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Biblical Introduction Series
PAUL AND HIS
EPISTLES

BY
D. A. HAYES
Professor of New Testament Interpretation in the Graduate School of Theology,
Garrett Biblical Institute

THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN
NEW YORK CINCINNATI

Copyright, 1915, by
D. A. HAYES

\A*sx(_>

Printed in the United States of America
First Edition Printed September, 191 5
Reprinted November, 1916; January, 1919; April, 1923

TO
ARTHUR H. BRIGGS
PRINCE OF PREACHERS
BEST OF FRIENDS

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
Foreword  9
I. The Apostle  17
II. The Epistles  67
III. The First Epistle to the Thessalonians . . . 137
IV. The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians . . . 165
V. The First Epistle to the Corinthians .... 187
VI. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians .... 227
VII. The Epistle to the Galatians  269
VIII. The Epistle to the Romans  299
IX. The Epistle to Philemon  329
X. The Epistle to the Colossians  349
XI. The Epistle to the Ephesians  379
XII. The Epistle to the Philippians  407
XIII. The Pastoral Epistles  447
XIV. A Closing Word  483
Bibliography  489
Indexes  501

FOREWORD
We have called this book Paul and His Epistles, but it
might be Paul in His Epistles just as well, for the book
aims to be not only an Introduction to the Pauline Epistles
but also a Study of the Personality of the Apostle Paul
as revealed in them. They are fragments of his life. They
are all autobiographical in character. They ought not to be
read as treatises in theology, for none of them was intended
to be merely theological. They ought to be recognized as the
products of personal experience. They ought not to be pre
sented dry as dust and dead as a doornail. They are full
of vitality. They were written to meet the real needs of
real people, and they were written by a man who wore his
heart on his sleeve and who never dictated a letter without
putting himself wholly and unreservedly into it. We shall
endeavor to make this apostle and the peoples to whom
he ministered in these epistles live again in these pages,
being assured that if we succeed in any measure, we only
shall bring to light the life and immortality which has be
longed to them by right from the beginning.
We have read many works on Introduction whose prin
cipal business seemed to be that of dissection. They began
with the treatment of the subject as though it were a
corpse stretched at full length upon the laboratory table,
and as they proceeded they gave the impression that the
whole thing was becoming seven times as dead as before.
They may have given a deal of information concerning the
material composition of the works they discussed ; they may
have been full of the mint, anise, and cummin of the minute
investigation of minor details, but there were weightier
matters of which they seemed to have no appreciation and
9

io FOREWORD
which, therefore, utterly escaped their observation and
study. They were long on the letter, but very short on the
spirit in their criticism. We hope within due limits to
reverse this procedure. We will be looking always for life
rather than death, for genuineness rather than falsity, for
the compelling truth rather than ingenious but tenuous
theory. By the use of the historical imagination we shall
endeavor to reconstruct the living past, but we shall follow
only where accurate and reliable scholarship seems to point
the way.
No effort at the popular presentation of these themes will
be allowed to excuse any carelessness in the presentation of
facts. We shall attempt to be trustworthy at every point.
Where the great authorities differ we shall weigh their argu
ments and come to our own conclusions. As a matter of
course the result will not be pleasing to all, but we shall have
a consistent picture of the great missionary apostle and some
clear conception of the products of his pen. We never have
been able to see why work of this sort should be deadly dull.
It ought to be interesting as well as instructive. If it catches
any of the inspiration in its originals, it will be radio-active,
energizing because so energetic, life-giving because so throb
bing with life. Both Paul and his epistles are dynamos of
spiritual vitality. If we can make that apparent while pre
senting the authentic facts concerning them, we shall feel
that the more important part of our task has been accom
plished. There are dead issues in these epistles, to be sure,
but every epistle has in it words of eternal life. They have
given life to multitudes in the past. Sometimes the most
unlikely passages in them have proven themselves capable of
effecting extraordinary transformations of character, as in
the case of Augustine.
Augustine was a genius without a rival in his generation,
but he was a libertine as well. When he came under con
viction that he ought to be a Christian he prayed in his
wretchedness, "Grant me chastity and continency — but not

FOREWORD n
yet." He realized his own insincerity and his cowardice, for
he was afraid that God would answer that prayer too soon
and he might be deprived of the enjoyment of his concu
piscence. Lust and custom and necessity had bound him in
chains too heavy for his vacillating will to break, and he
writhed under an agony of humiliation in the recognition of
his hopeless slavery. One day in utter shame and misery
he went with his friend Alypius into the garden behind their
lodging in Milan. There a mighty storm swept over
Augustine's soul, and it was accompanied with as mighty a
shower of tears. He stole away from his friend into the
farther recesses of the garden, where his emotion might be
unseen by any but his God. Then the Lord spoke to him
through an audible voice, as of a boy or girl chanting and
oft repeating the words, "Take and read; take and read;
take and read."
Augustine interpreted the message as a direct command of
God for him to take up and read "the volume of the
apostles" which he had left lying in the grass by his friend's
side, and he went back to Alypius and picked up the book
and opened it at random, and his eyes fell first on the verses
from the Epistle to the Romans which read, "Not in riot
ing and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the
lusts thereof." x He read no more, for as by a sudden flash
of lightning the darkness of his doubt had disappeared and
his weakness had been transformed into strength. The
peace and joy of God's salvation filled his heart and a power
divine gave him victory henceforth over every evil thing.
He was converted ! In the reading of that single sentence
from one of the epistles of Paul he found himself suddenly,
miraculously transformed from a sensualist into a saint.2
1 Rom. 13. 13, 14.
8 Augustine's account of his conversion is found in the Confessions,
book viii, chaps. 8-12.

12 FOREWORD
There was such marvelous virtue in the words of the apostle
centuries after his death. There are such unrealized possi
bilities in them still.
Augustine has been the most influential theologian in the
Christian Church since the apostolic times. The greatest
reformer in the church was Martin Luther, who was an
Augustinian' monk at the time of his conversion. Like
his master Augustine, he was brought to the crisis in his
spiritual life by a word from the apostle Paul. He was
sent to the city of Rome on some business of his Order.
There as a devout Roman Catholic he slowly and painfully
was climbing up the Scala Santa on his knees in the fashion
followed by the pilgrims of that day, for that old mediaeval
staircase was said to be the veritable flight of stone steps
leading into Pilate's house in Jerusalem and therefore to
have been pressed by the Saviour's feet. The staircase itself
was a hoax, and the performance upon it was a hollow
mockery of true devotion. Half-way up that staircase the
sentence which Paul makes a text for his discussion in both
the Epistle to the Galatians and the Epistle to the Romans
flashed into the mind of Martin Luther — "The just shall
live by faith," 3 and not by mummeries like these. That was
the message, and that was sufficient.4
Martin Luther rose to his feet and walked down that stair
case and away from that scene of superstitious and foolish
performance and penance; and if there is any one moment
in the life of Martin Luther in which the great Reformation
may be said to have come to its birth, it was that moment
of protest and revolt when Paul's quotation from the ancient
i prophet showed Luther in instant and convincing illumina
tion the supremacy of the spiritual over any performance
of ritual and the right of the individual conscience over
against any prescription of ecclesiastical authority. When
Luther rose to his feet that act was symbolical of a new era
'Gal. 3. 11; Rom. 1. 17.
* Lindsay, History of the Reformation in Germany, p. 207.

FOREWORD 13
in the history of the church. It marked the end of the
cringing submission demanded by Roman Catholicism and
the beginning of a more manly independence for the Protes
tant world.
Since the Reformation there is only one man who may be
compared with Luther as the leader of a great onward
movement in the Christian world. John Wesley is the great
evangelist of the Protestant Church. He was a preacher's
son, and he was a preacher by profession. He was a mem
ber of the Church of England, and he was faithful to all
of its ordinances and ceremonies. He was a member of a
Holy Club at Oxford University, and he practiced all the
rules for holy living which he could find in any of the
devotional books. He went to communion once a week.
He fasted and prayed and sacrificed his time and his strength
and his means for the good of all men. He was ridiculed
on all hands and called a crack-brained enthusiast. Yet all
his ritualism and asceticism and devotion to good works
brought him no peace. He felt that he himself was not con
verted. He went as a foreign missionary to the Indians in
Georgia, but in the new continent he failed to find a new
heart. He came back to England with the old unrest.
Then one Wednesday night he went to a prayer meeting
service in Aldersgate Street in London, and some one read
Martin Luther's preface to Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
In that preface Luther declares that the man who receives
the Holy Spirit through faith "is renewed and made spirit
ual," and thereafter he finds it easy to fulfill the law because
he is constrained thereto "by the vital energy in himself."
That was what Luther had found in the epistles of Paul,
a vital energy which had made him able to renew the spirit
ual forces of the nation. That was what Wesley wanted
— the vital energy which had made Paul a power for all
time to come and had transformed the life of Augustine
and had made Luther the great reformer. As he listened
to the simple truth of the gospel as set forth by Paul and

14 FOREWORD
interpreted by Luther, Wesley too "experienced an amazing
change." He wrote of it afterward: "I felt my heart
strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone,
for salvation ; and an assurance was given me, that he had
taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the
law of sin and death." Wesley testified openly to all who
were there what he then first felt in his heart, and from
that meeting with his new assurance he went forth to a
career of unequaled evangelism.5
What names can equal these three in their particular fields
or in the whole history of the church — Augustine the great
theologian, Luther the great reformer, and Wesley the great
evangelist? We have seen how all three of these men
received the impulse to their life activity, as well as the con
tinuous inspiration of it, from the apostle Paul. Greater
than any of them, master of them all, Paul the theologian,
reformer, evangelist, and missionary is a vital force in the
church to-day. He has imparted something of his vitality
to all of his epistles. What Godet said of the Epistle
to the Romans might be applied to the epistles as a whole :
"The Reformation was undoubtedly the work of the Epistle
to the Romans . . . and the probability is that every great
spiritual revival in the church will be connected as effect
and cause with a deeper understanding of" these books.6
It is with some feeling of the unquenchable and inex
haustible vitality in this man and in his epistles that we turn
to their study. It is in the faith that multitudes in the days
to come, as in the days of the past, will have their hearts
strangely warmed and their wills strangely strengthened
and their lives strangely transformed by contact with these
treasuries of immortal energy that we shall endeavor to pre
sent them not as dead and done with but as living forces
with their message for to-day. If in any measure the spirit
of the man and of his message may be found in these pages,
s Tyerman, Life and Times of John Wesley, vol. i, pp. 69-73, l8°.
' Godet, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, p. 1.

FOREWORD 15
they will be of vital value to those who read. In our study
of the epistles we shall find ourselves studying the man
again and again. We can understand them only as we come
to understand him.
There are no concealments about the apostle Paul. We
can congratulate ourselves that his life is like an open book,
written by his own hand here in his epistles. Many of the
biographical data registered in the book of Acts are not
found in the Pauline epistles, but, on the other hand, there
are many items of information concerning the public life
and career of the apostle Paul scattered throughout these
letters which were not recorded by Luke in his biography;
and we never could have known the inner life of the apostle
if it were not for the innumerable revelations which the
epistles afford. In them we sense his spirit and come to
know him as he really is. We will attempt, first, to visual
ize the man, and, second, to get some general view of the
epistles, and then, third, we will proceed to the special intro
duction to each of them.

CHAPTER I
THE APOSTLE

CHAPTER I
THE APOSTLE
We shall attempt no complete biography of the apostle
Paul in this connection ; but we shall try to get some clear
conception of the preparation and equipment of the man
who wrote the epistles we are to study. In the Epistle to
the Galatians Paul says that God separated him, even from
his mother's womb, and called him through his grace, that
he might preach the gospel among the Gentiles.1 We under
stand this statement to mean that every circumstance of his
birth and earliest environment and education and all his
experience up to the time of his conversion seemed to Paul
marvelously and miraculously to have been calculated to
prepare him for the greatest efficiency in his career as mis
sionary among the nations. Looking back upon his life,
Paul was ready to say that all things had worked together
for his good in getting him ready, all unconsciously though
it were, for the work God had for him to do. We can see
some very clear reasons for his coming to such a conclusion.
I. Personal Preparation
i. Jewish descent. Paul was born in a Jewish family
and was reared in the Jewish faith. Since Jesus was a Jew,
and the Christian faith was born among the Jews and was
propagated wholly from them in the beginning, it was
essential that the most successful missionary in the early
church should be a Jew. His race affinities enabled Paul
to begin his ministry in each city in the synagogue, in an
established meetingplace with a congregation ready assem
bled and accustomed to religious discussion. He preached
1 Gal. i. 15. 19

20 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
by preference to the Jews, and turned to the Gentiles only
when the Jews had refused to heed his message. All the
first Christian missionaries were Jews and Paul never would
have been able to maintain himself among them as their
equal and to establish himself at last as their superior if
he himself had not been a Jew.
Then, too, among his own countrymen he had certain
claims to superiority. He suggests some of these in the
Epistle to the Philippians, where he says, "If any other
man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more." 2
He then proceeds to give his reasons for that statement in
Phil. 3- 5, 6.
(i) He is of the stock of Israel. He does not say of
Abraham, for Abraham's stock included the Ishmaelites.
He does not say of Abraham and Isaac, for that stock
included the Edomites. He does not say of Jacob the sup-
planter, but of Israel the prince with God. That was his
ancestry. He was in the line of those who wrestled with
God and won the victory.
(2) He was of the tribe of Benjamin, and there were
several reasons why that would mean much to a Jew. (a)
Benjamin was the son of the favored wife, and Benjamin
alone among the patriarchs had been born in the chosen land.
(_•) The first king of Israel had been taken from the tribe
of- Benjamin, and the apostle had been named after him.
His parents had called him Saul; and Paul was proud of
that fact, and he never forgot that he was the namesake of
a king, (c) The tribe of Benjamin alone had been faith
ful to the house of David at the time of the Great Schism.
The ten tribes had gone off under the leadership of Jero
boam. Judah and Benjamin had maintained the national
integrity and faith, (d) In the Song of Deborah and in
the prophecy of Hosea there was that battle cry, "After
thee, O Benjamin!"3 testifying that Benjamin always held
2 Phil. 3. 4.
3 Judges 5. 14; Hosea 5. 8.

THE APOSTLE 21
the place of honor in the militant host of the Israelites. It
was a matter of pride to belong to this faithful and signally
honored tribe. The Saul of Old Testament history towered
head and shoulders above his fellows, and he had been a
right royal soul. This second Saul was to tower above his
fellows in intellectual and spiritual accomplishments, and
he would be a king among the New Testament leaders of
the world reformation. The Benjamites had fought in
the first rank in the ancient wars of Israel. This Benjamite
always would be found in the front rank of the militant
hosts of the new Israel whose mission was to capture
all the nations for its Christ. As a true representative of
his tribe he could be trusted to be royal and loyal at any cost
and all the time.
(3) Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and he was a
Pharisee. He belonged to that sect among the Hebrews
which was notorious for its scrupulous observance of all the
religious ritual, for its patriotism and its zeal, for its piety
and devotion. The Pharisees were all zealots, but among
them Saul became conspicuous for his zeal. They were all
patriots, but Saul was the most ardent partisan among his
contemporaries. He came to be the chosen instrument of
the Sanhedrin to persecute and to annihilate the Christian
Church. (4) No one could find any fault with Saul's reputation
as a legalist. He met all the requirements of Pharisaic right
eousness. He claimed in his later life that he had been
blameless as judged by their standards, and no one ever dis
puted his claim. He said to King Agrippa, "My manner of
life then from my youth up, which was from the beginning
among mine own nation and at Jerusalem, know all the
Jews; having knowledge of me from the first, if they be
willing to testify, that after the straitest sect of our religion
I lived a Pharisee." 4 When the chief captain had rescued

? Acts 26. 45.

22 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Paul from the mob at Jerusalem he asked his prisoner who
he was, and Paul's first words in answer were, "I am a
Jew." 5 Then the chief captain permitted Paul to speak
to the people, and Paul began his defense to his own country
men with the same words, "I am a Jew." 6 Paul always
considered that fact a chief asset in his missionary career.
If he had been asked to point out the elements which made
for his apostolic equipment and success, in all probability
he would have begun with the statement that he had been
born in a Jewish home and he had been trained in the
Jewish faith.
2. Roman Citizenship. Paul's father was a Roman
citizen, and Paul was born into all the political privileges of
the Roman state. What an advantage that was to him in all
his apostolic career ! He always was disposed to regard the
imperial power as the friend of the Christian faith, protect
ing it from Jewish persecution and saving him again and
again from danger to his person and life. He made the
most of his Roman citizenship whenever necessity demanded
the declaration of it. He usually claimed all of its priv
ileges. He made the praetors at Philippi confess that they
had acted illegally in scourging and imprisoning men who
were Romans and uncondemned. He made them apologize
in person before they set him free.7 When the chief captain
there at Jerusalem would have stretched him upon the rack,
thinking he was only a Jew who could be tortured into
confession of some wrongdoing, Paul appealed to his exemp
tion from that form of examination as a Roman citizen and
uncondemned.8 As a Roman citizen he pleaded his own
case before the Roman governors Felix and Festus, and he
finally insisted upon his right as a Roman to appeal his case
from their jurisdiction to the court of the emperor himself.9
In all probability he was the only one among the apostles
6 Acts 21. 39. 8 Acts 22. 25.
6 Acts 22. 3. ¦ Acts 25. 11.
' Acts 16. 37.

THE APOSTLE 23
who could have done such a thing. He was a Jew, but he
also was a Roman ; and that was a great advantage and dis
tinction. 3. Greek Environment. Paul was born and reared in
Tarsus, a Greek city of Asia Minor. A Jew by heredity and
a Roman by citizenship, he was a Greek by environment. He
united in himself the three great influences of that age. He
was at home equally with the Jewish religion and the Roman
politics and the Greek culture. No other apostle or Chris
tian missionary had this triple advantage in his work. Tar
sus was a busy and flourishing city. Paul himself says, "I
am ... a citizen of no mean city." 10 Xenophon tells us
that Tarsus was a large and prosperous city in his day.
Strabo declares that Tarsus was one of the three great uni
versity centers of the world at this time, sharing its pre
eminence with Athens and Alexandria alone.
(1) It was worth something to Paul to have been born
in a city. He was at home in cities. He was city bred, and
he liked best to labor in the cities. He was lonesome in the
country, and he never cared to stop there long. He passed
through it only that he might reach another city. He was
used to crowds and to many intermingling nationalities and
to the sight of great interests well managed for the good
of the community. His city training helped him to become
the great organizer of Gentile Christendom and to meet the
many peoples among whom he labored without embarrass
ment and with something of familiarity. No one of the
Galilaean peasants in that original apostolic company had any
such training; and no one of them was prepared, as Paul
was, to meet all classes with confidence and to win different
nationalities to Christ. They doubtless would have been
confused and at a loss where Paul could meet the emergency
easily. (2) It was worth still more to have been born in a uni-

10 Acts 21. 39.

24 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
versity city. Paul grew up in an intellectual atmosphere.
He must have met multitudes of students in the streets of
Tarsus, and an active mind like that of Paul would be
impressed with the value of an education and would be
sure to pick up an appreciation for the Greek culture.
4. Trade. Paul was taught a trade. He was a tentmaker ;
and we know how often the knowledge of this trade was of
practical assistance to him in his ministry. He could work
at it wherever he went. A fisherman could not find employ
ment everywhere. A tentmaker could keep busy almost
anywhere in the Orient, and just as well inland as on the
seashore. 5. Schooling. At Jerusalem, where he was sent to finish
his education and to be made a rabbi, Paul entered the
school of Gamaliel, the grandson of Hillel and the greatest-
master of his day.
(1) With Gamaliel. Gamaliel was a generous-hearted,
broad-minded man, more tolerant than many of his con
temporaries. He was principally responsible for the intro
duction of Greek learning among the Jews. The Jews as
a race were intolerant, narrow, exclusive, proud. It was a
proverb among them, "Cursed be he that eats pork, and
cursed be he that teaches his son the Greek wisdom." The
rabbis said : "The Law is all-sufficient for our learning. In
Josh. 1. 8 we read, 'This book of the law shall not depart
out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and
night.' If you would study the Greek wisdom, you must
first find an hour that is neither day nor night in which to
study it." X1 Gamaliel defied this popular prejudice. His
son Samuel says, "There were one thousand students in
my father's school, five hundred of whom studied Greek
wisdom ahd five hundred Jewish law." 12 It was into this
school that Paul came, and it was here that he advanced in
the Jew's religion beyond many of his own age among his
11 Menachoth, 99, 2.
13 Babha Kama. f. 83, i.

THE APOSTLE 25
countrymen, even as he already was far in advance of them
in his knowledge of Greek literature and life.
(2) With the Scriptures. There was only one textbook
here, as there had been only one in the synagogue school at
Tarsus. From a babe Saul had known the sacred writings.
As a boy he had committed many portions of them to mem
ory. Now as a young man he heard them expounded by the
highest authority. He gave his days and his nights to the
study of them. They were a lamp unto his feet and a light
unto his path. He mastered their contents. Their theology
and their phraseology became so familiar to him that they
were in his mind and on his lips continually. No one can
read the Pauline epistles without being impressed with the
fact that Paul thinks in quotations and writes in quotations
from the Old Testament.
All of his own teaching is buttressed with proof passages
from the Sacred Book. He quotes from one hundred and
forty-one different chapters and over two hundred single
verses. The Jewish Bible had the three divisions — the Law,
the Prophets, and the Writings. Paul quotes from all of
these divisions. He quotes from each of the five books of
the Law. In the second division he quotes from First and
Second Samuel, First Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Habakkuk, Zechariah, and
Malachi. In the third division he quotes from Psalms,
Proverbs, and Job. Among these his favorites would seem
to be the book of Psalms and the book of Isaiah. From the
former he quotes thirty-three different psalms, and from the
latter twenty-nine chapters. He evidently knows all his
Bible, and he is so saturated with scripture that he scarcely
can write a page without directly or indirectly borrow
ing from it.13 Much of this familiarity with the Book must
have been won in Gamaliel's school.
Paul soon became a favorite with the ecclesiastical author-

13 Expositor. Second series, vol. iv, pp. 12 jf,

26 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
ities. He was preeminent in scholastic accomplishment and
in religious enthusiasm. Possibly he was put in charge of
the synagogue of the Cilicians ; and it is altogether probable
that here he was one of those who could not withstand
Stephen in argument.14 We know that he was the chosen
representative of the Sanhedrin to crush out the Nazarene
fanaticism. We know that he consented to the death of
Stephen and was present at that first martyrdom.15 We
know that he laid waste the church in Jerusalem, entering
every house and dragging men and women from their homes
to prison.16
While Paul was a zealot for the Law, we may judge from
Rom. 7 and other passages that he was dissatisfied with it
and was becoming more and more convinced of the Law's
absolute insufficiency to meet the deepest needs of the soul.
He tried to quiet the hunger of his heart by a more furious
activity in persecution. In this period, when he was the
intimate and trusted agent of the Jewish leaders, he came
to know all that they had to say against the new religion and
all that they had to offer in favor of the old. He heard
the question argued again and again. He heard the Scrip
tures cited on either side. He heard the personal testimonies
of the Christians who were examined before the synagogue.
He heard how their lives were altered and their whole walk
and conversation had been exalted by their new experiences.
He weighed these things in his own mind and heart. All
that happened to him among both the Jews and the Chris
tians was all unconsciously preparing him for a more effi
cient apostolate.
6. Conversion. Then came the journey to Damascus and
Paul's conversion. Renan says that a storm was bursting
on the mountains of Lebanon, and a flash of lightning with
sudden brilliance struck Paul to the ground and produced
14 Acts 6. 9, io.
"Acts 8. i.
»• Acts 8. 3.

THE APOSTLE 27
in his active brain an ophthalmic fever, accompanied by vio
lent hallucination ; but in Paul's account and in that of Luke
there is no lightning flash and no fever, and in Paul's after
history there is no hint of any hallucination. Paul saw the
resurrected Lord. He heard the voice of Him in whom
dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He was com
missioned not from men, neither through man, but through
Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the
dead.17 The greatest event in the history of the human race was
the birth of Jesus. The greatest event in the life of Jesus
was his resurrection from the dead. After these two mo
ments of primary importance in the history of the human
race and of the Christian Church, the next most momentous
occurrence in their history was the conversion of Paul.
Jesus founded the faith, but Paul was to be the apostle of
its universal conquest. The other apostles had no such expe
rience of conversion as Paul underwent on the road to
Damascus. They were attracted to the man Jesus and only
slowly came to the belief that he was the Son of God and
that he had the words of eternal life. There was no sudden,
sharp revolution at any turn in their association with him.
On the contrary, Paul was struck to the ground by one
blinding revelation of the Son from heaven. In one moment
he was converted from a proud Pharisee and a fanatical
persecutor of the Christian faith into a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle, and separated henceforth unto
the gospel of God. The other apostles had known Jesus
after the flesh. Paul knew him first as the resurrected and
enthroned Lord of men. Whatever psychological prepara
tion there may have been for this sudden transformation in
Paul's character and career the fact is indisputable that the
radical change took place in a single crisis moment of his
life. After that Damascus vision he rose to his feet a new
"Gal. 1. 1.

28 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
man with a new purpose and new powers, capable of turn
ing the world upside down, and ready to do all things which
his new Master might require of him in the strength contin
ually sufficient for his need. The conversion of Paul was
a capital event in world history. It was something new in
the apostolic ranks. A new era in Christendom had dawned
with Paul's new birth.
7. Commission. Paul was thirty years of age at the time
of his conversion. He was martyred at the age of sixty.
For thirty years he had been a Pharisee. For thirty years
he would be a Christian. In that thirty years he had a
gigantic task to perform. A staggering burden was to be
laid upon his shoulders. In his own person he must accom
plish the work which in the providence of God had been
assigned to a nation!
. The Jews were the people of promise. Through long
centuries they had been the favored of God, among whom
alone the knowledge of the true Jehovah was preserved and
the expectation of the world-salvation through the Great
Deliverer to be sent by Him; and every Jew believed that
he, the longed-for Messiah, when he should come, would be
the nation's king. He would exalt Israel to world dominion,
and all the nations of the earth would be attracted by the
light of his salvation and would bow at Israel's feet to
have a share in Israel's blessing. Then Jerusalem would
be called, The city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One
of the chosen race.18 Isaiah had prophesied it. The fathers
had awaited it. It surely would come.
The Messiah came in the fullness of time. Israel rejected
him. Jerusalem crucified him. He was in the world and
the world knew him not. He came to his own and his own
received him not. That nation which in God's plan was to
have the supreme privilege of welcoming the world Saviour
and inaugurating his kingdom and preaching the glory of his
18 Isa. 60. 14.

THE APOSTLE 29
name to the eager and expectant earth, that nation which
was to be the servant of Jehovah in the evangelization of
the many kindreds and peoples and tongues, proved recreant
to its high trust at the last ; and God's fury was poured out
upon it, its fair land was smitten and cursed, and its sons
and its daughters were sent wandering out through the con
tinents and the centuries, an excommunicate, vagabond race.
Israel had not been wise in the day of its visitation and its
greatest blessing had become its greatest curse. The nation
had failed to rise to its opportunity and to fulfill its God-
appointed task. That task must still be done; and in the
nation's stead God puts one man! With strong hand and
outstretched arm he laid hold of the one choice spirit who
could do a nation's work. That chosen world missionary,
the most zealous and the most successful propagator of the
universal religion of the Christ, was the converted per
secutor of the Christians, Saul.
Henceforth he was an ambassador from heaven, with
royal authority, and with a divine commission which no man
might question, and no man or body of men might contra
vene, and no power on earth could countermand. Hence
forth the whole world was Paul's parish, and its conversion
his one aim in life. Single-handed and alone he set about
the work which ought to have been done by his nation.
When at the end he said, "I have fought a good fight, I have
finished my course," he had proven himself worthy of the
greatest commission ever given to a mortal man. How did
he prepare himself for his colossal enterprise ?
8. In Arabia. After his conversion Paul tells us,
"Straightway I conferred not with flesh and blood : neither
went I up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before
me : but I went away into Arabia." 19 This statement con
tains all the information we have concerning this Arabian
experience. How long the sojourn in Arabia lasted we do

M Gal. 1. 16, 17.

30 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
not know. Most of the authorities are disposed to think
that three years were spent by Paul in these solitudes, or at
least the larger part of the three years which elapsed before
he went up to Jerusalem.
We ask three questions concerning this period in Paul's
life: (i) Why did Paul go to Arabia? Would it not have
seemed likely that he would wish to go straight back to
Jerusalem, or at least to Palestine, after his conversion? If
he were to be a Christian, surely he would wish to know
all he could about the life and work of Jesus. There he
could find the apostles who had companied with him and the
disciples who had heard him and had followed him from
place to place in Galilee. Surely, Paul would want to get
acquainted with them as soon as possible and to get from
them all they could impart of information concerning the
sayings and the doings of the Lord. We would have
thought that Paul would have considered it advisable to
confer with flesh and blood about these things at the first
opportunity. He did not think so. He did not go in
search of historical and biographical data. He went away
into Arabia. Arabia was a desert. He could not confer
with flesh and blood there. He could commune with God
and with his own soul. He could hear the message of the
mountains and the disclosures of the desert. Why would
he go there ?
(a) For the same reason that Jesus went into the wilder
ness after the baptism and the revelation and the commis
sion at the Jordan. Since that date no such staggering
burden had been laid upon the shoulders of any man. The
soul of Paul craved solitude. He needed to face the prob
lems which his new experience suddenly had thrust upon
him. He must wrestle with them alone. With the demons
of temptation and the angels of divine consolation he must
fast and pray and read and study and meditate until he saw
the truth too clearly ever to falter in its advocacy and until

THE APOSTLE 31
his own soul was so well grounded in the faith that doubt
would seem impossible. Paul could have found solitude
much nearer to Damascus than Arabia. Why did he travel
to this distance to spend his months and years in retirement
and meditation ?
(b) We think that he went to Arabia because Mount
Sinai was there. He may have dreamed all his life, as a
boy in Tarsus and as a youth in Jerusalem, of a journey
some day to the very spot where Moses received the tables
of the Law from the hand of God. His whole life had been
spent in the endeavor to obey all the precepts of this law.
All the religion of his nation had been built up about it. It
was the birthplace of Judaism, the most sacred spot upon
the earth outside of the temple to the young Pharisee. He
may well have contemplated a pilgrimage to it at the first
opportunity he had. Now that he was to be a Christian,
there was no reason why he should change this plan. There
was all the more reason why he should stand upon the
ground made sacred by the primitive revelation and ask him
self what relation his new revelation might bear to the one
given to Moses. It might be that God would speak to him
on the mountain top or from some cleft in the rock. God
had spoken to him, and now he must decide whether, like
Moses, he would become a liberator of his people.
(2) What did Paul do in Arabia? He prepared himself
for his future ministry. He studied the Scriptures and
waited upon God. He formulated his theology. He rea
soned it all out. His system of thought was complete before
he began to preach. Too many men go into the ministry
to-day who are not clear upon many points of doctrine.
They do not know what they believe concerning them.
They begin to preach and hope that in time the obscur
ities in their faith will clear away or that they can succeed
in concealing their doubts from their people. It was not so
with Paul. He knew what he believed from the beginning
to the end of his ministry. He was as clear as crystal in

32 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
all the fundamentals of his religious thought when he came
out of Arabia. There never was any doubt or uncertainty
in his preaching after that. We question whether there was
any considerable development of doctrine in any of the
essentials of his creed from first to last. He had thought
it all out before he began to preach it to others.
We can imagine the course of his thought in these days.
He began with his own experience. His theology was the
outgrowth of his personal convictions based upon the real
ities of his own heart life. He had seen the risen Jesus.
Then the resurrection of which the persecuted Christians had
talked was a fact. It was upon that fact that Paul built up
the whole structure of his theology. If Jesus was risen
from the dead and seated at the right hand of God, he must
be the Son of God, even as he said. He must be divine.
Then why had he been crucified ? How Paul must have
pondered that problem! It was such a stumbling-block to
any Jew. It must have been that his life was a sacrifice,
that he died because we were sinners and not because he was
one. In undeserved suffering through a sinless and atoning
life and death the Divine Son had become a Saviour!
Salvation, then, must be through the acceptance of this fact,
through faith in the incarnation and the consequent faith in
the atoning life and death of Jesus; and not through any
good works which men might or might not do. We can see
Paul feeling his way through the maze of questions which
beset him and searching the Scriptures to see if these things
were so until he came out into the clear sunlight of unalter
able conviction. Given the fact of the resurrection, the
meaning of the crucifixion followed as the night followed
the day. Out of that night of disaster there had come the
day of the world's redemption. The dayspring from on high
had visited us, and now the Son could be revealed in men.
(3) What was the result of this Arabian sojourn? Paul
was the first to see that Christians might be liberated from
all bondage to the Law. There in the sterile heights of

THE APOSTLE • 33
Mount Sinai he realized that the whole Pharisaic program
was an equally sterile one. The people under the Law were
in bondage. They were the children of the slave woman.
Only those who were saved by grace could claim to be free.
The terrors of the law had to be supplanted by the treasures
of grace. Moses was only a pedagogue to lead men to
Christ. We think that the doctrine which is set forth in the
third and fourth chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians
was first formulated by Paul in his stay in Arabia. It was
there at Mount Sinai that he came to the conclusion that
there was an irreconcilable antagonism between the two
systems of salvation represented by Moses and by Jesus.
It was there at Mount Sinai that he determined to devote
his life to the overthrow of the one and the establishment of
the other. Moses had liberated the people from political
bondage to Egypt. Paul would liberate the people from
spiritual bondage to the law of an external commandment.
He would do it by preaching the grace of God as revealed
in Jesus.
9. In Syria and Cilicia. "Then I came into the regions
of Syria and Cilicia."20 In the hurried autobiographical
sketch which Paul gives us in the first chapters of the Epistle
to the Galatians he permits this short sentence to cover
ten or a dozen years of his life. It was the time of his
obscurity. He was trying his powers. He was testing his
theology in his preaching. He was proving himself. We
know about his labors and his sufferings and his triumphs
in the later years. We know little or nothing about him in
this time. We are sure that he was busy in evangelistic
service, and we think it altogether probable that he was
trying different methods and plans and thus was laying the
foundation of his future success. To Paul himself these
were unquestionably the most important years of his min
istry. They were not years of sweeping victory, but they
"Gal. 1. 21.

34 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
were the years when he was getting ready for such things.
The world lost sight of him for a time. People heard only
that the persecutor had become a preacher and that he was
laboring in some remote district to spread the Christian
faith. These were years of patient preparation, of appren
ticeship in pioneer missionary work. If Paul could take
three years to get his theology clearly formulated, any young
man can afford to take an equal time to attain a like result.
If Paul could work for ten years in obscurity, surely any
young man can be content to labor for the same length of
time before he is called into any prominent field.
We now have seen how Paul's Jewish descent, his Roman
citizenship, his Greek environment in Tarsus, his rabbinical
training in Jerusalem, his conversion at Damascus, his years
of solitude and meditation in Arabia, and his longer years
of pioneer missionary effort in Syria and Cilicia had helped
to prepare him for his apostolate to the nations. Looking
back upon his life Paul could not see, and we do not see,
how he could have been better equipped than he actually
was by the various influences which had molded his char
acter and shaped his career and all unconsciously had fitted
him for world-evangelism. Everything had helped to make
him ready for the work he now had to do. When Bar
nabas called him from Tarsus to Antioch, a year of testing
there made it apparent to all that the Holy Spirit had sep
arated him for work in wider fields. His missionary jour
neys and the experiences gathered among many peoples in
many lands finished the preparation of the man who was
to write the Pauline epistles. We shall try now to get a
closer view of him. II. Personal Appearance
i. Paul's Physique. The artists for the most part have
been disposed to picture Paul with a commanding physique.
Raphael puts a very imposing figure upon the steps of the
Areopagus. In the chapel window in the Memorial Hall of

THE APOSTLE 35
the theological school in Evanston Paul is represented with
such a venerable and stately bearing that the visitors have
mistaken him for Moses more than once. Moses was a
goodly child and probably had a very impressive appear
ance in later years ; but unless all church tradition has gone
astray, Paul was not blessed with personal beauty, and his
bodily presence was rather insignificant and weak. His
enemies in Corinth declared that was so, and while Paul
quotes their statement he does not deny the truth of it.21
He probably realized that his personal appearance was
neither a striking nor an attractive one.
All tradition agrees that Paul was a little man, like John
Wesley and Napoleon. One ancient writer calls him "a
three-cubit man." Most of the modern authorities think
that he was a chronic invalid, and that there were times
when his malady disfigured him so that his countenance was
far from being a pleasant one to look upon.
( I ) We know that when the heathen at Lystra were about
to offer sacrifices to Barnabas and Paul as gods in human
form they called Barnabas Zeus, probably because he was
the more majestic and impressive in his appearance, and
they called Paul Hermes, as in appearance the smaller and
subordinate man.22
(2) In the Acts of Paul and Thecla, written in the third
century, we have the first description of Paul in church
literature. It reads as follows: "He saw Paul coming, a
man, small in size, bald-headed, bandy-legged, with meeting
eyebrows, hook-nosed, full of grace." 23 We are told that
Titus had given Onesiphorus a description of the apostle
Paul and that Onesiphorus recognized this little, bald-
headed, bandy-legged, hook-nosed man coming down the
road as the one who met all the terms of the description and
the one he had come forth to seek. This earliest pen picture

21 2 Cor. 10. 10.
12 Acts 14. 12.
M Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. viii, p. 487.

36 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
of the apostle Paul would seem to reproduce the general
church tradition concerning his personal appearance. It
evidently was not an imposing one, and his enemies might
well call it "weak."
(3) In the fourth century, in the Philopatris of the
pseudo-Lucian, Paul is ridiculed as "the bald-headed, hook
nosed Galilsean who trod the air into the third heaven,
and learned the most beautiful things." 24
(4) In the sixth century John of Antioch assures us that
"Paul was in person round-shouldered, with a sprinkling of
gray on his hair and his beard, with an aquiline nose, grayish
eyes, meeting eyebrows, with a mixture of pale and red in
his complexion, and an ample beard." 25
(5) In the fifteenth century Nicephorus writes: "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 were sprinkled
with white hairs." 26
Evidently, all of these descriptions agree in the main,
and as all of the earliest portraits of the apostle confirm
them, we may conclude that the church tradition is a correct
one and that Paul's personal appearance was not a par
ticularly prepossessing one. If he were short and stoop-
shouldered, bald-headed and bandy-legged and hook-nosed,
he could not win his way among men by any imposing per
sonal presence. He may have had a kindly eye and a saintly
countenance and a general grace of bearing, but he was
sadly handicapped by his physique.
2. Paul's Health. Some of Paul's biographers think that
he had an exceptionally tough and strong and elastic consti
tution. They point to facts like these : ( 1 ) Such a life as
24 Philopatr., 12.
25 x, 257.
a8H.E.,ii,37.

THE APOSTLE 37
Paul led, full of hardship and making constant demand upon
his physical endurance, would have been impossible without
a considerable degree of physical stamina. (2) The rapidity
of Paul's recovery from illnesses and scourgings and ston-
ings proves a remarkable elasticity of constitution and a
remarkable reserve of physical powers. There is much to
be said for this view of the case. Paul endured more than
most men could have endured, and he never was superan
nuated. He lived into a comparatively effective old age.
Other biographers of Paul insist that he was of a very
fragile constitution, and always was a weak and ailing man.
They remind us that the following things were true of him :
(1) Paul frequently speaks of the infirmity of his flesh27
and of a thorn in the flesh.28 He tells us of more than one ill
ness and in one he had despaired of his life.
(2) He seemingly was in need of constant companionship.
His traveling company consisted almost always of three
men. He began with Barnabas and Mark. Then he had
Silas and Timothy, then Titus and Timothy, and then Luke
and Aristarchus. He seemed to be very uneasy when left
alone. Only once in the whole narrative of the book of
Acts is Paul left without any attendants. That was at
Athens, and we read that Paul's spirit was much troubled
within him, and he sent commandment that Silas and
Timothy should come to him just as quickly as possible.29
Everywhere else some trusted friend is by his side, so that
if he is stricken down he may be sure of sympathetic service
in his need.
(3) One of these companions, and the one who was with
him constantly in all his later days, was the beloved phy
sician, Luke. Luke first joined Paul in his missionary
journeying just after Paul had been suffering from some
physical disorder in Galatia,30 and he rejoined the apostle
just after that most serious illness in which he had come
27 Gal. 4. 14. M Acts 17. 15.
28 2 Cor. 12. 7. * Gal. 4. 13.

38 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
back almost miraculously from the very edge of the grave.31
From that time Luke never left him. Henceforth Paul
had the attendance and the ministrations of a physician as
long as he lived.
What shall we conclude in the face of this array of seem
ingly contrary facts? It seems to us that Paul was physi
cally weak and a chronic invalid, but that he had an indomi
table will which compelled his body to exertions unparalleled
and which dragged it through sufferings and labors under
which any ordinary men and ordinary minds would have
succumbed. We think that he belongs to that dauntless and
unconquerable handful of the race who by their accomplish
ment in despite of all physical ills put those of us who are
well and strong to constant shame. With bodies disabled
by distressing disease and racked with continual pain they
do more than a multitude of other men who never know
what sickness is and never struggle against any physical
handicap. We have all the greater admiration for this little
man with his colossal achievement if we conclude that we
find in him one of the best examples in world history of the
triumph of the spirit over all physical disabilities in the per
sistent prosecution of his work without any thought of spar
ing himself because he was stricken down sometimes, or be
cause he was sick most of the time, or because he was not
as well as other men all the time. He did not lipid his life
of any account as dear unto himself as long as he might
accomplish his course and the ministry which he had
received from the Lord Jesus.32
3. Paul's Thorn in the Flesh. In the first verses of the
twelfth chapter of Second Corinthians Paul speaks of cer
tain ecstatic experiences he had had some fourteen years
before, and then he adds, "And by reason of the exceeding
greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted
overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a mes-
81 2 Cor. 1. 9.
82 Acts 20. 24.

THE APOSTLE 39
senger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted
overmuch. Concerning this thing I besought the Lord
thrice, that it might depart from me. And he hath said unto
me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made
perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather
glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest
upon me. Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in
injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for
Christ's sake : for when I am weak, then am I strong." 33
This is the only occurrence of the phrase "a thorn in the
flesh" in the Pauline epistles, and from this passage we
gather the following facts concerning it.
(1) It was some sort of an agonizing bodily pain. The
translation "thorn" probably is too mild for the Greek word
<t*.Aoi/>. It may be rather a "stake." Then the experience
would not be represented by the prick of a thorn or even
the pain caused by the deep piercing of a thorn which could
be extracted with more or less ease. It would be repre
sented better by the agony of the unfortunate wretch who
was impaled on a stake. It would stand for the most excru
ciating torture which a mortal might bear.
(2) It was recurrent or intermittent. Paul says that he
prayed three times concerning it. It would be natural to
conclude that these prayers were offered at the time of the
three illnesses of which we find explicit mention in the
epistles — the experience mentioned in this passage, the
sickness in Galatia, and the later sickness in Asia Minor, in
which Paul had received the sentence of death. We may
not be sure that these were the three occasions on which he
prayed, but it would appear probable if a certain malady
which seemed to him like a stake in the flesh had fallen upon
him three times.
(3) Possibly we may infer from this context that this
infirmity was an accompaniment or a result of certain

" 2 C°r- 12. 7-10.

40 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
ecstatic experiences in which Paul had had visions and
voices not granted to men in normal conditions. He had
been lifted at this time into the third heaven and might have
been in danger of being exalted overmuch.
(4) It would seem to be apparent also that there were cer
tain residual effects of this suffering, such as weakness and
mental depression.
There is another passage in the epistles which most
of the commentators are disposed to consider in connec
tion with Paul's "stake in the flesh." In writing to the
Galatians he said, "Ye know that because of an infirmity
of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you the first time:
and that which was a temptation to you in my flesh ye
despised not, nor rejected; but ye received me as an angel
of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where then is that gratulation
of yourselves? for I bear you witness, that, if possible, ye
would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me." 34
If the malady referred to here is the same as the stake in
the flesh mentioned in Second Corinthians, we learn the
following additional facts concerning it.
(5) It was a temptation to the Galatians to despise Paul
and to reject him and his message. The word which we
translate "reject" means, literally, to "spit out" or execrate
as an object of loathing or disgust.
We may conclude therefore, finally, that
(6) There was something objectively repulsive about this
disease. All of the earliest writers on the subject think of Paul's
thorn in the flesh as some form of bodily disease, and
modern thought seems to be tending back to that original
position. However, some other suggestions have been made
concerning it, and it may be well to notice them at this point :
(1) Roman Catholic authorities, such as Aquinas, Bell
armine, Gregory the Great, and the Venerable Bede, con-
34 Gal. 4. 13-15.

THE APOSTLE 41
eluded that it was some form of unclean thoughts or carnal
temptations which kept recurring to the apostle's mind and
which were recognized by him as messengers of Satan
to humiliate him and keep him dependent upon divine grace
at all times. The Vulgate translated oicokoif) ry oapici by
stimulus carnis, and that suggestion seems to have appealed
very forcibly to those who were under the rigors of monastic
discipline. Such an interpretation has been rightly called
"an outrage on the great apostle." It is wholly gratuitous
to assume that Paul was troubled in any such manner. The
tenor of all his epistles would lead us to believe that he lived
on a plane of lofty spiritual triumph over such things. He
claimed a charism of continence for himself, and we know
nothing in his self-revelation in his epistles or in his bio
graphy in the book of Acts to contradict this claim.
(2) It was but natural that the great reformers should
react from this Roman Catholic exegesis as from so many
other things connected with that church. Gerson and
Luther and Calvin said that the thorn in the flesh was not
carnal but spiritual in character. It might have included
such suggestions of Satan as shrinking from apostolic duties,
blasphemous thoughts, doubts, stings of conscience for the
past, despair for the present and the future. It would seem
to be sufficient to say of all these things that there is no hint
of them in our New Testament. Then, surely, Paul never
would have gloried in things like these. He would have
been heartily ashamed of them.
(3) Some of the still older writers — Chrysostom, Theo
doret, Theophylact, Augustine, Hilary, and others — thought
that all of these passages referred to the opposition and the
persecution of the Jews. Wherever Paul went this antagon
ism of his own countrymen was as a thorn in his side and
a stake in his flesh. To mention only one objection to this
suggestion, the first occurrence of this infirmity as mentioned
by Paul was ten years after his conversion, and there had
been a deal of persecution from the Jews before that.

42 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
(4) So we come back to some form of bodily disease for
the explanation of all the features included in Paul's descrip
tion of the stake in his flesh ; and we ask, "What form of
disease will meet most nearly all the requirements of the
case?" Here again many answers have been made to the
question :
(a) Tertullian and Jerome said that it was severe head
ache or earache, and the unbroken tradition in Asia Minor
coming down from the second century has been to that
effect. It is difficult, however, to see how such an affliction
would make Paul an object of contempt or of loathing to
the Galatians. They would be more likely to have sympathy
for such suffering than to find it repulsive to them.
(b) Professor Alexander suggests that Paul was subject
to Malta Fever or Mediterranean fever, and he tries to show
that the three illnesses of Paul were coincident with his
exposure in the regions affected by this disease and that his
symptoms were the symptoms easily traced in this fever
to-day. It is accompanied with terrible headaches, rheu
matic-like pains and neuralgias, nocturnal deliriums, and
consequent impairment of the memory. After a first occur
rence it is apt to be repeated. The hair may fall out and
there may be disagreeable skin eruptions.
(c) Professor Ramsay had conjectured malarial fever.
This fever comes in recurrent attacks and it is accompanied
with a severe headache which is said by those who have
experienced it to be "like a red-hot bar thrust through the
forehead." Upon the basis of certain inscriptions found in
Asia Minor Ramsay argues that anyone with this affliction
was considered under the curse of God. These suggestions
of fever seem to many minds to fall short of real adequacy
to meet the requirements of the case. Either Paul's lan
guage is unusually extravagant in his description of his
disease or these fevers are too mild in their character to
represent the agony, the loathing, and the well-nigh fatal
result of Paul's infirmity.

THE APOSTLE 43
(d) Acute ophthalmia. Farrar, Howson, Lewin,
Plumptre, and many others think that Paul's trouble was
with his eyes. They remind us of the following facts : (a)
Paul was blinded on the way to Damascus by a light beyond
the brightness of the sun. His eyes were weakened by this
shock and never may have recovered from it in later life.
(b) The sojourn in Arabia immediately after the Damascus
experience would have tended to develop any inflammation
of the eyes, and such trouble may have been aggravated
there in the dazzling lights of the desert, (c) All travelers
in the Orient can testify to the loathsomeness and repulsive-
ness of those who are suffering from the acute stages of this
disease, (d) Paul says that the Galatians overcame their
temptation in his flesh, and instead of rejecting him with
loathing they would have plucked out their eyes and given
them to him. Does not this language suggest that he needed
better eyes than he had, and that in their great devotion to
him they were ready to supply his need with their own eyes,
if that had been possible? (e) Further evidence of his de
fective eyesight is furnished in the fact that Paul could not
recognize the high priest across the council chamber at the
time of his defense before the Sanhedrin. (f) This may
account also for his constant use of an amanuensis in the
writing of his epistles, (g) In the adding of a salutation
with his own hand at the end of the Epistle to the Galatians
Paul calls attention to the fact that he writes with large
letters; and we are told that these large letters are such as
a half-blind man would be apt to use. (h) This disease in
its acute stages produces a pain like a thorn in the flesh, and
sometimes it causes brain troubles and epileptic symptoms.
Since our three greatest biographers of Paul have agreed
upon this suggestion, it would seem that there must be com
paratively good ground for it, and some of the reasons just
mentioned have some pertinency. We can believe that
Paul's eyes were not of the best. He was a great student
and reader all his life, and students seldom have the most

44 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
effective eyesight. Such a trouble, however, would be
chronic rather than intermittent; and we would be slow to
think that Paul's eyes continually were in such a condition
as to excite a feeling of loathing or of disgust in those with
whom he associated or to whom he preached.
(e) Epilepsy. Some first-class authorities have been
inclined to find Paul's thorn in the flesh in occasional epi
leptic seizures. Among these we may name Ewald, Farrar,
Hausrath, Holsten, Hofmann, Krenkel, Lightfoot, Schaff,
and Schmiedel. In simple and devout minds there is a nat
ural feeling of revulsion against such a suggestion as this.
They think they could not believe in the unique greatness of
the apostle any longer, if they found that he was subject to
fits of this sort ; but the authorities whom we have mentioned
find no such difficulty. They have no trouble in believing in
Paul's extraordinary inspiration and unparalleled intellect
and incomparable achievement even though he were an epi
leptic. They find parallels in the trances of Socrates, the
fits of Mohammed, the faintings and ecstasies of Saint
Bernard, Saint Francis, and Saint Catherine of Siena, and
in the mystical pathological experiences of Ansgdr, George
Fox, Jacob Boehme, David Joris, and Swedenborg. Other
distinguished epileptics in church and world history have
been Julius Caesar, Augustine, King Alfred, Savonarola,
Pascal, Petrarch, Moliere, Handel, Peter the Great and
Napoleon Bonaparte.
The tradition is that when they complained to Abraham
Lincoln that General Grant was drinking too much, Lincoln
answered: "Please find out what brand of whisky it is
which he uses. I would like to give some to the rest of my
generals." He preferred national victories with the rumor of
some personal failings to a record of unblemished reputa
tions and unbroken defeats. After looking over a list of such
great names in political and religious leadership, in poetry,
music, and drama, in philosophy and theology, one wonders
if even epilepsy would be too high a price to pay for admis-

THE APOSTLE

45

sion into such illustrious companionship. At least it is clear
that such an affliction is not incompatible with surpassing
clearness of intellect and all the unusual accomplishments
of great genius.
On the positive side, those who hold that Paul was of
a highly nervous temperament, subject to pathological dis
turbances and epileptic seizures, declare that here we have
the explanation of all the features connected with Paul's
description of his thorn in the flesh, (a) It is recurrent.
It may not be felt through long intervals and then may come
back unexpectedly after the lapse of years, (b) It is humil
iating. While it lasts the victim is unconscious and help
less, (c) It is repulsive to those who look on. (d) It is
frequently accompanied with visions and ecstasies, (e) It
was believed by the Jews to be a visitation from Satan.
(f) It was a custom among the ancients to spit out at the
sight of an epileptic seizure, to express their abhorrence or
to ward off the demonic possession. We recall that Paul
wrote to the Galatians concerning his infirmity, "Ye did
not despise it, nor did ye spit it out."
(/) Professor Herzog in arguing against this assumption
of epilepsy as the recurrent malady of Paul, concludes for
himself that Paul's affliction consisted of "neurasthenic con
ditions in consequence of repeated overexertions and an
excessive strain upon the nerve system, combined with
periodic nervous pains."
What shall we conclude in the face of this conflict of opin
ions among the writers on this subject? First, that we are
not likely to reach any certainty in the matter at this late
date. If the facts were at all clear, there would have been a
more general agreement. Second, while the exact nature of
the malady may be undetermined, almost all would agree that
Paul was subject to some physical infirmity which he
esteemed a great handicap but for the endurance of which
he had sufficient grace, and in spite of which he did his
marvelous work with unabating zeal and unflagging energy.

46 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Does not such a man compel our admiration all the more, a
man with some fearful physical handicap who is spiritually
strongest just when he is physically weakest, a man who
glories in the grace which enables him to triumph all the time
in spite of all the infirmities in his flesh?
How, then, shall we picture to ourselves the Paul who
wrote these epistles ? A short, almost dwarfish-looking man,
with a bald head and a long gray beard; a little stooped,
and with eyes rather weakened by much reading and con
stant exposure to the fierce Oriental sun; subject to a
physical infirmity which most men would have considered
a sufficient excuse for incapacity but which he made only an
incentive to greater spiritual strengthening ; swarthy, full of
energy, full of grace! Having suggested these things con
cerning the personal preparation and the personal appear
ance of the apostle Paul, do we know what manner of man
he was ? By no means ! There may have been a thousand
Jews with a personal preparation like that of Paul who were
not in the least like him in any other respect. There may
have been multitudes of Jews who resembled Paul in their
personal appearance and who never suggested in their lives
any approximation to his mighty personality. The secret of
Paul's unique career is to be found in his spirit and not in
his outward appearance or the circumstances of his environ
ment and education. We turn next to a short study of his
personal characteristics, knowing that in these we will come
closer to the apostle than as yet we have been able.
III. Personal Characteristics
Schiirer says of Paul, "He was the most living and mobile
spirit the world has ever seen." Shaw adds to this state
ment: "He was so versatile in his gifts and interests that
we have scarcely noted one distinguishing trait when we
feel we must set another beside it that looks like its opposite.
His personality was magnetic ; he attracted and repelled with
equal force. Many never omitted to notice his insignificant

THE APOSTLE 47
stature, his marred visage, his weak and often distorted
frame, his unpolished and provincial speech; but to others
the bright spirit, the tender heart, and the shining light of
the inspired eyes so transfigured him that they saw no
defect, and were ready to receive him as an angel of God.
He boasted of being both Jew and Gentile, and he some
times showed the narrow strength of the one, and sometimes
the cultured humanism of the other. He loved perfectly,
and he also hated with all his might. At times he soothes
with the gentle touches of a friend, but he can also lash
with the fiery indignation of a foe. He is equally to be
dreaded by an adversary when he endeavors to persuade
and when he determines to confound. There are moments
when he is prudent and cautious to a degree; anon he is
impetuous and impulsive to the very verge of rashness.
Moods of passion and of peace, like the changes of April
skies, alternate in his life. Now he is so moved with anxiety
that he cannot rest or restrain his tears; again, he is so
confident in God that no disaster or infirmity can make him
dismayed; now he is humble, self-abased, seemingly abject
in his own eyes, and again he is radiant and jubilant, abso
lutely confident in the power and triumph of the indwell
ing Christ. One wonders if the same man speaks, and
whether a single soul could ever compass in its experience
such heights and depths." 36 We shall attempt no adequate
characterization of such a many-sided personality as that
of the apostle Paul. We shall point out only a few of his
more prominent qualities of heart and life.
1. Sensibility, Sympathy, Love, and Hate. Paul is a
man of tender sensibilities, of boundless affection for his
friends and his converts and all who need his help and his
gospel. His heart overflows with love to all alike. His
sympathies are always active and always urgent. He is
ready to spend and be spent in the service of the race. He
is an ardent spirit, never satisfied with half-way measures,
* Shaw, The Pauline Epistles, pp. 490, 491.

48 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
pressing on to the uttermost of sacrifice and devotion.
Who are these people for whom he suffers so unsparingly
and toils so terribly? Are they poor slaves and old women
or are they rulers of the synagogue and men in high official
position in the state? It matters not who they are, since
Christ died for them. All are alike dear to Paul. He prays
for them, labors with them, pleads, chides, is instant in
season and out of season for their salvation and their
growth in grace.
He was an example of perfect love, not put on or pro
fessed, but burning, unquenchable, inexhaustible. It con
strained him, consumed him. He counted not his life dear
unto himself, but laid it freely with every dawn upon the
altar of sacrifice. He loved his way into the hearts of men.
His love begot love in others. People were devoted to him
because they were so sure of his devotion to them. Young
men especially were attracted to him. They were ready to
leave friends and home and every other prospect in life to
attach themselves to him and to share in all the hardships
of his missionary career. Where he led, Timothy, Titus,
Luke, and others were ready to follow. With him they
could endure anything for the sake of the cause. It was
so with multitudes of others wherever Paul went. They
forsook their ancient faiths, they suffered social ostracism
and civil persecution, they contributed out of deep poverty
and beyond their means, they proved their loyalty without
counting the cost. This little man with the great heart, to
whom love was no profession but a possession, bound
hearts to him with stronger bands than those of steel.
He had marvelous results in his ministry. He appealed
to Jews and Greeks and barbarians ; and men of every race
and every class in society were converted and became trusted
champions of his cause. They would have plucked out
their eyes for him. They could not do enough for him.
They wept when he left them, and rejoiced that he was
coming to them again. How courteous Paul was with all

THE APOSTLE 49
these people ! How tender in his treatment of them ! They
never doubted the absolute sincerity of his interest in them
and his love for them. Their faith in him led many to
faith in his message. Their faith in him made them faithful
through life.
However, with all this womanly tenderness and love, we
must not forget that Paul united the opposite character
istics of inflexible severity and manly hatred of all which
set itself in opposition to his Master and Lord. A volume
could be written upon the manliness of the apostle Paul.
We pass by all the proofs of it at this time and notice only
how Paul's anger flamed forth upon occasion. Love is not
inconsistent with hate. It necessitates hate. John Morley
has said that an active hatred of cruelty, injustice, and
oppression is perhaps the chief characteristic of a good
man.36 Paul had this hatred. He was angry with injustice
always. We know that, because we see that he was ready
to demand his just rights upon all proper occasions.
The Philippian magistrates sent word that Paul and Silas
might be released from their imprisonment; but Paul stood
on his dignity. He was not willing to go away quietly
from that prison into which he had been thrown after an
illegal scourging and without a trial, with all lowliness and
meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing those Roman
magistrates with love. Not he ! His eyes blazed with indig
nation, and he said to that trembling and fearing jailer:
"They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men that are
Romans, and every time that the thongs struck my back
I said to myself that I would make them smart for it when
I had the chance; and they have cast us into prison, and
do they now cast us out privily ? Nay verily ; but let them
come themselves and bring us out."37
There in the council at Jerusalem Paul declared that he
had lived before God in all good conscience until that day,
" Life of Gladstone, vol. i, p. 196.
37 Acts 16. 37.

50 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
and the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood
near him to smite him on the mouth. Then in continued
good conscience Paul burst out into unhesitating denuncia
tion, "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: and sittest
thou to judge me according to the law, and commandest
me to be smitten contrary to the law?"38 He said after
ward that he did not know that he was talking to the high
priest, but we fail to find any record that he took back
anything he had said about him. He did say that the law
in Exodus forbade one to speak evil of a ruler of the
people; but we judge that he felt that he had not been
speaking evil but telling the truth about this one. His
anger was hot against the illegality and the injustice of his
treatment, and he felt that his language had been justified
by that treatment.
Paul's anger blazed just as fiercely against his antagonists
in the work of the gospel and the perverters of the truth
of God. There was that sorcerer Elymas who tried to rob
Paul of his first illustrious convert, the proconsul Sergius
Paulus. Paul faced Elymas and, filled with the Holy Spirit,
he said to him, "Thou son of the devil, thou enemy of all
righteousness, . . . thou shalt be blind . . . for a sea
son !"39 Paul had poor eyes himself. He had been blinded
once by the revelation of the truth. If he had suffered
like that in getting at the truth as it is in Jesus, he had no
hesitancy in inflicting blindness on any other man in hope
of the same result with him; and if in the case of Elymas
it did not result in his accepting the truth, he deserved to
be blind anyway.
Paul was just as angry with Peter when Peter did not
walk uprightly according to the truth of the gospel there
at Antioch ; and he withstood Peter face to face and before
the whole congregation he accused Peter of hypocrisy and

" Acts 23. 3.
"Acts 13. 9-11.

THE APOSTLE 51
disloyalty and he declared that Peter made Christ the min
ister of sin and so made void the grace of God.40
Paul did not mince his words on that occasion, any more
than he did when he wrote more deliberately to the Gala
tians, "If an angel from heaven should preach to you any
gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him
be anathema ["let him be accursed, let him be damned"].
As we have said before, so now I say again, If any
man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which
ye have received, let him be damned." 41 Our translation,
"Let him be anathema," does not sound so badly to our
ears, but to those who first read his words they meant just
what we mean when we say, "Let him be damned!" and
therefore that might be the more faithful translation.
There is something of "grim ferocity" about this lan
guage. There is nothing delicate in it. It is offensive to
white-fingered and white-cheeked and white-livered people
who sit in their easy-chairs and read these burning words
to-day. They blush when they read them, and they blush
more when they read that passage farther on in the Epistle
to the Galatians in which Paul says : "I wish that those who
unsettled you on the subject of circumcision would go off
and castrate themselves !42 Possibly in that way they would
lose all further interest in the subject." They think that
such language ought not to be used in the presence of ladies.
Paul was not thinking about the ladies when he dictated
those words. He was hot with anger against the Judaizers
who were making trouble for him through all the Gentile
field. He had to say something which would stop it; and
he did. His righteous anger brought about a righteous
result. Paul was every inch a man. He could fight manfully
wherever any principle which was worth fighting for was
"Gal. 2. 11-21.
« Gal. 1. 8, 9.
"Gal. 5. 11.

52 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
involved; arid he never fought as one that beateth the air.
He hit hard and he hit where it hurt. He was a little man,
but nobody could run over him without noticing it. He
called attention to the fact with the most forcible language
and the most forcible action at his command. In the Roman
prison cell he wrote to Timothy to come quickly to see
him again before he died. He had almost finished the. last
letter he ever wrote, as far as we know; but before he
ended it he said, "Alexander the coppersmith did me much
evil: the Lord will render to him according to his works:
of whom do thou also beware; for he greatly withstood
our words.43 It was one last flash of the old hot anger
against the enemies of the truth for the propagation of
which he had given his life.
Did we say that Paul was flaming with love, unquench
able, inexhaustible, consuming love, which won the love
of others wherever he went? We say now that Paul was
flaming with hate, ardent, inflexible, consuming hate, which
won for him the hatred of multitudes wherever he went.
There is no inconsistency between these two facts. The one
necessitated the other; for Paul loved men and hated sin.
He loved the good and true and pure, and that meant that
he hated the bad and the false and the impure. With the
intensity of his hatred he appealed to men and women with
red blood in their veins just as much as by the ardor of his
love he appealed to men and women with the milk of human
kindness within them. He was so human in his likes and
dislikes that some people loved him and some people hated
him, as they will love and hate any genuine soul in a world
full of shams and the half-sincere. He himself was a flam
ing fire of love and hate, and he either scorched and blasted
those with whom he came into contact or he kindled cor
responding affection in their hearts.
2. Humility and Self-Assertion. We notice next another
43 2 Tim. 4. 14, 15.

THE APOSTLE 53
apparent contradiction in this complex character — the seem
ing inconsistency between his humility and his self-asser
tion. Saul had said to Samuel in the old narrative, "Am
I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel?
and my family the least of all the families of the tribe
of Benjamin?" 44 Yet when he was made king we remem
ber what a royal soul he was. Paul had been named after
him, and when he changed his name from Saul to Paul it
may have been in the spirit of deepest humility which char
acterized the youthful Saul, for "Paul" means "the little
one." He said, "I am the chief of sinners." 45 He said,
"I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called
an apostle." 46 He said, "I am less than the least of all
the saints." 47 He said, "Who is weak, and I am not
weak?" 48 He was the servant of Jesus Christ and he was
at the service of all whom Christ loved.
He was humble in spirit, ready to acknowledge that his
speech upon occasion had been hasty and open to mis
conception, and therefore willing to take time and pains to
set things right again. He was prepared to make conces
sions to natural prejudices and to put himself into com
promising situations as long as fundamental principles were
not involved. Yet at the same time he never allowed his
sympathies to permit him or anyone else to question his
authority in its rightful field or his superiority when his
apostleship was concerned. When self-assertion seemed
necessary he never hesitated on any ground of undue mod-
-esty or false humility. He set himself up as a model for
all his converts everywhere. He said to them, "Be ye
imitators together of me." 49 He said to them, "The things
which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in
me, these things do." 50 He knew that he behaved himself

« 1 Sam. 9. 21. 48 2 Cor. n. 29.
45 1 Tim. 1. 15. "Phil. 3. 17.
48 1 Cor. 15. 9. 60 Phil. 4. 9.
47 Eph. 3. 8.

54 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
holily and righteously and unblamably in all things and
that his converts could find no higher exemplification of
all the truth he taught than his life would furnish them.
Yet with all this self-assertion of his realization of the
ideal in his religious experience there is the consummate
humility which alone could make it possible. He says, "I
live, yet not I. I have been crucified with Christ; and
it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me." 51
Paul knew tha): he was the superior of all the apostles.
He knew that he had a better conception of the scope of
the gospel and that he had made a better record in the
preaching of it than any of them. He said, "In nothing
was I behind the very chiefest apostles." 52 Yet with all
this self-assertion of his unquestioned superiority there was
the humility which made him great. He said, "I labored
more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace
of God which was with me." 53 Paul was too sincere a
man not to recognize the plain facts of the case — that he
had no equal in the early church in the clearness of his
insight and the completeness of his achievement. Yet he
was too humble a man to believe that any credit belonged
to him rather than to the abounding grace of God which
alone had made it possible. In himself he was nothing,
but he could do all things through the Christ who strength
ened him.
3. Courage and Patience. In this consciousness we find
the secret of the courage and the patience which were so
characteristic of Paul in all his ministry. He said, "I am
not ashamed of the gospel." 54 and he never was ashamed
of anything which the gospel gave him to do. He walked
through the world with brow unabashed and with the firm
step of a conqueror. He was God's nobleman, in the service
of heaven. He stood before the crowned monarchs of
earth as their teacher, accuser, superior; and they trembled
61 Gal. 2. 20. ss 1 Cor. 15. 10.
62 2 Cor. 12. 11. "Rom. I. 16.

THE APOSTLE 55
before the power of his words. He met the philosophers
in Athens with a higher truth than their philosophies had
dreamed of ; and some of them accepted and believed. He
faced the mobs of Jerusalem, Ephesus, and Philippi with
fearless bravery; and they always felt that they had to do
with a dauntlessly royal spirit when they tried to lay hands
upon him. He was a man always. He was a hero every
where. He had the absolute courage of his convictions,
and there are not many men in any century or in all the
centuries of whom that can be said in truth.
It was an act of supreme courage with which he began
his Christian career. We read the account of his conver
sion and then the statement follows that straightway in the
synagogues of Damascus he proclaimed that Jesus was the
Son of God. All who heard him were amazed, for this was
the man who had been aflame with zeal against the Chris
tians, making havoc of all who called upon the name he now
proclaimed as divine. Paul knew there would be multitudes
everywhere who would say that he was a turncoat and a
traitor, but he never hesitated on that account. With com
pleteness of decision he espoused the new cause with all the
fervor he had displayed in the old, and then without waver
ing he fought the good fight to the end. Henceforth his
most bitter antagonists were his old friends. Naturally
enough they hated him with a deadly hatred, and they did
all they could to hinder his work and to rob him of the
fruits of his labors, and they lay in wait for him to assassin
ate him. He was in peril from his own countrymen all the
time. He was on his way to Jerusalem for the last time, and in
every city the Holy Spirit testified to him that bonds and
afflictions awaited him there, but Paul said, "I am ready
not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the
name of the Lord Jesus." 5B Many a man would have fal-
" Acts 21. 13.

56 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
tered somewhere along the line subject to continuous fusil
lade and enfilade ; but Paul never flinched. He went straight
forward through the midst of his foes, never swerving for
a moment, never compromising at any point. He antagon
ized the prejudices of the Jews, he trampled upon their con
ventions, he outraged their sensibilities, he defied their con
servatism. He was ready to do and to die in behalf of the
truth he upheld. God had not given to him the spirit of
a coward. If John Mark was a coward, let him go home
to his mother ; but never let him ask to go with Paul again
until he had proven that he had more courage than a mouse.
The apostle of the lion heart would have nothing to do
with a spirit of tearfulness. He exhorts Timothy to stal-
wartness of conduct and character; and he gave to all of
his disciples and converts an example of unflinching fidelity
to the cause.
His dreams at night reproduced his meditations by day.
At Corinth the Jews had driven Paul out of their synagogue,
and doubtless there were many to counsel more moderation
in his manner of preaching unpalatable truth, but in a vision
of the night the Lord stood by him and said, "Be not afraid,
but speak and hold not thy peace." 56 At Jerusalem the mob
had threatened to tear Paul to pieces, and the soldiers had
rescued him and shut him up in their prison ; and that night
the Lord stood by him, and said: "Courage, Paul! Cheer
up ! All that you have suffered here at Jerusalem you shall
also suffer at Rome." 57 In the Euraquilo storm, when
everybody believed that all would be lost, Paul said to them,
"There stood by me this night an angel of God whose I
am, whom also I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul." B8 Paul
never was afraid, not even at night, not even in his dreams.
He was fearful that his converts might not be steadfast.
He was fearful that he himself might not give all that was
66 Acts 18. 9.
67 Acts 23. 11.
68 Acts 27. 23, 24.

THE APOSTLE 57
in him of strength of mind and body and will to his Master;
but he never was fearful of any danger or any opposition
of devils or men.
They stoned Paul at Lystra and dragged him out of the
city, supposing that he was dead. When he returned to con
sciousness he rose to his feet and, instead of running away
as fast as he could, he "entered into the city" 59 again. Then,
after going on to Derbe with Barnabas, "they returned to
Lystra." 60 Lystra had no terrors for Paul, even though
he just had been stoned nearly to death in that place. He
wrote to the Corinthians that he would tarry at Ephesus
until Pentecost, and he gave them two reasons for that deci
sion: "A great door and effectual is opened unto me, and
there are many adversaries." 61 Most of us would have
said, "But there are many adversaries." Paul said "and,"
and we can imagine the smile of satisfaction with which he
dictated that statement. He enjoyed a good fight, or,
whether he enjoyed it or not, he was a good fighter.
Much of the material in the Pauline epistles was occa
sioned by some controversy, and there never is a hint any
where in them that Paul is willing to shade the truth in the
least degree in order to curry favor with any opponent.
He stands by his guns. His courage mounts as perils
thicken. There were dangers and disappointments all along
the way. There was suffering and sacrifice of every sort.
There were incredible toils and continual hardships.
Through them all Paul approved himself as a good soldier
of Jesus Christ. When Paul was converted and called to
be the chosen vessel of the Lord in the campaign for the
world's evangelization the message given him through
Ananias was, "I will show him how many things he must
suffer for my name's sake." 62 Paul foresaw the suffering
and deliberately committed himself to his career. He ran
the race set before him without asking that the race course
69 Acts 14. 20. M 1 Cor. 16. 9.
80 Acts 14. 21. K Acts 9. 16,

58 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
be swept clear of all pebbles or sharp stones or thorns. His
vigor never abated. His pace never lessened. He never
paused for the filing of a complaint or for anything else.
He finished his course with unrelaxing effort and undimin
ished zeal. His patience and perseverance never have been
surpassed. Have his devotion and consecration ever had a
parallel ?
If any man think himself qualified to do it, let him sit and
sneer at the apostle Paul; but he challenges a comparison
between himself and the apostle when he does it. His little
head and his little heart and his little record of achievement
look puny and pitiable by the side of those of Paul. We
think that Paul might well say to-day what he said to the
Corinthians long ago, "We are not bold to number or com
pare ourselves with certain of them that commend them
selves : but they themselves, measuring themselves by them
selves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are with
out understanding." 63 "All the peaks soar, but one the rest
excels" — Paul of the high heart, Paul the unafraid.
4. Consecration and Devotion. Paul's courage was born
of his faith and devotion. His consecration was complete.
He was on the Lord's side for good and for all. His faith
was unfailing that the Lord was on his side for good and
for all. "Perhaps in all human story there never has been
a life that surpassed Paul's in its abandonment to one great
purpose. He could say as almost none other ever could,
'This one thing I do.' The love of Christ, the service of
Christ to which that love inspired, and the consuming
desire to be like Christ, were the master-impulses of his life.
No earthly terror or prize or ambition ever could draw him
from his allegiance." 64 He could say, "For me to live is
Christ." 65 He was the slave of Jesus Christ, a man of
magnificent powers, all of them utterly consecrated to the
63 2 Cor. 10. 12.
84 Shaw, op. cit., p. 489.
"Phil. 1. 21.

THE APOSTLE 59
service of the cross — intellect, affections, will, body, soul,
spirit, wholly given to his Lord. His heart was undivided.
His eye was single. To his mind the plan of salvation was
unique, supreme, all-sufficient. He saw the Christian sys
tem clearly and he saw it whole. He never attempted to
serve two masters. It never entered his heart to think of
such a thing. With him it was Christ first, Christ last,
Christ all the time. His one aim was to represent Christ
worthily in the world and to the world.
The other disciples had asked the Master, "What then
shall we have?"66 When Paul once had had a vision of
Jesus his only question was, "What shall I do, Lord?"67
Thereafter he lived the faith he preached. His Christian
character was his Christian walk. Every step he took was
in the way of the Lord's commandments. There never was
a better example of concentration of effort and consecra
tion of soul. He could apply to his life the words of the
forty-fourth psalm, "For thy sake are we killed all the day
long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."68
He was in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes,
in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in
fastings, in obscurity, in poverty, in dishonor of evil reports;
and through it all he was as true to his mission and his
Master as though it cost him nothing at all. Then there were
days of peace when he was flattered by friends and glorified
by his devoted followers, and he felt that he possessed all
things and stood in need of nothing; and he was just as
humble in spirit and faithful in service as before. Circum
stances did not change him. He was true-hearted and whole
hearted to the end.
5. Saintliness. It follows from what we have said that
Paul was characterized by saintliness of conduct and char
acter beyond any other of the more prominent heroes of the
M Matt. 19. 27.
87 Acts 22. 10.
88 Rom. 8. 36.

60 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Christian faith. We know more about Paul's inner life than
we know of that of any other Christian in the early cen
turies. There is a degree of self-revelation in the epistles
which has no parallel in Christian literature until Augustine
wrote his Confessions. When we compare the Confessions
of Augustine with the epistles of Paul we see at once the
striking and almost irreconcilable difference between the
two. Augustine's spiritual autobiography is rightly named.
It is a series of confessions of shortcomings and failures
and defects, with occasional glimpses of profound philos
ophy and constant longings for holiness unattained. Now
it is a strange fact that in all the epistles of Paul there are
no such confessions of spiritual inconsistencies and defi
ciencies and delinquencies as we find in the lives of most of
the saints. Paul refers to himself and to his manner of life
as a Christian and to his ministry as an apostle again and
again, both in his speeches recorded in the book of Acts
and in his epistles, and never once does he express any peni
tence for wrongdoing of any sort. He was the chief of
sinners before he was converted. He acknowledges that
fact without any hesitation. After his conversion there is
no acknowledgment of sin. On the contrary, in passage
after passage he confidently affirms that he has been an
example to all believers in purity of motive and integrity of
life. He appeals to his converts again and again to testify
to the holiness and unblamableness of his behavior among
them at all times.
If the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans may
be taken as a picture of the apostle's experience as a Phari
see and before his conversion, the eighth chapter of the same
epistle just as certainly ought to be received as a faithful
portrayal of the apostle's experience after his conversion.
It begins with "no condemnation" for those who walk not
after the flesh but after the Spirit, and it ends with "no
separation" between the Christ and those who are more than
conquerors through him. It is no ideal picture of an impos-

THE APOSTLE 61
sible state of grace. It had been realized in Paul himself.
At the point of loyalty, devotion, and consecration his con
science was clear. He never had any condemnation be
cause of any conscious deficiency in these. From the mo
ment of his conversion to the day of his death he seems
never to have known any separation in mind and heart, in
soul and spirit from his Lord. In him Paul found sufficient
grace and comfort and salvation. In him Paul gained the
victory all the time and was made more than conqueror.
If Paul had backslidden at any time, he is too honest a
soul to have concealed the fact. If he had been conscious
of falling into disfavor with the God whom he served or
the Christ whom he proclaimed, he could not have repressed
the acknowledgment of it in some one of his utterances or
his writings. His theology is the outgrowth of his own
experience. In some one of the theological epistles he would
have made room in his system for failures which seemed
to him inevitable. He never does make any allowance for
sin. In some one of his more personal and intimate epistles
he would have been sure to let slip the fact that he himself
had not met his ideal. No confession of that sort ever
escapes him. There was no such confession to make.
We must not forget in this connection what we have said
concerning Paul's humility. He has no spirit of Pharisaic
self-congratulation. His testimony is always to the glory of
his Lord and to the sufficiency of his grace. It is always,
"Not I, but Christ." There is no proud boasting of his own
achievement. There is only humble testimony to the salva
tion he had found in the gospel. Paul had found salvation
from sin, and he believed that it was to the glory of his
Master and for the good of his fellow men that he should
give continuous, humble testimony to that fact. That testi
mony occurs in page after page of his epistles. Why should
any one hesitate to accept it ? Why should any one be dis
posed to discount it in any particular? Why may we not
conclude that in Paul we have one magnificent example of

62 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
the all-sufficiency of divine grace to meet every human need?
Then why may we not conclude to our comfort that what
was possible with Paul has been made possible to many
others of the more obscure followers of the revelation of
grace in the gospel? There in the beginning books of the
New Testament we find the picture of Jesus, the Saviour.
In the Pauline epistles we fin,d a picture worthy of a place in
the same volume — that of Paul the saint. It is to the great
est glory of Jesus that his life and death were instrumental
in giving to the world such a character and such a life as
that of Paul. The sainthood of Paul is a worthy proof of
the Saviourhood of Jesus.
6. Imperialism. Paul was no Galilsean peasant but a
citizen of the Roman empire. His outlook always was
imperial. No other disciple or apostle at the time of his
call had such a wide field opened before him. He set out
to be a world conqueror. He took the world for his parish
from the very beginning. He was a little man with a great
soul, like John Wesley. He never was satisfied with the
territories traversed or the work already done. He always
planned wider itineraries and greater things. He was the
incarnation of enterprise. He had a boundless ambition.
His plans always outran his possibilities. He dreamed of
a kingdom, world-wide and eternal. No other apostle had
such an imperial program. No other apostle did so much
to realize such a program. It was his imperialism which
made Paul the greatest missionary the Christian Church
has produced.
"He is preeminently and irresistibly dominated by the
impulse of travel, which betokens the true missionary nature.
It is 'ever onward' with such a temper. He has something
of the insatiability of the great conqueror, whose hunger
for new territories is whetted as with demoniac power by
every fresh conquest. As Jesus's leading trait is the shep
herd's feeling, so Paul's is the missionary impulse. Every
where he is only on the way ; he has but one thought— to

THE APOSTLE 63
make the word speed on swiftly, while his eagerness for
travel only grows with time. He scales the snowy heights
of Taurus, whence he is drawn to the valleys of Lycaonia.
He travels on to the /Egean, where in a vision a man of
Macedonia appears to him and cries : 'Come over and help
us!' He comes to Corinth, where ships sail to Italy; and
straightway he writes to Rome, as always in his prayers
making request, "if by any means now at length he may
be prospered by the will of God to come unto them." 69
Voices across the sea call to him, 'Come' ; in hours of soli
tude he thinks of those 'who have not heard.' This cry of
'Ever onward' is the special watchword of his life. He is
led and borne everywhere by the prophetic word: 'How
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bring
eth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good
tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto
Zion, Thy God reigneth !' 70 These words of Isaiah led
him on his journeyings. Many a time he looks back with
pride upon the distance he has come, and boasts that the
triumphal procession in which Christ leads him through
the streets of the world leaves behind it the savor of his
knowledge in every place like incense." 71
Paul founded churches wherever he went, and he estab
lished them so firmly that they all stood when he had gone.
His desire was to press on into places where Christ had not
been preached as yet. He would have gone everywhere as
a pioneer missionary, if that had been possible to one man
in one lifetime. His church imperialism and his insatiable
missionary enthusiasm were born of his theological uni
versalism. He believed that it was the will of God that all
men were to be saved, and he believed that Jesus would
never look upon the travail of his soul and be satisfied until

• Rom. 1. 9.
70 Rom. 10. 15; Isa. 52. 7.
71 Hausrath, Times of the Apostles, vol. iii, p. 133.

64 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
that goal had been reached. Therefore he claimed all the
nations for his Lord.
He realized that the Gentiles must be freed from the Jew
ish yoke before they would be tempted to come to Christ.
Therefore he was the apostle of freedom from the old
ordinances unto all liberty of the new life. If he were liv
ing to-day, he never would attempt to force an Occidental
Christianity upon the Orient. He would leave every nation
free to develop a Christianity of its own type, as long as
it was true to the fundamentals of the common faith. He
knew that a world-wide church could not be a church of
universal uniformity. It would represent unity-in-difference
— unity in essentials with widest liberty in everything else.
We are just coming back in this century to the sanity and
the clarity of Paul's vision in these things. The church is
beginning to realize that the one church of the Christ which
is to conquer the world need not be one in creed or in
customs as long as it is one in loyalty to the Lord. With
Paul's universalistic outlook there is of necessity something
of Paul's breadth of tolerance and universal charity.
7. Summary. Can we form now any clear conception
of this marvelous man? He was small of stature and weak
in appearance but compounded all of pluck. He may have
been feeble with fever at times, or he may have suffered
with some chronic complaint, or he may have been subject
to recurrent attacks, but nevertheless he must have had a
physical fiber in him which was capable of most extraor
dinary endurance. As a mere physical achievement his life-
work seldom has been equaled among men. The secret
of his career is to be found in his indomitable soul and his
complete consecration. Difficulties might multiply, friends
might dissuade, everything might seem to be in opposition,
and yet when Paul saw his duty clearly set before him he
went straight forward without swerving.
He had something of the serene indifference to all conse
quences involved in his obedience to the law of his Lord

THE APOSTLE 65
which is characteristic of the ocean tides and the stellar
courses. And with joy the stars perform their shining
And the sea its long moon-silvered roll;
For self -poised they live, nor pine with noting
All the fever of some differing soul.
Bounded by themselves and unregardful,
In what state God's other works may be,
In their own tasks all their powers pouring,
These attain the mighty life you see.
When Matthew Arnold asks how his own soul may
become "vast" like these, the answer given is, "Live as they."
Paul lived as they, in the absoluteness of his obedience and
the singleness of his devotion. Paul attained a "mighty
life" because he was a man of mighty powers concentrated
upon a single aim. That aim was the conversion of men
to the practice of the holy life consequent upon a genuine
faith in his risen and triumphant Lord. That made him
the world's greatest missionary.
He was of a highly nervous temperament, capable of
ecstasies and visions, and of the most tender sensibilities,
capable of ardent love and fervent hate. He had as keen
an intellect as Alexander. He was as courteous and gentle
manly as Julius Caesar. He was as great a leader of men
as Napoleon Bonaparte. He has done as much to mold
the history of the succeeding centuries as any or all of these.
He was the most original and creative mind in the early
church. He was the most able and the most efficient of all
the apostles. In religion and theology and practical affairs
he is the most outstanding and commanding personality the
Christian faith has produced.
If we knew only what he had done, we would be disposed
to give him a foremost place in church and world history.
If we had only his biography in the book of Acts, we would
have been certain of his preeminent position for all time.
However, we are more than fortunate in having Paul's

66 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
autobiography in the epistles. We not only know what he
did but we have a large part of what he wrote. It is to this
invaluable treasure that we turn next, for a general view of
Paul's writings.

CHAPTER II
THE EPISTLES

CHAPTER II
THE EPISTLES
I. Form
i. Uniform Outline. Generally speaking, there is a uni
form outline in the Pauline epistles. We have, first, the )
greeting which frequently sounds a keynote for the whole
following discussion. This is succeeded by a thanksgiving
for the progress made in the gospel graces and gifts by
those to whom Paul is writing. Then comes the doctrinal
portion, usually the most important and largest part of
the epistle. The practical portion comes next, applying all
the truths previously set forth to the problems of personal
and community life. This is followed by personal messages,
individual salutations, and any minor business- or other
details Paul may care to mention. Then the epistle ends
with a brief autograph ratification of all which has been
written. This is the general method of Paul's procedure,
subject to modification at any point at any time, for Paul
is a free spirit and refuses to be tied down to any formulas
that may seem to him to hinder the free flow of his thought.
There is enough uniformity in the epistles, however, to sug
gest this general outline: Greeting, thanksgiving, doctrine,
exhortation, details, autograph signature.
2. Peculiarities in the Greetings, (i) In ancient letter-
writing it was customary for the writer to put down his
name first, with his official or other titles attached. It is
noteworthy that, after the first two epistles, Paul calls him
self an "apostle" in all but the Epistles to Philemon and to
the Philippians. The Macedonian epistles are character
ized with an unusual intimacy and affection, and the same
69

70 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
thing is true of the Epistle to Philemon. Paul did not need
to emphasize his apostleship in writing to these personal
friends; but in his more formal addresses to churches and
church officials he is careful to insist upon his apostolic
dignity. (2) In the first five epistles in the chronological
order Paul addresses the "church" in Thessalonica and in
Corinth and the "churches" of Galatia. (3) In the later
church epistles he addresses "the saints." (4) The ordi
nary Greek salutation was "Joy !" The ordinary Hebrew
salutation was "Peace !" Paul unites these two in the salu
tations of all his epistles, and in the Pastoral Epistles he
adds a third term — "mercy."
3. The Four Groups. Paul's missionary career covered
approximately thirty years of his life. All of the Pauline
epistles in our New Testament were written in the latter
half of this period. It is a strange fact that while Paul
was in half his life a Pharisee and in half his life a Christian,
this latter half of his life may be evenly divided in the
same way by his literary activity. For fifteen years Paul
wrote nothing of which we have any trace to-day. Then
in fifteen years the thirteen Pauline epistles were written.
It is another strange fact that these epistles fall into four
groups, separated from each other by intervals of approx
imately five years each.
These groups are as follows: (1) Those of the second
missionary journey, First and Second Thessalonians, about
A. D. 53. (2) Those of the third missionary journey, First
and Second Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans, about
A. D. 58. (3) Those of the first Roman imprisonment,
' Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, and Philippians, about
.y A. D. 63. (4) Those written between Paul's liberation from
the first Roman imprisonment and his martyrdom, First
Timothy, Titus, Second Timothy, about A. D. 67. These
are only approximate dates, and the more exact time of
the writing of each epistle will be determined in connection
with our study of each of them ; but these approximate dates

THE EPISTLES 71
will serve to show this strange periodicity in Paul's literary
career. For fifteen years he writes nothing, as far as we
know. In fifteen years he writes everything we have from
his pen. In a little more than one year he wrote more than
half of the Pauline epistles in bulk, though not in number.
All of the epistles fall into chronological groups, with
approximate intervals of five years between them.
These chronological groups have their own characteristics,
and they have been variously named by various authorities.
One alliterative grouping is that of the Primer Epistles, the
Pillar Epistles, the Prison Epistles, and the Pastoral Epistles.
In their relation to the apostle's ministry these groups have
been called the missionary, the evangelical, the edificatory,
and the valedictory. With reference to their style or manner
they have been distinguished as the didactic, the argumenta
tive, the contemplative, and the hortatory. As to their
material contents they have been classified as the eschatolog-
ical, the soteriological, the Christological, and the ecclesi
astical epistles.1 These Pauline epistles form about one
fourth of our New Testament. In bulk they are about equal
to the Gospel according to Luke and the book of Acts com
bined. The writings of Paul and of the Pauline disciple,
Luke, form the larger part of the contents of the New
Testament. We can be almost certain that some of the Pauline epistles
have been lost. The marvel is not that that should be true,
but that so many of them have been preserved. In 2 Thess.
3. 17 Paul writes that his salutation with his own hand is
the token of genuineness in "every epistle," and the phrase
surely would seem to imply that Paul had written to the
Thessalonians more than one previous epistle. It may indi
cate the existence of forged epistles even at this early date,
put into circulation under the assumed authority of the
apostle's name. If this is not the meaning, the language

1 See Findlay, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle, p. 247.

72 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
would seem to indicate a number of genuine epistles; and
since we know of only one preceding this, we must conclude
that Paul's correspondence was much larger than that which
we possess. He may have written many letters to the Thes
salonians and to others of which no trace has been preserved.
The book of Acts mentions no one of the epistles we have.
There may have been a number of others which it equally
ignores and of which no mention is made in the extant
epistles, and which were utterly lost at so early a period that
no tradition concerning them has come down to the later
day. In the Second Epistle to the Corinthians Paul says that he
would not terrify them by his letters and then he quotes
from his adversaries who say, "His letters . . . are weighty
and strong." 2 If these men were saying this before our
Second Epistle to the Corinthians was written, they must
have known of more than one epistle previously written to
this church, and the plural "letters" would seem to indicate
quite a number of them. In the First Epistle to the Corin
thians Paul refers to some things he had written in some
former epistle. "I wrote you in my epistle to have no com
pany with fornicators." 3 Evidently, our First Corinthians
was not the first epistle sent to Corinth.
If we did not have the suggestions of these passages it
would be hard to believe that the total correspondence of
Paul was represented by the epistles in our canon. It may
be that he wrote nothing in that first fifteen years of his
apostolate, but it seems almost incredible that it should be
so. It may be that Paul had intervals of literary activity
during the last fifteen years of his life with five year periods
of inactivity intervening, but it seems most improbable. It
would be altogether likely that many of the minor epistles of
Paul were thrown into somebody's wastebasket shortly after
their reception, and there may have been scores of these
2 2 Cor. io. 9, io.
3 1 Cor. 5. 9.

THE EPISTLES 73
just as important as the Epistle to Philemon but not so
fortunate in their preservation. We trust that all of the
longer and more important epistles have been preserved ;
but who knows whether some of the Pauline correspondence
which would have been deemed by us just as precious as
some of that which we have may not have perished during
the apostle's lifetime or shortly thereafter through accident
or through carelessness or in the deliberate destruction of
some persecution? We wonder that any of the brittle
papyrus leaves should have survived fire and flood and all
the ravages of time long enough to be copied by those who
realized their imperishable value to the church and to the
world. II. Style
The style of the Pauline epistles is largely determined
by the character of the man who wrote them. His personal
peculiarities account for their peculiar characteristics. For
this reason the epistles as a whole have been called "the
autographs of Paul." He has written himself into them.
His face looks out from these pages. His voice is heard
in these lines. His spirit is manifest throughout.
"As a portrait painter, observing the salient and distinc
tive lines and contours of light and shade, and the grada
tions of color in an individual living human face, and re
producing these separate and varied elements upon his
canvas, one by one, in a complete and consistent whole,
finds he has fixed there that subtle but unmistakable attri
bute of the invisible spirit which we call individuality, so
that even the unlearned and ignorant, looking at his handi
work, say with one accord, Tt is he !' even so, the altogether
exceptional, distinctive, but mutually harmonious traits
which lurk here and there in unstudied variety on well-nigh
every page of these wonderful letters, leave in the average
mind no suggestion of a blurred and tenuous figment of the
imagination, like an idealized and artificial character in a
novel or a play, but the sharp and deep impress of a living,

74 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
breathing, thinking, feeling person of flesh and blood."4
Paul paints his own portrait as he writes, and he does
it better than anyone else can hope to do it. Shakespeare
could conceal his own personality in his writing. We read
his plays and we know little or nothing about him. Paul is
a writer of another sort. We read his epistles and we come
to know him more and more intimately with every page.
He himself is visible at every turn. He is autobiographical
most fully when he is so least consciously. Therefore we
shall find that the characteristic, features of style in these
epistles correspond very exactly with the characteristics of
the man.
i. Paul's Disregard of Nature. Paul was born in the
city of Tarsus, and he grew up among the city sights and
sounds. He was educated in the capital city of Jerusalem.
He was on his way to the city of Damascus when he was
blinded by the revelation of the risen Lord. Thereafter his
apostolic career, as far as we have the record of it, was spent
almost wholly in cities. Antioch, Tarsus, Philippi, Thessa
lonica, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Jerusalem, Rome were the
objective points in his missionary journeys and the central
points in his life-ministry. City life is not conducive to a
love of nature. Cities are built by men and are filled with
artificial products. On their paved streets and between
their brick walls the beauties of nature seldom are seen.
Possibly it was his city training in Tarsus and in Jerusalem
which had blinded Paul's eyes to all such things up to the
time of that blinding revelation on the road to Damascus,
and after that revelation only spiritual realities seemed
worthy of note in his writing and his preaching.
Christ crucified and Christ risen was the one subject of
his sermons. God spoke to him through visions and revela
tions and in spiritual presence and power. God never spoke
to Paul through the thunder clouds and the mountain

4 Buell, The Autographs of Saint Paul, pp. 60, 61,

THE EPISTLES 75
heights. The birds in the air and the flowers in the field
and the rippling stream and the ocean wave had no message
of beauty and poetic inspiration for him. He seems to
have been almost absolutely bereft or possibly devoid of
any susceptibility to the natural beauties of the world
around him. He was born and bred within sight of the
snow-clad hills of Taurus. Pie sailed the blue Mediterran
ean again and again. He tarried long under the balmy
skies and in the enchanting landscapes of Greece and Asia
Minor. He saw vastly more of God's wonders by land and
by sea than David or Jesus ever saw. These things made no
impression upon him. They were no inspiration to him.
They furnished him with no illustration even. There is
much more sympathy with nature, more of poetic feeling
and insight in a single psalm of David, a single prophecy
of Isaiah or Amos, a single parable of our Lord than in
all the epistles of Paul.
The Old Testament is full of poetry. There is an appre
ciation of nature's ministries and messages in the songs of
Moses, Deborah, David, and Solomon. The major and the
minor prophets are moved with the majesties of the heavens
and the natural beauties of Palestine. Jesus was a nature
lover and a poet-preacher of God's ever-present and ever-
active Fatherhood as revealed in his care for all the creat
ures of his hand. In the market the sparrows which were
sold for a farthing, and in the upper air the free birds which
were fed though they did not gather into barns, spoke to
him of the greater worth of human souls and the still greater
solicitude of the Father for them. As he walked by the
wayside and saw the field flowers clothed with more than
regal beauty and yet on a day cut down and cast into the
oven fire, he thought of the heavenly Father's greater care
of his children and of his anxiety to supply their daily needs.
When Jesus saw the vultures which gathered where a car
cass would furnish a feast he thought of the invitation to
speedy judgment Which spiritual corruption presents. He

76 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
looked upon the fiery splendor of the morning and the even
ing clouds and thought of the still greater glory which the
heavens would reveal at the time of the final coming of the
Son of man. He delighted in mountain solitudes. He
taught by the shore of the sea. With great satisfaction to
his soul he walked through the harvest fields. He was
happiest when he was in closest touch with nature rather
than when he was in the city or the synagogue.
Alas, when we turn from the poetry of the Old Testament
and from the poetry of the gospel narratives of the Christ
into the book of Acts and the following epistles of Paul
we find that almost every vestige of nature poetry has
vanished from the sacred book. There is neither music
of birds nor fragrance of flowers in the epistles of Paul.
There are no mountain majesties, no cloud glories. There is
no artistic, aesthetic, poetic sense of nature's marvelous
beauty and life. Paul was a great apostle and a great
polemic; but he was no such lover of nature as Jesus was.
Possibly, it was the way he was made and the way he was
brought up. It was his loss and it is our loss that so much
space in our Bible has no trace of nature's ministry to man.
There are flights of impassioned rhetoric in Paul's writings
and there are passages of surpassing beauty of expression
and sublimity of thought, but all his similes and illustra
tions are gathered from the manners and customs of men
and suggest the courtroom, the schoolroom, the synagogue,
the city rather than the freedom, the majesty, the beauty
of the world outside.
Whitefield crossed the Atlantic thirteen times and traveled
the length of our Atlantic seaboard again and again ; and yet
his sermons show no trace of anything seen or learned from
the natural wonders he must have met in his travels and
voyages. John Calvin lived in the midst of the grandeur
of the Swiss mountains and glaciers and lakes, but his
works reflect absolutely nothing of all of these. Calvin's
Institutes, like Paul's epistles, might have been written by

THE EPISTLES 77
a man who had spent his whole life in a city garret or a
prison cell and never had seen spring blossoms, summer
harvests, and autumn fruits, or any of nature's wonderful
symphonies of color, sound, and life. Saint Bernard rode
all day along the Lake of Geneva and never saw its crystal
purity, its depths of blue, and the diamond flashes of the
sunlight from each rippling wave. He was absorbed in his
meditations — at home with his own soul. In the evening
Saint Bernard asked his companions where the Lake of
Geneva was.
Paul seems to have been like these men. His life was
a spiritual life. His joys were of the mind and soul rather
than of the sense. His interests were in the spiritual
improvement of the race and not in the enjoyment of
material things. His world was the world of men, the world
of spiritual conflicts, the world of sinning, sorrowing, strug
gling humanity, the world without salvation and in starv
ing need of salvation from sin. There was all the enchant
ing loveliness of the Greek sky and sea, of Olympian heights
and Arcadian vales, bathed in sunshine and radiant in
natural beauty everywhere. Others had seen and appre
ciated these things, but Paul was blind to it all. Palestine
was a land of promise. Its heavens declared the glory of
God and its firmament showed his handiwork. Its mountains
and its hills, its fruitful trees and its cedars praised the Lord
whose glory was so manifest in both heaven and earth.
David had sung of these things. Jesus had enjoyed them.
Paul never saw them.
The tempest swept from summit to summit of Lebanon
with lightning flash and thunder roll, and then a rainbow
spanned the vault of heaven for a while, and then God hung
golden glories through all the evening sky. Jesus reveled in
it all and praised the Father for the wonder and the majesty
and the beauty of it all. Paul was reading a book or arguing
with some adversary, and he did not know even that there
had been a storm or a rainbow or any glories in the even-

78 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
ing sky. That was the difference between those two men.
Jesus shunned Jerusalem and sought for a sunny spot on a
mountainside as the preferable place for the preaching of
his great sermon. He loved God's out-of-doors, and he lived
in the open by night and by day. Paul sought the cities
and preached by preference in the synagogue. He worked
at the loom by day and he preached indoors at night. He
gave himself to the study of congregations rather than of
constellations. Jesus drew his illustrations from the life
of nature. Paul drew his illustrations from the cities and
the works of men.
He saw the costly public buildings of Corinth and the
immediately adjacent hovels of the very poor, and they gave
him the suggestion for one of the most beautiful figures
his epistles contain, the gold, silver, and costly stones over
against the wood, hay, stubble, so subject to the flames.5
He lived for some years in the vicinity of the great temple
of Artemis at Ephesus, and it gave him the conception of
the far more magnificent temple of the Christian Church.6
The arches and monuments and palaces and villas, building
and built in the great cities through which he passed, gave
him his metaphor of "edification" which is found so seldom
in any earlier literature and which is so frequent in Paul's
speech that we almost may consider it his peculiar property.7
He lived in the atmosphere of military conquest and
domination. He found soldiers everywhere. He never
got beyond the reach of their influence and presence.
Whether free to roam anywhere in the vast empire or
chained to a soldier and living with him day by day, he saw
military companies marching and individuals standing sen
tinel, the representatives of war and conquest, of law and
order in every place. This soldier life was forced upon
his attention all his life long and we are not surprised to find
6 1 Cor. 3. 9-15.
6 Eph. 1. 23; 2. 20-22.
7 Acts 20. 32; 1 Cor. 8. 1; 14. 12.

THE EPISTLES 79
a multitude of military metaphors in his writings. The sol
dier's abstinence, the continual warfare, the armor of light,
the long train of the Roman triumph furnish him with many
suggestions concerning the conditions and the conquests of
the Christian life.8
The athletic metaphors of Paul are even more character
istic. Palestinian Pharisees never would have been present
at the games and contests of the Greek gymnasia and
national feasts; but Paul had been familiar with them
since his boyhood in Tarsus and he was interested in them
all his life long. He went to see them, drew many lessons
from them, and made them of constant use in his teaching.
In the epistles we find frequent figures taken from the
gymnastic exercises, the games, the spectators, the race
course, and the running. If Paul learned much from the
drill-ground, the armory, and the barracks, he learned still
more from the stadium, the gymnasia, and the palestra.
He likens the divine life to a race course. He claims to
be a good athlete in the spiritual contest. He boxes effec
tively. He runs lawfully and successfully. He wins the
prize.9 These athletic metaphors must have aroused all the pre
judices of some of the Jews, but Paul does not hesitate to
use them on that account. Like his Master, he seemed to
take some delight in saying and doing some things which
shocked the ultra good people of his generation. Paul may
have gone to the theater! He likens the transitoriness of
this world's goods to the shifting scenes of the stage, and
he compares his own life to a theater play with angels and
men looking on.10 Such figures suggest some acquaintance

•Rom. 7. 23; 13. 12; 2 Cor. 2. 14-16; 6. 7; 10. 3-6; Eph. 6. 10-17;
Phil. 4. 7; Col. 2. 15; 1 Thess. 5. 5-8; 2 Tim. 2. 3, 4.
» Acts 13. 25; 20. 24; Rom. 9. 15, 16; 1 Cor. 4. 9; 9. 24-27; Gal. 2. 2;
5. 2; Phil. 3. 12-14, 16; Col. 4. 12; 1 Thess. 2. 2; 2 Thess. 3. I; I Tim.
4. 7, 8; 6. 12; 2 Tim. 2. 5; 4. 7, 8.
10 1 Cor. 4.9; 7. 31.

80 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
with the Greek theater and some appreciation of its micro-
cosmic character. The buying and selling of the market
place, the transactions of the law courts, the conditions and
experiences of the slave trade, all the bustle of the city
streets are reflected in the epistles of Paul.11
Dean Howson wrote a volume on The Metaphors of
Saint Paul, in which he says that "his metaphors are usu
ally drawn, not from the operations and phenomena of the
natural world, but from the activities and the outward mani
festations of human life," and he compares Paul and James
as follows, "The vapor, the wind, the fountain, beasts and
birds and serpents, the flower of the grass, the waves of the
sea, the early and the latter rain, the sun risen with a burn
ing heat — these are like the figures of the ancient prophets,
and there is more imagery of this kind in the one short
epistle of James than in all the speeches and letters of Paul
put together." 12
Paul makes one reference to rain from heaven and fruit
ful seasons,13 and he says something in one place about
the sowing of seed as a bare grain to which God giveth
another body, and in the same connection about the sun
and moon and the stars differing in glory ;14 but aside from
two or three incidental references of this sort he ignores all
natural phenomena and confines himself to the products
of civilization for the material from which his figures shall
be drawn. The only time he attempts an elaborate illustra
tion from nature he cites an artificial process which is the
exact opposite of the one commonly practiced and talks
about grafting a wild olive into a fruitful branch! He
purposely perverted the usual process in order to make his
figure more striking.15

11 Rom. 13. 8; Eph. 5. 16; Rom. 1. 14; 2. 26; 4. 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 22,
24; 2 Cor. 5. 19; 12. 6; 2 Tim. 4. 16; Rom. 6. 16-23.
12 Howson, The Metaphors of Saint Paul, p. 131.
18 Acts 14. 17.
14 1 Cor. 15. 37-41. " Rom. 11. 17-24.

THE EPISTLES 8l
In the Gospels we are in the atmosphere of the Galilaean
hills, filled with the scent of the flowers and the singing of
the birds. In the Pauline epistles we are in the synagogues
and the streets, and soldiers and slaves have taken the place
of the bird songs and the field blossoms. Paul was almost,
if not wholly, blind to natural beauties: He had a genius of
spiritual insight but he had no eye for such things. It was
better to be blind on this side of his nature than on the
other. Huxley asked Professor Haughton why he believed cer
tain things which Huxley professed to be unable to believe.
"May I speak frankly?" said Haughton. "Certainly," said
Huxley. "Then," said his friend, "I do not know how it is,
except that you are color-blind." Huxley was much
impressed with that answer. He said : "Well, it may be so.
Of course, if I were color-blind, I should not know it
myself." Darwin records how in the absorption in the
pursuit of purely physical science the spiritual and artistic
faculties of his soul gradually atrophied and died. He
says : "Disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but was
at last complete. ... It may be truly said that I am like
a man who has become color-blind ; and the universal belief
by men of the existence of redness makes my present loss
of perception of not the least value as evidence."
Absorption in scientific pursuits had made these men blind
on the spiritual side of their natures, while Paul's absorp
tion in spiritual things made him blind or kept him blind
to all the aesthetic values of nature and art. In the midst of
a world full of natural beauties Paul's spirit was untouched
by them and his heart was unmoved. In the midst of a city
full of the finest statuary ever produced Paul's soul was
stirred within him, but it was stirred with indignation alone.
To him it was only a city given over to idolatry.
It is a pity that all great men cannot have all the great
qualities, but it seems to be true that greatness has its glar
ing deficiency as well as its patent power in most cases.

82 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Jesus was as spiritually-minded as Paul, and he was a lover
of nature as well. In that respect Paul was not like his
Lord. Whether Paul was responsible for this lack in his
make-up we never may know. He may have been born
without aesthetic appreciations, or as in the case of Darwin,
liis loss of them may have been self-induced ; but we recog
nize this disregard of nature as a real deficiency in both the
character and the style of Paul.
2. Paul's Disregard of Rules. The Pauline epistles were
not written as school compositions. Some were dashed off
in a great hurry, written at white heat, composed under
the stress of great excitement ; and they probably were dis
patched without any careful correction. Some are letters
to particular friends and have no more evidence of pains
taking formulation than any of our friendly letters to-day
are apt to have. Others are more formal in character and
are addressed to great churches, but even in these Paul is
no pedagogue and no pedant. He seems comparatively care
less as to the form of his sentences as long as he thinks he
is able to make his thought clear. It may seem surprising
to some people that there should be any bad grammar or
any bad taste in the New Testament, and for the most part
it is concealed in our English translations so that English
readers never may suspect it; but to us it is an added evi
dence of the genuineness of these Pauline epistles that
the impetuosity of the fiery little apostle is apparent in their
intensity of tone and their disjointed structure. We see
him as we read them. They represent him as he really was.
We call attention to some of the facts in the case.
(i) Coarseness. There are a few expressions in these
epistles which never were intended for polite ears. They
seem a little harsh to these milder-mannered times, (a)
We have noticed that phrase in the Epistle to the Galatians
which scarcely is fit to be read in any public assembly to-day,
except as it may be paraphrased into a more dubiously
respectable English rendering — "I would that they . . .

THE EPISTLES 83
would go beyond circumcision." 16 Paul's chronic intensity
of feehng led him to the most extravagant expression of it
upon occasion. He always was honest, but the case seemed
to him a little more extreme than it would have seemed to
a more phlegmatic man. (_¦) Such a man might have given
up all things for Christ even as Paul did, but he would
not have been likely to say of them as Paul did, "I suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that
I may gain Christ." 17
(c) Other men might have been treated badly, and they
might have felt the injustice of it even as Paul did, and yet
they would not have thought of putting it as strongly as
Paul does when he says, "We are made as the filth of the
world, the offscouring of all things, even until now." 18
(d) When Paul is praising the Galatians for their treatment
of him during his disability he is not content to say, "Ye
did not show me the least expression of contempt," but he
makes his statement concrete and as forcible as possible,
and says, "Ye did not spit out at me." 19 All the vigor of
a virile personality is apparent in these phrases. Paul is
stirred to the depths by opposition. He feels intensely all
kindness and all calumny. He is not writing calmly for
the most part. He is a volcano in eruption. These lines are
like streams of lava flowing down the mountainside. They
scorch and burn. They have no care for green grass or
the singing of birds. The old prophet had said something
about substituting beauty for ashes. A volcano does just
the opposite thing. Sometimes Paul was more like a volcano
in action than a poet singing sweet pastorals.
(2) Mixed Metaphors. Paul has some wonderfully mixed
metaphors, (a) He writes to the Corinthians: "We know *
that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved,
we have a building from God, a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. For verily in this we groan, long-
18 Gal. 5. 12. u 1 Cor. 4. 13.
» Phil. 3. 8. " Gal. 4. 14.

84 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
ing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from
heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found
naked." 20 Who ever longed to be clothed upon with a
house to cover his nakedness ? A man's raiment and a man's
residence seem to be strangely confused here, (b) In the
same epistle we read, "Ye are our epistle, written in our
hearts, known and .read of all men; being made manifest
that ye are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written
not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not
in tables of stone, but in tables that are hearts of flesh." 21
Here the Corinthians are, first, Paul's epistle and then
Christ's epistle. The epistles are written first on the
hearts of Paul and his companions and then written on
the hearts of the Corinthians to whom he writes. The
metaphor is mixed but the meaning is clear to most
minds, (c) A little farther on in the same epistle there
seems to be a like confusion of thought. The veil is repre
sented as covering the face of Moses and then the same veil
is said to be covering the hearts of the children of Israel.22
(d) One of the best examples of Paul's mixed metaphors
is found in the Epistle to the Colossians, where he exhorts
them, "As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so
walk in him, rooted and builded up in him, and established
in your faith." 23 Walk, rooted like a tree, and built up
like a house, and at the same time firmly fixed in one place !
(3) Unfinished Sentences. Paul sometimes begins a
sentence and never finishes it. For example: (a) "But
if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power
known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath
fitted unto destruction : in order that he might make known
the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he
afore prepared unto glory, us whom he also called, not only
from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles" 24 — what? Paul
20 2 Cor. 5. 1-3. a Col. 2. 6, 7.
21 2 Cor. 3. 2, 3. » Rom. 9. 22-24.
n 2 Cor. 3. 13-16.

THE EPISTLES 85
never ends this conditional sentence, and he never introduces
any principal sentence for it anywhere in the immediate
context. He probably forgot all about it as he went on
with his discussion, (b) Strangely enough the closing sen
tence in the Epistle to the Romans as it stands in our Greek
texts is an incomplete one. There is more of a complete
system of theology in this epistle than in any other, but the
closing doxology is itself incomplete. "Now to him that is
able to establish you according to my gospel and the preach
ing of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the
mystery which hath been kept in silence through times
eternal, but now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the
prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal
God, is made known unto all the nations unto obedience of
faith : to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom
be the glory for ever" 2B — what ? Paul does not say. He
adds only an "Amen." Did he intend to say, "to God we
dedicate this epistle," or "to God we pray for your continu
ous salvation"? Who can tell? We know only that Paul
forgot to put in any principal sentence, and left his preposi
tional phrase hanging in the air.
(4) Unfinished Enumerations. Paul sometimes begins
an enumeration with a "firstly" and then forgets to add any
"secondly," or to carry it any farther, (a) He begins his
Epistle to the Romans, "First, I thank my God through
Jesus Christ for you all." 28 He never says, "Second, I"
do anything else. (£•) In the third chapter of this epistle
he asks, "What advantage then hath the Jew?" and he
answers, "Much every way: first of all, that they were
intrusted with the oracles of God." 27 He evidently intended
to make a list of the advantages of the Jews, but he became
interested in other things and never put down a "second" or
"third." He does not get back to any such list until he
« Rom. 16 25-27.
28 Rom. 1. 8.
27 Rom. 3. 1, 2.

86 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
reaches the ninth chapter when he says of his kinsmen
according to the flesh, "who are Israelites; whose is the
adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving
of the law and the service of God, and the promises ; whose
are the fathers, and of whom is Christ." 28 These things
may have been in Paul's mind when he wrote that "first of
all" in the third chapter, and he may have intended to name
them in order at that place ; but his argument ran away with
him and he never went on with the enumeration there begun.
(5) Sidetracking. It is Paul's preference to follow his
thought in his dictation without much regard to his logic
or the sentence formation. That is one reason why these
epistles are so full of vitality. They represent Paul's
thought just as it was born within him. It has not been
ironed out into smoothness. It has not been put into any
strait-jacket. It has all the irregularity and spontaneity of
Paul's natural speech. It has been said that it is Paul's habit
to "go off at a word." We would prefer to say that his
active mind saw many implications at any point in his discus
sion, and he frequently saw fit to follow up some of these,
even though his sentence or his paragraph thus became very
long and unwieldy.
(a) Take that first sentence of the Epistle to the Romans
as an example. Paul begins with his name and his titles in
the ordinary form ; but he does not stop there. He says that
he is an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. At that
mention of the gospel he "goes off" to explain what it is.
It was promised "afore through the prophets in the holy
scriptures," and it is concerning his Son. At that mention
of the Son he "goes off" to explain him, in the assertion
of his true humanity and his proven deity. Then he comes
back to his apostleship as received through his Christ.29
(b) In the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans
Paul asserts that death and sin entered into the world
28 Rom. 9. 4, 5.
28 Rom. 1. 1-7.

THE EPISTLES 87
through one man, and he intended to say that in the same
way through one man salvation and life had been brought
to the race ; but in the middle of that sentence he "goes off"
to explain something of the relation of death to sin, and
then he falls to contrasting Adam and Christ, and only after
a long parenthesis does he return to the parallel with which
he began.30
Enough has been said to make it clear that Paul's style
is not that of a pedantic precisian. It is as rapid, vehement,
and intense as himself. It is as heedless of proprieties and
careless of rules as any reformer or revolutionary ever
would be in his conduct.
(6) Coined Words. Paul coins new words when he needs
them, and he does not care how atrocious they may be if
they seem to him to express his meaning adequately.
(a) For example, in the Epistle to the Ephesians we come
upon the three compound words avvKkr\pdvo\ia nal ovvoujia
ml avvuiroxa, which we translate "fellow-heirs, and fel
low-members of the body, and fellow-partakers." 31 Jerome
translated them in the Vulgate, "coharedes et concorporales
et comparticipes," and then defended these strange Latin
forms by saying: "I know that in Latin it makes an ugly
sentence. But because it so stands in the Greek, and be
cause every word and syllable and stroke and point in the
Divine Scriptures is full of meaning, I prefer the risks of
verbal malformation to the risk of missing the sense." It
sounds pious enough in Jerome; but probably he was sug
gesting merely that the sufficient excuse for the verbal mal
formations in the Latin was to be found in the verbal mal
formations of the Greek. If Paul could manufacture such
uncouth compounds and ugly sentences Jerome could follow
his illustrious example.
No one of these words occurs in classical Greek. No
classical author would have thought of coining them. A
80 Rom. 5. 12-18.
81 Eph. 3. 6.

88 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
classicist would have regarded them as crass barbarisms.
Why does the apostle Paul invent such crudities? We
think that he feels compelled by the exigencies of the case.
His message is more important than the rules of rhetoric.
He desires at this point to make the unity of all the nations
in the faith as unmistakably clear as human language can
do it. If verbal compounds will suggest this unity, he will
go all lengths in making them. He will break any rule, he
will burst any bonds, he will disregard any propriety which
hinders the free and full expression of the divine grace in
Christ. (b) In the next sentence we have Paul's statement, "Unto
me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace
given." 32 The word -Aa%.0TOT_pa), "less than the least"
is a still worse verbal malformation. Prebendary Huxtable
calls it "an unparalleled barbarism of grammatical inflex
ion," 33 and he goes on to say very rightly that our English
versions have smoothed the extreme ruggedness of the word
out of sight wi^h their rendering. It is a comparative
formed on a superlative — "I am the leaster of all the saints."
It is the comparative of a superlative — "I am the more least
of all the saints." It is a grammatical impossibility ; it is a
literal absurdity. If anyone is least, there can be no one
more least than he. What is least can have nothing less
than itself. Did Paul mean to say : "I am unspeakably un
worthy of this high honor which has been thrust upon me.
I am inexpressibly insignificant in myself and in comparison
with my office. It is not within the power of human lan
guage as now constructed to set forth the state of the case.
I feel as if I must push beyond the bounds of legitimate
rhetoric before I reach a depth of humility proper to my
position in the church" ?
Here, then, are the facts of the case. Paul's style is
full of awkward anacoloutha, irregular constructions,
82 Eph. 3. 8.
83 Expositor, II, vol. iii, p. 273.

THE EPISTLES 89
strange forms, and all the phenomena characteristic of a
nervous and highly excitable author who is more intent upon
the truth of his matter than upon the formal beauty of its
expression. The reasons for the style are to be found in
the nature of the man.
(1) The exuberance of Paul's thought accounts for much.
He had too much to say and too little time in which to say
it or too little space in which to put it. His thoughts hurry
each other, jostle each other, ride each other down some
times. They do not march in orderly procession. They
run and leap like rival contestants in Olympic games, like
soldiers fighting their way through a narrow pass. It is
not strange that there should be some confusion because
of the profusion of ideas struggling for a place on the
written page. It is strange how clearly the thought pro
gresses, despite all hindrances, by sheer force of momentum.
"Paul has the style of genius if he has not the genius of
style." 34
(2) It must be confessed, however, that Paul constantly
betrays a degree of carelessness as to the form of his com
position which shows how lightly he must have regarded it.
We cannot imagine the apostle Paul pausing to polish a
period! That simply would be impossible for him. He
never was ambitious to pose as a model of style. There
were other things which seemed so much more important to
him. There are beautiful things in Paul's writings, but they
are spontaneously so, not made so by study. Paul's genius
made him say great things. Sometimes the very elevation
of his soul made him eloquent and elegant. He has written
some of the greatest passages in the world's literature. He
could have ranked high as a literary master if he had chosen
to do so. He had a higher mission. His writing was inci
dental to his missionary career. It held a very subordinate
place in his thought. His interest was in the matter of his

84 Grimm suggested that this was true of Montesquieu.

90 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
message and not in the manner of its presentation. It was
the substance of the gospel which absorbed him, and he was
comparatively careless as to its form.
(3) It is worth remembering in this connection that Paul
was a pioneer in this field. The Pauline epistles are the
earliest products of Christian literature. The Gospels and
the book of Acts and the other New Testament epistles and
the Apocalypse are all later in time. Paul blazed the path
into a new intellectual realm. He made the road-bed for
new ideas. His style is rough and rugged like that of a
frontiersman. It is not polished like that of a palace
courtier. Paul was a miner for new truth. His thoughts
come out like nuggets of precious gold. It is original ore
which we find in these epistles. The theologians of the
succeeding centuries have minted this ore into current coin.
Paul gave it to us in lumps and chunks.
(4) It always is possible too that any individual gram
matical blunder may be the fault of the amanuensis and not
of the author. Paul dictated his letters, .and if he never
took the trouble to revise them, some mistakes of that sort
would be inevitable. We may be sure that Paul knew how
to write better Greek than he sometimes did write. He
was capable of correctness if he had thought it worth while.
He knew the rules but he deliberately disregarded them, or,
rather, he deliberately decided not to bother himself about
them so long as he made his meaning clear and his message
effective. Paul had been well trained both in the rules of
Greek rhetoric and in the methods of the Jewish rabbis;
but he was too original and too unrestrained and irrepres
sible to be unduly shackled by these things.
"If there had been reviewers in the days of Paul, they
might have passed upon him censures without end. How
careless are those unfinished sentences! What ungraceful
and tedious repetitions of the same word again and again!
What extraordinary confusions of metaphors ! What a bar
barous cilicism! What a vulgar expression! What an

THE EPISTLES 91
obscure sentence ! What a violent paradox ! What a bitter
taunt ! If some friendly Atticist or Tarsian professor had
got hold of one of the epistles to prepare it for publication,
he would have made great havoc of it. We should have had
whole sentences underscored, and softened down, and
squared, and elaborated; graceful variations of the same
term ; phrases suited to the politest society ; all provincialisms
and irregularities removed." 3B Then they would have been
anything but the epistles of Paul. They would have been
classically correct, but they would have lost their character
istic features. Their individuality would have disappeared
and with it most of their power over the affections and the
other emotions.
"A style may be faulty, may be liable to a thousand criti
cisms, may be too rough or too ornate, or too indifferent to
rhythm, or too neglectful of grammar, and yet may be
incomparably the best style which a particular man could
have used, because it sprang naturally from his character
and education, and is therefore most exactly expressive of
himself — of himself as the complex total result of his orig
inal temperament, and of the modifications which it has
undergone from the myriads of influences for which he has
shown the greatest affinity." 3e
3. Paul the Hellenist. There are evidences of Greek
culture in Paul's style.
(1) Use of Greek Figures of Rhetoric. "The figures of
Greek rhetoric occur in Paul far more frequently and in a
far more specific way than they do in the other writers of
the New Testament." 37 Farrar gives fifty examples of
more than thirty figures of Greek rhetoric used by Paul,
and his conclusion is "that it is far from improbable that,
as a boy in Tarsus, he had attended some elementary class
in rhetoric, which, indeed, may have been only a part of his
education in the grammatical knowledge of the Greek lan-
86 Farrar, in Expositor, I, vol. x, pp. 5, 6.
88 Idem, p. 4. s7 Idem, p. 26.

92 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
guage." 37 All of which would go to show that Paul, when
writing to Greeks, preferred to put his thought into forms
familiar to them and therefore more likely to be acceptable
to them.
We suggest some seven examples out of what might be
made a much longer list of these common Greek figures of
rhetoric :
(a) Enumerations, as in the attributes ascribed to Chris
tian love,38 and in the many methods mentioned by which
Paul and the other ambassadors for Christ commended them.
selves as the ministers of God,39 and in the evidences
adduced to prove Paul's superiority over his adversaries,40
and in the honor roll of those things upon which Paul would
have his converts meditate.41
(b) Antitheses, as in the paradoxical statement, "Him who
knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we
might become the righteousness of God in him,"42 and in
the strange contradictions of Paul's experience, "pressed on
every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto
despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not
destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of
Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our
body." 43
(c) Climaxes, as in the whole of that gem of Pauline com
positions, the description of the superiority, the beauty, and
the eternity of Christian love,44 or in the enumeration of the
results of the godly sorrow of the Corinthians, "what
earnest care it wrought in you, yea what clearing of your
selves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what long
ing, yea what zeal, yea what avenging!"45
id) Rapid interrogations, such as, "What then shall we

87 Farrar, in Expositor, I, vol. x, p. 26.
88 1 Cor. 13. 4-8. « 2 Cor. 5. 21.
89 2 Cor. 6. 4-10. « 2 Cor. 4. 8-10.
40 2 Cor. 11. 22-29. ** 1 Cor. 13.
"Phil. 4. 8. «2Cor. 7. 11.

THE EPISTLES

93

say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for
us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all
things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? Shall God that justifieth? Who is he that con
demneth? Shall Christ Jesus that died?"46
(e) Multiplication of synonyms, as in the sarcastic de
lineation of the self-satisfaction of the Jew, "Thou bearest
the name of a Jew, and restest upon the law, and gloriest
in God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that
are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and art confi
dent that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light
of them that are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish,
a teacher of babes, having in the law the form of knowl
edge and of the truth)" 47 followed by that rapid fire of
interrogations which we noticed under the last head:
"Thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not
thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost
thou steal? thou that sayest a man should not commit
adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest
idols, dost thou rob temples? thou who gloriest in the law,
through thy transgression of the law dishonorest thou
God ?" 48 These two, the multiplication of synonyms and
the rapid interrogation, are. united again in that series of
questions addressed to the Corinthians, "What fellowship
have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath
light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with
Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbe
liever? And what agreement hath a temple of God with
idols?"49 (/) Oxymora. The oxymoron is a saying which seems on
the surface of it to be utterly absurd while at the same
time it is a setting forth of a profound truth. Paul has
many examples of the use of this form of speech. "The
48 Rom. 8. 31-34. " Rom. 2. 21-23.
47 Rom. 2. 17-20. " 2 Cor. 6. 14-16.

94 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
invisible things of him . . . are clearly seen," 50 "in haste
not sluggish," 51 "their deep poverty abounded unto the
riches of their liberality," B2 "when I am weak, then am I
strong," 53 "living she has died," 54 "being slain, and behold
we live," B5 "in much affliction with joy," 56 "to be ambitious
to be quiet," 57 and the whole of the description of the armor
of God in the Epistle to the Ephesians, including the sandals
of the preparation of the gospel of peace.58
(g) Paronomasia. This is the Greek word for our
English "pun." It is a play on words. Paul's use of it
can be seen only in the Greek, as a matter of course; and
sometimes it is impossible to reproduce the effect in English.
Examples can be found in the Pauline epistles where the
play on words is produced by the change of one or two
letters, as in the immediate juxtaposition of two such
words as nopvela and novifpia, or <p66vov and (povov, 59 or
dawerovc and davvBerovg. 60 The most frequent figure of
rhetoric found in Paul's writing is the paronomasia depend
ent upon the use of words similar in sound or derivation
but different in meaning, as in " ovk kdoiiifiaoav . . . &66ki(iov
voir, they refused to have God in their knowledge and so
God gave them over to a refuse mind," 61 and "wherein
thou judgest, Kpiveig, another thou bringest in a judgment
against, mraKpiveiq, thyself" 62 and "I say to every man that
is among you not to be high-minded, imep<bpovelv, above what
he ought to be minded, (ppovelv, but to be minded, (ppovelv,
to be soberminded, oaQpovelv."63
A happy reproduction of one of Paul's puns is to be
found in our version, "using the world as not abusing it

80 Rom. i. 20. w i Thess. 4. 11.
"Rom. 12. 11. "Eph. 6. 13-17.
M 2 Cor. 8. 2. t9 Rom. 1. 29.
58 2 Cor. 12. 10. M Rom. 1. 30.
64 1 Tim.' 5. 6. 8l Rom. 1. 28.
66 2 Cor. 6. 9. 82 Rom. 2. 1.
'* 1 Thess. I. 6. M Rom. 12. 3.

THE EPISTLES 95
(XP&pevoi _>? pi) KaTaxpo>iievoi)." 64 Another is suggested in
the phrases, "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God
((piXrj6ovot, . . . (piXodeoi)." 65 One which wholly escapes
the reader of the English version is to be found in Paul's
description of the disorderly idlers in Thessalonica when
he says of them, that they are "not busy, but busybodies
(fii]6iv tpyci^ofievovg dXXa trepiepya^onevovg), " 66 Years after
ward Paul repeated this play upon words in warning
Timothy against the gossiping women of Ephesus, who
are "not only idle, but busy in the female school of idleness
(ov (idvov dpyai aXXd nai . . . 7T.pi.pyot)."67
Paul puns upon proper names sometimes. In the familiar
letter to Philemon he rings the changes upon the name
of the converted slave, Onesimus or "Profitable." He says,
I beseech thee for "Profitable" who once was "unprofit
able" to thee, but now is "profitable" to thee and to me, and
later he adds, "Yea, brother, I would that thou were an
Onesimus to me." 68 Possibly the phrase in the Epistle to
the Philippians, "true yokefellow," may represent the proper
name "Syzygus," and then Paul would be playing upon his
name and calling him "Yokefellow by name and yokefellow
by nature." 69 These examples may be sufficient to suggest
that either in early life or in later years Paul had made
himself acquainted with the various figures of the Greek
rhetoric, and that they are more frequent in his use than in
that of any other of our New Testament writers.
(2) Influence of Thucydides. It would be extremely
interesting if we could find some one writer among the
Greeks whose style had influenced the style of Paul. We
never would think of instituting such a search, or even rais
ing such a question in the case of most of the writers of the
New Testament; but Paul is a Hellenist, one article of

Mi Cor. 7. 31. "7 1 Tim. 5. 13.
K 2 Tim. 3. 4. M Philem. 10, 20.
88 2 Thess. 3. 11. «• Phil. 4. 3.

96 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
whose creed was, "All things are ours," whether Jewish or
Greek, and it will be worth while to raise this inquiry with
him. Strangely enough (or shall we say naturally enough ?) ,
we find a classical writer with that carelessness of literary
polish we notice in Paul, with the same remarkable elo
quence upon occasion, and with the same compressed emo
tion, taxing the powers of the language to express it and
sometimes with volcanic energy breaking over all the
barriers of grammar and rhetoric into unrestrained outflow.
The style of Thucydides furnishes an astonishingly close
parallel with the style of Paul. C. L. Bauer has written a
book, Philologia Thucydideo-Paulina, in which he has set
forth in detail this remarkable parallelism in figures of
speech and manner of expression. Since his day the resem
blance of style between these two men has been quite gen
erally acknowledged. F. C. Baur has said of certain pas
sages in Paul's writing, that they "have the true ring of
Thucydides, not only in expression but in the style of
thought. The genuine dialectic spirit appears in both, in
the love of antithesis and contrast, rising not unfrequently
to paradox. . . . With both these men the ties of natural
particularism give way before the generalizing tendency of
their thought, and cosmopolitanism takes the place of
nationalism." 70
This likeness of style usually has been explained by psy
chological resemblances in the two men and by something
of similarity in their environment rather than by conscious
imitation on the part of Paul. We feel sure that Paul never
plagiarized, and there was too much of originality in the
subject-matter of his message for him to be indebted to any
one else for the substance of his thought; and yet, in his
willingness to appropriate the good in everything, he may
have found much to admire in the compressed energy of
Thucydides, and it surely is probable that he himself would

70 Baur, Paul, vol. ii, p. 281.

THE EPISTLES 97
recognize any intellectual and psychological affinity between
the two as readily and as surely as the critics of our own
day. If "the style of Paul more clearly resembles the style
of Thucydides than that of any other great writer of
antiquity," 71 the most satisfactory explanation of this fact
would be that Paul was acquainted with and impressed by
the style of Thucydides himself. There is nothing impos
sible or improbable in the supposition, and we are disposed
to believe that Paul had read and appreciated and studied
Thucydides and so had come to approximate and reproduce
the Thucydidean style.
(3) Influence of Demosthenes. Possibly Paul may have
read and studied other Greek authors and authorities. Like
all the first evangelists Paul interpreted his commission as
that of. an oral witness to the truths of the gospel. An
apostle was a preacher, not an author. Primarily Paul was
a religious orator. For years he found no leisure for writ
ing of any kind. He preached for fifteen years before he
wrote anything, as far as we know. Thereafter he talked
incessantly, and wrote only occasionally. He preached thou
sands of sermons while he wrote a dozen epistles. We
would naturally expect, therefore, that the style of these
epistles might be that of a public speaker, and that wherever
opportunity afforded they might take upon themselves the
character of orations, with the same direct appeals, the same
carefully wrought out arguments, and the same climaxes of
thought and rhetoric which must have characterized his dis
courses. Examples of this forensic and oratorical handling
of his material will occur at once to every one familiar with
his writings.
Would Paul be likely to study any model among the Greek
orators to learn from him, if possible, the secrets of his
persuasive power over his countrymen? If he studied any,
would he not be likely to have studied the greatest among

71 Farrar, Life and Works of Saint Paul, p. 691.

98 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
them — Demosthenes? He would have been attracted by the
moral earnestness of the great Greek master of oratory, by
his dependence upon the truth rather than upon any mere
rhetorical artifices or arts, by the fundamental spirituality
of his appeals, and by their direct reference to the con
sciences and the hearts of his hearers. On this plane Paul
would feel that Demosthenes was at one with himself. The
massiveness of reasoning, the pertinency of illustration, the
mastery of the emotions characteristic of the great Athenian
would appeal to Paul's admiration ; and surely no writer in
the New Testament has made so near an approach to
Demosthenean power in these particulars as has Paul. It is
not by a priori judgment, however, that we may come to
any conclusion upon this point. It is only by a detailed
study of the epistles that we can arrive at any feeling of
certainty in the matter.
When we turn to these, we are surprised at the abundance
of evidence which throngs in upon us. We find (a) the
Greek orator's careful attention to proofs and illustrations
and to the arrangement of them in the construction of the
argument characteristic also of the writings of Paul. We
find (b) the rhetorical forms which were favorites with
Demosthenes, the rhetorical interrogation, the asseveration,
the introduction of objections in the form of dialogue, in
constant use by Paul. We find (c) the Demosthenean irony
and sarcasm flashing through the epistles of Paul. We find
(d) the same power and impressiveness of expression, (e)
the same fervor of appeal, (/) the same intensity of per
sonal conviction, and (g) the same fidelity to the highest
endeavors and aims in both Demosthenes and Paul. If
anyone suggest that all these things would be characteristic
of any great soul on fire with a great cause, we answer that
at all these points the parallel between Paul and Demos
thenes is closer than with any other orator of ancient times.
We are convinced that the parallel is with Demosthenes
himself when we find (h) that Paul is reproducing the

THE EPISTLES 99
phrases, the ideas, and even the construction of entire sen
tences found in Demosthenes.
These parallelisms have been collected by Kypke72 and
by Koster,73 and are shown to occur in every group of
Paul's epistles, from the earliest to the latest, and to be most
frequent in the.larger and more argumentative, and to repre
sent just such use as we would expect in the unconscious
reminiscence of a faithful student of a great master whose
work was in a widely different field. Koster begins his
study with the statement that "we must admit the proba
bility that Paul has modeled the language of his epistles,
to a considerable extent, upon the orations of Demosthenes,"
and after minute investigation of "the numerous parallel
isms between the language of Demosthenes and Paul," he
concludes with the assertion: "That Paul derived them all
by mere accident from the conversational language of his
day is incredible. He had read, and was familiar with
Demosthenes, the model of Greek popular eloquence, and
involuntarily appropriated many of his expressions." We
would have no hesitation in saying that the appropriation
might be both conscious and voluntary, for Paul would not
hesitate to avail himself of any advantage of form or phrase
which would give his speech or his composition readier
access to the hearing and the heart of the Greek.
(4) Influence of the Greek Poets. Three times Paul
quotes directly from the Greek poets. In writing to the
Corinthians Paul quotes an Iambic trimeter from the Thais
of Menander, which Menander is supposed to have quoted
from Euripides.74 In writing to Titus Paul quotes a
description of the Cretans in hexameter verse probably
taken from Epimenides, whom Paul declares to be "one of

72 Kypke. Observationes sacrae. Wratislav. 1755.
78 Koster, Dr. Friedrich, of Stade. Studien und Kritiken. 1854.
Second number.
74 I Cor. 15. 33, ^Bdpovaiv rfir/ xpfoO' o/iMai Kami.

ioo PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
themselves, a prophet of their own." 75 In Paul's speech at
Athens, recorded in the book of Acts, he quotes from "cer
tain of your own poets" a line found in a Hymn to Zeus by
Cleanthes and also occurring in the Phaenomena of Aratus.76
Upon these quotations we make the following observa
tions. (a) Paul is the only writer in the New Testament who
makes any direct quotations of this sort from the Greek
literature. (_¦) These quotations are all from minor poets. A man
who is so well acquainted with the minor poets of any
literature as to be able to quote from them aptly and offhand
will not be likely to be ignorant of the more important poets
of that literature. If he read Menander, he would read
Euripides. If he read Epimenides, he would read Aris
tophanes. If he read Aratus, he would read -Eschylus.
(c) The aptness of these quotations to the subject in hand
would seem to prove that they are far from being accidental
acquisitions on the part of Paul, and would rather evidence
a wide acquaintance with the literature from which they so
aptly are chosen.
(d) "That the apostle was able to quote a Cretan poet in
writing to one who was ministering in Crete, and Stoic
poets in addressing an audience largely composed of adher
ents of that philosophical school, may fairly be set down
as a hint of a more extended acquaintance on his part with
the classics than the actual number of the citations would
lead us to infer." 77
(e) It is a curious fact that one of these quotations repre
sents both Menander and Euripides and another represents
both Aratus and Cleanthes; and when Paul asserts his
knowledge of the latter fact by the use of the plural, "as
certain of your own poets have said," the quotation of lines
76 Titus I. 12, Kptjreg ael ipevarai, ____ Qr)pia, yaortpe; apyai,
76 Acts 17. 28, Tov yap Kai yivo; eo/ttv.
77 Edgar C. S. Gibson, Expositor, H, iv, pp. 344, 345.

THE EPISTLES 101
which have a double authority behind them would seem to
be evidence of the careful investigation of a student rather
than the chance phrase of a superficial acquaintance.
(/) To say that Paul picked up these phrases on the street
and that he used the plural instead of the singular by mere
accident, and that in his Athenian speech he followed the
line of thought in the poem of Aratus without knowing it,
is to present nothing but assertions, and the most absurd
assertions in the face of positive evidence that Paul had a
degree of acquaintance with Greek literature not found in
any other writer of the New Testament and that he makes
a masterly use of that literature at just those points where
he had need of it. Because of the character and aim
of his writings there was little room for quotations of this
sort. Those given are only suggestions of the use Paul
might have made of the Greek poets had occasion required.
His study of them was one of the elements which entered
into the formation of his style.
(5) Influence of Greek Philosophy, (a) Stoicism. The
university at Tarsus was dominated by the influence of the
Stoical philosophers in the time of Paul. The most influ- .
ential teacher in the city was the Stoic Athenodorus. A
long line of illustrious Stoics had preceded him, and he and
his colleagues were recognized as the chief authorities in the
intellectual realm in the vicinity in which Paul grew up.
Early in life Paul became familiar with their modes of
thought and ideals of conduct and character. Sir William
Ramsay declares of a certain quality in the Pauline thought,
"It seems to me wholly inconceivable in a mere narrow
Hebrew, and wholly inexplicable without an education in
Greek philosophy," 78 and he finds the traces of the same
quality in the few fragments from Athenodorus which have
come down to us.
How familiar Paul was with the tenets of the prevalent

78 The Cities of Paul, p. 34.

102 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Stoical philosophy is apparent in the speech made before
the Stoics and Epicureans at Athens.79 In this address, as
in the later speech before the Sadducees and the Pharisees
in the council chamber at Jerusalem, Paul chose to ally him
self squarely with the one school as against the other, (a)
His first sentence struck directly at the Epicurean theory
of the origin of the world by the fortuitous concourse of
atoms and arrayed him with the Stoics in their doctrine
of the Divine Wisdom and Providence creating and ruling
all things, (b) Paul went on to say, "God dwelleth not in
temples made with hands." Seneca, the most prominent
contemporary representative of Stoicism, had put their doc
trine into these words, "The whole world is the temple of
the immortal gods," 80 and "Temples are not to be built to
God of stones piled on high. He must be consecrated in the
heart of every man." 81 (c) Paul said, "Neither is God
served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, see
ing he himself giveth to all life, and breath, and all things."
Seneca put the same truth in this form: "God wants not
ministers. How so? He himself ministereth to the human
race." 82 (d) Paul said, "God made of one every nation
of men to dwell on all the face of the earth." Seneca agrees,
"We are members of a vast body. Nature made us kin,
when she produced us from the same things and to the same
ends." 8S (e) Paul said, "God is not far from each one of
us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being."
Seneca wrote, "God is at hand everywhere and to all
men." 82 and again, "God is near thee; he is with thee; he is
within."84 (f) Paul quoted as a proof passage acceptable
and conclusive to his audience from the Hymn of Cleanthes
the Stoic, which Bishop Lightfoot says is "the noblest
expression of heathen devotion which Greek literature has

79 Acts 17. 24-29. » Ep. Mor., xcv, 47.
80 De Benef., vii, 7. « Ep. Mor., xcv, 52 .
81 Frag. 123, in Lactant. Div. Inst., vi, 25. M Ep. Mor., xii, 1.

THE EPISTLES 103
preserved to us,"88 and also from the Phenomena of
Aratus, another Stoic poet and philosopher and Paul's fel
low countryman, that famous line which recognized the
Divine Fatherhood and emphasized the universal brother
hood, "For we are also his offspring." (g) Then Paul pro
ceeded, "Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to
think the godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven
by art or device of men." Seneca parallels the thought
again: "Thou shalt not form him of silver and gold: a
true likeness of God cannot be molded of this material." 86
Bishop Lightfoot says that in this speech Paul "shows a
clear appreciation of the elements of truth contained in
their philosophy and a studied coincidence with their modes
of expression." 87 Lewin declares : "They would hardly
have condescended to discuss such high matters with him
had he not been capable of doing battle with them upon
their own ground. He must, therefore, have been familiar
with the doctrines of both schools." 88 Step by step Paul
had reproduced the philosophical faith of the Stoics in
their own phrases and forms. There are but six verses in
the book of Acts, giving us an abstract or a summary of
Paul's prelude to his discourse on the resurrection, but they
are filled with parallels to the Stoical philosophy and they
include an explicit quotation from the Stoical poetry; and
no evidence could be clearer than that which these verses
give to Paul's conscious appropriation of the Greek phi
losophy and his purpose to make the most of it as an intro
duction to his higher truth.
Such a thoroughgoing appreciation of certain elements
in the Stoic thought must have left some trace of itself in
the Pauline writings. If we look for parallels in the epistles
we have no trouble in finding them. Lightfoot gives a long
list of them,89 occurring in First Corinthians, Second
86 Dissertations on the Apostolic Age, p. 288.
88 Ep. Mor., xxi, 11. M Lewin, Life of Paul, p. 12.
87 Lightfoot, op. cit., p. 288. » Op. tit., pp. 270-272, 289-293.

104 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Corinthians, Galatians, Romans, Colossians, Ephesians,
Philippians, First Timothy, Titus, and Second Timothy;
and after making all allowances for fallacious coincidences,
uncertain priority, and so on, in his summary of results,
he says, "Paul found in the ethical language of the Stoics
expressions more fit than he could find elsewhere to de
scribe in certain aspects the duties and privileges, the
struggles and the triumphs of the Christian life." 90 Bishop
Gore in his commentary discussion of the second chapter
of the Epistle to the Romans says, "What Paul teaches
about the moral consciousness, and possibility of moral
goodness, among the Gentiles has not a Jewish sound at
all. The Jewish teachers generally would not have admitted
any goodness acceptable to God in the heathen world. In
fact, Paul is here accepting the principle of a universal
presence and operation of God in the human heart, outside
the limit of any special revelation, and he accepts it in terms
largely derived from current Stoic philosophy." 91
There are fundamental differences between Stoic and
Christian thought. Paul knew that as well as anyone;
but he continually adopted Stoic phraseology as far as he
found it available for the ends he had in view. What was
true of the Stoical philosophy was equally true of other
philosophical schools. Lewin suggests rightly, "The con
templative turn of Paul's mind would lead him naturally
to study the philosophy of the Greeks generally." 92 The
knowledge of one system of philosophy, therefore, almost
of necessity would imply an understanding of its prede
cessors, furnishing the foundation upon which it had built.
Have we any evidence that Paul's style or his thought was
influenced at any point by the great Greek masters in this
field? We think we have. We will look at Aristotle first
for a moment.

90 Lightfoot, op. cit., p. 287.
91 Gore, The Epistle to the Romans, p. 99,
92 ]_ewin, op. cit., p. 12,

THE EPISTLES 105
(£•) Aristotle. We find Aristotle saying of men eminent
for wisdom and virtue, "Against such there is no law, for
they themselves are a law," 93 and of the real gentleman,
"He will bear himself thus, as being a law unto himself." 94
In one of Paul's epistles we find the first clause repeated
word for word,95 and in another epistle the thought of
the second passage is exactly reproduced.96 Such close
coincidences are likely to have been copied consciously.
The greatest of the Greek philosophers was Plato, and
we would expect to find traces of his influence upon Paul.
(c) Plato, (a) Had Paul read in Plato, "But such as
are true racers, arriving at the end, both receive the prizes
and are crowned" ? 97 Did the memory of Plato's phrases
as well as the sight of the Greek festivals suggest his
repeated figures from the race-course? 98 (b) Had he read
in Plato, "Shall we not agree, that as to the man who is
beloved of the gods whatever comes to him from the gods
will all be the best possible ?" 99 and had he immediately
appropriated this sentiment as expressing the triumph of
Christian and monotheistic faith?100 (c) We wonder as
we read Paul's epistles if he had not read in his Plato that
"Love is the fairest and the best in himself, and the cause
of what is fairest and best in all other things," 101 or (d)
"He who has lived as a true philosopher has reason to be
of good cheer when he is about to die, and after death he
may hope to receive the greatest good in the other
world,"102 or (e) "There is a victory and defeat — the first
and best of victories, the lowest and worst of defeats —
which each man gains or sustains at the hands not of
another, but of himself; this shows that there is a war

93 Politics, III, xiii, 14. " Rep., 10, 612.
94 Nic. Eth., IV, viii. m Rom. 8. 28.
95 Gal. 5. 23. m Conv., 197; compare 1 Cor. 13.
"Rom. 2. 14. 102Phaed., 64; compare 2 Cor. 5. 8;
r Rep., 10, 613. Phil. 1. 23; 2 Tim. 4- 7, 8.
" 1 Cor. 9. 24; 2 Tim. 4. 7, etc.

106 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
against ourselves going on in every individual of us." 10S
(f) He could have read in Plato that vivid description of
those gluttonous and intemperate souls whose belly was
their God.104 (g) He could have learned from Plato that
to be carnally-minded was death.105 (h) Plato would have
pictured for him the truth that the God of this world
blindeth the eyes of his votaries, and Paul never could
have forgotten the picture when he had once read it. 108
Eusebius tells us that Plato had attained the porch of Chris
tian truth.107 Justin Martyr said, "The Platonic dogmas
are not foreign to Christianity." Paul would be quick to
perceive this and glad to acknowledge it. We have sug
gested only a few possibilities of Platonic influence upon
Paul's phraseology and thought. Many more could be
adduced. (d) Philosophical Terms. The Pauline attitude of appre
ciation for all that was good in the Greek philosophy is
shown not only in the quotation of sentences and the appro
priation of truths and the parallelisms of thought but also
in the adoption of characteristic terms in the philosophical
vocabulary. The best example is the word avvei6r}<ng,
"conscience." Cramer says in his lexicon that "both the
expression and the fully correspondent idea are foreign
to the Old Testament." Only one instance has been found
of the use of this word in an ethical sense in either the
Septuagint or the Apocrypha. No writer in the New
Testament has used it as Paul does except Peter in his
epistle, which at so many points shows a dependence upon
Pauline language and thought. The word was adopted and
used first by Paul. In his speeches in the book of Acts
and in his epistles it is found to occur twenty-two times.

108 Laws., 626; compare Rom. 7. 22; Gal. 5. 17.
104 Rep., 9, 586; compare Phil. 3. 19.
106 Phaed., 69 and 81 ; compare Rom. 8. 5; Gal. 6. 8.
108 Theaet., 176; Rep., 7, 514; compare 2 Cor. 4. 4; Gal. 6. 7.
}»' Praep. Evang., 13, 14.

THE EPISTLES 107
He got the word neither from the Old Testament nor from
his Jewish contemporaries. It was a term in current use
among the Stoics. It represented to them the inner con
sciousness of the Divine Law. It was worthy of consecra
tion to the cause of Christ. Paul adopted it, deepened its
meaning, and introduced it into the vocabulary of the
Christian Church.
Another example of Paul's appropriation of favorite
and characteristic terms from the Greek philosophy is
found in the word avrdpneia. This word had been used
by Aristotle,, but it was current in Paul's day as representing
one of the fundamental notions of the Stoic school. The
ideal man of the Stoic philosophers was both contented
and self-sufficient. He would want nothing belonging to
others. Within himself he would possess all things. Paul
appropriated this ideal for the Christian life, and he claimed
to realize it in his own experience. He said of himself
and other Christians: "We have nothing and yet possess
all things. ... In everything, at every time we have all
self-sufficiency (avrdpneiav) ... in everything being
enriched. We have learned, in whatever circumstances we
may be, to be content (avTdpieqg). We have all things, full
and overflowing." 10S The Stoic's term had been accepted
without hesitation, and its conception glorified by the suffi
ciency furnished in Christ.
Other ethical terms taken from the current use of the
philosophical schools are found in the Pauline epistles, such
as imeiiteia, Ttp^6ri\g, and others. Other terms are disap
proved by Paul, such as dpenj and fjdovrj. He uses these
only to brand them as unworthy of comparison with Chris
tian ideals. Both his selection and rejection bear witness
to the influence of this current philosophical phraseology
upon Paul's style.
(6) Incarnation of the Greek Spirit. Krenkel believes

108 2 Cor. 6. 10; 2 Cor. 9. 8, 11; Phil. 4. 11, 18.

io8 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
that the spirit of "entirely genuine Attic urbanity" char
acterizes both Paul and his writings. The proper appre
ciation of such a statement must be reserved for those
who have a thoroughgoing knowledge of the whole of
Greek Hterature and life. It is noteworthy, however, that
those who are most thoroughly at home in this field are
most impressed with this fact. Such men as Ernst Curtius,
Canon Hicks, and Sir William Ramsay are ready to agree
that Paul had "that ready versatility, that social courtesy,
that large comprehensiveness, that wide experience and
capacity for dealing with varied interests and intricate
matters of business which made him an ideal specimen of
what the Greeks would call a true gentleman, itaXbg %dyadog,
fair and good, a spirit more flexible and more charming
than natural Semitic dignity." 109 "Coleridge was struck by
the fact that Paul had the courteous grace and refinement
of a Lancelot. Of the Knights of the Table Round who
founded the great order of Christian chivalry, Paul was
the most nobly mannered man of all." 110 This spirit
Paul caught from the Greeks. It affected his conduct and
it influenced his style.
John Kelman, speaking of the influence of the Greek
spirit upon Paul, says : "A culture affects the minds of men
far more by its atmosphere, its delicate play of feeling, its
subtle spiritual appeal to one's tastes and inclinations. Of
such influence we find abundant evidence in Paul. . . .
He saw how godlike the ideals of Greece had been, how
powerful for God they must ever be, if they are kept alive
and pure. He was far too wise a man not to utilize such
a spirit; and he did utilize it. . . . He revived in his
Christian teaching much that was best and most appealing
in that wonderful life that seemed to have fallen upon so
hard a destiny. . . . Must there not have been many who
felt that the old Greek spirit had found true voice at
109 Farrar, op. cit, p. 698.
"uo Kellet, Expositor, VI, ix, 340.

THE EPISTLES 109
last" 1U in these epistles as well as in the sermons of Paul?
The best of the Greek spirit permeated Paul's life and
letters as they did not in the case of any other Jew in his
tory. He brought into the gospel the Greek grace and glad
ness and liberty and courtesy and devotion to the ideal
which gives it imperishable charm. He was the only one
among the apostles who was qualified by birth and early
environment and later education to give to the Greek-speak
ing world of that day the revelation of the beauty and-
liberty and universality which was inherent in the teachings
of Jesus.
As Moses was skilled in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,
and thus was prepared to become the great lawgiver of his
people, Paul was familiar with all the wisdom of his time,
and thus was able to give to the Christian Church a breadth
and general culture characteristic of the Greek rather than
of the Jew and to free it from the bondage to the letter
and to give it all the liberty of the spirit which the greatest
of the world's thinkers among the Greeks had enjoyed and
in this way to fit it for the conquest of all the peoples for
the Christ.
(7) Language and Vocabulary. The Pauline Greek is
considered the most typical form of Hellenistic Greek in
the New Testament. Paul composed in Greek. There
is no evidence that he thought in Hebrew and translated
his thought as he dictated these letters. We may say truly
that Paul created the theological vocabulary of the Chris
tian Church in a great measure. He made a new speech
for the new faith. He made use of the old Hebrew and
Greek words and ideas as far as he found them adequate
and serviceable; but when they failed him he coined new
words and introduced new formulae, words like nvpiaicog
and phrases like hv ^pjori. He gave new meanings to old
words and he stamped his meaning upon the most char-

111 Expository Times, xii, 515, 516-

no PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
acteristic words of the Christian faith, such as "right
eousness," "justification," "faith," "love," "flesh," "spirit,"
"redemption," "propitiation," "reconciliation," "grace,"
"mercy, "peace." Of the four thousand six hundred and
ninety-eight words which make up the New Testament
vocabulary five hundred and ninety-seven, or more than one-
tenth, are used by Paul alone.
4. Paul the Rabbi. Whatever influence the Greek cul
ture and thought may have had on Paul, we must not for
get the fact that he was born a Jew and trained a Jew.
The Hellenist Jew was different from the Palestinian Jew,
but he still was a Jew. He may have been emancipated
from some of the narrowness and provincialism of his
brethren in the little home land, but he never was eman
cipated from his racial characteristics. He lived and died
a Jew. Paul may have brought from Tarsus to the school
of Gamaliel in Jerusalem a liking for Greek letters and an
appreciation for Greek ideals and life, but he carried from
the school of Gamaliel in Jerusalem a training as a Jewish
rabbi from which he never could have wholly freed him
self even had he so desired. There is not a page in Paul's
epistles which does not bear the stamp of his Jewish ante
cedents. No one but a Jew either would have thought
or could have written such discussions as we find in them.
It goes without saying that Jewish phrases and expres
sions are to be found everywhere in Paul's writings.
(1) The rabbinical theology is apparent occasionally and
the rabbinical ideas and methods of argument sometimes
are followed quite after the models of the rabbinical schools.
We cite the best examples :
(a) There is the allegorical interpretation of the Old
Testament story of Sarah and Isaac, on the one hand, and
Hagar and Ishmael, on the other hand, in which Ishmael
is made to represent the law and Isaac the gospel, and the
two women are the two covenants, and Hagar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that was

THE EPISTLES in
then, while Sarah answers to the spiritual Jerusalem which
is free.112 The whole paragraph seems to the Occidental
mind to be fantastic and rabbinic, but it was quite after
the manner to which Paul had been accustomed in his
schoolroom and synagogue days.
(b) In the same Epistle to the Galatians Paul suggests
that the promise was made to Abraham and to his seed. He
calls attention to the fact that the word "seed" is singular
and not plural, and argues on that basis that the fulfillment
of the promise is to be found only in one, namely,
Christ.113 The word could not have been plural, either in
the original Septuagint Greek or the Hebrew; but such a
grammatical quibble would seem perfectly justifiable as a
basis for a theological conclusion to Paul's rabbinical con
temporaries. (.) In the Epistle to the Ephesians114 Paul quotes from
a psalm which pictured Jehovah as a conqueror making his
solemn entry into Zion with many captives in his train and
receiving gifts from vanquished foes. Paul interprets the
passage as descriptive of Christ, and he quotes the psalm
not as it read in the original but as it was paraphrased and
perverted by the Jews and is found in the Targum and the
Peshito to-day, in a form familiar to his mind from the
discussions of it in the schools; and he represents Christ
as the dispenser of royal bounties rather than the receiver
of homage and oblations. He does not say that he received
gifts from men, but that he gave gifts to men. He prob
ably did not have the Hebrew text by him when he quoted,
but he dictated the words as he remembered them in the
speech of the rabbis of his day.
(2) A still more patent proof of the influence of his
rabbinical training is to be found in Paul's references to the
traditions and legends of the Jews. These things were not
112 Gal. 4. 21-31.
118 Gal. 3. 16.
M Eph. 4. 8.

112 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
found in the Scriptures. Paul got them from the home
and the school.' The most noticeable of these are as fol
lows: (a) "Even as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so
do these also withstand the truth." 115 These proper names,
"Jannes" and "Jambres," are not found in the Old Testa
ment narrative. They must have been taken from current
Jewish tradition. In all probability the names are not the
right ones, for it would be strange indeed and almost incon
ceivable that the correct names for these individuals should
have been preserved through all the centuries without being
recorded. Then, too, these names are not Egyptian but
Jewish, and their meanings, "The Seducer" and "The
Rebel," would suggest that they were names imposed upon
these men by their enemies rather than the ones they orig
inally bore.
(_¦) "They drank of a spiritual rock that followed them:
and the rock was Christ." lle The reference here is to the
tradition of the Jews that the rock from which water flowed
for the refreshment of the Israelites in the wilderness was
a round stone which rolled after the tribes on their journey
ings and when they halted came and settled itself in the
court of the Tent of Meeting; and when the princes came
and stood beside it and said, "Spring up, O well!" the
waters gushed out from it again. The legend is incredible,
of course, and Paul does not sanction it or guarantee its
truthfulness. He does allude to it, and give a spiritual
interpretation to its fantastic suggestion.
(c) "The law was ordained through angels by the hand
of a mediator." 117 If this is true, it is not stated in the
Old Testament. It rests upon Jewish tradition as its only
authority. Paul had heard Stephen make the same state
ment in his defense before his martyrdom. It was a matter
™ 2 Tim. 3. 8.
118 1 Cor. 10. 4.
117 Gal. 3. 19.

THE EPISTLES 113
of common belief among the Jews of that day. It may
have rested upon the Septuagint text, but it had no warrant
in the Hebrew.
(d) "For this cause ought the woman to have a sign of
authority upon her head, because of the angels." 118 It
usually is supposed that Tertullian was right in saying that
Paul prescribed the veiling of women "because of the evil
angels, of whom we read that they fell from God and from
heaven on account of lust." 119 This notion is found again
and again in the Talmud and was one of the familiar
Hagadoth in the days of Paul.
(3) On these remnants of rabbinical learning and lore
which we find in the epistles of Paul we offer the following
suggestions :
(a) Considering Paul's Jewish training at Tarsus and at
Jerusalem, it is most surprising that he does not show more
traces of rabbinism in his writings than he does. We
might have expected his pages to be filled with allegorical
interpretations and Talmudic traditions. When we com
pare his epistles with the writings and sayings of any of
the contemporary rabbis the immeasurable superiority of
the compositions of Paul is apparent at once. Paul's
experience as a Christian seems to have lifted him above
the old methods and freed him in a most astonishing mea
sure from the old puerilities. That there are very occa
sional reminiscences of these things is not surprising. It is
a marvel in our eyes that they are so few.
(b) The validity of Paul's conclusions never depends
upon his allusions to the traditions or upon any allegorical
interpretation. As Luther said, "These are only the paint
ing of the house, after it has been built." They are ap
pended as ornaments, not adduced as foundation stones.
(c) Paul does not allegorize any historical narrative into
thin air. He recognizes the fact and then makes it the type
118 1 Cor. 11. 10.
119 De Virg., 7.

114 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
of spiritual experience. Such a use of the imagination in
finding parallels between historical and spiritual facts seems
to us altogether legitimate and praiseworthy. It is in no
danger of misunderstanding. It may be very useful in
fastening the truth upon the heart and mind.
(d) Paul's allusions to legends not contained in the Old
Testament scriptures are only incidental and illustrative.
He never vouches for their truth. They have no objective
or inherent value to him.
(e) Paul was at the farthest remove from the typical
rabbis of his day in his thinking and his reasoning. Tal
bot W. Chambers was right in saying that Paul was not
"narrow in his views, a bigot for prejudice, fanciful in
interpretation, and hair-splitting in casuistry. Nothing can
be farther from the truth. A gulf as deep as Gehenna
divides Paul from the Kabbalists. He never sticks fast in
the letter, nor soars into imaginary symbolism. He does
not magnify trifles, or give up substance in pursuit of form.
Nor is his reasoning sophistical or barren, but fair, manly,
and conclusive. He discusses the highest topics man can
consider, and in a tone and with a weight proportioned to
their importance. . . . Everything in matter and manner
and spirit is large and comprehensive — in keeping with
the magnificent fullness and grace of the salvation he has
to set forth." 12°
The transformation of Saul the Pharisee into Paul the
apostle is one of the miracles of world history ; but it is not
a whit more marvelous than the almost complete emancipa
tion of the writer of these epistles from the rabbinical
training of his youth. No man can break absolutely with
his past. We find scattered traces of Paul's training here
and there in his writings which we think he might have
discarded with the rest. Possibly there is more of Jewish
theology in these epistles than is generally recognized. We

m Homiletic Review, ix, 120.

THE EPISTLES 115
do not discuss that matter here. The thing which impresses
us most is that Paul is so free from that which was waxing
old in theology and reasoning and which was ready to van
ish away while with a genius unparalleled in the church he
laid the foundations of a new theology destined to capture
the mind and the heart of the world, some features of which
all the centuries following scarcely have appreciated as they
ought, and some of which are ideals to be realized in the
yet future development of Christian life and thought. Paul
was a pioneer and a prophet. In some respects we are
lagging behind him still.
5. Paul the Advocate. There is one more thing we
would like to say about the style of Paul. It is the style
of an advocate. Paul was the advocate of Christianity
before the bar of the world. He presents its case and he \
pleads its cause with a legal ability which won a favorable
verdict from the very first. Paul was more of a lawyer
than a scribe. He delights in legal phraseology. Much of
his theology is put into a legalistic form. He was supremely
interested as a Pharisee in finding some way to insure the
perfect keeping of the law. His chief conviction in connec
tion with Christianity is that that secret has been discovered
in Jesus.
As a Roman citizen he had some acquaintance with the
Roman law. "There is in some parts of his teaching a
direct application of Roman legal principles in illustration
of his doctrine, which none but a Roman could be expected
so to apply, none unless versed in Roman law would be
able to employ." 121 The best instance in point is the pre
sentation of our relation of sonship to God under the figure
of adoption which was essentially a Roman and not a Jew
ish legal procedure. Some think that Paul coined the word
for "adoption" in our New Testament, since it is not found
in any earlier Greek writer. It would be strange if the

m Dean Merivale, The Conversion of the Roman Empire, p. 81.

116 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
word vloOeoia had not been used before Paul's time as the
nearest equivalent to the Latin adoptio.
However, it is the Jewish law with which Paul was most
familiar and to which he makes most frequent reference.
He had a natural liking for the law courts and a constitu
tionally legal temperament. Paul was a prince of advo
cates. His logic is merciless. He never leaves an opponent
until he has made it clear to a demonstration that the truth
is the very opposite of that which he had affirmed. How
the Jews must have dreaded him in those synagogue debates
of which we read in the book of Acts, and how fervently
they must have hated him for the very clarity and unan-
swerableness of his argument when they were not willing
to be convinced! Godet says of Paul that he has a "dia
lectical rigor which will not quit a subject till after having
completely analyzed it, nor an adversary till it has trans
fixed him with its own sword." 122 That is never pleasant
for the man on the wrong side in a debate.
Paul never is so careful of the feelings of an opponent as
to sacrifice or to soften the plainest and most forcible put
ting of the truth. His interest never fails. His energy
never palls. "He writes not only as supporting a certain
doctrine, but as defending it against another and hostile
one; and not only so, but as defending it against that other
represented, as it were, in the person of a vigorous, earnest,
alert, and wily adversary. He feels the necessity, evidently,
which belongs to such a position, of massing and strengthen
ing his proofs everywhere; of guarding himself against
suggestions which might arise at any point; of meeting
the great difficulties of the subject ; of showing that his doc
trine was not contradictory to God's promises or his cove
nant. . . . With all the enthusiasm of his nature he was
committed to the grand idea which had been revealed to
him from heaven. He threw himself with the ardor of a

m Commentary on Romans, p. 35.

THE EPISTLES 117
soldier into the conflict for its support. He bent every
energy of his being to secure for it the victory, which was
to his mind the victory of the kingdom of God. . . . How
far he was from the philosophic calmness of the schools
and the teacher who, quietly and without emotion, arranges
his system of thought in its divisions and subdivisions ! He
was a combatant, an advocate, a preacher. He was con
tending for one grand idea, earnest to prove its truth, on fire
in his inmost soul with the love of it, striving from the first
word to the last of his whole discussion to persuade his
readers to accept it, and to realize in themselves its life-giv
ing power." 123
He sweeps everything before him. He argues, entreats,
exhorts, proves, pleads with irresistible fervor and irre
pressible faith. The style of these epistles is that of a
debater and an advocate. Doubtless the substance of many
of them is repeated from the oral discourses of the apostle.
He has argued these questions out with many an individual
and before many a congregation. He knows the objections
usually offered. He is acquainted with all the twists and
turns of ordinary debate on these subjects. Pie puts into
writing the products of his preaching and apologetic and
evangelistic experience. The epistles are not polished ora
tions nor didactic treatises. They are full of the give and
take of ordinary conversation and the parry and thrust of
continuous debate.
Yet the wonder of it all is that they never lose themselves
in petty details, but always come out upon the heights of a
supreme conclusion. That marks Paul as not only one of
the great debaters but also one of the great thinkers of
world literature. Sabatier says of him, "He ranks with
Plato, with Augustine and Calvin, with Schleiermacher,
Spinoza, Hegel. An imperious necessity impelled him to
give his belief full dialectic expression, and to raise it above

m Timothy Dwight, in Homiletic Review, ix, pp. 7, 8, 12.

118 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
its contradictories. Having affirmed it, he confronts it at
once with its opposite; and his faith is incomplete until he
has triumphed over this antithesis and reached a point of
higher unity." 124 Many people cannot follow to these
heights. We can understand something of the mingled bewilder
ment and appreciation which the great scholars of the
church have felt as they studied the style of the apostle
Paul. We append some of their estimates as an aid to our
own. 6. Estimates of Paul's Style. ( i ) The earliest statement
on the subject which we have is found in the so-called
Second Epistle of Peter. It is interesting to note that inside
our New Testament canon there is an estimate of Paul's
style. It reads, "Account that the long-suffering of our
Lord is 'salvation ; even as our beloved brother Paul also,
according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you;
as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things ;
wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the
ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other
scriptures, unto their own destruction." 125
(2) Origen, the greatest of the Greek Fathers, says : "The
apostle is like a person who leads a stranger into a magni
ficent palace but perplexed with various cross and intricate
passages and many remote and secret apartments. He
shows him some things at a distance, out of his opulent
treasury; brings some things near to his view, conceals
others from it, often enters in at one door and comes out
at another; so that the stranger is surprised and wonders
whence he came, where he is, and how he shall get out."
(3) Jerome, the greatest scholar among the Latin
Fathers, in his letter to Pammachius, says: "I will only
mention the apostle Paul, whose words seem to me, as often
as I hear them, to be not words, but peals of thunder.
124 Sabatier, The Apostle Paul, p. 89.
m 2 Pet. 3. 15, 16.

THE EPISTLES 119
Read his epistles, and especially those addressed to the
Romans, to the Galatians, and to the Ephesians, in all of
which he stands in the thick of the battle, and you will
see how skillful and how careful he is in the proofs which
he draws from the Old Testament, and how warily he
cloaks the object which he has in view. His words seem
simplicity itself — the expressions of a guileless and unso
phisticated person, one who has no skill either to plan a
dilemma or to avoid it. Still, whichever way you look, they
are thunderbolts. His pleading halts, yet he carries every
point which he takes up. He turns his back upon his foe
only to overcome him ; he simulates flight, but only that he
may slay." 126
(4) Luther says of Paul, "Paulus meras flammas loquitur
— Paul speaks mere flames." 127
(5) Erasmus repeats, "He thunders, he lightnings, he
speaks mere flames." 128
(6) Casaubon says, "Paul alone of all the writers seems
to me not to have written with his fingers, with pen and
ink, but with the heart itself, the affection itself, and with
naked nerves." 129
(7) Tholuck writes, "The style of Paul is forcible, brief,
rapid, abounding in sentences in which he seems to be
always laboring for some new expression still stronger than
the preceding, and the words press like waves upon each
other." (8) Renan in his own graphic style declares of Paul's
letters': "The language is, if I may venture to say it, pul
verized — not a single consecutive phrase. It is impossible
to violate more audaciously, I say not the genius of the
Greek language, but the logic of human speech. One might
describe it as a rapid conversation stenographed and re
produced without corrections." 13°
128 Ep. ad Pammach., 68, 13. m Adversaria, ap. Wolf., p. 135.
127 In Gal. 1. m St. Paul, p. 232.
128 Ad Col. 4. 16,

120 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
(9) Philip Schaff describes the style of Paul as follows :
"It is manly, bold, heroic, aggressive, and warlike; yet at
times tender, delicate, gentle, and winning. It is involved,
irregular, and rugged, but always forcible and expressive,
and not seldom rises to more than poetic beauty. . . . He
abounds in skillful arguments, bold antitheses, impetuous
assaults, abrupt transitions, sudden turns, zigzag flashes,
startling questions and exclamations. . . . He drives the
opponent to the wall without mercy and reduces him ad
absurdum, but without ever indulging in personalities. . . .
Plis terseness makes him at times obscure, as is the case
with the somewhat similar style of Thucydides, Tacitus,
and Tertullian. His words are as many warriors marching
on to victory and peace; they are like a mountain torrent
rushing in foaming rapids over precipices, and then calmly
flowing through green meadows, or like a thunderstorm
ending in a refreshing shower and bright sunshine." 131
(10) Reuss says: "The style of all these epistles is the
true expression of the personality of the author. The
defect of classical correctness and rhetorical finish is more
than compensated by the riches of language and the full
ness of expression. The condensation of construction de
mands not reading simply, but studying. Broken sentences,
ellipses, parentheses, leaps in the argumentation, allegories,
rhetorical figures express inimitably all the moods of a
wide-awake and cultured mind, all the affections of a rich
and deep heart, and betray everywhere a pen at once bold,
and yet too slow for the thought. Antitheses, climaxes,
exclamations, questions keep up the attention, and touching
effusions win the heart of the reader." 132
(11) Pressense agrees: "Paul's own moral life struggled
for expression in his doctrine ; and to give utterance to both
at once, Paul created a marvelous language, rough and
incorrect, but full of resource and invention, following his
131 Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. i, pp. 753-4.
182 Gesqhichte der h. Schr. N. T., vol. i, p. 67.

THE EPISTLES 121
rapid leaps of thought, and bending to his sudden and
sharp transitions. His ideas . . . intermingle in seem
ing confusion; but the confusion is seeming only, for
through it all a powerful argument steadily sustains the
mastery. The tongue of Paul is, indeed, a tongue of
fire." 133 There is sufficient agreement among these state
ments to verify our own conclusions concerning the style
of Paul and to establish the direct and unmistakable rela
tion between Paul's style and his own character. We add
one more estimate in further confirmation of both these
facts. (12) Farrar concludes: "All that has been written of the
peculiarities of Paul's style may, I think, be summed up in
two words — intense individuality. His style is himself.
His natural temperament, and the circumstances under
which that temperament found its daily sphere of action;
his training, both Judaic and Hellenistic; his conversion
and sanctification, permeating his whole life and thoughts —
these united make up the Paul we know. And each of these
has exercised a marked influence on his style.
"1. The absorption in the one thought before him, which
makes him state without any qualification truths which,
taken in the whole extent of his words, seem mutually irre
concilable; the dramatic, rapid, overwhelming series of
questions which show that in his controversial passages he
is always mentally face to face with an objection; the
centrifugal force of mental activity, which drives him into
incessant digressions and goings off at a word, due to his
vivid power of realization; the centripetal force of imagin
ation, which keeps all these digressions under the control
of one dominant thought; and the grand confusions of
metaphor; the vehemence which makes him love the most
emphatic compounds; the irony and sarcasm; the chival
rously delicate courtesy; the overflowing sympathy with

»» Apostolic Era, p. 254.

122 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
the Jew, the pagan, the barbarian — with saint and sinner,
king and slave, man and woman, young and old ; the passion
which now makes his voice ring with indignation and now
break with sobs; the accumulation and variation of words,
from the desire to set forth the truths which he is pro
claiming in every possible light; the emotional emphasis
and personal references of his style ; the depressed humility
passing into boundless exultation — all these are due to his
natural temperament, and the atmosphere of controversy
and opposition on the one hand, and deep affection on the
other, in which he worked.
"2. The rhetorical figures, play of words, assonances,
oxymora, antitheses of his style; the constant widening of
his horizon; the traceable influence of cities, and even of
personal companions, upon his vocabulary ; the references to
Hellenic life ; the method of quoting Scripture ; the rabbinic
style of exegesis — these are due to his training at Tarsus
and Jerusalem, his life at Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome.
"3. The daring faith which never dreads a difficulty; the
unsolved antinomies, which, though unsolved, do not trouble
him; 'the bold soaring dialectics with which he rises from
the forms of one finite and earthly thought to the infinite
and spiritual life embodied in them'; the 'language of
ecstasy,' which was to him, as he meant it to be to his con
verts, the language of the work-day world; that transcen
dental-absurd, as it seems to the world, which was the very
life both of his conscience and intellect, and made him what
he was ; the way in which, as with one powerful sweep.
of the wing, he passes from the pettiest earthly conten
tions to the spiritual and the infinite ; the 'shrinking infirm
ity and self-contempt, hidden in a sort of aureole of revela
tion, abundant beyond measure' — this was due to the fact
that his citizenship was in heaven, his life hid with Christ
in God." 134

134 Op. cit., pp. 692-3.

THE EPISTLES 123
The apostle is in his epistles. We study them together
in this book. III. Value
1. Paul's Work and Paul's Writing. (1) The Work.
Paul did more for the Christian faith, and through that
faith for the world, than any other man who ever lived. In
ability and achievement he was equal to the whole company
of the apostles combined. He was speaking sober truth
when he said, "I labored more abundantly than they all:
Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." 13B
He covered more territory, he founded more churches, he
influenced more of the great centers of population, he
reached more people, he had greater success in his more
abundant labors than any other preacher of the faith of
whom we know. He took Christianity out of the little
corner of the earth in Palestine, where it bade fair to
become nothing but an obscure sect of a despised people,
and he made it a world power. He formulated it in such a
fashion that it could and would appeal to the intellect and
the heart of all the nations. He gave it such furnishing as
made it able to overthrow all philosophies or empires which
ventured to oppose it. He gave it its elements of continu
ous and eternal success. He made proof of this success
in his own ministry. His work and his accomplishment
were without parallel in the history of the church.
(2) The Writing. Paul has been the most influential of
all religious writers. He gave the watchword to the Protes
tant Reformation — "Justification by faith." He gave the
watchword to the Wesleyan movement — "The witness of
the Spirit to conversion and entire sanctification." These
have been the most important revivals in the history of the
church, but it would be safe to say that no great church
revival anywhere down the centuries or on any of the con
tinents has failed to base itself on the teaching of Paul as
•» 1 Cor. 15. 10.

124 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
recorded in his epistles. We must remember that these
epistles are the earliest books of the New Testament. They
were written before the Gospels were completed. They
formulated the theology of the church, and they have been
the church's chief authority in this field ever since.
(3) Relation between Paul's Writing and His Work.
These epistles were written to aid Paul in certain exigencies
in his missionary work, and they were subsidiary to that.
The work was the all-important thing with him. Doubtless
Paul never realized that these letters would be preserved
through all time and would be read by many millions after
his death. It never occurred to him that these hasty com
positions would outlive his personal labors and exert a still
wider influence upon the history of the world than his
personal work ever could. It is one of the ironies of his
tory that so much of Paul's work was unrecorded and is
long ago forgotten, while these occasional letters, which
represented so small a portion of his time and which occu
pied so little of his attention, have survived him and his
labors, and have multiplied their efficiency many fold. It
is our great blessing that Paul in all his ceaseless activity
found time for some literary composition. He would not
have called it by that name. He just wrote letters when it
seemed to him to be necessary to meet certain emergencies
and to accomplish certain ends. He has made us his debtors
by all that he did and still more by all that he wrote. To
him his writing would have seemed to represent an almost
insignificant part of his life accomplishment. It is alto
gether possible that if Paul had written a formal auto
biography, he would have omitted all mention of these
epistles as too unimportant to have a place in the account
of his work, even as Luke has omitted all mention of them
in the book of Acts. Yet to us the epistles loom large in
the estimate of Paul's lifework. Litera scripta manet. The
man is gone ; his written works abide, for our study and our
instruction and our enjoyment to-day.

THE EPISTLES 125
2. The Incomparable Value of the Pauline Epistles.
(1) On this subject we quote the authority of Ewald, who
opens his Commentary on the Pauline Epistles with these
words : "Considering these epistles for themselves only, and
apart from the general significance of the great apostle of
the Gentiles, we must still admit that, in the whole history
of all centuries and of all nations, there is no other set of
writings of similar extent, which, as creations of the fugi
tive moment, have proceeded from such severe troubles of
the age, and such profound pains and sufferings of the
author himself, and yet contain such an amount of health-
fulness, serenity, and vigor of immortal genius, and touch
with such clearness and certainty on the very highest truths
of human aspiration and action. . . . The smallest as well
as the greatest of these epistles seem to have proceeded from
the fleeting moments of this earthly life only to enchain all
eternity; they were born of anxiety and bitterness of human
strife, to set forth in brighter luster and with higher cer
tainty their superhuman grace and beauty. The divine
assurance and firmness of the old prophets of Israel, the all-
transcending glory and immediate spiritual presence of the
Eternal King and Lord, who had just ascended to heaven,
and all the art and culture of a ripe and wonderfully
excited age, seem to have joined, as it were, in bringing
forth the new creation of these epistles of the times which
were destined to last for all times."136
(2) Philip Schaff agrees as to the justice of this char
acterisation. He says: "Tracts for the time, they were
tracts for all time. Children of the fleeting moment, they
contain truths of infinite moment. They compress more
ideas into fewer words than any other writings, human or
divine, except the Gospels. They are of more real and
genuine value to the church than all the systems of theology
from Origen to Schleiermacher. For eighteen hundred

"* Ewald, Commentary on the Pauline Epistles.

126 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
years they have nourished the faith of Christendom and
will do so to the end of time."
(3) If Paul wrote Second Corinthians, Galatians, and
Romans in one half year, what might he not have written
if he had thought it worth while to take time from his
missionary labors to devote himself to any prolonged and
deliberate literary work? What he has written always
leaves us with the impression that he has not exhausted
himself, that he has untold resources in reserve. If these
reserve forces ever had been called upon, what magnificent
monuments to Paul's literary ability we might have had!
Yet it is just possible that any formal treatises or labored
compositions would have been devoid of the personal ele
ment in these letters and would have been without their
consequent vitality and inspiration.
We know that the epistles with all their defects are rank
ing now among the mightiest intellectual forces in the
world. We know that their influence is widening and deep
ening all the time. We know that they are valued more
highly and by more people to-day than ever before. We
do not know what the effect of a ponderous tome from
Paul's pen would have been. It might be more of a sedative
than an inspiration.
We know that these short letters have established them
selves in the hearts and the minds of men. Stalker is
right in suggesting that the epistles cause Paul to rise
"sheer above all other evangelists and missionaries. Some
of them may have approached him in certain resp'ects —
Xavier or Livingstone in the world-conquering instinct,
Saint Bernard or Whitefield in earnestness and activity.
But few of these men added a single new idea to the world's
stock of beliefs, whereas Paul, while at least equalling them
in their own special line, gave to mankind a new world of
thought." 137 There is one more subject to which we ought

W Life of Saint Paul, p. 106,

THE EPISTLES 127
to give some consideration before turning to the study of
the individual epistles.
3. The Relation of the Theology of Paul to the Teach
ing of Jesus. For almost half a century now a great con
troversy has been raging over the authority of the apostle
Paul. The cry has been raised: "Back to Christ! Paul
has misled us. There is a great difference between
Christ's teaching and Paul's preaching. Paul ought to be
deposed from the chief throne in theology which he has
usurped. He was the servant of Jesus Christ. His Master
and our Master must be the highest and the ultimate
authority. Therefore, let us forsake Paul's guidance and
go back to the only final court of appeal in the words of
Jesus. Paul taught redemption through the cross. Jesus
said little or nothing about the cross. He preached the
Father's love and acceptance of all who would obey and
trust him. Paul has a doctrine of human depravity which
never appears anywhere in the teachings of Jesus. Paul
knows about the origin of sin and its connection with death,
but Jesus never touches upon such matters. He recognizes
the fact of sin, but he never formulates any doctrine of sin
as Paul does. Jesus said that he came to fulfill the law, but
Paul declared that the dispensation of the law had been
abolished by him. The Christology of Paul is not the
Christology of Jesus. Paul's doctrine of predestination has
no place in the Gospels. Paul's philosophy of history has
nothing corresponding to it there. There is a sacramental
element in the Pauline epistles which is foreign to all the
recorded sayings of Jesus. In Paul we have the rabbin
ical methods of dealing with the Scriptures and all the wis
dom of the schools. In Jesus we have the simple piety
of a Palestinian peasant. In Paul we find apocalyptical
speculation and Hellenistic habits of thought. In Jesus we
have the immediate intuitions of ethical and spiritual in
spiration. Jesus was a prophet. Paul is a theologian.
Jesus taught a simple gospel. Paul has distorted and per-

128 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
verted it. When we pass from the Gospels to the Pauline
epistles it is as if we stepped from the sunny mountainside-
into the gloomy, close atmosphere of the synagogue. Paul
is farther from Jesus than Jesus was from the best of the
scribes and Pharisees with whom he came in contact in his
ministry. Who founded Christianity, Jesus or Paul ? Shall
we go back to the Christianity of Jesus or shall we maintain
the far different Christianity of Paul?"
A voluminous literature has sprung up in more or less
open and complete representation of this position against
Paul, and it has called forth a number of volumes in reply.
It is evident that we cannot enter into the subject with any
degree of fullness, but we would like to offer the following
suggestions in answer to the general attack upon Paul by
these critics.
(i) The asumption of a difference in the essentials of
the teaching of Jesus and of Paul is unfounded and un-
proven and untrue. We have not two discordant gospels in
our New Testament. We have but one gospel. The gospel
of Jesus is the gospel of Paul. With minor differences
there is essential and fundamental unity in all the writings
in our New Testament canon. It would be easy to show
this in detail. It is at the point of the apostolic doctrine of
redemption that the critics take most radical exception.
All other differences are subsidiary to this, and what does
their contention amount to here? It means that Paul and
the apostles taught an objective doctrine of the atonement
and_ Jesus never did. That means that they proclaimed to
the world an interpretation of his death which he never had
sanctioned and which, therefore, they must have known to
be different from his own. Could they have done that as
honest men? Is it conceivable that the men whom Jesus
had trained for three years could have been utterly mis
taken as to his thought upon this most important feature of
their creed? Let him believe that who can! We confess
that our faith is not equal to the strain of concluding that

THE EPISTLES 129
the apostles were either inconceivably stupid or irretrievably
disloyal to their Lord. That is what this contention of a
radical or essential difference of teaching means.
(2) There is a difference between the teaching of Jesus
and the preaching of Paul. That is apparent to all, and no
one denies it. The difference, however, is only one of
degree and not of kind. Jesus never formulated his prin
ciples into a system. The founders of Buddhism and
Mohammedanism left in writing a complete body of
teaching, but the founder of Christianity never wrote
anything for preservation by his disciples nor dictated
any creed or philosophy or theology for their guid
ance in the days after his death. He enunciated germinal
principles. In conversations and in more formal discourses
he gave them seed thoughts. His fundamental conceptions
are few in number and unrelated to each other in any logical
or systematic form. Neither in ethics nor in civic or social
duties nor in church affairs nor in religious requirements
did he set forth his teachings in any precise or final formu
lation. He never intimates that his teaching is complete.
On the contrary, he said to his disciples that he had many-
things to tell them for which they were not yet prepared,
and he promised them the Spirit's coming, that he might
guide them into the further truth. Were these promises of
additional revelations never fulfilled? We think they were
in the case of Paul and the other New Testament writers.
They took the germinal ideas of Jesus and gave them fuller
development. That work had to be done and they ought to have done it.
There is nothing absolutely new in their writings. Augus
tine said that in the Old Testament the New Testament was
latent and in the New Testament the Old Testament was
patent. We may paraphrase his statement and say, "Epistula
latet in Evangelio, Evangelium patet in Epistula," for all
of Paul's theology is latent in Christ's teaching, and all of
Christ's teaching is patent in Paul's epistles. Jesus was no

130 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
systematic theologian ; but Christianity had to have a theol
ogy. It could not have maintained itself until now without
one. As heretics distorted the faith and antagonists flung
themselves upon it, some trained intellect had to stand in
the breach and prove to all comers that the Christian faith
was well founded, a reasonable as well as a spiritual serv
ice. There was one man in the early church who faced
all the facts contained in the life and ministry of Jesus as
a completed whole and from the facts deduced a faith
which was a system of correlated doctrines and beliefs.
That was the apostle Paul. The other apostles had come
gradually to their faith as the facts developed before their
eyes through the months and the years, and they probably
did not have the school training and the world experience
which would enable them to see the faith steadily and see it
whole until Paul had formulated it for them. They all
agreed upon the system which Paul formulated as properly
representing the teaching of the Master, but Paul was the
originator and creator. They recognized in him the man
adequate to the needed task.
These men who are crying for a return to a religion with
out theology are like those who would urge a return to the
life of primitive man without any of the aids and the neces
sities of modern civilization. You cannot go back from
the blossom to the bud. You cannot go back from the blade
and the full corn in the ear to the seed. Christianity can no
more do without a theology than a man can dispense with
his own skeleton. As long as he is alive he cannot do with
out it. We would detract no whit from the importance of
the Sermon on the Mount; but if the Son of God has come
to this earth and has lived a sinless life and has died for
our redemption and has been resurrected unto the crowning
with eternal glory and power, then in that trinity of facts —
Incarnation, Redemption, Resurrection — we have matters
of profounder interest to the race than anything the Sermon
on the Mount contains. If we cannot put these doctrines

THE EPISTLES 131
and these facts behind the teaching of Jesus, we have in
that teaching only the charming intuitions of a pious provin
cial, with no more authority in them than there is in the
ethics of Epictetus and the speculations of Socrates.
We sympathize fully with Josiah Royce when he says:
"Yet, as a student of philosophy, coming in no partisan
spirit, I must insist that this reduction of what is vital in
Christianity to the so-called pure gospel of Christ, as he
preached it and as it is recorded in the body of the presum
ably authentic sayings and parables, is profoundly unsatis
factory. . . . For one thing, Christ can hardly be supposed
to have regarded his most authentically reported sayings as
containing the whole of his message, or as embodying the
whole of his mission. For, if he had so viewed the matter,
the Messianic tragedy in which his lifework culminated
would have been needless and unintelligible. For the rest,
the doctrine that he taught is, as it stands, essentially incom
plete. It is not a rounded whole. It looks beyond itself for
a completion." 138 That is the way it seems to one of our
leading philosophers, and that is the way it seems to us.
What Jesus taught in the days of his earthly ministry did
not represent to him the consummation of his teaching.
It was all true, but it was not the whole of the truth. He
himself was never content With it. He always suggested
the possibility and the necessity of further revelation.
Canon Bernard says, in speaking of those who regard the
apostolic writings "as only Petrine, Pauline, or Alexan
drian versions of the Christian doctrine, interesting records
of the views of individuals or schools of opinion concerning
the salvation which Jesus began to speak," "No, the words
of our Lord are not honored (as these men seem to think)
by being thus isolated ; for it is an isolation which separates
them from other words which are also his own words given
by him in that day when he no longer spake in proverbs, but
138 Royce, What Is Vital in Christianity, in William James, and
Other Essays, pp. 140, 141.

132 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
showed his servants plainly of the Father." 139 That leads
us to another step in this discussion.
(3) All of our New Testament books were written by men
who were living on the postpentecostal plane of experience.
That is as true of the Gospels as it is of the epistles. After
the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost the apostles and
the church had new insight into the nature and purpose
of the ministry of their Lord. Their characters were
changed. Their theology was improved. Luke says that in
the Gospel he had written of the things which Jesus began
to do and to teach.140 In the book of Acts he records what
Jesus continued to do and to teach. There is continuous
development in the teaching, and it is all the teaching of
Jesus. By as much as the seating of Jesus on the right
hand of the throne gave him power and majesty surpassing
that of the days of his humiliation in the flesh, by so much
does the spiritual insight of his disciples seem to be clarified
and increased. The most astonishing thing about it all is
their essential agreement in all the fundamentals of their
preaching. They came to be of one mind in the Lord, and
we are disposed to believe that their mind was the mind of
Christ. That explains the underlying unity of our New Testa
ment. All of the authors of our New Testament books were
led by the Spirit and they were led into the truth, and it
followed that they were led into the same truth. What
bearing has this upon Paul and the authority of Paul in
his epistles? It has just this bearing, that all of the apos
tles and of the early teachers and leaders of the Christian
Church, Peter, James, John, Apollos, Barnabas, Philip, Silas
and the rest, believed that the gospel of Paul was the gospel
of Jesus. They never thought of impeaching Paul's ortho
doxy. They may have differed with him on matters of
administration, but they never doubted his Christianity. It
139 Progress of Doctrine, p. 87.
140 Acts 1. 1.

THE EPISTLES 133
is the tendency in our day to call them all Pauline disciples
and to trace the Pauline influence in their writings. That
tendency bears its testimony to the fact that there is one
spirit informing them all, and that is the Spirit of Pentecost,
the Spirit promised by the Master to teach them all things
and to lead them into the final truth.
(4) Paul's gospel, as we have seen, took possession of the
church in the beginning and has held possession in the
church ever since. If the gospel of Jesus was different,
what became of it? Christianity has believed through all
the ages that there was no separation between the two. It
would need very strong evidence indeed to convince us that
the church had been mistaken on such a vital point through
all its history. What happened to the gospel of Jesus? Did
it disappear without leaving a ripple on the surface of the
placid pool of Christian thought? Did it not have a single
representative to write or speak in its behalf? Did all of
the devoted disciples of Jesus who were ready to prove
their loyalty to him through persecution and martyrdom,
if need be, nevertheless forsake his teaching and betray his
cause and unanimously follow after an upstart adventurer
such as some of the critics would have us believe Paul to
be? The apostles thought that Paul and Jesus were at one.
Is it credible that they could be mistaken? If they were
mistaken, and we are dependent wholly upon them for all
that we know of the teaching and preaching of Jesus, how
can any modern critics rediscover for us after the lapse
of all these centuries the simon pure gospel of Jesus, which,
according to them, has disappeared totally since the advent
of Paul? It would entail a degree of inspiration and even
of infallibility in the critics which we would prefer to
ascribe to the primitive apostles, if we must choose between
the two.
(5) Paul claimed that he received his gospel from the
Lord by direct and special revelation. "I make known
to you, brethren, as touching the gospel which was preached

134 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
by me, that it is not after man. For neither did I receive it
from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through
revelation of Jesus Christ." 141 His most radical critics
are ready to acknowledge that Paul was a sincere man.
They believe that he believed in his inward and authori
tative illumination. So did the apostles. The early church
accepted Paul's authority, and it has approved itself through
all the centuries since. It is too late now to drag Paul down
from the place to which Christ has exalted him.
(6) The best way to get "back to Christ" is to get back
of the Gospels to this earlier gospel literature. The only
way to get back to Christ is through the epistles of Paul.
The best equipment for anyone who desires to present
Christian truth to-day is the mastery of the gospel of the
apostle Paul. "We may find in Paul's writings arguments
which, however convincing to the Jew, are not convincing
to us; we may prefer his experimental and ethical to his
doctrinal teaching; some estimable people can accept him
only when they have purged him of his Calvinism; others
shut their eyes to this or that which seems to them a blot
in his writings; but the fact remains that it is to this man
we owe our Christianity. It was he who disengaged from
the dying body of Judaism the newborn religion and held it
aloft in the eye of the world as the true heir to universal
empire. It was he whose piercing intellect and keen moral
discernment penetrated to the very heart of this new thing,
and saw in it a force to conquer the world and to rid men
of all bondage and evil of every kind. It was he who
applied to the whole range of human life and duty the inex
haustible ethical force which lay in Christ and thus lifted
at one effort the heathen world to a new level of morality.
He was the first to show the superiority of love to law, and
to point out how God trusted to love, and to summon men
to meet the trust God thus reposed in them. We cannot

141 Gal. i. u, 12.

THE EPISTLES 135
measure Paul's greatness, because the light he himself has
shed has made it impossible for us to put ourselves back in
imagination into the darkness through which he had to find
his way. We can measure but dimly the strength that was
required to grasp as he grasped the significance of God's
manifestation in the flesh." 142
The teachings of Paul are the teachings of Jesus more
fully developed and more clearly revealed. That is the
relation between the two. We agree with Kaftan that the
¦npiotov ipevdog of this modern criticism is the attempt to
separate between Paul and Jesus, and he is right in say
ing that the greatest hours in the spiritual history of Chris
tianity have been those in which Paul became a living
power in the church, and it is not likely that to-day a new
epoch will be introduced through exactly the opposite, the
relegating of Paul to the lumber-room of theology.143
Renan prophesied that Paul was now coming to the end of
his reign. Matthew Arnold answered that Paul would arise
out of any tomb in which anyone might bury him to edify
the church of the future ages in even fuller measure than
he had the church of the past.
Deissmann concludes that "the modern condemnations
of the apostle as an obscurantist who corrupted the simple
gospel of the Nazarene with harsh and difficult dogmas are
the dregs of doctrinaire study of Paul, mostly in the tired
brains of gifted amateurs." 144 We need not be so severe
in our judgment. Doubtless many earnest and thoughtful
Christians have hoped to get back to Christ in a fuller and
more satisfactory measure by the discarding of metaphysics
and theology for the simplicity which is in Jesus. It is a
false scent. Experience has proven that those who begin
with the belittling of Paul end up with a lesser Christ. Paul
has been a safe guide in the past. We can trust him now
142 Marcus Dods, Commentary on First Corinthians, p. 68,
143 Kaftan, Jesus und Paulus, S. 72, 74.
114 Saint Paul, p. 4.

136 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
to lead the church on into the realization of some of his
grander ideals. He points the way toward a fraternity of
the nations and a unity of Christendom we have not seen
as yet. He foretells the ultimate universal triumph of
the church, and the evolution of human society into the
single and eternal kingdom of God. We follow on, assured
that as we follow Paul we follow Christ.
We have attempted to visualize the apostle Paul and to
get some conception of his personal preparation for his
work, his personal appearance, and his personal character
istics. We have taken a general view of Paul's epistles and
have come to some conclusions concerning their form, their
style, and their value. We are ready now to proceed to the
investigation of the Pauline epistles in their chronological
order and we shall expect the detailed survey of the indi
vidual epistles to give us further insight into the character
of the man as they further illustrate the general principles
arrived at in our preliminary study.

CHAPTER III
THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS

CHAPTER III
THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
I. Thessalonica
In the first Christian century Thessalonica was the chief
city of Macedonia. It was a seaport city with about two
hundred thousand inhabitants. It lay at the northwest
corner of the Thermaic Gulf, the most magnificent of the
many bays on the eastern shores of Greece. With the blue
waters of the /Egean Sea rippling at its feet, its houses
and its streets rose over gently flowing terraces to the
citadel with its imposing fortifications. Back of it stood
Mount Olympus, the fabled home of the gods of Greece,
snow-capped and resplendent as a royal palace high in air.
When Cicero was exiled from Rome he lived here in Thes
salonica for seven months with Plancius the quaestor, and
he tells us that he looked for the gods on Mount Olympus,
but found there only ice and snow.1 Through the city of
Thessalonica from east to west ran the great Egnatian high
way which connected the imperial city of Rome with the
Orient. It was made of blocks of marble and was one of
the triumphs of ancient engineering.
Thessalonica was thus a center of commerce by land and
by sea. It was called "the mother of all Macedonia." It
was at the height of its prosperity at the beginning of the
Christian era, but it had been a city of importance for more
than four hundred years. The ancient name of the city
was Therma, given it because of the hot springs in the
neighborhood. The most important event in its ancient his
tory was its occupation by the Athenians in the Pelopon-
1 Orat. pro Plane. 41. 139

140 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
nesian war in B. C. 421. They left it desolate and it was
not rebuilt for almost a century. In B. C. 315 Cassander
restored it and gave it the new name "Thessalonica," the
name of his wife, who was the daughter of Philip of Mace-
don and the stepsister of Alexander the Great. After the
battle of Pydna in B. C. 168 it was surrendered to the
Romans, and they made it the capital of Macedonia
Secunda and finally of the whole province of Macedonia.
In B. C. 42 Antony and Augustus made it a free city. It
was the residence of a Roman proconsul and had, the
privilege of electing its own magistrates, who were called
by the unusual name of politarchs, or rulers of the city.
It had only two commercial rivals on the /Egean Sea —
Corinth to the south and Ephesus on the opposite shore.
It was the most populous city in all Macedonia, and, like
all other large and prosperous cities in the empire at this
time, it had a proportion of Jewish citizens and they had
a synagogue. II. The Greatest Event in the History of
Thessalonica
About the middle of the first Christian century the first
official representatives of the Christian faith entered Thes
salonica. There were three of them. They were travel
ing on foot and they had come directly from Philippi.
There the two older men had been scourged and imprisoned,
and the chief magistrates had besought them to leave the
town. With their younger companion they had trudged off
on the highway to the capital of that district, the seaport
town of Amphipolis, and then without tarrying they had
turned inland and gone on to the large city of Apollonia,
and then on and on for a journey of nearly a hundred miles
in all to Thessalonica. The three men were named Paul,
Silas, and Timothy. Paul was the leader and he had a
habit of making his way to the great centers of commerce
and human activity. This was his first trip to Europe. He

FIRST THESSALONIANS 141
had entered it by way of Macedonia, and the greatest city
of Macedonia had been his goal from the first. He liked
large cities. He had been city bred and he never felt much
at home until he got into a great city. This walk of a
hundred miles from Philippi to Thessalonica was through
beautiful scenery and along a splendid road, but Paul had
no eye for natural beauty, and country landscapes never
appealed to him. His limbs were stiff from being fastened
in the prison stocks at Philippi, and his back was sore and
raw from the scourging he had received there. Some men
would have tarried in some quiet and secluded spot until
their wounds were healed at least. Paul had no thought
of tarrying anywhere except in a city, and he had a work
to do which allowed of no delay. His back would heal just
as quickly if he were about that work as if he were idle.
So he hastened on.
No one welcomed them into Thessalonica. The proud
city had seen triumphal processions of conquering generals
file into its streets, and all its citizens had turned out to
swell the acclaiming throng; but these men surely did not
appear to be conquerors. They were Jews, to begin with;
they belonged to a despised race. Then they were fugitives,
just out of prison, dusty and forlorn. They evidently
were poor men, wandering vagabonds in search of a job.
They were greeted with suspicious glances, and they looked
for the Jewish community before they found a friendly
face. The first thing they had to do was to find a place
where they might lodge for a time, and then it seems that
the second necessity pressing hard upon them was that of
finding employment and the assured income it would bring.
We are told that a famine was raging in the Roman empire
at this time and that the prices of food and the necessaries
of life had risen to most exorbitant figures. The staple
trade in Thessalonica was the manufacture of coarse cloth
for tents. It has remained one of the chief businesses of
the city to the present day. A modern traveler tells us that

142 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
"the sound that follows the ear as one walks through the
streets to-day is the wheezing and straining vibration of
the loom and the pendulum-like click of the regular and
ceaseless shuttle." 2
Paul was a tentmaker by trade and as he walked up and
down these factory streets and heard the sound of the
shuttles and looms he asked for employment again and
again. Having found it, the three men went to work. The
remuneration was small, and they could not make expenses;
but they worked hard both night and day,3 and twice they
received some financial aid from the friends they had left
behind them at Philippi.4 In this way, working before
daylight and long after nightfall, they managed to make
ends meet, to pay all their bills, and to be independent.
When the Sabbath came Paul appeared in the Jewish syn
agogue and, as his custom was, he preached to them the
gospel of the crucified Jesus as the risen Christ. Through
three weeks he was permitted to continue this reasoning in
the synagogue, and some were persuaded that he proclaimed
the truth. But most of the Jews felt about this doctrine
of a crucified Christ just as Paul himself had felt before
the Damascus vision, and they decided that such a blas
phemy ought to have no countenance from them and that
its adherents ought to be persecuted and driven out of the
community. After three weeks the synagogue was closed against Paul,
and his further missionary ministry was carried on in
private homes and in individual interviews. How long
this lasted we cannot tell, but probably for some months.
A Christian church was organized which seems to have
made its headquarters in the house of Jason. Of course
they were not many in number. There had been no time
for even so indefatigable an evangelist as Paul to gather
2 Dods, Introduction to the New Testament, p. 153.
3 1 Thess. 2. 9.
* Phil. 4. 16.

FIRST THESSALONIANS 143
any large number of converts about him. They were all
the product of personal evangelism. Paul had talked with
each one of them, as a father with his children.5 Most of
them were Gentiles. 6 The large majority of them belonged
to the working class, the people with whom Paul had been
associating in his daily labor.7 It was a marvel that three
strangers could enter a heathen city and in a single summer
season could gather even a small company of artisans about
them as the devoted adherents of a new and unpopular and
persecuted faith. They had to do it in the face of the
violent opposition of all their own countrymen and in the
face of the heathenism dominant here for centuries. The
first missionaries on a foreign soil usually expect to spend
months in preparation for the reaping of a spiritual harvest.
They do not expect to enter any virgin territory, where
their form of faith never has been heard in public preach
ing and where all the religious teaching of the centuries
has been of a radically different character, and found a
church in the first six months. Paul seems to have expected
just such a result from his preaching.
Everything seemed to be against him — his appearance,
his poverty, his unpopularity, his astounding and confound
ing doctrine and prophecy. No miracles were wrought here
in Thessalonica, as far as we know. There was nothing
to create a sensation and to direct attention to these men
except the matter of their preaching and the manner of their
life. The one great marvel of this Thessalonian ministry
was that it had such immediate results in the formation of
a church in a few months! How did it happen? The
only explanation is that given by Paul himself, "Our gospel
came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in
the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; even as ye know
what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for
' 1 Thess. 2. 11.
8 1 Thess. 1. 9, 10.
7 1 Thess. 4. 11.

144 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
your sake." 8 Integrity of personality, assurance of faith,
spiritual power in life and in preaching — these things
accomplished wonders in those days, as they have accom
plished wonders ever since. Through the whole city people
began to inquire who these men were. The news concern
ing the life and death of Jesus was passed from mouth to
mouth and the rapid spread through all Palestine and Asia
Minor of this new faith in a Crucified One became generally
known. As the success of these missionaries in making converts in
Thessalonica was noised abroad the Jews were moved
with jealousy. They had been living here in Thessalonica,
some of them, for years and years and they had not suc
ceeded in making any considerable number of the Gentiles
into Jews. Why should these three men come into the city
and in a very few months attract some scores of Gentiles
to what seemed to them a gross perversion of the Jewish
faith? They ought to be suppressed immediately. So they
incited a mob which assaulted the house of Jason and
haled him and certain of his friends before the politarchs.
There Jason was compelled to give security that the Chris
tian missionaries would leave the city at once. On this
condition the prisoners were released, and that night Paul
and Silas and Timothy were smuggled out of the city and
sent on their way to Bercea.
They had come into the city by daylight. They went
out under cover of the darkness, as if their deeds had been
evil. Their assailants had said, "These men have turned
the world upside down ;" 9 and that was true in a certain
sense. They were revolutionists of the most radical sort.
Only, they were turning the world right side up; and the
Jews in Thessalonica had not realized that fact. The Chris
tian centuries have proven it since. Those three men had
founded the second church of European Christendom here
8 1 Thess. i. 5.
» Acts 17. 6.

FIRST THESSALONIANS 145
in Thessalonica, and that was the most important event in
the whole history of the city. We know the city to-day,
not because of anything else which took place in it, but
because those three men spent some three months or more
in their threefold work of manual labor and public preach
ing and individual evangelism. Thessalonica has been of
interest in world history because it became the seat of a
Christian church.
III. Later History of the City and Church
A very short time after Paul left the city of Thessalonica
he wrote back to the members of the church there, "From
you hath sounded forth, [i^xVTtu> echoed out, trumpeted
abroad] the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and
Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God is gone
forth." 10 In every place! If that were true in any sense
in Paul's own day, how much truer has it become since
then! One can trace a straight line of blessing from that
church in Thessalonica to any spot on the earth where the
Christian faith has been preached. The ninth century was
the heroic age in the history of the church in Thessalonica.
In that century the two brothers Cyril and Methodius went
out from this church as missionaries and they evangelized
the Bohemians and the Moravians. Among these John
Huss appeared later, and from John Huss and John Wiclif,
his master, the later reformers caught much of their inspira
tion. Later still there was that Moravian community at
Herrnhut which sent Peter Bohler to London, and in the
Moravian prayer meeting in Aldersgate Street John
Wesley's heart was strangely warmed. Wesley visited
Herrnhut and afterward organized Methodism largely upon
the model he found there. He sent Francis Asbury to
America and the missionary spirit of Cyril and Methodius
was reincarnated in the itinerant preachers who captured

10 1 Thess. 1. 8.

146 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
the western continent for Christ. From Cyril and
Methodius to the Bohemians and the Moravians, from John
Huss to the Reformation, and from Count Zinzendorf to
Methodism, from John Wesley to Francis Asbury, from the
church at Thessalonica to the spot on which we stand, we
find that Paul's words are true and that the word of God
hath sounded out from that Christian center to all the world
and we ourselves are their debtors.
In A. D. 389 the great massacre by Theodosius occurred
in the city of Thessalonica. In 904 it was captured by the
Saracens and in 1185 it was recaptured by the Normans
under Tancred. Through the Middle Ages it was the main
bulwark of Christianity against the Turks. For five hun
dred years the Mohammedans called it "the orthodox
city." In 1430 the Turks took it again, and it has been in
their possession until the recent Balkan war. In 1876
there was an outbreak of Turkish fanaticism in this city
and another great massacre of the people took place and
the arch of the politarchs was destroyed. The modern
name of the city is Saloniki. It is about half the size of
the city which Paul visited. Its present population is about
seventy thousand. There are only a few Christians among
them; about twenty thousand are Jews, and the majority
are Mohammedans.
Paul wrote epistles to Ephesus, Colossae, and Philippi,
and these places are only heaps of ruins now. Thessalonica
is a flourishing city to-day; but its streets are narrow and
filthy and many of its houses are in sad need of repair. It
bears evidence on every hand of the inefficiency of the
recent Moslem rule. The Christian Church is more ruin
ous still. It has had a noble history. It produced many
learned archbishops, as well as many zealous missionaries.
It had many splendid Byzantine churches, all of which
were turned into mosques. The one good result of the
Mohammedan occupation of these edifices is that they
have been well preserved, and the city of Thessalonica has

FIRST THESSALONIANS 147
more remains of ecclesiastical antiquity to-day than any
other city in Greece. The evidences of the former pros
perity of this famous church are still there. We trust, now
that it is delivered from the smothering and crushing
incubus of Mohammedanism, it may return to some mea
sure of its primitive purity and power.
IV. Occasion of the First Epistle
Paul and his two companions went on to Bercea when
they had been driven out of Thessalonica, and then on to
Athens. They could not forget the friends they had made
in the Macedonian capital, and they were anxious about
them. They knew something of the temptations and trials
to which the new converts would be sure to be exposed.
Were they sufficiently grounded in the faith to stand firm?
Their anxiety grew as the days went on and they had no
word from them, and at Athens Paul determined to send
Timothy back to see how things were going and to bring
a report to him. From Athens Paul went on to Corinth,
and it was at Corinth that Timothy found him upon his
return. He brought an encouraging report.
1. He told Paul that the little band of Christians was still
loyal to the truth, faithful to the Lord, obedient to the
gospel, and anxious for the return of the missionaries.
That was the main thing, and Paul's heart was set at rest.
However, Timothy had other things to report which were
not so pleasing.
2. He told Paul that the persecution which had begun
before they left was raging still. Both Gentiles and Jews
were harassing and tormenting the Christians at every
opportunity; but the Jews were the worse enemies, now as
before. It took a sterling quality of faith to endure under
such continuous testing.
3. The Jews had been active especially in spreading slan
derous rumors against Paul. They impugned his motives
and misinterpreted his conduct. All the malice of which

148 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
they were capable was shown in the ingenuity with which
they manufactured and promulgated these canards.
4. The teaching of the apostle concerning the second
coming of the Lord had been misunderstood by some, and
they had made that teaching the excuse for idleness and dis-
orderliness and some were grieving because their friends
had died and so had missed the sight of this great event.
5. There were a few who evidenced a tendency to the
misuse of spiritual gifts and a few who were tempted to
return to heathen impurities. It was hot strange that it
should be so. The marvel was that so many stood fast in
such a trying situation.
Paul heard Timothy's report and sat down at once to
write a letter to the Thessalonians. A word from him
might encourage them and help them; and he would send
it to them without delay.11
V. Probable Date of the Epistle
We have no method of fixing the exact date of the first
epistle. The evangelists visited Thessalonica and the
church was founded there in the year, and probably in the
summer of the year, A. D. 52. We know that some con
siderable time had elapsed since then.
1. There must have been time for Timothy to make the
trip from Athens to Thessalonica and the return trip to
Corinth.12 2. There must have been time for several deaths in the
circle of the disciples in Thessalonica.13 These deaths had
been the cause of much discouragement to some of the
survivors. 3. There must have been time for much missionary activ
ity on the part of the church, so that its name and fame
had spread through Macedonia and Achaia and the regions

11 1 Thess. 3. 6.
u 1 Thess. 3. 1-6.
18 1 Thess. 4. 13.

FIRST THESSALONIANS 149
beyond.14 We know that Paul spent about eighteen months
in Corinth,15 and that both the First and the Second
Epistles to the Thessalonians were written in this city dur
ing this time. There must have been some interval between
the writing of the first and the second epistle. Cutting off
the time to represent this interval from the close of the
stay in Corinth, we find ourselves shut up to a period of
about six months in which the first epistle must have been
written. That period cannot begin sooner than six months
after Paul had left Thessalonica and can extend to not more
than one year from that date. We decide, therefore, that
this epistle was written in the first half of the year A. D. 53.
VI. Aim of the Epistle
Paul wrote (1) to encourage them with his commenda
tion and comfort them in their persecution; (2) to
strengthen the personal bond between himself and the
church; (3) to break all the bonds between the church and
its Jewish and Gentile persecutors; (4) to defend himself
against the charges made by his enemies; (5) to make
clearer his teaching concerning the second coming of the
Lord; (6) to assure all the Christians that death was no
loss to them but rather a gain. The sooner death came, the
sooner they entered into their reward. Whether they woke
or slept, they lived with their Lord.16 When they died they
did not go down into the grave nor out into oblivion, but
up into the heavenly places with Christ. Wherefore, let
them comfort themselves with these words.17
VII. A Noteworthy Epistle
1. This epistle is noteworthy because it is the first written
by the apostle Paul of which we have any record. It is the
first epistle which has been preserved, written by a Chris
tian to Christians, if we except the brief official document
14 1 Thess. 1. 7, 8. 16 1 Thess. 5. 10.
' "Acts 18. 11. " 1 Thess. 5. 11.

150 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
sent after the Jerusalem council to the church at Antioch.18
Chronologically it is the first of the New Testament books
to be written. It marks the beginning of Christian lit
erature. It is the earliest important document of the Chris
tian faith. Jesus had written nothing. The twelve apostles
had written nothing. Paul is the pioneer in the field of
Christian authorship. In all the multitude of those who
have followed him in all the centuries since Paul has had
no superior. It is to be questioned whether he has had
even a single peer. The First Epistle to the Thessalonians
is noteworthy by its position, leading the van of the mighty
host of tracts, sermons, epistles, treatises, and books with
which Christianity has enriched the world ; and its intrinsic
value makes it worthy of that leadership.
2. It is not one of the greatest of the Pauline epistles;
but it has all of the Pauline characteristics and much of
the Pauline power. There is one outburst against the Jews
in it. These Jews "both killed the Lord Jesus and the
prophets, and drove us out, and please not God, and are
contrary to all men ; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles
that they may be saved ; to fill up their sins always : but the
wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." 19 They had
driven Paul out of Thessalonica and they were persecuting
him in Corinth. His patience with them seems to have been
about exhausted at this time. No Jew-baiter could have
used any stronger language against them than this. Paul
calls them murderers of the Messias and the prophets, hate
ful to God and hated by men, sinners up to the limit, cer
tain of the overwhelming wrath which was due their
unspeakable transgression! This passage is the only one
in the epistle of such a character. As a whole it is one of
the most gentle written by Paul. He intends it for com
fort and encouragement. He is proud of the steadfastness
of these Thessalonians and he does not hesitate to tell them
18 Acts 15. 23-29.
» 1 Thess. 2. 15, 16.

FIRST THESSALONIANS 151
so. "What is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are
not even ye, before our Lord Jesus at his coming? For
ye are our glory and our joy." 20 There is only one other
letter written by Paul in which there is anything like the
same unreserved cordiality of commendation. That was
written ten years later to the other Macedonian church, at
Philippi. The three Macedonian epistles, First and Second
Thessalonians and Philippians, are simple love letters,
written out of great affection and filled with protestations
of personal solicitude and regard.
3. This epistle gives us a sample of Paul's preaching to
the heathen world. We have a summary of two of Paul's
sermons to the heathen recorded in the book of Acts, the
one preached at Lystra21 and the other at Athens,22 but this
epistle probably gives us a fuller outline of Paul's preaching
to the Gentile audiences gathered in the heathen cities than
we can find elsewhere. He could not have made much use
of the Old Testament Scriptures in addressing people who
were not familiar with them; and in this epistle the Old
Testament never is quoted directly and it never is appealed
to as a final authority, although the prophets are referred
to in one passage23 and Old Testament language either
consciously or unconsciously is woven into Paul's sentences
again and again.24 He does not present Jesus to these
people as the Messiah, but, rather, as the present and com
ing Judge of the race. He does not indulge in any lengthy
arguments. There is no intricate or difficult reasoning. He
does not dwell much upon dogma of any kind. The most
of his exhortations have to do with personal and practical
matters. Bruce and others have called these Epistles to the
Thessalonians "primer epistles," because they had so little
doctrinal discussion in them; but that is not a good title.
There is little doctrine here, but what doctrine there is is
20 1 Thess. 2. 19, 20. M 1 Thess. 2. 15.
21 Acts 14. 15-17. " 1 Thess. 2. 16; 4. 5, 6, 8; 5. 8, 22.
82 Acts 17. 22-31.

152 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
not primer doctrine. There is little theology here, but what
theology there is has proven as perplexing to the theologians
as any to be found in the Bible.
4. The characteristic theme of this epistle is the second
coming of the Lord. Every section of the epistle closes
with some reference to it. The thought of it underlies
all Paul has to say. This hardly can be considered a sub
ject for the primer class.
5. The apologetic value of the epistle scarcely can be
overrated. As the earliest written record of the Chris
tian faith it bears its clear witness to the fundamentals
more fully set forth in the later literature. The deity of
Christ, the connection between his death and our salvation,
his resurrection by the power of God, the personality of
the Holy Spirit, the Christian's resurrection with Christ,
the Christian's union with Christ, the second coming of the
Lord to destroy his enemies and to reward the saints, the
duty of Christian love and the beauty of Christian purity;
all of these are in the first New Testament epistle and first
New Testament book.
6. The epistle is of value for the picture of the apostle
Paul which we find in its pages. We see him as the earn
est missionary, the faithful pastor, and the apocalyptic seer.
He is well worth our study in each of these capacities, and
in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians we have an original
document full of instructive material upon these things.
As a single example let us look at that passage in the
second chapter in which Paul describes his ministry
among them.25 It ought to be full of suggestion to every
servant of Christ and men. Pauline success can be attained
and maintained only in the reproduction of these character
istics of the Pauline ministry. "Our entering in unto you
. . . hath not been found vain," 26 Paul says, and then he
proceeds to show how and why that was true.
86 1 Thess. 2. 1-14.
-> 1 Thess, 2. i,

FIRST THESSALONIANS 153
( 1 ) He preached with boldness increased by opposition.27
"They treated us shamefully in Philippi, and therefore we
waxed bold to speak unto you in much conflict. We have
had experience in these things. We know how to stand
hard knocks by this time. When we are treated badly we
do not think of quitting the work. We think only how
much easier it will be to endure these things a second time.
Persecution does not make us timid. It makes us bolder
than before. Conflict does not discourage us. It only
hardens us for the further fray. We thrive on opposition.
Are there many enemies? Then there is need of greater
zeal." The dauntless spirit of the apostle Paul speaks in
these words. Antagonism bred heroism in him.
(2) His preaching even in the face of aggressive hostility
was in full assurance of faith.2S There was no question in
Paul's mind as to the truth of what he had to proclaim.
He had full assurance at that point. He never preached
his doubts. He never talked of things of which he him
self was not certain. There was no admixture of error
in his exhortation. He had the truth, and the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, and he was ready to stake his
life and his all upon it.
(3) He claimed for his preaching that it was character
ized by purity of motive and speech.28 Christianity was
clean. It stood in opposition to all the uncleanness of
heathenism. Its doctrines were pure. Its life was pure.
It preached and practiced purity in everything.
(4) Paul's preaching was without any deception in it.
Everything was open and above board. He never caught
anybody with guile. He never pursued any end of indirec
tion. He never economized the revelation of truth. He
preached the whole gospel without mental reservations.
Every part of it was for everybody. No part of it was too
good for anyone. He did not beat about the bush. He
27 1 Thess. 2. 2.
" I Thess. 2. 3.

154 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
went straight at the heart of the matter in hand. There
was no room for guile in such preaching.
(5) Paul never flattered anybody in his preaching.29
He sought for the approval of God rather than the approval
of men. He was not a man pleaser. He never tried to tickle
anybody's ears with a soft message. He never tried to curry
anybody's favor by shading or concealing the truth. His
object was not to attach men to himself, but to attract men
to God. He opened his heart to God, that its every motive
might be approved by him. He called God to witness that he
never had used words of flattery to any one. He might have
had an easier time of it if he had. He might have escaped
much persecution if he had had an oily tongue and an
ingratiating manner. He might have had a comparatively
pleasant experience wherever he went if he had made it the
rule of his life never to offend anyone, always to say pleasant
things to everyone, and to keep on good terms with every
body. Paul had a quite different ideal in his ministry. He
did not think it his duty to be beloved and adored by all his
hearers. He did not try to develop a perfectly fascinating
personality. He was not a dear, sweet man. He was of a
different type. Instead of flattering anybody into self-con
ceit he flattened out all self-conceit by proving that every
man was a sinner and, therefore, that he came far short of
the glory made possible in Christ.
(6) It followed that there was no self-seeking in Paul's
ministry.30 He did not ask anybody to flatter him. He did
not seek any glory from men. He did not care for com
mendation or compensation from them. He did not make
his ministry a cloak of covetousness. God was his witness
to that. He was not seeking a salary; he was seeking for
souls. He was not out after money, but after men. He
might have claimed authority as an apostle. He claimed
only a hearing as a preacher of the gospel of Christ.
29 1 Thess. 2. 4, 5.
80 1 Thess. 2. 5, 6.

FIRST THESSALONIANS 155
(7) Paul's ministry was a sympathetic and affectionate
one.31 He was gentle with the new converts, even as a
nurse is gentle with her own children. He was affection
ate as a mother, willing to lay down her own life for those
who have become so dear to her. He was stern enough
in dealing with sin and with sinners. He was an apostle of
judgment when preaching to them. Yet when a soul had
truly repented and had come into the beginnings of faith
Paul was an apostle of love in dealing with him. He could
be patient and gentle and sympathetic and affectionate as
a mother with her little child. If it needed nursing, he
could serve as a nurse; if it needed any sacrifice, he would
make it without hesitation.
(8) Paul's preaching was filled with labor and travail.32
He worked night and day at manual labor and personal
evangelism. There was not a lazy bone in him. A lazy
man has no place in the Christian ministry. A man can
be lazy in the Christian ministry, and heap up condemna
tion for his soul! Paul did what he could and held up
hands clean of the blood of all men before God. If they
were lost, it was not his fault. It was not through his
indifference or neglect. It was not because he had been
lazy and had let them alone. He had labored for them;
he had travailed with them. He had spent himself in their
behalf. He had given full proof of his devotion to them.
He had agonized over them. He knew what physical and
mental and spiritual exhaustion meant in his ministry. He
grudged nothing. He gave everything. His time, his
strength, his sleep, his thought, his prayer, his constant
endeavor, the night and the day were given to the further
ance of his mission and the helping and saving of men.
He would be a burden to no one; he would be a blessing
to all. To that end he would labor till his strength failed
him. He would travail till souls were newborn.
81 1 Thess. 2. 7, 8.
52 1 Thess. 2. 9.

156 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
(9) Paul declares that his ministry was a holy, righteous,
and unblamable one.33 He claimed to be a holy man. He
would not have considered himself fit for the ministry if
he had not been. He had no false modesty in giving his
testimony on that point. He was not so humble as to say
that his ministry was not that of a holy man. He had
behaved himself holily and righteously, and he knew it ; and
they knew it. He appeals to their own knowledge with. all
assurance. They were his witnesses that his conduct had
been all that it ought to have been. His holiness was known
and read of all men. It was not the sort of holiness which
takes itself out in profession. It was manifest to all in
righteous action. Paul had not disgraced the Christian
faith in any way. His conduct had been unblamable
throughout. He was as confident of his conduct as he was
of his creed. His practice had been consistent with his
preaching. His doctrine had been demonstrated in his
deeds. (10) Paul was not content with public preaching alone.
His ministry was filled with private admonition and instruc
tion. "Ye know how we dealt with each one of you, as a
father with his own children, exhorting you, and encourag
ing you, and testifying." 34 Paul came to close quarters
with his congregation. He was not satisfied to stand off
at a distance and talk at them. He got into their homes
and talked with them as a father with his own children.
He exhorted them according to their individual needs. He
encouraged them according to their individual difficulties.
He testified that the grace of God was sufficient to meet
each case. He dealt with them one by one. It was slow
work, but it was sure work. It was not such showy work
as swaying great audiences might be; but the results were
secure. Emotional tides had their ebb and flow. Indi
vidual conversation was upon a saner level, and both Paul
83 1 Thess. 2. 10.
84 1 Thess. 2. 11.

FIRST THESSALONIANS 157
and his hearer knew just where they were at each step.
These Thessalonian converts could stand alone when Paul
was taken from them. They were steadfast in persecution
and loyal to the end.
(11) Paul's ministry had a practical end in view.35 He
aimed at immediate and lasting results. Only one thing
would satisfy him. His converts must walk worthily of
God, who had called them into his own kingdom and glory.
(12) We scarcely need to add that Paul's ministry was
a fruitful ministry. Men were attracted by it. Its inspira
tion was contagious. It reached the hearts and regenerated
the lives of those who heard. It turned heathen sensualists
into Christian saints. It founded new churches in Asia and
Europe. It changed the moral complexion of the whole
ancient world.
This is the Pauline type of ministry, full of holy boldness
and assurance, free from impurity, deceit, self-seeking, and
flattery; sympathetic, affectionate, laborious, holy, right
eous, unblamable, dealing with individuals, aiming at prac
tical ends, and in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
claiming and achieving victory continually in the name
and with the help of God. Is this the type of ministry in
the church to-day ?
VIH. Some Noteworthy Passages
1. In 1 Cor. 13. 13 we have the Pauline triad of Christian
graces, "Now abideth faith, hope, and love, these three."
In Rev. 2. 2 we have the Apocalyptic triad, "I know thy
works, and thy toil and patience." In 1 Thess. 1. 3 we have
these two triads combined, "We remember without ceasing
your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope
in our Lord Jesus Christ." There is no antithesis between
faith and works in Paul's mind. Faith shows itself in
"work." It is never idle. It never sits with folded hands.
Faith is full of energy. It proves itself in ceaseless activity.
» 1 Thess. 2. 12.

158 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Even so love "labors." Love never counts the cost. It
toils without ceasing. It delights to spend and be spent in
behalf of those it loves. It bears any burden ; it undertakes
any task; it travails without murmuring; it suffers without
complaining. Love proves itself in its "labor" for others.
It is not content with expressions of affection. It expresses
its affection not in words but in deeds, not in sentiment but
in service, not in love lyrics merely but in love labors.
Faith may be disappointed again and again; but it will
"work" on in perfect confidence that in the end it will
appear that He is faithful who has promised. Love may be
disappointed again and again, but it will "labor" on and
never be discouraged as long as love lasts.
Hope may be disappointed again and again, but it will be
"patient" and wait for the consummation of its desires.
Hope is never fretful and peevish. Hope is full of faith
and therefore patient to the end. Hope proves itself in
patience. An idle faith, a lazy love, an impatient hope are
not possible in the Christian life. These two triads are indis
solubly wedded in the Christian faith. That is about the
first truth proclaimed in this first Christian writing. In the
Pastoral Epistles Paul substitutes "patience" for "hope"
in his triad in three different passages, namely I Tim. 6. ii,
"Follow after faith, love, patience"; and 2 Tim. 3. 10,
"Thou didst follow my faith, love, patience"; and Titus
2. 2, "Let aged men be sound in faith, in love, in patience."
It seems as if Paul the aged had come to identify patience
and hope, and to believe that the possession of hope
was proven by patient endurance to the end. Do faith,
hope, and love seem to any to be feminine graces, to be
cultivated in the shade or in the seclusion of the home?
Let them be joined in wedlock to this masculine trio — work,
labor, patience — bearing the heat and the burden of the day
in thevworld's great harvest field, and from that union will
come all the good things we pray for, hope for, and long
to see. These six conjoined will regenerate the race.

FIRST THESSALONIANS 159
2. Note the oxymoron in 1. 6, "Ye received the word in
much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit." Affliction
with joy! It represents a new possibility introduced into
the world by the Christian faith. The phrase describes the
life of Jesus, who was the greatest sufferer the world has
known, and who yet had the greatest joy in world victory,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame. Was there ever any affliction like
unto his? Was there ever any joy that equaled his own?
Affliction with joy ! It describes the life experience of the
apostle Paul. At the time of his conversion he was told,
"I will show thee how many things thou must suffer for
my name's sake." 36 His Christian calling meant affliction
for him wherever he went; but he had the Spirit's pres
ence, and that meant love and joy and peace. Affliction
with joy ! The Master had promised it to all who followed
him, "In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good
cheer ; I have overcome the world." 37 Tribulation, con
solation, coronation! These three things are sure to fall
to the portion of every faithful disciple; but the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the
joy we have in the Ploly Spirit and the glory which shall be
revealed. Like the Thessalonians we receive the gospel
gladly, even though it does mean affliction in world antag
onism, because we may have through it world victory.
3. In 4. 11 we find three things for which Paul thought
the Thessalonians might safely be ambitious. Ambition
is in bad repute in some quarters. We venture to say that
it depends altogether upon the nature of an ambition, upon
the end at which it aims, as to whether it is bad or good.
There may be a holy ambition as well as an evil one. Paul
was an ambitious man. He says so himself, and he tells
us what his ambitions were. In Rom. 15. 20 he says that
he was ambitious to evangelize where Christ had not yet
86 Acts 9. 16.
37 John 16. 33.

160 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
been named,38 where the gospel had not yet been preached,
that he might not build upon another man's foundation.
He was ambitious to be a pioneer in the missionary field.
That, surely, was a worthy ambition. To the realization
of that ambition Paul sacrificed his life. He carried the
gospel into the most difficult foreign fields. He made
Pauline Christianity the dominant force in Europe. In 2
Cor. 5. 9 Paul tells us of another of his ambitions. We are
ambitious, he says, to be well pleasing unto God.39 Paul
loved honor, but it was the honor of God which he coveted.
He sought for glory, but, as he told the Thessalonians, he
did not seek the glory of men.40 He was ambitious, but
his only ambition was to please God. That, surely, was a
worthy ambition. To the realization of that ambition Paul
dedicated his life. He could call God to witness that his
conscience was clear all the time. At the end of his life
he could say, "I have fought a good fight; I have won the
crown." In this passage41 Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to be
ambitious in three respects, in order that two results may
follow. On the supposition that Paul would not exhort
others to do anything which he was not doing himself we
may add these three ambitions to Paul's list. What are they ?
First, an ambition to be quiet !42 This is another oxymoron ;
like that exhortation in Heb. 4. 11, Strive, wrestle, agonize,
work hard at it and so — enter into rest! Trying to rest,
and working hard at it — that seems like a contradiction of
terms. Being ambitious and being quiet — that seems to be
utterly inconsistent again. The ambitious man is up and
doing. He is keeping himself in the public eye. He is
restless and unquiet and always eager for greater promi
nence and power. "Now," says Paul, "all that energy
ss ij>ie\oTi/iov/iEvov tvayyeVfyodai ovx oirov uvo/idadr/ Xpiar6(.
>9 ^iXoTi/xovfieda . . . evapeorm airoi elvat.
40 1 Thess. 2. 6. 41 1 Thess. 4. 11.
42 tyAoTifuiadai tjavxd^eiv.

FIRST THESSALONIANS 161
which some men put into the effort to advertise themselves
and to advance their own interests do you put into the effort
to be inconspicuous and retiring. Be just as eager to be
quiet as they are to make a noise in the world. We exhort
you, brethren, that ye be ambitious to be quiet."
This is a new kind of ambition, but we would be just as
well off with more of it. There are those in every church
who become ambitious to enjoy the extraordinary gifts
rather than the extraordinary graces. They would like to
be endowed with the gifts of healing or the gift of tongues.
They would much enjoy spiritual ecstasies and astonishing
visions and revelations. They revel in religious excite
ment and never think they have a good time unless they can
leap or shout for joy. It is not a very wholesome ambi
tion. It is likely to lead to excesses and reactions and insin
cerities. Paul thinks it is a higher and better ambition to
be quiet, to enjoy a steady and sustained equanimity of
soul. It would be worth while for some people to become
ambitious to attain to a Quaker quietness of experience and
life. It would revolutionize some of them, but they would
be the better for the change.
The second ambition mentioned here is even more start
ling than the first. Paul says that the Thessalonians ought
to be ambitious "to mind their own business," 43 to attend
to their own affairs, to see that these were managed well
and that all the things for which they were responsible
were taken care of and brought to a successful consumma
tion! How much more rapidly the work of the world
would be done if everybody would follow this ambition!
The third ambition mentioned in this list is the ambition
to have employment in manual labor, "to work with the
hands !" 44 Satan still has some work for idle hands to
do. Paul was ambitious to keep his fingers so busy with
legitimate and necessary occupation that the devil would not
48 npaeoeiv rd ISta.
44 tpy&£eo6ai Talc xePa'v-

162 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
find them fit for his purpose at any time. He would rather
weave the coarse goats' hair into coarse tent cloth than to
weave the devil's web. He was a workingman, and this
letter to the Thessalonians is a letter from a workingman
to workingmen. He knew that steady employment was a
help to the moral life. He knew that manual labor kept
body and mind in good condition, and so was conducive
to the best spiritual state.
He had said these things to the Thessalonians while he
was with them. He repeats them now: "Be ambitious to
be quiet, to mind your own business, and to work with
your hands; and if you do so, two things will result. First,
you will give no offense to people outside of the church.
They will be constrained to admire your becoming behavior.
The Christian will be known by his walk, and the Christian
walk will be in good repute among all men. Then, second,
you will have need of nothing. You will have a fair main
tenance, and you will be independent in the enjoyment of
it. Being quiet, you may be self-sufficient. Minding your
own business, you will need nobody's assistance to take
care of it. Working with your hands, you can make your
own living and need not be dependent upon anybody's char
ity for anything." Here are Paul's ambitions: to be a
pioneer missionary, to be pleasing to God, to be modest and
quiet, to mind his own business, to work with his hands,
to walk becomingly before the world, to be independent
of charity. These seven ideals Paul was ambitious to
realize in his own life. He strove manfully and success
fully to that end. His ambitions were difficult of achieve
ment, but he was man enough to try for them, and his life
long effort was crowned with continuous and glorious suc
cess. 4. In 5. 16-22 we have a cluster of brilliants, a succession
of short exhortations, each of which is a gem and which as
a collection scarcely is to be equaled in the Scriptures.
It is a unique conjunction of sayings of pith and power.

FIRST THESSALONIANS 163
"Unceasing rejoicing, continuous prayer, and uninterrupted
thanksgiving" form a triad of Christian characteristics,
unparalleled in any other religion in the world. The exhor
tation to "quench not the Spirit" probably was given to
those who felt that fanaticism was being developed in some
quarters under the cover of spiritual superiorities in revela
tion and power. The natural tendency in soberer minds
is to preclude all danger from this source by quenching the
Spirit in all his special manifestations. This is to accom
plish a smaller good at the expense of a greater evil. Better
have the Spirit with all the excesses than to quench the
Spirit and have perfect decorum' in perfect death. The
wiser procedure is to test these professed revelations and
manifestations of the Spirit, to put them to the proof, and
then to hold fast that which is good and to reject only
that which is seen to be evil. Paul's prophecies had caused
unrest, and doubtless there were some who made light of
all prophetic power and denied that it ought to have any
weight or to be granted any validity. Paul exhorts such
not to despise prophesyings. For the most part, however,
the prophesying of future events has been of little value to
the Christian Church. Paul himself seems to have laid
less stress upon it in his later ministry.
5. In 5. 23 we have the fullest division of man's being to
be found in the Scriptures: "The God of peace himself
sanctify you wholly ; and may your spirit and soul and body
be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ." The body is the material portion of
man. The soul is the seat of intelligence, of thought, will,
and desire. The spirit is that portion of our being which
we do not share with the animals but with God. The spirit
worships and communes and becomes one with the Divine.
IX. Attestation
"The authenticity of First Thessalonians has been chal
lenged by Schrader, Bauer, Holsten, and the writers of the

164 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Dutch school. But it is accepted with little or no hesitation
by the great majority of scholars, including not only all
English writers, but men of such various standpoints as
Pfleiderer, Holtzmann, Lipsius, Hase, Hilgenfeld, Man
gold, Wittichen, Jiilicher, Harnack, Renan, Godet, De
Pressense, Reuss, Sabatier, Schmiedel, von Soden, Clemen,
and Zahn." 45 Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria
make use of this epistle. It is in the canonical list of the
Muratorian Fragment. The Syriac and the Old Latin
versions contain it. It is as well authenticated as any of
Paul's epistles. X. Possible Agrapha
i. Paul describes the second coming and the rapture of
the saints, and he declares that he says these things "by
the word of the Lord." 46 Ewald thinks that Paul had this
saying of Jesus lying in writing before him, but that it
has been preserved to us in this passage alone.47 Either
this is true or Paul is here recording some one of the
special revelations granted to him in his ministry. In either
case he would claim the Lord's authority for it.
2. One of the best attested of the unrecorded sayings of
our Lord is the injunction, "Become good money-changers."
This is found so often in connection with i Thess. 5. 19
that some have thought that the passage ought to be printed
in quotation marks as coming directly from the lips of
Jesus. This epistle was written after fifteen years of Paul's
missionary career. For the first fifteen years we have no
writing from his hand. In the next fifteen years we have
the succession of thirteen epistles. This beginning of the
New Testament comes "Twenty Years After" the cruci
fixion.

46 Shaw, op. cit., p. 19.
45 1 Thess. 4. 15-17.
47 Sendschr. 48.

CHAPTER IV
THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS

CHAPTER IV
THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
I. Date and Occasion
This epistle was written not many months after the first
and probably in the same year, A. D. 53. Paul still was at
Corinth, and some one brought him further news of the
condition of the church in Thessalonica. Matters were
progressing very rapidly there, and among a certain por
tion of the church members they were getting worse rather
than better. Thessalonica seems to have been the first
Christian church to be visited with one of those eschatolog-
ical excitements which have recurred so many times in later
history. Some of its members believed that the Day of
the Lord was near at hand, and in the tenseness of their
expectation of that great event they lived in a state of reli
gious exaltation which precluded attention to the ordinary
duties of life. They were disposed to quit work of every
kind, and depend upon charity if need be for the supply of
their daily wants while they devoted themselves to prayer
and meditation or theological discussion. Their assemblies
were excited and disorderly. Some were disposed to panic
and others to pious orgies. The insubordinates claimed the
authority of Paul for their beliefs and a forged letter was
in circulation setting forth these things in Paul's name.1
Some were being shaken from their reason, as always is
the case in such circumstances; and the whole community
was being disturbed and thrown into confusion. We take
it that only a small portion of the church members were
being carried away into extremes of idleness and disorder;
1 ? TIiqss, 2. 2. 167

168 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
but religious wildfire spreads rapidly if it once gets a good
start; and Paul takes up his pen to write a second letter
to the Thessalonians, hoping to comfort and encourage the
faithful and to clear up all misconceptions concerning the
second coming, and to strengthen the discipline of the
church. II. The Second Advent
These two epistles to the Thessalonians are the eschat-
ological epistles of the New Testament. In I Thess. 4.
13-18 and 2 Thess. 2. 1-12, and one other passage, 1 Cor.
15. 35-58, we have what has been called the Pauline
Apocalypse, taking the place in the writings of Paul of the
Apocalypse of John in the New Testament and of the book
of Daniel in the Old Testament. It probably would seem a
little strange to most people that these first epistles of Paul
should deal most largely with the last of the logical succes
sion in great themes in theology. Paul discusses the last
things first. Why should he begin with a prophecy and
description of the end of all things? Jowett says that Paul
preached to the Thessalonians "not the gospel of the cross
of Christ, but of the coming of Christ," and it would seem
at least that this preaching had made the greatest impression
upon some minds in this church.
Why should he have put especial emphasis upon this
theme? Bishop Lightfoot has made some excellent sug
gestions in this matter. He says : "There are many reasons
why the subject of the second advent should occupy a larger
space in the earliest stage of the apostolical teaching than
afterward: 1. It was closely bound up with the fundamental
fact of the gospel, the resurrection of Christ, and thus it
formed a natural starting point of Christian doctrine. 2.
It afforded the true satisfaction to those Messianic hopes
which had drawn the Jewish converts to the fold of Christ.
3. It was the best consolation and support of the infant
church under persecution, which must have been most

SECOND THESSALONIANS 169
keenly felt in the first abandonment of worldly pleasures
and interests. And 4, more especially, as telling of a
righteous Judge who would not overlook iniquity, it was
essential to that call to repentance which must everywhere^
precede the direct and positive preaching of the gospel." 2
The resurrected Jesus was coming again. The Messianic
king was to establish his kingdom. He would judge all
sinners righteously. He would reward all saints adequately.
These were main features in the primitive preaching, and
they furnished it much of its impressiveness and power.
Renan,3 Hausrath,4 Shaw,5 and others have told us that
there was widespread alarm at just this time throughout the
empire. Many disturbing rumors were abroad6 and many
prophesied the speedy dissolution of the then present order
of things. The preaching of Paul chimed in with this gen
eral state of terrified expectation. The Christian faith con
firmed the heathen auguries. New converts found that their
old fears were well founded, and that the great and terrible
Day of the Lord indeed was at hand. It was not strange
that some were swept off their feet in a tumult of religious
excitement at the thought of the immediate nearness of
the end. How far was Paul responsible for the realistic
vividness of their faith? What was his own belief con
cerning this thing? III. Paul's Belief
1. Paul believed and preached that the advent of the
Lord was very near. He told his converts that their whole
duty was to serve the living God and to wait for the com
ing of his Son from heaven.7 He promised them that if
they would wait for the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

2 Lightfoot, Biblical Essays, p. 228.
3 Renan, L' Antichrist, pp. 321-39.
4 Op. cit., Ill, pp. 213-15. 6 Op. cit., pp. 36-38.
8 Tac. Ann., xii and xiv; Dio Caso., Ix, 35; Suet. Claud, xlvi.
7 1 Thess. 1. 9, 10.

170 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
the Lord would confirm them unto the end, that they might
be unreprovable in the day of the Lord's coming.8 He
prophesied that when the last trump should sound, an
nouncing the coming of the Judge and King, they should
not all sleep, but they should all be changed, in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye.9 The dead in Christ should rise
first; then those who were alive, who were left, should
together with them be caught up into the clouds, to meet
the Lord in the air: and so should they ever be with the
Lord.10 2. Paul agreed with the other apostles at this point.
James wrote, "Be patient therefore, brethren, until the com
ing of the Lord. . . . Establish your hearts : for the com
ing of the Lord is at hand. Murmur not, brethren, one
against another, that ye be not judged: behold, the judge
standeth before the doors."11 Peter declares, "The end
of all things is at hand." 12 John writes last of all, "He
who testifieth these things saith, Yea : I come quickly," 13
and again, "Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye
have heard that antichrist cometh, even now have there
arisen many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the
last hour." 14 The apostolic preaching seems to have been
of one accord at this point. The explanation of this fact
must have been that they believed that they had "the word
of the Lord" on this matter. They thought that they repre
sented the Lord's thought and teaching.15 They had had
his promise of a speedy return. Paul either got this truth
from them or believed that he had had a special revelation
on the subject.16 He seems to have been just as sure as
8 1 Cor. I. 7, 8. 12 1 Pet. 4. 7.
' 1 Cor. 15. 51. ls Rev. 22. 20.
10 1 Thess. 4. 16, 17. " 1 John 2. 18.
" James 5. 7-9.
16 Calvin, Ewald, Weiss, Weizsacker, Resch, Ropes, O. Holtzmann,
von Soden, Hofmann.
18 Chrysostom, Theodoret, Olshausen, DeWette, Liinemann, Zock-
ler, Alford, EUicott, Dods, Godet, Findlay, Lightfoot, Milligan, Moffatt.

SECOND THESSALONIANS 171
they that the Second Advent was at hand and that it might
come at any time and that it was altogether likely to come
to that generation.
3. There are some indications that Paul modified his
views on this subject in his later life. It is noticeable that
after the first three epistles, First and Second Thessalon
ians and First Corinthians, he does not return to the theme.
He lays the emphasis thereafter on the realities of present
religious experience rather than upon the uncertainties of
future happenings. In Rom. 11. 25 Paul suggests that the
fullness of the Gentiles must intervene before the nation
of Israel would be saved. In Phil. 1. 21-24 Paul clearly
contemplates the possibility of his own death before the
advent of the Lord. In 2. Tim. 4. 6 he is sure that the
time of his departure is at hand, but that even if he die,
the Lord will save him unto the heavenly kingdom.17 Evi
dently, the apostolic expectation of the immediate advent
was disappointed. It was a mistaken expectation. If it
rested upon the teaching of the Lord then we must conclude
that it was either a mistaken interpretation of his teaching
or, what seems to be more likely, that Jesus himself was as
uncertain of the time of the advent as his apostles were
and shared with them his hope that it would not be long
delayed. We know that he told them plainly that he did
not know what the day and hour would be,18 but he may
have hoped and believed that it would be soon, and the
disciples were apt to credit him with infallible information
upon all these things as well as in the realm of spiritual
truth. IV. The Eschatological Paragraph, 2. 1-12
As in all apocalyptical passages, the language in this
eschatological paragraph is enigmatical. Augustine de
clared that he was puzzled by it, and was ignorant of what
17 2 Tim. 4. 18.
u Mark 13. 32.

172 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Paul might mean. Farrar says, very sensibly : "So far as
it is of doubtful meaning it can have no special significance
for us."19
i. There are at least two reasons why the passage is put
into this obscure form, (i) There was no need under the
circumstances for Paul to be more explicit. He had talked
these things over with the Thessalonians and in all prob
ability he had spoken plainly at that time, and he needed
now only to remind them of what he had said. So he writes
by way of allusion rather than of explicit information.
(2) This subject had a political bearing, and doubtless it
was dangerous to put into writing anything which would
incriminate the author. Paul had just escaped trouble at
Thessalonica because of his oral teaching there. He would
be careful to write nothing which could be presented to the
magistrates in evidence against the Christians.
2. Many volumes have been written upon the exegesis
of this passage. Malvenda, 1556-1627, wrote eleven books
about the Man of Sin. Most of the commentators have
gone astray in attempting to find some definite and detailed
application of these prophecies, instead of contenting them
selves with the interpretation of its general principles.
There have been many conflicting conclusions as to the
identity of the Man of Sin and of the Restrainer, and as to
the nature and date of the Great Apostasy here foretold.
We need not put them down. Some were fantastic and
wisely have been forgotten. Some have been disproven by
the progress of events. There is no good reason for resur
recting them at this late date.
3. We suggest the following conclusions as representing
a somewhat general agreement in modern scholarship : ( 1 )
The apostasy (verse 3) is the definite and final rejection
of the true Messiah by the Jews, which might come, as the
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews suggesfs, after a

w Messages of the Books, p. 206.

SECOND THESSALONIANS 173
period of forty years, in which the claims of Christianity
were to be presented to them even as their fathers saw the
wonders of Jehovah forty years in the wilderness.20 (2)
The Man of Sin (verses 3, 4) is the false Messiah who
will incarnate within himself all the Jewish opposition to
the gospel. He will be a lawless one, working signs and
deceiving, and his destruction will result in the final estab
lishment of the Christian Church, verses 8-10. (3) The
Restrainer (verses 6, 7) is the Roman emperor as repre
senting the restraining power of the Roman empire, holding
the Jews in subjection and preventing them from illegal and
destructive attacks upon the Christians. So far in Paul's
experience the Roman power had been exerted in his behalf
whenever his life or liberty had been imperiled by mobs.
The time of the civil persecutions had not yet come. Almost
all the opposition he had encountered had arisen from
the religious authorities and not from those of the state.
The power of the empire had been protecting and friendly.
In Paul's Apocalypse it is the restraining power for the
present. This attitude toward the Roman government was
maintained by many of the church Fathers, such as Cyril,
Jerome, Chrysostom, Lactantius, and Theodoret; and Ter
tullian voiced the prevailing opinion in the early Christian
Church when he said, "We have also another and a greater
need to pray for the emperors, and, moreover, for the
whole estate of the empire, and the fortunes of Rome,
knowing, as we do, that the mighty shock which hangeth
over the whole world, and the end of time itself, threaten
ing terrible and grievous things, is delayed because of the
time allowed to the Roman empire. We would not there
fore experience these things, and while we pray that they
may be put off, we favor the long continuance of Rome." 21
(4) The mystery of lawlessness (verse 7) is the strange
and deadly hatred and opposition of the Jews, whose office
20 Heb. 3. 7-12.
n Apology, xxxii.

174 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
and right it was to welcome the Messiah and to establish his
kingdom upon the earth, but who were given over to believe
in a lie and to take pleasure in unrighteousness, and who,
therefore, received not the love of the truth, that they might
be saved. The phrases in this paragraph must have had
some definite and special application to the circumstances
of that time. The general truth of the paragraph is cap
able of application to any time. The Man of Sin may take
new form with each new generation ; the Restrainer always
is present; the victory of the Lord Jesus always is sure.
4. If this paragraph is, as we suppose, purely apocalyp
tical, it must be subject to the general rules of apocalyptical
interpretation. There has been a revival of interest in the
apocalyptical literature of the Jews among modern scholars,
and it is agreed very generally that this literature has had
more influence upon our New Testament than was formerly
supposed. The Apocalypse of John does not stand alone in
the literature of its times as it does in our New Testament.
There are a number of other Apocalypses in existence in
whole or in part which belong to the same period of de
velopment in Hebrew history, and the study of these has
been very helpful in the interpretation and the understand
ing of the apocalyptical portions of the New Testament.
The Ascension of Isaiah, the Testaments of the Twelve
Patriarchs, the Psalms of Solomon, the Book of the Secrets
of Enoch, the Fourth Book of Esdras, the Apocalypse of
Baruch, the Assumption of Moses, and the Book of Enoch
are all apocalyptical in character and may have influenced
the thought of the New Testament writers in many partic
ulars. Jude, the brother of James and of Jesus, quotes in his
epistle from both the Assumption of Moses and the Book
of Enoch. If Jude had read these books and quoted from
them, it would seem altogether likely that Jesus had read
them, and it is possible that he quoted from them too. The
words "when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his

SECOND THESSALONIANS 175
glory" may have been taken by Jesus directly from the
Book of Enoch, 62. 3. In Enoch 69. 27 we read, "The sum
of judgment was committed unto him, the Son of man."
Jesus seems to be appropriating this phraseology when he
says, "He hath committed all judgment unto the Son . . .
because he is the Son of man." 22 The leading English
authority upon this apocalyptical literature, R. H. Charles,
thinks that phrases, clauses, or thoughts derived from the
Book of Enoch are to be found not only in the Epistle
of Jude and the Apocalypse of John, but also in the Gos
pels according to John and Matthew and Luke, and in
the book of Acts, and in the Epistles of Paul to the Romans
and to the Ephesians, and in the Epistle to the Hebrews.23
If it be true that the influence of the Book of Enoch
and of the other apocalyptic literature can be traced
through nearly the whole of our New Testament, it be
comes extremely probable that Jesus and Jude and John
and Paul and the other apostles had considerable respect
for this literature, and that their eschatological conceptions
were clothed largely in the imagery furnished from these
sources. If so, all of this imagery belongs to the current
Jewish theology and phraseology; and its usefulness has
passed away with the times to which it was adapted and the
peoples to whom it was at first addressed. Then it follows
that the Oriental and apocalyptical imagery of such pas
sages as this in the Epistle to the Thessalonians has no mes
sage to our day.
We learned long ago to look for the central truth illus
trated in each parable of our Lord and not to run into
exegetical absurdities by trying to find a meaning for each
minor detail used in the development of that truth. The
same principle ought to be applied to the interpretation of
the apocalyptical passages in the New Testament. We are
not interested in the imaginative details which appealed to
22 John 5. 22, 27.
18 Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible, I, p. 708.

176 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
the Oriental mind two thousand years ago. Here in the
Occident we look only for the spiritual lesson these details
were intended to make impressive and prominent. That
lesson may abide, though the vehicle of its first transmis
sion may have belonged to the rhetorical and homiletical
methods in vogue in a particular age and their usefulness
may long have passed away.
Is there any good reason why we may not treat these
apocalyptical passages in the same way in which Peter
treated the apocalyptical details of the prophecy of Joel in
his day? There was that extraordinary outpouring of the
Spirit at Pentecost, and Peter stood up to explain the matter
to the assembled multitude and he said, "This is that which
hath been spoken through the prophet Joel :
And it shall be in the last days, saith God,
I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh:
And I will show wpnders in the heaven above,

And signs on the earth beneath;
Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke:
The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood."24
Had any of these things happened at Pentecost ? Not as far
as our record shows. There had been no blood or vapor
of smoke. The sun had not been turned into darkness.
The moon had not been turned into blood. What had hap
pened ? The Spirit had been poured out upon the disciples.
That was the all-important thing in the prophecy; and
Peter boldly claims that the prophecy of Joel had been ful
filled at Pentecost, even though all these accompaniments
foretold in the prophecy had failed.
Suppose we apply the same principle to the interpretation
of these passages in Thessalonians. What is the central
truth set forth in i Thess. 4. 13-18? That neither death
24 Acts 2. 16-20.

SECOND THESSALONIANS 177
nor life can separate the Christian from the Lord. When
the Lord comes to reign we shall be ever with the Lord.
That truth abides forevermore. The apocalyptical accom
paniments may fail as completely as the prophesied accom
paniments failed at Pentecost, and yet the truth will be
vindicated as fully as it was at Pentecost when all who are
in Christ meet their Lord to live with him forevermore.
There is nothing but comfort in this revelation. Paul evi
dently intended that all he said on this subject should min
ister to the spiritual comfort of those to whom he wrote.
He concludes this, his first apocalypse, with the exhorta
tion, "Wherefore, comfort one another with these words."25
What is the central truth in this second apocalyptical
passage in the second epistle? It is the comforting assur
ance that the Lord Jesus will triumph over all his foes.
Whatever disturbing circumstances may intervene, and
whatever revelations of wickedness may precede, the ulti
mate victory will belong to him. This truth we hold to-day.
The imagery in which this truth is clothed is of no especial
interest to us now. It is nothing but the drapery appro
priate to that time and place, and all in which we are inter
ested to-day is the body of truth from which this drapery
may be stripped, as no longer useful but rather as hinder
ing our perception of the things which abide. What was
helpful to the Oriental of two thousand years ago may be
harmful to us. No one can deny that great harm has
resulted from the attempt to interpret apocalyptical symbols
literally and to deduce doctrines and dates from the details
of apocalyptical imagery.26 Many of these were pure
poetry in the beginning. All of them may be disregarded
in the Christian life and activity of to-day. Apocalypse,

25 1 Thess. 4. 18.
28 For a graphic description of the Millerite and Doomsealer excite
ments, see the author's article on "A Study of a Pauline Apocalypse,"
Biblical World, xxxvii, pp. 163-175, from which some of this discussion
has been reproduced.

178 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
as such, has no place in modern literature. Apocalypse, as
such, has no significance to modern thought. The truths
it taught may abide after it has passed away.
V. The Main Lessons
i. We have the apostle's sanction for the application of
all previous prophecy and apocalypse to our own times.
Paul follows the main lines of the Master's eschatological
discourse, as recorded in Matt. 24. 4-51. He had some
suggestions from Daniel and from other Old Testament
prophets. He doubtless was acquainted with some of the
more recent apocalyptical literature of the Jews. All these
things had influenced his thought. He saw the fulfillment
of some of them in the events of his own day. He appro
priated them to the explanation of the present and the
future. The general conflict between good and evil goes
on in every new age. The men of that age have the right
to study the signs of the times and to apply all of the scrip
tural revelation to the interpretation of them. The study
of the Word and the study of the world ought to go hand
in hand, and they ought to help each other.
2. No study of prophecy or apocalypse or the signs of
the times ought to disturb the serenity of our faith or the
orderliness of either our private or our church life. The
best way to prepare for the coming of our Lord is in the
faithful performance of the common duties of each day.
That was the spirit of Saint Francis de Sales, who was
playing a game of whist when some one asked him what he
would do if Christ were at hand, and who replied, "I would
finish the game; for his glory I began it." That was the
spirit of that old Puritan who when the Dark Day came
unexpectedly upon them and some one in great alarm
moved that the assembly should at once adjourn, inasmuch
as it would seem that the Judgment Day had come, arose
in his place and said : "If this be indeed the Judgment Day,
it cannot find us better employed in any respect than in

SECOND THESSALONIANS 179
quietly doing our duty. I move that the candles be lighted."
That was the spirit of the Puritan Parson Carter, of whom
we are told that he once called unexpectedly upon a member
of his church who was hard at work in a tanyard, for he
was a tanner. When the minister tapped him on the
shoulder, the man turned in surprise and apologized for
being so employed. And the parson said, "Let Christ when
he cometh find me so doing." "What," said the man look
ing down at his dirty hands and clothes, "doing this?"
"Yes," said the parson, "faithfully fulfilling the duties of
my calling." Do we believe in the second coming of the
Lord? Then we ought to go on about our business, faith
fully fulfilling the duties of our calling. If I were a wood
sawyer and I believed in the second coming of the Lord,
I would go on sawing wood; and when the Lord came
I would believe that he would be better pleased with me if
he found me there faithfully sawing away at the wood than
if I were sitting down with a Bible in my hand and were
trying to figure out from the book of Revelation just when
the Lord would appear.
That was the faith of John Wesley. A lady once said
to him, "If you knew that the Lord would come at twelve
o'clock to-morrow night, how would you spend the inter
vening time ?" The tradition is that John Wesley answered :
"I would spend the intervening time just as I intend to
spend it. I would preach to-night at Gloucester, and again
to-morrow morning. After that I would ride to Tewkes
bury, preach in the afternoon, and meet the society in the
evening. I should then go to Friend Martin's house, as he
expects to entertain me. I would converse, pray with the
family, retire to my room at ten o'clock, commend myself
to my heavenly Father, go sound asleep, and wake up in
glory." That was the Pauline attitude toward this question.
Paul believed in the speedy advent of the Lord from heaven,
but he went about his work every day just the same. We
have no objection to people who believe in the close ap-

180 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
proach of the end of all things, if they hold that doctrine in
the same sane and sensible fashion.
One may believe in the second coming of the Lord with
out feeling any necessity for taking the doctrine and shak
ing it in people's faces until they get scared into good
behavior or wrought up into a great nervous and religious
excitement. One may believe in the second coming of the
Lord and not believe that it is necessary to waste a single
moment in the morning in flattening his nose against the
windowpane to see if the skies are reddening with the
approach of the King. One may believe in the second com
ing of the Lord and not spend any time in painfully cal
culating from the symbolic numbers and the apocalyptic
figures of the Bible the exact date upon which he may be
expected to come. Wiser men than we are have made tre
mendous fools of themselves in doing that. The Lord
some how or other has failed persistently to keep the dates
they have appointed for him. Again and again it has been
proven from the Bible that the Lord would surely come in
the next ten years ; but the decades and the centuries have
gone by and the Lord has not come. Dates are even now
being prophesied with all the assurance of divine authority,
placing the advent of the Lord in the next few years. It
is a little comfort to us people who have not much faith
in these prophecies that they differ so conspicuously among
themselves in the dates they determine. However, if they
should agree to agree, we would not believe them still ; for
we know that the date of the Lord's coming is not down in
the time-table. We believe that he will not come for long
centuries yet. We know that he will come in God's own
time. 3. The proper attitude to maintain in reference to the
second coming of the Lord is not that of excited anticipa
tion of an immediate catastrophe, but that of the faithful
performance of daily duties and quiet waiting for the full
ness of the times. In the first epistle Paul had declared that

SECOND THESSALONIANS 181
the Thessalonians had turned from idols unto God to do
two things, to serve the living and true God and to wait for
his Son from heaven.27 That is a good definition of the
Christian's calling to-day. Active service and patient wait
ing are better than any amount of fuming and fretting and
overhaste and overzeal. Here in the second epistle Paul
prays for the Thessalonians that the Lord may direct their
hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.28
The love of God will manifest itself in ceaseless effort for
the good of man. The patience of Christ will wait for the
appointed hour in steadfast faith and in perfect submission.
It will not complain when hopes are disappointed. It will
not lose heart when there are unexpected delays. It will go
on in the way of faithful service, sure that in the end it will
be clear that all things have been administered for the
best. We may believe that Paul was mistaken in his expecta
tion of the speedy Second Advent of the Lord. After
nineteen centuries of waiting we know that he was mis
taken, if he expected it in his generation or in his century.
We think the sufficient warrant for his expectation was to
be found in the belief of all the other apostles and in the
traditional teaching of the Master himself. We think that
it is wholly to Paul's credit that he held to this doctrine of
the immediate Second Advent with such sanity of conduct
and such common sense in personal behavior and public
exhortation. If all Second Adventists had held their creed
with the same undisturbed serenity of personal experience
and unbroken continuity of Christian service, they would
have caused no trouble in the church. It is against the idle
ness of some and the excited fanaticism of others that Paul
here makes his protest. If we rule these things out, then
we may serve the living God and wait for his Son from
heaven, with all the patience of Christ who sits on heaven's
27 1 Thess. i. io.
28 2 Thess. 3. 5.

182 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
throne expecting that every knee will bow and every tongue
confess his majesty in due time.
These are the main lessons of these two epistles: (i)
Study the signs of the times and apply all scriptural truths
to them as far as such application may be allowable or
profitable; (2) Work faithfully all the time, no matter
what the particular signs of the times may be; (3) Wait
patiently, even though the Lord's coming seem long delayed,
in confident faith that it surely will come in the end.
VI. Some Minor Lessons
1. There is a gospel of work in this epistle. Paul says,
"Yourselves know how ye ought to imitate us: . . . for
we did not eat bread for nought at any man's hand, but we
labored and travailed, working night and day, that we
might not burden any of you. . . . Even when we were
with you, this we commanded you, If any will not work,
neither let him eat. We hear of some that work not at all.
Now them that are such we command and exhort in the
Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat
their own bread." 29 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ !
Jesus was a worker. Day after day he labored hard in the
carpenter's shop. All labor has been glorified by the sweat
on that carpenter's brow. When the poor people and the
day laborers rest from their labors and gather in glad
reunion before God's throne, the Master Workman stand
ing at the head of the throng will be God's Son. They will
be at home with him there because he was at home with
them here.
Is anyone waiting for the appearing of the Son of God
from heaven? Let him not wait in idleness, for Jesus was
one of the workers and only those who are like him shall
see him as he is. An idle man cannot be a Christian.
An idle man is no follower of Christ. An idle man has

" 2 Thess. 3. 7, 8, 10-12

SECOND THESSALONIANS 183
no place in the Kingdom. Paul says that an idle man has
no right to live! If he will not work, let him not eat!
Starve him to death, and the sooner the better! That
sounds like rather severe doctrine, but it is Paul's doctrine.
He thinks that all the idle rich and all the idle poor ought
to have their food supply cut off at once. He prescribes
starvation for incorrigible and criminal idleness in any rank
of society. It will either kill or cure, and the world will be
better off in the end in either case. It is the New Testament
gospel of work. "The Father worketh hitherto and I work"
— that was a part of the Master's message to men. It is
in work that man comes nearest to Christ and nearest to
God. Among the Sayings of Jesus recently discovered in Egypt
is this striking one: "Raise the stone, and there thou
shalt find me; cleave the wood, and there am I." Jesus
often reveals himself to quarrymen and to woodchoppers
when he is hidden from the wise and the prudent whose
hands never are hardened with toil. A certain carpenter
named Jesus and a certain weaver and tentmaker named
Paul came preaching this gospel of work. It was a shame
to be idle in this workaday world. Idleness led to that
greater shame of dependence upon another's bounty for
bread. Paul prescribed death to the drones, death by star
vation. He said that bread belonged to those who would
busy themselves to make it or earn it. He said the loafer
ought to go without his loaf. Jesus and Paul worked with
their hands and with their heads and with their hearts.
They worked night and day, because there was a night com
ing in which no man could work. They ate sparingly, but
they worked unsparingly, that they might have to give to
other's need. It is a part of the Christian gospel, the gospel
of work.
2. In 2. 10 Paul declares that the indispensable preliminary
to salvation is the love of the truth. "They received not
the love of the truth, that they might be saved." It was

184 ' PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
not necessary that their creed should be perfect or complete.
It was not necessary that they should be superior to all mis
understanding or mistake. It was necessary that they should
desire the truth above everything else. It was necessary
that they should love the truth with a perfect love. The
love of the truth would save a man, even if he attained to
but an infinitesimal portion of the truth itself. The love of
truth determined his character. The amount of truth he
possessed might have been determined for him by his oppor
tunities or his environment. If he had received the love of
the truth, and if he held stoutly to it, he was sure of salva
tion, even though he might live and die a devoted adherent
of some distortion of the truth which he mistook for the
truth itself. If he loved the truth, he might believe a lie
and be saved. The hopeless thing was not to receive the
love of the truth and so to be given over to the belief in a
lie. There may be the same love of the truth among the
followers of many different standards of faith ; and if there
is, they all have the same surety of salvation. There may
be two believers in one and the same lie ; and in the heart of
the one there may be the love of the truth and in the heart
of the other there may be a hatred of the truth. Then of
those two believers in a lie the one shall be saved and the
other shall be lost. Their creed may have been identical;
their characters were radically different. To have the truth
is desirable; to love the truth is essential. It is the indis
pensable prerequisite to salvation.
3. Notice Paul's thanksgiving in 2. 13, 14. It sweeps the
whole horizon from eternity past through all eternity to
come. He is thankful for God's choice before the founda
tion of the world. God made the world because he
intended to save the world. Then Paul is thankful for the
gospel and for the means it furnishes unto salvation in the
sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth.
Finally he is thankful for the goal set before us, in the
obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, There is

SECOND THESSALONIANS 185
a whole system of theology in these verses, and it is a
wholesome, whole-hearted, and broad-visioned theology.
VII. Some Facts Concerning the Second Epistle
1. This is the shortest epistle in the New Testament
addressed to a church.
2. The word "law" does not occur in this epistle, as it
did not in the first epistle.
3. The cross is not once mentioned in this epistle, and
the death of Christ is mentioned only once.
4. In 3. 6, 14, 15 we have the first mention of actual
church discipline in the New Testament literature. If any
man walk disorderly and fail in obedience to the apostolic
command, the Christians are to have no company with him.
They are to withdraw from his fellowship, but not to cast
him off as an enemy. He was to be admonished and labored
with still as a brother beloved, but disciplined for his own
good. 5. The autograph salutation occurs in 3. 17, and Paul says
that his autograph is the token in every epistle he writes.
This may be an indication of the existence of forged epistles
at this time, against the acceptance of which his own hand
writing would safeguard them. The language seems to
indicate a number of genuine epistles, and since we know
of only one preceding this we must conclude that Paul's
correspondence was much larger than that which we now
possess. VIII. Genuineness of the Epistle
Some critics who accept the First Epistle to the Thes
salonians as authentic are disposed to reject the second
epistle, chiefly upon the ground of supposed inconsistencies
with the teaching of the first epistle. Among these are
Hausrath, Holtzmann, Pfleiderer, Weizsacker, and von
Soden. The external evidence for the second epistle is
better than that for the first. Justin Martyr clearly refers

186 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
to the passage concerning the Man of Sin. Polycarp
alludes to the epistle. Irenaeus refers to it by name.
It is also cited by Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian.
It is in the canon of Marcion and in that of the Muratorian
Fragment. It is found in the Old Latin and the Syrian
versions. Upon these grounds most of the English scholars
have been led to favor its genuineness ; and so have Renan,
Reuss, Godet, Weiss, Sabatier, Julicher, Gloel, Klopper,
Bousset, Lipsius, and Zahn. The epistle never was ques
tioned in the early church. All the doubts concerning it
arose in the nineteenth century; and they do not seem to
be well established. From the internal evidence it is as easy
to argue for the genuineness of the epistle as against it.

CHAPTER V
THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS

CHAPTER V
THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
I. The City of Corinth and the Corinthians
i. The Situation. The peninsula of Greece has a most
remarkable coast line. There is not another like it any
where. The continent of Africa is an almost solid mass.
Africa has only one mile of coast line for every six hun
dred and twenty-three square miles of surface. The con
tinent of Europe, on the other hand, runs out on all sides
into great peninsulas, and has one mile of coast line for
every one hundred and fifty-six square miles of surface.
As the configuration of Europe contrasts with that of
Africa, the configuration of Greece contrasts with and sur
passes in its complexity even that of Europe. The coast
of Greece is a continuous succession of bays, pressing in
upon the land at every possible point from the east and the
west and the south. Everywhere peninsulas run out into
the sea; everywhere the sea thrusts itself in between these
projecting points of land. Half the size of Portugal, Greece
has a coast line greater than Spain and Portugal together.
The sea is on every side of the land and in every part of
the land. There is not a foot of land in Greece which is
forty miles from the sea.
At one place the opposing tides nearly have cut the land
in two. An isthmus only four miles wide in its narrowest
dimension joins the Peloponnesus to Hellas proper. All
intercourse by land from the north to the south must pass
through this point. The Saronic gulf lies on the east and
the Corinthian gulf lies on the west. They afford good
harborage for vessels. The seas about the southern coast
189

i9o PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
of Greece are swept almost continually with storms, and
the voyage through them always is a dangerous one. It was
inevitable, therefore, that the commerce from the east to
the west should tend to run directly from Ephesus to this
Isthmus and then on to Rome, and to the commerce of the
Mediterranean the isthmus was as important as the Isthmus
of Panama will be to the commerce of the world. A com
mercial city was sure to spring up at this point. Two sea
port towns, famous in history, were established on either
side of the isthmus — Lechaeum on the west and Cenchreae
on the east. On the broadening southern end of the isthmus
a precipitous rock rose eighteen hundred feet above the
plain, its sides almost inaccessible. It was a natural citadel,
like Gibraltar, and about its feet a great city grew. Horace
calls it "the two-sea'd Corinth,"1 for with its two harbor
towns Corinth commanded the entire isthmus and had a
hand on either sea.
The ports were filled with ships of every size and from
every clime. The smaller vessels were rolled across the
narrow strip of land on wheels. The larger vessels were
unloaded and their cargo was transferred on the backs of
porters or by beasts of burden or in wagons to the other
coast. The great rock overlooking it all was called the
Acrocorinthus. Mounting to its top, one could see at a
single glance the whole of the city with its swarming
markets and streets, both harbors with their many sails and
the steady stream of merchandise and traffic uniting the
two, and the sparkling blue waters of the Ionian and the
/Egean Seas. To the south stretched the mountain ranges
of the Peloponnesus, and to the north, just forty-five miles
away, rose that other famous rock overlooking the still
more famous city, the Acropolis at Athens. In the far dis
tance could be seen the snow-crowned hills of Thessaly.
On the isthmus below stood the shrine of Poseidon, and

1 Qde I, 7. 2, "bimaris Corinthus."

FIRST CORINTHIANS 191
there was the Stadium, where every three years all Greece
gathered to the celebration of the Isthmian games. It was a
great commercial center, given over to the making of money
and the enjoyment of physical life. It had more than half
a million people in it when Paul the apostle of the Chris
tian faith first saw it. There probably were two hundred
thousand freemen and twice as many slaves.
2. The Old and New City. The city into which Paul
entered was not the ancient city of Corinth which had been
called the "light and ornament of Greece." That Corinth
had been the capital of the Doric states and the head of the
Achaean league. Its praises had been sung by Pindar and
its influence had been described by Thucydides. It had
been wholly destroyed by Lucius Mummius, the Roman
general, B. C. 146. For a hundred years nothing but ruins
had been left of it. The devastating fires of the Roman
soldiers had consumed all the wood, hay, stubble of the
ancient constructions, but many of the marbles and the
precious statues and columns and cornices had been
unburned and unbroken, and after lying in the ruins for
a century they either had been rescued and restored to their
former positions or they had been used in the building of
the new city of Corinth, whose foundations were laid by
Julius Caesar in B. C. 46. Qesar called it Colonia Julia
Corinthus. He colonized it with veterans and freedmen.
The growth of the new city was almost as rapid as that
of Chicago has been. The /Egean and the Ionian Seas
contributed to its wealth. The popular route from east to
west ran this way. It was quite customary for passengers
to break their sea voyage by disembarking at one of the
seaports on the isthmus and visiting Corinth on their way
to the other. It soon outstripped Athens in size and became
in some respects the most important city of Greece. It was
made the capital of the Roman province of Achaia. As
the center of government and the seat of commerce,
unrivaled in wealth and in size, Corinth was the place where

192 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
any new movement, once established, would be sure to exert
an influence over the whole land. It was the residence of a
Roman proconsul, and, of course, the dominant political and
civic influence was Roman. Many other peoples, however,
were to be found in its streets. Asiatics had come over
from Ephesus. The Jews had been attracted by the pros
pects of rapid money-making, and they were here in suffi
cient numbers to have their synagogue. The Greeks be
longed to this soil, and they had made Corinth a Greek city
in its spirit and customs.
3. Reputation for Profligacy. With these various nation
alities, with no traditions, with no aristocracy, a mushroom
city with no higher aim than the making of money and the
exploiting of pleasures and the enjoyment of life, Corinth
soon established a reputation for profligacy which was
unrivaled in the ancient world. Chrysostom said it was
"the most licentious city of all that are or ever have
been." Farrar has pronounced Corinth "the Vanity Fair of
the Roman empire ; at once the London and the Paris of the
first century after Christianity. In the Gentile world it was
famous-infamous for dishonesty, debauchery, and drunk
enness." 2
Another modern writer has compared Corinth "to an
amalgam of Newmarket, Chicago, and Paris. It had the
worst features of each, all mixed together. At night its
streets were hideous with the brawls and lewd songs of
drunken revelry. In the daytime its markets and squares
swarmed with Jewish peddlers, foreign traders, sailors,
soldiers, athletes in training, boxers, wrestlers, charioteers,
racing men, betting men, courtesans, slaves, idlers, and par
asites of every description — a veritable pandemonium.
Even in that old world the evil name of the city was pro
verbial. To accuse a man of behaving as 'a Corinthian'
was to accuse him of leading a low, shameless, and immoral

8 Messages of the Books, p. 210.

FIRST CORINTHIANS 193
life. It is said that no Corinthian name celebrated in liter
ature, arts, or philosophy, occurs in all the annals of
Greece." 3 "A Corinthian banquet" was a drunken revel.
"A Corinthian drinker" was a sot. "To live like a Corin
thian" was to live a dissolute life. These proverbial phrases
stamped upon world literature the ancient reputation of the
city for all that was bad and utterly vile.4 The vices of
the Orient and the Occident seemed to center here. The
reasons for this fact are apparent.
(1) There was a large floating population in Corinth at
all times. Its streets were thronged with sailors from the
east and the west, and sailors notoriously are a dissolute
lot when they are on shore. All the restraints of temper
ance enforced on shipboard are thrown aside when the
sailor is set free at the end of the voyage. Frequently his
wages are paid him in a lump sum at that time and he pro
ceeds at once to spend them in one grand spree. There
always are plenty of people watching for an opportunity
to help him get rid of his money, and the reward of months
of labor often is dissipated in a single night or in a few days.
The sailor has only an occasional opportunity to be dissolute,
and he is dissolute with an abandon that the landsman sel
dom attains. Corinth had the sailors of two seas thronging
its streets all the time. Then there were the other strangers
who passed through Corinth, coming from all other parts
of the world and tarrying here just long enough to taste
of its pleasures. After the tedium of a sea voyage they
were ready for a revel. Away from all the restraints of
home and among strangers, they were the more likely to
indulge in all vices. It is the complaint of Christian pastors
to-day that their people who go to summer resorts are not
faithful to church attendance and to religious duties as they

8 Shaw, op. cit., p. 130.
4 Shakespeare, "A Corinthian, a lad of mettle" (1 Henry IV, ii, 4).
Scott, "Who is this gallant, honest Mike? — is he a Corinthian — a cutter
like thyself?" (Kenilworth, iii.)

194 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
are at home, but, on the other hand, are prone to indulgence
in questionable amusements and doubtful practices with
which they would have nothing to do when surrounded by
their neighbors and friends. It also is said that Americans
upon the Continent live a freer life than they do at home.
If these things are true to-day, and among Christian people,
how much more would they be true in the ancient day and
among the heathen peoples in Corinth?
(2) The vast majority of the population in Corinth was
a slave population. The slaves outnumbered the freemen
two to one. We know how such a situation in America
naturally led to licentiousness. Our slaves were black,
and black is not an attractive color. Yet the unnumbered
mulattos, quadroons, and octoroons in America bear wit
ness to the debasing influence of the institution of slavery
upon the morals of the dominant class. So far as the slaves
are brutalized themselves their habits and examples are
vicious. So far as their masters exploit them for the satis
faction of their own passions both masters and slaves are
involved in a common moral ruin.
(3) The religion of the city was the chief aid to sensual
ity. On the Acrocorinthus stood the temple of Aphrodite
Pandemos. She was the guardian goddess of the city. In
her temple were one thousand women who were profes
sional prostitutes. They were the Ierodouloi, the priest
esses of Aphrodite, the goddess of lust and love. Their
service was a service of impurity. They indulged in las
civious dances in the public festivals. Commerce with these
priestesses in the temple was regarded as a religious conse
cration. The cult of the goddess was Oriental rather than
Greek in its gross sensuality. The rites of the Syrian
Astarte had been imported to Europe and established on
these Corinthian heights. The city which grew up in asso
ciation with these rites was a city of uncleanness and sen
sual sin. It was filled with idolaters who were fornicators,
adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with men,

FIRST CORINTHIANS 195
thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners.5
The civilization of Corinth was one which was corrupt and
decaying, even while it was gilded and gay. It was to the
Christians of Corinth that Paul wrote his most earnest
and most scathing prohibitions of personal sensuality.6 He
knew the constant temptation there was in their environ
ment. He said to them that if they were to cut themselves
off altogether from fornicators and extortioners and idol
aters they would have to get out of that world in which they
lived in Corinth.7
Paul was resident there when he wrote that awful descrip
tion of the sensuality of the pagan world, found in the first
chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. It was a sketch
from life which he was penning. He put down what he
saw in the streets of Corinth every day. "God gave them
up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, that their
bodies should be dishonored among themselves. . . . God
gave them up unto vile passions: for their women changed
the natural use into that which is against nature : and like
wise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman,
burned in their lust one toward another, men with men
working unseemliness, and receiving in themselves that
recompense of their error which was due. . . . God gave
them over unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which
are not fitting ; being filled with all unrighteousness, wicked
ness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to
God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things,
disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-
breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful : who, know
ing the ordinance of God, that they who practice such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also consent
with them who practice them." 8 We think as we read this
8 1 Cor. 6. 9, 10.
8 1 Cor. 5. 1; 6. 9-20; 10. 7, 8; 2 Cor. 6. 14; 7. 1.
' 1 Cor. 5. 10. 'Rom. 1. 24-32.

196 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
indictment that it must be rhetorically extravagant. It did
not seem so to Paul, for every day on the streets of Corinth
he had seen the patent proofs of these things.
4. Its Philosophy. Together with all this corruption of
morals there was the cultivation of a superficial and cynical
philosophy. Corinth kept up a pretense to great culture.
It had a host of halls of rhetoric and schools of philosophy.
One ancient historian says that you could not take a step
in the streets of Corinth without meeting a sage.
Pindar saw the first city of Corinth in the height of its
glory. Paul saw the second city of Corinth in the heyday
of its power. The modern city of Corinth has no reminder
of the splendor of the ancient times. In 1851 Lewin found
there only forty or fifty wretched houses. In the last half
century its condition has improved and it has some eight
thousand inhabitants to-day. "But all traces of its former
glory have been swept away. Wherever else one may find
the famed Corinthian pillars, it is not in Corinth. Only
a few massive Doric columns still stand like solemn monu
ments of the mighty past. Beyond these, and earth and sea
and sky, there is nothing on which we can say the eyes of
the apostle rested." 9
II. The Founding of the Christian Church
"Ecclesia Dei in Corintho, laetum et ingens paradoxen.
— The Church of God in the city of Corinth, a joyous and
a great paradox !" It is a sentence of Bengel in his Gnomon.
Corinth was a moral cesspool. Into this sink of iniquity
the gospel message was cast, as the prophet threw a branch
into the bitter waters to sweeten them, and a Christian
Church was founded and flourished even there! It is one
of the wonders of church history, a wonder which has been
repeated many times since, and which every time it occurs
is a proof of the supernatural power in our gospel.

• Shaw, op. cit., p. 127.

FIRST CORINTHIANS 197
1. Paul's Arrival. From Athens Paul came down to
Corinth. He landed at Cenchrea. and probably walked the
eight or nine miles to the city. Just outside the city walls,
in the cypress grove of the cemetery, he may have seen the
tomb of Lais, that most famous courtesan of Corinth, and
have wondered whether the stone lioness with the sheep in
her claws was a fit symbol of the terrible and ruthless power
of sensual sin. At the gate stood the monument of Dio
genes, the cynic, whose philosophy was well suited to the
city's lustful and shallow life. Paul searched first for lodg
ings and remunerative labor. He found both in the home
of Aquila and Priscilla, who were tentmakers like himself
and who had come recently from Rome. They were con
vinced and converted by Paul's life and speech and soon
became devoted Christians. With them he wrought through
the week and on the Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue,
until he had established a reputation there as an able and
persuasive speaker. When Silas and Timothy came down
from Macedonia and joined Paul here in Corinth, Paul
began to speak more plainly concerning the Christian faith.
The Jews soon raised most strenuous objection, and Paul
left the synagogue and set up a rival conventicle in a house
near by.
2. The Church Members. The seceders from the syn
agogue had a respectable standing from the very first, for
Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, went with them with
all of his family; and Titus Justus, whose home was opened
to their assembly; and Aquila and Priscilla, who were
people of considerable force of character. Other house
holders, like Chloe and Stephanas; and Gaius, who was a
man of means and great hospitality, entertaining Paul and
the whole church; and Erastus, the treasurer of the city,
soon joined them. Doubtless there were others of consid
erable wealth and influence ; but the majority of the church
was made up of poor and uncultured people, some from
the middle class and more from the slave population. All

198 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
social positions seem to have been represented; but not
many wise and not many noble were called.
Paul labored here a year and six months — a longer time
than he had stayed in any other of his mission fields. Was
it because he believed that the need was greater here than
in any other city he had visited? Before the end of the
eighteen months the church in Corinth was the largest to
which Paul had ministered. How many there were in it
we do not know, but it seems probable that the membership
had mounted into the hundreds at least. We saw in Thes
salonica how rapidly a Christian church was formed in a
heathen community. If the growth of the church in Corinth
was of proportional rapidity, in three times the length of
stay the church ought to have become at least three times
as large. We know that at last the Jews of Corinth became
alarmed at the inroads of the new religion and they arose
with one accord and seized Paul and brought him before
the judgment- seat of Gallio, the Roman proconsul.
3. Paul and Gallio. It was one of the dramatic scenes
of history, Paul, the greatest man in Corinth, before the
judgment seat of Gallio, the greatest civic authority. The
pathos and the humor of the scene lies in the fact that Gallio
was all unconscious of the greatest opportunity of his
life, and he thought that Paul was a Jewish workman of
whom he never had heard before and of whom no one
ever would hear again. It never entered his mind that day
that Paul would be known to millions who never would hear
of Gallio except in his connection with Paul's trial. This
Gallio was the most popular member of a most distinguished
family. He was the brother of Seneca, the famous courtier
and philosopher. He was the uncle of Lucan, the author
of the great epic, the Pharsalia. Gallio himself was a
patron of the arts, a lover of good literature, and a most
gracious representative of Roman courtesy and Greek
culture. He was beloved by rich and poor alike. He
chatted with the sailors about the wind and weather. He

FIRST CORINTHIANS 199
conversed with the philosophers on terms of perfect
equality. He was genial, unaffected, and deservedly pop
ular. Seneca said of him, "Even those who love my brother
Gallio to the very utmost of their power yet do not love
him enough." He had so many good qualities that we might
have coveted him for the Christian faith. Had he gotten
acquainted with Paul and become a convert to the new reli
gion, it would have saved him at least from the suicide
which ended his days when his family had been ruined in
its plot against Nero. This was the man who refused to
hear Paul speak or to consider the matter presented to him
by the Jews as soon as he discovered that it was an affair
of their religion and had nothing to do with the administra
tion of the state.
"A strange thing!" says Renan. "Behold, on the one
hand, one of the most intellectual and inquiring of men,
and, on the other, one of the strongest and most original
souls of his age, and yet they passed without either affect
ing the other. . . . The man of society, with his frivolous
disdain, continually passes without knowing it the man who
is about to create the future : they are not of the same world ;
and the common error of people of society is to think that
the world in which they move is the only world which
exists."10 Gallio in the proconsul's palace never had heard
of this new religious movement in the ghetto district and
among the slave population, it may be; or if he had heard
of the conversion of Erastus, the city treasurer, he had not
been sufficiently interested to suppose for one moment that
the faith Erastus had espoused was different in any essential
respect from the host of other religions represented in
Corinth. In this cosmopolitan city people were passing
continually from one religious faith to another, and he did
not hear that any of them had found any greater satisfac
tion in one than in another. How should he imagine that

18 St. Paul, p. 225.

200 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
this faith preached by Paul was to turn the world upside
down, was to capture the Roman empire in time, was to
drive out all these other religions, and was to dominate the
civilized globe? He never suspected it. It was a squabble
among some Jewish sectaries about points concerning
their law. He had nothing to do with it, and he would have
nothing to do with it. He was not minded to be a judge
in such matters. They were beneath his interest and
beneath his dignity. He turned them away, and the mob
laid hold on Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue and the
ringleader of the opposition to Paul, and they beat him
before the judgment seat, rightly judging that Gallio would
not concern himself to protect Sosthenes any more than
Paul. 4. Sosthenes. The First Epistle to the Corinthians begins
with these words, "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus
Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
unto the church of God which is at Corinth." 1J- This is the
only other occurrence of the name Sosthenes in the New
Testament. Can it be that the Sosthenes of the eighteenth
chapter of Acts, the Sosthenes who was the ruler of the syn
agogue in Corinth and the prosecutor of Paul in that city,
is the Sosthenes "our brother," whom Paul joins with him
in writing this first epistle? Like Paul himself, was he
first a persecutor of the Christian faith and then a devoted
adherent? It is possible. If Sosthenes had been converted
and was now with Paul in Ephesus, Paul, remembering the
former influence and position of this ruler of the synagogue
among the Jews of Corinth, would be likely to associate
their two names in the superscription of the epistle.
5. Paul's Itinerary. Some time after the experience
with Gallio Paul left Corinth and went to Ephesus. There
the brethren asked him to abide with them. He thought
he could not at that time and, promising to return, he went
11 j Cor. 1. 1, 2,

FIRST CORINTHIANS 201
to Caesarea and on to Antioch. After spending some time
here he started out for a third time upon a missionary
journey from this headquarters. He traveled through
Galatia and Phrygia and so came again to Ephesus. In
Ephesus he remained more than two years, and while there
he must have kept himself pretty well informed concern
ing the church in Corinth. Commercial intercourse between
the two cities was so constant that Paul must have met
many of the Corinthian church members in Ephesus and
still larger numbers of those who knew more or less about
the condition of affairs there. From the reports given by
these visitors to Ephesus Paul gathered much of encour
agement and also much that was disquieting. This led him
into some correspondence with the church at Corinth, and
this correspondence led to our first epistle.
III. The Occasion of the First Epistle
1. Apollos came from Corinth to Ephesus and reported
the state of the church there. Doubtless there were many
others who confirmed his statements, but his was the most
official information Paul had received. Apollos was sure
that there were some backsliders and an increasing tendency
toward impurity of life on the part of others.
2. Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians, one of the
Pauline letters which have been lost. We call this epistle
the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and it is the first in
our canon, and the first of which we have any direct knowl
edge ; but in this first epistle we read, "I wrote unto you in
my epistle to have no company with fornicators." 12 Evi
dently, Paul had written an epistle before this, an epistle
which has been lost. All that we know about it we gather
from indirect suggestions in the epistle we have. We con
clude that there were at least three subjects discussed in this
former communication : ( 1 ) Paul's proposed visit to them,
12 1 Cor. 5. 9.

202 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
(2) a collection to be taken up for the poor saints in Jeru
salem, and (3) directions about their relations with the
impure idolaters with whom they were surrounded in
Corinth. 3. The Corinthians answered this letter. We think we
can be sure of two things in their epistle — its spirit and
its questioning. The epistle has been lost, and we only can
guess at its contents from indications in Paul's reply.13
Reading between the lines in this first epistle, we gather
that the letter of the Corinthians had been full of the spirit
of boasting and self-congratulation. They were puffed up
over their spiritual gifts, and they were vaunting their spir
itual wisdom. They had an overplus of self-assurance.
Yet they condescended to ask Paul's opinion concerning
certain matters. It was not at all certain that his opinion
would have much weight with people who had such a good
opinion of themselves. Yet they were willing to hear what
he had to say on these subjects, and they asked him to send
his opinion in writing.
The following questions were being discussed among
themselves :
(1) Which was better for the Christians, the married
life or the celibate life? Should widows or widowers ever
marry again? Should a Christian ever marry a heathen?
If a Christian were already married to a heathen, and the
heathen husband or wife would not be converted, ought the
Christians to continue to live with their married mates?
Ought they not to separate? Had not Paul written that
they must break company with fornicators, and was not
heathenism in Corinth a consecrated fornication? How
about the young people ? Was it not better that the young
women should remain virgins in Christ ? Could a Christian
father with a clear conscience give his daughter in marriage
to either a heathen or a Christian ? These were very prac-
13 Findlay has made a very ingenious reproduction of the epistle
from the Corinthians, in the Expositor, VI, i, 401-407.

FIRST CORINTHIANS 203
tical questions in such a city as Corinth. Not a month
could pass by there, and scarcely a week or a day, without
some one of them coming up and clamoring for immediate
settlement. (2) How about the relation between master and slave?
Could a Christian slave serve a heathen master? Plow
could he remain a Christian and maintain this relationship?
(3) Another very practical question was that concerning
meat offered to idols. All might agree that it was wrong
to offer meats or anything else to idols, but was it wrong
to eat the meat which had been thus offered ? It was pre
sented for sale in the markets; was it wrong to buy such
meat, to carry it home and consume it there? It was used
in public festivals; could a Christian take part in a festival
when this meat was set on the table? It was likely to be
in any private home ; was a Christian to refuse to sit down
to any banquet to which he had been invited until he had
asked where the meat came from and had been assured that
it never had had any connection with the heathen worship?
This would be very embarrassing on many occasions. Must
a Christian be a spoil-feast and a boor in order to keep his
hands and his conscience clean in this matter? Must he
sacrifice all social life outside the church or must he sacri
fice some of his conscientious scruples? It was the old
question either of uncompromising adherence to principles,
and of consequent social ostracism, or of social adaptation in
minor matters in order to maintain friendly relations and
the possibility of further intercourse and missionary labors.
(4) There was much difference of opinion as to decorum
in public services. Should the men come to church with
their heads covered or uncovered? The Jews had been
accustomed to wear the tallith on their heads when reading
or speaking in the synagogue, and they said that was the
only proper custom in the Christian service. The Greeks,
on the other hand, always had been accustomed to enter
the temple of the god bareheaded, and they saw no reason

204 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
why they should approach God the Father or Jesus his Son
in any less reverent fashion. What should they do about it ?
Should the Christians follow the Jewish custom or the
Greek? How about the women? How about their heads
and how about their tongues ? Was it proper for a woman
to speak or to teach in a public assembly? If she did so,
ought she to speak or teach with uncovered head?
(5) Had Paul any definite plans to suggest concerning
the proposed collection?
(6) Was Apollos coming back to Corinth, and when?
4. This letter was brought to Paul, and would have been
a sufficient occasion in itself for the writing of our first
epistle. However, Paul had heard many things about the
church in Corinth which were not mentioned in their letter,
and he had these things in mind when he sat down to
answer them. Some of the things he had heard seemed to
him of far greater importance than the things about which
they had inquired, and he gives more space to the discussion
of them in his reply.
(1) Certain members of the household of Chloe had
told him that contentions had sprung up among the church
members, and the church was being divided into rival
camps with rival champions and rival standards of doc
trine and life. There were at least three parties, and
there may have been four. We think there were four;
for if those who said, "We are of Christ," simply refused
to enroll themselves with any one of the other three parties,
that would have separated them from the other camps, and
in proportion to the compactness of these bodies they would
have found themselves isolated perforce. In all probability,
however, they were not protestants against the forming of
factions in the church, but the most radical and persistent
factionaries among them. Therefore we suppose that there
were four well-defined parties in the Corinthian church,
and we can guess with some assurance as to their complex
ion and differences.

FIRST CORINTHIANS 205
First, there were the Paulinists. We credit them with
loyalty to the founder of the church and to all of his teach
ings. They believed in his authority and were satisfied with
his theology.
Second, there were the Apollonians. They prided them
selves upon their subtleties in the exegesis of the Scripture.
They professed to enjoy a deeper insight into the Christian
mysteries. They claimed to understand and to be able to
expound Christianity as a world philosophy. They be
longed to the wise. They boasted of their culture. They
had great pleasure in eloquent periods and rhetorical presen
tations of the truth. They thought that Apollos was a much
more impressive orator than Paul, and they believed that
the Alexandrian philosophy in its synthesis of revealed and
heathen truth was the highest reach of human wisdom.
They wanted their preachers to be oratorical and philosoph
ical, and they were sure that that would be the only way
in which they could appeal to the better classes and could
reach and convert the people of Corinth.
Third, there were the Cephians. Their chief authority
was not Paul nor Apollos, but Peter; and since they called
him by that Hebrew name "Cephas," we may suppose that
they themselves were Hebrews, and probably Hebrews from
Palestine. They were prone to insist upon primal apostolic
authority. Peter had founded the Christian Church at that
first Pentecost. The gift of tongues on that occasion was
a proof of its spirituality and the same gift was to be
coveted and possessed by the most spiritual still. This
Paul and this Apollos were of the second rank in the church.
They had come into it much later. They were entirely too
free from the ecclesiastical authority represented by the
primitive apostles. Neither Cephas nor any other of them
was disposed to concede such privileges and immunities to
the Gentiles as Paul and Apollos did. This party was
the center of the anti-Pauline propaganda in the church,
and it verily believed that it was doing the church and the

206 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Christ a service in its vigorous protest against Paul's unau
thorized innovations.
Fourth, there were the Christians. The very fact that
they adopted this name as their exclusive property might
indicate that they were the most narrow and intolerant of
the factions in Corinth. There is an assumption and arro
gance in the appropriation of the title which speaks ill for
their breadth of spirit or sympathy. They boasted that
they did not take their theology from any human teacher,
like Cephas or Paul or Apollos, but only from the Lord.
Godet thinks that some of them were docetists, and dis
tinguished between the human Jesus and the divine Christ.
The cry, "Jesus be anathema !" 14 expressed their abhor
rence of the worship which recognized any authority "after
the flesh." Probably they were Judaizers with a vengeance
and arrogated a higher even than apostolic authority, and
preached the superior purity of the celibate state as that
to which the Christ had given the authority of his example.
There was no orthodoxy like unto their orthodoxy. They
were supreme in piety. They were the simon-pure Chris
tians, the unadulterated article, the uncontaminated remnant
who represented the true faith in the world. They were
harder to get along with than any of the others. They
measured themselves by themselves and compared them
selves with themselves and commended themselves and
despised others.
(2) A second matter of public scandal had arisen among
the church members in Corinth and had been reported to
Paul. Differences of opinion had led to differences in pro
cedure, and these in turn had led to open quarrels, and these
quarrels had resulted in lawsuits before the heathen tri
bunals. They did not trust each other enough to have such
affairs settled by arbitration or judgment among themselves.
They carried them to outsiders for their final disposition,
14 1 Cor. 12. 3.

FIRST CORINTHIANS 207
and the outside world was apt to conclude that these Chris
tians did not love each other. They were good fighters
and haters instead. It was a disgrace to their profession
to have constant resort to the courts of the heathen and to
have constant reason for such resort.
(3) Paul heard that the public meetings of the church
were disturbed by fanatical outbursts of religious frenzy
and irreligious antagonisms of speech and of creed.
Women harangued the assembly with uncovered heads.
Sometimes many men and women were talking at once, and
evidently they tried to outtalk or to outshout each other.
There were ecstatic utterances under supposed divine control
and therefore by divine authority interrupting the proceed
ings. Blasphemous phrases had been heard under such cir
cumstances, and angry ejaculations were common. There
was speaking with tongues, and it frequently happened that
many were speaking with tongues at one and the same time,
and the din became indescribable and the jargon was unap-
prehensible, and many thought that the service was more
like a meeting of maniacs than a service of worship to the
true God. There was noise and disorder where there ought
to have been peace and preaching unto edification.
(4) Paul heard that these glossolalias were regarded by
some as the highest possible proof of spirituality, and that
people were striving for the possession of these ecstatic
gifts who were less concerned about faith, hope, and love,
the common Christian graces and the fundamental moral
ities. (5) He was told again that certain people thought that
the resurrection was past and gone. It was a spiritual expe
rience and Christians looked back to it and not forward in
anticipation of it. There would be no resurrection of the
dead. The resurrection from spiritual death into spiritual
life was the only one the Christian would know. It was a
deadly heresy, wholly subversive of the Christian faith; yet
there were those in Corinth who maintained it.

208 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
(6) The Corinthians were famous for drunkenness and
some of the Christian Corinthians still became drunken
occasionally, and Paul heard with sorrow that some of them
sometimes became drunken at the love feasts of the church.
They called these church festivals love feasts, and they
went through the form of breaking bread together in peace
and love as the Pentecostal brethren did ; but some of those
who made profession of Christian fellowship and church
brotherhood on these occasions at the same time engaged in
lawsuits with each other. They were insincere and hypo
critical in their manifestations of affection for each other;
and their common meal was a pretense rather than a reality,
for the rich brought ample provisions with them to these
feasts and gorged themselves, while the poor looked on
and envied them and themselves were not fed. Hypocrisy,
gluttony, and drunkenness at the very table of the Lord!
Could there be anything worse than that in any church of
Christ? (7) There was one thing still worse. Some of the mem
bers had been guilty of sensual sins; and one offender had
become so notorious that even the heathen Corinthians con
sidered his conduct a public scandal, and yet the church
seemed disposed to condone it. A certain man was living
with his father's wife in open adultery ! The father was a
heathen and the woman was a heathen, but the stepson who
maintained this incestuous relation was a professing Chris
tian ! Such a relationship was forbidden by the Jewish law
under penalty of death. The Roman law equally con
demned it. Was it conceivable that the Christian Church
would allow it? Yet for some reason this man was toler
ated in the church in Corinth. Was it because he was a
heavy contributor to church expenses? Was it because of
the intercession of influential friends? Was it because no
one cared to take the initiative in a church prosecution?
We do not know. It seems almost inconceivable to us that
such a scandal could have been tolerated for a moment.

FIRST CORINTHIANS 209
Did the earlier portion of this study picture the city of
Corinth in rather dark colors as the most lascivious city
of the ancient world? The present study has pictured the
church in Corinth in much the same colors. The church
seems to have been affected by its environment. Let us
now summarize the suggestions furnished by these ques
tions and rumors and try to make out of them a coherent
picture of this Pauline church, recently formed out of the
Judaism and the heathenism of Corinth.
IV. An Inside View of the Church
1. Its meetingplace is not in a church building but in
a large room in a private house or in an old business room
turned into an assembly hall. The heathen have their
magnificent temples. The Jews have their synagogue with
all the accustomed paraphernalia of their religious worship.
This Christian meetingplace is absolutely void of ecclesias
tical architecture or furnishing. It is a plain room with
seats, and arrangements have been made for the introduc
tion of a long table for the feast. All of the appointments
suggest the home or the public hall rather than a church.
2. The time of meeting is in the evening of the first day
of the week. There are no other religious meetings at this
time, so that the noise of the city's traffic and revelry is
heard in the streets outside. The Christians come from
various quarters of the city and they pass through throngs
of their old companions and friends who are bent on busi
ness or pleasure and who frequently invite them to join
again in their pursuits. There is no holy Sabbath quiet
anywhere to remind them that it is time to worship or to
help them in spiritual meditation. Some of them come to
the meeting heated from their daily labor and excited by
some altercation. They step out of a pandemonium of Cor
inthian noises into a service which may be a pandemonium
of excited speeches before long.
3. Now that they are gathering, let us notice something

210 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
of the strange assortment of their costumes and character.
Here are some Jews who enter with their heads covered
and sit with their heads covered through the whole service.
Here are some Greeks who come in and who sit bareheaded.
Here are some women who are veiled and some who are
unveiled, some who cover their heads and some who
uncover them. Here are some well-to-do people in the gar
ments of the rich. Here are more in the rags of the poor.
Here are some with the ring of the Roman freedman upon
their fingers. Here are others who evidently are slaves.
The clothes are not all clean. The faces are not all refined.
Some bear the marks of prolonged dissipation. Some are
defaced with the scars of former brawls, and some are cruel
with the lines of inherited selfishness and extortion. Paul
remembered their appearance when he wrote, "Neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covet
ous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall
inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you:
but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the
Spirit of our God." 15 Converted thieves and prostitutes
and drunkards and extortioners some of them were, but
only some. These transformed reprobates were numerous
enough to make the church a marvel in its own eyes and in
the eyes of others. The news of their conversion had been
carried far and wide, and many people had been attracted
to these Christian services, just to see and hear them.
There were many others who always had lived moral and
upright lives : Jews who had kept the whole law from their
youth up; Syrians who had prided themselves on their
purity of conversation and conduct; women whose whole
nature revolted from uncleanness of any kind. Men and
women, freemen and slaves, young and old, Romans,

16 1 Cor. 6. 9-1 1.

FIRST CORINTHIANS 211
Greeks, Jews, Asiatics — surely nowhere else in Corinth
was there such an admixture of races and customs and
conditions with such unity of spirit and purpose and life.
4. The order of exercises was an indeterminate one.
When no apostolic leader was present the utmost freedom
prevailed. Anyone might lead in song or in prayer at any
time. Anyone who felt capable or was so inspired could
address the meeting on any theme. Speaking with tongues
was given the right of way ; and if several spoke with
tongues at one and the same time, it was allowable. No one
felt authorized to interfere with any manifestation of the
Spirit's presence with anyone. Sometimes one arose and
interpreted the strange jargon. Sometimes the one who
had been speaking had the gift of interpretation as well.
Sometimes neither he nor anyone else knew what was being
said. Occasionally some one was inspired to preach with
a strange power until the whole assembly was swayed by
his eloquence and the unbeliever was convicted of his sin.
The sick and suffering were brought in and there were
marvelous miracles of healing. Sometimes there was an
exposition of Scripture which haunted the memory for
days. Sometimes there was teaching in the fundamentals
of the faith.
There was great variety in the services. One might begin
with great quiet and decorum and close like a cyclone of
insanity. One might begin with an invective against all
schismatics and heretics who did not believe exactly what
the speaker believed, and everybody might get more or less
on edge as he listened. Then some one might be guided
graciously to speak with such edification that all spirits
were soothed and uplifted until they felt that they sat in the
very court of heaven. There always was something doing
in these services. No wonder that people were attracted
to them and came and came again. There were some things
which were disheartening and disgusting; but there were
other things which were very heartening and interesting and

212 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
convincing. People really were converted in these meet
ings. A church of God was being raised up in them.
5. When the public service was ended the unbelievers
probably were invited to leave the room. Then the table
was spread, and the Christians celebrated their feast of
love and their memorial of the death of their Lord. Each
brought what he cared to or could. All ate at the one table,
and in some cases those who were well supplied looked out
for others' needs. Some were selfish even here. When
all had finished, and some were still hungry while others
were drunken or gorged, the service was closed and all went
to their homes, through crowds more boisterous than their
meeting had been and past banqueting halls where there was
far more and far worse drunkenness than any which had
been seen at their table. What conclusions may we draw
from this inside view of the Christian service at Corinth?
V. Conclusions from this View
1. The early church was not the ideal church which
some have dreamed that it was. This Corinthian church
was worse than any of our churches to-day. We do not
need to pray for a return to the good old times in church
history. We may rejoice that these times have been left
behind. Some have imagined that the early church repre
sented the primitive purity of Christianity from which we
have fallen far away in these later days. Our New Testa
ment does not lend itself to any such delusion. Here in
Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians we find conditions
as they actually were. There is no glossing over the faults
and failures of the church community. This letter was
intended by Paul for the Corinthians alone, and he had
no thought that it would be read for centuries to come
and all around the globe. If he had known that, he might
have been tempted to spare the Corinthians this portrayal
of their weaknesses and their crimes; but this was a
private correspondence. It was between Paul and the

FIRST CORINTHIANS 213
church he himself had founded. Paul supposed that
these affairs would be threshed out between them alone.
So he wrote plainly and without any reservation and we
have gained in historical knowledge while the Corinthians
have lost in reputation. We are glad that this letter was
written — for their sake, since it brought about a better state
among them, and for our own sake as well, since we
know now that the golden age of church history lies
not behind us but before us. We are better off than the
Corinthians were, but there is much room for improve
ment still. We look ahead for the ideal conditions, and we
labor to bring them about.
2. We must not be led into a false conclusion concerning
the quality of the Corinthian church. We might suppose
as we read of these factions and jealousies and vanities
and immoralities and profanities that the church was wholly
bad. That would be a hasty conclusion and it would be
false to the fact. There were good people in Corinth, a
saving remnant who were sane and moral, "washed and
sanctified and justified" in the eyes of God and men. We
have a record of criticisms for the most part in this epistle,
and all the faults mentioned actually were represented in
the community; but as it would not be fair to judge any
modern community by the long list of scandals and crimes
published in its newspaper, so in Corinth we may suppose
that there were those who did not need criticism and so
escaped comment at this time.
3. The faults of this church are in some instances evi
dences in themselves of spiritual life, an exuberant, ill-
regulated, undisciplined life, but nevertheless a life which
demanded expression and was not content in uncertainty or
inaction. There was no excuse for immoralities, drunken
ness, or profanities. Those were unchristian and had to be
rooted out. On the other hand, all this eager questioning
evinced an interest and a desire for satisfaction which was
at the farthest remove from indifference or death. All of

214 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
these factions were made up of those who professed to have
the truth and who were strenuous in its maintenance and
propagandism. All of these ecstatic experiences were
thought by those who had them to be a confirmation of their
personal spiritual life. There was life here, but it needed
to be directed and controlled. It needed repression at
some points and judicious development at other points.
The church had responded to the work of the evangelist.
It needed now the careful supervision and training of a
wise pastor. That leads us to a fourth conclusion in view
of all these facts.
4. It is a proof of the surpassing genius of the apostle
Paul that he was able to save this church and all his
churches from fanaticisms and dissolution and to build
out of them a world-conquering Christianity. "No saner
or more commanding intellect ever headed a complex and
difficult movement. ... It was a happy circumstance for
the future of Christianity that in those early days, when
there were almost as many wild suggestions and foolish
opinions as there were converts, there should have been in
the church this one clear, practical judgment, this pure
embodiment of the wisdom of Christianity." 16
"A strange Christianity that of the Corinthian church
must have been at the time the first epistle was written —
a Christianity of which we scarcely can form a conception :
a mixture of lofty ideas dimly apprehended with the weak
and beggarly elements of the world, of Jewish theology,
Pauline mysticism, and the Alexandrian speculations and
allegorizing of Apollos, of conflicting notions as to the
flesh and the Spirit, continence and license, marriage and
celibacy, circumcision and uncircumcision, the authority of
Paul and that of Jerusalem, theism and polytheism; a
conflict of old customs and habits with new principles half
understood, of the puffed-up spirit of self-assertion and

18 Dods, Commentary on First Corinthians, pp. 352, 356.

FIRST CORINTHIANS 215
dogmatism with the modesty that waits to be instructed,
of the sense of decorum with the loud demand for the un
veiled prophesying of the women, of a sound feeling of
the fitness of things with a heathenish glee and gluttony
at the Supper of the Lord; and a babel of a many-voiced
speaking with a tongue, which led the looker-on to think
the church was mad. The situation might well dishearten
as brave and great a man as Paul, not only as to local
success, but also as to the entire future of the cause of
Christ. Who could have foreseen that out of such crude-
ness and elemental fermentation could come the Christen
dom of the twentieth century? It needed the courage, the
hope, the divine patience of the great apostle, the sure insight
and faith of a religious genius, who looks upon the things
that are not seen, to undertake the mighty task of bringing
order out of this chaos. Not by violence and rough com
pulsion could the task be achieved, but only by the ideal
and by the love that hopeth all things, endureth all things.
He who could at the same time assert authority and charm
with the spirit of Christ might venture. This Paul could
do, and he has left us the first Epistle to the Corinthians
as an evidence of his skill and mastery." 17
Into the witches' cauldron at Corinth Paul dropped this
epistle, and its boiling and bubbling gradually was quieted.
The church in Corinth came through its crisis even as the
church in Thessalonica had. The sanity of the apostle's
judgment asserted itself. His decision of all mooted ques
tions was approved more and more in the study of events
and the process of time. His principles have vindicated
themselves in the light of the centuries. Universal Chris
tianity indorses them to-day in all their essence and in
almost all of their details. We see now that in that prim
itive age it was the clear head and the strong hand and the
loving heart of the apostle Paul which more than any other

17 Cone, Paul, pp. 1 18-19.

216 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
living force created and established and indoctrinated and
saved Gentile Christianity to the world. We never can be
sufficiently thankful to him for that achievement. It marks
him as one of the greatest men in world history. His
monument is the Christian Church of to-day in all the
Gentile lands. VI. Date of the Epistle
Paul had left Corinth at the time of the observance of
Pentecost in the year 54. Three years now had gone by.
In his stay in Ephesus he had been in constant touch with
brethren from the Corinthian church. He had heard many
things which pleased him, but latterly the reports had
become rather alarming. Evidently, there were evils in
the church which were growing and which ought to be
checked. Apollos reported them officially and others unof
ficially. Paul wrote a warning note. The letter he received
in reply asked for his decision upon several mooted ques
tions, and, although Paul was not a letter-writer by prefer
ence and much rather would talk or work than write, it
seemed to him that the time had come for some more
extended formulation of his thought upon the themes they
had suggested and upon the general condition of the church.
The church at Thessalonica had been in great danger of
fanaticism and of consequent dissolution, and his letters
to that church had saved it from any such result. The situ
ation in Corinth now seemed to be almost, if not quite, as
alarming. Unless certain tendencies were dealt with they
would lead straight to ruin. Paul was not one to see the
work of his hands go to wreck without an attempt at least
to save every soul on board. He was as much interested
in the church three years after he had left it as he was when
he had been on the ground. It was his church still, and he
wanted to find it in good condition when he returned to
it. He intended to tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost,18
18 1 Cor. 16, 8,

FIRST CORINTHIANS 217
and this letter probably was written some weeks before that
date. The reference to the Jewish passover at one point in
the epistle19 may suggest that it was being celebrated at the
time Paul was writing. That would give us the definite
date for our first epistle, Easter of the year 57.
VII. Contents of the Epistle
The general outline of the contents of the epistle is clearly
indicated by the spacing in the American Revised Version.
1. The Greeting. The greeting contains a half-sarcastic
thanksgiving and an expression of the apostle's indomit
able hope (1. 1-9). In the greeting in the First Epistle to
the Thessalonians Paul gave thanks for their faith and hope
and love. They had the fruits of the Spirit in Thessalonica,
and Paul rejoiced over them without any reservation of
spirit or speech. Here Paul gives thanks that the Corinth
ians are enriched in utterance and knowledge and come be
hind in no gift. They have the gifts of the Spirit in Corinth.
The grace of God is manifest in both the fruits of the Spirit
and the gifts of the Spirit. If they only could be combined
in Corinth or anywhere else, there would be no need of a
qualified thanksgiving such as we find here.
2. Exhortation and Admonition. These concern the
divisive spirit in the church (1. 10 to 4. 21), and are in the
first four chapters after the greeting. This was the greatest
fault in the church at Corinth, the one affecting the larg
est number of people and most seriously threatening the
future of the church organization, and Paul sets himself
at once to deal with it. Paul conceived of the church as
the great unifier of the race. Within its pale there were to
be no intervening barriers of nationality, sex, or position in
society. Male or female, Greek, Roman, Jew, Scythian,
bond or free, all were to belong to one brotherhood and to
share and share alike in religious privileges and in mutual
love. It was a great conception, a noble ideal. Was it to
w 1 Cor. 5. 7, 8.

218 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
be shattered by rivalries and jealousies within the church
itself? Was the seamless robe of the Christ to be rent by
the spirit of faction? Paul bends all his energies to pre
vent such disaster. He pleads for an earnest seeking after
the apostolic spirit of submissive ministry to the glory of
Christ instead of any insistence upon apostolic prerogatives
over each other. He rebukes all pride of worldly wisdom
and exhorts to the humble service of God.
3. A Vital Issue. The case of flagrant immorality, with
the discussion of lawsuits and the general question of
personal purity (chapters 5, 6). Here was a vital issue. If
gross immorality such as was manifested in this individual
case would be tolerated in the Christian Church, that church
might as well go out of commission. If the church did
not discipline this offender, and that right speedily, it would
sign its own death warrant in the spiritual realm. Paul
delivers his ultimatum on this subject. They must either
excommunicate this man or he, Paul, will excommunicate
them. If they fellowship with this culprit, they cannot
longer fellowship with him. Let them take their choice.
Let the matter be determined inside the church. There
was no need to carry such things or any of their difficulties
before the heathen tribunals. Let them decide once for all
that a Christian man could have no more intercourse with
harlots. 4. Questions Concerning Marriage (chapter 7). Paul
allows marriage to all. He prefers celibacy for himself
and all others who have his continence and consecration.
There are some things in this chapter which sound strangely
to modern ears. In reading it, it will be well to remember
(1) that Paul believed that the world was about to pass
away in a short time, and that all his advice is given in
view of that impending calamity. He was mistaken at this
point, as we have seen; and we feel sure that if he had
known that the world was to stand for twenty centuries,
as it now has, he would not have talked in this way. Plow-

FIRST CORINTHIANS 219
ever, the fundamental principles which Paul here lays down
are all right. To be sure, if everybody had followed his
advice as here given, and all unmarried Christians had
preferred and maintained the celibate state, the race would
have been seriously depleted by this time, and in proportion
to the success of Christianity in making converts would the
destruction of the race have been assured. Paul did not
have the race question in his thought at this time. If the
world had come to an end as he expected, the race ques
tion would have been settled in that way. Settlement by
nonpropagation did not come within Paul's horizon of
thought in this epistle.
(2) We must remember that Paul is not attacking mar
riage, as some have thought, but he is defending celibacy
from the attack of those who deemed it wrong or inhuman.
What he says on this subject is of general validity to-day.
The celibate state is the best for some work. We prefer
to ask unmarried men to go into the army and navy. We
prefer to send unmarried women into hospitals and out to
frontier teaching and missionary posts. In exceptional
cases we admire the man or the woman who from the high
sense of duty and in the spirit of self-sacrifice or with the
knowledge of hereditary diseases in the body or some weak
ness which ought not to be transmitted to posterity chooses
some dangerous work with which marriage seems incom
patible or devotes a lifetime to the prosecution of some
noble aim with undivided attention and affection. Lord
Bacon said, "Certainly, the best works and of greatest
merit for the public have proceeded from the unmarried
or childless men, who both in affection and means have
married and endowed the public." The man who remains
single because he is too lazy to work and support a family,
or too selfish to share his interests with a wife, or too stingy
to pay for a marriage license and buy furniture for house
keeping, Paul would have despised just as much as we do.
Paul knew that the most of people would marry as long as

220 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
the world stood, and we feel sure that he would have
advised them to marry if he had known that the world
would stand through the next generation.
(3) Some of the expressions in this chapter may be
understood better when we remember that in that age mar
riage was largely a matter of arrangement between the
parents of the contracting parties, and sentiment did not
play such a prominent part as in these modern times. A
father disposed of his daughter in marriage, and sometimes
the daughter had never seen her intended husband before
marriage, and it was only in particular cases that the young
people had become acquainted or had fallen in love with
each other independently of their parents' action. That was
not considered as necessary then as it is now.20
5. Meats Offered to Idols (8. 1 to n. 1). Paul claimed
liberty to eat meat at any time in any place. He would
not exercise this liberty in such a way as to hurt his brother's
conscience or endanger his brother's salvation. He lays
down some common-sense rules of conduct and exhorts
the Corinthians to do all to the glory of God, with due
regard to the avoidance of occasions of stumbling.
6. A Question of Custom. The covering of the head
and the celebration of the Lord's Supper (11. 2-34). It
is noteworthy here that Paul decides against the Jewish
custom, the custom of his own people, and favors the Greek
practice of the men coming into the public service with
uncovered head. The Lord's Supper is to be simply a
memorial and not an ordinary or full course meal.
7. Spiritual Gifts and Their Relative Value (chapters
12-14). The charisms are diverse, but they come from the
same Spirit. They are all intended to edify the whole
Body of Christ. Prophesying is better than speaking with
tongues. Love is the greatest of all. In the discussion of
the decorum of public services Paul rules the women out of
20 "Faces strange and tongues unknown
Make us by a bid their own." (Sophocles. Fragm. Terens.).

FIRST CORINTHIANS 221
the duty or privilege of public speaking. "It is shameful
for a woman to speak in a church." 21 We regard this as
a local regulation and not of general application and not of
any application to these modern times or these changed
conditions or these different peoples. In the Corinth of that
day it was the avowed prostitutes alone who were prominent
in the public festivals, and it was too large a risk for the
Christian women themselves to do anything which would
lead to their identification in the popular mind with this
class. It was wholly in their own behalf that Paul urged
this precaution upon them. He would have lifted the pro
scription at once, we believe, in a different environment.
He was jealous of the reputation of the church body; but
he was altogether willing that anything should be done
which was to the glory of God.
8. The Gospel of the Resurrection (chapter 15). Paul
identifies the message of the resurrection with the gospel.
They stand or fall together, in his mind. He gives the full
est discussion of the question to be found in the New Testa
ment. He meets objections, builds up a masterly argu
ment, and closes with a paean of victory. The chapter is
one of the most valuable in the sacred book.
9. The Collection, and Closing Messages (chapter 16).
Notice the general order of these discussions in the epistle :
(1) Ecclesiastical questions — divisions and discipline
(chapters 1-6). (2) Moral questions — impurity, lawsuits,
marriage, and meats (chapters 7-10). (3) Liturgical ques
tions — costumes in church, the holy communion, spiritual
gifts, the prohibition of women orators (chapters 11-14).
(4) A dogmatic question — the resurrection (chapter 15).
VIII. Noteworthy Features of the Epistle
1. Its Picture of the Early Church. Weizsacker says
that we have here "a fragment which has no parallel in
ecclesiastical history." The epistle is invaluable as a source
» 1 Cor. 14. 35.

22a PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
of information concerning the conditions of primitive
Christianity. It is a first-class historical authority. No
where else do we get so many details of the actual
church life. If we are able to realize that life at all
to-day, it is largely because of the aid given us in this
epistle. Dean Stanley has said, "We are here, and (as
far as the epistles are concerned) here only, allowed to
witness the earliest conflict of Christianity with the culture
and the vices of the ancient classical world." We learn
more of the corporate life and the spiritual conflict of a
young heathen-Christian church in this epistle than from
all other sources combined. No more vivid and realistic
picture could have been given us. We get more light upon
the official government of the church and more upon the
rules for the self-government of individuals in the church
from this epistle than from any other book in the Bible.
This makes it a most noteworthy book, to begin with.
2 Its Practical Wisdom. A characteristic feature of
this epistle is its practical wisdom. The Epistle to the
Romans is the preeminently theological epistle in the
Pauline list. The First Epistle to the Corinthians is the
preeminently practical epistle. Findlay calls it the epistle
of the doctrine of the cross in application. Donald Fraser
has written, "It says nothing of the law or justification,
discusses no doctrine whatever save that of the resurrec
tion, but treats in a masterly manner of love, purity, con
science, discernment, and reverence in the Church of
God." 22
3. Its Pastoral Suggestiveness. Bishop Warren de
clared, "No epistle should be more carefully studied by a
modern pastor." 23 The reason for such a declaration has
been well stated by Principal Robertson : "The two Epistles
to the Corinthians are the most pastoral of the epistles. For
details of pastoral work and organization, indeed, we go to
22 Lectures on the Bible, vol. ii, p. 130.
23 Ilifl Studies, p. 34.

FIRST CORINTHIANS 223
the letters to Timothy and Titus. But for the deep-seated
principles, for the essential relations between pastor and
peoples, for the conception of the apostolic office, and the
nature of apostolical authority, these epistles are our pri
mary sources. The questions touched upon in First Corin
thians furnish a fair sample of the difficulties of church
government; and as each is taken up in turn some deep-
lying principle springs naturally to the apostle's lips, and
is brought to bear with all its power upon the matter in
hand. The letter is unique as an object-lesson in the
bishopric of souls." 24
4. Its Greek Allusions. As Dean Stanley has noted,
"Here more than anywhere else in Paul's writings his allu
sions and illustrations are borrowed, not merely from Jewish
customs and feelings, but from the literature, the amuse
ments, the education, the worship of Greece and Rome." 25
Corinth was a Greek city, and the church was in a Greek
environment. In this epistle Paul is a Greek to the Greeks.
Note, for example, his references to the Greek games
(9. 24-27). The Isthmian games were celebrated near Cor
inth and they included the five exercises of wrestling, leap
ing, throwing the discus, racing, and boxing. The contest
ants for the ten months preceding the games went into
training, a prolonged period of abstinence and exercise.
Before the final period of thirty days of training under
the eye of the president the sacrifices were offered and
each of the contestants took his oath that he was of pure
Greek lineage and that he never had been convicted of
any crime and that he never had been guilty of an act of
impiety. All Greece went to this spectacle. The crown of
parsley or pine leaves given to the victor in the contests was
one of the most coveted honors in the land. Did Paul go to
the games with the rest ? Possibly he had the opportunity in
the two years he was in Corinth, and probably it would not
24 Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible, I, p. 489.
26 Stanley, Epistles to the Corinthians, p. 4.

224 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
occur to him that he need have any conscientious scruples.
He seems to have been an emancipated Jew at this point
as well as at so many others. Anyway, he makes free allu
sion to the racing and the boxing of the Isthmian games,
makes the abstinence and prolonged training of the con
testants an example to the Christian, and contrasts their
crown of perishable pine leaves with the Christian's reward.
5. Its Exaltation of Christ. In all of Paul's epistles
Christ is exalted, but in no other epistle is the name of
Christ introduced so continuously. Look at the beginning
verses. In the first ten verses the name of Christ occurs
ten times. It was Chrysostom who first pointed out the
fact that Paul nails the Corinthians down to the name of
Christ from the very start. He wants them to see at the
very outset that Christ is all and in all, and that there is
no room for any self-confidence except in him. He calls
their attention to the name of Christ, the testimony of Christ,
the revelation of Christ, the day of Christ, the fellowship
of Christ. That is the most important thing in this epistle
from the beginning to the end.
However, this exaltation of Christ does not prevent the
clear presentation of his subordination to the Father in all
things. Paul never has set forth that truth more clearly
than in this epistle. "First we have the grand climax with
which the third chapter closes: 'All are yours; and ye are
Christ's ; and Christ is God's.' 26 Again in the eleventh
chapter, where Paul is regulating the attire of women in
public worship, 'But I would have you know, that the head
of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the
man ; and the head of Christ is God.' 27 And, lastly, in
the fifteenth chapter, where the apostle turns seer, and
transports us to the end of time, and a revelation, far more
remarkable than any in the Apocalypse, is given us of the
future mutual relations of the Persons of the Godhead,
26 1 Cor. 3. 22, 23.
17 1 Cor. 11. 3.

FIRST CORINTHIANS 225
'And when all things have been subjected unto him, then
shall the Son also himself be subjected unto him that, did
subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all.' " 28
6. Its Condemnation of Personal Puffing. The self-
inflated spirit is castigated in this epistle as nowhere else
in the New Testament (see 4. 6, 18, 19; 5. 2; 8. 1; 13. 4;
and 2 Cor. 12. 20). This term occurs elsewhere in the
New Testament only in Col. 2. 18.
7. Its Logical Order. In form this epistle is the most
orderly and logical of Paul's epistles.
8. Its Style. The style is the most simple and direct to
be found in the Pauline epistles. Plummer thinks that on
the score of its style this epistle "should possibly be ranked
first among Paul's writings," and he adds, "Possibly no
such thought was in his mind ; but the letter might convince
the fastidious Greeks that in clearness of thought and
power of language he was in no way inferior to the eloquent
Apollos." 29 IX. Authenticity of the Epistle
When Baur and the Tubingen school of critics decided
against the authenticity of the other Pauline epistles, they
still recognized as genuine First and Second Corinthians,
Galatians, and Romans. These four epistles belong to the
same period in Paul's life and are too well authenticated
seriously to be questioned. First Corinthians is the first
book in the New Testament to be cited by name in later
literature. Before the end of the first century, about A. D.
95, Clement of Rome wrote to the Corinthians and quoted
from this epistle several times. In chapter 47 he refers to
it explicitly, as follows : "Take up the epistle of the blessed
apostle Paul. What did he write to you at the time when
the gospel first began to be preached? Truly, under the
inspiration of the Spirit, he wrote to you concerning him-
28 1 Cor. 15. 28. White, Expositor, VI, ii, p. 19.
" Article in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible.

226 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
self, and Cephas, and Apollos, because even then parties
had been formed among you." Barnabas, Hermas, Igna
tius, Polycarp, the Epistle to Diognetus, the Teaching of
the Twelve all bear witness to the acquaintance of the early
church with the language and the teaching of this epistle.
The testimony of the early authorities is clear and full and
unquestionable. The external evidence to the authenticity
of First Corinthians is all that could be expected or desired.
However, if the external evidence were less satisfactory
than it is, the internal evidence would be sufficient to guar
antee the epistle. Paley, Beet, Godet, McClymont, and
others point out the fact that the Corinthians never would
have acknowledged and preserved an epistle which so
plainly set forth and rebuked their own faults if they had
not been assured of its apostolic authority. The many
references to Paul's own movements, the intimate knowl
edge of the internal condition of the church, the many
points of coincidence with the book of the Acts and other
writings in the New Testament combine to prove its incon
testable genuineness.

CHAPTER VI
THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS

CHAPTER VI
THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
I. Contrast Between the First and Second Epistle
i. Schmiedel says that "in passing from First to Second
Corinthians one feels like passing from a park with paths
intersecting but easily discernible into a pathless or track
less forest." First Corinthians has clear divisions of
thought, and its separate sections are well marked out from
each other. Second Corinthians is filled with a jumble of
emotions and a veritable jungle of interlacing and almost
impenetrable passions and affections and fervors. In First
Corinthians everything is written down decently and in
order. In Second Corinthians there is chaos come again.
First Corinthians is the most systematic of the Pauline
epistles. Second Corinthians is the least systematic of them
all. 2. First Corinthians deals with a larger number of topics,
and these topics are more varied and cover a wider range of
interest than is represented in any other epistle of Paul.
Second Corinthians has only one theme, with one paren
thesis in the middle of it.
3. First Corinthians tells us more about the inside history
of the early church, its troubles and its triumphs, its prac
tices and its principles, than we can learn from any other
book in the New Testament. Second Corinthians tells us
more about the heart history and the inmost character of the
apostle Paul than any other source of information we have.
Here we see his passionate soul in its twofold aspect of
sensitiveness and affection, on the one hand, and defiance
and resolution on the other. Anxious, suffering, plead-
229

230 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
ing, expostulating, Paul wears his heart on his sleeve in
this epistle. We come to know the man here as nowhere
else. We study First Corinthians to know the church; we
study Second Corinthians to know the church's greatest
apostle.
II. The General Theme
The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is Paul's "Apologia
pro Vita Sua." He had been slandered and he here sets
himself to make reply to his critics and to make it clear to
all the church that his motives have been of the purest
throughout. All good men are likely to be slandered. God
himself was slandered, according to the story of the garden
of Eden.1 Eve said to the serpent, "Of the fruit of the
tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said,
Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."
Then the serpent said to Eve: "He lied to you and deceived
you. You shall not surely die. He simply wanted to
frighten you. He knew that in the day that you ate thereof
your eyes would be opened, and you would be as God,
knowing good and evil." The author of the Epistle to the
Hebrews says that it is impossible for God to lie,2 and we
believe it. We believe that he is the God of all truth and
that his word can be trusted in everything. We believe that
the serpent of the Genesis narrative was a liar and the
father of lies. We believe that he basely slandered the God
of all truth when he said what he did to Eve.
Jesus was slandered. They said of him, "He has a devil."
They called the Master Beelzebub. They accused him again
and again of blasphemy and Sabbath-breaking and uncon
cealed sympathy with sin. They expelled him from their
coasts. They would have thrown him over the mountain
cliff. They harried him from city to city and from place
to place. They arrested him at last with swords and staves
1 Gen. 3. 3-5.
2 Heb. 6. 18.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 231
and a multitude of men, as though he had been a thief or
a public malefactor. They taunted him and they beat him
for a night and a day. Then they took him to Golgotha and
nailed him to a tree, and there they reviled him through the
slow hours of his agony with the diabolical ingenuity of
malicious jest till in the earthquake and the darkness his
spirit was committed to God. He was slandered and
maligned through all his public ministry. In all probability
the last word he ever heard as he hung on the cross was
some slanderous epithet.
"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above
his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his
teacher, and the servant as his lord. If they have called
the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them
of his household !" 3 As long as there are evil men in the
world good men are sure to be slandered. If God could
not escape, and if Jesus could not escape, the children of
God and the disciples of Jesus may not hope to escape.
Job was a good man, but he was slandered horribly by his
best friends. Joseph was a good man, but he was accused
of criminal assault. Moses was a meek man, but he was
accused of lording it over the people. Ahab slandered
Elijah, and Shimei slandered David. Athanasius thought
the whole world was against him. Martin Luther was
depicted by his enemies as a veritable monster of iniquity.
John Wesley was called a defamer, a reviler, a liar, a
bigot, an Ishmaelite, at the very time when his holy life and
his powerful preaching were raising up a people to herald
the second Reformation and under the name of Methodists
were preparing them to carry the gospel of God's power to
the poor of every land. What was John Wesley doing that
they should apply to him such names? He was spreading
scriptural holiness throughout all England, and that occa
sioned the torrent of abuse. The tradition is that one day

3 Matt. 10. 24, 25.

232 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
John Wesley said to his churchmembers, "Brethren, I have
been charged with all the crimes in the catalogue, with only
one exception as far as I know, and that is the crime of
drunkenness; no one ever has accused me of that." Then
a woman stood up in the congregation and said, "You old
hypocrite, you know that you were drunk last night."
"Bless the Lord !" said John Wesley, "the catalogue is now
complete!" Even in our day we have seen John Wesley's
picture published by the liquor dealers of America as an
advertisement, and they have claimed that he was a patron
and an adviser of the use of wine and beer ! The falsity of
slander scarcely could find a better illustration than that.
When Spurgeon was the greatest gospel preacher in the
world he was a target for the slanders of the press. The
papers said that he was a pulpit buffoon, and that he had
pictured the sinner's quick descent into hell by straddling
his pulpit rail and sliding down it into the congregation.
The devil and his imps are busy all the time in the manu
facture of wholesale slanders of the righteous. No good
man need be surprised if he encounters them. It would
rather be to his discredit if all men spoke well of him. For
the most part evil men speak well only of their own kind.
Paul had been slandered, and in this epistle he makes
answer to these slanders. Some of the things which his
enemies were saying about him may have had a measure
of truth in them, but for the most part they were utterly
false, and Paul sets himself to make that perfectly clear.
What were these charges made against Paul and diligently
circulated in the church at Corinth? We will make a list
of them, as we find them suggested in this epistle.
III. Slanders Against Paul and His Answers
to Them
There is only one quotation from Paul's enemies, explic
itly designated as such, in this epistle, and it occurs in io.
io; but throughout the epistle there are words and phrases

/

SECOND CORINTHIANS 233
which doubtless are taken from their oral or written charges
against him. We begin with one in the direct quotation.
1. As to His Personal Appearance. (1) "They say . . .
His bodily presence is weak." 4 Paul's enemies were say
ing: "He is little and insignificant in appearance. He does
not compare with many of these other leaders who are
tall and straight and command respectful attention even as
they walk the public streets. It would be well to have
a man at the head of our church who will be an ornament
to it as he stands in the pulpit, a man as good-looking as
any of the sophists and rhetoricians and philosophers in
Corinth. As for this Paul, people laugh at him. These
Greeks who are accustomed to the perfect physique of their
statuary and their art and to the ideal human form as
developed by their athletes and their warriors simply turn
• • up their noses at this comical crooked Jewish dwarf. Nor
is his personal appearance the worst of it."
(2) "He affects to be abject in his bearing. He is very
lowly in our presence.5 He abases himself more than is
necessary even for a man who looks as he does.6 He might
carry himself with some dignity at least; but he chooses
to crouch and to cringe and to curry favor by an extrava
gant show of humility which overreaches itself and makes
him seem contemptible."
What does Paul say to these things ? He makes no direct
reply to the statement that his bodily presence is weak. He
is silent concerning that remark, as unworthy of any dis
cussion. No man can add anything to his stature, and he is
not responsible for that. It is his duty to make the best of
the body he has, and neither he nor anybody else ought to
complain if he is doing that. Paul does suggest that a man
ought to be judged by his heart and his spirit and his life
rather than by the appearance of his face or his head or his
4 2 Cor. 10. 10.
8 2 Cor. 10. 1.
8 2 Cor. 11. 7.

234 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
back or his legs. He says, "Ye look at the things that are
before your face.7 Ye are of the ones who glory in appear
ance and not in heart.8 That is no valid method of judg
ment. A wolf in sheep's clothing is no sheep. Satan him
self can appear like an angel of light.9 A man is to be
valued by his inner character and not by his outer appear
ance. His head may be bald on the outside when it is not
bald within. His back may be crooked and his legs may
be crooked and his nose may be crooked when his life and
Christian experience may be as steady as a clock and as
straight as a string. The man who glories in his apparel
and his appearance may not be so careful about his conduct
and his character.
"Which is the better standard of judgment, good clothes
or good deeds ? Which is the more glory to a man, a shapely
body or a shining soul? Men ought to be judged, not by
their looks, but by their lives. Let those who will preach
the gospel of the glory of good looks ; we preach the gospel
of the glory of Christ.10 Does any one misinterpret our
humility and call us abject? We console ourselves with
the thought that it is the abject whom God comforts.11 Do
they call us weak in appearance and everything else? God's
power is made perfect in weakness.12 If we must needs
glory, we will glory of the things that concern our weak
ness.13 We take pleasure in weaknesses for Christ's sake;
for when we are weak, then are we strong." 14
Paul knew that he could do nothing in and of himself;
but he knew that he could do all things in Christ. His
sense of lack in his own ability at any point was counter
balanced by his faith in the ability of Christ at all points.
His humility was not manifested in any abjection before
men but in whole-hearted subjection to his Lord. He

' 2 Cor. io. 7. u 2 Cor. 7. 6.
8 2 Cor. 5. 12. 12 2 Cor. 12. 9.
"2 Cor. 11. 14. "2 Cor. 11. 30; 12. 5.
10 2 Cor. 4. 4. " 2 Cor. 12. 19,

SECOND CORINTHIANS 235
was weak in the flesh and correspondingly strong in the
spirit. He was humble and considerate in his demeanor
toward men, because he was meek and lowly in heart, like
his Lord. Like his Lord he was misunderstood and
maligned. 2. As to His Speech. (1) They said that Paul was
"rude in speech." 15 His preaching was very commonplace.
His speaking was that of a very ordinary person. It was
contemptible as compared with that of Apollos and other
leaders in the church.
(2) They said that "his speech was of no account." 16
It was not only rude in construction but poor in substance.
It amounted to nothing. The form of his speech was
uncouth and the matter of it was worthless. Cicero de
clares that the Greeks cared not for what one said, but how
one said it.17 These enemies of Paul attacked his preaching
on both grounds. They liked neither the manner nor the
matter of his speech. Who was this Paul anyway? He
was an ignorant tentmaker, who never had learned the rules
of the schools and who did not observe the commonest
forms of rhetoric. The Christian church never could ex
pect to win many of the wise and the noble, the sophists
and the rhetoricians and the philosophers, unless it ap
proached them in a spirit and a style different from that
of Paul. He might reach the poorer classes, the slaves and
the common laborers, but nothing could be done in the
upper classes of society by a man with such methods and
speech. His speech Was rude and of no account.
Now what was the fact of the case? Was Paul an
orator? It depends altogether upon our definition of an
orator. If we define an orator as one who sits down and
carefully constructs orations, one who observes the rules of
rhetoric, one who polishes his periods, one who indulges in
"2 Cor. 11. 6.
18 2 Cor. 10. 10.
17 Pro Flacco, 4, 5.

236 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
ornaments of speech and fanciful flourishes, one who prac
tices the arts of eloquence, then Paul was not an orator.
He avoided oratory in that sense on principle. He neither
imposed upon men with any display of erudition nor did he
dazzle them with rhetorical arts. He said to these Corinth
ians, "And I, brethren, when I came unto you, I came
not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming
to you the testimony of God. . . . My speech and my
preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom." 1S
Bernhard Weiss remarks upon these statements that "Paul
refused to weaken the divine power of the gospel by mix
ing it with human wisdom and rhetoric." He did not set
out to please people by persuasive oratory. His only aim
was to set before them the unvarnished truth.
However, if we define an orator as a great soul on fire
with a great cause, then Paul was an orator. Longinus, the
rhetorician, made a list of the great orators, and he put
Paul first among them. One of the great American orators
has said, "The world has not seen Paul's equal as an orator,
and the earth still vibrates with his speech." Paul said to
the Corinthians, "My speech and my preaching were not
in persuasive words of wisdom," but he immediately added
that they were "in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power." 19 His preaching might not be polished but it
was powerful. It brought results. People were converted
wherever he went. He says, "The weapons of our warfare
are mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds ;
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is
exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every
thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." 20
Was his speech rude? The common people heard him
gladly. Did it amount to nothing? Possibly, yes, judged
by the rules of the school; but, surely, no, judged by results.
18 1 Cor. 2. i, 4.
19 1 Cor. 2. 4.
20 2 Cor. 10. 4, 5.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 237
They themselves were his converts. They themselves were
his witnesses that "God had made him sufficient as a min
ister of the new covenant ; not of the letter, but of the spirit :
for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."21 Paul had
an eloquence all his own, the eloquence of intense convic
tion and overwhelming enthusiasm and thoroughgoing con
secration to his cause. His written words have stirred the
hearts of millions, and have lost none of their power to
move men through all the centuries and down to the pres
ent day; and, surely, the burning phrases which touch us
now must have fallen like hot flame upon the souls who
first heard them. They must have been reproved and
judged. Their consciences must have been smitten. The
secrets of their hearts were made manifest. Their eyes
were opened to see the beauty and the power in the gospel
of Christ. They must have fallen on their faces and wor
shiped God, and acknowledged in the very depths of their
being that this was indeed a messenger of the Most High.22
They heard Paul saying:
"What was their sweet desire and subtle yearning,
Lovers, and women whom their song enrolls?
Faint to the flame which in my breast is burning,
Less than the love wherewith I ache for souls.
"Christ! I am Christ's! and let the name suffice you,
Ay, for me too he greatly hath sufficed:
Lo with no winning words I would entice you,
Paul has no honor and no friend but Christ."23
They heard his testimony and his exhortation and their
hearts were won and their reasons were convinced and their
lives were transformed by the demonstration of the spirit
and the power in all he had to say. Paul was an orator,

21 2 Cor. 3. 6.
22 1 Cor. 14. 24, 25.
23 Myers, Saint Paul, pp. I, 2.

238 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
judged by the results of his speaking upon the minds and
the hearts and the lives of men. He did not depend upon
the form of his presentation of the truth, but he had abso
lute confidence in the power of the truth itself to commend
it to all prepared people. What answer does Paul make to
these charges concerning his lack of rhetoric and the value-
lessness of his speech? Just one. He says, "Though, I
be rude in speech, yet am I not in knowledge ; nay, in every
way have we made this manifest unto you in all things." 24
He would ignore the criticism of his style, but he would
aver that the content of his preaching was all right. His
method of presenting the truth might be defective; he
would not argue that. But it was the truth he had to pre
sent; that must be acknowledged on every hand. His
rhetoric might be faulty, but his knowledge was not.
Let everybody agree that he had preached the truth, and
they might say what else they pleased about the preaching.
He was concerned only with the favorable reception of his
message, and therefore he was not concerned with the
establishment of any personal reputation for eloquence.
The truth was mighty and would prevail. Let him be known
as a preacher of the truth, and that would suffice him.
Paul was a propagandist. He was more interested in the
success of his mission than he was in any personal renown.
Knowledge he had, knowledge of the saving truth in Christ.
It was all-essential that they should believe that. It was
not essential that they should approve his manner of
speech. 3. As to His Authority. (1) They said he was a no
body.25 Paul calls himself "a child untimely born, . . .
the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an
apostle." 26 His enemies took him at his word. They
repeated it as literal truth. Who was he anyway ? Where
"2 Cor. 11. 6.
16 2 Cor. 12. 11.
48 1 Cor. 15. 8, 9.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 239
had he come from? Who had given him any authority to
preach? He was an upstart, self-appointed to this work.
(2) "He never had seen Christ in the flesh.27 He never
had been a disciple of Jesus. Jesus had appointed twelve
apostles while he was here upon the earth and Paul had not
been among them. Where, then, did he get his authority?
Not from Jesus."
(3) "He had no commendatory letters from the mother
church at Jerusalem or from any member of the apostolic
college there. Where, then, did he get his authority, if not
from Jesus and not from the apostles, who were the author
ities in the church? He had no credentials of any kind.28
No one had given him any letters of introduction or of
commendation. No church body had indorsed him in this
way. Nobody ever had seen his papers. Who was sure
that he ever had been ordained?" What followed from
all of these facts?
(4) "Paul was no true apostle. He held no commission
from the constituted apostolate. Their standing was an
unquestioned and unquestionable one. They were out-
and-out apostles. Paul could not boast of any such posi
tion as theirs."
To these charges Paul makes resolute and character
istic answer. "Am I a nobody? It may be that I am; but
I reckon that I am not a whit behind the very chiefest
apostle.29 Whatever I am I am not inferior to them. It
may be true that I have not known Christ after the flesh,
but I deny that that is essential to apostleship. Christ is
risen and has gone to the right-hand of the throne. No
apostle knows him after the flesh now. If they did so know
him, they know him so no more.30 We all are alike at
that point. We stand on the same plane. It does not
follow that because I was not one of the original twelve I
may not be commissioned by Christ. I am an apostle, not
27 2 Cor. 5. 16. » 2 Cor. 11. 5.
28 2 Cor. 3. 1. m2 Cor. 5. 16.

240 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
from men, neither through man, but by the direct call of
the risen Jesus.31 He called me to be a chosen vessel, to
bear his name before the Gentiles and kings, and the chil
dren of Israel.32 I am as much an apostle of Christ as
any man. The Lord has given me my authority.33 The
Lord has given me all the approval I need. Not he that
commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord com
mendeth.34 I need no letters of introduction or of com
mendation from the apostles at Jerusalem. I give com
mendatory letters myself. Do we need, as some, epistles of
commendation to you or from you? Ye are our epistle,
written in our hearts, known and read of all men; being
made manifest that ye are an epistle of Christ, ministered
by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living
God; not in tables of stone, but in tables that are hearts
of flesh.35 If anybody ask me for my credentials I can
point to my Corinthian converts, and say, There are my first
and second and twenty-second and a hundred and second
Corinthian epistles; read them and find out what sort of
a man and what sort of a missionary I am. The out-and-
out apostles have nothing to boast of that I may not claim
as well as they. Where do I lack? In the signs of an
apostle? Truly, the signs of an apostle were wrought
among you in all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty
works.36 In the labors of an apostle? I labored more
abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God
which was with me.37 In the lineage of an apostle? Are
they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I.
Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.38 In the suffer
ings of an apostle? I was in labors more abundantly, in
prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths
oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save
81 Gal. i.i. "2 Cor. 3. 1-3.
32 Acts 9. 15. * 2 Cor. 12. 12.
83 2 Cor. 10. 8. «i Cor. 15. 10.
54 2 Cor. 10. 18. » 2 Cor. 11. 22.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 241
one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned,
thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been
in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in
perils of robbers, in perils from my countrymen, in perils
from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the
wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false
brethren ; in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger
and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides
those things which are without, there is that which presseth
upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches.39 It is not in
visions and revelations that I lack. It is not expedient
that a man should boast of such things, but I have had as
wonderful visions and revelations as any man.40 I can
boast too, though I feel like a fool in doing it.41 I am
become foolish : ye compelled me ; for I ought to have been
commended by you: for in nothing was I behind the very
chiefest apostles, though I am as you say, a nobody." 42
4. As to His Teaching. (1) "He teaches a most obscure
doctrine. There is something veiled and hidden about it.43
He talks about the gospel mystery, and there surely is some
thing very mysterious about it." 44
(2) "He professes a great reverence for the law and
yet he preaches the abrogation of the law. Surely, that is
handling the word of God deceitfully.45 That is greeting
it with a kiss of reverence and betraying it to the death
at the same time."
(3) "He corrupts the word of God.46 His exegesis is
most original, and the more original it is the less reliable
it ought to be considered."
(4) "He preaches no true gospel and no true Jesus.47
Jesus obeyed the whole law. He was circumcised, and so

89 2 Cor. 11. 23-28. ** 1 Cor. 2. 7.
40 2 Cor. 12. 1-4. 46 2 Cor. 4. 2.
41 2 Cor. 11. 21, 23. *• 2 Cor. 2. 17.
42 2 Cor. 12. 11. 472 Cor. 11. 4.
43 2 Cor. 4. 3.

242 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
were all of the true apostles. Anyone who preaches that
circumcision is nothing and that it is not necessary to mem
bership in the Christian Church does not represent Jesus
and the apostles in that teaching. It is another gospel than
the one taught by them. We preach another Jesus and a
different Spirit and a different gospel, and our gospel is
the only true and original one."
(5) "He preaches himself and not Christ.48 He thinks
he knows more than all the other leaders in the church. He
exalts his authority above that of Peter and of Jesus him
self. He is a propagandist, but he is propagating his own
notions and not the teachings of Jesus." Paul enters a curt
denial of all of these statements. "We have renounced the
hidden things of shame, not handling the word of God
deceitfully.49 We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as
Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.50
We are not as the many, corrupting the word of God : but
as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we
in Christ.51 Why should anyone think that my gospel is
a veiled gospel? Moses put a veil upon his face, but the
face of Christ is not veiled. This is our gospel, that we with
unveiled faces beholding the glory of the Lord are trans
formed into the same image from glory to glory.52 That
gospel is not veiled, except in those that perish, whose
minds the god of this world has blinded." 53
We now have seen how the enemies of Paul have charged
that his appearance was weak and abject, and his speech
was rude and of no account, and he had no authority either
from Jesus or the Jerusalem apostles, no letters of recom
mendation, and no legitimate reason for boasting, and his
teaching was obscure and selfish, perverting the written
Word, and presenting no true gospel. To all of these
charges Paul can make answer without much vehemence
48 2 Cor. 4. 5. B 2 Cor. 2. 17.
49 2 Cor. 4. 2. «* 2 Cor. 3. 18.
80 2 Cor. 4. 5. 63 2 Cor. 4. 3, 4.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 243
of feeling. He is not much concerned about his appearance
or his speech or his authorization, and his preaching or
teaching may be left to approve itself. If the complaints
and the charges of his enemies had stopped at this point,
Paul might not have regarded them as worthy of very seri
ous consideration. However, his opponents went farther
and attacked his personal character. That was a different
matter, and all the energy of Paul's nature is aroused to
make adequate answer to these personal slanders.
5. As to His Character. (1) They said that Paul was
fickle and unreliable. He announced a certain plan of action
and then changed it. He evidently was uncertain in his
own mind and insincere in his promises. The weakness of
his character was manifest in the frequency of change in
his plans. Now he said, Yes, and now he said, No; and
you never could tell what he would say next.54 Paul replied
that he had good reason for changing his plans for his visit.
It was a desire to spare them that prompted the new pro
gram.55 It was all meant in kindness to them. His word
to them was not Yes and No. Let them recall his preach
ing and all of his conduct among them. Had it not been
consistent throughout? Did it not all bear one stamp?
Had not God established his word among them, and given
it something of the character of God's own immutability?56
God was not fickle, and no more was he.
(2) "The reason for his change of plans was his coward
ice. He did not dare to come. He had threatened super
natural punishment but he was unwilling to put his powers
to a test at that point. He would not venture to make good
his great swelling words. It was all sheet lightning. It
never struck a blow. He thundered from a safe distance,
but he was a bully and a coward and he did not come near
when there was a chance for a fight. His letters are
84 2 Cor. 1. 15-17.
H2 Cor. 1. 23. ,
"2 Cor. 1. 18-22.

244 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
weighty and strong ; but his bodily presence is weak." 57
To this Paul replied, "I will answer in person the charge
that I dare not come, and if I come again, I will not spare.58
Have I terrified you with my letters? I will show you
When I get there that what I am in word by letter when
I am absent, such I am also in deed when present." 59
(3) "He still was walking according to the flesh.60 Did
not Saul the persecutor set out to abolish the Christian
Church by armed force? This Paul, the would-be apostle,
has the same spirit. He is threatening violence still. He
is warring with carnal weapons still." Paul makes a flat
denial of this statement. "Though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of
our warfare are not of the flesh ; but they are mighty to the
casting down of all opposing forces." 61
(4) "He is full of everlasting self-assertion. His letters
are crowded with his boastings. He glories in his usurped
authority.62 He uses that authority in a lordly fashion to
cast others down.63 He is so arrogant as to be regardless
of the feelings of others, and therefore he takes occasion
to wound us in all of his letters. He is a braggart and he
always is talking about himself. He commends himself
because nobody else recommends him." 64 Paul enters
denial again. "We do not commend ourselves; the Lord
commends us.65 But how about these men who are saying
these things? Are they not commending themselves and
measuring themselves by themselves and comparing them
selves with themselves? Are they not glorying beyond their
measure? Are they not stretching themselves overmuch?
It is very easy for them to come down with letters of recom
mendation from Jerusalem and live comfortably with their
87 2 Cor. 10. 10. m 2 Cor. 10. 8, 15.
68 2 Cor. 13. 1, 2. «3 2 Cor. 10. 8; 13. 10.
89 2 Cor. 10. 9, 11. "2 Cor. 3. 1; 5. 12; 10. 18.
80 2 Cor. 10. 2." « 2 Cor. 10. 18.
81 2 Cor. 10. 3-6.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 245
adherents among my converts. I have been a pioneer mis
sionary, and I have not lived comfortably at any time. It
would seem that they are obtrusive and arrogant, and not
I." 66
(5) "He is crafty, and you cannot trust him. He will
deceive you, and catch you by guile." 6T How often we
have heard this passage quoted as if it came from the mouth
of the apostle Paul himself ! "Being crafty, I caught you
with guile." With this supposedly Pauline authority behind
them how many people have resorted to deceptive means
to gain good ends ! They have been crafty when they ought
to have been as open and honest as their Lord. They have
been full of guile when they ought to have been as guileless
as Nathanael if they could expect the approval of their
Lord. This is no confession, no personal testimony on the
part of the apostle Paul. It is a vile slander which he
quotes from the lips of his foes, and he quotes it only to
confute it. He says : "What you say is not true that, being
crafty, I caught you with guile. Did I catch you with guile?
Did I take advantage of you in any way? Did I take
advantage of you by any one of them whom I have sent
unto you? Tell me, did I? Your own consciences must
answer you that I did not. I sent Titus to you. Did Titus
catch you with guile? Did Titus take any advantage of
you? Walked we not in the same spirit? Walked we not
in the same steps?68 I am no liar.69 Neither was Titus.
We have no use for craftiness. The serpent beguiled Eve
in craftiness.70 We are not following after him. We be
lieve that craftiness is devilish, and no Christian will have
anything to do with it. We are striving to incarnate and
to recommend the simplicity which is in Christ, not the
double-dealing which is in the devil. We preach purity of
motive and purity of speech and purity of life. Guile and
98 2 Cor. 10. 12-18. ra 2 Cor. 11. 31.
87 2 Cor. 12. 16. 70 2 Cor. 11. 3.
88 2 Cor. 12. 16-18.

246 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
craftiness are the characteristics of Satan and not of our
Saviour or of any of his followers. You accuse me of
being crafty and catching people with guile; but I tell you
that we have renounced all the hidden things of shame, not
walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceit
fully, but by the manifestation of the truth commending
ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." 71
These statements surely are clear enough to make Paul's
position plain. Does anyone suppose that he would say,
"We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walk
ing in craftiness," and in the same epistle would confess,
"Being crafty, I caught you with guile" ? Paul is not cap
able of such a flat contradiction. The latter statement is
quoted from the slanderous tongues which were wagging
behind the apostle's back there at Corinth, and they ought
to be put into quotation marks, as the remainder of the
epistle plainly shows. Paul had written to the Thessalo
nians, "Our exhortation is not in guile," 72 and what was
true of his ministry in Thessalonica was equally true of it
everywhere. Paul agrees with Peter, who quotes from the
psalmist in his epistle,
He that would love life,
And see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil,
And his hps that they speak no guile, 78
and who says of the Christ that he left us an example,
that we should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither
was guile found in his mouth,74 and who exhorts all Chris
tians therefore to put away all wickedness, and all guile,
and hypocrisies.75 If anyone wants to indulge in craft and
in guile, they must go somewhere else than to Paul or to
Peter or to Christ for an indorsement of their procedure.
71 2 Cor. 4. 2. 74 1 Pet. 2. 21, 22.
72 1 Thess. 2. 3. » 1 Pet. 2. 1.
78 1 Pet. 3. 10.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 247
Paul renounced and denounced all such things. It was the
basest kind of slander which said he indulged in anything
of the kind.
(6) "What is he doing with all his money which he is
collecting? He says that it is for the poor at Jerusalem,
but who knows? He pretends to work for his living, and
he refuses to take any salary from you; but may it not be
possible that he gets his salary indirectly in this manner?
He and his accomplices may be fleecing you for their own
benefit. He may be an embezzler, and this money may
never get any farther than his own pocket. He is a Jew,
and the Jews are notorious for their love of money. Why
should we consider him an exception at this point ?" 76
This must have cut Paul to the heart. Money-raising was
the most disagreeable part of his work, and to have it made
the basis of such slanders against him must have seemed
cruel indeed. It was hard to ask these people for money
in the first place. They were poor, and it was out of their
poverty that they must contribute. They had made many
sacrifices for the cause already. It was hard to ask them
to give of their scanty means for the help of brethren they
never had seen and to whom their obligation may not have
seemed very clear. Paul must have grudged all the time he
gave to money-raising. It was so much time lost to preach
ing and to the work he enjoyed much more. Now that a
considerable sum was in hand, there were those who were
insinuating that he was appropriating it for himself. They
were suspicious in the matter; and he hastens to assure
them all that he has taken especial pains to avoid any
occasion for blame in the matter of the bounty which was
ministered by them, taking thought for things honorable,
not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of
men.77 Such precautions had been taken beforehand as to
render harmless any such accusations as these. Paul had
76 2 Cor. 12. 16-19; 8. 20-23.
77 2 Cor. 8. 20.

248 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
foreseen them and forestalled them by such arrangements
as safeguarded both the collection and his reputation.
Paul was a practical man and he was not likely to be
caught in any loose business methods. The books were open
to inspection. The guarantors were at hand. Anybody
could satisfy himself that Paul was uncompromised in this
matter. His conscience was clear. His proofs were readily
available. He must have felt all the more the essential
meanness of the insinuations against him. It was true that
he had not asked any personal help or received any personal
salary from them. The reason for that was that he did not
care to burden them.78 It was a great burden to him —
the necessity for self-support. It hindered the free exer
cise of his missionary powers. It was a continual sacri
fice which he made in their behalf. He would not benumb
them. The verb in the Greek suggests the paralyzing shock
given by a torpedo fish. He would not paralyze their
faith or their Christian enthusiasm by any appeals for
money for himself. He had done everything possible
to avoid any suspicion of covetousness on his part. He
always had taught and he had believed that covetousness
was radically unchristian. The Master became poor that
others might be enriched ; and he had followed the Master's
example and had been willing to/ be and to remain poor
for their sakes. Yet at this very point where he always had
been most careful his motives now were attacked and
impugned. Could perverse malice go any farther than
that? Yes, it went one or two steps farther.
(7) Paul's enemies said, "Evidently his mind has been
affected. There is a trace of madness in his visions and
revelations. What he calls faith is reckless folly. This
holy zeal of his is merely eccentricity. He is a good deal
of a fool. Much that he says is foolish. Much of his
conduct is foolishness." 79 In the passages cited, Paul
78 2 Cor. 11. 9; 12. 14, 16.
79 2 Cor. 5. 13; 11. 16-19; 12. 6, 11.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 249
makes ironical reference to their charges. "Am I beside
myself? It is unto God. Am I a fool? Then bear with
me; as a fool receive me. Have I become foolish? It is
because you have compelled me." There was just one
further step for Paul's enemies to take.
(8) They said : "He manifestly is forsaken of God. The
persecutions he encounters everywhere are a proof of that
fact. In his bodily afflictions he carries about with him the
manifest token of God's displeasure with him. The opposi
tion he stirs up among the people of God wherever he
goes is in itself a guarantee that God has set himself against
him." 80 What does Paul say to this ? "Our outward man
is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.81
It is true that I have a thorn in the flesh and that I have
besought the Lord thrice that I might be rid of it; but he
has given me to understand that whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth and that his grace will be sufficient for me.82
Therefore, though I may be pressed on every side, I am
not straitened; though I may be perplexed, I am not in
despair; though I may be pursued, I am not, as you say,
forsaken; I am smitten down, but not destroyed.83 These
things which you call the marks of God's displeasure I call
the marks of the Lord Jesus. My body had been branded
with them.84 My ministry has been filled with them. In
much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watch
ings, in fastings, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and
good report; as deceivers, as you slanderously call us, and
yet true ; as unknown, a nobody with no credentials as you
say of us, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we
live ; as chastened, and not killed ; as sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing,
and yet possessing all things, we commend ourself as a
80 2 Cor. 4. 7-17; 12. 7-10. * 2 Cor. 4. 8, 9.
sl 2 Cor. 4. 16. M Gal. 6. 17.
82 2 Cor. 12. 7, 9.

250 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
true minister of God and a true disciple of Jesus instead
of one forsaken by him and under the ban of his dis
pleasure.85 If any man trusteth in himself that he is
Christ's, let him consider this again with himself, that, even
as he is Christ's, so also are we.86 We have every reason
to be sure that we are approved by him. We find that
assurance all-sufficient for our need."
Here, then, are the slanders which have led to the writ
ing of this epistle. His enemies said of Paul that, as to
person, he was weak and contemptible; as to his speech,
it was rude and of no account; as to his authority, it was
very questionable, as he has no credentials from Jesus or
the apostles, and he must be an upstart and no true apostle ;
as to his teaching, it is obscure, corrupt, selfish, and untrue ;
as to his personal character, he is unreliable, cowardly,
carnal, boastful, crafty, possibly an embezzler, often beside
himself, and surely forsaken of God. People who did not
know Paul, and who heard these things said about him,
must have come to the conclusion that he was a vile im
postor, branded in body, of insane mind, of impure motives,
and of an utterly perverted and selfish heart. People who
knew Paul, and who heard these things said about him, must
have come to the conclusion that fiendish malice could have
gone no farther in misrepresentation of him.
We close this study of the slanders against Paul with
some practical conclusions :
i. The key to the interpretation of the Second Epistle to
the Corinthians is to be found in the proper use of quota
tion marks. There were no quotation marks in the original
manuscript; and there did not need to be, for everybody
concerned would recognize the phrases and sayings of
Paul's enemies whenever they occurred in the epistle. There
are no quotation marks in any of our oldest manuscripts
and there are none in our English versions; and this be-
86 2 Cor. 6. 4-10.
88 z Cor. 10. 7

SECOND CORINTHIANS 251
comes a more serious matter, for after the centuries the
words and phrases and sentences quoted from his slan
derers by Paul are not so clearly definable by us as they
were by the Corinthians, and the result has been that in
many instances these slanders have come to be accepted
as truths uttered by Paul concerning himself!
One glaring illustration of the absurdity and the iniquity
of such a conclusion is to be seen in 12. 16, where Paul is
commonly supposed to have said, "Being crafty, I caught
you with guile" ! We have seen how utterly opposed such
a conclusion is to the whole tenor of Paul's teaching and to
the whole testimony of his life. The words ought to be
put into quotation marks and thus to be designated as a
slander of his enemies to which Paul proceeds to make a
definite denial, and then the passage becomes easy of inter
pretation. The same thing is true in every chapter of the
epistle. We need to remember that Paul is writing in self-
defense, and that he is quoting continually what has been
said about him and making direct and indirect answer to the
charges of his foes. The judicious insertion of quotation
marks throughout this epistle would do more to make its
meaning clear than any other help we could devise. The
marking of quoted words, phrases, and sentences would
illuminate the text and make the epistle seem like another
and a new epistle.
2. The most consistent life and the purest motives may
be misconstrued and maligned. Did Paul work night and
day to relieve these Corinthians from the necessity of his
support ? There were those who said that he did it because
he felt that he was no true apostle and therefore did not
dare to burden them with his maintenance. Did Paul walk
in all humility of apostolic service ? There were those who
said that he was abasing himself. Did he narrate his suffer
ings and his persecutions for the cause of Christ in such
a way as should have touched a heart of stone? There were
those who said that he was boasting and forever com-

252 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
mending himself. Was he lenient in his treatment of
wrongdoers? They said that he was cowardly. Was he
justly severe upon wrongdoing? They said that he was
arrogant and overbearing and tyrannical. Did he change
his plans? They said that he was unreliable and insincere
and a deceiver. Did he sacrifice himself to the taking up
of a collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem? There
were those who hinted that that collection never would
reach its destination. Did he lay aside his natural reserve
and admit them to the Holy of holies of his personal expe
rience and tell them of visions and revelations from the
Lord? There were those who suggested at once that he
was not quite sane. Did he undergo such perils as were
not equaled even in that heroic age of the church? There
were some who said that all his afflictions proved that he
was reprobated of God. Did he tell these slanderers what
he thought about them and give them the tongue-lashing
which they richly deserved? Then they said that he was
too passionate to be an apostle of the patient Christ. It
would have made no difference what Paul did, they would
have found fault with it. He could have done nothing
which they would not have maligned and twisted into its
opposite character. The only thing for a servant of Christ
to do when he is beset by such people is to trust in God
and go ahead and hope and pray for his own vindication.
3. Sometimes it may be best simply to ignore personal
slanders, in the spirit of that inscription over the gateway
to Marischal College at Aberdeen: "They say! What do
they say ? Well, let them say !" Sometimes, however, other
than personal interests are involved, and it may be an injury
to the cause we represent if we keep silent concerning
malicious lies about us. Then it is our duty to make the
answer of a good conscience toward God, even as Paul does
here. Paul stands upon his defense. There is no egotism
in this epistle. It is a manly utterance throughout. All the
glorying here is glorying in the Lord. Paul sets down these

SECOND CORINTHIANS 253
sayings of his slanderers and then puts over against them
the facts of his teaching and life. There he leaves the
case, in the spirit of that old Roman who said, "My accuser
says that I have taken bribes from the enemy. I, M.
.Emilius Scaurus, deny it. Utri creditis, Quiritesf — Which
of the two do you believe, gentlemen?" It was a saying
of the Jewish rabbis, "There are three crowns; the crown
of the Law, the crown of the priesthood, and the crown of
royalty ; but the crown of a good name mounts above them
all" 87 It is the crown of his good name which Paul here
snatches from those who would fling it into the dust. There
is much which is personal in this reply to his critics; and
that makes the epistle doubly valuable to us. We get an
insight into the heart of the apostle which no other of his
writings can give us.
IV. The Main Divisions of the Epistle
There are three of these. Chapters 8 and 9 have a dis
tinct theme, and they separate the preceding chapters from
those which follow them. Godet suggests that the three
divisions of the epistle thus made refer in order to the past,
the present, and the future. Zahn agrees, "The three sec
tions of the letter treat respectively the immediate past
with its misunderstandings and explanations, the present
with its practical problems, and the near future with its
anxieties." 88
1. Chapters r-7. Personal Vindication of His Min
istry. Paul would gain the sympathy and the affection of
his Corinthian converts. He reminds them how much he
has suffered in their behalf, and how anxious he always is
for their welfare. There is an undercurrent of indignation
in all he says. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 show how the ministry
of the New Testament excels that of the old covenant in
glory, and in his description of the New Testament min-
87 Pirke, Avoth., iv, 19.
88 Introduction to the New Testament, vol. i, p. 312.

254 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
istry Paul sets forth his own feelings and convictions, his
trials and his consolations as a minister of the gospel of
Christ. There are many fine passages in these chapters;
as, for example: i. 3, the God of all comfort; 2. 14, con
tinual triumph in Christ; 3. 17, liberty in the Spirit; 3. 18,
transformation into the image of Christ; 4. 17, light afflic
tion and eternal glory; 5. 14, the constraining love of
Christ; 5. 17, a new creature in Christ; 6. 14, no communion
between light and darkness; 6. 17, separation from the
unclean thing; 7. 1, perfecting holiness; 7. 10, godly sorrow
and worldly sorrow.
2. Chapters 8 and 9. Concerning the Collection.
There were several reasons why Paul was interested espe
cially in taking up this collection and in doing his utmost
to make it a generous and worthy one : ( 1 ) The great need
of the church in Jerusalem at this time. There was famine
and distress among the brethren there, and everything
seemed to indicate that matters would grow worse rather
than better with them. Then there were other more per
sonal reasons which influenced Paul in the matter. (2)
There was his personal promise and pledge, made to James
and Cephas and John when those pillars of the church gave
the right-hands of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas and told
them to go among the Gentiles but to remember their
Jewish poor.89 This Paul and Barnabas promised to do,
and Paul was zealous to carry out his promise at this point.
(3) There was his hope that a generous contribution
from the Gentile converts to their Jewish forbears in the
faith would tend to reconcile the latter to the admission of
the former to equal rights in the kingdom of God and the
Church of the Christ. Surely, it would help to break down
prejudice and to knit their hearts together in love. (4)
There was his memory of his career as a persecutor of the
Christians in Jerusalem. He had harried them out of their
89 Gal. 2. 9, 10.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 255
homes and had caused them untold distress and immeasur
able injury. It was his duty now that he had become con
verted and was a Christian himself to do all he could to
repair this great injury and to repay these brethren for the
distress he had caused them in the days of his blindness and
his persecuting zeal.
It must have taken all of these motives combined to make
Paul undertake the collection of these funds. His sensitive
nature must have shrunk from such a task; but when he
had made up his mind he devoted himself to it with all of
his characteristic energy. He inaugurated the work him
self, and now he sends Titus and the other brother to see
that it is successfully carried through, (a) He urges the
example of the poor but generous Macedonians (8. 1-5).
Since they have done so well, surely the Corinthians would
be anxious to do better, (b) He appeals to their pride
(8. 7). Since they abound in everything, in faith, and
utterance, and knowledge, they ought to abound in this
grace also, (c) He appeals to their love for him (8. 7).
Let them prove their loyalty by cheerful giving at his com
mand, (d) He urges the example of the Master, who was
rich but gave up everything and became poor that through
his poverty they might become rich (8. 9). (e) He tells
them that he has given them a good reputation wherever he
has gone and now it is incumbent upon them to live up
to it (9. 2-6) (/) He promises them abundant and ade
quate reward for all their giving (9. 6-1 1 ) . It is here that
we read, "God loveth a hilarious giver (IXapd . dorrjv) ." Too
many givers are lugubrious instead of hilarious. Chris
tian giving ought to be, not grudgingly nor of necessity, but
with all cheerfulness and alacrity. It is here, too, that we
find that glorious statement of the all-sufficiency of God's
grace unto the all-completeness of God's work. "God is
able to make all grace abound unto you; that ye, having
always all sufficiency in everything, may abound unto every
good work : being enriched in everything unto all liberality,

256 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
which worketh through us thanksgiving to God" (9. 8, 11).
(g) Finally Paul suggests to them that their liberality will
bring glory to God in the closer union of the Jewish and
Gentile hearts in Christian love (9. 12-14). (h) Then
he closes with the exclamation, "Thanks be unto God for
his unspeakable gift!" (9. 15.) Surely, if they kept that
in view, they would be willing to give anything and every
thing to Him.
Upon the basis of these eight considerations Paul hopes
for a liberal contribution. These two chapters are unique
in the New Testament. We find in them the fullest dis
cussion of the reasons for and the rewards of Christian
giving which the Scriptures have furnished us. They are
worthy our careful study. They are full of suggestion as
to the motives which should actuate Christians in their
benevolences and as to the legitimate appeals which may
be presented to them. We notice the rich variety of terms
which Paul here uses: "grace, liberality, bounty, right
eousness, ministration, contribution, gift." They all stand
for the same thing. They all mean the collection. If any
one finds it an irksome task to raise money for any good
and necessary cause, let him study the example of the
great apostle here. Paul gave much of his time to the col
lection of money.
3. Chapters 10-13. "The Great Invective." 90 Robert
son thus denominates this section. It is almost wholly a
personal defense. There have been mutterings of a storm
in all the epistle, but now the thunder begins to crash and
the lightning to play, and the tempest bursts upon us in
all its fury. Paul vindicates his apostleship by an appeal
to (1) the sufferings he had undergone for the cause, (2)
the visions and revelations he had had in the Lord, and (3)
the signs and wonders and mighty works in the churches he
had founded. The epistle closes with the apostolic bene-

90 Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible, I, p. 496.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 257
diction, the fullest form of blessing to be found in the New
Testament, and the one generally adopted in the church to
close its services. It is as though Paul would make up for
the severity of certain portions of his letter by the amplitude
of the closing benediction. He commends them to the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to the love of God, which
has made this grace a possibility, and to the communion
of the Holy Spirit, through which alone this love and grace
may be appropriated and enjoyed (13. 14). George Her
bert has said : "What an admirable epistle is the Second to
the Corinthians! How full of affections! He joys and
he is sorry, he grieves and he glories ; never was there such
care of a flock expressed, save in the great Shepherd of the
fold, who first shed tears over Jerusalem, and afterward
blood." V. General Characteristics of the Epistle
1. In some particulars this is the most puzzling of the
Pauline epistles. The constructions frequently are very
difficult, and the sense is correspondingly obscure. The
letter was written in haste, and at high tension of feeling.
Words are omitted and so much is taken for granted
which must have been familiar enough to Paul and to his
first readers, but which we do not so readily understand.
No epistle needs so much of a thorough knowledge of the
background of previous personal experience to explain its
allusions and its phrases. For the most part we are left
to guess at these. Where it seems most simple the greatest
obscurity may lurk. It is a jungle, and there are no clear
paths through it. Deissmann says of it, "It is the most
letterlike of all the letters of Paul, though that to Philemon
may appear on the surface to have a better claim to that
position. The great difficulty in the understanding of it is
due to the very fact that it is so truly a letter, so full of
allusions and familiar references, so pervaded with irony
and with a depression which struggles against itself —

258 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
matters of which only the writer and the readers of it
understood the purport, but which we, for the most part,
can ascertain only approximately." 91
2. It is the most intensely personal of the Pauline epistles.
The individuality of the apostle is more apparent than in
any other of his writings. Here only he tells us about
those two important experiences in his own life, the spirit
ual ecstasy in which he was rapt into the third heaven, and
the spiritual and mental and physical agony in which he
learned humility and dependence upon Christ, an experience
of paradise and an experience of purgatory. We study
this letter and we can see the apostle's eye flash with indig
nation and then fill with tears. We can see his face flush
with righteous anger and then pale with longing and anxiety.
We can see his countenance cloud with vehement and pas
sionate denial of his slanderers and then light up again with
love and hope. We can see his head lift itself with all
dignity and independence and then bow again in deepest
humility. He can boast and he can be abased. He can be
tactful and tender. He can be uncompromising with any
antagonist of the truth. He is full of fervor and full o.
faith. He is ready for any personal sacrifice, only the cause
he represents must not be sacrificed. He is one with his
mission. Any attack upon him may injure its success. He
defends himself that his mission may be secure.
The epistle, therefore, while it brings before us the most
vivid picture we have of the character of the apostle, gives
us deep insight into his conception of the fundamental prin
ciples, the motives and aspirations, the consolations and the
consummation of the gospel he had to preach. Findlay has
written: "To see Paul at his greatest as a thinker and a
theologian, we turn to the Epistle to the Romans ; to know
him as a saint, we read the Philippian epistle. But if we
would measure him as a man amongst men, and as a min-

91 Bible Studies, p. 47.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 259
ister of Christ; if we would sound the depths of his heart
and realize the force and fire of his nature, the ascendency
of his genius, and the charm of his manner and disposition,
we must thoroughly understand the second letter to the
Corinthians." 92
3. This is the most emotional of the Pauline epistles.
Various emotions are striving for the mastery throughout.
Now indignation seems uppermost and now sorrow and
now holy exultation. Sometimes the apostle's humility is
to the front and sometimes his wounded dignity. Now he
is dominated by an energy of assault and now he is shrink
ing from the cruel darts of his foes. J. Llewelyn Davies has
said of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians : "The letter
exhibits a tumult of contending emotions. Wounded affec
tion, joy, self-respect, hatred of self-assertion, conscious
ness of the authority and the importance of his ministry,
scorn of his opponents, toss themselves like waves, some
times against each other, on the troubled sea of his mind.
. . . Strong language, not seldom stronger than the occa
sion seems to warrant, figurative expressions, abrupt turns,
phrases seized and flung at his assailants, words made up,
iterated, played upon, mark this epistle far more than any
other of the apostle's letters. . . . Even the calmer parts
of the letter are influenced as to their style by the emotion
which breaks out in the more vehement." 93
The hidden depths of the soul of Paul are revealed in
this alternating progress of his thought. Godet compares
it to a Grand Canon and says, "As a geologist who wishes
to study the deepest strata of the globe's crust will not go
to a flat country but will betake himself to a region abound
ing in deep ravines where the torrents incessantly excavate
and reexcavate the soil of the valley, so he who would
know in all its depths the soul of Paul will have to open
the Second Epistle to the Corinthians." There is one thing
1,2 Op. cit., p. no.
93 Expositor, IV, iv, pp. 299, 300.

260 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
to be noticed in all this epistle and that is that the apostle
never loses his self-control. He is swept along by a storm
of emotion, but he always is master of the storm. In his
Epistle to the Ephesians we read his exhortation, "Be ye
angry, and sin not," 94 and we could have no better example
of the fulfillment of that command than we find in this
epistle. Weizsacker has estimated the.apostle rightly at this point,
when he says : "Joy and heaviness, anxiety and hope, trust
and resentment, anger and love follow one another, the one
as intense as the other. Yet there is no touch of change-
ableness, nor any contradiction. The circumstances dictate
and justify it all, and he is master of it all, the same
throughout, and always his whole self. An extraordinary
susceptibility of feeling and impression, such as only an
extraordinary character can hold in control," 95 is set forth
here. That is the wonder of it all, that a man of such
delicate sensibility can be so firm and so self-controlled.
The life and language of this man are controlled by Christ.
It is unto Christ that he presents his labor and his sorrow
and his love. He was always ready to say,
"Yet it was well, and Thou hast said in season,
'As is the master shall the servant be':
Let me not subtly slide into the treason,
Seeking an honor which they gave not Thee;
"Never at even, pillowed on a pleasure,
Sleep with the wings of aspiration furled,
Hide the last mite of the forbidden treasure,
Keep for my joy a world within the world;
"Nay, but much rather let me, late returning,
Bruised of my brethren, wounded from within,
Stoop with sad countenance and blushes burning,
Bitter with weariness and sick with sin —

94 Eph. 4. 26.
96 Apost. Ztlter, p. 328.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 261
"Then as I weary me and long and languish,
Nowise availing from that pain to part —
Desperate tides of the whole great world's anguish
Forced through the channels of a single heart —
"Straight to thy presence get me and reveal it,
Nothing ashamed of tears upon thy feet,
Show the sore wound and beg thine hand to heal it,
Pour thee the bitter, pray thee for the sweet."96
VI. The Style of the Epistle
We have in this epistle the Pauline style with all of its
characteristics intensified. The sentences frequently are
broken and involved and obscure. There is a greater
variety of style, and it has a larger number of peculiar feat
ures. Godet says, "The language is all full of emotion, of
outpourings of grief, anguish, and love, outbursts of indig
nation, quivering sarcasms, dashes like torrents of lava.
Such is the style of Second Corinthians." Marvin R.
Vincent says of the epistle, "Ecstatic thanksgiving and cut
ting irony, self-assertion and self-abnegation, commenda
tion, warning, and authority, paradox and apology all meet
and cross and seethe, and yet out of the swirling eddies
rise like rocks grand Christian principles and inspiring
hopes." Erasmus compared the flow of the thought in
this epistle to "a river which sometimes flows in a gentle
stream, sometimes rushes down as a torrent bearing all
before it, sometimes spreads out like a placid lake, some
times loses itself, as it were, in the sand, and breaks out in
its fullness at some unexpected place."
VII. Some Noteworthy Features of the Epistle
1. In 11. 23-33 we have what has been called "the most
marvelous fragment ever written in any biography." We

•• Myers, Saint Paul, pp. 3, 4.

262 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
learn from it that in the book of Acts we have only a tithe
of the sufferings and the experiences of the apostle Paul.
Of many of the things mentioned here we have no record
anywhere else.
2. The metaphors are noteworthy: (i) Treasure in
earthen vessels (4. 7), with a possible reference to Gideon's
lamps. (2) Tabernacling here, but housed eternally
(5- *)• (3) Affliction is a light weight and glory will be
an eternal one (4. 17). (4) In 2. 17 Paul says that he does
not peddle the word of God, does not make merchandise
of it. (5) In 11. 8 he says he did not paralyze the Corin
thians with any demands of money from them for his own
use. Others of Paul's metaphors here are pretty badly
mixed, as is natural in an epistle written in haste and great
emotion. (6) In 5. 2 Paul speaks of our longing to be
clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, in order
that we may not be found naked. It is an unusual figure
of speech at least. People do not commonly speak of their
houses as clothing or of their clothing as a house. (7) In
3. 2 the Corinthians are Paul's epistle, written in his heart,
and in 3. 3 they are Christ's epistle written in their own
hearts. (8) In 2. 14 the knowledge of Christ is a Sweet
savor, and in 2. 15 the apostles and preachers of the Christ
are a sweet savor.
3. Certain words are frequently repeated and become key
notes of certain sections or of the entire epistle: (1)
"Affliction" is the dominant word in the first section of the
epistle (1. 4, 6, 8; 2. 4; 4. 8, 17; 6. 4; 7. 4; 8. 13). (2)
"Comfort" and "comforting" are found twenty-eight times
in the epistle (1. 3, 4; 7. 4-7, etc.) Chronologically, this is
the first appearance of this word in the New Testament. It
has the double meaning of "counsel" and "consolation."
The Paraclete is our Comforter, and he is also our Advo
cate, called to our side to counsel and aid. "Tribulation"
and "consolation" are introduced together at the very begin
ning of the epistle. The apostle is sad at heart as he

SECOND CORINTHIANS 263
begins his dictation, but nevertheless he begins with rejoic
ing. Even as he pictures his distress and his tribulation
he gives reason after reason for his abiding joy: (a) God
comforts him (1. 4). (_•) He has a good conscience (1.
12). (c) There are open doors for the gospel (2. 12).
(d) He has continuous spiritual triumph (2. 14). (3)
"Boast" and "boasting" become prominent words in the
closing chapters. They occur twenty-nine times in the
epistle, and only twenty-six times in all the rest of Paul's
writings. Three times Paul makes the formal announce
ment, "Now I am going to boast." (4) Paul rings the
changes upon the word "weakness" in this epistle (11. 30;
12. 5-9; 13. 4, etc.).
VIII. Occasion and Place of Writing
First Corinthians was written in the spring of the year
A. D. 57, at Ephesus. Later the riot took place there
which is described in Acts 19. Immediately after this
Paul left Ephesus and went to Troas, and a door was
opened unto the gospel of Christ in that place,97 but Paul
was restless there and pushing on into Macedonia he
waited in some city in that province for the coming of Titus
with the latest news from the situation in Corinth. When
he met Titus he learned from him ( 1 ) that the effect of a
former letter to the Corinthians was satisfactory, and that
some of the church members were filled with grief and
remorse for" their conduct, and that the most grievous
offender was either repentant or reprobate; and (2) that
there was a portion of the church which was developing
a radical opposition to~ Paul's person and teaching. The
apostle at once wrote this second epistle, "an outpouring
of personal feeling from beginning to end, full of mingled
tenderness and indignation." The epistle was written from
Philippi or Thessalonica or some other city in Macedonia
in A. D. 57, late in the year.
97 2 Cor. 2. 12,

264 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
IX. Evidence for the Epistle
The external evidence in the postapostolic age is very
slight. This epistle contrasts with First Corinthians again
at this point. Irenaeus is the first to mention the epistle by
name. However, it has been accepted almost universally
as Pauline. The peculiarly personal character of so much
of its contents would not lend itself to frequent quo
tation, and the internal evidence for the Pauline authorship
is exceptionally strong. Robertson says, "In its individual
ity of style, intensity of feeling, inimitable expression of
the writer's idiosyncrasy, it may be said to stand at the head
of all the Pauline epistles, Galatians not excepted." 9S The
Muratorian Canon, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian
bear unexceptionable witness to the authenticity of the
epistle. Its genuineness never has been seriously ques
tioned. We cannot say as much about its integrity.
X. Integrity of the Epistle
Semler first suggested that in Second Corinthians we had
portions of two or more epistles, which in some fashion
unknown to us had been joined together by some copyist
and so had come down to our times as a single epistle. Not
much attention was paid to this opinion until Hausrath, of
Heidelberg, in 1870 published a pamphlet on The Four
Chapter Epistle of Paul, in which he argued that 2 Cor.
10-13 was a portion of a distinct epistle which was of ear
lier date than 2 Cor. 1-9. With some differences of opin
ion as to details the following authorities are disposed
to agree that we have two epistles in our Second Cor
inthians ; Paulus, Weisse, Lipsius, von Soden, Schmiedel,
Volter, Pfleiderer, Bruckner, Clemen, Konig, Krenkel,
Cramer, Cone, McGiffert, Mackintosh, Rendall, Bacon,
Plummer, Scott, Peake, Adeney, Kennedy, and Moffatt.
On the other hand, Holtzmann, Hilgenfeld, Beyschlag,

98 Hastings's Bible Dictionary, I, p. 491.

SECOND CORINTHIANS 265
Klopper, Weizsacker, Sabatier, Godet, Weiss, Zahn, Robert
son, White, Sanday, and Shaw decide in favor of the integ
rity of the epistle. It is generally conceded that the oppon
ents of the integrity can make a very good case, and that
there is a possibility that they may be correct in their views.
Some of the reasons they give for their conclusion are as
follows: 1. In 2 Cor. 2. 4 we read, "Out of much affliction
and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears."
To what epistle does Paul refer when he says, "I wrote to
you in much anguish and tears"? Can it be First Corinth
ians, which is such an orderly and comparatively calm dis
cussion of a succession of themes? Would it not apply
much better to the writing of the four chapters which
we call 2 Cor. 10-13 ? Surely, in all the writings of Paul we
have no other passage where the affliction and the anguish
are so apparent in the composition and we are so sure of
the flowing tears.
2. In 2 Cor. 7. 8, 9, we read, "Though I made you sorry
with my epistle, I do not regret it: though I did regret it
(for I see that that epistle made you sorry, though but for
a season), I now rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but
that ye were made sorry unto repentance." These words
may be applied to First Corinthians, but they still more
naturally apply to the greater severity of 2 Cor. 10-13.
3. In these four closing chapters Paul uses the verb,
"to boast" seventeen times. The two words, "boast" and
"boasting," become characteristic. Now, in 2 Cor. 3. 1
we read, "Are we beginning again to commend ourselves ?"
and in 2 Cor. 5. 12, "We are not again commending ourselves
unto you." If we look for the occasion when Paul had
commended himself formerly, we may be puzzled to find
it, unless we decide to put 2. Cor. 10-13 at an earlier date,
and then these passages become perfectly clear.
4. In 2 Cor. 2. 1 we read, "I determined this for myself,
that I would not come again to you with sorrow," and in
I. 23, "To spare you I forbare to come unto Corinth."

266 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
We scarcely are able to believe that Paul ever was sorry that
he had written First Corinthians, or that he would hesitate
to visit Corinth after having written it; but we easily can
believe that he had some misgivings about the writing and
the reception of 2 Cor. 10-13, and he says explicitly in these
chapters, "If I come again, I will not spare" (13. 2). If
he had gone to Corinth after the writing of these chapters,
he would have gone in sorrow, and after having made such
a threat the only way he could spare them was by staying
away. 5. In 2 Cor. 8 we find that Titus has just been sent to
Corinth on his mission, and Paul commends him to their
loving reception in 8. 24. In 12. 18 reference is made to a
past mission of Titus, in which he had taken advantage of
no one of them.
6. In 2 Cor. 10. 6 Paul says that he is in readiness to
avenge all disobedience, when their obedience is made full.
Evidently, when Paul wrote these words he was not certain
that all in the Corinthian church were obedient. In 2 Cor.
2. 9 we read, "For to this end also did I write, that I might
know the proof of you, whether ye are obedient in all
things," and in 7. 15 Paul recalls the return of Titus and
his report, and he says, "He remembereth the obedience of
you all, how with fear and trembling you received him."
In 10. 6 Paul was in readiness to avenge their disobedience ;
and in 7. 15 he is commending the obedience of them all.
How can we reconcile these statements? There is no diffi
culty if we separate these chapters, and make the four clos
ing chapters of earlier date. If we recognize in these
chapters a separate epistle, in all probability it would be
written from Ephesus at some time before the Ephesian
riot and Paul's departure from that city.
7. Hausrath and Kennedy point out that if 2 Cor. 10. 16
was written in Macedonia we scarcely can interpret Paul's
statement literally, when he expresses the hope that he may
preach the gospel even unto the parts beyond them, since

SECOND CORINTHIANS 267
in a line from Macedonia the parts beyond Corinth would be
in the continent of Africa, and we have no reason to think
that Paul ever planned any mission work in those regions ;
while, on the other hand, if he were in Ephesus when these
words were written, the parts beyond Corinth in a line from
Ephesus would be Rome and Spain, which we know from
Rom. 15. 23, 24 Paul did intend to visit.
These considerations may fall short of being conclusive,
but they surely are sufficient to make a plausible case.
Those who are ready to divide our Second Corinthians at
the close of the ninth chapter must conclude that Paul wrote
at least four epistles to the Corinthians ; a first epistle, which
has been lost, and which is mentioned in our 1 Cor. 5. 9, "I
wrote unto you in my epistle to have no company with
fornicators ;" and then a second epistle, which we call First
Corinthians; and then a third epistle, the beginning of
which has been lost and which we now locate in 2 Cor.
10-13; and fourth and last, the epistle which is contained in
our 2 Cor. 1-9.
XI. Effect of the Epistle or Epistles
The final outcome seems to have been a happy one for
the apostle Paul. His enemies were either discountenanced
or silenced. The church as a whole continued to have him
in high honor. He visited Corinth again later, and spent
the winter there; and while there he wrote the Epistle to
the Romans, which is comparatively free from all agitation
and is a calm exposition of the fundamentals of Paul's
theology. We learn from the book of Acts that the collec
tion was made successfully.99
XII. Later History of the Church
In A. D. 95 Clement of Rome wrote an epistle to the
Corinthians, from which we gather that the church then
38 Acts 20. 4.

268 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
was split into factions and otherwise was suffering from
many of the ills against which Paul had fulminated in his
epistles. Hegesippus visited the church in Corinth in A. D.
135. Bishop Soter, of Rome, in the second century wrote
another epistle to the Corinthians in which he mentions the
fact that Paul's letters were read with devotion in the
church of that time. In the middle of the third century
the city of Corinth was ravaged by the Goths, and the
church came to an end at this date.
What a strange composite this church at Corinth always
must have been! There were slaves in 'its membership,
and there were people who were of aristocratic circles, syn
agogue and city officials. There were some who were rich
and there were more who were poor. There were Gentiles
and Jews, and the distinction between the two was just as
noticeable and radical then as it is now. There were some
who were devoted adherents of the apostle Paul and there
were others who were his bitter enemies. There were
saintly women and there were shrewish women, modest
women and women clamorous for their rights. There were
some who were factious and a few who were licentious.
Take it all in all, it was a strange composite. It is one of
the marvels of history that one little man could dominate
this strange assembly and make it into a Christian church
and give to it his own Christian theology. The church at
Corinth, with all its faults and all its glories, will live for
ever as pictured in these two Pauline epistles.

CHAPTER VII
THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS

CHAPTER VII
THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
I. Where Was Galatia ?
Galatia proper lay north of Phrygia and Cappadocia.
It was about two hundred miles long from east to west
and about a hundred miles in breadth from north to south.
It was occupied in the first Christian century by three Gallic
tribes, the Trocmi, the Tolistoboii, and the Tectosages.
Their capital cities were Tavium at the northeast, Pes-
sinus at the southwest, and Ancyra about midway between
the two. The Roman province of Galatia included Galatia
proper, a part of Phrygia, Pisidia, ' and Lycaonia ; and
these latter included the cities of Derbe, Lystra, Ico
nium, and Antioch. The official Galatia, therefore, was
much larger than Galatia proper. In the book of Acts
the larger Roman province is never called Galatia. That
name is reserved for Galatia proper. The writer of the
book of Acts uses the name in the older and the popular
sense rather than in the newer and Roman one. Does Paul
do the same thing? When he writes to the Galatians and
to the churches of Galatia, does he write to the people and
to the churches of Galatia proper or to the people and the
churches of the larger Roman province of Galatia ?
There is nothing in the epistle itself which will decide
the question definitely. Therefore there is room for a
difference of opinion, and the authorities have radically
divided upon this issue. It was believed very generally,
up to the middle of the last century, that the Epistle to
the Galatians was written to the churches of Galatia proper.
Within the last century, however, a number of authorities
271

272 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
have been convinced that the epistle was written to the
churches of Lycaonia and Pisidia. Probably they are still
in the minority, but their thesis is growing in favor, and it
has some most energetic and able representatives. Among
those who believe that the Epistle to the Galatians was
written to the churches at Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and
Antioch, all of them founded on the first missionary journey
of Paul and Barnabas, we may name Perrot, Weizsacker,
Hausrath, Weber, Thiersch, Paulus, Bottger, Mynster, Nie-
meyer, Schenkel, Steck, Zahn, Pfleiderer, O. Holtzmann,
von Soden, Renan, Sabatier, Ramsay, Rendall, Sanday,
Peake, Askwith, Gifford, McGiffert, Rackham, Bacon,
Bartlet, Forbes, Adeney, and Shaw.
The reasons urged for this conclusion are as follows :
i. We have a full account of the founding of these
churches in the book of Acts. On the North-Galatian
theory we have no information concerning the founding of
the Galatian churches except such fragmentary hints as
may be gathered from the epistle itself. Would it be at
all probable that the writer of Acts would have omitted all
reference to the founding of churches as important as these
churches seem to be? The epistle has to do with the most
important controversy in the early church, that of the rela
tion of the converted Gentiles to the ritual observances of
the Jews. That question had to be settled once for all ; and
this epistle seems to have settled it. Would it not be most
natural that this question should arise and clamor for settle
ment in the first churches founded by Paul in Gentile terri
tory on the first missionary journey? Is this not more
probable than that such an important issue should be fought
out in territory of which we know nothing from our New
Testament records and among churches all trace of which
seems to have been lost, not only before but even after the
writing of this epistle ? It is a choice between believing that
the epistle was written to churches which we know about
and in which we know that the apostle Paul was deeply

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 273
interested or believing that it was written to churches
whose very existence is conjectural.
2. The author of the book of Acts uses popular terms
rather than official ones. Paul, however, always uses the
official Roman terms when he speaks of the Roman prov
inces. He mentions Asia, Macedonia, and Achaia in his
writings, and always prefers the proper Roman official
term to the popular designations to be found in Acts. Now
for seventy-five years the Roman Galatia had included the
cities of Lycaonia and Pisidia; and Paul simply would be
following his invariable custom when he called the churches
of these cities Galatian. He would not be likely to make an
exception to his usual custom in any case, and he surely
would not be likely to rank the obscure territory of Galatia
proper with the great Roman provinces of Asia, Macedonia,
and Achaia.
3. Galatia proper is a very wild country. Its inhabitants
were rude and uncultured. They were boorish country
people. Their territory was off all the great highways of
commerce and was filled with almost impassable moun
tain ranges. Now Paul worked always in the Greek-speak
ing cities. He did not like the country at any time, and it
is extremely improbable that he would undertake a journey
into this monotonous and unpromising region with its rustic
inhabitants using their Celtic dialects. Paul traveled by
the great Roman roads and preferred to spend his time in
the great centers of population.
4. The epistle refers to Barnabas again and again,1 as if
he were well known to the readers of it. Now, Barnabas
accompanied Paul on his first missionary journey through
Antioch, Lystra, Iconium, and Derbe and was well known
to the people in the churches there. Silas was the compan
ion of Paul in the second missionary journey in which the
Galatian churches were founded if they were founded in

» Gal. 2. 1, 9, 13.

274 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
North Galatia ; and he is not mentioned in the epistle at all.
This would seem to indicate that the epistle was written to
the churches of South Galatia.
5. The epistle indicates that its recipients were in com
munication with Antioch and Jerusalem. The Judaizers
would be more likely to reach the cities of South Galatia
than the remoter regions of North Galatia.
6. Paul gives as the occasion of the founding of these
churches some illness of his own. Ramsay thinks that it
was a malarial fever which drove Paul from the unhealthy
seacoast into the mountainous interior. This would seem
more probable than that any illness could have sent him
from populous centers into the barren plains and remoter
districts of North Galatia. If Paul simply was detained
there by his sickness as he was passing through, where
could he have been going beyond these wilds?
7. In Acts 18. 23 we read that Paul at the beginning of the
third missionary journey went through the region of Galatia
and Phrygia, in order, establishing all the disciples. If
Galatia here means North Galatia alone, then all the dis
ciples were not visited, and some important fields which
Paul had evangelized were passed by.
8. In Acts 20. 4 we find the list of the deputies accom
panying Paul when he sets out for Jerusalem with the col
lection taken up in all the Gentile churches for the poor
saints among the Jews. We know how much Paul was
interested in this collection and how he was anxious that
all the Gentiles should be represented in it. Looking
through the list, we find nobody from the churches of
North Galatia, granting that there were any such; but
Timothy is mentioned and Gaius of Derbe, both of whom
come from the churches of South Galatia. These two men
represented the Roman province of Galatia; and there is
no representative from among the Celts.
9. On the supposition that the Galatian churches were in
Galatia proper Paul never makes any reference to them in

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 275
any of his further writing. They not only are not men
tioned in the book of Acts, but they fall completely out of
notice in all the later Pauline and New Testament epistles.
If Paul's favorite disciple, Timothy, was a Galatian, this is
not true.
10. The charge of inconsistency on the part of Paul in
the matter of circumcision most probably was founded upon
his conduct in the case of Timothy.
11. In Gal. 4. 14 we read, "Ye received me as an angel
of God." We turn to Acts 14. 11 and we find the Lycaon-
ians saying, "The gods are come down to us in the like
ness of men." May not the one passage be a reference to
the other? There is a possibility that these considerations
are sufficient to settle the question in many minds.
However, the older and traditional view still is held by
the majority of scholars, among whom we find Mommsen,
Wieseler, Weiss, Wendt, Zockler, Dobschutz, Lipsius,
Riickert, Schiirer, Schmiedel, Steinmann, Sieffert, Lietz-
mann, H. J. Holtzmann, Hofmann, Hilgenfeld, Holsten,
Haupt, Blass, Jiilicher, Bousset, Godet, Howson, Jowett,
Lightfoot, Davidson, Chase, Farrar, Findlay, Salmon, Mof-
fatt, and Gilbert. These men say:
1. It is nothing against the fact that the Galatian churches
were founded in Galatia proper that the book of Acts says
nothing about it. We know that the book of Acts says
nothing about many other experiences of Paul. It says
nothing about Paul's journey into Arabia before he began
his missionary preaching, but Paul vouches for it in this
very epistle.2 It says nothing about the mission work in
Syria and Cilicia of which also Paul tells us in this epistle.3
It says nothing of the work in Dalmatia and Illyria.4 It is
absolutely silent about all the troubles in the Corinthian
church which led Paul to write our two epistles to the Cor-
2 Gal. 1. 17.
8 Gal. 1. 21.
•Rom. 15. 19; 2 Tim. 4. 10.

276 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
inthians. It gives us no word concerning the founding of
the church at Colossae to which Paul wrote an epistle later.
When the book of Acts is silent about so many things in
Paul's life its silence here argues nothing.
2. It is of no weight against this theory that no represen
tatives from North Galatia are mentioned among the dele
gates gathered about Paul at Troas when he was on his
way to Jerusalem with the moneys collected for the poor
saints there. The list there given does not represent all of
the Pauline churches. No one is mentioned from Corinth
or Philippi or Achaia. At any rate, the Galatian contribu
tion may have been sent directly to Jerusalem. What would
be the use of sending it first to Macedonia or Troas, and
of running all the risks involved in its transportation by that
roundabout route?
3. It is not quite true that Paul confined himself to work
in the great cities. How about Derbe and Lystra? These
were small and unimportant places and yet Paul visited
and evangelized them. He may have made the cities his
headquarters, but he always had the region round about in
his eye. He sent out his assistants and his converts into
the whole province about the capital city, and he kept him
self informed as to their work. He doubtless inspected it
whenever it was possible. He always was pressing on into
the regions beyond. He had the restless temperament of
the pioneer and the explorer. The North Galatian territory
would have attracted him, even as the Bithynian territory
did later.5 He may have essayed to go into the northern
regions from South Galatia and the Spirit of Jesus had
not hindered him.
4. It is acknowledged that the author of the book of Acts
uses the popular rather than the official phraseology in
speaking of Galatia. If he were a companion of the apostle
Paul, as seems most probable, it is likely that his custom
6 Acts 16. 7.

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 277
and Paul's custom would be the same in this matter. Any
way, the burden of proof is upon those who declare that
Paul's custom is different. It is open to us to believe that
it is not. It is clear that in Acts 16. 5, 6 Galatia is distin
guished from the southern provinces ; and, if we had nothing
but the book of Acts to go upon, the suggestion of the
South Galatian theory would have been impossible.
5. In Gal. 4. 12-15 Paul savs tnat me churches in Galatia
were founded because he was detained among them by
sickness. Now, we know that this was not the case with the
founding of the churches in South Galatia. The book of
Acts gives us to understand that the mission of Paul and
Barnabas to these cities was the direct result of their being
sent from the church at Antioch to preach the gospel
to the Gentiles. The churches in Antioch of Pisidia, and
Lystra and Iconium and Derbe were founded in direct and
purposed missionary labor and not in consequence of any
illness at all.
6. In the Epistle to the Galatians Paul appears as the sole
founder of the churches addressed ; and if he were writing
to the churches founded in the first missionary journey he
surely would have joined the name of Barnabas with his
own, for Barnabas was responsible just as much as Paul for
the missionary work done in those South Galatian cities.
Findlay suggests with much force that Paul "speaks else
where of those who 'stretch themselves overmuch' and
'build on another's foundation' with a contempt, some meas
ure of which would fall on himself, if he really ignored
Barnabas's paternal rights and interest in the churches of
the first missionary tour, and elbowed him out of the
partnership as he must have done on the South-Galatian
hypothesis. ... It was a joint enterprise upon which they
were engaged. Barnabas was at that time Paul's colleague
upon an equal footing, if not, in public estimate, his official
superior, as he was his senior in age and, in a sense, his
patron. In view of Paul's known character and delicate

278 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
sentiments toward his fellow workers, I cannot understand
his assumption of sole jurisdiction over the Galatians and
his oblivion of Barnabas's part in their conversion, if they
were the Galatians of the southern cities where Barnabas
and he labored as fellow missionaries. Their subsequent
disagreement would have made the apostle all the more
scrupulous to do full justice to his old comrade in arms." 6
That Barnabas is mentioned does not argue that the Gal
atians were personally acquainted with him. Paul mentions
him in writing to the Corinthians and to the Colossians,
and we have no reason to think that the people in Corinth
or in Colossae knew Barnabas except by hearsay, and we
know that Barnabas had no part in the founding of those
churches. They had heard of Barnabas as of all the other
most prominent leaders in the Christian Church. They
would understand the reference to him, though they never
had seen him.
7. In Gal. 4. 14 Paul says that the Galatians received
him "as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus." Is there
anything in the narrative of the founding of the churches in
the cities of South Galatia which would correspond to this
statement ? Surely not, when Paul was cast out of Antioch,
and shamefully treated in Iconium, and stoned and left
for dead at Lystra. Did the heathen inhabitants of Lystra
take him for an incarnation of Hermes and offer him idol
atrous worship? That very fact proved that they had no
conception at that time of the nature of his message and
that they knew nothing of the Christian salvation; and
therefore their action surely was far removed from re
ceiving him as Christ Jesus. No, the hospitality of these
simple country people and their devotion to the apostle has
no counterpart in the experiences narrated in Acts 13-14.
8. In the Epistle to the Galatians Paul reports the deci
sions of the council at Jerusalem, as if his readers would

6 Expository Times, vii, pp. 235, 236.

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 279
thus hear them for the first time. This would not be true
if they were in the cities of South Galatia, for Paul had
visited them after the Jerusalem council and had handed
them the letter sent out to the Gentiles by that council.
Therefore the Galatians of this epistle must have belonged
to a different circle of converts.
9. The Galatians to whom Paul writes are being urged
into circumcision by certain Judaizers, and they seem to
have been influenced by their persuasions and arguments.
This would not have been so likely to occur in South Galatia
where they knew about the Jerusalem council and could
have presented to these proselytizers the official decision of
the matter there made.
10. In Gal. 1. 12 Paul tells about coming into the regions
of Syria and Cilicia. Now, Paul visited the cities of South
Galatia at the same time that he labored in these other dis
tricts. Surely, then, in writing to these people he would
not have omitted all mention of his work among them
selves. If he labored in Syria, Cilicia, and Galatia, he
surely would have mentioned Galatia when writing to the
Galatians. There is one consolation in the uncertainty as to the
destination of this epistle, and that is that its interpreta
tion is not seriously affected by our decision of this ques
tion. In minor details the exegesis may be influenced by
one's opinion in this matter, but in broad outline the truths
of the epistle are independent of any local habitation.
II. Who Were the Galatians?
Our answer to this question, of course, will depend upon
our answer to the former question as to the location of
Galatia. If the Galatians were the inhabitants of Galatia
proper, then predominantly they were Gauls with a sub
stratum of the ancient Phrygian population and an inter
mingling of Greeks and Romans and Jews. Altogether, we
are told that they were a "mongrel crew," a mixed race.

280 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
The Gauls themselves were an alien people from the far
west. They came from beyond the Rhine and the outlying
islands west of Europe. The colonists at Marseilles called
them Celtae, the Greeks called them Galatae, and the Romans
called them Galli. They had the same Gallic or Celtic blood
with the Irish, the Welsh, and the French of to-day.
They seem to have been a restless race through all their
history and they began their migrations toward the East in
the fourth century before Christ. They crossed the Alps
into Italy and sacked the city of Rome in B. C. 390. A
century later they crossed the Danube and invaded Mace
donia and Greece, attacking the oracle at Delphi in B. C.
279. Pressing onward through Thrace, they entered Asia
Minor, and about B. C. 230 they finally settled in the moun
tainous districts south of the Black Sea and gave their name
to the land they had conquered, Galatia, the home of the
Gauls. In this district they maintained themselves until
they were conquered by the Romans in B. C. 189. A suc
cession of their own princes was permitted to govern them
until, about B. C. 25, they were made a part of the larger
Roman province of Galatia.
Lightfoot and others have pointed out the fact that the
Galatians of this epistle have the Celtic characteristics:
enthusiasm (4. 14), fickleness (1. 6), superstition (3. 1;
5. 20), drunkenness (5. 21), vanity (5. 26), and fondness
for strife (5. 15). They are a passionate, quarrelsome,
impulsive, mercurial people. Michelet describes the modern
French as "sensual, prompt to learn, prompt to despise, and
greedy of new things." This characterization applies per
fectly to the Galatians of this epistle. It is interesting to
find these peoples from Western Europe settled here in
Asia Minor, and there is a temptation to believe that the
apostle Paul came into contact with them and that the
great battle for religious liberty was fought out in their
behalf. Martin Luther comes next to the apostle Paul in
his work for religious emancipation, and he fought his battle
\

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 281
against the Roman hierarchy upon the basis furnished him
by the Epistle to the Galatians, and he thought that the
characteristics of the Galatians were the characteristics
of the Germans of his day.
Those who believe that the Galatians addressed were the
Christians in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe insist
that too much has been made of these Celtic characteristics
and that they might be ascribed just as readily to the Phry
gians as to the Gauls and that indeed they are so common
in any community of people that they are human rather than
racial qualities. Changeableness, quarrelsomeness, vanity,
drunkenness, and superstition would be likely to appear in
South Galatia as well as in Galatia proper. We may grant
this contention, and leave this question equally unsettled
with the former one, remembering again that the under
standing of the epistle does not depend upon our conclu
sion concerning these things.
III. Date and Place of Writing
There are many different opinions upon these points.
Some think that the Epistle to the Galatians is the earliest
of the Pauline epistles and some think that it is the latest,
and it has been put at almost every possible place between
these two extreme dates. Some say that the epistle was
written in Ephesus.7 One reason for this opinion is found
in the statement in Gal. 1. 6, "I marvel that ye are so quickly
removing from him that called you in the grace of Christ
unto a different gospel." This is interpreted to mean, "I
marvel that you have become apostate in so short a time;"
and then the conclusion is easy that Paul had just left the
Galatians and he is astonished to learn by the first mes
sengers who follow him to Ephesus that they have turned
about face immediately after his departure. We consider
this a misinterpretation. Paul does not mean, "I am sur-
7 Credner, Hofmann, H. J. Holtzmann, Lipsius, Meyer, Reuss,
Sieffert, Schmiedel, Steinmann, Wieseler, Godet, Alford, Moffatt.

282 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
prised that you have backslidden so soon after your conver
sion," for the Galatians had been evangelized, as we think,
some five or seven years before this ; but he expresses sur
prise that they have been led astray so suddenly, and that
with so little persuasion they have been induced to follow the
Judaizing teachers. It is the suddenness of this change of
faith which seems so marvelous to him. It is not, now con
verted and now backsliders with them, but now Pauline in
doctrine and now perverted. The facility with which this
change has been made is inexplicable to Paul.
The subscription to this epistle in the Authorized Version
says, "Written to the Galatians from Rome." This decision
as to the place of writing is due to another misunderstand
ing of the text in Gal. 4. 20 and 6. 17, where it has been
supposed that Paul was making reference to his own im
prisonment. There is, of course, no such reference in the
language here used, and this subscription in the Authorized
Version is a gross mistake. We think that First Corinth
ians was written in the spring of A. D. 57, and Second
Corinthians in the fall of the same year, and Romans early
in the year 58, and Galatians between Second Corinthians
and Romans in the winter of A. D. 57-58. If this date is
the correct one, the place of writing is thus determined to
be some city of Macedonia, possibly the same city in which
Second Corinthians was written, or still more probably
Corinth, the city in which the Epistle to the Romans was
written.8 Our reasons for these Conclusions are as follows :
1. The Epistle to the Galatians belongs to the second
group of the Pauline epistles. Its style and its general
character plainly put it into the period to which they belong.
The Pauline epistles, as we have seen, fall into four groups,
written approximately with intervals of five years between
them; and the Epistle to the Galatians is not like those of

8 Bleek, Dobschutz, Conybeare and Howson, Lightfoot, Salmon.

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 283
the first, the third, or the fourth groups, but it is like those
of the second group. These epistles have certain common
characteristics which have been listed as (1) a tension of
feeling, (2) a profusion of quotations from the Old Testa
ment, (3) a frequent use of the interrogation, (4) an
abruptness of expression, and (5) certain doctrinal distinc
tions from the other groups. The subjects with which they
are chiefly concerned are (a) justification by faith, (_¦) the
distinction between the law and grace, and (c) the liberty
of the gospel. In all these particulars the Epistle to the
Galatians would seem to be the typical epistle of this second
group. 2. It is like Second Corinthians in several particulars:
( 1 ) The two epistles have the same tone. In both we find
the same sensitiveness and earnestness of the apostle mani
fest throughout. He makes the same frequent reference to
his infirmity; and, indeed, about all that we know of Paul's
thorn in the flesh we gather from these two epistles. We
find the same readiness to make concessions to the older
apostles, and the same protest against their exclusive right
to the apostolate. We find the same denunciation of false
teachers in both the epistles, and the same strong assertion
of his own apostleship, together with strong expression of
his humility. (2) We find some sentences practically the
same in both epistles. Compare Gal. 3. 13 with 2 Cor. 5. 21,
and Gal. 6. 7 with 2 Cor. 9. 6. (3) We have the same
phrases in both, such as "another gospel," "a new creature,"
and "we persuade men." Compare Gal. 1. 6 with 2 Cor.
11. 4, and Gal. 6. 15 with 2 Cor. 5. 17.
3. It is most like the Epistle to the Romans : ( 1 ) It has
the same thesis or text," "By the works of the law no flesh
is justified" (Gal. 2. 16 and Rom. 3. 20). (2) It has the
same arguments: (a) We find the same Old Testament
passage quoted in both and the same conclusions drawn
from it (Gal. 3. 6 and Rom. 4. 3). (b) Both argue that the
Mosaic law was divinely sanctioned and yet it is not binding

284 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
upon Christians (Gal. 3. 19 and Rom. 6). (3) There are
strange verbal agreements in the two epistles, which would
indicate that there could have been no long interval between
the times of their composition. Note again Gal. 2. 16 and
Rom. 3. 20. Both these passages quote from Psa. 143. 2,
and they both change the quotation from the original in
the same way, adding "the works of the law" and altering
"no living man" into "no flesh." Compare the passages
Gal. 5. 17 and Rom. 7. 15-23, and see how the conception in
Galatians simply is expanded and illustrated in the later
epistle. (4) There are many parallel passages in the two
epistles. Compare Gal. 4. 5-7 with Rom. 8. 14-17, and Gal.
2. 20 with Rom. 6. 6-8, and Gal. 5. 14 with Rom. 13. 9, and
Gal. 2. 7 with Rom. 15. 15 and 11. 13. At least twenty of
these parallels have been noted by the commentators. We
conclude, therefore, with Lightfoot, that Galatians is "the
rough model of which Romans is the finished statue." 9
IV. The Occasion of the Epistle
The writing of this epistle was occasioned through an
invasion of the Galatian territory by certain Judaizing emis
saries who attacked Paul's character and Paul's gospel
and who endeavored to make his Gentile converts to Chris
tianity become thoroughgoing Jews. They said about the
same things which had been said at Corinth, and it may be
that there was a concerted effort among the Judaizers in
the Christian Church at this time to undermine the influence
of the apostle Paul and to restore the Jewish supremacy in
the church which had characterized the early days and
years of its history, but which was now threatened with
overthrow by the ever-increasing numbers of the Pauline
converts in the Gentile fields. Their appearance and their
aggressive campaign seem to have been at about the same
period in Corinth and in Galatia. They may have repre
sented a simultaneous effort throughout the Pauline fields
• Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 49.

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 285
which seriously menaced the continuance of his most cher
ished principles and the maintenance of his most promising
church communities.
It must have been one of the darkest hours in Paul's
life. An illness had befallen him which seemed more than
he could bear, and under its weight he had gone down to
the very edge of the grave. No wonder that he talks as
much as he does about his physical weakness at this time.
He was just convalescing from such a serious attack that
he had despaired of his life, and his recovery had seemed
like a reprieve granted to one under sentence of death, or
like the resurrection of one who already had died.10 Prob
ably just before this illness Paul had been compelled to
flee from Ephesus, where he had made his longest stay
and where he had hoped that he could be protected from
mob violence or any other assault. That hope had proved
vain, and he again was a wanderer over the face of the
earth. Neither he himself nor his churches seemed to have
any prospect of freedom from persecution or any guarantee
of continued life. At' the same time he knew that the Cor
inthian church was being prejudiced against him and an
earnest effort was being made to alienate it from its founder
and first teacher. Now comes the news that the same work
is going on in Galatia, and that it has been even more suc
cessful there than in Corinth. It began to look as if all
his work was disintegrating east and west. He could not
be everywhere at once, but his enemies could.
It is just in such hours when everything seems lost that
the greatest generals have refused to give up hope and have
rallied the forlorn cause and have snatched victory out of
seeming defeat. Paul never felt more depressed in his life.
He never had so much reason for discouragement. Yet his
indomitable spirit rises to meet the emergency. He cannot
be everywhere at once. He cannot go to Galatia at this time,

10 2 Cor. 1. 8-10.

286 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
but he can write. What can be done by letter he will do.
He will defend his apostolate. He will set forth his gospel
anew, and he will give his reasons for it. He will plead
and exhort and it may be that he will win the Galatians
again to their lost religious liberty. He wrote to the Cor
inthians "out of much affliction and anguish of heart and
with many tears," lx and he must have written this Epistle
to the Galatians in the same stress of emotion and out of the
same distress of soul. Was there ever a better example of
the triumph of a human will over adverse circumstance?
Was there ever a better example of
A faith that shines more bright and clear
When tempests rage without;
That when in danger knows no fear,
In darkness feels no doubt?
Paul is "pressed on every side, yet not straitened; per
plexed, yet not unto despair; . . . smitten down, yet not
destroyed." 12 He is physically weak and spiritually ha
rassed; but he answers every challenge of his foes, beats
them back at every point of attack, and then triumphantly
sweeps the field with a fresh and undaunted and irresist
ible battalion of eternal principles which never have been
gainsaid to this day.
We gather from this epistle that these enemies in Galatia
had been saying that Paul's authority was secondary and
derived. It was doubtful whether he ought to be called an
apostle at all, and he surely could not claim any equality
with the apostolic Twelve who had founded the church
at Jerusalem. Where was Paul when Jesus was teaching
in Palestine? Where was Paul when Jesus was crucified
in Jerusalem ? Where was Paul when the Spirit was poured
out upon the church at Pentecost? The commission of the
twelve was unquestioned and rested upon universal testi-
11 2 Cor. 2. 4.
12 2 Cor. 4. 8, 9.

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 287
mony as to the facts. The commission of Paul seemed to
have come through a vision and to rest upon his own testi
mony alone. The Master had warned them that false
prophets and false apostles would arise in the latter days.
Who knew whether this Paul were not one of them ? Surely
it was only proper to ask for his authorization. What
was it?
The twelve had been made apostles by the Lord himself,
but Paul was an apostle "through men." 13 He had been
commissioned, not by the Lord and not by the twelve
apostles, and not even by the church at Jerusalem, but
by the church at Antioch in Syria. He was a missionary
sent out by that church and the only authority behind
him was the authority of that church. All he knew
had been "taught" him.14 He had been dependent upon
others from the very first. It was Ananias who instructed
him in the first principles of the gospel there at Damascus,
where he was converted. He received his gospel "from a
man" and "through a man." 15 Ananias had laid hands
upon him and sent him out to be a preacher.16 The
prophets and teachers at Antioch had laid hands upon him
and sent him out to be a missionary.17 His authorization
was wholly a human one, and his gospel was a human
gospel. It was not strange, therefore, that it should turn out
to be a false gospel in more respects than one. Wherever
his preaching differed with that of the older apostles they
might be sure that Paul had gone wrong. Now, Jesus and
all his apostles had taught the strict observance of the Jew
ish law and of circumcision and of the sacred months and
days. Anyone who said that Christians might be freed from
all such obligations taught a new gospel and a different
gospel from that of Jesus and the twelve.18 They themselves
13 Gal. 1. 1. 18 Acts 9. 17.
"Gal. 1. 12. "Acts 13. 3.
"Gal. 1. 1, 12. 18Gal. 1. 6.

288 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
preached "another gospel,"19 and it alone could insure mem
bership in the kingdom and participation in all the promises.
Paul was cutting them off from all the past and from all
the privileges which belonged to the children of Abraham.
He was not consistent at this point. He said he was all
things to all men, but that meant simply that he was "seek
ing the favor of men" and "striving to please men." 20 He
was willing to make any sacrifice to keep the good will of
those to whom he preached. He would "preach circum
cision" 21 when occasion demanded and uncircumcision
when he thought that he would get into no trouble by doing
it. He would not have Titus circumcised, but he had cir
cumcised Timothy. Had he not suggested the observance
of certain regulations which would enable Jews and Gentiles
to live together in harmony? Was not every one of these
a concession that the Jews were right in these matters and
that the Gentiles must acknowledge their position as the
only correct one in the premises ?
Paul was a timeserver, gaining the Gentiles by a false
doctrine of liberty and then truckling to the Jews in certain
concessions. He was so anxious to make converts that he
was willing to trim the gospel to suit the individual taste.
He would mutilate the message rather than alienate his
hearers. The proclamation of the unabridged gospel might
not be so palatable ; and he gave them only what he thought
they would be willing to bear. Moreover, this false gospel
of his was fatal in its fruits in the individual life. Had
not many of Paul's converts construed their liberty into
license? At the heart of it there was unrestrained libertin
ism. These people who adopted Paul's doctrine walked
after the flesh and fulfilled the lusts of the flesh and all the
works of the flesh were manifest in their lives.
Paul writes in answer to these things: I. I am an apostle,
19 Gal. i. 7.
20 Gal. 1. 10.
21 Gal. 5. 11.

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 289
of equal authority with any other (chapters 1, 2). 2. The
gospel has superseded the law; for the law could save no
man, and the gospel saves (chapters 3, 4). 3. The Chris
tian life is a divine life, the life of Christ in man, and that
means salvation from sin (chapters. 5, 6).
V. General Characteristics of the Epistle
1. Its Single Aim. There are no digressions here.
There is no multiplication of issues. It is not like First
Corinthians or Second Corinthians in this regard. First
Corinthians took up subject after subject for discussion;
Galatians has a single theme. Second Corinthians has no
orderly progression of thought and the one clear and dis
tinct discussion in it is that of its one digression concerning
the collection. Galatians marches straight ahead like a
battalion on parade; but the field is left covered with the
slain among his foes. There is a unity of purpose and com
pleteness of execution in the Epistle to the Galatians which
is not equaled in the same space in any other of the Pauline
epistles. The epistle is little but mighty, like Paul himself.
2. Its Unmitigated Severity. Usually, in the Pauline
epistles immediately after the address we come upon a
thanksgiving. There is no thanksgiving here. There is an
anathema instead: "If any man preacheth unto you any
gospel other than that which ye received, let him be an
athema. Though an angel from heaven should preach unto
you any gospel other than that which we preached unto
you, let him be anathema." 22 Paul has no praise here at
the outset for the Galatians. He begins, "I marvel that ye
are so quickly removing unto a different gospel." 23 Then
he proceeds to castigate them for a long array of faults.
Ramsay makes a list of fifteen of these, which he arranges
in three groups. First, five which were fostered under
their heathen religion: fornication, impurity, wantonness,
• » Gal. 1. 8, 9.
28 Gal. 1. 6.

290 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
idolatry, and sorcery or magic. Second, eight which were
connected with the municipal life in the cities of Asia
Minor: enmities, strife, rivalry, outbursts of wrath, cabal-
lings, factions, parties, jealousies. Third, two characteristic
of the society and manners of the Graeco-Asiatic cities:
drinkings and revelings.24 Paul has no mercy upon any
thing of this sort. His severity of tone is sustained
throughout. "O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch
you?"25 "I am afraid of you, lest by any means I have
bestowed labor upon you in vain." 26 "As many as shall
walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy. . . .
Henceforth let no man trouble me." 27 The epistle is one
"outburst of indignant remonstrance." It is not a sermon,
it is not a treatise, says Gloel, it is a sword-cut, delivered
in the hour of greatest danger by a combatant who is
assaulted by determined foes.28
3. Its Vehemence of Language. Paul was boiling over
with indignation when he wrote this epistle. He was hot
with righteous anger. His words pour forth "in one con
tinuous rush, a veritable torrent — of genuine and inimitable
Paulinism, like a mountain stream in full flow." Sabatier
says of it, "Unfinished phrases, daring omissions, paren
theses which leave us out of sight and out of breath, rab
binical subtleties, audacious paradoxes, vehement apos
trophes pour on like surging billows." The epistle is an
overwhelming tidal wave. It sweeps everything before it
in the most ruthless fashion. Weiss says that there is some
thing of "passionate irritation" in these words.29 Paul is
ready to summon up an imaginary angel in order to an
athematize him.30 He does not hesitate to say that he
wishes these people who are making such a fuss about cir-

24 Ramsay, Historical Commentary on The Epistle to the Gala
tians, xlix.
* Gal. 3.1. »Gal. 4. 11.
27 Gal. 6. 16, 17. 28 Hastings's Bible Dictionary, ii, p. 93.
29 Weiss,. Introduction, I, p. 239. 3° Gal. 1. 8.

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 291
cumcision would go a step farther and cut off not the fore
skin alone but the whole offending member.31 It is not
delicate language. Paul is in no mood for choosing his
terms as he indites this epistle. It is Paul's De Corona.
Like the great oration of Demosthenes, it is a personal
vindication as well as the presentation of a great cause.
It has been said that "in vehemence, effectiveness, and
depth of conviction this epistle is paralleled only by Luther's
De Captivitate Babylonica in which he realized his saying
that his battle with the papacy required a tongue of which
every word is a thunderbolt." 32
4. Its Sharp Contrasts. Paul and the primitive church,
Paul and Peter, the law and the gospel, liberty and bondage,
circumcision and the cross, flesh and Spirit, faith and good
works, Christ and the world, blessing and cursing, death
and life — these are the contrasts which dominate the whole
discussion of this epistle.
VI. General Outline of the Epistle
There are six chapters in the epistle in our versions, and
they may be divided into three equal portions of two chap
ters each: two personal chapters, two doctrinal chapters,
and two practical chapters. Of course this is only a rough
general division, for there are personal references in nearly
all the chapters, and doctrinal statements in all and practical
suggestions in all. We follow the paragraph division in the
American Revised Version.
I. Per so tial— Chapters I, 2.
1. Salutation, 1. 1-5.
2. Surprise and anathema, 1. 6-10.
3. Paul's gospel is from God, I. 11-17.
4. Visit to Cephas and ministry in Syria and Cilicia, 1. 18-24.
5. Paul's gospel was recognized and ratified by Cephas, James,
and John, 2. 1-10.
6. It maintained itself against Cephas at Antioch, 2. 11-21.

81 Gal. 5. 12.
32 Farrar, Messages of the Books, p. 250.

292 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
II. Doctrinal — Chapters 3, 4.
1. The faith of Abraham, 3. 1-14.
2. Faith and the law, 3. 15-22.
3. The Christian's relation to the law and to Abraham, 3.
23-29.
4. Bondservants and sons, 4. 1-7.
5. Backsliding of the Galatians, 4. 8-1 1.
6. A personal appeal, contrasting their past and their present,
4. 12-20.
7. Allegory of the handmaid and the freewoman, 4. 21-31.
III. Practical — Chapters 5, 6.
I. Christ sets free, 5. 1.
2. Freedom and circumcision, 5. 2-12.
3. Freedom and love, 5. 13-15.
4* The Spirit and the flesh, 5. 16-24.
5. Walking by the Spirit, 5. 25.
6. Burden-bearing, 6. 1-5.
7. Sowing and reaping, 6. 6-10.
8. Personal subscription; Paul contrasts his motives with
those of his foes, 6. 11-16.
9. The marks of Jesus, 6. 17.
10. Benediction, 6. 18.
The general subject of the first section is, "The Vindica
tion of Paul's Gospel and Apostleship." The general sub
ject of the second section is "Justification by Faith, or The
Contrast between Law and Grace." The general subject
of the third section is "Spiritual Liberty: Its Use and
Abuse."
VII. Summaries of the Three Sections
1. Summary of the First Section. "I am an apostle, not
from men, neither through man. I was appointed to the
apostolate by the direct call of God. I did not confer with
flesh and blood, but went away into Arabia. Then for years
I labored in Syria and Cilicia; and was not known to any
of the apostles, except Peter and James, with whom I visited
at one time for fifteen days. I was an apostle before I
ever saw the apostles, and they had nothing to do with my

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 293
appointment to the apostolate. Then after fourteen years
I went up to Jerusalem and laid before those who were of
repute the gospel which I preach, and they recognized it as
valid and me as their equal in the work of propagating it.
Later I publicly rebuked Peter at Antioch as his equal in
authority and his superior in fidelity to the truth.
"Do my opponents say that I have been taught my gospel
and that I have received it from man? From what men
would I receive it? From the apostles? / was an apostle
before I ever saw an apostle; I was recognized as an
equal by the apostles the first time they ever met me or
heard what gospel I preached; and I have rebuked the chief
of the apostles and convicted him of dissimidation and
betrayal of the truth. They are the receivers, not I. My
gospel did not come from them ; it came straight down from
heaven. I have tested it in years of service, and I know
it is true; and now if any man or if an angel from heaven
should preach any other gospel to you, let him be anathema.
My gospel is the gospel of God. / have preached it with
out asking the permission of the apostles, and I have
preached it with the official sanction of the apostles, and I
have preached it in defiance of the apostles. I am the
apostle of God and my gospel is the gospel of God. I
marvel that ye are so quickly removing from it and from
me." 2. Summary of the Second Section. "Has anybody
bewitched you that you think that you can become the chil
dren of Abraham by being circumcised and by observing the
law of Moses? There are two kinds of children to Abra
ham — the Ishmaelites and the Israelites. To which would
you prefer to belong ? The true Israel of God are the chil
dren of Abraham by faith. Now, Abraham believed God
and it was counted to him for righteousness. Abraham
was saved by faith and not by circumcision. He was saved
by faith long before he was circumcised. In Abraham all
the nations of the earth were to be saved; and they were

294 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
to be saved just as Abraham himself was saved — by faith
and not by circumcision. Is anybody saved by fulfilling the
whole law? No, everybody is under a curse who tries it;
for he fails in his attempt and the curse of the broken law
is upon him. Christ bore that penalty for us, that through
faith in him we might now be saved. Was the covenant
made wi1,h Abraham nullified by the giving of the law which
came four hundred and thirty years afterward? No, the
promise was never disannulled by the law. It was fulfilled
and established in Christ. The law was merely a paren
thesis in the course of that fulfillment. It was a jailer, a
pedagogue, a guardian and steward, restraining and train
ing the heir until he was capable of taking his place in the
household as the recognized son. If you go back to the
observance of days and months and seasons and years, you
go back into bondage; you become sons of the handmaid
rather than of the freewoman, Ishmaelites rather than
Israelites, the children of Abraham through Hagar rather
than through Sarah and the promise."
3. Summary of the Third Section. "For freedom did
Christ set us free ;" that is the keynote of the third section
of the epistle. The Epistle to the Galatians has been called
"The Epistle of Freedom." Godet has named the three
sections of the epistle from this point of view. (1) The
Apostle of Liberty. In the first two chapters Paul says : "I
am the free apostle of Jesus Christ. I am independent of
the authorities at Jerusalem. I am just as good an authority
as they are." (2) The Doctrine of Liberty. In the third
and fourth chapters Paul says, "You are in bondage if you
are under the law; but you are free from the law if you
are saved by faith." (3) The Life of Liberty. In the two
closing chapters of the epistle Paul sets forth the ideals and
the requirements of the life free from the law and enjoy
ing the liberty of Christ. The whole epistle, then, can be
summed up in one sentence: It is the Emancipation Pro
clamation of all the slaves of legality, the Declaration of

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 295
Independence issued in the name of believing humanity in
defiance of the law. Like Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty
or give me death," this epistle sounds the keynote of a new
era of freedom for the human race.
The thought of liberty is introduced again and again.
At least eleven times in the epistle the subject is suggested.33
"For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast, therefore,
and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage. . . .
For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not
your freedom for an occasion to the flesh." The freedom
of this epistle is not license to do as one pleases, but it is
freedom from all the bondage of legality. It is freedom
from the law of rites and ordinances, under the higher
law of faith and grace and love. There is the paradox in
5. 13, "Ye were called for freedom; but through love be
slaves one to another," 34 which reminds us of that other
paradox in 1 Cor. 7. 22, "He that was called in the Lord
being a bondservant, is the Lord's freedman: likewise he
that was called being free, is Christ's bondservant." "Chris- .
tians are freed from the trammels of outward law, not that
they may please themselves, but that they may become ,
slaves to the law of mutual love. The true ideal of the*
Christian is not freedom, but unfettered service to the love
of God and man, which annihilates self, and subordinates
all selfish desires to perfect love." 35
The Christian is freed from the service of a law of
external commandments only that he may serve the law of
an inner life. He is above law only that he may be under «
law at the same time. He is set free from all bondage to
a lower law only that he may become obedient to the higher
law. He is no longer ruled from without; but he is still
ruled from within. The law on the tables of stone no

33 Gal. 2. 24; 3. 28; 4. 22, 23, 26, 30, 31; 5. 1-13.
34 "T/uif yap en-' ieKev&epia iK/XfjdriTe . . . aKka Sta rij( ay&irtK SovXtvtrt
(MJiXoig. 36 Expositor's Greek Testament, iii, p. 186,

296 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
longer menaces him, because he is subject to the law written
on the tablets of his heart. The freedom of the Christian
is the freedom of the Spirit. The liberty of the Christian
is liberty in Christ. It is noticeable that the name of Christ
occurs in this epistle forty-three times; and that in thirty-
nine of these occurrences we have the personal appella
tion rather than the title. It is not "the Christ" but "Christ."
VIII. Effect of the Epistle upon the Galatians
The immediate effect is unknown. We have no record
of any further trouble among them during the lifetime of
the apostle Paul. It may be supposed, therefore, that the
Judaizers were defeated and withdrew from the field. In
the later Pauline epistles there are only faint and linger
ing traces of the conflict which bulks so large in the epistles
of this group. It would seem that both in Galatia and in
Corinth Paul was the acknowledged victor in this Judaistic
controversy, and that he had comparatively little trouble
from this source in his after life. In the next century
Galatia became a hotbed of heresy. It was one of the
centers of the Montanistic movement. The Ophites and
the Manichaeans also appeared there in considerable num
bers. Two famous heretical bishops lived in Galatia in the
fourth century — Marcellus the Sabellian and Basilius the
Arian. Gregory Nazianzen says that Galatia abounded in
many impious denominations in his day. Hausrath thinks
that "the victory of a ritualistic religion, first in the Jewish
form, then in the Byzantine, and finally in that of Islam,
was from the outset only a matter of time among these
tribes of Asia Minor. For them, a spiritual religion could
only be a transient dream. The languid climate, the pres
sure of their own sensual nature, and the preponderant
power of the imagination among Orientals, could not soon
fail to corrupt every spiritual religion." 36 This opinion is
doubtless influenced by the known facts of history. We
86 Time of the Apostles, iii, p. 199,

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 297
trust that there was power enough in the Pauline type of
Christianity to have effected a permanent change in this
people. We hope to see it tried again, with more lasting
success. XI. Some Estimates of this Epistle
1. Luther found in it the inspiration of the Protestant
Reformation. He said of it : "The Epistle to the Galatians
is my epistle. I have betrothed myself to it. It is my
wife." 2. McClymont: "It has done more than any other
book of the New Testament for the emancipation of Chris
tians, not only from the yoke of Judaism, but from every
other form of externalism that has ever threatened the free
dom and the spirituality of the gospel." 37 3. Shaw : "It
is one of the most powerful pieces of literature that have
come down to us from any age. It is earnest, eloquent,
dramatic; well-ordered, concise, consistent; and it handles
one of the most important themes with the most significant
results. . . . The church can scarcely reckon how much
she owes to such a writing." 38 4. Ramsay : "It is a unique
and marvelous letter, which embraces in its six short
chapters such a variety of vehement and intense emotion
as could probably not be paralleled in any other work." 39
5. Godet: "This epistle marks an epoch in the history of
the race. It is the ever precious document of man's spir
itual emancipation." 6. Farrar : "What Luther did at Wit
tenberg, and at Worms, and at Wartburg, that, and more
than that, Paul did when he wrote the Epistle to the Ga
latians. . . . The words scrawled on those few sheets of
papyrus were destined to wake echoes which have lived, and
shall live forever and forever. Savonarola heard them, and
Wiclif, and Huss, and Luther, and Tyndale, and Wesley.
They were the Magna Charta of spiritual emancipation." 40
37 New Testament and Its Writers, p. 137.
38 Shaw, op. cit., pp. 84, 85.
39 Ramsay, Historical Commentary on the Epistle to the Gala
tians, lvi, 40 Messages of the Books, p. 238.

CHAPTER VIII
THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

? ?

CHAPTER VIII
THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
I. The Roman Church
i. Its Founding. There was a Christian church in Rome
to which Paul wrote this epistle. How had it come into
existence? Paul says in the epistle that he himself as yet
had not been in the capital city. He was the great mis
sionary carrying the gospel through the Roman empire, but
he had not been able to get as far west as Rome, though it
was in his purpose to visit that city and to go on still farther
west into Spain. As far as we know, none of Paul's im
mediate associates in missionary labors had preceded him
to Rome, founding the church under his immediate direc
tion and delegated authority. Had any other apostle, then,
undertaken this task of the introduction of Christianity into
the capital of the empire, and the founding of a Christian
church in the City of the Seven Hills? The Roman Catholic
Church maintains that the apostle Peter had the great honor
of establishing the Christian faith in the city of the Caesars,
the center of world government and power. It says that he
came to Rome at the beginning of the reign of the Emperor
Claudius and was active in the overthrow of the heretic
Simon Magus there. The authorities for this tradition are
too untrustworthy to command the respect of the modern
world. Practically all Protestants have refused to believe it.
Paul persistently declined to enter into another man's
labors, and we feel sure that his assumption that the Roman
Church was legitimately within the sphere of his influence
precludes the possibility that Peter already had laid the
foundations there. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that his
301

302 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
hope was to preach the gospel unto the parts beyond them,
and not to glory in another's province in regard to things
ready to his hand.1 This seems to be a reference to his
proposed work farther west and would surely rule out any
knowledge on his part that any apostolic labors had been
expended on that field. In this epistle he tells the Romans
that it was his aim so to preach the gospel, not where Christ
already was named, that he might not build upon another
man's foundation.2 These passages are sufficient to prove
that Paul did not know that Peter ever had been in Rome;
and we may be sure that, if Peter had been there, Paul
would have heard about it. The lack of any reference
to Peter's presence or preaching in Rome throughout this
epistle, and the still more suggestive omission of all men
tion of his name in the epistles written later during Paul's
imprisonment in Rome constitute a negative proof that up
to that time Peter had not entered the Eternal City. We
are disposed to believe that he did come later, but that he
had nothing to do personally with the founding of the
church. Then if neither Paul nor Peter nor any other
of the apostles or more prominent evangelists or mission
aries can claim the honor of laying the foundations of the
Christian Church at Rome, how did any church come to
be there? We do not know, and we are left largely to con
jecture at this point.
It has become increasingly clear of late, however, that
means of communication by person and by letter were as
open to all at this time in world history as at any later
period until we come to the last century. The Roman
roads made travel easy and the Roman empire had estab
lished a good postal system. It was an ordinary thing to
make long journeys, and removal from city to city was a
quite common experience. Greetings are sent to Aquila
and Priscilla in this epistle, and we learn from various
12 Cor. io. 16.
» Rom. 15. 20.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 303
sources in the New Testament that they had resided orig
inally in Rome and then had moved to Corinth and later
to Ephesus and finally had returned to Rome. Aquila was
a native of Pontus, and he and his wife were tentmakers,
and it seems to have been a comparatively easy thing for
them to fold their tents like the Arabs and quietly steal
away to some other habitat whenever an imperial rescript or
the exigencies of business or the impulse to missionary
labors suggested another field of work. They may have
been more nomadic in their habits than most of the Chris
tians, but doubtless many others traveled throughout the
empire and many came to Rome from Jerusalem and Galilee
and Asia Minor and Greece and settled there. After a
time these Christian immigrants may have become sufficient
in number to form an organization of their own. Thus grad
ually a church may have come into existence, looking to no
single person or to any one apostle as its founder, but repre
senting the results of the Christian propaganda through all
the farther East.
2. Its Composition. From the epistle itself we would
gather that there were both Jews and Gentiles in the church
at Rome. In 2. 17-24 Paul directly addresses the Jew. In
4. 1 he speaks of "Abraham our forefather according to
the flesh." In 7. 1 he says, "I speak to them that know
the law." A large part of the epistle would be of chief
interest to the Jews, since it discusses the value of the
Mosaic law and the dealings of God with the chosen people
of Israel. There is continuous appeal to the authority
of the Old Testament, and much of the argument is of a
nature to which those accustomed to the methods of the
rabbis would be most likely to give heed. These internal
phenomena would be sufficient to show that there was a
considerable number of Jews in the Roman church, and that
Paul had the Jews particularly in mind more than once in
his writings. On the other hand, in the salutation Paul
numbers the Romans among the Gentiles or the nations to

304 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
whom he had been given the grace of apostleship (i. 5-7)-
In the next paragraph he tells them that he had purposed to
visit them in order that he might have some fruit among
them, even as among the rest of the Gentiles (1. 13). In
11. 13 Paul says, "I speak to you that are Gentiles." "Inas
much as I am an apostle of the Gentiles, I glorify my min
istry." In 15. 15 he reminds them that he writes the more
boldly unto them because the grace has been given him to
be a minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles.
Both classes, then, both Jews and Gentiles, are in the
church and Paul addresses now one and now another in
the course of the epistle. Which formed the dominant
element? . Koppe, Bauer, Schwegler, Thiersch, Davidson,
and Wordsworth thought the Jews were in the ascendency.
Beyschlag thought that it was a church of proselytes,
of Gentile birth and Jewish training. Schiirer thought
that they were neither Palestinian Jews nor Pauline con
verts, but Hellenists from the Diaspora. Holtzmann
thought that Paul was altogether uncertain as to the com
plexion of the church, and so varied his style and his
address as he wrote to them. Meyer, DeWette, Olshausen,
Tholuck, Reuss, Neander, Weizsacker, Godet, Sanday,
Denney, Shaw, and most of the later English writers have
decided that the Gentiles formed the majority. There is
no way of determining the exact proportion of these two
classes, but the prevailing tendency at the present time is
to conclude that the church was a Gentile church with a
large and influential Jewish minority.
The population of Rome numbered a million and a half
in Paul's day, and there were only fifty or sixty thousand
Jews among them. The slaves outnumbered the freemen
two to one or three to one. There were converts to Chris
tianity out of all classes. Lanciani, in his Pagan and Chris
tian Rome, declares that "recent excavations in Rome give
quite startling evidence of how the gospel found its way
at an early period to the mansions of the great, and even

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 305
to the palace of the Caesars." 3 Sanday concludes that "we
should be justified in supposing that even at this early date
more than one of the Roman Christians possessed a not
inconsiderable social standing and importance. If there
was any church in which the 'not many wise men after the
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble,' had an excep
tion, it was at Rome." 4 However, the majority of those
to whom Paul sends personal greetings are either slaves or
freedmen; and, since they formed such a large majority of
the population, in all probability they formed by far the
larger part of the church.
The Jewish ghetto was in the low districts of the Traste-
vere, on the right bank of the river, on the slopes of the
Janiculum. Somewhere in this district the first Christian
assembly may have been organized; or the Christians may
have met here and there throughout the city in private
homes. They were Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor. The
Gentiles and the poor were in the majority. The rich and
the Jews were an influential minority. They were founding
a church which was to be the center of Christendom for
many centuries in later history.
II. When, Where, and Why Was the Epistle Written ?
We already have said that the Epistle to the Romans
belongs to the second group of the Pauline epistles. This
group includes First and Second Corinthians, Galatians
and Romans. These epistles probably were written in the
order in which we have named them. Galatians and
Romans are much alike in matter and form, and Galatians
seems like the first draft of the argument which has been
elaborated and perfected in Romans. We think that
Romans must have been written soon after the composition
of Galatians. Galatians was written some time in the winter
of A. D. 57-58, and Romans in the early spring of A. D.
8 Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome, p. io.
4 Sanday, Commentary on Romans, p. xxxv.

306 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
58. Both Galatians and Romans were written in Corinth,
while Paul was there as the guest of Gaius, who helped him
to the leisure and the conveniences so necessary to the medi
tation and the composition of two such epistles.
We can imagine him there pacing up and down the floor,
pausing now and then at the window or the door to look
out upon the city street or to get a breath of the early spring
air, or sitting for long intervals in his chair in a dark corner
with his head in his hands as he pondered the fitting ex
pression for the great truths he would set forth to the
strangers and friends there at Rome, while Tertius, the
amanuensis, sat in the light by the window with his reed pen
in his hand and the strips of papyrus before him, waiting
for the dictation of the master and then writing as fast as
he could make his pen fly when the torrent of words burst
upon him.
What was Paul's purpose in writing to the Romans?
1. He wished this letter to prepare the Romans for his
impending visit. It would serve to introduce him to them
and would give them a taste of his gospel and the salient
features of his teaching. 2. Paul's life was at hazard con
tinually. He did not know at what moment it might be
taken away. Weiss conjectures that Paul had in mind "the
idea that this epistle might possibly be his testament to the
church and to Christendom generally." 5 Therefore he
formulates more fully and more carefully than he ever has
before his whole body of doctrine. It is a last legacy, the
sacred deposit of the truth intrusted to him which he now
sends to the capital city to be kept by the Christians there
for the Christians of the whole empire. 3. There seems to
have been a temporary lull in Paul's stormy career at just
this time. The troubles at Corinth at last have been quieted.
Paul's victory is complete. It seems to him a fitting time
to put into permanent form the preaching which has ap-

* Weiss, Introduction to the New Testament, I, p. 307.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 307
proved itself through storm and stress and is at last in pos
session of the field. He is in a hospitable home. He is
surrounded with friends. He has comparative leisure and
peace. He decides to take time to write a sort of systematic
theology, to fix in literary form the final product of his
religious and theological thinking.
He may have been aware of certain controversies in the
Roman church which suggested particular lines of thought
to him. He may have known of differences between cer
tain factions of the church which led him to emphasize con
ciliatory positions. He may have heard that his Jewish
antagonists had reached Rome and circulated their slanders
against him there. The epistle therefore may have apolo
getic and irenic and polemic elements in it, and the exact
proportion of these, in our ignorance of the facts, we never
shall be able to determine ; but in the epistle itself we have
the final result of whatever motives led to its composition,
and this result proves to be a somewhat systematic develop
ment of the Pauline theology. It may have been Paul's
intention that the epistle should embody his doctrinal teach
ing. Godet sums up his discussion of this subject in these
words: "To set free the kingdom of God from the Jewish
wrapping which had served as its cradle, such was the work
of Paul. This task he carried out by his life in the domain
of action, and by the Epistle to the Romans in the domain
of thought. This letter is, as it were, the theory of his
missionary preaching, and of his spiritual life, which is one
with his work." 6
III. Main Features of the Epistle
1. A Theological Epistle. Paul has put into this letter
his doctrine and his experience. His theology was the out
growth of his own spiritual life. Therefore in these para
graphs of systematic theology we catch glimpses of Paul's
spiritual biography. It is a final and formal presentation of
8 Godet, Commentary on Romans, p. 58.

308 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
the product of his own acquisition, inspiration, and thought.
Luther called the epistle absolutissima epitome evangelii.
Melanchthon called it doctrince Christiana? compendium, and
he wrote his own Loci Communes in 1521, the first system
atic theology of the Protestant Reformation, with the doc
trine of this epistle as its basis. Modern authorities concur
in this estimate of the epistle. Hausrath declares that it is
"the essential content of what Paul otherwise preached by
word of mouth." Hilgenfeld describes it as "a complete
presentation of the gospel which Paul preached among the
Gentiles." Pfleiderer says that it is "an objective develop
ment of the truth of the gospel, drawn from the nature
of the gospel itself." 7 Findlay concludes that "the Epistle
to the Romans is the complete and mature expression of
the apostle's main doctrines, which it unfolds in due order
and proportion, and combines into an organic whole. No
other New Testament writing except the Epistle to the
Hebrews approaches so nearly the character of a doctrinal
treatise. For the purposes of systematic theology, it is the
most important book in the Bible." 8
Here we find adequate discussion of anthropology and
soteriology, redemption and sanctification, the wrath of
God and the righteousness of God, the work of Christ and
the work of the Holy Spirit, natural religion and Christian
ethics, the theology of salvation and the theology of history
and the theology of the Christian life. The great antinomies
and paradoxes of the Christian faith are faced without
flinching and discussed without dodging. The downright
honesty and the profound logic of the apostle have appealed
to Augustine and Martin Luther and John Calvin and
Jonathan Edwards. This epistle has had a dominant influ
ence in fixing the dogma of the Christian Church from the
beginning to the present day. Great controversies have
raged over the definitions of its terms and the inferences
7 Expositor's Greek Testament, II, pp. 570, 571.
8 Findlay, The Epistles of Paul, p. 149.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 309
from its theology, but all combatants have been disposed to
claim that they represented Paul fairly and were his loyal
interpreters. Of course in an epistle of this size there cannot be an
exhaustive discussion of all the various elements of Chris
tian theology. That which is less emphatic here finds fuller
expression in other epistles. (1) Eschatology is not made
as prominent here- as in the Epistles to the Thessalonians.
(a) The word "heaven" occurs only twice in the epistle,
once in mentioning the wrath of God from heaven and
once in quoting from Deuteronomy the question, "Who shall
ascend into heaven" (to bring Christ down) ? We would
learn little of the details of the life after death from this
epistle. The certainty of eternal life is set before us, but
we are told nothing more about it. The theology of the
epistle is of practical value for the life that now is. It has
the promise of the life to come, but it has no description of
it. (b) The words "Hades" or "Gehenna" or "Tartarus"—
the New Testament words for "hell" — are not to be found
in this epistle. The word "devil" does not occur in it.
The name "Satan" occurs only once, in the gracious promise,
"God . . . shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." 9
(2) There is no allusion to the cross in this epistle, though
the death of Christ receives its significant treatment more
than once. (3) The thought of the resurrection and of the
resurrection life underlies a large part of the discussion in
the epistle, but the resurrection itself is not treated so fully
as in the First Epistle to the Corinthians. (4) The church
is mentioned only once, and then only in its local and
restricted sense, when toward the close of the epistle Gaius
is commended for his hospitality to Paul and to the whole
church. The Epistle to the Ephesians is the church epistle.
(5) Little or nothing is said about the Person of Christ in
this epistle. The work of Christ is to the front here. In

• Rom. 16. 20.

310 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
comparison, Colossians and Ephesians and Philippians are
all Christological epistles. (6) There is less of local color
ing in this epistle than in most of the others. We learn little
about the condition of the church, and it is possible that
Paul knew very little about it. We find no references to
current events or contemporary world history. It was a
period of peace, in those first best years of Nero's reign
before he had developed the qualities which made him
infamous in both Christian and pagan memory. In a
treatise of this sort there was no necessity for the mention
of these things. The body of the epistle is impersonal and
general in its treatment of the great issues of the Christian's
creed. 2. Answers to Charges. The Second Epistle to the
Corinthians is an answer to Paul's slanderers, but most of
the charges made against him at Corinth were personal
rather than doctrinal. It may be that in this epistle we get
glimpses of some of the charges made against Paul's doc
trinal teaching. The discussion again and again takes on
the character of a reply to a personal antagonist, and some
times there is the sharp give-and-take of a dialogue debate.
In the interrogations and objections Paul introduces into
his argument we think we can detect the personal Jewish
antagonist whom he has faced so many times and with
whose methods of retort he is so familiar. We gather that
there were those who said (i) that Paul made the law of
none effect, and, worse still, made the law sinful and the
instigator to sin.10 (2) Paul was slanderously reported to
have said, "Let us do evil, that good may come.-" n (3)
Some said that Paul taught that Christians were no longer
under law and were free to sin in order that grace might
the more abound.12 (4) Paul had been branded as an
apostate, who had transferred his allegiance and his affec-
10 Rom. 3. 31; 7.7.
11 Rom. 3. 8.
12 Rom. 6. 1, 15.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 311
tion from his own people to the heathen nations.13 (5)
Possibly there were those who charged that Paul's doctrine
of Christian freedom had raised up a set of emancipated
people who despised their weaker brethren and so caused
dissensions and ill feeling in the church.14
3. The Universal Outlook. The fact that Paul was
writing to Rome may be responsible for the universal out
look of the epistle. It was appropriate that the theology of
a world religion should be formulated for the church in the
world capital. Paul had the largest conceptions of the
future of the faith. He believed that Christianity would be
the religion of all the Roman world. He believed in the
universal redemption wrought in the Christ. He believed
that Jew and Gentile some time would be united in the
Christian Church. He believed that he was laying the
foundations of a church which would be as wide as the race
and which sooner or later would bring all men into one
glorious unity in Christ. What he has to say in this epistle
is of interest to all.
"The word 'All,' as has been truly observed, is the govern
ing word of the entire epistle. All — for whatever the
modifications may be which may be thought necessary, Paul
does not himself make them — all are equally guilty, all are
equally redeemed. All have been temporarily 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 are and all things tend." 15 It has
been well said that "the thought which runs through the
whole epistle is the universality of sin and the universality
of grace. Its four main positions are: (1) All are guilty
before God. (2) All need a Saviour. (3) Christ died for
all. (4) We are all one body in Him." 16 Few, if any, of
"Rom. 9-11. "Rom. 12-15.
15 Farrar, Life of Paul, p. 468.
18 Wordsworth, Epistles, p. 200.

312 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
the other apostles had the enterprise to look beyond the
limits of their local interests to the unlimited future triumph
of the faith. Paul was the imperialist statesman among
them. The world was his parish. Wherever he might be
laboring for the time he was organizing a part of the great
unity in which the universal church some time would be
joined together in the adoration of the Christ.
4. Its Forensic Form. The Greeks sought after wisdom,
and when Paul was writing letters to the Corinthians and
to the Ephesians he laid great emphasis upon the acquisition
of the true wisdom. Rome was not seeking wisdom so
much as the universal recognition of law and order. Its
mission was to establish justice throughout the length and
the breadth of the earth. That may account for the fact
that in writing this theological treatise for the Romans Paul
has chosen to give it a legal, logical, forensic framework
throughout. The race is summoned before the judgment
bar of God. The justice of God is manifested in both his
condemnation and his acquittal. The Christian's condition
is represented under the figure of the Roman process of
adoption. Paul has great respect for the Roman magistrates
and urges obedience to them in everything. His respect for
the central seat of world government and the great source
of just and equitable laws may have influenced him in the
framing of his thought.
5. Its Dependence upon the Old Testament. Every
doctrine of the epistle is shown to have Old Testament
authority behind it. There are more than sixty quotations
from the Old Testament in these sixteen chapters — more
than in all the other Pauline epistles put together. The
phrase, "according as it is written," occurs nineteen times.
Take the quotations out of any one division of the doctrinal
discussion, and it would seem as if the foundations had
been removed. Remove the quotations from some of these
pages, and it would seem as if the substance had disap
peared and the merest skeleton were remaining. The

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 313
Roman law may have furnished a part of the framework,
but the Old Testament has furnished the substantial norm
upon which all the apostle's thinking has builded. His
Christian theology has a genuinely and loyally Jewish basis.
IV. Some Estimates of the Epistle
1. Chrysostom had this epistle read to him twice a week.
2. Melanchthon copied it twice with his own hands. 3.
Luther: "This epistle is the true masterpiece of the New
Testament, the purest gospel. It deserves not only to be
known word for word by every Christian but to be the sub
ject of his meditation day by day, the daily bread of his
soul ; for it can never be too much or too well studied and
the more time one spends on it the more precious it becomes,
the better it appears. . . . This epistle is to my mind at
the same time a commentary upon, and an epitome of,
all the Sacred Scripture and always its light and apocalypse."
These quotations are from Luther's preface to his Com
mentary upon the Epistle to the Romans, and we recall that
it was while one read from this preface in the little Mora
vian meeting in Aldersgate Street in London that John
Wesley listened until he felt his "heart strangely warmed,"
and he felt that he did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for
salvation. Paul was responsible for all Protestantism
through Martin Luther, and Luther's Preface to the Epistle
to the Romans for all Methodism through the conversion
of John Wesley. 4. Calvin: "It opens the door to all the
treasures of the Scriptures." 5. Matthew Henry: "If we
compare scripture with scripture, in the Old Testament,
David's Psalms, and in the New Testament, Paul's epistles
are stars of the first magnitude, that differ from other
stars in glory" ; but Romans "is superlatively excellent, the
largest and fullest of all." 6. Tholuck calls it "a Christian
philosophy of universal history." 7. Chambers : "The intel
ligence and stability of any generation of believers is exactly
proportioned to the degree in which this marrowy and mas-

314 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
culine treatise is studied and understood and appreciated."
8. Godet: "We feel ourselves at every word face to face
with the unfathomable. Our experience is somewhat anal
ogous to what we feel when contemplating the great master
pieces of mediaeval architecture, such, for example, as the
Cathedral of Milan. We do not know which to admire the
more, the majesty of the whole or the finish of the details,
and every look makes the discovery of some new perfection.
. . . The Epistle to the Romans is the cathedral of the
Christian faith." 17 When Godet was preparing his com
mentary on Romans he told a friend that there were pas
sages in the epistle on which he had written ten times, and
even then he was not satisfied. In his Studies on the Epis
tles Godet pronounces Romans to be "the greatest master
piece which the human mind had ever conceived and real
ized, the first logical exposition of the work of God in Christ
for the salvation of the world." 18 9. Farrar : "This is the
greatest of Paul's epistles and one of the greatest and deep
est and most memorably influential of all compositions ever
written by human pen. ... It is unquestionably the clear
est and fullest statement of the doctrine of sin and the doc
trine of deliverance as held by the greatest of the apostles.
It is Paul's definition of what he understood as the gospel
of Christ." 10. Sanday: "It is one of the most original of
writings. No Christian can have read it for the first time
without feeling that he was introduced to heights and depths
of Christianity of which he had never been conscious
before. . . . It is a body of teaching which eighteen cen
turies of Christian interpreters have failed to exhaust." 19
10. Deissmann: "How are we to explain the mighty influ
ence exerted by the Epistle to the Romans upon the Chris
tianity of so many centuries ? How came a writing that took
its rise under such simple conditions, to be fifteen centuries
"Godet, Commentary, p. 1.
18 Godet, Studies on the Epistles, p. 140.
19 Sanday, Commentary, pp. xii, xliv.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 315
afterward the Magna Charta of evangelical Protestantism?
In the first place, it might be said, the Epistle to the Romans
is the most ecumenical of all the Pauline letters. Com
pared with Second Corinthians, it is relatively impersonal,
generally intelligible; and it lacks the numerous allusions
and intimate relations which so seriously obstruct the under
standing of that epistle. But it is self-evident that the main
ground of the powerful influence exerted on Christendom
by the Roman Epistle lies, not in its formal characteristic,
but in the object itself. It was the religious power con
cealed in the epistle that made such a deep impression on
Augustine and Luther ; it is this which so deeply impresses
still every evangelically disposed conscience. We stand
upon volcanic soil in reading this epistle. Paul wrote it,
indeed, under conditions of greater outward and inner calm
than many of the rest of his letters, but it too was written
by him with his heart's blood. It contains confessions of a
struggling prophetic soul; fire, holy fire, glows between its
lines. This holy Divine flame is what warms and inter
penetrates us. The deep understanding of human misery,
the terrible shuddering before the power of sin, but at the
same time the jubilant rejoicing of the redeemed child
of God — this is what for all time assures to the Roman
Epistle a victorious sway over the hearts of men who are
sinful and who thirst for redemption. ... It has a power
not to be destroyed by any lapse or change of time." 20
V. Outline and Contents
A. Introduction, 1. 1-15.
I. Official, 1. 1-7. These verses cover a single sentence
of salutation, which forms a worthy introduction to a
worthy epistle. Farrar says of this salutation: "It is the
longest and most solemnly emphatic of those found in any
of the Pauline epistles. ... In one grand single sentence,
of which the unity is not lost in spite of digressions, ampli-
20 Expository Times, xi, p. no.

316 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
fications, and parentheses, he tells the Roman Christians
of his solemn setting apart, by grace, to the apostolate ; of
the object and universality of that apostolate; of the truth
that the gospel is no daring novelty, but the preordained ful
fillment 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 accord
ing to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from
the dead. We ask, as we read the sentence, whether
anyone has ever compressed more thoughts into fewer
words, and whether any letter was ever written which swept
so vast a horizon in its few opening lines." 21 Beet calls
this sentence "a crystal arch spanning the gulf between the
Jew of Tarsus and the Christians of Rome. Paul begins by
giving his name: he rises to the dignity of his office, and
then to the gospel he proclaims. From the gospel he ascends
to its great subject-matter, to Him who is Son of David and
Son of God. From this summit of his arch he passes on to
the apostleship again, and to the nations for whose good he
received it. Among these nations he finds the Christians
at Rome. He began to build by laying down his own claims ;
he finished by acknowledging theirs. The gulf is spanned.
Across the waters of national separation Paul has flung an
arch whose firmly knit segments are living truths, and whose
keystone is the incarnate Son of God. Over this arch he
hastens with words of greeting from his Father and their
Father, from his Master and their Master. Every word
increases the writer's claim upon the attention of his
readers." 22
II. Personal, I. 8-15.
B. The Treatise, 1. 16 to 15. 13. (A) The Doctrinal
Treatise, 1. 16 to 11. 36. I. The Theology of Salvation,
1. 16 to 8. 39. (I) The Theology of Redemption, 1. 16 to
5. 21. 1. Its Summary, 1. 16, 17. This is the text of the
21 Farrar, Life of Paul, p. 459.
82 Beet, Commentary on Romans, p. 38.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 317
following discussion. It contains the first quotation from
the Old Testament, and Paul makes the statement of
Habakkuk the subject of his whole discourse.
2. The Wrath of God upon the Whole World, 1. 18 to
3. 20. This section sets forth the appalling need of re
demption, first for the Gentiles and then for the Jews.
(1) The Wrath of God on the Gentiles, 1. 18-32. (a)
The wrath of God revealed, 1. 18-23; (b) In giving them
up to uncleanness, 1. 24, 25; and (c) In giving them up
to vile passions, 1. 26, 27; and (d) In giving them up to
a reprobate mind, 1. 28-32. It is an awful picture which
Paul here paints of the degradation and the viciousness of
the ancient heathen world. It is not too black to be true to
the life. Looking out of his window there at Corinth while
he was dictating this epistle, Paul could see on the Corin
thian streets the evidences of the exact truthfulness of his
fearful indictment. (2) The Wrath of God on the Jews,
2. 1 to 3. 8, (a) Who judge the Gentiles, 2. 1-16, but (b)
Commit the same sins, 2. 17-29, and (c) Are not shielded
by special privileges, 3. 1-8. Paul proceeds carefully here,
but his logic is inexorable. The sinning Jew is just as badly
off as the Gentile. The wrath of God rests upon him just
as surely. (3) All of this is according to the Scripture, 3.
9-18. Paul stops to pile up Scripture references in defense
of his positions. They are most of them from the poetry
of the Old Testament and are not to be pressed too liter
ally, but they are sufficient to show the general estimate set
upon sinners in the word of God. (4) Therefore, every
mouth is stopped, 3. 19, 20. All of this is preliminary to
the proclamation of the possibility of salvation through
faith in Christ.
3. The Righteousness of God Manifested to All, 3. 21 to
5. 21. (1) Through faith in Christ, 3. 21-30. Olshausen
calls this paragraph "the Acropolis of the Christian faith."
Calvin says, "There is probably no passage in the whole
Bible that sets forth more profoundly the justifying right-

318 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
eousness of God." Stolz says, "Whosoever understands
it understands the apostle; whosoever misunderstands it
runs the risk of misunderstanding the entire epistle."
Martin Luther put a mark opposite the twenty-fifth verse in
his Bible, and wrote in the margin, "Mark this ; this is the
chief point and the very central place of the epistle and of
the whole Bible." Vitringa called this paragraph "the brief
summary of divine wisdom." The poet Cowper found
peace for his well-nigh despairing heart in reading the
twenty-fifth verse. (2) This gospel is in harmony with the
law, 3. 31. (3) As shown in the case of Abraham, 4. 1-25,
Paul proves that Abraham received everything by faith, his
righteousness, his inheritance, and his son. The father of
the chosen race is the father of the faithful in a fuller and
a higher and a primary sense. (4) This righteousness of
God gives peace, joy, and salvation, 5. 1-11. (5) The possi
bility of this righteousness is as universal as the curse,
5. 12-21. The remedy is sufficient to meet the need. Has
Paul shown that all men have come short of the glory of
God? He has gone on to show that all men may be re
deemed unto eternal life. What is this experience into
which the believer is ushered by faith? Paul has set forth
in order, first, the need of redemption, and second, the
method of redemption, and now he comes, third, to the
results of redemption, namely, the Christian life.
(II) Sanctification, or, The Theology of the Christian
Life, Chapters 6, 7, 8. 1. Sanctification is in Christ dead
and risen again, 6. 1-11. It gives (1) Dominion over sin,
6. 12-14, and (2) Freedom from sin, 6. 15-23, and (3)
Freedom from the' law, 7. 1-6, (a) which led into bondage
to sin, 7. 7-25. It is a high standard for the Christian life
which Paul here sets up. Some think that it is too high to
be attainable in this life. They think that even the grace of
God and the power of God are insufficient to lift the weak
ness of human flesh and the human will to such a plane.
Others are equally sure that it is attainable, but "only in

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 319
two jumps." Faith never could lift a sinner into such a
triumphant life at the moment of his acceptance of the
Saviour. It must be developed by growth in grace and it
must be chastened by various experiences of failure before
it can gather itself together for the mighty effort necessary
to bring about so blessed a consummation. Paul seems sub
limely unconscious both of those who think that he is talk
ing nonsense and setting forth impossibilities and of those
who think he ought to have made certain definite divisions
in the development of his program. It is all as simple as
the sunshine to him. All men need to be saved. All men
may be saved by faith. Salvation means salvation from sin.
It is attainable by faith at any time. Human effort never
could reach it. The pitiable straits into which it brings even
the most earnest and devout are pictured in the seventh
chapter. The Holy Spirit will help the human struggle.
Paul hastens to make that clear at once.
2. Sanctification is through the Holy Spirit, 8. 1-30. (1)
He gives victory over sin and death, 8. 1-11, and (2) The
witness to adoption, 8. 12-17, ar>d (3) The completion of
salvation, 8. 18-25, and (4) Successful intercession; 8. 26-30.
Paul's heart is so warmed as he pictures the work of the
Holy Spirit in this eighth chapter that he is constrained to
close with a lyric burst of praise.
(Ill) Final Hymn of Assurance, 8. 31-39. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? The chapter begins
with "no condemnation" and it ends with "no separation."
This closes the discussion of the theology of salvation.
Paul has shown us the whole world lying under the wrath
of God, and then the righteousness of God offered to the
whole world. Then he has pictured the Christian life,
aided by the Holy Spirit and identified with the life of
Christ. He turns now to the problem of the rejection of
Israel. II. The Theology of History, chapters 9, 10, n. (I)
In Relation to the Past, 9. 1-33. 1. The privileges of Israel,

320 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
9. 1-5. 2. Election among the elect, 9. 6-13. 3. According
to God's will, 9. 14-18. 4. Leading to Gentile salvation, 9.
19-29. 5. And Jewish rejection, 9. 30-33. (II) In Relation
to the Present, 10. 1-21. 1. Israel is not subject to God,
10. 1-15. 2. And not hearing the gospel, 10. 16-21. (Ill)
In Relation to the Future, 11. 1-36. 1. A remnant saved,
11. 1-10. 2. Israel's loss, Gentile gain, 11. 11-24. 3- Israel's
final salvation, 11. 25-32. 4. Closing apostrophe, n. 33-36.
Paul closed his study of the religious life in the eighth
chapter with a hymn of praise to the love of God. He
closes his study of this most pressing theological problem
of his day with a hymn of praise to the wisdom and the
knowledge of God. He loves always. He does always for
the best. Paul is ready at this point to say "Amen!" and
then, as his custom is in his epistles, he turns from the doc
trinal presentation to exhortations concerning the daily life.
(B) The Practical Treatise, 12. 1 to 15. 13. I. The Chris
tian Life, 12. 1 to 13. 14. 1. Complete consecration, 12. 1, 2.
2. Humility in the use of gifts, 12. 3-8. 3. Perfect love,
12. 9-21. 4. Subjection to the civil power, 13. 1-7. 5. Sum
mary of the law, 13. 8-10. 6. Salvation at hand, 13. 11-14.
It often has been noted that in this chapter and the preced
ing we have a series of close parallels to the sayings of
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Knowling says, "It is
not too much to add that the apostle's description of the
kingdom of God reads like a brief summary of its descrip
tion in the Sermon on the Mount : the righteousness, peace,
and joy, which form the contents of the kingdom in the
apostle's conception, are found side by side in the Saviour's
beatitudes." 23
II. Practical Christian Brotherhood, 14. 1 to 15. 13. 1.
Differences of opinion are not grounds of condemnation, 14.
1-12. 2. Self-denial enjoined, 14. 13-23. 3. Mutual helpful
ness commended, 15. 1-13.

23 Knowling, Witness of the Epistles, p. 312.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 321
C. Conclusion, 15. 14 to 16. 27. 1. Paul's apostolate,
15. 14-21. 2. Paul's journeys, 15. 22-29. 3- Paul asks f°r
prayers, 15. 30-33. 4. Paul commends Phcebe, 16. 1-2.
5. Paul salutes many, 16. 3-16. 6. A warning against divi
sions, 16. 17-20. 7. Signatures, 16. 21-24. 8. The doxology,
16. 25-27. This, the longest and most weighty of the Pauline
epistles, closes with the longest and most elaborate of his
doxologies. It is a curious fact that in the Greek the sen
tence is an incomplete one.
VI. Integrity of the Epistle
This is one of the four great Pillar Epistles — First and
Second Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans. No serious
attack has been made upon its authenticity or its integrity,
as far as the main body of the' epistle is concerned. The
case is somewhat different, however, with the last two chap
ters. The following facts have led to much questioning and
discussion concerning them :
1. Marcion omitted these two chapters from his edition
of the epistle. However, we know that his New Testament
was not made up solely on critical grounds. It was the pro
duct not of research into questions of authenticity so much
as the agreement with Marcion's own theological bias. He
would have rejected these chapters if they had not suited
his preconceived opinions, without considering the question
of the genuineness of their authorship at all.
2. The epistle seems to end at three different places. At
XS- 33 we read, "Now the God of peace be with you all.
Amen." Again at 16. 20 we read, "The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you." Then at the close comes the
elaborate doxology, 16. 25-27. After the first benediction,
the commendation of Phcebe and the salutations are added
as a sort of postscript, and then a paragraph of warning
and promise, followed by the second benediction, as though
Paul had intended to close his epistle again. Then, as a
second postscript, salutations are sent from a group of the

322 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Corinthians who may have been present in the room as
these final words were being written, and then comes the
finally closing doxology. We do not know the circumstances
which led to this triple ending of the epistle. If we knew
all the circumstances, it might be perfectly clear why Paul
twice had reconsidered his intention of cutting short the
already unusually lengthy epistle. It frequently happens
to-day that a letter is written with a number of postscripts.
3. The doxology appears in the manuscripts and versions
in strangely varying positions. (1) In N, B, C, D, E,
and in the Peshito and the Vulgate and the Memphitic and
the .Ethiopic versions it is found where we have it, at the
very close of the epistle. The best authorities place it here.
(2) In L, most of the cursives, the Greek lectionaries, the
Greek commentators except Origen, and the later Syriac,
Gothic, Armenian, and Slavic versions the doxology comes
at the end of chapter 14. The lectionaries may be respon
sible for this. The personal matters in the last two chapters
may not have been considered suitable for public reading
and therefore may have been omitted from the lectionaries,
while the doxology was too precious to be lost in the public
readings and it therefore was moved up to the close of the
fourteenth chapter. From the lectionaries this arrangement
may have passed into later manuscripts and versions. (3)
The doxology is found both at the end of the fourteenth
chapter and at the end of the sixteenth chapter in A, P, 17,
and the oldest Armenian version. (4) It is omitted alto
gether in F and G, but F leaves a space for it at the end,
while G leaves a space between chapters 14 and 15.
Upon the ground of these and other facts Lightfoot came
to the conclusion that Paul some time in his later life put
a second edition of this epistle into circulation, omitting the
last two chapters, and at that time adding the doxology
which did not originally belong to the epistle. Hort, Gif
ford, and Sanday have answered Lightfoot's suggestion in
able fashion. We know too little to be sure of anything

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 323
at this point. We have the facts in hand, but the explana
tion of the facts must be a matter of conjecture forevermore.
4. In 1829 David Schulz made the suggestion that the
sixteenth chapter with its very unusual number of personal
salutations belonged not to the Epistle to the Romans
but to a copy of this epistle or some other epistle sent
either by Paul or by a Paulinist editor somewhere else, and
most probably to Ephesus. This hypothesis has found favor
with a great many modern critics. Among them are Eich
horn, Weiss, Jiilicher, Hausrath, Holtzmann, Holsten,
Pfleiderer, Krenkel, Lipsius, Ewald, Richter, Renan, Reuss,
Ritschl, Laurent, Schurer, Sabatier, Volter, von Soden,
Weizsacker, Schmiedel; McGiffert, Bacon, Farrar, Adeney,
Scott, and others. The chief reasons for deciding that this
chapter cannot belong to the Epistle to the Romans are :
( 1 ) Paul is writing to strangers at . Rome, but in this
Chapter he seems to know all about the internal condition
of the church, with its dangers from divisions and occasions
of stumbling, and he seems to be certain of the doctrine
which had been taught to them. He had lived two years
and more at Ephesus. He would know these things con
cerning the church there as a matter of course. Would he
be at all likely to know them about the church at Rome ? It
is surely true that in the body of the Epistle to the Romans
we find no trace of such knowledge.
(2) The number of salutations, twenty-six in all, points
to a church in which Paul was well acquainted, as the church
in Ephesus, rather than to one which he never had visited,
as the church in Rome. He salutes only one or two per
sons sometimes in churches which he himself had founded.
Would he be likely to send his largest number of saluta
tions, more than in any other epistle, to a church where he
had lived longer than anywhere else in the mission field or to
a church which he never had seen? Zahn thinks the latter.
He says that in writing to churches where he was well
acquainted with all the membership Paul could not single

324 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
out special individuals for recognition and salutation with
out making invidious distinctions or without having special
reasons, but it was not so at Rome. In writing to this
strange church Paul would be all the more anxious to em
phasize the personal relations which he had had with indi
vidual members among them, and to make it evident that
there were many and substantial connecting ties already
established between himself and the church to which he
had taken the liberty to write. Zahn strengthens his con
tention by pointing out the fact that there is not a single
salutation or other communication intended for individual
members in the church to be found at the close of the letters
sent to Thessalonica, Corinth, Philippi, and Galatia. On the
contrary, at the close of the letter to the Colossians, written
to a church which Paul never had seen and the most unim
portant church to which he ever wrote an epistle, we find
the greetings of six different individuals, only one of whom
ever had been at Colossae; and Paul himself sends special
greetings to individuals at Colossae and at Laodicea. There,
as at Rome, he would have the church feel that it was far
from being altogether strange to him; and he emphasizes
his intimate relations with, and personal affection for, the
members whom he knew.24
(3) The persons greeted seem to belong to Ephesus rather
than to Rome. Aquila and Priscilla were at Ephesus just
a few months before Paul wrote to the Romans, and in the
next mention of them in the New Testament, some eight
or nine years later, they still are at Ephesus.25 Is it at all
likely that in the interim they would have moved to Rome
and then moved back to Ephesus again? Is it not more
probable that they lived at Ephesus all the time, and that
this greeting was sent to them there? It may be more
probable, but it is altogether possible that these people had
moved twice in this time. They were of the moving kind.
24 Zahn, Introduction, I, pp. 382-3.
26 1 Cor. 16. 19; 2 Tim. 4. 9.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 325
They had lived at Rome, at Corinth, and at Ephesus. They
may have moved to Rome again and then moved back to
Ephesus. Again, it is suggested that Epaenetus is called
"the first fruits of Asia." 26 This means that he was a resi
dent of Ephesus or its immediate neighborhood when he
was converted. Would it not be more probable that he was
living there still than that he was in the far-off city of
Rome ? Possibly so ; but Zahn suggests again that Epaenetus
as the first convert of Asia may have owed his salvation
to Aquila and Priscilla before he had made the acquaintance
of Paul, and that he has accompanied this worthy couple
from Ephesus to Rome, in order to prepare quarters in that
city for the apostle, even as they had done previously in
Ephesus. He suggests, further, that Paul's commendation
of them would sound very strange in a letter to the Ephesian
church. The Ephesians knew these people well. They
knew what sacrifices they had made in Paul's behalf. They
did not need to be told of these things. On the other hand,
it was perfectly natural for Paul to write to Rome that all the
churches of the Gentiles were indebted to this Jewish couple,
and it was perfectly natural for Paul to send his first greet
ings to them and their first Asian convert, if they were in a
sense his forerunners and representatives there in Rome.
All of this seems possible and plausible enough on the basis
of the suppositions made; and anyone is free to make any
supposition he pleases in the lack of any definite informa
tion as to these things.27
(4) So many others mentioned here are Paul's kinsmen
and fellow workers and fellow prisoners and are his beloved
friends, standing in such relations of intimate fellowship
and affection that we look for them in a church where Paul
had had a long sojourn and had undergone many perils.
Andronicus, Junias, Ampliatus, Urbanus, Stachys, Rufus
and his mother might be living in Ephesus together, but can
28 Rom. 16. 5.
87 Zahn, op. cit., pp. 390-91.

326 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
we believe that these closest friends and relatives had all
foregathered in Rome ?
(5) If all of these good people were at Rome when Paul
wrote this letter, what became of them later? Where
were they during his imprisonment there? Did Paul not
mention Aristarchus and Mark and Jesus Justus in his
letter to the Colossians and then say, "These only are my
fellow workers unto the kingdom of God"?28 Later still
did he not write to Timothy, "At my first defense no one
took my part, but all forsook me,"29 and again, "Only
Luke is with me" ?30 If Paul had so many good friends at
Rome before he visited it, surely some of them would be
left there when he arrived in the city.
(6) Phcebe, sailing from Cenchrea. , more naturally would
be going to Ephesus than to Rome. However, we are not
sure that Phoebe sailed from Cenchrea.. She may have left
that port and come to Corinth on her way across the isthmus
to sail from the western port of Lechaeum for Rome.
Notwithstanding all of these considerations, Lightfoot,
Lietzmann, Gifford, Harnack, Sanday, Ramsay, Denney,
Godet, Zahn, Peake, and others hold to the complete integ
rity of the epistle. They point out the facts ( 1 ) that after
the mention of Aquila and Priscilla and Epaenetus, whose
names we already have discussed, not one of the other per
sons mentioned in these salutations can be shown to have
any connection with Ephesus; and (2) some of these names,
such as Urbanus, Rufus, Ampliatus, Julia, and Junia, are
Latin names and would be more likely to be found in a
church at Rome than at Ephesus, and both Narcissus and
Aristobulus, whose households are mentioned, are friends
of the Emperor Claudius and resident at Rome; and (3)
fourteen of these names — Urbanus, Rufus, Ampliatus,
Julia, Stachys, Apelles, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, Hermes,
23 Col. 4. 10, 11.
29 2 Tim. 4. 16.
30 2 Tim. 4. 11.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS 327
Hermas, Patrobas, Philologus, Andronicus, and Nereus —
are found in the sepulchral inscriptions on the Appian Way
in the lists of persons connected with Caesar's household
and contemporary with Paul. Without better reasons, then,
than have been furnished, conservative scholarship prefers
to abide by the tradition that the sixteenth chapter belongs
to the Epistle to the Romans.

CHAPTER IX
THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON

CHAPTER IX
THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
I. The Prison Trilogy of Pauline Epistles
The Pauline epistles fall into four groups not only in
their chronological order but also in the character of their
contents. We now have reached the third of these groups.
The eschatological group comes first, First and Second
Thessalonians. Some five years later the soteriological
group was written, First and Second Corinthians, Galatians,
and Romans. After another interval of approximately five
years another group of four epistles was written from the
prison at Rome. They are the Christological epistles, or
the epistles of Christ and his church.
We think that the order of their writing was as follows:
Paul had occasion to send a runaway slave home to his
master. He wrote the Epistle to Philemon to insure a
kindly reception for the fugitive who had been converted
in Rome. Tychicus accompanied Onesimus from Rome to
Colossae. Paul took advantage of the fact that he had these
two messengers at hand and wrote a longer epistle to the
church at Colossae which Tychicus was commissioned to
deliver. Then when the two epistles were completed he
concluded to write a third epistle a little more elaborate,
covering the same ground as the epistle to the Colossians
in a more thorough and satisfactory manner, which Tychicus
and Onesimus might carry with them to Ephesus first and
which might serve as a circular letter for all the churches
of Asia Minor. This, then, would seem to be the natural
order in this trilogy; the little epistle to Philemon first,
the longer epistle to the Colossians second, and the most
elaborate epistle to the Ephesians third.
34i

332 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
They were closely connected in thought. Colossians sets
forth the dignity of Christ, the Head of the church.
Ephesians presents the sublimity of the church, the Body of
Christ. Philemon makes clear the value of each individual
member of the Body of Christ, even if he be only a slave.
Philippians, the fourth epistle of this prison group, was
written probably a year or two later and upon an entirely
different occasion, and therefore may be separated from this
Prison Trilogy in our discussion.
II. The Persons Addressed
We take up the Epistle to Philemon first in order in this
group and we consider next the persons to whom the epistle
is addressed.
Paul had a long ministry in Ephesus and there were
many converts. The influence of the new movement spread
from the city into all the regions round about. The silver
smiths were ready to say that not only in Ephesus but
almost throughout all Asia Paul had persuaded the people
to turn from idolatry to the worship of God and the disciple
ship of Jesus.1 Among these people from the outlying dis
tricts who were attracted by Paul's preaching and were
convinced by his teaching was a man named Philemon.
Tradition says that he was resident in Colossae.2 We are
told explicitly that Onesimus was at home in Colossae.3
Theodoret, a Syrian bishop of the fifth century, tells us that
the house of Philemon at Colossae still was standing in his
day. We see no reason to question the tradition at this
point. This Philemon became closely associated with the Pauline
mission. He may have been a partner with Paul in some
business enterprise,4 and we know that he was an intimate
and trusted friend, and a faithful fellow worker in the
1 Acts 19. 26.
' Compare Philem. 1, 2 with Col. 4. 17.
« Col. 4. 9. « Philem. 17,

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON 333
Christian propagandism.5 This epistle is addressed to him
"and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow
soldier, and to the church in thy house." We do not know
who Apphia and Archippus were, but since they are ad
dressed along with Philemon in a letter concerning a private
and domestic affair, it lies at hand to suppose that Apphia
was Philemon's wife, and Archippus was their son, and
that the church in the house of Philemon was the church
in the home of the three. Then these three names would
represent a Christian family in Colossae, and probably the
most important Christian family in the place, since the
church assembled in their home. They probably were well-
to-do and had a household of slaves to minister to them
as any other family in their circumstances would.
III. Occasion of the Epistle
One of Philemon's slaves, Onesimus or "Profitable,"
ran away from him. It is altogether likely that he had
committed some misdemeanor and he may have stolen some
property.8 In either case, as a deserter or as a thief, he was
liable to be crucified if caught. In due time this runaway
slave came to Rome. Paul was living in that city, and was
occupying his own hired house.7 We are told that he
received all who went in unto him, preaching the kingdom
of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. Doubtless it was a very humble home, but Paul
held cottage meetings in it and made it the Saint Paul's
Cathedral of his day. Among those who came for counsel
or instruction or help was Onesimus, the slave from Asia
Minor. He must have heard much of Paul and of his
work in Philemon's home, and he may have met Paul him
self in some visit to Ephesus with his master. Anyway, he
seeks Paul out, here in the great capital city. He may
« Philem. 1.
•Philem. 18.
7 Acts 28. 30, 31.

334 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
have wished nothing more than to see a familiar face; or
he may have been repentant and have come with a full con
fession upon his lips.
We can imagine how Paul would receive him, and how
for Philemon's sake and for his own sake he would deal
with him, gently and lovingly but firmly and honestly, until
Onesimus was converted. Then when Onesimus shared
with him all the joy of conscious salvation we can imagine
what comfort Paul found in him and how much he would
become attached to him. Onesimus became Paul's personal
attendant, ministering to him not as a servant but as a
brother beloved.8 The hearts of these two men were knit
together in Christian love.9 Paul kept Onesimus with him
until he was assured of the genuineness of his conversion
and the steadfastness of his character; and then it was
decided between them that the only right and proper thing
would be for Onesimus to return to Philemon and try to
repay him in faithful service for whatever loss he might
have sustained through Onesimus before the latter's con
version. Paul writes this letter to Philemon to present the
facts and to plead the cause of Onesimus. The slave returns
with this letter in his hand.
IV. Description of the Epistle
The aim of Paul in writing this little letter was to secure
forgiveness for Onesimus and to assure, if possible, his
welcome in Christian love. It is a letter full of courtesy
and grace. It begins with grace — "Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." 10 It
ends with grace, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with your spirit. Amen." 1X It has been said that the
Epistle to Philemon was a practical commentary on the
injunction of the apostle in the Epistle to the Colossians,
•Philem. 16. w Philem. 3.
• Philem. 12. « Philem. 25.

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON 335
"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with
salt." 12 There is a half-playful, half-humorous tone
behind the earnest and courteous appeal of the epistle.
There is evident punning at one or two points. Paul says,
"I beseech thee for my child, Onesimus, Helpful or Profit
able, who once was unprofitable to thee, but now is profit
able to thee and to me." And again, "Yea, brother, I would
that thou wert an Onesimus to me, (£y<_ aov ovai/iifv)." 13
Baur thinks that there is another play on words in the use
of the two contrasting terms, dxp^arov and evxprjarov in verse
11. We find the pagans sometimes pronouncing Christus as
Chrestus, so that this verse might suggest the reading, "He
was once without Christ to thee, but now he is a good Chris
tian to thee and to me."
This is the only strictly private letter written by Paul
which has been preserved to us. His other epistles were
written to churches or to groups of churches. The Pastoral
Epistles were written to the heads of churches and concern
ing church regulation in large measure. This is a strictly
personal and private letter. In it Paul might condescend to
playfulness as he could not in his more public and official
communications. Probably he wrote scores of these private
letters, but all of the others have perished. This single
surviving specimen shows that Paul was both a gentleman
and a saint, and we may judge from it that if we had a
complete collection of the lesser and private Pauline epistles,
we would find that they would rank with those of Luther
and of Rutherford as a distinct addition to the engaging
devotional literature of the church.
A recent writer has said of the Epistle to Philemon: "If
we sought to show the secret of Paul's success as a mission
ary, we should certainly turn to this brief epistle in prefer
ence almost to any other. For that secret did not lie so
much in his masterly generalship of the churches, or in his
12 Col. 4. 6. Sabatier, L'Apotre Paul, p. 194.
18 Philem. 10, 11, 20.

336 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
great ability in the statement and defense of the gospel,
as in his devoted love to individual souls. It was by his
affectionate personal interest that he undoubtedly obtained
his singular hold upon men. Wherever he went hearts
responded to this winsome attachment. The sunshine of
his solicitude seemed to focus itself on each single life, and
to make that life its peculiar care. Great as he is when
panoplied in theological armor, 'sheathed with logic and
bristling with arguments,' he is greater still as he lavishes
himself in the personal ministry of love, and seeks to win his
crown in the growing grace and peace of the souls whom he
has brought into the kingdom of Christ. We might indeed
have gathered so much from allusions in other epistles, but
this one makes it particularly vivid, and, indeed, presents
us with a quite unique picture of the apostle in all the
charm of his intimate intercourse with his friends." 14
Such, then, is the character of this epistle. It is a personal
letter from the apostle to one of his converts concerning
another one of his converts. They are all brothers beloved
— the master and the slave, the aged apostle and the middle-
aged business man and the youthful runaway thief. In the
bonds of the Christian brotherhood they are united in fel
lowship and love. This letter has a familiar tone, a spice of
wit, a pervading spirit of courtesy and grace, and an under
current of earnestness and serious concern which gives us
some conception of the character of the apostle himself as
it must have appeared in association with his intimate
friends. V. Comparison with Pliny
Grotius and others have called attention to the close
parallel between the Epistle to Philemon and that written
by the younger Pliny to his friend Sabinianus, pleading for
the forgiveness of an offending freedman. This letter of
Pliny has been justly praised as one of the most graceful
u Shaw, op. cit., p. 297.

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON 337
specimens of letter-writing which have come down from
pagan antiquity. It was written in the generation next later
than that- of Paul, but it represents practically the same
general condition of society. It runs as follows : "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 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 angry, 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 angry. 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 the
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. Fare
well!"15 The parallel is quite close between the letter of Pliny
and that of Paul, and yet the contrast between the two is
quite striking. Farrar has stated it clearly as follows : "That
16 Ep., ix, 21.

338 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
exquisitely natural and beautifully written letter does credit
both to Pliny's heart and to his head, and yet polished as
it is in style, while 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 the first place, it is
for a young freedman who had been deeply beloved, and
not for a runaway slave. In the next place, it is purely
individual, and wholly wanting in the large divine principle
which underlies the letter of 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
tears of the freedman, 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 — without 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." 16
Bishop Lightfoot quotes Pliny's letter and then says:
"The younger Pliny is the noblest type of the true Roman
gentleman, and this touching letter needs no words of praise.
Yet, if purity of diction be excepted, there will hardly be any
difference of opinion in awarding the palm to the Christian
apostle. As an expression of simple dignity, of refined
courtesy, of large sympathy, and of warm personal affec
tion, the Epistle to Philemon stands unrivaled. And its pre
eminence is the more remarkable because in style it is excep-

18 Farrar, Life of Paul, pp. 627-8.

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON 339
tionally loose. It owes nothing to the graces of rhetoric ; its
effect is due solely to the spirit of the writer." 17
VI. Other Estimates of the Epistle
1. Jerome said, "The letter is written with evangelical
decorum." 2. Erasmus declared, "Cicero never wrote with
greater elegance." 3. Bengel says, "A familiar and exceed
ingly courteous epistle concerning a private affair is inserted
among the New Testament books, intended to afford a
specimen of the highest wisdom as to how Christians should
arrange civil affairs on loftier principles." 4. Bengel quotes
Franke as saying, "The single Epistle to Philemon very far
surpasses all the wisdom of the world." 5. Renan, with his
usual enthusiasm, declares, "It is a true little chef d'oeuvre
of the art of letter-writing." 18 6. Another Frenchman,
Sabatier, writes in a similar strain, "We have here only a
few familiar lines, but so full of grace, of salt, of serious
and trustful affection, that this short epistle gleams like a
pearl of the most exquisite purity in the rich treasure of the
New Testament." 19 7. Ewald wrote, "Nowhere can the
sensibility and warmth of a tender friendship blend more
beautifully with the loftier feeling of a commanding spirit, a
teacher and an apostle, than in this letter, at once so brief,
and yet so surpassingly full and significant." 20 8. Meyer
is not prone to any extravagance of statement, but he says,
"The aim of this epistle is pursued with so much Chris
tian love and wisdom, with so great psychological tact, and,
without sacrifice of the apostolic authority, in a manner so
thoughtfully condescending, adroit, delicate, and irresistible,
that the brief letter belongs, even as regards its Attic refine
ment and gracefulness, to the epistolary masterpieces of
antiquity." 21 9. Von Soden, in his History of Early Chris-
17 Lightfoot, Colossians and Philemon, p. 317.
18 L' Antichrist, p. 96. 19 Sabatier, L'Apotre Paul, p. -94-
*> Ewald, Die Sendschreiben, etc., p. 458. .
21 Meyer, Commentary, p. 396.

340 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
tian Literature, joins in this chorus of praise.' He says,
"The whole epistle is a perfect jewel of the intimate epis
tolary style of a hero whom we otherwise meet with only on
the heights of grand world-moving* action. In its own
peculiar way it convinces us of his surpassing greatness alike
in mind and heart." 22 io. Marcus Dods, A. T. Pierson, and
others have called the Epistle to Philemon "the Idyl of the
New Testament, combining beauty and brevity," 23 and they
have compared it to the book of Ruth in the Old Testament.
Like Ruth, it is "an idyl of domestic life," in which we
escape from the storm of controversy.24
VII. Luther's Analogy
Luther said: "This epistle showeth a right noble lovely
example of Christian love. Here we see how Paul layeth
himself out for poor Onesimus, and with all his means plead-
eth his cause with his master : and so setteth himself as if he
were Onesimus, and had himself done wrong to Philemon.
Even as Christ did for us with God the Father, thus also
doth Paul for Onesimus with Philemon. . . . We are all his
Onesimi, to my thinking." We all have belonged to God
and we all have run away from him. We have been prod
igals and thieves, for we have been wasting our Father's
substance when we have taken our portion from him and
have spent it in riotous living. There is no help for us, as
far as the law is concerned. The law is against us and will
exact from us the full penalty. Our only hope is in coming
to Jesus and casting ourselves on his grace. God counts
him his partner, and he will listen to his plea in our behalf.
He offers to take all our liabilities upon himself and he asks
that all our indebtedness may be put to his account. We
come back to the Father not as runaway slaves or as thieves
but as brothers beloved, and when we come back to the
22 Von Soden, op. cit., p. 107.
23 Pierson, Keys to the Word, p. 129.
24 Book by Book, p. 157.

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON 341
Father's house our Elder Brother sees to it that we are
received even as himself.
VIII. Some Interesting Questions
1. Why did Onesimus run away? Had Philemon been
a hard master to serve before his conversion, and had Ones
imus vowed in his heart at that time to take the first
opportunity which offered to make his escape from the hate
ful and humiliating servitude? Or was Philemon always a
good master and especially since his conversion had his
household regime been such an easy one and the opportu
nities- to take advantage of him and his good nature been so
multiplied that it was simply a yielding to natural weakness
or to natural depravity when Onesimus ran away? Or was
it the very preaching of the Christian faith which had
aroused in Onesimus a longing for freedom ? According to
Paul, Christ had come to set men free. The gospel of Paul
was a gospel of liberty. It surely was possible that many a
slave as he listened to the new preaching had felt that this
was an evangel of personal emancipation as well as of spir
itual equality. Was it some theft or some other form of
personal delinquency the consequences of which Onesimus
was afraid to face and was this the sufficient reason for his
running away? There is room for manifold conjecture here,
since none of these details are furnished us in the epistle.
2. What happened to Onesimus in the long journey from
Colossae to Rome? What adventures did he have on the
way? Did he spend his ill-gotten gains in one long dissipa
tion and then recover from his debauch to find himself
penniless, and was he compelled to undergo a series of
privations and hardships which nothing in his experience as
a slave ever had equaled ? Or did he hoard his stolen valu
ables and by their aid pay his way from city to city and
from port to port till at last he came to Rome? Did he
half starve in that city, and did he remember that in his
master's home there always had been plenty and to spare,

342 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
and did he thus come to realize that freedom was not such
a blessed boon as he had supposed? Had he himself been
robbed and left half-dead by some roadside, and had some
Christian found him and bound up his wounds, and was it
this which brought him to Paul and to Christ? All life
stories are interesting. There must have been a multitude
of the most interesting adventures in the travels and expe
riences of this runaway slave. No one has chronicled them.
We are free to imagine as many as we will.
3. What conversations took place between Paul and
Onesimus before Onesimus was willing to go back to Phile
mon ? Onesimus was useful to Paul in his ministering. He
took the place of Philemon in his personal service. It would
be a great loss to Paul if he went away ; but it was a much
more serious matter to Onesimus. Did he argue the ques
tion at length with Paul ? Did he take the high ground that
slavery was wrong as an institution, and that it was incom
patible with Christianity, and that no Christian ought to be
a slave ? Did he suggest that it was through the providence
of God that he had been enabled to escape, and that his life
had been preserved in the long journey to Rome, and that
he had been brought to Paul to hear and accept the good
news of salvation? Did it seem to him like flying in the
face of the divine will to go back again? Did he ask the
apostle some embarrassing personal questions ? Did he want
to know what Paul meant by saying that all men were free
in Christ and that there were to be no distinctions of bond
and free in the Christian Church ? What did Paul say to all
of these things?
They must have talked it all out together ; and they must
have been equally and perfectly clear in their conclusion.
"Of all the many conversations of which we would fain have
the record, is there one which would exceed in interest the
conversation between Paul and Onesimus in which this
matter was first broached and discussed ? To leave his new
found friend, to turn his face again toward Colossae, to

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON 343
travel back all that way in order to surrender the liberty he
had gained, to face Philemon, to submit to any treatment to
which an indignant master might expose an insurgent slave,
to accept at the best a lifelong bondage, and at the worst
a death by torture — to do this voluntarily and to do it be
cause it was right, argues an extraordinary conviction both
as to the reality of the divine command and as to the imper
ative obligation to obey." 25 Onesimus was taking some
serious risks in returning. He must have been as sure as
Paul that it was the only thing to do.
4. Was Onesimus forgiven when he reached Philemon's
home again ? Was he taken upon probation and kept under
suspicion for a while ? Or was he freed at once ? We are
disposed to think that this letter had a favorable reception
and led to the reinstatement of Onesimus in his master's
confidence. We think so for three reasons :
(1) We know that the letter of Pliny to Sabinianus led
to the desired result, for Pliny wrote to Sabinianus later,
saying: "You have done well in receiving back your freed
man 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 suffi
ciently to yield to my authority, and make a concession to my
entreaties." It may not be safe in this day to argue that if
a man who is not a Christian is generous and forgiving, a
man who is a professing Christian will be sure to be equally
so; but we are disposed to think that it would be true as
between Sabinianus and Philemon. The Christian man
would not be likely to be outdone by the pagan.
(2) Philemon was a man who had faith in his fellows.29
He had faith in the Lord Jesus and he had faith in the saints.
He was not of a suspicious nature. He could be written
down as one who loved his fellowmen. He had such a love
forthem that he was ready to bear all things and endure all
28 Scott, Expositor VIII, ii, p. 333.
26 Philem. 5.

344 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
things and hope all things concerning them. Paul may have
had him in mind when he wrote that thirteenth chapter of
First Corinthians. Who knows? He may have been at
Paul's side when Paul penned that description of the possible
incarnation of Christian love. He was a man who had such
faith in the regenerating power in the gospel of his Christ
that he was ready to believe that the vilest sinner could
become the greatest saint. He had faith in the saints, and
Paul appeals to that faith in behalf of Onesimus. He says :
"Let your love for Jesus be tested by your love for Ones
imus. Let your faith in Jesus be measured by your faith
in Onesimus. He is one of the saints. Receive him now
as you would receive me." 27 We know with what welcome
and with what unstinted hospitality Philemon would wel
come Paul into his home. We are disposed to think that
Onesimus was received with joy and restored to confidence
in answer to Paul's appeal.
(3) There is a personal note in this epistle which we feel
sure would prevail. It is Paul the aged who makes this
request.28 Paul probably was about fifty-five years old
when he wrote himself down as an aged man. We would
not call that very old to-day, but Paul was a man visited
with frequent infirmity, and he had undergone unparalleled
hardships in preaching the gospel. He may have aged
rapidly and he may have felt very infirm at this time, and
he may have had the appearance of a much older man.
Anyway, he feels warranted in making this appeal in the
name of Paul the aged one. Then he reminds Philemon
that he is a prisoner while he writes.28 He has lost his
liberty for the sake of the gospel. How he would like to
be free ! What he would ask of Nero for himself he asks
of Philemon in behalf of Onesimus. Surely, the plea of
the prisoner of Christ Jesus29 will be heard for the slave of
"Philem. 17.
28 Philem. 9.
29 Philem. I.

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON 345
Philemon. Then he offers to go security for the good
behavior of Onesimus or for the repayment of his debt.
Could Philemon refuse this offer from Paul without show
ing a lack of confidence in Paul himself ?
Dean Plumptre thinks that the partnership which Paul
claims in verse 17 is a business partnership. It is not merely
Christian brotherhood and a sharing in the inheritance of the
divine kingdom and a common interest in the graces and the
blessings which flowed out of it, but he thinks that, as the
sons of Zebedee were partners on the Sea of Galilee with
the sons of John, so, since the selfsame word is used here as
in Luke 5. 10, Paul and Philemon were partners at some
period of Paul's work in Asia, at Ephesus or elsewhere. He
suggests that Philemon may have taken the place in the
tentmaking firm which had been occupied by Aquila and
Priscilla. Then he considers that the statement in verse
18 is a straightforward business proposition — "If you have
sustained any loss through Onesimus, debit my account with
the whole amount." And he adds, "If, as was in the nature
of the case probable, we think of Paul as dictating the letter
to Onesimus, who was to deliver it, we can picture to our
selves the impression which this generous offer would make
on the amanuensis : how there would be a moment's pause,
how the apostle would seize the reed pen, which had been
before in the hand of the scribe, and, in the large ungainly
characters by which his signature was identified, add his
autograph promise, and so turn the letter into a bond: I
Paul write it with my own hand ; I will repay." 30
This may be possible, but there are those who will feel
that much of the beauty and the poetry of the situation is
lost if Paul's plea descends at this point to the plain prose
of a business transaction ; and they will rejoice to see that
Paul immediately reminds Philemon that the much greater
debt which Philemon owes to him — the debt of his own sal-

30 Expositor, I, i, p. 265.

346 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
vation, the debt of his own triumphant better self, the debt
of his Christian life — will more than balance the debit-
sheet.31 There is this fourfold personal appeal, "(a) I
am Paul the aged; I will not make many more requests
from you before I die; grant me this present plea, (b) I
am Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus ; it is a fettered hand
which I stretch forth in my pleading ; grant this relief to the
present suffering I undergo for the cause. (. ) I will become
security for Onesimus ; if he has wronged thee, I will repay
it ; and I will stand surety that he will not wrong thee again.
(d) May I remind you that you are very much in my debt,
and that the granting of this request will only tend toward
the evening up of our account?" This fourfold plea from
the personal standpoint surely would reach Philemon's
heart, if he himself were not by natural disposition or by
Christian grace inclined to the side of mercy. We think it
altogether probable, therefore, that the plea of Paul in this
epistle was a successful one.
IX. Genuineness of the Epistle
Since this is a purely personal and private letter, and
since the occasion of it did not demand any particular dis
play of apostolic and divine inspiration, and since its con
tents did not include anything of especial theological or
ecclesiastical importance, we might have expected that it
would have been lost to sight in very early days and that
few or no witnesses to its genuineness would have been
preserved. It surely is a most remarkable fact that, not
withstanding its character, this little fugitive epistle should
have found a place in all the ancient canons and in all the
early versions. Marcion the heretic, who formed the first
New Testament canon, cut out many of the books we have
in the canon of to-day, but he included the Epistle to Phile
mon. The Muratorian fragment containing the oldest ortho
dox canonical list mentions this epistle. It was found in the
31 Philem. 19.

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON 347
oldest version in the West, the Itala, and in the oldest ver
sion in the East, the Peshito. Origen, the greatest scholar
of the East, quoted it without hesitation. Jerome, the great
est scholar in the West, defended it from those who thought
that it had nothing which tended to edification. The very
things which, according to Jerome, caused some to hesitate
about putting it into the canon are the things which prove
the genuineness of the epistle. There has been no serious
questioning of its Pauline origin in modern times.

CHAPTER X
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS

CHAPTER X
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
I. COLOSSiE AND ITS COMPANION ClTIES
About one hundred miles inland from Ephesus, in the
little valley of the Lycus, three cities stood, i. The largest
of them was Laodicea. The name was a common one in
Asia Minor, and Laodicea on the Lycus, as it was called to
distinguish it from other cities with this name, had received
its title from Antiochus Theos, who named it after his wife,
about the middle of the third century B. C. In New Testa
ment times it was a wealthy and magnificent city. It was
rich and had need of nothing. When it was devastated by
an earthquake a few years later than the date of Paul's
epistle to it Tacitus tells us that it proudly refused any
assistance from the state and unaided rebuilt itself from its
ruins, rising like a Phoenix from its dust. Strabo tells us
that one of its citizens, Polemo, became a king and a father
of kings ; and that another public-spirited capitalist, Hiero,
left all his fortune to the people and adorned the city with
costly gifts.
Laodicea was a manufacturing and commercial center,
famous for its carpets and cloths made from a glossy black
wool unrivaled in the markets of that day. A medical school
was there whose physicians, Ramsay tells us, were noted for
their treatment of the diseases of the eye. Laodicea was
addressed in one of the Letters to the Seven Churches of
Asia, found in the beginning chapters of the Apocalypse;
and it would seem that the atmosphere of ease and luxury
with which the Christian church there was surrounded had
had its effect upon the spiritual life of the community, and
351

352 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
that it was characterized by lukewarmness and self-satis
faction; and every phrase of the exhortation found in the
Apocalypse is seen to have a local application and a partic
ular pertinency in view of the facts we now have stated.
Its wealth and self-sufficiency, its black cloths and its eye-
salves are all suggested when the Apocalyptist writes, "Be
cause thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and
have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the
wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked :
I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou
mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest
clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not
made manifest ; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes; that thou
mayest see." 1
Laodicea had a stream on either side of it, and the river
Lycus running before it, while behind it rose Mount Cad
mus, seven thousand feet high, covered with eternal snow.
The Lycus was a strange river. It was a tributary of the
Maeander, and its waters were strongly impregnated with
carbonate of lime, so that along its whole course there were
calcareous deposits and all the strange formations and fan
tastic effects which such waters produce. Natural bridges
formed themselves above it and at one place the river dis
appeared from sight and flowed, as Herodotus declared, for
five stadia underground.
2. Hierapolis was only a few miles distant from Laodicea
on the northern side of the river. It was a city set on a hill.
Beautiful for situation, on a broad terrace with an outlook
to the south and the east and the west, it was famed for the
purity of its air and the healthfulness of its waters and
the natural beauties on every side. The cliff on which it
stood was one of the natural wonders of the ancient world.
Lightfoot says: "It is at Hierapolis that the remarkable
physical features which distinguish the valley of the Lycus

1 Rev. 3. 17, 18.

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 353
display themselves in the fullest perfection. Over the steep
cliffs which support the plateau of the city, tumble cascades
of pure white stone, the deposit of calcareous matter from
the streams which, after traversing this upper level, are pre
cipitated over the ledge into the plain beneath and assume
the most fantastic shapes in their descent. At one time over
hanging in cornices fringed with stalactites, at another hol
lowed out into basins or broken up with ridges, they mark
the site of the city at a distance, glistening on the mountain
side like foaming cataracts frozen in the fall." 2 Across the
valley this cliff shone like marble with dazzling whiteness,
and closer at hand it seemed to be alive and in motion as the
waters trickling over it were reflected in their shimmering
opalescence. An inscription, still legible on the site of
Hierapolis, thus apostrophizes the famous city,
Hail, fairest soil in all broad Asia's realm;
Hail, golden city, nymph divine, bedeck'd
With flowing rills, thy jewels.
Hierapolis was a pleasure resort and a health resort, a
holy city and a healing city, with magnificent temples and
tombs. It was frequented by the wealthy. It claimed to
cure all diseases. It was a center of worship. It was called
the Sacred City; and a lame slave was growing into man
hood in it when the gospel of Christ first was preached
there, whose fame would increase that of the famous city as
it came to be known as the birthplace of Epictetus, the great
est of all the heathen moralists, the one whose lofty spirit
and exalted ethics most nearly approach that of Christianity
itself. Tradition said that the evangelist Philip and his
daughters made their home in Hierapolis for a considerable
period, and Epictetus may have come into contact with them
there. Papias was bishop of the Christian Church in Hier
apolis in the second century. The Lycus river still flows
through the valley ; but Laodicea is only a pile of ruins to-
2 Lightfoot, Colossians, p. 10.

354 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
day. The famous cliff of Hierapolis still stands in its
unique beauty, but Hierapolis long has ceased to be an abode
of men.
3. Colossae never had either the population or the fame of
these other cities. It is doubtful if it deserved to be called
a city at this time. It was situated farther to the east, some
ten or eleven miles up the valley from Laodicea and thirteen
miles from Hierapolis. It seems to have been simply a
country village, where the people had little or nothing to do
but to talk and to speculate and to develop unprofitable and
heretical doctrines. It surely is the least important place to
which any of Paul's letters were written. The valley of the
Lycus was about forty miles in length. Hierapolis was some
six miles north of Laodicea. Colossae was only ten miles
east of Laodicea. An itinerant preacher easily could visit
the three cities in a single day. It is noteworthy that the
Epistle to the Colossians is written, not to the metropolis
of the valley and not to the sacred city, but to the little
village beyond them, where some of Paul's personal friends
happened to be living.
II. The Population of the Lycus Valley
The valley lay in the midst of a mountainous and volcanic
region, and it was visited again and again with earthquakes.
The people were like their environment, volcanic in nature
and given to upheavals. In the second century B. C. the
population was seething with revolution and Antiochus the
Great imported two thousand families of Jews from Baby
lon and settled them in Lydia and Phrygia in the hope that
they would introduce and maintain an element of stability.
Cybele, the great mother of the gods, had the principal seat
of her worship at Hierapolis; and the whole district was
filled with her fanatical and fantastic worshipers. Her rit
ual was of the wildest and most excitable sort, and the
people were used to mysteries and mummeries, extravagant
orgies, and many gross superstitions. The paganism of this

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 355
region was notoriously cruel, excitable, and impure. The
extravagances of Montanism found a congenial home here
in the second century. The Council of Laodicea forbade the
worship of angels in the Christian churches in this region in
the fourth century. In the Middle Ages we hear that the
archangel Michael was worshiped in this vicinity. The
people still were superstitious and unstable.
III. Paul and the Churches of the Lycus Valley
Paul never had visited this valley. He writes to the
Christians of Colossae and of Laodicea as to those who had
not seen his face in the flesh.3 The Epistle to the Colos
sians and the Epistle to the Romans are the two Pauline
epistles addressed to churches which Paul himself had not
directly founded. Indirectly he may have been the founder
of both. Surely, a large percentage of the membership at
Rome had been recruited from the converts made in the
Pauline mission field, and the church at Colossae seems to
have been under the direction of a Pauline convert, whose
name was Epaphras. Paul seems to recognize him as his
personal representative, for he says that Epaphras was a
faithful minister of Christ on his behalf.4 Epaphras was an
itinerant preacher who traveled a circuit, for Paul says that
he labored much for his own people at Colossae and also for
those at Laodicea and for those in Hierapolis.5 There were
close political and commercial relations between Ephesus
and the cities of the Lycus valley, and Epaphras probably
had met Paul at Ephesus just as Philemon had, and these
two men had carried the new gospel back to Colossae, and
Philemon had opened his home for the public services of
the Christian community formed there, and Epaphras had
become their official evangelist and leader.

»Col. 2. 1.
•Col. 1.7.
* Col. 4. 12, 13.

356 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Now that Paul was in prison at Rome, all responsibility
for the administration of the church rested upon the heart
of Epaphras, and certain developments had taken place
which were puzzling to him, and he seems to have decided
finally that it would be worth while to make the long journey
to Rome that he might lay the whole case before Paul and
ask for his advice. Paul heard his story and wrote this
epistle to correct the errors in conduct and faith which had
sprung up in the Colossian church; for if he himself had not
founded it, he felt indirectly responsible for it, since it had
been founded by his converts. The exact date of the writ
ing of the epistle we do not know; but it must have been
some time after the beginning of the Roman imprisonment.
Epaphras must have heard that Paul was accessible to his
friends, and we must reckon the time needed for his journey
after that. Onesimus had been converted and had had time
to prove the genuineness of his experience and his service-
ableness to Paul after his conversion. We would be inclined,
therefore, to think that it must have been about the middle
of that Roman imprisonment of two years mentioned in
Acts 28. 30 that the prison trilogy of epistles was written,
at some time in the years A. D. 62 or 63.
IV. The Colossian Heresies
At Hierapolis there were healing springs the fame of
whose curative powers brought invalids from far and wide.
In the near neighborhood at the base of the hills, there was
also a spring the fumes from which killed both men and
beasts. To the Christians it seemed like the smoking mouth
of hell. The waters of all this district were boiling and
seething, and filled with many strange ingredients. Some
of the Christian religion at Colossae was beginning to exhibit
something of the same phenomena. Seemingly contradic
tory elements were held in solution. The pure water of the
river of life flowing from the throne and for the healing of
the nations was being polluted by some foul admixtures

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 357
from the subterranean and volcanic depths of the pit. It
was natural in such environment. We do not know the
exact sources from which these polluting streams had come.
We know that in this neighborhood all sorts of faiths and
fanaticisms were constantly arising and struggling with each
other in strange admixtures of antagonism and affinity.
What we know of the errors in the Colossian church we
gather from allusions in Paul's epistle, and these allusions
would lead us to think that they were Essenic, Theosophic,
and Gnostic. They were partly Jewish and partly heathen
and partly Oriental.
Dean Mansel defines the incipient Gnosticism at Colossae
as follows: "First, it pretended, under the plausible name
of philosophy, to be in possession of a higher knowledge of
spiritual things than could be obtained through the simple
preaching of the gospel. Secondly, it adopted the common
tenet of all the Gnostic sects, that of a distinction between
the supreme God and the Demiurgos, or creator of the
world. Thirdly, by virtue of its pretended insight into the
spiritual world, it taught a theory of its own concerning the
various orders of the angels and the worship to be paid to
them. ¦ And, fourthly, in connection with these theories, it
enjoined and adopted the practice of a rigid asceticism,
extending and exaggerating the ceremonial prohibitions of
the Jewish law, and probably connecting them with the
philosophical theory concerning the evil nature of matter." 6
We see at once that these errors were partly speculative
and partly practical. They affected both conduct and creed;
Theological and philosophical presuppositions bore their
legitimate fruit in asceticism and ritualism and intellectual
exclusiveness and pride. Oriental mysticism, Manichean
dualism, Essenic asceticism, Jewish ritualism, Gnostic affec
tation of humility with an abundance of pride all seem to
have been striving for a footing inside the Christian Church.

• Mansel, Gnostic Heresies, p. 53.

358 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
This epistle is written to show their utter incompatibility with
the Christian faith.
V. Paul's Answers to These Heresies
The Epistle to the Colossians is a model of wisdom in
the method of dealing with such matters. Paul meets these
errors, "not by indignant controversy, for as yet they were
only undeveloped; nor by personal authority, for these
Christians were not his converts; but by the noblest of all
forms of controversy, which is the pure presentation of
counter truths. To a cumbrous ritualism he opposes a spir
itual service; to inflating speculations a sublime reality; to
hampering ordinances a manly self-discipline; to esoteric
exclusiveness a universal gospel; to theological cliques an
equal brotherhood; to barren systems a new life, a new
impulse, a religion of the heart." 7 There really is only
one answer in this epistle to all the Colossian errors, and
that answer is "Christ!" Godet says, "The central idea of
the Epistle to the Colossians is the perfect sufficiency of
Christ for our salvation." 8
Notice how this fact appears in the limitless aspiration in
Paul's prayers for the Colossians.9 He asks that they may
be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual
wisdom and understanding, to walk worthily of the Lord
unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and
increasing in the knowledge of God. Paul is not straitened
within himself in these petitions. There is nothing mod
est in these requests. He asks for all wisdom and all
pleasing and every good work, and then and thus for an
increase in the knowledge of God. How does he dare to
make such sweeping demands of God for them and of
them for God? Because it is their privilege, he says, to
be strengthened with all power — not a little power, just
7 Farrar, Messages of the Books, p. 312.
8 Godet, Studies on the Epistles, p. 185.
9 Col. 1. 9-11.

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 359
enough to enable them to be half-wise and half-pleasing
and half-fruitful and hal f -obedient ; but all power that
they may need, all power there is in God. Their sufficiency
is to be in him. He is to make them sufficient, unto
their portion of the inheritance of the saints in light.10
The only limit to the power at their command is the might
of the glory of the Unlimited and the Almighty One. They
were to be strengthened with Omnipotence unto all patience
and long-suffering with joy.11 All wisdom and all pleasing
and all fruitfulness and all patience and all long-suffering
and all joy were made possible because they were made
powerful with all power, kv irdoy dvvdfiet, dwaftmiftevoi.
Paul seems to be fond of that word "all" when he comes
to the description of the majesty of his Christ and the magni
tude of his work for the universe. See how the word recurs
in 1. 15-20. There is no better example of the Pauline uni
versalism than these sentences afford. Christ is the first
born of all creation. He is before all things. In him and
through him and unto him all things have been created. In
him all things consist. There is no limitation possible here.
Christ is the creator and sustainer of all things, without ex
ception. This is not poetry. It is the statement of the actual
fact. Paul goes on to say that Christ is the Head of the
church, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in
all things he might have the preeminence; for it was the
good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the full
ness dwell. No one thinks of suggesting any limitation
here. Paul posits all preeminence for his Christ. He is
the universal Creator ; he is the universal Providence ; he
has universal preeminence.
Then Paul goes on at once to say that it was the Father's
good pleasure through Christ to reconcile all things unto
himself, whether things upon the earth or things in heaven.
Who will dare to file any exception here? Who will dare to
10 Col. I. 12, r^J iKav&eavri i/iic,
"Col. 1. 11.

360 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
say that the unlimited "all," seven times repeated in this
passage, suddenly becomes a limited "all" in the eighth and
final occurrence of it? Has Paul been working up to an
anticlimax all this time? Have his universals suddenly
shrunk so as to cover only the handful of the elect or the
small minority of believers in the present day ? Paul would
laugh to scorn any such suggestion. What he says and what
he believes is that the reconciling power of Christ reaches
as far as his creative power has gone. It is no poetry. It is
the statement of the fact. It is a climax of thought, repre
senting the climax of Paul's faith. The universe was created
by Christ ; the universe is upheld by Christ ; the universe has
been reconciled through Christ. "Through him all things
were reconciled, whether things upon the earth, or things
in the heavens."
Here is a gospel for all creation under heaven. Here is
a gospel for the universe. R. H. Charles sums up his dis
cussion of the Pauline eschatology as follows: "Since all
things, in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, were cre
ated by Christ (Col. i. 16), and, according to the same pas
sage, were to find their consummation in him, they must,
therefore, come within the sphere of his mediatorial activ
ity; they must ultimately be summed up in Christ as their
Head (Eph. i. io). Hence, since in the world of spiritual
beings some have sinned or apostatized, they too must share
in the atonement of the cross of Christ, and so obtain recon
ciliation (Col. i. 19, 20), and, having been reconciled, they
should join in the universal worship of the Son (Phil. 2. 10).
Since all things must be reconciled and summed up in Christ,
there can be no room finally in the universe for a wicked
being, whether human or angelic." 12
The all-sufficiency of Christ ! that is Paul's gospel. He is
able to meet the needs of any man. He is able to meet the

12 Charles, Eschatology, pp. 404, 405.

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 361
needs of the universe. "We proclaim this Christ," says
Paul, "admonishing every man and teaching every man in
all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in
Christ." 1S We note the three occurrences of the phrase
"every man." At this point, again, there is no limitation
to Paul's aspiration. He has a gospel for every man, a
gospel able to make every man perfect in Christ. It is one
of the greatest sayings in the epistles. Paul indicates in it
the Message of his gospel, the Methods of his ministry, and
the Mark at which he aimed; the Proclamation and the
Practice and the Purpose of his preaching; the Person he
presented, his threefold Plan of procedure, and the predeter
mined Purport of his effort.
He proclaimed "Christ," not any system of theology, not
any theory of salvation, but primarily and preeminently
"Christ." His message was concerning a person first of
all. Creeds might come in their due order ; but his first busi
ness was to present the facts concerning the personal Christ.
He preached and he admonished and he taught. In this
threefold method the claims of Christ were presented.
Paul's ministry was one of preaching and exhortation and
education. To be that it had to be both public and private ;
and it aimed at perfection. He wished to present every man
"perfect in Christ." It was no small task which he had
undertaken in the name of his Lord. Paul has told these
Colossians in the preceding context that Jesus died "to pre
sent you holy and without blemish and unreprovable before
him." 14 Paul tells the Colossians now that his aim and
work is like that of his Master, "to present every man per
fect in Christ."
What is it to be perfect in Christ ? It is to be "holy and
without blemish and unreproveable before him." First of
all, it is to be whole, not crippled, not injured, complete in
every part and in full possession of all one's powers. Then,
13 Col. 1. 28.
"Col 1. 23,

362 PAUL A_^D HIS EPISTLES
it is to be without blemish, sound throughout, with no cor
ruption at any spot. Finally, it is to have reached the end
set before man in his creation, it is to be what God would
have man to be — thoroughly devoted and thoroughly service
able to him, well-pleasing and unreproved. When every
minister and every missionary and every Christian gets this
Pauline vision of the task set before us and of the glorious
goal promised and guaranteed in our Christ for every man
and for the race, we may expect some measure of the
renewal of the Pauline energy and zeal in our evangelism
and some measure of the Pauline success.
"The Christian aim, for which the preaching of Christ
supplies ample power, is to make the whole race possess, in
fullest development, the whole circle of possible human
excellences." 15 Such language would seem extravagant
were it not that the New Testament is full of such state
ments, and were it not that the whole of its revelation is
based upon the fact that Christ is all-sufficient for all such
things. Paul believed it and in that belief we find the
explanation of the ceaseless sacrifice of his career. Hav
ing made it the aim of his ministry to present every man
perfect in Christ, he had doomed himself to more than penal
labor. He had pledged himself to a work which would
demand all of his energies as long as he lived. If he had not
believed that the reward would be worth the sacrifice, his
life would have been a hard one indeed. He believed that
the harvest would be worth more than its weight in gold.
Christ all-sufficient! every man perfect! that was a gospel
worth prearhing. To proclaim that gospel was worth a
man's life, either in sacrifice or in martyrdom.
Christ all-sufficient! that was the one answer Paul had
to make to all these errorists.
Let us see now that this is true, as we look at the epistle
in more detail.

15 Maclaren, Commentary on Colossians, p. 145.

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 363
1. Were there those who were positing a long series of
emanations between mankind and the Deity? In professed
humility were they preaching that only through an elaborate
system of mediation could man approach the Most High?
Were they teaching the existence of multiplied spiritual hier
archies, many ranks and orders of angels coming between
the soul and God ? Paul answers to all of this theosophical
speculation : "There is one mediator, Christ ! He is the abso
lute and universal mediator. We have no need of any other
mediators beyond him. He created the universe.16 It is not
the work of any Demiurge; it is the work of Christ. He
upholds and maintains the universe.17 He has no need of
any assistants in that field. He is the Head of the church
and the one all-sufficient Mediator there.18 He alone recon
ciles God and man. He alone reconciles God and all
things.19 We need not fear the Majesty of the Most High
as long as we have the Mediator, Christ. He hath blotted
out the bond written in ordinances which was against us:
and he hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross." 20
This hath he done, and shall we not adore him?
This shall he do, and can we still despair?
Come let us quickly fling ourselves before him,
Cast at his feet the burthen of our care.
Flash from our eyes the glow of our thanksgiving,
Glad and regretful, confident and calm,
Then thro' all life and what is after living
Thrill to the tireless music of a psalm.
Yea thro' life, death, thro' sorrow and thro' sinning
He shall suffice me, for he hath sufficed:
Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning,
Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ.21
Martin Luther caught the very spirit of Paul when he said

"Col. 1. 16. I9Col. 1. 20.
"Col. 1. 17. "Col. 2. 14.
18 Col. 1. 18. 21 Myers, Saint Paul, pp. 52, 53.

364 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
in his Table Talk, "See to it that thou know no God, and
pay homage to no God, except the Man Christ Jesus ; but lay
hold of him alone, and continue hanging with thy whole
heart upon him, and let all thoughts and speculations about
the Majesty go their way. In this business look straight at
the Man alone, who presents himself to us as Mediator, and
says, 'Come to me all ye that are weary and heavy laden.' "
The one sufficient answer to all the Gnostic emanations and
multiplied mediators is, that we have one sufficient Mediator,
Christ. 2. Were there those who were saying that matter was
inherently evil and that the body therefore was vile? The
one sufficient answer to all such Manichean dualism was the
incarnation of Christ. The body as such could not be vile
because Christ was incarnate. In the body of his flesh he
wrought our reconciliation and made it possible for us to
be holy and without blemish and unreprovable before him in
faith.22 In the body of his flesh all matter was redeemed,
and even the body of our humiliation is no longer a vile body
but a body which is to be conformed to the body of his
glory, according to the working whereby he is able to sub
ject all things to himself.23 Incipient Gnosticism and full-
fledged Manicheanism alike are fully answered in Christ.
3. Were there those who were declaring the necessity
of ascetic practices, as a means to the mortification of the
flesh ? Holiness is not to be attained by hard discipline. The
flesh is not crucified by abstinence from certain kinds of
food or by scourgings and ill treatment. Any harsh treat
ment of his own body is consistent with unrestrained self
ishness in the devotee. Exceptional saintliness seldom is
found among the ascetics, and when it is found in any one
of them it is the fruit of the crucifixion of the spirit and not
of the castigation of the flesh. A man may wear a hairshirt
and be a hypocrite. A man may scourge his back every
22 Col. 1. 22.
28 Phil. 3. 21.

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 365
day and hide seven devils in his heart all the time. A man's
food does not determine his character. If it is wholesome,
it is good for his physical life, and the physical life may
have its influence upon the mental and the spiritual life;
but of itself neither the taking of food nor the abstinence
from food will insure sainthood. Character does not depend
upon matter. It does not matter what a man eats or drinks
if he eat and drink to the glory of God. Asceticism never
saves. "It is easier to travel the whole distance from Cape Com-
orin to the shrine of Juggernaut, measuring every foot of it
by the body laid prostrate in the dust, than to surrender the
heart to the love of God. ... It is strange, and yet not
strange, that people should think that, somehow or other,
they recommend themselves to God by making themselves
uncomfortable, but so it is that religion presents itself to
many minds mainly as a system of restrictions and injunc
tions which forbids the agreeable and commands the un
pleasant. So does our poor human nature vulgarize and
travesty Christ's solemn command to deny ourselves and
take up our cross after him." 24 Paul says that these things
are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.25
There is only one man who is assured of constant victory
over the world and the flesh and the devil and that is the
man who has put away all that is evil and has put on all that
is good, the one who has become a new man in Christ Jesus,
the one to whom Christ is all in all,26 the one in whose
heart the peace of Christ has come to rule,27 the one in whose
heart and mind the word of Christ dwells richly,28 the one
who does all in word and deed in the name of the Lord
Jesus.29 This man will be perfect, and he will have perfect
victory over his own body, because as an individual member
of the church which is the body of Christ he will give Christ

24 Maclaren, op. cit., p. 254. n Col. 3. 15.
28 Col. 2. 23. * Col. 3. 16.
28 Col. 2. 5-1 1. "Col. 3. 17.

366 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
the preeminence in all things.30 This is Paul's answer to
the ascetics: "Christ is sufficient to save. Severity to the
body has no value. The only sufficient power to live the
Christian life is to be found in Christ."
4. Were there those who were advocating an elaborate
ritual, the observance of meats and drinks and feast days
and new moons and the Sabbath day? These are all ele
ments and rudiments and the ordinances of men. The
higher life cannot be dependent upon such things. Chris
tians are not made by ceremonies. Rites do not make right
eous. They may have a show of wisdom.31 They may claim
that they are aids to the spiritual life ; they may set out to
help the soul in its approach to God; they may claim to be
symbols of great realities ; they may gratify the senses ; they
may satisfy the aesthetic taste. Spiritual worship is superior
to all of these things. The man who has died with Christ
is no longer subject to them. The man who has risen with
Christ has set his mind on things above them.32 It is too
true, as all history. goes to show, that "enlisting the senses
as the allies of the spirit in worship is risky work. They
are very apt to fight for their own hand when they once
begin, and the history of all symbolic and ceremonial wor
ship shows that the experiment is much more likely to end
in sensualizing religion than in spiritualizing sense. . . .
All ceremonial is in danger of becoming opaque instead of
transparent, as it was meant to be, and of detaining mind
and eye instead of letting them pass on and up to God.
Stained glass is lovely, and white windows are barnlike and
starved and bare; but perhaps, if the object is to get light
and to see the sun, these solemn purples and glowing yellows
are rather in the way. . . . Anyway, Paul's great principle
here is that a Christianity making much of forms and cere
monies is a distinct retrogression and descent. You are men
30 Col. 1. 18.
31 Col. 2. 23.
« Col. 3. 2.

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 367
in Christ; do not go back to the picture book A B C of
symbol and ceremony, which was fit for babes. You have
been brought into the inner sanctuary of worship in spirit;
do not decline to the beggarly elements of outward form." 33
What is the safeguard against all this? It is the life
in Christ. It is Christ in the life of the believer. Walk in
him, and there will be a new consciousness of superiority to
all sensual appeals in rites and ceremonies. Here were two
foes to the Christianity in Colossae. One was speculative
and the other practical. One appealed to the pride of intel
lect and the other to the pleasure of the senses. One would
resolve Christianity into theological speculations and capture
the Oriental philosophies; the other would resolve Chris
tianity into pageants and performances and capture with it
the plain peoples who delighted in parade and show. To the
cultured theosophists, on the one hand, and to the ascetics
and the ritualists, on the other hand, Paul has the one answer
to make : "Christ relieves us of all need of your paltry pan
aceas. In Christ there is the Pleroma of the Godhead,34
and in Christ we have the Pleroma of power and of purity
and of peace and of salvation.35 Christ is all and in all,36
and in Christ we are superior to all pagan philosophizing
and all Essenic asceticism and all Jewish or pagan ritualism
in worship."
5. Evidently, all of the tendencies we have been consid
ering would lead directly to esoteric circles in the Christian
Church and to the fostering of a spiritual pride and an
inclination to exclusiveness on the part of those who be
longed to them. The theosophists would substitute for the
old distinctions of race a new distinction of intellectual
aristocracy. They would form a Brahman caste in the
Christian Church. The ascetics and the ritualists probably
would not deny that those who did not follow them into
their extremes of discipline and ceremony were Christians,
88 Maclaren, op. cit,, pp. 192-3. * CoL 2. 10.
N CoL 2. 9. » Col. 3- «•

368 PAUL AND HIS.EPlSTLES
but they surely would hold that they were Christians of an
inferior sort. The very fact that they themselves submitted
to these things showed their belief that there was a superior
virtue in them. Now, against all of this tendency to the
formation of a spiritual aristocracy in the Christian Church
Paul sets forth in this epistle the great and inevitable fact
of a spiritual democracy in Christ. He says: "We pro
claim Christ, admonishing every man (not any little group
of cultured souls alone), and teaching every man (not any
esoteric circles of congenial spirits alone), in all wisdom
(which is to be shared by all alike and not to be the property
of any intellectual aristocracy alone), that we may present
every man perfect in Christ37 (so that the Christian Church
will be the long sought and only possible universal democ
racy). In this Christian Church there cannot be Greek and
Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian,
bondman, freeman; but Christ is all and in all."38
Many of the commentators think that the word reXetov,
perfect, in this passage means "fully initiated." It is a
word used in the Greek mysteries, and it was applied to
those who had passed through all the lower stages and had
been admitted to the innermost circle of the enlightened.
Only a favored few attained to this final degree, and they
were an esoteric aristocracy. Most of their disciples were
kept in stages of imperfect development. It is suggested
that Paul here is making a protest against all this exclusive
ness and mystery, and he says that in the Christian faith it
is his aim to admonish every man and to teach every man
in all wisdom, that he might present every man fully initiated
in Christ. It may be that the Christian democracy in
which every man was perfect in his own measure and
degree here is set in contrast with the select circles
of the mystagogues, and it may not. We are certain,
however, of the moral and spiritual meaning which Paul
87 Col. i. 28.
38 Col. 3. 11.

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 369
always put into these terms in his other epistles. The
Colossians were to be perfect in Christ.39 They were
to walk in Christ.40 They were to be complete in Christ,41
"pleromated, made full" in him. The Pleroma which dwelt
in him was to dwell in them, and they were to dwell in
Christ. It is very noticeable that in the address in 1. 2 the Colos
sians are located twice. They are said to be the saints and
faithful brethren, kv KoXoooalg, in Colossae, and in the same
sentence they are said to be the saints and faithful brethren,
ev Xptoroi, in Christ. They were in Colossae and they were
in Christ. They were in Christ just as surely as they were
in Colossae. They had their residence in Colossae and they
walked about in Colossae in the pursuit of their business
day by day ; and they had received Jesus Christ as their Lord,
and they walked in him as they went about their business
day by day. Colossae was not a very congenial environment.
The heathenism round about them would not be sympathetic
with the adherents of the new faith. Day by day they would
need to face much that was disagreeable and unpleasant in
all their relationships with Colossae; but day by day they
would have much comfort and all needed strengthening in
Christ. Matthew Arnold wrote about a minister in the slums
of the East End of London :
'Twas August, and the fierce sun overhead
Smote on the squalid streets of Bethnal Green,
And the pale weaver, through his windows seen
In Spitalfields, look'd thrice dispirited.
I met a preacher there I knew, and said;
"111 and o'erworked how fare you in this scene?" —
"Bravely!" said he; "for I of late have been
Much cheer'd with thoughts of Christ, the living bread."
That has something of the spirit of Paul in the use of this,
his characteristic phrase.
88 Col. 1. 28. » Col. 2. 6. 41 Col. 2. 10.

370 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
It has been said that all of Paul's theology could be
summed up in those two words, "In Christ." In the first
sentence in the companion Epistle to the Ephesians Paul
says that Christians have been blessed with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,42 that God chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world,43 that the
grace of God is freely bestowed upon us in Christ,** that
in Christ we have our redemption,45 that the good pleasure
of God was purposed in Christ*6 that that good pleasure
was to sum up all things in Christ*7 that in Christ we were
made a heritage,48 that in Christ we have hoped,49 and that
in Christ we were sealed with the Spirit of promise.50 It
is all in Christ. Eleven times the phrases are repeated in
that one sentence. It does seem that all of the Pauline
theology might be found in those two words. Paul thinks
that we owe everything to Christ, and that we have every
thing in Christ. The one answer to all these wrong theories
and practices in Colossae is, Christ!
VI. The Christological Epistle
This is preeminently the Christological epistle. "It is
the epistle which more fully and clearly than any other sets
forth the supreme divinity of Christ Jesus. It is the epistle
which more decisively than any other lays down for us the
rule that it is by union with Christ, not by ceremonial ob
servances or self-mortifying practices, that we can win the
victory over the sinful impulses of our lower nature." 51
It is the epistle which declares most definitely that in Christ
all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily, and that all
this indwelling fullness of God is to be appropriated by us

"Eph. i. 3. 47Eph. 1. 10.
«Eph. 1. 4. «Eph. 1. 11.
"Eph. 1. 6. 49Eph. 1. 12.
«Eph. 1. 7. s» Eph. 1. 13.
48 Eph. 1.9. » Farrar, Messages of the Books, p. 322.

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 371
in him. He is the "brimmed receptacle and the total con
tents" 52 of the essential attributes of God and of all the
gifts and graces of the Christian. It would be interesting to
go through the epistle and collect all the items of its testi
mony to the supremacy and the sufficiency of Christ. We
suggest only a few of them.
We have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, in
him.53 Pie is the image of the invisible God.54 All things
have been created in him and through him and unto him.55
Pascal once said: "Jesus Christ is the goal of all, and the
center to which all leads. Who knows him knows the reason
of all things." Paul here declares that he is the Author
and the End of creation, the Creative Agent and the Final
Cause of the universe. In him all things consist.56 He
maintains universal existence. Without him there would be
disintegration and chaos come again. He is the first-born
from the dead.57 He is the Head of the Church.57 He has
the preeminence in all things.57 He is the universal Medi
ator, through whom alone peace and reconciliation have
come.58 He is in us, the hope of glory.59 He is the explan
ation and the consummation of all the mysterious dispensa
tions of God.60 In him all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge are hidden.61
All of our wisdom, then, should be found in him. We
have no need to go searching into the pagan philosophies
and theosophies for any superior wisdom or knowledge they
may have. Christianity was superior to the Gnosticism and
the Manicheanism of Paul's day, as it is superior to the
occult Hindu theosophies of to-day. No one need turn to
them for enlightenment or comfort until he has exhausted
all the fullness of wisdom hidden in Christ. All wisdom

82 Ibid., p. 313. B7Col. 1. 18.
63 Col. 1. 14. raCol. 1. 20.
"Col. 1. 15. » Col. 1.27.
58 Col. 1. 16. 80 Col. 1. 25-27.
"Col. 1. 17. 81Col. 2. 3.

372 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
is in him, not a part of it only, not some single phase or
fragment, but the inexhaustible fullness of wisdom and
knowledge is in him. It may not be apparent at first sight.
It is not open to every careless passer-by. It is a hidden
treasure. It is to be appreciated only by long-continued
research. Let no man think that he knows all about it after
a mere surface survey. As the miners dig and delve for the
gold, so there must be earnest searching as for hid treasure
before anyone can know the secret depths of the truth. The
possibility of reaching the truth is open to all, but it involves
labor on the part of each. Superficial investigation will
be unsatisfactory. Thorough research will insure adequate
reward. The riches of the full assurance of understanding
of the mystery of God, even Christ, is not to be obtained by
any cheap observance of external asceticisms or ritualisms
and is not to be imparted through the persuasiveness of
any man's speech. It is given by Christ, and by Christ alone.
He promised that his spirit would lead into truth, and it is
a delusion to think that truth can be found anywhere else.
The Christian is to walk in Christ, rooted and builded up
in him, and established in faith in him.62 William Law
repeats Paul's exhortation here in these words : "Wherever
thou goest, whatever thou doest, at home or abroad, in the
field or at church, do all in a desire of union with Christ, in
imitation of his tempers and inclinations, and look upon
all as nothing but that which exercises and increases the
spirit and the life of Christ in thy soul. From morning to
night keep Jesus in thy heart, long for nothing, desire
nothing, hope for nothing, but to have all that is within thee
changed into the spirit and temper of the holy Jesus. Let
this be thy Christianity, thy church, and thy religion. For
this new birth in Christ thus firmly believed, and continually
desired, will do everything that thou wantest to have done
in thee; it will dry up all the springs of vice, stop all the
62 Col. 2. 6, 7.

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 373
workings of evil in thy nature; it will bring all that is good
into thee; it will open all the gospel within thee, and thou
wilt know what it is to be taught of God. This longing
desire of thy heart to be one with Christ will soon put a
stop to all the vanity of thy life, and nothing will be admitted
to enter into thy heart or proceed from it but what comes
from God and returns to God ; thou wilt soon be, as it were,
tied and bound in the chains of all holy affections and de
sires; thy mouth will have a watch set upon it, thine ears
would willingly hear nothing that does not tend to God, nor
thine eyes be open but to see and find occasions for doing
good." 63
John Wesley read William Law's books while he was
seeking for victory in his personal Christian experience and
he says : "They convinced me more than ever of the exceed
ing height and depth and breadth of the law of God. The
light flowed in so mightily upon my soul that everything
appeared in a new view. I cried to God for help ; resolved
as I had never done before, not to prolong the time of obey
ing him." 64 There is much of the spirit of Paul and of
John in the writings of William Law, and in the extract we
have given we have his conception of what Paul meant
when he said, "Walk in Christ !"
"In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." 65
John said, "The Logos was with God and was God . . .
and the Logos became flesh."66 This statement in Colos
sians is the closest parallel in the writings of Paul, and,
indeed, in the entire New Testament, to these declarations
of John. It is interesting to see that when Paul reaches his
highest heights, as in that thirteenth chapter of First Cor
inthians and in certain passages of these Epistles to the

83 Law, Spirit of Prayer, pp. 49, 50.
84 Wesley, Works, iii, p. 71.
65 Col. 2. 9.
"John 1. 1, 14.

374 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Colossians and the Ephesians, he most closely approximates
the characteristic and continuous utterances of John. John
was the most sublime theologian and the greatest saint.
Paul at his best comes within sight of the plane on which
John continually lived.
It would be well to remember also in connection with this
passage that whatever Pleroma Paul here posits of the
Christ he goes on in the same sentence to say is accessible
to us and we are to incarnate it even as he. "All the fullness
of God is in him, that from him it may pass into us. We
might start back from such bold words if we did not re
member that the same apostle who here tells us that that
fullness dwells in Jesus, crowns his wonderful prayer for
the Ephesian Christians with that daring petition, That ye
may be filled with all the fullness of God. The treasure was
lodged in the earthen vessel of Christ's manhood that it
might be within our reach. . . . The process of receiving
of all the divine fullness is a continuous one. We can but
be approximating to the possession of the infinite treasure
which is ours in Christ ; and since the treasure is infinite, and
we can indefinitely grow in capacity of receiving God, there
must be an eternal continuance of the filling and an eternal
increase of the measure of what fills us. Our natures are
elastic ; and in love and knowledge, as well as in purity and
capacity for blessedness, there are no bounds to be set to
their possible expansion.
"They will be widened by bliss into a greater capacity for
bliss. The indwelling Christ will enlarge the place of his
habitation, and as the walls stretch and the roofs soar, he
will fill the greater house with the light of his presence and
the fragrance of his name. The condition of this continu
ous reception of the abundant gift of a divine life is abiding
in Jesus. It is in him that we are being filled full — and it is
only so long as we continue in him that we continue full.
We cannot bear away our supplies, as one might a full bucket
from a well, and keep it full. All the grace will trickle out

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 375
and disappear unless we live in constant union with our
Lord, whose Spirit passes into our deadness only so long
as we are joined to him." 67 As we once heard it said, it
is like filling a bowl with milk in the evening and filling a
baby. In the morning the bowl is still full, but the baby is
empty ; and the difference between the two is that the bowl
is dead and the baby is living. Life needs a constant supply
to keep it alive and to give it any increase of strength and
of powers. The life of the Christian must come from Christ,
and from Christ alone.
Christ is the Head of all principalities and powers, having
despoiled them and triumphed over them on the cross.68
Christ is the single source of all spiritual life.69 Christ is
seated on the right hand of God.70 He will be manifested
in glory.71 He is all and in all.72 He is the one whom we
serve.73 We have not begun to exhaust what this epistle
has to tell us of Christ. We have not noticed some almost
equally important passages; but sufficient have been cited
to show that this epistle is preeminently the Christological
epistle of the New Testament. We value it chiefly because
in it Christ is shown to be supreme and the sufficient Medi
ator, precluding all angel worship in the Christian Church
and all theories of emanations in Christian philosophy ; and
because in Christ there is proven the necessity for a Chris
tian democracy, precluding all arrogant aristocracies and
esoteric circles in the Christian faith ; and because in Christ
there is set forth the freedom of the Christian from all
necessity of ascetic practices and ritualistic mummeries and
mummies, since all his rights and privileges are guaranteed
to him in Christ alone.
The lines ascribed to Saint Patrick summarize the con-

87 Maclaren, op. cit., pp. 196-7- " Col. 3. 4.
88 Col. 2. io, 15. "Col. 3. 11.
89 Col. 2. 19. n Col. 3. 24.
7» Col. 3. 1.

376 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
ception of what Christ may be to the believer, as set forth
in this epistle by Paul.
Christ, as a light
Illumine and guide me!
Christ as a shield o'ershadow and cover me!
Christ be under me, Christ be over me!
Christ be beside me
On left hand and right!
Christ be before me, behind me, about me,
Christ this day be within and without me!
Christ, the lowly and meek,
Christ, the All-Powerful, be
In the heart of each to whom I speak,
In the mouth of each who speaks to me!
In all who draw near me
Or see me or hear me.
Bengel said, ''Ev airto _-.pi7ra._-T_. In eo ambulate; in illo
solo. Hie Epistola scopus est — Walk in Christ, in Christ
alone. This is the scope of the Epistle." Calvin said, "Brevis
Epistola, sed nucleum Evangelii coAtinens — The epistle is
short, but containing the kernel of the gospel."
VII. Genuineness of the Epistle
The external evidence is good. The epistle is mentioned
by Irenaeus, Clement, and Tertullian. It may be quoted by
Justin Martyr, who calls Christ "the firstborn of all crea
tion." It seems to be quoted also in the Epistle of Barnabas.
It was in Marcion's collection of the Pauline letters. It was
included in the canonical list of the Muratorian Fragment,
as well as in the Itala and the Peshito, the bibles of the
Western and the Eastern church. To most modern critics
the internal evidence is just as good. Attempts were made
to disprove the genuineness of the epistle on the ground that
there were new terms in it which Paul had not used in his
former epistles, and on the further ground that there was a
development of the Christological and other doctrine beyond

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS 377
the stages represented in these earlier and undisputed writ
ings. All such criticism proceeds upon the supposition that
Paul must be limited to a narrow vocabulary and a stereo
typed style and must be considered incapable of any develop
ment of his ideas after they once have been expressed. That
never has been true of any genius, and the tendency is to
discount any such criticism as applied to Paul. Weiss is
sure that "the wealth of Paul's intellect lent him new expres
sions for the new thoughts that stirred him at this time, giv
ing him power to present old truths in a new form," 74 and
the best modern authorities are ready to agree with him and
to recognize the genuineness of the epistle. Of these we
name only von Soden, Jiilicher, Harnack, Zahn, Lightfoot,
Sanday, Moffatt, Vincent, and Adeney.
74 Weiss, Introduction, I, p. 332.

CHAPTER XI
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS

CHAPTER XI
THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
I. The Epistle from Laodicea and the Epistle to the
Ephesians
Near the close of the Epistle to the Colossians Paul writes,
"When this epistle hath been read among you, cause that it
be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye
also read the epistle from Laodicea." 1 What epistle is this
to which Paul refers ? There is no Epistle to the Laodiceans
in our New Testament canon. Yet the Laodiceans had an
epistle which they had written to Paul or which Paul had
written to them, or which somebody else had written and
which Paul considered of enough importance to be sent for
by the Colossians and to be read by them.
i. The Epistle to the Laodiceans. (i) Its Contents.
We said that the Epistle to the Laodiceans is not in our
New Testament, and that is true, but there is an Epistle to
the Laodiceans in existence which reads as follows : "Here
beginneth the Epistle to the Laodiceans which is not in the
Canon. Paul, an apostle, not of men nor by man, but by
Jesus Christ, to the brethren who are at Laodicea ; grace to
you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. I give thanks to God in all my prayers that
you are dwelling, and abiding in him, awaiting the behest in
the day of doom. For neither the vain speaking of some
unwise men has hindered you, the which would turn you
from the truth of the gospel which is preached by me. And
now those who are mine to the profit of the truth of the
» Col. 4. 16. 38i

382 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
gospel, God shall make deserving and doing graciousness of
works and having health of everlasting life. And now my
bonds are manifest which I suffer in Christ Jesus and in
which I am glad and rejoice. And that is to me everlasting
health, that this same thing be done by your prayers and
ministering of the Holy Ghost, either by life or by death.
Forsooth to me it is life to live in Christ, and to die is joy.
And his mercy shall do in you the same thing, that ye may
have the same love, and that ye be of one will. Therefore,
ye well-beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, and walk ye in
the dread of God, as ye have heard in my presence ; and life
shall be to you without end. Assuredly, it is God who work
eth in you. And, my well-beloved brethren, do ye without
any withdrawing whatever things ye do. Rejoice in Christ
and eschew the men defiled with lucre or foul winning. Let
all your asking be open toward God and be ye steadfast in
the knowledge of Christ. And do ye the things that be holy
and true and chaste and just and able to be loved ; and keep
ye in heart the things that ye have heard and received ; and
peace shall be to you. All holy men greet you. The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. And cause ye
that the epistle of the Colossians be read to you. Here
endeth the epistle to the Laodiceans." 2
(2) Its Character. Lightfoot says of this epistle that it
"is a cento of Pauline phrases strung together without any
definite connexion or any clear object. They are taken
chiefly from the Epistle to the Philippians. . . . The
apostle's injunction in Col. 4. 16 suggested the forgery, and
such currency as it ever attained was due to the support
which that passage was supposed to give it. Unlike most
forgeries, it had no ulterior aim. It was not framed to
advance any particular opinions, whether heterodox or

2 For the old English, see Westcott, History of the Canon, p. 461.
A translation into more modern English may be found in The New
Century Bible. Ephesians, Appendix A, p. 179.

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 383
orthodox. It has no doctrinal peculiarities. Thus it is quite
harmless, so far as falsity and stupidity combined can ever
be regarded as harmless." 3
(3) Its History. The history of this Epistle to the
Laodiceans "forms one of the most interesting episodes in
the literary history of the Bible." * It probably was written
in Greek and translated into Latin. It was widely known
before the end of the fourth century. It was condemned as
apocryphal by Jerome, A. D. 400, Theodore of Mopsuestia,
A. D. 450, and Theodoret, A. D. 450, and by the Second
Council of Nicaea, A. D. 787. On the other hand, Gregory
the Great declared it to be genuine, A. D. 550-600. It is in
one of the two most ancient copies of the Vulgate, and it
occurs very frequently in the Western manuscripts of the
Bible. It is found in the great Gothic Bible of Toledo, which
belongs to the eighth century, in the Book of Armagh, A. D.
807, and in Charlemagne's Bible of the ninth century, and
in the great Bible of the King's Library and other splendid
copies probably prepared for church use and now preserved
with the two last named in the British Museum. It passed
from the Latin Bibles into the early vernacular versions.
Some fourteen editions of the German Bible contained it
before Luther's day. It was in the first Bohemian Bible of
1488, and also in the Albigensian version made at Lyons.
It was not included in Wiclif 's Bible, but it was added to it
in some of the later manuscripts. "Thus for more than nine
centuries this forged epistle hovered about the doors of the
sacred canon, without either finding admission or being per
emptorily excluded. At length the revival of learning dealt
its deathblow to this as to so many other spurious preten
sions. As a rule, Roman Catholics and Reformers were
equally strong in their condemnation of its worthlessness.
. . . The dawn of the Reformation effectually scared away

8 Lightfoot, Colossians, pp. 279, 280.
4 Westcott, The Canon of the New Testament, p. 458.

384 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
this ghost of a Pauline epistle, and it will not again be suf
fered to haunt the mind of the church." 5
2. Hypotheses. Having disposed of this spurious Epistle
to the Laodiceans in this summary fashion, Lightfoot dis
cusses fourteen other hypotheses concerning the real Epistle
from Laodicea mentioned in the Epistle to the Colossians.
He concludes that it was not an epistle written by the Laodi
ceans to Paul or to Epaphras or to the Colossians, and that
it was not an epistle written by Paul while resident in
Laodicea, and that it was not an epistle written to the
Laodiceans by John or Luke or Epaphras or Paul, and that
it is not a lost epistle, and that it cannot be identified with
any other of the canonical' epistles which some have sug
gested in this connection, either Hebrews or First or Second
Thessalonians or Galatians or Philemon or First Timothy,
but that it can be identified with the Epistle to the Ephesians,
and therefore is in the New Testament canon to-day.
3. Conclusion. The epistle from Laodicea mentioned by
Paul in the Epistle to the Colossians is our Epistle to the
Ephesians which, having been brought to Laodicea and there
read, was to be forwarded to the next city eastward in the
Lycus valley that the Christians .at Colossae also might have
the benefit of its contents. They had an epistle of their own
which they could exchange with the Laodiceans, and both of .
the churches could profit with the reading of both the
epistles. Tertullian tells us twice that Marcion called our
Epistle to the Ephesians the Epistle to the Laodiceans, and
we will see later that there is reason to suppose that the
Epistle to the Ephesians was an encyclical letter, sent from
city to city through Asia Minor and so reaching Laodicea
and Colossae in turn. Accepting this identification of the
Epistle to the Ephesians with "the epistle from Laodicea,"
we have in Col. 4. 16 a strong link of connection between the
two epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians. There are

6 Lightfoot, op. cit., pp. 297, 298.

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 385
many other facts which unite these two epistles closely to
gether, and we shall turn next to these.
II. The Epistle to the Colossians and the Epistle
to the Ephesians
1. Resemblances. (1) These are both prison epistles.6
(2) Tychicus is intrusted with them both.7 Written from
the same place and carried by the same man, it would not be
surprising if they were written at nearly the same time, and
they discussed similar themes in similar style. This we find
to be true of them. (3) The salutations practically are the
same. (4) The general structure of the two epistles is the
same. (5) They have the same general subjects and the
same leading thoughts. "The relations of Christ to the
universe and to the church are a dominant theme in both;
the references to the spirit-world and its principalities and
powers, and to the need of divine wisdom and knowledge
among the readers, are common ; and the ethical teaching is
strikingly similar, both in its precepts and in its lines of
application." 8 (6) There are most remarkable parallel
passages. Compare Eph. 1. 7 with Col. 1. 14; Eph. 1. 10
with Col. 1. 20; Eph. 1. 15-17 with Col. 1. 3, 4; Eph. 1. 18
with Col. 1. 27; Eph. 1. 19 with Col. 2. 12; Eph.
1. 21-23 with Col. 1. 16-19. These examples are taken from
the first chapter of Ephesians only, and a similar list can be
made out for all the other chapters as well. (7) There are
the same words and phrases and similitudes, the same coun
sels and exhortations. There are similar terms, similar doc
trines, and similar descriptions. Samuel Davidson reckons
that "out of the one hundred and fifty-five verses contained
in the Epistle to the Ephesians seventy-eight contain expres
sions identical with those in the Colossian letter." 9 Adam

• Col. 4. 10; Eph. 6. 20.
7 Col. 4. 7-9; Eph. 6. 21, 22.
• Shaw, op. cit., p. 343.
• Davidson, Introduction, II, p. 276.

386 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Clarke says, "No other two epistles exhibit so many marks of
correspondency and resemblance." Farrar sums up the
truth in one sentence, "They are twin sisters of close re
semblance yet marked individuality, whose faces, alike yet
different, can only be explained by their common parent
age." 10 We conclude that they were written by the same
man at about the same time, and that they were addressed to
churches in about the same general environment and spirit
ual condition.
2. Differences, (i) In Colossians the personal element is
more apparent than in Ephesians. Paul has concrete rela
tions in mind as he writes Colossians and only general truth
in his thought as he writes Ephesians. Colossians is Pauline
throughout, and Ephesians is more Johannine than any other
writing of Paul. Colossians has personal references, local
allusions, and definite errors in view ; in Ephesians the truth
expressed is of universal application and is not to be appro
priated to any particular individuals or place. (2) Colos
sians is briefer, more formal, and more logical. Ephesians
is longer, more rhetorical, and more mystical. They differ
in length and they differ in style. (3) Colossians is more
controversial and polemical; Ephesians is more placid and
poetical. Farrar says, "In Colossians Paul is the soldier;
in Ephesians the builder." n Findlay puts it in this way :
"Colossians is a letter of discussion, Ephesians of reflection.
In the former we behold Paul in spiritual conflict, in the
latter his soul is at rest." Then he quotes the following
figure as descriptive of their differing styles: "The first is
like the mountain stream cleaving its way with swift pas
sage, by deep ravines and sudden, broken turnings, through
some barrier thrown across its path ; the second is the far-
spreading lake, in which its chafed waters find rest, mirror
ing in their clear depths the eternal heavens above." 12 In
10 Farrar, Messages, p. 326.
n Life of Paul, p. 632.
12 Findlay, The Epistles of Paul, p. 184.

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 387
Colossians there is the clash of opposing arms, the crash of
antagonistic creeds; in Ephesians there is the peace of a
service of undisturbed praise and prayer. Colossians is a
challenge to conflict, abrupt, forcible, earnest; Ephesians is
a call to quiet meditation in all calmness of spirit and rest
of soul. In Colossians there is the lightning flash and the
thunder roll ; in Ephesians the storm has been followed with
a flood of sunshine and the whole landscape is bathed iu
light and in peace. (4) The subjects are much alike, but not
identical. Colossians is the Christological epistle ; Ephesians
is the epistle of the holy catholic church. In Colossians the
relation between Christ and the universe is set before us, and
in Ephesians the relation between Christ and the church.
(5) Colossians has only one allusion to the Old Testament
and no quotation from it; in Ephesians there are eight or
nine quotations, and the Old Testament coloring is more
decided throughout. (6) One of the characteristic phrases
of Ephesians, "the heavenlies," is not to be found in Colos
sians at all. (7) The work of the Holy Spirit is emphasized
much more in Ephesians than in Colossians. There are
twelve references to it in the former and only one in the
latter. (8) There are five paragraphs peculiar to Ephesians,
the unity of the church of the redeemed with its foreordained
perfection and its universal outlook (1. 3-14), the ideal unity
working to the building up of the Body of Christ in love
(4. 4-16), contrast between the walk in the light and the
works of darkness (5. 8-14), the mystery of marriage as a
symbol of the union between Christ and his church (5.
22-33), ^e whole panoply of God insuring the Christian's
safety and victory and peace (6. 10-17). These five para
graphs are not paralleled in Colossians.
3. Their Order in Time of Composition. Lightfoot has
suggested that "the Epistle to the Ephesians stands to the
Epistle to the Colossians in very much the same relation as
the Romans to the Galatians. The one is the general and
systematic exposition of the same truths which appear in a

388 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
special bearing in the other." 13 Weiss deems it "most
natural to suppose that the epistle designed for concrete
needs was written first; wider and freer expression being
then given by the apostle in a letter of more general character
to the thoughts by which he was stirred." 14 Colossians was
called forth by a special emergency, and, having written it,
Paul found himself sufficiently interested in the new theme
to elaborate it in a second epistle ; and naturally, the second
treatment was fuller and freer, more rounded and rhythmical.
Cut loose from all local entanglements, it was ready to rise
into the heavenlies and abide there, like a new aeroplane
wheeling where it would and celebrating the conquest of an
element hitherto never overcome. Colossians was written
first and Ephesians is the author's improvement upon it.
Note that little word "also" in Eph. 6. 21 — "That ye also
may know my affairs," Tychicus will tell you all about me.
The Epistle to the Colossians had insured this knowledge
there at Colossae, and now that those addressed in this epistle
may also know these things this second epistle is written and
Tychicus is intrusted with it as well as with the other two,
to Philemon and to the Colossians.
III. General Characteristics of the Epistle
1. Its Catholicity. Pfleiderer says, "The idea of catho
licity is here roused to dogmatic definiteness and predomi
nant significance." 15 We have a wider outlook in this
epistle than in any other. It is the universal church Paul has
in mind as he writes, the church of all of the nations and of
all the ages. He thinks of it with its present needs but also
with its future glories. He sees the victory from afar and
by faith he brings it nigh. The word "all" occurs in this
epistle fifty-one times. God worketh all things after the

13 Lightfoot, Biblical Essays, p. 395.
14 Weiss, Introduction, I, p. 347.
16 Pfleiderer, Paulinism, II, p. 164.

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 389
counsel of his will. He sums up all things in Christ. He
filleth all in all. All things are put into subjection under his
feet. He sits far above all rule, and authority, and power,
and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in
this world, but also in that which is to come. He is able
to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.
The shield of faith is able to quench all the fiery darts of
the evil one. The victory of the Christian is complete. The
sovereignty of the Christ is a/.-embracing. The holy catholic
church is to be supreme in the universe. It is the Body of
Him who filleth all in all.
2. Its Comprehensiveness. We have here the sum
mation of all the Pauline thought along this line. One half
of the epistle is given up to theology, and it is the last lengthy
theological discussion we have from Paul's pen. A single
paragraph in Philippians and single sentences in the Pastoral
Epistles may have some theological importance and may
have been written later, but there is nothing in them to com
pare with these beginning chapters of the Epistle to the
Ephesians. Here the aged seer formulates his faith and
his hope for the last time, and his creed is no dry-as-dust
shibboleth or lifeless form. It is a paean of praise from
beginning to end. The latter half of the epistle is given to
practical ethics, and the principles are laid down which may
regulate the whole of human conduct aright. The sweep of
Paul's thought takes in the Gentile and the Jew, the heaven
and the earth, the past and the present, and the timeless
ages to come. It is a little volume of comprehensive import.
It is more of a book than a letter. The letter form in which
it is written is unessential, and easily might be taken away.
It is only the wrapping of the book. The value is all within.
3. Its Literary Finish. This epistle is a work of art. Its
sublimity of thought is matched by its beauty of expression.
Most of the Pauline letters were written at white heat and
bear the traces of great haste in their composition. The
Epistle to the Romans seems to have been written in a period

390 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
of comparative leisure, but the Epistle to the Ephesians is
written from a prison cell, where Paul probably was more
free from interruption than he could have been at any time at
Corinth. At any rate, Paul had thought his way through this
line of reasoning and exhortation in the composition of the
Epistle to the Colossians, and this epistle represents his
second thought upon these themes. He has pondered them
long, and now that he writes them down, his periods take
an unwonted elegance; he finds himself rising into unpre
cedented eloquence. His rapt soul expresses itself in lyric
beauty, in reverent, rhythmic reasoning which rises to the
level of an epic.
Von Soden declares that the whole first part has a litur
gical character and seems like one of those hymns in which
the members of the church are directed to teach and admon
ish one another. Kay calls it "the Christian's Sixty-eighth
Psalm." Schaff says it is "a solemn liturgy, and ode to
Christ and his spotless bride, the Song of Songs in the New
Testament." 16 Lock affirms that "when Paul wrote this
letter he was, as at Philippi, singing hymns in prison." 17
The language of this epistle has been caught up by multitudes
of hymn-writers in the modern church. Bunyan's immortal
allegory got its suggestion and much of its inspiration here.
The world's literature would suffer an irreparable loss if
all the conceptions furnished it from this epistle were to
be swept away.
4. Its Lofty Flights. This epistle has been called "the
epistle of the heavenlies," "the third heaven epistle," and
"the epistle of the ascension." Its chapters have been called
"the Alps of the New Testament." It soars away into the
highest heights of speculation. It begins with one sentence
with seven relative clauses "which rise like a thick cloud of
incense higher and higher to the very throne of God." 16

13 Schaff, op. cit., I, p. 780.
17 Hastings's Bible Dictionary, I, p. 720.

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 391
Note the characteristic words in this epistle — the heavenlies,
spiritual, glory, mystery, plenitude, light, love, grace, and
peace. These are the stars and the suns which illuminate the
firmament of Paul's thought here. We need telescopes of
spiritual intuition to reach or grasp any clear notion of these
realities in Paul's experience and teaching. He is at his
highest pitch of inspiration. He is at his best of thinking
and writing. Paul sits in his prison cell, but he sits at the
same time in the heavenly places with Christ.
IV. Characteristic Conceptions of the Epistle
1. God. (1) His Will. Salmond says of this epistle that
"it is a distinctively theological epistle, in the sense in which
the Epistle to the Romans is distinctively anthropological or
psychological, and that to the Colossians Christological. . . .
What gives it its peculiar majesty is the way in which it
carries everything back to God himself, his will, his eternal
purpose and counsel. . . . The great subjects of predes
tination and the divine plan, eternal in the mind of God,
centering in Christ and fulfilled in him, have a larger and
a more definite place in this epistle than in any other." 18
Paul is an apostle by the will of God (1. 1). God has fore
ordained us unto adoption according to the good pleasure
of his will (1. 5). He has made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which
he purposed in him (1. 9). We were foreordained to be a
heritage, according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his will (1. 11). The manifold
wisdom of God is now made known through the church,
according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ
Jesus our Lord (3. 11). We are to understand what the
will of the Lord is (5. 17). We are to do the will of God
from the heart (6. 6).
(2) His Fatherhood. The will of God is the will of our

18 Salmond, Commentary on Ephesians, p. 237,

392 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Father. Emphasis is laid in this epistle upon the Fatherhood
of God as well as his foreordination. Eight times the title
"Father" is given to him ; and in the Epistle to the Romans,
which is much longer, it occurs only four times. The epistle
begins, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ (i. 3). He is our Father (1. 2). He is the Father
of all (4. 6). He is the Father of glory (1. 17). He is the
Father (2. 18; 5. 20; 6. 23), from whom every family in
heaven and on earth is named (3. 14).
(3) His Grace. It is in the salutation, Grace to you and
peace with God (1. 2). It is in the benediction, Grace be
with all them that love our Lord (6. 24). Again and again
through the epistle the gift of grace is emphasized. Salva
tion is by grace. It is all to the glory of God's grace. Thir
teen times the word occurs. "The Grace of God" would be
a good title for the first three chapters. "The Grace of God
as Manifested in Christian Living" would be a good title
for the last three chapters. "By grace have ye been saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God" — that is the text of the whole discussion.19
2. Unity. The Lord prayed for all believers that they
might be one, even as he and the Father were one,20 and
Lock declares that this whole epistle "might be described
as an expression of thanksgiving that the Lord's prayer for
his church as embodied in John 17 was in process of ful
fillment." He points out that almost every verse' in that
seventeenth chapter of John finds a parallel in this epistle:
The stress on God's fatherhood in verse 1, the power over
all flesh in verse 2, life identified with knowledge in verse 3,
the preexistent glory of Christ in verse 5, the revelation to a
few in verse 6, Christ glorified in his disciples in verse 10,
the prayer for unity based upon God's unity in verse 11,
Christ's joy fulfilled in his disciples in verse 12, the antag-

19 Eph. 2. 8.
20 John 17. 21-23.

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 393
onism of the world in verse 14, the protection from the evil
one in verse 15, sanctification by truth in verse 17, the
unity of Christians as a means of promoting Christ's work
in verse 21, God's love for Christians like His love for Christ
in verse 23, and God's love for Christ before the founda
tion of the world in verse 24. These parallels are so striking
that Lock suggests that Paul must have heard the very words
used by Jesus in this closing prayer of his ministry, possibly
from the lips of John himself at the time when they were
discussing the terms of unity between Jew and Gentile as
Christian believers through apostolic preaching. There at
Jerusalem John may have repeated the Lord's prayer for
unity again and again, and it may have been chiefly respon
sible for the amicable settlement of all differences at that
time.21 This is the epistle of Church Unity. It sets forth
the essentials of unity among the members of the church
catholic, the unity of the individual believer with Christ, the
unity of all things in God.
(1) In Christ. Christ and the Christian are one. The
believer's identification with Christ is set forth in this epistle
more clearly than ever before. It is a chief theme in all of
the Pauline epistles. The life of the Christian is to be a life
in Christ. Those two words "in Christ" sum up the Pauline
theology. They occur one hundred and seventy-six times in
Paul's epistles, thirty-six times in the Epistle to the Ephe
sians, and only once in the Epistle to the Colossians. They
express the absoluteness of the union between Christ and
the Christian. For the Christian to live is Christ. In spirit
and in experience he is one with his Lord. This relation
between the individual believer and Christ leads to a like
relation between the universal church and the Christ. It is
his Building, fitly framed together, and growing into a holy
temple in the Lord (2. 21). It is his Bride, made glorious,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and with-

21 Hastings's Rible Dictionary, I, pp. 714, 716,

394 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
out blemish (5. 27). The unity of the Building in which
Christ is the chief corner stone and the believers are built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets into the
one habitation of God, and the unity of the marriage rela
tion in which the Bride becomes with her husband one flesh
do not seem to satisfy the demands of the apostle's thought
at this point. He calls the church the Body of Christ ( 1. 23 ;
4. 4, 12, 13), and this is said to be the highest and holiest
name ever given to it. These are not mere figures of speech
to Paul. They represent a great Divine-Human reality.
The union of Christ with the church is expressed in the
reciprocal terms: He is its Saviour (5. 23). He is its
_ornerstone (2. 20). He is its Husband (5. 25). He is its
Head (1.22; 4. 15; 5. 23).
(2) In the Spirit. The words "Spirit" and "spiritual"
occur thirteen times in the epistle, and only once in the
Epistle to the Colossians: God hath blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in Christ (1. 3). We are sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise (1. 13). He will be to us a Spirit
of wisdom and revelation (1. 17). We will have our access
in one Spirit unto the Father (2. 18). We become a habita
tion of God in the Spirit (2. 22). The mystery of Christ
hath been revealed in the Spirit (3. 5). We are strength
ened with power through his Spirit (3. 16). We are to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (4. 3). We
are not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God (4. 30). We are
to be filled with the Spirit (5. 18). The sword of the Spirit
is the word of God (6. 17). We are to pray at all seasons
in the Spirit (6. 18). The Holy Spirit of God is the Spirit
of Sealing, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Access, the
Spirit of Revelation, the Spirit of Missions, the Spirit of
Unity, the Spirit of Power, the Spirit of Prayer. We are
to be renewed in the spirit of our minds until it becomes
identical with that of the Spirit of God (4. 23), and in that
unity of the Spirit we will find the spirit of unity in the
church,

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 395
(3) In Love. The word "love" occurs nineteen times in
this epistle, more often than in the Epistle to the Galatians
or the Epistle to the Romans. Unity in Christ and in the
Spirit is unity in love. Christ is the Beloved (1. 6). We
are to be holy in love (1.4). God's great love wherewith he
loved us is the ground of our salvation (2. 4). We are to
show love to all the saints (1. 15). We are to be rooted and
grounded in love (3. 17) . We are to know the love of Christ
that passeth knowledge (3. 19). We are to forbear one
another in love (4. 2). We are to speak the truth in love
(4. 15). The church is to build itself up in love (4. 16).
We are to walk in love, even as Christ also loved us (5. 2).
Husbands are to love their wives even as Christ loved the
church (5. 25, 28, 33). The benediction prays for peace
and love with faith for all the brethren, and grace for all
them that love the Lord (6. 23, 24). The secret of unity is
to be found in love for the Lord and love for all the brethren.
The unity is not necessarily in organization or in catechism
or creed. It is a unity in Christ, in the Spirit, in love.
Protestants, Roman Catholics, Greek Catholics may unite in
these. The word "peace" occurs eight times in the epistle. The
thought of unity which runs through the epistle finds ex
pression in an unusual number of Greek compounds, both
nouns and verbs, setting forth the closeness of the connec
tion existing between God and his creatures, God and man,
and all the members of the Christian Church. Some of these
compounds are absolutely unique, seemingly manufactured
by the apostle to emphasize his conception of the fellowship
in Christ (3. 6). Others, like them in their use if not in
their uniqueness, may be found in 2. 5, 6, 19, 22 ; 4. 3, 16.
3. The phrase, the heavenlies, is characteristic of this
epistle. 4. True knowledge is emphasized from beginning
to end. 5. Other frequently recurring words are "fullness"
and "filling," six times; "mystery," , six times; "glory," seven
times; "all," fifty-one times.

396 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
V. Outline of the Epistle
I. Doctrinal — Chapters I to 3.
1. Salutation, 1. 1,2.
2. Doxology for spiritual blessings, 1. 3-14.
3. Thanksgiving and prayer for the saints, 1. 15-23.
4. Salvation by grace, 2. 1-10.
5. Gentile and Jew united in the Spirit, 2. 11-22.
6. Paul's personal relation to his gospel, 3. 1-13.
7. Prayer for all believers, 3. 14-19.
8. Doxology, 3. 20, 21.
II. Practical — Chapters 4 to 6.
1. The unity of the church as the body of Christ, 4. I- 1 6.
2. Putting on the new man, 4. 17-24.
3. Things to avoid, 4. 25-32.
4. Walk in love, 5. 1,2.
5. Walk as children of light, 5. 3-14.
6. Walk as wise, 5. 15-21.
7. Wives and husbands, 5. 22-33.
8. Children and parents, 6. 1-4.
9. Servants and masters, 6. 5-9.
10. The panoply of God, 6. 10-20.
11. Tychicus sent, 6. 21, 22.
12. Benediction, 6. 23, 24.
As a memory aid we suggest an alliterative outline under
eight heads, including only the epistle proper and adding the
salutation at one end and the benediction at the other: 1. A
Christian Greeting (1. 1, 2). 2. The Christian's Praise
(1. 3-14). 3. A Christian's Prayer (1. 15-23). 4. A Chris
tian's Profession of Faith (2. 1-22). 5. A Christian
Preacher (3. 1-13). 6. A Christian Prayer (3. 14-21). 7.
The Christian Peripatetic (4. 1-6. 9). 8. The Christian
Panoply (6. 10-20). 9. A Christian Paraclete (6. 21, 22).
10. A Christian Benediction (6. 23-24).
VI. Conclusions
1. Genuineness. The most ancient authorities which we
can quote are unanimous in assigning the Epistle to the
Ephesians to Paul. We can trace some evidence of its cir-

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 397
culation at the close of the first century or the very begin
ning of the second century, and by the close of the second
century it was widely known and generally used and always
ascribed to the authorship of Paul. It may be mentioned,
as we have seen, in the New Testament itself, in Col. 4. 16.
There arc phrases which seem like echoes of this epistle in
Clement of Rome, the Teaching of the Apostles, and the
Epistle of Barnabas. Ignatius uses the characteristic expres
sions of the epistle, and possible quotations from it are found
in Polycarp and Hermas. Hippolytus tells us that the
Valentinians quoted Eph. 3. 4-18 as Scripture. With
Irenaeus the testimony becomes as clear as possible, for he
quotes the epistle by name and says that Paul was its author.
The Muratorian Canon includes Ephesus as one of the
churches to which Paul wrote his epistles. Clement of Alex
andria and Tertullian are equally explicit, and from their
time on the testimony is continuous and clear.
It has been said that if the external evidence for this
epistle is inadequate, then we have no adequate evidence
that Virgil wrote the Georgics, or Horace the Odes, or
Augustine the Confessions.22 Nevertheless, some modern
scholars have doubted or denied the Pauline authorship.
Schleiermacher, De Wette, Weizsacker, Ewald, Baur,
Holtzmann, Renan, Schwegler, Davidson, Cone, Moffatt,
Dobschiitz, Pfleiderer, Clemen, Scott, and von Soden are
among them. Jiilicher cannot decide for or against the
authenticity of the epistle, but Harnack thinks that the
weight of external testimony in its favor is decisive. Weiss,
Zahn, Shaw, Knowling, Liinemann, Lock, Robertson, Bacon,
Schenkel, Salmon, and Godet agree. McGiffert concludes
that the authenticity of the Epistle to the Colossians carries
with it that of its companion epistle. Dr. Hort was sure
that Ephesians bore "the impress of Paul's wonderful mind."
Dr. J. S. Howson, the biographer of Paul, after a lifetime

22 The Temple Bible, Ephesians, p. xv.

398 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
given to the study of the Pauline epistles, said, "No one but
Paul could have been the writer" of Ephesians. The conclu
sion of the article on Ephesians in the Standard Bible Dic
tionary says, "Ephesians stands thus as an almost necessary
letter for Paul, in view of the lines along which his thought
was developing and the increasingly significant problems pre
sented by his work." 23 Practically all of the English com
mentators maintain its genuineness.
2. An Encyclical. The address to "the saints that are at
Ephesus" is found in all the manuscripts of the epistle, both
uncial and cursive, except three. It is found also in all the
versions. As far as we know, the whole ancient church
except Marcion — who calls this the Epistle to the Laodiceans
— called the epistle by the title to which we are accustomed,
"The Epistle to the Ephesians." However, there are some
strange phenomena in the epistle itself which make us think
that it cannot have been written for the Ephesians exclu
sively :
(i) Paul had lived in Ephesus longer than in any other
city visited by him in his missionary labors. He must have
had a host of personal acquaintances and friends in the
church there. Yet this Epistle to the Ephesians has no per
sonal greetings of any kind. He has several personal salu
tations in the Epistle to the Colossians, though he never had
been in Colossae. He has a score and more of personal salu
tations at the close of the Epistle to the Romans, though he
never had been as far west as Rome. Possibly the very fact
that he had such a multitude of friends in Ephesus might
prevent him from choosing among them any to whom per
sonal greetings should be sent. Yet it seems strange that he
should not mention any names in a letter written to a church
where he had been so long at home among them.
(2) Findlay points out the fact that in the Epistle to the
Ephesians "there is an official distance and formality in the

23 Standard Bible Dictionary, p. 215.

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 399
writer's attitude, such as we find in no other epistle, and
very different from Paul's manner toward his disciples and
friends. Not once does he address his readers as 'brethren'
or 'beloved.' There is not a single word of familiarity or
endearment in the whole letter. The benediction at the end
is given in the third person, not in the second as everywhere
else: Peace be to the brethren, Grace be with all that love
our Lord — not, Grace be with you." 24 This seems exceed
ingly strange if Paul were writing to the Ephesians alone.
(3) There are several passages in the epistle in which
Paul speaks as if he knew about his readers only by hearsay
and as if they knew about him and his preaching only by
hearsay. In 1. 15 he says that he has heard of their faith
in the Lord Jesus and the faith which they show toward
all the saints. In 3. 2 he puts the possibility of their hav
ing heard of his apostleship to the Gentiles hypothetically —
"If so be ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace
of God which was given me to you-ward." In 4. 20, 21
Paul says, "Ye did not so learn Christ; if so be that ye
heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus."
Surely, Paul never would have addressed the Ephesians as
if he were uncertain whether the truth had been preached
to them or as if they were personally unknown to him or he
to them.
(4) With these facts in mind we go back to our manu
scripts of the epistle, and we find that the two oldest and
most authoritative among them, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus,
omit the address to the Ephesians. The same thing is true
of cursive 67.
(5) The testimony of these oldest manuscripts is greatly
strengthened by that of the church Fathers. Origen in the
third century comments upon the greeting and gives a meta
physical sense to the phrase, omitting any local designa
tion. Basil in the fourth century says that the address to

24 Findlay, The Epistles of Paul, p. 180.

400 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
the Ephesians was omitted in the ancient copies of the
epistle and according to the tradition of the scholars who
had preceded him. Jerome in the fifth century also is aware
of a text reading as Origen read, "to the saints who are,
being also faithful." The upshot of all this is that we have
no evidence that the two words, ev 'E0__-w at Ephesus, were
in the Greek text of the first three centuries.
Here, then, are the two opposing facts — that the early
church always seems to have called this the Epistle to the
Ephesians, while there are certain phenomena in the epistle
itself and certain facts in the manuscript and patristic evi
dence which seem to indicate that the epistle could not have
been written primarily or exclusively to the church at
Ephesus: What is the explanation of these seeming contra
dictions? It was suspected by Beza, but first formulated
and fully developed by Archbishop Ussher in 1650-1654.
He suggested that the Epistle to the Ephesians was an encyc
lical, a sort of general epistle to all of the churches of Asia,
carried by Tychicus along with the epistles to Philemon and
to the Colossians eastward from Rome. Tychicus would
land at Ephesus, and the church there would read the epistle
first. Then Tychicus would carry the letter on to Laodicea
and leave it there while he hastened on to Colossae. The
Colossians were asked in their epistle to send to Laodicea
for it. Marcion called it the Epistle to the Laodiceans be
cause of this reference in the Colossians and because this
epistle really was at Laodicea and belonged to that church
as much as any. other of the churches in proconsular Asia.
The church in general, however, preferred to call it the
Epistle to the Ephesians, because Ephesus was the chief
city in the district addressed, and the church at Ephesus was
the largest and most important of the churches addressed,
and the epistle had been first received and read there and
forwarded from that center to all the other churches con
cerned. This hypothesis is accepted very generally to-day. It

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 401
would explain the textual and the internal phenomena. A
blank might have been left in the original manuscript for the
insertion of the name of whatsoever individual church might
receive the epistle ; and such an apostolical encyclical would
omit all local references and personal greetings and would
be carried into regions where Paul never had been and where
its readers would know of him only by report. This en
cyclical character of the letter is recognized by Bengel,
Neander, Harless, Olshausen, Reuss, EUicott, Lightfoot,
Hort, Weiss, Godet, Beet, Salmond, Abbott, Sabatier, Find
lay, Shaw, and many others. We call this epistle the Epistle
to the Ephesians, but it really is an epistle to the general
church. Christ and his church is the theme; and it has a
message for the whole church in all time.
VII. Estimates of the Epistle
We read in the book of Acts that the Ephesians were led
by Paul's ministry among them to burn up their books of
sorcery, and the estimated value of that holocaust is put at
fifty thousand drachmas, or nearly ten thousand dollars.
Probably as literature all those books were to be counted
as trash. The Ephesians were well repaid when they
received this epistle. Its value cannot be computed in coin.
It is full of the riches of Paul's intellect and of Christ's love.
We note some of the estimates put upon it by those who
have studied it most thoroughly and so have come to appre
ciate it most highly. 1. Chrysostom: "This epistle overflows
with lofty thoughts and doctrines. . . . Things which Paul
scarcely anywhere else utters, he here expounds." 2.
Luther: "It is one of the noblest books in the New Testa
ment, which shows thee Christ and teaches thee every
thing which it is necessary and good for thee to know,
even though thou shouldest never see or hear of any
other book or doctrine." Luther was likely to indulge in
emphatic and sometimes extravagant statement, but here
most of us will agree that he is well within the truth.

402 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
3. Witsius: "It is a divine epistle glowing with the flame
of Christian love, and the splendor of holy light, and
flowing with fountains of living water." 4. Grotius: "It
equals its sublimity of ideas with words more sublime
than any human language ever possessed." 5. Coleridge:
"In this, the divinest composition of man, is every doc
trine of Christianity ; first, those doctrines peculiar to Chris
tianity; and, secondly, those precepts common to it with
natural religion." 6. Alford: "As the wonderful effect of
the Spirit of inspiration on the mind of man is nowhere in
Scripture more evident than in this epistle, so, to discern
those things of the Spirit, is the spiritual mind here more
than anywhere required. ... It is the most heavenly work
of one whose very imagination is peopled with things in the
heavens, and even his fancy rapt into the visions of God."
7. Maurice : "Everyone must be conscious of an overflowing
fullness in the style of this epistle, as if the apostle's mind
could not contain the thoughts 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."
8. Adolphe Monod : "It embraces in its brevity the whole
field of the Christian religion, expounding now its doctrines,
now its morals with such conciseness and such fullness com
bined that it would be difficult to name any great doctrine
or any essential duty which has not its place marked in it."
9. EUicott : "The difficulties of the first chapter are so great
and so deep that the most exact language and the most dis
criminating analysis are too poor and too weak to convey
the force or the connection of expressions so august and
thoughts so unspeakably profound." 10. Riddle : "It is the
greatness of the epistle which makes it so difficult; the
thought seems to struggle with the words, which seem insuf
ficient to convey the transcendent idea." 11. Pierson : "This
epistle reaches the summit of the sublimity of revelation.
It is Paul's third-heaven epistle. In it he soars from the
depths of ruin to the heights of redemption." 12. Farrar:

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 403
"In the depth of its theology, in the loftiness of its morals,
in the way in which the simplest moral truths are based upon
the profoundest religious doctrines — this epistle is unparal
leled. ... It is the most sublime, the most profound, the
most advanced and final utterance of Paul's gospel to the
Gentiles." 13. Salmond: "With few exceptions scholars of
all different schools who have studied and interpreted this
epistle have been at one in regarding it as one of the sublim-
est and most profound of all the New Testament writings.
In the judgment of many who are well entitled to deliver
an opinion, it is the grandest of all the Pauline letters. There
is a peculiar and a sustained loftiness in its teaching which
has deeply impressed the greatest minds and has earned
for it the title of 'The Epistle of the Ascension.' It tarries
largely among the heavenlies, and lifts us into the eter
nities a parte ante and a parte post." 14. Among the
unsympathetic critics who are the "exceptions" we may
mention De Wette, Baur, Holtzmann, and Renan. They
speak of it as "verbose, diffuse, overloaded, monotonous,
and repetitious." Renan calls the epistle une Spitre banale —
a third-rate composition. Moule comments upon this judg
ment as follows : "The criticism, read in the light, first, of
the epistle itself, then in the verdict of all Christendom,
can only convict the subtle literary critic of a spiritual
paralysis which fatally affects even literary insight where
the theme is spiritual." 25
VIII. Differences between the Prison Epistles and
the Former Ones
1. The former epistles were written while Paul was in
the thick of the fight. He was an evangelist and a mission
ary and a church founder and a controversialist and a
preacher. He was at the height of his activity and in the
midst of the turmoil and battle. His letters had been mere

28 Moule, Ephesian Studies, p. 15.

404 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
incidents in his missionary labors. They were struck off
at white heat. They were samples of his arguments with
his antagonists and paragraphs taken out of his most service
able sermons. They were full of fire and energy and knock
down blows. In these prison epistles there is a gentler spirit.
They come out of a quieter life and a calmer atmosphere.
Paul has his parchments about him, and he has plenty of
time to read them and to meditate upon them. We have here
the products of the sage rather than the soldier. Paul is
less of a debater and more of a philosopher. The evangelist
has become a pastor. He is bent upon preserving the pro
ducts of his labors. In Colossians and Ephesians the fire
and fervor and aggressive zeal of Galatians and Corinthians
has become conservative, careful, and faithful ministration
to the flock. The evangelization of sinners has given place
to the edification of the saints.
2. The former epistles were written from Greek cities.
The prison epistles are written in Rome. The apostle's
environment always seems to have had its effect upon his
writing. It has been pointed out that the distinctive char
acteristic of Greek thought was the sacredness of the individ
ual and that the former Pauline epistles deal with the indi
vidual, directing him to the true freedom and the true
wisdom. On the other hand, Rome represented to the world
the greatness of the community, of the family, the state, and
the race; and the prison epistles face that great Roman
problem — the unification of the family, the state, and the
race — and Paul solves the problem by saying that it is not
to be accomplished by law or by might, but "in Christ." In
the imperial city there grows upon him the vision of a
world-wide City of God. At the center of the empire he
becomes an imperialist in even a larger sense than before.
He sees the endless and limitless sovereignty of Christ tran
scending any possible splendor or power of an empire like
Rome. It too would have a king, as unlike the emperor at
Rome as could be imagined. It too would have its soldiers,

THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 405
as unlike the legionaries of Rome as could be imagined. It
too would gather into itself all the nations until in and
through the church it had unified the universe. This wider
range of thought and greater emphasis upon the supremacy
of Christ is apparent in Colossians and Ephesians and Philip
pians, in all the church epistles of this Roman imprisonment.
3. There is a corresponding change in the characteristic
phrases of the two groups of epistles. "Justification by
faith" is replaced by "salvation through grace." "Christ
crucified" was heard before, and now it is "Christ living
in us." It was all "through Christ" in the earlier epistles,
and now it is all "in Christ." Christ and his Cross was the
former theme, and now the theme is Christ and his Church.
The blood of Jesus is mentioned once,26 and the cross is
mentioned once.27 Otherwise there is no reference to the
death of Christ in the Epistle to the Ephesians.
4. There is a change in Paul's personal attitude toward the
church. In the former epistles he was more or less on the
defensive. His authority was being questioned. His repu
tation was undergoing continuous assault. Now his position
is assured. His character is established. His authority is
supreme. He is an acknowledged martyr for the faith, the
chief of the apostolic company. He feels secure in the affec
tions and the reverence of the church. He writes these
letters of the third group without any of the painful solici
tude for his personal reputation so manifest in the second
group. With the calm dignity of a father to whom his chil
dren look for light on all problems he here expounds the
faith.

28 Eph. 1. 7.
27 Eph. 2. 16.

CHAPTER XII
THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS

CHAPTER XII
THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS1
I. The City of Philippi
" Philippi was a Macedonian city, situated about eight
miles inland from the iEgean sea, on the borders of Thrace.
Its seaport was Neapolis ; and from Neapolis the great mili
tary highway, the Via Egnatia, ran northward to the single
pass among the peaks of the Pangaeus. Philippi was built on
the slopes of the hill just opposite this pass, and the Egnatian
highway ran through its marketplace. Beyond Philippi to
the west lay the large and fertile plain of Drama, filled with
springs and trickling streams ; and in the center of this plain
was the marshy Lake Cercinitis. The original name of the
city was Crenides, which means "The Fountains" or "The
Springs," and that name probably came from the numerous
springs of the neighboring plain. King Philip of Macedon,
the father of Alexander the Great, recognized its strategic
position and made it a frontier fortress. In its neighborhood
were famous gold and silver mines which King Philip de
veloped and from which he drew the wealth which made his
military establishment and achievements possible. The city
grew like San Francisco, and the treasures of the mines
maintained it in a marvelous development. Philip named
each of the springs about the city after himself, "Philip," and
all of them together, "the Philips," and the city took this
plural name, Philippi. This was in the fourth century B. C.
The mines were exhausted before the Christian era began,
1 A portion of this discussion was prepared for the International
Standard Bible Encyclopaedia and has been incorporated here by
permission. 409

410 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
but the city had become an important military and commer
cial center. All the commerce between the East and the
West followed the Egnatian highway through the mountain
pass to Philippi, and in its markets the life of Asia and
Europe came into contact with each other.
On the plain of Philippi, in B. C. 42, Brutus and Cassius
were defeated and all hopes of the old Roman republic came
to an end. Mark Antony and Octavian saved the day for
the Caesars, and the emperor Augustus, needing some place
to locate the soldiers who had served out their time in the
army, chose Philippi, the scene of the great victory, as one
site worthy of the honor. He made it a Roman military
colony and called it Colonia Augusta Julia Philippensis, as
a memorial to the murdered Julius Caesar. He conferred
upon it the lus Italicum, which meant that its colonists had
the right of constitutional government and were not subject
to the provincial governor, and that they were exempt from
all direct taxation in either poll or property taxes, and that
they were privileged to hold and convey landed estates
according to the regulations of the Roman law. These were
most exceptional privileges for any Macedonian city to
possess, and Philippi became a "miniature likeness of
Rome." It was proud of its Roman citizenship, and with
its public baths and theaters and its worship of Silvanus
and Dionysus and Diana it aped the cosmopolitan character
of Rome itself. More than half its people were Latin by
race, but there was a sturdy minority of the old Mace
donian stock, and a sprinkling of many other nationalities
attracted by the military and commercial importance of the
place. Among these there were a few Jews.
II. Paul and Philippi
Paul was on his second missionary journey in the year
A. D. 52. He felt that he was strangely thwarted in many
of his plans. He had a most distressing illness in Galatia.
The Spirit would not permit him to preach in Asia, and

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 411
when he essayed to enter Bithynia the Spirit again would
not suffer it. Baffled and perplexed, the apostle with his
two companions, Silas and Timothy, went on to the seacoast
and stopped in Troas. Here at last his leading became
clear. A vision of a man from Macedonia convinced him
that it was the will of God that he should preach in the
western continent of Europe. The way was opened at once.
The winds were favorable. In two days he came to
Neapolis. It took him five days to make the return trip at
a later time. Paul followed the broad paved way of the Via
Egnatia up to the mountain pass, and down on the other
side to Philippi. Here he learned that there was no syna
gogue, but that the little company of Jews gathered for Sab
bath worship at a place of prayer about a mile to the west
of the city gate on the shore of the river Gangites. It was
the site of the old battlefield upon which the empire had been
won, and here Paul opened his missionary campaign for the
conversion of Europe. A greater conqueror than Mark
Antony had come to the old scene of strife, and greater vic
tory was to be achieved. A mightier empire was to be
founded than that of the emperor Augustus.
There was only a little company of women worshiping
there that day, but their hearts were strangely stirred by
Paul's message; and the Lord opened the heart of one
woman, Lydia, a seller of purple and a foreigner from
Thyatira, to give heed unto the things which were spoken
by him.2 A man had summoned Paul to Macedonia in the
vision. Paul went to Macedonia and found a woman first
of all. The man from Macedonia had said, "Come over
and help us," but the woman who was the first European
convert was no Macedonian but an Asiatic, resident there
in Philippi simply for commercial purposes. That was
only the beginning, however. Others were converted, and
a Christian church was founded. Paul and Silas, im-
2 Acts 16. 14.

412 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
prisoned, were released by an earthquake, the Roman jailer
and his family were added to the believers, and then the
magistrates besought Paul and his companions to leave the
town. They had a final meeting with the brethren in the
home of Lydia, and departed.3
Philip of Macedon had gathered his gold here and laid
the solid foundations of the Macedonian supremacy which
Alexander extended into a world empire. Paul had gathered
greater riches than Philip, and he had laid the foundations
of an empire more extensive and more enduring than that
of Alexander. It was here that he had his first experience
of a Roman scourging and lay for the first time in the stocks
of a Roman prison. Yet he went away rejoicing, for he
had won the devotion of loyal and loving hearts for himself
and his Master. That was worth all the persecution and the
pain. Philippi had become world famous again, as the site
of the first Christian church on the continent of Europe.
Originally it had been called Crenides, "The Fountains" or
"The Springs," and now it was to justify that name again,
as the fountainhead of European Christendom. That is its
greatest historical interest for us to-day.
III. Characteristics of the Church at Philippi
i. It seems to be the least Jewish of all the Pauline
churches. There were few Jews in Philippi. No Hebrew
names are found in the list of converts in this church men
tioned in the New Testament. The Jewish opponents of
Paul never seem to have established themselves in this com
munity. There is one paragraph at the beginning of the
third chapter of the epistle which seems to be aimed at these,
but it is a note of warning against them as possible intruders
rather than a direct attack upon those already present. They
were likely to appear anywhere among the Pauline converts,
but as far as we know they had not cultivated the Philippian
field as yet or at least had not had any success there.
"Acts 16. 16-40.

THE EPTSTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 413
2. Women seem to be unusually prominent in the history
of this church, and this is consistent with what we know con
cerning the position accorded to women in Macedonian so
ciety. Lydia brings her whole family with her into the
church. She must have been a very influential woman, and
her own fervor and devotion and generosity and hospitality
seem to have been contagious and to have become charac
teristic of the whole Christian community. Euodia and
Syntyche are mentioned in the epistle, two women who were
fellow laborers with Paul in the gospel, for both of whom
he has great respect, of both of whom he is sure that their
names are written in the book of life; but who seem to have
differed with each other in some matter of opinion. Paul
exhorts them to be of the same mind in the Lord.4 Good
women have made so much trouble in the church. Some
times it is so difficult for them to see things the same way.
Yet the church would never be able to get along without
them, though sometimes it seems hard to get along with
them. We sympathize with Paul's prayer that the good
women of the church may keep at peace among themselves.
The prominence of the women in the congregation at Phil
ippi or the dominance of Lydia's influence among them may
account for the fact that they seem to have been more mind
ful of Paul's comfort than any of his other converts were.
Possibly the first Ladies' Aid Society in Europe was organ
ized here at Philippi, with Lydia as its first president. They
raised money for Paul's support and forwarded it to him
again and again. They were anxious that he should have
all that was needed. They were willing to give of their time
and their means to that end. There seem to have been no
theological differences in the Philippian church. That may
testify to the fact that the most of its members were women.
There is one personal difference, and that is between two
women. * Phil. 4. 2.

414 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
3. There were splendid men in the church membership
too. Some of them were Macedonians. Hausrath declares
that the Macedonians represented "the noblest and soundest
part of the ancient world. . . . Here was none of the shuf
fling and indecision of the Asiatics, none of the irritable
vanity and uncertain levity of the Greek communities. . . .
They were men of sterner mold than could be found in
Asia Minor or languorous Syria. The material was harder
to work in, and offered more stubborn resistance; but the
work, once done, endured. A new Macedonian phalanx of
Pauline Christians was formed here. . . . Manliness, loy
alty, firmness, their characteristics in general history, are
equally their characteristics in the history of the Christian
Church. . . . They were always true to Paul, always
obedient, always helpful." 5 Paul rejoiced in them. They
were spirits congenial with his own.
Doubtless some of these converts were Roman veterans,
trained in the Roman wars to hardness and discipline and
loyalty. They were Roman citizens and proud of that fact.
When Paul and Silas first had appeared among them they
had said, "These men, being Jews, do set forth customs
which it is not lawful for us to receive, we being Romans." 6
Afterward Paul and Silas had convinced them that, though
Jews, they were just as much Roman citizens as the Philip
pians themselves; and the doctrines they taught were per
fectly consistent with Roman citizenship. In the epistle
Paul exhorts them to behave as citizens worthily of the
gospel of Christ,7 and he reminds them that though they
were proud of their Roman citizenship — and so was he —
they all had become members of a heavenly commonwealth
in which citizenship was a much greater boon than even the
Jus Italicum had been. Later Paul states the fact again,
"Our citizenship is in heaven ;" 8 and he goes on to remind
them that their King is seated there upon the throne and
6 Hausrath, op. cit., Ill, pp. 203, 204. 7 Phil. I. 27.
6 Acts 16. 20, 21. * Phil. 3. 20.

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 415
that he is coming again to establish a glorious empire, for
he has power to subject all things unto himself.
It is to these old soldiers and athletes that Paul addresses
his military and gymnastic figures of speech. He informs
them that the whole praetorian guard had heard of the gospel
through his imprisonment at Rome.9 He sends them greet
ings from the saints who are Caesar's household.10 He
prays that he may hear of them that they stand fast like
an immovable phalanx, with one soul striving athletically
for the faith of the gospel.11 He knows that they will be
fearless and brave, in nothing affrighted by the adver
saries.12 He speaks of his own experience as a wrestling
match, a conflict or contest.13 He joys in the sacrifice and
service of their faith.14 Pie calls Epaphroditus not only his
fellow worker but his fellow soldier.15 He likens the Chris
tian life to a race in which, he presses on toward the goal
unto the prize.16 He asks the Philippians to keep even,
soldierly step with him in the Christian walk.17 These
metaphors have their appeal to an athletic and military race,
and they bear their testimony to the high regard which Paul
had for this type of Christianity and for those in whose
lives it was displayed.
We do not know the names of many of these men, for
only Clement and Epaphroditus are mentioned here; but
we gather much concerning their spirit from this epistle, and
we are as sure as Paul himself that their names are all
written in the book of life.18
4. If the constituent elements of the church membership
at Philippi fairly represented the various elements of the
population of the city, they must have been cosmopolitan in
character. Philippi was an old Greek city which had been

• Phil. 1. 13. " Phil. 2. 17.
10 Phil. 4. 22. 18 Phil. 2. 25.
"Phil. 1. 27. "Phil. 3. 14.
"Phil. 1. 28. "Phil. 3. 16.
"Phil. 1. 30. 18Phil. 4. 3-

416 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
turned into a Roman colony. It was both Greek and Roman
in its characteristics. Christianity had been introduced here
by two Jews who were Roman citizens and a Jewish son of
a Gentile father. In the account given of the founding of
the church in the sixteenth chapter of Acts three converts
are mentioned, and one is a Jewish proselyte from Asia,
one a native Greek, and one a Roman official. The later
converts doubtless represented the same diversity of nation
ality and the same differences in social position. Yet, apart
from those two good women, Euodia and Syntyche, they
all were of one mind in the Lord. It is a remarkable proof
of the fact that in Christ all racial and social conditions may
be brought into harmony and made to live together in
peace. 5. They were a very liberal people. First of all, they gave
themselves to the Lord and to Paul,19 and they seemed to
think that that giving included their pocketbooks and their
property. Whenever they could help Paul or further the
work of the gospel they gave gladly and willingly and up
to the limit of their resources; and then they hypothecated
their credit and gave beyond their power.20 Even Paul was
astonished at their giving. He declares that they gave out
of much affliction and deep poverty, and that they were rich
only in their liberality.21 Surely, these are unusual enco
miums. The Philippians must have been a very unusual and
remarkable people. If the depth of one's consecration and
the reality of one's religion are to be measured by the
extent to which they affect the disposition of one's material
possessions, if one measure of Christian love is to be found
in Christian giving, then the Philippians may well stand
supreme among the saints in the Pauline churches.
Paul seems to have loved them most. He loved them
enough to allow them to contribute toward his support.
"2 Cor. 8. 5.
30 2 Cor. 8. 3.
"2 Cor. 8. 2.

THE EPISTLE TO TPIE PHILIPPIANS 417
Elsewhere he refused any help of this sort, and steadfastly
adhered to his plan of self-support while he was preaching
the gospel. He made the single exception in the case of the
Philippians. He must have been sure of their affection and
of their confidence. He knew that they would not grudge
their gifts and they never would be suspicious of him in his
use of them. He could trust them fully because they
trusted him fully. Four times they gave Paul pecuniary aid.
Twice they sent him their contributions just after he had
left them and gone on to Thessalonica.22 When Paul had
gone still farther to Corinth, and was in want during his
ministry there, his heart was gladdened by the visitation of
brethren from Philippi, who supplied the measure of his
need.23 It was not a first enthusiasm, forgotten as soon
as the engaging personality of the apostle was removed from
their sight. It was not merely a personal attachment which
prompted their gifts. They gave to their own dear apostle,
but only that he might minister to others as he had minis
tered to them. He was their living link with the work in
the mission field.
Years passed by and the Philippians heard that Paul was
in the prison at Rome and again in need of their help.
Eleven years are enough to make quite radical changes in
a church membership; but there seems to have been no
change in the loyalty and the liberality of the Philippian
church in that time. The Philippians hastened to send
Epaphroditus to Rome with their contributions and their
greetings. It was like a bouquet of fresh flowers in the
prison cell. Paul writes this epistle to thank them that their
thought for him had blossomed afresh at the first oppor
tunity they had had.24
Paul probably had written them his acknowledgment for

22 Phil. 4. 15, 16.
23 2 Cor. 11. 8,9.
24 Phil. 4. 10, aved&fare.

418 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
each of their other gifts, but his other letters to the Philip
pians have been lost. Polycarp in his Epistle to the Philip
pians mentions the fact that Paul had written a number of
letters to them.25 The Philippians not only gave their
money to Paul himself but to others for whom he asked it.
They knew him and loved him, but they gave to those whom
they did not know and whom they had no especial reason
to love, simply because he had asked for their contributions.
They were a remarkably liberal people. They gave all they
could whenever they could. They gave beyond their power,
and rejoiced in the privilege. Their poverty did not prevent
their giving. The riches of their liberality only flourished
in that soil.26 They gave to their own apostle, Paul; and
they gave to those who were not particularly friendly to
themselves or to their apostle.
Their astonishingly generous contribution to the poor
saints at Jerusalem was something like a contribution raised
among the Methodists of Chicago would be, if it were for
warded by their resident bishop to the Archbishop of
Canterbury for distribution among the Church of England
poor in the city of London. The primate might receive it
graciously and he might not. He might recognize the givers
as Christian brethren and their representative as a Christian
apostle and minister and he might not. There was the same
hazard when Paul carried the gifts of the Gentile churches
to the Jews at Jerusalem, and we know how ungraciously
he was received. The Philippians do not seem to have re
gretted their generosity in the least. If the carrying of that
gift to Jerusalem had" landed Paul in jail, it was just
another opportunity for them to take up another collection.
They hasten to do it with all cheerfulness and with no abate
ment of their liberality. They were a most remarkable
people. No wonder that Paul loved them and was proud of

25 Polycarp ad Phil., iii, 2.
28 2 Cor. 8. 1-5.

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 419
them and made their earnestness and sincerity and affection
the measure of comparison with the love of others.27
6. They were Paul's favorite church. He never lost any
opportunity of visiting them. Six years after his first visit
he was resident in Ephesus and having sent Titus to Corinth
with a letter to the Corinthians about the reception of which
he was very doubtful he appointed a meeting with Titus in
Macedonia and probably spent the anxious days of his wait
ing at Philippi. If he met Titus there, he may have written
the Second Epistle to the Corinthians from that city.28
Paul then returned to Ephesus, and after the riot in that city
went over again into Macedonia and made his third visit at
Philippi. He probably promised them at this time that .he
would return to Philippi to celebrate the Easter week with
his beloved converts. He went on into Greece, but in three
months he is back again, at the festival of the resurrection
in the year A. D. 58.29 We read in 1 Tim. 1. 3 that Paul
visited Macedonia after the Roman imprisonment. He
enjoyed himself among the Philippians. They were Chris
tians after his own heart. If they were most sincerely
attached to him, he was just as sincerely attached to them.
He thanks God for their fellowship from the first day
until now.30 He declares that they are his beloved who
have always obeyed, not as in his presence only, but much
more in his absence.31 With fond repetition he addresses
them as his "brethren," "beloved and longed for," his
"joy and crown," his "beloved." 32 Evidently, they were
Paul's favorite church, and we can gather from this epistle
good reason for this fact.
IV. Characteristics of the Epistle
1. It is a letter. It is not a treatise, as the Epistle to the
Romans and the Epistle to the Hebrews and the First Epistle
27 2 Cor. 8. 8. » Phil. 1. 5.
28 2 Cor. 2. 13; 7. 6. 8l Phil. 2. 12.
29 Acts 20. 2, 6. B Phil. 4. 1.

420 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
of John are. It is not an encyclical full of general observa
tions and exhortations capable of application at any time and
anywhere, as the Epistle to the Ephesians and the Epistle
of James and the Epistle of Peter are. It is a genuine letter
to personal friends. It has no theological discussions and
no rigid outline and no formal development. It rambles
along just as any real letter would with personal news and
personal feelings and outbursts of personal affection between
tried friends. It is the most spontaneous and unaffected of
the Pauline epistles. It is more epistolary than any of the
others. It is the last of Paul's letters written to a church,
and it is written to the first church he had founded in
Europe. 2. It is a love letter. All of the other epistles have mixed
feelings manifest in them. Sometimes- a feeling of grief
and of indignation is dominant, as in Second Corinthians.
Sometimes the uppermost desire of Paul in his writing seems
to be the establishment of the truth and the recalling of the
backslider and the strengthening of the believer whose faith
has been assailed, as in Galatians and Romans. Always
more or less fault is suggested in the recipients of the warn
ings and exhortations Paul feels compelled to write to them.
In Philippi alone there is no fault to be found. The only
suggestion of such a thing is in the reference to the differ
ence of opinion between Euodia and Syntyche; and while
Paul thinks this ought to be harmonized, he does not seem
to consider it any very serious menace to the peace of the
church. Aside from this, Paul has nothing but praise for
his beloved brethren and prayer that their love may abound
yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment.33 He
is full of thankfulness upon all his remembrance of them.34
He rejoices in the privilege of being offered upon the sacri
fice and service of their faith.35

83 Phil. 1.9.
84 Phil. 1. 3.
35 Phil. 2. 17.

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 421
The church at Philippi may not have been conspicuous in
charisms as the church at Corinth was, but it had the fruits
of the Spirit in rich measure. Paul seems to think that it
needed only to rejoice in its spiritual possessions and to grow
in grace and in the mind of Christ. His heart is full of
gratitude and love as he writes. His joy overflows as he
thinks of them. Plis peace and his hope are triumphant over
present affliction and the prospect of persecution and death.
If this is his last will and testament to his beloved church,
as Holtzmann calls it, he has nothing to bequeath them but
his unqualified benediction. Having loved them from the
first, he loves them to the end.
3. It is the Epistle of Joy. It was Bengel who said,
"Summa epistolce, gaudeo, gaudete — The sum of the epistle
is, I rejoice; rejoice ye." Paul was a man whose spirits
were undaunted in any circumstances. He might be
scourged in one city and stoned in another and imprisoned
in a third and left for dead in a fourth, but as long as he
retained consciousness and as soon as he regained con
sciousness he rejoiced. Nothing could dampen his ardor.
Nothing could disturb his peace. In Philippi he had been
scourged and cast into the inner prison and his feet had
been made fast in the stocks. His back was bleeding and
torn ; his ankles were swollen and paining him ; he could not
lie down ; he could not sleep. It was too dark in that dun
geon for him to see anyone, but he could hear the voice of
Silas somewhere near him in that midnight gloom. Some
men would have felt depressed under those circumstances,
and the prison damp and darkness would have chilled their
very souls. It was not so with Paul. He began to sing
hymns of praise to God, and Silas joined in. We can imagine
that they sang some of the old psalms of confidence in God's
presence and power,
"If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there . . .
If I say, Surely the darkness shall overwhelm me, . . .
Even the darkness hideth not from thee,

422 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
But the night shineth as the day:
The darkness and the light are both alike to thee."38
Then they sang some of the new songs which Luke had
collected for the Christian church,
"He will 'grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of
our enemies
Shall serve him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before him all our days . . .
Because of the tender mercy of our God,
Whereby the dayspring from on high shall visit us,
To shine upon them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death;
To guide our feet into the way of peace.' "37
Then an earthquake shook the prison to its foundations
and everyone's bonds were loosed and all the doors were
opened and down the narrow passageway to the dungeon
depth where Paul and Silas had been singing there came
the feeble light from the morning star on high; and they
knew that their deliverance had come and their sacred con
cert could close for that time.
Rejoicing in the prison at Philippi, Paul was still rejoic
ing though he was in prison again at Rome. Some men
would have been discouraged by that time. Wherever Paul
had gone his preaching had been despised and he had been
persecuted. The Jews had slandered him and harassed him
and so many of his converts had proven to be fickle and false.
The years had gone by and the breach between him and his
brethren had widened rather than lessened, and at last they
had succeeded in getting him into prison and keeping him
there for years. Prison life is never pleasant; and it was
far less so in that ancient day than it is now. Paul was such
an ardent spirit. It was more difficult for him to be con
fined than it would be for a more indolent man. He had
been the Wandering Jew of church history, he was a world-
88 Psa. 139. 8-12.
37 Luke 1. 74, 75, 78, 79.

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 423
missionary, a restless cosmopolite, ranging up and down
through the ' continents with the message of the Christ. It
was like putting an eagle into a cage to put him into prison.
Many eagles mope and die in confinement. Paul was not
moping. He was writing this Epistle to the Philippians and
saying to them, "All the things which happened unto me
have fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel. . . .
Therein I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." 3S
His enemies were free to do and say what they pleased,
and they were making the most of the opportunity. He
could no longer thwart or hinder them. Some men would
have broken out into loud lamentations and complaints.
Some men would have worried about the conditions and
would have gotten nervous about the outcome of the cause.
The faith of even John the Baptist failed in prison. He
could not believe that things were going right if he were
not there to attend to them. Paul's faith never wavered.
His hope never waned. His joy was inexhaustible and per
ennial. Did he hear the sentry's step pacing up and down
the corridor before his prison door? It reminded him of
the peace of God which passeth all understanding, guarding
his heart and his thoughts in Christ Jesus,39 standing sentry
there night and day. You might as well try to blot out the
sunshine of a clear day with ink spots as to get such a man as
Paul to whine or worry or be dismayed. If there are ink
spots anywhere, the sun shines on in sublime unconscious
ness of their insignificant existence. So Paul's rejoicing
overflows in sublime indifference to anything and every
thing which seems adverse to him or his cause.
The keynote of the epistle is, "Rejoice in the Lord always :
again I will say, Rejoice." 40 The gospel is being preached
by him even in prison, and the good work is going on out
side even through those who think they can afflict him by
38 Phil. 1. 12, 18.
39 Phil. 4. 7.
4° Phil. 4. 4.

424 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
their way of doing it. They are very much mistaken. As
long as Christ is being preached he is content, whether it is
done in exactly his method or not. If his death is imminent,
he will rejoice, for to die will be to him great gain. If he
is to be permitted to live longer, he will rejoice, for he can
be of further service to the Christ and the converts whom he
so loves. It was a clear case of "Heads I win, and tails you
lose," between Paul and any ill fortune which might befall
him. He had learned in whatsoever state he was therein to
be content. He knew how to be abased and he knew also
how to abound : in everything and in all things he had learned
the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to
abound and to be in want.41 Everything which happened
to him was for the best. All things worked together for
his good.
He had the grace of gratitude for the least of God's gifts.
He could have walked with Socrates down the streets of
Athens and have joined him with all sincerity in saying,
"How many things there are which I can get along without !"
He would have sympathized with the grateful spirit of Saint
Francis, who with one of the brethren came, worn and
weary, into a certain town, where they begged their bread
for the love of God, and of whom we read, "When they had
done their begging they met together to eat in a place with
out the city, where was a fair fountain and a fine, broad
stone ; upon the which each set the alms that he had begged.
And Saint Francis, seeing the pieces of bread and the stone
and the fountain, could not contain himself for joy, but kept
on crying over and over again: 'O brother, we are not
worthy of such vast treasure !' " Paul might not have sym
pathized with the begging, but he would have sympathized
with the spirit of thanksgiving, and in' similar destitution he
would have rejoiced in the abundance of his blessing and
have called it a feast.

?J J>bil. 4. nf 12,

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 425
He was of one spirit with John Wesley, with whom John
Nelson traveled in Cornwall and of whom John Nelson
writes, "At Saint Ives Mr. Wesley and I lay on the floor:
he had my greatcoat for his pillow, and I had Burkitt's Notes
on the New Testament for mine. After being here near
three weeks, one morning, about three o'clock, Mr. Wesley
turned over, and, finding me awake, clapped me on the side,
saying, 'Brother Nelson, let us be of good cheer : I have one
whole side yet, for the skin is off but on one side.' We
usually preached on the commons, going from one common
to another, and it was but seldom that anyone asked us to
eat and drink. ... As we returned, Mr. Wesley stopped
his horse to pick the blackberries, saying, 'Brother Nelson,
we ought to be thankful that there are plenty of the black
berries; for this is the best country I ever saw for getting
a stomach, but the worst that ever I saw for getting food.' "
Some people would have found it difficult to find anything
for which to be thankful in such circumstances, but John
Wesley was thankful for blackberries, and if Paul had been
with him, Paul would have said, "Not that I speak in respect
of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am,
therein to be content."
Henry Boehm was the traveling companion of Bishop
Asbury through the American wilderness, and he says : "As
Bishop Asbury and I were traveling through the woods
we would often stop to refresh both man and beast. The
bishop would sit down by a spring of water, take a crust of
bread from his pocket, and ask a blessing over it with as
much solemnity and gratitude as he would over a table
spread with the richest and most plentiful provision. Blessed
man ! many a time it drew tears from my eyes when I wit
nessed it; and often, since the good bishop has gone to
feast in paradise, I have wept as I have thought upon it."
Thanksgiving for pure water and a clean crust! Bishop
Asbury could have said with Paul, "I have learned the secret
how to be content and how to rejoice both when I am filled

426 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
and when I am hungry, both when I abound and when I
am in want." Paul rejoiced always.
His experience could be like a sun flower facing the full
flood of the sunlight and flaunting its petals on high and
laughing and praising its Lord all the day. The sunflower
is a courtier of the old school, holding its head high and look
ing its King full in the face, but with all dignity and loyalty
subservient to him in everything. If things went well with
Paul, he knew that the Lord was at hand, and he rejoiced
in his presence and love; as the sunflower rejoices in the
sun. If things went ill with Paul, he was just as sure that
the Lord was at hand and he rejoiced that the Lord's will
was being wrought out in him and for him and that his own
character was being developed and his saintliness was being
matured. If need occasioned, his experience could be like
a night-blooming cereus, sending forth blossoms from thorny
stems and opening out new beauties in the deepest dark and
filling even a prison cell with the fragrance of a holy life.
He is old and worn and in prison, but he writes this letter
to the Philippians, and it is only a short epistle, but some
twenty times in the course of it he uses the words, "joy,"
"rejoice," "peace," "content," and "thanksgiving." It is a
love letter and it is full of peace and hope and joy.
4. It is of great importance, theologically. It is one of
the paradoxes to which we become almost accustomed in
Paul's writings that this simplest of his letters, most episto
lary and most personal throughout, should yet contain the
fullest and most important putting of the theology of the
incarnation and exaltation which ever came from his pen.
He has only a practical end in view. He is exhorting the
Philippians to humility and he says to them: "Have this
mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus : who, existing
in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality
with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking
the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men ;
and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 427
becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the
cross. Wherefore God also highly exalted him, and gave
unto him the name which is above every name ; that in the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven
and things on earth and things under the earth, and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father." 42 It is the most theological
passage in the epistle. Doctrinally it is one of the most
important in the New Testament. It is Paul's final contri
bution to the solution of the great mystery of the coming of
the Saviour and the economy of salvation. It is his last
word at any length on this subject. Pie states plainly the
fact of the kenosis, the morale of the redemption, the cer
tainty of the exaltation, and the sure hope of the universal
adoration in the end.
Volumes have been written upon the doctrine of this pas
sage. Others will be written, for here the most vital truths
of Christology are clearly stated and definitely formulated
for all time. Jesus was a real man, not grasping at any of
the attributes of Deity which would be inconsistent with
real and true humanity, but in whole-hearted surrender of
sacrifice submitting to all the disabilities and limitations
necessary to the incarnate condition. He was equal with
God, but he emptied himself of the omnipotence and the
omniscience and the omnipresence of his preincarnate state
and was found in form as a man, a genuine man, obedient to
God in all his life. He always maintained that attitude
toward God which we ought to maintain and which we
can maintain in our humanity, in which he was on an equal
ity with us. We ought to have the mind which was in
Christ. He humbled himself and became obedient. He
was obedient through life and obedient unto death, yea, even
unto the death of the cross. He might have died like Moses
on some mountaintop of communion with God. He might

42 Phil: 2. 5-1 1.

428 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
have died at home with Mary the mother to pillow his head
on her arm and with his best friends about him to speak
words of comfort and peace in his last hours. He died the
most painful and the most humiliating death possible in that
age. Cicero declared that crucifixion was too horrible and
too degrading a death for any Roman citizen ever to suffer
it. However, it was good enough for a provincial and a
condemned criminal like Jesus.
There had been no place for him in the inn in the begin
ning, and at the end there was no place upon the earth
where he could lay his head. Lifted up between the earth
and the sky, he could not rest his head even upon the hard
wood of the cross arm, for it was encircled with a crown of
thorns whose sharp points tore his brow and pierced his hair
if he rested its weight anywhere. That was the death which
he died. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given
him a crown above all other crowns and the promise of
universal sovereignty. We are to enter into mystical union
with him. If we suffer with him, we shall reign together.
It is a great passage, setting forth profoundest truths in the
tersest manner. It is the crowning revelation concerning
Jesus. His humiliation was to the uttermost, and in his
exaltation he is supreme.
V. Genuineness of the Epistle
The genuineness of the epistle is admitted very generally
to-day. It was in the canon of Marcion. Its name occurs
in the Muratorian fragment. It is found in both the Peshito
and the Old Latin versions. It is mentioned by Polycarp
and quoted in the letter of the Churches of Lyons and
Vienne, in the Epistle of Diognetus, and in the writings
of Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria. Baur made a
determined attack upon its authenticity. He declared that
it was not doctrinal and polemical like the other Pauline
epistles, and that it was full of shallow imitations of these,
and that it had no apparent motive and no connected argu-

TPIE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 429
ment and no depth of thought. He questioned some of the
historical data and suspected Gnostic influence in certain
passages. Bleek said of Baur's arguments that they were
partly derived from a perverted interpretation of certain
passages in the epistle; they partly rested upon arbitrary
historical presuppositions ; and some of them were really so
weak that it was hard to believe that he could have attached
any importance to them himself.
It is not surprising that few critics have been found will
ing to follow Baur's leadership at this point. Biederman,
Kreucker, Schwegler, Bruno Bauer, von Manen, Hinsch,
Hitzig, Hoekstra, and Holsten may be mentioned among
them ; and of these Holsten is chief. Of him Schiirer said,
"The researches of Holsten are full of sagacity; but the rea
sons alleged by him for denying the genuineness of the
Epistle to the Philippians can have no weight, unless we take
the apostle Paul (the most living and versatile character the
world has ever seen) to be such a slave of rigid routine that
he cannot write one epistle that shall not be exactly like all
the others, that he can only repeat in each what he has said
in the preceding, and in the very same words. If we are
not prepared to admit this, all the objections raised against
the authenticity of the Epistle to the Philippians fall to
the ground." Later he says, "The arguments of Holsten
are so foolish that one is sometimes tempted to put them
down as slips of the pen."
The genuineness of the epistle has been defended by
Weizsacker, Weiss, Pfleiderer, Jiilicher, Bruckner, Klopper,
Grimm, Schenkel, Sabatier, Reuss, Resch, Hilgenfeld,
Harnack, Holtzmann, Ernesti, Mangold, Lipsius, Liine
mann, Renan, Godet, Zahn, Clemen, Davidson, Lightfoot,
Farrar, and practically all of the English writers on the sub
ject. Weizsacker says that the reasons for attributing the
epistle to the apostle Paul are "overwhelming." Peake
concludes, "Few things in modern criticism are better as
sured than the authenticity of this epistle, and it may be

430 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
accepted without any misgiving." 43 McGiffert declares : "It
is simply inconceivable that anyone else would or could have
produced in his name a letter in which no doctrinal or
ecclesiastical motive can be discovered, and in which the
personal element so largely predominates and the character
of the man and of the apostle is revealed with so great
vividness and fidelity. The epistle deserves to rank along
side of Galatians, Corinthians, and Romans as an undoubted
product of Paul's pen, and as a coordinate standard by
which to test the genuineness of other and less certain writ
ings." 44 This is the practically unanimous conclusion of
modern scholarship.
VI. Place, Date, and Occasion of Writing
This is one of the prison epistles. Paul makes fre
quent reference to his bonds.45 He was for two years
a prisoner in Caesarea.46 Paulus and others have thought
that the epistle was written during this imprisonment;
but the references to the praetorian guard and the mem
bers of Caesar's household have led most critics to con
clude that the Roman imprisonment was the one to which
the epistle refers. The epistles to Philemon, the Colossians,
and the Ephesians also were written during the Roman
imprisonment, and these three form a group by themselves.
Philippians evidently is separated from them by some inter
val. Was it written earlier or later than they? Beyschlag,
Bleek, Ewald, Lightfoot, Farrar, Moule, Lock, Sanday,
Hort, Beet, and others think that the Epistle to the Philip
pians was written first. These are first-class authorities, and
it is with hesitation that we differ with them at this point.
We prefer, however, to agree with Zahn, Ramsay, Findlay,
Shaw, Vincent, Jiilicher, Holtzmann, Weiss, Godet, Saba-

43 Peake, Introduction to the New Testament, p. 59.
44 McGiffert, The Apostolic Age, p. 393.
"Phil. 1. 7, 13, 14, 17. « Acts 24. 27.

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 431
tier, Reuss, Lipsius, Gwynn, Klopper, McGiffert, Moffatt,
Bartlet, Bacon, Kennedy, Peake, and others who argue for
the writing of Philippians toward the close of the Roman
imprisonment. Their reasons are as follows :
(1) We know that some considerable time must have
elapsed after Paul's arrival at Rome before he could have
written this epistle; for the news of his arrival had been
carried to Philippi and a contribution to his needs had been
raised among his friends there and Epaphroditus had car
ried it to Rome. In Rome Epaphroditus had become seri
ously sick, and the news of this sickness had been carried
back to Philippi and the Philippians had sent back a mes
sage of sympathy to him. At least four trips between
Rome and Philippi are thus indicated, and there are inter
vals of greater or less length between them. The distance
between the two cities was some seven hundred miles. Com
munication was easy by the Appian Way and Trajan's
Way to Brundusium and across the narrow straits there to
the Egnatian Way, which led directly to Philippi. There
were many making the trip at all times, but the journey
would occupy a month at least, and the four journeys sug
gested in the epistle were not in direct succession.
(2) Paul says that through him Christ had become
known through the whole praetorian guard (1. 13). It must
have taken some time for this to become possible.
(3) The conditions outside the prison, where Christ was
being preached by some in a spirit of love and by others in
a spirit of faction, cannot be located in the earliest months
of Paul's sojourn in Rome.47 They must belong to a time
when Christianity had developed in the city and parties
had been formed in the church.
(4) Luke was well known at Philippi, yet he sends no
salutation to the Philippians in this epistle. He surely
would have done so if he had been with Paul at the 'time

"Phil. 1. 15-17.

432 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
of its writing. He was with the apostle when he wrote to
the Colossians, and so was Demas.48 Now Paul promises
to send Timothy to Philippi, and says, "I have no man like-
minded, who will care truly for your state." 49 Aristarchus,
Demas, Luke are all gone. They all had been with him when
he wrote the earlier epistles.
(5) His condition as a prisoner seems to have been
changed for the worse. He had enjoyed comparative liberty
for the first two years of his imprisonment in Rome, living
in his own hired house and accessible to all his friends. He
now had been removed, possibly to the guard room of the
praetorian cohort. Here he is in more rigorous confinement,
almost alone.
(6) Paul writes as if he thought that his case would be
decided soon.50 He seems to be facing his final trial. He
is not sure of its outcome. He may die a martyr's death,
but he expects to be acquitted and then to be at liberty to
do further missionary work. This was not his immediate
expectation when he wrote the other epistles, and there
fore they would seem to be earlier than this.
(7) The epistle is addressed to all the saints in Philippi,
with the bishops and the deacons.51 These official titles do
not occur in any earlier epistles, but they are found in the
Pastoral Epistles, which were written still later. Therefore
they link the Epistle to the Philippians with the later rather
than the earlier epistles.
From these indications we conclude that Paul was nearing
his final trial when he wrote this epistle, and that it, there
fore, represents the maturest development of his faith and
his thought. It was 'the last of his epistles to the churches.
The Pastoral Epistles were written to individuals. Hilgen
feld calls this "the swan song" of the great apostle. In it
Paul has written his last exhortations and warnings, his
last hopes and prayers for his converts to the Christian
48 Col. 4. 14. » Phil. 2. 20-22.
49 Phil. 2. 20. « Phil. 1. 1.

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 433
faith. Its date must be somewhere toward the close of the
Roman imprisonment, in the years A. D. 63 or 64.
Epaphroditus had brought the contribution of the Philip
pians to Paul in Rome. He had plunged into the work there
and had contracted a malarial fever or some other serious
sickness; but his life had been spared in answer to the
prayers of Paul and his friends. Now Paul sends him back
to Philippi, though he knows that he will be very lonely
without him ; and he sends with him this letter of acknowl
edgment of their gift, filled with commendation and en
couragement, gratitude and love.
VII. Contents of the Epistle
1. Address (1. 1, 2).
2. Thanksgiving and Prayer (1. 3-11). Paul is thank
ful for their fellowship and confident of their perfection.
He longs for them and prays that their love may be wise to
discriminate among the most excellent things and that they
may be able to choose the very best, until they are filled
with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus
Christ, unto the glory and the praise of God.
3. Information Concerning His Own Experience (1.
12-30). (1) His Evangelism (verses 12-14). Everything
has turned out well. Paul is in prison, but he has been inde
fatigable in his evangelism. He has been chained to a
soldier, but that has given him many an opportunity for
personal and private and prolonged conversation. When
the people have gathered to hear, the guard has listened per
force; and when the crowd was gone more than once the
soldier has seemed curious and interested and they have
talked on about the Christ. Paul has told his experience
over and over to these men, and his story has been carried
through the whole camp. Here was a new sort of prisoner,
a man who was suffering only because of his faith, and
that faith was in a crucified Prophet whom he believed to
have been resurrected from the dead and to have appeared

434 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
to himself and to have made him a new man. The soldiers
watched him from day to day and concluded that he was
an honest man and a very good man who never lost his
temper under any provocation, but who was patient and
peaceful and pure all the time. They never had known any
one like him. They began to believe, some of them, that he
taught the divine truth and that he had a supernatural
strengthening in his spiritual life. Not only had the gospel
found unexpected furtherance inside the prison walls, but
through the whole city the brethren had been emboldened
by Paul's success to preach Christ, some through faction and
envy and strife and some through love.
(2) His Tolerance (verses 15-18). Paul rejoices that
Christ is preached whether by his enemies or by his friends.
He would much prefer to have the gospel presented as he
himself preached it, but he was great-souled and broad-
minded enough to tolerate differences of opinion and method
among brethren in Christ. Roman Christianity never was
preeminently of the Pauline type. This initial impulse away
from the Pauline forms of doctrine and practice culminated
after the centuries in that Roman Catholicism against which
Martin Luther made his protest. Protestantism and Roman
Catholicism for the most part have been at swords' points
ever since. It is time now that we go back to the noble
tolerance of the apostle Paul and recognize the fact that,
with all the differences between us, it still may be true that
we all preach Christ, and therefore are brethren, and there
fore ought to rejoice in each other's success. This is one of
the noblest utterances of One of the greatest of men. "In
every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is pro
claimed ; and therein I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." 52
Paul is sorry that everybody does not see things just exactly
as he does, but he rejoices if they glorify Christ and would
not put the least hindrance in their way.

82 Phil. 1. 18.

TPIE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 435
(3) His Readiness for Life or Death (verses 19-26).
Paul says: "Give me liberty or give me death; it will be
Christ either way. To live is to work for Christ ; to die is
to be with Christ. To me to live is Christ, and to die is
gain." Here is Paul's soliloquy in the face of possible
martyrdom or further missionary labor. We are reminded
of Hamlet's soliloquy in Shakespeare. "To be or not to be :
that is the question" with both Hamlet and Paul. Hamlet
decides that to end the heartache and the thousand natural
shocks that flesh is heir to is a consummation devoutly to be
desired, but then he pauses to think what dreams may come
in that sleep of death. He thinks that it would be gain
to die if it were not for the dread of something after
death, the undiscovered country from whose bourn no trav
eler returns. He is in a strait betwixt the two, having a
desire to depart; but uncertain whether it would be better
to bear the ills he has than fly to others that he knows not
of. That is the trouble with Hamlet. He is uncertain about
the future and he is weighing the woes he has over against
the possibly greater woes to come. It is a choice between
evils with him. For him to live is misery and to die is to
be more miserable. Now, contrast Hamlet with Paul.
Paul might make as long a list of personal grievances as
Hamlet could. Surely, he knew the heartache and the
thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to. In that Roman
prison he felt the oppressor's wrong, the proud man's con
tumely, the pangs of disprized love, the law's delay, the
insolence of office, and the spurns that patient merit of the
unworthy takes. He knew and felt these things as keenly
as any ; but here in his soliloquy he is not counting up the
sorrows of life, but life's blessings! He is weighing the
blessings of life over against the blessings of death, and he
is finding it difficult to decide between the two. There is no
uncertainty about death or his condition after death with
him. He will be with Christ, and that is very far better;
but he can be more helpful to his brethren here. To be or

436 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
not to be : that is the question, and Paul decides, like Hamlet,
in favor of longer life. Hamlet comes to that decision
because his conscience had made him a coward. Paul comes
to that decision because his missionary spirit is ready for
the supreme sacrifice in behalf of his friends. The supreme
sacrifice is not in martyrdom for the cause; that would be
easy and a consummation devoutly to be desired. The
supreme sacrifice is the sacrifice of daily service in continued
missionary labors. The aged apostle would rather die than
live; but he would rather live than die before his work
was done.
Hamlet's soliloquy led to his continued inaction. The
native hue of his resolution was sicklied o'er with the pale
cast of thought, and enterprises of great pith and moment
had their currents turned awry and lost the name of action.
Paul's soliloquy ends with the resolution that he will con
tinue the great enterprise to which his life has been devoted
and that he wili rejoice in being offered upon the sacrifice
and service of the Philippians' faith. He has sacrificed
everything to the cause, all the promising prospects of the
Jewish rabbi, all the comforts of home and the enjoyment
of his study and his ease ; and now he is willing to sacrifice
what he conceives to be the greatest blessedness, that of
being with Christ in bliss, if he can be of further service
to his friends. Hamlet weighs evils against evils and chooses
the lesser evils in pure cowardice in the end. Paul weighs
blessings against blessings, the blessings of life for Christ
and the blessings of death with Christ, and chooses the lesser
blessings in pure unselfishness in the end. They both choose
life, but the motives of their choice are radically different;
and Paul lives with rejoicing while Hamlet lives in despair
and in shame.
(4) His Example (verses 27-30). Paul was a Roman
citizen, and so were they. He tried to live worthy of his
citizenship, and so must they. He had a still higher ambi
tion, that he and they might live as citizens worthy of the

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 437
gospel of Christ. He fought as a good soldier; he stood
fast in the faith ; he was in nothing affrighted by the adver
saries. Let them follow his example. They were engaged
in the same conflict. To them it had been granted not only
to believe but also to suffer in the behalf of Christ. Their
faith was not of themselves ; it was the gift of God. Their
suffering was not self-chosen ; it too was a gift of God.
4. Exhortation to Follow the Example of Christ
(2. 1-18). Jesus Persuaded by Love. He had the continu
ous fellowship of the Spirit. He was characterized by tender
mercies and compassions, lowliness of mind and thought for
others. He humbled himself through life and was obedient
unto death by crucifixion. He worked out his own salvation
with fear and trembling, for it was God who worked in
him for his good pleasure. He was blameless and harmless,
the Son of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked
and perverse generation. He was the light of the world,
holding forth the word of life. Let the Philippians have
his mind and spirit, and Paul will rejoice to pour out his
life as a libation upon the sacrifice and service of their faith.
Let these things be done by them, and Paul says, "I joy,
and rejoice with you all : and iri the same manner do ye also
joy, and rejoice with me." "He recalls to our minds the
runner who, at the supreme moment of Grecian history,
brought to Athens the news of Marathon. Worn, panting,
exhausted with the effort to be the herald of deliverance, he
sank in death on the threshold of the first house which he
reached with the tidings of victory, and sighed forth his
gallant soul in one great sob, almost in the same words as
those used by the apostle, Xaipere, xatyof-ev — Rejoice ye, we
too rejoice !" 53
5. Reasons for Sending Timothy and Epaphroditus to
Them (2. 19-30).
6. Paul's Example (3. 1-21). (1) In the Repudiation of

53 Farrar, Messages, p. 305; compare Lightfoot, ad loc.

438 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
all Confidence in the Flesh (verses 1-7). There are certain
dogs and evil workers who belong to the old Jewish persua
sion who glory in the flesh. Paul does not. He glories
in Christ Jesus and has no confidence in the flesh. He has
much reason to be proud of his past. He was a Hebrew
of the Hebrews. No one could find fault with his legal
righteousness. He claimed to be blameless as judged by
their standard. Here is his record. Who has any better
one, in pedigree or in piety? All of these things Paul counts
but loss for Christ.
(2) In the Maintenance and the Pursuit of Spiritual Per
fection (verses 8-16). The word "perfect" is used twice in
this paragraph. We read, "Not that I have already obtained,
or am already made perfect : but I press on." Many of the
greatest preachers and some of the best authorities among
the commentators quote these words as indicative of Paul's
humility in disclaiming any present perfection of character
while he avows his purpose to strive on toward perfection as
long as he lives. Such an interpretation is wholly aside from
Paul's thought. He is not talking about perfection in pa
tience and peace and devotion and character. That perfec
tion he claims for himself and the Philippians in this para
graph toward the close, "Let us therefore, as many as are
perfect, be thus minded." The perfection of which he
speaks earlier is not perfection of character but perfection
of nature, the perfection possible in the resurrection life of
the saints in bliss. He has not attained unto the resurrec
tion from the dead and is not perfect with the perfection
of heaven. That is the goal of his endeavor. He presses
on to that mark.
In the meantime he maintains that perfection of consecra
tion and of faith which results in present Christian perfec
tion of character and which is the only guarantee of that
perfection to be revealed to those who attain unto the resur
rection from the dead. Here he maintains the perfection
of the racer, who strives for perfect physical condition and

THE EPISTLE TO TPIE PHILIPPIANS 439
singleness of aim and utmost of effort as he speeds toward
the goal. There he will have the perfection of rest and
reward. A careful reading of the context makes it perfectly
clear that Paul has no thought of disclaiming anything
possible in his present state, as perfection of motive and
effort, of spirit and life surely is, but only that perfection
to which he aspires in the life that is to come. To that he
has not yet attained. To that he presses forward with all
hope and strenuous endeavor, knowing that some time he
will reach the goal in glory. He keeps himself in perfect
condition now. He maintains his perfect faith and hope.
Some time he will be rewarded with the perfection of
heaven. (3) In Heavenly Citizenship (verses 17-21). Paul harks
back to his own example again. His citizenship is in heaven.
He walks with his mind on heavenly things. There are those
who mind earthly things. They are the enemies of the
cross, but he has sworn eternal allegiance to the cross.
Their end is perdition, while his end is sure salvation. Their
god is the belly, while his goal is the perfection of the
spirit. Their glory is in their shame, while his glory is
in Christ alone. "Brethren, be ye imitators of me, and
mark them that so walk even as ye have us for an ensample.
Then the Lord shall fashion anew the body of our humilia
tion, the body of our earthly pilgrimage, the body that so
often fails the racer to the goal and cannot keep up with the
desire of his spirit, and shall conform it to the body of his
glory, the perfect body of those who have attained to the
resurrection of the dead." It is not "our vile body" which
is to be changed. That is a sadly misleading translation
in the Authorized Version of to-day. The body is not
vile ; and the Bible nowhere says that it is. That was Mani-
chean or Neo-Platonic heresy, that matter is evil and the
body is vile. Plotinus blushed that he had a body; Jesus
never did. The Christian will honor the body as the temple
of the Holy Spirit. Archbishop Whately was dying, and

440 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
his chaplain read this passage to him, and he read, "Who
shall change our vile body." "Stop," said the Archbishop,
"not 'vile body,' if you please, but the body of our humilia
tion." It is the body which clogs and confines the wings of the
spirit, which binds us to the earth, which hinders us on
every hand, which wearies when we are most anxious to
work, which fails us when we most need our strength, which
limits our achievement by sheer weakness and incapacity.
It was the vehicle of the incarnation, and we honor it for
that. A body was prepared for Jesus, but it was the body
of his humiliation. In it he suffered pain of heart and pain
of flesh. He wearied in long journeyings, he fainted with
hunger, he felt the need of refreshment in sleep. He
labored sometimes until his friends thought he must be
beside himself, but he came to the limit of his physical
strength at last and was compelled to steal away into the
solitudes for rest. His back was bruised and bleeding in
the end and he could not bear the heavy cross ; but that back
had been bent beneath heavy burdens all his life long. His
brows were pierced with the sharp points of the thorns;
but those brows had been racked with pain again and again
in his ministry. His feet were nailed fast to the heavy
beam of the cross tree; but before that they had been so
weary oftentimes that he scarcely had been able to lift the
one after the other. He went about doing good as far as
he could and as long as he could, but, like the ball and
chain about the convict's feet, his body had been the clog
upon his endeavor, a constant source of suffering and cause
of limitation. It was the body of his humiliation, from
which he was freed at the moment of his resurrection.
Thereafter he could be where he chose when he chose
and was superior to all physical laws in his appearances
and his disappearances. The body of his glory was the
perfect instrument for the fulfilling of his spirit's behest.
Jt was no longer subject to material limitations. It no longer

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 441
wearied and suffered pain. It was the body of his exalta
tion, perfectly adapted to all the spirit's requirements and
perfectly satisfying all the spirit's needs. Paul says that
our bodies are like the body of Jesus of Nazareth now, and
they shall be like the body of our risen Lord after a while.
The body of our humiliation will be conformed to the body
of his glory in due time.
7. A Series of Short Exhortations (4. 1-9). This series
ends with the command, "The things which ye both learned
and received and heard and saw in me, these things do ; and
the God of peace shall be with you." All the preceding
exhortations, then, are based upon his own conduct and
experience and example. They had seen the embodiment
of these things in him. They were to be imitators of him
in their obedience to them. Therefore as we read them
we have sidelights thrown upon the character of the apostle
who had taught and preached and practiced these things.
What do they tell us concerning the apostle Paul ?
(1) His Steadfastness and his Love for His Friends
(verse 1). He had a genius for friendship. He bound his
friends to him with chords of steel. They were ready to
sacrifice anything for him. The reason for that was that
he sacrificed everything for them, and that he had such an
overflowing love for them that his love begat love in them.
We recall what Adolph Saphir said of Paul's affection:
"Paul seems to me to have had a thousand hearts. He loved
each church as if it were the only one he possessed. He
felt their burden, he rejoiced over their order, steadfastness,
and gifts; he ceased not to give thanks for them, and to
pray for the blessing and help which each of them needed ;
he remembered the names of their saints, he watched over
them with the affectionateness of a tender mother and nurse.
While he seems lost in the contemplation of divine truth,
soaring like an eagle far above vale and mountain-peak, and
gazing with steadfast eye into the brightness of the sun, he is
always like his blessed and dear Lord, who in homely but

442 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
most touching language compares himself to a hen gathering
her chickens under her wings.
"In all Paul's epistles we feel the warm breath of affection ;
we hear the voice tremulous with emotion, we see the earn
est and loving countenance of the fatherly man. Even when
he writes to the Romans, whom he had never seen, he says,
T long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual
gift, that ye may be established; that is, that I may be com
forted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and
me.' What can exceed his tender love to the churches of
Thessalonica and Philippi? or the soul-stirring expostula
tions which in anguish of mind he addresses to the Galatians,
of whom he travails again in birth, that Christ may be formed
in them? How fatherly, how considerate, how exquisitely
delicate and sensitive is he in his treatment of the Corin
thian church ! In all his epistles he continually interrupts the
doctrine with the expression of his love, his anxiety, his joy
and sorrow ; we see his heart bound up in the churches." 54
No wonder they loved him. They could depend upon him
always, for he stood fast in the Lord. His was no shallow
love, easily exhausted. His was no fickle friendship, soon
forgetting those left behind. They knew his steadfastness
and they could count upon it. He was faithful. He would
be true.
(2) His Sympathies and Desires (verses 2, 3). His sym
pathy was with all good men and all good women, and his
desire was that they live in peace. It may be that we
have four proper names in this passage. Euodia and
Syntyche are the two women mentioned, and the name of
Clement follows later. It is possible that Paul perpetrates
a pun here, as he does in the Epistle to Philemon. There
he plays upon the meaning of the proper name, Onesimus,
Profitable in meaning but un-profitable in Philemon's expe
rience. If we can believe that he is doing the same thing

64 £5 aphir, The Epistle to the Hebrews, I, pp. 191-193.

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 443
here, we can read, "I beseech thee also, Syzygus by name
and Syzygus, yokefellow, by nature, help these women."
This seems possible, but a staggering objection to it is that
this proper name "Syzygus" has not been found in any liter
ature or in any inscriptions, and that is not true of the other
names here.
It is a little puzzling to all the commentators to decide
who this true yokefellow is upon whose aid Paul calls at
this juncture. Clement of Alexandria and Origen thought
that Paul was addressing his own wife in these words, and
Renan thinks it was Lydia to whom Paul had become
married since her conversion at his first visit. The trouble
with these suggestions is that the Greek adjective is mas
culine and cannot refer to any woman. Who, then, is the
man who is Paul's true yokefellow? Lightfoot and Hof-
mann follow Victorinus in thinking that Epaphroditus is
meant ; but he is with Paul at the time of writing and would
not be addressed in the epistle. Others have suggested
Barnabas, Luke, Silas, Timothy. Riickert says Paul is ad
dressing his own brother. Wieseler thought that the yoke
fellow was Christ. Baur said he was Peter. If there is no
proper name here, no one knows who this true yokefellow
was. Epaphroditus and Clement and the members of the
church at Philippi may have known, when the letter was
received, whom Paul was addressing, but that knowledge
perished with them; and the wild guesses made by critics
and commentators since simply testify to our absolute ignor
ance at this point.
(3) His Constant Rejoicing in the Lord (verse 4). Paul's
joy was unceasing and unquenchable. It was wholly inde
pendent of outward circumstances. Its source was not to
be found in the finite ; and like its source it was unchanging
and infinite.
(4) His Sweet Reasonableness (verse 5) . It was so called
by Matthew Arnold. Tyndale translated "courtesy." Cran
mer called it "reasonableness." It is a combination of for-

444 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
bearance and graciousness, of modesty and courtesy, of con
sideration and esteem such as was characteristic of Christ
and will be manifest in the life of every true follower in his
footsteps; Paul had it. He was a true gentleman in his
dealing with everybody, and especially in his conduct toward
the aged and the suffering and the weak. He was not over
bearing or arrogant. There was a sweet reasonableness
about him which made his personality a most winning and
attractive one.
(5) His Freedom from Anxiety (verses 6, 7). Paul's
fearless confidence was born, on the one hand, from his
sense that the Lord was at hand, and, on the other, from his
faith in prayer. In nothing could he be anxious if the Lord
was at his right-hand. All things were possible through the
strength given by him. And, again, all things were possible
to believing prayer. As long as God was a prayer-hearing
and prayer-answering God, why should any child of God
be anxious about anything? Did anything happen which
would cause his heart to beat in alarm if he were unprotected
and alone? The peace of God was pacing sentry up and
down before his heart and no alarming thing could enter
there without being challenged and robbed of all its terrors
before it was allowed to pass to him. Did anything occur
which would throw him into mental confusion if he had to
rely on his own strength of intellect and quickness of wit
alone? The peace of God was pacing sentry before all his
thoughts and he never could be taken off his guard as
long as that faithful watcher remained at his post. It passed
all understanding how Paul was kept from all anxiety. It
was the power of prayer which did it. It was the peace of
God which did it. It was the Lord at hand who did it.
(6) His Habitual High Thinking (verse 8). All that was
worthy in the ideals of the Greek philosophers Paul made the
staple of his thought. He never was fascinated by plaus
ibility or deceived by sophistry. He demanded always to
know what was true. He reveled in the august. He was

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 445
at home in the heights. He delighted in that which was
honorable and reverend, sanctioned by the ages and the
generations, tried and true. He never could be content
with anything short of just measure in dealings with God
and with man. His theology was not sentimental or sick-
ish or soft. It had adamant in it. It was founded upon the
rock of immutable justice and truth. He abominated any
thing which was unclean. He would not tolerate anything
which was shadowed or stained. He loved that which was
crystal-clear and diamond-pure, flawless, taintless, whole.
He hated the least remnant of dirt and of filth in morals or
in thought. He believed in the beauty of holiness. He
believed that really lovely things never were diseased or
evil at the root. He preferred to think upon the things
which were of gracious bearing and of good report. He
knew that virtue was in these things and that all praise
belonged to them. He had learned that while his mind was
filled with these things he lived in serenity and peace. The
peace of God kept guard over him. The God of peace
kept pace with him.
8. Thanks for Their Gift (4. 10-20). He rejoiced that
their thoughtfulness for him had blossomed forth again. It
had come into his prison cell like the fragrance of fresh
roses. He had been initiated into all the mysteries of Chris
tian patience in tribulation and rejoicing in suffering and
contentment in everything. He had matriculated in the
School of Christ. He had learned much from his Master.
He could do all things in Him that strengthened him. They
were the only ones with whom he had opened a debit and
credit account. He was indebted to them for four contribu
tions now — three sent to Thessalonica and Corinth and one
to Rome. He believed that their generosity was well-pleas
ing to God, and God would supply every need of their souls
according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To him be
glory. Amen.
9. Salutations (4. 21, 22).

446 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
io. The Benediction (4. 23). This is not a theological
epistle, and therefore it is not an especially Christological
one. Yet we count the name of Christ forty-two times in
this short letter, and the pronouns referring to him are
many more. Paul cannot write about anything without writ
ing about Christ. He ends, "The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ be with your spirit." The spirit of Christ and the
grace of Christ are in the entire epistle.

CHAPTER XIII
THE PASTORAL EPISTLES

CHAPTER XIII
THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
I. The Name
The Pastoral Epistles are addressed to Titus and to
Timothy, who have been left in charge of churches by the
apostle Paul. He takes occasion to counsel them concerning
the administration of church affairs, and since so large a
portion of their contents have to do with pastoral duties and
responsibilities, the epistles have been called the Pastoral
Epistles. This name was applied to them for the first time
by Anton in 1753 and Wegscheider in 1810 and by Eichhorn
in 1812, and since their day it has come into general use. It
is not an altogether appropriate name, however, for Paul
as he wrote seems to have had in his thought the churches
which these men served as well as the men themselves, and
the epistles take on a half-public character. They are
addressed directly to individuals, but they include much in
their material which is of interest to the general church and
which has been of service to all the Christian centuries.
II. Objections to Their Pauline Authorship
The genuineness of these epistles has been questioned
more widely than that of any of the other epistles ascribed to
Paul. The reasons for this questioning are found mainly
in the facts mentioned in the epistles themselves, in their
style and their doctrine, and in the ecclesiastical and hereto
ical developments which they presuppose. We will look at
these in order.
1. We can find no place anywhere in the narrative of the
book of Acts into which we can fit the historical and bio-
449

450 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
graphical data furnished, us in these epistles. The attempt
has been made more than once to suggest a time in Faul's
missionary career as outlined in the book of Acts when these
events could have taken place, but the general impression
is that any suggested date involves improbabilities and
impossibilities, and therefore for the most part such at
tempts have been given up. ( i ) A voyage to Crete is sug
gested in Titus i. 5, in which Paul was accompanied by
Titus. Titus is not mentioned in the book of Acts at all,
and nowhere in that book are we told of any missionary
campaign by Paul in Crete. (2) In Titus 3. 12 we read that
Paul intended to spend a winter in Nicopolis. That inten
tion surely never was carried out at any time during the
missionary journeys detailed in Acts. (3) Timothy and
Paul are in Ephesus together and Timothy is left in charge
there while Paul goes into Macedonia (1 Tim, 1. 3). When
Paul left Ephesus to go into Macedonia in Acts 20. 1 Tim
othy accompanied him (Acts 20. 4), and we have no hint in
the narrative that Timothy was left in charge of the church
there at any time. (4) In 2 Tim. 4. 20 Paul is giving
Timothy the news of his journey to Rome, and he tells
him that Trophimus had been left at Miletus sick. In the
book of Acts when Paul visits Miletus with Trophimus he
is on his way to Jerusalem and not to Rome, and he did not
leave Trophimus there sick, but took him with him, and it
was the fact that Trophimus had been seen in his company
which helped to set afloat the rumor that Paul had taken
Trophimus into the temple with him and so defiled the holy
place ; and that rumor started the riot which ended in Paul's
imprisonment (Acts 21. 29). (5) In the same passage in
Timothy Paul says that Erastus remained in Corinth. In
the book of Acts Timothy is a member of Paul's company
after he leaves Corinth for the last time, and that was two
or more years before Paul's imprisonment in Rome began.
Paul would not be likely to write to Timothy about what
happened years before, and he would not need to write to

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 451
Timothy the things which Timothy already knew. (6) In
2 Tim. 4. 13 Paul asks Timothy to bring with him the cloak
and the books which had been left with Carpus at Troas.
This epistle evidently is written at the end of an imprison
ment at Rome, and that would mean, according to the nar
rative in Acts, that these things had been left by Paul for
an interval of several years before he had asked for them ;
and that, while possible, does not seem likely. In the dun
geon at Rome he would have needed that cloak at once, and
Paul would not be without books any longer than was neces
sary wherever he might have leisure to use them. These
are samples of the difficulties we encounter when we try to
find a place in Luke's account of Paul for the circumstances
presupposed in the Pastoral Epistles. Many think that they
cannot have been written by Paul because, according to the
book of Acts, Paul never was in these situations.
2. These epistles are inferior in literary merit to the other
epistles of Paul. Davidson declares that they are "without
vigor, point, spiritual depth, or richness." McGiffert sug
gests that they are too loose and illogical to have been written
by Paul. He says that in the Pastorals, "and especially in
First Timothy, we have for the most part a mere collection
of detached passages, betraying a writer largely lacking in
the directness, incisiveness, and grasp which were so char
acteristic of" the apostle.1 Many think that this difference
of style as compared with the other Pauline epistles marks
a difference of authorship.
3. The Pastoral Epistles have notable peculiarities of
words and phrases not found in any of the other Pauline
epistles. (1) We are told that in First Timothy there are
seventy-four words not used elsewhere. In Second Timothy
there are forty-six, and in Titus forty-eight. This means
that between four and four and a half per cent of the words
used in these epistles are new and peculiar words as com-

1 McGiffert, The Apostolic Age, p. 401.

452 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
pared with the previous Pauline vocabulary.2 Another
authority estimates that in the thirteen chapters of these
epistles there are one hundred and seventy-one words used
nowhere else in the New Testament — an average of thirteen
to the chapter.3 Among the new words we notice (a) the
first occurrence of the word "neophyte" in the New Testa
ment in I Tim. 3. 6. (_¦) The author of these epistles writes
about the devil. Paul always said "Satan," with two excep
tions — Eph. 4. 27, and 6. 11. (_) The term used in these
epistles for the second coming is "epiphany." Paul's term
is "parousia." (d) The word "piety" never is found in the
other Pauline epistles, and it is found only five times in the
rest of the New Testament — in Second Peter four times
and in Acts once; but in these Pastoral Epistles it occurs
eleven times, and nine times in First Timothy alone. (e)
"Sound doctrine" is repeatedly emphasized here and no
where else in the Pauline epistles. (/) In the salutations
of these epistles a new and third term is introduced. Instead
of the "grace and peace" of the other Pauline epistles we
have here, "grace, mercy, and peace." (2) Among the new
phrases we notice, (a) the phrase found only here in the
New Testament and therefore characteristic of the Pastoral
Epistles, "Faithful is the saying." (b) Another character
istic phrase is "God the Saviour." It occurs here six times,
and is not to be found in any of the other Pauline epistles.
It occurs only twice elsewhere in the New Testament —
2 Pet. 1. 11, Jude 25. These new phrases and this new
vocabulary are thought by some to betoken a new author
ship. 4. There are noticeable differences in theology. ( 1 ) These
epistles are more utilitarian than the previous Pauline
epistles are. Paul has been called the apostle of faith and
James the apostle of good works. Something of the same
contrast could be drawn between the Pauline epistles
2 Book by Book, p. 152.
8 Findlay, The Epistles of Paul, p. 214.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 453
and the Pastoral Epistles. There justification by faith
and regeneration by the Holy Spirit were fundamental,
and here piety and good works are emphasized. (2) Faith
in the Pauline epistles was a subjective experience. In the
Pastoral Epistles it is more objective in character. The more
profound conception has given way to the more common
place satisfaction with morality and faithfulness to a creed.
5. These epistles represent a degree of development in
the organization of the church which marks them as belong
ing to a later stage of church history. Their author is
more concerned about church organization than Paul ever
seemed to be. It has been held that the emphasis upon
officialism and the hierarchical tendencies manifest here
belong to a later age than that of Paul.
6. We used to be told that the doctrine of these epistles
was aimed at the Gnosticism of the second century, and
many still think that the growth of error indicated here is
too rank to fall within the time of Paul.
7. It has been objected further that Paul would not have
written to Timothy, "Let no man despise thy youth" (1 Tim.
4. 12), and he would not have called him "my child" and
"my child Timothy" (1 Tim. 1. 18; 2 Tim. 2. 1), and he
would not have exhorted him to "flee youthful lusts" (2
Tim. 2. 22), because Timothy must have been about thirty-
five years old at this time. He was no child and no youth,
but a man grown. McGiffert thinks that "the instructions
which Paul gives, and the warnings and exhortations which
he addresses to Timothy and Titus, are of a kind entirely
suited to immature and untried disciples, or to the com
mon multitude of Christians, but certainly not at all suited
to men such as they had proved themselves to be. The
author instructs them, especially Timothy, in regard to the
most elementary duties of the Christian life and the most
elementary truths of Christianity; he warns them against
vice and lusts, and urges them repeatedly to be honest,
faithful, sober, and pure, as if he were greatly in doubt not

454 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
only as to their official but also as to their private char
acter." * McGiffert concludes, therefore, that Timothy and
Titus in these epistles are simply lay figures through whom
the pseudonymous author addresses the church at large.
8. In Acts 20. 25 Paul is bidding farewell to the elders of
Ephesus and he tells them, "I know that ye all shall see
my face no more." If we recognize the genuineness of First
Timothy, we must deny the truth of his prophecy, for in
First Timothy we find a visit to Ephesus implied (1. 3)
which must have been subsequent to this farewell at Miletus,
and they did see his face again.
9. If Paul had just been at Ephesus (1 Tim. 1. 3) and
was hoping to return there in a short time (1 Tim. 3. 14),
there was no need of his writing any letter. He could have
told Timothy all these things by word of mouth when they
were together.
These are the principal objections made to the genuineness
of the Pastoral Epistles, and those who are convinced by
them believe that these epistles were written by some one
other than the apostle Paul at a date much later than his
life, and that Paul's name was attached to them to give
them authority, or possibly because there were genuine
fragments of Pauline epistles about, which these longer
epistles were built up. As they stand now they are either
partly or wholly forged in Paul's name. We will look at
these objections in order and see whether they can be an
swered satisfactorily.
III. Answers to These Objections
1. It is true that the facts of these epistles cannot be
harmonized with the narrative found in the book of Acts.
If we are limited to the data concerning the life of Paul
furnished us in that book, we must conclude that the Pastoral
Epistles are not genuine. However, there is no necessity
for our feeling thus limited. Paul may have been released
4 McGiffert, op. cit., pp. 399, 400.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 455
from the Roman imprisonment in which the book of Acts
so strangely and so abruptly leaves him, and if he were
released, then all the events found in the Pastoral Epistles
may have taken place just as they suggest and the Pastoral
Epistles themselves may be genuine. Granting the possibility
of Paul's liberation and longer life, we can believe in the
genuineness of these later epistles ; but Paul's liberation must
be assumed. Weiss concludes: "It can neither be proved
nor denied on historical grounds. ... If the Pastoral
Epistles are to be pronounced genuine, they can belong only
to a period of the apostle's life lying beyond that with which
we are acquainted" through the book of Acts and the other
Pauline epistles. "The possibility remains that the Pastoral
Epistles are the sole monuments and evidences of a life
period subsequent to the first Roman captivity that have
come down to us." 5 We agree, then, with the objection as
stated, that the facts suggested in the Pastoral Epistles can
not find a place anywhere in the narrative of the book of
Acts, but we refuse to believe that the question of the
genuineness of the epistles is thus closed. We are disposed
to think that a place can be found for them after the end
of Luke's narrative.
2. We are ready to agree, again, that these Pastoral
Epistles are inferior to the other epistles of Paul in literary
merit. However, we do not concede that that fact neces
sarily settles the question of their genuineness. On the con
trary, it seems self-evident to us that no writer always is at
his best, maintaining a continuously high level of excellence,
and in these private letters to personal friends Paul could
not be expected to be as careful in composition as when he
was writing to great churches. A recent writer has well
declared that this whole method of criticism "really postu
lates that a writer must always preserve the same dull
monotone, or always confine himself to the same transcend-

6 Weiss, Introduction, I, pp. 387, 388,

456 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
ent height?. He must never break out in a new direction,
never descend to the valleys or the busy scenes of common
life; above all, he dare not widen his thoughts with the
process of the suns, or differ from the utterances of his
early days. He must see and say everything at once ; hav
ing had his vision and his dream, he must henceforth be
like a star and dwell apart. It is not permissible, having
been grave, ever to be gay, or gay, ever to be grave. To
be stereotyped is his only salvation. Thus do the men of
the midnight oil understand the men of action and life. On
such principles there is not a writer of note large parts of
whose sayings and doings could not be proved to be by
some one else. It cannot be conceived that the author of
'Sordello' could ever have written the simple lyric of 'Evelyn
Hope'; or that the mind that produced Tn Memoriam'
could sink to the bathos of
Old Year roaring and blowing,
And New Year blowing and roaring.
Burns could not have written half the poems attributed to
him, for there are "radical and inexplicable differences' in
the very nature of the poet who wrote 'Tarn o' Shanter,' as
compared with the other poet who wrote 'To Mary in
Heaven.' " 6 As long as these variations in style are so
apparent in contemporary writers we can well believe that
any such variation would be possible in the apostle Paul.
3. We are not impressed much either with the argument
from the peculiar words and phrases. It may be true that
the Pastoral Epistles "have twice as many unusual words
as any other of Paul's, and three times as many as most;"
but what of it ? There are peculiar words in all the Pauline
epistles — in Romans, one hundred and eleven; in First and
Second Corinthians, one hundred and eighty-six; in Gala
tians, fifty-seven; in Philippians, fifty-four; in Colossians
and Ephesians together, one hundred and forty-three. It is
6 §haw, op. cit, pp. 483, 484.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 457
natural that a man's vocabulary would increase with the
years, and this seems to have been the case with Paul. In
First and Second Thessalonians there are five peculiar words
to the chapter, in Philippians ten to the chapter, an'd in the
Pastoral Epistles, thirteen. In different writings of the
same author the variation in the number of unusual words
is sometimes as great as three to one. In the Irving edition
of Shakespeare a list of the peculiar words is given at the
end of each play and the proportion of these words to the
page varies from 3.4 to 10.4, a variation of more than
three to one. In Professor Masson's edition of Milton he
shows that Milton in L'Allegro uses only ten per cent of
non-Saxon words, while in the sixth book of Paradise Lost
he uses twenty per cent, and in other places even thirty
per cent, another variation of more than three to one. Paul
is in good company, then, as far as the proportion of varia
tion in his vocabulary in the Pastoral Epistles is concerned.
It is no greater than that found in other great authors.
Reuss has pointed out the fact that the two Epistles to
the Corinthians contain as many words not found in Romans
and Galatians as the Pastoral Epistles contain of words not
found in all the other letters of Paul. Paul was a genius.
His mental horizon always was widening. His vocabulary
continually was enriched. The Greek language had an
inexhaustible wealth of material, and Paul was appropriat
ing more and more of it to the service of his Christian mis
sionary labors. He was not content with any stock of stereo
typed formulae. He had new things to proclaim and he put
them into new words and new phrases. Mentally and spirit
ually he was progressive and his increasing vocabulary is
an evidence of that fact. Therefore the very peculiarities
of these Pastoral Epistles, instead of being a proof of their
ungenuineness, may well be considered a proof of their
Pauline authorship.
Who but Paul himself would have added that word
"mercy" to the salutation ? A forger would have been very

458 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
careful to make no change in the usual Pauline formula.
Who but Paul himself would have called Paul the- chief of
sinners? Would any forger have dared to do that? One
cannot but feel that any argument from literary peculiar
ities is always a most precarious one, since these can be
paralleled in the different writings of the same author in
so many instances in both the ancient and the modern times,
and since so many attempts to identify anonymous author
ship by means of the internal phenomena in our own day
have gone so strangely awry. We conclude that these pecu
liarities in the Pastoral Epistles prove nothing against the
Pauline authorship. They are perfectly possible with a
man of such active brain and versatile genius as that of
Paul. 4. The differences in doctrine are more apparent than real.
Paul emphasizes the necessity of good works in all of his
epistles. He never was a mere theorist. He always insisted
on a practical application of the doctrine he presented. A
new meaning given to the word "faith" would not prove
that Paul did not so use it. In his Commentary on Romans
Sanday tells us that we must distinguish between at least
seven different senses given to the word "faith" in that one
epistle, and he says that "Paul has all these meanings before
him; and he glances from one to another as the hand of a
violin-player runs over the strings of his violin." 7 It would
not be strange, then, if in the course of the years Paul
should add still another meaning to his list, and that the
subjective faith of which he wrote in Romans should be
come objectivized and crystallized into a creed in the Pas
torals. 5. The ecclesiastical organization represented in the
Pastoral Epistles may be a more developed one than that
of the earlier epistles. It is but natural that it should be.
Affairs were moving very fast in these beginning days.

7 Sanday, Commentary, pp. 33, 34.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 459
They were creative days in every department of church life.
There were no stereotyped forms to be maintained. The
church was at liberty to establish any institution or office
which seemed likely to serve its present need. However,
the organization represented in these epistles is not that of
the second century. Bishops and presbyters are synonymous
here. They were distinguished from each other in the
second century.
6. It cannot be proven that the doctrine of these epistles
is aimed at second-century Gnosticism. There are certain
Gnostic terms here — "aeons," "gnosis," "antitheses" — but
they are used here in a vague and general sense unlike the
definiteness of their meaning in the second century, and it
would seem more probable that the Gnostics had borrowed
these terms from these epistles and had developed and
defined them in their later use. Error grows rank in the
time of these epistles, but that is true in any generation, and
it surely cannot be argued that it is peculiar to any earlier
or later age.
7. Paul was an old man, and to a man sixty-five years of
age anyone who is only thirty-five always will seem young;
and Timothy was young to be set over elders in such a
responsible position as that in the church at Ephesus. If
Paul calls Timothy a youth, he is only following the custom
in the Roman world to which they both belonged, for by
the Romans boys were called children until they were seven
teen years old and youths until they were forty-six. At
Rome itself forty-three was the legal age for a consulship.
Timothy had been converted when he was sixteen, and had
accompanied Paul on his missionary journeys while still a
lad, and Paul never would get over the feeling that his youth
and inexperience was in need of constant supervision and
fatherly advice.
8. When Paul says, "I know that ye shall see my face no
more" (Acts 20. 25), he is not uttering an infallible prophecy
but is expressing his individual conviction. He feels per-

460 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
fectly sure about it, but it does not follow that it will be
infallibly fulfilled. In Phil. I. 25 Paul says, "I know
that I shall abide, yea, and abide with you all, for your prog
ress and joy in the faith; that your glorying may abound
in Christ Jesus in me through my presence with you again."
Is this an infallible prophecy? Was Paul liberated from
the Roman imprisonment and did he visit Philippi again
and abide with the disciples there for some time? If this
utterance is a proof of these facts, then the chief objections
to the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles go by the board.
How about that other statement made by Paul before
Agrippa — "King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I
know that thou believest" ? 8 Was King Agrippa a believer ?
Not in the sense that Paul was, surely. In all these passages
Paul is simply asserting his own profound conviction. He
would be the last to claim that his conviction carried with
it any infallible certainty of fulfillment.
9. We are not sure that Paul had been with Timothy in
Ephesus just before writing First Timothy. That is an
inference from 1 Tim. 1. 3, and all that we are told there is
that Paul had exhorted Timothy to tarry in Ephesus when
he himself was going into Macedonia. He may have sent
that exhortation to Timothy by letter from almost any point
in Asia Minor or Greece. In 1 Tim. 3. 14, 15. we learn that
Paul hoped to visit Timothy shortly in Ephesus, but that it
was altogether uncertain whether he would be able to do
so, and in the possibility that he may tarry long or not be
able to come at all he writes his letter, that Timothy may
know how to behave himself in the house of God. Since the
past visit is so doubtful and the future one so uncertain,
neither would seem to be any bar to the possibility of the
genuineness of the epistle.
What shall we say, then, at the end of this discussion?
No objection brought against these epistles seems to us to
8 Acts 26. 27.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 461
be in any degree a decisive one. With any predisposition
to believe in the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles any
or all of the objections to them will fail to convince. On
the other hand, it seems equally clear that with any predis
position to doubt their genuineness no satisfactory argu
ment can be advanced in favor of them. As far as the
internal phenomena are concerned there can be no certainty
in either way. There are great difficulties barring a con
clusion either for or against. Weiss says, "Since the
apostle's release from the Roman captivity cannot be proved
by any historical evidence from these epistles if they are
not genuine ; and since their genuineness can only be proved
on the assumption that this release did take place, it must
be conceded that we have here a circular proof that does
not admit of a definite scientific decision." 9
We are not surprised, therefore, to find that the author
ities differ widely in their conclusions at this point. The
following decided against the genuineness of the Epistles:
Baur, Beyschlag, Davidson, Hatch, Hilgenfeld, Holtzmann,
Jiilicher, Mangold, Meyer, Schenkel, Schwegler, Weiz
sacker. The following are ready to recognize that certain
fragments of the Pastoral Epistles are genuine and have
been interpolated in these later productions. Of course
the decisions as to the exact extent of the interpolations are
various, but in this class of mediating critics we may num
ber Bacon, Clemen, Credner, Ewald, Harnack, Hausrath,
Hesse, Hitzig, Immer, Krenkel, Knoke, Lemme, McGiffert,
Moffatt, Peake, Pfleiderer, Renan, Reville, Sabatier,
Strachan, von Soden. The genuineness of the epistles as
a whole has been ably defended by Adeney, Alford, Barth,
Baumgarten, Beck, Bernard, Bertrand, Bowen, Cony
beare and Howson, Cramer, Dods, Dubois, Fairbairn, Fal
coner, Farrar, Findlay, Gilbert, Godet, Gloag, Good,
Guericke, Herzog, Hofmann, Hort, Humphreys, Huther,

• Weiss, op. cit, p. 419.

462 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
James, Knowling, Lange, Laughlin, Lightfoot, Rolling,
Macpherson, Plummer, Plumptre, Planck, Purves, Otto,
Ramsay, Salmon, Sanday, Schaff, Shaw, Steinmetz, Spitta,
Wace, Wieseler, Wiesinger, Weiss, Van Oosterzee, Zahn.
IV. Conclusions
In the lack of direct historical evidence we can arrive
at only tentative conclusions. The following seem to us
to be the probabilities in the case:
i. Paul was liberated from the Roman imprisonment of
which we read in the book of Acts. Some reasons may be
adduced for this supposition, (i) In Josephus we read
of a great shipwreck at about this time in which many Jews
were drowned. It is possible that Paul's accusers were on
their way to Rome in this ill-fated vessel and that the case
against him collapsed with their disappearance and con
sequent failure to appear against him. Of course we cannot
be sure of this. (2) Even if the case came to trial, we can
be sure that the testimony of Festus and Agrippa and Lysias
and Julius would be favorable to Paul, and this Roman
testimony would be likely to outweigh any counter charges
on the part of the Jews. (3) Possibly the best reason for
supposing that Paul was released is to be found in his own
confident expectation of that event of his trial. He writes
to Philemon to prepare him a lodging, for he hopes that
through the prayers of his friends he shall be granted unto
them.10 He writes to the Philippians that he knows that
he will abide in the flesh and be present with them again.'11
Something must have happened to give Paul this assurance
of his liberation. He seems to have no doubt about it, and
in the absence of all other information this assurance may
in itself furnish a presumption of the fact. (4) To this
presumption we may add the general tradition in the early
church to the same effect. Clement of Rome in the first
10 Philem. 22.
11 Phil. 1. 25, 26.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 463
century wrote that Paul, having come to the limit of the
West, suffered martyrdom.12 We know that Paul intended
to make a journey to Spain,13 and this testimony of Clement
generally is supposed to witness to the fact that he finally
was enabled to fulfill this intention. The Muratorian
fragment, about A. D. 170, mentions Paul's journey to
Spain, but the sentence is incomplete and we cannot be
sure of the whole of it. Eusebius, in the fourth century,
says, "There is a tradition that the apostle after his defense
again set forth to the ministry of his preaching, and hav
ing entered Rome a second time was martyred." 14 Jerome
and Chrysostom, in the fifth century, followed by Theo
doret and many of the Fathers, tell us that Paul preached
in Spain. We think that these testimonies from the early
days must have had some ground for their existence; and
if they represent the fact in the case, the Pastoral Epistles
may well be a proof of Paul's later missionary labors.
With Paul in Spain and Crescens in Gaul and Titus in
Dalmatia, it is evident that the missionary map of the
world was changing very rapidly in these days. Its fron
tiers were being extended westward, northwestward and
northeastward from Rome. New territories were being
invaded and new realms won for the conquering Christ.
Nearly all the English writers agree that Paul was
released from the first Roman imprisonment, and had
another period of missionary activity. Alford, EUicott,
Lewin, Lightfoot, Conybeare and Howson, Farrar, Plump
tre, Wordsworth, Findlay, Salmon, Shaw may be mentioned
among them. Bleek, Ewald, Gieseler, Godet, Lange,
Neander, Renan, and Zahn also hold to a second imprison
ment at Rome, with an aftermath of missionary labor pre
ceding. 2. The Pastoral Epistles are genuine. (1) There is not
12 Clement, ad Corinth, c. 5.
u Rom. 15. 24.
14 Hist. Eccl., II, 22.

464 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
a particle of historical evidence to be adduced against them.
A single authoritative statement to the effect that Paul was
martyred at the close of the first Roman imprisonment
would dispose of the question. There is nothing of the
sort. (2) The internal evidence is rather in favor of the
Epistles than against them. Would any forger have written
these epistles and have assigned them to a period when
Paul was known not to have been in existence? Would
any forger have filled them with so many details concerning
individuals and events? Twenty-three members of the
church are mentioned in Second Timothy. No other por
tion of the New Testament is so crowded with personal
details. A forger would have avoided all such things.
Their presence in these epistles affords a presumption of
their genuineness. (3) The external evidence is as satis
factory as we could expect. It is represented by Clement
of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Clement of Alex
andria, the Muratorian Canon, and the Peshito. Zahn says,
"Traces of their circulation in the church before Marcion's
time are clearer than those which can be found for Romans
and Second Corinthians." 15 Dean Alford says, "There
never was the slightest doubt in the ancient church that the
Epistles to Timothy and Titus were canonical and written
by Paul." De Wette declares, "These epistles are as well
attested by external or historical evidence as the other
epistles of Paul." Findlay says the same thing: "The wit
ness of the early church to their place in the New Testament
canon and their Pauline authorship is as clear, full and
unhesitating as that given to the other epistles." 16 Weiss
agrees: "The external attestation of the epistles is
quite on a par with that of the other Paulines." 17 Bishop
Vincent concluded his study of this subject by saying:
"The work of no ancient classic author has such strong
16 Zahn, Introduction, II, p. 85.
"Findlay, Epistles, p. 213.
17 Weiss, op. cit, p. 411.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 465
external and internal proof of its genuineness. The topog
raphy which is recognized, the opinions and social condi
tions of the times, both in the church and in the world, the
object of the writing, the theme discussed, the utter weak
ness of the impeachment, the weight of testimony from
ages, all sustain the claim as to Paul. We may be sure that
these epistles are not a fraud." 18
3. The Pastoral Epistles were written, First Timothy
and Titus in the year A. D. 67, from some place in Asia
Minor or Macedonia not now to be fixed upon with any cer
tainty, and Second Timothy in the year 68 from Rome.
V. Timothy
1. His Early History. Probably he was born in Lystra.
His father was a Greek and he gave his son a Greek name.
The mother was a Jewess either by race or by faith. Her
name was Eunice and her mother's name was Lois. In
some manuscripts of the Western text she is called a widow,
and it may be that Timothy's father died in his early youth.
The mother and grandmother, Eunice and Lois, instructed
Timothy in the Old Testament Scriptures,19 and he was at
home in the Holy Book from his youth up. Those two
devout women gave the boy a religious training and put
their impress upon him for life.
2. His Relationship to Paul. Paul found Timothy at
Lystra on the first missionary journey, and the lad, prob
ably only sixteen or seventeen years of age at this time,
was converted. He seems to have become active at once in
the Christian propaganda and to have been well known in
the Christian communities at Lystra and Iconium. When
Paul came to Lystra on the second missionary journey John
Mark had just failed him and he had parted company with
Barnabas on this account, and he and Silas needed an
attendant to take John Mark's place. They found Timothy
18 Iliff School Studies, p. 159.
19 2 Tim. 3. 15.

466 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
well reported of in all this region, and Paul asked him to
become their traveling companion in their further mission
ary labors. It must have been a great sacrifice for the
widowed mother and the old grandmother to send forth
their cherished child into all the inevitable hardships and
sufferings of the missionary career, but they were willing
to make the sacrifice, as so many mothers and grandmothers
have been willing since.
Paul seems to have been drawn to Timothy from the
very first, and Timothy gave to Paul all the hero worship
and personal devotion of. which a boy's heart is capable.
Paul circumcised him and he was ordained to the mission
ary ministry.20 This, ordination was an impressive occa
sion. Timothy made his confession of faith in the presence
of many witnesses.21 The prophetic spirit fell upon many
and prophecies were uttered, ratifying the choice of Tim
othy and predicting his good warfare for the Christ.22
The presbyters laid their hands upon him.23 Paul fol
lowed, and as his hands rested upon Timothy's head the
boy was filled with the Holy Spirit, and its power and love
and discipline remained with him through life.24 There
after no name is associated more closely and continuously
with that of Paul than the name of Timothy.
He went with Paul and Silas to Philippi, helped them to
organize the church at Thessalonica, was left at Berea
when Paul went to Athens, rejoined Paul there, and was
dispatched to Thessalonica again, returned to find Paul in
Corinth, helped establish the church there, and later labored
with Paul in the establishment of the church at Ephesus
and the evangelization of all Asia from that center. From
Ephesus he was sent to Macedonia and to Corinth on a
delicate and difficult mission, in which he seems to have
failed to bring about all the desired results. He rejoined
29 Acts 16. 3. » 1 Tim. 4. 14.
" 1 Tim. 6. 12. M 2 Tim. 1. 6, 7.
22 1 Tim. 1. 18.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 467
Paul in Macedonia and accompanied him to Corinth, and
when Paul started on that last journey to Jerusalem Tim
othy was with him ; and in the book of Acts he is mentioned
last at Troas.25 We learn from the epistles of the Roman
imprisonment that Timothy was with Paul at Rome. Paul
hoped to send Timothy to Philippi from Rome.26 At the
time of the writing of the Pastoral Epistles Timothy is in
Ephesus, representing Paul there and in charge of the
church. In the second imprisonment in Rome Paul sends
for Timothy to come to him at once. Timothy doubtless
obeyed this summons, and it may have been at or after
Paul's martyrdom in the Eternal City that Timothy himself
was thrown into the prison from which he was released at
about the time of the writing of the Epistle to the He
brews.27 As a child serveth a father so did Timothy serve Paul
in the furtherance of the gospel.28 The childless apostle
had found in him a son after his own heart, and he made
full proof of his fidelity through twenty years of constant
fellowship and service. Paul calls him his true child in
faith,29 his beloved child,30 his beloved and faithful child
in the Lord,31 his brother and God's minister,32 his fellow
worker,33 working the work of the Lord even as he him
self did.34 Paul joins Timothy's name with his own in
the superscription of First and Second Thessalonians, both
of the epistles in the first group, of Second Corinthians in
the second group of epistles, of Philemon, Colossians, and
Philippians in the third group; and Timothy is directly
addressed in two of the three epistles in the fourth or
Pastoral group. No other name js so honored. Paul and
Timothy are associated forever as sun and satellite, though

23 Acts 20. 4, 5. 30 2 Tim. 1. 2.
28 Phil. 2. 19. 31i Cor. 4. 17.
27 Heb. 13. 23. » 1 Thess. 3. 2.
28 Phil. 2. 22. a Rom. 16. 21.
29 1 Tim. 1. 2. *• 1 Cor. 16. 10.

468 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Paul prefers to represent the relationship as that of son and
father. 3. His Character. Possibly Timothy was an only son.
He probably was reared by two women who shielded him
and cherished him as their greatest hope and joy. He was
something of a mother's boy, petted but not spoiled. He
seems to have had a delicate constitution and probably was
brought up by hand. His stomach was weak and he fre
quently was sick.35 He naturally was timid and shrinking
in disposition. He was apt to be fearful,34 and he needed
to be encouraged with the thought of the presence and the
gift of God.36 He disliked to be despised and felt keenly
the obloquy which attended the ministry of the word of
the crucified Nazarene.37 He clung to the apostle Paul
as a tower of strength, and shed bitter tears of affection
and grief and foreboding and fear when he had to part
from him. He had little self-confidence, and he was afraid
of being overborne by impudent, brazenfaced opponents
whom Paul could manage without any difficulty, but before
whom he was disposed to shrink in self-distrust. He was
so timid as to seem irresolute and an easy prey to any
domineering, arrogant opposing personality. He was
appalled by the hardness and the coldness of the prevalent
heathenism and discouraged by the worldliness and the
hopelessness of the great masses of the population.
Paul was an inspiration to him and kept his courage up,
but he was afraid of himself when he was left alone. Yet
it is to Timothy's great credit that he was faithful to every
commission and loyal to every command. Though he might
go with fear and trembling, he went. It is the highest
proof of courage to obey when the heart fails and the body
rebels and the mind shrinks from its task, and love and
loyalty compel these unwilling servants to do the master's
will. Timothy was by nature a coward, but by grace a
84 1 Cor. 16. 10. 88 2 Tim. 1. 7.
» 1 Tim. 5. 23. *> 1 Cor. 16. 11; 2 Tim. I. 8.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 469
hero of the faith. Paul could depend upon his faithfulness
and unselfishness at all times. He said: "Timothy is the
slave of Jesus Christ. I have no man like-minded. He
seeks not his own but the things of Jesus Christ."38 Paul
was disposed to think that he was too humble sometimes,
and that he overestimated the disability of his youth while
underestimating the real worth of his character and his
experience in the missionary field. His love never failed.
That was the reason Paul loved him. He might have his
disabilities, but he had faith, hope, and love, and the great
est of these was his love. He had found the more excellent
way, and he walked in it through all his life.
4. Tradition as to His Later History. Eusebius tells
us that Timothy was the first bishop of Ephesus.39 He
is said to have remained here until he was martyred for
interfering with a heathen feast. Constantius removed his
bones to Constantinople. He has been sainted in the Greek,
Armenian, Coptic, Maronite, and Latin churches; and in
the latter his death is commemorated on January 24.
VI. The First Epistle to Timothy
1. Its Occasion. Paul and Timothy had been together
recently, but when Paul went into Macedonia he had ex
horted Timothy to tarry in Ephesus to counteract some
strange teaching there and to maintain church order and
discipline.40 Some time had passed by and Paul now writes
to Timothy to encourage him in his work and to remind
him of some of the things he had said to him before their
parting. He gives Timothy many homely hints as to his
personal conduct and as to his dealing with various classes
of people and the general management of the church affairs.
2. Its Advice Concerning the False Teachers. The
teachers of strange and different doctrine are described in
88 Phil. 1. 1; 2. 20, 21.
89 Hist. Eccl., Ill, 4, 6.
40 1 Tim. 1. 3- .->¦»

470 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
such general terms that we cannot identify them at this dis
tance. Timothy, of course, knew all about them. He had
first-hand knowledge, acquired at short range. Paul did
not need to be more explicit in writing him about them.
Some of their general characteristics are apparent in the
epistle, and they are such as have been reproduced again and
again in the church. They understand neither what they
say, nor whereof they confidently affirm.41 They talk
loudly and yet are utterly ignorant. Confident asseveration
is characteristic of the fool. The wise man recognizes the
limits of his own understanding. The ignoramus is the
man who arrogates to himself infallibility. Then these
people talk about matters of idle questioning and disputes
of words.42 They were supremely interested in things of
no moment and wasted their time and the time of others
in wrangling over verbal differences. They were disputa
tious and vociferous, matching the poverty of their thought
with the fluency of their speech. To Paul all their conten
tion seemed only profane babbling,43 and old wives' fables.44
It was unprofitable to listen to them and it was still more
unprofitable to dispute with them. They were ignorant
sciolists, set in their own opinions; and it was hopeless to
attempt to set them right. They were willing to make
money out of the exploitation of their peculiar fancies, and
under a show of godliness they were on the watch for gain
for themselves.45 They were making trouble and stirring
up strife. They were corrupt in mind and bereft of the
truth. They were prone to envy and evil surmisings. They
were given over to wranglings and bitter accusations.46
They were great nuisances, and Paul's advice to Timothy
is that he refuse to be drawn into any debate with them and
that he avoid all their speculations while he maintains and
proclaims the sound doctrine committed to his trust.
41 I Tim. I. 2. « I Tim. 4. 7.
42 1 Tim. 6. 4. « 1 Tim. 6. 5.
43 1 Tim. 6. 20. « 1 Tim. 6. 4, 5.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 471
It is good advice for all ministers, young and old, to-day.
So many sectarians stand for some small issue in defense of
which they are belligerent in season and out of season.
There are so many independent and fraudulent champions
of strange ideas always on hand, seeking to corrupt the
minds of the devout and to replenish their own pocketbooks
with aggressive and persuasive speech. The best thing to
do with them is to let them alone. The one thing that they
cannot endure is to be ignored. They are supremely inter
ested for the most part in what Marcion called indetermin-
abiles qwestiones. There is nothing to be gained by bother
ing with them. We have enough to do with the presentation
of the truth. Let error look after itself. When the light
is let in upon them the rats run for their holes. Where the
truth is preached it commends itself to the upright in heart
and the errorists who thrive upon opposition languish and
die under the steady and persistent preaching of the truth.
Nothing will hurt them more than the ignoring of their
presence and effort, except the relentless prosecution of our
own work.
Does anyone desire to stir up dissatisfaction in the com
munity by declaring that the divine grace is to be enjoyed
exclusively through the established channels of an apostolic
succession and the sacraments of the one only properly
constituted church? Let him go ahead with his preaching.
We will evidence the possession of divine grace outside his
imagined established succession, and we will preach the
unmediated priesthood of every individual believer in Christ.
Does anyone care to maintain that a partial application of
water in the baptismal ceremony is a proof of the spirit of
partial obedience to the command of the Lord, and only
a total immersion will meet the demands of the case? Let
him maintain it, and we will preach that no ceremony is
essential to salvation and that our devotion to the Master
is independent of the application of material water in any
degree in any ritual service to our physique. Does anyone

472 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
insist that the advent of the Lord is imminent and is he
imperative in his demands that we hear and accept his inter
pretations of prophecy? Let him talk, and we will preach
that the faithful performance of our daily duty is the best
and the only preparation we need make for the appearance
of our Lord. Do the Secularists and the Spiritualists and
the Theosophists and the Christian Socialists and the Chris
tian Scientists swarm on every hand, and are multitudes
led away by their enthusiasms and vagaries ? We have two
things to do : first, we take heed to ourselves, that we may
be an ensample to them who believe, in word, in manner
of life, in love, in faith, in purity ; and then, second, we give
heed to our teaching, that there be nothing in it contrary
to the sound doctrine, but that it be according to the gospel
of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to
our trust. We will be diligent in these things ; we will give
ourselves wholly to them, for in doing these things we shall
save both ourselves and them that hear us.47
3. Some Characteristics. ( 1 ) This is a rambling letter,
with no attempt at logical sequence of thought. It is partly
personal and partly official, partly addressed to the dear
child who had been Paul's companion and trusted friend for
so long a time and partly to the official head of the church
where Paul had labored longest and in which he was most
interested. Timothy is Paul's son and the Ephesian dis
trict superintendent. Paul writes now to the boy and now
to the budding bishop. There is no structural unity in the
epistle. Paul has many things on his heart and he sets them
down just as they occur to him.
(2) Walter Lock says, "The epistle is full of the thought
of the salvation of all mankind, the consecration of all
creation." 48 Paul writes, "I exhort therefore, first of all,
that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be
made for all men. . . . This is good and acceptable in the
47 1 Tim. 4. 12-16; 1. 11.
48 Hastings's Bib}e Pjctionary, iv, p. 769,

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 473
sight of God our Saviour; who would have all men to be
saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.49 . . . We
have our hopes set on the living God, who is the Saviour of
all men, specially of them that believe." 50
(3) This is "the first handbook of Christian and church
discipline." It sets the highest standard of morality and
purity for all church officials. It shows clearly that church
order and discipline are in no way inconsistent with individ
ual freedom and spirituality. VII. Titus
Titus never is mentioned in the book of Acts. All that
we know of him we learn from the references to him in
the other Pauline epistles and in the epistle directly ad
dressed to him. He was a Greek,51 and apparently a
heathen Greek, who was converted to Christianity under
the preaching of Paul. Paul calls him his "true child." 52
He seems to have had the least connection with Judaism of
any of the missionary evangelists mentioned in the New
Testament. Timothy was half-Jewish by birth. Luke prob
ably was a Gentile, but he may have been a proselyte to
Judaism before he became a Christian. To all appearances
Titus came right out of the heart of heathenism into the
Church of Christ. His principal missions were to the pre
dominantly Gentile church at Corinth and to the church at
Crete, where it was his business to stop the mouths specially
of the vain talkers among those of the circumcision.
He was living at Antioch some fourteen years after Paul's
conversion, and Paul and Barnabas took him with them to
Jerusalem, where over his person the question was fought
out as to whether an uncircumcised heathen would be recog
nized as a brother in good standing in the Church of Christ.
Titus was a Christian, and a good one, but he was not cir
cumcised, and he never had had any connection with the
49 1 Tim. 2. 1-4. 61 Gal. 2. 3.
» I Tim. 4. 10, » Titus 1. 4.

474 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Jewish Church. The question was whether he ought to
be recognized as a Christian when he could not be recognized
as a Jew. Could any man come into the church and main
tain good standing there if he did not enter by the gate of
Judaism? Paul thought he could, and Titus thought he
could; and the question was discussed, and the men of
repute decided that Titus need not be compelled to be cir
cumcised. The decision was made for all time.53 The
gospel was for the uncircumcised as well as for the circum
cised, for the heathen as well as for the proselytes, for
out-and-out Gentiles as well as for thoroughgoing Jews.
Titus was the man whose case settled that question for all
the ages to come. Thereafter he was one of the tried and
trusted companions and servants of the apostle Paul.
He seems to have been well known in Galatia, and he
may have accompanied Paul on parts at least of the second
missionary journey. He was with Paul at Ephesus and he
probably carried Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians
from Ephesus to Corinth. He seems to have succeeded
where Timothy had failed. Apollos had declined absolutely
to undertake the commission. Titus went at once and met
all the difficulties of the situation with the skill of a master,
and Paul was rejoiced to hear his report later in Macedonia
that the tangled affairs at Corinth had been straightened out
and all now was ready for his own coming there. He car
ried the second letter to the Corinthians and finished the
good work he had so well begun, so that when Paul came
later he was enabled to enjoy his stay in Corinth in compar
ative peace. Some years pass by in which we hear nothing
of Titus, and then from this Epistle to Titus we learn that
Paul and he had been laboring together in Crete, and that
when Paul was called away he had left Titus in Crete to
appoint elders in the churches and establish the Christians
there in doctrine and discipline.54 Later Titus was sent
88 Gal. 2. 1-5.
"Titus i. 5.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 475
on a mission to Dalmatia.55 Tradition says that Titus
returned later to Crete and that he was bishop of the church
there, living a celibate life to an extreme old age. He died
at ninety- four and his body was buried at Gortyna, but
many centuries later his head was carried away by the
Venetians and it is preserved now among the relics at Saint
Mark's Cathedral in Venice.
Titus evidently was a choice spirit, a stronger character
than Timothy and of tougher fiber than Apollos. He was
tactful, firm, trustworthy, an able administrator, and a
faithful friend. He could take care of himself anywhere.
He could accomplish the impossible. He was vigorous and
efficient. He was a brother to Paul, a kindred soul, cap
able, courageous, successful wherever he was sent. Paul
relied upon him in extreme cases, and his energy and ability
proved him worthy of all the confidence Paul placed in him.
VIII. Crete and the Cretans
Crete is the largest island in the eastern Mediterranean.
It is one hundred and forty miles long and fifty miles wide.
In its most flourishing period it had a dense population.
Ptolemy, Strabo, Virgil, and Horace speak of its hundred
cities, and the ruins of many of them still can be seen on
the island. Here King Minos formulated his laws, and
later tradition said that Titus was his lineal descendant.
Crete was one of the most celebrated republics of ancient
times. The Romans conquered it in B. C. 69, and it was
made a part of a Roman province. It was taken by the
Saracens in the' ninth century. A century later it was
recaptured by the Christians. In 1645 it was attacked by
the Turks with a fleet of four hundred ships and an army
of sixty thousand men, and after a thirty years' war they
captured it, and since 1675 it has belonged to the Ottoman
empire. The Cretans had a general bad reputation among
the ancient peoples. They were jealous and quarrelsome
66 2 Tim. 4. 10.

476 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
among themselves, but they usually were ready to unite
against any common outside foe. Our term "syncretize"
comes from the Greek word56 which was derived from this
circumstance. According to the ancients "the three worst K's" were
the Kretans, the Kappadocians, and the Kilicians. Paul
quotes a current proverb concerning them: "One of them
selves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always
liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons." Then he adds, "This testi
mony is true." The quotation is from the Jlepl XpTjOfiuv of
Epimenides, a poet with the reputation of a seer who was
a contemporary of Solon and lived in Crete about B. C. 600.
The syllogistic puzzle of the ancient schools, called "the
liar," was founded on this line. It ran endlessly thus:
Epimenides said that the Cretans were liars ; but Epimenides
was a Cretan ; and therefore Epimenides was a liar ; there
fore when he said that the Cretans were liars he did not
tell the truth, and the Cretans are not liars ; but Epimenides
was a Cretan, and then he told the truth when he said the
Cretans were liars — and so on. Among the ancients "Cre-
tizing" was a synonym for "lying;" and the Cretans were
said, to be greedy and gluttonous and drunken and sensual.
Paul exhorts Titus to reprove them sharply for these things ;
and he seems to think they are far from hopeless, for he
expects Titus to found churches among them of those who
shall be the heirs of eternal life.
They were a mixed population of Greeks and Asiatics,
indolent, superstitious, untrustworthy; yet Paul thought
them worthy of evangelization and then of careful training
in the way of truth and life. We are told that at Pentecost
certain of those from Crete were present.57 They may
have carried the news of that experience home with them
and thus have been the founders of Christianity in the
island. Paul had seen Crete on his voyage to Rome and
88 avyKprrrioai.
67 Acts 2. II.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 477
he had advised that the vessel winter there.58 The storm
had driven them away at that time, but Paul may have had
opportunity enough to study the situation and to realize the
need of oversight and organization of the Christians there.
Thirty years had passed since Pentecost and there were
congregations of professing Christians in every city in the
island. Paul and Titus now had visited them together, and
Titus had been left to set things in order. Zenas and
Apollos were about to visit Crete, and Paul seizes the oppor
tunity to write a short letter to Titus. He tells Titus that
he will send Artemas or Tychicus later and when either
comes Titus must hasten to Nicopolis to meet Paul there.
IX. The Epistle to Titus
Luther said 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." There is little of doctrinal
importance in the epistle, but it has two rather remarkable
passages :
1. The Epiphany of Grace. "For the grace of God hath
appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us, to
the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we
should live soberly and righteously and godly in this pres
ent world; looking for the blessed hope and appearing of
the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from
all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own
possession, zealous of good works." 59 Van Oosterzee says
of this passage that "it is one of the loca classica for bib
lical theology, and one of the comparatively few places in
the Pastoral Epistles which furnish important contributions
to our knowledge of the doctrinal system of Paul. We here
find most perfectly fused together, and penetrating each,
68 Acts 27. 7-12.
69 Titus 2. 11-14.

478 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
faith and life, doctrine and duty, theory and practice." It
has been suggested that this passage might serve as a table
of contents for the entire New Testament. "The Epiphany
of Grace" might be an appropriate title for the Gospels
and the book of Acts. The instructions in holy living well
represent the contents of the epistles. The waiting for the
coming of the Lord describes the attitude and the spirit of
the Apocalypse. The closing clauses summarize the whole
intent of the New Testament revelation — redemption from
iniquity and purification and piety. Our past redemption,
our present duty, and our future hope are all in this one
sentence. It is one of the most comprehensive statements
of Christian truth ever made by man. It alone would make
this epistle memorable for all time.
2. The other passage is concerning the Philanthropy of
God. "When the kindness of God our Saviour, and his love
toward man, appeared, not by works done in righteousness,
which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved
us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of
the Holy Spirit, which he poured upon us richly, through
Jesus Christ our Saviour ; that, being justified by his grace,
we might be made heirs according to" the hope of eternal
life." 60 Farrar says of these two passages : "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 is found in 2. 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 3. 5-7? Will anyone produce from
Clemens, or Hermas, or Justin Martyr, or Ignatius, or Poly
carp, or Irenaeus — will anyone even produce from Tertul
lian, or Chrysostom, or Basil, or Gregory of Nyssa — any'
single passage comparable for terseness, insight, or mastery
to either of these ? Only the inspired wisdom of the great-

• Titus 3. 4-8.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 479
est of the apostles could have traced so divine a summary
with so unfaltering a hand. If the single chorus of
Sophocles 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
the hand, was sufficient to authenticate his workmanship
and approve his power, surely such passages as these ought
to be more than adequate to defend the Pastoral Epistles
from the charge of vapidity." 61
3. In the closing directions to Titus, the name of Zenas
the lawyer appears; and it is worth noticing that in these
Pastoral Epistles the three learned professions thus are
represented as united in the work of Christian evangelism,
Paul and Apollos the theologians, and Luke the physician,
and Zenas the lawyer laboring together in this field.62
4. Lewin calls our attention to the rather remarkable fact
that the four intimate friends of Paul mentioned in Titus
3. 12, 13 all derive their names from Hellenic deities — Zeus,
Artemis, Tyche, and Apollo.63
X. Pauline Autobiography in the Pastoral Epistles
If we conclude that the Pastoral Epistles are genuine, we
may regard them as valuable historical sources and we may
learn from them many items of interest concerning the clos
ing events in the life of Paul. Let us glance at these in
order. Paul was released from the first Roman imprison
ment, according to his expectation when he wrote Philemon
and Philippians. He may have gone straight to Spain, but
we read here that he visited Asia Minor and Crete and
Macedonia. He sent the First Epistle to Timothy to
Ephesus and the Epistle to Titus to Crete. He spent the
winter at Nicopolis in Thrace. He was again in Macedonia
and was arrested again at Troas in Mysia. He was. taken
81 Farrar, Life of Paul, pp. 662, 663, note.
82 Titus 3. 13.
83 Lewin, Life of Paul, II, p. 344.

480 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
to Ephesus where Onesiphorus was kind to him.64 He
bade farewell to Timothy and left him weeping bitterly.65
At Miletus Trophimus was sick and was left behind.
Erastus remained in Corinth when they passed through that
city.68 Luke, the faithful physician and friend, went on with
Paul to Rome. There Paul was put into a dungeon, where
it was difficult to find him ; but Onesiphorus sought him out
and was again kind to him.67 Here in this imprisonment,
so different from the first, many deserted him. Phygelus
and Hermogenes were among the first to turn away.68 At
last Demas forsook him, having loved the present world.69
Crescens was sent to Gaul and Titus to Dalmatia and
Tychicus to Ephesus. Only Luke was with him.70 Paul
stood before Nero alone. He was saved from the lion's
mouth at the first hearing.71 He was remanded to prison
for a short interval before his martyrdom, and in this crisis
of his affairs he writes the Second Epistle to Timothy. It
is an urgent epistle. Paul would see Timothy once more
before he dies. He urges him to come at once : "I am long
ing to see thee." 72 "Haste to come quickly." 73 "Plaste
to come before winter." 74 "The time of my departure
is come." 75
XI. The Second Epistle to Timothy
It is the last letter of the apostle Paul. Salmon says of
it, "The impression left upon my mind is that there is no
epistle which we can with more confidence assert to be
Paul's than the Second to Timothy." 76 Then there must
84 2 Tim. i. 18. n 2 Tim. 4. 17.
86 2 Tim. 1. 4. *> 2 Tim. 1. 4.
68 2 Tim. 4. 20. w 2 Tim. 4. 9.
87 2 Tim. 1. 16, 17. »< 2 Tim. 4. 21.
68 2 Tim. 1. 15. "2 Tim. 4. 6.
69 2 Tim. 4. 10. w Salmon, Introduction, p. 41.
70 2 Tim. 4. 10-12.

THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 481
be an especial interest in reading the final words of so
great a hero of the faith. Paul was the greatest of the
apostles, one of the master spirits of all the ages. Anything
he wrote is of interest to us, but his last words are doubly
so. Bengel calls this epistle "the last will and testament
of Paul and his swan song." Calvin said of it : "This epistle
seems to have been written not so much with ink as with
Paul's own blood. It is the solemn subscription of the
Pauline doctrine and faith." What is the last testimony
of the veteran of the cross ? Many would say that his life
work had been a failure. He was in prison and forsaken
by all of his friends. Deserted, as the Master was in Geth-
semane, does his faith fail him ? What does he say ? "God
gave us not a spirit of fearfulness.77 I suffer, yet I am
not ashamed; for I know him whom I have believed, and
I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have
committed unto him against that day.78 I suffer hardship
unto bonds, as a malefactor; but the word of God is not
bound.79 The firm foundation of God standeth, having this
seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.80 I have fought
the good fight, I have finished the 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 to me at that day.81 The Lord will deliver me from
every evil work, and will save me unto his heavenly king
dom : to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." 82
There is no slightest suggestion of any failure in faith.
His confidence never has been shaken since that day on the
road to Damascus. Alone and in prison he is as sure of the
living presence of the Saviour as he ever has been. He has
lived a life of continuous spiritual triumphing and he will
die a victor and receive a crown. There is something of
superhuman fortitude about this man. Nothing daunts him.
77 2 Tim. 1.7. *>2 Tim. 2. 19.
78 2 Tim. 1. 12. 8I 2 Tim. 4. 7, 8.
79 2 Tim. 2. 9. w 2 Tim. 4. 18.

482 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
Nothing can separate him from the love of Christ. He can
do all things through Christ who strengthened him. He
is more than conqueror through his loving Lord. Tribula
tion and anguish and persecution and famine and nakedness
and peril and the sword have no terrors for him. He fears
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature. He triumphs through
faith. He is saved by hope. He is secure in God's love. His
peace is not to be disturbed. He has proven in his personal
experience the truth of all he has preached. God's grace has
sufficed him. He is coming to the end of his course in the
fullness of the blessing of Christ.
He has some forebodings of evil for the church. He is
a little anxious about Timothy. He has no foreboding of
evil for himself. He is not at all anxious about his own
future. His friends may forsake him ; God never will. He
may be in a dungeon, but he is going to a mansion. He
may be bound, but the word of God is not bound. He may
be taken away, but the cause he represents is here to stay.
His own continuous conquest is only a prophecy of the final
and universal conquest of the Christ in human hearts.
What God has done for him he can do and will do for all.
To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. We could
ill spare this epistle with its testimony to the consistent close
to the apostle's consistent life. It is just such a closing
testimony as we would expect the aged hero of the cross to
give.

CHAPTER XIV
A CLOSING WORD

CHAPTER XIV
A CLOSING WORD
We have finished the task which we outlined in the Fore
word. We have tried to get a valid and vivid impression
of the apostle Paul while we were getting a general view
of his Rterary labors. We have studied each of the thir
teen epistles. We have determined as exactly as seemed
possible the occasion and date and place of their writing.
We have suggested something of the outline and the sub
stance of their content, but all we have said has been
intended simply by way of introduction to their further
personal and prolonged study. We merely have opened
the way to what is worthy of life-long labor. Dr. Peabody,
of Harvard, once said : "If I had my life to live over again,
I would be willing to devote the solid portion of my days
to the study of the Pauline epistles. I should feel that in
these alone there is work enough and joy enough for a life
long scholarship." Have we been interested in this pre
liminary study of Paul and His Epistles? Then let us
extend and deepen our interest by continued devotion to
them. In daily reading and meditation it may come to be with
us as it was with Chrysostom, who in the beginning of his
Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans said: "As I keep
hearing the epistles of the blessed Paul read, and that twice
every week, and often three or four times, I get roused and
warmed with desire at recognizing the voice so dear to me,
and seem to fancy him all but present to my sight, and
behold him conversing with me. But I grieve and am pained
that all people do not know this man, as much as they ought
to know him; but some are so far ignorant of him, as not
485

486 PAUL AND HIS EPISTLES
even to know for certainty the number of his epistles. And
this comes not of incapacity but of their not having the wish
to be continually conversing with this blessed man. For it
is not through any natural readiness or sharpness of wit
that even I am acquainted with as much as I do know, if
I do know anything, but owing to a continual cleaving to
the man, and an earnest affection toward him. For, what
belongs to men beloved, they who love them know above
all others ; because they are interested in them." The better
we know Paul the more we will love this doughty little
champion of the Christian faith. The more we read these
epistles the more fully we will realize his ardor and devo
tion, his flaming heart and saintly life. The inspiration of
his life was to be found in his theology, and his theology is
to be found in his epistles. They reflect his life, and his life
interprets them. We cannot love them without loving him
and we cannot love him without constantly studying them.
In First and Second Thessalonians we studied Paul the
preacher and the apocalyptic seer and we came to under
stand something of the methods of his ministry and the
meanings of his prophecy. In First and Second Corin
thians we studied Paul the pastor and the apologete, the
unparalleled organizer of churches and the undaunted de
fender of his Christian experience and faith. In the
Epistles to the Galatians and to the Romans we studied Paul
the protestant against all restrictions of religious liberty in
thought and in life and Paul the professor of theology,
systematizing for all time to come the doctrines of redemp
tion and salvation from sin. In the Prison Epistles we
found a picture of Paul the personal friend of Onesimus
and Philemon and the Philippians and the inspired idealist
of the identification of the individual Christian with Christ
arid of Christ with the universal church. In the Pastoral
Epistles we rejoiced to find another glimpse of the con
sistent and confident and cheerful and courageous veteran
of the many victorious battlefields, facing now toward his

A CLOSING WORD 487
eternal sainthood in heaven. In our study of these epistles
we have been looking for their lesson to their own time and
to our time as well. We have found the sign-manual of the
apostle who wrote them in each of the thirteen products of
his pen. We have found in Paul a genius, human and
fallible, but of unequaled good judgment in his day, and we
are not surprised that he has wielded an unparalleled influ
ence in the Christian Church even to our own day.
We have not called Paul the church's greatest theologian.
That honor belongs to the apostle John. The Pauline influ
ence has dominated the thought and life of the church at
large, and it ought to do so until the missionary and evangel
istic work of the church is done. Then upon the Pauline
basis the Johannine theology will be the supreme influence
in the days of the church's edification and consummation
in love. We pray for the hastening of that day. If we have
been interested in the study of Paul and His Epistles, we
shall be interested still more in the study of the personality
and the writings of the apostle John, for after the Gospels
in our New Testament they alone represent any higher
reach of human attainment in holy life and holy inspiration.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY
We give an alphabetical list of a few good books on each of these
subjects, and we star some of the best of these.
I. Lives of Paul
Abbott, Lyman. The Life and Letters of Paul.
Bacon, Benjamin Wisner. The Story of Paul.
Baur, Ferdinand Christian. Paul, His Life and Work.
Bird, Robert. Paul of Tarsus.
Bousset, Wilhelm. Der Apostel Paulus.
Clemen, Carl. Paulus : Sein Leben und Wirken.
?Conybeare, W. J. and Howson, J. S. The Life and Epistles of St.
Paul.
Cone, Orello. Paul, the Man, the Missionary, and the Teacher.
?Farrar, F. W. The Life and Work of St. Paul.
Gilbert, G. H. The Student's Life of Paul.
Haussleiter, Johannes. Paulus.
Hausrath, Adolf. Der Apostel Paulus.
Iverach, James. St. Paul, His Life and Times.
Knopf, R. Paulus.
Lewin, Thomas. The Life and Epistles of St. Paul.
Renan, Ernest. St. Paul.
Robertson, A. T. Epochs in the Life of Paul..
Sabatier, Auguste. The Apostle Paul.
Stalker, James. Life of St. Paul.
Vischer, Eberhard. Der Apostel Paulus und sein Werk.
Weinel, H. St. Paul, the Man and his Work.
Wrede, W. Paulus. II. Studies in Pauline Subjects
Baring-Gould, S. A Study of St. Paul.
Buell, M. D. The Autographs of Saint Paul.
Campbell, James M. Paul the Mystic.
Chadwick, W. E. The Pastoral Teaching of St. Paul; The Social
Teaching of St. Paul.
Cohu, J. R. St. Paul and Modern Research.
491

492 BIBLIOGRAPHY
?Deissmann, Adolf. St. Paul, a Study in Social and Religious His
tory; Bible Studies.
Feine, Paul. Paulus als Theologe,
Gardner, Percy. The Religious Experience of St. Paul.
Hall, Edward H. Paul the Apostle.
?Howson, J. S. The Character of Paul; The Metaphors of Paul.
Johnston, Christopher N. St. Paul and His Mission to the Raman
Empire.
Jones, Maurice. St. Paul the Orator.
Knowling, R. J. The Witness of the Epistles.
Lees, Harrington C. St. Paul and his Converts.
Lightfoot, J. B. Biblical Essays.
Lock, Walter. St. Paul the Master-Builder.
Matheson, George. Spiritual Development of St. Paul.
Munzinger, Carl. Paulus in Korinth.
?Myers, F. W. H. Saint Paul.
Pfleiderer, Otto. Paulinism.
Ramsay, W. M. St. Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen; The
Church in the Roman Empire, before 170 A. D. ; The Cities of
St. Paul ; Luke the Physician ; Pauline and Other Studies.
Redlich, E. Basil. St. Paul and His Companions.
Schweitzer, Albert. Paul and His Interpreters.
Speer, Robert E. Studies of the Man Paul.
Taylor, W. M. Paul the Missionary.
Thackeray, H. St. J. The Relation of St. Paul to Contemporary
Jewish Thought.
Weinel, Heinrich. Paulus als kirchlicher Organisator.
Wernle, Paul. Paulus als Heidenmissionar.
Whyte, Alexander. The Apostle Paul.
III. Introductions
1. To the Pauline Epistles
?Findlay, George G. The Epistles of Paul the Apostle.
Godet, F. The Epistles of Paul ; Studies on the Epistles.
Scott, Robert. The Pauline Epistles.
?Shaw, R. D. The Pauline Epistles.
2. To the New Testament
Adeney, W. F. Introduction to the New Te.tament.
Allen and Grensted. Introduction to the Books of the New Testa
ment.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 493
Bacon, B. W. An Introduction to the New Testament.
Bleek, Friedrich. Introduction to the New Testament.
The Books of the Bible. New Testament.
Book by Book.
Davidson, Samuel. An Introduction to the Study of the New
Testament.
Dods, Marcus. An Introduction to the New Testament.
Eichhorn, Johann G. Historisch-kritische Einleitung in das Neue
Testament.
Farrar, F. W. Messages of the Books.
Fraser, Donald. Lectures on the Bible.
Holtzmann, Julius H. Einleitung in das Neue Testament.
Iliff School Studies.
Jiilicher, Adolf. Introduction to the New Testament.
?McClymont, J. A. The New Testament and its Writers.
Michaelis, Johann David. Introduction to the Divine Scriptures
of the New Covenant.
Milligan, George. The New Testament Documents.
Moffatt, James. Introduction to the Literature of the New Testa
ment.
Peake, A. S. A Critical Introduction to the New Testament.
Pullan, Leighton. The Books of the New Testament.
Reuss, Edward. History of the Sacred Scriptures of the New
Testament.
Salmon, George. Introduction to the New Testament.
Soden, Hermann von. The History of Early Christian Literature.
Strong, Augustus H. Popular Lectures on the Books of the New
Testament.
Weiss, Bernhard. A Manual of Introduction to the New Testa
ment.
Willett and Campbell. The Teachings of the Books.
Zahn, Theodor. Introduction to the New Testament.
IV. The Apostolic Age
?Bartlet, Vernon. The Apostolic Age; its Life, Doctrine, Worship,
and Polity.
?Hausrath, A. Times of the Apostles.
Heinrici, C. F. G. Das Urchristentum.
Lechler, G. V. The Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times.
McGiffert, A. C. A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age.
Neander, Augustus. History of the Planting and Training of the
Christian Church.

494 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pfleiderer, Otto. Primitive Christianity, its Documents and Doc
trines.
Pressense, Edmond de. The Apostolic Era.
Purves, G. T. Christianity in the Apostolic Age.
Ritschl, Albrecht. The Origin of the Early Catholic Church.
Schaff, Philip. Apostolic Christianity.
Weizsacker, Carl. The Apostolic Age of the Christian Church.
?Wernle, Paul. The Beginnings of Christianity.
V. Jesus and Paul
Drummond, R. J. The Relation of the Apostolic Teaching to the
Teaching of Christ.
Feine, Paul. Jesus Christus und Paulus.
Goguel, Maurice. L'Apotre Paul et Jesus-Christ.
Jiilicher, Adolf. Paulus und Jesus.
Kaftan, D. J. Jesus und Paulus.
Meyer, Arnold. Wer hat das Christentum begriindet, Jesus oder
Paulus?
Walther, Wilhelm. Pauli Christentum, Jesu Evangelium.
Weiss, Johannes. Paulus und Jesus.
VI. The Epistles to the Thessalonians
Askwith, E. H. An Introduction to the Thessalonian Epistles.
Bornemann, Wilhelm. Die Thessalonicherbriefe (Meyer Kom-
mentar).
?Denney, James. The Epistles to the Thessalonians (Expositor's
Bible).
Findlay, G. G. The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Thessa
lonians (Cambridge Greek Testament).
Frame, James E. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the
Epistles of St. Paul to the Thessalonians (International Critical
Commentary) .
Jowett, Benjamin. St. Paul's Epistles to the Thessalonians, Gala
tians, and Romans.
Lightfoot, J. B. Notes on Epistles of St. Paul.
?Milligan, George. St. Paul's Epistles to the Thessalonians.
Moffatt, James. The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians
(Expositor's Greek Testament).
Schmiedel, P. W. Die Briefe an die Thessalonicher (Hand-Com-
mentar).
Wohlenberg, G. Der erste und zweite Thessalonicher Brief
(Zahn Kommentar).

BIBLIOGRAPHY 495
Zockler, Otto. Die Brief e an die Thessalonicher (Strack und
Zockler Kommentar).
VII. The First Epistle to the Corinthians
Bachmann, Philipp. Der erste Brief des Paulus an die Korinther
(Zahn Kommentar).
Beet, J. Agar. A Commentary on Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians.
Dods, Marcus. The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Expositor's
Bible).
Edwards, T. C. Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corin
thians.
EUicott, C. J. A Critical and Grammatical Commentary on St.
Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians.
Evans, Thomas S. First Corinthians (Speaker's Commentary).
?Findlay, G. G. St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians (Ex
positor's Greek Testament).
?Godet, Frederic. Commentary on St. Paul's First Epistle to the
Corinthians.
Goudge, H. L. The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Westminster
Commentary).
Heinrici, C. F. G. Der erste Brief an die Korinther (Meyer
Kommentar).
Massie, John. Corinthians. (New Century Bible).
Robertson, Archibald, and Plummer, Alfred. First Corinthians
(International Critical Commentary).
Schmiedel, P. W. Die Briefe an die Korinther (Hand-Com-
mentar) .
Stanley, Arthur P. The Epistles to the Corinthians.
VIII. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Bachmann, Philipp. Der zweite Brief des Paulus an die Korinther
(Zahn Kommentar).
Bernard, J. H. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Expositor's
Greek Testament).
Denney, James. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Expositor's
Bible).
Farrar, F. W. Second Corinthians (Pulpit Commentary).
Goudge, H. L. The Mind of Paul.
Heinrici, C. F. G. Das zweite Sendschreiben des Apostel Paulus
an die Korinther.
Massie, John. Corinthians (New Century Bible).

496 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Menzies, Allan. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
Waite, Joseph. Second Corinthians (Speaker's Commentary).
IX. The Epistle to the Galatians
Beet, J. Agar. A Commentary on St. Paul's Epistles to the Gala
tians.
Drummond, J. The Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians, explained
and illustrated.
EUicott, Charles J. A Critical and Grammatical Commentary on
St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians.
?Findlay, G. G. The Epistle to the Galatians. (Expositor's Bible).
Gibbon,-J. Morgan. The Epistle to the Galatians.
?Lightfoot, J. B. St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians.
Lipsius, R. A. Der Brief an die Galater. (Hand-Commentar).
Moorhouse, James. Dangers of the Apostolic Age.
Ramsay, W. M. Historical Commentary- on St. Paul's Epistle to
the Galatians.
Rendall, Frederic. The Epistle to the Galatians. (Expositor's
Greek Testament).
Sieffert, F. A. E. Der Brief an die Galater. (Meyer Kommentar).
X. The Epistle to the Romans
Beet, J. Agar. St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
Denney, James. Sr. Paul's Epistle to the Romans (Expositor's
Greek Testament).
Gifford, E. H. Romans (Speaker's Commentary).
?Godet, Frederic. Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
Gore, Charles. A Practical Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans.
Hort, F. J. A. The Romans and the Ephesians. Prolegomena.
Liddon, H. P. Explanatory Analysis of St. Paul's Epistle to the
Romans.
Lipsius, R. A. Die Brief e an die Galater, Romer, Philipper (Hand-
Commentar).
?Morison, James. Critical Exposition of the Third Chapter of
Romans ; St. Paul's Teaching on Sanctification ; a Practical Ex
position of the Sixth Chapter of Romans ; Exposition of the
Ninth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.
Moule, Handley, C. G. The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans
(Expositor's Bible).
?Sanday, W. and Headlam, A. C. Critical and Exegetical Com
mentary on the Epistle to the Romans (International Critical
Commentary).

BIBLIOGRAPHY 497
Stifler, James M. The Epistle to the Romans; a Commentary
Logical and Historical.
Weiss, Bernhard. Der Brief an die Romer (Meyer Kommentar).
Williams, William G. Romans : an Exposition.
Zahn, Theodor. Der Brief an die Romer (Zahn Kommentar).
XI. The Epistle to Philemon
Ewald, Paul. Der Brief des Paulus an Philemon (Zahn Kom
mentar).
Haupt,- Erich. Die Gefangenschaftsbriefe (Meyer Kommentar).
Lightfoot, J. B. St. Paul's Epistle to Philemon.
Vincent, M. R. The Epistle to Philemon (International Critical
Commentary) .
Soden, Hermann von. Der Brief an Philemon (Hand-Com
mentar) . XII. The Epistle to the Colossians
Abbott, T. K. The Epistle to the Colossians (International Critical
Commentary).
Beet, J. Agar. The Epistle to Philemon.
Eadie, J. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Colossians.
Ewald, Paul. Der Brief des Paulus an die Kolosser. (Zahn
Kommentar) .
Findlay, G. G. The Epistle to the Colossians. (Pulpit Com
mentary) .
Haupt, Erich. Die Gefangenschaftsbriefe (Meyer Kommentar).
Klopper, Albert. Der Brief an die Kolosser.
?Lightfoot, J. B. St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and to
Philemon.
?Maclaren, Alexander. The Epistles to the Colossians and to
Philemon (Expositor's Bible).
Moule, H. C. G. Colossian Studies.
Nicholson, W. R. Oneness with Christ.
Peake, A. S. St. Paul's Epistle to the Colossians (Expositor's
Greek Testament).
Soden, H. von. Der Brief an die Colosser (Hand-Commentar).
XIII. The Epistle to the Ephesians
Abbott, T. K. The Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians
(Internattonal Critical Commentary).
Beet, J. Agar. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians.

498 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Candlish, James S. The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians (Hand
books for Bible Classes).
Dale, R. W. Lectures on the Ephesians.
EUicott, C. J. Commentary on Ephesians.
Ewald, Paul. Die Briefe des Paulus an die Epheser, Kolosser,
und Philemon (Zahn Kommentar).
?Findlay, G. G. The Epistle to the Ephesians (Expositor's Bible).
Gore, Charles. The Epistle to the Ephesians.
Haupt, Erich. Die Gefangenschaftsbriefe (Meyer Kommentar).
Klopper, Albert. Der Brief an die Epheser.
Macpherson, John. Commentary on St. Paul's Epistles to the
Ephesians.
Moule, H. C. G. Ephesian Studies.
?Robinson, J. A. St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians.
Salmond, S. D. F. The Epistle to the Ephesians (Expositor's
Greek Testament).
Soden, H. von. Die Briefe an die Kolosser, Epheser, Philemon
(Hand-Commentar) .
Westcott, B. F. Epistle to the Ephesians.
XIV. The Epistle to the Philippians
Beet, J. Agar. The Epistle to the Philippians.
EUicott, C. J. Commentary on Philippians.
Haupt, Erich. Die Gefangenschaftsbriefe (Meyer Kommentar).
Jordan, William George. The Philippian Gospel or Pauline Ideals.
Kennedy, H. A. A. The Epistle to the Philippians (Expositor's
Greek Testament).
Klopper, Albert. Der Brief des Apostels Paulus an die Philipper.
?Lightfoot, J. B. St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians.
Lipsius, R. A. Der Brief an der Philipper (Hand-Commentar).
Moule, H. C. G. Philippian Studies.
Noble, Frederick A. Discourses on Philippians.
Vincent, M. R. The Epistles to the Philippians and to Philemon
(International Critical Commentary).
Yorke, H. Lefroy. The Law of the Spirit.
XV. The Pastoral Epistles
Belser, J. E. Die Pastoralbriefe.
EUicott, C. J. The Pastoral Epistles.
Fairbairn, P. The Pastoral Epistles.
Holtzmann, H. J. Die Pastoralbriefe kritisch und exegetisch be-
handelt.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 499
Plummer, Alfred. The Pastoral Epistles (Expositor's Bible).
Schleiermacher, F. G. E. Ueber den sogenannten ersten Brief
des Paulus an Timotheus.
Soden, H. von. Die Pastoralbriefe (Hand-Commentar).
Wace, H. Timothy and Titus (Speaker's Commentary).
White, Newport, J. D. First and Second Timothy and Titus (Ex
positor's Greek Testament).
Weiss, Bernhard. Die Briefe Pauli an Timotheus und Titus
(Meyer Kommentar).
Wohlenberg, G. Die Pastoralbriefe (Zahn Kommentar).
The articles in Hastings's Bible Dictionary, Cheyne's Encyclo
pedia Biblica, Smith's Bible Dictionary, the Standard Bible Dic
tionary, and the various general encyclopedias should be consulted.

INDEXES

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

Agrapha, 164
Aphrodite Pandemos, 194
Apocalypse, Pauline, 165
Apollos, 201
Arabia, 29-33
Asbury, Bishop, 425
Augustine, 10-12
Barnabas and Paul, 273, 277-278
Celibacy and marriage, 218-220
Church in Corinth, 209-212, 267-
268
Church at Philippi, 412-419
Church in Rome, 301-305
Church in Thessalonica, 142-143,
14S-146
Church Parties in Corinth, 204-
206
Church Unity, 393-395
Collection for saints, 254-256
Colossae, 354
Comparison ; Colossians and
Ephesians, 385-386
Conscience, 106
Contrast, Colossians and Ephe
sians, 386-387; First and
Second Corinthians, 229-230 ;
Prison Epistles with Others,
403-405
Corinth, 189-196
Crete and the Cretans, 475-477
Demosthenes and Paul, 97-99
Disregard of Nature, 74-82
Disregard of Rules, 82-91

Epistle to Laodiceans, 381-384

Four Groups of Epistles, 70-71
Friendship, Paul's Genius for,
441-442
Galatia, 271
Galatians, 279-281
Gallio, 198-200
Gamaliel, 24
Hamlet and Paul, 435-436
Heresies at Colossae, 356-370
Hierapolis, 352-354
Integrity, Epistle to the Romans,
321-327; Second Corinthians,
264-267
Isthmian games, 191, 223-224
Jesus and Paul, 127-135
John and Paul, 373-374, 487
Joy of Paul, 421-426
Laodicea, 351-352
Lost Epistles, 71, 72, 73
Luther, Martin, 12, 13
Meat offered to idols, 203, 220
Metaphors of Paul, architec
tural, 78; athletic, 79; mili
tary, 78, 79; mixed, 83-84
North Galatian theory, 275-279
Onesimus, 333-334. 341-343
Outline, First Corinthians, 217-
221 ; Second Corinthians, 253-
257; Ephesians, 396; Galatians,
291-292
Outline, Romans, 315-321; Phil
ippians, 433-446

503

504

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

Paul, Advocate, 115-118; anger
of, 49-52 ; coarseness, 82-83 1
commission, 28-29 ; consecra
tion, 58-59; conversion, 26-28;
courage, 54-58, 153; Greek
environment, 23 ; health of,
36-38; Hellenist, 91-110; hu
mility, 53; imperialism, 62-64;
in Arabia, 29-33; 'n Syria and
Cilicia, 33-34; Jewish descent,
19-22; love of, 48, 155, 441-
442; orator, 235-237; Pharisee,
21; physique, 34-36; pioneer,
90; preacher, 151-157; rabbi,
110-115; Roman citizenship,
22-23; saintliness, 59-62, 156;
schooling, 24-25 ; self-asser
tion, 53-54; sensibility, 47;
thorn in the flesh, 38-46;
tolerance, 434; trade, 24; use
of Scripture, 25, 312
Peculiarities in greetings, 69-70
Philippi, 409-410
Pliny's Letter, 337-339
Prison trilogy, 331-332

Saint Francis, 424
Sayings of Jesus, 164, 183
Second Advent, 168-182
Self-sufficiency, 107
Slander, 230-232
Slanders against Paul, 232-250
251-253, 286-289 '
Socrates, 424
Sosthenes, 200
South Galatian theory, 272-275
Tarsus, 23
Thessalonica, 139-140, 146
Thucydides and Paul, 95-97
Timothy, 147, 465-469
Titus, 473-475
Uniform outline, 69
Unselfishness of Paul, 154
Vitality of epistles, 10-15
Vocabulary, 109-110
Wesley, John, 13-14, 179, 231-
232, 373, 425
Work, gospel of, 182-183
Yoke-fellow, 443

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE PASSAGES
Acts 2. 16-20, 176; 13. 9-11, 50; Phil. 2. 5-11, 426-428; 3. 5, 6,
16. 37, 49; 20. 25, 454-459! 20-21; 3. 8-16, 438-439; 3. 21,
23- 3, 50 439-441
Col. 1. 2, 369; 1. 9-1 1, 358-360; Rom. 1.24-32, 195; 11. 17-24,80;
I. 28, 361-362, 368; 2. 3, 371; 13. 13-14, 11
2. 6, 7, 372-375 1 Thess. 1. 3, 157-158; 1. 6, 159;
14. 35, 221; 16. 9, 57 1. 8, 145-146; 1. 10, 181; 4. 11,
2 Cor. 10. 1, 233-235; 10. 10, 233, 159-162; 4. 13-18, 176-177; 4-
235, 238; 11. 23-33, 261; 12. 7- 15-17, 164; 5. 16-22, 162-163;
10, 38; 12. 16, 245-247, 251 5.23, 163
Eph. 1. 3-13, 370; 4. 8, in 2 Thess. 2. 10, 183-184; 2. 12, 171-
Gal. 1. 8, 9, 51; 1. 15, 19; 1. 16, 178; 2. 13, 14, 184-185; 3. 7, 8,
17, 29; 1. 21, 33; 3. 16, iii; 10-12, 182^183; 3. 17, 185
3. 19, "2; 4- 13, 15, 40; 4- 21- 2 Tim. 3. 8, 112; 4. 14, 15, 52
31, no-m; 5. n, 51 Titus 2. 11-14, 477-478; 3- 4-8,
2 Pet. 3. 15, 16, 118 478-479

505

INDEX OF NAMES

Acts of Paul and Thecla, 35
Adeney, 264, 272, 323, 375, 461
Alexander, 42
Alford, 281, 402, 461, 463, 464
Aratus, 103
Aristotle, 105
Arnold, Matthew, 65, 135, 443
Augustine, 10, 12, 41, 44, 129
Bacon, 272, 323, 397, 431. 461
Barnabas, 226
Bartlet, 272, 431
Bauer, 429
Baur, 96, 225, 335. 397. 403. 428,
443. 461
Beet, 226, 316, 401, 430
Bengel, 196, 339, 376, 401, 421,
481
Bernard, 131, 461
Beyschlag, 264, 430, 461
Boehme, 44
Buell, 73
Calvin, 41, 76, 313, 317. 376^481
Casaubon, 119
Chambers, 114, 313
Charles, 175, 360
Chrysostom, 41, 192, 313, 401,
463, 480
Cicero, 139
Clarke, 386
Cleanthes, 102
Clemen, 164
Clement of Alexandria, 164, 186,
264, 376, 397. 443, 464
Clement of Rome, 225, 462, 464
Coleridge, 108, 402

Cone, 214, 264, 397
Curtius, 108
Darwin, 81
Davidson, 275, 385, 397, 429, 451.
461
Davies, 259
Deissmann, 135, 257, 314
Dobschiitz, 275, 282, 397
Dods, 134, 142, 214, 461
Dwight, 117
EUicott, 401, 402, 463
Erasmus, 119, 261, 339
Eusebius, 106, 463, 469
Ewald, 44, 125, 164, 323. 339. 397
430, 461, 463
Farrar, 42, 44. 90, 91. 97, 121,
172, 192, 275, 297, 314, 315.
323, 337, 358, 370, 386, 403, 429,
430, 437, 461, 463, 478
Findlay, 71, 222, 258, 275, 308,
386, 398, 401, 430, 452, 461, 463,
464
Fraser, 222
Fox, 44
Gibson, 100
Gilbert, 275, 461
Gerson, 41
Godet, 14, 116, 164, 186, 206, 226,
253, 259, 261, 265, 275, 281, 294,
297, 307, 314. 326, 358, 397. 401,
429, 430, 461, 463
Gore, 104
Grotius, 402

506

INDEX OF NAMES

_°7

Harnack, 164, 326, 377, 397, 429,
461
Hase, 164
Hausrath, 44, 62, 169, 185, 264,
272, 296, 308, 323, 414, 4fii
Hermas, 226, 397
Herzog, 45
Hicks, 108
Hilary, 41
Hilgenfeld, 164, 264, 275, 308,
429, 432, 461
Hofmann, 44, 275, 461
Holsten, 44
Holtzmann, 164, 185, 264, 275,
281, 323, 397, 403. 429, 430, 461
Hort, 397, 401, 430, 461
Howson, 42, 80, 275, 397, 461
Huxley, 81
Huxtable, 88
Ignatius, 226, 397, 464
Irenams, 164, 186, 376, 397, 428,
464
Jerome, 42, 118, 339, 347, 463
John of Antioch, 36
Jowett, 168, 275
Jiilicher, 164, 186, 275, 323, 377,
397, 424, 430, 461
Justin Martyr, i«3|6, 185, 376
Kaftan, 135
Kelman, 108 ¦
Kennedy, 264, 431
Koster, 99
Knowling, 320, 397, 462
Krenkel, 44
Kypke, 99
Law, 372
Lewin, 42, 103, 104, 463, 479
Lightfoot, 44, 103, 104, 168, 275,
280, 282, 284, 322, 326, 338, 352.

377, 382, 383, 387, 401, 429, 430,
443, 462, 463
Lindsay, 12
Lipsius, 164, 186, 264, 275, 281,
323, 429, 431
Lock, 390, 392, 393, 397, 430, 472
Luther, 12-13, 41, 113, 119, 280,
297, 308, 313, 318, 340, 364, 401
Maclaren, 362, 365, 366
Mansel, 357
Marcion, 321, 346, 376, 384, 400,
428
Maurice, 402
McClymont, 226, 297
McGiffert, 264, 272, 323, 397, 430,
431, 451, 454. 461
Melanchthon, 308, 313
Merivale, 115
Myers, 237, 260, 363
Mohammed, 44
Moffatt, 264, 275, 281, 377, 397,
43i,- 461
Monod, 402
Morley, 49
Moule, 403, 430
Muratorian Fragment, 164, 186,
264, 346, 376, 397, 428, 463, 464
Nicephorus, 36
Origen, 118, 347, 443
Pascal, 371
Peake, 264, 272, 326, 429, 431, 461
Pfleiderer, 164, 185, 264, 308, 323,
388, 397, 429, 461
Philopatris, 36
Pierson, 402
Plato, 105, 106
Plummer, 225, 462
Plumptre, 43, 345, 462, 463
Polycarp, 186, 397. 428, 464
Pressense, 120, 164

5o8

INDEX OF NAMES

Ramsay, 42, 101, 108, 272, 289,
297, 326, 430, 462
Renan, 26, 119, 135, 164, 169, 186,
199, 272, 323, 339, 397, 403, 429,
443, 461, 463
Reuss, 120, 164, 186, 281, 323,
401, 429, 431, 457
Robertson, 222, 256, 264, 265, 397
Royce, 131
Sabatier, 117, 164, 186, 265* 272,
290, 323, 335, 339, 401, 429, 461
Saint Bernard, 44, 77
Saint Catherine, 44
Saint Francis, 44, 424
Salmon, 275, 282, 397, 462, 463,
480
Salmond, 391, 401, 403
Sanday, 265, 272, 314, 326, 377,
430, 458, 462
Saphir, 441
Schaff, 44, 120, 125, 390, 462
Schmiedel, 44, 164, 229, 264, 275,
281, 323
Schurer, 46, 275, 323, 429
Seneca, 102, 103, 199
Shaw, 47. 58, 163, 169, 192, 196,
265, 272, 297, 335, 385, 397, 401,
430, 455, 462, 463

Socrates, 44, 424
Stalker, 126
Stanley, 222, 223
Swedenborg, 44
Tertullian, 42, 113, 164, 173, 186,
264, 376, 384
Theodoret, 41
Theophylact, 41
Tholuck, 119, 313
Tyerman, 14
Vincent, 261, 377, 430
Von Soden, 164, 185, 264, 272,
323, 339, 377, 390, 397. 461
Weiss, 186, 265, 275, 290, 323,
377, 388, 397, 401, 429, 430, 455,
462, 464
Weizsacker, 185, 221, 260, 265,
272, 323, 397, 425, 461
Westcott, 381, 383
Whitefield, 76
Witsius, 402
Zahn, 164, 186, 253, 265, 272, 323,
325, 326, 377, 397, 429, 430, 462,
463, 464
Zockler, 275

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