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Of necessity it is a mere selection of incidents that is given, both as regards the labours of Paul,1 and the history of the Church during the thirty-three years or more over which the book extends. The selection was no doubt determined partly by the information which Luke had gathered from his own observation as an eye-witness or from trustworthy reporters,2 and partly by the great object he had in view, namely, to trace the gradual expansion of the Church from its first beginnings as a seeming phase of Judaism to its full development as a catholic communion, in which there was to be no distinction between Jew and Gentile and where the Law, on which the former prided himself so greatly, was to be superseded by the grace of God freely offered in the Gospel.

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CHAPTER VIII.

THE EPISTLES.

1. The Epistles in general.

ONE of the distinguishing characteristics of the New Testament as compared with all other sacred books in the world is the epistolary character of a large part of its

contents.

It contains twenty-one letters by six different authors. Nine of these are addressed to individual Churches, viz., I and 2 Thessalonians, I and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Romans, Philippians, Colossians, 2 John (see chap. xxiii.); five to private persons, viz., Philemon, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, 3 John; and two to Hebrew Christians, viz., Hebrews and James; the remaining five being of a more or less general nature, viz., Ephesians (see chap. xvi.), I and 2 Peter, 1 John, and Jude.

Besides these, we have reason to believe from the nature of the case1 as well as from special allusions, that there were other apostolic letters which have not been preserved.2 That Providence should have suffered such inspired writings to perish is in no degree more remarkable than that so many of our Lord's own words should have passed into oblivion; and we can readily understand that during the apostle's lifetime their letters were less prized than after their death, when the loss of any of their writings was seen to be irreparable.

1 2 Cor. xi. 28: " Beside those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches."

21 Cor. v. 9: "I wrote unto you in my epistle. .." 2 Thess. iii. 17: "The salutation of me Paul with mine

own hand, which
the token in every
epistle: so I write." This gives the
impression that the apostle had already
written a number of epistles, although
we know of none but I Thess. But
another explanation is possible (see
p. 100, note 1).

Although most of the epistles were written at an earlier period than the Gospels, they represent in general a more advanced stage of Christian theology. In the epistles we have the fruits of twenty or thirty years' reflection on the great facts and elementary truths contained in the Synoptical Gospels, viewed in the light of Christian experience and under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, taking of the things that are Christ's and showing them to the Church. To the epistles we are mainly indebted for our knowledge of Christian doctrine on such subjects as the Trinity, the relations of Christ to the human race and to His Church, the Atonement, Justification by Faith, and Sanctification by the Holy Spirit.

But while largely doctrinal in character, most of the epistles differ very considerably from formal treatises, being enlivened with personal allusions, and dealing largely with questions of a practical nature.

2. The Epistles of St. Paul.

The remark just made applies specially to the epistles of Paul, which had their rise not in abstract speculations, but in the special needs and circumstances of the various Churches to which they were addressed. They are filled with the living personality of the writer, and lay hold so vividly upon the reader's sympathies, that they have been described by Luther as "not mere dead words, but living creatures with hands and feet."

They are thirteen in number. Their composition. ranges over a period of about fifteen years, the earliest of them (I and 2 Thessalonians) having been written about 53 A.D., sixteen years after the apostle's conversion; the last of them (the pastoral epistles to Titus and Timothy) very near the close of his life, approaching 68 A.D.

In the interval were produced two other groups of epistles-those designed to vindicate Paul's apostolic authority, and preserve the Gospel from the inroads of Judaism, viz., I and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans

(written during his third missionary journey, about 57-58 A.D.), and the Epistles of the Imprisonment, viz., Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians, written from Rome about 62-63 A.D.

The most of them were probably collected and in more or less general use in the Church within a short time after the apostle's death, as we may infer from the traces of them to be found in the writings of Clement of Rome (95 A.D.), Ignatius (died 110-15 A.D.), and Polycarp (died 155 A.D.).

In our New Testament the Pauline epistles are arranged according to their length and importance, but there is an obvious advantage in studying them in their chronological order, as it enables us to trace the progressive development of the apostle's theology and the growth of his literary style, as well as to realise the circumstances out of which the epistles successively arose.

It is a circumstance worth noting as an explanation in some measure of the occasional abruptness and irregularity of the apostle's style (and perhaps of its vivacity), that his letters were usually written by an amanuensis to dictation, -the salutation only being written with his own hand, as a token of genuineness.1

3. The undisputed Epistles of St Paul.

1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans, and Galatians have the distinction of being almost universally admitted to be genuine writings of Paul.

This admission is a most important one from an evidential point of view, as these epistles form a valuable historical link between the earliest preaching of the apostles and the composition of our four Gospels. They contain a

1 Cf. Rom. xvi. 22: "I Tertius, who write the epistle, salute you in the Lord"; 1 Cor. xvi. 21 and Col. iv. 18: "The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand"; Gal. vi. II: "See with how large letters I have written unto you with

mine own hand"; 2 Thess. iii. 17: "The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle so I write"; Philemon, ver. 19: "I Paul write it with mine own hand, I will repay it."

great many references to detailed matters of fact mentioned in the Gospels,1 and prove that the story of Christ's death

time came,

1 E.g. (1) Christ's divine incarnation; Rom. 1. 3, 4: "his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead; even Jesus Christ our Lord"; Rom. viii. 3: "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh;' Rom. ix. 5: "Whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen"; 1 Cor. viii. 6: "Yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him"; cf. ver. 12: "And thus, sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin against Christ"; Gal. iv. 4: "But when the fulness of the God sent forth his Son, born of a woman. (2) His meek and lowly life; Rom. xv. 3: "For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me"; 2 Cor. viii. 9: "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might become rich"; 2 Cor. x. I: "Now I Paul myself intreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ"; Gal. iv. 4; Born under the law." (3) His appointment of apostles; Rom. i. 5: 'Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name's sake"; 1 Cor. i. 1: 'Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God"; 1 Cor. XV. 5: "And that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve"; Gal. i. 18, 19: Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and tarried with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother"; Gal. ii. 9: 'James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars." (4) His betrayal; 1 Cor. xi. 23: "The Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed." (5) His institution (a) of the Lord's Supper; 1 Cor. xi. 23-26:

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(p. 89, note 1); 1 Cor. x. 16: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ?" (b) of Baptism; Rom. vi. 3, 4: "Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life"; 1 Cor. i. 1315: "Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you, save Crispus and Gaius; lest any man should say that ye were baptized into my name "; Gal. iii. 27: "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ"; (c) of Preaching; I Cor. i. 17: "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel"; 1 Cor. ix. 14: "Even so did the Lord ordain that they which proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel"; cf. Luke x. 7: "The labourer is worthy of his hire"; Rom. i. 9: For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request.' (6) His crucifixion; 1 Cor. i. 23: We preach Christ crucified"; 1 Cor. ii. 2: "Jesus Christ, and him crucified"; I Cor. ii. 8: (a mystery) "which none of the rulers of this world knoweth for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory"; 1 Cor. v. 7: "For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ"; Gal. iii. 13: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.' (7) His resurrection and subsequent appearances; I Cor. xv. 1-20: (for vers. 1-4 see p. 85, note 1); 5-7: "He appeared to Cephas (cf. Luke xxiv. 34): then to the twelve (cf. John xx. 19) then to all the apostles" (cf. Acts i. 3). (8) His ascension; Rom. viii. 34: "It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also

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