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THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE.
EDITED BY THE REV.
W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A.,
_Editor of "The Expositor."_
THE PASTORAL EPISTLES.
BY THE REV.
ALFRED PLUMMER, M.A., D.D.
TORONTO:
WILLARD TRACT DEPOSITORY AND BIBLE DEPÔT,
CORNER OF YONGE AND TEMPERANCE STREETS.
1888.
THE PASTORAL EPISTLES.
BY THE REV.
ALFRED PLUMMER, M.A., D.D.,
_Master of University College, Durham; formerly
Fellow and Senior Tutor of Trinity College, Oxford;
Author of "The Church of the Early Fathers," and
Editor of "The Gospel and Epistles of St. John," etc._
TORONTO:
WILLARD TRACT DEPOSITORY AND BIBLE DEPÔT,
CORNER OF YONGE AND TEMPERANCE STREETS.
1888.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
_INTRODUCTORY._
CHAPTER I.
THE CHARACTER AND THE GENUINENESS OF THE PASTORAL EPISTLES 3
_1 TIMOTHY._
CHAPTER II.
TIMOTHY THE BELOVED DISCIPLE OF S. PAUL.--HIS LIFE AND
CHARACTER 19
CHAPTER III.
THE DOCTRINE CONDEMNED IN THE PASTORAL EPISTLES A JEWISH FORM
OF GNOSTICISM.--THE GNOSTIC'S PROBLEM 32
CHAPTER IV.
THE MORAL TEACHING OF THE GNOSTICS.--ITS MODERN COUNTERPART 42
CHAPTER V.
THE LORD'S COMPASSION IN ENABLING A BLASPHEMER AND A
PERSECUTOR TO BECOME A SERVANT OF CHRIST JESUS AND A PREACHER
OF THE GOSPEL 52
CHAPTER VI.
THE PROPHECIES ON TIMOTHY.--THE PROPHETS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
AN EXCEPTIONAL INSTRUMENT OF EDIFICATION 62
CHAPTER VII.
THE PUNISHMENT OF HYMENAEUS AND ALEXANDER.--DELIVERING TO
SATAN AN EXCEPTIONAL INSTRUMENT OF PURIFICATION.--THE
PERSONALITY OF SATAN 72
CHAPTER VIII.
ELEMENTS OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP: INTERCESSORY PRAYER AND
THANKSGIVING.--THE SOLIDARITY OF CHRISTENDOM AND OF THE HUMAN
RACE 82
CHAPTER IX.
BEHAVIOUR IN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP.--MEN'S ATTITUDE OF BODY AND
MIND.--WOMEN'S ATTIRE AND ORNAMENT 94
CHAPTER X.
THE ORIGIN OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY.--VARIOUS CERTAINTIES
AND PROBABILITIES DISTINGUISHED 104
CHAPTER XI.
THE APOSTLE'S RULE RESPECTING SECOND MARRIAGES.--ITS MEANING
AND PRESENT OBLIGATION 118
CHAPTER XII.
THE RELATION OF HUMAN CONDUCT TO THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS 130
CHAPTER XIII.
THE COMPARATIVE VALUE OF BODILY EXERCISE AND OF GODLINESS 141
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PASTOR'S BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS WOMEN.--THE CHURCH WIDOW 151
CHAPTER XV.
THE PASTOR'S RESPONSIBILITIES IN ORDAINING AND JUDGING
PRESBYTERS.--THE WORKS THAT GO BEFORE AND THAT FOLLOW US 164
CHAPTER XVI.
THE NATURE OF ROMAN SLAVERY AND THE APOSTLE'S ATTITUDE
TOWARDS IT.--A MODERN PARALLEL 175
CHAPTER XVII.
THE GAIN OF A LOVE OF GODLINESS AND THE UNGODLINESS OF A LOVE
OF GAIN 188
_TITUS._
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE EPISTLE TO TITUS.--HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER 201
CHAPTER XIX.
THE CHURCH IN CRETE AND ITS ORGANIZATION.--THE APOSTLE'S
DIRECTIONS FOR APPOINTING ELDERS 212
CHAPTER XX.
CHRISTIANITY AND UNCHRISTIAN LITERATURE 224
CHAPTER XXI.
THE MEANING AND VALUE OF SOBERMINDEDNESS.--THE USE AND ABUSE
OF RELIGIOUS EMOTION 237
CHAPTER XXII.
THE MORAL CONDITION OF SLAVES.--THEIR ADORNMENT OF THE
DOCTRINE OF GOD 248
CHAPTER XXIII.
HOPE AS A MOTIVE POWER.--THE PRESENT HOPES OF CHRISTIANS 259
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE DUTY OF OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY WITH ITS LIMITS.--THE DUTY
OF COURTESY WITHOUT LIMITS 270
CHAPTER XXV.
THE CO-OPERATION OF THE DIVINE PERSONS IN EFFECTING THE NEW
BIRTH.--THE LAVER OF REGENERATION 282
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE MEANING OF HERESY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE APOSTLE'S
DIRECTIONS RESPECTING HERETICAL PERSONS 294
_2 TIMOTHY._
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE CHARACTER AND CONTENTS OF THE LAST EPISTLE OF
S. PAUL.--THE NEMESIS OF NEGLECTED GIFTS 309
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE HEARTLESSNESS OF PHYGELUS AND HERMOGENES.--THE DEVOTION
OF ONESIPHORUS.--PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD 319
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE NEED OF MACHINERY FOR THE PRESERVATION AND TRANSMISSION
OF THE FAITH.--THE MACHINERY OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH 331
CHAPTER XXX.
THE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE AS MILITARY SERVICE; AS AN ATHLETIC
CONTEST; AS HUSBANDRY 343
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE POWER OF A BELIEF IN THE RESURRECTION AND THE
INCARNATION.--THE GOSPEL OF S. PAUL 353
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE NEED OF A SOLEMN CHARGE AGAINST A CONTROVERSIAL SPIRIT,
OF A DILIGENCE FREE FROM SHAME, AND OF A HATRED OF THE
PROFANITY WHICH WRAPS UP ERROR IN THE LANGUAGE OF TRUTH 364
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE LAST DAYS.--THE BEARING OF THE MENTION OF JANNES AND
JAMBRES ON THE QUESTION OF INSPIRATION AND THE ERRORS CURRENT
IN EPHESUS 375
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE PERILS OF RATIONALISM AND THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF A
LIFELONG CONTACT WITH TRUTH.--THE PROPERTIES OF INSPIRED
WRITINGS 385
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE PARADOXICAL EXULTATION OF THE APOSTLE.--HIS APPARENT
FAILURE AND THE APPARENT FAILURE OF THE CHURCH.--THE GREAT
TEST OF SINCERITY 397
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE PERSONAL DETAILS A GUARANTEE OF GENUINENESS 406
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE APOSTLE FORSAKEN BY MEN BUT STRENGTHENED BY THE
LORD.--THE MISSION TO THE GENTILES COMPLETED.--THE SURE HOPE,
AND THE FINAL HYMN OF PRAISE 418
_INTRODUCTORY._
CHAPTER I.
_THE CHARACTER AND THE GENUINENESS OF THE PASTORAL EPISTLES._
"Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus."--1 TIM. i; 2 TIM. i. 1.
"Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ."--TITUS i.
1.
The first question which confronts us on entering upon the study of the
Pastoral Epistles is that of their authenticity, which of late has been
confidently denied. In reading them are we reading the farewell words of
the great Apostle to the ministers of Christ? Or are we reading only the
well-meant but far less weighty counsels of one who in a later age
assumed the name and imitated the style of St. Paul? It seems necessary
to devote the first of these expositions to a discussion of this
question.
The title "Pastoral Epistles" could hardly be improved, but it might
easily be misunderstood as implying more than is actually the case. It
calls attention to what is the most conspicuous, but by no means the
only characteristic in these Epistles. Although the words which most
directly signify the pastor's office, such as "shepherd," "feed,"
"tend," and "flock," do not occur in these letters and do occur
elsewhere in Scripture, yet in no other books in the Bible do we find so
many directions respecting the pastoral care of Churches. The title is
much less appropriate to 2 Timothy than to the other two Epistles. All
three are both pastoral and personal; but while 1 Timothy and Titus are
mainly the former, 2 Timothy is mainly the latter. The three taken
together stand between the other Epistles of St. Paul and the one to
Philemon. Like the latter, they are personal; like the rest, they treat
of large questions of Church doctrine, practice, and government, rather
than of private and personal matters. Like that to Philemon, they are
addressed, not to Churches, but to individuals; yet they are written to
them, not as private friends, but as delegates, though not mere
delegates, of the Apostle, and as officers of the Church. Moreover the
important Church matters of which they treat are regarded, not, as in
the other Epistles, from the point of view of the congregation or of the
Church at large, but rather from that of the overseer or minister. And,
as being official rather than private letters, they are evidently
intended to be read by other persons besides Timothy and Titus.
Among the Epistles which bear the name of St. Paul none have excited so
much controversy as these, especially as regards their genuineness. But
the controversy is entirely a modern one. It is little or no
exaggeration to say that from the first century to the nineteenth no one
ever denied or doubted that they were written by St. Paul. It is true
that certain heretics of the second century rejected some or all of
them. Marcion, and perhaps Basilides, rejected all three. Tatian, while
maintaining the Apostolicity of the Epistle to Titus, repudiated those
to Timothy. And Origen tells us that some people doubted about 2 Timothy
because it contained the names of Jannes and Jambres, which do not occur
in the Old Testament. But it is well known that Marcion in framing his
mutilated and meagre canon of the Scriptures, did not profess to do so
on critical grounds. He rejected everything excepting an expurgated
edition of St. Luke and certain Epistles of St. Paul,--not because he
doubted their authenticity, but because he disliked their contents. They
did not fit into his system. And the few others who rejected one or more
of these Epistles did so in a similar spirit. They did not profess to
find that these documents were not properly authenticated, but they were
displeased with passages in them. The evidence, therefore, justifies us
in asserting that, with some very slight exception in the second
century, these three Epistles were, until quite recent times,
universally accepted as written by St. Paul.
This large fact is greatly emphasized by two considerations. (1) The
repudiation of them by Marcion and others directed attention to them.
They were evidently not accepted by an oversight, because no one thought
anything about them. (2) The evidence respecting the general acceptance
of them as St. Paul's is full and positive, and reaches back to the
earliest times. It does not consist merely or mainly in the absence of
evidence to the contrary. Tertullian[1] wonders what can have induced
Marcion, while accepting the Epistle to Philemon, to reject those to
Timothy and Titus: and of course those who repudiated them would have
pointed out weak places in their claim to be canonical, if such had
existed. And even if we do not insist upon the passages in which these
Epistles are almost certainly quoted by Clement[2] of Rome (c. A.D. 95),
Ignatius of Antioch (c. A.D. 112), Polycarp of Smyrna (c. A.D. 112),
and Theophilus of Antioch (c. A.D. 180), we have direct evidence of a
very convincing kind. They are found in the Peshitto, or early Syriac
Version, which was made in the second century. They are contained in the
Muratorian canon, the date of which may still be placed as not later
than A.D. 170. Irenaeus, the disciple of Polycarp, states that "Paul
mentions Linus in the Epistle to Timothy," and he quotes Titus iii. 10
with the introduction "as Paul also says." Eusebius renders it probable
that both Justin Martyr and Hegesippus quoted from 1 Timothy; and he
himself places all three Epistles among the universally accepted books
and not among the disputable writings: _i.e._, he places them with the
Gospels, Acts, 1 Peter, 1 John, and the other Epistles of St. Paul, and
not with James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Jude. In this arrangement he
is preceded by Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian, both of whom quote
frequently from all three Epistles, sometimes as the words of Scripture,
sometimes as of "the Apostle," sometimes as of Paul, sometimes as of the
Spirit. Occasionally it is expressly stated that the words quoted are
addressed to Timothy or to Titus.
It would take us too far afield to examine in detail the various
considerations which have induced some eminent critics to set aside this
strong array of external evidence and reject one or more of these
Epistles. They fall in the main under four heads. (1) The difficulty of
finding a place for these letters in the life of St. Paul as given us in
the Acts and in his own writings. (2) The large amount of peculiar
phraseology not found in any other Pauline Epistles. (3) The Church
organization indicated in these letters which is alleged to be of a
later date than St. Paul's time. (4) The erroneous doctrines and
practices attacked, which are also said to be those of a later age. To
most of these points we shall have to return on some future occasion:
but for the present this much may be asserted with confidence. (1) In
the Acts and in the other Epistles of St. Paul the Apostle's life is
left incomplete. There is nothing to forbid us from supposing that the
remaining portion amounted to several years, during which these three
letters were written. The Second Epistle to Timothy in any case has the
unique interest of being the last extant utterance of the Apostle St.
Paul. (2) The phraseology which is peculiar to each of these Epistles is
not greater in amount than the phraseology which is peculiar to the
Epistle to the Galatians, which even Baur admits to be of unquestionable
genuineness. The peculiar diction which is common to all three Epistles
is well accounted for by the peculiarity of the common subject, and by
the fact that these letters are separated by several years from even the
latest among the other writings of St. Paul.[3] (3, 4) There is good
reason for believing that during the lifetime of St. Paul the
organization of the Church corresponded to that which is sketched in
these letters, and that errors were already in existence such as these
letters denounce.
Although the controversy is by no means over, two results of it are very
generally accepted as practically certain. (1) The three Epistles must
stand or fall together. It is impossible to accept two, or one, or any
portion of one of them, and reject the rest. (2) They stand or fall with
the hypothesis of St. Paul's second imprisonment. If the Apostle was
imprisoned at Rome only once, and was put to death at the end of that
imprisonment, then these three letters were not written by him.
(1) The Epistles stand or fall together: they are all three genuine, or
all three spurious. We must either with the scholars of the Early
Church, of the Middle Ages, and of the Renaissance, whether Roman or
Protestant, and with a clear majority of modern critics,[4] accept all
three letters; or else with Marcion, Basilides, Eichhorn, Bauer, and
their followers,[5] reject all three. As Credner himself had to
acknowledge, after having at first advocated the theory, it is
impossible to follow Tatian in retaining Titus as apostolic, while
repudiating the other two as forgeries. Nor have the two scholars[6] who
originated the modern controversy found more than one critic of eminence
to accept their conclusion that both Titus and 2 Timothy are genuine,
but 1 Timothy not. Yet another suggestion is made by Reuss, that 2
Timothy is unquestionably genuine, while the other two are doubtful. And
lastly we have Pfleiderer admitting that 2 Timothy contains at least two
sections which have with good reason been recognized as genuine (i.
15-18 and iv. 9-21), and Renan asking whether the forger of these three
Epistles did not possess some authentic letters of St. Paul which he has
enshrined in his composition.[7]
It will be seen, therefore, that those who impugn the authenticity of
the Pastoral Epistles are by no means agreed among themselves. The
evidence in some places is so strong, that many of the objectors are
compelled to admit that the Epistles are at least in part the work of
St. Paul. That is, certain portions, which admit of being severely
tested, are found to stand the test, and are passed as genuine, in spite
of surrounding difficulties. The rest, which does not admit of such
testing, is repudiated on account of the difficulties. No one can
reasonably object to the application of whatever tests are available,
nor to the demand for explanations of difficulties. But we must not
treat what cannot be satisfactorily tested as if it had been tested and
found wanting; nor must we refuse to take account of the support which
those parts which can be thoroughly sifted lend to those for which no
decisive criterion can be found. Still less must we proceed on the
assumption that to reject these Epistles or any portion of them is a
proceeding which gets rid of difficulties. It is merely an exchange of
one set of difficulties for another. To unbiassed minds it will perhaps
appear that the difficulties involved in the assumption that the
Pastoral Epistles are wholly or partly a forgery, are not less serious
than those which have been urged against the well-established tradition
of their genuineness. The very strong external evidence in their favour
has to be accounted for. It is already full, clear, and decided, as
soon as we could at all expect to find it, viz., in Irenaeus, Clement of
Alexandria, and Tertullian. And it must be noticed that these witnesses
give us the traditional beliefs of several chief centres in Christendom.
Irenaeus speaks with full knowledge of what was accepted in Asia Minor,
Rome, and Gaul; Clement witnesses for Egypt, and Tertullian for North
Africa. And although the absence of such support would not have caused
serious perplexity, their direct evidence is very materially supported
by passages closely parallel to the words of the Pastoral Epistles found
in writers still earlier than Irenaeus. Renan admits the relationship
between 2 Timothy and the Epistle of Clement of Rome, and suggests that
each writer has borrowed from a common source. Pfleiderer admits that
the Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp "displays striking points of contact
with 2 Timothy." Bauer's theory, that all three letters are as late as
A.D. 150, and are an attack on Marcion, finds little support now. But we
are still asked to believe that 2 Timothy was forged in the reign of
Trajan (98-117) and the other two Epistles in the reign of Hadrian
(117-138). Is it credible that a forgery perpetrated A.D. 120-135 would
in less than fifty years be accepted in Asia Minor, Rome, Gaul, Egypt,
and North Africa, as a genuine letter of the Apostle St. Paul? And yet
this is what must have happened in the case of 1 Timothy, if the
hypothesis just stated is correct. Nor is this all, Marcion, as we know,
rejected all three of the Pastoral Epistles; and Tertullian cannot think
why Marcion should do so. But, when Marcion was framing his canon, about
the reign of Hadrian, 2 Timothy according to these dates, would be
scarcely twenty years old, and 1 Timothy would be brand-new. If this
had been so, would Marcion, with his intimate knowledge of St. Paul's
writings, have been in ignorance of the fact; and if he had known it,
would he have failed to denounce the forgery? Or again, if we assume
that he merely treated this group of Epistles with silent contempt,
would not his rejection of them, which was well-known, have directed
attention to them, and caused their recent origin to be quickly
discovered? From all which it is manifest that the theory of forgery by
no means frees us from grave obstacles.
It will be observed that the external evidence is large in amount and
overwhelmingly in favour of the Apostolic authorship. The objections are
based on internal evidence. But some of the leading opponents admit that
even the internal evidence is in favour of certain portions of the
Epistles. Let us, then, with Renan, Pfleiderer, and others admit that
parts of 2 Timothy were written by St. Paul; then there is strong
presumption that the whole letter is by him; for even the suspected
portions have the external evidence in their favour, together with the
support lent to them by those parts for which the internal evidence is
also satisfactory. Add to which the improbability that any one would
store up genuine letters of St. Paul for fifty years and then use parts
of them to give substance to a fabrication. Or let us with Reuss contend
that in 2 Timothy "the whole Epistle is so completely the natural
expression of the actual situation of the author, and contains, unsought
and for the most part in the form of mere allusions, such a mass of
minute[8] and unessential particulars, that even did the name of the
writer not chance to be mentioned at the beginning it would be easy to
discover it." Then there is strong presumption that the other two
letters are genuine also; for they have the external evidence on their
side, together with the good character reflected upon them by their
brother Epistle. This result is of course greatly strengthened, if,
quite independently of 2 Timothy, the claims of Titus to be Apostolic
are considered to be adequate. With two of the three letters admitted to
be genuine, the case for the remaining letter becomes a strong one. It
has the powerful external evidence on its side, backed up by the support
lent to it by its two more manifestly authentic companions. Thus far,
therefore, we may agree with Baur: "The three Epistles are so much alike
that none of them can be separated from the others; and from this
circumstance the identity of their authorship may be confidently
inferred."[9] But when he asserts that whichever of this family of
letters be examined will appear as the betrayer of his brethren, he just
reverses the truth. Each letter, upon examination, lends support to the
other two; "and a threefold cord is not easily broken." The strongest
member of the family is 2 Timothy: the external evidence in its favour
is ample, and no Epistle in the New Testament is more characteristic of
St. Paul. It would be scarcely less reasonable to dispute 2 Corinthians.
And if 2 Timothy be admitted, there is no tenable ground for excluding
the other two.
II. But not only do the three Epistles stand or fall together, they
stand or fall with the hypothesis of the release and second
imprisonment of the Apostle. The contention that no place can be found
for the Pastoral Epistles in the narrative of the Acts is valid; but it
is no objection to the authenticity of the Epistles. The conclusion of
the Acts implies that the end of St. Paul's life is not reached in the
narrative. "He abode two whole years in his own hired dwelling," implies
that after that time a change took place. If that change was his death,
how unnatural not to mention it! The conclusion is closely parallel to
that of St Luke's Gospel; and we might almost as reasonably contend that
"they were continually in the temple," proves that they were never
"clothed with power from on high," because they were told to "tarry in
the city" until they were so clothed, as contend that "abode two whole
years in his own hired dwelling," proves that at the end of the two
years came the end of St. Paul's life. Let us grant that the conclusion
of the Acts is unexpectedly abrupt, and that this abruptness constitutes
a difficulty. Then we have our choice of two alternatives. Either the
two years of imprisonment were followed by a period of renewed labour,
or they were cut short by the Apostle's martyrdom. Is it not more easy
to believe that the writer did not consider that this new period of
work, which would have filled many chapters, fell within the scope of
his narrative, than that he omitted so obvious a conclusion as St.
Paul's death, for which a single verse would have sufficed? But let us
admit that to assert that St. Paul was released at the end of two years
is to maintain a mere hypothesis: yet to assert that he was _not_
released is equally to maintain a mere hypothesis. If we exclude the
Pastoral Epistles, Scripture gives no means of deciding the question,
and whichever alternative we adopt we are making a conjecture. But
which hypothesis has most evidence on its side? Certainly the hypothesis
of the release. (1) The Pastoral Epistles, even if not by St. Paul, are
by some one who believed that the Apostle did a good deal after the
close of the Acts. (2) The famous passage in Clement of Rome (_Cor._ v.)
tells that St. Paul "won the noble renown which was the reward of his
faith, having taught righteousness unto the whole world, and _having
reached the furthest bound of the West_ (=to terma tês dyseôs=)." This
probably means Spain;[10] and if St. Paul ever went to Spain as he hoped
to do (Rom. xv. 24, 28), it was after the imprisonment narrated in the
Acts. Clement gives us the tradition in Rome (c. A.D. 95). (3) The
Muratorian fragment (c. A.D. 170) mentions the "departure of Paul from
the city to Spain." (4) Eusebius (_H.E._, II. xxii. 2) says that at the
end of the two years of imprisonment, according to tradition, the
Apostle went forth again upon the ministry of preaching, and on a second
visit to the city ended his career by martyrdom under Nero; and that
during this imprisonment he composed the Second Epistle to Timothy. All
this does not amount to proof; but it raises the hypothesis of the
release to a high degree of probability. Nothing of this kind can be
urged in favour of the counter hypothesis. To urge the improbability
that the labours of these last few years of St. Paul's life would be
left unrecorded is no argument. (1) They are partly recorded in the
Pastoral Epistles. (2) The entire labours of most of the Twelve are left
unrecorded. Even of St. Paul's life, whole years are left a blank. How
fragmentary the narrative in the Acts must be is proved by the
autobiography in 2 Corinthians. That we have very scanty notice of St.
Paul's doings between the two imprisonments does not render the
existence of such an interval at all doubtful.
The result of this preliminary discussion seems to show that the
objections which have been urged against these Epistles are not such as
to compel us to doubt that in studying them we are studying the last
writings of the Apostle of the Gentiles. If any doubts still survive, a
closer examination of the details will, it is hoped, tend to remove
rather than to strengthen them. When we have completed our survey, we
may be able to add our testimony to those who through many centuries
have found these writings a source of Divine guidance, warning, and
encouragement, especially in ministerial work. The experience of
countless numbers of pastors attests the wisdom of the Church, or in
other words the good Providence of God, in causing these Epistles to be
included among the sacred Scriptures.
"It is an established fact," as Bernhard Weiss rightly points out
(_Introduction to the New Testament_, vol. i., p. 410), "that the
essential, fundamental features of the Pauline doctrine of salvation are
even in their specific expression reproduced in our Epistles with a
clearness such as we do not find in any Pauline disciple, excepting
perhaps Luke or the Roman Clement." Whoever composed them had at his
command, not only St. Paul's forms of doctrine and expression, but large
funds of Apostolic zeal and discretion, such as have proved capable of
warming the hearts and guiding the judgments of a long line of
successors. Those who are conscious of these effects upon themselves
will probably find it easier to believe that they have derived these
benefits from the great Apostle himself, rather than from one who, with
however good intentions, assumed his name and disguised himself in his
mantle. Henceforward, until we find serious reason for doubt, it will be
assumed that in these Epistles we have the farewell counsels of none
other than St Paul.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Adv. Marc._, V. xxi.
[2] _Clem. Rom._ I. ii., xxix., lxi.; Ign. _Magn._ viii., _Pol. passim_;
Polycarp, iv; Theoph. _Autol._, III., xiv,; Iren., _Haer._, III. iii. 3,
4; Euseb. _H. E._, III. xxv., 2., xxvi. 4., xxxii. 8.
[3] "The wealth and mobility of the Pauline intellect ... must not be
fettered in mode of teaching or expression by a rule taken from a number
of older epistles arbitrarily selected."--BERNHARD WEISS, _Introduction
to the N. T._, i. p. 410 (Hodder: 1887).
[4] Among them Alford, Baumgarten, Beck, Döllinger, Fairbairn, Farrar,
Guericke, Herzog, Hofmann, Huther, Kölling, Lange, Lightfoot, Neander,
Oosterzee, Otto, Plumptre, Salmon, Schaff, Thiersch, Wace, Wieseler,
Wiesinger, Wordsworth.
[5] Among them Credner, S. Davidson, Ewald, Hausrath, Hilgenfeld,
Holtzmann, Mangold, Schenkel, and on the whole De Wette.
[6] Schmidt and Schleiermacher followed by Bleek.
[7] Similar admissions, which are quite fatal to the view that the three
Epistles are not genuine, are made by Hausrath, Immer and Lemme; while
Ewald, Hitzig, Krenkel, and Weisse think that Titus contains authentic
fragments. See the exposition of 2 Tim. iv. 9-21.
[8] What forger would have thought of the cloak (or book-case) left at
Troas with Carpus, or would have been careful to speak only of "the
_house_ of Onesiphorus," and not of himself, in two places?
[9] _Paul, his Life and Works_, Pt. II., ch. viii. Eng. Trans., p. 105.
[10] It cannot possibly mean Rome; least of all in a document written in
Rome. Rome was a centre, not a frontier.
_THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY._