too  much  reason 
to  fear  that  his  reception  was  cold  and  ungracious ;  that 
even  if  James  received  him  with  courtesy,  the  Judaic 
Christians  who  surrounded  "the  Lord's  brother  "  did  not ; 
and  even  that  a  jealous  dislike  of  that  free  position 
towards  the  Law  which  he  established  amongst  his 
Grentile  converts,  led  to  that  determination  on  the  part 
of  some  of  them  to  follow  in  his  track  and  to  under- 
mine his  influence,  which,  to  the  intense  embitterment  of 
his  latter  days,  was  so  faially  successful.  It  must  have 
been  with  a  sad  heart,  with  something  even  of  indignation 
at  this  unsympathetic  coldness,  that  St.  Paul  hurriedly 
terminated  his  visit.  But  none  of  these  things  moved 
him.  He  did  but  share  them  with  his  Lord,  Avhom  the 
Pharisees  had  hated  and  the  Sadducees  had  slain.  He  did 
but  share  them  with  every  great  prophet  and  every  true 
thinker  before  and  since.  Nat  holding  even  his  life  dear  unto 
himself,  it  is  not  likely  that  the  peevishness  of  unprogres- 
sive  tradition,  or  the  non-appreciation  of  suspicious  narrow- 
ness, should  make  him  swerve  from  his  divinely  appointed 
course.  Grod  had  counted  him-  worthy  of  being  entrusted 
with  a  sacred   cause.     He  had  a  work  to  do;  he  had  a 

^  St.  Luke  does  not  so  much  as  mention  the  word  Jerusalem,  but  the 
word  avafias  disproves  the  fancy  that  Paul  went  no  further  than  Csesarea. 


6  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Gospel  to  preacli.  If  in  obeying  tliis  call  of  God  lie  met 
with  human  sympathy  and  kindness,  well;  if  not,  it  was 
no  great  matter.  Life  might  be  bitter,  but  life  was  short, 
and  the  light  affliction  which  was  but  for  a  moment  was 
nothing  to  the  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory. 
Once  more  he  set  forth  for  a  new,  and,  as  it  turned  out, 
for  the  most  brilliantly  energetic,  for  the  most  eternally 
fruitful,  for  the  most  overwhelmingly  afflictive  period  of 
his  life  of  toil. 

From  Jerusalem  he  went  to  Antioch,  where  we  can  well 
imagine  that  a  warmer  and  kindlier  greeting  awaited  him. 
In  that  more  cordial  environment  he  rested  for  some  little 
time ;  and  thence,  amid  many  a  day  of  weariness  and 
struggle,  but  cheered  in  all  probability  by  the  companion- 
ship of  Timothy  and  Titus,  and  perhaps  also  of  Gains 
Aristarchus  and  Erastus,  he  passed  once  more  through  the 
famous  Cilician  gates  of  Taurus,^  and  travelled  overland 
through  the  eastern  region  of  Asia  Minor,^  confirming  on  his 
way  the  Churches  of  Galatia  and  Phrygia.  In  Galatia  he 
ordered  collections  to  be  made  for  the  poor  at  Jerusalem 
by  a  weekly  offertory  every  Sunday.^  He  also  found  it 
necessary  to  give  them  some  very  serious  warnings  ;  and 
although,  as  yet,  there  had  been  no  direct  apostasy  from 
the  doctrines  which  he  had  taught,  he  could  trace  a  per- 
ceptible diminution  of  the  affectionate  fervour  with  which 
he  had  been  at  first  received  by  that  bright  but  fickle 
population.*  Having  thus  endeavoured  to  secure  the 
foundations  which  he  had  laid  in  the  past,  he  descended 
from  the  Phrygian  uplands,  and  caught  a  fresh  glimpse  of 

'  From  Antioch  to  the  Cilician  gates,  through  Tarsus,  is  412  miles. 

2  avurepiKo.  is  practically  equivalent  to  avaroXiKd. 

^  1  Cor.  xvi.  1,  2.  But  the  collection  does  not  seem  to  have  been  sent  with 
that  of  the  Grecian  churches  (Rom.  xv.  25, 26).  Perhaps  the  Judaic  emissaries 
got  hold  of  it. 

*  Gal.  iv.  16 :  V.  21. 


EPHESUS.  7 

the  Marseilles  of  the  iEgean,  the  hostelry  and  emporium 
of  east  and  west,^  the  great  capital  of  Proconsular  Asia. 
Very  memorable  were  the  results  of  his  visit.  Ephesus  was 
the  third  capital  and  starting-point  of  Christianity,  At 
Jerusalem,  Christianity  was  born  in  the  cradle  of  Judaism; 
Antioch  had  been  the  starting-point  of  the  Church  of 
the  Gentiles;  Ephesus  was  to  witness  its  full  development, 
and  the  final  amalgamation  of  its  unconsolidated  elements 
in  the  work  of  John,  the  Apostle  of  Love.  It  lay  one  mile 
from  the  Icarian  Sea,  in  the  fair  Asian  meadow  where 
myriads  of  swans  and  other  waterfowl  disported  themselves 
amid  the  windings  of  Cayster.^  Its  buildings  were  clustered 
under  the  protecting  shadows  of  Coressus  and  Prion,  and 
in  the  delightful  neighbourhood  of  the  Ortygian  Groves. 
Its  haven,  which  had  once  been  among  the  most  sheltered 
and  commodious  in  the  Mediterranean,  had  been  partly 
silted  up  by  a  mistake  in  engineering,  but  was  still 
thronged  w^ith  vessels  from  every  part  of  the  civilised 
world.  It  lay  at  the  meeting-point  of  great  roads,  which 
led  northwards  to  Sardis  and  Troas,  southwards  to  Mag- 
nesia and  Antioch,  and  thus  commanded  easy  access  to 
the  great  river-valleys  of  the  Hermus  and  Mseander, 
and  the  whole  interior  continent.  Its  seas  and  rivers 
were  rich  with  fish ;  its  air  was  salubrious ;  its  posi- 
tion unrivalled ;  its  population  multifarious  and  immense. 
Its  markets,  glittering  with  the  produce  of  the  world's 
art,  were  the  Vanity  Fair  of  Asia.  They  furnished  to 
the  exile  of  Patmos  the  local  colouring  of  those  pages 
of  the  Apocalypse  in  which  he  speaks  of  "the  mer- 
chandise of  gold,  and  silver,  and  precious  stones,  and 
of  pearls,  and  fine  linen,  and  purple,  and  silk,  and 
scarlet,  and   all  thyine   wood,  and  all  manner  vessels  of 

^  Renaii,  p.  337. 

'  Now  the  Kutschuk  Mendere,  or  Little  Mseander. 


8  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

ivory,  and  all  manner  vessels  of  most  precious  wood, 
and  of  brass,  and  iron,  and  marble,  and  cinnamon,  and 
odours,  and  ointment  and  frankincense,  and  wine,  and 
oil,  and  fine  flour,  and  wheat,  and  beasts,  and  sheep, 
and  horses,  and  chariots,  and  slaves,  and  souls  of  men."  ^ 

And  Ephesus  was  no  less  famous  than  it  was  vast  and 
wealthy.  Perhaps  no  region  of  the  world  has  been  the 
scene  of  so  many  memorable  events  in  ancient  history 
as  the  shores  of  Asia  Minor.  The  whole  coast  was  in 
all  respects  the  home  of  the  best  Hellenic  culture, 
and  Herodotus  declares  that  it  was  the  finest  site  for 
cities  in  the  world  of  his  day.^  It  was  from  Lesbos,  and 
Smyrna,  and  Ephesus,  and  Halicarnassus  that  l3rric  poetry, 
and  epic  poetry,  and  philosophy,  and  history  took  their 
rise,  nor  was  any  name  more  splendidly  emblazoned  in 
the  annals  of  human  culture  than  that  of  the  great  capital 
of  lonia.^  It  was  here  that  Anacreon  had  sung  the  light 
songs  which  so  thoroughly  suited  the  soft  temperament 
of  the  Greek  colonists  in  that  luxurious  air ;  here  that 
Mimnermos  had  written  his  elegies ;  here  that  Thales 
had  given  the  first  impulse  to  philosophy ;  here  that 
Anaximander  and  Anaximenes  had  learnt  to  interest  them- 
selves in  those  cosmogonic  theories  which  shocked  the 
simple  beliefs  of  the  Athenian  burghers;  here  that  the 
deepest  of  all  Grreek  thinkers,  "Heracleitus  the  Dark,"  had 
meditated  on  those  truths  which  he  uttered  in  language  of 
such  incomparable  force ;  here  that  his  friend  Hermodorus 
had  paid  the  penalty  of  virtue  by  being  exiled  from  a  city 
which  felt  that  its  vices  were  rebuked  by  his  mere  silent 
presence  ;  *  here  that  Hipponax  had  infused  into  his  satire 

^  Rev.  xviii.  12, 13. 

^  Hist.  i.  142.    For  full  accounts  of  Ephesus  see  GuM's  Ephesiaca  (Berl. 
1843). 

3  See  Hausrath,  p.  339,  seqq. 

4  See  Strabo,  xiv.,  p.  642. 


EPHESUS.  9 

sucTi  deadly  venom ;  *  here  that  Parrliasius  and  Apelles 
had  studied  their  immortal  art.  And  it  was  still  essentially 
a  Greek  city.  It  was  true  that  since  Attains,  King  of 
Pergamos,  nearly  two  hundred  years  before,  had  made  the 
Eomans  heirs  to  his  kingdom,  their  power  had  gradually 
extended  itself  in  every  direction,  until  they  were  absolute 
masters  of  Phrygia,  Mysia,  Caria,  Lydia,^  and  all  the 
adjacent  isles  of  Greece,  and  that  now  the  splendour  of 
Ephesus  was  materially  increased  by  its  being  the  residence 
of  the  Eoman  Proconsul.  But  while  the  presence  of  a 
few  noble  Romans  and  their  suites  added  to  the  gaiety  and 
power  of  the  city,  it  did  not  affect  the  prevailing  Hellenic 
cast  of  its  civilisation,  which  was  far  more  deeply  imbued 
with  Oriental  than  with  Western  influences.  The  Ephe- 
sians  crawled  at  the  feet  of  the  Emperors,  flattered  them 
with  abject  servility,  built  temples  to  their  crime  or  their 
feebleness,  deified  them  on  their  inscriptions  and  coins.^ 
Even  the  poor  simulacrum  of  the  Senate  came  in  for  a 
share  of  their  fulsomeness,  and  received  its  apotheosis  from 
their  complaisance.*  The  Eomans,  seeing  that  they  had 
nothing  to  fear  from  these  degenerate  lonians,  helped 
them  with  subsidies  when  they  had  suffered  from  earth- 
quakes, flung  them  titles  of  honour,  which  were  in  them- 
selves a  degradation,  left  them  a  nominal  autonomy,  and 
let  them  live  without  interference  the  bacchanalian  lives 
which  passed  in  a  round  of  Panionic,  Ephesian,  Artemisian, 
and  LuculUan  games.  Such  then  was  the  city  in  which 
St.  Paul  found  a  sphere  of  work  unlike  any  in  which  he 
had    hitherto    laboured.     It    was    more    Hellenic    than 

^  Cic.  ad  Fam.  vii.  24. 

2  Cic.  fro  Flacco,  27  ;  Plin.  H.  N.  v.  28 ;  ap.  Hausrath,  I.e. 

3  See  the  Corpus  Inscr.  Gr.  2957,  2961,  &c.  (ReDan,  p.  338,  who  also 
quotes  Plut.  Vit.  Anton.  24).  Chandler,  Travels,  i.  25  ;  Falkener,  Ephesus, 
p.  Ill ;  (t>t\o(T(^a(TTos  and  <pt\6KaiiTap  are  common  in  Ephesian  inscriptions. 

*  @ehs  or  iepa,  'S,v'yk\t\t6s  on  coins,  &c.  (Renan,  p.  352). 


10  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Antiocli,  more  Oriental  than  Corinth,  more  populous  than 
Athens,  more  wealthy  and  more  refined  than  Thessalonica, 
more  sceptical  and  more  superstitious  than  Ancyra  or 
Pessinus.  It  was,  with  the  single  exception  of  Home,  by 
far  the  most  important  scene  of  all  his  toils,  and  was  des- 
tined, in  after -years,  to  become  not  only  the  first  of  the 
Seven  Churches  of  Asia,  but  the  seat  of  one  of  those  great 
(Ecumenical  Councils  which  defined  the  faith  of  the 
Christian  world. 

The  character  of  the  Ephesians  was  then  in  very 
bad  repute.  Ephesus  was  the  head-quarters  of  many 
defunct  superstitions,  which  owed  their  maintenance  to 
the  self-interest  of  various  priestly  bodies.  South  of 
the  city,  and  brightened  by  the  waters  of  the  Cenclirius, 
was  the  olive  and  cypress  grove  of  Leto,^  where  the 
ancient  olive-tree  was  still  shown  to  which  the  goddess 
had  clung  when  she  brought  forth  her  glorious  "  twin- 
born  progeny."^  Here  was  the  hill  on  which  Hermes 
had  proclaimed  their  birth;  here  the  Curetes,  with 
clashing  spears  and  shields,  had  protected  their  infancy 
from  wild  beasts;  here  Apollo  himself  had  taken 
refuge  from  the  wrath  of  Zeus  after  he  had  slain  the 
Cyclopes ;  here  Bacchus  had  conquered  and  spared  the 
Amazons  during  his  progress  through  the  East.  Such 
were  the  arguments  which  the  Ephesian  ambassadors  had 
urged  before  the  Eoman  Senate  in  arrest  of  a  determina- 
tion to  limit  their  rights  of  asylum.  That  right  was 
mainly  attached  to  the  great  world-renowned  Temple  of 
Artemis,  of  which  Ephesus  gloried  in  calling  herself  the 
sacristan.^  Nor  did  they  see  that  it  was  a  right  which 
was  ruinous  to  the  morals  and  well-being  of  the  city. 
Just  as  the  mediseval  sanctuaries  attracted  all  the  scum 

^  Strabo,  xiv.,  p.  947.  ^  t^^c  j^^n.  iii.  61. 

'  Acts  xix.  35,  vea)K6pos. 


TEMPLE    OF   ARTEMIS.  U 

and  villainy,  all  tlie  cheats  and  debtors  and  murderers  of 
the  country  round,  and  inevitably  pauperised  and  degraded 
the  entire  vicinity^ — just  as  the  squalor  of  the  lower  pur- 
lieus of  Westminster  to  this  day  is  accounted  for  by  its 
direct  affiliation  to  the  crime  and  wretchedness  which 
sheltered  itself  from  punishment  or  persecution  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Abbey — so  the  vicinity  of  the  great  Temple 
at  Ephesus  reeked  with  the  congregated  pollutions  of 
Asia.  Legend  told  how,  when  the  temple  was  finished, 
Mithridates  stood  on  its  summit  and  declared  that  the 
right  of  asylum  should  extend  in  a  circle  round  it  as  far  as 
he  could  shoot  an  arrow,  and  the  arrow  miraculously  flew 
a  furlong's  distance.  The  consequence  was  that  Ephesus, 
vitiated  by  the  influences  which  affect  all  great  sea-side 
commercial  cities,  had  within  herself  a  special  source  of 
danger  and  contagion.^  Ionia  had  been  the  corrup tress  of 
Greece,^  Ephesus  was  the  corruptress  of  Ionia — the  favourite 
scene  of  her  most  voluptuous  love-tales,  the  lighted 
theatre  of  her  most  ostentatious  sins. 

The  temple,  which  was  the  chief  glory  of  the  city  and 
one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world,^  stood  in  full  view  of  the 
crowded  haven.  Ephesus  was  the  most  magniflcent  of 
what  Ovid  calls  "the  magnificent  cities  of  Asia,"^  and  the 
temple   was   its   most    splendid  ornament.      The  ancient 

^  I  have  already  pointed  out  this  fact  in  speaking  of  Daphne  and 
Paphos,  supra,  vol.  i.,  pp.  294,  349.  This  was  why  Tiberius  tried  to  abolish 
all  "asyla"  (Suet.  Tib.  37). 

2  This  is  pointed  out  by  Philostratus  in  the  person  of  Apollonius.  He 
praises  them  for  their  banquets  and  ritual,  and  adds  fiffinTol  Se  advoiKoi  rp  Oe^ 
vvKTas  re  koI  rifitpas  ^  ovk  &u  6  KKeirrris  re  koI  Xj;<tt?js  km.  aySpairoSiaTris  koI  ttus  elf  Tts 
&S1KOS  ^  hp6ffv\os  "tjv  bpjxwfifvos  avT6d(y.  rh  yap  twv  anoarT€povvTuv  rux^s  iariv. 
See,  too,  Strabo,  xiv.  1,  23. 

3  Hence  the  proverb  "Ionian  effeminacy."  On  their  gorgeous  apjparel, 
see  Athen.  p.  525.      "  Taught  by  the  soft  lonians"  (Dyer,  Buins  of  Borne). 

*  Philo,    Byzant.    De    Sept.    orbis  -miracuUs,   7,  /xoyos    iarl   dtuy   oJkos. 
Palkener's  Ephesus,  pp.  210—346. 
6  Ov.  Pont.  II.  X.  21. 


12  THE    LIFE    AND    WOEK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

temple  liad  been  burnt  down  by  Herostratus — an  Epbesian 
fanatic  who  wished  his  name  to  be  recorded  in  history — • 
on  the  night  of  the  birth  of  Alexander  the  Great.  It  had 
been  rebuilt  with  ungrudging  magnificence  out  of  contri- 
butions furnished  by  all  Asia — the  very  women  contributing 
to  it  their  jewels,  as  the  Jewish  women  had  done  of  old 
for  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Wilderness.  To  avoid  the  danger 
of  earthquakes,  its  foundations  were  built  at  vast  cost  on 
artificial  foundations  of  skin  and  charcoal  laid  over  the 
marsh.-^  It  gleamed  far  ofi'with  a  star-like  radiance.^  Its 
peristyle  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  pillars  of 
the  Ionic  order  hewn  out  of  Parian  marble.  Its  doors  of 
carved  cypress-wood  were  surmounted  by  transoms  so  vast 
and  solid  that  the  aid  of  miracles  was  invoked  to  account 
for  their  elevation.  The  staircase  which  led  to  the  roof 
was  said  to  have  been  cut  out  of  a  single  vine  of  Cyprus. 
Some  of  the  pillars  were  carved  with  designs  of  exquisite 
beauty.^  Within  were  the  masterpieces  of  Praxiteles 
and  Phidias,  and  Scopas  and  Polycletus.  Paintings  by 
the  greatest  of  Greek  artists,  of  which  one — the  likeness 
of  Alexander  the  Great  by  Apelles — had  been  bought 
for  a  sum  said  to  be  equal  in  value  to  £5,000,  of 
modern  money,  adorned  the  inner  walls.  The  roof  of 
the  temple  itself  was  of  cedar-wood,  supported  by  columns 
of  jasper  on  bases  of  Parian  marble.*  On  these  pillars 
hung  gifts  of  priceless  value,  the  votive  ofierings  of  grateful 


1  See  Plin.  H.  N.  xxxvi.  21 ;  Diog.  Laert  ii.  8 ;  Aug.  De  Civ.  Dei,  xxi.  4. 
Old  London  Bridge  was  built,  not  "  on  woolsacks,"  but  out  of  the  proceeds  of 
a  tax  on  wool.  The  anecdote  of  the  discovery  of  the  white  marble  by  Pisidorus 
is  given  in  Vitruv.  x.  7. 

^  IJ.ereci)po<paves. 

^  One  splendid  example  of  the  drum  of  one  of  these  "  columnae  caelata©  " 
(Plin.)  is  now  in  the  British  Museum.  For  a  complete  and  admirable  accouiit 
of  the  temple  and  its  excavation,  see  "Wood's  Ephesus,  p.  267,  seg. 

*  Now  in  the  mosque  of  St.  Sophia. 


ARTEMIS.  13 

superstition.  At  the  end  of  it  stood  the  great  altar 
adorned  by  the  bas-relief  of  Praxiteles,  behind  which  fell 
the  vast  folds  of  a  purple  curtain.  Behind  this  curtain  was 
the  dark  and  awful  adytum  in  which  stood  the  most  sacred 
idol  of  classic  heathendom  ;  and  again,  behind  the  adytum 
was  the  room  which,  inviolable  under  divine  protection, 
was  regarded  as  the  wealthiest  and  securest  bank  in  the 
ancient  world. 

The  image  for  which  had  been  reared  this  incompar- 
able shrine  was  so  ancient  that  it  shared  withthe  Athene 
of  the  Acropolis,  the  Artemis  of  Tauris,  the  Demeter  of 
Sicily,  the  Aphrodite  of  Paphos,  and  the  Cybele  of 
Pessinus,  the  honour  of  being  regarded  as  a  AtoTrerh  "AryaXfia 
— "  an  image  that  fell  from  heaven."  ^  The  very  substance 
of  which  it  was  made  was  a  matter  of  dispute  ;  some  said 
it  was  of  vine -wood,  some  of  ebony,  some  of  cedar,  and 
some  of  stone. ^  It  was  not  a  shapeless  meteorite  like  the 
Kaaba  at  Mecca,  or  the  Hercules  of  Hyettus,^  or  the  black- 
stone  of  Pessinus;  nor  a  phallic  cone  like  the  Phoenician 
Aphrodite  of  Paphos ;  *  nor  a  mere  lump  of  wood  like  the 
Cadmean  Bacchus;^  but  neither  must  we  be  misled  by  the 
name  Artemis  to  suppose  that  it  in  any  way  resembled  the 
quivered  "  huntress  chaste  and  fair  "  of  Greek  and  Eoman 
mythology.  It  was  freely  idealised  in  many  of  the  current 
representations,^    but    was    in  reality  a    hideous    fetish, 

^  Pliny  {H.  N.  xvi.  79)  and  Athenagoras  {Pro  Christ.  14)  say  it  was  made 
by  Eudaeus,  the  pupil  of  Daedalus. 

2  Vitruv.  ii.  9 ;  Callim.  Hymn.  Bian.  239. 

'  Pausan.  ix.  24. 

*  V.  supra,  p.  349. 

^  Pausan.  ix.  12.  See  GuU,  Ephesiaea,  p.  185 ;  Falkener,  Ephesus,  287. 
The  Chaeronean  Zeus  was  a  sceptre  (Pausan.  ix.  40) ;  the  Cimmerian  Mars,  a 
scimitar  (Hdt.  iv.  62). 

"  E.g.,  in  the  statue  preserved  in  the  Museo  Borbonico  at  Naples,  which, 
if  we  may  judge  from  coins,  is  a  very  unreal  representative  of  the  venerable 
ugliness  of  the  actual  statue. 


14  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

originally  meant  for  a  symbol  of  fertility  and  tlie  produc* 
tive  power  of  nature.  She  was  represented  on  coins — which, 
as  they  bear  the  heads  of  Claudius  and  Agrippina,  must 
have  been  current  at  this  very  time,  and  may  have  easily 
passed  through  the  hands  of  Paul — as  a  figure  swathed  like 
a  mummy,  covered  with  monstrous  breasts,^  and  holding 
in  one  hand  a  trident  and  in  the  other  a  club.  The  very 
ugliness  and  uncouthness  of  the  idol  added  to  the  super- 
stitious awe  which  it  inspired,  and  just  as  the  miraculous 
Madonnas  and  images  of  Eomanisra  are  never  the  master- 
pieces of  Eaphael  or  Bernardino  Luini,  but  for  the  most 
part  blackened  Byzantine  paintings,  or  hideous  dolls  like 
the  Bambino,  so  the  statue  of  the  Ephesian  Artemis  was 
regarded  as  far  more  awful  than  the  Athene  of  Phidias  or 
the  Jupiter  of  the  Capitol.  The  Jewish  feelings  of  St. 
Paul — though  he  abstained  from  "  blaspheming "  the 
goddess^ — would  have  made  him  regard  it  as  pollution  to 
enter  her  temple ;  but  many  a  time  on  coins,  and  paint- 
ings, and  in  direct  copies,  he  must  have  seen  the  strange 
image  of  the  great  Artemis  of  the  Ephesians,  whose 
worship,  like  that  of  so  many  fairer  and  more  human  idols, 
his  preaching  would  doom  to  swift  oblivion.^ 

Though   the    Greeks  had  vied  with  the  Persians  in 
lavish  contributions  for  the  re-erection  of  the  temple,  the 

^  iroXv/jLao-ros,  imiltimamma ;  "  omnium  bestiarum  et  viventium  nutrix  '* 
(Jer.  Proem,  in  Ep.  ad  Eph.). 

*  Acts  xix.  37,  ovTe  fi\a<T<pri/xovi'Tas  rijv  6eav  v/xoiv, 

3  "  Wliat  is  become  of  tlie  Temple  of  Diaua  ?  Can  a  wonder  of  the  earth 
be  vanished  like  a  phantom,  without  leaving  a  trace  behind  ?  We  now  seek 
the  temple  in  vain ;  the  city  is  prostrate  and  the  goddess  gone  "  (Chandler ; 
see  Sibyll.  Orac.  v.  293—305).  The  wonder  is  deepened  after  seeing  the 
massiveness  of  the  superb  fragments  in  the  British  Museum.  That  the 
Turkish  name  Aia  Solouk  is  a  corruption  of  'A7ia  @eo\6yov,  and  therefore 
a  reminiscence  of  St.  John,  is  proved  by  the  discovery  of  coins  bearing  this 
iusciiiition,  and  struck  at  Ayasaluk  (Wood,  p.  183).  Perliaps  St.  John 
originally  received  the  name  by  way  of  contrast  with  the  Theologi  of  the 
Temple. 


PRIESTS    OF    ARTEMIS.  15 

worship  of  tliis  venerable  relic  was  essentially  Oriental. 
The  priests  were  amply  supported  by  the  proceeds  of 
wide  domains  and  valuable  fisheries,  and  these  priests, 
or  Megab3''zi,  as  well  as  the  "  Essen,"  ^  who  was  at  the 
head  of  them,  were  the  miserable  Persian  or  Phrygian 
eunuchs  who,  with  the  Melissae,  or  virgin-priestesses,  and 
crowds  of  idle  slaves,  were  alone  suffered  to  conduct  the 
worship  of  the  Mother  of  the  Grods.  Many  a  time,  in  the 
open  spaces  and  environs  of  Ephesus,  must  Paul  have  seen 
with  sorrow  and  indignation  the  bloated  and  beardless 
hideousness  of  these  coryphaei  of  iniquity.^  Many  a  time 
must  he  have  heard  from  the  Jewish  quarter  the  piercing 
shrillness  of  their  flutes,  and  the  harsh  jangling  of  their  tim- 
brels ;  many  a  time  have  caught  glimpses  of  their  detestable 
dances  and  corybantic  processions,  as  with  streaming  hair, 
and  wild  cries,  and  shaken  torches  of  pine,  they  strove  to 
madden  the  multitudes  into  sympathy  with  that  orgiastic 
worship,  which  was  but  too  closely  connected  with  the  vilest 
debaucheries.^  Even  the  Greeks,  little  as  they  were  liable 
to  be  swept  away  by  these  bursts  of  religious  frenzy,  seem 
to  have  caught  the  tone  of  these  disgraceful  fanatics.  At 
no  other  city  would  they  have  assembled  in  the  theatre  in 
their  thousands  to  yell  the  same  cry  over  and  over  again 
for  *•'  about  the  space  of  two  hours,"  as  though  they  had 


^  The  resemblance  of  the  word  and  character  to  the  "  Essenes  "  is  acci- 
dental.    It  means  "  a  king  (queen)  bee." 

2  Quint.  V.  12.  What  sort  of  wretches  these  were  may  be  seen  in  Jut.  vi. 
612  ;  Prop.  ii.  18,  15 ;  Appuleius,  Metamorph. 

3  Apollonius,  in  his  first  address  to  the  Ephesians,  delivered  from  the 
platform  of  the  temple,  urged  them  to  abandon  their  idleness,  folly,  and 
feasting,  and  turn  to  the  study  of  philosophy.  He  speaks  of  these  dances,  and 
says  auAav  fiky  irdi/Ta  fiicna.  rjj',  ixeffra  St  avSpoyivaiv,  fiiffra  Se  ktiittuiv,  k.t.\. 
(Philostr.  Vit.  Apoll.  iv.  2,  p.  141).  He  praises  them,  however,  for  their 
philosophic  interests,  &c.  (viii.  8,  p.  339).  Incense-burners,  flute-players,  and 
trumpeters  are  mentioned  in  an  inscription  found  by  Chandler  {Inscr.  Ant., 
p.  11). 


16  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

been  so  many  Persian  dervishes  or  Indian  yogis.  This 
senseless  reiteration  was  an  echo  of  the  screaming  ululatus 
which  was  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  cult  of  Dindy- 
mene  and  Pessinus.^ 

We  are  not  surprised  to  find  that  under  the  shadow 
of  such  a  worship  superstition  was  rampant.  Ephesus 
differed  from  other  cities  which  Paul  had  visited  mainly 
in  this  respect,  that  it  was  pre-eminently  the  city  of 
astrology,  sorcery,  incantations,  amulets,  exorcisms,  and 
every  form  of  magical  impostui'e.  On  the  statue  of  the 
goddess,  or  rather,  perhaps,  on  the  inverted  pyramid  which 
formed  the  basis  for  her  swathed  and  shapeless  feet,  were 
inscribed  certain  mystic  formulae  to  which  was  assigned  a 
magic  efficacy.  This  led  to  the  manufacture  and  the 
celebrity  of  those  "  Ephesian  writings,"  which  were  eagerly 
supplied  by  greedy  imposture  to  gaping  credulity.  Among 
them  were  the  words  askion,  kataskion,  lix,  tetras,  damna- 
meneus,  and  aisia^  which  for  sense  and  efficiency  were 
about  on  a  par  with  the  daries,  derdaries,  asfataries,  or  istay 
pista,  sista,  which  Cato  the  elder  held  to  be  a  sovereign 
remedy  for  a  sprain,^  or  the  shavriri,  vriri,  iriri,  riri,  iri,  ri, 
accompanied  with  knockings  on  the  lid  of  a  jug,  which  the 
Eabbis  taught  as  an  efficacious  expulsion  of  the  demon  of 
blindness.* 

Stories,  which  elsewhere  would  have  been  received  with 
ridicule,  at  Ephesus  found  ready  credence.  About  the 
very  time  of  St.  Paul's  visit  it  is  probable  that  the  city 
was  visited  by  Apollonius  of  Tyana ;  and  it  is  here 
that  his  biographer  Philostratus  places  the  scene  of 
some  of  his  exploits.     One  of  these  is  all  the  more  inte- 

1  Hausrath,  p.  342. 

*  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  v.  46. 

*  Cato,  De  Be  Bustica  Fr.  160  (see  Donaldson,  Varron.,  p.  234). 

*  Abhoda  Zara,  f .  12,  2. 


APOLLONIUS    AT    EPHESUS.  17 

resting  because  it  is  said  to  have  taken  place  in  that 
very  theatre  into  which  St.  Paul,  though  in  imminent 
peril  of  being  torn  to  pieces,  could  scarcely  be  per- 
suaded not  to  enter.  During  his  visit  to  Ephesus,  the 
thaumaturge  of  Tyana  found  the  plague  raging  there, 
and  in  consequence  invited  the  population  to  meet  him  in 
the  theatre.  "When  they  were  assembled,  he  rose  and 
pointed  out  to  them  a  miserable  and  tattered  old  man  as 
the  cause  of  the  prevailing  pestilence.  Instantly  the 
multitude  seized  stones  and,  in  spite  of  the  old  man's 
remonstrances,  stoned  him  to  death.  When  the  heaped 
stones  were  removed,  they  found  the  carcase  of  a  Molossian 
hound,  into  wdiich  the  demon  had  transformed  himself;^ 
and  on  this  spot  they  reared  a  statue  of  Herakles 
Apotropaios !  Philostratus  did  not  wi-ite  his  romance 
till  A.D.  218,  and  his  hero  ApoUonius  has  been  put  forth 
by  modern  infidels  as  a  sort  of  Pagan  rival  to  the  Jesus 
of  the  Gospels.  Let  any  one  read  this  wretched  pro- 
duction, and  judge !  The  Pagan  sophist,  with  all  his 
vaunted  culture  and  irritatmg  euphuism,  abounds  in 
anecdotes  which  would  have  been  regarded  as  pitiably 
foolish  if  they  had  been  narrated  by  the  unlettered  fisher- 
men of  Galilee,  strangers  as  they  were  to  all  cultivation, 
and  writing  as  they  did  a  century  and  a  half  before. 

Another  and  a  far  darker  glimpse  of  the  Ephesus  of 
this  day  may  be  obtained  from  the  letter  of  the  pseudo- 
Heraclitus.  Some  cultivated  and  able  Jew,^  adopting  the 
pseudonym  of  the  gr^at  ancient  philosopher,  wrote  some 
letters  in  which  he    is    supposed    to  exjDlain  the  reason 

1  Vit.  Apoll.  iv.  10,  p.  147.  Alexander  of  Abonoteiclios,  a  much  more 
objectionable  impostor  than  ApoUonius,  lived  till  old  age  on  the  wealth  got 
out  of  his  dupes,  and  seriously  persuaded  the  world  that  the  mother  of  his 
daughter  was  the  goddess  of  the  moon ! 

2  The  theory  of  Bernays  is  that  the  letters  were  wi-itten  by  a  Pagan,  but 
interpolated  by  a  Jew. 

C 


18  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

wliy  lie  was  called  "  the  weeping  philosopher, "  and  why- 
lie  was  never  seen  to  laugh.  In  these  he  fully  justifies 
his  traditional  remark  that  the  whole  Ephesian  popula- 
tion deserved  to  be  throttled  man  by  man.  He  here 
asks  how  it  is  that  their  state  flourishes  in  spite  of  its 
wickedness  ;  and,  in  the  inmost  spirit  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, he  sees  in  that  prosperity  the  irony  and  the 
curse  of  Heaven.  For  Artemis  and  her  worship  he  has 
no  scorn  too  intense.  The  dim  twilight  of  her  adytum 
is  symbolical  of  a  vileness  that  hateth  the  light.  He 
supposes  that  her  image  is  "  stonen "  in  the  contemp- 
tuous sense  in  which  the  word  is  used  by  Homer^ — i.e., 
idiotic  and  brutish.  He  ridicules  the  inverted  pyramid 
on  which  she  stands.  He  says  that  the  morals  which 
flourish  under  her  protection  are  worse  than  those  of 
beasts,  seeing  that  even  hounds  do  not  mutilate  each 
other,  as  her  Megabyzus  has  to  be  mutilated,  because 
she  is*  too  modest  to  be  served  by  a  man.  But  instead 
of  extolling  her  modesty,  her  priests  ought  rather  to 
curse  her  for  lewdness,  which  rendered  it  unsafe  other- 
wise to  approach  her,  and  which  had  cost  them  so  dear. 
As  for  the  orgies,  and  the  torch  festivals,  and  the  antique 
rituals,  he  has  nothing  to  say  of  them,  except  that  they 
are  the  cloak  for  every  abomination.  These  things  had 
rendered  him  a  lonely  man.  This  was  the  reason  why 
he  could  not  laugh.  How  could  he  laugh  when  he  heard 
the  noises  of  these  infamous  vagabond  priests,  and  was  a 
witness  of  all  the  nameless  iniquities  which  flourished  so 
rankly  in  consequence  of  their  malpractices — the  murder, 
and  waste,  and  lust,  and  gluttony,  and  drunkenness  ? 
And  then  he  proceeds  to  moral  and  religious  exhortations, 
which  show  that  we  are  reading  the  work  of  some  Jewish 
and  unconverted  Apollos,  who  is  yet  an  earnest  and 
eloquent  proclaimer  of  the  one  Grod  and  the  Noachian  law. 


APOLLOS.  19 

In  this  city  St.  Paul  saw  that  "  a  great  door  and 
effectual  was  open  to  him,"  though  there  were  "  many 
adversaries."  ^  During  his  absence  an  event  had  hap- 
pened which  was  to  be  of  deep  significance  for  the  future. 
Among  the  myriads  whom  business  or  pleasure,  or 
what  is  commonly  called  accident,  had  brought  to  Ephe- 
sus,  was  a  Jew  of  Alexandria  named  Apollonius,^  or 
Apollos,  who  not  only  shared  the  culture  for  which  the 
Jews  of  that  city  were  famous  in  the  age  of  Philo,  but 
who  had  a  profound  knowledge  of  Scripture,  and  a  special 
gift  of  fervid  eloquence.^  He  was  only  so  far  a  Christian 
that  he  knew  and  had  accepted  the  baptism  of  John ;  but 
though  thus  imperfectly  acquainted  with  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  he  yet  spoke  and  argued  in  the  synagogue 
with  a  power  and  courage  which  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  Jewish  tent-makers  Priscilla  and  Aquila.  They  in  vited 
him  to  their  house,  and  showed  him  the  purely  initial 
character  of  John's  teaching.  It  may  have  been  the 
accounts  of  the  Corinthian  Church  which  he  had  heard 
from  them  that  made  him  desirous  to  visit  Achaia,  and 
perceiving  how  useful  such  a  ministry  as  his  might  be 
among  the  subtle  and  intellectual  Greeks,  they  not  only 
encouraged  his  wish,*  but  wrote  for  him  "letters  of 
commendation"^  to  the  Corinthian  elders.  At  Corinth 
his  eloquence  produced  a  great  sensation,  and  he  be- 
came a  pillar  of  strength  to  the  brethren.  He  had 
so  thoroughly  profited  by  that  reflection  of  St.  Paul's 
teaching  which  he  had  caught  from  Priscilla  and  Aquila, 
that  in  his  public  disputations  with  the  hostile  Jews  he 
proved  from   their   own  Scriptures,  with   an   irresistible 

1  1  Cor.  xvi.  9. 

2  So  in  D. 

^  Acts  xviii.  25,  C*'*"'  "^V  irveifiari  (cf .  Rom.  xii.  11). 

*  irpoTpf\pdn€voi,  sc.  avr6v  (Acts  xviii.  27). 

*  (TVffTaTlK^     iTTKTTOKll  (2    Oor.  111.   1). 

'  c  2 


20  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

cogency,  the  Messiahship  of  Christ,  and  thus  was  as  accept- 
able to  the  Christians  as  he  was  formidable  to  the  Jews. 
He  watered  what  Paul  had  planted.^ 

By  the  time  of  St.  Paul's  arrival,  Apollos  had  already 
started  for  Corinth.  He  had,  however,  returned  to  Ephesus 
before  St.  Paul's  departure,  and  the  Apostle  must  have 
gazed  with  curiosity  and  interest  on  this  fervid  and  gifted 
convert.  A  meaner  soul  might  have  been  jealous  of  his 
gifts,  and  all  the  more  so  because,  while  less  valuable, 
they  were  more  immediately  dazzUng  and  impressive  than 
his  own.  St.  Paul  was  of  too  noble  a  spirit  to  leave  room 
for  the  slightest  trace  of  a  feeling  so  common,  yet  so 
ignoble.  Apollos  had  unwittingly  stolen  from  him  the 
allegiance  of  some  of  his  Corinthian  converts  ;  his  name 
had  become,  in  that  disorderly  church,  a  watchword  of 
faction.  Yet  St.  Paul  never  speaks  of  him  without  warm 
sympathy  and  admiration,^  and  evidently  appreciated  the 
high-minded  delicacy  which  made  him  refuse  to  revisit 
Corinth,^  in  spite  of  pressing  invitations,  from  the  obvious 
desire  to  give  no  encouragement  to  the  admiring  partisans 
who  had  elevated  him  into  unworthy  rivalry  with  one  so 
much  greater  than  himself. 

Ephesus,  amid  its  vast  population,  contained  specimens 
of  every  form  of  belief,  and  Apollos  was  not  the  only 
convert  to  an  imperfect  and  half-developed  form  of  Chris- 
tianity. Paul  found  there,  on  his  arrival,  a  strange  back- 
water of  religious  opinion  in  the  persons  of  some  twelve 

1  1  Cor.  iii  6.  There  can  be  little  reasonable  doubt  that  Apollos  was  tlie 
author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  In  reading  that  Epistle  (which  cannot 
be  dealt  with  in  these  volumes)  it  is  easy  to  see  that,  essentially  Pauline  as  is 
much  of  its  phraseology,  the  main  method  is  original,  and  would  probably  be 
more  pleasing  and  convincing  to  Jews  than  any  which  St.  Paid  was  led  to 
adopt.  Some  have  seen  a  distinction  between  his  pupils  and  St.  Paul's  in  Titus 
iii.  14,  oi  rifxfTepoi,  but  see  infra,  ad  loo, 

2  Tit.  iii.  13. 

s  1  Cor.  xvi.  12. 


DISCIPLES    OF    JOHN.  21 

men  who,  like  Apollos,  and  being  perhaps  in  some  way 
connected  with  him,  were  still  disciples  of  the  Baptist. 
Although  there  were  some  in  our  Lord's  time  who  stayed 
with  their  old  teacher  till  his  execution,  and  though  the 
early  fame  of  his  preaching  had  won  him  many  followers, 
of  whom  some  continued  to  linger  on  in  obscure  sects,-^ 
it  was  impossible  for  any  reasonable  man  to  stop  short 
at  this  position  except  through  ignorance.  St.  Paul  ac- 
cordingly questioned  them,  and  upon  finding  that  they 
knew  little  or  nothing  of  the  final  phase  of  John's  teach- 
ing, or  of  the  revelation  of  Christ,  and  were  even  ignorant 
of  the  very  name  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  gave  them 
further  instruction  until  they  were  fitted  to  receive 
baptism,  and  exhibited  those  gifts  of  the  Spirit — the 
speaking  with  tongues  and  prophecy — which  were  the 
accepted  proofs  of  full  and  faithful  initiation  into  the 
Church  of  Christ.2 

For  three  months,  in  accordance  with  his  usual  plan,  he 
was  a  constant  visitor  at  the  synagogue,  and  used  every 
effort  of  persuasion  and  argument  to  ripen  into  conviction 
the  favourable  impressions  he  had  at  first  created.  St. 
Luke  passes  briefly  over  the  circumstances,  but  there  must 
have  been  many  an  anxious  hour,  many  a  bitter  struggle, 
many  an  exciting  debate  before  the  Jews  finally  adopted 
a  tone  not  only  of  decided  rejection,  but  even  of  so  fierce 
an  opposition,  that  St.  Paul  was  forced  once  more,  as  at 
Corinth,  openly  to  secede  from  their  communion.  We  do 
not  sufficiently  estimate  the  pain  which  such  circumstances 
must  have  caused  to  him.  His  life  was  so  beset  with 
trials,  that  each  trial,  however  heavy  in  itself,  is  passed 

1  Sabaeans,  Mendaeans,  &c.  (Neancler,  Ch.  Hist.  ii.  57).  We  find  from  the 
Clementine  Recognitions  that  there  were  some  of  John's  disciples  who  con- 
tinued to  preach  him  as  the  Messiah. 

2  Cf.  Heb.  ^-i.  4—6. 


22  THE    LIFE    AI^D    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

over  amid  a  multitude  that  were  still  more  grievous.  But 
we  must  remember  that  St.  Paul,  though  a  Christian,  still 
regarded  himself  as  a  true  Israelite,  and  he  must  have  felt, 
at  least  as  severely  as  a  Luther  or  a  Whitefield,  this  in- 
voluntary alienation  from  the  religious  communion  of  his 
childhood.  We  must  conjecture,  too,  that  it  was  amid 
these  early  struggles  that  he  once  more  voluntarily  sub- 
mitted to  the  recognised  authority  of  synagogues,  and 
endured  some  of  those  five  beatings  by  the  Jews,  any  one 
of  which  would  have  been  regarded  as  a  terrible  episode 
in  an  ordinary  life. 

As  long  as  opposition  confined  itself  to  legitimate 
methods,  St.  Paul  was  glad  to  be  a  worshipper  in  the 
synagogue,  and  to  deliver  the  customary  Midrash  ;  but 
when  the  Jews  not  only  rejected  and  reviled  him,  but 
even  endeavoured  to  thwart  all  chance  of  his  usefulness 
amid  their  Gentile  neighbours,  he  saw  that  it  was  time 
to  withdraw  his  disciples  from  among  them  ;^  and,  as 
their  number  was  now  considerable,  he  hired  the  school 
of  Tyrannus — some  heathen  sophist  of  that  not  very  un- 
common name.^  It  was  one  of  those  schools  of  rhetoric 
and  philosoj)hy  which  were  common  in  a  city  like  Ephesus, 
where  there  were  many  who  prided  themselves  on  intel- 
lectual pursuits.  This  new  place  of  worship  gave  him 
the  advantage  of  being  able  to  meet  the  brethren  daily, 
whereas  in  the  synagogue  this  was  only  possible  three 
times  a  week.  His  labours  and  his  preaching  were  not 
unblessed.  For  two  full  years  longer  he  continued  to 
make  Ephesus  the  centre  of  his  missionary  activity,  and, 

^  Epgenetws  (Rom.  xvi.  5,  leg.  Afflas)  was  his  first  convert. 

2  Jos.  B.  J.  i.  26,  §  3  ;  2  Mace.  iv.  40.  It  is  very  unlikely  that  this  was  a 
Beth  Midrash  (Meyer),  as  it  was  St.  Paul's  object  to  withdraw  from  the  Jews. 
There  was  a  Sophist  Tyi-aunus  mentioned  by  Suidas.  The  nvos  is  sinirious 
(**,  A.  B),  which  shows  that  this  Tyrannus  was  known  in  Ephesus  (see  Heinsen, 
Paulus,  218). 


WONDERS    AT    EPHESUS.  23 

as  the  fame  of  liis  Gospel  began  to  spread,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  he  himself  took  short  journeys  to  various 
neighbouring  places,  until,  in  the  strong  expression  of 
St.  Luke,  "  all  they  that  dwelt  in  Asia  heard  the  word  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  both  Jews  and  Greeks."^  In  Ephesus 
itself  his  reputation  reached  an  extraordinary  height,  in 
consequence  of  the  unusual  works  of  power  which  God 
wrought  by  his  hands. ^  On  this  subject  he  is  himself 
silent  even  by  way  of  allusion,  and  though  he  speaks  to 
the  Ephesian  elders^  of  his  tears,  and  trials,  and  dangers, 
he  does  not  say  a  word  as  to  the  signs  aud  wonders  which 
in  writing  to  the  Corinthians  he  distinctly  claims.  Al- 
though St.  Paul  believed  that  God,  for  the  furtherance  ot 
the  Gospel,  did  allow  him  to  work  "powers  "  beyond  the 
range  of  human  experience,  and  in  which  he  humbly 
recognised  the  work  of  the  Spirit  granted  to  faith  and 
prayer,  yet  he  by  no  means  frequently  exercised  these 
gifts,  and  never  for  his  own  relief  or  during  the  sickness  ol 
his  dearest  friends.  But  it  was  a  common  thing  in  Ephesus 
to  use  all  kinds  of  magic  remedies  and  curious  arts.  We  are 
not,  therefore,  surprised  to  hear  that  articles  of  dress  which 
had  belonged  to  Paul,  handkerchiefs  which  he  had  used, 
and  aprons  with  which  he  had  been  girded  in  the  pursuit 
of  his  trade,*  were  assumed  b}'^  the  Ephesians  to  have 
caught  a  magic  efficacy,  and  were   carried  about  to  sick 

^  Hence  forty  years  later,  in  Bithynia,  Pliny  {Ep.  96)  wi-ites,  "  Neque  enim 
civitates  tantum,  sed  vicos  etiam  atque  agros  superstitiouis  istius  contagio 
pervagata  est." 

*  Acts  xix.  11,  Swd/ieis  oii  ras  rvxoixTas. 

^  The  "  Epistle  to  tlie  Ephesians,"  being  a  circular  letter,  naturally  contains 
but  few  specific  allusions — which,  if  intelligible  to  one  Christian  community, 
would  not  have  been  so  to  another.  We  should  have  expected  such  allusions 
in  his  speech  ;  but  "  omittit  Doctor  gentium  narrare  miracula,  narrat  labores, 
narrat  aerumnas,  narrat  tribulationes  quae  Paulo  Paulique  imitatoribus  ipsis 
miracidis  sunt  clariores"  (Novarinus). 

*  ffovhdpia,  sudaria ;  ^/xi/ciVfija,  semicincta. 


24  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

people  and  demoniacs.  St.  Luke  was  not  witli  tlie  Apostle 
at  Ephesus,  and  enters  into  no  details ;  but  it  is  clear  that 
his  informant,  whoever  he  was,  had  abstained  from  saying 
that  this  was  done  by  St.  Paul's  sanction.  But  since 
Ephesus  was  the  head-quarters  of  diabolism  and  sorcery, 
the  use  of  St.  Paul's  handkerchiefs  or  aprons,  whether 
authorised  by  him  or  not,  was  so  far  overruled  to  beneficial 
results  of  healing  as  to  prove  the  superiority  of  the 
Christian  faith  in  the  acropolis  of  Paganism,  and  to 
prepare  the  way  for  holy  worship  in  the  stronghold  of 
Eastern  fanaticism  and  Grecian  vice.  He  who  "  followed 
not  Jesus,"  and  yet  was  enabled  to  cast  out  devils  in  His 
name,  could  hardly  fail  to  be  the  prototype  of  others  who, 
though  they  acted  without  sanction,  were  yet  for  good 
purposes,  and  in  that  unsearched  borderland  which  lies 
between  the  natural  and  the  supernatural,  enabled  by 
Grod's  providence  to  achieve  results  which  tended  to  the 
furtherance  of  truth. 

But  lest  any  sanction  should  be  given  to  false  and 
superstitious  notions,  we  can  hardly  fail  to  see  in  the  next 
anecdote  which  St.  Luke  has  preserved  for  us  a  direct 
rebuke  of  mechanical  thaumaturgy.  Exorcism  was  a 
practice  which  had  long  been  prevalent  among  the  Jews, 
and  it  was  often  connected  with  the  grossest  credulity  and 
the  most  flagrant  imposture.^  Now  there  w^as  a  Jewish 
priest  of  some  distinction  of  the  name  of  Sceva,^  whose 
seven  sons  wandered  about  from  place  to  place  professing 
to  eject  demons;  and  on  learning  the  reputation  of  St. 
Paul,  and  hearing  doubtless  of  the  cures  effected  by  the 

^  Jos.  Antt.  viii.  2,  §  5.  For  this  ridiculous  jugglery,  which  seems  to  have 
deceived  Ycspasian,  see  my  Life  of  Christ,  i.  237.  The  prevalence  of  Jewish 
exorcists  is  attested  by  Justin  Martyr,  Dial.  85. 

-  Acts  xix.  14,  i.pxtfpfo's — a  general  expression ;  perhaps  a  head  of  one  of 
the  twenty-four  courses. 


DEFEATED    EXORCISTS.  25 

application  of  his  handkercliiefs,  they  thought  that  by  com- 
bining his  name  with  that  of  Jesus,  they  could  effect  cures 
in  the  most  virulent  cases,  which  defeated  even  the  ring  and 
root  of  Solomon.-^  Encouraged  possibly  by  some  apparent 
initial  success — so  at  least  the  story  seems  to  imply — two 
of  these  seven  itinerant  impostors^  visited  a  man  who  was 
evidently  a  raving  maniac,  but  who  had  those  sufficiently 
lucid  perceptions  of  certain  subjects  which  many  madmen 
still  retain.  Addressing  the  evil  demon,  they  exclaimed, 
"  We  exorcise  you  by  Jesus,  whom  Paul  preacheth."  In 
this  instance,  however,  the  adjuration  proved  to  be  a 
humiliating  failure.  The  maniac  astutely  replied,  "  Jesus 
I  recognise,  and  Paul  I  know;^  but  who  are  you?"  and 
then  leaping  upon  them  with  the  superhuman  strength  of 
madness,  he  tore  their  clothes  off  their  backs,  and  inflicted 
upon  them  such  violent  injuries  that  they  were  glad  to 
escape  out  of  the  house  stripped  and  wounded. 

So  remarkable  a  story  could  not  remain  unknown.  It 
spread  like  wildfire  among  the  gossiping  Ephesians,  and 
produced  a  remarkable  feeling  of  dread  and  astonishment. 
One  result  of  it  was  most  beneficial.  We  have  had 
repeated  occasion  to  observe  that  the  early  Christians 
who  had  been  redeemed  from  heathendom,  either  in  the 

*  Jos.  Antt.  I.e.  We  find  many  traces  of  this  kind  of  superstition  in  the 
Talmudic  writings :  e.g.,  the  belief  that  the  Minim  could  cure  the  bites  of 
serpents  by  the  name  of  Jesus  {v.  supra,  i.,  p.  112).  In  the  Toldoth  Jeshu,  the 
miracles  of  our  Lord  are  explained  by  an  unutterably  silly  story  as  to  the  means 
by  which  He  possessed  himself  of  the  Shetnhamephoresh  or  sacred  name. 
Witchcraft  had  in  all  ages  been  prevalent  among  the  Jews  (Ex.  xxii.  18;  1  Sam. 
xxviii.  3,  9 ;  Mic.  v.  12) ;  it  continued  to  be  so  at  the  Christian  era,  and  it  was 
necessary  e\exi  to  warn  converts  against  any  addiction  to  it  (Gal.  v.  20 ;  2  Tim. 
iii.  13,  ySrjTfs). 

^  In  verse  16  the  reading  an(porepoiv  of  h,  A,  B,  D,  is  almost  certainly 
correct.  They  were  actuated  by  exactly  the  same  motives  as  Simon  Magus, 
but  had  shown  less  cunning  in  trying  to  carry  them  out. 

^  Acts  xix.  15,  Thv  'IrjtroO*'  yiyy(i<TKW  Kol  rhv  tlavXav  iirla-Tafiai;  Vulg.,  "  Jesum 

novi  et  Paulum  scio." 


26  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

coarsenesses  of  slave-life  or  in  the  refined  abominations 
of  the  higher  classes,  required  a  terrible  struggle  to 
deliver  themselves  by  the  aid  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  from 
the  thraldom  of  past  corruption.  The  sternly  solemn 
emphasis  of  St.  Paul's  repeated  warnings — the  actual  facts 
which  occurred  in  the  history  of  the  early  churches — 
show  conclusively  that  the  early  converts  required  to  be 
treated  with  extreme  forbearance,  while,  at  the  same  time, 
they  were  watched  over  by  their  spiritual  rulers  with 
incessant  vigilance.  The  stir  produced  by  the  discom- 
fiture of  the  Beni  Sceva  revealed  the  startling  fact  that 
some  of  the  brethren  in  embracing  Christianity  had  not 
abandoned  magic.  Stricken  in  conscience,  these  secret 
dealers  in  the  superstitious  trumpery  of  "  curious  arts " 
now  came  forward  in  the  midst  of  the  community  and 
confessed  their  secret  malpractices.  Nor  was  it  only  the 
dujDes  who  acknowledged  the  error.  Even  the  deceivers 
came  forward,  and  gave  the  most  decisive  proof  of  their 
sincerity  by  rendering  impossible  any  future  chicanery. 
They  brought  the  cabalistic  and  expensive  books ^  which 
had  been  the  instruments  of  their  trade,  and  publicly 
burned  them.     It  was  like  the  Mo7ite  delta  Fieta  reared 


1  On  these  E(|>eV«a  ypififiara  see  the  illustrations  adduced  by  "Wetstein. 
Some  of  them  were  copies  of  the  mystic  words  and  names  engraved  in 
enigmatic  formulse  (alyiyixarwSais — Eustath.  in  Od.  xiv.,  p.  1864)  on  the  crown, 
girdle,  and  feet  of  the  statue  of  Artemis.  Wliole  treatises  were  written  in 
explanation  of  them,  which  resemble  certain  Chinese  treatises.  An  addiction 
to  magic,  therefore,  assumed  almost  necessarily  a  secret  belief  in  idolatry. 
One  of  the  titles  of  Artemis  was  Magos.  Balbillus  (Suet.  Ner.  36)  and  Maxiums 
(Gibbon,  ii.  291,  ed.  Mihnan)  were  both  Ephesian  astrologers.  Eustathius 
{I.e. — cf.  Philostr.  Vit.  Apol.  vii.  39)  tells  us  thatCrcesus  was  saved  by  reciting 
them  on  the  pyre,  and  that  in  a  wrestling  bout  a  Milesian,  who  could  not 
throw  an  Ephesian,  found  that  he  had  Ephesian  incantations  engraved  on  a 
die.  When  this  was  taken  from  liiiu  the  Milesian  tlircw  him  thirty  times  in 
succession.  Hence  the  EcpeVia  ypdfjL/j.aTa  were  sometimes  engraved  on  seals 
(Athen.  xii.  584).  Renan  says  (p.  345)  that  the  names  of  the  "  seven  sleepers 
of  Ephesus  "  are  still  a  common  incantation  in  the  East. 


BURNING    OF    IVIAGIC    BOOKS.  27 

by  the  repentant  Florentines  at  the  bidding  of  Savonarola ; 
and  so  extensive  had  been  this  secret  evil-doing,  that  the 
value  of  the  books  destroyed  by  the  culprits  in  this  fit  of 
penitence  was  no  less  than  fifty  thousand  drachms  of  silver, 
or,  in  our  reckoning,  about  £2,030.^  This  bonfire,  which 
must  have  lasted  some  time,^  was  so  striking  a  protest 
against  the  prevalent  credulity,  that  it  was  doubtless  one 
of  the  circumstances  which  gave  to  St.  Paul's  preaching 
so  wide  a  celebrity  throughout  all  Asia. 

This  little  handful  of  incidents  is  all  that  St.  Luke 
was  enabled  to  preserve  for  us  of  this  great  Ephesian  visit, 
which  Paul  himself  tells  us  occupied  a  period  of  three 
years. ^  Had  we  nothing  else  to  go  by,  we  might  suppose 
that  until  the  final  outbreak  it  was  a  period  of  almost 
unbroken  success  and  prosperity.  Such,  however,  as  we 
find  from  the  Epistles'*  and  from  the  Apostle's  speech  to 
the  Ephesian  elders,^  was  very  far  from  being  the  case. 
It  was  indeed  an  earnest,  incessant,  laborious,  house-to- 
house  ministry,  which  carried  its  exhortations  to  each  in- 
dividual member  of  the  church.  But  it  was  a  ministry  of 
many  tears  ;  and  though  greatly  blessed,  it  was  a  time  of 
such  overwhelming  trial,  sickness,  persecution,  and  misery, 
that  it  probably  surpassed  in  sorrow  any  other  period  of 
St.  Paul's  life.  We  must  suppose  that  during  its  course 
happened  not  a  few  of  those  perils  which  he  recounts  with 
such  passionate  brevity  of  allusion  in  his  Second  Epistle 

^  On  the  almost  certain  supposition  that  the  "  pieces  of  silver  "  were  Attic 
drachms  of  the  value  of  about  9|d.  If  they  were  Roman  denarii  the  value 
would  be  £1,770.  Classic  parallels  to  this  j)ublic  abjuration  of  magic  are 
quoted  from  Liv.  xl.  29 ;  Suet.  Aug.  31 ;  Tac.  Ann.  xiii.  50  ;  Agric.  2. 

2   KartKatov,  impf. 

'  Acts  XX.  31 ;  but  owing  to  the  Jewish  method  of  reckoning  any  'part  of 
time  to  the  whole,  the  period  did  not  necessarily  much  exceed  two  years. 

*  Chietiy  those  to  the  Corinthians.  On  the  Epistle  to  "  the  Ephesians  " 
see  infra. 

»  Acts  XX.  18—35. 


28  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

to  the  Corinthians.  Neither  from  Jews,  nor  from  Pasrans, 
nor  from  nominal  Christians  was  he  safe.  He  had 
suiferecl  alike  at  the  hands  of  lawless  handitti  and  stately 
magistrates;  he  had  been  stoned  by  the  simple  provincials 
of  Lystra,  beaten  by  the  Eoman  colonists  of  Philippi, 
hunted  by  the  Greek  mob  at  Ephesns,  seized  by  the 
furious  Jews  at  Corinth,  maligned  and  thwarted  by  the 
Pharisaic  professors  of  Jerusalem.  Robbers  he  may  well 
have  encountered  in  the  environs,^  as  tradition  tells  us  that 
St.  John  the  Evangelist  did  in  later  days,  as  well  as  in  the 
interior,  when  he  travelled  to  lay  the  foundation  of  various 
churches.^  Perils  among  his  own  countrymen  we  know 
befell  him  there,  for  he  reminds  the  elders  of  Ephesus  of 
what  he  had  suffered  from  the  ambuscades  of  the  Jews.^ 
To  perils  by  the  heathen  and  in  the  ciij  he  must  have  often 
been  liable  in  the  narrow  streets.  Of  his  perils  among 
false  brethren,  like  Ph3'gellus,  and  Hermogenes,  and 
Alexander,  we  may  see  a  specimen  in  the  slanders  against 
his  person,  and  the  internecine  opposition  to  his  doctrine, 
of  which  we  shall  meet  with  future  proofs.  Perils  in  the 
wilderness  and  in  the  sea  were  the  inevitable  lot  of  one 
who  travelled  over  vast  districts  in  those  days,  when  navi- 
gation was  so  imperfect  and  intercourse  so  unprotected. 
It  was  very  shortly  after  his  departure  from  Ephesus  that 
he  wrote  of  all  these  dangers,  and  if,  as  is  possible,  he 
took  more  than  one  vo3^age  from  the  haven  of  Ephesus  to 
various  places  on  the  shores  of  the  Levant,  it  may  have 
been  at  this  time  that  he  suffered  that  specially  perilous 

1  2  Cor.  xi.  26. 

"^  He  had  not,  however,  visited  Laodicea  or  Colossce,  where  chnrches  were 
founded  by  Philemon  and  Epaphras  (Col.  i.  7 ;  iv.  12 — 16).  But  he  may 
well  have  made  journeys  to  Smyrna,  Pergamos,  Thyatira,  Sardis,  Phila- 
delphia, &c.     (See  1  Cor.  xvi.  19.) 

^  Acts  XX.  19 ;  which  again  shows  the  fragmentary  nature  of  the  narrative 
as  regards  all  particulars  of  personal  suffering. 


TRIALS    A^D    ACTIVITY.  29 

shipwreck,  in  the  escape  from  which  he  floated  a  day  and 
a  night  npon  the  stormy  waves. ^  And  all  this  time,  with 
a  heart  that  trembled  with  sympathy  or  burned  with 
indignation,^  he  was  carrying  out  the  duties  of  a  laborious 
and  pastoral  ministry,^  and  bearing  the  anxious  burden 
of  all  the  churches,  of  which  some,  like  the  churches  of 
Corinth  and  Galatia,  caused  him  the  most  acute  distress. 
Nor  were  physical  cares  and  burdens  wanting.  True  to  his 
principle  of  refusing  to  eat  the  bread  of  dependence,*  he 
had  toiled  incessantly  at  Ephesus  to  support,  not  himself 
only,  but  even  Aristarchus  and  the  others  who  were  with 
him ;  and  not  even  all  his  weariness,  and  painfulness, 
and  sleepless  nights  of  mingled  toil  and  danger,^  had  saved 
him  from  cold,  and  nakedness,  and  the  constant  pangs  of 
hunger  during  compulsory  or  voluntary  fasts.^  And 
while  he  was  taking  his  place  like  a  general  on  a  battle- 
field, with  his  eye  on  every  weak  or  endangered  point ; 
while  his  heart  was  constantly  rent  by  news  of  the  defec- 
tion of  those  for  whom  he  would  gladly  have  laid  dow^n 
his  life ;  while  a  new,  powerful,  and  organised  opposition 
was  working  against  him  in  the  very  churches  which  he 
had  founded  with  such  peril  and  toil;'^  while  he  was  being 

*  Whether  a  brief  and  unsatisfactory  visit  to  Corinth  was  among  these 
joiirneys  is  a  disputed  point,  which  depends  on  the  interpretation  given  to 
2  Cor.  i.  15,  16  ;  xiii.  1,  and  wliich  will  never  be  finally  settled.  A  multitude 
of  authorities  may  be  quoted  on  both  sides,  and  fortunately  the  question  is  not 
one  of  great  importance. 

2  2  Cor.  xi.  29. 
»  Acts  XX.  20,  31. 

*  Acts  XX.  34. 
»  2  Cor.  xi.  27. 

'  And  that,  too,  althongh  the  tents  made  at  Ephesus  had  a  special  reputa- 
tion, and  were  therefore  probably  in  some  demand  (Plut.  Alcib.  12 ;  Athen. 
xii.  47). 

^  Perhaps  the  Judaic  Christians  were  more  content  to  leave  him  alone 
while  he  was  working  in  Europe,  and  were  only  aroused  to  opposition  by  his 
resumption  of  work  in  Asia  (Krenkel,  Paulus,  p.  18o). 


30  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

constantly  scourged,  and  mobbed,  and  maltreated,  and  at 
the  same  time  suffering  from  repeated  attacks  of  sickness 
and  depression ;  while  he  was  at  once  fighting  a  hand-to- 
hand  battle  and  directing  the  entire  campaign; — he  yet 
found  time  to  travel  for  the  foundation  or  confirming  of 
other  churches,  and  to  write,  as  with  his  very  heart's 
blood,  the  letters  which  should  rivet  the  attention  of 
thousands  of  the  foremost  intellects,  eighteen  centuries 
after  he  himself  had  been  laid  in  his  nameless  grave. 
In  these  we  find  that  at  the  very  hour  of  apparent  success 
he  was  in  the  midst  of  foolishness,  weakness,  shame — "  pil- 
loried," as  it  were,  "  on  infamy's  high  stage,"  the  sentence 
of  death  hanging  ever  over  his  head,  cast  down,  perplexed, 
persecuted,  troubled  on  every  side,  homeless, buffeted,  ill-pro- 
vided with  food  and  clothes,  abused,  persecuted,  slandered, 
made  as  it  were  the  dung  and  filth  of  all  the  world.-^  Nay, 
more,  he  was  in  jeopardy  not  only  every  day,  but  every 
hour ;  humanly  speaking,  he  had  fought  with  wild  beasts 
in  the  great  voluptuous  Ionic  city ;  he  was  living  every 
day  a  living  death.  He  tells  us  that  he  was  branded  like 
some  guilty  slave  with  the  stigmata  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ;^  that 
he  was  being  "  killed  all  the  day  long;"^  that  he  was  "  in 
deaths  oft;"*  that  he  was  constantly  carrying  about  with 
him  the  deadness  of  the  crucified  Christ  ;^  his  life  an 
endless  mortification,  his  story  an  inscription  on  a  cross. 
What  wonder  if,  amid  these  afflictions,  there  were  times 
when  the  heroic  soul  gave  way  ?  What  wonder  if  he 
speaks  of  tears,  and  trembling,  and  desolation  of  heart, 
and  utter  restlessness ;  of  being  pressed  out  of  measure, 
above  strength,  despairing  of  life  itself,^  tried  almost 
beyond  the  extreme  of  human  endurance — without  fight- 

»  1  Cor.  iv.  8—13;  2  Cor.  iv.  8,  9.  *  2  Cor.  xi.  23. 

2  Gal.  vi.  17.  »  2  Cor.  iv.  10. 

3  Rom.  viii.  36.  •  2  Cor.  i.  8. 


PRE-EMINENCE    IN    SUFFERING.  31 

ino-s,  within  fears  ?  What  wonder  if  he  is  driven  to  declare 
that  liiJiis  is  all  the  life  belonging  to  our  hope  in  Christ, 
he  would  be  of  all  men  the  most  miserable  ?  ^  And  yet,  in 
the  strength  of  the  Saviour,  how  triumphantly  he  stemmed 
the  overwhelming  tide  of  these  afflictions ;  in  the  panoply 
of  God  how  dauntlessly  he  continued  to  fling  himself  into 
the  never-ending  battle  of  a  warfare  which  had  no  dis- 
charge.^ Indomitable  spirit !  flung  down  to  earth,  chained 
like  a  captive  to  the  chariot-wheels  of  his  Lord's  triumph,^ 
haled  as  it  were  from  city  to  city,  amid  bonds  and  afflic- 
tions,^ as  a  deplorable  spectacle,  amid  the  incense  which 
breathed  through  the  streets  in  token  of  the  victor's 
might — he  yet  thanks  God  that  he  is  thus  a  captive,  and 
glories  in  his  many  infirmities.  Incomparable  and  heroic 
soul !  many  saints  of  God  have  toiled,  and  suffered,  and 
travelled,  and  preached,  and  been  execrated,  and  tortured, 
and  imprisoned,  and  martyred,  in  the  cause  of  Christ. 
Singly  they  tower  above  the  vulgar  herd  of  selfish  and 
comfortable  men ;  but  yet  the  collective  labours  of  some 
of  their  greatest  would  not  equal,  nor  would  their  collective 
sufferings  furnish  a  parallel  to  those  of  Paul,  and  very 
few  of  them  have  been  what  he  was — a  great  original 
thinker,  as  well  as  a  devoted  practical  worker  for  his 
Lord. 

But  of  this  period  we  learn  from  the  Acts  only  one 
closing  scene,^  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  even  this  is 
painted  for  us  in  colours  half  so  terrible  as  the  reality. 
Certain  it  is  that  some  of  the  allusions  which  we  have 
been  noticing  must  bear  reference  to  this  crowning  peril, 

^  1  Cor.  XT.  19. 

«  See  Greg.  Naz.  Orat.  ii.  38—40. 
»  2  Cor.  ii.  14—16. 
*  Acts  XX.  23. 

^  There  arc  further  hints  in  the  farewell  speech  to  the  Ephesian  elders 
(Acts  XX.  18—35). 


32  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

and  tliat,  accustomed  tlioiigli  lie  was  to  tlie  daily  aspect 
of  danger  in  its  worst  forms,  this  particular  danger  and  the 
circumstances  attending  it,  which  are  rather  hinted  at 
than  detailed,  had  made  a  most  intense  impression  upon 
the  Apostle's  mind. 

At  the  close  of  about  two  years,  his  restless  fervour 
made  him  feel  that  he  could  stay  no  longer  in  the  school 
of  Tyrannus.  He  formed  the  plan  of  starting  after 
Pentecost,  and  visiting  once  more  the  churches  of  Mace- 
donia and  Achaia,  which  he  had  founded  in  his  second 
journey,  and  of  sailing  from  Corinth  to  pay  a  fifth  visit 
to  Jerusalem,  after  which  he  hoped  to  see  Eome,  the  great 
capital  of  the  civilisation  of  the  world. ^  In  furtherance  of 
this  purpose  he  had  already  despatched  two  of  his  little 
band  of  fellow-workers,  Timothy  and  Erastus,  to  Mace- 
donia with  orders  that  they  were  to  rejoin  him  at  Corinth. 
Erastus " — if  this  be  the  chamberlain  of  the  city — was  a 
person  of  influence,  and  would  have  been  well'  suited  both 
to  provide  for  the  Apostle's  reception  and  to  superintend 
the  management  of  the  weekly  offertory,  about  which  St. 
Paul  was  at  present  greatly  interested.  The  visit  to 
Jerusalem  was  rendered  necessary  by  the  contribution  for 
the  distressed  Christians  of  that  city,  which  he  had  been 
collecting  from  the  Gentile  churches,  and  which  he  naturally 
desired  to  present  in  person,  as  the  best  possible  token  of 
forgiveness  and  brotherhood,  to  the  pillars  of  the  un- 
friendly community.  This  had  not  been  his  original  plan.^ 
He  had  originally  intended,  and  indeed  had  announced 
his  intention,  in  a  letter  no  longer  extant,*  to  sail  straight 
from  Ephesus  to  Corinth,  make  his  way  thence  by  land 

1  Of.  Rom.  i.  15;  XV.  23—28;  Acts  xix.  21. 

2  Rom.  xvi.  23 ;  2  Tim.  iv.  20,  but  there  is  no  certainty  in  the  matter.    The 
name  was  common. 

3  2  Cor.  i.  16—23. 
*  F.  infra,  p.  68. 


ARTEMISIA   AT    EPHESUS.  33 

to  the  clmrches  of  Macedonia,  sail  back  from  thence  to 
Connth,  and  so  sail  once  more  from  Corinth  to  Jerusalem. 
Weighty  reasons,  which  we  shall  see  hereafter,  had  com- 
pelled the  abandonment  of  this  design.  The  ill  news 
respecting  the  condition  of  the  Corinthian  churches  which 
he  had  received  from  the  slaves  of  Chloe  compelled  him  to 
write  his  first  extant  letter  to  the  Corinthians,  in  which 
he  tacitly  abandons  his  original  intention,  but  sends 
Titus,  and  with  him  "  the  brother,"  to  regulate  to  the  best 
of  their  power  the  gross  disorders  that  had  arisen.^  Probably 
at  the  same  time  he  sent  a  message  to  Timothy — uncertain, 
however,  whether  it  would  reach  him  in  time — not  to  go 
to  Corinth,  but  either  to  return  to  him  or  to  wait  for  him 
in  Macedonia.  The  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  was 
written  about  the  time  of  the  Passover  in  April,  and  pro- 
bably in  the  very  next  month  an  event  occurred  which,  at 
the  last  moment,  endangered  his  stay  and  precipitated  his 
departure. 

It  was  now  the  month  of  May,  and  nothing  seemed 
likely  to  interfere  with  the  peaceful  close  of  a  troubled 
ministry.  But  this  month  was  specially  dedicated  to  the 
goddess  of  Ephesus,  and  was  called  from  her  the  Arte- 
misian.^  During  the  month  was  held  the  great  fair — ■ 
called  Ephesia — which  attracted  an  immense  concourse  of 
people  from  all  parts  of  Asia,  and  was  kept  with  all  pos- 
sible splendour  and  revelry.  The  proceedings  resembled 
the  Christmas  festivities  of  the  middle  ages,  with  their 
boy  bishops  and  abbots  of  misrule.  The  gods  were  per- 
sonated by  chosen  representatives,  who  received  through- 
out the  month  a  sort  of  mock  adoration.     There  was  an 

*  1  Cor.  xvi.  5—7. 

'  The  decree  dedicating  the  entire  month  to  Artemis  has  been  found  by 
Chandler  on  a  slab  of  white  marble  near  the  aqueduct,  and  is  given  by  Boeck, 
Corp.  Inscr.  2954.     It  is  nearly  contemporary  with  the  time  of  St.  Paul. 
d 


34  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Alytarch,  who  represented  Zeus;  a  Grammateus,  who  played 
the  part  of  Apollo ;  an  Amphithales,  who  personated 
Hermes;  and  in  the  numberless  processions  and  litanies, 
and  sacrifices,  they  j)aced  the  streets,  and  were  elevated  in 
public  places,  arrayed  in  robes  of  pure  white  or  of  tissued 
gold,  and  wearing  crowns  which  were  set  with  carbuncles 
and  pearls.  The  theatre  and  stadium  were  densely  crowded 
by  festive  throngs  to  listen  to  the  musical  contests,  to  watch 
the  horse-races,  and  the  athletic  exhibitions,  or  to  look 
on  with  thrills  of  fiercer  emotion  at  the  horrible  combats 
of  men  and  beasts.  The  vast  expense  of  these  prolonged 
festivities  and  superb  spectacles  was  entirely  borne  by  the 
College  of  the  ten  Asiarchs,  who  thus  fulfilled  the  same 
functions  as  those  of  the  Curule  JEdiles  at  Rome.  They 
were  men  of  high  distinction,  chosen  annually  from  the 
wealthiest  citizens  of  the  chief  cities  of  Asia,  and  it  was 
their  duty  to  preside  over  the  games,  and  to  keep  order 
in  the  theatre.  The  heavy  pecuniary  burden  of  the  office 
was  repaid  in  honorary  privileges  and  social  distinctions. 
Their  names  were  recorded  on  coins  and  in  public  inscrip- 
tions, and  the  garlands  and  purple  robes  which  distin- 
guished them  during  the  continuance  of  the  feast  were  the 
external  marks  of  the  popular  gratitude.^ 

During  the  sacred  month  the  city  rang  with  every  sort 
of  joyous  sounds ;  gay  processions  were  constantly  sweep- 
ing to  the  famous  temple ;  drunkenness  and  debauchery 
were  rife ;  even  through  the  soft  night  of  spring  the  Agora 
hummed  with  the  busy  throngs  of  idlers  and  revellers.^ 
It  was  inevitable  that  at  such  a  time  there  should  be  a 
recrudescence  of  fanaticism,  and  it  is  far  from  improbable 
that  the  worthless  and  frivolous  mob,  incited  by  the 
Eunuch  priests   and    Hierodules    of  Artemis,    may   have 

1  These  particulars  are  mainly  derived  from  the  account  of  Malalaa. 

2  AchiU.  Tat.  5. 


ILL-FEELING    AT    EPHESUS.  35 

marked  out  for  insult  tlie  little  congregation  whicli  met 
in  tlie  school  of  Tyrannus,  and  their  well-known  teacher. 
This  year  there  was  a  perceptible  diminution  in  the  fast 
and  furious  mirth  of  the  Artemisian  season,  and  the  cause 
of  this  falling  off  was  perfectly  notorious.^  Not  only  in 
Ephesus,  but  in  all  the  chief  cities  of  Proconsular  Asia, 
deep  interest  had  been  excited  by  the  preaching  of  a  cer- 
tain Paulus,  who,  in  the  very  metrojDolis  of  idolatry,  was 
known  to  be  quietly  preaching  that  they  were  no  gods 
which  were  made  with  hands.  Many  people  had  been 
persuaded  to  adopt  his  views;  many  more  had  so  far  at 
least  been  influenced  by  them  as  to  feel  a  growing  indif- 
ference for  mummeries  and  incantations,  and  even  for 
temples  and  idols.  Consequently  there  arose  in  Ephesus 
"  no  small  stir  about  that  way."  Paul  and  his  preaching, 
the  brethren  and  their  assemblages,  were  in  all  men's 
mouths,  and  many  a  muttered  curse  was  aimed  at  them 
by  Megabyzos  and  Melissae,  and  the  hundreds  of  hangers- 
on  which  gather  around  every  great  institution.  At  last 
this  ill-concealed  exasperation  came  to  a  head.  The  chief 
sufferer  from  the  diminished  interest  in  the  goddess  and 
her  Hieromenia,  had  been  a  certain  silversmith,  named 
Demetrius,  who  sold  to  the  pilgrims  little  silver  shrines 
and  images  in  memorial  of  their  visits  to  Ephesus^  and  her 

*  No  one  will  be  astonished  at  this  who  reads  Pliny's  accoiint  of  the  ntter 
neglect  into  which  heathen  institutions  had  fallen  half  a  century  after  this 
time,  in  the  neighbouring  province  of  Bithyuia,  as  a  direct  consequence  of 
Christian  teaching,  and  that  though  the  Christians  were  a  persecuted  sect. 
There,  also,  complaints  came  from  the  priests,  the  pui-veyors  of  the  sacrifices, 
and  other  people  pecuniarily  interested.  They  had  the  sagacity  to  see  that 
their  peril  from  Christianity  lay  in  its  universality. 

^  Called  aficptSpvuaTa  vaiSta,  aediculae.  Chrysostom  says  tffecs  &s  Kifidpta 
fiiKpd.  Similar  images  and  shrines  are  mentioned  in  Ar.  Nub.  598 ;  Dio.  Sic. 
i.  15 ;  XV.  49  ;  Dio.  Cass,  xxxix.  20 ;  Dion.  Hal.  ii.  22 ;  Amm.  Marcell.  xxii.  13 ; 
Petron.  29.  The  custom  is  an  extremely  ancient  one.  "  The  tabernacle  of 
Moloch,  and  the  star  of  your  god  Remphan,"  which  the  Israelites  took  up  in 
the  wilderness,  were  of  the  same  description.   Little  images  of  Pallas  {iraWdSta 

d  2 


36  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

temple.  They  were  analogous  to  the  little  copies  in  ala- 
baster or  silver  of  the  shrine  of  Loretto,  and  other  famous 
buildings  of  Italy ;  nor  was  it  only  at  Ephesus,  but  at  every 
celebrated  centre  of  Pagan  worship,  that  the  demand  for 
such  memorials  created  the  supply.  Demetrius  found 
that  his  trade  was  beginning  to  be  paralj^sed,  and  since 
the  emasculate  throng  of  sacred  slaves  and  musicians  dared 
not  strike  a  blow  for  the  worship  which  fed  their  lazy  vice, 
he  determined,  as  far  as  he  could,  to  stop  the  mischief. 
Calling  together  a  trades-union  meeting  of  all  the  skilled 
artisans  and  ordinary  workmen  who  were  employed  in  this 
craft/  he  made  them  a  speech,  in  which  he  first  stirred  up 
their  passions  by  warning  them  of  the  impending  ruin 
of  their  interests/  and  then  appealed  to  their  latent  fana- 
ticism to  avenge  the  despised  greatness  of  their  temple, 
and  the  waning  magnificence  of  the  goddess  whom  all  Asia 
and  the  world  worshipped.^  The  speech  was  like  a  spark 
on  inflammable  materials.  Their  interests  were  suffering,* 
and  their  superstition  was  being  endangered;  and  the 
rage  which  might  have  been  despised  if  it  had  onty  sprung 
from  greed,  looked  more  respectable  when  it  assumed  the 
cloak  of  fanaticism.     The  answer  to  the  speech  of  Deme- 

irepiavrScpopa)  Demeter,  &c.,  wei'e  in  special  request,  and  an  interesting 
earthenware  aedicula  of  Cybele  found  at  Athens  is  engraved  in  Lewin,  i.  414. 
Appuleius  (Metavi.  xi.)  says  that  at  the  end  of  the  festival  small  silver 
images  of  Artemis  were  placed  on  the  temple  steps  for  people  to  kiss. 

^  We  learn  from  numerous  inscriptions  that  guilds  and  trades-unions 
(ffvvipyafflai,  ffvu^uifffis)  were  common  in  Ionia  (see  Renan,  p.  355).  "  T«x''''Ta«, 
artifices  nobUiores,  ipyirai,  operarii  "  (Bengel). 

2  Cf .  Acts  xvi.  19. 

3  "  Diana  Ephesia,  cujus  nomen  unicum,  multiformi  specie,  ritu  vario, 
nomine  multijugo,  toUis  veneratur  orbis  "  ( Appul.  Metam.  ii.)  Pliny  calls 
the  temple  "orbis  terrarum  miraculum"  {N.  H.  xxxvi.  14);  and  the  image 
and  temple  are  found  on  the  coins  of  many  neighbouring  cities. 

*  Compare  the  case  of  the  Philippians  (Acts  xvi.  19).  They  were,  as  Cahin 
says,  fighting  for  their  "  hearths "  quite  as  much  as  theii- "  altars,"  "  ut  scilicet 
culinam,  habeaut  bene  calentem." 


RIOT    m    THE    THEATRE.  37 

trius  was  a  unanimous  shout  of  the  watchword  of  Ephesus, 
"  Great  is  Artemis  of  the  Ephesians  !  "  So  large  a  meeting 
of  the  workmen  created  much  excitement.  Crowds  came 
flocking  from  every  portico,  and  agora,  and  gymnasium, 
and  street.  The  whole  city  was  thrown  into  a  state  of 
riot,  and  a  rush  was  made  for  the  Jewish  quarter  and  the 
shop  of  Aquila.  What  took  place  we  are  not  exactly  told, 
except  that  the  life  of  the  Apostle  was  in  extremest  danger. 
The  mob  was,  however,  balked  of  its  intended  prey.  Paul, 
as  in  the  similar  peril  at  Thessalonica,  was  either  not  in 
the  house  at  the  time,  or  had  been  successfully  concealed 
by  Priscilla  and  her  husband,  who  themselves  ran  great 
risk  of  being  killed  in  their  eflbrts  to  protect  him.^  Since, 
however,  the  rioters  could  not  find  the  chief  object  of 
their  search,  they  seized  two  of  his  companions — Gains 
of  Macedonia,^  and  the  faithful  Aristarchus.^  With  these 
two  men  in  their  custody,  the  crowd  rushed  wildly  into 
the  vast  space  of  the  theatre,^  which  stood  ever  open,  and 
of  which  the  still  visible  ruins — "  a  wreck  of  immense 
grandeur" — show  that  it  was  one  of  the  largest  in  the 
world,  and  could  easily  have  accommodated  30,000  spec- 
tators.^ Paul,  wherever  he  lay  hidden,  was  within  reach 
of  communication  from  the  disciples.  Full  of  anxiety 
for  the  unknown  fate  of  his  two  companions,  he  eagerly 
desired  to  make  his  way  into  the  theatre  and  there  address 
the  rioters.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  courage  greater  than 
that  which  is  required  from  one  who,  in  imminent  danger  of 

1  Rom.  xvi.  4. 

'  Not  Gains  of  Derbe  (xx.  4)  or  "  mine  host"  (Rom.  xvi.  23). 

3  Aristarclius  of  Thessalonica  is  mentioned  in  xx.  4 ;  xxvii.  2  ;  Col.  iv.  10 ; 
Philem.  24. 

*  Cf .  Acts  xii.  21 ;  Tac.  H.  ii.  80 ;  Cic.  ad  Fam.  viii.  2 ;  Corn.  Nep.  Timol. 
iv.  2 ;  Jos.  B.  J.  vii.  3,  §  3.  The  theatre  was  the  ordinary  scene  of  such 
gatherings. 

6  Fellowes,  Asia  Minor,  p.  274,     Wood  says  25,000  {Ephes.  p.  68). 


38  THE    LIFE    AKD    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

being  torn  to  pieces,  dares  to  face  the  furious  insults  and 
raging  passions  of  an  exasperated  crowd.  But  the  powers 
and  the  spirit  of  the  Apostle  always  rose  to  a  great  occasion, 
and  though  he  was  so  sensitive  that  he  could  not  write  a 
severe  letter  without  floods  of  tears,  and  so  nervous  that 
he  could  scarcely  endure  to  be  left  for  even  a  few  days 
alone,  he  was  quite  capable  of  this  act  of  supreme  heroism. 
He  always  wished  to  be  in  the  forefront  of  battle  for  his 
Master's  cause.  But  his  friends  better  appreciated  the 
magnitude  of  the  danger,  Gaius  and  Aristarchus  were 
too  subordinate  to  be  made  scapegoats  for  the  vengeance 
of  the  crowd ;  but  they  were  sure  that  the  mere  appear- 
ance of  that  bent  figure  and  worn  and  wasted  face,  which 
had  become  so  familiar  to  many  of  the  cities  of  Asia, 
would  be  the  instant  signal  for  a  terrible  outbreak.  Their 
opposition  was  confirmed  by  a  friendly  message  from  some 
of  the  Asiarchs,-^  who  rightly  conjectured  the  chivalrous 
impulse  which  would  lead  the  Apostle  to  confront  the 
storm.  Anxious  to  prevent  bloodshed,  and  save  the  life 
of  one  whose  gifts  and  greatness  they  had  learnt  to  ad- 
mire, and  well  aware  of  the  excitability  of  an  Ephesian 
mob,  they  sent  Paul  an  express  warning  not  to  trust  him- 
self into  the  theatre. 

The  riot,  therefore,  spent  itself  in  idle  noise.  The 
workmen  had,  indeed,  got  hold  of  Gains  and  Aristarchus ; 
but  as  the  crowd  did  not  require  these  poor  Greeks, 
whose  aspect  did  not  necessarily  connect  them  with  what 
was  generally  regarded  as  a  mere  Jewish  sect,  they  did 
not  know  what  to  do  with  them.  The  majority  of  that 
promiscuous  assemblage,  unable  to  make  anything  of  the 
discordant  shouts  which  were  rising  on  every  side,  could 
only  guess  why  they  were    there    at   all.        There  was, 

^  It  was  the  Asiarch  Philip  at  Smyrna,  who  resisted  the  cry  of  the  mob, 
ha  iiracp^  lloAvKdpircj)  \iovra.  (Euseb.  H.  E.  iv.  16). 


ALEXANDER    THE    COPPERSMITH.  39 

perhaps,  a  dim  impression  that  some  one  or  other  was 
going  to  be  thrown  to  the  wild  beasts,  and  doubtless 
among  those  varying  clamours  voices  were  not  wanting 
like  those  with  which  the  theatre  of  Smyrna  rang  not 
many  years  afterwards — at  the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp — 
of  "  Paul  to  the  lions  !  "  "  The  Christians  to  the  lions  !  "^ 
One  thing,  however,  was  generally  known,  which  was, 
that  the  people  whose  proceedings  were  the  cause  for  the 
tumult  were  of  Jewish  extraction,  and  a  Grreek  mob  was 
never  behindhand  in  expressing  its  detestation  for  the 
Jewish  race.  The  Jews,  on  the  other  hand,  felt  it  hard 
that  they,  who  had  long  been  living  side  by  side  with  the 
Ephesians  in  the  amicable  relations  of  commerce,  should 
share  the  unpopularity  of  a  sect  which  they  hated  quite  as 
much  as  the  Greeks  could  do.  They  were  anxious  to 
explain  to  the  Greeks  and  Eomans  a  lesson  which  they  could 
not  get  them  to  learn — namely,  that  the  Jews  were  not 
Christians,  though  the  Christians  might  be  Jews.  Accord- 
ingly they  ui'ged  Alexander  to  speak  for  them,  and  explain 
how  matters  really  stood.  This  man  was  perhaps  the  copper- 
smith who,  afterwards  also,  did  Paul  much  evil,  and 
who  would  be  likely  to  gain  the  hearing  of  Demetrius 
and  his  workmen  from  similarity  of  trade.  This  at- 
tempt to  shift  the  odium  on  the  shoulders  of  the  Chris- 
tians entirely  failed.  Alexander  succeeded  in  struggling 
somewhere  to  the  front,  and  stood  before  the  mob  with 

1  See  1  Cor.  iv.  9  ;  1  Cor.  xt.  32  ;  Act.  Mart.  Polycarp,  12.  Tlie  stadium 
where  the  Bestiarii  fought  was  near  the  theatre,  and  the  Temple  of  Artemis  was 
in  full  view  of  it.  It  is,  however,  very  unlikely  that  St.  Paul  actually  fought 
with  wild  beasts.  The  expression  was  recognised  as  a  metaphorical  one  (2  Tim. 
iv.  17),  aTrh  2upios  yue'^pi  Vdfxtjs  6r]piofiaxoo  (Ignat.  Rom.  C.  5)  ;  o'lots  0-npiois  fj.ax<il^(0a 
(Appian,  Bell.  Civ.  p.  273).  A  legend  naturally  attached  itself  to  the  ex- 
pression (Niceph,  H.  E.  ii.  25).  The  pseudo-Heraclitus  (Ep.  vii.),  writing 
about  this  time,  says  of  the  Ephesians,  e|  avepwirwv  B-qpla  y€yov6ris.  Moreover, 
St.  Paul  uses  the  expression  in  a  letter  written  before  this  wild  scene  at  Ephesus 
had  taken  place. 


40  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

outstretched  band  in  the  attempt  to  win  an  audience  for 
his  oration.  But  no  sooner  had  the  mob  recognised  the 
well-known  traits  of  Jewish  physiognomy  than  they  vented 
their  bate  in  a  shout  of  "  Great  is  Artemis  of  the  Ephe- 
sians  !  "  ^  which  was  caught  up  from  lip  to  lip  until  it  was 
reverberated  on  every  side  by  the  rocks  of  Prion  and 
Coressus,  and  di'owned  all  others  in  its  one  familiar  and 
unanimous  roar. 

For  two  hours,  as  though  they  had  been  howling 
dervishes,  did  this  mongrel  Greek  crowd  continue  in- 
cessantly their  senseless  yell.^  By  that  time  they  were 
sufficiently  exhausted  to  render  it  possible  to  get  a 
hearing.  Hitherto  the  authorities,  afraid  that  these  pro- 
ceedings might  end  in  awakening  Eoman  jealousy  to  a 
serious  curtailment  of  their  privileges,  had  vainly  en- 
deavoui-ed  to  stem  the  torrent  of  excitement;  but  now, 
availing  himself  of  a  momentary  lull,  the  Eecorder  of 
the  city — either  the  mock  officer  of  that  name,  who  was 
chosen  by  the  Senate  and  people  for  the  Artemisia,  or 
more  probably  the  permanent  city  official — succeeded  in 
restoring  order.^     It  may  have  been  all  the  more  easy  for 

1  I  preserve  the  Greek  name  because  their  Asian  idol,  who  was  really 
Cyhele,  had  still  less  to  do  with  Diana  than  with  Artemis. 

-  They  probably  were  so  far  corrupted  by  the  contact  with  Oriental  worship 
as  to  regard  their  "  vain  repetitions  in  the  light  of  a  religious  function  "  (see  1 
Kings  x\iii.  26  ;  Matt.  vi.  7).  Moreover,  they  distinctly  believed  that  the  glory, 
happiness,  and  perpetuity  of  Ephesus  was  connected  with  the  maintenance  of  a 
splendid  ritual.  On  the  discovered  inscription  of  the  decree  which  dedicated 
the  entire  month  of  May  to  the  Artemisian  Paneguris,  are  these  concluding 
words  : — ovTw  yap  e'lrl  rh  df^eivov  rrjs  6pr)(rKitas  ytvo/xfvrjs  i)  ir6\is  7}ixiv  (vSo^oTfpa  re 
Koi  ev5ai/j.uju  els  rhv  iravra  Sia/j-eve? xp^fov  (Boeckli,  2,954).  It  is  probable  that  St. 
Paul  may  have  read  this  very  inscription,  which  seems  to  be  of  the  ago 
of  Tiberius. 

^  The  Proconsul  of  Asia  was  practically  autocratic,  being  only  restrained 
by  the  dread  of  being  ultimately  brought  to  law.  Subject  to  his  authority 
the  chief  towns  of  Asia  were  autonomous,  managing  their  domestic  affairs  by 
the  decisions  of  a  Boulc  and  Ekklesia.  The  Recorder  acted  as  Speaker,  and 
held  a  very  important  position.     The  historic  accuracy  of  St.  Luke  cannot  be 


SPEECH    OF    THE    RECORDER.  41 

him,  because  one  who  was  capable  of  making  so  admirably 
skilful  and  sensible  a  speech  could  hardly  fail  to  have  won 
a  permanent  respect,  which  enhanced  the  dignity  of  his 
position.  "  Ephesians  !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  what  human  being 
is  there  who  is  unaware  that  the  city  of  the  Ephesians  is 
a  sacristan^  of  the  great  Artemis,  and  the  Heaven-fallen  ? 
Since,  then,  this  is  quite  indisputable,  your  duty  is  to 
maintain  your  usual  calm,  and  not  to  act  in  the  ^precipitate 
way  in  which  you  have  acted,^  by  dragging  here  these 
men,  who  are  neither  temple -robbers,^  nor  blasphemers  of 
your  goddess.'*  If  Demetrius  and  his  fellow-artisans  have 
any  complaint  to  lodge  against  any  one,  the  sessions  are 
going  on,^  and  there  are  proconsuls  ;^  let  them  settle  the 

more  strikingly  illustrated  than  it  is  by  one  of  the  Ephesian  inscriptions  in 
Boeckh,  No.  2,960,  which  records  how  the  "  Augustus -loving  "  {(piKoae^acrTos) 
senate  of  the  Ephesians,  and  its  temple-adorning  [vecoKSpos)  Demos  consecrated 
a  building  in  the  Proconsulship  (eVi  avdvirdTov)  of  Peducseus  Priscinus,  and  by 
the  decree  of  Tiberius  Claudius  Italicus,  the  "  Recorder  "  {ypaufxarevs)  of  the 
Demos. 

^  vfUKSpov,  "  temj)le-sweeper."  It  was  an  honorary  title  granted  by  the 
Emperor  to  vai-ious  cities  in  Asia,  and  often  recorded  on  coins. 

'  Acts  xix.  36,  KareffraKfifvovs  vitapx^^f  fai  ix-qSev  irpoirfTfS  iroiely.      CicerO  (pro 

Flacco,  vii.,  viii.)  gives  a  striking  picture  of  the  rash  and  unjust  legislation 
of  Asiatic  cities,  "  quum  in  theatro  imperiti  homines  rerum  omnium  I'udes 
ignarique  considerant  "  (cf.  Tac.  H.  ii.  80). 

2  Wood,  p.  14.  This,  strange  to  say,  was  a  common  charge  against  Jews 
(see  on  Rom.  ii.  22). 

■*  Another  striking  indication  that  St.  Paul's  method  as  a  missionaiy  was 
not  to  shock  the  prejudices  of  idolaters.  Chrysostom  most  unjustly  accuses 
the  Recorder  of  here  making  a  false  and  claptrap  statement. 

*  ay6pawt  &yovrai,  "  Conventus  peraguntur  " — not  as  in  E.V.,  "  the  law  is 
open."  Eveiy  province  was  divided  into  districts  (SioiKiijo-eis,  conventus),  which 
met  at  some  assize  town.  "  Ephesum  vero,  alterum  lumen  Asise,  remotiores 
conveniuut"  (Plin.  H.  N.,  v.  31). 

®  There  was  under  ordinary  circumstances  only  one  Proconsul  in  any 
province.  The  plural  may  be  generic,  or  may  mean  the  Proconsul  and  his 
assessors  (consiliarii),  as  riyefi.<ivfs  means  "  the  Procurator  or  his  assessors  "  in 
Jos.  B.  J.  ii.  16,  1.  But  Basnage  has  ingeniously  conjectured  that  tlie  allusion 
maybe  to  the  joint  authority  of  the  Imi>erial  Procurators,  the  knight  P.  Celer, 
and  the  freedman  Helius.  In  the  first  year  of  Nero,  A.D.  54,  they  had,  at  the 
instigation  of  Agrippina,  poisoned  Junius  Silanus,  Pi-ocousul  of  Asia,  whose 


42  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

matter  between  tliem  at  law.  But  if  you  are  making  any- 
further  inquisition  about  any  other  matter,  it  shall  be  dis- 
posed of  in  the  regular  meeting  of  the  Assembly.^  For, 
indeed,  this  business  renders  us  liable  to  a  charge  of  sedi- 
tion, since  we  shall  be  entirely  unable  to  give  any  reason- 
able account  of  this  mass  meeting." 

The  effect  of  this  speech  was  instantaneous. 

"  He  called 
Across  the  tumult,  and  the  tumult  fell." 

The  sensible  appeal  of  the  "  vir  pietate  gravis "  made 
the  crowd  repent  of  their  unreasoning  uproar,  and  afraid 
of  its  possible  consequences,  as  the  Recorder  alternately 
flattered,  intimidated,  argued,  and  soothed.  It  reminded 
them  very  forcibly  that,  since  Asia  was  a  senatorial,  not  an 
imperial  province,  and  was  therefore  governed  by  a  Pro- 
consul with  a  few  officials,  not  by  a  Propraetor  with  a 
legion,  they  were  responsible  for  good  order,  and  would 
most  certainly  be  held  accountable  for  any  breach  of  the 
peace.  A  day  of  disorder  might  forfeit  the  privileges  of 
years.  The  Recorder's  speech,  it  has  been  said,  is  the 
model  of  a  popular  harangue.  Such  excitement  on  the 
part  of  the  Ephesians  was  undignified,  as  the  grandeur  of 
their  worship  was  unimpeached ;  it  was  unjustifiable,  as 
they  could  prove  nothing  against  the  men  ;  it  was  un- 
necessary, as  other  means  of  redress  were  open ;  and, 
finally,  if  neither  pride  nor  justice  availed  anything,  fear 

gentle  nature  did  not  preserve  him  from  the  peril  of  his  royal  blood  (Tac. 
Ann.  xiii.  1).  As  P.  Celer  at  any  rate  did  not  return  to  Rome  till  tlio  year 
A.D.  57,  it  is  conjectured  that  he  and  Helius  may  have  been  allowed  to  be 
Vice-Proconsuls  till  tliis  period  by  way  of  rewarding  tliom  for  their  crimes 
(Lewiu,  Fasti  Sacri,  1806,  1838;  Biscoe  on  the  Acts,  pp.  282—285). 

^  There  were  three  regular  meetings  of  the  Assembly  (ewouot  iKK\i\<iMi) 
very  month  (and  see  Wood,  p.  50). 


END    OF    THE    RIOT.  43 

of  the  Eoman  power  ^  should  restrain  them.  They  felt 
thoroughly  ashamed,  and  the  Eecorder  was  now  able  to 
dismiss  them  from  the  theatre. 

It  is  not,  however,  likely  that  the  danger  to  St.  Paul's 
person  ceased,  in  a  month  of  which  he  had  spoiled  the 
festivity,  and  in  a  city  which  was  thronged,  as  this 
was,  with  aggrieved  interests  and  outraged  supersti- 
tions. Whether  he  was  thrown  into  prison,  or  what 
were  the  dangers  to  which  he  alludes,  or  in  what  way 
Grod  delivered  him  "  from  so  great  a  death,"  ^  w^e  cannot 
tell.  At  any  rate,  it  became  impossible  for  him  to  carry 
out  his  design  of  staying  at  Ephesus  till  Pentecost.^  All 
that  we  are  further  told  is  that,  when  the  hubbub  had 
ceased,  he  called  the  disciples  together,  and,  after  com- 
forting them,^  bade  the  Church  farewell — certainly  for 
many  years,  perhaps  for  ever.^  He  set  out,  whether  by 
sea  or  by  land  we  do  not  know,  on  his  way  to  Macedonia. 
From  Silas  he  had  finally  parted  at  Jerusalem.  Timothy, 
Titus,  Luke,  Erastus,  were  all  elsewhere  ;  but  Gains  and 
Aristarchus,  saved  from  their  perilous  position  in  the 
theatre,  were  still  with  him,  and  he  was  now  joined  by 
the  two  Ephesians,  Tychicus  and  Trophimus,  who  remained 
faithful  to  him  till  the  very  close  of  his  career. 

The  Church  which  he  had  founded  became  the  eminent 

^  Hackett,  p.  246.  There  was  nothing  on  which  the  Romans  looked  with 
such  jealousy  as  a  tumultuous  meeting,  "  Qui  coetum  et  conceutum  fecerit 
capitale  sit"  (Sen.  Controv.  iii.  8).  The  hint  would  not  be  likely  to  be  lost 
on  Demetrius. 

2  2  Cor.  i.  10. 

3  The  period  of  his  stay  at  Ephesus  was  Tpieriav  o\r)v  (Acts  xx.  31).  The 
ruin  called  "  the  prison  of  St.  Paul  "  may  poiut  to  a  true  tradition  that  he  was 
for  a  time  confined,  and  those  who  see  in  Rom.  xvi.  3 — 20,  the  fragment  of  a 
letter  to  Ejihesus,  suppose  that  his  imprisonment  was  shared  by  his  kinsmen 
Andronicus  and  Junias,  who  were  "  of  note  among  the  Apostles,"  and  earlier 
converts  than  himself. 

*  Acts  XX.  1,  irapaKa\effas  (A,  B,  D,  E). 

It  was  only  the  elders  whom  he  saw  at  Miletus. 


U  THE    LIFE    AXD    WOEK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Christian  metropolis  of  a  line  of  Bishops,  and  there,  four 
centuries  afterwards,  was  held  the  great  (Ecumenical  Coun- 
cil which  deposed  Nestorius,  the  heretical  Patriarch  of 
Constantinople.-^  But  "  its  candlestick  "  has  been  for  cen- 
turies "removed  out  of  his  place  ;"^  the  squalid  Moham- 
medan village  which  is  nearest  to  its  site  does  not  count 
one  Christian  in  its  insignificant  population  ;  ^  its  temple  is 
a  mass  of  shapeless  ruins  ;  its  harbour  is  a  reedy  pool ; 
the  bittern  booms  amid  its  pestilent  and  stagnant 
marshes ;  and  malaria  and  oblivion  reign  supreme  over 
the  place  where  the  wealth  of  ancient  civilisation 
gathered  around  the  scenes  of  its  grossest  superstitions 
and  its  most  degraded  sins.  "  A  noisy  flight  of  crows," 
says  a  modern  traveller,  "  seemed  to  insult  its  silence ;  we 
heard  the  partridge  call  in  the  area  of  the  theatre  and 
the  Stadium."* 

1  A.D.  431. 

'  Rev.  ii.  5. 

3  V.  supra,  p.  14.  See,  for  the  present  condition  of  Epliesus,  Arundell, 
Seven  Churches  of  Asia,  p.  27 ;  Fellowes,  Asia  Minor,  p.  274 ;  Falkener, 
Ephesus  and  the  Temple  of  Diana ;  and  especially  Mr.  J.  T.  Wood's  Dis- 
coveries at  Ephesus.  The  site  of  the  temple  has  first  been  established  with 
certainty  by  Mr.  Wood's  excavations. 

*  See  Chandler,  pp.  109—137. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

CONDITION    OF    THE    CHURCH    OF    CORINTH. 

"  Hopes  have  precarious  life  ; 
They  are  oft  blighted,  withered,  snapt  sheer  off ; — 
But  faithfulness  can  feed  on  suffering, 
And  knows  no  disappointment." — Spanish  Qipsy. 

No  one  can  realise  the  trials  and  anxieties  which  beset 
the  life  of  the  great  Apostle  during  his  stay  at  Ephesus, 
without  bearing  in  mind  how  grave  were  the  causes  of 
concern  from  which  he  was  suffering,  in  consequence  of 
the  aberrations  of  other  converts.  The  First  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians  was  written  during  the  latter  part  of  his 
three  years'  residence  at  the  Ionian  metropolis  ;  ^  and  it 
reveals  to  us  a  state  of  things  which  must  have  rent  his 
heart  in  twain.  Any  one  who  has  been  privileged  to  feel 
a  deep  personal  responsibility  for  some  great  and  beloved 
institution,  will  best  appreciate  how  wave  after  wave  of 
affliction  must  have  swept  across  his  sea  of  troubles  as  he 
heard  from  time  to  time  those  dark  rumours  from  Galatia 
and  Corinth,  which  showed  how  densely  the  tares  of  the 
enemy  had  sprung  up  amid  the  good  wheat  which  he  had 

S0\M1. 

Apollos,  on  his  return  to  Ephesus,  must  have  told  him 
some  very  unfavourable  particulars.  St.  Paul  had  now  been 
absent  from  the  Corinthians  for  nearly  three  years,  and 
they  may  well  have  longed — as  we  see  that  they  did  long 
• — for  his  presence  with  an  earnestness  which  even  made 

^  Probably  about  April,  A.D.  57. 


46  THE    LIFE    AND    WOEK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

them  unjust  towards  him.  The  little  band  of  converts — 
mostly  of  low  position,  and  some  of  them  of  despicable 
antecedents — not  a  few  of  them  slaves,  and  some  of  them 
slaves  of  the  most  degraded  rank — were  left  in  the  midst 
of  a  heathendom  which  presented  itself  at  Corinth  under 
the  gayest  and  most  alluring  aspects.  It  is  not  in  a  day 
that  the  habits  of  a  life  can  be  thrown  aside.  Even  those 
among  them  whose  conversion  was  most  sincere  had  yet 
a  terrible  battle  to  fight  against  two  temptations  :  the 
temptation  to  dishonesty,  which  had  mingled  with  their 
means  of  gaining  a  livelihood ;  and  the  temptation  to 
sensuality,  which  was  interwoven  with  the  very  fibres  of 
their  being.  With  Christianity  awoke  conscience.  Sins 
to  which  they  had  once  lightly  jdelded  as  matters  of 
perfect  indifference,  now  required  an  intense  effort  to  resist 
and  overcome,  and  every  failure,  so  far  from  being  at  the 
worst  a  venial  weakness,  involved  the  agonies  of  remorse 
and  shame.  And  when  they  remembered  the  superficially 
brighter  and  easier  lives  which  they  had  spent  while  they 
were  yet  pagans  ;  ^  when  they  daily  witnessed  how  much 
sin  there  might  be  with  so  little  apparent  sorrow ;  when 
they  felt  the  burdens  of  their  life  doubled,  and  those 
earthty  pleasures  which  they  had  once  regarded  as  its 
only  alle^nations  rendered  impossible  or  wrong — while 
as  yet  they  were  unable  to  realise  the  exquisite  con- 
solation of  Christian  joy  and  Christian  hope — they 
were  tempted  either  to  relapse  altogether,  or  to  listen 
with  avidity  to  any  teacher  whose  doctrines,  if  logi- 
cally developed,  might  help  to  relax  the  stringency 
of  their  sacred  obligations.     While  Paul  was  with  them 

^  "  In  the  young  pagan  world 

Men  deified  the  beautiful,  the  glad, 

Tlio  strong,  the  boastful,  and  it  came  to  nought  ; 

We  liave  raised  pain  and  sorrow  into  heaven  "  (Athelwold). 


DANGERS    OF    THE    CORINTHIANS.  47 

they  were  comparatively  safe.  The  noble  tyranny  of  his 
personal  influence  acted  on  them  like  a  spell ;  and  with 
his  presence  to  elevate,  his  words  to  inspire,  his  example 
to  encourage  them,  they  felt  it  more  easy  to  fling 
away  all  that  was  lower  and  viler,  because  they  could 
realise  their  right  to  what  was  higher  and  holier.  But 
when  he  had  been  so  long  away  —  when  they  were 
daily  living  in  the  great  wicked  streets,  among  the  cun- 
ning, crowded  merchants,  in  sight  and  hearing  of  every- 
thing which  could  quench  spiritual  aspirations  and  kindle 
carnal  desires ;  when  the  gay,  common  life  went  on  around 
them,  and  the  chariot-wheels  of  the  Lord  were  still  afar — 
it  Avas  hardly  wonderful  if  the  splendid  vision  began  to 
fade.  The  lustral  water  of  Baptism  had  been  sprinkled  on 
their  foreheads ;  they  fed  on  the  Sacrament  of  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ ;  but  alas  !  Corinth  was  not  heaven, 
and  the  prose  of  daily  life  followed  on  the  poetry  of 
their  first  enthusiasm,  and  it  was  difficult  to  realise  that, 
for  them,  those  living  streets  might  be  daily  bright- 
ened with  manna  dews.  Their  condition  was  like  the 
pause  and  sigh  of  Lot's  wife,  as,  amid  the  sulphurous 
storm,  she  gazed  back  on  the  voluptuous  ease  of  the  City 
of  the  Plain.  Might  they  no  longer  taste  of  the  plentiful 
Syssitia  on  some  festive  day  ?  Might  they  not  walk  at 
twilight  in  the  laughing  bridal  procession,  and  listen  to  the 
mirthful  jest  ?  Might  they  not  watch  the  Hieroduli  dance 
at  some  lovely  festival  in  the  Temples  of  Acrocorinth  ? 
Was  all  life  to  be  hedged  in  for  them  with  thorny  scruples  ? 
Were  they  to  gaze  henceforth  in  dreaming  phantasy, 
not  upon  bright  faces  of  youthful  deities,  garlanded  with 
rose  and  hyacinth,  but  on  the  marred  visage  of  One  who 
was  crowned  with  thorns  ?  Oh,  it  was  hard  to  choose  the 
kingdom  of  Grod ;  hard  to  remember  that  now  they  were 
delivered  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt ;  hard  for  their  ener- 


48  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

vation  to  breathe  the  eager  and  difficult  air  of  the  pure 
wilderness.  It  was  hard  to  give  up  the  coarse  and  near 
for  the  immaterial  and  the  far ;  hard  not  to  lust  after  the 
reeking  fleshpots,  and  not  to  loathe  the  light  angel 
food ;  hard  to  give  up  the  purple  wine  in  the  brim- 
ming goblet  for  the  cold  water  from  the  spiritual  rock ; 
hard  to  curb  and  crucify  passions  which  once  they  had 
consecrated  under  guise  of  religion ;  hard  not  to  think 
all  these  temptations  irresistible,  and  to  see  the  way  of 
escape  which  God  had  appointed  them  for  each ;  hard  to 
be  bidden  to  rejoice,  and  not  to  be  suffered  even  to  murmur 
at  all  these  hardnesses  of  life.  And  the  voice  which  had 
taught  them  the  things  of  Grod  had  now  for  so  long  been 
silent ;  for  three  years  they  had  not  seen  the  hand  which 
pointed  them  to  Heaven.  It  was  with  some  of  them  as 
with  Israel,  when  Moses  was  on  Sinai :  they  sat  down  to 
eat  and  to  drink,  and  rose  up  to  play.  Many,  very  many 
— some  in  shame  and  secrecy,  others  openly  justifying 
their  relapse  by  the  devil-doctrines  of  perverted  truth — 
had  plunged  once  more  into  the  impurity,  the  drunkenness, 
and  the  selfishness,  as  though  they  had  never  heard  the 
heavenly  calling,  or  tasted  the  eternal  gift. 

So  much  even  Apollos  must  have  told  the  Apostle ;  and 
when  he  had  occasion,  in  a  letter  nowlost^ — ^probably  because 
it  was  merely  a  brief  and  businesslike  memorandum — to 
write  and  inform  them  of  his  intended,  but  subsequently 
abandoned,  plan  of  paying  them  a  double  visit,  and  to 
bid  them  contribute  to  the  collection  for  the  poor  saints 
at  Jerusalem,  he  had,  in  a  message  which  required  subse- 
quent explanation,  briefly  but  emphatically  bidden  them 
not  to  keep  company  with  fornicators.^ 

1  The  spurious  letter  of  the   Corinthians  to  St.  Paul,  and  his  answer, 
preserved  hi  Armenian,  are  perfectly  valueless. 

2  See  1  Cor.  x.  1—14 


A    LETTER    FROM    CORINTH.  49 

And  now  a  letter  bad  come  from  Corinth.  So  far 
from  dwelling  on  the  ruinous  disorders  into  which  many 
members  of  the  Church  had  fallen,  it  was  entirely  self- 
complacent  in  tone  ;  and  yet  it  proved  the  existence  of 
much  doctrinal  perplexity,  and,  in  asking  advice  about  a 
number  of  practical  subjects,  had  touched  upon  questions 
which  betrayed  some  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  errors 
which  the  Church,  in  writing  the  letter,  had  so  disin- 
genuously concealed.^ 

1.  After  greeting  him,  and  answering  him,  in  words 
which  he  quotes,  that  "  they  remembered  him  in  all 
things,  and  kept  the  ordinances  as  he  delivered  them,"  ^ 
they  had  asked  him  a  whole  series  of  questions  about 
celibacy  and  marriage,  which  had  evidently  been  warmly 
discussed  in  the  Church,  and  decided  in  very  different 
senses.  Was  married  life  in  itself  wrong,  or  if  not  wrong, 
yet  undesirable  ?  or,  if  not  even  undesirable,  still  a  lower 
and  less  worthy  condition  than  celibacy  ?  When  persons 
were  ah-eady  married,  was  it  their  duty,  or,  at  any  rate, 
would  it  be  saintlier  to  live  together  as  though  they  were 
unmarried  ?  Might  widows  and  widowers  marry  a  second 
time  ?  Were  mixed  marriages  between  Christians  and 
heathens  to  be  tolerated,  or  ought  a  Christian  husband  to 
repudiate  a  heathen  wife,  and  a  Christian  wife  to  leave  a 
heathen  husband?  and  ought  fathers  to  seek  marriages 
for  their  daughters,  or  let  them  grow  up  as  virgins  ? 

2.  Again,  what  were  they  to  do  about  meats  offered  to 
idols  ?  They  had  prefaced  their  inquiry  on  this  subject 
with  the  conceited  remark  that  "  they  all  had  know- 
ledge," ^  and  had  perhaps  indicated  their  own  opinion  by 

1  The  intercliange  of  such  letters  (ni^fw)  on  disputed  points  of  doctruie 
■between  the  synagogues  was  common. 

2  1  Cor.  xi.  2. 

1  Cor.  viii.  1. 


50  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

the  argument  that  an  idol  was  nothing  in  the  world,  and 
that  all  things  were  lawful  to  their  Christian  freedom. 
Still,  they  wished  to  know  whether  they  might  ever 
attend  any  of  the  idol  festivals  ?  The  question  was  an 
important  one  for  the  poor,  to  whom  a  visceratio^  was 
no  small  help  and  indulgence.  Was  it  lawful  to 
buy  meat  in  the  open  market,  which,  without  their 
knowing  it,  might  have  been  offered  to  idols  ?  Might 
they  go  as  guests  to  their  heathen  friends  and  relations, 
and  run  the  risk  of  partaking  of  that  which  had  been 
part  of  a  sacrifice  ?  ^ 

3.  Then,  too,  a  dispute  had  risen  among  them  about 
the  rule  to  be  observed  in  assemblies.  Was  it  the  duty 
of  men  to  cover  their  heads  ?  Might  women  appear  with 
their  heads  uncovered  ?  And  might  they  speak  and  teach 
in  public? 

4.'  They  had  difficulties,  also,  about  spiritual  gifts. 
Which  was  the  more  important,  speaking  with  tongues 
or  preaching  ?  When  two  or  three  began  at  the  same 
time  to  preach  or  to  speak  Avith  tongues,  what  were  they 
to  do  ? 

5.  Further,  some  among  them  had  been  perplexed  by 


'  Public  feasts  at  funerals  or  idol  festivals,  &c.,  Cic.  Off.  ii.  16;  Liv.viii.  32, 
&c.  They  played  a  large  part  iu  the  joy  and  plenty  of  ancient  life.  Ariat. 
Eih.  viii.  9,  5 ;  Thuc.  ii.  38. 

2  The  Jews  had  strong  feelings  on  this  subject  (cf.  Num.  xxv.  2; 
Ps.  cvi.  28 ;  Tob.  i.  10 — 14) ;  but  it  is  monstrous  to  say  that  St.  Paul  here 
teaches  the  violation  of  such  scruples,  or  that  he  is  referred  to  in  Rev.  ii.  14. 
On  the  contrary,  he  says,  "Even  if  you  as  Gentiles  think  nothing  of  it,  still 
do  not  do  it,  for  the  sake  of  others ;  only  the  concession  to  the  weak  need  not 
become  a  tormenting  scrupidosity."  It  is  doubtful  whether  even  St.  Peter 
and  St.  John  would  not  have  gone  quite  as  far  as  this.  So  strict  were  Judaic 
notions  on  the  subject  that,  in  the  case  of  wine,  for  instance,  not  only  did  a 
cask  of  it  become  undrinkable  to  a  Jew  if  a  single  heathen  libation  had  been 
poured  from  it,  but  "  even  a  touch  with  the  presumed  iutentiou  of  pouring 
away  a  little  to  the  gods  is  enough  to  render  it  unlawful."  This  is  called  the 
law  of  103. 


CORINTHIAN    QUESTIONS.  51 

great  doubts  about  the  Eesurrection.  There  were  even 
some  who  maintained  that  by  the  Resurrection  was  meant 
something  purely  spiritual,  and  that  it  was  past  already. 
This  view  had  arisen  from  the  immense  material  difficulties 
which  surrounded  the  whole  subject  of  a  resurrection  of 
the  body.  Would  Paul  give  them  his  solution  of  some 
of  their  difficulties? 

6.  He  had  asked  them  to  make  a  collection  for  the 
poor  in  Judaea :  they  would  be  glad  to  hear  something 
more  about  this.  What  plans  would  he  recommend  to 
them? 

7.  Lastly,  they  were  very  anxious  to  receive  Apollos 
once  more  among  them.  They  had  enjoyed  his  eloquence, 
and  profited  by  his  knowledge.  Would  Paul  try  to  induce 
him  to  come,  as  well  as  pay  them  his  own  promised 
visit  ? 

Such,  we  gather  from  the  First  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  were  the  inquiries  of  a  letter  which  had 
been  brought  to  the  Apostle  at  Ephesus  by  Stephanas, 
Fortunatus,  and  Achaicus.  It  was  inevitable  that  St.  Paul 
should  talk  to  these  worthy  slaves  about  the  Church  of 
which  they  were  the  delegates.  There  was  quite  enough 
in  the  letter  itself  to  create  a  certain  misgiving  in  his 
mind,  and  some  of  its  queries  were  sufficient  to  betray  an 
excited  state  of  opinion.  But  when  he  came  to  talk  with 
these  visitants  from  Chloe's  household,  and  they  told  him 
the  simple  truth,  he  stood  aghast  with  horror,  and  was  at 
the  same  time  overwhelmed  with  grief.  Reluctantly,  bit 
by  bit,  in  answer  to  his  questionings,  they  revealed  a 
state  of  things  which  added  darkness  to  the  night  of 
his  distress. 

8.  First  of  all,  he  learnt  from  them  that  the  Church 
which  he  had  founded  was  split  up  into  deplorable  factions. 

It  was  the  result  of  visits  from  various  teachers  who 
e  2 


52  THE    LIFE    AND    WOEK    OF    ST.  PAUL: 

had  followed  in  the  wake  of  Paul,  and  built  upon  his 
foundations  very  dubious  materials  by  way  of  superstruc- 
ture. "  Many  teachers,  much  strife,"  had  been  one  of  the 
wise  and  pregnant  sayings  of  the  great  Hillel,  and  it  had 
been  fully  exemplified  at  Corinth,  where,  in  the  impatient 
expression  of  St.  Paul,  they  had  had  "  ten  thousand  peda- 
gogues." The  great  end  of  edification  had  been  lost  sight 
of  in  the  violences  oi  faction,  and  all  deep  spirituality  had 
been  evaporated  in  disputatious  talk.  He  heard  sad 
rumours  of  "  strifes,  heartburnings,  rages,  dissensions, 
backbitings,  whisperings,  inflations,  disorderliness."^ 

i.  It  became  clear  that  even  the  visit  and  teaching  of 
Apollos  had  done  harm — harm  which  he  certainly  had  not 
intended  to  do,  and  which,  as  a  loyal  friend  and  follower 
of  Paul,  he  was  the  first  to  regret.  Paul's  own  preaching 
to  these  Corinthians  had  been  designedly  simple,  dealing 
with  the  great  broad  fact  of  a  Redeemer  crucified  for  sin, 
and  couched  in  language  which  made  no  pretence  to 
oratorical  ornament.  But  Apollos,  who  had  followed  him, 
though  an  able  man,  was  an  inexperienced  Christian,  and 
not  only  by  the  natural  charm  of  his  impassioned  oratory, 
but  also  by  the  way  in  which  he  had  entered  into  the 
subtle  refinements  so  familiar  to  the  Alexandrian  intel- 
lect, had  unintentionally  led  them  first  of  all  to  despise 
the  unsophisticated  simplicity  of  St.  Paul's  teaching, 
and  next  to  give  the  rein  to  all  the  sceptical  fancies 
with  which  their  faith  was  overlaid.  Both  the  manner 
and  the  matter  of  the  fervid  convert  had  so  de- 
lighted them  that,  with  entire  opposition  to  his  own 
wishes,  they  had  elevated  him  into  the  head  of  a  party, 
and  had  perverted  his  views  into  dangerous  extrava- 
gances.    These  Apollonians  were  so  puffed  up  with  the 

1  2  Cor.  xu.  20. 


PARTIES    AT   CORINTH.  63 

conceit  of  knowledge,  so  filled  with  the  importance  of 
their  own  intellectual  emancipation,  that  they  had  also 
begun  to  claim  a  fatal  moral  liberty.  They  had  distracted 
the  Sunday  gatherings  with  the  egotisms  of  rival  oratory ; 
had  showed  a  contemptuous  disregard  for  the  scruples  of 
weaker  brethren ;  had  encouraged  women  to  harangue  in 
the  public  assemblies  as  the  equals  of  men  ;  were  guilty 
of  conduct  which  laid  them  open  to  the  charge  of  the 
grossest  inconsistency;  and  even  threw  the  cloak  of 
sophistical  excuse  over  one  crime  so  heinous  that  the 
very  heathen  were  ready  to  cry  shame  on  the  offender. 
In  the  accounts  brought  to  him  of  this  Apollos-party,  St. 
Paul  could  not  but  see  the  most  extravagant  exaggeration 
of  his  own  doctrines — the  half-truths,  which  are  ever  the 
most  dangerous  of  errors.  If  it  was  possible  to  wrest  the 
truths  which  he  himseK  had  taught  into  the  heretical 
notions  which  were  afterwards  promulgated  by  Marcion, 
his  keen  eye  could  detect  in  the  perversions  of  the  Alex- 
andrian eloquence  of  Apollos  the  deadly  germs  of  what 
would  afterwards  develop  into  Antinomian  Gnosticism. 

ii.  But  Apollos  was  not  the  only  teacher  who  had 
visited  Corinth.  Some  Judaic  Christians  had  come,  who 
had  been  as  acceptable  to  the  Jewish  members  of  the 
Church  as  Apollos  was  to  the  Greeks.-^  Armed  with 
commendatory  letters  from  some  of  the  twelve  at  Jeru- 
salem, they  claimed  the  authority  of  Peter,  or,  as  they 
preferred  to  call  him,  of  Kephas.  They  did  not,  indeed, 
teach  the  necessity  of  circumcision,  as  others  of  their 
party   did   in   Galatia.      There    the   local    circumstances 

^  The  circumstances  of  Corinth  were  very  similar  when  Clement  wrote 
them  his  first  Epistle.  He  had  still  to  complain  of  that "  strange  and  alien,  and, 
for  the  elect  of  God,  detestable  and  unholy  spirit  of  faction,  which  a  few  rash 
and  self-willed  persons  {irp^a-unra)  kindled  to  such  a  pitch  of  dementation,  that 
their  holy  and  famous  reputation,  so  worthy  of  all  men's  love,  was  greatly 
blasphemed "  (Ep.  ad  Cor.  i.). 


54  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

would  give  some  chance  of  success  to  teaching  which 
in  Corinth  would  have  been  rejected  with  contempt ; 
and  perhaps  these  particular  emissaries  felt  at  least  some 
respect  for  the  compact  at  Jerusalem.  But  yet  their  in- 
fluence had  been  very  disastrous,  and  had  caused  the 
emergence  of  a  Petrine  party  in  the  Church.  This  party 
— the  ecclesiastical  ancestors  of  those  who  subsequently 
vented  their  hatred  of  Paul  in  the  Pseudo-Clemen- 
tines— openly  and  secretly  disclaimed  his  authority,  and 
insinuated  disparagement  of  his  doctrines.  Kephas,  they 
said,  was  the  real  head  of  the  Apostles,  and  therefore  of 
the  Christians.  Into  his  hands  had  Christ  entrusted  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom ;  on  the  rock  of  his  confession  was 
the  Church  of  the  Messiah  to  be  built.  Paul  was  a  pre- 
sumptuous interloper,  whose  conduct  to  Kej^has  at  Antioch 
had  been  most  unbecoming.  For  who  was  Paul  ?  not  an 
Apostle  at  all,  but  an  unauthorised  innovator.  He  had  been  a 
persecuting  Sanhedrist,  and  he  was  an  apostate  Jew.  What 
had  he  been  at  Corinth  ?  A  preaching  tent-maker,  nothing 
more.  Kephas,  and  other  Apostles,  and  the  brethren  ot 
the  Lord,  when  they  travelled  about,  were  accompanied  by 
their  wives  or  by  ministering  women,  and  claimed  the 
honour  and  support  to  which  they  were  entitled.  Why 
had  not  Paul  done  the  same  ?  Obviously  because  he  felt 
the  insecurity  of  his  own  position.  And  as  for  his 
coming  again,  a  weak,  vacillating,  unaccredited  pre- 
tender, such  as  he  was,  would  take  care  not  to  come 
again.  And  these  preachings  of  his  were  heretical, 
especially  m  their  pronounced  indifference  to  the  Levitic 
law.  Was  he  not  breaking  down  that  hedge  about 
the  law,  the  thickening  of  which  had  been  the  life- 
long task  of  centuries  of  eminent  Pabbis  ?  Very  different 
had  been  the  scene  after  Peter's  preaching  at  Pentecost ! 
It  was  the  speaking  with  tongues — not  mere  dubious  doc- 


"CEBTAIN    FROM   JAMES."  55 

trinal  exhortation — which  was  the  true  sign  of  spirituality. 
We  are  more  than  sure  that  the  strong,  and  tender,  and 
noble  nature  of  St.  Peter  would  as  little  have  sanctioned 
this  subterranean  counter-working  against  the  Apostle  of 
the  Grentiles,  as  Apollos  discountenanced  the  impious 
audacities  which  sheltered  themselves  under  his  name. 

iii.  And  then  had  come  another  set  of  Judaisers — one 
man  in  particular — to  whom  the  name  of  even  Kephas 
was  unsatisfactory.  He  apparently  was — or,  what  is  a 
very  different  thing,  he  professed  to  be — an  adherent  of 
James,^  and  to  him  even  Peter  was  not  altogether  sound. 
He  called  himself  a  follower  of  Christ,  and  disdained  any 
other  name.  Perhaps  he  was  one  of  the  Desposyni.  At 
any  rate,  he  prided  himself  on  having  seen  Christ,  and 
known  Christ  in  the  flesh.  Now  the  Lord  Jesus  had  not 
married,  and  James,  the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  was  unmar- 
ried ;  and  this  teacher  evidently  shared  the  Essene  abhor- 
rence of  marriage.  He  it  was  who  had  started  all  the 
subtle  refinements  of  questions  respecting  celibacy  and  the 
married  life.  He  it  was  who  gathered  around  him  a  few 
Jews  of  Ebionite  proclivities,  who  degraded  into  a  party 
watchword  even  the  sacred  name  of  Christ.^ 

9.  Thus,  as  St.  Paul  now  learnt  fully  for  the  first  time, 
the  Church  of  Corinth  was  a  scene  of  quarrels,  disputes, 
partisanships,  which,  in  rending  asunder  its  unity,  ruined 

1  We  cannot  for  a  moment  believe  that  Peter  and  James  really  approved 
of  the  methods  of  these  men,  because  to  do  so  would  have  been  a  flagrant 
breach  of  their  own  compact  (Gal.  ii.  9).  But  it  is  matter  of  daily  experience 
that  the  rank  and  file  of  parties  are  infinitely  less  wise  and  noble  than  their 
leaders. 

2  About  the  Christ  party  there  have  been  three  main  views : — (1)  That 
they  were  adhei'ents  of  James  (Storr,  &c.) ;  (2)  that  they  were  neutrals,  who 
held  aloof  from  aU  parties  (Eichhorn,  &c.) ;  (3)  that  they  were  a  very  slight 
modification  of  the  Peter-party  (Baur,  Paul.  i.  272 — 292).  It  is  remarkable 
that  to  this  day  there  is  in  England  and  America  a  sect,  which,  professing 
to  disdain  human  authority,  usurps  the  exclusive  name  of  "  Christians  "  (see 
Schaif.  Ajpost.  Ch.  i.  339). 


56  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

its  strength.  On  all  these  subjects  the  Corinthians,  in 
their  self-satisfied  letter,  had  maintained  a  pi'udent  but 
hardly  creditable  silence.  Nor  was  this  all  that  they  had 
concealed.  They  had  asked  questions  about  spiritual 
gifts  ;  but  it  was  left  for  the  household  of  Chloe  to  break 
to  St.  Paul  the  disquieting  news  that  the  assemblies  of 
the  Church  had  degenerated  into  scenes  so  noisy,  so  wild, 
so  disorderly,  that  there  were  times  when  any  heathen  who 
dropped  in  could  only  say  that  they  were  all  mad.  Some- 
times half  a  dozen  enthusiasts  were  on  their  legs  at  once, 
all  pouring  forth  wild  series  of  sounds  which  no  human 
being  present  could  understand,  except  that  sometimes, 
amid  these  unseemly — and  might  they  not  at  times,  with 
some  of  these  Syrian  emissaries,  be  these  half-simulated — 
ecstasies,  there  were  heard  words  that  made  the  blood  run 
cold  with  shuddering  horror.-^  At  other  times,  two  or 
three  preachers  would  interrupt  each  other  in  the  attempt 
to  gain  the  ear  of  the  congregation  all  at  the  same 
moment.  Women  rose  to  give  their  opinions,  and  that 
without  a  veil  on  their  heads,  as  though  they  were  not 
ashamed  to  be  mistaken  for  the  Hetairse,  who  alone 
assumed  such  an  unblushing  privilege.  So  far  from  being 
a  scene  of  peace,  the  Sunday  services  had  become  stormy, 
heated,  egotistic,  meaningless,  unprofitable. 

10.  And  there  was  worse  behind.  It  might  at  least 
have  been  supposed  that  the  Agapae  would  bear  some  faint 
traditional  resemblance  to  their  name,  and  be  means  of 
reunion  and  blessedness  worthy  of  their  connexion  with 
the  Eucharistic  feast !  Far  from  it !  The  deadly  leaven 
of  selfishness — displaying  itself  in  its  two  forms  of  sensu- 
ality and  pride — had  insinuated  itself  even  into  these  once 
simple  and  charitable  gatherings.     The  kiss  of  peace  could 

^  1  Cor.  xii.  3  (cf.  1  Joliu  ii.  22 ;  iv.  1—3) ;  'Avdeffj^a  'Irtavvy, 


DISORDEES   AT    CORINTH.  57 

hardly  be  other  than  a  hypocritical  form  between  brethren, 
who  at  the  very  moment  might  be  impleading  one  another 
at  law  before  the  tribunal  of  a  heathen  Praetor  about  some 
matter  of  common  honesty.  The  rich  brought  their  luxu- 
rious provisions,  and  greedily  devoured  them,  without  wait- 
ing for  any  one ;  while  the  poor,  hungry-eyed  Lazaruses — 
half-starved  slaves,  who  had  no  contributions  of  their  own 
to  bring — watched  them  with  hate  and  envy  as  they  sat 
famishing  and  unrelieved  by  their  full-fed  brethren.  Grreedi- 
ness  and  egotism  had  thus  thrust  themselves  into  the  most 
sacred  unions  ;  and  the  besetting  Corinthian  sin  of  intoxi- 
cation had  been  so  little  restrained  that  men  had  been  seen 
to  stretch  drunken  hands  to  the  very  chalice  of  the  Lord  ! 
11.  Last  and  worst,  not  only  had  uncleanness  found 
its  open  defenders,  so  that  Christians  were  not  ashamed 
to  be  seen  sitting  at  meat  amid  the  lascivious  surroundings 
of  heathen  temples,  but  one  prominent  member  of  the 
Church  was  living  in  notorious  crime  with  his  own  step- 
mother during  the  lifetime  of  his  father;  and,  though 
the  very  Pagans  execrated  this  atrocity,  yet  he  had  not 
been  expelled  from  the  Christian  communion,  not 
even  made  to  do  penance  in  it,  but  had  found  brethren 
ready,  not  merely  to  palliate  his  offence,  but  actually  to 
plume  themselves  upon  leaving  it  unpunished.  This  man 
seems  to  have  been  a  person  of  distinction  and  influence, 
whom  it  was  advantageous  to  a  Church  largely  composed 
of  slaves  and  women  to  count  among  them.  Doubtless 
this  had  facilitated  his  condonation,  which  may  have  been 
founded  on  some  antinomian  plea  of  Christian  liberty ;  or 
on  some  Eabbinic  notion  that  old  ties  were  rendered  non- 
existent by  the  new  conditions  of  a  proselyte ;  or  by  pecu- 
liarities of  circumstance  unknown  to  us.  But  though  this 
person  was  the  most  notorious,  he  was  by  no  means  the 
only  offender,  and  there  were  Corinthian  Christians — even 


68  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

many  of  tliem — who  were  impenitently  guilty  of  unclean- 
ness,  fornication,  and  lasciviousness.^  In  none  of  his 
writings  are  the  Apostle's  warnings  against  this  sin — the 
besetting  sin  of  Corinth — more  numerous,  more  solemn, 
or  more  emphatic.^ 

Truly,  as  he  heard  this  catalogue  of  iniquities — while 
he  listened  to  the  dark  tale  of  the  shipwreck  of  all  his 
fond  hopes  which  he  had  learnt  to  entertain  during  the 
missionary  labour  of  eighteen  months — the  heart  of  St. 
Paul  must  have  sunk  within  him.  He  might  well  have 
folded  his  hands  in  utter  despair.  He  might  well  have  pro- 
nounced his  life  and  his  preaching  a  melancholy  failure. 
He  might  well  have  fled  like  Elijah  into  utter  solitude,  and 
prayed,  "  Now,  0  Lord,  take  away  my  life,  for  I  am  not 
better  than  my  fathers."  But  it  was  not  thus  that  the 
news  affected  this  indomitable  man.  His  heart,  indeed, 
throbbed  with  anguish,  his  eyes  were  streaming  with 
tears,  as,  having  heard  to  the  bitter  end  all  that  the  slaves 
of  Chloe  had  to  tell  him,  he  proceeded  to  make  his  plans. 
First,  of  course,  his  intended  brief  immediate  visit  to 
Corinth  must  be  given  up.  Neither  he  nor  they  were  yet 
in  a  mood  in  which  their  meeting  could  be  otherwise  than 
infinitely  painful.  He  must  at  once  despatch  Titus  to 
Corinth  to  inform  them  of  his  change  of  plan,  to  arrange 
about  the  collection,  and  to  do  what  little  he  could,  before 
rejoining  him  at  Troas.  He  must  also  despatch  a 
messenger  to  Timothy  to  tell  him  not  to  proceed  to 
Corinth  at  present.  And  then  he  might  have  written  an 
apocalyptic  letter,  full  of  burning  denunciation  and 
fulminated  anathemas ;  he  might  have  blighted  these 
conceited,  and  lascivious,  and  quarrelsome  disgracers  of 
the   name   of    Christian  with  withering   invectives,    and 

1  2  Cor.  xii.  21.  «  1  Cor.  v.  11 ;  vi.  15-18  ;  x.  8;  xv.  33,  34. 


TONE    OF    ST.    PAUL.  59 

rolled  over  their  trembling  consciences  thunders  as  loud 
as  those  of  Sinai.  Not  such,  however,  was  the  tone  he 
adopted,  or  the  spirit  in  which  he  wrote.  In  deep  agita- 
tion, which  he  yet  managed  almost  entirely  to  suppress, 
summoning  all  the  courage  of  his  nature,  forgetting  all 
the  dangers  and  trials  which  surrounded  him  at  Ephesus, 
asking  Grod  for  the  wisdom  and  guidance  which  he  so 
sorely  needed,  crushing  down  deep  within  him  all  personal 
indignations,  every  possible  feeling  of  resentment  or 
egotism  at  the  humiliations  to  which  he  had  personally 
been  subjected,  he  called  Sosthenes  to  his  side,  and 
flinging  his  whole  heart  into  the  task  immediately  before 
him,  began  to  dictate  to  him  one  of  the  most  astonishing 
and  eloquent  of  all  his  letters,  the  first  extant  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians.  Varied  as  are  the  topics  with  which  it 
deals,  profound  as  were  the  difficulties  which  had  been 
suggested  to  him,  novel  as  were  the  questions  which  he 
had  to  face,  alienated  as  were  many  of  the  converts  to 
whom  he  had  to  appeal,  we  see  at  once  that  the  Epistle 
was  no  laborious  or  long-polished  composition.  En- 
lightened by  the  Spirit  of  God,  St.  Paul  was  in  posses- 
sion of  that  insight  which  sees  at  once  into  the  heart  of 
every  moral  difficulty.  He  was  as  capable  of  dealing 
with  Greek  culture  and  Greek  sensuality  as  with  Judaic 
narrowness  and  Judaic  Pharisaism.  He  shows  himself 
as  great  a  master  when  he  is  applying  the  principles  of 
Christianity  to  the  concrete  and  complicated  realities  of 
life,  as  when  he  is  moving  in  the  sphere  of  dogmatic 
theology.  The  phase  of  Jewish  opposition  with  which 
he  has  here  to  deal  has  been  modified  by  contact  with 
Hellenism,  but  it  still  rests  on  grounds  of  externalism, 
and  must  be# equally  met  by  spiritual  truths.  Problems 
however  dark,  details  however  intricate,  become  lucid  and 
orderly  at  once  in  the  light  of  eternal  distinctions.      In 


60  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

teacliing  liis  converts  St.  Paul  had  no  need  to  burn  the 
midnight  oil  in  long  studies.  Even  his  most  elaborate 
Epistles  were  in  reality  not  elaborate.  They  leapt  like 
vivid  sparks  from  a  heart  in  which  the  fire  of  love  to  Grod 
burnt  until  death  with  an  ever  brighter  and  brighter 
flame. 

1.  His  very  greeting  shows  the  fulness  of  his  heart.  As  his  autho- 
rity had  been  impugned,  he  calls  himself  "an  Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ 
by  the  will  of  God,"  and  addresses  them  as  a  Chui-ch,  as  sanctified  in 
Christ  Jesus,  and  called  to  be  saints,  uniting  with  them  in  the  prayer 
for  grace  and  peace  all  who,  whatever  their  differing  shades  of  opinion, 
or  their  place  of  abode,  call  \ipon  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
both  theirs  and  ours.^  Thus,  in  his  very  address  to  them,  he  strikes 
the  key-note  of  his  own  claim  to  authority,  and  of  the  unity  and  holi- 
ness which  they  so  deeply  needed.  "  Observe,  too,"  says  St.  Chrysostom, 
"  how  he  ever  nails  them  down  to  the  name  of  Christ,  not  mentioning 
any  man — either  Apostle  or  teacher — but  continually  mentioning  Him 
for  whom  they  yearn,  as  men  preparing  to  awaken  those  who  are  drowsy 
after  a  debauch.  For  nowhere  in  any  other  Epistle  is  the  name  of 
Christ  so  continuously  introduced ;  here,  however,  it  is  introduced  fre- 
quently, and  by  means  of  it  he  weaves  together  almost  his  whole 
exordium."^ 

2.  Although  he  has  united  Sosthenes'  with  him  in  the  superscription, 
he  continues  at  once  in  the  first  person  to  tell  them  that  he  thanks  God 
always  for  the  grace  given  them  in  Christ  Jesus,  for  the  eloquence  and 
knowledge  with  which  they  were  enriched  in  Him,  so  that  in  waiting 
for  the  Apocalypse  of  Christ,  they  were  behindhand  in  no  spii-itual  gift ; 
and  as  the  testimony  of  Christ  was  confirmed  among  them,  so  should 
Christ  confirm  them  to  be  blameless  unto  the  end,  since  God  was  faithful, 


^  "  Est  enim  haec  perieulosa  tentatio  nuUam  Ecclcsiam  putare  ubi  non 
appareat  perfecta  puritas "  (Calviu).  The  abseuco  of  fixed  ecclesiastical 
organisatiou  is  clear,  as  he  addresses  the  entire  community,  and  holds  no 
"  bishops"  responsible  for  the  disorders,  and  for  carrying  out  the  excom- 
munication. 

2  1  Cor.  i.  1 — 3.  The  name  of  Christ  occurs  no  less  than  nine  times  in  the 
first  nine  verses. 

3  Whether  the  Sosthenes  of  Acts  xviii.  17,  who  may  have  been  subse- 
quently converted  (Wetst.  ii.  576),  or  an  unknoAAm  brother,  we  do  not  know. 
He  may  have  been  one  of  the  beavers  of  the  Corinthian  letter  to  Ephesus; 
"  one  of  the  seventy,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Colophon  "  (Euseb.  B.  E.  i.  12). 


FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE  CORIKTHIANS.  61 

■who  had  called  them  unto  the  communion  of  His  Son  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord.i 

3.  That  communion  leads  him  at  once  to  one  of  the  subjects  of 
which  his  heart  is  full.  He  has  heard  on  indisputable  authority,  and 
not  from  one  person  only,  of  schisms  and  strifes  among  them,  and  he 
implores  them  by  the  name  of  Christ  to  strive  after  greater  unity  in 
thought  and  action.^  They  wei-e  saying,  "  I  am  of  Paul,  -  and  I  of 
Apollos,  and  I  of  Kephas,  and  I  of  Christ."  What !  has  Christ  been 
parcelled  into  fragments  1^  Some  of  them  called  themselves  his  party ; 
but  had  he  been  crucified  for  them]  had  they  been  baptised  into  his  name  1 
It  may  be  that  Apollos,  fresh  from  his  discipleship  to  John's  baptism, 
had  dwelt  very  prominently  on  the  importance  of  that  initial  rite ;  but 
so  liable  were  men  to  attach  importance  to  the  mere  human  minister, 
that  Paul,  like  his  Master,  had  purposely  abstained  from  administering 
it,  and  except  Crispus  and  Gaius — and,  as  he  afterwards  recalls,  Stephanas 
and  his  household — he  cannot  remember  that  he  has  baptised  any  of 
them.  Christ  had  sent  him  not  to  baptise,  but  to  preach  ;  and  that  not 
in  wisdohi  of  utterance,  that  Christ's  cross  might  not  be  rendered  void. 
The  mention  of  preaching  brings  him  to  the  aberrations  of  the  Apol- 
lonian party.  They  had  attached  immense  importance  to  eloquence, 
logic,  something  which  they  called  and  exalted  as  wisdom.  He  shows 
them  that  they  were  on  a  wholly  mistaken  track.  Such  human  wisdom, 
such  ear-flattering  eloquence,  such  superficial  and  plausible  enticements, 
he  had  deliberately  rejected.  Of  human  wisdom  he  thought  little.  It 
lay  under  the  ban  of  revelation.^  It  had  not  led  the  world  to  the 
knowledge  of  God.  It  had  not  saved  the  world  from  the  crucifixion  of 
Christ.  And,  therefore,  he  had  not  preached  to  them  about  the  Logos, 
or  about  ^ons,  or  in  Philonian  allegories,  or  with  philosophical  refine- 

^  i.  4 — 9.  Observe  the  perfect  sincerity  of  the  Apostle.  He  desires,  as 
always,  to  thank  God  on  behalf  of  his  converts ;  here,  however,  he  has  no 
moral  praise  to  imply.  The  Corinthians  have  received  rich  spiritual  blessings 
and  endowments,  but  he  cannot  speak  of  them  as  he  does  of  the  Thessalouiaus 
or  Philippians. 

2  Ver.  10,  uot  Kol  .  ,  .  yvdfjLri,  "  intus  in  credendis,  et  sententia  prolata  in 
agendis  "  (Bengal). 

3  It  is  deeply  instructive  to  observe  that  St.  Paul  here  refuses  to  enter 
into  the  differences  of  view  from  which  the  parties  sprang.  He  does  not  care 
to  decide  which  section  of  wrangling  "theologians  "  or  "  churchmen"  is  right 
and  which  is  wrong.  He  denounces  the  spirit  of  party  as  a  sin  and  a  shame 
■where  unity  between  Christians  is  the  first  of  duties  and  the  greatest  of 
advantages.  ' 

*  i.  20,  irov  (rv(-nTrir7]s  k.  t.  X.,  but  iu  Isa.  xxxiii.  18  (of.  Ps.  xlviii.  12), "  where 
is  he  who  counteth  the  towers  ?" 


62  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

ments.  He  had  offered  neither  a  sign  to  the  Jews,  nor  \\dsdom  to  the 
Greeks.  What  he  had  to  preach  was  regarded  by  the  world  as  abject 
foolishness — it  was  the  Cross — it  was  the  docti'ine  of  a  crucified  Messiah, 
which  was  to  the  Jews  revolting ;  of  a  crucified  Saviour,  which  was  to 
the  Greeks  ridiculous  ;  bl^t  it  pleased  God  to  save  believers  by  the 
foolishness  (in  the  world's  view)  of  the  thing  preached,^  and  it  was  to 
those  who- were  in  the  way  of  salvation  the  wisdom  and  the  power  of 
God.  They  were  not  the  wise,  and  the  mighty,  and  the  noble  of  the 
world,  but,  as  a  rule,  the  foolish,  and  the  weak,  and  the  despised.^  It 
was  not  with  the  world's  power,  but  with  its  impotences ;  not  with  its 
strength,  but  with  its  feebleness ;  not  -wdth  its  knowledge,  but  with  its 
ignorance  ;  not  with  its  rank,  but  its  ignobleness ;  not  with  kings  and 
philosophers,  but  with  slaves  and  women,  that  its  divine  forces  were 
allied ;  and  with  them  did  God  so  purpose  to  reveal  His  power  that 
no  glory  could  accrue  to  man,  save  from  the  utter  abasement  of  human 
glory.  That  was  why  Paul  had  come  to  them,  not  with  rhetoi'ic,  but 
with  the  simple  doctrine  of  Christ  crucified  ;  ^  not  with  oratorio  dignity, 
but  in  weakness,  fear,  and  trembling ;  not  with  winning  elocution,  but 
with  spiritual  demonstration  and  spiritual  power — so  that  man  might 
be  utterly  lost  in  God,  and  they  might  feel  the  origin  of  their  faith  to 
be  not  human  but  divine.* 

4.  Yet  they  must  not  be  misled  by  his  impassioned  paradox  into  the 
notion  that  the  matter  and  method  of  his  teaching  was  really  folly.  On 
the  contrary,  it  was  ^visdom  of  the  deepest  and  loftiest  kind — only  it 
was  a  wisdom  of  God  hidden  from  the  wise  of  the  world  ;  a  wisdom  of 
insight  into  things  which  eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard,  and  which 
had  never  set  foot  on  human  heart,^  but  which  were  revealed  to  him  by 
that  Spirit  which  alone  searcheth  the  depths  of  God,*  and  which  he  had 

^  i.  21,  5to  rris  fiuplas  tov  KtjpvyixaTos,  not  "  the  foolishness  of  preaching  " 
(»fr;pv4ecos).  In  23,  24  "  cross,"  "  stumbliugblock,"  *'  folly,"  "  power  "  would  bo 
respectively  seccel,  miscol,  mashcal,  secel,  and  some  see  in  it  a  sign  that  St.  Paul 
had  iu  his  thoughts  a  Syriac  paronomasia  (Winer,  N.  T.  Gramm.,  E.  T.,  p.  658). 

2  A  needful  warning  to  "  Corinthios  non  minus  lascivia,  quam  opulentid,  et 
philosophiae  studio  insignes  "  (Cic.  De  Leg.  Agr.  ii.  32.) 

^  All  the  more  remarkable  because  "a  Corinthian  style"  meant  "a  polished 
style  "  (Wetst.  ad  loc). 

*  i.  19 ;  ii.  5 ;  of.  Jer.  ix.  23,  24 ;  Isa.  xxxiii.  18,  is  freely  cited  from  the 
LXX. 

^  Possibly  a  vague  echo  of  Isa.  Ixiv.  4  (cf.  Hi.  15,  and  Ixv.  17) ;  or  from 
some  lost  book  (Chrys.)  like  the  "Revelation  of  Elias,"  s'ttI  Kap^iav  dvefiri, 
pb  bv  nb?.  Both  explanations  are  possible,  for  %he  lost  book  may  have  echoed 
Isaiah.    A  modern  theory  regards  the  words  as  liturgical. 

6  Ver.  10.  The  attempt  to  make  Rev.  ii.  24  an  ii-ouical  reference  to  this 
is  most  baseless. 


FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  63 

taught  ill  words  not  learnt  from  wisdom,  but  from  that  same  Spirit  of 
God,  combining  spirituals  with  spirituals,^  And  this  spiritual  wisdom 
■was,  to  the  natural  man,^  folly,  because  it  could  be  only  discerned  by  a 
spiritual  faculty  of  which  the  natural  man  was  absolutely  devoid.  It  was 
to  him  what  painting  is  to  the  blind,  or  music  to  the  deaf.^  But  the 
spiritual  man  possesses  the  requisite  discernment,  and,  sharing  the  mind 
of  Christ,  is  thereby  elevated  above  the  reach  of  all  merely  natural 
iudgment. 

5.  And  then,  with  wholesome  irony,  he  adds  that  this  divine  condition, 
which  was  eai-thly  folly,  he  could  only  teach  them  in  its  merest  elements ; 
in  its  perfection  it  was  only  for  the  perfect,  but  they,  who  thought 
themselves  so  wise  and  learned,  were  in  spiritual  wisdom  fleshen  babes, 
needing  milk  such  as  he  had  given  them,  not  meat,  which  they — being 
fleshly — were  still  too  feeble  to  digest.*  These  might  seem  hard  words, 
but  while  there  were  envy,  and  strife,  and  divisions  among  them,  how 
could  they  be  regarded  as  anything  but  fleshly  and  unspiritual  1  Paul 
and  A  polios  !  who  were  Paul  and  Apollos  but  mere  human  ministers  1 
Paul  planting,  Apollos  watering— neither  of  them  anything  in  himself, 
but  each  of  them  one  in  their  ministry,  and  each  responsible  for  his  own 
share  in  it.  God  only  gave  the  harvest.  "  God's  fellow-w^orkers  are 
we  ;  God's  acre,  God's  building  are  ye."  Paul,  as  a  wise  master-builder, 
had  laid  the  foundation  :  others  were  building  on  it  all  sorts  of  super- 
structures. But  the  foundation  was  and  could  be  only  one — namely, 
Christ — and  the  gold,  silver,  precious  marbles,  logs,  hay,  stubble,  built 
on  it  should  be  made  manifest  in  its  true  quality  in  God's  ever-revealing 
fire,'^  and  if  worthless,  should  be  destroyed,  however  sincere  the  builder 
might  be.     If  his  supei'structure  was  sound,  he  would  be  rewarded ;  if 

^  Ver.  13,  irifevfiariKols  trvevixariKh,  crvyKptvovres,  others  render  it  "  explaining 
spiritual  things  to  spiritual  men"  (Gen.  xl.  8;  Dan.  v.  12;  LXX.)  or  "in 
spiritual  words." 

*  Yer.  14,  ^vxiKhs,  "  homines  solius  animae  et  camis  "  (Tert.  Dejejun.  17;. 

^  ii.  6 — 16.  He  refutes  the  Alexandrian  teaching  by  accepting  its  very 
terms  and  principle — "  mystery,"  "  initiated,"  "  spiritual  man,"  &c.,  but 
showing  that  it  is  an  eternal  universal  reality,  not  some  apprehension  of 
particular  men  (see  Maurice,  Unity,  p.  408). 

•*  iii.  2,  aapKivoX ;  4,  aapKiKols.  A  severe  blow  at  Alexandrian  conceit.  He 
has  to  treat  them  not  as  adepts  but  as  novices,  not  as  hieroj)liants  but  as  un- 
initiated, not  as  "  theologians,"  but  as  catechumens,  for  tlie  very  reason  that 
they  thought  so  much  of  themselves  (cf.  the  exactly  analogous  language  of 
our  Lord  in  John  ix.  41). 

^  iii.  13,  airoKaXxmrtrai.  By  calling  this  a  praesens  fufiirascens,  and  not 
recognising  the  normal,  unceasing  operation  of  the  moral  laws  of  God,  com- 
mentators have  missed  a  great  truth  (cf.  Matt.  iii.  10;  Col.  iii.  6 ;  Eph,  v,  6). 


64  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

perishable,  it  would  be  burnt  in  the  consuming  flame,  and  he  should 
suffer  loss,  though  he  himself,  since  he  had  built  on  the  true  foundation, 
would  be  saved  as  by  fire.^  Did  they  not  know  then  that  they  were  a 
temple,  a  holy  temple  for  the  spirit  of  God?  If  any  man  destroy 
God's  temple,  God  shall  destroy  him.  And  human  wisdom  might 
destroy  it,  for  before  God  human  wisdom  was  folly.  The  mere  human 
wisdom  of  this  or  that  favourite  teacher  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
real  building.  If  a  man  wanted  Divine  wisdom,  let  him  gain  it  by  the 
humble  paths  of  what  was  regarded  as  human  folly.  How  unworthy, 
then,  to  be  boasting  about  mere  human  teachers — how  unworthy  was  it 
of  their  own  immense  privilege  and  hope — when  all  things  were  theii*s 
■ — Paul,  Apollos,  Kej)has,  the  universe,  life,  death,  the  immediate 
present,  the  far  future — all  theirs,  and  they  Christ's,  and  Christ  God's. 
Their  party  leaders  were  but  poor  weak  creatures  at  the  best,  of  whom 
was  required  one  thing  only — faithfulness.  As  for  himself  he  regarded 
it  as  a  matter  utterly  trivial  whether  he  were  judged  by  their  tentative 
opinions  or  by  man's  insignificant  feeble  transient  day ;  ^  nay,  he  even 
judged  not  himself.  He  was  conscious  indeed  of  no  sin  as  regards  his 
ministry  ;^  but  even  on  that  he  did  not  rely  as  his  justification,  depend- 
ing only  on  the  judgment  of  the  Lord.  "  So  then  be  not  ye  judging 
anything  before  the  due  time  until  the  Lord  come,  who  shall  both 
illuminate  the  crypts  of  darkness  and  reveal  the  counsels  of  the  heart." 
Then,  and  not  till  then,  shall  the  praise  which  he  deserves,  and  no  other 
praise,  accrue  to  each  from  God.* 

6.  He  had,  with  generous  delicacy,  designedly  put  into  prominence 
his  own  name  and  that  of  Apollos  (instead  of  those  of  Kephas  or  the 
Jerusalem  emissary)  as  unwilling  leaders  of  factions  which  they  utterly 
deprecated,  that  the  Corinthians  might  learn  in  their  case  not  to  estimate 
them  above  the  warrant  of  their  actual  words,^  and  might  see  that  he  was 
actuated  by  no  mere  jealousy  of  others,  when  he  denounced  their  inflated 
exasperation  amongst  themselves  in  the  rival  display  of  what  after  all,  even 

^  St.  Paul  does  not  care  to  make  his  metaphor  "  run  on  all  fours."  The 
general  application  is  sufficient  for  him.     (See  Reuss,  Les  Epitres,  i.  169). 

2  Yer.  iv.  3,  dvaKpieSi.  An  anakrisis  was  an  examination  preliminary  to  trial. 
Ttfjifpas,  this  forcible  expression  has  been  explained  as  a  Hebraism  (Jer.  xvii.  16), 
a  Cilicism  (Jer.  ad  Algas.  10),  and  a  Latiuism  {diem  dicere,  &c.,  Grot.). 

3  Ver.  4,  ovSiv  .  .  .  i/j.avr(fi  avvoiSa,  "  I  am  conscious  of  no  guilt "  ("  Nil 
conscire  sibi,"  Hor.  Ep.  i.  1,  16).  "  I  know  nothing  by  myself,"  in  this  sense 
is  old  English.  "I  am  sorry  that  each  fault  can  be  proved  by  the  queen" 
(Cranmor,  Letter  to  Henry  VIII.). 

*  iv.  1—4. 

*  iv.  6.  The  word  <t>pov(tv  is  omitted  by  the  chief  Uncials.  I  take  /i)j  Mp 
8  ytypan-ai  to  be  a  sort  of  proverb,  like  "  keep  to  your  written  evidence." 


FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  65 

when  tliey  existed,  were  not  intrinsic  merits,  but  gifts  of  God.^  And 
■what  swelling  self-appreciation  they  showed  in  all  this  party  spirit  !  For 
them  the  hunger,  and  the  poverty,  and  the  struggle,  are  all  over.  What 
plenitude  and  satiety  of  satisfaction  you  have  gained;  how  rich  you  are; 
what  thrones  you  sit  on;  and  all  without  us.  Ah,  would  it  were 
really  so,  that  we  might  at  least  share  your  royal  elevation !  For  the 
position  of  us  poor  Apostles  is  very  different.  "  God,  I  think,  displayed 
us  last  as  condemned  criminals,^  a  theatric  spectacle  to  the  universe, 
both  angels  and  men.  We  are  fools  for  Christ's  sake,  but  ye  are  wise 
in  Christ ;  we  weak,  but  ye  strong ;  ye  glorious,  but  we  dishonoured. 
Up  to  this  very  hour  we  both  hunger  and  thirst,  and  are  ill-clad,^  and 
are  buffeted,  and  are  hustled  from  place  to  place,  and  toil,  working  with 
our  own  hands ;  being  abused,  we  bless ;  being  persecuted,  we  endure ; 
being  reviled,  we  entreat ;  as  refuse  of  the  universe  *  are  we  become, 
the  offscouring  of  all  things  till  now."  These  are  bitter  and  ironical 
words  of  contrast  between  you  and  us,  I  know ;  but  I  write  not  as 
shaming  you.  I  am  only  warning  you  as  my  beloved  children.  For, 
after  all,  you  are  my  children.  Plenty  of  teachers,  I  know,  have  followed 
me ;  but  (and  here  comes  one  of  his  characteristic  impetuosities  of 
expression)  even  if  you  have  a  myriad  pedagogues  ^  in  Christ — however 
numerous,  or  stern,  or  authoritative — you  have  not  many  fathers.  It 
was  I  who  begot  you  through  the  Gospel  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  I  there- 
foi'e  enti'eat  you  to  follow  my  example  ;  and  on  this  account  I  sent  you 
my  beloved  and  faithful  son  Timothy,  to  remind  you  of  my  invariable 
practice  and  teaching.^     Do  not  think,  however,  that  I  am   afraid  to 


Throughout  this   section   St.  Paul's  mind  is  full  of  the  word  "inflation" 

{(pvffiovffQe ;  ver.  18,   i<pv(n(i>dy]<Tav -,    19,   ire^va-iai/xevuv ;    v.  2,   7re<l)v(nwfx.€V0i;   viii.    1, 

^  yvaxTis  (pvcrto7-^  xiii.  4,  rj  dydirtj  ov  (pva-ioVrai).  This  is  because  when  St.  Paul 
comes  to  them,  he  is  afraid  of  finding  this  vice  of  a  conceited  theology. 
2  Cor.  xii.  20,  (pvcndcreis.     Elsewhere  the  word  only  occurs  in  Col.  ii.  18. 

^  iv.  7,  Tis  yap  cre  SiaKpivet  ; 

^  iv.  9,  &s  iiTiQavariovs,  "  veluti  bestiarios  "  (Tert.  De  Pudic.  14). 

3  Cf.  2  Cor.  xi.  27. 

*  vepiKoiOapiJ.aTa,  purgamenta,  "  things  \'ile,  and  worthless,  and  to  be  flung 
away,"  not  "  piacular  offerings,"  ■n-epl^prjij.a.  The  Scholiast  on  Ar.  Plut.  456, 
says,  that  in  famines  and  plagues  it  was  an  ancient  Greek  and  Roman  custom 
to  wipe  off  guilt  by  throwing  wretches  into  the  sea,  with  the  words  "  Become 
our  peripsema."  The  reference  here  is  probably  less  specific,  but  cf.  Prov. 
xxi.  18 ;  ip'is  (LXX.),  Tob.  v.  18.  lyw  Trepixp-nnd  (Tov  became  (from  this  view)  a 
common  Christian  expression  (Wordsworth,  ad  loc). 

^  iv.  15,  irai^ayooyovs- 

*  St.  Paul  had  already  sent  him,  before  the  necessity  had  arisen  for  the  more 
immediate  despatch  of  Titus ;  but  he  seems  to  have  countermanded  the  order, 


66  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

confront  in  pei'son  the  inflated  opposition  of  some  who  say  that  I  do 
not  really  mean  to  come  myself.  Come  I  Avill,  and  that  soon,  if  the 
Lord  will ;  and  will  ascertain  not  what  these  inflated  critics  say,  but 
what  they  are  ;  not  their  power  of  talk,  but  of  action.  "  But  what 
will  ye  1  Am  I  to  come  to  you  with  a  rod,  or  in  love  and  the  spirit  of 
gentleness  1"^ 

7.  One  thing  at  least  needs  the  rod.  A  case  of  incest — of  a  son 
taking  his  father's  wife — so  gross,  that  it  does  not  exist  even  among  the 
heathen,^  is  absolutely  notorious  among  you,  and  instead  of  expelling 
the  ofi"ender  with  mourning  and  shame,  you — oh  !  strange  mystery  of  the 
invariable  connexion  between  sensuality  and  pride — have  been  inflated 
with  sophistical  excuses  about  the  matter.'  "  I,  at  any  rate,  absent  in 
body,  but  present  in  spii-it,  have  already  judged  as  though  actually 
present  the  man  who  acted  thus  in  this  thing,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ — you  being  assembled  together,  and  my  spirit  which  is 
present  with  you,  though  my  body  is  absent — with  the  power  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  hand  over  such  a  man  to  Satan,  for  destruction  of 
the  flesh,  that  the  spirit  may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesxis 
Christ."''  If  any  passage  of  the  letter  was  written  with  sobs,  which  are 
echoed  in  his  very  Avords,  as  Sosthenes  wrote  them  down  from  his  lips, 
it  is  this.  He  summons  up  the  scene  and  sentence  of  excommunication. 
He  is  absent,  yet  he  is  there ;  and  there,  with  the  power  of  Christ,  he 
pronounces  the  awful  sentence  which  hands  over  the  ofiender  to  Satan 
in  terrible  mercy,  that  by  destruction  of  his  flesh  he  may  be  saved  in 
the  spirit.  And  then  he  adds,  "  The  subject  of  your  self-glorification  is 
hideous.^  Know  ye  not  that  a  little  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole  lump? 
Purge  out  then  at  once  the  old  leaven,  that  ye  may  be  a  new  lump,  as 

uncertain,  however,  whether  the  messenger  would  reach  him  in  time,  and 
rather  expecting  that  Timothy  would  arrive  among  them  before  liimself  ("i/ 
Timotlicus  come,"  xvi.  10).  In  any  case  the  Corinthians  would  have  heard 
that  Timothy  liad  been  sent  to  come  to  them  through  Macedonia,  and  Paul's 
enemies  drew  very  unfavourable  inferences  from  this. 

1  iv.  6—21. 

2  The  Of  ojua^erai,  "  is  named,"  of  our  text  is  spurious,  beiug  omitted  in  «,  A, 
B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G.  As  to  the  fact  illustrated  by  the  almost  local  tragedy  of 
Hippolytus,  see  Cic.  pro  Cluent.  5,  "  O  mulieris  scelus  iucredibile  et  praeter 
hanc  unam  in  omni  vita  inauditum  "  (Wetst.  ad  loc). 

3  This  might  seem  inconceivable ;  but  v.  supra,  p.  57. 

*  It  was  tlie  last  awful,  reluctant  declaration,  "  that  a  man  who  has  wilfully 
chosen  an  evil  roaster,  shall  feel  the  bondage  that  he  may  loathe  it,  and  so  turn 
to  his  true  Lord  "  (Maurice,  Unity,  p.  414).  On  the  comparative  leniency  of 
excommunication  see  Hooker,  Eccl.  Pol.  iii.  1 — 13. 

*  V.  6,  ov  KaXhv  (litotes),  rh    Kavx^tia.  vuuv  (not  Kaux'J<''*s). 


FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  67 

ye  are  (ideallj-)  unleavened.^  For  indeed  our  Passover  is  slain ^ — Christ. 
Let  us,  then,  keep  the  feast,  not  with  the  old  leaven,  neither  with  leaven 
of  vice  and  wickedness,  but  with  unleavenedness  of  sincerity  and  truth."* 

And  here  he  pauses  to  explain  a  clause  in  his  last  Epistle  which 
had  excited  surprise.  In  it  he  had  foi'bidden  them  to  associate  with 
fornicators.  This  had  led  them  to  ask  the  astonished  question*  whether 
it  was  really  their  duty  to  go  out  of  the  world  altogether  1  His  mean- 
ing was,  as  he  now  tells  them,  that  if  any  Christian  were  notoriously 
guilty,  either  of  fornication  or  any  other  deadly  sin,^  with  such  they 
were  not  to  associate, — not  even  to  sit  at  table  with  them.  They  really 
need  not  have  mistaken  his  meaning  on  this  point.  What  had  he,  what 
had  they,  to  do  with  judging  the  outer  world  ?  This  passage  reads 
like  a  marginal  addition,  and  he  adds  the  brief,  uncompromising  order, 
"  Put  away  at  once  that  wicked  man  from  among  yourselves."  ^ 

8.  The  allusion  to  judging  naturally  leads  him  to  another  point.  Dare 
they,  the  destined  judges  of  the  world  and  of  angels,  go  to  law  about 
mere  earthly  trifles,  and  that  before  the  heathen  1  Why  did  they  not 
rather  set  up  the  very  humblest  members  of  the  Church  to  act  as  judges 
in  such  matters  1  Shame  on  them  !  So  wise  and  yet  no  one  of  them 
wise  en"t)ugh  to  be  umpire  in  mere  trade  disputes  1  Better  by  far  have 
no  quarrels  among  themselves,  but  suffer  wrong  and  loss  ;  but,  alas ! 
instead  of  this  some  of  them  inflicted  wrong  and  loss,  and  that  on  their 
own  brethren.  Then  follows  a  stern  warning — the  unjust  should  not 
inherit  the  kingdom  of  God — "  Be  not  deceived  " — the  formula  by  which 
he  always  introduces  his  most  solemn  passages— neither  sensual  sinners 
in  all  their  hideous  varieties,  nor  thieves,  nor  over-reachers,  nor 
drunkards,  nor  revilers,  nor  extortioners,  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God.  "  And  these  abject  things  some  of  you  were ;  ^  but  ye  washed 
yourselves,  but  ye  were  sanctified,  but  ye  were  justified  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  the  Spirit  of  our  God."  It  is  evident  that  some  of 
them  were  liable  to  be  deceived ;  that  they  liked  to  be  deceived  on  this 

^  St.  Paul  was  writing  near  the  time  of  the  Passover ;  but  the  allusions 
are  spiritual, 

2  V.  7,  iridr),  "slain"  (Matt.  xxii.  4;  Acts  x.  13).  The  "for  us,"  virlp 
Tinwv  is  a  doctrinal  gloss  not  found  in  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G. 

3  V.  1—9. 

*  T.  10,  €irei  0(f>€iA€T6  ^pa,  k.  t,\. 

*  Ver.  11,  "or  an  idolater."  Evidently  as  in  x.  7 ;  Col.  iii.  5;  otherwise 
how  could  he  be  a  Christian  ?  Unless  he  is  thinking  of  some  hybrid  Christian 
of  the  type  of  Constantine,  who  "  bowed  in  the  house  of  Rimmon." 

^  V.  9—13,  'E^a/)OTe.     The  KoX  (omitted  in  n,  A,  B,  C,  F,  G)  is  spurious,  and 
spoils  the  characteristic  abruptness. 
'  vi.  11,  TovTa  Tives  ^Te. 

/2 


68  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

point,  and  tliey  seem  to  have  boldly  said  that  the  Christian  is  free,  that 
"  all  things  are  lawful "  to  him  because  he  is  no  longer  under  the  law, 
liut  under  grace.  "All  things  are  lawful  to  me."  Yes,  says  St.  Paul, 
but  all  things  are  not  expedient.  "  All  things  are  lawful  to  me  "  ;  yes, 
but  I  will  not  become  the  slave  of  the  fatal  tyranny  of  anything.  The 
case  of  meats,  which  perhaps  they  adduced  to  show  that  they  might 
do  as  they  liked,  irrespective  of  the  Mosaic  law,  was  not  a  case  in  point. 
They  were  h.SLa.<popa — matters  of  indifference  about  which  each  man 
might  do  as  he  liked ;  they,  and  the  belly  which  assimilated  them,  were 
transient  things,  destined  to  be  done  away  with.  Not  so  the  body ; 
that  was  not  created  for  fornication,  but  for  the  Lord,  and  as  God  had 
raised  Christ  so  should  He  raise  the  bodies  of  Christ's  saints.  And 
then — thus  casually  as  it  were  in  this  mere  passing  reference — he  lays 
down  for  all  time  the  eternal  principles  which  underlie  the  sacred  duty 
of  chastity.  He  tells  them  that  their  bodies,  their  members,  are  not 
their  own,  but  Christ's ; — that  the  union  with  Christ  is  destroyed  by 
unions  of  uncleanness  ; — that  sensuality  is  a  sin  against  a  man's  own 
body ; — that  a  Christian's  body  is  not  his  own,  but  a  temple  of  the 
indwelling  spirit,  and  that  he  is  not  his  o-wti,  but  bought  with  a  price. 
"  Therefore,"  he  says,  feeling  that  he  had  now  laid  down  truths  which 
should  be  impregnable  against  all  scepticism,  "  glorify  God  in  your 
body."i 

9.  This  paragraph,  touching  as  it  has  done  on  the  three  topics  of 
chastity,  meats  offered  to  idols,  and  the  resurrection,  introduces  very 
naturally  his  answers  to  their  inquiries  on  these  subjects,  and  nobly 
wise  they  are  in  their  charity,  their  wisdom,  their  large-heartedness. 
He  is  not  speaking  of  marriage  in  the  abstract,  but  of  marriage  regarded 
with  reference  to  the  near  advent  of  Christ,  and  relating  to  the  cii-cum- 
stances  and  conditions  of  the  most  corrupt  city  of  ancient  Greece.  The 
Corinthian  letter  seems  to  have  been  written  by  those  members  of  the 
Church  who,  partly  it  may  be  in  indignant  revolt  against  the  views  of 
the  small  faction  which  had  adopted  Antinomian  opinions,  seem  to  have 
regarded  celibacy  as  the  only  perfect  form  of  life.  In  the  abstract, 
somewhat  hesitatingly,  and  with  the  confession  that  here  he  is  not  sure 
of  his  ground,  and  is  therefore  offering  no  authoritative  decision,  St. 
Paul  on  the  whole  agrees  with  them.^     "  He  quotes,  with  something  of 

^  vi.  1 — 20.  The  words  which  f o11q.w  in  our  version,  kuI  iv  rf  nvevfian  vfiuy, 
&Ttvd  ia-rt  tov  Qeov,  are  omitted  in  «,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G. 

^  "  If  we  compare  the  letter  of  Gregory  the  Great  to  Augustine  (in  Bode), 
in  answer  to  inquiries  not  altogether  dissimilar,  respecting  the  Anglo-Saxon 
converts,  we  see  at  once  how  immeasurably  more  decisive  and  minute  the 
Pope  is  than  the  Apostle  "  (Maurice,  Unity,  p.  423).    The  chapter  is  the  best 


FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  69 

approval,  their  dictum  that  the  maiden  life  is  the  best,^  and  utters  the 
wish  that  all  had  the  same  spiritual  grace  ^ — the  charisma  of  continence 
— as  he  liimself.  But  since  this  was  not  the  case,  as  a  permitted 
remedy  against  the  universal  prevalence  of  unchastity,  he  recommended 
(but  not  by  way  of  distinct  injunction)  that  Clnistians  should  live 
together,  and  with  no  long  ascetic  separations,  in  the  married  state.  ^ 
As  regards  widowers*  and  widows  their  celibacy  for  the  rest  of  their 
lives  would  be  an  honourable  state,  but  immediate  marriage  would  be 
better  than  long-continued  desires.*  Divorce  had  been  discouraged  by 
Christ  himself,  and  on  that  analogy  he  pronounced  against  any  volun- 
tary dissolution  of  unions  already  existing  between  Pagans  and  Chris- 
tians, since  the  children  of  such  unions  were  holy,  and  therefore  the 
unions  holy,  and  since  the  believing  wife  or  husband  might  win  to  the 
faith  the  unbelieving  partner.  The  general  rule  which  he  wished  all 
Christians  to  observe  was  that  they  should  abide  in  the  state  in  which  they 
were  called,  whether  circumcised  or  uncircumcised,  since  "  circumcision 
is  nothing,  and  uncircumcision  is  nothing,  but  keeping  of  the  command- 
ments of  God."       Even  if  a  Chxistian  were  a  slave  and  might  obtain  his 

manual  for  the  ductor  duhitantium,  because  it  teaches  him  "  that  he  must  not 
give  himself  airs  of  certainty  on  points  where  certainty  is  not  to  be  had" 
{id.  429).  See  Kuenen,  Profeten,  ii.  67  sq.,  and  Lord  Lyttelton  in  Gontenvp. 
Bev.  xxi.  p.  917. 

^  vii.  1,  Kaxhv  a.vdp<inT(f  yvvaiKhs  fi^  airreffdai.  St.  Jerome's  characteristic 
comment  is  that  "if  it  is  good  for  a  man  not  to  touch  a  woman,  it  must  be 
bad  to  do  so,  and  therefore  marriage  is,  to  say  the  least,  inferior  to  celibacy." 
St.  Paul's  own  distinct  permission,  and  in  some  cases  injunction,  to  marry, 
might  have  shown  him  how  false  and  dangerous  are  the  results  which  spring 
from  the  undue  pressure  of  incidental  words  (Eph.  v.  24 ;  1  Tim.  ii.  15,  &c.) 
St.  Paul  does  not  say  "  good"  {dyaehv),  but  "fair"  (which  he  afterwards  limits 
by  the  present  need,  ver.  26),  as  we  might  say,  "  there  is  in  holy  celibacy  a 
certain  moral  beauty."  Hence  Jerome's  "  Suspecta  est  mihi  bonitas  rei  quam 
maguitudo  alterius  mali  malum  cogit  esse  inferius "  (adv.  Jovin.  i.  9)  is  a 
mistake.  Celibacy  is  Ka\6y,  but  there  are  some  for  whom  marriage  is  even 
Ktiwiov.  See  for  the  use  of  Ka\6s  Matt,  xviii.  8,  xxvi.  24 ;  1  Tim.  i.  8.  It 
is  curious  to  see  the  ascetic  tendency  at  work  in  vii.  3  {dcpeiKofiti/riv  ftn/oiav, 
and  5,  tj)  vrjarTeta  Kal,  and  (rxoA.ct<r?7T6  and  (Tvvipxf\<rQi  for  ^re).  The  true  read- 
ings are  found  in  k,  A,  B,  0,  D,  F,  though  not  followed  in  our  version. 

2  vii.  7,  diXw,  but  in  later  years  his  deliberate  decision  (j8ouAo/xai)  was  that 
younger  widows  should  marry  (1  Tim.  v.  14). 

3  vii.  1—7. 

*  rois  dydfwis,  v.  supra,  i.  pp.  79 — 82. 

^  Ver.  9,  yayuijo-at  (aor.),  fi  irvpov(r0ai  (pres.). 

*  1  Cor.  vii.  18,  19.  The  fii]  iTrian-dffdu  refers  to  a  method  of  obliterating 
the  sign  of  the  covenant  adopted  by  apostate  Jews  in  times  of  persecution 
(1  Mace.  i.  15  J  Jos.  Antt.  xU.  5,  §  1),  and  which  a  Christian  might  be  tempted 


70  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

freedom,  it  would  be  better  for  him  to  brook  slavery,^  seeing  tiiat 
earthly  relations  were  utterly  insignificant  when  regarded  from  the 
spiritual  standpoint.^  As  to  virgins  he  could  only  give  his  opinion 
that,  considering  the  present  distress,  and  the  nearness  of  the  end, 
and  the  affliction  which  marriage  at  such  a  period  brought  inevit- 
ably in  its  train,  it  was  better  for  them  not  to  marry.  Marriage, 
indeed,  he  told  them  distinctly,  was  no  sin,  but  he  wished  to  spare  them 
the  tribulation  it  involved ;  he  did  not  wish  them,  now  that  the  time 
was  contracted,^  and  the  fleeting  show  of  the  world  was  passing  away,  to 
bear  the  distracting  burden  of  transient  earthly  and  human  cares,  or  to 
use  the  world  to  the  f ull,"*  but  to  let  their  sole  care  be  fixed  on  God.^     If 

to  adopt  to  save  him  from  that  ridicule  which  the  manners  of  ancient  life 
brought  upon  Jews  (Mart.  xvii.  29).  Tlie  Rabbis  decided  that  one  who  had 
done  this  must  be  re-circumcised.  R.  Jeluidah  denied  this,  because  of  the 
danger ;  but  the  wise  men  rephed  that  it  had  been  frequently  done  with  no 
injurious  results  in  the  days  of  Bar-Coziba  {Yebhamoth,  f.  72,  1;  Buxtorf, 
Lex.  Chald.,  s.  v.  iwo,  meslwoMm  =  recuti.ti). 

^  1  Cor.  vii.  21,  dW'  ei  Kcd  Bvvacrai  iXevBipos  yevea-Qat,  fiaWov  XP'7<''«'-  I  have 
taken  SovAeia  as  the  word  to  be  understood  with  Chrysostom,  Theodoret, 
Luther,  Beiigel,  De  Wette,  Meyer,  &c. ;  cf.  1  Tim.  vi.  2.  I  take  this  view — 
i.  Because  the  whole  argument  turns  on  the  desirability  of  staying  in  the 
present  condition,  whatever  it  is,  with  a  view  to  the  nearness  of  the  day  of  the 
Lord.  ii.  Because  this  was  the  view  arrived  at  also  by  the  lofty  Stoic  moralists 
who,  like  Epictetus,  knew  that  even  a  slave  could  live  a  noble  life  (Epictet. 
Dissert,  iii.  26  ;  Ench.  x.,  xxxii.).  Earthly  conditions  were  bvit  a  xpvo-is 
(pavTafftwv ;  cf .  Col.  iii.  22.  iii.  Because  St.  Paul  may  have  been  thinking  at 
the  moment  of  the  Christian  slaves  of  Christian  masters  wlio  would  be  treated 
as  brothers,  iv.  Because  xpvcr^°'i  rather  implies  the  continuance  of  an  existing 
than  the  acceptance  of  a  new  condition.  Otherwise  we  can  hardly  imagine 
his  giving  such  advice,  since  "  a  man  is  to  abide  in  his  calling  if  it  be  not 
hurtful  to  faith  and  morals  "  (Aug.  ad  Gal.  ii.  11) ;  but  that  could  hardly  be 
said  of  slavery.  "  Inipudicitia  ...  in  servo  necessitas  "  (Sen.  Controv.  iv., 
Praef.).  "  Enfauts,  ils  grandissaient  en  desordve;  vieillards,  ils  mouraient 
souveut  dans  la  misere  "  (Wallon,  De  VEsclavage,  i.  332). 

2  vii.  10 — 24.  Yerses  17 — 24  are  a  little  digression  on  the  general  principle 
that  it  is  best  to  remain  contentedly  in  oiu-  present  lot.  In  ver.  23  he  says, 
with  a  fine  play  on  words,  "  You  are  slaves  iu  one  sense;  do  not  hecome  so 
in  another." 

^  Ver.  29,  (rvve<TTa\/j.evos. 

*  Yer.    31,  Karaxpti/J^coi ;  cf.  ix.   12,    18.     tifpif/.va,  eiiirdptSpov,   inrepiffndiTTWs  i 

cf.  Luke  X.  41. 

!>  Alone  of  nations  the  Jews  implied  the  sanctity  of  marriage  by  every 
name  that  they  gave  it.  Kiddushin  from  Icadosh,  "to  sanctify;"  inehadesh, 
''  a  brideo-room,"  &c.  The  phrase  Hare  ath  mehoodesheth  U,  "  Behold  tliou 
art  sanctified  for  me,"  is  still  addressed  by  the  bridegroom  to  the  bride 
(Eabbinowicz,  Legislat.  Criminelle  du  Talmud,  p.  227). 


FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  VI 

then  a  father  determined  not  to  give  his  maiden  daughter  in  marriage, 
he  did  well ;  but  if  a  lover  sought  her  hand,  and  circumstances  pointed 
that  way,  he  was  not  doing  wrong  in  letting  them  marry.  ^  Widows 
might  re-marry  if  they  liked,  but  in  accordance  with  the  principles 
which  he  had  been  laying  down,  he  thought  they  would  be  happier  if 
they  did  not.  It  was  but  his  wish  and  advice ;  he  assei-ted  no  Divine 
authority  for  it ;  yet  in  giving  it  he  thought  that  he  too  had — as  other 
teachers  had  claimed  to  have — the  spirit  of  God.^ 

1 0.  As  to  the  pressing  question — a  question  which  bore  on  their  daily 
life' — about  meats  oflered  to  idols,  he  quotes,  but  only  by  way  of  refutation, 
their  self-satisfied  remai'k  that  they  "  all  had  knowledge  " — knowledge 
at  the  best  was  a  much  smaller  thing  than  charity,  and  the  very  claim  to 
possess  it  was  a  proof  of  spiritual  pride  and  ignorance.  If  they  knew 
that  an  idol  was  nothing  in  the  world,  and  their  conscience  as  to  this 
matter  was  quite  clear  and  strong,  it  was  no  sin  for  them  personally 
to  eat  of  these  sacrifices  ;  but  if  others,  whose  consciences  were  weak, 
saw  them  feasting  in  idol  temples,  and  were  led  by  this  ostentatious 
display  of  absence  of  scruple*  to  do  byway  of  imitation  what  they  them- 
selves thought  wrong,  then  this  knowledge  and  liberty  of  theirs  became 
a  stumbling-block,  an  edification  of    rum,^  a  soiu-ce   of  death  to   the 

*  vii.  25.  On  the  rights  of  Jewish  fathers  over  their  unmarried  daughters 
see  Ketubhoth,  f .  46,  2.  They  were  so  absolute  that  he  might  even  sell  his 
daughter  {KidclusUin,  3  6 ;  Ketubhoth,  46  b).  When  however  she  reached 
the  "  flower  of  her  age,"  she  might  refuse  any  husband  given  her  before 
she  was  really  nubile.  Her  refusal  was  technically  called  inion,  ]vp  [Yebh- 
amoth,  107  b).  She  might  even  be  married  while  yet  a  Jcetanal — i.e.,  not 
yet  twelve.  When  she  reached  that  age  she  was  called  naarah  (mi^:),  and  six 
months  later  was  held  to  have  reached  her  full  maturity,  and  become  a  hag- 
roth,  mija.  See  the  Talmudic  authorities  in  Rabbinowicz,  Trad,  des  Traites 
Synhedrin,  &c..  Legislation  Criminelle  du  Talmud,  p.  214 ;  Weill,  La  Femme 
Juive,  pp.  11 — 14.     On  the  care  for  widows,  id.  p.  72. 

2  vii.  1—40. 

3  To  this  day  the  Jewish  slaughterer,  who  must  pass  a  course  of  study, 
practically  decides  what  is  clean  (tahor)  and  unclean  {tame).  When  he  has 
discovered  that  an  animal  has  no  legal  blemish  he  attaches  to  it  a  leaden  seal 
with  the  word  "lawful"  {kdshdr)  on  it;  (Disraeli,  Genius  of  Judaism,  156 ; 
Bid.  Bibl.  s.  v.  Pharisees ;  McCaul,  Old  Paths,  380—386,  396—402  ;  v. 
supra,  i.  p.  434). 

*  Yer.  10.    Such  feasts  were  often  in  temples  :— 

"  Hoc  illis  curia  templum, 
Hae  sacris  sedes  epulis  ;  hie  ariete  caeso 
Perpetuis  soliti  Paties  considere  mensis."    {uTJn.  vii.  174.) 

Cf .  Hdt.  i.  31 ;  Judg.  ix.  27  ;  2  Kings  xis.  37. 

*  Tert.  Be  Praescr.  Eaer.  8. 


72  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

conscience  of  a  brother ;  and  since  thus  to  smite  the  sick  conscience  of  a 
brother  was  a  sin  against  Christ,  he  for  one  -would  never  touch  flesh 
again  while  the  world  lasted  rather  than  be  guilty  of  putting  a  fatal 
difficulty  in  a  brother's  path."^ 

11.  And  at  this  point  begins  a  remarkable  digression,  which,  though 
a  digression,  indirectly  supported  the  position  which  some  of  his  adver- 
saries had  impugned,  and  though  personal  La  its  details,  is,  in  Paul's 
invariable  manner,  made  subservient  to  eternal  truths.  They  might 
object  that  by  what  he  had  said  he  was  curtailing  their  liberty,  and 
making  the  conscience  of  the  weak  a  fetter  upon  the  intelligence  of  the 
strong.  Well,  without  putting  their  objection  in  so  many  words,  he 
would  show  them  that  he  practised  what  he  taught.  He,  too,  was  free, 
and  an  Apostle,  their  Apostle  at  any  rate,  and  had  every  right  to  do  as 
the  other  Apostles  did — the  Desposyni,  and  Keplias  himself — in  expect- 
ing Churches  to  support  them  and  their  wives. ^  That  right  he  even 
defends  at  some  length,  both  by  earthly  analogies  of  the  soldier, 
husbandman,  and  shepherd,^  and  by  a  happy  Rabbinic  midrash  on  the 
non-muzzling  of  the  ox  that  treadeth  out  the  corn;*  and  by  the  ordinary 
rules  of  gratitude  for  benefits  received ;  ^  and  by  the  ordinance  of  the 
Jewish  Temple,*'  and  the  rule  of  Christ ;''  yet  plain  as  the  right  was,  and 
strenuously  as  he  maintained  it,  he  had  never  availed  himself  of  it,  and, 
whatever  his  enemies  might  say,  he  never  would.  He  must  preach 
the  Gospel ;  he  could  not  help  himself ;  his  one  reAvard  would  be  the 
power  to  boast  that  he  had  not  claimed  his  rights  to  the  full,  but  had 
made  the  Gospel  free,  and  so  removed  a  possible  soui-ce  of  hindrance. 
Free,  then,  as  he  was,  he  had  made  himself  a  slave  (as  in  one  small 
particular  he  was  asking  them  to  do)  for  the  sake  of  others ;  a  slave  to 
all,  that  he  might  gain  the  more  ;  putting  himself  in  their  place,  meeting 

^  viii.  1 — 13.  Here  as  usual  St.  Paul  shows  himself  transcendently 
superior  to  the  Rabbis.  In  Abhoda  Zara,  f.  8,  1,  R.  Ishmael  lays  down  the 
rule  that  if  Isi-aelites  "  outside  the  land  "  are  asked  to  a  Gentile  funeral  they 
"  eat  of  the  sacrifices  of  the  dead,"  even  if  they  take  with  them  their  own  food 
and  are  waited  on  by  their  own  servants.  In  confirmation  of  which  hard  and 
bigoted  decision  he  refers  to  Ex.  xxxiv.  15,  from  Avhich  he  inferred  that  the 
acceptance  of  the  invitation  was  equivalent  to  eating  the  sacrifice.  R. 
Joehanan  the  Chorouite  would  not  eat  moist  olives,  even  in  a  time  of  famine, 
if  handled  by  an  am  haarets,  because  they  might  have  absorbed  water,  and 
so  become  unclean  {Yehhamoth,  f.  15,  2). 

2  I  have  here  endeavoured  to  make  clear  the  by  no  means  obvious  connec- 
tion of  thought  which  runs  through  these  chapters.  Possibly  there  may  have 
been  some  accidental  transposition.  Those  who  consider  2  Cor.  vi.  14 — vii  I, 
to  be  misplaced,  find  an  apt  space  for  it  here. 

3  ix.  7.  *  ix.  8—10.  ^  11, 12.  6  13.  7  14 


FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIAITS.  73 

their  sympathies,  and  even  their  prejudices,  half  way  ;  becoming  a  Jew  to 
the  Jews,  a  legalist  to  legalists,  without  law  to  those  without  law  (never, 
however,  forgetting  his  real  allegiance  to  the  law  of  Christ),^  weak  to  the 
weak,  all  things  to  all  men  in  order  by  all  means  to  save  some.  And  if 
he  thus  denied  himself,  should  not  they  also  deny  themselves  1  ^  In 
their  Isthmian  games  each  strove  to  gain  the  crown,  and  what  toil  and 
temperance  they  endured  to  win  that  fading  ^vreath  of  pine  !  Paul  did 
the  same.  He  ran  straight  to  the  goal.  He  aimed  straight  blows,  and 
not  in  feint,  at  the  enemy  f  nay,  he  even  blackened  his  body  with 
bloAvs,  and  led  it  about  as  a  slave,''  lest  in  any  way  after  acting  as 
herald  to  othei'S  he  himself  should  be  rejected  from  the  lists.^ 

If  he  had  to  strive  so  hai-d,  could  the^  afford  to  take  things  so  easUy? 
The  Israelites  had  not  found  it  so  in  the  wilderness ;  they,  too,  were  in 
a  sense  baptised  unto  Moses  in  the  cloudy  pillar  and  the  Pved  Sea 
waves  ;  ®  they,  too,  in  a  sense  partook  of  the  Eucharist  in  eating  the 
heavenly  manna,  and  drinking  of  the  symbolic  following  rock  j^  yet  how 
many®  of  them  fell  because  of  gluttony,  and  idolatry,  and  lust,  and  re- 
bellion, and  murmuring,  and  were  awful  warnings  against  overweening 
self-confidence  !  Yes,  the  path  of  duty  was  difficult,  but  not  impossible, 
and  no  temptation  was  beyond  human  power  to  resist,  because  with  the 
temptation  God  provided  also  the  escape.     Let  them  beware,  then,  of  all 

'■  He  describes  the  concessions  ■(a-vyKaTdfiaa-is)  of  love.  " Paulus  non 
fuit  anomns,  nedum  antinomus  "  (Bengel).  "The  Lawless"  is  the  name  by 
which  he  is  covertly  calumniated  in  the  spmious  letter  of  Peter  to  James 
(Clementines,  ch.  ii.). 

2  In  these  paragraphs  exhortations  to  the  general  duty  of  self-denial  are 
closely  mingled  with  the  arguments  in  favour  of  the  particular  self-denial — 
concession  to  the  weak — which  he  is  urging  throughout  this  section.  "In 
the  one  party  faith  was  not  strong  enough  to  beget  a  liberalising  knowledge, 
not  strong  enough  in  the  other  to  produce  a  brotherly  love  "  (Kling). 

^  His  Avas  no  sham  fight  (a-KiaiJLaxia)  ;  he  struck  anything  rather  than 
the  air  {us  ovk  aipa  Sepuv).  The  E.V.  renders  as  though  it  were  ovx  a>s  aepa 
Sepuu.     Cf.  ^n.  V.  446,  and  Wetst.  ad  loc. 

*  vTrwirtdCci';  lit.,  "blacken  with  blows  under  the  eyes,  as  in  a  fight." 
**  Lividum  facio  corpus  meum  et  in  servitutem  redigo  "  (Ireu.  iv.  7.). 

*  ix.  1 — 27 ;  KTipv^as,  the  Christian  herald  of  the  laws  of  the  contest,  is  also 
a  candidate  in  it. 

•^  Piducia  verbi  Mosis  commiserant  se  aquis  (Melaincthon). 

'^  X.  1 — xi.  1.  The  division  of  chapters  here  stops  a  verse  too  short.  On 
St.  Paul's  spiritualisation  and  practical  application  of  Old  Testament  history, 
see  mpra,  i.  pp.  47 — 58.  For  other  instances  see  v.  7 ;  Gal.  iv.  22 ;  Heb. 
vii.  &c.). 

"  X.  8.  "  Twenty.iA.ree  thousand."  Perhaps  a  <T<j)d\jxa  /if-nfioyiKhv  for  24,000 
(Num.  XXV.  9). 


74  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

tliis  scornful  indifference  about  idolatry.  As  tlie  Eucharist  vmited 
them  in  closest  communion  with  Christ,  and  with  one  another,  so  that 
by  all  partaking  of  the  one  bread  they  became  one  body  and  one  bread, 
so  the  partaking  of  Gentile  sacrifices  was  a  communion  with  demons.^ 
The  idol  was  nothing,  as  they  had  urged,  but  it  represented  an  evil 
spirit ;  ^  and  fellowshii>  with  demons  was  a  frightful  admixture  with 
their  fellowship  in  Christ,  a  dangerous  trifling  with  their  allegiance  to 
God.  He  repeats  once  more  that  what  is  lawfu.1  is  not  always  either 
expedient  or  edifying.  Let  sympathy,  not  selfishness,  be  their  guiding 
principle.  Over-scrupulosity  was  not  required  of  them.  They  might 
buy  in  the  market,  they  might  eat,  at  the  private  tables  of  the  heathen, 
what  they  would,  and  ask  no  questions ;  but  if  their  attention  was 
prominently  drawn  to  the  fact  that  any  dish  was  pai-t  of  an  idol-offering, 
then — though  they  might  urge  that  "  the  earth  was  the  Lord's,  and  the 
fulness  thereof,"  and  that  it  was  hard  for  them  to  be  judged,  or  their 
liberty  abridged  in  a  purely  indifferent  act,  which  they  might  even 
perform  in  a  religious  spirit — still  let  them  imitate  Paul's  own  example, 
which  he  had  just  fully  explained  to  them,  which  was,  indeed,  Christ's 
example,  and  consisted  in  being  absolutely  unselfish,  and  giving  no 
wilful  offence  either  to  Jews  or  Gentiles,  or  the  Church  of  God. 

In  this  noble  section  of  the  Epistle,  so  remarkable  for  its  tender 
consideration  and  its  robust  good  sense,  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  whole 
symjDathies  of  St.  Paul  are  theoretically  with  the  strong,  though  he 
seems  to  feel  a  sort  of  practical  leaning  to  the  ascetic  side.     He  does  not, 

^  Of.  2  Cor.  vi.  14  sq.  Evil  spirits  occupied  a  large  part  of  the  thoughts 
and  teacliing  of  Jewish  Rabbis ;  e.g.,  Lilith,  Adam's  first  wife,  was  by  him 
the  mother  of  all  demons  [Psachim,  f.  112,  2).  As  the  Lord's  Supper  puts  the 
Christian  in  mystical  union  with  Christ,  so  partaking  of  idol  feasts  puts  the 
partaker  into  symbolic  allegiance  to  devils.  Pfleiderer  compares  the  Greek 
legend  that  by  eating  a  fruit  of  the  nether  world  a  man  is  given  over  to  it 
[Paulinisrn,  i.  239). 

2  The  heathen  gods  as  idols  were  fUoiXa.,  Elilim,  supposititious,  unreal, 
imaginary;  but  in  another  aspect  they  were  demons.  The  Rabbis,  in  the  same 
way,  regard  idols  from  two  points  of  view — viz.,  as  dead  material  things, 
and  as  demons.  "  Callestthou  an  idol  a  dog  ?  "  said  "  a  philosopher  "  to  Rabban 
Gamaliel.  "  An  idol  is  really  something."  "  What  is  it  ^  "  asked  Gamaliel. 
"  There  was  once  a  conflagration  in  our  town,"  said  the  philosopher,  "  and  the 
temple  of  the  idol  remained  intact  when  every  house  was  burnt  down."  At 
this  remark  the  Rabban  is  silent  [Ahhoda  Zara,  f .  54,  2).  Almost  in  the  very 
words  of  St.  Paul.  Zouau  once  said  to  R.  Akibha,  "  Both  them  and  I  know 
that  an  idol  hath  notliiiig  in  it ; "  but  he  proceeds  to  ask  liow  it  is  that  miracles 
of  healing  are  undoubtedly  wrought  at  idol  shrines  ?  Akibha  makes  the 
heahng  a  mere  accidental  coincidence  with  the  time  when  the  chastisements 
would  naturally  have  been  withdrawn  {Ahhoda  Zara,  f .  55,  1). 


FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIAlfS.  75 

indeed,  approve,  imdei'  any  circumstances,  of  an  ostentatious,  defiant,  in- 
sulting libei*alism.  To  a  certain  extent  the  prejudices — even  the  absurd 
and  bigoted  prejudices — of  tlie  weak  ought  to  be  respected,  and  it  was 
selfish  and  wi'ong  needlessly  to  wound  them.  It  was  above  all  wrong 
to  lead  them  by  example  to  do  violence  to  their  own  conscientious 
scruples.  But  when  these  scruples,  and  this  bigotry  of  the  weak, 
became  in  their  turn  aggressive,  then  St.  Paul  quite  sees  that  they 
must  be  discouraged  and  suppressed,  lest  weakness  should  lay  down 
the  law  for  strength.  To  tolerate  the  weak  was  one  thing;  to  let 
them  tyrannise  was  quite  another.  Their  ignorance  was  not  to 
be  a  limit  to  real  knowledge;  their  purblind  gaze  was  not  to  bar 
up  the  horizon  against  true  insight;  their  slavish  superstition  was 
not  to  fetter  the  freedom  of  Christ.  In  matters  where  a  little  con- 
siderateness  and  self-denial  would  save  oflence,  there  the  strong 
should  give  up,  and  do  less  than  they  might;  but  in  matters  which 
afiected  every  day  of  every  year,  like  the  purchase  of  meat  in  the  open 
market,  or  the  acceptance  of  ordinary  invitations,  then  the  weak  must 
not  attempt  to  be  obtrusive  or  to  domineer.  Some,  doubtless,  would  use 
hard  words  about  these  concessions.  They  might  charge  St.  Paul,  as 
they  had  charged  St.  Peter,  with  violating  the  awful  and  fiery  law. 
They  might  call  him  "the  lawless  one,"  or  any  other  ugly  nick- 
name they  liked ;  he  was  not  a  man  to  be  "  feared  with  bugs,"  or  to 
give  up  a  clear  and  certain  principle  to  avoid  an  impertinent  and  sense- 
less clamour.  Had  he  been  charged  with  controverting  the  wise  and 
generous  but  local  and  temporary  agreement  which  has  been  exalted 
into  "  the  decree  of  the  Council  of  Jerusalem,"  he  would  have  quietly 
answered  that  that  was  but  a  recommendation  addressed  to  a  few 
predominantly  Jewish  Churches;  that  it  did  not  profess  to  have  any 
universal  or  permanent  authority;  and  that  he  was  now  arguing  the  case 
on  its  own  merits,  and  laying  down  principles  applicable  to  every  Church 
in  which,  as  at  Corinth,  the  Gentiles  formed  the  most  numerous  element. 
12.  A  minor  point  next  claimed  his  attention.  Some  men,  it 
appears,  had  sat  with  covered  heads  at  their  assemblies,  and  some 
women  with  uncovered  heads,  and  they  had  asked  his  opinion  on  the 
matter.  Thanking  them  for  their  kind  expressions  of  respect  for  his 
rules  and  wishes,  he  at  once  decides  the  question  on  the  highest  princi- 
ples. As  to  men  it  might  well  have  seemed  perplexing,  since  the  Jewish 
and  the  Roman  custom  was  to  j^ray  with  covered,  and  the  Greek  custom 
to  pray  with  uncovered,  heads.  St.  Paul  decides  for  the  Greek  custom. 
Christ  is  the  head  of  the  man,  and  man  might  therefore  stand  with 
unveiled  head  before  God,  and  if  he  veiled  his  head  he  did  it  needless 
dishonour,  because  he  abnegated  the  high  glory  which  had  been  bestowed 
on  him  by  Christ's  incarnation.   Not  so  with  the  woman.    The  head  of  the 


76  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

woman  is  tlie  man,  and  therefore  in  holy  worship,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Lord  of  her  lord,  she  ought  to  appear  with  veiled  head.^  Nature  itself 
taught  that  this  was  the  right  decision,  giving  to  the  woman  her  veil  of 
hair,  and  teaching  the  instinctive  lesson  that  a  shorn  head  was  a 
disgrace  to  a  woman,  as  long  hair,  the  sign  of  effeminacy,  was  a  disgrace 
to  a  man.  The  unveiled  head  of  the  man  was  also  the  sign  of  his 
primeval  superiority,  and  the  woman  having  been  the  first  to  sin,  and 
being  liable  to  be  seduced  to  sin,  ought  to  wear  "  power  on  her  head 
because  of  the  angels."^  Man  and  woman  were  indeed  one  in  Christ, 
but  for  that  very  reason  these  distinctions  of  apparel  should  be  observed. 
At  any  rate,  St.  Paul  did  not  mean  to  enter  into  any  dispute  on  the 
subject.  If  nature  did  not  teach  them  that  he  had  decided  rightly,  he 
could  only  refer  them  to  the  authority  of  custom,  and  that  ought  to  be 
decisive,  except  to  those  who  loved  contentiousness.' 

13.  Then  follows  a  stern  rebuke — all  the  sterner  for  the  self-restraint 
of  its  twice-repeated  "  I  praise  you  not " — for  the  shameful  selfishness 
and  disorder  which  they  had  allowed  to  creep  into  the  love-feasts  which 
accompanied  the  Supper  of  the  Lord — especially  the  gluttony,  drunken- 
ness, and  ostentation  of  the  wealthier  members  of  the  community,  and 
the  contemptuous  indifference  which  they  displayed  to  the  needs  and 
sensibilities  of  their  poorer  neighbours.  The  simple  narrative  of  the 
institution  and  objects  of  the  Supper  of  the  Lord,  which  he  had  received 
from  the  Lord  and  delivered  unto  them,  and  the  solemn  warning  of  the 
danger  which  attended  its  profanation,  and  which  was  already  exhibited 
in  the  sickness,  feebleness,  and  deaths  of  many  among  them,  is  meant 

'  For  exousian,  see  Stanley,  Corinth,  ad  loc.  The  attempts  to  read  exiousa, 
&c.,  are  absurd.  The  word  may  be  a  mere  colloquialism,  and  if  so  we  may  go 
far  astray  in  trying  to  discover  the  explanatiou  of  it.  If  St.  Paul  invented 
it,  it  may  be  a  Hebraism,  or  be  meant  to  imply  her  own  true  power,  which 
rests  in  accepting  the  sign  of  her  husband's  power  over  her.  Chardin 
says  that  in  Persia  a  veil  is  the  sign  that  married  women  "  are  under  sub- 
jection."    Compare  Milton's — 

"She  as  a  veil  down  to  the  slender  waist 

Her  unadorned  golden  tresses  wore    .     .     . 

As  the  vine  waves  its  tendrils,  which  implied 

Subjection,  but  required  with  gentle  sway, 

And  by  her  yielded,  by  him  best  received." 

See  Tert.  De  Vel.  Virg.  7,  17  ;  and  in  illustration  of  Chrysostom's  view  there 
alluded  to,  see  Tob.  xii.  12 ;  Ps.  cxxxviii.  1  (LXX.) ;  Eph.  iii.  10. 

2  For  the  explanation  of  this  allusion  v.  supra,  i.,  Excursus  IV. 

3  xi.  1 — 17.  The  last  phrase— interesting  as  showing  St.  Paxil's  dislike 
to  needless  and  disturbing  innovations— is  like  the  Rabbinic  phrase,  "  Our 
Halacha  is  otherwise;  "  your  custom  is  a  Thekanah,  or  novelty,  a  icnn  {JBabha 
Metsia,  f.  112). 


FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  77 

to  serve  as  a  remedy  against  tlieir  gi-oss  disorders.  He  tells  them  that 
the  absence  of  a  discrimination  (SiaKpiais)  in  their  own  hearts  had  rendered 
necessary  a  judgment  (fp'V")  which  was  mercifully  meant  as  a  training 
(TraiSevSixeOa)  to  save  them  from  final  condemnation  (^KaraKpi/xay  All  minor 
matters  about  which  they  may  have  asked  him,  though  they  kept  back  the 
confession  of  this  their  shame,  are  left  by  the  Apostle  to  be  regulated 
by  himself  personally  on  his  arrival.^ 

14.  The  next  three  chapters — of  which  the  thirteenth,  containing  the 
description  of  charity,  is  the  most  glorious  gem,  even  in  the  writings  of 
St.  Paul — are  occupied  with  the  answer  to  their  inquiries  about  spiritual 
gifts.  Amid  the  wild  disorders  which  we  have  been  witnessing  we  are 
hardly  surprised  to  find  that  the  Glossolalia  had  been  terribly  abused. 
Some,  we  gather — either  because  they  had  given  the  reins  to  the  most 
uncontrollable  excitement,  and  were  therefore  the  impotent  victims  of 
any  blasphemous  thought  which  happened  for  the  moment  to  sweep 
across  the  troubled  horizon  of  their  souls ;  or  from  some  darkening 
philosophical  confusion,  which  endeavoured  to  distinguish  between  the 
Logos  and  Him  that  was  crucified,  between  the  Man  Jesus  and  the 
Lord  Christ ;  or  perhaps  again  from  some  yet  unsolved  Jewish  difficulty 
about  the  verse  "  Cursed  is  he  that  hangeth  on  a  tree;"^ — amid  their 
unintelligible  xitterances,  had  been  heard  to  exclaim,  Anatliema  lesous, 
"Jesus  is  accursed;"  and,  having  as  yet  very  vague  notions  as  to  the 
true  natui-e  of  the  "  gift  of  tongues,"  the  Corinthians  had  asked  Paul  in 
gi-eat  perplexity  what  they  were  to  think  of  this  1  His  direct  answer 
is  emphatic.  When  they  were  the  ignorant  worshippers  of  dumb  idols 
they  may  have  been  accustomed  to  the  false  inspiration  of  the  Pythia, 
or  the  Sibyl — the  possessing  mastery  by  a  spiritual  influence  which 
expressed  itself  in  the  broken  utterance,  and  streaming  hair,  and 
foaming  lip,  and  which  they  might  take  to  be  the  spirit  of  Python, 
or  Trophonius,  or  Dis.  But  now  he  lays  down  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  that  "  discernment  of  spirits,"  which  should  enable  them  to 
distinguish  the  rapt  utterance  of  divine  emotion  from  the  mechanical 
and  self-induced  frenzy  of  feminine  feebleness  or  hypocritical  super- 
stition.    Whatever  might  be  the  external    phenomena,   the   utterances 

1  These  distinctions,  so  essential  to  the  right  understanding  of  the  passage, 
are  hopelessly  obliterated  in  tbe  E.V.,  which  also  swerves  from  its  usual 
rectitude  by  rendering  ^  "and  "  instead  of  "  or  "  in  ver.  27,  that  it  might  not 
seem  to  sanction  "  communion  in  one  kind."  The  "  unworthily  "  in  ver.  29  is 
perhaps  a  gloss,  though  a  correct  one.  The  KXdjxivov,  "  broken,"  of  ver.  24 
seems  to  have  been  tampered  with  from  dogmatic  reasons.  It  is  omitted  in 
K,  A,  B,  C,  and  D  reads  BpvKT6ixivov,  perhaps  because  of  John  xix,  36. 

8  xi.  17-34. 

3  Deut.  xxi.  23. 


78  THE    LIFE    AlW    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

of  the  Sj^irit  were  one  in  import.  No  man  truly  inspired  by  Him  could 
say,  "Anathema  in  Jesus  ;"^  or  uninspired  by  Him  could  say  from  the 
heart,  "  Jesus  is  the  Lord."  The  charismata,  or  gifts,  were  different ;  the 
"  administrations"  of  them,  or  channels  of  their  working,  were  different; 
the  oj^erations,  energies,  or  effects  of  them  were  different ;  but  the 
source  of  them  was  One — one  Holy  Ghost,  from  whom  they  are  all 
derived  ;  one  Lord,  by  whom  all  true  ministries  of  them  are  authorised ; 
one  God,  who  worketh  all  their  issues  in  all  who  possess  them.^  And 
this  diverse  manifestation  of  one  Spirit,  whether  practical  wisdom  or 
scientific  knowledge  ;  whether  the  heroism  of  faith  with  its  resultant  gifts 
of  healing,  or  energies  of  power,  or  impassioned  utterance,  or  the  ability 
to  distinguish  between  true  and  false  spiritual  manifestations ;  or, 
again,  kinds  of  tongues,  or  the  interpretation  of  tongues,^  wei-e  all 
subordinated  to  one  sole  end — edification.  And,  therefore,  to  indulge  in 
any  conflict  between  gifts,  any  rivalry  in  their  display,  was  to  rend 
asunder  the  unity  which  reigned  supreme  through  this  rich  multiplicity ; 
to  throw  doubt  on  the  unity  of  their  origin,  to  ruin  the  unity  of  their 
action.  The  gifts,  whether  healings,  helps,  governments,  or  tongues,  oc- 
curred sei>arately  in  different  individuals ;  but  each  of  these — whether 
Apostle,  or  prophet,  or  teacher — was  but  a  baptised  member  of  the  one 
body  of  Christ ;  and  by  a  fresh  application  of  the  old  classic  fable  of  Me- 
nenius  Agrippa,  he  once  more  illustrates  the  fatal  results  which  must 
ever  spring  from  any  strife  between  the  body  and  its  members.*  Let 
them  covet  the  better  gifts — and  tongues,  in  which  they  gloried  most,  he 
has  studiously  set  last — and  yet  he  is  now  about  to  point  out  to  them  a 
path  more  transcendent  than  any  gifts.     And  then,  rising  on  the  wings 

^  Perhaps  a  gross  and  fearful  abuse  of  the  principle  involved  in  2  Cor. 
V.  16,  as  though  people  of  spiritual  intuitions  wore  emancipated  from  the  mere 
acknowledgment  of  Jesus.  One  could  easily  expect  this  from  what  wo  know 
of  the  "  everlasting  Gospel "  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  of  similar  move- 
ments in  different  times  of  the  Church  (Maurice,  Unity,  445).  How  startHng 
to  these  illuminati  to  be  told  that  the  highest  operation  of  the  Spirit  was  to 
acknowledge  Jesus ! 

2  James  i.  17. 

3  xii.  8 — 10.  I  have  indicated,  without  dwelling  on,  the  possible  classification 
hinted  at  by  the  erepM  (9,  10),  as  contrasted  with  the  ^  /xiv  and  &K\tfi."  Know- 
ledge {yv2<Tis)  as  distinguished  from  "  wisdom,"  deals  with  "  mysteries ' 
(xiii.  2 ;  XV.  51 ;  viii.  passim). 

*  xii.  1 — 31.  See  a  noble  passage  in  Maurice,  Unity,  469,  sq.,  contrasting 
this  concciition  with  the  artificial  view  of  society  in  Hobbes'  Leviathan.  The 
absolute  unity  of  Jews  and  Gentiles  (ver.  13)  exhibited  in  baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper,— whence  it  resulted  that  the  Jews  would  henceforth  be  but 
"  a  dwindling  majority  in  the  Messianic  kingdom," — was,  with  the  Cross,  the 
chief  stumbling-block  to  the  Jews. 


FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  79 

of  insjiired  utterance,  he  pours  forth,  as  from  the  sunlit  mountain 
heights,  his  glorious  hymn  to  Christian  love.  Without  it  a  man  may 
speak  with  human,  aye,  and  even  angelic  tongues,  and  yet  have  become 
but  as  booming  gong  or  clanging  cymbal.^  Without  it,  whatever  be  his 
unction,  or  insight,  or  knowledge,  or  mountain-moving  faith,  a  man  is 
nothing.  Without  it  he  may  dole  away  all  his  possessions,  and  give 
his  body  to  be  burned,  yet  is  profited  nothing.  Then  follows  that 
description  of  love,  which  should  be  written  in  letters  of  gold  on  every 
Christian's  heart — its  patience,  its  kindliness ;  its  freedom  from  envy, 
vaunting  self-assertion,^  inflated  arrogance,  vulgar  indecorum ;  its 
superiority  to  self-seeking ;  its  calm  control  of  temper ;  its  oblivion  of 
•wrong  ;^  its  absence  of  joy  at  the  wrongs  of  others  ;  its  sympathy  with 
the  truth  ;  its  gracious  tolerance ;  its  trustfulness ;  its  hope ;  its 
endurance.*  Preaching,  and  tongues,  and  knowledge,  are  but  partial, 
and  shall  be  done  away  when  the  perfect  has  come ;  but  love  is  a 
flower  whose  petals  never  fall  ofi".'  Those  are  but  as  the  lispings, 
and  emotions,  and  reasonings  of  a  child  ;  but  this  belongs  to  the  perfect 
manhood,  when  we  shall  see  God,  not  as  in  the  dim  reflection  of  a 
mirror,  bvit  face  to  face,  and  know  him,  not  in  part,  but  fully,  even  as 
now  we  are  fully  known.  Faith,  and  hope,  and  love,  are  all  three,  not 
ti-ansient  gifts,  but  abiding  graces ;  but  the  greatest  of  these — the 
greatest  because  it  is  the  root  of  the  other  two ;  the  greatest  because 
they  are  for  ourselves,  but  love  is  for  others;  the  greatest  because 
neither  in  faith  nor  in  hope  is  the  entire  and  present  fruition  of 
heaven,  but  only  in  the  transcendent  and  illimitable  blessedness  of 
"  faith  working  by  love ;"  the  greatest  because  faith  and  hope  are 
human,  but  love  is  essentially  divine — the  greatest  of  these  is  love.® 

15.  On  such  a  basis,  so  divine,  so  permanent,  it  was  easy  to  build 
the  decision  about  the  inter-relation  of  spiritual  gifts ;  easy  to  see  that 
preaching  was   superior  to  glossolaly ;  because  the  one  was  an  intro- 

1  "Ephyreia  aera"  (Yirg.  Georg.  ii,  264);  Corinthian  brass  (Plin.  K.N. 
34,  2,  3). 

2  Ver.  4,  oh  irfpirepevfrai.  Perperus,  "a  braggart."  "Heavens !  how  I  sJiowed 
ofE  {ivfirfpirepfvcrafiT}!/)  before  my  new  auditor,  Pompeius !"  (Cic.  ad  Att.  i.  14). 

3  xiii.  5,  "  does  not  reckon  the  wrong."  The  opposite  of  "■  all  his  faults 
observed,  set  in  a  note-booh." 

*  Yer.  7,  a-rfjei  means  "  bears,"  "  endures."  Its  classic  meaning  is  "  holds 
water ; "  and  this  is  also  true  of  love  with  its  gracious  reticences  and  sup- 
pressions,  ov5(v  ^dvava-ov  eV  ayJirri  (Clem.  Rovi.). 

*  Ver.  8,  ovliiTOTe  iKirlnrei.  So  wc  may  understand  the  metaphor,  as  in  James 
i.  11,  i^fina-e  (Isa.  xxviii.  4) ;  others  prefer  the  classic  sense,  **  is  never  hissed  ofE 
the  stage;  "  has  its  part  to  play  on  the  stage, of  eternity. 

6  xii.  31— xiii.  13. 


80  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

spective  and  mostly  unintelligible  exercise,  the  other  a  source  of  general 
advantage.  The  speaker  with  tongues,  unless  he  could  also  interpret, 
or  imless  another  could  interpret  for  him  his  inarticulate  ecstacies,  did 
but  utter  indistinct  sounds,  like  the  uncertain  blaring  of  a  trumpet  or 
the  confused  discordances  of  a  harp  or  flute.  Apart  from  interpretation 
"  tongues "  were  a  mere  talking  into  air.  They  were  as  valueless,  as 
completely  witho\it  significance,  as  the  jargon  of  a  barbarian.  Since  they 
were  so  proud  of  these  displays,  let  them  pray  for  ability  to  interpret 
their  rhapsodies.  The  prayer,  the  song  of  the  spirit,  should  be  accom- 
panied by  the  assent  of  the  understanding,  otherwise  the  "  tongue " 
was  useless  to  any  ordinary  worshipper,  nor  could  they  claim  a  share  in 
what  was  said  by  adding  their  Amen  ^  to  the  voice  of  Eucharist.  Paul, 
too — and  he  thanked  God  that  he  was  capable  of  this  deep  spiritual 
emotion — was  more  liable  to  the  impulse  of  glossolaly  than  any  of 
them  •/  yet  so  little  did  he  value  it — we  may  even  say  so  completely 
did  he  disparage  it  as  a  part  of  public  worship — that  after  telling  them 
that  he  had  rather  speak  five  intelligible  words  to  teach  others  than  ten 
thoixsand  words  in  "a  tongue,"^  he  bids  them  not  to  be  little  children 
in  intelligence,  but  to  be  babes  in  vice,  and  quotes  to  them,  in 
accordance  with  that  style  of  adaptation  with  which  his  Jewish  converts 
would  have  been  familiar,  a  passage  of  Isaiah,^  in  which  Jehovah 
threatens  the  drunken  priests  of  Jerusalem  that  since  they  would  not 
listen  to  the  simple  preaching  of  the  prophet,  he  would  teach  them — 
and  that,  too,  ineffectually — by  conquerors  who  spoke  a  tongue  which 
they  did  not  understand.  From  this  he  argues  that  "  tongues  "  are  not 
meant  for  the  Church  at  all,  but  are  a  sign  to  unbelievers ;  and  that,  if 
exercised  in  the  promiscuous  way  which  was  coming  into  vogue  at  Corinth, 
would  only  awaken,  even  in  unbelievers,  the  contemptuous  remark  that 
they  were  a  set  of  insane  fanatics,  whereas  the  effect  of  preaching  might 
be  intense  conviction,  prostrate  worship,  and  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
presence  of  God  among  them.^ 

^  xiv.  16,  ircS  sipf7  rb  'Afx^v.  "  Ho  wlio  says  Amen  is  greater  than  he  who 
blesses  "  {Berachoth,  viii.  8). 

2  Why  does  he  thank  God  for  a  gift  which  he  is  rating  so  low  as  an  element 
of  worship  ?  Because  the  highest  value  of  it  was  subjective.  He  who  was 
capable  of  it  was,  at  any  rate,  not  dead ;  his  heart  was  not  petrified  ;  he  was 
not  past  feeling  ;  he  could  feel  the  dii-ect  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon 
his  spirit. 

3  "  Rather  half  of  ten  of  the  edifying  sort  than  a  tliousaud  times  ten  of 
the  other  "  (Besser). 

*  xiv.  21,  if  Ttf  fS/JLcp.  So  Ps.  IxxxiL  6  is  quoted  as  "the  Law"  in  John 
X.  34.     On  this  passage  v.  swpra,  i.  p.  62. 

*  xiv.  1-26. 


FIRST   EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  81 

16.  Tlie  disorders,  then,  in  the  Corintliian  Church  had  sprang  from 
the  selfish  struggle  of  each  to  show  off  his  own  special  gift,  whether 
tongue,  or  psalm,  or  teaching,  or  revelation.  If  they  would  bear  in 
mind  that  edification  was  the  object  of  worship,  such  scenes  would  not 
occur.  Only  a  few  at  a  time,  therefore,  were  to  speak  with  tongues, 
and  only  in  case  some  one  could  interpret,  otherwise  they  were  to 
suppress  the  impulse.  Nor  were  two  people  ever  to  be  preaching  at 
the  same  time.  If  the  rivalry  of  unmeaning  sounds  among  the  glosso- 
lalists  had  been  fostered  by  some  Syrian  enthusiast,  the  less  intolerable 
but  still  highly  objectionable  disorder  of  rival  preachers  absorbed  in 
the  "  egotism  of  oratory  "  was  an  abuse  introduced  by  the  admirers  of 
Apollos.  In  order  to  remedy  this,  he  lays  down  the  rule  that  if  one 
pi'eacher  was  speaking,  and  another  felt  irresistibly  impelled  to  say 
something,  the  first  was  to  cease.  It  was  idle  to  plead  that  they 
could  not  control  themselves.  The  spirits  which  inspii-e  the  tnie 
prophet  are  under  the  prophet's  due  control,  and  God  is  the  author,  not 
of  confusion  but  of  peace.  Women  were  not  to  speak  in  church  at  .all ; 
and  if  they  wanted  any  explanations  they  must  ask  their  husbands  at 
home.  This  was  the  rule  of  all  Churches,  and  who  wei'e  they  that 
they  should  alter  these  wise  and  good  regulations  1  Were  they  the 
earliest  Church  1  Were  they  the  only  Church  1  A  true  preacher, 
a  man  truly  spiritual,  would  at  once  recognise  that  .these  were  the 
commands  of  the  Lord ;  and  to  invincible  bigotry  and  obstinate  igno- 
rance Paul  has  no  more  to  say.  The  special  conclusion  is  that  preaching 
is  to  be  encouraged,  and  glossolaly  not  forbidden,  pro^dded  that  it  did 
not  interfei-e  with  the  general  rule  that  everything  is  to  be  done  in 
decency  and  ordei\  It  is,  however,  extremely  probable  that  the  almost 
contemptuous  language  of  the  Apostle  towards  "the  tongues" — a  mani- 
festation at  first  both  sacred  and  impressive,  but  liable  to  easy  simula- 
tion and  gi'ave  abuse,  and  no  longer  adapted  to  serve  any  useful 
function — tended  to  suppress  the  display  of  emotion  which  he  thus 
disparaged.  Certain  it  is  that  from  this  time  forward  we  hear  little  or 
nothing  of  "  the  gift  of  tongues."  It — or  something  which  on  a  lower 
level  closely  resembled  it — has  re-appeared  again  and  again  at  different 
places  and  epochs  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church.  It  seems, 
mdeed,  to  be  a  natural  consequence  of  fresh  and  overpowering  religious 
emotion.  But  it  can  be  so  easily  imitated  by  the  symptoms  of  hysteria, 
and  it  leads  to  consequences  so  disorderly  and  deplorable,  that  except  as 
a  rare  and  isolated  phenomenon  it  has  been  generally  discountenanced  by 
that  sense  of  the  necessity  for  decency  and  order  which  the  Apostle 
here  lays  down,  and  which  has  been  thoroughly  recognised  by  the  calm 
wisdom  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  control  and  suppression  of  the 
impassioned  emotion  which  expressed  itself  in  glossolaly  is  practically 


82  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

its  extinction,  tliougli  this  in  no  way  involves  the  necessary  extinction 
of  the  inspiring  convictions  from  which  it  sprang.^ 

17.  Then  follows  the  immortal  chapter  in  which  he  confirms  their 
faith  in  the  resurrection,  and  removes  their  difiiculties  respecting  it. 
If  they  would  not  nullify  their  acceptance  of  the  Gospel  in  which  they 
stood,  and  by  which  they  were  saved,  they  must  hold  fast  the  truths 
which  he  again  declares  to  them,  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins,  was 
buried,  and  had  been  raised  the  third  day.  He  enumerates  His 
appearances  to  Kephas,  to  the  Twelve,  to  more  than  five  hundred  at 
once  of  whom  the  majoi-ity  were  yet  living,  to  James,  to  all  the 
Apostles  ;  last,  as  though  to  the  abortive-bom,  even  to  himself.^  "  For 
I  am  the  least  of  the  Apostles,  who  am  not  adequate  to  be  called  an 
Apostle,  because  I  persecuted  the  Church  of  God.  Yet  by  the  grace  of 
God  I  am  what  I  am,  and  His  grace  towards  me  has  not  proved  in 
vain,  but  more  abundantly  than  all  of  them  I  laboured — yet  not  I,  but 
the  grace  of  God  which  was  with  me ;  whether,  then,  it  be  I  or  they, 
so  we  preach,  and  so  ye  believed."  3 

If,  then,  Christ  had  risen,  whence  came  the  monstrous  doctrine  of 
some  of  them  that  there  was  no  resurrection  of  the  dead  ]  The  two 
truths  stood  or  fell  together.  If  Christ  had  not  risen,  their  faith  was 
after  all  a  chimera,  their  sins  were  unforgiven,  their  dead  had  perished ; 
and  if  their  hope  in  Christ  only  was  a  hope  undestined  to  fruition,  they 
were  the  most  pitiable  of  men.  But  since  Christ  had  risen,  we  also 
shall  rise,  and  as  all  men  share  the  death  brought  in  by  Adam,  so 
all  shall  be  quickened  unto  life  in  Christ.*  But  each  in  his  own  rank. 
The  firstfruits  Christ ;  then  His  redeemed  at  His  appearing,  when  even 
death,  the  last  enemy,  shall  be  reduced  to  impotence  ;  then  the  end, 
when  Christ  shall  give  up  His  mediatorial  kingdom,  and  God  shall  be 
all  in  all.     And  if  there  were  no  resurrection,  what  became  of  their 


>■  xiv.  26—40. 

2  XV.  8,  T^  iKTpd/xart  (of.  Num.  xii.  12,  LXX. ;  see  also  Ps.  Iviii.  8). 

3  XV.  1—12  (of.  Epict.  Diss.  iii.  1,  36). 

*  "  Even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  Here  is  one  of  the  anti- 
nomies which  St.  Paul  leaves  side  by  side.  On  tlie  one  hand,  "  life  in  Clu-ist" 
is  co-extensive  with  "  death  in  Adam ;  "  on  the  other,  only  tliose  who  are  "  in 
Christ  "  shall  be  made  alive.  Life  here  can  liardly  mean  less  than  salvaf ion. 
But  it  is  asserted  of  all  universally,  and  Adam  and  Clu-ist  are  contrasted  as 
death  and  life.  Certainly  in  this  and  other  places  the  Apostle's  language  sug- 
gests the  natural  conclusion  that  "  the  principle  which  has  come  to  actuality  in 
Christ  is  of  sufficient  energy  to  quicken  all  men  for  the  resurrection  to  the 
blessed  life  "  (Baur,  Paul.  ii.  219).  Bixt  if  wo  desire  to  arrive  at  a  rigid 
eschatological  doctrine  we  must  compare  one  passage  with  another.  See 
Excursus  II.,  "  Antinomies  in  St.  Paul's  Writings." 


FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  83 

practice  of  getting  themselves  baptised  for  the  dead  1^  And  why  did 
the  Apostles  brave  the  hourly  peril  of  death  1  By  his  boast  of  them  in 
Christ  he  asseverates  that  his  life  is  a  daily  dying.  And  if,  humanly 
speaking,  he  fought  beasts  at  Ephesus,^  what  would  be  the  gain  to  him 
if  the  dead  rise  not  1  The  Epicureans  would  then  have  some  excuse  for 
their  base  sad  maxim,  "Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die."  Was 
it  intercourse  with  the  heathen  that  produced  their  dangerous  unbelief  1 
Oh,  let  them  not  be  deceived  !  let  them  beware  of  this  dangerous 
leaven  !  "  Base  associations  destroy  excellent  characters."  Let  them 
awake  at  once  to  righteousness  out  of  their  drunken  dream  of  disbelief, 
and  break  off  the  sinful  habits  which  it  engendered  !  Its  very  existence 
among  them  was  an  ignorance  of  God,  for  which  they  ought  to  blush.'* 

And  as  for  material  difficulties,  Paul  does  not  merely  fling  them 
aside  with  a  "  Senseless  one  !"  but  says  that  the  body  dies  as  the  seed 
dies,  and  our  resurrection  bodies  shall  differ  as  the  grain  differs  with 
the  nature  of  the  sown  seed,  or  as  one  star  differs  from  another 
in  glory.  The  coiTuption,  the  indignity,  the  strengthlessness  of 
the  mortal  body,  into  which  at  birth  the  soul  is  sown,  shall  be 
replaced  by  the  incorruption,  glory,  power  of  the  risen  body.  The 
spiritual  shall  follow  the  natural;  the  heavenly  image  of  Christ's 
quickening  spirit  replace  the  earthly  image  of  Adam,  the  mere  living 
soul.*  Thus  in  a  few  simple  words  does  St.  Paul  sweep  away  the  errors 
of  Christians  about  the  physical  identity  of  the  resurrection-body  with 
the  actual  corpse,  which  have  given  rise  to  so  many  scornful  materialist 
objections.     St.  Paul  does  not  say  with  Prudentins — 

"  Me  nee  dente,  nee  ungue 
Fraudatum  redimet  patefacti  fossa  sepulcri  ;" 

but  that   "  flesh  and   blood "  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God ; 

^  Pei'haps  this  is  only  a  passing  argumentum  ad  hominem ;  if  so  it  shows 
St.  Paul's  large  tolerance  that  he  does  not  here  pause  to  rebuke  so  superstitious 
a  practice.  It  needs  no  proof  that  "  baptism  for  the  dead  "  means  "  baptism 
for  the  dead,"  and  not  the  meanings  which  commentators  put  into  it,  who  go 
to  Scripture  to  support  tradition,  not  to  seek  for  truth. 

^  Of  course  metaphorically,  or  he  would  have  mentioned  it  in  2  Cor.  xi.  His 
three  points  in  29—34  are — if  there  be  no  resurrection  (1)  why  do  some  of 
you  get  yourselves  baptised  to  benefit  your  relatives  who  have  died  uubaptised  ? 
(2)  Why  do  we  live  in  such  self-sacrifice  ?  (3)  What  possibility  would  there  be 
of  resisting  Epicurean  views  of  hfe  among  men  in  general  ? 

3  XV.  12—35. 

*  XV.  35 — 50.  In  this  chapter  there  is  the  nearest  approach  to  natural 
(as  apart  from  architectural  and  agonistic)  metaphors.  Dean  Howson  {Charact. 
of  St.  P.  6)  points  out  that  there  is  more  imagery  from  natural  phenomena 
in  the  s'no^le  Epistle  of  St.  James  than  in  aU  St.  Paul's  Epistles  put  together. 

y  2 


84  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

that  at  Christ's  coming  the  body  of  the  living  Christian  will  pass  by 
transition,  that  of  the  dead  Christian  by  i-esurrection,  into  a  heavenly, 
spiritual,  and  glorious  body.^ 

The  body,  then,  was  not  the  same,  but  a  spiritual  body ;  so  that  all 
coarse  material  difficulties  were  idle  and  beside  the  point.  In  one 
moment,  whether  quick  or  dead,  at  the  sounding  of  the  last  trumpet, 
we  should  be  changed  from  the  corruptible  to  incorruption,  from  the 
mortal  to  immortality.  "Then  shall  be  fiilfilled  the  promise  that  is 
written,  Death  is  swallowed  up  into  victory.  Where,  O  death,  is  thy 
sting  1,  where,  O  death,  thy  victory  %  ^  The  sting  of  death  is  sin,  the 
power  of  sin  is  the  law.  But  thanks  be  to  God,  who  is  giving  us 
the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Therefore,  my  brethren 
beloved,  prove  yourselves  steadfast,  immovable,  abounding  in  the  work 
of  the  Lord  always,  knowing  that  your  toil  is  not  fruitless  in  the  Lord."' 

1  Yer.  52.  '*  The  dead  shall  be  raised,  we  (the  living)  shall  be  changed." 
Into  the  question  of  the  intermediatfe  state  St.  Paul,  expecting  a  near  coming 
of  Christ,  scarcely  enters.  Death  was  Koi/xaa-eai,  resurrection  was  ffvvdo^a<r67jvat. 
Did  he  hold  that  there  was  an  intermediate  provisional  building  of  God's 
which  awaited  us  in  heaven  after  the  stripping  off  of  our  earthly  tent  ?  The 
nearest  allusion  to  the  question  may  be  found  in  2  Cor.  v.  1 — 4  (Pfleiderer, 
i.  261). 

2  edvare   (not  SSrj),  M,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G. 

3  XV.  50 — 58.  "  It  is  very  evident  that  the  Apostle  here  regards  the  whole 
history  of  the  world  and  men  as  the  scene  of  the  conflict  of  two  principles,  one 
of  which  has  sway  at  first,  but  is  then  attacked  and  conquered,  and  finally 
destroyed  by  the  other.  The  first  of  these  principles  is  death ;  the  history  of 
the  world  begins  with  this,  and  comes  to  a  close  when  death,  and  with  death  the 
dualism  of  which  history  is  the  development,  has  entirely  disappeared  from  it " 
(Baur,  Paul.  ii.  225).  In  this  chapter  the  only  resurrection  definitely  spoken 
of  is  a  resurrection  "in  Christ."  On  the  final  destiny  of  those  who  are 
now  perishing  (aTroWu^ewi)  St.  Paul  never  touches  with  any  defiuiteuess. 
But  he  speaks  of  the  final  conquest  of  death,  the  last  enemy — where  "  death  " 
seems  to  be  used  in  its  deeper  spiritual  and  scriptural  sense;  he  says 
(Rom.  viii.  19 — 23)  that  "  the  whole  creation  (ttSo-o  r)  ktIo-is)  shall  be  delivered 
from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of 
God ; "  he  contrasts  the  universality  of  man's  disobedience  with  the  univer- 
sahty  of  God's  mercy;  he  says  where  sin  abounded  there  grace  did  much  more 
abound  (Rom.  v.  20) ;  he  speaks  of  God's  will  to  bestow  universal  favour  com- 
mensurate with  universal  sin  (Rom.  xi.  32);  he  dwells  on  the  solutiuu  of 
dualism  in  unity  and  the  tending  of  all  things  into  God  {els  ahrhv  to  irivra, 
Rom.  xi.  30—36) ;  his  whole  splendid  philosophy  of  history  consists  in  show- 
ing (Rom.  Gal.  passim)  that  each  lower  and  sadder  stage  and  moment  of  man's 
condition  is  a  necessary  means  of  achieving  the  higher ;  and  he  says  tliat  God, 
at  last,  "  shall  be  all  in  all."  "Whatever  antinomies  may  be  left  unsolved,  let 
Christians  duly  weigh  these  truths. 


FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIAi^S.  85 

So  ends  tliis  glorious  chapter — the  hope  of  millions  of  the  living,  the 
consolation  for  the  loss  of  millions  of  the  dead.  And  if,  as  we  have  seen, 
Paul  was  the  most  tried,  in  this  life  the  most  to  be  pitied  of  men,  yet 
what  a  glorious  privilege  to  him  in  his  trouble,  what  a  glorious  reward 
to  him  for  all  his  labours  and  sufferings,  that  he  should  have  been  so 
gifted  and  enlightened  by  the  Holy  Spirit  as  to  be  enabled  thus,  inci- 
dentally as  it  were,  to  pour  forth  words  which  rise  to  a  region  far  above 
all  difficulties  and  objections,  and  which  teach  us  to  recognise  in  death,  not 
the  curse,  but  the  coronation,  not  the  defeat,  but  the  victory,  not  the 
venomous  serpent,  but  the  veiled  angel,  not  the  worst  enemy,  but  the 
greatest  birthright  of  mankind.  Not  by  denunciation  of  imorthodoxy, 
not  by  impatient  crushing  of  discussion,  not  by  the  stunning  blows 
of  indignant  authority,  does  he  meet  an  unbelief  even  so  strange,  and  so 
closely  affecting  the  very  fundamental  truths  of  Christianity,  as  a  denial 
of  the  resurrection ;  but  by  personal  appeals,  by  helpful  analogies,  by 
calm  and  lofty  reasoning,  by  fervent  exhortations,  by  the  glowing 
eloquence  of  insjiired  convictions.  Anathema  would  have  been  worse 
than  useless  ;  at  excommunication  he  does  not  so  much  as  hint ;  but  the 
refutation  of  perilous  error  by  the  presentation  of  ennobling  truth  has 
won,  in  the  confirmation  of  the  faith,  in  the  brightening  of  the  hope  of 
centuries,  its  high  and  permanent  reward. 

Let  us  also  observe  that  St.  Paul's  inspired  conviction  of  the  Resur- 
rection rests,  like  all  his  theology,  on  the  thought  that  the  life  of  the 
Christian  is  a  life  "  in  Christ."  On  Plato's  fancies  about  our  reminiscence 
of  a  previous  state  of  being  he  does  not  touch ;  but  for  the  unfulfilled 
ideas  on  which  Plato  builds  he  offers  the  fulfilled  ideal  of  Christ.  He 
founds  no  arguments,  as  Kant  does,  on  the  failure  of  mankind  to  obey 
the  "categorical  imperative"  of  duty;  but  he  points  to  the  Sinless  Man. 
He  does  not  follow  the  ancients  in  dwelling  on  false  analogies  like  the 
butterfly ;  nor  is  he  misled  like  his  very  ablest  contemporaries  and  suc- 
cessors by  the  then  prevalent  fable  of  the  Phoenix.  He  does  not  argue  from 
the  law  of  continuity,  or  the  indestructibility  of  atoms,  or  the  permanence 
of  force,  or  the  general  belief  of  mankind.  But  his  main  thought,  his 
main  argument  is — Ye  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  risen  ;  if  ye  died  with 
him  to  sin,  ye  shall  also  live  with  him  to  righteousness  here,  and  there- 
fore to  glory  hereafter.  The  life  ye  now  live  is  lived  in  the  faith  of  the 
Son  of  God,  and  being  eternal  in  its  very  nature,  contains  in  itself  the 
pledge  of  its  own  inextinguishable  vitality.  He  teaches  us  alike  in  the 
phenomena  of  human  sin  and  of  human  sanctity  to  see  the  truth  of  the 
Resurrection.  For  the  forgiveness  of  sin  Christ  died ,  for  the  reward 
and  the  hope  and  the  support  of  holiness  he  lives  at  the  right  hand 
of  God.  He  does  not  so  much  argue  in  favour  of  the  Resurrection  as 
represent  it,  and  make  us  feel  its  force.      The  Christian's  resurrection 


86  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

from  the  death  of  sin  to  the  life  of  righteou.sness  transcends  and  involves 
the  lesser  miracle  of  his  resurrection  from  the  sleep  of  death  to  the  life 
of  heaven. 

18.  The  Ejiistle  closes  with  practical  du-ections  and  salutations.  He 
establishes  a  weekly  offertory,  as  he  had  done  in  Galatia,  for  the  saints  at 
Jerusalem.  He  tells  them  that  he  will  either — should  it  be  worth  while — 
take  it  himself  to  Jerusalem,  or  entrust  it  with  commendatory  letters 
from  them,  to  any  delegates  whom  they  might  approve.  He  announces 
without  comment  his  altered  intention  of  not  taking  them  en  route  as 
he  went  to  Macedonia,  as  well  as  on  his  return,  and  so  giving  them  a 
double  visit,  but  tells  them  that  he  should  come  to  them  by  way  of 
Macedonia,  and  probably  spend  the  winter  with  them,  that  they  might 
help  him  on  his  further  journey ;  and  that  he  means  to  remain  in 
Ephesus  till  Pentecost,  because  a  great  door  is  open  to  him,  and  there 
are  many  adversaries. 

Timothy  will  perhaps  come  to  them.  If  so  they  are  not  to  despise 
his  youth,  or  alarm  his  timidity  by  opposition,  but  to  aid  his  holy  work, 
and  to  help  him  peacefully  on  his  way  to  the  Apostle  with  those  who 
accompanied  him.  They  had  asked  that  Apollos  might  visit  them. 
St.  Paul  had  done  his  best  to  second  their  wishes,  but  Ajjollos — though 
holding  out  hopes  of  a  future  visit — declined  to  come  at  present,  actuated 
in  all  probability  by  a  generous  feeling  that,  under  present  circum- 
stances, his  visit  would  do  more  harm  than  good.^ 

Then  a  brief  vivid  exhortation.  "  Watch  !  stand  in  the  faith  !  be 
men  !  be  strong  !  let  all  your  affairs  be  in  love." 

Then  a  few  woi'ds  of  kindly  eulogy  of  Stephanas,  Fortunatus,  and 
Achaicus — of  whom  Stephanas  had  been  the  earliest  Achaian  convert — 
who  devoted  themselves  to  ministry  to  the  saints,  and  by  theii-  visit 
had  consoled  Mm  for  his  absence  from  them,  and  them  by  eliciting  this 
Epistle.  He  urges  them  to  pay  due  regard  and  deference  to  all  such 
true  labourers.  It  is  not  impossible  that  these  few  words  may  have 
been  added  by  an  afterthought,  lest  the  Corinthians  should  suppose 
that  it  was  from  these — especially  if  they  were  of  Chloe's  household — 
that  St.  Paul  had  heard  such  distressing  accounts  of  the  Church,  and  so 
should  be  inclined  to  receive  them  badly  on  their  return.  Then  the 
final  autograph  salutation  : — 

"The  salutation  of  me,  Paul,  with  my  own  hand;"  but  before  he 
can  pen  the  final  benediction,  there  is  one  more  outburst  of  strong  and 
indignant  feeling.      "  If   any  one    loveth    not   the   Lord,    let   him   be 


1  xvi.  12,  ei\7)na  does  not  mean  "  Apollos'  will,"  but  (probably)  "  God's 
will." 


FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  87 

Anatliema  ;^  Maranatha,  the  Lord  is  near.  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  be  with  you."  That  would  have  been  the  natural  ending,  but 
he  had  had  so  much  to  reprobate,  so  many  severe  things  to  say,  that  to 
show  how  unabated,  in  spite  of  all,  was  his  affection  for  them,  he  makes 
the  unusual  addition,  "  My  love  be  with  you  all  in  Christ  Jesus.  Amen."^ 
So  ends  the  longest  and,  in  some  respects,  the  grandest  and  most 
characteristic  of  his  Epistles.  He  had  suppressed  indeed  all  signs  of 
the  deep  emotion  with  which  it  had  been  written ;  but  when  it  was 
despatched  he  dreaded  the  results  it  might  produce — dreaded  whether 
he  should  have  said  too  much ;  dreaded  the  possible  alienation,  by  any 
over-severity,  of  those  whom  he  had  only  desired  to  win.  His  own 
soul  was  all  quivering  with  its  half-stifled  thunder,  and  he  was  afraid 
lest  the  flash  which  he  had  sent  forth  should  scathe  too  deeply  the  souls 
at  which  it  had  been  hurled.  He  would  even  have  given  much  to 
recall  it,^  and  awaited  with  trembling  anxiety  the  earliest  tidings  of  the 
manner  in  which  it  would  be  received.  But  God  overruled  all  for 
good ;  and,  indeed,  the  very  writings  w^hich  spring  most  naturally  and 
spontaneously  from  a  noble  and  sincere  emotion,  are  often  those  that 
produce  the  deepest  impression  upon  the  world,  and  are  less  likely  to 
be  resented — at  any  rate,  are  more  likely  to  be  useful — than  the 
tutored  and  polished  utterances  which  are  carefully  tamed  down  into 
the  limits  of  correct  conventionality.  Not  only  the  Church  of  Corinth, 
but  the  whole  world,  has  gained  from  the  intensity  of  the  Apostle's 
feelings,  and  the  impetuous  spontaneity  of  the  language  in  which  they 
were  expressed. 

1  I  cannot  pretend  to  understand  what  St.  Paul  exactly  meant  by  this. 
Commentators  call  it  an  "  imprecation ; "  but  such  an  "  imprecation  "  does  not 
seem  to  me  like  St.  Paul.  Anathema  is  the  Hebrew  cherem  of  Lev. 
xxvii.  29 ;  Num.  xxi.  2,  3  (Hormah) ;  Josh.  vi.  17.  But  the  later  Jews  used 
it  for  "excommunication,"  whether  of  the  temporary  sort  [niclui)  or  the 
severe.  The  severest  form  was  called  Shematha.  The  Fathers  mostly  take  it 
to  mean  "  excommunication  "  here,  and  in  Gal.  i.  8,  9,  and  some  see  in  Maranm 
atha  an  allusion  to  Shevi  atlia  (the  name  cometh).  But  probably  these  are 
after-thoughts.  It  is  a  sudden  expression  of  deep  feeling;  and  that  it  is 
less  terrible  than  it  sounds  we  may  hope  from  1  Cor.  v.  5 ;  1  Tim.  i.  20..  where 
the  object  is  amendment,  not  wrath.  For  "anathematise"  see  Matt.  xxvi.  74; 
Acts  xxiii.  12. 

2  The  subscription  is,  as  usual,  spurious.  It  arose  from  a  mistaken  infer- 
ence from  xvi.  5.  The  letter  itself  shows  that  it  was  written  in  Ephesus 
(xvi.  8),  and  though  Stephanas,  Fortunatus,  and  Achaiacus  may  have  been 
its  bearers,  Timotheus  could  not  have  been. 

3  2  Cor.  vii.  8. 


CHAPTER    XXXm. 

SECOND   EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

"  There  are  three  crowns  :  the  crown  of  the  Law,  the  crown  of  the  Priest, 
hood,  and  the  crown  of  Royalty  :  but  the  crown  of  a  good  name  mounts  above 
them  all." — PirTce  Abhoth,  iv.  19. 

When  St.  Paul  left  Ephesus  he  went  straight  to  Troas, 
with  the  same  high  motive  by  which  he  was  always 
actuated — that  of  preaching  the  Gospel  of  Christ.^  He 
had  visited  the  town  before,  but  his  stay  there  had  been 
shortened  by  the  imploring  vision  of  the  man  of  Macedon, 
which  had  decided  his  great  intention  to  carry  the  Gospel 
into  Europe.  But  though  his  preaching  was  now  success- 
ful, and  "  a  door  was  opened  for  him  in  the  Lord,"  ^  Jie 
could  not  stay  there  from  extreme  anxiety.  "  He  had  no 
rest  for  his  spirit,  because  he  found  not  Titus  his  broth'U." 
Titus  had  been  told  to  rejoin  him  at  Troas ;  but  perl  taps 
the  precipitation  of  St.  Paul's  departure  from  Ephesus  had 
brought  him  to  that  town  earlier  than  Titus  had  expected, 
and,  in  the  uncertain  navigation  of  those  days,  delays  may 
easily  have  occm-red.  At  any  rate,  he  did  not  come,  and  Paul 
grew  more  and  more  uneasy,  until  in  that  intolerable  oppres- 
sion of  spirit  he  felt  that  he  could  no  longer  continue  his 
work,  and  left  Troas  for  Macedonia.  There,  at  last,  he  met 
Titus,  who  relieved  his  painful  tension  of  mind  by  intel- 
ligence from  Corinth,  which,  although  chequered,  was  yet 
on  the  main  point  favourable.     From  Titus  he  learnt  that 

1  2  Cor.  ii.  12,  13. 

^  The  use  of  this  expression  by  St.  Luke  is  one  of  the  many  interesting 
traces  of  his  personal  intercourse  with  St.  Paul.     (See  1  Cor.  xvi.  9.) 


PAUL    MEETS  TITUS.  89 

Ms  change  of  plan  about  the  visit  had  given  ground  for 
unfavourable  criticism,^  and  that  many  injurious  remarks 
on  his  character  and  mode  of  action  had  been  industriously 
disseminated,  especially  by  one  Jewish  teacher.^  Still,  the 
effect  of  the  first  Epistle  had  been  satisfactory.  It  had 
caused  grief,  but  the  grief  had  been  salutary,  and  had 
issued  in  an  outburst  of  yearning  affection,  lamentation, 
and  zeal.^  Titus  himself  had  been  received  cordially,  yet 
with  fear  and  trembling.'^  The  offender  denounced  in  his 
letter  had  been  promptly  and  even  severely  dealt  with,^  and 
all  that  St.  Paul  had  said  to  Titus  in  praise  of  the  Church 
had  been  justified  by  what  he  saw.^  Accordingly,  he 
again  sent  Titus  to  them,'^  to  finish  the  good  work  which' 
he  had  begun,  and  with  him  he  sent  the  tried  and  faithful 
brother  "  whose  praise  is  in  the  Grospel  through  all  the 
Churches ;"  ^  and  this  time  Titus  was  not  only  ready  but 
even  anxious  to  go.^ 

In  what  town  of  Macedonia  St.  Paul  had  met  with 
Titus,  and  also  with  Timothy,  we  do  not  know.  Great 
uncertainty  hangs  over  the  details  of  their  movements,  and 
indeed  all  the  events  of  this  part  of  the  journey  are  left  in 
obscurity :  we  can  only  conjecture  that  during  it  St.  Paul 
had  even  travelled  as  far  as  Illyricum.^°  At  some  point  in  the 
journey,  but  probably  not  at  Philippi,  as  the  subscription 
to  the  Epistle  says — because,  as  is  evident  from  the  Epistle 
itself,  he  had  visited  most  of  the  Churches  of  Macedonia,^^ — 

1  2  Cor.  i.  17.  6  ii.  5—10. 

2  iii.  1 ;  V.  11 ;  vii.  2,  3 ;  X.  10 ;  xi.  18—20.  6  vii.  14. 
8  vii.  6 — 11.  "  viii.  6. 

*  vii.  13, 15.  8  viii.  18,  23. 

'  viii.  17.  That  there  was  a  slight  unwillingness  the  first  time  seems  to  be 
shown  by  the  way  in  which  St.  Paul  felt  himself  obliged  to  encourage  him  in 
his  mission. 

^0  Rom.  XV.  19. 

2  Cor.  viii.  1 ;  ix.  2.  Philippi,  on  the  other  hand,  would  be  the  first  city 
which  he  would  reach. 


90  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

lie  wrote  liis  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corintliians.  From  it 
we  learn  that,  whatever  may  have  been  in  this  region  the 
special  nature  of  his  affliction — whether  grievous  sickness, 
or  external  persecutions,  or  inward  anxieties,  or  apparently 
all  of  these  combined — his  stay  in  Macedonia  had  suffered 
from  the  same  overwhelming  distress  which  had  marked 
the  close  of  his  residence  in  Ephesus,  and  which  had 
driven  him  out  of  Troas.^  The  Churches  were  them- 
selves in  a  state  of  affliction,  which  Paul  had  naturally  to 
share,^  and  he  describes  his  condition  as  one  of  mental  and 
physical  prostration :  "  Our  flesh  had  no  rest,  but  we  are 
troubled  on  every  side  ;  from  without  fightings,  from 
within  fears." ^  And  this  helps  to  explain  to  us  the  actual 
phenomena  of  the  letter  written  amid  such  circumstances. 
If  Hope  is  the  key-note  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians,  Joy  of  that  to  the  Philippians,  Faith  of  that  to  the 
Eomans,  and  Heavenly  Things  of  that  to  the  Ephesians, 
Affliction  is  the  one  predominant  word  in  the  Second 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.*  The  Epistles  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians  contain  his  views  on  the  Second  Advent ;  the 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians  is  his  trumpet-note  of  indignant 
defiance  to  retrograding  Judaisers ;  the  Epistle  to  the 
Eomans  is  the  systematic  and,  so  to  speak,  scientific 
statement  of  his  views  on  what  may  be  called,  in  modern 
language,  the  scheme  of  salvation;  the  Epistle  to  the 
Philippians  is  his  outpouring  of  tender  and  gladdened 
affection  to  his  most  beloved  converts ;  the  First  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians  shows  us  how  he  applied  the  principles 
of  Christianity  to  daily  life  in  dealing  with  the  flagrant 
aberrations  of  a  most  unsatisfactory  Church ;  his  Second 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  opens  a  window  into  the  very 
emotions  of  his  heart,  and  is  the  agitated  self-defence  of  a 

1  viii.  2.  2  iv.  8—12.  3  ^i  5_ 

*  eAi'<|/<s,  e\lBofxai  (2  Cor.  i.  4,  6,  8 ;  ii.  4 ;  iv.  8;  viii.  13). 


SELF-DEFENCE.  91 

wounded  and  loving  spirit  to  ungrateful  and  erring,  yet 
not  wholly  lost  or  wholly  incorrigible  souls." ^ 

And  this  self-defence  was  not  unnecessary.  In  this 
Epistle  we  find  St.  Paul  for  the  first  time  openly  confront- 
ing the  Judaising  reaction  which  assumed  such  formidable 
dimensions,  and  threatened  to  obliterate  every  distinctive 
feature  of  the  Gospel  which  he  preached.  It  is  clear 
that  in  some  of  the  Churches  which  he  had  founded  there 
sprang  up  a  Judaic  party,  whose  hands  were  strengthened 
by  commendatory  letters  from  Jerusalem,  and  who  not  only 
combated  his  opinions,  but  also  grossly  abused  his  character 
and  motives.  By  dim  allusions  and  oblique  intimations 
we  trace  their  insidious  action,  and  in  this  Epistle  we  find 
ourselves  face  to  face  with  them  and  their  unscrupulous 
opposition.  It  differs  greatly  from  the  one  that  preceded 
it.  St.  Paul  is  no  longer  combating  the  folly  of  fancied 
wisdom,  or  the  abuse  of  true  liberty.  He  is  no  longer  oc- 
cupied with  the  rectification  of  practical  disorders  and 
theoretical  heresies.  He  is  contrasting  his  own  claims 
with  those  of  his  opponents,  and  maintaining  an  authority 
wdiich  had  been  most  rudely  and  openly  impugned. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  the  attack  had  been  suggested 
by  St.  Paul's  sentence  on  the  incestuous  offender.^     His 

^  "  The  Apostle  pours  out  his  heart  to  them,  and  beseeches  them,  in  return, 
not  for  a  cold,  dry,  critical  appreciation  of  his  eloquence,  or  a  comparison  of 
his  with  other  doctrines,  but  the  sympathy  of  churchmen,  if  not  the  affection 
of  children."  Parts  of  the  Epistle,  taken  alone,  might  seem  to  be  "  almost 
painfully  personal,"  and  we  "  might  have  thought  that  the  man  had  got  the 
better  of  the  ambassador.  But  when  we  learn  how  essentially  the  man  and 
the  ambassador  are  inseparable,  then  the  'folly,'  the  boasting,  the  sliame,  are 
not  mere  revelations  of  character,  but  revelations  of  the  close  bonds  by  which 
one  man  is  related  to  another"  (Maurice,  Unity,  488). 

2  The  theory  tliat  the  offender  of  the  second  Epistle  is  an  entirely  different 
person,  alluded  to  in  some  lost  intermediate  letter,  seems  to  me  untenable,  in 
spite  of  the  consensus  of  eminent  critics  (De  Wette,  Bleek,  Credner,  Olshausen, 
Ncander,  Ewald,  &c.),  who,  in  some  form  or  other,  adopt  such  a  hypothesis. 
I  see  nothing  inconsistent  with  the  older  view  either  in  the  tone  of  1  Cor.,  or 


92  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

case  seems  to  have  originated  a  quarrel  among  the 
Corinthian  Christians,  of  whom  some  sided  with  him  and 
some  with  his  father.  It  is  clear  upon  the  face  of  things 
that  we  do  not  know  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
since  it  is  all  but  inconceivable  that,  had  there  been  no 
extenuating  fact,  he  should  have  found  defenders  for  a 
crime  which  excited  the  horror  of  the  very  heathen. 
Even  those  who  placed  sensuality  on  the  same  level  as 
eating  meats  offered  to  idols,  and  therefore  regarded  it  as  a 
matter  of  indifference — whose  view  St.  Paul  so  nobly 
refutes  in  his  first  Epistle — could  not  have  sided  with  this 
person  if  there  were  no  palliating  element  in  his  offence. 
And,  indeed,  if  this  had  not  been  the  case,  he  would 
scarcely  have  ventured  to  continue  in  Church  membership, 
and  to  be,  with  his  injured  father,  a  frequenter  of  their  love- 
feasts  and  partaker  in  their  sacraments.  It  may  be  quite 
true,  and  indeed  the  allusions  to  him  in  the  Second  Epistle 
show,  that  he  was  weak  rather  than  wicked.  But  even 
this  would  have  been  no  protection  to  him  in  a  wrong  on 
which  Gallio  himself  would  have  passed  a  sentence  of 
death  or  banishment,  and  which  the  Mosaic  law  had 
punished  with  excision  from  the  congregation.^.  There 
must  therefore  have  been  something  which  could  be  urged 
against  the  heinousness  of  his  transgression,  and  St.  Paul 
has  distinctly  to  tell  the  Corinthians  that  there  was  no 
personal  feeling  mixed  up  with  his  decision.^  His  words 
had  evidently  implied  that  the  Church  was  to  be  assembled, 
and  there,  with  his  spirit  present  with  them,  to  hand  him 
over  to  Satan,  so  that  judgment  might  come  on  his  body 


the  effect  it  produced,  or  in  St.  Paul's  excitement,  or  in  the  movements  of 
Titus,  or  in  the  language  about  the  offence.  But  I  have  not  space  to  enter 
more  fully  into  the  controversy. 

^  Lev.  xvii.  8  ;  xx.  11 ;  Deut.  xxvii.  20. 

2  2  Cor.  vii.  11,  12. 


CHURCH    OF    CORINTH.  93 

for  the  salvation  of  his  soul.  That  is  what  he  practically 
tells  the  Church  to  do.  Did  they  do  it  ?  It  seems  to  be 
at  least  doubtful.  That  they  withdrew  from  his  com- 
munion is  certain ;  and  the  very  threat  of  excommunication 
which  hung  over  him — accompanied,  as  he  and  the  Church 
thought  that  it  would  be,  with  supernatural  judgments — 
was  sufficient  to  plunge  him  into  the  depths  of  misery 
and  penitence.  Sickness  and  death  were  at  this  time 
very  prevalent  among  the  Corinthian  converts,  and  St.  Paul 
told  them  that  this  was  a  direct  punishment  of  their  pro- 
fanation of  the  Lord's  Supper.  It  is  clear  that  the 
offender  was  not  contumacious,  and  in  his  Second  Epistle 
St.  Paul  openly  forgives  him,  and  remits  his  sentence, 
apparently  on  the  ground  that  the  Corinthians  had  already 
done  so.  In  fact,  since  the  desired  end  of  the  man's 
repentance,  and  the  purging  of  the  Church  from  all  com- 
plicity with  or  immoral  acquiescence  in  his  crime  had  been 
attained  without  resorting  to  extreme  measures,  St.  Paul 
even  exhorts  the  Corinthians  to  console  and  forgive  the 
man,  and,  in  fact,  restore  him  to  full  Church  membership. 
Still,  it  does  seem  as  if  they  had  not  exactly  followed  the 
Apostle's  advice,  and  as  if  the  party  opposed  to  him  had, 
so  to  speak,  turned  upon  him  and  repudiated  his  authority. 
They  said  that  he  had  not  come,  and  he  would  not  come. 
It  was  all  very  well  to  write  stern  and  threatening  letters, 
but  it  was  not  by  letters,  but  by  the  exercise  of  mira- 
culous power,  that  Kephas  had  avenged  the  wrongs  of 
the  Church  and  of  the  Spirit  on  Ananias  and  Sapphira, 
and  on  Simon  Magus.  Paul  could  not  do  this.  How 
could  it  be  expected  of  a  man  so  mean  of  aspect,  so 
vacillating  in  purpose,  so  inefficient  in  speech?  It  was 
not  Paul  who  had  been  chosen  as  the  twelfth  Apostle, 
nor  was  he  an  Apostle  at  all.  As  the  abuses  among 
his   followers  showed  that    his    teaching  was  dangerous, 


94  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    QF    ST.  PAUL. 

SO  his  inability  to  rectify  tliem  was  a  proof  that  his 
authority  was  a  delusion.  The  very  fact  that  he  had 
claimed  no  support  from  his  converts  only  marked  how 
insecure  he  felt  his  position  to  be.  What  the  Church 
really  wanted  was  the  old  stringency  of  the  Mosaic  Law ; 
some  one  from  Jerusalem ;  some  true  Apostle,  with  his 
wife,  who  would  rule  them  with  a  real  supremacy,  or  at 
least  some  emissary  from  James  and  the  brethren  of  the 
Lord,  to  preach  "  another  Gospel,"  more  accordant  with 
the  will  of  Jesus  Himself.^  Paul,  they  implied,  had  never 
known  Jesus,  and  misrepresented  Him  altogether ;  ^  for 
He  had  said  that  no  jot  or  tittle  of  the  law  should  pass, 
and  that  the  children's  bread  should  not  be  cast  to  dogs. 
Paul  preached  himself,^  and  indeed  seemed  to  be  hardly 
responsible  for  what  he  did  preach.  He  was  half  de- 
mented ;  and  yet  there  was  some  method  in  his  madness, 
which  showed  itself  partly  in  self-importance  and  partly 
in  avarice,  both  of  which  were  very  injurious  to  the  in- 
terests of  his  followers.^  What,  for  instance,  could  be 
more  guileful  and  crafty  than  his  entire  conduct  about 
this  collection  which  he  was  so  suspiciously  eager  to  set 
on  foot?^  He  had  ordered  them  to  get  up  a  subscription 
in  his  first  letter  ;^  had,  in  answer  to  their  inquiries,''' 
directed  that  it  should  be  gathered,  as  in  the  Galatian 
Churches,  by  a  weekly  offertory,  and  had,  since  this,  sent 
Titus  to  stimulate  zeal  in  the  matter.  Now  certainly  a 
better  emissary  could  not  possibly  have  been  chosen,  for 

1  See  Hansrath,  p.  420. 

2  2  Cor.  xi.  4. 

3  2  Cor.  xii.  5. 

*  V.  13,  ("(re  yap  i^effrrj/JLeu'  xi.  1,  ixpfXav  ijvflxeo'B^  fiov  jxiKpSv  ri  rrjs  i<ppo(rvi'r)s' 
16,  M'^  tIs  /le  S6^ri  &<ppova  fJvai  (cf.  xii.  6). 

^  xii.  16,  inrdpxfi'  Travovpyos  SiKqi  vfias  fXa^oy,  Evidently  the  quotation  of  a 
slaudor,  wliicli  he  proceeds  to  refute. 

"  Tlie  one  no  longer  extant. 

'  1  Cor.  xvi.   1—4. 


CHURCH    OF    CORINTH.  95 

Titus  was  himself  a  Grreek,  and  therefore  well  fitted  to 
manage  matters  among  Greeks ;  and  yet  had  visited  Jeru- 
salem, so  that  he  could  speak  from  ocular  testimony  of 
the  distress  which  was  prevalent  among  the  poorer 
brethren ;  and  had  further  been  present  at  the  great  meet- 
ing in  Jerusalem  at  which  Paul  and  Barnabas  had  received 
the  special  request  to  be  mindful  of  the  poor.  Yet  even 
this  admirably  judicious  appointment,  and  the  transparent 
independence  and  delicacy  of  mind  which  had  made  Paul 
—with  an  insight  into  their  character  which,  as  events 
showed,  was  but  too  prescient — entirely  to  refuse  all 
support  from  them,  was  unable  to  protect  him  from  the 
coarse  insinuation  that  this  was  only  a  cunning  device  to 
hide  his  real  intentions,  and  give  him  a  securer  grasp  over 
their  money.  Such  were  the  base  and  miserable  innuendoes 
against  which  even  a  Paul  had  deliberately  to  defend  him- 
self !  Slander,  like  some  vile  adder,  has  rustled  in  the  dry 
leaves  of  fallen  and  withered  hearts  since  the  world  began. 
Even  the  good  are  not  always  wholly  free  from  it,  and  the 
early  Christian  Church,  so  far  from  being  the  pure  ideal 
bride  of  the  Lord  Jesus  which  we  often  imagine  her  to 
be,  was  (as  is  proved  by  all  the  Epistles)  in  many 
respects  as  little  and  in  some  respects  even  less  pure 
than  ours.  The  chrisom-robe  of  baptism  was  not  pre- 
served immaculate  either  in  that  or  in  any  other  age. 
The  Church  to  which  St.  Paul  was  writing  was,  we 
must  remember,  a  community  of  men  and  women  of 
whom  the  majority  had  been  familiar  from  the  cradle 
with  the  meanness  and  the  vice  of  the  poorest  ranks 
of  heathenism  in  the  corruptest  city  of  heathendom. 
Their  ignorance  and  weakness,  their  past  training  and 
their  present  poverty,  made  them  naturally  suspicious; 
and  though  we  cannot  doubt  that  they  w^ere  morally  the 
best  of  the  class  to  which  they  belonged,  though  there  may 


96  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

have  been  among  them  many  a  voiceless  Epictetus — a  slave, 
but  dear  to  the  immortals — and  though  their  very  reception 
of  Christianity  proved  an  aspiring  heart,  a  tender  con- 
science, an  enduring  spirit,  yet  many  of  them  had  not 
got  beyond  the  inveteracy  of  lifelong  habits,  and  it  was 
easy  for  any  pagan  or  Judaic  sophister  to  lime  their 
"wild  hearts  and  feeble  wings."  But  Grod's  mercy  over- 
rules evil  for  good,  and  we  owe  to  the  worthless  malice  of 
obscure  Judaic  calumniators  the  lessons  which  we  may 
learn  from  most  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles.^  A  trivial  cha- 
racteristic will  often  show  better  than  anything  else  the 
general  drift  of  any  work,  and  as  we  have  already  pointed 
out  the  prominence  in  this  Epistle  of  the  thought  of 
"tribulation,"  so  we  may  now  notice  that,  though  "  boast- 
ing "  was  of  all  things  the  most  alien  to  St.  Paul's  genuine 
modesty,  the  most  repugnant  to  his  sensitive  humility, 
yet  the  boasts  of  his  unscrupulous  opponents  so  completely 
drove  liim  into  the  attitude  of  self-defence,  that  the  word 
"boasting"  occurs  no  less  than  twenty-nine  times  in  these 
few  chapters,  while  it  is  only  found  twenty-six  times  in 
all  the  rest  of  St.  Paul's  writings.^ 

The  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  and  those  to 
the  Galatians  and  Romans,  represent  the  three  chief 
phases  of  his  controversy  with  Judaism.  In  the  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians  he  overthrew  for  ever  the  repellent 
demand  that  the  Gentiles  should  be  circumcised ;  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  he  established  for  ever  the  thesis 
that  Jews  and  Gentiles  were  equally  guilty,  and  could  be 

1  The  authenticity  of  the  letter  has  never  been  questioned.  The  three 
main  divisions  are  :  i. — "vai.  Hortatory  and  retrospective,  with  an  under-current 
of  apology,  viii.,  ix.  Directions  about  the  contribution,  x. — xiii.  Defence  of 
his  Apostolic  position.  The  more  minute  analysis  will  be  seen  as  we 
proceed.  But  it  is  the  least  systematic,  as  the  First  is  the  most  systematic 
of  all  his  writings. 

2  Especially  in  2  Cor.  x.,  xi.,  xii.  This  finds  its  illustration  in  the  promi- 
nence of  "inflation"  in  1  Cot. passim ;  but  only  elsewhere  in  Col.  ii.  18. 


ST.    PAUL'S    AUTHORITY.  97 

justified  only  by  faith,  and  not  by  works.  In  both  these 
Epistles  he  establishes,  from  different  points  of  view,  the 
secondary  and  purely  disciplinary  functions  of  the  law  as 
a  preparatory  stage  for  the  dispensation  of  free  grace. 
In  both  Epistles  he  shows  conclusively  that  instead 
of  the  false  assertion  that  "it  is  in  vain  to  be  a  Christian 
without  being  a  Jew,"  should  be  substituted  the  very 
opposite  statement,  that  it  is  in  vain  to  be  a  Christian 
if,  as  a  Christian,  one  relies  on  being  a  Jew  as  well.  But, 
however  irresistible  his  arguments  might  be,  they  would 
be  useless  if  the  Judaists  succeeded  in  impugning  his 
Apostolic  authority,  and  proving  that  he  had  no  right  to 
be  regarded  as  a  teacher.  The  defence  of  his  claims  was, 
therefore,  very  far  from  being  a  mere  personal  matter ; 
it  involved  nothing  less  than  a  defence  of  the  truth  of  his 
Gospel.  Yet  this  defence  against  an  attack  so  deeply 
wounding,  and  so  injurious  to  his  cause,  was  a  matter  of 
insuperable  difficulty.  His  opponents  could  produce  their 
"  commendatory  letters,"  and,  at  least,  claimed  to  possess 
the  delegated  authority  of  the  Apostles  who  had  lived 
with  Jesus  (2  Cor.  iii.  1 — 18).  This  was  a  thing  which 
Paul  could  not  and  would  not  do.  He  had  not  derived 
his  authority  from  the  Twelve.  His  intercourse  with 
them  had  been  but  slight.  His  Apostolate  was  con- 
ferred on  him,  not  mediately  by  them,  but  immediately 
by  Christ.  He  had,  indeed,  "  seen  the  Lord"  (1  Cor.  ix.  1), 
but  on  this  he  would  not  dwell,  partly  because  his  direct 
intercourse  with  Christ  had  been  incomparably  smaller 
than  that  of  a  Peter  or  a  James ;  and  partly  because  he 
clearly  saw,  and  wished  his  converts  to  see,  that  spiritual 
union  was  a  thing  far  closer  and  more  important  than 
personal  companionship.  To  two  things  only  could 
he  appeal :  to  the  visions  and  revelations  wnich  he 
had  received  from  the  Lord,  above  aU,  his  miraculous 
h 


98  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST,  PAUL. 

conversion ;  and  to  tlie  success,  the  activity,  the  spiritual 
power,  which  set  a  seal  of  supernatural  approval  to  his 
unparalleled  ministry.^  But  the  first  of  these  claims 
was  deliberately  set  aside  as  subjective,  both  in  his 
own  lifetime  and  a  century  afterwards.^  The  difficulty 
of  cfonvincing  his  opponents  on  this  subject  reflects  itself 
in  his  passion,  a  passion  which  rose  in  part  because  it 
forced  upon  him  the  odious  semblance  of  self-assertion. 
His  sole  irresistible  weapon  was  "  the  sword  of  the  Spirit, 
which  is  the  word  of  God." 

I  will  now  proceed  to  give  an  outline  of  this  remarkable 
letter,  which,  from  the  extreme  tension  of  mind  with 
which  it  was  written,  and  the  constant  struggle  between 
the  emotions  of  thankfulness  and  indignation,^  is  more 
difficult  in  its  expressions  and  in  its  causal  connections  than 
any  other.  The  labouring  style, — the  interchange  of  bitter 
irony  with  pathetic  sincerity, — ^the  manner  in  which  word 
after  word — ^now  "tribulation,"  now  "consolation,"  now 
"  boasting,"  now  "  weakness," — now  "  simplicity,"  now 
"manifestation,"  takes  possession  of  the  Apostle's  mind 
— serve  only  to  throw  into  relief  the  frequent  bursts  of  im- 
passioned eloquence.  The  depth  of  tenderness  which  is  here 
revealed  towards  all  who  were  noble  and  true,  may  serve 
as  a  measure  for  the  insolence  and  wrong  which  provoked 


^  2  Cor.  ii.  14;  iii.  2;  x.  20—23;  1  Cor.  ix.  1;  xv.  10,  &c. 

■^  Pr.  Clement.  Horn.  xvii.  13,  seq.  irQs  Se  aoi  Koi  iriarivaoixev  avT6  .  •  • ;  w«J 
5e  <roi  Kol   &<pdr]  OTrSre  avrov  ra  ivdvria  rfj  StSacTKaXia  (ppovils  ; 

^  But,  as  Dean  Stanley  observes  {Cor.,  p.  348),  "  tlie  thankfulness  of  the 
first  part  is  darkened  by  the  indignation  of  the  third,  and  even  the  du-ections 
about  the  business  of  the  contribution  are  coloured  by  the  reflections  both  of 
his  joy  and  of  his  grief.  And  in  all  those  portions,  though  in  themselves 
strictly  personal,  the  Apostle  is  borne  away  into  the  higher  region  in  which 
he  habitually  lived,  so  that  this  Epistle  becomes  the  most  striking  instance  of 
what  is  the  case  more  or  less  with  all  his  writings,  a  new  philosophy  of  life 
poured  forth  not  through  systematic  treatises,  but  through  occasional  bursts 
of  human  feeling." 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COHmTHIANS.  99 

in  the  concluding  chapters  so  stern  an  indignation.  Of 
all  the  Epistles  it  is  the  one  which  enables  us  to  look 
deepest  into  the  Apostle's  heart. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  letter  has  been  observed 
by  the  quick  insight  of  Bengel.  "  The  whole  letter/'  he 
says,  "  reminds  us  of  an  itinerary,  but  interwoven  with  the 
noblest  precepts."  "  The  very  stages  of  his  journey  are 
impressed  upon  it,"  says  Dean  Stanley ;  "  the  troubles  at 
Ephesus,  the  anxiety  of  Troas,  the  consolations  of  Mace- 
donia, the  prospect  of  moving  to  Corinth."^ 

After  the  greeting,  in  which  he  associates  Timothy — 
who  was  probably  his  amanuensis — with  himself,  and  with 
brief  emphasis  styles  himself  an  "  Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ 
by  the  will  of  God,"  he  begins  the  usual  expression  of 
thankfulness,  in  which  the  words  "  tribulation"  and  "con- 
solation" are  inextricably  intertwined,  and  in  which  he 
claims  for  the  Corinthians  a  union  with  him  in  both. 

"  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesns  Christ,  the 
Father  of  mercies,  and  God  of  all  consolation,  who  consoleth  us  in  all 
our  tribulation,  that  we  may  be  able  to  console  those  in  all  tribulation, 
by  the  consolation  wherewith  we  are  ourselves  consoled  by  God.  For 
as  the  sufferings  of  Christ  abound  towards  us,  so  by  Christ  aboundeth 
also  our  consolation.  But  whether  we  are  troubled,  it  is  for  your  con- 
solation and  salvation  which  worketh  in  the  endurance  of  the  same 
suffex'ings  which  we  also  suffer,  and  our  hope  is  sure  on  your  behalf;-  or 
whether  we  are  Consoled,  it  is  for  your  consolation  and  salvation,  know- 
ing that  as  ye  are  partakers  of  the  sufferings,  so  also  of  the  consolation."^ 

He  then  alludes  to  the  fearful  tribulation,  excessive  and  beyond  his 
strength,  whether  caused  by  outward  enemies  or  by  sickness,  through 
which  he  has  just  passed  in  Asia,  which  has  brought  him  to  the  verge 
of  despair  and  of  the  grave,  in  order  that  he  may  trust  solely  in  Him 
who  raiseth  the  dead.      "  Who  from  such  a  death  rescued  us,  and  will 

^  The  thread  of  the  Epistle  is  historical,  but  it  is  interwoven  with  digres- 
sions. The  broken  threads  of  narrative  will  be  found  in  i.  8,  15 ;  ii.  1,  12 
13  ;  vii.  5  ;  viii.  1 ;  ix.  2  ;  xiii.  1. 

2  Yerse  6.     This  is  the  position  of  these  words  in  most  uncials. 

3  "  Communio  sanctorum,"  Phil.  ii.  26  (Bengel). 

h  2 


100  THE    LIFE    AKD    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

rescue,  on  whom  we  have  hoped  that  even  yet  will  He  rescue."  And 
as  it  was  the  supplication  of  many  which  had  won  for  him  this  great 
charism,  he  asks  that  their  thanksgivings  may  be  added  to  those  of 
many,  and  that  their  prayers  may  still  be  continued  in  his  behalf.^ 

For  however  vile  might  be  the  insinuations  against  him,  he  is 
proudly  conscious  of  the  simplicity  ^  and  sincerity  of  his  relations  to 
all  men,  and  especially  to  them,  "  not  in  carnal  wisdom,  but  in  the 
grace  of  God."  Some  had  suspected  him  of  writing  private  letters  and 
secret  messages,  of  intriguing  in  fact  with  individual  members  of  his 
congregation ;  but  he  tells  them  that  he  wrote  nothing  except  what 
they  are  now  reading,  and  fully  recognise,  as  he  hopes  they  will  con- 
tinue to  recognise,  and  even  more  fully  than  heretofore,  even  as  some 
of  them^  already  recognised,  that  they  and  he  are  a  mutual  subject  of 
boasting  in  the  day  of  the  Lord,  This  was  the  reason  why  he  had 
originally  intended  to  pay  them  two  visits  instead  of  one.  Had  he 
then  been  guilty  of  the  levity,  the  fickleness,  the  caprice  with  which 
he  had  been  charged  in  changing  his  plan"?  Did  the  "Yes,  yes"  of 
his  purposes  mean  much  the  same  thing  as  "  No,  no,"  like  the  mere 
shifting  feebleness  of  an  aimless  man?*  Well,  if  they  chose  to  say 
this  of  him  as  a  man,  at  any  rate,  there  was  one  emphatic  "  Yes,"  one 
imalterable  fixity  and  affirmation  about  him,  and  that  was  his  preach- 
ing of  Christ.  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  preached  by  him  and 
Silvanus  and  Timotheus,  had  proved  Himself  to  be  not  "  Yes "  and 
"  No ; "  but  in  Him  was  God's  infinite  "  Yes,"  and  therefoi-e  also 
the    Christian's   everlasting  Amen   to    all  God's  promises.^      He  who 

•^  i.  1 — 11 ;  i.  8,  Sere  f^airopriBriPai,  though  generally  he  was  airopov/jievos  ovK 
e^aTTopovfievos,  iv.  8.  airoKpi/LLa  rod  Qavarov  to  the  question,  "  How  will  it  all  end  ?  " 
the  only  answer  seemed  to  be  "  Death."  Kaff  virep^oXnv/iy.  17 ;  Rom.  vii.  13 ; 
1  Cor.  xii.  31 ;  Gal.  i.  13. 

2  i.  12.  ottAottjs,  in  answer  to  the  charge  of  duplicity,  is  a  characteristic 
word  of   tLis  Epistle  (viii.  2 ;  ix.  11,  13 ;  xi.  3) ;  but  here,  «  A,  B,  C,  K, 

read  ayiorrjTi. 

^  i.  14,  oiTrb  fxipovs. 

*  I  have  never  been  even  approximately  satisfied  with  any  explanation  of 
this  pas&age.  St.  Chrysostom  makes  it  mean,  "  Did  I  show  levity,  or  do  I  plan 
after  the  flesh  that  the  yea  with  me  must  be  always  yea,  and  the  nay  always 
nay,  as  it  is  with  a  man  of  the  world  who  makes  his  plans  independently  of 
God's  over-ruling  of  them?"  As  there  are  no  empliatic  affirmations  in  the 
case.  Matt.  v.  37,  James  v.  12,  throw  no  light  on  the  passage,  unless  some  such 
words  had  been  quoted  against  him  in  the  perverted  sense  that  wlien  once 
you  have  said  a  thing  you  must  at  all  costs  do  it,  however  completely  circum- 
stances have  changed. 

^  Compare  tlie  'A^uV  ajuV  ("  Yerily,  verily  ")  of  which  the  Gospels  are  so 
full.     I  read  S(6  koX  5t  airoC,  with  n.  A,  B,  C,  D,  F,  G. 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  101 

confirmed  all  o£  them  alike  into  the  Anointed  {eh  xp'o-tov),  and  anointed 
them  (xpiVas),  was  God,  who  also  set  His  seal  on  them,  and  gave  them 
in  their  hearts  the  earnest  of  His  Spirit.^  He  called  God  to  witness 
upon  his  own  soul  that  it  was  with  a  desire  to  spare  them  that  he 
no  longer  came  ^  to  Corinth.  And  then,  conscious  that  jealous  eyes 
would  dwell  on  every  phrase  of  his  letter,  and  if  possible  twist  its  mean- 
ing against  him,  he  tells  them  that  by  using  the  expression  "  sparing 
them,"  he  does  not  imply  any  claim  to  lord  it  over  their  faith,  for  faith 
is  free  and  by  it  they  stand ;  but  that  he  is  speaking  as  a  fellow- worker 
of  their  joy,  and  therefore  he  had  decided  that  his  second  visit  to  them 
should  not  be  in  grief.^  "Was  it  natural  that  he  should  like  to  gi-ieve 
those  who  caused  him  joy,  or  be  grieved  by  those  from  whom  he  ought 
to  receive  joy  ?  His  joy,  he  felt  sure,  was  theirs  also,  and  therefore  he 
had  written  to  them  instead  of  coming ;  and  that  previous  letter — sad  as 
were  its  contents — had  not  been  written  to  grieve  them,  but  had  been 
written  in  much  tribulation  and  compression  of  heart  and  many  tears, 
that  they  might  recognise  how  more  abundantly  he  loved  them.  Grief, 
indeed,  there  had  been,  and  it  had  fallen  on  him,  but  it  had  not  come  on 
him  only,  but  partly  on  them,  and  he  did  not  wish  to  press  heavily  on  them 
alL*     And  the  sinner  who  had    caused  that  common  grief   had  been 

^  afpa^kv,  earnest-money,  part-payment,  irpoKon-a^oX-r) ;  an  ancient  (p^ljS, 
Gen.  xxxviii.  17,  18 ;  arrliabo — Plaut.  Bud.  Prol.  46)  and  modern  word  (Fr. 
arrhes)  made  cm-rent  by  Semitic  commerce.     (Cf .  aTrapxv,  Rom.  viii.  23.) 

2  i.  23.  Here,  and  as,  I  believe,  in  ii.  1  and  xiii.  1,  he  speaks  of  his 
intended  visit  as  a  real  one.  The  E.  V.  mistakes  ou/ceVt,  "  no  longer,"  for 
oiiTw,  "not  yet;"  but  the  expression  really  illustrates  the  much-disputed 
verses  to  which  I  have  referred,  and  inclines  me  to  the  opinion  that  St.  Paul 
had  not  visited  Corinth  more  than  once  when  this  letter  was  written.  But  the 
question  is  one  of  very  small  importance,  though  so  much  has  been  written 
on  it. 

3  Lit.,  "  not  again  to  come  to  you  in  grief,"  as  he  would  be  doing  if  he 
bad  visited  them  once  in  grief,  and  were  then  obliged  to  come  a  second  time  in 
the  same  spirit.  No  doubt  the  words  literally  imply  that  he  had  cdready  once 
visited  them  in  grief,  and  that  expression  would  hardly  be  correct  for  \ns  first 
visit ;  but  he  merely  uses  it  in  his  vivid  way  as  though  his  intended  visit — 
which,  had  he  carried  it  out,  would  have  been  ui  grief— had  been  a  real  visit. 
The  Trd\tu  is  even  omitted  in  D,  E,  F,  G.  Theodoret,  who  ought  to  know 
what  Greek  means,  takes  irdxtv  i\d€7y  merely  in  the  sense  of  "  re-visit," 
separating  it  from  eV  \virri  altogether. 

*  This  is  another  of  those  ambiguous  expressions— due  to  the  emotion  of 
the  wi-iter  and  the  delicacy  of  the  subjects  of  which  he  is  treating,  and  his 
desire  to  be  kind  and  just  though  there  was  so  much  to  blame— about  which 
it  is  impossible  to  feel  any  certainty  of  the  exact  explanation.  I  have  pai-tly 
followed  the  view  of  St.  Chrysostom. 


102  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

sufficiently  censured  by  the  reprobation  of  the  majority  of  tliem  ;^  so 
that  now,  on  the  contrary,  they  should  forgive  and  comfort  him,  that  a 
person  such  as  he  was— guilty,  disgraced,  but  now  sincerely  penitent — 
may  not  be  swallowed  up  by  his  excessive  grief.  Let  them  now  assure  him 
of  their  love.  The  object  of  the  former  letter  had  been  fulfilled  in  testing 
their  obedience.  If  they  forgave  {as  they  had  partially  done  already,  in 
not  strictly  carrying  out  his  decision),  so  did  he ;  "  and  what  I  have 
forgiven,  if  I  have  forgiven  anything,^  is  for  your  sakes,  in  the  presence  ^ 
of  Christ,  that  we  may  not  be  over-reached  by  Satan,  for  we  are  not 
ignorant  of  his  devices."* 

Well,  he  did  7iot  come  to  them,  and  he  did  write,  and  what  was  the 
consequence  1  His  anxiety  to  know  the  effect  produced  by  his  letter  and 
change  of  plan  was  so  intense,  that  it  almost  killed  him.  Successful  as 
■was  the  opening  which  he  found  for  the  Gospel  of  Christ  at  Troas,  he 
abandoned  his  work  there,  because  he  could  not  endure  the  disappoint- 
ment and  anguish  of  heart  which  the  non-arrival  of  Titus  caused  him. 
He  therefore  went  to  Macedonia.  There  at  last  he  met  Titus,  but  he 
omits  to  say  so  in  his  eagerness  to  thank  God,  who  thus  drags  him  in 
triumph  in  the  service  of  Christ.  Everywhere  the  incense  of  that 
triumph  was  burnt ;  to  some  it  was  a  sweet  savour  that  told  of  life,  to 
others  a  sign  of  imminent  death.  St.  Paul  is  so  possessed  by  the  meta- 
phor that  he  does  not  even  pause  to  disentangle  it.  He  is  at  once  the 
conquered  enemy  dragged  in  triumph,  and  the  incense  burned  in  sign  of 
the  victor's  glory.  The  burning  incense  is  a  sign  to  some  of  life  ever- 
renewed  in  fresh  exultation ;  to  others  of  defeat  ever  deepening  into 
death.  To  himself,  at  once  the  captive  and  the  sharer  in  the  triumph, 
it  is  a  sign  of  death,  and  of  daily  death,  and  yet  the  pledge  of  a  life 


^  Some  had  evidently  been  recalcitrant.  In  ii.  6  the  word  for  "  punish- 
ment "  is  eiriTtjjiia,  not  Kixaffis  or  Ttiiupia  ;  but  the  general  meaning  is  that  of 
punishment  (Wisd.  iii.  10).  Philo,  ■n-epl  dOKuv  koI  4irtTt/j.ta>v,  "  on  rewards  and 
punishments." 

2  ii.  10.  The  best  reading  seems  to  be  3  K€xapio-M"')  ^"^  ^t  K^xa-p^o'i^at, «,  A,  B, 
C,  F,  G.  Evidently  we  are  here  in  the  dark  about  many  circumstances ; 
but  we  infer  that  St.  Paul's  sentence  of  excommunication,  as  ordered  in  his 
former  letter,  had  not  been  carried  out,  partly  because  some  oj)posed  it,  but 
also  in  part  because  the  man  repented  in  consequence  of  his  exclusion  from 
the  communion  of  the  majority  of  the  Church.  St.  Paul  might  have  been 
angry  that  his  plain  order  had  been  disobeyed  by  the  Church  as  such ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  he  is  satisfied  with  their  partial  obedience,  and  withdraws  his 
order,  which  timely  repentance  had  rendered  needless. 

3  Cf .  Prov.  viii.  30,  LXX. 
*  i.  12— ii.  11. 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  103 

beyond  life  itself. '^  And  wlio  is  sufficient  for  such,  ministry  1  For  he  is 
not  like  the  majority  ^ — the  hucksters,  the  adulterators,  the  fraudulent 
retailers  of  the  Word  of  God, — but  as  of  sincerity,  but  as  of  God — in  the 
presence  of  God  he  speaks  in  union  with  Christ.^ 

Is  this  self-commendation  to  them  1  Does  he  need  letters  of  intro- 
duction to  them  1  *  And  here,  again,  follows  one  of  the  strangely 
mingled  yet  powerful  metaphors  so  peculiar  to  the  greatest  and  most 
sensitive  imaginations.  "  Ye  are  our  Epistle,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  written 
on  our  hearts,  recognised  and  read  by  all  men,  being  manifestly  an 
Epistle  of  Christ,  ministered  by  us,  written  not  with  ink,  but  with  the 
Spirit  of  the  living  God ;  not  on  stonen  tablets,  but  on  fleshen  tablets 
— hearts."^  He  does  not  need  a  commendatory  letter  to  them  ;  they  are 
themselves  his  commendatory  letter  to  all  men;  it  is  a  letter  of 
Christ,  of  which  he  is  only  the  writer  and  carrier;®  and  it  is  not 
engraved  on  granite  like  the  Laws  of  Moses,  but  on  their  hearts.  Thus 
they  are  at  once  the  commendatoiy  letter  written  on  Paul's  heart,  and 
they  have  a  letter  of  Christ  written  on  their  own  hearts  by  the 
Spirit,  and  of  that  letter  Paul  has  been  the  human  agent. ^ 

It  was  a  bold  expression,  but  one  which  sprang  from  a  confidence 
which  Christ  inspii-ed,  and  had  reference  to  a  work  for  God.  That 
work  was  the  ministry  of  the  New  Covenant — -not  of  the  slaying 
letter  but  of  the  vivifying  spirit,^  for  which  God  gave  the  sufficiency. 
And  what  a  glorious  ministry  !     If  the  ministry  of  the  Law — tending 

1  On  this  metaphor,  v.  supra,  i.,  Excursus  III.  The  last  great  tnumph  at 
Rome  had  been  that  of  Claudius,  when  Caradoc  was  among  the  captives. 

2  ii.  17.  01  TToWol  is  a  strong  expression,  but  ol  Xonrol,  "  the  rest,"  the 
reading  of  D,  E,  F,  G,  J,  is  still  more  impassioned.  It  is  i^ossible  that 
this  may  have  been  softened  into  the  other  reading,  just  as  ol  iroWol  has  been 
softened  into  ttoKKoI.  We  must  remember  how  many  and  diverse  were  the 
elements  of  error  at  Corinth — conceit,  faction,  Pharisaism,  licence,  self- 
assertion;   and  St.  Paul  (Rom.  v.)  seems  to  use  ol  troWoX  peculiarly. 

8  ii.  12—17  (cf.  Isa.  i.  22,  LXX.). 

*  iii.  1.  It  is  astonishing  to  find  Ebionite  hatred  still  burning  against 
St.  Paul  in  the  second  century,  and  covertly  slandering  him  because  he  had 
no  iirKXToKaX  avarariKaX  from  James.  All  who  came  without  such  letters 
were  to  be  regarded  as  false  prophets,  false  apostles,  &c.  (Cf.  2  Cor.  xi.  13 ; 
Gal.  ii.  12.)     (Ps.  Clem.  Becogn.  iv.  34;  Horn.  xi.  35.) 

5  Read  KapUais,  n,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  G.  For  the  metaphor  compare 
Prov.  iii.  3 ;  vii.  3 ;  Ezek.  xi.  19 ;  Ex.  xviii.  31. 

^  Compare  the  identification  of  the  seed  sown  and  the  hearts  that  receive 
it  in  Mark  iv.  16. 

7  iii.  1—3. 

8  iii.  6,  atroKreivei;  Rom.  iv.  15;  vii.  6,  7, 10, 11;  Gal.  iii.  10;  John  vi.  63. 
fwoTToier,  Rom.  vi.  4,  11 ;  viii.  2,  10 ;  Gal.  v.  2. 


104  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

in  itself  to  death,  written  in  earthly  letters,'graven  on  granite  slabs, — 
yet  displayed  itself  in  such  glory  that  the  children  of  Israel  could  not 
gaze  on  the  face  of  Moses  because  of  the  glory  of  his  countenance, 
which  was  rapidly  fading  away,^  how  much  more  glorious  was  the  Ministiy 
of  Life,  of  Righteousness,  of  the  Spirit,  which  by  comparison  outdazzles 
that  other  glory  into  mei'e  darkness,^  and  is  not  transitory  (Sta  5c!|r)s)  but 
pei-manent  (eV  SS^rj).  It  was  the  sense  of  being  entrusted  with  that  ministry 
which  gave  him  confidence.  Moses  used  to  put  a  veil  over  his  face  that 
the  children  of  Israel  might  not  see  the  evanescence  of  the  transient; 
and  the  veil  which  he  wore  on  his  bright  countenance  when  he  spoke  to 
them  reminds  him  of  the  veil  which  thei/  yet  wore  on  their  hardened 
understandings  when  his  Law  was  i-ead  to  them,  which  should  only  begin 
to  be  removed  the  moment  they  turned  from  Moses  to  Christ,^  from  the 
letter  to  the  spirit,  from  slavery  to  freedom.  But  he  and  all  the 
ministers  of  Christ  gazed  with  no  veil  upon  their  faces  upon  His  glory 
reflected  in  the  mirror  of  His  Gospel ;  and  in  their  turn  seeing  that 
image  as  in  a  mii-ror,*  caught  that  ever-brightening  glory  as  from  the 
Lord,  the  Spii'it.  How  could  one  entrusted  with  such  a  ministry  grow 
faint-hearted  ]  How  could  he — as  Paul's  enemies  charged  him  with 
doing — descend  into  "the  crypts  of  shame]"  Utterly  false ^  were  such 
insinuations.  He  walked  not  in  craftiness ;  he  did  not  adulterate  the 
pure  Word  of  God ;  but  his  commendatory  letter,  the  only  one  he 
needed,  was  to  manifest  the  truth  to  all  consciences  in  God's  sight. 
There  was  no  veil  over  the  truths  he  preached  ;  if  veil  there  was,  it  was 
only  in  the  darkened  undei'standings  of  the  perishing,  so  darkened  into 
unbelief  by  the  god  of  the  present  world,^  that  the  brightness  of  the  gospel 
of  the  glory  of  Christ  could  not  illuminate  them.  He  it  is — Christ  Jesus 
the  Lord,  the  image  of  God — He  it  is,  and  not  ourselves,  whom  Paul 
and  all  true  Apostles  preached.  He  had  been  accused  of  self-seeking  and 
self-assertion.  Such  sins  were  impossible  to  one  who  estimated  as  he  did 
the  glory  of  His  message.     All  that  he  could  preach  of  himself  was  that 

1  iii.  7.  The  word  "till "  in  the  E.Y.  of  Ex.  xxxiv.  33  seems  to  be  a 
mistake  for  "  when."  He  put  on  the  veil,  not  to  dim  the  splendour  while  he 
spoke,  but  (so  St.  Paul  here  implies)  to  veil  the  evanescence  wlien  lie  had 
ended  his  words — Karapyodfiat  (1  Cor.  i.  28;  ii.  6;  vi.  13;  xiii.  8,  11;  xv.  24 — 
twenty-tAVO  times  in  this  group  of  Epistles). 

^  iii.  10,  11,  ou  SeSo'latrTai  t^  SfSo^aa-fjifvov  iv  TOVTCf  rf  fxepei. 

^  iii.  16,  iinffTpe^ri     .     ,     .     trepiaipiiTai. 

*  iii.  18,  KaToirrpiCifxivoi.  Chrysostom,  &c.,  make  it  mean  "  reflecting," 
but  there  seems  to  be  no  instance  of  that  sense. 

^  iv.  2.  Cf .  1  Cor.  iv.  5.  Honce  the  prominence  of  the  word  <pavep6u)  in  this 
Epistle  (ii.  14 ;    iii.  3 ;  iv.  10  ;  v.  10,  11 ;  ^ni.  12  ;  xi.  6). 

^  Cf .  Jolm  xiv.  80 ;  Eph.  ii.  2.  "  Grandis  sed  horribilis  descriptio  Satanae" 
(Beugel). 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  105 

Christ  was  Lord,  and  that  he  was  theii'  slave  for  Christ's  sake.  For  God 
had  shone  in  the  hearts  of  His  ministers  only  in  order  that  the  bright 
knowledge  which  they  had  canght  from  gazing,  with  no  intervening  veil, 
on  the  glory  of  Christ,  might  glow  for  the  illumination  of  the  world.  ^ 

A  glorious  ministry ;  but  what  weak  ministers  !  Like  the  torches 
hid  in  G-  d  eon's  pitchers,  their  treasure  of  light  was  in  earthen  vessels,^ 
that  the  glory  of  their  victory  over  the  world  and  the  world's  idolatries 
might  be  God's,  not  theirs.  This  was  why  they  were  at  once  weak  and 
strong — weak  in  themselves,  strong  in  God — "  in  everything  being 
troubled,  yet  not  crushed ;  perplexed,  but  not  in  despair ;  persecuted, 
but  not  forsaken ;  flung  down,  but  not  destroyed  ;  always  carrying  about 
in  our  body  the  putting  to  death  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  order  that 
also  the  life  of  Jesus  may  be  manifested  in  our  body.  For  we,  living  as 
we  are,  are  ever  being  handed  over  to  death  for  Jesus'  sake,  in  order  that 
the  life  of  Jesus  also  may  be  manifested  in  our  mox'tal  flesh.  So  that 
death  is  working  in  us — seeing  that  for  Christ's  sake  and  for  your 
sakes  we  die  daily — but  life  in  you.  The  trials  are  mainly  ours  ;  the 
blessings  yours.  Yet  we  know  that  this  daily  death  of  ours  shall  be 
followed  by  a  resurrection.  He  who  raised  Christ  shall  also  raise  us 
from  the  daily  death  of  our  afilicted  lives  ^  and  from  the  death  in  which 
they  end,  and  shall  present  us,  with  you,  to  God's  glory,  by  the  increase 
of  grace  and  more  abundant  increase  of  thanksgiving.  For  this  reason 
we  do  not  play  the  coward,  but  even  if  our  outward  man  is  being 
destroyed,  yet  the  inward  man  is  being  renewed  day  by  day.  For  the 
lightness  of  our  immediate  affliction  is  working  out  for  us,  in  increasing 
excess,  an  eternal  weight  of  glory,  since  our  eyes  are  fixed  not  on  the 
visible,  but  on  the  invisible  ;  for  the  things  visible  are  transient,  but  the 
things  invisible  are  eternal.*  ■  The  tents  of  our  earthly  bodies  shall  be 
done  away,  but  then  we  shall  have  an  eternal  building.  We  groan,  we 
are  burdened  in  this  tent  of  flesh,^  we  long  to  put  on  over  it,  as  a  robe, 
our  house  from  lieaven — if,  as  I  assume,  we  shall  not  indeed  be  found 
bodiless® — that  the  mortal  may  be  swallowed  up  by  life.'     And  God, 

^  iii.  4— iv.  6. 

2  He  was  a  o-fcevos  iKXoyTjs  (Acts  ix.  15),  but  the  crKevos  was  itself 
oarpaKivov.     "  Lo  vas  d'elezione"  (Dante,  Inf.  ii.  28). 

'  "  God  exhibits  death  in  the  living,  life  in  the  dying"  (Alford). 

4  Cf.  Plat.  Phaedo,  79- 

*  Wisd.  ix.  15,  "  the  earthly  tabernacle  (yecDSes  o-ktjvos)  weigheth  down  the 
mind." 

^  v.  3.  So  I  understand  this  difficult  clause.  It  seems  to  imply  some  con- 
dition which  is  not  that  of  disembodied  spirits,  between  the  death  of  tlie  mortal 
and  the  reception  of  the  resurrection  body  (cf.  Hdt.  v.  92  ;  Tluic.  iii.  58). 

"^  Again,  notice  the  strange  confusion  of  metaphors.  It  is  only  the  very 
greatest  writers  who  can  venture  to  write  thus ;  only  those  whoso  thoughts 


106  THE    LIFE   Al^    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

who  wrouglit  us  for  this  end,  has  given  us  the  earnest  of  His  Spirit  that 
it  shall  be  so.  Hence,  since  we  walk  by  faith,  death  itself  has  for  us 
lost  all  terrors ;  it  will  be  but  an  admission  into  the  nearer  presence  of 
our  Lord.  To  please  Him  is  our  sole  ambition,  because  we  shall  each 
stand  before  His  tribunal  to  receive  the  things  done  by  the  body ; — to  be 
paid  in  kind  for  our  good  and  evil,  not  by  arbitrary  infliction,  but  by 
natural  result.^  This  is  our  awful  belief,  and  we  strive  to  make  it 
yours."  To  God  our  sincerity  is  manifest  already,  and  we  hope  that  it 
will  be  to  your  consciences,  since  we  tell  you  all  this  not  by  way  of 
commending  ourselves,  but  that  you  may  have  something  of  which  to 
boast  about  us  against  those  whose  boasts  are  but  of  superficial  tilings. 
They  call  us  mad  ^ — well,  if  so,  it  is  for  God  ;  or  if  we  be  sober-minded, 
it  is  for  you.*  Our  one  constraining  motive  is  Christ's  love.  Since  He 
died  for  all,  all  in  His  death  died  to  sin,  and  therefore  the  reason  of  His 
death  was  that  we  may  not  live  to  ourselves,  but  to  Him  who  died  and 
rose  again  for  us.  From  henceforth,  then,  we  recognise  no  relation  to 
Him  which  is  not  purely  spiritual.  Your  Jerusalem  emissaries  boast 
that  they  knew  the  living  Christ ;  and  in  consequence  maintain  their 
superiority  to  us.  If  we  ever  recognised  any  such  claim — if  we  ever 
relied  on  having  seen  the  living  Christ — we  renounce  all  such  views 
from  this  moment.*     '  He  who  is  in  Christ  is  a  new  creation ;  the  old 

are  like  a  flame,  that  cracks  the  enclosing  lamp  of  language  that  it  may  emit 
more  heat  and  light. 

^  It  is  not  easy  to  see  the  exact  correlation  between  the  judicial  process  of 
result  according  to  good  and  evil  conduct — even  as  regards  saints — and  that 
free  absolute  justification  by  faith  in  Christ,  that  complete  forgiveness  of 
sins,  and  tearing  up  of  the  bond  which  is  against  us,  on  which  St.  Paul 
dwells  in  v.  19,  21 ;  Rom.  iii.  25 ;  Col.  ii.  14.  But  faith  is  as  little  troubled 
by  unsolved  antinomies  in  the  kingdom  of  grace  as  in  that  of  nature  (see 
infra,  Excursus  II.). 

2  V.  11.  So  Chrysostom,  &c.,  but  it  is  one  of  the  many  verses  in  this 
Epistle  about  which  no  absolute  certainty  is  attainable.  It  mmj  mean 
"knowing  that  the  fear  of  God  {titnorem  Domini,  Vulg.)  is  the  principle  of 
my  own  life,  I  try  to  persuade  you  of  this  truth ; — that  it  is  so  God  knows 
already." 

3  Cf.  Acts  xxvi.  24. 

^  "  My  revelations,  ecstacies,  glossolaly,  are  phases  of  intercourse  of  my 
soul  with  God ;  my  practical  sense  and  tact  are  for  you." 

s  2  Cor.  V.  16,  airh  rod  vw.  In  Gal.  i.  15,  16,  St.  Paul  has  said  that  "it 
pleased  God  to  reveal  His  Son  in  him,"  and  in  his  view  "  the  entire,  absolute 
importance  of  Christianity  resided  in  the  person  of  Christ.  God  had  disclosed 
to  him  as  the  Son  of  God  that  Jesus  whom  he  had  opposed  as  a  false 
Messiah.  But  the  resurrection  had  elevated  the  liistoric  Christ  far  above 
a  Jewish  Messiah  (1  Cor.  xv.  8).     The  death   of  Christ  had  severed  His 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIAITS.  107 

things  are  passed  away ;  lo  !  all  things  have  become  new.'  It  is  the 
spiritual  Christ,  the  glorified  Christ — whom  God  made  to  be  sLa  for 
us — in.  whom  God  reconciled  the  world  unto  Himself,  not  imputing  their 
trespasses  unto  them — whom  we  preach  ;  and  our  ministry  is  the  Ministry 
of  Reconciliation  which  God  entrusted  to  us,  and  in  virtue  of  which  we, 
as  ambassadors  on  Christ's  behalf,  entreat  you  to  be  reconciled  to  God. 
*  Him  who  knew  not  sin  He  made  sin  on  our  behalf,  that  we  may 
become  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him.'  ^  As  His  fellow-workers  we 
entreat  you,  then,  not  to  render  null  the  acceptance  of  His  gTace  in  this 
the  day  of  salvation,  and  that  this  our  ministry  may  not  be  blamed,  we 
give  no  legitimate  cause  of  offence  in  anything,  but  in  everything 
commend  ourselves  ^  as  ministers  of  God  "  in  much  endurance,  in  tribu- 
lations, in  necessities,  in  pressure  of  circumstance,  in  blows,  in  prisons, 
in  tumults,  in  toils,  in.  spells  of  sleeplessness,  in  fastings,  in  pureness,  in 
knowledge,  in  long-suflering,  in  kindness,  in  the  Holy  S})irit,  in  love 
unfeigned,  in  the  word  of  truth,  in  the  power  of  God,  by  the  arms  of 
i-ighteousness  on  the  right  and  left,  by  glory  and  dishonour,  by  ill  report 
and  good  report;  as  deceivers  and  yet  true,  as  being  ignored  and  yet 
recognised,  as  dying  and  behold  we  live,  as  being  chastened  yet  not 
being  slain,  as  being  grieved  and  yet  rejoicing,  as  pa  vipers  yet  en- 
riching many,  as  having  nothing  yet  as  having  all  things  in  full 
possession."^ 

He  may  well  appeal  to  this  outburst  of  impassioned  eloquence  as  a 
proof  that  his  mouth  is  open  and  his  heart  enlarged  towards  them,  and 

connection  with  mere  national  elements,  and  He  was  then  manifested  in  the 
universal  and  spiritual  sphere  in  which  aU  absolute  importance  of  Judaism  was 
obliterated.  St.  Paul  here  says  that  since  he  began  to  live  for  Cln-ist,  who 
died  and  rose,  Jesus  is  no  longer  for  him  a  Messiah  after  the  flesh.  That 
conception  of  Him  is  now  purged  of  all  sensuous,  Judaic,  personal  limitations, 
and  Christ  becomes  not  only  one  who  lived  and  died  in  Judsea,  but  who  lives 
and  reigns  in  tlie  heart  of  every  Christian  on  the  absolute  principle  of  the 
spiritual  life."  (Bam-,  Paul.  ii.  126.)  When  Paul  had  once  shaken  himself  free, 
first  from  liis  unconverted  Pharisaism,  then  from  the  Judseo-Christian  stage 
of  his  earlier  convictions,  he  grasped  the  truth  that  the  risen  and  ascended 
Lord  of  all  dwarfed  and  shamed  the  notion  of  all  mere  local,  and  family, 
and  national  restrictions. 

^  The  meaning  of  this  verse  wiU  be  brought  out  infra,  p.  209,  sq. 

'  The  reader  will  observe  how  much  the  mention  of  the  o-va-TaTiKal  itnaroXal 
has  dominated  throughout  this  majestic  self-defence.  The  statement  of  the 
nature  and  method  of  His  ministiy  is  the  only  commendatory  letter  which  to 
them,  at  least,  Paul  wUl  deign  to  use.  Tet  in  making  a  self-defence  so 
utterly  distasteful  to  him,  observe  how  noble  and  eternal  are  the  thoughts  on 
which  he  dwells,  and  the  principles  upon  which  he  insists. 

3  iv.  7— vi.  10. 


108  THE    LIFE    AND   WORK   OF   ST.  PAUL. 

as  the  ground  of  entreaty  that,  instead  of  their  narrow  jealousies  and 
suspicions,  they  would,  as  sons,  love  him  with  the  same  large-hearted- 
ness,  and  so  repay  him  in  kind,  and  separate  themselves  from  their  in- 
congruous yoke-fellowship  with  unbelief  ^ — the  unnatural  participations, 
symphonies,  agi-eements  of  righteousness  and  light  with  lawlessness  and 
darkness,  of  Christ  with  worthlessness,^  of  God's  temple  with  idols, 
which  forfeited  the  glorious  promises  of  God.^  Let  them  cleanse 
themselves  from  these  corruptions  from  within  and  from  without.  And 
then  to  clench  all  that  he  has  said,  and  for  the  present  to  conclude  the 
subject,  he  cries,  'Receive  us  !  we  wronged  nobody,  ruined  nobody, 
defrauded  nobody — such  charges  against  us  are  simply  false.  I  do  not , 
allude  to  them  to  condemn  you.  I  have  said  already  that  you  are  in 
my  heart  to  die  together  and  live  together.  I  speak  thus  boldly 
because  of  the  consolation  and  superabundant  joy — in  the  midst  of  all 
the  tribulations — which  came  on  me  in  Macedonia  with  overwhelming 
intensity — without,  battles;  within,  fears.  But  God,  who  consoleth  the 
humble,*  consoled  us  by  the  coming  of  Titus,  and  the  good  news  about 
your  reception  of  my  letter,  and  the  yearning  for  me,  and  the  lamen- 
tation, and  the  zeal  which  it  awoke  on  my  behalf.  At  one  time  I 
regretted  that  I  had  written  it,  but,  though  it  pained  you,  I  regret  it  no 
longer,  because  the  pain  was  a  holy  and  a  healing  pain,  which  awoke 
earnestness  in  you — self-defence  and  indignation  against  wrong,  and  a 
fear  and  yearning  towards  me,  and  zeal  for  God,  and  punishment  of 
the  offender.  It  was  not  to  take  either  one  side  or  the  other  in  the 
quarrel  that  I  wrote  to  you,  but  that  your  allegiance  and  love  to  me 
might  be  manifested  to  yourselves^  before  God.  I  did  not  care  for  those 
people — their  offence  and  quarrel.  I  cared  only  for  you.  And  you 
stood  the  test.  You  justified  all  that  I  had  boasted  to  Titus  about 
you,  and  the  respect  and  submission  with  which  you  received  him  have 
inspired  me  with  deep  joy  on  his  account,  and  him  with  a  deep  affection 


^  An  allusion  to  the  "  diverse  kinds,"  and  ox  and  ass  plonghing  together 
(Lev.  xix.  19 ;  Deut.  xxii.  10).  I  am  unable  to  see  so  strongly  as  others  the 
digressive  and  parenthetic  character  of  vi.  14 — vii.  1. 

2  vi.  15,  PiKlap.  Belial  is  not  originally  a  proper  name  (Prov.  vi.  12,  "  a 
naughty  person  "  is  Adam  belial) ;  and  this  is  why  there  was  no  worship  of 
Belial. 

3  These  are  given  (vi.  18)  in  "  a  mosaic  of  citations "  from  2  Sam.  A^i. 
14,  8  ;  Is.  xliii.  6  (Plumiitre) ;  jierhaps,  however,  St.  Paul  had  in  his  miud 
also  Jer.  xxxi.  3—33 ;  Ezek.  xxxvi.  28. 

*  Cf .  X.  1.     He  touchiugly  accepts  the  term  applied  to  him. 
'  vii.  12.    The  reading  seems  to  be  t V  irirouSV  vfauv  rriy  wkp  rifiuv  irphs  v/xas, 
(C,  E,  J,  K.) 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  109 

for  you.     I  rejoice,  tlien,  that  in  everything  I  am  in  good  heart  about 
you,'^ 

He  proceeds  to  give  them  a  proof  of  it.  The  churches  of  Macedonia, 
he  tells  them,  poor  as  they  are,^  afflicted  as  they  are,  yet  with  a  spon- 
taneous liberality,  absolute  self-devotion,  and  affectionate  enthusiasm  for 
his  wishes,  giving  themselves  first  to  God  beyond  his  hopes,  had  not 
only  subscribed  largely  to  the  collection  for  the  saints,  but  had  entreated 
him  to  take  part  in  its  management.  Encouraged  by  this,  he  had  asked 
Titus  to  finish  the  arrangement  of  this  matter  with  the  rest  of  his  good 
work  among  them.  As  they  abounded  in  so  many  gifts  and  graces,  let 
them  abound  in  this.  He  did  not  want  to  order  them,  he  only  told 
them  what  others  had  done,  and  asked  (not  on  his  own  behalf)  a  proof 
of  their  love,  even  as  Christ  had  set  them  the  example  of  enriching 
others  by  His  ovm  poverty.  They  had  begun  the  collection  first,  but 
Macedonia  had  finished  it  first.  They  need  not  give  more  than  they 
could  afford,  for  God  looked  not  to  the  gift,  but  to  the  spirit  of  the 
giver.  Nor  did  he  wish  to  pauperise  them  in  order  to  set  others  at 
ease,  but  only  to  establish  between  Jewish  and  Gentile  churches  a 
reciprocity  of  aid  in  time  of  need.  Titus  had  gladly  accepted  the  com- 
mission, and  with  him  he  sent  the  brother,  whose  praise  in  the  Gospel  is 
known  in  all  the  churches,  and  who  has  been  specially  elected  by  the 
chui'ches  to  this  office ;  since  so  great  was  Paul's  determination  to  give 
not  the  slightest  handle  to  mean  insinuations,  that  he  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  money  himself.^  With  Titus  and  this  brother  he 
sent  a  third,  Avhose  earnestness  had  been  often  tested  in  many  circum- 
stances, and  who  Avas  now  specially  stimulated  by  his  confidence  in  the 
Corintliians.  If  they  wanted  to  know  anything  about  these  three 
visitors,  Titus  was  his  partner  and  fellow-worker  towards  them ;  the 
other  two  brethren  were  delegates  of  the  churches,*  the  glory  of  Chi-ist. 
Let  the  Corinthians  give  a  proof  of  their  love,  and  a  justification  to  all 
churches  of  his  boasting  about  them.  As  to  the  general  desirability  of 
the  collection  he  sui'ely  need  say  nothing.     He  had  been  boasting  of  their 

^  vi.  11— vii.  16. 

'  Dean  Stanley  refers  to  Arnold,  Bom.  Commonwealth,  ii.  382. 

^  viii.  20  (of.  Prov.  iii.  3,  LXX.),  aSporiis,  lit.  "ripeness."  These  hapax 
legomena  occur  freely  in  Paul's  unquestioned  Epistles.  He  readily  took  up 
new  words.  He  may,  for  instance,  have  picked  up  the  word  inixop-nyuv 
(first  used  in  ix.  10,  and  then  in  Gal.  iii.  5;  Col.  ii.  19;  Ej)h.  iv.  16)  at  Athens. 
It  is  unknown  to  the  LXX.  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  only  found  in  Ecclus. 
XXV.  22. 

■*  Lit.  "  apostles,"  but  here  in  its  untechnical  sense  of  "  authorised  dele- 
gates.'' Who  these  two  bretluren  were  is  quite  uncertain ; — perhaps  Luke  and 
Trophimus. 


110  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

zeal,  and  had  told  the  Macedonian  churches  that  the  Achaians  had  been 
ready  a  year  ago.  In  this  there  was  some  reason  to  fear  that  he  had 
been  in  error,  having  mistaken  their  ready  professions  for  actual  accom- 
plishment. He  had  therefore  sent  on  these  brethren,  lest,  if  Mace- 
donians came  with  him  on  his  arrival,  and  found  them  unprepared,  he — 
to  say  nothing  of  them — should  be  ashamed  of  a  boast  which  would  turn 
out  to  be  false.  He  exhorts  them,  therefore,  to  willing  liberality, 
trusting  that  God  would  reward  them.  Let  them  give  beneficently,  not 
grudgingly.  "  But  (notice)  this — He  who  soweth  sparingly,  sparingly 
also  shall  reap,  and  he  who  soweth  with  blessings,  with  blessings."  ^ 
^'  And  God  is  able  to  make  all  grace  abound  towards  you,  that  in  every- 
thing, always,  having  all  sufficiency,  ye  may  abound  to  every  good  work." 
And  this  collection  was  not  only  for  the  aid  of  the  saints,  but  also  for 
the  glory  of  God  by  the  thanksgiving  to  Him,  and  prayer  for  them 
which  it  called  forth.  The  recipients  would  glorify  God  for  it  as  a  sign 
of  genuine  religion,  and  would  yearn  towards  them  in  love,  because  of  the 
grace  of  God  abounding  in  them.  "  Thanks,"  he  says,  identifying  him- 
self with  the  feelings  of  the  grateful  recipients — "  thanks  to  God  for  His 
unspeakable  gift."  ^ 

At  tliis  point  the  whole  tone  of  the  Epistle  changes — 
changes  so  completely  that,  in  this  section  of  it  (x.  i. — 
xiii.  1 0),  many  have  not  only  seen  an  entirely  separate  letter, 
but  have  even  with  much  plausibility  identified  it  with 
that  stern  missive  alluded  to  in  vii.  8 — 12,  which  caused 
the  Corinthians  so  much  pain,  and  stirred  them  up  to  such 
vigorous  exertion,  which  is  usually  identified  wdth  the  first 
extant  Epistle.^  It  is  difiicult  to  accept  any  such  hypothesis 
in  the  teeth  of  the  evidence  of  all  manuscripts  ;  and  when 
we  remember  the  perpetual  interchange  of  new^s  between 
different  Churches,  it  is  a  much  simpler  and  more  natural 
supposition  that,  as  the  first  part  of  the  letter  had  been 
written  while    he  was  in   anxiety   about   them,  and   the 

^  ix.  6,  eV  evAoylais,  i.e.,  in  a  large,  gracious,  liberal  spirit  (Prov.  xi.  24; 
xxii.  9). 

2  viii.  1— ix.  15. 

3  If  such  a  supposition  were  at  aU  probable,  we  should  rather  infer  from 
xii.  18  that  this  section  was  an  Epistle  written  after  the  mission  of  Titus  and 
the  brother  alluded  to  in  viii.  18.  But  the  suggestion  in  the  text  seems  to  me 
to  meet  most  of  the  difficulties. 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIAN'S.  Ill 

second  after  his  mind  had  been  relieved  by  the  arrival  of 
Titus,  so  this  third  part  of  the  letter  was  written  after  the 
arrival  of  some  other  messenger,  who  bore  the  disastrous 
tidings  that  some  teacher  had  come  from  Jerusalem  whose 
opposition  to  St.  Paul  had  been  more  marked  and  more 
unscrupulous  than  any  with  which  he  had  yet  been 
obliged  to  deal.  However  that  may  be,  certain  it  is  that 
these  chapters  are  written  in  a  very  different  mood  from  the 
former.-^  There  is  in  them  none  of  the  tender  effusive- 
ness and  earnest  praise  which  we  have  been  hearing,  but 
a  tone  of  suppressed  indignation,  in  which  tenderness, 
struggling  with  bitter  irony,  in  some  places  renders  the 
language  laboured  and  obscure,^  Hke  the  words  of  one  who 
with  difficulty  restrains  himself  from  saying  all  that  his 
emotion  might  suggest.  Yet  it  is  deeply  interesting  to 
observe  that  "  the  meekness  and  gentleness  of  Christ " 
reigns  throughout  all  this  irony,  and  he  utters  no  word  of 
malediction  like  those  of  the  Psalmists.  And  there  is  also 
a  tone  of  commanding  authority,  which  the  writer  is  driven 
to  assume  as  a  last  resource,  since  all  forbearance  has  been 
so  grievously  misunderstood.  Some  among  them — one 
person  in  particular^ — had  been  passing  tljeir  censures  and 
criticisms  on  St.  Paul  very  freely,  saying  that  his  person 
was  mean ;  ^  that  he  was  untutored  in  speech ;  ^  that  he 
was    only  bold  in  letters,   and   at   a  distance ;    that    he 

^  A  cliange  of  tone  of  an  analogous  character — from  a  more  distant  and 
respectful  to  a  more  stern  and  authoritative  style— is  observable  in  Rom.  xiv., 
XV.  {v.  infra,  p.  170).  So  there  is  a  wide  difference  between  the  apologetic  and 
the  aggressive  part  of  Demosthenes,  De  Corona  (Hug.).  Semler  was  the  first 
to  suggest  that  this  Epistle  was  an  amalgamation  of  three,  which  is  also  the 
view  of  Weisse.  The  Avrhs  Se  eyib  navKos  of  X.  1  (cf.  Gal.  V.  2;  Eph.  iii.  1 ; 
Philem.  19)  at  once  marks  the  change. 

2  Theodoret  says  of  x.  12 — 18  that  St.  Paul  wrote  it  obscurely  (a(Ta<t>S)s:) 
from  a  desire  not  to  expose  the  offenders  too  plainly. 

^  X.  2,  Ttvas  ;  7,  elf  ris  irewoidev  eavrf  ;  10,  <t>-n<ri,  "  says  he  ;  "  11,  6  toiovtos  ; 
12,  Ticri  ■  18,  ^  ^avrbv  avviffrSsv ;  xi.  4,  i  ipx^l^evos, 

*  X,  1, 10.  *  XL  6. 


112  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

walked  "  according  to  the  flesh ;  "^  that  he  was  certainly 
a  weakling,  and  probably  a  madman.^  They  had  been 
urging  their  own  near  connexion  with  Christ  as  a  subject 
of  self-commendation  ;  ^  had  been  preaching  another  Jesus, 
and  a  different  Gospel,  and  imparting  a  different  spirit  ;* 
had  been  boasting  immeasurably  of  their  superiority, 
though  they  were  thrusting  themselves  into  spheres  of 
work  in  which  they  had  not  laboured  ;  ^  and  by  whispered 
seductions  had  been  beguiling  the  Corinthians  from  the 
simplicity  of  their  original  faith.^  In  contrast  to  the 
self-supporting  toils  and  forbearance  of  St.  Paul,  these 
men  and  their  coryphaeus  had  maintained  their  claim  to 
Apostolic  authority  by  an  insolence,  rapacity,  and  violence,''' 
which  made  Paul  ironically  remark  that  his  weakness  in 
having  any  consideration  for  his  converts,  instead  of 
lording  it  over  them,  had  been  a  disgrace  to  him.  And, 
strange  to  say,  the  ministry  and  doctrine  of  this  person 
and  his  clique  had  awakened  a  distinct  echo  in  the  hearts 
of  the  unstable  Corinthians.  They  had  taken  them  at 
their  own  estimate ;  had  been  dazzled  by  their  outrageous 
pretensions ;  benumbed  by  the  "  torpedo-touch  "  of  their 
avarice ;  and  confirmed  in  a  bold  disregard  for  the  wishes 
and  regulations  of  their  true  Teacher.^ 

It  is  at  these  intruders  that  St.  Paul  hurls  his  indignant,  ironical, 
unanswerable  apology.     "Mean  as  he  was  of  aspect,"^  he  entreats  them 

*  X.  2,  Karb,  ffOLpKa,  i.e.,  with  mere  earthly  motives ;  that  he  was  timid,  com- 
plaisant, inconsistent,  self-seeking. 

2  xi.  16,  17,  19.     Compare  the  blunt  "  Thou  art  mad,  Paul !  "  o£  Festus. 
8  X.  7. 

*  xi.  4,  i.\\ov  'l7]<Tovv  .  ,  .  rrkpov  7ri/eC/ta  .  .  .  ivayyiKiov  ertpoy, 
6  X.  15. 

6  xi.  3. 

7  xi.  20,  21. 

8  X.  18;  xi.  8,  20;  xii.  13,14. 

9  Many  of  these  expressions,  as  St.  Chrysostom  saw,  are  quotations  of  the 
sneers  of  his  opponents — Kar  flpwyelav  <p7](T\  to.  iKeivcuv  <p6eyy6iJ.evos.  For  traces  of 
similar  u-ony,  see  1  Cor.  iv.  8 — 11 ;  vi.  3 — 8 ;  ix.  1 — 16 ;  xv.  6. 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  113 

by  the  gentleness  and  mildness  of  Christ  that  when  he  came  he  might 
not  be  forced  to  show  that  if  "  he  walked  after  the  flesh,"  at  any  rate  the 
weapons  he  wielded  were  not  after  the  flesh,  but  strong  enough  to 
humble  insolence,  and  punish  disobedience,  and  rase  the  strongholds  of 
opposition,  and  take  captive  every  thought  into  the  obedience  of  Christ. 
Did  they  judge  by  outward  appearance  1  They  should  find  that  he  was 
as  near  to  Christ  as  any  member  of  the  party  that  used  His  name. 
They  should  find  that  his  personal  action,  founded  on  a  power  of  which  he 
well  might  boast,  but  which  God  had  given  him  for  their  edification,  not 
for  destruction,  could  be  as  weighty  and  powerful,  as  calculated  to  terrify 
them,  as  his  -letters.^  He  would  not,  indeed,  venture  to  enter  with  them 
into  the  mean  arena  of  personal  comparisons,^  which  proved  the  unwisdom 
of  his  opponents ;  nor  would  he  imitate  them  in  stretching  his  boasts  to 
an  illimitable  extent.  He  would  confine  these  boasts  to  the  range  of 
the  measuring-line  which  God  had  given  him,  and  which  was  quite  large 
enough  without  any  over-straining  to  reach  to  them,  even  as  His  Gospel 
had  first  reached  them  ;  for,  unlike  his  opponents,  he  was  not  exercising 
these  boasts  in  spheres  of  labour  not  his  own,  but  had  hope  that,  as  their 
faith  enlarged,  he  would  be  still  more  highly  esteemed,  and  the  limit  of 
his  work  extended  to  yet  wider  and  untried  regions.  Let  the  boaster 
then  boast  in  the  Lord,  since  the  test  of  a  right  to  boast  was  not  in  self- 
commendation,  but  in  the  commendation  of  the  Lord.^ 

He  entreats  them  to  bear  with  him,  just  a  little,  in  this  folly — nay, 
he  is  sure  they  do  so.*  He  feels  for  them  a  godly  jealousy,  desiring  to 
present  them  as  a  chaste  vii'gin  to  Christ,  but  fearful  lest  they  should  be 
seduced  from  their  simplicity  as  the  serpent  beguiled  Eve.  It  would 
have  been  easy  for  them  (it  appeal's)  to  tolerate  this  new  preacher  ^  if 

*  X.  1 — 11.  This  comparison  of  his  letters  and  his  personal  conduct  (ver.  10) 
is  quoted  from  the  Jerusalem  emissary  ((^rjo-ij',  "he  says  ;"  7,  ns;  11,  roiovros). 

*  X.  12,  iyKp'ivai  fj  (TvyKpivai,  an  untranslatable  paronomasia. 

3  X.  12 — 18.  The  haunting  word  is,  as  in  so  many  parts  of  the  Epistle, 
"boast"  and  "commendation"  (iii.  1;  iv.  2;  v.  12;  x.  12,  16,  17,  18;  xi.  10, 
12, 18,  30 ;  xii.  1,  5,  6, 11),  with  especial  reference  to  the  commendatory  letters. 
It  was  an  easy  thing,  he  hints,  for  these  Judaisers  to  come  comfortably 
with  "  letters  "  from  Jerusalem  to  Coiinth,  and  there  be  supported  by  admiring 
adherents  whom  Ms  toils  had  converied ;  a  very  different  thing  to  traverse 
the  world  as  a  friendless  missionary,  and  sow  the  seed  of  the  Gospel  in 
virgin  soil. 

*  xi.  1,  fiiKpiv  ri  .  .  .  iiWb.  Koi.  This  Epistle  is  characterised  by  hatmting 
words,  and  the  key-words  of  this  chapter  are  ovexoM"'  (1)  4,  19,  20)  and 
&<t>pwv  (1,  16,  17,  19,  21 ;  xii.  6,  11).  Dr.  Plumptre  sees  in  this  the  echo  of 
some  taunt  which  Titus  had  reported — "  His  folly  is  becoming  intolerable.'* 

*  xi.  4,  d  ipx^nevos. 


114  THE    LIFE    AJ^D    WOEK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Le  is  preaching  anotlier  Jesus,  a  different  spirit,  a  different  gospel ;  but 
he  professes  to  preach  the  same,  and  such  being  the  case  he  had  no 
more  authority  than  Paul,  who  claimed  that  he  had  in  no  respect 
fallen  short  of  the  most  super-apostolic  Apostles.^  A  mere  laic  in 
eloquence  he  miglit  be,  but  there  was  at  any  rate  no  defect  in  his 
knowledge ;  and  the  proof  of  this  as  regards  them  was  obvious 
in  everything  among  all  men,^  unless,  indeed,  he  had  transgressed 
by  humiliating  himself  for  their  exaltation  by  preaching  to  them 
gratuitously.  Other  Churches  he  plundered,  preaching  to  the  Corinthian, 
and  being  paid  his  wages  by  others.  And  though  he  was  in  positive 
want  while  among  them,  he  did  not  benumb  them  with  his  exactions,  as 
though  he  were  some  gymnotus,  but  was  helped  by  Macedonians,  and  kept 
and  would  keep  himself  from  laying  any  burden  whatever  on  them. 
That  boast  no  one  should  obstruct,^  not  (God  knows)  because  he  did  not 
love  them,  but  because  he  would  cut  off  the  handle  from  those  who  wanted 
a  handle,  and  that,  in  this  topic  of  boasting,  he  and  his  opponents  might 
be  on  equal  grounds.  The  last  remark  is  a  keen  sarcasm,  since,  if  they 
charged  Paul  with  taking  money,  they  charged  him  with  the  very  thing 
which  he  did  not  do,  and  which  they  did.*  "  For  such,"  he  adds  with 
passionate  severity,  "  ai'e  false  Apostles,  deceitful  workers,  transforming 
themselves  into  Apostles  of  Christ ;  nor  is  this  to  be  wondered  at,  for 
Satan  himself  ti*ansforms  himself  into  an  angel  of  light.^  It  is  no  great 
thing  then,  if  also  His  ministers  transform  themselves  as  ministers  of 
righteousness,  whose  end  shall  be  according  to  their  works.  Again 
I  say,  Let  no  one  think  me  a  fool ;  or,  if  you  do,  receive  me  even 
as  you  would  receive  a  fool,  that  I  too,  as  well  as  they,  may  boast  a 
little."     He  claims  nothing  lofty  or  sacred  or  spiritual  for  this  determined 

*  xi.  5,  Twf  virepxiav  'Attoo-tJacov,  literally  "  the  extra-super  Apostles." 
There  is  undoubtedly  a  sense  of  indignation  in  the  use,  twice  over,  of  this 
strange  colloqiiialism  ;  but  it  is  aimed,  not  at  the  Twelve,  with  whom 
St.  Paul's  relations  were  always  courteous  and  respectful,  but  at  the 
extravagant  and  purely  human  claims  (mere  superiority,  Kark  crdpKa) 
asserted  for  them  by  these  emissaries.  He  compares  himself  with 
them  in  knowledge  (xi.  6),  in  self-denial  about  support  (xi.  6 — 21), 
in  privileges  of  birth  (22),  in  labours  and  perils  (23—33),  in  the  fact 
that  his  weakness  resulted  from  pre-eminent  revelations  (xii.  1 — 10),  and  in 
the  supei-natural  signs  of  Apostleship  (xii.  11, 12). 

-  xi.  6.  If  <pau€pd)ffavTfs  («,  B,  F,  G)  be  the  right  reading,  it  means  "  mani- 
festing it  (i.e.,  Tinoxdedfje)  to  you  in  everything  among  all." 

3  xi.  10,  leg.  <ppay{}(Terat. 

*  How  long  this  vile  calumny  continued  may  be  seen  in  the  identification 
of  him  with  Simon  Magus  iu  tlie  Clementines. 

"  This  incidentally  alludes  to  a  Hagadali  respecting  Job  i.  6,  or  the  angel 
who  wrestled  with  Jacob  (Eisenmenger,  Entd.  Judenth.  i.  845). 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  115 

boasting.  It  was  a  folly,  but  not  one  of  his  own  choosing.  Since 
many  adopted  this  worldly  style  of  boasting,  he  would  meet  them 
with  their  o^vn  weapons  ;  and  the  Corinthians,  since  they  wei'e  so  wise, 
would,  he  was  sure,  gladly  tolerate  mere  harmless  fools,  seeing  that 
they  tolerated  people  much  more  objectionable — people  who  enslaved, 
devoured,^  took  them  in — people  who  assumed  the  most  arrogant  pre- 
tensions— people  who  smote  them  in  the  face.^  "  Of  coui'se  all  this  is  to 
my  discredit,  it  shows  how  weak  I  was  in  not  adopting  a  similar  line  of 
conduct.  Yet,  speaking  in  this  foolish  way,  I  possess  every  qualifica- 
tion which  inspires  them  with  this  audacity.  I,  like  them,  am  a 
Hebrew,  an  Israelite,  of  the  seed  of  Abraham  ;^  I  am  not  only,  as  they 
claim  to  be,  a  minister  of  Christ,  but  (I  am  speaking  in  downright 
madness)  something  more."  And  then  follows  the  most  marvellous  frag- 
ment ever  written  of  any  biography  ;  a  fragment  beside  which  the  most 
imperilled  lives  of  the  most  suffering  saints  shrink  into  insignificance, 
and  which  shows  us  how  fractional  at  the  best  is  our  knowledge  of  the 
details  of  St.  Paul's  life — "  in  toils  more  abundantly,  in  stripes  above 
measure,  in  prisons  more  abundantly,  in  deaths  oft ;  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  day  have 
I  spent  in  the  deep  ;*  in  journeyings  often ;  in  perils  of  rivers,  in  perils 
of  robbers,  in  perils  from  my  own  race,  in  perils  from  Gentiles,  in  perils 
in  the  city,  in  perils  in  the  wilderness,  in  perils  in  the  sea,  in  perils 
among  false  brethren ;  in  toil  and  weariness,  in  sleeplessness  often,  in 
hunger  and  thirst,  in  fastings  often ;  besides  the  things  additional  to  all 
these,  the  care  which  daily  besets  me,*  my  anxiety  for  all  the  Churches. 
"Who  is  weak,  and  I  share  not  his  weakness  1  who  is  made  to  stumble, 
and  I  do  not  burn  with  indignation  ]  If  I  rmist  boast,  I  will  boast  of 
this,  the  weakness  to  which  I  alluded.  The  God  and  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  blessed  for  evermore,  knoweth  that  I  am  not 
lying.     In  Damascus  the  ethnarch  of  Aretas  the  king  was  guarding  the 

^  It  is  very  probable  that  the  Claudian  famine  had  made  many  needy 
Jewish  Christians  from  Jerusalem  go  the  round  of  the  Churches,  demanding 
and  receiving  the  Chaluka. 

2  Cf.  1  Kings  xxii.  24 ;  Matt.  v.  39 ;  Luke  xxii.  64;  Acts  xxiii.  2.  Even 
teachers  could  act  thus.     1  Tim.  iii.  3  ;  Titus  i.  7. 

3  We  can  hardly  imagine  that  the  Ebionite  lie  that  St.  Paul  was  a  Gentile, 
who  had  got  himself  circumcflsed  in  order  to  many  the  High  Priest's  daughter, 
had  as  yet  been  invented ;  yet  the  Tarsian  birth  and  Roman  franchise  may 
have  led  to  whispered  insinuations. 

*  Ex.  XV.  5  (LXX.).  Theophylact  makes  it  mean  "  in  Bythos,"  a  place  near 
Lystra,  after  the  stoning. 

*  xi.  28,  iTTlarcKxis  ( N,  B,  D,  E,  F,  G). 

i  2 


116  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

city  of  the  Dasmascenes,  wishing  to  seize  me  ;  and  through  a  window  in 
a  large  basket,  I  was  let  down  through  the  wall,  and  escaped  his  hands.  "^ 
Such  had  been  his  "  preparation  of  feebleness,"  without  which  he 
could  neither  have  been  what  he  was,  nor  have  done  what  he  did.  Such 
is  one  glimpse  of  a  life  never  since  equalled  in  self-devotion,  as  it 
was  also  "pre-saously  without  precedent  in  the  history  of  the  world." 
Here  he  breaks  off  that  part  of  the  subject.  Did  he  intend  similarly  to 
detail  a  series  of  other  hair-breadth  escapes  1  or  glancing  retrospectively 
at  his  perils,  does  he  end  with  the  earliest  and  most  ignominous  1  Or 
was  it  never  his  intention  to  enter  into  such  a  narrative,  and  did  he 
merely  mention  the  instance  of  ignominious  escape  at  Damascus,  so 
revolting  to  the  natural  dignity  of  an  Oriental  and  a  Eabbi,  as  a 
climax  of  the  disgraces  he  had  borne  1  We  cannot  tell.  At  that 
point,  either  because  he  was  interrupted,  or  because  his  mood  changed, 
or  because  it  occurred  to  him  that  he  had  already  shown  his  ample 
superiority  in  the  "  weakness  "  of  voluntary  humiliation  to  even  the  most 
"  super-apostolic  Apostles,"  he  here  stops  short,  and  so  deprives  us  of  a 
tale  inestimably  precious,  which  the  whole  world  might  have  read  -with 
breathless  interest,  and  from  which  it  might  have  learnt  invaluable 
lessons.  However  that  may  be,  he  suddenly  exclaims,  "  Of  course 
it  is  not  expedient  for  me  to  boast.^  I  will  come  to  visions  and 
revelations  of  the  Lord."  I  know  a  man  in  Christ  fourteen  years  ago 
(whether  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body^  I  know  not,  God  knows) 
snatched  such  an  one  as  far  as  the  thii'd  heaven.^  And  I  know 
such  a  man  (whether  in  the  body  or  apart  from  the  body  I  know- 
not,  God  knows)  that  he  was  snatched  into  Paradise,  and  heard 
unspeakable  utterances  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  man  to  speak. 
Of  such  an  one  I  will  boast — but  of  myself  I  will  not  boast  except 
in  these  weaknesses;  for  even  should  I  Avish  to  boast  I  shall  not 
be  a  fool ;  for  I  will  speak  the  truth.    But  I  forbear  lest  any  one  should 

^  xi.  1 — 33.  On  the  escape  from  Damascus,  see  supra,  Excursus  Vlll. 

2  5r;  is  the  most  forcible  and  natural  reading,  and  here  the  MSS.  vai-iations 
8e  {^,  D)  and  Se?  (B,  E,  F,  G)  are  probably  duo  to  itacism  or  misapprehen- 
sion. The  5r)  implies,  "  Ton  will  see  from  the  humiliating  escape  to  which  I 
have  just  so  solemnly  testified  that  in  my  case  boasting  is  not  expedient."  If 
the  following  "  for  "  (D)  be  correct,  it  is  due  to  counter-currents  of  feeling ; 
but  it  is  omitted  in  «,  B,  G. 

3  xii.  3.  leg.  x«p^^.  B,  D,  E.  The  physical  condition  was  probably  identical 
with  that  to  which  Hindu  psychologists  give  the  name  of  Tilrga, — a  fourth 
state,  besides  those  of  waking,  dreaming,  and  slumber.  The  Hindu  yogis 
call  it  Videha  sthiti,  and  dwell  rapturously  on  it  in  their  mystic  writings 
and  songs. 

♦  •The  "  third  heaven  "  occurs  here  only.     For  paradise,  see  Luke  xxiii.  43. 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  117 

estimate  about  me  above  what  he  sees  me  to  be,  or  hears  at  all 
fi'om  me.  And  to  prevent  my  over-exaltation  by  the  excess  of  the 
revelation,  there  was  given  me  a  stake  in  the  flesh,^  a  messenger  of  Satan 
to  buifet  me,  that  I  may  not  be  over-exalted.  About  this  I  thrice  be- 
sought the  Lord  that  it  (or  he)  may  stand  off  from  me.  And  He  has  said 
to  me,  '  My  grace  sufficeth  thee ;  for  my  power  is  perfected  in  weakness.' 
Most  gladly  then  wUl  I  rather  boast  in  my  weaknesses  that  the  power  of 
Chi-ist  may  spread  a  tent  over  me.^  That  is  why  I  boast  in  weaknesses, 
insults,  necessities,  persecutions,  distresses,  for  Christ's  sake.  For  when  I 
am  weak,  then  I  am  mighty,  I  have  become  a  fool  in  boasting.  You 
compelled  me.  For  I  ought  to  be  *  commended'  by  yoii,.  For  in  no  respect 
was  I  behind  the  *  out  and  out '  Apostles,^  even  though  I  am  nothing. 
Certainly  the  signs  of  an  Apostle  were  wrought  among  you  in  all  patience, 
by  signs,  and  portents,  ai).d  powers.  The  single  fact  that  I  did  not 
benumb  you  with  exactions  is  your  sole  point  of  inferiority  to  other 
Churches.  Forgive  me  this  injustice  !  See  a  third  time  I  am  ready  to 
come  to  you,  and  I  will  not  benumb  you,  for  I  seek  not  yours  but  you. 
Children  ought  to  treasure  up  for  their  parents,  but  so  far  from  receiving 
from  you,  I  wdl  very  gladly  spend  and  be  utterly  spent  for  your  souls, 
even  though  the  more  exceedingly  I  love  you,  the  less  I  am  loved.  But 
stop  !  though  I  did  not  biirden  you,  yet  '  being  a  cunning  person  I 
caught  you  by  guile.'  Under  the  pretext  of  a  collection  I  got  money 
out  of  you  by  my  confederates  !  I  ask  you,  is  that  a  fact  1  Did  Titus 
or  the  brother  whom  I  have  sent  with  him  over-reach  you  in  any 
respect  %  Did  not  they  behave  exactly  as  I  have  done  1  You  have 
long  been  fancying  that  all  this  is  by  way  of  self-defence  to  you.*  Do 
not  think  it !  You  are  no  judges  of  mine.  My  appeal  is  being  made 
in  the  presence  of  God  in  Christ ;  yet,  beloved,  it  has  all  been  for  your 
edification.  It  was  not  said  to  defend  myself,  but  to  save  us  from  a 
miserable  meeting,  lest  we  mutually  find  each  other  what  we  should  not 
wish ;  lest  I  find  you  buzzing  with  quarrels,  party  spirit,  outbreaks  of 
rage,  self-seekings,  slanders,  whisperings,  inflations,  turbulences ;  and 
lest,  on  my  return  to  you,  my  God  humble  me  in  my  relation  to  you, 
and  I  shall  mourn  over  many  of  those  who  have  sinned  before  and  not 
repented  for  the  uncleanness,  fornication,  and  wantonness  which  they 
practised.     It  is  the  third  time  that  I  am  intending  to  visit  you  ;°  it 

^  On  this  "  stake  in  the  flesh,"  v.  supra,  Excursus  X.    Ko\a(piQri,  lit.  "should 
slap  in  the  face." 

^  xii.  9,  iTriffK-nvtiari  iir'  kfil. 

3  xii.  1 — 11.  The  colloquialism  closely  reproduces  that  of  St.  Paul. 

4  nd\a,  (>*,  A,  B,  F,  G,  Yulg.). 

°  xii.  14.    He  has  been  at  Corinth  once ;  is  now  going  a  second  time  {-n-oiMv) ; 
and  had  once  intended  to  go.    This  is  hke  a  thing  attested  by  two  or  three 


118  THE    LIFE    AM)    WORK    OE    ST.  PAUL. 

will  be  like  the  confirming  evidence  of  two  or  tln-ee  witnesses.  I  have 
forewarned,  and  I  now  warn  these  persons  once  more  that,  if  I  come,  I 
will  not  spare.  Since  you  want  a  proof  that  Christ  speaks  in  me,  ye 
shall  have  it.  He  was  crucified  in  weakness ;  we  share  His  death  and 
His  weakness,  but  we  shall  also  share  His  life  and  power.  Prove 
yourselves,  test  yourselves.  Is  Christ  in  you,  or  are  you  spurioi^s 
Christians,  unable  to  abide  the  testi  You  will,  I  hope,  be  forced  to 
recognise  that  /  am  not  spurious ;  but  my  prayer  is  that  you  may  do  no 
evil,  not  that  my  genuineness  may  be  manifested  ;  that  you  may  do  what 
is  noble,  even  if  therewith  we  be  regarded  as  spurious.  Against  the 
truth,  against  genuine  faithfulness,  I  have  no  power,  but  only  for  it. 
Be  true  to  the  Gospel,  and  I  shall  be  powerless;  and  you  will  be 
mighty,  and  I  shall  rejoice  at  the  result.  I  ever  pray  for  this,  for 
your  perfection.  That  is  why  I  write  while  stUl  absent,  in  order  that 
when  present  I  may  have  no  need  to  exercise  against  you  with  abrupt 
severity^  the  power  which  the  Lord  gave  me,  and  gave  me  for  building 
up,  not  for  rasing  to  the  ground. "  ^ 

He  would  not  end  with  words  in  which  such  uncompromising  stern- 
ness mingled  with  his  immense  and  self-sacrificing  forbearance.  He 
adds,  therefore,  in  his  own  hand — "  Finally,  brethren,  farewell ;  be 
perfect,  be  comforted,  be  united,  be  at  peace ;  then  shall  the  God  of 
love  and  peace  be  with  you.  Salute  one  another  with  a  holy  kiss. 
All  the  saints  salute  you."  And  then  follows  the  fullest  of  his  Apostolic 
benedictions,  "  thence  adopted  by  the  Church  in  all  ages  as  the  final 
blessing  of  her  services  " — "  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the  love  of  God,  and  the  fellowship  of  the  Holy  Ghost  be  with  you  all."' 

witnesses,  and  will  certainly  be  fulfilled.  I  agree  with  Baur  in  saying, "  Let  us 
give  up  the  fiction  of  a  journey  for  which  we  can  find  no  reasonable  grounds  " 
{Paul.  ii.  320). 

'  aTTOTiiixws  only  in  Titus  i.  13,  not  in  LXX.  The  metaphor  is  either  "by 
way  of  amputation  "  or  "precipitately,"  as  in  Wisd.  v.  23 ;  oTroroyufo  (Rom.  xi.  22). 

2  xii.  13— xiii.  10. 

^  xiii.  11 — 13.  As  these  are  the  last  extant  words  of  St.  Paxil  to  the 
Corinthians,  it  is  interesting  to  see  what  was  the  condition  of  the  Church  when 
St.  Clement  of  Rome  wrote  to  them  thirty-five  years  later.  We  find  that 
they  were  stiU  somewhat  turbulent,  somewhat  'disunited,  somewhat  sceptical, 
and  St.  Clement  has  to  recall  to  them  the  examples  of  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul.  On  the  whole,  however,  we  can  see  that  the  appeals  and  arguments  of 
the  Apostle  in  these  two  letters  have  not  been  in  vain.  About  A.D.  135 
the  Church  was  visited  by  Hegesippus  (Euseb.  H.  E.  iv.  22),  who  .spoke 
favourably  of  their  obedience  and  liberality.  Their  Bishop  Dionysius  was 
exercising  a  widespread  influence.  In  spoaking  of  the  Resurrection,  St. 
Clement  alludes  to  the  Phoenix  {ad  Rom.  i.  24,  25),  which  in  tliat  age  excited 
much  interest  (Tac.  Ann.  vi.  28 ;  Phn.  H.  N.  x.  2).  Can  any  one  fail  to  see 
a  "grace  of  superinteudency "  in  the  absence  of  such  illustrations  from  the 
yiage  of  the   Apostles  ? 


CHAPTER   XXXiy. 

THE    SECOND    VISIT    TO    CORINTH. 

AtSuKTiKhv,   aue^lKUKou. — 2  Tim.  ii.  24. 

St.  Luke  passes  over  with  tlie  extremest  brevity  the 
second  sojourn  of  St.  Paul  in  Macedonia.  The  reason 
for  his  silence  may  have  been  that  the  period  was  not 
marked  by  any  special  events  sufficiently  prominent  to 
find  room  in  his  pages.  It  was  no  part  of  his  plan  to 
dwell  on  the  sources  of  inward  sorrow  which  weighed  so 
heavily  upon  the  mind  of  St.  Paul,  or  to  detail  the  afflictions 
which  formed  the  very  groundwork  of  his  ordinary  life. 
It  was  the  experience  of  St.  Paul,  more  perhaps  than 
that  of  any  man  who  has  ever  lived — even  if  we  select 
those  who  have  made  their  lives  a  sacrifice  to  some  great 
cause  of  God — that  life  was  a  tissue  of  minor  trials,  diver- 
sified by  greater  and  heavier  ones.  But  St.  Luke — not 
to  speak  of  the  special  purposes  which  seem  to  have  guided 
his  sketch — only  gives  us  full  accounts  of  the  events  which 
he  personally  witnessed,^  or  of  those  which  he  regarded  of 
capital  importance,  and  about  which  he  could  obtain  infor- 
mation which  he  knew  to  be  trustworthy.  It  is  one  of  the 
many  indications  of  the  scantiness  of  his  biography  that 
he  does  not  even  once  mention  a  partner  and  fellow- worker 
of  St.  Paul  so  dear  to  him,  so  able,  so  energetic,  and  so 
deeply  trusted  as  the  Greek  Titus,  of  whose  activity  and 
enthusiasm  the  Apostle  made  so  much  use  in  furthering 

*  So  the  Muratoriau  Oauon  :  "  acta  aute  omuiu  apostolorum  sub  uno 
libro  scribta  sxmt  lucas  optime  theofile  comprindit  quia  sub  praeseutia  ejus 
gingula  gerebantur." 


120  THE    LIFE    AISTD    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

the  Offertory,  and  in  the  3^et  more  delicate  task  of  dealing 
with  the  Christian  Corinthians  at  this  most  unsatisfactory 
crisis  of  their  troubled  history. 

St.  Luke  accordingly,  passing  over  the  distress  of  mind 
and  the  outward  persecution  which  St.  Paul  tells  us  he 
had  at  this  time  encountered,  sa3^s  nothing  about  the 
many  agitations  of  which  we  are  able  from  the  Epistles 
to  supply  the  outline.  All  that  he  tells  us  is  that  Paul 
passed  through  these  regions,  and  encouraged  them  with 
much  exhortation.  He  does  not  even  mention  the 
interesting  circumstance  that  having  preached  during  his 
second  journey  at  Philippi,  Thessalonica,  and  Beroea,  the 
capitals  respectively  of  Macedonia  Prima,  Secunda,  and 
Tertia,  he  now  utilised  the  intentional  postponement  of 
his  visit  to  Corinth  by  going  through  Macedonia  Quarta 
as  far  as  Illyricum.  Whether  he  only  went  to  the  borders 
of  Illyricum,  or  whether  he  entered  it  and  reached  as  far 
as  Dyrrachium,  and  even  as  Nicopolis,  and  whether  by 
Illyricum  is  meant  the  Greek  district  or  the  Poman 
province  ^  that  went  by  that  name,  Ave  cannot  tell ;  but 
at  any  rate  St.  Paul  mentions  this  country  as  marking  the 
circumference  of  the  outermost  circle  of  those  missionary 
journeys  of  which  Jerusalem  was  the  centre. 

That  the  Offertory  greatly  occupied  his  time  and 
thoughts  is  clear  from  his  own  repeated  allusions,  and  the 
prominence  which  he  gives  to  this  subject  in  the  Epistles 
to  the  Corinthians.  It  must  have  been  one  of  his  trials 
to  be  perpetually  pleading  for  pecuniary  contributions, 
among  little  bodies  of  converts  of  whom  the  majority 
were  not  only  plunged  in  poverty,  but  who  had  already 
made  the  most  conspicuous  sacrifices  on  behalf  of  their 
Christian  faith.  It  was  clear  to  him  that  this  fact  would 
be  unscrupulously  used  as  a  handle  agaiast  him.     How- 

1  Titus  unto  Dalmatia,  2  Tim.  iv.  10. 


SLANDERS   AGAINST    ST.    PAUL.  121 

ever  careful  and  businesslike  his  arrangements  might  be 
— however  strongly  he  might  insist  on  having  no  personal 
share  in  the  distribution,  or  even  the  treasurership  of  these 
funds — persons  would  not  be  wanting  to  whisper  the  base 
insinuation  that  Paul  found  his  own  account  in  them  by 
means  of  accomplices,  and  that  even  the  laborious  dili- 
gence with  which  he  worked  day  and  night  at  his  trade, 
and  failed  even  thus  to  ward  off  the  pains  of  want,  was 
only  the  cloak  for  a  deep-laid  scheme  of  avarice  and  self- 
aggrandisement.  It  was  still  worse  when  these  charges 
came  from  the  emissaries  of  the  very  Church  for  the  sake 
of  whose  poor  he  was  facing  this  disagreeable  work  of 
begging.^  But  never  was  there  any  man  in  this  world — 
however  innocent,  however  saintly  —  who  has  escaped 
malice  and  slander;  indeed,  the  virulence  of  this  malice 
and  the  persistency  of  this  slander  are  often  proportionate 
to  the  courage  wherewith  he  confronts  the  baseness  of 
the  world.  St.  Paul  did  not  profess  to  be  indifferent 
to  these  stings  of  hatred  and  calumny;  he  made  no 
secret  of  the  agony  which  they  caused  him.  He  was, 
on  the  contrary,  acutely  sensible  of  their  gross  injustice, 
and  of  the  hindrance  which  they  caused  to  the  great 
work  of  his  life ;  and  the  irony  and  passion  with  which, 
on  fitting  occasions,  he  rebuts  them  is  a  measure  of 
the  suffering  which  they  caused.  But,  as  a  rule,  he  left 
them  unnoticed,  and  forgave  those  by  whom  they  were 
perpetrated : — 

"  Assailed  by  slander  and  the  tongue  of  strife, 
His  only  answer  was  a  blameless  life  ; 
And  he  that  forged  and  he  that  flung  the  dart, 
Had  each  a  brother's  interest  in  his  heart." 

*  To  this  day  the  Chaluka  and  Kadima  at  Jerusalem  are  the  source  of 
endless  heart-burnings  and  jealousies,  and  cause  no  particle  of  gratitude,  but 
are  accepted  by  the  Jews  as  a  testimonial  to  the  high  desert  of  living  in  the 
Holy  City. 


122  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Eor  he  was  not  the  man  to  neglect  a  duty  because  it 
was  disagreeable,  or  because  his  motives  in  undertaking 
it  might  be  misinterpreted.  And  the  motives  by  which 
he  was  actuated  in  this  matter  were  peculiarly  sacred. 
In  the  first  place,  the  leading  Apostles  at  Jerusalem  had 
bound  him  by  a  special  promise  to  take  care  of  their  poor, 
almost  as  a  part  of  the  hard- wrung  compact  by  which 
their  Church  had  consented  to  waive,  in  the  case  of 
Gentile  converts,  the  full  acceptance  of  legal  obligations. 
In  the  second  place,  the  need  really  existed,  and  was  even 
urgent ;  and  it  was  entirely  in  consonance  with  St.  Paul's 
own  feelings  to  give  them  practical  proof  of  that  brotherly 
love  which  he  regarded  as  the  loftiest  of  Christian  virtues. 
Then,  further,  in  his  early  days,  his  ignorant  zeal  had 
inflicted  on  the  Church  of  Jerusalem  a  deadly  injury,  and 
he  would  fain  show  the  sincerity  and  agony  of  his  re- 
pentance by  doing  all  he  could,  again  and  again,  to  repair 
it.  Lastly,  he  had  a  hope — sometimes  strong  and  some- 
times weak — that  so  striking  a  proof  of  disinterested 
generosity  on  the  part  of  the  Gentile  Churches  which  he 
had  founded  would  surely  touch  the  hearts  of  the 
Pharisaic  section  of  the  mother  Church,  and  if  it  could 
not  cement  the  differences  between  the  Christians  of 
Judsea  and  Heathendom,  would  at  least  prevent  the 
needless  widening  of  the  rift  which  separated  them.  At 
moments  of  deeper  discouragement,  writing  from  Corinth 
to  Pome,^  while  he  recognises  the  ideal  fitness  of  an  effort 
on  the  part  of  Gentile  Christians  to  show,  by  help  in 
temporal  matters,  their  sense  of  obligation  for  the  spiritual 
blessings  which  had  radiated  to  them  from  the  Holy  City, 
and  while  he  looks  on  the  contribution  as  a  harvest 
gathering  to  prove  to  Jewish  Christians  the  genuineness 

1  Rom.  XV.  25—32. 


SETS    OUT    FOR    CORINTH.  123 

of  the  seed  sown  among  the  heathen,  he  yet  has  obvious 
misgivings  about  the  spirit  in  which  even  this  offering 
may  be  accepted,  and  most  earnestly  entreats  the  Eomans 
not  only  to  agonise  with  him  in  their  prayers  to  God  that 
he  may  be  delivered  from  Jewish  violence  in  Judaea,  but 
also  that  the  bounty  of  which  he  was  the  chief  minister 
might  be  graciously  received.  It  may  be  that  by  that  time 
experiences  of  conflict  with  the  Judaisers  in  Corinth  may 
have  somewhat  damped  the  fervour  of  his  hopes;  for  before 
his  arrival  there/  he  gives  expression  to  glowing  antici- 
pations that  their  charitable  gifts  would  not  only  relieve 
undeserved  distress,  but  would  be  a  proof  of  sincere 
allegiance  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  would  call  forth  deep 
thankfulness  to  God.^  Alas  !  those  glowing  anticipations 
were  doomed — there  is  too  much  reason  to  fear — to  utter 
disappointment. 

Having  finished  his  work  in  the  whole  of  Macedonia, 
and  finding  no  more  opportunity  for  usefulness  in  those 
parts,^  he  at  last  set  out  on  his  way  to  Corinth.  It 
was  probably  towards  the  close  of  the  year  57,  but 
whether  Paul  travelled  by  sea  or  land,  and  from 
what  point  he  started,  we  do  not  know.  After  his 
journey  into  Macedonia  Quarta,  he  perhaps  returned  to 
Thessalonica,  which  was  a  convenient  place  of  rendezvous 
for  the  various  brethren  who  now  accompanied  him. 
The  number  of  his  associates  makes  it  most  probable 
that  he  chose  the  less  expensive,  though,  at  that  late 
season  of  the  year,  more  dangerous  mode  of  transit,  and 
took  ship  from  Thessalonica  to  Cenchreae.  The  care  of 
the  money,  and  his  own  determination  to  have  nothing 
to   do  with   it,  rendered  it  necessary  for  the   treasurers 

»  2  Cor.  viii.  24 ;  ix.  12—15. 

2  Cor.  ix.  14. 
•  Rom.  XT.  23,  /iTjKeTt  riitov  exw  «V  to7s  KXifiaai  roirois. 


124  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

appointed  by  the  scattered  communities  to  accompany  Ms 
movements.  The  society  of  these  fellow-travellers  must 
have  been  a  source  of  deep  happiness  to  the  over-tried 
and  over-vi^earied  Apostle,  and  the  sympathy  of  such 
devoted  friends  must  have  fallen  like  dew  upon  his 
soul.  There  was  the  young  and  quiet  Timothy,  the 
beloved  companion  of  his  life;  there  was  Tychicus,  who 
had  been  won  in  the  school  of  Tyrannus,  and  remained 
faithful  to  him  to  the  very  last ;  ^  there  was  Gains  of 
Derbe,  a  living  memorial  of  the  good  work  done  in  his 
earliest  missionary  journey.  Thessalonica  had  contri- 
buted no  less  than  three  to  the  little  band — Jason,  his 
fellow-countryman,  if  not  his  kinsman,  whose  house  at 
St.  Paul's  first  visit  had  been  assaulted  by  a  raging  mob, 
which,  failing  to  find  his  guest,  had  dragged  him  before 
the  Politarchs  ;  Aristarchus,  who  had  shared  with  him  the 
perils  of  Ephesus,  as  he  subsequently  shared  his  voj^age  and 
shipwreck;  and  Secundus,of  whom  no  particulars  are  known. 
Besides  these  Beroea  had  despatched  Sopater,  a  Jewish 
convert,  who  is  one  of  those  who  sends  his  greetings  to  the 
Boman  Christians.^  In  Corinth  itself  he  was  again  looking 
forward  to  a  meeting  with  some  of  his  dearest  friends — 
with  Titus,  whose  courage  and  good  sense  rendered  him  so 
invaluable  ;  with  Luke  the  beloved  physician,  who  was  in 
all  probability  the  delegate  of  Philippi ;  with  Trophimus, 
an  Ephesian  Greek,  the  fatal  but  innocent  cause  of  St.  Paul's 
arrest  at  Jerusalem,  destined  long  afterwards  to  start  with 
him  on  his  voyage  as  a  prisoner,  but  prevented  from 
sharing  his  last  sufferings  by  an  illness  with  which  he 
was  seized  at  Miletus  ;^  and  with  the  many  Corinthian 
Christians — Justus,  Sosthenes,  Erastus,  Tertius,  Quartus, 

1  2  Tim.  iv.  12. 

'  Rom.  xvi.  21.    The  exact  sense  which  St.  Paul  attributed  to  ffvyyeyiis  is 
uncertain. 

»  2  Tim.  iv.  20. 


ST.    PAUL   AND    HIS    FRIENDS. 


125 


Stephanas,  Fortunatus,  Acliaicns,  and  lastly  Gains  of 
Corinth,  with  whom  St.  Paul  intended  to  stay,  and  whose 
open  house  and  Christian  hospitality  were  highly  valued 
by  the  Church. 

The  gathering  of  so  many  Christian  hearts  could  not  fail 
to  be  a  bright  point  in  the  cloudy  calendar  of  the  Apostle's 
life.  What  happy  evenings  they  must  have  enjoyed,  while 
the  toil  of  his  hands  in  no  way  impeded  the  outpouring 
of  his  soul !  what  gay  and  genial  intercourse,  such  as  is 
possible  in  its  highest  degree  only  to  pure  and  holy  souls  ! 
what  interchange  of  thoughts  and  hopes  on  the  deepest  of 
all  topics  !  what  hours  of  mutual  consolation  amid  deepening 
troubles  ;  what  delightful  Agapse  ;  what  blessed  partaking 
of  the  Holy  Sacrament ;  what  outpourings  of  fervent 
prayer !  For  three  months  St.  Paul  stayed  at  Corinth,  and 
during  those  three  months  he  wrote,  in  all  probability,  the 
Epistle  to  the  Calatians,  and  certainly  the  Epistle  to  the 
Eomans — two  of  the  most  profound  and  memorable  of  all 
his  writings.^     And  since  it  was  but  rarely  that  he  was  his 


^  The  subtle  indications  that  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  was  written 
nearly  at  the  same  time  as  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  consist  of 
casual  reflections  of  the  same  expression  and  pre-occupation  with  the  same 
order  of  thought.  The  tone,  feeling,  style,  and  mode  of  argument  show  the 
greatest  similarity.     Compare,  for  instance — 


Corinthians. 

Galatians. 

2  Corinthians. 

Galatians 

i.  1      

.    ...    i.  1. 

xi.  2       

...    iv.  17. 

xi.  4    

.    ...    i.  6. 

xi.  20     

...    v.15. 

V.  11 

.    ...    i.  10. 

xii.  20,  21      ... 

...    V.  20,21. 

xii.  11 

.     ...    ii.  6. 

ii.  7 

...    vi.  1. 

V.15 

.     ...    ii.  20. 

xiii.  5     

...    vi.  4. 

viii.  6 

.     ...     iii.  3. 

ix.6       

...    vi.8. 

V.21 

.     ...     iii.  13. 

T.  17         

...    vi.  15. 

These  are  but  specimens  of  coincidence  in  thought  and  expression,  which  might 
be  almost  indefinitely  multiplied.  To  dwell  on  the  close  resemblance  between 
Galatians  and  Romans  is  needless.  It  was  noticed  a  thousand  years  ago.  The 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians  is  the  rough  sketch,  that  to  the  Romans  the  finished 
picture.     The  former  is  an  impassioned  controversial  personal  statement  of 


126  THE    LIFE   AND    WORK!    OF   ST.  PAtTL. 

own  amanuensis — since  it  is  his  custom  to  associate  one 
or  more  and  sometimes  the  whole  body  of  his  fellow- 
travellers  with  himself  in  the  superscriptions  of  his  letters, 
as  well  as  to  send  greetings  from  them — may  we  not 
reorard  it  as  certain  that  those    letters  were  read  aloud 

o 

to  the  little  knot  of  friends,  and  formed  fruitful  topics 
of  long  and  earnest  discussion  ?  Did  even  St.  Paul 
anticipate  that  those  few  rolls  of  papyrus  would  be 
regarded  to  the  latest  ages  of  the  world  as  a  priceless 
treasure  ? 

But  what  was  the  state  of  things  which  the  Apostle 
found  when  he  stepped  out  of  the  house  of  Gains  into  the 
house  of  Justus  ?  It  was  St.  Luke's  object  to  show  the 
fundamental  unity  which  existed  among  Christians,  and 
not  to  dwell  upon  the  temporary  differences  which  un- 
happily divided  them.  He  does  not,  indeed,  conceal  the 
existence  of  discordant  elements,  but  his  wish  seems  to 
have  been  to  indicate  the  essential  harmony  which  these 
discords  might  disturb,  but  not  destroy.  He  has  not, 
therefore,  told  us  a  single  detail  of  St.  Paul's  encounter 
with  the  false  Apostles,  the  deceitful  workers  who  had 
huckstered  and  adulterated  the  Word  of  God,  or  with  that 
one  insolent  and  overbearing  emissary,  who  with  his 
stately  presence,  trained  utterance,  and  immense  preten- 
sions, backed  with  credentials  from  Jerusalem  and  possibly 
with  the  prestige  of  a  direct  knowledge  of  Christ,  had 
denied  St.  Paul's  Apostleship,  and  omitted  no  opportunity 
of  blackening  his  character.  Did  this  man  face  St.  Paul  ? 
Did  his  followers  abide  by  the  defiance  which  the}^  had 
expressed  towards  him  ?     Was  there  a  crisis  in  which  it 

the  relation  of  Gentile  Cliristians  mainly  to  one  legal  obligation — circum- 
cision ;  the  latter  is  a  calm,  systematic,  general  treatise  on  the  relations  of  the 
Gospel  to  the  Law.  An  instructive  comparison  of  Gal.  iii.  6 — 29  with  Rom. 
iv.,  &c.,  will  be  found  in  Lightfoot's  Galatians,  pp.  44 — 46. 


ST.    PAUL    IN    CORINTH.  127 

was  decisively  tested  on  which  side  the  true  power  lay  ? 
Did  he  after  all  come  with  a  rod,  or  in  the  spirit  of  meek- 
ness ?  was  the  proof  of  his  Apostleship  given  by  the 
exercise  of  discipline,  and  the  utterance  of  excommunica- 
tions which  struck  terror  into  flagrant  apostates,  or  did  the 
returning  allegiance  of  the  erring  flock,  and  the  increase 
of  holiness  among  them,  render  it  unnecessary  to  resort  to 
stringent  measures  ?  To  all  these  questions  we  can  return 
no  certain  answer.  TVe  may  imagine  the  hush  of  awful 
expectation  with  which  the  little  community  gathered  in 
the  room  of  Justus  would  receive  the  first  entrance  and 
the  first  utterances  of  one  whose  love  they  had  so  terribly 
tried,  and  against  whose  person  they  had  levelled  such 
unworthy  sarcasms.  Personal  questions  would,  however, 
weigh  least  with  him.  They  knew  well  that  it  was  not 
for  party  opposition  but  for  moral  contumacy  that  his 
thunders  would  be  reserved.  Since  many  of  them  were 
heinous  offenders,  since  many  had  not  even  repented  after 
serious  warnings,  how  must  they  have  shuddered  with 
dread,  how  must  their  guilty  consciences  have  made 
cowards  of  them  all,  when  at  last,  after  more  than  three 
years,  they  stood  face  to  face  with  one  who  could  hand 
them  too  over  to  Satan  with  all  the  fearful  consequences 
which  that  sentence  entailed !  Over  all  these  scenes  the 
veil  of  oblivion  has  fallen.  The  one  pen  that  might  have 
recorded  them  has  written  nothing,  nor  do  we  hear  a  single 
rumour  from  any  other  source.  But  that  for  the  time  the 
Apostle  triumphed — that  whether  in  consequence  of  an 
actual  exertion  of  power,  or  of  a  genuine  repentance  on  the 
part  of  his  opponents,  his  authority  was  once  more  firmly 
established — we  may  infer  from  his  hint  that  until  the 
Corinthian  difficulties  were  removed  he  could  take  no  other 
task  in  hand,  and  that  in  the  Epistles  which  he  wrote 
during  these  three  months  of  his  residence  at  the  Achaian 


128  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

capital  lie  contemplates  yet  wider  missions  and  freely  yields 
himself  to  new  activities.-^ 

Yet,  amid  our  ignorance  of  facts,  we  do  possess  the 
means  of  reading  the  inmost  thoughts  which  were  passing 
through  the  soul  of  St.  Paul.  The  two  Epistles  which  he 
despatched  during  those  three  months  were  in  many  respects 
the  most  important  that  he  ever  wrote,  and  it  inspires  us 
with  the  highest  estimate  of  his  intellectual  power  to 
know  that,  within  a  period  so  short  and  so  much  occupied 
with  other  duties  and  agitations,  he  yet  found  time  to 
dictate  the  Letter  to  the  Galatians,  which  marks  an  epoch  in 
the  history  of  the  Church,  and  the  Letter  to  the  Eomans, 
which  may  well  he  regarded  as  the  most  important  of  aU 
contributions  to  the  system  of  its  theology. 

1  Eom.  i.  13  ;  XV.  24,  32. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

IMPORTANCE    OF    THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

"  In  Ex.  xxxii.  16,  for  charuth,  '  graven,'  read  cheruth,  '  freedom,'  for 
thou  wilt  find  no  freeman  but  him  who  is  engaged  in  the  Thorah." — R.  Meir 
{Perek.  2). 

"  He  is  a  freeman  whom  the  Truth  makes  free, 
And  all  are  slaves  beside." 

...     irapo/cuifos  els  v6ixov  reKeioi/  rbp  rrjs  eKevdeplas     .     .      .     (JaMES  i.  25). 

We  have  alread}?-  seen  that  in  his  brief  second  visit  to 
the  Churches  of  Gralatia,  on  his  road  to  Ephesus,  St.  Paul 
seems  to  have  missed  the  bright  enthusiasm  which  wel- 
comed his  first  preaching.  His  keen  eye  marked  the  germs 
of  coming  danger,  and  the  warnings  which  he  uttered 
weakened  the  warmth  of  his  earlier  relationship  towards 
them.  But  he  could  hardly  have  expected  the  painful 
tidings  that  converts  once  so  dear  and  so  loving  had 
relapsed  from  everything  which  was  distinctive  in  his 
teaching  into  the  shallowest  ceremonialism  of  his  Judaising 
opponents.  Already,  whoever  sanctioned  them,  these  men 
had  spoilt  his  best  work,  and  troubled  his  happy  disciples 
at  Antioch  and  at  Corinth,  and  they  had  their  eye  also  on 
Ephesus.  Thus  to  intrude  themselves  into  other  men's 
labours — ^thus  to  let  him  bear  the  brunt  of  all  dangers  and 
labours  while  they  tried  to  monopolise  the  result — to 
watch  indifferently  and  unsympathetically  while  the  sower 
bore  forth  his  good  seed,  weeping,  and  then  securely  to 
thrust  their  blunt  and  greedy  sickles  into  the  ripening 
grain — to  dog  the  footsteps  of  the  bold,  seK- sacrificing 
J 


130  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

missionary  with  easy,  well-to-do  men-pleasers,  who,  with  no 
personal  risk,  stole  in  his  absence  into  the  folds  which 
he  had  constructed,  in  order  to  worry  with  privy  paws 
his  defenceless  sheep — to  trouble  with  their  petty  for- 
malisms and  artificial  orthodoxies  the  crystal  water  of 
Christian  simplicity  and  Christian  happiness — to  endanger 
thus  the  whole  future  of  Christianity  by  trying  to  turn 
it  from  the  freedom  of  a  universal  Gfospel  into  the 
bondage  of  a  Judaic  law — to  construct  a  hedge  which, 
except  at  the  cost  of  a  cutting  in  the  flesh,  should  exclude 
the  noblest  of  the  Gentiles  while  it  admitted  the  vilest  of 
the  Jews — all  this,  to  the  clear  vision  of  St.  Paul,  seemed 
bad  enough.  But  thus  to  thrust  themselves  among  the 
little  communities  of  his  Galatian  converts  —  to  take 
advantage  of  their  warm  affections  and  weak  intellects — 
to  play  on  the  vacillating  frivolity  of  purpose  which  made 
them  such  easy  victims,  especially  to  those  who  offered 
them  an  external  cult  far  more  easy  than  spiritual 
religion,  and  bearing  a  fascinating  resemblance  to  their 
old  ceremonial  paganism — this  to  St.  Paul  seemed  in- 
tolerably base. 

Vexed  at  this  Galatian  fickleness,  and  stung  with 
righteous  indignation  at  those  who  had  taken  advantage 
of  it,  he  seized  his  pen  to  express  in  the  most  unmis- 
takable language  his  opinion  of  the  falsity  and  worthless- 
ness  of  the  limits  into  which  these  Christian  Pharisees 
wished  to  compress  the  principles  of  Christianity — ^the 
worn-out  and  burst  condition  of  the  old  bottles  in  which 
they  strove  to  store  the  rich,  fresh,  fermenting  wine.  It 
was  no  time  to  pause  for  nice  inquiries  into  motives, 
or  careful  balancing  of  elements,  or  vague  compromise,  or 
polished  deference  to  real  or  assumed  authority.  It  was 
true  that  this  class  of  men  came  from  Jerusalem,  and 
that   they  belonged   to   the  very  Church   of    Jerusalem 


JUDAIC    EMISSARIES.  131 

for  whose  poorer  members  he  was  making  such  large 
exertions.  It  was  true  that,  in  one  flagrant  instance  at 
any  rate,  they  had,  or  professed  to  have,  the  authority 
of  James.  Could  it  be  that  James,  in  the  bigotry  of 
lifelong  habit,  had  so  wholly  failed  to  add  understanding 
and  knowledge  to  his  scrupulous  holiness,  that  he  was 
lending  the  sanction  of  his  name  to  a  work  which  St, 
Paul  saw  to  be  utterly  ruinous  to  the  wider  hopes  of 
Christianity?  If  so,  it  could  not  be  helped.  James 
was  but  a  man — a  holy  man  indeed,  and  a  man  inspired 
with  the  knowledge  of  great  and  ennobling  truths — but 
no  more  faultless  or  infallible  than  Peter  or  than  Paul 
himself.  If  Peter,  more  than  once,  had  memorably 
wavered,  James  also  might  waver ;  and  if  so,  James  in 
this  instance  was  indubitably  in  the  wrong.  But  St.  Paul, 
at  least,  never  says  so ;  nor  does  he  use  a  word  of  dis- 
respect to  "  the  Lord's  brother."  The  Church  of  Jeru- 
salem had,  on  a  previous  occasion,  expressly  repudiated 
others  who  professed  to  speak  in  their  name ;  nor  is 
there  any  proof  that  they  had  ever  sanctioned  this  sort 
of  counter-mission  of  espionage,  which  was  subversive  of 
all  progress,  of  all  liberty,  and  even  of  all  morals.  Por, 
whoever  may  have  been  these  Judaic  teachers,  vanity, 
party  spirit,  sensuality,  had  followed  in  their  wake. 
They  must  be  tested  by  their  fruits,  and  those  fruits  were 
bitter  and  poisonous.  Some  of  them,  at  least,  were  bad 
men,  anxious  to  stand  well  with  everybody,  and  to  sub- 
stitute an  outward  observance  for  a  true  religion.  Greed, 
self-importance,  extemalism,  were  everything  to  them; 
the  Cross  was  nothing.  If  they  had  not  been  bad  men 
they  would  not  have  been  so  grossly  inconsistent  as  to 
manipulate  and  evade  the  Law  to  which  they,  professed 
allegiance.  If  they  had  not  been  bad  men  they  would 
not  have  made  the  free  use  they  did  of  the  vilest  of  contro- 

i  2 


132  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

verslal  weapons — surreptitious  sneers  and  personal  slanders. 
Yet  by  such  base  means  as  these  they  had  persistently  tried 
to  undermine  the  influence  of  their  great  opponent.  They 
systematically  disparaged  his  authority.  He  was,  they 
said,  no  Apostle  whatever ;  he  was  certainly  not  one  of 
the  Twelve  ;  he  had  never  seen  Jesus  except  in  a  vision, 
and  therefore  lacked  one  essential  of  the  Apostolate  ;  all 
that  he  knew  of  Christianity  he  had  learnt  at  Jerusalem, 
and  that  he  had  wilfully  perverted ;  his  Gospel  was  not 
the  real  Grospel;  such  authority  as  he  had  was  simply 
derived  from  the  heads  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  to 
whom  his  doctrines  must  be  referred.  Many  of  his 
present  developments  of  teaching  were  all  but  blasphemous. 
They  were  a  daring  apostasy  from  the  oral  and  even  from 
the  written  Law ;  a  revolt  against  the  traditions  of  the 
fathers,  and  even  against  Moses  himself.  Was  not  his 
preaching  a  denial  of  all  inspiration  ?  Could  they  not 
marshal  against  him  an  array  of  innumerable  texts  ? 
"Was  not  well-nigh  every  line  of  the  five  books  of  Moses 
against  him  ?  Wlio  was  this  Paul,  this  renegade  from  the 
Eabbis,  who,  for  motives  best  known  to  himself,  had  become 
a  nominal  Christian  from  a  savage  persecutor  ?  Who  was 
he  that  he  should  set  himself  against  the  Grreat  Law- 
giver?^ If  he  argued  that  the  Law  was  abrogated,  how 
could  he  prove  it?  Christ  had  never  said  so.  On  the 
contrary,  He  had  said  that  not  a  fraction  of  a  letter  of 
the  Law  should  pass  till  all  was  fulfilled.  To  that  the 
Twelve  could  bear  witness.     They  kept  the  Law.     They 

'  The  elements  of  the  above  paragraph  are  drawn  partly  from  the  "  Gala- 
tians,"  partly  from  the  "  Corinthians."  For  the  Ebiouite  slanders  against 
St.  Paul,  see  Iren.  Adv.  Haer.  i.  28 ;  Euseb.  E.  E.  iii.  27 ;  Epiphan.  Haer. 
XXX.  25  ;  Ps.  Clem.  Horn.  ii.  17 — 19.  "  Totius  mundi  odio  me  onera\'i,"  says 
Luther,  "  qui  olim  eram  tutissimus.  Miuisterium  Ecclesiac  omnibus  periculis 
expositum  est,  Diaboli  insultationibus,  mundi  ingratitudini,  sectarum  blas- 
phemiis"  {Colloq.  i.  13). 


ATTACKS    ON    ST.    PAUL.  133 

were  living  at  peace  with  tlieir  Jewisli  brethren  who 
yet  did  not  recognise  Jesus  as  the  Messiah.  Must 
not  Paul's  opinions  be  antagonistic  to  theirs,  if  he 
was  the  only  Christian  who  could  not  show  his  face 
at  Jerusalem  without  exciting  the  danger  of  a  tumult? 
Besides,  he  was  really  not  to  be  trusted.  He  was 
al\va3^s  shifting  about,  now  saying  one  thing  and  now 
another,  with  the  obvious  intention  of  pleasing  men. 
What  could  be  more  inconsistent  than  his  teaching  and 
conduct  with  regard  to  circumcision  ?  He  had  told  the 
Galatians  that  they  need  not  be  circumcised,  and  yet  he 
himself  had  once  preached  circumcision — aye,  and  more 
than  preached  it,  he  had  practised  it !  Would  he  answer 
these  two  significant  questions  —  Who  circumcised 
Timothy  ?     Who  circumcised  Titus  ? 

St.  Paul  saw  that  it  was  time  to  speak  out,  and  he  did 
speak  out.  The  matter  at  issue  was  one  of  vital  import- 
ance. The  very  essence  of  the  Gospel — the  very  liberty 
which  Christ  had  given — the  very  redemption  for  which 
He  had  died — was  at  stake.  The  fate  of  the  battle  hunsr 
apparently  upon  his  single  arm.  He  alone  was  the 
Apostle  of  the  Grentiles.  To  him  alone  had  it  been 
granted  to  see  the  full  bearings  of  this  question.  A  new 
faith  must  not  be  choked  at  its  birth  by  the  past  preju- 
dices of  its  nominal  adherents.  Its  grave-clothes  must 
not  thus  be  made  out  of  its  swaddling-bands.  The 
hour  had  come  when  concession  was  impossible,  and 
tliere  must  be  no  facing  both  ways  in  the  character 
of  his  conciliatoriness.  Accordingly  he  flung  all  reti- 
cence and  all  compromise  to  the  winds.  Hot  with 
righteous  anger,  he  wrote  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians. 
It  was  his  gage  of  battle  to  the  incompetence  of  tra- 
ditional authority — his    trumpet-note   of   defiance   to   all 


134  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

the  Pharisees  of   Christianity,  and  it  gave  no  uncertain 
sound.  ^ 

Happily,  he  could  give  distinctness  to  his  argument 
by  bringing  it  to  bear  on  one  definite  point.  In  re- 
covering the  lost  outwork  of  Galatia  he  would  carrj^  the 
war  into  the  camp  of  Jerusalem.  The  new  teachers 
asserted,  as  at  Antioch,  the  necessity  of  circumcision  for 
Grentile  Christians.  If  Paul  could  storm  that  bastion  ol 
Judaising  Christianity,  he  knew  that  the  whole  citadel 
must  fall.  Circumcision  was  the  very  badge  of  Jewish 
nationality — the  very  nucleus  of  Jewish  ceremonialism; 
the  earliest,  the  most  peculiar,  the  most  ineffaceable  of 
Jewish  rites.  Adam,  Noah,  Jacob,  Joseph,.  Moses,  Balaam, 
had  all  been  born  circumcised.^  So  completely  was  it  the 
seal  of  the  Covenant,  that  it  had  been  given  not  even  to 
Moses,  but  to  Abraham.  Joseph  had  seen  that  it  was 
duly  performed  in  Egypt.  Moses  had  insisted  upon 
it  at  all  risks  in  Midian.  Joshua  had  renewed  it  in 
Canaan ;  and  so  sacred  was  it  deemed  to  be  that  the  stone 
knives  with  which  it  had  been  performed  were  buried  in 
his  grave  at  Timnath  Serah.  Was  there  a  king  or  prophet 
who  had  not  been  circumcised  ?  Had  not  Jesus  Himself 
submitted  to  circumcision  ?  Was  not  Elias  supposed  to 
be  always  present,  though  unseen,  to  witness  its  due  per- 
formance? Was  not  the  mechanical  effacement  of  it 
regarded  as  the  most  despicable  of  Hellenising  apostasies  ? 
It  was  true  that  in  the  temporary  and  local  letter  which 
the  Apostles  had  sanctioned  they  had  said  that  it  was  not 
indispensahle  for  Gentile  converts ;  but  a  thing  might  not 

*  "  It  was  necessary  that  the  particularisms  of  Judaism,  which  opposed  to 
the  heathen  world  so  repellent  a  demeanour  and  such  offensive  claims,  should 
be  uprooted,  and  the  baselessness  of  its  prejudices  and  pretensions  fully  ex- 
posed to  the  world's  eye.  This  was  the  ser\'ice  which  the  Apostle  achieved  for 
mankind  by  his  magnificent  dialectic  "  (Baur,  First  Three.  Centuries,  i.  73). 

8  Abhoth  of  Rabbi  Nathan,  oh.  ii. 


JEWISH    PROSELYTES.  135 

be  indispensable,  and  yet  might  be  pre-eminently  desirable. 
Let  them  judge  for  themselves.  Did  they  not  hear  the 
Law  read?  Was  not  the  Law  inspired?  If  so,  how 
could  they  arbitrarily  set  it  aside  ?  ^ 

It  was  ever  thus  that  Judaism  worked,  beginning  w^ith 
the  Psalms  and  pure  Monotheism,  and  then  proceeding  to 
the  knife  of  circumcision,  and  the  yoke  of  the  Levitic  Law, 
in  which  they  entangled  and  crushed  their  slaves.^  It  was 
ever  thus  that  they  compassed  sea  and  land  to  make  one 
proselyte,  and  when  they  had  got  him,  made  him  ten 
times  more  the  child  of  Gehenna  than  themselves.  There 
was  nothing  at  which  the  Jew  gloried  so  much  as  thus 
leaving  his  mark  on  the  very  body  of  the  despised  and 
hated  heathen — hardly  less  despised  and  hated,  almost 
even  more  so,  if  he  had  hoped  to  equal  them  and  their 
privileges  by  consenting  to  become  a  Jew.  It  was  thus 
that  they  had  got  into  their  net  the  royal  family  of 
Adiabene.  Helena,  the  amiable  queen  who  fed  the 
paupers  of  Jerusalem  with  dried  figs  and  grapes  in  the 
famine  of  Claudius,  and  who  now  lies  interred  with 
some  of  her  children  in  the  Tombs  of  the  Kings,  had 
taken  upon  her  the  vow  of  the  Nazarite  for  seven  years. 
Just  before  the  completion  of  the  vow  at  Jerusalem,  she 
had — was'  it  accidentally,  or  by  some  trickery  ? — touched 
a  corpse,  and  therefore  had  to  continue  the  vow  for  seven 

'  "  But  for  circumcision,  heaven  and  earth  could  not  exist ;  for  it  is  said, 
'  Save  for  (the  sign  of)  my  covenant,  I  should  not  have  made  day  and  night 
the  ordinances  of  heaven  and  earth ' "  {Nedarim,  f .  32,  col.  1,  referring  to 
Jerem.  xxxiii.  25).  The  same  remark  is  made  about  the  whole  Law.  Rabbi 
(Juda  Hakkadosh)  says  how  great  is  circumcision,  since  it  is  equivalent  to  all 
the  commandments  of  the  Law,  for  it  is  said,  "Behold  the  blood  of  the 
covenant  which  the  Lord  hath  made  with  you,  concerning  all  (Heb.,  above  all) 
these  words  "  (Ex.  xxiv.  8). — Nedarim,  f.  32,  1.  Angels  so  detest  an  uncir- 
cumcised  person  that,  when  God  spoke  to  Abraham  before  circumcision,  He 
spoke  in  Aramaic,  which,  it  appears,  the  angels  do  not  understand  {YalJcuth 
Chadash,  f.  117,  3). 

»  See  Hausrath,  p.  263. 


136  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

years  more.  Once  more  at  the  conclusion  of  this  term  she 
had  again  incurred  some  trivial  pollution,  and  had  again 
to  renew  it  for  yet  seven  years  more.  Ananias,  a  Jewish 
merchant,  in  pursuance  of  his  avocations,  had  got  access 
to  the  seraglio  of  King  Abennerig,  and  there  had  made  a 
proselyte  of  the  queen,  and,  through  her  influence,  of  her 
two  soAs,  Izates  and  Monobazus.  But  he  had  had  the 
good  sense  and  large-heartedness  to  tell  them  that  the 
essence  of  the  Law  was  love  to  Grod  and  love  to  man.  He 
was  probably  a  Hagadist,  who  valued  chiefly  the  great 
broad  truths  of  which  the  outward  observances  of  Mosaism 
were  but  the  temporary  casket ;  and  he  had  the  insight  to 
know  that  for  the  sake  of  an  outward  rite,  which  could 
not  affect  the  heart,  it  was  not  worth  while  to  disturb  a 
people  and  imperil  a  dynasty.  His  advice  must  not  be 
confused  with  the  cynical  and  immoral  indifference  which 
made  Henri  IV.  observe  that  "  Paris  was  well  worth  a 
mass."  It  was,  on  the  contrary,  an  enlightenment  which 
would  not  confound  the  shadow  with  the  substance.^  It 
was  the  conviction  that  the  inscription  on  the  CMl 
should  be  obliterated,  and  the  Cliel  itself  broken  down.^ 
But  on  the  steps  of  the  enlightened  Ananias  came  a 
narrow  bigot,  the  Eabbi  Eliezer  of  Galilee,  and  he  em- 
ployed to  the  facile  weakness  of  the  young  princes  the 
very  argument  which  the  Judaising  teacher,  whoever 
he  was,  employed  to  the  Galatians :  "  My  king,  you  are 
sinning  against  the  Law,  and  therefore  against  Grod. 
It  is  not  enough  to  read  the  Law ;    you  must   do   the 

^  Josephus  had  the  good  sense  to  take  the  same  line  when  "  two  great 
men"  came  to  him  from  Trachonitis;  but  though  for  the  time  he  succeeded 
in  persuading  the  Jews  not  to  force  circumcision  upon  them,  yet  afterwards 
these  fugitives  were  nearly  massacred  by  a  fanatical  mob,  and  could  only 
secure  their  lives  by  a  hasty  flight.  See  the  very  instructive  passage  in 
Yit.  Jos.  23,  31. 

'  Eph.  ii.  14 


IZATES    AND    MONOBAZUS.  137 

Law.  Read  for  yourself  what  it  says  about  circumcision, 
and  you  will  see  how  wrong  you  are."^  Prince  Izates 
was  so  much  struck  with  this  "  uncompromising  ortho- 
doxy "  that  he  secretly  withdrew  into  another  chamber, 
and  there  had  the  rite  performed  by  his  physician. 
Not  long  after  he  and  his  brother  were  reading  the 
Pentateuch,  and  came  to  the  passage  about  circumcision 
in  Ex.  xii.  48.  Monobazus  looked  up  at  his  brother,  and 
said,  "  I  am  sorry  for  you,  my  brother,"  and  Izates  made 
the  same  remark  to  him.  This  led  to  a  conversation, 
and  the  brothers  confessed,  first  to  each  other  and  then 
to  Queen  Helena,  that  they  liad  both  been  secretly 
circumcised.  The  queen  was  naturally  alarmed  and 
anxious,  and  dangerous  consequences  ensued.  But  these 
were  nothing  to  the  Jewish  fanatic.  They  would  only 
be  a  fresh  source  of  publicity,  and  therefore  of  glorifying 
in  the  Jlesh  of  his  proselyte.  Again,  we  read  in  the 
Talmud  that  Rabbi  ^  was  a  great  friend  of  "  the  Emperor 
Antoninus."  On  one  occasion  the  Emperor  asked  him, 
"  Wilt  thou  give  me  a  piece  of  Leviathan  in  the  world 
to  come?" — since  the  flesh  of  Le\aathan  and  of  the 
bird  Barjuchneh  are  to  be  the  banquet  of  the  blessed 
hereafter.  "  Yes,"  answered  Rabbi.  "  But  why  dost 
thou  not  allow  me  to  partake  of  the  Paschal  Lamb  ? " 
"  How  can  I,"  answered  Rabbi,  "  when  it  is  written  that 

^  Jos.  Antt.  XX.  2,  §  2.  THs  interesting  royal  family  had  a  house  in 
Jerusalem  (Jos.  B.  /.  v.  6,  §  1 ;  vi.  6,  §  3). 

2  Rabbi  Juda  Hakkadosh  is  thus  called  kot'  e^ox^v.  The  anecdote  is 
from  Jer.  Megillah,  cap.  1.  For  another  wild  story  about  their  intercourse, 
see  Abhoda  Zara,  f .  10,  2.  The  Talmud  being  the  most  utterly  uuliistorical 
and  unchronological  of  books,  it  is  difficult  to  say  which  Emperor  is  the  one 
alluded  to  in  this  and  a  multitude  of  similar  fables  about  his  supposed  inter- 
course with  Rabbi.  It  cannot  be  Antoninus  Pius,  who  never  left  Rome  ;  nor 
M.  Aurelius,  who  was  unfavourable  both  to  Jews  and  Christians.  Possibly 
the  worthless  CaracaUa  may  be  alluded  to,  since  he  once  visited  Palestine. 
Heliogabalus  appears  to  be  alluded  to  in  some  passages  of  the  Talmud  as 
"  the  younger  Antoninus,"  and  he,  too,  is  said  to  have  accepted  circumcision. 


138  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

'  no  uncircumcised  person  shall  eat  thereof  '  ?  "  Upon 
hearing  this,  Antoninus  submitted  to  the  rite  of  circum- 
cision, and  embraced  Judaism.  The  imagination  of  Eabbis 
and  Pharisees  was  flattered  by  the  thought  that  even 
emperors  were  not  too  great  to  accept  their  Halachoth. 
What  would  be  their  feelings  towards  one  who  offered  the 
utmost  blessings  of  the  Chosen  People  without  a  single 
Judaic  observance  to  the  meanest  slave  ? 

Self-interest  was  an  additional  and  a  powerful  in- 
ducement with  these  retrogressive  intruders.  Although 
Christian,  they,  like  the  Twelve,  like  even  Paul  himself, 
were  still  Jews.  At  Jerusalem  they  continued  regularly  to 
attend  the  services  of  the  Temple  and  the  gatherings  of 
their  synagogue.  To  be  excommunicated  from  the  syna- 
gogue in  little  Jewish  communities  like  those  that  were 
congregated  in  Anc3^ra  and  Pessinus  was  a  very  serious 
matter  indeed.  It  was  infinitely  more  pleasant  for  them 
to  be  on  good  terms  with  the  Jews,  by  making  proselytes 
of  righteousness  out  of  St.  Paul's  converts.  Thus  cir- 
cumcision was  only  the  thin  end  of  the  wedge. ^  It 
obviated  the  painful  liability  to  persecution.  It  would 
naturally  lead  to  the  adoption  of  all  the  observances, 
which  the  converts  would  constantly  hear  read  to  them 
in  the  Jewish  service.  But,  if  not,  it  did  not  much 
matter.  It  was  not  really  necessary  for  them  to  keep 
the  whole  Law.  A  sort  of  decent  external  conformity 
was  enough.  So  long  as  they  made  "  a  fair  show  in 
the  flesh,"  they  might  in  reality  do  pretty  much  as  they 
liked.  It  was  against  all  this  hypocrisy,  this  retro- 
gression, this  cowardice,  this  mummery  of  the  outward, 
this  reliance  on  the  mechanical,  that  Paul  used  words 
which  were  half  battles.      There   should  be   no   further 

1  Gal.  v.  3,  6, 12—14. 


EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  139 

doubt  as  to  what  lie  really  meant  and  tauglit.  He  would 
leap  ashore  among  liis  enemies,  and  burn  liis  ships  behind 
him.  He  would  draw  the  sword  against  this  false  gospel, 
and  fling  away  the  scabbard.  What  Luther  did  when  he 
nailed  his  Theses  to  the  door  of  the  Cathedral  of  Witten- 
berg, that  St.  Paul  did  when  he  ^vrote  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians.  It  was  the  manifesto  of  emancipation.  It 
marked  an  epoch  in  history.  It  was  for  the  early  days  of 
Christianity  what  would  have  been  for  Protestantism  the 
Confession  of  Augsburg  and  the  Protest  of  Spires  com- 
bined ;  but  it  was  these  "  expressed  in  dithyrambs,  and 
written  in  jets  of  flame ; "  and  it  was  these  largely  inter- 
mingled with  an  intense  personality  and  impassioned 
polemics.  It  was  a  De  Corona,  a  Westminster  Confession, 
and  an  Apologia  in  one.  If  we  wish  to  find  its  nearest 
parallel  in  vehemence,  effectiveness,  and  depth  of  convic- 
tion, we  must  look  forward  for  sixteen  centuries,  and  read 
Luther's  famous  treatise.  Be  Captivitate  Bahylonica,  in 
which  he  realised  his  saying  "  that  there  ought  to  be  set 
aside  for  this  Popish  battle  a  tongue  of  which  every  word 
is  a  thunderbolt."^  To  the  Churches  of  Galatia  he  never 
came  again ;  but  the  words  scrawled  on  those  few  sheets 
of  papyrus,  whether  they  failed  or  not  of  their  immediate 
effect,  were  to  wake  echoes  which  should  "  roll  from  soul 
to  soul,  and  live  for  ever  and  for  ever." 

^  Luther,  Tisch-Beden,  249.  But  though  Luther  constantly  defends  his 
polemical  ferocity  by  the  example  of  St.  Paul,  St.  Paul  never  (not  even  in 
Gal.  V.  12)  shows  the  violence  and  coarseness  which  deface  the  style  of 
Luther. 


CHAPTEE  XXXVI. 

THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

"  The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  is  my  Epistle ;  I  have  betrothed  myself  to 
it ;  it  is  my  wife." — LlTTHER. 

"  Principalis  adversus  Jiidaismum  Epistola." — Teet.  adv.  Marc.  v.  2. 
"  Discrimen  Legis  et  Evangelii  est  depictum  in  hoc  dicto  '  posteriora  mea 
videbitis,  faciem  means  non  videbitis.' 

/^Dorsum    a  /  Facies 

T      \  Ira  /    _,  ,.        )  Gratia 

^^^jPeccatumC   Evangelmm      j^^^^^ 

vinfirmitas''  \  Perfectio." 

Luther,  Colloq.  i.,  p.  20,  ed.  1571. 

•'Judaism  was  the  narrowest  {i.e.  the  most  special)  of  religions,  Christianity 
the  most  human  and  comprehensive.  In  a  few  years  the  latter  was  evolved 
out  of  the  former,  taking  all  its  intensity  and  durability  without  resort  to  any 
of  its  limitations.  ...  In  St.  Paul's  Epistles  we  see  the  general  direction 
in  which  thought  and  events  must  have  advanced ;  otherwise  the  change  would 
seem  as  \'iolent  and  inconceivable  as  a  convulsion  which  should  mingle  the 
Jordan  and  the  Tiber." — Maktineatj,  Studies  of  Christianity,  p.  420. 

In  the  very  first  line  of  the  Apostle's  greeting  a  part  of 
his  object — the  vindication  of  his  Apostolic  authority — 
becomes  manifest.-^    In  the  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians  he 

^  The  general  outline  of  the  Epistle  is  as  follows: — It  falls  into  three 
divisions — 1.  Personal  (an  element  which  recxirs  throughout) ;  2.  Dogmatic ; 
3.  Practical.  In  the  first  part  (i.,  ii.)  he  vindicates  his  personal  independ- 
ence (o)  negatively,  by  showing  that  he  was  an  Apostle  before  any  inter- 
course with  the  Twelve  (i.  17,  18) ;  and  (j8)  positively,  since  he  had 
secured  from  the  Apostles  the  triumphant  recognition  of  his  own  special 
principles  on  three  occasions,  viz.,  (i.)  in  an  association  on  perfectly  equal 
terms  with  Peter  (18,  19) ;  (ii.)  when  they  were  compelled  by  facts  to  recog- 
nise his  equal  mission  (ii.  9,  10) ;  and  (iii.)  wlien  he  convinced  Peter  at 
Antioch  that  he  was  thoroughly  in  the  wrong  (ii.  11 — 21).  2.  Passing 
naturally  to  the  dogmatic  defence  of  justification  by  faith,  lie  proves  it  (o)  by 
the  Christian  consciousness  (iii.  1 — 5),  and  (/3)  from  the  Old  Testament  (iii. 
6 — 18).  This  leads  him  to  the  question  as  to  the  true  position  of  tlic  Law, 
which  he  shows  to  be  entirely  secondary,  (a)  objectively,  by  the  very  nature  of 


THE    TITLE    OF    "APOSTLE."  141 

had  adopted  no  title  of  authority  ;  bnt,  since  those  Epistles 
had  been  written,  the  Judaists  had  developed  a  tendency 
to  limit  the  term  Apostle  almost  exclusively  to  the 
Twelve,  and  overshadow  all  others  with  their  immense 
authority.  The  word  had  two  technical  senses.  In  the 
lower  sense  it  merely  meant  a  messenger  or  worker  in  the 
cause  of  the  Gospel,  and,  as  an  equivalent  to  the  common 
Jewdsh  title  of  Sheliach,  was  freely  bestowed  on  compara- 
tively unknown  Christians,  hke  Andronicus  and  Junias.^ 
Now  Paul  claimed  the  title  in  the  highest  sense,  not  from 
vanity  or  seK-assertion,  but  because  it  was  necessary  for 
the  good  of  his  converts.  He  had  the  j^rimary  qualifi- 
cation of  an  Apostle,  in  that  he  had  seen  Christ,  though 
for  reasons  which  he  explained  in  the  last  Epistle  he  de- 
clined to  press  it.  He  had  the  yet  further  qualification 
that  his  Apostolate  and  that  of  Barnabas  had  been  publicly 
recognised  by  the  Church  of  Jerusalem.  But  this  claim  also 
he  wished  to  waive  as  unreal  and  even  misleading  ;  for  his 
Apostolate  was  derived  from  no  merely  human  authority. 
Writing  to  the  Corinthians,  some  of  whom  had  impugned 
his  rights,  he  had  intentionally  designated  himseK  as 
"  a  called  Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  will  of  God." 
Writing  to  these  weak  and  apostatising  Galatians  it  was 
necessary  to  be  still  more  explicit,  and  consequently  he 
addresses  them  with  his  fullest  greeting,  in  which  he 
speaks  both  of   his  own  authority  and  of  the  work  of 


Christianity  (iii.  19—29) ;  and  [0)  subjectively,  by  tlie  free  spiritual  life  of 
Christians  (iv.  1 — 11).  After  afEectionate  warnings  to  them  about  those  who 
had  led  them  away  (iv.  11 — 30),  he  passes  to — 3.  The  practical  exhortation  to 
Christian  freedom  (v.  1 — 12),  and  warnings,  both  general  (13—18)  and  special 
(v.  16 — vi.  10),  against  its  misuse.  Then  follows  the  closing  summary  and 
blessing  (vi.  11—18). 

^  Rom.  xvi.  7  ;  cf .  Phil.  ii.  25  ;  2  Cor.  viii.  23.  Similarly  the  title  Impera- 
tor  was  used  by  Cicero  and  other  Romans  down  to  Junius  Blajsus,  long  after 
its  special  sense  had  been  isolated  to  connote  the  absolute  head  of  the  state. 


142  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Clirist.  By  impugning  the  first  they  were  setting  tempo- 
rary relations  above  spiritual  insight ;  by  errors  respecting 
the  latter  they  were  nullifying  the  doctrine  of  the  Cross. 

"  Paul,  an  Apostle,  not  from  men,  nor  by  the  instrumentality  of  any 
man,  but  by  Jesus  Christ  and  God  our  Father,  who  raised  Him  from  the 
dead,  and  all  the  brethren  with  me,^  to  the  Churches  of  Galatia.  Grace 
to  you  and  Peace  from  God  the  Father  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
gave  Himself  for  our  sins  that  He  may  deliver  us  from  this  present  evil 
state  of  the  world,  according  to  the  will  of  our  God  and  Father,  to  whom 
is  His  due  glory  ^  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen."^ 

This  greeting  is  remarkable,  not  only  for  the  emphatic 
assertion  of  his  independent  Apostleship,  and  for  the  skill 
with  which  he  combines  with  this  subject  of  his  Epistle 
the  great  theologic  truth  of  our  free  deliverance*  by  the 
death  of  Christ,  but  also  for  the  stern  brevity  of  the  terms 
with  which  he  greets  those  to  whom  he  is  writing.  A 
sense  of  wrong  breathes  through  the  fulness  of  his  per- 
sonal designation,  and  the  scantiness  of  the  address  to  his 
converts.  He  had  addressed  the  Thessalonians  as  "the 
Church  of  the  Thessalonians  in  Grod  our  Father  and 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  He  had  written  "to  the  Church 
of  God  which  is  in  Corinth,  to  the  sanctified  in  Christ 
Jesus,  called  to  be  saints."  About  this  very  time  he 
wrote  to  the  Eomans  as  "  beloved  of  God,  called  to  be 
saints."  To  the  Philippians,  Ej)hesians,  Colossians,  he 
adds  the  words  "  saints  in  Christ  Jesus,"  and  "  saints  and 
faithful  brethren ; "  but  to  these  Galatians  alone,  in  his 
impetuous  desire   to    deal  at  once  with  their  errors,  he 

1  At  this  time  he  was  accompanied  by  a  larger  number  of  brethren  than  at 
any  other.  This  is  cue  of  the  minute  circumstauces  which  support  the 
all-but-certain  inference  that  the  Epistle  was  written  at  this  particular  period, 
during  St.  Paul's  three  months'  stay  at  Corinth,  towards  the  close  of  A.D.  57. 

2  7)  5o|a,  sub.  eo-TJj'.     Matt.  vi.  13 ;  1  Pet.  iv.  11. 

3  1.  1—5. 

*  i.  4,  €|e\7)Taf.  "  Deliver  strikes  the  keynote  of  the  Epistle  "  (Lightfoot). 
fVicrrcoTos,  "  present,"  Rom.  viii.  38. 


EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  143 

uses  only  the  brief,  plain  address,   "  To  the  Churches  of 
Galatia." 

And  then  wthout  one  word  of  that  thanksgiving  for 
their  holiness,  or  their  gifts,  or  the  grace  of  God  bestowed 
on  them,  which  is  found  in  every  one  of  his  other  general 
Epistles,  he  bursts  at  once  into  the  subject  of  which  his 
mind  is  so  indignantly  full. 

"  I  am  amazed  that  you  are  so  quickly  sliifting  from  liim  who 
called  you  in  the  grace  of  Christ  into  a  different  Gospel,  which  is  not 
merely  another,^  only  there  are  some  who  are  troubling  you,  and  wanting 
to  reverse  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  But  even  though  we,  or  an  angel 
from  heaven,  should  preach  contrary  to  what  we  preached  to  you,  let  him 
he  accursed.'^  As  we  have  said  before,  so  now  again  I  say  deliberately. 
If  any  one  is  preaching  to  you  anything  contrary  to  what  ye  received, 
Let  him  be  accursed.^  Well,  am  I  now  trying  to  be  plausible  to  men, 
or  to  conciliate  God  Himself  ]  Had  I  still  been  trying  to  be  a  man- 
pleaser,  I  should  not  have  been  what  I  am — a  slave  of  Christ."* 

Such  was  the  startling  abruptness,  such  the  passionate 
plainness  with  which  he  showed  them  that  the  time  for 
conciliation  was  past.  Their  Jewish  teachers  said  that 
Paul  was  shifty  and  complaisant,  and  that  he  did  not 
preach  the  real  Gospel.  He  tells  them  that  it  is  they 
who  are  perverters  of  the  Gospel,  and  that  if  they,  or  any 
one  of  them,  or  any  one  else,  even  an  angel,  preaches 
contrary  to  what  he  has  preached,  let  the  ban — the 
cherem — fall  on  him.  He  has  said  this  before,  and  to  show 
them  that  it  is  not  a  mere  angry  phrase,  he  repeats  it 

1  If  /leTarlefcree  is  really  a  mental  pun  (as  Jerome  thought)  on  Galatae  and 
^^y,  we  might  almost  render  it  galatising.  For  erepov,  "  different,"  and  &\Xo^ 
"another,"  see  2  Cor.  xi.  4.  Hence  eVepoy  came  to  mean  "bad;"  edrepov  \s 
tlie  opposite  to  "  good." 

2  i.  8,  avdOffia ;  the  meaning  "  excommunicated  "  is  later,  and  would  not  suit 
6,yy€\os. 

^  There  is  a  sort  of  syllepsis  in  this,  and  tlie  rhv  @ehi'  is  more  emphatic  than 
the  avOpwiTovs.  Probably  Paul  had  been  accused  of  emancipating  the  Gentiles 
from  Judaism  out  of  mere  complaisance. 

*  i.  1—10,  ert, "  after  all  I  have  endured;"  v.  11 ;  vi.  17 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  30—32. 


144  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF   ST.   PAUL. 

more  emphatically  now,  and  appeals  to  it  as  a  triumphant 
proof  that  whatever  they  could  charge  him  with  having 
done  and  said  before,  now,  at  any  rate,  his  language 
should  be  unmistakably  plain. 

"  Now  I  declare  to  you,  brethren,  as  to  the  Gospel  preached  by  me 
that  it  is  not  a  mere  human  Gospel.  For  neither  did  I  myself  receive  it 
from  man,  nor  was  I  taught  it,  but  by  revelation  from  Jesus  Christ.  For 
you  heard  my  manner  of  life  formerly  in  Judaism,  that  I  extravagantly^ 
persecuted  the  Church  of  God,  and  ravaged  it,  and  was  making  advance 
in  Judaism  above  many  my  equals  in  age  in  my  own  race,  being  to  an 
unusual  degree  a  zealot  for  the  traditions  of  my  fathers.  But  when  He 
who  set  me  aj^art  even  from  my  mother's  womb  and  called  me  by  His  grace 
thought  good  to  reveal  His  Son  in  me  that  I  should  preach  Him  among 
the  Gentiles,  immediately  I  did  not  confer  with  mere  human  teachers, 
nor  did  I  go  away  to  Jerusalem  to  those  who  were  Apostles  before  me, 
but  I  went  away  into  Arabia,  and  again  returned  to  Damascus. 

"  Next,  after  three  years,  I  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  visit  Kephas, 
and  I  stayed  at  his  house  fifteen  days;  but  not  a  single  other  Apostle  did 
I  see,  except  James,  the  Lord's  brother.^  Now  in  what  I  am  writing  to 
you,  see,  before  God,  I  am  not  lying.  ^ 

"  Next  I  came  into  the  regions  of  Syria  and  Cilicia ;  and  was  quite 
unknown  by  person  to  the  Churches  of  Judaea  which  were  in  Christ, 
only  they  were  constantly  being  told  that  our  former  persecutor  is  now  a 
preacher  of  the  faith  which  once  he  ravaged.  And  they  glorified  God 
iu  me.* 

"  Next,  after  fourteen  years,  I  again  went  up  to  Jerusalem  with 
Barnabas,  taking  with  me  Titus  also.*  And  I  went  up  by  revelation, 
and  referred  to  them  the  Gospel  which  I  preach  among  the  Gentiles,® 
privately  however  to  those  of  repute,  lest  perchance  I  might  be  running, 

^  i.  13,  Kad'  inrep$o\-f]v,  a  outrance. 

2  Who  in  one  sense  was,  and  in  another  was  not,  an  Apostle,  not  being  one 
of  the  Twelve. 

3  V.  supra,  i.,  pp.  232—239.  As  I  have  already  examined  many  of  the  details 
of  this  Epistle  for  biographical  purposes,  I  content  myself  with  referring  to 
the  passages.  The  strong  appeal  in  i.  20  shows  that  Paul's  truthfulness  had 
been  questioned,    (Cf .  1  Thess.  v.  27.) 

*  i.  11—24. 

s  V.  svpra,  i.,  pp.  412 — 420.  Paul's  purpose  here  is  not  the  tedious  pedantry 
of  chronological  exactitude. 

6  ii.  2,  avidetJLi^v,  not  to  submit  to  their  decision,  but  with  the  strong  belief 
he  could  win  their  conciurence.     (Of.  Acts  xxv.  14.) 


EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  145 

or  even  ran,  to  no  purpose.^  But  not  even  Titus,  who  was  with  me, 
being  a  Greek,  was  compelled  to  be  circumcised — but  because  of  the  false 
bretliren  secretly  introduced,  who  slank  in  to  spy  out  our  liberty  which 
we  have  in  Christ  Jesus  that  they  might  utterly  enslave  us — [to  whom 
not  even  (1)]  for  an  hour  we  yielded  by  way  of  the  subjection  they  vmnted, 
in  order  that  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  may  permanently  remain  with 
you.^  From  those,  however,  who  are  reputed  to  be  something — what- 
ever they  once  were,  makes  no  matter  to  me,  God  cares  for  no  man's 
pei'son'' — for  to  me  those  in  repute  contributed  nothing,  but,  on  the 
contraiy,  seeing  that  I  have  been  entrusted  with  the  Gospel  of  the 
uncircumcision,  as  Peter  of  the  circumcision — for  He  who  worked  for 
Peter  for  the  Ajiostolate  of  the  circumcision,  worked  also  for  me  towards 
the  Gentiles — and  recognising  the  grace  granted  to  me,  James,  and 
Kephas,  and  John,  who  are  in  repute  as  pillars,  gave  right  hands  of 
fellowship  to  me  and  Barnabas,  that  we  to  the  Gentiles,  and  they  to 
the  circumcision — only  that  we  should  bear  in  mind  the  poor,  which 
very  thing  I  was  of  my  own  accord  even  eager  to  do.^ 

"  But  when  Kephas  came  to  Antioch  I  withstood  him  to  the  face, 
because  he  was  a  condemned  man.^  For  before  the  arrival  of  certain 
from  James"  he  used  to  eat  with  the  Gentiles  ;  but  on  their  arrival^  he 
began  to  withdraw  and  separate  himself,  being  afraid  of  these  Jewish 

^  Phil.  ii.  16.  I  have  already  explained  the  probable  meaning  of  this — 
"  that  I  might  feel  qidte  sure  of  the  truth  and  practicability  of  my  views." 
Even  Luther  admits,  "  Sathan  saepe  mihi  dixit,  quid  si  falsuin  esset  dogma 
tuum?"  [Colloq.  ii.  12.) 

2  V.  svpra,  i.,  p.  415. 

^  ii.  6,  Qihs  avdpwirov.  The  position  is  emphatic.  This  seems  to  glance  at  the 
absurdity  of  founding  spiritual  authority  on  mere  family  or  external  claims. 
(See  Martiueau,  Studies  in  Christianity,  p.  428.) 

*  ii.  1  — 10.  It  was,  as  TertuUian  says,  a  distributio  officii,  not  a 
separatio  evanrjelii  [De  Prdescr.  Haer.  28).  He  had  already  shown  his  care 
for  the  poor  (Acts  xi.  30). 

*  ii.  11,  Kareyv.  Manifestly  and  flagrantly  in  the  wrong.  Of.  Rom.  xiv.  23. 
To  make  Kara  irpoau-irov  mean  "  by  way  of  mask,"  and  treat  the  scene  as  one 
got  up  {Kara  crxv/J-a)  between  the  Apostles — as  Origen  and  Chrysostom  do^ 
or  to  assume  that  Kephas  does  not  mean  Peter — as  Clemens  of  Alexandria  does 
— is  a  deplorable  specimen  of  the  power  of  dogmatic  prejudice  to  blind  men 
to  obvious  fact.  St.  Peter's  weakness  bore  other  bitter  fruit.  It  was  one 
ultimate  cause  of  Ebionite  attacks  on  St.  Paid,  and  of  Gnostic  attacks  on 
Judaism,  and  of  Porphyry's  slanders  of  the  Apostles,  and  of  Jerome's 
quarrel  with  Augustine.     (See  Lightfoot,  pp.  123 — 126.) 

6  Cf .  Acts  XV.  24. 

'  ii.  12,  ^A.96«/  (n,  B,  D,  F,  G),  if  St.  Paul  really  wrote  it,  could  only  mean 
"  when  James  came ; "  and  so  Origen  understood  it  (c.  Gels.  ii.  1). 


146  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

converts.  And  the  rest  of  the  Jews  joined  in  this  hy]30crisy,  so  that 
even  Barnabas  was  swept  away  by  their  hypocrisy.^  But  when  I 
perceived  that  they  were  not  walking  in  the  straight  truth  of  the  Gospel, 
I  said  to  Kephas,  before  them  all,  If  you,  a  born  Jew,  are  living 
Gentile-wise  and  not  Judaically,  how  can  joxi  try  to  compel  the  Gentiles 
to  Judaise  1  We,  Jews  by  birth  and  not  '  sinners '  of  the  Gentiles,-  but 
well  aware  that  no  man  is  justified  as  a  result  of  the  works  of  the  Law, 
but  only  by  means  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ — even  we  believed  on  Jesus 
Christ  that  we  may  be  justified  as  a  result  of  faith  in  Christ,  and  not 
of  the  works  of  Law;  for  from  works  of  Law  'no  flesh  shall  be  justi- 
fied.'^ But  (you  will  object)  if,  while  seeking  to  be  justified  in  Christ, 
we  turn  out  to  be  even  ourselves  '  sinners '  (men  no  better  than  the 
Gentiles),  is  then  Christ  a  minister  of  sin'?*  Away  with  the  thought! 
For  if  I  rebuild  the  very  things  I  destroyed,  then  I  prove  myself 
to  be  not  only  a  'sinner,'  but  a  transgressor."  The  very  rebuilding 
(he  means)  would  prove  that  the  previous  destruction  was  guilty ; 
"  but  it  was  not  so,"  he  continues  to  argue,  "  for  it  was  by  Law  that 
I  died  to  Law ;"  in  other  words,  it  was  the  Law  itself  which  led  me 
to  see  its  own  nullity,  and  thereby  caused  my  death  to  it  that  I  might 
live  to  God.^  "I  have  been  crucified  with  Christ;"  my  old  sins  are 
nailed  to  His  cross,  no  less  than  my  old  Jewish  obligations ;  yet  this 
death  is  life — not  mine,  however,  but  the  life  of  Christ  in  me ;  and  so 

1  We  can  scarcely  even  imagine  the  deadly  ofPence  caused  by  this  bold- 
ness, an  offence  felt  a  century  afterwards  (Iren.  Haer.  i.  26 ;  Enseb.  H.  E. 
iii.  27 ;  Epiphan.  Haer.  xxx.  16 ;  Baur,  Ch.  Hist.  89,  98).  Even  when  the 
Pseudo-Clemeutiue  Horailies  were  written  the  Jewish  Christians  had  not 
forgiven  the  word  Kareyvaxxfifvos.  Ei  Kareyvaa-fx&ov  jxe  \fyeis  Qeov  airoKaXvypavrSs 
fioi  rhv  Xpitrrhv  Karr]yope7s  (Clem.  Hom.  xvii.  19).  And  yet,  however  bitter 
against  unscrupulous  Judaism,  St.  Paul  is  always  courteous  and  respectful 
when  he  speaks  of  the  Twelve.  The  Praedicatlo  Petri  (in  Cyprian,  De  Rebapt.) 
says  that  Peter  and  Paul  remained  unreconciled  till  death. 

2  Cf .  Rom.  ix.  30,  edvri  ri.  /U7J  SicliKOVTa  SiKaw(Tvt'T]i> ;  Luke  vi.  32,  33 ;  Matt. 
V.  47;ix.  10,  11. 

3  Ps.  cxliii.  2.  St.  Paul's  addition  ipyois  vSfiov  is  an  obvious  inference. 
The  accentuation  of  meaning  on  ritual  or  moral  observance  must  depend  on 
the  context.     Here  the  latter  is  mainly  inquestiou  (Neander,  Planting,  i.  211). 

*  It  is  impossible  to  say  how  much  of  this  argument  was  actually  addressed 
to  Peter,     ^t.■i}  yevoiro,  "n^brt ;  cf .  Gen.  xliv.  7,  17. 

^  The  Latin  fathers  and  Luther  understand  it  "  by  the  law  (of  Christ)  I 
am  dead  to  the  law  (of  Moses)."  The  best  commentary  is  Rom.  A-ii.  1 — 11, 
Expressions  like  this  led  to  the  charge  of  antinomianism,  which  St.  Paul  sots 
aside  in  1  Cor.  ix.  21.  Celsus  taunts  the  AiJostlcs  with  the  use  of  such  lan- 
guage while  yet  they  could  denounce  each  other  («p.  Grig.  v.  64).  But  they 
did  not  profess  to  have  attained  their  own  ideal  (Phil,  iii.  13). 


EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIAI^S.  147 

far  as  I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  in  faith  on  the  Son  of  God  who 
loved  me,  and  gave  Himself  up  for  me.  I  am  not,  therefore,  setting 
at  nought  the  grace  of  God  by  proclaiming  my  freedom  from  the 
Levitical  Law  ;  you  are  doing  that,  not  I ;  "  for  had  righteousness  been 
at  all  possible  by  Law,  then  it  seems  Christ's  death  was  superfluous."^ 

He  has  now  sufficiently  vindicated  his  independent 
Apostleship,  and  since  this  nullification  of  the  death 
of  Christ  was  the  practical  issue  of  the  Galatian  retro- 
gression into  Jewish  ritualism,  he  passes  naturally  to  the 
doctrinal  truth  on  which  he  had  also  touched  in  his  greet- 
ing, and  he  does  so  with  a  second  burst  of  surprise  and 
indignation : — 

"  Dull  Galatians  !^  who  bewitched  you  with  his  evil  eye, — you  before 
whose  eyes  Jesus  Christ  crucified  was  conspicuously  j)ainted  1  ^  This  is 
the  only  thing  I  want  to  learn  of  you  ; — received  ye  the  Spirit  as  a 
result  of  works  of  Law,  or  of  faithful  hearing  %  Are  ye  so  utterly  dull  ] 
After  beginning  the  sacred  rite  spiritually,  will  ye  complete  it  carnally  % 
Did  ye  go  through  so  many  experiences  in  vain  1  ^  if  it  be  indeed  in 
vain.  He  then  that  abundantly  supplieth  to  you  the  Spirit,  and 
worketh  powers  in  you,  does  he  do  so  as  a  result  of  works  of  Law  or  of 
faithful  hearing?  Of  faith  surely — just  as  'Abraham  believed  God  and 
it  was  accounted  to  hitn  for  righteousness.'  Recognise  then  that  they 
who  start  from  faith,  they  are  sons  of  Abraham.  Ajid  the  Scripture 
foreseeiag  ^  that  God  justifies  the  Gentiles  as  a  result  of  faith,®  preached 

^  ii.  11 — 21.     For  an  examination  of  this  paragraph,  v.  supra,  i.  442 — 444. 

'  iii.  1,  a.v6r]Tot,  as  in  Luke  xxiv.  25.  So  far  from  being  dull  in  things  not 
spiritual,  Themistius  calls  them  o|6?s  koI  ayx'^^oi  koI  iv/xa0f<TTopoi  twv  &yav 
'^KKiivwv  {Plat.  23). 

3  If  Trpoypd(pw  has  here  the  same  sense  as  in  Rom.  xv.  4,  Eph.  iii.  3,  Jude  4, 
it  must  mean  "prophesied  of;''  but  this  gives  a  far  weaker  turn  to  the  clause. 

*  iii.  4,  €7ra06T€  seems  here  to  have  its  more  general  sense,  as  in  Mark  v.  26  ; 
if  the  common  sense  "  suffered  "  be  retained,  it  must  allude  to  troubles  caused 
by  Judaisers. 

'  A  Hebraic  personification.  "  What  saw  the  Scripture  ?  "  is  a  Rabbinic 
formula  (Schottg.  ad  loc).  The  passages  on  which  the  argument  is  founded 
are  Gen.  xv.  6 ;  xii.  3 ;  Deiit.  xxvii.  26 ;  xxi.  23 ;  Lev.  xviii.  5 ;  Hab.  ii.  4.  The 
reasouiug  wiU  be  better  understood  from  2  Cor.  v.  15 — 21 ;  Eom.  vi.  3 — 23. 

*  iK  irla-Tfws,  "from  faith  "  as  a  cause ;  or  Sia  ttjs  iriffTfus,  per  ficlem,  "  by 
means  of  faith  as  an  instrument ;  "  never  Sm  viutiv,  propter  fidem,  "  ou 
account  of  faith  "  as  a  merit. 

^  2 


148  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

to  Abraham  as  an  anticipation  of  the  Gospel,  'In  thee  shall  all  the 
Gentiles  be  blessed.'  So  they  who  start  from  faith  are  blessed  with  the 
faithful  Abraham.  For  as  many  as  start  from  works  of  law  are  under 
a  curse.  For  it  stands  written,  '  Cursed  is  every  one  who  does  not 
abide  by  all  the  things  written  in  the  book  of  the  Law  to  do  them.' 
But  that  by  law  no  man  is  justified  with  God  is  clear  because  '  The  just 
shall  live  by  faith.'  But  the  Law  is  not  of  faith,  but  (of  works,  for  its 
formula  is)  he  that  doth  these  things  shall  live  by  them.  Christ  ran- 
somed us  from  the  curse  of  the  Law, — becoming  on  our  behalf  a  curse, 
since  it  is  written,  '  Cursed  is  every  one  who  hangeth  on  a  tree  '  ^ — that 
the  blessing  of  Abraham  may  by  Christ  Jesus  accrue  to  the  Gentiles, 
that  we  may  receive  the  promise  of  the  Spirit  by  means  of  faith. "^ 

Then  came  some  of  tlie  famous  arguments  by  which, 
he  estabhshes  these  weighty  doctrines — arguments  in- 
comparably adapted  to  convince  those  to  whom  he  wrote, 
because  they  were  deduced  from  their  own  principles,  and 
grounded  on  their  own  methods,  however  startling  was  the 
originality  of  the  conclusions  to  which  they  lead.  Merely 
to  translate  them  without  brief  explanatory  comment  would 
add  very  little  to  the  reader's  advantage.  I  will  endeavour, 
therefore,  to  throw  them  into  a  form  which  shall  supply 
what  is  necessary  to  render  them  intelligible. 

"Brethren,"  he  says,  "I  will  give  you  an  every-day  illustration.* 
No  one  annuls,  or  vitiates  by  additions,  even  a  mere  human  covenant 
when  it  has  been  once  ratified.  Now  the  Promises  were  uttered  to 
Abraham  '  and  to  his  seed.'  The  word  employed  is  neither  plural  in 
form  nor  in  significance.  A  plural  word  might  have  been  used  had 
many  been  referred  to  ;  the  reason  for  the  use  of  a  collective  term  is 
because  one  person  is  pre-eminently  indicated,  and  that  one  person  is 
Christ.*  What  I  mean  is  this  :  God  made  and  ratified  a  covenant  with 
Abraham ;  and  the   Law  which  came  four  hundred  and  thirty  years 

1  The  original  reference  is  to  the  exposure  of  the  body  on  a  stake  after 
death  (Deut.  xxi.  23;  Josh.  x.  26).  St.  Paul  omits  the  words  "  of  God  "  after 
"  cursed,"  which  would  have  required  long  explanation,  for  the  notion  that 
it  meant  "  a  curse,  or  insult,  against  God "  is  a  later  gloss.  Hence  the 
Talmud  speaks  of  Christ  as  "  the  hung  "  ('^'^n). 

2  iii.  1—14. 

*  iii.  15,   Kara  &v6pwirov,  i.e.,  ^{  avdpcoirlvuy  irapaSeiyiJi.<iT(i>v  (Chrys.). 

*  F.  sujpra,  i.,  pp.  53,  54. 


EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIA^S.  149 

afterwards^  cannot  possibly  nullify  the  covenant  or  abrogate  tlie  promise. 
Now  God  lias  bestowed  the  gift  on  Abraham  by  promise,  and  therefore 
clearly  it  was  not  bestowed  as  a  result  of  obedience  to  a  law.^ 

•"  Why,  then,  was  the  Law]  you  ask;  of  what  use  was  itl"  Very 
briefly  St.  Paul  gives  them  the  answer,  which  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  he  elaborates  with  so  much  more  fulness. 

Practically,  the  answer  may  be  summed  up  by  saying  that  the  Law 
was  damnatory,  temporary,  mediate,  educational.^  It  was  added  to 
create  in  the  soul  the  sense  of  sin,  and  so  to  lead  to  the  Saviour,  who  in 
due  time  should  come  to  render  it  no  more  necessary ;  *  and  it  was  given 
by  the  ministry  of  angels^  and  a  human  mediator.  It  was  not,  there- 
fore, a  promise,  but  a  contract ;  and  a  promise  direct  from  God  is  far 
superior  to  a  contract  made  by  the  agency  of  a  human  mediator  between 
God  and  man.^     The  Law,  therefore,  was  but  "  supplementary,  paren- 

1  In  Gen.  xv.  13,  Acts  vii.  6,  &c.,  the  period  in  Egypt  seems  to  count  from 
Abraham's  visit. 

2  iii.  15—18. 

^  iii.  15,  iiriSiaToicrcrfrai ;  19,  wpoarfredrj ;  Rom.  v.  20,  irapiiariXOev.  The  Law  was 
{\)  raiv  ■napa.^a.ffswv  x«P»'>  restricted  and  couditioned;  (2)  &xp^^  "Z,  k.t.x.,  tem- 
porary and  provisional;  (3)  Siaroyels,  k.t.k.,  mediately  (but  not  immediately) 
given  by  God ;  (4)  Iv  x^'-P^  h-^'^->  mediately  (not  immediately)  received  from 
God  (Bp.  EUicott,  ad  loc).  The  Law  is  a  harsh,  imperious  incident  ia  a 
necessary  divine  training. 

*  iii.  19,  napaffda-fwv  x^p^"  means  "  to  bring  transgression  to  a  head."  See 
Rom.  V.  20 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  56.  The  fact  is  here  stated  in  all  its  harshness,  but  in 
Rom.  vii.  7,  13,  the  Apostle  shows  by  a  masterly  psychological  analysis  in 
what  way  this  was  true — namely,  because  (i.)  law  actually  tends  to  provoke 
disobedience,  and  (ii.)  it  gives  the  sting  to  the  disobedience  by  making  us 
fully  conscious  of  its  heinousness.  The  Law  thus  brought  the  disease  of  sin 
to  a  head,  that  it  might  then  be  cured.  We  might  not  be  able  to  follow  these 
pregnant  allusions  of  the  Epistle  if  we  did  not  possess  the  Epistle  to  tlie 
Romans  as  a  commentary  upon  it.  The  Galatians  could  only  have  under- 
stood it  by  the  reminiscences  of  Paul's  oral  teaching. 

^  Jos.  Antt.  XV.  5,  §  3  ;  Acts  vii.  53 ;  Deut.  xxxiii.  2.  These  angels  at  Sinai 
are  often  alluded  to  in  the  Talmud.  R.  Joshiia  ben  Levi  rendered  Psalm 
Ixviii.  12,  "The  Angels  ('^^bn)  of  hosts  kept  moving"  the  Children  of  Israel 
nearer  to  Sinai  when  they  retired  from  it  {Shabbath,  f.  88,  2). 

"  iii.  19,  20.  A  "  mediator  "  in  Jewish  language  meant  one  who  stands  in 
the  middle  position  between  two  parties. 

"  The  voice  of  God 
To  mortal  ear  is  dreadful.     They  beseech 
That  ]Moses  might  repeat  to  them  His  will, 
And  terror  cease."  (Milton,  P.  L.  xii.  235.) 

Moses  receives  the  Law  direct  from  God  (tV  xe'PO>  ^^^  hands  it  to  man  (Ex. 
XX.  19).     He  therefore  was  not  one  of  the  contracting  parties;  but  God  is 


150  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK!    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

thetical,  provisional,  manuductory."  How  startling  would  such  argu- 
ments be  to  those  who  had,  from  their  earliest  childhood,  been  taught 
to  regard  the  Law  as  the  one  divine,  inspired,  perfect,  and  eternal  thing 
on  earth  ;  the  one  thing  which  alone  it  was  worth  the  labour  of  long  lives 
to  study,  and  the  labour  of  long  generations  to  interpret  and  to  defend ! 
And  how  splendid  the  originality  which  could  thus  burst  the  bonds  of 
immemorial  prejudice,  and  the  courage  which  could  thus  face  the  wrath 
of  outraged  conviction  !  It  was  the  enlightenment  and  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  God ;  yes,  but  the  Spirit  works  by  the  human  in- 
struments that  are  fitted  to  receive  His  indwelling  power ;  and,  in  the 
admirable  saying  of  the  Chinese  philosopher,  "  The  light  of  heaven 
cannot  shine  into  an  inverted  bowl."  To  many  a  thoughtful  and  candid 
Jew  it  must  have  come  like  a  flash  of  new  insight  into  the  history  of  his 
nation,  and  of  mankind,  that  he  had  elevated  the  Law  to  too  exclusive  a 
position  ;  that  the  promise  to  Abraham  was  an  event  of  far  deeper  signi- 
ficance than  the  legislation  of  Sinai ;  that  the  Promise,  not  the  Law, 
was  the  primary  and  original  element  of  Judaism  ;  and  that  therefore 
to  fall  back  from  Christianity  to  Judaism  was  to  fall  back  from  the 
spirit  to  the  letter — an  unnatural  reversion  of  what  God  had  ordained. 

But  he  proceeds,  "  Is  there  any  opposition  between  the  Law  and  the 
Promise  ?  Away  with  the  thought !  In  God's  economy  of  salvation 
both  are  united,  and  the  Law  is  a  relative,  purpose  of  God  which  is  taken 
up  into  His  ahsolute  purpose  as  a  means.  ^  For  had  a  Law  been  given  such 
as  could  give  life,  righteousness  would  in  reality  have  been  a  result  of 
law  ;  but  the  Scripture  shut  up  all  things  under  sin,  that  the  promise 
which  springs  from  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  maybe  given  to  all  who  believe. 

one,  i.e..  He  is  no  mpdiator,  but  cue  of  the  parties  to  the  covenant  (Smfl^icTj). 
It  is  only  under  a  different  aspect  that  Christ  is  a  mediator  (1  Tim.  ii.  5). 
The  passage  has  no  reference  to  the  eternal  unity  of  God,  which  is  not  at  all 
in  question,  but  to  the  fact  that  He  stands  by  Himself  as  one  of  the  con- 
tracting parties.  The  "  Law,''  then,  has  tlie  same  subordinate  position  as  the 
"  Mediator  "  Moses.  The  Promise  stands  above  it  as  a  "  covenant,"  in  which 
God  stands  alone — "  is  one  " — and  in  which  no  mediator  is  concerned.  Such 
seems  to  be  the  clear  and  simple  meaning  of  this  endlessly-disputed  passage. 
(See  Baur,  Paul,  ii.  198.)  Ob^dously,  (1)  the  Promise  had  a  wider  and  nobler 
scope  than  the  Law ;  (2)  the  Law  was  provisional,  the  Promise  permanent ; 
(3)  the  Law  was  given  directly  by  angels,  the  Promise  directly  by  God ;  but, 
while  he  leaves  these  three  points  of  contrast  to  be  inferred,  he  adds  the 
fourth  and  most  important,  that  (4)  the  Promise  was  given,  witliout  any 
mediating  human  agency,  from  God  to  man.  On  the  sources  of  the  (perfectly 
needless)  "  three  hundred  explanations  "  of  a  passage  by  no  means  unintel- 
ligible, see  Reuss,  Les  Epitres,  i.  109. 

^  iii.  19,  20.    Holsten,  Inhalt  des  Briefs  an  die  Galater,  p.  30. 


EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  151 

For  before  the  faith  came  we  were  under  watch  and  ward  of  Law,  till 
the  faith  which  was  to  be  revealed.  So  the  Law  became  our  tutor  unto 
Christ,  the  stern  slave  guiding  us  from  boyish  immaturity  to  perfect 
Christian  manhood/  in  order  that  we  may  be  justified  as  a  result  of 
faith.  But  when  the  faith  came  we  are  no  longer  under  a  tutor.  For 
by  the  faith  ye  are  all  sons  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ.  For  as  many 
of  you  as  were  baptised  into  Christ,  put  on  Christ.  There  is  no  room  for 
Jew  or  Greek,  no  room  for  slave  or  free,  no  room  for  male  and  female ; 
for  ye  are  all  one  man  in  Chx'ist  Jesus ;  ^  and  if  ye  are  of  Christ  then  it 
seems  ye  are  Abraham's  seed,  heirs  according  to  promise.^ 

"  Now,  what  I  mean  is,  that  so  long  as  the  heir  is  an  infant  he  differs 
in  no  respect  from  a  slave,  though  he  is  lord  of  all,  but  is  under  tutors 
and  stewards  till  the  term  fixed  by  his  father.  So  we,  too,  when  we 
were  infants,  were  enslaved  under  elements  of  material  teaching ;  but 
when  the  fulness  of  time  came  God  sent  forth  His  Son— born  of  a 
woman,  that  we  may  receive  the  adoption  of  sons;"*  born  under  Law, 
that  He  may  ransom  those  under  Law.  But  because  ye  are  sons,  God 
sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  His  Son  into  our  hearts  crying,  Abba,  our 
Father  !  So  thou  art  no  longer  a  slave,  but  a  son,  and  if  a  son,  an 
heii-  also  by  God's  means.  Well,  in  past  time  not  knowing  God  ye  were 
slaves  to  those  who  by  nature  are  not  gods,  but  now  after  recognis- 
ing God — nay,  rather  being  recognised  by  God — how  can  ye  turn  back 
again  to  the  weak  and  beggarly  rudiments,^  to  which  again  from  the 

^  iii.  24,  iraiSayeayhs  els  Xpi(Tr6v.  The  vaiSayoiyhs  was  often  the  most  value- 
less of  the  slaves.  Perikles  appointed  the  aged  Zopyrus  as  the  iraiSaycoyhs  of 
Alkibiades.  This  fact  can,  however,  hardly  have  entered  into  St.  Paul's  mean- 
ing. The  woi'ld,  until  Christ  came,  was  in  its  pupilage,  and  the  Law  was  given 
to  hold  it  under  discipline,  till  a  new  period  of  spiritual  freedom  dawned.  The 
more  inward  relation  between  Law  and  sin,  and  its  power  to  bring  sin  more  to 
our  conscience,  and  so  briug  about  the  possibility  of  its  removal,  are,  as  we 
shall  see,  worked  out  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

2  Conti-ast  this  with  the  Jewish  morning  prayer,  in  which  in  three  bene- 
dictions a  man  blesses  God  who  has  not  made  him  a  Gentile,  a  slave,  or  a 
woman. 

3  iii.  21—29. 

*  iv.  4,  5.  Notice  the  chiasmus  of  the  original  which  would  not  suit  the 
English  idiom.  Notice,  too,  the  importance  of  the  passage  as  showing  that 
men  did  not  begin  to  be  sons  of  God,  when  they  were  declared  sons  of  God, 
just  as  the  Roman  act  of  emancipation  did  not  cause  sons  to  be  sons,  but  merely 
put  them  in  possession  of  their  rights  (Maurice,  Unity,  p.  504). 

^  iv.  3,  (TTOixeioi,  rov  kSct/mov;  9,  aadivrj  /col  TrrcDxa  (rroixe'a,  pllj-sical  elements  of 
religion,  symbols,  ceremonies  (cf.  Col.  ii.  8),  &e.,  wliicli  invest  the  natural 
with  religious  significance.  Both  in  Judaism  and  heatlienisni  religion  was  so 
mucli  bound  up  with  the  material  and  the  sensuous  as  to  place  men  in  bondage. 


152  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

beginning  ye  want  to  be  slaves  1  Ye  are  anxiously  keeping  days  and 
months  and  seasons  and  years.  I  fear  for  you  that  I  have  perhaps 
toiled  for  you  in  vain."^ 

In  this  clause  the  boldness  of  thought  and  utterance 
is  even  more  striking.  He  not  only  urges  the  superiority 
of  the  Christian  covenant,  but  speaks  of  the  Jewish  as 
mere  legal  infancy  and  actual  serfdom ;  nay,  more,  he 
speaks  of  the  ceremonial  observances  of  the  Levitical  Law 
as  "  weak  and  beggarly  rudiments ;"  and,  worse  than  all, 
he  incidentally  compares  them  to  the  ritualisms  of 
heathendom,  implying  that  there  is  no  essential  difierence 
between  observing  the  full  moon  in  the  synagogue  and 
obser\ang  it  in  the  Temple  of  Men  ;  between  living  in 
leafy  booths  in  autumn,  or  striking  up  the  wail  for  Altis 
in  spring ;  nay,  even  between  circumcision  and  the  yet 
ghasther  mutilations  of  the  priests  of  Cybele.^  Eighteen 
hundred  years  have  passed  since  this  brief  letter  w^as 
written,  and  it  has  so  permeated  all  the  veins  of  Christian 
thought  that  in  these  days  we  accept  its  principles  as 
a  matter  of  course ;  yet  it  needs  no  very  violent  effort 
of  the  imagination  to  conceive  how  savage  would  be  the 
wrath  which  would  be  kindled  in  the  minds  of  the  Jews — 
aye,  and  even  of  the  Jewish  Christians — by  words  which 
not  only  spoke  with  scorn  of  the  little  distinctive  obser- 
vances Avhich  were  to  them  as  the  very  breath  of  their 
nostrils,  but  wounded  to  the  quick  their  natural  pride,  by 
placing  their  cherished  formalities,  and  even  the  antique 
and  highly-valued  badge  of  their  nationality,  on  a  level 
with  the  pagan  customs  which  they  had  ever  regarded 
with  hatred  and  contempt.     Yet  it  was  Avith  no  desire  to 

In  neither  was  God  recognised  as  a  Spirit  (Baur,  New  Test.  Theol,  p.  171). 
Or  the  notion  may  be  that  rituahsm  is  only  the  elemeutai-y  teaching,  the 
A  B  C  of  religion. 

1  iv.  1—11.     Cf.  Col.  ii.  16. 

2  Hausrath,  p.  268. 


EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  153 

waken  infuriated  prejudice  that  St.  Paul  tlius  ^vrote. 
The  ritualisms  of  heathen  worship,  so  far  as  they  en- 
shrined or  kept  ahve  any  spark  of  genuine  devotion,  were 
not  objectionable — had  a  useful  function ;  in  this  respect 
they  stood  on  a  level  with  those  of  Judaism.  The  infinite 
superiority  of  the  Judaic  ritual  arose  from  its  being 
the  shadow  of  good  things  to  come.  It  had  fulfilled 
its  task,  and  ought  now  to  be  suffered  to  drop  away.  It 
is  not  for  the  sake  of  the  calyx,  but  for  the  sake  of  the 
corolla,  that  we  cultivate  the  flower,  and  the  calyx  may 
drop  away  when  the  flower  is  fully  blown.  To  cling  to 
the  shadow  when  it  had  been  superseded  by  the  substance 
was  to  reverse  the  order  of  Grod. 

Then  comes  a  strong  and  tender  appeal. 

"Become  as  I,  because  I  too  became  as  you,  brethren,  I  beseech 
you.^  It  is  not  I  whom  you  wronged  at  all,  by  your  aberrations. 
Nay,  to  me  you  were  always  kind.  You  know  that  the  former  time  it 
was  in  consequence  of  a  sickness  that  I  preached  to  you ;  and  though 
my  personal  condition  might  weU  have  been  a  trial  to  you,  ye  despised 
me  not,  nor  loathed  me,^  but  as  an  angel  of  God  ye  received  me,  as 
Christ  Jesus.  What,  then,  has  become  of  your  self-felicitation  1  for  I 
bear  you  witness  that,  if  possible,  ye  dug  out  your  very  eyes  and  gave 
them  me.   So,  have  I  become  your  enemy  by  speaking  the  truth  to  you  1  ^ 

"  Mere  alien  teachers  are  paying  court  to  you.  assiduously,  but  not 
honourably ;  nay,  they  want  to  wall  you  up  from  every  one  else,  that 
you  may  pay  court  to  them.*  Now,  to  have  court  paid  to  you  is 
honourable  in  an  honourable  cause  always,  and  not  only  when  I  am  with 
you,°  my  little  children  whom  again  I  travail  with,   until  Christ  be 

^  i.e.,  free  from  the  bondage  of  Judaism. 

^  iv.  14,  i^eiTTva-aTi — lit.,  "  spat  out,"  Krenkel  {v.  supra,  i.,  Excursus  X.) 
explains  this  of  the  "  spitting  "  to  avert  epilepsy.  "  Despuimus  comitiales 
morbos"  (Pliu.  xxviii.  4,  7;  Plaut.  Capt.  iii.  4,  18,  21). 

*  iv.  12 — 16.     On  this  passage,  v.  supra,  i.,  Excursus  X. 

*  iv.  17,  Iva — C'jA.oCre  (ind.),  but  probably  meant  for  a  subjunctive  ;  the  ap- 
parent solecism  is  probably  due  to  the  difficulty  of  remembering  the  inflexions 
of  the  contract  vei'b ;  cf .  1  Cor.  iv.  6. 

*  He  seems  to  mean,  "  I  do  not  blame  zealous  attachment,  provided  it  be 
(as  mine  to  you  was)  from  noble  motives,  and  provided  it  be  not  terminated 
(as  yours  to  me  was)  by  a  temporary  separation." 


154  •  THE  LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

formed  in  you.     But  I  could  have  wished  to  be  with  you  now,  and  to 
change  my  voice  to  you,^  for  I  am  quite  at  a  loss  about  you."^ 

Then,  returning  as  it  were  to  the  attack,  he  addresses 
to  them  the  curious  allegory  of  the  two  wives  of  Abraham, 
Sarah  and  Hagar,  and  their  sons  Ishmael  and  Isaac.^ 

These  ai*e  types  of  the  two  covenants — Hagar  represents  Sinai,  corre- 
sponds to,  or  is  under  the  same  head  with  bondage,  with  the  Law,  with 
the  Old  Covenant,  and  therefore  with  the  earthly  Jerusalem,  which  is  in 
bondage  under  the  Law ;  but  Sarah  con-esponds  to  freedom,  and  the 
promise,  and  therefore  to  the  New  Covenant,  and  to  the  New  Jerusalem 
which  is  the  free  motlier  of  us  all.  There  must  be  antagonism  between 
the  two,  as  there  was  between  the  brother-sons  of  the  slave  and  the  free- 
woman  ;  but  this  ended  in  the  son  of  the  slave- woman  being  cast  out. 
So  it  is  now  3  the  unbelieving  Jews,  the  natural  descendants  of  the  real 
Sarah,  are  the  spiritual  descendants  of  Hagar,  the  ejected  bondwoman  of 
the  Sinaitic  wilderness,  and  they  persecute  the  Gentiles,  who  are  the 
prophesied  descendants  of  the  spiiitual  Sarah.  The  spiritual  descendants 
of  Sarah  shall  inherit  the  blessing  of  which  those  Jews  who  are  descended 
physically  from  her  should  have  no  share.  Isaac,  the  supernatural  child 
of  promise,  represents  the  spu-itual  seed  of  Abraham, — that  is  Christ,  and 
all  who,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  are  in  Him.  "Therefore,  brethren, 
we,"  he  adds — identifying  himself  far  more  entirely  with  Gentiles  than 
with  Jews,  "  are  not  children  of  a  slave-woman,  but  of  the  free.  In  the 
freedom  wherewith  Christ  freed  us,  stand  then,  and  be  not  again  enyoked 
with  the  yoke  of  slavery." 

Again,  how  sti^ange  and  how  enraging  to  the  Jews  would  be  such  an 
allegory  !  It  was  Philonian,  Eabbinic  ;  but  it  was  more  admirable  than 
any  allegory  in  Philo,  because  it  did  not  simply  merge  the  historical  in  the 
metaphorical  3  and  more  full  of  ability  and  insight  than  any  in  the  Rabbis.* 
This  was,  indeed,  "  to  steal  a  feather  from  the  spicy  nest  of  the  Phoenix  " 
in  order  to  wing  the  shaft  which  should  pierce  her  breast.  The  Jews,  the 
descendants  of  Sarah,  by  the  irresistible  logic  of  their  own  most  cherished 

1  i.e.,  to  speak  to  you  in  gentler  tones. 

2  iv.  17—20. 

3  On  this  allegory  see  supra,  vol.  i.,  p.  57. 

*  It  was  no  mere  pretty  application  of  a  story.  It  was  the  detection  in 
one  particular  case  of  a  divine  law,  which  might  be  traced  thro^^gll  every  fact 
of  the  divine  history  "  (Maurice,  Unity,  5U8).  How  different  from  Philo's 
allegory,  in  which  Charran  is  the  senses ;  Abraham,  the  soul ;  Sarah,  divine 
wisdom ;  Isaac,  human  wisdom ;  Ishmael,  sophistry ;  &c. 


EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  155 

method,  here  find  themselves  identified  with  the  descendants  of  the 
despised  and  hated  Hagar,  just  as  before  they  had  heard  the  pi-oof  that 
not  they  but  the  converted  Gentiles  were  truly  Abraham's  seed  !  ^ 

Ajid  the  Galatians  must  be  under  no  mistake  ;  they  cannot  serve  two 
masters  ;  they  camiot  combine  the  Law  and  the  Gospel.  Nor  must  they 
fancy  that  they  could  escape  persecution  by  getting  circumcised  and  stop 
at  that  point.  "  See,"  he  says,  "  I,  Paul — who,  as  they  tell  you,  once 
preached  circumcision — I,  Paul,  tell  you  that,  if  you  hanker  after  reliance 
on  circumcision,  Christ  shall  profit  you  nothing.  Nay,  I  protest  again  to 
every  person  who  gets  himself  circumcised,  that  he  is  a  debtor  to  keep 
the  whole  Law.  Ye  are  nullified  from  Christ,  ye  who  seek  justification  in 
Law,  ye  are  banished  from  His  grace;  for  we  spiritually,  as  a  consequence 
of  faith,  earnestly  await  the  hope  of  righteousness.  For  in  Christ  neither 
circumcision  availeth  anything,  nor  uncii'cumcision,  but  faith  working  by 
means  of  love."  ^     "  In  these,"  as  Bengel  says,  "  stands  all  Christianity." 

"  Ye  were  running  bravely.  Who  broke  up  your  path  to  prevent 
your  obeying  truth  1  This  persuasion  is  not  from  Him  who  calleth  you. 
It  is  an  alien  intrusion — it  comes  only  from  one  or  two — yet  beware  of 
it.  A  little  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole  lump.  /  feel  confident  with 
respect  to  you  ^  in  the  Lord  that  you  will  adopt  my  views  ;  and  he  who 
troubles  you  shall  bear  the  burden  of  his  judgment,  be  he  who  he  may. 
And  as  for  me,  if  I  am  still  preaching  circumcision,  why  am  I  still  an 
object  of  persecution  1  The  stumbling-block  of  the  cross  has  been  done 
away  with,  it  appears !  They  are  not  persecuted, — just  because  they 
preach  circumcision  ;  why  then  should  /  be,  if  as  they  say  I  preach  it  too  ? 
Would  that  these  turners  of  you  upside  down  would  go  a  little  further 
than  cii-cumcision,  and  make  themselves  like  the  priests  of  Cybele  !* 

"  I  cannot  help  this  strong  language  ;  for  ye  were  called  for  freedom, 
brethren ;  only,  not  freedom  for  a  handle  to  the  flesh,  but  by  love  be 
slaves  to  one  another.*     For  the  whole  Law  is  absolutely  fulfilled''  in  one 

Mv.  21— 31.  2^.  1-G. 

'  V.  10,  iyo)  iriiroiBa  els  v/jlus. 

*  V.  7 — 12,  aTTOKotpovTai ;  of.  airoKiKOfji.fj.fvot,  Deut.  xxiii.  1.  I  have  given  the 
only  admissible  meaning.  Reuss  calls  it  "  une  phrase  affreuse,  qui  revolte 
notre  sentiment."  This  is  to  judge  a  writer  by  the  standard  of  two  milleuuiums 
later.  Accustomed  to  Paul's  manner  and  temperament  it  would  ha\  e  been 
read  as  a  touch  of  roiigh  humour,  yet  with  a  deep  meaning  in  it — viz.,  that 
circumcision  to  Gentiles  was  mere  concision  (Phil.  iii.  2,  3),  and  if  as  such 
it  had  any  virtue  in  it,  there  was  something  to  be  said  for  the  priests  at 
Pessinus. 

5  1  Peter  ii.  16. 

8  v.  14,  TTfirKiipoiTai,  has  been  fulfilled ;  Matt.  xxii.  40 ;  Rom.  xiii.  8  (Lev. 
six.  18). 


156  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

word  in  tlie  '  Tliovi  slialt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.'  But  if  ye  are 
biting  and  dev^ouring  one  another,  take  heed  that  ye  be  not  consumed  by 
one  another.^ 

"  I  mean  then,  walk  spiritually,  and  there  is  no  fear  of  your  fulfilling 
the  lusts  of  the  flesh.  The  flesh  and  the  spirit  are  mutually  opposing 
principles,  and  their  opposition  prevents  your  fulfilling  your  highest  will. 
But  if  ye  are  led  by  the  spirit  ye  are  not  under  Law.  Now  the  deeds  of 
the  flesh  are  manifest ;  such  are  fornication,  uncleanness,  wantonness, 
idolatry,  witchcrafts,^ — enmities,  discord,  rivalry,  wraths,  cabals,  party- 
factions,  envies,  murders,^ — drunkenness,  revellings,*  and  things  like 
these ;  as  to  which  I  warn  you  now,  as  I  warned  you  before,  that  all 
who  do  such  things  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God.  But  the 
fruit  of  the  Spirit^  is  love,  joy,  peace,  longsuffering,  kindness,  beneficence, 
faith,  gentleness,  self-control.  Against  such  things  as  these  there  is  no 
law.  But  they  that  are  of  Christ  Jesus  crucified  the  flesh  with  its 
passions  and  desires.  If  we  are  living  spiritually,  spii-itually  also  let  us 
walk.  Let  us  not  become  vainglorious,  provoking  one  another,  envying 
one  another."® 

At  this  point  there  is  a  break.  It  may  be  that  some 
circumstance  at  Corinth  had  powerfully  affected  him. 
Another  lapse  into  immorality  may  have  taken  place  in 
that  unstable  church,  or  something  may  have  strongly 
reminded  St.  Paul  of  the  overwhelming  effect  which  had 
been  produced  by  the  sentence  on  the  particular  offender 
whom  he  had  decided  to  hand  over  to  Satan.  However 
this  may  be,  he  says  with  peculiar  solemnity : — 

1  V.  13 — 15 .  To  a  great  extent  the  Apostle's  warning  was  fulfilled.   Julian, 
Ep.  52,  speaks  of  tlieir  internecine  dissensions.     Galatia  became  not  only  the 
stronghold  of  Montauism,  but  the  headquarters  of  Ophites,  Mauichees,  Pas- 
saloryuchites,  Ascodrcgites,  Ai-totyi-ites,  Borborites,  and  other 
"  Gorgons  and  Lydras,  and  chimseras  dire ;  " 

and  St.  Jerome  speaks  of  Ancyra  as  Schismatibus  dilacerata,  dogmatum  varie- 
tatibus  consUiprata  (Lightfoot,  Gal.,  p.  31). 

'  Sius  with  others  against  God. 

3  Sins  against  our  neighbour. 

*  Personal  sins  (Bengel). 

5  Deeds  of  the  flesh,  because  they  spring  from  ourselves;  fruit  of  the 
spirit,  because  they  need  the  help  of  God's  grace  (Chrys.). 

6  V.  16—26. 


EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  157 

**  Brethren,  even  tliough  a  man  be  surprised  in  a  transgi-ession,  ye 
the  spiritual  restore  such  an  one  in  a  spirit  of  meekness,  considering  thy- 
self lest  even  thou  shouldst  be  tempted.  Bear  ye  the  burdens  of  one 
another's  cares,^  and  so  shall  ye  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ.  But  if  any  man 
believes  himself  to  be  something  when  he  is  nothing,  he  is  deceiving 
himself.  But  let  each  man  test  his  own  work,  and  then  he  shall  have 
his  ground  of  boasting  with  reference  to  himself,  and  not  to  his  neigh- 
bour.    For  each  one  shall  bear  his  own  appointed  load.^ 

"  Let  then  him  who  is  taught  the  word  commvmicate  with  the  teacher 
in  all  good  things.'  Be  not  deceived,  God  is  not  mocked.  Whatsoever 
a  man  soweth,  that  also  he  shall  reap.  For  he  that  soweth  to  his  flesh, 
from  liis  flesh  shall  reap  corruption ;  but  he  that  soweth  to  the 
Spirit,  from  the  Spirit  shall  reap  life  eternal.  [That  is  the  general 
principle ;  apply  it  to  the  special  instance  of  the  contribution  for 
which  I  have  asked  you.]  Let  us  not  lose  heart  in  domg  right,  for  at 
the  due  time  we  shall  reap  if  we  faint  not.  Well,  then,  as  we  have 
opportunity,  let  us  do  good  to  all  men,  but  especially  to  those  who  are  of 
the  family  of  the  faith.* 

"  Look  ye  with  what  large  letters  I  write  to  you  with  my  own  hand.^ 
As  many  as  want  to  make  fair  show  in  the  flesh,  want  to  comj^el 
you  to  get  yourselves  circumcised,  only  that  they  may  not  be  persecuted 
for  the  cross  of  Clu-ist.  For  not  even  the  circumcision  party  them- 
selves keep  the  law,  yet  they  want  to  get  you  circumcised  that  they  may 
boast  in  your  flesh.  But  far  be  it  from  me  to  boast  except  in  the 
cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  world  has  been  crucified  to 
me,  and  I  to  the  world.  For  neither  circumcision  is  anything  nor  un- 
circumcision,  but  a  new  creation.®  And  as  many  as  shall  walk  by  this 
rule,  peace  on  them  and  mercy,  and  on  the  Israel  of  God."  And  then, 
as  though  by  a  sudden  after-thought,  we  have  the  "  Henceforth  let  no 

^  vi.  2,  BapT],  weaknesses,  sufferings,  even  sins. 

^  vi.  1 — 5.    vi.  5,  tpopriov  of  responsibility  and  moral  consequence. 

8  1  Cor.  ix.;  Eom.  xii.  13;  1  Thess.  v.  12. 

*  vi.  6—10. 

*  Theodore  of  Mopsuetia,  believing  that  only  the  conclusion  of  the  letter 
was  antog^'aph,  makes  the  size  of  tlie  letters  a  sort  of  sign  that  the  Apostle  does 
not  blush  for  anything  he  has  said.  But  the  style  of  the  letter  seems  to  show 
that  it  was  not  dictated  to  an  amanuensis. 

°  It  will  be  seen  that  in  those  two  clauses  he  has  resumed  both  the  polemi- 
cal (12, 13)  and  the  dogmatic  theses  (14, 16)  of  the  letter;  and  that  the  personal 
(17)  as  well  as  the  doctrinal  truth  (18)  on  which  he  has  been  dAvelling  recur 
in  the  two  last  verses.  Thus,  from  first  to  last,  the  Epistle  is  characterised 
by  remarkable  unity. 


158  THE    LIFE    Al^D    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

man  trouble  me,   for  I  bear  in  ti-iumph  on  my  body  the  brands    of 
Jesus."  ^ 

"  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  your  spirit,  brethren. 
Amen."^ 

Sucli  was  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians;  nor  can  we 
without  some  knowledge  of  what  Judaism  then  was,  and 
what  it  was  daily  becoming,  form  any  adequate  conception 
of  the  daring  courage,  the  splendid  originality — let  us 
rather  say  the  inspired  and  inspiring  faith — which  enabled 
the  Apostle  thus  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  immemorial 
traditions,  and  to  defy  the  hatred  of  those  among  whom 
he  had  been  trained  as  a  Hebrew  and  a  Pharisee.  We 
must  remember  that  at  this  very  time  the  schools  of 
Eabbinism  were  fencing  the  Law  with  a  jealous  exclusive- 
ness  which  yearly  increased  in  its  intensity;  and  that 
while  St.  Paul  was  freely  flinging  open  all,  and  more  than 
all,  of  the  most  cherished  hopes  and  exalted  privileges  of 
Judaism,  without  one  of  its  burdens,  the  Eabbis  and 
Rabbans  were  on  the  high  road  to  the  conclusion  that  any 
Gentile  who  dared  to  get  beyond  the  seven  Noachian 
precepts — any  Gentile,  for  instance,  who  had  the  audacity 
to  keep  the  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  rest — without  becoming 
a  proselyte  of  righteousness,  and  so  accepting  the  entire 
yoke  of  Levitism,  "  neither  adding  to  it  nor  diminishing 
from  it,"  deserved  to  be  beaten  and  punished,  and  to  be 

^  Hence,  as  one  marked  with  the  brands  of  his  master,  in  his  next  Epistle 
(Rom.  i.  1)  he  for  the  first  time  calls  himself  "  a  slave  of  Jesus  Christ." 
Stigmata  were  usually  a  punishment,  so  tliat  in  classic  Greek,  stigmatias  is 
"  a  rascal."  Whether  St.  Paul's  metaphor  turns  on  his  haviug  beeu  a  deserter 
from  Christ's  service  before  his  conversion,  or  on  his  being  a  Hiorodoulos 
(Hdt.  ii.  113),  is  doubtful.  There  seem,  too,  to  be  traces  of  the  branding  of 
recruits  (Rbnsch.  Bas  N.  T.  Tertullian's,  p.  700).  The  use  of  "  stigmata  "  for 
the  "  five  wounds  "  has  had  an  effect  analogous  to  the  notion  of  "  unknown  " 
tongues. 

2  vi.  11 — 18.  The  one  unusual  last  word,  "  brethren,"  beautifully  tempers 
the  general  severity  of  tone. 


EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  159 

informed  that  he  thereby  legally  incurred  the  penalty  of 
death.-^  What  was  the  effect  of  the  Epistle  on  the  Churches 
of  Galatia  we  cannot  tell ;  but  for  the  Church  of  Christ 
the  work  was  done.  By  this  letter  Gentiles  were  freed  for 
ever  from  the  peril  of  having  their  Christianity  subjected 
to  impossible  and  carnal  conditions.  In  the  Epistle  to  the 
Eomans  circumcision  does  not  occur  as  a  practical  question. 
Judaism  continued,  indeed,  for  some  time  to  exercise  over 
Christianity  a  powerful  influence,  but  in  the  Epistle  of 
Barnabas  circumcision  is  treated  with  contempt,  and  even 
attributed  to  the  deception  of  an  evil  angel  ;^  in  the 
Epistle  of  Ignatius,  St.  Paul's  distinction  of  the  true  and 
false  circumcision  is  absolutely  accepted;^  and  even  in  the 
Clementine  Homilies,  Judaistic  as  they  are,  not  a  word  is 
said  of  the  necessity  of  circumcision,  but  he  who  desires  to 
be  un-Hellenised  must  be  so  by  baptism  and  the  new  birth.* 


The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  was  quickly  followed  by 
that  to  the  Romans,  which  was  at  once  singularly  like  and 
singularly  unlike  its  immediate  predecessor.  No  violent 
external  opposition,  no  deep  inward  sorrow  was  at  that 
particular  moment  absorbing  the  Apostle's  soul.  It  was  a 
little  pause  in  his  troubled  life.  The  period  of  his  winter 
stay  at  Corinth  was  drawing  to  a  close.  He  was  already 
contemplating  a  yet  wider  circle  for  his  next  missionary 
tour.  The  tide  of  his  thoughts  was  turning  wholly 
towards  the  West.  He  wished  to  see  Rome,  and,  without 
making  any  prolonged  visit,  to  confirm  the  Gospel  in  the 
capital  of  the  world.     He  did  not  contemplate  a  long  stay 

^  See  Sanhedvin,  f.  58,  c.  2 ;  and  Maimonides  Tad  Hachezakah  (Hilchoth 
Melachim,  §  10,  Hal.  9). 
2  Ep.  Ps.  Baruab.  ix. 

'  Ep.  ad  Philad.  6,  6  r^s  Kdru  irfpiT0fi7\s  ^ev^oiov^aios, 
*  a.(peK\i)vi(r9i)vaL  (Ps.-Clem.  Hom.  iii.  9). 


160  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

among  the  Eoman  Christians,  because  it  was  his  invariable 
principle  not  to  build  on  other  men's  foundations.  But 
he  wished  to  be  helped  by  them — with  facilities  which  a 
great  capital  alone  can  offer — on  his  journey  to  Spain, 
where  as  yet  the  Gospel  had  been  unpreached.  His  heart 
was  yearning  towards  the  shores  whose  vessels  he  saw  in 
the  ports  of  Lechseum  and  Cenchrese,  and  whose  swarthy 
sailors  he  may  have  often  met  in  the  crowded  streets. 

But  before  he  could  come  to  them  he  determined  to 
carry  out  his  long-planned  visit  to  Jerusalem.  Whether 
the  members  of  that  church  loved  or  whether  they  hated 
him — whether  they  would  give  to  his  converts  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship  or  hold  them  at  arm's-length — he  at 
least  would  repay  evil  with  good ;  he  would  effectually  aid 
their  mass  of  struggling  pauperism  ;  he  would  accompany 
the  delegates  who  carried  to  them  a  proof  of  Gentile  love 
and  generosity,  and  would  himself  hand  over  to  the  Apostles 
the  sums — which  must  by  this  time  have  reached  a  con- 
siderable amount — which  had  been  collected  solely  by  his 
incessant  endeavours.  How  earnestly  and  even  solemnly 
had  he  brought  this  duty  before  the  Galatians,  both  orally 
and  by  letter !  how  carefully  had  he  recommended  the 
Corinthians  to  prevent  all  uncertainty  in  the  contributions 
by  presenting  them  in  the  form  of  a  weekly  offering !  how 
had  he  stimulated  the  Macedonians  by  the  forwardness  of 
the  Achaians,  and  the  Achaians  by  the  liberality  of  the 
Macedonians.  And  after  all  this  trouble,  forethought,  and 
persistence,  and  all  the  gross  insinuations  which  he  had 
braved  to  bring  it  to  a  successful  issue,  it  was  but  natural 
that  one  so  warm-hearted  should  wish  to  reap  some  small 
earthly  reward  for  his  exertions  by  witnessing  the  pleasure 
which  the  subscription  afforded  to  the  mother  church,  and 
the  relief  which  it  furnished  to  its  humbler  members.  But 
he  did  not  conceal  from  himself  that  this  visit  to  Jerusalem 


MISGIVINGS.  161 

would  be  accompanied  by  great  dangers.  He  was  thrust- 
ing his  head  into  the  lion's  den  of  Judaism,  and  from  all 
his  past  experience  it  was  but  too  clear  that  in  such  a 
place,  and  amid  the  deepened  fanaticism  of  one  of  the 
yearly  feasts,  perils  among  his  own  countrymen  and  perils 
among  false  brethren,  would  beset  every  step  of  his  path. 
Whether  he  would  escape  those  perils  was  known  to  God 
alone.  Paul  was  a  man  who  cherished  no  illusions.  He 
had  studied  too  deeply  the  books  of  Scripture  and  the  book 
of  experience  to  be  ignorant  of  the  manner  in  which  Grod 
deals  with  His  saints.  He  knew  how  Elijah,  how  Isaiah, 
how  Jeremiah,  how  Ezekiel,  how  Daniel,  how  John  the 
Baptist,  how  the  Lord  Jesus  Himself,  had  lived  and  died. 
He  knew  that  devotion  to  God's  work  involved  no  protection 
from  earthly  miseries  and  trials,  and  he  quoted  without  a 
murmur  the  sad  words  of  the  Psalmist,  "  For  Thy  sake  are 
we  killed  all  the  day  long ;  we  are  accounted  as  sheep  ap- 
pointed to  be  slain." ^  But  whether  it  was  God's  will  that 
he  should  escape  or  not,  at  any  rate  it  would  be  well  to 
write  to  the  Eoman  Christians,  and  answer  all  objections, 
and  remove  all  doubts  respecting  the  real  nature  of  his 
teaching,  by  a  systematic  statement  of  his  beliefs  as  to  the 
true  relations  between  Jews  and  Gentiles,  between  the  Law 
and  the  Gospel,  as  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  great  Chris- 
tian revelation  that  we  are  justified  through  faith  in  Christ. 
This,  if  anything,  might  save  him  from  those  Judaic 
counter-efforts  on  the  part  of  nominal  Christians,  which  had 
undone  half  his  work,  and  threatened  to  render  of  no 
effect  the  cross  of  Christ.  He  therefore  availed  himself 
of  the  earliest  opportunity  to  write  and  to  despatch  the 
greatest  of  all  his  Epistles — one  of  the  greatest  and  deepest 
and  most  memorably  influential  of  all  compositions  ever 
written  by  human  pen — the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans. 
1  Rom.  viii.  36. 


\ 


CHAPTEE  XXXVII. 

THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS,  AND  THE  THEOLOGY  OF  ST.  PAUL. 

n«s  yap  iarai  fiporhs  SiKaios  €vavri  Kvpiov ; — JOB  XXV.  4  (LXIX.). 

But  to  the  cross  He  nails  thy  enemies, 
The  Law  that  is  against  thee,  and  the  sins 
Of  all  mankind ;  with  Him  these  are  crucified, 
Never  to  hurt  them  more  who  rightly  trust 
In  this  His  satisfaction. 

Milton,  Par.  Lost,  xiL 

IIoCXos   6   fieyas   rris  aX-rjdeias   Krjpv^,   rh   Kaixvi^'''  t^s  iKK\7]<rias,  8  iy  ovpevois 
&y9peciros. — Ps.  Cheys.  Orat.  Encom. 

I. — Introductory. 

Before  we  enter  on  the  examination  of  tlie  Epistle  to  the 
Eomans,  it  will  be  necessary  to  understand,  as  far  as  we 
can,  the  special  objects  which  the  Apostle  had  in  view,  and 
the  conditions  of  the  Church  to  which  it  was  addressed. 

The  first  conqueror  who  had  introduced  the  Jews  in 
any  numbers  into  Eome  was  the  great  Pompeius,  who 
treated  the  nation  with  extreme  indignit}^^  In  the 
capital  of  the  world  they  showed  that  strong  self-reliance 
by  which  they  have  ever  been  distinguished.  From  the 
peculiarities  of  their  religious  conviction,  they  were  useless 
and  troublesome  as  ordinary  slaves,  but  they  displayed  in 
every  direction  the  adaptability  to  external  conditions, 
which,  together  with  their  amazing  patience,  have  secured 
them  an  ever-strengthening  position  throughout  the  world. 
They  soon,  therefore,  won  their  emancipation,  and  began 
to  multiply  and  flourish.     The  close  relations  of  friend- 

>  Jos.  Antt.  xiv.  4,  1— 5j  B.  J.  i.  7;  Florus.  iii.  5;  Tac.  H.  v.  9  ;  Cic.  pro 
Flac.  xxvii.,  &c. 


THE    JEWS    IN    ROME.  163 

ship  wlilcli  existed  between  Augustus  and  Herod  the 
Great  improved  tlieir  condition ;  and  at  the  dawn  of  the 
Christian  era,  they  were  so  completely  recognised  as  an 
integral  section  of  the  population,  with  rights  and  a 
religion  of  their  own,  that  the  politic  Emperor  assigned 
to  them  that  quarter  beyond  the  Tiber  which  they  have 
occupied  for  ages  since. ^  From  these  dim  purlieus,  where 
they  sold  sulphur  matches,  and  old  clothes,  and  broken 
glass,  and  went  to  beg  and  tell  fortunes  on  the  Cestian 
or  Fabrician  bridge,^  8,000  of  them  swarmed  forth  to  escort 
fifty  deputies  who  came  from  Jerusalem  with  a  petition 
to  Augustus.^  It  was  doubtless  the  danger  caused  by 
their  growing  numbers  which  led  to  that  fierce  attempt  of 
Sejanus  to  get  rid  of  them  which  Tacitus  records,  not 
only  without  one  touch  of  pity,  but  even  with  concen- 
trated scorn.*  The  subsequent,  but  less  atrocious  decree 
of  Claudius,^  brought  about  St.  Paul's  friendship  with 
Aquila  and  Priscilla,  and  is  probably  identical  with  the 
measure  alluded  to  by  Suetonius  in  the  famous  passage 
about  the  "  Imjmlsor  Chrestus."  ^  If  so,  it  is  almost 
certain  that  Christians  must  have  been  confounded  with 
Jews  in  the  common  misfortune  caused  by  their  Messianic 
differences.''  But,  as  Tacitus  confesses  in  speaking  of  the 
attempt  to  expel  astrologers  from  Italy,  these  measures 

*  I  have  described  this  quarter  of  Rome  in  Beekers  after  God,  p.  168. 

»  Mart.  Ep.  i.  42,  109;  vi.  93;  x.  3,  5;  xii.  57;  Juv.  xiv.  134,  186,  201  ; 
Stat.  Silv.  i.,  vi.  72.  They  continued  here  for  many  centuries,  but  were  also 
to  bo  found  in  other  parts  of  Rome.  On  their  mendicancy  see  Juv.  iii.  14, 
296;  vi.  542.  On  their  faithfulness  to  the  Law,  see  Hor.  Sat.  i.,  ix.  69;  Suet. 
Aug.  76 ;  Juv.  xiv.  96 ;  Pers.  v.  184 ;  &c. 

^  Jos.  Antt.  xvii.  1. 

*  Tac.  Ann.  ii.  85;  Sueton.  Tib.  36  ;  Jos.  Antt.  xviii.  3,  5. 
'  Acts  xviii.  2, 

8  V.  supra,  i.,  pp.  57,  493.  Since  Christus  would  be  meaningless  to  classic 
ears,  the  word  was  surfrappe.  (see  my  Families  of  Speech,  p.  119).  Chrestianus 
is  common  in  inscriptions ;  Renan,  St.  Paul,  101. 

7  And  perhaps  by  the  commencing  troubles  in  Judaea,  early  in  A.D.  52. 

I  2 


164  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

were  usually  as  futile  as  tliey  were  severe.^  We  find 
that  those  Jews  who  had  left  Rome  under  immediate 
pressure  began  soon  to  return.^  Their  subterranean 
proselytism^  as  far  back  as  the  days  of  Nero,  acquired 
proportions  so  formidable  that  Seneca,"^  while  he  charac- 
terised the  Jews  as  a  nation  steeped  in  wickedness  {gens 
scelera/issiind)  testifies  to  their  immense  diffusion.  It  is 
therefore  certain  that  when  St.  Paul  first  arrived  in  Rome 
(A.D.  61),  and  even  at  the  time  when  he  wrote  this  letter 
(A.D.  58),  the  Jews,  in  spite  of  the  unrepealed  decree  of 
Claudius,  which  had  been  passed  only  six  years  before, 
formed  a  large  community,  sufficiently  powerful  to  be 
an  object  of  alarm  and  jealousy  to  the  Imperial  Grovern- 
ment. 

Of  this  Jewish  community  we  can  form  no  conjecture 
how  many  were  Christians  ;  nor  have  we  a  single  datum 
to  guide  us  in  forming  an  estimate  of  the  numbers  of  the 
Cliristian  Church  in  Rome,  except  the  vague  assertion  of 
Tacitus,  that  a  "  vast  multitude  "  of  its  innocent  members 
were  butchered  by  Nero  in  the  persecution  by  which  he 
strove  to  hide  his  guilty  share  in  the  conflagration  of 
July  19,  A.D.  64.^  Even  the  salutations  which  crowd 
the  last  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  do  not  help 
us.  Twenty-six  people  are  greeted  by  name,  besides  "  the 
Church  in  the  house "   of  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  some  of 


1  Tac.  Ann.  xii.  52,  "  atrox  et  irritum."  It  is  not  impossible  that  these 
may  be  one  and  the  same  decree,  for  the  Mathematici,  and  impostors  closely 
akin  to  them,  were  frequently  Jews. 

^  Dion  Cass.  (Ix.  6)  who  is  probably  alluding  to  this  decree,  says  that  the 
Jews  were  not  expelled,  but  only  forbidden  to  meet  in  public  assemblies. 
Aquila,  however,  as  a  leading  Christian,  would  be  naturally  one  of  those  who 
was  compelled  to  leave. 

3  Hor.  Sat.  i.  9 ,  70;  Pers.  Sat.  v.  180 ;  Ovid.  A.  A.  i.  76;  Juv.  vi.  542; 
Suet.  Aug.  76 ;  Merivale,  vi.  257,  seq.,  &c. 

*  Ap.  Aug.  De  Civ.  Dei.,  vi.  11 ;  v.  supra,  Excursus  XTV. 

6  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  40,  41 ;  Suet.  Nero,  38. 


CHRISTIANS    IN    ROME.  165 

the  "  "households "  of  Aristobulus  and  Narcissus,^  the 
"  brethren,"  with  Asyncritus  and  others,  and  the  "  saints  '* 
with  013'mpas  and  others.^  All  that  we  could  gather 
from  these  notices,  if  we  could  be  sure  that  the  sixteenth 
chapter  was  really  addressed  to  Eome,  is  that  the  Eoman 
Christians  possessed  as  yet  no  common  place  of  meeting, 
but  were  separated  into  at  least  three  communities  grouped 
around  different  centres,  assembling  in  different  places  of 
worship,  and  with  no  perceptible  trace  of  ecclesiastical 
organisation.  But  there  is  nothing  whatever  to  show 
whether  these  communities  were  large  or  small,  and  we 
shall  see  that  the  sixteenth  chapter,  though  unquestionably 
Pauline,  was  probably  addressed  to  the  Ephesian  and  not 
to  the  Eoman  Church. 

Assuming,  however,  that  the  Christians  were  numerous, 
as  Tacitus  expressly  informs  us,  two  questions  remain,  of 
which  both  are  involved  in  deep  obscurity.  The  one  is, 
"  "When  and  how  was  Christianity  introduced  into 
Eome  ?  "  The  other  is,  "  Was  the  Eoman  Church  pre- 
dominantly Jewish  or  predominantly  Gentile  ?  " 

1.  Tradition  answers  the  first  question  by  telling  us 
that  St.  Peter  was  the  founder  of  Latin  Christianity,  and 
this    answer   is    almost   demonstrably   false.     It   is    first 

'  The  mention  of  these  two  names  has  been  regarded  as  an  argument  that 
the  sixteenth  chapter  really  belongs  to  the  Roman  letter,  since  Aristobulus, 
the  son  of  Herod,  and  other  Herodian  princes  of  that  time,  had  been  edu- 
cated in  Rome,  whose  slaves  and  freedmen  these  might  be.  Again,  although 
Narcissus,  the  celebrated  freedman  of  Claudius,  had  been  put  to  death  in 
A.D.  54  (Tac.  Ann.  xiii.  1),  four  years  before  the  date  of  this  letter,  "  they 
of  the  household  of  Narcissus  "  may  have  been  some  of  his  slaves.  On  the 
other  hand,  neither  of  these  names  was  uncommon,  and  it  is  less  intrinsically 
improbal)le  that  there  should  have  been  a  Narcissus  and  an  Aristobulus  at 
Ei)hesus,  than  that  there  should  have  been  so  many  Asiatic  intimates  and 
Jewish  kinsmen  of  St.  Paul  at  Rome.  Muratori  (No.  1328)  and  Orelli  (No. 
V20)  give  an  inscription  found  at  Ferrara  from  a  tablet  erected  by  Tib. 
Clavd.  Narcissus,io  the  manes  of  his  wife,  Dicceosune  (Righteousness).  See 
an  interesting  note  on  this  in  Plumptre,  Bihl.  Stud.,  p.  428. 

«  Rom.  xvi.  5,  14,  15. 


166  THE    LIFE    AND    WOEK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

found  in  a  work,  at  once  malignant  and  spurious,  written 
late  in  the  second  century,  to  support  a  particular  party. 
That  work  is  the  forged  Clementines,^  in  which  we  are 
told  that  Peter  was  the  first  Bishop  of  Eome.  Tradition, 
gathering  fresh  particulars  as  it  proceeds,  gradually  began 
to  assert,  with  more  or  less  confidence,  that  he  came  to 
Eome  in  the  second  year  of  Claudius  (A.D.  42) ;  that  he 
met  and  confounded  Simon  Magus;  that  he  continued 
Bishop  of  Eome  for  twenty-five  years ;  that  he  was 
ultimately  martyred  b}^  being  crucified,  head  downwards 
at  his  ovm  humble  desire;  and  that  this  took  place  on 
June  29th,  the  same  day  as  the  execution  of  St.  Paul. 
In  attestation  of  their  martyrdom,  Grains  refers  to  their 
"  trophies  "  near  the  city.^  The  lateness  of  these  details, 
the  errors  with  which  they  are  mingled,  and  the  obvious 
party  reasons  for  their  invention,  forbid  our  attaching  to 
them  any  historic  value.  It  is  not  at  all  probable  that 
St.  Peter  arrived  at  the  city  till  the  year  of  his  death. 
This  at  least  is  certain — that,  in  the  New  Testament,  the 
sole  asserted  trace  of  his  presence  in  Eome  is  to  be  found 
in  the  highly  disputable  allusion,  "  They  of  Babylon 
salute  you."  ^     He  may  have  died  in  Eome  ;  he  may  even 

^  Recognit.  i.  6, 

2  Euscb.  H.  E.  iL  14,  25  (quoting  Dionysius  of  Corinth) ;  Id.  Don.  Ev. 
iii.  3 ;  Origen  {ap.  Eusei.  iii.  1) ;  Justin  Martyr,  Apolog.  ii.  26 ;  Tert,  De 
•praeser.  Haer.  36 ;  c.  3Iarc.  iv.  5 ;  Gains  ap.  Euseb.  ii.  25.  Justin,  and 
perhaps  others,  were  misled  by  the  inscription  to  the  Sabine  deity  Semo 
Sancus,  which  they  read  Simoni  Sancto.  Peter  is  also  associated  with  Paul 
in  the  founding  of  Christianity  at  Rome  by  Clemens,  Ep.  ad  Cor.  5 ;  by  the 
Kvpvy/xa  Uerpov;  by  Lactant.  Instt.  Div.  iv.  21;  by  Iren.  Haer.  iii.  3;  by 
Epiphan.  Haer.  i.  27 ;  Oros.  vii.  7  ;  Constt.  Apost.  vii.  46 ;  &c.  &c. 

^  The  Acts  prove  that  St.  Peter  was  at  Jerusalem  about  A.D.  49  (Acts  xv.) ; 
and  in  Antioch  about  AD.  53  (Gal.  ii.  11)  ;  and  the  Epistles  with  the  Acts 
prove  all  but  conclusively  that  he  was  not  at  Rome  during  the  first  or  second 
imprisonment  of  St.  Paul.  If  "  Babylon,"  in  1  Pet.  v.  13,  means  Babylon 
and  not  Rome— a  question  which  cannot  hQ positively  decided — then  St.  Peter 
was  in  Babylon  ten  years  later  than  this.  (See  Baur,  Paul.  ii.  291  seqci.) 
Spanheim,  in  his  celebrated  Dissertatio  (1679)  dwells  much  on  Gal.  ii.  9  as  a 


CHRISTIANITY    AT    ROME.  167 

have  preached  in  Eome ;  he  may  eveu  have  been  accepted 
by  tlie  Jewish  section  of  Eoman  Christians  as  their 
nominal  "  Bishop  ;  "  but  that  he  was  not,  and  conld  not 
have  been,  in  any  true  sense  the  original  founder  of  the 
Eoman  Church  is  freely  admitted  even  by  Eoman  Catholics 
themselves. 

At  what  time  the  chance  seeds  of  Christianity  had 
been  wafted  to  the  shores  of  Italy  ^  we  are  utterly  unable 
to  say.  That  this  took  place  in  our  Lord's  lifetime  is 
improbable,  nor  is  it  worth  while  to  do  more  than  allude 
to  the  fiction  which  ascribes  to  the  Emperor  Tiberius  a 
favourable  opinion  respecting  the  divinity  of  Christ.^ 
All  tliat  we  can  safely  assert  is  the  likelihood  that  the 
good  tidings  may  first  have  been  conveyed  by  some  of 
those  Jews  and  proselytes  from  Eome  who  heard  the 
speech  of  St.  Peter  at  Pentecost ;  ^  or  by  others  who,  like 
St.  Paul  himself,  received  their  first  impressions  from  the 
close  reasoning  and  fiery  eloquence  of  St.  Stephen  as  they  sat 
among  chance  visitors  in  the  synagogue  of  the  Libertini.* 

2.  If  this  conjecture  be  correct,  we  see  that,  from  the 
first,  the  Church  of  Eome  must  have  contained  both 
Jewish  and  Grentile  elements.  The  mere  probabilities  of 
the  case  will  not  enable  us  to  decide  which  of  the  two 
elements  preponderated,  and  if  we  turn  to  the  Epistle  we 
are  met  by  indications  so  dubious  that  critics  have  arrived 
at   the    most    opposite    conclusions.^      Baur  cannot  even 

strong  argument  against  the  likelihood  of  Peter's  visiting  Romek     Ellendorf 
(a  Roman  Catholic  writer)  admits  that  it  cannot  be  proved ;  but  even  Neauder 
and  Gieseler  admit  it  to  be  probable. 
'  Acts  xxviii.  14. 

2  Tert.  Apolog.  5,  21  (Just.  Mart.  Apolog.  i.  35,  48). 

3  Acts  ii.  9. 

4  Acts  vi.  9. 

5  Neander,  Meyer,  De  Wette,  Olshausen,  Tholuck,  Reuss,  &c.,  are  con- 
fident that  it  was  mainly  intended  for  Gentiles  j  Baur,  Schwegler,  Thiersch, 
Davidson,  Wordsworth,  &c.,  for  Jews. 


168  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

imagine  liow  it  is  possible  for  any  one  to  avoid  the  con- 
clusion that  the  Apostle  has  Jewish  Christians  in  view 
throughout.  Olshausen,  on  the  other  hand,  pronounces 
with  equal  confidence  on  the  prominence  of  Gentiles. 
Each  can  refer  to  distinct  appeals  to  both  classes.  If,  at 
the  very  outset  of  the  Epistle,  St.  Paul  seems  to  address 
the  whole  Church  as  Grentiles,  and  in  xi.  13  says,  "  I  speak 
unto  you  Gentiles,"  and  in  xv.  15,  16,  writes  in  the  ex- 
clusive character  of  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,^  and  in  x.  1 
speaks  of  the  Jews  in  the  third  person  -^  yet,  on  the 
other  hand,  in  iv.  1  he  speaks  of  "  Abraham  our  father," 
and  says  that  he  is  writing  to  those  who  "  know  the  Law,'* 
and  have  once  been  under  its  servitude.  If,  again,  the 
multitude  of  quotations  from  the  Jewish  scriptures  ^ 
might  be  supposed  to  have  most  weight  with  Jews 
(though  we  find  the  same  phenomenon  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Galatians),  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  apologetic 
section  (ix. — xi.)  the  argument  is  rather  about  the  Jews 
than  addressed  to  them,^  and  the  moral  precepts  of  the 
practical  chapters  seem  to  have  in  view  the  liberal 
Gentiles  far  more  than  the  Ebionising  Jews.  The  views 
of  the  latter  are  not  directly  combated,  while  the  former 
are  bidden  to  waive  their  personal  liberty  rather  than 
cause  any  personal  offence. 

Of  these  apparent  contradictions  the  solution  most 
commonly  accepted  is  that  suggested  by  Professor  Jowett,^ 
that  even  the  Gentile  converts  had  been  mainly  drawn 
from   the  ranks  of  proselytes,   who   at  Rome  were  par- 

^  i.  13.     "  Among  you,  as  among  other  Gentiles  "  (cf.  5,  6). 

-  X.  1,  "  ]\Iy  heai't's  desiro  and  prayer  for  them  "  {virlp  alrwy — m,  A,  B, 

D,  E,  F,  G — not  virlp  tov  'lo-poTjA.). 

3  The  phrase  KaOws  yeypaTrrat  occurs  no  less  than  nineteen  times  in  this 
single  Epistle,  as  it  does  on  almost  every  page  of  the  Talmud. 
*  ix.  1  ;  X.  1 ;   xi.,  passim. 
'  Jowett,  Romans,  vol.  ii.  23. 


JEWISH    OR    GENTILE?  169 

ticularly  numerous,^  so  that  "  the  Eoman  Church  appeared 
to  be  at  once  Jewish  and  Grentile — Jewish  in  feeling,  Gentile 
in  origin  ;  Je\\dsh,  for  the  Apostle  everywhere  argues  with 
them  as  Jews ;  Gentile,  for  he  expressly  addresses  them  as 
Gentiles."  This,  no  doubt,  was  the  condition  of  other 
Churches,  and  may  have  been  that  of  the  Church  at  Eome. 
But  as  this  hypothesis  by  no  means  solves  all  the  diffi- 
culties, it  seems  to  me  a  preferable  supposition  that  St. 
Paul  is  not  so  much  addressing  a  special  body  as  purposely 
arguing  out  a  fundamental  problem,  and  treating  it  in  an 
ideal  and  dramatic  manner.  To  the  Eoman  Christians  as 
a  body  he  was  avowedly  a  stranger,  but  he  knew  that 
Jews  and  Gentiles,  each  with  their  special  difficulties  and 
prejudices,  existed  side  by  side  in  every  Church  which  he 
had  visited,  and  he  wished  once  for  all  to  lay  down,  not 
only  for  the  Eoman  Christians,  but  for  all  who  might 
read  his  letter,  the  principles  which  were  to  guide  their 
mutual  relations.  He  is  stating  the  truths  which  could 
alone  secure  the  perfect  unity  of  that  Church  of  the  future 
in  which  the  distinctions  between  Jew  and  Greek  were  to 
be  no  more.  It  was  natural  that  before  he  visited  a 
strange  Church,  and  one  so  important  as  the  Church  of 
Eome,  he  should  desire  plainly  to  state  to  them  the  Gospel 

^  Tac.  H".  V.  5 ;  Cic.  pro  Flacco,  28,  &c.  We  read  of  Jewisli  slaves  in  the 
noblest  hoiises.  There  was  an  Acme  in  the  household  of  Livia ;  a  Samaritan 
named  Thallus  was  a  f reedman  of  Tiberius ;  Aliturus  was  a  favourite  mime 
of  Nero,  &c.  The  Judaic  faithfulnoss  of  these  Jews  is  proved  by  the  inscrip- 
tions on  their  graves;  Garucci,  Gimitero,  4;  Gratz,  iv.  123,  506;  and  bj' 
the  allusions  of  classic  writers.  Suet.  Aug.  57,  76,  &c.  It  is  remark- 
able that  among  Jewish  proselytes  are  found  such  names  as  Fulvia, 
Flavia,  Yaleria,  &c.,  while  the  Christians  were  mainly  Tryphseuas  and 
Tryphosas,  slave  names  ("  Luxurious,"  "  wanton ")  which  no  human  being 
would  voluntarily  bear.  It  appears  from  inscriptions  given  by  Grutcr  and 
Orelli  that  there  were  many  Jewish  synagogues  in  Rome,  e.g.,  Synagoga 
Campi,  Augusti,  Agrippae,  Siiburrae,  Oleae.  The  titles  (pixivroKos  and  4>i\6Ka.os 
on  their  tombs  significantly  indicate  their  orthodoxy  and  patriotism.  (See  too 
Hor.  Sat  u.  3,  288.) 


170  THE    LIFE    AND    WOEK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

wliich  lie  meant  to  preach.  But  surely  it  is  hardly  pro- 
bable that  he  would  wish  the  benefits  of  this  consummate 
effort  to  be  confined  to  a  single  Church,  The  hypothesis 
that  several  copies  of  the  letter  were  made,  and  that,  with 
appropriate  conclusions,  it  was  sent  in  whole  or  in  part 
to  other  Churches  beside  that  of  Eome,  is  not  only  intrin- 
sically reasonable,  but  also  accounts  for  some  of  the 
peculiar  phenomena  presented  by  the  manuscripts,  and 
especially  by  the  structure  of  the  concluding  chapters.^ 

^  (i.)  The  mission  of  Phoebe  to  Ephesus  is  more  probable  than  a  mission 
to  Rome,  which  was  nearly  three  times  more  distant ;  nor  could  Paul  well 
have  addressed  a  strange  Church  in  language  of  such  urgent  request  on  the  sub- 
ject of  her  visit  (Rom.  xvi.  1, 2).  (ii.)  It  is  strange  that  St.  Paul  should  salute 
twenty-six  people  at  a  Church  which  he  had  never  visited,  and  address  them 
in  terms  of  peculiar  intimacy  and  affection,  when  he  only  salutes  one  or  two, 
or  none  at  all,  in  Churches  which  he  had  founded,  (iii.)  Aquila  and  Priscilla 
were  at  Ephesus  when  St.  Paul  wrote  1  Cor.  xvi.  19,  and  again  at  Ephesus 
when  he  wrote  2  Tim.  iv.  19.  It  is  strange  to  find  them  settled  at  Rome 
with  a  Church  in  their  house  between  these  two  dates.  ("  Quoi !  toute 
I'Eglise  d'Ephese  s'etait  done  donne  rendezvous  in  Rome  ? "  Renan,  St. 
Paul,  Ixviii.)  (iv.)  How  is  it  that  there  are  no  salutations  to  Eubulus,  Pudens, 
Linus,  Claudia  (2  Tim.  iv.  21)  ?  (v.)  How  comes  it  that  "  Epsenetus,  the  first- 
fruits  of  Asia,"  is  at  Rome  ?  and  that  so  many  others  are  there  who  have — in 
other  places,  of  which,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  Ephesus  is  the  one  which  most 
prominently  suggests  itself — toiled  so  much,  and  suffered  so  much  for  Paul, 
and  even  shared  his  frequent  prisons  (xvi.  7,  9, 12, 13)  ?  (vi.)  If  so  many  were 
at  Rome  who  deserve  to  be  specially  signalised  as  "  beloved,"  and  "  aj^proved," 
and  "  elect,"  and  "  kinsmen,"  and  "  toilers,"  how  is  it  tliat  they  all  deserted 
him  at  the  hour  of  need  (2  Tim.  iv.  16)  ?  Was  the  Church  at  Rome  so  mere 
a  sand-cloud  that  aU  these  had  been  scattered  from  Rome  ?  or  had  they  all 
been  put  to  death  in  the  persecution  of  A.D.  64  ?  How  is  it  that  not  one 
of  these  exemplary  twenty-six  are  among  the  three  Jewish  friends  who 
are  aloue  faithful  to  him,  even  before  the  Neronian  persecutions  began, 
and  only  a  few  years  after  this  letter  was  despatched  (Col.  iv.  10,  11)  ?  (vii.) 
Again,  how  comes  it  that  tlie  severe  yet  fraternal  reproachfulness  of  xvi.  17 — 
20  is  so  uidike  the  apologetic  and  distant  politeness  of  xv.  15— 20?  (viii.) 
How  came  Timothy  and  St.  Paul's  other  friends,  whose  salutations  to  Thessa- 
lonica  or  to  Ephesus  would  be  natural,  to  send  them  so  freely  to  distant  and 
unvisited  Rome  ?  (ix.)  Even  if  these  considerations  were  unimportant,  how 
is  it  that  they  are  so  well  supported  by  the  apparently  different  terminations 
of  the  Epistle  at  xv.  33,  and  xvi.  20  and  24,  as  well  as  xvi.  27  ?  Why  is  the 
concluding  doxology  missing  in  F,  G,  and  some  MSS.  mentioned  by  Jerome? 
Why  is  it  placed  after  xiv.  23  in  L  in  most  cursives,  in  Greek  Lectiouax'ies,  in 


OBJECT    OF    THE    EPISTLE.  171 

3.  We  come,  then,  to  tlie  question,  What  is  the  main 
object  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans  ?  And  here  we  must 
not  be  surprised  i£  we  meet  with  different  answers.  The 
highest  works  of  genius,  in  all  writings,  whether  sacred  or 
secular,  are  essentially  many-sided.  Who  will  pretend  to 
give  in  a  few  words  the  central  conception  of  the  Prome- 
theus Yinctus  or  of  Hamlet  ?  Who  will  profess  to  unite 
all  suffrages  in  describing  the  main  purpose  of  Ecclesiastes 
or  of  Job  ?  Yet,  although  the  purpose  of  the  Epistle 
has  been  differently  interpreted,  from  our  ignorance  of  its 

Clirysostom,  Tlieocloret,  &c.  ?  Why  is  it  found  twice  in  Codex  A  (xiv.  24  and 
xvi.  25)  ?  Why  did  Marcion,  with  no  apparent  dogmatic  reason,  omit  the  two 
last  chapters  altogether  ?  Why,  lastly,  does  so  important  a  manuscript  as  G, 
founded  as  it  is  on  a  very  ancient  manuscript,  omit  the  words  eV  'Pcc/j-ri  in  i. 
7,  15  ?  No  fair  critic  will,  I  think,  assert  that  these  difi&culties  are  collectively 
unimportant ;  and  they  find  a  perfectly  simple  and  adequate  solution  if,  with- 
out accei)ting  the  entire  details  of  Renan's  theory,  we  suppose  with  him  {St. 
Paul,  Ixiii.— Ixxv.)  that  the  main  body  of  the  Epistle  was  sent  not  only  to  Rome, 
but  also  to  Ephesus,  Thessalonica,  and  possibly  some  other  Church,  with  dif- 
fering conclusions,  which  are  all  preserved  in  the  present  form  of  the  Epistle. 
On  the  other  side  may  be  set  the  remark  of  Strabo  (xiv.  5),  that  many  Tarsians 
were  at  Rome,  and  that  Rome  swarmed  with  Asiatics  (Friedlander,  Sitten- 
gesch.  Boms.  i.  59) ;  the  certainty  that  even  in  the  days  of  Sciino,  and  much 
more  in  each  succeeding  generation,  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  Rome 
— ^the  faex  populi — were  but  "  stepsons  of  Italy  "  (Sen.  ad  Helv.,  Cons.  6, 
"Non  possum  ferre  Quirites  Graecam  urban,"  Juv.  Sat.  iii.  61,  73,  seq., 
"  St. !  tacete  quibus  nee  pater  nee  mater  est ")  and  predominently  Greek  (see 
Lightfoot,  PMlippians,  p.  20)  ;  and  that  the  names  of  Amplias,  Urbanus, 
Stachys,  Apelles,  Nereias,  Hermes,  Hernias,  are  all  found,  as  Dr.  Lightfoot  has 
shown  {lb.  172—175),  in  the  inscriptions  of  the  Columbaria  among  the  slaves 
in  the  households  of  various  Cajsarian  families ;  and  not  only  these,  but  the 
rarer  names  Tryphseua,  Tryphosa,  Patrobas,  and  even  Philologus  and  Julia  in 
connexion,  which  is  at  least  a  cui-ious  coincidence.  But  when  we  remember 
the  many  hundreds  of  slaves  in  each  great  Roman  household ;  and  the  ex- 
treme  commonness  of  the  names  by  which  they  were  mostly  called  ;  and  the  fact 
that  Garucci  found  that  Latin  names  were  twice  as  numerous  as  the  Greek 
in  the  old  JcAvish  cemeteiy  at  Rome, — we  must  stiU  consider  it  more  likely 
that  chap,  xxi.,  in  whole  or  in  part,  was  addressed  to  Ephesus  as  a  personal 
termination  to  the  copy  of  the  Roman  Epistle,  which  could  hardly  fail  to  be 
sent  to  so  important  a  Church.  (See  Schulz,  Stud.  u.  Krit.  1829 ;  Ewald, 
Sendschr.  428 ;  Reuss,  Les  EpHres,  ii.  19.)  Of  all  theories,  that  of  Baur, 
that  the  chapter  was  forged  to  show  how  intimate  were  the  relations  of  Paul 
with  the  Roman  Church,  seems  to  me  the  most  wanton  and  arbitrary. 


172  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

origin,  and  of  the  exact  condition  of  the  Church  to  which 
it  was  written,  it  is  impossible  so  to  state  it  as  not  to 
express  one  or  other  of  its  essential  meanings. 

The  first  question  which  meets  us  affects  the  general 
character  of  the  Epistle.  Is  it  didactic  or  polemical  ?  Is 
it  general  or  special  r  The  divergent  views  of  commen- 
tators may  here  be  easily  reconciled.  It  is  only  indirectly 
and  secondarily  polemical ;  the  treatment  is  general  even 
if  the  immediate  motive  was  special.  Its  tone  has  nothing 
of  the  passionate  intensity  which  the  Apostle  always 
betrays  when  engaged  in  controversy  with  direct  antago- 
nists. It  has  been  supposed  by  some  that  he  desired  to 
vindicate  to  the  Roman  Church  his  Apostolic  authority. 
Undoubtedly  such  a  vindication  is  implicitly  involved  in  the 
masterly  arguments  of  the  Epistle  ;  yet  how  different  is  his 
style  from  the  vehemence  with  which  he  speaks  in  the 
Epistles  to  the  Corinthians  !  Bishop  Wordsworth  says  that 
it  is  "  an  apology  for  the  Gospel  against  Judaism ;"  but 
where  is  the  burning  invective  and  indignant  eloquence  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Gralatians  ?  We  have  no  trace  here  of 
the  ultra-liberalism  of  Corinth,  or  the  dreamy  asceticisms  of 
Colossse,  or  the  servile  Pharisaisms  of  Galatia.  Clearly  he 
is  not  here  dealing  with  any  special  dissensions,  heresies,  or 
attacks  on  his  authority.^  The  very  value  of  the  Epistle,  as  a 
systematic  exposition  of  "  the  Gospel  of  Protestantism,'* 
depends  on  the  calmness  and  lucidity  with  which  the 
Apostle  appeals  to  an  ideal  public  to  follow  him  in  the 
di-;cussion  of  abstract  truths.  We  seem  already  to  be 
indefinitely  removed  from  the  narrow  fanaticism  of  those 
who  insisted  on  the  impossibility  of  salvation  apart 
from  circumcision.  The  Hellenistic  Judaism  of  a 
great   city,  however  ignorant   and   however  stereotyped, 

*  Reuss,  Les  Epitres,  iL  11* 


FEELINGS    or    ST.    PAUL.  173 

was  incapable  of  so  gross  an  absurdity,  and  in  the 
wider  and  deeper  questions  which  were  naturally  arising 
between  the  Jew  and  the  Gentile  Christian,  there  was 
as  yet  nothing  sufficiently  definite  to  exasperate  the 
Apostle  with  a  sense  of  ruinous  antagonism.  The  day 
indeed  was  not  far  distant  when,  in  the  very  city  to  which 
he  was  writing,  some  would  preach  Christ  even  of  conten- 
tion, hoping  to  add  affliction  to  his  bonds.^  But  this  lay 
as  yet  in  the  unknown  future.  He  wrote  during  one  of 
those  little  interspaces  of  repose  and  hope  which  occur  in 
even  the  most  persecuted  lives.  The  troubles  at  Corinth 
had  been  temporarily  appeased,  and  his  authority  esta- 
blished. He  was  looking  forward  with  the  deepest 
interest  to  fresh  missions,  and  although  he  could  not  deli- 
berately preach  at  Eome,  because  he  had  made  it  a  rule 
not  to  build  on  another  man's  foundation,  he  hoped  to 
have  his  heart  cheered  by  a  kindly  welcome  in  the  imperial 
city  before  he  started  to  plant  the  Cross  on  the  virgin  soil 
of  Spain.  And  the  Church  of  Eome  stood  high  in  general 
estimation.  It  was  composed  of  Jews  and  Gentiles,  of 
whom,  not  long  afterwards,  the  former  seem  to  have 
ranged  themselves  in  uncompromising  hostility  to  the 
Gospel ;  but  he  could  as  little  foresee  this  as  he  could  be 
aware  that,  in  the  second  century,  the  Ebionism  of  this 
section  of  the  Church  would  lead  to  a  malignant  attack  on 
his  character.  At  this  time  there  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
any  open  di\dsions  or  bitter  animosities.^  Differences  of 
opinion  there  were  between  "the  weak,  "who  attached  import- 
ance to  distinctions  of  meats  and  drinks,  and  "  the  strons;," 
who  somewhat  scornfully  discarded  them ;   but  it  seems  a 

*  Phil.  i.  16.     These  were  evidently  Judaisers  (iii.  2 ;  Col.  iv.  11). 

^  The  only  trace  of  these  is  in  xvi.  17 — 20;  ras  Sixoa-raa-las,  to  or/cai'SoAo. 
But  this  furnishes  one  of  the  arguments  against  that  chapter  as  part  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


174  THE   LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

though.,  on  the  whole,  the  Jews  were  forbearing  and  the 
Gentiles  moderate.  Perhaps  the  two  parties  owed  their 
immunity  from  dissensions  to  the  passage  of  the  Gentiles 
into  the  Church  through  the  portals  of  the  synagogue; 
or  perhaps  still  more  to  the  plasticity  of  ecclesiastical 
organisation  which  enabled  the  foreign  and  Grseco-Iioman 
converts  to  worship  undisturbed  in  their  own  httle  con- 
gregations which  met  under  the  roof  of  an  Aquila  or  an 
Olj^mpas.  If  the  Jewish  and  Gentile  communities  were 
separated  by  a  marked  division,  collisions  between  the 
two  sectious  would  have  been  less  likely  to  occur. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  evident  that  it  was  in  a  peaceful 
mood  that  the  Apostle  dictated  to  Tertius  the  great  truths 
which  he  had  never  before  so  thoroughly  contemplated  as 
a  loo^ical  whole. ^  The  broad  didactic  character  of  the 
Epistle,  its  freedom  from  those  outbursts  of  emotion  which 
we  find  in  others  of  his  writings,  is  perfectly  consistent 
with  its  having  originated  in  historic  circumstances ;  in 
other  words,  with  its  having  been  called  forth,  as  was 
every  one  of  the  other  Ej^istles,  by  passing  events.  St. 
Paul  was  on  his  way  to  Jerusalem,  and  his  misgivings  as 
to  the  results  of  the  visit  were  tempered  by  the  hope  that 
the  alms  which  he  had  collected  would  smooth  the  way  for 
his  favourable  reception.  Eome  was  the  next  place  of 
importance  which  he  intended  to  visit.  How  would  he  be 
received  by  the  Christians  of  the  great  city  ?  Would  they 
have  heard  rumours  from  the  Pharisees  of  Jerusalem  that 
he  was  a  godless  and  dangerous  apostate,  who  defied  all 
authority  and  abandoned  all  truth  ?  It  was  at  any  rate 
probable  that,  even  if  he  had  not  been  represented  to  them 

^  See  the  much  more  tender  tone  towards  the  Jews,  and  also  towards  the 
Law,  in  Rom.  iv.  16,  xi.  26,  &c.,  compared  with  Gal.  iv.  3,  2  Cor.  iii.  6,  &c.  In 
the  "not  only — but  also"  of  iv.  16  is  reflected  the  whole  conciliatory  character 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  (Pfleiderer,  ii.  45). 


ST.  PAUL    AND    JUDAISM.  175 

in  the  most  unfavourable  liglit,  he  would  have  been  spoken 
of  as  one  who  was  prepared  to  abandon  not  only  the  pecu- 
liarities, but  even  the  exclusive  hopes  and  promises  of 
Judaism.  To  a  great  extent  this  was  true ;  and,  if  true, 
how  serious,  nay,  how  startling,  were  the  consequences 
which  such  a  belief  entailed !  They  were  views  so  con- 
trary to  centuries  of  past  conviction,  that  they  at 
least  deserved  the  most  careful  statement,  the  most  im- 
pregnable defence,  the  most  ample  justification,  from  the 
ancient  scriptures.  Such  a  defence,  after  deep  meditation 
on  the  truths  which  God's  Spirit  had  revealed  to  his  inmost 
soul,  he  was  prepared  to  offer  in  language  the  most  con- 
ciliatory, the  most  tender — in  language  which  betrayed 
how  little  the  unalterable  fixitj^  of  his  conviction  had 
quenched  the  fire  of  his  patriotism,  or  deadened  the 
quickness  of  his  sensibility.^  He  expresses  an  inextinguish- 
able love  for  his  countrymen,  and  a  deep  sense  of  their 
glorious  privileges,  at  the  very  moment  that  he  is  explain- 
ing why  those  countrymen  have  been  temporarily  rejected, 
and  showing  that  those  privileges  have  been  inexorably 
annulled.^  He  declares  his  readiness  to  be  even  "anathema 
from  Christ "  for  the  sake  of  Israel,  in  the  very  verses  in 
which  he  is  showing,  to  the  horrified  indignation  of  his 
Jewish  readers,  that  not  the  physical,  but  the  spiritual 
seed  of  Abraham,  are  alone  the  true  Israel  of  God.^ 

1  "  "We  see,"  says  Dr.  Davidson,  "  a  constant  conflict  between  liis  convic- 
tions and  feelings ;  the  former  too  deep  to  be  changed,  the  latter  too  strong 
to  be  repressed,  too  ardent  to  be  quenched  by  opposition  of  the  persons  he 
loved"  {Introdn.  i.  127). 

2  "We  can  judge  what  the  Jewish  estimate  of  these  privileges  was  by  such 
passages  of  tho  Talmiid  as  Ycbhamoth,  f.  47,  2 ;  supra,  i.,  p.  403. 

^  There  can  be  no  more  striking  contrast  to  the  whole  argument  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  than  the  following  very  remarkaljle  passage  in  the 
Abhoda  Zara  (f.  3,  col.  1 — 3),  which  will  serve  to  show  to  what  infinite  heights 
above  the  ordinary  Rabbiuism  of  his  nation  St.  Paul  had  soared.  I  appeal 
to  any  candid  and  learned  Jew  which  is  noblest,  truest,  divinest,  manliest 


176  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

If  the  current  feelings  of  the  Jews  towards  the  Gentiles 
were  much  embittered — if  they  habitually  regarded  them 
in  the  spirit  of  hostile  arrogance — it  is  very  possible  that 
the  section  respecting  the  relative  position  of  the  Jews 
and  Grentiles  (ix. — xi.)  may  be,  as  Baur  argues,  the  kernel 
of  the  whole  Epistle,  in  the  sense  that  these  were  the 
first  thoughts    which   had  suggested   themselves   to   the 

— the  tone  and  the  reasoning  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  or  the  bigotry 
and  frivolity  of  the  following  passage  : — 

"  In  the  days  of  the  Messiah,  the  Holy  One,  blessed  be  He,  holding  the 
roll  of  the  Law  in  His  bosom,  will  call  apon  those  who  have  studied  it  to 
come  forward  and  receive  their  reward.  Instantly  the  idolatrous  nations 
will  appear  in  a  body  (Isa.  xliii.  9),  but  will  be  told  to  present  themselves 
separately  with  their  Scribes  at  their  head,  that  they  may  understand  the 
answers  severally  addressed  to  them.  The  Romans,  as  the  most  renowned  of 
all,  will  enter  first.  *  What  has  been  your  occupation  ? '  will  be  demanded 
of  them.  They  will  point  to  their  baths  and  forums,  and  the  gold  and 
silver  with  which  they  enriched  the  world,  adding,  '  All  this  we  have  clone 
that  Israel  may  have  leisure  for  the  study  of  the  Law.'  'Fools!'  will  be 
the  stern  answer  :  '  have  you  not  done  aU  this  for  your  own  pleasure,  the 
market-places,  and  the  baths  alike,  to  pamper  your  own  self-indulgence  ?  and 
as  for  the  gold  and  silver  it  is  Mine  (Hagg.  ii.  8).  Who  amoug  you  can 
declare  this  Law  ?  '  (Isa.  xliii.  9.) 

"  The  Romans  retire  crestfallen,  and  then  the  Persians  enter.  They  too 
■will  urge  that  they  built  bridges,  took  cities,  waged  wars  to  give  Israel  leisure 
to  study  the  Law ;  but  receiving  the  same  rebuke  as  the  Romans,  they  too 
will  retire  in  dejection. 

"  Similarly  all  other  nations,  in  the  order  of  their  rank,  will  come  in  to 
hear  their  doom ;  the  wonder  is  that  they  will  not  be  deterred  by  the  failure 
of  the  others,  but  will  still  cling  to  their  vain  pleas.  But  then  the  Persians 
will  argue  that  they  built  the  Temple,  whereas  the  Romans  destroyed  it ;  and 
the  other  nations  will  think  that  since  they,  unlike  the  Romans  and  Persians, 
never  oppressed  the  Jews,  they  may  expect  more  lenience. 

"  The  nations  will  then  ai'gue,  '  When  has  the  Law  been  offered  to  us, 
and  we  refused  it  ? '  In  answer  it  is  inferred  from  Deut.  xxxiii.  2  and  Hab. 
iii.  3  that  the  Law  had  been  offered  to  each  in  turn,  but  that  they  would  not  have 
it.  Then  they  will  ask,  '  Wliy  didst  Thou  not  place  us  also  ixnderncath  the 
mount  (Ex.  xix.  17)  as  Thou  didst  Israel,  bidding  us  accept  the  Law,  or  be 
crushed  by  the  mountain  ?  '  To  whom  Jehovah  will  reply,  '  Let  us  hear  the 
first  things  (Isa.  xliii.  9).  Have  you  kept  the  Noachic  precepts  ?  '  They 
answer,  '  Have  the  Jews  kept  the  Law  though  they  received  it  ? '  God 
answers,  '  Yes ;  I  Myself  bear  them  witness  that  they  have.*  '  But  is  not 
Israel  thy  firstborn,  and  is  it  fair  to  admit  the  testimony  of  a  Father  ? ' 
*  The  heaven  and  earth  shall  bear  them  witness.'     '  But  are  not  they  interested 


OBJECT   OF   THE    EPISTLE.  177 

mind  of  tlie  Apostle.  Yet  it  is  not  correct  to  say  that 
"the  whole  dogmatic  treatment  of  the  Epistle  can  be 
considered  as  nothing  but  the  most  radical  and  thorough- 
going refutation  of  Judaism  and  Jewish  Christianity."^ 
In  his  reaction  against  the  purely  dogmatic  view  which 
regards  the  Epistle  as  "  a  compendium  of  Pauline  dogma 
in  the  form  of  an  apostolic  letter,"^  Baur  was  led  into 
a  view  too  purely  historical ;  and  in  his  unwillingness  to 
regard  the  central  section  as  a  mere  corollary  from  the 
doctrines  enunciated  in  the  first  eight  chapters,  he  goes 
too  far  in  calling  them  the  heart  and  pith  of  the  whole, 
to  which  everything  else  is  only  an  addition.  These 
chapters  may  have  been  first  in  the  order  of  thought, 
without  being  first  in  the  order  of  importance ;  they  may 
have  formed  the  original  motive  of  the   Epistle,  and  yet 


witnesses?'*  'Well,  then,  yon  yourselves  shall  testify;'  and  accordingly 
Kimrod  has  to  testify  for  Abraham,  Laban  for  Jacob,  Potiphar's  wife  for 
Joseph,  Nebuehaduezzar  for  the  three  children,  Darius  for  Dauiel,  Job's 
friends  for  Job.  Then  the  nations  entreat,  '  Give  us  now  the  Law,  and  we 
will  keep  it.'  '  Fools  !  do  ye  want  to  enjoy  the  Sabbath  without  liaving  pre- 
pared for  it  ?  However,  I  will  give  you  one  easy  precejjt — keep  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles '  (Zech.  xiv.  16).  Then  they  will  all  hurry  off  to  make  booths  on 
the  roofs  of  their  houses.  But  the  Holy  One,  blessed  be  He,  will  make  the 
8un  blaze  with  midsummer  heat,  and  they  will  desert  the  booths  with  the 
scornful  exclamation,  '  Let  us  break  His  bands  asunder,  and  fling  away  His 
cords  from  us '  (Ps.  ii.  3).  Then  the  Lord,  sitting  in  the  heavens,  shall  laugh 
at  them.  The  only  occasion  on  which  He  laughs  at  His  creatures,"  though 
He  does  so  with  His  creatures,  notably  with  Leviathan,  every  day. 

'  Baur,  Taul.  i.  349 ;  Olshauseii,  Romans,  Introd.  §  5.  Philippi  calls  it 
"  a  connected  doctrinal  statement  of  the  specifically  Paiiline  Gospel." 
,  2  In  any  case  this  statement  would  be  far  too  broad.  If  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  be  a  complete  statement  of  what  may  be  called  the  Apostle's 
"  Soteriology,"  it  contains  little  or  none  of  the  Eschatology  which  distinguishes 
these  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians,  or  the  Christology  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians,  or  the  Ecclesiology  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  It  is  hardly 
worth  while  to  notice  the  opinions  that  it  is  a  mere  defence  of  his  Apostolate 
(Mangold),  or  a  description  and  vindication  of  the  Pauline  system  of  mis- 
sionary labours  (Schott.).     See  Lange's  Romans,  p.  38,  E.  T. 

*  Because  they  only  exist  for  the  sake  of  the  Law  {Ncdarim,  f.  32,  col.  1). 


178  THE    LIFE    AlTD    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL, 

may  have  been  completely  thrown  into  subordination  by 
the  grandeur  of  the  conceptions  to  which  they  led. 

May  we  not  well  suppose  that  the  Epistle  originated  as 
follows  ?  The  Apostle,  intending  to  start  for  Jerusalem, 
and  afterwards  to  open  a  new  mission  in  the  West,  thought 
that  he  would  utilise  an  interval  of  calm  by  writing  to  the 
Eoman  Church,  in  which,  though  not  founded  by  himself, 
he  could  not  but  feel  the  deepest  interest.  He  knows 
that,  whatever  might  be  the  number  of  the  Gentile 
Christians,  the  nucleus  of  the  Church  had  been  composed 
of  Jews  and  proselytes  who  would  find  it  very  hard  to 
accept  the  lesson  that  God  was  no  respecter  of  persons. 
Yet  this  was  the  truth  which  he  was  commissioned  to  teach ; 
and  if  the  Jews  could  not  receive  it  without  a  shock — if 
even  the  most  thoughtful  among  them  could  not  but  find 
it  hard  to  admit  that  their  promised  Messiah — the  Messiah 
for  whom  they  had  yearned  through  afflicted  centuries — - 
was  after  all  to  be  even  more  the  Messiah  of  the  Gentiles 
than  of  the  Jews — then  it  was  pre-eminently  necessary 
for  him  to  set  this  truth  so  clearly,  and  yet  so  sympatheti- 
cally, before  them,  as  to  soften  the  inevitable  blow  to 
their  deepest  prejudices.  .  It  was  all  the  more  necessary 
because,  in  writing  to  the  more  liberal  Judaisers,  he  had 
not  to  deal  with  the  ignorant  malignity  of  those  who 
had  seduced  his  simple  Galatians.  In  writing  to  the 
Churches  of  Galatia,  and  smiting  down  with  one  shat- 
tering blow  their  serpent-head  of  Pharisaism,  he  had 
freed  his  soul  from  the  storm  of  passion  by  which  it  had 
been  shaken.  He  could  now  write  with  perfect  composure 
on  the  larger  questions  of  the  position  of  the  Christian 
in  reference  to  the  Law,  and  of  the  relations  of  Judaism 
to  Heathenism,  and  of  both  to  Christianity.  That  the 
Gentiles  were  in  no  respect  inferior  to  the  Jews  in 
spiritual  privileges — nay,  more,  that  the   Gentiles   were 


GEKM    OF    THE    EPISTLE.  179 

actually  superseding  the  Jews  by  pressing  with  more 
eagerness  into  the  Church  of  Christ^ — was  a  fact  which 
no  Jewish  Christian  could  overlook.  Was  God,  then, 
rejecting  Israel?  The  central  section  of  the  Epistle 
(ix. — xi.)  deals  with  this  grave  scruple ;  and  the  Apostle 
there  strives  to  show  that  (1)  spiritual  sonship  does  not 
depend  on  natural  descent,  since  the  only  justification 
possible  to  man — namely,  justification  by  faith — was 
equally  open  to  Jews  and  Gentiles  (ix.) ;  that  (2),  so  far 
as  the  Jews  are  losing  their  precedence  in  the  divine 
favour,  this  is  due  to  their  own  rejection  of  a  free  offer 
which  it  was  perfectly  open  to  them  to  have  embraced 
(x.) ;  and  that  (3)  this  apparent  rejection  is  softened  by 
the  double  consideration  that  {a)  it  is  partial,  not  absolute, 
since  there  was  "  a  remnant  of  the  true  Israelites  accord- 
ing to  the  election  of  grace";  and  (/3)  it  is  temporary, 
not  final,  since,  when  the  full  blessing  of  the  Gentiles  has 
been  secured,  there  still  remains  the  glorious  hope  that 
all  Israel  would  at  last  be  saved.^ 

But  was  it  not  inevitable  that  from  this  point  his 
thoughts  should  work  backwards,  and  that  the  truths  to 
which  now,  for  the  first  time,  he  gave  full  and  formal 
expression  should  assume  an  importance  which  left  but 
subordinate  interest  to  the  minor  problem  ?  From  the 
relative  his  thoughts  had  been  led  on  to  the  absolute.  From 
the  question  as  to  the  extinction  of  the  exclusive  privi- 
leges of  the  Jews,  he  had  ascended  to  the  question  of  God's 
appointed  plan  for  the  salvation  of  mankind — its  nature, 
its  world-wide  freedom,  its  necessity.  That  plan  the 
Apostle  sums  up  in  the  one  formula.  Justification  by 
Faith,  and  in  order  to  establish  and  explain  it  he  had  to 

^  Just  as  in  the  days  of  Christ  the  publicans  and  harlots  were  admitted 
before  the  Pharisees  into  the  kingdom  of  God  (Matt.  xxi.  31,  32). 
2  See  Baur,  Faul.  ii.  328. 

m  2 


180  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

prove  the  universality  of  human  sin  ;  the  inability  alike  of 
Jew  and  Grentile  to  attain  salvation  by  any  law  of  works ; 
the  consequent  "  subordinate,  relative,  negative  "  signifi- 
cance of  the  Law ;  the  utter  and  final  evanescence  of  all 
difference  between  circumcision  and  uncircumcision  in  the 
light  of  a  dispensation  now  first  revealed.  And  thus  the 
real  basis  of  this,  as  of  every  other  Epistle,  is  "  Christ  as 
the  common  foundation  on  which  Jew  and  Gentile  could 
stand,  the  bond  of  human  society,  the  root  of  human 
righteousness."^  It  may  be  quite  true  that  throughout  all 
these  high  reasonings,  and  the  many  questions  to  which 
they  give  rise,  there  runs  an  undertone  of  controversy,  and 
that  the  Apostle  never  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that  he  was 
endeavouring  to  prove  for  the  Roman  Christians,  and 
through  them  to  the  entire  Church,  the  new  and  startling 
doctrine  that,  since  the  annihilation  of  sin  was  rendered 
possible  by  faith,  and  faith  alone,  all  claims  founded  on 
Jewish  particularism  were  reduced  to  nothingness.  This 
is  the  main  point ;  but  even  the  practical  questions  which 
receive  a  brief  decision  at  the  close  of  the  Epistle,  are 
handled  in  strict  accordance  with  the  great  principles 
which  he  has  thus  established  of  the  Universality  of  Sin 
and  the  Universality  of  Grrace.^ 
v/  Such  seems  to  me  to  be  the  origin  and  the  idea  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans,  of  which  Luther  says  that 
"it  is  the  masterpiece  of  the  New  Testament,  and  the 
purest  gospel,  which  can  never  be  too  much  read  or 
studied,  and  the  more  it  is  handled  the  more  precious  it 


*  Maurice,  Unity,  p.  477. 

2  If  we  were  to  choose  one  plirase  as  expressing  most  of  tlie  idea  of  the 
Epistle,  it  would  be,  "  As  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be 
made  alive  "  (1  Cor.  xv.  22).  "  Its  precepts  naturally  arise  from  its  doctrinal 
assertions,  that  (1)  all  are  guilty  before  God;  that  (2)  all  need  a  Saviour; 
that  (3)  Christ  died  for  all ;  that  (4)  we  are  all  one  body  in  Him "  (Bp. 
Wordsworth's  Epistles,  p.  200). 


OUTLINE    OF    THE    EPISTLE.  181 

becomes ;  *'  on  wliicli  Melancthon  founded  the  doctrinal 
system  of  the  Eeformed  Church ;  which  Coleridge  called 
"  the  most  profound  work  in  existence ; "  in  which 
Tholuck,  who  wrote  the  first  really  important  and  original 
commentary  upon  it  in  recent  times,  saw  "a  Christian 
philosophy  of  universal  history."  Its  general  outline 
may  be  given  as  follows  : — After  a  full  and  solemn  greet- 
ing, he  passes,  in  the  simplest  and  most  natural  manner, 
to  state  his  fundamental  thesis  of  justification  by  faith,^ 
which  he  illustrates  and  supports  by  quoting  the  Septua- 
gint  version  of  Hab.  ii.  4.  The  necessity  for  this  mode 
of  salvation  rests  in  the  universality  of  sin — a  fact  taught, 
indeed,  by  human  experience,  but  too  apt  to  be  over- 
looked, and  therefore  needing  to  be  argumentatively  en- 
forced. Thus  Jews  and  Gentiles  are  reduced  to  the  same 
level,  and  the  exceptional  privileges  of  the  Jew  do  but 
add  to  his  condemnation  (i.  16 — iii.  20).  Consequently  by 
the  works  of  the  Law — whether  the  natural  or  the  Mosaic 
Law — no  flesh  can  be  justified,  and  justification  can  only  be 
obtained  by  the  faith  of  man  accepting  the  redemption  of 
Christ,  so  that  all  alike  are  dependent  on  the  free  will  of 
God  (iii.  21 — 30).^  Aware  of  the  extreme  novelty  of 
these  conclusions,  he  illustrates  them  by  Scripture  (iii.  31 — 
iv.  25),  and  then  dwells  on  the  blessed  consequences  of 
this  justification  (v.  1 — 11).  These  consequences  are 
foreshadowed  in  the  whole  moral  and  religious  history  of 
mankind  as  summed  up  in  the  two  periods  represented  by 
Adam  and  by  Christ  (v.  12 — 21).  Having  thus  com- 
pleted the  statement  of  his  great  doctrine,  he  meets  the 
objections  which  may  be  urged  against  it.     So  far  from 

>  6  5€  SUaios  e/c  irlffreSs  [pov]  (■fiaerat.  The  fiov  is  Omitted  by  St.  Paxil,  and, 
indeed,  by  many  MSS.  of  the  LXX.  (see  supra  on  Gal.  iii.  11). 

■^  This  passage  contains  the  very  quintessence  of  Pauline  theology.  See 
it  admirably  explained  and  developed  by  Reuss,  Theol.  Chret.  ii.  18 — 107. 


182  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

diminisliing  tlie  heinousness,  or  tending  to  tlie  multiplica- 
tion of  sin,  he  shows  that  it  involves  the  radical  annihila- 
tion of  sin  (vi,).  If  any  were  startled  at  the  close  juxta- 
position of  the  Law  and  sin,  he  points  out  that  while  the 
Law  in  itself  is  holy,  just,  and  good,  on  the  other  hand 
what  he  has  said  of  it,  relatively  to  mankind,  is  demon- 
strated by  its  psychological  effects,  and  that  in  point  of 
fact  the  Law  is,  for  the  changed  nature  of  the  believer, 
superseded  by  a  new  principle  of  life — by  the  Spirit  of 
God  quickening  the  heart  of  man  (vii.  1 — viii,  11).  This 
naturally  leads  him  to  a  serious  appeal  to  his  readers  to 
live  worthily  of  this  changed  nature,  and  to  a  magnificent 
outburst  of  thanksgiving  which  rises  at  last  into  a  climax 
of  impassioned  eloquence  (viii.  12 — 39). 

At  this  point  he  finds  himself  face  to  face  with  the 
question  from  which  his  thoughts  probably  started — the 
relations  of  Judaism,  to  Heathenism,  and  of  Christianity 
to  both.  In  an  episode  of  immense  importance,  especially 
to  the  age  in  which  he  wrote,  he  shows  that  God's 
promises  to  Israel,  when  rightly  understood,  both  had 
been,  and  should  be,  fulfilled,  and  that — so  far  as  they 
seemed  for  the  moment  to  have  been  made  void — the 
failure  was  due  to  the  obstinate  hardness  of  the  chosen 
people  (ix. — xi.).  The  remainder  of  the  Epistle  is  more 
practical  and  popular.  He  urges  the  duties  of  holiness, 
humility,  unity,  the  faithful  use  of  opportunities,  hope, 
and  above  all  love,  on  which  he  dwells  earnestly  and 
at  length  (xii.).  Then,  perhaps  with  special  reference  to 
the  theocratic  prejudices  of  Jewish  Christians,  he  enforces 
the  duty  of  obedience  to  civil  authority,  and  reverts  once 
more  to  love  as  the  chief  of  Christian  graces ;  enforcing 
these  practical  exhortations  by  the  thought  that  the 
night  of  sin  and  ignorance  was  now  far  spent,  and  the 
day  was  near  (xiii.).     He  then  points  out  the  necessity 


OUTLINE    OF    THE    EPISTLE.  183 

for  mutual  forbearance  and  mutual  charity  between  the 
strong  and  the  weak — that  is,  between  those  who  con- 
sidered themselves  bound  by  legal  prescriptions,  and  those 
who  realised  that  from  such  elements  they  were  emanci- 
pated by  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God; 
mingling  with  these  exhortations  some  reference  to  the 
views  which  he  had  already  expressed  about  the  mutual 
relation  of  Jews  and  Christians  (xiv. — xv.  13).  The  re- 
mainder of  the  Epistle  is  chiefly  personal.  He  first  offers 
an  earnest  and  graceful  apology  for  having  thus  ventured 
to  address  a  strange  Church — an  apology  based  on  his 
apostolic  mission  (xv.  14 — 21) — and  then  sketches  the  out- 
line of  his  future  plans,  specially  entreating  their  prayers 
for  the  good  success  of  his  approaching  visit  to  Jerusalem. 
In  the  last  chapter,  which  I  have  given  reasons  for  be- 
lieving to  have  been  addressed,  at  any  rate  in  part,  not  to 
Eomans,  but  to  Ephesians,  he  recommends  Phoebe  to  the 
kindly  care  of  the  Church  (1,  2)  ;  sends  affectionate  salu- 
tations to  six-and-twenty  of  the  brethren  (3 — 16)  ;  gives 
a  severe  warning  against  those  who  fostered  divisions, 
which  concludes  with  a  promise  and  a  benediction 
(17 — 20);  repeats  the  benediction  after  a  few  salutations 
from  the  friends  who  were  with  him  (21 — 24) ;  and  ends 
with  an  elaborate  and  comprehensive  doxology,  in  which 
some  have  seen  "  a  liturgical  antiphony  in  conformity 
with  the  fundamental  thought  of  the  Epistle."^ 

*  V.  Lange,  ad  he. 


n. 

GENERAL   THESIS    OF   THE    EPISTLE. 

*Q  Tov  tSidiTOv  rh  davfia,  S>  rov  aypa/x/xarov  t)  (ro<pla. — Ps.  Chrys.  Orat,  Encoiri, 
(0pp.  viii.  10). 

"  Such  we  are  in  the  sight  of  God  the  Father,  as  is  the  veiy  Son  of  God 
Himself.  Let  it  be  counted  folly,  or  frenzy,  or  fury,  or  whatsoever.  It  is  our 
wisdom  and  our  comfort ;  we  care  for  no  knowledge  in  the  world  but  this, 
that  man  hath  sinned,  and  God  hath  suffered ;  that  God  hath  made  Himself 
the  Son  of  men,  and  men  are  made  the  righteousness  of  God." — Hooker, 
jS'erm.  ii.  6. 

"  It  breaketh  the  window  that  it  may  let  in  the  light ;  it  breaketh  the  shell 
that  we  may  eat  the  kernel ;  it  putteth  aside  the  curtain  that  we  may  enter 
into  the  most  Holy  Place :  it  removeth  the  cover  of  the  well  that  we  may 
come  by  the  water."— Pie/,  to  Authorised  Version. 

"We  must  now  look  more  closely  at  this  great  outline  of 
one  of  the  most  essential  factors  of  Christian  theology; 
and  I  must  ask  my  readers,  Bible  in  hand,  to  follow  step 
by  step  its  solemn  truths  as  they  gradually  expand  them- 
selves before  our  view. 

The  Salutation,  which  occupies  the  first  seven  verses, 
is  remarkable  as  being  the  longest  and  most  solemnly 
emphatic  of  those  found  in  any  of  his  Epistles.  Had  he 
adopted  the  ordinary  method  of  his  day,  he  would  have 
simply  headed  his  letter  with  the  words,  "Paul,  an  Apostle  of 
Jesus  Christ,  to  the  Eoman  Christians,  greeting."^  But  he 
had  discovered  an  original  method  of  giving  to  his  first  salu- 
tation a  more  significant  and  less  conventional  turn,  and  of 
making  it  the  vehicle  for  truths  to  which  he  desired  from 

^  This  is  the  earliest  letter  which  he  addresses  to  "the  saints."  His  former 
letters  were  aU  addressed  "to  the  Church"  or  "Churches"  (1,  2  Thcss., 
1,  2  Cor.,  Gal.).  It  is  also  the  first  in  which  he  calls  himself  "a  slave  of 
Jesus  Christ." 


EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  185 

the  first  to  arrest  attention.  Thus,  in  one  grand  single 
sentence,  of  which  the  unity  is  not  lost  in  spite  of  digres- 
sions, amplifications,  and  parentheses,  he  tells  the  Roman 
Christians  of  his  solemn  setting  apart,^  by  grace,  to  the 
Apostolate ;  of  the  object  and  universality  of  that  Apos- 
tolate;  of  the  truth  that  the  Gospel  is  no  daring 
novelty,  but  the  preordained  fulfilment  of  a  dispensation 
prophesied  in  Scripture  ;  ^  of  Christ's  descent  from  David, 
according  to  the  flesh,  and  of  his  establishment  with  power 
as  the  Son  of  God  according  to  the  spirit  of  holiness^  by 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead.* 

We  ask,  as  we  read  the  sentence,  whether  any  one  has 
ever  compressed  more  thoughts  into  fewer  words,  and 
whether  any  letter  was  ever  written  which  swept  so  vast 
an  horizon  in  its  few  opening  lines  ?  ^ 

He  passes  on  to  his  customary  thanksgiving  "by  Jesus 
Christ "  for  the  widely-rumoured  faith  of  the  Christians  at 
Eome ;  ^  and  solemnly  assures  them  how,  in  his  unceasing 
prayers  on  their  behalf,  he  supplicates  God  that  he  may  be 
enabled  to  visit  them,  because  he  yearns  to  see  them,  and 
impart  to  them,  for  their  stability,  some  spiritual  gift.''' 

*  ii.<pa>piffix4vos.     Cf.  Acts  xiii.  2,  a.<popl(rar€. 

'  ypa<pal  ayiai,  not  "  sacred  writings,"  but  like  Upa  ypdnfiara,  a  proper  name 
for  the  Scriptm-es,  and  tlierefore  anarthrous. 

2  The  form  of  expression  is  of  course  antithetical,  but  it  seems  to  me  that 
Dr.  Forbes,  in  liis  Analytical  Comtnentary,  pushes  this  antithesis  to  most 
extravagant  lengths. 

*  1 — 7.  In  ver.  4,  avdffTacns  veKpwv,  is  not  "  from  "  {4k),  but  "  of"  the  dead, 
regarded  as  accomplished  in  Christ.  The  notions  of  x«/"s  and  elp^fivq  are  united 
in  Num.  vi.  25,  26. 

*  "  Epistola  tota  sic  methodica  est,  ut  ipsum  quoque  exordium  ad  rationem 
artis  compositum  sit  "  (Calvin). 

^  The  iv  '6\(f,  T^  Koafxcf  of  course  only  means  among  the  humble  and  scat- 
tered Christian  communities,  and  therefore  furnishes  no  argument  against  the 
truth  of  Acts  xxviii.  21,  22. 

'  The  expressions  in  these  verses  {etmroOa)^  11  ;  ffv/xvapaKKrierjuai,  12  '• 
irpoi&4fii)v,  iKoiXvQ-rtv,  Kapirhv,  13 ;  6<pei\erris,  14)  are  closely  analogous  to  those  in 
XV.  {iveKOTrT6fi7}v,  22  ;  iirtirodiav,   23  J   6<pet\eTai,  27  i   awayairava-wfiat,  32). 


186  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Then,  with  infinite  delicacy,  correcting  an  expression 
which,  to  strangers,  might  seem  to  savour  of  assumed 
authority,  he  explains  that  what  he  longs  for  is  an  iiiter- 
change  between  them  of  mutual  encouragement ;  ^  for  he 
wishes  them  to  know^  that,  though  hindered  hitherto,  he 
has  often  planned  to  come  to  them,  that  he  might  reap 
among  them,  as  among  all  other  Gentiles,  some  of  the 
fruit  of  his  ministry.  The  Gospel  has  been  entrusted  to 
him,  and  he  regards  it  as  something  due  from  him,  a  debt 
which  he  has  to  pay  to  all  Gentiles  alike,  whether  Greeks 
or  non -Greeks,  whether  civilised  or  uncivilised.  He  is 
therefore  eager,  so  far  as  it  depends  on  him,  to  preach  the 
Gospel  even  in  the  world's  capital,  even  in  imperial  Eome.^ 

This  leads  him  to  the  fundamental  theme,  which  he 
intends  to  treat.  Many  are  ashamed  of  that  Gospel ;  he 
is  not;*  ''for  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every 
one  that  believeth,  to  the  Jew  firsts  and  also  to  the  Greek. 
For  in  it  God's  righteousness  is  being  revealed  from 
faith  to  faith,  even  as  it  is  written,  'Bat  the  just  shall  live 
hy  faith:  "^ 

How  easy  are  these  words  to  read !  Yet  they  require  the 
whole  Epistle  for  their  adequate  explanation,  and  many 
volumes  have  been  written  to  elucidate  their  meaning. 
Eome  is  the  very  centre  of  human  culture,  the  seat  of  the 
widest,  haughtiest  despotism  which  the  world  has  ever 
seen,  and  he  is  well  aware  that  to  the  world's  culture  the 
Cross  is  foolishness,  and  feebleness  to  the  world's  power. 

^  Cf.  XV.  24.     Erasmus  goes  too  far  in  calling  this  a  "  sancta  adulatio." 

3  01)  0eAw  5e  vixus  a-yvoflv,  xi.  25;  1  Tliess.  iv.  13  ;  1  Cor.  X.  1,  xii.  1 ;  2  Cor.  i.  8. 
8  i.  8—15. 

4  What  cause  he  might  have  had  to  be  tempted  to  shame  by  the  feelings 
of  the  lordlier  and  more  cultivated  Gentiles  may  be  seen  in  the  remark  of 
Tacitus  {Ann.  xv.  44),  who  classes  Christianity  among  the  "  cuucta  atrocia 
aut  putlenda  "  which  flow  together  into  the  vortex  of  Roman  life. 

6  irpwTou,  precedence,  genetic  and  historical  (John  iv.  22 ;  Acts  i.  8). 
•  i.  16, 17. 


EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  187 

Yet  he  is  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  that  Cross,  for  to 
all  who  will  helieve  it,  whether  the  Jew  to  whom  it  was 
first  offered  or  the  Greek  to  whom  it  is  now  proclaimed,  it  is 
the  display  of  God's  power  in  order  to  secure  their  salva- 
tion. Even  those  few  words  "  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to 
the  Greek''  are  the  sign  that  a  new  aeon  has  downed  upon 
the  world;  and  having  thus  indicated  in  two  lines  the 
source  (God's  power),  the  eifect  (salvation),  and  the  uni- 
versality of  the  Gospel  (to  Jew  and  Gentile),  he  proceeds 
to  sum  up  its  essence.  "  In  it,"  he  says,  "God's  righteous- 
ness is  being  revealed  from  faith  to  faith." 

We  repeat  the  familiar  words,  hut  what  meaning  should 
we  attach  to  them?  It  would  take  a  lifetime  to  read  all  that 
has  been  written  about  them  in  interminable  pages  of  dreary 
exegesis,  drearier  metaphysics,  and  dreariest  controversy. 
Traducianist  and  Pelagian,  Calvinist  and  Arminian,  Sublap- 
sarian  and  Supralapsarian,  Solifidian  and  Gospeller,  Legalist 
and  Antinomian,  Methodist  and  Baptist,  have  wrangled 
about  them  for  centuries,  and  strewn  the  field  of  polemical 
theology  with  the  scattered  and  cumbering  debris  of  tech- 
nicalities and  anathemas.  From  St.  Augustine  to  St. 
Thomas  of  Aquinum,  and  from  St.  Thomas  to  Whitefield, 
men  have — 

"  Reasoned  high 
Of  providence,  foreknowledge,  will,  and  fate, 
Fixed  fate,  free-will,  foreknowledge  absolute, 
And  found  no  end  in  wandering  mazes  lost ;" 

and  their  controversies  have  mainly  turned  on  these  words. 
Does  it  not  seem  presumptuous  to  endeavour  to  express  in 
one  simple  sentence  what  they  appear  to  state  ?  ^      Not  if 

^  It  will  be  observed  that  the  true  explanation  of  the  meaning  of  the  words 
is  one  thiug,  and  one  which  may  be  regarded  as  approximately  certain ;  the 
adequate  explanation  of  the  doctrine  is  quite  another  thing,  and  all  attempt  to 
do  it  lauds  us  at  once  iu  the  region  of  insoluble  mysteries.  "  We  cannot 
measiure  the  arm  of  God  with  the  finger  of  man." 


188  THE    LIFE   A^D    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

we  distinguisli  between  "  ideas  of  the  head  "  and  "  feelings 
of  the  heart."  Not  if  we  bear  in  mind  that  these  contro- 
versies arise  mainly  from  "  the  afterthoughts  of  theology." 
We  can  only  understand  St.  Paul's  views  in  the  light  of 
his  own  repeated  elucidations,  comments,  and  varied  modes 
of  expression ;  yet  with  this  guidance  we  should  sum  up 
the  results  of  endless  discussions,  prolonged  for  a  thou- 
sand years,  by  interpreting  his  words  to  mean  that  In  the 
Gospel  is  being  made  known}  to  the  loorld  that  i7ilierent  right- 
eousness of  God,  ivhich,  by  a  judgment  of  acquittal  pronounced 
once  for  all  in  the  expiatory  death  of  Christ,  He  imputes  to 
guilty  man,  and  which  beginning  for  each  individual,  with  his 
trustful  acceptance  of  this  reconciliation  of  himself  to  God 
in  Christ,  ends  in  that  mystical  union  with  Christ  whereby 
Christ  becomes   to    each  man  a    new  nature,   a   q^uickening 


It  is  impossible,  I  think,  in  fewer  words  to  give  the 
full  interpretation  of  this  pregnant  thesis.  The  end  and 
aim  of  the  Gospel  of  God  is  the  salvation  of  man.  Man 
is  sinful,  and  cannot  by  any  power  of  his  own  attain  to 
holiness.  Yet  without  holiness  no  man  can  see  the  Lord. 
Therefore,  without  holiness  no  man  can  be  saved.  How, 
then,  is  holiness  to  be  attained  ?  The  Gospel  is  the  answer 
to  that  question,  and  this  Epistle  is  the  fullest  and  most 
consecutive  exposition  of  this  divine  dispensation.  The 
essence  of  the  answer  is  summed  up  in  the  one  phrase 
"Justification  by  Faith."  In  this  verse  it  is  ex- 
pressed as  "the  righteousness  and  justice  of  God"  which 
"is  being  revealed  in  the  Gospel  from  faith  to  faith." 
The  word  for  "  righteousness "  is  also  rendered  "  justi- 
fication."     But  neither  of  this  word,  nor  of   the  word 

^  airoKa\vi!-reTat — "  progressive  revelation,"  but  icpavepwdt),  it  has  been  once 
for  all  manifested ;  or  ratlier  ire<pai'epwrai  (iii.  21)  lias  been  manifested  now 
and  for  ever. 


EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  189 

"  faltli,"  has  St.  Paul  ever  given  a  formal  definition.  It 
is  only  from  his  constantly-varied  phrases,  and  from  the 
reasonings  by  which  he  supports,  and  the  quotations  by 
which  he  illustrates  them,  that  we  can  ascertain  his  mean- 
ing. Many  writers  have  maintained  that  this  meaning  is 
vague  and  general,  incapable  of  being  reduced  to  rigid  and 
logical  expression,  impossible  to  tesselate  into  any  formal 
scheme  of  salvation.  We  must  not  overlook  the  one 
element  of  truth  which  underlies  these  assertions.  Un- 
doubtedly there  is  a  vast  gulf  between  the  large  impassioned 
utterances  of  mystic  fervour  and  the  cold  analytic  reasonings 
of  technical  theology ;  between  emotional  expressions  and 
elaborate  systems ;  between  Orientalism  and  scholasticism ; 
between  St.  Paul  and  St.  Thomas  of  Aquinum.  Specu- 
lative metaphysics,  doctrines  of  sin,  theories  of  impu- 
tation, transcendental  ontology — these  in  the  course  of 
time  were  inevitable ;  but  these  are  not  the  foundation, 
not  the  essence,  not  the  really  important  element  of 
Christianity.  This  has  been  too  much  forgotten.  Yet 
there  is  all  the  difference  in  the  world  between  understand- 
ing what  Paul  meant  to  express,  and  pretending  to  have 
fathomed  to  their  utmost  depths  the  Eternal  Truths  which 
he  behind  his  doctrine  ;  and  it  is  perfectly  possible  for  us 
to  comprehend  Grod's  scheme,  so  far  as  it  affects  our  actions 
and  our  hopes,  without  attempting  to  arrange  in  the 
pigeon-holes  of  our  logical  formulae  the  incomprehensible 
mysteries  encircling  that  part  of  it  which  has  alone  been 
opened  for  our  learning. 

1.  We  may,  then,  pronounce  with  reasonable  certainty 
that  in  this  memorable  thesis  of  the  Epistle,  "  God's 
righteousness,''  which,  in  the  first  instance,  means  a 
quality  of  Grod,  is  an  expression  which  St.  Paul  uses 
to  express  the  imputation  of  this  righteousness  by  free 
bestowal  upon  man,  so  that  man  can  regard  it  as  a  thing 


190  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

given  to  himself — a  righteousness  wliich  proceeds  from 
God  and  constitutes  a  new  relation  of  man  towards 
Him — a  justification  of  man,  a  declaration  of  man's  inno- 
cence— an  acquittal  from  guilt  through  Christ  given  hy 
free  grace — the  principle,  ordained  by  Grod  himself,  which 
determines  the  religious  character  of  the  race,  and  by 
which  the  religious  consciousness  of  the  individual  is  con- 
ditioned.^ 

2.  And  when  St.  Paul  says  that  this  "righteousness  of 
Grod  "  springs  ''from  faith,"  he  does  nob  mean  that  faith  is 
in  any  way  the  meritorious  cause  of  it,  for  he  shows  that 
man  is  justified  by  free  grace,  and  that  this  justification  has 
its  ground  in  the  spontaneous  favour  of  Grod,  and  its  cause 
in  the  redemptive  work  of  Christ ;  ^  but  what  he  means  is 
that  faith  is  the  receptive  instrument^  of  it — the  personal 
appropriation  of  the  reconciling  love  of  Grod,  which  has 
once  for  all  been  carried  into  effect  for  the  race  by  the 
death  of  Christ. 

3.  Lastly,  when  he  says  that  this  righteousness  of  God 

^  Pfleiderer,  Paulinism,  i.  178.  "  The  acceptance  wherewith  God  receives 
us  into  His  favour  as  if  we  were  righteous — it  consists  in  the  forgiveness  of 
sins  and  the  imputation  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ "  (Calvin).  "  Faith 
taketh  hold  of  Christ,  and  hath  Him  enclosed,  as  the  ring  doth  the  precious 
stone.  And  whosoever  shall  be  found  having  this  confidence  in  Christ  appre- 
hended in  the  heart,  him  will  God  accept  for  righteous,"  (Luther).  [See, 
too,  the  twelve  ancient  authorities  qxioted  in  the  Homily  on  the  salvation  of 
mankind.]  "  The  righteousness  wherewith  we  shall  be  clothed  in  the  world  to 
come  is  both  perfect  and  inherent  ;  that  whereby  here  we  are  justified  is 
perfect,  but  not  inherent — that  whereby  we  are  sanctified,  inherent,  but  not 
perfect "  (Hooker).  "  The  righteousness  which  God  gives  and  which  he 
approves  "  (Hodges).  "  The  very  righteousness  of  God  Himself  .  .  ,  imputed 
and  imparted  to  men  in  Jesus  Christ  (Jer.  xxiii.  6;  xxxiii.  16)  .  .  .  who 
...  is  made  righteousness  to  us  (1  Cor.  i.  30)  .  .  .  so  that  we  may  be 
not  only  acquitted  by  God,  but  may  become  the  righteous  of  God  in  Him 
(2  Cor.  V.  21)  "  (Bishop  Wordsworth). 

3  The  Tridentine  decree  speaks  of  God's  glory  and  eternal  life  as  the 
final,  of  God  as  the  efficient,  of  Christ  as  the  ineritorious.  of  baptism  as  the 
instrumental,  and  of  God's  righteousness  as  the  formal  cause  of  justification. 

3  opyavov  Xri-miKbv.     We  are  justified  jjer,  not  ])rojpter  fidem  (Acts  x,  1,  2). 


EPISTLE    TO  THE    ROMANS.  191 

is  being  revealed  in  tlie  Grospel  "  from  faith  to  faith,"  lie 
implies  the  truth,  which  finds  frequent  illustration  in  his 
writings,  that  there  are  ascensive  degrees  and  qualities  of 
Christian  faith. ^  Leaving  out  of  sight  the  dead  faith 
{fides  inforniis)  of  the  schoolmen,  its  lowest  stage  (i.)  is 
the  being  theoretically  persuaded  of  God's  favour  to  us  in 
Christ  on  higher  grounds  than  those  of  sensuous  percep- 
tion and  ordinary  experience,  namely,  because  we  have 
confidence  in  God  {assensus  fiducia).  In  a  higher  stage 
(ii.)  it  has  touched  the  inmost  emotions  of  the  heart,  and 
has  become  a  trustful  acceptance  of  the  gift  of  favour 
offered  by  God,  "  a  self-surrender  of  the  heart  to  the  favour- 
able will  of  God  as  it  presents  itself  to  us  in  the  word  of 
reconciliation."  But  it  has  a  higher  stage  (iii.)  even  than 
this,  in  which  it  attains  a  mystical  depth,  and  becomes  a 
mystical  incorporation  with  Christ  [unio  mystico)  in  a  unity 
of  love  and  life — a  practical  acquaintance  with  Christ, 
which  completes  itself  by  personal  appropriation  of  His 
life  and  death.  In  its  final  and  richest  development  (iv.) 
it  has  risen  from  the  passive  attitude  of  receptivitj^  into  a 
spontaneous  active  force — "  a  livi7ig  imjmlse  and  ^Jower  of 
good  in  every  phase  of  personal  life."^  In  this  last  stage  it 
becomes  so  closely  allied  to  spirit,  that  what  is  said  of 
the  one  may  be  said  of  the  other,  and  that  which  regarded 

*  "From  faith  to  faith,"  i.e.,  "which  begins  in  faith  and  ends  in  faith,  of 
which  faith  is  the  beginning,  middle,  and  end "  (Baur,  who  compares  oo-yu^ 
^wris  ds  ioiiiv.  2  Cor.  ii.  16).     In  the  first  stage  the  Glaube  passes  into  Tretie. 

^  For  these  ascensive  uses  of  the  word  faith  see  (i.)  Rom.  iv.  18,  Heb.  xi.  1 ; 
(ii.)  Rom.  X.  9,  Phil.  iii.  7 ;  (iii.)  Phil.  i.  21,  Gal.  ii.  20 ;  (iv.)  1  Cor.  vi.  17.  (Baur, 
N.  Test.  Theol.  176.)  It  should  be  observed  that  in  his  earlier  Epistles  St. 
Paixl  does  not  use  the  word  at  all  in  the  modern  sense  of  "  a  body  of  doctrine," 
though  this  meaning  of  the  word  begins  to  appear  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles. 
From  the  lowest  stage  of  .the  word,  in  which  it  merely  means  '•  belief  "  and 
"  faithfulness,"  he  rises  at  once  to  the  deeper  sense  of  "  fast  attachment  to 
an  unseen  power  of  goodness,"  and  then  gradually  mounts  to  that  meaning  of 
the  word  in  which  it  is  peculiar  to  himself,  namely,  mystic  union,  absolute 
incorporation,  with  Christ. 


192  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

from  without  is  "  faith,"  regarded  from  within  is  "  spirit." 
Eaith,  in  this  full  range  of  its  Pauline  meaning,  is  both  a 
single  act  and  a  progressive  principle.  As  a  single  act,  it 
is  the  self-surrender  of  the  soul  to  God,  the  laying  hold 
of  Christ,  the  sole  means  whereby  we  appropriate  this 
reconciling  love,  in  which  point  of  view  it  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  root  of  the  new  relation  of  man  to  God  in 
justification  and  adoption.  As  a  progressive  principle  it 
is  the  renewal  of  the  personal  life  in  sanctification^ — a 
preservation   of   the  "righteousness    of   God"   ohjectively 

1  Eom.  xii.  3 ;  2  Cor.  x.  15.  "Faiih,"  says  Lutlier  {Vreface  to  Romans), 
"  is  a  divine  work  in  us,  which  changes  us,  and  creates  us  anew  in  God." 
"  Oh  es  ist  ein  lebendig,  gesclia^tig,  thatig,  machtig  Ding  um  den  Glauben, 
dass  es  unmachtig  ist  dass  er  nicht  ohne  Unterlass,  sollte  Gutes  wirken.  Er 
fragt  auch  nicht  ob  gute  Werke  zu  thun  sind,  sondern  ehe  man  fragt  hat  er 
sie  gethan,  und  ist  immer  im  Thun.  .  .  .  Also  dass  unmoglich  ist  Werke 
Tora  Glauben  zu  scheiden :  ja  so  unmoglich  als  brenuen  und  leuchten 
vom  Feuer  mag  geschieden  werden."  Coming  from  hearing  (a«o^  iria-Teus, 
Gal.  iii.  2),  it  is  primarily  a  belief  of  the  Gospel  (ir.  toC  evayyexio).  As 
Christ  is  the  essence  of  the  Gospel,  it  becomes  ir.  rod  Xpia-Tod  (Gal.  ii.  16, 
iii.  26),  the  faith  which  has  its  principle  in  Christ.  It  is  further  defined  as 
"  faith  in  His  blood  "  (Rom.  iii.  24,  25),  and  thus  is  narrowed  stage  by  stage 
in  proportion  as  it  grows  more  intense  and  inward,  passing  from  theoretical 
assent  to  certainty  of  conviction  (Baur,  Paul.  ii.  149).  The  antithesis  of 
faith  and  works  is  only  one  of  abstract  thought ;  it  is  at  once  reconciled  in 
the  simple  moral  truth  of  such  passages  as  1  Cor.  iii.  13,  ix.  17,  Gal.  \\.  7,  &c. 
I  cannot  here  enter  on  the  sup])osed  contradiction  between  St.  Paul  ml  St. 
James.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  remark  that  they  were  dealing  with  entirely 
different  provinces  of  religious  life,  and  were  using  every  one  of  the  three 
words,  "  faith,"  "  works,"  and  "  justification,"  in  wholly  different  senses.  By 
"faith"  St.  James  (who  knew  nothing  of  its  Pauline  meaning),  only  meant 
outward  profession  of  dead  Jewish  religiosity.  By  "  works "  Paul  meant 
Levitism.  and  even  moral  actions  regarded  as  external ;  whereas  James  meant 
the  reality  of  a  moral  and  religious  life.  Their  meeting-point  may  be 
clearly  seen  in  2  Cor.  v.  10;  Rom.  ii. ;  1  Cor.  xiii.  1.  And  in  the  superficial 
contrast  lies  a  real  coincidence.  "  The  regal  law  of  St.  James  (i.  25,  ii.  8)  is 
the  law  of  liberty  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians.  Both  are  confuting  Jewish 
vanity  and  Pharisaism.  Only  the  work  of  St.  James  was  to  confute  the 
Pharisee  by  showing  what  was  the  true  ser^nce  of  God,  aud  that  of  St.  Paul 
to  show  what  foundation  had  been  laid  for  a  spiritual  and  universal  economy 
after  the  Jewish  ceremonial  had  crumbled "  (Maurice,  Unity,  511).  See 
Wordsworth,  Eioistles,  p.  205  j  Hooker,  Ecd.  Pol,  1,  xi.  6. 


FAITH    AND    WORKS.  193 

bestowed  upon  us,  in  tlie  inward  and  ever-deepening 
righteousness  of  our  own  life;  it  is,  in  fact,  a  new  and 
spiritual  life,  lived  in  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who 
loved  us,  and  gave  Himself  for  us.^  And  hence  will  be  seen 
at  once  the  absurdity  of  any  radical  antithesis  between 
Christian  faith  and  Christian  works,  since  they  can  no 
more  exist  apart  from  each  other  than  the  tree  which  is 
severed  from  the  root,  or,  to  use  the  illustration  of  Luther, 
than  fire  can  exist  apart  from  light  and  heat.  "  Justification 
and  sanctification,"  says  Calvin,  "  cohere,  but  they  are  not 
one  and  the  same.  It  is  faith  alone  which  justifies,  and 
yet  the  faith  which  justifies  is  not  alone ;  just  as  it  is  the 
heat  alone  of  the  sun  which  warms  the  earth,  and  yet  in 
the  sun  it  is  not  alone,  because  it  is  always  conjoined 
with  light." 

In  accordance  with  his  usual  manner  when  he  is 
enunciating  a  new  truth,  St.  Paul  seeks  to  support  it  by 
the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  and  reads  the  deeper 
meaning  which  he  has  now  developed  into  the  words, 
"  The  just  shall  hve  by  faith,"  which  Habakkuk  had  used 
in  the  far  simpler  sense  of  "  the  just  shall  be  delivered  by 
his  fidelity."  But  St.  Paul  reads  these  simple  words  by 
the  light  of  his  own  spiritual  illumination,  which,  like  the 
fabled  splendour  on  the  graven  gems  of  the  Urim,  makes 
them  flash  into  yet  diviner  oracles.  Into  the  words 
"  faith  "  and  "  life  "  he  infuses  a  significance  which  he  had 
learnt  from  revelation,  and,  as  has  been  truly  said,  where 

^  See  the  two  very  valuable  sections  on  Faith  and  Justification  in 
Pfleiderer's  PauUnisium,  §  v.  Other  explanations  of  "  from  faith  to  faith  " 
are— 1," from  the  Old  to  the  New  Testament"  (Origen,  Chrys.,  &c.) ;  2,  "Ex 
fide  legis  in  fidem  evangelii "  (Tert.) ;  3,  "  from  faith  to  the  believer  "  (iii.  22 ; 
Olshausen,  &c.) ;  4,  "  from  weak  to  strong  faith "  (cf.  2  Cor.  iii.  18 ;  P&. 
Ixxxiv.  7  ;  Luther,  &c.) ;  5,  "  An  intensive  expression  =  mera  fides  ;  faith 
the  prora  et  piippis  (Bengel,  &c.) ;  6,  From  Divine  faithfulness  to  human 
faith  (Ewald),  Of.  Heb.  xii.  2,  "  the  author  amd finisher  of  our  faith"  (Lange, 
ad.  loc). 


194  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Habakkuk  ends,  Paul  begins.  And,  in  fact,  his  very 
plirase,  "  justification  by  faith,"  marks  the  meeting-point 
of  two  dispensations.  The  conception  of  "  justification  " 
has  its  roots  in  Judaism;  the  conception  of  "faith"  is 
peculiarly  Christian.  The  latter  word  so  completely 
dominates  over  the  former,  that  hcKaioavvn  from  its  first 
meaning  of  "  righteousness,"  a  quality  of  God,  comes 
to  mean  subjectively  "  justification "  as  a  condition 
of  man — the  adequate  relation  in  which  man  has  to  stand 
towards  God.  Man's  appropriation  of  God's  reconciling 
love  in  Christ  has  issued  in  a  change  in  man's  personal 
life  :  justification  has  become  sanctification,  which  is  the 
earnest  of  future  glory 


in. 

UNIVERSALITY   OF    SIN. 
"Riiit  in  vetitum,  damui  secura,  libido."— Claud. 

Having  thus  endeavoured  to  render  clear  tlie  one  subject 
wliich  underlies  the  entu-e  system  of  St.  Paul's  theology, 
we  can  proceed  more  rapidly  in  trying  to  catch  his  line  of 
thought  through  the  remainder  of  the  Epistle. 

i.  Now,  since  the  Apostle  had  already  dwelt  on  the 
universality  of  the  Gospel,  it  was  necessary  to  show  that 
it  applied  equally  to  Jews  and  Pagans  ;  that  the  univer- 
sality of  free  grace  was  necessitated  by  the  universality 
of  wilful  sin.  Righteousness  and  sin,  soteriology  and 
hamartiology,  are  the  fundamental  thoughts  in  St.  Paul's 
theological  system.  The  first  is  a  theoretic  consequence 
of  our  conception  of  God's  nature ;  the  second  an  historic 
fact  deducible  from  experience  and  conscience. 

As  there  is  a  rigliteousness  of  God  which  is  being  revealed  in  the 
Gospel,  so,  too,  there  is  a  wrath  of  God  against  sin  which  is  ever 
being  revealed  from  heaven,  by  the  inevitable  working  of  God's  own 
appointed  laws,  against  all  godlessness  and  unrighteousness  of  those 
who  in  their  unrighteousness  suppress  the  truth. ^  And  since  the  world 
is  mainly  Gentile,  he  speaks  of  the  Gentiles  first.  Some  might  imagine 
that  their  ignorance  t)f  God  made  them  excvisable.  Not  so.  The  facts 
which  render  them  inexcusable^  are  (i.)  that  God  did  in  reality  manifest 
Himself  to  them,  and  the  invisibilities  of  His  eternal  power  and  God- 

^  KarfXi^VTwv  (ttJ^  a\r}9€iav),  i.  18.  In  19,  to  yvaxTrhu  is  "  that  which  18 
known,"  not  "  which  may  be  known."  'ATroKaXvirTfTai,  is  being  revealed.  "  The 
modes  of  the  New  Testament  converge  towards  the  pi-esent  moment "  (Jowett). 

^  In  verse  20,  obviously  eis  rb  duat,  k.  t.  k.,  expresses  rather  a  consequence 
than  a  purpose. 

n  2 


196  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

head  were  clearly ^ visible  in  His  works;'  and  (ii.)  tliat  thougli  they 
knew  God,  yet  by  denying  Him  the  due  glory  and  gratitude,  they 
suffered  themselves  to  plunge  into  the  penal  darkness  of  ignorant  specu- 
lation, and  the  penal  folly  of  self-asserted  wisdom,  and  the  self-convicted 
boast  of  a  degraded  culture,  until  they  sank  to  such  depths  of  spiritual 
imbecility  as  to  end  even  in  the  idolatry  of  reptiles  ;^  and  (iii.)  because 
mental  infatuation,  both  as  its  natural  result  and  as  its  fearful  punish- 
ment, issued  in  moral  crime.  Their  sin  was  inexcusable,  because  it 
was  the  outcome  and  the  retribution,  and  the  natural  child,  of  sin. 
Because  they  guiltily  abandoned  God,  God  abandoned  them  to  their 
own  guiltiness.^  The  conscious  lie  of  idolatry  became  the  conscious 
infamy  of  uncleanness.  Those  "  passions  of  dishonox;r  "  to  which  God 
abandoned  them  rotted  the  beart  of  manhood  with  theii-  retributive 
corruption,  and  affected  even  women  with  their  execrable  stain.' 
Pagan  society,  in  its  hideous  disintegration,  became  one  foul  disease  of 
imnatural  depravity.  The  cancer  of  it  ate  into  the  heart ;  the  miasma  of 
it  tainted  the  air.  Even  the  moralists  of  Paganism  were  infected  with  its 
vileness.*  God  scourged  their  moral  ignorance  by  suffering  it  to  become  a 
deeper  ignorance.  He  punished  their  contempt  by  letting  them  make 
themselves  utterly  contemptible.  The  mere  consequence  of  this  abandon- 
ment of  them  was  a  natural  Nemesis,  a  justice  in  kind,  beginning  even 
in  this  life,  whereby  their  unwillingness  to  discern  Him  became  an 
iTwapacity  to  discern^  the  most  elementary  distinctions  between  noble- 
ness and  shame.  Therefore,  their  hearts  became  surcharged  with  every 
element  of  vileness  ; — with  impurity  in  its  most  abysmal  degradations, 

'  aopara  Kadoparai,  "  InvisibiUa  videntur "  an  admirable  oxymoron. 
"  Deum  non  vides,  tamen  Deum  agnoscis  ex  ejus  operibus  "  (Cie.  Q.  T.i.  29. 
C£.  De  Div.  ii.  72).  The  world  was  to  the  Gentiles  a  deoyvaia-ias  TraiSevr-fipioy 
(Basil).     On  this  point  see  Humboldt,  Cosmos,  ii.  16. 

2  As  in  Egypt.     Egyptian  worsliip  was  now  spreadiiig  in  Italy : — 

"Nos  in  templa  tuam  Eoniana  recepimus  Isim 
Semideosque  canes  "  (Luc.  Phars.  viii.  83). 

'  Yerse  24,  TrapeSoDKe,  "  non  pei-missive,  nee  iK^ariKus  sed  StKaa-riKws" — i.e., 
not  as  a  mere  result,  but  as  a  judgment  in  kind. 

•*  This  is  the  period  of  which  Seneca  says  that  women  counted  their  years 
by  the  number  of  their  divorced  husbands  (De  Bene/,  iii.  15). 

•'■'  Tliere  are  only  too  awful  and  only  too  exhaustive  proofs  of  all  this,  and 
(if  possible),  worse  tlian  all  this,  in  Dolliuger,  Heidenthum  und  Judenthum, 
684.     But  "  Ostendi  debeut  scelera  dum  puuiuutur  ahscondi  Jlagitia." 

"  i.  28,  KaBiiis  ovK  eSoKifxaa-av  .  .  .  irapfSuKev  .  .  .  els  aSSKifiov  vovv,  "As 
they  refused  .  .  .  God  gave  them  to  a  refuse  niiud  "  (Vaugliau,  ad  loc.).  St. 
Paul  was  deeply  impressed  (24,  26,  28)  with  the  ethic  retributive  law  of  the 
punishment  of  sin  with  sin.  It  was  recognised  both  by  Jews  and  Gentiles 
{Pirlie  Abhuth,  iv.  2 ;  Son.  Ep.  16). 


THE    MORALS    OF    PAGAN^ISM.  197 

with  hatred  alike  in  its  meanest  and  its  most  virulent  developments, 
•with  insolence  culminating  in  the  deliberate  search  for  fresh  forms  of 
evil,*  mth  cruelty  and  falsity  in  their  most  repulsive  features.  And 
the  last  worst  crime  of  all — beyond  which  crime  itself  could  go  no 
further — was  the  awfully  defiant  attitude  of  moral  evil,  which  led 
them — while  they  were  fully  aware  of  God's  sentence  of  death,^  pro- 
nounced on  willing  guilt — not  only  to  incur  it  themselves,  but,  with  a 
devilish  delight  in  human  depi-avity  and  human  ruin,  to  take  a 
positive  pleasure  in  those  who  practise  the  same.  Sin,  as  has  been  truly 
said,  reaches  its  climax  in  wicked  maxims  and  wicked  principles.  It 
is  no  longer  Vice  the  result  of  moral  weakness,  or  the  outcome 
of  an  evil  education,  but  Vice  deliberately  accepted  with  all  its  conse- 
quences, Vice  assuming  the  airs  of  self-justification,  Vice  in  act  becoming 
Vice  in  elaborate  theory — the  vmblushing  shamelessness  of  Sodom  in 
horrible  aggravation  of  its  polluting  sin.^ 

Thus  did  Paul  brand  the  insolent  brow  of  Pagan  life. 
It  is  well  for  the  world — it  is  above  all  well  for  the 
world  in  those  ages  of  transition  and  decay,  when 
there  is  ever  an  undercurrent  of  tendency  towards  Pagan 
ideals — to  know  what  Paganism  was,  and  ever  tended  to 
become.  It  is  well  for  the  world  that  it  should  have 
been  made  to  see,  once  for  all,  what  features  lurked 
under  the  smiling  mask,  what  a   heart   of  agony,   rank 

'  i.  30,  €>eup€Tas  KaKoiv  (2  Macc.  vii.  31).  Pliny  {H.  N.  xv.  5)  applies  this 
very  expression  to  the  Greeks.  Some  of  these  words  occur  in  speaking  of 
corruptions  within  the  Church  (2  Tim.  iii.  2)  ;  "of  so  little  avail  is  nominal 
Christianity"  (Vaughan) ;   evperijs  ayaOwy  (Prov.  xvi.  20). 

-  i.  32,  rh  hiKaiwfj.a,  "the  just  decree;"  Troiova-iv,  "single  acts;"  irpdcrcTova-ty, 
"habitual  condition."  Possibly  an  oIk  has  droj)ped  out  before  eiriyvSuret 
{"  they  did  not  fully  know  "),  of  which  some  readings  show  a  trace. 

^  i.  16 — 32.  Tlie  Apostle  is  fond  of  these  accumulative  lists  (a-uyaepoi(Tfj.hs)  of 
good  and  evil  (2  Cor.  xii.  20;  Gal.  v.  19 ;  Eph.  v.  3, 4;  1  Tim.  i.  9;  2  Tim.  iii.  2), 
No  satisfactory  classification  of  the  order  can  be  made.  Bengel  says,  "  Per 
membra  novem,  in  afEectibus;  duo  in  sermone  ;  tria  respectu  Dei  et  sui,  et 
proximi ;  duo  in  rebus  gerendis ;  sex  respectu  necessitudinum."  On  verses 
27,  28,  the  best  comment  is  to  be  found  in  Ai-istophanes,  Juvenal,  and  Sueto- 
nius ;  on  29 — 31,  in  Thuc.  iii.  82—84.  See  the  contemporary  testimony  of 
Sen.  De  Ira.  ii.  8,  "  Omnia  sceleribus  ac  vitiis  plena  sunt  .  .  .  nee  furtiva 
jam  scolera  sunt."  The  special  horror  of  the  age  is  reflected  in  Tac.  H.  i.  2, 
and  passim.  "  Le  premier  siecle  de  notre  ere  a  un  cachet  infernal  qui  n'ap- 
partient  qu'a  Ini ;  le  siecle  des  Borgia  pent  seul  lui  etre  compare  en  fait  de 
sceleratesse  "  (Renan,  Melanges,  p.  167). 


198  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

with  hatred,  charred  with  self-indulgence/  lay  throhhing 
under  the  purple  robe.  And  in  St.  Paul's  description  not 
one  accusation  is  too  terrible,  not  one  colour  is  too  dark. 
He  does  but  make  known  to  us  what  heathen  writers  un- 
blushingly  reveal  in  those  passages  in  which,  like  waves  of 
a  troubled  sea,  they  foam  out  their  own  mire  and  dirt.^  It 
is  false  to  say  that  Christianity  has  added  to  the  gloom 
of  the  world.  It  is  false  that  it  has  weakened  its  litera- 
ture, or  cramped  its  art.  It  has  been  wilfully  perverted ; 
it  has  been  ignorantly  misunderstood.  E-ightly  interj^reted 
it  does  not  sanction  a  single  doctrine,  or  utter  a  single  pre- 
cept, which  is  meant  to  extinguish  one  happy  impulse,  or 
dim  one  innocent  delight.  What  it  does  is  to  warn  us 
against  seeking  and  following  the  lowest  and  most  short- 
lived pleasures  as  a  final  end.  This  was  the  fatal  error  of 
the  popular  Hedonism.  St.  Paul's  sketch  of  its  moral 
dissolution  and  the  misery  and  shame  which  it  inevitably 
involved,  is  but  another  illustration  of  the  truth  that 

''Who  follows  pleasure,  pleasure  slays, 
God's  wrath  upon  himself  he  wreaks  ; 
But  all  delights  attend  his,  days 

Who  takes  with  thanks  but  never  seeks." 

ii.  Having  thus  accomplished  his  task  of  proving  the 
guilt  of  the  Gentiles,  he  turns  to  the  Jews.  But  he  does 
so  with  consummate  tact.  He  does  not  at  once  startle 
them  into  antagonism,  by  shocking  all  their  prejudices,  but 
begins  with  the  perfectly  general  statement,  "  Therefore  ^ 
thou  art  inexcusable,  0  man — every  one  who  judgest." 
The  "  therefore  "  impetuously  anticipates  the  reason  Avhy 
he  who  judges  others  is,  in  this  instance,  inexcusable — 

1  i.  27,    i^eKavOnffav. 

«  Jud.  13;  Isa.  Ivii.  20. 

^  This  Alb  of  ii.  1  is  clearly  proleptie. 


MORAL    CONDITION   OF    THE    JEW.  199 

namely,  because  lie  does  tlie  same  things  himself.  He  does 
not  at  once  saj,  as  he  might  have  done,  '.'  You  who  are 
Jews  are  as  inexcusable  as  the  Grentiles,  because  in  judging 
them  you  are  condemning  yourselves,  and  though  you 
habitually  call  them  '  sinners '  you  are  no  less  sinners 
yourselves."  ^  This  is  the  conclusion  at  which  he  points, 
but  he  wishes  the  Jew  to  be  led  step  by  step  into  self- 
condemnation,  less  hollow  than  vague  generalities.^  He  is 
of  course  speaking  alike  of  Jews  and  of  Pagans  ye^mc^/;^, 
and  not  implying  that  there  were  no  exceptions.  But  he 
has  to  introduce  the  argument  against  the  Jews  carefully 
and  gradually,  because,  blinded  by  their  own  privileges, 
they  were  apt  to  take  a  very  different  view  of  their  own 
character.  But  they  were  less  excusable  because  more 
enlightened.  He  therefore  begins,  "  0  man,"  and  not 
"  0  Jew,"  and  asks  the  imaginary  person  to  whom  he  is 
appealing  whether  he  thinks  that  Grod  will  in  his  case 
make  an  individual  exception  to  His  own  inflexible  decrees  ? 
or  whether  he  intends  to  despise  the  riches  of  God's 
endurance,  by  ignoring  ^  that  its  sole  intention  is  to  lead 
him  to  repentance — and  so  to  heap  up  against  himself  a 
horrible  treasury  of  final  ruin  ?  God's  law  is  rigid,  uni- 
versal, absolute.  It  is  that  God  will  repay  every  man  all 
to  his  works.*     This  law  is  illustrated  by  a  twofold  ampli- 

^  Gal.  ii.  15,  ^/ueTs  <pv(Tei  'lovSa7oi,  Kot  ovk  e|  tdvwv  a/xaprooXol.  Meyer  truly  says 
this  judging  of  the  Gentiles  (which  they  little  dreamt  would  be  pointed  out  to 
them  as  self-condemnation,  by  one  of  themselves)  was  a  characteristic  of  the 
Jews. 

2  Thus  the  High-priest  said  over  the  scapegoat,  "  Thy  people  have  failed, 
sinned,  and  transgressed  before  Thee  "  (Yoma,  66  a). 

2  Yer.  4,  ayvowv.  "Ayei,  "  Deus  ducit  volentem  duci  .  .  .  non  cogit  neces- 
sitate" (Bengel). 

*  The  apparent  contradiction  to  the  fundamental  theme  of  the  Epistle  is 
due  to  his  speaking  here  of  ordinary  morality.  "  The  d'\ine  valuation  placed 
on  men  apart  from  redemption  "  (Tholuck).  Fritzsche's  comment  that  "  the 
Apostle  is  here  inconsistent,  and  opens  a  semita  per  honestatem  near  the  via 
regia  of  justification  "is  very  off-hand  and  valueless. 


200  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

ficatiou,  which,  beginning  and  ending  with  the  reward  of 
goodness,  and  inserting  twice  over  in  the  middle  clause  the 
punishment  of  sin,i  expresses  the  thought  that  this  rule 
applies  to  all,  by  twice  repeating  that  it  applies  to  the  Jew 
first  and  also  to  the  Greek ;  but  to  the  Jew  first,  only 
because  of  his  fuller  knowledge  and,  therefore,  deeper  re- 
sponsibility. And  having  thus  introduced  the  name  of  the 
Jew,  he  lays  down  with  a  firm  hand  the  eternal  principle — so 
infinitely  blessed,  yet  so  startlingly  new  to  the  prejudices 
of  a  nation  which  for  more  than  a  thousand  years  had  been 
intoxicating  itself  with  the  incense  of  spiritual  pride — that 
there  is  no  respect  of  persons  with  God.  Each  section  of 
humanity  shall  be  judged  in  accordance  with  its  condition. 

"  As  many  as  sinned  without  the  Law,  shall  also  without  the  Law 
perish  ;  and  as  many  as  sinned  in  the  Law,  shall  be  condemned  by  the 
Law."  Righteousness  before  God  depends,  not  on  possession  of  the  Law, 
but  on  obedience  to  it.  Gentiles  as  well  as  Jews  had  a  law ;  Jews  the 
Mosaic  law.  Gentiles  a  natural  law  written  on  their  hearts,  and  suffi- 
ciently clear  to  secure,  at  the  day  of  judgment,^  their  acqviittal  or  con- 
demnation before  the  prophetic  session  of  their  own  consciences,  in 
accordance  with  the  decision  of  Christ  the  Judge.^  Jew,  then,  and 
Gentile  stand  before  God  equally  guilty,  because  equally  condemned  of 
failure  to  fulfil  the  moi'al  law  which  God  had  laid  down  to  guide  their 

'  The  figure  of  speech  is  called  Chiasmus,  or  introverse  parallelism. 
"  Glory  and  honour,  and  immortality — precious  pearls ;  eternal  life — the 
goodly  pearl,  Matt.  xiii.  46  "  (Lange). 

2  ii.  16,  leg.  Kpivei  "  is  judging,"  not  Kpivil  "  shaU  judge." 
'  ii.  1 — 16.  St.  Paul  adds  Kara  rh  evayy(\i6v  fiov.  "  Simm  appellat  ratione 
ministerii "  (Calv.).  It  means,  of  course,  the  Gospel  of  free  grace  which  he  preached 
to  Gentiles  (Gal.  ii.  7).  In  verse  14,  "  Do  by  nature  the  things  of  the  law," 
St.  Paul  (who  is  not  here  speaking  with  theologic  precision,  but  dealing  with 
general  external  facts)  recognises  even  in  heathens  the  existence  of  the  nobler 
nature  and  its  better  imp\ilses.  See  the  remarkable  expression  of  Aristotle, 
6  ixevdepos  outws  e^et  oJov  vS/xos  &v  eavr^  {Etli.  Nic.  iv.  14).  It  is  strjinge  to  see 
so  great  a  commentator  as  Bcngel  joining  tpvcrei  with  to  ju)?  votxov  exorra  and 
interpreting  it  to  mean  "  do  the  same  things  that  the  LaAV  does,"  i.e.,  command- 
ing, condemning,  punishing,  &c.  !  Nothing  woixld  have  been  more  amazing  to 
St.  Paul  than  the  notion  that  he  discouraged  good  works.  The  phrase  occurs 
no  less  than  fourteen  times  in  his  three  last  short  Epistles. 


CONDEMNATION    OF    THE    JEW.  201 

lives.  The  word  "  ALL,"  as  lias  been  truly  observed,  is  the  governing 
word  of  the  entire  Epistle.  All — for  whatever  may  be  the  modifications 
which  may  be  thought  necessary,  St.  Paul  does  not  himself  make  them — 
all  Ave  equally  guilty,  all  are  equally  redeemed.  All  have  been  tempoi-arily 
rejected,  all  shall  be  ultimately  received.  All  shall  be  finally  brought 
into  living  harmony  with  that  God  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all, 
and  in  all, — by  whom,  and  from  whom,  and  unto  whom,  all  things  ax-e, 
and  all  things  tend.^ 

And  then  Paul  turns  upon  tlie  self-satisfied  Jew,  who 
has  been  thus  insensibly  entrapped  (as  it  were)  into  the 
mental  admission  of  his  own  culpability,  and  after  painting 
in  a  few  touches  his  self-satisfied  pretensions  to  spiritual, 
moral,  and  intellectual  superiority,  and  then  leaving  his 
sentence  unfinished,  bursts  into  a  question  of  indignant 
eloquence,  in  which  there  is  no  longer  any  masked  sar- 
casm, but  terribly  serious  denunciation  of  undeniable  sins. 
He  does  not  use  one  word  of  open  raillery,  or  give  offence 
by  painting  in  too  glaring  colours  the  weaknesses,  follies, 
and  hypocrisies  of  the  Pharisee,  yet  the  picture  which 
stands  out  from  phrases  in  themselves  perfectly  polished, 
and  even  apparently  comphmentary,  is  the  picture  of  the 
full-blown  religionist  in  all  his  assumed  infallibility,  and 
the  very  air  of  the  "  Stand  aside,  for  I  am  holier  than 
thou." 

"  But  if  "  ^  (so  we  may  draw  out  the  splendid  rhetoric),  "  if  thou 
vauntest  the  proud  name  of  Jew,^  and  makest  the  Law  the  pillow  of  thy 
confidence,'*  and  boastest  thy  monopoly  in  God,  and  art  the  only  one 
who  canst  recognise   His  wdl,   and  discriminatest  the  transcendent  ^  in 

1  See  Eom.  v.  15—20 ;  x.  12 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  28 ;  Col.  iii.  11 ;  2  Cor.  v.  15  ; 
Heb.  ii.  8,  &c. 

^  ii.  17,  d  Se,  and  not  TSe,  is  almost  unquestionably  the  true  reading,  «,  A,  B, 
D,  K,  "  oratio  vehemens  et  splendida  "  (Est.). 

3  kirovofj.a^ri. 

*  verse  17,  kiravairairi . 

^  verso  18,  SoKifid^eis  rh,  ^ia<p4povTa,  See  Heb.  v.  14.  The  ^laffroX))  ayiuv 
KOI  fii^iKoiv  (Philo)  was  the  very  function  o£  a  Rabbi ;  and  the  Pharisee  was 
a  Separatist,  because  of  liis  scrupulosity  in  those  distinctions. 


202  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

niceties  of  moral  excellence,  being  trained  in  the  Law  from  infancy, — 
if  thou  art  quite  convinced  that  thou  art  a  Leader  of  the  blind,  a  Light 
of  those  in  darkness,  one  who  can  train  the  foolishness,  and  instruct  the 
infancy  of  all  the  world  besides,  possessing  as  thou  dost  the  very  form  and 
body  of  knowledge  and  of  truth  in  the  Law — thoii  then  that  teachest 
a7iother,  dost  thou  not  teach  thyself  ?  thou  that  preachest  against  theft,  art 
thou  a  thief?  thou  that  forbiddest  adultery,  art  thou  an  adulterer  1  ^  loather 
of  idols,  dost  thou  rob  temples  1  ^  boaster  in  the  Law,  by  violation  of 
the  Law  dost  thou  dishonour  God  1  For  " — and  here  he  drops  the  inter- 
rogative to  pronounce  vipon  them  the  categorical  condemnation  which 
was  as  true  then  as  in  the  days  of  the  Prophet — "  for  on  your  account 
the  name  of  God  is  being  blasphemed  among  the  Gentiles."^  They  had 
relied  on  sacrifices  and  offerings,  on  tithes  and  phylacteries,  on  ablutions 
and  mezuzoth, — but  ''  omnia  vanitas  praeter  amare  Deum  et  illi  soli 
servire," — "  all  things  are  emptiness  save  to  love  God,  and  serve  Him 
only," — and  this  weightier  matter  of  the  Law  they  had  utterly  neglected 
in  scrupulous  attention  to  its  most  insignificant  minutiae.  In  fact,  the 
difference  between  Heathenism  and  Judaism  before  God  was  the  differ- 
ence between  Vice  and  Sin.  The  J^ws  were  guilty  of  the  sin  of  violating 
express  commands ;  the  heathens  sank  into  an  actual  degradation  of 
nature.  The  heathens  had  been  punished  for  an  unnatural  transposition 
of  the  true  order  of  the  universe  by  being  suffered  to  pervert  all  natural 
relations,  and  so  to  sink  into  moral  self-debasement ;  but  the  Jews  had 
been  "  admitted  into  a  holier  sanctuary,"  and  so  were  "  guilty  of  a  deeper 
sacrilege."* 

1  Averse  21,  on  the  morality  of  the  Pharisees  and  Rabbis,  see  Surenhusius, 
Mishna,  ii.  290—293,  and  cf .  Jas.  iv.  4—13  ;  v.  1—6 ;  Matt.  xix.  8  ;  xxiii.  13 
— 25.  Josephus  calls  his  own  generation  the  most  ungodly  of  aU,  and  says 
that  earthquake  and  lightning  must  have  destroyed  them  if  the  Romans  had 
not  come.  B.  J.  iv.  3—3 ;  v.  9,  4,  10,  5,  i3,  6.  Take  the  single  fact  that  the 
** ordeal  of  jealousy"  had  beenabolishel,  l;ecause  of  the  prevalence  of  adultery, 
by  R.  Jolianan  ben  Zaccai  quoting  Hos.  iv.  14  {Sotah,  f.  47,  1). 

2  verse  22,  6  pSeXva-a-Sfievos.  They  called  idols  na^in,  fiSfAvyfiara,  2  Kings 
xxiii.  13,  &c.  LXX.  lepoervXfTs.  The  reference  is  not  clear,  but  see  Dent.  vii. 
25;  Acts  xix.  36—37;  Jos.  Antt.  iv.  8,  10;  xx.  9,  2.  Or  does  it  refer  to 
defrauding  their  own  Temple  ?  (Mai.  i.  8 ;  iii.  8 — 10.)  CTrriKaiou  Kija-rwu 
(Matt.  xxi.  13).  Josephus  quotes  a  Greek  historian,  Lysimachus,  who  said 
that  from  the  conduct  of  the  Jews  in  robbing  the  Temples  of  their  charms 
that  city  was  called  Hierosyla  (Tcmple-phmder)  and  afterwards  changed  to 
Hierosolyma ;  a  story  which  he  angrily  rejects  (c.  Ap.  i.  34). 

3  ii.  17 — 24.  In  verse  24  the  vjords  of  Isa.  Iii.  5  are  curiously  combined 
with  the  sense  of  Ezek.  xxxia.  21 — 23. 

*  The  needfulness  of  this  demonstration  may  bo  seen  from  the  fact  that 
some  of  the  Talmudists  regarded  perfection  as  possible.     They  denied  the 


THE    TRUE    CIRCUMCISION.  203 

From  this  impassioned  strain  lie  descends — in  a 
manner  very  characteristic  of  his  style — into  a  calmer 
tone.  "  But  " — some  Jew  might  urge,  in  accordance  with 
the  stuhhorn  prejudices  of  theological  assumption,  which 
by  dint  of  assertion,  has  passed  into  invincible  belief — 
"but  ice  are  circumcised  I  Surely  you  would  not  put  us  on 
a  level  with  the  uncircumcised — the  dogs  and  sinners  of 
the  Gentiles  ?  "  To  such  an  implied  objection,  touching  as 
it  does  on  a  point  wholly  secondary,  however  j)i'iniary 
might  be  the  importance  which  the  Jew  attached  to  it,  St, 
Paul  can  now  give  a  very  decisive  answer,  because  with 
wonderful  power  he  has  already  stripped  them  of  all 
genuine  precedence  and  involved  them  in  a  common 
condemnation.  He  therefore  replies  in  words  which, 
however  calm  and  grave,  would  have  sounded  to  a  Jerusa- 
lem Pharisee  like  stinging  paradox. 

"  Circumcision  is  indeed  an  advantage  if  thou  keepest  the  Law  ;  but 
if  thou  art — as  I  have  generically  shown  that  thou  art — a  violator  of  the 
Law,  then  thy  circumcision  has  become  uncircumcision}  If,  then,  the 
circumcision  of  the  disobedient  Jew  is  really  uncircumcision,  is  it  not 
conversely  plain  that  the  'uncircumcision  of  the  obedient  Gentile  is 
virtually  circumcision,'  ^  and  is  even  in  a  position  to  pass  judgment  upon 

sinfulness  of  evil  thoughts  by  interpreting  Ps.  Lxvi.  18  to  mean — "  If  I  contem- 
plate iniquity  in  my  heart,  the  Lord  does  not  notice  it "  {Kiddushin,  f .  40, 1). 
R.  Jehoslma  Ben  Levi,  admitted  to  Paradise  without  dying,  is  asked  if  the 
rainbow  has  appeared  in  his  days,  and  answers  "  Tes."  "  Then,"  said  tliey, 
"  thou  art  not  the  son  of  Levi,  for  the  rainbow  never  appears  when  tlicre  is 
one  perfectly  righteous  man  in  the  world."  "  The  fact  was  that  no  rainbow 
had  appeared,  but  he  was  too  modest  to  say  so  "  !  [Kiddushin,  f .  40,  1). 

^  Tliis  is  reluctantly  admitted  even  in  the  Talmud.  The  Rabbis  hold 
generally  that  "no  circumcised  man  can  see  hell"  {Midr.  Tillin,  7,  2);  but 
they  get  over  the  moral  danger  of  the  doctrine  by  saying  that  when  a  guilty 
Jew  comes  to  Gehenna,  an  angel  makes  his  irepiron^  into  aKpoPva-ria  [Shem. 
Rabbah,  138,  13 ;  cf.  1  Mace.  i.  15  ;  Jos.  Antt.  xii.  6,  2)  and  they  even  entered 
into  minute  particulars  to  show  how  it  was  done. 

2  Ford  quotes  an  imitation  from  Tillotson,— if  we  walk  contrary  to  the 
Gospel  "  our  baptism  is  no  baptism,  and  our  Christianity  is  heathenism " 
(Sermon  on  2  Tim.  ii.  19). 


204  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Jewish  circumcision  1  God  (strange  and  heretical  as  you  may' think  it) 
loves  the  man  who  does  his  duty  more  than  the  man  who  bears  a  cutting 
in  his  flesh.  You  praise  literal  circumcision ;  God  praises  the  unseen 
circumcision  of  the  heart.  Offensive  as  the  antithesis  may  sound  to 
you,  the  faithless  Jew  is  but  a  Gentile  ;  the  faithful  Gentile  is,  in  God's 
sight,  an  honoured  Jew  !  Though  none  may  have  told  you  this  truth 
before — though  you  denounce  it  as  blasphemous,  and  dangerous,  and 
contrary  to  Scripture — yet,  for  all  that,  the  mere  national  Judaism  is  a 
spiritual  nonentity ;  the  Judaism  of  moral  faithfulness  alone  is  dear  to 
God."i 

»  a.  25-29. 


IV. 

OBJECTIONS    AND    CONFIRMATIONS. 

"  The  stars  of  morn  shall  see  Him  rise 
Out  of  His  grave,  fresh  as  the  dawning  light ; 
Thy  ransom  paid,  which  man  from  death  redeems, 
His  death  for  man,  as  many  as  offered  life 
Neglect  not,  and  the  benefit  embrace 
Of  faith,  not  void  of  works."— Milton,  Tar.  Lost,  xii. 

So  far  tlien,  both  bj  fact  and  by  theory,  he  has  shown  that 
Jews  and  Grentiles  are  equal  before  Grod ;  equally  guilty, 
equally  redeemed.  But  here  a  Jew  might  exclaim  in  horror, 
**  Has  the  Jew  then  no  superiority  ?  Is  circumcision 
wholly  without  advantage  ?  "  Here  St.  Paul  makes  a 
willing  concession,  and  replies,  "  Much  advantage  every 
way.  First,  because  they  were  entrusted  with  the  oracles 
of  God."  The  result  of  that  advantage  was  that  the  Jew 
stood  at  a  higher  stage  of  religious  consciousness  than  the 
Gentile.  Judaism  was  the  religion  of  revelation,  and 
therefore  the  religion  of  the  promise ;  and  therefore  the 
religion  which  typically  and  symbolically  contained  the 
elements  of  Christianity;  and  the  religion  of  the  idea 
which  in  Christianity  was  realised.  Christianity  was, 
indeed,  spiritualised  Judaism,  an  advance  from  servitude  to 
freedom,  from  nonage  to  majority,  from  childhood  to 
maturity,  from  the  flesh  to  the  spirit ;  yet  even  in  this 
view  Judaism  had  been,  by  virtue  of  its  treasure  of  revela- 
tion, preparatory  to  the  absolute  religion.^     This  was  its 

'  iii.  2.    "  In  vetere  Testamento  Novum  latet,  in  Novo  Testamento  vetus 
patet." 


206  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

first  advantage.  What  lie  miglit  have  added  as  his 
secondly  and  thirdly,  we  may  conjecture  from  a  subsequent 
allusion,^  but  at  this  point  he  is  led  into  a  digression  by  his 
eagerness  to  show  that  his  previous  arguments  involved  no 
abandonment  on  Grod's  part  of  His  own  promises.  This 
might  be  urged  as  an  objection  to  what  he  has  been  say- 
ing.    He  answers  it  in  one  word : — 

Some  of  the  Jews  had  been  unfaithful ;  shall  their  unfaithfulness 
nullify  God's  faith?  Away  with  the  thought!^  Alike  Scripture  and 
reason  insist  on  God's  truthfulness,  though  every  man  were  thereby 
proved  a  liar.  The  horror  with  which  he  rejects  the  notion  that  God  has 
proved  false,  interferes  with  the  clearness  of  his  actual  reply.  It  lies  in 
the  word  "  some."  God's  promises  were  true ;  true  to  the  nation  as  a 
nation ;  for  some  they  had  been  nullified  by  the  moral  disobedience 
which  has  its  root  in  unbelief,  but  for  all  true  Jews  the  promises  were 
true.^ 

A  still  bolder  objection  might  be  urged — "  All  men,  you  say,  are 
guilty.  In  their  guilt  lies  the  Divine  necessity  for  God's  scheme  of 
justification.  Must  not  God,  then,  be  unjust  in  inflicting  wrath  ?  "  In 
the  very  middle  of  the  objection  the  Apostle  stops  short — fii'st  to 
apologise  for  even  formulating  a  thought  so  blasphemous — "  I  am 
speaking  as  men  speak  ;"*  "  these  thoughts  are  not  my  own  ;" — then  to 
repudiate  it  with  horror,  "Away  with  the  thought !  " — lastly,  to  refute 
it  by  anticipation,  "  If  it  were  so,  how  shall  God  judge  the  world  ]  "^ 
Thus  fortified,  as  it  were,  by  the  reductio  ad  absurdum,  and  purified 
by  the  moral  justification,  he  follows  this  impious  logic  to  its  conclu- 
sion— "  God's  truth,  it  seems,  abounded  in  my  falseness  ;  why,  then,  am 
I  still  being  judged  as  a  sinner  ?  and  why " — "  such  [he  pauses  to 
remark]  is  the  blasphemous  language  attributed  to  me!" — "why  may 
we  not  do  evil  that  good  may  come  ? "  To  this  monstrous  perversion 
of  his  teaching  he  deigns  no  further  immediate  reply.     There  are  in 

>  ix.  4,  5. 

2  Ten  times  in  this  Epistle  (iii.  4,  6,  31;  vi.  2,  15;  vii.  7,  13;  ix.  14;  xi. 
1, 11),  and  in  1  Cor.  vi.  15 ;  Gal.  ii.  17 ;  iii.  21. 

3  iii.  1—4. 

*  iii.  5.  There  is  an  interesting  reading,  Karh.  avepdnrwv.  "  Is  God  unjust 
who  inflicts  His  anger  against  men?."  (MSS.  mentioned  by  Riifinus). 
Ti  ipovfjiev;  cf.  vi.  1 ;  vii.  7;  ix.  14,  30.     It  is  found  in  no  other  Epistle. 

^  For  similar  instances  of  entangled  objection  and  reply,  Tholuck  refers  to 
vii.  and  Gal.  iii.     See,  too,  Excursus  II.,  ou  the  Antinomies  of  St.  PauL 


"GOD    FORBID!"  207 

theology,  as  in  nature,  admitted  antinomies.  The  relative  truth  of 
docti-ines,  their  truth  as  regards  mankind,  is  not  affected  by  pushing 
them  into  the  regions  of  the  absolute,  and  showing  that  they  involve  con- 
tradictions if  thrown  into  syllogisms.  We  may  not  push  the  truths  of 
the  finite  and  the  temporal  into  the  regions  of  the  infinite  and  the 
eternal.  Syllogistically  stated,  the  existence  of  evil  might  be  held  to 
demonstrate  either  the  weakness  or  the  cruelty  of  God ;  but  such  syllo- 
gisms, without  the  faintest  attempt  to  answer  them,  are  flung  aside  as 
valueless  and  irrelevant  by  the  faith  and  conscience  of  mankind.  The  mere 
statement  of  some  objections  is  their  most  effective  refutation.  It  shows 
that  they  involve  an  absurdity  easily  recognisable.  However  logically 
correct,  they  are  so  morally  repulsive,  so  spmtually  false,  that  silence 
is  the  only  answer  of  which  they  are  worthy.  Such  an  objection  is  the 
one  which  Paul  has  just  stated.  It  is  sufficient  to  toss  it  away  with 
the  sense  of  shuddering  repulsion — the  horror  Tiaturalis — involved  in 
a  pM  ylvoiTo.  It  is  enough  to  bid  it  avaunt,  as  we  might  avert  with  a 
formula  an  evil  omen.  People  say  that  Paul  has  tavight  the  hideous 
lie  that  we  may  sin  to  get  experience — or  sin  to  add  to  Christ's 
redeeming  glory — or  that  the  end  justifies  the  means — or  that  we  may 

do  evil  that  good  may   come.       "  They  say What  say  they  ?     Let 

them  say  ! "  All  that  Paul  has  to  say  to  them  is  merely  that  "  their 
judgment  is- just."  ^ 

What  further,  then,  can  the  Jew  allege  1-  Absolutely  nothing ! 
In  spite  of  every- objection,  Jew  and  Gentile  are  all  proved  to  be  under 
sin.  Here  this  section  of  the  proof  might  close,  and  on  a  demonstrated 
fact  of  human  history  Paul  might  have  based  his  Gospel  theology.  But 
neither  to  himself  nor  to  his  readers  would  the  j^roof  have  seemed  com- 
plete without  Old  Testament  sanction.  He  therefore  proceeds  to  quote 
a  number  of  fragmentary  passages  fi'om  the  fifth,  tenth,  fourteenth, 
and  hundred-and-fortieth  Psalms,  and  from  the  fifty-ninth  of  Isaiah,  the 
validity  of  which,  in  this  connexion,  he  rests  upon  theii-  use  of  the  word 
*'  all,"  which  implies  Jews  as  well  as  Gentiles.  The  Law  (which  here 
means  the  Old  Testament  genei-ally)  must  include  the  Jews,  because  it 
is  specially  addressed  to  Jews.  The  intention,  then,  of  the  Law  "  is  that 
every  mouth  may  be  stopped,  and  all  the  world  be  recognised  as  guilty 

1  iu.  5—8. 

2  iii.  9.  irpofxofifea  properly  means  "use  as  a  pretext;"  the  reading 
vpoKarfxofiiff  irepiff(r6v  of  D,  G,  Syr.  is  a  gloss  to  give  the  meaning  of  Trpoexo/xev, 
"do  we  excel?"  which  suits  the  sense  far  better.  "Wetstein  renders  it  "  are 
we  (the  Jews)  surpassed  by  the  Gentiles  ?  "  But  as  the  Greek  fathers  made 
it  mean  "have  we  the  advantage  ?  "(Yulg.  praecelUmus),  perhaps  the  sense  is 
admissible  here. 


208  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

before  God;"  giiilty  because^  by  the  works  of  the  Law^ — seeing  that, 
as  a  fact,  neither  Jew  nor  Gentile  has  obeyed  it — no  flesh  shall  be 
justified  before  God.  Half,  then,  of  his  task  is  done.  For  before  he 
could  prove  the  thesis  of  i.  17,  that  in  the  Gospel  was  being  revealed 
a  justification  by  faith — it  was  necessary  for  him  to  demoiistrate  that 
by  oio  other  means  could  justification  be  attained.  "  For  " — and  here  he 
introduces  an  anticipative  thought,  which  later  on  in  his  epistle  he  will 
have  seriously  to  prove — "by  the  Law  is  the  full  knowledge  of  sin,"' 

^  iii.  19.  \fyei  speaks,  \a\e7  utters,  cf .  John  viii.  43,  AoAiW,  \6yov.  This 
is  the  only  place  in  the  New  Testament  where  our  translators  have  rendered 
SioTi  by  "  therefore,"  though  it  occurs  twenty-two  times.  Everywhere  else 
they  render  it  "for"  or  "because."  It  may  mean  "therefore"  in  classical 
Greek,  but  5ih  is  the  usual  New  Testament  word  in  this  sense.  If  rendered 
"  because,"  a  comma  only  should  be  placed  after  0ed. 

2  tpya  v6/xov,  the  works  of  any  law,  whether  ritual.  Mosaic,  or  general,  and 
whether  as  to  the  works  prescribed  by  it,  or  those  produced  by  it. 

3  iii.  9 — 20. — kirlyywcris  a/xaprias,  and  therefore  the  Law  cannot  justify,  since, 
as  Calvin  says,  "  Ex  eadem  scatebra  non  prodeuut  vita  et  mors»" 


V. 

JUSTIFICATION    BY   FAITH. 

*'  1.   f  Paeckgogica  (Oaerimoniae)  1  illae  sunt  necessanae  sed  non  justi- 
Justitia  2.  -<  Civilis  (Decalogus)  /  ficant. 

3.    I  Dei  et  fidei,  coram  Deo  justificat." 

LlTTHEE,  Colloqu.  i.  30. 


iii  "  But  now,"  he  says,  and  this  introduces  one  of  the  fullest  and 
weightiest  passages  in  all  his  writings,  "  without  the  Law  "—which  all 
have  failed  to  keep — '•  the  righteousness  of  God,"  both  in  itself  and  as 
an  objective  gift  of  justification  to  man,  "  has  been  manifested,  being  wit- 
nessed to  by  the  Law  and  the  Prophets."  The  nature  of  that  witness  he 
will  show  later  on ;  at  present  he  pauses  to  give  a  fuller,  and  indeed 
an  exhaustive,  definition  of  what  he  means  by  "  the  righteousness  of 
God."  "  I  mean  the  righteousness  of  God  accepted  by  means  of 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  coming  to  and  upon  all  believers — all,  for  there 
is  no  difierence.  For  all  sinned,  and  are  failing  to  attain  the  glory  of 
God,  being  justified  freely  by  His  grace,  by  means  of  the  redemption 
which  is  in  Christ   Jesus,  whom  God  set  forth   as  a   propitiation,^  by 

*  Yer.  25.  This  verse  is  "  the  Acropolis  of  the  Christian  faith  "  (Olshausen). 
'AwoKvTpaxns  (not  in  LXX.)  implies  i.,  bondage  ;  ii.,  ransom  ;  iii.,  deliverance 
(Eph.  i.  7).  Many  most  eminent  theologians  (Origen,  Theodoret,  Theophylact, 
Augnstine,  Erasmus,  Luther,  Calvin,  Grotius,  Calovius,  Olshausen,  Tholuck, 
&c.)  make  i\aa-rriptov  mean  "  mercy-seat,"  since  iKaa-rTipoiu  is  the  invariable 
word  for  the  capjjoreth  in  the  LXX.  (Ex.  xxv.,  passim,  &c.)  which  never  uses 
it  for  an  expiatory  sacrifice  {evua).  Philo  also  {Vit.  Mos.,  p.  668;  cf.  Jos. 
Antt.  iii.  6,  5)  calls  the  mercy-seat  a  symbol,  '/A.e«  Svi/dfifus.  It  is,  thei-efore, 
diflficult  to  suppose  how  Hellenist  readers  of  this  Epistle  could  attach  any 
other  meaning  to  it.  The  capporeth  between  the  Shekinah  and  the  Tables 
of  the  Law,  sprinkled  with  atoning  blood  by  the  High  Priest  as  he  stood 
behind  the  rising  incen.se,  is  a  striking  image  of  Christ  (Heb.  ix.  25).  I 
quite  agree  with  Lange  in  calling  Fritzsche's  remark,  "  Valeat  absurda  ex- 
plicatio,"  an  "  ignorantly  contemptuous  one;"  but  as  Christ  is  nowhere  else 
in  the  New  Testament  compared  to  the  mercy-seat,  and  the  comparison 
would  here  be  confined  to  the  single  word,  I  cannot  help  thinking  tliat  the 
word,  though  ambiguous,  must  here  bear  an  analogous  meaning  to  iKaa-fihs, 
also  rendered  "  a  propitiation  "  in  1  John  iv.  10. 


210  THE    LIFE    A^D    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

means  of  faitli  in  His  bloocl,  for  the  manifestation  of  His  own  righteous- 
ness"— which  rigliteousness  might  otherwise  have  been  doubted  or  mis- 
understood— "  because  of  the  prsetermission  of  past  sins  in  God's  forbear- 
ance ;  with  a  view  (I  say)  to  the  manifestation  of  this  righteousness  at 
this  present  epoch,  that  He  might,  by  a  divine  paradox,  and  by  a 
new  and  divinely  predestined  righteousness,  be  just  and  the  justifier  of 
him  whose  life  springs  from  faith  in  Jesus."  ^ 

Let  us  pause  to  enumerate  tlie  separate  elements  of 
this  great  statement.     It  brings  before  us  in  one  view — • 

1.  Justification, — the  new  relation  of  reconcilement 
between  man  and  God. 

2.  Faith, — man's  trustful  acceptance  of  God's  gift, 
rising  to  absolute  self-surrender,  culminating  in  personal 
union  with  Christ,  working  within  him  as  a  spirit  of  new 
life. 

3.  The  universality  of  this  justification  by  faith, — a 
possibility  offered  to,  because  needed  by,  all. 

4.  This  means  of  salvation  given,  not  earned,  nor  to  be 
earned ;  a  free  gift  due  to  the  free  favour  or  grace  of  God. 

5.  The  object  of  this  faith,  the  source  of  this  possibility 
of  salvation,  the  life  and  death  of  Christ,  as  being  (i.)  a 
redemption — that  is,  a  ransom  of  mankind  from  the  triple 
bondage  of  the  law,  of  sin,  and  of  punishment;  (ii.)  a 
propitiatory  victim,^ — not  (except  by  a  rude,  imperfect,  and 
most  misleading  anthropomorphism)  as  regards  God,  but 
from  the  finite  and  imperfect  standpoint  of   man;    and 

^  iii.  22 — 27.  Bengal  points  out  the  grandeur  of  this  evangelic  paradox. 
In  the  Law  God  is  just  and  condemns ;  in  the  Gospel  He  is  just  and  forgives. 
God's  judicial  righteousness  both  condemns  and  pardons.  On  God's  "  praeter- 
missiou  "  of  past  sins  (iii.  25,  irapetns,  praetermissio,  not  &<pf(Tis,  remissio)  com- 
pare Ps.  Ixxxi.  12 ;  Acts  xiv.  16 ;  xvii.  30 ;  Lev.  xvi.  10.  Tholuck  calls  the 
Atonement  "  the  divine  theodicy  for  the  past  history  of  the  world.' 

2  "  Here  is  a  foundation  for  the  Anselmic  theory  of  satisfaction,  but  not  for 
its  grossly  anthropopathic  execution."  SchafP.  ad  loc.  (Lange's  Bomans,  2 — 7). 
And  this  is  only  the  external  aspect  of  the  death  of  Christ,  the  merely  judicial 
aspect  pertaining  to  the  sphere  of  Law.  The  inward  motive — the  element 
in  which  God's  essential  nature  is  revealed,  is  the  grace  of  God  (Rom.  iii.  24). 


JUSTIFICATION.  211 

therefore  the  Apostle  adds  that  Christ  becomes  such  to  us 
by  means  of  faith  is  His  blood. 

6.  The  reason  for  this, — the  manifestation  of  Grod's 
righteousness,  which  might  otherwise  have  been  called  in 
question,  because  of  the  prsetermission  of  past  sins. 

7.  The  end  to  be  attained, — that,  in  perfect  consistency 
with  justice,  God  might  justify  all  whose  new  life  had  its 
root  in  faith. 

Boasting  then  is  impossible,  since  merit  is  non-existent. 
By  loorhs  it  is  unattainable ;  by  the  very  conception  of 
faith  it  is  excluded.  This  holds  true  alike  for  Jew  and 
Pagan,  and  Justification  is  Grod's  free  gift  to  man  as  man,^ 
because  He  is  One,  and  the  God  alike  of  Jews  and  Gentiles. 
To  the  Jew  faith  is  the  source,  to  the  Gentile  the  instru- 
ment of  this  justification.^ 

But  here  another  objection  has  to  be  combated.  The  Jew  might 
say,  "  By  this  faith  of  yours  you  are  nullifying  the  Law  " — meaning  by 
the  Law  the  whole  Mosaic  dispensation,  and  generally  the  Old  Testa- 
ment as  containing  the  histoiy  of  the  covenant  people.  On  the  con- 
trary, St.  Paul  replies,  I  am  establishing  it  on  a  firmer  basis  ;^  for  I 

^  Ver.  28,  "  Therefore  [but  ya.p,  ^,  A]  we  reckon  that  a  man  is  justified  by 
faith  without  the  works  of  the  Law."  This  is  the  verse  in  which  Luther 
interpolated  the  word  "  alone  "  —  "  Yox  Sola  tot  clamoribus  lapidata " 
(Erasm.).  Hence  the  name  Solifidian.  It  was  a  legitimate  inference,  and  was 
already  existing  in  the  Nuremberg  Bible  (1483)  and  the  Genoese  (1476),  but 
was  an  unfortunate  apparent  contradiction  of  ovk  e'/c  Tria-Tews  /xdvop  (James  ii.  24). 
But  Luther's  famous  preface  shows  suflficiently  that  he  recognised  the  ne- 
cessity of  works  in  the  same  sense  as  St.  James  (see  Art.  xi.,  xii.).  Luther 
was  not  guilty  of  the  foolish  error  which  identifies  faith  with  mere  belief ;  and 
yet,  perhaps,  his  mode  of  dealing  with  this  verse  led  to  his  rash  remark  as  to 
the  impossibility  of  reconciling  the  two  Apostles  {Colloqu.  ii.  203). 

'  iii.  27 — 30,  iTfptro/j.rjv  fK  Ttla-rews  .  .  .  CLKpofivariav  Sta  ttjj  ir/o-Tews  seems  to 
imply  some  real  difference  in  the  Apostle's  view,  though  Meyer  (usually  such 
a  purist)  here  denies  it.  Calvin  sees  a  shade  of  irony  in  it—  "  This  is  the 
grand  difference  :  the  Jew  is  saved  ex  fide,  the  Gentile  per  fidem  ! "  Bcngel 
is  probably  right  when  he  says  that  it  implies  the  priority  of  the  Jews,  and  the 
acceptance  of  the  Gospel  from  them  by  the  Gentiles ; — the  Jews  as  an  out- 
growth of  faith,  the  Gentiles  by  the  means  of  the  faith  "  (see  Gal.  iii.  22 — 26). 

3  iii.  31.     See  chap,  vi.;  viii.  4  ;  xiii.  10. 

0  2 


212  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

am  exhibiting  it  in  its  true  position,  manifesting  it  in  its  true  relations ; 
showing  it  to  be  the  divinely-necessary  part  of  a  greater  system ;  adding 
to  the  depth  of  its  spii-ituality,  rendering  possible  the  cheerful  obedience 
to  its  requirements ;  indicating  its  divine  fulfilment.  I  am  shov^ring  that 
the  consciousness  of  sin  which  came  by  the  Law  is  the  indispensable 
preparation  for  the  reception  of  grace.  liet  us  begin  at  the  very  begin- 
ning. Let  us  go  back  from  Moses  even  to  Abraham.  What  did  he, 
our  father,  gain  by  works  ]  ^  By  his  works  he  gained  nothing  before 
God,  as  St.  Paul  proves  by  the  verse  that  "  He  believed  God,  and  it 
was  imputed  to  him  for  righteousness."^  That  word  "  imputed  "  repeated 
eleven  times  in  the  chapter,  is  the  keynote  of  the  entire  passage,  and 
is  one  of  very  primary  importance  in  the  argiiment  with  the  Jews,  who 
held  that  Abraham  obeyed  the  Law  before  it  was  given.3  To  us,  perhaps, 
it  is  of  secondary  importance,  since  the  Apostle  did  not  derive  his  views 
from  these  considerations,  but  discovered  the  truths  revealed  to  him  in 
passages  which,  until  he  thus  applied  them,  would  not  have  been  seen 
to  involve  this  deeper  significance.  It  required,  as  De  Wette  says,  no 
small  penetration  thus  to  unite  the  climax  of  religious  development 
with  the  historic  point  at  which  the  series  of  religious  develop- 
ments began.  To  a  worker,  he  argues,  the  pay  is  not  ^^ imputed" 
as  a  favour,  but  paid  as  a  debt ;  but  Abraham's  faith  was  "  imputed " 
to  him  for  righteousness,  just  as  it  is  to  all  who  believe  on  Him  who 
justifies  the  ungodly.  This  truth  David  also  indicates  when  he  speaks 
of  the  blessedness  of  the  man  to  whom  God  imputeth  righteousness,  or, 
which  comes  to  the  same  thing,  "  does  not  impute  sin."  Now  this 
imputation  can  have  nothing  to  do  with  circumcision,  because  the 
phrase  is  used  at  a  time  before  Abraham  was  circumcised,  and  circum- 
cision was  only  a  sign  *  of  the  righteousness  imputed  to  him  because  of 

^  iv.  1.  If  we  do  not  omit  evpnKivat  (with  B),  koto  <ra.pKa  nmst  go  with 
evpriK€vai,  not  as  in  A.  Y.  with  Trarfpa.  It  means,  "  What  did  he  obtain  by 
purely  human  efforts  ?  "  e.g.,  by  circumcision  (Baur) ;  propriis  viribus  (Grot.) ; 
Nach  rein  menschlicher  Weise  (De  Wette).  St.  Paul  here  attacks  a  position 
which  afterwards  became  a  stronghold  of  Talmudists. 

2  St.  Paul  here  follows  the  LXX.,  whicli  changes  the  active  into  the 
passive.  The  faith  of  Abraham  was  a  common  subject  of  discussion  in 
Jewish  schools.  See  some  remarkable  parallels  in  1  Mace.  ii.  52  ;  Philo's 
eulogy  of  faith,  De  Abrahamo,  ii.  39  ;  De  Mut.  Novi.  i.  586.  Nay,  since  the 
plural  "  laws  "  is  used  in  Gen.  xxvi.  5,  Rabh  held  that  he  kept  both  the  written 
and  the  oral  law  {Yoma,  f.  28,  2). 

s  Kiddushin,  f.  82,  1. 

*  iv.  11.  The  word  "seal"  (m«)  occurs  in  the  formula  of  circumcision 
{Berachoth,  xiii.  1).  A  circumcised  child  was  called  "  an  espoused  of  blood" 
(fee,  to  God  (Ex.  iv.  26). 


THE    FAITH    OF    ABRAHAM.  213 

his  faith,  that  he  might  be  regarded  as  "the  father  of  the  faithful," 
whether  they  be  circumcised  or  uncircumcised.  Had  the  great  promise 
to  Abraham,  on  which  all  Jews  relied,  come  to  him  by  the  Law  1  Not 
so,  for  two  reasons.  First,  because  the  promise  was  long  prior  to  the 
Law,  and  would  have  been  nullified  if  it  were  made  to  depend  on  a 
subsequent  law;  and,  secondly,  because  the  Law  causes  the  sense  of 
wrongdoing,^  and  so  works  wrath  not  pi'omise.  Hence,  it  was  the 
strength  of  Abraham's  faith  looking  to  God's  promise  in  spite  of  his 
own  and  Sarah's  age,^  which  won  him  the  imputed  righteousness  ;  and 
this  was  recorded  for  us  because  the  faith,  and  the  promise,  and  the 
paternity,  are  no  mere  historic  circumstances,  but  have  all  of  them  a 
spiritual  significance,  full  of  blessedness  for  all  who  "  believe  on  Him 
who  raised  Jesus  our  Lord  from  the  dead,  who  was  delivered  up  for  our 
sins,  and  raised  for  our  justification."^ 

This,  then,  is  the  proof  that  the  doctrine  of  Justification 
is  not  contrary  to  Scripture,  and  does  not  vilipend,  but  really 
establish  the  Law ;  and  into  the  last  verse  are  skilfully  in- 
troduced the  new  conceptions  of  Christ's  death  for  our  sin, 
and  His  resurrection  to  procure  our  imputed  righteousness, 
which  are  further  developed  in  the  subsequent  chapters. 

But  first,  having  proved  his  point,  he  dwells  on  its 
blessed  consequences,  which  may  be  summed  up  in  the  two 
words  Peace  and  Hope. 

These  are  treated  together.  We  have  Peace,''  because  through  Christ 
we  have  our  access  into  the  free  favour  of  God,  and  can  exult  not  only 
in  the  hope  of  the  future,  but  even  ia  the  afflictions  of  the  present,  which 

*  See  vii.  7,  seqq. 

'  In  iv.  19  the  ov  should  be  omitted  (k,  A,  B,  C,  Syr.,  &c.).  He  did 
perceive  and  consider  the  weakness  of  his  own  body,  but  yet  had  faith.  In 
fact,  "  not  considering  his  own  body  "  contradicts  Gen.  xvii.  17. 

^  iv.  1 — 25.  In  verse  25  the  first  Sia  is  retrospective,  the  second  is  pro- 
spective; 5iQ(  rh,  irapaTTTci/xaru,  "on  account  of  our  transgressions;"  5io  tV 
SiKaiaxTiv,  "  to  secure  our  being  justified."  Luther  calls  this  verse  "  a  little 
covenant,  in  which  all  Christianity  is  comprehended." 

*  V.  1,  fx'^/j.fv  is  the  better  supported  reading  {n,  A,  B,  C,  D,  K,  L) ;  but 
fXOH-ft/  gives  by  far  the  better  sense,  and  the  other  reading  may  be  due  to  the 
Pietistic  tendency  of  the  Lectionaries  to  make  sentences  hortative, — which 
apparently  began  to  work  very  early.  For  a  defence  of  «x««'/^«'',  I  may  refer 
to  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Beet's  able  commentary  on  the  Epistle,  which  reached  me 
too  late  for  use. 


214  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK:    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

tend  to  hope  because  first  tliey  work  endurance,  then  approved  firmness.* 
The  certainty  of  our  Hope  is  due  to  the  love  of  God  poured  into  our 
hearts  by  His  Holy  Spii-it,  and  unmistakable  to  us,  since,  by  a 
stretch  of  self-sacrifice  unknown  to  humanity,'  Christ  died  for  us,  not 
because  of  any  justice  much  less  any  goodness  of  ours,  but  while  we  were 
yet  sinners  and  enemies.  And  since  we  have  been  reconciled  to  God 
by  His  death,  much  more  shall  we  be  saved  by  His  life,  so  that  our  hope 
— founded  on  this  reconciliation  to  God — may  even  acquire  a  tinge  of 
exultation.^  Our  Peace,  then,  is  an  immediate  sentiment  which  requires 
no  external  proof ;  and  our  Hope  is  founded  on  the  love  of  God  assured 
to  us  in  three  ways — namely,  by  Christ's  death  for  us  while  we  were 
yet  enemies  to  God ;  on  the  strength  to  endure  afflictions  and  see  their 
blessed  issue ;  and  above  all  on  union  with  Christ  in  death  and  life.* 

And  this  universality  of  Sin,  and  universality  of  Justi- 
fication, leads  Paul  to  one  of  his  great  sketches  of  the 
religious  history  of  humanity.  To  him  that  history  was 
summed  up  in  three  great  moments  connected  with  the  lives 
of  Adam,  Moses,  and  Christ,  of  which  the  mission  of  Moses 
was  the  least  important.  Those  three  names  corresponded 
to  three  stages  in  the  world's  religious  history — Promise, 
Law,  and  Faith — of  which  the  third  is  the  realisation  of 
the  first.  Adam  was  a  type  of  Christ,  and  each  stood  as  it 
were  at  the  head  of  long  lines  of  representatives.  Each 
represents  the  principle  of  a  whole  seon.  Adam's  first  sin 
developed  a  principle  from  which  none  of  his  posterity 
could  be  free ;  and  Christ  introduced  the  possibility  of  a 
new  and  saving  principle,  the  necessity  for  which  had  been 
made  manifest  by  the  dispensation  of  Moses.     Here,  how- 

1  Matt.  V.  10—12;  Acts  v.  41;  1  Pet.  iv.  13,  14;  2  Cor.  xii.  10,  11. 

2  V.  7,  Chrysostom,  Theodoret,  Erasmus,  Calvin,  Meyer,  &c.,  make  no 
difference  between  0706^$,  "  good,"  and  Si'koioj,  "just,"  as  though  St.  Paul 
meant  "  one  would  scai-cely  die  for  a  good  man,  though  possibly  one  might." 
It  is,  however,  more  probable  that  St.  Paul  meant  "  one  would  not  die  merely 
for  a  man  of  ordinary  integrity,  but  for  a  truly  good  man  one  might  even  dare 
to  die  "  (cf .  Cic.  De  Off.  iii.  15). 

^  V.  11,  aWa  Kul  Kavx<»>fJ^eyoi, 

*  Verses  1 — 12. 


SIN   AND    DEATH.  215 

ever,  as  so  often,  tlie  logical  statement  is  incomplete  and 
entangled,  owing  to  the  rush  of  the  Apostle's  thoughts.^ 

"  So  then,  as  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  by  sin 
death,  and  so  death  extended  to  all  men  on  the  ground  that  all  sinned,"  * 
he  probably  meant  to  add  as  the  second  half  of  the  parallel,  "  so,  too,  by 
one  man  came  justification,  and  so  life  was  offered  to  all."  The  con- 
clusion of  the  sentence  was,  however,  displaced  by  the  desire  to  meet 
a  difficulty.  He  had  said,  "  all  sinned,"  but  some  one  might  object, 
"  How  so  1  you  have  already  told  us  that  where  there  is  no  law  there 
is  no  transgression ;  how,  then,  could  men  sin  between  Adam  and 
Moses  ] "  The  answer  is  far  from  clear  to  understand.  St.  Paul  might 
perhaps  have  referred  to  the  law  of  nature,  the  transgression  of  which 
involved  sin;  but  what  he  says  is  that  "till  the  law,  sin  was  in  the 
wox'ld,  but  sin  is  not  imputed  when  there  is  no  law."  If  he  had  said, 
"sin  is  not  brought  into  prominent  self-consciousness,"  his  meaning 
would  have  been  both  clear  and  consistent,  but  the  verb  used  (eXAoyeiTOj) 
does  not  admit  of  this  sense.  Perhaps  we  may  take  the  word  popularly 
to  imply  that  "  it  is  not  so /m^  reckoned  or  imputed,"  a  view  which  may 
find  its  illustration  in  our  Lord's  remark  that  the  sin  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  was  less  unpardonable  than  that  of  Chorazin  and  Bethsaida. 

'  1  Cor.  XV.  45.  The  difference  between  Adam  and  Eve  (1  Tim.  ii.  14)  was 
a  smaller  matter,  and  one  which  had  little  or  no  bearing  on  the  destiny  of  the 
human  being,  whether  male  or  female. 

2  Pages  and  almost  volumes  of  controversy  have  been  written  on  verse  12. 
i<l)'  $  iravres  ^t^^apTov.  Many  make  the  v  niasc.,  and,  referring  it  to  Adam,  render 
it  "in  whom  "  (Aug.),  or,  "by  whose  means  "  (Grot.),  or,  "  on  whose  account  " 
(Chrys.).  There  can,  however,  be  no  doubt  that  $  is  neuter  (cf .  2  Cor.  v.  4 ; 
Phil.  iii.  12,  iv.  10),  and  that  it  means  neither  "unto  which  (death),"  as  a 
final  cause,  nor  any  variation  on  this  meaning,  but  "  inasmuch  as."  Since, 
however,  the  argument  of  St.  Paul  seems  simply  to  be  that  sin  was 
universal,  and  tliat  the  universality  of  death  was  a  proof  of  this,  it 
certainly  seems  admissible  to  understand  eV  ^  in  the  universal  sense  of  "  in 
accordance  with  the  fact  that."  It  is  here  used  in  a  larger  and  looser  causal 
connection  than  usual.  Sin  and  death  are  universal,  and  are  inseparably 
linked  together  ;  it  might  be  supposed  that  where  there  was  no  law  there  was 
no  sin ;  it  is  true  that  sin  is  not  fullij  imputed  where  there  is  no  law ;  but  deatli 
entered  the  world  through  sin,  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  "  which 
shows  that — which  involves  the  presupposition  that — all  sinned."  This  is 
Baur's  view,  and  if  it  be  tenable,  the  discussions  about  "  original  sin,' 
"inherent  total  depravity,"  &c.,  are  irrelevant  to  this  passage  (Baur,  Paul 
ii.  Ic^S — 186).  Let  us,  at  any  rate,  imitate  St.  Paul  in  dwolling  ratlier  on 
the  positive  than  the  negative  side,  rather  on  Clu-ist  than  Adam,  rather 
on  the  superabundance  of  grace  than  the  oi'igin  of  sin. 


216  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

It  seems  as  if  he  meant  to  imply  a  distinction  between  "  sin  "  in  general, 
and  the  "  transgression "  of  some  special  law  or  laws  in  particular.^ 
"  Every  sin,"  as  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  says,  "  may  be  called  a  transgres- 
sion in  so  far  as  it  transgresses  a  natural  law  ;  but  it  is  a  more  serious 
thing  to  transgress  a  law  both  natural  and  written.  And  so,  when  the 
law  was  given,  transgression  increased  and  deserved  greater  anger."  But 
the  only  proof  which  St.  Paul  offers  that  there  was  sin  during  this  period 
is  that,  throughovit  it,  death  also  reigned.^  When,  however,  he  passes  from 
this  somewhat  obscure  reply  (13,  14),  to  show  how  Adam  was  a  type  of 
Christ,  his  meaning  again  becomes  clear.  He  dwells  first  on  the  points 
of  difference  (15 — 18),  and  then  on  those  of  resemblance  (18,  19).  The 
differences  between  the  results  caused  by  Adam  and  Christ  are  differences 
both  qualitative  and  quantitative — both  in  degree  and  kind. 

i.  By  Adam's  one  transgression  the  many  died,  but  the  free  grace  of 
Christ  abounded  to  the  many  in  a  far  greater  degree.^ 

1  So  most  of  the  commentators.  "  Sine  ege  potest  esse  quis  iniquus  sed 
non  praevaricator "  (Augustine).  Luther  explains  eWo-yelrai,  "  sin  is  not 
minded" — "  man  achtet  Hirer  nicht." 

2  Ver.  14,  "  Even  over  those  who  had  not  sinned  after  the  similitude  of 
Adam's  transgression  " — i.e.,  who  had  broken  no  positive  direct  command — 
whose  afiapria  was  not  a  definite  irapd^aais.  Dr.  Schaff  (Lange's  Romans, 
p.  191,  E.T.)  gives  a  useful  sketch  of  the  theories  about  original  sin  and 
imputation.  1.  The  Pantheistic  and  Necessitarian  makes  sin  inherent  in 
our  finite  constitution,  the  necessary  result  of  matter.  2.  The  Pelagian 
treats  Adam's  sin  as  a  mere  had  example.  3.  The  Pr^-Adamic  explains  sin 
by  antenatal  existence,  metempsychosis,  &c.  4.  The  Augustinian — aU 
men  sinned  in  Adam  (cf.  Heb.  vii.  9,  10).  "  Persona  corrumprit  naturam, 
natura  corrnriipit personam" — i.e.,  Adam's  sin  caused  a  sinful  nature, and  sinful 
nature  causes  individual  sin.  This  has  many  subdivisions  according  as  the 
imputation  of  Adam's  sin  was  regarded  as  (a)  Immediate;  (j8)  Mediate;  or 
(7)  Antecedent.  5.  The  Federal — vicarious  representation  of  mankind  in 
Adam,  in  virtue  of  a  one-sided  {fioyStrXevpov)  contract  of  God  with  man 
{foedus  operum,  or  naturae) ;  with  subdivisions  of  (a)  The  Augustino-federal; 
{;8)  The  purely  federal  or  forensic.  6.  The  New  England  Calvinists,  who 
deny  imputation  and  distinguish  between  natural  ability  and  moral  inability 
to  keep  innocence.  7.  The  Arminian,  which  regards  hereditary  corruption 
not  as  sin  or  guilt,  but  as  infirmity,  a  maladive  condition,  &c.  I  ask,  would 
Paul  have  been  willing  to  enter  into  all  these  questions  P  Have  they  in 
any  way  helped  the  cause  of  Christianity  or  deepened  vital  religion  ?  Can 
they  be  of  primary  importance,  since  the  traces  of  them  in  Sci-ipture  are  so 
slight  that  scarcely  any  two  theologians  entirely  agree  about  them  ?  Do  they 
tend  to  humility  and  charity  and  edification,  or  to  "  vain  word-battlings  "  ? 

^  The  contrast  is  between  plurality  and  unity;  the  phrase  "  the  many" 
(not  "many,"  as  in  Luther  and  the  E.V.)  does  not  for  a  moment  imply  any 
exception  (e.g.,  Enoch,  or  Elijah).     It  is  merely  due  to  the  fact  that  "all" 


ADAM    AND    CHRIST.  217 

ii.  Tlie  condemnation  of  tlie  race  to  death  sprang  from  the  single 
transgression  of  one ;  the  sentence  of  acquittal  was  freely  passed  in 
spite  of  many  transgressions. 

iii.  By  the  transgression  of  Adam  began  the  reign  of  death ;  far 
more  shall  all  who  are  receiving  the  superabundance  of  grace  of  the  gift 
of  righteousness  reign  in  life  by  the  One,  Jesus  Christ.  But  with  these 
differences  there  is  also  a  parallel  of  deeper  resemblance.  One  trans- 
gression (Adam's  sin),  and  one  sentence  of  condemnation  on  all ;  one 
act  of  righteousness  (Christ's  death),  and  one  justification  which  gives 
life  to  all ; — by  the  disobedience  of  the  one,^  the  many  were  made 
sinners;^  by  the  obedience  of  the  one,  the  many  shall  be  made  righteous.' 
Thus  St.  Paul  states  the  origin  of  sin  in  this  passage ;  bu^t  however  he 
might  have  solved  the  antinomy  of  its  generic  necessity  and  individtoal 
origin,  which  he  leaves  unsolved,  he  would  certainly  have  been  ready  to 
say  with  Pseudo-Baruch  that  "everyone  of  us  is  the  Adam  to  his  ownsoul." 

But  here  once  more  the  question  recurs,  What  then  of 
the  Law  ?     Is  that  divine  revelation  to  go  for  nothing  ? 

may  sometimes  be  "  a  few "  (Aug.).  "  Adamus  et  Christus,"  says  Bengal, 
"  secundum  rationes  contrarias,  conveniunt  in  positive,  differunt  in  com- 
parative." See  Beutley,  Sermon  upon  Popery.  Ojjp.  iii.  24<4.  Observe  the 
parallel  between  the  Kpl/xa,  KaraKpiixa,  xaptcr/xa,  Si/caico/ta,  of  verse  16  and  the 
■Kapd-KTo>fjLa,  KaroLKpifxa,  SiKaiai/xa,  and  StKaioocris  of  verse  18.  The  distinction 
between  tJiese  words  seems  to  be  as  follows: — 1.  Si/coio/ia,  actio  justificativa, 
Bechtsfertigungsthat,  the  act  which  declares  us  just.  2.  Si/cafwo-is,  the  process 
of  justification.  3.  ZiKaioavvi],  the  condition  of  being  justified.  Rothe 
quotes  Ai-ist.,  Eth.  Nic.,  v.  10,  where  SiKoioijua  is  defined  as  rh  iravSpdufia  toO 
aStK-ftnaros.      In  verse  16,  D,  E,  F,  G,  read  afiapTrifxaros. 

^  Adam,  says  Luther,  stuck  his  tooth,  not  into  an  apple,  but  into  a  stacJiel, 
namely,  the  Divine  command.  Pelagius,  in  his  commentary  on  Romans 
(preserved  in  Augustine's  works),  renders  Si  evhs  avdpdnrov,  '^  per  unum 
hominem,  Evani ! "  Philo's  views  about  the  Fall  may  be  seen  in  his  Legg. 
Alleg.  ii.  73 — 106.  He  regards  gluttony  and  lust  as  the  source  of  all  evil, 
and  considers  that  all  men  are  born  in  sin,  i.e.,  under  the  dominion  of 
sensuality  {Be  Mundi  Opif.  37 ;  Vit  Mos.  iii.  675).  "  God  made  not  death, 
but  ungodly  men  with  their  works  called  it  to  them"  (Wisd.  i.  13 — 16). 

2  In  ivhat  way  they  were  made  sinners  St.  Paid  nowhere  defines.  There 
is  no  distinctive  Pelagiauism,  or  Traducianism,  here.  To  say  with  Meyer, 
"  men  were  placed  in  the  category  of  sinners  because  they  sinned  in  and  with 
Adam's  fall,"  is,  as  Lange  remarks,  not  exegesis,  but  Augustiuian  dogmatics. 
St,  Paul  simply  accepted  the  universal  fact  of  death  as  a  proof  of  the  universal 
fact  of  sin,  and  regards  death  and  sin  as  beginning  \nW\  Adam.  Beza, 
Beugel,  Reuss,  &c.,  understand  KaTetrroiOria-av  and  Karaa-Tad-ficrovTai  iu  an  impu- 
tative sense — "  regarded  as  sinners  " — wliich  is  a  defensible  translation,  and 
makes  the  parallel  more  complete.  '  Ys.  12 — 20. 


218  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

To  that  question  St.  Paul  lias  already  given  one  answer  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  ;  he  now  gives  another,  which, 
till  explained,  might  well  have  caused  a  shock.  To  the 
Galatians  he  had  explained  that  the  ante-Messianic  period 
was  the  tirocinium  of  the  world,  and  that  during:  this 
period  the  Law  was  necessary  as  a  psedagogic  discipline. 
To  the  Eomans  he  presents  a  new  point  of  view,  and  shows 
that  the  Law  was  not  merely  a  corrective  system  tlirust  in 
between  the  promise  and  its  fulfilment,  but  an  essential 
factor  in  the  religious  development  of  the  world.  It 
appears  in  the  new  aspect  of  a  "  power  of  sin,"  in  order 
that  by  creating  the  knowledge  of  sin  it  may  mediate 
between  sin  and  grace.  The  Law,  he  says,  came  in  (the 
word  he  uses  has  an  almost  disparaging  sound, ^  which  pro- 
bably, however,  he  did  not  intend)  "that  transgression 
might  multiply."  A  terrible  purpose  indeed,  and  one  which 
he  subsequently  explained  (chap,  vii.) ;  but  even  here  he 
at  once  hastens  to  add  that  where  sin  multiplied,  grace 
superabounded,  that  as  sin  reigned  in  death,  so  also  grace 
might  reign  through  righteousness  into  life  eternal,  by 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.^ 

^  V.  20,  Trapeio-^Aflej/,  Yulg.  SuMntravit,  "supervened,"  "came  in  besides," 
cf .  irpoffeTfe-n,  Gal.  iii.  19.  In  Gal.  ii.  4  the  surreptitious  notion  of  irdpa  is  derived 
from  the  context.  Tlie  notion  of  "  between,"  "  medio  tempore  subingressa  est," 
is  not  in  the  word  itself. 

*  V.  20,  21.  The  old  Protestant  divines  thus  stated  the  uses  of  the  Law : — 
1.  TJsus  primus,  civil  or  political— to  govern  states.  2.  Usus  secundus,  con- 
victive  or  psedagogic— to  convince  us  of  sin.  3.  Usus  tertius,  didactic  or 
formative — to  guide  the  life  of  a  believer  (Formtila  Concordiae,  p.  594).  Dr. 
Schaff,  in  his  useful  additions  to  the  translation  of  Lauge's  Momans,  points  out 
that  these  three  correspond  to  the  German  sentence  that  the  Law  is  a  Ziigel 
(1,  a  restraint) ;  a  Spiegel  (2,  a  mirror)  ;  and  a  Biegel  (3,  a  rod).  The  Law 
multiplies  transgressions  because — i.  "  Nitimur  in  vetitum  semper,  cupimus 
que  negata."  "  Ignoti  nulla  cupido."  ii.  "Because  desires  suppi-ossod 
forcibly  from  without  increase  in  A-irulence "  (St.  Thomas),  iii.  "Because 
suppressive  rules  kindle  anger  against  God  "  (Luther).  But  the  real  end  of 
the  Law  was  not  the  multiplication  of  transgressions  per  se,  but  that  the 
precipitation  of  sin  might  lead  to  its  expulsion;  that  the  culmination  of  sin 


SIN   AND    GRACE.  219 

The  next  chapter  (vi.)  is  of  vast  importance  as  stating 
an  objection  which  might  well  be  regarded  as  deadly,  and 
as  showing  us  how  best  to  deal  with  an  apparent  paradox. 
If  grace  superabounds  over  sin,  why  should  we  not  continue 
in  sin  ?  After  first  throwing  from  him  the  hateful  infer- 
ence with  a  "  Perish  the  thought ! "  he  proceeds  in  this 
chapter  to  prove,  first  in  a  mystic  (vi.  1 — 15),  and  then  in 
a  more  popular  exposition  (15 — 23),  the  moral  conse- 
quences of  his  doctrine.  In  the  first  half  of  this  chapter 
he  uses  the  metaphor  of  death,  in  the  latter  the  metaphor 
of  emancipation,  to  illustrate  the  utter  severance  between 
the  Christian  and  sin. 

Ideally,  theoretically,  it  should  be  needless  to  tell  the  Christian  not  to 
sin  ;  he  is  dead  to  sin ;  the  very  name  of  "  elect"  or  "  saint"  excludes  the 
entire  conception  of  sin,  because  the  Christian  is  "  IN  CHRIST."  Those 
two  words  express  the  very  quintessence  of  all  that  is  most  distinctive  in 
St.  Paul's  theology,  and  yet  they  are  identical  with  the  leading  concep- 
tion of  St.  John,  who  (we  are  asked  to  believe)  rails  at  him  in  the 
Apocalypse  as  Balaam  and  Jezebel,  a  sham  Jew,  and  a  false  apostle  ! 
That  the  two  words  "  in  Christ "  sum  up  the  distinctive  secret,  the 
revealed  mystery  of  the  Christian  life,  especially  as  taught  by  St.  Paul 
and  by  St.  John,  will  be  obvious  to  any  thoughtful  reader.  If  this 
mystic  union,  to  which  both  Apostles  again  and  again  recur,  is  expressed 
by  St.  Paul  in  the  metaphors  of  stones  in  a  temple  of  which  Christ  is 
the  foundation,^  of  members  of  a  body  of  which  Christ  is  the  head,^ 
St.  John  records,  and  St.  Paul  alludes  to,  the  metaphor  of  the  branches 
and  the  vine,^  and  both  Apostles  without  any  image  again  and  again 
declare  that  the  Christian  life  is  a  spiritual  life,  a  supernatural  life,  and 
one  which  we  can  only  live  by  faith  in,  by  union  with,  by  pai-taking  of 
the  life  of  the  Son  of  God.^     With  both  Apostles  Christ  is  our  life, 

might  be  the  introduction  of  g^ace.  "Non  crudeliter  hoc  fecit  Deus  sad 
ratione  medicinae — augebatur  morbus,  crescit  malitia,  quaeritur  medicus, 
et  totum  sanatur"  (Aug.  in  Ps.  cii.). 

1  Eph.  ii.  19—22  (1  Pet.  ii.  5 ;  Isa.  xxviii.  16). 

»  Rom.  xii.  5 ;  Eph.  iv.  16  ;  1  Cor.  xii.  12,  13,  27  ;  Col.  i.  18. 

3  John  XV.  5 ;  Rom.  vi.  5 ;  Phil.  i.  11. 

*  2  Cor.  V.  17;  Rom.  vi.  8;  Gal.  u.  20;  Eph.  iii.  6;  CoL  iii.  3;  John  x,  28; 
xiv.  19;  XT.  4—10;  1  John  v.  20;  ii,  24,  &c. 


220  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

and  apart  from  Him  we  have  no  true  life.''  St.  Paul,  again,  is  fond  of 
the  metaphor  of  wearing  Christ  as  a  garment,  putting  on  Christ,  putting 
on  the  new  man,^  reflecting  Him  with  ever-brightening  splendour.^  In 
fact,  the  woi-ds  "  in  Christ "  and  "  with  Christ  "  are  his  most  constantly 
recurrent  plu'ases.  We  work  for  Him,  we  live  in  Him,  we  die  in  Him, 
we  rise  with  Him,  we  are  justified  by  Him.  We  are  His  sheep,  His 
scholars.  His  soldiers,  His  servants. 

The  life  of  the  Christian  being  hid  with  Christ  in  God,  his  death 
with  Christ  is  a  death  to  sin,  his  resurrection  with  Christ  is  a  resuirec- 
tion  to  life.  The  dipping  under  the  waters  of  baptism  is  his  union  with 
Christ's  death ;  his  I'ising  out  of  the  waters  of  baptism  is  a  resuri-ection 
with  Christ,  and  the  birth  to  a  new  life.  "  What  baptism  is  for  the 
individual,"  it  has  been  said  "  Christ's  death  is  for  the  race."  If  the 
Christian  has  become  coalescsnt  with  Christ  in  His  death,  he  shall  also 
in  His  resurrection.^  The  old  sin-enslaved  humanity  is  crucified  with 
Christ,  and  the  new  man  has  been  justified  from  sia,  because  he  is 
dead  to  it,  and  lives  in  Christ.  This  is  the  ideal.  Live  up  to  it. 
Dethrone  the  sin  that  would  rule  over  your  frail  nature.  "Be  not 
ever  presenting  your  members  as  weapons  of  unrighteousness,  but 
present  yourselves  once  for  alP  to  God  as  alive  from  the  dead,  and  your 
members  as  instruments  of  righteousness  to  God.  For  sin  shall  not 
lord  it  over  you;  for  ye  are  not  under  the  Law,  but  under  grace. '"*  Die 
to  sin,  die  to  lust,  die  to  your  old  vulgar,  enslaved,  corrupted  self,  die  to 
the  impulses  of  animal  passion,  and  the  self-assertion  of  woi'ldly  desire ; 
for  Christ  too  died,  and  you  are  one  with  Him  in  deatli,  that  you  may 
be  one  in  life.  But  these  words,  again,  raise  the  ghost  of  the  old  objection. 
*'  Shall  we  then  sin,  since  we  are  not  under  the  Law,  but  under  grace  ?" 
and  this  objection  St.  Paul  again  refutes  by  the  same  argument,  clothed 
in  a  more  obvious  and  less  mystic  illustration,  in  which  he  amplifies 
the  proverb  of  Jesus,  "  Ye  cannot  serve  two  masters."  A  man  must 
either  be  a  slave  of  sin  unto  death,  or  of  obedience  unto  righteousness.' 

1  John  iii.  27;  v.  24;  xi.  25;  xiv.  20;  Gal.  ii.  20;  Col.  iii.  4;  1  John  i.  1; 
V.  12,  &c. 

2  Gal.  iii.  27  ;  Rom.  xiii.  14 ;  Eph.  iv.  24 ;  Col.  iii.  10. 

3  2  Cor.  iii.  18. 

*  vi.  5,  (Tvix<pvToi.    The  Yulg.  "  complantati"  is  too  strong.     It  is  from 

^vto,   not  pvTevw. 

^  vi.  13,  TrapiffTciveTe  .  .  .  irapaffTi\(Tare.  In  the  New  Testament  tir\a  is 
always  "  weapons."     Cf.  Rom.  xiii.  12 ;  2  Cor.  vi.  7. 

«  vi.  1—15. 
vi.  16.     The  phrase  "  a  slave  of  obedience "  is  strange.     Perhaps  he 
used  viraKofis,  instead  of  hiKaio(riui)s,  because  of  the  two  senses  of  the  word, 
"  righteousness  "  and  "  justification." 


OBJECT    OF   THE    LAW.  221 

Thank  God  from  that  old  past  slavery  of  sin  you  were  freed,  when  you 
submitted  to  the  form  of  doctrine  to  which  you  were  handed  over  by 
God's  providence  ;  and  then — if  in  condescension  to  your  human  weak- 
ness I  may  use  an  imperfect  expression — you  were  enslaved  to  righte- 
ousness.^ The  fruit  of  that  former  slavery  was  shame  and  misery ;  its 
end  was  death.  This  new  enslavement  to  God  is  perfect  freedom; 
its  fruit  is  sanctification,  its  end  etei-nal  life.  "  For  the  wages  of  sin  is 
death;  but  the  free  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord."'' 

iv.  At  this  point  of  his  argument  the  Apostle  felt  it 
imperative  to  define  more  clearly,  and  establish  more  de- 
cisively, his  view  as  to  the  position  of  the  Law  in  the 
scheme  of  salvation.  Apart  from  his  discussion  of  this 
question  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  he  has  already,  in 
this  Epistle,  made  three  incidental  remarks  on  the  subject, 
which  might  well  horrify  those  Jews  and  Jewish  Christians 
who  were  unfamiliar  with  his  views.     He  has  said — 

1.  That  "by  the  works  of  the  Law  shall  no  flesh  be 
justified  before  God  :  for  by  the  Law  is  the  full  knowledge 
of  sin"  (iii.  20). 

2.  That  "the  Law  came  in  as  an  addition  that  trans- 
gression might  abound  "  (v.  20). 

3.  That  the  Christian  "is  not  under  the  Law,  but 
Tinder  grace,"  and  that  therefore  sin  is  not  to  lord  it  over 
him  (vi.  14). 

Such  statements  as  these,  if  left  unsupported  and 
unexplained,  might  well  turn  every  Jewish  reader  from 
respectful  inquiry  into  incredulous  disgust ;  and  he  there- 
fore proceeds  to  the  difficult  task  of  justifying  his  views. 

The  task  was  difficult  because  he  has  to  prove  scrip- 
turally   and  dialectically   the    truths    at   which    he    had 

*  vi.  18,  'ESouAcierjTe.  "  Deo  servire  vera  libertas  est  "  (Aug.).  "  Whose 
service  is  perfect  freedom."  'Avdpanriyoy  \eyu — Calvin,  following  Origen  and 
Chrysostom,  renders  this  clause,  "  I  require  nothing  which  your  fleshly  weak- 
ness could  not  do." 

9  vi.  15—23. 


222  THE    LIFE     AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

arrived  by  a  wholly  different  method.  The  central  point  of 
.  his  own  conviction  was  that  which  runs  through  the  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians/  that  if  salvation  was  to  be  earned  by 
"  doinff  " — if  the  Law  was  sufficient  for  justification — then 
Christ's  death  was  needless  and  vain.  If  he  were  rig-ht 
in  his  absolute  conviction  that  only  by  faith  in  the  blood 
of  Christ  are  we  accounted  righteous  before  God,  then 
clearly  the  Law  stood  condemned  of  incapacity  to  produce 
this  result.  Now  by  the  Law  St.  Paul  meant  the  whole 
Mosaic  Law,  and  there  is  not  in  him  a  single  trace  of  any 
distinction  between  the  degree  of  sacredness  in  the  cere- 
monial and  the  moral  portion  of  it.  If  there  had  been, 
he  might  perhaps  have  adopted  the  luminous  principle  of 
the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  and  shown  that 
the  Law  was  only  abrogated  by  the  completeness  of  its 
fulfilment ;  that  its  inefficiency  only  proves  its  typical  cha- 
racter ;  and  that  the  type  disappeared  in  the  fulness  of 
the  antitype,  as  a  star  is  lost  in  the  brightness  of  the 
sun.  This  method  of  allegory  was  by  no  means  un- 
familiar to  St.  Paul ;  he  not  only  adopts  it  freely,^  but 
must  have  learnt  it  as  no  small  element  of  his  Eabbinic 
training  in  the  school  of  Gamaliel.  But,  on  the  one 
hand,  this  attribution  of  a  spiritual  depth  and  mystery 
to  every  part  of  the  ceremonial  Law  would  have  only 
tended  to  its  glorification  in  the  minds  of  Judaisers  who 
had  not  yet  learnt  its  abrogation  ;  and  on  the  other  hand, 
it  was  not  in  this  way  that  the  relation  of  the  Law  to 
the  Gospel  had  specially  presented  itself  to  the  mind  of 
Paul.  The  typical  relation  of  the  one  to  the  other  was  real, 
and  to  dwell  upon  it  would,  no  doubt,  have  made  St.  Paul's 
arguments  "less  abrupt  and  less   oppressive  to  the  con- 

»  Gal.  ii.  21 ;  iii.  2L 

'  The  muzzled  ox,  1  Cor.  ix.  9 ;  Sarah  and  Hagar,  Gal.  iv.  24 ;  the 
evanescence  of  the  light  on  the  face  of  Moses,  2  Cor.  iii.  7 — 13  j  the  following 
rock,  1  Cor.  x.  4  j  the  cloud  and  sea,  1  Cor.  x.  1,  2. 


POSITION    OF   THE    LAW.  223 

sciousness  of  the  Jews ; "  ^  but  it  would  also  have  made 
them  less  effective  for  the  emancipation  of  the  Church 
and  the  world.  The  Law  must  be  deposed,  as  it  were, 
from  its  long  primacy  in  the  minds  of  the  Jews,  into 
that  negative,  supplementary,  secondar}^,  inefficient  posi- 
tion which  alone  belonged  to  it,  before  it  could  with  any 
prudence  be  reinstalled  into  a  position  of  reflected  honour. 
It  had  only  a  subordinate,  provisional  importance  ;  it  was 
only  introduced  per  accidens.  Its  object  was  psedagogic, 
not  final.  St.  Paul's  reasoning  might  inflict  pain,  but 
the  pain  which  he  inflicted  was  necessary  and  healing ; 
and  it  was  well  for  the  Jews  and  for  the  world  that, 
while  he  strove  to  make  his  arguments  acceptable  by 
stating  them  in  a  tone  as  conciliatory  as  possible,  he  did 
not  strive  to  break  the  shock  of  them  by  any  unfaithful 
weakening  of  their  intrinsic  force. 

i.  His  first  statement  had  been  that  the  Law  could 
not  justify.^  That  it  could  not  justify  he  saw  at  once, 
because  had  it  been  adequate  to  do  so,  then  the  death  of 
Christ  would  have  been  superfluous.  But  iv/i^  was  it  that 
the  Law  was  thus  inefficacious  ?  St.  Paul  rather  indicates 
than  clearly  states  the  reason  in  the  next  chapter  (viii.). 
It  is  because  the  Law,  as  regards  its  form,  is  external; 
it  is  a  command  from  without ;  it  is  a  letter  which  de- 
nounces sentence  of  death  on  its  violators ;  ^  it  has  no 
sympathy  wherewith  to  touch  the  heart ;  it  has  no  power 
whereby  to  sway  the  will.  "  Spiritual "  in  one  sense  it 
is,  because  it  is  "  holy,  just,  and  good  ;  "  but  it  is  in  no 
sense  a  "  quickening  spirit,"  and  therefore  can  impart 
no  life.  And  why  ?  Simply  because  it  is  met,  opposed, 
defeated  by  a  strong  counter-principle  of  man's  being — the 

»  Pfleiderer,  Paulinismm,  i.  73,  E.  T. 
«  Rom.  iii.  20. 
«  2  Cor.  iii.  6. 


224  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

dominion  of  sin  in  fhe  flesh.  It  was  "  weak  througli  fhe 
flesh " — that  is,  through  the  sensuous  principle  which 
dominates  the  whole  man  in  body  and  soul.^  In  the 
human  spirit,  Paul  perceived  a  moral  spontaneity  to 
good ;  in  the  j^es/i,  a  moral  spontaneity  to  evil ;  and 
from  these  difl'erent  elements  results  "  the  dualism  of 
antagonistic  moral  principles."  ^  Man's  natural  self-will 
resists  the  Divine  determination ;  the  subjective  will  is 
too  strong  for  the  objective  command.  Even  if  man 
could  obey  a  part  of  the  Law  he  could  not  be  justified, 
because  the  Law  laid  a  curse  on  him  who  did  not  meet 
all  its  requirements,  which  the  moral  consciousness  knew 
that  it  could  not  do.^ 

ii.  But  St.  Paul's  second  proposition — that  the  Law 
multiplied  transgressions* — sounded  almost  terribly  offen- 
sive. "  The  Law,"  he  had  already  said  m  the  Galatians, 
was  added  until  the  coming  of  the  promised  seed,  "for 
the  sake  of  transgressions!'^  To  interpret  this  as  meaning 
"  a  safeguard  2L^2!vii's,i  transgressions" — though  from  another 
point  of  view,  and  in  another  order  of  relations,  this 
might  be  true^ — is  in  this  place  an  absurdity,  because  St. 
Paul  is  proving  the  inability  of  the  Law  to  perform 
this  function  at  all  efiectually.  It  would,  moreover, 
entirely  contradict  what  he  says — namely,  that  the  object 

*  The  <ra.p\  is  not  only  the  material  body,  but  an  active  inherent  principle, 
which  influences  not  only  the  ij^ux^  or  natural  life,  but  even  the  vovs  or  human 
spirit  (Baur,  Paul.  ii.  140). 

^  Gal.  V.  17 ;  Pfleiderer,  i.  54.  To  this  writer  I  am  much  indebted,  as 
well  as  to  Baur  and  Reuss,  among  many  others,  for  my  views  of  Pauline 
theology.  I  must  content  myself  with  this  large  general  acknowledgment, 
because  they  write  from  a  standpoint  widely  diiferent  from  my  ovra,  and 
because  I  find  in  the  pages  of  all  three  writers  very  much  with  which  I 
entirely  disagree. 

3  Gal.  iii.  10  ;  James  ii.  10.  *  Rom.  v.  20. 

^   Gal.  iii.  19,  X'^P^"  "■apo/Sacetoy  TrpoffeTfOr). 

•  Hie  usiis  primus  or  politicus  of  the  Law — v.  supra,  p.  218.  It  is  a  safe- 
guard against  acts  which,  when  the  law  is  uttered,  become  transgressions. 


THE    LAW    WORKS    WRATH.  225 

of  the  Law  was  the  multiplication  of  transgressions. 
Apart  from  the  Law,  there  may  indeed  he  "  sin " 
{a^iapTLo)^  although,  not  being  brought  into  the  light  of 
self-consciousness,  man  is  not  aware  of  it  (Rom.  v.  13 ;  vii. 
7) ;  but  he  has  already  told  us  that  there  is  not  "  trans- 
gression "  (iv.  15),  and  there  is  not  "imputation"  (v.  13), 
and  man  lives  in  a  state  of  relative  innocence,  little  pained 
by  the  existence  of  objective  evil.^  It  was,  therefore,  St. 
Paul's  painful  and  difficult  task  to  sever  the  Law  finally 
from  aU  direct  connexion  with  salvation,  by  showing  that, 
theologically  considered — and  this  was  the  point  which  to 
the  Jew  would  sound  so  paradoxical  and  so  wounding — 
Grod  had  expressly  designed  it,  not  for  the  prevention  of 
sin,  and  the  effecting  of  righteousness,  but  for  the  increase 
of  sin,  and  the  working  of  lorath?  It  multiplied  sin,  because, 
by  a  psychological  fact,  which  we  cannot  explain,  but 
which  St.  Paul  here  exhibits  with  marvellous  insight  into 
human  nature,  the  very  existence  of  a  commandment  acts 
as  an  incitement  to  its  violation  ("  Permissum  fit  vile 
nefas");  and  it  worked  lorath  by  forcing  all  sin  into  pro- 
minent self-consciousness,^  and  thus  making  it  the  source 
of  acute  misery ;  by  bringing  home  to  the  conscience  that 

^  To  he  "  naked  and  not  ashamed  "  is,  in  the  first  instance,  the  prerogative 
of  innocence ;  but  it  becomes  ultimately  the  culmination  of  guilt. 

2  Pfleiderer,  i.  81.  "  Whoever  separates  himself  from  the  words  of  the 
Law  is  consumed  by  fire  "  {Bahha  Bathra,  f.  79,  1). 

3  "  The  strength  of  sin  is  the  Law  "  (1  Cor.  xv.  56),  because  it  is  what  it  is 
essentially  through  man's  consciousness  of  it.  It  strengthens  the  perception 
of  sin,  and  weakens  the  consciousness  of  any  power  in  the  will  to  resist  it. 

"  And  therefore  Law  was  given  them  to  evince 
Their  natural  pixivittj,  by  stirring  up 
Sin  against  Law  to  fight ;  that  when  they  see 
Law  can  discover  sin,  but  not  remove, 
Save  by  those  shadowy  expiations  weak, 
The  blood  of  bulls  and  goats,  they  may  conclude 
Some  blood  more  precious  must  be  paid  for  man." 

MUton,  P.  L.  xii.  285. 

The  last  three  liaes  express  the  argument  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 
P 


226  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

sense  of  guilt  which  is  the  feeling  of  disharmony  with 
Grod ;  by  darkening  life  with  the  shadows  of  dread  and 
self-contempt ;  by  creating  the  sense  of  moral  death,  and 
by  giving  to  physical  death  its  deadliest  sting.-^ 

iii.  The  third  proposition — that  "  we  are  not  under  the 
Law,  but  under  grace  "^ — has  been  already  sufficiently 
illustrated ;  and  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  object 
of  St.  Paul  throughout  has  been  to  show  that  the  true 
theological  position  of  the  Law — its  true  position,  that  is,  in 
the  Divine  ceconomy  of  salvation — is  to  come  in  between 
sin  and  grace,  to  be  an  impulse  in  the  process  of  salvation. 
He  has  already  shown  this,  historically  and  exegetically, 
in  the  fifth  chapter,  as  also  in  Gral.  iii.,  by  insisting  on 
the  fact  that  the  Law,  as  a  supplementary  ordinance,^ 
cannot  disannul  a  free  promise  which  was  prior  to  it 
by  430  years,  and  which  had  been  sanctioned  by  an 
oath.  The  Law,  then,  shows  (1)  the  impossibility  of  any 
other  way  of  obtaining  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise, 
except  that  of  free  favour;  and  (2)  the  impossibility  of 
regarding  this  promise  as  a  debt  {o^eLXrjfia)  when  it  was  a 
free  gift.  In  this  point  of  view  the  Law  fulfils  the  function 
of  driving  man  to  seek  that  justification  which  is  possible 
by  faith  alone,  Ohjectively  and  historically,  therefore,  the 
history  of  man  may  be  regarded  in  four  phases — Sin, 
Promise,  Law,  Grace — Adam,  Abraham,  Moses,  Christ; 
suhjectively  and  individually,  also  in  four  phases — relative 
innocence,  awakened  consciousness,  imputable  transgres- 
sion, free  justification.  The  one  is  the  Divine,  the  other 
is  the  human  side  of  one  and  the  same  process ;  and  both 
find  their  illustration,  though  each  independently  of  the 
other,  in  the  theology  of  St.  Paul.* 

And  if  it  be  asserted,  by  way  of  modern  objection  to 

>  Rom.  iv.  15 ;  vii.  10-13.  ^  Gal.  iii. 

•  Rom.  vi.  14.  ■    *  Rom.  v.,  vii.,  xi. ;  Gal.  iii,,  iv. 


OBJECTIONS    AND    ANSWERS.  227 

this  tlieology,  and  to  St.  Paul's  methods  of  argument  and 
exegesis,  that  they  suggest  multitudes  of  difficulties ; 
that  they  pour  new  wine  into  old  wine-skins,  which 
burst  under  its  fermentation;  that  they  involve  a  mys- 
ticising  idealisation  of  1,500  years  of  history  and  of 
the  plain  literal  intention  of  large  portions  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testament  Scriptures ;  that  Moses  would 
have  been  as  horrified  to  be  told  by  St.  Paul  that  the 
object  of  his  Law  was  only  to  multiply  transgression, 
and  intensify  the  felt  heinousness  of  sin,  as  he  is 
said  to  have  been  when  in  vision  he  saw  Rabbi  Akhibha 
imputing  to  him  a  thousand  rules  which  he  had  never 
sanctioned  ;  that  the  Law  was  obviously  given  with  the 
intention  that  it  should  be  obeyed,  not  with  the  intention 
that  it  should  be  broken  ;  that  St.  Paul  himself  has  spoken 
in  this  very  Epistle  of  "  doers  of  the  Law  being  justified," 
and  of  "  works  of  the  Law,"  and  of  "  working  good,"  and 
of  a  recompense  for  it,^  and  of  "  reaping  what  we  have 
sown  ; "  ^  that  he  has  in  every  one  of  his  Epistles  urged 
the  necessity  of  moral  duties,  not  as  an  inevitable  result  of 
that  union  with  Christ  which  is  the  Christian's  life,  but  as 
things  after  which  Christians  should  strive,  and  for  the 
fulfilment  of  which  they  should  train  themselves  with 
severe  effort ;  ^  and  that  in  his  Pastoral  Epistles  these  moral 
considerations,  as  in  the  Epistles  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  James, 
seem  to  have  come  into  the  foreground,^  while  the  high 
theological  verities  seem  to  have  melted  farther  into  the 
distance — if  these  objections  be  urged,  as  they  often  have 
been  urged,  the  answers  to  them  are  likewise  manifold. 
We  have  not  the  smallest  temptation  to  ignore  the  diffi- 

1  Rom.  ii.  6—13 ;  iv.  4. 
a  Gal.  vi.  7 ;  2  Thess.  iii.  13  ;  1  Cor.  xv.  58. 
»  1  Cor.  ix.  25—27 ;  Phil.  iii.  14. 

*  Mic.  vi.  12;  1  Tim.  iv.  7,  8;  ii.  3j  Tit.  iii.  8;  ii.  14;  2  Pet.  i.  10, 11 
James  ii.  17,  24. 

p  3 


228  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

culties,  though  it  would  be  easy  by  separate  examination 
to  show  that  to  state  them  thus  is  to  shift  their  true 
perspective.  As  regards  St.  Paul's  style  of  argument, 
those  who  see  in  it  a  falsification  of  Scripture,  a  treacherous 
dealing  with  the  Word  of  God,  which  St.  Paul  expressly 
repudiates,^  should  consider  whether  they  too  may  not 
be  intellectually  darkened  by  suspicious  narrowness 
and  ignorant  prepossessions.^  St.  Paul  regarded  the 
Scripture  as  the  irrefragable  "Word  of  God,  and  yet, 
even  when  he  seems  to  be  attaching  to  mere  words 
and  sounds  a  "  talismanic  value,"  he  never  allows  the 
letter  of  Scripture  to  becloud  the  illumination  (^wrtcr/Ao?) 
of  spiritual  enlightenment.^  Even  when  he  seemed 
to  have  the  whole  Pentateuch  against  him,  he  never 
suffered  the  outward  expression  to  enthral  the  eman- 
cipated idea.  He  knew  well  that  one  word  of  God 
cannot  contradict  another,  and  his  allegorising  and 
spiritualising  methods — (which,  in  one  form  or  other,  are 
absolutely  essential,  since  the  Law  speaks  in  the  tongue  of 
the  sons  of  men,  and  human  language  is  at  the  best  but 
an  asymptote  to  thought) — are  not  made  the  vehicle  of 
mechanical  inference  or  individual  caprice,  but  are  used  in 
support  of  formative  truths,  of  fruitful  ideas,  of  spiritual 
convictions,  of  direct  revelations,  which  are  as  the  Eternal 
Temple,  built  within  the  temporary  scaffolding  of  abrogated 
dispensations.  In  this  way  of  dealing  with  Scripture  he 
was  indeed  regarded  as  a  blasphemer  by  a  Pharisaism, 
which  was  at  once  unenlightened  and  unloving ;  but  he  was 
a  direct  successor  of  the  Prophets,  who  dealt  in  a  spirit  of 
sacred  independence  with  earlier  revelations,^  and  with  their 

'   2  Cor.  ii.  17,  ov  KawTjXevovTes ;   2  Cor.  iv.  2,  fJ.r)5e  SoKovvres, 

2  2  Cor.  iv.  1—7. 

3  2  Cor.  iv.  4. 

*  Jer.  xxxi.  29.     Ezek.  xviii.  2;  xx.  25,  "Wlierefore  I   gave   tliem  also 
statutes  that  were  uot  good,  aud  judgments  whereby  they  should  uot  live." 


Al^TmOMIES.  229 

riiantTe  he  had  caught  a  double  portion  of  their  spirit.  He 
felt  that  the  truths  his  opponents  characterised  as  "  teme- 
rities "  and  "  blasphemies  "  were  as  holy  as  the  Trisagion 
of  the  Seraphim;  that  his  "apostasy  from  Moses "-^  was  due 
to  a  reverence  for  him  far  deeper  than  that  of  his  upholders, 
and  that  there  was  an  immemorial,  nay,  even  an  eternal 
validity,  in  the  most  extreme  of  his  asserted  innovations. 

And  as  for  apparent  contradictions,  St.  Paul,  like  all 
great  thinkers,  was  very  careless  of  them.  It  is  even 
doubtful  whether  they  were  distinctly  present  to  his 
mind.  He  knew  that  the  predestinations  of  the  Infinite 
cannot  be  thrust  away — as  though  they  were  ponder- 
able dust  inurned  in  the  Cokimbaria — in'  the  systems 
of  the  finite.  He  knew  that  in  Divine  as  well  as  in 
human  truths  there  are  certain  mitinomies,  irrecon- 
cilable by  the  mere  understanding,  and  yet  perfectly 
capable  of  being  fused  into  unity  by  the  divinely  en- 
lightened reason,  or,  as  he  would  have  phrased  it,  by 
the  spirit  of  man  which  has  been  mystically  united  with 
the  Spirit  of  Christ.  As  a  scheme,  as  a  system,  as  a 
theory  of  salvation — abstractly  considered,  ideally  treated 
— he  knew  that  his  line  of  argument  was  true,  and  that 
his  exposition  of  the  Divine  purpose  was  irrefragable, 
because  he  knew  that  he  had  received  it  neither  from 
man,  nor  by  any  man,^  but  by  the  will  of  God.  But 
there  is  a  difference  between  the  ideal  and  the  actual — 
between  the  same  truths  regarded  in  their  theological 
bearing  as  parts  of  one  vast  philosophy  of  the   plan  of 

Hos.  vi.  6,  "  I  desired  mercy  and  not  sacrifice ;  and  the  knowledge  of  God 
more  than  burnt  ofPering."  Jer.  vii.  22,  23,  "  I  spake  not  unto  your  fathers 
concerning  burnt  offerings  or  sacrifices,  but  this  thing  commanded  I  them, 
saying,  Obey  my  voice." 

^  Acts  xxi.  21,  "Tliey  have  been  indoctrinated  with  the  view  that  you 
teach  ai)nstasy  from  Moses." 

^   Gal.  i.  1,  oliK  ott'    avBpdlnrwy,  ovSe  Si'  avOpwirov. 


230  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

salvation,  and  stated  in  everyday  language  in  their  imme- 
diate bearing  upon  the  common  facts  of  life.  In  the 
language  of  strict  and  accurate  theology,  to  talk  of  the 
"  merit "  of  works,  and  the  "  reward  "  of  works,  or  even 
the  possibility  of  "  good "  works,  was  erroneous ;  but 
yet — without  any  of  such  Protestant  after-thoughts  as 
that  these  works  are  the  fruits  of  unconscious  faith,  or 
that  without  this  faith  they  cannot  in  any  sense  be  good, 
and  without  dreaming  of  any  collision  with  what  he  says 
elsewhere,  and  untroubled  by  any  attempt  to  reconcile 
his  statements  with  the  doctrine  of  original  sin — he  could 
and  did  talk  quite  freely  about  "  Gentiles  doing  hy  nature 
the  things  of  the  Law,"  and  says  that  "  the  doer  of  the 
Law  shall  be  justified,"  and  that  God  will  render  to  every 
man  according  to  his  works}  St.  Paul  would  probably 
have  treated  with  contempt,  as  a  mere  carping  criticism, 
which  allowed  no  room  for  common  sense  in  dealing  with 
the  truths  of  revelation,  any  attempt  to  show  that  in 
such  passages — both  on  this  and  on  other  subjects — he 
appears  to  contradict  himself.^  He  would  very  briefly, 
and  with  profound  indifference,  have  contented  himself 
with  saying  that  his  remarks  in  these  passages  are  not  in 
jpari  materia?  He  is  not  there  speaking  or  thinking  at  all 
of  the  doctrine  of  redemption.  He  is  there  talking  about 
"  the  justification  of  the  Law,"  which  is  a  very  different 
thing  from  "  the  justification  by  faith."  He  is  there 
using   general    language,    altogether   irrespective   of    the 

1  Rom.  ii.  13,  14;  xiv.  10.  See,  too,  2  Cor.  t.  10  ;  Gal.  vi.  7;  Eph.  vi.  8; 
Col.  iii.  24,  25. 

'  For  these  antinomies,  which  exist  in  theology  as  they  exist  in  nature,  and 
are  complementary  truths  of  which  the  harmony  is  to  be  found  in  the  Infinite, 
see  Excursus  II. 

■^  "  Haec  descriptio  justitiae  legis,  quae  nihil  impedit  alia  dicta  de  justitia 
fidei "  (Melancthon  in  Rom.  ii.  13).  He  is  here  "  laying  down  those  general 
principles  of  justice,  according  to  which,  irrespective  of  the  Gospel,  all  men 
are  to  be  judged  "  (Hodge  on  Rom.  ii.  6). 


FAITH    AND    WORKS.  .  231 

Gospel.  Protestant  commentators  with  all  tlieir  elaborate 
and  varying  theories — that  in  these  works  faith  is  included 
as  the  highest  work ;  ^  that  they  are  perfected  in  faith  ;  ^ 
that  "  works  will  be  adduced  in  the  day  of  judgment, 
not  as  meriting  salvation,  but  as  proofs  and  results  of 
faith  ;"^  that  "the  imperfect  works  of  the  sanctified  will 
be  rewarded,  not  on  the  ground  of  the  Law,  but  on  the 
ground  of  grace  ;"^  that  he  was  mentally  referring  to 
a  "  prevenient  grace "  over  the  Gentile  world,  and  so 
on — are  doubtless  dogmatically  right,  but  they  are 
far  more  anxious  to  save  St.  Paul's  orthodoxy  and  con- 
sistency than  he  would  have  been  himself.  It  is  at 
least  doubtful  whether  such  considerations  were  con- 
sciously present  to  his  mind.  He  would  have  held  it 
enough  to  reply  that,  in  these  passages,  he  was  only 
applying  the  current  language  of  morality  to  the  concrete 
relations  of  actual  life ;  ^  and  that  "  the  doctrine  of 
justification  cannot  conflict  with  the  doctrine  of  God's 
righteousness  by  virtue  of  which  He  will  reward  every 
man  according  to  his  works."  ^  When  St.  Paul  was 
using  the  language  of  accurate  theology,  he  would  have 
shown  the  nullity  of  righteousness  by  works.  But,  in 
any  case,  he  would  have  thought  far  more  highly  of  the 
possibility  of  such  righteousness  than  of  the  righteous- 
ness of  dogmatic  orthodoxy,  or  the  righteousness  of  the 
letter ;  the  righteousness  of  the  jealous  heresy -hunter,  or 
the  righteousness  of  the  religious  partisan.'^ 

Lastly,  it  will  be  seen  how  little  St.  Paul  is  troubled 
by  the  apparent  paradoxes  which  result  from  the  doctrines 
which  he  enforces.     By  those  who  manipulated  truth  to 

1  Limborch.  ^  Luthardt.  ^  Gerhard.  *  Stuart. 

«  Baiir,  N.  Test.  Theol.  181 ;  Pfleiderer,  i.  78. 
^  Lange  ou  Rom.  ii.  6 — 10. 

''  Lehrgereclitigkeit ;   Buchstabende    Echtigkeit,   Negationsgerechtigkeit, 
Parteigerechtigkeit  (Lauge,  uhi  supra). 


232  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

suit  their  own  parties  and  purposes  ;  bj  tliose  who  huck- 
stered the  Word  of  Life  ;  by  those  who  pushed  truths 
into  extravagant  inferences,  and  then  condemned  them  on 
the  ground  of  their  possible  misapplication — his  doctrines 
were  denounced  as  "dangerous  ;"  and  we  know  as  a  fact 
that,  even  in  his  own  lifetime,  what  he  taught  was  made 
a  handle  for  evil  doctrine,^  and  was  subjected  to  perilous 
perversions.^  When  such  arguments  as  these  were  urged 
against  him,  St.  Paul  treated  them  with  entire  disdain. 
Truth  may  be  wrested,  truth  may  be  distorted,  truth 
may  be  made  an  instrument  of  self-destruction — but  truth 
is  truth,  and  can  take  care  of  itself,  and  needs  no  "  lying 
for  God"  to  serve  as  its  buttress.^  The  doctrine  of 
free  grace  might  be,  and  was,  quoted  in  the  cause  of 
antinomianism,  and  degraded  into  a  justification  of  sen- 
suality. The  predominance  of  grace  over  sin  was  twisted 
into  a  reason  for  doing  evil  that  good  might  come.  The 
hope  of  future  forgiveness  was  pleaded  as  a  ground  for 
continuing  in  sin.  Well,  let  it  be  so.  The  ocean  of 
truth  did  not  cease  to  be  an  ocean  because  here  and 
there  a  muddy  river  of  error  flowed  stealthily  in  its  tides. 
In  answer  to  the  moral  perversity  which  abused  truth 
into  an  occasion  of  wickedness,  St.  Paul  thought  it  suffi- 
cient to  appeal  to  the  right  feeling  of  mankind.  If  a  man 
chooses  to  pervert  a  Divine  and  gracious  doctrine  into 
a  "dangerous  downfall,"  he  does  so  at  his  own  peril.  Evil 
inferences  St.  Paul  merely  repudiates  with  a  "  God  for- 
bid! "* — of  malignant  misinterpreters  he  thought  it  enough 
to  say  that  "  their  condemnation  was  just !  "  ^ 

1  Rom.  iii.  8. 

^  2  Pet.  iii.  16,  (rrpe$\ov(riv  .  .   .   irphs  TTyv  Idlav  avTuv  OLirdiXeiav, 

3  Job  xiii.  7,  8. 

4  Rom.  iii.  4,  6,  31;  vi.  2,  15;  vii.  7,  &c. ;  Gal.  ii.  17;  iii.  21;  vi.  14; 
1  Cor.  vi.  15. 

s  Rom.  iii.  8. 


:  DEAI>    TO    THE    LAW.  233 

After  these  preliminary  considerations  we  are  in  a 
position  to  proceed  uninterruptedly  with  our  sketch  of  the 
Epistle,  since  we  are  now  in  possession  of  its  main  con- 
ceptions. Proceeding  then  to  a  further  expansion  of  his 
views  respecting  the  Law,  and  speaking  (chap,  vii.)  to  those 
who  know  it,  the  Apostle  further  enforces  the  metaphor 
that  the  Christian  is  dead  to  his  past  moral  condition,  and 
has  arisen  to  a  new  one.  A  woman  whose  husband  is 
dead  is  free  to  marry  again ;  we  are  dead  to  the  Law,  and 
are  therefore  free  to  he  united  to  Christ.  Ob\dously  the 
mere  passing  illustration  must  not  he  pressed,  because  if 
used  as  more  than  an  illustration  it  is  doubly  incomplete — 
incomplete  because  the  word  "  dead  "  is  here  used  in  two 
quite  different  senses  ;  and  because,  to  make  the  analogy  at 
all  perfect,  the  Law  ought  to  have  died  to  us,  and  not  we  to 
the  Law.  But  St.  Paul  merely  makes  a  cursory  use  of  the 
illustration  to  indicate  that  the  new  life  of  the  Christian 
involves  totally  new  relationships  ;  ^  that  death  naturally 
ends  all  legal  obligations  ;  and  that  our  connexion  with 
the  risen  Christ  is  so  close  that  it  may  be  compared  to 
a  conjugal  union.  Hence  our  whole  past  condition,  alike 
in  its  character  and  its  results,  is  changed,  and  a  new  Law 
has  risen  from  the  dead  with  our  new  life — a  Law  which 
we  must  serve  in  the  newness  of  the  spirit,  not  in  the 
oldness  of  the  letter.  He  who  is  dead  to  sin  is  dead  to 
the  Law,  because  the  Law  can  only  reign  so  long  as  sin 
reigns,  and  because  Christ  in  His  crucified  body  has 
destroyed  the  body  of  sin.^ 

But  St.  Paul  is  conscious  that  in  more  than  one  pas- 


1  2  Cor.  xi.  2 ;  Eph.  v.  25. 

^  vii.  1 — 6.  The  very  harshness  o£  the  constrttction  hroBav^vn^  iv  ^  ("  by 
dying  to  that  in  which  we  were  held  fast  ")  seems  to  make  it  more  probable 
than  the  tov  Qavdrov  of  D,  E,  F,  G.  Tlie  E.V.  renders  b.-Ko6av6vTos,  the 
unsupported  conjecture  of  Beza,  or  Erasmus. 


234  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

sage  lie  has  placed  tlie  Law  and  Sin  in  a  juxtaposition 
which  would  well  cause  the  very  deepest  offence.  To 
show  his  meaning  he  enters  on  a  psychological  study,  of 
which  the  extreme  value  has  always  been  recognised  en- 
tirely apart  from  its  place  in  the  scheme  of  theology. 
Here  he  writes  as  it  were  with  his  very  heart's  blood ;  he 
dips  his  pen  in  his  inmost  experience.  He  is  not  here 
dealing  with  the  ideal  or  with  the  abstract,  but  with  the 
sternest  facts  of  actual  daily  life.  There  have  been  end- 
less discussions  as  to  whether  he  is  speaking  of  himself  or 
of  others ;  whether  he  has  in  view  the  regenerate  or  the 
unregenerate  man.  Let  even  good  men  look  into  their 
own  hearts  and  answer.  Ideally,  the  Christian  is  abso- 
lutely one  with  Christ,  and  dead  to  sin;  in  reality,  as 
again  and  again  St.  Paul  implies  even  of  himself,  his  life 
is  a  warfare  in  which  there  is  no  discharge.  There  is  an 
Adam  and  a  Christ  in  each  of  us.  "  The  angel  has  us  by 
the  hand,  and  the  serpent  by  the  heart."  The  old  Adam 
is  too  strong  for  young  Melancthon.-^  Here,  then,  he  ex- 
plains, from  a  knowledge  of  his  own  heart,  confirmed  by 
the  knowledge  of  every  heart,  that  the  Law,  though  not 
the  cause  of  sin,  is  yet  the  occasion  of  it ;  and  that  there 
are  in  every  human  being  tioo  laws — that  is,  two  opposing 
tendencies — which  sway  him  from  time  to  time,  and  in 
greater  or  less  degree  in  opposite  directions.  And  in 
this  way  he  wrote  an  epitome  of  the  soul's  progress.  When 
we  have  once  realised  that  the  "  I "  of  the  passage  is  used 
in  different  senses — sometimes  of  the  flesh,  the  lower 
nature,  in  the  contemplation  of  which  St.  Paul  could 
speak  of  himself  as  the  chief  of  sinners ;  sometimes  of  the 

*  "  Our  little  lives  are  kept  in  equipoise 

By  struggles  of  two  opposite  desires : 
The  strviggle  of  the  instinct  that  enjoys. 
And  the  more  noble  instinct  that  aspires.* 


HISTORY    OF    THE    SOUL.  235 

liiglier  nature,  wliicli  can  rise  to  those  full  lieiglits  of 
spiritual  life  wliicli  he  has  been  recently  contemplating; 
sometimes  generically  of  himself  as  a  member  of  the  human 
race — it  is  then  easy  to  follow  his  history  of  the  soul. 

The  Law  is  not  sin — Heaven  forbid  ! — but  it  provokes  disobedience,^ 
and  it  creates  the  consciousness  of  sin.  Without  it  there  is  sin  indeed, 
but  it  is  dead  ;  in  other  words,  it  is  latent  and  unrecognised.  That 
is  the  age  of  fancied  innocence,  of  animal  irreflective  life,  of  a  naked- 
ness which  is  not  ashamed.  But  it  is  a  condition  of  "  immoral  tran- 
quillity "  which  cannot  be  permanent ;  of  misplaced  confidence  which 
causes  many  an  aberration  from  duty.  When  the  blind  tendency  of 
wrong  becomes  conscious  of  itself  by  collision  with  a  direct  command, 
then  sin  acquires  fresh  life  at  the  expense  of  that  misery  and  shame 
which  is  spiritual  death.  ^  Thus  sin,  like  Satan,  disguises  itself  under  the 
form  of  an  angel  of  light,  and  seizes  the  opportunity  furnished  by  the 
command  which  in  itself  is  holy,  just,  and  good,^  to  utterly  deceive 
and  to  slay  me.* 

"  What  ?  "  one  may  ask,  "  did  that  which  is  goodhecome  death  to  me?" 
Nay,  but  sin  by  means  o/*that  which  was  good  effected  my  death,  because 
by  means  of  the  commandment  sin's  exceeding  sinfulness  was  dragged 
into  recognition.  How  came  this  1  It  came  out  of  the  struggle  of  the 
higher  and  the  lower  elements  of  our  being ;  out  of  the  contest  between 
my  fleshen  and  servile  nature  ^  and  the  Law's  spirituality  of  origin, — the 
result  of  which  is  that  I  am  two  men  in  one,  and  live  two  lives  in 
one,  not  doing  what  I  desire,  and  doing  what  I  detest.  In  me — that  is, 
in  my  flesh — dwelleth   no   good  thing;    but  I   am   not    my    flesh.     I 

^  Of  this  thought  there  are  many  interesting  classical  parallels.  Liv. 
xxxiv.  4 :  "  Parricidae  cum  lege  coeperunt,  et  iUis  facinus  poena  moustravit." 
Sen.  De  Clem.  i.  23  :  "  Gens  humana  ruit  per  vetitum  et  nefas."  Hor.  i.  3 : 
"  Quod  licet  ingi-atum  est,  quod  non  licet  acrius  urit."  Ov.  Amor.  ii.  19,  &c. : 
"  The  Law  produces  reflection  on  the  forbidden  object,  curiosity,  doubt,  distrust, 
imagination,  lust,  susceptibility  of  the  seed  of  temptation  and  of  seduction,  and 
finally  rebellion— the  irapdfiaa-is"  (Lauge). 

2  "  Mors  peccati  vita  est  homiuis ;  vita  peccati  mors  hominis  "  (Calvin). 
"  By  the  jetser  ha-rd  "  (the  evil  impulse),  says  Rabbi  Simeon  Ben  Laldsh,  "  is 
meant  the  angel  of  death  "  (Tholuck). 

3  Holy  in  its  origin,  just  in  its  requirements,  good  in  its  purpose. 

*  vii.  7—12. 

*  vii.  14.  aapKivhs,  "  fleshen,"  carneus ;  aapKiKbs,  "  fleshly,"  carnalis.  The 
former  is  here  the  true  reading,  and  involves  (of  course)  less  subjection  to  the 
flesh  than  the  latter. 


236  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

identify  my  own  individuality  with  that  higher  nature  which  wills  what 
is  noble,  but  is  too  often  defeated  by  the  indwelling  impulses  of  sin.^ 
My  true  self,  my  inward  man,^  delights  in  the  law  of  God  ;  but  my  spirit, 
my  intellect  and  my  reason  are  in  constant  warfare  with  another  law — 
a  sensual  impulse  of  my  fleshy  nature — which  often  reduces  me  into  the 
bondage  of  its  prison-house.  Wretched  duality  of  condition  which  makes 
my  life  a  constant  inconsistency  !  Wretched  enchainment  of  a  healthy, 
living  oi-ganism  to  a  decaying  corpse  !  Who  shall  rescue  me  from  these 
struggles  of  a  disintegrated  individuality  1 

"  Thanks  to  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  !  "  It  is  a  sign  of 
the  intensity  of  feeling  with  which  he  is  writing  that  he  characteris- 
tically omits  to  mention  the  very  thing  for  which  he  thanks  God.  But 
the  words  "  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  "  sufficiently  show  that  his 
gratitude  is  kindled  by  the  conviction  that  the  deliverance  is  possible 
— that  the  deliverance  has  been  achieved.'  I,  my  very  self — the 
human  being  within  me* — serve  with  my  mind  the  law  of  God. 
Through  my  weakness,  my  inconsistency,  my  imperfect  faith,  my  imper- 
fect union  with  Christ,  I  still  serve  with  my  flesh  the  law   of  sin ;  ^ 

^  The  most  cominonly-quoted  of  the  classic  parallels  is  Ovid's  "  Yideo 
meliora  proboque,  Deteriora  sequor  "  {Met.  vii.  19).  The  nearest  is  6  fj-fv  fle'Aet 
(6  afiapTOLVcov)  ov  TroieT  Koi  o  ^^^J  d4\ei  iroie?.    Avo  yap  (Ta(p(is  eX'"  4"'X«s  (Xen.  C]jr.  vi.  1). 

Clirysostom  calls  ver.  21  aaa^ls  elprjfxeyov,  but  the  obscurity  is  only  caused  by 
the  trajcction  of  on,  which  iuvolves  the  repetition  of  ifj-ol.  It  means  "  I  find, 
then,  the  law  that  evil  is  close  at  hand  to  me  when  iny  will  is  to  do  good." 

2  Of.  1  Pet.  iii.  4.  6  Kpvirrhs  TTJs  KapSias  &vepwKos.  German  writers  speak 
of  the  "  pseudo-plasmatic  man  "  with  his  vovs  rrts  aapKbs,  (pp6vri/xa  rrjs  aapKhs, 
ffUfjLa  TTJs  a/naprtas,  vS/aos  iv  to7s  fieAeat,  (Tcip^,  &c.  Scliull.  Pafhologie  Ulld 
Therapie  des  Pseudo-plasmen,  18.  "  This  double  personality  is  a  dethrouement 
of  the  iyio  in  favour  of  the  a/naprla." 

^  Instead  of  "  I  thank  God  "  (€vxap'<^'r'"),  the  easier,  and  therefore  less  pro- 
bable reading,  of  D,  E,  F,  G  is  ^  X"P's  rov  9eov,  or  Kvpiov.  More  probable  is 
the  x°/"^  "^V  ^^V  of  B  and  the  Sahidic. 

•*  vii.  25,  avrhs  fyd>.  I  believe  this  to  be  the  true  meaning,  thougli  many 
reject  it.  St.  Paul  is  speaking  in  his  own  person,  not  by  iJ.fTa(TxviJ-ari(rix6s 
(see  1  Cor.  iv.  6).  An  "  infection  of  nature  "  remains  even  in  the  regenerate 
(Art.  ix.). 

^  Tliero  is  a  determining  power  in  the  "  flesh"  which  Paul  calls  "  a  law  in 
the  members,"  and  which  by  its  predominance  becomes  "  a  law  of  sin."  This  i8 
opposed  by  the  rational  principle,  the  vods  or  human  weD/ua — the  fo-ca  &vepaivos — 
the  Jiighor  spiritual  consciousness,  which  can  however  never,  by  itself,  invade 
and  conquer  the  flesh.  Its  power  is  rather  potential  than  actual.  Reason  is  the 
better  principle  in  man,  but  the  flesh  is  the  stronger.  It  is  not  the  Divine 
irveDfxa.  Nothing  but  union  with  Christ  can  secure  to  the  vovs  the  victory  over 
the  a-dp^  (Baur,  Paul.  ii.  146). 


THE    NEW    LIFE.  237 

but  that  sei'vitude  is  largely  -weakened,  is  practically  broken.  There  is 
no  condemnation  for  those  who  by  personal  union  with  Christ  ^  live  in 
accordance  with  the  Spirit.  Sin  is  slaveiy  and  death ;  the  Spirit  is 
freedom  and  life.  The  Law  was  rendered  impotent  by  the  flesh,  but 
God,  by  sending  His  own  Son  in  the  form  of  sinful  flesh "  and  as  a  sin- 
oflering,^  condemned  to  death*  the  victorious  power  of  sin  in  the  flesh, 
and  so  enabled  us,  by  a  spiritual  life,  to  meet  the  otherwise  impossible 
requii-ements  of  the  Law.  Our  life  is  no  longer  under  the  dominion 
of  the  flesh,  which  obeys  the  law  of  sin,  but  of  the  spirit.^  The  death 
of  Christ  has,  so  to  speak,  shifted  the  centre  of  gravity  of  our  will.  If 
Christ  be  in  us,  the  body  indeed  is  still  liable  to  death  because  of  sin,  but 
the  spirit, — our  own  spiritual  life — (he  does  not  say  merely  '  contains  the 
elements  of  life,'  but  in  his  forcible  manner) — is  life,  because  of  the 
righteousness  implanted  by  the  sanctifying  Spirit  of  God.  If  that  S})irit 
which  raised  Jesus  from  the  dead  dwell  in  us,  He  who  raised  Christ 
from  the  dead  will  also  quicken  us  to  full  life,  partially  but  j^rogressively 
here,  but  triumphantly  and  finally  beyond  the  grave.®  And  even  here, 
in  a  measure,  we  attain  to  the  "  life  of  the  spirit."  Never,  indeed,  can 
we  fulfil  the  whole  Law  (Gal.  iii.  10) ;  but  for  the  quantitative  is  substi- 
tuted a  qualitative  fulfilment,  and  the  "  totality  of  the  disposition  contains 
in  itself  the  totality  of  the  Law."  In  that  stage  life  becomes  life  indeed. 
The  "law  of  the  spirit"  is  the  "  law  of  the  sjnrit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus." 
This,  then,  shows  us  the  true  law,  and  the  final  issue  of  our  lives. 
If  we  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God  we  are  the  sons  of  God,  and  the  spirit 
of  fear  becomes  the  spirit  of  sonship,  and  the  cry  of  slavery  the  cry  of 
confident  appeal  to  a  Father  in  heaven.  Thus  we  become  joint-heirs 
with  Christ ;  and,  therefore,  to  share  His  glory  we  must  share  His  sufter- 
ings.  The  full  glory  of  that  sonship  is  to  be  ours  beyond  the  grave,  and 
in  comparison  with  it  the  sufferings  of  this  life  are  nothing.     The  life  of 

^  viii.  1.  "  Christus  in  homine,  ubi  fides  in  corde  "  (Aug.).  The  true 
reading  is  "  Tliere  is,  then,  now  no  condemnation  to  those  in  Christ  Jesus." 
The  rest  of  the  verse  is  a  gloss. 

-  Lit.,  "  in  a  flesh-likeness  of  sin." 

3  irepl  afjidprias  "  as  a  sin-offering "  riN'^n,  chattath.  Lev.  xvi.  5 :  K^erai 
Svh  xi-f^"-P°"^  '^fP'  a.fj.apTias.  Ps.  xl.  7  :  -rrfpl  a//.apTias  ovk  -prriaas  (Heb.  X.  5). 
Lev.  iv.  25  :   ^Trh  rod  atfjioros  tov  ttjs  afxaprias. 

*  KarUpivev,  "  condemned  to  execution  "  (Matt,  xxvii.  13). 

^  Verse  6.  On  the  <pp6vrifj.a  t^s  aapKhs,  see  Art.  ix.  Philo  also  dwells  strongly 
on  the  impotence  of  man  apart  from  Divine  grace  {Legg.  Alleg.  i.  48,  55,  101). 

**  \'ii.  13 — viii.  11.  The  change  from  tov  iyeipafTos  'Iriaovp  to  6  iyeipas  rhv 
Xpiffrhv  is  remarkable.  "  Appellatio  Jesu  spectat  ad  ipsum,  Christi  refortur 
ad  nos"  (Beugel,  viii.  1)  partly  resumes  the  subject  of  v.  11  after  the 
separate  points  handled  in  v.  12 — 21 ;  vi.  1 — 23 ;  vii.  1 — 6,  7—25. 


238  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

all  creation  is  now  in  anguish,  in  bondage,  in  corruption,  yearning  for  a 
freedom  which  shall  be  revealed  when  we  too  have  entered  on  the  full 
glory  of  our  inheritance  as  the  children  of  G-od.  We,  though  we  have 
the  first-fruits  of  the  spirit,  share  in  the  groaning  misery  of  nature,  as  it 
too  shares  in  inarticulate  sympathy  with  our  impatient  aspirations.  We 
live,  we  are  saved  BY  HOPE,  and  the  very  idea  of  Hope  is  the  anti- 
thesis of  present  realisation.^ 

Hope  is  not  possession,  is  not  reality;  it  can  but  imply  future  fruition; 
it  is  Faith  in  Christ  directed  to  the  future.  But  we  have  something 
more  and  better  than  Hope.  We  have  the  help  in  weakness,  the  in- 
tercession even  in  prayer  that  can  find  no  utterance,  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  Himself.  We  know,  too,  that  all  things  work  together  for  good 
to  all  them  that  love  God  and  are  called  according  to  His  purpose. 
He  ends  the  Divine  work  that  He  begins.  Election — predestination 
to  conformity  and  brotherhood  with  Christ — vocation — justification — 
these  four  steps  all  follow,  all  must  inevitably  follow  each  other,  and 
must  end  in  glorification.  So  certain  is  this  glorification,  this  entrance 
into  the  final  fulness  of  sonship  and  salvation,  that  St.  Paul — with  one 
of  those  splendid  flashes  of  rhetoric  which,  like  all  true  rhetoric,  come 
directly  from  the  intensities  of  emotion,  and  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  technicalities  of  art — speaks  of  it  in  the  same  past  tense  which  he 
has  employed  for  every  other  stage  in  the  process.  Those  whom  He 
foreknew,^  predestined,  called,  justified — them  He  also  glorified.^ 

"  What  shall  we  then  say  to  these  things  1 "  What,  but  that  magni- 
ficent burst  of  confidence  and  rapture*  which  we  will  not  degrade  by  the 
name  of  peroration,  because  in  St.  Paul  no  such  mere  artificiality  of 
construction  is  conceivable,  but  which  fitly  closes  this  long  and  intri- 
cate discussion,  in  which  he  has  enunciated  truths  never  formulated 
since  the  origin  of  the  world,  but  never  to  be  forgotten  till  its  final 
conflagration.  The  subtleties  of  dialectic,  the  difiiculties  of  polemical 
argument,  the  novelties  of  spiritualising  exegesis,  are  concluded ;  and, 
firm  in  his  own  revealed  conviction,  he  has  urged  upon  the  conviction  of 

1  viii.  18—25. 

'  There  are  four  explanations  of  "  foreknew,"  and  each  is  claimed  alike  by 
Calviuists  and  Arminiaus  !  (Tholuck).  But,  "  in  the  interpretation  of  Scrip- 
ture, if  we  would  feel  as  St.  Paul  felt,  or  think  as  he  thought,  we  must  go 
back  to  that  age  in  which  the  water  of  life  was  still  a  running  stream." 

3  viii.  26—30. 

*  Compare  the  outburst  in  1  Cor.  xv.  54.  "  In  fact,  as  verses  19 — 23  may 
be  called  a  sacred  elegy,  so  wo  may  term  31 — 39  a  sacred  ode ;  that  is  as  tender 
and  fervent  as  this  is  bold  and  exalted — that,  an  amplification  of  "we  do 
groan  being  burdened"  (2  Cor.  v.  4)  ;  this,  a  commentary  on  "this  is  the 
victory  that  overcometh  the  world  "  (1  John  v.  4).    Phifippi,  ad  loc. 


BURST    OF    EXULTATION".  239 

the  world,  and  fixed  in  tlie  conviction  of  Christians  for  ever,  the  deepest 
truths  of  the  Gospel  entrusted  to  his  charge.  What  remains  but  to  give 
full  utterance  to  his  sense  of  exultation  in  spite  of  earthly  sufferings, 
and  "  to  reduce  doul)t  to  absurdity  "  by  a  series  of  rapid,  eager,  trium- 
phant questions,  which  force  on  the  minds  of  his  hearers  but  one 
irresistible  answer  1  In  spite  of  all  the  anguish  that  persecution  can 
inflict,  in  spite  of  all  the  struggles  which  the  rebellious  flesh  may  cause, 
"  we  are  more  than  conquerors  through  Him  that  loved  us.  For  I  am 
convinced  that  neither  death  nor  life,  nor  angels  nor  principalities,  nor 
things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  height  nor  dejDth,  nor  any  other 
created  thing,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  for  a  moment  ^  from  God's  love 
manifested  towards  us  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  In  spite  of  failure, 
in  s}:)ite  of  imperfection,  our  life  is  united  with  the  life  of  Christ,  our 
spirit  quickened  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  and  what  have  we  to  fear  if  all 
time,  and  all  space,  and  all  nature,  and  all  the  angels  of  heaven,  and  all 
the  demons  of  hell,  are  utterly  powerless  to  do  us  harm  ]  ^ 

^  viii.  39,  x'^P'o'o"- 

2  Compare  this  rapture  of  faith  and  hope  with  the  achiug  despair  of  ma- 
terialism. "  To  modern  philosophical  unbelief  the  beginning  of  the  world,  as 
well  as  its  end,  is  sunk  in  mist  and  night,  because  to  it  the  centre  of  the 
world — the  historical  Chi-ist — is  sunk  in  mist  and  night"  (Lauge).  The  time 
was  ripe  for  the  recognition  of  a  deliverer.  Plato  and  Seneca  had  clearly 
realised  and  distinctly  stated  that  man  was  powerless  to  help  himself  from 
his  own  misery  and  sin.  (Sen.  Ejp.  63.  Cf .  Tac.  Ann.  iii.  18 ;  Cic.  De  Of.  i.  4, 18.) 


CHAPTEE    XXXVIII. 

PREDESTINATION    AND    FREE    WILL. 

"  Everything  is  foreseen,  and  free  will  is  given.  And  the  world  is  judged 
by  grace,  and  everything  is  according  to  work." — R.  Akhibha  in  Pirhe 
Aboth,  iii.  24. 

'Op^s  on  ov  (pvcrews  ovSe  u\iKrjs  avdyKris  ecrrl  rh  elvat  xp^"'"'^''  ^  oarpaKivov,  aA.\a 
rris  rifjierepas  irpoaip4(Teus. — CheyS.  ad  2  Tim.  ii.  21. 

"  Reasoned  high 
Of  Providence,  foreknowledge,  will  and  fate. 
Fixed  fate,  free  will,  foreknowledge  absolute, 
And  found  no  end  in  wandering  mazes  lost." 

Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  iL 
"  Soil  ich  dir  die  Gegend  Zeigen 
Musst  du  erst  das  Dach  besteigen." — Gothb. 

We  now  come  to  the  three  memorable  chapters  (ix.,  x.,  xi.) 
in  which  St.  Paul  faces  the  question  which  had,  perhaps, 
led  him  to  state  to  the  Jews  and  .Grentiles  of  Eome  the 
very  essence  of  his  theology.  He  has  told  them  "  his 
Gospel " — that  revealed  message  w^hich  he  had  to  preach, 
and  by  virtue  of  which  he  was  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 
He  has  shown  that  Jews  and  Gentiles  were  equally  guilty, 
equally  redeemed.  The  Eedemption  was  achieved ;  but 
only  by  faith,  in  that  sense  of  the  word  which  he  has  so 
fully  explained,  could  its  blessings  be  appropriated.  Alas  ! 
it  was  but  too  plain  that  while  the  Gentiles  were  accept- 
ing this  great  salvation,  and  pressing  into  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven,  the  Jews  were  proudly  holding  aloof,  and  fatally 
relying  on  a  system  now  abrogated,  on  privileges  no  longer 
exclusive.  Their  national  hopes,  tlieir  individual  hopes, 
were  alike  based  on  a  false  foundation,  which  it  has  been 


REJECTION    or    THE    JEWS.  241 

the  Apostle's  duty  inexorably  to  overthrow.  Their  natural 
exclusiveness  he  meets  by  the  unflinching  principle  that 
there  is  no  favouritism  with  our  Heavenly  Father;  he 
meets  their  attempts  after  a  legal  righteousness  by  pro^dng 
to  them  that  they,  like  the  Gentiles,  are  sinners,  that  they 
cannot  attain  a  legal  righteousness,  and  that  no  such 
endeavour  can  make  them  just  before  God.  Obviously  he 
was  thus  brought  face  to  face  with  a  tragic  fact  and  a 
terrible  problem.  The  fact  was  that  the  Jews  were  being 
rejected,  that  the  Gentiles  were  being  received.  Even 
thus  early  in  the  history  of  Christianity  it  had  become  but 
too  plain  that  the  Church  of  the  future  would  be  mainly 
a  Church  of  Gentiles,  that  the  Jewish  element  within  it 
would  become  more  and  more  insignificant,  and  could  only 
exist  by  losing  its  Judaic  distinctiveness.  The  jjrobiem 
was,  how  could  this  be,  in  the  face  of  those  immemorial 
promises,  in  the  light  of  that  splendid  history  ?  Was 
God  breaking  His  promises?  Was  God  forgetting  that 
they  were  "  the  seed  of  Abraham  His  servant,  the  children 
of  Jacob  whom  He  had  chosen?"^  To  this  grave  question 
there  was  (1)  a  theologic  answer,  and  (2)  an  historic 
answer.  (1)  The  theologic  answer  was — that  acceptance 
and  rejection  are  God's  absolute  will,  and  in  accordance 
with  His  predestined  election  to  grace  or  wrath.  (2)  The 
historic  answer  was — that  the  rejection  of  the  Jews  was  the 
natural  result  of  their  own  obstinacy  and  hardness.  The 
two  answers  might  seem  mutually  irreconcilable ;  but 
St.  Paul,  strong  in  faith,  in  inspiration,  in  sincerity,  never 
shrinks  from  the  seeming  oppositions  of  an  eternal  para 

*  "  Who  hath  not  known  passion,  cross,  and  travail  of  death,  cannot  treat 
of  foreknowledge  without  injury  and  inward  enmity  towards  God.  Where- 
fore, take  heed  that  thou  drink  not  wine  while  thou  art  yet  a  sucking  babe " 
(Luther).  He  also  said,  "  The  ninth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  is 
the  ninth.     Learn  first  the  eight  chapters  which  precede  it." 


242  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

dox.  He  often  gives  statements  of  truth  regarded  from 
different  aspects,  without  any  attempt  to  show  that  they  are, 
to  a  higher  reason  than  that  of  man,  complementary,  not 
(as  they  appear)  contradictory,  of  each  other.  Predestina- 
tion is  a  certain  truth  of  reason  and  of  revelation  ;  free  will 
is  a  certain  truth  of  revelation  and  of  experience.  They 
are  both  true,  yet  they  seem  mutually  exclusive,  mutually 
contradictory.  The  differences  between  Supralapsarians 
and  Sublapsarians  do  not  really  touch  the  question; 
God's  foreknowledge  is  always  recognised,  but  in  no  way 
does  it  solve  the  difficulty  of  the  absolute  decree.  If  we 
say  that  St.  Paul  is  here  mainly  arguing  about  great 
masses  of  men,  about  men  in  nations,  and  the  difference 
between  Jews  and  Grentiles,  that  is  partially  true ;  but 
he  most  definitely  recognises  the  case  of  individuals 
also,  and  God  is  the  God  not  only  of  nations,  but  ot 
individuals.  In  any  case,  this  sacrifice  of  the  individual 
to  the  interests  of  the  mass  would  be  but  a  thrusting 
of  the  difficulty  a  little  further  back.  The  thought  that 
many,  though  Edomites,  will  be  saved,  and  many,  though 
of  Israel,  will  be  lost,  may  make  the  antenatal  predilection 
for  Israel  and  detestation  of  Esau  less  startling  to  us,  and 
it  is  quite  legitimate  exegetically  to  soften,  by  the  known 
peculiarities  of  Semitic  idiom,  the  painful  harshness  of  the 
latter  term.  But  even  then  we  are  confronted  with  the 
predestined  hardening  of  Pharaoh's  heart.  St.  Paul  re- 
cognises— all  Scripture  recognises — the  naturalness  of  the 
cry  of  the  human  soul ;  but  the  remorseless  logic  of  a 
theology  which  is  forced  to  reason  at  all  about  the  Divine 
prescience  can  only  smite  down  the  pride  of  finite  argu- 
ments with  the  iron  rod  of  revealed  mysteries.  Man  is  but 
clay  in  the  potter's  hands.  God  is  omnipotent ;  God  is 
omniscient ;  yet  evil  exists,  and  there  is  sin,  and  there  is 
death,  and  after  death   the  judgment;  and  sin  is  freely 


GOD    PREDESTINES;    MAN    IS    FREE.  2i3 

forgiven,  and  3^et  we  shall  receive  tlie  things  done  in  the 
body,  and  be  judged  according  to  our  works.  All  things  end 
in  a  mystery,  and  all  mysteries  resolve  themselves  into  one — 
the  existence  of  evil.  But,  happily,  this  mystery  need  in  no 
way  oppress  us,  for  it  is  lost  in  the  Plenitude  of  Grod.  The 
explanation  of  it  has  practically  nothing  to  do  with  us.  It 
lies  in  a  region  wholly  apart  from  the  facts  of  common 
life.  When  St.  Paul  tells  us  "  that  it  is  not  of  him  that 
willeth,  nor  of  him  that  runneth,"  he  is  dealing  with  one 
order  of  transcendental  ideas ;  but  when  he  comes  to  the 
common  facts  of  Christian  life,  he  bids  us  will,  and  he 
bids  us  run,  and  he  bids  us  work  out  our  own  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling;  exactly  as  he  tells  us  that  justi- 
fication is  of  faith  alone,  and  not  of  works,  and  yet  con- 
stantly urges  us  to  good  works,  and  tells  us  that  Grod  will 
reward  every  man  according  to  his  works. ^  Beyond  this 
we  cannot  get.  "  Decretum  horribile  fateor,"  said  Calvin, 
"  at  tamen  verum."  Theology  must  illustrate  by  crushing 
analogies  its  irreversible  decrees,  but  it  cannot  touch  the 
sphere  of  practical  experience,  or  weaken  the  exhortations 
of  Christian  morality.  God  predestines ;  man  is  free. 
How  this  is  we  cannot  say  ;  but  so  it  is.  St.  Paul  makes 
no  attempt  to  reconcile  the  two  positions.  "Neither 
here  nor  anywhere  else  does  he  feel  called  upon  to 
deal  with  speculative  extremes.  And  in  whatever  way 
the  question  be  speculatively  adjusted,  absolute  depen- 
dence and  moral  self-determination  are  dot/i  involved  in 
the  immediate  Christian  self-consciousness."^  The  finite 
cannot  reduce  the  infinite  to  conditions,  or  express  by 
syllogisms  the  mutual  relations  of  the  two.  The  truths 
must    be    stated,    when    there    is    need   to    state    them, 

•  ivohUvai    (Rom.  ii.    6 ;  2   Tim.    iv.    8) ;  auTaTr6So(rts  (Col.  iii.  24) ;   uttrehs 
(1  Cor.  iii.  8 ;  ix.  17),  &c. 
«  Baur,  Paul.  ii.  259. 

?2 


244  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

althougli  each  of  them  belongs  to  separate  orders  of 
ideas.  Since  they  cannot  be  reconciled,  they  must  be 
left  side  by  side.  It  is  an  inevitable  necessity,  implied 
throughout  all  Scripture,  that,  as  regards  such  questions, 
the  sphere  of  dogma  and  the  sphere  of  homily  should 
often  be  regarded  as  though  they  were  practically  separate 
from  each  other,  though  in  reality  they  intersect  each 
other.  And  the  reason  of  this  is  that  both  are  enclosed 
in  the  circumference  of  a  sphere  by  far  more  vast — that 
sphere  of  the  Divine,  of  which  for  us  the  centre  is  every- 
where, and  the  circumference,  not  indeed  "  nowhere," 
but  immeasurably  beyond  our  ken.^  This  is  one  comfort. 
And  again,  just  as  St.  Paul  refuses  to  find  the  substantial 
essence  of  morality  anywhere  but  in  the  inmost  dispo- 
sition,, so  he  does  away  with  the  individual  ego  by  raising 
it  to  the  universal  ego — to  that  humanity  which  is  present, 
and  is  identified  with  itself,  in  every  separate  individual.^ 
It  is  unquestionable  that  he  categorically  asserts,  and  that 
without  limitations,  the  redemption  of  the  universe  and  of 
the  race.^  In  that  thought,  and  in  the  thought  of  God's 
infinite  love,  lies  the  gleam  of  light  in  the  saddest  des- 
tinies or  the  most  perplexed  enigmas  of  the  individual. 
The  logical  conclusions  of  an  exaggerated  dogmatism  are 
rectified  by  the  unchangeable  certainties  of  moral  convic- 
tion, and  the  inspired  hopes  of  a  child-like  love. 

"  Ah,  truly,"  says  Eeuss,*  "  if   the  last  word    of   the 
Christian  revelation   is   contained   in   the   image  of    the 

*  The  Rabbis,  to  avoid  even  the  most  distant  semblance  of  irreverent 
anthropomorphism,  often  spoke  of  God  as  Ha-Makum,  "  the  place ;"  and  it  is 
one  of  their  grand  sayings  that  "  the  Universe  is  not  the  place  of  God,  but 
God  is  the  Place  of  the  Universe." 

2  Baur,  Three  CentuHes,  p.  32. 

3  See  Rom.  viii.  19— 24  •  xi.  32 ;  1  Tim.  ii.  3—6  (Acts  iii.  21 ;  Rev.  xsd.  4; 
xxu.  3). 

*  Theol.  Chret  ii.  115. 


THE  POTTER  AND  THE  CLAY.  245 

potter  and  the  clay,  it  is  a  bitter  derision  of  all  the  deep 
needs  and  legitimate  desires  of  a  soul  aspiring  towards  its 
Grod.  This  would  be  at  once  a  satire  of  reason  upon  her- 
self, and  the  suicide  of  revelation."  But  it  is  neither  the 
last  word,  nor  the  o?ili/  word ;  nor  has  it  any  immediate 
observable  bearing  on  the  concrete  development  of  our 
lives.  It  is  not  the  07iJ^  word,  because  in  nine-tenths  of 
Scripture  it  is  as  wholly  excluded  from  the  sphere  of  reve- 
lation as  though  it  had  been  never  revealed  at  all ;  and  it 
is  not  the  last  word,  because  tlu'oughout  the  whole  of 
Scripture,  and  nowhere  more  than  in  the  writings  of  the 
very  Apostle  who  has  faced  this  problem  with  the  most 
heroic  inflexibihty,  we  see  bright  glimpses  of  something 
beyond.  How  little  we  were  intended  to  draw  logical 
conclusions  from  the  metaphor,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
we  are  living  souls,  not  dead  clay ;  and  St.  Paul  elsewhere 
recognised  a  power,  both  within  and  without  our  beings, 
by  which,  as  by  an  omnipotent  alchemy,  mean  vessels 
can  become  precious,  and  vessels  of  earthenware  be  trans- 
muted into  vessels  of  gold.^  Vessels  fitted  for  destruction 
may  be  borne  with  much  long-suffering.  Apparent 
loss  is  made  the  immediate  instrument  of  wider  gain. 
Partial  rejection  is  to  pave  the  way  for  universal 
acceptance.  God  wills  the  salvation  of  all.^  Where 
sin  abounds,  there  grace  superabounds.^  God  giveth 
freely  to  all,  and  freely  calleth  all,  and  His  gifts  and 
calliug  are  without  repentance.  Israel  is  rejected,  Israel 
in  part  is  hardened,  yet  "all  Israel  shall  be  saved."* 
*'  God  shut  up  all  into  disobedience,  that  He  might  pity 
all."^  The  duality  of  election  resolves  itself  into  the  higher 
unity  of  an  all-embracing  counsel  of  favour ;  and  the  sin 

'  2  Tim.  ii.  21.  •  ••  Rom.  xi.  26. 

2  1  Tim.  ii.  4 ;  Tit.  ii.  11;  2  Pet.  iii  9.  «  Rom.  xi.  32. 

8  Rom.  V.  20,  21. 


246  THE    LIFE   'AND    WORK    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

of  man,  even  through  the  long  Divine  oeconomy  of  the 
(Bons,  is  seen  to  be  but  a  moment  in  the  process  towards 
that  absolute  end  of  salvation,  which  is  described  as  the 
time  when  God  shall  be  "  all  things  in  all  things,"  and 
therefore  in  all  men ;  and  when  the  w^hole  groaning  and 
travailing  creation  shall  be  emancipated  into  "  the  freedom 
of  the  glory  of  the  children  of  God."^  If  disobedience  has 
been  universal,  so  too  is  mercy  ;  and  Divine  mercy  is 
stronger  and  wider,  and  more  infinite  and  more  eternal, 
than  human  sin.  Here,  too,  there  is  an  antinomy.  St. 
Paul  recognises  such  a  thing  as  "  perdition ;  "  there  are 
beings  who  are  called  "  the  perishing."^  There  are  warn- 
ings of  terrible  significance  in  Scripture  and  in  experience. 
But  may  we  not  follow  the  example  of  St.  Paul,  who 
quite  incontestably  dwells  by  preference  upon  the  wide 
prospect  of  infinite  felicity  ;  who  seems  always  lost  in  the 
contemplation  of  the  final  triumph  of  all  good  ?  However 
awful  may  be  the  future  retribution  of  sinful  lives,  we 
still  cannot  set  aside — what  true  Christian  would  wish 
to  set  aside  ? — the  Scriptures,  which  say  that  "  as  in  Adam 
all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive  ; "  that 
all  things  tend  "  unto  God,"  as  all  things  are  from  Him 
and  by  Him ;  ^  that  Christ  shall  reign  until  He  hath  put 
all  enemies  under  His  feet,  and  that  the  last  which  shall 
be  destroyed  is  death.* 

Let  us,  then,  see  more  in  detail  how  the  Apostle  deals 
with  a  fact  so  shocking  to  every  Jew  as  the  deliberate 
rejection  of  Israel  from  every  shadow  of  special  privilege 

1  1  Cor.  XV.  22  ;  Rom.  xi.  15—36 ;  vni.  19—23.    See  Baur,  First  Three  Cen- 
turies, p.  72 ;  Pfleiderer,  ii.  256,  272—275 ;  Reuss,  Theol.  Chret.  ii.  23,  seqq. 

2  'Atrowififvot.      Tliis  word  does  not  mean  "  the  lost,"  a  phrase  which  does 
not  exist  in  Scripture,  but  "  the  perishing." 

3  Rom.  xi.  36;  1  Cor.  viii.  6  ;  Col.  i.  16,  17. 

*  1  Cor.  XT.  25—28;  Eph.  i.  20—22;  2  Tim.  i.  10  (Matt.  xi.  27;  Heb,  ii. 
8, 14). 


ST.    PAUL'S    CONTROVERSIAL    TONE.  247 

in  tlie  kingdom  of  God ;  let  us  see  how  lie  proves  a 
doctrine  against  which,  at  first  sight,  it  might  well  have 
seemed  that  the  greater  part  of  the  Old  Testament  and 
1,500  years  of  history  were  alike  arrayed. 

It  should  be  observed  that  in  his  most  impassioned 
polemic  he  always  unites  a  perfect  couciliatoriness  of  tone 
with  an  absolute  rigidity  of  statement.  If  he  must  give 
offence,  he  is  ready  to  give  offence  to  any  extent,  so 
far  as  the  offence  must  inevitably  spring  from  the  truth 
which  it  is  his  sacred  duty  to  proclaim.  Doubtless, 
too,  much  that  he  said  might  be  perv^erted  to  evil 
results ;  be  it  so.  There  are  some  who  abuse  to  evil 
purposes  Grod's  own  sunlight,  and  who  turn  the  doctrine 
of  forgiveness  into  a  curse.  Are  we  to  quench  His 
sunlight?  are  we  to  say  that  He  does  not  forgive? 
Some  Jews  were,  doubtless,  dangerously  shaken  in  all  their 
convictions  by  the  proclamation  of  the  Grospel,  as  some 
Romanists  were  by  the  truths  of  the  Reformation.  Is 
error  to  be  immortal  because  its  eradication  is  painful  ? 
Is  the  mandrake  to  grow,  because  its  roots  shriek  when 
they  are  torn  out  of  the  ground  ?  Or  is  it  not  better,  as 
St.  Gregory  the  Great  said,  that  a  scandal  should  be 
created  than  that  truth  should  be  supjDressed?  There 
is  no  stjde  of  objection  to  the  proclamation  of  a  new  or 
a  forgotten  truth  which  is  so  false,  so  faithless,  and  so 
futile,  as  the  plea  that  it  is  "  dangerous."  But  one  duty 
is  incumbent  on  all  who  teach  what  they  believe  to  be 
the  truths  of  God.  It  is  that  they  should  state  them 
with  all  possible  candour,  courtesy,  forbearance,  con- 
siderateness.  The  controversial  method  of  St.  Paul 
furnishes  the  most  striking  contrast  to  that  of  religious 
controversy  in  almost  every  age.  It  is  as  different  as 
anj^thing  can  be  from  the  reckless  invective  of  a  Jerome 
or  of    a   Luther.      It   bears    no    relation   at    all    to    the 


248  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

unscrupulousness  of  a  worldl}^  ecclesiasticism.  It  is 
removed  by  the  very  utmost  extreme  of  distance  from  the 
malice  of  a  party  criticism,  and  the  Pharisaism  of  a 
loveless  creed. 

Thus,  though  he  knows  that  what  he  has  to  enforce 
will  be  most  unpalatable  to  the  Jews,  and  though  he 
knows  how  virulently  they  hate  him,  how  continuously 
they  have  thwarted  his  teaching  and  persecuted  his  life, 
he  begins  with  an  expression  of  love  to  them  so  tender 
and  so  intense,  that  theologians  little  accustomed  to  an 
illimitable  unselfishness  felt  it  incumbent  upon  them  to 
explain  it  away. 

'*  I  say  the  truth  in  Christ,  I  lie  not,  my  conscience  hearing  me 
witness  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  I  have  great  grief  and  incessant  anguish 
in  my  heart ;"  and  then,  in  the  intensity  of  his  emotion,  he  omits  to 
state  the  cause  of  his  grief,  because  it  is  sufficiently  explained  by  what 
follows  and  what  has  gone  before.  It  is  gi'ief  at  the  thought  that  Israel 
should  be  hardening  their  hearts  against  the  Gospel.  "  For  I  could  have 
wished  my  ovra  self  to  be  anathema  from  Christ  ^  on  behalf  of  my 
brethren,  my  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh,  seeing  that  they  are 
Israelites,  whose  is  the  adoption,^  and  the  Shechinah,^  and  the  covenants, 
and  the  legislation,  and  the  ritual,  and  the  promises,  whose  are  the 
fathers,  and  of  whom  is  Christ,  according  to  the  flesh,  who.  is  over  all — 
God  blessed  for  ever.     Amen."*    On  his  solemn  appeal  to  the  fact  of  his 

1  n-^Jl,  Deut.  vii.  46 ;  Zech.  xiv.  11 ;  Gal.  i.  8,  9 ;  1  Cor.  xii.  3  ;  x\i.  22. 
Strong  natures  have  ever  been  capable  of  bra\dug  even  the  utmost  loss  for  a 
great  end.  "  If  not,  blot  me,  I  pray  thee,  out  of  the  book  which  Thou  hast 
written"  (Ex.  xxxii.  32).  "  Que  mou  nom  soit  fletri,"  said  Danton,  "pourvu 
que  la  France  soit  libre."  "  Let  the  name  of  George  Whitefield  perish  if  God 
be  glorified." 

2  2  Cor.  vi.  18. 

»  Ex.  xvi.  10,;  1  Sam.  iv.  22,  &e.  (LXX.) 

•*  Rom.  ix.  1 — 5.  On  the  punctuation  of  this  last  verse  a  great  controversy 
has  arisen.  Many  editors  since  the  days  of  Erasmus  (and  among  them  Laeh- 
mann,  Tischondorf,  Riickert, Meyer, Fritzsche)  put  the  stop  at  "flesh ;"  others  at 
"all"  (Locke,  Baumgarten,  Crusius);  and  regard  the  concluding  words  as  a 
doxology  to  God  for  the  grandest  of  the  privileges  of  Israel.  In  favour  of 
this  punctuation  is  the  fact  that  Paul,  even  in  his  grandest  Christological 
passages,  yet  nowhere  calls  Chi-ist  "  God  over  all"  nor  ever  applies  to  Him 


GOD    PREDESTINES.  249 

readiness  even  to  abandon  all  hopes  of  salvation  if  thereby  he  could  save 
his  brethren,  I  think  it  only  necessary  to  say  that  the  very  form  in 
which  it  is  expressed  shows  his  sense  that  such  a  wish  is  by  the  very 
nature  of  things  impossible.  Further  explanation  is  superfluous  to  those 
who  feel  how  natural,  how  possible,  is  the  desire  for  even  this  vast  self- 
sacrifice  to  the  great  heart  of  a  Moses  or  a  Paul. 

"  Not,  however,  as  though  the  Word  of  God  has  failed."  ^  This  is 
the  point  which  St.  Paul  has  to  prove,  and  he  does  it  by  showing  that 
God's  gifts  are  matters  of  such  free  choice  that  the  Jew  cannot  put 
forward  any  exclusive  claim  to  their  monopoly. 

In  fact,  all  who  are  Jews  naturally  are  not  Jews  spii-itually — are  not, 
therefore,  in  any  true  sense  heii-s  of  the  promise.  To  be  of  the  seed  of 
Abraham  is  nothing  in  itself.  Abraham  had  many  sons,  but  only  one 
of  them,  the  son  of  Sarah,  was  recognised  in  the  promise.^ 

Not  only  so,  but  even  of  the  two  sons  of  the  son  of  pi'omise  one  was 
utterly  rejected ;  and  so  conipletely  was  this  a  matter  of  choice,  and  so 
entirely  was  it  independent  of  merit,  that  before  there  could  be  any 
question  of  merit,  even  in  the  womb,  the  elder  was  rejected  to  servitude, 
the  younger  chosen  for  dominion.  And  this  is  stated  in  the  strongest 
way  by  the  prophet  Malachi — "Jacob  I  loved,  but  Esau  I  hated."^ 

the  word  (v\o-yr)T6s.  (See  i.  25 ;  1  Cor.  iii.  23 ;  vlii.  6 ;  2  Cor.  i.  3 ;  xi.  31 ; 
Eph.  i.  17  ;  iv.  6 ;  1  Tim.  ii.  5,  &c.)  But,  on  the  other  hand,  a  doctrinal 
oiro|  Xeyoixevov  may,  as  Lauge  says,  mark  a  culminating  point;  and  liaving 
regard  (i.)  to  the  language  which  Paul  uses  (Phil.  ii.  6  ;  Col.  i.  15  ;  ii.  9 ; 
I'Cor.  viii.  6;  2  Cor.  iv.  4),  and  (ii.)  to  the  grammatical  structure  of  the 
sentence,  and  (iii.)  to  the  position  of  iv\oy7)T'bs  (which  in  doxologies  in  the  New 
Testament  stands  always  first),  and  (iv.)  to  the  imanimity  of  all  ancient  com- 
mentators, and  (v.)  to  the  fact  that  the  clause  probably  alludes  to  Ps.  Ixvii.  19 
(LXX.),  and  in  Eph.  iv.  8,  St.  Paul  quotes  the  previous  verse  of  this  Psalm, 
and  applies  it  to  Christ, — the  punctuation  of  our  received  text  can  hardly  be 
rejected.  Yet  there  is  weight  in  Bam-'s  remark  that  /caro  aapKa  is  added  to 
show  that  it  is  as  only  "  after  the  flesh  "  that  the  Jews  could  claim  the  birth 
of  the  Messiah,  and  that  the  "  God  over  all  blessed  for  ever  "  would  have 
been  allowing  too  much  to  Jewish  particularism.  (Of.  Gal.  iv.  4,  yevonevos 
Ik  yvvaiKhs.)  For  a  full  examination  of  the  question,  I  may  refer  to  my  papers 
on  the  text  in  the  Expositor,  1879. 

1  fKire-iTTWKev,  "  fallen  like  a  flower,"  Job  xiv.  2 ;  but  see  1  Cor.  xiii.  8 ; 
James  i.  11. 

2  ix.  6 — 9;  comp.  Nedarim,  f.  31,  1.  "Is  not  Ishmael  an  alien,  and  yet 
of  the  seed  of  Abraham  ?  "  It  is  written,  "  In  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called." 
"  But  is  not  Esau  an  alien,  and  yet  of  the  seed  of  Isaac  ?  "  "  No.  '  In  Isaac,' 
but  not  all  Isaac." 

3  Mai.  i.  2,  3.  Hated  =  "  loved  less  "  (Gen.  xxix.  31 ;  Matt.  vi.  24;  x.  37, 
compared  with  Luke  xiv.  26) ;  and  the  next  verse  shows  that  temporal  position 
is  alluded  to. 


250  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

"Is  God  unjust  thenl"  To  a  natural  logic  the  question  might  seem 
very  excusable,  but  St.  Paul  simply  puts  it  aside  as  irrelevant  and 
impossible,  while  he  re-states  the  fact  which  suggests  it  by  quoting  as 
decisive  two  passages  of  Scripture.^  God  has  an  absolute  right  to  love 
whom  He  will ;  for  He  says  to  Moses,  "  Whomsoever  I  pity,  him  I 
will  pity  ;  and  whomsoever  I  compassionate,  him  I  v/ill  compassionate ; " 
so  that  pity  is  independent  of  human  will  or  effort.  And  God  has  an 
absolute  right  to  hate  whom  He  will ;  for  Scripture  says  to  Pharaoh, 
"  For  this  very  purpose  I  raised  thee  up,  to  display  in  thee  my  power, 
and  that  my  name  may  be  proclaimed  in  all  the  earth."  ^ 

So  then  God  pities,  and  God  hardens,  whom  He  will. 

Again,  the  natural  question  presents  itself — "Why  does  He  then 
blame  ?  If  wickedness  be  the  result  of  Divine  Will,  what  becomes  of 
moral  responsibility  % " 

In  the  first  place,  Paul  implies  that  the  question  is  absurd.  Who 
are  you,  that  yovi  can  call  God  to  account  1  No  matter  what  becomes  of 
moral  responsibility,  it  does  not  at  any  rate  affect  God's  decree.  Man  is 
but  passive  clay  in  the  Potter's  hands ;  He  can  mould  it  as  He  will.^ 

But  Paul  would  not  thus  ynerely  smite  down  tlie  timid 
questioning  of  sinners  by  the  arbitrary  irresponsibility  of 

^  "  These  arguments  of  the  Apostle  are  founded  on  two  assumptions.  The 
first  is  that  the  Scriptures  are  the  word  of  God  ;  and  the  second ,  that  what 
God  actually  does  cannot  be  unrighteous "  (Hodge).  At  the  same  time  it  is 
most  necessary,  as  Bishop  Wordsworth  says,  "  not  to  allow  the  mind  to  dwell 
exclusively  or  mainly  on  single  expressions  occurring  here  or  there,  but  to 
consider  their  relation  to  the  context,  to  the  whole  scope  of  the  Epistle,  to  the 
other  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  and  to  the  general  teachiugs  of  Holy  Writ" 
Epistles,  p.  201). 

^  ix.  14 — 18.  "  Satis  habet,"  says  Calvin,  "  Scripturae  testimoniis  impuros 
latratus  compescere ;  "  but  the  "  impure  barkings  "  (a  phrase  which  St.  Paul 
would  never  have  used)  shows  the  difference  between  the  Apostle  of  the 
Gentiles  and  the  Genevan  Reformer.  :2,K\r]pvvei,  however,  in  ver.  18,  cannot 
mean  "  treats  hardly."  Calovius  says  that  God  does  not  harden  evepynriKcis, 
"by  direct  action,"  but  (rvyx('>p'n'''tKcis  (permissively),  a^opix-qriKws  (by  the  course 
of  events),  iyKaTaXenrriKoJs  (by  abandonment),  and  wapadortKcis  (by  handing  men 
over  to  their  worse  selves).  It  may  be  said  that  this  chapter  contradicts  the 
next,  and  Fritzsclie  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  "  Paul  would  have  better  agreed 
with  himself  if  he  had  been  the  pupil  of  Aristotle,  not  of  Gamaliel ; "  but  the 
contradiction,  or  rather  the  antinomy,  is  not  in  aiiy  of  St.  Paul's  arguments, 
but  in  the  very  nature  of  things. 

^  ix.  19 — 22.  It  was  a  common  metaphor  (Jer,  xviii.  6;  Isa.  xlv.  9; 
Wisd.  XV.  7  i  Sirach  xxxiu.  13). 


ULTIMATE    GOOD.  251 

Infinite  Power.  He  gives  a  gleam  of  liope ;  "he  slieds  over 
the  ultimate  Divine  purposes  a  flash  of  insight.  He  asks 
a  question  which  implies  a  large  and  glorious  answer,  and 
the  very  form  of  the  question  shows  how  little  he  desires 
to  dwell  on  the  unpractical  insoluble  mysteries  of  Divine 
reprobation.^ 

What  if  God,  -willing  to  display  His  wrath,  and  to  make  known 
His  jjower — (he  will  not  say,  "created  vessels  of  wrath,"  or  "prepared 
them  for  destruction,"  but,  swerving  from  a  conclusion  too  terrible 
for  the  wisest) — "  endured  in  Tnuch  long-suffering  vessels  of  wrath 
fitted  for  destruction  .  .  .  1  And  what  if  He  did  this  that  He 
might  also  make  known  the  riches  of  His  glory  towards  the  vessels  of 
mercy  which  He  before  prepared  for  glory  .  .  .  T'  What  if  even 
those  decrees  which  seemed  the  harshest  were  but  steps  towards  an 
ultimate  good?  .  .  .  By  that  blessed  purpose  we  profit,  whom  God 
called  both  out  of  the  Jews  and  out  of  the  Gentiles.  This  calling  is 
illustrated  by  the  language  of  two  passages  of  Hosea,^  in  which  the 
prophet  calls  his  son  and  daughtei'  Lo-ammi  and  Lo-ruhamah  (Not-my- 
people  and  Not-pitied)  because  of  the  rejection  of  Israel,  but  at  the 
same  time  prophesies  the  day  when  they  shall  again  be  His  people,  and 
He  their  God  : — and  by  two  passages  of  Isaiah  ^  in  which  he  at  once 
prophesies  the  rejection  of  the  mass  of  Israel  and  the  presei'vation  of  a 
remnant.* 

Having  thus  established  the  fact  on  Scriptural  authority,  what  is 
the  conclusion  1  Must  it  not  be  that — so  entirely  is  election  a  matter  of 
God's  free  gi-ace — the  Gentiles,  though  they  did  not  pursue  righteous- 
ness, yet  laid  hold  of  justification  by  faith ;  and  that  the  Jews,  though 

'  When  we  read  such  passages  as  Rom.  viii.  22 — 24 ;  Acts  iii.  19,  21,  we 
think  that  St.  Paul  would  have  seen  a  phase  of  truth  in  the  lines — 

"  Safe  in  the  hands  of  one  disposing  power. 
Or  in  the  natal  or  the  mortal  hour  ; 
All  Nature  is  but  Ai-t,  unknown  to  thee  ; 
All  Chance,  Direction  which  thou  canst  not  see ; 
All  Discord,  Harmony  not  understood ; 
All  partial  evil,  universal  good." 
»  Hos.  i.  9,  10  ;  ii.  23. 
3  Isa.  X.  22  ;  i.  9. 

*  ix.  22 — 30.  Ver.  28  is  an  exegetical  translation  which  St.  Paul  adopts 
from  the  LXX.  As  the  form  of  quotation  has  only  an  indirect  bearing  on 
he  argument,  the  reader  must  refer  to  special  commentaries  for  its 
elucidation. 


252  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

they  did  pursue  a  legal  righteousness,  have  not  attained  to  justification  ] 
How  can  such  a  strange  anomaly  be  explained  1  Whatever  may  be 
the  working  of  Divine  election,  humanly  speaking,  their  rejection  is  the 
fault  of  the  Jews.  They  chose  to  aim  at  an  impossible  justification  by 
works,  and  rejected  the  justification  by  faith.  Again  St.  Paul  refers 
to  Isaiah  in  support  of  his  views.^  They  stumbled  at  Christ.  To  them, 
as  to  all  believers,  He  might  have  been  a  firm  rock  of  foundation ; 
they  made  Him  a  stone  of  ofience.^  Tlie  desire  of  his  heart,  his  prayer 
to  Grod,  is  for  their  salvation.  But  their  religious  zeal  has  taken  an 
ignorant  direction.  They  are  aiming  at  justification  by  works,  and 
therefore  will  not  accept  God's  method,  which  is  justification  by  faith.^ 

In  the  path  of  works  they  cannot  succeed,  for  the  Law  finds  its  sole 
end,  and  aim,  and  fulfilment  in  Christ,*  and  through  Him  alone  is  justi- 
fication possible.  Even  these  truths  the  Apostle  finds  in  Scripture,  or 
illustrates  by  Scriptural  quotations.  He  contrasts  the.  statement  of  Moses, 
that  he  who  obeyed  the  ordinances  of  the  Law  should  live  by  them,^ 
with  those  other  words  which  he  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Jiistification 
personified,  "  Say  not  in  thine  heart  who  shall  ascend  into  heaven,  or 
who  shall  descend  into  the  abyss,  but  the  word  is  very  nigh  thee  in  thy 
mouth  and  in  thy  heart,"  which  (being  used  originally  of  the  Law)  he 
explains  of  the  nearness  and  accessibility  of  the  Gospel  which  was  now 
being  preached,  and  which  was  summed  up  in  the  confession  and  belief 
in  Him  as  a  risen  Saviour.  This  is  again  supported  by  two  quotations  in 
almost  the  same  words — one  from  Isaiah  (xxviii.  16),  "Every  one  that 
believeth  on  Him  shall  not  be  ashamed;"  and  one  from  Joel  (ii.  32), 
"  Every  one  that  calleth  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved  " — and 
the  "  every  one  "  of  course  includes  the  Gentile  no  less  than  the  Jew.® 

But  had  the  Jews  enjoyed  a  real  opportunity  of  hearing  the  Gospel  1 
In  a  series  of  questions,  subordinated  to  each  other  with  great  rhetorical 
beauty,  St.  Paul  shows  that  each  necessary  step  has  been  fulfilled — the 
hearing,  the  preachers,  the  mission  of  those  whose  feet  were  beautiful 
\ipon  the  mountains,  and  who  preach  the  glad  tidings  of  peace;  but, 

'  Isa.  viii.  14 ;  xxviii.  16. 

2  In  ix.  33,  the  "  be  ashamed"  of  the  LXX.,  followed  by  St.  Paul,  is  an 
exegetical  translation  of  "  make  haste  "  or  "  flee  hastUy." 

3  ix.  30— X.  4. 

*  X.  4,  T6A0S — i.e.,  the  righteousness  at  which  the  Law  aims  is  accomplished 
in  Chnst,  and  the  Law  leads  to  Him  ;  He  is  its  fulfilment  and  its  termination. 
Its  glory  is  done  away,  but  He  remains,  because  His  eternal  brightness  is  the 
t4\os  tov  Karapyov/jifvou  (Gal.). 

*  X,  A,  B,  eV  avrfj. 

"  X.  4 — 12.  It  is  remarkalile  tliat  in  verse  11  the  important  word  vas  is 
found  ueitlier  in  the  Hebrew  nor  in  the  LXX.     Cf .  ix.  33. 


REJECTION    OF    ISRAEL.  253 

alas !  the  faith  had  been  wanting,  and,  therefore,  also  the  calling  upon 
God.  For  all  had  not  hearkened  to  the  Gospel.  It  was  not  for  want 
of  hearing,  for  in  accordance  with  prophecy  (Ps.  xix.  4)  the  words  of 
the  preachers  had  gone  out  to  all  the  world ;  but  it  was  for  want  of 
faith,  and  this,  too,  had  been  prophesied,  since  Isaiah  said,  "  Who 
believed  our  preaching  1 "  Nor,  again,  was  it  for  want  of  warning. 
Moses  (Deut.  xxxiL  21)  had  told  them  ages  ago  that  God  would  stir  up 
their  jealousy  and  kindle  their  anger  by  means  of  those  Gentiles  whom 
in  their  exclusive  arrogance  they  despised  as  "  no  nation ;"  and  Isaiah 
(Ixv.  1,  2)  says  with  daring  energy,  "  I  was  found  by  such  as  sought  me 
not,  I  became  manifest  to  such  as  inquire  not  after  me,"  whereas  to 
Israel  he  saith,  "  The  whole  day  long  I  outspread  my  hands  to  a  dis- 
obedient and  antagonistic  people."  ^ 

Thus,  with  quotation  after  quotation — there  are  nine 
in  this  chapter  alone,  drawn  chiefly  from  Deuteronomy, 
Isaiah,  and  the  Psalms — does  St.  Paul  state  his  conviction 
as  to  the  present  rejection  of  the  Gospel  by  his  own 
nation  ;  while  he  tries  to  soften  the  bitter  rage  which  it 
was  calculated  to  arouse  both  against  himself  and  against 
his  doctrine,  by  stating  it  in  words  which  would  add 
tenfold  authority  to  the  dialectical  arguments  into  which 
they  are  enwoven.  But  having  thus  established  two  very 
painful,  and  at  first  sight  opposing  truths — namely,  that 
the  Jews  were  being  deprived  of  all  exclusive  privileges  by 
the  decree  of  Grod  (ix.),  and  that  this  forfeiture  was  due 
to  their  o^vn  culpable  disbelief  (x.) — he  now  enters  on  the 
gladder  and  nobler  task  of  explaining  how  these  sad  truths 
are  robbed  of  their  worst  sting,  when  we  recognise  that 
they  are  but  the  partial  and  transient  phenomena  inci- 
dental to  the  evolution  of  a  blessed,  universal,  and  eternal 
scheme. 

"  I  ask,  then,  did  God  reject  His  people  %  Awa.j  with  the  thought ! 
for  at  worst  the  rejection  is  but  partial."  Of  this  he  offers  himself  as 
a  proof,  being  as  he  is  "  an  Israelite,  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  of  the 

»  X.  14—21. 


25  i  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

tribe  of  Benjamin  ;"  and  he  then  quotes  the  analogy  of  the  7,000  whom 
God  "reserved  for  Himself,"  who  in  the  days  of  Elijah  had  not  bowed 
the  knee  to  Baal.  On  this  he  pauses  to  remark  that  the  very  phrase, 
"  I  reserved  for  myself,"  implies  that  this  remnant  was  saved  by  faith, 
and  not  by  works.  But  how  came  it  that  the  majority  had  missed  the 
end  for  which  they  sought  ]  Because,  he  answers,  they  were  hardened  ; 
God  (as  Isaiah  prophesied)  had  sent  them  a  spirit  of  stupor  which  finds 
its  illustration  in  the  phrase,  "  let  their  eyes  be  darkened,"  amid  David's 
prayer  for  the  humiliation  and  bewilderment  of  his  enemies.^ 

But  then  another  awful  question  occurs  :  is  this  hardening,  this 
spiritual  blindness,  to  be  final  ]  "  Did  they  stumble  that  they  may 
uttei-ly  fall  ] "  Again  Paul  exclaims,  Perish  the  thought !  Theii'  very 
fall  was  meant  for  salvation  to  the  Gentiles,  and  to  stimulate  their  own 
hearts  to  better  things.  And  here  his  readers  could  not  but  feel  that  he 
was  explaining  facts  which  were  taking  place  under  their  very  eyes. 
In  every  instance  the  Gospel  had  been  offered  first  to  the  Jew  ;  in  every 
instance  the  Jew  had  rejected  it ;  and  it  was  through  this  very  obstinacy 
that  it  had  now  been  oSered  everywhere  to  the  Gentile.  The  Messiah 
rejected  by  the  Jew  was  daily  being  glorified  as  the  Redeemer  of  the 
Gentile.  The  Church  of  the  Christ  was  now  securely  founded,  but  even 
already  Antioch,  and  Rome,  and  Ephesus,  and  Thessalonica  were  far 
more  its  capitals  than  the  Holy  City.  But  this  fact  revealed  a  trlorious 
anticipation.  If  their  deficiency  was  thus  the  wealth  of  the  Gentiles, 
how  much  more  would  their  replenishment !  It  was  his  grand  mission  to 
preach  this  to  the  Gentiles,  and  thereby,  if  possible,  to  stir  ihe  Jews  to 
emulation,  for  if  their  rejection  be  the  world's  reconciliation,  what  will 
be  their  acceptance  but  life  from  the  dead  1 

And  that  there  will  be  this  restoration  of  Israel  he 
illustrates  by  a  double  metaphor. 

i.  When  the  heave-ofiering  was  offered,  the  whole  lump  of  dough 
acquired  sacredness  from  the  fact  that  a  portion  of  it  was  sanctified  to 
the  Lord.  So  with  Israel.  Their  first-fruits — Abraham  and  their 
patriarchal  fathers — were  holy,  and  their  holiness  was  ideally  attribut- 
able to  all  the  race. 

ii  The  second  metaphor  has  a  wider  applicability.  The  root  of  the 
olive-tree  is  the  source  of  its  fruitfulness ;  but  if  some  of  its  branches 
lose  their  fruitfulness  and  become  withered,  they  are  lopped  off"  and  are 
replaced  by  grafts  of  the  wild  olive,  which  then  shares  the  richness  of 

^  xL  1—11. 


THE    OLIVE    AND    THE    OLEASTER.  255 

the  tree.  Such  withered  branches  were  the  present  unbelieving  majority 
of  Israel.  Tliat  they  should  be  lopped  off  is  a  part  of  God's  just  and 
necessary  severity.  To  explain  this  truth — to  bring  it  home  to  the 
pained  and  angry  consciousness  of  his  people — has  been  one  of  his  objects 
in  this  great  Ejiistle ;  and  he  has  carried  it  out,  at  whatever  cost,  with 
a  most  unflinching  sincei'ity.  But  meanwhile,  if  the  Gentiles  in  their 
turn  were  tempted  to  assume  the  airs  of  particularism  with  which  the 
Jews  had  so  long  gloried  over  them,  what  a  warning  should  be  con- 
veyed to  them  by  the  state  of  things  here  shadowed  forth  !  And  how 
much  consolation  might  the  Jew  find  in  this  metaphor  to  revive  the 
fainting  hopes  of  his  patriotism,  and  to  alleviate  his  wounded  pride  of 
nationality  by  gentler  and  holier  thoughts  !  For  Christ,  after  all,  was 
a  rod  of  the  stem  of  Jesse,  and  a  branch  out  of  his  roots.  The  Gentiles 
were  admitted  into  the  Church  through  the  vestibule  of  the  Temple. 
With  the  JeAvs  had  remained  till  this  moment  the  oracles  of  God.  In 
Judaism — its  privileges,  its  promises,  its  prophecies — were  the  germs  of 
Christianity.  The  new  rich  fruitfulness  of  the  Gentiles  was  drawn 
from  the  tree  into  which  they  had  been  grafted.  Little  cause  had  they 
to  boast  against  the  natural  branches.  Deep  cause  had  they  to  take 
warning  by  the  fate  which  those  branches  had  undergone.  They,  in 
their  turn,  might  be  lopped  ofl",  and — though  here  the  metaphor  as  such 
breaks  down — the  old  branches  might  be  grafted  into  their  proper  place 
once  more.^  Let  them  remember  that  faith  was  the  source  of  then-  new 
privileges,  as  the  want  of  it  had  caused  the  ruin  of  those  whom  they 
replaced  ;  let  them  not  be  high-minded,  but  fear.^ 

The  concluding  words  of  this  section  of  the  Epistle 
open  a  glorious  perspective  of  ultimate  hope  for  all  whose 
hearts  are  sufficiently  large  and  loving  to  accept  it.  He 
calls  on  the  brethren  not  to  ignore  the  mystery  that  the 
partial  hardening  of  Israel  should  only  last  till  the  fulness 
of  the  Gentiles  should  come  in ;  and  he  appeals  to  Scrip- 
ture (Isa.  lix.  20)  to  support  his  prophecy  that  "  all  Israel 
shall  be  saved,"  beloved  as  they  are  for  the  sake  of  their 
fathers  as  regards  the  election  of  grace,  though  now 
alienated  for  the  blessing  of  the  Gentiles  as  regards  the 
Gospel. 

^  This  of  course  was,  physically,  an  impossible  method  of  iyKfyTpifffiSs ; 
the  other,  if  adopted  at  all,  was  most  rare.     (F.  supra,  i.,  p.  21.) 
9  xi.  16—24. 


256  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

For  God's  gifts  and  calling  admit  of  no  revocation ;  once  given,  they 
are  given  for  ever.^  Once  themselves  disobedientj  the  Gentiles  were 
now  pitied  in  consequence  of  the  disobedience  of  the  Jews  ;  so  the  Jews 
were  now  disobedient,  but  when  the  pity  shown  to  the  Gentiles  had 
achieved  their  full  redemption,  the  Jews  in  turn  should  share  in  it.* 
"  For  " — such  is  the  grand  conclusion  of  this  sustained  exposition  of  the 
Divine  purposes — "God  shut  up  all  into  disobedience,^  that  He  might  show 
mercy  unto  alL" — Many  are  anxious,  in  accordance  with  their  theolo- 
gical views,  to  weaken  or  explain  away  the  meaning  of  these  words  ;  to 
show  that  "  all  "  does  not  really  mean  "  all  "  in  the  glad,  thovigh  it  does 
in  the  gloomy  clause;  or  to  show  that  "having  mercy  upon  all"  is 
quite  consistent  with  the  final  ruin  of  the  vast  majority.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  the  Apostle,  as  he  contemplates  the  universality  of  free  redeeming 
grace,  bursts  into  a  ptean  of  praise  and  prophecy  :  "  0  the  depth  of  the 
riches,  and  wisdom,  and  knowledge  of  God!  how  unsearchable  are  His 
judgments,  and  untrackable  His  ways  !  For  who  ever  fathomed  the 
mind  of  the  Lord,  or  who  ever  became  His  counsellor  ?  Or  who  gave 
Him  first,  and  it  shall  be  repaid  to  him  1  For  from  Him,  and  through 
Him,  and  unto  Him  are  all  things.     To  Him  be  glory  for  ever.  Amen." 

^  Hos.  xiii.  14,  "  I  wiU  redeem  them  from  death  .  .  .  repentance 
shall  be  hid  from  mine  eyes." 

^  xi.  31.  If,  as  in  this  explanation,  the  comma  is  placed  after  rfirelQ-rtaav, 
the  connexion  of  t$  ifxerepcf  eAeei  is  very  awkward,  and  almost  unparalleled. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  antithesis  is  spoiled  if  we  place  the  comma  after  eA.ee<, 
and  render  it,  "  So  they  too  now  disbelieved  (or  disobeyed)  the  pity  shown 
to  you." 

^  Li  the  declaratory  sense. 


CHAPTEE   XXXIX. 

FRUITS    OF    FAITH. 

**  La  foi  justifie  quand  il  opere,  mais  il  n'opere  que  par  la  charite " 
(Quesnel). 

"  Not  that  God  dotli  require  nothing  unto  happiness  at  the  hands  of  man 
save  only  a  naked  belief  (for  hope  and  charity  we  may  not  exclude),  but  that 
without  belief  all  other  things  are  as  nothing ;  and  it  is  the  ground  of  those 
other  divane  virtues"  (Hooker,  Eccl.  Pol.  I.  xi.  6). 

"  Faith  doth  not  shut  out  repentance,  hope,  love,  dread,  and  the  fear  of 
God,  to  be  joined  with  faith  in  every  man  that  is  justified ;  but  it  shutteth 
them  out  from  the  office  of  justifying"  {Homily  of  Salvation,  pt.  ii.). 

[It  is  needless  to  point  out  that  the  sense  of  the  word  "faith"  in  these 
passages  is  by  no  means  the  Pauline  sense  of  the  word."] 

At  this  point  there  is  a  marked  break  in  the  letter, 
and  we  feel  that  the  writer  has  now  accomplished  the 
main  object  for  which  he  wrote.  But  to  this,  as  to  all 
his  letters,  he  adds  those  noble  practical  exhortations, 
which  are  thus  made  to  rest,  not  on  their  own  force  and 
beauty,  but  on  the  securer  basis  of  the  principles  which 
he  lays  down  in  the  doctrinal  portion.  No  one  felt  more 
deeply  than  St.  Paul  that  it  requires  great  principles  to 
secure  our  faithfulness  to  little  duties,  and  that  every 
duty,  however  apparently  insignificant,  acquires  a  real 
grandeur  when  it  is  regarded  in  the  light  of  those  prin- 
ciples from  which  its  fulfilment  springs.  Since,  then,  the 
mercy  and  pity  of  God,  as  being  the  source  of  His  free 
grace,  have  been  dwelt  upon  throughout  the  Epistle,  St. 
Paul  begins  the  practical  part  of  it — "  I  exhort  you 
therefore,  brethren,  by  the  compassions  of  God" — for  these, 
and  not  the  difficult  doctrines  of  election  and  reprobation, 
r 


258  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

are  prominent  in  liis  mind — ''to  present  your  bodies,"  not 
like  the  dead  offerings  of  Heathenism  or  Judaism,  but 
"  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  well-pleasing  to  God — your 
reasonable  service,  and  not  to  be  conformed  to  this  world, 
but  to  be  transformed  ^  in  the  renewing  .of  your  mind, 
that  ye  may  discriminate  what  is  the  will  of  God,  good 
and  acceptable  to  Him,  and  perfect." 

This  general  exhortation  is  then  carried  into  details, 
unsystematically  indeed,  and  even  unsyntactically,  but 
with  an  evident  rush  and  glow  of  feeling  which  gives  to 
the  language  a  perfection  transcending  that  of  conscious 
art.^  The  prevalent  thought  is  the  duty  of  love : — to 
the  brethren,  love  without  dissimulation ;  to  the  Church, 
love  without  struggling  self-assertion ;  to  the  civil  power, 
love  without  fear;  to  the  world,  love  without  despising 
its  rights  or  mingling  with  its  immoralities.^  First,  by 
the  grace  given  to  him,  he  urges  them  "  not  to  be  high- 
minded  above  what  they  ought  to  be  minded,  but  to  mind 
to  be  sober-minded,*  each  in  proportion  to  their  God- 
apportioned  receptivity  of  faith ; "  and  he  illustrates  and 
enforces  this  duty  of  modest  simplicity  in  the  fulfilment 
of  their  mutual  ministries,^  by  touching  once  more  on 
the  apologue   of  the  body  and  the  members,^  which   he 

^  Yer.  2,  a-vffxvf^aTl^ea-ee,  "fasliio7ied  in  accorAsmce ;"  fieTafiop(povaBe,  "tr&TiB- 
formed."  ^xwa>  as  in  Phil.  ii.  8,  is  the  outward,  transitory  fashion ;  ('■op(pTit, 
the  abidinpf  and  substantial  form. 

^  Yer.  3,  l^-h  inrep(ppoi/e7y  Trap'  t  Se'i  (ppovuv,  dWa  (ppovelv  us  rh  fftatppoveiv. 

^  Lange  ad  loc. 

*  xii.  3. 

*  In  ver.  6  the  "prophecy  [i.e.,  high  Christian  teaching]  according  to  the 
proportion  of  faith  "  {KaTo.  t^v  dvaXoylav  TTjs  iria-rews)  means  that  the  Christian 
teacher  is  to  keep  within  the  limits  of  his  gift  assigned  him  by  his  indi- 
viduality  (Tholuck),  i.e.,  not  to  push  his  x»P"^Ma  as  a  preacher  into  dispro- 
portionate prominence  (Deut.  xviii.  18).  The  objective  sense  of  wia-Tts  as  a 
body  of  doctrines  is  later.  Hence  the  common  rule  of  explaining  Scripture, 
"  according  to  the  analogy  of  faith,"  though  most  true  and  necessary,  is  a 
misapplication  of  the  original  meaning  of  the  phrase. 

6  1  Cor.  xii.  12—27. 


PRACTICAL   EXHORTATIONS.  259 

has  already  applied  in  liis  Letter  to  tlie  Corintliians.  The 
moral  of  the  metaphor  is  that  "  Diversity  without  unity  is 
disorder;  unity  without  diversity  is  death." ^  Then  with 
a  free  interchange  of  participles,  infinitives,  and  imperatives, 
and  wdth  a  mixture  of  general  and  special  exhortations,  he 
urges  them  to  love,  kindliness,  zeal,  hope,  patience,  prayer, 
generosity,  forgiveness,  sympathy,  mutual  esteem,  self- 
restraint,  the  steady  love  of  God,  the  steady  loathing  of  evil, 
the  deliberate  factory  of  virtue  over  vice.  It  is  clear  that 
the  dangers  which  he  most  apprehended  among  the  Eoman 
Chi'istians  were  those  exacerbations  which  spring  from  an 
unloving  and  over-bearing  seK-confidence ;  but  he  gives 
a  general  form  to  all  his  precepts,  and  the  chapter  stands 
unrivalled  as  a  spontaneous  sketch  of  the  fairest  graces 
which  can  adorn  the  Christian  life.^ 

The  first  part  of   the  thirteenth  chaptei'  has  a  more 

'  Lange.  Tlie  conception  of  Christian  fellowship  involves  both  unity  and 
variety.  "  The  Spirit  resolves  the  variety  into  unity,  introduces  variety  into 
the  unity,  and  reconciles  unity  to  itself  through  variety  "  (Baur). 

'^  xii.  1 — 21.  As  regards  special  expressions  in  this  chapter,  we  may  notice — 
ver.  9,  atroa-rvyovvTes  "  loathing ;  "  Ko\\<i/j.evoi,  "  bridal  intimacy  with."  Yer. 
10,  rfj  (pi\a5i\(pia.  <pi\6a-Topyot,  "  love  your  brethren  in  the  faith  as  though  they 
were  brethren  in  blood  ;"  Trpotiyovfievoi,  Yulg.  "  mvicerri praevenientes,"  "antici- 
pating one  another,  and  going  before  one  another  as  guides  in  giving  honour  " 
(ver.  11).  The  evidence  between  the  readings  /<oip^,  "  serving  the  opportunity," 
and  Kvpicy,  "  the  Lord,"  is  very  nicely  balanced,  but  probably  rose  from  the 
abbreviation  Kpv-  The  other  clause  is,  "In  zealous  work  not  slothful; 
boiling  in  spirit"  (cf.  the  «73,  "a  proiihet").  In  ver.  13,  fiueiats,  "memories," 
can  hardly  be  the  true  reading.  In  ver.  14,  the  SicS/covres, "  pursuing  hospitality," 
may  have  suggested  the  thought  of  SidKovTas,  "  persecutors ; "  ver.  16,  to7s 
raTreii'o7s  a-vvanaySiMfvoi  is  either  "  modestissimorum  exempla  sectantes  "  (Grot.), 
"  letting  the  lowly  lead  you  with  them  by  the  hand  "  {masc),  or  "  humilibus 
rebus  obsecundantes,"  "going  along  with  lowly  things  "  (metti.).  Yer.  19, 
Sore  tSttov  rfj  opyy,  either  (1)  "  Give  place  for  the  di\'ine  wrd,th  to  work " 
(Chrys.,  Aug.,  &c.) ;  or  (2),  "  Give  room  to  your  own  anger  " — i.e.,  defer  its 
outbreak — tliis,  however,  would  be  a  Latinism,  "irae  spatiumd  are  (cf.  Yirg. 
Mn.  iv.  433) ;  or  (3)  "  Give  place  to,  yield  before,  the  wrath  of  your  enemy." 
The  first  is  right.  Yer.  20,  "  coals  of  fire  "  (Prov.  xxv.  21, 22)  to  melt  him  to 
penitence  and  beneficent  shame.  The  chapter  is  full  of  beautiful  trilogies  of 
expression. 

r  2 


260  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

obviously  special  bearing.  It  is  occupied  by  a  very 
earnest  exhortation  to  obedience  towards  the  civil  power, 
based  on  the  repeated  statements  that  it  is  ordained  of 
God ;  that  its  aim  is  the  necessary  suppression  of  evil ; 
that  it  was  not,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  any  source 
of  terror  to  a  blameless  life ;  and  that  it  should  be  obeyed 
and  respected,  not  of  unwilling  compulsion,  but  as  a 
matter  of  right  and  conscience.^  This  was,  indeed,  the 
reason  why  they  paid  taxes,^  and  why  the  payment  of 
them  should  be  regarded  as  a  duty  to  God.^ 

The  warmth  with  which  St.  Paul  speaks  thus  of  the 
functions  of  civil  governors  may,  at  first  sight,  seem  sur- 
prising, when  we  remember  that  a  Helius  was  in  the  Prse- 
fecture,  a  Tigellinus  in  the  Prsetorium,  a  Gessius  Plorus 
in  the  provinces,  and  a  Nero  on  the  throne.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Neronian  perse- 
cution had  not  yet  broken  out ;  and  that  the  iniquities  of 
individual  emperors  and  individual  governors,  while  it  had 
free  rein  in  every  question  which  affected  their  greed,  their 
ambition,  or  their  lust,  had  not  as  yet  by  any  means 
destroyed  the  magnificent  ideal  of  Eoman  Law.  If  there 
were  bad  rulers,  there  were  also  good  ones.  A  Cicero  as 
well  as  a  Yerres  had  once  been  provincial  governors  -,  a, 
Barea  Soranus  as  well  as  a  Felix.  The  Eoman  govern- 
ment, corrupt  as  it  often  was  in  special  instances,  was  yet 


^  xiii.  5,  aydyKT)  (7,  8,  Aug.)  virordcTiTeaBe  (D,  E,  F,  G,  Yulg.  Lutlier), 
•'  Yield  to  necessity."  "  Pray  for  the  establislied  Government,"  said  Rabbi 
Clianeena,  "for  without  it  men  would  eat  one  another"  {Abhoda  Zara, 
f.  4,  1).  Josephus  calls  Judas  the  Gaulouite  "the  author  of  the  fourth  sect 
of  Jewish  philosophy,"  who  liave  "  an  inviolable  attachment  to  liberty,"  and 
say  that  God  is  to  be  the  only  Ruler  (Antt.  xxiii.  1,  §  6). 

2  xiii.  6,  Te\e7Te  is   the  indicative ;    not,  as  in   the   A.Y.,   an  imperative 
(Matt.  xxii.  21).     In  ver.  4  the  /xaxatpa  refers  to  the  jus  gladii.     A  pro- 
vincial governor  on  starting  was  presented  with  a  dagger  by  the  Emperor. 
Trajan,  in  giving  it,  used  the  words — " Pro  me ;  si  merear,  in  me" 
xiii.  1—7. 


ROMAN    GOVERNMENT.  261 

tli3  one  grand  poVer  which  held  in  check  the  anarchic 
forces  which  but  for  its  control  were  "  nursing  the  im- 
patient earthquake."  If  now  and  then  it  broke  down  in 
minor  matters,  and  more  rarely  on  a  large  scale,  yet  the 
total  area  of  legal  prescriptions  was  kept  unravaged  by  mis- 
chievous injustice.  St,  Paul  had  himself  suffered  from 
local  tyranny  at  Philippi,  but  on  the  whole,  up  to  this  time, 
he  had  some  reason  to  be  grateful  to  the  impartiality  of 
Eoman  law.  At  Corinth  he  had  been  protected  by  the  dis- 
dainful justice  of  Gallio,  at  Ephesus  by  the  sensible  appeal 
of  the  public  secretary ;  and  not  long  afterwards  he  owed 
his  life  to  the  soldier-like  energy  of  a  Lysias,  and  the  im- 
partial protection  of  a  Festus,  and  even  of  a  Felix.  Nay, 
even  at  his  first  trial  his  undefended  innocence  prevailed 
not  only  over  all  the  public  authority  which  could  be  ar- 
ra3'-ed  against  him  by  Sadducean  priests  and  a  hostile  San- 
hedrin,  but  even  over  the  secret  influence  of  an  Ahturus  and 
a  Poppsea.  Nor  had  the  Jews  any  reason  to  be  fretful 
and  insubordinate.  If  the  ferocity  of  Sejanus  and  the 
alarm  of  Claudius  had  caused  them  much  suffering  at 
Eome,  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  they  had  been  protected  by 
a  Julius  and  an  Augustus,  and  they  were  in  possession  of 
legal  immunities  which  gave  to  their  religion  the  recog- 
nised dignity  of  a  religio  licita.  It  may  safely  be  said  that, 
in  many  a  great  city,  it  was  to  the  inviolable  strength  and 
grandeur  of  Roman  law  that  they  owed  their  very  exist- 
ence ;  because,  had  it  not  been  for  the  protection  thus 
afforded  to  them,  they  might  have  been  liable  to  perish  by 
the  exterminating  fury  of  Pagan  populations  by  whom 
they  were  at  once  envied  and  disliked.^ 

No  doubt  the  force  of  these  considerations  would  be 
fully  felt  by  those  Jews  who  had  profited  by  Hellenistic 

^  Thus  the  later  Rabbis  found  it  necessary  to  say,  with  Shemuel,  "  The  law 
of  the  Gentile  kingdom  is  valid  "  {Babha  Kama,  f .  113,  1). 


262  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

culture.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  St.  Paul  is  here 
dealing  with  religious  rather  than  with  political  or  even 
theocratic  prejudices.  The  early  Church  was  deeply 
affected  by  Essene  and  Ebionitic  elements,  and  St.  Paul's 
enforcement  of  the  truth  that  the  civil  power  derives  its 
authority  from  God,  points  to  the  antithesis  that  it  was 
Tiot  the  mere  vassalage  of  the  devil.  It  was  not  likely 
that  at  Pome  there  should  be  any  of  that  zealot  fanaticism 
which  held  it  unlawful  for  a  Jew  to  recognise  any  other 
earthly  ruler  besides  Grod,  and  looked  on  the  pa3^ment  of 
tribute  as  a  sort  of  apostasy.^  It  is  far  more  likely 
that  the  Apostle  is  striving  to  counteract  the  restless 
insubordination  which  might  spring  from  the  prevalence 
of  chiliastic  notions  such  as  those  which  we  find  in  the 
Clementine  Homilies,  that  "  the  present  world  with  all 
its  earthly  powers  is  the  kingdom  of  the  devil,"  and  that 
so  far  from  regarding  the  civil  governor  as  "  the  minister 
of  God  for  good,"  the  child  of  the  future  could  only  look 
upon  him  as  the  embodied  representative  of  a  spiritual 
enemy.  This  unpractical  and  dualistic  view  might  even 
claim  on  its  side  certain  phrases  alluding  to  the  moral 
wickedness  of  the  world,  which  had  a  wholly  different 
application;"  and  therefore  Paul,  with  his  usual  firmness, 
lays  down  in  unmistakable  terms  the  rule  which,  humanly 
speaking,  could  alone  save  the  rising  Church  from  utter 
extinction — the  rule,  namely,  of  holding  aloof  from  political 
disturbances.  On  the  whole,  both  Jews  and  Christians 
had  learnt  the  lesson  well,  and  it  was,  therefore,  the  more 
necessary  that  the  good  effects  of  that  faithful  fulfilment 
of  the  duties  of  citizenship,  to  which  both  Jewish  historians 
and  Christian  fathers    constantly  appeal,  should  not   be 

1  Matt.  xxii.  17. 

^  John  xii.  31,  b  i.pxwv  tov  k6(Thov  toJtov  ;  Eph.  ii.  2,  rhy  &pxovTa  ttjs  t^ovalas 
rod  aepoSt 


THE    STRONG    AND    THE    WEAK.  263 

obliterated  by  the  fanatical  theories  of  incipient  Mani- 
chees. 

The  question  as  to  the  payment  of  civil  dues 
leads  St.  Paul  naturally  to  speak  of  the  payment  of 
other  dues.  The  one  debt  which  the  Christian  owes 
to  all  men  is  the  debt  of  love — that  love  which  prevents 
us  from  all  wTong-doing,  and  is  therefore  the  fulfilment  of 
the  law.  To  this  love  he  invites  them  in  a  powerful  ap- 
peal, founded  on  the  depth  of  the  night  and  the  nearness  of 
the  dawn,  so  that  it  was  high  time  to  put  away  the  works 
of  darkness  and  put  on  the  arms  of  light  ^ — nay,  more, 
to  put  on,  as  a  close-fitting  robe,  by  close  spiritual  com- 
munion, the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  Himself.^ 

The  fourteenth  chapter  again  reveals  the  existence  of 
Ebionitic  elements  in  the  Eoman  Church.  In  a  strange 
city,  and  especially  if  he  were  not  free,  a  scrupulous  Jew, 
uninfluenced  by  Hellenism,  would  find  it  so  impossible  to 
fulfil  the  requirements  of  the  Law  respecting  clean  and  un- 
clean meats,  and  still  more  the  many  minute  additions 
which  Eabbinic  Pharisaism  had  made  to  those  requirements, 
that  he  would  be  forced  either  to  sacrifice  his  convictions, 
or  to  reduce  his  diet  to  the  simplest  elements.  As  St.  Paul 
does  not  allude  to  the  Law,  it  is  probable  that  he  is  here 
dealing  with  scruples  even  more  deeply  seated.  His  object 
is  to  reconcile  the  antagonistic  feelings  of  two  classes  of 
Christians,  whom  he  calls  respectively  the  "  strong  "  and 
the  "weak."  The  "strong"  regarded  all  days  as  equally 
sacred,  or,  as  the  "  weak  "  would  have  said,  as  equally  pro- 
fane; whereas  the  "  weak  "  sun-ounded  the  Sabbath  and  the 
Jewish  festivals  with  regulations  intended  to  secure  their 
rigid  observance.^    Again,  the  "  strong  "  ate  food  of  every 

'  xiii.  12,  or  "  the  deeds  of  liglit "  {fpya,  A,  D,  E). 
2  Cf.  Gal.  iii.  27,  Xpia-rhu  iveUffaade. 

^  Rom.  xiv.  6.  The  words,  "  and  he  who  regardeth  not  the  day,  to  the  Lord 
he  doth  not  regard  it,"  are  omitted  by  «,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G,  Vet.,  It.,  Vulg., 


264  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

description  without  the  smallest  scruple,  whereas  the 
"  weak  "  looked  on  all  animal  food  with  such  disgust  and 
suspicion  that  they  would  eat  nothing  but  herbs. ^  It  is 
obvious  that  in  adopting  so  severe  a  course  they  went  far 
beyond  the  requirements  of  Levitism,  and  when  we  find 
the  very  same  views  and  practices  existing  in  Eome  during 
the  next  century,^  it  is  hardly  possible  to  avoid  the  sus- 
picion that  the  Judaic  Christianity  of  these  "weak" 
brethren  was  tinged  with  those  Essene,  Phrygian,  or  Py- 
thag^orean  elements  which  led  them  to  look  on  the  material 
and  the  sensuous  as  something  intrinsically  dangerous,  if 
not  as  positively  evil.  Epiphanius  says  that  Ebion  visited 
Rome  ;  ^  and  although  it  is  more  than  doubtful  whether 
there  ever  was  such  a  person,  yet  the  statement  shows  the 
prevalence  of  such  views.  Now  one  of  the  Ebionitic  prin- 
ciples was  that  all  meat  is  impure,*  and  in  the  Clementine 
Homilies  the  eating  of  meat  is  attributed  to  impure  demons 
and  blood-thirsty  giants ;  and  the  Apostle  Peter  is  made 
to  say  to  Clement  that  "  he  makes  use  only  of  bread  and 
olives  and  (sparingly)  of  other  vegetables"^ — a  tradition 
which  we  also  find  attached  by  Clemens  of  Alexandria  to 
the  names  of  St.  Matthew  and  James  the  Lord's  brother, 
and  the  latter  we  are  told  drank  no  wine  or  strong  drink.^ 

Copt.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Syriac  has  it,  and  tlie  omission  may  he  due  to 
the  homoeoteleuton  of  <ppovei,  or  to  doctrinal  prejudices,  which  regarded  the 
clause  as  dangerous.  The  clause  is  far  too  liberal  to  have  been  inserted  by  a 
second  centuiy  scribe ;  but  even  if  it  be  omitted,  the  principle  which  it  involves 
is  clearly  implied  in  the  first  half  of  the  verse,  and  in  the  previous  verse. 

*  Seneca  tells  us  that  in  his  youth  he  had  adojjted  from  his  Pythagorean 
teacher  Sotion  the  practice  of  vegetarianism,  but  his  father  made  him  give  it 
np  because  it  rendered  him  liable  to  the  suspicion  of  foreign  superstitions 
(probably  Judaism).     See  Seekers  after  God,  p.  15. 

2  The  Ebiouites  regarded  the  Sabbath  as  the  holiest  command  of  the 
Jewish  religion. 

^  Haer.  xxx.  18. 

■•  Epiphan.  Haer.  xxx.  15. 

^  Horn.  xii.  6. 

«  Paedutj.  ii.  1 ;  Euseb.  H.  E.  ii.  2,  3 ;  Baur,  Paul  i.  358. 


THE    STRONG  AND    THE   WEAK.  265 

It  is  very  possible  that  St.  Paul  did  not  see  the  necessity 
of  formally  warning  the  Roman  Christians  against  the 
tendency  to  dualism.  This  might  be  the  subterranean 
origin  of  wrong  notions  long  before  it  had  risen  into  clear 
consciousness.  What  St.  Paul  did  see  was  the  danger  that 
if  "  the  weak  "  prevailed,  Christianity  might  be  frittered 
away  into  a  troublesome  and  censorius  externalism  ;  or  that 
the  "  strong  "  might  treat  their  weaker  brethren  with  a 
rough  and  self -exalting  contempt  which  would  either  put 
force  on  tender  consciences,  or  create  a  permanent  disrup- 
tion between  the  different  members  of  the  Church.^ 

He  treats  the  difficulty  in  the  same  masterly  manner — 
broad  yet  sympathetic,  inflexible  in  convictions  yet  con- 
siderate towards  prejudices — which  he  had  already  dis- 
played in  dealing  with  a  similar  question  in  his  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians.  But  the  difference^  between  the  tone 
adopted  in  this  chapter  and  that  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians  is  very  remarkable,  and  shows  the  admirable  tact 
and  versatility  of  the  Apostle.  He  is  there  establishing  the 
rights  of  Christian  freedom  against  the  encroachments  of 
Pharisaism,  so  that  the  assertion  of  the  liberty  of  the  Gren- 
tiles  was  a  matter  of  essential  importance.  He  therefore 
speaks,  as  it  was  a  duty  to  speak,  with  an  almost  rough  con- 
tempt of  attaching  any  vital  importance  to  "beggarly  ele- 
ments." Here  his  tone  is  altogether  different,  because  his 
object  is  altogether  different,  as  also  were  his  readers.  The 
Tight  to  enjoy  our  liberty  he  can  here  in  the  most  absolute 
manner  assume.  As  to  the  merit  of  the  particular  scrupulo- 
sities which  were  in  vogue  among  the  weak,  he  has  no  occa- 
sion to  do  more  than  imply  his  own  indifference.  AVhat  is 
here  necessary  is  to  warn  the  "  strong  "  not  to  be  arrogant 
in  their  condemnations,  and  the  "  weak  "  not  to  be  super- 

1  Gal.  iii.;  v,  1— 9;  vi.  12, 13. 


266  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

cilious  in  their  self-esteem.  He  lias  shown  the  universality 
of  guilt,  and  the  universality  of  grace,  and  he  has  now  to 
show  the  sacred  duty  of  unanimity  among  those  thus 
universally  called,  defending  this  unanimity  against  cen- 
soriousness  on  the  one  hand,  and  against  disdain  on  the 
other. 

He  does  not  attempt  to  conceal  the  bent  of  his  own 
sympathies  ;  he  declares  himself  quite  unambiguously  on 
the  side  of  the  "  strong."  The  life  of  the  Christian  is  a 
life  in  Christ,  and  rises  transcendantly  above  the  minutiae 
of  ritual,  or  the  self-torments  of  asceticism.  "  The  king- 
dom of  God  "—such  is  the  great  axiom  which  he  lays 
down  for  the  decision  of  all  such  questions — "  is  not  meat 
and  drink ;  but  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost."  The  "strong,"  therefore,  in  St.  Paul's 
judgment,  were  in  the  right.  But,  for  this  very  reason, 
it  was  necessary  to  warn  them  against  the  contemptuous 
assertion  of  their  superior  wisdom. 

i.  Let  each  party  follow  their  own  coiirse  if  they  believe  it  to  be 
the  best,  but  let  each  abstain  from  the  guilt  and  folly  of  condemning  the 
other.  God,  not  man,  is  the  judge,  by  whose  judgment  each  man  stands 
or  falls.  Nay,  he  shall  stand,  for  God  is  able  to  make  him  stand. 
Conceited  illuminism  is  as  deep  an  offence  against  charity  as  saintly  self- 
satisfaction.  The  first  counsel,  then,  on  which  he  strongly  insists  is  mutual 
forbearance,  the  careful  avoidance  of  arguments  and  discussions  about 
disputed  points.  Let  there  be  no  intolerant  scrupulosity,  and  no  un- 
charitable disdain,  but  an  avoidance  of  dispute  and  a  reciprocal  recog- 
nition of  honest  convictions.  These  differences  are  not  about  essentials, 
and  it  is  not  for  any  man  to  adopt  a  violently  dogmatic  or  uncharitably 
contemptuous  tone  towards  those  who  differ  from  himself  respecting 
them.  The  party-spirit  of  religious  bodies  too  often  finds  the  fuel  for 
its  burning  questions  in  mere  weeds  and  straw,  ^ 

ii.  The  second  counsel  is  the  cultivation  of  careful  consideration 
■which  shall  not  shock  tender  consciences ;  it  is,  in  short,  condescendence 

1  xiv.  1 — 12,  TrpoaXa/xfiaffaee,  "  take  by  the  hand ;"  /J-v  ds  SiaKpla-eis  SiaXoyicrixciv, 
"  not  by  way  of  criticising  for  them  their  scrupulous  niceties  "  (Tholuck). 


MUTUAL    FORBEARANCE.  267 

towards  the  weakness  of  otliei-s,  a  willingness  to  take  less  than  our  due, 
and  a  readiness  to  waive  our  own  rights,^  and  enjoy  as  a  private  posses- 
sion between  ourselves  and  God  the  confidence  of  our  faith.  His  own 
positive  and  saci'ed  conviction  is  that  these  rules  about  food  are  un- 
essential ;  that  no  food  is  intrinsically  unclean.  But  if  by  acting  on 
this  conviction  we  lead  others  to  do  the  same,  in  spite  of  the  protest 
of  their  consciences,  then  for  a  paltiy  self-gratification  we  are  undoing 
God's  work,  and  slaying  a  soul  for  which  Christ  died.^  Rather  than 
do  this,  rather  than  place  a  needless  stumbling-block  in  any  Christian's 
path,  it  were  well  neither  to  eat  meat  nor  to  di-ink  wine,  because 
Christian  love  is  a  thing  more  precious  than  even  Christian  liberty.^ 

iii.  His  third  coimsel  is  the  obedience  to  clear  convictions.*  Happy 
the  man  wlio  has  no  scmples  as  to  things  intrinsically  harmless.  But 
if  another  cannot  emancipate  himself  from  these  scruples,  however  need- 
less, and  exhibits  in  his  own  conduct  the  same  freedom  in  defiance  of 
his  scruples,  then  he  stands  self-condemned.  Why  1  Because  in  that 
case  he  is  acting  falsely  to  that  faith  which  is  the  ruling  principle  of 
his  Christian  life,  and  whatsoever  is  not  of  faith, — whatsoever  involves 
the  life  of  self,  and  not  the  life  of  Christ — is  sin.^ 

The  true  principle,  then,  is  that  we  ought  not  to  please  ourselves, 
even  as  Christ  pleased  not  Himself,  but  to  bear  the  infirmities  of  the 

"  1  'SvyKard&aais  (seeRom.  XV.  1),  iXacTcrovffeat  (John  iii.  30),  xiffrepeiaBai  (Phil, 
iv.  12 ;  1  Cor.  \\.  7) ;  three  great  Christian  conceptions  which  have  in  the 
practice  of  "  religious"  parties  become  perilously  obsolete. 

2  1  Cor.  viii.  13. 

3  xiv.  13—21. 

*  Augustine's  "  Omnis  infidelium  A-ita,  peccatum  est "  is  an  instance  of  the 
many  extravagant  inferences  which  are  the  curse  of  theology,  and  which  arise 
from  recklessly  tearing  words  from  the  context,  and  pushing  them  beyond 
their  legitimate  significance.  We  have  no  right  to  apply  the  text  apart  from 
the  circiimstances  to  which  it  immediately  refers.  As  a  universal  principle 
it  is  only  applicable  to  the  party  of  which  the  Apostle  is  speaking.  When 
apjjlied  analogically,  "  faith  "  can  here  only  be  taken  to  mean  "  the  moral  convic- 
tion of  the  rectitude  of  a  mode  of  action  "  (Chrys.,  De  Wette,  Meyer,  &c.). 
To  pervert  the  meaning  of  texts,  as  is  done  so  universally,  is  to  make  a  bad 
play  upon  words.  Our  Art.  XIII.  does  not  in  the  least  exclude  the  possibility 
of  gratia  praeveniens  even  in  heathens  (see  Rom.  ii.  6 — 15).  If  Augustine 
meant  tliat  even  the  morality  and  virtue  of  pagans,  heretics,  &c.,  is  sin,  his 
axiom  is  not  only  morose  and  rej^elleut,  Pharisaical  and  anti-scriptural,  but 
historically,  spiritually,  and  morally  false. 

5  xiv.  22,  23.  It  is  at  this  point  that  some  MSS.  place  the  doxology  of 
xvi.  25 — 27  ;  but  this  would  be  a  most  awkward  break  between  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  chapters,  and  the  reasons  for  regarding  the  fifteenth  chapter  as 
spurious  seem  to  me  to  be  wholly  inconclusive. 


268  THE    LIFE    A^D    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

weak,  and  aim  at  mutual  edification.  This  is  the  lesson  of  Scripture, 
and  he  prays  that  the  God  of  that  patience  and  comfoi't  which  it  is  the 
object  of  Scripture  to  inspire,  may  give  them  mutual  unanimity  in  Jesus 
Christ.  And  addressing  alike  the  "weak  "  Judaizers  and  the  "strong" 
Gentiles,  he  concludes  his  advice  with  the  same  general  precept  with 
which  he  began,  "  Wherefore  take  one  another  by  the  hand,  as  Christ 
also  took  us  by  the  hand  for  the  glory  of  God."  ^ 

And  Christ  had  thus  set  His  example  of  love  and  help  to  both  the  great 
divisions  of  the  Church.  He  had  become  the  minister  of  the  circumcision 
on  behalf  of  God's  truth,  to  fulfil  the  promise  made  to  the  fathers  ;  and 
to  the  Gentiles  out  of  compassion.  Christ  therefore  had  shown  kindness 
to  both,  and  that  the  Gentiles  were  indeed  embraced  in  this  kindness — 
which  perhaps,  in  their  pride  of  liberty  they  did  not  always  feel  inclined 
to  extend  to  their  weaker  brethren — he  further  proves  by  an  appeal  to 
Deuteronomy,  Isaiah,  and  the  Psalms.-  The  last  citation  ends  with  the 
words  "  shall  hope,"  and  he  closes  this  section  with  yet  another  prayer 
that  the  God  of  hope  would  fill  them  with  all  joy  and  peace  in  believing, 
that  they  might  abound  in  hope  in  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

But  once  more  he  takes  up  the  pen  to  assure  them  of 
his  confidence  in  them,  and  to  apologise  for  the  holdness 
of  his  letter.  His  plea  is  that  he  wished  to  fulfil  to  the 
utmost  that  ministry  to  the  Gentiles  which  he  here  calls  a 
priestly  ministry,  because  he  is  as  it  were  instrumental  in 
presenting  the  Gentiles  as  an  acceptable  offering  to  God.^ 
Of  this  Apostolate  (giving  all  the  glory  to  God) — of  the 
signs  by  which  it  had  been  accompanied — of  the  width  of 
its  range,  from  Jerusalem  to  Illyricum — he  may  make  a 
humble  boast. 


And  he  is  still  ambitious  to  preach  in  regions  where  Clirist  has  not 
been  named.  He  will  not  stay  with  them,  because  he  has  seen  enough 
of  the  evil  caused  by  those  who  built  on  a  foundation  which  they  had 
not  laid  ;  but  he  has  often  felt  a  strong  desire  to  visit  them  on  his  way 

1  XV.  1—8. 

2  Deut.  xxxii.  43 ;  Ps.  xviii.  49 ;  cxvii.  1 ;  Isa.  xi.  10. 

'  XV.  16,  'UpovpyovvTa.  It  is  a  St.  \t-y6ixevov  not  due  to  any  sacrificial  con- 
ception of  the  Christian  ministry  (of  which  there  is  not  in  St.  Paul  so  much  as 
a  single  trace),  but  to  the  particular  illustratiou  which  he  here  adopts. 


CLOSE    OF    THE    EPISTLE.  269 

to  Spain,^  and  after  a  partial  enjoyment  of  their  society/  to  be  furthered 
on  his  journey  by  their  assistance.  He  has  hitherto  been  prevented 
from  taking  that  journey,  but  now — since  for  the  present  his  duties  in  the 
East  are  over— he  hopes  to  carry  it  out,  and  to  gratify  his  earnest  desire 
to  see  tliem.  At  present,  howevei',  he  is  about  to  start  for  Jerusalem,  to 
accompany  the  deputies  who  are  to  convey  to  the  poor  saints  there  that 
temporal  gift  from  the  Chi-istians  of  INIacedonia  and  Achaia  which  is  after 
all  but  a  small  recognition  of  the  spiritual  gifts  which  the  Gentiles  have  re- 
ceived from  them.  "When  this  task  is  over  he  will  turn  his  face  towards 
Spain,  and  visit  them  on  his  way,  and  he  is  confident  that  he  shall  come  in 
the  fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  He,  therefore, 
earnestly  entreats  their  prayers  that  he  may  be  rescued  from  the  perils 
which  he  knows  await  him  from  the  Jews  in  Jerusalem,  and  that  the 
contribution  due  to  his  exertions  may  be  favourably  received  by  the 
saints,  that  so  by  God's  will  he  may  come  to  them  in  joy,  and  that  they 
may  mutually  refresh  each  other.^  *'  And  the  God  of  peace  be  with  you 
all.     Amen."* 

There  in  all  probability  ended  tbe  Epistle  to  the  Eomans. 
I  have  already  given  abundant  reason  in  support  of  the  in- 
genious conjecture °  that  the  greater  part  of  the  sixteenth 
chapter  was  addressed  to  the  Ephesian  Church.®     Even  a 

^  XV.  24  omit  iXfva-ofiat  irphs  iifxus  with  all  the  best  MSS.     ''  Having  a  desire 
for  many  years  past  to  come  to  you  whenever  I  journey  into  Spain." 
2  airh  /xepovs  "  non  quantum  vellem  sed  quantum  liceret "  (Grot.) 

•  XV.  32,  Kul  <rwavirav(Tcofxai  vfxip  is  omitted  by  B. 

*  XV.  9—33. 

^  First  made  by  Schulz. 

8  We  may  be  very  thankful  for  its  preservation,  as  it  has  a  deep  personal 
interest.  On  deaconesses  see  Bingham  i.  334 — 366.  Phoebe  was  probably  a 
widow.  Verse  4,  virieriKav,  "  laid  their  own  necks  under  the  axe,"  a  probable 
allusion  to  some  risk  at  Corinth  (Acts  xviii.  12 ;  xix.  32).  In  verse  5 
the  true  reading  is  'Afffos.  Verse  7,  (rvvaix/Jt^a\(iTovs — probably  at  Ephesus, 
iiriffri/jLoi  fv  to7s  airo(TT6xois,  "  iUustrious  among  the  missionaries  of  the  truth  " 
(2  Cor.  viii.  23;  Acts  xiv.  4),  in  the  less  restricted  sense  of  the  word.  It  is 
hardly  conceivable  that  St.  Paul  would  make  it  a  merit  that  the  Apostles 
knew  them  and  tliought  highly  of  them  (Gal.  i.  ii.) — verse  13.  Riifus, 
perhaps  one  of  the  sous  of  Simou  of  Cyrene  (Mark  xv.  22) — verse  14. 
Hennas,  not  the  author  of  The  Shepherd,  who  could  hardly  have  been  born  at 
this  time.  Verse  16,  <pl\v/ia  aywv,  1  Thess.  v.  26 ;  1  Pet.  v.  14 ;  Liike  vii.  45. 
The  attempted  identification  of  Tertius  with  SUas,  because  the  Hebrew  for 
Tertius  C'lJ'I'f )  soimds  like  Silas,  is  one  of  the  imbecilities  of  fanciful  exegesis. 


270  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

careless  reader  could  scarcely  help  observing  what  we  sliould 
not  at  all  have  conjectured  from  the  earlier  part  of  the 
Epistle  that  there  were  schisms  and  scandals  (17 — 20)  in  the 
Eoman  Church,  and  teachers  who  deliberately  fomented 
them,  slaves  of  their  own  belly,  and  by  their  plausibility 
and  flattery  deceiving  the  hearts  of  the  simple.-^  Nor, 
again,  can  any  one  miss  the  fact  that  the  position  of  the 
Apostle  towards  his  correspondents  in  verse  1 9  is  far  more 
severe,  paternal,  and  authoritative  than  in  the  other 
chapters.  If — as  is  surely  an  extremely  reasonable  sup- 
position— St.  Paul  desired  other  Churches  besides  the 
stranger  Church  of  Eome  to  reap  the  benefit  of  his  ripest 
thousfhts,  and  to  read  the  maturest  statement  of  the 
Gospel  which  he  preached,  then  several  copies  of  the  main 
part  of  the  Epistle  must  have  been  made  by  the  amanu- 
enses, of  whom  Tertius  was  one,  and  whose  services  the 
Apostle  was  at  that  moment  so  easily  able  to  procure.  In 
that  case  nothing  is  more  likely  than  that  the  terminations 
of  the  various  copies  should  have  varied  with  the  circum- 
stances of  the  Churches,  and  nothing  more  possible  than 
that  in  some  one  copy  the  various  terminations  should  have 
been  carefully  preserved.  We  have  at  any  rate  in  this 
hypothesis  a  simple  explanation  of  the  three  final  benedic- 
tions (20,  24,  27)  which  occur  in  this  chapter  alone. 

The  fullest  of  the  Apostle's  letters  concludes  with  the 
most  elaborate  of  his  doxologies.^ 

On  sucli  names  as  Tryphgena  and  Tryphosa,  voluptuous  in  sound  and  base  in 
meaning,  which  may  have  suggested  to  St.  Paul  the  Kowidxras  iv  Kvpl<f>  as  a  sort 
of  noble  paronomasia,  see  Merivale,  Hist.  vi.  260,  and  Wordsworth,  ad  loc. 

1  Phil.  iii.  2,  18 ;  2  Cor.  xi.  20. 

2  "  Whether  the  Epistle  proceeded  in  two  forms  from  the  Apostle's  hands, 
the  one  closing  witli  chapter  xiv.  and  the  doxology,  the  other  extended  by  the 
addition  of  the  two  last  chapters,  or  whether  any  other  more  satisfactory  ex- 
planation can  be  offered  of  the  phenomenon  of  omission,  rejietition,  transposition, 
authenticity,  must  be  left  for  further  investigation."  Westcott  (Vaughan'a 
Romans,  p.  xxv.).  One  theory  is  that  xii. — xiv.  were  substituted  later  for 
XV.  xvi.,  and  then  both  were  accumulated  in  one  coi)y  with  some  modifications. 


FINAL    DOXOLOGT.  271 

"Now  to  Him  who  is  able  to  establish  you  according  to  my  Gospel, 
and  the  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the  revelation  of  the 
mysteiy,  buried  in  silence  in  eternal  ages,  but  manifested  now  and  made 
known  by  the  piKjphetic  Scriptures,  according  to  the  command  of  the 
Eternal  God  unto  obedience  to  the  faith  to  all  nations  : — To  the  only 
wise  God,  through  Jesus  ChrLst — to  whom  be  the  glory  for  ever. 
Amen." 

^  Of.  Eph.  iii.  20,  21.  The  text,  as  it  stands,  involves  an  anacoluthon,  since 
the  S  should  properly  be  eVeiV^.  Tholuck,  &c.,  think  that  the  Apostle  was  led 
by  the  parenthesis  from  a  doxology  to  God  to  a  doxology  to  Christ.  It  may 
be  that  he  meant  to  insert  the  word  x«P'5,  but  lost  sight  of  it  in  the 
length  of  the  sentence.  Here,  as  in  Hab.  iii.  6,  the  word  aldivios  is  used  in  two 
consecutive  clauses,  where  in  the  first  clause  aU  are  agreed  that  it  cannot 
mean  "  endless  "  since  it  speaks  of  things  which  have  already  come  to  an  end. 


CHAPTEE    XL. 

THE    LAST    JOURNEY    TO    JERUSALEM. 

"  Show  me  some  one  person  formed  according  to  the  principles  he  pro- 
fesses. Show  me  one  who  is  sick  and  happy ;  in  danger  and  happy ;  dying 
and  happy ;  exiled  and  happy ;  disgraced  and  happy." — Epictetus. 

It  was  now  about  the  month  of  February,  A.D.  58,  and 
the  work  which  St.  Paul  had  set  before  him  at  Corinth 
was  satisfactorily  concluded.  Having  been  nine  months 
in  Europe/  he  was  anxious  to  get  to  Jerusalem  by  the 
Passover,  and  intended  to  sail  straight  from  Corinth  to 
one  of  the  ports  of  Palestine.  Every  preparation  was 
made;  it  almost  seems  that  he  had  got  on  board  ship; 
when  he  was  informed  of  a  sudden^  plot  on  the  part  of  the 
Jews  to  murder  him.  As  to  all  the  details  we  are  left 
in  the  dark.  We  know  that  the  pre^dous  plot  of  the 
Jews,  nearly  five  years  earher,^  had  been  foiled  by  the 
contemptuous  good  sense  of  Grallio ;  but  even  if  their 
revenge  were  otherwise  likely  to  be  laid  aside,  we  cannot 
doubt  that  ample  fuel  had  since  been  heaped  upon  the 
smouldering  fire  of  their  hatred.  Prom  every  seaport 
of  the  iEgean,  from  the  highlands  of  Asia  Minor,  from 
its  populous  shores,  from  Troas  under  the  shadows  of 
Mount    Ida,    to    Athens   under    the    shadow    of    Mount 

^  He  left  Ephesus  before  the  Pentecost  of  A.D.  67. 
*  Acts  XX.  3,  /leAAovTJ  aviyiaQai,  yeyop,4y7]s, 

3  A.D.  53. 


FURY    OF    THE    JEWS.  273 

Pentelicus,  tliey  would  hear  rumours  of  that  daring  creed 
which  seemed  to  trample  on  all  their  convictions,  and 
fling  to  the  Gentiles  their  most  cherished  hopes.  The 
Jewish  teachers  who  tried  to  hound  the  Judaising  Chris- 
tians against  St.  Paul  would  stand  on  perfectly  good  terms 
with  them,  and  these  Judaisers  would  take  a  pleasure  in 
disseminating  the  deadliest  misrepresentations  of  Paul's 
doctrine  and  career.  But  apart  from  all  misrepresenta- 
tion, his  undeniable  arguments  were  quite  enough  to 
madden  them  to  frenzy.  We  may  be  sure  that  St.  Paul 
taught  as  he  wrote,  and  since  we  have  noticed  it  as  a 
characteristic  of  his  intellect  that  he  is  haunted  by  loords 
and  expressions,^  we  might  infer,  a  priori,  even  if  it  were 
not  abundantly  evident  in  his  writings,  that  he  is  still 
more  powerfully  possessed  and  absorbed  by  any  thoughts 
which  might  have  been  forced  into  immediate  prominence. 
We  may  regard  it  as  psychologically  certain  that  his 
discourses  at  Corinth  were  the  echo  of  the  arguments 
which  fill  the  two  Epistles  which  he  wrote  at  Corinth; 
and  to  the  Jews  the  conclusions  which  they  were  meant 
to  establish  would  be  regarded  as  maddening  blasphemies. 
"  There  is  neither  Jew  nor  Gentile  " — where,  then,  is  the 
covenant  to  Abraham  and  to  his  seed  ?  "  There  is  neither 
circumcision  nor  uncircumcision  " — where,  then,  is  Moses 
and  all  the  splendour  of  Sinai  ?  "  Weak  and  beggarly 
elements  " — are  these  the  terms  to  apply  to  the  inspired, 
sacred,  eternal  Thorah,  in  which  God  himself  meditates, 
which  is  the  glory  of  the  world  ?  We  are  not  surprised 
that  the  Jews  should  get  up  a  plot.  Paul,  under  the  a3gis 
of  Roman  authority,  might  be  safe  in  the  city,  but  they 
would  avenge  themselves  on  him  as  soon  as  his  ship  had 
left  the  shore.     The  wealthy  Jewish  merchants  of  Corinth 

1  F.  m-pra,  I.  pp.  481,  633;  11.  65,  98;  infra,  281. 


274  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

would  find  no  difficulty  in  hearing  of  sailors  and  captains 
of  country  vessels  who  were  sufficiently  dependent  on 
them  to  do  any  deed  of  violence  for  a  small  consideration. 

How  was  the  plot  discovered?  We  do  not  know. 
Scenes  of  tumult,  and  hairbreadth  escapes,  and  dangerous 
adventures,  were  so  common  in  St.  Paul's  life,  that  neither 
he,  nor  any  one  else,  has  cared  to  record  their  details.  We 
only  know  that,  after  sudden  discussion,  it  was  decided,  that 
Paul,  with  an  escort  of  the  delegates,  quite  sufficiently 
numerous  to  protect  him  from  ordinary  dangers,  should 
go  round  by  Macedonia.  The  hope  of  reaching  Jerusa- 
lem by  the  Passover  had,  of  course,  to  be  abandoned ;  the 
only  chance  left  was  to  get  there  by  Pentecost.  It  was 
doubtless  overruled  for  good  that  it  should  be  so,  for  if 
St.  Paul  had  been  in  the  Holy  City  at  the  Passover  he 
would  have  been  mixed  up  by  his  enemies  with  the  riot 
and  massacre  which  about  that  time  marked  the  insane 
rising  of  the  Egyptian  impostor  who  called  himself  the 
Messiah.  ^ 

Of  the  seven  converts^  who  accompanied  St.  Paul — 
Sosipater  son  of  Pyrrhus,^  a  Beroean,  Aristarchus  and 
Secundus  of  Thessalonica,  Gains  of  Derbe,  Timotheus  of 
Lystra,  Tychicus  and  Trophimus  of  Ephesus,  and  Luke — 
all  except  the  latter  left  him  apparently  at  Philippi,  and 
went  on  to  Troas  to  await  him  there.^      St.  Luke  was 

*  Verse  3,  iyiuero  yvd/ni. 

*  In  verse  4  the  reading,  oxpi  ttjs  'Ao-ias,  is  not  quite  certain,  since  it  is 
omitted  in  k,  B,  Coptic  (both  versions),  and  the  ^thiopic.  Some,  at  any 
rate,  of  the  converts — Luke,  Aristarchus,  and  Trophimus,  if  not  others — 
accompanied  him  all  the  way  to  Jerusalem — xxi.  29,  xxvii.  2,  1  Cor.  xvi.  3,  4. 
How  is  it  that  there  wore  no  Corinthian  delegates  ?  Had  the  large  promises 
of  Corinth  ended,  after  all,  in  words  ?  or  did  they  entrust  their  contributions 
to  some  of  the  other  deputies  ? 

*  The  rivp^oi;  was,  perhaps,  added  to  distinguish  him  from  the  Sosipater  of 
Rom.  xvi.  21,  k,  A,  B,  D,  E. 

*  Verse  5.  If  Trpoaexeovres  (k.  A,  B,  E,)  be  the  right  reading,  Tychicus 
and  Ti-ophimus  must  have  met  Paul  at  Troas. 


PHILIPPI    AND    TROAS.  275 

closely  connected  with  Philippi,  where  St.  Paul  had  left 
him  on  his  first  visit,^  and  the  two  stayed  at  the  Eoman 
colony  to  keep  the  Passover.  Very  happy,  we  may  be 
sure,  was  that  quiet  time  spent  by  St.  Paul  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Church  which  he  loved  best  of  all — amid  the  most 
blameless  and  the  most  warm-hearted  of  all  his  converts. 
Years  must  have  elapsed  before  he  again  spent  a  Passover 
in  circumstances  so  peaceful  and  happy.^ 

The  eight  days  of  the  feast  ended  in  that  year  on 
Monday,  April  3,  and  on  the  next  day  they  set  sail. 
Detained  by  calms,  or  contrary  winds,  they  took  five 
days^to  sail  to  Troas,  and  there  they  again  stayed  seven 
days.*  The  delay  was  singular,  considering  the  haste 
with  which  the  Apostle  was  pressing  forward  to  make 
sure  of  being  at  Jerusalem  by  Pentecost.  It  was  now 
about  the  10th  of  April,  and  as  the  Pentecost  of  that 
year  fell  on  May  17,  St.  Paul,  dependent  as  he  was  on 
the  extreme  uncertainties  of  ancient  navigation,  had  not  a 
single  day  to  spare.  We  may  be  quite  sure  that  it  was 
neither  the  splendour  of  the  town,  with  its  granite  temples 
and  massive  gymnasium,  that  detained  him,  nor  all  the 
archaic  and  poetic  associations  of  its  neighbourhood,  nor 
yet  the  loveliness  of  the  groves  and  mountains  and 
gleams  of  blue  sea.  Although  his  former  visits  had 
been  twice  cut  short — once  by  the  Macedonian  vision,  and 
once  by  his  anxiety  to  meet  Titus — it  is  even  doubtful 
whether  he  would  have  been  kept  there  by  the  interest 
which  he  must  have  necessarily  felt  in  the   young  and 

1  The  first  person  plural  is  resumed  in  the  narrative  at  xx.  5,  having  been 
abandoned  at  xvi.  17.  It  is  now  continued  to  the  end  of  the  Acts,  and  Luke 
seems  to  have  remained  with  St.  Paul  to  the  last  (2  Tim.  iv.  11). 

2  Lewin,  Fasti  SacH,  §  1857. 

'  It  had  only  taken  them  two  days  to  sail  from  Troas  to  Neapolis,  the  port 
of  Philippi,  on  a  former  occasion,  xvi.  11. 
*  Compare  xx.  6,  xxi.  4,  xxviii.  14. 
8    2 


276  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

flourishing  Churcli  of  a  town  which  was  one  of  the  very- 
few  in  which  he  had  not  been  subjected  to  persecution. 
The  delay  was  therefore  probably  due  to  the  difficulty  of 
finding  or  chartering  a  vessel  such  as  they  required.^ 

Be  that  as  it  may,  his  week's  sojourn  was  marked  by  a 
scene  which  is  peculiarly  interesting,  as  one  of  the  few 
glimpses  of  ancient  Christian  worship  which  the  New  Tes- 
tament affords.  The  wild  disorders  of  vanity,  fanaticism, 
and  greed,  which  produced  so  strange  a  spectacle  in  the 
Church  of  Corinth,  would  give  us,  if  we  did  not  regard 
them  as  wholly  exceptional,  a  most  unfavourable  concep- 
tion of  these  Sunday  assemblies.  Very  different,  happily, 
is  the  scene  to  which  we  are  presented  on  this  April 
Sunday  at  Alexandria  Troas,  A.D.  58.^ 

It  was  an  evening  meeting.  Whether  at  this  period 
the  Christians  had  already  begun  the  custom  of  meeting 
twice, — early  in  the  morning,  before  dawn,  to  sing  and  pray, 
and  late  in  the  evening  to  partake  of  the  Love  Feast  and 
the  Lord's  Supper,  as  they  did  some  fifty  years  after  this 
time  in  the  neighbouring  province  of  Bithynia,^ — we  are 
not  told.  Great  obscurity  hangs  over  the  observance  of  the 
Lord's  da}''  in  the  first  century.  The  Jewish  Christians 
doubtless  continued  to  keep  the  Sabbath,  but  St.  Paul 
reprobates  the  adoption  of  any  such  custom  among  the 
Gentiles ;  and,  indeed,  his  language  seems  to  show  that  he 
did  not  regard  with  favour  any  observance  of  times  or 
seasons  which  savoured  at  all  of  Sabbatical  scrupulosity.* 
All  that  we  know  is,  that  from  the  Eesurrection  onwards. 


'  2  Cor.  ii.  13. 

2  It  was  early  called  Sunday,  even  by  Christians,  rp  rov  'Hxfov  Xeyofiiyj] 
Tifiipa  (Just.  Mart.  Apol.  ii.  228). 

^  Plin.  Ep.  X.  96.  Quod  cssent  soliti  stato  die  ante  lucem,  convenire  .  .  . 
quibus  peractis  morem  sibi  discedeudi  fuisse  rursusque  coeundi  ad  capiendum 
cibum,  promiscuum  tamen  et  innoxium. 

*  Rom.  xiv.  5 :  Gal.  iv.  10 ;  Col.  ii.  16. 


EUTTCHUS.  277 

the  first  day  of  the  week  was  signalised  by  special  Christian 
gatherings  for  religious  purposes,  and  that  on  this  par- 
ticular Sunday  evening  the  members  of  the  Church  of 
Troas  were  assembled,  in  accordance  with  their  usual 
custom,  to  partake  of  the  Love  Feast,  and  to  commemorate 
the  death  of  Christ  in  the  Holy  Communion.^ 

The  congregation  may  have  been  all  the  more  nume- 
rous because  it  was  known  that  on  the  next  day  the 
Apostle  and  his  little  company  would  leave  the  place. 
They  were  gathered  in  one  of  those  upper  rooms  on  the 
third  storey,  which  are  the  coolest  and  pleasantest  part 
of  an  Eastern  house.  The  labours  of  the  day  were  over, 
and  the  sun  had  set,  and  as  three  weeks  had  now 
elapsed  since  the  full  moon  of  the  Passover,  there  was  but 
a  pale  crescent  to  dispel  the  darkness.  But  the  upper 
room  was  full  of  lamps,^  and  in  the  earnestness,  of  his 
overflowing  heart,  Paul,  knowing  by  many  a  mysterious 
intimation  the  dangers  which  were  awaiting  him,  con- 
tinued discoursing  to  them  till  midnight.  On  the  broad 
sill  of  one  of  the  open  windows,  of  which  the  lattice  or 
enclosing  shutter  had  been  flung  wide  open  to  catch  the 
cool  sea  breeze,  sat  a  boy  named  Eutychus.^  The  hour 
was  very  late,  the  discourse  unusually  long,  the  topics  with 
which  it  dealt  probably  beyond  his  comprehension.  Though 
he  /was  sitting  in  the  pleasantest  place  in  the  room,  where 
he  would  enjoy  all  the  air  there  was,  yet  the  heat  of  a 
crowded  meeting,  and  the  glare  of  the  many  lamps,  and 

^  This  is  implied  by  the  expression  a-w-nyfiei/ui'  rnxwu  KKoia-ai  &prov.  C£.  the 
word  iTnavvayoiy)),  Heb.  X.  25,  and  a-vvaln. 

'  This  is  with  St.  Luke  the  casual  incident  mentioned  by  an  eye-witness, 
on  whose  mind  the  scene  was  ^^^^dly  impi-essed.  The  lamps  are  sufficiently 
accounted  for  by  the  darkness,  but  the  mention  of  them  is  valuable,  as  showing 
how  little  of  secresy  or  disorder  attended  these  late  meetings.  They  had  not 
as  yet  become  subjects  of  suspicion,  but  it  was  not  long  before  they  did. 

'  It  is  a  common  slave  name,  but  nothing  more  is  known  of  him. 


278  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PACJL. 

the  unbroken  stream  of  the  speaker's  utterance,^  sent 
the  lad  fast  asleep.  The  graphic  description  of  St. 
Luke  might  almost  make  us  believe  that  he  had  been 
watching  him,  not  liking,  and  perhaps  not  near  enough  to 
awaken  him,  and  yet  not  wholly  insensible  of  his  danger, 
as  first  of  all  he  began  to  nod,  then  his  head  gradually 
sank  down  on  his  breast,  and,  at  last,  he  fell  with  a 
rush  and  cry  from  the  third  storey  into  the  courtyard 
beneath.2  We  can  imagine  the  alarm  and  excitement  by 
which  the  voice  of  the  speaker  was  suddenly  interrupted, 
as  some  of  the  congregation  ran  down  the  outside  stair- 
case ^  to  see  what  had  happened.  It  was  dark,^  and  the 
poor  lad  lay  senseless,  and  "  was  taken  up  dead."^  A  cry 
of  horror  and  wailing  rose  from  the  bystanders  ;  but  Paul, 
going  down-stairs,  fell  on  him,  and  clasping  his  arms 
round  him,^  said,  "  Do  not  be  alarmed,  for  his  life  is  in 
him."  After  he  had  calmed  the  excitement  by  this  remark, 
he  left  the  lad  to  the  effects  of  rest  and  quiet,  and  the 
kindly  care,  perhaps,  of  the  deaconesses  and  other  women 
who  were  present ;  for  the  narrative  simply  adds  that  the 
Apostle  went  up-stairs  again,  and  after  "  breaking  the 
bread,"  ^ — words  descriptive  probably  of  the  eucharistic 
consecration — and  making  a  meal,  which  describes  the 
subsequent  Agape,  he  continued  in  friendly  intercourse 
with  the  congregation  till  the  dawn  of  day,  and  then  went 

^  Ver.  9,  Sia\eyoiXfVOV  rov  UavKov  inl  irAeToj'. 

^  Vs.  9.  KaTa<pep6fi.evos  v-nv<f  ^ade7  .  .  .  KarevexOiU  airh  rov  v-rrvov  eireirev. 
Karatpipiadai  is  a  VOX  solevinis  de  hdc  re.     Aristot.  de  Insomniis,  iii.  &c. 

*  Being  noAV  late  at  night,  the  crescent  moon  must  have  set. 

'  De  Wette,  Olshausen,  Meyer,  Ewald,  and  many  others,  take  vfKphs  to 
mean  "as  dead,"  " apparently  dead,"  "in  a  dead  swoon,"  interpreting  this 
word  by  St.  Paul's  m^  Qopv^tlade  .  .  yap,  but  the  ^70701'  .  .  .  Cuvra  of  vs.  12 
seems  to  show  St.  Luke's  meaning. 

«  eTTiireo-a;;/   .   .    .   avixirepiKa^wv,  1  Kings  xvii.  21;  2  Kings  iv.  34. 

'  Vs.  11.     K\d<Tas  rhy  &pTay,  Kol  yevaa/ifvos. 


THE    ISLES    OF    GREECE.  279 

out.  By  that  time  Eut3'clius  had  fully  recovered.  "  They 
led  the  boy  alive  " — apparently  into  the  upper  chamber — 
*'  and  were  not  a  little  comforted." 

Next  day  the  delegates — these  "  first  Christian  pilgrims 
to  the  Holy  Land  " — went  down  to  their  vessel  to  sail 
round  Cape  Lectum,  while  Paul  went  by  land  ^  across  the 
base  of  the  promontory  to  rejoin  them  at  Assos.  Whether 
he  had  friends  to  visit  on  the  way,  or  whether  he  wished 
to  walk  those  twenty  miles  through  the  pleasant  oak- 
groves  along  the  good  Roman  roads  in  silent  commune 
with  his  own  spirit,  we  do  not  know.  Natures  like  his, 
however  strong  may  be  their  yearning  for  sympathy,  yet 
often  feel  an  imperious  necessity  for  solitude.  If  he  had 
heard  the  witty  application  by  Stratonicus,  of  Homer's 
line, 

*A(r(Tou  W  ws  Kev  Qacraov  oXedpov  rep/jtad^  ?/C7jof, 

he  might,  while  smiling  at  the  gay  jest  directed  against 
the  precipitous  descent  from  the  town  to  the  harbour, 
have  thought  that  for  him  too — on  his  way  to  bonds  and 
imprisonment,  and  perhaps  to  death  itself — there  was  a 
melancholy  meaning  in  the  line.^  Passing  between  the 
vast  sarcophagi  in  the  street  of  tombs,  and  through  the 
ancient  gate  which  still  stands  in  ruin,  he  made  his  way 
down  the  steep  descent  to  the  port,  and  there  found  the 
vessel  awaiting  him.  St.  Luke,  who  was  one  of  those 
on  board,  here  gives  a  page  of  his  diary,  as  the  ship 
winged  her  way  among  the  isles  of  Greece.  The  voyage 
seems  to  have  been  entirely  prosperous.  The  noi-th-west 
wdnd  w^hich  prevails  at  that  season  would  daily  swtII  the 
great  main-sail,  and  waft  the  vessel  merrily  through  blue 

^  ire^€V6»'— possibly,  but  not  necessarily,  on  foot. 

2  II.  vi.  143.  The  pun  may  be  freely  rendered  "  Go  to  Assos,  if  you  want 
to  meet  your  fate."  The  Vulgate,  too,  confuses  the  name  Assos  and  the 
adverb  asson  ("  near  ")  in  xxvii.  13. 


280  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

seas  under  the  shadow  of  old  poetic  mountains,  by  famous 
cities,  along  the  vernal  shores.  That  same  evening  they 
arrived,  at  Mitylene,  the  bright  capital  of  Lesbos,  the 
home  of  Sappho  and  Alcseus,  and  the  cradle  of  lyric 
song.  Here  they  anchored  because  the  moonless  night 
rendered  it  unsafe  to, thread  their  course  among  the  many 
intricacies  of  that  sinuous  coast.  Next  day  they  anchored 
off  rocky  Chios,  whose  green  fields  were  the  fabled  birth- 
place of  Homer.^  Next  day  they  touched  for  a  short 
time  at  Samos,  and  then  sailed  across  the  narrow  channel 
to  anchor  for  the  night  in  the  island-harbour  of  Tro- 
gyllium,  under  the  ridge  of  Mycale,  so  famous  for  Conon's 
victory.  Next  day,  sailing  past  the  entrance  of  the 
harbour  of  Ephesus,  they  came  to  anchor  at  Miletus. 
St.  Paul  would  gladly  have  visited  Ephesus  if  time  had 
permitted,  but  he  was  so  anxious  to  do  all  in  his  power 
to  reach  Jerusalem  by  Pentecost,  and  therefore  to  avoid 
all  delays,  whether  voluntary  or  accidental,  that  he  re- 
sisted the  temptation.  At  Miletus,  however,  the  vessel 
had  to  stop,  and  Paul  determined  to  utilise  the  brief 
delay.  He  had  probably  arrived  about  noon,  and  at  once 
sent  a  messenger  to  the  elders  of  the  Church  of  Ephesus 
to  come  and  see  him.^  It  was  but  a  distance  of  from 
thirty  to  forty  miles  along  a  well-kept  road,  and 
the  elders^  might  easily  be  with  him  by  the  next  day, 
which,  reckoning  from  his  departure  at  Troas,  was  pro- 
bably a  Sunday.  He  spent  the  day  in  their  company, 
and    before    parting    dehvered   them    an    address    which 

^   TV(b\hs  av^p  o'lKf'i  Se  Xicp  ivi  iraiiraXoiffffri  (aj).  Thuc.  iii.  104). 

2  It  is  inipossible  to  determiue  whether  tlie  vessel  had  been  chartered  by 
Paul  and  his  coinpauious,  or  whether  they  were  dependent  on  its  movements. 
Verse  16  is  not  decisive. 

^  It  is  of  course  known  that  the  words  "presbyter"  and  "bishop"  are 
used  interchangeably  in  the  New  Testament  (see  ver.  28,  where  the  E.V.  has 
"overseers"  for  "bishops.")  'EiritrKJirous  toi/s  irpftrfivrfpovs  Ka\e7  afM<p6Tepa  yip 
flx^"  '^"■'^^  iKiivov  rhv  Kaiphv  ra  ovS/xara  (Theodor.  ad  Phil.  i.  1). 


SPEECH    TO    THE    ELDERS.  281 

abounds  in  his  peculiar  forms  of  expression,  and  gives  a 
deeply  interesting  sketch  of  his  work  at  Ephesus. 

"Ye  know,"  he  said,  "how  from  the  first  day  on 
which  I  set  foot  in  Asia  I  bore  myself  with  you,  serving 
the  Lord  with  all  lowly-mindedness,  and  tears,  and  trials 
that  happened  to  me  in  the  plots  of  the  Jews  ;  ^  how 
I  reserved  nothing  that  was  profitable,^  but  preached 
to  you,  and  taught  you  publicly,  and  from  house  to 
house,  testifying  both  to  Jews  and  Greeks  repentance 
towards  God  and  faith  towards  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
And  now  behold  I,  bound  in  the  spirit,^  am  on  my  way  to 
Jerusalem,  not  knowing  what  may  happen  to  me  there, 
save  that  in  every  city  the  Holy  Spirit  testifies  to  me, 
saying  that  bonds  and  tribulations  await  me.  But  I  re- 
gard it  as  of  no  moment,  nor  do  I  hold,  my  soul  so 
precious  to  myself*  as  to  finish  my  course,^  and  the 
ministry  which  I  received  from  the  Lord  Jesus  to  testify^ 
the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God.     And  now  behold  I  know 

^  Tliese  are  not  mentioned  in  the  narrative.  This  is  one  o£  the  many- 
casual  indications  that  St.  Luke  knew  many  more  particulars  than  it  entered 
into  his  plan  to  detail. 

^  Ys.  20,  viTio-reiKifjiriv  (lit.  "  reefed  up").  The  nautical  word  (of .  Tr\-npo(popia, 
Col.  ii.  2,  iv.  12;  ffrewd/xevot,  2  Thess.  iii.  6;  2  Cor.  viii.  20),  so  natural 
in  a  speaker  who  must  have  heard  the  word  every  day  in  his  voyage,  is 
very  characteristic  of  St.  Paul,  who  constautly  draws  his  metaphors  from 
the  sights  and  circumstances  immediately  around  him.  He  uses  it  again  in 
vs.  27.  These  little  peculiarities  of  style  are  quite  inimitable,  and,  as  Ewald 
says,  "  to  doubt  the  genuineness  of  this  speech  is  folly  itself."  Besides  many 
other  indications  of  authenticity,  it  contains  at  least  a  dozen  phrases  and  con- 
structions which  are  more  or  less  exclusively  Pauline. 

^  Ys.  22.  Though  the  true  order  is  SeSeyueVos  6701,  n,  A,  B,  C,  E,  the  emphasis 
is  best  brought  out  in  English,  by  putting  "  I "  first. 

*  In  the  extreme  varieties  of  the  MSS.  in  this  clause  I  follow  s,  ovSffhs  \6yov 
— ovSe  ex'".     This  is  the  very  spirit  of  Luther  on  his  way  to  Worms. 

6  Omit  H-era  xap«s  with  »,  A,  B,  D.  It  is  interpolated  from  Phil.  i.  4 ; 
Col.  i.  11 ;  cf .  2  Tim.  iv.  7. 

^  The  third  time  that  this  verb  has  occurred  in  these  few  verses.  It  is 
quite  true  of  St.  Paul  that  "  un  mot  I'Dbsede."  This  is  an  interesting  sign  of 
the  genuineness  of  the  speech. 


282  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

that  ye  sliall  never  see  my  face  again,  all  you  among 
whom  I  passed  proclaiming  the  kingdom.^  Therefore,  I 
call  you  to  witness  this  very  day  that  I  am  pure  from  the 
blood  of  all.  For  I  reserved  nothing,  but  preached  to 
you  the  whole  counsel  of  God.  Take  heed,  then,  to  your- 
selves, and  to  all  the  flock  over  which  the  Holy  Grhost 
appointed  you  bishops  to  feed  the  Church  of  the  Lord^ 
which  He  made  His  own  by  His  own  blood.     I  know  that 

'  St.  Paul  speaks  partly  witli  a  view  to  the  dangers  he  is  about  to  face, 
partly  with  reference  to  bis  intention  to  go  to  the  far  west.  His  olSa  was  not 
necessarily  infallible  (compare  Phil.  i.  25  with  ii.  24),  and  in  point  of  fact  it  is 
probable  tJiat  he  did  visit  Ephesus  again  (1  Tim.  i.  3,  iii.  14,  iv.  12 — 20).  But 
that  was  long  afterwards,  and  it  is  quite  certain  that  as  a  body  {■n-aures  v/xets)  the 
elders  never  saw  him  again. 

*  I  accept  the  reading  Kvpiov  here  with  A,  C,  D,  E,  the  Coptic.  Sahidic, 
Armenian  versions,  Irenseus,  Didymus,  Cyril,  Jerome,  Augustine,  &c.,  rather 
than  &eov,  the  remarkable  reading  of  m,  B,  the  Vulgate,  Syriac,  Chrysostom, 
Basil,  Ambrose,  &c.,  because  "  the  blood  of  God  "  is  an  expression  which, 
though  adopted — perhaps  from  the  variation  of  this  very  text— by  some  of  the 
Fathers  (Tert.  ad  Uxor.  ii.  3),  the  Church  has  always  avoided.     Athanasius, 

indeed,  distinctly  says,  ovSafxov  Se   atfia  deov  Sixa  arapKhs  ■jrapaSfSwKacru'  at  ypa(pal. 

That  St.  Paul  held  in  the  most  absolute  sense  the  Divinity  of  the  Eternal  Son 
is  certain ;  but  he  would  never  have  said,  and  never  has  said,  anything  like 
"  the  blood  of  God,"  and  I  cannot  but  think  it  much  more  probable  that 
he  would  have  used  the  uncommon  but  perfectly  natural  expression 
"  Church  of  the  Lord,"  than  seem  to  sanction  the  very  startling  "  blood  of 
God."  I  cannot  attach  much,  if  any,  importance  to  the  fact  that  "  Church  of 
the  Lord  "  is  a  less  usual  combination  than  "  Church  of  God ;  "  for  just  in  the 
same  way  St.  Paul,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  abandons  his  favourite 
expression  of  "  the  day  of  the  Lord,"  and  uses  instead  "  day  of  Christ "  (Phil, 
i.  10,  ii.  16).  If  he  had  written  &eov,  it  seems  to  mo  very  improbable  that  the 
reading  would  have  been  early  tampered  with.  Such  a  phrase  would  rank  with 
tei'ms  like  Adelphotheos  and  Tkeotokos,  which  are  at  once  unscriptui-al  and  eccle- 
siastical, whereas,  if  St.  Paul  said  Kvpiou,  the  marginal  ©eoC  of  some  pragmatic 
scribe  might  easily  have  obtruded  itself  into  the  text.  Indeed,  the  very  fact 
that  "  Church  of  the  Lord"  is  not  Paul's  normal  phrase  may  have  suggested 
the  gloss.  If,  however,  Qeov  be  the  right  reading,  the  nominative  to  irepifiroi- 
■flffaro  may  simply  have  been  suppressed  by  a  grammatical  inadvertency  of  the 
Apostle  or  his  amanuensis.  (See  further,  Sci-ivener,  Introd.  540.)  The  mysterious 
doctrine  of  the  irepix^pvo-is  is  one  which  the  Apostle  always  treats  with  deepest 
reverence,  and  such  a  collocation  as  o/yuo  0eoD  would  have  given  at  least  lirimd 
facie  countenance  to  all  kinds  of  Sabcllian,  Eutychian,  and  Patripassiau 
heresies.  (I  have  made  some  further  remarks  on  this  reading  in  the  Expo- 
sitor,  May,  1879.) 


SPEECH    TO    THE    ELDERS.  283 

there  sliall  come  after  my  departure  grievous  wolves 
among  you,  not  sparing  the  flock  ;  and  from  your  own 
selves^  shall  arise  men  speaking  perverse  things,  so  as  to 
drag  away  disciples  after  them.  Therefore  be  watchful, 
remembering  that  for  three  years,  night  and  day,^  I  ceased 
not  with  tears -^  to  admonish  each  one.  And  now  I  com- 
mend you  to  God,  and  to  the  word  of  His  grace,  who  is 
able  to  build  you  up,  and  give  you  an  inheritance  among 
all  the  sanctified.  No  man's  silver  or  gold  or  raiment  did 
I  covet.  Yourselves  know  that  to  my  needs,  and  to  those 
with  me,  these  hands" — and  there  he  held  up  those 
thin,  toilworn  hands  before  them  all — "these  hands 
ministered.  In  all  things  I  set  you  the  example,  that, 
thus  labouring,  you  ought  to  support  the  weak,  and  to 
remember  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  how  He  said,  '  It 
is  blessed  rather  to  give  than  to  receive.'  "* 

After  these  words,  which  so  well  describe  the  un- 
wearied thoroughness,  the  deep  humility,  the  perfect  ten- 
derness, of  his  Apostolic  ministry,  he  knelt  down  with  them 
all,  and  prayed.  They  were  overpowered  with  the  touching 
solemnity  of  the  scene.  He  ended  his  prayer  amidst  a 
burst  of  weeping,  and  as  they  bade  him  farewell — anxious 
for  his  future,  anxious  for  their  own — they  each  laid  their 
heads  on  his  neck,^  and  passionately  kissed  him,*^  pained 
above  all  at  his  remark  that  never  again  should  they  gaze, 


*  This  sad  prediction  was  but  too  soon  fulfilled  (1  Tim.  i.  20 ;  Rev.  ii.  6 ; 
1  John  ii.  19). 

2  Undoubtedly  this  expression — though  not  meant  to  be  taken  ait  pied  de 
la  lettre — tells  against  the  theory  of  a  visit  to  Corinth  during  this  period. 

^  Tears  are  thrice  mentioned  in  this  short  passage — tears  of  suffering  (19) ; 
of  pastoral  solicitude  (31) ;  and  of  personal  affection  (37).  Monod,  Cinq  Dis- 
cours  (Les  Larmes  de  St.  Paul). 

*  The  only  "unwritten  saying"  {dypafov  56yfia)  of  our  Lord  in  the  New- 
Testament  not  preserved  for  us  in  the  Gospels. 

6  cf.  Gen.  xlv.  14,  xlvi.  29. 

8  KaTi<l>lKovv,  deosculabautur  (cf.  Matt.  xxvi.  49). 


284  THE    LITE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

as  they  had  gazed  so  often/  on  the  dear  face  of  the  teacher 
who  had  borne  so  much  for  their  sakes,  and  whom  they 
loved  so  well.  If  Paul  inspired  intense  hatreds,  yet,  with 
all  disadvantages  of  person,  he  also  inspired  intense  affec- 
tion. He  had — to  use  the  strong  expression  ^  of  St.  Luke 
— to  tear  himself  from  them.  Sadly,  and  with  many  fore- 
bodings, they  went  down  with  him  to  the  vessel,  which 
was  by  this  time  awaiting  him  ;  and  we  may  be  very  sure 
that  Paul  was  weeping  bitterly  as  he  stepped  on  board,  and 
that  sounds  of  weeping  were  long  heard  upon  the  shore, 
until  the  sails  became  a  white  speck  on  the  horizon,  and 
with  heavy  hearts  the  Elders  of  Ephesus  turned  away  to 
face  once  more,  with  no  hope  of  help  from  their  spiritual 
father,  the  trials  that  awaited  them  in  the  city  of 
Artemis. 

The  wind  blew  full  in  favour  of  the  voyagers,  and 
before  the  evening  they  had  run  with  a  straight  course 
to  Cos.  Neither  the  wines,  nor  the  purple,  nor  the  perfumes 
of  Cos,  would  have  much  interest  for  the  little  band  ;  ^  but, 
if  opportunity  offered,  we  may  be  sure  that  "  the  beloved 
physician  "  would  not  miss  the  opportunity  of  seeing  all 
that  he  could  of  the  scientific  memorials  of  the  Ascle- 
piadse — the  great  medical  school  of  the  ancient  world. 
Next  day  the  little  vessel  rounded  the  promontory  of 
Cnidus,  and  sped  on  for  Ehodes,  where,  as  they  entered 
the  harbour,  they  would  admire  the  proverbial  fertility  of 
the  sunny  island  of  roses,  and  gaze  with  curiosity  on  the 
prostrate  mass  of  its  vast  Colossus,  of  which  two  legs  still 
stood  on  their  pedestal,*  though  the  huge  mass  of  bronze 
had  been  hurled  down  by  an  earthquake,  there  to  stay  till, 

^  Vs.  38,  deupuv.    He  had  ouly  said  ovj/etrSe  (cf.  John  xx.  5,  6).    The  word 
implies  the  feeling  here  alluded  to. 

^  Xxi.  1,  a-KoairaffQfVTas  air   avTwv  (cf.  Luke  xxii.  41). 

3  Strab.  xiv.  2 ;  Hor.  Od.  iv.  13,  13 ;  Athen.  x.  688  (Alf.). 

4  Plin.  H.  N.,  xxxiv.  18;  Strab.  xiv.  2. 


COURSE    or    THE    YOYAGE.  285 

thirteen  centuries  later,  they  were  broken  up,  and  carried 
away  on  900  camels,  to  be  the  ignoble  spoil  of  a  Jew.^ 
The  monstrous  image — one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world — 
was  a  figure  of  the  sun;  and,  with  whatever  lingering 
artistic  sjanpathy  it  might  have  been  regarded  by  the 
Gentile  converts,  St.  Paul  would  perhaps  think  with  a 
smile  of  Dagon,  "  when  he  fell  flat,  and  shamed  his  wor- 
shippers," or  point  to  it  as  a  symbol  of  the  coming  day 
when  all  idols  should  be  abolished  at  the  returning  dawn 
of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  The  empire  of  the  sea, 
which  this  huge  statue  had  been  reared  to  commemorate, 
had  not  passed  away  more  completely  than  the  worship  of 
Apollo  should  pass  away ;  and  to  St.  Paul  the  work  of 
Chares  of  Lindos,  spite  of  all  its  grace  and  beauty,  was  but 
a  larger  idol,  to  be  regarded  with  pity,  whereas  the  temple 
reared  to  that  idol  by  the  apostate  Idumean  usurper  who 
had  called  himself  king  of  the  Jews  could  only  be  looked 
upon  with  righteous  scorn.^ 

Next  day,  passing  the  seven  capes  which  terminate 
the  mountain  ridge  of  "  verdant  Cragus,"  and  the  mouth 
of  the  yellow  river  which  gave  its  name  of  Xanthus  to 
the  capital  of  Lycia,  and  so  catching  a  far-off  glimpse  ot 
temples  rich  with  the  marbles  which  now  adorn  our 
British  Museum,  the  vessel  which  bore  so  much  of  the 
fortune  of  the  future,  turned  her  course  eastward  to 
Patara.  Beneath  the  hill  which  towered  over  its  amphi- 
theatre rose  also  amid  its  palm-trees,  the  temple  and 
oracle  of  Apollo  Patareus.  A  single  column,  and  a  pit, — 
used  possibly  for  some  of  the  trickeries  of  superstition, — 
alone  remain  as  a  monument  of  its  past  splendour ;  ^  and 
it  was  due  in  no  small  measure  to  the  life's  work  of  the 

^  Cedrcnus,  Hist.  p.  431. 

s  The  Pytliinm. 

•  Sprat  and  Forbes,  i.  30 ;  ap.  C.  and  H.  ii.  232. 


286  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

poor  Jewnsli  Apostle  who  now  looked  up  at  the  vast 
world-famed  shrine,  that  Christian  poets  would  tell  in  later 
days  how 

"  The  oracles  are  dumb, 

No  voice  nor  hideous  hum 
Runs  through  the  arched  roof  in  words  deceiving  j 

Apollo  from  his  shrine 

Can  no  more  divine, 
With  hollow  shriek  the  steep  of  Delphos  leaving ; 

No  nightly  trance  or  breathed  spell 

Inspires  the  pale-eyed  priest  from  the  prophetic  cell.** 

They  could  now  no  longer  avail  themselves  of  the 
vessel  in  which  so  far  they  had  accomplished  a  prosperous, 
and,  in  spite  of  all  misgivings,  a  happy  voyage.  Either 
its  course  ended  there,  or  it  would  continue  to  coast  along 
the  shores  of  Pamphylia  and  CiHcia.  But  here  they  were 
fortunate  enough  to  find  another  vessel  hound  straight 
for  Phoenicia,  and  they  at  once  went  on  hoard,  and  weighed 
anchor.  Once  more  they  were  favoured  hy  wind  and 
wave.  Sailing  with  unimpeded  course — through  sunlight 
and  moonlight — at  the  rate  of  a  hundred  miles  a  day, 
they  caught  sight  ^  at  dawn  of  the  snowy  peaks  of  Cyprus, 
and  passing  by  Paphos — where  Paul  would  he  reminded 
of  Sergius  Paulus  and  Elymas — in  some  four  days,  they 
put  in  at  Tyre,  where  their  ship  was  to  unload  its  cargo. 
The  Apostle  must  have  ceased  to  feel  anxiety  about  being 
at  Jerusalem  by  Pentecost,  since,  owing  to  providential  cir- 
cumstances, he  had  now  a  full  fortnight  to  spare.  There 
were  some  disciples  at  Tyre,  and  St.  Paul  may  have  seen 
them  on   previous   occasions  ;^    but    in  so  populous  and 

*  xxi.  3,  ava(pavfVTes,  of.  aperire  (see  Ps.  Lucian,  Ver.  Hist.  §  38,  p.  687) ; 
the  opposite  technical  term  is,  aitoKpvitTuv,  abscondere  (Thuc.  T.  65 ;  Yirg. 
.Mn.  iii.  275,  291). 

a  Actsxxvi.  20;  GaL  i.  21. 


TYRE.  287 

busy  a  to\vn  it  required  a  little  effort  to  find  them.^  With 
them  Paul  stayed  his  usual  period  of  seven  days,  and  they 
by  the  Spirit  told  him  not  to  go  to  Jerusalem.  He  knew, 
however,  all  that  they  could  tell  him  of  impending  danger, 
and  he  too  was  under  the  guidance  of  the  same  Spirit 
which  urged  him  along — a  fettered  but  willing  captive. 
When  the  week  was  over  ^  St.  Paul  left  them ;  and  so 
deeply  in  that  brief  period  had  he  won  their  affections, 
that  all  the  members  of  the  little  community,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  started  with  him  to  conduct  him  on 
his  way.  Before  they  reached  the  vessel  they  knelt  down 
side  by  side,  men  and  women  and  little  ones,  somewhere  on 
the  surf-beat  rocks  ^  near  which  the  vessel  was  moored, 
to  pray  together — he  for  them,  and  they  for  him — before 
they  returned  to  their  homes ;  and  he  went  once  more 
on  board  for  the  last  stage  of  his  voyage  from  Tyre  to 
Ptolemais,  the  modern  Acre.  There  they  finally  left  their 
vessel,  and  went  to  greet  the  disciples,  with  whom  they 
stayed  for  a  single  day,  and  then  journeyed  by  land  across 
the  plain  of  Sharon — bright  at  that  time  with  a  thousand 
flowers  of    spring — the   forty-four  miles  which    separate 

^  xxi.  4,  avevp6vTfs  tovs  yua07jTos,  '*  Seeking  out  the  disciples,"  not  as  in 
E.  V.  "finding  disciples." 

^  xxi.  5.  i^apria-ai  usually  means  "  to  refit,"  but  here  with  7)txepas  it 
seems  to  mean  "complete."  Hesychius  makes  it  equivalent  to  reXnuxrai,  and 
so  Theophylact  and  (Ecumeuius  understood  it.  Meyer  is  probably  mistaken 
in  giving  the  word  its  first  meaning  here. 

3  Yer.  5,  alytaxhv.  Cf.  xxvii.  39.  There  is,  indeed,  a  long  range  of  sandy 
shore  between  Tyi-e  and  Sidon,  but  near  the  city  there  are  also  rocky  places. 
Dr.  Hackett,  ad  loc,  quotes  a  strikingly  parallel  experience  of  an  American 
missionary,  Mr.  Schneider,  at  Anitab,  near  Tarsus  : — "  More  than  a  hundred 
converts  accompanied  us  out  of  the  city ;  and  there,  near  the  spot  where  one 
of  our  number  had  once  been  stoned,  we  halted,  and  a  prayer  was  offered, 
amid  tears.  Between  thirty  and  forty  escorted  us  two  hours  farther  .  . 
Then  another  prayer  was  offered,  and  with  saddened  countenances  and  with 
weeping  they  forcibly  broke  away  from  us.  (Cf.  anoa-naa-OeuTas,  ver.  1.)  It 
really  seemed  as  though  they  could  not  turn  back." 


288  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Acre  from  Csesarea.  Here  St.  Paul  lingered  till  the  very- 
eve  of  the  feast.  Ready  to  face  danger  when  duty 
called,  he  had  no  desire  to  extend  the  period  of  it,  or 
increase  its  certainty.  At  Csesarea,  therefore,  he  stayed 
with  his  companions  for  several  days,  and  they  were  the 
last  happy  days  of  freedom  which  for  a  long  time  he  M^as 
destined  to  spend.  Grod  graciously  refreshed  his  spirit  by 
this  brief  interval  of  delightful  intercourse  and  rest.  For 
at  Csesarea  they  were  the  guests  of  one  who  must  have  been 
bound  to  Paul  by  man}^  ties  of  the  deepest  sympathy — 'Philip 
the  Evangelist.  A  Hellenist  like  himself,  and  a  liberal 
Hellenist,  Philip,  as  Paul  would  have  been  most  glad  to  recog- 
nise, had  been  the  first  to  show  the  large  sympathy  and  clear 
insight,  without  which  Paul's  own  work  would  have  been 
impossible.  It  was  Philip  who  had  evangelised  the  hated 
Samaritans  ;  it  was  Philip  who  had  had  the  courage  to 
baptise  the  Ethiopian  eimuch.  The  lots  of  these  two 
noble  workers  had  been  closely  intertwined.  It  was  the 
furious  persecution  of  Saul  the  Pharisee  which  had  scat- 
tered the  Church  of  Jerusalem,  and  thus  rendered  useless 
the  organisation  of  the  seven  deacons.  It  was  in  flight 
from  that  persecution  that  the  career  of  Philip  had 
been  changed.  On  the  other  hand,  that  new  career  had 
initiated  the  very  line  of  conduct  which  was  to  occupy 
the  life  of  Paul  the  Apostle.  As  Paul  and  Philip  talked 
together  in  those  few  precious  hours,  there  must  have 
flourished  up  in  their  minds  many  a  touching  reminiscence 
of  the  days  when  the  light  of  heaven,  which  had  once  shone 
on  the  face  of  Stephen  upturned  to  heaven  in  the  agony 
of  martyrdom,  had  also  flashed  in  burning  apocalypse  on 
the  face  of  a  young  man  whose  name  was  Saul.  And 
besides  a  community  of  thoughts  and  memories,  the 
house  of  Philip  was  hallowed  by  the  gentle  ministries 
of    four    daughters    who,    looking    for    the    coming    of 


PROPHECIES    OF    PERIL.  289 

Christ,  Lad   devoted  to  the  service   of  the   Gospel  their 
virgin  lives. ^ 

To  this  happy  little  band  of  believers  came  down  from 
Judaea  the  Prophet  Agabus,  who,  in  the  early  days  of  St. 
Paul's  work  at  Antioch,  had  warned  the  Church  of  the 
impending  famine.  Adopting  the  symbolic  manner  of  the 
ancient  prophets,^  he  came  up  to  Paul,  unbound  the  girdle 
which  fastened  his  cetoueth,  and  tying  with  it  his  own  feet 
and  hands  said,  "  Thus  saith  the  Holy  Spirit,  Thus  shall 
the  Jews  in  Jerusalem  bind  the  man  whose  girdle  this  is, 
and  shall  deliver  him  into  the  hands  of  the  Gentiles." 
They  had  long  been  aware  of  the  peril  of  the  intended 
visit,  but  no  intimation  had  been  given  them  so  definite  as 
this,  nor  had  they  yet  foreseen  that  a  Jewish  assault  would 
necessarily  end  in  a  Eoman  imprisonment.  On  hearing 
it,  St.  Paul's  companions  earnestly  entreated  him  to  stay 
where  he  was,  while  they  went  to  Jerusalem  to  convey  the 
Gentile  contribution;  and  the  members  of  the  Csesarean 
Church  joined  their  own  tears  and  entreaties  to  those  of 
his  beloved  companions.  Why  should  he  face  a  certain 
peril  ?  Why  should  he  endauger  an  invaluable  life  ?  Since 
the  Spirit  had  given  him  so  many  warnings,  might  there 
not  be  even  something  of  presumption  in  thus  exposing  him- 
self in  the  very  stronghold  of  his  most  embittered  enemies  ? 
St.  Paul  was  not  insensible  to  their  loving  entreaties  and 
arguments  ;  there  might  have  been  an  excuse,  and  some- 
thing more  than  an  excuse,  for  him  had  he  decided  that 
it  was  most  unwise  to  persist  in  his  intentions;  but  it 
was  not  so  to  be.  His  purpose  was  inflexible.  JSTo  voices 
of  even  prophets  should  turn  him  aside  from  obedience  to 
a  call  which  he  felt  to  be  from  God.  A  captive  bound 
to  Christ's  triumphant  chariot-wheel,  what  could  he  do  ? 

»  Cf.  Plin.  Ep.  X.  m. 

'  Cf .  I  Kings  xxii.  11 ;  Isa.  xx.  2 ;  Jer.  xiii.  1,  <fcCi 


290  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

What  could  lie  do  but  thank  God  even  if  the  Grospel,  which 
was  to  some  an  aroma  of  life,  became  to  him  an  aroma  of 
earthly  death  ?  When  the  finger  of  God  has  pointed  out 
the  path  to  a  noble  soul,  it  will  not  swerve  either  to  the 
right  hand  or  the  left.  "  What  are  ye  doing,  weeping 
and  breaking  my  heart?"  he  said.  "I  am  willing  not 
only  to  go  to  Jerusalem  to  be  bound,  but  even  to  die,  for 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  They  saw  that  further  im- 
portunity would  be  painful  and  useless — 

**  He  saw  a  hand  tliey  could  not  see 
Which  beckoned  him  away, 
He  heard  a  voice  they  could  not  hear 
Which  would  not  let  him  stay." 

They  desisted  and  wiped  away  their  tears,  saying,  "  The 
Lord's  will  be  done." 

Too  soon  the  happy  days  of  rest  and  loving  intercourse 
came  to  an  end.  It  was  seventy-five  miles,  an  ordinary 
three  days'  journey,  from  Csesarea  to  Jerusalem.  That  year 
the  feast  began  at  sunset  on  Wednesday,  May  17.^  The 
last  day  at  Csesarea  was  a  Sunday.  Next  day  they  packed 
up  their  baggage^ — and  it  was  precious,  for  it  contained  the 
chaluka — and,  accompanied  by  some  of  the  Csesarean  con- 
verts, who,  with  multitudes  of  other  Jews,  were  streaming 
up  to  Jerusalem  on  that  last  day  before  the  feast  began,^ 
they  started  for  the  Holy  City,  with  hearts  on  which  rested 
an  ever-deepening  shadow.  The  crowd  at  these  gather- 
ings was  so  immense  that  the  ordinary  stranger  might 
well  fail  to  find  accommodation,  and  be  driven  to  some 

1  Fasti  Sacri,  No.  1857. 

^  Yerse  15.  Leg.  iiri(rKevaTdfj.fvoi,  N,  A,  B,  E,  G,  and  a  mass  of  cursives. 
In  the  E.  V.  "  carriages  "  means  "  baggage : "  cf.  Judges  xviii.  21  ;  1  Sam. 
xvii.  22  ;  Isa.  x.  28.     "  We  trussed  up  our  fardeles,"  Genev.  Vers. 

3  That  St.  Paul  had  only  arrived  on  the  very  eve  of  the  feast  may  be  at 
once  inferred  from  Acts  xxiv.  11. 


LAST    VISIT    TO    JERUSALEM.  291 

temporary  booth  outside  the  walls.  But  the  brethren  had 
taken  care  to  secure  for  Paul  and  his  delegates  a  shelter 
in  the  house  of  Mnason,  a  Cyprian,  and  one  of  the  original 
disciples.  St.  Paul  seems  to  have  had  a  sister  living  at  Jeru- 
salem, but  we  do  not  know  that  she  was  a  Christian,  and  in 
any  case  her  house — which  might  be  well  known  to  many 
Tarsian  Jews — would  be  an  uncertain  resting-place  for  an 
endangered  man.  And  so  for  the  fifth  time  since  his  con- 
version Paul  re-entered  Jerusalem.  He  had  rarely  entered 
it  without  some  cause  for  anxiety,  and  there  could  have 
been  scarcely  one  reminiscence  which  it  awoke  that  was 
not  infinitely  painful.  The  school  of  Gamaliel,  the  Sj^^na- 
gogue  of  the  Libertines,  the  house  where  the  High  Priest 
had  given  him  his  commission  to  Damascus,  the  spot 
where  the  reddened  grass  had  drunk  the  blood  of  Stephen 
must  all  have  stirred  painful  memories.  But  never  had  he 
trod  the  streets  of  the  Holy  City  with  so  deep  a  sadness  as 
now  that  he  entered  it,  avoiding  notice  as  much  as  possible, 
in  the  little  caravan  of  Csesarean  pilgrims  and  Grentile  con- 
verts. He  was  going  into  a  city  where  friends  were  few, 
and  where  well-nigh  every  one  of  the  mj^riads  among  whom 
he  moved  was  an  actual  or  potential  enemy,  to  whom  the 
mere  mention  of  his  name  might  be  enough  to  make  the 
dagger  flash  from  its  scabbard,  or  to  startle  a  cry  of  hatred 
which  would  be  the  signal  for  a  furious  outbreak.  But  he 
was  the  bearer  of  help,  which  was  a  tangible  proof  of  his 
allegiance  to  the  mother  church,  and  the  brethren  whom 
he  saw  that  evening  at  the  house  of  Mnason  gave  him  a 
joyous  welcome.  It  may  have  cheered  his  heart  for  a 
moment,  but  it  did  not  remove  the  deep  sense  that  he  was 
in  that  city  which  was  the  murderess  of  the  Prophets. 
He  knew  too  well  the  burning  animosity  which  he  kindled, 
because  he  remembered  too  well  what  had  been  his  own, 
and  that  of  his  party,  against  the  Christian  Hellenists  of 
t  2 


292  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK!    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

old.     The  wrath  which  he  had  then  felt  was  now  a  furnace 
heated  sevenfold  against  himself. 

The  next  day  till  sunset  was  marked  by  the  ceremonies 
of  the  feast,  and  the  greater  part  of  it  was  spent  by  St. 
Paul  and  his  little  company  in  an  assembly  of  the  elders, 
who  met  to  receive  him  under  the  presidency  of  James.-^ 
The  elders  were  already  assembled  when  the  visitors  came 
in,  and  we  may  imagine  that  it  was  with  something  more 
than  a  thrill  of  curiosity — that  it  must  have  been  with  an 
almost  painful  shyness — that  "  timid  provincial  neophytes" 
like  Timothy  and  Trophimus  (the  latter  especially,  an  un- 
circumcised  Grentile,  whom  his  teacher  had  encouraged 
to  regard  himself  as  entirely  emancipated  from  the  Jewish 
law) — found  themselves  in  the  awful  presence  of  James,  the 
Lord's  brother — James,  the  stern,  white-robed,  mysterious 
prophet,  and  the  conclave  of  his  but  half -conciliated 
Judaic  presbyters.  No  misgiving  could  assail  them  in 
their  own  free  Asiatic  or  Hellenic  homes ;  but  here  in 
Jerusalem,  in  "  the  Holy,  the  Noble  city,"  under  the  very 
shadow  of  the  Temple,  face  to  face  with  zealots  and 
Pharisees,  it  required  nothing  less  than  the  genius  of  a 
Paul  to  claim  without  shadow  of  misgiving  that  divine 
freedom  which  was  arraigned  in  the  name  of  a  history  rich 
in  miracles,  and  a  whole  literature  of  inspired  books. 
That  free  spirit  was  a  lesson  which  the  Jews  themselves 
as  a  body  could  not  learn.  It  required,  indeed,  the 
earthquake  shock  which  laid  their  temple  in  ruins,  and 
scattered  their  nationality  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven, 
effectively  to  teach  them  the  futility  of   the   convictions 

^  As  none  of  the  Twelve  are  mentioned,  it  is  probable  that  none  were 
present.  The  twelve  years  which,  as  tradition  tells  us,  had  been  fixed  by 
Christ  for  their  stay  in  Jerusalem,  had  long  elapsed,  and  they  were  scattei-ed 
on  their  various  missions  to  evangelise  the  world.  St.  Luke  was  aware  of 
the  contributions  brought  by  St.  Paul  (xxiv.  17),  though  he  does  not  mention 
them  here. 


RECEPTION    OF    THE    OFFERINGS.  293 

to  which  they  so  passionately  clung.  They  would  have 
resisted  without  end  the  logic  of  argument  had  not  God 
Himself  in  due  time  refuted  their  whole  theology  by  the 
irresistible  logic  of  facts.  The  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
did  more  to  drive  them  from  an  immemorial  "orthodoxy" 
than  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  himself. 

As  we  read  the  narrative  of  the  Acts  in  the  light  of 
the  Epistles,  it  is  difficult  to  resist  the  impression  that  the 
meeting  between  the  Apostle  and  the  Elders  of  Jerusalem 
was  cold.  It  is,  of  course,  certain  that  the  first  object  of 
the  meeting  was  the  presentation  of  the  contribution  from 
which  Paul  had  hoped  so  much.  One  by  one  he  would 
call  forward  the  beloved  delegates,  that  they  might  with 
their  own  hands  lay  at  the  feet  of  James  the  sums  of 
money  which  his  Gentile  Churches  had  contributed  out 
of  their  deep  poverty,  and  which  in  many  and  many  a 
coin  bore  witness  to  weeks  of  generous  self-denial.  There 
lay  all  this  money,  a  striking  proof  of  the  faithfulness 
with  which  Paul,  at  any  rate,  had  carried  out  his  share 
of  the  old  compact  at  Jerusalem,  when — almost  by  way 
of  return  for  concessions  which  the  Judaisers  had  done 
their  best  to  render  nugatory — the  Three  had  begged  him 
to  be  mindful  of  the  poor.  It  must  have  been  a  far  larger 
bounty  than  they  had  any  reason  to  expect,  and  on  this 
occasion,  if  ever,  we  might  surely  have  looked  for  a  little 
effusive  sympathy,  a  little  expansive  warmth,  on  the  part 
of  the  community  which  had  received  so  tangible  a  proof 
of  the  Apostle's  kindness.  Yet  we  are  not  told  about  a 
word  of  thanks,  and  we  see  but  too  plainly  that  Paul's 
hardly  disguised  misgiving  as  to  the  manner  in  which  his 
gift  would  be  accepted  ^  was  confirmed.  Never  in  any  age 
have  the  recipients  of  alms  at  Jerusalem  been  remarkable 

1  Rom.  XV.  31. 


294  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

for  gratitude.^  Was  the  gratitude  of  the  Zealots  and 
Pharisees  of  the  community  extinguished  in  this  instance 
by  the  fact  that  one  of  the  bags  of  money  was  carried  by 
the  hands  of  an  uncircumcised  Grentile  ?  Had  it  been 
otherwise,  nothing  would  have  lain  more  entirely  in  the 
scope  of  St.  Luke's  purpose  to  record.  Though  some  at 
least  of  the  brethren  received  Paul  gladly,  the  Elders  of  the 
Church  had  not  hurried  on  the  previous  evening  to  greet 
and  welcome  him,  and  subsequent  events  prove  too  clearly 
that  his  chief  reward  lay  in  the  sense  of  having  done  and 
taught  to  his'  converts  what  was  kind  and  right,  and  not 
in  any  softening  of  the  heart  of  the  Judaic  Christians. 
Grratitude  is  not  always  won  by  considerateness.  The  col- 
lection for  the  saints  occupies  many  a  paragraph  in  St. 
Paul's  Epistles,  as  it  had  occupied  many  a  year  of  his 
thoughts.  But  there  is  little  or  no  recorded  recognition 
of  his  labour  of  love  by  the  recipients  of  the  bounty 
which  but  for  him  could  never  have  been  collected. 

AVhen  the  presentation  was  over,  Paul  narrated  in  full 
detaiP  the  work  he  had  done,  and  the  Churches  which  he 
had  confirmed  or  founded  in  tbat  third  journey,  of  which 
we  have  seen  the  outline.  What  love  and  exultation 
should  such  a  narrative  have  excited  !  All  that  we  are  told 
is,  that  "  they,  on  hearing  it,  glorified  God,  and  said  " — 
what  ?  The  repetition,  the  echo,  of  bitter  and  even  deadly 
reproaches  against  St.  Paul,  coupled  with  a  suggestion 
which,  however  necessary  they  may  have  deemed  it,  was 
none  the  less  humiliating.  "  You  observe,  brother,  how 
many  myriads  of  the  Jews  there  are  that  have  embraced 
the  faith,  and  they  are  all  zealots  of  the  Lg-w."  The  ex- 
pression is  a  startling  one.     Were  there,  indeed,  at  that 

'  Witness  the  treatment  in  recent  days  of   Sir  M.  Montefiore  and  Dr. 
Frankl,  after  conferring  on  them  the  largest  pecuniary  benefits. 
2  xxi.  19,  Kad'  ey  eKaaroy. 


PROPOSAL  OF  THE  ELDERS.  295 

early  date  "  many  myriads "  of  Jewish  Christians,  when 
we  know  how  insignificant  numerically  were  the  Churches 
even  at  such  places  as  Eome  and  Corinth,  and  when  we 
learn  how  small  was  the  body  of  Christians  which,  a  decade 
later,  took  refuge  at  Pella  from,  the  impending  ruin  of 
Jerusalem  ?  If  we  are  to  take  the  expression  literally — if 
there  were  even  as  many  as  two  myriads  of  Christians  who 
were  all  zealous  for  the  Law,  it  only  shows  how  fatal  was 
the  risk  that  the  Church  would  he  absorbed  into  a  mere 
slightly-differentiated  synagogue.  At  any  rate,  the  remark 
emphasised  the  extreme  danger  of  the  Apostle's  position 
in  that  hotbed  of  raging  fanaticism,  especially  when  they 
added,  "And  they" — all  these  myriads  who  have  embraced 
the  faith  and  are  zealots  of  the  Law ! — "have  been  studiously 
indoctrinated^  with  the  belief  about  you,  that  you  teach 
Apostasy  from  Moses,  telling  all  the  Jews  of  the  dis- 
persion not  to  circumcise  their  children,  and  not  to  walk 
in  obedience  to  the  customs.  What  then  is  the  state  of 
affairs  ?  That  a  crowd  will  assemble  is  quite  certain ;  for 
they  will  hear  that  you  have  come.  At  once  then  do  what 
we  tell  you.  We  have  four  men  who  have  a  vow  upon 
them.  Take  them,  be  purified  with  them,  and  pay  their 
expenses  that  they  may  get  their  heads  shaved.  All 
will  then  recognise  that  there  is  nothing  in  all  which  has 
been  so  carefully  inculcated  into  them  about  you,  but  that 
you  yourself  also  walk  in  observance  of  the  Law.  But 
as  regards  the  Gentiles  that  have  embraced  the  faith,  we 
enjoined  their  exemption  from  everything  of  this  kind, 
deciding  only  that  they  should  keep  themselves  from  meat 
offered  to  idols,  and  blood,  and  strangled,  and  fornication." 
Wliat  did  this  proposal  mean?  It  meant  that  the 
emancipation  from  the  vow  of  the   Nazarite  could  only 

1  Yei".  21,  KttTTjx'i^Tjtro;'.     Yery  much  stronger  tliau  the  E.  V.,  "  they  are 
informed." 


296  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL.       • 

take  place  at  Jerusalem,  and  in  the  Temple,  and  that  it 
was  accompanied  by  offerings  so  costly  that  they  were  for 
a  poor  man  impossible.  A  custom  had  therefore  sprung 
up  by  which  rich  men  undertook  to  defray  the  necessary 
expenses,  and  this  was  regarded  as  an  act  of  charity  and 
piety.  The  Jews,  indeed,  looked  so  favourably  on  a  species 
of  liberality  which  rendered  it  possible  for  the  poor  no  less 
than  the  rich  to  make  vows  at  moments  of  trial  and  danger, 
that  when  Agrippa  I.  paid  his  first  visit  to  Jerusalem,  he 
had  paid  the  expenses  which  enabled  a  large  number  of 
Nazarites  to  shave  their  heads,^  not  only  because  he  wished 
to  give  an  ostentatious  proof  of  his  respect  for  the  Levitical 
law,  but  also  because  he  knew  that  this  would  be  a  sure 
method  of  acquiring  popularity  with  the  Pharisaic  party. 
The  person  who  thus  defrayed  the  expenses  was  supposed 
so  far  to  share  the  vow,  that  he  was  required  to  stay  with 
the  Nazarites  during  the  entire  week,  which,  as  we  gather 
from  St.  Luke,  was  the  period  which  must  elapse  between 
the  announcement  to  the  priest  of  the  termination  of  the 
vow  and  his  formal  declaration  that  it  had  been  legally 
completed.^  For  a  week  then,  St.  Paul,  if  he  accepted  the 
advice  of  James  and  the  presbyters,  would  have  to  live 
with  four  paupers  in  the  chamber  of  the  Temple  which 
was  set  apart  for  this  purpose;  and  then  to  pay  for  sixteen 
sacrificial  animals  and  the  accompanying  meat  offerings ; 
and  to  stand  among  these  Nazarites  while  the  priest 
offered  four  he-lambs  of  the  first  year  without  blemish 
for  burnt  offerings,  and  four  ewe-lambs  of  the  first  year 
without  blemish  for  sin  offerings,  and  four  rams  without 

*  Jos.  Antt.  xix.  6,  §  1,  eis  'Upo<T6\v/Ma  fKdiiiu  x'^P^<'''''Vpiovs  f^eirKrjpcoffe  Oualas 
ohhiv  TU>v  Kara,  vo/xov  awoXt-rrdv.      Sih  koI  "Sa^ipaioiv  ^vpuadai  Stera^e  fxaXa  avxyovs. 

2  Neither  the  Talmud  nor  the  Pentateuch  meutions  this  circumstance. 
Numb.  vi.  9,  10  refers  only  to  the  cases  of  accidental  pollution  during  the 
period  of  the  vow.  It  may  have  been  on  the  analogy  of  this  rule  that  a  week 
was  fixed  as  the  period  of  purification. 


ST.    PAUL    AND    THE    NAZARITES.  297 

blemish  for  peace  offerings  ;  and  then,  to  look  on  while 
the  men's  heads  were  being  shaved  and  while  they  took 
their  hair  to  burn  it  under  the  boiling  caldron  of  the 
peace  offerings,  and  while  the  priest  took  four  sodden 
shoulders  of  rams  and  four  unleavened  cakes  out  of  •  the 
four  baskets,  and  four  unleavened  wafers  anointed  with 
oil,  and  put  them  on  the  hands  of  the  Nazarites,  and 
waved  them  for  a  wave-offering  before  the  Lord — which, 
with  the  wave-breads  and  the  heave -shoulders,  the  priest 
afterwards  took  as  his  own  perquisites.  And  he  was  to 
do  all  this,  not  only  to  disprove  what  was  undoubtedly 
a  calumny  if  taken  strictly — namely,  that  he  had  taught 
the  Jews  apostasy  from  Moses  (as  though  his  whole 
Grospel  was  this  mere  negation !) — but  also  to  prove  that 
there  was  no  truth  in  the  reports  about  him,  but  that 
he  also  was  a  regular  observer  of  the  Law. 

That  it  was  an  expensive  business  was  nothing.  Paul, 
poor  as  he  had  now  become,  could  not,  of  course,  pay 
unless  he  had  the  money  wherewith  to  pay  it;  and  if 
there  were  any  difficulty  on  this  score,  its  removal  rested 
Tvdth  those  who  made  the  proposal.  But  was  the  charge 
against  him  false  in  spirit  as  well  as  in  letter  ?  Was 
it  true  that  he  valued,  and — at  any  rate  with  anything 
approaching  to  scrupulosity — still  observed  the  Law? 
Would  there  not  be  in  such  conduct  on  his  part  some- 
thing which  might  be  dangerously  misrepresented  as  an 
abandonment  of  principle  ?  If  those  Judaisers  on  whom 
he  did  not  spare  to  heap  such  titles  as  "  false  apostles," 
**  false  brethren,"  "  deceitful  workers,"  "  dogs,"  "  emis- 
saries of  Satan,"  "the  concision,"^  had  shaken  the  alle- 
giance of  his  converts  by  charging  him  with  inconsistency 
before,  would  they  not  have  far  more  ground  to  do  so 

^  2  Cor,  xL  13j  GaL  ii.  4;  PhU.  iU.  2;  2  Cor.  xi.  13. 


298  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

now?  It  is  true  tliat  at  tlie  close  of  his  second  journey 
lie  had  spontaneously  taken  on  himself  the  vow  of  the 
Nazarite.  But  since  that  time  circumstances  had  widely 
altered.  At  that  tiine  the  animosity  of  those  false 
brethren  was  in  ahe3^ance ;  they  had  not  dogged  his 
footsteps  with  slander  ;  they  had  not  beguiled  his  converts 
into  legalism ;  they  had  not  sent  their  adherents  to  undo 
his  teaching  and  persuade  his  own  churches  to  defy  his 
authority.  And  if  all  these  circumstances  were  changed, 
he  too  was  changed  since  then.  His  faith  had  never  been 
the  stereotype  of  a  shibboleth,  or  the  benumbing  repeti- 
tion of  a  phrase.  His  hfe,  like  the  life  of  every  good 
and  wise  man,  was  a  continual  education.  His  views 
during  the  years  in  which  he  lived  exclusively  among 
Grentile  churches  and  in  great  cities  had  been  rendered 
clearer  and  more  decided.  Not  to  speak  of  the  lucid 
principles  which  he  had  sketched  in  the  Epistles  to  the 
Corinthians,  he  had  written  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians, 
and  had  developed  the  arguments  there  enunciated  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans.  It  had  been  the  very  object 
of  those  Epistles  to  establish  the  nullity  of  the  Law  for 
all  purposes  of  justification.  The  man  who  had  written 
that  the  teaching  of  the  Judaisers  was  a  quite  different 
gospel  to  his,  and  that  any  one  who  preached  it  was 
accursed  ^ — who  had  openly  charged  Peter  with  tergiver- 
sation for  living  Judaically  after  having  lived  in  Gentile 
fashion^ — who  had  laid  it  down  as  his  very  thesis  that 
"from  works  of  Law  no  flesh  shall  be  justified"^ — who 
had  said  that  to  build  again  what  he  destroyed  was  to 
prove  himself  a  positive  transgressor  * — who  had  talked  of 
the  Law  as  "  a  curse  "  from  which  Christ  redeemed  us, 
and  declared  that  the  Law  could  never  brin^  righteous- 


'to 


1  Gal.  i.  6—9.  3  Id.  ii.  16. 

2  Id.  ii.  14  ;  su'pra,  I.,  p.  442.  *  Id.  ii.  18. 


WAS    IT   JUSTIFIABLE?  299 

ness^ — who  had  even  characterised  that  Law  as  a  slavery 
to  "  weak  and  beggarly  elements "  comparable  to  the 
rituals  of  Cybele  w^orship  and  Moon  worship,  and  spoken 
of  circumcision  as  being  in  itself  no  better  than  a  con- 
temptible mutilation  ^ — who  had  talked  again  and  again 
of  being  dead  to  the  Law,  and  openly  claimed  fellowship 
rather  with  the  Gentiles,  who  were  the  spiritual,  than 
with  the  rejected  and  penally  blinded  Jews,  who  were  but 
the  physical  descendants  of  Abraham — was  this  the  man 
who  could  without  creating  false  impressions  avoid  danger 
of  death,  which  he  had  braved  so  often,  by  doing  some- 
thing to  show  how  perfectly  orthodox  he  was  in  the 
impugned  respects  ?  A  modern  writer  has  said  that  he 
could  not  do  this  without  untruth ;  and  that  to  suppose 
the  author  of  the  Epistles  to  the  Eomans  and  Galatians 
standing  seven  days,  oilcakes  in  hand,  in  the  Temple 
vestibule,  and  submitting  himself  to  all  the  manipulations 
with  which  Rabbinic  pettiness  had  multiplied  the  Mosaic 
ceremonials  w^hich  accompanied  the  completion  of  the 
Nazaritic  vow — to  suppose  that,  in  the  midst  of  unbeliev- 
ing Priests  and  Levites,  he  should  have  patiently  tolerated 
all  the  ritual  nullities  of  the  Temple  service  of  that 
period,  and  so  have  brought  the  business  to  its  tedious 
conclusion  in  the  elaborate  manner  above  described,  "  is 
just  as  credible  as  that  Luther  in  his  old  age  should  have 
performed  a  pilgrimage  to  Einsiedeln  with  peas  in  his 
shoes,  or  that  Calvin  on  his  deathbed  should  have  vowed 
a  gold-embroidered  gown  to  the  Holy  Mother  of  God."^ 

1  Rom.  iii.  20 ;  Gal.  ii.  16. 

2  Phil.  iii.  2  ;  Gal.  V.  12. 

'  Hausratli  (p.  453),  who,  however,  erroneously  imagines  that  Paul  had 
himself  on  this  occasion  the  vow  of  a  Nazarite  upon  him.  The  person  who 
paid  the  expense  of  the  Nazarite  had  not,  I  imagine,  to  make  oiierings  for 
himself — at  least  it  is  nowhere  so  stated — though  we  infer  that  he  lived  with 
the  Nazarites  during  the  period  of  their  seclusion,  and  in  some  undefined  way 
shared  in  their  purification. 


300  THE    LIFE   AJND   WORE:    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

But  the  comparison  is  illusory.  It  may  be  true  tliat  the 
natural  temperament  of  St.  Paul — something  also,  it  may  be, 
in  his  Oriental  character — inclined  him  to  go  much  farther 
in  the  way  of  concession  than  either  Luther  or  Calvin 
would  have  done ;  but  apart  from  this  his  circumstances 
were  widely  different  from  theirs  in  almost  every  respect. 
We  may  well  imagine  that  this  unexpected  proposal  was 
distasteful  to  him  in  many  ways ;  it  is  hardly  possible  that 
he  should  regard  without  a  touch  of  impatience  the  tedious 
ceremonialisms  of  a  system  which  he  now  knew  to  be  in  its 
last  decadence,  and  doomed  to  speedy  extinction.  Still  there 
were  two  great  principles  which  he  had  thoroughly  grasped, 
and  on  which  he  had  consistently  acted.  One  was  acquies- 
cence in  things  indifferent  for  the  sake  of  charity,  so  that  he 
gladly  became  as  a  Jew  to  Jews  that  he  might  save  Jews ; 
the  other  that,  during  the  short  time  which  remained,  and 
Tinder  the  stress  of  the  present  necessity,  it  was  each  man's 
duty  to  abide  in  the  condition  wherein  he  had  been  called. 
He  was  a  Jew,  and  therefore  to  him  the  Jewish  cere- 
monial was  a  part  of  national  custom  and  established  ordi- 
nance. For  him  it  had,  at  the  very  lowest,  a  civil  if  not  a 
religious  validity.  If  the  Jews  misinterpreted  his  conduct 
into  more  than  was  meant,  it  would  only  be  a  misrepresenta- 
tion like  those  which  they  gratuitously  invented,  and  to 
which  he  was  incessantly  liable.  Undoubtedly  during  his 
missionary  journey  he  must  again  and  again  have  broken 
the  strict  provisions  of  that  Law  to  the  honour  and  further- 
ance of  which  he  had  devoted  his  youth.  But  though  he 
did  not  hold  himself  bound  to  do  all  that  the  Law  and  the 
Eabbis  required,  yet  neither  did  he  feel  himself  precluded 
from  any  observance  which  was  not  wrong.  His  objection 
to  Levitism  was  not  an  objection  to  external  conformit}^,  but 
only  to  that  substitution  of  externalism  for  faith  to  which 
conformity  might  lead.     He  did  not  so  much  object  to 


A15"0THER   POSSIBLE    COURSE.  301 

ceremonies  as  to  placing  any  reliance  on  tliem.  He  might 
have  wished  that  things  were  otherwise,  and  that  the  course 
suggested  to  him  involved  a  less  painful  sacrifice.  He  might 
have  been  gladder  if  the  Elders  had  said  to  him,  "  Brother, 
3'ou  are  detested  here ;  at  any  moment  the  shout  of  a  mob 
may  rise  against  you,  or  the  dagger  of  a  Sicarius  be  plunged 
into  your  heart.  We  cannot  under  such  circumstances  be 
responsible  for  your  life.  You  have  given  us  this  splendid 
proof  of  your  own  loyalty  and  of  the  Christian  love  of  your 
converts.  The  feast  is  over.^  Eetire  at  once  with  safety, 
and  with  our  prayers  and  our  blessings  continue  your 
glorious  work."  Alas !  such  advice  was  only  a  "  might 
have  been."  He  accepted  the  suggestion  they  offered,  and 
the  very  next  day  entered  the  Temple  with  these  four 
Nazarites,  went  through  whatever  preliminary  purification 
was  deemed  necessary  by  the  Oral  Law,  and  gave  notice  to 
the  priests  that  from  this  time  they  must  begin  to  count 
the  seven  days  which  must  pass  before  the  final  offerings 
were  brought  and  the  vow  concluded.^ 

If  the  Elders   overrated  the  conciliatory  effect  of  this 
act  of  conformity,  they  had  certainly  underrated  the  peril 

^  The  Pentecost  only  lasted  one  day. 

^  In  some  such  way  I  understand  the  obscure  and  disputed  expressions 
of  ver.  26 ;  but  even  with  the  Talmudic  treatise  Nazir  beside  us,  we  know 
too  little  of  the  details  to  be  sure  of  the  exact  process  gone  through,  or  of  the 
exact  meaning  of  the  expressions  used.  Some  take  ayviffdeis  and  ayvtafxhs  to 
mean  that  St.  Paul  took  on  him  the  Nazarite  vow  with  them  (cf .  Numb.  vi.  3, 
5,  LXX.).  This  seems  to  be  impossible,  because  thii-ty  days  is  the  shortest 
period  mentioned  by  the  Mislma  for  a  temporary  vow.  Mr.  Lewin  and  others 
have  conjectured  that  he  was  himself  a  Nazarite,  having  taken  the  vow  after 
his  peril  at  Ephesus,  as  on  the  pre-\dous  occasion  after  his  peril  at  Corinth ; 
and  that  this  was  the  reason  why  he  was  so  anxious  to  get  to  Jerusalem.  But 
if  so,  why  did  not  St.  Luke  mention  the  circumstance  as  he  had  done  befoi-e  ? 
And  if  so,  why  was  it  necessary  to  pay  the  expenses  of  these  four  Nazarites 
when  the  fulfilment  of  his  own  personal  vow  would  have  been  a  sufficient  and 
more  striking  proof  of  willingness  to  conform  to  Mosaism  in  his  personal 
conduct  ?  Moreover,  the  proposal  of  the  Elders  evidently  came  to  St.  Paul 
unexpectedly. 


302.  THE    LITE    AOT)    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

to  whicli  it  would  expose  the  great  missionaiy  who,  more 
than  they  all,  had  done  his  utmost  to  fulfil  that  last  com- 
mand of  Christ  that  they  should  go  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  the  Grospel  to  every  creature.  The  city  was 
full  of  strangers  from  every  region  of  the  world,  and  the 
place  where  of  all  others  they  would  delight  to  congregate 
would  be  the  courts  of  the  Temple.  Even,  therefore,  if 
St.  Paul,  now  that  the  storms  of  years  had  scarred  his  coun- 
tenance and  bent  his  frame,  was  so  fortunate  as  to  remain 
unrecognised  by  any  hostile  priest  who  had  known  him  in 
former  da3^s,  it  was  hardly  possible  that  every  one  of  the 
thousands  whom  he  had  met  in  scores  of  foreign  cities 
should  fail  to  identify  that  well-known  face  and  figure. 
It  would  have  been  far  safer,  if  anything  compelled  him 
to  linger  in  the  Holy  City,  to  live  unnoticed  in  the 
lowly  house  of  Mnason.  He  might  keep  as  quiet  as  he 
possibly  could  in  that  chamber  of  the  Nazarites ;  but  even 
if,  during  those  seven  days  of  enforced  idleness,  he  con- 
fined himself  there  to  the  utmost  extent,  and  even  if  the 
other  Nazarites  abstained  from  divulging  the  secret  of  a 
name  so  famous,  it  was  impossible  that  he  should  escape 
the  eyes  of  the  myriads  who  daily  wandered  through 
the  Temple  courts  and  took  part  in  its  multitudinous 
ceremonies. 

For  the  Jews  at  that  period  were  in  a  most  inflam- 
mable state  of  mind,  and  the  tremors  of  the  earthquake 
were  already  felt  which  was  soon  to  rend  the  earth  under 
their  feet,  and  shake  their  Temple  and  city  into  irretrievable 
ruin.  On  the  death  of  Herod  Agrippa  I.,^  Claudius,  thinking 
that  his  son  was  too  young  to  succeed  to  the  government 
of  so  turbulent  a  people,  kept  him  under  his  own  eye  at 
Rome,  and  appointed  Cuspius  Fadus  to  the  Procuratorship 
of  Judaea.  To  secure  an  additional  hold  upon  the  Jews, 
A.D.  U. 


AGRIPPA  II.  303 

he  ordered  that  tlie  crown  of  Agrippa,  and,  what  was  of 
infinitely  greater  importance,  the  "golden  robes"  of  the 
High  Priest,  should  be  locked  up  under  the  care  of  the 
Eomans  in  the  Tower  of  Antonia.  So  deep  was  the  fury 
of  the  Jews  at  the  thought  that  these  holy  vestments 
should  be  under  the  impure  care  of  Grentiles,  that  the  order 
could  only  be  enforced  by  securing  the  presence  at  Jeru- 
salem of  C.  Cassius  Longinus,  the  Prsefect  of  Syria,  mth 
an  immense  force.  Claudius  almost  immediately  after- 
wards cancelled  the  order,  at  the  entreaty  of  a  deputation 
from  Jerusalem,  supported  by  the  influence  of  the  young 
Agrippa.  Claudius  had  owed  to  Agrippa's  father  his  very 
empire,  and  since  the  youth  inherited  all  the  beauty,  talent, 
and  versatility  of  his  family,  he  was  a  great  favourite  at 
the  Imperial  Court.  Fadus  had  been  succeeded  by  Tiberius 
Alexander,  a  nephew  of  Philo,^  who  was  peculiarly  hateful 
to  the  Jews  because  he  was  a  renegade  from  their  religion. 
He  was  superseded  by  Cumanus,  and  about  the  same 
time  Agrippa  II.  was  invested  with  the  little  kingdom 
of  Chalcis,  vacant  by  the  death  of  his  uncle  Herod,  and 
also  with  the  functions  of  guarding  the  Temple  and  the 
Corban,  and  nominating  to  the  High  Priesthood.^  The 
Procuratorship  of  Cumanus  marked  the  commencement  of 
terrible  disturbances.  At  the  very  first  Passover  at  which 
he  was  present  an  event  occurred  which  was  a  terrible 
omen  of  the  future.  Just  as  at  this  day  the  Turkish 
soldiers  are  always  prepared  to  pour  down  from  the  house 
of  the  Turkish  Grovernor  on  the  first  occurrence  of  any 
discord  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches,  so  it  was 
the  custom  of  the  Eoman  commandant  of  the  Tower  of 
Antonia  to  post  detachments  of  soldiers  along  the  roof  of 
the  cloister  which  connected  the  fortress  with  the  Temple 

*  Josephus  calls  him  Qavixaffidnaros  (c.  Ap.  i.  2). 
»  A.D.  49. 


304  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

area — ready  at  any  moment  to  rush  down  the  stairs  and 
plunge  into  the  very  midst  of  the  crowded  worshippers. 
What  occurred  on  this  occasion  is  singularly  characteristic. 
While  standing  there  at  guard,  one  of  the  Eoman  soldiers, 
weary  of  having  nothing  to  do,  and  disgusted  with  watch- 
ing what  he  despised  as  the  mummeries  of  these  hateful 
Jews,  expressed  his  contempt  for  them  hy  a  gesture  of 
the  most  insulting  indecency.^  Instantly  the  Jews  were 
plunged  into  a  paroxysm  of  fury.  They  cursed  the  new 
Procurator,  and  began  to  pelt  the  soldiers  with  stones, 
which  seem  to  have  been  always  ready  to  hand  among 
this  excitable  race.  Fearing  that  the  Antonia  detachment 
would  be  too  weak  to  cope  with  so  savage  an  onslaught, 
Cumanus  marched  his  entire  forces  round  from  the  PraB- 
torium.  At  the  clash  of  their  footsteps,  and  the  gleam  of 
their  swords,  the  wretched  unarmed  mass  of  pilgrims  was 
struck  with  panic,  and  made  a  rush  to  escape.  The  gates 
of  the  Temple  were  choked  up,  and  a  multitude,  variously 
stated  at  ten  and  at  twenty  thousand,  was  trampled  and 
crushed  to  death. 

This  frightful  disaster  was  followed  by  another  tragedy. 
An  imperial  messenger  was  robbed  by  bandits  at  Beth- 
horon,  not  far  from  Jerusalem.  Furious  at  such  an  insult, 
Cumanus  made  the  neighbouring  callages  responsible,  and 
in  sacking  one  of  them  a  Eoman  soldier  got  hold  of  a  copy 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  burnt  it  before  the  villagers  with 
open  blasphemies.  The  horror  of  the  insult  consisted  in 
the  fact  that  the  sacred  roll  contained  in  many  places  the 
awful  and  incommunicable  Name.  As  they  had  done 
when  Pilate  put  up  the  gilt  votive  shields  in  Jerusalem, 
and  when  Caligula  had  issued  the  order  that  his  image 
should   be   placed   in   the   Temple,  the   Jews  poured  in 

1  Jos.  B.  J.  ii.  12,  §  1 ;  Antt.  xx.  5,  §  3. 


TROUBLES    IN    JUD^A.  305 

myriads  to  Csesarea,  and  prostrated  themselves  before  tlie 
tribunal  of  the  Procurator.  In  this  instance  Cumanus 
thought  it  best  to  avert  dangerous  consequences  by  the 
cheap  sacrifice  of  a  common  soldier,  and  the  Jews  were  for 
the  time  appeased  by  the  execution  of  the  offender. 

Then  had  followed  a  still  more  serious  outbreak.  The 
Samaritans,  actuated  by  the  old  hatred  to  the  Jews,  had 
assassinated  some  Galilsean  pilgrims  to  the  Passover  at  En 
Grannim,  the  frontier  village  of  Samaria  which  had  repulsed 
our  Lord.^  Unable  to  obtain  from  Cumanus — whom  the 
Samaritans  had  bribed — the  punishment  of  the  guilty 
village,  the  Jews,  secretly  countenanced  by  the  High  Priest 
Ananias,  and  his  son  Ananus,  flew  to  arms,  and,  under  the 
leadership  of  the  bandit  Eleazar,  inflicted  on  the  Samaritans 
a  terrible  vengeance.  Cumanus,  on  hearing  this,  marched 
against  them  and  routed  them.  A  renewal  of  the  contest 
was  prevented  by  the  entreaties  of  the  chief  men  at  Jeru- 
salem, who,  aware  of  the  tremendous  results  at  issue, 
hurried  to  the  battle-field  in  sackcloth  and  ashes.  Mean- 
while the  Prsefect  of  Syria,  Titus  XJmmidius  Quadratus, 
appeared  on  the  scene,  and,  after  hearing  both  sides,  found 
Cumanus  and  his  tribune  Celer  guilty  of  having  accepted 
a  bribe,  and  sent  them  to  Eome  with  Ananias  and  Ananus 
to  be  tried  by  the  Emperor.^  Jonathan,  one  of  the  very 
able  ex-High  Priests  of  the  astute  house  of  Annas,  was  sent 
to  plead  the  cause  of  the  Jews.  At  that  time  Agrippina 
was  all-powerful  with  the  Emperor,  and  the  freedman 
Pallas  all-powerful  both  with  him  and  with  Agrippina,  who 
owed  her  elevation  to  his  friendly  offices.  The  supple 
Agrippa  introduced  Jonathan  to  Pallas,  and  it  seems  as  if 

1  Luke  ix.  53. 

2  The  discrepancies  in  this  story  as  told  by  Josephus  in  B.  J.  ii.  12,  §  5,  and 
Antt.  XX.  6,  §  2,  are  glaring,  yet  no  one  doubts  either  the  honesty  of  Josephus 
or  the  general  truth  of  the  story.  How  scornfully  would  it  have  beeUi 
rejected  as  a  myth  or  an  invention  if  it  had  occurred  in  the  Gospels! 

U 


306  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

a  little  compact  was  struck  between  them,  that  Pallas 
should  induce  the  Emperor  to  decide  in  favour  of  the  Jews, 
and  that  Jonathan  should  petition  him  on  behalf  of  the 
Jews  to  appoint  to  the  lucrative  Procuratorship  his  brother 
Felix.  The  plot  succeeded.  The  Samaritans  were  con- 
demned ;  their  leaders  executed ;  Cumanus  banished ;  Celer 
sent  to  Jerusalem  to  be  beheaded ;  Ananias  and  Auanus 
triumphantly  acquitted ;  and  A.D.  52,  six  years  before  St. 
Paul's  last  visit  to  Jerusalem,  Felix — like  his  brother,  an 
Arcadian  slave — who  had  taken  the  name  of  Antonius  in 
honour  of  his  first  mistress,  and  the  name  of  Claudius  in 
honour  of  his  patron — became  Procurator  of  Judosa.^ 

At  first  the  new  Procurator  behaved  with  a  little 
decent  reserve,  but  it  was  not  long  before  he  began  to 
show  himself  in  his  true  colours,  and  with  every  sort  of 
cruelty  and  licentiousness  "  to  wield  the  power  of  a  king 
with  the  temperament  of  a  slave."  After  his  emancipa- 
tion he  had  been  entrusted  with  a  command  in  a  troop  of 
auxiliaries,  and  acting  with  the  skill  and  promptitude  of  a 
soldier,  he  had  performed  a  really  useful  task  in  extirpating 
the  bandits.  Yet  even  the  Jews  murmured  at  the  shame- 
less indifference  with  which  this  Borgia  of  the  first  century 
entrapped  the  chief  bandit  Eleazar  into  a  friendly  visit,  on 
pretence  of  admiring  his  skill  and  valour,  and  instantly 
threw  him  into  chains,  and  sent  him  as  a  prisoner  to  Rome. 
They  were  still  more  deeply  scandalised  by  his  intimacy 
with  Simon  Magus,  who  lived  with  him  at  Ca?sarca  as  a 
guest,  and  by  whose  base  devices  this  "  husband  or  adul- 
terer of  three  queens  "  succeeded  in  seducing  Drusilla,  the 
beautiful  sister  of  Agrippa  II. — who  had  now  come  as 
a  king  to  Judsea — from  her  husband  Aziz,  King  of  Emesa. 
A  crime  of  yet  deeper  and  darker  dye  had  taken  place  the 

1  A.D.  62. 


THE    SICARII.  307 

very  year  before  Paul's  arrival.  Jonathan,  wlio  was  often 
bitterly  reminded  of  his  share  in  bringing  upon  his  nation 
the  affliction  of  a  Procurator,  who  daily  grew  more  infamous 
from  his  exactions  and  his  savagery,  thought  that  his  bigh 
position  and  eminent  services  to  Felix  himself  entitled  him 
to  expostulate.  So  far  from  taking  warning,  Felix  so 
fiercely  resented  the  interference  that  be  bribed  Doras,  a 
friend  of  Jonathan's,  to  get  rid  of  him.  Doras  hired  the 
services  of  some  bandits,  wbo,  armed  with  sicae,  or  short 
daggers,  stabbed  the  priestly  statesman  at  one  of  tbe 
yearly  feasts.  The  success  and  the  absolute  impunity  of 
the  crime  put  a  premium  upon  murder ;  assassinations 
became  as  frequent  in  Jerusalem  as  they  were  at  Eome 
during  the  Papacy  of  Alexander  VI.  The  very  Temple 
was  stained  witb  blood.  Any  one  who  wanted  to  get 
rid  of  a  public  or  private  enemy  found  it  a  cbeap  and 
easy  process  to  hire  a  murderer.  It  is  now  that  the 
ominous  term  sicarius  occurs  for  the  first  time  in  Jewish 
history. 

This  had  happened  in  A.D.  57,  and  it  was  probably  at 
the  Passover  of  A.D.  58 — only  seven  weeks  before  the  time 
at  which  we  have  now  arrived — that  the  Egyptian  Pseudo- 
Messiah  had  succeeded  in  raising  30,000  followers,  with 
no  better  pretensions  than  the  promise  that  he  would  lead 
them  to  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  that  the  walls  of  Jeru- 
salem should  fall  flat  before  him.  Four  thousand  of 
these  poor  deluded  wretches  seem  actually  to  have  accom- 
panied him  to  the  Mount  of  Olives.  There  Felix  fell 
upon  them,  routed  them  at  the  first  onslaught,  killed 
four  hundred,  took  a  multitude  of  prisoners,  and  brought 
the  whole  movement  to  an  impotent  conclusion.  The 
Egyptian,  however,  had  by  some  means  or  other  made 
good  his  escape — was  at  this  moment  uncaptured — and,  in 
fact,  was  never  heard  of  any  more.  But  the  way  in 
u  2 


308  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

whicli  followers  liad  flocked  in  thousands  to  so  poor  an 
impostor  showed  the  tension  of  men's  minds. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  events — in  so  excited  a 
state  were  the  leaders  and  the  multitude — at  the  very 
time  that  St.  Paul  was  keeping  himself  as  quiet  as  pos- 
sible in  the  chambers  of  the  Nazarites.  Four  days  had 
already  passed,  and  there  seemed  to  be  a  hope  that,  as 
the  number  of  pilgrims  began  to  thin,  he  might  be  safe 
for  three  more  days,  after  which  there  would  be  nothing 
to  prevent  him  from  carrying  out  his  long-cherished  wish 
to  visit  Rome,  and  from  thence  to  preach  the  Grospel  even 
as  far  as  Spain.  Alas !  he  was  to  visit  Rome,  but  not  as 
a  free  man. 

For  on  the  fifth  day  there  were  some  Jews  from 
Ephesus  and  other  cities  of  Asia — perhaps  Alexander  the 
coppersmith  was  one  of  them — in  the  Court  of  the  Women, 
and  the  glare  of  hatred  suddenly  shot  into  the  eyes  of  one 
of  these  observers  as  he  recognised  the  marked  features  of 
the  hated  Shaiil.  He  instantly  attracted  towards  him 
the  attention  of  some  of  the  compatriots  to  whom  Paul's 
teaching  was  so  well  known.  The  news  ran  in  a  moment 
through  the  passionate,  restless,  fanatical  crowd.  In  one 
minute  there  arose  one  of  those  deadly  cries  which  are  the 
first  beginnings  of  a  sedition.  These  Asiatics  sprang  on 
Paul,  and  stirred  up  the  vast  throng  of  worshippers  with 
the  cry,  "  Israelites !  help !  This  is  the  wretch  who 
teaches  all  men  everywhere  against  the  people,  and  the 
Thorah,  and  the  Temple.  Ay,  and  besides  that,  he 
brought  Greeks  into  the  Temple,  and  hath  polluted  this 
holy  place."  Whether  they  really  thought  so  or  not  we 
cannot  tell,  but  they  had  no  grounds  for  this  mad  charge 
beyond  the  fact  that  they  had  seen  the  Ephesian  Trophi- 
mus  walking  about  with  Paul  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem, 
and  supposed  that  Paul  had  taken  him  even  into  the  holy 


ST.    PAUL    RECOGNISED.  309 

precincts.  To  defile  tlie  Temple  was  wliat  every  enemy  of 
the  Jews  tried  to  do.  Antioclius,  Heliodorus,  Pompey, 
had  profaned  it ;  and  very  recently  the  Samaritans  had 
been  charged  with  deliberately  polluting  it  by  scattering 
dead  men's  bones  over  its  precincts.  Instantly  the 
rumour  flew  from  lip  to  lip  that  this  was  Shaul,  of  whom 
they  had  heard — Paul,  the  mesit/i — Paul,  one  of  the  Gali- 
Isean  Minim — one  of  the  believers  in  "the  Hung" — Paul, 
the  renegade  Rabbi,  who  taught  and  wrote  that  Gentiles 
were  as  good  as  Jews — the  man  who  blasphemed  the 
Thorah — the  man  whom  the  synagogues  had  scourged  in 
vain — the  man  wdio  went  from  place  to  place  getting  them 
into  trouble  with  the  Eomans ;  and  that  he  had  been 
caught  taking  with  him  into  the  Temple  a  Gentile  dog, 
an.  uncircumcised  ffer}  The  punishment  for  that  crime 
w^as  death — death  by  the  full  permission  of  the  Eomans 
themselves ;  death  even  against  a  Roman  who  should  dare 
to  set  foot  beyond  the  Chel.  They  were  now  in  the 
Court  of  the  Women,  but  they  only  had  to  go  through 
the  Corinthian  gate,  and  down  the  fifteen  steps  outside  of 
it,  to  come  to  the  Chel — the  "  middle- wall  of  partition," 
that  low  stone  balustrade  with  obelisks,  on  each  of 
which  w^as  engraved  on  stone  tablets  the  inscription  in 
Greek  and  Latin    that  "No  alien  must  set  foot  within 


^  Had  he  done  this  he  would  have  incurred  the  censure  in  Ezek.  xliv.  7 ; 
cf.  Eph.  ii.  14.  The  following  remarkable  passage  of  the  Talmud  is  a  seK- 
condemnation  by  the  Jewish  teachers  : — "  What,"  it  is  asked,  "  was  the  cause 
of  the  destruction  of  the  first  Temple  ?  The  prevalence  of  idolatry,  adultery, 
and  murder.  .  .  .  But  what  was  the  cause  of  the  destruction  of  the 
second  Temple,  seeing  that  the  age  loas  characterised  by  study  of  the  Law, 
observance  of  its  precepts,  and  the  practice  of  benevolence  ?  It  ivas  ground- 
less hatred;  and  it  shows  that  groundless  hatred  is  equal  in  heinousness  to 
idolatry,  adultery,  and  murder  combined"  {Joma,  f.  9,  2).  As  specimens  of 
the  groundless  and  boundless  hatred  of  the  Talmudists  to  Christians, 
see  Abhoda  Zarah,  f.  26,  1,  2  (Amsterdam  edition);  Maimonides,  Hilch. 
Accum,  §  9. 


310  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

tliat  enclosure  on  pain  of  certain  death." ^  Here,  then, 
was  a  splendid  opportunity  for  most  just  vengeance  on 
the  apostate  who  taught  apostasy.  A  rush  was  made 
upon  him,  and  the  cry  "  To  the  rescue  ! "  echoed  on  all 
sides  through  the  streets.^  To  defend  himself  was  impos- 
sible. What  voice  could  be  heard  amid  the  wild  roar 
of  that  momentarily  increasing  hubbub  ?  Was  this  to  be 
the  end  ?  Was  he  to  be  torn  to  pieces  then  and  there  in 
the  very  Temple  precincts  ?  If  he  had  been  in  the  court 
below,  that  would  have  been  his  inevitable  fate,  but  the 
sacredness  of  the  spot  saved  him.  They  began  dragging 
him,  vainly  trying  to  resist,  vainly  trying  to  speak  a  word, 
through  the  great  "Beautiful"  gate  of  Corinthian  brass, 
and  down  the  fifteen  steps,  while  the  Levites  and  the 
Captain  of  the  Temple,  anxious  to  save  the  sacred  enclosure 
from  one  more  stain  of  blood,  exerted  all  their  strength  to 
shut  the  ponderous  gate  behind  the  throng  which  surged 
after  their  victim.^  But  meanwhile  the  Eoman  centurion 
stationed  under  arms  with  his  soldiers  on  the  roof  of  the 
western  cloisters,  was  aware  that  a  wild  commotion  had 
suddenly  sprung  up.  The  outburst  of  fury  in  these 
Oriental  mobs  is  like  the  scream  of  mingled  sounds  in  a 
forest  which  sometimes  suddenly  startles  the  deep  still- 
ness of  a  tropic  night.  The  rumour  had  spread  in  a 
moment  from  the  Temple  to  the  city,  and  streams  of  men 
were  thronging  from  every  direction  into  the  vast  area  of 
the  Court  of   the  Gentiles.     In  another  moment  it  was 

1  The  'J'n.  (Jos.  B.  J.  v.  5,  §  2 ;  vi.  2,  §  4 ;  Antt.  xv.  11,  §  5.)  The  discovery 
of  one  of  these  inscnptions  by  M.  Clermont  Ganneau — an  inscription  on  which 
the  eyes  of  our  Lord  Himself  and  of  all  His  disciples  must  have  often  fallen — 
is  very  interesting.  He  found  it  built  into  tlie  walls  of  a  small  mosque  in  the 
Via  Dolorosa  {Palestine  Exploration  Fund  Report,  1871,  p.  132).  Paul  had 
not  indeed  actually  brought  any  Gentile  inside  the  Ckel ;  but  to  do  so  ideally 
and  spiritually  had  been  the  very  purpose  of  his  life.    V.  infra,  ad  Eph.  ii.  14. 

^  xxi.  30,  fKivi]Oi]  7]  iroKis  oXr\,  koX  iyevero  ffvvSpoiXT), 

3  Jos.  B.  /.  vi.  5,  §  3 ;  c.  Ap.  ii.  9. 


LYSIAS    RESCUES    PAUL.  311 

certain  that  tliose  wliite  pillars  and  that  tessellated  floor 
would  be  stained  with  blood.  Without  a  moment's  delay 
the  centurion  sent  a  message  to  Lysias,  the  commandant 
of  Antonia,  that  the  Jews  had  seized  somebody  in  the 
Temple,  and  were  tr3dng  to  kill  him.  The  Eomans  were 
accustomed  to  rapid  movements,  taught  them  by  thousands 
of  exigencies  of  their  career  in  hostile  countries,  but  no- 
where more  essential  than  in  a  city  which  Prsefect  after 
Prsefect  and  Procurator  after  Procurator  had  learnt  to 
detest  as  the  head-quarters  of  burning,  senseless,  and 
incomprehensible  fanaticism.  A  single  word  was  enough 
to  surround  Lysias  with  a  well-disciplined  contingent  of 
centurions  and  soldiers,  and  he  instantly  dashed  along  the 
cloister  roof  and  down  the  stairs  into  the  Court  of  the 
Grentiles.  The  well-known  clang  of  Poman  arms  arrested 
the  attention  of  the  mob.  They  had  had  some  terrible 
warnings  very  lately.  The  memory  of  that  awful  day, 
when  they  trampled  each  other  to  death  by  thousands  to 
escape  the  cohort  of  Cumanus,  was  still  fresh  in  their 
memory.  They  did  not  dare  to  resist  the  mailed  soldiery 
of  their  conquerors. 

Lysias  and  his  soldiers  forced  their  way  straight 
through  the  throng  to  the  place  where  Paul  was 
standing,  and  rescued  him  from  his  em-aged  opponents. 
When  he  had  seized  him,  and  had  his  arms  bound  to  two 
soldiers  by  two  chains,  he  asked  the  question,  "  Who 
the  man  might  be,  and  what  he  had  done  ?  "  ^  Nothing 
was  to  be  learnt  from  the  confused  cries  that  rose  in 
answer,  and,  in  despair  of  arriving  at  anything  definite 
in  such  a  scene,  Lysias  ordered  him  to  be  marched 
into  the  barracks.^  But  no  sooner  had  he  got  on  the 
stairs  which  led  up  to  the  top  of  the  cloister,  and  so  into 

1  xxi.  33,  tIs  hv  etTj,  Kol  rl  Iffriv  irevoiiiKtis,  '  icapey.^o\i\. 


/) 


312  THE    LIFE    AOT)    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

the  fortress/  than  the  mob,  afraid  that  they  were  going  to 
be  baulked  of  their  vengeance,  made  another  rush  at  him, 
with  yells  of  "  Kill  him  !  kill  him  !  "  ^  and  Paul,  unable 
in  his  fettered  condition  to  steady  himself,  was  carried 
off  his  legs,  and  hurried  along  in  the  arms  of  the 
suiTounding  soldiers.  He  was  saved  from  being  torn  to 
pieces  chiefly  by  the  fact  that  Lysias  kept  close  by  him ; 
and,  as  the  rescue-party  was  about  to  disappear  into  the 
barracks,  Paul  said  to  him  in  Grreek,  "  May  I  speak  a 
word  to  you  ?  "  "  Can  you  speak  Greek  ?  "  asked  the 
commandant  in  surprise.  "Are  you  not  then  really 
that  Egyptian  ^  who  a  little  while  ago  made  a  disturb- 
ance,* and  led  out  into  the  wilderness  those  4,000 
sicarii  ?  "  ^  "  No,"  said  Paul ;  "  I  am  a  Jew,  a  native 
of    Tarsus,  in   Cilicia,  a   citizen   of    no    undistinguished 


*  Fort  Antonia  was  a  four-square  tower,  at  the  N.W.  angle  of  the  Temple 
area,  with  a  smaller  tower  fifty  cubits  high  at  each  corner  except  the  southern, 
where  the  tower  was  seventy  cubits  high,  with  the  express  object  of  over- 
looking everything  that  went  on  in  the  Temple  courts.  Stairs  from  these 
towers  commuuicated  with  the  roofs  of  two  porticoes,  on  whicli  at  intervals 
(StttTTayuecoi)  stood  armed  Roman  soldiers  at  the  times  of  the  great  festivals,  to 
prevent  all  seditious  movements  (Jos.  B.  J.  v.  5,  §  8 ;  Anti.  xx.  5,  §  3). 

2  Cf.  Luke  xxiii.  18,  and  the  cry  of  Pagan  mobs,  olpe  to\is  adeovs. 

3  Ver.  38,  ovk  &pa  crii  el  6  AlyvTmos  .  .  .  ;  One  hardly  sees  why  Lysias 
should  have  inferred  that  the  Egyptian  could  not  speak  Greek,  but  he  may  have 
known  that  this  was  the  fact.  Since  the  Egyptian  had  only  escaped  a  few 
months  before,  and  the  mass  of  the  people— never  favourable  to  him — would 
be  exasperated  at  the  detection  of  his  imposture,  the  conjecture  of  Lysias  was 
not  surprising. 

*  avaa-TUTuiaas.      Cf.  xvii.  6  ;   Gal.  V.  12. 

*  Ver.  38,  rols  rfrpaKia-xi^'iovs  &vSpas  ratv  (TiKapiaiv.  Josephus  (Alltt.  XX.  8,  §  6) 
says  that  Felix,  when  he  routed  thorn,  killed  400  and  took  200  prisoners.  In 
B.J.ii.  13,  §  5,  ho  says  that  ho  collected  30,000  followers,  and  led  them  to  the 
Mount  of  Olives  from  the  wilderness,  and  that  the  majority  of  them  were 
massacred  or  taken  prisoners.  Most  critics  only  attach  importance  to  such 
discrepancies  when  they  find  or  imagine  them  in  the  sacred  writers.  For  the 
sicarii,  see  Jos.  B.  J.  ii.  13,  §  3.  Ho  says  that  they  murdered  people  in  broad 
day,  and  in  the  open  streets,  especially  during  the  great  feasts,  and  that  they 
carried  their  daggers  concealed  under  their  robes. 


REQUEST   TO    SPEAK.  313 

city,^  and,  I  entreat  you,  allow  me  to  speak  to  tlie 
people." 

It  was  an  undaunted  request  to  come  from  one  whose 
life  had  just  been  rescued,  and  barely  rescued,  from  that 
raging  mob,  and  who  was  at  that  moment  suffering  from 
their  rough  treatment.  Most  men  would  have "  been  in  a 
state  of  such  wild  alarm  as  to  desire  nothing  so  much 
as  to  be  hurried  out  of  sight  of  the  crowd.  Not  so 
with  St.  Paul.  Snatched  from  his  persecutors  after  immi- 
nent risk — barely  delivered  from  that  most  terrifying  of 
all  forms  of  danger,  the  murderous  fury  of  masses  of  his 
fellow-men — he  asks  leave  not  only  to  face,  but  even  to 
turn  round  and  address,  the  densely-thronging  thousands, 
who  were  only  kept  from  him  by  a  little  belt  of  Eoman 
swords.^ 

Lysias  gave  him  leave  to  speak,  and  apparently  ordered 
one  of  his  hands  to  be  unfettered ;  and  taking  his  stand 
on  the  stairs,  Paul,  with  uplifted  arm,  made  signals  to  the 
people  that  he  wished  to  address  them.^  The  mob  became 
quiet,  for  in  the  East  crowds  are  much  more  instantly 
swayed  by  their  emotions  than  they  are  among  us ;  and 
Paul,  speaking  in  Syriac,  the  vernacular  of  Palestine, 
and  noticing  priests  and  Sanhedrists  among  the  crowd, 
began — 

"  Brethren  and  Fathers,*  listen  to  the  defence  I  have 
now  to  make  to  you  !" 

The  sound  of  their  own  language,  showing  that  the 

*  OVK  da-ftfiov  iroKems  (Eur,  Ion.  8).  It  was  avToyofiOS,  and  a  p-tirpcmoKis,  and 
had  a  famous  university. 

2  Knox,  who  tliouglit  that  Paul  did  wrong  to  take  the  vow,  says,  "  He 
was  broiaght  into  the  most  desperate  danger,  God  designing  to  show  thereby 
that  we  must  not  do  evil  that  good  may  come." 

3  Ver.  40,  /coreVejo-e  rp  x^'P^-  Cf .  xii.  17  ;  xix.  33 ;  xxi.  40.  Cf.  Pers.  iv.  5, 
"  Oalidus  fecisse  silentia  turbae  Majestate  maniis." 

*  See  St.  Stephen's  exordium  (vii.  2). 


314  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

speaker  was  at  any  rate  no  mere  Hellenist,  charmed  their 
rage  for  the  jnoment,  and  produced  a  still  deeper  silence. 
In  that  breathless  hush  Paul  continued  his  speech.  It 
was  adapted  to  its  object  with  that  consummate  skill  which, 
even  at  the  most  exciting  moments,  seems  never  to  have 
failed  him.  While  he  told  them  the  truth,  he  yet  omitted 
all  facts  which  would  be  likely  to  irritate  them,  and  which 
did  not  bear  on  his  immediate  object.  That  object  was  to 
show  that  he  could  entirely  sympathise  with  them  in  this 
outburst  of  zeal,  because  he  had  once  shared  their  state  of 
mind,  and  that  nothing  short  of  divine  revelations  had 
altered  the  course  of  his  religion  and  his  life.  He  was, 
he  told  them,  a  Jew,^  born  indeed  in  Tarsus,  yet  trained 
from  his  earliest  youth  in  Jerusalem,  at  the  feet  of  no 
less  a  teacher  than  their  m-eat  livin^  Eabban  Gamaliel; 
that  he  was  not  merely  a  Jew,  but  a  Pharisee  who  had 
studied  the  inmost  intricacy  of  the  Halacha  -^  and  was  so 
like  themselves  in  being  a  zealot  for  God,  that  he  had 
persecuted  "  this  way "  to  the  very  death,  haling  to 
prison  not  only  men,  but  even  women ;  in  proof  of  which 
he  appealed  to  the  testimony  of  the  ex-High  Priest  Theo- 
philus,^  and  many  still  surviving  members  of  the  Sanhedrin 
who  had  given  him  letters  to  Damascus,  What,  then,  had 
changed  the  whole  spirit  of  his  life  ?  Nothing  less  than 
a  divine  vision  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  which  had  stricken 
him  blind  to  earth,  and  bidden  him  confer  with  Ananias.^ 
He  does  not  tell  them  that  Ananias  was  a  Christian,  but 

1  xxii.  3,  o.v'hp  'louSaTos.  To  Lysias  lie  had  used  the  general  expression 
&vdpwiTos  'louS.  (xxi.  39). 

2  xxii.  3,  KaTO.  aKpi&etav  rod  Trarpcpov  vofxov.      Cf.  XXvi.  5  ;    JoS.  B.  J.  U.  8,  §  18. 

Tliis  "accuracy"  coiTcsponds  to  the  Hebrew  tsedakah,  and  the  Talmudic 
diMuhey  {'P^V^). 

3  See  Vol.  I,  p.  178. 

*  The  narratives  of  St.  Paul's  conversion  in  ix.,  xxii.,  xxvi.  are  sufficiently 
considered  and  "  harmonised  " — not  that  they  reaUy  need  any  harmonising— 
in  Yol.  I.,  pp.  190—199. 


SPEECH    TO    THE    MOB.  315 

— which  was  no  less  true — that  he  was  an  orthodox  ob- 
server of  the  Law,  for  whom  all  the  Jews  of  Damascus 
felt  respect.  Ananias  had  healed  his  blindness,  and  told 
him  that  it  was  "  the  God  of  our  fathers,"  who  fore- 
ordained him  to  know  His  will  and  see  "the  Just  One,"^ 
and  hear  the  message  from  His  lips,  that  he  might  be 
for  Him  "  a  witness  to  all  men  "  of  what  he  had  heard  and 
seen.  He  then  mentions  his  baptism  and  return  to  Jeru- 
salem, and,  hurrying  over  all  needless  details,  comes  to  the 
point  that,  while  he  was  worshipping — now  twenty  years 
ago — in  that  very  Temple,  he  had  fallen  into  a  trance, 
and  again  seen  the  risen  Jesus,  who  bade  him  hurry  with 
all  speed  out  of  Jerusalem,  because  there  they  would  not 
receive  his  testimony.  But  so  far  from  wishing  to  go, 
he  had  even  pleaded  with  the  heavenly  vision  that  surely 
the  utter  change  from  Saul  the  raging  persecutor — Saul 
who  had  imprisoned  and  beaten  the  believers  throughout 
the  synagogues — Saul  at  whose  feet  had  been  laid  the 
clothes  of  them  that  slew  His  witness  ^  Stephen — the 
change  from  such  a  man  to  Saul  the  Christian  and 
the  preacher  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ — could  not  fail 
to  win  credence  to  his  testimony.  But  He  who  spake  to 
him  would  not  suffer  him  to  plead  for  a  longer  opportunity 
of  appealing  to  his  fellow-countrymen.  Briefly  but  deci- 
sively came  the  answer  which  had  been  the  turning-point 
for  all  his  subsequent  career — "  Go,  for  I  will  send  thee 
far  away  to  the  Gentiles  ! " 

That  fatal  word,  which  hitherto  he  had  carefully 
avoided,  but  which  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  avoid  any 
longer,  was  enough.  Up  to  this  point  they  had  continued 
listening  to  him  with  the  deepest  attention.     Many  of 

^  "  The  Just  One."    See  the  speech  of  Stej)hen  (vii.  52). 
2  fiapTvs,  not  yet  "  martyr,"  as  in  Rev.  xvii.  6.     (Clem.  Ep,  1  Cor.  v.)     But 
St.  Paul  would  here  have  used  the  word  edh,  "  witness." 


316  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

them  were  not  wholly  unacquainted  with  the  facts  to 
which  he  appealed.  His  intense  earnestness  and  mastery- 
over  the  language  which  they  loved  charmed  them  all  the 
more,  because  the  soldiers  who  stood  by  could  not  under- 
stand a  word  of  what  he  was  saying,  so  that  his  speech 
bore  the  air  of  a  confidential  communication  to  Jews  alone, 
to  which  the  alien  tyrants  could  only  listen  with  vain 
curiosity  and  impatient  suspicion.  Who  could  tell  but 
what  some  Messianic  announcement  might  be  hovering  on 
his  lips  ?  Might  not  he  who  was  thrilling  them,  with  the' 
narrative  of  these  visions  and  revelations  have  some  new 
ecstasy  to  tell  of,  which  should  be  the  signal  that  now  the 
supreme  hour  had  come,  and  which  should  pour  into  their 
hearts  a  stream  of  fire  so  intense,  so  kindling,  that  in  the 
heat  of  it  the  iron  chains  of  the  Romans  should  be  as  tow? 
But  was  Hiis  to  be  the  climax  ?  Was  a  trance  to  be 
pleaded  in  defence  of  the  apostasy  of  the  renegade  ?  Was 
this  evil  soul  to  be  allowed  to  produce  holy  witness  for  his 
most  flagrant  offences  ?  Were  they  to  be  told,  forsooth, 
that  a  vision  from  heaven  had  bidden  him  preach  to  "  sin- 
ners of  the  Gentiles,"  and  fling  open,  as  he  had  been  doing, 
the  hallowed  privileges  of  the  Jews  to  those  dogs  of  the 
uncircumcision  ?  All  that  strange  multitude  was  as  one  ; 
the  same  hatred  shot  at  the  same  instant  through  all  their 
hearts.  That  word  "  Gentiles,"  confirming  all  their  worst 
suspicions,  fell  like  a  spark  on  the  inflammable  mass  of 
their  fanaticism.  No  sooner  was  it  uttered^  than  they 
raised  a  simultaneous  yell  of  ''  Away  with  such  a  wretch 
from  the  earth  ;  he  ought  never  to  have  lived  !"^ 

Then  began  one  of  the  most  odious  and  despicable 
spectacles  which  the  world  can  witness,  the  spectacle  of  an 

^  XX.ii.  22,  fiKovov   Se  omtoZ  &xpi  toIjtou  tov  \6yov,  koI  eTrrjpoj'  r^v  (pwv^v  avrwv 
\4yovTes,  (c.T.A. 

2  Ver.  22,  oh  KaeriKiv.    a,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  Gt. 


AN    ORIENTAL    RIOT.  317 

Oriental  mob,  hideous  with  impotent  rage,  howling,  yell- 
ing, cursing,  gnashing  their  teeth,  flinging  about  their 
arms,  waving  and  tossing  their  blue  and  red  robes,  casting 
dust  into  the  air  by  handfuls,  with  all  the  furious 
gesticulations  of  an  uncontrolled  fanaticism. '^ 

Happily  Paul  was  out  of  the  reach  of  their  personal 
fury.^  It  might  goad  them  to  a  courage  sufficient  to  make 
them  rend  the  air  with  their  cries  of  frenzy,  and  make  the 
court  of  the  Temple  look  like  the  refuge  for  a  throng  ot 
demoniacs ;  but  it  hardly  prompted  them  to  meet  the 
points  of  those  Eoman  broadswords.  In  great  excitement, 
the  commandant  ordered  the  prisoner  to  be  led  into  the 
barracks,  and  examined  by  scourging ;  for,  being  entirely 
ignorant  of  what  Paul  had  been  saying,  he  wanted  to  know 
wdiat  further  he  could  have  done  to  excite  those  furious 
yells.  The  soldiers  at  once  tied  his  hands  together, 
stripped  his  back  bare,  and  bent  him  forward  into  the 
position  for  that  horrid  and  often  fatal  examination  by 
torture  which,  not  far  from  that  very  spot,  his  Lord  had 
undergone.^  Thrice  before,  on  that  scarred  back,  had 
Paul  felt  the  fasces  of  Eoman  lictors ;  five  times  the  nine- 
and-thirty  strokes  of  Jewish  thongs  ;  here  was  a  new  form 
of  agony,  the  whip — the  horribile  flac/eUum — which  the 
Romans  employed  to  force  by  torture  the  confession  of  the 
truth.^     But  at  this  stage  of  the  proceedings,  Paul,  self- 

^  xxii.  23.  On  the  sudden  excitability  of  Eastern  mobs,  and  the  sudden 
calm  which  often  follows  it,  see  Palest.  Explor.  Fund  for  April,  1879,  p.  77. 

2  St.  James  had  spoken  of  the  "  many  myriads "  (Acts  xxi.  20)  of  Jews 
who,  though  zealots  for  the  Law,  had  embraced  the  faith.  How  came  it  that 
not  one  of  these  "  many  myi-iads  "  lifted  an  arm  or  raised  a  voice  to  liUorate 
St.  Paul  from  the  perils  into  which  he  had  been  brought  by  religious  hatred 
greedily  adopting  a  lying  accusation  ? 

^  xxii.  25,  trpodreivev  avrhv  ro7s  luaffiu — "stretched  him  forward  with  the 
thongs  ■'  to  prepare  him  for  examination  by  being  scourged  with  nda-riyes.  The 
word  l/j-avTes  seems  never  to  mean  a  scourge. 

*  See  Life  of  Christ,  I.  187 ;  II.  380. 


318  THE    LIFE    Al^D    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

possessed  even  in  extremes,  interposed  with  a  quiet  ques- 
tion. It  had  been  useless  before,  it  might  be  useless  now, 
but  it  was  worth  trjdng,  since  both  the  soldiers  and  their 
officers  seem  already  to  have  been  prepossessed  by  his 
noble  calm  and  self-control  in  the  midst  of  dangers  so 
awful  and  so  sudden.  He  therefore  asked  in  a  quiet 
voice,  "  Is  it  lawful  for  you  to  scourge  a  Roman  who 
has  not  been  tried?"  The  question  was  addressed  to  the 
centurion  who  was  standing  by  to  see  that  the  torture 
was  duly  administered,  and  he  was  startled  by  the  appeal. 
This  was  evidently  no  idle  boaster;  no  man  who  would 
invent  a  privilege  to  escape  pain  or  peril.  Few  under  any 
circumstances  would  ever  venture  to  invent  the  proud 
right  of  saying  Civis  Romanus  Sum,^  for  the  penalty  of 
imposture  was  death  ;^  and  the  centurion  had  seen  enough 
to  be  quite  sure  that  this  prisoner,  at  any  rate,  was  not  the 
man  to  do  so.  He  made  the  soldiers  stop,  went  off  to  the 
commandant  and  said  to  him,  with  something  of  Roman 
bluntness,  "  What  are  you  about  ?^  This  man  is  a  Roman." 
This  was  important.  If  he  was  a  Roman,  the  Chiliarch 
had  already  twice  broken  the  law  which  entitled  him  to 
protection ;  for  he  had  both  bound  him  and,  in  contraven- 
tion of  an  express  decree  of  Augustus,  had  given  orders  to 
begin  his  examination  by  putting  him  to  the  torture. 
Moreover,  as  being  one  who  himself  placed  the  highest 
possible  value  on  the  jus  civitatis,  he  respected  the  claim. 
Hurrying  to  him,  he  said — 

"  Tell  me,  are  ^ou  a  Roman  ?  '* 

"  Yes." 

But  Lysias,  as  he  looked  at  him,  could  not  help  having 
his  doubts.      He  was  himself  a  Greek  or  Syrian,  who  had 

1  Cic.  in  Terr.  v.  63. 

'  At  auy  rate  in  certain  cases.    Suet.  Claud.  25. 

■  Yer.  26,  t\  h^Whs  tokTv.     The  opa  is  omitted  in  »,  A,  B,  0,  E. 


ROMAN   CITIZENSHIP.  319 

bonglit  the  franchise,  and  thereupon  assumed  the  prse- 
nomen  Claudius,  at  a  time  when  the  privilege  was  very 
expensive.^  Whether  Paul  was  a  Eoman  or  not,  he  was 
clearly  a  Jew,  and  no  less  clearly  a  very  poor  one  :  how 
could  he  have  got  the  franchise  ? 

"/know  how  much  it  cost  me"^  to  get  this  citizenship," 
he  remarked,  in  a  dubious  tone  of  voice. 

"  But  I  have  been  a  citizen  from  my  birth,"  was  the 
calm  answer  to  his  unexpressed  suspicion. 

The  claim  could  not  be  resisted.  Paul  was  untied,  and 
the  soldiers  dropped  their  scourges.  But  Lysias  was  not 
by  any  means  free  from  anxiety  as  to  the  consequences  of 
his  illegal  conduct.^  Anxious  to  rid  his  hands  of  this 
awkward  business  in  a  city  where  the  merest  trifles  were 
constantly  leading  to  most  terrible  consequences,  he  told 
the  chief  priests  to  summon  next  day  a  meeting  of  the 
Sanhedrin  in  order  to  try  the  prisoner. 

The  Sanhedrin  met  in  full  numbers.  They  no  longer 
sat  in  the  Lishcath  Haggazzith,  the  famous  hall,  with  its 
tessellated  pavement,  which  stood  at  the  south  side  of  the 
Court  of  the  Priests.*  Had  they  still  been  accustomed 
to    meet    there,    Lysias    and    his    soldiers    would    never 

^  Some  ten  years  before  this  time  it  had,  however,  become  much  cheaper. 
Messalina,  the  infamous  wife  of  Claudius,  who  was  put  to  death  A.D.  48, 
opeuly  sold  it,  first,  at  very  high  terms,  but  subsequently  so  cheap  that  Dion 
Cassius  (ix.  17)  says  it  could  be  bought  for  one  or  two  broken  glasses. 

^  Ver.  28,  'Eyi  olSa  ■k6(tov,  D.  Though  unsupported  by  evidence,  the 
colloquialism  founds  very  genuine.  Perhaps  Lysias  had  bribed  one  of 
Claudius's  freedmen,  who  made  money  in  this  way. 

3  Yer.  29.  There  is  a  little  uncertainty  as  to  what  is  meant  by  e(pop-fi9ri  .  . 
'6ti  ^v  avrhv  SeSfK<is.  If  it  means  the  chaining  him  with  two  chains  (xxi.  33), 
Lysias  did  not  at  any  rate  think  it  necessary  to  undo  what  he  had  once  done, 
for  it  is  clear  that  Paul  remained  chained  (xxii.  30,  (Kvasv  avrhv).  I  therefore 
refer  it  to  the  binding  with  the  thongs  (ver.  25),  by  wliich  Lysias  seems  to 
have  broken  two  laws  :  (1)  The  Lex  Porcia  (Cic.  pro  Bdbirio,  3 ;  in  Verr. 
V.  66) ;  (2)  "  Non  esse  a  tormentis  incipiendium  Div.  Augustus  constituit " 
{Digest.  Leg.  48,  ti+.  18,  c.  1). 

4  See  Lightfoot,  Hor.  Hebr.,  i.  1,105. 


320  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

have  been  suffered  to  obtrude  their  profane  feet  into  a 
chamber  which  lay  within  the  middle  wall  of  partition 
— beyond  wliich  even  a  Procurator  dare  not  even  have 
set  a  step  on  pain  of  death.  But  at  this  period  the 
Sanhedrin  had  probably  begun  their  meetings  in  the 
Chanujoik,  or  "  booths,"  the  very  existence  of  which  was 
a  proof  of  the  power  and  prosperity  of  "the  Serpent 
House  of  Hanan."^  To  this  place  Lysias  led  his  prisoner, 
and  placed  him  before  them.  The  Nasi,  or  President, 
was,  as  usual,  the  High  Priest.^  The  preliminary  ques- 
tions were  asked,  and  then  Paul,  fixing  on  the  assembly 
his  earnest  gaze,^  began  his  defence  with  the  words, 
"Brethren,  my  public  life  has  been  spent  in  all  good 
conscience  towards  Grod  tiU  this  day."^  Something  in 
these  words  jarred  particularly  on  the  mind  of  the  High 
Priest.  He  may  have  dishked  the  use  of  the  term 
"brethren,"  an  address  which  implied  a  certain  amount 
of  equality,  instead  of  one  of  those  numerous  expressions 
of  servility  which  it  was  only  fitting  that  a  man  like 
this  should  use  to  the  great  assembly  of  the  wise.  But 
Paul  was  no  Am-ha-arets,  on  the  contrary,  he  was  as 
much  a  Eabbi,  as  much  a  Chakam,  as  the  best  "re- 
mover of  mountains  "  among  them  all,  and  it  may  have 

'  F.  supra,  I.,  pp.  153,  166 ;  Life  of  Christ,  I.  77  ;  II.  337.  Jost,  Gesch.  i. 
145 ;  Herzfekl,  Gesch.  i.  394.  By  this  time,  A.D.  58,  the  change  had  iin- 
doubtedly  taken  j)laee. 

2  Endless  mistakes  have  apparently  arisen  from  confusing  the  President 
of  the  Sanhedrin  with  the  President  of  the  Schools.  Tlie  subject  is  very 
obscure;  but  -while  undoubtedly  the  title  of  Nasi,  or  President  of  the  Sanhedrin, 
was  borne  by  great  Rabbis  like  Hillel,  Simeon,  and  Gamaliel,  no  less  un- 
doubtedly the  High  Priest — unless  most  flagrantly  incompetent — presided 
as  Nasi  at  the  judicial  meetings  of  the  Sanhedrin,  regarded  as  a  governing 
body. 

3  xxiii.  1,  artvliras.     Of.  LiUce  iv.  20 ;  Acts  x.  4  ;  xiii.  9. 

■»  7reTroAjT€u>tai  (Phil.  i.  27 ;  Jos.  Vit.  §  49 ;  2  Mace.  vi.  1).  Besides  the 
general  assertion  of  his  innocence,  he  may  mean  that,  whatever  he  had  taught 
to  the  Gentiles,  he  had  lived  as  a  loyal  Jew. 


THE    HIGH-PRIEST    ANANIAS.  321 

been  that  he  designedly  used  the  term  "  brethren  "  instead 
of  "  fathers  "  because  he  too  had  been  once  a  Sanhedrist. 
The  bold  assertion  of  perfect  innocence  further  irritated 
the  presiding  Nasi,  and  he  may  have  felt,  somewhat  pain- 
fully, that  his  own  public  life  had  not  by  any  means 
been  in  all  good  conscience  either  towards  God  or  towards 
man.  This  High  Priest,  Ananias,  the  son  of  Nebedoeus,^ 
who  had  been  appointed  by  Herod  of  Chalcis,  was  one  of 
the  w^orst,  if  not  the  very  worst  specimen  of  the  worldly 
Sadducees  of  an  age  in  which  the  leading  hierarchs 
resembled  the  loosest  of  the  Avignon  cardinals,  or  of  the 
preferment-hunting  bishops  in  the  dullest  and  deadest 
period  of  Charles  the  Second  or  George  the  First.^  History 
records  the  revengeful  unwisdom  of  his  conduct  towards 
the  Samaritans,  and  the  far  from  noble  means  which  he 
took  to  escape  the  consequences  of  his  complicity  in  their 
massacre.  The  Talmud  adds  to  our  picture  of  him  that 
he  was  a  rapacious  tyrant  who,  in  his  gluttony  and  greed, 
reduced  the  inferior  priests  almost  to  starvation  by  defraud- 
ing them  of  their  tithes  ;^  and  that  he  was  one  of  those  who 
sent  his  creatures  with  bludgeons  to  the  threshing-floors 
to  seize  the  tithes  by  force.^     He  held  the  high-priesthood 

^  OntWsmanseeJos.^w/^.  XX.  5,  §2;  6,  §§  2,3;  8,  §  8;  9,§2;  5. /.ii.l7,§9. 

'  No  wonder  that  in  these  days  there  lay  upon  the  Jews  an  abiding  sense 
of  the  wrath  of  God  against  their  race.  No  wonder  that  the  Talmud  records 
the  legends  how  at  this  time  the  sacred  light,  which  was  to  burn  all  night  on 
the  candlestick  {ner  ma'arabi),  was  often  quenched  before  the  daybreak  ; 
how  the  red  tongue  of  cloth  round  the  neck  of  the  scapegoat  on  the  Day  of 
Atonement  was  no  longer  miraculously  turned  to  white ;  how  the  huge  brazen 
Nikanor-gate  of  the  Temple,  which  required  twenty  Levites  to  shut  it  every 
evening,  opened  of  its  own  accord ;  and  how  Johauan  Ben  Zacchai  exclaimed, 
on  hearing  the  portent,  "  Why  wilt  thou  terrify  us,  O  Temple  ?  We  know 
that  thou  art  doomed  to  ruin." 

3  The  Talmud  tells  us  that  when  this  person  was  High  Priest  the  sacrifices 
were  always  eaten  up,  so  that  no  fragments  of  them  were  left  for  the  poorer 
priests  {Pesachim,  57, 1).     (Gratz,  iii.  279.) 

*  Pesachim,  ubi  supra.     St.  Paul  might  well  have  asked  him,  6  P5(\v<r- 
a6fi,fvos  TO  iXSoD\a,  Upo<rv\e7s  (Rom.  ii.  22  j  v.  sujpra.) 
V 


322  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

for  a  period  which,  in  these  bad  days,  was  unusually  long,^ 
a  term  of  office  which  had,  however,  been  interrupted  by 
his  absence  as  a  prisoner  to  answer  for  his  misconduct  at 
Rome.  On  this  occasion,  thanks  to  an  actor  and  a  concu- 
bine, he  seems  to  have  gained  his  cause,^  but  he  was  subse- 
quently deposed  to  make  room  for  Ishmael  Ben  Phabi,  and 
few  pitied  him  when  he  was  dragged  out  of  his  hiding- 
place  in  a  sewer  to  perish  miserably  by  the  daggers  of  the 
Sicarii,  whom,  in  the  days  of  his  projiperity,  he  had  not 
scrupled  to  sanction  and  employ.^ 

His  conduct  towards  St.  Paul  gives  us  a  specimen  of 
his  character.  Scarcely  had  the  Apostle  uttered  the  first 
sentence  of  his  defence  when,  with  disgraceful  illegality, 
Ananias  ordered  the  officers  of  the  court  to  smite  him  on 
the  mouth.*  Stung  by  an  insult  so  flagrant,  an  outrage 
so  undeserved,  the  naturally  choleric  temperament  of  Paul 
flamed  into  that  sudden  sense  of  anger  which  ought  to  be 
controlled,  but  which  can  hardly  be  wanting  in  a  truly 
noble  character.  No  character  can  be  perfect  which  does 
not  cherish  in  itself  a  deeply-seated,  though  perfectly 
generous  and  forbearing,  indignation  against  intolerable 
wrong.  Smarting  from  the  blow,  "  God  shall  smite 
thee,"  he  exclaim.ed,  "  thou  white-washed  wall !  ^  What  I 
Dost  thou  sit  there  judging  me  according  to  the  Law, 

^  From  A.D.  48  to  A.D.  59.  The  voyage  as  a  prisoner  to  Rome  was  in 
A.D.  52. 

2  Wieseler,  Chron.  d.  Ap.  Zeit.,  76. 

3  Jos.  Antt.  XX.  9,  §  2 ;  B.J.  ii.  17,  §  9. 

*  To  this  stylo  of  argument  the  Jews  seem  to  have  been  singularly 
prone  (c£.  Luke  vi.  29 ;  Jolm  xviii.  22  ;  2  Cor.  xi.  20 ;  1  Tim.  iii.  3 ;  Tit.  i.  7). 
This  brutality  illustrates  the  remark  in  Joma,  23,  1,  Sota,  47,  2,  that  at  that 
period  no  one  cared  for  anything  but  externalism,  and  that  Jews  thought 
more  of  a  pollution  of  the  Temple  than  they  did  of  assassination  (Gratz, 
iu.  322). 

*  xxiii.    3,    T0?X6  KfKovianfye.      Cf.   Matt,   xxiii.   27,   rd(poi  KiKoviaixivoi.     Dr. 
lumptre  compares  Jeffreys'  treatment  of  Baxter. 


ST.    PAUL    AND    ANANIAS.  323 

and  in  violation  of  law  biddest  me  to  be  smitten?"^ 
The  language  lias  been  censured  as  unbecoming  in  its 
violence,  and  lias  been  unfavourably  compared  with  the 
meekness  of  Christ  before  the  tribunal  of  his  enemies. 
"  Where,"  asks  St.  Jerome,  "  is  that  patience  of  the 
Saviour,  who — as  a  lamb  led  to  the  slaughter  opens  not 
his  mouth — so  gently  asks  the  smiter,  '  If  I  have  spoken 
evil,  bear  witness  to  the  evil ;  but  if  well,  why  smitest  thou 
me  ? '  We  are  not  detracting  from  the  Apostle,  but  de- 
claring the  glory  of  Grod,  who,  suffering  in  the  flesh,  reigns 
above  the  w>'ong  and  frailty  of  the  flesh."  ^  Yet  we  need 
not  remind  tlis  reader  that  not  once  or  twice  only  did 
Christ  give  the  rein  to  righteous  anger,  and  blight  hypo- 
crisy and  insolence  with  a  flash  of  holy  wrath.  The 
bystanders  seem  to  have  been  startled  by  the  boldness 
of  St.  Paul's  rebuke,  for  they  said  to  him,  "Dost  thou 
revile  the  High  Priest  of  God  ?  "  The  Apostle's  anger 
had  expended  itself  in  that  one  outburst,  and  he  instantly 
apologised  with  exquisite  urbanity  and  self-control.  "  I 
did  not  know,"  he  said,  "brethren,  that  he  is  the  High 
Priest ;  "  adding  that,  had  he  known  this,  he  would  not 
have  addressed  to  him  the  opprobrious  name  of  "  wliited 
wall,"  because  he  reverenced  and  acted  upon  the  rule  of 
Scripture,  "Thou  shalt  not  speak  ill  of  a  ruler  of  thy 
people."  ^  * 

^  For  a  Jew  to  order  a  Jew  to  be  struck  on  the  cheek  was  peculiarly 
offensive.  "  He  that  strikes  the  cheek  of  an  Israelite  strikes,  as  it  were,  the 
cheek  of  the  Shechinah,"  for  it  is  said  (Prov.  xx.  25),  "  He  that  strikes  a 
man  "  {i.e.,  an  Israelite  who  alone  deserves  the  name ;  Rashi  quotes  Babha 
Metsia,  f .  114,  col.  2),  strikes  the  Holy  One.  Sanhedr.  f.  58,  col.  2,  5?V  = 
cheekbone,  and  wp:,  "to  strike,"  in  Syriac  (coZii(Zere,  cf.  Dan.  v.  6 ;  Buxtorf, 
Lex.  Chald,  s.  v.),  as  well  as  to  snare. 

'  Adv.  Pelag.  iii.  1. 

3  Ex.  xxii.  28,  LXX.  (cf.  2  Pet.  ii.  10).  Under  the  good  breeding  of  the 
answer  we  notice  the  admirable  skill  which  enabled  Paul  thus  to  show  at  once 
his  knowledge  of  and  his  obedience  to  the  Law,  for  the  supposed  apostasy  from 
which  he  was  impugned. 

V  2 


324  THE  .LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

It  has  been  thouglit  very  astonishing  that  St.  Paul 
should  not  know  that  Ananias  was  the  High  Priest,  and 
all  sorts  of  explanations  have  consequently  been  foisted 
into  his  very  simple  words.  These  words  cannot,  how- 
ever, mean  that  he  w^as  unable  to  recognise  the  validit}'-  of 
Ananias's  title ;  ^  or  that  he  had  spoken  for  the  moment 
without  considering  his  office ;  ^  or  that  he  could  not  be 
supposed  to  acknowledge  a  high  priest  in  one  who  be- 
haved with  such  illegal  insolence.^  Considering  the  dis- 
repute and  insignificance  into  which  the  high-priesthood 
had  fallen  during  the  dominance  of  men  who  would  only, 
as  a  rule,  take  it  for  a  short  time  in  order  to  "pass 
the  chair ;  "  *  considering  that  one  of  these  worldly  in- 
truders took  to  wearing  silk  gloves  that  he  might  not 
soil  his  hands  with  the  sacrifices ;  considering,  too,  that 
the  Eomans  and  the  Herods  were  constantly  setting  up 
one  and  putting  down  another  at  their  own  caprice,  and 
that  the  people  often  regarded  some  one  as  the  real  high 
priest,  who  was  no  longer  invested  with  the  actual  office  ; 
considering,  too,  that  in  such  ways  the  pontificate  of 
these  truckling  Sadducees  had  sunk  into  a  mere  simu- 
lacrum of  what  once  it  was,  and  that  the  real  allegiance 
of  the  people  had  been  completely  transferred  to  the 
more  illustrious  Eabbis — it  is  perfectly  conceivable  that 
St.  Paul,  after  his  long  absence  from  Jerusalem,^  had 
not,  during  the  few  and  much  occupied  days  which  had 
elapsed  since   his  return,    given   himself  the  trouble   to 

^  Lightfoot,  Schoettgen,  Kuinoel,  Baumgarten. 

2  Bengel  (non  veniebat  mihi  in  mentem),  "Wetstein,  Bp.  Sanderson  (non 
noveram,  non  satis  attente  consideravi),  Bp.  Wordsworth,  &c. 

^  Calvin. 

'^  The  Jews  themselres  take  tliis  view  of  them.  Gratz  (iii.  322)  refers  to 
PesacMm,  57,  1,/oma,  23,  1,  which  speaks  of  their  narrowness,  envy,  violence, 
love  of  precedence,  &c. ;  Josephus  {Antt.  xx.  8,  §  8,  9,  §  4)  speaks  of  their  impu- 
dence and  turbulence  (see  Life  of  Christ,  II.  329—342). 

*  This  is  the  view  of  Chrysostom. 


PHARISEES    Al^D    SADDUCEES.  325 

inquire  whether  a  Kamhit,  or  a  Boethusian,  or  a  Canthera 
was  at  that  particular  moment  adorned  with  the  empty 
title  which  he  probably  disgraced.  He  must,  of  course, 
have  been  aware  that  the  high  priest  was  the  Nasi  o£  the 
Sanhedrin,  but  in  a  crowded  assembly  he  had  not  noticed 
who  the  speaker  was.  Owing  to  his  weakened  sight,  all 
that  he  saw  before  him  was  a  blurred  white  jBgure  issuing 
a  brutal  order,  and  to  this  person,  who  in  his  external 
whiteness  and  inward  worthlessness  thus  reminded  him  of 
the  plastered  wall  of  a  sepulchre,  he  had  addressed  his  indig- 
nant denunciation.  That  he  should  retract  it  on  learning 
the  hallowed  position  of  the  delinquent,  was  in  accordance 
with  that  high  breeding  of  the  perfect  gentleman  which 
in  all  his  demeanour  he  habitually  displayed. 

But  while  we  can  easily  excuse  any  passing  touch  of 
human  infirmity,  if  such  there  were,  in  his  sudden  vehe- 
mence, we  cannot  defend  his  subsequent  conduct  at  that 
meeting.  Surely  it  was  more  than  pardonable  if  on  that 
day  he  was  a  little  unhinged,  both  morally  and  spiritually, 
by  the  wild  and  awful  trials  of  the  day  before.  In  the 
discussion  which  was  going  on  about  his  case,  his  know- 
ledge of  the  Sanhedrin,  of  which  he  had  been  a  member, 
enabled  him  easily  to  recognise  that  his  judges  were  still 
mainly  divided  into  two  parties — the  Sadducean  priests  and 
the  Pharisaic  elders  and  scribes.  The  latter  were  the  more 
popular  and  numerous,  the  former  were  the  more  wealthy 
and  powerful.  Now  St.  Paul  well  knew  that  these  two 
parties  were  separated  from  each  other  by  an  internecine 
enmity,  which  was  only  reconciled  in  the  presence  of 
common  hatreds.  He  knew,  too,  that  one  main  point  of 
contention  between  them  arose  from  questions  about  the 
Unseen  World,  and  the  life  beyond  the  grave. -^  Seeing, 
therefore,  that   he  would   meet  with  neither  justice  nor 

1  Matt.  xxii.  28 ;  Jos.  B.  J.  u.  8,  §  16  j  Antt  xviii.  1,  §  4. 


326  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

mercy  from  that  tribunal,  he  decided  to  throw  among  them 
the  apple  of  discord,  and  cried  out  amid  the  Babel  of 
tongues,  "  Brethren,  I  am  a  Pharisee,  a  son  of  Pharisees. 
I  am  being  judged  about  the  hope  and  resurrection  of 
the  dead."  The  plan  showed  great  knowledge  of  cha- 
racter, and  the  diversion  thus  caused  was  for  the  time 
eminently  successful ;  but  was  it  worthy  of  St.  Paul  ? 
Undoubtedly  there  were  points  in  common  between  him 
and  the  Pharisees.  "  They  taught  a  resurrection  of 
the  dead :  so  did  he.  They  taught  the  coming  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God:  so  did  he.  They  taught  the  Advent 
of  the  Messiah :  so  did  he.  They  taught  an  intercourse 
of  God  with  men  by  the  medium  of  augels,  dreams,  and 
visions  :  so  did  he.  He  shared  with  the  Pharisees  exactly 
those  doctrines,  on  account  of  which  he  was  regarded 
b}^  the  Sadducees  as  a  seducer  of  the  people."  This  is 
true ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  his  belief  in  the  risen 
Messiah  was  not  the  point  on  which  he  was  mainly  being 
called  in  question.^  That  belief,  had  it  stood  alone, 
would  have  been  passed  over  by  the  Sanhedrin  as,  at  the 
worst,  a  harmless  delusion.  Nay,  some  of  the  Pharisaic 
Sanhedrists  ma}^  even  have  been  nominally  Christians.^ 
But  the  fury  against  St.  Paul  was  kindled  by  the  far  more 
burning  questions  which  arose  out  of  his  doctrine  of  the 
nullity  of  the  Law,  and  the  admission  of  the  Gentiles  to 
equal  privileges  with  the  seed  of  Abraham.  Did  not,  then, 
the  words  of  the  Apostle  suggest  a  false  issue  ?  And  had 
he  any  right  to  inflame  an  existing  animosity?^      And 

1  Reiiss,  whose  Aden  des  Apotres  I  had  not  read  till  these  pages  were 
written,  takes  a  very  similar  view,  p.  218.  Yet  it  is,  of  course,  possible  that 
St.  Paul's  exclamation  may  have  been  justified  by  some  circumstances  of  the 
discussion  which  have  not  been  preserved  in  the  narrative. 

2  Acts  XV.  5. 

^  Those  who,  in  the  teeth  of  all  Scripture,  will  not  believe  that  an  Apostle 
can  make  a  mistake,  have  built  disastrous  conclusions  on  tliis  action  of  St. 
Paul's,  (quoting  it  to  sanction  the  MachiaveUiau  policy  of  the  Romans, "  Divide 


"I   AM    A   PHARISEE."  327 

could  lie  worthily  say,  "  I  am  a  Pharisee  ?  "  Was  he  not  in 
reality  at  variance  with  the  Pharisees  in  every  fundamental 
particular  of  their  system  ?  Is  not  the  Pharisaic  spirit  in 
its  very  essence  the  antithesis  of  the  Christian  ?  ^  Did  not 
the  two  greatest  Epistles  which  he  had  written  prove  their 
whole  theology,  as  such,  to  be  false  in  every  line  ?  Was 
it  not  the  very  work  of  his  life  to  pull  down  the  legal 
prescriptions  around  which  it  was  their  one  object  to  rear 
a  hedge  ?  Had  not  they  been  occupied — as  none  knew 
better  than  himself — in  riveting  the  iron  fetters  of  that 
yoke  of  bondage,  which  he  was  striving  to  shatter  link  by 
link  ?  Was  there  not  the  least  little  touch  of  a  mggestio 
falsi  in  what  he  said  ?  Let  us  make  every  possible  deduc- 
tion and  allowance  for  a  venial  infirmity;  for  a  sudden 
and  momentary  "ceconomy,"  far  less  serious  than  that  into 
which  his  great  brother- Apostle  had  swerved  at  Antioch ; 
and  let  us  further  admit  that  there  is  a  certain  nationality  in 
the  chivalry  of  rigidly  minute  and  scrupulously  inflexible 
straightforwardness,  which  is,  among  Northern  nations, 
and  among  the  English  in  particular,  the  hereditary  result 
of  centuries  of  training.  Let  us  also  acknowledge,  not 
without  a  blush  of  shame,  that  certain  slight  managements 
and  accommodations  of  truth  have  in  later  ages  been 
reckoned  among  Christian  virtues.  Yet,  after  all  these 
qualifications,  we  cannot  in  this  matter  wholly  see  how  St. 
Paul  could  say  without  quahfication,  in  such  an  assembly, 
"  I  am  a  Pharisee."  If  we  think  him  very  little  to  blame 
for  his  stern  rebuke  of  the  High  Priest ;  if,  referring  his 
conduct  to  that  final  court  of  appeal,  which  consists  in 

et  impera."  Corn,  k  Lapide,  on  this  passage,  says,  "  Belliim  haereticorum  est 
pax  ecclesiae," — a  maxim  on  which  the  Romish  Church  has  sometimes  acted 
(see  Wordsworth,  ad  loc).  On  the  other  hand,  Luther  says,  with  his  robust 
good  sense,  "  Non  mihi  placet  studium  illud  sanctos  nimis  effereudi  et  excusaudi 
si  sacrse  scripturse  vim  uegat." 

^  Matt,  xxiii.  25,  27 :  John  xii.  43 :  Rom.  ii. 


328  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

comparing  it  with  the  precepts  and  example  of  his 
Lord,  we  can  quite  conceive  that  He  who  called 
Herod  "  a  fox "  would  also  have  called  Ananias  "  a 
whited  wall ; "  on  the  other  hand,  we  cannot  hut  think 
that  this  creating  of  a  division  among  common  enemies 
on  the  grounds  of  a  very  partial  and  limited  agree- 
ment with  certain  other  tenets  held  b}^  some  of  them, 
was  hardly  worthy  of  St.  Paul ;  and  knowing,  .as  we 
do  know,  what  the  Pharisees  were,  we  cannot  imagine 
his  Divine  Master  ever  saying,  under  any  circumstances, 
"  I  am  a  Pharisee."  Moreover,  the  device,  besides  being 
questionable,  was  not  even  politic.  It  added  violence  to  a 
yet  more  infuriated  reaction  in  men  who  felt  that  they 
had  been  the  victims  of  a  successful  stratagem,  and  in  the 
remark  of  St.  Paul  before  the  tribunal  of  Felix  ^  I  seem  to 
see — though  none  have  noticed  it — a  certain  sense  of  com- 
punction for  the  method  in  which  he  had  extricated  him- 
self from  a  pressing  danger. 

But,  as  we  have  said,  the  stratagem  was  for  the  time 
almost  magically  successful.  Paul's  enemies  were  in- 
stantly at  each  other's  throats.  The  High  Priest,  Ananias, 
was  so  singularly  detested  by  the  Pharisaic  party  that 
centuries  afterwards  the  tradition  still  lingered  of  his 
violence  and  greed.^  There  rose  a  sudden  uproar  of  angry 
voices,  and  the  scribes,  who  sided  with  the  Pharisees, 
started  up  in  a  body  to  declare  that  Paul  was  innocent. 
"  We  hud  the  defendant  not  guilty  ;  but  if  a  spirit  or 
angel  spoke  to  him ?  "  ^     Again  the  Jews,  even  these 

^  Acts  xxiv.  21,  which  I  take  to  be  a  confession  of  his  error  on  this 
occasion. 

2  Derenbourg,  Palest.,  §  31. 

3  The  expression  is  an  aposiopesis,  or  snppression  of  the  apodosis,  not 
uncommon  after  ei,  as  siiggesting  an  alternative.  See  mj  Brief  Greelc  Syntax, 
§  309.  The  p-v  Oeofiaxoii^fv  of  the  Received  Text  (omitted  in  «,  A,  B,  0,  E,  the 
.^tliinpic.  the  Coptic,  &c.)  is  a  gloss  from  chap.  v.  39.  Chrysostom  fills  up 
the  sentence  with  irolou  eyKK-nna,  "  What  sort  of  charge  is  that?" 


ST.    PAUL   AGAIN   RESCUED.  329 

distlngnislied  Hierarchs  and  Eabbis,  showed  their  uttei 
incapacity  for  self-control.  Even  in  the  august  precincts 
of  the  Sanhedrin  the  clamour  was  succeeded  by  a  tumult 
so  violent  that  Paul  was  once  more  in  danger  of  being 
actually  torn  to  pieces,  this  time  by  learned  and  venerable 
hands.  Claudius  Lysias,  more  and  more  amazed  at  the 
impracticability  of  these  Jews,  who  first  unanimously  set 
upon  Paul  in  the  Temple,  and  half  of  whom  in  the  San- 
hedrin appeared  to  be  now  fighting  in  his  defence,  deter- 
mined that  his  fellow-citizen  should  not  at  any  rate  suffer 
so  ignoble  a  fate,  and  once  more  ordered  the  detachment  of 
soldiers  to  go  down  to  snatch  him  from  the  midst  of  them, 
and  lead  him  to  the  one  spot  in  Jerusalem  where  the 
greatest  living  Jew  could  alone  find  security — the  barracks 
of  foreign  conquerors. 

St.  Paul  might  well  be  exhausted  and  depressed  by  the 
recurrence,  on  two  consecutive  days,  of  such  exciting  scenes, 
and  even  a  courage  so  dauntless  as  his  could  not  face 
unshaken  this  continual  risk  of  sudden  death.  The  next 
day  was  again  to  bring  a  fresh  peril ;  but  before  it  came, 
God  in  His  mercy,  who  had  ever  encouraged  His  faithful 
servant  at  the  worst  and  darkest  crises,  sent  him  a  vision 
which  saved  him  from  all  alarm  as  to  his  actual  life  for 
many  a  long  and  trying  day.  As  at  Jerusalem  on  his 
first  visit,  and  as  at  Corinth,  and  as  afterwards  on  the 
stormy  sea,  the  Lord  stood  by  him  and  said,  "  Cheer  thee, 
Paul ;  for  as  thou  didst  bear  witness  respecting  me  at 
Jerusalem,  so  must  thou  also  bear  witness  at  Eome." 

The  dawn  of  the  next  day  sufiiced  to  prove  that  his 
manoeuvre  in  the  Sanhedrin  had  only  won  a  temporary 
success  at  the  cost  of  a  deeper  exasperation.  So  unquench- 
able was  the  fury  against  him,  and  so  inflamed  was  the 
feeling  of  disappointment  that  Lysias  should  have  snatched 
him  away  from  their  revenge,   that  in  the   morning  no 


330  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

less  than  forty  Jews  bound  themselves  with  a  terrible 
cherem  not  to  eat  or  drink  till  they  had  kiUed  him.^ 
The  Jews,  like  some  Christians  in  the  worst  days  of 
Christendom,  believed  in  the  divine  right  of  assassination 
as  the  means  of  getting  rid  of  a  tyrant  or  an  apostate.^ 
Their  penal  blindness  had  deceived  them  into  the  sanc- 
tification  of  religious  murder.  How  dark  a  picture 
does  it  present  to  us  of  the  state  of  Jewish  thought  at 
this  period  that,  just  as  Judas  had  bargained  with 
the  chief  priests  for  the  blood-money  of  his  Lord,  so 
these  forty  sicarii  went,  not  only  without  a  blush,  but 
with  an  evident  sense  of  merit,  to  the  hostile  section 
of  the  Sanhedrin,  to  suggest  to  them  the  concoction  of 
a  lie  for  the  facilitation  of  a  murder.  "  We  are  bound 
under  a  curse  not  to  touch  food  till  we  slay  Paul.  Do 
you  then,  and  the  Sanhedrin,  give  notice  to  the  com- 
mandant to  bring  him  down  to  you,  under  pretext  of  a 
more  accurate  inquiry  into  his  case.  We,  before  he  gets 
near  you,  are  prepared  to  slay  him."  So  far  from  reject- 
ing the  suggestion  with  execration,  as  many  a  heathen 
would  have  done,  these  degenerate  Jews  and  worldly 
priests  agreed  to  it  with  avidity.  But  a  secret  known  to 
forty  conspirators,  and  r.equiring  the  complicity  of  an 
indefinite  number  more,  is  no  secret  at  all.  There  were 
sure  to  be  dark  hints,  ominous  gestures,  words  of  ill- 
concealed  triumph,  and,  indeed,  so  unanimous  among  the 
orthodox  Jews,  and  even,  we  fear,  among  some  nominal 
Jewish  Christians,  was  the  detestation  of  the  man  who 
taught  "  apostasy  from  Moses,"  that  in  most  circles  there 
was  no  need  for  any  pretence  of  concealment.  When  St. 
Peter  had  been  in  prison,  and  in  peril  of  execution,  the 
Christian  community  of  Jerusalem  had  been  in  a  ferment 

^  For  instances  of  a  similar  cherem,  see  1  Sam.  xiv.  24 ;  Jos.  Antt.  8,  §  3,  &c. 
2  Sanhedr.  9j  Jos.  Antt.  xii.  6,  §  2;  Pbilo,  De  Sacrif.,  p.  855. 


ST.    PAUL'S    NEPHEW.  331 

of  alarm  and  sorrow,  and  prayer  had  been  made  day  and 
night  without  ceasing  to  God  for  him ;  but  St.  Peter,  and 
especially  the  St.  Peter  of  that  early  period,  was  regarded 
with  feelings  very  different  from  those  with  which  the 
Judaic  believers  looked  on  the  bold  genius  whose  dan- 
gerous independence  treated  Mosaism  and  its  essential 
covenant  as  a  thing  of  the  past  for  converted  Gentiles. 
We  hear  of  no  prayer  from  any  one  of  the  Elders  or  the 
"  many  myriads  "  on  behalf  of  St.  Paul.  He  owed  to  a 
relative,  and  not  to  the  Church,  the  watchful  sympathy 
which  alone  rescued  him  from  murder.  He  had  a  married 
sister  living  in  Jerusalem,  who,  whether  she  agreed  or  not 
with  the  views  of  her  brother — and  the  fact  that  neither 
she  nor  her  family  are  elsewhere  mentioned,  and  that  St. 
Paul  never  seems  to  have  put  up  at  her  house,  makes  it 
at  least  very  doubtful — had  yet  enough  natural  affection 
to  try  to  defeat  a  plot  for  his  assassination.  Most  gladly 
would  we  have  known  something  further  about  the  details. 
All  that  we  are  told  is,  that  the  son  of  this  lady,  appa- 
rently a  mere  boy,  on  hearing  of  the  intended  ambus- 
cade, went  at  once  to  the  barracks  of  Fort  Antonia, 
and  gaining  ready  access  to  his  uncle,  who,  as  an  untried 
Eoman  citizen,  was  only  kept  in  ciistodia  militaris, 
revealed  to  him  the  plot.  The  Apostle  acted  with  his 
usual  good  sense  and  promptitude.  Sending  for  one  of 
the  ten  centurions  of  the  garrison,  he  said  to  him, 
"  Lead  this  youth  to  the  commandant,  for  he  has  some- 
thing to  tell  him."  ^  The  centurion  went  immediately  to 
Lysias,  and  said,  "The  prisoner  Paul  called  me  to  him, 
and  asked  me  to  lead  this  youth  to  you,  as  he  has  some- 
thing to  say  to  you."     There  is  a  touch  of  ver}^  natural 

^  The  minuteness  of  the  narrative,  perhaps,  indicates  that  St.  Luke,  who 
sought  for  iuformation  from  all  sources,  had  received  the  story  from  the 
youth  himself. 


332  THE    LITE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

kindness  in  tlie  way  in  which  the  Eoman  officer  received 
the  Jewish  boy.  Seeing,  perhaps,  that  he  was  nervous 
and  flustered,  both  from  the  peril  to  which  he  was  sub- 
jecting himself  by  revealing  this  secret — since  suspicion 
would  naturally  fall  on  him — and  also  by  finding  himself 
in  the  presence  of  the  most  powerful  person  in  Jerusalem, 
the  military  delegate  of  the  dreaded  Procurator — Lysias 
took  him  by  the  hand,  and  walking  Avith  him  to  a  place 
where  they  were  out  of  earshot,  began  to  ask  him  what 
his  message  was.  The  youth  told  him  that  he  would 
immediately  receive  a  request  from  the  Sanhedrin  to 
summon  a  meeting  next  day,  and  bring  Paul  once  more 
before  them  to  arrive  at  some  more  definite  result ;  and 
that  more  than  forty  sicarii  had  agreed  on  time  and  place 
to  murder  his  prisoner,  so  that  the  only  way  to  defeat  the 
plot  was  to  refuse  the  request  of  the  Sanhedrin.  Lysias 
saw  the  importance  of  the  secret,  and  instantly  formed 
his  plans.  He  told  the  youth  not  to  mention  to  any  one 
that  he  had  given  him  information  of  the  conspiracy, 
and,  summoning  two  centurions,  ordered  them  to  equip 
two  hundred  legionaries,  seventy  cavalry  soldiers,  two 
hundred  lancers,^  with  two  spare  horses,  to  be  ready  to 
escort  Paul  safely  to  Csesarea  that  very  evening  at  nine 
o'clock.  He  was  extremely  glad  to  get  rid  of  a  prisoner 
who  created  such  excitement,  and  who  was  the  object  of 
an  animosity  so  keen  that  it  might  at  any  moment  lead 
to  a  riot.  At  that  day,  too,  charges  of  bribery  flew  about 
in  the  most  dangerous  manner.  Celer,  a  Eoman  knight 
of  far  higher  rank  than  himself,  had  actually  been  dragged 
by  Jews  round  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,   and  finally  be- 

1  56|/oXaj8o£,  Yulg.  lancearii.  The  only  passage  to  throw  light  on  the 
word  is  one  adduced  by  Meyer  from  Constantine  the  Porphyrogenete,  which 
proves  nothing.  A  reads  5e|io)3oA.oi.  One  explanation  is  gens  du  train — men 
who  held  a  second  horse  by  the  right  hand. 


LYSIAS.  333 

headed,  for  receiving  a  bribe  from  the  Samaritans.^ 
Agrippa  I.  had  been  dismissed  from  Antioch  ;  and  no 
less  a  person  than  the  Procurator  Cumanus  had  been 
imprisoned  and  disgraced.  So  corrupt  was  the  Roman 
administration  in  the  hands  of  even  the  highest  officials, 
that  if  Paul  were  murdered  Lysias  might  easily  have 
been  charged  with  having  accepted  a  bribe  to  induce  him 
to  connive  at  this  nefarious  conspiracy.^  There  was  now 
sufficient  pretext  to  send  Paul  away  swiftly  and  secretly, 
and  so  get  rid  of  an  embarrassing  responsibility.  At 
nine  that  evening,  when  it  was  dark  and  when  the  streets 
would  be  deserted,  the  large  escort  of  four  hundred  and 
seventy  soldiers — an  escort  the  necessity  of  which  shows 
the  dangerous  condition  of  the  country,  and  the  extent  of 
Lysias's  alarm — stood  ready  at  the  gate  of  the  barracks  ; 
and  before  the  tramp  of  horse  and  foot  began  to  startle 
the  silent  city,  the  commandant  handed  to  the  centurion 
in  command  a  letter  which,  in  its  obvious  genuineness, 
exhibits  a  very  dexterous  mixture  of  truth  and  falsehood, 
and  by  no  means  bears  out  the  representation  that  Lysias 
was  a  stupid  person.  It  was  one  of  those  abstracts  of 
criminal  charges  called  elogia,  which  it  was  the  custom 
to  write  in  submitting  a  prisoner  to  the  cognisance  of  a 
superior  judge  ;  and  it  was  ingeniously  framed  with  a  view 
to  obviate  beforehand  any  possible  charge  of  illegal  conduct 
towards  a  Eoman  citizen.  The  conduct  of  Lysias,  though 
a  little  hasty  at  first,  had  however  been,  on  the  whole,  both 
kind  and  honourable ;  and  he  would  probably  be  assured 
by  St.  Paul  that,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  he  might  lay 
aside  all  anxiety  as  to  any  proceedings  intended  to  vindicate 
the  inalienable  rights  conferred  by  the  citizenship. 

1  Jos.  Antt.  XX.  6,  §3 ;  B.  J.  ii.  12,  §  7. 

2  One  of   the  cursives  (137)  actually  adds  epoP^fid-n  y^p  nrjiroTe  apirdtravres 
avrhv  ol  'lovBaioi  airoKTiivaxri  koI  ainhs  liera^h  tyK\T)fia  exV  ^^  XP^A"*'''*  ««A.ij^(«Jy. 


334  THE    LIFE    AM)    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

The  letter  ran  as  follows  : — 

"  Claudius  Lysias  to  his  Excellency  the  Procurator 
Felix,  greeting. 

"  The  prisoner  whom  I  send  to  you  is  one  who  was 
seized  by  the  Jews,  and  was  on  the  point  of  being  killed 
loj  them  when  I  came  down  upon  them  with  my  forces, 
and  rescued  him  on  being  informed  that  he  was  a  Roman. 
As  I  wanted  to  know  further  the  reason  why  they  accused 
him,  I  took  him  down  into  their  Sanhedrin,  and  found 
that  he  was  being  accused  of  questions  of  their  law,  but 
had  against  him  no  charge  which  deserved  death  or 
chains.  But  on  receiving  secret  intimation  of  a  plot 
which  was  to  be  put  in  force  against  him,  I  immediately 
sent  him  to  you,  at  the  same  time  giving  notice  to  his 
accusers  also  to  say  all  they  had  to  say  about  him  in  your 
presence.     Farewell !  " 

Paul  was  mounted  on  one  of  the  horses  provided  for 
him,  and  the  escort  rode  rapidly  through  the  disturbed 
country,  in  the  vicinity  of  Jerusalem,  with  a  sharp  look- 
out against  any  ambuscade.  After  that,  being  too 
numerous  and  well-armed  to  have  any  dread  of  mere 
brigands,  they  went  at  their  ease  along  a  Eoman 
road,  the  thirty-five  miles  to  Antipatris.^  Here  they 
rested  for  the  remainder  of  the  night.  Next  day  the 
four  hundred  legionaries  and  lancers  marched  back  to 
Jerusalem,  while  the  mounted  soldiers  rode  forward  on 
the  remaining  twenty-five  miles  to  Caesarea.  St.  Paul 
thus  entered  Csesarea  with  a  pomp  of  attendance  very 
unlike  the  humble  guise  in  which  he  had  left  it,  amid 
the  little  caravan  of  his  fellow-Christians.  They  entered 
the  town  in  broad  daylight,  and  so  large  a  body  passing 

*  Kefr  Saba;  Jos.  Antt.  vi.  5,  §  2. 


RETURN   TO    C^SAREA.  335 

through  the  streets  must  have  attracted  many  curious 
eyes.  How  must  Philip  and  the  other  Christians  of 
Csesarea  have  heen  startled  to  recognise  the  rapid  fulfil- 
ment of  their  forebodings  as  they  saw  the  great  teacher, 
from  whom  they  had  parted  with  so  many  tears,  ride 
through  the  streets,  with  his  right  hand  chained  to  the 
arm  of  a  horseman,  amid  a  throng  of  soldiers  from  the 
garrison  of  Antonia!  That  ride,  in  the  midst  of  his 
Roman  body-guard,  was  destined  to  be  his  last  experience 
of  air  and  exercise,  till — after  two  years  of  imprisonment 
— his  voyage  to  Rome  began. 

The  centurion  and  his  prisoner  were  at  once  intro- 
duced into  the  presence  of  Felix.  Felix  read  the  letter 
of  Lysias,  and  after  briefly  inquiring  to  what  province 
Paul  belonged,  and  being  told  that  he  was  a  Cilician,  he 
said,  "  I  will  hear  out  your  case  when  your  accusers  have 
arrived."^  He  then  handed  Paul  over  to  a  soldier  to  be  kept 
in  one  of  the  guard-rooms  attached  to  the  old  Herodian 
palace  which  now  formed  the  splendid  residence  of  the 
procurators  of  Judaea. 

*  "  Qui  cum  elogio  mittuntur  ex  integro  audiendi  sunt.** 


CHAPTEE    XLI.    . 

PAUL    AND    FELIX. 

**Antonms  Felix,  per  omnem  saevitiam  et  libidinem,  jus  regium  servili 
ingenio  exercuit." — Tag.  Hist.  v.  9. 

"  Jam  pridem  Judaese  impositus  .  .  .  et  cuncta  malefacta  sibi  impune 
ratus." — Ann.  xii.  54. 

A  EoMAN  judge  to  wliom  a  prisoner  had  been  sent  with 
an  elogium  was  bound,  if  possible,  to  try  him  within 
three  days.  Felix,  however,  had  to  send  a  message  to 
Jerusalem,  and  fix  a  time  for  the  case  to  come  on,  in 
order  that  the  accusers  might  be  present ;  and  as  the 
journey  took  nearly  two  days,  it  was  the  fifth  day  after 
St.  Paul's  arrival  at  Csesarea  that  he  was  brought  to 
trial.  The  momentary  diversion  in  his  favour,  of  which 
by  this  time  the  Pharisees  were  probably  ashamed,  had 
settled  into  an  unanimous  hatred,  and  the  elders,  probably 
of  both  parties,  hurried  down  to  accuse  their  adversary. 
Ananias  in  person  accompanied  them,  eager  for  revenge 
against  the  man  who  had  compared  him  to  a  plastered 
sepulchre.  It  must  have  been  intensely  disagreeable  to 
these  dignified  personages  to  be  forced  to  hurry  on  a 
fatiguing  journey  of  some  seventy  miles  from  the  reli- 
gious to  the  political  capital  of  Judaea,  in  order  to  induce 
a  Gentile  dog  to  give  up  an  apostate  mesith  to  their 
jurisdiction ;  but  the  Sanhedrists,  smarting  under  defeat, 
would  not  be  likely  to  leave  any  stone  unturned  which 
should  bring  the  offender  within  reach  of  vengeance. 

They  wished  to  make  sure  of  the  extradition  of  their 


TERTULLUS.  337 

victim,  and  being  little  able  to  plead  either  in  Greek  or 
Latin,  and  more  or  less  ignorant  of  the  procedure  in 
Eoman  courts,  they  gave  their  brief  to  a  provincial 
barrister  named  Tertullus.  Everything  was  done  with 
due  formality.  They  tirst  lodged  their  complaint,  and 
then  the  prisoner  was  confronted  with  them  that  he  might 
hear,  and  if  possible  refute,  their  accusations.  Tertullus 
was  evidentl}^  a  practised  speaker,  and  St.  Luke  has  faith- 
fully preserved  an  outline  of  his  voluble  plausibility. 
Speaking  with  politic  complaisance  as  though  he  were 
himself  a  Jew,  he  began  by  a  fulsome  compliment  to  Felix, 
which  served  as  the  usual  captatio  benevolentiae.  Alluding 
to  the  early  exertions  of  Felix  against  the  banditti  and  the 
recent  suppression  of  the  Egyptian  false  Messiah,  he  began 
to  assure  his  Excellenc}^  with  truly  legal  rotundity  of 
verbiage,  of  the  quite  universal  and  uninterrupted  grati- 
tude of  the  Jews  for  the  peace  which  he  had  secured  to 
them,  and  for  the  many  reforms^  which  had  been  initiated 
by  his  prudential  wisdom.  The  real  fact  was  that  Felix 
was  most  peculiarly  detested,  and  that  though  he  had 
certainly  suppressed  some  brigands,  yet  he  had  from  the 
earliest  times  of  his  administration  distinctly  encouraged 
more,^  and  was  even  accused  of  having  shared  their 
spoils  with  Ventidius  Cumanus  when  he  had  the  separate 
charge  of  Samaria.^  He  then  apologised  for  intruding 
ever  so  briefly  on  his  Excellency's  indulgent  forbearance, 
but  it  was  necessary  to  trouble  him  with  three  counts  of 
indictment  against  the  defendant — namely,  that  first,  he 
was  a  public  pest,  who  lived  by  exciting  factions  among  all 
the  Jews  all  over  the  world ;  secondly,  that  he  was  a  ring- 

^  xxiv.  2,  Stop0a)fidTwv,  H,  A,  B,  E.     The  other  reading  KaTopewfidruy  is  a 
more  general  expression. 

2  Jos.  Antt.  XX.  8,  §  5 ;  B.  J.  ii.  13,  §3 ;  Euseb.  E.  E.  ii.  20—22. 
^  Jos.  Antt.  XX.  8,  §  9  ;  Tac.  Ann.  xii.  54,  "  quies  provinciae  reddita." 
W 


338  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

leader  of  the  Nazarenes;  and  thirdly,  that  he  had  attempted 
to  profane  the  Temple.  They  had  accordingly  seized 
him,  and  wanted  to  judge  him  in  accordance  with  their 
own  law ;  but  Lysias  had  intervened  with  much  violence 
and  taken  him  from  their  hands,  ordering  his  accusers 
to  come  before  the  Procurator.  By  reference  to  Lysias^ 
his  Excellency  might  further  ascertain  the  substantial 
truth  of  these  charges.  When  the  oration  was  over, 
since  there  were  no  regular  witnesses,  the  Jews  one  after 
another  "  made  a  dead  set  "  against  Paul,^  asseverating 
the  truth  of  all  that  TertuUus  had  stated. 

Then  the  Procurator,  already  impatient  with  the 
conviction  that  this  was,  as  Lysias  had  informed  him, 
some  Jewish  squabble  about  Mosaic  minutiae,  flung  a 
haughty  nod  to  the  prisoner,  in  intimation  that  he 
might  speak.  St.  Paul's  captatio  henevolentiae  was  very 
different  from  that  of  Tertullus.  It  consisted  simply  in 
the  perfectly  true  remark  that  he  could  defend  himself  all 
the  more  cheerfully  before  Felix  from  the  knowledge  that 
he  had  now  been  Procurator  for  an  unusual  time,^  and 
could  therefore,  from  his  familiarity  with  Jewish  affairs, 
easily  ascertain  that  it  was  but  twelve  days*  since  the 
Pentecost,  to  which  feast  he  had  come,  not  only  with 
no  seditious  purpose,   but   actually  to  worship   in   Jeru- 


^  This  entire  clause  (Acts  xxiv.  6 — 8)  is  omitted  from  koJ  Kcvrh.  down  to 
'ct-I  (xi  in  N,  A,  B,  G,  H,  and  in  the  Coptic,  Sahidic,  Latin,  and  other  versions. 
If  it  1)6  an  interpolation,  the  Trop'  ol  must  refer  to  Paul,  but  there  are  great 
difficulties  either  way,  and  verse  22  is  in  favour  of  then-  genuineness.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  genuine,  why  should  the  passage  have  been  omitted  ?  D, 
which  has  so  many  additions,  is  hei*e  deficient. 

2  Ver.  9,  ffvyeir^diVTo.     K,  A,  B,  E,  G,  H. 

^  xxiv.  10,  iK  TToWwp  Itwv,  since  A.D.  52,  i.e.,  six  years.  **Non  ignoravit 
Paulus  artem  rhetorura  movere  laudando.^ "     (Grot.) 

''  1.  Arrival.  2.  Intei'Ariew  with  James,  &c.  3 — 7.  Yow  and  arrest. 
8.  Sanhedrin.  9.  Conspiracy.  10.  Arrival  at  Csesarea.  11,  12,  In  cua- 
todv.     13.  Trial. 


ST.    PAUL'S    DEFENCE.  339 

salem ;  and  that  during  that  time  he  had  discoursed  with 
no  one,  and  had  on  no  occasion  attracted  any  crowd,  or 
caused  any  disturbance,  either  in  the  Temple  or  in  the 
Synagogues,  or  in  any  part  of  the  city.  He,  therefore,  met 
the  first  and  third  counts  of  the  indictment  with  a  positive 
contradiction,  and  challenged  the  Jews  to  produce  any 
witnesses  in  confirmation  of  them.  As  to  the  second  count, 
he  was  quite  ready  to  admit  that  he  belonged  to  what  they 
called  a  sect;  but  it  was  no  more  an  illegal  sect  than  those 
to  which  they  themselves  belonged,  since  he  worshipped 
the  God  whom,  as  a  Jew,  he  had  been  always  taught  to 
worship — frankly  accepted  their  entire  Scriptures — and 
believed,  exactly  as  the  majority  of  themselves  did,  in  a 
resurrection  of  the  just  and  unjust.  In  this  faith  it  had 
always  been  his  aim  to  have  a  conscience  void  of  offence 
towards  God  and  tow^ards  man.  He  had  now  been  five 
years  absent  from  Jerusalem,  and  on  returning  with  alms 
for  the  poor  of  his  people,  and  olferiugs  to  the  Temple,  they 
found  him  in  the  Temple,  a  quiet  and  legally  purified  wor- 
shipper. For  the  riot  which  had  ensued  he  was  not  respon- 
sible. It  had  been  stirred  up  by  certain  Asiatic  Jews,  who 
ought  to  have  been  present  as  witnesses,  and  whose  absence 
was  a  proof  of  the  weakness  of  the  case  against  him.  But 
if  their  attendance  could  not  be  secured,  he  called  upon  his 
accusers  themselves  to  state  the  result  of  their  trial  of  him 
before  the  Sanhedrin,  and  whether  they  had  a  single  fact 
against  him,  unless  it  were  his  exclamation  as  he  stood 
before  them,  that  he  was  being  tried  about  a  question  of 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

The  case  had  evidently  broken  down.  St.  Paul's 
statement  of  facts  directly  contradicted  the  only  charge 
brought  against  him.  The  differences  of  doctrine  between 
the  Jews  and  himself  were  not  in  any  way  to  the  point, 
since  they  affected  questions  which  had  not  been  touched 
to  2 


340  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OE    ST.  PAUL. 

upon  at  all,  and  of  which  the  Roman  law  could  take  no 
cognisance.  It  was  no  part  of  his  duty  to  prove  the 
doctrine  of  the  Nazarenes,  or  justify  himself  for  having 
embraced  it,  since  at  that  time  it  had  not  been  declared  to 
be  a  rellgio  illicita.  Of  this  fact  Felix  was  perfect^  aware. 
He  had  a  more  accurate  knowledge  of  "  that  way  "  than 
the  Jews  and  their  advocate  supposed.^  He  was  not  going, 
therefore,  to  hand  Paul  over  to  the  Sanhedrin,  which 
might  be  dangerous,  and  would  certainly  be  unjust ;  but 
at  the  same  time  he  did  not  wish  to  offend  these  important 
personages.  He  therefore  postponed  the  trial — rem  amjM- 
avit- — on  the  ground  of  the  absence  of  Lysias,  who  was  a 
material  witness,  promising,  however,  to  give  a  final 
decision  whenever  he  came  down  to  Csesarea.  Paul  was 
remanded  to  the  guard-room,  but  Felix  gave  particular 
instructions  to  the  centurion^  that  his  custody  was  not  to 
be  a  severe  one,  and  that  his  friends  were  to  be  permitted 
free  access  to  his  prison.  St.  Luke  and  Aristarchus  cer- 
tainly availed  themselves  of  this  permission,  and  doubtless 
the  heavy  hours  were  lightened  by  the  visits  of  Philip  the 
Evangelist,  and  other  Christians  of  the  little  Csesarean 
community  to  whom  Paul  was  dear.^ 

^  xxiv.  22,  aKpifiejTfpov. 

^  Yer.  23,  t^  eKaTovrdpxri — the  centurion  who  was  present  at  the  trial 
not  at  all  necessarily,  or  even  probably,  the  centurion  who  had  escorted  him 
from  Antipatris  to  Csesarea. 

3  It  seems  to  have  been  about  this  time  that  Felix  used  the  machinations 
of  Simon  Magus  to  induce  Drusilla,  the  younger  sister  of  Agrippa  II.,  to 
elope  from  her  husband  Aziz,  and  to  become  his  wife.  It  was  a  strange  thing, 
and  one  which  must  have  required  all  the  arts  of  Simon  to  effect,  that  this 
young  and  beautiful  princess,  who  was  at  this  time  only  twenty  years  old, 
should  have  abandoned  all  her  Jewish  prejudices,  and  risked  the  deadliest 
abhorrence  of  her  race,  by  leaving  a  prince  who  loved  her,  and  had  even  been 
induced  to  accept  circumcision  to  gratify  her  national  scruples,  in  order  to 
form  an  adulterous  connexion  with  a  cruel  and  elderly  profligate,  who  had 
been  nothing  better  than  a  slave.  Felix  would  neA^er  have  dreamt  for  one 
moment  of  making  for  her  sake  the  immense  sacrifice  which  Aziz  had  accepted, 
and  which  her  previous  lover,  the  Prince  of  Commagene,  had  refused.     Such, 


PAUL    BEFORE    FELIX.  341 

On  his  return  to  Ca3sarea  with  his  wife  Drusilla,  and 
apparently  in  order  to  gratify  her  curiosity  to  see  and' 
hear  a  person  whose  strange  history  and  marvellous 
powers  were  so  widely  known,  Felix  once  more  sum- 
moned Paul  into  his  presence,  and  bade  him  discourse 
to  them  about  his  beliefs.  Eight  nobly  did  Paul  use 
his  opportunity.  Felix  was  a  Gentile,  and  was  moreover 
his  judge,  and  it  was  no  part  of  St.  Paul's  duty  to 
judge  those  that  are  without.  Had  he  assumed  such  a 
function,  his  life  must  have  become  one  incessant  and 
useless  protest.  And  yet,  with  perfect  urbanity  and 
respect  for  the  powers  that  be,  he  spoke  of  the  faith  in 
Christ  which  he  was  bidden  to  explain,  in  a  w^ay  that 
enabled  him  to  touch  on  those  virtues  which  were  most 
needed  by  the  guilty  pair  who  listened  to  his  words.  The 
licentious  princess  must  have  blushed  as  he  discoursed  of 
continence ;  the  rapacious  and  unjust  governor  as  he 
spoke  of  righteousness — both  of  them  as  he  reasoned  of 
the  judgment  to  come.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
thoughts  of  Drusilla,  she  locked  them  up  in  her  own 
bosom;  but  Felix,  less  accustomed  to  such  truths,  was 
deeply  agitated  by  them.  As  he  glanced  back  over  the 
stained  and  guilty  past,  he  was  afraid.  He  had  been  a  slave, 
in  the  vilest  of  all  positions,  at  the  vilest  of  all  epochs, 
in  the  vilest  of  all  cities.  He  had  crept  with  his  brother 
Pallas  into  the  position  of  a  courtier  at  the  most  morally 
degraded  of  all  courts.  He  had  been  an  officer  of  those 
auxiliaries  who  were  the  worst  of  all  troops.  What  secrets 
of  lust  and  blood  lay  hidden  in  his  earlier  life  we  do  not 

however,  were  the  subtle  arts  of  the  Oyprian  sorcerer,  and  such  the  Greek-hko 
fascinations  of  the  seducer,  that  he  had  gained  his  end,  and  had  thus  still 
further  obliterated  the  memories  of  his  servile  origin  by  marrying  a  third 
princess.  "  Trium  reginanim  maritum  aut  adulterum "  (Suet.  Claud.  28). 
Another  of  his  wives  was  also  a  Drusilla,  daughter  of  Juba,  King  of  Maure- 
tania,  and  granddaughter  of  Antony  and  Cleopatra.     The  third  is  unknown. 


3J.2  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

know  ;  but  ample  and  indisputable  testimony,  Jewish  and 
Pagan,  sacred  and  secular,  reveals  to  us  what  he  had 
been — how  greedy,  how  savage,  how  treacherous,  how  un- 
just, how  steeped  with  the  blood  of  private  murder  and 
public  massacre — during  the  eight  years  which  he  had 
now  spent  in  the  government,  first  of  Samaria,  then  of 
Palestine.  There  were  footsteps  behind  him  ;  he  began  to 
feel  as  though  "  the  earth  were  made  of  glass."  He  could 
not  bear  the  novel  sensation  of  terror  which  crept  over 
him,  or  the  reproaches  of  the  blushing,  shamefaced  spirit 
which  began  to  mutiny  even  in  such  a  breast  as  his.  He 
cut  short  the  interview.  "  Go,"  he  said,  "  for  the  present ; 
I  will  take  some  future  opportunity  to  summon  you  to 
a  hearing."  Even  his  remorse  was  not  purely  disinte- 
rested.* Paul  had  indeed  acquired  over  him  some  of  that 
ascendency  which  could  hardly  fail  to  be  won  by  so  lofty 
a  personality  ;  and  Felix,  struck  by  his  bearing,  his  genius, 
his  moral  force,  sent  for  him  not  unfrequently  to  converse 
with  him  respecting  his  beliefs.  But  this  apparent  interest 
in  religious  subjects  was,  in  reality,  akin  to  that  vein  of 
superstition  which  made  him  the  ready  dupe  of  Simon 
Magus,  and  it  did  not  exclude  a  certain  hankering  after 
a  bribe,  which  he  felt  sure  that  Paul,  who  had  brought 
considerable  sums  of  money  to  Jerusalem,  could  either 
procure  or  give.  He  took  care  to  drop  hints  which  should 
leave  no  doubt  as  to  his  intentions.  But  Paul  was  inno- 
cent, and  neither  would  he  adopt  any  illicit  method  to 
secure  his  liberty,  nor  in  any  case  would  he  burden  the 
affection  of  his  converts  to  contribute  the  ransom  which 
he  was  too  poor  to  offer.  He  did  not  wish  by  dubious 
human  methods  to  interfere  with  Grod's  plan  respecting 
him,  nor  to  set  a  questionable  example  to  the  future  libella- 
tici.  He  therefore  declined  to  take  the  hints  of  Pehx,  and 
two  years  glided  away,  and  he  was  still  in  prison. 


A   RIOT   AT    C^SAREA.  343 

Towards  the  end  of  that  time  he  must  have  been 
startled  by  a  terrible  clamour  in  the  streets  of  Csesarea. 
Disputes,  indeed,  were  constantly  occurring  in  a  city  com- 
posed half  of  Jews  and  half  of  Greeks,  or  Syrians,  between 
whom  there  was  a  perpetual  feud  for  precedence.  All  the 
splendour  of  the  place — its  amphitheatre,  its  temples,  its 
palace — was  due  to  the  passion  for  building  which  ani- 
mated the  first  Herod.  The  Jewish  population  was  large 
and  wealthy,  and  since  their  king  had  done  so  much  for 
the  town,  they  claimed  it  as  their  own.  It  was  quite  true 
that,  but  for  Herod,  Csesarea  would  never  have  been  heard 
of  in  history.  Its  sole  utility  consisted  in  the  harbour 
which  he  had  constructed  for  it  at  enormous  cost  of  money 
and  labour,  and  which  was  extremely  needed  on  that  in- 
hospitable coast.  But  the  Grreeks  maintained  that  it  was 
their  town,  seeing  that  it  had  been  founded  by  Strato, 
and  called  Strato's  Tower  until  Herod  had  altered  the 
name  in  his  usual  spirit  of  flattery  towards  the  Imperial 
House.  Towards  the  close  of  Paul's  imprisonment,  the 
Greeks  and  Jews  came  to  an  open  quarrel  in  the  market- 
place, and  the  Greeks  were  being  worsted  in  the  combat  by 
their  enraged  adversaries,  when  Felix  appeared  with  his 
cohorts  and  ordered  the  Jews  to  disperse.  As  his  com- 
mand was  not  instantly  obeyed  by  the  victorious  party, 
Felix,  who  like  all  the  Romans  sided  with  the  Gentile 
faction,  let  loose  his  soldiers  upon  them.  The  soldiers 
were  probably  not  Eomans,  but  provincials.^  They  were 
therefore  delighted  to  fall  on  the  Jews,  many  of  whom 
were  instantly  put  to  the  sword.  Not  content  with  this, 
Felix,  whose  dislike  to  the  whole  race  only  deepened 
every  year,  allowed   them  to   plunder  the  houses  of  the 

'  There  were  no  Jews  among  them,  because  no  Jew  could  serve  in  the 
army  without  a  constant  necessity  of  breaking  the  rules  of  his  religion,  so  that 
on  this  ground  they  were  exempted  from  the  liability  to  conscription. 


344  THE    LIFE    Am)    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

wealthier  Jews.^  This  crowning  act  of  injustice  could 
not  pass  unnoticed.  Felix,  indeed,  as  Tacitus  tells  us,  had 
so  long  learnt  to  rely  on  the  overwhelming  influence 
of  Pallas  over  Claudius,  that  he  began  to  think  that  he 
might  commit  any  crime  he  liked  without  being  called 
to  question.  But  Claudius  had  now  been  dismissed  to  his 
apotheosis  by  the  poisoned  mushrooms  of  Agrippina,  and 
the  influence  both  of  Pallas  and  Agrippina  were  on  the 
wane.  The  Jews  laid  a  formal  impeachment  against  Felix 
for  his  conduct  at  Csesarea,  and  he  was  recalled  to  answer 
their  complaints.  Accompanied  by  Drusilla  and  Simon 
Magus,  who  had  by  this  time  assumed  the  position  of  his 
domestic  sorcerer,  he  sailed  to  Italy,  and  his  very  last  act 
was  one  of  flagrant  injustice.  He  had  already  abused  the 
power  of  a  provincial  governor  by  delaying  the  trial  of 
Paul  for  two  years.  It  was  a  defect  in  Roman  law  that, 
though  it  ordered  the  immediate  trial  of  a  prisoner  sent  to 
a  superior  court  with  an  elogium,  it  laid  down  no  rule  as  to 
the  necessary  termination  of  his  trial,  and  thus  put  into 
the  hands  of  an  unjust  Prsefect  a  formidable  instrument  of 
torture.  Paul  had  now  languished  for  two  full  years  in 
the  Herodian  palace,  and  Felix  had  not  decided  his  case. 
Philo  mentions  a  similar  instance  in  which  Flaccus  kept 
Lampo  for  two  years  in  prison  at  Alexandria  ^  on  a  charge 
of  laesa  majesfas,  in  hopes  of  breaking  his  heart  by  a  punish- 
ment worse  than  death.  Felix  had  no  such  object,  for 
he  seems  to  have  felt  for  Paul  a  sincere  respect ;  but  since 
Paul  would  not  offer  a  bribe,  Felix  would  not  set  him  free, 
and — more  the  slave  of  self-interest  than  he  had  ever  been 
the  slave  of  Antonia — he  finally  left  him  bound  in  order  to 
gratify  the  malice  of  the  Jews  whom  he  thus  strove,  but  quite 

1  Tho  scenes  which  took  place  on  this  occasion  were  analogous  to  those 
which  hapi^enecl  at  Alexandria  under  Flaccus. 

2  Philo  in  Flacc.  xvi. 


DISGRACE    OF   FELIX.  345 

vainly,  to  propitiate.  He  thought  that  he  could,  perhaps, 
settle  some  awkward  items  of  their  account  against  him  by 
sacrificing  to  their  religious  hatreds  a  small  scruple  on  the 
score  of  justice.  Perhaps  this  was  the  last  drop  in  the 
overflowing  cup  of  his  iniquity.  How  he  closed  his  bad 
career  we  do  not  know.  It  required  the  utmost  stretch 
of  the  waning  influence  of  his  brother  Pallas  to  save  him 
from  the  punishment  which  his  crimes  had  deserved ;  and, 
although  he  w^as  not  put  to  death  or  banished,  he  had 
to  disgorge  the  greater  portion  of  his  ill-gotten  wealth. 
Drusilla  had  one  son  by  her  marriage  with  him,  and  this 
son,  whose  name  was  Agrippa,  perished  in  the  eruption  of 
Vesuvius  nineteen  years  after  these  events.^  Felix  himself 
vanishes  henceforth  into  obscurity  and  disgrace. 

»  A.D.  79.    Jos.  Antt.  xx.  7,  §  2. 


CHAPTEE  XLH. 

ST.    PAUL    BEFORE    AGRIPPA   II. 

"When  I  consider  this  Apostle  as  appearing  either  before  the  witty 
Athenians,  or  before  a  Roman  Court  of  Judicature,  in  the  presence  of  their 
gi'eat  men  and  ladies,  I  see  how  handsomely  he  accommodateth  himself  to  the 
apprehension  and  temper  of  these  politer  people." — Shaftesbury,  Charac- 
teristics, i.  30. 

The  successor  of  Felix  was  Porcius  Pestus  (A.D.  60),^  who, 
though  he  too  was  probably  of  no  higher  rank  than  that 
of  a  freedman,  was  a  far  worthier  and  more  honourable 
ruler.  His  Procuratorship  was  of  very  brief  duration, 
and  he  inherited  the  government  of  a  country  in  which 
the  wildest  anarchy  was  triumphant,  and  internecine 
quarrels  were  carried  on  in  the  bloodiest  spirit  of  revenge. 
Had  he  been  Procurator  for  a  longer  time,  difficult  as  was 
the  task  to  hold  in  the  leash  the  furious  hatreds  of  Jews 
and  Gentiles,  he  might  have  accomplished  more  memorable 
results.  The  sacred  narrative  displays  him  in  a  not  un- 
favourable light,  'and  he  at  any  rate  contrasts  most  favour- 
ably with  his  immediate  predecessor  and  successor,  in  the 
fact  that  he  tried  to  administer  real  justice,  and  did  not 
stain  his  hands  with  bribes.^ 

His  first  movements  show  an  active  and  energetic  spirit. 
He  arrived  in  Palestine  about  the  month  of  August,  and 
three  days  after  his  arrival  at  Csesarea  went  direct  to 
Jerusalem.     One  of  the  first  questions  which  he  had  to 

^  This  furnishes  one  of  the  few  certain  points  de  repere  for  the  precise 
chronology  of  the  Acts.     He  died  the  next  year. 
2  Jos.  Anti  XX.  8,  §  9 ;  9,  §  1 ;  B.J.n.  14,  §  1. 


THE    JEWS    A:^D    FESTUS.  347 

face  was  tlie  mode  of  dealing  with  St.  Paul.  Two  years 
of  deferred  hope,  and  obstructed  purposes,  and  drearj'^  im- 
prisonment had  not  quenched  the  deadly  antipathy  of  the 
Jews  to  the  man  whose  free  offer  of  the  Gospel  to  the  Gen- 
tiles seemed  to  them  one  of  the  most  fatal  omens  of  their 
impending  ruin.  The  terrible  fight  in  the  market-place 
between  Jews  and  Syrian  Greeks,  which  had  caused  the 
disgrace  of  Felix,  had  left  behind  it  an  unappeased  exas- 
peration, and  the  Jews  of  Csesarea  were  unanimous^  in 
demanding  the  immediate  punishment  of  Paul.  When 
Pestus  reached  Jerusalem  the  same  cry^  met  him,  and  the 
death  of  Paul  was  demanded,  not  only  by  the  mob,  but 
by  deputations  of  all  the  chief  personages  in  Jerusalem, 
headed  by  Ishmael  Ben  Phabi,  the  new  High  Priest.^  We 
have  seen  already  that  the  Jews,  with  great  insight  into 
human  nature,  eagerly  seized  the  first  opportunity  of  play- 
ing upon  the  inexperience  of  a  newly-arrived  official,  and 
moulding  him,  if  possible,  while  he  was  likely  to  be  most 
plastic  in  his  desire  to  create  a  favourable  impression. 
But  Festus  was  not  one  of  the  base  and  feeble  Procurators 
who  would  commit  a  crime  to  win  popularity.  The  Pales- 
tinian Jews  soon  found  that  they  had  to  do  with  one  who 
more  resembled  a  Gallio  than  a  Felix.  The  people  and 
their  priests  begged  him  as  an  initial  favour  not  to  exempt 
Paul's  case  from  their  cognisance,  but  to  bring  him  to 
Jerusalem,  that  he  might  once  more  be  tried  by  the  San- 
hedrin,  when  they  would  take  care  that  he  should  cause  no- 
second  fiasco  by  turning  their  theologic  jealousies  against 
each  other.  Indeed,  these  saccrdotalists,  who  thought  far 
less  of  murder  than  of  a  ceremonial  pollution,'*  had  taken 

^   Acts  XXV.  24,  anap  rh  ir\ri6os  ruv  'lovSaiwv  .   .   .    tvddSe. 

*  Id.,  iiri$oa>vTfS. 

3  He  had  been  appointed  by  Agrippa  II.,  A.D.  59. 

*  See  Sota,  f .  47, 2 ;  Tosifta  Sota,  c.  14 ;  Joma,  i:23, 1 ;  Jos.  B.  J.  passim. 
(Gratz,  iii.  321,  seqq.) 


348  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

care  that  if  Festus  once  granted  their  petition,  their  hired 
assassins  should  get  rid  of  Paul  on  the  road  "  or  ever  he 
came  near."  Festus  saw  through  them  sufficiently  to 
thwart  their  design  under  the  guise  of  a  courteous  offer 
that,  as  Paul  was  now  at  Csesarea,  he  would  return  thither 
almost  immediately,  and  give  a  full  and  fair  audience  to 
their  complaints.  On  their  continued  insistence,  Festus 
gave  them  the  haughty  and  genuinely  Soman  reply  that, 
whatever  their  Oriental  notions  of  justice  might  be,  it  w^as 
not  the  custom  of  the  Romans  to  grant  any  person's  life 
to  his  accusers  by  way  of  doing  a  favour,  but  to  place  the 
accused  and  the  accusers  face  to  face,  and  to  give  the 
accused  a  full  opportunity  for  self-defence.  The  High 
Priest  and  his  fellow-conspirators,  finding  that  they  could 
not  play  either  on  the  timidity  of  Festus  or  his  com- 
plaisance, had  to  content  themselves  once  more  with 
organising  a  powerful  deputation  to  carry  out  the  accusa- 
tion. Eight  or  ten  days  afterwards  Festus  returned  to  the 
palace  at  Csesarea,  and  the  very  next  day  took  his  seat  on 
the  tribunal  to  hear  the  case.  The  Jews  had  not  again 
hired  a  practised  barrister  to  help  them,  and  the  trial 
degenerated  into  a  scene  of  passionate  clamour,  in  which 
St.  Paul  simply  met  the  many  accusations  against  him 
by  calm  denials.  The  Jews,  tumultuously  surrounding 
the  tribunal,  reiterated  their  accusations  of  heresy,  sacri- 
lege, and  treason ;  but  as  not  a  single  witness  was  forth- 
coming, Paul  had  no  need  to  do  more  than  to  recount 
the  facts.  This  time  the  Jews  seem  to  have  defined  the 
old  vague  charge  that  Paul  was  a  stirrer-up  of  sedition 
throughout  the  Diaspora,  by  trying  to  frighten  Festus,  as 
they  had  frightened  Pilate,  with  the  name  of  Csesar ;  ^  but 
Festus  had  too  thorough  a  knowledge  of  the  Roman  law 

Acts  rxv.  8. 


PAUL  BEFORE  FESTUS.  349 

not  to  see,  througli  all  this  murky  storm  of  rage,  the 
two  plain  facts,  that  he  was  trying  a  false  issue,  since 
the  inquiry  really  turned  on  matters  which  affected  the 
arcana  of  Jewish  theology;  and  that  even  if  there  was 
a  grain  of  truth  in  the  Jewish  accusations,  Paul  had  not 
been  guilty  of  anything  approaching  to  a  capital  crime. 
Wishing  to  put  an  end  to  the  scene — for  nothing  was 
more  odious  to  the  dignity  of  a  well-trained  Eoman 
than  the  scowling  faces,  and  gleaming  eyes,  and  screaming 
interpellations  of  despised  Orientals — Festus  asked  Paul 
whether  he  was  willing  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  be 
tried  before  the  Sanhedrin  under  his  protection.^  This 
was  practically  a  proposal  to  transfer  the  question  back 
from  the  Eoman  to  the  Jewish  jurisdiction.  But  Paul 
knew  very  well  that  he  had  far  more  chance  of  justice  at 
the  hands  of  the  Eomans  than  at  the  hands  of  Jews,  whose 
crimes  were  now  dragging  Jerusalem  to  her  destruction. 
Jewish  tribunals  had  invariably  and  even  savagely  con- 
demned him;  Grentile  tribunals — Gallio,  the  Politarchs, 
the  Asiarchs,  Lysias,  Felix,  Festus,  even  the  "  Praetors," 
at  Philippi,  and  at  last  even  the  monster  Nero — always 
saw  and  proclaimed  his  innocence.  But  he  was  sick  of 
these  delays ;  sick  of  the  fierce  reiteration  of  calumnies 
which  he  had  ten  times  refuted;  sick  of  being  made  the 
bone  of  contention  for  mutual  hatreds ;  sick  of  the  arbi- 
trary caprice  of  provincial  governors.  Terrible  as  the  black 
dungeon  of  Machserus  to  the  free  soul  of  the  Baptist, 
must  have  been  the  dreary  barracks  of  Csesarea  to  the 
ardent  zeal  of  Paul.  How  he  must  have  hated  that  palace, 
dripping  with  the  blood  of  murdered  Herods,  and  haunted 

1  Tins  must  be  the  meaning  of  eV  ifiod,  xxv.  9.  There  could  be  no  con- 
ceivable  object  in  taking  Paul  to  Jerusalem,  unless  it  were  to  have  him  once 
more  tried  by  the  Sanhedrin ;  but  of  course  Festus  could  not  preside  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Sanhedrin,  though  he  might  be  present  (somewhat  as  Lysias 
was),  and  see  that  the  accused  received  fair  treatment. 


350  THE    LIFE    AOTD    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

by  the  worst  memories  of  tlieir  crimes  !  How  tired  he 
must  have  been  of  the  idleness  and  the  ribaldries  of  pro- 
vincial soldiers,  and  the  tumultuous  noises  of  collision 
between  Jews  and  Gentiles  which  were  constantly  re- 
sounding in  those  ill-managed  streets.  Doubtless  his  im- 
prisonment had  been  a  period  of  deep  inward  calm  and 
growth.  He  knew  that  his  course  was  not  yet  over.  He 
was  awaiting  the  fulfilment  of  Grod's  will.  He  saw  that 
he  had  nothing  more  to  hope  for  from  High  Priests  or 
Procurators,  and  seized  his  opportunity.  As  a  Eoman 
citizen  he  had  one  special  privilege — that  right  of  appeal 
to  Csesar,  which  was  still  left  as  the  venerable  trophy 
of  popular  triumph  in  the  struggles  of  centuries.  He 
had  only  to  pronounce  the  one  word  Appello,  and  every 
enemy  would,  for  a  time,  be  defeated,  who  was  now 
thirsting  for  his  blood. ^  He  determined  to  exercise 
his  privilege.  The  Procurator  was  but  a  shadow  of  the 
Csesar.  His  offer  sounded  plausibly  fair,  but  perhaps 
Paul  saw  through  it.  "  I  am  standing,"  he  said,  "  at 
Csesar's  tribunal.  There,  and  not  before  the  Sanhedrin, 
I  ought  to  be  judged.  Even  you,  0  Festus  !  know  full 
well  that  I  never  in  any  respect  wronged  the  Jews.  If 
I  am  an  offender,  and  have  committed  any  capital  crime, 
it  is  not  against  them,  but  against  the  Empire ;  and  if  I 
am  found  guilty,  I  do  not  refuse  to  die.  But  if  all  the 
accusations  which  these  bring  against  me  are  nothing, 
no  one  can  sacrifice  me  to  them  as  a  favour."  And  then 
he  suddenly  exclaimed,  "  Caesarem  appello  !" 

The  appeal  was  a  surprise ;  even  Festus,  who  meant 
well  and  kindly,  though  perhaps  with  a  touch  of  natural 
complaisance  towards  his  new  subjects,  was  a  little  offended 
by  it.     It  was  not  agreeable  to  have  his  jurisdiction  super- 

*  By  the  Lex  Julia  De  Ap;pellatione.    Cf .  Plin.  JE;pp.  x.  97, 


APPEAL   TO    CiESAR.  351 

seded  hj  an  "appeal"  to  a  superior  on  the  very  first  occasion 
that  he  took  his  seat  on  the  tribunal.  Paul  had  not  yet 
had  time  to  learn  his  character.  He  might  doubtless 
have  trusted  him  more,  if  he  had  known  him  better ;  but 
matters  had  fallen  into  a  hopeless  imbroglio,  and  perhaps 
Paul  had  some  inward  intimation  that  this,  at  last,  was 
God's  appointed  way  in  which  he  was  to  visit  Italy,  and 
to  bear  mtness  at  Rome. 

The  appeal  at  once  put  an  end  to  all  the  proceedings 
of  the  court.  Festus  held  a  very  brief  consultation  with 
his  cojisiliarii — or  council  of  his  assessors — as  to  whether 
the  appeal  was  legally  admissible  or  not.  The  case  was 
too  clear  to  admit  of  much  doubt  under  this  head,  and, 
after  a  moment's  delay,  Festus  exclaimed,  in  words  which, 
however  brusquely  spoken,  must  have  thrilled  the  heart 
of  more  than  one  person  in  that  assembly,  and  most  of 
all  the  heart  of  the  Apostle  himself,  "  Caesarem  appellasti ; 
ad  Caesarem  ibis."  Perhaps  Festus  avenged  his  moment- 
arily wounded  vanity  by  the  thought,  "You  little  know 
what  an  appeal  to  Caesar  means  ! " 

Of  course  some  days  must  elapse  before  an  oppor- 
tunity would  occur  to  send  Paul  from  Csesarea  to  Italy. 
A  ship  had  to  be  provided,  and  other  prisoners  had  to  be 
tried  whom  it  might  be  necessary  to  remand  to  the 
Emperor's  decision.  The  delay  was  a  providential  one. 
It  furnished  Paul  with  a  happy  opportunity  of  proclaim- 
ing the  truths  and  the  arguments  of  Christianity  in  the 
presence  of  all  the  Jewish  and  Grentile  magnates  of  the 
capital  and  of  the  last  scions  of  that  Idumean  house  of 
brilliant  adventurers  who  had  allied  themselves  with 
the  AsmouEean  princes,  and  worn  the  title  of  Jewish 
kings. 

For  only  a  day  or  two  had  elapsed  after  the  appeal, 
when  Agrippa  II.,  the  last  of  the  Herods,  and  his  sister 


352  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Berenice  came  dowTi  to  Caesar ea  to  pay  tlieir  respects  to 
the  new  Procurator.  It  was  a  compliment  which  they 
could  never  safely  omit,  and  we  find  that  they  paid 
similar  visits  to  each  Procurator  in  succession.  The 
regal  power  of  Agrippa,  such  as  it  was,  depended  on  no 
popular  support,  but  simply  and  solely  on  the  will  of 
the  Emperor.  As  a  breath  had  made  him  first  king  of 
Chalcis  (A.D.  48),  then  of  the  tetrarchy  of  Philip  (A.D. 
52),  and  finally  of  various  other  cities  (A.D.  55),  so  on 
any  day  a  breath  might  unmake  him.  He  was  not,  like 
his  father,  "  the  king  of  the  Jews,"  and  therefore  St. 
Luke,  with  his  usual  accuracy  in  these  details,  only  calls 
him  "  the  king ;"  but  as  he  had  succeeded  his  uncle  Herod 
of  Chalcis  in  the  guardianship  of  the  Temple,  with  its 
sacred  robes,  and  the  right  of  nominations  to  the  High- 
priesthood,  he  practically  became  a  mere  gilded  instru- 
ment to  keep  order  for  the  Eomans,  and  it  was  essential  for 
him  to  remain  on  good  terms  with  them.^  They  in  their 
turn  found  it  desirable  to  flatter  the  harmless  vanities  of  a 
phantom  royalty. 

During  the  visit  of  Agrippa  and  Berenice  to  Festus,  he 
took  the  opportunity  of  referring  to  the  perplexing  case 
of  the  prisoner  Paul.  He  told  Agrippa  of  the  fury  which 
seemed  to  inspire  the  whole  Jewish  people  at  the  mention 
of  his  name,  and  of  the  futile  results  of  the  trial  just 
concluded.  However  much  the  Jews  might  try  to  mis- 
represent the  real  questions  at  issue,  it  was  clear  that  they 
turned  on  Mosaic  technicalities,^  and  "  on  one  Jesus  who 

1  The  Romans  would  have  resented  any  neglect  towards  their  representa- 
tive, as  much  as  we  should  resent  the  conduct  of  Sciudiah  or  Holkar  if  they 
entered  the  district  of  one  of  our  Indian  Residents  without  paying  their 
respects. 

^  XXV.  19.  The  use  of  the  phrase,  fepl  rrjs  iSias  deia-tSainoylas,  "  about  their 
own  religious  matters  "  (of.  xvii.  22),  shows  sufficiently  that  among  Gentiles 
■A-grippa  was  accustomed  to  speak  of  his  religion  quite  in  the  tone  of  a  man  of 
the  woi'ld. 


AGRIPPA   n.  353 

was  dead  whom  Paul  alleged  to  be  alive  "  ^ — matters  about 
which  Festus  had  no  jurisdiction,  and  could  not  be  sup- 
posed to  know  anything.  The  prisoner,  however,  had 
refused  to  be  tried  again  by  the  Sanhedrin,  and  had 
appealed  to  the  decision  of  the  Augustus. 

"  I  should  have  liked  myself  also  to  hear  this  person," 
said  Agrippa.^  Festus  eagerly  closed  with  the  wish,  and 
fixed  the  next  day  for  the  gratification  of  the  king's 
fancy. 

It  was  not,  as  is  commonly  represented,  a  new  trial. 
That  would  have  been,  on  all  grounds,  impossible. 
Agrippa  was  without  judicial  functions,  and  the  authority 
of  the  Procurator  had  been  cut  short  by  the  appeal.  It  was 
more  of  the  nature  of  a  private  or  drawing-room  audience 
— a  sort  of  show  occasion  designed  for  the  amusement  ot 
these  princely  guests,  and  the  idle  aristocracy  of  Csesarea, 
both  Jewish  and  Grentile.  Festus  ordered  the  auditorium 
to  be  prepared  for  the  occasion,  and  invited  all  the  chief 
officers  of  the  army,  and  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the 
town.  The  Herods  were  fond  of  show,  and  Festus  gratified 
their  humour  by  a  grand  processional  display.  He  would 
doubtless  appear  in  his  scarlet  paludament,  with  his  full 
attendance  of  lictors  and  body-guard,  who  would  stand  at 
arms  behind  the  gilded  chairs  which  were  placed  for  him- ' 
self  and  his  distinguished  visitors.  We  are  expressly  told 
that  Agrippa  and  Berenice  went  in  state  to  the  Prae- 
torium,  she,  doubtless,  blazing  with  all  her  jewels,  and  ' 
he  in  his  purple  robes,  and  both  with  the  golden  circlets 
of  royalty  around  their  foreheads,  and  attended  by  a  suite 
of  followers  in  the  most  gorgeous  apparel  of  Eastern  pompv. 

^  St.  Luke  and  the  early  Christians  were  far  too  much  in  earnest  in  their 
belief  to  make  them  shrink  in  the  least  from  recording  the  scorn  with  wliich 
it  was  spoken  of. 

"  XXV.  22, 'E;8oi;A.J^rjj' KttJ  aurbs;  cf.  Gal.  Iv.  20.  It  might,  however,  mean, 
"  I,  too,  was  feeling  a  personal  desire." 


354  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OE    ST.  PAUL. 

It  was  a  compliment  to  the  new  governor  to  visit  him 
with  as  much  splendour  as  possible,  and  both  he  and  his 
guests  were  not  sorry  to  furnish  a  spectacle  which  would 
at  once  illustrate  their  importance  and  their  mutual  cor- 
diality. Did  Agrippa  think  of  his  great-grandfather 
Herod,  and  the  massacre  of  the  innocents  ?  of  his  great- 
uncle  Antipas,  and  the  murder  of  John  the  Baptist  ?  Of 
his  father  Agrippa  I.,  and  the  execution  of  James  tlie 
Elder  ?  Did  he  recall  the  fact  that  they  had  each  died 
or  been  disgraced,  soon  after,  or  in  direct  consequence 
of,  those  inflictions  of  martyrdom?  Did  he  realise  how 
closely,  but  unwittingly,  the  faith  in  that  "one  Jesus" 
had  been  linked  with  the  destinies  of  his  house  ?  Did  the 
pomp  of  to-day  remind  him  of  the  pomp  sixteen  years 
earlier,  when  his  much  more  powerful  father  had  stood- in 
the  theatre,  with  the  sunlight  blazing  on  the  tissued  silver 
of  his  robe,  and  the  people  shouting  that  he  was  a  god  ?  ^ 
Did  none  of  the  dark  mem.ories  of  the  place  overshadow 
him  as  he  entered  that  former  palace  of  his  race  ?  It  is 
ver}^  unlikely.  Extreme  vanity,  gratified  self-importance, 
far  more  probably  absorbed  the  mind  of  this  titular  king, 
as,  in  all  the  pomp  of  phantom  sovereignty,  he  swept  along 
the  large  open  hall,  seated  himself  with  his  beautiful 
sister  by  the  Procurator's  side,  and  glanced  with  cold 
curiosity  on  the  poor,  worn,  shackled  prisoner — pale  with 
sickness  and  long  imprisonment — who  was  led  in  at  his 
command. 

Festus  opened  the  proceedings  in  a  short,  compli- 
mentary speech,  in  which  he  found  an  excuse  for  the 
gathering,  by  saying  that  on  the  one  hand  the  Jews  were 
extremely  infuriated  against  this  man,  and  that  on  the 
other  he   was  entirely  innocent,  so  far  as  he  could  see, 

1  A.D.  44    It  was  uow  A.D.  60. 


THE    AUDIENCE.  355 

of  any  capital  crime.  Since,  however,  lie  was  a  Etonian 
citizen,  and  had  appealed  to  Caesar,  it  was  necessary  to 
send  to  "  the  Lord  "  ^  some  minute  of  the  case,  by  way  of 
elogium,  and  he  was  completely  jDerplexed  as  to  what  he 
ought  to  say.  He  was,  therefore,  glad  of  the  opportunity 
to  bring  the  prisoner  before  this  distinguished  assembly, 
that  they,  and  especially  King  Agrippa,  might  hear  what 
he  had  to  say  for  himself,  and  so,  by  forming  some  sort  of 
preliminary  judgment,  relieve  Festus  from  the  ridiculous  " 
position  of  sending  a  prisoner  without  being  able  to  state 
any  definite  crime  with  which  he  had  been  charged. 

As  no  accusers  were  present,  and  this  was  not  in  any 
respect  a  judicial  assembly,  Agrippa,  as  the  person  for" 
whom  the  whole  scene  was  got  up,  told  Paul  that  he  was 
allowed  to  speak  about  himself.  Had  the  Apostle  been  of  a 
morose  disposition  he  might  have  despised  the  hollowness  v- 
of  these  mock  proceedings.  Had  he  been  actuated  by  any 
motives  lower  than  the  highest,  he  might  have  seized  the 
opportunity  to  flatter  himself  into  favour  in  the  absence 
of  his  enemies.  But  the  predominant  feature  in  his,  as 
in  the  very  greatest  characters,  was  a  continual  serious- 
ness and  earnestness,  and  his  only  desire  was  to  plead  not 
his  own  cause,  but  that  of  his  Master.  Pestus,  with  the 
Eoman  adulation,  which  in  that  age  outran  even  the 
appetite  of  absolutism,  had  used  that  title  of  "  the  Lord," 
which  the  later  Emperors  seized  with  avidity,  but  which 
the  earliest  and  ablest  of  them  had  contemptuously  re- 
fused.^ But  Paul  was  neither  imposed  upon  by  these 
colossal  titles  of  reverence,  nor  daunted  by  these  pompous  , 
inanities  of  reflected  power. 

There  is  not  a  word  of  his  address  which  does  not  prove 
how  completely  he  was  at  his  ease.     The  scarlet  sagum  of  ' 

^  XXV.  26.  «  Suet.  Od.  59;  Tiher.  27;  Bomii.  13. 

X   2 


356  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

the  Procurator,  the  fasces  of  the  lictors,  the  swords  of  the 
legionaries,  the  gleaming  armour  of  the  Chiliarchs,  did  not 
for  one  moment  daunt  him, — they  were  a  terror,  not  to 
good  works  but  to  the  evil ;  and  he  felt  that  his  was  a 
service  which  was  above  all  sway. 

Stretching  out  his  hand  in  the  manner  familiar  to  the 
orators  whom  he  had  often  heard  in  Tarsus  or  in  Antioch,^ 
he  began  by  the  sincere  remark  that  he  was  particularly 
happy  to  make  his  defence  before  King  Agrippa,  not — 
which  would  have  been  false — for  any  special  worth  of  his,  ^ 
but  because  the  ]3rince  had  received  from  his  father — whose 
anxiety  to  conform  to  the  Law,  both  written  and  oral, 
was  well  known — an  elaborate  training  in  all  matters  of 
Jewish  religion  and  casuistry  which  could  not  fail  to  in- 
terest him  in  a  question  of  which  he  was  so  competent  to 
judge.  He  begged,  therefore,  for  a  patient  audience,  and 
narrated  once  more  the  familiar  story  of  his  conversion 
from  the  standpoint  of  a  rigid  and  bigoted  Pharisee  to  a 
belief  that  the  Messianic  hopes  of  his  nation  had  now 
been  actually  fuMlled  in  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whose 
followers  he  had  at  first  furiously  persecuted,  but  who 
had  won  him,  by  a  personal  revelation  of  His  glory,  to 
the  knowledge  that  He  had  risen  from  the  dead.  Why 
should  that  belief  appear  incredible  to  his  hearers  ?  It 
once  had  been  so  to  himself  ;  but  how  could  he  resist 
the  eye-wdtness  of  a  noonday  vision?  and  how  could 
he  disobey  the  heavenly  voice  which  sent  him  forth 
to  open  the  eyes  both  of  Jews  and  Grentiles  that  they 
might  turn  from  darkness  to  light  and  the  power  of  Satan 
unto  Grod,  that,  by  faith  in  Jesus,  they  might  receive 
remission  of  sins  and  a  lot  among  the  sanctified  ?  He  had 
not  been  disobedient  to  it.     In  Damascus,  in  Jerusalem, 

^  Pint.  Caes.,  p.  729;  Appul.  Metam.  ii.,  "porrigit  dextram  et  ad  instar 
oratoruiu  couformat  articulum." 


ASTONISHIVIENT    OF    FESTUS.  357 

tlirougliout  all  JudcTa,  and  subsequently  among  the  Gen- 
tiles, he  had  been  a  preacher  of  repentance  and  conversion 
towards  God,  and  a  life  consistent  therewith.  This  was 
why  the  Jews  had  seized  him  in  the  Temple  and  tried  to 
tear  him  to  pieces  ;  but  in  this  and  every  danger  God  had 
helped  him,  and  the  testimony  which  he  bore  to  small  and 
great  was  no  blasphemy,  no  apostasy,  but  simply  a  truth 
in  direct  accordance  with  the  teachings  of  Moses  and 
the  Prophets,  that  the  Messiah  should  be  liable  to  suffer- 
ing, and  that  from  His  resurrection  from  the  dead  a  | 
light  should  dawn  to  lighten  both  the  Gentiles  and  His  ' 
people. 

Paul  was  now  launched  on  the  full  tide  of  that  sacred 
and  impassioned  oratory  which  was  so  powerful  an  agent 
in  his  mission  work.  He  was  deliverinsr  to  kinpfs  and  f 
governors  and  chief  captains  that  testimony  which  was 
the  very  object  of  his  life.  Whether  on  other  topics  his 
speech  was  as  contemptible  as  his  enemies  chose  to  rej)re- 
sent,  we  cannot  say ;  but  on  this  topic,  at  any  rate,  he 
spoke  with  the  force  of  long  familiarity,  and  the  fire  of  ^^ 
intense  conviction.  He  would  probably  have  proceeded  to 
develop  the  great  thesis  which  he  had  just  sketched  in 
outline — but  at  this  point  he  was  stopped  short.  These 
facts  and  revelations  were  new  to  Festus.  Thoug^h  suf- 
ficiently  familiar  with  true  culture  to  recognise  it  even 
through  these  Oriental  surroundings,  he  could  only  listen 
open- mouthed  to  this  impassioned  tale  of  visions,  and 
revelations,  and  ancient  prophecies,  and  of  a  Jewish 
Prophet  who  had  been  crucified,  and  yet  had  risen  from 
the  dead  and  was  Divine,  and  who  could  forgive  sins 
and  lighten  the  darkness  of  Jews  as  well  as  of  Gentiles. 
He  had  been  getting  more  and  more  astonished,  and  the 
last  remark  was  too  much  for  him.  He  suddenly  burst 
out   with   the   loud  and  excited  interruption,  "  You   are 


358  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

mad,  Paul;^  those  many  writings  are  turning  your 
brain."  His  startling  ejaculation  cliecked  the  majestic 
stream  of  the  Apostle's  eloquence,  but  did  not  other- 
wise ruffle  his  exquisite  courtesy.  "  I  am  not  mad," 
he  exclaimed  with  calm  modesty,  giving  to  Festus 
his  recognised  title  of  "  your  Excellency ; "  "  but  I  am 
uttering  words  of  reality  and  soberness."  But  Festus 
was  not  the  person  whom  he  was  mainly  addressing,  nor 
Avere  these  the  reasonings  which  he  would  be  likely  to 
understand.  It  was  different  with  Agrippa.  He  had 
read  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  and  had  heard,  from  mul- 
titudes of  witnesses,  some  at  least  of  the  facts  to  which 
Paul  referred.  To  him,  therefore,  the  Apostle  appealed 
in  proof  of  his  perfect  sanity.  "  The  king,"  he  said, 
"knows  about  these  things,  to  whom  it  is  even  with 
confidence  that  I  am  addressing  my  remarks.  I  am 
sure  that  he  is  by  no  means  unaware  of  any  of  these 
circumstances,  for  all  that  I  say  has  not  been  done  in 
a  corner."  And  then,  wishing  to  resume  the  thread  of 
his  argument  at  the  point  where  it  had  been  broken,  and 
where  it  would  be  most  striking  to  a  Jew,  he  asked — 

"  King  Agrippa,  dost  thou  believe  the  Prophets  ?  I 
know  that  thou  belie  vest." 

But  Agrippa  did  not  choose  to  be  entrapped  into  a  dis- 
cussion, still  less  into  an  assent.  Not  old  in  years,  but 
accustomed  from  his  boyhood  to  an  atmosphere  of  cynicism 
and  unbelief,  he  could  only  smile  with  the  good-natured 
contempt  of  a  man  of  the  world  at  the  enthusiastic  earnest- 
ness which  could  even  for  a  moment  fancy  that  /le  would 
be  converted  to  the  heresy  of  the  Nazarenes  with  their 
crucified  Messiah !  Yet  he  did  not  wish  to  be  uncourteous. 
It  was  impossible  not  to  admire  the  burning  zeal  which 

1  Wisd.  V.  4 ;  2  Cor.  v.  13.      There  is  an  iambic  rhythm  in  Festus's  inter- 
pellatiou  whicli  makes  it  souud  like  a  quotation. 


JEST    OF   AGRIPPA.  359 

neitlier  stripes  nor  prisons  could  quench — the  clear-sighted 
faith  which  not  even  such  a  surrounding  could  for  a  moment 
dim. 

"You  are  trying  to  persuade  me  offhand  to  be  'a 
Christian!'"^  he  said,  with  a  half-suppressed  smile;  and 
this  finished  specimen  of  courtly  euirapelia  was  his  banter- 
ing answer  to  St.  Paul's  appeal.  Doubtless  his  polished 
remark  on  this  compendious  style  of  making  converts 
sounded  very  witty  to  that  distinguished  compan}^  and 
they  would  with  difficulty  suppress  their  laughter  at 
the  notion  that  Agrippa,  favourite  of  Claudius,  friend  of  \ 
Nero,  King  of  Chalcis,  Itursea,  Trachonitis,  nominator  of  \ 
the  High  Priest,  and  supreme  guardian  of  the  Temple  | 
treasures,  should  succumb  to  the  potency  of  this  "  short 
method  with  a  Jew."  That  a  Paul  should  make  the  king 
a  Christian  (!)  would  sound  too  ludicrous.  But  the  laugh 
would  be  instantly  suppressed  in  pity  and  admiration  of  the 
poor  but  noble  prisoner,  as  with  perfect  dignity  he  took  ad- 
vantage of  Agrippa's  ambiguous  expression,  and  said,  with 
all  the  fervent  sincerity  of  a  loving  heart,  "I  could  pray  to 
God  that  whether  '  in  little  '  or  'in  much,'^  not  thou  only, 
but  even  all  who  are  listening  to  me  to-day  might  be- 
come even  such  as  I  am — except,"  he  added,  as  he  raised 
his  fettered  hand — "  except  these  bonds."     They  saw  that 

1  \v  oxiycf),  "  in  brief,"  "  in  few  words  "  (cf .  ■irpoeypa\]/a  iv  oxiyqi,  Eph.  iii.  3), 
"  tout  cVun  coup."  It  cannot  mean  "  almost,"  wliicli  would  be  irop'  6\iyou,  or 
oKiyou  Se7.  On  the  conatus  involved  in  the  present  ireieeis,  see  my  Brief 
Greelc  Syntax,  §  136.  But  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  we  have  got  Agrippa's 
real  remark.  A  reads  Treieri  (Lachm.),  and  perhaps  ireieeis  may  have  come 
from  an  original  -n-eieei,  'you  are  persuading  yourself  (cf.  ov  ireiQofxai,  ver.  26); 
for  instead  uf  yeveadai,  the  reading  of  «,  A,  B  is  irotTtffai,  which  with  iveideis  is 
unintelligible.  From  the  confusion  of  readings  we  might  almost  conjecture 
that  Agrippa  ironically  said,  yue  xp^o-riai/hv  iroiiiaeis — '  you'll  soon  be  making  me 
— a  Christian  ! ' 

^  St.  Chrysostom  thinks  that  St.  Paul  mistook  Agrippa's  meaning,  and, 
from  ignorance  of  colloquial  Greek  (?),  supposed  him  to  mean  "  almost."  But 
Eph.  iii.  3  is  enough  to  disprove  this. 


360  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK:    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

tins  was  indeed  no  common  prisoner ;  one  who  conld  argue 
as  he  had  argued,  and  sj)eak  as  he  had  spoken ;  one  who 
was  so  filled  with  the  exaltation  of  an  inspiring  idea,  so 
enriched  with  the  happiness  of  a  firm  faith  and  a  peaceful  ' 
conscience,  that  he  could  tell  them  how  he  prayed,  that 
they  all — all  these  princely  and  distinguished  people — 
could  be  even  such  as  he — and  who  yet  in  the  spirit  of 
entire  forgiveness  desired  that  the  sharing  in  his  faith 
might  involve  no  share  in  his  sorrows  or  misfortunes — 
must  be  such  a  one  as  they  never  yet  had  seen  or  known, 
either  in  the  worlds  of  Jewry  or  of  heathendom.  But 
it  was  useless  to  prolong  the  scene.  Curiosity  was  now 
sufficiently  gratified,  and  it  had  become  clearer  than  ever 
that  though  they  might  regard  Paul  the  prisoner  as  an 
amiable  enthusiast  or  an  inspired  fanatic,  he  was  in  no 
sense  a  legal  criminal.  The  king,  by  rising  from  his  seat, 
gave  the  signal  for  breaking  up  the  meeting ;  Berenice  and 
Pestus,  and  their  respective  retinues,  rose  up  at  the  same 
time,  and  as  the  distinguished  assembly  dispersed  they 
were  heard  remarking  on  all  sides  that  Paul  was  unde- 
serving of  death,  or  even  of  imprisonment.  He  had  made, 
in  fact,  a  deeply  favourable  impression.  Agrippa's  decision 
was  given  entirely  for  his  acquittal.  "  This  person,"  he 
said  to  Pestus,  "might  have  been  permanently  set  at 
liberty,  if  he  had  not  appealed  to  Caesar."  Agrippa  was  far 
too  little  of  a  Pharisee,  and  far  too  much  of  a  man  of  the 
world,  not  to  see  that  mere  freedom  of  thought  could  not 
be,  and  ought  not  to  be,  suppressed  by  external  violence. 
The  proceedings  of  that  day  probably  saved  St.  Paul's  life 
full  two  years  afterwards.  Pestus,  since  his  own  opinion, 
on  grounds  of  Eoman  justice,  was  so  entirely  confirmed 
from  the  Jewish  point  of  view  by  the  Protector  of  the 
Temple,  could  hardly  fail  to  send  to  Nero  an  clog'uim 
which   freely  exonerated   the    prisoner   from   every  legal 


ST.    PAUL   EXONERATED.  361 

charge;  and  even  if  Jewish  intrigues  were  put  in  play 
against  him,  Nero  could  not  condemn  to  death  a  man 
whom  Felix,  and  Lysias,  and  Festus,  and  Agrippa,  and 
even  the  Jewish  Sanhedrin,  in  the  only  trial  of  the  case 
which  they  had  held,  had  united  in  pronouncing  innocent 
of  any  capital  crime. 


CHAPTEE  XLin. 

THE   VOYAGE    AND    SHIPWRECK. 

"  Non  vultus  instantis  tyranni 
Meute  quatit  solicla,  nee  Auster 
Dux  inquieti  turbidus  Adriae." — HoE.  Od. 

"  The  flattering  wind  tliat  late  with  pAmised  aid 
From  Candia's  bay  the  unwilling  ship  betrayed. 
No  longer  fawns,  beneath  the  fair  disguise, 
But  like  a  ruffian  on  his  quarry  flies." 

Falconer,  Shipwreck,  canto  ii 

At  the  earliest  opportunity  which  offered,  St.  Paul,  and 
such  other  prisoners  ^  as  were  waiting  the  result  of  an 
appeal,  were  despatched  to  Italy  under  the  charge  of 
Julius,  a  centurion  of  an  Augustan  cohort.  This  Augustan 
cohort  may  either  be  some  local  troop  of  soldiers  of  that 
name  stationed  at  Csesarea,  since  the  name  "Augustan" 
was  as  common  as  "  Eoyal  "  among  us  ;  or  they  may  have 
belonged  to  the  body  of  Augustani — veterans  originally 
enrolled  by  Augustus  as  a  body-guard;^  or  they  may 
have  been  the  Praetorian  guards  themselves,  who  occa- 
sionally, though  not  frequently,  were  sent  out  of  Italy  on 
imperial  missions.^  It  is  not,  however,  said  that  Julius 
was  accompanied  by  his  cohort,  and  it  is  not  at  all  im- 
possible that  he  may  have  been  sent  with  a  few  of  those 
chosen  soldiers  of  the  most  distinguished  Eoman  regiments 

'  xxvii.  1.     trepovs  is  not  necessarily  used  with  classical  accuracy  to  denote 
"  prisoners  of  a  different  class  "  (Luke  viii.  3  ;  Mark  xv.  41). 

2  It  certainly  was  not  a  cohort  of  "  Sebasteni,"  i.e.,  natives  of  Sebaste,  the 
name  which  Herod  had  given  to  Samaria  (Jos.  B.  J.  ii.  12,  §  5). 
Pliny,  II.  N.  vi.  35.     (Lewin,  ii.  183.) 


CHAINING    OF    PRISONERS.  363 

to  give  edal  to  the  arrival  of  Festus  in  one  of  the  wealthiest 
hut  most  disaffected  of  imperial  provinces.^  If  this  were 
the  case,  Julius  may  very  well  have  been  that  Julius  Priscus 
who  afterwards  rose  to  the  splendid  position  of  one  of  the 
two  Prsefects  of  the  Praetorians,  and  committed  suicide  on 
the  disgraceful  overthrow  of  his  patron.^  We  see  enough 
of  him  during  this  voyage  to  lead  us  to  believe  that  he  was 
a  sensible,  honourable,  and  kindly  man. 

Eoman  soldiers  were  responsible  with  their  own  lives 
for  the  securit}''  of  their  prisoners,  and  this  had  originated 
the  custom — so  painful  to  the  prisoners,  and  all  the  more 
painful  because  so  necessarily  irritating  to  the  legionaries — 
of  keeping  the  prisoners  safe  by  chaining  them  with  a  long 
light  chain  by  the  right  wrist  to  the  left  wrist  of  soldiers, 
who  relieved  each  other  in  turn.  It  may  be  imagined  how 
frightfully  trying  it  must  have  been  to  have  no  moment 
and  no  movement  free,  and  to  be  fettered  in  such  hor- 
rible proximity  to  a  man  who  would  certainly  have  been 
an  uneducated  specimen  of  the  lowest  classes,  and  who, 
surrounded  from  boj^hood  upwards  by  rough  and  de- 
moralising companionships,  might  be  a  coarse  and  loose 
provincial,  or  a  morose  and  brutal  peasant  from  the  dregs 
of  the  Italian  population.  It  is  tolerably  certain  that 
ashore  prisoners  were  not  allowed  to  go  anywhere  without 
this  galling  protection,  but  we  may  hope  that  they  were 
not  always  subject  to  it  in  the  narrow  fetid  cribs  and 
hatchways  of  the  huge,  rolling,  unwieldly  merchantmen  in 
which  their  compulsory  voyages  had  to  be  performed. 

Since  Festus  had  arrived  in  Palestine  towards  the  end 
of  June,  it  must  now  have  been  late  in  August,  and  the 
time  was  rapidly  drawing  on  in  which  ancient  navigation 

1  More  strictly  Procuratorships.     St.  Luke,  however,  uses  the  general  word 

2  Tac.  Kist.  ii.  92 ;  iv.  11.     "  Pudore  raagis  quam  necessitate." 


364  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

was  closed  for  the  year.  Every  day  made  tlie  weather 
more  uncertain  and  the  voyage  more  perilous,  and  since 
time  was  pressing,  Julius,  to  whom  the  commission  was 
entrusted,  embarked  his  prisoners  on  board  a  coasting 
merchantman  of  the  Mysian  town  of  Adramyttium.  As 
the  vessel  would  touch  at  the  chief  ports  on  the  west  of 
Asia,  there  was  every  possibility  of  their  finding  a  ship 
at  Ephesus,  or  at  some  nearer  port,  in  which  they  could 
perform  the  rest  of  their  voyage  ;  but  if  not,  Julius  might, 
as  a  last  resource,  march  his  soldiers  and  their  prisoners 
from  Adramyttium  to  Troas,  and  thence  sail  to  Neapolis, 
whence  he  could  proceed  along  the  great  Egnatian  Eoad, 
already  so  familiar  to  St.  Paul,  through  Philippi  and  Thes- 
salonica  to  Dyrrhachium.  Dyrrhachium  and  Brundusium 
were  to  the  Romans  what  Calais  and  Dover  are  to  the 
English;  and  after  crossmg  the  J^]gean,  Julius  would 
march  along  the  Appian  Eoad — in  a  reverse  order  through 
the  scenes  described  with  such  lively  humour  by  Horace 
in  his  Iter  ad  Brundusium — till  his  journey  ended  at  Rome. 
This  was  the  route  traversed  by  St.  Ignatius  and  his  "ten 
leopards  "  who  conducted  him  to  his  martyrdom,  and  in 
his  disagreeable  connexion  with  whom  he  says  that  he 
fought  with  wild  beasts  all  the  way.  It  is,  however,  most 
unlikely  that  a  land  journey  entered  into  the  immediate 
plans  of  Julius.  As  he  had  several  prisoners  under  his 
charge,  each  of  whom  would  require  ten  soldiers  to  relieve 
guard,  such  a  journey  would  be  inexpressibly  tedious  and 
extremely  expensive  ;  and  Julius  might  rely  with  tolerable 
certainty  on  finding  some  vessel  which  was  bound  from 
one  of  the  great  emporiums  of  Asia  for  the  capital  of  the 
world. 

St.  Paul  was  spared  one  at  least  of  the  circumstances 
which  would  have  weighed  most  heavily  on  his  spirits — 
he  was  not  alone.     Luke    and  Aristarchus   accompanied 


SIDON.  365 

hira,  and,  whether  such  had  been  their  original  intention 
or  not,  both  were  at  any  rate  driven  by  stress  of  circum- 
stances to  remain  with  him  during  great  part  of  his 
Eoman  imprisonment.  They,  no  doubt,  were  passengers, 
not  prisoners,  and  they  must  either  have  paid  their  own 
expenses,^  or  have  been  provided  with  money  for  that 
purpose  by  Christians,  who  knew  how  necessary  was  some 
attendance  for  one  so  stricken  with  personal  infirmities  as 
their  illustrious  Apostle. 

The  voyage  began  happily  and  prosperously.  The 
leading  westerly  wind  was  so  far  favourable  that  the  day 
after  they  started  they  had  accomplished  the  sixty-seven 
miles  which  lay  between  them  and  the  harbour  of  Sidon, 
There  they  touched,  and  Julius,  who  can  hardly  have 
been  absent  from  the  brilliant  throng  who  had  listened 
to  Paul's  address  before  Agrippa,  was  so  indulgently  dis- 
posed towards  him  that  he  gave  him  leave — perhaps 
merely  on  parole — to  land  and  see  his  friends  who  formed 
the  little  Christian  community  of  that  place.  This  kind- 
ness was  invaluable  to  St.  Paul.  The  two  years'  im- 
prisonment must  have  told  unfavourably  upon  his  health, 
and  he  must  have  been  but  scantily  provided  with  the 
requisites  for  a  long  voyage.  The  expression  used  by 
St.  Luke  that  Julius  allowed  him  to  go  to  his  friend  and 
"be  cared  for,"^  seems  to  imply  that  even  during  that 
one  day's  voyage  he  had  suffered  either  from  sea-sickness 
or  from  general  infirmity.  The  day  at  Sidon  was  the 
one  happy  interlude  which  was  to  prepare  him  for  many 
anxious,  miserable,  and  storm-tossed  weeks. 

Por  from  that  day  forward  the  entire  voyage  became 
a  succession  of  delays  and  accidents,  which,  after  two 
months  of   storm    and    danger,    culminated    in   hopeless 

^  Luke,  as  a  physician,  might  easily  have  procured  a  free  passage. 
^  XXvii.  3,  cTTifjifXilas  rvxiip. 


366  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

sliipwreck.  No  sooner  had  tliey  left  the  harbour  of 
Sidon  than  they  encountered  the  baffling  Etesian  winds, 
which  blow  steadil}^  from  the  north-west.  This  was  an 
unlooked-for  hindrance,  because  the  Etesians  usually  cease 
to  blow  towards  the  end  of  August,  and  are  succeeded  by 
south  winds,  on  which  the  captain  of  the  merchantman 
had  doubtless  relied  to  waft  him  back  to  his  port  of 
Adramyttium.  His  natural  course  would  have  been  to 
sail  straight  across  from  Sidon  to  Patara,  leaving  Cyprus 
on  the  starboard ;  but  the  very  winds  which  sped  St. 
Paul  so  blythely  along  this  course  to  his  Csesarean  im- 
prisonment more  than  two  years  before,  were  now  against 
his  return,  and  the  vessel  had  to  sail  towards  Cape 
Pedalium,.the  south-eastern  promontory  of  Cyprus,  hug- 
ging the  shore  under  the  lee  of  the  island  as  far  as  Cape 
Dinaretum.^  On  rounding  this  cape  they  could  beat  to 
windward  by  the  aid  of  land-breezes  and  westward  cur- 
rents right  across  the  sea  which  washes  the  coasts  of 
Cilicia  and  Pamphylia,  until  they  dropped  anchor  in  the 
mouth  of  the  river  Andriacus,  opposite  to  a  hill  crowned 
with  the  magnificent  buildings  of  Myra,  the  former 
capital  of  Lycia.^ 

Here  they  were  fortunate — or,  as  it  turned  out,  unfor- 
tunate— enough  to  find  a  large  Alexandrian  wheat-ship,^ 
which  had  undergone  the  common  fate  of  being  driven 
out  of  the  direct  course  by  the  same  winds  which  had 
baffled  the  Adramyttian  vessel,  and  which  now  intended 
to   follow  the   usual  alternative   of    creeping   across   the 

1  vveir\(v<rafiev,  "  we  sailed  under  the  lee  of,"  i.e.,  in  this  instance,  "  we 
left  Cyprus  on  the  left."  Observe  that  in  this  narrative  alone  there  are  no 
less  than  thirteen  different  expressions  for  "  sailing." 

2  Cf.  Thuc.  viii.  35. 

3  The  Emperor  Titus  (Suet.  Vit.  5)  did  the  same  on  his  return  from 
Palestine  (cf.  Jos.  B.  J.  vii.  2;  Tac.  IT.  iv.  81).  At  this  period  that  part  of 
the  Mediterranean  is  almost  always  stormy  (Falconer  Dissert.,  p.  16). 


CNIDUS.  367 

iEgean  from  island  to  island,  northward  of  Crete,  and  so 
to  the  south  of  C3rthera,  and  across  to  Syracuse.^  This 
vessel,  built  for  the  purposes  of  the  trade  which  supplied 
to  all  Italy  the  staff  of  life,  could  easily  provide  room 
for  the  centurion  with  his  soldiers  and  prisoners,  and  such 
passengers  as  chose  to  accompany  them.  They  were, 
therefore,  shifted  into  this  vessel,  and  sailed  for  Cnidus, 
the  last  point  at  which  they  could  hope  for  any  help 
from  the  protection  of  the  shore  with  its  breezes  and 
currents.  The  distance  between  the  two  spots  is  only 
one  hundred  and  thirty  miles,  and  under  favourable  cir- 
cumstances they  might  have  got  to  their  destination  in 
twenty-four  hours.  But  the  baffling  Etesians  still  con- 
tinued with  unseasonable  steadiness,  and  to  reach  even 
to  Cnidus  occupied  many  weary  and  uncomfortable  days. 
And  when  they  got  off  the  beautiful  and  commodious 
harbour  they  were  destined  to  a  fresh  and  bitter  disap- 
pointment, for  they  could  not  enter  it.  Had  they  been 
able  to  do  so  the  season  was  by  this  time  so  far  advanced, 
and  the  wind  was  so  steadily  adverse,  that  we  can  hardly 
doubt  that,  unless  they  continued  their  journey  by  land, 
they  would  either  have  waited  there  for  a  more  favourable 
breeze,  or  decided  to  winter  in  a  port  where  there  was 
every  pleasant  requisite  at  hand  for  the  convenience  of  so 
large  a  vessel,  and  its  numerous  crew.  Since,  however, 
the  wind  would  neither  suffer  them  to  put  in  at  Cnidus,^ 
nor  to  continue  their  direct  voyage,  which  would  have 
passed  north  of  Crete,  the  only  alternative  left  them  was 

^  It  -will,  of  course,  be  borne  in  mind  that  (1)  they  had  no  compass ;  and 
(2)  could  not  work  to  windward.  The  Cilician  land  breeze,  which  liad  lielped 
the  Adramyttian  vessel  to  Myra,  was  quite  local.  Compare  Socr.  H.  E.  ii.  24 ; 
Sozomen,  vi.  25  (speaking  of  the  voyage  of  Athanasius  from  Alexandria  to 
Eome).     Wetst. 

2  xxvii.  7,  1X71  irpoceSivros  rov  ave/iov.  It  is  not  said  that  they  got  to  Cnidus, 
but  only  that  they  got  "  opposite  to  "  or  "  off  "  it,  and  that  with  difficuliy. 


368  THE    LITE    Als^D    WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

to  make  for  Cape  Salmone,  at  the  eastern  end  of  the 
island,  and  there  sail  under  its  lee.  To  get  to  Salmone 
was  comparatively  easy ;  but  when  they  had  rounded  it 
they  had  the  utmost  difficulty  in  creeping  along  the 
weather  shore  until  they  came  to  a  place  called  Fair 
Havens,  a  little  to  the  east  of  Cape  Matala,  and  not 
far  from  an  obscure  town  of  the  name  of  LasDsa. 
While  the  wind  remained  in  its  present  quarter  it 
was  useless  to  continue  their  voyage,  for  beyond  Cape 
Matala  the  shore  trends  sharply  to  the  north,  and 
they  would  have  been  exposed  to  the  whole  force  of  the 
Etesians,  with  a  lee  shore  on  which  they  would  inevitably 
have  been  dashed  to  pieces.  At  Fair  Havens,  therefore, 
they  were  obliged  to  put  in,  and  wait  for  a  change  of 
w^nd.  Time  passed,  and  found  them  still  windbound.  It 
was  now  getting  towards  the  close  of  September.  At  Fair 
Havens  St.  Paul  and  any  Jewish  Christians  on  board  would 
probably  keep  the  Kippor,  or  great  day  of  Atonement,^  the 
one  fast  in  the  Jewish  calendar,  which  this  year  fell  on 
September  24.  The  autumnal  equinox  passed.  The  Feast 
of  Tabernacles  passed,  and  perhaps  some  of  the  sailors  re- 
garded with  superstitious  terror  the  partial  eclipse  which 
occurred  on  that  evening.  The  Jewish  season  for  naviga- 
tion was  now  over,^  but  the  Gentiles  did  not  regard  the 
sea  as  closed  until  November  11,^  Discussions  took  place 
as  to  whether  they  should  winter  where  they  were  or 
choose  the  first  favourable  chance  of  pushing  on  round  Cape 
Matala  to  Port  Phoenix,  which  lay  only  thirty-four  miles 
beyond  it.     St.   Paul,   whose  remarkable  ascendency  had 

^  It  was  observed  on  the  tenth  of  Tisri,  which  in  this  year  (A.D.  60)  fell 
at  the  autumnal  equinox. 

-  Sept.  28.  See  Lewin,  Fasti  Sacri,  §  1899 ;  and  L'Art  de  verifier  lea 
Bates,  iv.,  p.  51. 

»  Sec  Schoettgon,  Eor.  Eebr.  ad  loc;  Pliu.  H.  N.  iL  47 ;  Veget.  De  Be 
Milit.  V.  9. 


FAIR    HAVENS    AND    PORT    PHCENIX.  369 

already  displayed  itself,  was  allowed  to  give  liis  opinion, 
and  he  gave  it  emphatically  in  favour  of  staying  where 
they  were.  "  Sirs,"  he  said,  "  I  perceive  that  this  voyage 
will  certainly  result  in  violent  weather,  and  much  loss  not 
only  of  the  cargo  and  of  the  ship,  but  even  of  our  lives." 
His  opinion  was  entitled  to  great  weight,  because  his  many 
vo^'ages  had  made  him  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  winds 
and  dangers  of  a  sea  in  which  he  had  thrice  been  ship- 
wrecked, and  had  once  floated  for  a  night  and  a  day.  The 
captain,  however,  and  the  owner  of  the  vessel  gave  their 
opinion  the  other  way  ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  they 
had  much  to  urge.  Fair  Havens  afforded  a  shelter  from 
the  norwTster  which  had  so  long  been  prevalent,  but  it 
was  entirely  unprotected  against  east  winds,  and  indeed 
lay  open  to  most  points  of  the  compass.  It  would,  there- 
fore, be  a  dangerous  haven  in  which  to  pass  the  winter, 
and  it  was  further  unsuitable  because  the  place  itself  was 
a  poor  one,  not  quite  close  even  to  the  town  of  Lassea, 
and  oflering  no  means  of  employment  or  amusement  for 
the  soldiers  and  sailors.  It  would  have  been  a  serious 
matter  to  spend  three  or  four  months  in  a  place  so  dreary 
and  desolate,  and  it  seemed  worth  while,  if  possible,  to 
get  to  Port  Phoenix.  That  town,  the  modern  Lutro, 
which  they  could  reach  in  a  few  hours'  sail,  enjoyed  the 
advantage  of  the  only  harbour  on  the  south  of  Crete  which 
is  safe  in  all  weathers,  and  which  was  therefore  a  familiar 
resort  of  Alexandrian  corn-ships.  Its  harbour  was  closed 
and  protected  by  a  little  island,  and  was  described  by  those 
who  advocated  its  claims  as  "  looking  towards  Libs  and 
towards  Caurus,"  or,  as  we  should  say,  towards  the  south- 
west and  the  north-west.  It  has  greatly  puzzled  com- 
mentators to  account  for  this  expression,  seeing  that  the 
entrance  to  the  harbour  of  Lutro  (which  is  undoubtedly 
the  ancient  Phoenix)  looks  towards  the  east,  and  its  two 


370  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OE    ST.  PAUL. 

openings  at  the  extremities  of  its  sheltering  island  look 
precisely  in  the  opposite  directions,  namely,  north-east  and 
south-east.  The  explanation  of  this  singular  anomaly  is 
not  to  be  sought  in  grammatical  illustrations,  but  in  the 
subjectivity  of  the  sailors,  who  simply  regard  the  bearings 
of  the  harbour  from  the  directions  in  which  they  sail  into  it, 
and  might  say,  for  instance,  that  a  harbour  "looked  towards" 
the  north,  if  they  could  onl}'^  sail  into  it  by  turning  their 
prow  northward;  just  as  farther  on  in  the  chapter  they  speak 
of  "  some  land  approaching  them,"  when  in  reality  they  are 
approaching  some  land.^  But  besides  the  security  of  Port 
Phoinix,  it  was  evidently  a  far-  more  desirable  place  for 
nearly  tln-ee  hundred  people  to  winter  in  than  the  com- 
paratively obscure  and  lonely  Fair  Havens,  and  on  both 
these  grounds  it  seemed  to  be  worth  a  slight  risk  to  reach 
it.  These  arguments  won  the  adhesion  of  the  majority, 
and  the  centurion,  with  whom  the  decision  rested,  decided 
that  this  should  be  done.  St.  Paul  claimed  no  inspiration, 
for  the  solemn  advice  he  gave,^  and  of  course  there  was  a 
fair  chance  of  safely  traversing  so  short  a  distance.  Yet 
results  proved  that  his  advice  was  right.  Fair  Havens, 
though  not  a  first-rate  harbour,  is  yet  partially  protected 
by  reefs  and  islets,  and  though  it  might  not  be  wholly 
safe  to  winter  there,  yet  the  risk  was  much  smaller  than 
that  which  must  be  incurred  by  doubling  Cape  Matala, 
and  so  getting  possibly  seized  in  the  grasp  of  one  of  the 
prevalent  and  sudden  northerly  gales,  which  would  drive 
the  ship  into  almost  certain  destruction.  But  there  is  a 
gambling  element  in  human  nature,  and  the  centurion, 
at  any  rate,  could  hardly  avoid  following  the  opinion  of 
the  experts,  whose  interests  were  so  deeply  concerned,  in 
preference  to  that  of  a  prisoner,  whose  knowledge  was  not 
professional  and  who  had  so  much  less  at  stake. 

1  See  further,  Smith,  p.  49.  *  Yev.  10,  dewpi. 


A   TYPHOON.  371 

It  was  not  long  before  the  wished-£or  opportunity 
occurred.^  A  soft  south  wind  sprang  up,  and  gladly 
weighing  anchor,  they  hoisted  the  great  mainsail,  took 
their  boat  in  tow,  sailed  close  along  the  shore  to  the  point 
of  Cape  Matala,  and  then  gaily  prepared  for  a  delightful 
run  of  a  few  hours  to  the  beautiful  and  hospitable  harbour 
for  which  they  were  abandoning  the  dull,  drear}^  Lasa^a. 
Now  at  last  a  little  gleam  of  prosperity  seemed  to  have 
shone  on  their  tedious  and  unfortunate  voyage.  Perhaps 
they  had  a  good-natured  laugh  against  Paul  the  prisoner 
for  advice  which  would  have  made  them  throw  away 
a  golden  chance.  But,  alas !  the  gentle  breathing  of 
the  south  wind  in  the  sails  and  cordage  was  but  a 
siren  song  which  had  lured  them  to  their  destruction. 
They  had  not  long  passed  the  cape,  when  a  tempestuous 
typhoon^ — such  as  often  in  those  latitudes  succeeds  a 
brief  spell  of  the  south  wind — burst  down  from  the 
Cretan  Ida,  and  smote  with  terrible  fury  on  the  hapless 
vessel.  The  ancient  name  of  this  "Levanter,"  as  it  is 
now  called,  was  probably  Euroaquilo,  a  name  which 
exactly  describes  its  direction,  since  we  see  from  St. 
Luke's  subsequent  remarks  that  it  must  have  been  an 
east-north-easter,  which,  indeed,  continued  to  blow  during 
the  remainder  of  their  voyage.^  From  the  first  moment 
that    this   fatal   blast    rushed  down   from  the  hills    and 


*  Ver.  13,  Upaures  Zcrcrov  -irapeXeyovTo  ri]v  Kp^TTjj/.       The  E.Y.  misses  the 

exact  force  of  the  aoiist  inro-rrvivaavTOS. 

2  The  word  Tv<paiviKhs  describes  the  circular  whirling  of  the  clouds  caused 
by  the  meeting  of  the  S.  and  the  E.N.E.  winds.  See  Plin.  H.  N.  ii.  48,  "  prae- 
cipua  navigantum  pestis ; "  A.  Gell.  xix.  1.  This  change  of  wind  is  exactly 
what  might  have  been  expected  (Purdy,  Sailing  Directory,  ii.  61 ;  Smith, 
Voy.  and  Shiprvrech,  p.  412). 

3  EipaKvKaiv,  A,  B,  Sahid.,  Copt.,  Smith,  p.  59.  It  was  thus  a  "  point  wind." 
If  anything  is  to  be  said  for  the  very  ill-supported  ZvpoKKvSuv  of  the  Syriac, 
we  can  only  regard  the  word  as  surfrappe  by  Greek  sailors  (see  Language 
and  Languages,  p.  119). 

y  2 


372 


THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 


seized  tlie  wheat-sliip  in  its  grasp, ^  tlie  condition  of  the 
vessel  was  practically  hopeless.  It  was  utterly  impossible 
for  her — it  would  have  been  impossible  for  the  finest  made 
vessel — to  "  look  the  wind  in  the  face."^  The  suddenness 
and  fury  of  the  blow  left  the  sailors  not  one  moment  to  furl 
the  mainsail,  or  to  do  anything  but  leave  the  ship  to  be 
driven  madly  forward  before  the  gale,^  until  after  a  fearful 
run  of  twenty-three  miles  they  neaved  the  little  island  of 
Clauda,*  and  ran  in  under  its  lee.  Happily  the  direction  of 
the  wind,  and  the  fact — in  which  we  see  the  clear  hand  of 
Providence — that  the  storm  had  burst  on  them  soon  after 
they  had  rounded  Cape  Matala,  and  not  a  little  later  on  in 
their  course,  had  saved  them  from  being  dashed  upon  the 
rocks  and  reefs,  which  lie  more  to  the  north-west  between 
both  Candia  and  Clauda ;  but  their  condition  was,  in  other 
respects,  already  dangerous,  if  not  quite  desperate.  The 
ships  of  the  ancients  had  one  mainmast  and  one  mainsail ; 
any  other  masts  or  rigging  were  comparatively  small  and 
insignificant.  Hence  the  strain  upon  the  vessel  from  the 
leverage  of  the  mast  was  terrific,  and  it  was  impossible  that 
the  Alexandrian  ship,  however  stoutly  built,  should  have 


^  Yer.  14,  ePaXev  ;cot'  avrrjs  may  mean  either  " struch  against  her"  the 
conception  of  a  ship  being  in  all  languages 
feminine,  and  vavs  being  the  prevalent  sub- 
stantive in  the  mind  of  the  wiiter,  though 
throughout  the  narrative  he  always  uses  rh 
irXoiov,  except  in  verse  41 ;  or  it  may  mean, 
no  less  correctly,  "  down  from  it"  namely 
"Crete,"  which  is  the  substantive  imme- 
diately preceding.  But  that  the  former  is  the 
right  translation  in  this  instance  is  certain, 
because  i^aKtv  could  not  be  used  with  nothing 
to  follow  it.  The  reader  will  more  easily 
^-  follow  the  details  of  the  voyage,  if  he  will 

compare  the  map  with  the  directions  indicated  on  this  compass. 

2  avTo^QaK^iftv.   Eyes  were  paiuted  on  the  prow  (Eustath.  ad  II.  xiv.  717). 

^  One  of  the  Cursives  (137)  adds  (TvaT^lxavTfs  to  Vo-tjo. 

*  Clauda ;  B,  KauSS ;  Plin.  iv.  20 ;  Gaudus,  Gozzo. 


"  FRAPPINa.'*  373 

scudded  with  her  huge  sail  set  in  the  grasp  of  a  typhoon, 
without  her  timbers  starting.  It  is  evident  that  she  had 
already  sprung  a  serious  leak.  There  was  no  available 
harbour  in  the  little  island,  and  therefore  the  captain,  who 
seems  to  have  shown  the  best  seamanship  which  was  pos- 
sible in  his  age,  took  advantage  of  the  brief  and  partial 
lull  which  was  afforded  them  by  the  shelter  of  the  island 
to  do  the  two  things  which  were  most  immediately  ne- 
cessary— namely,  first  to  secure  the  means  of  escape,  for 
some  at  any  rate  of  the  crew,  in  case  the  vessel  foundered, 
and  next  to  put  off  that  catastrophe  as  long  as  possible. 
He  therefore  gave  orders  at  once  to  hoist  the  boat  on 
board,  and  so  secure  it  from  being  staved  in.  But  this 
was  a  task  by  no  means  easy.  The  boat,  which  they 
had  so  securely  towed  astern  in  what  they  meant  to 
be  a  sort  of  gala  trip  to  Port  Phoenix,  had  now  been 
hurled  after  them  through  twenty  miles  of  their  swirling 
wake,  and  must  therefore  have  been  sorely  battered,  and 
perhaps  half  water-logged ;  and  though  they  were  now  in 
slightly  smoother  water,  yet  such  was  the  violence  of  the 
gale  that  it  was  difficult  to  perform  the  simplest  duty. 
They  managed,  however — and  Luke  was  one  of  those  who 
lent  a  hand  in  doing  it^ — to  heave  the  boat  on  board 
as  a  last  resource  in  the  moment  of  peril ;  and  then  the 
sailors  proceeded  to  adopt  the  rough  and  clumsy  method  in 
use  among  the  ancients  to  keep  a  vessel  together.  This 
consisted  in  undergirding,  or,  to  use  the  modern  and  tech- 
nical term  for  a  practice  which  is  now  but  rarely  resorted 
to,  in  ''f rapping  "  it,  by  passing  stout  hawsers  several  times 

^  The  narrative  of  St.  Luke  is  admirably  brief  and  pregnant,  and  yet  we 
can  at  once  trace  in  it  the  tasks  in  which  he  and  St.  Paul  and  other  passengers 
or  pi-isouers  were  able  to  take  their  share.  They  helped,  for  instance,  in 
getting  hold  of  the  boat  (ver.  16),  and  in  lightening  the  vessel  (ver.  19,  leg. 
m,[-i/a.ii.iv) ;  but  they  could  not  help  in  such  technical  tasks  as  frapping  the 
vessel,  heaving  the  lead,  dropping  the  anchors,  &c. 


374  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

under  the  prow,  and  tying  them  as  tightly  as  possible 
round  the  middle  of  the  vessel.^  They  had  thus  met  the 
two  most  pressing  dangers,  but  a  third  remained.  There  was 
no  place  into  which  they  could  run  for  shelter,  nor  could 
the}^  long  avail  themselves  of  the  partial  protection  which 
they  derived  from  the  weather-shore  of  the  little  island, 
and  they  knew  too  well  that  the  Avind  was  driving  them 
straight  towards  the  Goodwin  Sands  of  the  Mediterranean 
— the  dreaded  bay  of  the  Greater  Syrtis.^  There  was  only 
one  way  to  save  themselves,  which  was  not,  as  the  English 
Version  most  erroneously  expresses  it,  to  "  strike  sail  and 
so  be  driven  " — since  this  would  be  certain  destruction — 
but  to  lie  to,  by  rounding  the  prow  of  the  vessel  on  the 
starboard  tack  as  near  to  the  wind  as  possible,  to  send  down 
the  topsail  and  cordage,  lower  the  ponderous  yard  to  such 
a  height  as  would  leave  enough  of  the  huge  mainsail  to 
steady  the  vessel,^  set  the  artemo,  or  storm-sail,  and  so — 
having  made  all  as  snug  as  their  circumstances  permitted 
— let  her  drift  on,  broadside  to  leeward,  at  the  mercy  of 
wind  and  wave.  This  they  did,  and  so  ended  the  mise- 
rable da}^  which  had  begun  with  such  soft  breezes  and 
presumptuous  hopes.^ 

All  night  long  the  storm  blew,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
undergirding,  the  vessel  still  leaked.  Next  day,  there- 
fore, they  kept  throwing  over  from  time  to  time  every- 
thing that  could  possibly  be  spared  to  lighten  the  ship;^ 

1  {^oC<LnaTa,  mitrae,  Yitruv.  x.  15,  6 ;  Thuc.  i.  29 ;  Plato,  Bep.  x.  616;  Hor. 
Od.  i.  14,  6.  "  They  [a  Spanish  uian-of-war  in  a  storm]  were  obliged  to  throw 
overboard  all  their  upper-deck  guus,  and  take  six  turns  of  the  cable  round  the 
ship  to  pi-event  her  opening  "  (Anson,  Voyage  Rovnd  the  World).  The  Albion 
was  frapped  with  iron  chains  after  the  battle  of  Navarino. 

^  Ver.  17,  iK-irfffwa-i,  not "  fall  into,"  but  "  be  driven  ashore  on  "  (Hdt.  viii.  13). 

3  x«^a''^«''Tes  tJ»  (TKevos,  here  "  lowering  the  great  yard  "  (Smith). 

*  Ver.  13,  So^ai^es  Trjs  trpodtaews  KtKparriKfva.. 

*  Ver.  18,  (Kfio\T]v  iiroiowTo,  jacturam  faciehant,  whereas  what  they  did 
the  day  after  was  an  instantaneous  act,  ('ppi^^atiev. 


A   DISMANTLED    HULK.  375 

but  even  this  was  insufficient.  The  next  niglit  brought 
no  relief ;  the  vessel  still  leaked  and  leaked,  and  all  labour 
at  the  pumps  was  in  vain.  The  fate  which  most  com- 
monly befell  ancient  vessels — that  of  foundering  at  sea — 
was  obviously  imminent.  On  the  third  day,  therefore, 
it  became  necessary  to  take  some  still  more  decisive  step. 
This,  in  a  modern  vessel,  would  have  been  to  cut  down  the 
masts  by  the  board  ;  in  ancient  vessels,  of  which  the  masts 
were  of  a  less  towering  height,  it  consisted  in  heaving 
overboard  the  huge  mainyard,  which,  as  we  see,  was  an  act 
requiring  the  united  assistance  of  all  the  active  hands. ^ 
It  fell  over  with  a  great  splash,  and  the  ship  was  in- 
definitely lightened.  But  now  her  violent  rolling — all  the 
more  sensible  from  the  loose  nature  of  her  cargo — was 
only  counteracted  by  a  trivial  storm-sail.  The  typhoon, 
indeed,  had  become  an  ordinary  gale,  but  the  ship  had 
now  been  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  leaky  and  dis- 
mantled hulk,  swept  from  stem  to  stern  by  the  dashing 
spray,  and  drifting,  no  one  knew  whither,  under  leaden 
and  moonless  heavens.  A  gloomy  apathy  began  to 
settle  more  and  more  upon  those  helpless  three  hundred 
souls.  There  were  no  means  of  cooking ;  no  fire  could  be 
lighted;  the  caboose  and  utensils  must  long  ago  have 
been  washed  overboai'd  ;  the  provisions  had  probably  been 
spoiled  and  sodden  by  the  waves  that  broke  over  the  ship ; 
indeed,  with  death  staring:  them  in  the  face,  no  one  cared 


*  Ver.  19,  TT/j/  (TKeviiif  ^^pi^aixiv.  (This  is  the  reading  of  G,  H,  most  of  the 
Cursives,  both  the  Syriac  versions,  the  Coptic,  jEtliiopic,  &c.  I  agi-ee  with 
De  Wette  in  thinking  tliat  the  fp^tipav  of  «,  A,  B,  C,  Vulij.,  is  a  mistaken  altera- 
tion, due  to  the  eiroiovvro  of  the  previous  verse.)  The  meaning  of  the  expression 
is  disputed,  bat  it  has  been  universally  overlooked  that  the  aorist  requires  sotne 
single  act.  Hence  Alford's  notion  that  v  a-Kevr]  means  beds,  furniture,  spare 
rigging,  &c.,  and  WetstcMu's.  that  it  means  the  baggage  of  the  passengers,  fall 
to  tlie  ground,  and  Smith's  suggestion  that  tlic  main  spar  is  intended  is  much 
strengthened.  Ho  observes  that  the  effect  would  be  much  the  same  as  that 
produced  in  modern  vessels  by  heaving  the  guns  overboard. 


376  THE    LIFE    AKD    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

to  eat.  They  were  famisliing  wretches  in  a  fast-sinking 
ship,  drifting,  with  hopes  that  diminished  day  by  day,  to 
what  they  regarded  as  an  awful  and  a  certain  death. 

But  in  that  desperate  crisis  one  man  retained  his 
calm  and  courage.  It  was  Paul  the  prisoner,  probably  in 
physical  health  the  weakest  and  the  greatest  sufierer  of 
them  all.  But  it  is  in  such  moments  that  the  courage 
of  the  noblest  souls  shines  with  the  purest  lustre,  and 
the  soul  of  Paul  was  inwardly  enlightened.  As  he  prayed 
in  all  the  peacefulness  of  a  blameless  conscience,  it  w^as 
revealed  to  him  that  God  would  fulfil  the  promised  des- 
tiny which  was  to  lead  him  to  Eome,  and  that,  with  the 
preservation  of  his  own  life,  God  would  also  grant  to  him 
the  lives  of  those  unhappy  sufferers,  for  whom,  all  un- 
worthy as  some  of  them  soon  proved  to  be,  his  human 
heart  yearned  with  pity.  While  the  rest  were  abandon- 
ing themselves  to  despair,  Paul  stood  forth  on  the  deck, 
and  after  gently  reproaching  them  with  having  rejected 
the  advice  which  would  have  saved  them  from  all  that 
buffeting  and  loss,^  he  bade  them  cheer  up,  for  though 
the  ship  should  be  lost,  and  they  should  be  wrecked  on 
some  island,  not  one  of  them  should  lose  their  lives.  For 
they  knew  that  he  was  a  prisoner  who  had  appealed  to 
C«3sar ;  and  that  night  an  angel  of  the  God,  whose  child 
and  servant  he  was,  had  stood  by  him,  and  not  only 
assured  him  that  he  should  stand  before  Caesar,  but  also 
that  God  had,  as  a  sign  of  His  grace,  granted  him  the 
lives  of  all  on  board.  He  bade  them,  therefore,  to  cheer 
up,  and  to  share  his  own  conviction  that  the  vision  should 
come  true. 

Who  shall  say  how  much  those  calm  undoubting  words 
were  designed  by  God  to  help  in  bringing  about  their  own 

>  "AvSpes,  "  gentlemen,"  as  in  xiv.  15,  six.  25  ;  not  Kiipwi,  as  in  Acts  xvi.  30. 


BREAKERS   AHEAD.  377 

fulfilment?  Much  had  yet  to  be  done;  many  a  strong 
measure  to  avert  destruction  had  yet  to  be  taken ;  and 
God  helps  those  only  who  will  take  the  appointed  means 
to  help  themselves.  The  proud  words  "  Caesarem  vehis"-" 
may  have  inspired  the  frightened  sailor  to  strenuous  effort 
in  the  open  boat  on  the  coast  of  lUyria,  and  certainly  it 
was  Paul's  undaunted  encouragements  which  re-inspired 
these  starving,  fainting,  despairing  mariners  to  the  exer- 
tions which  ultimately  secured  their  safety.  For  after 
they  had  drifted  fourteen  days,  tossed  up  and  down  on 
the  heaving  waves  of  Adria,^  a  weltering  plaything  for 
the  gale,  suddenly  on  the  fourteenth  night  the  sailors, 
amid  the  sounds  of  the  long-continued  storm,  fancied  that 
they  heard  the  roar  of  breakers  through  the  midnight 
darkness.  Suspecting  that  they  were  nearing  some  land, 
and  perhaps  even  detecting  that  white  phosphorescent 
gleam  of  a  surf-beat  shore  which  is  visible  so  far  through 
even  the  blackest  night,  they  dropped  the  lead  and  found 
that  they  were  in  twenty  fathom  water.  Sounding  again, 
they  found  that  they  were  in  fifteen  fathoms.^  Their 
suspicions  and  fears  were  now  turned  to  certainty,  and 
here  was  the  fresh  danger  of  having  their  desolate  hulk 
driven  irresistibly  upon  some  iron  coast.  In  the  face  of 
this  fresh  peril  tlie  only  thing  to  be  done  was  to  drop 
anchor.      Had    they  anchored    the  vessel   in    the    usual 

1  Pint.  Caes.  38 ;  De  Fort.  Bom.  6 ;  Floras,  iv.  2  ;  Dion  Cass.  xli.  46.  "  Et 
forttmam  Caesaris  "  is  a  later  addition. 

'  Tlio  Mediterranean  between  Greece,  Italy,  and  Africa.  Strabo,  ii.  123. 
'\6viov  ireXayos,  6  vvv  'ASplas  (Hesych.).  Sta<p(p6fj.evov,  "tossed  hither  and  thither." 
So  it  would  appear  to  those  on  board,  but  probably  they  drifted  in  the 
E.N.  Easter,  477  miles  in  thirteen  days  at  the  natm-al  rate  of  one  mile  and 
a  half  an  hour.     (See  Smith,  p.  101.) 

'  Mr.  Smith  says  that  Captain  Stewart's  soundings  "would  alone  have 
furnished  a  conclusive  test  of  the  trath  of  this  narrative  "  (p.  ix.) ;  and  that 
we  are  enabled  by  these  and  similar  investigations  "  to  identify  the  locality 
of  a  sJiipwreck  wliich  took  place  eighteen  centuries  ago  "  (p.  xiii.). 


378  THE    LIFE    A^B    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

manner,  from  the  prow,^  the  ship  might  have  swung  round 
against  a  reef;  nor  could  they  suppose,  as  they  heard  the 
extraordinary  loudness  of  the  surf  beating  upon  the  shore, 
that  they  were  at  that  moment  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from 
land.  So  they  dropped  four  anchors  ^  through  the  hawse- 
holes  in  which  the  two  great  paddle-rudders  ordinarily 
moved ;  since  these — having  long  been  useless  as  they 
drifted  before  the  gale — had  been  half  lifted  out  of  the 
water,  and  lashed  to  the  stern.^  Having  done  this,  they 
could  only  yearn  mth  intense  desire  for  the  dawn  of  day. 
All  through  the  remaining  hours  of  that  long  wintry 
night,  they  stood  face  to  face  with  the  agony  of  death. 
In  its  present  condition,  the  leak  constantly  gaining  on 
them,  the  waves  constantly  deluging  them  with  spray,  the 
vessel  might  at  any  moment  sink,  even  if  the  anchors  held. 
But  they  did  not  know,  what  we  know,  that  those  anchors 
had  dropped  into  clay  of  extraordinary  tenacit}^  which,  indeed, 
was  the  sole  circumstance  between  them  and  hopeless  Avreck. 
Gradually  through  the  murky  atmosphere  of  rain  and 
tempest,  the  grim  day  began  to  dawn  upon  the  miserable 
crew.  Almost  as  soon  as  they  could  see  the  dim  out- 
lines of  their  own  faces,  haggard  and  ghastly  with  so 
much  privation  and  so  many  fears,  they  observed  that  they 
were  anchored  off  a  low  point,  over  which  the  sea  was 
curling  with  a  huge  and  most  furious  surf  Ignorant  that 
this  was  Point  Koura,  on  the  north-east  side  of  Malta,'' 
and  not  recognising  a  single  landmark  on  the  featureless 
shore,  the  only  thought  of  the  selfish  heathen  sailors  was 
to  abandon  the  hulk  and  crew  to  their  fate,  while  they 

1  "  Anchora  de  prora  jacitur  "  ( Yir^.  ^n.  iii.  277).  Lord  Nelson,  reading 
this  chapter  just  before  the  battle  of  Copenhagen,  ordered  our  vessels  to  be 
anchored  by  the  stern. 

2  Cf.  Caes.  Bell.  Civ.  i.  25. 

'  As  appears  from  xxvii.  40. 

*  Where  the  English  frigate  Lively  was  wrecked  in  1810. 


THE    SAILORS    AND    SOLDIERS.  379 

saved  themselves  in  the  boat  which  they  had  with  such 
trouble  and  danger  hoisted  on  board.  Pretending,  there- 
fore, that  they  could  steady  the  pitching  of  the  ship,  and 
therefore  make  her  hold  together  for  a  longer  time,  if  they 
used  more  anchors,  and  laid  them  out  at  full  length  of  the 
cables  ^  instead  of  merely  dropping  them  from  the  prow, 
they  began  to  unlash  the  boat  and  lower  her  into  the  sea. 
Had  they  succeeded  in  their  plot,  they  would  probably 
have  been  swamped  in  the  surf  upon  the  point,  and  all 
on  board  would  inevitably  have  perished  from  inabilit}^  to 
handle  the  sinking  vessel.  From  this  danger  alike  the 
crew  and  the  sailors  were  once  more  saved  by  the  prompt 
energy  and  courage  of  St.  Paul.  Seeing  through  the  base 
design,  he  quietly  observed  to  Julius,  who  was  the  person 
of  most  authority  on  board,  "  If  these  sailors  do  not  stay 
in  the  ship,  ye  cannot  be  saved."  He  says  "ye,"  not 
"we."  Strong  in  God's  promise,  he  had  no  shadow  of 
doubt  respecting  his  own  preservation,  but  the  promise  of 
safety  to  all  the  crew  was  conditional  on  their  own  per- 
formance of  duty.  The  soldiers,  crowded  together  in  the 
vessel  with  their  prisoners,  heard  the  remark  of  Paul,  and — • 
since  he  alone  at  that  wild  moment  of  peril  had  kept  calm, 
and  was  therefore  the  virtual  captain — without  the  smallest 
scruple  drew  their  swords  and  cut  through  the  boat's  ropes, 
letting  her  fall  away  in  the  trough  of  the  sea.  It  is  not 
likely  that  the  sailors  felt  much  resentment.  Their  plan 
was  distinctly  base,  and  it  offered  at  the  best  a  very 
forlorn  and  dubious  hope  of  safety.  But  the  daylight  had 
now  increased,  and  the  hour  was  approaching  in  which 
everything  would  depend  upon  their  skill  and  promptitude, 
and  on  the  presence  of  mind  of  all  on  board.  Once  more, 
therefore,  the  Apostle  encouraged  them,  and  urged  them 
all  to  take  some  food.     "  This  is  the  fourteenth  da}^"  he 

*  xxvii.  30,  ixreiyeiy,  not  "  to  cast  out,"  as  in  E.V. 


380  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

said,  "  on  which  you  are  continuing  foodless,  in  constant 
anxiety  and  vigilance,  without  taking  anything.  I  entreat 
you,  then,  all  to  join  in  a  meal,  which  is  indeed  essential 
to  that  preservation,  of  which  I  assure  you  with  con- 
fidence, for  not  a  hair  of  the  head  of  any  one  of  you  shall 
perish."  And  having  given  them  this  encouragement, 
he  himself  set  the  example.  Making  of  the  simplest 
necessity  of  life  a  religious  and  eucharistic  act,  he  took 
bread,  gave  thanks  to  God  in  the  presence  of  them  aU, 
broke  it,  and  began  to  eat.  Catching  the  contagion  of 
his  cheerful  trust,  the  drenched,  miserable  throng  of  276 
souls,  who  had  so  long  been  huddled  together  in  their  un- 
speakable wretchedness  and  discomfort,  as  their  shattered 
vessel  lay  rolling '  and  tossing  under  the  dismal  clouds, 
took  fresh  courage,  and  shared  with  him  in  a  hearty  meal. 
Knowing  that  this  was  the  last  meal  they  could  ever  take 
in  the  dismasted  vessel,  and  also  that  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  save  the  cargo,  they  lightened  and  righted  the 
vessel  by  flinging  overboard  the  wheat,  which  in  the  long 
drift  of  476  miles  from  Clauda  in  the  storm  must  have 
shifted  much  to  one  side  and  made  the  vessel  heel  over 
in  a  dangerous  manner.  When  the  full  daylight  enabled 
them  to  examine  the  shore,  they  saw  no  recognisable  land- 
mark— since  the  present  Valetta,  the  harbour  of  Malta,  at 
which  ships  often  touched,  was  seven  miles  E.S.E.  of  the 
point  where  they  were  wrecked  ;  but  they  saw  a  bay,  at  one 
extremity  of  which  the  cliffs  sank  down  into  a  flat  beach, 
and  the  only  thing  which  they  could  hope  to  do  was  to 
thrust  the  ship  out  of  her  direct  course,  and  strand  her 
at  this  spot.  To  make  a  tack  athwart  the  wind  with  a 
disabled  ship  was  a  mancBuvre  by  no  means  eas}^  but  it 
was  worth  attempting.  They  therefore  cut  away  the 
anchors,  letting  the  ropes  drop  into  the  sea,^  unlashed  and 

^  Yer.  40,   ayKiipas  irfpifKdvres  eluy  els  rrjv  Q&Xaaffav,  not   "  wlien    tliey  had 
taken  iip  the  anchors,  they  committed  themselves  unto  the  sea,"  E.V. 


THE    SOLDIERS    AND    THE    PRISONERS.  381 

let  down  the  paddle -rudders/  hoisted  the  artcmo,  or  fore- 
sail-— which  was  all  that  was  left  them — to  the  wind,  and 
steered  straight  for  the  beach.  But  their  mancjeuvre,  re- 
solutely as  it  had  been  undertaken,  was  a  failure.  They 
had  unconsciously  anchored  off  Ras  el  Koura.  The 
opposite  point  looked  like  another  promontory,  but  was 
in  reality  the  island  of  Salmonetta,  separated  from  the 
mainland  by  a  deep,  narrow,  and  precipitous  channel. 
Through  this  channel,  about  a  hundred  yards  in  width, 
ran  a  current,  and  in  the  stormy  race  where  the  waters 
of  this  current  met  the  waters  of  the  bay,  the  vesseP 
would  not  answer  to  the  helm,  and  all  they  could  do  was 
to  run  her  ashore.  Happily  for  them  she  drove,  not 
upon  a  rock,  but  deep  into  a  bank  of  mud,  such  as  still 
exists  at  that  very  spot.  Here  the  prow  stuck  immov- 
ably fast,  while  the  stern  was  free.  The  crew  rushed  to 
the  prow,  while  the  waves,  which  broke  with  fury  over 
the  unsupported  stern,  began  instantly  to  batter  it  to 
pieces.  Here,  even  at  this  extremity,  there  rose  for  Paul 
and  the  other  prisoners  a  new,  unexpected,  and  yet  more 
terrible  danger.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  soldiers  to  be 
responsible  with  their  own  lives  for  their  prisoners.  The 
Roman  law  was  stem,  rigid,  and  unbending,  nor  did  it 
admit  of  any  extenuating  plea.  So  long  as  death  seemed 
imminent,  and  every  hand  on  board  might  be  useful  in  avert- 
ing it,  the  prisoners  must  have  been  left  unchained  ;  but  in 
such  a  crisis  as  this,  what  was  there  to  prevent  any  one  of 
them  from  taking  a  dive  into  the  sea,  and  so  escaping  ? 
It  would  have  been  a  horrible  thing  that  blood  and 
butchery  should  stain  the  planks  of  a  shipwrecked  vessel 

1  Eur.  Hel.  1536. 

2  "  Le\ato  artcmone,"  Yulg. ;  "a  litil  sail,"  Wycl. ;  "Vestibiis  extensis,  et 
quod  snperaverat  iinum  Vclo  prora  suo,"  Juv.  xii.  68,  Artemoue  Solo.  Sch. 

»  So  SjOaXao-ffos  is  used  of  the  Bosphorus  by  Strabo,  124 


382  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

at  the  very  moment  when  safety  seemed  within  reach,  and 
that  this  human  sacrifice  of  lives  which  God  had  rescued 
should  be  the  only  thanksgiving  of  the  survivors.  It  was 
even  more  horrible  that  they  who  had  fraternised  with 
their-  fellows  in  the  levelling  communism  of  sympathy, 
as  they  huddled  side  by  side,  with  death  staring  them 
in  the  face,  should  now  thrust  their  swords  into  hearts 
with  which  their  own  had  so  long  been  beating  in  fearful 
sympathy.  From  this  peril  the  prisoners  were  again  in- 
directly saved  by  him  whose  counsel  and  encouragement 
had  all  along  been  the  direct  source  of  their  preservation. 
If  the  prisoners  were  to  be  killed,  equal  justice,  or  injus- 
tice, must  be  dealt  to  all  of  them  alike,  and  Julius  felt 
that  it  would  be  dastardly  ingratitude  to  butcher  the 
man  to  whom,  under  Grod's  providence,  they  all  owed  their 
rescued  lives.  He  therefore  forbade  the  design  of  the 
soldiers,  and  gave  orders  that  every  one  who  could  swim 
should  first  fling  himself  overboard,  and  get  to  land.^  The 
rest  seized  hold  of  planks  and  other  fragments  of  the  fast- 
dissolving  wreck.^  The  wind  threw  them  landwards,  and 
at  last  by  the  aid  of  the  swimmers  all  were  saved,  and — 
at  a  spot  which,  owing  to  the  accurate  fidelity  of  the 
narrative,  can  still  be  exactly  identified — a  motley  group 
of  nearly  three  hundred  drenched,  and  shivering,  and 
weather  -  beaten  sailors  and  soldiers,  and  prisoners  and 
passengers,  stood  on  that  chill  and  stormy  November 
morning  upon  the  desolate  and  surf-beat  shore  of  the 
island  of  Malta.  Some,  we  are  sure,  there  were  who 
joined  with  Paul  in  hearty  thanks  to  the  God  who,  though 
He  had  not  made  the  storm  to  cease,  so  that  the  waves 
thereof  were  still,  had  yet  brought  them  safe  to  land, 
through  all  the  perils  of  that  tempestuous  month. 

1  Probably  Paul  was  among  these  (2  Cor.  xi.  25). 

2  Ver.  41  ,eAueTo,  "  was  going  to  pieces."    "  Dissolutum  navigium  "   (Oio. 
Att.  XV.  11). 


EOME. 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

ST.  Paul's  arrival  at  rome. 

"  Paulus  Romae,  apex  Evangelii." — BengeL. 

So  ended  St.  Paul's  fourth  shipwreck.  The  sight  of 
the  vessel  attracted  the  natives  of  the  island,^  a  simple 
Punic  race,  ming-led  with  Greek  settlers,  and  under  Roman 
dominion.  There  have  been  times  far  more  recent,  and 
coasts  far  nearer  to  the  scenes  of  civilisation,  in  which 
the  castaways  of  a  derelict  would  have  been  more  likely 
to  be  robbed  and  murdered  than  received  with  hospitality 
and  compassion  ;  but  these  Maltese  Phcenicians,  nearly  two 
millenniums  ago,  welcomed  the  rescued  crew  with  unusual 
kindness.  Heavy  showers  had  come  on,  and  the  ship- 
wrecked men  were  half -benumbed  with  fatigue  and  cold. 
Pitying  their  condition,  the  natives  lit  a  huge  fire  of 
fagots  and  brushwood,  that  they  might  dry  their  clothes, 
and  gave  them  in  all  respects  a  friendly  welcome.     Paul, 

^  Tlie  notion  that  the  island  on  which  they  were  wrecked  was  not  Malta, 
but  the  little  Adriatic  island  of  Meleda,  ojEE  the  coast  of  Dalmatia,  was  started 
by  Constantino  the  Porphyrogenite.  It  was  founded  on  mistakes  abont 
Adria  (xxvii.  27),  barbarians  (xxviii.  2),  and  vipers  {id.  3),  combined  with 
various  nautical  considerations;  and  was  supported  by  Georgi  of  Meleda, 
Jacob  Bryant,  and  Dr.  Falconer,  and  lastly  by  Dr.  J.  Mason  Neale,  in  his 
Notes  on  Dalmatia,  p.  161.  AU  that  can  bo  said  for  it  may  be  found  in  Fal- 
coner's Dissertation  (Srd  edit.,  with  additional  notes,  1872), 


384  THE    LIFE    AKD    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

witli  that  indomitable  activity  and  disregard  of  self  wliicli 
neither  danger  nor  fatigue  could  check,  was  busy  among 
the  busiest  collecting  fuel.  He  had  got  together  a  large 
bundle  of  furze-roots/  and  had  just  put  it  on  the  blazing 
fire,  when  a  viper  which  had  been  lying  torpid,  being  sud- 
denly revived  and  irritated  by  the  heat,  darted  out  of  the 
bundle  and  "  fastened  on  Paul's  hand."  Seeing  the  crea- 
ture hanging  from  his  hand,  and  observing  that  he  was 
a  prisoner,  the  simple  natives  muttered  to  one  another  that 
he  must  be  some  murderer,  rescued  indeed  from  the  waves, 
but  pursued  by  just  vengeance  even  on  land.  Paul,  quite 
undisturbed,  shook  the  creature  off  into  the  fire,  and  was 
none  the  worse. ^  The  natives  expected  that  he  would 
suddenly  drop  dead.^  For  a  long  time  they  watched  him 
with  eager  eyes,  but  when  they  observed  that  no  un- 
pleasant result  of  any  kind  followed,  they,  like  the  rude 
people  of  Lystra,  gradually  changed  their  minds,  and  said 
that  he  was  a  god. 

Por  three  months,  until  the  beginning  of  February 
opened  the  sea  to  navigation,  the  crew  lived  in  Malta; 
and  during  that  time,  owing  once  more  to  the  influence 
of  St.  Paul,  he  and  his  associates  received  the  utmost 
kindness.  Not  far  from  the  scene  of  the  shipwreck 
lay  the  town  now  called  Alta  Vecchia,  the  residence  of 
Publius,  the  governor  of  the  island,  who  was  probably  a 
legate  of  the  Prsetor  of  Sicily.  Since  Julius  was  a  person 
of  distinction,  this  Eoman  official,  who  bore  the  title  of 

1  (ppvy&vwv  (see  Theophrast.  Hist.  Plant.  1,  4).  Hence  the  objection  that 
Bosquetta,  some  distance  from  St.  Paul's  Bay,  is  the  only  place  "vthere  there 
is  timber  in  Malta,  drops  to  the  gronnd,  even  if  there  were  ever  anything  in  it. 

2  The  disappearance  of  the  viper  from  Malta,  if  it  has  disappeared,  is  no 
more  strange  than  its  disappearance  from  Arran.  There  is  a  curious  parallel 
to  the  incident  in  the  Greek  Anthology.  ("E/tTore)  Kvyphs  Ix'^'  """^  ixd,Tf)v  irphs 
KVjiar    ejudx^ei  tV  itrl  ^f/s  ^jeuyajv  fj.o'ipav  ofeiXo/xevrji' ;  (Anthol.) 

^  So  when  Charmian  is  bitten,  "  Trembling  she  stood,  and  on  the  sudden 
dropped,"  Ant.  and  Chop.  v.  2  (Humphry). 


THE    PHOTOS    OF    MALTA.  385 

Profos  ("  First ") — a  local  designation,  tlie  accuracy  of 
which  is  supported  by  inscriptions^ — offered  to  the 
centurion  a  genial  hospitality,  in  which  Paul  and  his 
friends  were  allowed  to  share.  It  happened  that  at  that 
time  the  father  of  Publius  was  lying  prostrated  by 
feverish  attacks  complicated  with  dysentery.  St.  Luke 
was  a  physician,  but  his  skill  was  less  effectual  than  the 
agency  of  St.  Paul,  who  went  into  the  sick  man's 
chamber,  prayed  by  his  bedside,  laid  his  hands  on  him, 
and  healed  him.  The  rumour  of  the  cure  spread 
through  the  little  island,  and  caused  all  the  sick  inhabi- 
tants to  come  for  help  and  tendance.  We  may  be  sure 
that  St.  Paul,  though  we  do  not  hear  of  his  founding 
any  Church,  yet  lost  no  opportunity  of  making  known 
the  Gospel.  He  produced  a  deep  and  most  favourable 
impression,  and  was  surrounded  on  all  sides  with  respect- 
ful demonstrations.  In  the  shipwreck  the  crew  must  have 
lost  all,  except  what  little  money  they  could  carry  on 
their  own  persons ;  they  were  therefore  in  deep  need  of 
assistance,^  and  this  they  received  abundantly  from  the 
love  and  gratitude  of  the  islanders  to  whom  their  stay 
had  caused  so  many  benefits. 

Another  Alexandrian  corn-ship,  the  Castor  and  Pollux — 
more  fortunate  than  her  shattered  consort — had  wintered 
in  the  harbour  of  Yaletta ;  and  when  navigation  was  again 
possible,  Julius  and  his  soldiers  embarked  on  board  of  her 
with  their  prisoners,  and  weighed  anchor  for  Syracuse.  It 
was  but  eighty  miles  distant,  and  during  that  day's  voyage 
St.  Paul  would  gaze  for  the  first  time  on  the  giant  cone  of 
Etna,  the  first  active  volcano  he  had  ever  seen.  At  Syra- 
cuse they  waited  three  days  for  a  more  favoui'able  wind. 

*    Bochait,    Phaleg.   II.   i.  26.      Upuros    UeXiTalwv,    Corp.   Inscr.    Grcec. 
5754. 

"  rifj.a7s.     Cf .  Ecclus.  xxxviii.  1 ;  "  honos,"  Cic.  ad  Divv.  xvi.  9. 


386  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Since  it  did  not  come,  they  made  a  circuitous  tack,^  whicli 
brought  them  to  Ehegium.  Here  again  they  waited  for 
a  single  day,  and  as  a  south  wind  then  sprang  up,  which 
was  exactly  Avhat  they  most  desired,  they  sped  swiftly 
through  the  Straits  of  Messina,  between  the  chains  of 
snow-clad  hills,  and  after  passing  on  their  left  the  huge 
and  ever-flashing  cone  of  Stromboli,  anchored  the  next 
day,  after  a  splendid  run  of  180  miles,  in  the  lovely  Bay 
of  Puteoli.  The  unfurled  tojDsail  which  marked  the 
Alexandrian  corn-ship  would  give  notice  of  her  arrival  to 
the  idlers  of  the  gay  watering-place,  who  gathered  in 
hundreds  on  the  mole  to  welcome  with  their  shouts  the 
vessels  which  brought  the  staff*  of  life  to  the  granaries  of 
Eome.  Here  Paul  had  the  unexpected  happiness  to  find 
a  little  Christian  Church,  and  the  brethren  begged  him 
to  stay  with  them  seven  days.  This  enabled  them  to 
spend  together  a  Sabbath  and  a  Sunday,  and  the  privilege 
was  granted  by  the  kindly  and  grateful  Julius.  Here, 
then,  they  rested,  in  one  of  the  loveliest  of  earthly 
scenes,  when  Vesuvius  was  still  a  slumbermg  volcano, 
clad  to  its  green  summit  with  vines  and  gardens.  Paul 
could  not  have  looked  unmoved  on  the  luxury  and  mag- 
nificence of  the  neighbouring  towns.  There  was  Baise, 
where,  to  the  indignation  of  Horace,  the  Eoman  nobles 
built  out  their  palaces  into  the  sea;  'and  where  the 
Caesar  before  whose*  judgment-seat  he  was  going  to  stand 
had  enacted  the  hideous  tragedy  of  his  mother's  mm-der, 
and  had  fled,  pursued  by  her  Furies,  from  place  to  place 
along  the  shore. ^  In  sight  was  Pandataria,  and  the 
other  distant  rocky  islets,  dense  with  exiles  of  the  noblest 
rank,  where  Agrippa  Postumus,  the  last  of  the  genuine 

^  xx\nii.  13.    iripifKBovrts,  "fetched  a  compass,"  2  Sam.  v.  33;  2  Kings  iii.  9. 

'  A.D.  59.      Ai^   Kai    &\\0(Te   fja  koI    eTreiSr)    KavravOa  ra   avra  avrco   (Tvvl^aiVf, 

AWotre  iuirK-fiKTus  fjuQiinaro.    Dion.  Ixi.  13, 14 ;  Tac.  Ann.  xiv.  8 ;  Suet.  Nero.  34. 


MEETING    BRETHREN.  387 

Csesars,  had  tried  to  stop  tlie  pangs  of  famine  by  gnawing 
the  stuffino:  of  his  own  mattress,  and  where  the  daughter 
of  the  great  Augustus  had  ended,  in  unutterable  wretched- 
ness, her  life  of  infamy.  Close  by  was  Cumse,  with  its 
Sibylline  fame,  and  Pausilypus,  with  Virgil's  tomb,  and 
Caprese,  where  twenty-three  years  before  Tiberius  had 
dragged  to  the  grave  his  miserable  old  age.  And  within 
easy  distance  were  the  little  towns  of  Pompeii  and  Hercu- 
laneum,  little  dreaming  as  yet,  in  their  Grreek-like  gaiety 
and  many-coloui'ed  brilliance,  how  soon  they  would  be 
buried  by  the  neighbouring  mountain  in  their  total  and 
sulphurous  destruction. 

Here,  free  and  among  brethren,  Paul  passed  seven 
peaceful  days.  On  the  eighth  they  started  for  Rome, 
which  was  only  distant  a  hundred  and  forty  miles.  News 
of  their  arrival  had  reached  the  brethren,  and  when 
they  had  gone  about  a  hundred  miles,  past  Capua,  and 
through  the  rich  vineyards  of  Italy,  and  then  through  the 
Pomptine  Marshes,  Paul  and  Luke  and  Aristarchus,  among 
the  bargees  and  hucksters  who  thronged  Appii  Porum,^ 
caught  sight  of  a  body  of  Christians,  who  had  come  no 
less  than  forty  miles  to  welcome  them.  Farther  than  this 
they  could  not  have  come,  since  there  were  two  ways  of 
reaching  Rome  from  Appii  Forum,  and  the  centurion 
might  have  preferred  the  less  fatiguing  journey  by  the 
canal.  Ten  miles  further  on,  at  Tres  Tabernse,  they  found 
another  group  of  brethren  awaiting  them.  Though  there 
were  a  few  who  loved  him  at  Rome,  Paul  knew  the 
power,  the  multitude,  and  the  turbulence  of  the  vast 
assemblage  of  synagogues  in  the  great  city,  and  on  their 
favour  or  opposition  much  of  his  future  destiny  must, 
humanly  speaking,  depend.  It  was  natural,  therefore, 
that  when  he  saw  the  little  throng  of  Christians  he  should 

»  Hor.  Sat.  I.  v.  4 

ff  2 


388  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

thank  God,  and  take  courage  from  tliis  proof  of  tlieir 
affection.  Nothing  cheered  and  inspired  him  so  much 
as  human  sympathy,  and  the  welcome  of  these  brethren 
must  have  touched  with  the  brightness  of  a  happy 
omen  his  approach  to  a  city  which,  greatly  as  he  had 
longed  to  see  it,  he  was  now  to  enter  under  circum- 
stances far  more  painful  than  he  had  ever  had  reason  to 
expect. 

And  so  through  scenes  of  ever-deepening  interest,  and 
along  a  road  more  and  more  crowded  with  stately  memo- 
rials, the  humble  triumj^h  of  the  Lord's  slave  and  prisoner 
swept  on.  St.  Paul  had  seen  many  magnificent  cities,  but 
never  one  which  was  approached  by  a  road  so  regular  and 
so  costly  in  construction.  As  they  passed  each  well-known 
object,  the  warm-hearted  brethren  would  point  out  to 
him  the  tombs  of  the  Scipios  and  Csecilia  Metella,  and  the 
thousands  of  other  tombs  with  all  their  architectural 
beauty,  and  striking  bas-reliefs  and  touching  inscriptions ; 
and  the  low  seats  for  the  accommodation  of  travellers  at 
every  forty  feet ;  and  the  numberless  statues  of  the  Dei 
Viales ;  and  the  roadside  inns,  and  the  endless  streams  of 
carriages  for  travellers  of  every  rank — humble  birotae  and 
comfortable  rhedae,  and  stately  carpenta — and  the  lecticae 
or  palanquins  borne  on  the  necks  of  slaves,  from  which 
the  occupants  looked  luxuriously  down  on  throngs  of 
pedestrians  passing  to  and  from  the  mighty  capital  of  the 
ancient  world. 

"What  conflux  issuing  forthor  passing  in  J 
Praetors,  Proconsuls  to  tlieir  provinces 
Hasting,  or  on  return,  in  robes  of  state, 
Lictors  and  rods,  the  ensigns  of  their  power,  < 
Legions  and  cohorts,  turms  of  horse  and  wings  J 
Or  embassies  from  regions  far  remote, 
In  various  habits,  on  the  Appian  road  .   . 
Dusk  faces  with  Avhite  silken  turbans  wreathed." 


ON    THE    APPIAN    ROAD.  3S9 

How  many  a  look  of  contemptuous  curiosity  would  be 
darted  at  the  chained  prisoner  and  his  Jewish  friends  as 
they  passed  along  with  their  escort  of  soldiers  !  But  Paul 
could  bear  all  this  while  he  felt  that  he  would  not  be 
utterly  lonely  amid  the  vast  and  densely-crowded  wilder- 
ness of  human  habitations,  of  which  he  first  caught  sight 
as  he  mounted  the  slope  of  the  Alban  hills. 

Perhaps  as  they  left  the  Alban  hills  on  the  right,  the 
brethren  would  tell  the  Apostle  the  grim  annals  of  the 
little  temple  which  had  been  built  beside 

"  that  dim  lake  which  sleeps 

Beneath  Aricia's  trees, 
The  trees  in  whose  dim  shadow 

The  ghastly  priest  doth  reign, 
The  priest  who  slew  the  slayer 

And  shall  himself  be  slain." 

And  so  through  ever-lengthening  rows  of  suburban 
^dllas,  and  ever-tliickening  throngs  of  people,  they  would 
reach  the  actual  precincts  of  the  city,  catch  sight  of  the 
Capitol  and  the  imperial  palace,  pass  through  the  grove 
and  by  the  fountain  of  Egeria,  with  its  colony  of 
begging  Jews,^  march  past  the  pyramid  of  C.  Cestius, 
under  the  arch  of  Drusus,  through  the  dripping  Capenian 
gate,~  leave  the  Circus  Maximus  on  the  left,  and  pass  on 
amid  temples,  and  statues,  and  triumphal  arches,  till  they 
reached  the  Excubitorium,  or  barracks  of  that  section  of 
the  Preetorian  cohorts  whose  turn  it  was  to  keep  imme- 
diate guard  over  the  person  of  the  Emperor.  It  was  thus 
that  the  dream  of  Paul's  life  was  accomplished,  and  thus 
that  in  March,  A.D.  Gl,  in  the  seventh  year  of  the  reign 
of  Nero,  under  the  consulship  of  Caesennius  Psetus  and 
Petronius  Turpilianus,  he  entered  Eome. 

*  Jnv.  Sat.  iii.  12.  Porta  di  S.  Sebastiano. 


390  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Here  the  charge  of  the  centurion  Julius  ended,  though 
we  can  hardly  suppose  that  he  would  entirely  forget  and 
neglect  henceforth  his  noble  prisoner,  to  whom  in  God's 
providence  he  owed  his  own  life  and  the  safety  of  the 
other  prisoners  entrusted  to  him.  Officially,  however,  his 
connexion  with  them  was  closed  when  he  had  handed 
them  over  to  the  charge  of  the  Prsefect  of  the  Praetorian 
guards.  From  this  time  forward,  and  indeed  previously, 
there  had  always  been  two  Praefecti  Praetorio,  but  during 
this  year  a  single  person  held  the  power  of  that  great 
office,  the  honest  and  soldierly  Afranius  Burrus.^  So  far, 
Paul  was  fortunate,  for  Burrus,  as  an  upright  and  humane 
officer,  was  not  likely  to  treat  with  needless  severity  a 
prisoner  who  was  accused  of  no  comprehensible  charge — 
of  none  at  any  rate  which  a  Roman  would  consider  worth 
mentioning — and  who  had  won  golden  opinions  both  from 
the  Procurators  of  Judsea  and  from  the  centurion  who 
had  conducted  him  from  Jerusalem.  A  vulgar  and  care- 
less tyrant  might  have  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
was  some  fanatical  Sicarius,  such  as  at  that  time  swarmed 
throughout  Judsea,  and  so  have  thrust  him  into  a  hope- 
less and  intolerable  captivity.  But  the  good  word  of 
Julius,  and  the  kindly  integrity  of  Burrus,  were  invaluable 
to  him,  and  he  was  merely  subjected  to  that  kind  of 
cusfodia  militaris  which  was  known  as  observatio.  For 
the  first  three  days  he  was  hospitably  received  by  some 
member  of  the  Christian  community,^  and  was  afterwards 
allowed  to  hire  a  lodging  of  his  own,  with  free  leave  to 
communicate  with  his  friends  both  by  letter  and  by 
personal  intercourse.  The  trial  of  having  a  soldier 
chained  to  him  indeed  continued,  but  that  was  inevitable 

'  Acts  xxviii.  16,  rS  a-rpaToireBdpxv-     Trajan  ap.  Plin.  Epp.  x.  65,  "  Vinctus 
mitti  ad  praefectos  praetorii  mei  debet." 

2  xxviii.  23,  e< j  tV  iiviav.    Cf .  Pliilem.  22 ;  Acts  xxi.  16. 


CHAINED    TO   A   SOLDIER.  391 

under  the  Eoman  system.  It  Wcas  in  mitigation  of  this 
intolerable  concomitant  of  his  imprisonment  that  the 
goodwill  of  his  Eoman  friends  might  be  most  beneficially 
exercised.  At  the  best,  it  was  an  infliction  which  it  re- 
quired no  little  fortitude  to  endure,  and  for  a  Jew  it  would 
be  far  more  painful  than  for  a  Gentile.  Two  Grentiles  might 
have  much  in  common  ;  they  would  be  interested  in  com- 
mon topics,  actuated  by  common  principles;  but  a  Jew  and 
Gentile  would  be  separated  by  mutual  antipathies,  and 
liable  to  the  incessant  friction  of  irritating  peculiarities. 
That  St.  Paul  deeply  felt  this  annoyance  may  be  seen  from 
his  allusions  to  his  "  bonds"  or  his  "  coupling-chain  "  in 
every  Epistle  of  the  captivity.  When  the  first  Agrippa 
had  been  flung  into  prison  by  Tiberius,  Antonia,  out  of 
friendship  for  his  family,  had  bribed  the  Praetorian  Prefect 
Macro  to  place  him  under  the  charge  of  a  kind  centurion, 
and  to  secure  as  far  as  possible  that  the  soldiers  coupled 
to  him  should  be  good-tempered  men.  Some  small  measure 
of  similar  consideration  may  have  been  extended  to  Paul ; 
but  the  service  was  irksome,  and  there  must  have  been 
some  soldiers  whose  morose  and  sullen  natures  caused 
to  their  prisoner  a  terrible  torture.  Yet  even  over  these 
coarse,  uneducated  Gentiles,  the  courtesy,  the  gentleness, 
the  "  sweet  reasonableness "  of  the  Apostle,  asserted  its 
humanising  control.  If  he  was  chained  to  the  soldier, 
the  soldier  was  also  chained  to  him,  and  during  the  dull 
hours  until  he  was  relieved,  many  a  guardsman  might 
be  glad  to  hear  from  such  lips,  in  all  their  immortal  novelty, 
the  high  truths  of  the  Christian  faith.  Out  of  his  worst 
trials  the  Apostle's  cheerful  faith  created  the  opportunities 
of  his  highest  usefulness,  and  from  the  necessities  of  his 
long-continued  imprisonment  arose  a  diff*usion  of  Gospel 
truths  throughout  the  finest  regiment  of  that  army  which 
less  than  a  century  later  was  to  number  among  its  con- 


392  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

tingents  a  "thundering  legion,"  and  in  less  than  three 
centuries  was  to  supplant  the  silver  eagles  of  the  empire 
by  the  then  detested  badge  of  a  slave's  torture  and  a 
murderer's  punishment. 

It  was  one  of  the  earliest  cares  of  the  Apostle  to 
summon  together  the  leading  members  of  the  Roman 
Ghetto,  and  explain  to  them  his  position.  Addressing 
them  as  "  brethren,"  he  assured  them  he  had  neither 
opposed  his  people  nor  contravened  their  hereditary  in- 
stitutions. In  spite  of  this  he  had  been  seized  at  Jeru- 
salem, and  handed  over  to  the  Roman  power.  Yet  the 
Romans,  after  examining  him,  had  declared  him  entirely 
innocent,  and  would  have  been  glad  to  liberate  him  had 
not  the  opposition  of  the  Jews  compelled  him  to  appeal  to 
Csesar.  But  he  was  anxious  to  inform  them  that  by  this 
appeal  he  did  not  intend  in  any  way  to  set  the  Roman 
authorities  against  his  own  nation,  and  that  the  cause 
of  the  chain  he  wore  was  his  belief  in  the  fulfilment  of 
that  Messianic  hope  in  which  all  Israel  shared. 

The  reply  of  the  Jews  was  very  diplomatic.  Differ- 
ences within  their  own  pale,  connected  as  we  have 
seen  with  the  name  of  Christ,  had  kindled  such  anger 
and  alarm  against  them,  that  less  than  ten  years  before 
this  time  they  had  suffered  the  ruinous  indignity  of  being 
banished  from  Rome  by  an  edict  of  Claudius.  That  edict 
had  been  tacitly  permitted  to  fall  into  desuetude ;  but  the 
Jews  were  anxious  not  to  be  again  subjected  to  so  degrad- 
ing an  infliction.  They  therefore  returned  a  vague  answer, 
declaring — whether  truthfully  or  not  we  cannot  say — 
that  neither  by  letter  nor  by  word  of  mouth  had  they 
received  any  charge  against  the  Apostle's  character. 
It  was  true  that,  if  any  Jews  had  been  deputed  to  carry 
before  Csesar  the  accusation  of  the  Sanhedrin,  they  could 
only  have  started  at  the  same  time  as  Julius,  and  would 


CAUTION    OF    THE    JEWS.  393 

tlierefore  have  been  dela^^ed  by  the  same  storms.  The 
Jews  wished,  however,  to  learn  from  Paul  his  particular 
opinions,  for,  as  he  was  a  professed  Christian,  they  could 
only  say  that  that  sect  was  everywhere  s2Johen  against}  It 
is  obvious  that  this  answer  was  meant  to  say  as  little 
as  possible.  It  is  inconceivable  that  the  Jews  should 
never  have  heard  anything  said  against  St.  Paul ;  but 
being  keen  observers  of  the  political  horizon,  and  seeing 
that  Paul  was  favourably  regarded  by  people  of  distinc- 
tion, they  did  not  choose  to  embroil  themselves  in  any 
quarrel  with  him.  Nor  does  their  professed  ignorance 
at  all  disprove  the  existence  of  a  Christian  community 
so  important  as  that  to  which  St.  Paul  had  addressed 
his  Epistle  to  the  Eomans.^  The  Jews  could  boast  of 
one  or  two  noble  proselj^tes ;  and  it  is  possible  that 
Pomponia  Grrsecina,^  wife  of  Plautius,  one  of  the  con- 
querors of  Britain,  may  have  been  a  Christian.  But  if 
so  she  had  long  been  driven  into  the  deepest  seclusion,* 
and  the  conversion  of  the  Consular  Plavius  Clemens,  and  his 
wife,  Flavia  Domitilla,  who  were  martyred  by  Domitian,  did 
not  take  place  till  some  time  afterwards.  The  Christian 
Church  was  composed  of  the  humblest  elements,  and  pro- 
bably its  Jewish  and  Gentile  members  formed  two  almost 

1  Tliis  tliey  might  well  say.  See  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  44,  Suet.  37er.  16 ;  and, 
doubtless  the  grajjiti  of  the  catacombs,  are  only  successors  of  others  still 
earlier,  just  as  are  the  hideous  calumnies  against  which  the  Christian 
apologists  appeal  (Tert.  Apol.  16,  &c.). 

-  In  Rom.  i.  8  St.  Paul  tells  the  Roman  Christians  that  their  faith  is 
procLaimed  in  the  whole  world.  No  one  familiar  with  his  style  would  see 
more  in  this  than  the  favourable  mention  of  them  in  the  scattered  Christian 
Churches  which  he  visited.  To  St.  Paul,  as  to  every  one  else,  "  the  world  " 
meant  tlie  world  in  the  midst  of  which  he  lived,  i.e.,  the  little  Christian 
communities  which  he  had  founded.  Renan  remarks,  that  in  reading  Ben- 
jamin of  Tudela,  one  would  imagine  that  there  was  no  one  in  the  world  but 
Jews ;  and  in  reading  Ibn  Batoutah  that  there  was  no  one  in  the  world  but 
Moslim. 

3  On  this  lady  see  Tac.  Ann.  xiii.  32. 

*  She  was  privately  tried  by  her  husband,  and  acquitted,  in  A.D.  57. 


394  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

distinct  communities  under  separate  presbyters.^  Now, 
with  uncircumcised  Gentile  Christians  of  the  lowest 
rank  the  leading  Jews  would  not  be  likely  to  hold 
any  intercourse,  even  if  they  were  aware  of  their  existence. 
But  is  it  remembered  that  Eome  at  this  time  was  a  city 
of  more  than  two  million  inhabitants  ?  Is  there  any 
improbability  that,  among  so  many  myriads,  a  small  and 
struggling  sect  might,  to  outsiders,  remain  utterly  un- 
known? The  immense  weight  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Komans  furnishes  no  proof  that  the  Church  to  which  it 
was  addressed  was  one  which  the  world  would  regard 
as  of  any  importance.  The  Sandemanians  or  Grlas sites 
are  a  Christian  body  in  London,  and  it  is  quite  con- 
ceivable that  some  eminent  member  of  their  body,  like 
the  late  Mr.  Faraday,  might  address  to  them  a  letter  of 
deep  significance ;  would  it  be  any  sufficient  reason  to  deny 
their  existence  if  it  was  found  that  the  Archdeacons  and 
Eural  Deans  of  London  had  barely  so  much  as  heard  of 
their  peculiar  tenets  ? 

Since,  however,  the  Romish  Jews  professed  a  wish  for 
further  information,  St.  Paul  begged  them  to  fix  their  own 
day.  to  hear  what  he  had  to  set  before  them.  They  came 
to  him  in  considerable  numbers.  That  only  the  heads  of 
their  community  can  have  been  invited  is  clear.  St.  Paul's 
abode  could  only  have  accommodated  an  insignificant 
fraction  of  the  Jewish  residents,  who  at  this  time  are  be- 
lieved to  have  amounted  to  60,000.  It  is  said  that  there 
were  seven  synagogues  in  Rome,^  and  the  officers  of 
these    synagogues   would  probably  be   as   many  as    Paul 

^  Liglitfoot,  PMlippians,  p.  219.  It  5s  at  any  rate  a  most  remarkable  fact 
that,  when  St.  Paul  wi-ote  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  two  only  of  the  Judaic 
Christians  showed  him  any  countenance — namely,  Mark  and  Jesus,  whose 
surname  of  Justus,  if  it  be  intended  as  a  translation  of  i>  S'lKaios,  shows  that  he, 
like  "  James  the  Just "  was  a  faithful  observer  of  the  Law  (Col.  iv.  11.) 

2  Friedlauder,  ill.  510. 


ALIENATION    FROM   THE    JEWS.  395 

could  liope  to  address  at  once.  All  day  long,  from  dawn 
till  evening,  he  set  before  them  his  personal  testimony  and 
his  scriptural  arguments.  That  they  were  not  wholly 
unimpressed,  appears  from  the  length  of  the  discussion; 
but  while  a  few  were  convinced,  others  disbelieved.  The 
debate  acquired  towards  its  conclusion  a  somewhat  stormy 
emphasis  ;  and  before  it  broke  up  Paul  addressed  the  dis- 
sentients with  something  of  his  old  fiery  energy,  applying 
to  them  the  passage  of  Isaiah  once  quoted  by  our  Lord 
Himself,  which  said  that  they  should  not  see  nor  hear 
because  they  would  not,  and  that  their  blindness  and 
deafness  were  a  penal  consequence  of  the  grossness  of 
their  hearts.  And  then  he  sternly  warned  them  that  the 
salvation  of  God  was  now  sent  to  the  Gentiles,  and  that 
the  Gentiles  would  listen  to  its  gracious  offer.^ 

Henceforth  St.  Paul  took  his  own  line,  opening  no 
further  communication  with  his  obstinate  fellow- country- ' 
men.  For  two  whole  years  he  remained  in  Rome,  a 
fettered  prisoner,  but  living  in  his  own  hired  lodging,^ 
and  cheered  by  the  visits  of  the  fellow-workers  who  were 
truest  and  best  beloved.  The  quiet  and  holy  Timotheus 
perhaps  acted  as  his  amanuensis,  and  certainly  shewed 
him  all  the  tenderness  of  a  son;^  the  highly-cultivated 
Luke  was  his  historiographer  and  his  physician;*  Aris- 
tarchus  attended  him  so  closely  as  to  earn  the  designation 
of  his  "  fellow-prisoner ; "  ^  Tychicus  brought  him  news 
from  Ephesus  ;^  Epaphroditus  warmed  his  heart  by  the 
contributions  which  showed  the  generous  affection  of 
Philippi  \'    Epaphras    came   to   consult   him    about   the 

»  Ys.  29  is  not  found  in  n,  A,  B,  E. 

2  Mia-9wfj.a,    not  "  house,"   as  in  the  E.  Y,,  but  "  lodging " — meritorium 
conductum. 

3  Phil.  i.  1 ;  ii.  19,  seqq. ;  CoL  i.  1 ;  Philem.  1. 

*  Col.  iv.  14 ;  Pliilem.  24.  6  Eph.  vi.  21 ;  Col.  iv.  7. 

»  Col.  iv.  10 ;  Philem.  24.  '  Pliil.  ii.  25 ;  iv.  18. 


396  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

heresies  which  were  beginning  to  creep  into  the  churches 
of  Laodicea,  Hierapolis,  and  Colossi ;  ^  Mark,  dear  to  the 
Apostle  as  the  cousin  of  Barnab'as,  more  than  made  up 
for  his  former  defection  by  his  present  constancy;^  and 
Demas  had  not  yet  shaken  the  good  opinion  which  he 
at  first  inspired.^  Now  and  then  some  interesting  episode 
of  his  ministry,  like  the  visit  and  conversion  of  Onesimus, 
came  to  lighten  the  tedium  of  his  confinement.*  Nor  was 
his  time  spent  fruitlessly,  as,  in  some  measure,  it  had  been 
at  Csesarea.  Throughout  the  whole  period  he  continued 
heralding  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  teaching  about  the  Lord 
Jesus  Clirist  with  all  openness  of  speech  "  unmolestedly." 


With  that  one  weighty  word  aKcoXvTm,  we  lose  the  help 
of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  From  the  Epistles  of  the 
imprisonment  we  learn  that,  chained  though  he  was  in 
one  room,  even  the  oral  teaching  of  the  Apostle  won  many 
converts,  of  whom  some  at  least  were  in  positions  of 
influence ;  and  that — as  soldier  after  soldier  enjoyed  the 
inestimable  privilege  of  being  chained  to  him — not  his 
bonds  only,  but  also  his  Gospel,  became  known  through- 
out the  whole  body  of  Praetorian  guards.  But  besides 
this,  God  overruled  these  two  years  of  imprisonment  in 
Eome  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  world.  Two  imprison- 
ments, away  from  books,  away  from  all  public  opportunities 
for  preaching,  each' of  two  years  long,  with  only  a  terrible 
shipwreck  interpolated  between  them — how  sad  an  inter- 
ruption to  most  minds  would  these  have  seemed  to  be! 
Yet  in  the  first  of  these  two  imprisonments,  if  nothing 

1  Col.  i.  7 ;  iv.  12. 

s  Col.  iv.  10  ;  Philem.  24;  2  Tim.  iv.  11. 
s  Col.  iv.  14;  Pliilera.  24;  2  Tim.  iv.  10. 
*  Col.  iv.  9  ;  Philem.  10. 


THE    IMPRISONMENT.  397 

else  was  achieved,  we  can  perceive  that  his  thoughts  were 
ripening  more  and  more  in  silent  growth ;  and  in  that 
second  imprisonment  he  wrote  the  letters  which  have 
enabled  him  to  exercise  a  far  wider  influence  on  the  Church 
of  Christ  throughout  the  world  than  though  he  had  been 
all  the  while  occupied  in  sermons  in  every  synagogue  and 
missionary  journeys  in  every  land. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

ST.  Paul's  sojourn  in  rome. 

HSKiv  introfj.iiv  rvs  olKOv/xevris AtHEN.  Deipnos,  1120. 

Fumuin  et  opes  strepitimque  Romae. — HOR. 

St.  Paul's  arrival  at  Eome  was  in  many  respects  the 
culminating  point  of  his  Apostolic  career,  and  as  he  con- 
tinued to  work  there  for  so  long  a  time,  it  is  both  im- 
portant and  interesting  to  ascertain  the  state  of  things 
with  which  he  came  in  contact  during  that  long  stay. 

Of  the  city  itseK  it  is  probable  that  he  saw  little  or 
nothing  until  he  was  liberated,  except  such  a  glimpse  of 
it  as  he  may  have  caught  on  his  way  to  his  place  of 
confinement.  Although  his  friends  had  free  access  to 
him,  he  was  not  permitted  to  visit  them,  nor  could  a 
chained  Jewish  prisoner  walk  about  with  his  guarding 
soldier.  Yet  on  his  way  to  the  Praetorian  barracks  he 
must  have  seen  something  of  the  narrow  and  tortuous 
streets,  as  well  as  of  the  great  open  spaces  of  ancient 
Bome ;  something  of  the  splendour  of  its  public  edifices, 
and  the  meanness  of  its  lower  purlieus ;  something 
of  its  appalling  contrast  between  the  ostentatious 
luxury  of  inexhaustible  wealth,  and  the  painful  squalor 
of  chronic  pauperism.^  And  during  his  stay  he  must 
have  seen  or  heard  much  of  the  dangers  which  beset 
those   densely-crowded    masses   of    human   beings ;  *    of 

»  Juv.  Sat.  iii.  126—189. 

«  Juv.  Sat.  iii.  235 ;  Tac.  Aim.  xv.  38. 


PAUL'S    LODGING.  399 

men  injured  by  the  clumsy  carrucae  rumbling  along  Math 
huge  stones  or  swaying  pieces  of  timber ;  ^  of  the  crashing 
fall  of  houses  raised  on  weak  foundations  to  storey  after 
storey  of  dangerous  heigh b ;  ^  of  women  and  children 
trampled  do^m  amid  the  rush  of  an  idle  populace  to  witness 
the  horrid  butcheries  of  the  amphitheatre  ;  of  the  violence 
of  nightly  marauders  ;  of  the  irresistible  fury  of  the  many 
conflagrations.^  It  is  obvious  that  he  would  not  have 
been  allowed  to  seek  a  lodging  in  the  Jewish  quarter 
beyond  the  Tiber,  since  he  would  be  obliged  to  consult 
the  convenience  of  the  successions  of  soldiers  whose  duty 
it  was  to  keep  guard  over  him.  It  is  indeed  possible 
that  he  might  have  been  located  near  the  Excubitorium, 
but  it  seems  more  likely  that  the  Praetorians  who  were 
settled  there  were  too  much  occupied  with  the  duties 
thrown  on  them  by  their  attendance  at  the  palace  to 
leave  them  leisure  to  guard  an  indefinite  number  of 
prisoners.  We  infer,  therefore,  that  Paul's  "  hired  apart- 
ment" was  within  close  range  of  the  Praetorian  camp. 
Among  the  prisoners  there  confined  he  might  have  seen 
the  Jewish  priests  who  had  been  sent  to  Eome  by  Pelix, 
and  who  won  from  their  nation  so  much  approval  by 
the  abstinence  which  they  endured  in  the  determination 
that  they  would  not  be  defiled  by  any  form  of  unclean 
meat.*  Here,  too,  he  may  have  seen  Caradoc,  the 
British  prince  whose  heroic  resistance  and  simple  dignity 
extorted  praise  even  from  Eoman  enemies.^  The  fact 
that  he  was  not  in  the  crowded  city  precincts  would 
enable  him  at  less  cost  to  get  a  better  room  than  the 
stifling  garrets  which  Juvenal  so  feelingly  describes  as 
at  once  ruinously  expensive  and  distressingly  inconvenient. 

1  Juv.  Sat.  iii.  254—261;  Mart.  v.  22.  ■•  Jos.  Met.  3. 

2  Juv.  iii.  197,  seq.  »  Tac.  Ann.  xii.  38;  H.  iii.  45. 
'  Id.  239,  seq.,  190—231. 


400  THE    LIFE    AND    WORE    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Considering  that  lie  was  a  prisoner,  liis  life  was  not  dull. 
If  he  had  to  suffer  from  deep  discouragements,  he  could 
also  thank  God  for  many  a  happy  alleviation  of  his  lot. 
He  had  indeed  to  bear  the  sickness  of  hope  deferred,  and 
put  up  with  the  bitterness  of  "the  law's  delays."  His 
trial  was  indefinitely  postponed — perhaps  by  the  loss, 
during  shipwreck,  of  the  elocjium  of  Festus ;  by  the  non- 
appearance of  his  accusers ;  by  their  plea  for  time  to 
procure  the  necessary  witnesses ;  or  by  the  frivolous  and 
inhuman  carelessness  of  the  miserable  youth  who  was 
then  the  emperor  of  the  world.  He  was  saddened  at  the 
rejection  of  his  teaching  by  his  unconverted  countr3''men, 
and  by  the  dislike  and  suspicion  of  Judaising  Christians. 
He  could  not  but  feel  disheartened  that  some  should  be 
preaching  Christ  with  the  base  and  contentious  motive 
of  adding  affliction  to  his  bonds. ^  His  heart  must 
have  been  sometimes  dismayed  by  the  growth  of  subtle 
heresies  in  the  infant  Church.^  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  was  safe  for  the  present  from  the  incessant  perils  and 
tumults  of  the  past  twenty  years  ;  and  he  was  deprived 
of  the  possibility,  and  therefore  exempt  from  the  hard 
necessity,  of  earning  by  incessant  toil  his  daily  bread. 
And  again,  if  he  was  neglected  by  Jews  and  Judaisers,  he 
was  acceptable  to  many  of  the  Gentiles  ;  if  his  Gospel  was 
mutilated  by  unworthy  preachers,  still  Christ  was  preached; 
if  his  bonds  were  irksome,  they  inspired  others  with  zeal 
and  courage ;  if  one  form  of  activity  had  by  God's  will 
been  restrained,  others  were  still  open  to  him,  and  while 
he  was  strengthening  distant  Churches  by  his  letters  and 
emissaries,  he  was  making  God's  message  known  more  and 
more  widely  in  imperial  Eome.  He  had  preached  with  but 
small  success  in  Athens,  which  had  been  pre-eminently 
the  home  of  intellect ;  but  he  was  daily  reaping  the  fruit 

1  Phil.  i.  16.  '  Later  Epistles,  passim. 


"NOT    MANY    NOBLE."  401 

of  lais  labours  in  tlie  city  of  empire — the  city  which  had 
snatched  the  sceptre  from  the  decrepit  hands  of  her  elder 
sister — the  capital  of  that  race  which  represented  the  law, 
the  order,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  world. 

That  many  of  the  great  or  the  noble  resorted  to  his 
teaching  is  wholly  improbable,  nor  is  there  a  particle  of 
truth  in  the  tradition  which,  by  the  aid  of  spurious 
letters,  endeavoured  to  represent  the  philosopher  Seneca 
as  one  of  his  friends  and  correspondents.  We  have  seen 
that  Gallio  prided  himself  on  ignoring  his  very  existence ; 
and  it  is  certain  that  Seneca  would  have  shared,  in  this 
as  in  all  other  respects,  the  sentiments  of  his  brother. 
In  his  voluminous  writings  he  never  so  much  as  alludes 
to  the  Christians,  and  if  he  had  done  so  he  would  have 
used  exactly  the  same  language  as  that  so  freely  adopted 
many  years  later — and,  therefore,  when  there  was  far  less 
excuse  for  it — even  by  such  enlightened  spirits  as  Pliny, 
Tacitus,  Epictetus,  and  M.  Aurelius.  Nothing  can  less 
resemble  the  inner  spirit  of  Christianity  than  the  pompous 
and  empty  vaunt  of  that  dilettante  Stoicism  which  Seneca 
professed  in  every  letter  and  treatise,  and  which  he  belied 
by  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life.  There  were,  indeed,  some 
great  moral  principles  which  he  was  enabled  to  see,  and 
to  which  he  gave  eloquent  exjDression,  but  they  belonged 
to  the  spirit  of  an  age  when  Christianity  was  in  the  air, 
and  when  the  loftiest  natures,  sick  with  disgust  or  with 
satiety  of  the  universal  vice,  took  refuge  in  the  gathered  ex- 
periences of  the  wise  of  every  age.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
Seneca  ever  heard  more  than  the  mere  name  of  the  Chris- 
tians ;  and  of  the  Jews  he  only  speaks  with  incurable 
disdain.  The  ordinary  life  of  the  wealthy  and  noble 
Eoman  of  St.  Paul's  clay  was  too  much  divided  between 
abject  terror  and  unspeakable  depravity  to  be  reached  by 
anything  short  of  a  miraculous  awakening. 


402  THE    LITE    AlUB   WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

"  On  that  hard  Pagan  world  disgust 
And  secret  loathing  fell ; 
Deep  weariness  and  sated  lust 
Made  human  life  a  hell. 

In  his  cool  hall,  with  haggard  eyes, 

The  Roman  noble  lay ; 
He  drove  abroad  in  fui-ious  guise 

Along  the  Appian  Way. 

He  made  a  feast,  drank  fast  and  fierce, 
And  crowned  his  hair  with  flowers — 

No  easier  nor  no  quicker  passed 
The  impracticable  hours." 

The  condition  of  tlie  lower  classes  rendered  them 
more  hopeful  subjects  for  the  ennobling  influences  of  the 
faith  of  Christ.  It  is  true  that  they  also  lived  in  the 
midst  of  abominations.  But  to  them  vice  stood  forth  in 
all  its  bare  and  revolting  hideousness,  and  there  was  no 
wealth  to  gild  its  anguishing  reactions.  Life  and  its 
temptations  wore  a  very  different  aspect  to  the  master 
who  could  lord  it  over  the  souls  and  bodies  of  a  thousand 
helpless  minions,  and  to  the  wretched  slave  who  was  the 
victim  of  his  caprice  and  tyranny.  As  in  every  city 
where  the  slaves  far  outnumbered  the  free  population, 
they  had  to  be  kept  in  subjection  by  laws  of  terrible 
severity.  It  is  no  wonder  that  in  writing  to  a  Church 
of  which  so  many  members  were  in  this  sad  condition, 
St.  Paul  had  thought  it  necessary  to  warn  them  of  the 
duty  of  obedience  and  honour  towards  the  powers  that  be.^ 
The  house  of  a  wealthy  Roman  contained  slaves  of  every 
rank,  of  every  nation,  and  of  every  accomplishment, 
who  could  be  numbered  not  by  scores,  but  by  hun- 
dreds.     The    master   might    kill    or    torture   his    slaves 

*  Rom.  xiii.,  xiv. 


SLAVERY    AT    ROME.  403 

with  impunity,  but  if  one  of  them,  goaded  to  passionate 
revenge  by  intolerable  Avrong,  ventured  to  raise  a  hand 
against  his  owner,  the  whole /amilia,  with  their  wives  and 
children,  however  innocent,  were  put  to  death.^  The 
Eoman  lady  looked  lovely  at  the  banquet,  but  the  slave 
girl  who  arranged  a  curl  wrong  had  been  already  branJ-xl 
with  a  hot  iron.^  The  iriclinia  of  the  banquet  might 
gleam  with  jewelled  and  myrrhine  cups,  but  if  a  slave  did 
but  drop  by  accident  one  crystal  vase  he  might  be  flung 
then  and  there  to  feed  the  lampreys  in  his  master's 
fishpond.  The  senator  and  the  knight  might  loll  upon 
cushions  in  the  amphitheatre,  and  look  on  luxuriously  at 
the  mad  struggles  of  the  gladiators,  but  to  the  gladiator 
this  meant  the  endurance  of  all  the  detestable  savagery  of 
the  lanida,  and  the  taking  of  a  horrible  oath  that,  "  like 
a  genuine  gladiator,"  he  would  allow  himself  to  be  bound, 
burned,  beaten,  or  killed  at  his  owner's  will.^  There  were, 
doubtless,  many  kind  masters  at  Eome ;  but  the  system  of 
slavery  was  in  itself  irredeemably  degrading,  and  we  can- 
not wonder,  but  can  only  rejoice,  that,  from  Caesar's 
household  dowuAvards,  there  were  many  in  this  condition 
who  found  in  Christian  teaching  a  light  and  peace  from 
heaven.  However  low  their  earthly  lot,  they  thus  attained 
to  a  faith  so  sure  and  so  consolatory  that  in  the  very 
catacombs  they  surrounded  the  grim  memorials  of  death 
with  emblems  of  peace  and  beauty,  and   made   the    ill- 

1  The  necessity  for  this  law  had  been  openly  argued  in  the  Senate,  and  it 
was  put  iu  force  during  this  very  year,  A.D.  61,  when  Pedauius  Secuudus,  the 
prefect  of  the  city,  was  murdered  by  one  of  his  slaves  (Tac.  Ann.  xiv.  42). 
In  consequence  of  that  murder — itself  caused  by  dreadful  depravities — no  less 
than  four  hundred  slaves  had  been  executed,  and  it  is  far  from  impossible  that 
there  may  have  been  some  Christians  among  them.  On  their  numbers  see 
Juv.  iii.  141;  viii.  180;  xiv.  305.  Mancipiorum  legiones,  Plin.  H.  M.  xxxiii. 
6,  §  26. 

2  Juv.  xiv.  24 ;  Becker,  Charicles,  ii.  53 ;  Gallus,  ii.  124. 
»  Petron.  Satyr,  p.  117  (Sen.  Ep.  7). 

a  a  2 


404  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

spelt  jargon  of  their  quaint  illiterate  epitaphs  the  expression 
of  a  radiant  happiness  and  an  illimitable  hope. 

From  the  Eoman  aristocracy,  then,  Paul  had  little  to 
expect  and  little  to  fear ;  their  whole  life — physical,  moral, 
intellectual — moved  on  a  different  plane  from  his.  It 
was  among  the  masses  of  the  populace  that  he  mainly 
hoped  for  converts  from  the  Gentiles,  and  it  was  from 
the  Jews,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Emperor,  on  the  other, 
that  he  had  most  to  dread.  The  first  terrible  blow  which 
was  aimed  at  any  Church  among  the  Grentiles  was  dealt 
by  the  Emperor,  and  the  hand  of  the  Emperor  was  not 
improbably  guided  by  the  secret  malice  of  the  Jews. 
That  blow,  indeed — the  outburst  of  the  Neronian  perse- 
cution— St.  Paul  escaped  for  a  time  by  the  guiding 
Providence  which  liberated  him  from  his  imprisonment 
just  before  the  great  fire  of  Eome;  but  since  he  escaped  it 
for  a  time  only,  and  since  it  fell  on  many  whom  he  had 
taught  and  loved,  we  will  conclude  this  chapter  by  a 
glance  at  these  two  forces  of  Antichrist  in  the  imperial 
city. 

1.  The  importance  of  the  Jews  at  Eome  began,  as  we 
have  seen,  with  the  days  of  Pompeius.^  Julius  Csesar — 
who,  as  Philo  informs  us,  felt  an  undisguised  admiration 
for  the  manly  independence  with  which  they  held  them- 
selves aloof  from  that  all  but  idolatrous  adulation  into 
which  the  degenerate  Eomans  were  so  ready  to  plunge — 
allowed  them  to  settle  in  a  large  district  beyond  the 
Tiber,  and  yearly  to  send  deputies  and  temple-tribute  to 
their  holy  city.  Prom  that  time  forward  they  were  the 
incessant  butt  for  the  half-scornful,  half-alarmed  wit  and 
wrath  of  the  Eoman  writers.  The  district  assigned  to 
them,  being   in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  wharfs  where 

'  Cic.  pro  Flacc.  28  ;  Jos.  c.  Apion.  i.  7 ;  Tac.  Ann.  ii.  85  j  Philo,  Leg.  ad 
Galum,  .p.  508 


THE    JEWS    IN    ROME.  405 

the  barges  from  Ostia  were  accustomed  to  unlade,  was 
particularly  suitable  for  tbe  retail  trade  in  which  they 
were  mainly  occupied.^  They  increased  with  almost  in- 
credible rapidity.  Their  wisp  of  hay  and  the  basket, 
which  were  their  sole  belongings,  and  were  adopted  to 
secure  them  from  the  danger  of  unclean  meats,  were  kno\vn 
in  every  quarter.  Martial  describes  how  Jewish  hawkers 
broke  his  morning  slumbers  with  their  bawling,  and 
Juvenal  complains  of  the  way  in  which  their  gips^^-like 
women  got  themselves  smuggled  into  the  boudoirs  of 
rich  and  silly  ladies  to  interpret  their  dreams.^  Others 
of  them,  with  a  supple  versatility  which  would  have  done 
credit  to  the  Greeks  themselves,  thrust  themselves  into 
every  house  and  every  profession,  flung  themselves  with 
perfect  shamelessness  into  the  heathen  vices,  and  became 
the  useful  tools  of  wealthy  rascality,  and  the  unscrupulous 
confidants  of  the  "  gilded  youth,  "^  Some  became  the 
favourites  of  the  palace,  and  made  nominal  proselytes  of 
noble  ladies,  who,  like  Poppsea,  had  every  gift  except 
that  of  virtue.*  But  whatever  their  condition,  they  were 
equally  detested  by  the  mass  of  the  population.  If  they 
were  false  to  their  religion  they  were  flouted  as  renegades ; 
if  they  were  true  to  it,  their  Sabbaths,  and  their  circum- 
cision, and  their  hatred  of  pork,  their  form  of  oath,  their 
lamp-lightings,  and  their  solemn  festivals  were  held  up  to 
angry  ridicule,^  as  signs  of  the  most  abject  superstition.  If 
a  Eoman  saw  a  knot  of  Jew  beggars,  he  turned  from  them 
with  a  shudder  of  disgust ;  if  he  noticed  the  statue  of  a 

1  Jos.  Antt.  xvii.  11,  §  1 ;  Tac.  Ann.  ii.  85.    See  on  the  whole  subject 
Friecllancler,  Sittengesch.  Boms,  iii.  500 ;  Hausi-ath,  p.  474,  seqq. 

2  Mart.  i.  41,  3;  x.  5,  3 ;  Juv.  iv.  116,  v.  8 ;  xiv.  134. 

3  Mart.  xi.  94;  vii.  30. 

*  Tac.  Ann.  xiii.  44,  "  Huic  mulieri  cuncta  alia  fuere  praeter  honestnm 
animum." 

6  See  Pers.  v.  ISO;  Hor,  Sat.  ii.  3,  288. 


406  THE    LIFE    AXD    WORK    OF    ST,   PAUL. 

Jewish  king  or  Alabarcli,  he  frowned  at  it  as  a  proof  of  the 
degradation  of  the  ap-e.  Whether  successful  or  unsuccess- 
ful — Avhether  he  was  an  Herodian  prince  or  a  match- 
selling  pedlar — the  Jew  was  to  the  Latin  races  an  object 
of  abhorrence  and  disdain.  They  were  regarded  with  the 
same  feelings  as  those  with  which  a  citizen  of  San  Francisco 
looks  on  the  Chinese  immigrant — as  intruders,  whose  com- 
petition was  dangerous — as  aliens,  whose  customs  were 
offensive.  And  yet  they  made  their  presence  tremendously 
felt.  Eome,  so  tolerant  and  so  indifferent  in  her  own 
religious  beliefs,  was  sometimes  startled  into  amazement 
by  the  raging  violence  of  their  internal  disputes.  Cicero, 
one  hundred  and  twenty  years  before  this  period,  prided 
himself  on  his  courage  in  defending  Flaccus  against  their 
charges,  and  was  obliged  to  deliver  his  speech  in  a  low 
tone  of  voice,  for  fear  of  exciting  a  riot  among  the  thou- 
sands of  them  who  besieged  the  court  to  denounce  their 
enemy.  Sober  Quirites  had  listened  with  astonishment 
to  their  wild  wailing  round  the  funeral  pile  of  their 
patron,  Julius  Caesar.^  Even  poets  and  satirists  imply 
that  those  who  were  attracted  by  feelings  of  superstition 
to  adopt  some  of  their  customs  were  neither  few  in  number 
nor  insignificant  in  position.^ 

Under  Augustus  their  condition  was  not  materially 
altered.  Tiberius,  recognising  them  as  a  dangerous 
element  in  the  population,  made  a  ruthless  attempt  to 
keep  down  their  numbers  by  conscriptions  and  deporta- 
tions.  Gains,  on  the  other  hand,  grossly  as  he  behaved 
to  their  most  venerable  ambassadors,  was  so  much  attached 
to  the  elder  Agrippa  that  he  respected  their  religious  and 
political  immunities.  The  position  of  the  Herodian 
princes  in  the  imperial  court  was  sufficient  to  protect  them 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  reign  of  Claudius.     During 

»  Suetou.  Cues.  84  2  Hor.  Sat.  1,  ix.  20. 


NERO.  407 

the  reign  of  Nero,  and  therefore  at  the  very  time  of 
St.  Paul's  Eoman  imprisonment,  they  enjoyed  a  secret 
influence  of  the  most  formidable  kind,  since  Poppsea  never 
hesitated  to  intercede  for  them,  and  had  even  given  orders 
that  after  her  death  her  body  was — in  accordance  with  the 
Jewish  practice — to  be  buried  and  not  burnt. 

2.  If  Paul  had  little  to  hope  from  the  Jewish  com- 
munity at  Eonie,  he  had  still  less  reason  to  place  any 
confidence  in  the  justice,  or  mercy,  or  even  the  ordinary 
discernment  of  the  Cassar  to  whom  he  had  appealed.  The 
first  three  Csesars  had  been  statesmen  and  men  of  genius. 
For  Gains  might  have  been  urged  the  mitigating  plea  of 
congenital  madness.  Claudius  was  redeemed  from  con- 
tempt by  a  certain  amount  of  learning  and  good  nature.  But 
Nero  was  in  some  respects  worse  than  any  who  had  pre- 
ceded him.  Incurably  vicious,  incurably  frivolous,  with  no 
result  of  all  his  education  beyond  a  smattering  of  ridiculous 
or  unworthy  accomplishments,  his  selfishness  had  been  so 
inflamed  by  unlimited  autocracy  that  there  was  not  a  single 
crime  of  which  he  was  incapable,  or  a  single  degradation 
to  which  he  could  not  sink.  The  world  never  entrusted 
its  imperial  absolutism  to  a  more  despicable  specimen 
of  humanity.  He  was  a  tenth-rate  actor  entrusted  with 
irresponsible  power.  In  every  noble  mind  he  inspired  a 
horror  only  alleviated  by  contempt.  The  first  five  years 
of  his  reign — that  "  golden  quinquennium"  which  was 
regarded  as  an  ideal  of  happy  government — were  a  mere 
illusion.^  Their  external  success  and  happiness  had  been 
exclusively  due  to  the  wise  counsels  of  Burrus  and  Seneca, 
which  Nero — who  was  but  seventeen  when  his  step- 
father Claudius  had  been  poisoned  by  his  mother 
Agrippina — was  too  ignorant,  too  careless,  and  too  bent 
on  personal   pleasure   to   dispute.     Yet  in  all  that  con- 

*  Nero  succeeded  Claudius  on  October  13,  A.D.  54. 


408  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

ceriied  the  personal  conduct  of  himself  and  of  Agrippina 
even  those  five  years  had  been  thickly  sown  with  atrocities 
and  infamies,  of  which  the  worst  are  too  atrocious  and 
too  infamous  to  be  told.  His  very  first  year  was 
marked  not  only  by  open  ingratitude  to  his  friends, 
but  also  by  the  assassination  of  Junius  Silanus,  and  the 
poisoning  of  the  young  son  of  Claudius — Britannicus,  a  boy 
of  fourteen,  from  whom  he  had  usurped  the  throne.  The 
second  year  was  marked  by  the  cowardly  folly  of  his 
disguised  nightly  marauding  among  his  peaceful  subjects, 
after  the  fashion  of  the  Mohawks  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Anne.  From  these  he  had  descended,  through  every  abyss 
of  vice  and  crime,  to  the  murder  of  his  mother,  his  public 
displays  in  the  theatre,^  the  flight  from  place  to  place  in 
the  restless  terrors  of  a  haunted  conscience,  and  finally  to  the 
most  abandoned  wickedness  when  he  found  that  even  such 
crimes  as  his  had  failed  to  sicken  the  adulation  or  to  shake 
the  allegiance  of  his  people.  He  was  further  encouraged  by 
this  discovery  to  throw  off  all  shadow  of  control.  Shortly 
after  Paul's  arrival  Burrus  had  died,  not  without  suspicion 
of  being  poisoned  by  his  imperial  master.  Nero  seized 
this  opportunity  to  disgrace  Seneca  from  his  high  position. 
To  fill  up  the  vacancy  created  by  the  death  of  Burrus,  he 
returned  to  the  old  plan  of  appointing  two  Praetorian 
Prsefects.  These  were  Penius  Eufus,  a  man  of  no  personal 
weight,  but  popular  from  his  benevolent  disposition,^  and 
Sofonius  Tigellinus,  one  of  the  worst  characters  of  that 
bad  age.  Tigellinus  was  dear  to  Nero  from  the  ex- 
ceptional cruelty  and  infamy  of  his  nature,  and  to  him 

^  At  the  Juvenalia,  which  he  instituted  on  the  occasion  of  first  shaving 
his  beard,  Gallio  had  to  submit  to  the  degradation  of  publicly  aunoiincing  his 
appearance  in  the  theatre,  and  Burrus  and  Seneca  had  to  act  as  prompters  and 
tutors,  "  with  praises  on  their  lips  and  anguish  in  their  hearts "  (Dion.  ki. 
20,  19  ;  Tac.  Ann.  xiv.  15). 

'^  Tac.  Ann.  xiv.  51. 


ST.    PAUL    IN    CAPTIVITY.  409 

was  practically  entrusted  the  entire  power.-^  The  banish- 
ment and  subsequent  murder  of  Nero's  wife  Octavia,  the 
unhappy  daughter  of  Claudius,  took  place  within  a  year 
of  St.  Paul's  arrival  at  Eome. 

Such  are  some  of  the  events  which  must  have  been  whis- 
pered to  the  Apostle  from  time  to  time  by  the  Prsetorians 
Avho  guarded  him ;  and  if  his  condition  was  rendered  less 
tolerable  by  the  promotion  of  such  a  wretch  as  Tigellinus, 
he  must  also  have  felt  that  his  hopes  for  the  future  had 
been  rendered  more  precarious  by  the  downfall  of  Seneca, 
and  the  now  unchecked  tyranny  of  the  incestuous  matri- 
cide before  whose  tribunal  his  appeal  must  soon  be  tried. 
But  if  deep  fears  as  to  the  result  of  that  appeal  alter- 
nated with  passing  hopes,  neither  his  natural  fears  nor 
his  earthly  hopes  disturbed  the  serenity  of  his  soul.  He 
quietly  continued  the  discharge  of  every  duty  which  was 
still  possible  to  him  in  his  captivity,  and  for  the  rest  he 
knew  that  his  times  were  in  Grod's  hands,  and  that, 
whether  life  awaited  him  or  death,  all  things  were  his, 
whether  things  present  or  things  to  come,  and  he  was 
Christ's,  and  Christ  was  Grod's.  Alike  on  the  stage  of 
stormy  publicity  and  in  the  solitude  of  his  sad  imprison- 
ment, his  life  was  hid  with  Christ  in  God. 

'  Yalidior  Tigellmus  iu  animo  Principis  et  intimis  libidinibus  assumptus 
(Tac.  I.  c).  Tiyi\\7vov  S4  nva  'S,<»<t>6viov  aasKyel^  tc  kuI  niai<poi>l(}  irivTus  tovs  Kaff 
iavrhy  avQpdnovs  virepa(povTa  (Dion,  Ixii.  13). 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 

EPISTLES    OF   THE    CAPTIVITY. 

"  That  man  is  very  strong  and  powerful  who  has  no  more  hopes  for 
himself,  who  looks  not  to  be  loved  any  more,  to  be  admired  any  more,  to  have 
any  more  honour  or  dignity,  and  who  cares  not  for  gratitude ;  but  whose  sole 
thought  is  for  others,  and  who  only  lives  on  for  them." — Helps. 

The  history  of  St,  Paul's  first  imprisonment,  as  well  as 
the  thoughts  by  which  he  was  then  occupied,  can  only  be 
derived  from  the  "  Epistles  of  the  captivity."  The  extant 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul  fall  naturally  into  four  connected 
groups,  "  separated  from  each  other  alike  by  chronological 
intervals  and  by  internal  characteristics."  They  are  re- 
spectively the  letters  of  the  second  missionary  journey  (1, 
2  Thess.) ;  those  of  the  third  missionary  journey  (1,  2 
Cor.,  Gral.,  Eom.) ;  those  of  the  first  imprisonment  (Phil., 
Col.,  Philem.jEph.);  and  those  of  the  second  imprisonment 
(1,  2  Tim.,  Tit.).  These  groups  may  be  respectively 
characterised  as  the  Eschatological  Epistles  (1,  2  Thess.) ; 
the  Epistles  of  the  anti- Judaic  controversy  (1,  2  Cor., 
Gal.,  Eom.) ;  the  letters  against  incipient  Gnosticism  (Col., 
Eph.) ;  and  the  Pastoral  Epistles  (1,  2  Tim.,  Tit.).  The 
Epistles  to  the  Philippians  and  to  Philemon  stand  in 
most  respects  separate  from  the  group  to  which  they 
belong. 

1.  The  two  letters  to  the  Thessalonians  are  the 
simplest  of  all  in  their  matter  and  manner,  and  deal 
mainly  (as  we  have  seen)  with  the  question  of  the  shortly- 
expected  retui'n  of  Christ.  They  were  written  about 
A.D.  52. 


GROUPS    OF    EPISTLES.  411 

2.  The  next  great  group  of  letters  may  be  called  in 
one  of  their  aspects  the  letters  of  Judaic  controversy.  This 
group  comprises  the  two  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians — 
which  show  St.  Paul's  method  of  dealing  with  questions 
of  doctrine  and  discipline  in  a  restless,  intellectual,  and 
partly  disaffected  Church ;  and  those  to  the  Galatians  and 
Eomans.  They  were  written  during  the  years  A.D.  57 
and  A.D.  58,  a  period  pre-eminently  of  storm  and  stress 
in  the  Apostle's  life,  of  physical  suffering  and  mental 
anxiety,  wliich  leave  deep  traces  on  his  style. 

Of  these,  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians  are  largely 
occupied  with  the  personal  question  of  Paul's  Apostolate. 
His  Jewish-Christian  opponents  had  found  it  easier  to 
impugn  his  position  than  to  refute  his  arguments.  It 
became  a  duty  and  a  necessity  to  prove  his  claim  to  be  a 
teacher  of  co-ordinate  authority  with  the  very  chiefest  of 
the  Twelve. 

The  Epistles  to  the  Galatians  and  the  Eomans  contain 
the  defence  of  his  main  position  as  regards  the  Law ;  a 
definition  of  the  relations  between  Christianity  and 
Judaism ;  and  the  statement  and  demonstration  of  the 
Gospel  entrusted  to  him  by  special  revelation.  Of  these, 
the  latter  is  calmer,  fuller,  and  more  conciliatory  in  tone, 
and  serves  as  the  best  commentary  on  the  former. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  finds  its  main  motive 
in  an  entirely  different  order  of  conceptions.  In  it  we 
only  hear  the  dying  echoes  of  the  great  controversy,  and  if 
his  one  outburst  of  strong  indignation  against  his  oppo- 
nents (ii.  3 — 6,  18)  reminds  us  of  the  heat  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians,  on  the  other  hand  he  here  suppresses 
the  natural  sense  of  deep  personal  injuries,  and  even 
litters  an  expression  of  rejoicing  that  these  very  opponents, 
whatever  may  be  their  motives,  are  still  preachers  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  (i.  14—20), 


412  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

3.  The  next  two  Epistles,  those  to  the  Colosslans  and 
Ephesians,  mark  the  rise  of  a  new  phase  of  error.  They 
are  the  controversy  with  incipient  Grnosticism.  Hence 
also  they  are  the  chief  Christological  and  Ecclesiastical 
Epistles,  the  Epistles  of  Christian  dogma,  the  Epistles  of 
Catholicity.  The  idea  and  constitution  of  the  Church 
of  Christ  was  the  destined  bulwark  against  the  prevalence 
of  heresy,  and  the  doctrine  of  Christ  was  the  sole  pre- 
servative against  the  victory  of  error.  The  dominant 
thought  of  the  Colossians  is  Christ  over  all ;  that  of  the 
Ephesians  the  Universal  Church  in  Christ. 

The  Epistle  to  Philemon,  a  sort  of  appendix  to  the 
Colossians,  stands  alone  as  a  letter  addressed  solely  to  an 
individual  friend,  though  it  involves  the  statement  of  an 
immortal  principle. 

4.  In  the  last  group  stand  the  three  Pastoral  Epistles, 
containing,  as  we  should  have  expected,  the  proof  that 
there  had  been  a  development  of  the  Grnostic  tendency 
on  the  one  hand,  and  of  Church  organisation  on  the 
other.  In  the  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy  we  have  the 
last  words  and  thoughts  of  St.  Paul  before  his  martyr- 
dom.^ 

May  we  go  further,  and  attempt,  in  one  or  two 
words,  a  description  of  each  separate  Epistle,  necessarily 
imperfect  from  its  very  brevity,  and  yet  perhaps  expres- 

^  Other  classifications  have  been  attempted — e.g.,  that  of  Baur,  who 
divides  them   into  ifj.o\oyov/xfva  (four),  avTiXiyoixeva  (six),   and    voQa.   (three). 

Similarly,  M.  Renan  classes  the  Epistles  as  follows  : — 1.  Incontestable — 
Gal.,   1,   2  Cor.,  Rom.     2.  Authentic,  though   disputed— 1,  2  Thess.,  Phil. 

3,  Probably  authentic,  though  open  to  serious  objection— Col.  and  Philem. 

4.  Doubtful— Eph.     5.  Spurious— The  Pastoral  Epistles.     [St.  Paul,  v.) 
Lange  classes  the  Epistles  as— 1.  Eschatological  (1,  2  Thess.).     2.  Sote- 

riological  (Gal.,  Rom).  3.  Ecclesiastical  (1  Qov .,  polemicalhj ;  2  Cor.  apolo- 
getically). 4.  Christological  (Col.,  Eph.).  5.  Ethical  (Philip.).  6.  Pastoral 
Philem.,  1,  2  Tim.,  Tit.).     {Introd.  to  Romans.) 

Olshausen's  classification  of  tlicm  under  the  heads  of — 1.  Dogmatic; 
2.  Practical ;   3.  Friendly — is  uusuccessfuL 


CHARACTERISTICS    OF    THE    EPISTLES.  413 

sive  of  some  one  main  characteristic?  If  so,  we  might 
perhaps  say  that  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians 
is  the  Epistle  of  consolation  in  the  hope  of  Christ's 
return;  and  the  second,  of  the  immediate  hindrances  to 
that  return,  and  our  duties  with  regard  to  it.  The  First 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  is  the  solution  of  practical 
problems  in  the  light  of  eternal  principles  ;  the  Second, 
an  impassioned  defence  of  the  Apostle's  impugned  autho- 
rity, his  Apologia  pro  vita  sua.  The  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians  is  the  Epistle  of  freedom  from  the  bondage  of  the 
Law  ;  that  to  the  Eomans  of  justification  by  faith.  The 
Epistle  to  the  Philippians  is  the  Epistle  of  Christian 
gratitude  and  Christian  joy  in  sorrow ;  that  to  the  Colos- 
sians  the  Epistle  of  Christ  the  universal  Lord;  that  to 
the  Ephesians,  so  rich  and  many-sided,  is  the  EjDistle  of 
"the  heavenlies,"  the  Epistle  of  grace,  the  Epistle  of 
ascension  with  the  ascended  Christ,  the  Epistle  of  Christ 
in  His  One  and  Universal  Church ;  that  to  Philemon, 
the  Magna  Charta  of  emancipation.  The  First  Epistle 
to  Timothy,  and  that  to  Titus,  are  the  manuals  of  the 
Christian  pastor ;  the  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy  is  the 
last  message  of  a  Christian  ere  his  death. ^ 

He  must  doubtless  have  written  others  besides  these, 
but  intense  as  would  have  been  for  us  the  theologic  and 
psychologic  interest  of  even  the  most  trivial  of  his 
writings,  we  may  assume,  with  absolute  certainty,  that 
those  which  we  still  possess  have  been  preserved  in  ac- 
cordance with  God's  special  Providence,  and  were  by  far 
the  most  precious  and  important  of  all  that  he  wrote. 

That  the  four  letters  which  we  shall  now  examine  were 
written  at  Rome,  and  not,  as  some  critics  have  imagined, 
at    Caesarea,    may    be    regarded    as    absolutely    certain. 

'  See  Excursus  lY.,  "  Distinctive  Words,  Keynotes,  and  Characteristics 
of  the  Epistles." 


414  THE    LIFE    AJ^B    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Althougli  Rome  is  not  mentioned  in  any  of  tliem,  yet 
tlie  facts  to  which  they  advert,  and  the  allusions  in  which 
they  abound,  are  such  as  exactly  suit  the  ancient  and 
unanimous  tradition  that  they  were  penned  during  the 
Eoman  unprisonment,^  while  they  agree  far  less  with  the 
novel  and  fantastic  hypothesis  that  they  were  sent  from 
Csesarea.^  If  any  confirmation  for  this  certain  tradition 
were  required,  it  would  be  found,  as  far  as  the  Epistle 
to  the  Philippians  is  concerned,  in  the  salutation  which 
St.  Paul  sends  from  the  converts  in  "  Csesar's  household." 
As  regards  the  other  three  Epistles  it  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  internal  evidence  conclusively  proves  that  all  three 
were  written  at  the  same  time,  as  they  were  despatched 
by  the  same  messengers,  and  that  whereas  during  his 
Csesarean  imprisonment  St.  Paul  was  looking  forward 
to  visit  Eome,^  he  is,  at  the  time  of  writing  these  letters, 
looking  forward  to  visit,  first  Macedonia,  then  Colossse.* 
Further  than  this,  the  allusions  in  these  Epistles  show  that, 
prisoner  though  he  was,  he  was  enabled  to  exercise  a 
powerful  influence  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  in  a  city 
of  the  highest  importance.^  Meyer,  indeed — with  that 
hypercritical  ingenuity  which,  like  vaulting  ambition,  so 
constantly  overleaps  itself  and  falls  on  the  other  side — 
argues  that  Onesimus  is  more  likely  to  have  fled  from 
Colossae  to  Csesarea  than  to  Rome  ;  an  argument  of  which 
we  can  only  say  that  Csesarea — a  mere  Procuratorial  resi- 

^  Chrys.,  Procem  ad  Epist.  ad  JEphes. ;  Jerome,  ad  Eph.  in.  1,  iv.  1,  vi. 
20 ;  Theodoret,  Procem  ad  Epist.  ad  Eph.,  &c.  If  I  do  not  mention  Oeder's 
theory  (?)  that  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  was  written  from  Corinth  (see 
Scheukel,  Der  Brief  an  die  Philippier,  p.  110),  it  is  because  "  it  is  not  worth 
while,"  as  Baur  says,  "  to  discuss  vague  hypotheses  which  have  no  support  in 
history,  and  no  coherence  in  themselves." 

2  I  can  only  express  my  surprise  that  this  theory  should  have  commended 
itself  not  only  to  Schulz  and  Schneckenburger,  but  even  to  Holtzmann, 
Reuss,  Schenkel,  and  Meyer.  ■•  Phil.  ii.  24 ;  Philcm.  22. 

3Acts  xix.  21 ;  xxiii.  IL  «  Eph.  vi.  19,  2U ;  Col.  iv.  3,  4. 


ORDER    OF    THE    EPISTLES.  415 

dence  full  of  Jews — would  be  about  the  very  last  town 
which  any  one  would  naturally  have  dreamt  of  suggesting 
as  a  likely  hiding-jDlace  for  a  runaway  Asiatic  slave. 
Meyer  might  as  reasonably  argue  that  a  London  pick- 
pocket would  be  more  likely  to  hide  himself  at  Biarritz 
than  at  New  York.  His  other  arguments  derived  from 
the  non-mention  of  the  name  of  Onesimus  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Ephesians,  and  the  incidental  expression  "  you 
also "  in  that  letter,  are  too  trivial  for  serious  dis- 
cussion. 

The  question  next  arises,  in  what  order  these  Epistles 
were  written ;  and  the  prima  facie  argument  that  the 
Epistle  to  the  Philippians  seems  to  have  been  written 
before  the  approaching  crisis  of  his  trial  has  been  taken  as 
a  sufficient  proof  that  it  was  written  after  the  other  three. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  is  the  same  expectation  of  ap- 
proaching release  in  the  Epistle  to  Philemon,  so  that  on 
this  circumstance  no  conclusion  can  be  built.  The  notion 
that  this  Epistle  shows  traces  of  deeper  depression  than  the 
others,  and  that  this  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  change 
wrought  in  his  affairs  through  the  influence  of  Tigellinus 
and  Poppsea,  is  partly  unsupported  by  fact,  since  a  spirit 
of  holy  joy  is  the  very  keynote  of  the  Epistle  ;  and  partly 
inconsistent  with  itself,  since,  if  the  hostile  influences  were 
at  work  at  all  appreciably,  they  were  quite  as  much  so 
within  a  few  months  after  Paul's  Roman  imprisonment 
began,  as  they  were  at  its  close.-^  It  is  true  that  the  letter 
could  not  have  been  written  during  the  earliest  months 
of  the  captivity  at  Rome,  because  time  must  be  allowed 
for  the  news  of  Paul's  arrival  there  to  have  reached  the 

^  The  death  of  Burrus  and  the  appointment  of  Tigellinus  took  place  very 
early  in  A.D.  62,  some  nine  mouths  after  St.  Paul's  arrival.  Nero's  marriage 
with  Poppsea  took  place  about  the  time,  and  indeed  bears  very  little  on  the 
matter,  since  her  influence  as  Nero's  mistress  was  probably  even  greater  than 
that  which  she  enjoyed  as  his  wife. 


416  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Pliilippians ;  for  tlie  despatch  of  Epaphroditus  with  their 
contributions  ;  for  his  illness  at  Eome  ;  for  the  arrival  of 
intelligence  to  that  effect  at  Philippi ;  and  for  the  return 
of  their  expressions  of  sorrow  and  sympathy.^  Now 
a  journey  from  Rome  to  Philippi — a  distance  of  seven 
hundred  miles  —  would,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
occupy  about  a  month,  and  as  we  do  not  suppose  that 
any  of  these  letters  were  written  during  the  first  year 
of  the  imprisonment,  ample  time  is  allowed  for  these 
journeys,  and  no  objection  whatever  to  the  traditional 
priority  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  can  be  raised 
on  this  score. 

Still  less  can  any  argument  be  urged  from  the  absence  of 
greetings  from  Luke  and  Aristarchus,  or  from  the  allusion 
to  Timothy  as  the  sole  exception  to  the  general  selfishness 
which  the  Apostle  was  grieved  to  mark  in  those  around 
him.  The  prese?tce  of  particular  names  in  the  greetings  of 
any  letter  may  furnish  a  probable  or  even  positive  argument 
as  to  its  date,  but  their  ahsence  is  an  indication  of  the  most 
uncertain  character.  It  needs  no  more  than  the  com- 
monest everyday  experience  to  prove  the  utter  fallacious- 
ness of  the  "  argument  from  silence ; "  and  we  know  far 
too  little  of  the  incessant  missions  and  movements,  from 
church  to  church,  and  continent  to  continent,  of  the 
companions  of  St.  Paul,  to  be  able  in  any  way  to  build 
upon  the  non-occurrence  of  the  name  of  any  one  of 
them.  Since,  therefore,  there  are  no  adequate  arguments 
regarding  the  Epistle  to  the   Philippians  as  the 


^  Dr.  Lightfoot  {PMlipp.,  p.  34)  tliinks  that  Aristarchus  may  have  left  St. 
Paul  at  Myra,  and  may  have  conveyed  to  Philippi  the  news  of  St.  Paul's 
journey  to  Eome,  as  he  was  on  his  way  home  to  Thessalonica ;  but  I  can  see 
no  sufficient  reason  for  bolie^dng  tliat  Aristarchus,  who  was  in  some  sense  St. 
Paul's  "  fellow-prisoner  "  at  Rome  (Col.  iv.  10),  went  home  from  Adramyttium 
(Acts  xxvii.  2).  In  any  case  ho  covild  only  have  taken  the  news  that  St.  Paul 
was  on  his  way  to  Rome,  not  that  he  had  arrived. 


EPISTLE   TO  THE   PHILIPPIANS.  417 

earliest  of  tlie  four  Epistles  of  the  captivity — although  it 
may  have  heeii  written  only  a  few  months  before  the  other 
three — full  weight  may  be  given  to  the  internal  evidence, 
which  is  in  favour  of  that  supposition.  That  internal 
evidence  consists  in  the  general  resemblance  of  this  Epistle 
to  those  of  the  earlier  group — especially  to  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans — which  enables  us  to  regard  it  as  an  intermediate 
link  between  the  Epistles  of  the  captivity  and  those  of  the 
third  Apostolic  journey.^  To  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  it 
presents  many  and  close  parallels  in  thought  and  language, 
while  its  general  tone  and  spirit,  its  comparative  calmness, 
the  spiritual  joy  which  breathes  through  its  holy  resigna- 
tion, the  absence  of  impassioned  appeal  and  impetuous 
reasoning,  mark  its  affinity  to  the  three  by  which  it  was 
immediately  followed.  Although  not  much  more  than 
four  years  had  now  elapsed  since  Paul,  a  free  man  and  an 
active  Apostle,  elaborated  at  Corinth  the  great  argument 
which  he  had  addressed  to  the  Gentiles  and  proselytes, 
who  formed  the  bulk  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  his  contro- 
versy with  Judaism  had  to  some  extent  faded  into  the 
background.  Every  Church  that  he  had  founded  was  now 
fully  aware  of  his  sentiments  on  the  questions  which  were 
agitated  between  the  advocates  of  Judaic  rigour  and  Gospel 
freedom.     In  writing  to  the  Philippians  there  was  no  need 

*  Lightfoot,  Philippians,  pp.  40 — 45,  e.g. — 
Philippians.         Romans.  Philippians.        Romans. 


i.  3,  4,  7,  8       . 

.    i.  8-11 

iii.  4,  5    ... 

...     xi.  1 

i.  10 

.    ii.  18 

iii.  9 

...    X.  3 

ii.  8,  9, 10, 11  .. 

.     xiv.  9,  11 

ui.  21       ... 

...     viii.  29 

ii.  4 

.     xii.  10 

iii.  19       ... 

...     xvi.  18. 

To  these  we  may  add  Phil.  iii.  3,  Rom.  xii.  1,  and  the  use  of  <ppovetv  in  Phil. 
i.  7,  ii.  2,  5,  iii.  15,  with  Rom.  xii.  3,  16,  xiv.  6.  The  Epistle  also  presents  some 
interesting  points   of  comparison  with  the    last  which   he    ever  wrote  :— 

Phil.  i.  23,  iiridvfiiav  ixt^v  els  rh  ava\vffai,  2  Tim.  iv.  6,  Kaiphs  ttjs  ifxrjs  avaXvtrfWS 
4<(>e<XT7iK€V.  Phil.  ii.  17,  el  koI  a-irevSo/xai,  2  Tim.  iv.  6,  iy^  yap  ^5rj  (nrfuSofiai, 
Phil.  iii.  14,  Kara  (XKOirhv  ShIikw  iirl  rh  $pafif7ov,  2  Tim.  Iv.  7^  8)  T.hv  5p6fiov  T€T«Ar«a, 
oirditeirai  /not  6  ttjj  SiKaioavvtjs  arifpavos. 

b    b 


418  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

to  dwell  on  these  debates,  for  whatever  dangers  might 
yet  await  them — dangers  sufficiently  real  to  call  forth  one 
energetic  outburst,  which  reminds  us  of  his  earlier  tone — 
they  had  up  to  this  time  proved  themselves  faithful  to- his 
teaching,  and  were  as  yet  unsophisticated  by  any  tampering 
interference  of  emissaries  from  Jerusalem.  The  Judaisers 
of  the  party  of  James  may  have  heard  enough  of  the  devo- 
tion of  the  Philippians  for  St.  Paul  to  show  them  that  it 
would  be  unadvisable  to  dog  his  footsteps  through  the 
Christian  Churches  of  Macedonia.  They  might  leave  their 
view  of  the  question  with  better  policy  in  the  hands  of 
those  unconverted  Jews,  who  would  never  hesitate  to  use 
on  its  behalf  the  engines  of  persecution.  Thus  St.  Paul 
had  no  need  to  enter  on  the  debate  which  had  so  recently 
occupied  the  maturity  of  his  powers ;  and  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Philippians  we  have  only  "the  spent  waves  of 
this  controversy."  Nevertheless,  as  we  have  seen,  his 
was  a  mind  whose  sensitive  chords  continued  to  quiver 
long  after  they  had  been  struck  by  the  plectrum  of 
any  particular  emotion.  He  was  reminded  of  past  con- 
troversies by  the  coldness  and  neglect  of  a  community 
in  Avhich  some  "preached  Christ  even  of  contention, 
supposing  to  add  affliction  to  his  bonds."  If,  then,  he 
dwelt  on  doctrinal  considerations  at  all  in  a  letter  of 
affectionate  greetings  to  the  community  which  was  dearest 
to  his  heart,  they  would  naturally  be  those  on  which  he 
had  last  most  deeply  thought.  By  the  time  that  he  sat 
down  to  dictate  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  a  fresh  set  of 
experiences  had  befallen  him.  His  religious  musings  had 
been  turned  in  an  entirely  different  direction.  The  visit 
of  Epaphras  of  Colossse  had  made  him  aware  of  new  eiTors, 
entirely  different  from  those  which  he  had  already  com- 
bated, and  the  Churches  of  Proconsular  Asia  evidently 
needed  that  his  teaching  should  be  directed  to  questions 


VISIT    OF   EPAPHRODITUS.  419 

whicli  lay  far  apart  from  the  controversies  of  the  last  eight 
years.  On  the  other  hand,  I  regard  it  as  psychologically 
certain  that,  had  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  been 
written,  as  so  many  critics  believe,  after  those  to  the 
"  Ephesiaus  "  and  Colossians,  it  could  not  possibly  have 
failed  to  bear  upon  its  surface  some  traces  of  the  contro- 
versy with  that  hybrid  philosophy — that  Judaic  form  of 
incipient  Gnosticism — in  which  he  had  been  so  recently 
engaged.  These  considerations  seem  to  me  to  have  decided 
the  true  order  of  the  Epistles  of  the  Captivity,  and  to  give 
its  only  importance  to  a  question  on  which  little  would 
otherwise  depend. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  ^  arose  directly  out  of 
one  of  the  few  happy  incidents  which  diversified  the 
dreary  uncertainties  of  St.  Paul's  captivity.  This  was 
the  visit  of  Epaphroditus,  a  leading  presbyter  of  the 
Church  of  Philippi,  with  the  fourth  pecuniary  contribu- 
tion by  which  that  loving  and  generous  Church  had 
ministered  to  his  necessities.  At  Eome,  St.  Paul  was 
unable  with  his  fettered  hands  to  work  for  his  livelihood, 
and  it  is  possible  that  he  found  no  opening  for  his  special 
trade.  One  would  have  thought  that  the  members  of 
the  Roman  Church  were  sufficiently  numerous  and  suffi- 
ciently wealthy  to  render  it  an  easy  matter  for  them  to 
supply  his  necessities ;  but  the  unaccountable  indifference 
which  seems  to  have  marked  their  relations  to  him,  and 

^  The  notion  that  the  Epistle  is  really  two  and  not  one  seems  to  have 
originated  in  Phil.  iii.  1,  and  in  a  mistaken  supposition  that  Polycarp,  in  his 
letter  to  the  Philippians,  mentions  more  than  one  letter  of  St.  Paul  to  them 
{'6s  Kal  axwv  ljfj.1v  eypa\f/ev  eVjcTToAaj,  ad  Philip.  C.  3).  That  'KwiaToKas,  however, 
may  only  differ  from  iin<TTu\^  in  being  a  more  important  term,  is  conclusively 
proved  by  Thuc.  viii.  51 ;  Jos.  Antt.  xii.  4,  §  10.  That  St.  Paul  wrote  other 
letters  to  the  Philippians  during  the  ten  years  which  had  elapsed  since  he 
visited  them,  and  that  he  may  have  written  other  letters  after  this,  is  not  only 
possible,  but  probable  ;  but  if  any  such  letters  had  survived  till  the  time  of 
Polycarp,  it  is  wholly  improbable  that  they  should  not  have  been  subsequently 
preserved. 

b  h  2 


420  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

of  whicli  lie  complains  toth  in  tliis  and  in  his  later 
imprisonment,  shows  that  much  could  not  be  hoped  from 
their  affection,  and  strangely  belied  the  zealous  respect 
with  which  they  had  come  thirty  or  forty  miles  to  meet 
and  greet  him.  It  is,  of  course,  possible  that  they  may 
have  been  willing  to  help  him,  but  that  he  declined  an 
assistance  respecting  which  he  was  sensitively  careful. 
But  the  Philippians  knew  and  valued  the  privilege  which 
had  been  accorded  to  them — and  perhaps  to  them  only — 
by  their  father  in  Christ — the  privilege  of  helping  him  in 
his  necessities.  It  was  a  custom  throughout  the  Empire 
to  alleviate  by  friendly  presents  the  hard  lot  of  prisoners,^ 
and  we  may  be  sure  that  when  once  the  Philippians  had 
heard  of  his  condition,  friends  like  Lydia,  and  other  con- 
verts who  had  means  to  spare,  would  seize  the  earliest 
opportunity  to  add  to  his  comforts.  Epaphroditus  arrived 
about  autumn,  and  flinging  himself  heartily  into  the 
service  of  the  Gospel — which  in  a  city  like  Rome  must 
have  required  the  fullest  energies  of  every  labourer — 
had  succumbed  to  the  unhealthiness  of  the  season,  and 
been  prostrated  by  a  dangerous  and  all  but  fatal  sick- 
ness. The  news  of  this  illness  had  reached  Philippi, 
and  caused  great  solicitude  to  the  Church.^  Whatever 
gifts  of  healing  were  entrusted  to  the  Apostles,  they  do 
not  seem  to  have  considered  themselves  at  liberty  to 
exercise  them  in  their  own  immediate  circle,  or  for  any 
ends  of  personal  happiness.  No  miracle  was  wrought, 
except  one  of  those  daily  miracles  which  are  granted  to 
fervent  prayer.^     Paul  had  many  trials  to  bear,  and  the 

^  Thus,  the  friends  of  Agrippa  had  helped  him  by  providing  him  with 
better  fare  and  accommodation  when  lie  was  imprisoned  by  Tiberius ;  and 
Lucian  relates  the  warmth  and  open-handeduess  with  which  the  Christians 
diminished  the  hardships,  and  even  shared  night  after  night  the  confinement 
of  Peregrinus.  ^  Phil.  ii.  26. 

3  Compare  what  Luther  said  of  Melancthon'a  sickness  and  recovery. 


GENUINENESS   OF   THE    EPISTLE.  421 

death  of  "  his  brother,  Epaphroditus,"  as  he  tenderly  calls 
him,  would  have  plunged  him  in  yet  deeper  sadness.  We 
cannot  doubt  that  he  pleaded  with  God  for  the  life  of  his 
sick  friend,  and  Grod  had  mercy  on  him.  Epaphroditus 
recovered ;  and  deeply  as  Paul  in  his  loneliness  and  dis- 
couragement would  have  rejoiced  to  keep  him  by  his  side, 
he  yielded  with  his  usual  unselfishness  to  the  yearning 
of  Epaphroditus  for  his  home,  and  of  the  Christians  of 
Philippi  for  their  absent  pastor.  He  therefore  sent  him 
back,  and  with  him  the  letter,  in  which  he  expressed  his 
thankfulness  for  that  constant  affection  which  had  so 
greatly  cheered  his  heart. 

And  thus  it  is  that  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  is 
one  of  the  least  systematic,  the  least  special  in  character, 
of  all  St.  Paul's  writings.  But  it  is  this  which  raises  the 
genuineness  of  the  letter,  not  indeed  beyond  cavil,  but 
far  beyond  all  reasonable  dispute.  The  Tubingen  school, 
in  its  earlier  stages,  attacked  it  with  the  monotonous 
arguments  of  their  credulous  scepticism.  With  those 
critics,  if  an  Epistle  touches  on  points  which  make  it 
accord  with  the  narrative  of  the  Acts,  it  was  forged  to 
suit  them;  if  it  seems  to  disagree  with  them,  the  dis- 
crepancy shows  that  it  is  spurious.  If  the  diction  is 
Pauline,  it  stands  forth  as  a  proved  imitation;  if  it  is 
un- Pauline,  it  could  not  have  proceeded  from  the  Apostle. 
The  notion  that  it  was  forged  to  introduce  the  name  of 
Clement  because  he  was  confused  with  Flavins  Clemens, 
and  because  Clement  was  a  fellow-worker  of  St.  Peter, 
and  it  would  look  well  to  place  him  in  connexion  with 
Paul — and  the  notion  that  in  Phil.  ii.  6  —  8  the  words 
form  and  shape  express  Gnostic  conceptions,  and  that  the 
verses  refer  to  the  Valentinian  ^on  Sophia,  who  aimed 
at  an  equality  with  God — are  partly  founded  on  total  mis- 
interpretations of  the  text,  and  are  partly  the  perversity 


422  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

of  a  criticism  which  has  strained  its  eyesight  to  such 
an  extent  as  to  become  utterly  purblind.^  This  Epistle 
is  genuine  beyond  the  faintest  shadow  or  suspicion  of 
doubt.  The  Philippian  Church  was  eminently  free 
from  errors  of  doctrine  and  irregularities  of  practice. 
No  schism  seems  to  have  divided  it;  no  heresies  had 
crept  into  its  faith ;  no  false  teachers  had  perverted 
its  allegiance.  One  fault,  and  one  alone,  seems  to  have 
needed  correction,  and  this  was  of  so  personal  and 
limited  a  character  that,  instead  of  denouncing  it,  Paul 
only  needs  to  hint  at  it  gently  and  with  affectionate 
entreaty.  This  was  a  want  of  unity  between  some 
of  its  female  members,  especially  Euodia  and  Syntyche, 
whom  Paul  begs  to  become  reconciled  to  each  other,  and 
whose  feud,  and  any  partisanship  which  it  may  have  en- 
tailed, he  tacitly  and  considerately  rebukes  by  the  constant 
iteration  of  the  word  "  all "  to  those  whom  he  can  only 
regard  as  one  united  body.  In  fact,  we  may  say  that 
disunion  and  despondency  were  the  main  dangers  to  which 
they  were  exposed;  hence  "all"  and  "rejoice"  are  the 
two  leading  words  and  thoughts.  But  this  absence  of 
any  special  object  makes  the  letter  less  doctrinally  dis- 
tinctive than  those  which  are  more  controversial  in 
character.  It  would,  indeed,  be  colourless  if  it  did  not 
receive  a  colouring  from  the  rich  hues  of  the  writer's 
individuality.  It  is  not,  like  the  First  Epistle  to  the 
Thessalonians,  a  consolation  to  the  afflicted,  by  reminding 
them  of  the  near  advent  of  their  Lord;  ^  or  a  series  of  re- 


^  Baur,  Paul.  ii.  50,  seqq.  Schwegler,  Nachapostol.  Zeital.  ii.  133,  seqq. 
The  three  arguments  are  :  (1)  Gnostic  conceptions  in  ii.  6 — 9 ;  (2)  want 
of  anything  distinctively  Pauline;  (3)  the  questionableness  of  some  of  the 
historic  data. 

*  The  topic  of  "  persecution  "  is  prominent  only  in  the  Epistles  to  the 
Macedonian  Churches.  It  had  led  the  Philippians  to  despondency;  the 
Thessalonians  to  a  mistaken /orm  of  hope. 


TONE   OF  THE   EPISTLE.  423 

plies  to  questions,  like  tlie  greater  part  of  the  First  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians;  nor  a  trumpet  note  of  defiance  to 
powerful  and  aggressive  opponents,  like  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians;  nor  a  treatise  of  theology,  like  the  Epistle  to 
the  Romans :  but  it  is  the  warm,  spontaneous  outpouring 
of  a  loving  heart  expressing  itself  with  unreserved  grati- 
tude and  tenderness  towards  the  favourite  children  of  his 
ministry.  If  it  exhibits  to  us  somewhat  less  than  other 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul's  peculiar  teaching,  it  has  this  high 
source  of  interest  that  it  shows  to  us  more  of  his  character 
and  feelings.  In  this  respect  it  somewhat  resembles  the 
Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  except  that  in  it 
St.  Paul  is  writing  to  those  who  were  kindest  and  most 
faithful  to  him,  whereas  towards  the  Corinthians  he  had 
little  cause  for  gratitude,  and  much  need  of  forbearance. 
Amid  the  trials  and  suspense  of  a  galling  imprisonment 
it  reveals  to  us,  not  directly,  but  as  it  were  unconsciously, 
the  existence  of  an  unquenchable  happiness — a  peace  as 
of  the  inmost  heart  of  the  ocean  under  the  agitation  of 
its  surface  storms.  It  was  dictated  by  a  worn  and  fettered 
Jew,  the  victim  of  gross  perjury,  and  the  prey  of  con- 
tending enmities ;  dictated  at  a  time  when  he  was  vexed 
by  hundreds  of  opponents,  and  consoled  but  by  few  who 
cared  for  him ;  and  yet  the  substance  of  it  all  may  be 
summed  up  in  two  words — %«tp«j  ^aipere  ("  I  rejoice ; 
rejoice  ye").  If  any  one  compare  the  spirit  of  the  best- 
known  classic  writers  in  their  adversity  with  that  which  was 
habitual  to  the  far  deeper  wrongs  and  far  deadlier  sufferings 
of  St.  Paul — if  he  will  compare  the  Epistle  to  the  Philip- 
pians  with  the  "  Tristia"  of  Ovid,  the  letters  of  Cicero  from 
exile,  or  the  treatise  which  Seneca  dedicated  to  Polybius 
from  his.  banishment  in  Corsica — he  may  see,  if  he  will,  the 
difference  which  Christianity  has  made  in  the  happiness 
of  man. 


CHAPTEE  XL VII. 

THE    EPISTLE   TO   THE    PHILIPPIANS. 

"  Summa  Epistolae— gaudeo,  gaudete." — Bengel. 

The  greeting  is  from  "  Paul  and  Timotheus,  slaves  of 
Jesus  Christ,  to  all  the  saints  who  are  in  Chi'ist  Jesus  in 
Philippi,  with  the  bishops  and  deacons."  Timothy  is 
naturally  associated  with  him  as  one  w4io  had  laboured  at 
Philippi,  but  so  little  is  he  supposed  to  have  any  share  in 
the  authorship  that  St.  Paul  afterwards  proceeds  to  speak 
of  him  in  the  third  person.  The  "  bishops "  {i.e.,  the 
presbyters)  and  deacons  are  specially  greeted,  perhaps 
because  they  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  collection  of 
the  contribution.  He  does  not  call  himself  an  apostle, 
because  to  them  no  assertion  of  his  authority  was  in  any 
way  needful.-^ 

The  thanksgiving  which  follows  is  unusually  full.  He 
tells  them  that  he  thanks  God  in  all  his  remembrance  of 
them,  always,  in  all  his  supplication  on  behalf  of  them  all, 
making  his  supplication  with  joy  for  their  united  work 
in  furtherance  of  the  Gospel  from  the  first  day  when  he 
had  visited  them — ten  years  ago — until  now;  and  he  is 

^  Phil.  i.  1,  2.  This  Epistle  may  be  thus  summarised: — i.  1,  2,  Greeting; 
i.  3 — 11,  Thanksgiving  and  prayer;  12 — 26,  Personal  details;  i.  27— ii.  16, 
Exhortation  to  unity  by  the  example  of  Christ;  ii.  17 — 30,  Personal  details; 
iii.  1,  2,  Last  injunction  suddenly  broken  off  by  a  digression  in  which  he 
denounces  Judaism  and  Antinouiianism ;  iii.  3 — iv.  1,  Exhortation  to  unity 
iv.  2,  3,  and  to  Christian  joy;  4 — 9,  Gratitude  for  their  aid;  iv.  10 — 20,  Final 
greetings  and  benediction ;  21 — 23,  The  unity  of  the  Epistle  (in  spite  of 
Heinrichs,  Weisse,  &c.)  is  generally  admitted. 


THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   PHILIPPLO'S.  425 

very  sure  that  God,  who  began  in  them  that  sacred  work 
of  co-operation  in  a  good  cause,  will  carry  it  on  to  per- 
fection until  the  day  of  Christ ;  ^  a  conviction  arising 
from  his  heartfelt  sense  that  they  were  all  of  them 
partakers  of  the  grace  which  God  had  granted  to  him, 
and  which  they  had  manifested  by  their  sympathetic  aid 
in  his  bondasfe,  and  in  the  defence  and  establishment  of 
the  Gospel.  God  knows  how  much  he  yearns  for  them 
in  Christ ;  and  his  prayer  for  them  is  that  their  love  may 
abound  more  and  more  in  full  knowledge  of  the  truth, 
and  all  insight  into  its  application,  so  that  they  may 
discriminate  all  that  is  best  and  highest,^  and  be  pure 
towards  God  and  blameless  towards  men,  for  the  day  of 
Christ,  having  been  filled  with  the  fruit  of  a  righteousness 
attainable  not  by  their  own  works  but  by  Jesus  Christ, 
for  the  glory  and  praise  of  God.^ 

They  must  not  suppose,  he  tells  them,  that  he  is  the 
Apostle  of  a  ruined  cause,  or  that  his  imprisonment  is  a 
sign  that  God's  frown  is  on  his  work,  and  that  it  is 
coming  to  nought;  on  the  contrary,  he  wants  them  to 
recognise  that  his  misfortunes  have  been  overruled  by  God 
to  the  direct  furtherance  of  the  Gospel.  The  necessity  of 
his  being  coupled  to  guardsman  after  guardsman,  day 
after  day  and  night  after  night,  had  resulted  in  the 
notoriety  of  his  condition  as  a  prisoner  for  Christ  among 
all  the  Praetorian  cohorts,^  and   to  everybody  else ;  and 

^  "It  is  not  God's  way  to  do  things  by  halves"  (Neander). 

^  Ver.  10,  So/ci/io^€tj'  ra.  iM^epovra.,  cf .  Rom.  ii.  18.  "  Non  modo  prae  malis 
bona,  sed  ex  malis  optima"  (Bengel).     "  Ut  probetis  potiora"  (Yulg.). 

3  i.  3—11. 

*  Yer.  13,  hv  2a.<jj  t^  ■Kpa.irwpii^.  The  word,  though  used  of.  royal  resi- 
dences in  the  provinces  (Mark  xv.  16 ;  Acts  xxiii.  35),  was  purposely  avoided 
at  Rome,  where  the  ostentation  of  a  military  despotism  was  carefully  kept  out 
of  sight  (Merivale,  vi.  268,  «.).  The  use  of  Prcetorium  (iirojierly  "  General's 
tent")  for  the  house  of  the  Emperor  on  the  Palatine  would  have  been  an 
insult  to  the  Romans.  The  contrast  with  toTs  \otTro7s  Traaiv  shows  ih&t  persotis 
are  meant  (lightfoot,  pp.  97 — 99 ;  Schleusuer,  s.v.). 


426  THE    LIFE    AKD   WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

tlie  majority  of  the  brethren  had  been  stimulated  by  his 
bonds  to  a  divine  confidence,  which  had  shown  itself  in  a 
yet  more  courageous  daring  than  before  in  preaching  the 
word  of  God.  Some  of  them  preach  Christ  out  of  genuine 
good  will,  but  some,  alas  !  tell  the  story  of  Christ  in- 
sincerely^ out  of  mere  envy  and  discord.  The  former 
are  influenced  by  love  to  him,  knowing  that  he  is  ap- 
pointed for  the  defence  of  the  Gospel ;  the  latter  an- 
nounce Christ  out  of  partisanship  with  base  motives, 
thinking  to  make  his  bonds  more  galling.^  Perhaps  the 
day  had  been  when  Paul  might  have  denounced  them 
in  tones  of  burning  rebuke ;  but  he  is  alread}^  Paul  the 
prisoner,  though  not  yet  Paul  the  aged.  He  had  learnt, 
he  was  learning  more  and  more,  that  the  wrath  of  man, 
even  in  a  holy  cause,  worketh  not  the  righteousness  of 
God ;  he  had  risen,  and  was  rising  more  and  more,  above 
every  personal  consideration.  What  mattered  it  whether 
these  preachers  meant  only  to  insult  him,  and  render  his 
bondage  yet  more  galling  ?  After  all,  "  in  every  way, 
whether  with  masked  design  or  in  sincerity,  Christ  is 
being  preached,  and  therein  I  do — aye,  and" — whatever 
angry  feelings  may  try  to  rise  within  my  heart — "  I  will 
rejoice."^ 

It  is  thus  that  the  Apostle  first  tramples  on  the  snake 
of  any  mere  personal  annoyance  that  may  strive  to  hiss  in 
his  sad  heart,  and  crushes  it  yet  more  vigorously  with  a 
determined  effort  if  its  hiss  still  tries  to  make  itself  heard. 
He  has  attained  by  this  time  to  a  holy  resignation. 

*  i.  15,  K-npvffo-ovcnv ;  16,  KarayyeWovaiv.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  change 
of  word  implies  as  much  as  Dean  Blakesley  seems  to  think  {Diet,  of  Bible, 
s.v.  Philipj)i).  'Epi0(la : — 1,  Working  for  hire ;  2,  Canvassing  of  hired  par- 
tisans; 3,  "Factiousness"  (Arist.  PoZ-if.  V.  3). 

2  Leg.  iyeipfiy  (n,  A,  B,  D,  F,  G). 

3  i.  12 — 18.  Perhaps  the  xap^^^oMa'  implies,  "  I  shall  in  the  long-run  have 
good  cause  to  rejoice ;  for,"  &c. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO  THE   PHILIPPIANS.  427 

"  For  I  know  that  this  trouble  will  turn  to  salvation  by  means  of  your 
prayer,  and  the  rich  outpouring  ^  of  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  accord- 
ance with  my  earnest  desire  ^  and  hope  that  with  all  outspokenness,  as 
always,  so  now  " — he  was  going  to  say,  "  I  may  magnify  Christ,"  but 
with  his  usual  sensitive  shrinking  from  any  exaltation  of  himself,  he 
substitutes  the  third  person,^  and  says,  "  So  now  Christ  shall  be  mag- 
nified* in  my  body,  whether  by  life  or  by  death.  For  to  me  to  live  is 
Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain.^  But  if  life  in  the  flesh  means  that  I  shall 
reap  the  fruit  of  labour  .  .  .  well,  what  to  choose  I  cannot  tell ; 
but  I  am  hard  pressed  by  the  alternatives.  I  desire  to  break  up  my 
earthly  camp,^  and  be  with  Christ,  for  it  is  very  far,  far  better ;  ®  but  to 
abide  by  this  earthly  life  is  more  necessary  for  your  sakes.  And  I  am 
confidently  persuaded  of  this,  that  I  shall  bide  and  abide  ^  with  you  all, 
for  the  advance  and  joy  of  your  faith,  that  by  a  second  stay  of  mine 
among  you  you  may  have  in  me  some  further  subject  for  you.r  Christian 
glorying."  » 

Only  in  any  case  lie  bids  them  play  worthily  the 
part,  not  only  of  Eoman  but  of  Christian  citizens,^  that, 
whether  he  came  and  saw  their  state,  or  only  heard  of  it 
at  a  distance,  he  might  know  that  they  stood  firm  in  one 
spirit,  with  one  heart,  fellow- wrestlers  with  the  Faith  in 
the  Gospel,  and  not  scared  in  anything  by  their  adver- 
saries— conduct  which  would  be  to  those  adversaries  a 
proof  of  their  ultimate  perdition,  and  to  themselves  of 
salvation;  an  evidence  from  God  Himself,  since,  thus, 
they  were  privileged  not  only  to  believe  in  Christ,  but  to 
suffer  for  Him,  as  sharers  in  a  contest  like  that  in  which 

1  Yer.  19,  imxopr,yla ;  Gal.  iii.  5 ;  2  Cor.  ix.  10  ;  Eph.  iv.  16 ;  2  Pet.  i.  5. 

2  Ver.  20,  airoKapaioKicw ;  Rom.  viii.  19 ;  ivirerafievn  irpoaloKia,  Chrys.  (See 
Jos.  B.  J.  iii.  7,  §  26,  and  Schleusner,  s.v.) 

3  Lightfoot,  Phil.  i.  20. 

<  "  Quicquid  vivo,  Christum  vivo  ...  In  Paulo  non  Paulus  vivit,  sed  Jesus 
Christus  "  (Bengel). 

'"  2  Cor.  V.  1 ;  iv.  6—8.  On  the  intermediate  state  of  the  dead,  see  1  Cor. 
XV.  51,  52. 

*  Ver.  23,  iroWy  iiaWov  Kpetffffov. 

7  ixfvu)    Ka\    wapafievw  (Lightfoot,  PJlil.  i.  25). 

*  i.  19 — 26.    Kavxvf^o.,  "  a  ground  of  boasting." 
»  Ver.  27,  noXiTevea-ee. 


428  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

they  saw  Paul  engaged  wlien  he  was  among  them,  and  in 
which  they  know  by  rumour  that  he  was  at  that  moment 
engaged.^ 

And  this  brings  him  to  one  main  object  of  his  letter, 
which  was  to  urge  on  them  this  earnest  entreaty : — 

"  If,  then,  tliei-e  be  any  appeal  to  you  in  Christ,  if  any  persuasive- 
ness in  love,  if  any  participation  in  the  Spirit,  if  any  one  be  heart  and 
compassionateness,^  complete  my  joy  by  thinking  the  same  thing,  having 
the  same  love,  heart-united,  thinking  one  thing.  Nothing  for  partisan- 
ship, nor  for  empty  personal  vanity !  but  in  lowliness  of  mind,^  each  of 
you  thinking  others  his  own  superiors,  not  severally  keeping  your  eye 
on  your  own  interests,  but,  also  severally,  on  the  interests  of  others.* 

''  Be  of  the  same  mind  in  yourselves  as  Christ  Jesus  was  in  Him- 
self, who  existing  in  the  form  (^nopcpij)  of  God,  deemed  not  equality  with 
God  a  thing  for  eager  seizure,^  but  emptied  Himself,  taking  the  form  of  a 
slave,  revealing  Himself  in  hunsan  semblance,  and  being  found  in  shape 
(^arxwart")  as  a  man,^  humbled  Himself,  showing  Himself  obedient  even  to 
death,  aye,  and  that  death — the  death  of  the  Cross." 

^  i.  27-30. 

^  ii.  1,  ei  Tis  ffirxdyxya  Kal  ohripfiol.  This  readmg  of  N,  A,  B,  0,  D,  E, 
F,  G,  K,  has  usually  been  treated  as  a  mere  barbarism.  So  it  is  gram- 
matically ;  but  the  greatest  writers,  and  those  who  most  deeply  stir  the  heart, 
constantly  make  grammar  give  way  to  the  rhetoric  of  emotion ;  and  if  St. 
Paul  in  his  eager  rush  of  words  really  said  it,  the  amanuensis  did  quite  right 
to  take  it  down.  Possibly,  too,  the  word  (nrKayxva  had  come  to  be  used  col- 
loquially like  a  collective  singular  (cf.  spoglia,  dcpouille,  bible,  &c.).  How 
entirely  it  had  lost  its  first  sense  we  may  see  from  the  dai-iug  evSva-aade  .  . 
arvKdyxva.  of  Col.  iii.  12. 

^  A  word  redeemed  from  the  catalogue  of  vices  (Col.  ii.  18 ;  Plato,  Legg. 
iv.,  p.  774 ;  Epict.  i.  3)  into  that  of  virtues. 

•*  ii.  1—4,  leg.  <TKoirovvTfs  («,  A,B,  F,  G). 

^  This  interpretation  of  the  Greek  Fathers  is  preferable  to  that  of  most 
of  the  Latin  Fathers,  followed  by  our  E.Y.  It  makes  ap-rrayfjibv  riyeTa-dai 
identical  in  meaning  with  the  common  phrase  apirayfxa  rjy.  =  "  to  clutch  at 
greedily."  Besides,  this  sense  is  demanded  by  the  whole  context  (ju^  ra  eavrwv 
ffKOTvelv).  This  is  the  passage  which  is  supposed  to  be  borrowed  from  the 
conception  of  the  Valentinian  ^on  Sophia,  who  showed  an  eccentric  and 
passionate  desire,  irpodWeffOai,  "  to  dart  forward ;  "  KeKotvaivria-eai  t^  irarpl  t^ 
rfKeitfi,  "  to  be  associated  with  the  Perfect  Father  ;  "  Ka7a\al3f7v  rh  /xeyeOos 
avTov,  to  grasp  His  greatness  !  (Iren.  Adv.  Haer.  i.  2,  2.) 

*  Baur  sees  Docetism  here,  as  he  saw  Valentinianism  in  A^or.  6  {Paul. 
ii.  15 — 21) ;  H-op<ph,  abiding  substantial  form  (Rom.  viii.  29  ;  Gal.  iv.  19);  <Txw'^t 
outward  transitoiy  fashion  (iii.  21 ;  Rom.  xii.  2  j  1  Cor.  vii.  31). 


THE  EPISTLE   TO  THE   PHILIPPIANS.  429 

Those  words  were  the  very  climax  ;  in  striving  to  urge 
on  the  Philippians  the  example  of  humility  and  unselfish- 
ness as  the  only  possible  bases  of  unity,  he  sets  before  them 
the  Di\'ine  lowliness  which  had  descended  step  by  step  into 
the  very  abyss  of  degradation.  He  tells  them  of  Christ's 
eternal  possession  of  the  attributes  of  God  ;  His  self- 
abnegation  of  any  claim  to  that  equality  ;  His  voluntary 
exinanition  of  His  glory  ;  His  assumption  of  the  essential 
attributes  of  a  slave  ;  His  becoming  a  man  in  all  external 
semblance ;  His  display  of  obedience  to  His  Father,  even 
to  death,  and  not  only  death,  but — which  might  well  thrill 
the  heart  of  those  who  possessed  the  right  of  Eoman  citi- 
zenship, and  were  therefore  exempt  from  the  possibility 
of  so  frightful  a  degradation — death  by  crucifixion.  Such 
were  the  elements  of  Christ's  self-abasement !  Yet  that 
self-humiliation  had  purchased  its  own  infinite  reward, 
for — 

"  Because  of  it  God  also  highly  exalted  Him,  and  freely  granted 
Him  the  name  above  every  name,  that  in  the  name  of  Jesus  every 
knee  should  bend  of  heavenly  and  earthly  and  subterranean  beings,  and 
every  tongue  gratefully  confess  ^  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory 
of  the  Father."  2 

Could  they  have  a  stronger  incentive  ?  In  his  absence, 
as  in  his  presence,  he  exhorts  them  to  maintain  their 
obedience,  and  work  out  their  own  salvation  with  fear 
and  trembling,  since  the  will  and  the  power  to  do  so  came 
alike  from  God.^  Let  them  lay  aside  the  murmurings 
and  dissensions  which  were  the  main  hindrance  to  their 
proving   themselves    blameless   and   sincere — children    of 

»  i^ofMo\oyf,ffnrat.    Cf .  Matt.  xi.  25  J  Luke  x.  21. 

«  ii.  9—11. 

3  Vers.  12,  13,  KarfpyaCfo-ee  .  .  .  6  &ehs  yap  .  .  Here  we  866  the  correlation 
of  Di\-ine  grace  and  human  effort.  Cf.  1  Cor.  ix.  24,  rpexere,  ha  KaraKd^riTe. 
Horn.  ix.  16,  oi/St  TOv  TpfX.ovTos,  aWa  rod  iXeovvTOS  Qeov. 


430  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

God,  iincensured  in  the  midst  of  a  crooked  and  distorted 
generation,  among  wliom  they  appeared  as  stars, ^  hold- 
ing forth  the  word  of  hfe,  so  as  to  secure  to  him  for 
the  day  of  Christ  a  subject  of  boast  that  he  neither  ran 
his  race  nor  trained  for  his  contest  to  no  purpose. 

"  Nay,  even  if  I  am  poured  out  as  a  libation  over  the  sacrifice  and 
free  offering  of  your  faith,^  I  rejoice  and  congratulate  you  all ;  and 
likewise  rejoice  ye  too,  and  congratulate  me."  ^ 

Perhaps,  then,  he  might  never  come  to  them  himself. 

"  But  I  hope  in  the  Lord  Jesus  speedily  to  send  Timotliy  to  you, 
that  he  in  turn  may  be  cheered  by  a  knowledge  of  your  fortunes.  For 
I  have  no  emissary  like  him — no  one  who  will  care  for  your  affairs  with 
so  genuine  an  earnestness.  For,"  he  sadly  adds,  "one  and  all  seek 
their  own  interests,  not  those  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  ye  remember  how 
he  stood  the  test,  since  as  a  son  for  a  father  he  slaved  with  me  for 
the  Gospel.  Him  then,  at  any  rate,  I  hope  to  send — as  soon  as  I  get 
a  glimpse  *  of  how  it  will  go  with  me — at  once.  But  I  feel  sure  in 
the  Lord  that  I  myself  top  shall  quickly  come.  I  think  it  necessary, 
however,  to  send  you  Epaphroditus,  my  brother,  and  fellow-labourer, 
and  fellow-soldier,^  the  messenger  whom  you  sent  to  minister  to  my 
need,  since  he  was  ever  yearning  for  you,  and  feeling  despondent 
because  you  heard  of  his  illness.  Yes,  he  was  indeed  ill  almost  to 
death ;  but  God  pitied  him,  and  not  him  only,  but  also  me,  that  I  may 
not  have  grief  upon  grief.  With  all  the  more  eagerness,  then,  I  send 
him,  that  you  may  once  more  rejoice  on  seeing  him,  and  I  may  be  less 
full  of  grief.  Welcome  him,  then,  in  the  Lord  with  all  joy,  and  hold 
such  as  him  in  honour,  because  for  the  sake  of  the  work  he  came  near 

1  4)a>(rT7Jp€s.  Gen.  i.  14 ;  Rev.  xxi.  11.  Bp.  Wordsworth  makes  it  mean 
"torches  in  the  dark,  narrow  streets." 

2  Cf .  2  Tim.  iv.  6.  Compare  the  striking  parallel  in  the  death  of  Seneca, 
Tac.  Ann.  xv.  64.  Some  make  ^iri,  not  "  over,"  but  "in  addition  to,"  because 
Jewish  libations  were  poured,  not  "  on,"  but  "  round  "  the  altar.  (Jos.  Antt. 
iii.  9,  §  4.)     But  the  allusion  may  be  to  Gentile  customs. 

^  ii.  14 — 18.  "We  are  reminded  of  the  messenger  who  brought  the  tidings 
of  the  battle  of  Marathon  expiring  on  the  first  threshold  with  these  words 
on  his  lips  :  xa^pe^e  koX  xaipofifv  (Plut.  Mor.,  p.  347)."     (Lightfoot,  ad  loc.) 

*  2Tim.ii.  3;  Philem.  2. 


A  STJDDElSr  BREAK.  431 

to  death,  playing  the  gambler  with  his  life,^  in  order  to  fill  up  the 
necessary  lack  of  your  personal  ministration  towards  me.^ 

"  For  the  rest,  my  brethren,  farewell,  and  indeed  fare  ye  well  in  the 
Lord.^  To  write  the  same  things  to  you  is  not  irksome  to  me,  and  for 
you  it  is  safe."  * 

Then  came  a  sudden  break.^  It  seems  clear  that  the 
Apostle  had  intended  at  this  point  to  close  the  letter,  and 
to  close  it  with  a  repetition  of  the  oft-repeated  exhorta- 
tion— for  which  he  half  apologises — to  greater  peace  and 
unity  among  themselves.^  It  is  quite  possible  that  these 
last  words  might  have  run  on,  as  they  do  in  the  First 
Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians,  to  a  considerable  length ;  '^ 
but  here  something  occurred  to  break  the  sequence  of  the 
Apostle's  thoughts.  When  he  returned  to  his  dictation 
he  began  a  digression  far  more  severe  and  agitated  in  its 
tone  than  the  rest  of  his  letter,  and  he  does  not  resume  the 
broken  thread  of  his  previous  topic  till  the  second  verse 
of  the  fourth  chapter,  where,  instead  of  any  general  ex- 
hortation, he  makes  a  direct  personal  appeal. 

As  to  the  nature  of  the  interruption  we  cannot  even 
conjecture.  It  may  have  been  merely  a  change  of  the 
soldier  who  was  on  guard ;  but  in  the  exigencies  of  a  life 
which,  though  that  of  a  prisoner,  was  yet  fully  occupied, 
many  circumstances  may  have  caused  a  little  delay  before 

1  irapa$o\fv<rdfxevos  («,  A,  B,  D,  E,  F,  G).  It  is  Used  especially  of  one  who 
endangers  his  life  by  attendance  on  the  sick  (parabolani).   (Wetst.  ad  loc.) 

2  ii.  19-30. 

'  I  have  tried  to  keep  up  the  two  meanings  of  "  farewell "  and  "  rejoice." 

4  iii.  1. 

•  Ewald,  Sendschr.,  p.  438. 

^  This  is  the  simplest  and  most  reasonable  explanation  of  rh  avrii.  ypd(pfit/, 
and  accords  with  St.  Paul's  custom  of  a  concluding  warning  (1  Cor.  xvi.  22  ; 
Gal.  vi.  15,  &c.),  or  it  may  refer  to  the  topic  of  joy  (i.  18,  25  ;  ii.  17  ; 
iv.  4).  It  has  led  to  all  sorts  of  hypotheses.  St.  Paul  had  doubtless  written 
other  letters  to  the  Philippians  (the  natural  though  not  the  necessary  in- 
ference from  Kal  aiTODv  vjuv  (ypa^^ifv  ini(TTo\ds — Polyc.  od  Phil.  3),  but  these 
words  do  not  show  it.     (F.  supra,  p.  419.) 

»  1  Thess.  iv.  1. 


432  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

everything  could  be  reacty,  and  the  amanuensis  once  more 
at  his  post.  And  meanwhile  something  had  occurred 
which  had  ruffled  the  Apostle's  soul — nay,  rather  which 
had  disturbed  it  to  its  inmost  depths.  That  something 
can  only  have  been  a  conflict,  in  some  form  or  other,  with 
Judaising  teachers.  Something  must  either  have  thrown 
hiiti  in  contact  with,  or  brought  to  his  notice  the  character 
and  doctrine  of  false  Apostles,  of  the  same  class  as  he  had 
encountered  at  Corinth,  and  heard  of  in  the  Churches 
of  Gralatia.  Once  more  the  thoughts  and  tone  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Gralatians,  the  truths  and  arguments  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Eomans,  swept  in  a  storm  of  emotion  over 
his  soul ;  and  it  is  with  a  burst  of  indignation,  stronger 
for  the  moment  than  he  had  ever  before  expressed,  that, 
on  once  more  continuing  his  letter,  he  bids  Timothy  write 
to  the  still  uncontaminated  Church  : — 

"  Beware  of  the  dogs  !  ^  Beware  of  the  bad  workers  !  ^  Beware  of 
the  concision  party  1  "^ 

The  words  are  intensely  severe.  He  implies,  "  They  call 
us  dogs,  but  they,  not  we,  are  the  veritable  dogs;  and 
we,  not  they,  are  the  true  circumcision.  Their  circum- 
cision is  but  concision — a  mere  mutilation  of  the  flesh. 
We  serve  by  the  Spirit  of  God  * — they  serve  ordinances ; 
we  boast  in  Christ  Jesus — they  do  but  trust  in  the  flesh." 
And  why  should  they  put  themselves  into  rivalry  with 
him?     If  the  external  were  anything  in  which  to  place 

^  Generally  used  of  Gentiles  and  Hellenising  Jews  (Matt.  xv.  26),  in- 
volving a  coarse  shade  of  reproach  (Deut.  xxiii.  18 ;  Rev.  xxii.  15).  We  cannot 
be  sure  of  the  allusion  here. 

2  Cf .  2  Cor.  xi.  13 ;  Matt,  xxiii.  15. 

'  wepiTOfiT],  Kararofih  would  be  in  Latin  "  circumcisi,"  "  decisi  "  ( Curti,  Hor. 
Sat.  i.  9,  70) ;  in  German,  Beschnittene,  Zerschnittene.  "  Concision  "  means 
circumcision  regarded  as  a  mere  mutilation.  Of.  Acts  vii.  51 ;  Rom.  iii. 
25—29;  Col.  ii.  11;  Ezek.  xliv.  7 ;   Deut.  x.  16. 

»  iii.  3,  \aTp^vovTis,  intr.  Luke  ii.  37 ;  Acts  xivi.  7. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPIANS.  433 


confidence,  lie  could  claim  it  in  even  a  oreater  decree  than 
any  one  else.  He  liad  been  circumcised  when  eight  days 
old ;  he  was  an  Israelite,  and  of  one  of  the  noblest  tribes 
of  Israel,  and  not  a  mere  Hellenist,  but  a  Hebrew — aye, 
and  a  Hebrew  of  Hebrews ;  ^  and — to  pass  from  hereditary 
to  personal  topics  of  carnal  boasting — as  regards  Law,  he 
was  a  Pharisee ;  as  regards  Judaic  enthusiasm,  he  had 
even  persecuted  the  Church  ;  as  regards  legal  righteous- 
ness, he  had  j)roved  himself  above  all  reproach.  Things 
like  these  were  at  one  time  the  gains  w^hich  he  reckoned 
that  life  had  brought  him,  but  now  for  Christ's  sake  he 
had  got  to  count  them  as  a  loss. 

"Aye,  and  more  than  that,  I  even  count  all  things  to  be  a  loss 
for  the  sake  of  the  transcendence  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus, 
my  Lord,  for  whose  sake  I  was  mulcted  of  all  things,^  and  I  regard 
them  as  refuse  flung  to  dogs,''  that  I  may  gain  Christ,  and  may  be  found 
in  Him,  not  having  any  righteousness  of  mine  which  is  of  Law,  but  that 
which  is  by  means  of  faith  in  Christ,  that  which  comes  of  God,  which 
is  based  on  faith,*  that  I  may  know  Him,  and  the  power  of  His 
resurrection,  and  the  fellowship  of  His  sufierings,  being  conformed  to 
His  death,  if  so  be  I  may  attain  to  the  resurrection  (I  mean  not  the 
general  resun-ection,  but  the  resurrection  of  those  that  are  Christ's)  from 
the  dead."  ^ 

And  yet,  as  he  goes  on  to  warn  them — though  he  had 
all  this  pregnant  ground  for  confidence  in  externalisms, 
though  he  had  rejected  it  all  for  the  sake  of  Clirist  as 
mere  foul  and  worthless  rubbish,  though  his  whole  trust  was 

^  iii.  5.  A  proselyte,  son  of  a  proselyte,  was  called  a  Ger  hen-ger,  but 
Paul  was  '^^i?  ]3  nir.     {Pir1:e  Abhoth,  v.) 

-  May  this  refer  to  some  sudden  loss  of  all  earthly  means  of  living  at  his 
conversion  ? 

3  Ver.  8,  ffKv0a\a.  In  derivation  perhaps  from  root  o-kut,  but  in  usage 
=  Kvffi&aXa  (Snid.).  Some  prefer  the  technical  seuse  of  the  word  =  "  excre- 
meuta  "  (Theodoret). 

■•  Ver.  9,  Sia,  irlffTews  .  .    .   €/c  BeoO  .   .   .    enl  Ty  Trio-rei. 

*  iii.  2 — 11,  leg.  tJj*/  4k  veKpwv  («,  A,  B,  D,  E). 

C  C 


434  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

now  in  Christ's  rigliteonsness,  and  not  in  his  own — so  far 
was  he  even  still  from  the  secure  and  vaunting  confidence 
of  their  adversaries,  that  he  did  not  at  all  consider  that  he 
had  grasped  the  prize,  or  had  been  already  perfected  : — 

"  But  I  press  forward  to  see  if  I  may  even  grasp — for  whicli  purpose^ 
I  too  was  grasped  by  Christ.  Brothers,  I  do  not  reckon  myself  to 
have  grasped  ;  but  one  thing — forgetting  the  things  behind,  and  leaning 
eagerly  forward  for  the  things  before,  I  press  forward  to  the  goal  for  the 
prize  of  my  heavenly  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus." 

He  is  like  one  of  those  eager  charioteers  of  whom 
his  guardsmen  so  often  talked  to  him  when  they  had 
returned  from  the  contests  in  the  Circus  Maximus,  and 
joined  their  shouts  to  those  of  the  myriads  who  cheered 
their  favourite  colours — leaning  forward  in  his  flying  car, 
bending  over  the  shaken  rein  and  the  goaded  steed,  for- 
getting everything — every  peril,  every  competitor,  every 
circling  of  the  meta  in  the  rear,  as  he  pressed  on  for  the 
goal  by  which  sat  the  judges  with  the  palm  garlands  that 
formed  the  prize. ^ 

"  Let  all,  then,  of  us  who  are  full  grown  in  spiritual  privileges  have 
this  mind  ;  then  if  in  any  other  respect  ye  think  otherwise^  than  ye  should, 
this  shall  God  reveal  to  you ;  only  walk  in  the  same  path  to  the  point 
whereunto  we  once  reached."^ 

And  as  a  yet  further  warning  against  any  danger  of 
their  abusing  the  doctrine  of  the  free  gift  of  grace  by 
antinomian  practices,  he  adds — 

"  Show  yourselves,  brethren,  imitators  of  me,  and  mark  those  who 
walk  as  ye  have  us  for  an  example.     For  many  walk  about  whom  I 

1  iip'S,  may  also  mean  "because  "  (2  Cor.  v.  4) ;  or  there  may  be  an  ellipse 
of  the  accusative  after  KaToAd^w,  as  in  the  E.Y. 

2  "  Non  progredi  est  regrodi "  (Aug.). 

3  ertpm,  used  euphemistically  {=  xaKoii,  Od.  i.  2Si,  Oa-Tepov  =  rhKaKSv). 
So  the  Hebrew  "  acheer."  The  meauiug  is,  If  you  have  the  heai-t  of  the 
matter,  God  will  enlighten  you  in  non-essentials. 

■•  iii.  12 — 16,  omit  kuvSvi,  to  avrh  tppovuv  (N,  A,  B). 


/ 

) 

THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPIANS.  435 

often  used  to  tell  you,  and  now  tell  you  even  with  tears — the  enemies  of 
the  cross  of  Christ,  whose  end  is  destruction,  whose  god  their  belly,  and 
their  glory  in  their  shame,  men  minding  earthly  things.  For  our  real 
citizenship  is  in  heaven,  whence  also  we  anxiously  await  as  a  Saviour 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  change  the  fashion  of  the  body  of  our 
abasement  so  as  to  be  conformable  to  the  body  of  His  glory,^  according 
to  the  efficacy  of  His  power  to  subject  also  every  existing  thing  unto 
Himself  So,  my  brethren,  beloved  and  longed  for,  my  joy  and  crown, 
so  stand  ye  firm  in  the  Lord,  beloved."  ^ 

Then  after  this  long  digression,  which,  beginning  in 
strong  indignation,  calms  itself  down  to  pathetic  appeal, 
he  once  more  takes  up  the  exhortation  to  unity  with 
which  he  had  intended  to  conclude.  He  entreats  two 
ladies,  Euodia  and  Syntyche,  to  unity  of  mind  in  Christ, 
and  he  also  affectionately  asks  Syzygus^ — on  whose  name 
of  "  yokefellow  "  he  plays,  by  calling  him  a  genuine  yoke- 
fellow—  a  yokefellow  in  heart  as  well  as  in  name'* — to 
assist  these  ladies  in  making  up.  their  quarrel,  which  was 
all  the  more  deplorable  because  of  the  worth  of  them 
both,  seeing  that  they  wrestled  with  him  in  the  Gospel, 
with  Clement  too,  and  the  rest  of  his  fellow-workers  whose 
names  are  in  the  Book  of  Life.^ 


*  Ver.  21,  nera.ffxni'-o-'rtfffi     ...     (rifjifiop<pov ;  ii,  6. 
2  iii.  17— iv.  1. 

^  iv.  3,  yvh<Tie  'ZvCvye.    Clement  of  Alexandria  seems  to  have  taken  the 

word    to    mean    Paul's    loife,    ovk   OKve?    tt;^    avrov    irpoaayopeveiv  (Tv(vyov    rfjv  ov 

irepifKSfjLiCfv  {Strom,  iii.  6,  53),  of.  Euseb.  H.  E.  iii.  30.  Reuan  (p.  145)  thinks 
it  was  Lydia.  Why  is  she  not  saluted  ?  If  Lydia  be  merely  a  Gentilic  name 
she  may  be  one  of  those  two  ladies,  or  she  may  have  been  dead. 

*  Schwcgler  thinks  that  this  is  intended  to  be  taken  as  an  allusion  to  the 
Apostle  Peter !  The  play  on  names  is  quite  in  St.  Paul's  manner.  The  only 
difficulty  is  that  Syzygus  does  not  occur  elsewhere  as  a  name. 

*  iv.  2,  3.  Baur's  wild  conjecture  (?)  about  Clement — that  the  whole  story 
of  his  Romish  Episcopate  is  invented  to  give  respectability  to  the  early  Chris- 
tians, by  insinuating  his  identity  with  the  Consular  Flavius  Clemens,  and  that 
the  whole  of  this  Epistle  is  forged  to  lead  up  to  this  passing  allusion — looks 
almost  tame  beside  Volkmar's  hypothesis  (?)  about  Euodia  and  Syntyche — viz., 
that  Euodia="  orthodoxy,"  the  Petriue  party,  and  Syntyche,  "the  partner "= 

c  c  2 


436  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

"  Fare  ye  well  always ;  again  I  will  say,  fare  ye  well.  Let  your 
reasonableness  be  recognised  by  all  men.  Be  anxious  about  nothing, 
but  in  everything,  in  your  general  and  special  pi'ayers,  with  thanks- 
giving, let  your  requests  be  made  known  before  God.  Then  shall  the 
peace  of  God,  which  surpasseth  all  understanding,  keep  sentry  over  your 
hearts,  and  the  devices  of  your  hearts,  in  Christ  Jesus. 

"  Finally,  brethren,  whatsoever  things  are  real,  whatsoever  things 
are  awful,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  what- 
soever things  are  amiable,  whatsoever  things  are  winning,  if  '  virtue,'  ^ 
if  '  honour,'  have  a  real  meaning  for  you,  on  these  things  meditate. 
The  things  which  ye  both  learned  and  received,  both  heard  and  saw 
in  me,  these  things  do,  and  the  God  of  peace  shall  be  with  you."^ 

Then  comes  the  warm,  yet  delicate,  expression  of  his 
heartfelt  gratitude  to  them  for  the  pecuniary  contribution 
by  which  now,  for  the  fourth  time,  they,  and  they  only, 
had  supplied  the  wants  which  he  could  no  longer  meet  by 
manual  labour. 

"  One  word  more  : — I  rejoiced  in  the  Lord  greatly,  that  now  once 
more  your  thought  on  my  behalf  blossomed  afresh.^  In  this  matter  ye 
were  indeed  bearing  me  in  mind,  but  ye  were  without  opportunity. 
Not  that  I  speak  with  reference  to  deficiency,  for  I  learnt  to  be  always 
independent  in  existing  circumstances.  I  know  how  both  to  be 
humiliated,  and  I  know  how  to  abound.  In  everything  and  in  all 
things  I  have  been  initiated  how  both  to  be  satisfied  and  to  be  hungry, 
both  to  abound  and  to  be  in  need.  I  am  strong  for  everything  in  Him 
who  gives  me  power.  Still  ye  did  well  in  making  yourselves  partakers 
in  my  affliction.  And  ye  know  as  well  as  I  do,  Philippians,  that  in  the 
beginning  of  the  Gospel,  when  I  went  forth  from  Macedonia,  no  Church 
communicated  with  me  as  regards  giving  and  receiving,  except  ye  only, 
for  even  in  Thessalonica  both  once  and  twice  ye  sent  to  my  need — not 

the  Pauline  party !     Clement,  though  a  Philippiau,  may  possibly  be  identical 
with  "  Clement  of  Rome  "  (Orig.  in  Joann.  i.  29 ;  Euseb.  R.  E.  iii.  15,  &c.) ; 
we  cannot  even  say  "  probably,"  because  the  name  is  exceedingly  common. 
^  iv.  8,  dperri,  here  alone  in  St.  Paul. 

2  iv.  4—9. 

3  Ver.  10,  dvee&Kere,  hterally,  "  ye  blossomed  again  to  think  on  my 
behalf."  Chrysostom  says,  3tj  'irp6rtpov  ovres  dyOripo]  i^ripdve-na-av,  which  is  to 
touch  the  metaphor  with  an  Ithmiel  spear  {Be^ullulastis,  Aug. ;  Bejloruistis, 
Yulg.). 


(  THE    CHURCH    OF    PHILIPPI.  437 

that  I  am  on  the  look-out  for  the  gift,  but  I  am  on  the  look-out  for  the 
fruit  which  abounds  to  your  account.  Now,  however,  I  have  all  things 
to  the  fuU,^  and  I  abound.  I  have  been  fulfilled  by  receiving  from 
Epaphroditus  the  gifts  you  sent,  an  odour  of  sweet  fragrance,  a  sacrifice 
acceptable,  well-pleasing  to  God.-  But  my  God  shall  fulfil  all  your  need 
according  to  His  riches,  in  glory,  in  Christ  Jesus.  Now  to  our  God 
and  Father  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen.^ 

"  Salute  every  saint  in  Christ  Jesus.  The  .brethren  with  me  salute 
you.  All  the  saints  salute  you,  and  especially*  those  of  Caesar's  house- 
hold.5 

"  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  your  spirit." 


No  great  future  awaited  the  Pliilippian  Chnrcli.  Half 
a  century  later,  Ignatius  passed  through  Philippi  with  his 
"ten  leopards,"  on  his  way  to  martyrdom ;  and  Polycarp 
wrote  to  the  Church  a  letter  which,  like  that  of  St.  Paul, 
is  'full  of  commendations.  Little  more  is  heard  of  it. 
Its  site  is  still  occupied  by  the  wretched  village  of 
Filibidjek,  but  in  spite  of  the  fair  promise  of  its  birth, 
"  the  Church  of  Philippi  has,"  in  the  inscrutable  counsel 
of  Grod,  "  lived  without  a  history,  and  perished  without 
a  memorial."^ 

^  Yer.  18,  &Te'x«.  (Matt.  vi.  2.)  The  word  is  used  for  "  giving  receipt  in 
full." 

2  Gen.  viii.  21. 
8  iv.  10—20. 

*  Why  especially  ?    It  is  impossible  to  say. 

*  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  slaves  would  be  counted  by 
thousands— atrienses,  cuhicularii,  secretarii,  lectores,  introductores,  nomen- 
clatores,  dispensatores,  silentiarii  (to  keep  the  others  quiet),  &c.  &c.,  and  even 
slaves  to  tell  the  master  the  names  of  his  other  slaves  !  We  read  of  Romans 
who  had  20,000  slaves.  Four  thousand  was  no  veiy  extraordinary  number 
(Sen.  De  Vit.  Beat.  17  ;  Plin.  H.  N.  xxxiii.  10  j  Athen.  vi.,  p.  272). 

«  Lightfoot,  p.  64 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

GNOSTICISM     IN     THE     GERM. 

O  ,   KaGairep  &v  ris    elKaaeie,    avdpdiTTOis   6irrjpfTr]V    rtva    irefjiy^as   ^    &'yye\ov    oX\' 
stxiThv  rbv  rex^'^'^'V^  f*^  Srifj-iovpyhv  tS>v  '6\wv. — Ep.  ad  Diognet.  7. 

The  remaining  three  of  the  Epistles  of  the  Captivity 
were  written  within  a  short  time  of  each  other,  and 
were  despatched  by  the  same  messengers.  Tychicus  was 
the  bearer  of  those  to  the  Ephesians  and  Colossians. 
Onesimus,  who  naturally  took  the  letter  to  Philemon, 
was  sent  at  the  same  time  with  him,  as  appears  from  the 
mention  of  his  name  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians. 
In  both  of  these  latter  Epistles  there  is  also  a  message  for 
Archippus. 

There  is  nothing  but  internal  evidence  to  decide  which 
of  these  letters  was  written  first.  The  letter  to  Philemon 
was,  however,  a  mere  private  appendage  to  the  Epistle 
to  the  Colossians,  which  may  have  been  written  at  any 
time.  The  letter  to  this  Church  must  claim  the  priority 
over  the  circular  Epistle  which  is  generally  known  as 
the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  The  reason  for  this  opinion 
is  obvious  —  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  was  called 
forth  by  a  special  need,  the  other  Epistle  was  not.  It 
is  in  exact  psychological  accordance  with  the  peculiarities 
of  St.  Paul's  mind  and  style  that  if,  after  writing  a 
letter  which  was  evoked  by  particular  circumstances,  and 
led  to  the  development  of  particular  truths,  he  utilised 
the  opportunity  of  its  despatch  to  send  another  letter, 
which  had  no  such  immediate  object,  the  tones  of 
the  first  letter  would  still  vibrate  in  the  second.     When 


COLOSSIANS    AND    "EPHESIANS."  439 

lie  liad  discliarged  his  immediate  duty  to  the  Church  of 
Colossse,  the  topics  dwelt  upon  in  writing  to  the  neigh- 
bouring Churches  would  be  sure  to  bear  a  close  resem- 
blance to  those  which  had  most  recently  been  occupy- 
ing his  thoughts.  Even  apart  from  special  information, 
St.  Paul  may  have  seen  the  desirability  of  warning 
Ephesus  and  its  dependencies  against  a  peril  which  was 
infusing  its  subtle  presence  within  so  short  a  distance 
from  them ;  and  it  was  then  natural  that  his  language 
to  them  should  be  marked  by  the  very  differences  which 
separate  the  Ej)istle  to  the  Colossians  from  that  to  the 
Ephesians.  The  former  is  specific,  concrete,  and  polemical ; 
the  latter  is  abstract,  didactic,  general.  The  same  v^ords 
and  phrases  predominate  in  both ;  but  the  resemblances  are 
far  more  marked  and  numerous  in  the  practical  exhorta- 
tions than  in  the  doctrinal  statements.  In  the  Epistle  to 
the  Colossians  he  is  primarily  occupied  with  the  refutation 
of  an  error ;  in  that  to  the  Ephesians  he  is  absorbed  in 
the  raptui'ous  development  of  an  exalted  truth.  The 
main  theme  of  the  Colossians  is  the  Person  of  Christ ; 
that  of  the  Ephesians  is  the  life  of  Christ  manifested 
in  the  living  energy  of  His  Church.^  In  the  former, 
Christ  is  the  "  Plenitude,"  the  synthesis  and  totality  of 
every  attribute  of  God;  in  the  latter,  the  ideal  Church, 
as  the  body  of  Christ,  is  the  Plenitude,  the  recipient  of 
all  the  fulness  of  Him  who  fiUeth  all  things  with  all.^ 
Christ's  person  is  most  prominent  in  the  Colossians; 
Christ's  bod}^  the  Church  of  Christ,  in  the  Ephesians. 

The  genuineness  of  these  two  letters  has  been 
repeatedly  and  formidably  assailed,  and  the  grounds  of 
the  attack  are  not  by  any  means    so  fantastic  as  those 

1  Col.  ii.  19 ;  Eph.  iv.  16. 

2  Col.  i.  19;  ii.  9;  Eph.  i.  23;  iii.  19;  iv.  13.  (John  i.  14,  16.)  German 
writers  express  the  difference  by  saying  that  ChristlichJceit  is  more  pro- 
minent in  the  Colossians,  Kirchliclikeit  in  the  Ephesians. 


440  THE    LIFE   AND    WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

on  which  other  letters  have  been  rejected  as  spurious. 
To  dwell  at  length  on  the  external  evidence  is  no  part 
of  my  scheme,  and  the  grounds  on  which  the  internal 
evidence  seems  to  me  decisive  in  their  favour,  even  after 
the  fullest  and  frankest  admission  of  all  counter-diffi- 
culties, will  best  appear  when  we  have  considered  the 
events  out  of  which  they  spring,  and  which  at  once 
shaped,  and  are  sufficient  to  account  for,  the  peculiarities 
by  which  they  are  marked. 

Towards  the  close  of  St.  Paul's  Eoman  in'.prisonment, 
when  his  approaching  liberation  seemed  so  all  but  certain 
that  he  even  requests  Philemon  to  be  getting  a  lodging  in 
readiness  for  him,  he  received  a  visit  from  Epaphras  of 
Colossse.  To  hitn,  perhaps,  had  been  granted  the  distin- 
guished honour  of  founding  Churches  not  onlj'-  in  his 
native  town,  but  also  in  Laodicea  and  Hierapolis,  which  lie 
within  a  distance  of  sixteen  miles  from  each  other  in  the 
valley  of  the  Lycus.  That  remarkable  stream  resembles 
the  Anio  in  clothing  the  country  through  Avhich  it  flows 
with  calcareous  deposits ;  and  in  some  parts  of  its  course, 
especially  near  Colossal,  it  flowed  under  natural  bridges  of 
gleaming  travertine  deposited  by  its  own  w^aters,  the  course 
of  which  was  frequently  modified  by  this  peculiarity,  and 
by  the  terrific  earthquakes  to  which  the  valle}^  has  always 
been  liable.  The  traveller  who  followed  the  course  of  the 
Lycus  in  a  south-eastward  direction  from  the  valley  of 
the  Marauder  into  which  it  flows,  would  first  observe  on 
a  plateau,  which  rises  high  above  its  northern  bank,  the 
vast  and  splendid  city  of  Hierapolis,  famous  as  the  birth- 
place of  him  who  in  Nicopolis 

"  Taught  Arrian  -when  Vespasian's  brutal  son 
Cleaved  Rome  of  what  most  shamed  him  " — ^ 

^  Epictetiis    was  a  conteinporary  of    the  Apostle.     As  to  the  Clu'istiau 
tiugo  of  Ills  Stoic  speculations,  see  my  Seelcers  after  God. 


CITIES    ON   THE    LTCUS.  441 

and  famous  also  for  the  miraculous  properties  of  tlie 
mepliitic  spring  whose  exhalations  could  be  breathed 
in  safety  by  the  priests  of  Cybele  alone.  About  six 
miles  further,  upon  the  southern  bank  of  the  river,  he 
would  see  Laodicea,  the  populous  and  haughty  metropolis 
of  the  "  Cibyratic  jurisdiction,"  which  alone  of  the  cities 
of  proconsular  Asia  was  wealthy  and  independent  enough 
to  rebuild  its  streets  and  temples  out  of  its  own  resources, 
when,  within  a  year  of  the  time  at  which  these  letters 
were  wi'itten,  an  earthquake  had  shaken  it.^  Passing  up 
the  valley  about  ten  miles  further,  he  might  before  sunset 
reach  Colossae,  a  town  far  more  anciently  famous  than 
either,  but  which  had  fallen  into  comparative  decay,  and 
was  now  entirely  eclipsed  by  its  thriving  and  ambitious 
neighbours.^ 

This  remarkable  valley,  and  these  magnificent  cities, 
St.  Paul,  strange  to  say,  had  never  visited.  Widely  as 
the  result  of  his  preaching  at  Ephesus  had  been  dissemi- 
nated throughout  Asia,  his  labours  for  the  Ephesian 
Church  had  been  so  close  and  unremitting  as  to  leave 
him  no  leisure  for  wider  missionary  enterprise.^  And 
although  Jews  abounded  in  these  cities,  the  divinely 
guided  course  of  his  previous  travels  had  not  brought  him 
into  this  neighbourhood.  It  is  true  that  St.  Luke  vaguely 
tells  us  that  in  the  second  missionary  journey,  St.  Paul 
had  passed  through  "  the  Phrygian  and  Galatian  country,"* 
and  that  in  the  shifting  ethnological  sense  of  the  term  the 
cities  of  the  Lycus-valley  might  be  regarded  as  Phrygian. 

^  Tac.  Ann.  xiv.  27, "  propriis  opibiis  revaluit."  Rev.  iii.  14.  Cicero,  who 
resided  there  as  Proconsul  of  Cilicia,  frequently  refers  to  it  in  his  letters. 

2  Now  Chonos.  Dr.  Liglitf oot  calls  it  "  the  least  important  Church  to 
which  any  Epistle  of  St.  Paul  was  addressed"  {Col.  p.  16). 

3  Acts  XX.  31. 

*  Acts  xvi.  6.  In  Acts  xyiii.  23  the  order  is  "  the  Galatian  country  and 
Phrygia."  In  the  former  instance  he  was  travelling  from  Antioch  in  Pisidia 
to  Troas ;  in  the  latter  from  Antioch  in  Syria  to  Ephesus. 


442  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

But  the  expression  seems  rather  to  mean  that  the  course 
of  his  journey  lay  on  the  ill-defined  marches  of  these  two 
districts,  far  to  the  north  and  east  of  the  Lycus.  In  his 
thii'd  journey  his  natural  route  from  the  cities  of  Galatia 
to  Ephesus  would  take  him  down  the  valleys  of  the 
Hermus  and  Cayster,  and  to  the  north  of  the  mountain 
range  of  Messogis  which  separates  them  from  the  Lycus 
and  Mseander.  From  St.  Paul's  own  expression  it  seems 
probable  that  the  Churches  in  these  three  cities  had  been 
founded  by  the  labours  of  Epaphras,  and  that  they  had 
never  "  seen  his  face  in  the  flesh  "  at  the  time  when  he 
ivTote  these  Epistles,  though  it  is  not  impossible  that  he 
subsequently  visited  them.^ 

And  yet  he  could  not  but  feel  the  deepest  interest  in 
their  welfare,  because,  indirectly  though  not  directly,  he 
had  been  indeed  their  founder.  Ephesus,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  a  centre  of  commerce,  of  worship,  and  of  political  pro- 
cedure ;  and  among  the  thousands  "both  Jews  and  Grreeks" 
"  almost  throughout  all  Asia,"  who  heard  through  his 
preaching  the  word  of  the  Lord,^  must  have  been  Phile- 
mon,^ his  son,  Archippus,  and  Epaphras,  and  Nymphas, 
who  were  leading  ministers  of  the  Lycus  Churches.* 

And  there  was  a  special  reason  why  St.  Paul  should  write 
to  the  Colossian  Christians.  Philemon,  who  resided  there, 
had  a  worthless  slave  named  Onesimus — a  name  which, 
under  the  circumstances,  naturally  lent  itself  to  a  satiric  play 
of  words  ;  for  instead  of  being  "  Beneficial,"  he  had  been 
very  much  the  reverse,  having  first  (apparently)  robbed  his 
master,  and  then  run  away  from  him.  Eome  was  in  ancient 
days  the  most  likely  place  to  furnish  a  secure  refuge  to  a 
guilty  fugitive,  and  thither,  even  more  than  to  modern 
London,   drifted  inevitably  the  vice    and  misery  of   the 

1  Col.  i.  4,  6,  9 ;  ii.  1.  ^  Acts  xix.  10—26. 

8  Philem.  1,  2.  *  Col.  iv.  12,  13,  15. 


ONESIMUS    AND    EPAPHRAS.  443 

world.  Philemon  was  a  Christian,  and  some  access  of 
wretchedness,  or  danger  of  starvation,  may  have  driven 
the  runaway  slave  to  fling  himself  on  the  compassion  of 
the  Christian  teacher,  whom  he  may  have  heard  and  seen 
when  he  attended  his  master  on  some  great  gala-day  at 
Ephesus.  The  kind  heart  of  Paul  was  ever  open  ;  he 
had  a  deep  and  ready  sympathy  for  the  very  lowest  and 
poorest  of  the  human  race,  because  in  the  very  lowest  and 
poorest  he  saw  those  "  for  whom  Christ  died."  His  own 
sufferings,  too,  had  taught  him  the  luxury  of  aiding  the 
sufferings  of  others,  and  he  took  the  poor  dishonest  fugi- 
tive to  his  heart,  and  was  the  human  instrument  by  which 
that  change  was  wrought  in  him  which  converted  the 
"  non  tressis  agaso  "  into  a  brother  beloved.  But  Onesimus 
was  still  legally  the  debtor  and  the  slave  of  Philemon ; 
and  Paul,  ever  obedient  to  the  law,  felt  it  a  duty  to  send 
him  back.  He  placed  him  under  the  protecting  care  of 
Tychicus  of  Ephesus,  and  sent  with  him  a  letter  which 
could  not  fail  to  ensure  his  pardon.  It  w^as  necessary, 
therefore,  for  him  to  write  to  a  citizen  of  Colossal,  and 
another  circumstance  determined  him  to  write  also  to  the 
Colossian  Church. 

This  was  the  strange  and  sad  intelligence  which  he 
heard  from  Epaphras.  They  had  many  opportunities  for 
intercourse,  for,  either  literally  or  metaphorically,  Epaphras 
shared  his  captivity,  and  did  not  at  once  return  to  his 
native  city.  In  his  conversations  with  St.  Paul  he  told 
him  of  an  insidious  form  of  error  unlike  any  which  the 
Apostle  had  hitherto  encountered.  The  vineyard  of  the 
Lord's  planting  seemed,  alas  !  to  resemble  the  vineyards 
of  earth  in  the  multiplicity  of  perils  which  it  had  to  over- 
come before  it  could  bring  forth  its  fruit.  Now  it  was 
the  little  foxes  that  spoiled  its  vines ;  now  the  wild  boar 
which  broke  down  its  hedge  ;  and  now,  under  the  blighting 


444  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

influence  of  neglect  and  infei-tile  soil,  its  unprnned  branclies 
only  brought  forth  the  clusters  of  Gomorrah.  An  erro- 
neous tendency,  as  yet  germinant  and  undeveloped,  but 
one  of  which  the  prescient  eye  of  St.  Paul  saw  all  the 
future  deadliness,  had  insensibly  crept  into  these  youthful 
Churches,  and,  although  they  only  knew  the  Apostle  by 
name,  he  felt  himself  compelled  to  exert  the  whole  force 
of  his  authority  and  reasoning  to  check  so  perilous  an 
influence.  Doubtless  Epaphras  had  expressly  sought  him 
for  the  sake  of  advice  and  sympathy,  and  would  urge  the 
Apostle  to  meet  with  distinct  warnings  and  clear  refuta- 
tion the  novel  speculations  with  which  he  may  have  felt 
himself  incompetent  to  cope. 

The  new  form  of  error  was  partly  Judaic,  for  it  made 
distinctions  in  meats,  attached  importance  to  new  moons 
and  sabbaths,^  and  insisted  upon  the  value  of  circumcision, 
if  not  upon  its  actual  necessity.^  Yet  it  did  not,  as  a 
whole,  resemble  the  Galatian  Judaism,  nor  did  it  emanate, 
like  the  opposition  at  Antioch,  from  a  party  in  Jerusalem, 
nor  was  it  complicated,  like  the  Corinthian  schisms,  with 
personal  hostility  to  the  authority  of  St.  Paul.  Its  cha- 
racter was  Judaic,  not  so  much  essentially  as  virtually; 
not,  that  is,  from  any  especial  sympathy  with  national  and 
Le^itical  Hebraism,  but  rather  because  there  were  certain 
features  of  Judaism  which  were  closely  analogous  to  those 
of  other  Oriental  religions,  and  which  commanded  a  wide 
sympathy  in  the  Eastern  world. 

"We  must  judge  of  the  distinctive  colour  of  the  dawn- 
ing heresy  quite  as  much  from  the  truths  by  which  St. 
Paul  strives  to  check  its  progress,  as  by  those  of  its  tenets 
on  which  he  directly  touches.^     In  warning  the  Colossians 

»  Col.  ii.  16.  2  Col.  ii.  11. 

3  They   were    "  Guostic  Ebionites,"    Ba\ir ;    "  Coriuthians,"   Mayerhoff ; 
"Christian  Fssenism  in  its  progress  to  Gnosticism,"  Lipsius;  "A  connecting 


THE    COLOSSIAN   HERESY.  445 

respecting  it,  lie  bids  tliem  be  on  their  guard  against  allow- 
ing themselves  to  be  plundered  by  a  particular  teacher, 
whose  so-called  philosophy  and  empty  deceit  were  more  in 
accordance  with  human  traditions  and  secular  rudiments 
than  with  the  truth  of  Christ.  The  hollow  and  misguid- 
ing sj'stem  of  this  teacher,  besides  the  importance  which 
it  attached  to  a  ceremonialism  which  at  the  best  was  only 
valuable  as  a  shadow  or  a  sj^mbol,  tried  further  to  rob 
its  votaries  of  the  prize  of  their  Christian  race  by  repre- 
senting God  as  a  Being  so  far  removed  from  them  that 
they  could  only  approach  Him  through  a  series  of  angelic 
intermediates.  It  thus  ignored  the  precious  truth  of 
Christ's  sole  mediatorial  dignity,  and  turned  humility  itself 
into  a  vice  by  making  it  a  cloak  for  inflated  and  carnal  in- 
tellectualism.  In  fact,  it  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
pride  which  was  thus  aping  humility ;  and,  in  endeavour- 
ing to  enforce  an  ignoble  self-abrogation  of  that  direct 
communion  with  God  through  Christ  which  is  the 
Christian's  most  imperial  privilege,  it  not  only  thrust  all 
kinds  of  inferior  agencies  between  the  soul  and  Him, 
but  also  laid  down  a  number  of  rules  and  dogmas  which 
were  but  a  set  of  new  Mosaisms  without  the  true  Mosaic 
sanctions.  Those  rules  were,  from  their  very  nature,  false, 
transient,  and  trivial.  They  paraded  a  superfluous  self- 
abasement,  and  insisted  on  a  hard  asceticism,  but  at  the 
same  time  they  dangerously  flattered  the  soul  "with  a  sem- 
blance of  complicated  learning,  while  they  were  found  to  be 
in  reality  valueless  as  any  remedy  against  self-indulgence. 
That  these  ascetic  practices  and  dreamy  imaginations  wexe 
accompanied  by  a  pride  which  arrogated  to  itself  certain 
mysteries  as  an  exclusive  possession  from  which  the  vulgar 

link  between  Essenes  and  Corinthians,"  Nitzsch ;  "  Ascetics  and  Theoso- 
phists  of  the  Essene  school,"  Holtzmann;  "Precursors  of  the  Christian 
Essenes,"  RitschL     (Pfleiderer,  ii.  98.) 


446  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

intellect  must  be  kept  aloof;  that,  while  professing  belief 
in  Christ,  the  Colossian  mystic  represented  Him  as  one 
among  many  beings  interposed  between  God  and  man ; 
that  he  regarded  matter  in  general  and  the  body  in 
particular  as  something  in  which  evil  was  necessarily 
immanent,^  seem  to  result  from  the  Christology  of  the 
Epistle,  which  is  more  especially  developed  in  one  parti- 
cular direction  than  we  find  it  to  be  in  any  of  St.  Paul's 
previous  wi'itings.  Already,  in  writing  to  the  Corinthians, 
he  had  said  that  "  if  he  had  ever  known  Christ  after  the 
flesh,  from  henceforth  he  knew  Him  no  more,"  and  in 
this  Epistle  the  Person  of  our  Lord  as  the  Eternal  Co- 
existent Son  is  represented  in  that  divine  aspect  the 
apprehension  of  which  is  a  boon  infinitely  more  trans- 
cendent than  a  human  and  external  knowledge  of  Jesus 
in  His  earthly  humiliation.  And  yet — as  though  to 
obviate  beforehand  any  Cerinthian  attempt  to  distin- 
guish between  Jesus  the  man  of  sorrows  and  Christ  the 
risen  Lord,  between  Jesus  the  crucified  and  Christ  the 
Eternal  Word — he  is,  even  in  this  Epistle,  emphatic  in 
the  statement  that  these  are  one.^  To  say  that  there 
is  any  change  in  St.  Paul's  fundamental  conception  of 
Christ  would  be  demonstrably  false,  since  even  the  juxta- 
position of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  God  the  Father  as 
the  source  of  all  grace,  and  the  declaration  that  all  things, 
and  we  among  them,  exist  solely  through  Him,  are  state- 
ments of  His  divinity  in  St.  Paul's  earliest  Epistles^  as 
strong  as  an3^thing  which  could  be  subsequently  added. 
But  hitherto  the  Apostle  had  been  led  to  speak  of  Him 
mainly  as  the  Judge  of  the  quick  and  dead,  in  the  Epistles 

^  So,  too,  Philo  regarded  the  body  as  the  Egypt  of  the  soul.     {Qiies.  rer. 
div.  haer.  518.) 

2  i.  20,  22;  ii.  6. 

3  1  Thess.  i.  1 ;  v.  28  ;  1  Cor.  viii.  6  ;  2  Cor.  iv.  4 ;  v.  19  ;  Rom.  ix.  5.    Even 
Reuau  fully  admits  this  {St.  Paul,  x.  274). 


THE    ETERNAL    CHRIST.  447 

to  the  Tliessalonians  ;  as  the  invisible  Head  and  Euler  o£ 
the  Church  in  those  to  the  Corinthians  ;  as  the  Author 
of  all  spiritual  freedom  from  ceremonial  bondage,  and 
the  Eedeemer  of  the  world  from  the  yoke  of  sin  and 
death,  as  in  those  to  the  Romans  and  Gralatians ;  as  the 
Saviour,  the  Raiser  from  the  dead,  the  Life  of  all  life, 
the  Source  of  all  joy  and  peace,  in  that  to  the  Philip- 
pians.  A  new  phase  of  His  majesty  had  now  to  be 
brought  into  prominence — one  which  was  indeed  involved 
in  every  doctrine  which  St.  Paul  had  taught  concerning 
Him  as  part  of  a  Gospel  which  he  had  received  by  re- 
velation, but  which  no  external  circumstance  had  ever 
3''et  led  him  to  explain  in  all  its  clearness.  This  >vas 
the  doctrine  of  Christ,  as  the  Eternal,  Pre-existing,  yet 
Incarnate  Word.  He  had  now  to  speak  of  Him  as 
One  in  whom  and  by  whom  the  Universe — and  that 
not  only  its  existing  condition  but  its  very  matter 
and  its  substance — are  divinely  hallowed,  so  that  there 
is  nothing  irredeemable,  nothing  inherently  antagonistic 
to  Holiness,  either  in  matter  or  in  the  body  of  man  ; 
as  One  in  whom  dwells  the  "  plenitude "  of  the  divine 
perfections,  so  that  no  other  angelic  being  can  usurp 
any  share  of  Grod  which  is  not  found  in  Him;  as  One 
who  is  the  only  Potentate,  the  only  Mediator,  the  only 
Saviour,  the  Head  of  the  Body  which  is  the  Church, 
and  the  Source  of  its  life  through  every  limb.  And  the 
expression  of  this  truth  was  rendered  necessary  by  error. 
The  Colossian  teachers  were  trying  to  supplement  Chris- 
tianity, theoretically  by  a  deeper  wisdom,  practically  by  a 
more  abstentious  holiness.  It  was  the  beautiful  method 
of  St.  Paul  to  combat  false  doctrine  as  little  as  possible  by 
denunciation  and  controversy  (though  these  two  have  at 
times  their  necessary  place),  and  as  much  as  possible  by  the 
presentation  of  the  counter  truth.     We  are  able,  therefore, 


448  THE    LIFE    AXD    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

to  find  the  theological  errors  of  the  Colossians  reflected  in 
the  positive  theology  which  is  here  developed  in  order  to 
counteract  them.  In  the  moral  and  practical  discussions  of 
the  Epistle  we  see  the  true  substitute  for  that  extravagant 
and  inflating  asceticism  which  had  its  origin  partly  in  will- 
worship,  ostentatious  humility,  and  trust  in  works,  and 
partly  in  mistaken  conceptions  as  to  the  inherency  of  evil 
in  the  body  of  man.  St.  Paul  points  out  to  them  that  the 
deliverance  from  sin  was  to  be  found,  not  in  dead  rules  and 
ascetic  rigours,  which  have  a  fatal  tendency  to  weaken  the 
will,  while  they  flx  the  imagination  so  intently  on  the 
very  sins  against  which  they  are  intended  as  a  remedy,  as 
too  often  to  lend  to  those  very  sins  a  more  fatal  fascination 
— but  in  that  death  to  sin  which  is  necessarily  involved  in 
the  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  From  that  new  life — that 
resurrection  from  the  death  of  sin — obedience  to  the  moral 
laws  of  God,  and  faithfulness  in  common  relations  of  life, 
result,  not  as  difficult  and  meritorious  acts,  but  as  the 
natural  energies  of  a  living  impulse  in  the  heart  which 
beats  no  longer  with  its  own  life  but  with  the  life  of 
Christ. 

Alike,  then,  from  the  distinct  notices  and  the  negative 
indications  of  the  Epistle  we  can  reproduce  with  tolerable 
clearness  the  features  of  the  Colossian  heresy,  and  we  at 
once  trace  in  it  the  influence  of  that  Oriental  theosophy, 
those  mystical  speculations,  those  shadowy  cosmogonies 
and  moral  aberrations  which  marked  the  hydra-headed 
forms  of  the  systems  afterwards  summed  up  in  the  one 
word  Gnosticism.  This  very  circumstance  has  been 
the  main  ground  for  impugning  the  genuineness  of 
the  Epistle.  It  is  asserted  that  Gnosticism  belongs  to 
a  generation  later,  and  that  these  warnings  are  aimed 
at  the  followers  of  Cerinthus,  who  did  not  flourish  until 
after  Paul  was  dead,  or  even  at  those  of  Valentinus,  the 


INCIPIENT    GNOSTICISM.  449 

founder  of  a  Gnostic,  system  in  the  second  century. 
In  support  of  this  view  it  is  asserted  that  the  Epistle 
abounds  in  un-Pauline  phrases,  in  words  which  occur  in 
no  other  Epistle,  and  in  technical  Gnostic  expressions, 
such  as  plenitude,  mystery,  wisdom,  knowledge,  powers, 
light,  darkness.  Now,  that  Gnosticism  as  a  well-developed 
system  belongs  to  a  later  period  is  admitted ;  but  the  belief 
that  the  acceptance  of  the  Epistle  as  genuine  involves  an 
anachronism,  depends  solely  on  the  assumption  that 
Gnostic  expressions^  may  not  have  been  prevalent,  and 
Gnostic  tendencies  secretly  at  work,  long  before  they 
were  crystallised  into  formal  heresies.  As  far  as  these 
expressions  are  concerned,  some  of  them  are  not  technical 
at  all  until  a  Gnostic  meaning  is  read  into  them,  and 
others,  like  "knowledge"  (gnosis),  &g.,  "plenitude"  {ple- 
roma),  thouc^h  beginnino^  to  be  technical,  are  used  in  a 
sense  materially  different  from  that  which  was  afterwards 
attached  to  them.  As  for  the  asserted  traces  of  doctrines 
distinctly  and  systematically  Gnostic,  it  is  a  matter  of 
demonstration  that  they  are  found,  both  isolated  and 
combined,  during  the  Apostolic  age,  and  before  it,  as 
well  as  afterwards.  The  esoteric  exclusiveness  which 
jealously  guarded  the  arcana  of  its  mysteries  from  general 
knowledge ;  the  dualism  which  became  almost  Manichsean 
in  the  attempt  to  distinguish  between  the  good  and  evil 
impulses  ;  the  notion  that  God's  "  plenitude  "  could  only 
flow  out  in  a  multitude  of  imperfect  emanations ;  the 
consequent  tendency  to  exalt  and  worship  a  gradation  of 
angelic  hierarchies  ;  the  rules  and  purifications  which  were 
designed  to  minimise  all  infection  from  the  inevitable 
contact  with  matter ;  the  attempt  to  explain  the  inherency 

*  The  use  of  these  expressions  is  admirably  ilhistvated  by  some  remarks  of 
Tertullian,  Adv.  Praxeam.,  8.  He  has  used  the  word  irpofioAri,  and  anticipating 
the  objection  that  the  word  is  tainted  with  Valentinianism,  he  replies  that 
Heresy  has  taken  that  word  from  Truth  to  mould  it  after  its  own  likeness. 

d  d 


450  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

of  evil  in  matter  by  vain  and  fanciful  cosmogonies  ;  the 
multiplication  of  observances  ;  the  reduction  of  food  and 
drink  to  the  barest  elements,  excluding  all  forms  of  animal 
life  ;  the  suspicious  avoidance  or  grudging  toleration 
of  marriage  as  a  pernicious  and  revolting  necessity; 
— these  are  found  in  various  Oriental  religions,  and 
may  be  traced  in  philosophies  which  originated  among  the 
Asiatic  Greeks.  They  find  a  distinct  expression  in  the 
doctrines  of  the  Essenes.'-  Their  appearance  in  the  bosom 
of  a  Christian  community  was  indeed  new  ;  but  there  was 
nothing  new  in  their  existence ;  nothing  in  them  with 
which,  as  extraneous  forms  of  error,  St.  Paul's  Jewish  and 
Gentile  studies — were  it  only  his  knowledge  of  Essene 
tenets  and  Alexandrian  speculations — had  not  made  him 
perfectly  familiar.  That  they  should  appear  in  a  Phrj^gian 
Church,  powerfully  exposed  to  Jewish  influences,  and  yet 
consisting  of  Gentiles  trained  amid  the  mysteries  of  a  cere- 
monial nature  worship,  and  accustomed  to  the  utterances 
of  a  speculative  philosophy  ^  must  have  been  painful  to  St. 
Paul,  but  could  not  have  been  surprising.     The  proof  that 

^  Neancler  {Planting,  p.  323,  seqq.)  points  out  the  Phrygian  propensity  to 
the  mystical  and  magical  as  indicated  by  the  worship  of  Cybele,  by  Montanism, 
by  the  tendencies  condemned  at  the  council  of  Laodicea,  and  by  the  existence 
of  Athmganians  in  the  ninth  century,  &c.  Perhaps  the  incipient  heresies  of 
Asia  might  be  most  briefly  characterised  as  the  germ  of  Gnosticism  evolved 
by  Essene  and  Oriental  speculations  on  the  origin  of  evil.  These  speculations 
led  to  baseless  angelologies  injurious  to  the  supremacy  of  Christ ;  to  esoteric 
exclusiveness  injurious  to  the  universality  of  the  Gospel;  and  to  mistaken 
asceticism  injurious  to  Christian  freedom.  Cloudy  theories  generated  unwise 
practices.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  some  at  least  of  the  same  ten- 
dencies are  traceable  in  St.  Jolm's  rebukes  to  the  seven  Chm-ches.  Compare 
Rev.  iii.  14  and  Col.  i.  15—18 ;  Rev.  iii.  21  and  Col.  iii.  1,  Eph.  ii.  6.  Some 
interesting  Zoroastrian  parallels  are  quoted  from  Bleeck  by  tlie  Rev.  J.  LI. 
Davies  in  his  essay  on  traces  of  foreign  elements  in  these  Epistles  {Ephes.  pp. 
141 — 9).  He  says  "the  decay  and  mixture  of  old  creeds  in  the  Asiatic  intellect 
had  created  a  soil  of  '  loose  fertility — a  footfall  there  sufficing  to  upturn  to  the 
warm  air  half-germinating '  theosophies." 

2  Lightfoot,  Col.  pp.  114—179. 


INCIPIENT    GNOSTICISM.  451 

these  forms  of  heresy  might  have  been  expected  to  appear 
is  rendered  yet  more  cogent  by  the  knowledge  that,  within 
a  very  short  period  of  this  time,  they  actually  did  appear 
in  a  definite  and  systematic  form,  in  the  heresy  of  Cerin- 
thus,  with  whom  St.  John  himself  is  said  to  have  come 
into  personal  collision.^  And  under  these  circumstances, 
so  far  from  seeing  a  mark  of  spuriousness,  we  rather 
deduce  an  incidental  argument  in  favour  of  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  Epistle  from  the  nature  of  the  errors  which  we 
find  that  it  is  intended  to  denounce.  Many  critics  have 
been  eager  to  prove  that  St.  Paul  could  not  have  written 
it,  because  they  reject  that  fundamental  doctrine  of  the 
Eternal  Divinity  of  Christ,  of  which  this  group  of  Epistles 
is  so  impregnable  a  bulwark ;  yet  this  was  so  evidently  the 
main  article  in  the  belief  of  St.  Paul  that  the  proof  of  its 
being  so  would  hardly  be  weakened,  even  if  these  Epistles 
could  be  banished  from  the  canon  to  which  hostile  criti- 
cism has  only  succeeded  in  showing  more  conclusively 
that  they  must  still  be  considered  to  belong. 

The  Christology,  then,  of  these  Epistles  is  nothing 
more  than  the  systematic  statement  of  that  revelation 
respecting  the  nature  of  Jesus,  which  is  implicitly  con- 
tained in  all  that  is  written  of  Him  in  the  New  Testament ;  ^ 
and  the  so-called  "  Gnosticism  "  with  which  these  Epistles 
deal  is  nothing  more  than  a  form  of  error — a  phase  of  the 
crafty  working  of  systematic  deception — which  is  common 
to  the  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual  aberrations  of  all 
ages  and  countries.  It  is  found  in  the  Zend  Avesta ;  it  is 
found  in  Philo  ;  it  is  found  in  Neoplatonism ;  it  is  found 
in  the  Kabbala ;  it  is  found  in  Yalentinus.  Abject  sacer- 
dotalism, superstitious  ritual,  extravagant  asceticism,  the 

1  Neander,  Planting,  i.  325  ;  Ch.  Hist.  H.  42 ;  Lightfoot.,  Col,  p.  107,  seq 

2  "  Les  plus   energiqnes  expressions  de  I'Epitre  aux  Colossieus  ne  f out 
qu'enchei-ir  un  peu  sur  celles  des  Epitres  anterieures  "  (Renan,  St.  P.  x.). 

d  d  2 


452  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

faithlessness  whicli  leads  men  to  abandon  tlie  privilege  of 
immediate  access  to  God,  and  to  thrust  between  the  soul 
and  its  One  Mediator  all  sorts  of  human  and  celestial 
mediators;  the  ambition  which  builds  upon  the  unmanly 
timidity  of  its  votaries  its  own  secure  and  tyrannous  ex- 
altation ;  the  substitution  of  an  easy  externalism  for  the 
religion  of  the  heart ;  the  fancy  that  God  cares  for  such 
barren  self-denials  as  neither  deepen  our  own  spirituality 
nor  benefit  our  neighbour ;  the  elaboration  of  unreason- 
able systems  which  give  the  pompous  name  of  Theology 
to  vain  and  verbal  speculations  drawn  by  elaborate  and 
untenable  inferences  from  isolated  expressions  of  which 
the  antinomies  are  unfathomable,  and  of  which  the  true 
exegetic  history  is  deliberately  ignored ;  the  oscillating  re- 
actions which  lead  in  the  same  sect  and  in  even  the  same 
individual  to  the  opposite  extremes  of  rigid  scrupulosity 
and  antinomian  licence  :  ^ — these  are  the  germs  not  of  one 
but  of  all  the  heresies  ;  these  are  more  or  less  the  elements 
of  nearly  every  false  religion.  The  ponderous  technicalities 
of  the  systematiser ;  the  interested  self-assertions  of  the 
priest ;  the  dreamy  speculations  of  the  mystic ;  the  Phari- 
saic conceit  of  the  externalist ;  the  polemical  shibboleths  of 
the  sectarian  ;  the  spiritual  pride  and  narrow  one-sidedness 
of  the  self-tormentor ;  the  ruinous  identification  of  that 
saving  faith  which  is  a  union  with  Christ  and  a  participa- 
tion of  His  life  with  the  theoretic  acceptance  of  a  number 
of  formulae: — all  these  elements  have  from  the  earliest  dawn 
of  Christianity  mingled  in  the  tainted  stream  of  heresy 
their  elements  of  ignorance,  self-interest,  and  error.  In 
their  dark  features  we  detect  a  common  resemblance. 

"  Facies  non  omnibus  una 
Nee  diversa  tanem,  quales  decet  esse  sororum." 

There  was  Gnosticism  in  the  da3^s  of  St.  Paul  as  there 

1  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  iu.  5 ;  2  Tim.  iii.  1—7;  Judo  8 ;  Eev.  ii.  14,  20—22. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COLOSSIANS.  453 

is  Gnosticism   now,   though  neither   then  nor  now  is  it 
recognised  under  that  specific  name. 

We  may,  therefore,  pass  to  the  study  of  the  Epistle 
with  the  strongest  conviction  that  there  is  no  expression 
in  it  which,  on  these  grounds  at  any  rate,  disproves  its 
genuineness.  None  but  Paul  could  have  written  it.  To 
say  that  it  is  un- Pauline  in  doctrine  is  to  make  an  arbi- 
trary assertion,  since  it  states  no  single  truth  which  is 
not  involved  in  his  previous  teachings.  The  fact  that  it 
is  a  splendid  development  of  those  teachings,  or  rather 
an  expansion  in  the  statement  of  them,  in  order  to  meet 
new  exigencies,  is  simply  in  its  favour.  Nor  do  I  see 
how  any  one  familiar  with  the  style  and  mind  of  St.  Paul 
can  fail  to  recognise  his  touch  in  this  Epistle.  That  the 
style  should  lack  the  fire  and  passion  —  the  "  7?ieras 
Jlammas " — of  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  and  the 
easy,  fervent  outflowing  of  thought  and  feeling  in 
those  to  the  Thessalonians,  Corinthians,  and  Philippians, 
is  perfectly  natural.  Of  all  the  converts  to  whom 
St.  Paul  had  written,  the  Colossians  alone  were  entire 
strangers  to  him.  He  had  not  indeed  visited  the  Church 
of  Pome,  but  many  members  of  that  Church  were  per- 
sonally known  to  him,  and  he  was  writing  to  them  on  a 
familiar  theme  which  had  for  years  been  occupying  his 
thoughts.  The  mere  fact  that  he  had  already  written  on 
the  same  topic  to  the  Galatians  would  make  his  thoughts 
flow  more  easily.  But  in  writing  to  the  Colossians  he  was 
handling  a  new  theme,  combating  a  recent  error  with  which, 
among  Christians,  he  had  not  come  into  personal  contact, 
and  of  which  he  merely  knew  the  special  characteristics  at 
secondhand.  When,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  he 
reverts  to  the  same  range  of  conceptions,^  his  sentences 

^  V.  infra,  pp.  481,  seq.  "  These  two  letters  are  twius,  singularly  like 
one  another  in  face,  like  also  in  character,  but  not  so  identical  as  to  exclude 
a  strongly-marked  individuality"  (J.  LI.  Davies,  E'ph.  and  Col.,  p.  7).    He  says 


454  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

run  witli  far  greater  ease.  The  style  of  no  man  is 
stereotjq^ed,  and  least  of  all  is  this  the  case  with  a  man 
so  many-sided,  so  emotional,  so  original  as  St.  Paul.  His 
manner,  as  we  have  repeatedly  noticed,  reflects  to  an 
unusual  degree  the  impressions  of  the  time,  the  place, 
the  mood,  in  which  he  was  writing.  A  thousand  circum- 
stances unknown  to  us  may  have  given  to  this  Epistle 
that  rigid  character,  that  want  of  spontaneity  in  the 
movement  of  its  sentences,  which  led  even  Ewald  into 
the  improbable  conjecture  that  the  words  were  Timothy's, 
though  the  subject  and  the  thoughts  belong  to  St.  Paul. 
But  the  difference  of  style  between  it  and  other  Epistles 
is  no  greater  than  we  find  in  the  works  of  other  authors 
at  different  periods  of  their  lives,  or  than  we  daily  observe 
in  the  writings  and  speeches  of  living  men  who  deal  with 
different  topics  in  varying  moods. 

that  the  style  is  laboured,  but  "  the  substance  eminently  genuine  and  strong." 
A  forger  would  have  copied  phrases ;  who  could  copy  the  most  "  characteristic 
and  inward  conceptions  of  the  Apostle  ?  "  Even  critics  who  fail  to  admit  the 
genuineness  of  the  whole  letter,  see  that  its  sentiments  and  much  of  its 
phraseology  are  so  indisputably  Pauline  that  they  adopt  the  theory  of  interpo- 
lation (Hitzig,  Weiss,  Holtzman),  or  joint  authorship  of  Paul  and  Timothy 
(Ewald). 


CHAPTEE    XLIX. 

THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COLOSSIANS. 

**Per  Me  venitur,  ad  Me  pervenitur,  in  Me  permanetiir." — Aitg.  In 
Joann.  xii. 

"^Ev  avr^  ■n-epnraTe7r6.  In  60  ambulate  ;  in illo  solo.  Hic  Epistolae  scopus 
est." — Bengel. 

"  Viva,  j)ressa,  solida,  nervis  plena,  mascula." — Bohmer,  Isag.  Ix. 

"  Brevis  Epistola,  sed  nucleum  Evangelii  continens." — Calvin. 

After  a  brief  greeting  "  to  tlie  saints  and  faithful 
brethren  in  Christ  which  are  in  Colossse,"^  he  enters  on 
the  usual  "  thanksgiving,"  telling  them  how  in  his 
prayers  he  ever  thanked  Grod  our  Father ^  on  their  behalf, 
on  hearing  of  their  faith  in  Christ  and  love  to  all  the 
saints,  because  of  the  hope  stored  up  for  them  in  heaven. 
Of  that  hope  they  had  heard  when  the  Gospel  was  first 
preached  to  them  in  its  true  genuineness  ;  and  as  that 
Gospel  grew  and  bore  fruit ^  in  all  the  world,  so  it  was  doing 
in  them,  from  the  day  when  they  heard  of  the  grace  of 
God,  and  recognised  it  in  aU  its  fulness,  from  the  teach- 
ing  of  Epaphras,  the  Apostle's    beloved    fellow-prisoner 

1  Ver.  2,  Ko\oa-(Ta7s,  K,  B,  D,  F,  G,  L ;  but  probably  irphs  KoXaacraeTs  in  the 
later  superscription. 

2  This,  if  the  reading  of  B,  D,  Origen,  &c.,  be  correct,  is  the  only  instance 
where  God  the  Father  stands  alone  in  the  opening  benediction.  The 
briefest  suiamaiy  of  the  Epistle  is  as  follows : — I.  Introduction :  i,  1,  2, 
Greeting ;  i.  3—8,  Thanksgiving ;  i.  9—13,  Prayer.  II.  Doctrinal :  the  person 
and  office  of  Christ,  i.  13— ii.  3.  III.  Polemical:  warnings  against  error, 
and  practical  deductions  from  the  counter  truths,  ii.  4 — iii.  4.  IV.  Practical : 
general  precepts,  iii.  5 — 17;  special  precepts,  iii.  18— iv.  6.  V.  Personal 
messages  and  farewell,  iv.  7 — 18. 

'  Ver.  6,  Kapirocpopovfjievov,  "  spontaneously  bearing  fruit "  (ver.  10, 
KapirotpopovvTss),  and  yet  gakdng  progressive  force  in  doing  so  {av^avSfievot). 


456  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

and  tlieir  faithful  pastor  on  tlie  Apostle's  behalf.^  By 
Epapliras  he  has  been  informed  of  their  spiritual 
charism  of  love,  and  from  the  day  that  he  heard  of  their 
Christian  graces  it  was  his  earnest  and  constant  prayer 
that  their  knowledge  of  Grod's  will  might  be  fully  com- 
pleted in  all  spiritual  wisdom  and  intelligence,  in  practical 
holiness,  in  fresh  fruitfulness  and  growth,  in  increasing 
power  to  endure  even  suffering  with  joy,  and  in  perpetual 
thanksgiving  to  Grod,  who  qualified  us  for  our  share  in 
the  heritage  of  the  saints  in  light,  and  who  rescued  us 
from  the  power  of  darkness,  and  transferred  us  by  baptism 
into  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  His  love,  in  whom  we 
have  our  redemption,  the  remission  of  our  sins.^ 

Of  the  nature  of  that  Son  of  Grod,  on  whose  redemption 
he  has  thus  touched,  he  proceeds  to  speak  in  the  next  five 
verses.  They  form  one  of  the  two  memorable  passages 
which  contain  the  theological  essence  of  this  Epistle. 
They  are  the  full  statement  of  those  truths  with  respect  to 
the  person  of  Christ  which  were  alone  adequate  to  meet 
the  errors,  both  of  theory  and  practice,  into  which  the 
Colossians  were  sliding  under  the  influence  of  some  Essene 
teacher.  The  doctrine  of  Christ  as  the  Divine  Word, — 
the  Likeness  of  God  manifested  to  men — the  Pre-existent 
Lord  of  the  created  world — could  alone  divert  them  from 
the  dualism  and  ascetic  rigour  which  their  Phrygian  mysti- 
cism and  mental  proclivities  had  led  them  to  introduce 
into  the  system  of  Christianity.  And  therefore  having 
spoken  of  Christ,  he  shows  "  His  absolute  supremacy  in 
relation  to  the  universe,  the  natural  creation  (15 — 17),  and 

^  Ver.  7,  ^Trep  T\}x.u>v,  K,  A,  B,  D,  F,  G.  This  can  only  mean  that  Epaphras 
preached  on  St.  Paul's  behalf — i.e.,  in  his  stead — and,  if  it  be  the  right  reading, 
furnishes  another  decisive  proof  that  St.  Paul  had  never  himself  preached  in 
these  Churches. 

2  i.  9—14.  The  "by  His  blood"  of  the  E.  V.  is  a  reading  interpolated 
from  Eph.  i.  7. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COLOSSIANS.  457 

in    relation    to    the    Cliurch.,    the    new    moral    creation 
(ver.  18)."  1 

"  Who  is  the  Image  of  the  Unseen  God,  the  First-born  of  all 
Creation,  since  in  Him  all  things  were  created^  in  the  heavens  and 
upon  the  earth,  the  things  seen  and  the  things  unseen, — whether 
'thrones'  or  'dominations,'  'principalities'  or  'powers':^  all  things 
have  been  created*  by  Him  and  unto  Him:  and  He  is^  before  all 
things,  and  in  Him  all  things  cohere ;  and  He  is  the  head  of  the  body 
— the  Church  ;  who  is  the  origin,  the  first-born  from  the  dead,  that  He 
and  none  other  may  become  the  Presiding  Power  in  all  things  ;  because 
in  Him  God  thought  good  that  the  whole  Plenitude''  should  permanently 

^  Dr.  Lightfoot,  in  his  valuable  note  (p.  209),  shows  that  Christ  is  spoken 
of  jirst  in  relation  to  God — the  word  el/ccii'  involving  the  two  ideas  of  Repre- 
sentatiou  and  Manifestation ;  and,  secondly,  iu  relation  to  created  things— 
the  words  irpo}r6TOKos  Trdcrris  /cricretus  involving  the  idea  of  mediation  between 
God  and  Creation,  and  irpurSroKos  being  applied  to  the  Logos  by  Philo,  and 
to  the  Messiah  in  Ps.  Ixxxix.  27.  It  implies  priority  to,  and  sovereignty 
over,  all  creation.  It  seems  as  though  there  were  already  tendencies  to  find 
the  cross  an  offence,  and  to  distinguish  between  the  crucified  Jesus  and  the 
ascended  Christ  (i.  19,  20—22  ;  ii.  6—9). 

2  Yer.  16,  fKritrO-n,  "  created  by  one  word." 

'  No  definite  angelology  can  be  extracted  from  these  words  (ef.  ii.  18; 
Eph.  i.  21).  The  hierarchies  of  the  pseudo-Dionysius  are  as  entirely  arbitrary 
as  Milton's 

"  Thrones,  dominations,  virtues,  princedoms,  powers, 
Warriors,  the  flower  of  heaven." 

But  to   say  that  the  passage  is  gnostic,  &c.,  is  absurd  in  the  face  of  such 
passages  as  Rom.  viii.  38 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  24. 

*  Ver.  16,  iKriffrai,  "  have  been  created,  and  still  continue." 

*  He  is — iaTiv,  not  eVTiv  (so  Lightfoot),  since  the  tense  and  the  repetition 
of  the  pronouns  imply  pre-existence  and  personality  (John  viii.  58 ;  Ex.  iii.  14). 

^  This  rendering  "  Plenitude  " — in  the  sense  of  "  completeness  "  and 
"  completed  fulfilment " — will  be  found  to  meet  all  the  uses  of  the  words  in 
St.  Paul,  both  iu  its  ordinary  sense  (1  Cor.  x.  26 ;  Rom.  xi.  12,  25 ;  xiii.  10  ; 
XV.  29  ;  Gal.  iv.  4 ;  Eph.  i.  10),  and  in  its  later  quasi-technical  sense,  as  applied 
to  the  "  totality  of  the  Divine  attributes  and  agencies  "  (Col.  i.  19  ;  ii.  9 ;  Eph. 
i.  23;  iii.  19;  iv.  13).  It  is  directly  derived  from  the  O.  T.  usage  (Jer.  viii. 
16,  &c.) ;  and  the  later  localised  usage  of  Cerinthus  and  Yalentinus  is  in  turn 
derived  from  it.  If  it  be  derived  from  iT\np6w,  in  the  sense  of  "fulfil'''  rather 
than  its  sense  to  "  fill,"  tlie  difficulties  of  its  usage  by  St.  Paul  are 
lessened;  I  cannot  say  that  they  disappear.  Lightfoot,  Col.  323—339. 
Those  who  wish  to  see  other  views  may  find  them  in  Baur,  Paul.  ii.  93; 
Pfleiderer,  ii.  172;  Holtzmann,  Eph.  Col.  222,  seq. ;  Fritzsclio  on  Rom. 
X.  1.      On  the  connexion  of  Tr\ripwixa  with  the  Hebrew  cipn  there  are  some 


458  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

dwell/  and  by  Him  to  reconcile  all  things  to  Himself,  making  peace 
by  the  blood  of  His  cross ; — by  Him,  whether  the  things  on  the  earth 
or  the  things  in  the  heavens.  And  yon,  who  once  were  alienated 
and  enemies  in  your  purpose,  in  the  midst  of  wicked  works, — yet  now 
were  ye  reconciled^  in  the  body  of  His  flesh  by  death,  to  present 
yourselves  holy  and  unblemished  and  blameless  before  Him,  if,  that 
is,  ye  abide  by  the  faith,  founded  and  firm,  and  not  being  ever  shifted 
from  the  hope  of  the  Gospel  which  ye  heard,  which  was  proclaimed 
throughout  this  sublunary  world — of  which  I  became — I,  Paul — a 
minister."^ 

The  immense  grandeur  of  this  revelation,  and  the 
thought  that  it  should  have  been  entrusted  to  his  ministry, 
at  once  exalts  and  humiliates  him  ;  and  he  characteris- 
tically *  continues : — 

"Now  I  rejoice  in  my  sufferings  on  your  behalf,  and  supplement 
the  deficiencies  of  the  afilictions  of  Christ  in  my  flesh  on  behalf  of  His 
body,  which  is  the  Church,^  of  which  I  became  a  minister  according  to 

valuable  remarks  in  Taylor's  Pirque  Aboth,  p.  54.  MaTcom,  "place"  =  186, 
and  by  Gematria  was  identified  with  Tehovah,  because  the  squares  of 
the  letters  of  the  Tetragrammaton  (10^  +  5^  +  6^  -f-  S^j  give  the  same  result 
(Buxt.  Lex.  Chald.  2001).  So  far  from  being  exclusively  gnostic,  Philo 
had  already  said  (De  Somniis,  1.)  that  the  word  lias  three  meanings,  of 
which  the  third  is  God.  Hence  the  interesting  Alexandrianism  in  the  LXX.  of 
Ex.  xxiv.  10,  eiSoy  rbv  r6Trovov  elar^icei  6  0e<5j.  "God,"  said  a  celebrated 
Jewish  proverb,  "is  not  in  Ha-Makom  [the  "Place,"  the  "Universe"],  but 
all  Ha-Makom  is  in  God." 

^  Ver.  19,  /caToi/cTJo-ai,  not  a  trapoiKla  or  transient,  but  a  KaroiKia  or  permanent 
abode.     Cf.  Gen.  xxxvi.  44,  LXX.  ;   KaroiKe7v,  Iffl'  ;   nrapoiKelv ,  113,  &c. 

2  Ver.  21,  a7roKaT7jA.\a7TjT€  (B).  The  avo,  as  in  airoXatx^dvuv  viodefflav  (Gal. 
iv.  5)  and  diroKaTao-Tatris,  points  to  the  restoration  of  a  lost  condition. 

3  i.  15 — 23.  At  ver.  20  begins  a  sketch  of  Christ's  work,  first  generally 
(20),  then  specially  to  the  Colossians  (21—23). 

*  Cf.  Eph.  iii.  2—9  ;  1  Tim.  i.  11. 

5  TO  vartp-nixaTa.  These  latter  words  throw  light  on  the  former.  Christ's 
sacrifice  is,  of  course,  "  a  full,  perfect,  and  sufficient  sacrifice,  oblation,  and 
satisfaction  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,"  and  the  sufferings  of  saints 
cannot,  therefore,  be  vicarious.  But  they  can  be  ministrative,  and  useful — 
nay,  even  rccpiisito  for  the  continuance  of  Christ's  work  on  earth ;  and  in  that 
sense  St.  Paul,  and  every  "partaker  of  Christ's  sufferings"  (2  Cor.  i.  7;  Phil, 
iii.  10)  can  "  personally  supplement  in  Christ's  stead  (avTavaTrXtipw)  what  is 
lacking  of  Christ's  afflictions  on  behalf  of  His  body,  the  Church."  Stoiger, 
Maurice,  Huth,  &c.,  read  "the  sufferings  of  the  Christ  in  my  flesh j"  but 
there  can  be  no  Xpiards  in  the  (xap^  which  Christ  destroys. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COLOSSIANS.  459 

the  stewardship  of  God  gi'anted  to  me  to  you-ward,  to  develop  fully  the 
word  of  God,  the  mystery  ^  which  has  lain  hidden  from  the  ages  and 
the  generations,  but  is  now  manifested  to  His  saints,  to  whom  God 
willed  to  make  known  what  is  the  wealth  of  the  glory  of  this  mystery 
among  the  Gentiles,  which  mystery  is  Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory ; 
whom  we  preach  " — not  to  chosen  mystae,  not  with  intellectual  exclu- 
siveness,  not  with  esoteric  reserves,  but  absolutely  and  universally — 
"  warning  every  man,  and  teaching  every  man  in  all  wisdom,  that  we 
may  present  every  man  '  perfect '  in  Christ.^  For  which  end  also  I  toil, 
contending  according  to  His  energy,  which  works  in  me  in  power. ^ 

"  For  I  wish  you  to  know  how  severe  a  contest  *  I  have  on  behalf 
of  you,  and  those  in  Laodicea,  and  all  who  have  not  seen  my  face  in  the 
flesh,  that  their  hearts  may  be  confirmed,  they  being  compacted '"  in  love, 
and  so  brought  to  all  wealth  of  the  full  assurance  of  intelligence,  unto 
the  full  knowledge  of  that  mystery  of  God,  which  is  Christ,^  in  whom 
are  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge — hid  treasures," — yet, 
as  the  whole  passage  implies,  hidden  no  longer,  but  now  brought  to 
light/  "This  I  say" — i.e.,  I  tell  you  of  this  possibility  of  full  knowledge 
for  you  all,  of  this  perfect  yet  open  secret  of  wisdom  in  Christ — "  that 
no  man  may  sophisticate  you  by  plausibility  of  speech.  For  even 
though  personally  absent,  yet  in  my  spirit  I  am  with  you,  rejoicing  in 
and  observing  your  military  array,  and  the  solid  front  of  your  faith  in 
Christ.  As,  then,  ye  received  the  Christ — Jesus  the  Lord — walk  in 
Him,  rooted,  and  being  built  up  in  Him,^  and  being  confirmed  by  your 
faith,  even  as  ye  were  taught,  abounding  in  that  faith  with  thanks- 


^  The  mystery  of  the  equal  admission  of  the  Gentries  (i.  27 ;  iv.  3 ;  Eph. 
i.  10 ;  iii.  3,  8,  and  passim). 

*  The  repetition  of  the  ird.vra  is  a  clear  warning  against  esoteric  doctrines, 
and  the  exclusive  arrogance  of  intellectual  spiritualism  which  is  a  germ  of 
many  heresies.  It  is  naturally  a  favourite  word  of  the  Apostle  who  had  to 
proclaim  the  universality  of  the  Gospel  (1  Cor.  x.  1 ;  xii.  29,  30,  &c.).  TeAejoj 
was  used  of  those  initiated  into  the  mysteries. 

3  i.  24—29. 

*  Ver.  1.     dyuva,  referring  back  to  &y(i)viC6/xevos,  i.  29. 

*  Eead  ffvfj.fii$a(TdevTes. 

«  Ver.  2.     Read  rod  Seov,  Xpitrrod:    (Lightfoot,  Col,  p.  318.) 

7  Prov.  ii.  4 ;  Matt.  xiii.  44 ;  1  Cor.  ii.  7 ;  iv.  5. 

8  Ver.  7.  Notice  the  change  from  f^piCuiixeuoi,  the  permanent  result  of 
stability,  to  iiroiKoSoixoiixivoi,  the  continuous  process  of  edification.  Notice, 
too,  the  confusion  of  metaphor  which  is  no  confusion  of  thought :  "  walk,*' 
"  rooted,"  "  being  bmlt,"  "  being  strengthened." 

*  u.  1—7. 


460  THE    LITE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

He  has  tlius  given  them  a  general  warning  against 
being  dazzled  by  erroneous  teaching.  He  has  laid  down 
for  them,  with  firm  hand  and  absolute  definiteness,  the 
truth  that  the  Pleroma  dwells  permanently  in  Christ — 
the  sole  Lord  of  the  created  universe,  and  therefore  the 
guarantee  that  there  is  in  matter  no  inherent  element  of 
inextinguishable  evil ;  the  sole  Head  of  the  Church,  the 
sole  Redeemer  of  the  world ;  the  sole  centre,  and  source, 
and  revealer  of  wisdom  to  all  alike,  as  they  had  all  along 
been  taught.  But  it  is  now  time  to  come  to  more  specific 
warnings — to  the  more  immediate  application  of  these 
great  eternal  principles ;  and  he  continues  : — 

"  Look  that  there  be  no  person  [whom  one  might  name]  ^  who  is 
carrying  you  oflf  as  plunder  by  his  '  philosophy,'  ^  which  is  vain  deceit  in 
accordance  with  mere  human  traditions,  and  earthly  rudiments,^  and  not 
in  accordance  with  Christ.  For  in  Him  all  the  Plenitude  of  Godhead  * 
has  bodily  its  permanent  abode,  and  ye  are  in  Him,  fulfilled  with  His 
Plenitude,  who  is  the  head  of  every  'principality'  and  '  power.'"* 

From  this  great  truth  flow  various  practical  conse- 
quences. For  instance,  the  Essene  mystic,  who  was 
making  a  prey  of  them  by  the  empty  and  specious 
sophistry  which  he  called  philosophy,  impressed  on  them 
the  value  of  circumcision,  though  not,  it  would  seem,  with 
the  same  insistency  as  the  Christian  Pharisees  who  had 
intruded  themselves  into  Galatia.  But  what  possible  good 
could  circumcision  do  them?  Their  circumcision  was 
spiritual,  and  had  already  been  performed — not  by  human 
hands,  but  by  Christ  Himself ;  not  as  the  partial  mutila- 

^  Yer.  8,  ns,  indefinitely  definite  (cf.  Gal.  i.  7). 

2  Remarkable  as  being  the  ouly  place  where  St.  Paul  uses  the  word 
"  philosophy,"  just  as  he  only  uses  "  virtue  "  once  (Phil.  iv.  8).  Both  are 
superseded  by  loftier  conceptions. 

3  See  supra,  p.  152.    (Gal.  iv.  3,  9). 

*  ei6T7\s,  deltas ;  stronger  than  BfiSrvs,  divinitas. 
»  u  7—10. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COLOSSIANS.  461 

tion  of  one  member,  but  as  the  utter  stripping  away  from 
them  of  the  whole  body  of  the  flesh. ^  It  was,  in  fact,  their 
baptism,  in  which  they  had  been  buried  with  Christ,  and 
also  raised  with  Him  through  their  faith  in  the  power  of 
Grod  who  raised  Him  from  the  dead.^ 

"  You,  too,  dead  by  transgressions  and  the  uncircumcision  of  your 
flesh,  God  quickened  with  Him,  freely  remitting  to  us  all  our  trans- 
gressions, wiping  out  the  bond  which,  by  its  decrees,  was  valid 
against  us,'''  which  was  opposed  to  us — this  bond  He  has  taken  away, 
nailing  it  to  His  cross.  Stripping  utterly  away  from  Him  the  *  princi- 
palities'  and  'powers'  (of  wickedness),^  He  made  a  show  of  them 
boldly,  leading  them  in  triumph  on  that  cross  "^ — thus  making  the  gibbet 
of  the  slave  His /e7'etrmn,  on  which  to  carry  the  spoils  of  His  triumph  as 
an  Eternal  Conqueror,  after  deadly  struggle  with  the  clinging  forces  of 
spiritual  wickedness. 

Since,  then,  mere  legal  obligations  are  part  of  a  dead 
compact,  a  torn  and  cancelled  bond,  which  is  now  nailed 
to  Christ's  Cross — 

"  Let  no  one  then  judge  you  in  eating  and  drinking,^  and  in  the 
matter  of  a  feast,  or  a  new-moon,  or  Sabbath,^  which  things  are  a  shadow 

^   Ver.  11,  d-rreKSuffis. 

2  Cf.  Phil.  iii.  10. 

'  Deut.  xxvii.  14 — 26;  Gal.ii.  19,  iv.  9.  o^eiAeVrjs.  The  "ordinances"  are 
those  of  the  Mosaic  and  the  natural  law.  The  Soy/LLaa-iv  is  difficult ;  the  render- 
ing '  consisting  in  ordinances '  would  seem  to  require  eV,  as  in  Eph.  ii.  15.  Also 
the  Greek  fathers  made  it  mean  "  wiping  out  btj  the  decrees  of  the  Gospel." 

*  Tearing  himself  free  from  the  assaults  of  evil  spirits,  which  would  other- 
wise have  invested  Him  as  a  robe  (cf .  1  Pet.  v.  5,  fyKofji&wa-aadf ;  Heb.  xii.  1, 
evnepiffraros ;  Isa.  xi.  5,  &c.),  He  carried  away  their  spoils,  as  trophies,  on  His 
cross. 

*  ii.  11—15.     For  epiafMfifvaas,  cf.  2  Cor.  ii.  14,  supra,  vol.  i.,  p.  636. 

*  "Tliis  is  the  path  of  the  Thorah.  A  morsel  with  salt  shalt  thou  eat; 
thou  shalt  drink  also  water  by  measure  "  {PereJe.  R.  Meir). 

^  If  after  nineteen  centuries  the  Christian  Church  has  not  understood  the 
sacred  freedom  of  this  language,  we  may  imagine  what  insight  it  required  to 
utter  it  in  St.  Paul's  day,  and  how  the  Jews  would  gnash  their  teeth  when  they 
heard  of  it.  When  "  the  Emperor  "  asked  R.  Akibha  how  he  recognised  the 
Sabbath  day,  he  said,  "  The  river  Sambatyon  (the  so-called  '  Sabbatic  river') 
proves  it;  the  necromancer  proves  it  (who  can  do  nothing  on  the  Sabbath) ; 
thy  father's  grave  proves  it  (which  smokes,  to  show  that  its  tenant  is  in  hell. 


462  THE    LIFE    A^D    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

of  tilings  to  be,  but  the  substance  is  Christ's.  Let  no  one  then  snatch 
your  prize  from  you,  by  delighting  in  abjectness,^  and  service  of  the 
angels,^  treading  the  emptiness  of  his  own  visions^  in  all  the 
futile  inflation  of  his  mere  carnal  understanding,  and  not  keeping  hold 
of  Him  who  is  "  the  Head,"  from  whom  supplied  and  compacted  by  its 
junctures  and  ligaments,  the  whole  body  grows  the  growth  of  God.*  If 
ye  died  with  Christ  from  mundane  rudiments,  why,  as  though  living  in 
the  world,  are  ye  ordinance-ridden  with  such  rules  as  '  Do  not  handle,' 
'  Do  not  taste,' '  Do  not  even  touch,'  referring  to  things  all  of  which  are 
perishable  in  the  mere  consumption,^  according  to  '  the  commandments 
and  teachings  of  men '  1  All  these  kinds  of  rules  have  a  credit  for 
wisdom  in  volunteered  supererogation  ®  and  abasement — hard  iisage  of 
the  body — but  have  no  sort  of  value  as  a  remedy  as  regards  the  indulgence 
of  the  flesh." ' 

except  on  the  Sabbath,  on  which  day  even  hell  rests  "). — Sanhedrin,  f.  65,  2. 
Myi-iads  of  passages  might  be  quoted  to  show  that  it  was  the  very  keystone  of 
the  whole  Judaic  system  :  see  Babha  Kama,  f .  82, 1 ;  Abhoda  Zara,  f .  64, 2,  &c. 
The  law  of  the  Sabbath,  as  our  Lord  strove  so  often  to  convince  the  Jews,  is  a 
law  of  holy  freedom,  not  of  petty  bondage. 

1  Bi\o>v  iv,  }.  ysn,  1  Sam.  xviii.  22,  &c.     See  A\ig.,  Beng.,  Olsh.,  Lightf. 

2  Angelology  of  the  most  developed  description  existed  in  the  Jewish 
Church  long  before  Gnosticism  was  heard  of.  See  Gfrorer,  Jahr.  des  Heils. 
i.  124,  seq.  1  have  collected  some  of  the  facts  in  a  paper  on  Jewish  Angel- 
ology and  Demonology  {Life  of  Christ,  ii.  465,  seq.).  Neander  refers  to  the 
K-hpvyixa  UfTpov,  and  Clem.  Alex.  Strain,  vi.  635.  Theodoret  (ii.  18)  mentions 
that  even  in  his  day  there  were  oratories  to  the  Archangel  Michael. 

3  &  eopuKev  («,  A,  B,  D.  Dr.  Lightf oot  and  others  make  the  very  simple 
conjectural  emendation,  o  UpaKev  Ktvefx^aTtvaiv,  aut  s.  a.  This  does  not  indeed 
occur  in  any  MS.,  but  its  disappearance  would  be  easily  explained — (i.)  by  the 
homoeoteleuton  ;  (ii.)  by  the  rare  verb.  The  verb  Kiven^aTevoi  (not  unlike  the 
aepo^aru  koX  wepi<ppovu>  rhv  rjXiov,  "  I  tread  the  air  and  circumspect  the  sun,"  of 
Ai'ist.  Nab.  225,  and  the  al6epo0aTf?Te  of  Philo,  i.  465)  might  conceivably  have 
been  suggested  by  one  of  the  heretical  tlieosophic  terms,  if  Ktvafxa  had  ever 
been  used  by  some  incipient  Gnostic  of  that  day  (as  afterwards)  by  way  of 
antitliesis  to  Pleroma.  But  may  not  a  kwpaKev  ffxparevwy  be  taken  (meta- 
phorically) to  mean  "  dioelling  upon  what  He  has  seen  "? 

•*  The  accordance  of  tlie  passage  with  the  highest  scientific  range  of  that 
age  is  remarkable,  and  may  be  due  to  St.  Luke. 

5  Mark  vii.  1—23. 

^  Yer.  23,  iOeKodpriffKfla,  a  happy  coinage  of  St.  Paul's,  which  Epiphanias 
expands  into  iefXoTrepiffffoepr]ffKeia  {Haer.  i.  16). 

^  ii.  16 — 23.  Tliis  remarkable  passage,  which  is  very  obscure  in  the  E.  V., 
is  an  argiunent  against,  not  for,  the  worrjnng  scnipulosities  of  exaggerated 
asceticism — on  the  ground  that  they  are  useless  for  the  end  in  view.     St.  Paul 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    C0L0SSLO;S.  463 

The    true    remedy,    he    proceeds   to   imply,    is   very 
different : — 

"  If  then  ye  were  raised  with  Christ,  seek  the  things  above,  where 
Christ  is  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  God.  Tliink  of  tlie  things  above, 
not  the  things  on  the  earth.  For  ye  died"  (to  sin  in  baptism),  "and 
your  life  has  been  hidden  with  Christ  in  God.  When  Christ,  our  life, 
is  manifested,  then  ye  also  with  Him  shall  be  manifested  in  glory.  Kill 
then  at  a  blow" — not  by  regulated  asceticisms,  but  by  this  outburst  of  a 
new  life,  which  is  in  Christ,  which  is  Christ — "  your  members  that  are  on 
the  earth — fornication,  uncleanness,  passion,  evil  desire,  and,  above  all, 
covetousness,  for  that  is  idolatry — because  of  which  things  cometh  the 
wrath  of  God.^  In  which  things  ye  also  walked  once,  when  ye  were 
living  in  them ;  but  now  put  ye  away  also  all  .vices,  anger,  wrath, 
malice,  railing,  foul  calumny,  out  of  your  mouths.  Lie  not  one  to 
another,  since  ye  utterly  stripped  oif  the  old  man  with  his  deeds,  and 
put  on  the  new  man,  which  is  being  ever  renewed  to  full  knowledge 
according  to  the  image  of  his  Creator,  in  a  region  wherein  there  is  no 
room  for  Greek  or  Jew,  circumcision  or  uncu-cumcision,  barbarian, 
Scythian,^  slave,  free,  but  Christ  is  all  things,  and  in  all.  Put  on  then, 
as  elect  of  God,  saints  beloved,  hearts  of  compassion,  kindness,  humble- 
ness, meekness,  long-sufferings  forbearing  one  another,  and  forgiving 
one  another,  if  any  one  have  a  complaint  against  any  one.  Even  as  the 
Lord  foi'gave  you,  so  also  do  ye.  And  over  all  these  things  put  on  love, 
for  love  is  the  girdle  of  perfection ;  and  let  the  peace  of  Christ  arbitrate 
in  your  hearts,  unto  which  peace  ye  were  even  called  in  one  body,  and 
show  yourselves  thankful.  Let  the  word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you  richly 
in  all  wisdom,  teaching  one  another  and  admonishing  one  another  in 
psalms,  hynms,^  spiritual  songs  in  grace,  singing  in  your  hearts  to  God. 
And  everything  whatever  ye  do,  in  word  or  in  deed,  do  all  things  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  thanking  God  the  Father  by  Him."* 

might  have  gone  even  further ;  for  the  lives  of  hermits  and  monks  show  us 
that  the  -virulence  of  temptation  is  intensified  into  insupportable  agony  by  the 
morbid  introspection  which  results  from  mistaken  means  of  coinbatiug  it. 

y  Yer,  6,  our  e'lri  tovs  vlobs  T7)s  direieeias,  introduced  probably  from  Eph. 
V.  6. 

2  Yer.  11.    The  Scythians  were  the  lowest  type  of  barbarians  (Gal.  iii.  28). 

'  Christian  hymnology  began  very  early,  though  the  hymns  were  not 
necessarily  metrical  (Rev.  xv.  3  ;  Acts  xvi.  25;  Eph.  v.  19,  20  ;  Plin.  Ejo.  97; 
UTart.  8.  Ign.  vii.  (iSol  dn'  apxrjs  virh  ttkttwv  ypa(p€7<Tat,  Euseb.  H.  E.  V.  28. 
Rhythmic  passages  are  Eph.  v.  14;  1  Tim.  iii.  16  ;  vi.  15, 16 ;  2  Tim.  ii.  11 — 13 
{Diet.  Christ.  Antt.  s.  v.  Hymns). 

*  iii.  1-17. 


464  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Then  follow  various  practical  exhortations — to  wives 
to  love  their  husbands,  as  is  eternally  fit  in  the  Lord ;  ^ 
to  husbands  to  love  their  wives,  and  not  behave  bitterly 
towards  them;  to  children  to  obey  their  parents  ;  to  fathers 
not  to  irritate  their  children,  that  they  may  not  lose  heart.^ 
To  slaves,  of  whose  duties  and  position  he  must  often  have 
thought  recently,  from  his  interest  in  Onesimus,  he  gives 
the  precept  to  obey  earthly  masters,  working  as  ever  in 
their  Great  Taskmaster's  eye,  looking  for  the  reward  of 
faithfulness  to  Him  who  would  also  send  the  retribution 
for  wrong-doing.  On  masters  he  enjoins  justice  and  equity 
towards  their  slaves,  remarking  that  they  too  have  a  Lord 
in  heaven.^ 

Then  he  tells  them  to  be  constant  in  watchful  prayer 
and  thanksgiving,  and  asks  their  prayers  that  God  would 
grant  an  opening  for  that  ministry  for  which  he  was  a 
prisoner.  To  the  outer  world  he  bids  them  walk  in 
wisdom,  buying  up  every  opportunity,  and  addressing  each 
one  to  whom  they  spoke  with  pleasant  and  wholesome 
words — "  in  grace  seasoned  with  salt."  * 

He  sends  no  personal  news,  because  that  will  be 
conveyed  by  Tychicus,  his  beloved  brother,  and  a  faithful 
minister  and  fellow-slave  in  the  Lord,  whom  he  sends  for 
that  purpose^  to  strengthen  their  hearts,  with  Onesimus, 

1  ws  avTJKiv,  "  as  ever  was,  and  ever  is  fitting  "  (of.  Acts  xxii.  22).     (See  my 
Brief  Greeh  Syntax,  §  140.) 

2  Notice  the  rare  originality  of  the  exhortation.     Should  we  expect  to  find 
it  in  a  forger  ? 

3  \\\  18 25.     From  such  passages  as  these  were  drawn  such  noble  warning 

rules  of  feudalism  as :  "  Eutre  toi  vilain,  et  toi  seigneur,  il  n'y  a  juge  fors 
Dieu."  "  Le  seigneur  qui  prend  des  droits  injustes  de  son  vilain,  les  prend  au 
peril  de  son  ame"  (Bcauraanoir).  These  humble  practical  rules  might  be  all  the 
more  necessary  for  those  who  looked  on  outward  family  duties  as  vulgar,  and 
obstructions  to  spiritual  contemplation.  (Maurice,  Unity,  587.)  How  different 
this  from  oii5e  trposyf^uv  Sov\ois  'ApiSToreATjj  eta  irore.  (Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  iii. 
12,  §84.) 

4  iy^  1 6,  6  jy^  8,  leg.,  'iva  yvwre  to   irepl  ^]fj.u>i/  (A,  B,  D,  F,  G). 


GREETINGS.  465 

their  fellow-citizen,  and  noio  their  faithful  and  beloved 
brother,  whatever  he  may  have  been  before.  He  sends 
them  greetings  from  Aristarchus,  his  fellow-prisoner;  ^ 
from  Mark,  the  cousin  of  Barnabas,^  about  whose  pos- 
sible visit  they  had  received  special  injunctions  ;  and  Jesus 
sui'named  Justus — the  only  three  Jewish  Christians  who 
worked  with  him  to  further  God's  kingdom,  and  so  became 
a  source  of  consolation  to  him.  Epaphras,  also  one  of 
themselves,  greets  them — a  slave  of  Christ  Jesus,  ever 
contending  on  their  behalf  in  his  prayers  that  they  may 
stand  perfect  and  entire  in  all  God's  will,  and  one  w^ho 
was  deeply  interested  in  their  Churches.  Luke  the 
physician,  the  beloved,  greets  them,  and  Demas.^  He 
begs  them  to  greet  the  Laodicean  brethren,  and  Nymph  as, 
and  the  church  in  the  house  of  him  and  his  friends."*  He 
orders  his  Epistle  to  be  publicly  read,  not  only  in  the 
Colossian,  but  also  in  the  Laodicean  Church,  and  bids 
them  read  the  circular  letter  which  they  could  procure 
from  Laodicea.^  "And  say  to  Archippus,  Take  heed  to 
the  ministry  which  thou  receivedst  in  the  Lord,  that  thou 
fulfil  it."  ^     The  letter  concludes  with  his  own  autograph 

*  Ver.  10,  (Tuj'aixM«^a'Tos.  Properly,  "  a  fellow-captive  taken  in  war."  So  of 
Epaphras  (Philem.  23),  Andronicus,  Junias  (Rom.  xvi.  7.)  In  none  of  these 
cases  can  we  teD  the  exact  allusion,  or  whether  the  word  is  literal  or  meta- 
phorical. 

2  Barnabas  was  perhaps  dead,  and  thus  Mark  would  be  free.  Paul  seems 
to  have  had  a  little  misgiving  about  his  reception. 

3  Perhaps  Paul's  insight  into  character  is  shown  by  his  somewhat  ominous 
silence  about  Demas.     (2  Tim.  iv.  10.) 

<  Ver.  15,  wTwv  (N,  A,  C) ;  wrijs  (B,  Lachm.)  ;  avroxi  (F,  G,  K,  &c.). 

*  tV  iK  Aao5i/c€iay,  "written  io  Laodicea  and  coming  to  them  from  Thrace." 
Constructio  praegnans.  (5ri«/ 6ri-eeA;  Syniaaj,  §  89 ;  Winer,  §  Ixvi.  6).  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  this  was  the  Epistle  to  the  "  Ephesians."  The  apocry- 
phal Epistle  to  Laodicea  is  a  miserable  cento.  (See  Lightfoot,  Col.  340 — 366; 
Westcott,  Canon,  p.  572.) 

6  Archippus  is  believed  to  be  a  son  of  Philemon,  and  chief  presbyter  of 
Laodicea.  If  so,  Tychicus  would  see  him  on  his  way  to  Colossse.  It  is  at 
least  curious  that  the  lukewarmness,  the  lack  of  zeal  which  seems  here  to  be 

e  e 


466  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

salutation,    to   which   he    briefly  adds,    "  Eemember    my 
bonds.     Grace  be  with  you."  ^ 

It  is  no  part  of  my  present  task  to  trace  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  Churches  of  the  Lycus.  The  followers  of 
Baur  in  German}^  and  of  Eenan  in  France,  have  tried  to 
represent  that  St.  Paul's  teaching  in  Asia  was  followed  by 
a  reaction  in  which  his  name  was  calumniated  and  his 
doctrines  ignored.  The  theory  is  very  dubious.  The  doc- 
trines and  the  warnings  of  St.  John  to  the  Seven  Churches 
are  closely  analogous  to,  sometimes  almost  verbally  iden- 
tical with,  those  of  St.  Paul ;  and  the  essence  of  the  teach- 
ing of  both  Apostles  on  all  the  most  important  aspects 
of  Christianit}^  is  almost  exactly  the  same.  An  untenable 
inference  has  been  drawn  from  the  supposed  silence  of 
Papias  about  St.  Paul,  so  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the 
references  of  Eusebius.  It  was  the  object  of  Papias  to 
collect  traditional  testimonies  from  various  Apostles  and 
disciples,  and  of  these  St.  Paul  could  not  have  been  one. 
Papias  was  Bishop  of  Hierapolis,  in  which  St.  Paul  may 
never  have  set  his  foot.  Even  if  he  did,  his  visit  was  brief, 
and  had  taken  place  long  before  Papias  wrote,  whereas  after 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  St.  John  resided  for  many 
years  at  Ephesus,  and  there  were  gathered  around  him 
Andrew,  PhiHp,  Aristion,  and  others  who  had  known  the 
Lord.  These  were  the  authorities  to  which  Papias  re- 
ferred for  his  somewhat  loose  and  credulous  traditions, 
and  he  may  have  quoted  St.  Paul,  just  as  Polycarp  does, 
without  its  at  all  occurring  to  Eusebius  to  mention  the 
fact.  Not  only  is  there  no  proof  of  a  general  apostasy 
from  Pauline  principles,  but  in  the  decrees  of  the  Council 
held  at  Laodicea  about  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century, 

gently  rebuked,  is  the  distingnishing  character  of  the  Laodiceau  Church,  as 
represented  by  its  "  angel "  in  Rev.  iii.  15.     (Trench,  Seven  Churches,  180.) 

^  This  shorter  form   is    characteristic   of  PauPs  later  Epistles — Col   i, 
2  Tim.,  Tit.     The  longer  form  is  found  in  all  up  to  this  date. 


FATE    OF    COLOSSI.  467 

we  read  the  very  same  warnings  against  angelolatry, 
Judaism,  and  Oriental  speculation,  which  find  a  place  in 
these  Epistles  of  the  Captivity.  Colossse  itself — liable  as 
it  was  to  constant  earthquakes,  which  were  rendered  more 
ruinous  by  the  peculiarities  of  the  Lycus  with  its  petri- 
fying waters — was  gradually  deserted,  and  the  churches 
of  Asia  finally  perished  under  the  withering  blight  of 
Islam  with  its  cruelties,  its  degradation,  and  its  neglect. 


CHAPTER    L. 

THE   EPISTLE   TO    PHILEMON. 

"  Quasi  vero  cureut  divina  de  servis !  " — Maceob.  Sat.  i.  11. 

"  In  servos  superbissimi,  crudelissimi,  contumeliosissimi  sumus." — Sen, 
Ep.  xlvii. 

"Aequalitas  naturae  et  fidei  potior  est  quam  differentia  statuum."— 
Bengel. 

"  Through  the  vista  of  History  we  see  slavery  and  its  Pagan  theory  of  two 
races  fall  before  the  holy  word  of  Jesus,  "  All  men  are  the  children  of  God." 
— Mazzini,  WorJcs,  vi.  99. 

"  '  The  story  is  too  rare  to  be  true.'  Christian  faith  has  answered  that. 
'  It  is  too  suggestive  to  be  true.'  Christian  science  has  answered  that." — 
Lanqe,  Apostol.  Zeitalt.  i.  134. 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  St.  Paul  had  sent  no 
greeting  to  Philemon — who  was  a  prominent  member  of 
that  Church — because  he  purposed  to  write  him  a  separate 
letter.  A  man  like  St.  Paul,  whose  large  and  loving 
heart  had  won  for  him  so  many  deeply-attached  friends, 
must  have  often  communicated  with  them  by  brief  letters, 
but  the  Epistle  to  Philemon  is  the  only  private  letter  of 
this  correspondence  which  has  been  preserved  for  us — the 
only  private  letter  in  the  canon  of  the  New  Testament, 
with  the  exception  of  the  brief  letter  of  St.  John  to  the 
well-beloved  Gaius.-^  We  cannot  but  regret  the  loss. 
Hundreds  of  letters  of  Cicero,  of  Seneca,  and  of  Pliny 
have  come  down  to  us,  and,  though  some  of  them  are 
models  of  grace  and  eloquence,  how  gladly  would  we 
resign  them  all  for  even  one  or  two  of  those  written  by  the 
Apostle !     In   style,   indeed,  his   letter  is   quite   careless 

^  The  "  elect  lady  "  of  2  John  i.  1  is  believed  to  be,  not  an  individual,  but 
Church. 


ONESIMUS.  469 

and  unpolished ;  but  whereas  the  letters  of  the  great 
Eomans,  with  all  their  literary  skill  and  finish,  often 
leave  on  us  an  involuntary  impression  of  the  vanity,  the 
insincerity,  even  in  some  instances  the  entire  moral 
instability  of  their  writers,  on  the  other  hand,  this 
brief  letter  of  St.  Paul  reveals  to  us  yet  another  glimpse 
of  a  character  worthy  of  the  very  noblest  utterances 
which  we  find  in  his  other  Epistles.  These  few  lines, 
at  once  so  warm-hearted  and  so  dignified,  which  theological 
bigotry  was  once  inclined  to  despise  as  insignificant,  ex- 
press principles  of  eternal  applicability  which  even  down 
to  the  latest  times  have  had  no  small  influence  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  w^orld's  history.  With  all  the  slightness 
of  its  texture,  and  the  comparative  triviality  of  the  occasion 
which  called  it  forth,  the  letter  is  yet  a  model  of  tact,  of 
S3^mpathy,  and  of  high  moral  nobleness.  This  little  "idyl 
of  the  progress  of  Christianity  "  ^  shows  that  under  the 
worn  and  ragged  gabardine  of  the  wandering  missionary 
there  beat  the  heart  of  a  true  srentleman,  Avhose  higfh-bred 
manners  would  have  done  honour  to  any  court. ^ 

We  have  seen  that  during  his  imprisonment  St.  Paul 
was,  by  "  that  unseen  Providence  which  men  nickname 
Chance,"  brought  into  contact  with  a  runaway  slave  from 
Colossae,  whose  name  was  Onesimus,  or  "  Profitable."  He 
had  fled  to  Eome — to  Eome,  the  common  sentina  of  the 
world  ^ — to  hide  himself  from  the  consequences  of  crimes 
for  which  a  heathen  master  might  without  compunction 
have  consigned  him  to  the  eryastulum  or  the  cross ;  and 

^  Davies. 

"  Even  Banr  seems  to  blnsh  for  the  necessity  wliicli  made  hira  declare  this 
Epistle  spurious.  He  only  does  so  because  it  is  more  or  less  involved  with 
the  other  three,  and  stands  or  falls  with  them.  "What  has  criticism  to  do 
with  this  short,  attractive,  friendly,  and  graceful  letter,  inspired  as  it  is  by 
the  noblest  Christian  feeling,  and  which  has  never  yet  been  touched  by  the 
breath  of  suspicion  ?  "     {Paul.  ii.  80.) 

3  Sail.  Cat.  xxxvii.  5. 


470  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF   ST.  PAUL. 

in  the  basement  of  one  of  tlie  huge  Eoman  insidae,  or 
in  the  hovel  of  some  fellow-child  of  vice  and  misery  in 
that  seething  mass  of  human  wretchedness  which  weltered 
like  gathered  scum  on  the  fringe  of  the  glittering  tide  of 
civilisation,  he  was  more  secure  than  anywhere  else  of 
remaining  undetected.  What  it  was  that  rescued  him 
from  the  degradations  which  were  the  sole  possible  out- 
come of  such  an  ill-begun  career  we  cannot  tell.  He 
would  soon  exhaust  what  he  had  stolen  from  his  master; 
and  as  Eome  was  full  to  overflowing  of  slaves  and  idlers 
— as  the  openings  for  an  honest  maintenance  even  in  the 
barest  poverty  were  few — it  is  hard  to  see  what  resource 
was  left  to  him  except  a  life  of  villany.  Perhaps  in  this 
condition  he  was  met  by  his  fellow-Oolossian,  Epaphras, 
who  as  a  Presbyter  of  Colossse  would  be  well  kno^vn  to 
Philemon.  Perhaps  Aristarchus,  or  any  other  of  those 
who  had  been  St.  Paul's  companions  at  Ephesus,  had 
come  across  him,  and  recognised  him  as  having  been 
in  attendance  on  Philemon  at  the  time  of  his  conver- 
sion by  St.  Paul.  Perhaps  he  had  himself  been  present 
at  some  of  those  daily  addresses  and  discussions  in 
the  school  of  Tyrannus,  which,  though  at  the  time 
they  had  not  touched  his  heart,  had  at  the  least  shown 
him  the  noble  nature  of  the  speaker,  and  revealed  to 
the  instinctive  sense  of  one  who  belonged  to  an  oppressed 
class,  the  presence  of  a  soul  which  could  sympathise 
with  the  suifering.  How  this  may  have  been  we  do  not 
know,  but  we  do  know  that  his  hopes  were  not  deceived. 
The  Apostle  received  him  kindly,  sympathetically,  even 
tenderly.  The  Eabbis  said,  "  It  is  forbidden  to  teach  a 
slave  the  Law."^  "As  though  Heaven  cared  for  slaves !  " 
said  the  ordinary  Pagan,  with  a  sneer.^    Not  so  thought  St. 

>  Ketuhhoth,  f.  28,  1. 

-  Macrob.  Saturn,  i.  11.    The  better  Stoics  furnish  a  noble  excei^tion  to 
this  tone. 


SLAVES.  471 

Paul.  In  Christianity  there  is  nothing  esoteric,  nothing  ex- 
clusive. Onesimus  became  a  Christian.  The  heart  which 
was  hard  as  a  diamond  against  Pharisaism  and  tyranny,  was 
yet  tender  as  a  mother's  towards  sorrow  and  repentant  sin. 
Paul  had  learnt  in  the  school  of  Him  who  suffered  the 
penitent  harlot  to  wash  His  feet  with  her  tears  and  wipe 
them  with  the  hair  of  her  head ;  of  Him  Avho  had  said  to 
the  convicted  adulteress,  "  Neither  do  I  condemn  thee ;  go, 
and  sin  no  more."  Paul  in  no  wise  shared  the  anti- 
Christian  respect  of  persons  which  made  some  people  in 
St.  Jerome's  days^  argue  that  it  was  beneath  his  dignity 
to  trouble  himself  about  a  runaway  slave.  He  understood 
better  than  the  Fathers  that  the  religion  of  Christ  is 
the  Magna  Charta  of  humanity.  The  drag-net  of  His 
"  fishers  of  men  "  was  dropped  to  the  very  depths  of  the 
social  sea.  Here  was  one  whose  position  was  the  lowest 
that  could  be  conceived.  He  was  a  slave ;  a  slave  of  the 
country  whose  slaves  were  regarded  as  the  worst  there 
were ;  a  slave  who  had  first  robbed  a  kind  master,  and 
then  run  away  from  him;  a  slave  at  whom  current 
proverbs  pointed  as  exceptionally  worthless,^  amenable 
only  to  blows,  and  none  tlie  better  even  for  them.^  In  a 
word,  he  was  a  slave ;  a  Phrygian  slave ;  a  thievisb 
Asiatic  runaway  slave,  who  had  no  recognised  rights,  and 
towards  whom  no  one  had  any  recognised  duties.  He 
was  a  mere  "  live  chattel ;  "  *  a  mere  "  implement  with  a 
voice ;  "  ^  a  thing  which  had  no  rights,  and  towards  which 
there  were  no  duties.  But  St.  Paul  converted  him,  and 
the  slave  became  a  Christian,  a  brother  beloved  and 
serviceable,  an  heir  of  immortality,  a  son  of  the  kingdom, 

1  In  Ep.  ad  Philem. 

2  Muffoiv  eo-xaros.     Menand.  Androg.  7 ;  Plat.  TJieaet.  2(j9,  B. 

*  Cic.  pro  Flacc.  27. 

*  Arist.  Pol.  i.  4,  efn-^vxov  opyavov. 

*  Varro,  de  Be  Bust.  i.  17.     "  Instrumenti  genus     .    .    .    vocale." 


472  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

one  of  a  roj^al  generation,  of  a  lioly  priesthood.  The 
satirist  Persius  speaks  with  utter  scorn  of  the  rapid  pro- 
cess by  which  a  slave  became  a  freeman  and  a  citizen  : 
"  There  stands  Dama — a  twopenny  stable-boy,  and  a  pilfer- 
ing scoundrel ;  the  Prsetor  touches  him  with  his  wand,  and 
twirls  him  round,  and 

"  Momento  turbinis,  exit 
Marcus  Dama !  .  .  .  .  Papae !  Marco  spondente  I'ecusas 
Credere  tu  nummos  1     Marco  sub  judice  palles  1 " ' 

But  the  difference  between  Dama  the  worthless  drudge 
and  Marcus  Dama  the  presumably  worthy  citizen  was 
absolutely  infinitesimal  compared  to  the  real  and  unsur- 
passable difference  which  separated  Onesimus  the  good- 
for-nothing  Phrygian  fugitive  from  Onesimus  the  brother 
faithful  and  beloved. 

And  thus  the  Epistle  to  Philemon  becomes  the  prac- 
tical manifesto  of  Christianity  against  the  horrors  and 
iniquities  of  ancient  and  modern  slavery.^  From  the  very 
nature  of  the  Christian  Church — from  the  fact  that  it  was 
"  a  kingdom  not  of  this  world  " — it  could  not  be  revo- 
lutionary. It  was  never  meant  to  prevail  by  physical 
violence,  or  to  be  promulgated'  by  the  sword.  It  was 
the  revelation  of  eternal  principles,  not  the  elaboration  of 

1  Pers.  Sat.  v.  76—80. 

-  "  Omnia  in  servum  licent "  (Sen.  Clem.  i.  18).  For  an  only  too  vivid 
sketcli  of  what  those  horrors  and  iniquities  were,  see  Dollinger,  Jvdenth.  u. 
Heidenth.  ix.  1,  §  2 ;  Wallon,  Hist,  de  I'Esclavage  dans  VAntiquite.  The 
difference  between  the  wisdom  which  is  of  the  world  and  the  wisdom  which  is 
of  God  may  be  measured  by  the  difference  between  the  Epistle  to  Pliilemon 
and  the  sentiments  of  heathens  even  so  enlightened  as  Aristotle  {Polit.  i.  3 ; 
Eth.  Nic.  viii.  13)  and  Plato  [Legg.  \i.  777,  seq. ;  Bq>.  viii.  549).  The  differ- 
ence  lietween  Christian  morals  and  those  of  even  such  Pagans  as  passed 
for  very  models  of  -virtue,  may  be  estimated  by  comparing  the  advice  of  St. 
Paid  to  Christian  masters,  and  the  detestable  greed  and  cruelty  of  the  elder 
Cato  in  his  treatment  of  his  slaves  (Plut.  Cat.  Maj.  x.  21 ;  Plin.  H.  N.  xviii. 
8,  3).  See  too  Plautus,  imssim  ;  Sec.  Ep.  xlvii. ;  Juv.  Sat.  vi.  219,  seq. ;  Tac. 
Ann.  xiv.  42 — 45  ;  and  Plut.  Apophthegm,  vi.  778  (the  story  of  Vedius  PoUio). 


CHRISTIANITY    AND    SLAVERY.  473 

practical  details.  It  did  not  interfere,  or  attempt  to 
interfere,  with  the  facts  of  the  established  order.  Had 
it  done  so  it  must  have  perished  in  the  storm  of  excite- 
ment which  it  would  have  inevitably  raised.  In  re- 
vealing truth,  in  protesting  against  crime,  it  insured  its 
own  ultimate  3^et  silent  victory.  It  knew  that  where 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  there  is  liberty.  It  was  loyal 
to  the  powers  that  be.  It  raised  no  voice,  and  refused 
no  tribute  even  to  a  Gains  or  a  Nero.  It  did  not 
denounce  slavery,  and  preached  no  fatal  and  futile  servile 
war.  It  did  not  inflame  its  Onesimi  to  play  the  parts  of 
an  Eunus  or  an  Artemio.  Yet  it  inspired  a  sense  of 
freedom  which  has  been  in  all  ages  the  most  invincible  foe 
to  tyranny,  and  it  proclaimed  a  divine  equality  and 
brotherhood,  which  while  it  left  untouched  the  ordinary 
social  distinctions,  left  slavery  impossible  to  enlightened 
Christian  lands. ^ 

This  delicate  relation  to  the  existing  structure  of 
society  is  admirably  illustrated  by  the  Letter  to  Philemon. 
The  tension  always  produced  by  the  existence  of  a  slave 
population,  vastly  preponderant  in  numbers,  was  at  that 
moment  exceptionally  felt.  Less  than  two  years  before 
St.  Paul  wrote  to  Philemon,  a  Consular,  a  Prsefect  of  the 
city,  named  Pedanius  Secundus,  had  been  murdered  by  a 
slave  under  circumstances  of  infamy  which  characterised 
that  entire  epoch.  In  spite  of  the  pity  of  the  people,  the 
Senate  had  decided  that  the  old  ruthless  law,  re-established 
by  the  Silanian  decree  under  Augustus,  should  be  carried 
out,  and  the  entire  familia  of  slaves  be  put  to  death. 
Eegardless  of  the  menaces  of  the  populace,  Nero  ordered 

1  On  the  relation  of  Christianity  to  slavery  see  Lecky,  Hist,  of  Rationalism, 
ii.  258 ;  Troplong,  Be  VInfiuence  du  Christ  sur  le  Droit  civil,  &e. ;  Gold.  Smith, 
Does  the  Bible  sanction  American  Slavery  1  De  Broglie,  L'Eglise  et  L'Emp. 
vi.  498,  seq.;  i.  162, 306 ;  Wallon,  De  VEsclavage,  ii.  ad  Jin.,  &c.  The  feeliug  is 
indicated  in  Rev.  xviii.  13. 


474  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

the  sentence  to  be  execnted  by  military  force,  and  four 
hundred  human  beings  of  every  age  and  of  both  sexes 
had  been  led  through  lines  of  soldiers  to  their  slaughter 
in  spite  of  the  indubitable  innocence  of  the  vast  majority. 
This  horrible  event,  together  with  the  thrilling  debate 
to  which  it  had  given  rise  in  the  Senate,  had  made  the 
subject  of  slavery  a  "  burning  question "  at  Eome,  and 
deepened  the  general  feeling  which  had  long  found  pro- 
verbial expression,  that  "  the  more  slaves  the  more 
enemies."  In  that  memorable  debate,  it  had  been  asserted 
by  C.  Cassius  Longinus  that  the  only  way  in  which  the 
rich  could  live  in  Rome — few  amid  multitudes,  safe  amid 
the  terrified,  or,  at  the  worst,  not  unaveng-ed  amouo-  the 
guilty — would  be  by  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  old  and 
sanguinary  law. 

Such,  then,  was  the  state  of  things  in  which  St.  Paul 
sat  down  to  write  his  letter  of  intercession  for  the 
Phrygian  runaway.  He  could  not  denounce  slavery ;  he 
could  not  even  emancipate  Onesimus ;  but  just  as  Moses, 
"  because  of  the  hardness  of  your  hearts,"  ^  could  not  over- 
throw the  lex  talionis,  or  polygamy,  or  the  existence  of 
blood-feuds,  but  rendered  them  as  nugatory  as  possible, 
and  robbed  them  as  far  as  he  could  of  their  fatal  sting, 
by  controlling  and  modifying  influences,  so  St.  Paul 
established  the  truths  that  rendered  slavery  endurable,  and 
raised  the  slave  to  a  dignity  which  made  emancipation 
itself  seem  but  a  secondary  and  even  trivial  thing,  A 
blow  was  struck  at  the  very  root  of  slavery  when  our  Lord 
said,  "  Ye  all  are  brethren."  In  a  Christian  community  a 
slave  might  be  a  "  bishop,"  and  his  master  only  a  cate- 
chumen ;  and  St.  Paul  writes  to  bid  the  Corinthians  pay 
due  respect  and  subjection  to  the  household  of  Stephanas, 
though  some  of  the  Corinthians  were  people  of  good  posi- 

1  Matt.  xix.  8. 


ST.    PAUL   AND    OKESIMUS.  475 

tion,  and  these  were  slaves.^  Onesimus  repaid  by  gratitude, 
by  affection,  by  active  and  cherished  services  to  the  aged 
prisoner,  the  inestimable  boon  of  his  deliverance  from  moral 
and  spiritual  death.  Griadly  would  St.  Paul,  with  so 
much  to  try  him,  with  so  few  to  tend  him,  have  retained 
this  warm-hearted  youth  about  his  person, — one  whose 
qualities,  however  much  they  may  have  been  perverted 
and  led  astray,  were  so  naturally  sweet  and  amiable,  that 
St.  Paul  feels  for  him  all  the  affection  of  a  father 
towards  a  son.^  And  had  he  retained  him,  he  felt  sure 
that  Philemon  would  not  only  have  pardoned  the  liberty, 
but  would  even  have  rejoiced  that  one  over  whom  he  had 
some  claim  should  discharge  some  of  those  kindly  duties 
to  the  Apostle  in  his  affliction  which  he  himself  was 
unable  to  render.^  But  Paul  was  too  much  of  a  gentle- 
man* to  presume  on  the  kindness  of  even  a  beloved  convert. 
And  besides  this,  a  fault  had  been  committed,  and  had 
not  yet  been  condoned.  It  was  necessary  to  show  by 
example  that,  where  it  was  possible,  restitution  should 
follow  repentance,  and  that  he  who  had  been  guilty  of  a 
great  wrong  should  not  be  irregularly  shielded  from 
its  legitimate  consequences.  Had  Philemon  been  a  hea- 
then, to  send  Onesimus  to  him  would  have  been  to 
consign    the   poor   slave   to    certain   torture,  to    possible 

'  See  Hausrath,  Neut.  Zeitg.  ii.  405. 

'  It  is  not  said  in  so  many  words  that  Onesimus  was  young,  but  the 
language  used  respecting  him  seems  clearly  to  show  that  tliis  was  the  case 
(Philem.  10,  12,  &c.).  The  expression  o-TrAayx''".  like  the  Latin  viscera,  is  used 
of  sons — 01  TTorSes  aTTKayxvo-  hiyovrai  (Artemid.  Oneirocr.  i.  44;  cf.  v.  57). 

^  Philem.  13,  'iya  inrep  a-ov  /xoi  SiaKovil.  It  is  Unlikely  that  Smkovu  here  implies 
religious  assistance. 

■*  Many  writers  have  felt  that  no  word  but  "  gentleman,"  in  its  old  and 
truest  sense,  is  suitable  to  describe  the  character  which  this  letter  reveals. 
(Stanley,  Cor.  391;  Newman,  Serm.  on  Various  Occasions,  133.)  "The  only 
fit  commentator  on  Paul  was  Luther — not  by  any  means  such  a  gentle- 
man as  the  Apostle  was,  but  almost  as  great  a  genius"  (Coleridge,  Table 
Talh). 


476  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

crucifixion.-^  He  would,  to  a  certainty,  have  become 
liencefoi-th  a  "branded  runaway,"  a  stigmatias^  or  have 
been  turned  into  the  slave-prison  to  work  in  chains. 
But  Philemon  was  a  Christian,  and  the  "  Gospel  of  Christ, 
by  Christianising  the  master,  emancipated  the  slave."  ^ 
Paul  felt  quite  sure  that  he  was  sending  back  the  run- 
away— who  had  become  his  dear  son,  and  from  Avhom  he 
could  not  part  without  a  violent  wrench — to  forgiveness,  to 
considerate  kindness,  in  all  probability  to  future  freedom; 
and  at  any  rate  right  was  right,  and  he  felt  that  he  ought 
not  to  shrink  from  the  personal  sacrifice  of  parting  with 
him.  He  therefore  sent  him  back  under  the  kind  care  of 
Tychicus,  and — happily  for  us — with  a  "commendatory 
Epistle,"  which  even  Baur  apologises  for  rejecting,  and 
which  all  the  world  has  valued  and  admired.*  It  has  been 
compared  by  Grotius  and  others  with  the  graceful  and 
touching  letter  written  by  the  younger  Pliny  to  his  friend 
Sabinianus  to  intercede  for  an  offending  freedman,  who 
with  many  tears  and  entreaties  had  besought  his  aid. 
That  exquisitely  natural  and  beautifully-written  letter  does 
credit  both  to  Pliny's  heart  and  to  his  head,  and  j^et 
polished  as  it  is  in  style,  while  St.  Paul's  is  written 
with  a  sort  of  noble  carelessness  of  expression,  it  stands 
for  beauty  and  value  far  below  the  letter  to  Philemon.    In 

>  Juv.  Hat.  vi.  219  ;  Plin.  lEj).  ix.  21,  "  Ne  torseris  ilium." 

-  SpuirfT7]s  i(XTiyfx.evos  (Ar.  Av.  759).     (Becker,  Charikles,  p.  370). 

3  Bp.  Wordsworth. 

*  Baur  s  rejection  of  it  is  founded  on  un- Pauline  expressions — i.e.,  expres- 
sions "which  only  occur  in  other  Epistles  which  he  rejects ;  on  the  assertion 
that  the  circumstances  are  improbable ;  and  that  the  word  cnr\a,yx>'«' — which 
he  admits  to  be  Pauline,  and  which  might,  he  says,  have  occurred  twice — is 
used  three  times !  The  Epistle  is  therefore  to  him  an  "  Embryo  einer 
Christlichen  Biclitung."  Admissi  risum  teneatis  1  The  "  Voi-wurf  der 
Hyperkritik,  eines  ubertriebenen  Misstrauens,  einer  alles  angreifcnden 
Zweifelsucht "  is,  however,  one  which  applies  not  only  to  his  criticism  of  this 
Epistle,  but  to  much  of  his  general  method ;  only  in  tliis  instance,  as 
Wiesinger  says,  it  is  not  only  Hyperkritik  but  Unkritik. 


PLINY'S    LETTER.  477 

the  first  place,  it  is  for  a  young-  freedman  wlio  had  been 
deeply  beloved,  and  not  for  a  runaway  slave.  In  the  next 
place,  it  is  purely  indiAddual,  and  wholly  wanting  in  the 
large  divine  principle  which  underlies  the  letter  of  St. 
Paul.  And  there  are  other  marked  differences.  Paul 
has  no  doubt  whatever  about  the  future  good  conduct  of 
Onesimus ;  but  Pliny  thinks  that  the  young  freedman  may 
offend  again.  Pliny  assumes  that  Sabinianus  is  and  will 
be  angry ;  Paul  has  no  such  fear  about  Philemon.  Paul 
pleads  on  the  broad  ground  of  Humanity  redeemed  in 
Christ ;  Pliny  pleads  the  youth  and  the  tears  of  the  freed- 
man, and  the  affection  which  his  master  had  once  felt  for 
him.  Paul  does  not  think  it  necessary  to  ask  Philemon  to 
spare  punishment ;  Pliny  has  to  beg  his  friend  not  to  use 
torture.  Paul  has  no  reproaches  for  Onesimus  ;  Pliny 
severely  scolded  his  young  suppliant,  and  told  him — with- 
out meaning  to  keep  his  word — that  he  should  never 
intercede  for  him  again.  The  letter  of  Pliny  is  the  letter 
of  an  excellent  Pagan ;  but  the  differences  which  separate 
the  Pagan  from  the  Christian  stand  out  in  every  line.^ 

*  A  translation  of  Pliny's  letter  will  be  found  in  Excursus  V.     {'Ef.  ix. 
21.) 


CHAPTER   LI. 

THE    EPISTLE    TO    PHILEMON. 

"Servi  sunt  ?  immo  conservi." — Sen. 

"  Evangelico  decore  conscripta  est." — Jer. 

"  Epistola  familiaris,  mke  aantos  summae  sapientiae  praebitura  specimen." 
— Bengel. 

"  Ita  modeste  et  suppliciter  pro  infimo  homine  se  dimittit  ut  vix  alibi 
usquam  magis  ad  viviun  sit  expressa  ingeuii  ejus  mansuetudo." — Calvin. 

*'  Paul,  a  prisoner  of  Chi-ist  Jesus,  and  Timothy  tbe  brother,  to  Philemon, 
our  beloved  and  fellow-worker,  and  to  Apphia  the  sister,^  and  to 
Archippus  our  fellow-soldier,  and  to  the  Church  in  thy  house  ;  grace  to 
you,  and  peace  from  God  our  Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

"  I  thank  my  God  always,  making  mention  of  thee  in  my  prayers — 
hearing  thy  love,  and  the  faith  thou  hast  towards  the  Lord  Jesus  and 
unto  all  the  saints' — that  the  kindly  exercise  of  thy  faith  may  become 
effectual,  in  the  full  knowledge  of  every  blessing  we  possess,  unto 
Christ's  glory.  For  I  had  much  joy  and  consolation  in  thy  love,  because 
the  hearts  of  the  saints  have  been  x-efreshed  by  thee,  brothei'. 

"Although,  then,  I  feel  much  confidence  in  Christ  to  enjoin  upon  thee 
what  is  fitting,  yet  I  rather  entreat  thee  for  love's  sake,  being  such  an 
one  as  Paul  the  aged,^  and  at  this  moment  also  a  prisoner  of  Christ 

1  The  reading  is  uncertain,  but  »,  A,  D,  E,  F,  G  (B  is  here  deficient) 
read  a5f\(p^,  and  we  judge  from  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia  that  ayawrirTi  may 
in  his  age,  and  perhaps  in  the  Apostle's,  have  given  rise  to  coarse  remarks 
from  coarse  minds. 

2  Ver.  5,  TTpbj  .  .  .  els, 

3  Yer.  9,  roiodros  i>v  us  is  not  unclassical,  as  Meyer  asserts.  (See  instances 
in  Lightfoot,  Col.,  p.  404.)  St.  Paul  must  at  this  time  have  been  sixty  years 
old,  and  people  of  that  age,  particularly  when  they  have  been  battered,  as  he 
had  been,  by  all  the  storms  of  life,  naturally  speak  of  themselves  as  old.  I 
cannot  think  that  this  means  "  an  ambassador "  (Eph.  vi.  20).  To  say 
nothino-  of  the  fact  that  the  reading  is  irpea-pvTi)s,  not  irpfo-fievT-fis,  and  allowing 
that  the  two  might  often  have  been  confused  (just  as,  indeed,  irpeffPls  and 
irpeff^evT^s  interchange  the  meanings  of  their  plurals),  yet  would  Paul  have 
said  "  an  ambassador  "  without  saying  of  whom? 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    PHILEMON.  479 

Jesus.  I  entreat  thee  about  my  child,  whom  I  begot  in  my  bonds — ■ 
Onesimus — once  to  thee  the  revei'se  of  his  name — profitless  ^  not  '  profit- 
able,' and  no  Christian,  but  now  truly  profitable  ^  and  a  good  Christian 
— whom  I  send  back  to  thee.  Him  that  is  the  son  of  my  bowels,^  whom  I 
should  have  preferred  to  retain  about  my  own  person  that  he  may  on 
thy  behalf  minister  to  me  in  the  bonds  of  the  Gospel — but  without  thy 
opiiaion  I  decided  to  do  nothing,  that  thy  kindly  deed  may  not  be  a 
matter  of  compulsion,  but  voluntary.  For  perhaps  on  this  account  he 
was  parted  for  a  season,  that  thou  mayst  have  him  back  for  ever,  no 
longer  as  a  slave,  but  above  a  slave,  a  brother  beloved,  especially  to 
me,  but  how  far  more  to  thee,  both  naturally  and  spiritually.  If,  then, 
thou  boldest  me  as  a  comrade,  receive  him  like  myself.  But  if  he 
wronged  thee  in  any  respect,  or  is  in.  thy  debt,  set  that  down  to  me.  I 
Paul  write  it  with  my  own  hand,  I  will  repay  it  ^ — not  to  say  to  thee 
that  thou  owest  me  even  thyself  besides.  Yes,  brother,  may  I  '  profit ' 
by  thee  in  the  Lord.^      Refresh  my  heart  in  Christ.     Confiding  in  thy 

*  axp.     Litotes;  erat  enim  noxius  (Bengel). 

2  Yer.  11.  There  seems  here,  as  Baur  acutely  observes,  to  be  a  double 
paronomasia,  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  indicate.  For  Xpiarhs  and  Xprjo-rbs 
were  confused  with  each  other,  and  the  Christians  did  not  dislike  tliis.  'E/c  rov 
Karriyopovixfvov  Tjfxwv  ovSaaros  xp'JCTi^TaTOt  uTra/JxO/^fXP"'''''"""'^  japelvaiKaTri'YOpov/j.eda 
rhv  Se  xpvo'Thv  /xicrelaOai  ov  UKaiov  (Justin,  A])ol.  i.  4).  (Tert.  AiJol.  3.)  Supra, 
i.,  p.  3U0. 

8  "  Son  of  my  bowels,  Anselm!"  (Browning,  The  BisJiop's  Tomb.) 
'S.wKa.yxya  =  corculum,  "my  veiy  heart;"  "the  very  eyes  of  me;"  □''Dm. 
The  elliptic  form  of  the  sentence,  so  characteristic  of  St.  Paul,  is  filled  up 
in  some    MSS.  by  Su  5*  avrSv,   rovTecTTi  tA  f/j.a  cirKdyxva  irpoffXafiov. 

*  ^Ai/t\  ypajj-fjiariov  (a  boud)  T7)uSe  Karexe  ttj^  innrroX^V  iracrav  avri^v  yeypa(j)a 
(Theodoret).  Some  have  supposed  that  Paul  here  took  the  j)en  from  the 
amanuensis,  and  that  this  is  the  only  autograph  sentence.  Oosterzee,  &c., 
treat  this  as  "  a  good-humoured  jest ;  "  and  others  think  it  unHke  tlie  delicacy 
which  never  once  reminds  the  Judaisers  of  the  chaluka  which  St.  Paul  bad 
toiled  to  raise.  But  a  slave  was  valuable,  and  something  in  the  character  of 
Philemon  may  have  led  to  the  remark.  Bengel  rightly  says,  "  Yinctus  scribit 
serio,"  as  a  father  pays  the  debts  of  his  son.  Schrader,  Lardner,  Bleek, 
Hackett  regard  it  as  "  no  better  than  calumny "  to  say  that  Onesimus  had 
stolen  anjiihing. 

*  Yer.  20,  dvaifi-nv.  "  I  send  you  back  an  Onesimus  now  worthy  of  his  name ; 
will  you  bo  my  Onesimus  ? "  It  is  vain  for  critics  to  protest  against  these 
plays  on  names.  They  have  been  prevalent  in  all  ages,  and  in  all  wi-iters, 
and  in  all  countries,  as  I  have  shown  by  multitudes  of  instances  in  Chapters 
on  Language,  ch.  xxii.  As  a  parallel  to  this  jilay  on  Onesimus,  compai-e 
Whitefield's  personal  appeal  to  the  comedian  Sliuter,  who  had  often  played 
the  character  of  Ramble — "And  thou,  poor  Ramble,  who  hast  so  often  rambled 
from  Him Oh,  end  thy  ramblings  and  come  to  Jesus." 


480  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

compliance  I  wi-ite  to  tliee,  knowing  that  even  more  tlian  I  say  thou  wilt 
do.  But  further  than  this,  prepare  for  me  a  lodging,  for  I  hope  that  by 
means  of  your  prayers  I  shall  be  granted  to  you. 

"There  salute  thee  Epaphras,  my  fellow-prisoner  in  Christ  Jesus, 
Marcus,  Aristarchus,  Demas,  Luke,  my  fellow-labourers. 

"  The  gi-ace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  the  spirit  of  you  and 
yours.  "^ 

When  Pliny  interceded  with  Sabinianus  for  the  offend- 
ing^ freedman,  he  was  able  to  write  shortly  afterwards, 
"  You  have  done  well  in  receiving  back  your  freedman  to 
your  house  and  heart.  This  will  give  you  pleasure,  as  it 
certainly  gives  me  pleasure ;  first,  because  it  shows  me 
your  self-control,  and  secondly,  because  you  esteem  me 
sufficiently  to  yield  to  my  authorit}^  and  make  a  conces- 
sion to  my  entreaties."  What  was  the  issue  of  St.  Paul's 
letter  we  are  not  told,  but  we  may  feel  quite  sure  that 
the  confidence  of  one  who  was  so  skilful  a  reader  of  human 
character  was  not  misplaced ;  that  Philemon  received  his 
slave  as  kindly  as  Sabinianus  received  his  freedman ;  that 
he  forgave  him,  and  not  merely  took  him  into  favour,  but 

'  Paul  had  been  trained  as  a  Rabbi.  To  see  what  Christiauity  had  taught 
him  we  have  only  to  compare  his  teachings  with  those  of  his  former  masters. 
Contrast,  for  instance,  the  Rabbinic  conception  of  a  slave  with  that  tender 
estimate  of  human  worth — tliat  high  conception  of  the  dignity  of  man  as  man 
— which  stands  ovit  so  beautifully  in  this  brief  letter.  The  Rabbis  taught 
that  on  the  death  of  a  slave,  -whether  male  or  female — and  even  of  a  Hebrew 
slave — the  benediction  was  not  to  be  repeated  for  the  mourners,  nor  condo- 
lence offered  to  them.  It  happened  that  on  one  occasion  a  female  slave  of 
Rabbi  Eliezer  died,  and  when  his  discij^les  came  to  condole  with  him  he  retired 
from  them  from  room  to  room,  from  upper  chamber  to  hall,  till  at  last  he  said 
to  them,  "  I  thought  you  woidd  feel  the  effects  of  tepid  water,  but  you  are 
proof  even  against  hot  water.  Have  I  not  taught  you  that  these  signs  of 
respect  are  not  to  be  paid  at  the  death  of  slaves  ?"  "  What,  then,"  asked  the 
disciides,  "are  pupils  on  such  occasions  to  say  to  their  masters?"  "  The  same 
as  is  said  when  their  oxen  and  asses  die,"  answered  the  Rabbi — "  May  the 
Lord  replenish  thy  loss."  They  were  not  even  to  be  mourned  for  by  tlieir 
masters ;  Rabbi  Jose  only  permitted  a  master  to  say — "  Alas,  a  good  and 
faithful  man,  and  one  who  lived  by  his  labour !"  But  even  this  was  objected 
to  as  being  too  much  {Berachoth,  f.  16,  2;  Maimonides,  Milch.  Aval.,  §  12; 
Hal  12). 


EFFECTS    OP    THE    LETTER.  481 

did  what  St.  Paul  does  not  ask,  but  evidently  desired, 
namely,  set  him  free.-^  We  may  be  sure,  too,  that  if  St. 
Paul  was  ever  able  to  carry  out  his  intended  visit  to 
Colossae,  it  was  no  mere  "  lodging  "  that  Philemon  pre- 
pared for  him,  but  a  home  under  his  own  and  Apphia's 
roof,  where  they  and  the  somewhat  slack  Archippus,  and 
the  church  that  assembled  in  their  house,  might  enjoy  his 
beloved  society,  and  profit  by  his  immortal  words. 

'  The  ecclesiastical  traditions  about  Philemon's  episcopate,  martyrdom, 
&c.,  are  too  late  and  worthless  to  deserve  mention ;  and  the  same  may  be  said 
of  tliose  respecting  Ouesimus.  As  far  as  dates  are  concerned,  he  might 
be  the  Onesimus,  Bishop  of  Ephesus,  mentioned  forty-four  years  later  by 
St.  Ignatius.  A  postscript  in  two  MSS.  says  that  he  was  martyred  at  Home 
by  having  his  legs  broken  on  the  rack. 


// 


CHAPTER    LII. 


Tfj  'E/fK\7j(T(o  Tj?  a^iofj.aKapTaT(i>  rp  oUa^  ev  'E<p4ff(}>  riis  hffias. — IgNAT.  CkJ 
Eph.  i. 

"  Nulla  Epistola  Pauli  tanta  habet  mysteria  tarn  reconditis  sensibus  invo- 
luta." — Jer.  in  Epli.  iii. 

"Ev  (ra>/xa  koX  ev  nveiifxa. — EpH.  iv.  4. 

The  polemical  speciality  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians, 
compared  with  the  far  more  magnificent  generality  of  the 
great  truths  which  occupy  the  earlier  chapters  of  the 
Epistle  to  "  the  Ephesians,"  ^  seems  (as  we  have  abeady 

^  That  tlie  Epistle  was  meant  for  the  Ephesians,  among  others,  is  generally 
admitted,  and  Alford  points  out  the  suitableness  of  "  the  Epistle  of  the  grace  of 
God  "  to  a  church  where  Paul  had  specially  preached  "  the  Gospel  of  the  grace 
of  God  "  (Acts  XX.  24,  32).  And  the  pathetic  ai^peal  contained  in  the  words 
6  Sta-fxtos  (iii.  1 ;  iv.  1)  would  come  home  to  those  who  had  heard  the  pi-ophecy 
of  Acts  XX.  22.  Other  points  of  parallel  between  this  Epistle  and  that  to 
the  Ephesian  elders  are  the  rare  use  of  fiovK-q  (i.  11 ;  Acts  xx.  27),  of  irepnTolria-is 
(i.  14;  cf.  Acts  XX.  28),  and  of  KKnpopofxia  (i.  14,  18;  v.  5;  Acts  xx.  32; 
and  Maurice,  Unity,  512 — 514).  But  without  going  at  length  into  the  often- 
repeated  argument,  the  mere  surface-phenomena  of  the  Epistle — not  by  any 
means  the  mere  omission  of  salutations,  and  of  the  name  of  Timothy — but 
the  want  of  intimacy  and  speciality,  the  generality  of  the  thanksgiving,  the 
absence  of  the  word  "  brethren  "  (see  vi.  10),  the  distance,  so  to  speak,  in  the 
entire  tone  of  address,  together  with  the  twice-repeated  6^76  (iii.  2;  iv.  21), 
and  the  constrained  absence  of  strong  personal  appeal  in  iii.  2 — 4,  would  alone  be 
inexplicable,  oven  if  there  were  no  external  grounds  for  doubting  the  authenti- 
city of  the  words  iv  'Ec^cVqj.  But  when  we  find  these  words  omitted  for  no 
conceivable  reason  in  «,  B,  and  know,  on  the  testimony  of  Basil,  that  he  had  been 
traditionally  informed  of  their  omission,  and  found  them  omitted,  iu  toTs 
ira\aio7s  twv  avTiypd<pwv,  as  also  did  Marcion,  Tertullian,  and  Jei'ome,  we  are 
led  to  the  unhesitating  conclusion  that  the  letter  was  not  addressed  exclu- 
sively to  the  Ephesians.  The  ^^ew  which  regards  it  as  an  encyclical,  sent, 
among  other  places,  to  Laodicea,  is  highly  probable  (Col.  iv.  16).  In 
Eph.  vi.  21,  Kol  vfjius  is  most  easily  explicable,  on  the  supposition  that  the 


GENUINENESS    OF    THE    EPISTLE.  483 

observed)  to  fiirnisli  a  decisive  proof  that  tlie  latter,  to 
some  extent,  sprang  out  of  the  former,  and  that  it  was 
written  because  the  Apostle  desired  to  utilise  the  departure 
of  Tychicus  with  the  letter  which  had  been  evoked  by  the 
heresies  of  Colossse. 

Of  the  genuineness  of  the  Epistle,  in  spite  of  all  the 
arguments  which  have  been  brought  against  it,  I  cannot 
entertain  the  shadow  of  a  doubt.  I  examine  the  question 
without  any  conscious  bias.  If  the  arguments  against  its 
Pauline  authorship  appeared  valid,  I  am  aware  of  no 
prepossession  which  would  lead  me  to  struggle  against 
their  force,  nor  would  the  deepest  truths  of  the  Epistle 
appear  to  me  the  less  profound  or  sacred  from  the  fact 
that  tradition  had  erred  in  assigning  its  authorship.^ 

To  the  arguments  which  endeavoured  to  show  that  the 
Pbaedo  had  not  been  vtritten  by  Plato  it  was  thought 
almost  sufficient  to  reply — ■ 

et  /ie  IlXdrcov  ov  ^pa-^e  hvco  ijevovro  Uxdroyve^. 
Certainly  if  St.  Paul  did  not  write  the  Epistle  to   "the 

letter  was  to  go  to  different  cities.  In  any  case,  the  absence  of  greetings,  &c., 
is  a  clear  mark  of  genuineness,  for  a  forger  would  certainly  have  put  them 
in.  The  Epistle  is  by  no  means  deficient  in  external  evidence.  Irenseus 
{Haer.  v.  2,  3),  Clement  of  Alexandria  {Strom,  iv.  8),  Polycarp  {ad  Phil,  i., 
xii.),  TertuUian  {adv.  Marc.  v.  1,  17),  and  perhaps  even  Ignatius  {ad  Eph.  vi.), 
have  either  quoted  or  alluded  to  it ;  and  it  is  mentioned  in  the  Muratorian 
Canon.  Inipugners  of  its  authenticity  must  accovmt  for  its  wide  and  early 
acceptance,  no  less  than  for  the  difficulty  of  its  forgeiy.  It  is  a  simple  fact 
that  the  Epistle  was  accepted  as  unquestionably  Pauline  from  the  days  of 
Ignatius  to  those  of  Schleiermacher.  Renan  sums  up  the  objections  to  its 
authenticity  under  the  heads  of  (i.)  Recurrent  phrases  and  aira|  Keyifxiva;  (ii.) 
style  weak,  diffused,  embarrassed ;  (iii.)  traces  of  advanced  Gnosticism  ;  (iv.) 
developed  conception  of  the  Church  as  a  living  organism ;  (v.)  un-Pauline 
exegesis;  (vi.)  the  expression  "holy  Apostles;"  (vii.)  un-Pauline  views  of 
marriage.     I  hope  to  show  that  these  objections  are  untenable. 

1  That  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  was  not  written  by  the  Apostle  is  now 
almost  universally  believed,  yet  this  conviction  has  never  led  the  Church  to 
underrate  its  value  as  a  part  of  the  sacred  canon  of  the  New  Testament 
Scriptures. 

//2 


484  THE    LIFE    AND    WOBK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Ephesians,"  there  must  have  been  two  St.  Pauls.  Baur 
speaks  contemptuously  of  such  an  objection;^  but  can  any 
one  seriously  believe  that  a  forger  capable  of  producing  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  could  have  lived  and  died  unheard 
of  among  the  holy,  but  otherwise  very  ordinary,  men  and 
mediocre  writers  who  attracted  notice  in  the  Church  of  the 
first  century  ?  It  is  true  that  De  Wette,  and  his  followers,^ 
treat  the  Epistle  de  limit  en  has  as  a  verbose  and  colourless 
reproduction,  quite  inferior  to  St.  Paul's  genuine  writings, 
and  marked  b}^  poverty  of  ideas  and  redundance  of  words. 
We  can  only  reply  that  this  is  a  matter  of  taste.  The 
colour  red  makes  no  impression  on  the  colour-blind;  and 
to  some  readers  this  Epistle  has  seemed  as  little  colourless 
as  is  the  body  of  heaven  in  its  clearness.  Chrysostom — 
no  bad  judge  surely  of  style  and  rhetoric — spoke  of  the 
lofty  sublimity  of  its  sentiments.  Theophylact  dwells  on  the 
same  characteristics  as  suitable  to  the  Ephesians.  Grotius 
says  St.  Paul  here  equals  the  sublimity  of  his  thoughts 
with  words  more  sublime  than  any  human  tongue  has  ever 
uttered.  Luther  reckoned  it  among  the  noblest  books  of 
the  New  Testament.  Witsius  calls  it  a  divine  Epistle 
glowing  with  the  flame  of  Christian  love,  and  the  splendour 
of  holy  light,  and  flowing  with  fountains  of  living  water. 
Coleridge  said  of  it,  "  In  this,  the  divinest  composition  of 
man,  is  every  doctrine  of  Christianity  :  first,  those  doctrines 
peculiar  to  Christianity ;  and  secondly,  those  precepts 
common  to  it  with  natural  religion."  Lastly,  Alford  calls 
it  "  the  greatest  and  most  heavenly  Avork  of  one  whose 
very  imagination  is  peopled  with  things  in  the  heavens, 
and  even  his  fancy  rapt  into  the  visions  of  God."     Pflei- 

1  Taul.  ii.  2. 

2  Dr.  Davidson,  Introd.  ii.  388.  In  his  earlier  edition,  Dr.  Da\ndson 
tLouglit  "  nothing  more  groundless  "  than  such  assertions,  and  he  then  said, 
"The  language  is  rich  and  copious,  but  it  is  everywhere  pregnant  with 
meaning,"    (See  Gloag,  Introd.,  p.  313.) 


RESEMBLANCE    TO    COLOSSIANS.  48-5 

derer,  tboiigli  he  rejects  tbe  genuineness  of  the  Epistle, 
yet  says  that  "  of  all  the  forms  which  Paulinism  went 
through  in  the  course  of  its  transition  to  Catholicism,  that 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  is  the  most  developed  and 
the  richest  in  dogma." 

The  close  resemblance  in  expression,  and  in  many  of 
the  thoughts,  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  when  com- 
bined with  the  radical  differences  ^  which  separate  the  two 
Epistles,  appears  to  me  an  absolutely  irresistible  proof  in 
favour  of  the  authenticity  of  both,  even  if  the  external 
evidence  were  weaker  than  it  is.  Roughly  speaking,  we 
may  say  that  the  style  of  Colossians  shows  a  "  rich 
brevit}^ ;"  that  of  Ephesians  a  diffuser  fulness.  Colossians 
is  definite  and  logical ;  Ephesians  is  lyrical  and  Asiatic. 
In  Colossians,  St.  Paul  has  the  error  more  prominently  in 
view ;  in  Ephesians  he  has  the  counteracting  truth.  In 
Colossians  he  is  the  soldier ;  in  Ephesians  the  builder.  In 
Colossians  he  is  arguing  against  a  vain  and  deceitful 
philosophy ;  in  Ephesians  he  is  revealing  a  heavenly 
wisdom.  Colossians  is  "his  caution,  his  argument,  his 
process,  and  his  work-day  toil;"  Ephesians  is  instruction 
passing  into  prayer,  a  creed  soaring  into  the  loftiest 
of  Evangelic  Psalms.  Alike  the  differences  and  the  re- 
semblances are  stamped  with  an  individuality  of  style 
which  is  completely  beyond  the  reach  of  imitation.^     A 

1  There  is  tlie  general  resemblance  that  in  both  (Col.  iii. ;  Ejih.  iv.  1)  the 
same  transition  leads  to  the  same  ai^plication — the  humblest  morality  being 
based  on  the  sublimest  truths ;  and  there  are  the  special  resemblances  (a)  in 
Christological  -views ;  (;8)  in  phraseology — seventy-eight  verses  out  of  155 
being  expressed  in  the  same  phrases  in  the  two  Epistles.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  are  marked  difEex*ences — (a)  there  are  aira^  Xeyofxiva  in  both ;  (3)  the 
leading  word  to  iirovpdvia  is  peculiar  to  Ephesians;  (7)  Ephesians  has  deep 
thoughts  aud  whole  sections  (i.  3 — 14;  iv.  5 — 15;  v.  7 — 14;  23 — 31;  vi.  10— 
17)  which  are  not  found  in  Colossians  ;  (5)  there  are  seven  Old  Testament 
allusions  or  quotations  in  Ephesians,  aud  only  one  in  Colossians  (ii.  21). 

"  Hence  the  critics  are  quite  unable  to  make  up  their  minds  wlicther  the 
Epistles  were  written  by  two  authors,  or  by  one  author ;    aud  whether  St. 


486  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

forger  might  indeed  have  sat  do^Ti  with  the  deliberate 
purpose  of  borrowing  words  and  phrases  and  thoughts 
from  the  Ej^istle  to  the  Colossians,  but  in  that  case  it 
would  have  been  wholly  beyond  his  power  to  produce  a 
letter  which,  in  the  midst  of  such  resemblances,  convej^ed 
so  different  an  impression  in  a  style  so  characteristic  and 
so  intensely  emotional.^  Even  if  we  could  regard  it  as 
probable  that  any  one  could  have  poured  forth  truths  so 
exalted,  and  moral  teaching  so  pure  and  profound,  in  an 
Epistle  by  which  he  deliberately  intended  to  deceive  the 
Church  and  the  world,^  it  is  not  possible  that  one  actuated 
by  such  a  purpose  should  successfully  imitate  the  glow 
and  rush  of  feeling  which  marks  the  other  writings  of  the 

Paul  was  in  part  the  author  of  either  or  of  neither ;  and  whether  the  Colos- 
sians was  an  abstract  of  the  Ej^hesians,  or  the  Ephesians  an  amplification  of 
the  Colossians. 

*  The  similarity  of  expressions  (Davidson,  Introd.  i.  384)  often  throws 
into  more  marked  relief  the  dissimilarity  in  fundamental  ideas.  It  is  another 
amazing  sign  of  the  blindness  which  marred  the  keen  insight  of  Baur  in  other 
directions,  that  he  should  say  the  contents  of  the  Epistles  "  are  so  essentially 
the  same  that  tliey  cannot  well  be  distinguished  "  !  {Paxil,  ii.  6.)  The  meta- 
physical Chvistology,  which  is  polemically  dwelt  upon  in  the  Colossians,  is  only 
assumed  and  alluded  to  in  the  Ej)hesians  ;  and  the  prominent  conceptions  of 
Predestination  and  Unity  which  mark  the  doctrinal  part  of  the  Ephesians  find 
little  or  no  place  in  the  Colossians.  The  recurrence  of  any  word  tjtis  aeiS6vTf<r<Ti 
veoiTciTTj  aiJ.(pnr€XT]Tai  is  a  common  literary  phenomenon,  and  any  careful  student 
of  ^scliylus  is  aware  that  if  he  finds  a  startling  word  or  metaphor  he  may 
find  it  again  in  the  next  hundred  lines,  even  if  it  occtirs  in  no  other  play. 
Nothing,  therefore,  was  more  natural  than  that  there  should  be  a  close  resem- 
blance, especially  of  the  moral  parts  of  two  Epistles,  written  perhaps  within  a 
few  days  of  each  other ;  and  that  even  though  the  doctrinal  parts  had  different 
objects,  and  were  meant  for  different  rea<lers,  we  should  find  alternate  ex- 
pansions or  abbreviations  of  the  same  thoughts  and  the  repetition  of  phrases  so 
pregnant  as  6  ttAovtos  rris  5<{|r;s  (Eph.  i.  18 ;  Col.  i.  27) ;  rh  irXvpuina  (Eph.  i.  23 ; 
Col.  i.  19  ;)  TTipiTOjxr)  axftpoTTOi-nr&s  (E^\\.  ii.  11 ;  Col.  ii.  11)  ;  and  o  -rraXaihs  &v6p<ciros 
(Eph.  iv.  22;  Col.  iii.  9).  When  Schneckenburgcr  talks  of  "a  meclianical 
use  of  materials "  he  is  using  one  of  those  phrases  which  betray  a  strong 
bias,  and  render  his  results  less  plausible  than  they  might  otherwise  seem. 
"  How  can  he  have  overlooked  the  memoi-able  fact,  which  all  readers  of 
the  Epistle  have  noticed,  that  the  idea  of  catholicity  is  Jicre  first  raised  to 
dogmatic  definiteness  and  predominant  significance  ?  "  (Pfleiderer,  iL  164). 

2  iii.  1,  8,  &c. 


STYTjE    of    the    epistle.  487 

Apostle,  and  expresses  itself  in  tlie  to-and-fro-conflicting 
eddies  of  thought,  in  the  one  great  flow  of  utterance  and 
purpose.  The  style  of  St.  Paul  may  be  compared  to  a 
great  tide  ever  advancing  irresistibly  towards  the  destined 
shore,  but  broken  and  rippled  over  every  wave  of  its  broad 
expanse,  and  liable  at  any  moment  to  mighty  refluences  as 
it  foams  and  swells  about  opposing  sandbank  or  rocky  cape.^ 
With  even  more  exactness  we  might  compare  it  to  a  river 
whose  pure  waters,  at  every  interspace  of  calm,  reflect  as 
in  a  mirror  the  hues  of  heaven,  but  which  is  liable  to  the 
rushing  influx  of  mountain  torrents,  and  whose  reflected 
images  are  only  dimly  discernible  in  ten  thousand  fragments 
of  quivering  colour,  when  its  surface  is  swept  by  ruffling 
winds.  If  we  make  the  difficult  concession  that  any  other 
mind  than  that  of  St.  Paul  could  have  originated  the 
majestic  statement  of  Christian  truth  which  is  enshrined 
in  the  doctrinal  part  of  the  Epistle,  we  may  still  safely 
assert,  on  literary  grounds  alone,  that  no  writer,  desirous 
to  gain  a  hearing  for  such  high  revelations,  could  have  so 
completely  merged  his  own  individuality  in  that  of  an- 
other as  to  imitate  the  involutions  of  parentheses,  the 
digressions  at  a  word,  the  superimposition  of  a  minor 
current  of  feeling  over  another  that  is  flowing  steadily 
beneath  it,  tlie  unconscious  recurrence  of  haunting  ex- 
pressions, the  struggle  and  strain  to  find  a  worthy 
utterance  for  thoughts  and  feelings  which  burst  through 
the  feeble  bands  of  language,  the  dominance  of  the  syllo- 
gism of  emotion  over  the  syllogism  of  grammar — the 
many  other  minute  characteristics  w^hich  stamp  so  in- 
eflaceable  an  impress  on  the  Apostle's  undisputed  works. 

*  "  Every  one  must  be  conscious  of  an  overflowing  fulness  in  the  style  of 
tliis  Epistle,  as  if  the  Apostle's  mind  could  not  contain  the  thouglits  that  were 
at  work  in  him,  as  if  each  one  that  he  uttered  had  a  luminous  train  before  it 
and  behind  it,  from  which  it  could  not  disengage  itself  "  (Maurice,  Unity  of 
the  Neio  Testament,  p.  535). 


488  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

This  may,  I  think,  be  pronounced  with  some  confidence 
to  be  a  pyschological  impossibility.  The  intensity  of 
the  writer's  feehngs  is  betrayed  in  every  sentence  by  the 
manner  in  which  great  truths  interhT.ce  each  other,  and 
are  yet  subordinated  to  one  main  and  grand  perception, 
Mannerisms  of  style  may  be  reproduced;  but  let  any 
one  attempt  to  simulate  the  language  of  genuine  passion, 
and  every  reader  will  tell  him  how  ludicrously  he  fails. 
Theorists  respecting  the  spuriousness  of  some  of  the 
Pauline  Epistles  have,  I  think,  entirely  underrated  the 
immense  difficulty  of  palming  upon  the  world  an  even 
tolerably  successful  imitation  of  a  style  the  most  living, 
the  most  nervously  sensitive,  which  the  world  has  ever 
known.  The  spirit  in  which  a  forger  would  have  sat 
down  to  write  is  not  the  spirit  which  could  have  poured 
forth  so  grand  a  eucharistic  hymn  as  the  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians.^  Eervour,  intensity,  sublimity,  the  unifying — 
or,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  esemplasfic — power  of  the 
imagination  over  the  many  subordinate  truths  which 
strive  for  utterance ;  the  eagerness  which  hurries  the 
Apostle  to  his  main  end  in  spite  of  deeply  important 
thoughts  which  intrude  themselves  into  long  parentheses 
and  almost  interminable  paragraphs — all  these  must,  from 
the  very  nature  of  literary  composition,  have  been  far 
beyond  the  reach  of  one  who  could  deliberately  sit  down 
with  a  lie  in  his  right  hand  to  write  a  false  superscription, 
and  boast  with  trembling  humility  of  the  unparalleled 
spiritual  privileges  entrusted  to  him  as  the  Apostle  of  the 
Gren  tiles. 

A  strong  bias  of  prejudice  against  the  doctrines  of  the 
Epistle  may  perhaps,  in  some  minds,  have  overborne  the 
sense  of  literary  possibilities.  But  is  there  in  reality  any- 
thing surprising  in  the  developed  Christology  of  St.  Paul's 

1  J.  LI.  Da\-ics,  E})h.,  p.  19. 


CHRISTOLOGT    OF    THE    EPISTLE.  489 

later  years  ?  That  liis  views  respecting  tlie  supreme 
divinity  of  Christ  never  wavered  will  hardly,  I  think,  be 
denied  by  any  candid  controversialist.  They  are  as  clearly, 
though  more  implicitly,  present  in  the  First  Epistle  to  the 
Thessalonians  as  in  the  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy.  No 
human  being  can  reasonably  doubt  the  authenticity  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans ;  yet  the  Pauline  evangel 
logically  argued  out  in  that  Epistle  is  identical  with  that 
which  is  so  triumphantly  preached  in  this.  They  are  not, 
as  Reuss  has  observed,  two  systems,  but  two  methods  of 
exposition.  In  the  Romans,  Paul's  point  of  view  is 
psychologic,  and  his  theology  is  built  on  moral  facts — the 
universality  of  sin,  and  the  insufficiency  of  man,  and 
hence  salvation  by  the  grace  of  Grod,  and  union  of  the 
believer  with  the  dead  and  risen  Christ.  But  in  the 
Ephesians  the  point  of  view  is  theologic — the  idea  of 
God's  eternal  plans  realised  in  the  course  of  ages,  and  the 
unity  in  Christ  of  redeemed  humanity  with  the  family  of 
heaven.  "  The  two  great  dogmatic  teachers  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  both  essentially  disciples  of  St.  Paul,  have 
both,  so  to  speak,  divided  between  them  the  inheritance  of 
their  master.  The  manual  of  Melancthon  attaches  itself 
to  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans ;  the  '  Institutes  '  of  Calvin 
follow  the  direction  marked  out  in  that  to  the  Ephesians ; 
party  spirit  will  alone  be  able  to  deny  that,  in  spite  of 
this  difference  of  method,  the  system  of  the  two  writers 
has,  after  all,  been  one  and  the  same."^  Is  there  a  word 
respecting  Christ's  exaltation  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians  which  implies  a  greater  or  diviner  Being  than 
Him  of  whom  St.  Paul  has  spoken  as  the  Final  Con- 
queror in  the  15th  chapter  of  the  First  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  ? 

We  can  imagine  that  when  he  began  to  dictate  this 

*  Reuss,  Jjes  Epitres  Faulin.  ii.  146. 


490  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

circular  letter  to  the  churches  of  Asia,  the  one  over- 
whelming thought  in  the  mind  of  the  Apostle  was  the 
ideal  splendour  and  perfectness  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
and  the  consequent  duty  of  holiness  which  was  incum- 
bent on  all  its  members.  The  thought  of  Humanity 
regenerated  in  Christ  by  an  eteriial  process,  and  the 
consequent  duty  of  all  to  live  in  accordance  with 
this  divine  enlightenment — these  are  the  double  wings 
which  keep  him  in  one  line  throughout  his  rapturous 
flight.  Hence  the  Epistle  natuwilly  fell  into  two 
great  divisions,  doctrinal  and  practical ;  the  idea  and 
its  realisation ;  pure  theology  and  applied  theology ; 
the  glorious  unity  of  the  Church  in  Christ  its  living 
head,  and  the  moral  exhortations  which  sprang  with 
irresistible  force  of  appeal  from  this  divine  m3^stery. 
But  as  he  was  in  all  his  doctrine  laying  the  foundations 
of  practice,  and  throughout  founded  the  rules  of  practice 
on  doctrine,  the  two  elements  are  not  so  sharply  divided 
as  not  to  intermingle  and  coalesce  in  the  general  design. 
The  glory  of  the  Christian's  vocation  is  inseparably  con- 
nected with  the  practical  duties  which  result  from  it,  and 
which  it  was  directly  intended  to  educe.  Great  principles 
find  their  proper  issue  in  the  faithful  performance  of 
little  duties. 

It  is  naturally  in  the  first  three  chapters  that  St.  Paul 
is  most  overpowered  by  the  grandeur  of  his  theme. 
Universal  reconciliation  in  Christ  as  the  central  Being  of 
the  Universe  is  the  leading  thought  both  of  the  Ephe- 
sians  and  the  Colossians,  and  it  is  a  deeper  and  grander 
thought  than  that  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  which 
only  sees  this  unity  in  Christ's  priesthood,  or  that  of  the 
Pseudo-Clementines,  which  sees  it  in  Clii-ist  as  the  Prophet 
of  Truth. ^  St.  Paul  is  endeavouring  to  impress  upon  the 
1  Baur,  First  Three  Cent.  i.  126. 


LEADING   WORDS    OF    THE    EPISTLE.  491 

minds  of  all  Christians  that  they  have  entered  upon  a 
new  ceon  of  God's  dispensations — the  ceon  of  God's  ideal 
Chnrcli,  which  is  to  comprehend  all  things  in  heaven  and 
earth.  Eound  this  central  conception,  as  round  a  nucleus 
of  intense  light,  there  radiate  the  considerations  which  he 
wishes  them  specially  to  hear  in  mind  : — namely,  that  this 
perfected  idea  is  the  working  out  of  a  purpose  eternally 
conceived;  that  the  oeconomy — i.e.,  the  Divine  dispensa- 
tion^— of  all  the  past  circumstances  of  history  has  been 
fore-ordained  before  all  ages  to  tend  to  its  completion; 
that  it  is  a  mystery — i.e.,  a  truth  hidden  from  previous 
ages,  but  now  revealed ;  that  each  Person  of  the  Blessed 
Trinity  has  taken  direct  part  therein ;  that  this  plan  is 
the  result  of  free  grace;  that  it  is  unsurpassable  in 
breadth  and  length,  and  height  and  depth,  being  the 
exhibition  of  a  love  of  which  the  wealth  is  inexhaustible 
and  passes  knowledge  ;  that  the  benefits  of  it  extend  alike 
to  Jew  and  Gentile  ;  that  it  centres  in  the  person  of  the 
risen  Christ ;  and  that  to  the  Apostle  himself,  unworthy 
as  he  is,  is  entrusted  the  awful  responsibility  of  preaching 
it  among  the  Gentiles. 

The  incessant  recurrence  of  leading  words  connected 
with  these  different  thouyhts  is  a  remarkable  feature  of  the 
first  three  chapters.^  Thus,  in  the  endeavour  to  express 
that  the  whole  great  scheme  of  redemptive  love  is  part 
of  the  Divine  "  Will  "  and  "  Purpose,"  those  two  words 
are  frequently  repeated.  Grace  (%a/3t?)  is  so  prominent  in 
the  Apostle's  mind  that  the  word  is  used  thirteen  times, 
and  may  be  regarded  as  the  key-note  of  the  entire  Epistle.' 
The  writer's  thoughts  are  so  completely  with  the  risen 
and  ascended  Christ  as  the  head,  the  centre,  the  life  of 

*  olKovoixla,  Eph.  i.  10  ;  iii.  2. 

2  et'Arjyuo,    Eph.  i.    1,   5,  9,  11    (v.    17;   vi.    6);   fiovXh,    i.   11;    €v5o/c/a,    i.    9; 
TpSeea-ts,  iii.  11. 

3  xdpts,  i.  2,  6  (bis),  7 ;  ii.  5,  7,  8 ;  iii.  2,  7,  8 ;  iv.  7,  32  j  \i.  24. 


492  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

the  Cliurcli,  that  he  six  times  uses  the  expression  "  the 
heavenlies  "  without  any  limitation  of  time  or  place.  ■" 
He  feels  so  deeply  the  necessity  of  spiritual  insight  to 
counteract  the  folly  of  fancied  wisdom,  that  the  work  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  spirit  of  man  is  here  peculiarly 
prominent.^  The  words  "wealth,"^  and  "glory,"^  and 
"mystery,"^  and  "plenitude,"^  show  also  the  dominant 
chords  which  are  vibrating  in  his  mind,  while  the  frequent 
compounds  in  virep,  irpb,  and  aw,''  show  how  deeply  he 
is  impressed  with  the  loftiness,  the  fore-ordainment, 
and  the  result  of  this  Gospel  in  uniting  the  Jew  and 
Gentile  within  one  great  spiritual  Temple,  of  which  the 
middle  wall  has  been  for  ever  broken  down.  "  It  would, 
indeed,"  says  Mr.  Maurice,  "  amply  repay  the  longest 
study  to  examine  the  order  in  which  these  details  are 
introduced,  in  what  relation  they  stand  to  each  other, 
how  they  are  all  referred  to  one  ground,  the  good  pleasure 

^  T&  iiTovpavia,  i.  3,  20  ;  ii.  6  ;  iii.  10 ;  vi.  12.  "  The  Apostle  carries  us  into 
'  the  heavenlies  '  (not  '  the  heavenly  places'  as  our  translators  render  it,  so 
perverting  the  idea  of  a  sentence  from  which  place  and  time  are  carefully  ex- 
cluded), into  a  region  of  voluntary  beings,  of  spirits,  standing  by  a  spiritual  law, 
capable  of  a  spiritual  blessing  "  (Maurice,  Unity  of  the  New  Testament,  p.  523.) 

2  irvivfxa  and  TTvevixariKhs  occurs  thirteen  times  in  this  Epistle  (i.  3,  13,  17; 
ii.  18,  22 ;  iii.  5, 16 ;  iv.  3,  4,  23,  30  ;  v.  18 ;  vi.  17,  18) ;  and  only  once  in  the 
Colossians  (i.  8,  9). — Baur,  Paul.  ii.  21. 

3  ttKovtos,  TTXovffios,  i.  7,  18 ;  ii.  4,  7 ;  iii.  8,  16.  This  word  is  only  used  in 
this  sense  liy  St.  James  (ii.  5).  See  Paley,  Horae  Paulinae,  Ephes.  ii.  But 
see  2  Cor.  viii.  9  ;  Phil,  il  7. 

*  5<{|a,  i.  6,  12,  14, 17,  18 ;  iii.  16,  21,  &c. 

6  juuo-T^pio)/,  Eph.  i.  9 ;  iii.  3,  4,  9  (v.  32) ;  vi.  19.  In  no  other  Epistle, 
except  that  to  the  Colossians,  and  1  Cor.,  does  it  occur  more  than  twice. 

*^  ■nK-hpona,  i.  23 ;  iii.  19 ;  iv.  10 — 13  (i.  10).  In  the  quasi-technical  sense 
it  is  only  found  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  i.  19 ;    ii.  9. 

7  vTTfp&aKKov,  i.  19;   itripavw,  21.      Cf.  iii.  19,  vnepeKWfpta-ffoO;  20;   iv.  10,  &C. 
These  compounds  are  characteristic  of  the  emphatic  energy  of  St.  Paul's 

style. 

Upooplffas,  i.  5;  ■7rpoe'0€TO,  i.  9;  irpoi)Tolfxaffev,  ii.  10;  irpSOftris,  iii.  11. 

:^vveCwoTroir]<Tf,  ii.  5  ;  (Tvv^yfipe,  ffweKadiffev,  Q  ;  ffvuiroXlrai,  ii.  19  (a  late  and 
badword,  Phryn.,  p.l72);  ffwoiKo^ofjif'iaBe,  22;  a-vyKXripSvofta,  (rva-a-u/ia,  avfififroxot, 
ui.  6  ;  avi/Sf(Tfios,  iv.  3  ;   trvufii^aCofievop,  (TwapfioKoyovfjifvov,  16. 


SUMMARY    OF    THE    EPISTLE.  493 

of  His  will,  and  to  one  end,  the  gathering  up  of  all  things 
in  Christ.^  But  however  desirable  the  minute  investiga- 
tion is,  after  the  road  has  been  travelled  frequently,  the 
reader  must  allow  the  Apostle  to  carry  him  along  at  his 
own  speed  on  his  own  wings,  if  he  would  know  anything 
of  the  height  from  which  he  is  descending  and  to  which 
he  is  returning."^ 

After  his  usual   salutation  to  the   saints  that  are  in 

(perhaps  leaving  a  blank  to  be  filled  up  by  Tychicus  at 

the  places  to  which  he  carried  a  copy  of  the  letter),  he  breaks 
into  the  rapturous  sentence  which  is  "  not  only  the  exor- 
dium of  the  letter,  but  also  the  enunciation  of  its  design." 

"Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
blessed  us  with  all  spiritual  blessings  in  the  heavenlies  in  Chi'ist,  even 
as  He  chose  us  out  in  Him  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  that  we 
should  be  holy  and  blameless  before  Him,  in  love ;  fore-ordaining  us  to 
adoption  by  Jesus  Christ  into  Himself,  according  to  the  good  pleasure 
of  His  will,  for  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  His  grace  wherewith  He  graced 
us  in  the  beloved."  ^ 

This  leads  him  to  a  passage  in  which  the  work  of  the 
Son  in  this  great  fore-ordained  plan  is  mainly  predominant. 

"  In  whom  we  have  our  redemption  through  His  blood,  the  remis- 
sion of  transgressions,  according  to  the  wealth  of  His  grace,  wherewith 
He   abounded   towards  us,   in   all   wisdom   and    discernment,  making 

^  The  Epistle  may  be  thus  briefly  summarised: — Salutation  (i.  1,  2). 
Thanksgiving  for  the  election  of  the  Church,  and  the  unity  wrought  by 
Christ's  redemption  and  calling  of  both  Jews  and  GentUes  (i.  3 — 14).  Prayer 
for  their  growth  into  the  full  knowledge  of  Christ  (15 — 23).  Unity  of  man- 
kind in  the  heavenlies  in  Christ  (ii.  1 — 22).  Fuller  explanation  of  the  mystery, 
with  prayer  for  the  full  comprehension  of  it,  and  doxology  (iii.  1 — 21).  Ex- 
hortation to  live  worthily  of  the  ideal  unity  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  love 
(iv.  1 — 16).  Exhortation  to  the  practical  duties  of  the  new  life,  in  the  conquest 
over  sin  (iv.  17 — v.  21),  and  in  social  relations  (v.  22 — vi.  9).  The  armour  of 
God  (vi.  10 — 17).     Final  requests  and  farewell  (vi.  10 — 24). 

2  Unity  of  the  New  Testament,  p.  525.  See  Excursus  Y., "  Phraseology  and 
Doctrines  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians." 

^  i.  3 — 6.  Notice  the  marvellous  compression  and  exhaustive  fulness  of 
this  great  outline  of  theology. 


49i  THE    LIFE    A:N"D    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

known  to  us  tlie  mystery  of  His  will,  accoi-ding  to  His  good  pleasure 
which  He  pui-posed  in  Himself,  with  a  view  to  the  dispensation  of  the 
fulness  of  the  seasons — to  sum  up  all  things  in  Christ,  both  the  things 
in  the  heavens  and  the  things  on  the  earth — in  Him.  In  whom  we 
also  were  made  an  inlieritance,  being  fore-ordained  according  to  the 
purpose  of  Him  who  worketh  all  things  according  to  the  counsel  of 
His  will,  that  we  should  be  to  the  2^raise  of  His  glory  who  have  before 
hoped  in  Christ."^ 

This  repetition  of  the  phrase  "  to  the  praise  of  His 
glory,"  introduces  the  work  of  the  Third  Person  of  the 
blessed  Trinity. 

"  In  whom  (Christ)  ye  also"  (as  well  as  the  Jewish  Christians  who 
previously  had  hoped  in  Christ)  "on  hearing  the  word  of  truth,  the 
Gospel  of  your  salvation,  in  whom  (I  say),  belie^ang,  ye  too  were 
sealed  with  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  who  is  the  earnest  of  o\ir 
inheritance,  with  a  view  to  the  redemption  of  the  purchased  possession 
unto  the  praise  of  His  glory."  ^ 

Since,  therefore,  it  is  the  fixed  ordinance,  from  all 
eternity,  of  the  Blessed  God,  that  man  should  be  adoj)ted 
through  the  redemption  of  Christ  to  the  praise  of  the 
glory  of  the  Eternal  Trinity,  and  should  receive  the  seal 
of  the  Spirit  as  the  pledge  of  full  and  final  entrance  into 
his  heritage,  St.  Paul  tells  them  that,  hearing  of  their 
faith  and  love,  he  ceaselessly  prayed  that  God — the  God 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  the  Glory — would 
grant  them  a  full  knowledge^  of  Himself,  giving  them 
"  illuminated  eyes  in  their  hearts "  to  know  what  their 
calling  means,  and  the  wealth  and  glory  of  this  heritage, 
and  the  surpassing  greatness  of  the  power  which  He  had 
put  forth  in  raising  Christ  from  the  dead,  and  seating 

1  i.  7—12. 

2  i.  13,  14. 

3  '■E.iriyvwffis,  i.  17;  iv.  13.  I  have  already  alluded  to  the  importance 
attached  to  true  knowledge  in  these  Epistles,  written  as  it  was  to  counteract 
the  incipient  but  already  baneful  influence  of  a  "  knowledge  falsely  called." 
Hence  we  have  also  yvSKTis/xn.  19;  (ruveo-ts,  iii.  4;  <pp6v7i<Tis,  L  8;  ao(pla,ib.i 
a-iroKd\v\i<ts,  iii  3;  (puriCfiy,  iii.  9j   &C.  &C. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    "EPHESIANS."  495 

Him  at  His  right  hand  in  the  heavenlies,  as  the  Supreme 
Ruler  now  and  for  ever  of  every  spiritual  and  earthly 
power,  and  as  the  Head  over  all  things  to  the  Church, — 
which  is  His  bod}^  "the  Pleroma"  {i.e.,  the  filled  conti- 
nent, the  brimmed  receptacle)  "  of  Him  who  filleth  all 
things  with  all  things."  ^ 

But  for  whom  were  these  great  privileges  predestined, 
and  how  were  they  bestowed  ?  The  full  answer  is  con- 
tained in  the  second  chapter.  They  were  intended  for  all, 
both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  were  bestowed  by  free  grace. 
In  this  section  the  leading  conception  is  the  unity  of 
mankind,  in  the  heavenlies,  in  Christ.  The  Grentiles  had 
been  dead  in  transgressions  and  sins,  absorbed  in  the  tem- 
poral and  the  external,^  showing  by  their  disobedience  the 
influence  of  the  Prince  of  the  power  of  the  air ;  and  the 
Jews,  too,  had  been  occupied  with  the  desires  of  the  flesh, 
doing  the  determinations  of  the  flesh  and  the  thoughts, 
and  were  by  nature  children  of  wrath^  even  as  the  rest ; 
but  Grod  in  His  rich  love  and  mercy  quickened  both  Jews 
and  Gentiles  together,  while  still  dead  in  their  trans- 
gressions, and  raised  them  together,  and  seated  them 
together  in  the  heavenlies  in  Christ  Jesus — a  name  that 
occurs  in  verse  after  verse,  being  at  the  very  heart  of  the 
Apostle's  thoughts.  The  instrumental  cause  of  this  great 
salvation  is  solely  free  grace,  applied  by  faith,  that  this 
grace  might  be  manifested  to  the  coming  ages  in  all  its 

1  i.  15—23.  See  iv.  10.  Cf.  Xen.  Hell.  vi.  2,  14,  ri^s  vavs  iirXnpovro.  On 
the  difiEerent  application  of  the  word  Pleroma  here  and  in  Col.  i.  19,  v.  supra. 
The  view  that  it  here  means  "  complement "  like  parapleroma  seems  to  me 
much  less  probable.  On  the  expression  the  "  God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ," 
cf.  ver.  3;  John  xx.  17.  In  the  unique  phrase,  "the  Father  of  the  Glory," 
d  irariip  rrjs  S(5|rjy,  Canon  Barry  sees  an  allusion  to  the  Jewish  identification  of 
"  the  Word  "  with  "  the  Shechiuah."  Compare  the  use  of  Ao|a  in  James 
ii.  1 ;  Titus  ii.  13  ;  Heb.  i.  3. 

'  ii.  2,  Kara  rhv  alSiva.  toC  KicTfiov  rovrov. 

•  Mr.  Maurice's  rendering,  "  children  of  impulse  "  is  untenable. 


496  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

surpassing  wealth  of  kindness ;  and  that  we,  thus  created 
anew  in  Christ,  and  so  prevented  from  any  boast  ^  that 
we  achieved  by  good  works  our  own  salvation,  might  still 
walk  in  good  works,  to  which  God  predestined  us.^  The 
Gentiles,  then,  were  to  remember  that  their  former  uncir- 
cumcision,  so  far  as  it  was  of  any  importance,  was  that 
spiritual  uncircumcision  which  consisted  in  utter  aliena- 
tion from  Christ,  His  kingdom,  and  His  promises.  But 
now  in  Christ,  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  the  once  afar  have 
been  made  near.  For  He  is  our  Peace ;  He  has  broken 
down  the  separating  partition — the  enmity  between  the 
two  members  of  His  great  human  family — by  doing  away 
with  the  law  of  ordinances  and  decrees,^  that  He  might 
create  the  two — Jew  and  Gentile — into  one  fresh  human 
being,  making  peace  ;  and  might  reconcile  them  both  in 
one  body  to  God  by  the  cross,  slaying  thereby  the  enmity 
between  them  both,  and  between  them  and  God.  The 
result,  then,  of  His  advent  is  peace  to  the  far-off  and  to 

^  ii.  9.     The  last  ajipearance  of  the  word  "  boast  "  in  St.  Paul. 

2  ii.  10.  It  is  interesting  to  see  how  the  epoch  of  controversy  on  the 
great  topic  of  these  verses  is  here  assumed  to  be  closed ;  eV  ipyots  ayadoTs, 
oTs  Trpor]Toi/xa<rfV  6  ©ebs  'Iva  'v  OLvrois  TrepLirarija-coiJ.ev.  Certainly  oh  may  be  by 
attraction  for  a;  but  it  is  surely  a  very  awkward  expression  to  say  that 
"  God  created  good  works  that  we  should  walk  in  them,"  and  although 
Tifxas  is  not  expi-essed.  it  is  involved  in  irepnraTricrw/xfv.  Alford,  who  adopts  the 
E.V.,  compares  it  with  John  v.  38,  which  is,  however,  no  parallel.  Nowhere 
is  the  harmonising  of  good  works  with  free  grace  more  admirably  illustrated 
than  here.  Good  works  are  here  included  in  the  predestined  purpose  of 
grace,  so  that  they  are  not  a  condition  of  salvation,  but  an  aim  set  before  us,  and 
rendered  practicable  by  God's  unconditional  favour.      (See  Pflciderer,  ii.  189.) 

3  Cf.  Col.  i.  20 — 22.  The  application  of  the  word  is  somewhat  different ; 
but  it  is  exactly  the  kind  of  difference  wliicli  might  be  made  by  an  author 
dealing  independently  with  his  own  expressions,  and  one  on  which  a  forger 
would  not  have  ventured.  The  breaking  down  of  the  Chel, ''  the  middle  wall  of 
partition,"  was  that  part  of  Christ's  work  which  it  fell  mainly  to  St.  Paul  to 
continue.  The  charge  that  he  had  taken  Trophimus  into  the  Court  of  Israel, 
literally  false,  was  ideally  most  true.  And  Paul  the  Apostle  was  the  most 
effectual  uprooter  of  the  "hedge,"  which  Saul  the  Pharisee  thought  it  his 
chief  work  to  make  around  the  Law. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    "EPHESIANS."  497 

the  nig'li ;  for  througli  Him  we  both  have  access  by 
one  Spirit  to  the  Father.  The  Gentiles  are  no  longer 
aliens,  but  fellow-citizens  with  the  saints,  built  on  the 
corner-stone  of  Christ  which  the  Apostles  and  prophets 
laid — like  stones  compaginated  ^  into  the  ever-growing 
walls  of  the  one  spmtual  House  of  Grod.^ 

Then  follows  a  chapter  of  parentheses,  or  rather  of 
thoughts  leading  to  thoughts,  and  linked  together,  as 
throughout  the  Epistle,  by  relatival  connexions.^  Eesum- 
ing  the  prayer  (i.  17)  of  which  the  thread  had  been  broken 
by  the  full  enunciation  of  the  great  truths  in  which  he 
desired  them  to  be  enlightened :  "  For  this  cause,"  he 
says — namely,  because  of  the  whole  blessed  mystery 
which  he  has  been  expounding,  and  which  results  in  their 
corporate  union  in  Christ — "  I,  Paul,  the  prisoner  of  the 
Lord,  on  behalf  of  you  Grentiles" — and  there  once  more 
the  prayer  is  broken  by  a  parenthesis  which  lasts  through 
thirteen  verses.  For,  remembering  that  the  letter  is  to 
be  addressed  riot  only  to  the  Ephesians,  of  whom  the 
majority  were  so  well  known  to  him,  but  also  to  other 
Asiatic  churches,  some  of  which  he  had  not  even  visited, 
and  which  barely  knew  more  of  him  than  his  name,^  he 
pauses  to  dwell  on  the  exalted  character  of  the  mission 
entrusted  to  him,  and  to  express  at  the  same  time  his  own 
sense  of  utter  personal  unworthiness.  Having  called 
himself  "the  prisoner  of  the  Lord  on  behalf  of  you  Gen- 
tiles," he  breaks  off  to  say — 

*'  Assuming  that  you  have  heard  of  the  dispensation  of  the  grace  of 
God  given  me  towards  you — that  by  revelation  was  made  known  to  me 

1  This  word,  used  by  St.  Jerome,  may  express  the  unusual  (rvvap/j.o\oyovfj.4ur). 

3  ii.  1—22. 

3  See  EUicott,  ad  iii.  5. 

■*  Although  undoubtedly  the  etye  riKoiaraTe,  like  the  similar  expression  in 
iv.  21,  Gal.  iii.  4,  &c.,  implies  that  the  fact  is  assumed,  yet  it  is  certainly  not 
an  expression  which  would  well  accord  wdth  a  letter  addressed  only  to  a 
church  in  which  the  wiiter  had  long  laboured. 

£1  SI 


498  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

the  mysteiy  [of  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles],  as  I  previously  wrote  to 
you  in  brief,^  in  accordance  with  which  you  can,  as  you  read  it,  perceive 
my  understanding  in  the  mystery  of  Christ — a  mystery  which  in  other 
generations  was  not  made  knoA\Ti  to  the  sons  of  men  as  it  is  now 
revealed  to  His  holy  Apostles  ^  and  prophets  by  the  Spirit — (namely) 
that  the  Gentiles  are^  co-heirs,  and  concorporate,  and  comparticipant  ^ 
of  the  promise  in  Christ  Jesus  by  the  Gospel,  of  which  I  became  a 
minister,  according  to  the  gift  of  the  grace  of  God  given  to  me  according 
to  the  working  of  His  power.  To  me,  the  less-than-least  ^  of  all  saints, 
was  given  this  grace,  to  preach  among  the  Gentiles  the  untrackable^ 
xealth  of  Christ ;  and  to  enlighten  all  on  the  nature  of  the  dispensation 
of  the  mystery  that  has  been  hidden  from  the  ages  in  God,  who  created 
all  things ;  that  now  to  the  principalities  and  the  powers  in  the 
heavenlies  niay  be  made  known  by  the  Church  the  richly-variegated 
wisdom  of  God,^  according  to  the  pre-arrangement  of  the  ages  Avhich 

^  i.  9,  seq. ;  ii.  13,  seq. 

2  Serious  objections  have  been  made  to  this  phrase,  as  proving  that  it 
could  not  have  been  wi'itten  by  the  jien  that  wrote  Gal.  ii.  The  objection  is 
groundless.  Assuming  the  ayiois  to  be  correct  (though  not  found  in  every 
MS. ;  cf .  Col.  i.  26) — i.  It  is  perfectly  generic,  not  indi-\ddual ;  cf .  ver.  8  and 
ii.  20;  1  Cor.  xvi.  1,  15.  ii.  Apostles  and  prophets  are  bracketed,  and  the 
epithet  " holy"  means  " sanctified,"  a  title  which  they  share  with  all  " saints." 
iii.  "  Ai^ostles  "  does  not  here  necessarily  bear  its  narroioer  sense. 

3  Not  "  should  be,"  as  in  A.Y. 

*  iii.  6,  (TvyK\y)p6vo^t.a,  avffawixa,  ffufx/xeroxa.  The  two  parts — Jews  and  Gen- 
tiles— are  to  become  one  body,  the  body  of  Christ,  the  Christian  Church 
(ii.  16).  The  strange  English  words  may  perhaps  correspond  to  the  strange 
Greek  words  which  St.  Paul  invented  to  express  this  newly-revealed  mystery 
in  the  strongest  possible  form,  as  though  no  words  could  be  too  strong  to 
express  Ids  dominant  conception  of  the  reunion  in  Christ  of  those  who  apart 
from  Him  are  separate  and  divided. 

*  iii.  8,  iAaxta-TOTfpcc.  Would  a  forger  have  made  St.  Paul  write  thus  ? 
The  expression  has  been  compared  to  1  Cor.  xv.  9,  but  expresses  a  far 
deeper  humility,  because  it  is  used  when  the  writer  is  alluding  to  a  far  loftier 
exaltation.  Those  who  criticise  the  phrase  as  exaggerated  miist  be  destitute 
of  the  deepest  spiritual  experiences.  The  confessions  of  the  holiest  are  ever 
the  most  bitter  and  hubmle,  because  their  veiy  holiness  enables  them  to  take 
the  duo  measure  of  the  heinousness  of  sin.  The  self-condemnation  of  a 
Cowper  or  a  Fcnelon  is  far  stronger  than  that  of  a  Byron  or  a  Yoltaire. 
"  The  greatest  sinner,  tlie  greatest  saint,  are  equi-distant  from  the  goal  where 
the  mind  rests  in  satisfaction  with  itself.  AVitli  the  gi-owth  iu  goodness 
gi-ows  the  sense  of  sin.  One  law  fulfilled  shows  a  thousand  neglected " 
(Mozlcy,  Esmys,  i.  327). 

"  iii.  8,  avf^txviaa-Tov.  Job  V.  9,  ^i?"  p«,  Cf.  Rom.  xi.  33,  ave^epeivriTa  Tck 
Kpinara  avTov  koI   ayf^ixfic^CTOi  al  o5oi. 

7  iroKviroiKiKos.     Cf.  <TT4(pavou  ir.  avQiwv.     Eubulus,  Ath.  XV.  7,  p.  679. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    "  EPHESIANS."  499 

He  made  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  in  whom  we  have  our  confidence 
and  our  access  by  faith  in  Him :  wherefore  I  intreat  you  not  to  lose 
lieart  in  my  atllictions  on  your  behalf,  seeing  that  this  is  your  glory. 
For  this  cause,  then "  (and  here  he  resumes  the  thread  of  the  prayer 
broken  in  the  first  verse)  "  I  bend  my  knees  to  the  Father,^  from  whom 
every  fathei'hood  ^  in  heaven  and  on  earth  derives  its  name,  that  He 
would  give  you,  according  to  the  wealth  of  His  glory,  to  be  strengthened 
by  power  through  His  Spirit  into  spiritual  manhood,^  that  Christ  may 
dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith — ye  having  been  rooted  and  founded  in 
love,  that  ye  may  have  strength  to  grasp  mentally  with  all  saints  what 
is  the  length  and  breadth  and  depth  and  height,  and  to  know  (spiritually) 
the  knowledge-surpassing  love  of  Christ,  that  ye  may  be  filled  up  to  all 
the  plenitude  of  God."  "* 

"  Now  to  Him  that  is  able  above  all  things  to  do  superabundantly 
above  ^  all  that  we  ask  or  think,  according  to  the  power  [of  the  Holy 
Spirit]  which  worketh  in  us,  to  Him  be  glory  in  the  Church,  in  Christ 
Jesus,  to  all  the  generations  of  the  age  of  the  ages.     Amen."  ® 

With  this  prayer  he  closes  the  doctrinal  part  of  the 
Epistle  ;  the  remaining  half  of  it  is  strictly  practical.  St. 
Paul  would  have  felt  it  no  descent  of  thought  to  pass  from 
the  loftiest  spiritual  mysteries  to  the  humblest  moral 
duties.  He  knew  that  holiness  was  the  essence  of  God's 
Being,  and  he  saw  in  the  holiness  of  Christians  the  beauti- 
ful result  of  that  predestined  purpose,  which,  after  being 
wrought  out  to  gradual  completion  in  the  dispensation  of 
past  cEons,  was  now  fully  manifested  and  revealed  in  Christ. 
He  knew  that  the  loftiest  principles  were  the  necessary 
basis  of  the  simplest  acts  of  faithfulness,  and  that  all  which 
is  most  pure,  lovely,  and  of  good  report,  in  the  Christian 
life,  is  the  sole  result  of  all  that  is  most  sublime  in  the 

'  The  addition  "  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Clu'ist,"  however  ancient,  is  probably 
spurious,  as  it  is  not  found  in  «,  A,  B,  C,  the  Coptic,  the  ^thiopic  versions,  &c. 
2  Not  "  the  wliole  family,"  as  in  A.Y. 

^  iii.  16,  fls  Tov  fffu  &vdpa)irov. 

*  iii.  1 — 19.  In  otlier  words,  "  that  ye  may  be  filled  with  all  the  plenitude 
of  goodness  wherewith  God  is  filled ; "  "  omues  diviuae  naturae  divitiae  " 
(Fritzsche). 

^  Of  twenty-eight  compounds  in  virlp  in  the  New  Testamout,  no  less  than 
twenty  are  found  in  St.  Paul  alone.  ®  iii.  20,  21. 


500  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Christian's  faith.  The  lustre  of  the  planets  may  be  faint 
and  poor,  but  yet  it  is  reflected  from  the  common  sun ; 
and  so  the  goodness  of  a  redeemed  man,  however  pale 
in  lustre,  is  still  sacred,  because  it  is  a  reflexion  from 
the  Sun  of  righteousness.  The  reflected  light  of  morality 
is  nothing  apart  from  the  splendour  of  that  religion 
from  which  it  is  derived.  There  is  little  which  is 
admirable  in  the  honesty  which  simply  results  from 
its  being  the  best  policy;  or  in  the  purity  which  is 
maintained  solely  by  fear  of  punishment ;  or  even  in  the 
virtue  which  is  coldl}'"  adopted  out  of  a  calculation  that  it 
tends  to  the  greatest  happiness  of  the  greatest  number.  It 
was  not  in  this  way  that  St.  Paul  regarded  morality. 
Many  of  the  precepts  which  he  delivers  in  the  practical 
sections  of  his  Epistles  might  also  have  been  delivered,  and 
nobly  delivered,  by  an  Epictetus  or  a  Marcus  Aurelius;  but 
that  which  places  an  immeasurable  distance  between  the 
teachings  of  St.  Paul  and  theirs,  is  the  fact  that  in  St. 
Paul's  view  holiness  is  not  the  imperfect  result  of  rare 
self-discipline,  but  the  natural  outcome  of  a  divine  life, 
imparted  by  One  who  is  the  common  Head  of  all  the 
family  of  man,  and  in  participation  with  whose  plenitude 
the  humblest  act  of  self-sacrifice  becomes  invested  with  a 
sacred  value  and  a  sacred  significance.  And  there  are 
these  further  distinctions  (among  many  others)  between 
the  lofty  teachings  of  Stoicism  and  the  divine  exhortations 
of  Christianity.  Stoicism  made  its  appeal  only  to  the  noble- 
hearted  few,  despising  and  despairing  of  the  vulgar  herd 
of  mankind  in  all  ranks,  as  incapable  of  philosophic  training 
or  moral  elevation.  Christianity,  in  the  name  of  a  God  who 
was  no  respecter  of  persons,  appealed  to  the  very  weakest 
and  the  very  worst  as  being  all  redeemed  in  Christ.  Again, 
Stoicism  was  dimmed  and  darkened  to  the  very  heart's  core 
of  its  worthiest  votaries  by  deep  perplexity  and  incurable 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    " EPHESIANS."  501 

sadness ;  Christianity  breathes  into  every  utterance  the 
joyous  spirit  of  victory  and  hope.  Even  the  best  of  the 
Stoics  looked  on  the  life  of  men  around  them  with  a  de- 
testation largely  mingled  with  contem|)t,  and  this  contempt 
weakened  the  sense  of  reciprocity,  and  fed  the  fumes  of 
pride.  But  St.  Paul  addresses  a  revelation  unspeakably 
more  majestic,  more  profound,  more  spiritual,  than  any 
which  Stoicism  could  offer,  to  men  whom  he  well  knows 
to  have  lived  in  the  trammels  of  the  vilest  sins  of  heathen- 
dom, and  barely  even  yet  to  have  escaped  out  of  the  snare 
of  the  fowler.  He  confidently  addresses  exhortations  of 
stainless  purity  and  sensitive  integrity  to  men  who  had 
been  thieves  and  adulterers,  and  worse  ;  and  so  far  from  any 
self-exaltation  at  his  own  moral  superiority,  he  regards  his 
own  life  as  hid  indeed  with  Christ  in  God,  but  as  so  little 
fit  to  inspire  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  that  he  is  lost  in  the 
conviction  of  his  own  unworthiness  as  contrasted  with  the 
wealth  of  God's  compassion,  and  the  unspeakable  grandeur 
of  the  long-hidden  mystery  which  now  in  due  time  he  is 
commissioned  to  set  forth.  The  mingled  prayer  and  paean 
of  this  magnificent  Epistle  is  inspired  throughout  "  by  a 
sense  of  opposites — of  the  union  of  weakness  and  strength, 
of  tribulation  and  glory,  of  all  that  had  been  and  all  that 
was  to  be,  of  the  absolute  love  of  God,  of  the  discovery  of 
that  love  to  man  in  the  Mediator,  of  the  working  of  that 
love  in  man  through  the  Spirit,  of  the  fellowship  of  the 
poorest  creature  of  flesh  and  blood  on  earth  with  the 
spirits  in  heaven,  of  a  canopy  of  love  above  and  an 
abyss  of  love  beneath,  which  encompasses  the  whole  crea- 
tion," The  Apostle  would  have  delighted  in  the  spirit  of 
those  words  which  a  modern  poet  has  learnt  from  the 
truths  which  it  was  his  high  mission  to  reveal : — 

"  I  say  to  thee,  do  thou  repeat 
To  the  fii'st  man  thou  mayest  meet 


502  THE    LITE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

In  lane,  highway,  or  open  street, 
That  he,  and  we,  and  all  men  move 
Under  a  canopy  of  love 
As  broad  as  the  blue  sky  above."  ^ 

"  I  then,"  continues  the  Apostle — and  how  much  does 
that  word  "  then"  involve,  referring  as  it  does  to  all  the 
mighty  truths  which  he  has  been  setting  forth  ! — "  I  then, 
the  prisoner  in  the  Lord,  exhort  you  to  walk  worthily  of 
the  calling  in  which  ye  were  called."  This  is  the  keynote 
to  all  that  follows.  So  little  was  earthty  success  or 
happiness  worth  even  considering  in  comparison  with  the 
exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory  which  affliction  was 
working  out  for  them,  that  while  he  has  urged  them  not 
to  lose  heart  in  his  tribulations,  he  makes  those  very 
tribulations  a  ground  of  appeal,  and  feels  that  he  can 
speak  to  them  with  all  the  stronger  influence  as  "a 
prisoner  in  the  Lord,"  and  "  an  ambassador  in  a  chain." 
And  the  worthy  elevation  to  the  grandeur  of  their  calling 
was  to  be  shown  by  virtues  which,  in  their  heathen  condi- 
tion, they  would  almost  have  ranked  with  abject  vices — 
lowliness,  meekness,  endurance,  the  forbearance  of  mutual 
esteem.  The  furious  quarrels,  the  mad  jealousies,  the 
cherished  rancours,  the  frantic  spirit  of  revenge  which 
characterised  their  heathen  condition,  are  to  be  fused  by 
the  heat  of  love  into  one  great  spiritual  unity  and  peace. 
Oneness,  the  result  of  love,  is  the  ruling  thought  of  this 
section  (iv.  3 — 13).  "One  body,  and  one  spirit,  even  as 
also  ye  were  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling,  one  Lord, 
one  Faith,  one  Baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is 
above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  all."^  Yet  this  unity  is 
not  a  dead  level  of  uniformity.  Each  has  his  separate 
measui'e  of  grace  given  by  Him  who,  ascending  in  triumph, 
with  Sin  and  Death  bound  to  His  chariot-wheels,  "gave 

»  Archbishop  Trench.  '  Omit  rjixlv,  n,  A,  B,  0,  &c. 


DUTY    OF    UNITY.  503 

gifts  for  men,"^  having  first  descended  that  by  ascending 
"  far  above  all  heavens"  He  might  fill  all  things.  Apostles 
therefore,  and  Prophets,  and  Evangelists,  and  Pastors,  and 
Teachers  were  all  appointed  by  vii'tue  of  the  gifts  which 
He  gave,  with  a  view  to  perfect  the  saints,  and  so  to  build 
up  the  Church  which  is  the  body  of  Christ,  until  we  all 
finally  attain^  to  the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  the  full  know- 
ledge of  the  Son  of  God,  to  perfect  manhood,  to  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  Plenitude  of  Christ."  But 
to  contribute  to  this  perfect  growth  we  must  lay  aside 
moral  and  spiritual  childishness ;  we  must  keep  the  hand 
firmly  on  the  helm  that  we  may  not  be  tossed  like  dis- 
mantled hulks  by  every  wave  and  storm  of  doctrine,  in 
that  fraudful  sleight  and  craft  which  many  devote  to 
further  the  deliberate  system  of  error.  To  be  true  and 
to  be  loving  is  the  secret  of  Christian  growth.^  Sin- 
cerity and  charity  are  as  the  life-blood  in  the  veins  of 
that  Church,  of  which  Christ  is  the  Head  and  Heart, 
"  from  whom  the  whole  body  being  fitly  framed  and 
compacted  by  means  of  every  joint  of  the  vital  supply, 
according  to  the  proportional  energy  of  each  individual 
part,  tends  to  the  increase  of  the  body,  so  as  to  build 
itself  up  in  love."* 

After  this  expansion  of  the  duty  of  Unity,  he  returns 
to  his  exhortation ;  and,  as  before  he  had  urged  them  to 
walk  worthily  of  their  vocation,  he  now  urges  them  not  to 
walk,  as  did  the  rest  of  the  Gentiles,  in  the  vanity  of  their 

1  On  this  singular  reference  to  Ps.  Ixviii.,  and  the  change  of  the  i\afies 
SSfiuTu  iv  avepwirots,  see  Davies,  p.  44.  It  is  at  least  doubtful  whether  there  is 
the  slightest  allusion  to  the  descent  into  hell.  The  point  is  the  identity  of 
Him  who  came  to  earth  {i.e.,  the  historic  Jesus)  and  Him  who  ascended,  i.e., 
of  the  Eternal  and  the  Incarnate  Clu-ist. 

^  The  omission  of  ay  marks  the  certain  result. 

^  iv,  15,  aK-nOevovres  5e  iv  kyinqf — not  merely  "  sjpeahing  the  truth,"  but 
'  being  true." 

*  iv.  1—16. 


504  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

mind,  having  been  darkened  in  tlieir  understanding,  and 
utterly  alienated  from  the  life  of  God  because  of  their 
ignorance  and  the  callosity  of  their  hearts,^  seeing  that 
they,  having  lost  all  sense  of  shame  or  sorrow  for  sin,'^ 
abandoned  themselves  to  wantonness  for  the  working-  of 
all  uncleanness,  in  inordinate  desire  :  ^ — 

"  But  NOT  so  did  ye  learn  Christ — assuming  that  ye  heard  Him, 
and  were  taught  in  Him  as  the  truth  is  in  Jesus,*  that  ye  put  oflP,  as 
concerns  your  former  conversation,  the  old  man  which  is  ever  being 
corrupted  according  to  the  lusts  of  deceit,  and  undei-go  renewal  by  the 
spirit  of  your  mind,  and  put  on  the  new  man  which  "after  God  was 
created  in  righteousness  and  holiness  of  truth."  ^ 

Then  follow  the  many  practical  applications  which 
result  from  this  clothing  of  the  soul  with  the  new-created 
humanity.  Put  away  lying,  because  we  are  members  of 
one  another.^  Let  not  just  anger  degenerate  into  chronic 
exasperation,  neither  give  room  to  the  de\dl.  Let  honest 
work,  earning  sufficient  even  for  charity,  replace  thievish- 
ness.  For  corruption  of  speech'^  let  there  be  such  as  is 
"  good  for  edification  of  the  need  ^  that  it  may  give  grace 

1  TTwpos,  "tufa-stone,"  is  used,  secondaiily,  for  a  hard  tumour,  or  callus  at 
the  end  of  injured  bones. 

2  dir7jA.7rjKo'T6j.  "  Qui  postquam  peccaverint,  non  dolent."  "  A  sin  committed 
a  second  time  does  not  seem  a  sin  "  {Moed  Katon,  f .  27,  2). 

*  The  form  of  expression  might  seem  to  point  to  a  warning  against  any 
incipient  docetic  tendency  (cf.  1  John  iv.  2,  3)  to  draw  a  distinction  between 
Christ  and  Jesus,  between  the  Eternal  Christ  and  the  human  Jesus. 

5  iv.  17—24. 

^  The  necessity  of  the  following  moral  exhortations  will  excite  no  astonish- 
ment in  the  minds  of  those  who  have  studied  the  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 
or  who  have  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  human  lieart  to  be  aware  that  the  evil 
habits  of  a  heathen  lifetime  were  not  likely  to  be  cured  in  all  converts  by  a 
moment  of  awakenment,  or  by  an  acceptance  of  Christian  truths,  which  in 
many  cases  may  have  been  mainly  intellectual. 

5"  iv.  29,  (ratrphs,  "  rotten  "  (Matt.  \-ii.  17),  the  opposite  of  vyihs,  "  sound,"  in 
2  Tim.  i.  13,  &c.,  and  "  seasoned  with  salt,"  Col.  iv.  G. 

*  Not  '•  fur  the  use  of  edification,"  as  in  E.V,,  but  for  such  edification  as 
the  occasion  requires. 


PH^.CTICAL    DUTIES.  505 

to  tlie  liearers,"  since  unwholesome  impurity  is  a  chronic 
grief  to  that  Holy  Spirit  who  has  sealed  you  as  His  own 
to  the  clay  of  redemption.  Then,  returning  to  his  main 
subject  of  unity,  he  says  : — 

"  Let  all  bitterness,  and  wrath,  and  anger,  and  clamour,  and  railing 
be  put  away  from  you  with  all  malice,  and  become  kind  to  one  another, 
compassionate,  freely  forgiving  one  anothei',  as  God  also  in  Christ^  freely 
forgave  you.  Become,  then,  iniitators  of  God  as  children  beloved,  and 
walk  in  love,  even  as  Christ  loved  us  and  gave  Himself  for  us  an 
offering  and  sacrifice  to  God  for  a  savour  of  sweet  smell."  ^ 

Then,  proceeding  to  other  practical  duties,  he  forbids 
every  form  of  impurity  or  obscenity,  in  word  or  deed,  with 
the  worldly  polish^  which  was  often  nearly  akin  to  it, 
since  they  are  unsuitable  to  the  Christian  character,  and 
they  who  are  addicted  to  such  things  have  no  inheritance 
in  the  kingdom  of  Grod,  and  whatever  men  may  say,  such 
things  are  the  abiding  source  of  God's  wratli.^  Let  thanks- 
giving take  the  place  of  indecency  of  speech.  For  though 
they  loere  darkness,  they  are  now  light  in  the  Lord. 
Walk  as  childi-en  of  light.  For  the  fruit  of  light  ^  is  in 
all  goodness,  and  righteousness,  and  truth.  Light  is 
the   prevalent  conception  here,   as    love   was  in  the  last 

^  iv.  32,  eV  Xpto-Tip,  not  as  in  E.Y.,  "  for  Christ's  sake." 

2  iv.  25— V.  2. 

^  Ver.  4,  eiirpaireA^a.  Aristotle  defines  it  as  "cultivated  impertinence" 
{Bhet.  ii.  12),  and  places  the  pohshed  worldfing  (evrpdneXos,  facetus)  midway 
between  the  boor  (&ypotKos)  and  the  low  flatterer  (Bof^oXoxos)  [Etli.  N.  ii.  7).  The 
mild  word,  ra.  ovk  avriKovra,  is  due,  not  to  the  comparatively  harmless  "polish" 
which  has  boon  last  mentioned,  but  to  litotes — the  use  of  a  soft  expression 
(like  Virgil's  "  illaudati  Busiridis  aras "),  to  be  con-ected  by  the  indignant 
mental  substitution  of  a  more  forcible  word.     See  supra,  i.  627. 

*  Yer.  6,  epx^rat,  is  ever  coming. 

*  This  is  the  true  reading  {(puThs),  not  "  fruit  of  the  Spirit,"  as  in  the 
E.V.  The  reading  was  doubtless  altered  to  soften  the  harshness  of  the 
metaphor ;  but  St.  Paul  is  as  indifferent  as  Shakespeare  himself  to  a  mere 
verbal  confusion  of  metaphors  when  the  sense  is  clear.  To  see  allusions  here 
to  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman  is  sui-ely  absurd. 


506  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

chapter.^  Let  tliem  not  participate  in  tlie  unf ruitrul  infamies 
of  secret  darkness,  "  but  rather  even  convict  them,  for  all 
things  on  being  convicted  are  illumined  by  the  light,  for 
all  that  is  being  illumined  is  light." ^  And  this  is  the 
spirit  of  what  is  perhaps  a  Christian  hymn ; — 


"Eyeipe  6  KadevSaiv 
'Avdffra  4k  tuv  viKpSov 
'ETTKpaiKTfi  ffoi  6  XpiffrSs. 

("  Awake  thee,  thou  that  sleepest, 
And  from  the  dead  arise  thou, 
And  Christ  shall  shine  upon  thee.")  ' 

"  Take  heed,  then,  how  ye  walk  carefully,  not  as  unwise  but  as  wise, 
buying  up  the  opportunity  becavise  the  days  are  evil.  Do  not  prove 
yourselves  senseless,  but  understanding  what  is  the  will  of  the  Lord."* 

Thus,  mingling  special  exhortation  with  universal 
principles,  he  proceeds  to  warn  them  against  drunkenness, 
and  recalling  perhaps  the  thrill  of  emotion  with  which  he 
and  they  have  joined  in  such  stirring  words  as  those  he 
has  just  quoted,  he  bids  them  seek  rather  the  spiritual 
exaltations  of  that  holy  enthusiasm  which  finds  vent  in  the 
melodies  of  Christian  hymnology,  and  in  the  eucharistic 
music  of  the  heart,  while  at  the  same  time  all  are  mutually 
submissive  to  each  other  in  the  fear  of  God.° 

The  duty  of  submissiveness  thus  casually  introduced 
is  then  illustrated  and  enforced  in  three  great  social  rela- 

^  Paloy  {Hor.  Paul.)  says  that  St.  Paul  here  "  goes  ofB "  at  the  word 
light ;  but  this  is  not  nearly  so  good  an  instance  of  this  Uterary  peculiarity 
as  iv.  8,  "  ascended." 

2  Deeds  of  darkness  must  cease  to  be  deeds  of  darkness  when  the  light 
shines  on  them.  The  light  Mils  them.  Everything  on  which  light  is  poured 
is  light,  because  it  reflects  light,  ^wtpovfjuvov  cannot  mean  "that  maketh 
manifest,"  as  in  the  E.V. 

^  Isa.  Ix.  1,  2.  The  versification  is  of  the  Hebrew  type.  On  Christian 
hymnology,  v.  supra,  on  Col.  iii.  16.  Antiphonal  congregational  singing  was 
very  early  introduced  (Rev.  xix.  1 — 4). 

*  Vers.  3-17. 

»  Yers.  18-2L 


THE    CHRISTIAN-   ARMOUR.  507 

tions.^  AVives  are  to  be  submissive  to  tlieir  husbands,  as 
the  Church  is  to  Christ;  and  husbands  to  love  their  wives,  as 
Christ  loved  the  Church,  to  sanctify  it  into  stainless  purity, 
and  to  cherish  it  as  a  part  of  Himself  in  inseparable  union. 
Children  are  to  obey  their  parents,  and  parents  not  to 
irritate  their  children.  Slaves  are  to  render  sincere  and 
conscientious  service,  as  being  the  slaves  of  their  unseen 
Master,  Christ,  and  therefore  bound  to  fulfil  all  the  duties 
of  the  state  of  life  in  which  He  has  placed  them ;  and 
masters  are  to  do  their  duty  to  their  slaves,  abandoning 
threats,  remembering  that  they  too  have  a  Master  in  whose 
sight  they  all  are  equal. ^ 

Having  thus  gone  through  the  main  duties  of  domestic 
and  social  life  as  contemplated  in  the  light  of  Christ,  he  bids 
them  finally  "  grow  strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  might 
of  His  strength."^  The  exhortation  brings  up  the  image 
of  armour  with  which  the  worn  and  aged  prisoner  was 
but  too  familiar.  Daily  the  coupling-chain  which  bound 
his  right  wrist  to  the  left  of  a  Eoman  legionary  clashed  as 
it  touched  some  part  of  the  soldier's  arms.  The  baldric,  the 
military  boot,  the  oblong  shield,  the  cuirass,  the  helmet, 
the  sword  of  the  Praetorian  guardsman  were  among  the  few 
things  which  he  daily  saw.  But  we  cannot  doubt  that,  Avith 
his  kindly  human  interest  in  life  and  youth,  the  Apostle, 
who  knew  that  heathendom  too  was  redeemed  in  Christ, 

1  All  commentators  hare  felt  a  diflBculty  in  seeing  the  connexion  between 
singing  and  subjection.  I  believe  that  it  lies  in  a  reminiscence  of  the  un- 
seemly Babel  of  contentious  vanities  which  St.  Paul  had  heard  of,  perhaps 
even  witnessed,  at  Corinth,  where  such  disorder  had  been  caused  by  the 
obtrusive  vanity  with  which  each  person  wished  to  display  his  or  her  par- 
ticular xop"^M«.  If  so — or  even  if  the  association  was  something  else — we 
have  another  inimitable  mark  of  genuineness.  No  forger  would  dream  of 
ajjpending  a  most  important  section  of  his  moral  teaching  to  a  purely  acci- 
dental thought. 

3  Yer.  22— vi.  9. 

'  vi.  10.  The  a.Se\<pol  is  wanting  in  M,  B,  D,  E,  and  does  not  occur  in 
Eph.  or  Col. 


508  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

whose  boyliood  had  been  passed  in  a  heathen  city,  who 
loved  man  as  man  because  he  saw  a  vision  of  all  humanity 
in  God — would  have  talked  often  to  the  weary  soldiers  who 
guarded  him;  would  have  tried  by  wholesome  and  courteous 
and  profitable  words  to  dissipate  their  tedium,  until  we  can 
well  imagine  that  the  legionaries  who  had  to  perform  the 
disagreeable  task  would,  in  spite  of  intense  national  repug- 
nances, prefer  to  be  chained  to  Paul  the  Jewish  prisoner 
than  to  any  whom  caprice,  or  justice,  or  tyrann}''  con- 
signed to  their  military  charge.  Doubtless  the  soldiers 
would  tell  him  in  what  countries  they  had  been  stationed, 
what  barbarians  they  had  helped  to  subdue.  He  would  ask 
them  in  what  tumult  they  had  got  that  fracture  in  the 
helmet,  in  what  battle  that  dint  upon  the  shield,  by  what 
blow  they  had  made  that  hack  in  the  sword. -^  They 
would  tell  him  of  the  deadly  wrestle  with  foes  who 
grappled  with  them  in  the  meUe,  and  of  i\iQfalaricae,^  the 
darts  wrapped  round  with  flaming  tow,  from  which  their 
shields  had  saved  them  in  the  siege.  And  thinking  of  the 
sterner  struggle  against  deadlier  enemies,  even  against  the 
world-rulers  of  this  darkness,  against  the  spiritual  powers 
of  wickedness  in  the  heavenlies,^  in  which  all  God's 
children  are  anxiously  engaged,  he  bids  the  Christian 
converts  assume,  not  "  the  straw-armour  of  reason,"  but 
the  panoply  of  God,  that  they  may  be  able  to  withstand 
in  the  evil  day.      Let  spiritual   truth   be   their   baldric 

^  The  ^iZwm,  or  heavy  javelin,  which  a  soldier  would  not  bring  vrith  him 
to  the  guard-room,  is  omitted. 

2  Or  malleoli  (Ps.  vii.  13). 

3  The  Rabbinical  iviV'^DV.  Similarly,  in  2  Cor.  iv.  4,  St.  Paul  goes  so  far 
as  to  call  "  the  Prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,"  6  0ehs  tov  atwvos  rovrov.  (Cf . 
1  John  V.  19;  John  xiv.  30;  xvi.  11.)  "  The  spirituals  of  wickedness  in  the 
heave  ulies  "  are  i\\c  Geistercliaft  of  iniquity  in  the  regions  of  space;  but  one 
would  expect  virovpavlois.  The  E.V.  conceals  the  difficulty  by  its  "high  places;" 
but  if    iirovpaviois  be  right,  it  can  only  be  in  a  physical  sense.     As  for  mortal 

^'■^eajemies :  •'  vasa  sunt,  alius  utitur ;  organa  sunt,  alius  jungit"  (Aug.). 


THE    CHRISTIAN    ARMOUR.  509 

or  binding  girdle  ;^  moral  righteousness  their  breastplate; 
zealous  alacrity  in  the  cause  of  the  Gospel  of  Peace  their 
cali(/ae  of  war ; "  and  in  addition  to  these,  let  faith  be 
taken  up  as  their  broad  shield^  against  the  darts  of  the 
evil  one,  however  fiercely  ignited.  Their  one  weapon  of 
offence  is  to  be  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the 
Word  of  God..^  Prayer  and  watchfulness  is  to  be  their 
constant  attitude ;  and  in  their  prayers  for  all  saints  he 
begs  also  for  their  prayers  on  his  own  behalf,  not  that 
his  chains  may  be  loosed,  but  that  he  may  boldly  and 
aptly  make  known  the  mystery  of  the  Gospel,  on  behalf  of 
which  he  is  an  ambassador — not  inviolable,  not  splendid, 
but — "an  ambassador  in  a  coupling-chain."^ 

He  sends  no  news  or  personal  salutations  because  he 
is  sending  the  faithful  and  beloved  Tychicus,  who  will 
tell  them,  as  well  as  other  cities,  all  his  affairs  j  but  he 
concludes  with  a  blessing  of  singular  fulness  : 

"  Peace  to  the  bi'ethi'en  and  love  with  faith  from  God  the  Father  and 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Grace  be  with  all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  incorruptiou." '' 


We  have  now  examined  all  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  except 
the  last  group  of  all — the  three  addressed  to  Timothy  and 

*  "  Veritas  astringit  hominem,  mendaciorum  magna  est  laxitas  "  (Grot.). 

'  Cf.  Rom.  iii.  17 ;  x.  15 ;  eToifiaffia  may,  however,  mean  "  basis,"  "  sole  " 
0^3?,  Ezra  iii.  3  ;  Ps.  Ixxxviii.  15,  LXX.).  The  Gospel  oi  Peace  gives  a  secure 
foothold  even  in  tvar. 

3  Faith,  not  merit,  as  in  Wisd.  v.  19.  (Cf.  Ps.  xviii.  31,  &c.)  Notice  the 
emphatic  position  of  ■n-ewvpufj.fi'a- 

*  Dr.  Davidson  finds  this  a  tedious  and  tasteless  amplification  of  1  Thess. 
V.  8,  2  Cor.  X.  3,  4,  and  has  many  similar  criticisms  {Introd.  i.  388,  390).  It 
is  impossible  to  argue  against  such  criticisms  as  bearing  on  the  question  of 
genuineness.  The  general  metaphor  is  not  uncommon  (Isa.  lix.  16 — 19; 
1  Thess.  v.  8 ;  Wisd.  v.  17—20 ;  Bleeck,  Zend  Avesta,  p.  90 ;  Davies,  p.  61). 
(See  the  account  of  the  arms  in  the  Interpreter's  House  in  Pilgrim's  Progress, 
and  Gurnall's  Christian  Armour.) 

^  vi.   10 — 20.      In   ver.   18  it  is  Trepl -rravTcov  rwv  ayiui' koI  virep  efioO.        "  Para- 

doxon :  mundus  habet  splendidos  legates  "  (Bengel).  ®  vi.  21 — 24. 


510  THE    LIFE    AJfD    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Titus.  These  are  usually  known  as  the  Pastoral  Epistles, 
because  they  sketch  the  duties  of  the  Christian  Pastor.  Of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  I  have  said  nothing,  because 
I  hope  to  speak  of  it  hereafter,  and  because,  for  reasons 
which  appear  to  me  absolutely  convincing,  I  cannot  regard 
it  as  a  work  of  St.  Paul's.  But  even  if  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  be  accepted  as  having  been  written  by  the 
Apostle,  it  adds  nothing  to  our  knowledge  of  his  history. 
But  for  the  preservation  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  we 
should  not  know  a  single  additional  fact  about  him, 
except  such  as  we  can  glean  from  vague  and  wavering 
traditions. 

The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  ends  with  the  statement  that 
Paul  remained  a  period  of  two  whole  years  in  his  own 
hired  lodging,  and  received  all  who  came  in  to  visit  him, 
preaching  the  kingdom  of  God  and  teaching  the  things 
concerning  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  all  confidence  un- 
molestedly.^  The  question  why  St.  Luke  deliberately 
ended  his  sketch  of  the  Apostle  at  that  point,  is  one  which 
can  never  receive  a  decisive  answer.  He  only  related  cir- 
cumstances of  which  he  was  an  eyewitness,  or  which  he 
knew  from  trustworthy  information,  and  for  that  reason  his 
narrative,  in  spite  of  its  marked  lacunae,  is  far  more  valuable 
than  if  it  had  been  constructed  out  of  looser  materials. 
It  may,  however,  be  safely  asserted  that  since  he  had 
been  with  St.  Paul  during  at  least  a  part  of  the  Eoman 
imprisonment,  he  brought  down  his  story  to  the  period  at 
which  he  first  wrote  his  book.  A  thousand  circumstances 
may  have  prevented  any  resumption  of  his  work  as  a 
chronicler,  but  it  is  inconceivable  that  St.  Paul  should 
have  died  almost  immediately  afterwards,  by  a  martyr's 

^  The  cadence  is  expressive  of  stability ;  of  motion  succeeded  by  rest ;  of 
action  seitk"!  in  rexiose.  "An  emblem  of  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
and  of  the  life  of  every  true  believer  in  Him  "  (Bishop  Wordsworth). 


CLOSE    OF    THE    IMPRISONMENT.  511 

deatli,  and  St.  Luke  have  been  aware  of  it  before  liis  book 
was  published,  and  yet  l"hat  he  should  not  have  made 
the  faintest  allusion  to  the  subject.^  The  conjecture 
that  Theophilus  knew  all  the  rest,  so  that  it  was  needless 
to  commit  it  to  writing,  is  entirely  valueless,  for  whoever 
Theophilus  may  have  been,  it  is  clear  that  St.  Luke  was 
not  writing  for  him  alone.  It  is  also,  to  say  the  least, 
a  probable  conjecture  that  soon  after  the  close  of  those  two 
whole  3^ears  some  remarkable  change  took  place  in  the 
condition  of  the  prisoner.  That  such  a  change  did  take 
place  is  the  almost  unanimous  tradition  of  the  Church. 
However  slight  may  be  the  grounds  of  direct  testimony,  it 
has  been  generally  believed  in  all  ages  that  (about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  year  A.D.  64)  St.  Paul  was  tried,  acquitted, 
and  liberated ;  and  that  after  some  two  years  of  liberty, 
during  which  he  continued  to  prosecute  his  missionary 
labours,  he  was  once  more  arrested,  and  was,  after  a 
second  imprisonment,  put  to  death  at  Eome.  This 
would,  at  least,  accord  with  the  anticipations  expressed 
in  his  own  undoubted  Epistles.  Although  he  was  still  a 
prisoner  when  he  wrote  the  letter  to  the  Philippians,  his 
trial  was  near  at  hand,  and  while  promising  to  send 
Timothy  to  inquire  about  their  fortunes,  he  adds,  "But  I 
am  confident  in  the  Lord  that  1  myself  too  shall  come 
speedily;"  and  this  is  so  far  from  being  a  casual  hope 
that  he  even  asks  Philemon  "to  get  a  lodging  ready 
for  him,  for  he  hopes  that  he  shall  be  granted  to  them 
by  their  prayers."     It  is,    of  course,  quite  possible  that 

*  So  far  as  anything  can  be  said  to  be  probable  in  the  midst  of  such  un- 
certainties, the  probability  is  that  the  leisure  of  his  attendance  on  St.  Paul 
during  the  Roman  imprisonment  had  enabled  St.  Luke  to  draw  up  the  main 
part  of  his  work  ;  that  he  concluded  it  exactly  at  the  point  at  which  St.  Paul 
was  expecting  immediate  liberation,  and  that  he  either  piiblished  it  at  the  first 
favourable  opportunity  after  that  time,  or  was  prevented — it  may  be  even  by 
death — from  ever  continuing  or  completing  his  task. 


512  THE    LIFE    AND   WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

St.  Paul's  sanguine  expectations  may  have  been  frustrated,^ 
but  lie  certainly  would  not  have  expressed  them  so  dis- 
tinctly without  good  grounds  for  believing  that  powerful 
friends  were  at  work  in  his  favour.  Whether  Festus,  and 
Agrippa,  and  Lysias,  and  Pablius  had  used  their  influence 
on  his  behalf,  or  whether  he  had  reason  to  rely  on  any 
favourable  impression  which  he  may  have  made  among 
the  Praetorian  soldiers,  or  whether  he  had  received  intel- 
ligence that  the  Jews  had  seen  reason  to  abandon  a 
frivolous  and  groundless  prosecution,  it  is  impossible  to 
conjecture;^  but  his  strong  impression  that  he  loouldhQ 
liberated  at  least  helps  to  confirm  the  many  arguments 
which  lead  us  to  believe  that  he  actually  was.  If  so,  it 
must  have  been  very  soon  after  the  close  of  that  two 
years'  confinement  with  which  St.  Luke  so  suddenly 
breaks  offl 

For  in  July,  A.D.  64,  there  broke  out  that  terrible 
persecution  against  the   Christians,  from  which,  had  he 

1  For  this  reason  I  bavo  not  here  laid  any  stress  on  his  once-purposed  visit 
to  Spain  (Rom.  xv.  24,  28).  It  seems  clear  from  Philem.  22  that  he  had  either 
abandoned  this  intention,  or  at  any  rate  postponed  it  till  he  had  re-visited  Asia. 

2  It  is  undesirable  to  multiply  uncertain  conjectures,  but  perhaps  the  Jews 
may  have  sent  their  documents,  witnesses,  &c.,  with  Josephus  when  he  went  to 
Rome,  A.D.  64.  He  teUs  us  that,  by  the  iuHneuce  of  the  Jewish  pantomimist 
Aliturus  and  of  Poppcea,  he  was  enabled  to  secure  the  release  of  some 
Jewish  priests,  friends  of  his  own,  whom  Festus  had,  on  grounds  which 
Josephus  calls  trivial,  sent  bound  to  Rome.  Josephus  was  doiibtless  one  of  a 
commission  dispatched  for  this  luirpose,  and  it  is  conceivable  that  the  prosecu- 
tion of  St.  Paul's  trial  may  have  been  a  subordinate  object  of  this  commission, 
and  that  tlie  trial  may  have  broken  down  all  the  more  completely  from  the  loss 
of  witnesses  and  evidence  in  the  shipwreck  which  Josephus  underwent.  His 
vessel  foundered  on  the  voyage,  and  out  of  two  hundred  souls  only  eighty 
were  picked  up,  by  a  ship  of  Gyrene,  after  they  had  s^vum  or  floated  all  night 
in  the  waves.  Josephus  then  proceeded  to  Puteoli  in  another  ship.  He  makes 
little  more  than  a  dry  allusion  to  those  events  (Vit.  3),  which  contrasts  sin- 
gularly with  the  vivid  minuteness  of  St.  Luke ;  but  the  general  incidents  so 
far  resemble  those  of  St.  Paul's  shipwreck  that  some  have  conjectured  that 
the  two  events  were  identical.  Chronology  and  otlier  considerations  render 
this  impossible,  nor  is  there  any  great  i-eason  to  suppose  that  Josephus  is  hero 
introducing  embellishments  from  the  story  of  St.  Paul. 


THE    NERONIAN    PERSECUTION.  513 

been  still  at  Rome,  it  is  certain  that  lie  could  not  have 
escaped.  If,  therefore,  the  Pastoral  Epistles  be  forgeries, 
we  have  heard  the  last  words  of  St.  Paul,  and  at  the  last 
verse  of  the  Acts  the  curtain  rushes  down  in  utter  dark- 
ness upon  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Let  us,  then,  consider 
what  tradition  says,  and  whether  we  can  still  accept  as 
genuine  the  Epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus.  If  the  indi- 
cations derived  from  these  sources  are  in  any  degree  trust- 
worthy, we  have  still  to  hear  some  further  thoughts  and 
opinions  of  the  Apostle.  We  catch  at  least  a  misty  glimpse 
of  his  final  movements,  and  attain  to  a  sure  knowledge 
of  his  state  of  mind  up  to  the  moment  of  his  death.  If 
tradition  be  mistaken,  and  if  the  Epistles  are  spurious,  then 
we  must  acquiesce  in  the  fact  that  we  know  nothing  more 
of  the  Apostle,  and  that  he  perished  among  that  "  vast 
multitude  "  whom,  in  the  year  64,  the  vilest  of  Emperors, 
nay,  almost  of  human  beings,  sacrificed  to  the  blind 
madness  which  had  been  instigated  against  them  by  a 
monstrous  accusation.  If,  indeed,  St.  Paul  perished  amid 
that  crowd  of  nameless  martyrs,  there  is  but  little  proba- 
bility that  any  regard  would  have  been  paid  to  his  claim 
as  a  Roman  citizen.  He  may  have  perished,  like  them, 
by  crucifixion ;  or  have  been  covered,  like  them,  in  the  skins 
of  wild  beasts,  to  be  mangled  by  dogs  ;  or,  standing  in  his 
tunic  of  ignited  pitch,  may  with  his  dying  glance  have 
caught  sight  of  the  wicked  Emperor  of  triumphant 
Heathendom,  as  the  living  torch  of  hideous  martyrdom 
cast  a  baleful  glare  across  the  gardens  of  the  Golden  House. ^ 
Prom  all  this,  however,  we  may  feel  a  firm  conviction 
that,  by  the  mercy  of  God,  he  was  delivered  for  a  time.^ 
It  is  true  that,  so  far  as  direct  evidence  is  concerned. 


'  Tac.  Ann.  xv.  44  (cf .  Mart.  x.  25  ;  Juv.  Sat.  viii.  235) ;  Sen.  2?p.  14,  4 
Schol.  in  Juv.  i.  155  ;  Tert.  Apol.  15  ;  ad  Nat.  i.  18 ;  ad  Mart.  5. 

^  See  Excursus  YIII.,  "  Evidence  as  to  the  Liberation  of  St.  Paul." 

A  h 


514  THE    LIFE    AlTD    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

we  can  only  say  tliat  St.  Paul's  own  words  render  it 
probable  that  lie  was  liberated,  and  tliat  this  probability 
finds  some  slight  support  in  a  common  tradition,  endorsed 
by  the  authority  of  some  of  the  Fathers.  But  this  tra- 
dition goes  little  further  than  the  bare  fact.  If  we  are  to 
gain  any  further  knowledge  of  the  biography  of  St.  Paul, 
it  must  be  derived  from  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  and  from 
them  alone.  If  they  be  not  genuine,  we  know  no  single 
further  particular  respecting  his  fortunes. 

Now,  it  must  be  admitted  that  a  number  of  critics, 
formidable  alike  in  their  unanimity  and  their  learning,  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Epistles  to  Timothy  and 
Titus  were  not  written  by  St.  Paul.^  Their  arguments 
are  entitled  to  respectful  attention,  and  they  undoubtedly 
suggest  difficulties,  which  our  ignorance  of  all  details  in 
the  history  of  those  early  centuries  renders  it  by  no  means 
easy  to  remove.  Nevertheless,  after  carefulty  and  im- 
partially weighing  all  that  they  have  urged — of  which 
some  account  will  be  found  in  the  Excursus  at  the  end  of 
the  volume — I  have  come  to  the  decided  conviction  that 
the  Epistles  are  genuine,  and  that  the  first  two  of  them 
were  written  during  the  two  years  which  intervened  be- 
tween St.  Paul's  liberation  and  his  martyrdom  at  Pome. 

^  Schmidt,  Schleiermacher,  Eichhorn,  Credner,  De  Wette,  Baur,  Zeller, 
Hilgeufeld,  Sclienkel,  Ewald,  Hausrath,  Renan,  Pfleiderer,  Krenkel,  David- 
son, &c. 


CHAPTEE    LIII. 

THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY. 

'Ev  aSriKijj  irou  aKini  (j)a>\iv6vrii)v  eiVeVi  tots  ruv,  el  Kai  rives  virrjpxov,  7rapa<pdeipetv 
eirixetpovyrcov  rhv  iiyirj  Kavova,  tov  ffurjjpiov  Kripvy/xaros. — HeGESIPPUS  ap.  Euseb. 

H.  E.  iii.  32. 

I  SHALL  not  attempt,  by  more  tlian  a  few  sentences,  to  dispel 
the  obscurity  of  that  last  stage  of  the  Apostle's  life  wliich 
began  at  the  termination  of  bis  Eoman  imprisonment. 
We  feel  that  our  knowledge  of  bis  movements  is  plunged 
in  tbe  deepest  uncertainty  the  moment  that  we  lose  the 
guidance  of  St.  Luke.  I  cannot  myself  believe  that  he 
was  able  to  carry  out  his  intention  of  visiting  Spain. 
The  indications  of  his  travels  in  the  two  later  Pastoral 
Epistles  seem  to  leave  no  room  for  such  a  journey ;  nor, 
if  it  had  really  taken  place,  can  we  imagine  that  no 
shadow  of  a  detail  respecting  it  should  have  been 
preserved.  But  even  if  he  did  accomplish  this  new 
mission,  we  cannot  so  much  as  mention  a  single  chm-ch 
which  he  founded,  or  a  single  port  at  which  he  touched. 
To  speak  of  his  work  in  Spain  could  only  therefore  leave 
a  fallacious  impression.  If  he  went  at  all,  it  must  have 
been  immediately  after  his  imprisonment,  since  his  original 
object  had  been  merely  to  visit  Eome  on  his  way  to  the 
"  limit  of  the  West."  In  writing  to  the  Eomans  he  had 
expressed  a  hope  that  he  would  be  furthered  on  his 
journey  by  their  assistance.  Judging  by  the  indifference 
with  which  they  treated  him  in  both  of  his  imprison- 
ments, there  is  too  much  reason  to  fear  that  this  hope 
h  h  2 


516  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

was  in  any  case  doomed  to  disappointment.  Tlie  next 
trace  of  his  existence  is  the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy. 
That  Epistle  is  less  organic — that  is,  it  has  less  struc- 
tural unity — than  any  other  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles. 
The  time  and  place  at  which  it  was  written  are  wholly 
uncertain,  because  the  only  historic  indication  which  it 
contains  is  that  "  on  his  way  to  Macedonia  Paul  had 
begged  Timothy  to  remain  at  Ephesus."  ^ 

"  Paul,  an  Apostle  of  Jesus  Clirist,  according  to  the  commandment 
of  God  our  Saviour,^  and  Christ  Jesus  our  hope,  to  Timothy  my  true 
child  in  the  faith  ]  grace,  mercy,  and  peace  from  God  the  Father  ^  and 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."* 

This  salutation  is  remarkable  for  the  title  ''Saviour** 
applied  to  Grod  the  Father,  perhaps  derived  from  some 
recent  study  of  Psalm  Ixiii.  7,  and  continued  throughout 
the  Pastoral  Epistles  when  once  adopted ;  for  the  name 
"  our  Hope,"  applied  to  Christ,  and  not  improbably 
borrowed  from  the  same  verse;  and  for  the  word 
"  mercy  "  so  naturally  introduced  by  the  worn  and  tried 
old  man,  between  the  usual  greetings  of  "  grace  and 
peace."  ^ 

1  The  general  outline  of  the  Epistle  is  as  follows : — Salutation  (i.  1,  2). 
The  object  of  the  letter  to  encourage  Timothy  to  resist  false  teachers,  and 
hold  fast  the  faith  (3—11,  18—20),  with  tlie  Apostle's  thanks  to  God  for  the 
mercy  which  had  made  him  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  (12 — 17).  The  duty 
of  praying  for  rulers,  with  rules  about  the  bearing  of  women  in  public 
worship  (ii.).  The  qualifications  of  "  bishops  "  (presbyters)  and  deacons  (iii.). 
Fresh  warnings  respecting  the  false  teachers,  and  the  way  in  which  Timothy 
is  to  deal  with  them  (iv.).  His  relations  to  elders  (v.  1,  2) ;  to  the  order  of 
"widows"  (3 — 16);  and  to  presbyters,  with  rules  as  to  their  selection  (17 — 25). 
Directions  concerning  slaves,  especially  with  reference  to  the  false  teachers ; 
warnings  against  covetousness ;  with  final  exhortations  and  benediction  (vi.). 

"  Not,  of  course,  "  a  Saviour."  The  spread  of  Christianity  is  naturally 
marked  by  the  increasing  anarthrousncss  (omission  of  the  article)  of  its  com- 
monest terms.  We  mark  this  fact  in  the  word  Christ,  which  is  an  appellative 
in  the  Gospels  (almost  always  "  the  Christ " — i.e.,  the  Messiah),  but  has 
become,  in  the  Epistles,  a  proper  name. 

3  Omit  ii^wv,  N,  A,  D,  F,  G  (B,  deficient).       *  i.  1,  2.        *  Cf.  Gal.  vi.  16. 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  517 

"  As  I  begged  thee  to  remain  still  in  Ephesus,  .on  my  way  to 
Macedonia,  tliat  thou  mightest  command  some  not  to  teach  different 
doctrine,  nor  to  give  heed  to  myths  and  interminable  genealogies,^  seeing 
that    these   minister    questions  rather   than  the  dispensation   of  God  ^ 

■which  is  in  faith "  ^     The  sentence,  quite  characteristically,  remains 

unfinished  ;  but  St.  Paul  evidently  meant  to  say,  "  I  repeat  the  exhoi'ta- 
tion  which  then  I  gave." 

In  contrast  with  these  false  teachers  he  tells  him  that 
the  purpose  of  the  Grospel  is  love  out  of  a  pure  heart,  a 
good  conscience,  and  faith  unfeigned,  failing  of  which 
some  turned  aside  to  vain  jangling.  They  wanted  to 
pass  themselves  off  as  teachers  of  the  Jewish  Law,  hut 
their  teaching  was  mere  confusion  and  ignorance. 

The  mention  of  the  Law  leads  him  to  allude  to  its 
legitimate  function.*  To  those  who  were  justified  by 
faith  it  was  needless,  being  merged  in  the  higher  law  of 
a  life  in  unity  with  Christ ;  but  its  true  function  was  to 
warn  and  restrain  those  who  lived  under  the  sway  of 
mere  passion  in  heathenish  wickedness.^  For  these, 
though  not  for  the  regenerate,  the  thunders  of  Sinai  are 
necessary,  "  according  to  the  Gospel  of  the  glory  of  the 
blessed  God,  wherewith  I  was  entrusted."  ^ 

He    then   at   once   digresses    into   an   expression    of 

^  Though  the  Sephiroth  of  the  Kabbala  belong  to  a  much  later  period,  and 
the  Zohar  is  probably  a  mediaeval  book,  yet  Judaic  speculations  of  the  same 
kind  seem  to  have  been  the  prototype  of  the  Valentinian  emanatious  with 
their  successive  intermarriages  of  ceons. 

^  i.  4  ;  leg.  oiKovofjiiav  («,  A,  B,  F,  G,  &c.).  The  questions  do  not  further  the 
divine  scheme  of  God,  which  works,  not  in  the  sphere  of  misty  uncertainties, 
but  in  the  sphere  of  faith. 

3  3,  4.     For  similar  anaholnf  ■,  see  Gal.  ii.  4,  5  ;  Rom.  v.  12,  &c. 

*  i.  8,  9,  v6fJi.os    .    .     .     vofiifius. 

*  For  the  true  use  of  the  Law,  and  the  limitation  to  its  validity,  see 
Rom.  vii.  12 ;  Gal.  iii.  19 ;  Phil.  iii.  9.  It  is  idle  to  pretend  that  there  is 
anything  un-Pauline  in  this  sentiment.  With  the  list  of  crimes — which  is, 
however,  varied  with  perfect  independence — cf.  Rom.  i.  29;  1  Cor.  vi.  9; 
Gal.  V.  19. 

«  i.  8-11. 


518  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

heartfelt  gratitude  to  God  for  tliat  grace  which  super- 
abounded  over  his  former  ignorant  faithlessness,  a  faith- 
lessness which  had  led  him  to  outrage  and  insult,  such 
as  only  his  ignorance  could  palliate. 

"  Faithful  is  the  saying,^  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ 
Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  of  whom  I  am  chief.  ^  But 
on  this  account  I  gained  mercy,  that  in  me  first  and  foremost  Christ 
Jesus  might  manifest  His  entire  long-suffering  as  a  pattern  for  those 
who  were  hereafter  to  belicA^e  on  Him  to  life  eternal.  Now  to  the 
King  of  the  Ages,^  the  incorruptible,  invisible,  only  God,"*  honour  and 
glory  unto  the  ages  of  the  ages.     Amen.^ 

"This  charge  I  commit  to  thee,  son  Timothy,  in  accordance  with 
the  prophecies  which  in  time  past  were  prophesied  of  thee,^  that  thou 
in  them  mayest  war  the  good  warfare,''  having  faith  and  a  good  con- 
science, which  some  rejecting  have  been  wrecked  as  regards  the  faith ; 
of  whom  is  Hymenseus  and  Alexander,  whom  I  handed  over  to  Satan, 
that  they  may  be  trained  not  to  blaspheme."  * 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  this  section  he  begins  with  the 

^  This  arresting  formula  would  naturally  arise  with  the  rise  of  Christian 
axioms ;  of.  ''  These  words  are  faithful  and  true  "  (Rev.  xxi.  5 ;  xxii.  6). 

^  Cf.  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  the  sinner"  (Luke  xviii.  13);  irpHTos,  "non 
tempore  sed  malignitate  "  (Aug.  in  Ps.  Ixxi.  1). 

^  Not  here  in  its  technical  sense  of  "the  ceons ;"  cf.  Ps.  cxlv.  13,  "a 
kingdom  of  all  ages." 

*  Omit  (ro<pci.  (k,  a,  D,  F,  G,  &c.). 

*  For  similar  personal  digressions,  see  Gal.  i.  12 ;  1  Tliess.  ii.  4 ;  2  Cor. 
iii.  6;  iv.  1,  &c.;  and  for  the  doxology  (Rom.  xv.  33;  xvi.  27  ;  2  Cor.  ii.  14; 
ix.  15  ;  Phil.  iv.  20,  &c.  The  passage  is  intensely  individual,  for  "  all  Paul's 
theology  is  in  ultimate  analysis,  the  reflex  of  his  personal  experience"  (Reuss, 
Les  Epitres,  ii.  352). 

*  Perhaps  a  reference  to  his  solemn  ordination,  as  in  iv.  14,  when  Silas, 
who  was  a  prophet  (Acts  xv.  32),  was  present  among  others  (Acts  xiii.  3). 

7  ffrpuTfla,  not  a^civ,  as  in  2  Tim.iv.  7.  It  is  St.  Paul's  favourite  metaphor 
(Rom.  xiii.  12 ;  2  Cor.  x.  5  ;  1  Thess.  v.  8,  &c.). 

8  i.  12 — 20.  It  is  impossible  to  know  the  exact  circumstances  referred  to. 
For  Hymenseus,  see  2  Tim.  ii.  17.  For  Alexander,  2  Tim.  iv.  14;  Acts  xix.  33; 
but  even  the  identifications  are  precarious.  For  "  delivering  to  Satan,"  see 
1  Cor.  V.  5.  Wliether  it  was  excommunication,  or  generally  giving  up  from 
all  Church  influences,  and  leaving  Satan  to  deal  with  them,  or  the  delivery  to 
prseternatural  corporal  sufferings,  the  intention,  we  see,  was  merciful  and 
disciplinary  {iraiSfveaxri). 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  519 

false  teachers,  and  after  two  digressions — one  suggested  by 
the  mention  of  the  Law,  the  other  by  his  personal  com- 
mission to  preach  the  Gospel — returns  to  them  again. 

The  second  chapter  contains  regulations  for  public 
worship,  the  duty  of  praying  for  those  in  authority,  and 
the  bearing  and  mutual  relations  of  men  and  women  in 
religious  assemblies, — broken  by  brief  and  natural  digres- 
sions on  the  universality  of  Grod's  offered  grace,  and  on  his 
own  Apostolic  office.     He  directs  that 

"  Petitions,  prayers,  supplications,  and  thanksgivings^  should  be  made 
for  all,  and  especially  for  kings,^  and  those  in  authority,  that  we  may 
spend  a  calm  and  quiet  life  in  all  godliness  and  gravity.  This  is  fair 
and  accej)table  before  our  Saviour,  God,  vk^ho  wills  all  men  to  be  saved, 
and  to  come  to  full  knowledge  of  the  truth.  For.  there  is  one  God  and 
one  Mediator  between  God  and  men,  the  man  Christ  Jesus,^  who  gave 
Himself  a  ransom  for  all — the  testimony  in  its  own  seasons.  For  which 
testimony  I  was  appointed  an  herald  and  an  Apostle  (I  speak  the  truth ;  * 
I  lie  not,')  in  faith  and  truth."  ® 

After  this  double  digression  he  expresses  his  wish  that 
the  men ''  should   pray  in   every  place,  "  uplifting   holy 

'  The  synonyms  are  mainly  cumulative,  though,  perhaps  Serjo-eis  means 
special,  npoa-evxas  general,  and  ivrev^ets  earnest  prayers  (see  Phil.  iv.  6). 

^  Baur  sees  in  this  plural  an  indication  that  the  Epistle  was  written  in  the 
times  of  the  Antouines,  when  Emperors  took  associates  in  the  Empire.  Can 
theorising  be  more  baseless  ? — The  word  "kings  "  does  not  necessarily  refer  only 
to  local  A-iceroys,  &c.,  like  the  Herods,  but  was  in  the  provinces  applied  generi- 
cally  to  the  Emperors,  as  it  constantly  is  in  the  Talmud.  It  was  most  im- 
portant to  both  Jews  and  Christians  that  they  should  not  be  suspected  of 
civic  turbulence  (Jos.  B.  J.  ii.  10,  §  4 ;  Bingham,  xv.  8,  14).  Hence  we  see 
how  baseless  is  tlie  conjecture  of  Pfleiderer  {Protesianten  bibel)  that  it  was 
written  in  the  time  of  Hadrian,  who  befriended  the  Christians  (Euseb. 
E.  E.  iv.  8,  9). 

3  The  word  fiea-irris  as  applied  to  Christ  is  new,  but  not  the  conception 
(Rom.  V.  10 ;  2  Cor.  v.  19).  There  may  be  a  silent  condemnation  of  incipient 
Docetism  in  &v9pwiros,  as  well  as  of  the  supposed  mediation  of  angels  in  eh 
(Col.  ii.  15,  18). 

*  Om.  eV  Xpio-ToS  (A,  D,  F,  G,  &c.). 

*  A  natural  reminiscence  of  the  occasions  when  such  asseverations  had 
been  so  necessary  that  they  had  become  habitual  (2  Cor.  xi.  31 ;  Rom.  ix.  1). 

6  ii.  1-7. 

''  rovs  avSpas  (ii.  8). 


520  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.   PAUL. 

hands/  without  wrath  and  doubting  ;  and  that  women, 
with  shamefastness  and  sobriety,  should  adorn  them- 
selves, not  with  plaits  of  hair,  and  gold  or  pearls,  or 
costly  raiment,  but,  in  accordance  with  their  Gospel  pro- 
fession, with  good  works."  Let  them  be  silent  and  sub- 
missive, not  obtrusive  and  didactic.  This  rule  he  sup- 
ports by  the  narrative  of  the  Fall,  as  illustrative  of 
generic  differences  between  the  sexes, ^  adding,  however, 
that  in  sjoite  of  the  greater  liability  to  deception  and 
sin,  woman  "  shall  be  saved  through  motherhood,  if  they 
abide  in  faith  and  love  and  sanctification  with  sober- 
mindedness."^ 

The  third  chapter  passes  into  the  qualifications  for  office 
in  the  Church.  It  is  introduced  by  a  sort  of  Christian 
aphorism,  "  Faithful  is  the  saying,  If  any  man  desires  the 
office  of  the  pastorate,^  he  desires  a  good  work."  The  qualifi- 
cations on  which  St.  Paul  insists  are  irreproachableness,faith- 

^  The  ancient  attitude  of  prayer  (Bingham,  Antiq.  xiii.  8, 10 ;  Ps.  xxiv.  4 ; 
xxvi.  6) ;  cf .  Tennyson — 

"  For  what  are  men  better  than  sheep  or  goats 
That  nourish  a  blind  life  within  the  brain, 
If  knowing  God  they  lift  not  hands  of  prayer 
Both  for  themselves  and  those  who  call  them  friend." 

'  This  is  quite  independent  of,  yet  exactly  analogous  to,  his  reasoning  in 
1  Cor.  xi.  8,  9  (cf .  2  Cor.  xi.  3 ;  Wisd.  xxv.  24). 

3  ii.  8 — 15.  It  will  be  seen  that  he  is  here  looking  at  the  question  from  a 
wholly  different  point  of  view  to  that  in  1  Cor.  vii.,  which  applies  not  to  the 
whole  sex,  but  to  a  chosen  few.  So,  too,  in  the  pre\aous  verses,  he  is  con- 
sidering  concrete  facts,  not  the  abstract  abolition  of  all  sexual  distinctions  in 
Christ  (Gal.  iii.  28).  The  v  reKvoyovla  is  probably  not  specific  ("  the  child- 
bearing" — i.e.,  the  Incarnation — surely  a  most  obscure  allusion),  but  generic — 
i.e.,  a  holy  married  life,  with  the  bearing  and  training  of  children,  is,  as  a  rule, 
the  appointed  path  for  women,  and  it  "svill  end  in  their  salvation,  in  spite  of 
their  original  weakness,  if  that  path  be  humbly  and  faithfully  pursued. 
Doubtless  St.  Paul  was  thinking  of  Gen.  iil  16. 

*  To  translate  this  '•  liie  office  of  a  bishop  "  is,  as  Alford  says  in  his  usual 
incisive  way, "  merely  laying  a  trap  for  misunderstanding."  Episcopacy  proper 
was  developed  after  the  death  of  St.  Paul,  but  before  that  of  St.  John,  as  a 
bulwark  against  heresy. 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  521 

ful  domestic  life/  soberness,  sobermindedness,  decorousness, 
hospitable  disposition,  and  aptitude  to  teacli.  He  who 
is  quarrelsome  over  wine,  given  to  blows  and  cove- 
tousness,  is  unfit.  Moderation,  peacefulness,  indifference 
to  money,  a  well-ordered  household,  grave  and  obedient 
children,  are  signs  that  a  man  may  aspire  to  the  sacred 
work ;  but  he  must  not  be  a  neophyte,^  that  he  may  not, 
through  the  cloudy  fumes  of  pride,  fall  into  the  devil's 
judgment.^  He  must  be  well  thought  of  by  his  Pagan 
neighbours,  that  he  may  not  fall  into  disrepute,  and 
the  devil's  snare  which  such  loss  of  character  involves.* 

Deacons,  too,  must  be  grave,  straightforward,  sober, 
not  avaricious,  sound  in  faith,  and  pure  of  conscience ; 
and  their  freedom  from  reproach  must  be  tested  before 
they  are  appointed.^ 

Deaconesses^  must   be    grave,    not    slanderers,   sober, 

*  I  am  not  persiTaded  that  fiias  ywaiKhs  i.v'Spa  really  implies  moi-e  tlian  this, 
with  reference  to  the  prevalence  of  divorce,  &c.  The  early  prejudice  against 
second  marriages  naturally  inclined  the  ancient  commentators  to  take  it 
exclusively  in  one  way ;  but  the  remark  of  Chrysostom,  tV  d/ieTpiav  Kcuxiet, 
seems  to  me  to  be  nearest  the  truth.  St.  Paul's  opinion  was  not  in  the  least 
that  of  Athenagoras,  that  a  second  marriage  is  "  specious  adultery,"  since  in 
some  cases  he  even  i-ecommends  it  (v.  14;  1  Cor.  vii.  39;  Rom.  vii.  2,  3),  but 
he  would  possibly  have  held  with  Hermas  {Pastor,  ii.  4),  that  though  a  second 
marriage  is  no  sin,  it  is  a  better  and  nobler  thing  to  avoid  it.  It  is  as  Gregory 
of  Nazianzus  says,  "  a  concession  "  {a-vyx^pvc's — Orat.  xxxri.). 

*  The  first  occurrence  of  the  word  "  neophyte  " — "  newlj -planted  " — a 
recent  convert.  For  the  metaphor,  see  1  Cor.  iii.  6.  At  Ephesus  there  must 
have  been  a  choice  of  presbyters  who  were  not  "  neophytes."  Perhaps  the 
reason  why  this  qualification  is  omitted  in  Tit.  i.  6  is  that  there  would  have 
been  greater  difficulty  in  carrying  it  out  in  the  more  recent  Churches  of  Crete. 

^  These  Epistles  are  peculiar  in  the  use  of  the  word  "  devil."  Elsewhere 
St.  Paul  uses  "  Satan,"  except  in  Eph.  iv.  27 ;  vi.  11.  It  is  impossible  to  say 
whether  "the  devil's  judgment"  means  "that which  he  has  incurred"  or  "that 
which  he  inflicts." 

*  iii.  1—7. 

*  iii.  8 — 10.  Besides  the  "Seven,"  deacons  properly  so  called  may  be 
referred  to  in  1  Cor.  xii.  28;  Rom.  xii.  7;  1  Pet.  iv.  11;  as  well  as  in 
Phil.  i.  1. 

6  rvva?Kas  must  mean  "deaconesses  "  (Rom.  xvi.  1.  "  Ancillae  quae  miuistrae 


522  THE    LITE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

faithful.  The  domestic  relations  of  deacons  and  deacon- 
esses must  be  irreproachable ;  for  an  honourable  diaconate 
secures  an  honourable  position,^  and  boldness  in  the  faith. ^ 

"  These  things  I  write  to  thee,  though  I  hope  to  come  to  you  unex- 
pectedly soon  ;^  but  in  order  that,  if  I  am  dehxyed,  thou  mayst  know  how 
to  bear  thyself  in  the  house  of  God — seeing  that  it  is  the  Church  of  God 
— as  a  pillar  and  basis  of  the  truth.* 

"And  confessedly  great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness — who  was® 

"  Manifested  in  the  flesh, 
Justified  in  the  Spirit, 

Seen  of  augels, 
Preached  among  the  Gentiles, 
Believed  on  in  the  world, 

Taken  up  in  glory."  ^ 

dicebantnr." — PKn.  ix.  27),  because  the  wives  of  deacons  were  certainly  not 
selected  by  the  Church. 

1  iii.  11—13. 

■^  KaKhs  fiadfjihs  can  only  mean  "  a  fair  standing-point,"  "  an  honourable 
position,"  from  which  to  discharge  nobly  his  Christian  duties.  The  notion 
that  it  means   "earning  preferment"  would  be  an  immense  anachronism. 

Cf.  vi.  19  :    Ka\hi>  eefXfKiov. 

3  rdxiov — an  untranslatable  ellipse.     John  xiii.  27 ;  Heb.  xiii.  23. 

*  Apart  from  the  awkwardness  of  the  Church  being,  in  the  same  verse, 
the  house  of  God  and  also  a  pillar  and  base  of  the  truth,  the  expression  is 
one  of  the  most  difficult  and  surprising — one  of  the  least  obviously  PauHne — 
in  the  whole  Epistle.  The  separate  metaphors  occur  in  Gal.  ii.  9  and  Eph. 
ii.  20,  but  only  of  persons.  There  is,  therefore,  much  to  be  said  for  attaching 
them  to  a.va.(Trpi<picrOat,  and  making  them  apply  to  Timothy,  as  I  have  done.  (See 
Dean  Stanley,  Sermons  on  the  Apostolic  Age,  p.  115.)  The  words  are  applied 
to  the  martyr  Attains  in  the  Epistle  of  the  Church  of  Lyons,  c.  5.  Others 
attach  them  to  the  next  sentence — which  they  would  turn  into  a  most  awk- 
ward and  unnatural  anti-chmax.  If,  however,  they  are  applied  to  the  Church, 
the  meaning  is  clear  enough — namely  that  apart  from  the  Chiu-ch  the  truth 
of  the  Gospel  would  be  without  that  earthly  institution  on  which,  by  Christ's 
ordinance,  its  stability  and  permanence  depends. 

=  "Os  is  read  by  «,  A,  C,  P,  G.  (The  reading  of  A  was  once  supposed  to 
be  0C,  but  Bishop  EUicott  testifies  that  the  apparent  line  across  the  O 
was  originally  due  to  the  sagitta  of  the  e  in  the  word  eva-f^eiav  on  the  other 
side  of  the  page.  See  his  Pastoral  Epistles,  -p.  103.)  Besides  this,  it  is  so 
unquestionably  supported  by  every  canon  of  criticism  that  it  may  now  be 
regarded  as  a  certain  reading. 

*  iii.  14 — 16.  These  last  phrases  are  so  rhythmic  in  their  introverted  paral- 
lelism with  the  varied  order  of  their  triple  antitheses,  that  they  have,  with  much 
probability,  been  supposed  (like  Eph.  v.  14)  to  belong  to  some  ancient  hymn  or 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  523 

The  true  doctrine  again  recalls  liim  to  the  subject  of 
the  false  teachers.  Beyond  the  present  peril  lies  the 
prophecy  of  future  apostasies,  in  which  some  shall  give 
heed  to  deceitful  spirits  and  doctrines  of  devils,  by  means 
of  the  hypocrisy  of  liars,  whose  consciences  have  been 
seared.  This  apostasy,  partly  present,  partly  future,  is 
marked  by  dualistic  tendencies.  It  hinders  marriage,^ 
and  commands  abstinence  from  meats, ^  forgetting  that 
thankfulness  and  prayer  sanctify  everything.  Another 
feature  of  the  nascent  heresy  is  a  fondness  for  profane  and 
anile  myths.  A  third  is  mere  bodily  asceticism.  This 
training  may  indeed  have  a  partial  advantage ;  but  better 
is  the  gymnasium  which  trains  for  godliness,  since  godli- 
ness is  profitable  both  for  this  life  and  the  next  ("  faithful 
is  the  saying  ") :  for  with  a  view  to  this — because  we  have 
hope  in  the  living  God,  who  is  the  Saviour  of  all,  specially 
of  the  faithfuP — we  aire  enabled  to  endure  both  toil  and 
struggle.*  These  truths  Timothy  is  to  teach,  showing 
himself  an  example  to  the  faithful  in  speech,  conversation, 
love,  spirituality,  faith,  purity,  so  that  none  may  despise 
his  youth. ^     Till  St.  Paul  arrives  he  is  bidden  to  occupy 

creed.  The  extreme  antiquity  of  Christian  hymns  is  proved  by  Eph.  v.  19, 
and  by  Plin.  Ej}}).  x.  97.  "  Justified  in  the  Spirit "  means  that  Christ  was 
manifested  to  be  the  Son  of  God  (Rom.  i.  4)  by  the  workings  of  His  higher 
spiritual  life ;  "  seen  of  angels "  refers  to  the  various  angelic  witnesses  of 
scenes  of  His  earthly  life. 

^  Not  yet  "  forbids,"  but  somewhat  "  discourages."  Cf .  Jos.  B.  J.  ii.  8, 
2,  and  13. 

2  Cf.  Rom.  xiv.  1—4;  1  Cor.  viii.  8 ;  x.  20. 

3  Tlie  universalism  of  expression  is  here  even  more  remarkable  than  in  ii.4. 
*  Leg.  d')u-yi<:6ix(ea,  «,  A,  F,  C,  G,  K. 

^  The  sneers  tliat  Timothy  ''seems  to  have  been  endowed  by  Christian 
legend  with  the  gift  of  immortal  youth "  are  very  groundless.  If  he  were 
converted  in  A.D.  45,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  would  now  (A.D.  66)  be 
only  thirty-seven — a  very  youthful  age  for  so  responsible  a  position.  The 
aged  rector  of  one  who  has  now  become  a  very  exalted  ecclesiastic,  and  is  long 
past  sixty,  still  says  of  his  first  curate,  "  I  always  told  you  that  young  man 
was  very  ambitious ; "  and  when  M.  Thiers  was  Prime  Minister  of  France,  and 


524  THE    LIFE    AlfD    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

himself  in  reading/  exhortation,  teaching;  securing  pro- 
gress by  diligence,  and  not  neglecting — which  possibly 
Timothy,  in  his  retiring  character,  was  tempted  to  do — 
the  grace  which  was  solemnly  bestowed  on  him  at  his 
ordination.^ 

Then  he  is  advised  how  to  behave  towards  various 
orders  in  his  Church.  He  is  not  to  use  severe  language 
to  an  elder,  but  to  exhort  them  as  fathers  ;  the 
younger  men  as  brothers,  the  elder  women  as  mothers, 
the  younger  as  sisters,  in  all  purity.^  Special  directions 
are  given  about  widows.*  Those  are  true  widows  who 
rightly  train  their  children  or  grandchildren,  who  do  their 
duty  to  their  parents,  who  devote  themselves  to  constant 
prayer.  But  in  a  widow,  a  prurient,  frivolous  character  is 
a  living  death;  for,  in  a  Christian,  neglect  of  domestic 
duties  and  relations  is  worse  than  heathenism.  No  widow 
is  therefore  to  be  put  on  the  list  before  sixty  years  of  age, 
after  one  honourable  marriage,^  and  after  having  acquired 
a  character  for  motherliness,  hospitality,  kindly  service, 
succour  to  the  afflicted,  and  continuance  in  every  good 
work.  But  Timothy  is  to  have  nothing  to  say  to  younger 
widows  who  want  to  marry  again  when  they  begin 
to  wax  restive    against  the  yoke  of  Christ — and  so  are 

called  on  his  old  schoolmaster,  he  found  that  he  was  only  rememhered  as  "  the 
little  Adolphus  who  played  tricks." 

^  Perhaps  the  earliest  allusion  to  the  duty  of  reading  Scripture. 

2  iv.  1 — 16.  Acts  xvi.  1,  and  2  Tim.  i.  6,  where  he  receives  a  similar 
injunction. 

3  "  Omnes  pnellas  et  -virgines  Christi  aut  aequaliter  ignora  aut  aequaliter 
dilige  "  (Jer.).     But  how  inferior  to  the  direction  of  St.  Paul ! 

''  Acts  ii.  44 ;  vi.  1. 

*  Cf .  Tit.  i.  6.  It  is  a  remarkable  sign  of  the  position  of  widows  in  the 
Church  that  Polycarp  calls  them  Bvffiacrr'i^piov  ©eoO,  "  an  altar  of  God "  {ad 
Phil.  4).  From  the  severity  of  some  of  St.  Paul's  remarks,  Reuss  thinks 
that  he  may  have  had  in  view  the  occasional  second  marriage  of  Christian 
widows  with  Pagans,  which  would  be  a  disgraceful  proceeding  after  they  had 
received  assistance  from  the  Church.  They  might  be  "deaconesses"  earlier 
than  sixty,  but  not  "  widows." 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  525 

contacted  of  setting  at  nought  their  first  faith.^  To  avoid 
the  danger  of  gadding  idleness  and  unseemly  gossiping,  it 
is  better  that  such  should  avoid  all  chance  of  creating 
scandal  by  quietly  re-entering  into  married  life.  Hence  all 
younger  widows  must  be  supported  by  their  own  relations, 
and  not  at  the  expense  of  the  Church.^ 

Eeturning  to  the  Presbyters,  he  quotes  the  passage  of 
Deuteronomy,  "  Thou  shalt  not  muzzle  a  threshing  ox," 
and  adds  the  maxim,  "  The  labourer  is  worthy  of  his 
hire,"^  to  support  his  rule  that  "  double  honour"  be  paid 
to  faithful  and  laborious  pastors.*  If  they  do  wrong  they 
must  indeed  be  rebuked,  but  never  on  ill-supported  accu- 
sations. "  I  solemnly  charge  thee  before  Grod,  and  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  elect  angels,^  to  observe  these 
rules  without  prejudice,  and  without  doing  anything  by 
favour."  He  is  not  to  ordain  any  one  too  hastily,  lest  he 
be  involved  in  the  responsibility  for  their  sins ;  and  this 
discrimination  is  the  more  necessary  because  there  are 
flagrant  sins  which  marshal  men  to  judgment,  and  hidden 
sins  which  stealthily  follow  behind  them  ;  just  as  also  there 
are  some  good  works  which  are  openly  manifest,  and 
others  which  are  concealed,  although  ultimately  all  shall 
stand  revealed  in  their  true  light. 

1  In  their  practical  pledge  not  to  marry  again  when  they  were  placed  on 
the  official  list  of  widows. 

2  V.  1—16. 

^  1  Cor.  ix.  9.  Those  who  apply  v  ypa<t>h  to  both  clauses  must  admit  that 
the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke  had  been  published,  and  had  come  to  be  regarded  of 
Divine  authority,  before  this  Epistle  (Luke  x.  7).  But  the  inference  is  most 
precarious,  for  our  Lord  often  alluded  to  current  proverbs,  and  v  ypacpi]  may 
here  only  apply  to  the  quotation  from  Deut.  xxv.  4. 

••  5(7r\^  rifxri  is  a  perfectly  general  expression.  The  spirit  of  foolish 
literalism  led  to  double  rations  for  the  Presbyters  at  the  Agapse. 

"  See  1  Cor.  xi.  10  ;  1  Pet.  i.  12.  It  is  not  possible  to  explaiu  the  exact 
shade  of  meaning  in  the  word  "  elect."  They  are  probably  so  called,  as  Calvin 
says,  "  excellentiae  causa."  Cf.  toIs  Upohs  dyy^\ovs  in  Agripjpa's  adjuration  to 
the  Jews  not  to  rebel  against  Borne  (Jos.  B.  J.  ii.  16,  and  Tobit  xii.  15). 


526  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

In  the  very  midst  of  these  wise  and  serious  directions 
are  introduced  two  personal  exhortations.  One  of  them — 
"  Keep  thyself  pui'e  " — may  naturally  have  been  suggested 
by  the  passing  thought  that  he  whose  duty  it  was  to  exer- 
cise so  careful  an  oversight  over  others  must  be  specially 
watchful  to  be  himself  free  from  every  stain.  The  other, 
"Be  no  longer  a  water-drinker,  but  use  a  little  wine  be- 
cause of  thy  stomach,  and  thy  frequent  infirmities,"  ^  is 
so  casual  that,  though  we  see  at  once  how  it  may  have 
occurred  to  St.  Paul's  thoughts — since  otherwise  the 
former  rule  might  have  led  to  a  self-denial  still  more 
rigid,^  and  even  injurious  to  health — it  is  far  too  natural 
and  spontaneous,  too  entirely  disconnected  from  all  that 
precedes  and  follows  it,  to  have  occurred  to  any  imitator. 
An  imitator,  if  capable  of  introducing  the  natural  play 
of  thought  to  which  the  precept  "  Keep  thyself  pure" 
is  due,  would  have  been  far  more  likely  to  add — and 
especially  in  an  Epistle  which  so  scrupulously  forbids 
indulgence  in  wine  to  all  Church  officials — "  And,  in 
order  to  promote  this  purity,  take  as  little  wine  as 
possible,  or  avoid  it  altogether."  ^ 

He  then  passes  to  the  duties  of  slaves.*  Their  con- 
version is  not  to  be  made  a  plea  for  upsetting  the  social 
order,  and  giving  any  excuse  for  abusing  the  Grospel. 
Christian  masters  are  still  to  be  treated  as  masters,  and 
to  be  served  all  the  more  heartily  "  because  all  wdio  are 
partakers  of  this  kindly  service  are  faithful  and  beloved." 

^  These  "  frequent  infirmities  "  perhaps  explain  the  timidity  of  Timothy's 
character  (1  Cor.  xvi.  10,  11).  Some  have  seen  a  reflex  of  this  in  the  re- 
proaches addressed,  in  the  midst  of  praise,  to  "  the  angel  of  the  Church  of 
Ephesus." 

2  Rom.  xiv.  2.     Plutarch  speaks  of  an  &oivos  ayvela  {Be  Isid.  et  Osir,  §  6). 

3  Yer.  17—23. 

*  Some  have  fancied,  with  very  little  probability,  that  the  topic  is  sug- 
gested by  the  mention  of  those  whose  good  works  cannot  be  Anally  hid,  but 
are  little  likely  to  be  noticed  in  this  world. 


THE    FIRST   EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  527 

Here  again  lie  reverts  to  the  false  teachers — who  had 
perhaps  perverted  the  truth  of  Christian  equality  into 
the  falsehood  of  socialism  ^ — to  denounce  their  inflated 
ignorance  and  unwholesome  loquacity  as  the  source  of 
the  jealousies  and  squabbles  of  corrupt  men,  who  look 
on  religion  as  a  source  of  gain.  A  source  of  gain 
indeed  it  is  when  accompanied  with  the  contentment^ 
arising  from  the  sense  of  the  nakedness  of  our  birth  and 
death,  and  the  fe^vness  of  our  real  needs,^  whereas  the 
desire  of  wealth  breeds  the  numerous  forms  of  foolish 
desire  which  plunge  men  into  destruction  and  perdition. 
For  all  evils  spring  from  the  root  of  covetousness,^  which 
has  led  many  into  heresy  as  well  as  into  manifold  miseries. 
The  Apostle  appeals  to  his  son  in  the  faith  to  flee  these 
things :  to  pursue^  righteousness,  godliness,  faith,  love, 
endurance,  gentleness ;  to  strive  the  good  strife  of  faith ; 
to  grasp  eternal  life,  "  to  which  also  thou  wert  called,  and 
didst  confess  the  good  confession  before  many  witnesses." 
He  most  solemnly  adjures  him,  by  Christ  and  His  good 
confession  before  Pontius  Pilate,^  to  keep  the  commandment 
without  spot,  without  reproach,  till  the  manifestation  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  He  shall  show  in  His  own 
seasons,  who  is  the  blessed  and  only  Potentate,  the  Xing 

*  Gal.  iii.  28.  The  recognition  of  the  existing  basis  of  society  is  found 
throughout  the  Epistles  (1  Cor.  vii.  21 ;  Col.  iii.  22,  &c.). 

*  avrdpKfia,  self-sufficing  independence  (2  Cor.  ix.  8 ;  Phil.  iv.  11).  Cf. 
Prov.  xIy.  14,  "  The  good  man  shall  be  satisfied  from  himself." 

3  Phil.  iv.  11—13. 

*  l>iCa  need  not  be  rendered  "  a  root,"  for  it  is  a  word  which  does  not 
require  the  article  ;  but  St.  Paid  does  not,  of  course,  mean  that  it  is  the  only 
root  from  wliich  all  e\-ils  spring,  but  the  root  from  which  aU  evils  may  spring. 
So  Diogenes  Laertius  calls  it  "the  metropolis  of  all  evils"  (Fi^.  Diogen. 
vi.  50) ;  and  Philo,  De  Spec.  Legg.  346,  caUs  it  SpfiriT-fipiov  -navruv  irapavo/xrifjidTwy 
(cf.  Luke  xii.  15—21). 

^   Sj'oiKe,  iTri\a0ov. 

^  There  is  an  obvious  allusion  in  the  Ka\r]  ono\oyia  of  Christ  to  that  of  the 
previous  verse,  but  in  the  latter  instance  it  seems  to  mean  the  faithful  per- 
formance of  the  will  of  God  even  to  death. 


528  THE    LIFE    AKD    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  who  alone  liath  immortality, 
dwelling  in  liglit  unapproachable,  whom  no  man  ever  saw, 
or  can  see — to  whom  honour  and  eternal  strength.  Amen.^ 

With  this  majestic  description  of  the  Divine  attributes 
it  might  well  have  been  thought  that  the  Epistle  would 
close.  A  forger  might  naturally  desire  a  climax  ;  but  St. 
Paul  is  never  influenced  by  such  considerations  of  style. 
Filled  with  the  thought  of  the  perils  of  wealth  in  a  city 
like  wealthy  Ephesus,  he  once  more,  in  a  sort  of  postscript,^ 
advises  Timothy  to  warn  the  rich  "  not  to  be  high- 
minded,  nor  to  fix  their  hopes  on  the  uncertainty  of 
riches,  but  on  the  living  God,  who  richly  affords  us  all 
things  for  enjoyment,"  and  to  use  their  riches  wisely  and 
generously,  "  treasuring  up  for  themselves  a  fair  foundation 
for  the  future,  that  they  may  grasp  that  which  is  really 
life."^ 

Then,  with  one  parting  reference  to  the  false  teachers, 
the  Epistle  ends  : — 

"  O  Timothy,  guard  the  trust  committed  to  thee,  turning  away  from 
these  profane  babblings,  and  "  antitheses "  of  the  knowledge  which 
usurps  the  name  ;  which  some  professing  have  gone  astray  as  regards  the 
faith.     Grace  be  with  thee."^ 

The  "  Amen  "  ^  is  probably  a  pious  addition,  and  the 
various  superscriptions  which  tell  us  that  the  Epistle  was 
written  from  Laodicea,  "which  is  the  metropolis  of  Phrygia 
Pacatiana,"  or  "  from  Nicopolis,"  or  "  from  Athens,"  "  by 
the  hands  of  his  disciple  Titus,"  or  "  from  Macedonia,"  are 
idle  guesses,  of  which  the  latter  alone  has  any  plausibility, 
though  even  this  is  only  a  precarious  inference  from  the 
verse  which  suggested  it. 

>  vi.  1—16. 

'  Reuss,  Les  Epitres,  ii.  378. 

3  vi.  17—19.     Leg.  6yrws,  A,  D,  E,  T,  G. 

"  «,  A,  F,  G,  read  m^O'  'V"",  as  in  2  Tim.  iv,  22;  Tit.  iiL  15. 

•  Oudtted  by  «,  A,  D,  F,  G. 


CHAPTEE   Liy. 

THE    EPISTLE    TO    TITUS. 

"  Lord  Jesus,  I  am  weary  in  Thy  work,  but  not  of  Thy  work  Let  me 
go  and  speak  for  Thee  once  more  .  .  .  seal  Thy  truth,  and  then  die." — 
Whitejield. 

From  St.  Paul's  message  to  Philemon  we  infer  that 
as  speedily  as  possible  after  he  was  set  free  he  visited 
Ephesus  and  the  cities  of  the  Lycus.  Even  if  he  deferred 
this  visit  till  he  had  carried  out  his  once-cherished 
plan  of  visiting  Spain,  we  know  that  the  moment  his 
destiny  was  decided  he  sent  Timothy  to  Philippi, 
with  the  intention  of  following  him  at  no  long  interval.^ 
Hence  when  Timothy  rejoined  him,  probably  at  Ephesus, 
he  left  him  there  as  we  have  seen  to  finish  the  task  of 
setting  the  Church  in  order,  and  himself  set  out  on  his 
promised  journey  to  Macedonia.  It  is  not  likely  that 
he  felt  any  desire  to  revive  the  gloomy  reminiscences  of 
Jerusalem,  and  to  incur  a  second  risk  of  being  torn  to 
pieces  by  infuriated  Pharisees.  In  that  unhappy  city  a 
fresh  outburst  of  the  spirit  of  persecution  had  ended  the 
year  before  (A.D.  63)  in  the  murder  of  James  the  Lord's 
brother.^  Soon  after  the  accession  of  Gressius  Floras  to 
the  post  of  Procurator,  there  were  violent  disturbances 
throughout  Judaea.  The  war  which  culmmated  in  the  total, 
destruction  of  the  Jewish  polity  did  not  indeed  break  out 
till  A.D.  Q6,  but  the  general  spirit  of  turbulence,  the  deeply 

1  Phn.  ii.  19—23.  2  Jos.  Antt.  xx.  9, 1,  2 ;  Acts  xii.  1—11. 

i  i 


530  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

seated  discontent  with  the  government  of  Agrippa  II., 
and  the  threatening  multiplication  of  the  Sicarii,  showed 
that  everything  was  ripening  for  the  final  revolt.^  We 
may  be  sure  that  when  the  ship  of  Adramyttium  sailed 
from  Tyre,  St.  Paul  had  seen  his  last  of  the  Holy  Land. 
From  Macedonia  he  doubtless  went  to  Corinth,  and  he 
may  then  have  sailed  with  Titus  to  Crete. 

On  the  southern  shores  of  that  legendary  island  he 
had  involuntarily  touched  in  the  disastrous  voyage  from 
Myra,  which  ended  in  his  shipwreck  at  Malta.  But  a 
prisoner  on  his  way  to  trial,  in  a  crowded  Alexandrian 
corn-vessel  which  only  awaited  the  earliest  opportunity  to 
sail,  could  have  had  but  little  opportunity  to  preach  the 
gospel  even  at  the  Fan-  Havens  and  Lassea,  and  we  may 
at  once  reject  the  idle  suggestion  that  the  Church  of  Crete 
had  then  first  been  founded.  It  is  probable  that  the  first 
tidings  of  Christianity  had  been  carried  to  the  island  by 
those  Cretan  Jews  who  had  heard  the  thrilling  words 
of  St.  Peter  at  Pentecost;  and  the  insufficiency  of 
knowledge  in  these  Churches  may  be  accounted  for  in 
part  by  these  limited  opportunities,  as  well  as  by  the 
inherent  defects  of  the  Cretan  character.  The  stormy 
shores  of  Crete,  and  the  evil  reputation  of  its  in- 
habitants even  from  mythical  days,  may  well  have 
tended  to  deter  the  evangelising  visits  of  the  early 
preachers  of  Christianity ;  and  the  indication  that  the 
nascent  faith  of  the  converts  was  largely  tainted  with 
Jewish  superstition  is  exactly  what  we  should  have 
expected.  St.  Paul's  brief  sojourn  in  the  island  with 
Titus  was  probably  the  first  serious  effort  to  consoli- 
date the  young,  struggling,  and  imperilled  Churches ; 
and  we  can  easily  imagine  that  it  was  the  necessity 
of  completing  an  anxious  work,  which  reluctantly  com- 

^  Jos.  £. /.  ii.,  xiv.  2. 


MOVEMENTS   OF    ST.    PAUL.  531 

pelled  the  Apostle  to  leave  his  companion  behind  him. 
The  task  could  not  have  been  left  in  wiser  or  firmer 
hands  than  those  of  one  who  had  already  made  his 
influence  felt  and  his  authority  respected  among  the 
prating  and  conceited  sophists  of  turbulent  Corinth. 
Those  who  argue  that,  because  Paul  had  but  recently 
parted  with  Titus,  the  advice  contained  in  the  letter 
would  be  superfluous,  are  starting  a  purely  imaginar}-- 
difiiculty,  and  one  of  which  the  futility  is  demonstrated 
by  the  commonest  experiences  of  daily  life.  Objections 
of  this  kind  are  simply  astonishing,  and  when  we  are  told 
that  the  instructions  given  are  too  vague  and  commonplace 
to  render  them  of  any  value,  and  that  "  the  pointlessness 
of  the  directions  must  have  made  them  all  but  worthless 
to  an  evangelist,"^  we  can  only  reply  that  the  Christian 
Church  in  all  ages,  in  spite  of  the  incessant  tendency 
to  exalt  dogma. above  simple  practice,  has  yet  accepted 
the  Pastoral  Epistles  as  a  manual  which  has  never  been 
surpassed. 

From  Crete',  St.  Paul  may  have  returned  by  Ephesus 
and  Troas  to  Macedonia,  and  thence  to  Dalmatia  and 
niyricum ;  ^  and  we  leai^i  from  the  Epistle  to  Titus  that 
he  was  accompanied  by  several  friends,  for  whom  he 
found  the  amplest  employment  in  missions  to  various 
Churches.  He  intended  to  spend  the  winter  at  Nicopolis, 
which,  beyond  all  question,  must  be  the  well-known  and 
flourisliing  city  of  Epirus,  built  by  Augustus  to  com- 
memorate his  victory  at  Actium.  When  he  wrote  the 
Epistle  to  Titus,  he  was  about  to  send  Artemas  or 
Tychicus  to  him  in  Crete,  to  continue  the  work  of  organi- 
sation there,  while  Titus  is  directed  to  join  the  Apostle 
at  Nicopolis  before  the  winter  comes  on. 

'  Davidson,  Introd.  ii.  129 ;  Reuss,  Les  EpUres,  ii.  333. 
«  Rom.  XV.  19. 

i  i  2 


532  THE    LITE    AOT)    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

How  little  we  really  know  about  Titus  will  be  best 
seen  by  the  theories-  which  attempt  to  identify  him  with 
Titus  (or,  Titius)  Justus  (Acts  xviii.  7),  with  Silas,  and 
even  with  Timothy  !  Though  he  is  not  mentioned  in  the 
Acts — probably  because  he  never  happened  to  be  a 
companion  of  the  Apostle  at  the  same  time  that  Luke 
was  with  him — he  seems  to  ha*ve  been  one  of  the  trustiest 
and  most  beloved  members  of  the  noble  little  band  of 
St.  Paul's  friends  and  disciples.  As  he  was  a  Grreek 
by  birth,  St.  Paul,  whose  convert  he  was,  had  chosen  to 
take  him  to  Jerusalem  on  that  memorable  visit,  which 
ended  in  the  recognition  of  Gentile  emancipation  from 
the  3^oke  of  Mosaism.^  If  we  were  right  in  the  con- 
jecture that  the  generous  self-sacrifice  of  Titus  on  this 
occasion  rescued  Paul  from  a  grievous  struggle,  if  not 
from  an  immense  peril,  we  may  imagine  how  close 
would  have  been  the  personal  bond  between  them. 
He  had  special  connexions  with  Corinth,  to  which  he 
had  three  times  been  sent  by  the  Apostle  during  the 
troubles  of  that  distracted  Church.^  The  warm  terms  in 
which  St.  Paul  always  speaks  of  him  as  his  brother,  and 
associate,  and  fellow-laboui'er,  and  the  yearning  anxiety 
which  made  him  utterly  miserable  when  he  failed  to  meet 
him  in  Troas,  show  that  he  was  no  ordinary  man ;  and 
the  absence  from  this  Epistle  of  the  personal  warnings 
and  exhortations  which  are  found  in  those  to  Timothy, 
lead  us  to  believe  that  Titus  was  the  more  deeply  respected, 
even  if  Timothy  were  the  more  tenderly  beloved.  The 
last  notice  of  him  is  his  visit  to  Dalmatia  during  the 
second  imprisonment,  and  Ave  may  feel  the  strongest  con- 
fidence that  this  was  undertaken  as  a  special  duty,  and 
that  he  did  not  voluntarily  desert  his  friend  and  teacher 
whom  he  had  so  long  and  faithfully  served.  The  Epistle 
1  Gal.  ii.  3 ;  Tit.  i.  4.  2  2  Cor.  vii.,  viii. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    TITUS.  533 

whicli  St.  Paul  addresses  to  him  goes  over  mucli  the  same 
ground  as  that  to  Timothy,  but  with  additional  par- 
ticulars, and  in  a  perfectly  independent  manner.  It  ex- 
cited the  warm  admiration  of  Luther,  who  says  of  it :  "  This 
is  a  short  Epistle,  but  yet  such  a  quintessence  of  Christian 
doctrine,  and  composed  in  such  a  masterly  manner,  that 
it  contains  all  that  is  needful  for  Christian  knowledge  and 
life."  The  subjects  are  touched  upon  in  the  same  easy 
and  natural  order  as  in  the  other  Pastoral  Epistles,  and 
the  incidental  mention  of  people  so  entirely  unknown  in 
the  circle  of  the  Apostle's  friends  as  Artemas  and  Zenas, 
the  lawyer,  together  with  the  marked  variations  in  the 
initial  and  final  salutations,  are  among  the  many  inci- 
dental circumstances  which  powerfully  strengthen  the 
argument  in  favour  of  its  authenticity. 

The  greeting  with  which  the  Apostle  opens  is  some- 
what obscure  and  involved,  owing  to  the  uncertainty  of 
the  exact  meaning  of  the  various  prepositions  employed. 
It  differs  from  all  other  salutations  in  the  phrase  "a 
slave  of  God,"  instead  of  "a  slave  of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  it 
is  marked  by  the  prominence  of  the  title  Saviour,  which 
is  applied  throughout  this  Epistle  both  to  God  and  to 
Christ.i 

"  Paul,  a  slave  of  God,  but  an  Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  for  the  faii-h 
of  the  elect  of  God  and  the  full  knowledge  of  the  truth  which  is 
according  to  godliness,  (based)  on  the  hope  of  eternal  life,  which  God, 
who  cannot  lie,  promised  before  eternal  times,  but  manifested  His  word 
in  His  own  seasons  in  the  preaching  with  which  I  was  entrusted  accord- 
ing to  the  commandment  of  God  our  Saviour — to  Titus,  my  true  son 
after  the  common  faith,  grace  and  peace,  from  God  our  Father,  and 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour." 

1  If  the  idea  of  God  the  Father  as  a  Saviour  had  not  occurred  both  in 
the  Old  Testament  and  elsewhere  in  St.  Paul,  the  expression  might  fairly 
have  been  called  un-Pauline.  But  the  idea  is  distinctly  found  iu 
1  Cor.  L  21. 


534  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

After  tliis  solemn  greeting  lie  proceeds  at  once  to  the 
many  practical  directions  which  are  the  object  of  his 
writing.  He  left  Titus  in  Crete  to  finish  all  necessary 
regulations,  and  especially  to  ordain  presbyters  in  every 
city,  who  are  to  be  men  of  irreproachable  character,  and 
well-ordered  domestic  positions,  for  a  "  bishop  "  must  be 
blameless  as  God's  steward,  not  self-willed,  not  passionate, 
and  with  the  other  positive  and  negative  qualifications 
which  he  has  already  mentioned  in  the  Epistle  to  Timothy 
— with  the  addition  that  he  is  to  love  what  is  good,  and  to 
hold  fast  the  faithful  word  according  to  the  instruction  he 
has  received  that  he  may  be  able  to  exhort  with  healthy 
teaching  and  to  refute  the  gainsay ers.^ 

These  opponents  are  described  as  being  disorderly, 
prating,  and  self-deceiving  Jewish  Christians,  who  for  the 
sake  of  filthy  lucre  turn  whole  families  upside  down.  To 
these,  as  to  the  Cretans  in  general,  St.  Paul  applies  the 
stinging  line  of  their  fellow-countryman  Epimenides — 

"  The  Cretans  are  always  liars,  evil  wild  beasts,  lazy  gluttons,"  ' 

— for    which    reason    they    must    be    sharply    rebuked, 
that  they  may  be  healthy  in  the  faith,  ceasing  to  heed 


'  The  line  is  an  hexameter  from  the  poem  on  "Oracles"  by  Epimenides, 
the  Cretan  poet  and  philosoj)her.  It  was  quoted  by  Callimachus,  Hymn  to 
Zeus,  8,  and  well  known  in  antiquity  because  it  gave  rise  to  the  syllogistic 
catch  known  as  "  the  Liar." 

They  were  among  the  three  very  bad  K's  of  antiquity. 

Kprjrei,  KairirdSoKai,  KiAiKcs,  rpla  Kairira  KaKiffra, 

As  for  their  lying,  Kp-nTl^eiv  meant  "  to  tell  lies ;"  of  their  ferocity,  gluttony, 
drunkenness,  and  sensuality,  and  above  aU  of  their  greed,  ample  testimonies 
are  quoted — "  Cretenses  spem  pecuniae  secuti "  (Liv.  xliv.  45) ;  toIs  xpv/J-o-o-ti', 
Sxrirep  KTiplois  /ie'XiTToi,  irpoaKiirapovvTis  (Plut.  Paul,  j^tnil.  23) ;  Polyb.  vi.  46 
&c.,  and  a  remarkable  epigram  of  Leonides — 

AU\  \i\'CffTai  KOI  a\i(pd6poi  odre  SiKatoi 
Kp^TtJ  •  ris  KpTjTwr  oT5e  SiKatoffvyrjP, 

(See  Meursius's  Creta,  and  Westeiu  ad  loc.) 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    TITUS.  535 

Jewisli  m^^tlis  and  tlie  commandments  of  men  who  turn 
away  from  the  truth.^  Among  these  commandments 
there  seem  to  have  been  many  distinctions  between  things 
clean  and  unclean,  all  of  which  the  Apostle  sweeps  aside 
in  his  clear  decisive  manner  by  the  deep  truth  that  to 
the  pure  all  things  are  pure  ; — whereas  nothing  is  or  can 
be  pure  to  men  of  defiled  mind  and  conscience,  such  as 
these,  who,  professing  knowledge  of  God,  in  deeds  denied 
Him,  being  detestable,  and  disobedient,  and  to  every 
good  deed  reprobate.^ 

"  But  speak  thou  the  things  which  become  the  healthy 
teaching."  The  keynote  of  this  wholesome  teaching  is 
sober-mindedness.  Aged  men  are  to  be  temperate,  grave, 
sober-minded,  sound  in  love,  in  faith,  in  endurance.  Aged 
women  are  to  show  a  sacred  decorum  in  demeanour,  free 
from  slander  and  intemperance,^  teachers  of  what  is  fair, 
that  they  may  train  the  younger  women,  too,  to  be 
sober-minded,  ennobling  the  estimate  of  their  Christian 
profession  by  humble,  diligent,  submissive  performance 
of  their  home  duties.  Titus  must  also  exhort  young 
men  to  be  sober-minded,  and  in  all  respects  he  is  to  set 
them  a  pure  example  of  dignity,  and  faithfulness  to  the 
truth.  Slaves  are  to  "  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  our 
Saviour  in  all  things,"  by  silent  obedience  and  cheerful 
honesty. 

"For  God's  grace  was  manifested  bringing  salvation  to  all  men, 
training  us  to  the  end  that  once  for  all  rejecting  impiety  and  all  worldly 
desii'es,  we  should  live  in  the  present  age  soberly,  and  righteously,  and 
godly,  expecting  the  blessed  hope  and  manifestation  of  the  gloiy  of  the 


^  Possibly  Titus  had  tried  to  regard  these  "  myths  "  as  harmless. 

2  i.  10—16. 

3  ii.  3,  "  Not  enslaved  by  much  wine."  On  the  proverbial  intemperance 
of  women  among  the  ancients,  see  Antholog.  xi.  298 ;  Ai-istoph.  Thesur.  735 
and  passim ;  Athen.  x.  57. 


536  THE    LIFE   Al^D    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,^  who  gave  Himself  for  us,  that 
He  might  ransom  us  from  all  lawlessness,  and  purify  for  Himself  a 
peculiar  people,  zealous  of  good  works.  These  things  speak,  and  rebuke 
and  exhort  with  all  authority.     Let  no  man  despise  thee."  ^ 

After  this  swift  and  perfect  summary  of  the  Christian 
life,  alike  in  its  earthly  and  spiritual  aspects,  he  reverts 
to  necessary  subjects  for  practical  exhortation.  Naturally 
turbulent,  the  Cretans  are  to  be  constantly  reminded  of 
the  duty  of  submission  in  all  things  right  and  good. 
Naturally  ferocious,  they  are  to  be  exhorted  to  meekness 
of  word  and  deed  towards  all  men.  For  even  so  God 
showed  gentleness  to  us  when  we  were  living  in  foolish 
and  disobedient  error,  the  slaves  of  various  passions,  in  a 
bitter  atmosphere  of  reciprocal  hatred.     "  But  when" — and 

1  The  question  as  to  whether  these  words  should  he  rendered  as  in  the  text, 
or  "our  great  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,"  is  simply  a  critical  question. 
The  analogy  of  other  passages  throughout  these  and  other  Epistles  (1  Tim. 
i.  1 ;  T.  21 ;  vi.  13 ;  and,  above  all,  ii.  3—5  ;  2  Peter  i.  1 ;  2  Thess.  i.  12 ;  Jude 
4,  &c.),  and  the  certainty  that  this  translation  is  not  required  either  by  the 
anarthrous  Soir^p,  or  by  the  word  iirecpavr),  show  that  the  view  taken  by  our 
English  Yersion,  and  the  majority  of  Protestant  and  other  versions,  as  well 
as  by  many  of  the  ancient  versions,  is  correct. 

2  Which  of  all  the  Fathers  of  the  first  or  second  century  was  in  the 
smallest  degree  capable  of  writing  so  masterly  a  formula  of  Christian  doctrine 
and  practice  as  these  verses  (ii.  11 — 14),  or  the  perfectly  independent  yet  no 
less  memorable  presentation  of  Gospel  truth — with  a  completeness  only  too 
many-sided  for  sects  and  parties— in  iii.  5 — 7?  Will  any  one  produce  from 
Clemens,  or  Hermas,  or  Justin  Martyr,  or  Ignatius,  or  Polycarp,  or  Irenseus 
— will  any  one  even  produce  from  Tertullian,  or  Chrysostom,  or  Basil,  or 
Gregory  of  Nyssa — any  single  passage  comparable  for  terseness,  insight, 
and  mastery  to  either  of  these  ?  Only  the  inspired  wisdom  of  the  greatest  of 
the  Apostles  could  have  traced  so  divine  a  summary  with  so  imfaltering  a 
hand.  If  the  single  chorus  of  Sophokles  was  sufficient  to  acquit  him  of 
senility — if  the  thin  unerring  line  attested  the  presence  of  Apelles — if  the 
flawless  circle  of  Giotto,  drawn  with  one  single  sweep  of  his  hand,  was 
sufficient  to  authenticate  his  workmanship  and  prove  his  power — surely 
such  passages  as  these  oiight  to  be  more  than  adequate  to  defend  the 
Pastoral  Epistles  from  the  charge  of  vapidity.  Would  it  not  be  somewhat 
strange  if  all  the  great  Christian  Fathers  of  three  centuries  were  so  far 
surpassed  in  power  and  eloquence  by  the  supposed  falsarii  who  wrote  the 
Epistles  of  the  First  and  Secoud  Captivity  of  St.  Paul  ? 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    TITUS.  537 

here  follows    another    concentrated    summary  of    Pauline 
doctrine  unparalleled  for  beauty  and  completeness — 

"  But  wlien  the  kindness  and  love  towards  man  of  God  our  Saviour 
•was  manifested,  not  in  consequence  of  works  of  righteousness  which  we 
did,  but  according  to  His  mercy  He  saved  us,  by  means  of  the  laver  of 
regeneration,  and  renewal  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  He  poured  upon 
us  lichly  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour,  that  being  justified  by  His 
grace  we  might  become  heii-s,  according  to  hope,  of  eternal  life." 

Faithful  is  the  saying  ^ — and  in  accordance  with  it  he 
desires  Titus  to  teach  with  due  insistence,  that  all  who 
have  believed  may  live  up  to  their  profession.  This 
teaching  is  fair  and  beneficent,  but  foolish  speculations  and 
discussions,^  and  genealogies  and  legalist  disputes  are 
vain  and  useless.  But  if,  after  one  or  two  admonitions,  a 
man  would  not  give  up  his  own  depraved  and  wilful  per- 
versities, then  Titus  is  to  have  nothing  more  to  say  to  him.^ 

The  brief  letter  closes  with  a  few  personal  messages. 
Titus  may  soon  expect  the  arrival  of  Artemas  or  Tychicus/ 

1  n.  6  \6yos  here  refers  to  what  has  gone  before,  and  it  is  remarkable  that 
this  favourite  formula  is  generally  applied,  as  here,  to  expressions  which  have 
something  solemn  and  almost  rhythmic  in  the  form  of  their  expression 
(1  Tim.  i.  15;  iii.  1;  2  Tim.  ii.  11— the  analogous  1  Tim.  iii.  16).  Were  the 
quotations  from  Lymus  ?  The  contrast  between  the  regenerate  present  and 
the  unregenerate  past  is  common  in  St.  Paul  (1  Cor.  vi.  11 ;  Gal.  iv.  3;  Eph. 
ii.,  &c.).  If  any  one  were  asked  to  fix  on  two  passages  which  contained  the 
essence  of  all  Pauline  theology  he  would  surely  select  Rom.  iii.  21 — 26  and 
Tit.  iii.  5 —  7 ;  and  the  latter,  though  less  polemical,  is  in  some  respects  more 
complete.  Again  I  ask,  Would  it  not  be  strange  if  the  briefest  yet  fuUest 
statement  of  his  complete  message  should  come  from  a  spurious  Epistle  ? 

2  St.  Paul  stigmatises  these  sophistic  discussions  as  both  k€voI  and  naratol^ 
i.e.,  empty  in  their  nature,  and  void  of  all  results. 

3  alpfo-fis  only  occurs  in  1  Cor.  xj.  19;  Gal.  v.  20,  and  means,  not  "  heresies," 
but  "  ecclesiastical  divisions." 

*  "  Artemas  or  Tychicus."  Who  was  Artemas,  or  Artemidorus  ?  That 
he,  like  Trophimus  and  Tychicus  (Acts  xx.  4 ;  xxi.  29),  was  an  Ephesian,  we 
may  perliaps  conjecture  from  his  name,  and  Paul  may  have  met  with  him  in 
his  recent  -snsit  to  Ephesus  ;  but  what  could  possibly  have  induced  a  forger  to 
insert  a  totally  unknown  name  like  that  of  Artemas  ?  or  to  imagine  any 
uncertainty  in  the  mind  of  Pajil  as  to  which  of  the  two  he  should  send  ?  (On 
Tychicus,  see  Col.  iv.  7 ;  Eph.  vi.  21.)    • 


538  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

and  on  tlie  arrival  of  eitlier,  to  take  up  Ms  work,  lie  is 
with,  all  speed  to  join  Paul  at  Nicopolis  for  the  winter. 
He  is  also  asked  to  do  anything  he  can  to  further  the 
journey  and  meet  the  requirements  of  Zenas  the  jurist,^ 
and  ApoUos.  And  St.  Paul  hopes  that  all  our  people  also 
will  learn  to  follow  the  example  of  these  kindly  services 
to  all  who  require  them,  that  they  may  not  be  unfruitful. 
"All  who  are  with  me  salute  thee.  Salute  those  who  love 
us  in  the  faith.     God's  grace  with  you  all." 

These  last  three  greetings  have  several  points  of 
interest.  They  show  us  that  Paul,  who  was  soon  to  be 
so  sadly  and  unworthily  deserted,  was  still  carrying  on 
his  manifold  missionary  activities  as  one  in  a  band  of 
devoted  friends.  The  fact  that  they  differ  in  expression 
from  every  other  closing  salutation  is  a  mark  of  authenticity, 
because  a  forger  would  have  been  sure  to  confine  himself 
to  a  servile  and  unsuspicious  repetition  of  one  of  the 
forms  which  occur  elsewhere.  But  what  does  St.  Paul 
mean  by  the  remarkable  expression,  "  let  our  people  also 
learn  to  be  forward  in  good  works "  ?  It  is  usually 
explained  to  mean  "  the  other  believers  as  well  as  thouj" 
but  this  is  obviously  unsatisfactory.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  have  no  sufficient  data  to  interpret  it  of  the  existence 
of  converts  of  Apollos  forming  a  diff'erent  body  from  those 
of  Paul.  Its  very  obscurity  is  a  sign  that  the  allusion  is 
to  some  fact  which  was  known  to  the  correspondent,  but 
is  unknown  to  us. 

Titus  here  disappears  from  Christian  history.  The 
rest  of  his  biography  evaporates  into  the  misty  outlines  of 
late  ecclesiastical  conjecture  scarcely  to  be  dignified  by 
the  name  of  tradition. 

1  Does  this  mean  "  a  kwyer  "  in  the  same  sense  as  vofioSiSda-KaXos  in  Luke 
V.  17  ?  "Was  he  a  Jewish  scribe,  or  a  Greek  or  Roman  legist  ?  It  is  quite 
impossible  to  say ;  and  who  was  this  Zenas,  or  Zenodorus  ?  What  should  put 
such  a  name  and  such  an  allusion  iuto  "a  forger's  mind  ? 


CHAPTER   LV. 

THE      CLOSING      DATS. 

•'  Christianus  etiam  extra  carcerem  saeculo  reuuntiavit,in  carcere  autem  etiam 
careen.  .  .  .  Ipsam  etiam  conversationen  saeculi  at  careens  comparemus, 
si  non  plus  in  carcere  spiritus  acquirit,  quam  caro  amittit." — Tert.  ad  Mart.  2. 

"  In  a  free  state  Gains  wonld  have  found  Ms  way  to  Bedlam,  and  Nero  to 
Tyburn." — Freeman,  Essays,  ii.  337. 

Some  of  those  critics  who  have  been  most  hostile  to 
the  genuineness  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  have  felt  and 
expressed  a  certain  reluctance  to  set  down  the  Second 
Epistle  to  Timothy  as  the  work  of  a  forger,  and  to  rob 
the  world  of  this  supremely  noble  and  tender  testament 
of  the  dying  soldier  of  Christ.  And  some  who  have 
rejected  the  two  other  Epistles  have  made  an  exception 
in  favour  of  this.  Eor  myself  I  can  only  express  my 
astonishment  that  any  one  who  is  sufficiently  acquainted 
with  the  Christian  literature  of  the  first  two  centuries  to 
see  how  few  writers  there  were  who  showed  a  power 
even  distantly  capable  of  producing  such  a  letter,  can 
feel  any  hesitation  as  to  its  having  been  written  by  the 
hand  of  Paul.  The  Tubingen  critics  argue  that  the  three 
Epistles  must  stand  or  fall  together,  and  think  that  the 
Eirst  Epistle  to  Timothy  shows  signs  of  spuriousness, 
which  drags  the  other  two  letters  into  the  same  con- 
demnation. Accepting  the  close  relationship  which  binds 
the  three  letters  together,  and  seeing  sufficient  grounds  in 
the  Eirst  Epistle  to  Timothy  and  the  Epistle  to  Titus 
to  furnish  at  least  a  very  strong  probability  of  their 
genuineness,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  probability  is  raised 


540  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

to  certainty  by  the  undoubted  genuineness  of  the  Second 
Epistle  to  Timothy.  If,  indeed,  St.  Paul  was  never  liberated 
from  his  first  Eoman  imprisonment,  then  the  Pastoral 
Epistles  must  be  forgeries ;  for  the  attempts  of  Wieseler 
and  others  to  prove  that  they  might  have  been  written 
during  any  part  of  the  period  covered  by  the  narrative 
of  the  Acts — during  the  three  years'  stay  at  Ephesus,  for 
instance,  or  the  stay  of  eighteen  months  at  Corinth — 
sink  to  the  ground  not  only  under  the  weight  of  their 
own  arbitrary  hypotheses,  but  even  more  from  the  state 
both'  of  the  Church  and  of  the  mind  and  circumstances  of 
the  Apostle,  which  these  letters  so  definitely  manifest. 
But  as  the  liberation  and  second  imprisonment  of  St.  Paul 
are  decidedly  favoured  by  tradition,  and  give  a  most  easy 
and  natural  explanation  to  every  allusion  in  these  and  in 
earlier  Epistles,  and  as  no  single  valid  objection  can  be 
urged  against  this  belief,  I  believe  that  there  would  never 
have  been  any  attempt  to  disprove  its  possibility  except 
from  the  hardly  concealed  desire  to  get  rid  of  these  letters 
and  the  truths  to  which  they  bear  emphatic  witness. 

The  allusions  in  the  Second  Epistle,  though  too  frag- 
mentary and  insignificant  to  have  been  imagined  by  an 
imitator,  are  only  allusions,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that 
they  may  not  supply  us  with  sufficient  data  to  enable  us 
to  arrive  at  any  continuous  narrative  of  events  in  the 
Apostle's  history  between  his  first  and  second  imprison- 
ment. To  dwell  on  these  events  at  any  length  would 
therefore  be  misleading;  but  it  is  perfectly  allowable  to 
construct  an  hypothesis  which  is  simple  in  itself,  and 
which  fits  in  with  every  circumstance  to  which  any  refer- 
ence is  made.  The  probability  of  the  hypothesis,  and 
the  natural  manner  in  which  it  suits  the  little  details 
to  which  St.  Paul  refers,  is  one  more  of  the  many  indi- 
cations that  we  are  here  dealing  with  genuine  letters. 


LABOURS    OF    ST.    PAUL.  541 

If,  then,  we  piece  together  tlie  personal  notices  of  this 
Epistle,  they  enable  us  to  trace  the  further  fortunes  of 
St.  Paul  after  the  winter  which  he  spent  at  Nicopolis,  in 
the  society  of  Titus.  At  his  age,  and  with  his  growing 
infirmities — conscious  too,  as  he  must  have  been,  from 
those  inward  intimations  which  are  rarely  wanting,  that  his 
life  was  drawing  to  a  close — it  is  most  unlikely  that  he 
should  have  entered  on  nev/  missions,  and  it  is  certain  that 
he  would  have  found  more  than  sufficient  scope  for  all  his 
energies  in  the  consolidation  of  the  many  Greek  and 
Eastern  Churches  which  he  had  founded,  and  in  the 
endeavour  to  protect  them  from  the  subtle  leaven  of 
spreading  heresies.  The  main  part  of  his  work  was 
accomplished.  At  Jerusalem  and  at  Antioch  he  had  vin- 
dicated for  ever  the  freedom  of  the  Grentile  from  the  yoke 
of  the  Levitic  Law.  In  his  letters  to  the  Romans  and 
Galatians  he  had  proclaimed  alike  to  Jew  and  Gentile 
that  we  are  not  under  the  Law,  but  under  grace.  He 
had  rescued  Christianity  from  the  peril  of  dying  away 
into  a  Jewish  sect,  only  distinguishable  from  Judaism  by 
the  accepted  fulfilment  of  Messianic  hopes.  Labouring 
as  no  other  Apostle  had  laboured,  he  had  preached  the 
Gospel  in  the  chief  cities  of  the  world,  from  Jerusalem  to 
Rome,  and  perhaps  even  as  far  as  Sj)ain.  During  the 
short  space  of  twenty  years  he  had  proclaimed  Christ 
crucified  to  the  simple  Pagans  of  Lycaonia,  the  fickle 
fanatics  of  Galatia,  the  dreamy  mystics  of  Phrygia,  the 
vigorous  colonists  of  Macedonia,  the  superficial  dilettanti 
of  Athens,  the  sensual  and  self-satisfied  traders  of  Corinth, 
the  semi-barbarous  natives  of  Dalmatia,  the  ill-reputed 
islanders  of  Crete,  the  slaves  and  soldiers  and  seething 
multitudes  of  Rome.  He  had  created  the  terminology,  he 
had  formulated  the  truths  of  Christianity.  It  had  been 
his  rare  blessedness  to  serve  the   Gospel   at  once  as  an 


542  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

active  missionary  and  as  a  profound  thinker.  The  main 
part  of  his  work  was  done.  There  was  no  further  danger 
to  be  apprehended  from  "  them  of  the  circumcision,"  or 
from  "  certain  who  came  from  James."  New  dangers 
were  arising,  but  their  worst  developments  lay  far  in 
the  future.^  As  Karl  the  Great  burst  into  tears  when, 
after  a  life  spent  in  subjugating  Lombards  and  Saxons,  he 
saw  in  the  offing  the  barques  of  the  pirate  Norsemen,  and 
knew  that  they  would  never  give  much  trouble  in  his 
own  days,  but  wept  to  think  of  the  troubles  which  they 
would  cause  hereafter,  so  Paul  felt  the  presentiment  of 
future  perils  from  the  Essenic  elements  which  were 
destined  to  ripen  into  Grnosticism,  but  he  did  not  live  to 
witness  their  full  development.  His  desire  would  be, 
not  to  attempt  the  foundation  of  new  Churches,  but  to 
forewarn  and  to  strengthen  the  beloved  Churches  which 
he  had  already  founded. 

And  therefore,  after  he  left  Nicopolis,  he  would 
naturally  travel  back  to  Beroea,  Thessalonica,  Philippi, 
and  so  by  Neapolis  to  Troas,  where  he  stayed  in  the  house 
of  a  disciple  named  Carpus.  Here  it  was  that  the  final 
crisis  of  his  fate  seems  to  have  OA^ertaken  him.  It  is  at 
least  a  fair  conjecture  that  he  would  not  have  left  at  the 
house  of  Carpus  his  precious  books,  and  the  cloak  which 
was  so  necessary  to  him,  unless  his  departure  had  been 
hasty  and  perhaps  involuntary.  His  work  and  his  success 
in  that  town  had  been  sufficiently  marked  to  attract 
general  attention,  and  it  was  exactly  the  kind  of  town  in 
which  he  might  have  been  liable  to  sudden  arrest.  Since 
Nero's  persecution  of  the  Christians,  they  must  have  been 
more  or  less  the  objects  of  hatred  and  suspicion  through- 
out the  Empire,  and  especially  in  the  provincial  towns 
of  Asia   Minor,    which   were    ever   prone   to    flatter   the 

1  2  Tim.  iii.  1,  ivariiaovTai  Kaipol  xaA.€iro(. 


ARREST    OF    ST.    PAUL.  643 

Emperor,  "because  their  prosperity,  and  sometimes  almost 
their  existence,  depended  on  his  personal  favour.  Any 
officer  etiger  to  push  himself  into  notice,  any  angry  Jew, 
any  designing  Oriental,  might  have  heen  the  cause  of  the 
Apostle's  arrest ;  and  if  it  took  place  at  Troas,  especiall}^  if 
it  were  on  some  pretext  suggested  by  Alexander  the 
coppersmith,  or  connected  with  St.  Paul's  long  and  active 
work  at  Ephesus,  he  would,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  things, 
have  been  sent  under  guard  to  Ephesus  to  be  judged  by 
the  Proconsul.  While  awaiting  his  trial  there  he  would, 
of  course,  have  been  put  in  prison ;  and  the  fact  that  his 
place  of  imprisonment  is  still  pointed  out  among  the 
ruins  of  Ephesus,  although  no  imprisonment  at  Ephesus 
is  directly  mentioned  in  Scripture,  adds  perhaps  a  slight 
additional  probability  to  these  conjectures.  It  was  here 
that  he  experienced  at  the  hands  of  Onesiphorus  the 
kindness  which  was  continued  to  him  at  Pome,^  and  to 
which  he  alludes  with  a  gratitude  all  the  more  heartfelt, 
because  very  shortly  afterwards  Onesiphorus  seems  to 
have  died. 

From  the  trial  at  Ephesus,  where  his  cause  might 
have  suffered  from  local  prejudices,  he  may  once  more 
have  found  it  necessary  to  appeal  to  Caesar.  Barea 
Soranus,  the  then  Proconsul,  may  have  been  glad,  as 
Pliny  afterwards  was  in  Bithynia,  to  refer  the  case  to  the 
highest  tribunal.  Timothy  would  naturally  desire  to 
accompany  him,  but  at  that  time  the  Apostle — still  san- 
guine, still  accompanied  by  other  friends,  still  inclined  to 
believe  that  his  life,  which  had  long  been  valueless  to 
himself,  might  be  saved  from  human  violence,  however 
near  might  be  its  natural  close — thought  it  necessary  to 

^  2  Tim.  i.  18,  ^cra  iv  'E<pe<rcj>  Sirj/coVrjo-e,  "  how  many  acts  of  service  he  ren- 
dered" to  Paul  and  others.  "Wieseler's  inference  that  Onesiphorus  was  a 
deacon  is  hardly  supported  by  so  geneial  a  verb. 


544  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

leave  his  friend  at  Epliesus  to  brave  the  dangers,  and 
fulfil  the  duties  of  that  chief  pastorate,  respecting  which 
he  had  recently  received  such  earnest  instructions.  It 
was  natural  that  they  should  part  with  deep  emotion  at  a 
time  so  perilous  and  under  circumstances  so  depressing. 
St.  Paul,  sitting  in  his  dreary  and  desolate  confinement  at 
Eome,  recalls  with  gratitude  the  streaming  tears  of  that 
farewell,  which  proved  how  deeply  his  affection  was  re- 
quited by  the  son  of  his  heart.  In  all  his  wanderings, 
in  all  his  sickness,  in  all  his  persecutions,  in  all  his  im- 
prisonments, in  all  his  many  and  bitter  disappointments, 
the  one  spot  invariably  bright,  the  one  permanent  con- 
solation, the  one  touch  of  earthly  happiness,  had  been 
the  gentle  companionship,  the  faithful  attendance,  the 
clinging  affection  of  this  Lycaonian  youth.  For  St. 
Paul's  sake,  for  the  Grospel's  sake,  he  had  left  his  mother, 
and  his  home,  and  his  father's  friends,  and  had  cheerfully 
accepted  the  trying  life  of  a  despised  and  hunted  mis- 
sionary. By  birth  a  Greek,  he  had  thrown  in  his  lot  by 
circumcision  with  the  Jew,  by  faith  with  the  Christian ; 
and  his  high  reward  on  earth  had  been,  not  the  shadow  of 
an  immortal  honour,  but  the  substance  of  lofty  service  in 
the  cause  of  the  truth  which  was  to  subdue  the  world. 
The  affection  between  him  and  the  Apostle  began  in  the 
spiritual  sonship  of  conversion,  and  was  cemented  by 
community  of  hopes  and  perils  until  it  had  become  one 
of  the  strongest  ties  in  life.  For  troubled  years  they  had 
cheered  each  other's  sorrows  in  the  midst  of  painful  toils. 
The  very  difference  in  their  age,  the  very  dissimilarity  of 
their  characters,  had  but  made  their  love  for  each  other 
more  sacred  and  more  deep.  The  ardent,  impetuous, 
dominant  character  and  intense  purpose  of  the  one,  found 
its  complement  and  its  repose  in  the  timid,  yielding, 
retiring,  character  of  the  other.     What  Melancthon  was 


THE    LAST    VOYAGE.  545 

to  Luther,  whom  Luther  felt  that  he  could  not  spare, 
and  for  whose  hfe  when  all  hope  seemed  over  he  stormed 
heaven  with  passionate  and  victorious  supplication,^ — 
that  and  more  than  that  was  the  comparatively  j^outhful 
Timothy  to  the  more  tried  and  lonely  Paul. 

We  may  hope  that  the  Apostle,  now  once  more  a 
prisoner,  was  not  alone  when  he  left  Ephesus  to  cross  the 
Mediterranean  for  the  last  time.  Titus  and  Tychicus^  had 
probably  accompanied  him  from  Nicopolis ;  Demas  may  have 
joined  him  at  Thessalonica,  Luke  at  Philippi;  and  Tro- 
phimus,  undeterred  by  his  past  dangers  at  Jerusalem,  volun- 
teered to  accompany  him  from  the  Ionian  capital.  But  the 
kindly  intentions  of  the  latter  were  frustrated,  for  he  fell 
ill  at  Miletus,  and  there  the  sad  little  band  of  Christians 
had  to  leave  him  when  the  vessel  started.^  Erastus,  if  he 
was  with  him  at  Ephesus,  stayed  behind  when  they  reached 
his  native  Corinth. 

Of  the  particulars  of  the  voyage  we  know  nothing. 
It  may  very  possibly  have  been  from  Ephesus  to  Cen- 
chi-eae,  over  the  Diolkos  to  Lechaeum,  and  then  along  the 
Gulf  of  Corinth  and  across  the  Adriatic  to  Brundisium, 

^  "  AUda  musste  mir  unser  Herr  Gott  herhalten.  Denn  icli  rieb  Him  die 
Ohren  mit  alien  promissiouibus  exaudieudaruin  precum."     (Luther.) 

2  Hence  we  infer  that  Artemas,  and  not  Tychicus,  had  been  sent  to  replace 
Titus  at  Crete ;  and  the  mention  of  the  name  Ai-temas  first  in  Tit.  iii.  12  is 
yet  another  of  the  numberless  subtle  traces  of  genuineness. 

^  This  incidental  allusion  [most  unlike  a  forger)  throws  a  valuable  light,  as 
also  does  the  almost  fatal  illness  of  Epaphroditus  at  Rome,  on  the  limitation 
which  the  Apostles  put  on  the  exercise  of  any  supernatural  gift  of  healing.  It 
is,  further,  an  insuperable  stumblingblock  in  the  way  of  every  possible 
theory  wliich  denies  the  second  imprisonment.  Some  have  suggested  a  des- 
perate alteration  of  the  text  to  Mf\irri,  and  Schrader  is  content  mth  the 
preposterous  fiction  of  a  Miletus  in  Crete !  But  why  should  St.  Paul  tell 
Timothy  that  Trophimus  was  sick  at  Miletus  ?  For  the  same  reason  that  a 
person  writing  to  London  might,  even  in  these  days  of  rapid  communication, 
tell  a  correspondent  that  their  common  friend  was  ill  at  Southend.  Miletus 
was  more  than  thirty  miles  from  Ephesus,  and  Trophimus  might  be  ill  for 
months  without  Timothy  knowing  of  it. 

J  J 


546  THE    LIFE    AIN'D    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

whence  the  prisoner,  his  guards  and  his  companions, 
would  make  their  dreary  way  along  the  great  Appian 
road  to  Eome.  This  time  no  disciples  met  them  at 
the  Appii  Forum  or  the  Three  Taverns,  nor  could  any- 
thing have  well  occurred  to  make  Paul  thank  God  and 
take  courage.  The  horrible  Neronian  persecution  had 
depressed,  scattered,  and  perhaps  decimated  the  little 
Christian  community ;  and  the  Jews,  who  had  received 
Paul  at  the  time  of  his  first  imprisonment  with  an  osten- 
tatiously indifferent  neutrality,  had  been  transformed  since 
then — partly,  no  doubt,  by  the  rumours  disseminated  by 
emissaries  from  Jerusalem,  and  partly  by  the  mutual 
recriminations  after  the  fire  of  Pome — into  the  bitterest 
and  most  unscrupulous  enemies.  On  the  former  occasion, 
after  a  short  detention  in  the  Prsetorian  camp,  St.  Paul 
had  been  allowed  to  live  in  his  own  lodging ;  and  even  if 
this  had  been  in  the  humblest  purlieus  of  the  Trastevere, 
among  the  Jewish  vendors  of  sulphur  matches  and  cracked 
pottery,^  it  had  still  been  his  own,  and  had  allowed  him 
to  continue,  in  a  sphere  however  restricted,  his  efforts  at 
evangelisation.  But  Christianity  was  now  suspected  of 
political  designs,  and  was  practically  reduced  to  a  religio 
illicita.  This  time  he  had  no  kindly-disposed  Lysias  to 
say  a  good  word  for  him,  no  friendly  testimonies  of  a 
Festus  or  an  Agrippa  to  produce  in  his  favour.  The 
government  of  Nero,  bad  almost  from  the  first,  had 
deteriorated  year  by  year  with  alarming  rapidity,  and  at 
this  moment  it  presented  a  spectacle  of  awful  cruelty 
and  abysmal  degradation  such  as  has  been  rarely  mt- 
nessed  by  the  civilised  world.  While  an  honest  soldier 
like  Burrus  held  the  high  post  of  Prsetorian  Prsefect,  a 
political  prisoner  was  at  least  sure  that  he  would  not  be 
treated  with  wanton  severity;  but  with  a  Tigellinus  in 

*  But  see  supra,  II.,  p.  399. 


LAST   IMPRISONMENT.  647 

that  office — a  Tigellinus  whose  foul  hands  were  still 
dripping  with  Christian  blood,  and  whose  foul  life  was 
stained  through  and  through  with  every  form  of  detest- 
able wickedness — what  could  be  expected  ?  We  catch  but 
one  glimpse  of  this  last  imprisonment  before  the  curtain 
falls,  but  that  glimpse  suffices  to  show  how  hard  it  was. 
Tlii-ough  the  still  blackened  ruins  of  the  city,  and  amid 
the  squalid  misery  of  its  inhabitants — perhaps  with  many' 
a  fierce  scowl  turned  on  the  hated  Christian — Paul  passed 
to  his  dungeon,  and  there,  as  the  gate  clanged  upon  him, 
he  sat  down,  chained  night  and  day,  without  further  hope 
— a  doomed  man. 

To  visit  him  now  was  no  longer  to  visit  a  man  against 
whom  nothing  serious  was  charged,  and  who  had  pro- 
duced a  most  favourable  impression  on  the  minds  of  all 
who  had  been  thrown  into  relation  with  him.  It  was 
to  visit  the  bearer  of  a  name  which  the  Emperor  and 
his  minions  afiected  to  detest:  it  was  to  visit  the  rinff- 
leader  of  those  who  were  industriously  maligned  as  the 
authors  of  a  calamity  more  deadly  than  any  which  had 
afflicted  the  city  since  its  destruction  by  the  Gauls. 
Merely  to  be  kind  to  such  a  man  was  regarded  as 
infamous.  No  one  could  do  it  without  rendering  himself 
liable  to  the  coarse  insolence  of  the  soldiers.-^  '^^J>  more, 
it  was  a  service  of  direct  political  danger.  Eome  swarmed 
with  spies  who  were  ready  to  accuse  any  one  of  laesa 
majesfas  on  the  slightest  possible  occasion.  Now  who 
but  a  Christian  would  visit  a  Christian?  What  could 
any  respectable  citizen  have  to  do  with  the  most  active 
propagandist  of  a  faith  which  had  at  first  been  ignored  as 
contemptible,  but  which  even  calm  and  cultivated  men  were 
beginning   to   regard  as  an  outrage  against  humanity?^ 

1  See  Juv.  Sat.  xvi.  8—12. 

'  "  Odio  generis  humani  convicti  sunt."     (Tac.  Ann.  xv.  44;  cf.  H.  v.  5.) 

J  J  2 


648  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

And  if  any  Christian  were  charged  with  being  a  Christian 
on  the  ground  of  his  ha^dng  visited  St.  Paul,  how  could 
he  deny  the  charge,  and  how,  without  denying  it,  could 
he  he  saved  from  incurring  the  extremest  danger  ? 

Under  these  circumstances  the  condition  of  the  Apostle 
was  very  different  from  what  it  had  been  three  years 
before.  His  friends  had  then  the  freest  access  to  him, 
and  he  could  teach  Christ  Jesus  with  all  boldness  undis- 
turbed. Now  there  were  few  or  no  friends  left  to  visit 
him  ;  and  to  teach  Jesus  Christ  was  death.  He  knew  the 
human  heart  too  well  to  be  unaware  how  natural  it  was 
that  most  men  should  blush  to  associate  themselves  with 
him  and  his  chain.  One  by  one  his  Asiatic  friends  de- 
serted him.^  The  first  to  leave  him  were  Phygellus  and 
Hermogenes.^  Then  the  temptations  of  the  present 
course  of  things,  the  charm  of  free  and  unimperilled  life, 
were  too  much  for  Demas,  and  he  too — though  he  had 
long  been  his  associate — now  forsook  him.  Crescens  de- 
parted, perhaps  on  some  necessary  mission,  to  the  Churches 
of  Galatia,  and  Titus  to  those  of  Dalmatia.  He  had 
dispatched  Tychicus  to  Ephesus  shortly  before  he  wrote 
this  letter.  One  friend  alone  was  with  him — the  beloved 
physician,  the  faithful,  unobtrusive,  cultivated  Luke.^  Of 
hardship  Paul  recked  nothing;  he  had  spent  a  life  of 
endless  hardship,  and  had  learnt  a  complete  independence 
of  the  outward  elements  of  comfoi-t ;  but  to  one  situated 
as  he  was,  and  liable  to  constant  pain,  to  be  utterly  com- 
panionless  would  have  been  a  trial  too  hard  to  bear. 

1  2  Tim.  i.  15. 

2  Nothing  whatever  is  known  of  these  two.  In  later  days  the  Christians, 
under  the  stress  of  persecution,  had  learnt  their  lessons  better,  so  that  their 
tender  faithfulness  to  one  another  in  distress  excited  the  envious  astonishment 
of  Pagans  (Lucian,  De  Morte.  Peregr.  §  13). 

3  Where  was  Aristarchus  (Acts  xxvii.  2  ;  Col.  iv.  10 ;  Phil.  24)  ?  We  cannot 
tell ;  but  his  name  would  not  have  been  omitted  by  an  ingenious  imitator. 


ONESIPHORUS.  549 

A  single  bappy  unexpected  visit  broke  the  continuity 
of  his  loneliness,  and  cheered  him  amid  the  sense  of"  de- 
sertion. The  good-hearted  Ephesian  Onesiphorus,  who 
had  abeady  made  himself  conspicuous  among  the  Chris- 
tians of  his  native  city  by  his  active  kindliness,  came  to 
Kome.  He  knew  that  St.  Paul  was  somewhere  in  that 
city  as  a  prisoner,  and  he  rose  above  the  timid  selfishness 
of  his  fellow-countrymen.  He  set  about  searching  for 
the  captive  Jew.  In  a  city  thi'onged  with  prisoners,  and 
under  a  government  rife  with  suspicions,  upon  which  it 
acted  with  the  most  cynical  unscrupulousness,  it  was 
by  no  means  a  safe  or  pleasant  task  to  find  an  obscure, 
aged,  and  deeply  implicated  victim.  Had  Onesiphorus 
been  less  in  earnest,  it  would  have  been  easy  for  him 
to  make  an  excuse  to  other  Christians,  and  to  his  own 
conscience,  that  he  had  not  known  where  Paul  was,  and 
that  he  had  looked  for  him  but  could  not  find  him.  But 
he  would  not  abandon  his  earnest  search  until  it  led  him 
to  the  side  of  the  Apostle.^  Nor  was  he  content  with  a 
single  visit.  Glad  to  face  the  shame  and  scorn  of  be- 
friending one  whose  condition  was  now  so  abject,  he  came 
to  the  Apostle  again  and  again,  and  refreshed  his  soul  with 
that  very  consolation — the  sense  of  human  sympathy — for 
which  most  of  all  it  yearned.^  Probably  the  death  of 
this  true  and  warm-hearted  Ephesian  took  place  at  Rome, 
for  St.  Paul  utters  a  fervent  wish  that  he  may  find 
mercy  of  the  Lord  in  the  great  day,  and  in  writing  to 
Timothy  he  sends  a  greeting  to  his  household,  but  not 
to  him.^  The  tone  of  intense  gratitude  which  breathes 
through  the  few  verses  in  which  the  Apostle  alludes  to 
him  makes  us  feel  that  the  brave  and  loving  friendliness 

'  2  Tim.  i.  17,  a-irovSai6Tfpov  i(rirr](rev  /U€  Koi  fvpfv. 
-  2  Tim.  i.  16,  TroWiKis  /*«  ave^v^ey. 

8  2  Tim.  iv.  19. 


550  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

of  this  true  brother,  contrasted  as  it  was  with  the  cowardly 
defection  of  the  other  Asiatics,  was  the  brightest  gleam 
of  light  which  fell  on  the  dense  gloom  of  the  second 
imprisonment. 

At  last  the  time  came  when  the  Apostle  had  to  stand 
before  the  great  Homan  tribunal.  What  was  called  in 
Roman  law  the  prima  actio  came  on.^  The  Scriptures 
were  written  with  other  objects  than  to  gratify  our 
curiosity  with  the  details  of  historic  scenes,  however 
memorable  or  however  important.  That  which  God 
has  revealed  to  us  in  Scripture  is  rather  the  oeconomy 
— the  gradual  unfolding  and  dispensation — of  His  eter- 
nal scheme  for  the  salvation  of  mankind,  than  the  full 
biography  of  those  whose  glory  it  was  to  be  entrusted 
with  the  furtherance  of  His  designs.  Eagerly  should 
we  have  desired  to  know  the  details  of  that  trial,  but  St. 
Paul  only  tells  us  a  single  particular.  His  silence  once 
more  illustrates  the  immense  difference  between  ancient 
and  modern  correspondence.  A  modern,  in  writing  to 
a  dear  friend,  would  have  been  sure  to  give  him 
some  of  the  details,  which  could  hardly  fail  to  interest 
him.  It  may  be  said  that  these  details  might  have 
been  supplied  by  the  bearer  of  the  letter.  It  may  be 
so;  but  if  we  judge  St.  Paul  by  his  own  writings,  and  by 
the  analogy  of  other  great  and  spiritualty-minded  men,  we 
should  infer  that  personal  matters  of  this  kind  had  but 
little  interest  for  him.  Accustomed  to  refer  perpetually  to 
his  high  spiritual  privileges — digressing  incessantly  to  the 
fact  of  his  peculiar  Apostolate — he  yet  speaks  but  little, 

'  Sucli  certainly  seems  to  be  the  natural  meaning  of  ■npdir-ri  airo\oyia  (2  Tim. 
iv.  16),  and  it  is  not  certain  that  this  method  of  procedure  and  the  ampliatio 
or  comperendinatio  had  been  entirely  abandoned.  In  these  matters  the  mere 
caprice  of  the  Emperor  was  all  that  had  to  be  consulted.  It  is,  however, 
possible  that  the  -KpwT-r)  diroAoyla  may  refer  to  the  first  count  of  the  indictment, 
since  Nero  had  introduced  the  custom  of  hearing  every  count  separately. 


THE    PRIMA    ACTIO.  651 

and  never  in  detail,  of  the  outward  incidents  of  his  life. 
27tc?/  did  but  belong  to  the  world's  passing  show,  to  the 
things  which  were  seen  and  evanescent.  Two  vivid 
touches  alone  reveal  to  us  the  nature  of  the  occasion.  One 
is  the  deplorable  fact  that  not  a  single  friend  had  the 
courage  to  stand  by  his  side.  He  had  to  defend  himself 
single-handed.  No  patronus  would  encourage  him,  no 
advocatus  plead  his  cause,  no  deprecator  say  a  word  in  his 
favour.  "  No  man  took  his  place  by  my  side  to  help 
me;  all  abandoned  me;  God  forgive  them."  The  other 
is  that  even  at  that  supreme  moment,  with  the  face  of 
the  threatening  tja^ant  fixed  loweringly  upon  him,  and 
the  axed  fasces  of  the  lictors  gleaming  before  his  eyes, 
his  courage  did  not  quail.  If  man  forsook  him,  Grod 
strengthened  him.  If  even  Luke  left  him  to  face  the 
court  alone,  the  Lord  Himself  stood  by  him.  He  spoke, 
and  spoke  in  a  manner  worthy  of  his  cause.  How 
much  heathen  literature  would  we  freely  sacrifice  for  even 
a  brief  sketch  of  that  speech  such  as  Luke  could  so  well 
have  given  us  had  he  only  been  present !  How  supreme 
would  have  been  the  interest  of  a  defence  uttered  by  St. 
Paul  in  the  Eoman  forum,  or  in  a  Eoman  basilica ! 
Alas !  the  echoes  of  his  words  have  died  away  for  ever. 
AVe  only  know  what  he  who  uttered  it  tells  us  of  it.  But 
he  was  satisfied  with  it.  He  felt  that  the  Lord  had 
strengthened  him  in  order  that,  through  his  instrumen- 
tality, the  preaching  of  the  Grospel  might  be  fulfilled  to 
the  uttermost,  and  that  all  the  Gentiles  might  hear  it. 
And  he  was  successful — successful,  we  cannot  doubt,  not 
merely  that  he  might  prolong  his  days  in  useless  and  hope- 
less misery,  but  for  some  high  design,  and  perhaps  among 
other  reasons  that  he  might  leave  us  his  last  precious 
thoughts  in  the  Second  Epistle  to  his  dearest  convert.  But 
the  danger  had  been  imminent,  and  the  too-certain  result 


552  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

was  only  postponed.  "I  was  rescued,"  he  says,  "out 
of  the  lion's  mouth."  Each  juror  received  three  voting 
tablets — one  marked  with  A.,  for  Absolvo ;  another  with 
C,  for  Condemno ;  and  a  third  with  N.L.,  for  Non  liquet^ 
or  "  not  proven."  The  majority  of  votes  had  been  of  the 
third  description,  and  the  result  had  been  the  ampliation 
or  postponement  of  the  trial  for  the  production  of  further 
evidence.  But  St.  Paul  was  not  deceived  by  any  false 
hopes.  "  I  was  rescued  out  of  the  lion's  mouth.  .  The 
Lord  shall  deliver  me " — not  necessarily  from  death  or 
danger,  but — "  from  every  evil  work,^  and  shall  save  me 
unto  His  heavenly  kingdom."  Death  by  martyrdom  was 
no  such  "  evil  work ;  "  ^  from  that  he  did  not  expect  to 
be  saved — nay,  he  knew,  and  probably  even  hoped,  that 
through  that  narrow  gate  an  entrance  might  be  minis- 
tered unto  him  abundantly  into  Christ's  heavenly  king- 
dom. But  he  must  have  passed  through  perilous  and 
exciting  hours,  or  he  would  have  hardly  used  that 
metaphor  of  the  lion's  mouth,^  prompted  perhaps  by  a 
reminiscence  of  the  powerful  image  of  the  shepherd  pro- 
phet, "As  the  shepherd  tears  out  of  the  mouth  of  a 
lion  two  legs  and  the  piece  of  an  ear."* 

But  who  was  the  lion?     Was  it  Satan  ?^  or  Helius, 
the  Prasfect  of  the  city?  or  Nero?^  or  is  the  expression  a 

^  From  all  that  can  be  realltj  called  wovTipSv.  "Liberabit  me  ne  quid 
agam"  (and  we  may  add,  ne  quid  pat  iar)  "  Cbristiano,  ne  quid  Apostolo 
indignum  "  (Grot.). 

2  ''  DecoUabitur  ?  liberabitur,  liberante  Domino  "  (Bengel).  It  would  be 
difficult  for  me  to  exaggerate  my  admiration  for  this  truly  great  commentator. 
On  the  following  words,  "  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever,"  he  remarks, 
*'  Doxologiam  parit  spes,  quanto  majorem  res." 

3  2  Tim.  iv.  17. 

*  Amos   iii.   12.      Cf.  ivdtriov  rov  \eovros,   referring   to   Xerxes   (Apocr. 
Esth.  xiv.  13). 
6  1  Pet.  V.  8. 

^  Afovra  yap  rhv  J^epwvd  <prjat  Sia  rh  drjpiooSfS  (Chrys.).  rddvrjKiv  6  \fwv  (of  the 
death  of  Tiberius)  (Jos.  Antt.  xviii.  6,  §  10) ;  but  hero  \€optos   has  no  article. 


PAUL    BEFORE    NERO.  553 

merely  general  one  ?  Even  if  so,  it  is  not  impossible  that 
he  may  have  pleaded  his  cause  before  Nero  himself.  The 
power  of  deciding  causes  had  been  one  which  the  Eoman 
Emperors  had  jealously  kept  in  their  own  hands;  and  if 
the  trial  took  place  in  the  spring  of  A.D.  66,  Nero  had  not 
yet  started  for  Greece,  and  would  have  been  almost  certain 
to  give  personal  attention  to  the  case  of  one  who  had  done 
more  than  any  living  man  to  spread  the  name  of  Christ. 
Nero  had  been  intensely  anxious  to  fix  on  the  innocent 
Christians  the  stigma  of  that  horrible  conflagration,  of 
which  he  himself  had  been  dangerously  suspected,  and 
the  mere  suspicion  of  which,  until  averted  into  another 
channel,  had  gone  far  to  shake  even  his  imperial  power. 
And  now  the  greatest  of  the  Christians — the  very 
coryphaeus  of  the  hated  sect — stood  chained  before  him. 
He  to  whom  popularity,  forfeited  in  part  by  his  enormous 
crimes,  had  become  a  tnatter  of  supreme  importance,  saw 
how  cheaply  it  could  be  won  by  sacrificing  a  sick,  deserted, 
aged,  fettered  prisoner,  for  whom  no  living  soul  would 
speak  a  word,  and  who  was  evidently  regarded  with 
intense  hatred  by  Gentiles  from  Asia,  by  the  dense  rabble 
of  the  city,  and  by  Jews  from  every  quarter  of  the  world. 
Cicero  has  preserved  for  us  a  graphic  picture  of  the  way 
in  which,  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  before  this  time, 
a  screaming,  scowling,  gesticulating  throng  of  Jews, 
undeterred  by  soldiers  and  lictors,  surrounded  with  such 
threatening  demonstrations  the  tribunal  before  which  their 
oppressor,  Flaccus,  was  being  tried,  that  he,  as  his  advo- 
cate, though  he  had  been  no  less  a  person  than  a 
Roman  Consul,  and  "  father  of  his  country,"  was  obliged 
to  plead  in  low  tones  for  fear  of  their  fury.     If  in  B.C. 

The  metaphor  is  probably  general,  as  in  Ps.  xxii.  21.  Esther  is  said  to 
have  cried,  "  Save  me  from  the  lion's  mouth,"  when  she  went  to  Ahasuerus 
{Megillah,  f.  15,  2). 


554  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

59  the  Romisli  Jews  could  intimidate  even  a  Cicero  in 
their  hatred  to  a  Flaccus,.  is  it  likely  that  they  would  have 
abstained  from  hostile  demonstrations  against  an  enemy 
so  detested  and  so  perfectly  defenceless  as  St.  Paul  ? 

Paul  before  Nero  !  if  indeed  it  was  so,  what  a  contrast 
does  the  juxtaposition  of  two  such  characters  suggest— 
the  one  the  vilest  and  most  wicked,  the  other  the  best 
and  noblest  of  mankind!  Here,  indeed,  we  see  two 
races,  two  civilisations,  two  religions,  two  histories,  two 
aeons  brought  face  to  face.  Nero  summed  up  in  his 
own  person  the  might  of  legions  apparently  invincible ; 
Paul  personified  that  more  irresistible  weakness  which 
shook  the  world.  The  one  showed  the  very  crown  and 
flower  of  luxurious  vice  and  guilty  splendour ;  the  other 
the  earthly  misery  of  the  happiest  saints  of  God.  In 
the  one  we  see  the  incarnate  Nemesis  of  past  degrada- 
tion; in  the  other  the  glorious  prophecy  of  Christian 
sainthood.  The  one  was  the  deified  autocrat  of  Paganism ; 
the  other  the  abject  ambassador  of  Christ.  The  emperor's 
diadem  was  now  confronted  for  the  first  time  by  the  Cross 
of  the  Victim  before  which,  ere  three  centuries  were  over, 
it  was  destined  to  succumb. 

Nero,  not  yet  thirty  years  of  age,  was  stained 
through  and  through  with  every  possible  crime,  and 
steeped  to  the  very  lips  in  every  nameless  degradation. 
Of  all  the  black  and  damning  iniquities  against  which, 
as  St.  Paul  had  often  to  remind  his  heathen  converts, 
the  wrath  of  Grod  for  ever  burns,  there  was  scarcely 
one  of  which  Nero  had  not  been  guilty.  A  wholesale 
robber,  a  pitiless  despot,  an  intriguer,  a  poisoner,  a 
murderer,  a  matricide,  a  liar,  a  coward,  a  drunkard,  a 
glutton,  incestuous,  unutterably  depraved,  his  evil  and 
debased  nature — of  which  even  Pagans  had  spoken  as  "  a 
mixture  of  blood  and  mud  " — had  sought  abnormal  out- 


ITERO.  555 

lets  to  weary,  if  it  could  not  sate,  its  insatiable  proclivity 
to  crime.  He  was  that  last  worst  specimen  of  human 
wickedness — a  man  who,  not  content  with  every  existing 
form  of  vice  and  sin  in  which  the  taint  of  human  nature 
had  found  a  vent,  had  become  "  an  inventor  of  evil  things." 
He  had  usurped  a  throne  ;  he  had  poisoned,  under  guise 
of  affection,  the  noble  boy  who  was  its  legitimate  heir; 
he  had  married  the  sister  of  that  boy,  only  to  break  her 
heart  by  his  brutality,  and  finally  to  order  her  assassi- 
nation ;  he  had  first  planned  the  murder,  then  ordered  the 
execution,  of  his  own  mother,  who,  however  deep  her  guilt, 
had  yet  committed  her  many  crimes  for  love  of  him ;  he 
had  treacherously  sacrificed  the  one  great  general  whose 
victories  gave  any  lustre  to  his  reign;  among  other 
murders,  too  numerous  to  count,  he  had  ordered  the  deaths 
of  the  brave  soldier  and  the  brilliant  philosopher  who  had 
striven  to  guide  his  wayward  and  intolerable  heart ;  he  had 
disgraced  imperial  authority  with  every  form  of  sickening 
and  monstrous  folly  ;  he  had  dragged  the  charm  of  youth 
and  the  natural  dignity  of  manhood  through  the  very 
lowest  mire ;  he  had  killed  by  a  kick  the  worthless  but 
beautiful  woman  whom  he  had  torn  from  her  own  husband 
to  be  his  second  wife ;  he  had  reduced  his  own  capital  to 
ashes,  and  buffooned,  and  fiddled,  and  sung  with  his  cracked 
voice  in  public  theatres,  regardless  of  the  misery  and 
starvation  of  thousands  of  its  ruined  citizens  ;  he  had 
charged  his  incendiarism  upon  the  innocent  Christians,  and 
tortured  them  to  death  by  hundreds  in  hideous  martyr- 
doms ;  he  had  done  his  best  to  render  infamous  his  rank, 
his  country,  his  ancestors,  the  name  of  Eoman — nay,  even 
the  very  name  of  man. 

And  Paul  had  spent  his  whole  life  in  the  pursuit 
of  truth  and  the  practice  of  holiness.  Even  from  boy- 
hood a  grave  and   earnest  student  of  the  Law  of  God, 


556  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

lie  surpassed  in  learning  and  faithfulness  all  tlie  other 
"pupils  of  the  wise"  in  the  school  of  the  greatest  Doctor 
of  the  Law ;  and  if  the  impetuous  ardour  of  his  nature, 
and  that  commonest  infirmity  of  even  noble  minds — the 
pride  of  erroneous  conviction  which  will  not  suffer  itself 
to  be  convinced  of  error — had  for  a  time  plunged  him 
into  a  course  of  violent  intolerance,  of  which  he  after- 
wards repented  with  all  the  intensity  of  his  nature,  yet 
even  this  sin  had  been  due  to  the  blind  fury  of  mis- 
directed zeal  in  a  cause  which  he  took — or  for  a  time 
thought  that  he  took — to  be  the  cause  of  God.  Who 
shall  throw  the  first  stone  at  him  ?  not  even  those  learned 
and  holy  men  whose  daily  lives  show  how  hard  it  is  to 
abdicate  the  throne  of  infallible  ignorance,  and  after 
lives  of  stereotyped  error  to  go  back  as  humble  learners 
to  the  school  of  truth.  But,  if  for  a  moment  he  erred, 
how  grandly — by  what  a  life  of  heroic  self-sacrifice — had  he 
atoned  for  his  fault !  Did  ever  man  toil  like  this  man  ? 
Did  ever  man  rise  to  a  nobler  superiority  over  the  vulgar 
objects  of  human  desire  ?  Did  ever  man  more  fully  and 
unmurmuringly  resign  his  whole  life  to  Grod?  Has  it 
ever  been  granted  to  any  other  man,  in  spite  of  all  trials, 
obstructions,  persecutions,  to  force  his  way  in  the  very  teeth 
of  "clenched  antagonisms"  to  so  full  an  achievement  of 
the  divine  purpose  which  God  had  entrusted  to  his  care  ? 
Shrinking  from  hatred  with  the  sensitive  warmth  of  a 
nature  that  ever  craved  for  human  love,  he  had  yet  braved 
hatreds  of  the  most  intense  description — the  hatred  not 
only  of  enemies,  but  of  friends ;  not  only  of  individuals, 
but  of  entire  factions ;  not  only  of  aliens,  but  of  his  own 
countrymen ;  not  only  of  Jews,  but  even  of  those  who 
professed  the  same  faith  with  himself.^     Shrinking  from 

*  "Thoy  who  hui't  me  most  are  my  own  dear  children— my  brethren— 
fraterculi  mei,  aurei  amiculi  mei."     (Luther,  Cochlearius,  146.) 


PAUL    BEFORE    NERO.  657 

pain  with  nervous  sensibility,  he  yet  endured  for  twenty 
years  together  every  form  of  agony  with  a  body  weakened 
by  incessant  hardship.  The  many  perils  and  miseries 
which  we  have  recounted  are  but  a  fragment  of  what  he 
had  suffered.  And  what  had  he  done  ?  He  had  secured 
the  triumph,  he  had  established  the  universalitj^  he  had 
created  the  language,  he  had  co-ordinated  the  doctrines,  he 
had  overthrown  the  obstacles  of  that  Faith  which  is  the 
one  source  of  the  hope,  the  love,  the  moral  elevation  of 
the  world. 

And  now  these  two  men  were  brought  face  to  face — 
imperial  power  and  abject  weakness  ;  youth  cankered  with 
guilt,  and  old  age  crowned  with  holiness ;  he  whose 
whole  life  had  consummated  the  degradation,  and  he 
whose  life  had  achieved  the  enfranchisement  of  mankind. 
They  stood  face  to  face  the  representatives  of  two  races — 
the  Semitic  in  its  richest  glory,  the  Aryan  in  its  ex- 
tremest  degradation  :  the  representatives  of  two  trainings 
— ^the  life  of  utter  self-sacrifice,  and  the  life  of  un- 
fathomable self-indulgence  :  the  representatives  of  two  re- 
ligions— Christianity  in  its  dawning  brightness.  Paganism 
in  its  effete  despair :  the  representatives  of  two  theories 
of  life — the  simplicity  of  self-denying  endurance  ready 
to  give  up  life  itself  for  the  good  of  others,  the  luxury 
of  shameless  Hedonism  which  valued  no  consideration 
divine  or  human  in  comparison  with  a  new  sensation: 
the  representatives  of  two  spiritual  powers — the  slave  of 
Christ  and  the  incarnation  of  Antichrist.  And  their 
respective  positions  showed  how  much,  at  this  time, 
the  course  of  this  world  was  under  the  control  of  the 
Prince  of  the  Power  of  the  Air — for  incest  and  matricide 
were  clothed  in  purple,  and  seated  on  the  curule  chair, 
amid  the  ensigns  of  splendour  without  limit  and  power 
beyond  control ;  and  he  whose  life  had  exhibited  all  that 


658  THE    LIFE    AWD    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

was  great  and  noble  in  the  heart  of  man  stood  in  peril  of 
execution,  despised,  hated,  fettered,  and  in  rags. 

But  Eoman  Law  was  still  Eoman  Law,  and,  except 
where  passions  of  unusual  intensity  interfered,  some 
respect  was  still  paid  to  the  forms  of  justice.  For  the 
time,  at  any  rate,  Paul  was  rescued  out  of  the  lion's 
mouth.  There  Avas  some  flaw  in  the  indictment,  some 
deficiency  in  the  evidence;  and  though  St.  Paul  well  knew 
that  it  was  but  a  respite  which  was  permitted  him,  for 
the  time  at  any  rate  he  was  remanded  to  his  prison. 
And  Nero,  if  indeed  he  were  "  the  lion "  before  whom 
this  first  defence  had  been  pleaded,  had  no  further  door 
for  repentance  opened  to  him  in  this  life.  Had  he  too 
trembled,  as  Paul  reasoned  before  him  of  temperance, 
righteousness,  and  the  judgment  to  come  ?  Had  he  too 
listened  in  alarm  as  Herod  Antipas  had  listened  to  the 
Baptist?  Had  he  too  shown  the  hue  of  passing  shame 
on  those  bloated  features  so  deformed  by  the  furrows  of 
evil  passion — as,  at  the  Council  of  Constance,  the  Em- 
peror Sigismund  blushed,  when  John  Huss  upbraided 
him  with  the  breach  of  his  pledged  word  ?  The  Em- 
peror, who  stood  nearest  to  Nero  in  abysmal  depravity, 
and  who,  like  him,  being  himself  unutterably  impure  and 
bad,  had  the  innermost  conviction  that  all  others  were  at 
heart  the  same,  used  to  address  grave  men  with  the  most 
insulting  questions,  and  if  the  indignant  blood  mantled 
on  their  cheeks,  he  used  to  exclaim,  "  Erubuit,  salva  res 
est."  ^  *'  He  blushed  ;  it  is  all  right."  But  of  Domitian 
we  are  expressly  told  that  he  could  not  blush ;  that  his 
flushed  cheeks  were  an  impervious  barrier  against  the 
access  of  any  visible  shame. ^  And  in  all  probability  Nero 
was  infinitely  too  far  gone  to  blush.  It  is  far  more  probable 
that,  like  Gallio,  he  only  listened  to  the  defence  of  this  worn 

'  Heliogabalus.  '  Tac.  Agric.  45 ;  Suet.  Bom.  18  ;  Plin.  Pcmeg.  48. 


PAUL    BEFORE    NERO.  659 

and  aged  Jew  with  ill-concealed  impatience  and  profound 
disdain.  He  would  have  regarded  such  a  man  as  this  as 
something  more  abject  than  the  very  dust  beneath  his 
feet.  He  would  have  supposed  that  Paul  regarded  it  as 
the  proudest  honour  of  his  life  even  to  breathe  the  same 
atmosphere  as  the  Emperor  of  Eome.  His  chance  of 
hearing  the  words  of  truth  returned  no  more.  About 
this  time  he  sailed  on  his  frivolous  expedition  to  Greece ; 
and  after  outraging  to  an  extent  almost  inconceivable 
the  very  name  of  Eoman,  by  the  public  singings  of  his 
miserable  doggrel,  and  the  sham  victories  in  which  the 
supple  and  shameless  Greeks  fooled  him  to  the  very  top 
of  his  bent,  he  returned  to  find  that  the  revolt  of  Galba 
was  making  head,  until  he  was  forced  to  fly  at  night  in 
disguise  from  his  palace,  to  quench  his  thirst  with  ditch- 
water,  to  display  a  cowardice  which  made  him  contemptible 
to  his  meanest  minions,  and  finally  to  let  his  trembling 
hand  be  helped  by  a  slave  to  force  a  dagger  into  his 
throat. 

But  it  is  no  wonder  that  when,  over  the  ruins  of 
streets  which  the  fire  had  laid  in  ashes,  St.  Paul  returned 
to  his  lonely  prison,  there  was  one  earthly  desire  for  the 
fulfilment  of  which  he  still  yearned.  It  was  once  more 
to  see  the  dear  friend  of  earlier  years — of  those  years 
in  which,  hard  as  were  their  suff'erings,  the  hope  of 
Christ's  second  coming  in  glory  to  judge  the  world  seemed 
still  so  near,  and  in  which  the  curtains  of  a  neglected 
death  and  an  apparently  total  failure  had  not  yet  been 
drawn  so  closely  around  his  head.  He  yearned  to  see 
Timothy  once  more  ;  to  be  refreshed  by  the  young  man's 
affectionate  devotion ;  to  be  cheered  and  comforted  by  the 
familiar  attendance  of  a  true  son  in  Christ,  whose  heart 
was  wholly  at  one  with  his  ;  who  shared  so  fully  in  all 
his  sympathies  and  hopes;  who  had  learnt  by  long  and 


560  THE    LITE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

familiar  attendances  how  best  to  brighten  his  spirits  and  to 
supply  his  wants.  It  was  this  which  made  him  write  that 
second  letter  to  Timothy,  which  is,  as  it  were,  his  "cycnea 
oratio,"  and  in  which,  amid  many  subjects  of  advice  and 
exhortation,  he  urges  his  friend  with  reiterated  earnest- 
ness to  come,  to  come  at  once,  to  come  before  winter,^  to 
come  ere  it  is  too  late,  and  see  him,  and  help  him,  and 
receive  his  blessing  before  he  died. 

1  2  Tim.  iv.  9,  21. 


CHAPTER    LYI. 

Paul's    last    letter. 

Uavkos  Sh  S  rpiffficucdpios  r^v  Ke</)oA.V  |i(^ei  airfTfiTjOr)  6  aj/e/cSc^yTjros  &v6pci>iro5. 
— Ps.  Chrys.  Orat.  Enam. 

"  Testamentum  Pauli  et  cycnea  cantio  est  haec  Epistola." — Bengel. 

"Hoc  praestat  career  Christiano,  quod  eremus  Prophetis." — Tert.  ad 
Mart.  3. 

"Mortem  habebat  Paulus  ante  oculus.  .  .  .  Quaecunque  igitur  liic 
legimus  de  Christi  regno,  de  spe  vitae  aeternae,  de  Christiana  militia,  de  fiducia 
confessionis,  de  certitudine  doctrinae,  non  tanquam  atramento  scripta,  sed 
ipsius  Panli  sanguine  accipere  convenit.  .  .  .  Proinde  haec  Epistola 
quasi  solennis  quaedam  est  subscriptio  Paulinae  doctrinae,  eaque  ex  reprae- 
senti." — Calvin. 

He  began  much  in  his  usual  form — 

"  Paul,  an  Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  will  of  God/  according  to 
the  promise  of  the  life  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  to  Timothy  my  beloved 
son,  grace,  mercy,  and  peace,  from  God  our  Father  and  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord.  I  thank  God,  whom  I  serve  from  my  forefathers  in  a  pure  con- 
science— as  the  remembrance  which  I  have  of  thee  night  and  day  in  my 
supplications  is  incessant,  longing  earnestly  to  see  thee — remembering 
thy  tears  ^ — that  I  may  be  filled  with  joy.^  [I  thank  God,  I  say]  on 
being  reminded  *  of  the  unfeigned  faith  which  is  in  thee,  which  dwelt 
first  in  thy  grandmother  Lois,  and  in.  thy  mother  Eunice ;  yes,  and  I 
feel  confident  that  it  dwells  also  in  thee."^ 

'  5la  OeX-finaTos.  The  attempt  to  deduce  some  very  special  and  recondite 
inference  from  the  fact  that  he  uses  this  phrase  for  the  kut  eimay^iv  of  tlio  First 
Epistle,  seems  to  me  as  arbitrary  as  Mack's  argfument  that  the  use  of  ayairrjTqi 
for  yvnffi(i>  in  the  next  verse  is  a  sign  that  this  Epistle  shows  more  affection 
but  less  confidence. 

2  Tears  at  parting.     Of.  Acts  xx.  37. 

8  Does  not  this  involved  sentence,  with  its  tesselation  of  parenthetic 
thoughts,  at  once  indicate  the  hand  of  Paiil  ? 

*  How  reminded  ?  We  do  not  know  ;  but  this  is  the  proper  meaning  of 
inr6fjivri<rts — 'dray  rts  v<t>'  erepov  els  nvfjfi-qv  Trpoax^p. 

6  i.  1 — 5,  ireireiarfxai  5e.  To  make  the  51  imply  "  notwithstanding  appear- 
ances," as  Alf ord  does,  is  too  strong ;  but  the  adversative  force  of  5e,  though 
unnoticed  by  most  commentators,  and  missed  in  many  versions,  does  seem  to 

k  k 


562  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

Perhaps  the  sadness  of  Timothy's  heart — the  tears  for 
his  absent  and  imprisoned  teacher — had  hindered  the 
activity  of  his  work,  and  plunged  him  in  a  too  indolent 
despondency;  and  so  Paul,  remembering  all  the  hopes 
which  had  inaugurated  his  youthful  ministry,  continues — 

"  For  which  cause  ^  I  remind  thee  to  fan  aflame  the  gift  of  God 
which  is  in  thee  by  the  imposition  of  my  hands ;  for  God  gave  us  not  the 
spirit  of  cowardice,  but  of  power  and  of  love,  and  of  moral  influence.^ 
Be  not  then  ashamed  of  the  testimony  of  our  Lord,  nor  of  me  His 
prisoner,  but  rather  share  my  sufferings  for  the  Gospel  in  accordance 
with  the  power  of  God,  who  saved  us  and  called  us  with  a  holy  calling, 
not  according  to  our  works,  but  according  to  His  own  plans  and  the 
grace  given  us  in  Christ  Jesus  before  eternal  times,  but  now  manifested 
by  the  appearing  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  who  did  away  with  death, 
and  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  by  the  Gospel,  whereunto 
I  was  appointed  a  herald,  and  an  Apostle,  and  teacher  of  the  Gentiles, 
for  which  reason  also  I  suffer  these  things ;  but  /  am  not  ashamed. 
For  I  know  on  whom  I  have  believed,  and  I  feel  confident  that  He  is 
able  to  preserve  the  trust  committed  to  me  till  that  day."* 

Then — having  ended  the  double  digression  on  the 
word  Gospel,  which  suggests  to  him  first  what  that  word 
implies  (9,  10),  and  then  recalls  to  him  his  own  mission 
— he  returns  to  his  exhortation — 

"  As  a  pattern  of  wholesome  teachings,*  take  those  which  thou 
heardest  from  me,  in  faith  and  the  love  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  That 
fair  trust  preserve,  through  the  Holy  Spirit  which  dwelleth  in  us."^ 

imply  that  passing  shade  of  hesitation  about  the  fervour  of  the  faith  of 
Timothy — at  any  rate  as  manifested  in  vigorous  action — which  I  have  tried  to 
indicate  in  the  "  Yes,  and  I  feel  coufideut." 

^  This  phrase — Si'  V  alrlav  for  Sib — is  peculiar  to  the  Pastoral  Epistles. 

^  ffw<t>povi(Tiu.ov.  The  form  of  the  word  seems  to  imply  not  only  "sober- 
mindedness,"  but  the  teaching  others  to  be  sober-minded. 

3  i.  6-12. 

^  This  seems  to  me  the  real  meaning,  though  Alford  has  something  to 
urge  for  his  view  that  it  should  be  rendered,  "  Have  (in  what  I  have  just  said 
to  you)  a  pattern  of  sound  words,  which,"  &c. 

» L  13, 14. 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  563 

Then  lie  touches  for  a  moment  on  the  melancholy 
circumstances  of  which  we  have  already  spoken — his 
abandonment  by  the  Asiatic  converts,^  and  the  zealous 
refreshing  kindness  of  Onesiphorus,  for  whom  he  breathes 
an  earnest  prayer." 

"  Thou  therefore,  my  child,  be  strengthened  in  the  grace  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus,  and  the  things  which  thon  heardest  from  me  in  the  presence 
of  many  witnesses,  these  things  extend  to  faithful  men  who  shall  be 
adequate  also  to  teach  others.  Share  my  sufferings  as  a  fail-  soldier  of 
Chi-ist  Jesus."  ^ 

The  conditions  of  this  soldiership  he  illustrates  by 
three  similes,  drawn  from  the  life  of  the  soldier,  the  athlete, 
and  the  labourer,  and  doubtless  meant  to  suggest  to 
Timothy  the  qualities  of  which  at  that  depressed  period  he 
stood  most  in  need.  The  soldier  must  abandon  all  business 
entanglements,  and  strive  to  please  his  captain.  The 
athlete,  if  he  wants  the  crown,  must  keep  the  rules.  The 
tolling  husbandman  has  the  first  claim  to  a  share  of  the 
harvest.*  It  was  a  delicate  way  of  suggesting  to  Timothy 
the  duties  of  increased  single-heartedness,  attention  to  the 
conditions  of  the  Christian  life,  and  strenuous  labour;  and 
that  he  might  not  miss  the  bearing  of  these  similitudes  he 
adds,  "  Consider  what  I  say,  for  the  Lord  will  give  you  ^ 
understanding  in  all  things."  By  the  example  of  his  own 
sufferings  he  reminds  him  that  the  cardinal  truths  of  the 
Gospel  are  ample  to  inspire  toil  and  endurance. 

'  The  expression  o«  kv  rp  'A<r%  iravris,  "  all  those  in  Asia,"  is  difficult.  It 
seems  to  imply  that  they  had  abandoned  St.  Paul  in  Rome,  and  had  now 
returned  to  Asia,  so  that  they  would  be  "  in  Asia "  by  the  time  this  letter 
arrived. 

=  i.  15—18. 

^  Tlie  distinction  between  Ka\hs  and  ajadhs  can  only  be  kept  up  by  the  old 
English  word  "  fair,"  as  in  Tennyson's 

"So  that  ye  trust  to  our  fair  Father,  Christ." 

*  ii.  1 — 6.  *  ii.  7,  leg.  Sclxru. 

k  k  '^ 


564  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

"  Bear  in  mind,"  he  says,  "  Jesus  Clirist,  raised  from  the  dead,  of  the 
seed  of  David,  according  to  my  Gospel — in  the  cause  of  which  I  suffer 
even  to  chains  as  a  malefactor  :  but  the  word  of  God  has  not  been 
chained.  For  this  reason,  for  the  sake  of  the  elect,  I  am  enduring  all 
things,  that  they  too  may  obtain  the  salvation  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus 
with  eternal  glory.     Faithful  is  the  saymg — 

*  If  we  died  with,  we  shall  also  live  with  Him ;  * 
If  we  endure,  we  shall  also  reign  with  Him ; 
If  we  deny,  He  also  will  deny  us. 
If  we  are  faithless,  He  abideth  faithful, 
For  He  is  not  able  to  deny  Himself.'  "  ' 

"  These  thmgs  call  to  tlieir  remembrance ;"  and  from 
this  verse  to  the  end  of  the  chapter  he  reverts  to  the  false 
teachers  among  whom  Timothy  is  labouring,  and  against 
whom  he  has  warned  him  in  the  First  Epistle,  testifying  to 
them  before  the  Lord  not  to  fight  about  "views" — a  thing 
entirely  useless — to  the  subversion  of  the  hearers.^  "  Strive 
to  present  thyself  approved  to  God,  a  workman  unshamed, 
rightly  dividing  the  word  of  truth." ^  He  is  to  shun  the 
vain  babblings  of  men  like  Hymenseus  and  Philetus,^  with 
their  ever-advancing  impiety  and  the  spreading  cancer 
of  their  doctrine,  which  identified  the  resurrection  with 
spiritual  deliverance  from  the  death  of  sin,  and  denied  that 
there  was  any  other  resurrection,^  to  the  ruinous  unsettle- 

1  Cf .  1  Cor.  XV.  31 ;  2  Cor.  iv.  18  ;  Rom.  vi.  8. 

2  ii.  7 — 13.     The  last  words  are  rhythmical,  perha^DS  liturgical. 

^  ii.  14.  Logomachy  is  a  sure  mark  of  Sophistic  teaching,  and  there  is  a 
resemblance  of  the  Gnostics  to  the  Sophists  in  several  particulars. 

*  opGoToixovvra,  "  rightly  cutting,"  or  "  cutting  straight."  "  Niliil  praeter- 
mittere,  nil  adiicere,  nU  mutilare,  discerpere,  torquere  "  (Beza).  But  it  is  not 
clear  whether  the  metaphor  is  from  cutting  roads,  or  victims,  or  furrows,  or 
bread,  or  carpentry.  It  is  better  to  regard  it  as  general,  "  rightly  handling," 
just  as  KaivoToiJLuv  came  to  mean  merely  "  innovating."  In  patristic  language 
dpdoro/xia  became  another  word  for  "  orthodoxy." 

*  Nothing  is  known  of  them  (1  Tim.  i.  20). 

^  Since  there  is  a  trace  of  exactly  the  same  heresy  in  1  Cor.  xv.  12,  it  ia 
idle  of  Baur  to  assume  any  allusion  to  Marcion  here.  St.  Paul's  warning 
against  thus  making  the  resurrection  a  mere  metaphor  was  all  the  more 
needful,  because  it  was  a  distortion  of  his  own  expressions  (Rom.  vi.  4 ;  Col. 
ii.  12,  &c.). 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  565 

ment  of  some.  Fruitlessly,  however,  for  God's  firm  foun- 
dation stands  impregnable  with  the  double  inscription  on  it,-^ 
"  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his,"  and  "  Let  every 
one  who  nameth  the  name  of  Christ  stand  aloof  from  un- 
righteousness."^ Yet  there  should  be  no  surprise  that  such 
errors  spring  up  in  the  visible  Church.  It  is  like  a  great 
house  in  which  are  vessels  of  wood  and  earth,  as  well  as  of 
gold  and  silver,  and  alike  for  honourable  and  mean  purposes. 
What  each  one  had  to  do  then  was  to  purge  himself  from 
polluting  connexion  with  the  mean  and  vile  vessels,  and 
strive  to  be  "  a  vessel  for  honour,  sanctified,  serviceable  to 
the  master,  prepared  for  every  good  purpose."^  He  is 
therefore  to  "  fly"  from  the  desires  of  3'"0uth,*  and  in  union 
with  all  who  call  on  the  Lord  from  a  pure  heart  to  pursue 
righteousness,  faith,  love,  peace,  having  nothing  to  do 
with  those  foolish  and  illiterate  questions  which  only  breed 
strifes  unworthy  of  the  gentle,  enduring  meekness  of  a 
slave  of  the  Lord,  whose  aim  it  should  be  to  train  opponents 
with  all  mildness,^  in  the  hope  that  God  may  grant  them 
repentance,  so  that  they  may  come  to  full  knowledge  of 
the  truth,  and  "  awake  to  soberness  out  of  the  snare  of  the 
devil,  after  having  been  -taken  alive  by  him — to  do  God's 
will." ' 

The  third  chapter  continues  to    speak  of  these    evil 
teachers  and  their  future  developments  in  the  hard  times 

1  Cf.  Rev.  xxi.  14. 

2  Sec  Numb.  xvi.  5,  26. 

3  2  Tim.  ii.  21.  The  general  meaning  of  the  passage  is  clear,  though  it  is 
inrlistinctly  expressed ;  on  (KKadapri  Melancthon  remarks,  "  Haec  inundatio 
non  est  desertio  congrcgationis,  sed  conversio  ad  Deum." 

*  iTnQvjxias,  not  exclusively  sensual  passions. 

6  See  Matt.  xii.  19,  20. 

^  ii.  14—26.  The  devil  has  taken  them  captive  in  a  snare  while  they  were 
drunk ;  awaking,  they  use  their  recovered  soberness  {a.vavi\<\>w ,  crapulam 
excutin)  to  break  the  snare,  and  return  to  obedience  to  God's  will,  uiirov 
probably  refers  to  Satan,  eKelvov  to  God,  although  this  explanation  is  not 
absolutely  necessary. 


566  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

to  come.  A  stern  sad  piGtiire  is  drawn  of  what  men  shall 
then  be  in  their  selfishness,  greed,  conceit,  ingratitude, 
lovelessness,  treachery,  besotted  atheism,  and  reckless  love 
of  pleasure.  He  bids  Timothy  turn  away  from  such 
teachers  with  their  sham  religion,  their  creeping  intrigues, 
their  prurient  influence,  their  feminine  conquests,^  resisting 
the  truth  just  as  the  old  Egyptian  sorcerers,  Jannes  and 
Jambres  ^  did,  and  destined  to  have  their  emptiness  equally 
exposed.^  But  Timothy — who  has  followed  all  that  Paul 
has  been  in  the  teaching,  the  purpose,  and  the  sufferings 
of  his  life,  and  well  knows  how  the  Lord  saved  him  out  of 
many  trials  and  persecutions  in  his  first  journey* — ^must 
expect  persecution,  and  be  brave  and  faithful,  making  his 
life  a  contrast  to  that  of  these  deceived  deceivers,  in 
accordance  with  that  training  which  from  a  babe  he  had 

1  Baur  {Pastor alhriefe,  p.  36)  sees  an  allusion  to  tlie  Gnostic  prophetesses, 
Prisca,  MaximiUa,  Quintilla,  &c.,  and  quotes  Epipban.  Haer.  xxvi.  11.  But, 
on  tlie  one  hand,  these  certainly  did  not  deserve  to  be  stigmatised  as  ywaiKapia 
(see  Tert.),  and  on  the  other  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  women  would  be  any 
less  susceptible  to  every  phase  of  religious  influence  in  the  Apostle's  days 
than  they  have  been  in  all  ages  (cf.  Jos.  Antt.  xvii.  2,  §4).  Such  a  ywaiKapiov 
was  Helena  whom  Simon  Magus  took  about  with  him  (Justin,  Apol.  i.  26 ; 
Iren.  c.  Haer.  i.  23).  When  Jerome  speaks  with  such  scorn  and  slander  of 
Nicolas  of  Antioch  (choros  duxit  femineos),  Marcion  and  his  female  ad- 
herent, Apelles  and  Pliilumena,  Arius  and  his  sister,  Donatus  and  Lucilla, 
Epidius  and  Agape,  Priscillian  and  GaUa,  had  he  forgotten  certain  ladies  called 
Paulla  and  Eiistocldum  ? 

2  Jannes  and  Jambres  are  mentioned  by  Origen,  and  even  by  Pliny  {H.  N. 
XXX.  1),  who  calls  them  Jannes  and  Jotapes,  and  Numenius  (Orig.  c.  Gels.  iv. 
199).  The  names  belong  to  the  cycle  of  Jewish  Hagadoth.  They  are  men- 
tioned in  the  Targum  of  Jonathan  on  Ex.  vii.  11,  and  were  said  to  be  sons  of 
Balaam. 

2  This  is  said  to  contradict  ii.  16  and  iii.  13.  It  only  does  so  to  an  unintel- 
ligent literalism.  Error  will  succeed,  but  its  very  success  will  end  in  its  ex- 
posure. "  Non  proficient  amplius,  quaraquam  ipsi  et  eorum  similes  proficiant 
in  pejus  "  (Bengel) ;  or,  as  Chrysostom  remarks,  k&u  irporepov  avQricrri  rh,  t^j 
trK(i.vt]s  ils  reKos  ov  SiafievfT- 

^  It  has  been  asked  why  he  refers  especially  to  these.  Perhaps  because 
they  had  come  most  heavily  upon  him,  and  affected  him  most  severely  as  being 
the  first  of  the  kind  wliich  he  had  endured.  Perhaps  because  Timothy  was  a 
Lycaonian,  and  Paul's  memory  of  those  old  days  is  vividly  awaked. 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  567 

received  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  were  able  to  make 
him  wise  tmto  salvation  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ: 
since  "every  Scripture  inspired  by  God  is  also  profitable 
for  teaching/  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  training  in 
righteousness,  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect, 
thoroughly  equipped  for  every  good  work."^ 

The  fourth  chapter  begins  with  a  solemn  appeal  to 
him  to  do  his  duty  as  a  pastor  "  in  season,  out  of  season,"^ 
because  the  time  would  soon  come  when  men  would  turn 
away  from  truth  to  the  fantastic  doctrines  of  teachers  who 
would  answer  them  according  to  their  own  lusts. 

"  Do  tliou  then  be  sober  in  all  things,  endure  sufferings.  Do  the 
•work  of  an  evangelist,  fulfil  thy  ministry.  For  /  am  being  already 
poured  in  libation,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  *  is  close  at  hand.  I 
have  striven  the  good  strife,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the 
faith.  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  the  crown  of  righteousness, 
which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  in  that  day  ;  and 
not  to  me  only,  but  also  to  all  who  have  loved  His  appearing."^ 

*  This  is  almost  certainly  the  true  translation.  It  was  so  understood  by 
Origen,  Theodoret,  by  Erasmus  and  Grotius,  by  Whitby  and  Hammond, 
by  Alford  and  Ellicott ;  is  so  translated  in  the  Arabic,  the  Syriac,  the  Vul- 
gate, Luther,  the  Dutch,  and  the  Rhemish,  and  in  the  versions  of  Wiclif, 
Tyndalc,  Coverdale,  and  Craumer.  For  the  introduction  of  the  predicate  by 
Koi  see  Gal.  iv.  7,  Luke  i.  36,  Rom.  viii.  29,  &c. 

2  iii.  1—17. 

^  iv.  2,  evKaipoos,  aKaipcos:  "opportune,  importune"  (Aug.).  The  smallest 
element  of  literai*y  sense  is  sufficient  to  save  the  verse  from  the  fanatical 
abuse  which  has  perverted  so  many  passages  of  Scripture.  If  any  antidote 
to  its  abuse  is  required,  see  Matt.  vii.  6. 

•*  dvaXva-fODs,  " departure,"  not  "  dissolution  "  (Phil.  i.  23).  dva\vfiv  is  ''to 
set  sail." 

*  iv.  1 — 8.  "  There  is  nothing  better,"  says  Chrysostom,  "  than  tliis 
strife.  There  is  no  end  to  this  ci'own.  It  is  not  a  crown  of  price,  nor 
is  it  assigned  by  any  earthly  arbitei-,  nor  are  men  siiectators  of  its 
})estowal;  the  theatre  is  filled  with  angel-witnesses."  It  is  useless  to  argue 
with  those  who  see  a  spirit  of  boasting  here  which  contradicts  1  Cor.  iv.  3 ; 
Phil.  iii.  12;  1  Tim.  i.  16.  "Distingue  tempora  et  concordabit  Scriptura." 
The  same  man  may,  at  different  moments,  in  different  moods,  and  from 
different  standpoints,  say,  "  I  am  the  chief  of  sinners,"  and  "  I  have  striven 
the  good  strife." 


568  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

That  is  practically  St.  Paul's  last  word.  The  re- 
mainder of  the  letter  is  occupied  with  personal  informa- 
tion, given  in  the  natural,  loose,  accidental  order  of  a  letter, 
mingled  with  earnest  entreaty  to  him  that  he  would  come 
at  once.  "  Do  your  best  to  come  to  me  quickly."  Demas, 
Crescens,  Titus,  are  all  absent  from  him  ;  Erastus  did  not 
come  with  him  farther  than  Corinth;  Trophimus  was  taken 
ill  at  Miletus  ;  Luke  only  is  left.  Mark  is  useful  to  him 
for  service — perhaps  because  he  knew  Latin — and  there- 
fore Timothy  is  to  take  him  up  somewhere  on  the  way, 
and  bring  him.^  Tychicus  is  already  on  the  way  to  Ephe- 
sus,^  so  that  he  can  take  Timothy's  place  when  he  arrives. 
Timothy  is  to  be  on  his  guard  against  the  pronounced  hos- 
tility of  Alexander  the  coppersmith.^  Then  follows  the 
touching  allusion  to  his  first  trial  and  deliverance,  on  which 
we  have  already  dwelt.  Greetings  are  sent  to  Prisca, 
Aquila,  and  the  house  of  Onesiphorus.  Once  more,  "  Do 
your  best  to  come  before  winter ;  " — if  he  comes  after  that 

^  Mark  had  been  attached  of  late  to  the  ministry  of  Peter.  Perhaps — but  all 
is  here  uncertain — St.  Peter  may  have  been  already  martyred.  It  is,  at  any 
rate,  deeply  interesting  to  observe  how  completely  St.  Mark  had  regained 
that  high  estimation  in  the  mind  of  the  Apostle  which  he  had  weakened  by 
his  early  defection  (Acts  xv.  38). 

2  dnta-TetXa.  It  is  made  a  difficulty  that  St.  Paul  should  mention  this  to 
Timothy,  who  is  supposed  to  have  been  at  Ephesus.  But  even  if  direa-rfiXa 
cannot  be  an  epistolary  aorist,  and  so  equivalent  to  "  I  am  sending,"  Paul 
could  not  be  sure  that  Timothy  might  not  bo  visiting  some  of  the  neigh- 
bouring churches ;  and  Tychicus  may  have  gone  by  some  longer  route.  Even 
apart  from  this,  nothing  is  more  common  in  letters  than  the  mention  of  facts 
which  must  be  perfectly  well  known  to  the  person  addressed;  and,  in  any 
case,  since  Timothy  could  hardly  leave  withoixt  resigning  his  charge  for  a 
time  into  the  hands  of  Tychicus,  he  might  be  glad  of  a  personal  assurance 
from  Paul  that  he  had  sent  him. 

3  The  meaning  of  wowd  fx.oi  wa/ca  ivtSet^aro  is  not  certain,  but  is  probably 
nothing  more  than  "  exhibited  very  mischievous  conduct  towards  me."  The 
following  words,  "  The  Lord  shall  reward  him  {diro^da-ei,  n,  A,  0,  T>,  E,  F,  G), 
according  to  his  works,"  have  been  rebuked  as  a  malediction.  But  the 
/i^  aiiToTs  KoyiffQiit)  of  verse  16  i^  sufficient  to  show  that  this  was  not  the 
mood  of  Paul;  and  it  is  no  malediction  to  say  of  an  enemy,  "I  must  leave 
God  to  deal  with  him,"  since  God  is  infinitely  more  merciful  than  man. 


PUDENS    AND    CLAUDIA.  669 

time  he  may  be  too  late.  "  Eubulus  greets  thee,  and 
Pudens,  and  Linus,  and  Claudia,  and  all  the  brethren. 
The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  thj  spirit.  Grace  be  with 
you."^ 

I  have  purposely  omitted  the  one  simple,  touching 
message,  introduced  so  incidentally,  and  with  such  inimit- 
able naturalness.  "  When  you  come,  bring  with  you  the 
cloak  that  I  left  at  Troas,  at  Carpus'  house,  and  the 
books,  especially  the  parchments."  ^  The  verse  has  been 
criticised  as  trivial,  as  unworthy  the  dignity  of  inspira- 
tion. But  men  must  take  their  notions  of  inspiration 
from  facts,  and  not  try  to  square  the  facts  to  their  own 

^  iv.  9 — 22.  Linus  may  be  the  traditional  first  Bishop  of  Rome  (Iren.  c. 
Saer.  iii.  33 ;  Euseb.  H.  E.  iii.  4) ;  but  I  am  surprised  that  any  one  should 
accept  the  ingenious  attempt  to  identify  Pudens  with  the  dissolute  centurion 
of  Martial's  epigrams  (iv.  13;  xi.  53)  and  the  Pudens  who  built  a  temple  at 
Chichester  to  Neptune  and  Minei-va ;  and  Claudia  with  the  British  Claudia 
Rufina,  whom  he  married,  and  with  the  daughter  of  the  British  king  Cogi- 
dubnus  or  of  Caractaciis.  The  grounds  of  the  identification  were  suggested  by 
Archdeacon  Williams  in  a  pamphlet  on  Pudens  and  Claudia.  No  doubt  the 
Pudens  of  Martial  mmj  be  the  Pudens  of  the  Chichester  inscription,  since  he 
married  a  British  lady ;  and  this  Claudia  may  have  been  a  daughter  of  Cogi- 
dubnus,  and  may  have  been  sent  to  Rome  as  a  hostage,  or  for  education, 
and  may  have  taken  the  name  Rufina,  because  she  m,ay  have  been  entrusted 
to  the  cliarge  of  Pomponia,  the  wife  of  Aulus  Plautus,  who  had  been  a  com- 
mander in  Britain,  and  in  whose  family  was  a  branch  called  Rufi.  And  it  is 
possible  that  Pomponia  may  have  been  secretly  a  Christian  (Tac.  Ann.  xiii. 
32),  and  so  this  Claudia  Rufina  may  have  become  a  Christian  too ;  but  even 
if  we  grant  the  possibility  of  all  these  hypotheses,  still  nothing  whatever 
remains  to  identify  the  Pudens  and  Claudia  here  separated  from  each  other 
by  another  name  with  the  Pudens  and  Claudia  of  whom  we  have  been 
speaking.  Claudia  was  the  commonest  of  names,  and  the  whole  theory  is  an 
elaborate  rope  of  sand. 

-  That  <j)e\6i'ris,  if  that  be  the  true  reading,  means  a  cloak,  seems  to  be 
nearly  certain.  It  was  the  opinion  of  the  Greek  Fathers,  who  only  mention 
alternatively  the  meaning  yKwcTtriKoixov,  or  book-case.  But  had  this  been  mea:  t 
it  would  have  been  mentioned  after  the  books,  not  before  them.  We  may 
assume  that  the  word  is  a  transliteration  of  the  Latin  poenula,  and  meant  a 
long  thick  cloak.  The  form  of  the  transliteration  might  surprise  us,  but  it  is 
another  incidental  mark  of  genuineness,  for  it  comes  from  tlie  form  which  the 
word  took  in  Syriac,  ]v''c.  Even  if  ]v''d  be  pallium,,  we  see  that  in  Syriac  a 
represents  ir.     Modern  ingenuity  sees  in  it  a  sacrificial  vestment — a  chasuble  ! 


570  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

theories.  Even  on  these  grounds  the  verse  has  its  own 
value  for  all  who  would  not  obscure  divine  inspiration,  nor 
obliterate  the  true  meaning  and  sacredness  of  Scripture 
by  substituting  a  dictated  infallibility  for  the  free  play 
of  human  emotions  in  souls  deeply  stirred  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  Grod.  But  even  on  other  grounds  how  little 
could  we  spare  this  verse  !  What  a  light  does  it  throw 
on  the  last  sad  days  of  the  persecuted  Apostle  !  The 
fact  that  these  necessary  possessions — perhaps  the  whole 
that  the  Apostle  could  call  his  own  in  this  world — ^had 
been  left  at  the  house  of  Carpus,  may,  as  we  have  seen, 
indicate  his  sudden  arrest,  either  at  Troas  or  on  his  way 
to  it.  A  prisoner  who  is  being  hurried  from  place  to 
place  by  unsympathising  keepers  is  little  able  to  look 
after  his  property.  But  now  the  Apostle  is  settled  again, 
though  his  home  is  but  a  prison,  and  he  feels  that  it  will 
be  his  home  for  life.  Winter  is  coming  on,  and  winter  in 
a  Eoman  prison,  as  he  knows  by  experience,  may  be  very 
cold.  He  wants  to  get  back  his  rough  travelling  cloak. 
It  was  one  of  those  large  sleeveless  garments  which  we 
should  call  an  "  overall  "  or  "  dreadnought."  Perhaps 
St.  Paul  had  woven  it  himself  of  the  black  goat's  hair  of 
his  native  province.  And,  doubtless — for  he  was  a  poor 
man — it  was  an  old  companion — wetted  many  a  time  in 
the  water-torrents  of  Asia,  whitened  with  the  dust  of 
Eoman  roads,  stained  with  the  brine  of  shipwreck  when 
Euroaquilo  was  driving  the  Adriatic  into  foam.  He  may 
have  slept  in  its  warm  shelter  on  the  chill  Phrygian 
uplands,  under  the  canopy  of  stars,  or  it  may  have  covered 
his  bruised  and  trembling  limbs  in  the  dungeon  of 
Philippi.  It  is  of  little  value ;  but  now  that  the  old  man 
sits  shivering  in  some  gloomy  cell  under  the  palace  or 
on  the  rocky  floor  of  the  Tullianum,  and  the  winter 
nights  are  coming  on,  he  bethinks  him  of  the  old  cloak 


THE  CLOKE  AND  THE  BOOKS.         571 

in  tlie  house  of  Carpus,  and  asks  Timothy  to  hr'mg  it 
witli  hin:.  "  The  cloke  that  I  left  at  Troas  with  Carpus, 
bring-  with  thee."  "  And  the  books,  but  especially  the 
parchments."^  The  didlia — the  papyrus  books — few  we 
may  be  sure,  but  old  friends.  Perhaps  he  had  bought  them 
when  he  was  a  student  in  the  school  of  Gamaliel  at  Jeru- 
salem ;  or  they  may  have  been  given  him  by  his  wealthier 
converts.^  The  papyrus  books,  then,  let  Timothy  bring,  but 
especially  the  parchments — ^the  vellum  rolls.  What  were 
these  ?  Perhaps  among  them  was  the  diploma  of  his  Poman 
franchise ;  or  were  they  precious  rolls  of  Isaiah  and  the 
Psalms,  and  the  lesser  Prophets,  which  father  or  mother 
had  given  him  as  a  life-long  treasure  in  the  far-off  happy 
days  when,  little  dreaming  of  all  that  would  befall  him, 
he  played,  a  happy  boy,  in  the  dear  old  Tarsian  home? 
Dreary  and  long  are  the  days — the  evenings  longer  and 
drearier  still — in  that  Eoman  dungeon;  and  it  will  be  a 
deep  joy  to  read  once  more  how  David  and  Isaiah,  in  tlieir 
deep  troubles,  learnt,  as  he  had  learnt,  to  suffer  and  be 
strong.     A  simple  message,  then,  about  an  old  cloak  and 


^  Many  will  recall  the  striking  and  pathetic  parallel  to  this  request  in  the 
letter  written  by  the  martyr  William  Tyndale,  from  the  damp  cells  of  Yilvorde, 
in  the  winter  before  his  death,  asking,  for  Jesus'  sake,  for  a  wai-mer  cap, 
and  something  to  patch  his  leggings,  and  a  woollen  shirt,  and,  above  all,  his 
Hebrew  Bible,  Grammar,  and  Dictionary  :  "  Quamobrem  tuam  dominationem 
rogatum  habeo,  idque  per  Dominum  Jesum,  ut  si  mihi  per  hiemen  hie 
manendum  sit,  solicites  apud  dominum  commissarium,  si  forte  diguari  velit, 
de  rebus  meis  quas  habet  mittere  calidiorem  birethum.  Frigus  enim  patior 
in  capite  nimium  .  .  .  calidiorem  quoque  tunicam,  nam  haec,  quam  habeo, 
admodum  tenuis  est.  Item  pannura  ad  caligas  deficiendas.  Duplois  (sic) 
detrita  estr  camiseae  detritae  sunt  etiam.  Camiseam  laneam  habet  si  mittere 
velit.  .  .  .  Maxime  autem  omnium  tuam  clemeutium  rogo  atque  obsecro  ut 
ex  amino  agere  velit  apud  dominum  commissarium  quatenus  dignari  mihi 
\elitBibl.  Hebraicam,  Grammaticam Hebraicam,  etVocabularitim Hebraicam, 
ut  eo  studio  tempus  conteram    .    .    .  W.  Tindalus  "  (Life,  by  Demaus,  p.  475). 

^  See  Ewald,  Gesch.  iv.  626  ;  vi.  391.  Paul  seems  to  have  been  a  student 
all  his  life,  as  far  as  circumstances  permitted.      Acts  xxvi.  24,  ri  irowi 

fff  ypafJLjiaTo.  us  fj-afiav  irepiTpewei. 


572  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

some  books,  but  very  touching.  They  may  add  a  little 
comfort,  a  little  relief,  to  the  long-drawn  tedium  of  these 
last  dreary  days.  Perhaps  he  thinks  that  he  would  like 
to  give  them,  as  his  parting  bequest,  to  Timothy  himself, 
or  to  the  modest  .  and  faithful  Luke,  that  their  true 
hearts  may  remember  him  when  the  sea  of  life  flows 
smooth  once  more  over  the  nameless  grave.  It  would  be 
like  that  sheepskin  cloak  which  centuries  afterwards  the 
hermit  Anthony  bequeathed  to  the  Archbishop  Athanasius 
— a  small  gift,  but  all  he  had.  Poor  inventory  of  a 
saint's  possessions  !  not  worth  a  hundredth  part  of  what 
a  buffoon  would  get  for  one  jest  in  Caesar's  palace, 
or  an  acrobat  for  a  feat  in  the  amphitheatre  ;  but  would 
he  have  exchanged  them  for  the  jewels  of  the  adventurer 
Agrippa,  or  the  purple  of  the  unspeakable  Nero  ?  No, 
he  is  much  more  than  content.  His  soul  is  joyful  in 
God.  If  he  has  the  cloak  to  keep  him  warm,  and  the 
books  and  parchments  to  teach  and  encourage  him,  and 
Mark  to  help  him  in  various  ways,  and  if,  above  all, 
Timothy  will  come  himself,  then  life  will  have  shed  on 
him  its  last  rays  of  sunshine  ;  and  in  lesser  things,  as 
well  as  in  all  greater,  he  will  wait  with  thankfulness,  even 
with  exultation,  the  pouring  out  in  libation  of  those  last 
few  drops  of  his  heart's  blood,  of  which  the  rich  full 
stream  has  for  these  long  years  been  flowing  forth  upon 
God's  altar  in  willing  sacrifice.^ 

But  there  are  no  complaints,  no  murmurs — there  is 
nothing  querulous  or  depressed  in  these  last  words  of 
St.  Paul.  If  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  and  above^  all  this 
one,  were  not  genuine,  they  must  have  been  written 
by  one  who  not  only  possessed  the  most  perfect  literary 

*  Cf.  Phil.  ii.  17.  Seneca,  when  dying,  sprinkled  the  bystanders  -with  his 
blood,  saying,  "  Libare  se  liquorem  ilium  Jovi  Liberator!"  (Tac.  Ann.  xv. 
64).     So,  too,  Thrasea,  "  Libemus,  inquit,  Jovi  Liberatori "  {Id.  xvi.  35). 


HOPE    AND    COURAGE.  673 

skill,  but  who  had  also  entered  with  consummate  in- 
sight into  the  character  and  heart  of  Paul ; — of  Paul, 
but  not  of  ordinary  men,  even  of  ordinary  great  men. 
The  characteristic  of  waning  life  is  disenchantment,  a 
sense  of  inexorable  weariness,  a  sense  of  inevitable  dis- 
appointment. We  trace  it  in  Elijah  and  John  the 
Baptist ;  we  trace  it  in  Marcus  Aurelius  ;  we  trace  it  in 
Francis  of  Assisi ;  we  trace  it  in  Eoger  Bacon ;  we  trace 
it  in  Luther.  All  is  vain !  We  have  lived,  humanly 
speaking,  to  little  or  no  purpose.  "  We  are  not  better 
than  our  fathers."  "  Art  thou  He  that  should  come,  or 
do  we  look  for  another  ?  "  "I  shall  die,  and  people  will 
say,  '  We  are  glad  to  get  rid  of  this  schoolmaster.'  "  "My 
order  is  more  than  I  can  manage."  "  Men  are  not  worth 
the  trouble  I  have  taken  for  them."  "  We  must  take 
men  as  we  find  them,  and  cannot  change  their  nature." 
To  some  such  effect  have  all  these  great  men,  and  many 
others,  spoken.  They  have  been  utterly  disillusioned ; 
they  have  been  inclined  rather  to  check  the  zeal,  to  curb 
the  enthusiasm,  to  darken  with  the  shadows  of  experience 
the  radiant  hopes  of  their  younger  followers.  If  in  any 
man  such  a  sense  of  disappointment — such  a  conviction 
that  life  is  too  hard  for  us,  and  that  we  cannot  shake  off 
the  crushing  weight  of  its  destinies — could  have  ever  been 
excusable,  it  would  have  been  so  in  St.  Paul.  What 
visible  success  had  he  achieved? — the  founding-  of  a 
few  Churches  of  which  the  majority  were  already  cold  to 
him ;  in  which  he  saw  his  efforts  being  slowly  undermined 
by  heretical  teachers ;  which  were  being  subjected  to  the 
fiery  ordeal  of  terrible  persecutions.  To  the  faith  of 
Christ  he  saw  that  the  world  was  utterly  hostile.  It  was 
arraying  against  the  Cross  all  its  intellect  and  all  its 
power.  The  Christ  returned  not ;  and  what  could  His 
doves  do  among  serpents,  His  sheep  among  wolves  ?     The 


574  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

very  name  "  Christian  "  had  now  come  to  be  regarded 
as  synonymous  with  criminal ;  and  Jew  and  Pagan — 
Hke  "water  with  fire  in  ruin  reconciled,"  amid  some 
great  storm — were  united  in  common  hostility  to  the 
truths  he  preached.  And  what  had  he  personally 
gained?  Wealth? — He  is  absolutely  dependent  on  the 
chance  gifts  of  others.  Power? — At  his  worst  need  there 
had  not  been  one  friend  to  stand  by  his  side.  Love  ? — 
He  had  learnt  by  bitter  experience  how  few  there  were 
who  were  not  ashamed  even  to  own  him  in  his  misery. 
And  now  after  all — after  all  that  he  had  suffered,  after 
all  that  he  had  done — what  was  his  condition?  He  was 
a  lonely  prisoner,  awaiting  a  malefactor's  end.  What  was 
the  sum-total  of  earthly  goods  that  the  long  disease,  and 
the  long  labour  of  his  life,  had  brought  him  in  ?  An  old 
cloak  and  some  books.  And  yet  in  what  spirit  does  he 
write  to  Timothy  ?  Does  he  complain  of  his  hardships  ? 
Does  he  regret  his  life?  Does  he  damp  the  courage  of 
his  younger  friend  by  telling  him  that  almost  every 
earthly  hope  is  doomed  to  failure,  and  that  to  struggle 
against  human  wickedness  is  a  fruitless  fight  ?  Not  so. 
His  last  letter  is  far  more  of  a  paean  than  a  miserere. 
For  himself  the  battle  is  over,  the  race  yun,  the  treasure 
safely  guarded.  The  day's  work  in  the  Master's  vine- 
yard is  well-nigh  over  now.  When  it  is  quite  finished, 
when  he  has  entered  the  Master's  presence,  then  and 
there — not  here  or  now — sluill  he  receive  the  crown  of 
righteousness  and  the  unspeakable  reward.  And  so 
his  letter  to  Timothy  is  all  joy  and  encouragement, 
even  in  the  midst  of  natural  sadness.  It  is  the  young 
man's  heart,  not  the  old  man's,  that  has  failed.  It 
is  Timotheus,  not  Paul,  who  is  in  danger  of  yielding 
to  languor  and  timidity,  and  forgetting  that  the  Spirit 
which  God  gave  was  one  not  of  fear,  but  of  power,  and 


TRIUJIPH    IN   DEFEAT.  575 

of  love,  and  of  a  sound  mind.  "Bear,  then,  afflictions 
"with  me.  Be  strong  in  the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ.  Fan 
up  the  flame  in  those  whitening  embers  of  zeal  and 
courage.  Be  a  good  soldier,  a  true  athlete,  a  diligent 
toiler.  Do  you  think  of  my  chains  and  of  my  hardships  ? 
They  are  nothing,  not  worth  a  word  or  a  thought.  Be 
brave.  Be  not  ashamed.  We  are  weak,  and  may  be 
defeat-ed ;  but  nevertheless  Grod's  foundation-stone  stands 
sure  with  the  double  legend  upon  it — one  of  comfort, 
one  of  exhortation.  Be  thou  strong  and  faithful,  my  son 
Timothy,  even  unto  death."  So  does  he  hand  to  the  dear 
but  timid  racer  the  torch  of  truth  which  in  his  own 
grasp,  through  the  long  torch-race  of  his  life,  no  cowardice 
had  hidden,  no  carelessness  had  dimmed,  no  storm  had 
quenched.  "  Grlorious  Apostle  !•  would  that  every  leader's 
voice  could  burst,  as  he  falls,  into  such  a  trumpet-sound, 
thrilling  the  young  hearts  that  pant  in  the  good  fight, 
and  must  never  despair  of  final  victory,"^     Yes,  even  so  : 

"  Hopes  have  precarious  life ; 
They  are  oft  blighted,  withered,  snapped  sheer  off 
In  vigorous  youth,  and  turned  to  rottenness  ; 
But  faithfulness  can  feed  on  suffering , 
And  knows  no  disappointment."  ' 

>  Martineau,  Sours  of  Thought,  p.  89.  *  "Spanish  Gj^sj.** 


CHAPTER   LYII. 

THE    END. 

"Bonum  agonem  subituri  estis,  in  quo  agonothetes  Dens  vivus  est, 
xystarches  Spiritus  Sanctus,  corona  aeternitatis,  bravium  angelieae  substantiae, 
politia  in  coelis,  gloria  in  saecnla  saeculorum." — Teet.  ad  Mart.  3. 

"  Qui  desiderat  dissolvi  et  esse  cum  Christo,  patienter  vivit  at  delectabiliter 
moritui"." — Amq. 

"  Lieblich  wie  der  Iris  Farbenf euer 
Auf  der  Donuerwolke  duf  t'gem  Tbau 
Scliimmert  durcli  der  Welimutli  dustern  Scbleier 
Hier  der  Ruhe  heitres  Blau." — Schiller. 

Did  Paul  ever  get  that  cloak,  and  the  papyri  and  the 
vellum  rolls  ?  Did  Timothy  ever  reach  him  ?  ^  None 
can  tell  ns.  With  the  last  verse  of  the  Second  Epistle  to 
Timothy  we  have  heard  Paul's  last  word.  In  some  Eoman 
basilica,  perhaps  before  Helius,  the  Emperor's  freedman,  in 
the  presence  of  some  dense,  curious,  hostile  crowd  of  Jews 
and  Pagans,  he  must  have  been  heard  once  more,  in  his 
second  defence,  or  on  the  second  count  of  the  indictment 
against  him ;  and  on  this  occasion  the  majority  of  the 
assessors  must  have  dropped  the  tablet  C — the  tablet  of 
condemnation — into  the  voting  urn,  and  the  presiding  judge 
must  have  pronounced  sentence  of  decapitation  on  one  who, 
though  condemned  of  holding  a  dangerous  and  illegal  super- 
stition, was  still  a  Eoman  citizen.  Was  he  alone  at  his 
second  trial  as  at  his  first  ?  Did  the  Gentiles  again  hear 
of  Jesus  and  the  Resurrection  ?     Did  he  to  them,  as  to  the 

>  That  he  did  is  a  reasonable  conjecture,  and  it  not  improbably  led  to  that 
imprisonment  the  liberation  from  which  is  mentioned  in  the  Eiiistle  to  the 
Hebrews  (xiii.  23). 


SENTENCED    TO    DEATH.  577 

Athenians  prove  that  the  God  whose  Gospel  he  had 
been  commissioned  to  proclaim  was  the  same  God  after 
whom  their  fathers  had  ignorantly  groped,  if  haply  they 
might  find  him,  in  the  permitted  ages  of  ignorance, 
before  yet,  in  the  dispensation  of  the  times,  the  shadow 
on  the  dial-plate  of  eternity  had  marked  that  the 
appointed  hour  had  come?  All  such  questions  are 
asked  in  vain.  Of  this  alone  we  may  feel  convinced — 
that  he  heard  the  sentence  pronounced  upon  him  with  a 
feeling  akin  to  joy — 

"  For  sure,  no  gladlier  does  the  stranded  -wTeck 
See,  through  the  grey  skii'ts  of  a  lifting  squall, 
The  boat  that  bears  the  hope  of  life  approach 
To  save  the  life  despaired  of,  than  he  saw- 
Death  dawning  on  him,  and  the  end  of  all." 

But  neither  respecting  his  bearing  nor  his  fate  do  we 
possess  any  particulars.  If  any  timid,  disheartened, 
secret  Christians  stood  listening  in  the  crowded  court 
— if  through  the  ruined  areas  which  marked  the  sites 
of  what  had  once  been  shops  and  palaces  before  the  con- 
flagration had  swept  like  a  raging  storm  through  the 
narrow  ill-built  streets — if  from  the  poorest  purlieus  of 
the  Trastevere  or  the  gloomy  haunts  of  the  catacomb  any 
converted  slave  or  struggling  Asiatic  who  believed  in 
Jesus  had  ventured  among  the  throng,  no  one  has  left  a 
record,  no  one  even  told  the  story  to  his  fellows  so  clearly 
as  to  leave  behind  him  a  floating  tradition.  We  know 
nothing  more.  The  last  word  has  been  spoken.  The 
curtain  has  fallen  on  one  of  the  noblest  of  human  lives. 

They  who  will  may  follow  him  in  imagination  to  the 
possible  scene  of  his  martyrdom,  but  every  detail  must 
be  borrowed  from  imagination  alone.  It  may  be  that  the 
legendary  is  also  the  real  scene  of  his  death.  If  so,  accom- 
panied by  the  centurion  and  the  soldiers  who  were  to  see 


578  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

him  executed,  lie  left  Eonie  by  the  gate  now  called  by  his 
name.  Near  that  gate,  close  beside  the  English  cemetery, 
stands  the  pyramid  of  C.  Cestius,  and  under  its  shadow 
lie  buried  the  mortal  remains  of  Keats  and  Shelley,  and 
of  many  who  have  left  behind  them. beloved  or  famous 
names.  Yet  even  amid  those  touching  memorials  the 
traveller  will  turn  with  deeper  interest  to  the  old  pyramid, 
because  it  was  one  of  the  last  objects  on  which  rested  the 
eyes  of  Paul.  For  nearly  three  miles  the  sad  procession 
walked;  and  doubtless  the  dregs  of  the  populace,  who  always 
delight  in  a  scene  of  horror,  gathered  round  them.  About 
three  miles  from  Eome,  not  far  from  the  Ostian  road,  is 
a  green  and  level  spot,  with  low  hills  around  it,  known 
anciently  as  Aquae  Salviae,  and  now  as  Tre  Fontane.  There 
the  word  of  command  to  halt  was  given ;  the  prisoner 
knelt  down ;  the  sword  flashed,  and  the  life  of  the 
greatest  of  the  Apostles  was  shorn  away.^ 


"  Dulce  sonat  sethere  vox 
Hiems  transiit,  occidit  nox, 
Imber  abiit  moestaque  crux^ 
L\icet  io  perpetua  lux," — Balde. 


Earthly  failure  could  hardly  have  seemed  more  abso- 
lute. No  blaze  of  glory  shone  on  his  last  hours.  No 
multitudes  of  admiring  and  almost  adoring  brethren  sur- 
rounded his  last  daj^s  with  the  halo  of  martyrdom.  Near 
the  spot  where  he  was  martyred  it  is  probable  that  they 
laid  him  in  some  nameless  grave — in  some  spot  remem- 
bered only  by  the  one  or  two  who  knew  and  loved  him. 
How  little  did  they  know,  how  little  did  even  he  under- 
stand, that  the  apparent  earthly  failure  would  in  reality 

^  I  have  not  thought  it  desirable  to  trouble  the  reader  with  Mediaeval 
legouds  of  St.  Paul's  death,  which  may  be  seen,  by  those  who  list,  in  FabriciuS; 
Cod.  Apocr,  iii.  632  ;  Ordericus  Vitalis,  ii.  3. 


GREATNESS    OF    ST.    PAUL.  679 

be  the  most  infinite  success !  Who  that  watched  that 
obscure  and  miserable  end  could  have  dreamed  that  Eome 
itself  would  not  only  adopt  the  Gospel  of  that  poor 
outcast,  but  even  derive  from  his  martyrdom,  and  that  of 
his  fellow  Apostle,  her  chief  sanctity  and  glory  in  the 
eyes  of  a  Christian  world  ;  that  over  his  su]3posed  re- 
mains should  rise  a  church  more  splendid  than  any 
ancient  basilica ;  and  that  over  a  greater  city  than  Rome 
the  golden  cross  should  shine  on  the  dome  of  a  mighty 
cathedral  dedicated  to  his  name  ? 

How  little  did  men  recognise  his  greatness  !  Here 
was  one  to  whom  no  single  man  that  has  ever 
lived,  before  or  since,  can  furnish  a  perfect  parallel. 
If  we  look  at  him  only  as  a  writer,  how  immensely 
does  he  surpass,  in  his  most  casual  Epistles,  the 
greatest  authors,  whether  Pagan  or  Christian,  of  his 
own  and  succeeding  epochs.  The  younger  Pliny  was 
famous  as  a  letter-writer,  yet  the  younger  Pliny  never 
produced  any  letter  so  exquisite  as  that  to  Philemon. 
Seneca,  as  a  moralist  stood  almost  unrivalled,  yet  not  only 
is  clay  largely  mingled  with  his  gold,  but  even  his  finest 
moral  aphorisms  are  inferior  in  breadth  and  intensity  to  the 
most  casual  of  St.  Paul's.  Epictetus  and  Marcus  Aurelius 
furnish  us  with  the  purest  and  noblest  specimens  of  Stoic 
loftiness  of  thought,  yet  St.  Paul's  chapter  on  charity  is 
worth  more  than  all  they  ever  wrote.  If  we  look  at  the 
Christian  world,  the  very  greatest  worker  in  each  realm 
of  Christian  service  does  but  present  an  inferior  aspect  of 
one  phase  only  of  Paul's  many-sided  pre-eminence.  As  a 
theologian,  as  one  who  formulated  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity, we  may  compare  him  with  St.  Augustine  or  St. 
Thomas  of  Aquinum ;  yet  how  should  we  be  shocked  to 
find  in  him  the  fanciful  rhetoric  and  dogmatic  bitterness 
of  the  one,  or  the  scholastic  aridity  of  the  other !  If  we 
I  I  2 


580  THE    LIFE    AND    WORK    OF    ST.  PAUL. 

look  at  him  as  a  moral  reformer,  we  may  compare  Mm 
with  Savonarola ;  but  in  his  practical  control  of  even  the 
most  thrilling  spiritual  impulses — in  making  the  spirit  of 
the  prophet  subject  to  the  prophet — how  grand  an  exem- 
plar might  he  not  have  furnished  to  the  impassioned 
Florentine  !  If  we  consider  him  as  a  preacher  we  may 
compare  him  with  St.  Bernard ;  yet  St.  Paul  would  have 
been  incapable  of  the  unnataral  ascetism  and  heresy- 
hunting  hardness  of  the  great  Abbot  of  Clairvaux.  As 
a  reformer  who  altered  the  entire  course  of  human 
history,  Luther  alone  resembles  him;  yet  how  incompar- 
ably is  the  Apostle  superior  to  Luther  in  insight,  in 
courtesy,  in  humility,  in  dignity,  in  self-control !  As  a 
missionary  we  might  compare  him  to  Xavier,  as  a  practical 
organiser  to  St.  Gregory,  as  a  fervent  lover  of  souls  to 
Whitefield,  and  to  many  other  saints  of  God  in  many  other 
of  his  endowments ;  but  no  saint  of  God  has  ever  attained 
the  same  heights  in  so  many  capacities,  or  received  the 
gifts  of  the  Spirit  in  so  rich  an  outpouring,  or  borne  in  his 
mortal  body  such  evident  brand-marks  of  the  Lord.  In 
his  lifetime  he  was  no  whit  behind  the  very  chiefest  of 
the  Apostles,  and  he  towers  above  the  very  greatest  of 
all  the  saints  who  have  since  striven  to  follow  the  example 
of  his  devotion  to  his  Lord. 

"  God  buries  his  workmen,  but  carries  on  their  work." 
It  is  not  for  any  earthly  rewards  that  God's  heroes  have 
sought — not  even  for  the  reward  of  hoping  in  the  pos- 
thumous success  of.  the  cause  to  which  they  have  sacri- 
ficed their  lives.  All  questions  of  success  or  failure  they 
have  been  content  to  leave  in  the  hands  of  God.  Their 
one  desire  has  been  to  be  utterly  true  to  the  best  that  they 
have  known;  their  prayers  have  all  been  simplified  to  this 
alone — "Teach  me  to  do  the  thing  that  pleaseth  Thee, 
for  Thou  art  my  God ;  let  Thy  loving  Spirit  lead  me  into 


"EXCEPT    IT    DIE."  581 

the  land  of  righteousness."  That  Grod  has  seemed  to  be 
careless  of  their  individual  happiness  they  would  be  the 
last  to  complain ;  though  He  slay  them,  yet  do  they  trust 
in  Him.  Failure  was  to  St,  Paul  a  word  unknown.  He 
knew  that  to  fail — or  seem  to  fail — in  the  cause  of  God, 
was  to  succeed  beyond  the  dreams  of  earthly  ambition. 

His  faith  had  never  wavered  amid  life's  severest  trials, 
nor  his  hope  grown  dim  amid  its  most  bitter  disappoint- 
ments ;  and  when  he  passed  from  the  dungeon  and 
the  martyrdom  to  his  crown  of  righteousness,  he  left 
the  life  which  he  had  sown  to  be  quickened  by  the 
power  of  God  in  the  soil  of  the  world's  history,  where  it 
shall  continue  to  bear  fruit  until  the  end  of  time,  amid 
the  ever-deepening  gratitude  of  generations  yet  unborn. 
One  who  had  lived  with  him,  and  knew  his  thoughts  and 
hopes,  and  had  himself  preached  the  faith  of  Christ  in 
days  when  to  be  a  Christian  was  to  suffer  as  a  Christian, 
has  written  of  God's  heroes  in  words  which  St.  Paul 
would  have  endorsed,  and  in  which  he  would  have  de- 
lighted, "  These  all  died  in  faith,  not  having  received  the 
promises,  but  having  seen  them  afar  off,  and  were  per- 
suaded of  them,  and  embraced  them,  and  confessed  that 
they  were  strangers  and  pilgrimrs  on  the  earth.  For 
they  that  say  such  things  declare  plainly  that  they  seek 
a  country ;  and  truly,  if  they  had  been  mindful  of  that 
country  whence  they  came  out,  they  might  have  had 
opportunity  to  have  returned.  But  now  they  desire  a 
better  country,  that  is,  an  heavenly;  wherefore  God  is 
not  ashamed  to  be  called  their  God,  for  He  hath  prepared 
for  them  a  city." 


APPENDIX. 


EXCURSUS   I.  (Yol.  I,  p.  612). 

The  Man  of  Sin  ;  or,  "  The  Lawless." 

"Ego  prorsus  quid  dixerit  fateor  me  ignorare." — S.  Aug. 

The  various  conjectiires  as  to  the  "  Man  of  Sin,"  and  "  that  which 
withholdeth,"  may  be  classed  under  thi-ee  heads — (i.)  the  nearly  con- 
temporary, (ii.)  the  distantly  prophetic,  and  (iii.)  the  subjectively  general. 
And  in  each  of  these  classes  the  suggested  antitypes  are  either  (a)  general 
and  impersonal,  or  (/3)  individual  and  special. 

(i.)  The  opinion  adopted  will,  of  course,  depend  greatly  on  the  extent 
\o  which  the  destruction  of  Judaism  in  the  overthrow  of  Jerusalem  can 
be  regarded  as  "  a  coming  of  the  Lord."  Those  who,  in  accordance  with 
most  of  the  definite  temporal  prophecies  of  Scripture,  think  that  St.  Paul 
must  have  been  alluding  to  something  nearly  contemporary — something 
which  already  loomed  on  the  horizon,  and  therefore  to  something 
which  would  alone  have  a  direct  bearing  on  the  lives  of  contemporary 
Christians,  explain  the  Apostasy  and  the  Man  of  Sin  to  represent, 
(a)  generally,  the  Pharisees,  or  Gnosticism,  or  the  growth  of  heresy ; 
or  (js)  individually,  Nero  or  some  Roman  Emperor,  Simon  Magus, 
or  Simon  the  son  of  Gioras;  and  they  see  "the  check"  generally  in 
the  Roman  Emperor,  or  the  Jewisfi  Law,  or  spii'itual  gifts,^  or  the 
time  appointed  by  God  ;^  or  individually  in  some  Emperor  {e.g.,  Claudius 
=qui  claudit  =  '5  Karexei),^  or  James  the  Just,*  or — in  St.  Paul  himself  ! 

(ii.)  Those  who  have  taken  the  distantly  projjhetical  view  of  the  passage 
explain  the  Apostasy  of  the  Man  of  Sin  to  be,  (o)  generally,  the  Papacy, 
or  the  Reformation,  or  Rationalism,  or  something  as  yet  undeveloped ; 
or  (/3)  individually,  Mahomet,  or  Luther,  or  Napoleon,  or  some  future 

*  Chrysostom.  *  Hitzig — very  precariously. 

*  Tkeodoret  (o  tov  ©eoC  Upos).  *  Wieseler,  Chron.  268—273. 


581  APPENDIX. 

personal  Antichrist ;  while  they  see  "  the  check  "  either,  as  above,  in 
the  Roman  Empire,  or  in  the  German  Empire,  or,  more  generally  still, 
in  the  fabric  of  human  polity. 

(iii.)  Finally,  those  who  take  an  entirely  broad  and  subjective  view  of 
the  passage,  see  in  it  only  a  vague  forecast  of  that  which  finds  its  fulfil- 
ment in  all  Christian,  and,  indeed,  in  all  secular,  history,  of  the  counter- 
working of  two  opposing  forces,  good  and  evil,  Christ  and  Antichrist, 
the  Jetser  tohli  and  the  Jetser-ha-rd,  a  lawless  violence  and  a  restraining 
power. 

Now,  of  all  these  interpretations  one  alone  can  be  regarded  as  reason- 
ably certain — namely,  that  which  views  "  the  check  "  as  the  Roman 
Empire,^  and  "  the  checker  "  as  the  Roman  Emiiei-or.  This  may  be  re- 
garded as  fairly  established,  and  has  received  the  widest  acceptance, 
.first,  because  it  fulfils  the  conditions  of  being  something  present  and 
intelligible ;  secondly,  because  we  see  an  obvious  reason  why  it  should 
have  been  only  hinted  at,  since  to  express  it  would  have  been  a  positive 
danger  both  to  the  writer  and  the  community ;  ^  and,  thirdly,  because, 
as  Bishop  Wordsworth  has  pointed  out,  the  Epistle  was  from  the  first 
publicly  read,  and  the  Thessalonians  must  have  attached  a  meaning  to  it, 
and  that  meaning  has  been  handed  down  to  us  traditionally  from  the 
earliest  times.^  Whatever  may  have  been  the  wild  vagaries  of  theo- 
logical rancour,  expressing  itself  in  the  form  of  Biblical  commentary, 
the  early  Fathers,  at  least,  were  almost  unanimous  in  regarding  "  the 
restraining  power  "  as  being  the  Roman  Empire,^  and  the  "  restrainer  " 
as  being  some  Roman  Emperor.^     And  it  seems  obvious  that  one  main 

^  "  Quis  nisi  Romanus  status  ?  "  (Tert.  Be  Restirr.  Cam.  24).  "  Clausiilam  saeculi 
acerbitates  horrendas  comminentem  Romani  imperii  commeatu  scimus  ratardari " 
(id.  Apol.  32).  This  was  all  the  more  natural,  because  the  Eoman  Empire  was 
regarded  as  the  Fourth  Kingdom  of  Daniel.  Prof.  Jowett  objects  (1)  that  he  could 
not  have  expected  it  to  be  so  soon  swept  away ;  and  (2)  that  it  is  not  in  pari  materid. 
But  for  (1)  see  1  Thess.  i.  10 ;  v.  4 ;  1  Cor.  xvi.  22,  &c. ;  and  (2)  St.  Paul  daily  saw 
the  bearing  of  the  Empire  on  the  spread  and  position  of  Christianity. 

^  St.  Paul  had  already  found  this  by  experience,  even  though  his  conversation 
with  the  Thessalonians  had  been  comparatively  private.  But  when  the  Church 
grew,  and  heathens  dropped  not  unfrequently  into  its  meetings,  it  would  have 
been  most  compromising  to  them  to  speak  of  the  destruction  of  the  Eoman  Empire 
contemplated  as  a  near  event. 

3  The  Rabbis  held  a  similar  view.  One  of  them  said,  "  The  Messiah  will  not 
come  till  the  world  has  become  all  white  with  leprosy  (Lev.  xiii.  13)  by  the  Roman 
Empire  embracing  Christianity."    Sanhedrin,i.97,  I;  Soteh,  f.  49,  2  ;  (Amstord.  ed.). 

*  So  Tert.  De  Jiesurr.  Carnis,  24 ;  Iren.  v.  25,  20  ;  Aug.  Be  Civ.  Bci.  xx.  19  ;  Jar. 
Qu.  xi.  ad  Algas;  Lact.  vii.  15,  &c. 

^  Claudius  was  Emperor  when  the  Epistle  was  written,  early  in  A. D.  54.  'WT^ther 
there  is  any  allusion  to  his  name  in  the  word  Karexoi  1  am  not  prepared  to  say. 
Kern  believes  that  Nero  is  intended  by  "  the  Lawless,"  and  therefore  (seeing  that  the 


THE    MAN    OF    SIN.  585 

feature  in  the  blasphemous  self-exaltation  and  opposition  to  God  which 
is  to  be  a  mark  of  the  Man  of  Sin  is  suggested  by  the  insane  and  sacri- 
legious enormities  of  Caligula  (A.D.  40)  thirteen  years  eai-lier,  as  well  as 
by  the  persecutions  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes.  Other  traits  may  have 
been  suggested  by  the  pretensions  and  sorceries  of  Simon  Magus  and 
similar  widely-accredited  impostors.  Nero  became  to  the  Christian 
Church  some  years  afterwards  the  very  impersonation  of  tljeir  ideal 
Antichrist. 

But  to  form  any  conception  as  to  St.  Paul's  meaning,  besides  being 
guided  by  his  belief  of  the  probable  nearness  of  the  Advent,  and  by  the 
necessity  that  what  he  said  should  have  some  meaning  and  value  to  his 
hearers,  we  must  consider  (a)  the  views  of  the  age ;  (/3)  the  symbols  he 
uses ;  and  (7)  his  own  subsequent  language  when  he  alludes  to  any 
similar  topic. 

Turning,  then,  to  these,  we  find  that  (a)  St.  Patil  wasT  fully  aware 
that,  in  the  then  present  dispensation,  the  triumph  of  Christ  was  not  to 
be  final  or  complete.  He  may  well  have  heard  of  Christ's  solemn  ques- 
tion, "  Nevertheless,  when  the  Son  of  Man  cometh,  shall  he  find  faith  on 
the  earth '? "  ^  Even  thus  early  in  his  career  his  prescient  eye  may  have 
observed  the  traces  of  that  Judaic  and  Antichristian  faction  which  was 
to  undo  so  much  of  his  work,  and  embitter  so  many  years  of  his  life, 
and  to  whom  he  applies  the  sternest  language.  Already  he  may  have 
noticed  the  germs  of  the  various  forms  of  Gnosticism,  of  which,  in  his 
Epistle  to  Timothy,  he  describes  the  "  devilish  doctrines "  in  language 
which  recalls  some  of  his  expressions  in  this  place.^  And  the  views  of 
the  early  Christians,  as  expressed  by  other  Apostles,  were  all  founded  on 
warnings  which  Christ  had  uttered,  and  all  pointed  in  the  same  direction.-^ 
That  St.  Paul  should  have  thrown  his  forebodings  into  the  concrete 
was  natural  to  one  so  familiar  with  Old  Testament  prophecy,*  so 
given  to  personification,  and  so  trained  to  the  expectation  of  a  Messiah 
who  should  be  the  personal  victor  over  all  iniquity  in  the  person  of  the 
Aj-ch-foe,  the  Rashd,  the  Antichrist.     That  this  personification  should 


first  five  years  of  Nero  were  that  "golden  quinquennium,"  which  Roman  writers  so 
highly  praise)  concludes  that  the  Epistle  is  spurious.  Eev.  xvii.  10,  11,  refers  to  a 
later  time,  and  possibly  to  the  strangely  prevalent  notion  that  Nero  was  not  really 
dead,  but  would  in  due  time  re-appear.  The  expressions  used  are  evidently  coloiu'ed 
by  the  picture  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes  in  Dan.  xi.  He  is  called  "  a  man  of  sin  " 
{avrip  a.fi.apr(tiK6s)  in  1  Maco.  ii.  48,  62. 

*  Luke  xviii.  8. 

2  1  Tim.  iv.  1—3  (cf.  2  Tim.  i.  15 ;  iii.  1—9 ;  Col.  ii.  8,  16—19  ;  Acts  xx.  29). 
'  Luke  xviii.  8  ;  1  John  iv.  3 ;  2  Pet.  ii.  1,  2 ;  iii.  3 ;  Kev.  xiii.  and  passim;  and 
the  Epistle  of  Jude. 

*  Ezek.  xxxviii.  16,  17. 


686  APPENDIX. 

also  in  part  have  taken  its  colour  from  tlie  monstrous  wickedness  and 
blasphemous  follies  of  emperors  like  Tiberius  and  Caligula,  was  exactly 
what  we  should  have  expected ;  and,  indeed,  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the 
Jews  had  acted  on  the  world  of  heathendom,  which  in  its  turn  reacted 
upon  them.  It  is  a  most  interesting  confirmation  of  this  fact  that  the 
Jews  gave  to  Antichrist  the  name  of  Armillus  (oibDn^).  Thus,  in  the 
Targum  of  Jonathan  on  Isa.  xi.  4,  we  find,  "  With  the  breath  of  His  lips 
shall  He  destroy  the  wicked  Armillus  ;"  and  in  the  Jerusalem  Targum  on 
Numb.  xi.  26,  and  Deut.  xxxiv,  2,  we  are  told  of  Armalgus  the  Impious. 
This  seems  to  be  an  allusion  to  the  bracelets  (armillce)  which,  with  utter 
defiance  of  all  public  dignity,  were  worn  in  public  by  Caligula.^  "We  see, 
then,  what  St.  Paul's  anticipations  at  tliis  moment  were.  He  thought 
that  ere  long  the  Roman  Empire,  so  far  at  any  rate  as  it  was  represented 
by  the  reigning  Emjjeror,  would  be  swept  away ;  that  thereupon  the 
existing  tendencies  of  iniquity  and  apostasy,  whether  in  Judaism  or  in 
the  Church  itself,  would  be  concentrated  in  the  person  of  one  terrible 
opponent,  and  that  the  destruction  of  this  opponent  wovild  be  caused  by 
the  personal  Advent  of  the  Lord.  At  this  time  portents  and  presages  of 
the  most  direful  character  were  in  the  air.  The  hideous  secrets  of  the 
Imperial  Court  were  darkly  whispered  among  the  people.  There  were 
rumours  of  monstrous  births,  of  rains  of  blood,  of  unnatural  omens.* 
Though  Claudius  had  been  the  last  to  learn  the  infamous  orgies  of 
his  wife  Messalina,  and  perhaps  the  last  to  suspect  the  murderous 
designs  of  his  wife  and  niece  Agrippina,  yet  by  this  time  even  he  was 
not  unaware  that  his  life  hung  on  a  thread.  Little  was  as  yet  known 
of  Nero  in  the  provinces,  but  it  might  have  been  anticipated,  before  the 
illusive  promise  of  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  that  the  son  of  such  a 
father  and  such  a  mother  could  only  turn  out  to  be  the  monster  which 
his  father  expected,  and  which  he  did  viltimately  turn  out  to  be.  If  St. 
Paul  anticipated  that  the  present  condition  of  the  government  would 
perish  with  Claudius,  the  reigning  Emperor,  and  that  his  successor  would 
be  the  Man  of  Sin,  his  anticipation  was  fulfilled.  If  he  further  antici- 
pated that  this  representative  of  lawless  and  already  working  opposition 
to  God  and  His  Christ  would  be  destroyed  by  the  second  Advent,  he 
was  then  absolutely  right  so  far  as  its  Judaic  elements  were  concerned, 
and  so  far  as  the  second  Advent  was  foreshadowed  by  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem ;   and   his  anticipations  were  only  mistaken  on  a  point 

^  Suet.  Califf.  52,  "  Jlrmi'latus  in  publicum  processit"  (Hitzig.,  Gesch.  Is.  583). 
The  anniversary  of  his  death  was  observed  as  a  festival  (Derenbourg,  Palest.  208). 
Others,  however,  connect  Armillus  with  (prj/xeXaos,  or  "  Romulua  "  (Hamburger, 
Talm.  Worterb.  s.  v.). 

3  Tac.  Ann.  xii.  64 ;  Suet.  Claud.  43 ;  Dion  Cass.  Ix.  34,  35. 


THE    MAN    OF    SIN.  587 

respecting  which  all  knowledge  was  confessedly  withheld — only  in  that 
ante-dating  of  the  personal  second  Advent  which  was  common  to  him 
■with  all  Christians  in  the  first  centuiy  of  Christianity.  Nor  need  it 
be  surprising  to  any  one  that  he  should  mingle  Jewish  and  heathen 
elements  in  the  colours  with  which  he  painted  the  coming  Antichrist. 
In  doing  this  he  was  in  full  accord  with  that  which  must  be  the  case, 
and  Avith  the  dim  expectations  of  paganism  no  less  than  with  Rabbinic 
notions  respecting  the  rival  of  the  Messiah.* — Further  than  this  we 
cannot  go ;  and  since  we  cannot — since  all  attempts  at  nearer  indi- 
cation have  faUed — since  by  God's  express  and  declared  Providence 
we  are  as  far  as  the  Thessalonians  could  have  been  from  any  accurate 
conception  as  to  the  times  and  seasons  of  the  coming  of  Christ — it  is 
clear  that  we  lose  no  vital  truth  of  the  Gospel  by  our  inability  to 
find  the  exact  interpretation  of  an  enigma  which  has  been  hitherto 
insoluble,  and  of  which,  had  it  been  necessary  for  us,  the  exact  expla- 
nation would  not  have  been  withheld.^ 

^  It  was  but  a  few  years  after  this  time  that  Balbillus,  the  Ephesian  Jew,  who 
professed  a  knowledge  of  astrology,  used  the  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament  to 
assure  Nero  that  he  should  be  King  at  Jerusalem. 

2  The  Thessalonians,  says  St.  Augustine,  knew  what  St.  Paul  meant,  we  do  not. 
"Nos  qui  nescimus  quod  illi  sciebant  pervenire  labore  ad  id  quod  sensit  Apostolus 
cupimus,  nee  valemus." 


588 


APPENDIX. 


EXCURSUS  II.— Chief  Uncial  Manuscripts 


j,^,  Sinaiticus,  at  Peters- ") 
buig  (Imp.  Librarj')  } 

A,  Alexaudrinus,     at) 
British  Museiuii     ...J 

B,  Vaticanus,  at  Eome  \ 
O'atican  Library)   ...  J 


C,  Ephraemi,  at  Paris'^ 
(Imperial  Libraiy),  a  >■ 
Palimpsest  MS.      ...J 


Di,  Bezae.at  Cambridge  ) 
(Univ.  Library)       ...  ) 


Do.  Claromontanus,  \ 
Paris  (Imp.  Lib. )    ...j 

Eg,  Laudianus,  Oxford) 
(Bodleian) j 

E3,  Sangermanensis,~j 
Petersburg  (Imperial  ( 
Lib.).  A  transcript  ( 
of  Do,  mutilated     ...J 

F2,  Augiensis,  Trinity) 
College,  Cambridge...  j 

r„  Coislinianus,  Paris 

Gj,  Angelicas,  Rome ) 
(August.  Monlvs)     ...  > 

G3,  Boernerianus,  Dres- ) 
den  (Royal  Library)   ) 

Hj,  Mutinensis,  Mo-") 
dena  (Gitmd  Ducal  > 
Library)     ) 

Hs.Coislinianus  (twelve"^ 
leaves  at  Paris,  two  >■ 
leaves  at  Petersburg) 

I,  Fnigmenta,  Palimp-"\ 
sestaTischendoriiana,  I 
They  are  seven  frag-  f 
ments,  at  Petersburg  J 

Ko,  Mosquensis,  at ) 
Moscow     S 

Lo,  Angelicus,  Rome, 
"isanie  as  Gj       

M->,  Ruber.  Fragments 
at  Hamburg  and  at 
British  Museum 

P,  Porphyrianus.  Pub-') 
lished  by  Tischen-  [ 
doi-f.  Monumenta  V 
sacra  inedita.  (See  I 
Alford,  vol.  2.)        ...J 


(i.  2  to  iv.  3) 

(v.  35— X.  43) 

(xiii.  1 — xvi.  37) 

(XX.  10— xxi.  31)  I 

^xxii.  21 — xxiii.  18) 

*(xxiv.  15— xxvi.  19) 

(xxvii.  17-xxviii.  5) 

(i.  1— viii.  29) 
(x.  14— xxi.  2) 
(xxi.  10-16) 
Lxi.  18— xxii.  10) 
(xxii.  20—29) 


AU. 
AU. 


(i.  1-ii.  5) 

(iii.  21— ix.  6) 

■  (x.  15— xi.  31) 

(xiii.  10— end) 


IX. 
VII. 


IX, 
IX.  { 
X. 


(i.  1— xxvi.  29) 
(xxviii.  26— end) 


(viii.  10 — end) 

Same  as  L.i.     Se 

below. 


(v.  28— ix.  39) 
(x.  19— xiii.  36) 
(xiv.  3 — xxvii.  4) 


(ii.  6-17) 
(xxvi.  7—18) 
(xxviii.  8—17) 


(viii.  10— end) 
See  G2  above. 


(ii  14-end) 


(i.  7— end) 


(iii.l9— toend)^ 


All. 
All.       ( 


(i.  1— vii.  18) 
(ix.7 — xiii.  8) 
(XV.  40 — end) 


(i.ltoiv.lSU 


(xii.  7  to  end) 


(i.  1— iii.  8) 
(iii.  16— vi.  7) 
(vi.  16— end) 


Some  fragments  of  the  Epistles  found  in 

The  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  in  this  MS.  are 
known  as  L2. 


(i,  1 — onward) 


}    - 


(L1-X.18)  [ 
I       All. 


....    ( 


This  is  a  sister  MS.  to  F2, 


ns 


xi.  9-17) 


(XV.  53— xvi.  9) 


(1.  13— viii.  7) 
(viii.  12— end) 


AU. 
(xv.52— end); 


(i.  1-xii.  23) 
(xiii.6— xiv.23) 
(xiv.  39— end) 


AU. 

All. 


(i.1-15)    I 
(x.13— xii.6)i 


This  Table  has  kindly  been  drawn  up  for 

[The  general  reader  should  notice  (i.)  that  D  and  E  mean  different  MSS.'  for  the  Acts  and  for  the 

(iii.)  that  F  (Augiensis)  is  in  most  instances 


THE    IIN"CIALS. 


OF  THE  Acts,  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul. 


All. 
All. 
AU. 


AIL 
AO. 
AU. 


0-  21— end)  (ii.  18-iv.  17)  (i.  22-iii.  5) 


Ail. 
All. 
AIL 


All. 
All. 
AIL 


(i.  2— 6ncl)'(i.  2— ii. 


AIL  All.  ^■{fn'^^]^-         AIL  AIL  AIL 

marginal  notes  to  the  great  Septuagiut  Octateuch  known  as  Cod.,  Coislinianus  I, 


AU. 
AU. 


(iii.  9-y.  20)  (i.  3— end) 


AIL 


(i.  4-end) 


AIL     a-21) 


AIL 
AU. 


(Stoend) 


All. 


supplying  the  commencement  of  Romans,  not  other  deficiencies.    It  is  considerably  mutUated. 


f  (i.  4-10) 
t(ii.  9-U) 


AIL 
AIL 


}  .... 


AIL 
AIL 


(i.l-iii.l6) 
(iv.8— end) 


(i.  1-iiL  5) 

(iv.   17-end) 


]au. 


(ilL  r— 14) 


AU. 
All, 


(LI) 
(i.  15— ii.  5) 
(iii.lStoend) 


(i.  1-13) 


me  by  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Northcote. 

Ei>i.stlcs  ;  (ii.)  that  E  (Sangermanensis^  is  a  copy  of  the  third  corrector  of  D  (Claromontanns) ; 
almost  idfutical  with  G  (Boerueriauus).] 


690  APPENDIX. 

EXCURSUS  III.  (p.  82). 

Theology  and  Antinomies  of  St.  Paul. 

I  HAVE  treated  so  fully  of  the  main  outlines  of  St.  Paul's  theology  in  the 
sketch  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  that  I  need  not  here  enter  upon  it,  but 
it  may  be  convenient  to  the  reader  to  see  at  one  glance  two  of  his  own  most 
pregnant  summaries  of  it.  These  are  Rom.  iii.  21 — 26;  Tit.  iii  3 — 7, 
for  further  explanation  of  which  I  must  refer  to  pp.  208,  seq.  536. 

Rom.  iii.  21 — 26  :  "But  now  apart  from  Law,  God's  righteousness  has 
been  manifested,  being  witnessed  to  by  the  Law  and  the  Prophets — even 
God's  righteousness  (I  say)  by  means  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  unto  all 
and  upon  all  believers ;  for  there  is  no  difference.  For  all  sinned  and 
are  falling  short  of  the  glory  of  God,  being  made  righteous  freely  by  His 
grace,  by  the  means  of  the  redemption  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  whom 
God  set  forth  as  "  a  propitiary"  by  means  of  faith  in  His  blood  for  the 
manifestation  of  His  righteousness,  because  of  the  praetermission  of  past 
sins  by  the  long-suffering  of  God — with  a  view  (I  say)  to  the  manifesta- 
tion of  His  righteousness  in  the  present  season,  so  that  He  may  be 
righteous  and  the  giver  of  righteousness  to  him  who  is  of  faith  in  Jesus." 

Tit.  iii.  3 — 7  :  "  For  we  were  once  ourselves  also  foolish,  disobedient, 
wandering  slaves  to  various  lusts  and  pleasures,  living  in  malice  and 
envy,  hateful,  hating  one  another.  But  when  the  kindness  and  the  love 
to  man  of  our  Saviour  God  appeared,  not  by  works  of  righteousness 
which  we  did,  but  according  to  His  mercy  He  saved  us  by  means  of  the 
laver  of  regeneration  and  renewal  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  He  poured 
forth  upon  us  richly  by  means  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour,  that  being 
justified  by  His  gi'ace  we  should  become  heirs  of  eternal  life  according 
to  hope." 

By  "  antinomies"  I  mean  the  apparent  contradictoriness  to  human 
reason  of  divine  facts.  Such  antinomies  must  arise  when  Reason  seeks 
to  know  something  of  the  absolute,  stepping  beyond  the  limits  of  ex- 
perience. 

Among  the  apparent  antinomies  left  without  any  attempt — because 
there  is  no  possibility — of  their  reconciliation  to  our  finite  rea.son  in  the 
writings  of  St.  Paul,  are — 

1.  Pi-edestination  Rom.  ix.  (as  explaining  the  rejection 

(Absolute  dependence).  of   Israel  from  the  objective 

and  theological  point  of  view). 

Free  Will  Rom.  ix.  30 — x.  21  (as  explaining 

(Moral  self-determination).  the   rejection  of  Isi-ael  from 

the  moral  and  anthropological 

point  of  view). 


THEOLOGY    AND    ANTINOMIES    OF    ST.  PAUL.         591 

2.  Sin  through  Adam's  fall;  Rom.  v.  12—21. 
Sin  as  inherent  in  the  flesh  ;  1  Cor.  xv.  50,  seq. 

3.  Christ  judging  all  Christians  at  His   Advent;  Rom.   ii.   16; 

xiv.  10  ;  1  Cor.  iii.  13  ;  2  Cor.  v.  10. 
God  finally  judging  all  men  through  Christ ;  1  Cor.  iv.  5  (xv. 
24,  25). 

4.  Recompense  for  all  according  to  works;    Rom,    ii.    6 — 10; 

2  Cor.  V.  10. 
Free  forgiveness  of  the  redeemed ;  Rom.  iv.  4 ;  ix.  11;  xi.  6. 

5.  Universal  Restoration  and  Blessedness;  Rom.  viii.    19 — 23; 

xi.  30—36. 
A  twofold  end;  Rom.  iL  5 — 12.     "The  perishing;"  2  Cor.  ii. 
15,  (fee. 

6.  Necessity  of  human  effort ;  1  Cor.  ix.   24.      "  So  run  that  ye 

may  obtain." 
Ineffectualness  of  human  effort ;   Rom.   ix.   1 6,  "  It  is  not  of 

him  that  willeth,  nor  of  him  that  runneth." 
The  two  are  brought  together  in  Phil.  ii.   12,  13,  "Work  out 

your  own  salvation  .  ,  .  For  it  is  God  which  worketh  in  you." 

To  these  others  might  perhaps  be  added,  but  none  of  them  causes,  or 
need  cause,  any  trouble  to  the  Christian.  On  the  one  hand,  we  know 
that  omnia  exeunt  in  mysterium,  and  that  we  cannot  think  for  five 
minutes  on  any  subject  connected  with  the  spiritual  life  without  reach- 
ing a  point  at  which  the  wings  of  the  soul  beat  in  vain  as  against  a  wall 
of  adamant.  On  the  other  hand,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  Paul 
almost  created  the  language  of  Christian  theology ;  that  he  often  en- 
shrines in  a  single  word  a  whole  world  of  ideas  ;  and  that  he  always 
refuses  to  pursue  the  great  saving  truths  of  religion  into  mere  speculative 
extremes.  If  we  cannot  live  as  yet  in  the  realms  of  perfect  and  universal 
light,  we  have  at  any  rate  a  lamp  which  throws  a  circle  of  radiance 
around  our  daily  steps. 

"  Lead  thou  me  on.    I  do  not  ask  to  see 
The  distant  scene  ;  one  step  enough  for  me." 


592  APPENDIX. 

EXCURSUS  lY.  (p.  413). 

Distinctive  Words,  Key-notes,  and  Characteristics 
OF  the  Epistles. 

It  may  perhaps  seiTe  to  call  attention  to  tlie  individuality  of  tlie 
Epistles  if  I  endeavour  to  point  out  how  some  of  them  may  be  roughly 
characterised  by  leading  words  or  conceptions. 

/. — The  Eschatohgical  Group. 

1  Thessalonians. — This  Epistle  is  marked  by  the  extreme  sweets 
ness  of  its  tone.  Its  key-note  is  Hope.  Its  leading  words,  irapova-ia, 
e\l}i/is.     Its  main  theme  is  Consolation  from  the  near  hope  of  the  Second 

Advent,  iv.  17,  18,  vj^^^s  ol  (covTes  apirayfiaofxeea,  k.  t.  A.  irapaKaKeTTf  dWriKovs 
iv  rois  Koyois  tovtois.^ 

2  Thessalonians. — Tlie  key-note  is  ii.  1,  2,  /j-v  rdx^ws  a-aXevOrivai  .  .  . 
&s  oTi  ivi(TT7\Kiv  7}  7}fj.epa  Tov  Kvpiov.  PccuHar  doctriual  section  on  the  Man 
of  Sin. 

//. — The  Anti-Judaic  Group. 

1  Corinthians. — Love  and  unity  amid  divergent  opinions.  Little 
details  decided  by  great  principles.     Life  in  the  world,  but  not  of  it. 

2  Corinthians. — The  Apostle's  Ajyologia  pro  vitd  sud.  The  leading 
words  of  i. — ^vi.  "  tribulation  "  and  "  consolation."  In  viii. — end,  the 
leading  conception  "  boasting  not  on  merits  but  in  infirmities." 

Galatians. — The  Apostle's  independent  authority.  Christian  liberty 
from  the  yoke  of  the  Law.  Circumcision  nothing,  and  uncircumcision 
nothing,  but 

Romans. — The  Universality  of  sin,  and  the  Universality  of  grace 
(ttus  a  leading  word).  Justification  by  faith.  This  Epistle  is  the  sum 
of  St.  Paul's  theology,  and  Rom.  L  16,  17  is  the  sum  of  the  Epistle. 

///. — The  Christological  or  Anti-Gnostic  Group. 

Philippians. — Joy  in  sorrow,  "  Summa  Epistolse,  gaudeo,  gaudete" 
(Bengel). 

CoLOSSiANS. — Christ  all  in  all.  The  Pleroma.  Leading  conception, 
ii.  6,  eu  Avrf  irfpiiraTure,     "  Hic  epistolae  scopus  est "  (Bengel). 

Philemon. — Can  a  Christian  master  tre^t  a  brother  as  a  slave? 
Leading  conception,  12,  irpoffAa^oC  alnSv. 

^  "  Habet  haec  epistola  meram  qnandam  dulcediuem,  quae  lectori  dulcibus 
affectibus  nou  assueto  minus  sapit  quam  ceterae  severitate  quadam  palatum 
stringentes"  (Bengel).    "Im  Ganzer  ist  es  ein  Trostbrief  "  (Hausrath,  p.  299). 


LETTER    OF    PLINY    TO    SABINIANUS.  593 

Ephesians. — Christ  in  His  Church.  The  Epistle  of  the  Ascension. 
The  leading  words  are  x^^P'^i  ^o  inovpavta,  4v  Xpiar^. 

IV.— The  Pastoral  Group. 

,    rp  ^Manuals  of    the  Christian   pastor's  dealing  with  the 

}  faithful  and  with  false  teachei-s.  Leading  conceptions, 
(  sobriety  of  conduct,  soimihiess  of  faith. 

2  Timothy. — Last  words.  Be  brave  and  faithful,  as  I  have  tried  to 
be.     Come  quickly,  come  before  winter ;  come  before  I  die.     iv.  6,  ^yi 

yap  ^5tj  ffirevSofiai, 


TiTUS 


EXCURSUS   V.  (p.  477). 

Letter  of  Pliny  to  Sabinianus  on  behalf  of  an  offending 
Freedman. 

*'C.  Plinius  Sabiniano  suo  S. 

"  Libertus  tuus,  cui  succensere  te  dixeras,  venit  ad  me  advolutusque 
pedibus  meis  tanquam  tuis  haesit.  Flevit  multum,  multum  rogavit, 
multum  etiam  tacuit,  in  summa  fecit  mihi  fidem  paenitentiae.  Vere 
credo  emendatum,  quia  deliquisse  se  sentit.  Irasceris,  scio,  et  irasceris 
merito,  id  quoque  scio  :  sed  tunc  praecipua  mansuetudinus  lavis,  cum 
irae  caussa  iustissima  est.  Amasti  hominem  et,  spero,  amabis  :  intei'im 
sufficit  ut  exorari  te  sinas.  Licebit  rursus  irasci,  si  meruerit,  quod 
exoratus  excusatius  facies.  Remitte  aliquid  adulescentiae  ipsius,  remitte 
lacrimis,  remitte  indulgentiae  tuae  :  ne  torseris  ilium,  ne  torseris  etiam 
te.  Torqueris  enim,  cum  tarn  lenis  irasceris.  Vereor  ne  vldear  non 
rogare,  sed  cogere,  si  precibiis  eius  meas  iunxero.  Jungam  tamen  tanto 
plenius  et  effiisius,  quanto  ipsum  acrius  severiusque  corripui,  districte 
minatus  numquam  me  postea  rogatmiim.  Hoc  illi,  quern  terreri  opoi-te- 
bat ;  tibi  non  idem.  Nam  fortasse  iterum  rogabo,  impetrabo  iterum  : 
sit  modo  tale  ut  rogare  me,  ut  praestare  te  deceat.    Vale  1" 

Translation. 
**  C.  Plinius  to  his  Sabinianus,  greeting  : — 

"  Your  freedman,  with  whom,  as  you  had  told  me,  you  were  vexed, 
came  to  me,  and,  flinging  himself  at  my  feet,  clung  to  them  as  though 
they  had  been  yours.     He  wept  much,  entreated  much,  yet  at  the  same 
m  m 


59-1  APPENDIX. 

time  left  much  unsaid,  and,  in  short,  convinced  me  that  he  was  sincerely 
sorry.  I  believe  that  he  is  really  reformed,  because  he  is  conscious  of  his 
delinquency.  You  are  angiy,  I  know  ;  justly  angry,  that  too  I  know  ;  but 
gentleness  is  most  praiseworthy  exactly  where  anger  is  most  justifiable. 
You  loved  the  poor  fellow,  and  I  hope  will  love  him  again  ;  meanwhile,  it 
is  enough  to  yield  to  intercession.  Should  he  ever  deserve  it  you  may  be 
angry  again,  and  all  the  more  excusably  by  yielding  now.  Make  some 
allowance  for  his  youth,  for  his  tears,  for  your  own.  kindly  disposition. 
Do  not  torture  him,  lest  you  torture  yourself  as  well,  for  it  is  a  torture 
to  you  when  one  of  your  kindly  nature  is  angiy.  I  fear  you  will  think 
that  I  am  not  asking  but  forcing  you  if  I  join  my  prayers  to  his  ;  I  will, 
however,  do  so,  and  all  the  more  fully  and  unreservedly  in  proportion  to 
the  sharpness  and  severity  with  which  I  took  him  to  task,  sternly 
threatening  that  I  would  never  say  a  word  for  him  again.  That  I  said 
to  him  because  he  needed  to  be  well  frightened  ;  but  I  do  not  say  it  to 
you,  for  perhaps  I  shall  say  a  word  for  him  again,  and  again  gain  my 
point ;  provided  only  my  request  be  such  as  it  becomes  me  to  ask  and 
you  to  grant.     Farewell  1 " 


EXCURSUS   YI.     (I.  311,  H.  352). 

The  Herods  in  the  Acts. 

If  there  be  sufficient  ground  for  the  plausible  conjecture  which 
identilies  Agi'ippa  I.  and  Cypres  with  the  king  and  queen  who  figure  in 
the  two  following  anecdotes  of  the  Talmud,  we  shall  see  that  the  part 
he  had  to  play  was  not  always  an  easy  one,  and  even  led  to  serious  com- 
plications. 

i.  The  Talmud  relates  that  on  one  occasion,  at  a  festival,  a  lizard 
was  found  in  the  royal  kitchen.  It  appeared  to  be  dead,  and  if  so 
the  whole  banquet  would  have  become  ceremonially  unclean.  The  king 
referred  the  question  to  the  queen,  and  the  queen  to  Rabban  Gamaliel. 
He  asked  whether  it  had  been  found  in  a  warm  or  a  cold  place.  "  In 
a  warm  place,"  they  said.  "  Then  pour  cold  Avater  over  it."  They  did 
so.  The  lizard  revived,  and  the  banquet  Avas  pronounced  clean.  So 
that,  the  writer  complacently  adds,  the  fortune  of  the  entire  festival 
depended  ultimately  on  Rabban  Gamaliel.^ 

ii.  The  other  story  is  more   serious.     It  appears  that  at  a  certain 

»  Petachim,  f.  88,  2. 


THE    HERODS    IN    THE    ACTS.  595 

Passover  the  king  and  queen  were  informed  by  their  attendants  that  two 
kinds  of  victims — a  lamb  and  a  kid — either  of  which  was  legal — had 
been  killed  for  them,  and  they  were  in  doubt  as  to  which  of  the  two  was 
to  be  regarded  as  preferable.  The  king,  who  considered  that  the  kid 
was  preferable,  and  was  less  devoted  to  the  Pharisees  than  his  wife,  sent 
to  ask  the  high  priest  Issachar  of  Kephar-Barchai,  thinking  that  since 
he  daily  sacrificed  victims,  he  would  be  sure  to  know.  Issachar,  who  was 
of  the  same  hanghty,  violent,  luxurious  temperament  as  all  the  numerous 
Sadducean  high  priests  of  the  day,  made  a  most  contemptuous  gesture  in 
the  king's  face,  and  said  that,  if  the  kid  was  preferable,  the  lamb  would 
not  have  been  oi-dained  for  use  in  the  daily  sacrifice.  Indignant  at  his 
rudeness,  the  king  ordered  his  right  hand  to  be  cut  off.  Issachar,  how- 
ever, bribed  the  executioner,  and  got  him  to  cut  off  the  left  hand.  The 
king,  on  discovering  the  fraud,  had  the  right  hand  cut  off  also.^  It  is 
thus  that  the  story  runs  in  the  Pesachim,  and  further  on  it  is  said  that 
when  the  doubt  arose  the  king  sent  to  the  queen,  and  the  queen  to  the 
Pabban  Gamaliel,  who  gave  the  perfectly  sensible  answer  that  as  either 
victim  was  legal,  and  as  the  king  and  queen  had  been  perfectly 
indifferent  in  giving  the  order  for  the  Paschal  victims  to  be  slain,  they 
could  eat  of  the  one  which  had  been  first  killed.^ 

As  this  story  was  not  very  creditable  to  Agrippa  I.,  we  find  a 
sufficient  reason  for  the  silence  of  Josephus  in  passing  over  the  name  of 
Issachar  in  his  notices  of  the  High  Priests.^  His  was  not  a  name  which 
could  have  sounded  very  agreeable  in  the  ears  of  Agrippa  II.  The 
elder  Agrippa  seems  to  have  been  tempted  in  this  instance  into  a 
violence  which  was  not  unnatural  in  one  who  had  lived  in  the  court  of 
Tiberius,  but  which  was  a  rude  interruption  of  his  plan  of  pleasing  the 
pi-iestly  party,  while  Cypres  took  the  Pharisees  under  her  special 
patronage.  Issachar  seems  to  have  come  between  Theophilus,  son  of 
Hanan,  and  Simon,  son  of  Kanthera  the  Boethusian.*  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  tendencies  of  Cypres,  and  his  own  proclivities,  it  was 
important  to  Agrippa  that  he  should  retain  the  support  of  the  sacer- 
dotal aristocrats ;  and  they  were  well  pleased  to  enjoy,  in  rapid 
succession,  and  as  the  appanage  of  half-a-dozen  families,  the  burden- 
some dignity  of  Aaron's  successor, 

1  Pesachim,  f.  .57,  1.  In  Eeritoth,  f.  28,  2,  it  is  told  with  some  variations,  and 
the  king  is  called  Jannaeus.  It  is,  however,  a  fashion  of  the  Talmud  to  give  this 
name  to  Asmonnean  kings  (Derenhourg,  p.  211).  May  this  wild  story  have  been 
suggested  by  the  indignation  of  the  Jews  against  the  first  High  Priest  who  wore 
gloves  to  prevent  his  hands  from  being  soiled  ? 

3  Id.  88  b.  When  I  was  present  at  the  Samaritan  passover  on  the  summit  of 
Mount  Gerizim,  six  lambs  and  one  kid  were  sacrificed. 

8  Antt.  XX.  10,  5.  *  Herod  the  Great  had  married  a  daughter  of  Boethus. 

m  m  2 


686  APPENDIX. 

The  Pharisees,  on  the  other  hand,  recounted  with  pleasiire  the  fact 
that  no  sooner  had  Agiippa  arrived  at  Jerusalem  than  he  caiised  to  be 
suspended  on  the  columns  of  the  oulam,  or  Temple  portico,  the  chain  of 
massive  gold  which  he  had  received  from  Gains  as  an  indemnification 
for  his  captivity ;  ^  that  he  was  most  munificent  in  his  presents  to  the 
nation  ;  that  he  was  a  daily  attendant  at  the  Temple  sacrifice  ;  that  he 
had  called  the  attention  of  the  Legate  Petronius  to  the  decrees  of 
Claudius  in  favour  of  Jewish  privileges,  and  had  thereby  prociwed  the 
reprimand  and  punishment  of  the  inhabitants  of  Dor,^  who  had  insulted 
the  Jews  by  erecting  in  their  synagogue  a  statue  of  the  emperor.  They 
had  also  told  with  applause  that  he  carried  his  basket  of  first-fruits  to 
the  Temple  like  any  ordinary  Israelite  f  and  that  although  every  one 
had  to  give  way  in  the  streets  to  the  king  and  his  suite,  yet  Agrippa 
always  yielded  the  right  of  road  to  a  marriage  or  funeral  procession.* 
There  were  two  stories  on  which  they  dwelt  with  peculiar  pleasure. 
One  was  that  on  a  single  day — perhaps  that  of  his. arrival  at  Jerusalem 
— he  offered  a  thousand  holocausts,  and  that  when  they  had  been 
ofiered,  a  poor  man  came  with  two  pigeons.  The  priest  refused  this 
sacrifice,  on  the  pretext  that  on  that  day  he  had  been  bidden  to  offer 
none  but  royal  victims  ;  but  he  yielded  to  the  poor  man's  earnest  solici- 
tation on  being  told  that  the  pigeons  were  brought  in  fulfilment  of  a 
vow  that  he  would  daily  offer  half  the  produce  of  his  day's  work ;  and 
Agrippa  Avarmly  approved  of  this  disobedience  to  his  orders.^  On 
another  occasion,  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  he  received  from  the 
hands  of  the  high  priest  the  roll  of  the  Law,  and  without  seating  him- 
self, read  the  Lesson  for  the  day,  which  was  Deuteronomy  xvii.  14-20. 
When  he  came  to  the  words,  "Thou  mayest  not  set  a  stranger  over 
thee  which  is  not  thy  brother,"  the  thought  of  his  own  Idumsean  origin 
flashed  across  his  mind,  and  he  burst  into  tears.  But  the  cry  arose  on 
all  sides,  "  Fear  not,  Agrippa ;  thou  art  our  broth  r,  thou  art  our 
brother,"^ 

^  Midddth,  iii.  7.  Joseplius  {Antt.  xix.  6,  §  1)  says  that  it  was  hung  "  over  the 
treasury." 

2  Jos.  Antt.  xix.  6,  §  3. 

8  JBikkurtm,  iii.  4  ;  Derenbourg,  p.  217. 

*  Bab.  EethubhSth,  f.  17,  1 ;  Munk,  Palest,  p.  571. 

■*   Vayijikra-rabba,  iii. 

8  Sota,  f.  41,  1,  2.  But,  as  Derenbourg  points  out,  there  were  not  wanting  some 
stem  Eabbis  who  unhesitatingly  condemned  this  "  flattery  of  the  king."  (See,  too, 
Jost,  Gesch.  d.  Judenthums,  420.  It  is  not  certain  that  the  anecdote  may  not  refer 
to  Agrippa  II.)  In  continuation  of  the  story  about  Babha  Ben  Buta's  advice  to 
Herod  the  Great  to  rebuild  the  Temple,  the  Talmud  adds  that  the  Romans  were 
by  no  means  willing,  but  that  the  task  was  half  done  before  the  return  of  the 
messenger,  who  had  been  purposely  told  to  spend  three  years  in  his  mission. 


THE    HERODS    IN    THE    ACTS.  597 

Tliere  were  other  tendencies  which  woukl  win  for  Agrippa  the 
approval  of  the  people  no  less  than  that  of  the  Pharisees.  Such,  for 
instance,  were  his  early  abolition  of  a  house-tax  in  Jerusalem,  which 
had  been  felt  to  be  particularly  burdensome  ;  and  his  construction  of  a 
new  quarter  of  the  Holy  City,  which  was  called  Bezetha.^  The  Rabbis, 
indeed,  refused  to  accord  to  the  new  district  the  sanctity  of  the  old, 
because  it  had  not  been  inaugurated  by  the  presence  of  a  king,  a  pro- 
phet, the  Urim  and  Thummim,  a  Sanhedrin  of  seventy-one,  two  pro- 
cessions, and  a  choir.^  It  is  far  from  improbable  that  this  addition  to 
Jerusalem  was  mainly,  intended  to  strengthen  its  natural  defences,  and 
that  Agrippa  had  formed  the  secret  intention  of  making  himself  inde- 
pendent of  Rome.  If  so,  his  plans  were  thwarted  by  the  watchful 
jealousy  of  Vibius  Marsus,^  who'  had  succeeded  Petronius  as  Praefect  of 
Syria.  He  wrote  and  informed  the  Emperor  of  the  suspicious  proceed- 
ings of  Agrippa,  and  an  Imperial  rescript  commanded  the  suspension  of 
these  building  operations.  Petronius  had  been  on  terms  of  intimacy 
with  Agrippa,  but  Marsus  distrusted  and  bitterly  offended  him.*  After 
the  completion  of  the  magnificent  theatre,  and  other  buildings  which  he 
had  presented  to  Berytus,  he  was  visited  by  a  number  of  neighbouring 
princes — Antiochus,  King  of  Commagene,  Sampsigeramus  of  Emesa, 
Cotys  of  Lesser  Ai-menia,  Polemo  of  Pontus,  and  his  brother  Herod, 
King  of  Chalcis.  It  is  probable  that  these  royal  visits  were  not  of  a 
purely  complimentary  character,  but  'nay  have  been  the  nucleus  of  a 
plot  against  the  Roman  power.  If  so,  their  machinations  were  scattered 
to  the  winds  by  the  contemptuous  energy  of  the  Praefect,  who  felt  a 
truly  Roman  indifference  for  the  gilded  impotence  of  these  Oriental 
vassals.  As  the  gathering  took  place  at  Tiberias,  he  went  thither,  and 
Agrippa,  in  whose  character,  as  in  that  of  all  his  family,  there  was  a 
large  vein  of  ostentation,^  went  seven  furlongs  out  of  the  city  to  meet 

Among  other  things  the  Romans  said,  "  If  thou  hast  siicceeded  by  violence  at  home, 
we  have  the  genealogy  here.  Thou  art  neither  a  king,  nor  the  son  of  a  king,  but  a 
liberated  slave  ^'  {Babha  Bathra,  f.  3,  2). 

^  Josephus  {B.  J.  V.  4,  §  2)  says  that  this  word  means  "  New  City  "  ;  but  else- 
where {Antt.  xii.  10,  §  2;  xi.  1)  he  writes  it  Beth-Z&tho,  or  "House  of  Olive- 
trees."  In  the  Syriac  version  of  Acts  i,  12,  iKaichv,  olive-yard,  is  rendered  Beth- 
Zetho ;  and  in  B.J.  ii.  19,  §  4,  Josephus  seems  to  draw  a  distinction  between 
Bezetha  and  the  New  City  (Munk,  Palest.,  p.  45).  Derenbourg,  however,  holds 
that  Bezetha  is  a  transliteration  of  the  Chaldaic  Beth  Eadta,  and  that  Josephus  is 
right  [Palest.,^.  218). 

2  Jer.  Sanhedr.  i.  3  ;  Jos.  B.  J.  v.  4,  §  2. 

»  Jos.  5.  /.  ii.  11,  §  6. 

*  Jos.  Antt.  xix.  6,  §  2. 

^  Thus  on  a  coin,  engraved  by  Akerman,  Numism.  Illustr.,  he  is  called  PacriMvs 
Ii4yas. 


598  APPENDIX. 

him,  with  the  five  other  kings  in  his  chariot.  Marsus  did  not  like  the 
look  of  this  combination,  and  sent  his  sei-vants  to  the  kings  with  the 
cool  order  that  they  were  all  to  make  the  best  of  their  way  at  once  to 
their  respective  homes.  It  was  in  consequence  of  this  deliberate  insult 
that,  after  the  death  of  Agrippa,  Claudius,  in  respect  to  his  memory, 
and  in  consequence  of  a  request  which  he  had  received  from  him,  dis- 
placed Marsus,  and  sent  C.  Cassius  Longinus  in  his  place.^ 

Agrippa  II.  and  Berenice. 

Not  a  spark  of  true  patriotism  seems  ever  to  have  been  kindled  in 
the  breast  of  Agrippa  II.  He  was  as  complete  a  renegade  as  his  friend 
Josephus,^ .  but  without  his  versatility  and  genius.  He  had  passed  all 
his  early  years  in  the  poisoned  atmosphere  of  such  courts  as  those 
of  Gaius  and  Claudius,  and  was  now  on  excellent  terms  with 
Nero.  The  mere  fact  that  he  should  have  been  a  favourite  with  the 
Messallinas,  and  Agrippinas,  and  Poppseas,  of  a  palace  I'ife  with  the 
basest  intrigues,  is  sufficient  to  condemn  him.  His  appointments  to  the 
High-priesthood  were  as  bad  as  those  of  his  predecessors,  and  he  in- 
curred the  displeasure  of  the  Jews  by  the  arbitrary  rapidity  of  the 
constant  changes  which  he  made.  Almost  the  only  specific  event 
which  marked  his  period  of  royalty  was  a  disjDute  about  a  view  from  a 
window.  In  a  thoroughly  unpatriotic  and  irreverent  spirit  he  had 
built  a  banquet-hall  in  Herod's  palace  at  Jerusalem,  which  overlooked 
the  Temple  courts.  It  was  designed  to  serve  the  double  pur^Dose  of 
gratifying  the  indolent  curiosity  of  his  guests  as  they  lay  at  table,  by 
giving  them  the  spectacle  of  the  Temple  worship  in  its  most  sacred 
details,  and  also  of  maintaining  a  certain  espionage  over  the  movements 
of  the  worshippers,  which  would  at  any  moment  enable  him  to  give 
notice  to  the  Roman  soldiers  if  he  wished  them  to  interfere.  Indignant 
at  this  instance  of  contemptible  curiosity  and  contemptible  treachery, 
the  Jews  built  up  a  counter  wall  to  exclude  his  view.  Agi*ippa,  power- 
less to  do  anything  himself,  invoked  the  aid  of  the  Procurator.  The 
wall  of  the  Jews  excluded  not  only  the  view  of  Agrippa,  but  also  that 
of  the  commandant  in  the  tower  of  Antonia,  and  Festus  ordered  them 
to  pull  it  down.  The  Jews  resisted  this  demand  with  theii-  usual  de- 
termined fury,  and  Festus  so  far  gave  way  that  he  allowed  them  to  send  , 
an  embassy  to  Rome  to  await  the  decision  of  the  Ctesar.  The  Jews  sent 
Ishmael  Ben  Phabi  the  high  priest,   Helkias    the  treasurei-,  and  other 

^  Jos.  Antt.  xix.  8,  §  1. 

-  For  instance,  he  changed  the  name  of  Cajsarea  Philippi  to  Neronias ;  stripped 
Judaea  to  ornament  Berytus ;  and  even  stooped  to  take  the  surname  Marcus,  which 
is  found  on  one  of  his  coins  (Jos.  Antt.  xx.  9,  §  4 ;  Eckhel,  Loct.  Num.  Vet.  iii.  493). 


THE    HERODS    IN    THE    ACTS.  599 

distinguished  ambassadors,  and  astutely  gaining  the  ear  of  Popp£ea — wlio 
is  believed  to  have  been  a  proselyte,  but  if  so,  was  a  proselyte  of  whom 
the  Jews  ought  to  have  been  heartily  ashamed — obtained  a  decision  in 
their  favour.  Women  like  Popptea,  pantomimists  like  Aliturus—  such 
were  in  these  days  the  defenders  of  the  Temple  for  the  Jews  against 
their  hybrid  kings  !  We  hear  little  more  of  Agrippa  II.  till  the  breaking 
out  of  the  war  which  ended  in  the  destruction  of  Jeiusalem.  As  might 
have  been  expected,  he,  like  Josephus,  like  Tiljerius  Alexander,  and 
other  eminent  renegades,  was  found  in  the  ranks  of  the  lloman  in- 
vadei's,  waging  war  on  the  Holy  City.  He  probably  saw  the  Temple 
sink  amid  its  consuming  fires.  Like  Josephus  he  may  have  watched 
from  a  Pioman  window  the  gorgeous  procession  in  which  the  victor 
paraded  the  sacred  spoils  of  the  Temple,  while  the  wretched  captives 
of  his  countrymen — ■ 

"  Swelled,  slow-pacing  by  the  car's  tall  side, 
The  Stoic  tyrant's  philosophic  pride." 

After  that  he  fell  into  merited  obscurity,  and  ended  a  frivolous  life  by 
a  dishonoured  old  age. 

Such  was  the  prince  who  came  to  salute  Festus,  and  he  was  accom- 
panied by  his  sister,  who  was  unhappily  notorious  even  among  the  too 
notorious  ladies  of  rank  in  that  evil  time.  Berenice  was  the  Lucrezia 
Borgia  of  the  Herodian  family.  She  was  beautiful,  like  all  the  pi-in- 
cesses  of  her  house.  Before  the  age  of  sixteen  she  had  been  married  to 
her  uncle  Herod  of  Chalcis,  and  being  left  a  widow  before  she  was 
twenty,  went  to  live  in  Rome  with  her  equally  youthful  brother.  Her 
beauty,  her  rank,  the  splendour  of  her  jewels,  the  interest  and  curiosity 
attaching  to  her  race  and  her  house,  made  her  a  prominent  figure  in  the 
society  of  the  capital ;  and  a  diamond,  however  lustrovis  and  valuable, 
was  enhanced  in  price  if  it  was  known  that  it  had  once  sparkled  on  the 
finger  of  Berenice,  and  had  been  a  present  to  her  from  her  brother.^ 
The  relations  between  the  two  gave  rise  to  the  darkest  rumours,  which 
gained  credence,  because  there  was  nothing  to  contradict  them  in  the 
bearing  or  character  of  the  defamed  persons.  So  rife  indeed  did  these 
stories  become,  that  Berenice  looked  out  for  a  new  marriage.  She 
contracted  an  alliance  with  Polemo  II.,  King  of  Cilicia,  insisting,  how- 
ever, that  he  should  save  her  from  any  violation  of  the  Jewish  law  by 
submitting  to  the  rite  of  circumcision.''     Circumcision,  not  conversion, 

*  "  Adamas  nottissimus,  et  Berenices 

In  digito  factus  prctiosior ;  hunc  dedit  olim 
Barbarus  incestae,  dedit  hunc  Agrippa  sorori.  * 

Juv.  iSat.  vi.  156 ;  Jos.  Antt.  xx.  6,  3. 
>  Job.  Antt.  xx.  7,  8. 


600  APPENDIX. 

was  all  that  she  required.  So  true  is  the  charge  brought  alike  by  St. 
Paul  in  his  Epistles,  and  by  the  -svT-iters  of  the  Talmud,  that  the  reason 
why  the  Jews  insisted  upon  cii'cumcision  was  only  thai^  they  might  have 
whereof  to  glory  in  the  flesh. ^  The  lowering  of  the  Gentile  fasces  in 
token  of  external  respect  was  all  that  they  cared  for,  and  when  that  was 
doiie,  the  Ger  might  go  his  own  vile  way — not  improbably  to  Gehenna.^ 
Circumcision  to  them  was  greater  than  all  affirmative  precepts,  and  was 
therefore  exalted  above  love  to  God  or  love  to  our  neighbour.^  No 
doubt  it  cost  Polemo  something  to  accept  concision,  in  order  to  satisfy 
the  orthodox  scrupulosity  of  an  abandoned  Jewess ;  but  her  wealth  was 
an  inducement  too  powerful  to  resist.  It  was  hardly  likely  that  such  a 
marriage  could  last.  It  was  broken  off  very  rapidly  by  the  elopement 
of  Berenice,  after  which  Polemo  immediately  repudiated  every  shadow 
and  semblance  of  allegiance  to  the  Jewish  religion,  and  Berenice  returned 
to  the  house  of  her  brother,  until  her  well-preserved  but  elderly  beauty, 
added  to  the  munificence  of  her  presents,  first  won  the  old  Vespasian, 
and  then  his  son  Titus.*  The  conqueror  of  Judsea  was  so  infatuated  by 
his  love  for  its  dishonoured  princess  that  he  took  her  with  him  to  Pome, 
and  seriously  contemplated  making  her  a  partner  of  his  imperial  throne.^ 
Bvit  this  was  more  than  the  Romans  could  stand,  far  gone  as  they  were 
in  servitude  and  adulation.  The  murmurs  which  the  rumoured  match 
stirred  up  were  so  wrathful  in  their  indignation,  that  Titus  saw  how 
unsafe  it  would  be  to  wed  a  Jewess  whose  name  had  been  dragged 
through  the  worst  infamy.  He  dismissed  her — invitus  invitatn — and 
we  hear  of  her  no  more.  Thus  in  the  fifth  generation  did  the  sun  of 
the  Herodian  house  set  in  obscure  darkness,  as  it  had  dawned  in  blood ; 
and  with  it  set  also  the  older  and  purer  splendour  of  the  Asmonaean 
princes.  They  had  mingled  the  honourable  blood  of  Judas  the  Maccabee 
with  that  of  Idumsean  adventurers,  and  the  inheritoi's  of  the  grandest 
traditions  of  Jewish  patriotism  were  involved  in  a  common  extinction 
with  the  representatives  of  the  basest  intrigues  of  Jewish  degradation. 

1  Gal.  vi.  1 3.  It  was,  of  course,  a  Judaic  triumph  to  make  a  king  not  only  a 
Ger  Thoshabh,  or  'a  proselyte  of  the  gate,  but  even  a  Ger  hatsedek,  "  a  proselj^te  of 
righteousness,"  or  "  of  the  Covenant."  These  latter  were  despised  alike  by  Jews 
and  Gentiles  (Suet.  Claud.  25;  Domit.  12;  Yebhanwth,  xlvii.  4;  see  Wetstein  on 
Matt,  xxiii.  15). 

2  See  McCaul,  Old  Paths,  pp.  63  seqq. 
8  Nedarim,  f.  32,  c.  2. 

4  Jos.  Aiitt.  XX.  7,  3. 

6  Suet.  Tit.  7 ;  Tac.  M.  ii.  81. 


PHRASEOLOGY    OF    THE    EPHESIANS.  601 

EXCURSUS    VIL  (p.  493). 

Phraseology  and  Doctrines  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians. 

It  is  admitted  that  there  are  some  new  and  rare  expressions  in  this 
Epistle;^  but  they  are  sufficiently  accounted  for  by  the  idiosyncrasy  of 
the  writer,  and  the  peculiarity  of  the  subjects  with  which  he  had  to 
deal.  It  is  monstrous  to  assume  that,  ia  the  case  of  one  so  fresh 
and  eager  as  St.  Paul,  the  vocabulary  Avould  not  widely  vary  in  writings 
extending  over  nearly  twenty  years,  and  written  under  eveiy  possible 
variety  of  cu'cumstances,  to  very  different  communities,  and  in  consequence 
of  very  different  controversies.  Tlie  wide  range  of  dissimilarity  in  thought 
and  expression  between  Epistles  of  admitted  authenticity  ought  sviffi- 
ciently  to  demonstrate  the  futility  of  overlooking  broad  probabilities 
and  almost  universal  testimony,  because  of  peculiarities  of  which  many 
are  only  discoverable  by  a  minute  analysis.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  at  this  period  the  phraseology  of  Christianity  was  still  in  a  plastic, 
it  might  almost  be  said  in  a  fluid,  condition.  No  Apostle,  no  writer  of 
any  kind,  contributed  one  tithe  so  much  to  its  ultimate  cohesion  and 
rigidity  as  St.  Paul.  Are  we  then  to  reject  this  Epistle,  and  that  to 
the  Colossians,  on  grounds  so  flimsy  as  the  fact  that  in  them  for  the  first 
time  he  speaks  of  the  remission  (&cpe(Tts,  Eph.  i.  7  ;  Col.  i.  1 4)  instead  of  the 
praetermission  (irdpej-ts,  Rom.  iiL  25)  of  sins  ;  or  that,  writing  to  a  Chiu"ch 
predominantly  Gentile,  he  says  "Greeks  and  Jews"  (Col.  iii.  11)  instead 
of  "Jews  and  Greeks"  (Rom.  i.  16,  <tc.) ;  or  that  he  uses  the  word 
**  Church"  in  a  more  abstract  and  generic  sense  than  in  his  former 
writings  ;  or  that  he  uses  the  rhetorical  expression  that  the  Gospel  has 
been  preached  in  all  the  woi'ld  (Col.  i.  6,  23)  1  By  a  similar  mode  of 
reasoning  it  would  be  possible  to  prove  in  the  case  of  almost  every 
voluminous  author  in  the  world  that  half  the  works  attributed  to  him 
have  been  written  by  some  one  else.  Such  arguments  only  encumber 
with  useless  debris  the  field  of  criticism.  There  is  indeed  one  very  un- 
usual expression,  the  peculiarity  of  which  has  been  freely  admitted  by 
all  fair  controvei-sialists.  It  is  the  remark  that  the  mystery  of  Christ 
is  now  revealed  "to  the  holy  Apostles  and  Prophets"  (iii.  5).  The 
Prophets  (as  in  ii.  20 ;  iv.  11)  are  doubtless  those  of  the  New  Testament 
— those  who  had  received  from  the  Spirit  His  special  gifts  of  illumina- 
tion ;  but  the  epithet  is  unexpected.  It  can  only  be  accounted  for  "by 
the  general  dignity  and  fulness  (the  aefivoTris)  of  the  style  in  which  the 

^  Such  o7ro|  \ey6fj.tva,  or  unusual  expressions,  as  ra  iTr6vpavia,  Kotx/xoKpaTOpes 
iro\y7roiKiAos,  ivfpnroiriffis,  cKpOapaia,  SidPoKos. 


602  APPENDIX. 

Epistle  is  written  ;  and  the  epithet,  if  genuine,  is,  it  need  hardly  be  said, 
official  and  impersonal. 

It  would  be  much  more  to  the  purpose  if  the  adverse  critics  could 
produce  even  one  decided  instance  of  un-Pauline  theology.  The  de- 
monology  of  the  Epistle  is  identical  with  that  of  Paul's  Rabbinic 
training.'  The  doctrine  of  original  sin,  even  if  it  were  by  any  means 
necessarily  deducil^le  from  Eph.  ii.  3 — which  is  not  the  case,  since  the 
word  (pva-ei  is  not  identical  with  "  by  birth" — is  quite  as  clearly  involved 
in  the  Epistles  to  the  Eomans  and  Galatians.  The  descent  of  Christ 
into  Hades  is  not  necessai-ily  implied  in  iv.  8 ;  and  even  if  it  were,  the 
fact  that  St.  Paul  has  not  elsewhere  alluded  to  it  furnishes  no  shadow  of 
a  proof  that  he  did  not  hold  it.  The  method  of  quoting  Scripture  is 
that  of  all  Jewish  writers  in  the  age  of  Paul,  and  the  reminiscences  of 
the  Old  Testament  in  iv.  8  and  v.  14  (if  the  latter  be  a  reminiscence) 
are  scarcely  more  purely  verbal  than  others  which  occur  in  the  Epistles 
of  which  no  doubt  has  ever  been  entertained.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
frankly  admitted  that  in  all  essential  particulars  the  views  of  the  Epistle 
are  distinctly  Pauline.  The  relations  of  Christianity  to  Judaism;  the 
universality  of  human  corruption  through  sin  ;  the  merging  of  heathen- 
ism and  Judaism  in  the  higher  unity  of  Christianity ;  the  prominence 
given  to  faith  and  love;  the  unconditional  freedom  of  grace;  the  unser- 
viceableness  and  yet  the  moral  necessity  of  good  works ;  are  in  absolute 
accordance  with  the  most  fundamental  conceptions  of  St.  Paul's  acknow- 
ledged wiitings.  If  some  of  these  great  truths  of  theology  here  receive  a 
richer,  more  mature,  and  more  original  development,  this  is  only  what 
we  should  expect  from  the  power  of  a  mind  which  never  ceased  to  grow 
in  grace  and  wisdom,  and  which  regarded  growth  in  grace  and  wisdom 
as  the  natural  privilege  of  a  Christian  soul.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
might  well  be  amazed  if  the  first  hundred  years  after  the  death  of  Christ 
produced  a  totally  unknown  writer  who,  assuming  the  name  of  Paul, 
treats  the  mystery  which  it  was  given  him  to  reveal  with  a  masterly 
power  which  the  Apostle  himself  rarely  equalled,  and  most  certainly 
never  surpassed.  Let  any  one  study  the  remains  of  the  Apostolic 
Fathers,  and  he  may  well  be  surprised  at  the  facility  with  which  writers 
of  the  Tubingen  school,  and  their  successors,  assume  the  existence  of 
Pauls  who  lived  unheard  of  and  died  unknown,  though  they  were 
intellectually  and  spiritually  the  equals,  if  not  the  superiors,  of  St.  Paul 
himself  !  In  no  single  Epistle  is  the  point  of  view  so  clear,  so  supreme, 
so  final — in  no  other  Epistle  of  the  Homologoumena  is  the  doctrine  so 
obviously  the  outcome  and  issue  of  truths  which  before  had  been  less  fully 

^  Thacksiphis — an  association  of  demons,  and  Isbalganith  (see  BeracMth ,  t, 
61,  1). 


PHRASEOLOGY    OF    THE    EPHESIANS.  603 

and  profoundly  enunciated — so  undeniably  tlie  full  consummate  flower 
from  germs  of  which  we  have,  as  it  were,  witnessed  the  planting.  At 
supreme  epochs  of  human  enlightenment  whole  centuries  of  thought  seem 
to  separate  the  writings  of  a  few  years.  The  questions  which  occupy  the 
Apostle  in  the  Thessalonians  and  Galatians  seem  to  lie  indefinitely  far 
behind  the  goal  which  his  thoughts  have  now  attained.  In  earlier  Epistles 
he  was  occupied  in  maintaining  the  freedom  of  the  Gentiles  fi'om  the 
tyrannous  narrowness  of  Jewish  sacerdotalism;  here,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
is  dwelling  on  the  predestined  grandeur  of  the  equal  and  universal  Church. 
In  the  Epistles  to  the  Romans  and  the  Galatians  he  has  founded  the 
claims  of  Christianity  on  "  a  philosophy  of  the  history  of  religion,"  by 
showing  that  Christ  is  the  Second  Adam,  and  the  promised  seed  of 
Abraham  ;  here  he  contemplates  a  scheme  predestined  before  the  ages  of 
earth  began,  and  running  throvigh  them  as  an  increasing  purpose,  so 
that  seon  after  aeon  revealed  new  forms  and  hues  of  the  lichly-varied 
wisdom,  and  the  Gentiles  (koI  v/j.e?s,  i.  13)  as  well  as  the  Jews  are  in- 
cluded in  the  predestined  election  (^fK\ripdoer)nev,  TrpoopLadevTis,  i.  11)  to  the 
purchased  possession  (TnpnToiiqa-is,  14).  And  not  to  exhaust,  which 
would  be  indeed  impossible,  the  manifold  aspects  of  this  so-called  "colour- 
less "  Epistle,  the  manner  in  which  it  expresses  the  conception  of  the 
quickening  of  spiritual  death  by  ruiion  with  the  Risen  Christ  (ii.  1 — 6) ; 
the  present  realisation,  the  immanent  consciousness  of  communion  with 
God  ;  the  all-pervading  supremacy  of  God  in  Christ ;  the  importance 
of  pure  spiritual  knowledge ;  the  dignity  given  to  the  Church  as  the 
bouse  (ii.  20—22),  the  body  (iv.  12—16)  and  the  bride  (v.  25—27) 
of  Christ, — all  mark  it  out  as  the  most  sublime,  the  most  profound, 
and,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  the  most  advanced  and  final  utterance 
of  that  mystery  of  the  Gospel  which  it  was  given  to  St.  Paul  for  the 
first  time  to  proclaim  in  all  its  fulness  to  the  Gentile  world.  ^  It  is  not 
surprising  that  when  these  truths  had  once  found  utterance  they  should 
have  had  their  influence  on  the  teachings  of  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  and  upon  St.  Peter  and  St.  John  ;  nor  is  this  any  ground 
whatever,  but  rather  the  reverse,  for  looking  with  suspicion  on  the 
authenticity  of  the  Epistle.^ 

1  Entirely  as  I  disagree  with  Pfleiderer,  I  have  received  great  help  from  his 
Faulinismiis  (E.  T.  ii.  162—193)  in  the  study  of  this  Epistle. 

2  See  1  Pet.  i.  14  (Eph.  iv.  14) ;  1  Pet.  i.  20  (Eph.  i.  4) ;  1  Pet.  i.  7  (Eph.  i.  6) ; 
i.  5  (Eph.  iii.  5) ;  ii.  9  (Eph.  i.  14) ;  i.  3  (Eph.  i.  17)  ;  ii.  11  (Eph.  ii.  3) ;  iii.  7  (Eph. 
iii.  6) ;  v.  10  (Eph.  iv.  2),  &c.    See  Weiss,  Fetrinisch.  Lehrbegr.  434. 


604  APPENDIX 

EXCURSUS  VIII.  (p.  513). 

Evidence  as  to  the  Liberation  of  St.  Paul. 

The  chief  passages  on  the  remaining  life  of  St.  Paul  which  have  much 
historic  importance  are  the  following  : — 

I.  Clemens  Romanus,  possibly  a  personal  friend  and  fellow-worker 
of  St.  Paul,  if  he  be  the  Clement  mentioned  in  Phil.  iv.  3/  but  cer- 
tainly a  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  a  writer  of  the  first  century,  says  that : — 

"  Because  of  envy,  Paul  also  obtained  the  prize  of  endurance,  having 
seven  times  borne  chains,  having  been  exiled,  and  having  been  stoned. 
After  he  had  preached  the  Gospel  both  in  the  East  and  in  the  West,  he 
won  the  noble  renown  of  his  faith,  having  taught  righteousness  to  the 
whole  world,  and  having  come  to  the  limit  of  the  West,  and  borne  wit- 
ness -  before  the  rulers.  Thus  he  was  freed  from  the  world,  and  went 
into  the  holy  place,  having  shown  himself  a  pre-eminent  example  of 
endurance."  ^ 

II.  The  fragment  of  the  Muratorian  Canon  (about  A.D.  170),  though 
obscure  and  corrupt,  and  only  capable  of  uncei'tain  conjectural  emenda- 
tion and  interpretation,  yet  seems  on  the  whole  to  imply  the  fact  of 
*'  Paul's  setting  foi'th  from  the  city  on  his  way  to  Sj)ain."* 

III.  Eusebivis,  in  the  fourth  century,  says  : — 

"  Then,  after  his  defence,  there  is  a  tradition  that  the  Ajiostle  again 
set  forth  to  the  ministry  of  his  preaching,  and  having  a  second  time 
entered  the  same  city  [Rom^],  was  perfected  by  his  martyrdom  before 
him  [Nero]."^ 

1  We  can  only  say  that  this  is  an  ancient  and  not  impossible  tradition  (see 
Lightfoot,  Fhillpplans,  pp.  166—169). 

2  The  word  at  this  period  did  not  necesnarily  mean  "  suffered  martyrdom,"  but 
probably  connoted  it. 

'  A\a  ^y\\ov  \j(a.\  6]  HauXoj  viro/xovrjs  fipafiilov  vinffx^v,  iirraKts  Setr^ua  (poptaas, 
<pvyaSfvde\s,  Xtdacrdfis,  Krjpv^  'jfvS/j.fvos  iv  re  rrj  dvaroXij  Koi  [rpj  Sutrei,  rh  yevvuiov  ttjs 
iriffTeais  avrov  K\eos  (Kafffv,  SiKaiO(rvvr]V  SiSd^as  tJA.&)  T(j3  Kofffi-Cf  Kol  iirX  rb  rfp/xa  rfjj 
Svcrecas  iKdwv,  Kol  fxapTupricras  firl  twv  riyovfievaiy  ovrais  aTrriWdyrj  tov  Kdfffiov  Kol  us 
Thv  dyiov  r6irov  itropevBri,  viroixovrjs  yevS/JLivos  fxeyiVTOS  inroypa/xfiSs.  —Ep.  1  ad  Cor.  5 
(see  Lightfoot,  Epistles  of  Clement,  pp.  46 — 52). 

*  "Lucas  obtime  Theophile  comprindit  quia  sub  praesentia  ejus  singula  gere- 
bantur,  sicuti  et  semote  passionem  Petri  evidenter  declarat,  sed  profectionem  Pauli 
ab  urbe  ad  Sixmiam  proficiscentis  .  .  .  ." 

*  T(iT€  /uej/  ovv  diTo\oyrj(Tdfj.fvov,  aiOis  iirl  tV  '''ov  Ki^piyfidTos  SiaKovlav  \6yos  ex*' 
crtihaarOai  rlv  airSffToKov,  Sevrepou  5'  iiri^avra  t]7  aiiTJj  ■ir6\ei  r^  Kar  avrhv  {Nepwva) 
Te\fiu>e^pai  fiapTupicp  (Euseb.  H.  E.  ii.  22,  25).  He  quotes  Dionysius  of  Corinth  to 
show  that  Peter  and  Paul  had  both  been  at  Rome  {id.  ib.  25),  which  is  -ilso  stated 
by  Ignatius  {ad Itom.iy.). 


THE    LIBERATION    OF    ST.  PAUL.  605 

lY.   Clirj'sostom  (died  A.D.  407)  says  : — 

"After  he  had  been  in  Rome,  he  again  went  into  Spain.  But 
whether  he  thence  returned  into  those  regions  [the  East]  we  do  not 
know."  ^ 

V.  St.  Jerome  (died  A.D.  420)  says  that  "  Paul  was  dismissed  by 
Nero,  that  he  might  px'each  Christ's  Gospel  also  in  tlie  regions  of  the 
West."  2 

I  take  no  notice  of  the  inscription  supposed  to  have  been  found  in 
Spain  (Gruter,  pp.  238,  9),  which  gi-atefully  records  that  Nero  has  purged 
the  province  of  brigands,  and  of  the  votaries  of  a  new  superstition, 
because  even  on  the  assumption  that  it  is  genuine  it  has  no  necessary 
bearing  on  the  question.  Nor  does  any  other  writer  of  the  least  autho- 
rity make  any  important  contribution  to  the  question,  since  it  cannot  be 
regarded  as  adding  one  iota  of  probability  to  the  decision  to  quote  the 
general  assertions  of  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  and  Theodoret  that  St.  Paul 
visited  Spain ;  nor  can  it  be  taken  as  a  counter-evidence  that  Oiigen 
does  not  mention  Spain  when  he  remarks  '  that  he  carried  the  Gospel 
from  Jerusalem  to  Illyricum,  and  was  afterwards  martyred  in  Rome  in 
the  time  of  Nero.'  Even  as  late  as  the  fourth  century,  no  writer  ven- 
tures to  do  more  than  allude  distantly  to  the  supposed  fact  in  a  manner 
which  shows  that  not  a  single  detail  on  the  subject  existed,  and  that 
tradition  had  nothing  tangible  to  add  to  the  data  furnished  by  the  New 
Testament,  or  the  inferences  to  which  it  led.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
testimony  of  the  pseudo-Dionysius  (A.D.  170)  that  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul,  after  founding  the  Church  of  Corinth,  went  to  Italy — apparently 
together  (6fx.6<re'j — and  were  there  martyred  about  the  same  time,  is,  so 
far  as  it  goes,  somewhat  unfavourable  to  the  Spanish  journey,  and  at 
any  rate  proves  that  even  in  the  second  century  tradition  had  buried  its 
ignorance  in  the  shifting  sand  of  erroneous  generalities. 

If  we  be  asked  what  is  the  historic  value  of  this  evidence,  we 
must  answer  that  it  is  very  small  indeed.  The  testimony  of  Clement, 
ai- Burning  it  to  be  genuine,  would  be  important  from  his  eai'ly  date  if  it 
were  not  so  entirely  vague.  It  is  a  purely  rhetorical  passage,  in  which 
it  seems  not  impossible  that  he  means  to  compare  St.  Paul  to  the  sun 
rising  in  the  east  and  setting  in  the  west.  The  expression  that  "  he 
taught  righteousness  to  the  whole  world  "  shows  that  we  are  here  dealing 
with    enthusiastic   phrases    rather   than   rigid    facts.       The   expression 

*  Merh  rh  yfVfcrOat  iv  Pw^uj;  iriXiv  tls  tV  '^i^O'Viav  airriXQeV  ei  5e  eKeTBev  irdXtv  eis 
ravra  to  fieprj  ovk  lajxev  (Chiy.s.  ad  2  Tim.  iv.  20). 

*  "Sciendum  est.  .  .  .  Paulum  a  Nerone  dimissum  ut  evangelium  Chi-isli  in  occi- 
dentis  quoque  partibus  praedicaret  "  (Jer.,  Catal,  Scrip.).  See  alao  Tert.  Scorp.  16, 
De  Fraescr.  36 ;  Lactant.  De  Mort.  Fersec.  2. 


606  APPENDIX. 

"  having  come  to  the  limit  of  the  West "  is  mifavoarable  to  a  Spanish 
journey.  "  The  limit  of  the  West,"  though  undoubtedly  it  would  mean 
Spain  to  an  author  who  was  writing  from  Rome,  if  he  were  speaking  in 
plain  and  lucid  prose,  has  not  necessaril}^  any  such  meaning  in  a  glowing 
comparison,  least  of  all  on  the  hypothesis  that  the  native  place  of  the 
writer  was  Philippi.  If,  however,  Spain  is  intended,  and  if  the  word 
"  bearing  witness  "  (/xaprupif/o-ay)  means  martyrdom,  then  the  author,  taken 
literally,  would  imply  that  St.  Paul  perished  in  Spain.  The  argument 
that  "  befoi-e  the  rulers  "  must  be  a  reference  to  Helius  and  Polycletus, 
or  Tigellinus  and  i^ymphidius  Sabinus,  or  two  other  presidents  left  to 
act  as  regents  during  Nero's  absence  in  Greece,  is  a  mere  gossamer 
thread  of  attenuated  inference.  The  authority  of  St.  Clement,  then,  must 
be  set  aside  as  too  uncertain  to  be  of  decisive  value.  ^ 

Nor  is  the  sentence  in  the  second-century  Canon  discovered  by 
M\iratori  at  Milan  of  any  great  value.  The  verb  which  is  essential  to 
the  meaning  has  to  be  supplied,  and  it  is  even  possible  that  the  writer 
may  have  intended  to  quote  Luke's  silence  as  to  any  Spanish  journey 
to  prove  that  the  tradition  respecting  it — which  would  have  been 
naturally  suggested  by  Rom.  xv.  24 — had  no  authority  in  its  favour. 

Eusebius,  indeed,  is  more  explicit,  but,  on  the  one  hand,  he  lived  so 
late  that  his  testimony,  unless  supported  by  reference  to  more  ancient 
authorities,  is  of  no  importance ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  so  far 
from  following  his  usual  habit  of  quoting  any  authority  for  his  asser- 
tion, that  he  distinctly  ascribes  it  to  tradition.  He  merely  observes 
that  "  it  is  said,"  and  then  proceeds  to  support  the  probability  of  this 
tradition  by  an  extraordinary  misconception  of  2  Tim.  iv.  16,  17,  in 
which  he  founds  an  argument  for  the  Apostle's  second  imprisonment  on 
the  grounds  that  he  spoke  of  deliverance  from  the  first  when  he  said, 
"  I  was  saved  fi-om  the  mouth  of  the  lion."  His  testimony  is  rendered 
the  more  worthless  because  in  his  Chronicon  he  misdates  by  nearly  ten 
years  the  time  of  the  first  imprisonment,  and  his  erroneous  infei'ence 
from  2  Tim.  seems  to  show  that  the  floating  rumour  was  founded  on  a 
mere  hypothesis  suggested  by  the  Epistles  themselves.^  The  real  proofs 
of  St.  Paul's  liberation  are,  as  we  have  seen,  of  a  different  character 

1  See  however  Dollinger,  First  Age,  78,  seiy. ;  "Westcott,  Hist,  of  Canon,  p.  479; 
and  Lightfoot,  Ep.  of  Clement,  p.  508,  who  quotes  Strabo,  ii.  1,  Veil.  Paterc.  L  2, 
to  show  that  Spain  is  probahly  meant. 

2  He  makes  Paul  arrive  at  Rome  A.D.  55. 


GENUINENESS    OF    THE    PASTORAL    EPISTLES.        607 

EXCURSUS  IX.  (p.  514). 

The  Genuineness  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles. 

As  oiir  knowledge  of  the  life  of  St.  Paul,  after  his  first  imprison- 
ment, depends  entirely  on  the  decision  as  to  the  authenticity  of  the 
Pastoral  Epistles,  I  will  here  briefly  examine  the  evidences. 

I.  Turning  first  to  the  external  evidence  in  their  favour,  we  find  an 
almost  indisputable  allusion  to  the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy  in 
Clement  of  Rome.^  That  they  were  universally  accepted  by  the  Church 
in  the  second  century  is  certain,  since  they  are  found  in  the  Peshito 
Syriac,  mentioned  in  the  Muratorian  Canon,  and  quoted  by  Ignatius, 
Polycarp,  Hegesippus,  Athenagoras,  Irenseus,  Clemens  of  Alexandria, 
Theophilus  of  Antioch,  and  perhaps  by  Justin  Martyr.  After  the 
second  century  the  testimonies  are  unhesitating  and  unbroken,  and 
Eusebius,  in  the  fourth  century,  reckons  them  among  the  homologomena 
or  acknowledged  writings  of  St.  Paul.  With  the  exception  of  Marcion, 
and  Tatian,  who  rejected  the  two  Epistles  to  Timothy,  there  seems  to 
have  been  no  doubt  as  to  their  genuineness  from  the  first  century  down 
to  the  days  of  Schmidt  and  Schleiermacher.  On  what  grounds  Marcion 
rejected  them  we  are  not  informed.  It  is  possible  that  Baur  may  be 
right  in  the  supposition  that  he  was  not  aware  of  their  existence.^  But 
this  would  be  no  decisive  argument  against  them,  since  the  preservation 
and  dissemination  of  purely  private  letters,  addressed  to  single  persons, 
must  have  been  much  more  precarious  and  slow  than  that  of  letters 
addressed  to  entire  Churches.  "But  in  such  a  case  Marcion's  authority 
is  of  small  value.  He  dealt  with  the  Scriptures  on  purely  subjective 
grounds.  His  rejection  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  of  all  the  New 
Testament  except  ten  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  and  a  mutilated  Gospel  of 
St.  Luke,  shows  that  he  made  no  sort  of  scruple  about  excluding  from 
his  canon  any  book  that  militated  against  his  peculiar  dogmas.  Nor  is 
Tatian's  authority  of  more  weight.  The  only  reason  why  he  accepted  as 
genuine  the  Epistle  of  Titus  while  he  rejected  those  of  Timothy,  is 
conjectured  to  have  been  that  in  the  Epistle  to  Titus  the  phase  of 
incipient  Gnosticism  which  meets  with  the  condemnation  of  the  Apostle 
is  more  distinctly  identified  with  Jewish  teaching.^ 

^  "  Let  us  then  approach  Him  in  holiness  of  soul,  lifting  to  Him  ptire  and 
unstained  hands." — Ep.  1,  ad  Cor.  29 ;  cf.  1  Tim.  ii.  8. 

2  Baur,  Pastoralbrlefe,  p.  138. 

3  Tit.  i.  10,  14  ;  iii.  9.  Tatian  founded  a  sect  of  Gnostic  Encratitcs  towards  the 
close  of  the  second  century. 


608  APPENDIX. 

But  perhaps  it  may  be  argued  tliat  tlie  Pastoral  Epistles  were 
forged  in  the  second  century,  and  that  the  earlier  passages  which  are 
regarded  as  allusions  to  them,  or  qiiotations  from  them,  are  in  reality 
borrowed  from  Clemens,  Polycarp,  and  Hegesippus,  by  the  writer,  who 
wished  to  enlist  the  supposed  authority  of  St.  Paul  in  condemna- 
tion of  the  spreading  Gnosticism  of  the  second  century.  No  one 
would  argue  that  there  is  a  merely  accidental  connection  between, 
"  Avoiding  profane  and  vain  babblings,  and  oppositions  [or  antitheses]  of 
the  knowledge  [Gnosis]  which  is  falsely  so  called  "  in  1  Tim.  vi  20,  and 
"  the  combination  of  impious  error  arose  by  the  fraud  of  false  teachers 
[iTepoSiSao-KaA.oj'^  comp.  1  Tim  \.  3,  eTepoSiSacr/caA.eri']  who  henceforth  attempted 
to  preach  their  science  falsely  so  called  "  in  Hegesippus.^  But  Baur 
argues  that  the  forger  of  the  Epistle  stole  the  terai  from  Hegesippus, 
and  that  it  was  aimed  at  the  Marcionites,  who  are  especially  indicated 
in  the  word  "  Antitheses  "  which  is  the  name  of  a  book  written  by 
Marcion  to  point  out  the  contradiction  between  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,  and  between  those  parts  of  the  New  Testament  which  he 
rejected  and  those  which  he  retained.^  Now,  "antitheses"  may 
mean  simply  "  oppositions "  as  it  is  rendered  in  our  version,  and 
the  injunction  is  explained  by  Chxysostom  and  Theophylact,  and  even 
by  De  Wette,  to  mean  that  Timothy  is  not  to  embroil  himself  in  idle 
and  fruitless  controversies.  But  even,  supposing  that  "  antilogies  "  are 
meant,  what  shadow  of  proof  is  there  that  nothing  of  the  kind  existed 
among  the  "  vain  babblings  "  of  Essenian  speculation]  "Hegesippus," 
says  Baur,^  "  considering  his  Ebionite  views,  can  scarcely  have  drawn 
from  an  Epistle  supposed  to  be  by  Paul."  It  is  difficult  to  believe 
that  this  remark  is  perfectly  serious  ;*  but  if  it  be,  I  would  ask.  Is  it 
not   indefinitely  more  improbable  that  the  falsarius^  would  instantly 

1  Ap.  Euseb.  JET.  E.  iii.  32. 

2  Tert.  Adv.  Marc.  i.  19 ;  iv.  &c.  Baur  also  {Paul.  ii.  Ill)  dwells  on  the  use 
of  the  word  uyirjs,  "  sound,"  "wholesome,"  by  Hegesippus  and  in  1  Tim.  i.  10. 

3  Paul.  ii.  101. 

*  Davidson  freely  admits  that  "there  is  no  great  difficulty  in  supposing  that  he 
read  the  Pastoral  Epistles  written  in  Paul's  name,  and  remembered  some  of  their 
expressions"  {Introd.ii.  181). 

5  Admitting  that  " pseudonymity  and  literary  deception"  were  regarded  in 
antiquity  as  very  different  things,  I  would  willingly  avoid  the  word  "  forger  "  if 
there  were  any  other  convenient  word  which  could  bo  substituted  for  it.  I  quite 
concede  to  De  Wette,  Schleiermacher,  Baur,  &c. ,  that  the  word  connotes  much  more 
than  it  ought  to  do,  as  applied  to  a  writer  of  the  first  two  centuries,  and  that  "  the 
forging  of  such  Epistles  must  not  be  judged  according  to  the  modem  standard  of 
literary  honesty,  but  according  to  the-  spirit  of  antiquity,  which  attached  no  such 
definite  value  as  wo  do  to  literary  property,  and  regarded  the  thing  much  more  than 
the  person  "   (Baur,  Faul.  ii.  110). 


GENUINENESS    OF    THE    PASTORAL    EPISTLES.        609 

condemn  liis  own  work  as  spurious  by  interpolating  marked  passages 
from  Clemens,  Polycarp,  and  Hegesippus,  wliicli  his  instructed  readers 
would  be  sure  to  recognise,  and  which  would  then  be  absolutely  fatal  to 
the  success  of  his  design  1 

II.  Let  us,  then,  pass  to  the  internal  evidence.  It  is  argued  that 
these  three  Epistles  cannot  have  been  written  by  St.  Paul — (1)  Because 
"  they  stand  far  below  the  originality,  the  wealth  of  thought,  and  the 
whole  spiritual  substance  and  value  of  the  authentic  Epistles;"^  (2)  Be- 
cause they  abound  in  un-Pauline  words  and  phrases ;  (3)  Because  their 
theology  diflers  from  that  of  the  Apostle ;  (4)  Because  they  deal  with 
conditions  of  ecclesiastical  organisation  which  had  no  existence  till  long 
after  the  age  of  the  Apostles;  (5)  Because  they  betray  allusions  to 
later  developments  of  Gnostic  heresy :  and  these  objections  we  will 
briefly  consider. 

(1)  Now  as  to  the  style  of  these  Epistles,  we  admit  at  once  that  it  is 
inferior  to  that  of  St.  Paul's  greatest  productions.  For  eloquence,  com- 
pression, depth,  passion,  and  logical  power,  they  cannot  for  one  moment 
be  compared  to  the  letters  to  the  Corinthians,  Romans,  Galatians,  or 
Ephesians.  St.  Paul  is  not  here  at  his  best  or  greatest.  "  His  restless 
energies,"  says  A.lford,^  "  are  still  at  work ;  but  those  energies  have 
changed  their  complexion  ;  they  have  passed  from  the  dialectic  character 
of  his  earlier  Epistles,  from  the  wonderful  capacity  of  intricate  combined 
rationalism  of  his  subsequent  Epistles,  to  the  urging,  and  repeating, 
and  dilating  upon  truths  which  have  been  the  food  of  his  life ;  there  is 
a  resting  on  former  conclusions,  a  constant  citation  of  the  temjwris  acti, 
is'hioh.  lets  us  into  a  most  interesting  phase  of  the  character  of  the  great 
Apostle.  We  see  here  rather  the  succession  of  brilliant  sparks  than  the 
steady  flame ;  burning  words  indeed  and  deep  pathos,  but  not  the  flower 
of  his  firmness  as  in  his  discipline  of  the  Galatians ;  not  the  noon  of  his 
bright,  warm  eloquence,  as  in  the  inimitable  Psalm  of  Love."^ 

But  in  what  way  does  this  invalidate  their  authenticity  ?  We 
entii-ely  dissent  from  Baui-'s  exaggerated  depreciation  of  their  value; 
if  we  admitted  that  they  were  as  meagre  of  contents,  as  colourless  in 
treatment,  as  deficient  in  motive  and  connexion,  as  full  of  monotony, 
repetition,  and  dependence,  as  he  asserts — what  then  1  Must  a  wi-iter  be 
always  at  his  greatest  1  Does  not  the  smallest  knoAvledge  of  Uterary 
history  prove  at  once  that  writers  are  liable  to  extraordinary  variations 
of  literary  capacity"?  Do  not  their  shorter  and  less  important  works 
ofier  in  many  cases  a  most  singular  contrast  to  their  more  elaborate 
compositions  %     Ai-e  all  the  works  of  Plato  of  equal  value  ?     Do  we  find 

Baur,  Paul.  ii.  106.  «  Greek  Test.  iii.  83.  »  1  Cor.  xiii 

n  n 


610  APPENDIX. 

in  the  Ephiomis  tlie  gi-andeur  and  profundity  which  mark  the  Phaedo 
and  the  Theaetetus  ?  Is  the  Leges  as  rich  in  style  as  the  Phaedrus  f 
Is  there  no  difference  in  manner  between  the  Annals  of  Tacitus  and 
the  dialogue  De  Oratoribtis  ?  Was  it  the  same  hand  which  wrote 
Lovers  Labour's  Lost  and  Hamlet  ?  Would  any  one  who  read  the 
more  prosaic  parts  of  the  Paradise  Regained  recognise  the  poet  of  the 
first  or  sixth  books  of  the  Paradise  Lost  ?  Is  the  style  of  Burke  in  the 
Essay  on  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful  the  same  as  his  style  in  the  Essay 
on  the  French  Revolution  1  It  would  be  quite  superfluous  to  multiply 
instances.  If  it  be  asserted  that  the  Pastoral  Epistles  are  valueless,  or 
unworthy  of  their  avithor,  we  at  once  join  issue  with  the  objectors,  and, 
independently  of  our  own  judgment,  we  say  that,  in  that  case,  they 
would  not  have  deceived  the  critical  intuition  of  centuiues  of  thinkers, 
of  whom  many  were  consummate  masters  of  literary  expression.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  be  merely  contended  that  the  style  lacks  the  verve 
and  passion  of  the  earlier  Epistles,  we  reply  that  this  is  exactly  what  we 
shoiild  expect.  Granted  that  "it  is  not  the  object  of  this,  as  of  preceding 
Epistles,  to  develop  fully  some  essentially  Pauline  idea  which  has  stiU 
to  vindicate  itself,  and  on  which  the  Christian  consciousness  and  life  are 
to  be  formed,  but  rather  to  apply  the  contents  of  Christian  doctrine  to 
practical  life  in  its  varying  circumstances,"  we  reply  that  nothing  could 
be  more  natux'al.  Granted  that,  unlike  all  the  other  Epistles,  they  have 
no  true  organic  development ;  that  they  do  not  proceed  from  one  root- 
idea  which  penetrates  the  whole  contents,  and  binds  all  the  inner  parts 
in  an  inner  unity,  because  the  deeper  relations  pervade  the  outward  dis- 
connectedness ;  that  no  one  creative  thought  determines  their  contents 
and  structure  ;  that  they  exhibit  no  genuine  dialectic  movement  in  which 
the  thought  possesses  sufficient  inherent  force  to  originate  all  the  stages 
of  its  development  ;^  granted,  I  say — and  it  is  a  needlessly  large  con- 
cession— that  this  depth  of  conception,  this  methodical  development,  this 
dialectic  progress,  are  wanting  in  these  three  letters,  we  entirely  refuse  to 
admit  that  this  want  of  structural  growth  belies  their  Pauline  origin. 
It  is  little  short  of  absurd  to  suppose  that  every  one  of  St.  Paul's  letters 
— however  brief,  however  casual,  however  private — must  have  been 
marked  by  the  same  features  as  the  Epistles  to  the  Pvomans  or  the 
Galatians.  I  venture  to  say  that  every  objection  of  this  kind  falls  at 
once  to  the  ground  before  the  simple  observation  of  the  fact  that  these 
were  not  gi-and  and  solemn  compositions  dealing  with  the  great  problems 
A  which  were  rending  the  peace  of  the  assembled  Churches  before  which 
they  would  be  read,  but  ordinary  private  letters,  addressed  by  an  elder 
and  a  superior  to  friends  whom  he  had    probably  known  from  early 

J  Baur,  Faul.  ii.  107. 


GENUINENESS    OF    THE    PASTORAL    EPISTLES.        611 

boyhood,  and  who  were  absohitely  familiar  with  the  great  main  fea- 
tiu-es  of  his  teaching  and  belief.  Add  the  three  circumstances  that 
one  of  them  was  written  during  the  cruel  imprisonment  in  which 
his  life  was  drawing  to  its  close  ;  that  they  were  probably  written  by 
his  own  hand,  and  not  with  the  accustomed  aid  of  an  amanuensis  ;  ^ 
and  that  they  were  certainly  written  in  old  age, — and  we  shall  at  once 
see  how  much  there  is  which  explains  the  general  peculiarities  of  their 
style,  especially  in  its  want  of  cohesion  and  compression.  There  are  in 
these  Epistles  inimitable  indications  that  we  are  reading  the  words  of 
an  old  man.  Tliere  is  neither  senility  nor  gaiTulity,  but  there  is  the  dignity 
and  expei-ience  which  marks  the  jucunda  senectus."^  The  digressiveness 
becomes  more  diffuse,  the  generalities  more  fi-equent,  the  repetitions  more 
observable.^  Formulte  are  reiterated  with  an  emphasis  which  belongs 
less  to  the  necessities  of  the  present  than  to  the  reminiscences  of  the 
past.  Divergences  into  personal  matters,  when  he  is  writing  to 
Timothy,  who  had  so  long  been  his  bosom  companion,  become  more 
numerous  and  normal.*  And  yet  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  that  a 
Paul  is  still  the  writer.  There  are  flashes  of  the  deepest  feeling,  out- 
bursts of  the  most  intense  expression.  There  is  rhythmic  movement 
and  excellent  majesty  in  the  doxologies,  and  the  ideal  of  a  Christian 
pastor  is  drawn  not  only  with  an  unfaltering  hand,  but  with  a  beauty, 
fulness,  and  simplicity,  which  a  thousand  years  of  subsequent  experience 
have  enabled  no  one  to  equal,  much  less  to  surpass.  In  these  Epistles 
direct  logical  controversy  is  to  a  great  extent  neglected  as  needless. 
All  that  the  Apostle  had  to  say  in  the  way  of  such  reasoning  had  pro- 
bably been  said  to  his  correspondents,  in  one  form  or  other,  again  and 
again.  For  them,  as  entrusted  with  the  supervision  of  impoi-tant 
Christian  communities,  it  was  needless  to  develop  doctrines  with  which 
they  wei'e  familiar.  It  was  far  more  necessary  to  warn  them  respecting 
the  fatal  moral  tendencies  in  which  heresies  originated,  and  the  fatal 
moral  aberrations  in  which  they  too  often  issued. 

1  The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  and  the  concluding  doxology  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Eomans  were  also  autographic ;  and  Dean  Alford — than  whom  few  men  have 
ever  been  more  closely  acquainted  with  the  style  of  the  Apostle  in  all  its  pecu- 
liarities— has  pointed  out  a  series  of  resemblances  between  these  writings  and  the 
Pastoral  Epistles  {Greek  Test.  iii.  86). 

2  Even  when  he  wrote  the  Epistle  to  Philemon  he  calls  himself  Paul  the  Aged, 
and  he  had  gone  through  much  since  then.  Supposing  him  to  have  been  converted 
at  the  age  of  thirty,  he  would  now  have  been  nearly  sixty,  and  could  hardly  have 
seemed  otherwise  than  aged,  considering  the  illnesses  and  trials  which  had  shattered 
a  weak  and  nervous  frame. 

3  1  Tim.  i.  15;  ii.  4—6;  iii.  16,  &c.;  2  Tim.  i.  9;  ii.  11—13;  Tit.  i.  15;  ii.  11; 
iii.  3,  &c.  etc. 

*  1  Tim.  i.  11,  seqq.;  2  Tim.  i.  11,  seqq.;  15,  seqq.;  iv.  6,  »eqq. 

n  n  % 


612  APPENDIX. 

And  while  we  are  on  this  subject  of  style,  how  much  is  there  which 
•we  must  at  once  see  to  be  favourable  to  the  authenticity  of  these 
writings  !  Take  the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy  alone,  which  is  more 
seriously  attacked  than  the  other  two,  and  which  is  supposed  to  drag 
down  its  companions  by  the  evidence  of  its  spuriousness.  Do  we 
not  find  in  it  abundant  traces  of  a  familiar  style  1  Is  it  even  con- 
ceivable that  a  foi'ger  would  have  actually  begun  with  an  anakoluthon 
or  unfinished  construction?  Such  sentences  abound  in  the  style  of 
St.  Paiil,  and  to  imitate  them  with  perfect  naturalness  would  be  no 
easy  task.  But  even  supposing  the  possibility  of  imitation,  would  a 
forger  have  started  off  with  one?  Again,  it  would  be  very  easy  to 
caricature  or  clumsily  imitate  the  digressive  manner  which  we  have 
attributed  to  familiarity  and  age ;  but  to  reproduce  it  so  simply  and 
naturally  as  it  here  appears  would  require  supreme  literary  accom- 
plishment. Would  an  imitator  have  purposely  diverged  from  St. 
Paul's  invariable  salutation  by  the  insertion  of  "  mercy "  between 
"  grace "  and  "  peace"  %  It  is  easy  to  understand  on  psychological 
grounds  that  St.  Paul  might  call  himself  "the  chief  of  sinners" 
(i.  15);  but  would  a  devoted  follower  have  thiis  written  of  himl 
Would  he  purposely  and  continually  have  lost  the  maiu  thread  of  his 
subject  as  at  ii.  3,  7  ?  A  writer  with  a  firm  grasp  of  truths  which  he 
knows  to  be  complementary  to  each  other  would  never  hesitate  at  any 
merely  apparent  contradiction  of  his  previous  opinions  ;  still  less  would 
he  hesitate  to  modify  those  opinions  in  accordance  with  circumstances ; 
but  would  a  forger  have  been  so  bold  as  apparently  to  contradict  in 
iL  15  what  St.  Paul  had  taught  in  1  Cor.  vii.  1  Would  he  be  skilful 
enough  to  imitate  the  simple  and  natural  manner  in  which,  more  than 
once,  the  Apostle  has  resumed  his  Epistle  after  seeming  to  be  on  the 
point  of  ending  it,  as  at  ui.  14,  15 "?  St.  Paul,  like  most  supremely 
noble  writers,  is  quite  indifierent  to  confusion  of  metaphors ;  but  would 
an  imitator  be  likely  to  follow  him  with  such  lordly  indifference  as  at 
vi.  19  ?  In  writing  to  familiar  friends,  nothing  is  more  natural  than 
the  perfectly  casual  introduction  of  minute  and  vmimportant  particulars. 
There  is  nothing  like  this  in  St.  Paul's  other  letters,  not  even  in  that 
to  Philemon,  and  therefore  a  forger  would  have  had  no  model  to  copy. 
How  great  a  literary  artist,  then,  m\ist  have  been  the  forger  wlio — 
writing  with  some  theory  of  inspiration,  and  under  the  shadow  of  a 
great  name,  and  with  special  objects  in  view — could  furnish  accidental 
minutiae  so  natural,  so  interesting,  and  even  so  pathetic  as  that  in 
1  Tim.  V.  23,  or  introduce,  by  way  of  precaution,  such  particulars — 
"  unexampled  in  the  Apostle's  other  wiitings,  founded  on  no  incident, 
tending  to  no  result " — as  the  direction  to  Timothy  to  bring  with  him  to 


GENUINENESS    OF    THE    PASTORAL    EPISTLES.        613 

Rome  "  the  cloak  which  I  left  at  Troas  -wdth  Carpus,  and  the  books, 
especially  the  parchments."  It  seems  to  me  that  foi^ery,  even  under 
the  dominant  influence  of  one  impressive  personality  and  one  supreme 
idea,  is  by  no  means  the  extraordinarily  easy  and  simple  thing  which 
it  apjjcai-s  to  be  to  the  adherents  of  the  Tiibingen  criticism.  It  is  a 
comparatively  simple  matter  to  pass  off  imitations  of  a  Clemens  Romanus 
or  an  Ignatius,  but  it  is  hardly  likely  that  the  world  would  be  long 
deceived  by  writings  palmed  off  xipon  it  as  those  of  a  Milton — still  less  of 
a  St.  Paul. 

(2)  It  is  said  they  abound  in  unusual,  isolated,  and  un-Pauline  expres- 
sions. Among  these  are  "It  is  a  faithful  saying,"  ^  "piety,"  and  "piously" 
(evffffieia,  €V(T(0(cs),  found  eight  times  in  these  Epistles,  and  nowhere  else 
except  in  2  Pet.  f  the  metaphor  of  "  wholesomeness  "  (dytiis,  vyialvfiv), 
applied  to  doctrines  nine  times  in  these  Epistles,  and  nofc  elsewhere  ;  ^ 
the  use  of  Seo-Wrijs  "Lord  "  for  Kvpiqs  "master;"*  the  use  of  apvCiada. 
"  to  deny "  for  the  renunciation  of  true  doctrine ;  and  of  irapainlaeai 
"to  avoid,"  of  which  the  latter  is,  however,  used  by  Paul  in  his 
speech  before  Festus,  and  which,  as  well  as  -irpoff^x^iv,  with  a  dative  in 
the  sense  of  "  attend  to,"  he  very  probably  picked  up  in  intercourse  ^vith 
St.  Luke,  to  whom  both  words  are  familiar.^  No  one,  I  think,  will  be 
seriously  startled  by  these  unusual  phrases,  nor  will  they  shake  our 
belief  in  the  genuineness  of  the  Epistles  when  we  recall  that  there  is 
not  a  single  Epistle  of  St.  Paul  in  which  these  hapax  legomena,  or 
isolated  expressions,  do  not  abound.  Critics  who  have  searched 
minutely  into  the  comparative  terminology  of  the  New  Testament 
Scriptures,  teU  us  there  are  no  less  than  111  peculiar  terms  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  186  in  the  two  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians, 
67  and  54  respectively  in  the  short  Epistles  to  the  Galatians  and 
Pliilippians,  6  even  in  the  few  paragraphs  addressed  to  Philemon. 
It  is  not  therefore  in  the  least  degree  surprising  that  there  should  be 
74  in  the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy,  67  in  the  Second,  and  13  in  that  to 
Titus.  Still  less  shall  we  be  surprised  when  we  examine  them.  St. 
Paul,  it   must  be  remembered,  was  the   main   creator  of  iiieological 

1  1  Tim.  i.  15 ;  iii.  1 ;  iv.  9 ;  2  Tim.  ii.  11 ;  Tit.  iii.  8. 

2  1  Tim.  ii.  2;  iii.  16;  iv.  7;  vi.  11;  2  Tim.  iii.  5,  12;  Tit.  i.  1;  ii.  12. 
Pfleidercr  suggests  that  this  word  eva-effeia  may  have  been  taken  astiitj  fundamental 
idea  of  the  Christian  holy  life  as  the  word  "  faith  "  became  gradually  externalised. 

3  1  Tim.  i.  10  ;  vi.  3,  4 ;  2  Tim.  i.  13  ;  iv.  3  ;  Tit.  i.  9,  13  ;  ii.  1,  8.  And,  as  a 
natural  antithesis,  ydyypaiva  and  votreTy  are  applied  to  false  doctrine. 

4  1  Tim.  vi.  1,  2 ;  2  Tim.  ii.  21 ;  Tit.  ii.  9. 

5  Alford,  I.e.  Can  the  use  of  Sfo-n-STris  instead  of  Kvptos  be  due  to  the  literary 
inconvenience  which  was  gradually  felt  to  arise  from  the  fact  that  the  latter  word 
was  more  and  more  incessantly  employed  as  the  title  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ? 


614  APPENDIX. 

language.  In  the  Pastoral  Epistles  he  is  dealing  with  new  circum- 
stances, and  new  circumstances  would  inevitably  necessitate  new  terms. 
Any  one  who  reads  the  list  of  unusual  expressions  in  the  Epistles  to 
Timothy  will  see  at  once  that  the  large  majority  of  them  are  directly 
connected  with  the  new  form  of  error  with  which  St.  Paul  had  recently 
been  called  upon  to  deal.  Men  who  are  gifted  with  a  vivid  power  of 
realisation  are  peculiarly  liable  to  seize  upon  fresh  phrases  which  embody 
their  own  thoughts  and  convictions,  and  these  phrases  are  certain  to 
occur  frequently  at  particular  j^eriods  of  their  lives,  and  to  be  varied  from 
time  to  time.^  This  is  simply  a  matter  of  psychological  observation,  and 
is  quite  sufficient  to  account  for  the  expressions  we  have  mentioned,  and 
many  more.  We  can  have  little  conception  of  the  plasticity  of  language 
at  its  creative  epoch,  and  we  must  never  forget  that  St.  Paul  had  to 
find  the  correct  and  adequate  expression  for  conceptions  .which  as  yet 
were  extremely  unfamiliar.  Every  year  would  add  to  the  vocabulary, 
which  must  at  first  have  been  more  or  less  tentative,  and  the  harvest  of 
new  expressions  would  always  be  most  rich  where  truths,  already 
familiar,  Avere  brought  into  collision  with  heresies  altogether  new.  The 
list  of  hapax  legomena  in  the  note  ^  are  all  due,  not  to  the  difference  of 
authorship,  but  to  the  exigencies  of  the  times. 

(3)  It  would  be  a  much  more  serious — it  would  indeed  be  an  all 
but  fatal — objection  to  the  authenticity  of  these  Epistles,  if  it  could  be 
proved  that  their  theology  differs  from  that  of  Paul.  But  a  very  little 
examination  will  show  that  there  is  no  such  contradiction — nothing 
beyond  the  varying  expression  of  truths  which  complement  but  do  not 
contradict  each  other.  Some,  indeed,  of  the  alleged  discre2:)ancies  are 
too  shadowy  to  grasp.  If  Christianity  be  described  as  "  the  doctrine  " 
and  as  "  sound  doctrine  "  ;  ^  if  the  word  "  faith  "  has  acquired  a  more 
objective  significance,  so  as  sometimes  almost  to  imply  a  body  of  triiths 
as  opposed  to  heresy;*  if  the  name  "Saviour" — rare  in  St.  Paul — be 


1  I  feel  convinced  that  the  Tubingen  methods  applied  to  the  writings  of  Mr. 
Carlyle  (for  instance)  or  Mr.  Ruskin,  would  prove  in  the  most  triumphant  manner 
that  some  of  their  writings  were  forgeries  (o)  from  their  resemblance  to,  ()3)  from 
their  dissimilarity  from,  their  other  writings.  But  as  Dean  Alford  happily  says, 
"  In  a  fresh  and  vigorous  style  there  wUl  ever  be  (so  to  speak)  Ubrations  over  any 
rigid  limits  of  habitude  which  can  be  assigned  ;  and  such  are  to  be  judged  of,  not 
by  their  mere  occurrence  or  number,  but  by  their  subjective  character  being  or  not 
being  in  accordance  with  the  writer's  well-known  characteristics"  {Test.  iii.  54). 

2  yiviaKoyiai,  1  Tim.  i.  4,  Tit.  iii.  9  ;  /xaTaioKoyos,  1  Tim.  i.  6,  Tit.  i.  10  ; 
Kevocpui'lai,  1  Tim.  vi.  20,  2  Tim.  ii.  16  ;  Koyo/aaxiat,  wapa6r]Kr),  $ifir]\os,  atTTOX^'^v, 
Tv(f>ov(rdai ;  &c. 

3  1  Tim.  i.  10;  vi.  1. 

*  1  Tim.  i.  10  ;  ii.  7  ;  iii.  0 ;  iv.  1—6,  vi.  10,  21.     Pfleiderer,  Paulinism,  ii.  201. 


GENUINENESS    OF    THE    PASTORAL    EPISTLES.        615 

applied  to  God,  and  not  to  Christ ;  ^  if  "  Palingenesia "  (regeneration) 
occurs  only  in  the  Epistle  to  Titus ;  ^  these  are  peculiarities  of  language, 
not  difterences  of  theology.  There  is  a  dominant  practical  tendency  in 
these  Epistles ; — so  there  is,  we  reply,  in  all  St.  Paul's  Epistles.  The 
value  and  blessedness  of  good  works  is  incessantly  insisted  on;-' — is 
this,  then,  to  be  stigmatised  as  "  utilitarianism  and  religious  eudae- 
monism,"  and  a  decided  pietistic  attenuation  of  the  Pauline  doctrine  1 
Are  they  not,  then,  insisted  on  even  in  the  Epistles  to  the  Romans 
and  Galatians,  though  there  he  is  developing  a  theory,  and  here  he  is 
professedly  occupied  with  moral  instructions  1  Will  any  one  attempt  to 
prove  that  St.  Paul,  either  in  these  Epistles  or  elsewhere,  held  any 
other  view  of  good  works  than  this — that  they  are  profitless  to  obtain 
salvation,  but  are  morally  indispensable^*  De  Wette's  further  objec- 
tion, that  St.  Paul  here  makes  an  apology  for  the  Law  (1  Tim.  i  8), 
and  his  attempt  to  draw  a  subtle  distinction  between  the  miiversalism 
of  these  Epistles  and  of  the  other  Pauline  writings,  deserve  no  serious 
refutation.  St.  Paul's  method  and  object  are  here  wholly  unlike  those 
of  his  Epistles  to  Churches  composed  of  heterogeneous  and  often  of 
hostile  elements ;  but  it  may  be  asserted,  beyond  all  fear  of  contradic- 
tion, that,  bearing  in  mind  the  non-theoretical  treatment  of  the  points 
on  which  he  here  touches,  and  the  fact  that  he  is  wi-iting  to  friends  and 
disciples  already  absolutely  convinced  of  the  main  truths  of  his  theology, 
there  is  not  one  word  in  these  Epistles  which  either  contradicts  or 
seriously  differs  from  the  fundamental  ideas  of  St.  Paul.  Even  Baur 
— candid,  with  all  his  hypercritical  prejudices — only  sees  in  them  "a 
certain  something  of  the  specific  Pauline  doctrine  with  a  dominant  prac- 
tical tendency,"  an  "  applying  of  the  contents  of  Christian  doctrine  to 
the  various  cii'cumstances  of  practical  life. "  ^ 

(4)  It  is  not,  however,  on  the  above  grounds  that  the  Pastoral 
Epistles  have  been  most  seriously  attacked.  The  considerations  which 
we  have  here  seen  to  be  untenable  are  really  due  to  after-thoughts ;  and 


^  Pfleiderer  says  that  in  Tit.  ii.  13  Christ  is  called  "oiir  great  God  and  Saviour," 
and  that  "this  goes  beyond  all  the  previous  Christology  of  St.  Paul."  But  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  phrase  is  applied  to  God  in  this  place,  as  also  in  1  Tim. 
i.  1 ;  ii.  3 ;  iv.  10 ;  Tit.  i.  3 ;  ii.  10.  The  anarthrousness  of  2wT^p  is  no  valid  gram- 
matical objection. 

2  Tit.  iii.  0. 

3  Baur,  Paul.  ii.  106;  Do  Wette,  Pastoralbr.  117,  c. ;  Pfleiderer,  FauUnism,  210; 
Reuss,  Les  Epttres,  ii.  314. 

*  Rom.  ii.  6—10;  xiii.  3;  Gal.  v.  6,  &c. ;  Eph.  ii.  8—10,  &c. 

'  Paul.  ii.  107.  It  is  the  \iew  of  some  hostile  critics  that  the  Asiatic  Epistles 
(Eph.  and  Col.)  are  Pauline  with  un-Paulino  interpolations  ;  and  the  Pastoral 
Epistles  un-Pauline,  yet  containing  Pauline  matter. 


616  APPENDIX. 

the  assaults  on  the  geniiiiieness  of  the  Epistles  have  mainly  risen  from 
the  belief  that  they  are  "  tendency-writings,"  meant  to  serve  the  two- 
fold object  of  magnifying  ecclesiastical  organisation  and  of  covertly 
attacking  a  Gnosticism  which  was  not  prevalent  till  long  after  the 
Apostle's  time.  The  two  subjects  are  by  no  means  disconnected.  The 
Gnostics,  it  is  said — as  the  first  heretics  properly  so  called — gave  occasion 
for  the  episcopal  constitution  of  the  Church ;  and  if  there  were  no  such 
heretics  at  that  time,  then  these  ecclesiastical  arrangements  will  be 
devoid  of  any  historical  occasion  or  connexion !  I  have  sought  the 
strongest  and  fullest  statements  of  these  objections,  and  shall  try  to 
express  the  reasons  why  they  appear  to  me  to  be  most  absolutely 
groundless.  I  quite  freely  admit  that  there  are  some  remarkable 
peculiarities  in  these  Epistles ;  I  do  not  deny  that  they  suggest  some 
difiiculties  of  which  we  can  give  no  adequate  explanation ;  I  cannot  go 
so  far  as  to  say  that  the  objections  brought  against  them  are  "not 
adequate  even  to  raise  a  doubt  on  the  subject  of  their  authenticity ; " 
but  for  these  very  reasons  I  can  say,  with  all  the  deeper  sincerity,  that, 
whatever  minor  hesitations  and  doubts  may  remain  unremoved,  the 
main  arguments  of  those  who  reject  the  Epistles  have — even  without 
regard  to  other  elements  of  external  testimony  and  internal  evidence 
in  their  favour — been  fairly  met  and  fairly  defeated  all  along  the  line. 

(a)  Let  us  first  consider  the  question  of  ecclesiastical  organisation. 
And  here  we  are  at  once  met  with  the  preliminary  and  fundamental 
objection  of  Baur,  that  in  the  Epistles  which  supply  us  with  the  surest 
standard  of  St.  Paul's  principles  he  never  betrays  the  slightest  interest 
in  ecclesiastical  institutions,  not  even  when  they  might  be  thought  to 
lie  directly  in  his  way ;  and  that  this  want  of  interest  in  such  things  is 
not  merely  accidental,  but  founded  deep  in  the  whole  spirit  and  character 
of  Pauline  Christianity. 

But  this  form  of  statement  is  invidious,  and  will  not  stand  a 
moment's  examination.  In  the  minutiae  of  ecclesiastical  institutions,  as 
aflfected  by  mere  sectarian  disputes,  St.  Paul  would  have  felt  no  interest ; 
and  to  that  exaltation  of  human  ministers  which  has  received  the  name 
of  sacerdotalism — feeling  as  he  did  the  supreme  sufficiency  of  one 
Mediator — he  would  have  been  utterly  opposed.  It  is  very  probable 
that  he  woxild  have  treated  the  differences  between  Presbyterianism  and 
Episcopacy  as  very  secondary  questions — questions  of  expediency,  of 
which  the  settlement  might  lawfully  differ  in  different  countries  and 
different  times.  But  to  say  that  he  would  have  considered  it  super- 
fluous to  give  directions  about  the  consolidation  of  nascent  Churches, 
and  would  have  had  no  opinion  to  off'er  about  the  duties  and  qualifica- 
tions of  ministers,  is  surely  preposterous.  It  is,  moreover,  contradicted 
by   historic   facts.      His   tours   to  confirm   the  Churches,   his  solemu 


GENUINENESS    OF   THE    PASTORAL    EPISTLES.        617 

appointment  of  presbyters  with  prayers  and  fastings  in  his  very  first 
missionary  journey/  and  his  summons  to  the  Ephesian  presbyters,  that 
they  might  receive  his  last  advice  and  farewell,  would  be  alone  sufficient 
to  prove  that  such  matters  did — as  it  was  absolutely  necessary  that  they 
should — occupy  a  large  part  of  his  attention.  Are  we  to  suppose  that 
he  gave  no  pastoral  instructions  to  Timothy  when  he  sent  him  to  the 
Churches  of  Macedonia,  or  to  Titus  when  he  appointed  him  a  sort  of 
commissioner  to  regulate  the  disorders  of  the  Church  of  Corinth  1 

It  is  true  that  the  pseudo-Clementines,  the  Apostolical  constitutions, 
parts  of  the  letters  of  Ignatius,  and  in  all  probability  other  early 
writings,  were  forged,  with  the  express  object  of  giving  early  and  lofty 
sanction  to  later  ecclesiastical  development,  and  above  all  to  the  supposed 
primacy  of  Rome.  But  what  could  be  more  unlike  such  developments 
than  the  perfectly  simple  and  unostentatious  an-angements  of  the 
Pastoral  Epistles'?  In  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Christian  Church,  and 
the  counter-gi'owth  of  error,  the  establishment  of  discipline  and  govern- 
ment would  almost  from  the  first  become  a  matter  of  pressing  exigency. 
Even  in  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians  and  Romans  we  find  terms  that 
imply  the  existence  of  deacons,  deaconesses,  teachers,  prophets,  apostles, 
rulers,  overseers  or  presbyters,  and  evangelists  ^  and  a  comparison  of 
the  passages  referred  to  will  show  that  all  these  names,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  first, ■•*  were  used  vaguely,  and  to  a  certain  extent  even 
synonymously,  or  as  only  descriptive  of  different  aspects  of  the  same 
office.'  If  the  imposition  of  hands  is  alluded  to  in  the  Epistles  to  Timothy, 
so  it  is  in  the  Acts.*  The  notion  that  a  formal  profession  of  faith 
was  required  at  ordination  so  little  results  from  2  Tim.  i.  13  that  the 
very  next  verse  is  sufficient  to  disprove  such  a  meaning.  If  the  Pastoral 
Epistles  contained  a  clear  defence  of  the  episcopal  system  of  the  second 
century,  this  alone  Avould  be  sufficient  to  prove  their  spuriousness ;  but 
the  total  absence  of  anything  resembling  it  is  one  of  the  strongest  proofs 
that  they  belong  to  the  Apostolic  age.  Bishop  and  presbyter  are  stiU 
synonyms,  as  they  are  throughout  the  New  Testament.^     If  iTna-Konds, 

1  Acts  xiv.  23. 

2  1  Cor.  xii.  28 ;  xvi.  15 ;  Rom.  xii.  7  ;  xvi.  1 ;  Phil.  i.  1 ;  1  Thess.  v.  12 ;  Eph. 
iv.  11;  Acts  XX.  17,  28. 

'  To  a  certain  extent,  indeed,  the  overseers,  presbyters,  and  deacons,  in  their 
purely  official  aspect,  corresponded  to  the  Sheliach,  the  Eosh  ha-Keneseth,  the  Chazzan 
of  the  synagogue. 

*  1  Tim.  iv.  14;  v.  22;  Acts  vi.  6;  viii.  17. 

'  Thus  in  1  Tim.  iii.  St.  Paul  passes  at  once  from  "  bishops  "  (1 — 7)  to  *'  deacons  " 
(8 — 1.3),  and  afterwards  speaks  of  these  same  bishops  as  "presbyters"  (v.  17 — 19), 
and  in  Tit.  i.  5 — 7  the  identification  is  indisputable.  No  one  is  ignorant  that 
"bishops"  and  " presbjiiers "  are  in  the  New  Testament  identical  (Acts  xx.  17 — 28; 
Phil.  i.  1 ;  1  Pet.  v.  2).     The  fact  was  well  known  to  the  Fathers,  ol  irpforfivTepoi 


618  APPENDIX. 

"overseer,"  or  "bishop"  be  used  in  the  singular,  tbis  is  partly  an  accident 
of  language  in  the  common  generic  use  of  the  Greek  article,  and  partly 
arises  from  the  very  nature  of  things  as  a  transitional  stage  to  the 
ultimate  meaning  of  the  word — since,  even  in  a  presbyteiy,  it  is  inevi- 
table that  some  one  presb;yi;er  should  take  the  lead.  Timothy  and  Titus 
exercise  functions  which  would  be  now  called  episcopal ;  but  they  are 
not  called  "bishops" ;  their  functions  were  temporary ;  and  they  simply  act 
as  authoritative  delegates  of  the  Apostle  of  the  GentUes.^  Nor  is  there 
any  trace  of  exalted  pretensions  in  the  overseers  whom  they  appoint. 
The  qualifications  required  of  them  are  almost  exclusively  moral.  The 
directions  given  are  "  ethical,  not  hierarchical."  And  yet  it  is  asserted 
that  one  main  object  of  the  First  Ejoistle  to  Timothy  is  "  to  establish  the 
primacy  of  the  bishops  as  against  the  presbyters  "P  A  more  arbitrary 
statement  could  hardly  be  formulated.  Let  any  one  turn  from  the 
Epistle  to  the  letters  of  St.  Ignatius,^  where  he  will  read  "  Give  heed  to 
the  bishop,  that  God  also  may  give  heed  to  you ;"  to  the  pseudo- 
Ignatius,'*  who  tells  us  that  "  he  who  doeth  anything  without  the  know- 
ledge of  the  bishop  serveth  the  devil "  ;  to  the  pseudo-Clementines,  which 
say  that  "  the  bishop  occupies  the  seat  of  Christ,  and  must  be  honoured 
as  the  image  of  God";^  and  he  will  see  how  glaring  is  the  anachronism 
of  supposing  that  it  was  written  toAv^ards  the  middle  of  the  second 
century  to  oppose  the  Marcionites  ;  and  how  utterly  different  is  the  mild 
and  natural  authority  which  the  Apostle  assigns  to  a  representative 
presbyterate  from  that  "  crushing  despotism  "  of  irresponsible  authority 
for  which  the  writers  of  the  second  century  were  willing  to  betray 
their  Christian  liberty. 

We  will  consider  the  minor  objections  on  this  head  when  we  come 
to  the  actual  passages  to  which  exception  is  taken,  and  especially  the 
difficult  expression  in  which  the  Chui-ch  is  apparently  called  "  a  pillar 

rb  iraKaibv  eKaKovvTO  iiriaKOTroi  .  .  .  koI  ot  ewlaKoiroi  irptcrfivTepoi  (Chrys.  ad  Phil. 
i.  1 ;  Jer.  ad  Tit.  1.  5).  The  more  marked  distinction  of  the  two  is  first  found  in 
Ignatius  ad  Folyc.  6. 

1  1  Tim.  i.  3  ;  iii.  14  ;  2  Tim.  iv.  9,  21 ;  Tit.  i.  5 ;  iii.  12. 

2  Pfleiderer,  Paulmism,  ii.  205.  Yet  he  admits  (p.  203)  that  in  the  second  Epistle 
the  remarks  addressed  to  Timothy  are  "  very  far  removed  from  the  later  conceptions 
of  the  exalted  condition  of  a  bishop,"  and  that  even  in  the  first  Epistle  "  the  difference 
between  bishops  and  presbyters  does  not  appear  to  be  any  fixed  difference  of  oflBcers." 

3  Ad  Folyc.  6.  If  the  shorter  form  of  the  seven  Ignatian  Epistles  be  genuine, 
they  show  that,  even  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  century,  the  ecclesiastical 
development  was  so  far  in  advance  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  as  almost  to  demon- 
strate the  genuineness  of  the  latter. 

*  Ad  Smyrn.  9. 

5  Clem.  Horn.  iii.  62,  66,  70.  For  these  and  other  quotations  see  Dr.  Lightfoot'fl 
essay  on  the  Chiistian  ministry  [Fhi/ippians,  p.  209,  scqq.). 


GENUINENESS    OF    THE    PASTORAL    EPISTLES.        619 

and  ground  of  the  truth." ^  But  another  gi'ound  of  objection  is  the  rules 
about  widows,  which,  as  Baur  asserts,  "can  only  be  successfully  ex- 
plained out  of  the  ecclesiastical  vocabulary  of  the  second  century,"  in 
which  the  term  xnpai  is  applied  to  an  order  consisting  not  only  of 
bereaved  persons  but  even  of  young  virgins.'  That  this  use  of  the  word 
did  not  arise  in  the  Apostle's  time  may  be  fairly  assumed,  b\it  if  there 
be  not  one  single  fact  in  the  passage  referred  to  which  makes  this 
necessary,  the  objection  falls  to  the  ground.  Baui-'s  only  argument  is 
that  if  xvpat  be  actual  widows,  the  Apostle  gives  two  directly  contra- 
dictory precepts  about  them,  bidding  the  younger  widows  to  marry 
again  (1  Tim.  v.  11 — 14),  and  yet  ordering  that  a  second  marriage  is  to 
exclude  them,  should  they  again  become  widows,  from  the  viduatus  of 
the  Church.  But  where  is  the  contradiction  1  We  learn  fx-om  the 
Acts  that  the  Church  continued  the  merciful  and,  indeed,  essential 
custom,  which  it  had  learnt  from  the  synagogue,  of  maintaining  those 
widows,  who  from  the  circumstances  of  Eastern  and  ancient  society  were 
its  most  destitute  members,  and  whose  helpless  condition  constituted  a 
special  appeal  to  pity.  But  it  was  only  natural  that  each  Church  should 
try  as  far  as  possible  to  utilise  this  institution,  and  that  the  widows 
should  themselves  desire  to  be  serviceable  to  the  brethren  to  whom  they 
owed  their  livelihood.  Hence  "  the  widows  "  became  a  recognised  order, 
and  acquired  a  semi-religious  position.  Into  this  order  St.  Paul  wisely 
forbids  the  admission  of  widows  who  are  still  of  an  age  to  marry  again. 
Of  the  female  character  in  general  and  in  the  abstract  he  does  not 
ordinarily  speak  in  very  exalted  terms,  and  in  this  respect  he  only 
resembles  most  ancient  writers,  although,  ia  spite  of  surrounding  condi- 
tions of  society,  he  sees  the  moral  elevation  of  the  entire  sex  in  Christ. 
He  regarded  it  as  almost  inevitable  that  the  religious  duties  of  the 
"order  of  widows,"  although  they  involved  a  sort  of  consecration  to 
celibacy  for  the  remainder  of  their  lives,  would  never  serve  as  a  sufficient 
barrier  to  their  wish  to  many  again ;  and  he  thought  that  moral 
degeneracy  and  outward  scandal  would  follow  from  the  intrusion  of  such 
motives  into  the  fulfilment  of  sacred  functions.  There  is  here  no  contra- 
diction, and  not  the  shadow  of  a  proof  that  ia  the  language  of  the  Epistle 
there  must  be  any  identification  of  widows  with  an  order  of  female 
celibates  or  youthful  nuns.^ 

(P)  We  now  come  to  the  last  objection,  wliich  is  by  far  the  strongest 
and  most  persistent,  as  it  is  also  the  earliest.  The  spuriousness  of  the 
Pastoral  Epistles  is  mainly  asserted  on  the  gi'ound  that  they  indicate 

1  1  Tim.  iii.  15. 

2  Tos  irapQivovs  tos  \iyop.eva.s  xhp"-^  Q^S^-  "'^  Smyrn.  13).  The  genuineness  of 
the  passage  is  far  from  certain. 

8  1  Cor.  xiv.  34;  1  Tim.  ii.  12—14;  2  Tim.  iii.  6;  &o. 


620  APPENDIX. 

tlie  existence  of  a  Gnosticism  which  was  not  fully  developed  till  after 
the  death  of  St.  Paul.  A  more  extensive  theory  was  never  built  on  a 
more  unstable  foundation.^  The  one  word  antitheseis  in  1  Tim.  vi  20, 
seems  to  Baur  a  clear  proof  that  the  first  Epistle  to  Timothy  is  a 
covert  polemic  against  Marcion  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century. 
To  an  hypothesis  so  extravagant  it  is  a  more  than  sufficient  answer  that 
the  heretical  tendencies  of  the  false  teachers  were  distinctly  Judaic, 
whereas  there  was  not  a  single  Gnostic  system  which  did  not  regard 
Judaism  as  either  imperfect  or  pernicious.  Objections  of  this  kind  can 
only  be  regarded  as  fantastic  \n\t\\  some  proof  be  offered  (1)  that  the 
germs  of  Gnosticism  did  not  exist  in  the  apostolic  age ;  and  (2)  that  the 
phrases  of  Gnosticism  were  not  borrowed  from  the  New  Testament,  nor 
those  of  the  New  Testament  from  the  Gnostic  systems.  Knowing  as 
we  do  that  "^on  "  was  thus  borrowed  by  Valentinus,^  and  that  "Gnosis" 
was  beginning  to  acquii-e  a  technical  meaning  even  when  St.  Paul  wrote 
his  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,^  we  see  that  on  the  one  hand  Gnostic 
terms  are  no  proof  of  allusion  to  Gnostic  tenets,  and  on  the  other,  that 
Gnostic  tendencies  existed  undeveloped  from  the  earliest  epoch  of  the 
Christian  Church.  It  would  be  far  truer  to  say  that  the  absence  of  any- 
thing like  definite  allusion  to  the  really  distinctive  elements  of  Marcionite 
or  Valentinian  teaching  is  a  decisive  proof  that  these  Epistles  belong  to  a 
far  earlier  epoch,  than  to  say  that  they  ai'e  an  attempt  to  use  the  great  name 
of  Paul  to  discountenance  those  subtle  heresies.  In  the  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians  St.  Paul  had  dealt  formally  with  the  pretended  philosophy  and 
vaunted  insight,  the  incipient  dualism,  the  baseless  angelology,  and  the  ex- 
aggerated asceticism  of  local  heretics  whose  theosophic  fancies  were  already 
prevalent,*  In  these  Epistles  he  merely  touches  on  them,  because  in 
private  letters  to  beloved  fellow-workers  there  was  no  need  to  enter  into 
any  direct  controversy  with  their  erroneous  teachings.  But  he  alludes  to 
these  elements  with  the  distinct  statement  that  they  were  of  Judaic 
origin.  Valentinus  rejected  the  Mosaic  law  ;  Marcion  was  Antinomian  j 
but  these  Ephesian  and  Cretan  teachers,  although  their  dualism  is 
revealed  by  their  ascetic  discouragement  of  marriage,  theii-  denial  of 
the  resurrection,  and    their    interminable  "  genealogies "   and   myths,' 

^  Apparently  the  use  of  the  word  krepo^i^affKoKuv  in  1  Tim.  i.  3  as  compared 
with  €T6po5i5ct<rK-aAot  in  Hegesippus  first  led  Schleiermacher  to  doubt  the  genuineness 
of  the  First  Epistle. 

2  Hippolytus  {R.  E.  vi.  20)  tells  us  that  Valentinus  gave  the  name  of  ^ons  to 
the  emanations  which  Simon  Magus  had  called  Eoots. 

3  1  Cor.  viii.  1.  The  adjective  "Gnostic  "  is  ascribed  to  the  Ophites,  or  to 
Carpocrates.     (Iren.  Haer.  i.  25 ;  Euseb.  H.  E.  iv.  7,  9.) 

*  See  Col.  i.  16,  17  ;  ii,  8,  18;  and  Mansel,  The  Gnostic  Heresies,  p.  64. 
5  1  Tim.  i.  4  :  iv.  4  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  18. 


GENUINENESS    OF    THE    PASTORAL    EPISTLES.        621 

are  not  only  Jews,  but  founded  their  subtleties  and  si:)eculations  on 
the  Mosaic  law.^  In  dealing  with  these  Paul  has  left  far  behind  him 
the  epoch  of  his  struggle  with  the  Pharisaic  legalists  of  Jerusalem. 
Thought  moves  with  vast  rapidity  ;  systems  are  developed  into  ever- 
varying  combinations  in  an  amazingly  short  space  of  time,  at  epochs  of 
intense  religious  excitement,  and  as  the  incipient  Gnosticism  of  the 
apostolic  age  shows  many  of  the  elements  which  would  hereafter  be 
rijjened  into  later  development,  so  it  already  shows  the  ominous  tendency 
of  restless  speculation  to  degenerate  into  impious  pride,  and  of  over- 
strained asceticism  to  link  itself  with  intolerable  license.^  These  are 
speculations  and  tendencies  which  belong  to  no  one  country  and  no  one 
age.  Systems  and  ideas  closely  akin  to  Gnosticism  are  found  in  the 
religions  and  philosophies  of  Greece,  Persia,  India,  China,  Egypt, 
Phoenicia ;  they  are  found  in  Plato,  in  Zoroaster,  in  the  Yedas,  in  the 
writings  of  the  Buddhists,  in  Philo,  in  neo-Platonism,  and  in  the  Jewish 
Kabbalah.  In  all  ages  and  all  countries  they  have  produced  the 
same  intellectual  combinations  and  the  same  moral  results.  A  writer 
of  the  second  century  could  have  had  no  possible  object  in  penning  a 
forgery  which  in  his  day  was  far  too  vague  to  be  polemically  effective.^ 
On  the  other  hand,  an  apostle  of  the  year  65  or  66,  familiar  with  Essene 
and  Oriental  speculations,  a  contemporary  of  Simon  Magus  the  reputed 
founder  of  all  Gnosticism,  and  of  Cerinthus,  its  earliest  heresiarch, 
might  haA'e  had  reason — even  apart  from  divine  guidance  and  prophetic 
inspiration — to  warn  the  disciples  to  whom  he  was  entrusting  the  care 
and  constitution  of  his  Churches  against  tendencies  which  are  never  long 
dormant,  and  which  were  already  beginning  to  display  a  dangerous 
activity  and  exercise  a  dangerous  fascination.  If  there  is  scarcely  a 
warning  which  would  not  apply  to  the  later  Gnostics,  it  is  equally  true 
that  there  is  not  a  warning  which  would  not  equally  apply  to  errors 
distinctly  reprobated  in  the   Epistles  to  the  Philippians,  Corinthians, 

1  1  Tim.  i.  7 ;  Tit.  i.  10,  14 ;  iii.  9. 

2  1  Tim.  i.  7,  19  ;  iv.  2  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  17 ;  iii.  1—7 ;  Tit.  i.  11,  15,  16. 

3  The  vagueness  is  due  to  the  still  wavering  outlines  of  the  heretical  teachings. 
The  "  Gnosticism"  aimed  at  has  been  by  various  critics  identified  with  Kabbalism 
(Baumgarten) ;  with  Pharisaism  (Wiesinger) ;  with  Essenism  (Mangold) ;  with 
Maxcionism  (Baur) — 

"  If  shape  it  could  be  called  which  shape  had  none 
Distinguishable  in  vesture,  joint,  or  limb." 

But  whether  Gnosticism  be  regarded  as  theological  speculation  (Gieseler),  or  an 
aristocratic  and  exclusive  philosophy  of  religion  (Neander),  or  allegorising  dualism 
(Baur),  if  "it  is  still  an  accomplished  task  to  seize  amidst  so  much  that  is  indefinite, 
vague,  merely  circumlocutory,  and  only  partly  true,  those  points  that  furnish  a 
clear  conception  of  it,"  then  it  is  clearly  idle  to  say  that  its  undeveloped  genius 
cannot  have  existed  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles. 


622  APPENDIX. 

and  Colossians,  as  well  as  to  the  Churches  addressed  by  St.  Peter, 
St.  Jude,  and  St  John.^  Greek  subtleties,  Eastern  imagination,  Jewish 
mysticism — in  one  word,  the  inherent  curiosity  and  the  inherent 
Manicheism  of  unregenerate  human  nature — began  from  the  very  first 
to  eat  like  a  canker  into  the  oj^ening  bud  of  Christian  faith. 

Those  who  wish  to  see  eveiy  possible  argument  which  can  be 
adduced  against  the  Pauline  authorshi})  of  these  Epistles,  may  find 
them  marshalled  together  by  Dr.  Davidson  in  the  later  editions  of  his 
"  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  New  Testament."  -  To  answer  them 
point  by  point  would  be  tedious,  for  many  of  them  are  exceedingly 
minute  ;  ^  nor  would  it  be  convincing,  for  critics  wOl  make  up  their 
minds  on  the  question  on  the  broader  and  larger  grounds  which  I  have 
just  examined.  But  to  sum  up,  I  would  say  that,  although  we  cannot 
be  as  absolutely  certain  of  their  authenticitj'-  as  we  are  of  that  of  the 
earlier  Epistles,  yet  that  scarcely  any  difiiculty  in  accepting  their 
authenticity  will  remain  if  we  bear  in  mind  the  following  considerations. 
(1)  In  times  like  those  of  early  Christianity,  systems  were  developed 
and  institutions  consolidated  with  extraordinary  rapidity.  (2)  These 
letters  were  written,  not  with  the  object  of  entering  into  direct  con- 
troversy, but  to  guide  the  general  conduct  of  those  on  whom  that  duty 
had  devolved,  and  who  were  already  aware  of  that  fixed  body  of  truth 
which  formed  the  staple  of  the  apostolic  teaching.  (3)  They  abound 
in  unusual  expressions,  because  new  forms  of  error  required  new  methods 
of  stating  truth.  (4)  Their  unity  is  less  marked  and  their  style  less 
logical,  because  they  ai-e  the  private  and  informal  letters  of  an  elder, 
wi'itten  with  the  waning  powers  of  a  life  which  was  rapidly  passing 
beyond  the  sphere  uf  earthly  controversies.  Pauline  in  much  of  their 
phraseology,  Pauline  in  their  fundamental  doctrines,  Pauline  in  their 
dignity  and  holiness  of  tone,  Pauline  alike  in  their  tenderness  and 
severity,  Pauline  in  the  digressions,  the  constructions,  and  the  per- 
sonality of  their  style,  we  may  accept  two  of  them  with  an  absolute 
conviction  of  their  authenticity,  and  the  third — the  First  Epistle  to 
Timothy,  which  is  more  open  to  doubt  than  the  others — with  at  least 
a  sti-ong  belief  that  in  reading  it  we  are  reading  the  words  of  the 
greatest  of  the  Apostles.* 

1  Phil.  iii.  18 ;  1  Cor.  xv. 

2  Vol.  ii.  pp.  137—195. 

3  I  shall,  however,  touch  on  some  of  these  in  speaking  of  the  Epistles  separately. 
It  has  been  said  that  Palcy  uses  the  discrepancies  between  the  Acts  and  the  Epistles 
to  prove  their  independence,  and  the  agreements  to  establish  their  truthfulness.  It 
may  certainly  be  said  that  the  Tiibingen  school  adduces  un-Pauline  expressions  to 
prove  non-authenticity,  and  Pauline  expressions  to  prove  forgery. 

*■  Even  Usteri,  Liicke,  Neander,  and  Bleek,  are  unconvinced  of  the  authenticity 


CHEONOLOGT    OF    THE    LIFE    OF    ST.  PAUL.  623 


EXCURSUS  X. 

Chroxoloqt  of  the  Life  akd  Epistles  of  St.  Paul. 

To  enter  fully  into  the  clironology  of  this  period  would  require  a 
separate  volume,  and  although  there  is  now  an  increasing  tendency  to 
unanimity  on  the  subject,  yet  some  of  the  dates  can  only  be  regarded  as 
approximate.  As  few  definite  chronological  indications  are  furnished  in 
the  Acts  or  the  Epistles,  we  can  only  frame  our  system  by  working 
backwards  and  forwards,  with  the  aid  of  data  which  are  often  vague, 
from  the  few  points  where  the  sacred  narrative  refei-s  to  some  distinct 
event  in  secular  history.  These,  which  furnish  us  with  our  points  de 
repere,  are — 

The  Death  of  Herod  Agrippa  L,  A.D.  44. 
The  Expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  Ptome,  A.D.  52. 
The  Arrival  of  Festus  as  Procurator,  A.D.  60. 
The  Neronian  Persecution,  A.D.  64. 

How  widely  different  have  been  the  schemes  adopted  by  different 
chronologers  may  be  seen  from  the  subjoined  table,  founded  on  that 
given  by  Meyer. 

of  the  First  Epistle.  Otto,  "Wieseler,  and  Eeuss,  have  said  all  tlrat  is  to  be  said  in 
favour  of  a  single  captivity  ;  but  on  the  assumption  that  the  Pastoral  Epistles  are 
genuine,  such  a  theory  forces  us  into  a  mass  of  impossibilities.  The  conviction  at 
which  I  have  arrived  may  be  summed  up  thus : — If  St.  Paul  was  put  to  death  at 
the  end  of  his  first  imprisonment,  the  Pastoral  Epistles  must  certainly  be  spurious. 
But  there  is  the  strongest  possible  evidence  that  two  of  them  at  least  are  genuine, 
and  great  probability  in  favour  of  the  other.  Thej  therefore  furnish  us  with  a 
proof  of  the  cirrrent  tradition  that  his  trial,  as  he  had  anticipated,  ended  in  an 
acquittal,  and  that  a  period  of  about  two  years  elapsed  between  his  liberation  and 
his  subsequent  arrest,  imprisonment,  and  death. 


634 


APPENDIX. 


EVENTS. 

1 
< 

1 

1-5 

8i 

'3  * 

1 
1 

ft 

1 

■l 

ft 

« 

Ascension  of  Christ   

31 

33 

32 

31 

32 

31 

33 

33 

33 

33 

33 

Stephen  stoned     

33 
or 
34 

Claud. 
I. 

32 

31 

33 

38? 

34 

33 

37 

Paul's  conversion       

35 

33      Claud. 
I      II. 

34 

33 

35 

40 

35 

34 

37 

Paul's    first   journey   to  7 
Jerusalem       S 

38 

a. 

Claud. 

III. 

37 

30 

38 

43 

38 

37 

40 

Paul's  arrival  at  Antioch 

43 

1      a. 
...     Claud. 
1     III. 

41 

40 

43 

43? 

42 

43 

40 

Death  of  James    

u 

... 

... 

42 

41 

44 

44 

44 

44 

The  famine     

U 

41 

44 

42 

42 

44 

44 

44 

44 

42 

Paul's  second  journey  to  ) 
Jerusalem       i 

a 

46 

42 

41 

44 

44 

44 

44 

42 

Paul's    first    missionary  ■) 
journey     S 

45 
to 
51 

... 

Claiid. 
V. 

44 
to 
47 

42 

45 
to 
46 

44 
to 
47 

44 
to 
46 

45 
to 

47 

Paul's   third  journey  to-) 
Jerusalem,  to  the  Apos-  > 
tolic  convention    ) 

52 

49 

49 

52 

53 

49 

51 

60 

Paul     commences      the") 
second  missionary  jour-  > 
ney      ) 

52 

... 

49 

49 

53 

50 

51 

50 

Banishment  of  the  Jews") 
from  Rome     3 

52 

49 

49 

49 

54 

... 

52 

49 
to 
52 

51 

Paul  arrives  at  Corinth    ... 

53 

... 

50 

50 

54 

54? 

52 

52 

51 

Paul's  fourth  journey  to^ 
Jerusalem  {al.  Ctesarea)  >• 
and  third  miss,  journey  ) 

55 

... 

52 
Coes. 

52 

56 

54? 

54 

54 

63 

Paul's  abode  at  Ephesua  ... 

56 
to 
58 

... 

... 

53 
to 
55 

52 
to 
54 

56 
to 
59 

56 
to 
58 

54 
to 
57 

54 
to 

57 

63 
to 

55 

Paul's    fifth  journey   to") 
Jerusalem,  and  impri-  • 
sonment    ; 

59 

... 

... 

,     53 
or 

54 

56 

55 

60 

59 

58 

58 

56 

Paul    is    removed  from) 
OiBsarea  to  Home       ...  S 

61 

55 

57 

under 
Nero. 

56 

56 

62 

60 

60 

60 

59 

Paul's   imprisonment   of> 
two  years'  in  Rome    ...) 

62 
or 
64 

... 

to  a 

... 

57 
to 
59 

... 

63 
to 
65 

61 
to 
63 

61 
to 
03 

61 
to 
63 

60 
to 

62 

CHUONOLOGT    OF    THE    LIFE    OF    ST.  PAUL. 


625 


2 

rd 

oi 

jj 

6 

^ 

id 

O  5> 

u 

S 

t 

w 

a 

1 

i 

1 
o 

1 

02  3 

1 

1 

1 

1 

! 

30 

33 

32 

33 

30? 

1 

35 

33 

31 

29 
Id. 

30 

33 

30 

30 

37 

30 

37 

or 
38 

37? 

35 

37 

39? 

38 

... 

33 

37 

37 

37 

35 

betweeu 

31 

37? 

or 

38 

40 

38? 

or 
38 

39 

35 

38 

or 
38 

40 

38 

and 
41 

34 

37 

40 

40 

38 

33 

or 
41 

43 

41 

or 
41 

42 

38 

41 

or 
41 

43 

41 

37 

40 

43 

43 

39 

... 

42 

or 
44 

43 

41 

or  44 
or  45? 

44 

44 

43 

41 

i9. 

about 
41 

44 

43 
or 

44 

44 

44 

43 
or 

44 

44 

44 

44 

44 

44 

45 

between 

44 

44 

or 
45 

44 

44 

... 

45 

to 
46 

and 
45 

44 

44 

41 

44 

45 

to 

44 

14 

41 

45 

or 

44 

44 

I  46?  J 

44 

45 

to 

44 

44 

44 

45 

4(i 

45 

15 

44 

to 
49 

to 

45 

48 

46 

to 

... 

to 

about 

1o 

to 

to 

45 

45 

46 

46 

48 

47 

61 

48 

47 

52 

52 

51 

50 
or 

47 

52 

51 

52 

about 
50 

^2 

49 
to 

50 

51 

60 

47 

53 

51 
or 
52 

47 

52 

51 

about 
60 

52 

51 

51 

between 

52 

51 

... 

54? 

54? 

52 

52 

49 

or 

52 

52 

54 

52 

48 

54? 

about 
54 

52 

52 

52 
or 
53 

49 

53 

52 

52 

53 

53 

53 

1 

53 

54 

49 

56 

Cces 

54 

or 
54 

51 

55 

54 

56 

64 

55 

or 
55 

54 

54 

50 

57 

55 

54 

51 

a 

56 

54 

54 

to 

58 

55 

54 

to 

... 

to 

... 

to 

or 

and 

to 

to 

to 

to 

55 

52 

59 

67 

55fF 

57 

57 

67 

57 

57 

58 

53 

GO 

60 

o7 

58 

or 
59 

59 

60 

58 

60 

58 

59 

58 

58 

58 

1 

60 

55 

62 

62 

59 

60 

or 
61 

61 

62 

60 

62 

60 

61 

60 

61 

61 

5G 

1  63 

«■< 

60 

'  fil 

62 

62 

63 

61 

63 

61 

62 

62 

61 

61 

to 

1  to 

to 

to 

:  to 

to 

to 

to 

to 

to 

to 

to 

to 

to 

to 

58 

1  "^ 

65 

1 

62 

1  63 

61 

61 

65 

63 

05 

64 

64 

64 

63 

63 

626  APPENDIX 

I  subjoin  a  separate  list  of  the  dates  of  the  Epistles  adopted  in 
this  volume.  The  reasons  are  stated  in  loco,  but  the  reader  will  under- 
stand that  the  dates  in  some  instances  can  only  be  apjjroximate. 

Dates  of  the  Epistles. 


Epistle. 

Written  at 

A.D. 

1  Thessalonians. 

Corinth. 

52. 

2  Thessalonians. 

Corinth. 

52. 

1  Corinthians. 

Ephesus. 

57. 

2  Corinthians. 

Philippi  (?). 

58  (early). 

Galatians. 

Corinth. 

68. 

Eomans. 

Corinth. 

58. 

Philippians. 

Eome. 

61  or  62. 

Colossians  | 
Philemon  ) 

Eome. 

63. 

Ephesians. 

Eome. 

63. 

1  Timothy. 

Macedonia  (?). 

65  or  66. 

Titus. 

Macedonia  (P). 

66. 

2  Timothy. 

Eome. 

67. 

The  subjoined  table  will  give  the  probable  dates  of  the  chief  events 
in  the  Apostle's  life,  with  those  of  the  events  in  secular  history  with 
which  they  synchronised. 

Table  op  Contemporary  Rulers,  etc. 


14  Tiberius 

(sole  Emperor). 


Pontius  Pilatus. 


31  ! 

32  Retires  to  Capreos 


U 


A  Phcenix  said 
to  have  been 
seen  in  Egn^t. 


Gaius  (Caligula) 
(March  16). 


Orders  his  statue 
to  be  placed 
in  the  Temple. 
Embassy  of 
Philo. 

Claudius 

(Jan.  24). 

Disciples   called 

Christiana     at 

Antioch. 


MarulluB 
('Xn-TTipxTiO- 


Petroniua        Herod 
Turpilianus.   Agrippal. 


Herod 
Agrippa  I. 
(dominion 
extended). 


Caiaphas. 


Theophilus. 


Simon 
Kanlhera. 
Matthias. 


Martyrdom 
of  Stephen. 
St.  Paul's 
Conversion. 

First  Visit  to 
Jerusalem. 
At  Tarsus. 


At  Antioch. 


CHRONOLOGY    OF   THE    LIPE    OF    ST.  PAUL. 


627 


Table 

OF  Contemporary  Eulers,  etc- 

—continued 

EMPKROnS. 

rBOCURATORS. 

Leoates  of 

SYRIA. 

KlXGS. 

High  Priests. 

Events  is  Life 
OF  St.  Paul. 

43 



Elionfeus, 

son  of 
Kanthera. 

44 

Famine        (Jos. 

Cuspius  Fadus 

Cassius 

Death  of 

Second  Visit 

AjM.  XX.  5,  2). 

Longmus. 

Herod 
Agrippa  I. 

to  Jerusalem. 

45 





Joseph 
Ben  Kamhit. 

First  Mission 
Journey. 

46 



Tiberius  Alex- 
ander. 

47 

•••— 

— — 

••"•* 

Ananias, 

son  of 

Nebedeeus. 

48 



Ventidius  Cu- 
manus. 

Ummidius 
Quadratus. 

49 

Expiilsion        of 
Jews        from 
Rome. 



Agrippa 
II.,  King 
ofChalcis. 

50 

Caractacus  taken 
to  Rome. 

51 

"•~* 

****** 

...... 

**"**' 

Third  Visit  to 
Jerusalem, 
and  Synod. 
At  Corinth. 

52 

****** 

•••••• 

***** 

nsea  and 
Tracho- 
nitis). 

Ishmael 
Ben  Phabi. 

1,  2  Thess. 

5.S 

Claudius  Felix 

Fourth  Visit 

54 

Nero  (Oct  13) 

to  Jerusalem. 

55 

56 

Birth  of  Trajan. 

57 

Trial  of  Pom  ponia 
Grsecina  (as    a 



•••••• 



Paul  at  Eph. 

ICor. 

Christian  I). 

68 

"" 

""■ 

Second  Ep.  to 

Corinthians. 

Epistle  to 

Galatians. 

59 

Murder  of  Agrip- 
pina. 

60 

Porcius  Festus 

Corbulo 

61 

Revolt    of  Boa- 
dicea. 



Joseph  Cabi 

At  Rome. 

62 

Deaths  of  Bun-us, 
Octavia,      and 
Pallas. 

Nero     marries 
Popptea. 

Power  of  Tigel- 

Albinus 

Ananus 

Epistle  to 
Philippians. 

63 

^.... 

Jesus, 

Ep.  to  Colos- 

Unus. 

son  of 
Damnseus. 

sians,  PhOe- 

mou,  and 

Ephesus. 

Paulliberated. 

64 

Great    Fire     of 

Rome. 
Persecution     of 

Christians. 

65 

Death  of  Seneca. 

Gessius  Florus 



*"- 

— ** 

First  Epistle 
to  Timothy. 

66 

Beginnings       of 
Jewish      War. 
Nero  in  Greece. 

Ep.  to  Titus. 

67 

Siegeof  Jotapata 



•~-* 

*••- 

•*•— 

Second  Epistle 
to  Timothy. 

68 

Suicide  of  Nero 
(.June). 
Galea. 

Vespasian  takes 
Jericho. 

'"" 

Martyrdom. 

o2 


628  APPENDIX. 

EXCURSUS   XL 

Traditional  Accounts  of  St.  Paul's  Personal  Appearance. 

The  traditional  accounts  of  the  personal  appearance  of  tlie  great 
Apostle  are  too  late  to  have  any  independent  value,  but  it  is  far  from 
improbable  that  where  they  coincide  they  preser\^e  with  accuracy  a  few 
particulars.  Such  as  they  are,  the  reader  may  perhaps  care  to  see  them 
translated ;  but  he  must  bear  in  mind  the  sad  probability  that  there 
were  periods  of  St.  Paul's  career  at  wliich,  owing  to  the  disfigurement 
wrought  by  the  ravages  of  his  affliction,  we  should  not  have  liked  to 
gaze  upon  his  face. 

In  the  sixth  century  John  of  Antioch,  commonly  called  Malala,^ 
writes  that  "  Paul  was  in  person  round-shouldered  (t^  rjXiKiaKovSonS-ljs'^, 
with  a  sprinkling  of  grey  on  his  head  and  beard,  with  an  aquiline  nose, 
greyish  eyes,  meeting  eyebrows,^  with  a  mixture  of  pale  and  red  in  his 
complexion,  and  an  ample  beard.  "With  a  genial  expression  of  coun- 
tenance, he  was  sensible,  earnest,  easily  accessible,  sweet,  and  inspired 
with  the  Holy  Spirit." 

ISTicephorus,^  writing  in  the  fifteenth  centuiy,  says,  "  Paul  was  short, 
and  dwarfish  in  stature,  and,  as  it  were,  crooked  in  person  and  slightly 
bent.  His  face  was  pale,  his  aspect  winning.  He  was  bald-headed,  and  his 
eyes  were  bright.  His  nose  was  prominent  and  aquiline,  his  beard 
thick  and  tolerably  long,  and  both  this  and  his  head  wei*e  sprinkled 
with  white  hairs." 

In  the  Acts  of  Paul  and  Thekla,  a  romance  of  the  thiixl  century,  he 
is  described  as  "  short,  bald,  bow-legged,  with  meeting  eyebrows,  hook- 
nosed, full  of  grace."  ^ 

Lastly,  in  the  Philopatris  of  the  pseudo-Lucian,''  a  forgery  of  the 
fourth  century,"  he  is  contemptuously  alluded  to  as  "  the  bald-lieaded, 
hook-nosed  Galiltean  who  trod  the  air  into  the  third  heaven,  and  learnt 
the  most  beautiful  things." 

The  reader  mvist  judge  whether  any  rill  of  ti-uth  may  have  trickled 
into  these  accounts  through  c(!nturies  of  tradition.  As  they  do  not 
contradict,   but  are  rather  confirmed  by,  the  earliest  portraits   which 

1  X.  257. 

2  This  (rvuo<l)pua>/Ma,  and  the  expression  arevlaas,  may  be  the  sole  ground  for 
fancying  that  the  eyes  of  St.  Paul  were  grey  and  bright, 

3  H.  E.  ii.  37. 

*  I  can  make  nothing  of  the  eijKVTjfios  following  the  ayKi\os  rais  Kv-fj/iais. 
5  Philopatr.  12. 

8  Such  is  the  opinion  of  Gesner  in  his  dissertation  De  Aetate  et  Auctore  Philo- 
patridis. 


ST.  PAUL'S    PERSONAL   APPEARANCE.  629 

have  been  preserved  to  lis,  we  may  perhaps  assume  from  them  thus 
much,  that  St.  Paul  was  short — a  fact  also  mentioned  by  the  pseudo- 
Chi'ysostom/  and  to  which  he  may  himself  allude  with  somewhat  bitter 
touches  of  irony  in  his  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  ^ — that  he 
had  a  slight  stoop,  if  not  a  positive  bend,  in  the  shoulders  ;  that  his 
nose  was  aquiline,  and  that  his  thin  hair  was  early  "  sable-silvered." 
We  may  also  conjecture  from  these  notices  that  his  face  was  pale,  and 
liable  to  a  quick  flush  and  change  of  expression,  and  that  when  he  was 
not  absolutely  disfigm-ed  by  his  malady,  or  when  he  was  able  to  throw 
off  the  painful  self-consciousness  by  which  it  was  accompanied,  the  grace 
and  sweetness  of  his  address,  the  dignity  and  fire  of  his  bearing, 
entii-ely  removed  the  fii'st  unfavourable  impression  caused  by  the 
insignificance  of  his  aspect.  We  may  conclude  that  this  was  the  case 
from  many  of  the  circumstances  of  his  intercourse  with  men  and 
churches,  and  also  from  the  fact  that  the  rude  inhabitants  of  Lystra 
take  him — before  he  had  yet  attained  to  middle  age,  and  before  his  body 
had  been  so  rudely  battered  as  it  was  by  many  subsequent  miseries — 
for  an  incarnation  of  the  young  and  eloquent  Hermes. 

*  6  Tp'nrr\x"s  &vepa>iros.  '  2  Cor.  x.  10 — 16,  especially  verse  14. 


INDEX, 


Abeiinerig,  King — Ananias'  influence  over 

his  family,  ii.  136.     {See  Ananias.) 
Abhoda  Zara,  Quotations  from,   ii.    176, 

177. 
Abraham — bis  wives  as  types,  i.  56. 
Acts     of     Apostles — The    intention    and 

genuineness  of,   i.   7,  8  ;  not   a  perfect 

history,    8,   9 ;    chief  uncial    MSS.    of, 

ii.   588,  589  ;    its    abrupt  termination 

not  explained,  510. 
Adiabene — Province    of,    i.     307  ;    Eoyal 

family  of,  how  entangled  by  Judaisers, 

ii.  135. 
Adrian  VI. — his  remark  on  the  statuary  of 

the  Vatican,  i.  527. 
Advent,  Nearness  of  final  Messianic,  i.  605. 
.^iieas  healed,  i.  263. 
Agabus — his  prophecj',  i.  305,  ii.  289. 
Agap;e — Institution  of,    i.    90  ;  held  with 

closed  doors,   176  ;  in  reference  to  the 

circumcision  of  Titus,  418 ;  abuse  of,  at 

Corinth,  ii.  56. 
Agrippa  I.  and  II.,  ii.  595. 
Agrippa  II. — his  desire  to    hear  Paul,  ii. 

353  ;  Paul  brought  before,  353  et  aeq.  ; 

his  use  of  the  word  "  Christian,"  i,  299, 

ii.  359. 
Agrippa,  Herod.     (6Ve  Herod.) 
Akiba— 33  rules  of,  i.  59. 
Alexandria,  The  learning  of  the  Jews  of, 

i.  124,  128. 
Altar,    Altars — built   by   advice    of    Epi- 

menides,  i.    531  ;  Paul's  view   of  the 

altar  at  Athens  to  the  Unknown  God, 

532. 
Ananias  and  Sapphira — their  sin  and  death, 

i.  106. 
Ananias  (of  Damascus) — his  doubts  about 

Paul,  i.  200  :  his  intercourse  with  Paul, 

201. 
Ananias  (Jewish  merchant) — his  ascendancy 

over  King  Abenuerig  and  his  family,  ii. 

136. 
Ananias  (the  high  priest) — his  outrage  on 

Paul,  ii.  323. 


Andrew — Andrew  and  Philip,  though  Hel- 
lenic names,  yet  common  among  the 
Jews,  i.  130. 

Annas — his  treatment  of  Peter  and  John, 
i.  106. 

Antichrist — Jewish  and  heathen  influences 
in  Rome,  ii.  404—409. 

Antinomies  of  Paul,  ii.  590,  591. 

Antioch  (in  Pisidia)  —Description  of,  1. 
364  ;  Paul  and  Barnabas  at,  365 ;  syn- 
agogue and  worship,  365,  366 ;  Paul 
preaches  in  synagogue,  367. 

Antioch  (in  Syria) — Mission  of  Paul  and 
Barnabas,  A.  D.  44,  i.  288  ;  description 
of,  289  ;  earthquake  at,  A.D.  37,  293  ; 
Christians  first  so  called  at,  296  ;  early 
Church  and  religious  feelings  at,  323 ; 
state  of  Church  in,  398  ;  false  brethren 
in  Church,  399  ;  Peter  and  Paul  at,  437 
et  seq. 

Antoninus  (Emperor)  and  Eabbi  Juda 
Hakado.sh,  ii.  137  ;  circumcised,  138. 

Apollonius  Tyaneus  at  Ephesus,  ii.  17. 

Apollos — as  regards  authorship  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  i.  10 ;  at 
Ephesus — ^joumey  to  Corinth — his 
preaching  there,  ii.  19,  20  ;  uninten- 
tional cause  of  division  in  the  Chuich 
at  Corinth,  20 ;  bis  report  of  the 
Corinthian  Church  to  Paul,  45  ;  re- 
sults of  his  teaching  at  Corinth,  52. 

Apostle — of  love,  John,  i.  1  ;  of  the  founda- 
tion stone,  Simon,  1  ;  of  progress,  Paul, 
2  ;  of  the  Gentiles,  Paul,  3  ;  the  source 
and  vindication  of  Paul's  authority  as 
an  Apo-stle,  ii.  97  et  seq.  ;  term  of 
authority  first  used  by  Paul  in  his 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  140. 

Apostles — their  antecedents  compared  with 
those  of  Paul,  i.  5  ;  bold  after  weak- 
ness, 83  ;  their  Lord's  intercourse  with 
them  after  His  Resurrection,  and  the 
power  of  His  Resurrection  on  them,  84  ; 
the  regenerators  of  the  world,  84  ;  their 


632 


IOT)EX. 


last  inquiry  of  their  Lord  as  to  the 
promised  kingdom,  85  ;  tiieir  feelings 
after  their  Lord's  Ascension,  86  ;  Jews 
still,  only  with  belief  in  Christ,  87  ;  the 
holy  women  joining  with  them  in 
prayer,  87  ;  fill  up  vacancy  of  Judas 
Iscariot,  87 — 89  ;  as  witnesses  of  their 
Lord's  Resurrection,  88  ;  their  hope 
between  Ascension  and  Pentecost,  89  ; 
the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ful- 
filled, 94  ;  speaking  with  tongues,  95, 
96  ;  limit  of  the  gift  of  tongues,  98  ;  dif- 
feient  views  of  the  gift,  98,  99  ;  charge 
of  intoxication  refuted,  103  ;  miracles 
and  signs  done  by  them,  104, 105,  106, 
263,  341,  354,  380;  conduct  under 
persecution,  and  strength  of  their  posi- 
tion, 105  ;  scourged,  though  defended 
by  Gamaliel,  108  ;  their  early  failing 
to  grasp  the  truth,  141  ;  their  percep- 
tion that  the  Mosaic  Law  was  to  iDe 
superseded,  142  ;  their  failure  to  un- 
derstand tlie  teaching  of  their  Lord, 
143  ;  remain  in  Jerusalem  when  others 
fly  from  Saul's  persecuting  zeal,  173; 
tradition  of  twelve  years  as  the  limit 
fixed  by  their  Lord  for  their  abode  in 
Jerusalem,  320  ;  Greece  and  Rome  in 
their  time,  331  ;  showing  the  supe- 
riority of  Christianity  over  Stoicism, 
333 ;  convinced  by  Paul  on  circumcision, 
408  ;  letter  after  their  decision  on  cir- 
cumcision, 429  ;  genuineness  of  this 
encyclical  letter,  434. 

Apostolical  Journeys  of  Paul — The  first, 
A.D.  45 — 46,  AntiochinSyria,  Selfcucia, 
Cyprus,  Perga  in  Pamphylia,  Antioch 
in  Pisidia,  Iconium,  Lystra,  Derbe, 
Lystra,  Iconium,  Antioch  in  Pisidia, 
Perga,  Attalia,  Antioch  in  Syria,  i.  334 — 
390  ;  the  second,  A.D.  53—56,  Antioch 
in  Syria,  Derbe,  Lystra,  Phrygia,  Ga- 
latia,  Mysia,  Troas,  Samothrace,  Nea- 
polis,  Philippi,  Thessalonica,  Berrea, 
Athens,  Corinth,  Ephesus,  C;i?sarea, 
Jerusalem,  454 — ii.  4  ;  the  third,  A.D. 
56 — 60,  Jerusalem,  Antioch  in  Syria, 
Galatia,  Phrygia,  Ephesus,  Troas,  Mace- 
donia, Illyricum,  Corinth,  Troas,  Assos, 
Mityk-ne,  Chios,  Trogyllium,  Miletus, 
Cos,  Rhodes,  Patara,  Tyre,  Ptolemais, 
Cffisarea,  Jerusalem,  ii.  6 — 291. 

Apotheosis  of  Roman  Emperors,  i.  664. 

Aquila  and  Priscilla — their  relation  to  Paul, 
i.  560. 

Arabia,  the  scene  of  Paul's  retirement  on 
his  conversion,  i.  206,  212,  213. 

Aramaic — Paul's  knowledge  of,  i.  17  ;  in 
relation  to  the  gift  of  tongues,  101  ; 
decay  and  advance  of  among  Jews, 
125. 


Aratus,  poet,  of  Cicilia,  quoted  by  Paul, 
i  543. 

I   Aretas,  Emir  of  Petra,  i.  179. 


Aristarchus,  Paul's  companion  on  his 
voyage  to  Rome,  ii.  364. 

Art — its  relation  to  Christianity,  1.  528, 

Artemas — Artemidorus,  ii.  537. 

Artemis— Temple  at  Ephesus,  ii.  10 — 14; 
worship  at  Ephesus,  15 — 18, 

Ascension  of  our  Lord,  i.  85. 

Athens — Associations  and  description,  i. 
522  ;  the  statuary  of,  525  ;  Paul  at, 
531  ;  philosophers  of,  533  —  535  ; 
Paul's  preaching  and  its  results,  536 
et  seq.  ;  Paul  questioned  by  the 
Athenians,  540 ;  Athenian  view  of 
the  Resurrection  and  judgment  to  come, 
548  ;  later  growth  of  the  Church  at 
Athens,  551 ;  Paul  leaves  Athens,  553. 

Augustus  Cnesar  —  his  protection  of  the 
Jews,  ii.  261. 

Aurelius  Antoninus,  Marcus,  on  Chris- 
tianity, i.  671. 


Baptism  of  the  Ethiopian  eunuch  and  its 
results,  i.  261,  285. 

Bar-Jesus  the  sorcerer.     {Sec  Elymas.) 

Barnabas,  St. -with  Paul  at  Lystra,  i.  19  ; 
his  early  relations  with  Paul,  236  ;  his 
influence  with  the  Apostles  in  Paul's 
favour,  237,  238  ;  twice  secured  Paul's 
services  for  the  work  of  Cliristianity, 
237, 288 ;  his  need  of  help,  287  ;  his  view 
of  the  admission  of  the  Gentiles  to  the 
Christian  covenant,  287  ;  his  view  of 
Paul's cliaracter,  288 ;  commencement  of 
their  joint  work,  288  ;  separated  jointly 
with  Paul  by  the  Holy  Spirit  lor  the 
•work  of  converting  the  world,  334  ; 
dispute  with  Paul  as  to  the  companion- 
ship of  Mark,  449  ;  their  seiiaration, 
449  ;  friendshiiJ  « ith  Paul  not  broken, 
but  mutual  loss  owing  to  the  separa- 
tion, 451.     {See  Paul.) 

Basil,  St. — his  Christian  education  at 
Athens,  i.  551. 

Berenice — Paul  before  her,  ii.  353 ;  her 
character,  599. 

Beroeans  compared  with  the  Thessalonians 
as  to  gladness  in  receiving  the  word  of 
God,  i.  518. 

Bethany,  the  scene  of  our  Lord's  Ascension, 
i.  85. 

Books  and  parchments  of  Paul  at  Troas, 
i.  36  ;  ii.  569  et  seq.,  576. 

Burdens  laid  on  proselytes,  i.  666. 

Burrus,  Afranius — bis  character,  ii.  392  ; 
in  chari^e  of  Paul,  392 ;  as  lormerly 
Praitoriau  Prefect,  546. 


INDEX. 


633 


Caesar.     (See  distinctive  names.) 

Caiajihas — Peter  ami  John  before,  i.  106  ; 
as  guilty  of  tlie  blood  of  Christ,  165. 

Caligula.     (See  Gaius.) 

Cai)tivity,  Paul's  Epistles  in,  ii.  417. 

Carpus  of  Troas,  Paul's  cloak,  hooks,  and 
parchments  left  with,  i.  36  ;  ii.  569, 
576. 

Castor  and  Pollux,  ship  in  which  Paul 
sailed  from  Melita,  ii.  385  et  siq. 

Cenchreaj,  Church  at,  1.  565. 

Cejihas.      {Sue  Peter.) 

Chanilier  of  the  Last  Supper  and  of  as- 
sembly of  the  Apostles,  i.  86,  320. 

Charity,  ii.  77. 

Chastity,  ii.  68  et  seg. 

Chief  Priests.      {See  Priests.) 

Chosen  People.     {See  Jews.) 

Chrestian  and  Christian,  i.  301. 

Christ.     {See  Jesus.) 

Christendom  founded  by  St.  Paul,  i.  3. 

Christian,  Christians— Origin  of  the  name, 
and  where  first  used,  i.  298,  299  ; 
"  Christian  "  and  "  Nazarene,"  299, 
300  ;  Christian  character  as  opposed  to 
Jewish  character,  ii.  97 ;  contrast 
brought  out  in  Paul's  Ejtistles  to  the 
Corinthians,  97  ;  the  life  of  the  Christian 
a  life  in  Christ,  266  ;  Christian  and 
Chrestian,  i.  301  ;  Christian  unity 
{see  Unity) ;  at  first  not  in  disfavour 
with  the  Pharisees,  but  used  by  them 
against  the  Sadducees,  i.  139  ;  their 
observances  and  their  jiosition,  140; 
charged  with  blasphemy  rather  than 
■with  idolatry,  171  ;  first  so  called  at 
Antioch  in  Syria,  296,  298  ;  their  en- 
durance under  persecution,  830  ;  living 
sacrifice  required  of,  ii.  258 ;  dangers 
dreaded  by  Paul  for  the  Christians  of 
Eome,  259. 

Christianity — Conditions  of,  to  the  Jews, 
i.  328  ;  views  of,  by  Pliny,  Tacitus, 
and  Suetonius,  330  ;  compared  with 
Stoicism,  333;  relation  of,  to  art, 
528  ;  judgments  of  early  Pagan  writers 
on,  669  et  seg.;  its  introduction  into 
Kome,  ii.  164  et  seq.;  right  and  wrong 
interpretations  of,  546,  547. 

Chronology  of  the  life  and  Epistles  of  St. 
Paul,  ii.  623. 

Chrysostom,  St. — his  estimate  of  St.  Paul, 
i.  6,  619. 

Church,  The — Its  vitality  from  early  times, 
i.  83  ;  the  early  days  of,  105  et  seq.;  re- 
sults of  its  increase,  145  et  seq.;  Paul 
twice  secured  for  work  of,  by  Barnabas, 
237  ;  rest  and  progress,  2.56  vt  seq.;  ex- 
tension of,  283  ;  work  begun  by  Stephen, 


advanced  by  Philip,  completed  by 
Paul,  286  ;  the  early  Church  at  Antioch 
ill  Syria,  323 ;  fal.se  brethren  in  the 
Church  at  Antioch  in  Syria,  399  ;  peril 
to,  from  the  difference  on  ciri'umcision, 
404  ;  grr)wth  of,  at  Athens,  551 ;  Church 
founded  by  Paul  at  Corinth,  563;  Church 
at  CeuchreiB,  565  ;  danger  to,  at  Co- 
rinth, ii.  47  ;  the  heathen  not  judges 
in  Church  questions,  67  ;  qualilications 
for  office  in,  520  et  seq.;  regulations 
for  rulers  in,  524  et  seq.  {See  names 
of  the  several  Churches.) 

Cicero — his  views  of  Athenian  philosophy, 
i.  534. 

Circumcision  —  disputed  point  at  the 
Church  at  Antioch  in  Syria,  i.  400  et 
seq.  ;  disputes  dangerous  to  the  Church 
404  ;  question  submitted  to  Church 
at  Jerusalem,  and  especially  to  the 
Apostles  as  having  known  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  404,  405  ;  decision  arid 
encyclical  letter  of  the  Apostles,  429  ; 
of  Timothy  and  Titus,  461  ;  absence  of 
necessity  for,  the  key-note  of  Paul's 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  ii.  134  ;  De- 
fence of,  by  Judaisers,  134  ;  its  use  to 
Judaisers,  138  ;  as  required  by  the  Jews, 
599,  600. 

Civil  Governors.    {See  Governors.) 

Claudius  -  his  accession,  and  consideration 
for  the  Jews,  i.  255  ;  his  attempt  to 
eject  the  Jews  from  Rome,  ii.  163  j 
his  persecution  of  the  Jews,  261. 

Clement,  St. — writing  of  Paul,  i.  9. 

Clementines,  Attacks  on  Paul  in  the,  i 
Qlb  et  seq. 

Cloak,  Paul's,  books,  and  parchments  left 
at  Troas,  i.  36  ;  ii.  569,  576. 

Coleridge,  Opinion  of,  on  Paul's  Epistle  to 
the  Romans,  ii.  ISO. 

ColossEe,  Account  of,  ii.  440 — ^442. 

Colossians — Paul's  Epistle  to,  ii.  440  et 
seq. ;  causes  of,  442  et  seq.  ;  state  of 
Church  described  to  Paul  by  Epaphras, 
443  et  seq.  ;  false  teachers  in  Church 
at  Colossaj,  447  et  seq.  ;  objects  of 
Epistle  to,  448  et  seq. ;  genuineness  of 
E])istle  to,  453,  454  ;  account  of 
Epistle  to,  454 ;  Jesus  the  remedy 
against  the  Phrygian  mysticism  of, 
456  ;  warning  to,  airainst  false  teachers, 
459  ;  future  of  the  Church,  466,  467. 

Conscience,  Happiness  of  clear,  ii.  267. 

Corinth — Paul  visits,  i.  553  ;  description 
of,  554,  555  ;  Church  founded  at,  by 
Paul,  563  ;  Paul's  pain  at  the  immo- 
rality of  Corinth,  567  ;  dangers  to 
Church,  ii.  47  ;  results  of  Apollos' 
teaching  at,  52  ;  false  teachers  in 
Chiuch   at,    53 ;  further    division    in 


INDEX. 


Church  at,  54  ;  disputes  in  Church  at, 
55,  56  ;  incest  in  Church  at,  57  ;  here 
Paul  wrote  Epistles  to  Galatians  and 
Romans,  125  ;  Paul's  rejoicing  in 
Church  of,  125. 

Corinthian,  Corinthians — Epistles  to,  i.  605 ; 
wherein  different  from  rest  in  plan  and 
divisions,  605  ;  relapse  of  Corinthian 
Christians  into  sensuality,  ii.  48; 
causes  of  Paul's  First  Epistle  to,  49 — 
51  ;  sins  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  57. 
Account  of  1  Corinthians,  60 — 87  ; 
Paul's  warnings  against  false  teachers 
and  divisions  in  Church,  63 — 65  ;  Paul's 
dealing  with  cases  of  incest,  66,  67  ; 
on  charity,  meat  offered  to  idols,  and 
resurrection  from  the  dead,  68  et  seq.  ; 
selfishness  the  origin  of  disorders  in 
Church,  81  ;  Paul's  self-defence  to,  91  ; 
restoration  of  Mark,  93 ;  punishments  for 
profanation  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  93. 
Account  of  2  Corinthians,  90—118 ; 
Paul's  self-vindication  not  self-com- 
mendation, 100—103  ;  Church  behind 
Macedonian  Church,  which,  thou 
poor,  collected  for  necessities  of  the 
saints,  109. 

Cornelius  and  his  friends  converted  to  the 
Christian  faith,  i.  281. 

Covering  of  the  head  for  women,  ii.  75,  76. 

Cretans,  Account  of,  by  Epinienides,  ii. 
535. 

Crispus  baptised  by  Paul,  i.  562. 

Cyprus,  Paul  and  Barnabas  at — its  share 
in  the  propagation  of  Christianity,  i. 
347  ;  the  Jews  of,  348. 


D. 

Damaris,  i.  549. 

Damascus — State  of  feeling  between  Jews 

and  Christians,  i.   223  ;  Paul's  escape 

from,  227  ;  under  Hareth,  650. 
David,  poetry  of  Psalms  of,  compared  with 

St.  Paul's  Epistles,  i.  18. 
Deacons — Cause  for  and  appointment  of, 

i.  131—134  ;  their  names,  133  ;  results 

of  their  appointment,  135. 
Death  overcome  by  life,  ii.  215 — 217. 
Denys,  St.,  of  France,  i.  549. 
Derbe,  Paul  and  Barnabas  at,  i.  388. 
Diana.      {See  Artemis.) 
Diaspora.      (See  Dispersion.) 
Dionysius  the  Areopagite  and  St.  Denys, 

i.  549. 
Disciples.     {See  Apostles.) 
Dispersion  of  the  Chosen  People,  i.  115, 

116;  results  of,  on  Jews,  Greeks,  and 

Romans,  \\1  et  seq. 
Dorcas  raised  from  the  dead,  i.  263. 
Drusilla  with  Felix  hearing  Paul,  ii.  341. 


Earthquake  at  Antioch,  A.D.  37,  i.  293. 

Ebionites  and  Nazarenes,  i.  676. 

Effort,  Human,  necessary  but  ineffectual, 
ii.  591. 

Elymas — his  blindness,  i.  341,  354  ;  his 
resistance  of  Paul,  353. 

Emperors,  Roman,  Apotheosis  of,  i.  664 
et  seq. 

Epaphras  of  Colossae —Visit  to  Paul,  and  its 
results,  ii.  418  ;  his  messages  to  Paul 
on  the  Church  at  Colossae,  ii.  443. 

Epaphroditus  of  Philippi — Visit  to  Paul, 
and  its  results,  ii.  419  ;  his  work  at 
Rome :  illness,  recovery,  return  to 
Philippi,  420,  421. 

Ephesus — Ephesians — visited  by  Paul,  ii. 
3  ;  description  of,  7  ;  A  development  of 
Christianity  at,  7 ;  sketch  of  its 
history,  ii.  8 — 10  ;  reputation  of  its 
inhabitants,  10  ;  Temple  of  Artemis 
at,  10 — 14;  superstition  of,  16  ;  Chris- 
tians burn  magical  books,  as  the 
result  of  Paul's  labours,  26,  27  ;  out- 
break which  occasioned  Paul's  de- 
parture, 28 — 42  ;  Sketch  of  Church  at, 
43,  44  ;  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans 
probably  also  sent  to  Ephesus,  170, 
171  ;  Paul's  interview  with  elders  of 
the  Church  at  Miletus,  280—284; 
sketch  of  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Ephe- 
sians, 493  et  seq. ;  phraseology  and 
doctrines  of  the  Epistle,  601—603. 

Epictetus  on  Christianity,  i.  670. 

Epicureans,  i.  535. 

Epimenides — Altars  built  by  his  direction, 
i.  531  ;  Paul's  quotation  from,  in 
Epistle  to  Titus,  ii.  534. 

Epistle  —  Epistles  —  Paul's  —  Value  and 
power  of,  i.  3,  4  ;  Genuineness  of,  7,  9, 
10  ;  to  Hebrews  as  work  of  Apollos,  10; 
undesigned  coincidences  in,  11  ;  com- 
pared with  poetry  of  Psalms  of  David, 
18  ;  their  testimony  to  Paul's  "  stake 
in  the  flesh,"  218  ;  Paul's  Epistles  to 
the  Thessalonians,  510  ;  1  Thess.,  ac- 
count of,  574  et  seq.;  Paul's  Epistles 
compared  with  our  Lord's  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  576 ;  Paul's  intense  feelings 
conveyed  in  his  Epistles,  576  ;  their 
character,  577  ;  salutation  and  opening, 
578,  579  ;  characteristics  of  1  Thess., 
681  et  seq.;  2  Thess.,  account  of,  559 
et  seq.;  object  of  this  Epistle,  604; 
difference  of  the  plan  and  division  of 
1  and  2  Cor.  from  Paul's  other 
Epistles,  605  ;  explanation  of  2  Thess. 
1 — 12,  610  et  seq.;  1  Cor.  written 
during  latter  part  of  stay  at  Ephesus, 
ii.   45 ;    cause   of  this   Epistle,    49   et 


INDEX. 


635 


seq.;  account  of  ditto,  60  et  seq.; 
subjects  of  several,  90  ;  2  Cor.,  ac- 
count of,  96  et  seq.;  Epistles  to  Gala- 
tians  and  Romans  written  at  Corinth, 
125 ;  cause  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  130  ;  object,  viz.  to  prove 
circumcision  unnecessary,  133,  134 ; 
lasting  results  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  139  ;  account  of  ditto,  140 
et  seq.;  cause  of  Epistle  to  the  Ro- 
mans, 161  ;  account  of  ditto,  162  et 
seq.;  conclusion  of,  as  probably  in- 
tended originally,  269  ;  actual  conclu- 
sion of,  270 ;  Epistles  written  at 
Corinth  made  the  subject  of  Paul's 
preaching  in  that  city,  27^ ;  their 
bearing  on  Paul's  life — division  into 
groups,  410  et  seq.;  order  iu  which 
•written,  415  ;  of  the  Captivity,  417 
et  seq.;  to  Colossians,  438  et  seq.;  to 
Philemon,  442  et  seq.;  the  Christology 
of  the  epistles  of  the  captivity,  451  — 
453  ;  to  Ephesians,  482  et  seq.;  causes 
of  this  Epistle;  its  genuineness,  sub- 
ject, style,  compared  with  Epistle  to 
Colossians,  483  et  seq.;  pastoral,  510 
et  seq.;  1  Timothy,  515  et  seq.;  to 
Titus,  529  et  seq.;  genuineness  of  the 
Pastoral  Epistles,  540,  607  et  seq.; 
Paul's  account  to  Timothy  of  his  lone- 
liness in  prison  ;  the  support  of  him 
by  his  God,  and  his  Roman  trial ; 
his  approaching  end,  546  et  seq.; 
2  Timothy,  account  of,  561  et  seq.; 
chief  uncial  MSS.  of,  588,  589  ;  Paul's 
Epistles,  division  into  groups  of  — 
Eschatological,  Anti-Judaic,  Cliristolo- 
gical  or  Anti-Gnostic,  Pastoral,  592 — 
593  ;  phraseology  and  diction  of  Epistle 
to  the  Ephesians,  601 — 603;  chronology 
of  Paul's  Epistles,  623—625  ;  dates  of 
ditto,  626. 

Etesian  winds,  ii.  366.  308. 

Eunice  and  Lois  visited  by  Paul,  i.  457. 

Eunuch,  Ethiopian,  baptised  by  Philip,  i. 
261  ;  results  of  baptism  to  infant 
church,  285. 

Euodia  and  Syntyche  as  Christian  women 
of  Macedonia,  i.  488 ;  exhorted  to 
unity  by  Paul  in  Epistle  to  Ephesians, 
ii.  422. 

Euroaquilo— Euroclydon,  ii.  371. 

Eutychus,  fall  and  restoration  to  life,  ii. 
276—279. 

Evodius,  Eishop  of  Antioch,  tradition  of, 
as  inventor  of  the  name  of  "  Christian," 
i.  300. 


Faith — revived  by  writings  of  Paul,  i.  3,  4  ; 
Justification  by,  first  taught  by  Paul, 


3  ;  Power  of  justification  by,  ii.  188, 
194,  209  et  seq.,  213;  difference  be- 
tween justification  by  faith  and  justifi- 
cation by  the  Law,  231  ;  relation  of 
hope  to,  238. 

Feasts,  Love  Feasts,  i.  90.     (See  Agapte.) 

Felix,  his  judicial  impartiality,  i.  570,  ii. 
261  ;  made  Procurator  of  Jud;ea  A.D. 
52,  ii.  306  ;  his  estimation  among  the 
Jews,  337  ;  deferred  completion  of 
Paul's  trial  for  evidences  of  Lysias, 
340 ;  trembles  at  Paul's  reasoning, 
341  ;  his  attempts  to  procure  bribes  for 
Paul's  release,  342  et  seq.  ;  cause  of 
his  disgrace — his  last  act  of  injustice  to 
Paul,  343  et  seq. 

Festus — his  judicial  impartiality,  i.  570,  ii. 
261  ;  succeeds  Felix  as  Procurator  of 
Judwa  A.D.  60,  346  ;  brings  Paul 
before  Agrippa,  353  et  seq.  ;  his  treat- 
ment of  Paul,  347—350. 

Flaccus,  Governor  of  Alexandria,  arrest 
and  death,  i.  249,  250. 

Food,  Paul's  rules  as  to  use  of,  ii.  264. 

Forgiveness  of  the  redeemed,  Paul's  view 
of,  ii.  591. 

Foundation  stone,  Peter  the  Apostle  of, 
i.  1. 

Free  will,  Paul's  view  of,  ii.  590. 


G. 


Gaius  (Caligula)  —  succeeded  Tiberius  as 
Emperor  of  Rome,  i.  244  ;  friend  of 
Heiod  Agrippa,  245 ;  intended  pro- 
fanation of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem, 
and  death,  252—254. 

Gaius  (convert  of  St.  Paul)  baptized  by 
Paul,  i.  5.65. 

Galatia — Galatians — Paul's  visit  to,  i.  464 
et  seq.  ;  tlieir  kindness  to  Paul,  471  J 
Churches  in,  founded  by  Paul,  474. 

Galatians,  Paul's  Epistle  to — Cause  of,  ii. 
130 ;  object,  to  [)rove  circumcision  un- 
necessary, 133,  134  ;  lasting  results  of, 
139  ;  account  of,  140  et  seq.  ;  apostolic 
authority  in  the  opening  salutation  first 
assumed  in  this  Epistle,  140,  141  ; 
sense  of  wrong  in  the  mind  of  the 
writer —  .abrupt  plainness  —  charge  of 
perverting  the  Gospel — vindication  of 
the  Apostolic  character  —  commission 
and  labours — recognition  by  the  other 
Apostles — dispute  with  Peter,  142 — 
147  ;  who  are  sous  of  Abraham  — from 
what  Christ  has  ransomed  us — use  of 
the  law,  148 — 150  ;  concord  of  Law  and 
Promise — all  free  in  Christ,  and  Abra- 
ham's seed — difference  between  old  and 
new  covenants — old  covenant  fulfilled 


INDEX. 


its  office,  150  —  153  ;  allegory  of 
Sarah  and  Hagar  and  their  sons — 
Galatians  can  combine  neither  Law  and 
Gospel  nor  flesh  and  spirit — the  question 
not  of  circumcision  or  uncircumcision, 
but  of  a  new  creature,  154 — 156. 

Galen  on  Christians,  i.  671. 

Gallio,  Lucius  Junius  Annceus,  brother  of 
Seneca,  uncle  of  Lucan,  made  Pro- 
consul of  Asia.  i.  566  ;  character 
(generally  misunderstood)  among  his 
friends,  567  ;  his  indifference  when 
Paul  is  brought  before  him,  568  ;  his 
reason  for  refusing  to  commit  Paul, 
569  ;  bis  judicial  impartiality,  570  ; 
result  of  his  justice  to  Paul  while  in 
Corinth,  ii.  1  ;  protecting  Paul  by  his 
disdainful  justice,  261. 

Gamaliel — as  instructor  of  Paul,  i.  5,  25, 
44 ;  bis  views  of  the  wisdom  of  the 
Greeks,  37  ;  Rabbi,  Rabban — his  pa- 
rentage— liberality  of  his  views,  44  ; 
iis  character,  45  ;  as  a  Pharisee,  46  ; 
value  of  his  teaching  to  Paul,  48 ; 
defence  of  Paul,  108,  109;  Gamaliel 
and  the  school  of  Tiibingen,  644,  646. 

Gentiles — Deliverance  and  admission  of,  to 
the  Church  of  Christ,  i.  258 ;  com- 
mencement of  their  reception  Into  the 
Church,  285,  286  ;  their  generous  help 
of  Jewish  Christians,  306 ;  Simeon's 
prophecy,  325  ;  of  Pisidia  gladly  ac- 
cept Gospel  preached  by  Paul  on  its 
rejection  by  the  Jews,  375 ;  Paul's 
future  care,  396  ;  moderation  of  the 
Gentile  Chiistians  of  Rome  towards 
Jewish  Christians  when  Paul  wrote  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  ii.  174  ;  tlieir 
sin  of  denying  and  abandoning  God, 
their  punishment,  195,  196  ;  Gentiles 
and  Jews  equally  guilty  before  God, 
and  equally  redeemed,  205. 

Gbost,  Holy.     {See  Holy  Ghost.) 

Glossolalia,  i.  52,  99,  100,  101.  {See 
Tongues.) 

God — Peace  only  in  his  love,  i.  70  ;  his 
dealings  with  men,  91  ;  visions  from, 
194  ;  his  warnings,  198 ;  universal 
worship  prophesied  by  Zephaniah,  325  ; 
only  giver  of  blessing  on  ministerial 
labours,  ii.  63  ;  efl'ect  of  His  righteous- 
ness on  man,  188  ;  truth  to  His  promises 
proved  by  Paul,  206—288  ;  manifesta- 
tion of  his  righteousness,  209  ;  His 
infinite  love  the  solution  of  predestin- 
ariandifiiculties,  244 ;  Hisgrace,wisd(im, 
judgments,  256  ;  kingdom  of  God  de- 
fined, 266  ;  God  working  in  man,  and 
judging  through  Christ,  591.  {SeeVn- 
known  God.) 

Gospel — Witness    to    our   Lord,  i.    326; 


women's  part  in  dissemination  of,  488  ; 
the  power  of,  ii.  186;  for  Jews  and 
Gentiles  alike,  195. 

Governors,  Civil — Duties  to,  ii.  260  ;  Func- 
tions of,  260 ;  Paul's  teachings  of 
obedience  to,  262. 

Grace — Relation  to  sin,  ii.  219,  220;  abun- 
dance of,  above  sin,  245  ;  wisdom,  and 
judgments,  256 ;  source  of  grace,  mercy, 
"and  pity,  257. 

Greece — Ciiaracter  of,  in  time  of  the 
Apostles,  i.  331. 

Greeks  —  their  "  wisdom,"  i.  37  ;  results 
on,  of  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews,  117  ; 
contact  with  Jews,  118  ;  conversion  of 
Greek  proselytes,  286 ;  their  violent 
treatment  of  Sosthenes  before  Gallio, 
571. 

Giegory,  Naziansus — his  Christian  educa- 
tion at  Athens,  i.  551. 


Habakkuk,  quoted  by  Paul,  ii,  193. 

Hagaila  and  Hagadist,  i.  58  et  seq, 

Halacha  and  Halachist,  i.  58  et  seq. 

Hallel  studied  by  Paul  when  a  boy,  i.  43. 

Heathendom  in  the  time  of  the  Apostles, 
i.  331. 

Hebraism  and  Hellenism,  i.  115  et  seq. 

Hebrew — Paul's  knowledge  of,  used  by  our 
Lord  in  Paul's  conversion,  i.  17. 

Hebrews,  Epistle  to,  as  work  of  Apollos,  i. 
10. 

Helena,  Queen  —  her  protracted  vows,  ii. 
135,  136. 

Hellenism  and  Hebraism,  i.  115  et  seq. 

Herod  Agrippa — his  character,  i.  246,  247; 
imprisoned  by  Tiberius,  released  by 
Gaius  on  his  accession  to  the  Empire, 
and  appointed  successor  as  Tetrarch  to 
Herod  Philip  and  Lysanias,  246  ;  be- 
ginning of  his  reign,  reception  at  Alex- 
andria, 247  ;  his  influence  and  promo- 
tion, 309  ;  observance  of  the  Mosaic 
Law,  311 ;  slays  James — arrests  Peter, 
311  et  seq.  ;  his  death,  314  et  seq. 

Herods  in  the  Acts,  ii.  594  et  seq. 

Hillel — grandfather  of  Gamaliel,  i.  44, 
45,  46,  47,  129  ;  the  seven  rules  of, 
59  ;  dealing  with  burdensome  Mosaic 
regulations,  69. 

Holy  Ghost,  Holy  Spirit— Promise  of,  to 
Apostles,  i.  84  ;  gift  of,  at  Pentecost, 
93,  94  ;  eflects  of  gift,  94,  95. 

Hope — its  power  unto  salvation,  its  rela- 
tion to  faith,  ii.  238,  239. 

Hope  and  Peace  the  result  of  justification 
by  faith,  ii.  213,  214. 


INDEX. 


637 


Hymn    at    first   Pentecost   after  gift    of 
tongues,  i.  101. 


Iconinm  (Konieh)  visited  by  Paul  and 
Barnalias,  i.  375. 

Idolatiy — Influence  of,  on  Jewish  and  other 
communities,  i.  122. 

Idols — Meats  offered  to,  ii.  68  et  seq. 

Incest  in  Corinthian  Church — Paul's  deal- 
ing with,  ii.  66,  67. 

Inspiration.    (S^'e  Verbal  Inspiration.) 

Ishmael— Thirteen  rules  of,  i.  59. 

Israel — The  dispersion  of,  ii.  255.  (See 
Jews.) 

Issachar,  High  Priest,  ii.  595. 

Izates,  son  of  Abeunerig,  circumcised, 
L207,  308;  ii.  136,137. 


J. 


James  the  Greater,  his  death,  i.  312. 

James  the  Less,  error  in  his  view  of  Paul's 
work,  i.  131  ;  cause  for  his  respect  by 
the  people,  142  ;  compared  with  Paul, 
232  ;  convinced  by  Paul  as  to  circum- 
cision, 408  ;  description  of,  424  ;  on 
circumcision,  426  et  seq.  ;  with  elders 
of  the  Church  receives  Paul  at  Jeru- 
salem, 292. 

Jason — Name  identical  with  Jesus,  i.  25  ; 
charge  against  Jason  by  Jews  of  Thes- 
salonica,  514. 

Jerome,  St. — Fragments  of  traditions  of 
Paul,  i.  15,  16;  on  Paul,  619;  com- 
pared with  Paul,  ii.  247. 

Jerusalem — Crowd  at  first  Pentecost,  i. 
102  ;  birthplace  of  Christianity,  ii.  7  ; 
its  dangers  to  Paul,  160  ;  state  of  feel- 
ing among  Jews  at  time  of  proposal  of 
James  and  elders  to  Paul,  302  et  seq. 

Jesus  Christ  the  Lord — Speaking  to  Paul 
in  Hebrew  at  his  Conversion,  i.  17  ;  his 
notice  of  beauties  of  nature  not  the 
subject  of  Paul's  language,  20  ;  name 
identical  with  Jason,  25  ;  love  mani- 
fested in  His  death,  risen,  glorified, 
known  to  Paul  by  revelation,  74 ;  in- 
tercourse with  disciples  after  resur- 
rection not  continuous,  84  ;  promise  of 
Holy  Spirit  to  Apostles  ;  power  of  His 
resurrection,  84  ;  His  ascension,  85  ; 
His  mission  to  found  a  kingdom,  143  ; 
His  purposes  to  supersede  the  Law  not 
seen  in  His  observance  of  it,  143  ;  sig- 
nificance not  seen  at  the  time  of  His 
teaching  on  the  Sabbath,  143  ;  univer- 
sality of  spiritual  worship,  &c.,   143  j 


fulfilled  the  Law  in  spn-itualising  it, 
144;  as  Messiah,  an  oH'eiice  to  the 
Jews,  but  still  that  which  Stephen 
undertook  to  prove,  14S  ;  why  He 
declared  Himself  to  Paul  as  "Jesus  of 
Nazareth,"  196  ;  all  in  all  to  Paul, 
202  ;  second  special  revelation  to  Paul, 
239  ;  deeper  meaning  underlying  many 
of  His  words,  267 ;  traditirn  that 
twelve  years  was  the  limit  laid  down 
by  Him  for  abode  of  His  disciples  in 
Jerusalem,  320  ;  light  to  (Jentiles, 
325  ;  erroneous  view  of  Him  by  Sue- 
tonius, 330  ;  His  mission  to  send  not 
peace  but  a  sword,  572  ;  the  funda- 
mental concepti(m  of  all  Christianity 
in  John  and  Paul,  675 ;  undivided, 
ii.  61  ;  oliject  of  all  preaching,  62  ;  the 
only  foundation,  63  ;  common  founda- 
tion for  Jew  and  Gentile,  180  ;  bond  of 
human  society,  180  ;  this  is  the  basis 
of  all  Paul's  Epistles,  180;  Power  of 
life  in,  237  ;  His  Sitcrifice  and  exalta- 
tion, 429  ;  the  Divine  Word  the  remedy 
for  Phrygian  mysticism,  &c.,  in  the 
Colossian  Christians,  456;  as  judge, 
591. 
Jews — as  persecutors  of  Paul,  i.  9  ;  their 
care  for  youths  as  to  "dubious  read- 
ing," 37  ;  marriage  customs,  43,  84  ; 
value  of  the  Scriptures  among  them, 
51  ;  their  literatui-e,  57  etscq.;  vows, 
71  ;  as  originators  of  discord  among 
Christians,  74  ;  underrating  the  apos- 
tolic dignity  of  Paul,  74  ;  customs  in 
synagogues,  87  ;  persecuting  the  apos- 
tles, 107  et  seq.;  The  disjjcrsion  of, 
115  et  seq.;  result  of  the  dispersion  on 
themselves  and  on  Greeks  and  Romans, 
117,  120  ;  result  of  contact  on  the 
Greeks,  117;  violent  outbreaks,  119; 
causes  which  led  to  their  commer- 
cial character,  123;  of  Ale.xandria, 
their  learning,  advance  in  literature, 
more  enlightened  than  the  Rabbis 
of  Jerusalem  as  to  the  purposes  of 
of  God's  gifts,  124,  128;  change  of 
language  on  dispersion,  and  results 
of  contact  with  Aryan  race,  12.5  ;  or- 
dinances to  j)rohil)it  relations  with 
heathen,  and  bloodshed  resulting  from 
them,  129,  130  ;  their  Greek  names, 
133;  their  Messianic  hopes,  148; 
their  revei-ence  for  Moses,  151  ;  infu- 
riated at  Stephen's  view  of  the  Law  of 
Moses,  152  ;  not  naturally  persecutors, 
170  ;  the  forbearance  of  the  Christian 
Jews  of  Rome  to  Gentiles  when  Paul 
wrote  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  174; 
of  Damascus — their  feeling  towards 
Christians — their  reception    of  Paul's 


638 


INDEX. 


preaching,  223 — 225  ;  their  scourgings 
of  Paul,  226  ;  relief  at  death  of  Tibe- 
rius, 245  ;  allegiance  to  Gaius,  245  ; 
how  regarded  iu  Alexandria — barbari- 
ties practised  on  them,  247 — 251  ; 
contributions   for   brethren   in   Judfea, 

305  ;  Jewish  Christians  helped  by- 
Gentiles  in  return  for  spiritual  wealth, 

306  ;  of  Autioch  in  Syria,  322  ;  condi- 
tions on  which  alone  they  could  accept 
Christianity,  328  ;  two  Jews  (Paul  and 
Barnabas)  on  a  journey  for  the  conver- 
sion of  the  world,  324 ;  of  Cyprus,  and 
ofSalamis,  348;  their  lectionary,  369  ; 
jealousy  of  the  Jews  at  Antioch  iu 
Pisidia,  against  the  Gentiles  at  Paul's 
preaching,  374  ;  Paul  stoned  at  Lystra 
by  Jews  of  Antioch  and  Iconium,  385  ; 
their  hatred  of  Paul,  388  ;  their  haired 
of  Paul  and  Christ,  512  ;  disturbance 
caused  by  them  against  Paul  at  Thes- 
salonica,  513  et  seq.  ;  belief  of  Jews  of 
Beroea,  518  ;  Paul's  intercourse  with, 
and  teaching  of  the  Jews  of  Athens, 
532  ;  Paul's  complaints  of  the  Jews 
of  Corinth,  666  ;  their  animosity 
against  Christians,  even  to  bringing 
false  accusations  against  them,  570 ; 
of  Thessalonica,  583  ;  their  calumnies 
against  Paul,  583  ;  their  persecution  of 
Paul,  385 ;  scourgings,  661 ;  Hatred 
of,  in  classical  antiquity,  667 ;  their 
opposition  to  Paul,  ii.  19 ;  intro- 
duced into  Rome  by  Pompey,  162; 
his  treatment  of  them,  162;  useless  as 
slaves,  162  ;  consequent  emancipation, 
162  ;  multiply  and  flourish,  162  ;  cause 
of  their  position  in  the  world,  162  ; 
attempts  of  Sejanus  and  Claudius  to 
eject  them  from  Rome,  163  ;  Seneca's 
account  of  the  Jews  in  Rome,  164 ; 
convicted  by  Paul  of  the  same  sin  as 
the  Gentiles,  in  forsaking  and  denying 
their  God,  198  et  seq. ;  equally  re- 
deemed with  the  Gentiles,  but  their 
hope  vain  while  on  wrong  foundation, 
240  ;  Rejection  of,  from  privileges,  246, 
247  ;  Love  of  Paul  for,  248  ;  not  natu- 
rally, but  spiritually  alone,  heirs  of  the 
promises,  249  ;  their  want  of  faith  in 
rejection  of  the  Gospel,  252,  253 ; 
their  rejection  by  their  God  neither 
entire  nor  final,  254  ;  their  restoration, 
255  ;  their  protection  by  Roman  law, 
261  ;  their  plot  against  Paul's  life,  272  ; 
causes  of  their  plot,  273  ;  its  discovery 
and  prevention,  274 ;  customs  as  to 
Nazarite  vows,  and  proposal  of  elders 
at  Jerusalem  to  Paul,  295,  296  ;  dis- 
position at  time  of  Paul's  fifth  visit  to 
Jerusalem,    various    outbreaks,    302 


et  seq.;  of  Ephesus,  outbreak  against 
Paul,  308  et  seq.;  charge  against 
Paul  of  defiling  the  temple,  309  et 
seq.;  Division  among,  at  Paul's  answer 
as  to  the  resurrection,  328,  329  ;  con- 
test with  Greeks  in  market-places  of 
Cajsarea,  343,  347  ;  edict  of  banish- 
ment by  Claudius,  392  ;  their  reply 
to  Paul's  appeal  to  Cresar,  392  ;  Num- 
ber of,  in  Rome, — they  hear  Paul,  384, 
39-3  ;  influence  and  trade  at  Rome,  404 
—406. 

Joel,  Fulfilment  of  prophecy  of,  at  Pen- 
tecost, i.  1. 

John — as  a  "son  of  thunder,"  i.  1 ;  impress 
of  individuality  on  Church,  1  ;  mar- 
tyrdom of  life,  2  ;  his  miracles,  105 ; 
description  of  Rome  in  Apocalypse, 
331  ;  convinced  by  Paul  on  circumci- 
sion, 408  ;  compared  with  Paul,  673 
et  seq. 

John  and  Peter — two  chief  apostles,  i.  2; 
before  the  chief  priests,  106 ;  their 
knowledge  of  the  mind  of  Christ,  675. 

John  Mark.     {See  Mark.) 

Jonathan,  High  Priest  at  death  of  Stephen, 
i.  156,  165. 

Joseph,  the  Levite  of  Cyprus — his  early 
relations  with  Paul,  i.  235. 

Joseph  Barsabus,  surnamed  Justus  — 
,  chosen  with  Matthias  at  election  of  an 
apostle,  i.  88. 

Josephus— his  allusion  to  death  of  Herod 
Agrippa,  i.  317. 

Journeys — Apostolical,  of  Paul.  {See 
Apostolical.) 

Juda  Hakkadosh,  Rabbi,  and  the  Emperor 
Antoninus,  ii.  137. 

Judaisers,  Judaising  teachers  —  Judaism 
— Paul's  controversy  with,  in  2  Co- 
rinthians, Galatians,  and  Romans,  ii. 
96  ;  success  in  undoing  Paul's  work  in 
Antioch,  Corinth,  and  Galatia,  hence 
Epistle  to  Galatians,  129,  130  ;  their 
charges  against  Paul,  132  ;  circumci- 
sion the  ground  of  their  contention  with 
Paul,  134  ;  their  motive  in  defending 
circumcision,  138 ;  their  hostility  at 
Jerusalem  dangerous  to  Paul,  160. 

Judas  Iscariot — his  fall  by  sin  and  his  end, 
i.  87  ;  antitype  of  Ahitophel,  88. 

Jude,  misapprehension  of  his  Epistle,  i. 
678. 

Judgment,  Paul  on,  ii.  591. 

Julian,  attempt  to  substitute  the  term 
"Nazarene"  for  "Christian,"  i.  299, 
300. 

Julius  (Centurion) — his  judicial  impar- 
tiality, i.  570 ;  placed  in  charge  of 
Paul  to  take  him  to  Rome,  ii.  362 
et  seq.  J  gives  up  his  charge  of  Paul,  390. 


INDEX. 


Julius  C;¥sai,  his  protection  of  tlie  Jews, 

ii.  261. 
Justification  by  faith.     {See  Faith.) 
Juvenal,  his  description  of  Rome,  i.  331. 


Kephas.     (.Sf-*  Peter.) 

Kingdom  of  God — erroneous  ideas  of,   i. 

65 ;    foundation   of,    Christ's    mission, 

143  ;  definition  of,  ii.  266. 
Konieh.     {See  Iconium.) 


Languages.     {See  Tongues.) 

Last  Supper,  Upper  room  of,  i.  86,  320. 

Law — The  righteousness  of,  and  what  de- 
pended on  it,  i.  65  ;  its  285  commands 
and  365  prohibitions,  65  ;  Oral,  nul- 
lity of,  66  ;  its  traditions  and  glosses 
injurious,  66 ;  requirements  before 
God,  68 ;  requirements  impossible  for 
man  to  satisfy,  69 ;  Hypocrisy  in  ob- 
servance of,  69 ;  of  Moses,  our  Lord's 
explanation  of  its  destiny,  151  ;  Use, 
objects,  and  end  of,  ii.  217,  218,  517  ; 
its  position  in  the  scheme  of  salvation, 
221,  222;  why  not  justifyhig,  223; 
multiplying  transgressions,  224  —226  ; 
difference  between  justification  by  the 
Law  and  justification  by  faith,  230  ; 
position  further  defined,  233  ;  illustra- 
tion from  marriage,  233 ;  its  relation 
to  sin,  234,  236.^ 

Lectionary,  Jewish,  i.  369. 

Levanter,  ii.  371. 

Lex  Porcia,  i.  41. 

Life  — overcoming  death,  ii.  215 — 217  ;  in 
Christ,  237  ;  its  power,  237. 

Lois  and  Eunice  visited  by  Paul,  i.  457. 

Longinus  on  the  style  of  Paul,  i.  26,  619. 

Lord.     {See  Jesus. ) 

Love — John,  the  Apostle  of,  i.  1  ;  infinite 
love  of  God  the  solution  of  predestina- 
rian  difficulties,  ii.  244 ;  the  debt  of 
all,  ii.  263.     {See  Charity.) 

Love  Feasts,  i.  90  ;  held  with  closed  doors, 
176.     {See  Agapte.) 

Lucan — his  relation  to  Gallio,  i.  567. 

Lucian  on  Christianity,  i.  671. 

Luke — possible  errors  and  minute  exact- 
ness, i.  113  ;  not  professing  to  give  a 
complete  biography  of  Paul,  205  ; 
Paul's  companion  from  Troas  on  second 
Apostolic  journeys,  479  ;  his  fidelity 
to  him,  479  ;  antecedents  and  history 
— his  character  as  physician,  and  in  his 
relation  to  Paul,  480,  481 ;  with  Paul 


at  Philippi,  ii.  275  ;  his  companion  on 
his  voyage  to  Rome,  364  ;  as  historian 
of  the  Apostles,  510;  abrupt  ending 
of  the  Acts  not  explained,  510  et  seq.  ; 
his  faithfulness  to  Paul  in  his  imprison- 
ment, 546.  . 

Luther,  Martin,  compared  with  Paul,  1.  4, 
ii.  139,  247  ;  Opinion  of.  Epistle  to  the 
Rom.ans,  ii.  180. 

Lydia — baptised,  i.  487  ;  entertains  Paul^ 
488  ;  and  friends  at  Philippi,  their 
care  for  Paul  in  his  imprisonment  at 
Rome,  ii.  420. 

Lysias — his  judicial  impartiality,  i.  570  ; 
protecting  Paul  by  his  soldier-like 
energy,  ii.  261  ;  rescues  Paul  from  the 
Jews  in  the  Temple,  311;  his  error 
about  Paul,  312;  permits  Paul  to 
speak  to  the  Jews,  313  ;  informed  by 
Paul's  nephew  of  plot  of  the  Jews  to 
take  Paul's  life — rescues  him  —  and 
sends  him  from  Jerusalem  to  Cassarea, 
311  etseq. 

Lystra — visited  by  Paul  and  Barnabas,  i. 
380 ;  Paul's  sufferings  there  rewarded 
by  his  conversion  of  Timothy,  386; 
visited  again  by  Paul,  457. 


Macedonia — Influx  of  Jew  and  Greeks, 
but  without  mixing  with  each  other, 
i.  118  ;  visited  by  Paul  on  second 
apostolic  journey,  482 ;  position  of 
women  in,  488. 

Malta,  in  connexion  with  Paul's  ship- 
wreck, ii.  378,  382. 

Man — Three  great  epochs  in  the  religious 
history  of,  ii.  214  ;  Four  phases  of, 
226  ;  not  under  the  law  but  under 
grace,  226. 

"  Man  of  Sin,"  ii.  583  et  seq. 

Manaen,  (Menahem)  foster-brother  of  Herod 
Antipas,  i.  323. 

Manuscripts— Chief  uncial  MSS.  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the  Epistles 
of  St.  Paul,  ii.  588,  589. 

Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus  on  Christianity, 
i.  671. 

Mark — interpreter  to  St.  Peter,  i.  98  ;  com- 
panion of  Paul  and  Barnabas,  320, 
345 ;  relationship  to  Barnabas,  358 ; 
leaves  Paul  and  Barnabas  at  Perga, 
359  ;  as  the  cause  of  separation  be- 
tween Paul  and  Barnabas,  449  ;  result 
to  him  of  the  dillerence  between  Paul 
and  Barnabas,  452 ;  again  welcomed 
by  Paul  as  a  fellow-labourer,  453. 

Marriage — Age  for,  and  customs  among 
Jews,  i  43,  81 ;  Rabbinical  injunction 


640 


INDEX. 


to  marry  yonno;,  81  ;  in  reference  to 
Paul,  81  ;  Paul's  view  of  marriage 
and  virginity  as  given  to  the  Corinthian 
Cliurch,  ii   70. 

Mary,  tlie  mother  of  our  Lord — Worship 
of,  in  Cyprus,  i.  350. 

Mary,  owner  of  tlie  house  in  which  was 
the  upper  chanilier  in  which  the  Apos- 
tles met,  and  possiWy  in  which  the  Last 
Supper  had  taken  place,  i.  320. 

Masters  and  servants — Mutual  duties,  ii. 
527. 

Matthias  chosen  an  Apostle,  i.  88,  89. 

Meat  and  other  food,  Paul's  rules  as  to  use 
of,  ii.  264. 

Melancthon's  opinion  of  Paul's  Epistle  to 
the  Pomans,  ii.  181. 

Melita.     (.SVe  ]\Ialta.) 

Menahem.     (Sec  JIanaen.) 

Mercy,  Vessels  of,  ii.  251. 

Messiah — Habbinical  idea  of  conditions  of 
His  coming,  i.  66 ;  fulfilling  many 
prophecies,  150. 

Miletus,  Paul's  interview  at,  with  elders  of 
the  Church  of  Eiihesns,  ii.  280  et  seq. 

Miracles  wiouglit  by  Apostles,  i.  105,  106, 
137,  263,  341,  354,  380. 

Mishna — rules  for  marriages,  i.  81  ;  mar- 
riage the  first  of  its  613  precepts,  81. 

Missionary  journeys  of  Paul.  (See  Apos- 
tolical ) 

Mnason  entertains  Paul  at  Jerusalem,  ii. 
291. 

Monastic  life  compared  with  Pharisaism,  i. 
64. 

Monobazus,  King  of  Adiabene,  and  his 
family,  i.  307. 

Monobazus,  son  of  Abennerig  and  Helena, 
circumcised,  ii.  136,  137. 

Mosaic  Law.     (See  Law.) 

Moses — Jewish  reverence  for,  i.  151 ;  his 
claim  on  mankind,  151,  152  ;  Relation 
of  Paul  to,  before  and  after  his  conver- 
sion respectively,  213 ;  his  niarria2e, 
325. 

Mount  of  Olives,  scene  of  our  Lord's  ascen- 
sion, 1.  85. 


N. 


"  Nazarene" — Julian's  attempt  to  get  this 
word  substituted  for  "Christian,''  i. 
299,   300. 

Nazarenes  and  Ebionites,  i.  676. 

Nazarite  vows,  Jewish  customs  as  to,  and 
proposal  of  elders  at  Jerusalem  to 
Paul,  ii.  295,  296. 

Nero — Points  with,  in  Paul's  favour,  ii. 
36G,  361  ;  persecution,  404,  546  ;  the 
direction  of  his  influence  at  Rome,  407 — 
409  ;  his  government,  546  ;  Paul  before 


I         Nero,  553  et  seq.  ;  his  character,  554, 

555. 
New  Testament.     (See  Testament.) 
Nicodemus  as  a  Pharisee,  i.  46. 
Nicolas — Significance    of  his  appointment 

as  a  deacon,  i.  133  ;  evidence  connecting 

him  with  the  Nicolaitans  insufficient, 

133. 


0. 


Offertory,  Paul   on  the,  ii.  109,  117,  120, 

122,  160. 
Old  Testament.     (See  Testament.) 
Olives,  Mount  of.     (See  Mount  of  Olives.) 
Onesimu.s — Visit  to  Paul  and  conversation, 

ii.   396  ;    subject  of  Paul's  Epistle  to 

Philemon,    442,    443  ;    his  otfence  and 

its  legal  consequences,  469  et  seq. 
Onesiphorus — his  search  for  Paul  and  visits 

to  him-  in  prison  at  Rome,  ii.  549  ;  hia 

kindness  to  Paul,  563. 
Oral  Law.      (See  Law.) 
Our   Lord — our    Redeemer — our  Saviour. 

(See  Jesus. ) 


Paganism  and  its  results,  ii.  197. 

Paphos,  Soothsayers  of,  i.  353. 

Paraclete.     (See  Holy  Ghost.) 

Parchments  and  books  of  Paul  at  Troas, 
i.  36  ;  ii.  569  etseq.,  576. 

Parthenon  dedicated  to  Virgin  Mary,  i. 
552. 

Pascal,  Antecedents  of,  and  compared  with 
Paul,  i.  4. 

Passover,  Upper  room  of,  i.  86,  320. 

Pastoral  Epistles,  Paul's,  Genuineness  of, 
ii.  607,  et  seq. 

Paul — Apostolical  journeys  of  (see  Apos- 
tolical) ;  Apostle  of  Progre.ss,  i.  2  ;  "in 
deaths  oft,"  2;  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles, 
i.  3  ;  teacher  of  justification  by  faith, 
3  ;  under  God  the  founder  of  Christen- 
dom, 3  ;  value  of  his  Epistles,  3  ;  power 
of  his  writings,  3,  4 ;  his  charac- 
ter, 3,  6  ;  antecedents  and  life,  com- 
pared with  those  of  Luther,  Wesley, 
and  others,  4  ;  antecedents  compared 
with  those  of  other  Apostles,  5, 
12;  his  education,  5,  12;  his  his- 
tory gathered  from  the  Acts  and  the 
Epistles  but  fragmentary,  7  et  seq. ; 
genuineness  of  his  Epistles,  7,  9,  10; 
his  account  of  his  own  suff'erings,  com- 
pulsory, 9  :  sufficiency  for  materials  of 
his  life  and  character,  1 1  ;  undesigned 
coincidences  in  his  Epistles,  II  ;  "Paul 
the  aged,"  13  ;  birthplace  and  boyhood, 
13,  e<  seq,  ;  parentage  and  descent,  16, 


IOT)EX. 


641 


34 ;  power  in  his  nationality,  16, 
34  ;  languages  known  to  bini,  16,  17  ; 
languages  in  which  he  spoke,  18;  his 
inner  life,  19  ;  unobservant  of  such 
beauties  of  nature  as  were  frequently 
mentioned  by  our  Lord,  20  ;  early  im- 
pressions at  Tarsus,  22 ;  influencing 
causes  of  his  trade,  23  ;  influences  of 
his  trade  on  his  character,  24 ;  his 
parents,  24  ;  their  privileges  as  Roman 
citizens  inherited  by  him,  24 ;  his 
kinsmen,  25 ;  his  education  under 
Gamaliel,  25  ;  a  Hebraist,  though  writ- 
ing in  Greek,  26 ;  Loiiginus'  criticisms 
on  his  style,  26  ;  Cilicisms  in  his  style, 
27  ;  influence  on  him  of  his  residence 
in  Tarsus,  27  et  seq.  ;  his  preference  of 
folly  with  God  over  the  wisdom  of 
heathendom,  33 ;  not  of  Hellenic  cul- 
ture, his  style  peculiar  and  his  Greek 
provincial,  his  thoughts  Syriac,  his 
dialectic  method  Rabbinic,  35,  36  ;  his 
books  and  parchments  at  Troas,  36,  ii. 
569  et  seq.,  576  ;  those  books,  &c., 
not  Greek  literature,  37  ;  acquaintance 
with  Greek  literature,  38 ;  classic  quo- 
tations and  allusions,  39 ;  Roman 
citizenship,  40  et  seq.;  scourgings,  41, 

42  ;  Roman  citizenship  not  inconsistent 
with  Jewish  descent,  42  ;  early  studies, 

43  ;  claims  to  be  a  Phaiisee,  46 ;  know- 
ledge of  the  Old  Testament,  quoting 
the  LXX.,  47;  value  to  him  of  Gama- 
liel's teaching,  48  ;  his  views  of  inspira- 
tion, 49  ;  use  of  the  Old  Testament 
and  of  Scriptures  generally,  50  et  seq.  ; 
his  style  of  argument  to  Jews,  51 ;  as 
Hebrew  and  Hellenist,  58  ;  endeavours 
to  keep  the  Law,  65  ;  misconception  of 
the  Oral  Law,  66 ;  extent  of  his  obe- 
dience to  the  Law,  67;  early  anxieties, 
70;  compared  with  Luther,  Bunyan, 
and  John  Newton,  71 ;  early  inward 
struggles,  72  ;  saw  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  73 — 75  ;  knowledge  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Clirist  by  faith,  75 ;  not  at 
Jerusalem  at  the  time  of  our  Lord's 
ministry  and  crucifixion — influence  on 
him  of  Stephen's  dying  words,  77,  83; 
his  marriage,  79,  80;  early  dealing  with 
the  infant  Church,  83 ;  cause  for  his 
hatred  by  the  people,  142  ;  his  part  in 
the  dispute  with  Stephen  in  the  Syna- 
gogue of  the  Libertines,  146;  his 
feelings  on  listening  to  him,  146 ;  hold- 
ing the  clothes  of  those  who  stoned 
Stephen,  167 ;  aged  thirty  years  at 
Stephen's  martyrdom,  169  ;  member  of 
the  Sanhedrin,  and  So  a  married  man, 
169  ;  his  fury  against  Christians,  170  ; 
even  underrated  as  a  persecutor,  172, 


173 ;  his  confession  of  erring  obsti- 
nacy in  persecuting  the  Church,  174  ; 
under  persecution,  175,  176  ;  his  com- 
mission for  Damascus,  177  et  seq.;  re- 
flections on  liis  way  to  Damascus — 
conversion,  180,  191;  inward  struggles, 
185 ;  knowledge  that  lie  had  been 
spoken  to  by  his  God,  192 ;  result  of 
having  seen  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  193  ; 
his  blindness,  193  ;  the  two  accounts 
of  his  conversion,  197;  immediately 
after  his  conversion  led  blind  into 
Damascus,  199  ;  entry  into  and  depar- 
ture from  Damascus,  199,  200  ;  original 
mission  to  Damascus,  202  ;  his  conver- 
sion as  an  evidence  of  Christianity, 
202  ;  Christ  all  in  all  to  him,  and  his 
witness  to  Christ,  202  ;  a  preacher  of 
the  cross  and  the  crucified,  203 ;  a 
Nazarene,  205  ;  the  training  necessary 
for  his  great  work,  205 ;  retirement 
into  Arabia — his  need  of  retirements 
206 — -208  ;  source  of  his  Apostleship, 
210  ;  frame  of  mind  after  his  conversion, 
2\\  et  seq.;  his  relation  to  Moses  and 
Mosaism,  213;  his  "thorn  in  the 
flesh"  here  called  "  stake  in  the  flesh," 
214  et  seq.;  traces  of  his  "stake  in  the 
flesh,"  215  et  seq. ;  object  of  his  "  stake 
in  the  flesh,"  221  ;  return  to  and 
preaching  at  Damascus,  222  et  seq.; 
how  his  preaching  was  received  by  the 
Jews  of  Damascus,  225  ;  scourged  by 
the  Jews,  226  ;  escape  from  Damascus, 
227  ;  journey  from  Damascus  to  Jeru- 
salem, and  reception  there,  228  ;  meet- 
ing with  Peter  at  Jerusalem,  231 ; 
compared  with  James,  232 ;  early  re- 
lations with  Joseph,  Mark  and  Barna- 
bas, 235,  236  ;  early  trials,  236  ;  twice 
secured  by  Barnabas  for  tlie  work  of 
Christianity  237,  288;  his  recog- 
nition by  the  Apostles  through 
Barnabas,  237,  238 ;  early  ministry, 
perils,  escapes  —  second  vision  of  a 
mission  from,  the  Lord  Jesus  to  the 
Gentiles,  239  et  seq.;  again  at  Tarsus, 
241  ;  shipwrecks,  242 ;  as  Apostle  of 
the  Gentiles,  259  ;  influence  in  Church, 
advancement  of  Paul,  Stephen,  and 
Philip  respectively,  286  ;  supplying  the 
help  need  by  Barnabas — with  Barnabas 
at  Antioch  in  Syria — their  joint  work 
begun,  287,  288  ;  preaching  at  Antioch 
in  Syria  and  its  results,  295  et  seq.  ; 
separated  with  Barnabas  by  tlie  Holy 
Spirit  for  the  work  of  converting  the 
world,  334  ;  Apostle  of  theGentiLs,334; 
first  Apostidic  journey,  334  —  390  ; 
description  of  Paul,  341  ;  strikes  Ely- 
mas  blind,  341 ;  his  miracles,  341,  354, 


642 


INDEX. 


380  ;  a  widower  and  childless,  342  ; 
defects  more  than  counterbalanced  by 
his  gifts,  342  ;  at  Cyprus,  347  ;  at 
Salaniis,  348  ;  reason  for  change  in  his 
name,  355,  356  ;  ]\Iark  leaves  Paul 
and  Barnabas  at  Perga,  359  ;  at  An- 
tiocli  in  Pisidna,  365  ;  preaches  there, 
367  ;  results,  367  et  scq.;  there  also, 
on  rejection  of  the  Gospel  by  the  Jews, 
turns  to  the  Gentiles,  375  ;  at  Iconium, 
378  ;  preaches  at  Iconium,  378  ;  re- 
sults, 378  et  seq.;  at  Lystra,  380  ;  Paul 
preaches,  380  ;  heals  a  cri[>ple,  380  ; 
taken  for  gods,  381' ;  disclaim  the 
honours  offeied  to  them,  381  ;  stoned 
hy  Jews  at  Lystra,  385;  converts  Timo- 
thy, 386  ;  with  Barnabas  leaves  Lystra, 

387  ;  at  Derbe,  388  ;  work  and  success, 

388  ;  Gains  and  otlier  friends  and  con- 
verts, 388  ;  return  from  Derbe  to 
Antioch  in  Syria,  completing  first 
Apostolic  journey,  390;  results  of  first 
Apostolic  journey,  392 ;  convictions 
after  first  Apostolic  journey,  393  ; 
conscious  of  special  mission  to  Gentiles, 
398  ;  with  Barnabas  goes  to  Jerusalem 
on  question  of  circumcision,  405  ;  con- 
verts Titus  who  goes  with  him  to  Jeru- 
salem, 407  ;  convinces  John,  Peter,  and 
James  on  circumcision  as  unnecessary, 
408  ;  zeal  for  poor  of  Church  at  Jeru- 
salem, 410  ;  circumcises  Timothy,  412  ; 
Nazarite  vow,  417  ;  with  Peter  at  An- 
tioch in  Syria,  437  et  seq.;  his  promi- 
nence as  a  guide  of  the  Chtirch,  438  ; 
influence  at  Antioch,  where  he  is  joined 
by  Silas,  438 ;  rebukes  Peter  for 
change  of  bearing  towards  Gentiles, 
442  et  seq.;  result  of  rebuke  on  Peter, 
447  et  seq.;  dispute  with  Barnabas  as 
to  the  companionship  of  Mark,  449  ; 
separation,  449  ;  mutual  loss  to  Paul 
and  Barnabas,  though  friendship  not 
broken,  451  ;  the  welcome  of  Mark 
again  as  fellow-labourer,  453,  ii.  568  ; 
second  Apostolic  journey,  i.  454 — ii.  4 ; 
visits  Churches  of  Syria  and  Cilicia, 
Tarsus,  Derbe,  and  Lystra,  i.  445  et 
seq.;  love  for  Timothy,  458 ;  love  for 
Lis  churches,  459  ;  circumcision  of 
Timothy  and  Titus,  461  ;  goes  through 
Phrygia  and  Galatia,  463  ;  visits  Ico- 
nium, 463  ;  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  463, 
464  ;  visits  Jews  onEuxine,  Galatia,  and 
results,  464,465 ;  illness  in  Galatia,  467 
et  seq.  ;  cause  of  illness,  470  ;  kindness 
of  Galatians,  471  ;  founds  churches  in 
Galatia,  474 ;  visits  Bithynia,  Troas, 
Alexandria,  475  it  seq.  ;  meets  with 
Luke,  479  ;  Luke's  fidelity  to  him,  479  ; 
takes  Luke  with  hiiu  IVoiu  Troas,  479  ;  in 


his  relations  with  Luke,  481;  atPhilippi, 
482  et  seq.  ;  ministry  at  Philippi,  487  ; 
baptises  Lydia  of  Thyatira,  487  ;  lodges 
with  Lydia,  488  ;  reason  for  accepting 
pecuniary  aid  from  Philippi  only  of  all 
his  churches,  488  ;  his  fellow-workers 
at  Philippi,  488  ;  casts  out  spirit  of 
divination  from  possessed  damsel, 
490  ;  anger  of  owners,  490 ;  charge 
against  Pauland  Silas,  490;  imprisoned 
and  scourged,  490  ;  conversion  and 
baptism  of  jailor,  490 ;  fear  of  the 
magistrates,  490  ;  Paul  and  Silas  leave 
Philippi,  490  ;  leave  Luke  behind  them, 
490  et  seq.;  at  Thessalonica,  504: 
poverty  when  there,  507  ;  ministry 
there,  508  ;  preaches  Christ  in  syna- 
gogue, 508  ;  believers  chiefly  among 
the  Gentiles,  508  ;  Epistles  to  the 
Thessalonians,  508,  et  seq. ;  dangers, 
612  ;  hatred  of  Paul  by  the  Jews, 
512;  in  concealment,  515;  escape 
from  Thessalonica,  515,  516  ;  with 
Silas  leaves  Thessalonica  for  Beroea, 
517  ;  Athens,  519  et  seq.;  his  feelings 
at  Athens,  523,  530  ;  intercourse  with 
the  Jews  of  Atiiens,  532  ;  altar  to  the 
Unknown  God,  532  ;  preaches  at 
Athens,  537  ;  result,  537  et  seq.;  view 
of,  in  society,  540  ;  answers  questions 
of  the  Athenians,  541 ;  declares  true 
God  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
543  ;  tact  in  addressing  Athenians, 
543,  544  ;  leaves  Athens,  550  ;  appa- 
rent failure,  550  ;  germ  of  victory  in 
all  his  apparent  failures,  551  ;  at  Co- 
rinth, 553  ;  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians 
and  Thessalonians,  556  ;  grief  at  the 
wickedness  of  Corinth,  557  et  seq.; 
will  accept  nothing  from  the  Corin- 
thians lest  it  be  used  as  a  handle,  559  ; 
relation  to  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  560  ; 
works  as  a  tent-maker,  561  ;  joined  by 
Silas  and  Timotheus,  561  ;  receives 
contributions  from  Philippian  Chris- 
tians, 561  ;  founds  Church  at  Corinth, 
563 ;  complaints  of  Paul  by  Jews  of 
Corinth,  566  ;  not  allowed  by  Gallic 
to  defend  himself,  568  ;  dismissed  by 
Gallio,  569  ;  his  supposed  correspon- 
dence with  Seneca,  spurious,  572;  writes 
1  Thess.,  probably  his  earliest  Eiiistle, 
574  ;  account  of  1  Tliess.,  574  et  seq,; 
his  intense  feelings  conveyed  in  his 
writings,  576  ;  anxiety  as  to  reception 
and  result  of  his  Ejjistles,  577  ;  salu- 
tation and  introduction  in  Epistles, 
678  ;  thankfulness  on  behalf  of  Thes- 
salonian  Christians  in  1  Thess.,  581  ; 
dangers  at  Tiiessalonica  and  I'hilippl, 
383  ;  calumnies  from  Jews  and  Gentiles, 


INDEX. 


643 


583 ;  answer  to  Thessalonian  calumnies 
in  his  life  and  disinterestedness,  584  ; 
taking  notliing  from  them,  584  ;  per- 
8ecuti(m  liy  the  Jews.  585 ;  joy  in 
the  Christians  of  Thessalonica,  586  ; 
visit  of  Timothy  to  Thessalonica,  589  ; 
his  report  of  the  faith  which  he  finds 
there,  589  et  seq.;  enjoins  practical 
Christian  duties  on  the  Thessalonians, 
589  ;  on  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
691  et  seq.;  corrects  error  and  sloth 
caused  by  idea  of  day  of  the  Lord  as 
near  at  hand,  599  ;  account  of  2  Thess., 
559  et  seq.;  view  of  day  of  the  Lord, 
601;  object  in  2  Thess.,  604;  style 
illustrative  of  writer's  character,  619  ; 
various  writers  in  testimony  of,  619  et 
seq.;  Rhetoric  of,  625  ;  classic  quota- 
tions and  allusions,  630  ;  a  Hagadist, 
638;  Paul  and  Philo,  638  et  seq.;  in 
Arabia,  651  ;  "  stake  in  the  flesh,"  652  ; 
Paul  and  John,  673  et  seq.;  attacks  on 
Paul  in  the  Clementines,  675  et  seq.; 
stay  at  Corinth,  ii.  1  ;  at  Ephesus,  1  et 
seq.;  in  his  character  as  a  Jew,  2  ;  his 
temporary  Nazarite  vow  and  its  condi- 
tions, 2  ;  preaches  Christ  at  Ephesus, 
4  ;  goes  to  Jerusalem  for  fourth  time, 
4  ;  his  four  visits  enumerated,  4  ;  end 
of  second  Apostolic  jouiney,  4  ;  recep- 
tion at  Jerusalem,  5  ;  third  Apostolic 
journey,  6—291 ;  goes  again  to  Antioch 
and  again  visits  Churches  of  Phrj-gia 
and  Galatia,  6  et  seq.  ;  peril  at  Ei)lie- 
sus,  17 ;  testimony  to  Apollos,  20 ; 
labours  at  Ephesus,  21 ;  withdraws  his 
disciples  from  Jews  of  Ephesus,  and 
disputes  daily  in  the  school  of  Tyrannus, 
22  ;  success  at  Ephesus,  23  ;  perils — 
outbreak  at  Ephesus  from  worshippers 
of  Diana,  28  et  seq.  ;  leaves  Ephesus, 
43 ;  joined  by  two  Ephesians,  Tychicus 
and  Tropliimus,  43;  care  for  Corinth- 
ian Churches,  46  ;  distress  at  news  of 
Church  from  Corinth,  51 ;  begins 
1  Corinthians,  59  ;  declaration  to  the 
Corinthians  of  purpose  of  his  mission, 
61 ;  declares  doctrine  of  crucified 
Saviour,  62  ;  exhorts  to  unity  in 
Christ,  63  ;  condemns  divisions  in  the 
Church, 63  ;  warns  against  false  teachers, 
63  et  seq.  ;  case  of  incest  in  Corinthian 
Church,  66,  67;  on  charity,  68;  meat 
offered  to  idols,  68 ;  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  68  et  seq. ;  on  marriage  and 
virginity,  70  ;  his  own  struggles,  73  ;  ex- 
amples of  those  who  have  fallen  through 
want  of  self-discipline,  73;  on  the  head 
covered  or  uncovered  at  prayer,  75  ;  con- 
demnation of  practices  in  Corinth  at 
the  Lord's  Supper,  75  ;  on  charity,  75  et 


seq.;  leaves  Ephesus  for  Troas,  and 
goes  thence  (in  consequence  of  a  vision) 
to  iLicedonia,  88  ;  subjects  of  several 
Epistles,  90 ;  self  -  defence  to  the 
Corinthians,  91  et  seq.,  100  et  seq.; 
controversy  (in  three  phases)  with 
Judaism  in  2  Corinthians,  Galatians, 
and  Rom  ins,  96  ;  source  and  vindica- 
tion of  his  authority  as  an  Apostle, 
97  et  seq.;  character  of  his  preaching 
described  by  himself,  104  et  seq.  ;  his 
ministry  a  ministry  of  reconciliation, 
107  ;  himself  an  ambassador  for  Christ, 
107;  no  burden  to  the  Corinthians, 
109 ;  the  plainness  of  speech,  in- 
dignation and  irony,  and  yet  meekness 
and  gentleness  of  2  Corinthians, 
from  end  of  chapter  ix.,  110  et  seq. ; 
warning  against  false  teachers,  114  ; 
his  own  labours  and  perils,  \li  et  seq.; 
visions  and  revelations,  116  et  seq.;  not 
burdensome  to  Corinthian  Church,  but 
caught  them  with  guile,  117  ;  route  and 
work  in  Macedonia,  120  et  seq.  ;  pledge 
to  the  Apostles  at  Jerusalem,  122 ; 
leaves  Macedonia  and  returns  to  Co- 
rinth, 123  ;  his  companions,  124  ;  ab- 
sence of  information  as  to  his  inter- 
course with  the  Church  at  Corinth  on 
his  return  thither,  127  ;  ground  for  in- 
ferring his  success  in  dealing  with  Co- 
rinthian ditBculties,  127  ;  his  inmost 
thoughts  revealed  in  Galatians  and  Ro- 
mans, 128  ;  grief  at  success  of  Judaising 
teachers  at  Antioch  and  Corinth,  and  in 
Galatia,  129,  130  ;  hence  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  129,  130 ;  charges  against 
him  by  Judaising  teachers,  and  his  re- 
plies, 132,  133 ;  resistance  of  those 
who  advocate  the  necessity  for  circum- 
cision, 134 ;  compared  with  Luther, 
139  ;  Apostolic  authority  first  vindi- 
cated in  Epistle  to  Galatians,  140  ;  de- 
termination to  go  to  Jerusalem  through 
whatever  danger,  and  afterwards  to 
Rome,  159,  160  ;  his  faith  in  his  God, 
161  ;  doubts  as  to  accounts  of  his 
martyrdom,  166  ;  in  his  character  of 
deserter  of  Judaism,  and  defender  of 
the  spiritual  seed  of  Abraham  only  as 
the  true  Israel  of  God,  175  ;  inter- 
pretation of  Habakkuk  on  life  by  faith, 
193  ;  cause  of  some  logical  defects  in 
his  statements,  215  ;  objections  to  his 
arguments  in  Romans,  227  ;  his  use  of 
different  methods  in  argument,  228  ; 
apparent  contradictions  in  his  writings, 
229  ;  only  jealous  for  the  truth,  '/•■i2 
indifference  to  apparently  illogical 
reasonings  in  his  teaching,  232  ;  method 
in  enforcing  truth  compared  with  that 


644 


INDEX. 


of  Liitlier,  Jpronie,  and  others,  247  ;  i 
grief  for  ii.ardiu'ss  of  lieart,  248  ;  love 
for  the  Jews,  248  ;  protected  by  the 
Roman  impartiality  of  Gallio,  Lysias, 
Felix,  and  Festus,  201 ;  plot  of  Jews 
against  his  life,  272  et  seq. ;  Sosipater, 
Ari.starchus,  Secundus,  Gaius,  Timo- 
theus,  Tychicus,  Trophimus,  and  Luke, 
his  companions,  274;  at  Philippi,  275  ; 
at  Troas,  275  ;  voyage  by  Lesbos, 
Chios,  Samos,  and  Trogyllium  to  Mile- 
tus, 280  ;  interview  with  the  elders  of 
the  Ephesian  Church  at  Miletus, 
280 — 284;  voyage  from  Miletus  by 
Cos,  Cnidus,  Rhodes,  Patara,  and 
Cyprus,  to  Tyre,  284—286  ;  at  Tyre, 
287 ;  visits  Philip  the  Evangelist 
at  Coesarea,  288 ;  fifth  visit  to  Je- 
rusalem, and  end  of  the  third  Apos- 
tolic journey,  291 ;  reception  by  James 
and  elders  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem 
— their  proposal  to  him,  294,  295 ; 
does  as  James  and  elders  proposed  to 
hhn  as  to  Naxarite  vows,  1^08  ;  out- 
break of  the  Jews  in  the  Temple 
against  him,  308  ;  charged  by  the  Jews 
with  defiling  the  Temj.le,  309  et  scq.; 
rescued  by  Lysias  from  the  Jews  in  the 
Temple,  311  ;  address  to  the  Jews 
after  their  outrage  on  him  in  the 
Temple,  313  et  seq. ;  order  to  scourge 
him — declares  himself  a  Roman  citizen, 
317  et  seq.  ;  before  the  Sanhedrin — his 
treatment  by  the  High  Priest — his  pro- 
test— his  defence,  325  et  seq. ;  en- 
couraged by  a  vision,  329 ;  saved  by 
his  nephew  from  a  conspiracy  of  Jews 
against  his  life,  331  et  seq. ;  sent  by 
Lysias  to  Citsarea  under  escort,  332  ; 
the  conduct  of  Lysias,  333  ;  letter  of 
Lysias  to  Felix,  334  ;  preparations  for 
his  trial  before  Felix,  336  et  seq. ;  de- 
fence before  Felix,  338,  339 ;  trial  not 
concluded,  but  again  summoned  before 
Felix,  341  ;  power  of  his  arguments 
with  Felix,  341  ;  attempts  of  Felix  to 
procure  bribes  for  Paul's  release,  Z\'l  et 
seq.;  before  Festus — appeal  to  Cifsar, 
347  et  seq.;  before  Festus  and  Agrippa, 
354  ;  his  defence,  355  et  seq.  ;  sent  in 
charge  of  Julius  the  centurion  to  Rome 
with  Luke  and  Aristarchus  as  his  fellow- 
voyagers,  362  ;  voyage  to  Rome  by  Si- 
don,  Cyprus,  Myra,  Cnidus,  Fair  Havens, 
■where  they  waited  long — his  courage 
in  danger — ^Melita,  365  et  seq.;  ship- 
wreck iit  Melita,  378  et  seq.  ;  the  viper 
at  Melita,  384  ;  declared  a  god,  384  ; 
heals  Publius'  father,  385;  voyage  and 
journey  to  Rome  from  Melita  by  Syra- 
cuse, Bhegiuiu,  Puteoli,  Baiaa,  Capua, 


Appii  Forum, Three  Taverns,  385-389; 
treatment  at  Rome,  390 ;  his  bonds,  391 ; 
appeal  to  Ca;sar,  392  ;  addresses  the  Jews 
at  Rome,  394,  395  ;  his  companions 
and  friends  in  Rome — Timotheus,  I/uke, 
Aristarchus,  Tychicus,  Epaphroditus, 
Epaphras,  Mark,  Demas,  395,  396; 
two  years  of  sojourn  and  unhindered 
preaching  in  Rome,  396,  397  ;  his 
abode,  398;  discouragements,  398; 
postponement  of  his  trial,  398  ;  means 
of  living,  398  ;  success  of  his  preaching, 
398  et  seq.  ;  position  at  Rome,  404  ; 
varying  characteristics  of  his  Epistles, 
410  et  seq.  ;  Epistles  of  the  Captivity, 
417  et  seq.  ;  loving  care  for  him  of 
Lydia  and  other  Pliilippian  friends 
■when  a  prisoner  at  Rome,  420  ;  indif- 
ference of  the  Roman  Christians,  420  ; 
his  own  account  of  himself  to  the 
Philippians,  426  ;  humility  in  his 
ministry  and  warning  to  the  Colossian 
Church  against  false  teachers,  458, 
459  ;  probable  trial,  acquittal,  release, 
and  course  of  events  till  death,  511  et 
seq.  ;  his  intended  visit  to  Spain,  515; 
visit  to  Crete,  530  ;  founds  the  Cretan 
Church,  531  ;  closing  days,  b'i'detseq.; 
fear  of  Gnosticism,  542 ;  desire  to 
strengthen  the  Churches  against  it, 
542  ;  relations  between  Paul  and 
Timothy,  544,  545  ;  companions  in  his 
last  imprisonment,  545  ;  writes  to 
Timothy  of  his  loneliness  in  prison, 
the  support  of  his  God,  his  trial, 
546 ;  hardships  of  second  imprison- 
ment in  Rome,  and  cliange  in  his 
position,  547  ;  left  in  his  loneliness  by 
friend  after  friend,  Luke  only  faithful 
to  him,  548  ;  kindness  of  Onesiphorus 
in  searching  him  out  and  visiting  him 
in  prison  —  gratitude  to  him,  549  ; 
his  last  trial  — -  the  little  that  he 
says  of  it  —  strengthened  I5y  his 
God,  550 ;  his  desire  once  more  to  see 
Timothy,  559,  560 ;  last  letter,  561 
et  seq. ;  farewell  of  Timothy,  567 ; 
personal  matters,  568 ;  significance 
of  his  request  for  his  cloak,  books, 
and  parchments  from  Troas,  569,  576 ; 
final  trial,  condemnation,  death,  577, 
578  ;  apparent  failure — real  greatness 
and  success,  578  ;  lasting  results 
of  his  life  and  work,  578 ;  crown  of 
righteousness,  578  ct  seq.  ;  theology 
and  antinomies  of,  690,  691  ;  evidence 
as  to  liberation,  604  e<  seq.;  chronology 
of  his  life  and  Epistles,  623  ;  dates 
of  his  Epistles,  626  ;  traditional  ac- 
count of  his  personal  appearance,  628, 
629. 


INDEX. 


645 


Paiilus,  Sergius,  Proconsul  of  Cyprus,  i. 
351,  671. 

Peace  and  Hope,  results  of  justification  by- 
faith,  ii.  213,  2U. 

Pentecost,  The  first,  after  the  Resurrection 
of  our  Lord,  i.  83,  90  ;  beginning  of 
final  i)iiase  of  God's  dealings  with  men, 
91  ;  crowded  state  of  Jerusalem  at,  95, 
102;  events  of,  95,  102. 

People,  Chosen.     {See  Jews.) 

Perishing,  Paul's  view  of  the,  ii.  591. 

Persenutious  and  results,  i.  105  et  seq., 
284. 

Peter,  as  Cephas,  Apostle  of  the  Foundation 
Stone,  i.  1  ;  impress  of  individuality  on 
Church,  1  ;  Peter  and  first  Pentecost, 
83  et  seq.  ;  discourse  at  first  Pentecost 
and  its  effect,  103,  104;  miracles,  105, 
263  ;  his  reception  of  Paul  at  Jerusa- 
lem, 231  ;  his  admission  of  Gentiles 
into  the  Church,  258  ;  rebukes  Simon 
Magu.<!,  260  ;  lodging  with  Simon  the 
tanner  at  Joppa,  264  ;  vision  at  Joppa 
and  its  significance,  272  ;  sent  for  by 
Cornelius  to  C^sarea,  277  ;  address  to 
the  Gentiles  at  Cassarea  and  its  results, 
280,  281  ;  address  at  Jerusalem  and  its 
results,  282,  283  ;  in  prison,  311,  313  ; 
released  from  prison  by  an  angel,  314; 
convinced  by  Paul  on  circumcision, 
408  ;  his  address  on  circumcision,  422  ; 
independence  of  Judaism,  and  free  in- 
tercourse with  Gentiles,  439  ;  rebuked 
by  Paul  for  change  of  bearing  towards 
Gentiles,  440  et  seq.  ;  spirit  in  which 
he  received  Paul's  rebuke,  447  et  seq.; 
stoned,  647  ;  doubts  as  to  accounts  of 
his  martyrdom,  ii.  166  ;  not  the  founder 
of  the  Roman  Church,  167. 

Peter  and  John — Two  chief  Apostles,  i,  2  ; 
before  t)ie  chief  priests,  106  et  seq.; 
knowledge  of  tlie  mind  of  Christ,  675. 

Peter  and  Paul  at  Antioch  in  Syria,  i.  437. 

Pharaoh — his  hardness  of  heart  explained, 
ii.  242. 

Pharisaism — its  various  aspects,  i.  45,  46  ; 
compared  with  the  monastic  life,  64. 

Pharisees,  Life  and  observances  of,  i.  62 
et  seq.;  minute  points  of  observance, 
68  ;  scrupulous  observance  of  Sabbath, 
69 ;  baptised,  but  understand  Christ 
less  than  tlie  Sadducees,  wlio  had 
handed  him  over  to  the  secular  arm, 
151. 

Philemon,  Causes  of  Paul's  Epistle  to, 
ii.  442,  443  ;  account,  subject  of,  &c, 
438,  468  et  seq. 

Philip  (Apostle)  and  Andrew  —  Hellenic 
names,  but  still  common  among  the 
.lews,  i.  130. 

Philip  (Evangelist)   appointed    deacon,    L 


132  ;  evangelist  as  well  as  deacon,  138  ; 
ministry,  138  ;  baptises  Simon  Magus, 

260  ;  baptises  the   Ethiopian    eunuch, 

261  ;  the  respective  influence  in  Church 
advancement  of  Philip,  Stephen,  and 
Paul,  286  ;  work  in  tlie  Church,  286  ; 
Paul's  visit  to  him  at  C;esarea,  ii.  288. 

Philippi,  Description  of,  i.  484  et  seq.; 
Church  of,  alone  ministering  to  Paul's 
necessities,  488  ;  Paul's  fellow-workers 
at,  488. 

Philippiaus — ministering  to  Paul's  neces- 
sities at  Corinth,  i.  56  ;  Epistle  to, 
ii.  417  et  seq.;  causes  of,  419  ;  loving 
care  for  Paul  and  his  necessities,  420. 

Philippiaus,  Epistle  to — Exhortation  to 
unity  in,  ii.  422  ;  characteristics  of, 
422,  423  ;  account  of,  424  et  seq.; 
writer's  encouragements  to  Philippiaus, 
427  ;  digression  of  special  warnings, 
431  vt  seq.;  conclusion,  435  ;  gratitude 
for  help  in  necessities,  435  ;  future  of 
Philippian  Church,  435  et  seq. 

Philosophers  of  Athens,  i.  533  et  seq. 

Pilate — his  judicial  impartiality,  570. 

Plmy — on  tests  of  Christians,  i.  330  ;  his 
account  of  Christians  in  Bithynia, 
330 ;  letter  to  Sabiuianus,  ii.  593, 
594. 

Pliny  the  Younger  on  Chri.stianity,  i.670. 

Pompeii,  Morals  of,  typical  of  those  of 
Tarsus,  Ephesus,  Corinth,  and  Miletus, 
i.  36. 

Ponipey — introduction  of  Jews  into  Rome, 
ii.  162  ;  his  treatment  of  them  and  its 
results,  162. 

Pontius  Pilate.     (&e  Pilate.) 

Pope  Adrian.     {See  Adrian  VI.) 

Porcia,  Lex,  i.  41. 

Porcius  Festus.    [See  Festus.) 

Predestination  —  Definition  of,  ii.  242  ; 
consistent  with  man's  free  will,  243 ; 
difficulties  of,  solved  by  the  infinity  of 
God's  love,  244  ;  Paul's  view  of,  590. 

Priests,  Chief,  in  judgment  on  Peter  and 
John,  i.  106  ;  many  Jewish,  "obedient 
to  tlie  faith"  of  Christ,  135. 

Priscilla  and  Aquila,  their  relation  to  Paul, 
i.  559. 

Progress,  Paul  the  Apostle  of,  i.  2. 

Prophecy  fulfilled  in  Messiah,  i.  150. 

Prophets  foretold  the  calling  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, i.  267. 

Proselytes,  Greek — their  conversion,  i.  286  ; 
burdens  laid  on,  666. 

Psalms — The  poetry  of  the,  compared  with 
Paul's  Epistles,  i.  18. 

Public  Worship.      (iS'^e  Worship.) 

Publius'  father  healed  by  Paul  at  Melita, 
ii.  385. 

Punishments,  Capital,  i.  647. 


646 


INDEX 


Rabban,  Rabbi,  i.  4,  44. 

Rabbi,  Rabbis— School  of  the,  i.  40  et  seq.; 
misconception  of  the  oral  law,  66; 
"  strain  out  gnats  and  swallow  camel."," 
69;  of  Jerusalem,  tlieir  ignorance  of  the 
intent  of  God's  gifts,  124. 

Rahab  an  ancestress  of  our  Lord,  i.  325 

Recompense,  Paul's  view  of,  ii.  591. 

Redeemed,  Paul's  view  of  the  forgiveness 
of  the,  ii.  591. 

Redeemer.     {See  Jesus.) 

Restoration,  Universal,  Paul's  view  of,  ii. 
591. 

Resurrection— Power  of  Christ's,  i.  84  ; 
and  Judgment,  Athenian  view  of,  548  ; 
faith  in  the,  confirmed,  ii.  82  et  seq.  ; 
Paul  on,  to  Corinthian  Church,  68  et  srq. 

Righteousness  of  God — its  efTect  on  man,  i. 
188  et  seq.;  of  the  Law  and  what  de- 
pended on  it,  65.     {See  God.) 

Home — Character  of,  in  the  time  of  the 
Apostles,  descrilied  by  St.  John, 
Seneca,  and  Juvenal,  i.  3-31;  Jews  in- 
troduced into,  by  Pompey,  ii.  162; 
Introduction  of  Christianity  into,  164  ; 
Jewish  and  Gentile  elements  in  early 
Church  of,  167,  168 ;  impartiality  of 
its  law  favourable  to  Paul,  261  ;  Paul's 
confidence  in  the  Christians  of,  268  ; 
Paul  at,  389  et  seq. ;  its  social  condi- 
tion— its  early  Christians — Paul's  ira- 
munit}',  402  et  seq.;  Prevailing  in- 
fluences in,  during  Paul's  residence 
there,  404  et  seq.;  Indifierence  of  the 
Christians  of,  to  Paul  and  bis  neces- 
sities compared  with  the  kindness  of 
the  PhJlippians,  419,  420,  515. 

Roman,  Romans — Result  to,  of  the  disper- 
sion of  the  Jews,  i.  117;  their  early 
views  of  Christianity,  569  ;  their  judi- 
cial impartiality  when  Christians  were 
brought  before  them,  570  ;  apotheosis 
of  their  emperors,  664  et  seq. ;  Paul's 
position  among,  as  a  deserter  of  Ju- 
daism, and  asserter  of  spiritual  seed  of 
Abraham  as  alone  the  true  Israel  of 
God,  175;  Superiority  of  Paul's  Epistle 
to,  above  the  frivolity  of  the  Abhoda 
Zara,  176;  Paul's  confidence,  185; 
trials,  votes  in,  given  by  tablets,  552, 
576. 

Romans,  Paul's  Epistle  to — cause  of,  ii. 
161;  account  of  Epistle,  162  ;  addre-ssed 
to  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  168,  169  ; 
probably  copied  and  sent  to  other 
Churches,  as  Ephesus  and  Thessalonica, 
170,  171  ;  object  of,  171  et  seq.  ;  cha- 
racter and  style  of,  172  et  seq. ;  cha- 
racter   of    Churcli    when  Paul  wrote 


Epistle,  173  ;  causes  of,  174  ;  spirit  in 
which  written,  174  ;  how  probably 
originated,  178, 179  ;  deductions  thence 
in  writer's  mind,  178,  179;  Jesus  Christ 
as  common  foundation  for  the  Jew  and 
Gentile  the  basis  of  tliis  and  of  every 
one  of  Paul's  Epistles,  180  ;  opinions 
of  Luther,  Melancthon,  Coleridge,  and 
Tholuck,  180,  181;  outline  of,  181  et 
seq.;  salutation  and  introduction,  184; 
comprehensiveness,  185 ;  thanksgiving 
for  faith  of,  185;  Roman  Christians, 
185 ;  God's  righteou.sness  revealed  in 
the  Gospel  of  the  Cross  to  Jew  and 
Gentile  alike,  187;  justification  by 
faith  the  one  means  of  attaining  to 
holiness—  the  great  subject  of  the 
Epistle,  189:  God's  righteousness — the 
various  sources  and  revelations  of,  189 
et  seq.;  the  sins  of  Paganism,  196, 197; 
Jews  equally  guilty  with  Gentiles,  199; 
uselessne.ss  of  circumcision,  203,  204 ; 
justification  God's  free  gift,  211  ;  justi- 
fication establishing  the  Law,  213; 
universality  of  sin  and  of  justifica- 
tion, 214,  215;  by  one,  siu--by  one, 
justification,  214,  215;  purpose  of 
the  Law,  218  ;  relations  of  sin  and  grace, 
219  ;  why  the  Law  was  inefficacious  to 
justify,  223  ;  the  Law  gave  its  stiength 
to  sin,  225,  226;  Christians  not  under 
the  Law,  but  under  grace,  history  of  man 
under  four  phases,  226  ;  writer's  style 
of  argument  justified  against  tljose  who 
censure  it,  228 ;  Christian  dead  to 
past  moral  condition,  risen  to  new  one, 
because  Christ  in  His  crucified  body  has 
destroyed  the  power  of  sin,  233 ;  pre- 
destination and  free-will  not  inconsis- 
tent with  each  other,  242  et  seq.;  Jews, 
their  fall,  246  et  seq.;  their  hopes 
of  restoration,  254  et  seq. ;  obedience 
to  the  civil  power  enjoined,  260  ;  Paul's 
respect  for  the  civil  power  from  his  own 
experience,  260,  261  ;  dues,  263  ;  ob- 
servances as  to  fasting  and  use  of  food, 
263  ;  the  weak  and  the  strong,  263  et 
seq.;  Paul's  defence  of  his  Epistles, 
268,  269  ;  probable  end  of  Epistle  as 
originally  intended,  269 ;  its  actual 
conclusion,  270. 

Room,  Upper.     {Sec  Upper  Room.) 

Rulers  contemporary  with  Paul,  Table  of, 
ii.  626,  627. 

Running  so  as  to  obtain,  ii.  591. 

Ruth,  ancestress  of  Christ,  i.  325. 


Sabbath    obsei-vances    of    Pharisees    and 
Sadducees,  i.  69. 


INDEX. 


647 


Sabbatic  year,  observances  of,  i.  69. 

Sabinianus,  Letter  of  Pliny  to,  ii.  593,  594. 

Sacrilice,  Liviug,  required  of  all  Christians, 
ii.  258. 

Sadducees,  scrupulous  observances  of  Sab- 
bath, i.  69. 

St.  Denys.     {See  Denys.) 

St.  Paul.     {See  Paul.) 

Saint.     {In  each  case  see  Saint's  name). 

Sakya  Mouiii,  Antecedeuts  of,  i.  4. 

Salamis— Jews  of,  i.  348 ;  Paul  and  Barna- 
bas at,  348. 

Salvation  through  fear,  ii.  591. 

Sanhedrin — not  alraid  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
afraid  of  two  of  his  disciples,  i.  108  ; 
rage  of  at  Stejihen's  discourse,  i.  164 ; 
charged  with  la.xity  at  the  time  of 
Stephen's  martyrdom,  169 ;  marriage 
a  condition  of  membership,  169  ;  Paul 
had  been  a  member  of,  169  et  seq, 

Sapphira.      {Sec  Ananias.) 

Sardanapalus,  Statue  of,  atAnchiale,  i.  29. 

"  Saul  the  Pharisee,"  i.  62  et  seq. 

"  Saul  the  persecutor,"  i.  169.   (5«ePaul.) 

Saviour.     {See  Jesus.) 

Sceva,  of  Ephesus — sons  overcome  by  evil 
spirit  while  using  the  holy  name  of 
Jesus,  ii.  25  et  seq. 

School  of  the  Rabbi,  i.  40  et  seq. 

Scourging,  Jewish,  i.  661  et  seq. 

Scripture,  Paul's  use  of,  i.  50. 

Sejanus — his  attempt  to  eject  the  Jews 
from  Rome,  ii.  163 ;  persecution  of  the 
Jews,  261. 

Seneca — his  description  of  Rome,  i.  331  ; 
relation  to  Gallic,  567  ;  his  supposed 
corresijondence  with  Paul  spurious, 
572  ;  account  of  Jews  in  Rome,  ii.  164; 
his  disgrace  by  Nero,  408. 

Septuagint,  the  work  of  the  most  learned 
men  of  the  Jewish  Dispersion,  i.  128. 

Sergius  Paulus,  Proconsul  of  Cyprus,  i. 
351,671. 

Sermon  on  the  Mount  compared  with  Paul's 
Epistles,  i.  576. 

Servants  and  masters,  mutual  duties  of, 
ii.  527. 

Shammai,  the  school  of,  i.  44  ;  his  descent, 
325  ;  view  of  the  oral  law,  401. 

Shema  in  studies  of  Paul  as  a  boy,  i.  43. 

Shipwreck,  Paul's,  ii.  378  et  seq. 

Silas — ^.joins  Paul  at  Antioch  in  Syria,  1. 
438  ;  Paul's  companion  in  his  travels, 
454  et  seq.     {See  Paul.) 

Silvanus.     {See  Silas.) 

Simeon — his  prophecy  of  our  Lord  as  a 
Light  to  the  Gentiles,  i.  325. 

Simeon  Niger — position  in  Church  at  An- 
tioch in  Syria,  i.  323. 

Simon  Magus,  i.  260,  352. 

Simon  Peter.     (See  Peter.) 


Sin,  Relation  of  grace  to,  ii.  219,  220  ; 
relation  of  law  to,  234  et  seq.;  Man  of, 
583  et  seq.;  Paul's  views  of,  591. 

Soberniindedness,  key-note  of  Paul's 
Epistle  to  Titus,  ii.  535. 

Sosthenes  beaten  before  Gallio,  ii.  571. 

Southwest  and  north-west  explained,  iL 
369. 

Spinoza,  Antecedents  of,  and  compared  with 
Paul,  i.  4. 

Spirit,  Holy.     {See  Holy  Ghost. ) 

"  Stake  in  the  flesh,"  Paul's,  i.  214  et  seq. 
(See  Paul.) 

Stephen — influence  of  his  last  words  on 
Paul,  i.  77  ;  Stephen  and  the  Hel- 
lenists, 115  et  seq.:  appointed  one  of 
the  seven  deacons,  132  ;  inHuence  on 
Paul,  134  ;  more  liis  tencher  than  Ga- 
maliel, 134  ;  what  he  must  have  been 
had  he  lived,  134  ;  had  probably  heard 
the  truth  from  the  Lord  Jesus,  though 
the  tradition  that  he  was  one  of  the 
seventy  disciples  is  valueless,  137  ; 
elected  deacon  for  his  faith,  137  ;  the 
most  prominent  of  tlie  seven,  137  ; 
equal  with  the  Apostles  in  working 
wonders  among  the  people,  137  ;  his 
great  part  in  the  history  of  the  Church, 
138  ;  evangelist  as  well  as  deacon,  138; 
compared  with  the  twelve  Apostles, 
138  ;  his  dispute  in  the  synagogue  of 
the  Libertines,  145 ;  his  triumph  in 
argument,  147  ;  its  result,  147 ;  his 
view  of  the  law  of  Moses  blasphemy 
to  the  Jews,  152  ;  taken  by  violence 
before  the  Sanhedrin,  153  ;  his  view  of 
the  oral  law,  154  ;  charges  against  him 
by  false  witnesses,  154,  155  ;  his  reply 
a  concise  history  of  the  Jewish  nation 
down  to  their  own  murder  of  Christ, 
162  et  seq.;  his  vision  of  glory,  164  ; 
martyrdom,  165  et  seq.;  prays  for  his 
murderers,  167  ;  burial,  171  ;  respec- 
tive influence  of  Stephen,  Pliilip,  and 
Paul  in  Church  advancement,  286. 

Stoics,  stoicism,    i.  333  ,  ii.  1 4 

Suetonius — his  error  as  to  out  Lord,  i. 
330;  his  view  of  Christianity,  330, 
669. 

Supper,  L.ast,  Upper  room  of,  i.  86,  320. 

Sword,  The,  as  the  result  of  our  Lord's 
mission,  i.  573. 

Syutyche  and  Euodia,  Christian  women  of 
Macedonia,  i.  488.     (See  Euodia.) 


T. 


Tabitha  raised  from  the  dead,  i.  263. 
Tablets,  Voting.     (See  Roman.) 
Tacitus— his  view  of  Christianity,  i.  330, 
669. 


648 


INDEX. 


Talmud,  Noble  characters  'in,   i.    46 ;   its 

direction  of  observances,  64  ;  allegories, 
66  ;  stories  from,  ii.  594,  595. 
Tarsus — birthplace  of  Paul,  i.  14  ;  descrip- 
tion and  natural  features,  17  ;  com- 
Bfiercial  and  political  advantages  of 
situation,    21 ;    commercial  prosperity, 

22  ;  resisting  Brutus  and  Cassius,  22  ; 
conquered  by  Lucius  Rufus,  22  ;  scene 
of  meetings  of  Antony  and  Cleopatra, 

23  ;  its  moral  condition  in  Paul's  youth, 
31  ;  morals  of  Tarsus  and  other  cities 
judged  from  evidence  of  Pompeii, 
36. 

Temperance.     (See  Sobermindedness. ) 

Temple  at  Jerusalem — scene  of  the  great 
events  of  the  first  Pentecost  after  our 
Lord's  resurrection,  i.  90  ;  destruction 
of,  604  ;  Paul  charged  by  Jews  with 
defiling,  ii.  309  et  seq. 

Terah,  Legend  of,  i.  325. 

Tertius,  scribe  of  Paul's  Epistle  to  Ro- 
mans, ii.  174. 

Tertullus  accuses  Paul  to  Felix,  ii.  337. 

Theology  of  Paul,  ii.  590,  591. 

Theophilus,  High  Priest,  i.  180. 

Thessalonica,  Descrii>tion  of,  i.  505 ; 
Famine  at  time  of  Paul's  visit,  507  ; 
Paul's  ministry  at,  508  et  seq. 

Thessalonians— sent  to  stir  up  Beroeans 
against  Paul,  i.  519  ;  Paul's  Epistles 
to,  510.  1  Thess. :  Account  of,  574; 
their  faith  and  Cliristian  spirit  com- 
mended, 582  ;  characteristics  of,  583, 
584;  Paul's  joy  in,  586;  their  faith 
reported  to  Paul  by  Timothy,  587; 
expected  to  advance  in  Christian  course, 
588  ;  brotherly  love  and  quietness 
commended,  539;  second  coming  of 
Christ,  and  judgment,  592  et  seq.  ;  re- 
sults of  1  Thess.,  595,  596  ;  disturbed 
by  idea  of  day  of  the  Lord  as  very 
near,  599  et  seq.  2  Thess.  :  Object  of 
2  Thess.,  i.  604  ;  most  important  pas- 
sage of  2  Thess.,  608;  explanation  of 
2  Thess.  ii.  1—12. 

Thessalonica — Paul's  Epistle  to  Romans 
probaljly  sent  to  Thessalonica  also,  ii. 
170,  171  ;  Tboluck,  his  account  of 
Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  181  ; 
"thorn  in  the  flesh,"  Paul's,  i.  214. 
{See  Paul;  Stake.) 

Tiberius,  Death  of,  i.  244. 

Tigellinus,  Pra'torian  Prefect,  his  charac- 
ter, ii.  546,  547. 

Timotheus.     (S'(?  Timothy.) 

Timothy — converted  by  Paul  at  Lystra,  i. 
386;  circumcised,  46,  412;  Paul's  love 
for  him,  458;  Paul's  Epistles  to,  459  ; 
with  Paul  at  Ephesus,  459 ;  places  at 
which  he  is  mentioned  as  having  been 


with  Paul  —  character  of  Timothy, 
459,  460 ;  goes'  with  Paul  on  his 
travels,  461  ;  returns  with  Silas  to 
Paul  at  Corinth  from  Thessalonica, 
575;  sent  by  Paul  to  Thessalonica, 
587  ;  his  report  of  the  faith  of  the 
Thessalonians,  587  ;  Paul's  personal 
advice  to,  ii.  526  ;  his  relation  to  Paul, 
544  et  seq. ;  Paul's  account  to  him  (in 
2  Timothy)  of  his  loneliness  in  prison, 
546  ;  of  the  support  of  his  God,  546  j 
of  his  trial,  546  et  seq. 

Timothy — 1  Timothy  :  Account  of,  ii.  515 
etscq.;  object  of  Epistle,  516;  warn- 
ing against  false  teacliers,  517  ;  injunc- 
tions to  prayer,  quietness,  sobriety, 
519  et  seq.;  qualifications  for  offices  in 
the  Church,  521 ;  of  pastors  and  dea- 
cons, 521  et  seq.;  rules  as  to  discipline 
of  the  body,  523 ;  marriage,  523 ; 
widowhood,  523 ;  ordination  of  pres- 
byters, &c.,  523  et  seq.  2  Timothy : 
Account  of,  561  et  seq.;  gratitude  for 
the  kindness  of  Onesiphorus,  562,  563  ; 
again  warned  against  false  teachers,  of 
whom  a  picture  is  drawn,  564  et  seq.  ; 
personal  exhortations — appeal  to  him, 
as  a  pastor,  to  earnest  duty,  565,  566  ; 
entreaty  to  come  to  him — Paul's  cloak, 
books,  parchments  —  conclusion,  569 
et  seq.,  576. 

Titus — converted  by  Paul  at  Cyprus,  i.  407  ; 
went  with  Paul  and  Barnabas  to  con- 
ference at  Jerusalem  on  circumcision, 
407  ;  the  question  of  his  circumcision, 
412,  461  ;  rejoins  Paul  in  Macedonia, 
ii.  88  ;  Paul's  Epistle  to,  Account  of, 
529,  532  ;  leading  subject  of,  temper- 
ance, sober-mindedness,  535. 

Tongue  "  understanded  "  of  people  com- 
mended for  use,  ii.  80. 

Tongues — Speaking  with  unknown,  i.  96 
design  of  gift  of,  at  Pentecost,  97; 
different  view  of  this  gift,  98,  99  ;  at 
Jerusalem  and  Corinth  respectively,  99, 
100 ;  power  of,  as  used  by  Apostles, 
lOL 

Tradition  of  twelve  years  as  the  limit  laid 
down  by  our  Lord  for  His  disciples  to 
remain  in  Jerusalem,  i.  320. 

Trials.     (See  Roman.) 

Troas — Paul's  cloak,  books,  and  parch- 
ments left  at  with  Carpus,  1.  36  ;  ii. 
669,  576. 

Trophimus  of  Ephesus  joins  Paul,  ii.  43; 
ill  at  Miletus,  545. 

Truth  of  God.     (See  God.) 

Twelve  years.     (Sec  Tradition.) 

Tycliicus  of  Ephesus  joins  Paul,  ii.  43; 
Paul's  companion,  537,  638. 

Types,  i,  56,  67. 


IXDEX. 


649 


U. 


Unbelievers  not  to  judge  in  church  matters, 

ii.  67. 
Uncial  MSS.  of  Acts  of  Apostles  and  Paul's 

Epistles,  ii.  588,  589. 
Uncleanness,  Test  of,  in  Talmud,  ii.  694. 
Unity,  Paul's  exhortations  to,  chief  subject 

of  Epistle  to  Philippiaus,  ii.  422,  428, 

429. 
Universal  Restoration,  Paul's  view  of,  ii. 

591. 
Unknown   God,    Altars  to,    i.    524,   531 ; 

Paul's   view  of  altar  to,    532;    Paul 

preaches  on,  542. 
Unknown  tongues,  Speaking  in,  condemned, 

ii.  80.     {!See  Tongues.) 
Upper  room  of  Last  Supper,  and  of  assembly 

of  Apostles  in  house  of  Mary,  1.  86, 

320. 


V. 


Verbal  inspiration,  i.  600. 

Vessels  of  wrath  and  mercy,  ii.  251. 

Virginity  and  marriage,  Paul  writes  on,  to 

Corinthian  Church,  ii.  70  et  seq. 
Vision  of  man  of  Macedonia  to  Paul,  ii.  88. 
Visions,  i.  193,  194 


Voting  tablets.     [See  Roman.) 
Vows,  1.  71;  Nazarite,  ii.,295,  296. 
Voyage,   Paul's,  to  Rome,  ii.  365  et  seq, 
{iSee  Paul.) 

W. 

Warnings,  God's,  i.  198. 

Wesley,  John,  compared  with  Paul,  i    4. 

Whiterield  compared  with  Paul,  i.  4. 

Whit-Sunday,  i.  90. 

AVill.     {See  Free  will.) 

Winds — of  Paul's  voyage  to  Rome,  Ete- 
sian, &c.,  ii.  366. 

Witness  of  Gospel  to  our  Lord,  i.  326. 

Women — tlieir  part  in  the  dissemination  of 
the  Gospel,  i,  488. 

Worship,  Public,  Regulations  for,  ii.  619. 

Wrath,  Vessels  of,  ii.  251. 

Wreck.     (See  Shipwreck.) 


Years,  Twelve,     {See  Tradition.) 

Z. 

Zephaniah — Prophecy  of  universal  worship 
of  Jehovah,  i  325. 


PASSAGES    OF   SCRIPTURE 
QUOTED    OR   REFEEEED    TO. 


Genesis. 

Exodus  (continwd). 

i.,  Vol. 

I.,  p.  638 

XXV.  8,Vol.II.,p.209 

14 

„II.   430 

xxxi.  18 

,            1U3 

ii.  25 

225 

xxxii.  16 

129 

iii.  15 

„    I.     54 

32 

248 

16 

„II.    520 

xxxiv.  33 

,          104 

iv.  25 

»    I-     54 

xxxix.  15 

72 

V.    2 

81 

ix.    4 

xii.    3 
21 

427,  434 

325 

543 

Leviticus. 

iv.  25,  Vol.  II., p.  237 

xiii.  15 

53 

xi.    7 

,    I.   274 

XV.    6 
13 

„n.  148 

'  149 

xiii.  13 

,          185 
II.  584 

xvi.  18 

„     I.   159 

xvi.    5 

237 

rciii.  16 
xxvi.    5 

661 
„  II.    212 

8 
10 

,    I.     89 
,  II.    210 

xxvii.  39 

„    I.   326 

xvii.    4 

,    I.   434 

xxviii.  20 
xxix.  31 

„  II.       3 
249 

8 
8-16 

,  II.     92 
,    I.   430 

xxxii.  25-32 
XXX  vi. 

37 

„    I.     27 

37 

„            25 

xviii.    5 
26 

,          186 

II.   148 

,    I.   430 

44 

„  n.   458 

29 

664 

xl     8 

30 

,            65 

xUv.    7,17 
22 

',',          146 
»          101 

xix.    4 
18 

582 

,  n.  156 

xlv.  U 

283 

19 

108 

xlvi.    2 

„     I.   194 

XX.    6 

,    I.   491 

10 

„            25 

11 

,  II.     P2 

29 

„  II.   283 

xxi.  8 

508 

42 

,    L     89 

xxiv.  14 

647 

Exodus. 

XXV. 

123 

iii.   2,Vol.I.,p.l92,  607 
14       ..  11.  457 

xxvi.  26 
xxvii.  29 

515 
,  II.     87 

iv.  26 
vi.  15 

212 
„    I.     25 

Numbers. 

vii.  11 

„  11.   566 

V.  18.  Vol 

I.,  p.  170 

xii.    1 

vi.    3,  5   „  ir.  301 

48 

',',  II!   137 

9,10 

296 

xiv.31 

„    I.  430 

25,26 

185 

XV.    5 

„  II.   115 

xi.  26 

586 

xvi.  10 

248 

xii.  12 

82 

xviii.  21 

170 

XV.  37-41 

,    I.     43 

xix.    1 

„    I.     89 

xvi.  5,  26 

,  II.   565 

4 

368 

xxi.  17 

,    I.   640 

16 

591 

2,3 

,11.     87 

19 

„  IL    176 

xxiv.  25 

,    I.     88 

XX.    7 

71 

XXV.    2         .11.     50 

14 

600 

9 

73 

19 

150 

xxvi.  13 

,    I.     25 

xxii.  18 

25 

52        „            88 

28 

323 

xxxiii.  55 

654 

xsiT.   8 

»         135 

XXXV.    5 

86 

Deuteronomy. 

L  13-16,  Vol.I.,p.l70 

31        „         368 

38        , 

368 

i,-iii.  22        , 

369 

vi.    4—9  , 

43 

vii.    3        „          645 

25        , 

II.   202 

46        , 

248 

ix.    6        , 

I.   162 

X.  12        . 

404 

16        , 

162 

II.   432 

xi.  13-27  , 

I.     43 

xiii.    8,9    , 

171 

xiv.    8 

274 

xvi.  11        , 

103 

16, 17  , 

123 

22,  23  , 

648 

xvii.    7        , 

647,  648 

15       , 

310 

xviii.  18       , 

II.   258 

xxi.  23       , 

I.   149 

II.     77, 148 

xxii.  10       , 

108 

■nriii     1 

I.   262 

2        , 

n.  155 

19        „          432 

XXV.    2        , 

I.   108 

2,4   , 

663 

3        . 

662 

4        , 

II.  525 

6        , 

I.  162 

xxvii.  14^26  , 

II.   461 

20        , 

92 

26        , 

148 

xxviii.  25        , 

I.   116 

58,  59  „          662 

xxix.    9        , 

662 

28        , 

449 

xxxii.  15        , 

196 

43        , 

II.   268 

xxxiii.    2       , 

I.   162 

II.  149,176 

4        , 

I.   396 

xxxiv.    2        , 

IL  686 

vi.  17 

vii.  11 

14 


„  IL  148 
„    I.   262 


652 


PASSAGES  OF  SCRIPTURE 


Joshua  (continued). 
xxiii,  13  Vol.  I.,  p.  654 
xxiv.    2        „  325 

15        „  640 

Judges. 

iii.  31,Vol.I.,p.l96 

ix.  27        „  II.     71 

54        „     I.     88 

xviii.  21        „  II.   290 

I.  Samuel. 

iv.  22,Vol.  II„p.248 

V.  22        „    I.  404 

viii.  15        „  53 

X.  10,  11  „  103 

11        „  102 

20        „  88 

xii.  18        „  430 

xviii.  10        „  102,  103 

22        „  II.  290,  462 

xix.  11        „     I.  227 

23,  24  „  102 

xsi.    5        „  588 

xxviii.    3,9  „  11.  25 

II.  Samuel. 

v.33,Vol.II.,B.386 

vii.  14,  8   „         108 

XX.  „     I.   607 

xsdi.  48       „         607 

xxiv.    1       „         687 


I. 

Kings. 

ii 

38,Vol.I..p.214 

V 

.   9 

„ 

315 

vi 

1 

370 

vii 

13,  14  ,. 

24 

viii 

27 

160 

xii 

2 

J, 

23 

xiv 

4 

»  II. 

141 

xvii 

21 

278 

xviii.  26 

40 

xix. 

4 

58 

11 

»    I- 

14 

273 

XX 

35 

1, 

591 

xxii. 

11 

»  II. 

24 

115 

II. 

Kings. 

ii. 

3,  Vol.  I., 

p.  45 

iii. 

9 

„  II. 

386 

iv. 

34 

278 

38 

»    I. 

45 

xix. 

37 

»  n. 

71 

xxiii. 

13  sq. 

202 

I.  Chronicles. 

xxi. 

1  Vol.  I.,  p 

587 

xxix. 

10 

,. 

160 

II.  Chronicles. 
vi.  32, 33, Vol.  I.,  p.  645 

Ezra. 
ii.  36— 39, Vol.  I., p.  136 
iii.   3       „  II.  509 
7       „    I.  315 
vi.  16       „         116 


Nehemiah. 

iii.  16,Vol.  I.,p.  262 
ix.  16        ,,  162 


Job. 

i.    6,  Vol.  II.,  p.  114 

V.    9  „  498 

10  „    Li    19 

13  „  33 

24  „  81 

xii.  21  „  543 

23  „  543 

xiii.    7,8  „  II,  232 

27  „    I.  497 

xiv.    2  „  II.  249 

XXV.    4  „  132 

xxxiii.  11  „    I.  497 

19  „  27 

xxxviii.36  „  645 

xii.  11  „  546 


7 

12 

vii.  14 

xiv. 

xvi.  10 

xviii.  31 

49 

xix.    8 

xxii.  19 

21 

31 

xxiv.    4 

xxvi.    6 

xxxix.    6 

xl.    7 

xii.  10 

xlviii.  12 


I.,  p.  149 

II.  177 
I.  371 

257 
II.  508 
I.     50 

150 
II.   509 


„  II.  553 
„  I.  428 
„  II.  520 
520 
„  I.  587 
„  II.  237 
„  I.  150 
„  II.     61 


1.  11, 12  „    I.   546 


liii. 

Iviii.    8 

Ixiv.    6 

Ixvi.  18 

Ixviii. 

11 
12 

18 

19 

31 

Ixxi.    1 

Ixxviii.  2 


XXIX.  14 

xxxi.  12 
xxxii.  6 
xxxiv.  7 
xxxvi.  9 
xxxix.  6 

15     ; 

28 

xci.    7  , 

xciv.  11  , 

xcv.    7  , 

cii.  , 

18 

civ.  15  , 

cv.  15  , 
cvi.  28 

cvii.  23  , 

cix.    8  , 

ex.    1  , 
cxiii— cxviiL, 


50 


II.  149 

„     I.  162 

„  IL  249 

„     I.  261 

„  II.  518 

„    I.  150 

172' 

„  n.  210 


„    I.  428 

687 

„  II.  509 

457 

„     L    639 

33 

„  605 

„  II.   219 

„    I.   428 

19 

„  302 

.,  II.     50 

„     L   123 


Psalms  {contimie^. 
cxvii.  1,  Vol.  IL  ,p.  268 

cxviii.    3  „     I.   150 

cxxxviii.  1  „  II.     76 

cxliii.    2  „  146 

cxliv.  13  ,  518 

cxlvii.    2  ,,    I,   116 

8,9  „  19 

Proverbs. 

ii.    4,Vol.II.,p.459 

17  „    I.     81 

iii.    3  „  II.   103,  K 

V.  18  „    I.     81 

^i.  12  „  II.   108 

vii.    3  „  103 

viii.  30  „         102 

xi.  24  „  110 

xiii.  34  „    I.   279 

xvi.  20  „  II.   197 

33  „     I.     88 

XX.  25  „  II.  323 

xxi.  18  „  65 

xxii.    9  „  110 

xxiii.    6  „    I.   471 

xxiv.  18  „  II.   259 

XXV.  19  „     I.  451 


Ecclksiastes. 

V.  18. Vol.  I., p.  536 

vi    6  „  88 

vii.  20  „  186 

ix.  18  „  607 

X.    8  „  112, 

xi.    6  „  81 

xviii.25  „  196 


iii.  7,  8,  Vol.  I.,  p.  639 
vii.  12        „  454 


Isaiah. 
1.1— 22,  Vol.  I.,  p.  369 


9       „  II. 
11-15  „    I. 
ii.  2,  3     „ 


150 
43 


iii.  10 

V.  24 

viii.  14 

23 
ix.    1 

12 

X  22 

28 

xi.    4 

5 

10 
xiv.    1 

XX.     1 

xxiv.  18 

xxvi.  12 

xxviii.    4 

11 

16 

xxix.  14 

XXX.    7 

xxxii.    2 

xxxiii.  12 

18 


»  424 

92 

57 

II.   252 

„    I.   150 

150 

126 

„  IL   251 

290 

„     I.   609 

II.  586 

461 

',',    I.   403 

',',     I.   149 

471 

„  II.     79 

„    I.     52 

57- 

II.  219,252 

„    I.     .^3 


QUOTED  OR  REFERRED  TO. 


663 


Isaiah  (continved). 

xl.    3, Vol. 

I.,  p.  150 
II.    108 

xliii.    6 

7       , 

I.  428 

9       , 

II.  176 

xliv.  18 

I.     33 

xlv.    9        „ 

II.   250 

14        , 

I.   261 

xlix.    6        , 

222 

lii.  10        , 

325,  375 

1^        . 

185 

15        , 

II.     62 

liii. 

I.   150 

4        , 

185 

5 

605 

6       , 

185 

7,8   , 

261 

9        . 

150 

Ivi.     3,  8  , 

262 

Ivii.  20        „ 

II.   198 

Iviii.    3        , 

I.   167 

5-7     , 

60 

lis.  10        , 

543 

16-19  , 

II.  509 

20 

255 

Ix.  1,  2      , 

506 

3.9     , 

I.  326 

Ixi.    1        , 

150 

Mil.    9        , 

368 

Ixiv.    4        , 

II.     62 

Ixv.    4        , 

I.  275 

17        , 

II.    62 

Isvi.  1,  2     , 

I.   160 

3        , 

275 

16        , 

393 

Jeremiah. 

i.   6, Vol. 

I.,  p.  273 

▼ii.  21        , 

60 

22,  23  , 

n.  229 

9        „     I.    33 

16        , 

n.  457 

ix.  23,  24  , 

62 

26        , 

I.  162 

xiii.    1 

II.  289 

xvii.  16 

64 

xviii.   6        „          250 

xix.  13 

,     I.  269 

xxiii.    6 

,  II.  190 

xxix.    7        , 

,     I.  669 

26 

497 

xxxi.  3-33   , 

,  II.  108 

29 

228 

31-36  , 

103 

xxxiii.  16        , 

190 

25 

I.  401 

II.  135 

xxxvii.   7        , 

261 

TTTiX   16         „           261 

EZEKIEL. 

i.  24,  Vol 

.I.,p.92 

xi.  19        , 

,  II.  103 

xvi.  12        , 

,     I.  586 

xviii.    2 

,  II.  228 

XX.  25 

,     I.  402 

11.228 

xxiv.    6 

,     I.     89 

xivii.  17 

315 

xxviii.  24        „          654 

xxxiii.    4        „          562 

xxxvi.  21-23 

.  II.  202 

2S 

108 

xxxviii.16,17, 

,     L  617 

II.  585 

xliii.    2 

,    I.    92 

xUv.   6 

,n.  309 

EzEKiEL  (continued). 


xlv.   7 


I.  484 


Daniel. 

!..  Vol.  I,  p.  617 

8        „         427 

8-12  „         424 

12'       „  53 

V.  12        „  II.     63 

Vii.    9        „    I.  6u7 

10,  11  ■)  fii- 

23-26 j  ^^^ 

ix.  23        „  194 

24        „  586 

X.    7        „  192 

xi.  „  n.  585 

31-36  „     I.  617 

xii.  10        „  614 

HOSEA. 

i  9,10,Vol.II.,p.251 
11.  6  „  I.  654 
23  „  II.  251 
iv.  14  „  I.  170 
vi.    6        „  404 

II.  229 
xii.  8  „  I.  123 
xiii.  14       „  n.  256 

Amos. 

ii.  10,  Vol.  I., p.  368 

iii.  12        „   II.  552 

viii.  4^-6    „     I.  123 

ix.  11,  12  „  427 


Jonah. 
i.    3, Vol.  I.,  p.  270 

iv,    1,  9  ;;         273 

MiCAH. 

iv.    2,Vol.T.,p.222 

V.  12        „  II.     25 

vi.    8       „    I.  404 

12       „  II.  227 


Habakkuk. 
i.    5,Vol.  I.,p.372 
ii.    4       „  51 

II.  148. 
iii.  3  „  176 
ix.  37       „    I.  497 


Zephaniah. 
i.   5,Vol.I.,p.269 
ii.  11       „  325 

iii.  10       „         261 

Hagqai. 
ii8,Vol.  II.,p.  176 

Zechariah. 

xi.  7,  Vol.1.,  p.425 

12  „         150 

xii.  10  „         149 

16  „          150 

xiv.  11  „  II.   248 

16  „          176 

21  „    L  123 


Malachi. 
i.  2,3,Vol.II..p.  219 

7  „    I.   4:i7 

8  „  II.  202 
iii.    1        „    I.  150 

8—10  „  II.  202 

TOBIT. 

i.  10— 14, Vol.11.,  p.  50 

12        „     I.   424 

V.  18        „  II.     65 

xi.  13        „    I.   196, 

xii.  12       „  II.     76 


(Apocr.), 
xiv.  13,  Vol.  II.,  p.  552 

Wisdom  of  Solomon. 

i.13-16,  Vol.11., p.217 

ii.    7—9  „  I.     536 

24        „  632,  643 

10        „  II.   102 

14, 15  „    I.   256 

V.    4        „  II.   358 

17  „    I.   632 

18  „  692 

19  „  II.   509 
23        „  118 

vii.  22  sq.  „    I.  129 

ix.  15        „  643 

II.  105 

X.— xii  „    I.  128 

— xvm.  /        " 

xi.  20        „  617 

n.  585 

20,  21  „    I.   609 

23-26,,  643 

'^}         ..  129 

xiv.  15        „  582 

XV.    7        „  632 

II.  250 

xsv.  24        „  520 

Ecclesiasticus. 

vii.  25,  Vol.  I.,  p.    81 

xiv.    6  „  471 

XXV.  22  „  II.  109 

XXX.    1  „    I.  547 

xxxvi.    7  „  II.  250 

29  „    I.  588 

xxxviii.  1  „  II.  385 

xiii.    9  „    I.  81 


Baruch. 

V.  12, Vol.  I.,  p.  .592 
vi  43        „  435 

I.  Maccabees. 

i.    8,Vol.I.,p.  467 

15       „  127 

II.  69, 

ii.  48,  62  „  585 

52        „  212 

iii.  37       „    I.  293 

V.             „  427 

3        „  467 

X.  36       „  470 


II.  Maccabees. 
i  27,Vol.I.,p.  116 
iii.  10       „         131 


654 


PASSAGES  OF  SCRIPTURE 


II.  Maccabees  (continued). 
iii.  15, Vol.  I.,  p.  664 
iv.7-9,>  oQo 


10,15 

126 

13   , 

126 

13  sq. 

127 

33   , 

294 

40    , 

,  II.  22 

V.  9 

,  I.  318 

21   , 

,    293 

vi.  1   , 

.  II.  320 

18,  19„  L  275 

19 

126 

vii.  27 

,    368 

31   , 

,  II.  197 

xi.  36 

xiv.  35 

'   ■  546 

III.  Maccabees. 

(Extra- Apocryphal  Book.) 

Vol.  I 

,p.249 

St.  Matthew. 

iii.  10,  Vol 

II.,  p.  63 

iv.  13 

,  I.  150 

V.  10-12 

,  II.  214 

14   , 

,  I.  310 

17   , 

,    265 

18   , 

142  266 

32   , 

142' 

37   , 

,  II.  100 

39   , 

115 

47   , 

,    146 

vi  2   , 

,  I.  63 

5   , 

63 

7   , 

,  II.  40 

13   , 

142 

24   , 

249 

vii.  6   , 

567 

17   , 

,    504 

viii.  4   , 

,  I.  265 

ix.  10,  11 , 

,  II.  146 

13   , 

,  I.  143,267 

30   , 

,    144 

X.  7   , 

,  II.  249 

13   , 

,  I.  377 

14   , 

,    376 

17   , 

175 

23   , 

173 

27   , 

268 

xi.  3   , 

,    415 

10   . 

150 

25   , 

,  II.  429 

27   , 

,    246 

29.30 

.  I.  422 

xii.  7   , 

143,  144, 

267 

10 

267 

19,  20  , 

,  II.  565 

,  I.  170 

40   * 

,    150 

46   , 

,     86,  232 

55   , 

86 

xiii.  35   , 

150 

44   , 

,  II.  459 

52   , 

,  I.  533 

xiv.  2   , 

471 

XV.  2-6  , 

,    155 

13   , 

110 

17   , 

267 

20   , 

267 

22   , 

II.  432 

xvi.  4   , 

,  I.  170 

27   , 

687 

xvii.  24   , 

121 

xviii.  8, Vol. 

11, p.  69 

17 

I.  279 

xix.  3, 6, 8, , 

142 

8   , 

267 

II.  202,474 

XX. 21   , 

I.  675 

xxi.  13   „ 

II.  202 

xxii.  4 

67 

17   „ 

262 

21   „ 

S60 

27   „ 

I.  64 

28   „ 

II.  325 

40   , 

I.  267 

II.  156 

xxiii.  5   , 

I.  63 

6   , 

13-25, 

II.  202 

15   , 

I.  63,78. 

329 

II.  432 

25,  27  , 

327 

27   , 

322 

27-29  , 

I.  586 

37   , 

650 

xxiv.  6, 16  , 

686 

17   , 

268 

23,24  , 

352 

29, 30, 1 
34   ]• 

603 

31   . 

591,  608 

37   , 

592 

xxvi.  15   , 

150 

24   , 

II.  69 

28   , 

I.  654 

49   , 

II.  283 

74   , 

87 

ixvii.9,10  , 

I.  150 

13   , 

II.  237 

25   , 

I.  586 

i  3,  Vol.  I.,  p.  150 


44 

265 

ii.  23 

267 

27 

142 

iii.  31 

II    232 

iv.  16 

„  II.  103 

vi.  3 

„  I.  86 

vii.  1-23 

„  II.  462 

Vi?'} 

„  I.  155 

4^8 

63 

14,16 

276 

19 

267,  276 

ix.  14 

„    404 

X.5— 9 

267 

xii.  33 

267 

xiii.  9 

175 

xiv.  15 

„     86 

52 

„     76 

XV.  7 

»    404 

16 

„  n.  425 

21 

269 

41 

362 

xvi.  15 

I.  326 

17 

96 

St. 

LXJKE. 

i  3,Vol.  L.p.  353 

9 

88 

22 

194 

36 

„  II.  567 

„  I.  368 

ii.  23 

»    324 

34 

57,  150 

37 

„  IL  432 

St.  Luke 

(continued). 

iii.  22,  Vol.  I.,  p.  92 

iv.  8 

150 

20 

132,  345, 

367,  660 

II.  320 

23 

„  I.  480 

V.  17 

„  11.  5m 

vi.  29 

322 

32,33 

146 

vii.  45 

II    269 

viii.  3 

362 

19 

„  I.  232 

27 

391 

ix.53 

„  II.  305 

54 

„  I.  675 

X.  1 

89 

7 

„  n.  625 

21 

429 

70 

xii.  15-21 

527 

32 

328 

50 

„  I.  562 

xiu.  2 

299 

14 

267 

xiv.  1-6 

267 

24 

„  II.  249 

xvi.  17 

„  I.  266 

32 

273 

xvii.  31 

269 

xviii.  8 

,',  II.  585 

11 

„  I.  64 

13 

„  II.  518 

xix.  23 

„  I.  132 

XX.  9 

391 

47 

II     64 

xxi.  9 

599 

xxii.  26 

132 

41 

„  n.  284 

U 

„  I.  480 

56 

64 

';  II.  115 

xxiii.  18 

312 

19 

„  I.  404 

34 

89 

34-46 

166 

41 

II    611 

43 

„  II.  116 

xxiv.  23 

„  I.  194 

25 

104 

II.  147 

26 

„  I.  149 

45 

84 

47 

222 

48 

84 

53 

90 

St. 

John. 

Lll,Vol.I.,p.396 

14 

91 

14,16 

„  II.  439 

46 

„  I.  299 

47 

16 

iii.  8 

102 

„   II.  220 

30 

267 

iv.  21-23 

1,  I.   91 

22 

142,  222 

II.  186 

V.  10 

„  I.  267 

17 

142 

24 

„  II.  220 

vi.  63 

•  1    103 

vu.  5 

„  I.  2.32 

12-47 

203 

15 

106 

35 

116 

49 

63 

QUOTED  OR  REFERRED  TO. 


655 


St.  John  {contimted). 
viii.43,Vol.II.,p.  208 
58        ..  457 


ix.  14 
16 
41 

X.  16 


267 


42 
43 

xiii.  8 
18 
27 

xiv.  19 


n.     63 

258,  267 
203 

28    ;;     219 

31-33  „    I.  650 
34        „  n.     80 


I.   608 

130 

126, : 

192 

n.   262 

I.   135 

n.   327 

I.   273 

150 

n.   522 

219 


4r-10 

5 


xvi.    7 

11 

s\ii.  12 

18 

sviii.    7 

13 

sis.  11 


37 
40 

.   5,6 
17 
19,26 


104,  508 

219 

219 
,    I.  468 

409 
,  II.  508 
,    I.   609 

334 

279 
„  n.  322 
„    I.   468,  654 

„  n.    77 

„    I.   150 
„  271 

,,  II.   284 
495 
..    I.     86 


2,Vol.  I., 

3 

4 

6 

7 

8 


25 
iL    1 


II.  186 
I.   660 
135 


92 

102 

559 

II.  167 

I.  103 

103 

104 

194 

150 

371 

84 

433 

,  n.  524 

,     I.     90 

375 


Acts  (continued). 
iii.  2— 4,Vol.I.,p.  48 
7       ,,         660 

15  „  84 

16  „  591 
19        „  65 

19—21  „  II.  251 


21 


12 

13,  14  , 
14        , 
15 
56 
via.  2        , 

5—8  , 

6 
21 
43 
48 

48,51 
50 
52 

53 

55 
66 
57 
58 
viiL    1 


ix,    l.i 


..    I. 


106 
150 
492 
84 
II.   524 

I.  299 
106 
650 

84 
44 
167 

II.  214 

,     I.    16,126 
,  132 

126,  137 
,  132 

,  137 

,  146, 404 

n.  167 

,     I.  153 

153 

154 

156,  660 

156 

163 

IL  313 

„     I.  163 

„  II.  149 

»  432 

35 

„     I.  543 

163 

164 

162 

II.  315 

„     I.  162,  163 

II.  149 

„    I.  660 

164 

„  165 

13,  648 

177 

„  172 

»         172 

352 


173 

261 

261 
178 
191 

76,192 
192 
196 
194 
173 
324 
105 
324 
196 


5       ., 

7  „ 

8  ,. 
10-12  „ 
13 

15 

n. 

15.16,,    I. 

17 

18       „ 

19,  20  „ 

20,  21  „ 
21        ,, 


224 
173 
585 
225 
227,480 


Acts  {continued). 
ix.  26,Vol.I.,p.230,232, 
299,  405 
27        ..  196,  237, 


„  126,  127, 

239 

„  77, 337 

„  243 

»  300 

„  II.  190 

„  I.  120,  126, 
404 

„  II.  320 

„    I.  140 


9,  10  „ 
10 

12        „ 
13 
14,  30  „ 


271 

271 

II.  67 

I.  140 

278 

279 

140 

280 

300 

84 


126 
278 
194 


5 

9        , 
11 
12 

13-22 
16 

16-22 
17 
18 
19 


20,  21 , 
23-31  , 
25        , 
26 
27 
32 
32-41  , 

a3 

33,34, 

.35-37  , 

(8,  39, ) 

46  S' 


„  96, 422 

„    422 

"    126, 285, 
347,  480 
77,  337 
299,  410 
„    405 
311 
312 
„    319 
„    348 

194,  314 

„  II.  320 

„  I.  382 

367 

„  II.  37 

„  I.  480 

480 

324 

II.  185 

„  I.  140 

334 

»    345 

660 

354 

355 

371 

16 

370 

368 

368 

368 

370 

638 

370 


371 
222 
869 


6i>6 


PASSAGES  OF  SCRIPTURE 


Acts  (continited). 
xui.  41,Vol.  I.,  p.  150 


42 

' 

374 

43 

" 

120,  74 

45 

375 

46 

375 

48 

375 

49 

375 

50 

,1 

560 

51 

377 

Jdv.  1 

286 

2 

3 

J 

391 

4 

334 

II. 

269 

6 

»  I. 

392 

9 

380 

14 

" 

345 

15 

7,  383 

"  n 

376 

16 

„   I 

383 

II. 

210 

17 

,.  I. 

632   ' 

19 

560 

23 

389 

II. 

617 

XV. 

„  I- 

405 

II. 

166 

1 

»  I. 

299,  400, 
402 

2 

" 

403,  405, 
406,  414 

4 

408 

5 

„  II. 

326 

6 

»  I. 

408 

7 

406 

7-11 

422 

11 

,', 

416 

23,  41 , 

2t2 

24 

429 

24   , 

447 

24   „ 

n.  146 

25   „ 

I.  315 

29   „ 

427 

32   „ 

II.  518 

34   „ 

I  4.38 

37   , 

449 

38   , 

358 

n.  568 

39   , 

I.  405,449 

40   , 

337,  438 

i.     , 

610 

1   , 

386 

II.  524 

1,2  „ 

I.  458 

2   , 

459 

3   , 

417 

n.  518 

6   , 

I.  392,427 

11.  4-11,464 

6,7  „ 

I.  587 

7   , 

475,  656 

8   „ 

476 

9   >. 

194,  479 

10   „ 

477,  478 

n.  275 

13   „ 

I.  486,487 

14   , 

487 

15   , 

500 

16   , 

120.  352 

491 

16,  171 
18.19)' 

4S2 

Acts  (continued). 
xvi.  17,Vol.,I..p.500 


19   „ 
19,  20  „ 


I.  493 


20,21 
20,  o7 
21 


495. 

»  494 
455 
501 
497 

„  n.  463 

„  I.  498 

500 

n.  376 

„  I.  500 
500 


40 
xvii.  1 
2, 
4 
5 
9 
11 
13 
14 


14,  15  „ 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

21 

22   „ 


27 
xix.  6 


501 

502 

488,502 

479 

508 

509 

153,  513 

515 

518 

519,  560 

459,  502, 

519,  582 

661 

523 

521,  532 

532 

537 


524,  531, 
542 
18,163 
559 
632 
630 

383,  517 
210 
518 
459 
506 


n.  163 

I.  23 

286 

562 

II.  532 

I.  500,  565 

74,  194 
II.  269 
I.  568 
569 
126,  570 

II.  60 
I.  140 

560 
502 
405 
464 

n.44i 

19 

19 

I.  96 


10  „  464 
10-26  „  n.  412 

11  „  23 
14  „  24 
15, 16  „  25 
19  „  I.  352 
ai   „    478 

n.  41,324 


12 

13, 15  „ 

14 

17   „ 

18,  21  „ 
18,  26  „ 
19 


Acts  (continued^. 
xix.  22,  Vol.  I., p.  459 
25   „  11.376 
29   „  I.  388, 508 

32  „  n.  269 

33  „    518 
35   „     10,  13 

37  „     41,  202 


37 

1,2 
1,31 
3 

4 


14 

„  I.  405 
477 

„  n.  43 

272,  274 
„  I.  313,458, 
460,508 
II.  37,537 
„  I.  479,502 
n.  274,275 
„  I.  388,477, 
482 
n.  275 
„  I.  140 
„  II.  278 


6,16 
9 
11,12 

12  „    278 

13  „  I.  375 

n.  279 
16   „    280 
17-28 
18-35 


617 
27,  31, 
281—283 


19  „  28 
^^•^3^},.  283 

20  „  281 
20.  31.  J,.  29 

21  „  I.  480 

i:i'}..n.482 

23  „     31 

24  „  I.  369,374 
24,  32  „  II.  482 


27 


20,24, 
21   , 


„  I.  617 
„  n.  27,  441 

„  I.  583 

367,  561 
„  n.  561 

284 

284 

„  I.  242 

„  II.  286 

„  I.  587,  656 

II.  275 

287 
„  I.  427 

132 


II.  290 
I.  347,422 
II.  390 

I.  440,479 
II.  294 
317 
I.  140 
II.  229,295 

301 
I.  126 
II.  274,537, 
585 
310 
311 
312 
314 
I.  17,367 
n.  313 


QUOTED   OR  REFERRED  TO. 


657 


Acts  (continue'T). 

xxii.  l.Vol 

I.,  p.  163 

2 

45 

3   , 

15,4.3,.)4, 

62,  140 

n.  3u 

4   , 

.  I.  174 

6   „     66,  191 

8   , 

76 

10 

660 

12 

223 

14,  15  , 

202 

16,  17  ,;    206 

17   , 

74,  194, 

239;  6o6 

17-21  , 

240 

19   , 

273 

21   , 

1^3,  324 

n.  315 

22   , 

I.  42 

II.  316 

22   , 

,    46t 

23 

317 

25   , 

I.  496 

II.  317 

25,28,-) 
29,30)' 

319 

2.i   , 

318 

xxiii.  1   , 

I.  354 

II.  320 

1,6   , 

I   66 

2   , 

II.  115 

3 

322 

5   , 

I.  660 

II.  323 

6   , 

I.   4,25 

II.  326 

11   . 

414 

12   , 

87 

16   , 

I.  25 

2fi   , 

430 

26-30  , 

II.  334 

29   , 

I.  570 

35   , 

n.  425 

xxiv.  2 

337 

■i 

I.  138 

5 

299 

6-8  , 

II.  338 

9,10-) 
22]  • 

338 

10   , 

I.  627 

17   , 

410 

II.  292 

21   , 

11.  328 

22,23, 

340 

25   , 

I.  549 

II.  342 

XXV.  4   , 

I.  414 

8   , 

II.  348 

9   , 

349 

11   , 

290 

14   , 

145 

15   , 

I.  106 

19   , 

570 

II.  352 

22   , 

353 

24   , 

347 

xxvi.  1   , 

I.  367 

2,3   , 

627 

4,5  , 

5 

5   „ 

4.3,62 

II.  .314 

7   „ 

I.  116,  480 

II.  4;J2 

9   , 

283 

10   , 

I.  169 

11   , 

175,  177 

14   „ 

89,196 

Acts  (continued). 
svi  15,  VoL  I.,  p.  76 

16  „         196 

17  „  334 
17,  18  „  193 

19  „  194 

20  „  228 

23  „     I.'   149 

24  „  II.   106,  571 
24-27  „  358 

26        „  355 

28        „     I.  299 

28,  29  „  II.  359 

cvii.    1        „     I.  479 

II.  362 

2  „  274,  548 

3  „    I.       5,  242 

II.  365 

4  „  366 
7  „  367 
9        „    I.  391 

II.  .370,376 
279,  371 
374 


EOMANS  {continued). 
i.  20, Vol.  I.,  p.  383,  5*2, 


10 
13 
13, 17) 

18; 

14 

16,  19  „ 

17 


19 
24 
27 
30 

34,40, 
40 
41 
xxriii.    2,  3   , 

6 

8 
13 
14 


372 
373 
373 
375 
„  I.  160 
„  n.  383 
379 
380 
378 


383 
I.  611 
480 
II.  386 
I.  560 
II.  107,  275 
I.  560 


I.  138 
IL  395 


i.  1,  Vol. 


6,6    , 
7,15, 


8-11 
8-15 
11,12  7 
13,14) 
13 
14 
15 
16 

16,17 

16-32 
lft-ui.20 

17 

18 
18, 19, 20 
L  18-32 

19 

19,20 


I.,  p.  324,  . 

II.  158 

185 

„    I.  369 

II.  185 

168 

171 

,     I.  591 

II.  393 

417 

186 


128,  168 
„     I.  126,222 
„  II.     32 
„    I.  126 
n.  601 

186,  592 

197 

181 
„     I.     51 

478,  586 
„  II.   195 
„    I.     31 

628 


21 

21,22,, 
21-32  „ 
22 
24 


24, 26, 

28 

25 

27 

27,28,: 

29-31' 


}■• 


543 
33 

558 


47,547 
196 


»  I- 
II. 
..  I- 
II. 
„  I. 
I.,  II. 

,'.'    I. 

n. 


1-16  „ 
4 
6 

6,10,,    I. 
6,10,> 
14,15,)"" 
6-10  „  II. 

6-13  „ 
6-15  „ 
7-10  „    I. 

8  „ 

II. 

9  .,  I. 
12  „  II. 
13 

13,  14  „ 

14 

15        „    I. 

16 

n. 

17, 18.) 
19  f 
17-21  „    I. 
17-24  „  II. 
18 

21        „ 
22 

24        „     I. 
II. 


2  „     I. 

3  „  II. 
3-20  „ 

4 
4,6,-> 

5  "I 
5-8    „ 

6  „     I. 

8  „  II. 

9  „     I. 

II. 
9-20  „ 
10-18  „    I. 
16        „  II. 
20        „     I. 

II. 


21-26  „ 


21 
21-26  „ 


196 
249 


200 
199 
230, 


231,  5! 
615 
227 


417 
202 

202,  321 
48 

202 

203,  204 
206 

34,46 
205 

206-208 
232 

206 


207 
208 
48 
509 
627 

2W,  221 
223.  299 
209,  210, 

537 
108 
590 
181 


^    ^ 


658 


PASSAGES  OF  SCRIPTURE 


EoMAKS  {continued). 

EOMANS  {continued). 

EoMANS  (contiyimd). 

iii.  22,  Vol.  II.,  p.  193 

vi.25,VoLII.,p.210 

ix.  8,  Vol 

I., 

p.  54 

22-27  „          210 

vii.             „          206 

640 

24        „          210 

1-6      „          233 

11        ,' 

II. 

591 

25        „    I.   383 

S}..     ^ 

14        , 

206 

II.   106,209, 

14,  30  , 

206 

601 

1-11  „          146 

15-18  , 

250 

25-29  „          432 

;iii.'ni ..    i«^ 

16        , 

429,  591 

27-30  „          211 

18        , 

250 

28        „          211 

vii.    2        „    I.   635 

19-21  , 

250 

31        „          211, 232 

2,  3     „  II.  521 

19-30  , 

251 

iii.  31--)             ,„, 

idi}"          103 

ix.  22-x.  21  , 
26        , 

I. 

251-253 
383 

^\,^^{\„          211-213 

7       „         149,  206, 

28        , 

II. 

251 

225,  232 

30        , 

I. 

628 

iv.  ■         „         126 

7s<7.  „          213 

II. 

146 

1       „         212 

7.  13  „          206 

ix.30-x.4        , 

252 

1-26    „          213 

7-12  „          235 

ix.  30-x.  21      , 

590 

4  „         227, 591 

5  „          226 

^.73-},.          235-239 

'  34^      ,' 

I. 

47,  57, 
151 

•5,13    „    I.   640 

8-10    „     I.   181 

II. 

252 

11        „          158 

vii.  10-13,,  II.   226 

36        „ 

I. 

218 

II.   212 

12        „          517 

X.                , 

624 

13        „    I.   640 

13        „    I.    203 

1       , 

35 

"■'&}■•      « 

II.   100 

II. 

168 

vii.  13-  )              „„- 
viii.  Ill"          237 

3       , 

417 

15       „  II.  103,  225 

4        , 

252 

16        „          174 

vii.  14        „          235 

4-12  „ 

252 

17       „    I.     47 

21        „          236 

5 

I. 

69,186 

18        „  II.   191 

22        „          236 

6 

203 

24,  28  „          192 

24        „    I.  633 

6-8    , 

543 

25        „          213 

25        „          624 

6-9    , 

48 

v.,vii.,xi.  „          226 

II.    236 

9 

II. 

191 

V.    1        „          213 

viii.            „          223 

11        , 

252 

l-ll    „          181,214 

1        »    I.    72 

12        „ 

201 

1-12    „          214 

II.  237 

14,  15  , 

I 

628 

3-5    „    I.   628 

2, 10  „         103 

15 

II 

509 

6        „          203 

3        „    I.      3,203, 

15-21  , 

I 

48 

7,  11    „  II.   214 

16-21  , 

II 

252 

4        „  II.  211 

18        , 

r. 

47,314 

10        "  Ii;   519 

6        „          149, 237 

xi. 

II 

16S 

11        „    I.   691 

11        „     I.  203 

1        , 

417,  519 

II.    237 

12-39  „  II.  182 

1-10  , 

251 

12        „     I.   643 

18-25  „          238 

1,  11, 

206 

II.  215,517 

19-23  „           84,  238, 

1-15  , 

253-254 

12-20  „          517 

246,  591 

2        , 

I. 

66 

12-21  „          181,  215- 

19-24  „          244 

3        „ 

203 

217,  237, 

22-24  „          251 

6        „ 

II. 

591 

591 

23        „          101 

8       „ 

I. 

47 

13        „          225 

24        „     I.  362 

12,  25  , 

II 

457 

13,14-) 

26-30  „  II.  238 

13 

166 

15-18  L,          216 

27        „     I.  299 

15-36  , 

246 

18,19J 

29        „  II,  417,  428, 

16-24  , 

251-255 

14        „          216 

567 

16-25  , 

I. 

21 

15-20  „          201 

29  30    ,     I    628 

17 

628 

16,  18  „          217 

31-39  „  II.  238 

22        , 

II 

118 

20        „           84,  149, 

34        „     I.  628 

23        , 

498 

218,  221, 

36        „   II.    30,  131 

24-27  . 

I. 

603 

224 

38        „    I.  609 

25 

II. 

186 

20,  21  „          218,  215 

II.  142,  457 

26        , 

174 

vi.             „          182,  211, 

39        „          239 

26,  32  , 

245 

219-221 

ix.             „     I.     34,419 

30-36  , 

84,  591 

vi.-viii.    „    I.     72 

II.  590 

31 

256 

Ti.    1        „  II.  206 

ix.-xi.            „          166,  182, 

32 

I 

613 

1-15  „          219,  220 

240 

11 

81,24 

1-23  „          237 

ii.  1         „          168 

36        , 

246 

2,  15  „          206,  232 

1-8    ,.    I.   220 

xii. 

182 

3-23  „          148 

1-5    „            35,585, 

xii.-xiv.        , 

270 

4        „          564 

627 

xii.    1        , 

257 

4,  9    „    I.  203 

II.   248 

1,10      , 

417 

4, 11  „  II.  103 

1-21  „          248-250 

1-21      , 

259 

5        „          219,  220 

3        „    I.     25,    35, 

2 

428 

186 

2,3      , 

258 

8        r.  II.'   219,  564 

4        „            16 

3        , 

I. 

629 

9        „    I.   369 

A,  5    „  II.  206 

II. 

192 

13, 16  „  II.   220 

6        „    I.   203 

3,16,, 

417 

14        „          221,  226 

II.   416 

5       , 

219 

15-23  „          219,  221 

5-12  „          591 

6        , 

258 

19        „          221 

6-9    „         249 

7      „ 

521,61 

QUOTED  OR  REFERRED  TO. 


659 


EOMANS  {continned). 

Romans  (< 

oiitinueil). 

I.  ConiNTHt*N9  {continved) 

xii    9,  10,  ~\ 

xvi..  Vol.  II., p.  269 

ii.  14,  Vol 

.  I.,p.33 

ll;iMvol.II..p.259 

1 

I. 
II 

565 
521,  617 

15 
iii.    1-1  •, 

II.     62 

64 

19,  2o; 

1.2     , 

I. 

563 

2        . 

,     I.    80,628 

11       I. 

589,  628 

II. 

170 

2,4 

,  II.    63 

II. 

19 

I. 

559,  560 

6 

20,  521 

13       „ 

1.57 

II. 

2 

8        . 

243 

xiii. 

1S2 

3-20    . 

43 

9        . 

,     I.  587 

xiii.,  xiv.     „ 

402 

4        . 

37,  269 

10 

344 

xiii.  1-7    „ 

260 

5        . 

I. 

562 

11         . 

555 

3  „ 

4  „ 

615 
160 

5,  14,  \ 
15  t  • 

II 

165 

13        . 

,   II.    63,  192, 
591 

7.8J   " 

260 

5.7,13.) 

17 

.    I.  627 

14,16,^  , 

269 

18-20  , 

33 

8 

156 

22^ 

18-27  . 

33       * 

10 

211,  457 

7       . 

I. 

24,  560 

19 

17,  33 

11-U  „    I. 

5il2 

II. 

465 

22 

609 

12        „ 

85 

7,9,-^ 
12,  13 )  • 

170 

23        „  II.  249 

11. 

2+'.,  263, 

iv. 

I.  633 

518 

14,  23.  \ 
27,  32  )  • 

185 

3        , 

27 

13        „    I. 

4 

II.  567 

U        „  II. 

220 

16        , 

I. 

594 

3.4    „            64 

xiv.              „    I. 

431 

17 

II. 

141 

5         , 

104,  459, 

^^r(  ..II. 

183 

17-20  , 

170, 173 

591 

17-20) 

6        , 

64,  151. 

xiv.-xv.        „ 

111 

19, 20,  y , 
24,  27) 

270 

236 

xiv.     1        „    I. 

398 

6-21  , 

66 

1-t    „  II. 

523 

18        . 

417 

7,    9,1 
13,15;   • 

65 

1-12  „ 

266 

20.  24  , 

170 

xiv.  1-xv.  13  „ 

266-268 

21 

I. 

506,  562 

8        , 

,     I.   624 

xiv.     2        „ 

526 

II. 

VH,  274 

8-10  , 

635 

5        „     I. 

4t,  140 

23       , 

I. 

388 

8-11  , 

627 

II. 

276,  417 

II. 

32,  37 

II.    112 

6        „ 

263,  417 

24 

I. 

595 

8-13  , 

30 

9,11  „ 

417 

25        , 

211 

9       . 

I.   517.557 

10        „ 

2.30,  591 

II. 

171 

II.     .39 

13-21  „ 

267 

25-27  , 

I. 

628 

10        , 

I.     33, 219 

15        „    I. 

2U3 

II. 

267 

11,12, 

561 

21 

673 

27       „ 

170,  518 

12,  13  , 

623 

22,  23  „  II. 

207 

15 

80.  343 

23        ,. 
24 

145,  170 
170 

I.  Corinthians. 

17        , 

18,  19  , 

459 
II.     65 

XT.-xvi.          „ 

270 

i.-iii.     Vol.  I 

.,  p. 

624 

▼.    1 

I.   4,35,558 

XV.      1           „      I. 

402 

i.    1        , 

344,  565 

1,2   , 

589,  627 

II. 

267 

i    1-3    , 

II. 

60 

1-9    , 

II.     67 

1-8    „ 

268 

2       „ 

I. 

553 

2        , 

I.   611 

3        „     I. 

203 

4-9,    ~i 

II. 

61 

IT.     65 

4 

362 

10,20i 

5       , 

I.   653 

II. 

147 

7        .. 

I. 

603 

II.     87,518 

5       ,. 

470 

8        ., 

597 

6        , 

b6 

9.10,11,, 

267 

10        ., 

II. 

62 

7       , 

I    203 

9-33  „  II. 

269 

12        , 

I. 

447 

II.     67, 73 

14-2i  „ 

183 

13,14  „ 

II. 

63 

9 

I.  .574 

15.  16  ,. 

166 

13-17  „ 

I. 

34.5 

9,  10, 

559 

15-20  .. 

170 

14        ,. 

388,  '458, 

10,  11  , 

67 

16        „    I. 

324,  393 

562 

9-13  , 

II.     67 

II. 

268 

16        .. 

500 

10        , 

591 

18        .,    I. 

342,  344 

17        „ 

564 

11        , 

58 

19        ..  II. 

89,  531 

18-25  ,. 

33 

16-21  , 

I.   591 

20-33  ., 

268,  269 

21        .. 

33,531 

vi.  1-20  , 

II.     68 

22        ..    I. 

586 

II. 

533 

2        . 

L     47.  587, 

23        ., 

478 

21,2.3,-) 
241" 

632,  613 

II. 

123 

3-8    , 

II.   112 

23-28  .. 

32 

22,  23  ,. 

I. 

126 

7 

267 

24       ..    I. 

661 

23        .. 

203,  564 

9        . 

I.   631 

II. 

186,  269 

23,  24  „ 

629 

II.   517 

24.28,. 

511 

27,  28  „ 

334 

9,10   , 

I.   313 

24.  32  ,. 

128 

28        „ 

II. 

104 

9-11  , 

558 

25             I. 

299 

29        .. 

627 

9-20  , 

558 

25-32  „  II. 

122 

30        „ 

190 

11        . 

303 

25,  26  „ 

6 

ii.     1-5    „ 

I 

56 1 

II.     67,  537 

26        ,. 

518 

2        „ 

203,564 

13        , 

lu4 

26,  27  „    I. 

306 

3       „ 

218,  556, 

14        , 

I.   605 

27        „ 

410 

.342,5 

15        , 

II.   201,232 

29        „  II. 

457 

6       „ 

II. 

loi 

15-18  , 

58 

31        „ 

293 

6-16  „ 

63 

17 

191 

32 

269 

7       ,. 

4.50 

vii. 

5:i0,  612 

S3       .. 

170 

13       .. 

I. 

628 

1        „ 

69 

660 


PASSAGES  OF  SCRIPTURE 


I  Corinthians  (continued). 

I.  Corinthians  (continued). 

I.  Corinthians  (contimied). 

vii.  1-40,  Vol.  11,  p.  71 

X.  4,  Vol 

I., p.  640 

xiv.  16,  Vol.11.,  p.  80 

2      I.  211,588 

II.  222 

18 

,  I.  97 

3,5,7,9,-)   .-TT   fiq 
18,19l''"-  ^^ 

4,11 

,  I.  57 

21 

48,  52 

6 

58 

II.  80 

7,8,9,,  I.  657 

7 

,  II.  67 

22 

,  I.  97 

8   „     79,  170 

7,  8  „  I.  673,  674 

26-40 

,  II.  80 

9,36  „     82 

8   „  II.  58,  73 

32 

,  I.  103 

10   „  II.  71 

11   . 

,  I.  58 

39 

594 

10-24") 
(17-24),  f  „     70 
23) 

15   , 

219 

XV. 

203 

16   , 

203 

II.  489,622 

17   , 

,  II.  243 

1-12 

82 

12   „  I.  299,611 

20   , 

523 

3 

,  I.  562 

14   „     80 

20,  21  , 

,  I.  432 

4 

,  II.  112 

18   „    127 

26 

,  II.  457 

7 

I   86 

19   „    632 

32 

,  I.  126 

8 

193,  196 

21   „  II.  70,  527 

xi.  1-17 

,  II.  76 

II.  82,  106 

25   „     71 

2 

49 

9 

,  I.  76,174, 

26   „     69 

7.  8  „  I.  558 

219 

29,  31  „     70 

8,  9  „  II.  520 

10 

219,  374 

29-31  „  I.  623 

10   . 

,  I.  57,638, 

II.  98, 498 

31   „    629,  634 

639 

10-29 

,  I.  193 

II.  428 

II.  525 

12 

,  II.  501 

36   „  I.  80 

14   „  I.  557 

12-35,  ■) 
35-50  j 

83 

39   „  11.  521 

II.   2 

viii.      „  I.  431 

17   , 

,  I.  611 

19    .     31 

II.  78 

17-34  , 

,  II.  77 

20 

498 

1   „     49, 620 

19   , 

537 

21 

,  I.  603 

1-13  „     72 

21 

,  I.  669 

22 

593 

6   „  I.  613 

22   , 

,    211,  627, 

II.  180,246 

II.  246,  249, 

633 

23 

,  I.  587 

446 

23   , 

497 

24 

,  II.  104,  457 

8   „     65,  523 

24-33  , 

9 

24,  25 

591 

10   „  I.  37,628 

24,  27,  > 

,  II.  77 

25-28 

246 

13   „    674 

29,<' 

26 

249 

II.  267 

29   , 

,  I.  629 

28 

,  I.  27 

ix.     „    157 

xii.      , 

,    633 

II.  201 

1   „  I.  73,193, 

xii.-xiv.  33  , 

96 

30-32  , 

143 

196,  410 

xii.  1   „  II.  186 

31   , 

,  I.   2,218 

n.  97,  98 

1-31  , 

.     78 

II.  564 

1,3,7  „  I.  447 

3   , 

56,  248 

32   , 

,  I.  29, 557 

1-16  „  II.  112 

4-6  , 

I.  143 

II.  39 

1-27  „     73 

8-10  , 

,  II.  78 

33   , 

,  I.  630 

2,15,,  I.  24 

9,10  , 

78 

33,  34  , 

,  II.  58 

4   „    561 

10   , 

I.  471,594 

36   , 

,  I.  57 

5   „     79,  237, 

12, 13,  ) 

II.  219 

36,45, 

641 

424,  447 

27  y 

38    ; 

53 

6   ,     452 

12-27  , 

258 

41 

18 

7        „           47 

13   , 

78 

43   , 

,    628 

II.  72 

28   , 

I.  323 

45   , 

47,48 

8   „    527 

II.  521,617 

II.  215 

8-10,-) 

29,  30  , 

459 

47,  52  , 

,  I.  638 

11,12,  f„     72 

31   , 

100 

50  sq.  , 

II.  691 

13,14  j 

xii  31-xiii.l3, 

78 

60-58  , 

84 

9   „  I.  57 

xiii. 

609 

61 

,  I.  605 

II.  222,  525 

1   , 

I.  100 

II.  78 

10   „  I.  442 

II.  192 

51,  52  , 

427 

II.  427 

2   , 

78 

62   , 

84 

12   „  I.  561 

3,4  , 

I.  623 

54   „    238 

12,  18  „  II.  70 

4   , 

27 

56   , 

149,  225 

15   „  I.  583 

II.  65,  79 

58   , 

227 

16   „    344 

f.l-}' 

79 

xvi.  1^  , 

94 

17   „    211 

2 

6 

II.  192 

5   . 

I.  524 

3   , 

I.  410 

19   „  I.  343,  398 

8   , 

II.  104,249 

3,4  , 

,  II.  274 

20   „    462 

9 

142 

5-7  , 

33 

21   „    393, 468 

9-12  , 

394 

5,8  , 

87 

II.  147 

10   , 

268 

5-19  , 

I.  477 

24   „  I.  634 

xiv.  1-26  , 

80 

9   , 

II.  19, 88 

II.  420,591 

2.4  „ 

I.  100 

10   , 

I.  459 

24,  27  „  I.  557 

2. 19,  ^ 
23, 27  J  •' 

100 

II.  66 

24-27  „    6.% 

10,  11  , 

526 

25   „    557 

4, 13,  > 
14,27]" 

96 

11 

I.  460 

II.  227 

12 

627 

X.  1   „    186,  459 

100 

II.  20,86 

1,  2  „    222 

8   " 

100 

15   , 

I.  562 

1-4  „  I.  48 

9. 11, 17,  > 

II.  617 

1-14  „  II.  48 

20-23,  2h- >  „ 
28,33,40-' 

100 

19   , 

,  I.  659 

T.  1-xi.  1   „     73 

n.  28.170 

QUOTED   OR  REFERRED  TO. 


6GI 


I.  COBINTHIANS  {continued). 

II.  Corinthians  {conthined). 

xvi.  20,  Vol.  I.,  p.  594 

iii.l8,Vol.II.,  p,103.  220 

22 

85 

iv.  1 

518 

II.  248,  431, 

1-7 

„    228 

.584 

2 

,.  I.  22,217, 

23 

„  I.  595 

583 
II.  104,  113 

4 

„    228,  2t9 

n.  Corinthians. 

'146,  5U8 

i.  Vol. 

I.,  p.  633 

6 

„  I.  193 

II  1115 

i.-vi. 

„  II.  592 

6,  7 

„  I.  lU 

i.  1 

1-11 
i.  3 

4,6,8 
5 

„    1-^5 

100 

249 

90 

,  I.  203,  591 

6-8 

7 

8 

„  II.  427 
„  I.  219,  .342, 
588 
II.  107 
„  I.  629 

6 
7 

,  II.  99 

468 

8,  9 

8-10 

II.  90,  100 
30 

8 

30,  100, 

„  I.  218 

186 

8-12 

„  II.  90 

8,  15 

,     99 
,  I.  74 

10 
11 

„  I.  654,655 
II.  30,  104 
,  I.  218 

12    ,  IT.  ion,  102 

14 

003,  604 

14 

100 

17 

,  II.  KX) 

15 

,    283 

18 

,    56t 

15,  16 

29 

V.  1 

,    427 

15,  23  , 

,  I.  216 

1-4 

81 

16-23  , 

,  II.  3-.i 

2 

,  I  641 

17  •  , 

,  I.  217 

3 

.  li.   105 

II.  S9 

4    ,.  I.  218.  613 

18 

,  I.  564 

II.  215,238, 

22   , 

>     22 

434 

23   , 

,  II.  101 

5 

,     99 

ii. 

,   I.  633 

5, 13  , 

94 

1 

II.  101 

10 

,  I.  567 

^■}~A 

QQ 

II.  43,  192, 

4   , 

I.  217 

22i\  578 

10,11, 
11 

230,  591 
101 
,     89 

II.  90,  228 

11,13  , 

106 

5   , 

I.  4ii8 

11,  15,  21  , 

125 

5-10  , 

II.  89 

12   „    113 

6,10  , 

102 

13   ,.    358 

7   , 

125 

14   , 

I.  5t;2 

11 

102 

II.  74 

1^   , 

I.  477 

15   , 

201 

12,  13 , 

II.  88 

15-21  , 

148 

llJ-17, 

103 

16-   , 

I.  73,  394 

13 

I.  346 

n.  106 

II.  276 

17   , 

125,  219 

14   , 

I.  192,  624 

19   , 

416,  519 

II.  98,  104, 

19,  21 , 

106 

461,  518 

21   , 

19) 

14-16  „ 

I.  557,  624, 

vi. 

I.  624 

636 

1   , 

374,  587 

II.  31 

3-11  , 

62  i 

15   , 

II.  691 

3-16  , 

627 

16 

I.  641 

7   „ 

II.  220 

II.  191 

9,  10  „ 

I.  623 

17   ., 

I.  22.217, 

10   „ 

628,  629 

583 

II.  107 

II.  103,  228 

vi  11-  ■) 

vii.ie;" 

iii.  1   „ 

I.  447,  624 

109 

II.  19,  89, 

vl.  14  „ 

I.  558,  674 

103,  113 

II.  72 

1-3  „ 

103 

vi.  14--) 
vii.  1  i  '» 

1-18  „ 

97 

108 

2   „ 

629 

vi.  15,18,, 

lOS 

II.  98 

16   „ 

I.  416 

3   ,. 

104 

18 

II.  248 

4   „ 

105 

vii.,  viii.  „ 

532 

6   „ 

103,  174, 

1   » 

I.  55S 

223,  518 

II   72 

7   „ 

104 

2   „ 

I.  5U  1,6.57 

7-13  „ 

222 

2.3  „ 

II.  89 

10,  11  „ 

104 

s  ;, 

I.  312,  590 

16, 18  „ 

104 

U.  90 

II.  Corinthians  (continued). 
vii.  6-11,1.*,  1  ,,  ,  „ 

14,15  j  Vol.  II.,  p.  89 
8        „     I.  576 


11 

11,12, 
12 
viij.-end, 

1 
viii.  1-    > 
is.  15  )• 


I. 
II. 

I. 
II. 

I. 
II. 

I.   611 

628 

II 

I. 


92 

104,  108 
692 


110 

628 

90,  100 
89,   110, 

125 
90 


17 


65, 


141,  269 
123 
633 
589,  627 


8,  11    „ 
10         ,,  II 
11,  13  „ 
12        „    I 
12-15  „  II 
14 


100 
324 
123 
123 

96 

625 


„    I. 
1        „  II.     99,   108, 

111 
1,2    „    I.   216 
1-10  „  563 

1-11  „  II.   113 


2,7,  ) 
10,  11,  f-  „ 

12, 18 ; 


7,  10,  ■) 
11,  18  f' 
7,  10,7 

11,12;' 


10-16 

12-18 
12,  16,  ) 
17,  18  j 

14 

15 

20-23  , 
xi.  , 

1 
1,  14,  ■) 
19,  20  i  ■ 
1,16,) 
17^^19,^, 

'l-3J  , 


112 
111 


518 
447 
112 


I.   657 

II.   113 

112 


629 
112,  192 


83 
94,  113 


662 


PASSAGES  OF  SCRIPTURE 


.  Corinthians  (cmitinned). 

n.  Corinthians  (contimted). 

Galatians  (continved). 

xi.  2,  Vol.  I.,  p.  344 

xii.  14,Vol.II..p.ll7 

ii.4,  5,  Vol.II.,p.517 

11.   233 

16             I.   217 

6 

I.  219,627 

2,20, 

125 

18        „  II.   110 

II.  145 

3        , 

100.  112, 

20       „           52, 197 

6,  20  , 

125 

520 

20,  21  „          125 

7        , 

I.  405,  409 

4       , 

112,  113, 

21        „     I.   558 

II.  200,522 

125,  143 

II.     58 

7,8    , 

I.  238 

4,20, 

I.   657 

29        „     I.   3<9 

7-9    , 

406 

5        , 

219 

xiii.    1        „  II.     29,     99, 

9 

1,219, 

II.   114 

101,  113 

409,452 

6       , 

I.  216,  312, 

3        „    I.     74 

II.     55,166 

623 

3-9    „          342 

9,10, 

140 

II.  104.  Ill, 

5        „  II.   125 

9, 11, 14 , 

I.  2.37 

114 

n-13  „          118 

10        , 

410 

6-21  , 

114 

12        „    I.   594 

11        . 

219,  405, 

7       , 

I.  217,  363 

14        „          595   . 

430,  441, 

8       , 

583,  623, 

442 

657 
II.  112 

Galatians. 

II.     70,   145, 
166 

9        „     I.     27,  216. 

i.,ii.,Vol.II.,p.269 

11-21  , 

140,  147 

584,  561 

1        „     I.   210,324 

12        , 

I.    126,   439, 

10 

II.  114 

II.  229 

440,  447, 

13        , 

I.  58.3 

1-5    „          142 

II.   103,  146 

II.  103,  297, 

1,  6, 10  „          125 

13        , 

I.   464 

432 

1-10  „          143 

14        , 

439,442 

14        , 

I.  64"),  57 

4        „    I.  609 

14,16,-^ 

II.   293 

16-19  , 

33,  219 

II.  142 

18  j> 

16, 17, 
19 

•  II.  112 

6        „     I.  629 
6-9    „  II.  298 

15        , 
15-21  . 

198 
I.   444 

16-20  , 

,     I.  624 

6-10  „          1*3 

16 

II.  192,299 

18-20  , 

II.    89 

7        „          460 

16,  20  „    I.   628 

20        , 

270,  322 

8        „    I.   313 

17        , 

463 

20,  21  , 

112 

II.  143 

II.    206 

22        , 

I.     16,  66 

8,9    „    I.   110 

19        , 

461 

II.  lit 

II.     87,248 

20        , 

I.       6,   446. 

22-28  , 

.     I.  627 

9        „    I.  657 

654,  655 

23        „              2,  218 

10        „            78,  392, 

II.   191 

II.      .30 

395,  415 

20        , 

219,  220 

23-33  , 

I.   339 

11        „          209 

21        , 

222 

II.   114 

11-ii.  21  „  II.   144^146 

iii. 

206.  22«, 

25        , 

382 

11-24  „          144 

265 

26        , 

28 

12        „          518 

iii.,iv.     , 

226 

5:7        , 

65 

13        „    I.  149,  174 

iii.    1        , 

I.  219,  432, 

27,29  , 

1:9 

II.   100,  144 

470,  657 

28 

115 

13,  14  „     I.     40 

II.  147 

29        , 

I.   673 

14        „             5,  62, 

1-5    , 

140 

29-34  , 

II.     83 

638 

1-14  , 

147,  148 

31        , 

249,  519 

15        „          181,344 

2        , 

192 

32        , 

I.   178,227 

15,16  „          193 

3,13  , 

125 

33        , 

227 

II.   106 

4 

I.  628 

xii.    1        , 

74,  192, 

16        „     I.     74,206 

II.  147,  497 

194 

17        „          206 

5 

I.  471 

1-3,    ■) 
12-16   S' 

624 

II.   232 

II.  109,  427 

17,18,,          140 

6-18  , 

140 

1-10  , 

053 

18        „     I.   213,231, 

6-29  , 

126 

II.   114 

237 

10        , 

I.     69 

1,   5,\ 
6,11  1- 

113 

18, 19  „  II.   UG 

II.   103,224 

19        „    I.  237,  238, 

11 

I.    51,  369 

1-11  , 

117 

424 

12        , 

186 

2        , 

I.     57 

21       „           77. 241, 

1-i        . 

325 

2,  4  , 

641 

337 

15 

636 

3        . 

II.   297 

II.  286 

II.   148 

5,  9  ,'.     I.  564 

21-24  „    I.   241 

15-18 

149 

6,11  , 

II.   113 

22        „          228 

15,  19  , 

149 

6,16  , 

7       , 

94 
I.   214,220 

24        „            74 

ii.              „          405 

15-  I 
iv.llj' 

148-152 

9 

II.    117 

II.   498 

iii.  16        , 

I.     48,53 

10        , 

,    I.   628 

1        „     I.   320,  405 

17       , 

163 

10,  11 , 

II.   214 

1-6    „          414 

17,  18  , 

635 

11        . 

I.   219 

1-10  „          405 

18 

34 

II.   125' 

II.   145 

19        , 

57,  162, 

11.  12 , 

114 

2        „    I.   656 

163,  638 

12        ,.    I.  565 

2-6    „          406 

II.   149,224, 

13        , 

27 

2,7   „         211 

517 

13,  14 , 

II.   112 

3        „          126 

19,  20  , 

150,  151 

xii.  1:3— > 

118 

II.  532 

19-29  , 

141 

xiii.  10  s  • 

4       „    I.   399 

21       , 

206,  222, 

xii.  14.       , 

I.  683 

n.  297 

232 

QUOTED   OR  REFERRED   TO. 


663 


Galatians  (contiiivcd). 

Gaiatians  (continncd). 

Ephesians  (continved). 

fii  21-29,  Vol  tl.,p.  151 

T.16-26,  Vol.  II.,p.l56 

i.  18,Vol.II.,p.486 

22-26  „          211 

V.16-) 
vi.lOJ" 

141 

19,21  , 

492 

24        „          151 

20-22  , 

246 

26        „          192 

V.  17        „ 

224 

21 

27        „     I.  475 

19        „ 

197 

II.'  457 

II.  220.  26T 

20        „ 

25,  537 

23        , 

4;39,   457, 

28         ,    I.     87,203, 

21        „ 

6 

486,  492 

613 

vi.    1       „    I. 

628 

"• 

537 

II.  463,  620, 

1-5    „  II 

157 

1-0    , 

603 

527 

1,  4) 
8,151" 

125 

1-22  , 

493,  497 

28.  29  „    I.     54 

2        , 

I.   638 

It.    1,2    „         635 

1-18  „ 

157,  158 

IL   104,   262, 

1,3    „          636        • 

2        „ 

157 

495 

1-11  „  II.   141,  152 

5        „ 

157 

3        , 

602,  603 

2        „    I.  219 

6,  7    „    I 

474 

4,7     , 

492 

3        „  II.   152,  174, 

6-10  „  II 

157 

5,  7,  8 . 

491 

537 

7 

227,  230 

5,6,) 
19.  22;  ' 

492 

3,9    „          460 

7,  10  „    I 

657 

4       „         249, 457 

11        ., 

26 

6        , 

I.   203,  362 

4,5    „          151 

11-18  „  11 

158 

II.   4.50,492 

7       „         567 

12       „    I 

175,  475, 

8-10    , 

615 

8        „    I.  475,  582 

623 

9,  10    , 

496 

9        „             3 

12, 13  .,  II 

265 

10 

492 

10        „           44,  140 

13        „     I. 

446 

11        , 

486 

11        „          415,  628, 

II. 

600 

13        , 

I.   203 

461 

14        „ 

232 

13  sq.  , 

ir.  498 

12        „          342, 448 

15        „    I. 

34  632 

14        , 

I.   641 

12-14  „          468 

11. 

431 

II.    136,  309 

12-16  „          653 

16        „ 

516 

15        , 

461 

II.    153 

17       „    I. 

3!i2,  632, 

16 

482,  498 

12-20  „          153,  154 

654,  655 

18,  22  , 

492 

14        „    I.   218,219. 

II. 

.30,  143 

19-22  ., 

219 

658 

18        „     I. 

595 

20        , 

I.  151 

II.   153 

19        „ 

203 

II.  493,522, 

16        „     I.   447 

II. 

517 

601,  003 

II.       6 

20-22  „ 

603 

17        ,.    I.    219.  415, 

21 

396 

624 

Ephesians. 

iii. 

459 

II.   125,154 

I.     Vol.  I.,  p 

.633 

1        , 

111,  482 

17-20  „          151 

1       ,. 

299 

1-19  , 

499 

19        „    I.   220,  3t3 

1.  2    „  II 

493 

1-21  , 

493,497-9 

11.   428 

1.  5,  ) 

491 

2        , 

482,  491 

21-31  „          155 

9,  11  j 

2-4    „ 

482 

22        „            73 

2,6,7  „ 

491 

2,7,8,, 

491 

24        „          222 

3        „ 

495 

2-9    . 

458 

24-31  „    I.     48 

3-6    „ 

493 

3        , 

I.  211,  470, 

^;-.|^}..n.   15W56 

3-14  „ 

'■in 

485,  493 
492 

3-6    , 

II.  147,359 
I.  210 

25        „    I.   652 

3,8    , 

II.  459 

29        „           57,  640 

3,  20  „ 

492 

3.9   „ 

494 

T.  1-6    „  II.    155 

4        „     I. 

610 

3,4,9,. 

492 

1—9    ,.          265 

II. 

603 

4        , 

494 

1-12  .,          141 

5        „    I. 

636 

5 

I.  447 

^if'f..  i.ue 

'■'■■u 

607 
492 

II.  497,  601, 
603 

2        „          140.  432, 

6        „ 

459.  603 

5,  16  „ 

492 

475 

6,  12) 
14,17  V 

6 

I.  393 

II.   103,111 

492 

II.  219,  492 

3        „          422 

isl 

498.  61)3 

3,6) 

7       „ 

456.  601 

8       „ 

12-14f  » 

7-12        „ 

494 

8,  16  „ 

492 

6        „     I    581,632 

7,18    „ 

492 

10        ,. 

I.   638 

6        „  II.   615 

8       „ 

494 

II.     76,492 

7-12  „          155 

9       ,. 

491,  492 

11        ,. 

491,  492 

8        „    I.  581 

9  sq.  „ 

498 

10 

499 

10        „  II.  1,55 

10        „     I. 

89 

16-21.  ) 
&c.     1 

492 

11        „     I.  393 

II. 

457,   491, 

II.   143 

492 

17, 18,  1 

I.  581 

11-18  „          141 

11        „ 

491,  003 

20,&c.  j 

12        „     I.  417,  624 

11,  14.) 
18  f  " 

482 

18 

II.   49 1 

11.  139  299 

19        „ 

4^9,  457, 

13-15  „          156 

13        ,.     I. 

22 

492 

13-18  „          141 

13,  14 ,.  II. 

494,  003 

19,20., 

492 

14        „          156 

14 

61  »3 

20,  21  „ 

271,  499 

&}..     ■» 

15,  18  „     I. 

581 

iv.    1 

482,  485 

15-23  „  n. 

493,  495 

1-16  „ 

493,  503 

•If}..    !.«« 

17      „ 

249.  494. 

2        „ 

6.3 

603 

3-13  „ 

502 

664 


PASSAGES  OF  SCRIPTURE 


Ephesians 

(roniuuied). 

Ephesians  (contimted). 

PHiLippiANi?  (continued). 

iv.  3,  Ifi.Vol. 

II.,r.492 

vi.  19,  Vol. II.,  p.  492 

ii.  19,  Vol. 

I,  p.  579 

4,30,> 

492 

19.  20  „    414 

19-23  , 

11  529 

20   „  I.  13 

19-30 

431 

5 

,  I.  613 

II.  478 

uJ';} 

430-1 

5-15  , 

II.  485 

21   „    395,  482, 

6   , 

109,  249 

537 

ii.  20   , 

,  I.  346.  459 

7,32  , 

491 

21-24  „    509 

22 

458 

8 

,  I.  57 

22   „    5u7 

24 

.  II.  2S2.  414 

II.  249,506, 

23,24  „    509 

25   ,;    141,395, 

602 

24   „  I.  595,612 

420 

8-11  , 

I.  624 

II.  491 

26   , 

99 

10   , 

641 

30 

,  I.  324 

n.  492,495 

iii.  1   , 

489 

10-13  . 

492 

Philippians. 

n.  419,  431 

11    „  I.  323 

1,2  , 

424 

II.  601 

i  l,Vol.  I.,  p.  429 

2   ,;  I.  140,481. 

12    , 

I.  393 

II.  395,  521, 

624 

12-16  , 

II.  603 

617 

II.  173,297, 

13 

439,  457, 

1,  2  „    424 

299,  432 

494 

Vio'}..   «^ 

2,3  . 

14   , 

,    603 

II.  156 

15   , 

503 

3-11  „    424,  425 

2,  18  , 

270 

16   , 

219.  427, 

4   „    2M 

3   . 

432 

439 

7   ..    417 

3,4,  -) 

iv.  17-v.  21  , 

493 

10    „    2.':-2,  425 

5,9.  [, 

417 

iv.  17-24,  29  , 

504 

11    „    219 

19,  21  ) 

iv.  20-24  , 

504 

12-18  „    426 

iii.  3-  •) 
iv.  1  S' 

424 

21   , 

4S2.497 

12-26  „    424 

22   , 

486 

13   „    425 

iii.  5   , 

I.  4,  16 

24   . 

220 

14-20  „    411 

II.  433 

25-v.  2  , 

505 

15,  16  „    426 

6   , 

I.  174 

27   , 

I.  587 

15, 17  „  I.  447 

8   , 

607 

II.  521 

16   „  II.  173,  400 

8.9  , 

II.  433 

31-v.  2  „    505 

18,  25  „    431 

10 

I.  655' 

32   , 

505 

19   „  I.  471 

II.  458,461 

T.      , 

I.  657 

II.  458 

12   , 

I.  180,  223. 

3   , 

II.  197 

19-26  „    427 

489 

3,12, 

19,  20 )      ,„ 
23,27i"    427 

II.  215,  567 

3-17  , 

II!  506 

12-14  , 

I.  635 

4   , 

I.  627 

20-23  „  I.  603 

II.  434 

4,6  , 

II.  505 

21   „  11.  191 

12-16  , 

434, 

5 

63,482 

23   „    417,  567 

13   , 

622 

7-14,-) 
2a-31  j  ' 

485 

25   „    2K2 

14   . 

I.  489,634 

27   „  I.  489 

11.  227 

9   . 

491 

II.  320 

14,  17  , 

417 

11   , 

617 

27-30  „    428 

15,  16  , 

434 

12-15  , 

I.  624 

ii:  "i^"} "     42* 

17-iv.l, 

434,435 

14   , 

II.  463,522 

19   , 

I.  6' 19 

601 

i.  28-30  „  I.  502 

II.  517 

14,  15-) 
17  /  ' 

506 

ii.  1   „    627 

20   , 

I.  362,489 

U.  428 

21 

II.  428,435 

17   . 

491 

1-4   „    428 

iv.  2,  3  , 

424 

18   , 

L  103 

1-8   „    428 

3   , 

L  79,  489, 

II.  492 

2,  5, 15  „    417 

588,  b29 

18-21  , 

506 

3    ;;    4:« 

II.  435 

19,  20  , 

463 

3-6,  18  „    411 

4   , 

4;?i 

V.  22-vi.  9  , 

493 

4.  8,-) 

4  9 

424,436 

V.  24   , 

f9 

9,10,  [          417 

5 

I.  85 

25   , 

I.  299 

ll) 

6 

II.  519 

n.  233 

6   „    249,  258, 

8   , 

I.  627 

25-27   , 

603 

42S,  ^35 

11.  460 

28   , 

I.  588 

6-8  „    421 

8,10, 

436 

32   , 

II.  492 

6-9  „    422 

10    ; 

215 

vi.  1,  9  , 

507 

7   „  I.  27 

10-20  , 

424,436 

6   , 

491 

8   „    481,  628 

10-23  , 

4m-7 

8   , 

230 

8-11  „  II.  433 

11   , 

527 

10   , 

482 

iVlil    ^^ 

11,  12  , 

I.  508 

10-17  , 

485.  493 

11-13  , 

II.  527 

10-20  , 

509 

11   „    433 

11-18  , 

I.  5;J5 

10-24  , 

493 

12.13,,    591 

1^   , 

11.  267 

11 

I.  587 

14   „  I.  490 

15   , 

I.  422.  561 

II.  f21 

14-18  „  II.  4.30 

15,  16  , 

507 

12   , 

16    „  I.  414 

16   , 

488 

13-17  , 

■  592 

II.  145,  2R2 

18   , 

II.  395,436 

15 

fi28 

17   „   430,  4:n, 

19,  sq. , 

395 

17, 18  , 

II.  492 

573 

20   , 

518 

18   „ 

509 

17-30  „    424 

21-23  , 

424 

19  ,. 

L  211,594 

18-20  „  I.  460 

23   , 

I.  595 

QUOTED  OR  REFERRED  TO. 


665 


COLOSSIANS. 


.     l.Vol. 
1,2    „ 

2,6.  t 

10  ; 

3-8  „ 
4 

4,6  „ 
4,6,9  „ 
5 

6,  23  „ 

7        „ 

7,9-) 

14  S 

8.9    „ 

9-13  „ 

11        .. 

13-ii.  3 

14        „ 

16        „ 

15-18  „ 

15-23  „ 

16 

16, 17  „ 


19,20-) 

22  ( 

20,22 

20-22 

20,  21-  \ 


II.,p.395 
455 

455 

455 

,    I.  581 

4ii3 

,  II.  442 

,    I.  203 

.  n.  601 


492 
455 
281 
455 
601 
249 
450 

457,458 
I.  638 
II.  246,  620 
219,  455, 

457 
439.  457 
486,  492, 

495 
457 


24-29 

L  24-ii.  7 

i.  25 

27 

29 

ii.  1 

1-7 
2 
1.  4-^iii.  4 
ii.6 

6-9    , 
7 

7-11  , 

8       , 

8.18  , 

8.  16-19  , 


11  , 
11,16 
11-16  , 
12 

13-15  , 
14 

15 

15,  18  , 

16  , 

16,  18  , 
16-23  , 

17  , 
18 


458 
,    I    654,655 
II.   458 

459 

458,  459 
.     I.   210 
,  II.   459 

459 
,     I.   463 
II.   442,  459 

459 

281 

4,55 
,     I.   624 
IL    446,  592 

457 

459 

460 

152,  460 

620 

5a5 

249,  439, 

457,  492 

4;32,  461 

414 

461 

56t 

461 
I.  420 
II.   106 

II.  519 
L  41 
IL   152 

457 

461-2 

I.   268 

27 

II.     65.   94. 


I.  481 


COLOSSIANS  {continued). 
ii.  23, Vol.  II ,  p.  462 
27        „  486 

iii.  485 

1  „    I.   203 

II.  4.50 
1,  8,  &c.  4S6 
1-18  „  463 

2  „  428 

3  „  219 
220 

67 
455 

63 
463 
220 

201,  601 
464 
455 


4        „ 

iii.  5-iv.  6  „ 

iii.  6        ,, 

6. 11  „ 

10        „ 

11 

18 

iii.  18-iv.  6  „ 

iii.  19 

22 

24 

24,25  „ 
iT.   2 


3,4 

4 

5 

6 

7 
7, 10, ) 

14  j 

7-18 
9,  10, ) 

14/ 
10 


70,  527 

243 

230 

I.   594 

II.   281 

I.   2U 

It.   2.59 

414 

I.   479 

433 

II.   504 

395,  537 

395 

455 


10,  11  , 
10, 11, 14  , 
11 


I.   236.   320, 

452-3,  508 

II.     37.   416. 


173, 
442 


15  i 

13-16  „  28 

15  „  I.  636 
15, 17  „  IL   465 

16  „  482 

18        ','      ■   595 

I.  Thessalonians. 
i.  l.Vol.  L,  p.  429 
II.  446 
1-10  „  I 
2  „ 
2,  3, ) 
6-8  >" 
5 
6 


582 

582,  633 
511 


511 
511,  576, 


6,  8,  10  , 
6,  10    , 


9,  10 

10 
ii.  1,  2 

1-12    „ 
2 
2.4,7,) 

8,9  ;•' 

3  „ 
3-5  „ 
3-6    „ 


3,510 


IL  584 
L  511 


582,657 

217 

511 


Thehsalovi 

il  4,  Vol 

5,7,9 

5,  9, 10 


6,9 
7 
7.11 


10-12 

11 

12 

14 

14-16 

15 

17 

18 

19 
iii.    1 
1,6 

2 

4 

4,7 

5 

10 

11 

13 

iv.    1-8 

1 

3,17 

4 

6 

7 

9 
11 
11, 
12 
13 

13-18 
14 
15 


12, 


ANS  (cmtinued). 
.  n.,p.518 
„    I.  488 
583 

511,  579 
24 
80 
343 
27 

480.  504, 
511,  561 
511 
585 

514,  596 
510,  511 
56'3,  586 

',',         586,  587 

515,  518 
597,  634 
346,  661 
579 
550 

511 
557 

414,  587 
480,  584 
611 

587,  597 
589 
„  II.  431 

','.       '  58S 

58ft,  627 
588 

627,  6.33 
611,  628 
589 

,  n.  157 

185 
,     I.   592 

211,591 
210,  .597. 
600,  601 
603 
57,  587, 


16.  17  „  85 
17        ,,          608 

17,  18  „  II.  .592 

?.    1        „     I.  627,  633 
1,2,4  „  592 

1-11  „  692 

3  „  SO 

4  „  II.  584 
M']  ,.    I.  596 

8  „  II.  518 

9  „     I.  610 
13        „  5-8 

II.  617 

I.  5;»:i,  594 

503 

II.  269 

I.  594 

594,  597 

II.   144 

I.   595 

U.  446 


12-15 

15 

21 

22 

23 

27 


n.  Thes'alosians. 

i.l,Vol.L,p.  429 
2  ,.  579 
3-12  ,*        608 

4  „  606 
4.5    „          511 

5  .,  61t 


66Q 


PASSAGES   OF  SCRIPTURE 


TI.  Thess 

[continved). 

i.  9,  Vol. 

I.,r.607 

11 

607 

12 

,  n.   536 

ii. 

,     I.   61)3 

1 

588 

1,2   , 

,  II.   592 

1.8 

.    I.   597 

1-12  „          610 

2 

601 

3,7 

627 

4 

628 

5 

679,  628 

6,7 

614,  614 

8 

85 

13-17 

610 

14 

211 

iii.    1 

594 

1-11  „ 

611 

10.  f2}"          611 

5 

603 

6 

,  II.  281 

8 

,     I.     24,   480. 

561 

8-10 

511 

11 

629,  633 

12-16 

612 

13 

,  II.  227 

14 

,    I.   574 

17,18 

612 

18 

,          695 

I.  Timothy. 

i.  l.Vol. 

II.,p.  5.36,  615 

h-2 

516 

2 

,    I.    4.58 

II.   516 

2,18 

,    I.   3S6 

3 

459 

II.  608,618 

3,  4 

517 

3-11 

616 

4 

517,  614, 

620 

6 

614 

7 

621 

7,19 

621 

8 

69,  615 

8.   9 

517 

8-11 

517 

9 

,     I.   481 

II.    197 

10 

608,  613, 

614 

11 

4,58 

11  sq. 

611 

12-17 

616 

12-20 

518 

13 

,    I.   174 

II.   5.4 

15 

637,  611, 

612,613 

15-20 

618 

16 

,    I.     74 

II.    667 

17 

,     I.   6-'8 

18 

462,  463 

18-20 

,  II.   616 

19 

614 

20 

87,  2S2, 

28;i,  664 

ii. 

516 

1-7   . 

619 

3 

227.  615 

3-5 

536 

3-6 

24-J, 

3,7 

612 

I.  Timothy  {continncdX 

I.  Timothy  (continued). 

iL  4,  Vol.  II.,  p.  245,  523 

vi  1«6,  Vol. 

I.,  p.  192 

4-6    „ 

611 

15,16 

,  II.  463 

5        ,. 

160,  249 

17-19  , 

528 

7       ., 

614 

19        , 

612 

8       ,, 

519,  605 

20        , 

608,  614, 

8-14  „ 

520 

620 

11        » 

617 

20,21  , 

528 

12-14  „ 

619 

21        , 

.    I.   595 

14 

215 

15 

69 

iii. 

I.   132 

II.  Timothy. 

II.  616 

i.  1-6,  Vol. 

II,  p.  561 

1       „ 

613 

6 

,    I.   462,463 

1-7    „ 

521,  617 

II.   624 

1, 16  „ 

537 

6-12 

,          662 

2        „ 

I.   435 

9 

611 

3        „ 

II.   11.5,322 

10 

246 

4 

I.   481,629 

ll,15sq. 

611 

8        „ 

683 

13        , 

613 

8-10  „ 

II.   621 

13, 14 

•562 

8-13  „ 

617 

15        , 

548,  585 

9 

614 

15-18 

563 

11-13  „ 

622 

16, 18 

649 

14        „ 

282,  618 

18 

543 

14,  16  „ 

612 

ii.    1 

.     I.   299.   386. 

11-16  „ 

522 

458     ' 

15        „ 

619 

1-3    , 

,  II.   563 

16        „ 

I.  203 

563 

II.  463,  611 

3    ' 

430 

iv. 

516 

5         :    I.   634 

1,2   „ 

I.  610 

7-13 

,  II.   664 

1-3    , 

II.  585 

8 

,     I.   211 

1-6,) 

614 

8-13 

,  II.  564 

10,  21  \  ' 

11 

537 

1-16    , 

624 

11-13 

463,  611 

2        , 

I.  481 

14 

664 

3        , 

82 

14-26 

565 

II.  620 

16 

566,  614 

4        , 

(i21 

17 

,    I.   481 

7,8    , 

227 

II.   518,621 

8        , 

I.  481 ,  628 

18 

620 

9 

II.  613 

19 

,    I.     17 

10        , 

615 

II    203 

11 

275 

21 

,      ■  240.   245. 

12        , 

I.  460 

565,  613 

12-20  „ 

II.  282 

22 

,    I.   460 

14 

I.  462,  463 

24 

584 

II.  518,  617 

II.   119 

16        , 

I.  163 

iii.    1 

,     I.   386 

T.    1,2     , 

II.  516 

II.   542 

1-16  , 

525 

1-7 

452.  567, 

3-16  , 

616 

621 

5        , 

I.  480 

1-9 

585 

6        , 

537,  628 

2 

197 

14        , 

8-i 
II.  521 

2-5,1 
10,  111 

17-19  „ 

617 

5,12 

,  II.    613 

17-21  „ 

526 

6 

619 

17-25  , 

516 

8 

,     I.   638 

21        , 

536 

10 

,          459 

23        , 

I.  481 

11 

392,  458 

II.  612 

13        , 

352 

24        „ 

I.  167 

ir.  25,  566 

vi. 

II.  516- 

16 

,     I.     49 

1        , 

614 

iv. 

,  II.  281 

1,2       „ 

613 

1-8 

567 

1-16        „ 

528 

2 

567 

2 

70 

3 

,    I.   481 

3        , 

I.   481 

5-8    „  II.   567- 

3,4    , 

II.   613 

6 

430 

4        , 

I.  481 

6sq. 

611 

6 

II.   621 

6,7 

417 

11 

613 

7 

,     I.  369 

12        , 

I.   462,463, 

Ii.  518 

631 

8 

,     I.    634 

II.   617 

II.  243 

13       ,, 

I.   611 

9 

618 

U.  536 

9,13,,    I.   460 

QUOTED  OR  EEFERRED  TO. 


667 


n.  Timothy  (cmitimied). 
iv.  9-22,Vol.n.,p. 


10 

liO,  465 

10,11 

3<JG 

11 

„    I.   340,  452, 

453.  479 

12,20 

„  II.  124 

13 

„    I.     36,447 

14 

,  II.  518 

16 

,    I.   661 

II.  170,  550, 

17 

,           30,  552 

19 

,     I.    559,  560 

n.       2,  170, 

519 

20 

,    I.  502 

n.   32 

21 

170 

22       , 

,    I.   595 

Titus, 

i    l,Vol.I.,p.492 

II.  613 

1-4    , 

533 

3       , 

615 

*       . 

5       , 

I.  502 

II.  618 

5-7    , 

617 

&-9    , 

534 

6 

524 

7       , 

I.  583 

II.  115,322 

9.  13  „ 

613 

10        » 

614 

10,  14  , 

605,  621 

11,  15, > 
l-i  ]• 

621 

12        „ 

I.   220,630, 

631 

12.  13  „ 

II.  534 

13 

118 

..   15        ., 

611 

ii.    1,  8   „ 

613 

3       , 

535 

5-7    » 

537 

9       » 

613 

10       „ 

615 

10-15  „ 

535,  5.36 

11       ., 

215,  611 

11-14  „ 

536 

12 

613 

13        „ 

I.  362 

II.  615 

14       „ 

227 

3 

611 

3-7    „ 

590 

4-7    „ 

537 

5 

615 

5-7    „ 

536 

8       .. 

227 

9       ,, 

605,  614, 

621 

12       „ 

545,  618 

13, 14  „ 

.    20 

15       „ 

I.  595 

Philemon. 

1,  24,Vol.ir.,p.395 

2       „ 

430 

5,9   „ 

478 

9       „ 

I.     13 

10       ,. 

343 

11        ,. 

633 

10,  12  „ 

II.   474 

11, 18  „ 

L   627 

Philemon  {continvcd). 

I.  Petfk  (covtinved). 

11,  20,Vol.I.jp.629  ■ 

i.3,  4,Vol.I..p.83 

12 

11.    479 

592 

5 

7 

„  II.  427,  603 
„          603 

19 

„    I.   589,627 

10,11 

»         227 

II.   Ill,  442 

12 

It          625 

22 

390,  414, 

14 

„         603 

511 

20 

,,          603 

23 

46.5 

ii.    2 

„    I.  211 

24 

„     I.   453.  479, 

3 

„          300 

508 

4-8 

„             1 

II.     37,  -MS 

5 

„  II.  219 

25 

„     I.    Mo 

6 

603 

9 

603 

Hebrews. 

11 
16 
16,  17 

603 

i  13,  Vol.  I.,  p.  1.50 

»          156 
„    I.  446 

ii.    2 

1C2 

21  ,s(j. 

>•            74 

8 

2iil 

24 

,,          446 

...  8,14 

„  II.   2t6 

iii.     7 

588 

111.    1 

„     I.    334 

II.  603 

4 

588 

iSsq. 

„     I.    74 

iv.    3 

,  II.     63 

iv.    5 

„           85 

V.    8 

,     I.    628 

603 

14 

69  i 

11 

„  II.   142,  521 

II.   201 

13,  14 

,,          214 

vi.  4-6 

21 

14 

„    I.   28).,  285 

vii. 

73 

16 

„          299,  301 

18 

,    I.       3 

V.    2 

„  II.   617 

viii.  13 

274 

5 

»          4i>l 

ix.    5 

,  II.    2U9 

8 

„          552 

X.     1 

,    I.   263 

10 

as 

9 

610 

12 

„    I.  42!i,  451 

18 

,  II.   237 

13 

'152,  453 

24 

,     I.   449 

II.   166 

25 

6'iS 

14 

,    I.   594 

II.   277 

II.  269 

33        „    I.   634 

37 

,           85 

38        , 

51 

II.  Petee. 

xi.    1        , 

II.    191 

i.    l,Vol 

I.,  p.  426 

xii. 

4nl 

11    536 

1-11  , 

529 

5 

,    I.   471 

2 

193 

14 

446 

4        , 

I.   175 

ii.  1 

xiii.  21 

471 

1,2 

,'  It:  585 

23        , 

II.  522 

4 

,     I.   fi39 

25 

I.  612 

10 

,  11.   323 

22 

,    I.   275 

James. 

ui.  3        , 

,  II.   585 

i    l.Vol.  I.,  p.  116,  430 

4 
7 

236 
,     I.  363 

4 

594 

9 

,  II.  24.5 

6        , 

6;i9 

16 

,    I.   597 

11        , 

II.    219 

II.   232 

17 

78 

18 

79 

25        , 

I.    426 

I.  John. 

II.   129,  192 

i.  1  Vol 

I.   p.  74 

ii.    5 

492 

II.   220 

7       „ 

I.   284,  299, 

2 

I.   .3' '5 

426 

ii.  6 

11.   i'S3 

10        , 

II.   224 

18        , 

I.   H03 

12 

I.   426 

19 

56 

13 

II.    192 

24 

II.   219 

17,  24  . 

227 

iv.  1-3     , 

56 

24        „ 

I.   23 1 

2,3    , 

504 

iv     4-13  „ 

II.   202 

3 

I.   616 

15 

4 

11.   585 

V.    1-6    „ 

202 

V.    4 

2:iS 

8        „ 

I.     85 

10 

209 

8-9    „ 

603 

19 

508 

12        „ 

II.   100 

20 

I.    582,591 
II.   219 

I.  Peter. 

12        „ 

220 

i  l.Vol.  I.,  p.  116,  452, 
47^,  559 

II.  John. 

s      .. 

n.  6U3               j 

L  1,  Vol. 

I.,  p.  468 

PASSAGES  QUOTED   OR  REFERRED  TO. 


III.  John. 

Eevelation  (continued). 

EKVELATtotr  continved)^ 

9,  Vol.  I.,  p.  594 

ii.  6, Vol.  II.,p.283 

vii.    9, Vol.  I.,  p.  675 

6.  15  „     I.   133 

ix.  17        „          194 

JUDE. 

9        „          140 

xi.  19        „          140 

14        „  II.     50 

xiii.             „  II.   585 

Vol.  11,  p.  585 

^i}.>         452 

xiv.    4        „    I.     80 

4                   399 

470 

14        „          165 

II.  wK 

536 

20        „     I.    233 

XV.    3        „  II.   463 

6,14,,    I.    639 

a4        „          430 

xvii.    6        „          315 

8        „  II.   452 

II.     62 

10,11  „         585 

9        ,.    I.   2S2, 

591 

29        „    I.    163 

xvui.  12,  13  „              8 

13        „  II.   198 

iii.   9        „          140,233, 

13        „          473 

14        „    I.   587 

673 

xix.  10        „    I.       6 

14        „  II.   441,  450 

20        „          352 

EVELATION. 

19        „          466 
21        „          450 

xxi.    5        „  II.   518 
10        „          430 

i.  13, Vol.  I.,  p.  165 

iv.    3        „    I.   194 

14        „    I.       2 

li.  2,6,9,) 

9        „          163 

II.   565,  2i4 

14,15,  y  „         673 

10-19  „          163 

Erii.    3        „          244 

20,34  ) 

V.    9        „          675 

6        „          518 

5        „  II.     44 

vi.    1        „          102 

15        „          432 

6        „    I.  233 

vii.   6       „        140 

20       „    I.  60S 

THE   END. 


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FARRAR  V.3 

Life...  of  St.  Paul, 


Z-Hiaalona.ries 
(Paul)