The office of Bishop foreign to churches established by
Paul, which were too poor and too few in number to support
the order.--Third chapter of the second Epistle to Timothy,
and the one to Titus, forgeries.--The writings of the
Fathers corrupted.
Elders or Seniors, in ancient Jewish polity, were persons who were
selected on account of their age and experience to administer justice
among the people,--who also held the first rank in the synagogue as
presidents. The office of the Elder, with the Jews, commenced with
Moses, and was continued until after the days of the Apostles. They were
selected with reference to age and knowledge, without regard to anything
else. It is evident that the Apostles did not depart from the Jewish
form of church government, but adopted and continued it du ring their
lives. The epistle of James was written in A.D. 61. At that time the
church was governed by Elders.
"Is any sick among you? let him call for the Elders of the church; and
let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord."
(James v. 14.) In A.D. 64, Peter was an Elder, for that is the date of
the first epistle which bears his name. "The _Elders_ which are among
you I exhort, who _am also an Elder_." (1 Peter vi. 1.)
We hear nothing of the office of Bishop until we enter the second age
of Christianity, when the Therapeutae had taken possession of the church,
got the upper-hand of Paul and his followers, and introduced their
government of the Episcopacy. Did Paul institute a government for the
churches established by him, different from that of Peter and James?
Paul had no place for the office of Bishop in the churches which he
founded and organized. In all cases except one he addresses his epistles
to the church, and those that are sanctified in Christ. The letter to
the Romans is addressed, "To all that be in Rome, beloved of God." The
first to the Corinthians, "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth;"
second Corinthians, "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth,
with all the saints which are in all Achaia;" Galatians, "And all the
brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia;" Ephesians,
"To the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus;" Thessalonians, "Unto the church of the Thessalonians, which
is in God." Only in one instance does Paul make any other or different
address. His epistle to the Philippians is addressed, "To all the saints
in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, _with the Bishops and Deacons_:"
a simple spurious addition to the forms of address in all other cases.
The letter to the Philippians was written in A. D. 62 or A. D. 63, when
Paul was in Rome. The epistle to the Thessalonians was written in A. D.
52, while he was in Corinth. For ten years Paul had been writing letters
to the different churches, and in his epistle to the Philippians he
uses the word Bishop for the first time. In this epistle the name of the
Bishop is not given, which is significant. The contents of this letter
show that there was no Bishop at Philippi at the time it was written.
When Paul was a prisoner in Rome the first time, the church at that
place sent Epaphroditus to visit him, with means to supply his wants.
Thankful for the remembrance in which he was held, he sent the letter
spoken of, and as some return for their kindness, he promised to send to
them Timothy. "But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly
unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state."
(Phil. ii. 19.) "Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I
shall see how it will go with me," (Chap. ii. 23.) If there was a Bishop
in the church at Philippi, why not mention his name? or why send Timothy
to them at all to supply their spiritual wants?
How many members composed the church at Philippi to require the services
of a Bishop and deacons? Paul had been there once, and perhaps the
second time. He was called there for the first time by a vision; but he
soon got into trouble, and even into prison, and remained but a short
time. The author of the life of Paul (Renan) claims that he went into
Macedonia the second time, and remained about six months, from June
to November (page 261). The same writer says: "A country was reputed
evangelized when the name of Jesus was pronounced there and half a score
of persons had been converted. A church frequently contained no more
than twelve or fifteen members. Probably all the converts of St. Paul in
Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece did not exceed one thousand." Of this
number, in a note to the twenty-second chapter, he assigns two
hundred to the churches in Macedonia. As Paul had numerous churches in
Macedonia, we are safe to assign to the church at Philippi the one-half
of the whole number of his followers in that country. The first converts
to Christianity were from the poorer class of people, and were not able
to even support Paul, so that he had to maintain himself by manual labor
as a tent-maker. The question may well be asked, what necessity was
there for a Bishop and deacons at Philippi, and how were they to be
supported? Lucian, in his dialogue entitled Philopatris, while he no
doubt exaggerates the poverty and mean appearance of Paul's followers,
he at the same time throws much light on their true condition. He speaks
of them as "a set of tatterdemalions, almost naked, with fierce looks."
(Taylor's _Diegesis_, 376.) The truth is, all the churches which owe
their origin to Paul were so small and so poor, that their government
was of the most simple and economical kind. The first epistle of Paul to
Timothy is intended to settle the position and claims of a Bishop in
the church, and give the authority of Paul to the order. It is by such
obvious forgeries as this, and others we will produce, that we are
able to form any idea of the violence of the quarrels among the early
Christians, as to the rights or standing of a Bishop in the church.
What arouses suspicion, and at last convinces us, that the third chapter
of the first epistle to Timothy is a forgery, is that there is too much
on the subject of Bishops from Paul all at once. If the episcopate
form of government underlaid or was at the bottom of Paul's mode of
government, it surely would have come to the surface or made itself
known before it suddenly starts up in the first to Timothy; for he had
been engaged in building up churches for at least fifteen years before
that.
It is characteristic of the forgeries of the second century, when they
are inserted into genuine writings, to make their appearance in the
form of boulders, very much condensed, but out of place. There is
nothing diffusible about them, and we never suspect their presence
until we stumble upon or over them. The way the subject of Bishops is
introduced, at once creates suspicion. "This is a true saying. If a man
desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good thing." It is intended
to convey the idea in the start, that the office had been long in
existence, and that the profits were such as to excite the cupidity of
men. The office of Bishop, in the time of Paul, even if such an office
had any existence, was not, as we have shown, a good thing, but the
opposite; but in the second century, when the forgery was perpetrated,
it was. Good critics have pronounced the whole of the first of Timothy
a forgery. The weight of the evidence is in favor of this belief. As to
the third chapter, there can be no question.
The effort to make it appear that Paul recognized the episcopate form
of church government is repeated in the epistle to Titus. It is to be
remarked that this effort is only made in the last epistles written by
him. The first of Timothy was written in A. D. 64; that to Titus in A.
D. 65. All the epistles between A. D. 52 and A. D. 62, have nothing to
say on the subject of Bishops. Those written between these two periods,
at Paul's death had obtained a wide circulation among all the churches
of Asia and Europe, which made it impossible for those who were engaged
in corrupting his writings to make changes that could be easily detected
and exposed. As long as he lived it could not be done. But the reverse
is true of those which were written just before his death. Besides, the
Therapeutae element did not begin to work until A. D. 57, and had not
grown bold and strong enough to venture on the corruptions of Paul's
writings until some time after his death.
The inference that is meant to be drawn from parts of his epistle is
that Titus was a Bishop when Paul left him in Crete. Compared with
other countries where Paul had churches, Crete was comparatively
insignificant, and if Paul's converts in Europe and Asia did not exceed
one thousand, and we have no reason to think they did, what portion of
this number can we assign to the church at Crete, if there was one there
at all? Renan says, "A church frequently contained no more than twelve
or fifteen members." (_Life of Christ_, page 326.) Twelve or fifteen
Christians and not more, if that many, composed the church at Crete. Did
that number require the presence of a Bishop and elders?
The real truth of the matter is easily discovered. Paul, in A. D. 64,
made a visit to all the churches in company with Titus and others, and
stopped at Crete, which was the first time he was ever on the island, so
far as we have any proof on the subject. After making some few converts,
he left Titus to continue the work (_Titus_ i. 5), while he proceeded
west in the direction of Macedonia. The epistle to Titus was written
from Nicopolis in the summer or fall of A. D. 64, and says: "For this
cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things
that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed
thee." (Chap. i. 5.) That is, to organize churches and appoint the
elders.
Had this subject about church organization ceased at this point, there
would not be much to complain of, although the word "_ordain_" had no
place in the vocabulary of Paul. He ordained no one, after any form or
ceremony, nor did he pretend to impart to his followers any but his own
spirit and power.
In the seventh verse he proceeds to address Titus as Bishop, and to give
him advice. Titus was no Bishop when Paul left him in Crete, nor did he
hold any office, but was simply a fellow-laborer, like Luke, Mark, and
Timothy. The men of the second century would have it understood that
Paul was surrounded by a galaxy of Bishops. "For a bishop must be
blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not
given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre." (_Titus_ i. 7.)
Was it necessary to give such advice to "Titus, mine own son after the
common faith?" The forgery is a clumsy one because it is out of place,
and evidently inserted for a purpose. Titus was directed by Paul to
leave Crete and meet him in Nicopolis, where he meant to spend the
winter.
As has been stated, the only means we have of judging of the resistance
made to the claims of the Bishop is from the extravagance of these
demands, and the violence with which they are asserted. "Wherefore it
becomes you to run together, according to the will of your Bishop, even
as also ye do. For your renowned Presbyter, worthy of God, is fitted as
exactly to the Bishop as the strings are to the harp." (_Ignatius to the
Eph._, sec. 4.) "Let no man deceive himself: Except a man be _within the
altar_ he is deprived of the bread of life." (Ib., sec. 5.) "I exhort
you, that you study to do all things in a divine concord, your Bishop
presiding in _the place of God_," (_Ignatius to Magnesians_, sec. 6.)
"It is therefore necessary that you do nothing without your Bishop, even
as ye are wont. In like manner, let all reverence the Deacons _as Jesus
Christ_, and the _Bishops as the Father_; without these _there is no
church_. Wherefore guard yourselves against such persons: And that ye
will do, if ye are not puffed up, but continue inseparable from Jesus
Christ our God; and from your Bishop and from the commands of the
Apostles. He that is within the altar is pure. But he that is without,
is not pure. That is, he that doeth anything without the Bishop and
the Presbyters and Deacons is not pure in conscience." (_Ignatius to
Trallians_, secs. 2, 3, 7.) "But the Spirit spake, saying in this wise:
Do nothing without the Bishop; But God forgives all that repent, if
they return to the _unity of God and to the council of the bishop_"
(_Ignatius to Phil_., sec. 8.) "See that ye all follow your Bishop as
_Jesus Christ the Father_." (_Ignatius to Smyrnaeus_, sec. 8.) "It is
good to have due regard both _to God and to the Bishop_." (Ib., sec. 9.)
These passages prove, that there was a party in the church that was
opposed to the order of Bishops, introduced by the Therapeutae, and that
party no doubt were the followers of Paul. To silence them, the Epistles
of Paul and the writings of the fathers were filled with forgeries
and alterations so extravagant and obvious that they have defeated the
object in view.
It is hardly necessary to ask the question, where it was the Therapeutae
form of government, by Bishops, was first organized. Alexandria seems to
have been the common mother of all that is new in religion. It is here
where have sprung up, in all ages, those subtle questions which have led
the minds of men from sense and reason to pursue mischievous phantoms.
We infer from the writings of Eusebius, and from other sources, that the
Therapeutae Christians in Alexandria were numerous at an early date. The
letter of Adrian from Alexandria, in A. D. 134, is the first notice we
have of a church with a Bishop at its head. It was this letter that
led the author of the "Decline and Fall," after a careful survey of the
subject, with a penetration that nothing escaped, and an industry which
left no ground unexplored, to conclude that the first regular Christian
church government was instituted at Alexandria. If Christian churches
are not indebted to the Therapeutae for their form of church government,
from what source do they derive it? _Not_ From the Jews; not from Paul;
not from the Apostles.