213 obvious and prominent of the facts to be collected | Acts, ch. xviii. 5. If this was the first time of from that source of information. No. IV. Chap. iii. 1-7. "Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and sent Timotheus, our brother and minister of God, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith;-but now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith." their coming up with him after their separation at Berea, there is nothing to account for a delay so have been St. Paul's plan and expectation. This contrary to what appears from the history itself to is a conformity of a peculiar species. The epistle discloses a fact which is not preserved in the history; but which makes what is said in the history more significant, probable, and consistent. The history bears marks of an omission; the epistle by reference furnishes a circumstance which supplies that omission. No. V. lowers of the churches of God which in Judea are Chap. ii. 14. "For ye, brethren, became folin Christ Jesus; for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews." The history relates, that when Paul came out of Macedonia to Athens, Silas and Timothy staid behind at Berea: "The brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea; but Silas and Timotheus abode there still; and they that conducted Paul brought him to Athens," 14, 15. The history farther relates, that after Acts, ch. xvii. Paul had tarried some time at Athens, and had might seem, at first sight, that the persecutions To a reader of the Acts of the Apostles, it proceeded from thence to Corinth, whilst he was which the preachers and converts of Christianity exercising his ministry in that city, Silas and underwent, were suffered at the hands of their old Timothy came to him from Macedonia, Acts, adversaries the Jews. But if we attend carefully ch. xviii. 5. But to reconcile the history with the to the accounts there delivered, we shall observe, clause in the epistle, which makes St. Paul say, that, though the opposition made to the Gospel "I thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and usually originated from the enmity of the Jews, to send Timothy unto you," it is necessary to sup- yet in almost all places the Jews went about to pose that Timothy had come up with St. Paul at accomplish their purpose, by stirring up the GenAthens; a circumstance which the history does tile inhabitants against their converted countrynot mention. I remark, therefore, that although men. the history does not expressly notice this arrival, much mischief in any other way. This was the Out of Judea they had not power to do yet it contains intimations which render it ex-case at Thessalonica in particular: "The Jews tremely probable that the fact took place. First, which believed not, moved with envy, set all the as soon as Paul had reached Athens, he sent a city in an uproar," Acts, ch. xvii. ver. 5. It was message back to Silas and Timothy "for to come the same a short time afterwards at Berea: "When to him with all speed," Acts, ch. xvii. 15. Se- the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the condly, his stay at Athens was on purpose that word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they they might join him there: "Now whilst Paul came thither also, and stirred up the people," Acts, waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in ch. xvii. 13. And before this our apostle had met him," Acts, ch. xvii. 16. Thirdly, his departure with a like species of persecution, in his progress from Athens does not appear to have been in any through the Lesser Asia: in every city "the unbesort hastened or abrupt. It is said, "After these lieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made things," viz. his disputation with the Jews, his their minds evil-affected against the brethren," conferences with the philosophers, his discourse at Acts, ch. xiv. 2. The epistle therefore represents Areopagus, and the gaining of some converts, "he the case accurately as the history states it. It was departed from Athens and came to Corinth." It the Jews always who set on foot the persecutions is not hinted that he quitted Athens before the against the apostles and their followers. He speaks time that he had intended to leave it; it is not sug- truly therefore of them, when he says in this episgested that he was driven from thence, as he was tle, "they both killed the Lord Jesus and their from many cities, by tumults or persecutions, or own prophets, and have persecuted us-forbidding because his life was no longer safe. Observe then us to speak unto the Gentiles," ii. 15. 16. But the particulars which the history does notice-out of Judea it was at the hands of the Gentiles, that Paul had ordered Timothy to follow him without delay, that he waited at Athens on purpose that Timothy might come up with him, that he staid there as long as his own choice led him to continue. Laying these circumstances which the history does disclose together, it is highly probable that Timothy came to the apostle at Athens, a fact which the epistle, we have seen, virtually asserts when it makes Paul send Timothy back from Athens to Thessalonica. back of Timothy into Macedonia accounts also The sending for his not coming to Corinth till after Paul had been fixed in that city for some considerable time. Paul had found out Aquila and Priscilla, abode with them and wrought, being of the same craft; and reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath day, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks, Acts, ch. xviii. 1-5. All this passed at Corinth before Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, it was "of their own countrymen," that the inju- No. VI. and the history, though of magnitude sufficient to The apparent discrepancies between our epistle repel the imputation of confederacy or transcripment,) are neither numerous, nor very difficult to tion (in which view they form a part of our argureconcile. One of these may be observed in the ninth and tenth verses of the second chapter: "For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail; for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the Gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe." A person who reads this passage is naturally led by it to suppose, that the writer had dwelt at Thessalonica for some considerable time : yet of St. Paul's ministry in that city, the history gives no other account than the following that he came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: that, as his manner was, he went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures: that some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas." The history then proceeds to tell us, that the Jews which believed not, set the city in an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, where Paul and his companions lodged; that the consequence of this outrage was, that "the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea," Acts, ch. xvii. 1-10. From the mention of his preaching three Sabbath days in the Jewish synagogue, and from the want of usually been taken for granted that Paul did not any further specification of his ministry, it has continue at Thessalonica more than three weeks. This, however, is inferred without necessity. It appears to have been St. Paul's practice, in almost every place that he came to, upon his first arrival to repair to the synagogue. He thought himself bound to propose the Gospel to the Jews first, agreeably to what he declared at Antioch in Pisidia: "it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you," Acts, ch. xiii. 46. If the Jews rejected his ministry, he quitted the synagogue, and betook himself to a Gentile audience. At Corinth, upon his first coming thither, he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath; "but when the Jews opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he departed thence, expressly telling them, "from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles; and he remained in that city a year and six months," Acts, ch. xviii. 6-11. At Ephesus, in like manner, for the space of three months he went into the synagogue; but "when divers were hardened and believed not, but spake evil of that way, he departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus; and this continued by the space of two years," Acts, ch. xix. 9, 10. Upon inspecting the history, I see nothing in it which negatives the supposition, that St. Paul pursued the same plan at Thessalonica which he adopted in other places; and that though he resorted to the synagogue only three Sabbath days, yet he remained in the city, and in the exercise of his ministry amongst the Gentile citizens, much longer; and until the success of his preaching had provoked the Jews to excite the tumult and insurrection by which he was driven away. Another seeming discrepancy is found in the ninth verse of the first chapter of the epistle; "For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." This text contains an assertion, that, by means of St. Paul's ministry at Thessalonica, many idolatrous Gentiles had been brought over to Christianity. Yet the history, in describing the effects of that ministry, only says, that "some of the Jews believed, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few," ch. xvii. 4. The devout Greeks were those who already worshipped the one true God; and therefore could not be said, by embracing Christianity," to be turned to God from idols." This is the difficulty. The answer may be assisted by the following observations: The Alexandrian and Cambridge manuscripts read (for των σεβομένων Ελληνων πολύ πλήθος) των σεβομένων Evos in which reading they are also confirmed by the Vulgate Latin. And this reading is, in my opinion, strongly supported by the considerations, first, that .. .. alone, i. e. without EA, is used in this sense in the same chapter-Paul being come to Athens, dysto TH συναγωγή τοις Ιουδαίοις και τους σεβομένοις : secondly, that CV and Ex no where The ... must be 'EXXV. Thirdly, that come together. The expression is redundant. the x is much more likely to have been left out incuriâ manûs than to have been put in. Or after all, if we be not allowed to change the by a great plurality of copies, may not the pas present reading, which is undoubtedly retained ing the three Sabbath days in which he preached sage in the history be considered as describ ing only the effects of St. Paul's discourses durin the synagogue? and may it not be true, as we have remarked above, that his application to the Gentiles at large, and his success amongst them, was posterior to this? CHAPTER X. The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians. No. I. It may seem odd to allege obscurity itself as an argument, or to draw a proof in favour of a writing from that which is naturally considered as the principal defect in its composition. The present epistle, however, furnishes a passage, hitherto unexplained, and probably inexplicable by us, the existence of which, under the darkness and difficulties that attend it, can be accounted for only by the supposition of the epistle being genuine and upon that supposition is accounted for with great ease. The passage which I allude to is found in the second chapter: "That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalted himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that WHEN I WAS YET WITH YOU I TOLD YOU THESE THINGS? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time; for the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he that now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way; and then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." It were superfluous to prove, because it is in vain to deny, that this passage involved in great obscurity, more especially the clauses distinguished by Italics. Now the observation I have to offer is founded upon this, that the passage expressly refers to a conversation which the author had previously holden with the Thessalonians upon the same subject: "Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth." If such conversation actually passed; if, whilst "he was yet with them, he told them those things," then it follows that the epistle is authentic. And of the reality of this conversation it appears to be a proof, that what is said in the epistle might be understood by those who had been present to such conversation, and yet be incapable of being explained by any other. No man writes unintelligibly on purpose. But it may easily happen, that a part of a letter which relates to a subject, upon which the parties had conversed together before, which refers to what had been before said, which is in truth a portion or continuation of a former discourse, may be utterly without meaning to a stranger who should pick up the letter upon the road, and yet be perfectly clear to the person to whom it is directed, and with whom the previous communication had passed. And if, in a letter which thus accidentally fell into my hands, I found a passage expressly referring to a former conversation, and difficult to be explained without knowing that conversation, I should consider this very difficulty as a proof that the conversation had actually passed, and consequently that the letter contained the real correspondence of real persons. No. II. Chap. iii. 8. "Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought, but wrought with labour night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: not because we have no power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to fol low." In a letter, purporting to have been written to another of the Macedonian churches, we find the following declaration: Now, ye Philippians, know also that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving but ye only." was the very same as that which the history attributes to St. Paul in a discourse, which it represents him to have addressed to the elders of the church of Ephesus: "Yea, ye yourselves also know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how, that so labouring ye ought to support the weak," Acts, ch. xx. 34. The sentiment in the epistle and in the speech is in both parts of it so much alike, and yet the words which convey it show so little of imitation or even of resemblance, that the agreement cannot well be explained without supposing the speech and the letter to have really proceeded from the same person. No. III. Our reader remembers the passage in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, in which St. Paul spoke of the coming of Christ: "This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep: for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, and so shall we be ever with the Lord. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief," 1 Thess. iv. 15-17, and ch. v. 4. It should seem that the Thessalonians, or some however amongst them, had from this passage conceived an opinion (and that not very unnaturally) that the coming of Christ was to take place instantly, TVITY; and that this persuasion had produced, as it well might, much agitation in the church. The apostle therefore now writes, amongst other purposes, to quiet this alarm, and to rectify the misconstruction that had been put upon his words:-"Now The conformity between these two passages is we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our strong and plain. They confine the transaction Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together to the same period. The Epistle to the Philip- unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or pians refers to what passed "in the beginning of be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by the Gospel," that is to say, during the first preach-letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at ing of the Gospel on that side of the Egean sea. hand." If the allusion which we contend for be The Epistle to the Thessalonians speaks of the admitted, namely, if it be admitted, that the pasapostle's conduct in that city upon "his first sage in the second epistle relates to the passage in entrance in unto them," which the history informs the first, it amounts to a considerable proof of the us was in the course of his first visit to the penin-genuineness of both epistles. I have no conception, because I know no example, of such a device As St. Paul tells the Philippians, "that noin a forgery, as first to frame an ambiguous passage church communicated with him, as concerning giving and receiving, but they only," he could not, Consistently with the truth of this declaration, have received any thing from the neighbouring church of Thessalonica. What thus appears by general implication in an epistle to another church, when he writes to the Thessalonians themselves, is noticed expressly and particularly; "neither did we eat any man's bread for nought, but wrought night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you." sula of Greece. The texts here cited further also exhibit a mark of conformity with what St. Paul is made to say of himself in the Acts of the Apostles. The apostle not only reminds the Thessalonians that he had not been chargeable to any of them, but he states likewise the motive which dictated this reserve: "not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us," ch. iii. 9. This conduct, and, what is much more precise, the end which he had in view by it, in a letter, then to represent the persons to whom the letter is addressed as mistaking the meaning of the passage, and lastly, to write a second letter in order to correct this mistake. I have said that this argument arises out of the text, if the allusion be admitted; for I am not ignorant that many expositors understand the pas sage in the second epistle, as referring to some forged letters, which had been produced in St. Paul's name, and in which the apostle had been made to say that the coming of Christ was then at hand. In defence, however, of the explanation which we propose, the reader is desired to observe, 1. The strong fact, that there exists a passage in the first epistle, to which that in the second is capable of being referred, i. e. which accounts for the error the writer is solicitous to remove. Had no other epistle than the second been extant, and * OTI EVIOTHKsy, nempe hoc anno, says Grotius, ver. THE his dicitur de re præsenti, ut Rom. viii. 38. 1 Cor. iii. 22. Gal. i. 4. Heb. ix. 9. had it under these circumstances come to be considered, whether the text before us related to a forged epistle or to some misconstruction of a true one, many conjectures and many probabilities might have been admitted in the inquiry, which can have little weight when an epistle is produced, containing the very sort of passage we were seeking, that is, a passage liable to the misinterpretation which the apostle protests against. 2. That the clause which introduces the passage in the second epistle bears a particular affinity to what is found in the passage cited from the first epistle. The clause is this: "We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him." Now, in the first epistle, the description of the coming of Christ is accompanied with the mention of this very circumstance of his saints being collected round him. "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air," 1 Thess. chap. iv. 16, 17. This I suppose to be the "gathering together unto him" intended in the second epistle: and that the author, when he used these words, retained in his thoughts what he had written on the subject before. 3. The second epistle is written in the joint name of Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus, and it cautions the Thessalonians against being misled "by letter as from us" (dv.) Do not these words,, appropriate the reference to some writing which bore the name of these three teachers? Now this circumstance, which is a very close one, belongs to the epistle at present in our hands; for the epistle which we call the First Epistle to the Thessalonians contains these names in its superscription. 4. The words in the original, as far as they are material to be stated, are these: 15 TO μn Taxows 0%. λευθήναι υμας απο του νέος, μήτε θροεισθαι, μητε δια πνευ ματος, μήτε δια λογου, μήτε δε επιστολής, ως δε ημων, ως ότι ενίστηκεν η ημέρα του Χριστού. Under the weight of the preceding observations, may not the words μητε δια λόγου, μήτε δε επιστολής, ως δε ημων, be construed to signify quasi nos quid tale aut dixerimus aut scripserimus, intimating that their words had been mistaken, and that they had in truth said or written no such thing? CHAPTER XI. The First Epistle to Timothy. FROM the third verse of the first chapter, "as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I Should a contrary interpretation be preferred, I do not think that it implies the conclusion that a false epistle had then been published in the apostle's name. It will completely satisfy the allusion in the text to allow, that some one or other at Thessalonica had pretended to have been told by St. Paul and his companions, or to have seen a letter from them, in which they had said, that the day of Christ was at hand. In like manner as, Acts, xv. 1, 24, it is recorded that some had pretended to have received instructions from the church at Jerusa lem, which had been received, "to whom they gave no such commandment." And thus Dr. Benson interpreted the passage Sposiσbai, μnts Six VEUμNTOS, UNTS SEX AODOU, MUTE SI STIFTOANS, WE SAY, "nor be dismayed by any revelation, or discourse, or epistle, which any one shall pretend to have heard or received from us." went into Macedonia," it is evident that this epistle was written soon after St. Paul had gone to Macedonia from Ephesus. Dr. Benson fixes its date to the time of St. Paul's journey recorded in the beginning of the twentieth chapter of the Acts: “And after the uproar (excited by Demetrius at Ephesus) was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia." And in this opinion Dr. Benson is followed by Michaelis, as he was preceded by the greater part of the commentators who have considered the question. There is, however, one objection to the hypothesis, which these learned men appear to me to have overlooked; and it is no other than this, that the superscription of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians seems to prove, that at the time St. Paul is supposed by them to have written this epistle to Timothy, Timothy in truth was with St. Paul in Macedonia. Paul, as it is related in the Acts, left Ephesus "for to go into Macedonia." When he had got into Macedonia, he wrote his Second Epistle to the Corinthians. Concerning this point there exists little variety of opinion. It is plainly indicated by the contents of the epistle. It is also strongly implied that the epistle was written soon after the apostle's arrival in Macedonia; for he begins his letter by a train of reflection, referring to his persecutions in Asia as to recent transactions, as to dangers from which he had lately been delivered. But in the salutation with which the epistle opens, Timothy was joined with St. Paul, and consequently could not at that time be "left behind at Ephesus." And as to the only solution of the difficulty which can be thought of, viz. that Timothy, though he was left behind at Ephesus upon St. Paul's departure from Asia, yet might follow him so soon after, as to come up with the apostle in Macedonia, before he wrote his Epistle to the Corinthians; that supposition is inconsistent with the terms and tenor of the epistle throughout. For the writer speaks uniformly of his intention to return to Timothy at Ephesus, and not of his expecting Timothy to come to him in Macedonia: These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly; but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself," ch. ii. 14, 15. exhortation, to doctrine," ch. iv. 13. "Till I come, give attendance to reading, te Since, therefore, the leaving of Timothy behind at Ephesus, when Paul went into Macedonia, suits not with any journey into Macedonia, recorded in the Acts, I concur with Bishop Pearson, in placing the date of this epistle, and the journey referred to in it, at a period subsequent to St. Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, and consequently subsequent to the æra up to which the Acts of the Apostles brings his history. The only difficulty which attends our opinion is, that St. Paul must, according to us, have come to Éphesus after his liberation at Rome, contrary as it should seem, to what he foretold to the Ephesian elders, "that they should see his face no more." And it is to save the infallibility of this prediction, and for no other reason of weight, that an earlier date is assigned to this epistle. The prediction itself, however, when considered in connexion with the circumstances under which it was delivered, does not seem to demand so much anxiety. The words in question are found in the twentyfifth verse of the twentieth chapter of the Acts: "And now, behold, I know that ye all, among FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, at ration, in the second chapter and twenty-third No. I. No. II. Chap. v. 9. "Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old." This accords with the account delivered in the "And in those days, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against when the number of the disciples was multiplied, the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration." It appears that, from the first formation of the Christian church, provision was made out of the public funds of the socie ty for the indigent widows who belonged to it. The history, we have seen, distinctly records the existence of such an institution at Jerusalem, a few years after our Lord's ascension; and is led to the mention of it very incidentally, viz. by a dispute, of which it was the occasion, and which produced important consequences to the Christian community. The epistle, without being suspected of borrowing from the history, refers, briefly insubsisting some years afterwards at Ephesus. deed, but decisively, to a similar establishment, This agreement indicates that both writings were founded upon real circumstances. sixth chapter of the Acts. But, in this article, the material thing to be no ticed is the mode of expression: "Let not a widow No. III. Chapter iii. 2, 3. "A bishop then must be But can we show that St. Paul visited Ephesus after his liberation at Rome? or rather, can we collect any hints from his other letters which make it probable that he did? If we can, then we have It is not altogether unconnected with our general a coincidence. If we cannot, we have only an unauthorised supposition, to which the exigency purpose to remark, in the passage before us, the selection of the case compels us to resort. Now, for this and reserve which St. Paul recommends to the goverupon the poor, because it refutes a calumny which has purpose, let us examine the Epistle to the Philip.nors of the church of Ephesus in the bestowing relief pians and the Epistle to Philemon. These two been insinuated, that the liberality of the first Christians was an artifice to catch converts; or one of the temptaepistles purport to be written whilst St. Paul was yet a prisoner at Rome. To the Philippians he tions, however, by which the idle and mendicant were to the number under threescore years old, having been writes as follows: "I trust in the Lord that I also drawn into this society: "Let not a widow be taken inmyself shall come shortly." To Philemon, who the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; was a Colossian, he gives this direction: "But if she have brought up children, if she have lodged withal, prepare me also a lodging, for I trust that strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have every good work. But the younger widows refuse,' through your prayers I shall be given unto you." relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed An inspection of the map will show us that Co- v. 9, 10, 11. And in another place, "If any man or losse was a city of the Lesser Asia, lying eastward, woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve and at no great distance from Ephesus. Philippi them, and let not the church be charged; that it may effect, or rather more to our present purpose, the apostle was on the other, i. e. the western side of the relieve them that are widows indeed." And to the same Egean sea. If the apostle executed his purpose; writes in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians: if, in pursuance of the intention expressed in his "Even when we were with you, this we commanded For we hear that there are letter to Philemon, he came to Colosse soon after you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat," he was set at liberty at Rome, it is very improba- i. e. at the public expense. ble that he would omit to visit Ephesus, which lay so near to it, and where he had spent three years of his ministry. As he was also under a promise to the church of Philippi to see them "shortly;" if he passed from Colosse to Philippi, or from Philippi to Colosse, he could hardly avoid taking Ephesus in his way. 2E all, but are busy bodies. Now them that are such we some which walk among you disorderly, working not at command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread." Could a designing or dissolute poor take advantage of mind which dictated those sober and prudent directions bounty regulated with so much caution; or could the be influenced in his recommendations of public charity by any other than the properest motives of beneficence? 19 |