E-text prepared by Al Haines
Transcriber's note:
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in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page
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number has been placed only at the start of that section.
THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
by the
REV. LEIGHTON PULLAN
Fellow and Tutor of St. John Baptist's College, Oxford.
"If you choose to obey your Bibles, you will
never care who attacks them."--RUSKIN.
Fourth Edition Revised
Rivingtons
34 King Street, Covent Garden
London
1912
{v}
PREFACE
This book is intended to meet the widely prevalent need of an
introduction to the New Testament which is neither a mere hand-book nor
an elaborate treatise for specialists. It is written in a conservative
spirit, and at the same time an ample use has been made of recent
critical investigation.
It has been impossible to give an exhaustive proof of the position
maintained, but no matter of great importance has been overlooked. The
arguments will be intelligible to educated persons who are unacquainted
with the Greek language.
The author has sometimes derived much help from the articles in Dr.
Hastings' _Dictionary of the Bible_. The dates which have been adopted
are in most cases those adopted in {vi} that Dictionary by Dr. Sanday
and Mr. C. H. Turner.
His best thanks are due to the Rev. E. W. Pullan, Mr. J. F. Briscoe,
and Mr. E. W. Corbett, for the kind help which they have given him in
the preparation of the book.
{vii}
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
TABLE OF APPROXIMATE DATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
I. THE NEW TESTAMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
II. THE GOSPELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
III. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW . . . . . . . . 33
IV. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK . . . . . . . . . . 49
V. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE . . . . . . . . . . 64
VI. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN . . . . . . . . . . 80
VII. THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
VIII. THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
IX. 1 AND 2 THESSALONIANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
X. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE
CORINTHIANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
XI. THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE
CORINTHIANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
XII. THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE GALATIANS . . 150
XIII. THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE ROMANS . . . 158
XIV. THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE
COLOSSIANS--THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO PHILEMON . . . 170
XV. THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE EPHESIANS . . 180
XVI. THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 188
XVII. THE PASTORAL EPISTLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
XVIII. THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
XIX. THE CATHOLIC EPISTLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
XX. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
XXI. THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER . . . . . . . . . 235
XXII. THE SECOND EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER . . . . . . . . 246
XXIII. THE EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
XXIV. THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JUDE . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
XXV. THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE . . . . . . . 270
APPENDIX A.--RATIONALIST CRITICISM ON ST. JOHN'S WRITINGS 284
APPENDIX B.--PAPIAS AND JOHN THE PRESBYTER . . . . . . . . 285
APPENDIX C.--THE MURATORIAN FRAGMENT . . . . . . . . . . . 288
APPENDIX D.--SOME EARLY WITNESSES TO NEW TESTAMENT
WRITINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
APPENDIX E.--BOOKS RECOMMENDED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
{x}
TABLE OF APPROXIMATE DATES
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW . . . . . A.D. 69
" " ST. MARK . . . . . . . A.D. 62
" " ST. LUKE . . . . . . . A.D. 70-75
" " ST. JOHN . . . . . . . A.D. 80-90
ACTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 75-80
ROMANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 56
1 CORINTHIANS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 55
2 CORINTHIANS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 55
GALATIANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 56
EPHESIANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 60
PHILIPPIANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 61
COLOSSIANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 60
1 THESSALONIANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 51
2 THESSALONIANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 51
1 TIMOTHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 63
2 TIMOTHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 64
TITUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 63
PHILEMON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 60
HEBREWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 66
JAMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 50
1 PETER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 64
2 PETER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 65
1, 2, 3 JOHN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 80-90
JUDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 63
REVELATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 96
{1}
CHAPTER I
THE NEW TESTAMENT
[Sidenote: Its Name.]
After the gift of the Holy Spirit Himself, we may justly reckon the New
Testament as the most precious gift which our Lord Jesus Christ has
given since His Ascension to those who believe on His Name. The word
"testament," which is in Latin _testamentum_, corresponds with our word
"covenant," and the phrase "New Testament" signifies the record of that
new covenant in which God bound man to Himself by the death of His Son.
The truth that this was a new covenant, distinct from the covenant
which God made with Abraham, was taught by our Lord when He instituted
the memorial of His death and said, "This cup is the new covenant in My
Blood." We do not know precisely at what date the Christians began to
call this record "the New Testament," but we do know that they used
this name before A.D. 200.
[Sidenote: Its Language.]
In the time of our Lord the popular language of Palestine was Aramaic,
a language which was akin to Hebrew and borrowed some words from
Hebrew. Hebrew was known by learned people, but the language which the
Son of God learned from His blessed mother and His foster father was
Aramaic, and He spoke the Galilean dialect of that language. From a
few words preserved in the Gospels, it is plain that the gospel was
first preached in that tongue. In the 7th century after Christ, the
Mohammedan conquerors, who spoke Arabic, began to supplant {2} Aramaic
by Arabic, and this is now the ordinary language of Palestine. As many
people who spoke Aramaic were at one time heathen, both the Jews and
the Christians adopted the habit of calling their language _Syriac_
rather than Aramaic. The great centre of Christian Syriac literature
was Edessa, and in the eastern part of the Roman Empire Syriac was the
most important and most elegant language next to Greek. It is still
used in the Church services of many Oriental Christians, and it is
spoken in ordinary conversation in parts of North Mesopotamia and
Kurdistan. Further west it is only spoken in a few villages of
Anti-Libanus. In the course of this book it will be necessary to refer
occasionally to the Aramaic language.
It is highly probable that some of the earliest Christian writings were
in Aramaic, but all the books of the New Testament which we now possess
are in Greek. The Greek language was known by many people in
Palestine, and it was splendidly fitted to be the medium of God's
revelation. It was widely known among the civilized nations of the
time, and it is so rich and expressive that religious ideas are better
conveyed in Greek than in almost any other tongue. Whereas it was
essential that the gospel should be preached first in Aramaic, it was
equally essential that it should be written in Greek, for the benefit
of people who did not live in Palestine or who lived there as strangers.
[Sidenote: The Canon.]
The New Testament Scriptures consist of twenty-seven different books,
written by nine different authors. Each book has some special
characteristics corresponding with the mind of the writer and the
circumstances under which it was written. Yet these books exhibit a
manifest unity of purpose and doctrine. Under many differences of
dialect and expression there is an internal unity such as we do not
find in any secular literature, and this unity is due to inspiration.
The whole collection of books is called the CANON of the New Testament.
This Greek word "canon" originally meant a straight rod, such as could
be used for {3} ruling or measuring, then it was employed to signify a
rule or law, and finally it meant a list or catalogue. As applied to
the New Testament, the word "canon" means the books which fit the
Church's rule of faith, and which themselves become a rule that
measures forgeries and finds them wanting. The Church set these
genuine books apart as having their origin in inspiration which came
from God. They were all either written by the apostles or by men who
were trained by the apostles, and thus they contain a unique account of
the sayings of the Lord Jesus and the teaching of those who received
their commission from Him. They are therefore documents to which the
Church can refer, as a final court of appeal, in all questions of faith
and conduct.
It was only by degrees that the Church realized the importance of
placing all these twenty-seven books in the canon. This was finally
done in the western Churches of Christendom in A.D. 382, by a Council
held at Rome.[1]
The disciples first endeavoured to collect the sayings of our Lord and
the record of His life. Thus the four Gospels constitute the first
layer of the New Testament canon. The canon of our four Gospels
existed by A.D. 150, as is shown by Hermas and Justin Martyr.
The next layer of the canon consists of the thirteen Epistles of St.
Paul and the Acts. To these the Epistle to the Hebrews was generally
attached in the east, though not in the west. This layer of the canon
was universally recognized towards the close of the 2nd century, and
perhaps some years earlier, for the books composing it were used and
quoted throughout the 2nd century.
The third layer of the canon gained its place more slowly. It consists
of what are called the "Catholic Epistles," viz. those of St. James,
St. Peter, St. John, and St. Jude, together with the Revelation or
Apocalypse of St. John.
A crowd of works circulated among the Christians of the {4} and
century, including some forged Gospels and Apocalypses, the Epistle of
St. Clement, Bishop of Rome, written about A.D. 95, and the allegory
known as the _Shepherd_ of Hermas, written about A.D. 140. Several of
these works appear to have enjoyed a popularity in excess of that which
attached to some of the books now included in the canon. Nevertheless
they were rejected when they were examined. It was not merely a
wonderful intellectual feat on the part of the Church to have sifted
out this mass of literature; it was an action in which the Christian
cannot fail to see the hand of God.
One question remains to be asked after drawing this small sketch of the
history of the canon. Why is it that for several generations the canon
of the New Testament varied in different countries, containing fewer
books in one place than in another? Two reasons may be given: (i.)
Certain books at first enjoyed only a local popularity; thus "Hebrews
was saved by the value set upon it by the scholars of Alexandria, and
the Epistle of St. James by the attachment of certain Churches in the
East." (ii.) The books of the New Testament, when translated into
other languages, were not all translated together. The Gospels were
naturally translated first, as containing the words of our Lord. The
other books followed gradually. Interesting information is given us
with regard to the latter fact by the _Doctrine of Addai_, a Syriac
book of which the present form dates from about A.D. 400, but which
appears to describe the condition of the Syrian Church in the 3rd
century. The writings of _Aphraates_, a Syrian writer, A.D. 338,
supplement this information. We find from these books that about A.D.
160 the Syrian Christians possessed a translation of the Gospels.
Early in the 3rd century they used a harmony of the Gospels with Acts
and the Epistles of St. Paul. In the 4th century they used also the
Epistle to the Hebrews. It is fairly evident, from the _Doctrine of
Addai_, that only the Old Testament and the Gospels were at first used
by the Syrian Christians, and that St. Paul's Epistles and Acts arrived
later. And as late as {5} A.D. 338 they knew nothing of the Catholic
Epistles and Revelation, though these books were well known by the
Christians who spoke Greek and Latin.
[Sidenote: Ancient Versions.]
The most ancient versions or translations of the New Testament were in
those three great languages spoken by people who touched the borders of
the districts where Greek was spoken. These were Latin, Syriac, and
the Coptic language spoken by the Egyptians. It seems probable that a
large part of the New Testament was translated into these languages
within about a hundred years after the time of the apostles. The
oldest version in any language closely akin to English was that made by
Ulphilas, the celebrated bishop of the Goths, who translated the Bible
from Greek into Gothic about A.D. 350. There is a most beautiful
manuscript of this version preserved at Upsala, in Sweden. The Goths
were then settled in the country between the Danube and the Dnieper.
As late as the 17th century their language was still spoken in part of
the south of Russia. A carefully revised translation of the Latin
Bible was made by St. Jerome between A.D. 382 and 404, and this version
came to be used by the Church throughout the west of Europe.
[Sidenote: English Versions.]
The Gospel of St. John and perhaps the other Gospels were translated by
the patient historian and monk, the Venerable Bede, who was buried at
Durham in A.D. 731. Parts of the Bible, especially the Psalms, were
soon fairly well known through translations. King Alfred was
translating the Psalms when he died, in A.D. 901; and soon after A.D.
1000, Archbishop Aelfric translated large portions of the Bible. As
the language of England gradually changed, new versions of the Psalms
were made, and most of the Bible was known in a version made before
1360. But perhaps there was no complete version of the Bible in
English until the time of John Wyclif (1380). Wyclif translated most
of the New Testament of this version, and a priest named Hereford
translated the Old Testament. Wyclif held various {6} opinions which
the Church of England at that time condemned, and some of which she
still rightly condemns. The result was that in 1412 Archbishop Arundel
denounced Wyclif's version, but it seems to have been revised and to
have come into common use. All these versions or partial versions in
the English language were made from the Latin. But after the Turks
captured Constantinople from the Greeks in 1453, a number of learned
Greeks fled for refuge to the west of Europe. The result was that
Greek books began to be studied again, and the New Testament began to
be read once more in the original language. Three important editions
were printed in 1514, 1516, and 1550 respectively. The first was
printed under the direction of the Spanish Cardinal Ximenes, but owing
to various causes was not published until 1522. The edition of 1516
was printed under the direction of the great Dutch scholar Erasmus.
That of 1550 is important as being substantially the "received text"
which has appeared in the ordinary Greek Testaments printed in England
until the present day, and as being the foundation of our English
Authorised Version. This "received text" was printed by Robert
Estienne (or Stephanus), a great printer of Paris. About the same time
a desire for a reformation of abuses in the Church caused a deeper
interest to be taken in the Word of God. The first English translation
of the New Testament shows a desire for a reformation of a somewhat
extreme kind. It was the version of _William Tyndale_, which was
printed at Worms in Germany, in 1525. In 1534 the Convocation or
Church Parliament of England made a petition to King Henry VIII. to
allow a better version to be made. The work of translation was
interrupted by an order to have an English Bible in every church. As
the Church version was not completed, a version made in 1535 by _Miles
Coverdale_ had to be used instead. Two other versions, also somewhat
inferior, appeared in 1537 and 1539, and then a slightly improved
version called the _Great Bible_ appeared in April, 1539. It is {7}
also called Cranmer's Bible, because Archbishop Cranmer wrote a preface
to the second edition. Three other important versions were published
before the end of the 16th century. The Calvinists, who were the
predecessors of the modern Presbyterians, published a New Testament at
Geneva in 1557, followed by the whole Bible in 1560. The English
bishops published what is called the _Bishops' Bible_ in 1568, and the
Roman Catholics published an English New Testament at Rheims in France,
in 1582. We cannot fail to be impressed by the eager desire felt at
that time by the people of Great Britain, of all religious parties, to
study the Holy Scriptures, a desire to which these various translations
bear witness.
All previous English versions were thrown into the shade by the
brilliant _Authorised Version_, which was commenced in 1604 and
published in 1611. Its beauty and accuracy are so great that even the
Presbyterians, both in England and Scotland, gradually gave up the use
of their Genevan Bible in favour of this translation. But since 1611
hundreds of manuscripts have been discovered and examined. "Textual
criticism," by which an endeavour is made to discover the precise words
written by the writers of the New Testament, where discrepancies exist
in the manuscripts, has become a science. Many results of this
criticism have been embodied in the _Revised Version_, published in
1881. The English of the _Revised Version_ is not so musical as that
of the _Authorised Version_, and it seems probable that a deeper
knowledge of the ancient versions will before long enable us to advance
even beyond the verbal accuracy attained in 1881. But at the same time
we know that both our modern English versions give us a noble and
trustworthy interpretation of the Greek. And criticism has made it
certain that the earliest Greek manuscripts are essentially the same as
the original books written by the apostles and their companions. The
manuscripts are almost utterly free from wilful corruptions. And
concerning the small variations which they contain, we {8} can fitly
quote the words of a fine old English scholar, Bentley: "Even put them
into the hands of a knave or a fool, and yet with the most sinistrous
and absurd choice, he shall not extinguish the light of any one
chapter, nor so disguise Christianity but that every feature of it will
still be the same."
For the sake of space the works of the evangelists are often referred
to in an abbreviated form; _e.g._ "Matt." has been written for "the
Gospel according to St. Matthew," and "Mark" for "the Gospel according
to St. Mark." But when the writers themselves are mentioned, their
names are usually given in full, with the title which Christian
reverence has bestowed upon these "holy men of old."
[1] See Mr. C. H. Turner, _Journal of Theological Studies_, July, 1900.
{9}