Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
TO
CHURCH HISTORY
HISTORY
OF THE
APOSTOLIC CHURCH;
WITH A
BY
PHILIP
S C
11
AFF
TRANSLATED BY
EDWARD
D.
YEOMANS.
NEW YORK:
SCR1BNER, ARMSTRONG A
654 BROADWAY.
1874.
CO.,
CHARLES
In the Clerk s Office of the District
S C
11 1
in the
year 1853, by
BNEB
District of
New
York.
A ./ \ltk
NEW YORK.
205-2
-213
St.,
/
for the
Southern
PREFACE,
To present from
life-like picture,
faithful,
clear and
Church of Jesus
Christ, the
sources, in
original
of the world
to reproduce,
with ardent
love of truth and with genuine catholicity, her inward and out
conflicts
life,
same time
full
of encouragement and
and offering
so vast
in itself the
all
varieties of talent.
amplest
worthy of
it
by the co
feel
cannot be finished,
till
and with
Two
it
edifice,
my own
risk, the
German
it
to the
memory
of
in the
my
late
PREFACE.
IV
honored
his
and
teacher
to
permission granted
me
AUGUSTUS
Dr.
friend,
NEANDEEJ
(by
my
my high
and catholic
spirit,
modern church
history."
and
of
"father
in circulation,
it
I feel
to the
man Reformed,
"W.
J.
A.
J.
Rev. Doctors
M Clintock
of
This
unpretending book.
my
have induced
to
open
it
me
and privately,
to issue
it
for
an English translation,
in that language,
Eng
land.
I
to
what has
publication,
and have
made some
additions, especially in
last
Age.
its
chapter of the
The
book on
fifth
been executed by
my
friend,
fine talents,
who
also in course
will
of
no
time
Having
it
to the
PREFACE.
press, I
can vouch
for its
undertaken
express
work.
English
appears much
my
to
acknowledgments
New
as that of an
myself.
grateful
much
and easy
this
By
sooner and to
it
same time
my
York.
full
volume
as a
separaU
General Introduction,
my
It is
ture.
and strength,
life
to
lies
within
my
down
humble
God
if
spares
abilities, to
my
time
to the present
give from
and practical
theoretical
As
students of theology.
midway between
the voluminous
subject and
is
benefit
kingdom on
especially
designed simply
exhaust
its
Eacli
scheme proposed
Gen
to the
in the
moderate volume.*
conscious, of
its
many
its
time
may
last.
God
me
of the printer.
till
vols.,
work
London, 18
i3
may
it
"With
and
to
eral introduction,
and
fullness of a
according
ministers
"Witk.
of
German
of Conybeare and
(embellished with
Howson
many
"
TTie Lift
sf lendid plates)
in
the handi
forms of positive
ship to
all
conciliatory,
conservative,
who
it
new
birth-throes a
Whatever the
future
may
bring,
we know,
that the
is
built
world shall
quer, until the whole
the cross ; and that
and schisms,
at last, in
all
all
bow
Church use
people in
May
in
the great
her history as an
humble instrument
of truth,
this representation of
to bring out
and holiness
Head
Church of
of hell
upon a rock, against which even the gates
never prevail that she must go on conquering and to con
Christ
shall
to
PHILIP SCHAFF.
j
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
1-134
I.
HISTORY.
g
1 Idea of History,
2 Factors of History
CHAPTER
II.
THE CHURCH.
4
g
g
g
CHAPTER
III.
CHURCH HISTORY.
Church History,
1 Definition of
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
23
26
....
....
36
38
.
46
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
IV.
22 Patristic Period.
23 Middle Ages
25
26
(6)
French.
27
(c)
German and
52
Eusebius,
54
Roman
II.
Writers.
(a) Italian
55
56
Barouius,
58
Bossuet,
60
English,
III. Protestant
Church
23 General Character,
29 (a) Period of Polemic Orthodoxy.
30 (b) Period of Unchurchly Pietism.
31
(c)
Period
32
(d)
33 Rationalistic Historians
34
of
Ilistoriant.
Flacius,
Arnold.
....
...
Milner,
63
63
69
Latitudinarian
Mosheim.
Pragmatism.
51
I.
PAfll
General View,
Schroeckh.
Scmler.
Planck,
Henke.
72
Gieseler,
78
Gibbon. Priestley,
.
in England.
and
of
Period
Catholicism,
Evangelical
Organic Development
(e)
35 Neander and his School,
86
37 Marheineke.
38 Church Historians
Leo.
Rothe.
in
83
95
108
Dorner.
Thiersch.
Recapitulation,
.
116
124
INTRODUCTION.
THE PREPARATION FOR CHRISTIANITY IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD,
AND THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF HUMANITY AT THE
TIME OF
2
2
ITS
APPEARANCE.
........
137
139
Greece.
143
43 Platonism
15
147
CONTENTS.
(2) Rome.
n,
46 Stoicism,
165
.157
160
170
.172
176
52 Recapitulation,
.........
53 Apostolic Period.
General View,
.178
132
185
FIRST BOOK.
FOUNDING, SPREAD, AND PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH.
CHAPTER
I.
its
191
197
204
Results,
CHAPTER
II.
59 Christianity in Samaria.
60 Conversion of Cornelius.
61
The Church
in
Antioch.
208
211
214
Philip,
CHAPTER
Name,
217
223
III.
226
......
(A.D.
44)
230
236
.239
CONTENTS
g
g
g
g
g
.
.
66 First Missionary Tour of Paul and Barnabas (A.D. 45),
of
the
Settlement
Jerusalem.
in
67 Journey to the Apostolic Council
.....
....
........
....
.........
.........
.....
.....
245
285
72
73 Paul in Athens,
74 Paul
g
\
g
in Corinth,
Galatia.
and Thessalonica,
84 Paul
g
|
260
262
267
273
275
276
282
292
294
304
310
313
317
in
253
257
.300
.......
.......
........
249
The Macedonian
241
CHAPTER
321
328
343
IV.
.........
.350
...
.....
.......
.........
89 Character of Peter,
348
90 Position of Peter
Church History,
His First Epistle,
91 Later Labors of Peter.
355
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
in
94 Martyrdom of Peter.
95 James the Just,
96 Epistle of James,
97 Traditions respecting the other Apostles,
98 Destruction of Jerusalem (A. D. 70)
LIFE
.362
...
.....
.........
....
.......
CHAPTER
360
372
377
382
385
390
V.
......
.........
395
398
CONTENTS.
XI
MM
101 Tho Domitian Persecution, and
Banishment of John to
the
400
Patmos
404
407
413
102 John
411
416
418
Apos
427
SECOND BOOK.
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS
CHAPTER
LIFE.
I.
New
109 The
{
2
2
433
Creation
437
.......
443
448
454
460
..
CHAPTER
463
II.
SPIRITUAL GIFTS.
2
...
120 Charity,
...
...
469
.474
480
....
CHAPTER
481
483
III.
CHURCH DISCIPLINE.
123 Examples.
Corinthian Church,
486
488
490
CONTENTS
Zll
TRIED BOOK.
GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH
CHAPTER
I.
....
....
495
500
\
$
Officers,
498
503
The Universal
506
Priesthood,
CHAPTER
II.
CHURCH OFFICES.
131 Evangelists,
(Note on the
....
Irvingites),
....
....
CHAPTER
512
618
619
III
CONGREGATIONAL OFFICES.
|
|
$
{
132 Presbyter-Bishops,
133 Office of the Episcopal Presbyters
134 Deacons,
522
135 Deaconesses,
136 The Apocalyptic Angel.
528
,
532
535
Germs
Oi
Primitive Episcopacy,
537
FOURTH BOOK.
WORSHIP.
its relation
to the Jewish,
645
543
552
557
CONTENTS.
Xlll
MM
141 The Several Parts of Worship,
560
671
581
565
s Supper,
145 Other Sacred Usages
683
FIFTH BOOK.
DOCTRINE AND THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
I.
New
589
Testament Literature,
The Gospels,
148 The same continued. John and the Synoptical
149 The Acts of the Apostles,
591
Evangelists,
594
600
601
New
607
Testament
CHAPTER
603
607
II.
....
157
(1)
158
(a)
616
618
Unity,
624
of Doctrine
PETER
629
89-94),
632
ifil
in
Paul (comp.
634
and 151)
625
627
62-88),
g
614
....
640
644
XIV
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
III,
HERETICAL TENDENCIES.
PAGB
652
654
657
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE,
ALPHABETICAL INDEX,
649
664
.
674
679
981
CHAPTER
I.
HISTORY.
1.
THE
Idea of History.
any science
is
conception into
its
compound
two constituents, and to inquire into the
nature, first
of history,
secondly of the church, thirdly of church history; with a
fourth chapter on the
progress of Church History as a science.
Thus
the introduction will
be, at the same time, a sort of philosophy of church
history.
existing
state of
civilized society.
history of their
forces
is
copy of the
[GENER
IDEA OF HISTORY.
1,
obji-ctice
history
on
its faithfulness as a
in
a living
in his
way
making the
concerned,
mainly
ural
life
of humanity,
providence.
for the salvation of men, witn
the special revelation of the triune God
of regenerate humanity
fortunes
the
and
the process of redemption,
the proper and narrow
in
sacred
history
Here again we must distinguish
revelation of God as
the
of
the
that
history
is,
sense of the term,
and infallible form in the books of the Old
deposited in an authoritative
The latter is the continua
church
from
history.
and New Testaments,
with secular history, and
contact
in
perpetual
tion of the former, though
more or
less
disturbed by
The general
it.
relation, then,
history
The
"Father
draweth to the
way
Son"
(John G
44).
all
;
to
name
glorify
must ultimately, either directly or indirectly, serve
on the other hand,
and extend his everlasting kingdom. Sacred history,
as it is
exerts a regenerating and sanctifying influence upon secular, or,
is
which
It is the leaven,
gradu
the world s history.
frequently called,
the whole lump
ally to leaven
Both departments,
33).
(Matt, 13
as far as it is under the
The
conflict.
continual
in
world,
are
however,
the church, as it
influence of sin and error, still hates and persecutes
:
But the
final issue of
the
be the com
of prophecy,
according to the infallible word
of Christ over the dominions and powers
the
of
kingdom
plete triumph
he now reigns
of this world, so that he shall reign Hing of nations, as
will
conflict,
to this
history refers primarily
research, then
what
is
known
Greek
comes from
live seuse.
geschehen,"
subjective
meaning
being de
<Vrp.<i,
The
to happen, to occur,
2.
fXTROD.J
of saints.
A representation of all history, both sacred and eecu
making the fact of the incarnation the centre and turning point of
the whole, would be Universal History in the widest sense. It is
King
lar,
human
race
is
a unit, and
as,
evident,
therefore the differ
whole.
For
family,
several stages of
its
and
all
it
proceeds on an eternal, unchangeable plan of infinite wis
and
dom,
tends, therefore, as by an irresistible necessity, to a definite
end.
This end is the same as that of the creation at
large, the glorify
providence
ing of God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier of the world, through
the free worship of his intelligent creatures,
who, at the same time, in
this worship attain their highest
happiness.
2.
History
The
agencies.
first
is
water,"
who
being,"
who worketh
in
is
the good
God
in lime
God
himself, in
whom we
own
to will
men
and to
praise, yea,
"
"as
do,"
live
the
and
maketh Satan
will.
tunes of men,
rationalistic,
life,
beating heart.
2.
i-
them
will.
By
these
1ENER,
men
them
to
deny such subjective causality, and make men mere passive channels or
machines of the divine activity, is to go to the opposite extreme of pan
theism and fatalism, abolishing of course all
human
accountability, nay,
"see
face to
face"
(1 Cor. 13
between the
9-12),
and the
we may not be
causes
able to
draw the
in either
As
to nature,
its
relations to
all
itself,
infinite
divine
guilt
finite
all
world
that
is
s life.
In
it
are treasured
all
and
the
outward and inward experiences of our race, all its thoughts, feelings,
views, wishes, endeavors, and achievements, all its sorrows and all its
Divine revelation
joys.
marrow
sive,
of
more
its life,
instructive,
in the
wide sense.
us"
3.
rxTROD.J
human agency
the
is
most prominent
lead,
its
felt
at every step.
factors
love,
mem
and as a
God
or
Jews.
Jehovah, the
tuary of
God
of the
people.
3.
life
of Religion in History.
of humanity
itself,
complement of the
of government, of
of social
arts,
trade,
and of
of morality,
man
God
religion.
and most
life,
Of
to
interesting.
For
world of
invisible
and to a
spirits,
is
us,
less
of
con
a history
different sciences
these, the
more or
There
rest.
of the
comes before
all
and
man s
earthly existence
all life
blissful eternity,
element of his nature, the source of his loftiest thoughts, his mightiest
It is his sabbath, his glory,
deeds, his sweetest and purest enjoyments.
his
nal truth
and
rest,
where, as
it is
all nations.
It is the region of eter
expressed by a profound German phi
losopher, all mysteries of the world are solved, all contradictions of the
spirit reconciled, all painful feelings
all
is lost,
hushed.
It
is
an ether,
in
which
It
is
man
fulfills
eternity
ven,
it
were better
for him, if
Religion,
com
course of
many thousand
its
labors, where
God
it
shall
shall be
3.
[GEXEE.
As
and king
until
so
man
rests in
it
is
originally
Him.
made
its
for Christ,
of the
away,
is
an inexplicable
From
Him, the Light and the Life of the world, light and life flow backward
into the night of Paganism and the twilight of Judaism, and forward in the
Even in ancient history,
channel of his church through all after ages.
what
by
is
As
heathen.
its
significant
heart
is
blood,
its
central stream.
is
its life
This
is
may have
But the
its
branches, rests
history
throughout upon
may
CHAPTER
II.
THE CHURCH.
Idea of the Church.
4.
institution to train
men
for heaven,
in
in part the
present form when the salvation shall be completed
of
the
both
on
earth
and
in heaven.
communion
redeemed,
everlasting
its
In the
tized,
first
whether
in the
Greek, or
Roman,
it
embraces
all,
who
are
bap
or Protestant communion.
It
grow
The word
13., to
and to a
German
field,
net,
which
kirche. the
"
gathers of
Danish kyrke, and like terms in the Sclavonic languages, must be derived, through the
Gothic, from the Greek KvptaKov, (i. e. belonging to the Lord.) sc. 6u/j.a, or KvpianT/, sc.
Dominica, as Basilica from pa.cu7.evg, Regia from rex. It may signify the mate
house of God, or the local congregation, or, in the complex sense which is the
oiKta,
rial
believers; but
the Lord as
its
it
which
it is
head, by
whom
it is
ruled,
and to
whom
German
it is
consecrated.
kueren,
Some
to
derive
Then
32.
it
Gal.
1:13.
Eph.
22.
to the
3:10.
5:23,24,27,29,32.
Phil. 3
6.
lTim.3:
(2) a part
h>
life.
4:.
The
kind."
every
[OENEK
com
munion of
invention and
is
will, like
political
and
It
literary associations.
founded by God
is
It is the ark of
gates of hell itself can never prevail against it.
which
there
is no salvation ; the channel of the con
out
of
Christianity,
Paul commonly
St.
calls the
organic union of many members, which have, indeed, different gifts and
callings, yet are pervaded by the same life-blood, ruled by the same
head, animated by the same soul, all working together towards the same
is set forth in a masterly and incomparable manner, particu
the twelfth and fourteenth chapters of the first epistle to the
As the body of Christ, the church is the dwelling-place of
Corinthians.
This
end.
larly in
which he exerts
Christ, in
The Lord,
Holy Ghost,
is
sacraments
less really,
efficiently,
"
Where two
or three are
in his
gathered
Hence Paul
(Eph.
We
the
men
"
the fulness of
Him, that
Rom. 12:5.
Col.
filleth all in
all"
the continuation of
is
error.
SO
church
23).
may
life
calls the
24, etc.
Cor. 6
15-
is
10:17.
mixture of
anew
perpetually born
12:20,27.
Eph.
23.
far as
sin
and
in the hearts
4:12.
5:23
5.
/NTROD.]
appropriates his
sick, raises
She
is
hated, despised,
and mocked by the ungodly world. But from this lowly form beams
forth a divine radiance, "the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father,
full
of grace and
;
Lamb s
Extra
life
ecclcsiam
Qui
womb must we
Those ancient
the pillar and ground of the truth."
non habet matrem, Demn non babel patrem ; and
"
maxims
In her
truth."
ruptible seed
For she is the
and applied
in
For
26).
since Christ, as
"which
is
Redeemer,
the mother of us
is
all"
to be found neither in
(Gal.
Hea
thenism, nor in Judaism, nor in Islaiuism, but only in the church, the
fundamental proposition
Out of Christ no salvation," necessarily
includes the other
No salvation out of the church." This, of course,
"
"
does not imply, that mere external connection with it is of itself sufficient
for salvation, but simply, that salvation is not divinely guaranteed out of
not vitally united to Christ, and who will, therefore, be finally lost
but
there arjj no real Christians any where, who are not, at the same time,
;
members of Christ
principle,
of
it
some
branch of
his visible
because
it
is
5.
The church
and
man
The Development of
the
Church.
history, to genesis,
stagnant.
and human
life,
though always
in substance the
same,
is
essentially
10
5.
[GENER,
and attains
its full
proportions
hood
life
reaches
its
As
lasting.
or, to use
seed, which
The
human
infancy, her
her
form, as having
nature,
mature age.
avoid misunderstanding, however, we must here make an important
The church, in its idea, or viewed objectively in Christ, in
whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, who is the same
To
distinction.
from the
yesterday, to-day, and forever, is
So also the revealed word of Christ
able.
lute rule of faith
The
transcend.
first
is
church
we must
distinguish
and appropriation of
This last
is
its
we must
it
in the
Humanity
progressive.
in the divine
moment become a
mind, and in
tlie
person
;
from
at large can no
life in
life
is
Comp. Luke
perfect saint.
man."
52
"
And
Heb. 5
them
Jesus increased in
8
wisdom and
stature,
and in favof
that obey
Lim."
5.
fNTROD.]
11
opposition
without
surmounts
all
obstructions
till
;
at last,
of the
unfolding
Christ
Redeemer
Spirit
and
life
outset
in
are complete
feature of humanity.
Christ ia
appropriated and impressed on every
thus the beginning, the middle, and the end of the entire Uistory of the
ly
church.
is in the first place an outward extension
nations shall walk in the light of the gospel.
It
with reference mainly to this, that our Lord compares the kingdom of
of the church
The growth
till all
God to a grain of mustard, which is the least of all seeds, yet grows to
be a great tree, in whose branches the fowls of heaven lodge (Matt.
In the second place, it consists in an inward unfolding of
13
31, 32).
:
human
nature, in
of that
new
dom
which a
was
worship,
and government
the
principle of
life,
and which
"
life,
is
woman
leavened"
(Matt. 13
in three
St.
33).
measures of meal,
till
the whole
in
numerous passages
in
his epistles,
"
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, that we hence
forth be no more children," &c.
This development, moreover,
is
organic.
It
is
ical
as man through all the stages of his life still continues man.
What
untrue and imperfect in an earlier stage is done away by that which
itself,
is
follows
germ
of
all
what
is
true
and
essential
The
of further development.
times,
connected whole
fulness of the
Eph. 4: 12
new
and only
in
its
final
totality does
it
entire
creation.
16,comp. 3
17--]
9.
Col. 2
19.
Pet. 2
2,5.
2 Pet
18
12
5.
[oENEB
But
But
in
the hand of
of evil,
these
of truth
distractions themselves
and
piety.
may dry up
Single lateral
streams of
it,
as
is
progress,
of church history
its
finally
reach
But together with the wheat, according to the parable already quoted,
the tares, also, ripen for the harvest of the judgment.
Accompanying
the development of the good, of truth, of Christianity, there is also &
Together
development of the evil, of falsehood, of Antichristianity.
with the mystery of godliness, there works also a mystery of iniquity.
And
the two processes are often in so close contact, that it requires the
keenest eye to discriminate rightly between light and shade, between the
work of God and the work of Satan, who, we know, often transforms
sits
in the temple of
God
(2 Thess. 2
4).
apostles,
and
The hand of
"
Schiller,
Die Weltgeschichte
be so far corrected
"
The
ist
das
Weltgericht,"
is
must, accordingly,
a judgment of the
world,"
"
;"
the same
encounter
humble.
All
is
6.
INTROD.J
of science, must
"
13
face,"
to renewed
New
comprehended, only
have laid open all the fulness and variety of its contents,
and shall have reached its goal. As the Jewish economy was a proph
so the history of the church
ecy and type of the Christian dispensation,
;
when
shall
it
militant
God
developments of time.
6.
the.
World.
and so
history of the
the
far,
mutual con
But
flict.
since Christianity
and error
against sin
elements
nature, but to
me
and
are overcome.
is
it
must cease
Christianity
in
aims
it.
Nihil
human!
alienum puto.
to elevate
it,
and
fill
is
it
becomes natural.
In
humanity.
among
Nor
us, so
is
kingdom
a whole.
it is
it
of
It
this
that
we can
also, the
Word
becomes
and enjoy
flesh
and
in
dwells
his glory.
God
Christianity
is
and
its
character
human
Philadelphia
Lippincott
&
Co.
14
6.
existence.
way
[oE.NKB
to perfection.
God.
No
moral order of
come under
are to
of
destined to per
33).
several spheres of the world, in
The
and body
soul,
God
forms, ordained by
its
good
sense,
or the essential
human
and morality?
On all these Christianity, in her course, exerts a purifying and sanctify
ing influence, making them tributary to the glory of God and the estab
life,
till
God
shall
be
science,
art,
all in all.
it
it
ever occu
pied before.
its
ing
It
It
is in
So
evil,
and
himself
is
maintaining order in
human
society, for
for
is
in
It
is
well
known that
common parlance-
It
the term
may
signify
"
world"
:
(1)
"in
is
the
Lord."
shorn of
its
the universe
"
e.g.
God
created the
world"
humanity and the human life as a whole e. g. God so loved the world," &c.
*
Christ, the Saviour of the world
(3) the unconverted part of humanity, the whole
mass of human sin and error, the
kingdom of evil e. g. the world lieth in wicked
(S)
"
"
"
ness,"
to the
word
We
world"
&c.
A similar
nature.
nay,
all scientific
and
life
of the
pher
slavish character
TIIE
6.
IimTOD.]
cruel
and hurtful
IK
and wise and wholesome laws are introduced. History, in this view, ia
_o end in a theocracy, in which all dominion and power shall be given to
the saints of the
Most High,
all
highest source of
and will not rest,
all
till it
reducit ad
shall
have transformed
all
Bacon says
"What
of philosophy
is
true of science
eundem."
is
noblest creations in
For Christ
is
the
is
service.
not
of individuals, and
till all
to the idea of
humanity.
life
God
the church,
is
is
realized in the
fully
life
of
redeemed
and as
all
"
whom
all
7.
CHAPTER
foBNBB
III.
CHURCH HISTORY.
.
WE
now prepared
are
7.
General Definition.
to define church
history.
It
is
kingdom
life of
humanity the outward and inward development of Christianity
the extension of the church over the whole
earth, and the infusion of the
pirit of Christ into all the spheres of human existence, the
family, the
;
victories of
sufferings,
conflicts,
Christianity, as well as of all the divine manifestations in
humanity.
it
may be
own
life
part
Christ,
in the world, a
perpetual
repetition, or
influence of sin
and
error,
and
still
But
who
live
remain more or
less
under the
is asso
ciated with the
ungodly world, which intrudes into it in manifold ways,
there appear, of
course, in church history all kinds of sinful
passions!
perversions and caricatures of fcivine truth, heresies and schisms.
as,
We
New
Testament.
For
in
itself.
in the
weapons on Christianity
8.
INTROD.]
17
of all cen
wanders, like Ahasuerus, through the ecclesiastical sanctuary
the
manifestations
of
the
to
It is in opposition
highest
turies.
Spirit of
God, that the most dangerous and hateful forms of human and
diabolical
arise.
perversion
But, in the
all
first
errors and
shows that
this opposition,
and that
universal prevalence, must, in the end, serve only to awaken the church
to her real work, to call forth her deepest energies, to furnish the occa
sion for higher developments,
and thus to
glorify the
name
of
God and
Son Jesus Christ. All tribulation, too, and persecutions are for the
church, what they are for the individual Christian, only a powerful refin
his
ing
fire,
in
which she
is
all
her dross
till
upon the
renovated earth, she shall celebrate the resurrection morning as her last
and most glorious pentecost.
In the next place, however, this dark side of church history is only,
Its inmost and perma
as it were, its earthly and temporary outwork.
nent substance, its heart s blood, is the divine love and wisdom itself, of
which
it is
the manifestation.
Church history
first
of
all
presents to us
of witnesses,
Spirit in that bright cloud
everlasting truth, and have brought forth and unfolded the treasures of
revelation for the instruction, edification, and comfort of their contem
8.
has devoted to
it
a separate work.
Hence
Gieseler, Nieduer,
and other
But
Xeander
first
;
and
this
is
preferable
18
9.
becan.se Ine
no room
to
is
life of Christ.
At all events, however, the history of the apostolic age
must be preceded by an introductory sketch of the condition of the
Jewish and heathen world at the time when the church entered it as a
new
creation
comprehensive
The
we obtain any
ment.
understood, until
.
all
are
fulfilled.
9.
For
to the other
Departments of Theology.
It
is
preceded by
exegesis
that
is,
the ex
New
Testaments,
with all needful introductory and auxiliary sciences, as sacred philology,
biblical archaeology, hermeneutics, criticism, &c.
The Bible being the
storehouse of divine revelation, and the infallible rule of faith and prac
department may be styled fundamental
Much
theology.
the Bible has been understood and expounded at different times, and by
and thus exegesis itself has its history. Where
different theologians
how
New
Testament Epistles are source and object for both sciences, only under
different modes of treatment.
The exegetical theologian may be com
pared to a miner, who brings to light the gold of scriptural truth
historian of the apostolic church is the artist, who works the
gold,
gives
it
shape.
1
speculative,
1
We
or
the
and
it
is
divinity
"
philosophical."
is
(including
kinds of speculation, a philotophical and a theological, which will at last coincide, indeed
V) the absolute knowledge beyond the grave, but which start from different points, and
10.
IXTROD.J
HISTORY OF MISSIONS.
The province of
apologetic, polemic, dogmatic, and moral theology).
is, to
explain and vindicate scientifically the Christian faith and
this
of the science of
on exegetieal,
completed
and systematic divinity, gives directions for the advancement
of the Christian faith and life in the people of God by means of preach
religion
is
historical,
(liturgies),
law and
eccle
discipline).
But
to the future.
since the
10.
History of Missions.
Since the Christian religion, on account of its universal character, perrades and regenerates all the spheres of human life (. 6), church his
tory falls into as many corresponding branches, any one of which may be
treated separately, and, in fact, will furnish study for a lifetime.
To
an
is
rests
usually
tianity
gion
is
first
it is
treated,
among
labor,
embraced
by
others, rejected
and again,
different nations
have
which the Lord himself, before his departure, solemnly committed to his
church, must continue so long as there are heathen, Jews, or Turks, or a
pursue different methods.
The
theological begins with the religious sense, or the consciousness of God, and seeks to
agreement with
it.
in
The measure
of thought
wisdom
20
whom
Middle Ages
our
own
[SS3..
time,
is
much
often so
effec
Germanic nations
and
lastly
Africa,
Roman
and most
when Asia,
It
The conversion
in
HISTORY OF MISSIONS.
10.
conflicts, with her own purification, or self-defense, that she almost for
as, for instance, in the age of the Reformation,
gets the poor heathen
;
and
in the
Roman
in
the
sixteenth
century
the
Protestant missions
2.
among
is
by
Roman
dom
(Matt. 13
But
persecution.
a higher view, a
in the end, even the
in
"
the
church."
Here, again, we
christian powers,
another.
An
Reformation
1
we
interior or
"
home
embrace
missions"
all
of the
Roman
still
wider
and of religious associations for allaying or removing the spiritual and temporal evils,
which have crept into the church mainly in consequence of modern infidelity and iniifferentism,
tions, societies,
louses,
and
asylums
hospitals, orphan
John 15
20.
Matt. 5
10,
12
10
23
23
34.
Comp.
2 Tim. 3
12,
11.
INIBOD.J
HISTORY OF DOCTRINES.
21
But
Protestantism,
has
its
com
mences the more tedious work of uprooting all the remains of heathen*
ism, and re-casting thought and life, manners and customs, in the mold
of the gospel.
its
proper flowers
and
fruits.
difficult of
History of Docirines.
11.
it
by giving
Faith
itself incites to
view of
sion of
its object.
God,
his
knowledge.
always
To
his relation to
this
is
all
truth.
word, and
a lofty satisfaction.
It
is
still
deeper apprehen
still
As
always ready to give an account of her faith to every man, these attacks
force her to inquiry and self-vindication.
Thus, under the impulse, on
the one hand, of faith from within, on the other, of assaults from with
out, arises theology, or the science of the Christian religion
which
first
church, that
we
find divinity
most flourishing
as in the time
of the
Fathers, in the best period of the Middle Ages, and in the period of the
Reformation
while the decline of theology is commonly attended with
;
There
doctrine history
It constitutes
is
Dogmatic History, as
"
trine
ML
history,"
"Church history,"
if
99
j?
-i
11.
HISTORY OF DOCTRINES,
[aznsn
Trinity
Baur on
J
ist,
the
incarnation, that
&c.>
living
Ctrmes
not, however, in a scientific
form, but in their original livinpopular and practical character.
Only Paul, who had a learned educa
;
tion
dialectic cast,
approaches, in his epistle,
Romans, the
Dogma
is
faith, as
authoritative doctrinal
the strict
sense, exist
scientific
apprehension
she did
me
%*
hUmaQ
Pell
The ;
Pelagians.
doctrinal
SiDfuIneSS
loteriology.
without
them, of course, can be treated
As
in
some reference to
is
general
theology
classical and oriental philology
exegesis, with
the rest.
all
secular
sciences
profane
23
12.
fNTKOD.]
relation
to
the
views of the
under the influence of philosophy. The theological
Platonism
extent
considerable
a
to
by
Greek Fathers were modified
of Aris
dialectics
and
the
logic
of the mediaeval schoolmen, by
less
those
totle
systems of Des
Cartes,
Spinoza,
and Hegel.
Bacon, Locke, Leibnitz, Kant, Fries,
from the
themselves
Few scientific divines can absolutely emancipate
and when
of their age
and
Fichte,
Schelling,
public opinion
their
own
is the
philosophy, which
of the
out
and
arbitrary,
less
move forward
with
perfect harmony
the wisdom of God.
till
side
by
side,
alternately repelling
and
come
into
revelation,
or of religious
life
of our science
is
and
lost in
Discipline.
and morality.
far but
part has been thus
has bestowed upon
throws it into one section with the history of worship,
which gives
this
is
it
;
and
especially,
t more than the usual attention
cal
his celebrated
work
its
and
of dogmas, theology, church government,
narrower
a
in
term
the
use
here
But we
acts.
worship, are all moral
To this branch of church
is directly practical.
Bense, to denote what
and vices,
the
of
the description
peculiar virtues
history, then, belongs
of lead
customs
and
manners
the good and evil works, the characteristic
falls to
It
and
nations
whole
of
and
ages.
ing individuals in the church,
the
of
marriage,
Christianity upon
this branch to describe the influence
division
this
In
evils.
social
other
on slavery and
family, the female sex,
morality.
The formation
24
12.
GKNEi
(as seems to us
separately, or
latter in connection
with the history of religious life. The constitution of the church, like
its doctrine, has an unchangeable substance and a changeable form.
The former
is
the spiritual
office,
belongs
name
of the Lord.
The
second century the episcopal system appears, which grows naturally into
The Eastern churches stop
the metropolitan and patriarchal forms.
with the latter ; while the Latin church in the Middle Ages concen
tion, corresponding better with the free spirit of Protestantism, and with
the idea of universal priesthood
in particular, the Presbyterian form of
;
temporal power.
It
is
and
state, also,
history.
church, and oppress her with persecutions, as did the heathen power in
the first three centuries, before the conversion of the emperor Constai:tine.
Or the church, as a hierarchy, may rule the state, as did me
Western church
the papacy
is
in the
in full
Or
power.
the
Christian state,
this day,
w herc
y
as an imperial
papacy,
very
may
rule the
much with
Greek church
since the
and again,
sixteenth
in
centur.v.
finally,
state
HISTOKT OF WORSHIP.
13.
INTROD.]
also into
25
this
order
in the case
Church
of the Free
of
Scotland.
13. History of
6.
The
Finally,
we have
Worship.
essential elements of
it,
as appointed
service,,
by Christ
or worship.
himself,
are the
And
preaching of the word and the administration of the sacraments.
here again, the manner of preaching, of giving religious instruction, of
In addition to this, the
administering the sacraments, has its history.
church appoints sacred places and sacred times
gies,
actions
all
produces prayers,
litur-
and
painting, music,
The
of worship.
as in the
which seeks to work upon the imagination and the feelings by imposing
symbols, by outward show and pom}), especially in the service of the
Or it may be simple and sober, making all of the pulpit and
mass.
as in the Puritan churches.
Then again, each
nothing of the altar
There is a history of
single branch of worship has its peculiar history.
;
still
Ilase
and eveu
general church history, who has given it a place in his system
with him, the small compass of the manual confines the treatment to
;
The
limited to the
ment of
first six
ecclesiastical forms
is
and laws.
there
and develop
The most important works on
Bingham
ti
and
in three),
Rheinwald, Bohmer,
Siegcl.
From
all
this,
we may
readily see
difficulty
of mastering its
immense material.
In the detailed treatment, however, we cannot strictly carry out
thifl
26
14:.
[GENEH
tilings.
and would rather hinder, than assist, a clear view. Nor will it do to
In each period, that department should
follow always the same order.
which
is
found
to
be really most prominent. The devel
be placed first,
opment
almost at a stand
is
nate place
and hence
this subject
in
to
14.
"Whatever
more or
furnishes information,
the
outward and inward acts and fortunes of the church, may be reckoned
among
The
must be determined by
may make
criticism on external
a.
Written.
1.
Official
Here belong
reports mid documents.
lulls
of
the popes.
all
and govern
are
there
special documen
particular branches,
Then
again, for
Of
the best,
by Mansi
Sacrorum conciliorum
nova
et
amplissima
collectio.
Of
Bullarum amplissima
collectio.
Rom.
1739. 28
t.
14.
fWTROD/]
monastic rules
27
;"
ment,
2.
These records give us the liveliest image of their authors and their
Here, however, we must first weigh, in the scales of a careful, and
tion.
age.
they sprang.
The
Confessions of
Hate; those of the Reformed church in the Collectio Confessionum, &c by Nicmcyer.
Bekenntnisschri. ten derevang. reform. Kirche," with Introduc
Leipzig, 18-10, and in
,
"
tion
Brockie, 1759,
Comp.
Rom.
by
6t.
Codex
Jlsscmani:
Par. 1716,
Rom.
2LMuratori:
13t.
17-19,
Renan-
The laws of the Roman emperors may be found in the Codex Theodosianus
and
Cod. Justinianeus; those of the Frank
kings, in Baluzii Collectio capitularium regum
Francorum Par. 1677 those of the German
emperors, in Heiminsfeldii CoWectio constitutionum imperialium.
Frcf. 1713.
;
Among
1747. 3t.
fol.
Rom
Monumenta. Rom.
4t.
F. Miinter t
Sinnbilder und Kunstvorstellungen der alten ChristenAltona, 1825.
1
Of all the important church fathers good editions have been
published, especially in
the seventeenth century and the first half of the
eighteenth.
(See Walch s Bibliotheca patristica)
have. also, valuable collections of
patristic
as for in
,
stance,
specimina.
We
Maxima
17.3:. ,
literature;
fol.; Gallondi:
Bibliotheca vett. patrum
antiquorumque scriptorum ecclesiast., postrema lugdunensi
locupletior. Venet. 176588, lit. fol.; and Migne :
Patrologia, cursus complehu, sir,
28
14.
b.
Unwritten.
edifices
SOTJKCES OF
CHURCH HISTOKY.
particularly church
[GENKB
for instance,
These
the accounts and representations of historians.
itself in its original form, as the immediate
not
the
history
us,
give
sources present it, but the view of it as apprehended by particular indi
a.
First of
all,
in
tarii,
Beza
in-
been either entirely lost, like several of the writings used by Eusebius,
or placed beyond our reach, as is partially the case with the treasures of
the Vatican library.
Important documents of
this
Finally,
we may
place
among
great numbers.
the mediate sources, though
in
omnium
in
a very
S. S.
patrum,
usque Innocentii
The
tem-
pora floruerunt,
1
III.
etc.
interwoven with it, must be very cautiously used, is the Acta Sanctorum, quotquot toto orbe coluntur, edd. Bollandus et alii (Bollandistae)
Antwerp, 1643 1794,
in fifty-three folio volumes.
It is composed by Jesuits, and arranged according to the
days of the month, reaching to the 6th of October. The apparatus for this work alone
fables
embraces about seven hundred manuscripts, found in a castle in the province of Ant
werp. A similar work, though far less extensive, and better adapted for popular use,
is
The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and other principal saints, compiled from orig
inal monuments and other authentic
records, by the Rev. Mban Butlcrj of which sev
"
eral editions
in
14.
TROD.l
29
subordinate rank, oral traditions, legends, and popular sayings, which are
the saying, for example
;
current throughout the Middle Ages, that the church, since her union
with the state under Constantine, had lost her virginity
and that
;
which arose
in the
early opposition to
For the
Rome.
and
sources
is
indispensable
valuable
works of
Fiotestant
this
Neander and
all
Giescler,
spirit
and
life,
which make
is
Gieseler
is
difl
One
of
useness of
of history
spiritless, rationalistic conception
and judge
for himself.
are also
many
exceedingly
III.,
Alexander
III.,
is
continually increasing.
German
Neaudei
30
AUXILIARY SCIENCES.
14.
new and
way
in this
[GENER.
department
is
is
before us.
.
Science, in its
like truth
is,
end
itself,
in
God.
more or
It
centre,
and
its
is
the seventeenth century, was the learned language of Europe, and is, to
this day, extensively used in the Roman Catholic church for theology,
Hence the
all
dictionaries for
But
ecclesiastical
The
principal
works of
this
kind
are, Suicer s
Graecis
et
mediae
et infimae Latinitatis
The
4 vols. fol.
last
Du
Fr6sne
supplement
Latin Glossary
in
is thai
1ST ROD.]
AUXILIARY SCIENCES.
15.
3i
on which church jistory moves. The theatre of history is not in the air,
and the peculiarities of the place of
out en the firm soil of this earth
;
country are not without their effect upon the national character, which,
again, forms the natural basis of the religious complexion of the people.
Who can deny, for instance, that the constitutional peculiarities of the
North.
Ecclesiastical
from secular.
It
differs
geography
from
political, as
church history
differs
is
The
Roman
dom
empire,
e.
con
is
to the
widens
But
i.
Ecclesiastical
into the
most
Chronology,
i.
e.
Ecclesiastical Diplomatics
i.
c.
the
sciences of
The
Statistik
Berlin, 1S46.
by
J.
Lave a number
Atlas sacer
On
fol.
furnished
by Piper
32
AUXILIARY SCIENCES.
15.
&c.
scripts of the
[GENF.R.
Heraldics, of weapons.
Numismatics, of coins
This is intimately connected, nay
5. General JJisiory of the world.
interwoven with church history, and is indispensable to a clear view of
seals
The church
it.
exists,
At
phy.
religious,
meeting on
this
of England, for
interwoven
Hence
empire.
ecclesiastical.
German
is
The Reformation
in
secular
as
history
well
as
its
in
the United States, whose church and state are separate, it is impossible
to understand the religious life, without an insight into the national cha
racter,
and the
political
and
The
The science of diplomatics was started by the Belgian Jesuit, Daniel Pupelroth, one
of the principal authors of the Acta Sanctorum, in his Propylaeum antiquarium, A.
This called forth the most important work on general diplomatics, by the
1675.
illustratur, etc
It is illustrated
fifth
I.
Part
441, sqq.
Universal history, in its widest sense, includes church history as its most impor
tant part, representing the deepest life of humanity (comp.
Some modern wri
S) .
ters still seem to have the childish notion, that
history is simply an account of outward
facts
lectual, moral,
and religious
life
as if
t>>e
infinitely
more important
all
intel
Ifi.
INTROD.j
33
of
good
The
history of politics.
that of philosophy and general literature run parallel, and exert a reci
The history of divine worship is intimately connected
procal influence.
and
fine arts
We
16.
As
1.
The
by
dividing,
time,
and by
it Ls
;
subjects.
advantages, but
its
two modes of
is
form of Annals.
It degrades history to a
mere
This
is
the case, to some extent, even with the division into centuries,
A. D. 1517.
The
divisions
But
preconceived scheme
they should grow out of the history itself.
it is equally inconvenient to arrange rigidly and exclusively by
//v/s,
distributing the material under certain heads, as missions, doctrine,
;
.<///._
government, &c., and following out each single head, irrespective of the
This would make history
others, from the beginning to the present time.
a number of independent, parallel lines.
It would afford no view of the
way
will
be so
impossible here to enumerate even the most important works on general hisSee Giesclcr, Intr. $ 3
less bearing on church history.
It is
ory,
note 1-6.
II
man
s life
his
its
Farbenlehre,
IT,
inconveniences.
169:
To
With none
divide a historical
work
other."
1C.
o-i
to combine the
two methods,
the character
is to
While we
[OENKR
division of
it
depend upon
naturally belong together, to their relative goal, whether this goal coin
cide with the end of a year or century, or not.
Thus, by dividing the
entire history into periods,
while, by arranging
lopment itself, we meet the chronological demand
the material, within these periods, under particular sections or heads, as
;
as each period
many
2.
i.
e.
of
The
may
need,
method
internal
we conform
of the historian
hand, from simple narration, which arranges facts and names in a mere
outward juxtaposition, without rising to general views and a phi
and, on the other hand, from a priori construction,
losophical survey
;
which adjusts the history to a preconceived scheme, and for the spirit of
The historian
a past age substitutes that of the writer himself.
1
mn>t
men and
times,
and
spirit,
facts
and
then so presenting the facts, instinct with their proper spirit and life,
that the whole process of development shall be repeated before the eyes
of the reader, and the actors stand forth in living forms.
History is
neither all body, nor all soul, but an inseparable union of both
there
;
both the body and the soul, the fact and the idea, in their mutual
vital relation, must be recognized and brought into view.
The older
fore
but their works lack generally the character of impartial criticism and
Historians of the modern school penetrate more to the
living freedom.
marrow
to our view.
its life,
and lay
all
open
kinds of talent
entire
Truth and
ALS
fidelity
a fallible man, he
bound
to
keep
it
prejudice, of all
truth,
He
it
;
yet he
is
all
truth.
Das
ist
Geist."
16.
iXTROD.j
35
IIISTORi.
manclcd, that he should lay aside his own mental agency, his character,
For, in the first
nay, even his religion, and become a mere tabula rasa.
man can know nothing, with
place, this is an absolute impossibility.
out
freedom from
all
and
it is
plain, that
of their philosophical
Leben
all
Jesu,"
right
known.
on
And
in Christianity.
and
is
truth
itself, it
as Christianity
Xor can
other history.
same rule, only a heathen
light
move
s life,
all
it be said, that,
according to the
understand heathenism
only a Jew,
can
Judaism
Vtrum index
itself.
is
a false religion
ft
fa/si.
is
found complete
in
The same
Christianity.
And
as to Judaism,
it is
completion
ism than the Jew, just as the man is able to understand the child, while
the child can have no proper apprehension of himself. Hence Augustine,
]Sovum Testameutiun in Yetere latet,
with perfect propriety, says
;
Yetus
The
he
Novo
in
patet.
may
never, in
found only
this
in Christ.
life,
it,
is
all
truth
suum
cuiquc.
Such
is
though
which can be
strive,
the treasures of
itself,
wisdom and
This truth
partiality,
is,
at the
no violation
totally different
which treats
all
is,
in reality, a
36
DIVISION OF
S 17.
17. Division of
CHURCH HISTORY.
[GENKR
Church History.
riods.
ly
and an event or
of history in a
new
is
direction.
Christian
Pen
tine
Luther
beth
Calvin
of Spener, Zinzendorf,
Wesley
new
series of events
we may
unfold themselves.
Among
periods themselves,
distinguish greater
and smaller.
The whole history of the church down to the present time may be
divided into three ages, and each age into three periods ; as follows :
FIRST AGE.
The PRIMITIVE
or the GRAECO-LATIN (Eastern and Western) UNIVERSAL CHURCH, from its foundation on the day of Pentecost to Gregory the
six centuries.
first
Christian Pente
Second Period
Third Period
80-100).
of Constantine (311).
The
established
Roman
empire,
17.
iNTROD.J
Fourth Period
The commencement
of the church
Fifth Period
Sixth Period
37
among
The
THIRD AGE.
Eighth Period
and
Ninth Period
first
(Rationalism
Subjective
This division
differs
historians.
Neander,
as well as nearly
all
modern
are so
much
uncalled
And
for.
besides,
it
the
German
extends,
Christ to
work
makes four periods ( 1 ) from
Constantine, the church under outward pressure
(2) to the
fills
Gieseler
Roman
empire
is
hardly of
suffi
These periods
(4) the development of Protestantism.
be subdivides into a great many smaller sections ; thus cutting up the
of the
papacy
38
18.
whole too rnuch, and making it very difficult to take a comprehensive sur
His lines of demarcation, moreover, are sometimes rather arbitra
vey.
drawn.
rily
He
dates
new
at the council
(117), and Septimius Severus (193), in the first period
of Chalcedou (451), and the appearance of Mohammed (622), in the
second
at the pseudo-Isodorian decretals (858), and the transfer of the
;
the Reformation (1517); (3) Modern church history, (a) to the treaty
The last or sixth period
of Westphalia (1648), (b} to the present time.
he characterizes as a
struggle between ecclesiastical tradition and reli
"
Ch urch
History.
He,
and
in
each age two periods, but differs somewhat in assigning their limits.
He closes the first age with John of Damascus for the Greek church,
mark
make
and the
Constan-
his subdivisions.
Roman
18.
Our
division can
be
justified, in detail,
itself.
It
may be proper here, however, in some degree, to verify the main division
into three ages by a preliminary survey of their general character.
1. The Ancient church, from her foundation to the close of the sixth
century, has her local theatre in the countries immediately around the
Mediterranean sea ; viz., Western Asia (particularly Palestine and
II,
277.
Gcsammelte
SclirifteM
IS.
;NTBOD~|
39
Hence we have good reason to style this the age of the Graeco-Roman,
which is here the same thing, the Eastern and Western Universal
For the Grecian mind, at that time, ruled not only in Greece
church.
in Egypt
nay, in such cities as
proper, but also in all the East, and
Alexandria and Antioch it was, in its later character, even more active
and vigorous, and therefore more important for church history, than in
Western Asia and Egypt, since the conquest of
the mother country.
or,
Alexander the Great, had lost their former character, and become
inlanguage and culture. Even the Jewish nationality, stiff as
Grecian
as the writings of
was, could not withstand this foreign pressure
Hence the oldest Christian lite
Philo and Josephus abundantly prove.
it
rature
is
predominantly Greek.
held sway not only over Italy, but over the whole
Roman mind
Western portion of
the empire.
Christianity, at
and heathenism
first,
had
to sustain a
mighty
latter, too, in
conflict
its
with Judaism
But
in life
and
in
on the one hand, and by her new view of the world on the
death,
other,
off
subsequent periods.
The Eastern
or
Greek church,
as the
main channel
of the
sius, Basil,
and
field
of theology proper.
Wit!
mental doctrines of the divinity of Christ and the Holy Ghost, and oi
the Trinity
whence her complacency in the title of the orlhodoj- church
;
also, enters
the
field,
steadily,
the old
Roman
spirit
Greek
genius.
of
but in govern
depends altogether on the Greek church
ment and religious life she pursues a path of her own. It is a remarka
she, at first,
Roman
Romanized Punic
4U
18.
GENER
Through
episcopal
most
pious, profound,
and spirited of
doctrinal
lead in the
all
the fathers
controversies of his
time
one
who took
directed
the
theological
in anthropology,
investigation in the most important practical questions,
and grace
sin
upon the whole Middle Age, and even upon the Refor
first
age forms,
in
subsequent centuries
all
dogma,
and
polity,
common
the
visibly,
The church
It
church
splits into
a part of it stiffening
from the Western, gradually loses her vitality
into dead formalism
a part yielding to a new enemy from without,
Mohammedanism, before which also the North-African church, after
;
first
church receives into her bosom an entirely new national element, barba
rian, indeed, at first, but possessed of most valuable endowments and
vast native force.
flood
The Germanic
Rome,
and literary treasures, but, at the same time, found upon the
ruins a succession of new states full of
energy and promise. The church
institutions
Christianizes
and
Middle Ages,
in
Roman
own
literature
civilizes these
rude tribes
social relations
This
is,
therefore,
the age
Romano-Germanic Catholicism.
of
power
41
AGES.
phenomena
rial
Ib.
TNTROD.]
colossal
German impe
arts,
the
word
of
God
of none
effect"
(Mark
into
assumes a
legal,
useless subtleties
Pelagian
character, in
7
The papacy becomes
13).
the school divinity degenerates
:
Thus,
after
clue
outside
of
this
Against
life
religious
the
of
life
medieval
still
more,
in its
Netherlands,
Xorth America.
And
finally,
into
by emigration,
this latter
good and the evil of the old world, particularly of Great Britain and
Germany, and representing, in unbounded freedom and endless diversity,
the various tendencies of Protestantism, together with the renovated
of
Roman
life
Roman and
fell
asunder
so.,
the
church was the spring of all great movements, while the Greek church,
which now, indeed, seems to have a new future before her in the vast
so Protestantism is
empire of Russia, had stagnated at an earlier stage
;
the
life
for
modern
history.
42
CHARACTER OF
10.
CONTINUED.
[GENER
Evangelical Protestant
church.
19.
may be
The
ity
first
that
is,
human
life, as well as all history, turns, the authority of the general and
the freedom of the individual, appear tolerably balanced, but still only in
any clear
In
also, of
But over
all
these individual
and national tendencies, views, and characters, the mind of the universal
church holds sway, separating the false element with infallible instinct,
and, in ecumenical councils, settling doctrines and promulgating ecclesi
astical laws, to
The
gov
ernment,
And
in
In the
as a pedagogical institution, a
life
of nations
Personal freedom
great
The
forms.
medium
state,
individual subject
is
of account,
science,
art,
is
to fixed, traditional
here, to a
rules
and
only as
and
ends.
This
is
19.
rNTROD.J
43
children must
law
is still,
first
as in
Christ
all
Cised to shake
off the
free
spirit
ignominious yoke.
Iscisive historical
praise
and
It
in censure.
is
and
its
Christ and the believer, and teaches every one to go to the fountain of
medium
of
human
traditions,
and
to
con
verse, not through interceding saints and priests, but directly, with his
Saviour, individually appropriating Christ s merit by a living faith, and
rejoicing in his
own personal
it
alone.
to the divine
literature,
and
social
improvement,
politics, is all
more or
less
atmosphere.
and applied.
But, on the other hand, what thus constitutes the strength of Protest
antism,
may be
Every right
principle
is
liable
to abuse.
with
its
Every truth
evangelical religious
life,
the Protestant
movement
includes also
to
19.
44
JOENER
Holy
Scriptures.
much
extreme of
authority.
and
in the
theologians.
and
ity
and
it
in
infects, to
denominations.
The system of sect and denomination has sprung more from the bosom
Reformed church, the church of congregational life, and owes its
of the
way.
But they
On
rely
faith.
on
it in
which
The
as necessary a fruit of
stiffly
opposition to
is
adhere to
all history,
it,
and
commonly
own
in their
in the conceit,
since,
fa ct,
own
sense of
it,
and
thus, in
that,
19.
"NTROD.J
since
4r,*V
and
social
from the church, and pursue their own independent course. In this wide
spread rationalism, in this frittering of the church into innumerable party
interests, and in her consequent weakness in relation to all the spheres
human
life,
and especially
demands of
our day for history can no more flow backwards, than a stream up hill,
but to an objectivity enriched with all the experience and diversified
energies of the age of subjectivity, to a higher union of Protestantism
and Catholicism
and
will
infirmities.
church
We
may
to
Most High.
is
in
s people.
The age of the Primitive church corres
ponds to the Patriarchal age, which already contained, in embryo, the
two succeeding periods. Medieval Catholicism may be compared to the
experience of Christ
Mosaic period, when law and authority and the organization of the Jew
commonwealth were fully developed. And the Modern, or Evangel
ical Protestant church is not without resemblance to
the^age of the Old
ish
and ceremonialism of the people. Law and prophecy, the two poles of
the old Testament religion, after having been separately developed
40
appeared, at
CHrRCH HISTORY.
USES OF
20.
and, as
last, united,
[cENER
it
our Lord, and the perfection of his kingdom, when there shall be one
fold and one shepherd.
Such private speculations, however, mnst not be
much
trusted,
tation of facts.
20.
I.
It
of her
valuo.
in the
is
own development
On this we must
and
interests,
The present
is
thus degraded to a
is
mere tool
growth. Her past deeds, sufferings, and fortunes belong to the substance
of her life.
They are constituent elements of her being, which requires
the gradual course of time for
its
evolution.
We
wait -no
outward
impulse to
Faith
the ways of God, the words and deeds of his servants, the
If man, as man, according to the
in
homo sum,
bound to take an
nihil
human
is
prompted and
the Christian,
as
a
liveliest
the
also,
Christian, should cultivate
sympathy with the
interest in everything properly
(John 17
whom
he
is
From
his
one body.
spirit, is in
Church
all
own
sake, as an
is life
eternal
3).
practical utility
and necessity
20.
HTROD.J
47
This
daily for the tiachers and leaders of the Christian community
human knowledge and action, should be made subservi
God and
2.
to successful action in
powerful helps
The present
is
No
and
advance
to
wants and
its
and
in church,
that
not
Whence
in state ?
richest source of
inexhaustible.
history.
is
history.
God, the
who has
its interests,
That
stand, which
is
built
whose roots
strike deep.
And
past.
3.
Again
church history
is
Christianity, and
all
through
and
his peace.
his
the
apologists and church fathers, the schoolmen and mystics, the reformers,
all those countless witnesses, whose names are indelibly traced on the
and
is
no
fable,
man can
wish, of
more
life
good or
of the
forcibly,
glory.
Godman,
life
in
and, as
it
were, embodying
abstract theory.
So, also, church history furnishes the strongest evidence of the inde
On this rock
To the words of our Lord
"
structibility of Christianity.
it,"
But
redeemed, and done its utmost to annihilate the infant community.
the church has vanquished them all.
Stiff-necked and blinded Judaism
20.
48
laid its
his followers
flENKR
But
his servants.
the
"
make it ridiculous
But her wisdom was turned into
made a bridge
to
Rome,
Christianity.
in the eyes of
foolishness, or
more
soldiers
or Stoic philosophers
crown at the
lo,
the
Roman
and
two
after
emperor himself
feet
bap
Eastern
and African churches, passing over even into Spain and France. But
the messengers of the Lord have driven back the false prophet, and his
kingdom
is
arose in the
now
a mouldering corpse.
itself,
even in
its
all
sorts
earliest history,
and
seemed, for a long time, to have displaced the pure doctrine of th*
But the truth has always broken for itself a new path, and
gospel.
effect"
"of
God
French Revolution,
in their
mad
own
The Lord
But
heaven laughed,
and had them in derision. Napoleon, the greatest potentate and captain
of modern times, proposed to substitute for the universal dominion of
Christianity, the universal dominion of his own sword, and to degrade
they soon had to undo their
folly.
own
political ends.
thrown
in
20.
INTROD.J
49
wthiu the last and present century, a Rationalism, which, wielding all
the powers of learning and philosophy, has gradually advanced to the
denial of a personal God, and of immortality, and has turned the history
But it has been promptly met
of the Saviour into a book of myths.
by
itself,
ism, over
own
life
already
celebrates
its
resurrection.
imparting strength to do good, joy in aillicand triumph in death. The Lord of hosts has ever been a wall
his Ziou.
The gates of hell, through eighteen centuries,
have not prevailed against the church as little will they prevail against
To have weathered so many storms, coming forth
her in time to come.
round about
Church
deatructible material.
all,
made
of
iu-
It
when
4.
in
men
Its shining
examples of godly
honorable
life,
deeply, almost
au
rights, art,
especially
men,
as each
may
deserve, be
it
;j
evil or good.
50
20.
of man, and
may
The study of
die.
wf
all
to the
dom
life,
of the Lord, and feels itself vitally united with the pious of all ages
and
with that love, which must be poured out copiously upon the
her present mournful divisions can be healed, the precious
before
church,
fold and one shepherd be accomplished, and the prayer
of
one
promise
nations
may
and I
"
That they
may be one
may be one in
all
as
us
me."
studied.
and often has been, scandalously perverted to the service of bad ends.
This will sufficiently appear from the history of our science, to which we
shall
On
Church Hittoi-y?
p- 114,
sqq.
r.
ar tract
What
it
22.
rNTROD.J
CHAPTER
51
IV.
21.
CHURCH
history, in
which
its
true object
its
and discrimination.
objective history
We
shall
and
effect.
And
the
finally,
with a dry
We
may
Roman
from
I.
(3)
old
(!
Pro
theological
phases
first six
period
as a
(1) The
The
testant historians
the
In the Patristic
partly to the Middle Ages.
distinguish the Greek fathers and the Latin.
centuries;
we must again
The same subject is treated on a somewhat different plan in the tract What
A Vind .ration of the Idea of Historical Development, p. 41-80.
Chunk History
1
it
52
22.
As
1.
HISTORIANS OF THE
PEKIOD.
PATJrIISTIC
[cEXKK
in all
Apostles
ST.
by
Xew
the
which only a few fragments have been preserved, the title, father of
church history/ belongs undoubtedly to the learned, candid, and mode
in the same
rate EUSEBIUS (340), bishop of Caesarea in Palestine
;
sense, in
which Herodotus
is
his
made
in ten books,
In
of the
Painphilus of Caesarea, and of Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem
of the works of the apostolic fathers
canonical and apocryphal writings
;
(the immediate disciples of the apostles), the apologists, and the oldest
He was
worthy.
others.
The
historical
works of
Eusebius are chiefly valuable for their material and antiquity, and for
the interesting position of the writer, who lived while persecution was
still raging, and also witnessed the great change caused by Constantine s
conversion.
As regards style and method, he is far surpassed by the
classical historians of
His mild
disposition, love of
but without
it
though
for himself
sufficient foundation.
and at
It
is
cer
his
The work
of Eusebius
jurists of Constantinople
was continued
by two
the history, in
seven books, from the accession of Constantine (306), to the year 439,
1
ticae
2
Comp.
the dissertation of
SOCRATES,
Dr Baur
historiae ecclctias-
theolog.
Venue}
g 22.
in unpretending,
53
nian,
325-429), about
the year 450, and excels both the last named authors, and even Eusebius,
In his Lives of Thirty Hermits
in style, spirit, and richness of matter.
he
relates
sometimes
the most wonderful
Jcn-opm), however,
(<t>M&eog
room
for doubt.
wrote
as
all his
predecessors.
same
all
Heathen
and
The
later
course, since
its
separation
from the Latin, may be styled a progressive stagnation, has done but
In the fourteenth century NICEPHORUS CALLISTI
little for our science.
(son of Callistus), a monk of Constantinople (about 1333), compiled
from the older historians a new church history, in twenty-three books
;
a single
Due), Par.
in
history."
All these seven historians have been published together, in Greek and Latin, with
notes, by Valcsius (du Valois) in three volumes folio (Par. 1659-73. also Amstelod.
,
may
Ib52
*
p. 7,
A
s
Par. 42t.
They
fol-
hist.
ita.
Tubing.
sqq.
Leo Diacon.
s,
byz.
works
Acrop*
23.
5-i
[QESEH
dels.
furnished
valuable
very
A. D. 395.
material
for
the
biography of the
eai^.y
>.
-,
the
of
Middle Ages.
Roman
We
but
full
of valuable material.
Period from Charlemagne to the year 1076, which give important infor
mation respecting the spread of Christianity among the Saxons and in
Scandinavia,
especially
respecting
the
archbishopric
of
Hamburg-
Bremen.
Most
whose
of the historians
literary labors
prominent place
and missionary
in the history of
zeal
European
civilization.
The
| 24.
I.VTROD.J
55
An
example of
we have
this
the
Roman
and
composed a
historical criticism
of the Reformation.
All these works of the time before the Reformation, invaluable as they
are in their way, exhibit but the infancy or childhood of our science.
The church was engaged more in making history, than in writing it.
She had not yet begun to reflect, in an independent manner, on her ow
She was so firmly convinced of
existence, her origin, her development.
:
left
She
and the near, poetry and truth, she combined, without discrimination, in
one grand structure, which is itself, however, one of the most imposing
creations of history, and a most worthy subject of historical research and
In a word, the power of tradition was yet unshaken.
This occasioned an almost entire want of the spirit of free inquiry, and
representation.
was imperfect.
It properly
embraced only
Doctrine history,
in
of
what
facts,
any proper
sense,
constitutes
the outward
was wholly
excluded, as implying that the doctrine of the church itself passes through
HAXius"
and
THEODORET.
II.
24.
ROMAN"
General Character of
Roman
Catholic Historiography.
is
1
book
In his
De
it,
all, free,
falso credita
et
and tendency,
M.
Fabulz
haereticae.
25.
56
ITALIAN HISTORIANS.
cramps inquiry
It
is
Roman
in every direction
[OBNEB
as apostacy
and
Roman
The constant
Roman
effort
is,
to
and
this, of
Yet among
the
is
collec
could not
fail,
particularly the
in
France and
both
\nore,
in
The
first
Ccesar Baronius.
have since been many times reprinted, extracted from, translated, and
continued, though with less skill, by others, embrace, in twelve folio
volumes, as
They
many
furnish,
25
fNTROD.I
ITALIAN HISTORIANS.
57
that even at this day, in a thorough course of study, they cannot well be
The cardinal comes forward under the conviction, that
dispensed with.
Novatiaus
and
his
all
discrimination.
work without
considers
"
critical
Centuries of
Satan
"
And
testimonies.
in
many
its
authentic
lie
advantage, and is backed by an overwhelming mass of authorities.
wrote unconditionally in the interest of absolute Romanism. lie endea
remained,
in doctrine
was an apostacy from the true church, and a rebellion against the
But for this purpose he is compelled to call in the
ordinance of God.
aid of many fictitious or corrupted narratives and spurious documents,
tion
nate points at least, from the more liberal Catholics themselves, espe
AXTOX PAGI, who
cially from the profoundly learned French Franciscan,
11
in the
same
spirit
especially
is
due,
among
the
also
MURATORI, ZACCAGXI, ZACCARIA, MAXSI, and GALLAXDI
to the three ASSEMAXI, celebrated oriental and antiquarian scholars,
Italians, to
originally
our
1
own
age, to Cardinal
Thus they
prefixed to the
1
Rome
AXGELO MAI,
volume.
The
tica,
folio.
Rom. 1772-95. 25
vohs. 4to.
[GENE*
FRENCH HISTORIANS,
26.
58
the treasures
of the
The most
libraries.
French Historians.
good
may be
in
other respects.
only
Baronius,
8tan.ce,
is
full
of zeal
this
Innocent XI.,
1684, prohibited
but thirty years later, Benedict XIII., himself a Dominican, set
tion
In 1690 CLAUDE FLEURY, abbot of a Cistercian convent,
it free
in
again.
after
of his
(f!723), began the publication
the
to
in
year
twenty volumes,
reaches,
living as
Histoire
an anchoret at court,
ccclesiastique, which
decided love for the church and Christianity, and with a view to edify,
He follows the order of time, though not slavish
as well as to instruct.
and some volumes he prefaces with general views. He, too, defends
without at
antiquity and the Gallican ecclesiastical constitution, though
or the
all compromising the credit of the church, its general tradition,
ly
of
discipline,
its
and practical
piety.
Universal History
from
the creation to
histoire universelle, 1681), reaching
and
the church as
with brilliant genius, religion
(Discours sur
head.
Charlemagne, presents,
1
Comp. Mai
1NTKOD
26.
FRENCH HISTORIANS.
59
the soul and centre of all history. In his polemic woik on the Variation*
of Protestantism (Histoire des variations des oglises protestantes), he
appears more as a learned and skillful controversialist and partisan, than
He
plan.
The
latest large
is
Roman
"
from a truly
erudition, written
sive
Roman
Catholic
(ultra-montane)
vigor."
Among
Maur
Benedictines,
is
due to the
St.
D ACHERY,
DURAXD, MOXTFAUCOX
;*
His argument against the Protestants comes to this Your history is a history of
constant changes and contradictions therefore you cannot have the truth, which is, ii
:
its
nature, unchangeable.
was converted
an
infidel.
read.
suet,
to the
The
Roman
work
this
applauded,
church by
by Lord
"
lie
says
of Bos-
bishop of Meaux, the Exposition of the Catholic doctrine, and the History of the
my conversion, and I surely fell by a noble hand
In the History, a bold and well-aimed attack, he displays, with a happy mixture of
-arrative and argument, the faults and follies, the changes and contradictions of oui
first reformers
whose variations, (as he dexterously contends) are the mark of histo
,
rical error,
is
fallible truth.
a
In the congregation of
St.
Maur
members according
to
was a complete system of study. In extenwas authorized to assign parts to the different
there
it;
to
renown, but only for the good of the church and the honor of his order. The authors
are often not even named. This co-operation of various scholars, who were free froiii
all
temporal care, and favored with wealth and the most ample literary helps, brought
Academy
The
\<ai-
60
27.
vius),
De
free
among the
was the
Catholics Df Germany,
BENEH
theologids dogmatibus,
Historians.
in
till
till
The productions
Protestant theology.
in doctrine history.
27,
No
HISTORIANS.
it
of
Germany,
therefore, in this
rian
He
greatest Roman Catholic theologian since Bellarmine and Bossuet.
has aided his church in coming to herself again, and has inspired her
new polemic
with
man
lic
own
culture,
upon
his
but his
idealistic
He
Gnosticism,
Monasticism, &c.), almost all have more or less to do with history, par
ticularly with doctrine history ; and in depth and freshness of spirit, as
we owe
&c.,
which,
history of the Jewish nation, as well as of the ancient church, with the zeal, unction,
and unreserved devotion of a proselyte, but also with a heart full of enthusiasm and
love."
volumes), was,
even
it is
his learned
and ingenious
work on Innocent
Reformed church
III.
(in four
in Schaffhausen.
But
.xmscience a transition,
before.
| 27.
INTROD.]
HISTORIANS.
61
the authors
might
now mentioned.
call in
own
according to his
furnished a
commends
Of
his disciples,
Roman
confession, of
Mohler
itself
spirit, clear
arrange
ment, vivacity and beauty of style, and may upon the whole be pro
nounced the best work of the kind which has issued from the Roman
Catholic press of. Germany.
church-dictionaries
uable historical articles, especially from the pens of Alzog and Hefele.
The Roman Catholics of ENGLAND have thus far contributed very
little
arisen
in
in
England, (flS51),
Anglo-Saxon
church,"
has furnished perhaps the most satisfactory and reliable work we have on
His
the church history of England before the Norman conquest.
larger and excellent
"
History of
England,"
which extends
in
thirteen
volumes, (new ed. 1848, sqq.), from the first invasion by the Romans to
the accession of William the Third, (1688), contains chiefly the political
history of that country, but has
The
by nc means
spirit,
free
all his
and
ecclesiastical
its
his general
from religious
accuracy
bias,
in
history
interwoven.
all his
comparatively
the statement of facts,
polemical
woman,"
"
Mary
Stuart, (that
innocent
as he calls her),
"
whom
it is
his
duty to
consult."
cially
mind.
02
27.
HISTORIANS.
[cENER
It remains to
compilations from older and continental Catholic works.
be seen, whether the ingenious theory of development, which Dr. New
man brought
"
trine"
Roman
as
it
infidelity.
and as preparing the way for a new and dangerous heresy in the Roman Church, unless
be checked in time by the proper authorities.
We are inclined to believe, that he
does personally great injustice to N-ewman, and seems to be unconsciously under the
it
occupies
does not admit any theory of development, but rests rather on the principle of absolute
Newman
immutability.
"
p.
is
342, sq.)
theory, says
It is
God
Newman forgets that she sprang into exist
grown, and armed at all points, as Minerva from the brain of Jupiter, and
that she is withdrawn from the ordinary law of human systems and institutions by her
It is easy to make such a bold
supernatural origin, nature, character, and protection."
With Mr. Brownson, however, and
assertion, but impossible to prove it historically.
tative and infallible church of
ence
full
logic.
is directed towards a
says Newman, p. 19 (Americ. ed.),
the difficulty which lies in the way
solution of the difficulty which has been stated
"
The
"
following
essay,"
of using the testimony of our most natural informant concerning the doctrine and wor
The view on which
ship of Christianity, viz., the history of eighteen hundred years.
times, perhaps, been implicitly adopted by theologians, and, I be
been illustrated by several distinguished writers of the continent,
such as De Maistre and Mohler
viz., that the increase and expansion oi the Christian
Creed and Ritual, and the variations which have attended the process in the case of
it is
written has at
all
any philosophy or
and heart, and has had any wide or extended
from the nature of the human mind, time is necessary foi the full com
dominion;
that,
intellect
prehension and perfection of great ideas and that the highest and most wonderful truths,
though communicated to the world once for all by inspired teachers, could not be com
;
prehended
all at
This
may
De
29.
/HTROD.J
63
28.
As the Reformation of the sixteenth century opens a new age for the
church, and for theology in general, so also it forms an epoch in the
In fact we may say, it was only the Reformation,
history of our science.
which made church history properly
time, the
Now, he
free
rose,
by
reflection,
above
Before that
growth with
his subject.
it
as
and independent.
of one
church
itself to critical
decrees,
according
it
examination, judging
the
to
word
of
false
kingdom of God,
as
a truly rational
And
Germany, seem
inevitably
to lend.
It was a long time, however, before Protestant science here attained
a clear perception of its mission.
It had to pass, in its own history,
We
may
in
distinguish five
their
mode
such periods
of viewing and
:
the
<>
rik<
>t/
<>./-
polemical, the
itself
divided into so
many
different schools,
that
it
cannot easily be
of Polemic Orthodoxy.
Flacius.
The
is
64
29.
and
history.
[OENEB
to the
own
side.
earth,
For
by drawing
to light again
till
was
of history.
against
always to show that they were truly orthodox, either, on the one hand,
as the heirs, or, on the other, as the restorers of the pure catholic doc
and practice
trine
either, as the
aside,
heretics,
who
tions.
tics,
it
faith, or, as
Arians,
for the
tion.
Even such
institutions
and doctrines,
as are
now acknowledged
to
it
1
The Reformers of the second generation, however, could look back upon this great
movement as an accomplished fact. Thus Matthesius wrote the life of Luther; Came-
rariuj, that of
Melancthon
Protestantism
down
to the
life
29.
IXTROD.]
65
all
The
Catholic church.
Christianizing and
the example of
after
of
doctrines
the
Flacius,
gospel,
defence of Protestantism,
known
in
The only
those days, was such as included a
itself.
was necessary
hand of Providence,
like
Judaism
But
this liberal
But
on an
illusion.
full
this effort
rests, to a
considerable extent,
six
first
centuries
it
more ami
was
strictly
the
in
reigning
containing
the
akin to the
But,
Roman
irrespective
to be, in doctrine
and
discipline,
much nearer
this defect
in
their
historical
standpoint,
the
like those
polemico-historical works of the older Protestant orthodoxy,
of its opponents, have great merits, and mark an important advance by
their most industrious accumulation of material and laborious and minute
It will
rians
do
not
still
inrg Centuries
Epochcn der
29
(JG
day.
Some
and Eng
The
done.
polemical
awakened the
spirit of criticism
still
;
leaving
it,
interest, moreover,
however, entirely under
and
in this
moderate and
itself stiffly
burg, commenced,
Magde
in connection
assistants,
ported
volumes,
Christian
first
era,
As
"Est
igitur
admodum
etc.
sit ilia
he collected from
tali historia
in ecclesiis nostris
apologetical object in
in
cog-
ex ingenti Dei
quam mine
so
view
commen-
in his pre
all sorts
and at great expense. It was intended to prove, that, as God, in the times of the
prophet Elijah, had seven thousand left, who had never bSwed the knee to Baal, and
who constituted the true Israel so in the Christian church there had always been, even
try,
witnesses of
truth,"
who
and corruptions, and saved the light of the gospel from extinction, till at last it broke
forth in all its primitive splen lor in the reformation of Dr. Martin Luther.
But such
all kinds of Anti-Romanists, including the Albigenses. Cathari, Pauliother Manichaean sects, is a poor substitute for the unbroken succession of a
holy catholic church. It is absolutely vain to try to make out such a succession, with
a catalogue of
cwns.
arid
among
among
29.
INTKOD.J
Lutheran church
the
their
to compile text-books
Among
spirit.
Wiirtemberg
LUCAS OSIANDER,
divine,
and continuations,
extracts
these
61
that
of
in
the
Tubingen,
and QUEXSTEDT
theologid,
controversial tone,
we
Concilii
S Theol.ogia
find
some of which
history,
Examen
CHEMXITZIUS
especially in
GERHARD
Tridentini,
do gmatico-polemica
all in
S I***-.
the same
is still
Among works
on particu
It
1692).
is
his
in
True
this purpose,
the various visi
spirit
and essen
and bigotry of
orthodox contemporaries, who vehemently cried him down us a dan
tial points.
Christianity,"
ol
oi
to furnish
in,
too, according to
times,
much
foreign
matter
the history, for instance, of the Jews, Pagans, and Mohamme
dans
accounts of remarkable natural phenomena, earthquakes, locusts,
;
famines, floods, monstrosities, eclipses of the sun and moon, &c., as fore
FREDERICK SPAXHEDI, of Leyden,
tokening the fortunes of the church.
Summa
historicr.
ted.
a present.
Rotterd. If 99.
G3
29.
ister at the
in
[GENKR
Zutphen, wrote,
never
failed,
and
had
faithful witnesses.
John Henry, and author of the Helvetic Church History), and HEI
DEGGER, among the German Swiss
BEZA, Du PLESSIS MORNAY, PIERRE
DU MOULIN, DAVID BLONDEL, JEAN DAILL (Dallaeus), CL. SAUMAISE
of
the Dutch
archbishop USHER, J. PEARSON, W.
GILBERT
BEVERIDGE,
BURNET, STRYPE, JOSEPH BINGHAM, GEORGE BULL,
later,
W.
VITRINGA,
among
the
Rome.
Before passing to the next period, we must mention also the name of
the celebrated PETER BAYLE, son of a Huguenot minister, educated first
by
by the
Jesuits.
He
was
for eighteen
months a
Ro
man
"
Annales
The
was
inferior to
none of
his age.
histo-
only to A. D. 602)
two, French Reformed preachers in Berlin, were already influenced, to a
considerable extent, by Arnold s new view of the relation of the sects to the church, ai
politico-eccelsiastici, etc. 1706. 3 vols. (reaching
last
Originally a
History of Manid.eism.
1NTBOD
et
*ique
69
is
critique
ARNOLD.
PIETISTIC PERIOD.
30.
30.
Arnold.
Milner.
of the
the
Magdeburg
Church and of
from
the
(Frankf. 1699
life
and
is,
separatistic piety.
the Reformation, especially the ruling clergy, arc, with him, the
whilst the persecuted mi
apostasy, predicted in the Xew Testament
individuals
sects
and
constitute
the true church,
the
dissenting
nority,
after
and
intolerant.
Roman
It
is
true, the
as haughty, worldly,
orthodox church historians of the seven-
Catholic,
;eenth century, also, took the part of the Albigenses and Waldenses, of
specimen of
objection
its
Our
30 and 31,
but a mild
is
"
Many may,
26. Heb.
of but one mother of all saints, the Jerusalem above, Gal. 4
But they have never given those ungodly pretenders and hypocrites, much
to intrench
less the apostate clergy, liberty to call themselves a mother, and in this way
and secure themselves against all testimony, admonition, and improvement. The true,
of the Lord has been, from the beginning of the gospel and the times
tures
12
know
22.
pure congregation
of
trie
bride of Christ.
apostles, a virgin, and the
as also
by
the natural increase and propagation of false Christians, has given birth to many mil
lions of bastards with whom, however, no true member of Christ has anything to do-
30.
TO
Wickliffe, Huss,
ARNOLD.
PIETISTIC PEKIOD
and other
"
witnesses of
tin;
truth"
|GEXh
in the
Middle Ages,
made a very
He
material difference.
eulogist of
all
which, of
persons of
ill
repute
in
to
church his
tory.
all,
their cause.
and
fanatics,
cial predilection,
him had
as no historian before
sorts of heretics
work, therefore,
in contradiction to its
own
His
but a production of
more against the ortho
title, is
simply a faithful
mirror of his
pathies of
adapted to upset all faith in one holy apostolic church, to undermine all
confidence in the presence of God in history, and in the final triumph of
},
good, and thus to promote a hopeless skepticism.
any Pietists, it is
But Spener, the pious and amiable leader of the Pietistic move
and the orthodox Lutherans,
ment, was by no means satisfied with it
books.
With
all
merit, not only of having collected a great mass of material for the
1
in the thi d
volume of
J.
G. Walla
his-
Bibliotheca
They appear
at large,
MILXER.
PIETISTIC PERIOD.
30.
ISTROD.}
71
and whole Latinisms, which characterizes the period from Opitz to Bodmer, and makes it the most gloomy in the history of German literature.
With Arnold may be named, as in some measure akin, the later Eng
JOSEPH MILXER (fl797), a pious minister of the English
His Church History, in five volumes, following the
Church.
Episcopal
current centurial division, comes down to the Reformation, which lie
lish historian,
the Middle Ages, which he handles with very little favor, he devotes bj
far the largest space to the Waldenses.
He, too, wrote for edification,
the spirit of Methodistic piety, which bears a close affinity to that of
it has less sympathy with the inward, contemplative
in
life,
Arnold
excels
him
of the
first
much
in
popular
style,
and
in fairness
His
object, also,
six centuries.
for edification
is
for
example, fares
all
own nar
church government,
life
1
On
chengcschichte, Vol.
I.
p. 185,
who
Milner
is
2nd ed
work
by no means a
)
If
is,
him
(Kir-
sorts of imall
vous, Arnold
Ketzerhistorie
"
his Introduction
"Nothing but what appears to me 1o
Or, as he himself
belong to Christ s kingdom, shall be admitted genuine piety if the only thing, which 1
So far. he was assuredly right in styling his work, An Ecclesi
intend to celebrate.
*
says, in
astical
History on a new
plan?"
But
how
one-sided
light,
were
his
I.
Boston ed.
p.
220)
defending
him
Huw
When, on
him
far
above Origea
72
31.
tirely free
spirit,
[cENER
and
overflows,
is,
much
better adapted for practical and popular use, and still well
worthy of commendation. J^ay, it may be said to have been the best
church history of this sort, till Neander asserted anew the claims of prac
go far,
tical piety,
and
fully
Methodism
31.
(c)
Moshcim.
Schrockh.
Planck.
From
Pietistic principles,
phy, which
may be
By supranaproduct of the
that theological system, which, under
we understand the
last
that is,
Protestant orthodoxy
the influence of Pietism and the liberal tendencies in philosophy and
;
fell
supranaturalism,
we no longer observe
Thus
who date
church
in the
he
is
inconsistent, for
writings, and
spirit, in
which
made them
Roman bishopric, as the Cathedra Petri, and the centre of church unity (unde
unitas sacerdotalis exorta est).
Augustine. Anselm, and Bernard, Milner recognizes as
of the
own notions of
his
religion.
looks, or considers as
in
For
yet, after
all,
his
view of them
is
imper
in
spirit of the
influential connection
age
traits
in the theological
is
its possibility,
it
useless.
human powers
31.
73
now
is,
do
to
however,
it
and
still
character, and
is,
Spittler,
degraded to the
For
political state.
this
very
common
level of
reason, this
human
societies
and the
We
in
England,
it
came
that
clinations of the
human
heart.
Not
pragmatic method,
satisfied
in
the greatest master, tries to show the internal connection of cause and
effect, and the manner, as well as the reason, of the occurrence of cer
in the end,
all-ruling providence of
his church,
was
God, the
History came to be viewed as the result, partly of human caprice and cal
culation, partly of a remarkable concurrence of fortuitous circumstances.
We
Oomp. Mosheim
that, since
general judgment
the
middle of the
last
century,
11, p. 5.
*
This vulgar and virtually atheistic view underlies, also, the historical works ot
and Gibbon, who mis ook it for the very highest philosophy.
Hume
SUPRANATTJKALISTIC PEKIOD.
31.
74
MOSITEIM.
[3ENER
church history has been cultivated and ad^ anced almost exclusively iu
Germany
especially by the Lutheran, and more lately the United
;
Evangelical churches
very
little
it
has
made
progress.
Among
must be mentioned
.A
T. etc. (Tubingen, 1 71 8 } distinguished for
mild
its
pious,
spirit,
quiet, moderate tone, its predilection for the
school of Spcner, and for the better Mystics, and its regard to the pur
".
~)
its
tingen,
place
translated
into
title
ecclesiastical
of
"
father of church
(Helmstadt, 1755),
history."
His
tolic
In
these works
his Institutiones
first
volume
H. E. Majores
(saec. I.)
was pub
Mosheim
lished.
men,
all
his bold,
an
art."
To
pays less regard. He, too, in various cases, takes the part of heretics,
even of such a man as Servetus * not, however, like Arnold, euthusias1
mono
graphs, his pulpit orations, and his theological Ethics, he marks an epoch, also, in
German literature, which at that time began to revive and to approach its classical
period through Klopstock, Lessing,
my
tract
on Historical Development,
p. 59.
SUPKANATURALISTIC PERIOD.
31.
INTROD.]
tically eulogizing
NVALCH.
their orthodox
75
opponents
and inward
bit
consist
ency of their systems. He was the first, for example, who ceased to
regard the Gnostic speculations as a mere chaos of extravagant and
senseless opinions, and felt in them the presence of a connected system
of thought resulting from a strange combination of ancient heathen
In view of
philosophy with certain elements of the Christian religion.
these decided advances upon his predecessors, it is the more strange that
he still adhered to the old plan of division by centuries, and that he
but
interesting a style,
down
citations.
his Abstract
The
of
Church History only to the end of the ninth century. COTTA S New
Testament Church History in Detail, (1768-73), likewise remained
incomplete.
this
M. SCHROCKH (fl808), a
disciple of
it
makes
forty-five
method,
depth
it is still
centurial division
invaluable for
is
conformable to the
abandoned,
real,
its
in favor of
divisions
of the
history
more
first
German,
after
ele
force in his
J.
76
SUPRANATUKALISTIC PERIOD.
31.
who have
inquirers,
The
ever lived.
PLANCK.
latter
is
(1762-85),
still
indispensable.
work on
In his own
but he is free
persuasions he stands firmly, indeed, on Lutheran ground
from polemic zeal, and solely bent upon the conscientious investigation
;
and
nates between the unchangeable essence of the Christian truth itself, and
the ever varying form of its apprehension among men.
He lacks, luv,
ever, in organic conception
The
and graphic
life,
and
extremely tiresome
is
elder
learned and
skillful
since
1784 Prof, of
himself especially by
still
Rationalism.
height.
Though he
relates
His
interest in
them
is
Di.-Baur (Epochen,
etc. p. 147)
Walch
says
"There is
spiritless,
and
s Ketzergeschichte."
Six vols. Leipzig, 1781-1800. 2nd ed. 1791, sqq. The first three volumes give the
Reformation. The remaining and more important ones treat
of the theological controversies from the death of Luther to the appearance of the
Form of Concord, the last symbolical book of the Lutheran church In 1831 Planck
Comp., for instance, his preface to Vol. IV., in which he enters upon the depart
ment of doctrine history, where he candidly avows, p. 6. that the subject before him
is one, in which even the theological public of his time can hardly continue to take
<iny
real interest
which our
fathers contended,
for
"entirely lost,
also,
has
lost, for
negative interest, with which the slowly-maturing aversion to those questions could,
for
it.
Ten years ago they might have been dwelt upon with some
the age.
But now
this
bond also
is
wholly
gone-
An
lost their
entirely
new
Not only those forms, but even many of the old fundamental ideas have been left
behind.
Nor have we now any fear, that the spirit of our theology can ever return o
SUPRAXATURALI8TIC PERIOD.
31.
INTROD.J
SPITTLER.
77
work, with
necessity of
all its
have a bad
effect, in complete
age from the basis of the
older church orthodoxy, and in justifying this rupture as a pretended
In his other large work, the History of Church Government,^
advance.
its
its
ly sundering the doctrinal consciousness of
Planck likewise
starts
viz.,
and
it
it
in pious
abhorrence, as
His
Philosophy
(flblO),
at Gottingen, afterwards
more decidedly
is still
secretary
rationalistic.
of state
at
Though not
of
Stuttgart,
a theologian
by
Though he
itself,
them
and
in
we view
the
first
sentence of the
first
ferent
antiquation.
able a judgment on the theological revolution of the last century, in his continuation of
he says: "Upon the
Spittler s Manual of Church History, 5th ed. p. 509, where
whole, however, we have made extraordinary gain by this revolution of the last thirty
ve fassung.
5 vols.
Hanover, 1803-9.
4
Grundriss der Geschichte der christl. Kirrhe. 17S2.
ed and continued by Planck, 1812. pp. 569.
The
fifth edition
was publish
78
32.
RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.
[GENER.
1
period, which
"
is
"
made
in
life."
"
minded
"
acter of the church, and incapable of duly appreciating the spiritual life
of its heroes.
Spittlcr derives even the grandest phenomena of history
from mere
the
finite
common
The Reformed church, in this period, produced but one work of any
3
great extent, the Imtitutioncs h. ecr.l. V. et N. T. of the learned Hol
This work is carefully drawn from original sources,
lander, VENEMA.
and extends to the year 1600
mentioned
in the
orthodox period.
It
land, from the time of Cocceius, to put church history into close connec
the sun.
This, of course, destroyed its independence as a
and put an end to its progress. The popular and edifying work
of the English MILNER has already been noticed.
Smaller, and in their
clear
as
science,
way
van
excellent,
divine, TURRETINE,
as the
Reformed
century
by Dan.
v.
Colin.
But
his
that,
like
Arnold
heretics
ence
(rf)
Page
all sorts
Semler.
of
indiffer
we
ar
| 32.
<XTKOD.|
RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.
79
and
Xow
will,
cism
against Athanasius
Synod of Dort
These were,
in
its
in
war
against the church doctrine, nay, in the end, against the divine revelation
For any unprejudiced person must admit, that at
in the Bible itself.
least the main substance of the church doctrine is grounded iu the Bible.
Hence Rationalism,
in
its
latest
consistency,
of justification by faith,
but
source and
and of
rule-
of truth
its
general, objective
character, as
it
and
own
"common sense,
in
every-day understanding,
baldest form.
This tendency is,
not in
spirit of its
what we
finite,
its
this,
call
very na
but
It has no regard for history, as such
in
its
criticism.
only a negative interest in it, as a subject for its own destructive
banishes from the world not
It denies the objective forces of history
only Satan, whom it looks upon as merely the super>iitions creation of a
;
perversions, caprices
jective
ground.
is,
God
all
and
passions.
Kvcry thing
Rationalism considers
it
itself
human
some sub
"
pragmatically,"
to
when
referred to
is
himself;
and of the Holy Trinity, it derives from the dreamy fancy and transcen
the evangelical doctrines of sin
dental Platonism of the Greek fathers
the papacy of the
and grace, from Augustine s restless metaphysics
;
Middle Ages, from the trick of the pseudo-Isidoriau Decretals and the
80
32.
RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.
[cENKR.
"the
rascal" Hilclebrand
the reformation, frcm the pecu
of
Leo
and
X.
the
embarrassment
Luther s
imprudence of Tetzel
niary
view of the Lord s Supper, from his own stubborn and dogmatizing hu
ambition of
mor.
with a watch long since finished and sold thus furnishing excellent
but it offered, at the same time,
resources for skepticism and nihilism
;
the greatest possible insult to human nature, by robbing it, iix this way,
It would be inconceivable that men
of all its dignity and higher worth.
were
still
it
church history.
ing
many
In the
things in a
first
new
unprejudiced judgment.
place,
it
light,
Then
again,
more
for a
free
and
it
conception of history
Almost
all
unchangeable
as
is
is
It entirely
It failed to
is also
something per
church remains, in her
inmost life, the same.
Church history became, in its hands, a stcrmtossed ship, without pilot or helm, a wild chaos, without unity or vital
Rar
the play of chance, without divine plan or definite end.
energy
manent
and
tionalism
knew nothing
preserves the
sum
remains, in
of the truth of
its
all
preceding stages
and, though
it
RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.
32.
IKTKOD.]
81
the age of Illuminationism makes the happy discovery, that the whole
of Christianity may be ultimately resolved into a few common-place moral
who
of
"father
of theology in
Prof,
German
neology,"
in
He had
Halle, (fl791).
unquestionably entitled to
was JOHN* SOLOMON- SF.MI.ER,
is
been educated
in
the
dent of
all
To Arnold
more
past
into
consciousness,
form."
is
then stood,
it
"
everything
had by no means
His own studies showed him more and
church doctrine, as
its
is
in transition or
of thought,
its
himself, before
peculiar
he can
He
destitute of all
and sanguine
in fact, the
understand
it.
of change.
With
the most retired regions of history, and particularly the Middle Ages,
10
verytrying to place every thing in some hitherto undiscovered light.
discoveries,
spirit of inquiry,
"
but
His whole
nations
a vast
rummage
Of
They
of material.
field,
include,
among
now
read, except
tilled
a building-lot,
by the professional
historian.
on making gold, with which aowever, not only his literary voracity, but also, as Tholuck at least suspects (Vcrmischte Schriften, Part II., p. 82). his devotion to Maminc*
had something
to do.
82
32.
.RATIONALISTIC PERIOD.
SCHMIDT.
[!EX.,R
new
still lie
The most
HEXKE
structure
confusion."
S (.Seneral
History of
the Christian
Church,
in eight
school
ia
parts (1788
His principal aim is, to show up the mischief which religious des
potism and doctrinal constraint, as he supposes, have everywhere
and he presents a glaring, keenly sarcastic
wrought through all ages
sqq).
His work
is
measured by a
The
suggest.
head
in St.
was
man
VATER, in his continuation and fifth edition of the work, has considerably
smoothed off its sharp corners, and breathed into it a more kindly spirit.
After Henke and others had thus
astical past to their hearts
let
all
in
DANZ took
But GIESELER
a similar course.
and
sur
in sober
and cautious
He
is
criticism.
who
himself gieatly re
sembles him in
"
Handbuch der
1825-7)
Christl.
The seventh
Kirchengeschichte,
part,
Manual
Giessen.
spirit
and
life.
ample references,
is
g 33.
INTROD.]
Rationalistic Historians in
33.
88
Gibbon.
England.
rationalistic apostasy
fully
We
theology.
cal
and
itself,
observe in
religious
life
have not to
eral branches
it,
day recovered
and we
still
more frequent
we generally
judice,
Roman
of the
tionalism,
in his
and
church
call
"
world."
But
(Matt. 28
20).
the various Reformed confessions, the
in
indifferent-
ism obtained more sway, in the eighteenth century, than open hostility to
Christianity.
her
first
great
in
historians,
ROBERTSON-
political
and secular
history,
religion
and the
especially
GIBBON
in his
"The
was
modern
times.
It
is,
muse of history,
Robertson and Hume, the histories
recently disproved
by the
performances of
first
his friend
light
and
and
despair."
me
to close the
84
33.
on
more
to be regretted, that
its
author was
[GENER.
sj>
utterly
blind to the claims of Christianity, the divine origin and moral grandeur
of which find one of their most convincing illustrations in the very event,
which he portrays, the downfall of its deadly enemy, the colossal Roman
empire, and in the erection of the new European civilization upon its ruins
It
is
in the
Gibbon
treats of the
He
philosopher.
soul
on
his
How
theory or practice.
venly world
It
is
upon the
and
"
discover the inevitable mixture of error and corruption, which she contra
ed in a long residence upon earth, among a weak and degenerate race of
"t-
soon as
it
was done
if
his
work proved a
failure
almost as
Rome and
;
virtues, and often apologizes for the vices of Heathens, he either willfully
omits, or diminishes and casts suspicion on the virtues of Christians, and,
] .,
p. 527 sqq. ed. Harper \ he relates, with apparent approba
the doubts and uncertainties of heathen writers on this subject; and, judging from
the general tone of his Autobiography, he believed in and desired only the immortal
1
tion,
ity of fame.
In one of his last letters, to Lord Sheffield on the death of his lady, dated
u
The only consolation in these melancholy trials to which
exposed, the only one at least in which I have any confidence, is the presence
of a friend, and of that, as far as it depends upon myself, y u shall not be destitute." (Aud
tobiog. p. 358, N. York ed.) A poor consolation indeed, and, in this instance, of short dura
human
tion
life is
fying or encouraging.
by no means edi
33.
1NTEOD.J
85
"
"
lane, are
triumph of Christianity alone takes the form of a cold and critical disquisi
The successes of barbarous energy and brute force call forth all
tion.
the consummate
skill
of composition
the contempt of guilty fame, and of honors destructive to the human race,
which, had they assumed the proud name of philosophy, would have been
blazoned
in his brightest
The
touch on no chord
kindled
in the
his words,
own
kingdom
babes.
Gibbon
first
appear
Watson
and
their translations
editions,
errors,
neither of
it full justice.
but
of early Christianity,
thorough and
satis
Gibbon relating
to church history,
may be
considered
still
A.D. 1804.
It
is
entitled
Preface to Gibbon
Second
No*.
178-2.
edition,
is
An
main-
1793 Bi-mingham.
The
dedication to his
fr
end, Lindsey,
is
dated
34.
86
ly a
son
SENEP
may be
It
title.
is
"
sin
Trinity, the atonement, concerning
saints, &.c.
with a view to show, that the orthodox doctrines of the church are au
apostasy from primitive Christianity as contained, (according to his own
Bubjeciive and low rationalistic interpretation, of course ), in the New
1
Testament,
especially
through the influence of the Greek philosophy. The first step in this
was the deification of Christ, the germ
corruption"
supposed process of
"
of which
is
found
in
Justin Martyr
Christianity
fruitful source of
was brought
thought he had a
and
illusions.
But he
honest conceit,
that "these corruptions appear to have been clearly foreseen by Christ
and by several of the apostles," and in the further consideration, that, in
"
his days,
sufficient
in the
ture, Christianity
The work
apace.""
is
written in a
German
of
more learned
historical productions
Rationalism.
German
Protestantism,
places, it
still tries
the
like
it
to live), smote
resolved to return to
prodigal
had long
upon
its
fed,
gradually became
(and on which, in some
son,
of the
its
father
church.
As
ings
He
himself makes the truthful remark, though without applying it to his own
Nothing is more common than for mer to interpret the writings
others, according to their own previous ideas and
conceptions of things."
*
See preface to the first vol p. 15.
case, vol. I. p. 11
ot
34.
HfTROD.J
87
more the theologian, Schleierinacher, each did his part towr.rds over
throwing its dominion in the scientific world, and preparing the way for
still
of
Germany
sister
first in
Prus
Germany
displaying in all
cially in exegesis,
lively
evangelical theology of
and productive
This
modern
first
in
period has done proportionally more than any other for the
Within the
science, as to both matter and form.
advancement of our
year 1852.
Manual of Theological
no
less
than
appeared
in
five
ical journals of
Germany
to the
as llgen
"
Literature, mentions
Theologie,"
now
edit
very careful
ENGELUAKDT
by German
zeal
and industry,
may
be found
88
3-4.
for
Among
GENKR
more
|_
as th&
number
of which
that of HASE,
(sixth edition,
1848), which, in
compeuds
and
finally,
that of
its skillful
working up
orthodoxy and
its
its
decided
1832
is
impossible here to
great number
enume
of the later
Hagenbach, Bohringer,
Heppe,
Rauchliu,
&c.,
Roman
Catholic scholars of
Ger
The
former,
as
have a
Less generally known, yet equally valuable in their way, are the manuals of
church history by SCHLEIRMACHER, (one of his most imperfect and unimportant works,
published after his death,
by
Bonnell,
lectures),
LINDNER,
(1848 sqq.), FRICKE, (1850), JACOBI, (1850), KURTZ, (1850), SCHMID, (1851). Jacobi
is a worthy and faithful
Lindner and Kurtz have a decided predi
disciple of Neander
;
lection for
and will
style,
in all
probability gradually
Reuters
"
1845, p. 106
The
later
Ecd
Historiography of
tlte
instructive articles
Statistik"
for
by Kliefoth, on
double
which
34,
INTROD.J
"
office
still
first
need to be
to
89
filled
the monographs, and give their results the proper place in the living
1
organism of the history."
is,
indeed, an opponent of
common Ra
the
and attacked
it
with
spirit
falls
mars the
spirit of
historical
cha
Gfrorer began in low, rationalistic style, but, in the progress of his work,
seems to approach a politico-Catholic, hierarchical view.
Engdhardt,
in his thoroughly learned works on church and doctrine history, makes
his business simply to report from original sources with scrupulous ac
curacy and colorless monotony, without suffering any judgment of his
it
all
and
h:r witnesses
it.
and
out with diligence and talent. But it seems to us too extensive for a larger, more pro
miscuous class of readers, such as he has in view while for the scholar it is likewise
;
adapted on account of its entire want of literary apparatus. The independent think
er can take nothing on mere authority, but must everywhere examine the historian
ill
faithful
90
34.
[OENKR
With
hard to
to point out
be
we proceed
it
make
its
Its
tical
maintaining a
perpetually spreading both outwardly and inwardly
and
without
and
within
with
sin
error
conflict
continually beset
steady
under
the
with difficulties and obstructions
yet,
unfailing guidance of
;
This idea of
providence, infallibly working towards an appointed end.
was
in
combines
what
true
notion
the
of
something
organic development
permanent and unchangeable in church history, as held by both the Ca
tholic
is it
life
of
Christianity.
permanent principle, without motion, stiffens into stag
without
a principle of permanence, is a process of dis
nation
motion,
In neither case can there properly be any living history. The
solution.
;
conception of such history is, that, while it incessantly changes its form,
never for a moment standing still, yet, through all its changes, it remains
true to
its
own
essence
never outgrows
itself
31, 32.
"
See above.
$ 5.
34.
INTKOD.J
9]
conception of
is
Judaism passes
establishment,
is
but
its
substance
is
and by
it
Christ
completed.
is,
"
same
The general
is,
Hegel
How
who has
different again
in the
development,
from
likewise a theory of
hum Is
of his
infi
As
it as a
weapon against the Christian
the categories of modern philosophy, (not only German,
but English too), have subserved purposes and tendencies diametrically
ists
religion
so, also,
rooted
and grounded
ence.-
"With
in
if,
and experi
this preparation a
man may
tem without danger, on the principle of Paul, that all things are
Here, too, we may say Amicus Plato, amicus Aristoteles, sed magis arnica
"
his."
reritas.
But when
its
1
this
mode
of viewing history
Comp. some
dtttlopment, p. 73 sq.
is
adopted,
If history
is
it
cannot
spirit
Herders works,
in
and
my
fail
to have
life,
and, in
tract
on Hittorical
D2
3-i.
JGESEB
divine ideas
its
;
The historian
object
now is,
leading ideas,
the eyes of his readers, just as they originally stood to know not only what
has taken place, but also how it has taken place.
The old pragmatic
;
method,
love.
2. With this view of history, as an inwardly connected whole, pervad
ed by the same life-blood and always striving towards the same end, is uni
ted the second characteristic, which we look upon as the greatest material
modern Germany
his
Here,
also,
viz.,
the
Herder, with
in all
By
almost
tially
towards Catholicism.
The
Ages
whose
especially,
cance in poetry,
1
its
theology and
which appeared
is
now
in Berlin as late as
A. D-
religion."
It
1817. and has been frequently reprinted, we find even the fabulous assertion, that
poor
certain American doctor of theology,
men at that time knew almost nothing of God."
"
whom
respect for his age and ecclesiastical connection forbids us to name, seems, even
same view. Comp. his Contrast between the erroneous
"
in
Church
li
"
in the
Middle
(i.
e.
Ages."
Geistliche Stimmec
Fr. Galle, a disciple of Neander, says in the preface to his
of
stiff Lutheran orthodoxy
that
is
Mittelalter." p. vi.
period
Long past
VM em
"
3-i.
INTKOD.j
93
link
art,
break away from the narrow apologetic and polemic interest of a parti
cular confession or party, the colored spectacles of which allow but a
dim and partial view of the Saviour
s majestic
wish to be
person.
truth
of
and
at
the same
the
truth,
impartial
spirit
guided solely by
itself by the simple exhibition of its sub
vindicates
best
time, always
"NVe
human
loveless designs.
own
studio,
in
field
its
this
life
fully
expressed only by
that, consequently,
its
excellencies,
and
reflects, in its
of the Redeemer.
Xeander,
for
his glory.
example, reve
Hence, within
the last thirty years, almost every nook of church history has been
the darkest portions have been
searched with amazing industry and zeal
and a mass of treasures brought forth from primitive, me
enlightened
;
dieval,
have begun to perceive, with all esteem for the reformation and its invaluable services
that the Lord has at all times filled his church with his Spirit and his gifts, and that,
even where her skies have been darkened with mist and clouds, he has always been
n<rar
truth."
of
34.
94:
all
and universal
position,
JEXKR.
and
which
see,
how
the
new
ally
field,
For
variegations.
life,
is
continu
new
superstructure.
In truth, the
spirit of the
glorious fulfillment of the precious promise of one fold and one shepherd.
They bear
to each other, in
some
respects,
the relation of direct antagonism, but partly, also, that of mutual com
and are well matched in spirit and learning. They are
(1)
pletion
The school of Sch/ciermacher and Neandcr, with Dr. NEAXDER himself at
:
its
head, as the
"
father of
modern church
history."
logy, as well as
however,
falls
named
is
called,
and
(i)
of which must be
it
the
Not to be confounded with the half crazy Bruno Bauer, whose blasphemous productions on the Gospels and the Acts belong not to the literature of theology, but to
the history of insanity.
35.
INTROD.J
DR. NEANDEK.
95
Since this later school, however, combines with the objective view of his
tory and the dialectic method of the Hegelian philosophy, the elements,
also, of the
it
may
as well havo
35.
School?
his
development of Protes
in the
Semler
in
the eighteenth
dis
Fa
tinguished, even before his death (1850), with the honorary title,
From him we have a large work,
ther of (Modern) Church History."
"
Xext a
on the
special
life
period,
main work. Then, several valuable historical monagraphs our Julian the
Apostate (1812), St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1813. 2nd ed. 1849), the
Gnostic Systems (1818), St. John Chrysostom (1821. 3d ed. 1848), the
Finally some collections
reli
titude
we owe
structors
the
in
Berlin; the
two
we
who were
hist,
previously, in
our respected in
Tii!>iiigen.
it
this
cannot
induce us to withhold a decided and uncompromising protest against the dangerous and
All personal considera
antichristian extravagances of the skeptical school of Baur.
must be subordinated
tions
*
Comp. my
r
18. )l
s
to
"
>-^2)
The
last
to the council of
for January,
2S3 sqq.
Review"
Mercersburg
Kirchenfreuiui
for 1851, p.
(A. D. 1-430),
fragmentary form.
proved edition.
down
"
was pub
left in
a very
rof.
im
96
35.
NEANDER.
DK.
JGEXER
Xeander was fitted, as few have been, for the great task of writing
the history of the church of Jesus Christ.
By birth and early training
an
Israelite,
and of longings
too, full
of childlike simplicity,
youth, an enthusiastic
student of the Grecian philosophy, particularly of Plato, who became,
for him, as for Origen and other church fathers, a scientific schoolmaster,
to bring
him to Christ
he had, when
in his
in
Heathenism
of Judaism and
ty
in their direct
his
own way
Jesus Christ
is
a position, whence
the centre of
ity,
all
history,
Richly endowed
eunuch from his mother
sake
in
(Mait. 19
vanities of
life
12)
for the
kingdom of heaven
1812 to 1850,
in
make
his
In theology, he was at
a pupil of the
first
all.
1
Even
in the
The
favorite study.
its
significant
reference,
his
"
him
in so entirely or
with such
full
reverence.
It is
wonderful
how
he has become
all
til s, so perfectly
With
little
with sovereign
it
from Plato.
contempt."
"
the*
Kirchenfreund," 1. c. p.
Comp
On
to look
education, see
286 sqq.
especially Neander
s article
DR. NEANDER.
35.
INTROD.l
i>7
tic and fatalistic elements which had adhered to the system of his master
from the study of Spinoza, and which, it must be confessed, bring it, in
a measure, into direct opposition to the simple gospel and the old faith of
he was,
For Schleiermacher
more than
own
his
in
church history
though, by his spiritual intuitions, he
the
latter
science also a quickening influence.
on
exerted
undoubtedly
of
his
from
the
Thus,
public labors, Xeander appeared ag
beginning
in
and
trine history.
and greatest merit consists in restoring the religious and p medue prominence, in opposition to the coldly intellectual
and negative critical method of Rationalism
yet without thereby
His
first
in the least
wronging
even
in
declares
"
Christ,
first
volume of
it
as
life,
his
lie
True, he is
warning, sounding through all ages, for all, who will hear."
With the church fathers, in particular,
second to none in learning.
Ami
years of intercourse had made him intimately familiar.
though, from his hearty dislike for all vanity and affectation, he never
makes any parade with citations, yet, by his pertinent ami conscientinus
many
sources
hand
but
any
in their
scientific historian
happy power
But he
diffuses
through
all his
himself, vol.
raacher.
in the
I.,
"
Deutsche
Zeitschrift,"
deeply
established
by Dr.
and
9$
35.
DR. NEANDER.
motto
Pcctus
;
1
[OENBH
for his
works
a
quod theologum facit.
gives
of
modern
over
the
the
as
Tubingen school,
productions
great advantage
well as over the text book of Gieseler, which, in learning and keen
research, is at least of equal merit
though in the case of the lattei
:
est
his
pursues a different
in part
dry skeleton of his text. Xeander moves
through the history of the church in the spirit of faith and devotion
The one lives in his
Gieseler, with critical acumen and cold intellect.
object,
life
in the
movements from a
and
suffers
with them
This
spirit
animates Neauder
historical
and
rules his
Neander
From
these historians
tific
own
differs,
traces the
life
in the
unbroken
line of the
From
the
theologian,"
ing weal or
1
woe
of undying souls.
True. Gieseler also demands, in the church historian, "the spirit of Christian
and on the right ground
because we can never obtain a just historical appre
piety
;"
is
certainly
little
Among
all
and
35.
MTKOD.J
DR. KEANDER.
99
go
is
"With
not in the service of this or that party, but in the sole interest of truth,
and in an unprejudiced, living reproduction, the theology of the church
This he did
fathers in their conflict with the oldest forms of heresy.
his
he
drew
a
In
first in his monographs.
Tertulli/in,
picture of the
African church of the second and third centuries, and taught the true
value, hitherto so much mistaken, of this rough, but vigorous Christian,
of the crusades,
bloom
much
same Christ
He
in
lie
felt
them
drawn from
work,
of the Catholic
decried.
thus at
home
little
all,
known and
so
in all periods,
By
such sketches,
in his large
life,
contributed mightily to burst the shackles of Protestant preju
and bigotry, and to prepare the way, in some measure, for a mutual
understanding between Catholicism and Protestantism on historical
dice
ground.
He
And
"
in these
En
Jesus-Christ tou/es
great antagonisms
in
Ics
contradictions sont
Comp. the
closing words of his History of the Apostolic Church, and the Dedication
volume of
his
larger
work
to
SchelHng, where he
development an
His
foreign to him.
barrier
ultra-Protestant and
against
individual personality
for
DK. NEANDEK.
35.
100
sectarian bigotry,
is
lost
no
less
than
in the authority of
the general.
dom
and
sanctifies
Hence
Hence
them.
of development,
and
his
monographic
to
enmity
literature,
constraint
which
and
free
and uniformity.
sets a
he goes into all the circumstances of the men and systems he unfolds, :o
whatever nation, time, or school of thought they may belong setting
;
them
image of
God
accounts for
in the persons of
the
esteem and
far as
difference
allows,
among
itself.
us,
Roman
Catholic church
word
and as such, he
mission to
still
has,
by
his writings,
fulfill.
said
the fairest
tire,
DR. NEANDER.
35.
;NTOD.]
101
lift
and
genetic
d*
The
practical element
Neander
Christianity as such.
is
scientific
and
is
is
scientific, because
he
is
Christian.
This
work
is
be expected, where the work has to do with Christianity and its history.
church historian
And this gain, therefore, ought never to be lost.
without faith and piety can only set before us, at best, instead of the
without seeing eye or feeling
living body of Christ, a cold marble statue,
heart.
But a perfect church history calls for more than this. While we re
spect and admire in Xeander the complete blending of the scientific ele
ment with the Christian, we miss, on the other hand, its union with the
churchly.
By
we mean,
this
treatment of the
life
first,
canon (the First Epistle to Timothy, the Second Epistle of Peter, and
the Apocalypse), which, though by no means rationalistic, are yet rather
toe loose and indefinite, and involve, in our judgment, too
Leben Jesu
is,
criticism.
Of
many and
all his
works,
perhaps, in this respect, the farthest from satisfying the
demands
word
it.
But the
is
more or
ness,
.-,
and
realistic
102
DK. NEANDER.
35.
[GENEK
tory,
realistic
element in such
and even
in the
men
as
popes and
logical intelligence
ment of
men
But, in the
history.
first
place,
His pre
that the kingdom of God forms itself from individuals,
and therefore, in a certain sense, from below upwards that, as Schleierof
constitutions, that
vailing view
is,
is,
macher once
said,
appears to
it
us,
of
Gnosticism, especially of
Marcion,
Hence
his
all
heretical
for
clearly rest
on the most
the
love of justice,
patron of sects, the pietistic Arnold, still often running into injustice to
the historical church. Hence his undisguised dislike for all that he com
prehends under the phrase, re-introduction of the legal Jewish ideas into
the Catholic cihurch, including the special priesthood and outward ser
vice ; this he thinks to be against the freedom advocated by St. Paul
and the idea of the universal priesthood, (which, however, even under the
Old Testament, had place along with the special
9
comp. 1 Pet. 2
:
with Ex. 19
ism
fit
least
6)
though he
an important
is
office
Teutonic nations.
Dr. Baur, in his Epochen, p. 218. remarks, that this favorite category of a transfer
of Old Testaifient institutions to Christian soil, which Neander applies to episcopacy,
to the papacy of the Middle Ages, amount? to nothing
never returns in histoiy, without becoming, at the same Jme, some
what
is past,
Hence
him, savors of
bol-worship."
"
bondage to the
On
Lutheranism
There was
sent.
"
mechanism of
this, to
"
sym
we must, indeed, regard him as mainly
who would absolutely repristinate some parti
letter,"
forms,"
103
in
DR. NEANDER.
g 35.
NTROD."|
Form
the
of
it*
macher
is
tends,
The freedom,
and with
religion,
in Schleier-
his half-Gnostic
ultra Rationalism.
ness
false
and
for
Quakerish, and other dangerous errors with the mantle of charity. Much
we respect the noble disposition, from which this springs, we must still
as
never forget the important principle, that true freedom can thrive only in
the individual, only in due subordination to the
the sphere of authority
and
that
general
genuine catholicity is as rigid against error, as it is
;
liberal
In the mind, at
least, of the
This
is
as necessarily
less mutually
whole ancient Eastern
Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine, Athanasius, Chrysostoin, Anselm, Bernard, &c., even according to Neandcr s own repre
sentations of them.
title
of his
large
work
"
General
History of the Christian Religion and Church," seems to involve the idea,
to which a one-sided Protestant view of the world may easily lead, that
there
is
On this point
a Christian religion out of and beside the church.
but we think that such a separation can
positive decision
we venture no
In this war with the Hegelian philosophy and its panlogism, he frequently gave
way, occasionally in his prefaces, but oftener in private conversation, to an impatience
and vehemence, which seemed inconsistent with his usual calmness and gentleness.
We
remember
104
DK. NEANDEE.
35.
JGENEB.
"
must
reveal,
body
whether
it
ghost or Gnostic
soul
sinks
without
the
into a corpse.
body
as certainly as the
phantom,
Meanwhile we hold to the maxim
and where
grace
With
Where Christ
the church
is,
there also
is,
there also
is the.
ana
t<gcther,
eander
Is
is
let
not
less closely
connected
several other
Xeander
subordinate defects.
is
life,
in the
In this he has,
in general,
at once in his sections on the constitution of the church, where the subject
treated, even in the
is
first
and
which,
political aspect of
keen eye.
little
notice of small
In which case the Bible and Tract Societies, for example, (or, according to Dr
Rothe, the State), would assume the functions of the ministry, and instead of being in
the church, as auxiliary associations, would usurp its place, and make it no longer neces
1
sary.
We
are of opinion, however, that Tract Societies and other such voluntary asso
they should go beyond their original sphere., and seek to put
ciations, in proportion as
in. the place of the church of God, would lose the confidence of the sound
Christian public and the blessing of heaven.
.hemselves
a
Coleridge
somewhere remarks
p.
"
delusion."
fine article
on Neander in the
"
Studien und
Kritiken."
T88, likewise notices this honorable defect of his character, and adds
"
The
1851
othei
35.
DK. NEANDEE.
105
he enters the move carefully into the deeper and nobler springs of actions
For the superficial pragmatism of his instructor, Planck,
events.
and
who
often derives the most important controversies from the merest acci
dents and the most corrupt sources, he thus substitutes a far more spirit
ual and profound pragmatism, which makes the interest of religion the
main factor
more
church history.
in
kingdom
of
God
is
in the
world
it is
which he has
work
My
kingdom
is
tullian,
and
others,
art, so prostituted to
if
the
humble
This, indeed,
is
He
favorite thoughts.
"for
the glo
;"
dle course
But a
them.
sphere of
full
human
tecture, music,
show
of the medieval
work.
In this respect he
less spiritual
is
far surpassed
the
first
by the
is
though much
spirited,
body of church
is
who was
Hasc,
all
Catholic worship,
But Neauder
indifference
by
his
is
found, perhaps in
Gfrarer, who
or, as
he
gians."
Kirt itngeschichte,
II. p.
400.
DE. NEANDEK.
35.
106
[GENER
"
s style.
His writing moves along with heavy uniformity and wearisome verbosity,
without any picturesque alternation of light and shade, without rhetorical
elegance or polish, without comprehensive classification like a noiseless
stream over an unbroken plain. Thus far it can by no means be recom
;
mended
its
as a
model of
historical delineation.
perfect naturalness,
its
it
its
calm presenta
and faithfully
his humility.
cy of a Macaulay.
But, in spite of all these faults, Neander, still remains, on the whole,
beyond doubt the greatest church historian thus far of the nineteenth cen
Great, too, especially in this, that he never suffered his renown to
obscure at all his sense of the siufulness and weakness of every human work
tury.
in this world.
ed himself
as,
With
all his
among many
between an old world and a new, about to be called into being by the ever
For the fourth time an epoch in the life of
our race
is
in preparation
when
God
life
and science
shall
To the school
fire."
Preface to the second edition of his ^Htignofticut, Geist des Tertullian, p. XI. Comp.
the striking remarks of Hagenbach, 1. c. p. 589, who rightly demands, for the perfection
of historical science, that
"
it
should catch upon the mirror of the fancy, from real life,
all times
copy the past with artistic freedom create
were, anew; breathe into the conditions of by-gone days a fresh life, yet, with
out allowing itself to be blinded by their charms. This is the union of poetry with
it,
as
it
history, towards
9
to his
friend,
Miiller. in the second edition of his Tertullian. written a year before his death
like you,
we know
man
is
worthy of
sinners,"
Dr. Julius
Although
that in all
known
NEANDEK AND
35.
.MTROD.j
in the
field
HIS SCHOOL.
101
KEL,
Jacobi,
Guericke, Lindner and Kurtz have already been mentioned the others
have written valuable contributions to various branches of historical litera
;
Germany
But
long suffered.
still
more distinguished
still
more
his
and
From
is
before
the.
calm
classic
this
phy.
a general church history, which, as to form, and style, would
undoubtedly
greatly surpass that of Neauder.
Among
yet
made church
lin,
Centuries,
not a
man
he has an uncommonly keen eye for details and individuals, and is, in this
respect, akin to the school of Schleiermacher, and still more to Dr. Uase.
With
this
he combines
fine
the power
to reveal the most secret springs of historical movements, and that, too,
in part from original unprinted sources, especially from accounts of embass
And
Macaulay.
"
108
DK BAUE.
36.
Dr. Baur.
36.
Pantheistic Rationalism
[GENER.
the
This philosophy carries out in all directions, and brings into wellthough, at the
proportioned shape the fundamental views of Schelling
same time, it is, in a high degree, independent, and a wonderful monu
phy.
ment
of comprehensive knowledge,
antagonism to the
To
arbi
trary self-will
it
exists),
powers
rational world-spirit,
plishment of
religion,
though
reasonable.
is
its
plans.
and ascribes
in
Holy Ghost,
which makes use of
agency of higher
individual
men
yet of a
for the
accom
philosophical truth
and scientific interest. Thus arise from the Hegelian philosophy two
a positive and a negative
a churchly
very different theological schools
and an autichristian. -They are related to one another as the Alexan
;
who brought
Christian
1
nitz.
religion,
Hegel bears the same relation to Schelling, as Aristotle to Plato, as Wolf to Leib
What the latter have produced, the former have systematized and logically com
pleted.
That such
109
DR. BAUK.
36.
fNTROD.]
called the
As
Tubingen school.
philosopher
all
Christ-party
in
school, which
in the
criticism
Corinth,
a formal
historical,
or
rather unhistorical,
far outstripped
is,
after
all,
con
siderable scientific difference between the older and the later Rationalism
in
although,
come to the same
Christianity."
human
when
common
name, rationnlismus communis or vtilgans], and employs, accordingly, a tolerably popular, but exceedingly
The more refined Rationalism deals with the specu
dry, spiritless style.
understa-uding, (whence
lative reason,
scientific
and clothes
terminology
its
its
and dexterous
logic.
The former
is
deistic,
Die Chr-.ttuspartei in der korinthitrhfn Gcmeinde, der Gegentat: det petrinitche n und
ologie/
"Tiibinger
Zeitschrift fur
The-
1S31, No. 4.
8
Just in proportion as the speculative Rationalism is popularized, it sinks to the levfl
of the vulgar.
It ill becomes the Hegelians, therefore, to look down, with their
super
cilious scientific contempt, upon the latter.
110
DR. BAUK.
36.
intercommunion of both.
and
the world,
The
Ebionistic heresy
latter
is
human
ieifying the
the other, to
pantheistic, confounding
God and
free
Protestantism
itself,
and must,
as well as Catholicism.
BAUR,
in virtue
which require a
The extent
is
really astonishing.
of his
we have from
of the
Dogma
all
much under
own
false preconceptions,
to claim justly
all
"
its
investiga
seeking to over
This operation was
Christianity
Leben
Jesu,"
leaning towards the Christian faith, and a full bias towards unbelief, which
him for any right apprehension or representation of the life of Jesus.
Absolute freedom from prepossession, in an author of any character, is a sheer impossi
from
all
wholly
unfits
and absurdity. The grand requisite for the theologian is, not that he have no
preconceptions, but that his preconceptions be just, and such as the nature of the case
demands. Without being fully possessed, beforehand, with the Christian faith, a man
bility
can rightly understand neither the Holy Scriptures nor the history of the church.
publicly
of
Baur
Hi
DE. BAUR.
g 36.
INTROD.]
a younger pupil
master in his
his
Lebcn Jesu, which astounded the world in 1835. In this book, he reduces
the life of the Godman, with icy, wanton hand, to a dry skeleton of
everyday history, and resolves all the gospel accounts of miracles, parti)
unconsciously
about
a pleasing dream
air-castle, built
a tragi-comedy,
entitled
"
on pure
Much ado
nothing."
The same
employ upon the inspired biographies of the Saviour, Bum and several
of his younger disciples have applied to the Acts of tin- Apostles, and to
to
community, Christianity was only a perfected Judaism, and hence ess iiPaul,
tially the same as the Ebionism afterwards condemned as heresy.
no one knows how lie came to be ;:n
the Apostle of the Gentiles,
.
was the
first
to
emancipate
and that
too, in
apostles, particularly to
Christianity.
collision at
Of
apostolic
as a
it
new and
peculiar
Peter,
the
Antioch, (Gal. 2
it
at Jerusalem,
especially
intentionally
in its
description of the
conceals the difference.
This latter production, falsely attributed to Luke, was not written till
and then, not from a purely
towards the middle of the second century
historical interest, but with the twofold apologetic object of justifying
;
the Apostle of the Gentiles against the reproaches of the Judaizers, and
reconciling the
112
DK. BATIK.
36.
Christian position
and
[GElfER.
Paul as much as possible to Peter, or, which is the same thing, to the
A similar pacific design is ascribed to the
Ebionites and Judaizers.
epistles of
second century
all
New
Testament, Baur
At
two chapters.
fourth Gospel
which, however,
is,
John
tle
obscure nobody
And
it is
tic school,
with
its critical
acumen and a
point, where, in its mockery of all outward historical testimony, its pal
pable extravagance, and violation of all sound common sense, it confutes
itself.
The
"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools."
Christianity of Peter
that
it
genuine and reliable testimony of the apostolic and old catholic church is
and, on the other hand, the self-contradictory,
rejected or suspected
heretical productions of the second century, Ebionistic and Gnostic
;
whims and
of primitive Christianity
respect,
tions,
ism,
Alagus
tianity
is,
and of that,
In truth. Baur and
ancient Gnosticism;
Pauline form.
heathen, pseudo-
DR. BAUR.
36.
INTROD.j
their philosophy
and
German
Protestantism.
The only
difference is, that they are pure theorists and scholars of the
while at least the more earnest of their predecessors joined with
their fantastic speculations a rigid asceticism
seeking, by an unnatural
study
systems.
Marcion,
this
man
was
It
His
is
much
of the soul.
affinity
Marcion retained
s epistles
in his
though ht
it of
pretended
Jewish interpolations. But Baur rejects all the Gospels, the Acts, alJ
and then these four
the General Epistles, and all but four of Paul s
in
h<
Its investiga.
no doubt, meet the fate of the old Gnostic heresies.
and
with
will
act
tious
fertilizing power upon the church
stimulating
will,
and defense
ci
it
will
method
is
lik
dry up
the streams of the desert, and figure hereafter only in the history of lu
man
The fundamental
and
its
Here
But
older Rationalism.
cal ground-work.
this school
differs
it
in having a philosophi
works of Semler, Ilcnke, Gibbon,
of God in history
&c., on an abstract Deism, which denies the presence
of
the
a
denial
or
but upon a logical Pantheism,
persnimlitij of God, which
man.
Baur
it
in
Xeander
for recognizing
doctrine history
and claims
for
himself the
merit of having advanced this branch of history from the empiric method
to the speculative, and of having found, in the idea of the spirit, the
What,
then,
is
this
spirit,"
this
"dogma,"
Had the late Dr. Mohler lived to see the subsequent course of his former colleague
and opponent in Tubingen, he would have found in him a strong confirmation of the
he draws in his able Symbolifi..
parallel between Protestantism and Gnosticism, which
1
27, p.
*
Baur
Comp., also
DR. BAUK.
36.
114:
[GEXER
which, according to his ever recurring high sounuhg, but pretty empty
unfolds itself in the bound
terminology, "comes to terms with itself,"
"
Is
?"
Of
itself
up again into
it
tory
No
They amount
to nothing, but bare formulas of the logical understanding, abstract categoriec, Gnostic
phantoms.
mere
to this school, a
itself
a tedious
fine logical
The
mechanism of
dialectic
method
is,
according
"
reeling off of a
thread
;"
pantheism.
ries upon the mystery of the Incarnation, the Trinity, the Atonement,
results merely in the philosophical formula of the identity of thought and
being, the finite
and the
infinite,
Thus withers,
a green
oasis,
of course, in
But
has no solid ground, and sets at defiance all the laws of history.
even the purely doctrinal investigations of Baur, highly as we are willing
to rate their other scientific merits, need complete revision.
For, in
terested only in speculation, he turns even the church fathers, the school
men
speculators
ground
and Schleiermacher,
and
into critics
sunders
;"
its
opinions, of
This
is
his
Gnosticism had
Symbolik (1834),
developed
fully
der kirklichrn
Here apply,
1st
diirrer
Von
Uric?
rings
umber
liegt
Heide
im Kreis herum
srhone grime
gefiihrt,
Weide."
The
Geschi<:htschreibur>j;
247 sqq.
1
itself.
36.
DK. BAdR.
115
Such assistance
infidelity.
Baur has
since
limits of history.
He
"
its
negative aspect.
Protestant
is
says he,
;"
"
cal authority
itself.
exists
this
Ac
yet, in his system, this is saying very little or nothing.
cording to the whole texture of his views, as above explained, the history
of Protestantism is a progressive dissolution of the church, as such
till,
manent
Holy
human
them
but our own natural, helpless selves, with that empty notion
to God, with which the fearful tragedy of the fall began.
the legitimate and necessary result of this negative Protestantism
us,
of likeness
This
is
This extensive literature of modern philosophical and critical antichristianity would be absolutely disheartening, and would awaken the most
^
gloomy anticipations for Protestantism, which imbosoms it, and even toler
ates some of its champions in her chairs of theology, were we not assured,
1
"
has become,
f itself
it
riddle,
Catholicism."
its
if,
to
be what
consciousnew
J16
GENE*.
MAKHEIKEKE.
37.
appears
in the exegetical
and
Nay,
As
churchly theology.
phically refuted
Strauss
Tubingen
school,
"Lebcn Jesu"
Planting and Training of the Church), fiunsen (on the Ignatian epistles,
and on Hippolytus), Tkiersc/i, (on the Formation of the New Testament
Canon, and on the Apostolic church), and others. But certainly no work
has yet appeared, which fully sets forth the whole history of the early
church in its organic connection, with steady reference to these modern
errors.
Leo.
37. Marheineke.
The
Rothe.
Dorner
Thiersch.
Recapitulation.
right or conservative
them more or
less vio
lence
by
at the
of
the
4 volumes, 2nd
ed. Berlin,
1831- 34.
sources, and
LEO.
37.
fNTROD.]
117
its
in
kind,
is
which his
is
"Dogmatik"
German
national, old
also
won
clothed,
and
style
all
and
is
distinguished for
its
genuine
thoroughly
German Luther.
Marheineke has
especially
by
his
system of Catholicism,
(3 vols. 1810-13).
As
the
and concerns
itself
With
the
and a very
however,
theology, a confused
in
jurist,
compound
But on the same ground the method of history, started by Hegel, may
also, to some extent, a tendency towards
be considered as involving
Catholicism.
By
its
objective character
it is
method
of
the
school
of
We
a model of purely
monograph on Anselm of Canterbury
historical
clear
and
and
representation, supe
minute, yet living
objective
rior to Neander s Bernard.
BASSE
The
first
weep:
in
life,
113
church
and native
iuality
[GEN* a
EOTHE.
37.
altogether threw
his name.
Leo, a mai of grtat origand
but
force,
prone to extravagance,
rough, unsparing,
off,
it
is
true,
in
later
life,
meant by
these objective forces, not dialectic forms and notions, but concrete reali
ties, laws and institutions of the personal, Christian God, which to resist
and guilt, which to obey is man s true freedom, honor, and glory
the will of God, not the
regards history as proceeding from above
popular will, and least of all the individual, as its motive power. Hence
sin
is
He
movement.
Leo
view of history
is
He
tism.
of
feels it to
modern Europe,
single
Luther,
whom
he much resembles
in
temperament, though
his
wrath
is
true in the past, and yet, at the same time, stand on peculiar and higher
ground.
Anticipations of such an advancement appear, also, in the works of
the two professors of theology in Bonn, Dr. R. ROTHE, and Dr. J. A.
DORNER, whom we consider the most important speculative divines of the
1
Hengstenberg.
absolutistic in
who
"Evang. Kirchenzeitung"
like himself,
taste,
with which,
in
German
of tis friend
theologians.
KOTHE.
g 37.
day.
and ethical
fields,
(especially llothe)
119
dogmatic
but they merit the most houoro
speculative theology,
we here put
and
first
though
in
many
ment
its
(what
is
and exclusiveness.
It
comes
influence
in the first
of
Ignatius, Irenaeus,
particularly through
Cyprian and Augustine, and lay at the bottom of the whole conception
This conclusion, if true, must have a
of Christianity in those days.
centuries,
"
final
is
now
far
His
continuation he has unfortunately been obliged, thus far, to withhold from the
on account of the almost universal opposition to his view of the relation of
church and state.
The
public,
to
Mohlers
"Unity
of the
Church,"
his
work,
a production,
which,"
never return without joyfully admiring its original, profound, and, in the
main, true conception of the inmost self-consciousness of the primitive church. I erhaps this expression is not the only one, which might draw upon me the charge cf
I will never allow myself to be intimidated by such a reportCatholicizing.
partiality,
"I
120
ROTHE.
37.
[v,ENSR
commend
"
is
to the consideration
and authority
reality
glory and
that
He
power."
it
Reformation of
the sixteenth century was a shock to the whole institution of the church
in its previous form, a serious breach in its
unity and catholicity
and, at
the same time, he rejects the distinction of a visible and invisible church,
;
passes into the more perfect form of the kingdom of God, that is,
This result, moreover,
according to Rothe, an ideal state, a theocracy.
it
is
till
Rothe here
ed by Christianity.
the state
ing
idealizing
not indeed as
it,
it,
it
from Hegel
overstrained idea of
;
kingdom of God
starts
consider
however, even far more than Hegel
now is, but as it will one day be, (?) the most
and identifying
it
This
itself.
is
i. e.
consequence of the
Reformation,"
is,
1. c.
p. 103,
and unity, which is absolutely essential to the church." But the Protestants, Rothe
goes on to say, being unwilling to relinquish entirely this old hallowed notion of a
sought a substitute for it, and thus hit upon the idea
they transferred all those glorious predicates of unity,
universality, holiness, and apostolicity, which they denied to the historical and visible
Roman Catholic church. This whole Protestant conception of an invisible church,
Rothe
tion
;"
saints,
to this
calls, p. 109,
as
we
it is
believe, a very important truth tt the bottom of that old protestant distinction
IN TROD.
DOBNEB.
37.
121
Christianity could perpetuate itself without the church, which, St. Paul
tells us, is
we too
True,
filleth all
in all.
can never
as time in eternity.
are assured
shall
forever.
From
all
other
scientific
At
lie-
makes
it
Similar in
merely of science, but also of the church.
work of
is
the
but
not
so
full
and
and
contents,
satisfactory,
spirit
GEORGE AUGUSTUS MEIER on the history of the doctrine of the Trinity,
also, a
(1844), in part,
Baur
work on
In
Dr.
1
This
is
connection
this
HENRY W.
J.
iKtrt.Tjoia
gi Vf,
from
merely
flaart.eia
to the
$eot>,
time of
Here
also, indeed,
Rothe.
conflict.
But
perish, to
make room
remarks on
p. 17! sqq.
and of
many
him upon
"
this
18,
this borders
According to Rothe s
against it.
our Lord the declaration, that the church, founded by
jcal tradition
proposes to distinguish
~v}.ai afiov ov KaTiaxvoovaii,
p. 93,
Baur and
tlic
ing works
[GKNER
TIIIEKSCH.
37.
122
ness and impatient haste, has resigned his professorship at Marburg and
Of all Protestant sects, this is the most churchly,
joined the Irvin gilts.
church, with
and with
its
churches into this community, to save them from the approaching judg
ment and preparation for the glorious return of the Lord. Thiersch is
;
related to this
so-called
"
Apostolic
Community,"
as the
essentially
it
clear, elegant,
and noble
style,
classical
in
This work has been already translated into English by an Irvingite The
History
I.
The Church in the jipostolic Jlge. By Henry W. J.
Thiersch. Dr. of Phil, and Theol
Translated from the German by Thomas
Carlyle. Lon
don. Bosworth. 1852.
The work seems designed for general circulation, and is clothed,
:
preface, to bring
down
It
is
Chalcedon. A. D. 451.
4
37.
ISTROD.J
his extensive
123
THIERSCH.
in the
and thorough acquaintance with patristic literature
deep and warm, though sometimes enthusiastic and visionary
;
lovely spirit of
which breathes in all his writings ; and in his mild, irenic, concili
atory posture towards the great antagonism of Catholicism and Protest
Even his latest work, the history of the Apostolic Church, is,
antism.
not a part of his new activity, as pastor in the
as he himself says,
piety,
"
it
and
theology.
it is
to be expected, that;
some
will exert
influence on
German
church, though the system itself shared the inevitable fate of sects, death,
We
have now traced the history of our science down to the labors of
We
at another,
entirely or in part, in the fetters of a philosophical system
with free, untrammelled spirit, endeavoring to apprehend and do justice
:
its
own
peculiar nature
We
have observ
faithfully
fulness
life
of Jesus Christ, as
it
question of
all
and
his
church, in relation as
\icism
and Protestantism
Unite, now, the most extensive and thorough learning with the simple
piety and tender conscientiousness of a Xeander, the speculative talent and
Nothing, therefore, can be more shallow and unjust, than to dismiss the entile Gei
a few vague expressior s and magisteria. judgments, as we regre
done by
many
of our
American
journals.
124
fine
38.
JGENKR.
Rase
we
say, in one
person, free from all slavery to philosophy, yet not disdaining to employ it
thankfully in the service of Scriptural truth
pervaded and controlled bj
;
living faith
for
spirit
suffering,
ideal of a Christian
in
which, indeed,
to which
all,
The
latest
America.
and Prescott
in
Guizot
in
It
is
now, however,
beginning to receive renewed
partly, on
account of the need which the various churches and their theological
and partly, on account of the
institutions begin, of themselves, to feel
attention in these countries
German
literature.
The
is
interest
in the
evidently growing
every year, especially in England and North America, and will, in time,
Such a result is the more desira
undoubtedly, produce abundant fruit.
ble, since the
German church
sive
have given
it
which does
to the English
its
share of attention
full justice
fill
an important vacancy
of theological literaiure.
1. FRANCE.
The later theological productions of the French Reformed
?hurch are almost entirely dependent, in the sphere of science, on the
125
IN FRANCE.
.NTROD.]
The only
Germans, and in the practical department, on the English.
a
church
besides
s
works
on
translation
of
Xeander
history,
prominent
History of the Apostolic Church, are those of MATTER in Strasburg, and
MERLE in Geneva. The former has written a general history of tho
of
MERLE
of our day,
is
Geneva on account
by
which,
its
of
its
theological
theological publications,
of Calvinism.
spirit
apostasy to Sociiiiauisni
is
Merle
claiir.s
nothing new
Hagenbach,
in
this field.
They
present, therefore,
which, in fact,
it
make
all
possible,
and truthfulness of
his narrative
gives
many
facts
Histoire universelle, de
IV, 1S40.
.
^GrowotJ.,
eglise chretierme.
Baum, commonly
P. Hofsttede de Groot
to
The author himself tells us in the Preface to the fourth volume, that from
200,000 copies of his work have been sold in the English language alone.
150,OOC
126
33.
Another
him
Protestants,
his
book
itself
On
characteristic
[oENER
his
in
tions
and views,
The
ality of a historian.
and
of
in this case
all
effect,
evidently written the history of the Reformation not for its own sake and
sine ira ct studio, but for the sake of combatting Catholicism
and hence
;
his
work, with
all its
who
kingdom
2.
God on
of
brilliant
is
and other
style
his Protestant
earth.
attained
in these countries,
and,
much
ten, also, in
lish Tacitus.
1
is,
The well-known
his transition to
Rome,
but the chief, perhaps the only English writer, who has any claim to be con
sidered an ecclesiastical historian, is the infidel Gibbon."
Essay on tfie Development o
o say
it,
The ground
of this he
"finds
in the unhistori-
"Our pop
(which, however, cannot include Germany)
ular religion," says he,
of the twelve long ages, which lie
"scarcely recognizes the fact
bttweer. the councils of Nicaea and Trent, except as affording one or two passages to
illustrate its
St.
Paul and
St.
John."
ix
IXIROD.J
We
mean,
first,
This work
127
is
founded on indepen
dent study, but, in general, treats its subject in quite an outward mechan
It abandons,
ical way, and does not rise above the position of Mosheim.
for
it
a
and
substitutes
much
more natu
however, the centurial division,
the
the history before the Reformation into five periods
to
the
the
third,
second,
;
Charlemagne
ral division of
first,
to the death of
Gregory VII.
VIII.
to the Reformation.
we
the
refer, is
the
fifth,
centuries, but
account of the
work.
life
is
new.
of civilization on Christianity,
influence
civilization."
same
at the
contains,
to which
It comprises only
MILMAN."
time,
an extended
reciprocal
five
first
it
much
to describe
"
the
of Christianity on
and doctrine
is
is
The
third
to men-
Second ed. 6
History of the Church from the earliest ages to the Reformation.
In 1841, Dr. Waddington, (Dean of Durham) published a /// *vols. London, 1830.
1
Episcopal
2
ism
German reformer
is,
in
many
taste.
The History of Christianity, from the Birth of Christ to the Abolition of Pa^ai:
in the Roman Empire
by the Rev. H. H. Milman, Prebendary of St. Peter s and
;
York.
The
18-14.
peared.
s,
Westminster.
New
Milman, who.
like
Waddington, belongs
known by
to the established
church of England,
a.
this edition of
Gibbon
is
nance/
8
servations
un-vorthy and timid suspicion, with which the writers of that country are proscribed
by many. I am under too much obligation to their profound research and philosophi
cal tone of
thought not openly to express my gratitude to such works of German
writers as
uaui:ies.
I
I
to obtain
128
38.
[GENEE
tion, is that
its
volume
For
first
is
and the second goes back to give the history from the
week of Daniel
The whole would have wound up
to the seventieth
The study
theology
general within the last twenty years by the important AngloCatholic movement of Puseyism or Tractamanism, which originated in
the University of Oxford in 1833, and in a short time spread through
in
the whole Episcopal church of England and America, and brought per
haps half her clergy to the brink of Romanism. The study of the
church fathers was revived. Translations of them and compilations from
them, and even a translation of Fleury s Church History, were prepared,
and the history of the first five centuries variously elucidated in the cele
brated
"
Times,"
and
also in
semi-Romish system.
But this
of
ecclesiastical
and
the
that
its
antiquity,
discovery,
prevail
very study
ing spirit was far more akin to Catholicism, than to Protestantism, con
in favor of this
pages 618.
the
common
One
in
New
York, 1S45.
Dr. Jarvis comes to the conclusion that Christ was born six years before
Christian era, and, in all probability, on the 25th of Dec., and that he was
belief."
of the
months
old, at the
sive are the Origines Liturgicae, or the Antiquities of the English Ritual, (2 vols. 4th ed.
London, 1845), and j2 Treatise on the Church of Christ, (likewise in 2 vols.) by the same
author.
IN
iNTROD.]
Newman, and a
128
considerable number of
Roman
Catholicism.
On
the other hand, however, Puseyism has roused also the zeal and
literary activity of the low-church party in the Episcopal body, and has
called forth, in particular, a historical work, which we must not fail to
mention here, on account of its extensive patristic learning and skillful
We mean ISAAC TAYLOR S Ancient Christianity? In
representation.
this
saints
and
their
wonder-working
relics,
together with
the
in
his
time
to show, that the Nicene age, which the present Puscyites hold up as a
model, and would fain reproduce, was already suffering under almost all
the errors and moral, infirmities of Romanism
nay, that the latter was
;
in
many
which
ly the facts,
Assured
it
it
must
An Essay
1845.
Comp.
27, Supra.
Ancient Christianity and the Doctrines of the Oxford Tracts for the Times.
2 vols. 4th ed. London, 1844.
the author of
Spiritual Despotism."
"*
By
"
"
firmly
believe,"
says Taylor,
"that
it
better fora
community
submit
itself,
Cyril."
130
38.
[<3ENEK
and
main bearers and heroes of Christianity in their day and yet, on the
other, he makes them the originators and grand promoters of the anti;
Christian
Hence,
apostasy.
all
notwithstanding
beautiful
his
anr1
little band by the objectors, were some of them men of as brilliant genius as
any age has produced some, commanding a flowing and vigorous eloquence, some, an
extensive erudition, some, conversant with the great world, some, whose meditations
had been ripened by years of seclusion, some of them the only historians of the times
ed as a
and if we are to
in which they lived, some, the chiefs of the philosophy of their age
speak of the whole, as a body of writers, they are the men who, during a long era of
deepening barbarism, still held the lamp of knowledge and learning, and in fact afford
;
us almost
that
all
we
can
uow know,
rounding the Mediterranean, from the extinction of the classic fire, to the time of its
The church was the ark of all things that had
rekindling in the fourteenth century.
He further says, p. 36 sq.
It will pre
life, during a deluge of a thousand years."
"
sently be
were many of them, Christians not less than ourselves, nay, some of those
who were most deluded by particular errors, were eminent Christians. Nothing is
easier (or more edifying, in the inference it carries) than to adduce instances of exalted
virtue, piety, constancy, combined with what all must now admit to have been an in
caution,
theirs the courage to maintain a good profession before the frowning face of philosophy,
of secular tyranny, and of splendid superstition theirs was abstractedness from the
world, and a painful self-denial theirs the most arduous and costly labors of love
;
example
theirs
was
a reverent and
scrupulous care of the sacred writings; and this one merit, if they had no better, is of
a superlative decree, and should entitle them to the veneration and grateful regards of
little
do
many
merited acknowledgment respecting the church fathers, it belongs to the object of the
whole book, not merely to reduce within proper limits, but formally to undermine,
confidence in the ancient church, which they represented.
After all this, he calls these
same
and
fathers
"the
How these
author of
"
Christianity"
many
to
logically agree,
we must
defects
must be looked
for
somewhere
leave to tht
show.
else,
than in them.
The
"
great apos
IN
INTROD.]
131
it,
Tertullian,
Episcopal church,
which has always laid great stress on its real or supposed agreement
with the Nicene and ante-Nicene age, and hence has far more interest in
3
as
certainly,
in
Macaulay,
Grote, and
modern England
AMERICA,
in her
is
so interwoven
with England and Scotland, that we have already included her in the
foregoing remarks on general church histories in the English language.
its
youthful buoyancy,
it
;
cannot be denied,
3
is
by no means favorable to historical studies in general
and the lamentable division of the church into denominations and sects,
plate history,
The Ecclesiastical History of the Second and Third Centuries illustrated from the
3rd ed.
Writings of Tertullian. By John Kaye, D. D., Lord Bishop of Lincoln.
1
London, 1S4- ).
2
Yet even here there are exceptions
monographs of the
Of
this the
on the
History
Andover,
this science,
18-">1.
and commits
in
"
general,
As
ii.
to
a people
sight
Xeand^r
we
the Science of
Church
are
conception),
more
scientific research.
deficient
We
very
in
justly
historical
live in an earnest
and tumultuous present, looking to a vague future, and comparatively cut off from the
We forget that the youngest people
prolific pastwhich is still the mother of us all.
are also the oldest, and should therefore be most habituated to those
fearless
and rev
is
the
We
from a lively conviction of its inherent worth. History is to us the driest of studies
and the history of the church is the driest of the dry a collection of bare names, and
132
38.
while it
and party representations, and these, it is true, in abundance
contracts and damps all sympathy with the one universal kingdom of
God, the communion of the saints of all ages and climes. Our populai
;
is
espe
in
Middle
the
fact, against
Ages, and,
cially strongly prejudiced against
the whole church before the Reformation back to the second century, on
account of
its
its
and holds
it,
therefore, hardly
worth
while to trouble itself with this portion of history, save perhaps for the
purpose of combatting Rome and finding a solution for some dark
It
prophecies of Paul and John respecting the anti-christian apostasy.
takes the Bible with private judgment as an all-sufficient guide
forget
;
God
is
itself historical
in
;
the next place, that the history of the church, from the time of the
apostles to our own, exhibits, according to our Lord s unfailing promise,
Matt. 16:18. 28
20, the perpetual presence and control of Christ and
:
and actions of
his people, so as to
be
itself the
and
best
ent, also,
all
that.,
we shake
and
facts,
And
lifeless dates.
It is
by mnemonic
helps,"
&c
"
present.
but
it is
"
we have
so far as
any,
is
perpetual
jenewal of attempts, which have a thousand times been proved abortive. Hence the
false position which religion has been forced to assume in reference to various inferio
yet important interests, to science, literature, art, and civil government.
Hence, too,
the barrenness and hardness by which much of our religious literature is distinguished,
because cut off from the inexhaustible resources which can only be supplied by history.
influence of this defect upon our preaching is perhaps incalculable.
But instead
The
of going on to reckon up the consequences of the evil now in question, let us rather
draw attention to the fact that it is not of such a nature as to be corrected by the lapse
of time, but must increase with the increase of ignorance and
lazy pride, especially
when
fostered
progress,
we
who
by a paltry national
declare that history
extra,
is
only
some
fit
for
monks.
by those
To
oracles of hurraa
veins."
IN
1XTROD.]
ENGLAND AM;
133
AilKKICA.
dependent on the whole church and her history, as the branch on the
tree, cr the arm on the body.
In spite of these obstacles, however, there has been, of late years, a
considerable awakening of interest and zeal in the study of church history ;
partly through the influence of German literature, the fruits of which,
both good and evil, are assuming more and more importance as elements
of our higher literary and scientific culture
partly through the moment
;
ous practical significance of the church question, and the growing serious
ness of the contest between Romanism and Protestantism, which must
evidently be decided not merely on dogmatical and exegetical grounds,but
remarkable example of an altogether
also on the field of history.
union
of
the
scientific interest in church history
peculiar and powerful
and
the
communicated from Germany,
practical interest proceeding from
American church
relations,
we
have in the historico-dogmatic and polemic treatises of the pious and learn
ed Dr. JOHN W. NEVIX, some on the Eucharistic controversy of the Re
formation, in opposition to the latent and open Rationalism of modern
and some
times, which degrades the Lord s Supper into an empty sign
and
the
various
between
forms
of exist
difference
the
on
early Christianity
;
ing
Protestantism.
The
latter productions
take a
still
bolder stand
against the Rationalism aud Sectarianism of our age, than the former, and
a more general interest.
They are intended
possess, at the same time,
to show, that the ancient church, the Christianity of the
1
The
of the
Mystical Presence.
Philadelphia, 1846.
Holy Eucharist.
Apostles Creed,
Vindication of
the
of
it
in the
Dr. Nevin
"
Mercersburg
in the
done very much to awaken in this branch of the church a clear consciousness of its origin,
and of its character as a Melancthonian, conciliatroy medium between Lutheranism
and Calvinism.
1
his spirited
we may
say,
alarm
ingly solemn articles on the Jlpostles Creed, Early Christianity, and the Life ami Theology
of Cyprian and his Times, in the first, third, and fourth volumes of the
Mercersburg
Review," (1849, 51, and 52), which have filled many with ihe apprehension, that Dr.
will ultimately despair of Protestantism and go over to Rome
This, however,
he cannot consistently do, so long as he holds his theory of development, which makes
room for different forms and phases of Christianity in the progressive march of the
church.
Those articles in the Mercersburg Review form an interesting parallel to Isaac
Nevin
Taylor
"
Ancient
Christianity."
al
for
historical
i34
38.
1
[OK KB
essentially different
left
Roman
other,
light
Catholic system
which forms
fche
extreme
can be
ity, necessity,
form of the
With these views, however, he thus far stands almost solitary and alone
The prevailing tone of Protestant theology in America is radically antiCatholic, but on this very account fitted, we fear, to call forth, sooner
or later, a mighty reaction in favor of the opposite extreme.
The
historical studies
Hence
the
ing to the maxim : "Westward the star of Empire takes its way," is des
tined to be the main theatre of the future history of the world a: d the
church.
S T
B I
OF THE
APOSTOLIC CHURCH.
A. D. 30-100.
A. D. 30-100.
INTRODUCTION.
THE PREPARATION FOR CHRISTIANITY IN THE HISTORY OF 1KB
WORLD, AND THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF HU.
MANITY AT THE TIME OF ITS APPEARANCE.
the,
To form
of its
especially the
and
condition, of
religious
it
appeared.
Our
is
Jt
a miracle in history.
a new, supernatural creation
Yet its entrance
into the world is historically connected with the whole preceding cour>o
of events.
It took four thousand years to prepare humanity to receive
is
it.
particular time.
Mark
cording to St.
declaration
"When the
"
"
Salvation
(1
The time
is
fulness of
made of a
God
of order
and
fulfilled,
was
22)
and, ac
preaching with the
(John 4
commenced
come,"
"
woman,"
it
his
since Christianity
in
of the
15), Christ
the time
is
made under
is
must have,
is
"
the
law."
at
hand."
God sent
God is a
only
Gal. 4
comp. Eph.
10.
138
fruit,
39.
it fell
when
must
\SI
be
first
tilled
but not
must be viewed
an introduction to
as
this
movements and
him
as their
Around
common
Jesus of Naza
in
Saviour,
all significant
indirectly,
built
upon the
ruins.
Every
religion, so far
God.
And
as this reconciliation
all
as
it
is
religion at
all, is
man
with
ante-Christian history
history, as well
become
sensible
its
deepest wants,
is
The chief agent, besides the people of Israel, in paving the way for
There were, so to
the new dispensation, was the classic Heathenism.
speak, three chosen nations in ancient history, the Jews, the Greeks, and
the Romans ; and three cities of special importance, Jerusalem, Athens,
and Rome.
the
Greeks and Romans, with reference to temporal but time must serve
Greek cultiva
eternity, and earth carry out the designs of heaven.
;
"
says Dr. Thomas Arnold, "and Roman polity prepared men for
The great historian of Switzerland, John von Muller,
Christianity."
tion,"
study of
ancient literature:
after repeated
life,
"When
God,
as
read the
classics, I
for Christianity
made known by
observed
-everything wai
the apostles."
40.
INTROD.]
40.
their
139
Relation to Christianity.
But though both the great religions of antiquity served to prepare the
for Christianity, they did it in different ways.
And of this differ
world
|
I ence we must first take a general view.
JUDAISM
action
life
the
is
religion
of positive,
direct revelation,
in
word and
God
I
I
I self
man, and,
in Christ, takes
spirit.
Not
!
so with
HEATHENISM.
We
which Christianity,
This
is,
intimate,
when he
"to
walk
in their
"
hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their
habitation
after him,
I
that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might fed
and find him, though he be not far from every one of
;
us."
Here, then, the preparation for the Christian religion proceeded from
below, from the wants and powers of man, as he gradually awoke to a
sense of his
own
to show,
what
it
could accomplish in
In Greece and
its fallen state,
with simply the natural gifts of the Creator, in science, in art, in politi
cal and social life.
There was it to be proven, that the highest degree
of natural culture
infinite
desires of the
mind and
heart, but only serves to make them more painfully felt, and to show the
absolute need of a supernatural redemption.
Thus Heathenism, at the
summit of
its
exaltation, confesses
its
own
helplessness,
and
cries despair-
Hence another
distinction
140
40.
form, while
but to
fulfill
man s
original consciousness of
and of man
fication of nature
therefore, opposed to
is,
The
L^E<-
its
the Gospel.
tion of
old dispensation,
it in
when
it
God
(Rom.
19 sqq.), a dei
com
pletion, for
it
the truth, as
To
it is in
Jesus.
cover the
must add to
view
this
In the
first
place,
ment of divine
we
find that
more or
less
human
error
and
we
Christianity
and to
this
part of
it,
also,
therefore,
The heathen
mind
some consciousness of a
still
which made
it
On
this
If you
earth,
you may
find cities
Sooner may a city stand without foundations, than a state without belief
This is the bond of all society and the pillar of all legist
in the gods.
tion."
In
all
Comp.,
7, 8,
32.
Rom.
18-32.
Eph. 2
11-13, where
the heathen are represented as without hope, and without God in the world Eph.
of the heatlen is declared
i
17-19.
Gal. 4 8. Acts 26
18, where the condition
;
:.o
Adv. Colotem
(an Epicurean),
c.
31.
also
Acts 17
30.
1 Pet.
S-5
ji;iii;ui
Behind the
veil of the
and
tales
unknown
the foundation of
is
"
faith in the
141
superstition there
"
HEATHENISM.
AJSTD
sacrifices, to
God
JUDAISM
40.
I.vr::
feeling
all religion.
traditions,
we can
The
God.
in his
is
image, in which
of the divine
man was
created
relics
glimmerings of that
as well as
general revelation, which preceded the calling of Abraham
faint types and unconscious prophecies of the religion of Jesus Christ.
The myths of the Avatars of the descent of the gods to the earth ;
;
and of
fering of Prometheus,
of a divine father
men
and Atonement.
of the
fall
and suf
meets
appear
in all nations
the
and
wants of human
The noblest and most
deepest
times.
nature, as they
effectual
way
of
and
truth, beauty,
not to
virtue, in
Prayer and
Word
refer,
3
;
ol
Athens (Vita
Pericl.
c. 8)
that,
This
is
confirmed by
Quintilian, and
by Suidas.
who
tells
us, that
Pericles
own accord, made processions to the temples, and day and night implored the
gods to protect their native land.
*
So the best defense of the Reformation consists not in a wholesale denunciation of
of their
Medieval Catholicism, as mi Stof our radical anti-popery men believe; but in showing,
whole Middle Age looked towards the Reformation as the necessary result of
that the
its
its
desires.
We
are far
more
Loyoc
r>*
40.
regai i
JTJl
AND HEATHENISM.
A.ISM
[SPEC.
.&
a soul ^atjrally
is
For man
restless,
is
made
truly
as the ful
it,
and
for Christ,
rests in him.
till it
tiles.
shall rise
"
even as thou
wilt,"
woman
to the
"
(Matt. 15
"
woman, great
8
:
shone in the
;
has never
left
himself
lighteth
(Acts 14
He
16, 17).
"
works of
his eternal
(Rom.
excuse,"
that
St. Paul,
externally, in the
man
every
According to
"without witness,"
unto thee
it
"
10).
be
St.
darkness,"
and
9,
thy faith
is
According to
28).
God
who
of Canaan,
1:19-
in their
excusing one
and
another"
(Rom. 2
meanwhile accusing or
else
14, 15).
"
sibility of
covered
in
"
ness,"
(Acts 10
"Testimonia
1
Comp.
the Jews,
35).
Of
who
mean by
that
this,
man
themsc!"es
to
12.
ty
Luke
:
to hurrbl*
10
30 sqq
TXTROD
can at
all fulfill
41.
14S
CTTRI8TIANITY.
for then
Cornelius
heathen.
with honest and earnest longings after salvation, who, like Cornelius,
will readily receive the gospel, as soon as it is brought within their reach,
and
find in
it
satisfaction
and peace.
essential differ
And
these aic
and thus
"in
of twain one
God
new man,
and reconciled
so
making peace
one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
in
;"
himself
"both
thereby,"
unto
(Eph. 2
14-20).
To embody
we may
well compare
Heathen
full
the aurora,
full
Christianity,
aurora
We
its
splendor.
in
first,
to
of cheerful hope
Heathenism
in detail the
then, in Judaism
and
A.
GREECE.
Ancient Hellas
is
that classic
soil,
from which
all
three
history
144
41.
hordes of
astonish
But
to
all
Home
civilization of
over
has
its
its
own
lordly conqueror.
power
poets, philos
the mental training of youth, by being made the basis of the higher
culture in all the colleges and universities of Christendom.
scientific
The
radically mistaken in givingclassical literature so prominent a place in all the higher schools of learn-
ground.
ing,
The
fact can be I
ity
in
the
tiful, rich,
We
1
may
Cf.
say, it
Bockh
it
I.
p.
34 and 40.
41.
INTROD.J
which the golden apple of the gospel should be preserved for all gen
To this end, Providence so ordered, that, by the conquests of
Alexander the Great, and the planting of Greek colonies in the East, as
in
erations
rature and
world.
Through
it
Roman
body
most natural expression
;
to provide for
tf-achers
as
well
Roman
imitators, in these
basis, or, in fact,
The laws of
respects.
phers
Not only by these outward, formal excellencies, however, did Greecebut also by the substance of her culture,
make a path for Christianity
;
The Greek
which, in fact, can never be wholly separated from the form.
writers and artists portray man in his natural state, yet untouched by
the gospel
Refinement (humauitas) is their standing theme. Hence
their
(literae
humaniores).
Know
(yvu-di atavrov),
thyself,"
"
humanities,"
is
the highest
problem of their philosophy. Even their gods are but giant men, embod
iments of the Grecian ideas of power and virtue, but abounding, also, in
weakness and vice. They stand before us, beautiful shapes, risen from
the waste of matter or the foam of the sea, exalted above all the orien
tal
but,
at the
human
All Olympus is but a gallery of genuine Grecian men and women, ele
vated to the region of the clouds.
Xow this purely human element is
the necessary basis of Christianity
not to be annihilated by it, but
;
(comp.
1
Rom.
Cicero, for
tibus.
11
24), that
it
may
10
c.
"Graeca
continentur."
i6
41.
TIenee there
CHRISTIANITY".
|sPKC
is all
the learned professions always begin with the classics, introducing the
young scholar to the laboratory of the human mind, and teaching him,
The course, by which the world was pre
first, what he is by nature.
pared for Christianity, must repeat itself, in some form, in every individ
The discipline of the Old Testament law, the experience of repen
ual.
tance
and longing
practical Christianity
is
site
Her
history
Hence
[omer
is,
Hegel somewhere
no accident, that it begins with
or, as
Achilles,
Iliad
and
effects of sin
Juno, jealousy
to
Venus,
anger
to
to Jupiter,
is still
lust.
"
D rum
Des Schmerzes
Dass
sie
am
tiefsten
Abgrund
Schmerz, den
sie
nicht.
zu trosten
Erkenn
Womit
Zauber grossten
He
is
riihrt."
sin but a
life
he treated
it
as a natural curiosity,
which occa
the eye.
sionally, perhaps, and transiently pleases
tour to Italy,
was
in Hellenism,
classic
man
heathendom
tie
is
147
grass,
There
42.
INTROD.J
it
smiling Cupid puts out the torch, and strews the grave with flowers.
For this poison of life, science and art have no antidote. The cure must
come from above, from the person of the immaculate Mediator, the
Without a personal Saviour, the
Prince of a new supernatural Life.
bloom of human culture fades hopelessly away, like the flower of
which to-day flourishes in all its vigor, and to-morrow dies.
Grecian science and art, therefore, were, in the hand of Providence
fairest
the
field,
and to this
only means to an end, to prepare the way for Christianity
day they are invaluable, as the natural basis of Christian culture and the
;
ology.
But considered
anity, they
as themselves an end,
Not
truly happy,
much
less
redeem
his soul
Christi
In spite
sequent history and tragical end of Greece give striking proof.
of all its former glory, it lies before us, at the appearance of Christ, a
mouldering corpse.
This is the negative view of the preparatory process, which we come
now more
fully to consider.
42.
The death
of
l\
Rnd.
political
and military
were, indeed, kept up for some time afterwards in the ^Etolian and
Achaean
confederacies.
Roman
The
Rome, B.
C. 168, the
The
political
its
and expected joyfully to repose on its laurels, it found them all unsatisfy
Genius was extinct and mind degenerate. The taste of the later
ing.
Greek
artists
and rhetoricians
is
entirely vitiated
148
42.
More than
all,
philosophy
fell
M-Eu
At
Pnulus,
alist,
in
gious and immoral bent of the educated and half-educated classes of the
later Greeks.
after
frivol
"
ous
spirit.
It
made
pleasure,
man
(fi^ovrj],
life
and,
;"
name.
tion.
us eat
and
drink, for
to-morrow we
die.
"
What
is
truth?
"
(]
ph>
r
<i
<5
wore
clouds,
is
all
and
rvxilf,
events, put
all
and to
this the
42.
INTROD.j
sneer at
all effort to
grasp
it
145
as though truth
Grecian mind,
is
Antistheiies,
all
The
caricatured.
earliest
cannot
fail
and
their
We
But Cynicism,
true to
its
Bedaubed
degenerate features in his Daemonax and his Peregriuus.
with mud, a pouch-girdle round the waist, an enormous cudgel in one hand
and a book in the other, their hair uncombed and bristly, their nails like
beasts claws, and their bodies half naked, these canine philosophers strag
gled in swarms about the markets and streets of the populous cities, car
rying under this disgusting garb an abandoned character for conceit, censoriousness, gluttony, avarice,
and unnatural
vice.
Such
men would
tin.
The Cynics were, indeed, despised even by the more respectable of the
Yet the foundations of religion and morality were everywhere
Even the great historian, Pulybius, looked upon the popu
undermined.
iieathcns.
lar religion as a
mere bugbear, a
Strabo, in the
people.
Greek
We
literature in the
and witty Lucian, who wrote in the second century after Christ. He fell
with biting sarcasm upon the popular religion, as a jumble of absurd sto
occasionally came out upon Christianity, as
and may not improperly be called the Voltaire of
ries
folly
and fanaticism
his age.
Justin
Mar
and certain
(IIBG), says of the generality of philosophers in his day,
think
at
without
Most
them
now
never
of
all, whethei
exaggeration
ly
there be one God, or many gods
whether there be a Providence, or not
tyr,
"
as though this
to
do with happiness.
They seek
rather to persuade us, that the divinity cares, indeed, for the universe
aiid for the species,
me and
men.
Jt
150
43.
PLATONISM.
is
it
[SPKC
cycle."
to the irreligion
in
on Rome.
tions
43. Platonism.
Of
to bring
In one view,
in another,
he towers far above his nation and his age, as the prophet of a glorious
He attacked with the stinging lash of irony all sophistry, false
future.
hood, and levity
ness
and
and
loftiest efforts,
with
all his
insufficiency of
human powers
own
sensible
phenomena to general
laws,
and exhibited
"
c.
Tryphone Judeeo.
Plato, at the close of his Phaedon, concludes his account cf the death of his mastei
"This,
known
Echecrates,
in his time,
was
the
PLATONISM.
43.
jNTKOD.]
oi
continually into the heights
1
heaven
his
glimpse of
affinity to
God
raises
and
visible
sensible
which
It placea
Eros.
profound myth of
reason
of
but in the dominioii
the highest good not in sensual pleasure,
its well-known division,
in virtue, as consisting, according to
over sense
presses
itself so
beautifully in the
of
Justice,
(faicatoavvji),
the soul,
aud
their
(owfcwrifc*),
harmonious union.
and
faculties of
of morality,
nominally Christian system
be reached through virtue, to be the highest
to
is
which
of
aim
the
man,
3
as an unmean
of godliness ; and regards human life not
possible degree
a
to
higher world, where
of chance, but as a preparatory step
ing sport
We
Cicero,
which
of Jristotle, the following beautiful passage,
a literal translation, from a lost work
and shows, that the
the inspiring power of Plato s genius,
measure,
some
in
displays,
like his intellectual
also soar in poetic (light
abstruse metaphysician could sometimes
ot religion, and
to his Lectures on the philosophy
introduction
the
in
kinsman Hegel,
had always
who
Aristotle,
were
If there
beings," says
often too in his Esthetics
with statues and pictures, and
decorated
in
the
dwellings
of
earth,
lived in the depths
deemed happy possess in the greatest abun
with every thing, which those who a:e
of the government and power of the gods,
told
be
should
these
beings
dance if then
from their secret abodes to the places,
and should come up through opened fissures
behold the earth and the sea and the vault
should
if
suddenly
which we inhabit;
they
the
clouds and the power of the wind, admire
of heaven, perceive the extent of the
as approaching night veil
its
if,
finally,
and
effulgence
sun in its greatness, its beauty,
,on,
behold the starry heavens, the changing
ed the earth in darkness, they should
and unchangeable courses
ordained
their
and
eternally
stars,
the
the risin" and setting of
are their work.
with truth There are gods, and suck great things
;
"
"
On
this Jllex.
von
Humboldt^
remarks
"
Such demonstra-
oi the
is
*p<-f
by
thus typifying a longing after the truson of Tropof (wealth), and foopia (poverty);
of poverty something intermediate betwee
riches springing irom the consciousness
answer to the idea of Chnstiar love,
God and man. The Platonic Eros does not
is plumed to fly into the
It is that, by which the soul
so much as to that of faith.
in
the
that, by which
Phaedrus)
lou
f nrepotvrup
b>hf world, its true home (hence
anrt i
to the idea, from appearance to reality
is raised from the
;
phenomenon
the spirit
filled
"
with enthusiasm
II. p.
121
and divine.
TU ivvarbv.
152
thft
43.
PLATONISM.
evil punished.
[SPEC
1
In
all
these views
it
tes
tifies
mythologi
gods, of a
"
cover,
all."*
sought only to purify the deep sense of religious want, which lay at the root
of the popular polytheism. PLUTARCH, for
example, who wrote at the close
of the first century, and was one of the most
gifted, pious, and amiable
of Plato s disciples, compares the old myths to reflections of
light from
or to the rainbow in its relation to the sun.
In ac
counting for phenomena, he thinks, we must neither confine ourselves,
diverse surfaces
longings
ing.
fathers, as Justin
this
1
Comp.,
Politia
Plato.
a
The
many
Hamburg,
1835.
C )mp. K. Vogt
IHTROD
153
PLATONISM.
43.
upon
New Academy,
"
sweet name of
some extent,
to
and
"humble
and Neander
for Schleiermacher
could
less
it
is
time
and
infinitely
human corruption
much
Plato, indeed, in a
of redemption.
way
own
our
in
love."
men
they
fire,"
Jesus,"
for such
same
the
an incredible
"
his breast
New
and
confesses, that the Platonic
and
remarkable passage
is
body
expressly
Bad conduct
//is
he regards only as
the other hand,
On
for real.
thus
made
In this
it
way
and
he established a
Christianity,
iaith
like
C. Jlcadem.
II.
1.
$5:
Etiam mihi
"
me
de
ipsi
in
conciarunt."
sima gloria
to a child
me
He
Calvin,
Faucis mutatis verbis atque sententiis christiani fierent."
et maxime sobrius), of all
most
the
pious and sober, (religiosissimus
too, calls Plato
"
of the PlaUniists
chr.
1.
KaKof niv
NIC. III. 7,
this
4
EKtJv oidelf.
I. c. 5.
$ 11).
This assertion
is
Aristotle ingeniously
presumption.
must be acknowledged, however that of
It
Plato
s is
which
all
base,
to denote a
Bip. VIII. p. 185),
Plato uses
it,
in
all
in
one instance,
(De legibus,
1.
IV. ed.
man
154
PLATONISM.
43.
and happiness. In
not a pure fiction, but founded partly
on the Pythagorean covenant, partly on the civil constitution of the Spar
tans), he makes perfect slaves of the third, the laboring class, the rude
view, that every man, as such,
his ideal state, (which,
called to freedom
is
however,
is
mass, who can go no further than mere opinions. This class, in his system,
corresponds to the lowest element in the human constitution, to lust,
(mdvfi7)nK6v} and exists only to minister, in abject servitude, to the
physical necessities of the two higher classes, the soldiers, answering to
courage, (tivpoeidef ) and the virtue of bravery, and of the rulers, (phi
,
losophers), which correspond to the reason, (rd Ao-yianKov} and the virtue
,
of discernment.
exaltation
all
men
in the
same relation to
God, and makes it possible even for the meanest to attain the highest
moral excellence, and the image of God. And even in the higher
classes Plato destroyed all the dignity of marriage,
by permitting pro
miscuous concubinage, at least in the military caste
and abolished the
peculiar form of family life in general, by making children the exclusive
;
property of the state, and giving government the right to expose such as
were infirm. And further, Plato s idea of a commonwealth is contracted
within national limitations, and rests on the identification of morals with
that
it
earnestly
in general,
wound up
is,
later,
It
was the
last desperate
strug
the flash of the departing soul in the
In Neo-Platonism the Greek mind, which had started
sense, in his
as intended to
roTmvdf Kal
make
KaTu<j>o3o
c. 3,
TOV
rr(>f5f
i9eoi>.
humble, and
fearful of
God
ovvvovf Kal
VV
2i>
44.
INTKOD.]
155
The Hellenic
it
circuit
found
toil, it
had
itself
of the
crucified
carpenter
son,
So
whom
and dying
illiterate
many mighty,
not
Galilean
fishermen
many
"
Xot many
wise
but
men
God
and
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise
God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things
and base things of the world, and things which are
which are mighty
;
despised, hath
God
II.
The
44.
presence,"
(1
26-29).
Universal Dominion of
ROME.
Rome
as
a Preparation for
Chris
tianity
iu
may
at once be seen
dominion of law.
state. ;
They had a
1
memento
1
"
Tu
Romaue,
!"
modern times, the German and English are similarly related to each other, as
Greeks and Romans.
Thus the Romans had even such a divinity as Fornax, a lea Cloacina, a /MIJ
In
the ancient
3
life.
Unxia, which
last
had
weddings
156
44.
Hence
whilst the
religion of beauty,
Roman
the
is
to this
world
Science and
art, also, were fostered in Rome, but generally speaking not so muc!
for thej
from inward impulse, as for the sake of practical advantage
;
life.
This peculiarity of character shows that the Romans were born to rule
the outward world with their will, as the Greeks to rule the inward with
their intellect.
from
This
(tufiri,
is
was her
Euphrates
Rhine.
way
heaven.
To
furnish
facilities
national barriers of the old world must be broken down, and mutual
among
To
these results the conquests of Alexander the Great had, indeed, already
contributed, by bringing
into political
and
social inter
But the
culture into the East.
course, and introducing the Grecian
universal
the
to
are
due
kind
this
of
effects
more
lasting
greater and
was not only more extensive, but also far better
empire of Rome, which
Then one Roman
bound
together by a central power.
organized, and
All national
world.
civilized
the
in
ruled
everywhere
law, one state
massive
the
in
pantheism
were
interests
political
and individual
merged
and the gods of all nations were gathered into one
To this must be added the general
of Rome.
Pantheon
the
was known and spoken by
which
the
Greek
of
language,
of a universal will,
temple in
all"
prevalence
45.
.j
French
lish
in
day
15?
in the last
Eng
Xorth America.
tion
laws
furnished
them
all
ly,
kingdom
of
God.
As it
was chiefly the Grecian nationality and literature, which laid the founda
tion of the theological science
2hurch
and
artistic
activity of
Rome
so
form, so to
Bpeak, the natural basis of the Latin church, which, unlike the Greek,
manifested from the first a more practical bent, and attempted to organ
ize
same
at the
time, like
But the
and tyranny.
but a
it
brittle,
temporary structure.
him
truly happy.
thus exposing
itself,
however,
its
to satisfy
Rome
was, of course,
Christianity alone,
by the power of
faith
and
love,
the
Roman
Empire.
power
body,
save
We
is
it.
The Romans,
it
is
true,
also for
domestic morality,
family discipline, and that chastity and reverence for the marriage rela
Posidonius speaks with admiration of their
tion, so rare in heathendom.
fear of
God
and Polybius,
in his time,
especially in
it is
But the
Oriental
in those
count riej.
Rome, has
so
widelt
158
45.
[SPEC
to enjoy their
conquests in an intoxication of sen
with shameful
ingenuity and most refined art, endeavored
to extort from nature more
gratification, than she could give or bear.
suality, which,
On
virtue.
Virtue
night
thou art a phantom
:
indeed,
whole
a
still
!"
civil edifice.
it
for it
the inward
whom we
life
still
To
superstitious fear.
of religion
they were perfect strangers.
Even Cicero, in
find so many beautiful lineaments of the
1
old
says in a well
Roman
known
piety,
Rome
morality,
mockery of
cannot be conceived.
The dark
picture,
Tacitus says of
Rome, Jnnal.XV. 44 ...
atrocia aut pudenda confluunt
celebranturque."
:
28
religion
sqq., of the
"
est
"per
all
II. 28
Deos et venerari et colere debemus.
Cultui
optimus, idemque castissimus atque sanctissimus
plenissimusque
ut eos semper
pura, Integra, incorrupta et mente et voce veneremur
Deorum
itis,
Dommus
e,*
Deut
hoc jubet
"
bs
45.
IXTROB.j
159
minded heathen
Hear
"
upon
work
"
joyful
displeasure,
3
proved, that the gods wish not our welfare, but revenge."
His whole
immortal production has a tragic tone, and breathes the
spirit of a hope
Wherever Tacitus looks, whether to heaven,
less, Stoical resignation.
or upon earth, he sees nothing but black
He
night and deeds of
it
cruelty.
feels,
is
near,
blessing,
Deira.
II.
8:
"
Omnia
and
this
sceleribtis ac vitiis
sanari.
plena sunt
Certatur ingenti
e?t, libido se
plus committitur,
quam
est.
impingit.
quodam
Nee
Numquid
omnium
praeter
pectoribns evaluit,
legem
sunt."
"
saevum," etc.
Hist.
1.
Roman earnestness
enim
1. c. 2.
and nervous
humanarum
casns
"
as the original
reads, in its old
brevity" coelo
indiciis
approbatum
est,
160
STOICISM.
46.
Stoicism.
46.
spirits,
who
plunge them
to
into Charybdis.
After the Athenian embassy to Rome (155 B. C.), the various sys
tems of Greek philosophy, notwithstanding all the opposition they at
first
Some,
what suited
them
best,
vicious
all
passions
or for
Marcus
Tacitus,
Skepticism, which
Aurelius,
Roman
all
earnest
Ca1o,
Seneca,
ridiculed
stamp,
first
to
un
this
with the genuine Roman character, and only brought its real, inward
nature more distinctly to view.
After the boasted liberty of the repub*
w.s exchanged
eage?
to find
and which,
in
in their place.
The
Stoical Zeus
to harmonize the
is by no means
good of the whole with
"
without
1
it
In Plutarch,
^iJCT<jf
Aoyov,
De
ttoic.
/cat, iv*
exist."
repugn,
ovTuf
ctTTW,
Wisdom
c.
46.
INT80D.J
hour of death,
one
own
life
Cato
101
STOICISM.
giving back
in cheerfully
is
quoted
who, in his speech for Catiline, calls death a rest from all toil, deliver
ance from all evil, the boundary of existence, beyond which there is no
more care or
joy."
again to
who
life
man
of disciplined
herself:
"The
wilt,
mind
back
it
wilt.
"
We
dream."*
flesh
We
many
New
artfully designed for effect, often sound at least like passages of the
Some
Testament.
which
is
destitute of
all
*
*
Catilina.
c.
52.
c.
51
1.
28 sq.
4
"
Quum
subito experrectus
sum
et tarn
Epist.
102.
Si quis
one place speaks of immortality, but only conditionally:
piorum manibus locus, si. ut sapientibus placet, non cum corpore exstinguuntur magntie
animae (which can just as well be referred to the mere immortality of fame), placide
Tacitus, also, in
etc.
quiescas,"
46.
c.
II.
7,
"
Non
potest
Even the renowned author of the Four Books of True Christianity; John dirndl,
(1555-1621), of whom one would hardly expect it, seems to have supposed an influ
ence of the Holy Ghost on Seneca. In a letter to the great theologian, John Gerhard,
then a student in Wittenberg, after distinguishing such works as are written of the
flesh,
neminem
quem
This
si
necdum
letter
may
legisti,
he proceeds
in
"
be found
11
Spirit,
scripserat,
E. R. Fischer
Inter
,
omnes philosophos
praeter
unum
Senccum,
VitaJoannis Gerhardi.
(1723)
p. 24.
46.
in
STOICISM.
[SPKC.
divine fads, in a
give
own precepts
moment the pagan
exemplifying- his
discern in a
we have but
to look a little
closer, to
egoism
basis,
and
pride,
to
God.
This
the
foul
blot on the heathen virtues in
so that the church
general
who
father,
called them "splendid
was not, after all,
vices,"
absolutely wrong.
Fame was set forth in the
Olympic games as the highest aim of life, as
the most exalted
object for the Grecian
It was fa
is
youth.
fame, that a
Leouidas, a Themistocles fought against the Persians
for
the love of
country, among the ancients, was but an
Miltiades, a
expanded love of
history, that Pindar
self.
It was for fame that Herodotus
wrote his
sang his odes, that Sophocles composed his
tragedies, that Phidias
sculptured his Zeus, that Alexander set out on his tour of
conquest.
Eschylus, otherwise one of the most sublime and earnest of
poets, holds
fame to be the last aaid
highest comfort of mortal man.
We find the
same selfish view among the Romans. The vain
Cicero said, with
per
fect freedom, before a
great assembly, that all men are guided
the
1
by
and that the noblest are the
very ones most under
desire of fame,
2
In another place he
says, we justly glory
power.
praised for
it
and takes
this
in
its
our
own
self-sufficiency, this
of fallen
humanity reaches its height in Stoicism and,
having nothing in reality to support it, falls over into its direct
opposite
self-annihilation, which the Stoics advocated on the well-known maxim
If the house
smokes, leave it.
According to Seneca, the wise man is on
self-deification
Fragm. 301
ime
Pro Archiapoeta,
gloria
ducitur."
c.
11
personal immortality.
De Nat. Deor, III. 36
it
Trahimur
1 he
endam
ra
hominis, ut ad
facta videatur
whque peseta
Comn. V.
et niJnl
nyuirente"
Secundum naturam
This
is
omnem
vivere,
i.
Dt
46.
STOICISM.
103
in feeling his
in not
merely apparently, but
overcoming by divine power, the infirmity of the flesh.
really,
"
Upon
in its
grandest, indeed, and most imposing, but also most dangerous form.
In this view
it is
Tacitus, as is
Christianity, of which even his ignorance
but a poor palliation, spoke of it as an
e.citiaU/is supers! it
arid
well
is
difficulty.
for
"
i<>
ter
"Jupi
aestimat,
contemnitque.
non potest, sapiens non
quam
vult."
Est aliquid, quo sapiens antecedit
romp. P 53
naturae beneficio non timef, suo
sapiens."
1
Zeno. it is true, goes on the principle, that virtue consists in
living according to
aature, and says, (Diogenes Laertius, Zeno, c. 53): rt P.oc TO
fyo/.o} ovjutvu? ~7,
Deum,
ille
^v,67T
tan
distinction
$i,aei
/car dperf/v
between the
;>
false
uyei ya ?
7rp f
uxddeia, which
Taurr/v fadf
is
,,
<j>vat<;.
He even makes
ness of soul,
knowledge
164:
47.
[BP.e&
Heavenly Father is making everything work for the good of his children,
and has only purposes of peace towards them even in the hour of tribula
We
are not to kill the natural feelings of the heart, joy and sorrow
tion.
pleasure and pain, but only to moderate, control, purify, and sanctify them
The Scriptures allow and command us to rejoice with those who rejoice,
as the heathen,
He
heart,"
in
13)
mourn
but he does
himself
"
us, indeed, to
:
"
ish brethren,
own
in the ocean,
may perhaps
But
less statue.
call forth
spirit, as
a drop dissolves
infinitely greater,
itself
life
Jesus Christ,
God,
My
mitting his
own
"
My
of suffering to
yielding
its
;"
yet in
all
this,
sub
"It
finished
is
!"
up
unnatural rigidity,
warm nature,
ice,
Here,
cordially
genuine humanity full of the tenderest emotions
sympathizing in the joys and sorrows of its neighbor nay, pressing all
;
mankind to
B.
From
monotheism
halls,
we
deified, to
the solemn temple of Jehovah, the only true God, of whose glory all nature
is but a feeble
About two
ray, and who makes the earth his footstool.
thousand years before the birth of Christ, God called Abraham, to be the
progenitor of a nation, which appears amid the idolatry of the- old world.
1
Even Routseau
un sage,
la
ve
et la
God
Si la
Dieu."
morl
like
g 47.
fiiTROD.]
in the deseit.
an oasis
continuous miracle
and
its
eminence,
Israel
owed not
For the Jews were by nature, as Moses and the prophets often lament,
the most stiff-necked, rebellious, and unthankful nation on earth.
The
religion of the
Old Testament
is
specifically distinguished
(1). It rests
man
to
whereas Heathenism
human
is
from
all
on a positive revelation
gracious condescension
nature, and.
unknown God
(2). It
has the only true notion and worship of God, who is the foundation of
in other words, it is monotheism and the worship of God, as
religion
;
whole aim
its
to glorify
is
sanctify
cases, directly
men
in opposition to the
With
mythologies.
poetical taste
some
in
God and
it
will,
upon which
heart,-
"
It
To maintain
this peculiarity,
in
and
keep clear of all pagan admixture, the Jewish nation had to be excluded
from intercourse with the heathen
which was the more necessary, on
;
account of
own
an individual,
in
ful.
in
Abraham, the
cratic state,
friend of
trust in
God.
Through
its
exalted, childlike
Moses, Israel
became a theo
had not
Israel
Rome.
Her
That
is,
concerned.
nor the
Her
office
47.
erable delusion.
of
life,
the dreadfulness of
sin,
justice,
infinite distance
;
reconciliation not
imaginary, but real
and permanent.
received, through Moses, the written law, which sets forth our
duty, the
ideal of morality, far more
completely and clearly, than the natural con
science, and, at the same time, in the form of
divine
express
command,
By
measure himself
and the more he endeavored to conform to the
will
of God as here
holy
expressed, the more must he see and painfully feel his inward
opposition
the nature of
fact,
been admitted by
many
This
is
especially
great students and admirers
"
day
is
furnished by David.
There
My
delightful
every
spirit"
Well worth
of a cultivated
taste,
and never,
in all
my
life,
have
so seen
God
they sound
before
my
we
regret to say,
seems
to be a
stranger to the
Hebrew
whole
composition
;"
it is
artistic in the
calls
Gbthe, also, says of this latter book, (in his Commentar zum tvestostlichen Divan,
the loveliest thing, in the
p. 8) that it is
shape 01
epic ot an idyl, which has come down to us
nature."
"
47.
INTROD.J
to
it.
reference to
typical
It
letter.
167
was embodied;
just
nial
law
God.
en in them the knowledge of sin, (Rom. 3 20), and an effort afcer some
thing beyond itself, a sense of the need of salvation, and a yearning after
:
it,
schoolmaster to lead to
"a
So
far
it is,
as the apostle
Taken by
Christ."
itself,
Paul
the law
to associate with
lies
but a cruel sport of God with men, a fearful irony upon their moral im
It were impossible, that the Creator should lay such earnest
potence.
demands upon
his creatures,
own
life
time, to give
obey.
Promise
is
may
religion of hope.
Prophecy
"
The law
with the
of the
nant
is
The
to the
This charac
entered,"
fall,
Rom.
10
vo/j.of
TTOQ
47.
neat prophetic
TIJE
and e/^r.
[w EC
office
mouth
uninterruptedly
by side with the Davidic kingship and the Levitical priesthood, into the
Babylonish captivity, and back to the rebuilding of the temple
predict
ing the judgments of God, but also his forgiving grace
warning and
;
who should
in
deliver Israel
like
and comforters of
and pledges of the true Deliverer and the more they failed to afford
complete and enduring aid and consolation, the more did they enliven
;
had a genuinely
own
historical
the latest posterity ; the Messiah was intended and described in all the
theocratic types ; while at the same time all the
prophecies found their
preliminary fulfillment in the Old Dispensation, and the entire theocratic
the deliverance from Egypt and
history was typical of future things
society, founded
school of prophets-
We
modern seminaries of
perhaps like that of John the Baptist and his disciples, or of Christ and the apos
tles, for the purpose of arousing the intellectual faculties and promoting piety by the
Such schools of the
study of the law, by prayer, singing, conversation, and discipline.
tion,
by
his disciples
1), as
It is
scarcely necessary to re
mark, that among the prophets are included not only the four major and twelve mino*
whose predictions, (all since about 800 B. C.) have come down to us in
prophets,
but also
whose history
writing
to us
only
many
others,
by name.
is
fell
iT.
INTROD.]
religion,
The Jews,
it
is
the Messianic
kingdom
But the most profound prophets,
especially Isaiah,
in
whom
the
all
The
"Servant
of
to the establish
God"
must
first
bear
the sins of the people, as a silent sufferer, as the true paschal lamb, and
make an atonement, not only for a given time, but for ever, with God,
The same Isaiah breaks through the confines of
the holy Lawgiver.
Jewish nationality
should walk
light
13ut
at last,
lie
reaches
to
herself four
its
splendor.
life,
for
whom
These disciples of
who
silently hoped
redemption of Israel by the Messiah alone, as the
aged Simeon, the prophetess Anna, the mother of our Lord with her
friends and kindred, the lovely group at Bethany, with whom the Lord
and looked
for
lived in the
the
these were
Old Testament
tives of the
Christianity.
in
its
direct
bopes
Son
of
the
first fruits
God.
after the
Above
of the
all
coming of the Son of God in the flesh, and after the redemp
and thus well fitted and worthy to be the mother of oui
;
tion of Israel
I TO
48.
his
childhood, and
"ble-.sed
among
women."
Jews,"
Jno. 4
the
all
types and prophecies from the serpent-bruiser to the lamb of God, which
But when we
Jews
we
48.
the
Jews at
of our Saviour.
The Maccabean
the
Time of Christ.
princes for a
,1
made
But
this
Palestine
fell,
Romans.
the power of Marcus Antonius, who, with Caesar Octavius and Lepidus,
formed the second triumvirate. He and Octavius transferred the crown
Roman
province, to
Maccabeau
cruelty, was
by all
outwardly forever annihilated, and
came under
Roman usages.
and
conservative Jews, especially the Pharisees, and he was
unable to reconcile them even by building for them a far more magnifi
rality
and
roused the
institutions,
stiffly
cent temple
in
felJ
into
and
after
on Mt. Moriah.
having
He
did not,
the remaining
beautiful
This
sought to introduce
and
sorts of vice
Israel
his
he
of
IJ.TROD.]
173
our era 3 or 4.
year of Rome 750 or 751, a:id
Herod s hatred of the Jews, his jealousy of his power, and the
confusion and spirit of rebellion then prevailing, enable us to understand
which he died
in the
>f
(Matt. 2
Archelaus,
received
22),
in that city.
Judea,
Idumea,
his
three
sons.
and Samaria
however, was banished six years after Christ, and his portion turned into
a Roman province. Judea, Idumea, and Samaria were governed by a
of the proconsul of Syria.
The fifth
procurator, under the supervision
n
or
was
the
Pontius
these
Pilate
of
crs,
provincial ^.ov-,
procurators,
named
A. D. 28-37.
the Gospels,
in
Philipp, died A. D. 34
and A. D. 3T
The second
son,
the tetrarch
hands
kingdom
Herod Agrippa, who, under the
D.
A.
Claudius,
41, after
the banishment of Herod Autipas, A. I). 39, was raised to the throne
This Herod Agrippa I., grandson of Herod the Great
of all Palestine.
and Mariamne by their eldest sou, Aristobulus, was a vain and unprinci
;
of
his
fell
into the
ein}ei<>r
pled man, and appears in the Acts of the Apostles (c. 12), as a persecu
But after his sudden and miserable death, A. D.
tor of the Christians.
The
whom
under
tion,
was
last
finally decided.
All these foreign rulers vied with one another in cold contempt and
and the Jews, ou
|deadly hatred of the disgracefully enslaved nation
their part, retaliated with the same contempt and the same hate, known
;
stuck to their
stiff,
from which, however, the spirit and life had long departed
,ind planned one insurrection after another, every one only plunging them
nto deeper wretchedness.
Sinking into such a bottomless misery, the
traditions,
and better
lobler
nent
ivhile
iatc
loom
1
souls,
who
still
spirit,
led
Our era
is fixed,
two years
.
however,
1843.
p.
CO sqq.
Christ.
Comp.
172
49.
[sp<;
through
all
The
alon>
coming
and authority of the Old and
Xew
Teg
laments.
Jew
Josephus (born A. D.
"
Romans
not come upon this wicked race when they did, an earth
would
have swallowed them up, or a flood would have drowne*
quake
or
the
For thi
them,
lightnings of Sodom would have struck them.
the
all
ishments."
when the
proclaiming the true freedom from the most cruel bondage, and sheddin
amidst the dismal darkness the light of everlasting life.
49,
The
The,
aud
theology
their political
"
letter,
which
Jews were
in
affairs.
killeth
;"
had long
which
Hopes
of
the Messiah
live(
still
in
the
people,
whose great business it was to free the Jews from the oppression of tb
Romans, to chastise these hated heathens with a rod of iron, and t
establish a splendid, outward, universal theocracy.
Such expectatior
who preached
rebellion
false
prophets and
6),
as
false
Me
Judas
split,
at the time o
befoi
Stoi<
among
the heathen
1.
IN
INTROD.]
173
separate*
ess
ue doctrine
icm, (Matt. 23
3), that
all
is,
from the Parsic system, which found their way in after the
by allegorical interpretation into the
specially
Testament.
Id
uical traditions,
ic
Besides these, they held, also, to certain subtle Rabbelonging to the theological and juridical exposition of
law,
Matt. 15
3)
tending, in fact,
by
Scriptures,
make the
ord of God, which was acknowledged along with them, of none effect,
Mark 7 13). a For this reason Christ, on the other hand, warned his
:
>es,
"
against the
isciples
(Matt. 16
)nduct, they
that
leaven,"
12.
6,
Mark
,w, holiness in
is,
:
But then
15).
For
this
intel-
fasts,
as true piety.
imcision seemed to
them to
his
fearful
istead of
strain at a
Matt, 23
denunciation,
but within
eautiful,
full
this
cir-
kingdom of God.
ic
id swallow a camel
and fancied
of
dead men
Lord
calls
gnat
them
nowledge of
From
"
t. I .E
having added to the orthodox doctrines of Christianity, which she plainly acknowl
her symbolical books, and will never give up, later traditions and human inven-
Iges in
ons.
which cover,
wtruct
its
power.
in
measur*
174
the
5
49.
hierarchy
23
34.
[SPEC
6 sqq.).
The
Talmud, which was composed about the end of the second century and
the beginning
Pharisaism.
It
(.1
would be
members of
this
once a Pharisee and even then, like his master, Gamaliel, undoubt
edly a noble and earnest man, relates in the seventh chapter of his Epis
tle to the Romans
conflicts which ended in a helpless cry for redemp
;
(Rom.
tion,
Hence many
24).
ways.
tian faith,
like the
they had formerly been for justification by their own works
Or they might drag in with them much
great Apostle of the Gentiles.
of the Pharisaic leaven of self-righteousness and outward legalism, and
;
This we observe
hinder the pure development of Christianity.
and we trace it through the
already in the Judaistic opponents of Paul
whole history of the church, in which there is Pharisaism enough to this
thus
They
of the gospel.
fire
stiff
conservatism stood
and
it is
Sanhedrim, (Acts 23
of high priest.
1
It
is
would be
but there
like the
from
name
no
is
sufficient
proof of
in the
^T,just.
According to the
etymology, therefore,
elves.
a
foscphus, also,
the
c.
Apion.
1. 8.
divine.
all
The main
the
Jews
received
is
New
Testament by ra
TROD J
;T
J75
>:
loral
and
levity, skepticism,
Few
of
With
We
iimot
in spite
isees,
UTiour."
inl sect,
called the
ESSAEANS, or ESSEXES.
New
nig
We
have no information
and Pliny.
wish monks, a
mystic and ascetic sect, of a chiefly practical
tendency
migh not without a theosophic and
guarantee
industry,
Ml
s
in
benevolence,
hospitality,
veracity.
and honesty.
common.
to the
in"
rtual intercourse
self-
3:
7.
Mk
12:
hC!iC
12
38.
16
in their
Luke 20
18.
:
1, 6,
11 sqq.
27.
Acts 23
22:23,34.
Luke 20
27.
Acts 4
"
name
"
of
176
50.
SPE
asceticism.
rise to
in
C.
50. Influence of
Since
down
Judaism on Heathenism.
We
notice, first,
Heathenism.
It
is
Alexandria, for example, at the time of Christ, almost half the inhabi
tants were Jews, who, by trading, had become rich and powerful.
In
its
Jews.
In
Rome
they possessed almost the greater part of the Trastevere (on the
bank
of the Tiber)
and Julius Ca3sar allowed them to build
right
All these Jews,
synagogues, and granted them many other privileges.
;
who
the dispersion
(f/
diacmoQu),
as they were
still
great festivals.
We
gospel.
see at once,
In the
how
first
brought Jews from all quarters of the globe to Jerusalem, to witness the
death and resurrection of Jesus and the out-pouring of the Holy Ghost
(com]).
Acts 2
homes.
Then
all
50.
INTROD.J
synagogue was, as
it
177
Yet the
my
"
The
proselytes, however,
were
.of
two kinds
those
who
and
fully,
The former
only partially, adopted the Jewish religion.
were called proselytes of righteousness (p~^n "Ha). They adopted cir
those
who
fanatical
religion
much more
of
firm conviction.
Hence our Lord tells the Pharisees, that they made such proselytes two
fold more the children of hell than themselves (Matt. 23
and,
15)
:
in fact, they
Martyr,
in
"
more than
ye,
every thing they try to be like you." The second class,, which espe
cially included many women, were the proselytes of the gate. (i>r- *Ha),
as they were formerly called, according to Ex. 20
10, and Deut. 5:14;
in
Rome, he made the acquaintance of this empress through a Jewish favorite of Nero,
at once received from her the release of some imprisoned Jewish priests, togethe r
with large presents. Juvenal, Satir. XIV. v. 96 sqq., thus ridicules the Romans, wh
affected Jewish ways
in
and
"
Quidam
sortiti
numen
humana carne
adorant,
Nee
suillam,
distare putant
12
178
51.
New
Tes
On
in its turn,
is
first
step
her approach towards the Hellenic culture, and broke through tha
narrow limits of her exclusiveness. This approach took place chiefly in
in
learning there arose, among the educated Jews, a peculiar mixture of the
theology of the Old Testament revelation and the Platonic philosophy,
mode
The
of
life,
first
founded on a mis
suggestion of this
ism,
book of Wisdom.
which
is
and thought that the Mosaic law and the temple worship were destined
to be perpetual.
He ascribed to the Jews a mission for all nations
;
16
of evaepelf, ol
:
17
14.
proselytes
(Luke
<j>o(3ovfivoi
4, 17.
18
were Naaman
4 sqq.)
and prophets,
:
2.
13
16, 50.
7.
Rev. 11
Acls]0:2sqq.
priests
13:43.
16
14 sq.
17:4.
| 51.
DfTROD.J
all
179
mankind.
the Gentiles,
the
literal
first
or
abuse
it
it
to excess, so as to
make
it
a convenient
door
smuggling foreign heathen elements into the store of divine
revelation, and thrusting out all, which, like the anthropomorphisms for
for
instance,
This mode of
treating the Scriptures leads very easily to contempt of the letter, and
to
already even here the germs of tendencies, which afterwards made their
appearance in the church. Yet Philo was as far as Origen, who assumed
interpretation to be just
training for
that conception
the letter to
of Scripture,
what he thought
shell
of
him
end of
in the
all
concrete attributes.
up a radical distinction of
the
contradicts
which
uninitiated,
principle and spirit of the
and
Christian religion.
The most
It is well known, that even the infidel Dr. Fr. Strauss has not failed to appeal,
though certainly with very limited right, to Philo and the Alexandrian fathers in
sapport of his mythical view of the life of Christ. Vid. his Leben Jesu. 4th ed I
.
60 sqq.
180
51.
eternal light
molder of
all
the fountain of
all
the
knowledge, virtue, and skill
all the Old Testament revelations
;
things
the
medium
of
(c.
of
[SPEC
His Logos
his
is
a sort
nature, hidden,
and led the people of Israel through the wilderness the high
who pleads the cause of
(dp^e^etV), and advocate (fraouK^Tog}
;
priest
sinful
We
1
humanity before God, and procures for it the pardon of its guilt.
see at once the apparent affinity of this view with the christology of St.
Paul and
St.
it
same
time,
But, at the
the very essential difference.
For, in
the
first
appearance (o^?)
legiti
it means nothing.
But again, his dualistic and
system
idealistic view of the world absolutely excludes an incarnation, which is the
mate place
in his
central truth of
Christianity."
His
Christ, if he
intellectual.
He
his redemption,
harmony be
tween God and the world, between Judaism and Heathenism which
evanescent Fata morgana," on
hovered, like a
spectral illusion," an
;
"
"
that this redeeming act was really performed about the same time, that
1
It is
a question not yet entirely settled, whether Philo s Logos was a persona?
merely a personification, a divine attribute- While Gfrorer, Grossmann
hypostasis, or
Dahne, Liicke,
views
on
and
Ritter,
this point.
*
Comp. on
Dorner,
1.
c.
p.
50 sqq.
among
so distinguished scholan
"ROD
51.
181
the THERAPEUTAE,
They
They are
to be viewed as
2
country on lake Moeris, not far from Alexandria, shut up in cloister-like
cells (aefiveia,
and
devoted to the contemplation of divine
fiovacn^ia}
,
Among
their
ment
many
daylight.
Every seventh Sabbath was, with them, specially
They then united in a common love-feast of bread, seasoned
in
sacred.
bonds of
the
The fundamental
sense.
was, that they regarded the sensible as intrinsically evil, and the body as
a prison of the soul.
Consequently the aim of the wise man was out
ward
The
mortification.
ascetic death
was
tlio
birth to true
life.
These
views could allow no proper faith in the real incarnation of God, but
must rather resolve it into a mere Gnostic phantom. As little could
Therapeutic system to
above described.
We
islf,
is
Christianity
have yet to remark, in fine, that those Grecian Jews, or Ilellfnwho had nothing to do with the systems of Philo or the Tliera
also,
peutae,
still
Hebrews, or those
language.
1
From
We
and
Jews who
shall
much
lived
have examples
in Palestine
The
fifqauevEiv, to serve; according to Alexandrian usage, to terve God.
a measure, a revival of the mystico-ascetic
in Egypt.
Philo. De vita contemplative,
Ho/.Zaxov jdv ovv 7% olKWfiEvqf tori rovrt
rf/v E/lAuJa KOI TTJV
usraaxelv
I 3.,
rd yivof.
"E6ei
yty uya&ov
rrt.eiov
<cai
182
52.
RECAPITULATION".
[SPEC
wLo were
all
of Graeco-Jewish descent.
52.
From
Recapitulation.
whole representation
it is
plain, that the old world, at the
already begun to putrefy, and, from
directly opposite quarters, evinced the absolute necessity of an entirely
new principle of life, to save it from hopeless ruin. The world had,
this
appearance
of
Christ,
had
indeed, been preparing for Christianity in every way, positively and neg
atively, theoretically
and
Old Testament
practically,
by Grecian
culture,
Roman domin
revelation, the
The Roman
mere
tool
The Jewish
religion, in Pharisaism,
of
all its
its
As
gone out of
to
was
religion
itself
had
stiffened
in
in the
entirely foreign
original genius.
the old religions, without putting any thing else in their place
on
the other, superstition, morbidly clinging to the lifeless mythologies, and
all
in all sorts
Not
of fantastic extravagances.
in the
same individual
for
If he believe not
belongs to the nature of man to believe something.
The crafty emperor Augustus, who
in God, he will believe in ghosts.
it
Jewish Goetae,
classes
of the Greeks
and Romans.
That the
superstition,
183
RECAPITULATION.
52.
INTROD.]
times, was
begotten bj fear, which we so frequently meet with in th
properly only concealed infidelity, even Plutarch perceived, when among
The infidel has no belief in the gods ; the
other things, he said :
>se
"
man would
superstitious
for he
is
position,
would.
The
superstitious
man
his will
(
is,
in
dis
stition (?)
once
it,
Plutarch here
so,
an infidel
only he is too weak to think of the gods as he gladly
The unbeliever contributes nothing to the production of super
nishes
lief,
fain
afraid to disbelieve.
fails
same
the
two
preferable to infidelity.
emptiness,
may
with what
much
by producing a feeling of
we have
religious yearning, as
called
him
we
find,
so carried
"
The
only waiting to be satisfied.
with
the
of
Simon
away
juggleries
was won
God,"
5 sqq.)
readily received,
its
own wants,
is
compelled to
se.-k salvation
cal, intellectual,
The Chinese
der
1
in
In his interesting
s
his
kingdom of darkness.*
should appear
1
first
Kvr:hengttch.
the West.
work
I. p.
The wise
astrologers
who came
to Jerusa-
Com p.
Neat*-
21 sqq.
Stuhr refers the saying respecting this conqueror to a later date, and assumes her
Hebrew idea of the Messiah. But, irrespective of the uncertainty
an influence of the
184
RECAPITULATION.
52.
towards the East, the land of the rising sun and of all wisdom.
Sueto
and Tacitus speak of a current saying in the Roman empire, that in
nius
soon be founded.
Thus
Germany
in
seen
our nature
in
realized in his
spotless
its
distress
and
in
his
sufferings,
evil
the
out of
life,
of history.
To
stiif-necked unbelief he
was
men
"
that,
"
!"
its
its
faithful Penelope.
Rome,
indeed,
still
1
Respecting the star of the Magi, and the remarkable astronomical calculations of a
Keppler and others, which have shown, that, at the time of Christ s birth, (four years
before the Dionysian er,i) a conjunction of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars took
place in the constellation Pisces, to which was added an extraordinary star, comp
,
Wiescler
a
Suet.
esse in fa
Pluribus
tempore Judaed profecti rerum potirentur." Tacit. Hist. V. 13
eo
ut valesceliteris contineri
sacerdotum
ipso
tempore
fore,
inerat,
antiquis
persuasio
That these historians falsely apph
ret Oriens, profectique Judaea rerum potirentur."
tis.
ut eo
Es
vom Himmelsthron
bow
to
GENERAL VIEW.
APOSTOLIC CHURCH.
53.
INTROD.]
life
;
18.
compelled
finally
Rome.
Impenitent Judaism,
it
is
still
movement
and
it
all
shall
still
spread, in spite of
confess
53.
When
is
till
General View.
his only
Son.
"
all
begotten
The
star
union with
human
eternally with
it
nature, to redeem
God, the
fore,
from
fountain of
it
all
sin
The
of the
Redeemer, his atoning sTiff ertriumphant resurrection and ascension, form, there
life
Upon
laid, the
with the person of the Godman in his visible manifestation in the llesh,
then for the first time came forth before the world as independent wit
nesses of their ascended
and
Master
and the result of their testimony was the formation of that religious
community, which is destined to embrace all humanity and lead it to an
abiding union with God.
The
life
as the
apostolic period we regard as closing about A.D. 100
of John, according to reliable tradition, reached over into the reign
;
this apostle
was
Pen
complement
A.D. 30-50
to that of Paul.
Schiller.
but
We
it
was
shall,
186
53.
APOSTOLIC CHURCH.
it in
GEKEEAL VIEW.
much
[SPEC
as possi
the Christian church to the Mosaic economy is broken. (3.) Then follows
the final summing up and organic union of Jewish and Gentile Christian
and errors of the last thirty years of the first period to the threshold of
the second, thus forming the connecting link between the two.
These three stages in the development of the apostolic church, in
which we recognize striking types of the whole subsequent history of the
have their local centres in the cities of Jerusalem, the mother
1
church,
At the same
of the process of amalgamation, which he completed.
Rome, where Peter and Paul, the representatives of the first two
time,
forms of apostolical Christianity, spent their last days and suffered mar
tyrdom, witnesses a similar amalgamation and becomes a centre for
Christianity in the West.
The
New
tenth verse of the sixteenth chapter speaks in the first person plural,
plainly representing himself as a companion of Paul and an eye-witness
of most of the events, which he records.
The epistles, especially those
of Paul, give us an authentic and inexhaustibly instructive picture of the
inward development of doctrine and life in the apostolic church
while
;
the Acts of the Apostles present a simple, clear, and graphic view
The first part of this book, to the thir
rather of its outward history.
teenth chapter, describes, from older documents and credible tradition,
the missionary labors of Peter among the Jews, and the preparations for
the Gentile mission by the conversion of the Samaritans and of Corne
lius,
tolic
Comp. the
Church.
at
of
tc
Apo
APOSTOLIC CHURCH
g 53.
tKTROD.]
GENERAL VIEW.
187
all composed
during his residence
and
in Asia Minor,
Sc
therefore, probably not till after the year TO.
But for the
far, we properly stand altogether on exegetical ground.
1
subsequent
also,
and third
life
The
apostolic period, though, on the one hand, the first link in the
chain of the organic development of the church, is, on the other, essen
In the first place, Chris
tially different from all the subsequent periods.
tianity here appears
It
omy.
still in
The
for a
apostles are
long time
all Jews.
in the
ment cnltus
its
completely sundered.
The second and a more important peculiarity of the apostolic period,
which places it above all others, is its unstained purity and primitive
freshness of doctrine and life, and its extraordinary spiritual gifts, work
is
This
is,
so to speak, the age of heroes or demigods, fresh from the visible pres
ence of
glory,
the
God
manifest in the
"
first
flesh,
full
century,
stand men,
the century of
wonders."
At
his
justly called
tion,
on the fountain.
The
apostolic period
is
and at the same time typical and prophetical, for the whole history of
the church
in other words, it contains the germs of all subsequent
We may say, all the past
Christian
periods,
personalities, and tendencies.
;
An
extended vindication of the credibility of the Acts of the Apostles against the
profane and sophistical attacks of the modern hypercntics. Baur. Schwegler. and Zellcr,
is the less
necessary here, as our whole subsequent representation will be, in som*
sense, a continuous apologetic
ties.
Comp.
also
149 below.
commentary on
L88
GENKRAL
APOSTOLIC CHURCH.
53.
and
of the principles
is
spirit
"VIEW.
first
appeared
all
in the apostolic
in history.
It
development.
[SPEC
is
unfolding of their
may
say,
fifth
whole papacy with all its good and evil, though it required centuries to
Now the apostles
carry out fully the idea, which floated before him.
bear the same relation to the whole church, which Augustine held to the
scholastic and mystic divinity, Leo and Hildebrand to the papacy,
they set forth the principle, which can be fully unfolded only by
whereas the sphere of other men s activity
To
this add the further distinction, that the most enlightened church
teachers can lay no claim, like the apostles, to infallibility.
But it must not be forgotten here, that there is a great difference
life
it
of that period.
The idea
of the church
was
realized.
still
It
supernatural.
itself,
ages
The
labored under
may be
course,
upon
apostolic churches,
all sorts
we
of infirmities.
and
the exhibition of
far
Christianity, as
New
It
something
Testament
his
ties
the
Holy Ghost.
FIRST BOOK
FOUNDING, SPREAD,
AND PERSECUTION
THE CHURCH.
OF
CHURCH
CHAPTER
I.
NEXT
The, Miracle,
of Pentecost.
the
only
Yet
it
daily reappears,
merge
in eternity.
far
sporadically visited
up
his
say
Jesus
is
the
"
for
if
but
if
him untc
192
54.
BOOK
[l-
This mission of the Holy Ghost was the burden of Christ s part
ing discourses before his death, as well as of his last words to his disci
ples at his ascension (Acts 1:8), when he also directed them to tarry
in Jerusalem till the promise should be fulfilled, and they should be bap
you."
Holy Ghost
God
of beauty,
ed
in Isa. 2
from
hath
should
3,
"
For
(v. 4, 5).
shiued,"
(Ps. 50
"out
2).
Jerusalem."
That
this great
fact,
might be known at once to all the world, God had chosen as the time of
its occurrence one of the great feasts of the Israelites, and, indeed, the
very one, which bore a typical relation to the founding of the Christian
church, like that of the Passover to the death and resurrection of Christ
Pentecost
fell
on the
sabbath (Lev. 23
fiftieth
15
sq.),
common
It
historical.
was,
first,
a festival of thanksgiving
feast of weeks,
At
had reference
of the theocracy, the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai, which occurred at
time of the year, seven weeks after the exodus from Egypt.
Ac
vthis
cording to Jewish tradition, the giving of the law was on the 6th of the
third mcnth, Sivan, and thus exactly on the fiftieth day after the 16th
of Nisan (comp. Ex. 19
This feast was accordingly called also
1).
the feast of the joy of the law.*
In both these views the day was strik:
Jno. 16
where
wheat fall
24,
much
7.
(to
Comp.
39
"
glorified
;"
and Jno. 12
fruit."
TTEVTeKoorfj
used
tliWUfn an (Deut. 16
9 sqq.
Lev. 23
15 sqq.),
fiyla,
IXT&
(Tobias
Efido/idduv,
2:1).
4
"PSpn
t"TVl7,n
an (Ex. 23
Of
rifl!^-
Qi"
is,
Xum. 28
26).
54.
HWSIOKS.J
first
193
into the garners of the church the first-fruits of the Christian faith, the
ripe harvest, as it were, of the
fellowship of the
and a few
centuries,
all
mankind and
forever.
the law of the life-giving Spirit upon the hearts of men, as formerly he
had written the law of the letter, which killeth, on the tables of stone.
of this momentous event is given, though very briefly,
On the Pentecost after the resurrection
the second chapter of Acts.
of the Lord, in the year 30 of our era, on a Sunday," the apostles and
The narrative
111
which began with the month Nisan (reckoned from the new moon of Aprili on the
on the third, he received the answer of
second day Moses went up to Jehovah (v. 3)
the people (vs. 7. 8) on the fourth he brought this answer to the Lord (v. 9), and
;
thereupon the order was given him, that the people should sanctify themselves
to-day and to-morrow, to receive the law on the third day after, i. e., as the Jewish
But the 6th of Sivan, as the
tradition has it, on the sixth day of the third month.
month was
third
was
called,
16th to the 30th of Nisac are fifteen days the second month, Siv, had twenty-nine
Perhaps, too,
days which with the six days of the third month, Sivan, make fifty.
there is in the law respecting Pentecost, Deut. 16 9-12, a hint of the historical signi
;
when it concludes, v.
f
commandments o Jehovah.
and to the
We suppose,
four years
p.
(3
at
with a reference
12,
to the
bondage
jr.
Egypt,
however, with Bengel and \Vieseler, that this number is too small by
comp. Wieseler s Chronol. Synapse der vier Euangelien, 1843.
least;
48 sqq. Christ died in the thirty-fourth year of his age for, according to Luke
23 comp. the coincident date of Jno. 2 20), he was about thirty years old. when
;
he was baptized, and, according to John, his public ministry lasted three years.
In this specification of the day we come, for the first time, into conflict with the
Chronologic des apostolischen Zeitalters," by Wieseler,
very learned and valuable
This author, in his chronological system, puts the first Christian Pente
1848. p. 19.
*
"
cost
on a Sabbath, and
that, the
A. D.
30.
The
there
is
a difference
among
May
as he
of
As
to this date,
it
is
well known,
in the
tempts,
John with this date. But, on different grounds, which we cannot here specify, we
hold the latter date to be the true one, and think, that the accounts of the Synoptical
of
Gospels on closer inspection harmonize with this, and that, therefore, the contradiction
between them and John s Gospel is only apparent (comp. Sleek: Beitr ige zur EvanDie rhristliche Passafeier der drei ersten Jahrgilienkritik. 1846. p- 107-156; Weitzr.l :
:
kttnfkrte. 1648. p.
p.
296 sqq.
506 sqq
13
I9i
54.
BOOK
other followers of Jesus, to the number of a hundred and twenty, icn times
15), were assembled with one accord for devo
This view
The
is
23
fiftieth
Easter
after
the decisive passages for the point before us doe* not mean, as the
the first day of the feast of the passover, whicn wa* kept
Pharisaical
day
Jews maintained,
as a sabbath, on
proved, however, that the custom of the Caraites reaches back to the time of Christ.
Yet
in
any case
The
it is
Luke
of difficulty.
full
suggests at
of/cof, c.
is
This expres
2.
first
p. 13.
I.
s.
suppose, that the disciples were assembled in an upper room (n Tnbj.S VKEQUOV}, which,
-:
according to Oriental custom, was the apartment generally used as a place of devotion,
13), and then came out on the flat roof to address the multitude gathered
(comp. Acts 1
:
of
whom
there
In
a private dwelling.
for the
it
Kings 8
is spoken
comp. Mk. 13
jintiqu. VIII. 3, 2,
olKOi.
but,
where
That we are
10
(LXX),
The temple
of.
all
the hearers,
is
embraced several
itself
apartment
buildings,
OLKOVS,
1. 2.
Matt. 24
to understand the
itself
of the temple
olno6o/j.d<;
house
temple,
seems
to us evident
According to Luke 24
53,
and Acts 2
46,
comp. 5
They
still
2.
The whole
story
becomes more
much
The
better explained, if
it
was
to the temple.
the
3. We may add, finally, with Olshausen, that the event gains in significance, if
solemn inauguration of the church of Christ took place :n the sanctuary of the Old
-
"
"
54.
MISSIONS.]
196
announced the
by extraordinary phenomena in
example, the promulgation of the divine law on Sinai
thunders and lightnings and the voice of
was solemnly announced by
so was it
the trumpet exceeding loud," (comp. Ex. 19:16 sqq.)
nature
as, for
"
and the
disciples
wind, suddenly
filled
a precursor, announcing
all
life
as the Spirit
as the principle of the new moral and religious creation
descended upon the worshippers,
of faith and love, of truth and holiness
;
and rested upon them in the form of cloven tongues, like as of fire.
Wind and fire are here plainly symbolical of the purifying, enlightening,
the sacramental channels, as it were, of
and enlivening power of God
the
with
the promised baptism
Holy Ghost and with fire (Matt. 3 11) ;
;
and, at the
same
life-giving
of the
The
Jewish Pentecost
might be objected to
to
the Christian,
outpouring of the Spirit took place in the temple. The very mention of Pentecost,
.2:1, directs the mind to the temple, and the whole connection would fix it there,
unless there be
claration
We
is
"
it
were accustomed,
For
in this hall,
after the
edification (Acts
3:11.
12)
54.
[I.
BOOK.
Through these
twenty
disciples,
15
26, 27).
which
prediction
It
The
(Jno.
which forms,
inspiration,
in
witness,"
is
and ye
"
as
much a
tion as well of
life,
as of the
It
Word.
is
Inspira
a communica
affects
not only
all their
ment was
their solemn
office.
The
first
its
were
in
Among
them we must distinguish (1) the speaking with to7igues, or the utterance
of the new life in a new form of prayer and praise
(2) the testimony of
;
language to the
assembled multitude, which, at this hour of service, was at any rate on
its way to the temple, and which was the more attracted thither by the
in intelligible
it
The
for at
some
all
would sound
who
like a confused
noise.
2
tail,
The
different interpretations of
yhuaaais
Aa/letv,
whicl"
20-30.
De
we
zw
55.
MISSIONS.]
55.
The
sj taking
The.
urith other
397
tongues,
which he
in
conse
crated
eral
human language
to
intimately connected
language.
We
in the
still
and,
(if
we
(CTtyaif
find traces
of
it
Luke,
tongues,"
to
Our Lord
himself, in
Mark
16
17,
speaking with new (Kaivale) tongues." This expression see rns rather
to point to an entirely new language, never before spoken, and immediately prompted
by the Holy Ghost. It is, no doubt, to be regarded as the original and most suitable
calls the gift
expression
u to
10
y/Maay
by Paul,
enough
Cor. 14
to disprove
2, 4,
13, 14,
This
latter
form of expression
who would
itself is
understand by
a meaning ex-
common
also,
our
tion
itself.
translation
"
may
tongues,
Irepai,
mislead)
But
allows no explana
this
language
speaking with tongues, could have been
Kahnis says, (Lehre vom heil. Geist, I. p. 64) ,
in the
When
,"
to his
words.
He seems
ialetv, are only abbreviated for Katvalf or i nfpatc yA. AaA., and that the adjective, no*
the noun, is the emphatic word.
1
Irenaeus, (f202)
speaks of
many
who
"possessed
,
by the
gifts of
Spirit,
and
198
Roman
the
55.
this,
[l-
OK
Analo
gies to this speaking with tongues may perhaps be found alsj in the
ecstatic prayers and prophecies of the Moutauists in the second
eutury,
(
and
ecstasis of feeling.
They
more or
less
are, however, at
all
morbid enthusiasm
events, interesting
brought the hidden things of men to light, for edification, and expounded the mysteries
of God," (Adv. haer. V. 6)
Comp. the somewhat obscure passage of Tertullian, in hit
work against Marcion, V. 8, and NeandeSs Gescli. der Pflanzung und Leitung, etc. I. 26,
.
4th ed.
1
Dr. Middleton, indeed, (Inquiry into mirac. Powers, p. 120), asserts: "After the
is not, in all
history, one instance, either well attested, or even so
much
as mentioned, of
tongues)
opinion, adopted
who
or pretended to exercise
by many
it
in
Protestants,
is
gilt
(of
Irenaeus. to be false.
Vincennes Ferrer,
is
said to
through which he
tribes and dialects
is
and the
XXIV.
8
The speaking with
ter
Swiss, by the name of Michael Hohl, an eye and ear witness of this phenomenon,
gives the following interesting description of it in his Bruchstiicken aus dem Leben und
den Schriften Edward Irving *, gewesenen Predigers an der schottischen Nationalkirche in.
Before the outbreak of the discourse the person
London. St. Gallen. 1839. p. 149 :
"
concerned appeared
the hand.
Then
to
suddenly, as
his
ed,
which shook
tones,
shrillness.
This
first
was
chiefly as proof of the genuineness of the inspiration,
in English,
address
or
shorter
a
in
same
vehement
the
tone,
longer
by
followed,
always
which was likewise repeated, some of
tence.
It
consisted
now
warnings- containing,
of very
also,
it
w>rd
E SSION3.J
| 55.
TIIE
may
19S
We
ticular
tecost.
accurate description of
though of
this
we
by Paul
it,
shall
speak hereafter by
Corinthians
itself.
phenomenon. It is an involun
an ecstatic state of the most elevated devo
in
self,
however, for this very reason, his ordinary consciousness of himself and of
the world, and with it his common mode of speaking, is suspended, and he
controlled entirely by the consciousness of God, and becomes an invol
Hence it
untary organ of the objective Spirit of God, which fills him.
And they were all tilled with the Holy Ghost, and
is said, Acts 2:4:
is
"
began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
Paul terms
This inspiration affects matter and 1 orm, thought and style.
in the Spirit,"
speaking with tongues a praying and singing
(-vsvfM,)
"
God,
tual
in distinction
from the
"
understanding,"
consciousness, reflection, (1
Cor.
1-4
(>orf,)
14,
God
15j.
that
the intellec
is
The
things thua
1
redeeming
love,
in
the
Acts 19:0,
with
But
is
tongues,
addresses
God
the prophet
First
spired person remained a long time sunk in deep silence, and only gradually recovered
effort."
The inward state of such persons was thus de
The Spirit fell upon her unawares aud
by a young female
with irresistible power. For the time she felt herself guided and borne entirely by a
higher power, without which she would have been absolutely incapable of such exer
tions.
Of what she
felt
compelled to
utter,
spoke
much lest
unknown to
The utter
;
her; so that she could not afterwards tell definitely anything she had saii.
ance was invariably followed by great weariness and exhaustion, from which
hort time
1
recovered."
Acts 2:11.
Acti 10
46.
10
1
46.
Cor. 14
Cor. 14
14-18.
14-16.
s le
in ?
200
55.
Secondly
[l-
BOOK
while the
out an interpreter,
(I
Cor. 14
Hence Paul
2 sqq.)
gives the
pro
rian,
11),
edification
gift of inter
Yet in
pretation, by being translated into the language of common life.
this latter respect the gift of tongues as it appeared on the day of Pen
tecost seems to differ from that described
by the Apostle
and
this leads
As
was necessary
to understand
(Acts 2
the impression
Cor. 14
13)
and
this
23).
that the speaking with tongues was, even in this
gether overlooked,
It was an act of
case, primarily an address to God, and not to men.
:
the church
(Acts 2
and
praise,
For
itself.
4, cf. v.
6)
and belonged,
by a new act of
it
therefore, to the
inward
life
of
it
more
fully.
glossolaly, but
life,
It
a miracle,
and a
(v.
spread outwardly the new life of faith, which had so powerfully broken
forth within the apostles in the speaking with tongues.
Thus the
accounts of
Luke and
differ so
much
as
might at
sight appear.
He
this.
sorts
Paul gives no
of foreign lan
11, 14),
though he had th
| 55.
MISSIONS.]
201
18
I than* my God, I
tongues in a high degree, (1 Cor. 14
than ye all.")
more
The
with
tradition
of the primitive
tongues
speak
"
gift of
vernacular
The inward
rapture, the
extraordinary and involuntary elevation of the mind into the divine life,
expressed itself also involuntarily in the kind and mode of communica
tion
though undoubtedly, so
far as
For
For the
of \kQforeigners, who were present at the feast of Pentecost.
Tery cause of their astonishment was, that the unlearned Galileans spoke
in languages, which they could not be expected to know, and the com
mand
(2
of which
6-11).
That
this
is*
the clear,
indisputable,
literal sense
of the
narrative,
we
totally
way
we
in the
usual
the story of
Luke
which for
us,
however,
on internal as well as
is,
or to suppose self-deception on
external grounds, absolutely impossible
the part of the hearers, whose impressions the narrator simply relates
>f
was
for a
moment removed by
hearer felt his own
Ghost.
Each
susceptible
appealed
to, so
As
cases
is
where
fellowship in the
its
I. p. 28.
Jlp. Gesch.
whose
Holy
natural disability by
This
is
one of the
many
and deep experience of the living power of Christianity, otherwise fundamentally sep
u
arate him from all Rationalism, has unfortunately yielded too much in his
Apostei
geschichte."
and
still
more
in his
Leben
Jesa,"
to
modern
criticism.
202
55.
[l-
BOOK
this
ecstatic
again
its
same
and
it
sounded to the
a mysterious me
mento of Paradise, and a cheering prophecy of the future. In either
case, therefore, the miracle would be transferred rather into the hearers.
inmost, recesses of souls seized by the
Yet we must
spirit, as
Besides,
we
foreign languages, not naturally acquired, for the spread of the gospel
and of the view taken by several moderns, who make the description of
Paul the rule for interpreting that of Luke. liather does the apostle
Paul himself seem to indicate a
the expression
"
or
kinds"
"
difference in the
diversities
of
forms of this
(yivri
tongues,"
gift,
by
yhuocuv, 1
Cor. 12
10, 28), as also by the distinction between tongues of men
and of angels, (1 Cor. 13 1). We would, therefore, not confound, by
and,
exegetical and philosophical subtilties, things thus distinguished
:
we
suppose,
grasp the different languages then and there represented, and thereby to
make the deeper impression on the susceptible portion of the hearers.
Nor
is it difficult
It was, in the
first
phenomenon.
In a similar
matik.
At
way
it
was, for
Comp.
all
phenomenon
*
Could we appeal to the Irvingite glossolaly, as a reasonable analogy, we should hera
have a similar elevation, in which, according to Hohl s account above quoted, the ecsta
tic discourses were delivered first in strange sounds, like Hebrew, and afterwards, whec
somewhat
Yet
this
analogy
might be used more naturally to il ustrate the relation between speaking with tongue*
and the interpretation of tongues.
55.
I8SIONS.]
203
gospel and the praise of God should soon be heard in every language of
It is probably with this view, that Luke,
the earth.
(Acts 2
9-11),
the
names of the nations.
Those foreigners "out of every
specifies
:
nation under
three thousand of
heaven,"
In
whom
all
like the
day
itself,
parallel
which
is
faith,
and
God
"
the
Father," (Phil. 2
11).
a personal gift to individual Christians, the power to speak with
The church and the Holy Scriptures now
.tongues is no longer needed.
the
wonderful
works
of
God in almost all the languages of the
proclaim
is
As
earth.
though
Even
in its
in the time of the apostles this gift lost its original form,
it
continued
still
longer.
For we can
see no
reason for supposing, that, in the house of Cornelius, for instance, (Acts
10
46, comp. 19
6), or in the Corinthian church, (in other words,
those
who
were
among
already believers), it manifested itself precisely in
:
the
Christianity,
In the
missionaries
Roman
could
make themselves
understood
shows that they had learned it in the usual way. And the history of
primitive missions gives no intimation, that the rapid spread of the
gospel was caused or even aided by a supernatural gift of tongues.
We have yet to observe, however, in fine, that the Holy Scriptures
represent the origin of the different languages as a punishment of
it
can accommodate
human
itself to
(Gen. 11)
tongues and nations, has power, also, to break down gradually all the
partition walls, which sin has set up, and to unite the scattered children
pride,
all
of
in
but
also
in
one
so that the
In this sense,
we
2C4
56.
56.
ITS
its
RESULT.
[l
BOOK.
Result.
The astonishment
this first
new
was the
fruits
spiritual
creation.
mony
of the
whom
he dwells, (Jno. 15
itself in
26, 27).
It
is
religious faculties,
are
had promised
in the
Hebrew language,
is
exceed
Jesus
made by
trast here
is
Son
of the living
God and
the
Saviour of sinners
in short,
the speaking with tongues, and the calm self-possession and clearness of
But the harmonious union of these two gifts is a charac
this sermon.
teristic feature of
the apostles,
who were
.as
tius
lum
>l
ecclesiae
recolligit."
Pocna linguarum
recollegit."
In like
dispersit homines,
expositor, Gro*
in
unum
popu-
56.
MISSIONS.]
205
ITS EESUITS.
This appearance, he goes on to say, is nothing else than ti.e glorbns ful
prophecy of Joel concerning the outpouring of the Holy
fillment of the
sadors of God, as under the Old Dispensation, but upon all people, even
This communication of the Spirit is
the most insignificant and illiterate.
the promised Messiah, who was
about
Jesus
of
Nazareth,
by
brought
Ye did,
powerfully accredited to you as such by works and miracles.
indeed, deliver him up, according to the eternal counsel and foreknowl
1
edge of God, and crucify him by the hands of heathen Romans. Bui
God has raised him from the dead, according to the promise in the six
teenth Psalm
and of
this fact
we
all
This risen
Spirit, as
ye
himself has, by indisputable facts,
shown this Jesus, crucified by you, to be the Messiah, from whom ye
yourselves, as Israelites, look for all salvation.
here see.
Know,
therefore, that
God
The death of Jesus was, on the part of God, the fulfillment of the eternal decree of
redemption; on the part of Jesus, a free act of love on the part of the Jews, a crime
for which they were accountable, the climax of their sin against Jehovah.
Here only
Peter charges all present with he
the first and last relations are brought to view.
murder of Jesus; first, because the act of the magistrate is the act of the people, whom
1
he represents, and who, in this case, moreover, had directly cooperated, crying
secondly, because the death of the Lord is, by reason
Crucify him
cify him
!
!"
Acts 2
common
human
first person,
name
of
God and
Christ,
race.
Cru
the
01
When Meyer,
in
on
the
and that
he, as a believer,
was
ac
David composed this Psalm with his mind and heart upon the theocracy, which
God had promised should stand forever, and he looked with the eye of prophecy to the
Messiah, through whom death and the grave were to be abolished, and the theocracy
was
to be fully unfolded.
"The
dread of disso
and of the dark valley of death awoke in David a longirg to have death com
and this desire the prophetic Spirit enabled him to see fulfilled in
pletely conquered
lution
Hengstenberg,
in
his
Commcntar zu Psaimen,
I. p.
306
would
was
"this
far the
Psalm
337),
in
"
Out of
Christ,"
member
says
of the
Hengsten
he does.
Messianic.
p.
light, this
is
His resurrection
is
our
resurrection."
56.
*2U6
ITS
RESULTS.
[*
IOOK
same
What
"
in
receive the
in
we do
?"
the apostles.
whom
Gentiles,
Lord should
the
call.
Thus
repentance and faith, the turning of the heart away from the world and
sin, and towards God through Christ, appear here, as in all the Scrip*
of participation in the kingdom of God, and
the blessings of salvation, namely, the forgiveness of sins, imparted
and sealed by Christian baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost as the
tures, as the first condition
in
new
positive principle of
life.
by virtue of
in
his
ascension to the
12).
mony
plied
The
believers
denying love
breaking of bread,
i.
e.
all
in
"
It has never
So we understand the phrase rolf el? ftaKQuv, Acts 2 39, comp. Zech. 6:15
For Peter already knew, that the Gentiles also were called to salvation only h
thought they must first become Jews, until the vision, (c. 10) taught him better.
1
yet had
56.
MISSIONS.]
its
in history,
like
but
will
it
207
ITS RESULTS.
for
the
we
find,
from
this
day
forth,
The
apostles,
few
the
Holy Ghost
transformed from
illiterate
men
ages
truly, this
is
mar
208
57.
GROWTH
ANT? PERSECUTION
CHAPTER
THE MISSION
IN PALESTINE,
SIGN TO
of Christendom,
the
BOOS
II.
57.
fl-
Church
after so
MM
in Jerusalem.
glorious
first
a beginniiig
found great
Peter
is
succeeding history
down
to the
appearance of Paul,
wovd
healing of one, who had been more than forty years a cripple, by the
sublime word of Peter
Silver and gold have I none ; but such as I
have give I thee
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and
"
walk,"
the
1
(Acts 3
number
6),
of male
made a great
members
noise
among
But
at
Dr. Baur regards this and other statements of the Acts of the Apos
tles respecting the rapid growth of the church, as intentional exaggerations, and restc
this assertion upon the apparent contradiction between Acts 1
15, where the original
Acts 4
4-
number of the
Paul,
disciples
Cor. 15:
6,
is
in th
200
MISSIONS.]
it
espe
cially of the
argument for the Messiahship of Jesus, (Acts 4:2). The two apostles
were arrested and imprisoned by the temple guard, and on the next day
brought with the healed cripple before the Sanhedrim, in which the Sadducean party just then had the upper hand. Then Peter, full of the
Holy Ghost, boldly declared that the miracle was wrought in the name
and by the power of Jesus Christ of Xazareth, whom they had cru
but
cified,
had
ers,
whom
prophecy of the
118th Psalm
but
for there
given
As the members
healing,
and
and John
name
the
is
saved."
at the
The
of Jesus.
who
united
in
In this
first
see
how
the
true type of
church of Christ.
"
says Calvin,
rises,"
we
we have a
persecution
truth
in
in
Satan
motion, to
Lord armed
"
to
rises
kill it in
all
the subsequent
it
in all possible
the bud.
ways,
In the next place,
they
of the
all
God extends
people."
According to their
principle,
(5
12-16), with the terrible judgment upon the hypocritical
Ananias and his wife, more and more attracted the attention of the peo
cles
ple,
The Sadduceau
had the apostles arrested and confined
But the
1
14
Commeitiar. ad
Ada, 4
1.
210
GROWTH A^ D PERSECUTION.
57.
whom
God
the counselors
had
and
testified
slain,
but
exalted
at his right
work,"
said Gamaliel,
but
if
He
"
it
it,"
his
religion,
and
over
all
opposition,
and
and wicked
and
attempts to suppress them by force
were better to leave them to condemn themselves, as, sooner or
hence
it
later,
justice-loving
;a
ed.
But
was a
this expression
We
trary from the fact, that, down to his death, he remained a Pharisee and
in great esteem with the Jews.
He probably passed from neutrality to
.hostility, as
as
system
is
no criterion at
Moham .rredanism.
would put an end
And
to all
earnestness of law.
As
all
of
then,
its
his
divinity.
Look,
for
instance, at
Heathenism and
man
every
case,
in place of th
must
eithef
decidedly approve and actively support it. or condemn it and seek to counteract its in
\\ e say this against a thoughtless over-valuation of Gamaliel s advice, which
fluence.
R>anv treat as an oracle, and as a
part of the word of God himself.
Thus
58.
MISSIONS.]
far the
division
But
58.
first
Herod leagued
Sadducees
after
211
its
oppo
self-righteous
may be
This
descent.
these deacons,
from
the man,
who
first
hardened Judaism
As
views.
clearly
;
"
of having said, that Jesus of Nazareth would destroy the temple and
4
The truth at the bottom of this charge was
change the laws of Moses.
cil
tl
Had
not Stephen
prayed,"
said Augustine,
ll
Paul."
Matt 24
As may
21
sqq.
19 sq.
Luke
17
22 sqq.
be interred partly from the prominent part which Paul took in the perse
cution of Stephen (7
58 and 8:1), and partly from the fact, that among the syna
:
61
Acts 6
"
days
is
This fellow
"~a
58.
1212
BOOK.
[i
tament
itself points
this
itself to
beyond
this account, of
serenity,
which reflected
was not a
direct,
In the genuine
own person
spirit of
building
By
to a
Stephen wished, in the first place, to testify his own faith in the Old
Testament revelation, and, by unfolding the true office and relations of
Moses and the temple, to refute the charge of blaspheming them and
secondly, to show, that the conduct of the Jews was always grossly
unworthy of their relations to God that, the greater his favors to them,
;
the greater was their ingratitude and contumacy towards him and his
servants, and especially towards Moses. He held before his accusers the
marily to the temple of his body, but also, indirectly, to the natural consequence of his
death and resurrection, the destruction of the Old Testament sanctuary and the erection
of the
1
new
This accounts
for the
7, 16, 53.
The
tion to
venerable antistes of Z.irich, Job. Jac. Hess, has already strikingly called atten
tne
fact,
in his description of
Moses
was
name
especially
58.
MISSIONS.]
the dealings
God
erf
213
The temple
higher.
who keenly
excited hearers,
felt
their conduct.
and judges as the true sons of the murderers of the prophets held up
their betrayal and murder of the Just One, as the climax of their ingra
;
titude
and
iniquity
Impiety.
But by this discourse he, at the same time, precluded all possibility of
own acquittal. Xor was it his object at all to save his life, but solely
The members of the council gnashed their teeth
to vindicate the truth.
with rage but Stephen was transported in the Spirit to heaven, and
his
saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the almighty God, ready to
the glorified Son of Man, who, from the throue
protect and receive him
1
shame
all
The
would hear nothing more. They thrust him out of the city
and stoned him without a formal sentence, or a hearing before the
for the Romans had deprived the Sangovernor, and therefore in riot
fanatics
78 sqq.)
Here is a complete picture," says he, p. 83, of the couduct
of the Jews towards Jesus
their way of thinking, as it expressed itself in the case
1778.
I. p.
of Jesus,
is
clearly
shown
to
them
ihow
1
The
Christ
is
own
a mirror.
God
The
after his
in the wilderness
jealousy
flight into
are intended to
disposition."
striking expression,
by the simple
fact,
this,
when
he said
"
Sedere
Stephanus stantem
This unusual expression,
vidit,
"
Baur
(1.
more
distinct
and
c. p.
51), assumes,
direct.
214
CHRISTIANITY IN SAMARIA..
59.
TIIILIP.
[l.
jJGX.
it
as an
Stephen committed his soul to the Lord Jesus, as the dying Lord had
committed his to his Father (Luke 23 40). Then, kneeling down, he
:
Worthy was
this
And when
man, whose
he had said
moments
this,
he
fell
asleep.
reflected the
image of th
dying Redeemer, to lead the glorious host of martyrs, whose blood was
The idea, for which he
henceforth to fertilize the soil of the church.
died, the
last
stiffness of
boldly,
and
It
was the
except the apostles, who felt it their duty to face the danger
and stay in Jerusalem (Acts 8 1, 14). Thus were the sparks
:
of the gospel blown by the stormy wind into various parts of Palestine,
and even to Phenicia, Syria, and Cyprus (8:1, 4. 11: 19, 20). The
this persecution,
must bo
church.
59.
Christianity in Samaria.
Philip.
first
Hence many interpreters suppose, that the stoning of Stephen took place soon after
the recall of Pilate, A. D. 36, and before the arrival of the new procurator, Marcellus,
1
when such an aci of lawlessness might have more easily gone unpunished. But this
in their fanaticism, cared but little for the
assumption is unnecessary. The Jews,
laws of the hated Romans, and, in the heat of excitement, forgot the possible conse
them by pie; ding, that, as there was no formal sentenc*
quences, or thought to escape
the execution partook of no official character.
of death in the
case,
59.
HI8SIONB.]
CHRISTIANITY IN SAMAKIA.
215
PHILIP.
and
and
fanaticism
sorts
all
of superstition
and consummation of
to
whom
then opened by the general longing after something higher, and by the
and who, with
prevailing receptivity for the secret wisdom of the East
;
deceitful
their
arts,
his divinely
patriarch of
all heretics,
for
of deity.
name
people
fell
thought
it
all
doubiiess hoping thus himself to obtain the miraculous gifts of his rival.
result forbids us to regard him as having been truly converted.
probably perceived in the gospel a superior divine power, and was
for a moment subdued by it, but never truly and honestly embraced it.
For the
He
Ho
to
wished to hold
make the
fast to his
Christian
name a
This rapid success of the gospel among a mixed people, mortally hated
by the Jews, and, though circumcised, not considered by them as belong
ing to the theocratic race, must make no little stir among the believers
.
in Jerusalem.
two of
their
As appears from the acceptance, which three successive sect-founders in the first
Dositheus Simor. Magus, who equally
century met with among the Samaritans
;
ieserves mention
*
216
CIIEISTIANITY IN SAMARIA.
59.
PHILIP
BOOK
[l.
him
and
Simon,
still
he might thus obtain the greater dominion over the minds of men. This,
many other fanatics, shows that there may be a
sordid and arbitrary effort to obtain even the highest and holiest gifts
an effort, which, as it springs not from humility, but from ambition and
selfishness, is
Peter
sharply rebuked the hypocrite for this profane degradation of the holy
and the supernatural into the sphere of perishable matter yet he did
;
cede for him with the Lord, and avert the fulfillment of their threaten
But
ing.
any
this impression
was merely
we have
by ancient
was termed
a
The
traffic in
church
offices
and dignities
simony.
mildness of the apostle here presents a striking contrast to his severity in the
know what he was doing whereas Ananias exhibited the height of conscious hypocrisy
and selfishness, amidst the virgin purity and glowing love of the primitive church.
3
It cannot be made out with certainty, but it is not improbable, that this Simon, aa
;
Josephus
(Jlrchaeol.
XX.
(1. c.
7. $ 2),
intercourse with the vile procurator, Felix, aiding him by his magical arts in gratifying
his adulterous lust. It is certain, that the beginnings of the Gnostic sect of the Simoniam
magician Simon.
arise
here
Why did he not rather return to Jerusalem ? Hess
question might
thinks (1 c. p. 104), because the persecution was still raging there, and the deacons, or
are to ae traced
*
ie
back
to the
CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS.
60.
MISSIONS.]
217
We
Jesus, as
in the fourth
first
missionaries of Ethiopia.
and a tradition of the Abyssinian church derives the origin of this church
from that chamberlain, whom it calls Indich and many of its doctrines
;
now
pass.
Tke
GO.
Conversion of Cornelius.
the
Beginning of
Mission
to
the
Gentiles.
Thus
*
far
none had been received into the Christian church but Jews,
The
all
account of the dispersion of the church, had nothing more to do. But the church can
not have been entirely dissolved, and the
all,"
(Acts 8:1). must be taken as hyper
bolical.
Otherwise the apostles would hardly have remained there. Baur. in his work
"
on Paul
tion
(p.
39)
between the
supposes, that, after the time of Stephen, there was a formal separa
strictly Judaizing, Hebrew Christians, and the more liberal, Hellenis
remained
Jerusalem.
in
But
conversion
this is at
was
tic
in
and
once contradicted by
it
c.
between the two parties altogether at variance with the spirit of Jesus, by which if
any men were actuated, the apostles were. The simplest answer is, that Philip was
called rather to be a missionary
40)
and evangelist, as
in fact
he
is
so styled (21
8,
comp.
According to Pliny this was the official title of all the princes of Meroe in upper
So the Egyptian kings were called Pharaoh.
Egvpt.
*
Whence
word
the
23
first
it
appears, that he
was
either a proper
Jew
If
we
tak*
officer in general,
3
or a proselyte.
li
frequent,
y denotes
a court
218
CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS.
60.
[-
HOOK.
all families
And the
Isaiah had expressly predicted the conversion of the Gentiles.
all
to
teach
nations
his
and
at
his
had
Lord,
disciples
charged
departure,
them
baptize
name
the
in
(Matt. 28
19,
20).
But nothing
were at
first
first
medium
be circumcised.
They were still too much restricted to the letter in their views of the
Old Testament, which, though it ordains circumcision for all time, and
threatens the uncircumcised with being cut off from the people of God,
(Gen. 17
13, 14),
10,
its
main thing, and contains occasional hints of the abolition of the ancient
4
Then
worship and the establishment of an entirely new covenant.
came not
to destroy the
law, (Matt. 5
laws, as
is
current with
many modern
theologians,
was
utterly foreign to
tiousness
this
and reverence
and were
for the
prejudice,
come only by
the Samaritans.
among
stricter Palestinian
But the
"
Hebrews,"
scruples
of the
could be over
in particular.
From
this
gressive.
Gen. 12
Is.
s
4
60
Deut. 10
Jer. 3
18
3.
3 sqq.
16.
16.
31
30
:
22
18.
66
Jer.
31-33, etc.
Comp. Gal. 3 8,
Comp. Zech. 6: :5.
18-
19 sqq.
4.
16.
CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS.
60.
MINIONS.]
219
accommodation to the
had proceeded in an imme
in this
it
fictions of
later writer.
From
itself.
this
we
how
the
for his
work independently of the wisdom and erroneous notions of men, and yet
secondly, how the Holy Ghost gradually
exactly at the right time
;
enlarged the knowledge of the apostles, and loosed the shackles of their
Jewish prejudices, while they, on their part, readily submitted to the
and finally, that Christianity is originally not doc
higher instruction
;
Roman.
another
28)
(11
(Acts 10
rea,
made
In
1),
"
with
nation,"
whom
he was numbered
3)
and
it
was
11
45.
1.).
theism, and honestly longing for the true religion, he with all
had embraced the monotheism of the Jews, and doubtless,
his family,
also, their
nevolence,
Caesarea, (8
1
As
Dr. Baur does with a lamentable abuse of his acumen and power of combina
works frequently cited above.
tion in the
*
made
Comp.
respecticg- these
50 supra.
220
CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS.
60.
no small
stir,
(9
and
disquietude,
32-43).
his
desire
1-
BOOR
religion,
works of love, and directing him to send for Simon Peter from Joppa.
In pursuance of the divine suggestion, the centurion immediately sent
two slaves with a faithful, devout soldier to Joppa (now Jaffa), also on
his
Roman
journey (thirty
By
made a tour
of visit
ed
who
follow
it
had
nelius
his
God.
While
his spirit
hungered
for souls, to
(Trgoaireivoe,
10
10),
which
is,
him
was intended
to pre-
the law against eating unclean animals, (which are, nevertheless, designea
or the nourishment of man) as an unnatural restriction, to be henceforth abclished.
lent to
CONVERSION OP CORNELIUS.
60.
MISSIONS.]
2l
command from
received a
Lord
the
"
Peter
Rise,
and
kill
eat."
When
thou
When
common."
vessel
to heaven, (10
command, the
11-16).
The symbolical import of this vision we can easily conjecture. The
vessel denotes the creation, especially mankind
the letting down of it
:
all
10), as
this
appearance,
his trance
and begun
to reflect
on the
themselves at the door of the house, and the Spirit at once showed him
He entertained the strangers, and on the next
who
near friends,
fell
upon
teacher, as before a
six
brethren,
in the
his
(comp. 11
12), to
Caesarea.
and
The
superhuman being.
Stand up
I myself also am
meant, but heathenish idolatry, saying
a man."
After hearing from the centurion the reason of his sending for
"
him, perceiving the wonderful coincidence of the two visions, and being
convinced, by his own eyes, of the Gentile s humble readiness to receive
religious instruction, he broke forth in the remarkable words, which
show that
his
now ripened
that
God
is
new view
into a clear
no respecter of persons
is
The Jewish distinction between animals was closely connected with the national
segregation. The Levitical laws respecting food forbade the Jews eating unclean beasts,
1
all
table intercourse
who
tion, and,
1
faith,
but of th
righteousness of the law, and of this, too. only in a relative sense as Paul says of cer
tain Gentiles, (Rom. 2:13, 14, 26, 27) that they do by nature the works of the law.
;
-22
60.
CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS.
[l-
BOCK
opposition to
National distinctions, he
have nothing to do with admission into the kingdom of God.
The great requisite is, not descent from Abraham, not circumcision, but
God looks upon the heart and to
simply a sincere desire for salvation.
every one who reveres him according to the measure of his knowledge
in
would
say,
who
Acts 10
alistic
of
It
is,
therefore, as
De
Wette
says, (on
all
religions,
35),
"the
and an extenuation of
indifferentism.
Peter
is
plainly
dom.
tian,
baptized at
all.
On
announces Jesus
as
and
through
we
faith,
shall
all
be
in
saved
is
Peter then reminded Cornelius and his friends of the historical facts
of the
life
known
how, according to the testimony of all the prophets, men should obtain
remission of sins and salvation by believing in him, as the Messiah and the
judge of
all.
waiting hearers,
sermon.
The
short, the day of Pentecost here repeated itself for the Gentiles.
communication of the Spirit, and consequently regeneration, in this case,
in the New Testament.
before baptism, is striking, and without parallel
other cases, as with the Samaritans, the gift of the Spirit accom
Man is bound
panied or followed baptism and the laying on of hands.
In
all
He
223
CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS.
60.
jlISSIONS.]
intended to give them, and through them the whole Jewish Christian
conceive of no baptism with the Spirit
party in Jerusalem, who could
The
the
causing
this
sacrament
of
still
by giving them a
full
account
of the whole wonderful transaction, so that they also praised God, that
he had given repentance and the Holy Ghost to the Gentiles (11
18).
And now that God himself had so plainly broken down the partition
:
wall between
Jews and
Gentiles,
and had
made
5),
Of
the church
this testify
all
Paul
Even Peter
epistles.
himself, on a
subsequent occasion, acted against his own better conviction, from fear
for which he had to be
of some narrow-minded Jewish Christians
;
61.
About
*
make
critics
11 sqq.).
(Die
heil.
Christian
the.
Origin of
or at least soon
as Gfrorer
after, a
Saqe,
Nam*
step preparatory to
part.
p.
ter,
this
as a practical inconsistency, as
poses
what
is
related in Acts.
hypocrisy
(Gal. 2
Baur acknowledges
(p.
(p.
78 sqq.K
The author
still
worse, a
fiction,
Corne
purposely
own
fictions
upon
(?)
This manifestly savors too much of the obsolete standpoint of Bahrdt, Venturini, and
the Wolfenbuttel Fragmentists, and is too unworthy of a theologian, to merit a serious
refutation.
1
Perhaps about A. D. 40 at all events, two years before the famine, predicted by
Ag^bus, which occurred in 44 or 45. For Luke mentions this aftc.rwaros (11 28)
tad in the poition, too, respecting the Antiochian church, where he evidently followi
;
224
61.
[l.
BOOK
20 ),
(v.
and witL
Roman
the
by
self-denying benevolence, and was also a
a
native
of
the
island
of Cyprus (Acts 4
Grecian Jew,
38, 37). Thus,
a
mean
between Jewish-Christian and Gentile-Christian views, he
being
his
was peculiarly
By
and especially
his preaching,
the church there holding the same relation to the Gentile mission, that
It was from Antioch, and
the church at Jerusalem held to the Jewish.
with the cooperation of its church, that Paul undertook his great mis
sionary tours into Asia Minor and Greece.
But Antioch was important also in another respect. It was there, and
probably soon after the formation of the church there, that the name,
This appellation was not assumed
Christians, originated (Acts 11
26).
:
They rather
called themselves
Lord),
"disciples,"
"saints,"
mutual fellowship).
(referring to their
Wieseler
as, in fact,
(1.
he
is
p. 152)
c.
Still less
(with
"bre
Acts of the Apostles, c. 1-8 3 and the whole section about Paul, c. 13 1-28 31
For this
but thinks that, from c. 8 4 to 12 25. the synchronistic method prevails.
:
seems
the
martyrdom of Stephen
to
me
no
sufficient ground.
from Tarsus.
25)
in the years
and other authorities, ^EA/U/vaf is the true reading in the passage in question.
For the lect. rec E^rjviaruf, forms no antithesis whatever to louJcu oic, v. 19., since
gate,
61.
MISSIONS.]
name
the hallowed
them rather
then,
who
far
of Christ, Messiah,
"
Galileans," "Nazarenes."
applied
it
225
either in mockery,
Agrippa
and
1 Pet. 4
16, as
an honorable nickname.
was soon,
It
should strive
the
life
that
of Christ
is,
to have his
and of
own
life
God,
is
"
it
parties, as
Pompejani, Caesariani,
Herodiani, &c.
*
So the Heidelberg Catechism explains the name in the 32nd question
Why ar\
thou called a Christian ? Because I am a member of Christ by faith, and thus am
partaker of his anointing, that so I may confess his name, and present myself a living
"
sacrifice of
thanksgiving to him and also that with a free and good conscience I may
and Satan in this life, and afterwards reign with him eternally ovei
;
15
PAUL BEFORE
62.
"22Q
HIS CONVERSION.
CHAPTER
III.
62.
neighboring countries, and began to shake off its narrow Jewish preju
dices respecting the admission of the Gentiles into the church.
Soon
had prepared a powerful instrument, who was destined, though not exclu
sively, yet preeminently, to carry the word of the cross to the heathen,
and at the same time,
and
the world.
who,
in speaking, writing,
(1 Cor.
15
It
was customary with the Jews to have two names, and in intercourse with
Greek or Latin one; as John, Mark, (Acts 12 12, 25) Simeon,
Niger (13:1); Jesus, Justus (Col. 4:11). This best accounts for the appearance of
the name, Paul, exactly from the time, when this apostle comes out as the independent
apostle of the Gentiles (13
conversion,
9);
probably, however, already used the Graeco- Roman form during his former residence
in Tarsus.
According to the old view of Jerome (De vir. illustr. c. 5), which has been
ndvocatedof
late
brance of the
first
this
name
fruits of
"
7)
remem
Roman pro
in grateful
of the
Sergio Paulo, victoriae suae trophaea retulit erexitque vexilla, ut Paulus a Saulo voca-
But
retur."
we must
name appears
expect
it
to
occur
Epist. P. ad.
till
Roman-
13
torn.
13.
I.
p.
To
this
XI. note
point
2).
(2.)
MISSIONS. J
^Phi:
PAUL BEFORE
62.
2 Cor. 11
5.
He
22).
22
39.
3),
227
HIS CONVERSION.
Roman
(Acts 9:11.
16 31).
culture,
citizen,
(22
28.
Though destined
for
I.
name
pupils after their teachers, but not the reverse (vid. Neander, Jlpostel(3.) Paul had undoubtedly before this converted many Gentiles,
135. Note).
p.
though the Acts take no special notice of it, (comp., however, 11 25, 26), as also they
make no mention of Paul s three years residence in Arabia, and only briefly touch upon
:
At
version,
which seems
to
all
events
we
him
to
it
is
still
why
this particular
con
results,
name of the
new name, dates
life,
just as
Simon
from his confession of the Messiahship of Jesus^ and denotes his peculiar position, as
foundation, in the history of the church.
Thus Augustine (Serm. 315) draws a
parallel
between Saul the persecutor of the Christians, and Saul the persecutor of
David:
"Saulusenim
nomen
Talis
persecutor erat regis David.
And the new name, which he de
rives from the Latin adjective paulus. he regards as involving the idea of humility:
"
Quia Paulus modicus est, Paulus parvus est. Nos solemus sic loqui videbo te post
i. e.
Unde ergo Paulus
post modicum.
ego sum minimus Apostolorum,
Still more arbitrary and ungrammatical is the etymological
Cor. 15
trifling,
:
paulum,
1
9."
from oa/.eveiv
rives Saul
making the
first
name denote
rather
"
the longed
"
for,"
the prayed
even after
13
mon
2, 9)
For
his
conversion
(Acts
it
well known,
is
for."
9:8,
11,
17,
11
25, 30.
12
25.
at the
(v. 9)
when he wrote
of sixty.
8
ehepherds and travellers. They were made mostly of the hair of the Cilician goat,
which was peculiarly coarse and well adapted to this purpose whence KI^IKIO^ -payof
denoted a coarse man. Comp. Hug: Einl. m s N. T. II. p. 328 sq. 3rd ed. The Jew
ish custom of pursuing a trade
along with the study of the law was no. designed solely
to secure the means of
temporal subsistence, but also to counteract temptations to sen
;
and its destructive influence on the higher spiritual life. For the same twofold
purpose the Christian monachism united manual labor with meditation.
suality,
PAUL BEFORE
62.
HIS CONVERSION.
BOOR
[l-
On
This
evinced not only by his quotations from heathen poets, and some
much known, Aratus and Cleanthes (Acts 17 28),
Menander (1 Cor. 15 32), and Epimenides (Titus 1 12)
but still
is
more by
his
command
and philosophy.
While yet a youth, Saul was sent by
his parents
to Jerusalem,
and
3.
26 4, 5),
(Acts 22
who was at the head of the rigoristic school of Jewish scriptural learnwho, moreover, showed a cer
ing, founded by his grandfather, Hillel
"
38
sq.),
was
in high
esteem
the people, (5
34), and, according to the Talmud, was called
the glory of the law."
with
all
6.
strictest sort,
Gal. 1
13,
14).
No
for the
law of
doubt, however, he
was among the most earnest and noble of this sect for that the Phari
sees were by no means all hypocrites is proved by the examples of Xico
;
friendship, he
relation oi pecuiiai
PAUL BEFORE
62.
MISSIONS.]
HIS
CONVERSION".
condemned
sorrowfully as he looked
that he acted
back upon
"
ignorantly,"
and
his
(1 Tim. 1
soul, of
a picture in the
life-like
came
it
it
did in Stephen,
it
as a contemptible sect.
phemy against the law of his fathers, and rebellion against the authority
of Jehovah.
He, therefore, regarded the extermination of the new sect
Hence the zealous
part he took, while yet young, (about thirty years of age), in the exe
He entered houses to find
cution of Stephen and the ensuing persecution.
Christians,
tried
"yet
breathing
out threateuings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord," he
went to the high priest, the president of the Sanhedrim, which had the
prison,
oversight of
ments
arrest
all
all
disciplinary punish
Thus provided, he
Christians.
all
this,
power to
full
Syrian
city,
Damascus, (9:1 sqq., comp. 22 5), whither many had fled, and where
there were many synagogues of the Jews."
But here the gracious hand
of Him, whom he persecuted, interfered to rescue him and change his
:
whole course.
The summit
was
of apostasy
for
towards salvation.
1
It is possible, that
have no
does, infer
man
may have
it
known
personally
in his writings.
we
For
it
forth
he
distinct trace of
know we him no
more."
Comp. Neander
jlpostelgesch.
I.
p. 142,
now hence
De Wette
and
adloc.
*
Josephus
relates,
(De
beilo
tc
Jud.
that under
at
women ii
230
CONVERSION OF PAUL.
63.
On
the
to
way
A.D.
Conversion of Paul.
63.
BOOK
37.
of grace,
which trans
formed the persecuting Saul into the praying Paul, the self-righteous
Pharisee into the humble Christian, the most dangerous enemy of the
its most powerful
apostle, the noble endowments of hia
church into
particulars,
an apostle, not through human mediation, not even that of the elder
apostles, but by the risen Saviour in person, (1:1); and that he
received the gospel, which he was to preach to the Gentiles, not through
human instruction, but directly through a revelation of Jesus Christ, ( 1
:
11-16).
With
6,
his Chris
tian
call
If these
ing forth of the natural light out of the darkness of chaos.
passages leave it undecided, whether this enlightening of the apostle was
he
simply an inward fact, or accompanied by an outward appearance
more distinctly testifies in 1 Cor. 9 1, that he had seen Jesus Christ
;
"
our
is
Lord."
proved by
Cor. 15
8,
Of
Last of
"
all
he was seen of
me
also, as of
time."
the
manner of
his conversion
we have three
detailed accounts in
and two
one from the pen of Luke, (9
1-19)
from the mouth of Paul himself the first in his discourse to the Jews in
the book of Acts
Jerusalem, (22
3-16), the second in his defence before king Agrippa
and the procurator Festus during his imprisonment in Caesarea, (26 9
They all agree in the main fact, that the conversion was wrought
-20).
:
why
him
persecutest thou
1
Acts 9
in the
Hebrew
me
It
17, 27.
is
"
tongue, (26
Saul, Saul,
14)
hard for thee to kick against the
Comp.
Cor. 9
1,
and
8.
63.
MISSIONS.]
When
pru.ks."
"
Who
231
art thou,
?"
"I
Thus
all his
He now
a child.
staid in
"
me from
shall deliver
the
body of
this
death
"
this
preparation by
godly
sorrow,"
lie
After
24).
was inwardly assured of the
7
(Rom.
?"
ing, that, as a
sake.
many
stimulum
imparted to
name
Trpdc /cevrpa
urging
adversua
}.ai<ri&tv,
the animals,
may
denote either
the subjective impossibility of resisting the power of divine grace in which case it
would furnish an argument for Augustine s doctrine of gratia irresistibilis
or, as
;
to us
fruitlessness of opposition to
This interpretation
rock.
is
But if it be of God,
supported by the parallel passage in Gamaliel s address, 5 39
ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God."
"
The acknowledged
Baur,
(1. c. p.
60 sqq.)
232
CONVERSION OF PAUL.
63.
BOOK
|l-
sion,
in the
view some have referred to the lingering influence of the wise counsel
of his teacher, Gamaliel, (Acts 5
38, 39), and especially to the impres
sion, which he must have received from the discourse and glorious aspect
this
an impression, which
dying Stephen and of other Christians,
he
to
rid
of
the
Christians the more
perhaps
thought
get
by persecuting
of the
(1)
be reconciled by simply supposing that the attendants heard the sound of the voice, but
were intended only for Saul. (2) In Acts
22 : 9, (comp. 26 13) the attendants saw the light, which shone around Paul in Acts
did not understand the words, which, besides,
:
7,
means
contradicts the
i.
(ui]6va)
first
assertion.
no
definite
(3)
In 26
e.
form
in the splendor
which by no
is done
through Ana
explained by considering that Paul before Agrippa condenses his story
for the sake of brevity.
And, in fact, the first representation is by no means untrue
since Ananias acted under commission from the Lord, and Paul, while yet on his way,
This
nias.
whereas
in
is
was
1
The
Ammon and
which,
Godman
all
No
into
better,
however, is the mythical theory lately advanced by Dr. Baur, according to which we
would here have no objective appearance at all, natural or supernatural, but simply a
subjective process,
in
Paul
own
mind.
"
The
"
light,"
is
says Baur,
nolhing else than the symbolical, mythical expression of the certainty of the real and
immediate presence of the exalted Jesus," (Paulus, p. 68), in whom Baur himself doe
not believe, except in a pantheistic sense. This view rests on no exegetical and his
torical grounds whatever, but upon unproved philosophical assumptions, such as the
impossibility of a miracle, and especially upon the denial of the resurrection of Christ.
moreover makes Paul, that clear, logical, and searching spirit, a blind and stubborn
For, after all, even Baur cannot deny, that according to the passages, 1
Cor. 9 1 and 15 8, aside from the narratives in Acts, the apostle believed he had actu
It
enthusiast.
:
Lord
and most important of all facts nay, that, without this, he declared his preaching and
all faith empty and groundless, and Christians of all men most miserable, (I Cor. 15 14
;
-19).
is
more
the
rational
ments of such a man, authenticated by the most brilliant results, and to correct our own
philosophy by history, where the two conflict or to deny the history, and, for the sake
;
of
some preconceived
opinions, to attribute a
deception
which
life,
life,
to
is
amply
sufficient to decide.
is
mot
sometimes muck
violently.
tell us,
expressly
(iiv
in Acts,
and the
8:1.
mvEvtioKuv,
22
Paul give us no
epistles of
more
233
CONVEESiON OF PAUL.
63.
ISSION8.]
20).
fire,
The suddenness
Judaism to enthusiastic
faith in the
of his transi
Messiah
is
char
On
it
is
though
self,
its
Christian doctrine.
took
But
effect
much more
what
in
He was
tles ?
relation did
called
after
college of apos
human
intervention,
and could
apostolic dignity
beyond doubt,
as
Gal. 2
it
:
was
9).
also fully
But
this
acknowledged by the
seems to compel us
number twelve
19
28.
twelve
"
is
made
Luke 22
particularly prominent
by Christ
himself, (Matt.
apostles of the
"
number twelve includes only the apostles of the Jews, and that PauJ
63
23-i
CONVERSION OF PAUL.
we
name
15)
and
in his
[i.
the.
Gentile world
At
the Gentiles.
among
first
BOOK
all
at least
candidate Barnabas
than
all
however
this
may
be,
10.
2 Cor. 11
have, at
does not
fit
He
As
But,
and
his
all events,
in the origi
23 ).
efficiency,
grounds
derives
it
martyrdom
is
5 sqq.
propound
in
favor of Irvingism,
which
is
well
known
und
Protestantismus, Part
I. p.
Comp.
From
his tragical
end
we may
for great
disciples.
we may
outward, palpable succession, admits no satisfactory explanation of the fact, that the
of Paul after his conversion (Acts 9 :
apostles had no share whatever in the ordination
The
17), and in his being sent to the Gentiles by the church of Antioch, (13 : 3)
divine irregularity of his call and the subsequent independence of his labors make
Paul, so to speak, a prototype of evangelical Protestantism, which has always looked
to
him
as its
main authority,
as
Romanism
to Peter.
235
CONVERSION OF PAUL.
63.
MISSIONS.]
Galatiaus, places
it
has always bee-d the main support and representative of liberal move
ments in the church.
Finally, as to the chronology of the conversion of Paul
the
amcng
various
resurrection of Christ.
1
Our arguments
following
(1)
The statement
of Paul, that,
three years alter his conversion, he fled from Damascus before the ethnarch of king
Aretas, (2 Cor. 11
32, 33), furnishes no certain datum, owing to our imperfect knowl
:
It only determines
edge of the time of this Aretas and of the history of Damascus.
that the conversion of Paul cannot be put earlier than the year 34, since Aretas cannot
have come into possession of Damascus before the death of Tiberius, A-D. 37.
(Comp.
I.e. p.
"Wieseler,
of Stephen
referred to
167-175-)
(2)
The
beginning of the reign of Caligula, (after 37), who, in the first year of his reign, showed
himself mild towards his subjects, as Josephus expressly observes, Antiqu. XVIII. 8, 2.
29,30),
3) A sure datum is furnished by Paul s second journey to Jerusalem, (Acts 11
:
which cannot have taken place before the year 44 or 45 since in this year the famine
appeared in Palestine, which occasioned the sending of Paul and Barnabas wi:h sup
;
Between this journey of Paul to Jerusalem and ihe first, (Acts 9 26), some four
must have intervened for the apostle in the meantime had spent a whole
26), probably from two to three years in Syria and Tarsus, (9
year in Antioch, (11
Gal. 1
30.
If, according to this, the first journey
21). and some time in travelling.
:
plies.
or five years
fell in
the year 40, then the year of the conversion is also settled since, according to
1
18, it happened three years before, therefore in the year 37.
;
This calculation
Paul
ing
it
indeed, at once
is,
made
Anger,
vary.
half a year.
which the
(4)
for
The
"
apostle,
example, makes
it
knowing
the length of
Luke
is
afforded
went up again
by Gal. 2
1,
according to
to Jerusalem."
Reckoning
with most interpreters, from Paul s conversion, as the great era of his life and
understanding the journey here mentioned to be the one to the apostolic convention,
Acts 15, which, according to a tolerably certain calculation, was held in the year 50 or
this,
51
we
It is true that
again have the year 37 for the latest date of his conversion.
can be easily disputed, as chronologists and interpreters differ on th*
question,
ney
to
Jerusalem, (Gal.
22)
Paul, in Gal. 2,
18), as
1.
c. p.
putting this in the year 54. and deducting fourteen years, he obtains, in
harmony with
But the
year of the apostle s conversion.
reasons for identifying the journey, GAJ. 2 : 1, with that mentioned Acts 15. are very
his other combinations,
A.D. 40
for the
236
PAUL
64:.
Paul
64.
his Apostolic
Preparation for
[i.
BOOK
Labors.
to the
Redeemer
service of the
his pride
"
"I
(Acts 26
Gentiles,"
17 sq.
comp. 9
But
15).
not
till
with
ance,
independent
authority,
as
the
Apostle of the
Gentiles.
need,
first
of
all,
had
felt
the
received.
preach the gospel among the Jews or Gentiles there at least no infor
mation of his having done so has come down to us, but to enjoy a sea
son of undisturbed preparation for his high and holy calling.
This
more properly to the history of the apostle s
inward
life
and this affords the simplest explanation of the silence of
the book of Acts respecting it.
It was for him a sort of substitute for
the three years personal intercourse with the Lord, enjoyed by the other
Without doubt he devoted himself mainly to prayer and me
apostles.
;
ditation, to the study of the Christian tradition, and of the Old Testa
ment, on which he now looked with new eyes, as a continuous and clear
prophetic testimony concerning Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen
Jews,
who had
strong, and
we
it
to the ground.
They
would
lost in
think
it
PAUL
64.
MISSIONS.]
stirred up against him the deputy of king Aretas of Arabia, who set a
watch over the gate s of the city to take Paul. But the believers saved
the
life
of the apostle,
and was as
who was
removed from
far
they were at
sion (Acts 9
was
still
first
:
bul
26).
fresh in their
little
He
;
known
probably
time in retirement in Arabia.
him was
befallen
since
as yet in Jerusalem
1
Acts 9 23-25; with which agrees Paul s own statement (2 Cor. 11 32, 33),
with the easily adjusted difference, that, according to Luke, the Jews, according to
Paul, the ethnarch (i. e. both in concert), set watch over the city. This and other cases
:
Luke
narrative and
Paul
s epistles in
such in
make
it
absolutely impossible
aside from higher considerations, to suppose, with Baur, that the book of Acts was
written so la e as the second century.
*
"
and
poses, not
own
more merciful
judge.
Were
composed
till
minute statement of the epistle to the Galatians before his eyes. For intentional dis
tortion (as such the above named critic would brand this and other insignificant differ
ences^, no reasonable
8
At
first,
30.
13
UH
is
named
2),
238
PAUL
64.
[i.
POOR
Lord
fearless
time,
saw no other
He
in the country.
apostle.
abode
fifteen
(Acts 9
29), as Stephen had formerly done,
to leave the city.
:
He
made
life
whom
it
he disputed
on the relation of the gospel to the law, and on the spread of the church.
But we know not to what extent they at that time came to an
understanding respecting their principles.
to prepare Peter, in
of the Gentiles
some time
some degree,
Perhaps
till
after.
pressed
his
But
epistles,
his
and
his
enlightenment by the Holy Ghost we must regard, like that of the other
central principle
life, the
of his being
first
man
relation to
As he expressly remarks,
Acts 9
Gal.
19; by
all,
but a
indefinite statement in
27 must be limited.
Thus,
Eucharist
like Trapu,
(1
Cor. 11
through tradition.
3
On
Dr Neander
Pflanzung
etc. I. p.
166-176.
239
65.
MISSIONS.]
formed
the
in
way
of reflection
and deduction
(1 Cor. 7
It
25).
6,
was during
nations (Acts 22
17-21).
After this two weeks visit, Paul went, accompanied by the brethren,
to Caesarea, and thence to Syria and his native city, Tarsus (Acts 9 30.
No doubt he preached the gospel in Cilicia. For, ac
Gal. 1
21).
:
cording to Acts 15
when he came
23, 41,
on
his first.
three) years
had not
Having labored a few (perhaps two or
he was brought by Barnabas to Antioch
In this,
had opened for the extension of the kingdom of God.
the mother church of the Gentile mission, Paul found a centre for his
Activity, which, in its public character and on its grand scale, dates from
pecjt
this
point
65.
its
proper beginning.
Second Journey
to
Jerusalem.
had
After Paul
Wieseler.
1.
c.
p.
was
the
apostle fourteen years before the writing of the epistle (A. D. 57)
so that
we
should
have the year 43 for the date of Paul s first journey to Jerusalem, and the year 40 for
the time of his conversion. But a simple comparison of the two passages will certainly
not lead to this.
In the Corinthians nothing is said of a command to leave Jerusalem
and go to the Gentiles, as in Acts 22
unspeak
but, on the contrary. Paul then heard
We can, theiefore,
able words, which it is not lawful (possible) for a man to utter."
"
attach no weight
whatever
first
to
Wieseler
journey to Jerusalem.
As Anger (De temp, in Act. rat. p. 171), and Neander (1. c. I. p. 177), suppose.
Schrader, on the contrary, and Wieseler, (1. c. p. 147 sq.) allow only half a year, or at
most one year, for the residence in Tarsus. Luke confessedly gives no hint respecting
,
Comp.
4
supra.
Acts 11
ology, B. xx.
28,
chasm
in the chronology.
61.
c. 2. $ 5,
only Josep bus po nts to the year 45, and the account of
Luke
rather to 44.
Luke
insert!
65.
2-10
soon
[i.
This caused the church at Antioch, which had been forewarned of the
aud thus
in
28), to
Judea,
in
spiritual
Romans,
"
sons of
thunder,"
2
He intended to treat
martyr in the apostolic college (12 2).
Peter in the same way at the approaching festival of Easter, to make
mirth for the multitude.
But Peter was released from prison by a mira
the
first
Herod
summer
It
is
Jerusalem, and
Luke
there
at that
time nnadvisable.
the
intimates,
delegates returned immediately after
their
executing
commission, bringing with them John Mark, the kinsman
also
th death of king Agrippa between the departure of Paul in consequence of the famine
and his return from Jerusalem and this death, it is certain, took place in the year
He also expressly remarks, that those two events happened about the same time, comp.
44<
11 :30. 12
1
1.
and 12
The Jewish
25.
historian relates,
1.
c.,
to
have overlooked.
Izates, sent
grain, figs,
that Helena,
and money
to
who was
bius
Peace be with
whereupon James said to him
and had him for a companion in martyrdom.
faith,
"
thee,"
kiss,
1
This second certain date in the life of Paul is furnished by the passage quoted from
Acts in connection with Josephus, Jlntiqu. xix. 8, 2. Comp. on this Wieseler, p. 129
sqq., who thinks he can determine even the day of Agrippa s death (the 6th of
August).
66.
MISSIONS.]
of Barnabas (12
This makes
25).
journey
Soon
it
AND BAKNABAS.
named
among whom,
also
241
s
A.D. 45.
and teachers of
while fast
Paul
Accordingly
authority of this
Ghost, repaired
first
Barna
bas,
The
Jews (13
14
5.
Paphos.
themselves
to the
first
1).
and
chiefly
The
well
37.
13
known
evangelist.
when he
proof
Many
Flatt, Fritzsche,
Jerusalem,
transactions between him and the Jewish apostles.
tecond journey
ties, this
hypothesis
is,
Acts 13
46.
18
16
6.
(SeK
reading reaadyuv instead of
Rom. 1 16. Coinp. Jno. 4 : 22.
:
for there
is
not a
FIKST Toru OF
66.
24~2
[i-
BOOK
was
13),
almost
all his
Yet even
and
in this first
in
a crowd collected
till
from
mentions
who
first
resided at Paphos.
At
Roman
that time,
Luke
when
infidelity
and superstition
bordered so closely on one another, this man had yielded himself to the
2
sorceries of a Jewish false prophet by the name of Bar-Jesus.
But,
unsatisfied with these, he desired to hear the Christian missionaries.
As
Here Mark
1
left
Cyprus was
Perga
to Jerusalem (13
in
Pamphylia.
13); probably
The
island of
ed by a
(uvdinraros)
"
2)
is
one of the
of that book.
d.
evang. Gexch.
many
Comp.
p.
Wieseler,
p.
171 sqq.
So. under Marcus Aurelius, the juggler, Alexander of Abonoteichos (a small town
of Paphlagonia\ found favor even with the most respectable Romans, particularly with
the statesman, Rutilianus. So says Lucian, in c. 30 of his biography of this man, dedi
a
He
(c. 1).
calls
Making
perfectly right in
MISSIONS.]
(J6.
AND BARNABAS.
243
as he
strictly Jewish
church of Jerusalem, unable
rightly to sympathize with the
Apostle of the Gentiles in his liberal views and practice
(comp. 15
Gal. 2
11 sq.).
From Perga they went to Antioch in Pisidia.
31, 38.
Here, on the Sabbath, in the synagogue, at the invitation of its
rulers,
Paul delivered a discourse of eminent
wisdom, mildness, and earnestness
(13
16-41)
reviewing the gracious dealings of God with
Israel;
announcing the appearance of the Messiah in the family of
David, his
death, and his resurrection
pointing the people to faith in him as the
condition of pardon and
and concluding with an awful
justification
Christian
The
discourse
made an
his doctrine
more
fully
"
we turn
to
the Gentiles
according to the promise of the
that
the Messiah should be a
(Is.
6),
light and the foun
tain of salvation for the nations to the ends
of the earth."
Then were
the Gentiles glad
as many as were ordained to eternal
life," believed
life,
lo,
49
prophet
"
God
popular mythology.
The
to
Now
FIRST TOUE OF
66.
244:
[-
who were
and probably
ed the
and transient
but that
effect,
"
of the Spirit
and of
power"
(1 Cor. 2
The
they supposed to be Mercury, the messenger of the gods.
priest even went so far, as to provide oxen as a sacrifice to the supposed
4),
gods,
tion,
Giver of
The
all
good, (14
8-18).
their sudden
At
the Instiga
the
cities,
verts to be steadfast
19-27).
Ovid Metamorph. VIII. 611 sqq. From the same region sprang the famous goet,
Apollonius of Tyana, who, according to Philostratus, was held by his countrymen to
be a son of Zeus.
1
2
As is abundantly evident from his discourses in Acts, such as the one at Athens,
and from his epistles, e- g. Rom. 8 31-39, and 1 Coi. 13, which are among the most
:
sublime passages in the whole history of eloquence and poetry. Paul tells us, indeed
His letters are weighty and power
10), that it might be said of him
(2 Cor. 10
ful
but his bodily presence is weak (ucr&evije}, and his speech contemptible (l^ov&evri"
infirmity,
4:13
37),
sq.,
3.
Gal.
Call. II,
which, however, certainly cannot be relied on, represents Lim as small and
unoomely
3
In .Tamblichus,
De
"
ij
67.
MISSIONS.]
Council in Jerusalem.
and
245
Settlement of thi
A.D.
Gentile Christians.
50.
year 50,
seal
itself,
Aiitioch, and, in
Many
who had
made
James.
we
doubted
his divine
which contained so
commission and
ind
Jew
Hence when Paul
many uncircumcised
Antiochian church,
This led
Gentile Christians.
that church to send Paul and Barnabas, with some others, to the apos
tles and elders in Jerusalem, to settle the dispute (15
2).
:
first
synod of
we have the
tolic
(Acts 18
and
in
This date
is
two years from the time of his arrival in Corinth (Acts 18 1). For this arrival was
he was one year, or at
in the autumn of the year 52 (vid. Wieseler. p. 118 and 128)
most two years, on the way and he began this second missionary tour soon after his
:
return from the apostolic council (15: 33, 36)placed, at the latest,
*
I.
c, p.
18a-208.
n the beginning of 51
more probably
io 50.
246
67.
[l.
BOOB
satisfactory.
2,
pursuance of a revelation
according to Acts 15
commission from the church of Autioch. But there
;
here.
2,
is
lu
he went under
no contradiction
was the most important the latter, the outward, public occasion, witi
which Luke was chiefly concerned. And besides, there is no mention of
;
a revelation even
18, nor
else in this
anywhere
of Paul)
whereas, in
book
Acts 15
(his
2, it is
in the epistles
salem
3,
circumcised Timothy.
himself
This
apparent inconsistency,"
Wieseler thinks, can be explained only by supposing, that the circumcision
But
of Timothy took place before the journey mentioned in Gal. 2:1.
for Paul certainly had at all events adopted his free
this is not the case
council,
and might
far sooner
was
positively
in favor
of Judaistic error.
ther
s side,
his
mo
Jew by
Christians as in
way
of
weak
consciences of
the Jews, and for the sake of the greater influence of Timothy
1
Of which Baur.
1.
c. p.
129,
makes
among
According to the principles of the Talmud, the son of a mixed marriage must be
and only on this condition would such a marriage be considered allow
able.
The Roman Catholic church is well known to maintain the same principle,
2
circumcised
baptism.
ub.at
MISSION S.]
67.
241
1
(4) The
2 with
the
of
the
in
Gal.
identity
strongest argument against
journey
the journey to the apostolic convention, is, that Paul, in the passage
referred to, says nothing of any synodical transaction ; whereas Luke,
There was no
them.
15, there
is
an irreconcilable contradiction
and
he then employs against the credibility of the book of Acts." Wieseon the contrary, rightly maintains, that there is no such contradic
tion.
is
Baur
own
Yet he
But
that,
besides
his
private
conference
with
Peter,
James, and John, there was also a public deliberation with the brethren
of Jerusalem in general.
He says nothing further about it, because he
as he himself
might presume, that the Galatians already understood it
;
And here the great thing with him was, the result of his
apostle.
private transactions with the Jewish apostles themselves, and the vindi
cation of his independent apostolical dignity, as acknowledged by them.
mate
Luke, on
tle to his
Instead of a
flat inconsistency," as Dr. Baur expresses it, p. 130, being
charged
by the author of the Acts upon the free-minded Apostle of the Gentiles, we rather
have, in this conduct, only a practical application of Paul s principle, to become, from
"
men, that he might gain all (1 Cor. 9 19, 20), and a proof of the
freedom from arbitrary dogmatism, and of his readiness to accommodate him
apostle
Baur
s disciple,
nachapottnlitche Zeitalter,
tation of his master,
"
Leben
Jesu."
What
is
same
said on the
Dot
Schwegler, in his radically unsound and fictitious book
Tubingen. 1S46. Part I. p. 116 sqq., makes, after the represen
L iS
67.
[l-
BOOK
there
hypothesis
is,
so,
life
of Paul
his residence ir
inward
it.
extremely probable
things,
As
is
is
to Jerusalem, Acts, 18
Paul, on
"
this journey,
saluted"
in Gal. 2.
Secondly
Gal 2 he
in
Xay,
it
bas, who had separated from Paul shortly after the apostolic
and undertaken with Mark an independent mission (c. 15 39),
:
council,
rejoined
Grant, that he
as, for exampje, he
journeys to Jerusalem
omits the second, mentioned in Acts 11
30.
12 35, since he went
then merely to carry a collection, and in all probability made a very
did not care to notice
all his
short stay
For Paul
object
and
also,
And
We
it
for this
purpose
That
this second
observed above,
2nd
s
1
ed. p.
24
Meyer, ad
loc.
Comp.
also
and Wieseler,
De Wette
1.
c. p.
1,
we
Comment zum.
have already
Galaterbritf^
180 sqq.
By
68.
MISSIONS.]
And
it
2, as
249
a valuable complement of th
was
Paul
to
purpose to
would natu
detail,
first
notice the
statement of Paul.
68.
The.
(Gal. 2
1 sqq).
ample of the success of his missionary labor and a seal of his apostolic
His first care, of course, must be to settle matters privately
calling.
and personally with the prominent leaders of the church and of the
1
and
his
successful labor
among
the
Gentiles.
count of his strictly legal views, and his limitation of his official labors
had the greatest influence with the Judaizers Peter hav
to Jerusalem,
errorists)
Gentile-Christian
communities with the Jewish-Christian, and thus the unity of the church,
4
for which he was so much concerned, was restored and confirmed. Accord
their fruits ye shall know them," his description
ing to the maxim
"By
of the great success of his preaching among the Gentiles necessarily
made a deep impression on the Apostles of the Jews though, by the
:
far
mentioned
in
so that the
now
1
almost superfluous.
As expressed by nar1 I6iav
6oKovv-f
oi
Peter
first is
"seorsim,"
The
9.
"privatim,"
v. 2.
This language
is
James
primacy of Peter.
1
irapsiaaKToi ifrevdadetyoi v. 4,
amounts
to
"
false
Christians
(as
the Christiana
who
called themselves
brethren
),
in,"
23.
*
*
5.
Cor- 12-14.
250
68.
1-
BOOK
so the three
ing the Jews, and had blessed his labors among them
other apostles were, on their part, equally ready to
acknowledge, that
;
like
by the Lord, the former among the Jews, the latter among the Gen
adding only the condition, that Paul and Barnabas should chari
tably remember the many poor Christians in Jerusalem by a collection
it
tiles
of alms
this
In
to.
this
faith
Christ
is
They
ciple.
Comp. Acts 24
The
17.
passage, Gal. 2
1
:
Cor. 16
sqq.
on
5, insisted
2 Cor. 8
from prin
it
is
sqq.
Rom.
15
15 sqq.
ex
principle
"
demanded
my
his circumcision),
who
had crept
in invidiously to
lib
erty in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us under the bondage (of the law), to
which (false brethren) we yielded not an hour by (the) subjection (they demanded
in the way of obedience to them ), that the truth of the gospel
Dative of manner
:
(the doctrine of evangelical freedom, and justification by faith without works of the
law) might continue with you/
By emphasizing the ip>ayitdff&r)t and the 6e, which
immediately follows
it
8.
Rom
22),
we might
find
we
the intimation
of a heretical principle,
20-23.
tion
was
avoided.
Rom.
14
sqq.,
not yet settled, the least sign of concession to the false teachers had to b
251
g 68,
MISSIONS.]
Uie minor conditions, the observance of the Noachic precepts, -*hieh the
The Palestinian
*hat
all,
fully authorized,
go no
was allowable
and as necessary
They conceded
which was as
circumstances and the uni
further.
own
to their
in justice
for existing
position,
as that of Paul
kingdom of God,
and Barnabas.
may have
at
it
in the council
was
acknowledged
fully
made no
in the private
(Gal. 1
conference
15 sqq.), which
1,
reference at all to the public decree, which they could not set
drawing from
appealed to the practice of the Jewish apostles
law
was
of
the
Mosaic
their observance
(which
kept up at least by
as
is
an
unwarrantable
doctrinal
inference,
generally done, in
James)
aside, but
fact,
among contending
parties.
independent
apostolical dignity,
his
was the
to
his perfectly
and an
that decree
was known to
them.
NOTE.
tion
ter
profane hyper-criticism of this latest fashion of infidelity will be here in place, though
Jews
brought
in,"
by the
the"
work on
Paul, to
monstrous exegesis,
false
brethren unawares
Gal. 2
ioKovvrtf, v. 2,
referred, supposes,
observance of the whole Mosaic law as necessary to salvation in a word, that they
were, and continued to be. Ebionites, and were first stamped as orthodox Christians by
;
writers of the second century, as, for instance, the author of the
thus revives the old original hypothesis of his
unknown composer
of the
two
book of Acts.
Ha
Mar-
252
68
[l-
wise and moderate Apostle of the Gentiles to an anti-Jewish fanatic and a Gnostit
Way, he even outloes his worthy forerunner, the pseudo- Pauline Marcion of
heretic.
h. s
as work-fellows in the gospel, of equal authority with themselves (p. 125), he must,
to make good his position, venture on the violent, desperate measure of explaining this
procedure as inconsistent and weak. They (who, nevertheless, were in the majority,
and had the whole church of Jerusalem on their side !) could not withstand, says he,
the force of circumstances and the personal sway of Paul, though, in justice to their
convictions they should have contested his views of Christianity (p. 126). The only
thing,
Gal. 2
which seems to favor this assertion, is the weak conduct of Peter, as related in
But this, more narrowly examined, goes decidedly against Baur and
11-14.
:
his sympathizers.
izers
men
dissembled,
this, that
also,
Juda-
Add
e.
i.
Barnabas
the uncircumcised.
to
question,
"false
in,"
intimates,
that
and
Baur
not, as
world, still
the curse, which Paul denounces against all, who preach any other gospel than his
own (Gal. 1 8, 9. Comp. 5 1 sqq). Paul would have regarded and treated them as
tile
and not by any means as apostles for these two ideas are in absolute
But who can for a moment bear the thought ? It is glaringly incon
contradiction.
sistent with the epistle to the Galatians, and with such passages as Eph 3
5sqq. 2:
false teachers,
1 Cor. 15
1-11, where Paul acknowledges the divine calling and authority
10 sqq.
of the elder apostles; asserts their agreement with him on the very point in dispute
the relation of the heathen to the gospel and calls himself the least among the apos
:
tles.
It
inconsistent, moreover,
is
with Paul
says
(2
Cor. 9
The
with them.
of fiction lose
lurely do rot
all credit, when the assumptions, on which they wholly rest, and which
commend them, are contradicted even by the few passages of Paul s epis
69.
VISSIOXS.]
ties,
DECREE OF COUNCIL.
PUBLIC TRANSACTIONS.
to serve as their
is,
Paul
16). to use
main supports?
s epistles, in
them by
253
critici
since half the ingenuity, with which they imagine that they over,
throw the genuineness of the gospel of John and the other books of the Xew Testament
would prove also the epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians to be Gnostic
merit no thanks
mode
In general, this
all
all
history
fttjaav.
(Acts 15).
As
many
The
and as
room (Acts
Here the
a general consultation.
apostles, therefore,
and
elders,
15
12,
1,
Gentile Christians.
sides, Peter,
probably
testified,
from
his
own expe
rience in the case of Cornelius, of the acceptance which the gospel met
among
God
imparted to
faith in him.
version
of the Gentiles
mouth of the most esteemed apostle could not fail of their impression.
A solemn silence prevailed in the assembly. Then Barnabas, who had
long been in high repute in Jerusalem, and Paul, presented themselves,
and related the signs and wonders, with which God had accompanied and
sealed their labors
Thus
among
the Gentiles.
seemed
likely to
end
in
Paul
complete vic
private interview.
I. p.
208)
makes the
council,
DECREE OF COUNCIL.
PUBLIC TRANSACTIONS.
09.
[*
BOOK.
In this
for himself.
11 sq.) respecting
the glorious restoration and enlargement of the theocracy among the
This appeal to the Old
Heathen, the execution of an eternal decree.
Testament gave the matter such an aspect, as must commend it to the
:
this
(i
in fact, to
false
offered to idols,
3
mals,
and
what
blood* and,
finally
is
connected with
strangled ani
this,
20).
among
in
But
it
"
Idolatry, which
chastity in general.
tion.
is
Old
Testament a
is
The remains
eat (Ex. 34
15).
strictly forbidden to
market.
partaking of this flesh offered to false gods was as much a pollution with idol
the Israelites was a token of com
atry, as the participation in the sacrificial feasts of
The
According to Gen. 9
Lev. 17
4.
28, 33).
:
10 sqq.
Deuter. 12
"
"!
sqq.
Only be
sure,
life
with the
flesh.
Thou
it
With
them the
3
i.
not
e.
let.
line
was
not so sharply
13
was
was counted
the
Comp. Lev- 17
it
19
26.
sin.
DECREE OF COUNCIL.
PUBLIC TRANSACTIONS.
69.
MISSIONS.]
probably to be taken
is
in the
255
wider
:
16),
affinity,
only to the Jews in the Pentateuch, but also to the proselytes of the
gate in the Noachic precepts, as partaking of the character of incest ;*
8
whereas; the heathen made no conscience of it.
This proposition of James met with general acceptance, and was adopt
ed by the council as
its
who
teachers themselves,
The only
decree.
own
were the
dissentients
false
it
in
sense.
it
to the Gentiles
on the other,
became
men
Jews, to Jews
Gentiles, to Gentiles
all
things to
all
since, while
they secured to
the Gentile Christians their freedom, they also enabled the Jews with
4
James and Paul here mani
good conscience to associate with them.
;
the former in
eral
making
his
regard for weak consciences, and for the sake of fraternal harmony, to a
restriction on the Gentile Christians, demanded indeed by the circum
stances,
1
Cor. 5
Eph. 5
9.
3. 5.
Com p.
Cor.
He
iroQveta as incest.
125 sq
5:1, where
is
Thess. 4
also Koqvcia
>l
is
3.
Col. 3
(1.
c.
p.
IV.
G."
142 sqq.
and things
5.
Aichiv fur K.
followed by Baur
p.
and Schwegler
make
(1.
c.
p.
who
assumption.
false
4
1.
is
well
3)
the bottom of
it,
But
this latter
usus loquendi,
New
and can be charged upon the author of the book of Acts only
(Rom.
lies at
p. 211.
known
to
"
Testament
in zeal for
Luther, on the contrary (Werke. ed. Walch, VIII. p. 1033, 1042)., who
have had little favor for James in other respects, unjustly reproaches
From this, as well as from Luther s hostilhaving faltered a little/
the doctrine of justification set forth in the epistle of James, which he irreve.ently called an "epistle of straw," we see that the great reformer carried the opposi
.ty to
tion to
Judaism
to excess,
and was
far
and an apostle
union.
An
256
DECREE OF COUNCIL,
PUBLIC TRANSACTIONS.
69.
its force,
BOOK
[i.
as the national
oppo
Moreover, circumstances
disappeared.
may yet arise, where
abstinence from these and similar things, which are not in themselves
immoral, and are commonly reckoned among the
adiaphora," becomes
sition
"
The
a duty of
Christian love.
"
man
So Paul,
at
synod
earnestly dissuaded
Jerusalem,
conscience of a
weak
in full
meat
brother, for
whom
Lord
a
;
while yet
is the
the earth
asserts, on the other hand, that
and the fulness thereof," and that every kind of food is, in
good,
spirit of
if
"
it
position he
among
itself,
truly free
the
Roman
Christians about eating certain kinds of food and observing the Jewish
feasts
by James,
we may
form of a short
to the
call
it,
letter,
was communicated
in
in the
name
Syria and
Barnabas to Antioch
his
and
nephew,
Mark.
tion,
did not touch the essence of Christian piety, and need not disturb
The Greek church, indeed, in the second Trullan counci A.D. 692, re-enacted the
law against eating blood and things strangled, and still retain it. But the Latin churcn
here more properly considered the change of time and circumstances, and gradually let
1
>3
10
7-13.
Cor. 8
"
As we may
14, 24-29.
8:4,8.
infer, partly
Tim. 4
4.
in the proposition
itself; partly
from the similarity of the style to that of the epistle of James especially from the
form of salutation, ^a/petv (15 23) which occurs nowhere else in the New Testa
:
nent but
in
James
1.
In
fact,
257
70.
S.j
"
leaven of the
Roman
the whole
Pharisees"
Catholic church
It
may be
said
still
to
bear
Gentile apostles, as
happy
came
it
Collision
70.
to view in so lovely a
synod of Christendom.
who was the first to admit Gentiles into the church without cir
who in the council so warmly advocated their rights, and in
Peter,
cumcision,
his practice in
The chronology
here
is.
Augustine, Grotius, Hug, and Schneckenburger (Ueber den Zweck dcr jlposbut this
ttlgeschichtc. p. 109), place this occurrence before the apostolical convention
certainty.
all
Neander, on the contrary (I. p. 354), and Wieseler (p. 199). put it after the
But Gal. 2 11, by placing this
fourth journey of Paul to Jerusalem, Acts 18 22.
event in immediate connection with the conference of the apostles, indicates that it oc
curred not long after; which Wieseler himself admits (p. 184. note), only he wrongly
tians.
refers the
whole narrative
to Jerusalem.
A. D. 54.
in (ial. 2
It
is
also, in itself,
not at
all
improbable, that
many
persons
;
some
from a lively interest in the Gentile converts there; but the Judaizers from jealousy,
intending to get up a reaction against what they thought a most dangerous innovation
of Paul
the same, that they afterwards attempted i:i Galatia and elsewhere.
For, as
;
to these pharisaically
minded persons,
to
have
plained, too,
when
its
real,
before the
of
we must
first
fallen out
is
made
certain
G^latians.
It
COLLISION OF PAUL
70.
BOOK
[l.
them
to be circumcised; Gal. 2
of this, but
Gentiles.
unclean
still
and
upon at Jeru
upon the other Jewish
salem.
His
in
"
this
That Peter,
gerous consequences of such conduct, if meant in earnest.
to
be
thus
suffered
himself
corrected
the
however,
by
Apostle of the
without
in
ill
his
office,
Gentiles,
junior
conceiving any
feeling towards
him, evinces a rare humility, which
intrepid zeal of
This event
Paul
commands
We
full of instruction.
cannot, indeed, justly infer
to
the
unfavorable
inspiration and doctrine of Peter ;
anything
for his fault was rather a practical denial of his real and true conviction,
from
is
it
as in his former
1
and
still
deeper
fall,
yet
We
must, indeed, agree with Dr. Wieseler (p. 197 sq.) in maintaining against
Yet we think,
Baur, that the conduct of Peter did not violate the letter of the decree.
that the case involved, unconsciously perhaps to Peter himself, a violation of its spirit.
For though
Jews
ed
tians,
it
that
to the
document
Mosaic law;
virtually recognized
yet,
them
with them.
But
if
we
We
(p.
con
Barnabas also
hypothesis of Ebionism in Peter (of which, in this case,
must be guilty), and confirms the account in Acts. Schwegler, sensible, no doubt, of
endeavors (1 c. I, p 129) to weaken and distort the awvxeKpidriaav
this
tradicts
Baur
difficulty,
av~&
(sc.
Ilerpw), Gal. 2
.connection.
13
But
this violates
v. 12
MISSIONS
259
to be
after
t>.e
We
ever.
here discern
nature of Peter,
who
still
his part,
Master
The Word
of God, at once
humble and to encourage, records the failings of the pious as faithThen again, from the conduct of Paul we learn
illy as their virtues.
not only the right and duty of combatting the errors even of the most
<"ar
S)
sistency of Peter,
ture between Paul and Barnabas, which occurred most probably in close
But
sionary tour, the latter wished to take along his kinsman, Mark.
in
this
"
proved steadfast.
tion
(15
to censure
severely any
want of
self-denial for
Lord.
posed to be lenient towards his kinsman, hoping that this would be the
best way to restore the backslider.
The earnestness of Paul and the
mildness of Barnabas united, brought forth their fruits
wards
1
tind
Mark
faithful
(p.
and persevering
129 sq.)
in
sees intentional
his calling,
for
we
after
even under
dishonesty, required
suf-
by the con
Acts of the Apostles. But why then does not this book leave
to oblivion the Trapo^ua/Mf between Paul and Barnabas on account of Mark, who was
so intimate a friend of Peter!
Or could the author of the Acts imagine, that by such
ciliatory object of the
describe not the internal affairs of the congregation at Antioch but the
missionary
!abors of Paul.
3
By
ticed
tians.
by
their
example
PAUL
71.
"260
itself this
[c-
also with
BOOK
Equally
Barnabas."
hands of the
altercation, in the
who can
Lord,
water of
life
Rom. 15
rule,
(Acts 15
2 Cor. 10
20.
The Macedonian
Galatia.
A. D. 51.
Vision.
52, Paul
71.
Some
39-41).
time after the apostolic council, in the year 51, or at the latest
set out on his second great missionary tour, in which he brought
in
Lycaonia
to
fied for
make him
Jews
of that region,
who
had some claim upon him through his mother, Paul, of his own choice
and from Christian prudence, had him circumcised/ Henceforth Tirno1
Philem.
Com p.
Col.
v. 24.
Cor. 9
6.
2 Tim. 4 11.
4:10, where he makes
Acts 9 30. 11:25.
10.
Col.
mentioned
at all, but
presumed
mention of him.
This place, and not Derbe, is evidently intended by the insl. Acts 16 1, comp
This is by no means incompatible with 20 4 for there Timothy s home is not
T. 2.
respectful
Acts 16
That
2.
to be
Tim.
known.
Comment, in
2.
Ep
this act
?o
THE MACEDONIAN
GALATIA.
71.
flISSIONS.J
261
VISION.
apostle,
suffered
tained
under
itself
his
and the
persecutions,
more
:
7).
toil
defi
All
these sufferings and conflicts, however, gave exercise to his humility and
Ac
patience, and made him cleave more firmly to all-sufficient grace.
cordingly the divine power of the gospel made its way only with the
greater force and purity through this weak organ (the uadeveia rr/f aapKog,
Gal. 4
13), and irresistibly attracted the minds of the heathen and
:
proselytes.
affection of
afflictions
gained
all.
as
an angel of God, nay, as Jesus Christ himself, and felt so happy, that,
for the heavenly gift bestowed upon them, they were ready to deprive
themselves of their dearest possession, their eyes, and give it to him
his
work.
though the salvation of the soul depended on either rejecting or observing them.
which we
much
in
accommodation
to indifferent usages,
change of heart.
I.
against Baur,
J
Acts 17
p.
Comp.
Cor. 9
20.
Phil. 4
to depreciate faith
Also Neander
12, 13.
and a
remarks
290 sq.
14 sq.
18
5.
19
22.
Rom.
16
21.
2 Cor.
19.
So also the
s epistles, 1
Philemon.
*
1
Tim. 1:2.
2 Tim. 1:2.
Thess. 3
2.
Phil. 2
19-23.
262
CHKISTIANITY IN PHTLIPPI
72.
AKD
THESSALOjSTICA.
Ghost, who controlled the volitions of the missionaries, and haj this
time another field of labor in view for them, forbade them tc
preach,
and by a vision gradually raised to an inward assurance the indistinct
impulse, which they perhaps already felt, to go to Europe.
When, thus
uncertain which way to turn, they came to the maritime city, Troas, on
name
of Greece,
and
fact
in
of
all
Europe, which longed for salvation and promised a rich harvest, besought
"Come over into
a cry for
Macedonia, and help
(16
9),
On
help, which no Christian should hear without the deepest emotion.
him
us"
this
visit, first
it
of
the classic
all,
soil
of Greece, which
fruit
was
under
its
genial rays.
72.
The
Christianity in Philippi
and Thessalonica.
A.D.
51.
missionaries were
was
Philippi,
from Troas.
tified
monian
gulf.
Comp.
Col. 4
Its site
ed by poor Greeks.
:
It
Philem. 24.
14.
2 Tim. 4:11.
appears from the fact, that from c. 16 10 onward (comp. 20 5 sq., 13 sqq. 21 : 1
c. 27 and 28) he speaks in the first
sqq.. 17.
person plural, thus including himself;
while previously he had always used the third person. The absence of his name is
:
owing to the same modesty, which the evangelists show in keeping their
The recent hypothesis of Schleiermacher, Bleek, and
persons quite out of sight.
others, that Timothy rather is the narrator, seems to me to be sufficiently refuted in
doubtless
own
on Acts, p. 26 sqq.
*
I take the Trpw-n/, 16
if
have belonged
work
to geographical position, as
time
to
Thrace, as Rettig
Quaes-
tiones Philipp.
If
we
borne by the neighboring cities of Asia Minor, especially Nicomedia, Nicaea, Ephesus,
Smyrna, and Pergamus. Perhaps at this time Philippi strove with Amphipolis foi
*
this rank, without possessing it. as did Nicaea with Nicomedia (comp. Credrer:
UUung
tn
N. T.
Pt.
I.
Sec.
1- p.
418
sq).
and
AND THESSALONICA.
263
commerce,
its
CHRISTIANITY IN PnTLIPPI
72.
I3SIONS.]
became renowned
(42 B. C).
it
it
true spiritual
freedom.
On
One
inclined females.
whom
the
to attend to the
is
in
And now
occurred
in
brought her masters much gain, followed the missionaries, and, with that
19), declared
deeper discernment which makes devils tremble (Jas. 2
:
them
to
spirit
1
1.
IV.
1
name
of
c.
TTpoaevx/j, as
These
agogue.
it
was
oratories
Acts 16
called,
in the
all
the
civilibus,
13,
3
Purple-dyeing was extensively carried on especially in the province of Lydia, to
which Thyatira belonged, and an inscription found in this city mentions the guild of
dyers there.
4
How
after in
far
(
:
143).
11.
Luke 4
41.
the head of
CHRISTIANITY IN PHILIPPI
72.
2G4:
AND THESSALC.nCA.
-*OOK,
1-
powers of
By
evil.
tive traffic.
The
this act
latter,
ciate supreme magistrates of the Roman colonial cities were called), and
accused them of introducing, against the strict prohibitions of government,
thrown
wooden block
pangs of Lunger, they raised their voices in united prayer and praise
In answer to
turning the dark abode of crime into a temple of grace.
;
checked him, and told him they were all there. He then fell down at
his feet, and, passing from despair to hope (a change altogether psycho
moments
logical in such
of excitement), he asked
"
What must
do to
be saved
?"
answer
life.
"
;"
they gladly received the gospel accompanied by the Spirit of God, bapJ
to the
martyrs,
c.
"
Nihil
est."
We
grant Dr. Baur (p. 151) that Luke means to represent the earthquake and its
consequences, not as accidental, nor as the occasion of the prayer, but as the effect of
it
though he does not explicitly say so. Nor can we wonder that Baur looks on this
,
circumstance as against the credibility of the narrative since, on his pantheistic prin
ciples, there can be no such thing as prayer to a personal, prayer-hearing, wonder
working God, but at best a self-adoration of the creature, which certainly would not
;
He
falls,
as in
many
Apostles, on the one hand, a nicely-calculating literary wisdom and design, but on the
other, an incredible thoughtlessness and careless self-exposure.
This, of itself, justifies
critic;
with
is
rather in these
Baur
h inventing
*1SSIONS.J
CHRISTIAN! fY IN PHILIPPI
72.
A joyful
tized them.
love-feast,
AND TUESSALONICA.
265
,heii
moved by the representation of the jailor, sent their lictors to him with
an order to let the imprisoned missionaries go. But Paul, who with
genuine humility before God united a noble self-respect in his relations to
and
men, was not disposed to be thus dismissed without any apology
he now appealed, as he could not have done for the tumult the day
;
to his
before,
secured
Roman
citizenship,
which,
For
known
among
the barbarians,
In Philippi Paul left behind him one of his most flourishing churches,
almost entirely composed of Gentile Christians, and closely bound to him
It is true, this church also was afterwards invaded by
in grateful love.
Jewish
and schism.
Comp.
The
calls it his
3-8.
joy and
4:1).
it
gave
his
crown,
lie also, con
occasional presents
10-18.
(4
9); thus evincing a peculiarly strong confidence in it.
from
He
it
heathen, turned out to the honor of Paul and the strengthening of the
faitli of the Christians.
Paul next travelled, with Silas," by Ainphi-
Roman
Roman
governor.
It
Here the
lay
On the Sab
2).
apostle staid at least three weeks (17
in the synagogues, and demon:
I
"Jam
ilia vox et imploratio
Civis Romanus sum. qua*
In Verrem, V. c. 57
taepe multis in ultimis terris opem inter barbaros et salutem attulit."
That he left Luke behind in charge of the church at Philippi, we infer frcm the
:
II
fact,
that
thy, too,
at c. 17
Timo
1, begins to speak again in the thi.d person.
have remained there, but soon rejoined Paul in Berea (17 14, 15).
under the name of Saloniki, an important commercial city of some seven
Luke himself
seems
It is still,
to
ty thousand inhabitants
266
CHRiSTiANrrr IN PHILIPPI
72.
AND THESSALONICA.
[i-
ROCR
predicted,
guished
also
women
among
(1 Thess.
1:8).
supply of his temporal wants from those to whom he offered the far
more precious gift of the gospel, yet he earned his livelihood himself by
infant congregation
ground
"
The unbe
received presents from the church at Philippi (Phil. 4
16).
lieving Jews, exasperated by this success, stirred up the populace against
:
kingly
office
Christ,
and exciting
political sus
But the
magistrates were satisfied with taking security of one Jason, with whom
Paul and Silas lodged, and the missionaries journeyed the next night to
Berea, some sixty Roman miles south-east from Thessalonica, in the third
district of
Macedonia.
Here they preached some time with much acceptance, not only among
the Greeks, but also among the Jews, who were more noble-minded and
susceptible in this city than in Thessalonica.
the
new
It
is
a statement
the Christian doctrine agreed with them (Acts 17
11)
frequently and justly adduced in proof of the right and duty of the laity
to search the Scriptures for themselves.
From this place, too, the apos
:
tle
ica,
the
The
dif,
Acts 17
(oth ed).
!,
The distance by
251 Roman, or 50
Gramm
p. 70.2
Itiner
geographical miles.
73.
*ISSIONS.J
73.
The renowned
PAUL IN ATHENS.
Paul
267
in Athens.
capital of Attica,
in morals, still,
Heathendom here
its
life
means
to a higher
reason and imagination, in the dim twilight of the Logos, could of them
selves produce, appears a man of feeble, uncomely person, but of the
noblest mind and heart and the most disinterested zeal, nay, filled with
the Spirit of
God
eternal
life,
and of
all it3
power and glory, to her own service, and reared upon its ruins a uni
Before the philosophers of Greece, and
versal kingdom of heaven.
amidst the renowned temples and statues of all conceivable idols, a de
spised
Jew preaches
the
who
its
think.
com
He was
touched,
268
73.
PAUL
US ATHEN8.
BCX E
[i.
also
by
heathens
in the
The
market.
and
under the shady colonnades, to hear the city gossip and the political and
In one of these places, probably the market
literary news of the day.
Eretria, which
close
Stoics,
}f Christianity.
source of
its life
denied
man s
likeness to
The
perstition.
God and
in Christianity,
eternal
Stoics,
power of
will.
moral pride, which arrogated equality with the gods. The Epicureans
called the apostle a babbler (airepftoM-yof,)* betraying their foppish dis
gust for him, and their utter insensibility to every thing chat concerns
The Stoics thought, he wished to introduce
the higher destiny of man.
3
This sounded
namely, Jesus, and the Resurrection.
more threateningly ; for on a like charge Socrates had once been con-
strange gods
They
(p.
It
De
was
hello
by Josephus
compared
same place Demosthenes had once honored
epithet, Pro corona, p. 269, ed Reiske.
:
Jud.
with
That they took Jesus and the Resurrection, according to their polytheistic notions,
Dr. Baur
a pair of gods, is evident from the repetition of the article, Acts 17 IS.
]
68) is no doubt right in taking this, not as in earnest, but as an expression of the
:
ironical wit
iot
also
In the
feis
<or
are so
only to their
many
female
deities,
of.
According
tt
Tfenophon (Memorab.
1, 1)
Socrates
of intn*
PAUL
73.
MISSIONS.]
Nor
taken so earnestly.
On
persecution.
269
IN ATHENS.
spirit of fanatica
partly from cu
a. id
On
Here the
vener
this
The-
seion and the Acropolis, the magnificent Parthenon, and those Propylaea,
Though
all
it as
purely the work of the devil, and thus at the outset bar
He perceived beneath the
the hearts of the people against his address.
ashes of superstition the glimmering spark of a longing after that God,
denouncing
man,
On
yet so near.
is
sciousness of
(comp. Rom.
in the
19.
ing, in
known
God"
it,
ot f fiEV
&e$ 17
(dyvuoTt,)
had
to the altar, he
i]
TTO^C
23).
By
for religion,
"
this
vouifav, Irepa
<Je
xaivii daiftnvtc
(in
The
6iai<5a.i/ioveaTE<)ovf,
17
25
19) in
its
primary
and Aristotle;
good sense of reverential,"
religious," as for example in Xenophon
and the comparative denotes preeminence above other Greeks. Pausanias says (Attic.
"
"
24) the Athenians excelled others in zeal for divine worship (~Epiaa6repov tlq TU dela
aTrov6rjf)
and this
is
Josephus, also
(c.
6etai6aipuv
indeed, ambiguous, and signifies also, part cularly in the later Greek,
is,
morbid religious
Jlp.
Athenians
God, superstition.
it
inten
while
he immediately after employs the more definite term, evaeSslTe, but with reference to
the true God.
It is certainly improper,
however, and inconsistent with the next verse,
with the extremely indulgent tone of the whole discourse, to insist on the
unfavorable meaning of that word, and make the apostle begin with a denunciation
;
as well as
as
is
done by Luther
stitious
2
translation,
We know from
or a like inscription.
too super
heathen writers, that there were at Athens several altars with this
ovo^ofifvuv U.-/VUOTUV
(at
"all/uaberglaubisch,"
"
teal
j/Quuv
6a ipov av
(Attic.
I,
and Philostratus
ftu/iol IdpvvTai.
Evravda
xal pupal
in his Vita
Apollon.
&euv rt
VI, 3; oi
altars
wai
270
BOOK
PAUL IN ATHENS.
73.
God
of the Bible.
[*>
They had
in view, ac
many
gods, whom,
But at the same
the Unknown and Nameless was the expression
yond the sphere of its gods, and of the necessity of having that power
Thus polytheism itself left room for a new religion, for the
propitiated.
and
knowledge
worship of the unknown God, who is also the only true God.
On
ble
unknown God
he proceeds
"
Whom
him declare
I unto
And now he goes on to unfold the truth, which forms at the same
time a positive refutation of the polytheistic error.
He discourses of God
as the Creator and Upholder of the universe,
in tacit opposition to the
entirely false cosmogony of Heathenism, which, on the one hand, deified
you."
the forces of nature, and, on the other, reduced deity itself to a crea
ture
of the original unity of the human family, and the appointment
;
by providence of
sition to the
its
its
in oppo
and to the
existence,
was
their
by
but which
men
But their
or at best very imperfectly attained.
fault
for God is not far from any one of us.
He
all,
own
the foundation of
occasioned
led
life
on which we
public calamities,
all
rest.
On him we
attributed to
Thus Diogenes
any
made
They
particular god,
Laertius, in his
absolutely
Lift
were informed by
Epimenides, a celebrated poet and prophet, who made the atonement thus: "He
brought black and white sheep to the Areopagus, and let them run from there, whither
soever they would directing those who followed them, to offer sacrifice wherever each
;
(r<p
we
1
the
(particular)
apaye,
v. 27.
The
i(>ri/M<bdu
this,
name (pupovf
but hints at
it
dvuvry/ouf)."
in
manj
PAUL IN ATHENS.
73.
MISSIONS.]
271
depend etery moment for our spiritual life, our physical motion, nay.
even our very existence
as, in fact, some of your own poets have said
1
This higher dignity of man itself upbraids
For we are his offspring."
l
"
he does not even now launch out into a tirade against idolatry. lake
the long-suffering God himself, he passes by these times of ignorance/
This expression
Ev
at
ru yap
fafifv KOI
KO.I
mvovfie&a
great, deep, and comforting truth which underlies the error of Pantheism, viz. the doc
trine of the continual indwelling of God in the world, and particularly in humanity;
but without excluding, of course, the grand doctrine of Theism, the personality of God,
and his absolute independence of the world, as just before asserted by Paul himself.
Besides, the explanation contained in the text above shows, that
we must
take the
passage as an anticlimax, and not as a climax, with Olshausen. who, entirely without
reason, and without analogy in Biblical phraseology, refers f;/c, to the physical life,
Kivfimlai to the free motion of the soul, and
which
very word
the true
tii-at to
of the spirit
life
in
~<-/
Paul here refers to his countryman, Aralus. a Cilician poet of the third century be
whose astronomical poem. Fhucnomcna, v. 5, the passage above quoted is
found word for worJ, as the first part of a hexameter and in the following connec
fore Christ, in
tion
"
For
u-c
Tokens of
The
Ti
We
all
full
of grace, he grants
men
....
favor."
his
eye on the
secret
An
expression precisely
.similar,
Hymn in Jov.,
only in the form of an address to Zeus, occurs in th e Stoic. Cleanthes
{ifiov yufj yfi nr in-l Annrolmv.
5: E/c ani~ ynn triir t aiitr and in the
Golden Poem
:
-.
By
at
the
01 ~~/C
XP"
w ao,
v. 30,
to the
Athenian pride of knowledge, the ap istle, however, of course intended only partially
to excuse it. as is plain from the preceding verse; comp. Rom. 1
20.
*
This is also Schleiermacher s view
Einleitttng ins N. T. (Sammtl. Werke Part
:
Vol. 8, p.
"
P>7-n
Of Paul
discourse at Athens,
c.
17
22-31,
it is
Christ
is
prominent."
p.
173),
heathen
who
us. too,
to be utterly silent
by Baur
(Pattlus,
But could
?
we
And when
expect Paul
once he
ha<}
272
PAUL IN ATHENS.
73.
The announcement of
tlie
BOOK
[l.
Such a
understanding of the Greek philosophers particularly offensive.
thing seemed to them impossible, and to no purpose.
Some, perhaps
mocked
"
We
meant
in earnest,
God
that
repealed
But
it
"
What
25)
or,
its simplicity,
practices."
after
not in vain.
Several
17
34).
this
muse, however, which had, indeed, reached the summit of natural cul
ture, but, on the other hand (according to the Clouds of Aristophanes),
had regarded the greatest and noblest of her own sages as an idle,
touched upon
tion
this,
on the principles of
And,
this criticism
its truth,
the Resurrec
able to avoid also this supposed offense, and secure himself against
modern
critics
and
fault-finders?
1
Hess.
1. c.
I,
have discerned
in
question
and answers
it
thus
"
He would
in all probability
the true kingdom of God, from which he was not far, and would
those who wished to hear more of that divinely appointed Judge of
it
the
Redeemer
of the
world he would h-ave found more than that just man, whom Plato depicts. He would
rather have had such an address respecting the unknown God, than the most eloquent
dissertations of sophists on the gods,
2
On
century, and
is
offspring of imagination."
who
inflated
PAUL IN CORINTH.
74.
MISSIONS.]
enthusiast,
prominence
273
74.
Paul
A.D.
in Corinth.
53.
Tim
Ionian seas.
Cenchreae on the
east,
made
it
two
ports,
the centre of
Lechaeum on
the
between the eastern and western portions of the Roman empire
and
at
same
so
to
between
Asia
and
the
time,
speak,
bridge,
Europe
;
was
after
it
phy,
art,
Its civilization
vices of barbarism.
his
The establishment
and a
He
half.
11
Ephesus (18
18, 26.
in different places,
Rome (Rom.
3),
to
first
16
19).
the Jews and proselytes,
:
But
cities, were very numerous.
he met with such violent opposition, that he left the synagogue, and held
his meetings in the adjoining house of one Justus, a proselyte of the
gate.
1
effort,
Co
was equivalent to srortari. It is a significant fact, that while Minerva, the
of wisdom, was enthroned on the Acropolis of Athens, the Acrocorinthus
"to
rinthians,"
patroness
was the
site
18
2)
is
was
first
converted
speedy connection
not against it, since this term
18
or
his
274
BOOK
PAUL IX COKINTH.
74.
[_!
Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, with his whole household, embraced
the faith
and these, along with a certain Gaius, and the family of Ste
;
1 Cor. 1
8.
phanas, Paul baptized with his own hands (18
14-17),
though in other cases he left this business to his aids, who could admin
ister the ordinance just as well.
For in the sacrament, where, as it
:
Lord himself
were, the
functionary
falls
and requires
The great
special gifts, it becomes prominent.
majority of the congregation collected by Paul and his associates, Silas
and Timothy (comp. 1 Cor. 1
19), were, no doubt, formerly pagans,
and chiefly, though not entirely, from the lower classes. For in 1 Cor.
church
the
flesh,
noble,
Athens how
little
more cultivated
generally speaking,
susceptibility,
had
circles
He had, accordingly,
opposed their Sadducean or Pharisaic spirit.
determined to appear in Corinth, not with the wisdom and eloquence
of man, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, with the una
dorned simplicity of the glad tidings to poor sinners.
He
to
had resolved
that
is
all
and the moral corruption of the people generally. He had also to sus
own breast, and was often so depressed with
own
tveakness, that
whenever he thought of
himself, he
Thess. 1
this
2 Cor. 1
1, 8.
1).
This rapid progress of the gospel only embittered the hostility of the
Jews. They, therefore, took advantage of the arrival of the new pro
consul,
Annaeus
Gallio, to accuse
Comp.
Rom
16
23,
But
Gallio, a
man
religion,
of great kindness,
which
wisely
of Corinth.
~
His brolher, the famous Stoic, Annaeus Seneca, considered him the most amiable
4ISSK N8.]
75.
275
observing the limits of his power as a civil judge, dismissed tie com
and referred it to the Jewish tribunal, as relating to a controversy
plaint,
12-1*1).
remained
still
in
1
Corinth a long time, meanwhile, as must be inferred from 2 Cor. 1
(comp. Rom. 16
1), either making excursions himself, or sending his
:
The Epistles
75.
Of
this date,
A. D.
to the Thessalonians.
53.
New
Testament,
Timothy,
whom
even to Achaia.
But
same time
at the
in
many
of
from the Lord, and deprived them of the blessings of his appearing
others, carelessness, and an undervaluation of their earthly callings,
in
-o
This state of
19, 20).
contempt for the prophetic gift (1 Thess. 5
things was the occasion of the apostle s first epistle, which is full of
:
virtues
comforts those
who
visit.
lie
are troubled
commends
tlie
church for
departed
and to
lie
of mortals.
est,
quam
hie
"
Nemo
rnortalium,"
omnibus."
apostle, in connection
Perhaps,
with
Phil. 4
22,
rise to the
n acquaintance and
1
As
had
p.
241 sqq.
276
76.
[l.
BOOK;
other errors, against presuming to calculate the day and hour of hij
appearing.
But
sin"
His
labors in Ephesus.
been
it
appears,
But
was
by Paul.
made the journey by
it
was only
and, as
in the
Furthermore,
we must
not
means keep
is of doubtful genuineness, and by Lachmann
this feast that cometh in Jerusalem,
This would bring into question the whole matter of Paul s fourth
altogether rejected.
journey to Jerusalem, and
tioned in Gal. 2
make Wieseler
"
hypothesis of
its
must by
all
men
belonging to the original text still, the dva(3dg, v. 22 could only refer, it would seem,
For if we make it mean
to a journey from Caesarea to Jerusalem, which lay higher.
;
merely the ascent from the landing to .the city of Caesarea, or to the plare when the
congregation assembled, the word would be entirely superfluous whereas in this very
;
passage
Luke
studies great
brevity.
Then
well to the relative geographical positions of Jerusalem and Antioch, but not to a jour
to Antioch.
Finally, we see no reason, why Paul, in going from
Ephesus
to Antioch. should
to visit Jerusalem.
circuit
HIS LABOBS
MISSIONS.]
AT EPHE8US.
277
eastern
We
**
intentionally leave
Having shorn
In the
and
first
Aquila
observed
this
head in Cenchreae
his
he had a
in itself,
course,
incon-
words of Luke, 18
the
18
Meyer
;
for
vow,"
(also
especially as his name, contrary to the usage of antiquity, and to the order
in v. 2 and 26, is here placed alter that of his wife Priscilla; the reason of
found in the gender of the participle. But these names occur in the same
order in Rom. 16 3 and 2 Tim. 4 : 19. This the above interpreters have overlooks
which
is
We are compelled,
p.
gram
ill it
remarked
p. 66),
(1. c.
that he intended thereby indirectly to defend the apostle against the charge of
inducing the Jewish Christians to renounce the law, is too artificial, and is connected
with this scholar s general hypothesis of an apologetic purpose running through the
a hypothesis, which we cannot regard as well founded.
whole book of Acts
Since,
;
now, Paul
is
De
tators think
vow
was
sqq.),
which Philo
calls
the great
who
Nazarite
one,
the expiration of the time he presented in the temple at Jerusalem an offering, and
had his head shorn (tonsura munditiei) by the priest, throwing the hair into the flame
But the
of the thank-offering, and thus consecrating it to the Lord (Num. 6 5, 18).
At
latter
it
for
at the
accomplishment, but
at
the
To
.feeing
ite
ler
hello
Jud
vow was
to
Mischna
off,
of the Naza-
Nasir, III, 6.
which he
refers, is
NeanBut the
no proof of
this.
The context and the terms employed can hardly suggest any thing more, than the
tommon Nazarite vow and besides, the tonsure of Berenice, spoken of just before,
;
Acts 18
18, to
We
278
76.
with Paul
sistent
liberal
[l-
principles.
human work,
BCn&
from
far
the condition of
use, in a voluntary
the law
still
retains
its
even for the regenerate, so long as they have to contend with flesh and
blood.
Indeed it may be said in general of all the religious forms and
symbols of the church, that they tend to awaken true piety in those
but that
still in their pupilage, and to promote it in the more advanced
;
and substituted
vation,
moment they
for living
made
are
indispensable to sal
may
faith, or, it
himself.
Sailing
left his
He
founded
in
He
first
:
in.
Ephesus, the then capital of proconsular Asia, lay near the coast of
the Icarian sea, between Smyrna and Miletus, in that fair and fertile
province, where twenty-five hundred years ago appeared, in the sanguine,
buoyant, and gifted tribe of the lonians, the first blossoms of Grecian
where Homer sang the deeds of the Trojan heroes
and literature
and the return of Ulysses, and Anacreon the light, momentary joys of the
art
heart
flight of
first
woke the
spirit of
words of Winer
(Reallexikon.
it
strictly to
may have
any
been
its
it
I. p.
cannot be satisfactorily
The
faith.
legal form,
explained."
nature.
cannot agree with Calvin, in referring this vow merely to regard for the Tews,
iee his Commentary
Se igitur totondit non alium ob finem, nisi tit Judaeis adhuc
1
"
rudibus,
necdum
rite
edoctis, se
Cor. 9 :20).
accommodaret. quemadmodum
voluntariam
legis,
sub
AT EPHESUS.
HIS LABORS
MISSIONS.]
279
But besides being a centre of commerce and culture, Ephesus wi.e also
a principal seat of the heathen superstition, and of the mystic worship
There stood the renowned temple of Diana ; built of white
of Artemis.
marble
in the sixth
set
on
fire
on the birth-night
Erostratus
btit
soon rebuilt
in still
style
It contained
the Great.
fallen
earliest
age
16
to arise, under
To
Christendom.
it
profoundest
inward
But
nature, and the outward appearance of the bride of Jesus Christ.
from its bosom, too, he already saw coming forth the most dangerous of
Wherever
foes, the pernicious heathen Gnosis
verifying the maxim
:
God
all
by
parts of Asia
From
its side.
this point
either
Minor,
by
and assistants
his disciples
city furnished
first
*nd
visit,
19 sq.),
Of
this
temple there
They had
now remain
lo
once
be so called
Comp. Schu
Reise in den
Cor. 1C
8, 9.
30-32.
Comp. Acts 20
sqq.
Cor. 4
9-13.
Gal. 5
11.
<!
Cof
2SO
76.
BOOK
[l.
yet without being fully acquainted with the teaching and historj of the
Lord, and with the operations of his Spirit. Probably they had left
Mes
who passed
who
baptism of the Spirit in the name of Jesus, with the customary laying
on of hands. Thereupon the new life revealed itself in the extraordi
nary
gifts
of the apostolic
and prophecy
(19
1-6).
After preaching three months in the synagogue, Paul was compelled
:
by the
hostility of
rately,
which he did
cian,
for
two
years.
Near
this place
nay
and preservative against them.
Jewish exorcists strolling about those
to cast out devils by
parts,
who pretended
to be able
Some
Solomon."
of
these jugglers, the seven sons of one Sceva, who was either the proper
high priest, or the foreman of one of the twenty-four courses of priests,
1
c.
19.
vicinity,
still
(v. 22),
:
1).
and
Add
now, to the two years the three months, during which he taught in the synagogue,
and the indefinite time in v. 22. we have nearly three years for his residence in Ephe-
ing,
6us
triennium, 20
31.
10.
Matt. 12
27.
Lu. 9
49.
Josephus,
De hello Jud. VII. 6, 3, and Justin s Dial. c. Tryph- Jud. p. 311, ed.
Autiqn. VIII. 25.
Colon. Josephus, in the first passage referred, to, tells how these jugglers astonished
even the emperor Vespasian and the Roman army.
3
Sons"
is
disciples, followers
devils to that
^>e
expelled only by
Hjg LABOES
MISSIONS.!
AT EPHESUS.
23.1
were able
his
especially
abundant
6fty thousand
in
drachms or denarii
Paul was now intending to revisit Greece, and had already sent on
Macedonia his assistants, Timothy and Erastus (not to be confound
into
those
when
23),
23 sqq.
who derived
the popular
So
fast as his
Thus,
among other
things, a
upon the extensive traffic in gold and silver models of the renowned tem
ple of Diana, which were manufactured in great multitudes in Ephesus,
and were a
The
silversmith, Demetrius,
under the
against the
up
his
who
car
numerous workmen
first seized
Great is Diana of the Ephesians
populace shouting
Gaius and Aristarchus, and dragged them to the Amphitheatre, where
"
!"
We cannot wonder, that Dr. Baur (p. 1SS sqq.) can see in these strange events
For the evi
nothing historical, still less any evidence of the divinity of Christianity.
dence was not designed or adapted for such persons as he. Of Paul s labors among
But fortunately
the Epicureans and Stoics of Athens nothing of the kind is recorded.
1
the world
is
not entirely
of Christianity
not to establish a
is,
new
skeptical critics.
Rom.
15
19..
Mk.
16
17.
282
AND CORINTHIANS,
EPISTLES TO GALATIANS
77.
[l.
BOO*
they were accustomed to hold public meetings. When Paul learned this,
he was for exposing himself to save his companions and, if possible, allay
who
this
idolatry,
own
their
for
the
respecting
gods
cried
is
by a
city,
in
language
"
last
address, succeeded
it
37)
(v.
skillful
still
!"
silenced.
From
this occurrence
we
see,
epistles
made
and
as
residing in
77.
While
first
his
most important
to the Corinthians.
He
care,
if it
and he
were
his
felt
own
had found
their
way
undermined
into them,
apostle of the
his
apostolical
Gentiles,
standing,
charged him with error and officiousness, and laid on the Gentile Chris
This sad intelligence
tians the yoke of the Jewish ceremonial law.
caused .Paul to send them, about the year 55, an autograph letter, full of
holy indignation at. this unfaithfulness of the Galatians to their Lord and
1
About
"
sisti et corrigi
posse.
rarissimus emptor
3
Acts IS
23.
jam
passimque venire
victimas, quaruin
inveniebatur."
Comp.
6,
and the
rb^oTEQov, Gal. 4
13.
EPISTLES TO GALATIAN8
77.
KISSIOXS.]
AND CORINTHIANS.
233
full
and of
First he demonstrates
his cause.
his
own
14).
God and
15-5
With
12).
the congregation, who remained
faithful to him, against pride, the abuse of their liberty, and uncha
of
as children
this,
in
ritable
26).
He
New
Testament, and
But
is still,
it is
The circumstances
apostle
had developed
The gospel had not yet entirely subdued and sanctified the old Grecian
Thus all sorts of imperfections had made their appearance
nature.
partly by the force of former habits and of the peculiar temperament and
turn of the Greeks
partly through the influence of other teachers,
;
cially in its
ed
and the
God.
1 Cor. 1
5-7.
c.
12 and 14.
2 Cor. 8
7.
it
a second,
is
not
men
EPISTLES TO GALATIANS
77.
284:
AND CORINTHIANS.
U-
BOOK
we may
visit
fix either
country
and
his
or, as
Neauder
is
18-19
1).
between
But
it is
this
after
all most probable, that the apostle, during his residence of almost three
years in Ephesus (Acts 19), made a missionary excursion from there, in
which he touched at Corinth.
Already had this visit given Paul pain
1
ful
evidence of the re-intrusion of pagan vices into that church under the
The Corinthians,
course with professing Christians of licentious habits.
in reply, laid before him their doubts about complying with this injunc
which they thought rather too sweeping, extending even to vicious
and at the same time made inquiries as to
persons out of the church
tion,
self
more minute
intelligence
sent
1 Cor.
16
8.
5:7,
8), per
haps about Easter of the year 57, wrote with many tears and much
4) a long letter, which carries us into the
anguish of heart (2 Cor. 2
:
So Riickert, Billroth, Olshausen, Meyer, Wieseler. Wieseler makes this tour exwhere Paul left Titus, and supposes, that on this journey, perhaps in
lend to Crete,
first
epistle to
Timothy was
Titus he fixes
somewhat
later,
<Apg.,
p-
written,
which presents
The
314).
so
many
s return to Ephesus
(p. 346 sqq.), be
between Easter and Pentecost of the year
now
Equally fixed, however, is the spuriousness of the letter of the Corinthians to Paul, and Paul s answer, preserved by the
For these treat of subjects entirely different from those with
Armenian church.
is
which the
lost epistle
of Paul, according to
Cor. 5
78.
MISSIONS.]
285
ter congratulating
its
spiritual
gifts,
its
(1 Cor. 1
first
Here we
politics,
and
uphere
church, indeed, to act an all-important part in the doctrinal controver
but it was also one of the main causes
sies of the first five centuries
;
One
The
Cephas
We
may
presume that the first two parties were composed chiefly of the Gentile
that the name of
Christians, who formed the majority of the church
;
while the
is
veiled in
1.
The party
clearly defined in
most
of Paul, which
it
doubtless
knowledge
and
spiritual
freedom
to regard
and, against the apostolic
deriding their scrupulousness
ordinance (Acts 15), wounding their consciences, by eating meat offered
9
19 sqq.
10
23 sqq).
1 sqq.
to idols (1 Cor. 8
;
proclaimed the reign of the Messiah with glowing enthusiasm in the syn
More precisely instructed in Christianity by Aquila and Prisand provided by the brethren with recommendations, he went to
Corinth, taught there some time with great success, and then returned to
agogue.
cilla,
Luke describes
Ephesus, where he had a personal interview with Paul.
him as an eloquent man, learned in the Scriptures (Acts 18
24-28) ;
:
Besides the
work
of Neander,
I.
p 375
sqq.,
faithful work-fellow,
and
12
286
PARTIES
78.
EST
BOOK
[l-
We
that Apollos,
as
thets applied to
may be
epi
of theology,
in
the
Hence he has
Greek language, and more rhetorical in his discourse.
been regarded by many scholars, Luther first, and latterly Bleek, Tholuck, and De "Wette,
though without any support from patristic tradi
Hebrews, which is character
style, and striking allegorical
tion,
ized
But the
interpretation.
much
cultivated
among
the Corinthians
made
too
Here we
find the
germ of the
later school of
antagonism.
therefore,
says against the desire of the Greeks for wisdom, and their over-valu
18 sqq.
2
ation of knowledge and brilliant language (1 Cor. 1
1
tle
sqq.), was aimed, not indeed at Apollos himself, who certainly knew how
to distinguish the true wisdom from the false, and who used rhetoric
merely as a means to a higher end, but at his disciples, who went beyond
morbid admiration of philosophy and eloquence, moreover, was
him.
among
the rest.
them
forth.
To them Paul
sisted of
We
all mean to say, that Apollos was more gifted than Paul.
The aposcertainly his superior in genius, profundity, and dialectic power, and had also a
But his gifts had not the dazzling exterior, nor his
rare energy and precision of style.
1
tie
do not at
was
which
divine
power
human
art,
and
left
and
besides, in
the gospel to
its
owt
78.
MISSIONS.]
28T
and rise to the freedom of the gospel. Yet they :lo not
Galatian
errorists, to have made circumcision and the
seem,
observance of the whole ceremonial law the condition of salvation. At
legal prejudices,
like the
events they did not come out openly with such doctrine.
The Greeks
for
this
Pharisaic
Judaism.
susceptibility
rigid,
They proceeded,
all
had no
more
therefore,
authority of Paul.
Of
above
all,
Peter, to
whom
Lord had
the
with them,
fall in
any more than did Paul with the light-minded Paulinians, or Apollos
the conceited Apollonians.
His prominent position among the
with
apostles of the
Far more
4.
of the party.
it to determine the
peculiar character of the
difficult is
ol
Had
to guide us.
name
of
Christ"
in the
good
sense,
to
all
"
From
we must
this
infer,
made
Christ himself a
sectarian leader,
of Paul,
the
We
of
Paul."
Christ.
C or.
worthy of
ever,
The
should then have to suppose, that, while the other parties are saying
Peter, in his
first
But this
13.
the
words
But
"
It
I am
am of
is, how
I
attention, that
epistle to
is
them with
name
"
when
(i. e.
i/ctif
nre
for
fj
the gospel
E~isri7.v
vfj.lv,
was
TT
ep
first
I
preached
by the
fact, that, at
exist* nee
which
is
the time
the
at
Corinth) typai/ Ef
re nai
77 9 a
avrov re KUL K
--uu/odai(c. 47)
when Clement
more probable,
if it
Yet
ET
f Tri-er/za-
<i/.7/$
A.TT 6 /*/.cj
this silence
may
diu TO xai
be accounted
78.
BOOK
[I-
leaders,
It
16).
is
many
of our
flesh (2 Cor.
Lord
hearers
twenty or thirty years after his death, and were scattered amongst
But however this maj
the Christian communities in the larger cities.
lived
made
name
"
or
Christians"
"
who assume,
The Church
arrogant title
;"
all
the
"
Disciple:
in opposition to
of
God."
theological character
None
of them,
We
party of Peter.
furthermore, the
first
tween the
last
we might
different shades
be
two
their leader,
To
Jesus.
5
13)
(1 Cor.
15
7).
:
this the
and
9:5), and
"knowing
But
James
his consanguinity
flesh"
with
alludes (2 Cor.
"brethren
of the
Lord"
in
Peter (1 Cor.
this case they must have styled themselves rather,
of
in
TOV Kvplov, or
Gal. 2
ol
TOV Irjaov,
We
Oputc. acad.
Heidenreich.
II. p.
246.
is
78.
MISSIONS.]
281*
Hence Baur identifies the Christ party with the party of Peter. The
same members of the church, he thinks, called themselves after Cephas,
because he stood at the head of the Jewish apostles, and at the same
time after Christ, because they
mark
made immediate
of apostolical authority
passages, in which Paul demonstrates, that he has the same right, as any
other, to call himself an apostle of Christ
particularly 2 Cor. 10:7. But
;
it
designates the parties of Peter and Christ as two, and therefore distinct.
If, on the contrary, we start from the name of the Christ party, which
human
in opposition
for holding
spirit,
by God
himself,
any
were
simply to Christ.
and symbols
while yet they take but a partial and distorted view of the Script urti,
through the spectacles of their own traditional preconceptions, and onlj
add
1
Paulns
p.
272 sqq.
This view
is
Thiersch
I.
p. 162.
(die Kirche
modification of
peculiar
im apostdischen
Zeitalter.
still
N.
.,
Baurs hypothesis
is
held by
disposed Judaizers, and the most violent personal opponents of Paul, who cast suspi
cion on his whole work, and were styled by him, in irony,
the very chiefest apostles M
"
name
might not be amiss, perhaps, to illustrate this by an example from the history of
the modern American sects.
mean the Christians,- who arose at the end of the
It
"
W>
last century,
itself
all
human
authority
and abolish
all lines
show
p.
"
themselves Christians
1848,
Most
among
owe
their origin to
The
some
Christians
They
other, without
19
290
IS.
BOOK
But with this general result we shall have to be content. For a more
defm .te knowledge of the Christ party we have no certain data.
We must, however, notice two more hypotheses lately propounded.
1
The Swiss divine, Schenkel, holds the Christians" to have been false
mystics and visionaries, who took their name not merely because they
"
"false
apostles, deceitful
apostle,
workers,"
attacked by Paul
in 2 Cor.
11
De Wette, who
The proof
Gnostics.
of this
is
them
here sub
same category
Colosse, and pronounces them Judaizing
in the
But
these enthusiasts.
of arbitrary and
artificial
combinations
and the
upon a
latter passage
He
the
first epistle.
These
identifies
who
errorists,
and
it
and
ideal,
We
place.
might refer
if it
up by the immediate direction and overruling providence of God, and that the ground
is the one which will finally swallow up all party distinctions in
church."
In his tract
jip. Gesch.
I.
p.
395 sqq.
allusions to
it,
III. p.
478 sqq.
The
in
with the circumstances rf the Corinthian church, would not have passed over
perfect silence.
1838.
it
in
| 78. PARTIES IN
MISSIONS.]
phyry,
in the third
modern times
291
to
this
out.
to
it is,
name
of the Christ
faults,
not
all
neces
connected with
sarily
this,
mother (1 Cor. 5
1
6
sqq.), and unchastity in general (5:9 sqq.
12 sqq. 2 Cor. 12:21). Of this vice the people of Corinth, that rroAtc
as Din Chrysostom calls it in the bad sense, had the most
for about the renowned temple of
inadequate and superficial conception
:
i7ra<t><)o6iTo-dTt],
Venus
He
2 sqq).
life
participating in the sacrificial meals of the heathen, and eating meat which
had been offered to idols, he recommends a charitable regard to weak
women
in
disorder in the
worship of God, the over-valuation and vain parading of
and the
edification of his
beautiful picture in c.
12-14,
extols love as the most
drawn
precious gift of
The
in
all.
also,
many
points, ai
292
79.
A NEW
TISIT TO GREECE.
[i.
BOOK
79.
A New
and with
Second Epistle
Visit to Greece.
A. D.
to the
Corinthians.
57.
Some weeks after writing the first epistle to the Corinthians, about
Pentecost of the year 57 (1 Cor. 16
8), Paul left Ephesus, intending
to visit his churches in Greece, return thence to
Jerusalem, and then go
for the first time to the capital of the world
1.
(Acts 20
Comp. 19
There he
Travelling first to Troas, he preached there some time.
21).
:
meet
also, to
hoped,
Timothy (2 Cor. 12
Titus,
:
whom
little
after
18.
trouble (2 Cor.
7:5), but
at the
his
power (2 Cor. 8
epistle had given a salutary shock to the feelings of the largest and best
6
part of the community, and awakened a godly sorrow (2 Cor. 7
The incestuous person (1 Cor. 5:1) had been excommunicated
sqq).
:
by the
ity
other hand, the Judaizing antagonists of the apostle were only the more
embittered against him, and sought to impeach his purest motives,
J
Timothy
also appears
with Paul
and
is
in
named
in the superscription.
Probably he had
already rejoined the apostle in Ephesus, according to expectation (1 Cor. 16 11), and
had accompanied him from there. Several modern critics suppose, that Timothy, foi
some reason or other, did not get to Corinth at all. But the grounus for this cpinioc
:
ve
untenable
camp. Wieseler,
1.
c. p.
359 sqq.
S8IONS.J
293
rest.
In
Paul thought
summer of
once more
in the
Macedonia, probably
remove beforehand,
The
visit there.
In the
it
if
first
Ephesus, and his divine consolations under them ; advises the restoration
and then portrays the office of a gospel
of the penitent fornicator
;
The second
than the
first
Corinthians
epistle to the
and the
epistle to the
less
is
Romans, but
and struggles
life,
These were
his daily
and
whom
The
salvation.
epistle
Hence
much
its
;
its
of calm, clear
shade
we
and
reflection, as
Jeremiah.
is
in
warm and
tender, as his
profound.
Paul sent
ren,
2 Cor. 10
10 sq.
12
16 sqq.
:
12, 13.
Comp.
7:5
also
sqq.
15 sqq.
1-5.
3
9
1,
and 5
12 sq.
2, 4.
357 sq., endeavors to show, that Paul wrote only the second ana
meeting with Titus, and the first six chapters before this time, while
In this way he explains
yet only the accounts which Timothy had given.
Wieseler,
1.
c. p.
he had as
wrong
impressions.
294
80.
Macedonia
16
1 Cor.
Comp.
monument
its
Respecting
6).
BOOK
autunn
eq.
[i.
is silent.
Romans.
This letter was designed to prepare the way for his labors in the metrop
olis of the world, which he intended to visit in the ensuing year, 58
(Acts 19
23
21.
Rom.
11.
80.
The exact
origin of the
extraordinary
darkness.
moment
We
in
15
13, 15.
Roman
23-28).
A.D. 58
Romans.
ecclesiastical history,
is
veiled in
mysterious
it
regard
which was originally an assembly of the disciples of the apostles and
emigrant members of the church of Jerusalem, and was afterwards placed
on a firmer foundation, and permanently organized by Barnabas, Peter,
and Paul.
Rome
We
confluence for
"
all
Orbis in urbe
tians,
some are
In
erat."
saluted,
eye and ear witnesses of the miracle of Pentecost, Jews from Rome are
and these may have carried back
expressly enumerated (Acts 2
10)
:
who bore
news of Christianity.
first
In
Acts 12
It
it
is
Herod Agrippa,
that,
said,
Claudius, as
1
in
we
Comp. Acts
11
are
:
first
19-26.
Athenaeus (Deipnotoph.
told
Gal. 2
I,
11,
20) calls
and
4 61.
Rome noMv
all cities
visit to
might be seen
collected,
and where
6/l
world
him again
2
11)
295
tflSSIONS/]
in
supposition has against it the fact, that neither the Acts of the Apostles,
nor the epistles of Paul, contain, even where we should certainly expect
Romans was
epistle to the
It
16.
c.
his
written, or
Paul
personal friends in
very doubtful, moreover, whether the
is
many
it
then already
ua.""
Now we
mav,
is
it
true, suppose
the Chrestus,
named by Sueto
Jew
then living, one of those political false prophets, who abounded in Pales
tine before the destruction of Jerusalem.
But as no such person is
otherwise known to us, and as it is a fact, that the Romans often used
Chrestus for Christus,
made
it is
at that
time
is
Comp. Rom.
is
15
in
This
another.
referred to
2 Cor. 10
20, 21.
16.
Suetonius
Claud,
c.
25:
"
s first
would be corroborated,
if
the edict, of
eler
1
among
others
Tertullian
Chrnnologic,
Jlpolog.
c.
p.
125
sq.
and Lactantius
3.,
They wrongly
which
men"
itself signifies
391 sq.).
"
good
That Suetonius,
in
(jlpol.
I.
p.
136.
c.
16,
II. p.
is
no
proof that he would have avoided the above error in another passage, where he probaoly naJ an official document before him-
296
80.
BOOK
[l.
in the
wife,
this edict
Nero (A.D.
and
Gentiles,
among the
this edict.
by
8}
in fact, the
West.
This
is
what is prop
fame (Rom. 1
16), and its different
in
teachers
its
(c.
their blood
historical
and
religious
Roman
As
groundwork of
church swayed
to its ingredients, this church was, no doubt, like all the congrega
tions out
of
(Rom. 15
Rom.
Palestine,
7
sqq.).
The presence
where Abraham
of Jewish Christians
is
implied in
^v,
7
1-6,
designated as KOT^
where Paul addresses those who know the law
14
1 sqq., where he
recommends indulgence towards the weak in faith, who, like the Jewish
:
1,
12,
is
Christians in Corinth (1 Cor. 8), abstain from meat and wine (probably
the sacrificial flesh and wine placed before them when eating in company
with the Gentiles), and scrupulously observe the Jewish feasts. That
Rome,
also,
its
Judaizers,
and Corinth
as those of Galatia
still
after,
more
4:11.
epistles written a
few years
1:15
sqq.
majority of
This is
the congregation consisted, no doubt, of Gentile Christians.
of
the
centre
main
in
was
and
itself
since
Rome
Heathendom,
probable
:
20, 21.
Col.
16.
tained the most active intercourse with the chief seats of Paul
Josephus describes
(Jlrchaeol.
XX.
great favor
8, 12)
with
her.
Poppaea, by
and informs us
Even
against the
bailiff,
labors,
tfeoere/?^?, as a proselyte to
his Jlutobiogr.,
c. 3,
that he himself
the
it
Judaism
the term
in
in
we find
Jewish depn
MISSIONS.]
297
the
e#v?7,
among whom
es Gentile Christians
14
where he derives
from his
1 sqq.,
15
15,
16,
We
call to
prevailed in
followers
Ephesus
For
Rome.
and friends
to
in c.
Aquila and
Rome, Epenetus
He
15
11, 15.
strong desire to visit that church (1
whole satisfied with its practical Christianity (1:8.
:
no difference between
its
16.
17.
moreover has a
23)
15
on the
is
14)
16
finds
25) ;
his epistles to the Galatians
17,
As Paul had for years cherished a desire to preach the gospel in the
2
metropolis of the world, he wished, in the mean time, before carrying
out this
1
and prepare
design, to compensate
Dr. Baur
in the "Tiibinger
(first
Zeitschr."
oral
for
1836, No.
3,
instruction
by
work on
Paul,
p.
334
sqq.),
in the theology of these writers is the same, the strictly Judaizing, Kbionistic tendency.
falls
with Baur
which believed
Christianity,
Christ as the Messiah, but was
in
according to Baur,
was intended
against
kingdom of God,
c.
whole
letter in the
or, in
eight chapters,
which go
into the
16,
as the
theme of
is
power of God
very
whereas the
more moment
to justify
and save
wants of our nature, which it is the main object of the Christian religion to relieve.
Roc: 1 : 13, 15
15 22 sqq.
Comp. Acts 19 21.
:
298
IX BOOK
80.
positive exhibition
of saving truth, of
ing, sanctifying,
the
16).
ground of
To Rome,
the
mistress of the world, whose great importance for the future history of the
church he clearly foresaw, Paul was not ashamed freely and fearlessly to
proclaim the gospel as the only hope for humanity languishing under the
curse of sin and death
tion, in
filled.
view of Paul
We
main
might
easily
Rome.
Among
disposition
letters
13)
in
were the
the doubts of
weak
(14)
(15
7-9).
Christ,
The
train of
life
thought
is
as follows
The
redemption (1
18-3
20)
more than we
21-5
givei;
(6-8).
Then
follows
21)
election
dom
God
of
the deinonstra-
AND THE
IS8IONS]
209
counsel of God, subserved the conversion of the Gentiles, and that, when
the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in, the hour of all Israel ?
into a
rap
The epistle to the Romans, therefore, like that to the Galatians, pro
ceeds entirely from the anthropological point of view, the nature of man
as in need of redemption, and his relation to the law of God.
In thia
it is admirably
adapted to the peculiar character and turn of the
Latin church, of which Rome was so long the centre. The Oriental
Greek church, in virtue of her propensity to speculation, took more to
respect
and
still
Then when
tion.
to labor in the
who
it
development of doctrine,
she, led
when,
Roman
Galatians, wandered from the path of the gospel back into Jewish
legalism, from justification by faith to justification by works, it was pre
eminently the renewed study of the epistles to the Romans and to the
Galatians, which armed the Reformers of the sixteenth century for the
battle against all Pelagianism,
and
justification.
The
epistle to the
Romans,
too, haa
ism
though by
this
we by no means intend
contents.
300
81.
of
FIFTH
81.
to
A.D.
Jerusalem.
[l-
BOOK
58.
After staying three months in Achaia, Paul set about the execution
his purpose, to go once more to Jerusalem, to wind up his labors in the
Rome and Spain (Rom. 15 22Jerusalem he had both an outward occasion, and
For
25).
this visit to
an inward motive.
In the
first
Christians, which
Jewish
proved a large one, he wished himself to carry, that, with this supply for
their bodily wants, he might also give the mother church a practical
testimony of the grateful love and pious zeal of the Greek Christians,
and, so far as in him lay, knit more firmly together the two grand divi
sions of the church.
The
any
and
sacrifice,
"
bound
in
spirit,"
own
fate,
to the
21
this
13, 14).
Paul, therefore, leaving Corinth in the spring of the year 58, spent
the season of Easter in Philippi, where he again met with Luke, and
:
then sailed with him* to Troas, whither his seven companions, Sopater,
Aristarchus, Secundus, Caius, Timothy, Tychicus, and Trophimus, had
gone before by the direct sea route (Acts 20 4-6). There he remain
ed a week with the church founded by him a year before, strengthening
it by his exhortations, and
by the miraculous resuscitation of the young
man, Eutyches, who, during a discourse protracted beyond midnight, had
:
Cor. 16
For
at
c.
20
3, 4.
:
2 Cor. 9
12-15. Rom. 15
Luke suddenly resumes the
:
25-27.
"we"
in
his narrative,
which hao
given place to the third person at Paul s first departure from Philippi (17 1). Tht
minuteness of the subsequent description of the journey, also, bespeaks an eye witness
:
FIFTH
gl.
MISSIONS.]
to meet
boring churches,
somewhat
3Ul
further south.
Here, in the face of the dangers which threatened him, and with the
mournful presentiment that he should never see them again, he delivered
to them a hortatory and apologetic valedictory (Acts 20
17-38), which
breathes the most touching love for his spiritual children and the most
faithful care for the future welfare of the church.
He first reminded the
:
all
Lord, and had withheld from the church nothing which was needful for
its spiritual proflt, but had
preached publicly and in private circles the
whole way of life (v. 18-21). An apostle could, doubtless, without any
violation of humility, point to himself, and through himself to the Lord,
much
in
ignoring
his
own
virtue, as in
it
referring
his
(v.
to
its
source, the
entire
dependence on
22-25)
his separation
was prepared to
rifice his life in
finish his
came
into
knowledge of the
13,
20).
For the
infallible
is
fore
2).
The
Epheso
et a reliquis
proximis civitatibut
"
the supposition, that other churches in the neighborhood besides that of Ephesus
is
represented,
And
it
in
is
ble
for if
hut
his resi
it
is
hum-
it did, it
well consist
and lowly
"
wer*
itself, too,
very probable, that Paul, either from Ephesus as a centre, or before and after
dence there, had planted churches in the surrounding region.
1
(Adv.
in
heart."
It is
much more
applicable to innocence.
"I
C02
81.
FIFTH
[l-
BOOK
selves,
lest,
and to the
away,
the false teachers, who, after his departure, would intrude upon them from
11
among
themselves,
and magic had fixed one of their chief centres. 4 After thus
showing the dangers which threatened the church, the apostle commends
his hearers to the protection of Almighty God, and once more presents
superstition
example of
He
labor.
reminds
them how with the most unwearied care and the most disinterested devo
tion he served the Lord and his people
earned with his own hands the
;
"
It
more blessed
is
that
;"
makes one
is, it
more happy to be in want and to starve from love for others, than to
which is absolutely true of God,
possess and enjoy at others expense
5
the Giver of every good gift and the Fountain of all happiness (31-35).
;
Comp. Acts 20
bound
1
The
more
plainly the
natural
less
room
and even
reference
in 1
:
Tim. 4
sqq.
immediately
The former
till
of heretical presbyters
qq.,
we must
first epistle to
not written
22,
1% vfiuv avrtiv
addressed, or to the
is
in the spirit to
times."
10 ssqq.
8 sqq.
Comp. 76 supra.
Even this masterly
FIFTH
81.
MISSIONS.]
303
Then, as Luke depicts the scene in the simplest, yet most expressive
and touching words (v. 36-38), the apostle knelt down, prayed with
his
spiritual children,
tears.
tonis
Jerusalem
and here
die,
4-4
and said
(11
Thus
"
man
also he
of Judea, the
Holy Ghost, So
saith the
that owneth
shall the
Jews
gir
at Jeru
Gentiles"
(21
this girdle,
11).
he
to
love
moved
deeply
antiquity,
is
his
full
heart.
He was
by the
of the
church,
and therefore
is
pronounced
177 sqq.)
His grounds are (1 A sup
posed contradiction between the presentiment of death there expressed and the joyful
hopes of new labor even away in Spain, appearing in the epistle to the Romans, c. 15
the bungling
work
p.
2 2 sqq.,
all to
Paul.
ore.
>es.
But. in the
Romans
in
fact,
for
first
he rejects
express the
Roman
Jews
in
it
as not
wiitten by
apprehension of dangers,
Jerusalem, and in view of
solicits
Christians.
warnings by the voices of prophets and in view of his approaching departure, which
fills
every noble, loving heart with pain, these apprehensions very naturally become
for the
moment
2)
The
v.
29,
30
which, however, by
its
would certainly have put into the mouth of Paul a far clearer and more exicnded description of them.
1
This symbolical action was intended the more impressively to present before th*
heresies,
eyes of the bystanders the approaching arrest, as an actual reality. Similar dramatic
the
prophecies occur in the Old Testament; e. g. the yokes of Jeremiah (27 : 2)
;
the
304
82.
name
Lord
of the
on
"
city
Mnason
it."
The brethren
Jesus.
Some
BOOK
fl.
fit
ally
sub
With one
of the
oldest
Christians,
82.
A.D.
58.
We
from
city to city,
God had
labor
Henceforth he
the other apostles (1 Cor. 15
10).
was to serve his divine Master yet several years in chains and in prison,
ed more than
all
Him
till
the
He
came
for his
had
to
meet a
all
the Christians.
But he
false brethren.
who
thirty
hated the apostle as an apostate from the law and a rebel against the
authority of God.
They followed him with the same blind fanaticism,
own
For we have,
all
in
fact, already
in
:
82.
MISSIONS.)
SOfi
eisted of those,
we assume,
the
number seems
in
and hence,
fire,
at Jerusalem,
in
fell
bnck into
as an Ebionistic sect.
That
proper Judaism, or propagated themselves
the disposition to apostatize was very strong, we see from the epistle to
was addressed
and written, though not by Paul himself, yet by one of his disciples under
We have reason to suppose,
the immediate influence of his own spirit.
that the appearance of Christ after his death had a powerful effect also
on the great mass of those, who, though they had been offended with
him
in his
necessary, therefore,
to
put an
end to
to
sift
this
On
the very
first
day after
out
false.
his arrival
his
company, to
of his labors
;
.-
for
own
labors to
the Jews, and, for himself, adhered strictly to the Old Testament forms
of piety.
But not all the members of the church were of this mind.
Among
it
many, and,
Now it is
it, and of forbidding them to circumcise their children.
assuredly true, that he had laid down and continually acted upon the
principle, that man is saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone without the
from
lition
was
He
1
and
him (Acts 15
far
11).
left it
At
20
in the
whole world
did not
amount
to 144,000.
I.
2), th*
300
82.
lie
called in uucircumcision
let
1-
BOOK
when he said
any
become uncircumcised. Is any
:
"Is
Circumcision
is
is
3), save
where
it
and prudent.
flock
harmony
in his
"
brother,"
vow (comp.
which
as
a
just then,
by
providential juncture, four
1-21),
of
the
church
had
assumed
to
members
bear for them the expense
Door
Num.
.rf
dom
Hence
But of Paul, as a
25, comp. 15
20, 29).
he
such
a
submission
to
an
ordinance
of Moses
birth,
thought
be
as
the
Lord
himself
had
volun
might reasonably
expected, especially
the
law.
had
come
to
Jerusalem
with
Paul, who, indeed,
tarily obeyed
apostolic council (Acts 21
Jew by
Of course he
accommo
dation to the weakness of his Jewish brethren, but with good conscience,
as in fact on other occasions he voluntarily applied to himself the disci
This
is
But we
18-26.
(comp.
v.
.i-yvia$7}Ti,
1
Acts 18
18.
Comp. above,
p.
105 sqq.
$ 82.
Misyroxs.j
307
eveiy
somewhat
must be translated
"
one of
them."
(^oarivKx-Srj}
which seems
to indicate the actual offering of the sacrifice on this day, and therefore
be taken
25
Then again, it is expressly
12, 21.
21).
was
the same day, in which
that
the
arrested
18,
apostle
the
iiyviadeif, 21
he, being purified (r/yiw/mw, comp.
26), was sacrificthis
view
relieves
the
at
least in a mea
in
the
case,
temple. Finally,
ing
the
which
attaches
to
the
idea
of
the apostle
of
offensiveness
sure,
subjunctive (comp. 23
observed
24
in
Paul
Though
tive
longed.
apostles,
and admire
one
in counselling, the
As
far.
their
own
other
in acting,
explicit declarations,
case have tended to confirm the zealots for the law in their unevangelical
Mosaic ceremonies
was necessary to salvation ? Should not James rather have upheld
Paul in his principles, and fearlessly endeavored to purge away the old
leaven of the Pharisees ?
And did not Paul here, on his own principles,
error, in the persuasion, that the observance of the
Comp.
R.
Sam. 16
5.
Ex. 19
10.
2 Mace. 12
38.
Jno. 11
tion
u
:
Would
55.
weak Jewish
believers.
There would no more have been two evangelical churches opposed to one
were then a Pauline and a Petrine church of God
(Dit Rede*
IL
!"
p.
219).
82.
\I
BOOK
if he had
firmly withstood these half-Christians, as fo: when they demanded the circumcision of the
Gentile, Titus r
(Gal. 2:5).
Though these doubts, however, certainly very naturally
suggest themselves, we have to consider, on the other side,
first, that the
record of Luke is far too
summary, and gives us too little
on
merly,
light
church
the
unfavorable inferences.
And
finally,
as to
free,
own maxim,
Cor. 9
19-23.
to the Jews, a
Jew
The enmity
them
to allow
week,
Here
referred
They
are
what
commonly understood
But
Minor,
this is at variance
to
mean
the
"
seven
days,"
21
who
27, to be
was
either for
life,
only
remainder; and
allowed a shorter time to
and besides,
II
82.
SSIONS.j
300
"
furious multitude dragged him from the temple, that it might not
be polluted with blood, abused him, and would undoubtedly have killed
him, had not the tribune of the Roman garrison, which was stationed
The
from the enraged populace, and had him brought, bound with two chains,
to the castle.
How
Roman
of God
heathen
people
address in
Hebrew (22
stairs of the
castle delivered
an
1-21"),
the heathen by
the preaching of the gospel, to calm in some measure the excited multi
But when he came to his divine call to be the apostle of the
tude.
Gentiles, which
was communicated
to
him by a
tumult broke forth afresh, and the mob stormily demanded his execution.
The tribune, who at first took him for an insurgent, was about to hav
him scourged, to make him confess his crime. But Paul knowing tlu
protection which the Roman law afforded him, declared, as he had done
thus
two
James
(21
days, for his journey to Jerusalem; the third day, for his interview with
18-25); the fourth (probably Pentecost), for the offering in the temple
with the Nazaritfs, and for the arrest (21 26-22 29) the fifth, for the hearing before
30-23 11) the sixth, at nine o clock in the evening, for the de
:
1-23).
seems
that
to
by
me
we
j)/j.epai
Luke means
32-35)
On
V.
and
see,
when he
tells
us
(1. c.
p. 110),
e clear to his readers from the connection, since he had shortly before (20
ticed Paul s intention of keeping this feast.
Latin
arrived
the inru
when Ananias
16) no
the pillars of the porch of the Israelites stood the warning in Greek ^nd
No foreigner (one not a Jew) may enter the sanctuary," (Jottph. De bluo Jttd.
"
5, 2).
According to Philo and Josephus, the Jews had, or at least claimed, the right
Jew, even a Roman, who profaned the temple by transgressing
310
83.
Roman
I 1 - B(
OK
und escap
citizen,
Paul
83.
San
He
thought
to defend himself in
first
This
Jewish war.
in the
to be smitten on
the
!"
and deserved
suitable
this reproof
may have
been,
it
nevertheless betrays
a passionate excitement, which ill compares with the calm dignity and
a
22, 23),
resignation of Jesus under a still greater provocation (Jno. 18
and was inconsistent with the respect due to the representative of the
:
evil of
"
conduct
present him
such a
in
in the light of
(Ex. 22
It
is
28).
Semproniae made
citizen.
it
v. 66:"0
nomen
dulce libertatis
f.
Roman
jus exi-
nostrae civitatis
O lex Porcia, legesque Semproniae Facinus est vinciri
civem Romanum, scelus verberari."
1
This contrast Jerome brings out, perhaps too strongly, in the beginning of his work
f
Ubi est ilia patientia salvatoris, qui quasi agnus ductus ad victiContra Pelag. Ill
mium
"
mam
non aperuit os suum, sed clementer loquitur verberanti si male locutus, argue de
But he adds by way of qualification
Non
malo, si autem bene, quid me caedis ?
:
"
riam superat
in
et fragilitatem."
All depends here upon the proper interpretation of the difficult words
/ wist
This can hardly be taken in a strict
not, that he was the high-priest" (23 : 5).
and literal sense, as Paul might have known the fact even from the seat, which
"
and his
Ananias
him.
held,
The
OVK
official dress,
r/6eiv has,
therefore,
Luke
calls
but ironically
him
:
"I
"
high-priest,"
v.
2,
without
any
qualification.
who shows
(2) Nestifbam,
MISSIONS. I
83.
31"!
Seeing that, while his enemies were so excited, a calm defense was
and in fact impossible, he took the course of that wisdom, which,
useless,
serves simply as a
it
is
ed with, and resting upon, the resurrection of Jesus, which last, in fact,
19) as the grand point of con
expressly designated by Festus (25
It
has
said
that
this
been
stratagem was a dishonest evasion
troversy.
is
The
him was, to be
the high-priest.
For him certainly no one can lawfully revile." This view, which is
adopted by commentators of different theological tendencies. Camerarius. Calvin. Stier,
Meyer, Baumgarten, and also by Baur (p. 207 \ would not require us to suppose Paul
to have been rash in his previous language.
The matter might be made to appear as
though, in v. 3, he spoke not in the ebullition of human passion, but under the guid
ance of the Holy Ghost (which was promised to the apostles, especially for such occa
Matt. 10 19, 20). telling the miserable Ananias the truth in the name of God,
and announcing the punishment, which afterwards actually came upon him. (So Stier
Reden der Ap. II. p. 321 sqq., and quite lately Baumgarten, Jlpostelgeschuhte II. 2.
p 185 sqq.) The expression, thou whited wall," is certainly no stronger, than the
sions,
epithets which our Lord himself applies to the Pharisees. Matt. 23. where, among
whited sepulchres," v. 27. The angelic mar
other comparisons, he likens them, to
"
Ye stiff-necked and untyr Stephen, too, said to the assembled Sanhedrim to the face
circumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers
But a great deal depends here also upon the tone and
(Acts 7 51).
did, so do ye
"
"
manner
which such reproof is administered, and it may be, that Paul suffered the
natural vehemence of his temper to rise too high for a moment, as was perhaps also
For if we free him from
the case in his collision with Peter and Barnabas at Antioch.
in
for those
Then
who imagine
again, in v. 5,
we
moment
consider;"
yet
it
seems
and
in this case is at
qua
in
"
bonum
So Dr. Baur,
1.
c.
invitat;
veritate."
p.
203
sqq.,
who
for this
th<*
312
83.
Bure, that of
and
all
Paul
is
But
thia
new
creation, through
view,
BOOK
[l-
whom
What
is
away
But what, in
Hence the
new
pre-eminently the
Manifestly the
principle of
life
was
intro
witnesses of the
this,
For if Christ be
groundless and unmeaning.
not raised, your faith is vain
ye are yet in your sins" (1 Cor. 15
11).
This very fact, however, justifies us in supposing, that Paul, who was
rection of believers
"
is
own
by
sought,
to the breach,
in
though
me
safety,
vain
as living
dream."
spirit,
"
evil in
angel
was
this
man"
(23
all.
to
At
last, this
We
9).
life
party
strife
ing sad proof of the frightful corruption of the whole nation which
it
represented), Lysias drew him away, and brought him back to the cas
tle of Antonia.
The next
fear,
that, as he
the capital of
Heathendom (23
11).
Acts as not veritable history, and explains it as having originated in the desire to con
teal the oppcsition of Paul to Judaism, to make him appear as Judaizing as possible.
PAUL IN CAKSAREA.
g 84.
WISSIONS/j
Harvest, of which he
at sea (27
313
"must,"
all
Paul
84.
and
Festus.
A. D. 58-60.
On the following day more than forty of the worst zealots, in concert
with the high-priest and the Sadducean party in the Sanhedrim, con
The Roman tribune, apprised of this in
spired against the life of Paul
time by a nephew of the apostle living in Jerusalem, sent him the same
night, under a strong military guard, which seemed necessary on account
of the conspiracy and the bands of robbers then continually thickening
in Palestine, to Caesarea to the procurator Felix, with a letter stating
This Felix is
the facts about the prisoner, and testifying his innocence.
and
Tacitus
as
a
worthless
character,
very
represented by Josephus
cruel, unjust, dissolute,
praetorium, built
might be
and
servile.
till
by Herod,
After
instituted.
He
his accusers
five
name
cate by the
speech (25
of Tertullus.
still
better,
But Paul,
in
his defense
fillment of the
sentence
till
was reluctant
to
for
;
meddle
Some days after this, Felix, with his Jewish wife, Drusilla, daughter
Herod Agrippa the elder (12 1), whom he had alienated from
of king
her former husband, Aziz, king of Emesa, by the aid of the magician
1
Comp. Winer
s Reallexik.
and Kitto
He
had banditti
in
his
service,
Sicarians
as
^ esuvius, A. D. 79.
son, Agrippa,
Josephus, Jlnlvju.
XX.
7, 2.
314
84.
PAUL IN CAESAEEA.
>OK
[I.
it
defiance
"Go
thy
convinced of Paul
way
when
I have a conve
He
was undoubtedly
(24
sq.).
to
but
receive
bribes
from him
innocence,
hoped
thee"
24
easily
have
been supplied with money by his Christian friends in Caesarea and else
where.
Of course he scorned any such means for his liberation, trust
ing that the Lord, according to his promise, would, in his
own
time,
and
in
unknown."
please the Jews, who, however, complained to the emperor Nero of his
oppression, he left Paul a prisoner in the hands of his successor, M.
Porcius Festus,
61.
who
entered on his
office
in
Josephus, Jlntiqu.
XX.
7, 1.
ment
hand
it
two
while
it
uses
its
Divine grace,
sanctification."
is
It is true,
by combining circumstances.
it
we
two
First, as to Felix
the year 62, since his brother. Pallas (a favorite of Nero s), whose mediation cleared
him of the charges of the Jews (Joseph. Jlntiqu XX. 8, 9 sq.), and the prefect, Burrus,
who was
year 62,
still
(Tac.
impeachment (XX.
XIV. 51
sqq.
XIV.
LX.
Dio,
65.
13).
(at
all
8, 9),
were poisoned
in the
The
(comp. here the accurate calculations of Wieseler, Chronol. p. 66 sqq.)
who was procurator only one or two years, must fall in the year
for his successor, Albinus, had already entered upon his office al
60, or at latest 61
60
accession of Festus,
;
the time of the feast of tabernacles four years before the Jewish war, therefore, A.
MISSIONS.]
315
Festus, who, judging from the scanty records of his short administra
of the better governors, was
tion, was a lover of justice, at all events one
three days after his inauguration, by official and personal busi
1
brought,
God
the prosecutors failed to prove that Paul had offended either against
the law (rightly understood), or against the temple, or (and this was
the only charge properly cognizable by a Roman tribunal) against the
emperor. Festus, wishing on the one hand to please the Jews, but on
the other not to trespass upon the rights of Paul, of whose innocence
he was convinced, asked him, whether he was willing to be tried before
nal,
every
providence (25
ghalt thou go
12),
"Thou
Unto
Caesar
!"
a favorite
the young king, Herod Agrippa II.,
son and
had
been
educated
he
court
whose
at
of the emperor Claudius,
in Acts
mentioned
of
the
the
heir of his namesake,
Christians,
persecutor
this,
12
house,
and
Titus,
and the
sister,
last
Bernice,
at this time,
was suspected,
king of his
in
and
formerly
also again
incestuous inter
and
paid a complimentary
visit
to the
new governor.
Since
62 (Joseph. De Bella Jud. VI. 5, 3) and the Jewish ambassadors, who, by his leave
went to Rome with a dispute, must have arrived there (as Wieseler has supported,
the common opinion, p. 93 sqq.) before the marriage of Poppaea with Neio,
;
against
Consequently Felix
which, according to Tacitus, took place in May of the year 02.
and Festus changed places in 60 or 61, mre probably 60, as the most eminent modem
and Wieseler, suppose. Now as Paul had
chronologists, Wurm. Winer, Anger,
when Festus arrived (Acts 24 : 27), his
Caesarea
in
a
been
two
captive
years
already
trrest must have taken place in the year 58.
1
him Josephus, Antiqu. XX. 8, 9 sq., and
see
Besides Acts 25 and
26,
De
1.
respecting
316
84.
PAUL IN CAESAREA.
BOOK
1-
Agrippa was a Jew and the overseer of the temple, Festus laid before
him the case of Paul, to learn his opinion respecting this religious que
tion and the resurrection of "one Jesus, which was dead" (25
19),
:
was
his father,
prison,
next day ordered Paul into his audience-room, where Agrippa and Bernice
had come with great pomp, attended by the principal officers of the five
cohorts stationed in Ca3sarea, and by the most distinguished military
and civil personages of the city, to gratify their curiosity.
shall
Gentiles."
On
my
"Ye
God.
He
had,
therefore,
not arbitrarily
32),
what Paul
said, especially
governor,
"much
learning
(much reading
in the
Jewish Scriptures, to
which Paul had just referred, v. 22 and 23) doth make thee mad." The
apostle, to whom the madness seemed to lie rather in his former rage
against the Christians (v. 11), could answer, in the calm consciousness
"
am
of victory
soberness."
whole assembly, he put to the king s heart and conscience the question
Believest thou not me, not the appearance in Damascus, but, first of
the prophets ?
all simply
I know that thou believest."
Agrippa
:
"
"eplied,
momentary
conviction, or in ironical
To him
*
to rid
himself of the impression of the discourse, and to repel the impulse of grace.
MISSIONS. I
PAUL IN
85.
317
ROiTE.
inward compunction
Thou
to be a Christian."
Then Paal uttered
"
his
"
would to God,
that, sooner or later, not only thou, but also all that hear me this day
How infinitely
were such as I am, except these bonds" (26
29).
(
world
in the chains of
gold
85.
also
Agrippa
Paul
was forced
now
But,
apostle.
God above
his judges,
bound
to the
Rome.
in
A. D. 61-63.
to
He
Rome.
first
11
panions,
Luke
of Thessalonica.
witness,
Crete, the great day of fasting and atonement, which fell on the tenth
of Tisri, towards the end of September, was already past (27
9)
:
The words
little
Wuyov.
With
(2)
(26:28)
are
little,
with so
naf>
(Mey., Olsh.)
29),
cv oA/yp
we
TO/.?.<L
h>
(v
^e}-/u.
viz,
(1)
whether
it
Scotch
who
has subjected the narrative of this voyage to a very thorough scrutiny in his original
and valuable work: The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paid, London, 1848, concludes,
evangelist
own
to put to
shame the
must go
its
modern opponents
318
PAUL IN KOME.
85.
fl.
BOOS
through his prayers and good counsel, was the means of saving
the whole company (27
21-26, 31 sqq.). For the sake of one right
eous man, two hundred and seventy-five souls were preserved.
So was
apostle,
the
Lord once ready to spare Sodom for the sake of a small remnant
The children of God are poor, and powerless, and yet
32).
(Gen. 18
by
This shipwreck
is
the radiant
3-10),
11), to
Syracuse
in Sicily,
opposite Messina
journeyed by land to Rome, where he may have arrived about the end
March of the year 61, or at latest 62. Some brethren of the Roman
church had come more than a day s journey (forty-three Roman miles),
to the village of Forum Appii, on the Appian Way, and others at least
of
Roman
miles), to
meet the
thus giving him a token of their respect and love, which must
have afforded him great encouragement and joy.
apostle
Thus, therefore, were fulfilled his ardent desire and the assurance of
2
the Lord, that he should yet testify of Christ in the capital of the
Acts 19
Acts 23
21.
11.
Comp. Rom.
27
10 sqq., 15
3
24.
23 sqq.
Acts 27
3, 43, 44.
28
14, 15.
Frrm
the
fact, that in 28
and
the!"fore
in the spring 01 61 (comp. Anger, Temp. rat. p. 100, and Wieseler, Chro
"
PAUL IN KOME.
85.
MISSIONS.]
319
hLnself,
were
called, in
was obliged to lay before the emperor the charge against the prisoner
and the whole state of the case, all went only in Paul s favor and
;
his confine
ment must have been a very easy one. This is confirmed by Luke s
16 sqq. The apostle was, indeed, continually watched
description, 28
by a soldier, a pratorian, and bound with a long chain on his left arm
but he was allowed to rent a private dwelling, receive
(v. 16, 17, 20)
:
visits,
and write
kingdom
till all
of
letters or orally
much they
certainly
knew
which shut up
himself.
It
is
all
also possible,
that these
Roman Jews
of quality
gave
S3 and 87 sqq.).
It is certainly possible, but not so natural, to understand the
"The
singular, with Meyer and De Wette, thus
prtrfectus prcrtorio concerned, the one
to whom transfer was made."
That the commanders of the imperial body-guard, the
wo/, pp.
highest military officers of the city, were charged with the safe-keeping of accused
persons sent from the provinces to the emperor, and that Luke, therefore, here tells
Vinctus
historical truth, is evident from Pliny, Epp. X. 65, where Trajaji writes:
mitti ad pn-fectos praetorii
1
mei
Comp. Joseph.
debet."
Jlntiqu-
XVIII.
6. 7.
lat
;"
comp. Sen., De
tranquil!.
10
"
XVIII.
Eadem
6,
6 and 7.
Uque sunt etiam, qui alligaverunt, nisi tu forte leviorem in sinistra catenam
putas."
320
PAUL IN ROME.
85.
IX BOOK.
themselves but
little
a.*ter
com
had
already for twenty years been hated and persecuted by the Jews in
and the Christian community in
Palestine, Asia Minor, and Greece
;
Rome,
attract attention.
first
We
fail in
sustaining their
among them
some believed
When
fully,
In
his
9,
13, 14)
7,
that,
As
his
from the apostle, so that the word of the cross became known to the
12 whole imperial guard (the prcctorium, the castra prtetoi-ia, Phil. 1
:
14).
cheerfulness, with which he sacrificed everything for his cause,
wrought
In
Rome
also, it is
who preached
must have
true, there
was no
motives, from envy and the spirit of contention, and sought to under
mine Paul
He
15,
reputation and to embitter his condition (Phil. 1
complains, that only three of the Jewish Christians, Aristarchus,
s
10, 11).
1G^>
But
and truths
even
by
whether
of Christianity,
his
What
then
rejoice, yea,
His
enemies.
"
and
activity
will
rejoice"
was not
(Phil. 1
errors,
notwithstanding,
is
preached
were spread
every
way,
and I therein do
18).
Roman
church.
He
and fellow-laborers,
had around him, at least
Luke, Aristarchus, Timothy, Mark, Tychicus, Epaphras, Demas, and
at times, most of
his friends
MISSIONS.
EPISTLES
86.
up intercourse with
321
churches
all his
86.
The,
Imprisonment at Rome, to
A. D. 61-63.
the
tft
Timothy
dangers of the church, and especially with the development of the doc
trine of the person of Christ, forming the transition to the writings of
John.
he himself
to
Timothy
is
expressly
is
it
was.
conceded by
modern
all
named (compare
also the
critics,
since in
Roman
c.
17
Rome
a salutation,
Col.
Such as Eph. 3
22,
Phil. 2
10-15.
c.
1,
Phil.
4:1.
20.
Col.
v. 23. 24.
1
24, 29.
7,
Philem.
19, 25.
13.
6 sqq., 16 sqq.
*
With the exception of Bottger in his Beitrdgen zur histor. kritischen Einleitung in
die paulinischen Briefe.
Goltingen, 1837, Part 2, where he propounds and ingeniously
:
defends the singular view, that Paul was confined in Rome but five days at most, and
there.
Against this comp.
spent the remainder of the two years in perfect freedom
the remarks of Neander.
I.
p.
49S
sq.,
Thiersch
also (dpost. Kirch, p. 151) places the composition of the second epistle to Timothy in
at Caesarea in the year 58, and in its beginning and close sees evident
the
imprisoment
before (2
Tim.
4,
easily explained if he
death, with
distinctly
were
in
Rome.
But against
it
is
hoped
21
322
86.
What Paul
says in
[i
c.
7,
BOOK
12-18, of the
tell
imprisonment
with what the Acts
us of his situation in
Rome,
Yet
"Wiggers,
more
how
easily conceive,
the
many
in
rendezvous, than
in
the
Finally,
journey
most
but not
in his
in Csesarea
As
first
quiet,
25).
sent
Rome and
for here
mind,
we
s two years of
the epistle to the Philippians,
3
and the second to Timothy, last.
In favor of this is
Acts 28
somewhat
30, 31
later
(A.D. 61
63)
the gradual change, which these letters exhibit, in the condition of the
According to Eph. 6 19, 20. Col. 4 3,
apostle in his confinement.
:
ing in that city (v. 22), since the circumstances of the church in Asia
Minor made his presence desirable, and seem to have caused a change
in his
These
Acts respecting a
trial.
he
.:
entertained the hope of being soon set free and revisiting the Philip
but the prospects were no longer so
2
25, 26.
24)
pians (1
still
5
*
Eph. 6
Acts 19
19.
Col. 4
21.
20
So Marcion
(as
Paul,
which he
Comp. Acts 28 30 sq
Comp. Rom. 1 13. 15 23 sqq
A.D. 150) in his canon, which is
3, 4.
25.
early as
order
chronologically, and,
first,
cor
Galatians,
Corinthians,
Romans
to the
Ephesians (comp.
p.
455).
KISSIOXS.
323
favorable,
possibility of speedy
martyrdom.
Timothy shows, that he had already made
was bound aa
defence before the emperor (4
16, 17)
a malefactor
saw
his course
execution
his
fought (4
6-8, 18).
and
The
25 (comp. however, 4
to
epistle
The
1.
to the
epistle
9,
16
10,
15).
Colossians
7, 8
helper of Paul (Col. 4
also the epistle to the Ephesians (Eph. 6
21). From this circumstance
and the striking similarity in the matter of the two letters, we should
:
The one
to the
is
We
sians. p. lix.),
since
it
&c.
p.
432).
to
whom
just written
"
may know my
there
made
the Ephesians think of the Colossians, unless they had the epistle
is
have
to that
we have
it.
for
elsewhere
On
write
it
immediately.
(6)
To
not arrive in
Rome
till
it is
to Col.
(a)
is
to this
the omission of
identical
]6,
on the presumption,
with that
to the
Ephe
by anticipation, as he intended
Timothy
inserted in Col.
name
1:1;
Ephesians
mentioned
disciples,
cus."
his
21, a decisive
written
whom
by
have no decisive external marks of the priority of one or the other of these
Harless, indeed (in the Introduction to his thorough Commentary on Ephe
epistles.
Eph. 6
himself, but
to
in the superscription
But
this omission is
for
Timothy
left
Rome
tt,e
composition
324
86.
L1-
6-8. 4
which Epaphras had brought him (1
12, 13). The
church of Asia Minor was threatened with new danger from the adul:
suspicious,
erful
in the
it
But
now
itself
towards Gnosticism.
Many educated
They declared
speculation.
in
no direct connection
inclined to enthusiasm
and extravagance.
In the
ticularly
2) they appear as ascetic theosophists, who lost themselves
in the cloudy regions of the spiritual world
worshipped angels at the
c.
and
Christ
is
by whom
as the
from
this perishable
true perfection.
gence, and
2.
The
Then
world
outward sta
follow practical
exhortations, items of
intelli
salutations.
epistle to the
its
See above,
$ 51.
86.
MISSIONS.]
325
neither for himself nor for his companions, but rather concludes in the
Minor, particularly to the Gentile Christians there, but at the same time
to the neighboring churches also, which had sprung from it, and with
which Paul, especially after having been three or four years absent from
8
In favor of this are
them, could personally be but partially acquainted.
also the facts, that the
words of address
iv
E^eau (1
1), in the
impor
tant codex Vaticanus (B), are found only on the margin, and, in Tischen4
dorf s opinion, were put there by a second hand in smaller characters ;
that in
cod. 67,
and
nally,
we know,
Laodicenos (npog
We
Aaodi/ceaf).
Eph.
3:11.
*
Comp.
2-4.
27.
1 :
11 sqq., 19 sqq.
sqq.
17, 22.
So Beza
Ephesum,
15.
Phil.
"
epistle to the
Ephesians
material modifications,
and others.
*
In the
Adv. Eunom.
*
T
1
Ad
"
Studien und
Ephes.
According
Kritiken,"
1.
to Tertullian
The phrase
II, 19.
iTriaTohr)
rj
17.
16,
may mean,
where
the letter
was
The
according to the
K dt.scribes
whence
it
Lao-
was
to
be brought. Harless, De Wette, and others, understand by it, indeed, an epistle, now
But in this case we should rather expec*
.jst, intended expressly for the Laodiceans.
326
86.
last
church
BOOK.
[*
ii
fact,
the serie?
of epistles in the Apocalypse begins with Ephesus, and closes with the
lukewarm Laodicea,
The contents of the
as those of the
epistle to the
the idea of the church being more fully developed in the closest connec
and work of the Redeemer. The main doctrinal
thought of
this circular
ciple of her
is,
tical
spiritual temple,
its
corner-stone,
and
iu
which Gentiles and Jews are joined together in a fellowship of peace and
love before unknown. Hence, in the hortatory portion, the apostle urges
especially the preservation of unity
of
(4:1
sqq.),
and of the
to his church
22 sqq).
through
apostle
it
incipient errors
ticism,
and marks
number
rijv Trpdf
AaodtKelf.
It is
dangerous
foe.
this
and there
letters
is
Latterly Wjeseler (Commentat. de epist. Laodicena. quam vulgo perditam putant- 1844,
p. 450 sqq.) advocates the view, that the epistle to the Laodiceans is iden
and Chronol.
tical
with that
to
Philemon.
But against
it
do merely with a private matter, and that Philemon arid Archippus lived not in Lao17 and 9).
dicea, as Wieseler tries to show, but in Colosse (Col. 4
:
makes
7ro/U>7roi/a/lof
this
supposed to testify
views of
th*
With
this he
joins
Holy Ghost
and Christian prophecy (3:5. 4:11), respecting the different stages and the holiness
of the church (4
5:3 sqq.), and respecting marriage (5 31), were firsl
13, 14.
:
brought into
vogue by Montanism
So also Schwegler
Das
nachapoit. Zeitalter, II
86.
MISSIONS.]
EPISTLE TO PHILEMON.
321
Not that
needed
verbosity,"
"
Rerum
umquam
some modern
&c.
"
critics
humana
lingua
The
!"
first
being as
it
The short
3.
quam
habuit
alia
God
in
is
recommendation of
theft), but
now
The
his slave
is
"
gem
of Christian
his
imprisonment, and
(Col.
4:9).
an invaluable contribu
for a
4.
not
p.
poor
warm
heart
Some time
till
330
slave,
sqq.,
and
p.
But are
370 sqq.
riot
it be thought possible, that the same church, which fought against Gnosticism as its
deadly enemy, should universally recognize such a Gnostic production as apostolic and
It is a fundamental mistake in Biur s construction of history, that it rnakea
canonical ?
the
fact,
mother of
light
is
its
best weapons.
its
view of
The same
reasoning,
by which
epistle to the
328
A.D.
HYPOTHESIS OF A SECOND
87.
1
63,
trial
0-
by Paul
terms
of
on
stood
which
he
and
with
one
peculiar
soil,
friendship (comp. 1
3-11). It was sent by Epaphroditus, who had
10, 18.
brought the apostle a present of money from the Philippians (4
epistle to the church at P/iilippi, the first congregation planted
on European
For
this
Paul returned
his
thanks (4
who would
substitute their
own
righteousness of works
of personal matters ; it
feelings of the moment
It
is full
The Hypothesis of a
87.
Paul
second Imprisonment of
Pastoral Epistles.
in
Rome.
Tht
The book
Christ,
"with
Hug
among
infers
from Phil. 2
14, that
Luke was no
longer
with the apostle when the epistle to the Philippians was written. Yet he may very
well be included in the salutation, c. 4 21. At all events we find him again with
:
Paul in 2 Tina. 4
a
10.
Phil. 1
7,
many commentators,
to a defence before
of the apostle in defending the gospel, not so much against the civil power of the he*
f eachers
from amongst the Jews (comp. v. 16 and 17).
then, as against the fal
MISSIONS.]
(comp.
ing of Christianity in
Rome,
11,
Paul
With
comp. 19
21.
27
joyful preach
known
32?
this the
24) was
world, and
promise giveu
and the
fulfilled,
But here
whether
martyrdom
at
Rome
under Xero.
But
the year 63 or 64
Beveral
more missionary
For
year 64.
in
his liberation
must be dated at
all
this
in
Rome,
and, in consequence of
be spared.
On
first
and second
this point
imprisonments
are themselves divided.
Xeander then,
Eusebius, during the second imprisonment in Rome.
with his usual circumspection and judgment, constructs from the his
torical hints in the Pastoral Epistles the following picture of that part
of Paul
life,
After his
lib
eration, Paul first carried out the purpose, expressed in the epistles tc
Philemon and the Philippians, of making a tour of visitation to Asia
left
Timothy
in
all
This difference, however, is one of merely scientific interest, and does not touch at
the doctrines of faitn and morality.
Among the advocates of a second imprisoment
of Paul in
Rome
are to be
named
Pearson.
its
jipost. Gesck.
I.
p.
5^1-551.
p 538 sqq.
330
HYPOTHESIS OF A SECOND
87.
UOOR
Epirus) and Asia Minor, took leave of Timothy, and now ful
former resolution to preach the gospel in Spain
was here
arrested a second time, and taken to Rome, where he wrote the second
media
in
his
filled
epistle to
But we must
of Acts, tho
apostle did not usually merely fly through the countries he visited, but
settled in the larger cities for a considerable time.
We
propose
now
Paul
trial
expectations
the second epistle to Timothy
(6) the statements of patristic tradition.
Paul was properly innocent. He had com
1. As to the first point
;
it
gave
itself
in his favor
and to
it
who had
learned on the
voyage to esteem and love him, and who owed him the preservation of
his own life, might have added his recommendation, founded on personal
knowledge.
But, on the other hand,
tainly left
it
was married
Jews.
to
Then
Nero
again,
in the
Rome
itself
had
led
many
The persecution
p.
Josephus, jtrchad.
XX.
apostolici
Minor
8, II,
and his
Vita, f 3.
making Paul
gesti, in bii
to
have gon
MISSIONS. 1
331
Nero should
that
ia
very improbable, since even from the year 60, and especially from the
death of Burrus in 62, he had begun to rule with the most arbitrary
self-will and horrible cruelty.
Granting, moreover, that Paul was actu
The
2.
silence of the
book
summer
of
Acts
outbreak of
life
and
the emperor and respecting the apostle s end has been variously ex
from the acquaintance of Theophilus with the facts or from
plained
;
or from con
an intention on the part of Luke to continue the history
lest
the
mention
of
the
Xeronian
of
siderations
prudence,
persecution of
all
cause
excitement
but
these
should
the Christians
explanations can
;
easily be
shown
to be unsatisfactory.
in
that the outbreak of the persecution hindered the author from continuing
But
work.
his
if
the
till
Rome
labor (19
Phil. 2
21.
23
11.
27
24.
and
24),
last
Comp. 20
25, 38).
3.
Paul himself,
in his epistle to
Philemon,
v.
22,
and
in Philippians,
24, expresses the hope of being set free, and on this builds
his plan of a tour of visitation to his churches in Greece and Asia
1
25.
We
are not at
all
and renew
in the
kingdom of God.
foreknowledge of their
own
future.
We
find,
332
HYPOTHESIS OF A SECOND
87.
[l-
BOO*
Paul
stances.
(Rom. 15
own mind,
his
also,
When
Rome, especially after his regular trial had begun
writing the second epistle to Timothy, which several even of the advo
cates of a second imprisonment suppose to have been written before his
situation in
liberation, he
was
still
(2:8) was
forsaken by
many
of his brethren,
10.
even by his fellow-laborer, Demas, through fear of death (4
1), and was expecting nothing but a martyr s crown (4 6-8).
16
4.
Rome
much
seems at
genuineness of which some modern critics, Baur and De Wette, after the
As to the first epistle to
Gnostic Marcion, have in vain impugned.
Paul
is
him
in
in
later time.
5."
The
Then
Crete (Tit.
whom
whom
he had
left
behind
1:5),
affairs, especially as to
so didactic, so
to the Galatians
tory,
1
abrupt
in their transitions,
Com p.
above,
Luke,
it
is
81.
true, notices
visit
of Paul
at
<;
Fair
near the city of Lasea (probably the same as the Lisia of the Peutingerian
Table), on his way to Rome (Acts 27 8). But this stoppage there cannot possibly
be meant in Tit. 1 5.
Furthermore, this chronological difficulty seems to me an
Havens,"
evidence for the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles; for a later forger would cer
have involved them in relations which car not beat all shown from thf
tainly not
MISSIONS.]
333
tone, as though the writer longed to escape from the heat of the day
and the theatre of strife into a land of quiet.
But
these considerations
all
epistles,
very fact, that the ancient church almost unanimously, and even manv
advocates of the hypothesis in question, take the first epistle to Timothj
and the
epistle
Rome.
in
it,
we should
And
closer
The
(a)
Crete
in
is
plete history,
years
77), his
(see above,
work
second
his
17),
(Rom. 15
in Illyria
to
visit
19), and
three
Corinth
many
of his
Ephesus,
Rom. 15
19 (comp.
v.
and
since,
according to
had finished
lay directly
dence
in
Ephesus (Acts 19
also placed
Acts, but
7,
made
certain
by
10,
visit
comp. 20
31),"
in
which we have
to
Cor. 12
13
13, 14.
These two
1.
journeys agree very well with one another, and with the intended win
ter s residence at Nicopolis (Tit. 3
1
From
the
fact,
Luke
that
nothing of a salutation
by
in his detailed
is
(c.
27
7 sqq.) says
somewhat hasty
in con
which
is
called
"
to Crete
to
Ephesus.
visit to
Corinth (2 Cor. 13
1),
HYPOTHESIS OF A SECOKD
87.
33-i
[l.
BOOK
very flourishing
city.
first epistle
which was written from Ephesus about this time, in the spring of 57
77), we know, that Paul hoped to spend the ensuing winter in
(see
Achaia, to which province, as just observed, Nicopolis in Epirus be
2
This purpose, according to Acts 20
longed.
2, 3, he carried out, and
:
on
his
touched at Nicopolis.
to
soon after
in 58, that
Romans, written
Illyria,
which joins
whereas, in
the circumstances
all
fit
admirably toge
first and
tain
is
The presence
(b)
of church
and
officers
Acts 16
1 sq.,
teachers at so early a
false
day
in
1
is
As
per Illyricam
2
1 Cor. 16
3
We
oram,"
II.
"
Apud
Jlchajae Nicopolim,
quo venerat
3 sqq., 6.
53
etc.
:
investigation of
Wieseler, as
we have
firs?
apostle
4
Timothy
in the
residence at Ephesus,
Even
Timothy,
it
is
true, against
A.D.
57.
which
is at all
"youthful
lusts"
(2
Tim. 2
22)
first,
Paul warns
by which
we
musl
especially unbecoming.
*
Acts 6
3 sqq.
11
30.
15
2,46.
faults
are in
him
MISSIONS.]
Paul.
335
toral Epistles
4
Why should not the germs of it have been visible some
imprisonment.
few years before in the leading church of Asia, that centre of Jewish
and Heathen magic and false philosophy? (Comp. Acts 19
13-19)
:
Paul himself,
in
A.D.
epistles,
"
the
(2 Thess. 2
We
work."
may, indeed, adduce against this Paul s valedictory at
Miletus (Acts 20
29, 30), where he warns the elders against false
who
shoukl
teachers,
appear oftf.r Ids departure. But, strictly under
he
is
there
stood,
speaking of the approaching intrusion of errorists
:
among
we should
infer,
does not
know
that in
And who
raise their
re-appear after his departure with new and more dangerous weapons.
Add to this, that the evil is represented in the first epistle to Timothy,
i
2:17
till
sqq.
hereafter,
"in
1 sqq.), as
the last
we
epistles in question
their genuineness,
church
who
times."
the
of
affairs
Acts 14
23.
Thess. 5
12.
Cor. 16
1">
sq.
Rom.
16
in
:
1,
hand
is
the
where even a
Mosheim
1
According to Dr. Baur, indeed, the false teachers of the Pastoral Epistles were the
But this view rests on a forced inter
anti-Jewish Marcionites of the second century.
pretation.
Neander
in this epistle
the
(I.
first
What is said of
p 538. note) justly remarks
no suspicion in my mind.
:
am
find
The germs
in
this, as in
false teachers
The
allusions
two
epistles to
Timothy,
Judaism."
of tha
-iut
of
336
87.
BOOK
|_I.
in
some apparent hints of Paul s having lately been in Asia Minor and
Corinth, and of his having taken a route varying from that of Acts 21
;
prisonment Acts 28
30
sq.
more accurate
we
im
now proceed
shall
in the first
The
to show.
1
Timothy to bring with him the portmanteau,
But this may
books, and parchments, he had left at Troas (4
13).
very well be referred to the visit of Paul in Troas mentioned in Acts
20
made necessary by
his travelling to
had passed since this time. But there is nothing to hinder us from supposing, either that he had hitherto had no
good opportunity to send for the books, or had purposely left them there
niable, that several years
had not
till
And
to Timothy,
epistle
he was expecting
soon to suffer martyrdom, there is certainly room for the opinion, that
he sent for these documents at that time simply because they were im
It is also possible,
portant in his trial, as evidence of his innocence.
in
the
however, that they were of use to Luke
composition of his Gos
pel and the book of Acts.
(6)
Trophimus at Miletum
"left
sick,"
and thai
is
in
Acts simply
states,
his
if
his
dK&iTrov,
which
read
1
commonly taken
may
2 Tim.
<&e/l6v77f
15, 18.
may mean
as the
first
Trophimus they
is befit,
is
(i.
e.
his
cloak,"
or
12
is
portmanteau,"
15.
"
"
case,"
portfolio."
The
lattei
at Miletura sick.
left
16)
g 87.
MfSSIONS.J
statement
Should
not
this
satisfy,
337
we may
refer the
(&<
he came,
(Acts 27
true, only to
it is
in Lycia,
Myra
cities of
intended here to
2).
tell
Rome
to
It
(Acts 21
to
him
for
him
in disproving the
charge of
his
human
(ngurij
which
his
friends forsook
By
this several
"
tiles
me
that by
all
the
Gen
among other
is
pretation
is
here telling
now
answer
place the
"
first
"
So
Hug
in his
EM.
$ 13), to
z.
N. T.
II.
418
So Wieseler,
would be
in the
p.
466 sqq.
The
where he
zeal
common
simplest
way
of
all
to
ged
rid of this
15).
But
imprisonment
to this there
22
in
seem
difficulty
time of Paul
(Acts 20
sq.,
to us to be too
many
objections.
338
87.
BOOK.
[l-
we
Rome
ed
even
in c. 3
in the apostle s
As
imprisonment of Paul in
Rome
so,
He had
its
general tenor
is
was
eecond captivity were precisely the same, and that, even after the Neronian persecution, he was allowed intercourse and correspondence with
friends and a second defense (to which K^UTT], 2 Tim. 4
16, properly
:
is
points),
For
many advocates
reason
this
of
For
1
first
32,
2
3
is
would
singular
accuser.
teuv
earlier part of
Wieseler,
still
where by wild
Comp. Col. 4
Comp. Eph. 4
Roman law
p.
term
also the
Compare
argument
for this
14.
where
Cor. 15
Philem. 24.
21.
view
is,
that
apostle
be explained by Timothy
Timothy was
(Hug
1),
not yet in
Philemon
s Einleit. II. p.
10,
6,
#7?9to//u77<Ta,
Col. 4 21.
* In this
Petavius, Lightfoot, Schrader, Matthias. &c., agree with them.
we
it.
all
The
imprisonment
named
Rome
(v. 1),
whereas
and Philippians (2
Rome
The only
But
wri
at the
:
19),
this is rather to
epistle (comp-
possible to Philippi
whence the apostle afterwards called him back. Mark he had already sent into the
same region, to Colosse (Col. 4 10). The salutation, which he gives Timothy from
several Christians in Rome (2 Tim. 4 21), likewise makes it probable, that Timothy
had already been in Rome. Hug s conclusion is opposed by the far more certain con
clusion from the absence of Aristarchus (2 Tim. 4:11); for Aristarchus had come
:
with Paul
to
Rome
(Acts 27
2), is
named
in Col. 4
the
two
last
mentioned
epistlet
tie s
7, 8,
go
87.
MISSIONS.]
10,
16),
the
advanced
speedy martyrdom (4
14),
comp. with Col. 4
to Timothy was written last, and
two
considerably worse as to
its
10,
since
9,
338
still
probable
book of Acts
issue.
The
had become
tion of
Rome
difficulties in
May
in
Rome,
or,
finement.
1
This forlorn condition of the apostle, by the way, is certainly somewhat mys
terious, when we consider, how many Roman friends he salutes in Rom. 16, whose
we
epistle to
increased
"ingens multitude"
by
of Christians
were put
to
should think, a very plausible argument for the opinion, that the second
s imprisonment in Caesarea
though for
"
We
should not
journeyings
is
fail
to observe, that, as
we have
in
it
is
very
fact,
340
Of
6.
87.
Rome and
BOOF.
[l.
Eusebius
tion, that
came to tht
taught the whole world righteousness
limit of the. West; and died a martyr under the rulers.
Had Clement
said in plain words, Paul was in Spain, the matter would soon be set
;
We
tled.
(Rom. 15
24, 28).
it,
^ap-rvpeiv in
authors),
Ai
As
T7/f
it)
is
disputed,
we
give the
l,i&a<r&dc.
Kr/pv^ y [evo^evof iv re
TTJ
6ea/j.<l
dvaTO%.fi Kal iv
Greek
(popeactf,
Tepfia TT/C
dvaeuf ih&tiv
The
ueyiorof vxoypapfiof.
KO.I
icai
slg
fiapTVpijaaf
original
[Trai]Sev-
OVTU<;
as
it
ftsif,
hardly i
public,
1
is
Hefele translates
uaprvpTJffag is
here
(sub prafectis,
tiri
n[al
TUV
kiropev-drj,
trri] T d
T)yov[j.Evuv,
vTrofiov^ yevofievos
of this anciently very notable epistle, the librarian, Patricius Junins, and cannot, there
In the codex Alexandrinus in th
fore, be confidently substituted for the original text.
British Museum, in which alone the epistle of Clement is still preserved, and from
which Junius committed it to the press for the first time A. D. 1633. at Oxford,
several characters have faded away, leaving chasms in the text, which can be filled
xxxv. sqq. ed
"
3)
Comp. 2 Tim.
and holds
it
this,
Hefele
Patrum
more
distinctly,
affairs of the
by Im TUV
ijjovp.. to desig?
at that
time entrusted
87.
MISSIONS.]
The
idea of death
a7r>7/Uuyi7
locum sanctum
abiit).
in
immediately after by
fact,
tiropeirdr)
341
mundo migravit
et
il
falls
and
its
"limit"
to be determined
is
meaning
limit,
Rome.
But
if
Paul
thians, to
And
whom
it
ade
itself,
the whole
world"
righteousness,
(elg
rcl
wepara
T%
o tKovfievjif)
So
it
is
Acts
said,
of
1
the
earth"
So Usher
(| wf iax^rov
rr/g
}%)
1
"
8 (comp. 13
47),
part
in
"
him
his
ofddere"
und
Kritiken."
that
Clement wrote
Schenkel, in the
"
Studien
also to
show,
eye
martyrdom, from the midst of the scenes of terror, himself beset with
and could thus have spoken of no other than the first imprisonment in Rome.
perils
This hypothesis, however, has a very precarious foundation. From c. 40 and 41,
witness of Paul
which seem to presuppose the temple and temple-worship as still existing in Jeru
salem, the most that can be inferred is, that the epistle was written before ths year
70.
Comp. Hefele Patrum Jlpostolie. Opera, prolegg. p. xxxvi. But there are
:
eentury.
which favor a
still
later date
fira
342
87.
Rome,
his narrative
closes
[l-
BOOK
of the
th<i
says,
Acts
But
is
reppa, in
altogether given up
has appealed to this passage in proof of Paul s having been in Spain
and that the preposition im, which first suggested the geographical
?
is
interpretation,
chasm here
in the original
After
Accordingly we translate the passage in question thus
in
the
East
and
in
a
herald
the
the
been
West, he
having
(of
gospel)
of
his
faith
obtained
the
noble
renown
the
whole
having taught
(Paul>
"
nal."
%wf
make him
guilty
the pre
s preaching.
the
from
Dionysius, bishop of Corinth (about A.D.
fragment
(&)
in
shall speak more particularly in the section
Euscbius
we
170),
(II, 25),
here pass it by, as it makes Peter
on Peter s residence in Rome.
Of
We
and Paul, indeed, joint founders of the Corinthian church (which is man
ifestly incorrect), and speaks of their simultaneous martyrdom, but not
of their going together from Corinth to Italy, as they certainly could
Had Neander s interpretation of Clement s rep^a been so natural for that day, one
could not but wonder, that Eusebius. who so unequivocally asserts a second imprison
ment of Paul, and was very well acquainted with the then almost canonical epistle of
Clement, did not
nite
1
"
It is
at
once appeal to
it,
mere
indefi
reported."
We remind
ir
<
l%eiv,
whc
nave power t
to hold the supreme government of Corinth &c.
Comp
power or jurisdiction of
the lexicons.
all
343
87.
MISSIONS.]
explicit
deed,
but
Spaniam
proficiscentis,"
the most
in
it is,
(c)
tion of 2 Tim. 4
it,
way
?.<jj-o
as erroneous even
by
And
this
now given up
is
it.
For
lie
made Paul
s first
with
imprisonment begin
put
therefore, he
less,
had assumed a
and
Un
would have
we must
Rome
say,
on
that the hypothesis of a second imprisonment
reliable
much
so
not
by
a very poor foundation, and has been suggested,
the one hand, to extend as far
historical tradition, as by the effort, on
of Paul in
rests
remove
to
labor, and, on the other,
difficulties,
the
however, which
may
Neronian Persecution.
A.D.
64.
but what
trial of the apostle we know nothing,
Respecting the formal
Roman
the
of
of the usages
may be gathered from a general knowledge
At all
and from some hints in the second epistle to Timothy.
tribunal,
1
Comp. the
details in Wieseler, p.
vndd
of
it
deny Paul
in Acts.
534
sq.
point, Wieseler, p.
536 sqq.
"omittit"
no
and for the reason, that Luke makes
journey to Spain,
344
88.
[l-
BOCK
28
For
Acts 24
19),
and
defense
nesses,
(<ino?ioyiai)
Then followed
Where
24
In his
22).
first
defense he
his
owu
made
Whether he came
16, 18, or
to a
whe
ther the persecution, which soon broke out, interrupted the course of the
law by violence, we do not know.
The second
epistle to
being, at
tyrdom.
and
all
For nearly
Master
with
thirty years
unexampled
fidelity
and
his
heavenly Lord
self-denial.
Innumerable
344
morial of his paternal love for his disciple, Timothy ; of his unwearied
care for the church and for the purity of saving doctrine ; of his exalted
and of his unshaken trust in the almighty and faith
tranquillity of soul ;
He
ful God, and in the final triumph of His gospel over all its foes.
could not have retired more worthily from the field of his warfare, than
have fought a good fight,
with those sublime words, 2 Tim. 4
7, 8
henceforth there ia
I have finished my course, I have kept the faith
:
"I
laid
up
judge,
me a crown
shall give me at
for
that day
and not
me
to
them
appearing."
first"
(XIV Kalend. Sextil.), A.D. 64, lasted six days and seven
the fourteen wards, into which Rome was then divided,
of
and,
nights,
The heathen authors unani
laid three entirely, and seven half, in ruins.
19th of July
mously attribute the incendiarism to Nero himself, who, for the first five
years of his reign (54-59), under the guidance of Seneca and Burrus,
was a model prince, but afterwards abandoned himself to such arbitrary
despotism and unnatural cruelty, that he must be counted one of the
On the
Roman
the
25
II,
lian
Baptist
Pufiri^
c.
(iirl TT)V
De
66ov
TTJV
rf/v
coronatur."
KKakfiv
5) says of Paul
ilariav).
praescript. haer.
exitu
s)
Ostian way, outside the city, near the present church of St. Paul.
So says
Hist. Eccl,
presbyter, Caius. at the end of the second century, in Eusebius
c.
36
"
Habes Romam.
Then Eusebius
H. E.
is
mentioned
ubi
25
II,
Havl.oe
nvv
6r/
Jerome (De
die,
by Tertul-
1.
first
CTT
script,
avrr/f
eccl.,
Tradition places the death of both apostles in the Neronian persecution, and some wit
while others,
nesses, as Jerome and Gelasius, put both martyrdoms on the same day
;
as Arator, Cedrenus, Augustine, separate them by an interval of one year or less. That
Paul suffered first, before the outbreak of the persecution properly so called, seems to
be indicated by the easier mode and the locality of his death. For in the persecution
and the scene of that
itself his Roman citizenship would hardly have been respected
;
persecution
was
not the Ostian way, but the Vatican across the Tiber,
Stadt
For
Rom.
II, 1. p.
in Claudius
13 sqq
Aniial-
XIV,
14,
and Bunsen
where Nero
Beschreibung
).
88.
[l-
from the tower of Maecenas with the magnificent sight of the fia.aes ]
his favorite theatrical dress, the destruction of Troy
and
hurried back to Rome only when the raging element approached his own
recited, in
To
palace.
for his
diabolical
and of
whom
ed heathens
not only the rude multitude, but even earnest and cultivat
as the example of Tacitus shows
were inclined to believe
shocking manner.
up
dogs
novae ac
Much more
accurate
"Afflict!
The
maleficae."
is
theatrical
hominum
superstitionis
XV.
c.
44.
38
He
holds the Christians, indeed, innocent of the incendiarism, but yet. in his ignorance of
"
we
The
odium").
passage, JLnnal.
XV.
44, in
many
inspects
"
Auctor nominis
Pentium Pilatum supplicio affectus erat; repressa^ue in praesuperstitio rursus erumpebat, non modo per Judaeam, onginem ejus
sens exitiabilis
mali, sed per
turque.
(This
atrocia aut
in
(what
Igitur
?),
readily
primo
cor.
deinde indicio
eorum multitudo ingens, haud perinde in crimine incendii quam odio human! generis
Et pereuntibus addita ludibria. ut ferarum tergis contecti laniatu canum
convicti sunt.
interirent, aut crucibus affixis, aut flammandi, atque ubi defecisset dies, in usum nooturni luminis urerentur.
pinned to posts,
circense ludicrum edebat, habitu aurigae permixtus plebi vel curriculo insistent.
IONS.J
341
which
is
the
in
vice,
whose triumph
is
the eternal
monument
quanquam advcrsus
non
J
The
report arose
would come
"
sontes et novissima
saevitiam unius
among
from
oriebitur,
tanquam
absumerentur."
was
his
Among
pluribus
vivere
or (according to
individuals,
that,
eum
fingentibus
credentibusque."
by the
"
proceeds
"mystery
of
iniquity,"
De
2 Thess. 2
7,
tuspicantur.
occisus; et
vivum
ven>
stinctus,
est haec
mart, persec.
in
against Bleek.
the Apocalypse
to
Nero.
This
is"
CHAKACTEK OF PITER.
89.
34:8
CHAPTEK
|i.
BOCK
IV.
89.
father
occupation.
tist, first
brought him
4
After that miraculous draught of fishes, from which he received
ai overwhelming impression of power and majesty of the Lord, and by
rhich he was awakened to a sense of his own weakness and sinfulnesa
men.
Luke
Christ, and became, with John and the elder James, a confidant of his
Master, and a witness of the transfiguration on Mt. Tabor and the
igony
in
Gethsemane.
prominent personage.
6
itself
"
he
is
apostles,"
With
Son
Messiah, the
1
1
4
ffi>
Matth 4
Jno.
18.
of the living
16
17.
Jno.
18 sqq.
21
42.
*
44.
Matth. 4
Mk. 1:16
all
God (Matth 16
sqq.
16).
Soon
He
is
the
after, with
16.
Matth. 8
Jno.
14.
Luke 4
3S
41 sq.
oi 1 Jteris
E/c/3tr
89.
tiasiONS.f
CHARACTER OF PETER.
348
unbecoming
rebuke
his
mount of
the
transfiguration he proposes,
"
"
?"
!"
How
stormy and inconsiderate his carnal zeal in the garden of Gethsemane, where, instead of meekly suffering, he draws the sword
(Jno.
!
18
man
And
hands of God,
by
all
this
bitter experience,
fall
;
fear of
But, in the
humbling
office,
of which he
had ren
?"
his thrice
repeated denial
his fellow-disciples.
Xow
Searcher of hearts
in this love the
element of his
life
sible,
known occurrence
1
at
Antioch.
is
shown by the
well-
to
worthy of remark, that in this passage, according to the original, the faith ol
And the Lord said,
the other apostles seems to be made dependent on that of Peter.
It is
"
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you (vf^uf, which includes all the
but I have prayed for thee (nepl cov, refer,
disciples) that he may sift you as wheat
ring to Peter\ that thy faith fail not; and when tkou art converted, strengthen *Aj
.
brethren
1
"
Com.
70 above.
350
90.
fl-
BOOK
walk
and
in the
path of
faithfulness
self-denial,
we
elsewhere find him fearlessly confessing his faith before the people,
before the council, and in the face of the greatest danger
steadfast, in
;
Lord under
love to the
martyrdom
new name.
ting
of his
and
toil
and
thus, after
most excrucia
all,
life
of
ardent,
impulsive,
these natural
tation
to vanity,
trust too
much
him
easily lead
might very
disposition
equal readiness
to
opposite
entirely
impressions.
denial of his Lord, in spite of his usual firmness and joy in confessing his
faith.
at once
leader,
and
tion, in
fitted
admirably
him
for the
work of beginning,
Church History.
What has now been said already indicates the place and significance
of this apostle in the history of the church.
His position was deter
mined by his natural qualifications, so far as they were inder the guid
ance of the Holy Ghost and enlisted for the truth
once,
what vas
in him,
Acts 3
John
1-4
42
22.
Mark
5
3
17-41.
16-
Rock."
12
title
3-17.
at
Aramaic language,
as translated
CHURCH HISTORY.
POSITION OF PETER IN
90.
MISSIONS.]
351
Master
fullness
eufficient
critical,
the absolute union of the divine and the human, and the
of
life,
sifting hour,
name
in
apostatizing,
all-
In a
Simon declared,
in
the
of
all his
"Thou
art the
Christ"
"
Messiah),
anxiously expected
the
Son of the
living
God
(Jno. 6
(i. e.,
On
G6-69).
first
we
own
neither by his
to
believe
living
God
"
him not by
ful confession
Son of the
Christ, the
Or,
"Lord,
"
and blood
flesh
by
his
"
"
"
uf hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of
the kingdom of heaven
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall
;
be bound
loosed in
monly
in
heaven
heaven"
(Matth. 16
significant play
18,
the Greek
We
19).
we cannot
what is still
word
feel
the
full
better, the
force of
Hebrew
Matth. 16
16
Comp. Mk. 8
29.
Luke
20.
Hence the old Syriac translation, the Peshito. renders the passage in question
thus: Anath chipha, vehall hada chipha.
The Arabic translation has tilsachra in both
jnaces
*
denotes a
Petrus. because
the
name
it
of a per
352
POSITION OF PETEK IN
89.
wholly
in the
lost, since
French
CHURCH HISTORY,
BOOK
[i-
Tu
the name,
"
Peter,"
v.
18,
is
For, in the
first
antithetic to
Simon
Bar-Jona," v.
17,
he had undertaken, with the best intentions, indeed, yet with the short
sightedness, fear of suffering, and presumption, of the natural man, to
dissuade his Master from submitting to the suffering of the cross, which
was indispensable for the salvation of the world.
and
refer
it
For
the beautiful, vivacious play upon words and the significance of the
Be
Petros."
ravTi), which evidently refers to the nearest antecedent,
"
sides,
is built,
words
"
Thou
art a
rock,"
&c.,
by
all
means to
rock, and
is
used both as a proper and a common noun. The most we can say is, that
second clause, more plainly includes Peter s confession also, as well as
Trerpa, in the
In figurative lan
The
corresponding words in the modern languages admit of the same twofold appli
cation.
1
Then we should
of the term.
But
in this passage
T<J
Christ
is,
and cannot, without violating all rules of sound taste, present himself in one breath
under two different images.
Besides, this interpretation would make the preceding
Thou art a rock," utterly unmeaning, and destroy the natural significancy of th
"
demonstrative particle,
"
this."
CHURCH HISTORY.
POSITION OF PETER IN
| 89.
MISSIONS.]
353
Saviour
is
of the
"I
which thou hast just confessed, to be the chief instrument in the found
and endow thce with all the powers of
ing of my indestructible church
its government, under me, the builder and supreme ruler of the same."
;
and
him
official
character of this
of course,
foretells to
foundation
called the
is
his
laid (1 Cor.
Hence,
in
Eph. 2
20,
it is
of the
(#f//t /.ioj>)
church, besides
"are
built
upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets (l-rrl TJ tiffieMu rtiv uxoarohuv
Koi irpo$riTw}, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone
and
;"
hence the twelve foundations (depfitot) of the New Jerusalem bear the
names of the twelve apostles, of the Lamb (Rev. 21
If now the
14).
:
"laborers
God"
(1 Cor. 3
9), the proper Builder
an altogether peculiar sense of Peter, their representative
together with
this is true in
and leader.
the first
The Acts of the Apostles, accordingly, testify to this
twelve chapters forming a continuous commentary on the prophecy of
18.
Christ, Matt. 16
If, even before the resurrection, Peter stands at
;
body
in
He
as successor of
he
is
in
is
the healing of
in
the lame
he,
more than
in
Judea and
Samaria, and fearlessly defended the cause of Christ before the council,
in the face of imprisonment and chains.
And, while thus standing at
the head of the Jewish mission, he also laid the foundation for the Gen
tile
mission,
to the apostolic
1
As appears from the lists of the apostles, in all of which Peter is mentioned
and from many other passages: Matt. 10 : 2 sqq.
14 28.
16
16-19.
17
:
18:21.
25.
22
31 sqq.
19:27.
Jno. 6
Mk.
68.
23
21
16 sqq.
15 sqq.,
8:29.
etc.
11:21.
Luke
14 sqq.
first
4, 24,
12:41
89.
00^:
t*
BOOK.
But
Peter,
cal
it is
we
to be
find
observed, in the
presumption
in this superiority.
first
place, that, in
the history of
tyranny or hierarchi*
the contrary, that apostle de
like spiritual
On
of
God,"
not in the
spirit of
itself,
at least
parts of
all
the same.
On
tian party.
tiles,
and
by the
later called
Paul (cornp.
1 Cor.
15
among
the
Gen
10).
of
Acts, which gives Peter so prominent a position in the first part of its
history, but loses sight of him altogether after c. 15, places Paul in a
relation to Peter, like that, so to speak, of the rising sun to the setting
At
moon.
all
first
For Paul does not derive his authority in any way whatever
Galatians.
from Peter, but directly from Jesus Christ, and was so far from consi
dering Peter his superior, that he boldly resisted him to the face at
Antioch and charged him openly with inconsistency. In the last stadium
of its development, after the death of Peter and Paul, John alone wag
the apostolic church, and by his genius to complete its
But who can for a moment entertain the idea, which ne
fitted to lead
organization.
flows from the
cessarily
ciple,
of
Roman
force of Peter
Rome, a Linus
his authority
over John
work of laying
to the
MISSION S.]
90.
356
As we have
down to
90
labovs
We
The Acts,
Scripture, and enter upon the uncertain ground of tradition.
after tho apostolic council (c. 15), make no further mention of this
and seem thus to intimate, that he again left Jerusalem in the
year 50, or soon after, and resigned this field of labor to James, who
thenceforth appears at the head of the mother church (comp. Acts 21
apostle,
18 sqq.).
It
is
strict
of the
rinthians,
in the
year 57,
it
in
but this
this be said of
irreconcilable
is
who
in
first
Acts 11
bishop of
:
19 sqq.
The work
Cor. 9
5.
Comp. Matt. 8
14.
Luke 4
35
where Peter
mother-in-law
mentioned.
4
Euseb.
rome
H. Eccl.
Script
eccl.
III.
$ub
and 3;
Petro.
iv<u
356
90.
BOOK.
[*
There
is
no
sufficient
tains
countries
Further
more, the second epistle of Peter, addressed to the same churches a,s the
first (2 Pet.
3:1), pre-supposes a personal acquaintance with the
readers (1
16). On the other hand, many modern scholars, taking the
:
literal
it
the
while
opinion, that Peter at one time labored in the Parthian empire
the ancients rather understood Rome to be here meant. The only certain
;
these
ourselves
in
With
our canon.
Rome.
The readers
1.
1), in
"
itself
know
of the letter
and, in fact, we
specially addressed to Gentile Christians
from the Acts and Paul s epistles, that the churches in Asia Minor
are
to the
Peter conceiving
all
unbelieving world
(2:9.
Comp. Jno.
52).
2.
to
life
corresponding to
IOIKSV, and
MI
1
1
Pet. 1
C.
1:4,
first
(5
12.
view
comp. 2 Pet. 3
14, 18.
9, 10.
2:1
3:6.
1-
3.
Comp. Heb.
11
15)
1.
5, 7, S, 13, 17.
and
357
MISSIONS.]
therefore, as
Paul and
his followers
s essential
the
particularly of
false use
who
were
of Peter,
as the
oldest
filled
first
:
In fact, the
those churches, was eminently qualified for such a mission.
letter itself, in its doctrinal contents and even its forms of expression,
bears a very close affinity to the epistles of Paul, particularly those to
the Ephesians and Colossians, which are addressed to people in the same
regions, are aimed, directly or indirectly, against similar errors, and thus
show the
these,
make
Peter
1
two apostles
in the
fundamental doc
trines of salvation.
characterized by a certain
is
4:3
3:5.
Eph. 2:20.
This
affinity
is,
makes
this
More
fire
;
altogether suiting
a blooming freshness ;
sqq.
letter
first
epistle of Peter-
In spite of
all
main
external
of taking it from the hitherto generally acknowledged and only reliable source, viz.
the Acts of the Apostles, which, especially in the 15th ch., place beyond doubt the
essential fellowship of Peter and Paul in doctrine, that noivuvia, of which Paul also
speaks in Gal. 2
9.
Then
again,
it
not in
s gifts lay
the line of developing doctrines and of authorship, but in the practical sphere of the
planting, training,
all,
To
vain for a
"
literary peculiarity
profound scholars,
lam
li
who
in
p.
we may
it,
Erasmus
plenam
Grotius says
;"
Wette,
who
looks
"
episto-
and Bengel
suavissime
De
"
retinens."
Mirabilis
Comp.
st gravitas et alacri-
Steiger s
Comment or
358
BOOR
91.
[I-
It
spirit.
is full
precious
the Saviour
brethren"
3.
As
When
"
injunction
(Luke 22
of joyful hope
and
a true fulfillment of
32).
we have
2 Cor. 1
19,
19- -17
Silas, in
Acts 15
22-40.
He
10, 14,
sprajg from the church of
and
had
been
with
Jerusalem,
Peter, but appears as a
long
acquainted
Paul
until
of
the
latter
made
his
fourth
companion
journey to Jerusalem,
16
18
15.
5.
We
Rome, and consequently could not then have written a letter from there.
With this agrees the fact, that Mark was in Peter s vicinity at the time
tins epistle
tation to
was written
come
to
for
Rome
(2 Tim. 4
the earliest, and the year 67, beyond which Peter certainly cannot have
The most
lived, the latest date for the composition of his first epistle.
time
is the year 64, shortly before the outbreak of the
probable
perse
cution under Nero.
passages as 2
13 sqq.
12.
nor even as
Jewish
Nero.
"evil-doers"
(KOKOITOIOI,
malefici,
name
"
Christians,"
which was
first
brought into
26) ;
vogue undoubtedly by the heathens, existed long before (Acts 11
and the passage of Tacitus, which is appealed to, implies, that the
:
Comp.
with 5
22
Pet.
;
5:5
1 sq.
with 5
MISSIONS.]
359
Christians, as such, were, even before the year 64, objects of the
and hatred,
bitter suspicion
most
fire.
Then again, isolated, tempo
arose
in
various
after
the death of Stephen
rary persecutions
places
and that the Neronian persecution extended to the provinces of Asia
Minor, is at least not told us by the pagan historians, though it is cer
;
tainly, in itself, very probable, that the example of the chief city opera
3
ted unfavorably to the Christians in the whole empire.
The expressior
1 Pet. 3
"evil-doers,"
16, has a parallel in 2 Tim. 2
9, where Paul
:
bound as a
is
"
state
latKotpyof.
criminals,"
so as to presuppose already
"religio
(such a
illicita"
decree,
but
is
"
second
epistle,
and
it
little
were
itself,
its
in
already
Ann. XV. 44
the epithet
"
malefica,"
appellabat."
Comp.
"superstitio
of the
Christians.
*
Cor. 11
Heb. 10
23 sqq.
32 sqq.
Cor. 4
sqq.
Thess.
6,
7.
14-16.
31
et
Pet. 3
Acts 19
sqq.
2 Thess.
Nam
4
15
9 sqq.
5.
23 sqq.
Phil.
28-3Q
It is first
rine
12, 17.
15.
19. 20.
He
says, Histor
VII. 7
860
92.
this tyrant,
[l.
BOOK
bitter hatred
this
is
differently interpreted,
of Peter
residence in
Rome,
and
is
of which
we
shall
speak at large
in
fol
lowing section.
92.
death of the apostle, the approach of which the Lord had revealed to
It contains an exhortation to grow in grace and in the
him (1
14).
knowledge of Jesus Christ, and to prepare for the last advent of the
:
Lord
faith
and the Apostle of the Gentiles, the first teacher and principal founder
but above all, an earnest warning against dangerous
of those churches
errorists, of whom some are viewed as already present, others as still to
;
come, and who strongly resemble those attacked by Paul in the Pastoral
While, thus, the first letter of Peter arms the Christians
Epistles.
chiefly against
was
to proceed from
world
Rome,
the second letter has mainly in view the dangers from within,
conflicts,
selves.
first epistle
of Peter
is
on the contrary, does not distinctly appear under its proper name until
8
and is enumerated by
it is mentioned by Origen in the third century,
Eusebius among the antilegom na, as to the genuineness of which the
church was then as yet divided. Besides this, there are internal marks
1
Even
He
the epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians contains seven quotations from it.
u
Euseb. H. E. VI. 25 :
Peter, on whom the church of Christ is built,
says, in
has left only one generally acknowledged epistle perhaps also a second foi
disputed (taru 61 Kal devrspav d^i/Jd/iAfrat yap)." The old Sy.riac version
Peshito, dos not contain the second epistle of Peter.
;
this
<he
92.
MISSIONS.]
fitted
tion
of
first
Paul."
361
all
in
men
the
which rnanj
it
appear,
deeply significant, as aimed against the old and new Gnostics and
free-thinkers, who made Paul s doctrine of liberty a cloak for licen
and wickedness
tiousness
in
Then
again, in the
part of the
to
on
been
draw
the
of
author
has
the
epistle
Jude, in a
third,
thought
manner unworthy of the prince of the apostles while some advocates
first
of the genuineness of the epistle, as, most recently, Guericke, see in this
an intentional coincidence, suited to Peter s purpose. But, on nearer
the
appears rather on the part of Jude
Peter being described for the most part propheti
In Jude 17, 18,
as yet to come, but in Jude, as already present.
false teachers in 2
cally,
Pet. 3
tions,
is
The very
3.
with which Jude came in contact, seems to have been the chief
occasion of Jude
s epistle.
The other
iii
view, the
and third chapters, are confessedly full of spirit and fire, and every
2
3
Moreover, Peter, in c. 1
14, 16 sqq.
way worthy of an apostle.
first
1,
either from
We
which absolutely compel us. We, therefore, hold the epistle in question
to be an apostolical production, which rightly has its place in the canon,
and contains exhortations most serious and important even for our day.
The
it
it
it
for
till
after his
Comp. Heydenreich s Verthcidigwis; der Aechthnt des zw. Briefs Petri, p. 97 sqq.
s Venuch zur Herstellung des histor. Standpunkts fur die Kritik der N.
and Thiersch
be genuine
first.
362
PETEE IN ROME.
93.
[l-
were
first
BOOK.
more
to
received
93. Peter in
It
is
Rome.
self-contradictory additions
in
support of
its
We
his death.
1.
most anciently
interpreted,
ther with
meaning
13
"
of
Babylon
is,
is)
my
Xeander, Steiger,
indeed, disputed.
Th
De Wette,
son."
Especially by the Dutch Theologian, Frederic Spanheim, who, in his famous Dis
traditionis
on
gine, 1679, first subjected the matter to a thorough investigation, and sought toestablisi
critical examination of witnesses the doubt, which had already been raised res
pecting Peter s residence in Rome by the Waldenses, and such declared enemies of trw
papacy as Marsilius of Padua, Michael of Caesena. Matthias Flacius, and Claudius
by a
Salmasius.
II
By
He
Zeitschrift,"
They
Rome
By
articles in
Roman
the
"
church.
Tiibinger theol.
p. 301 sqq.).
Christians in
several
almost
all
above Paul.
the older
So also
De Wette
Einl.
ms
N. T.
p.
314.
special diligence
and talent to the study of church antiquity, such as Sculiger, Casaubonus, Petit, Usher,
and then by Schriickh, Mynster, Berthold, Gieseler, Neander (who,
Pearson, Cave
;
however, in the last edition of his Jlpost. Gesch., seems to have been staggered by
Baur s arguments, and declares himself not so decidedly, as before, in favor of th*
tradition), Credner,
Upon
PETER IN ROME.
93.
MISSIONS.]
363
Hebrew prophets
had, ii deed,
and, in the time of the apostles, as Si rabo, Pausanias, and Pliny, unanimously assure us, it presented nothing but a scene
It may certainly be
of ruins (ovdev e!
Teixof), a desolation (solitude)."
been terribly
fulfilled,
fj-fi
and,
supposed, however, that some portion of it still remained habitable
since there were many thousands of Jews in the satrapy of Babylonia,
;
not in
it is
itself
But
those regions.
ever,
knows nothing
empire, though
at
all
which the
it tells
makes
it
hard to account
epistle
Thomas
the Parthian
there.
Then
Paul
later epistles of
was but
little
he was recalled by Paul to Rome, not long before that apostle s martyr
dom (2 Tim. 4:11). If, as we have good reason to suppose, he obeyed
this call,
But the
case
well
known
to be
its
expositors admit.
as also
indeed,
Roman
Catholic
Is.
13
an
But
ej istle.
this objection
is
far
more than
viz.,
19 sqq.
14
positive
in
46
4, 12-
Meyerhoff:
3, 1.
sq.
Philo
De
legal,
ad Caj.
p. 587.
(1835), p. 129.
It
is
true,
Jose-
phus tells us also, XVIII. 9, 8, that under the emperor Caligula many Jews migrated
from Babylon to Seleucia for fear of persecution, and that, five years afterwards, a pes
But they might very well have returned before the
tilence drove away the rest.
epistle of Peter
4
was
1.
2, 10. 21.
Comp.
the a.lusions, 17
9, to
the
seven
hills,
and, 17
Babylon.
*
So Papias or Clement of Alexandria, in Evseb
II.
15
PETER IN HOME.
93.
364
and (2
[I-
BOOK,
likt-
Peter.
wife with
and unexampled
how
avvsK^eKTrj
in Christian
should of
These
tion.
difficulties
Marcus
name.
On
the contrary,
done
is
in the Peshito
knows nothing
tradition
is
is
all
Christian congregation, as
to
It
antiquity.
itself
it
known
As
by that
is altogether natural to understand here the
missionary assistant of Paul and Peter, a
12
native of Jerusalem, and probably converted by Peter (Acts 12
like
bearer
of
the
at
same
the
but
the
time,
letter, Silvanus, a
sqq.),
:
If, there
connecting link between him and the Apostle of the Gentiles.
in
with
all
the
older
we
must
take the
fore,
commentators,
agreement
vlof,
1:1);
and so
"
and
style of the
pro
Jerome
in his Catal-
from antiquity
to
s.
Petr.
Rome, though
some
in
We know
Oecumenius, &c.
Babylon
in Asia.
For referring
it
Semler, Hitzig (Ueber Johannes Marrus, etc. p. 186), Baur, Schwegler. Thiersch (Ver
such zur Hersteilung, etc. p. 110, and Die Kirche im apostol. Zeitalter, p. 208).
1
Note 4.
So Mill, Bengel, Meyerhoff, 1. c. p. 126 sq
Wette, and Wieseler, on the contrary, though they make the place Babylon
proper, yet refer CTWCK/U/CTT? to the church (of Assyrian Babylon), &nd Auquo^ to the
Jlpostelgesch. II. p. 590.
Steiger,
De
evangelist.
*
Clement
of
in
f.
448
Hereof
/LIEV
Gal. 4
19.
Tim.
2, 18.
2 Tim. 1:2.
2:1
Add
Ion.
when
PETER IN ROME.
| 93.
MIS31CNS.J
365
In view of
shameful calumny.
all this
it
We
(b)
go now
to
church
the
tells
fathers.
The Roman
us,
bishop, Cle
after suffering
many
trials,
died a martyr
Rome
always
this distinction,
though
it
at that
To
martyrs.
Rome, the
to
letter of his
;"
More
century.
distinct
is
(about 170), who, in his epistle to the Romans, calls the Roman and
Corinthian churches the joint planting of Peter and Paul, and adds
:
In his
century,
first
c.
to
(according
IltTpoc 6iu
-7/0
oi>6t
oi>x
vm/veyKev)
others
otieMfievov TOTTOV
TTWOVC
KO.I
ovru
[taQTvyrjaat;
iTroqevdri
elf
rdv
66^.
mary
epistle to the
end.
it is
commonly taken, as denoting martyrdom. The latter, however, is to be inferred
from the whole context, particularly from the clause immediately preceding, which
did CT/AOV KOI tidovov oi fieyiaToi Kal
Clement goes on to illustrate by examples
as
diKa.ioTa.Toi arv/.oi
*
c.
id lu %&
Qv% ug Hereof
rj
av
tal fwf
a v a T o v rjh&ov.
366
"
PETER IN HOME.
93.
also
alike
the
Italy in
[*
same place
us,
by which,
(6fi6ar.
BOOR
and both
in
accord
ance with whit precedes, we can only understand Rome), after having
This making
taught there, at the same time suffered martyrdom."
1
We
have no
and
it
right,
in fact
visited Corinth,
and
founded that church, which was already of long standing, yet he might have
strengthened it and confirmed it in the faith, just as Paul confirmed the
church of Rome, and was hence called one of its founders. Irenaeus,
who was connected through Polycarp with the apostle John, says of
Peter and Paul, that they preached the gospel and founded the church
at Rome.*
Somewhat later, about the year 200, the Roman presbyter
3
in
his work against the Montanist, Proclus of Asia Minor, says
Caius,
:
I can, however,
At about
(rpoTrata) of
Clement of Alexandria
Rome
and so does
affirms
distinctly that
ple
(i.
e.
oil
boiling
These are the oldest and most important testimonies. They are drawn
from the most different parts of the church, and cannot be reasonably
accounted for except on the ground of some historical reality. True,
the statements
In Eusebius
Adv.
haer* III.
H. E.
1,
1.
II. c.
comp.
3,
25.
et constituta
In Kuseb. H. E.
De
II. 15-
VI. 14.
II. 25.
is
called
ecclesia."
III. 1.
an
"a
gloriosissimii
367
dria,
Peter
PETER IN ROME.
93.
MISSIONS.]
probably on false inferences from the narrative in Acts 8:18 sqq., and
on a mistake of Justin Martyr in supposing he had seen a statue of
in that city.
But such accretions gathered by an old tra
no
means
warrant
us to discard its primary substance.
This
by
certainly cannot be accounted for here by the rivalry between the Jew
Simon Magus
dition
ish Christians
in
Rome."
For
it
would
John.
As
Roman
bishops
used
for its
it
can
little
it
though
own
ends.
is
-it
this,
The
tradition
it
itself, it
may
for hierarchical
and
easily be shown,
purposes
is
and had
there been sufficient ground, it would certainly have been called in question
in the first centuries by the opponents of the pretensions of Rome in the
Greek and African churches. But no such contradiction was raised in
In Enseb. H. E.
II. 15.
It is not
clear,
authority of Clement s v-07v~uaif merely for what he says concerning the origin of
the gospel of Mark (comp. VI. 14). or also concerning the meeting of Peter with
Simon Magus in the beginning of this and in the 14th chapter.
a
i-
fundamenta
t-cclesia?
ecdesiarum mul-
And
baptisma sua auctoritate defendit."
Stephamis. qui per successionem cathedram Petri habere se prseimmediately alter:
dicat. nullo adversus h.creticos zelo excitatur" ^as he ought to be, being the successor
tarum nova
aedificia constituat,
dum
esse
illic
"
of Peter).
and used
among
the
rest,
(al
many
its
true light
lichen Kirche
phen
purpose by
und
ihrer
still
more unfavorable
light.
He
:;
says
Stephen,
as successor of Peter, is called to be the peculiar organ for main aining and promoting
the unity of the church
it is the harder to conceive how he can have adopted
>
which goes
this
directly to obscure, nay, to destroy
unity."
368
PETER IN ROME.
93.
LI.
BOOR
structure of the papacy could never have arisen without any historical
Rather has this very fact of the presence
foundation, out of a pure. He.
in
in
Rome,
residence in
Rome.
questions,
to
brought the first tidings of the gospel to that city. For in this sense,
even Paul was not its founder, any more than Peter was the founder of
the Corinthian church, as this same Dionysius nevertheless affirms.
In
fact, however, that expression, which in itself may denote simply Peter s
in molding a church of long standing, but still
imper
instructed
and
organized, soon came to be taken exclusively in
fectly
the chronological sense, and thus gave rise to a confusion in the tradi
important agency
tion favored
by the
New
silence of the
Testament
labors of Peter.
in
the
is
apostle
42,
the
now
(according to Jerome s
year of Nero, A. D. 67 or
Jerome also, on the authority of Eusebius, informs us, that Peter
68.
was first (for seven years according to a later view) bishop of Antioch,
and then for twenty-five years from the second year of Claudius, or
translation),
and
A. D. 42, bishop of
Roman
is
suffer
lost), or twenty-five
martyrdom
Rome
and
in the last
this
statement
;"
Catholic historians.
is
So Barnabas and Paul may be styled with perfect correctness the proper founders
of the church of Antioch, though Christians from Jerusalem and Hellenists from
J
Cyprus and Cyrene had already preceded them thither with the seed of the gospel
19-25).
So, as an example in later time, Calvin passes for the founder of
the Genevan church, tho.ugh the Reformation was introduced there several years
(Acts 11
him by Farel.
De script, eccles. c.
before
9
1.
Simon Petrus post episcopatum Antiochensis ecclesiac et
praedicationem dispersionis eorum, qui de circumcisione crediderant in Ponto. Galatia,
Cappadocia, Asia et Bithynia. secundo Claudii imperatoris anno ad expognandum
Eusebian
tradition.
Baronius
friends of the
his
decimum
quartum."
at least to
,
makes
modify the
Peter, indc-ed,
seven years bishop of Antioch, and then for twenty-five years bishop of Rome ;
but at the same time assumes, that the apostle was often absent, as when, for instance,
for
But
PETER IN ROME.
93.
MISSIONS.]
3f>9
Xew
Testament,
and cannot stand a moment before the bar of criticism. The Acts of
the Apostles, which so fully describe the earlier labors of Peter, in no
case allow the supposition of his departure from Palestine before his
3-17
and as this falls in the year of the
arrest by Agrippa, Acts 12
12
28.
famine in Palestine (comp. Acts 11
1), or A. D. 44 (not 42,
as Eusebius wrongly assumes), it at any rate sets aside the seven years
:
bishopric in Antioch, and cuts off several years from the twenty-five
After his escape from prison in
assigned to the episcopate in Rome.
the fourth year of Claudius, the apostle might possibly, indeed, have
Rome
travelled to
he departed
sight of
"to
him
till
Luke remarks
as
another
place"
indefinitely
(Acts 12
17) that
and thenceforth loses
:
(c.
lo).
This
is,
in itself,
that ancient and universal tradition, which calls Peter the founder of
Roman church. But on the other hand, this possibility becomes at
the
Romans, written A. D.
epistle to the
when we
of Peter
it
praefecturae
of the pope do not require him now to travel all over the world.
Why
have been the case only at the time of Peter, and not at any subsequent
official duties
should
it
period?
J
This period
Roman
is
tradition, Fr.
Windischmann,
112-116,
the
first
And we
that Peter
was
see not
what
founder.
its
is.
if
objection of
It
may
between Peter
alem, where
we
so that
may have
find
it
24
S7O
93.
PETEK IN ROME.
[l.
BOOE
But
may be
inferences.
Thus, Justin
Roman
Smw
divinity,
Sancus or Sangus* of
3
had probably never heard.
statement, and, in
on
its
But
whom
much
as possible, sent
the.
Rome,
him
to van
there as
sorcerer
Samaria (Acts
To
8).
this
"
it,
it
It is far more difficult, however, to show, that Peter was in Rome all
the time or even for any considerable period from the reign of Claudius
onward. The Acts of the Apostles and Paul s ep stles on to the year
63 or 64, that
is,
Apol. maj.,
*
8
I.
p.
Neander
This
66-68)
first epistle
(5
13), give
his
26 and 56.
Fast. VI. 213.
Just.
c.
Comp. Ovid
city,
also
Hn
EM.
Otto
II.
783 (2nd
69 sqq.
ed.)
in
the
first
ISSIONS
aleence from
For
it.
in
Gentiles, of
whom
371
Ht had
lic
PETER DT ROME.
93.
majority of the
the
Roman
At
the writing of the first epistle to the Corinthians, A.D. 57, he was
yet without a fixed abode, travelling about as a missionary with his wife
In 58 he cannot have been in Rome, or Paul would cer
1 Cor. 9:5).
tainly
have sent a salutation to him amongst the many others (Rom. 16).
epistle to the Romans knows nothing of Peter s laboring,
The whole
his
and
not
the neighborhood.
Timothy was
written,
come
to
Rome
his
own
epistles
that
And as
year 63 or in the beginning of 64.
he suffered martyrdom in the Neronian persecution, we can hardly extend
4
his sojourn there beyond a year.
Eusebius, indeed, and Jerome place
is,
Rom. 1
Col. 4:
This
Rome
is
11
5-7, 13.
10
!4
Philem.
11.
Phil. 4
23. 24.
sqq.
:
15
Jl, 22.
15, 16.
2 Tim. 4
1:15-18.
9-22.
first
imperaret, Petrus
Romam
life
who
brings
him there
4
As even an unprejudiced Roman Catholic writer. Herbst, grants in an article in the
Theol. quarterly of Drey. Herbst. and Hirscher. Tubingen. 1820. No. 4. p. 567 sq.
Other scholars of the Roman church also, as Valerius. Pagi. Baluz, Hug, Klee, limit the
residence of Peter in
Rome
to the
would make
New
Romans and
of Paul
we must exclaim
to
A.D. 63
such an advocate
way
epistles, left
no trace of
Non
tali
S?2
nis
MARTYRDOM OF PETER.
34.
de<rth
In tne
year 67.
But
[l-
BOOR
tion, that he died at the same time with Paul in the Neronian persecu
and as a second
tion, which according to Tacitus broke out in July, 64
;
made
use of Suetonius,
who
>
separates the
and
in general ia
it,
1
not chronological in his narrative.
That Peter, as long as he was in Rome, was associated with Paul at
the head of the church and exercised a leading influence, needs no proof.
bishop of
first
Rome
to a particular diocese,
from
we
first in
but
Roman
learn
This
fifth
of
chapter of his
it,
and from
first epistle
his
to the Corinthians
in
it is
pretty evident,
that he ascribes greater importance for the Roman church to this apos
Irenaeus and
tle, than to Peter, of whom he has much less to say.
It
is
Martyrdom of
the voice of
all
Peter.
(Note on
the
Claims of
the
Papacy.}
which
1
On
also,
earlier
and by the
less
ignominious
influence of Suetonius
See Schliemann
D. 103,
is
9.
and Gieseler
s Kirch.
Getth.l.
1,
MISSIONS .J
MABTYKDOM OF
94.
378
--ETEK
end
of Caius,
can
bill
as the Yati-
Gardens, and
Paul
as over
grave on the Ostian way outside the city was erected the
It
is
Rome must
heathen and excited their hatred against the new sect. And the danger
to the state religion from the numerous conversions the more readily
1
memorable dialogue
foretells
him
to
that,
when he should be
old,
he
should stretch forth his hands and another should gird him, and carry
him whither he (naturally) would not. Tertullian expressly remarks,
that Peter was
made
like
his
head downwards,
passion."
first
in
appears
Origen
and
When we
ing himself unworthy to die in the same way as the Saviour.
read in Tacitus of the unnatural tortures inflicted on the Christians by
Nero, the fact of such a mode of death is not improbable, though the
motive here brought in to explain it betrays a somewhat morbid concep
The apostles
Lord and
rather held
*
it
tibu* persec.
c.
"
prominence
to this
Neronem
and joy to be
highest honor
their
imperaret, Petrus
Dei data
ipsius
Deoque templum
animadverteret, non
their
like
work
advenit
De maret, editis
sibi
fidele ac
Romam
stabile collocavit.
modo Roinae,
quum
et
De
praescr.
haeret. c.
36 :....
Romam
ubi
Petrus
servos,
Petrum
passiori
cruci
Dominicae
adaequatur."
1
In Euseb.
dv e a K
H. E.
III. 1
of Kal
Ilerpof
i-itl
Tefat
iv
Pu^iy
yevofievos
hoTti a&r/ icard Kttyahij f OVTUC avrdf dgiuaaf Tradelv. This is then
thus paraphrased, in the spirit of monkish piety, by Rufinut :
Crucifixus est deorsum
So
capite demerso, quod ipse ita fieri deprecatus est, ne exaequari Domino videretur."
o
"
who
Jerome,
et affixus cruci,
levatis
for
martyrio cojronatus
such
traits,
est, capite
De
vir. illmtr. c. 1
"A
quo (Nerone)
Dominus
SUUB."
V"
374
94:.
Master
in
It
every particular.
is
related, first
[i.
by Ambrose, we
BOOK
believe,
that Peter shortly before his death, overpowered by his former love of
life, made his escape from prison, but was arrested and confounded in his
flight
his
To
cross.
the
recreant
"
question
?"
"
!"
Rome, and
the people of
is
embodied
in
It is one
quo vadis, in front of the Sebastian gate on the Appian way.
of those significant stories, which rest not, indeed, on any historical fact,
(2 Pet. 1
undefiled,
The
NOTE.
in heaven.
vast importance of the subject calls upon us, before taking leave
of Peter, to add a few remarks on the claims of the papacy, which are well
known
to centre here.
the
They
The
1.
first
New
assumption
is,
is
transferable.
This
is
Roman
based by
nence in question as simply affecting Peter personally, as in the case of the sur
names given to other apostles and referring to corresponding personal gifts and
sons of thunder, for example, applied to the sons of Zebedee (Mark
"
relations,
"
17)
Zelotes,"
Iscariot (Luke 6
to
Simon (Luke
15.
Acts 1
13)
traitor,"
to Judas
is,
"
16).
2.
and
Com p-
Matt. 16:22,23;
him, Jno. 21
18.
Lord; and
me.
The
ae Saviour
truth of this
s
language
94.
IPSIONS.]
375
T.
with almost
all
much
Roman
See,
wise
Rome and
in
he was at
all
less
suffered
Besides, there
is
no document
or diplomatic evidence
can be brought, and the only resort is the general philosophical argument, that
the successor in office is in the nature of the case by regular ordination heir to
This is undoubtedly perfectly true with the
the prerogatives of his predecessor.
limitation
Thus we
itself.
question,
accordingly denounces this system as the most colossal and barefaced lie knowu
to history, and applies to it in fact the predictions of the Xew Testament con
ever,
we cannot at
all
agree.
"
into
to
lie
to the
Lord
Reformation
precious promise
it is an absolute
impossibility to
of Christianity without the Catholic church,
its
results,
No
Roman
of the consistency and tenacity with which the Catholic church has at all times
held fast all the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, the Trinity, the true
divinity and humanity of Christ, the inspiration
(all
in
among
all
the
376
in
94.
many
doctrines
Christianity
and
practices,
and that
itself,
it
[l-
BOOK
development of
arrogantly asserts, identical with the Catholic or universal church, but simply
Greek and Protestant Christendom, a part of it.
like
ancient
councils of
was
Nice
early claimed
resisted
by the ecumenical
the latter
by Irenaeus,
Firmilianus, Cyprianus, by the whole Greek church, and was fully established
But there are other differences equally important
only in the Middle Ages.
(2)
as to the nature of this primacy and the mode of its exercise.
From the purely
spiritual superiority of Peter, a fisherman of Galilee,
nor gold (Acts 3 6), who travelled from land to land preaching
the gospel without the least ostentation, accompanied by his wife (1 Cor. 9
5),
who humbly called himself a
warned his
co-presbyter," and emphatically
had no
silver
"
brethren against all tyranny over conscience and love of filthy lucre (1 Peter 5
to the temporal as well as spiritual dominion which the
1
3), it is a vast stride
later medieval popes exercised over all the churches and states of western
:
ruling the conscience with the iron rod of despotism, and even frequently per
own
selfish ends.
(3)
If Peter himself,
having received the glorious promise, Matt. 16, thought humanly and not
d vinely if he in carnal zeal cut off Malchus ear nay, thrice denied his Lord
after
men
fear of
and even
after the
any more than the kings and high-priests of the Jewish theocracy. Just in pro
portion, however, as the popes have abused their power, followed their own
thoughts and plans instead of the word of God, and degraded the pastoral office
by a wicked life, as in the disgraceful tenth century, again at the time of the
reformatory councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basel, and at the end of the
fifteenth century and beginning of the sixteenth (for an example we have but to
and kings of
Israel
is
is
an earnest pro
sanctioned by
in condemnation of
by the example of
Christ,
who
called
04.
*ISS10N.J
377
23
Peter, for his horror of suffering, an offense and an adversary (Matt. 16
Put up again
11), rebuked his carnal zeal with the exclamation
:
John 18
"
thy sword into his place for all they that take the sword shall perish with the
52), warned him of his presumptuousness and self-confidence
(Matt. 26
14
and deeply humbled him for his denial, though he afterwards
30,
37),
(Mark
;
sword"
him (John 21
15 18)
and finally by the example of Paul, who
sharply reproved his senior colleague, nay, even in presence of the congregatiou
of Antioch charged him with hypocrisy (Gal. 2
If the church of
11, sqq.).
Rome has inherited the prerogatives and gifts of Peter, she has also
restored
frequently,
Finally,
(4)
close of \ 90,
in the
second
stadium of the apostolic period is, according to the distinct testimony of Luke
in Acts and of Paul in his epistles, a fact as incontrovertible as the
primacy of
Peter in the province of the Jewish mission and through the whole first stadium
of this period
down
Rome and
its
bishops.
If,
or the church of
therefore, the
we may
any sense
John
itself in
it
is
com
patible with the essential unity of the church, has a typical significancy for after
times
and
if
Roman
the
we claim
itself
on Peter, and
the forerunner
ha.=
while in
John, the beloved disciple, who lay on Jesus bosom, enjoyed the profoundest
view of the central mystery of the incarnation, and outlived all the other
apostles, the disciple
who
"tarries
till
the Lord
comes"
(John 21
22),
we
see
the type and the pledge of the ideal church of the future, the higher unity of
the Jewish Christianity of Peter in the Catholic church, and the Gentile Christi
We
95.
James
the Just
Church of Jerusalem.
Next to Peter, JAMES held the most prominent position among the
Jewish Christians, and from the time of the apostolic council, A. D. 50,
or in fact from the flight of Peter, A. D. 44 (Acts 12
17), he appears
This
cannot
have been the
of
Jerusalem.
the
chnrch
of
as the head
:
James, the brother of John and one of the three favorite disciples
for he had already been beheaded in the year 44, at the
We must, therefore, under
order of Herod Agri|>pa (Acts 12
2).
elder
of Jesus
JAMES THE
95.
378
(Mark 16
BOOK
[l-
younger apostle
this
ol
25,
in this
Hebrew
usage, the
brother of
"
Jesus
;"
flesh.
Mary
John 19
usual interpretation of
do, the
to
is first
JTJST.
The
"
so-called
latter
view,
brothers of
admits
again,
of
our James
Jesus,"
among
may have
the rest,
25), as
fathers
cases this
but
ciples,
man
still
Barnabas.
In the
second part of the Acts, he is styled simply James without any epithet,
21
So several times by Paul, Gal. 2 9,
c. 12
15
13.
18.
17.
:
12
sq.
On
7.
"
Mk. 15
Mk. 6
Jno. 2
On
12.
16
40.
Lord,"
Gal. 1
1.
Matt. 12
3.
Acts 1:14.
5.
James along
4
The same
19.
19 sqq.
Cor. 15
46 sqq.
Cor. 9
Mk.
31 sqq.
Lu. 8
5.
this
refer, to
the exegetical and patristic testimonies for and against the identity of these two per
sons are collected and tested at length.
Subsequent examination, however, has led me
two
to find
with
faults
this
treatise
(1)
Rather too
little is
made
(p.
29) of the
dog
matical argument Lgainst supposing Mary to have had other children viz., the as
sumption of the perpetual virginity of the bride of the Holy Ghost, the mother of the
;
conflicts
second and third century. It was still held fast also by the Reformers
comp. Artie.
Ex Maria pura, sancta, semper virSmalcald. Pars I. Art. IV. (p. 303, ed. Hase
:
gine")
virgo
Form. Concord,
mansW );
hausen on Matt.
p.
767
and Zwingli
1
25.
(2)
("Unde
et
Commentary on
of Joseph by a former marriage, therefore only half-brothers of the Lord, receives too
little stress.
For this view seems to be the oldest, and is found not only in apocry
phal writings, and the Apostolical Constitutions, but in the most distinguished Greek
and Latin church fathers, as Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyrill of Alexandria, Epipha-
and Ambrose. See the passages in the work above quoted, p. 80 sqq
Eusebius also should probably be enumerated here, as he ca ls James, H. E. II. 1, a
son of Joseph," but nowhere a son of Mary. For the identity of this James with
nius, Hilary,
is
no older authority
than Jerome4
lion a
"
cited
men
MISSIONS.]
surname
old
is
ecclesiastical
"
James
"
379
"
native of Palestine,
James
this
led from
youth a
his
life
and
"
days of the Lord down to our own time has been universally called the
For there were many
Just, undertook the direction of the community.
who were called James. But this one was holy from his mother s womb.
No
razor came upon his head, he anointed himself not with oil, and took
He alone (among the Christians) was allowed to enter the
no bath.
(which should doubtless more properly be read Obliam, from ^tb and
i.
Icmv
(o
C3>),
e.,
We
E/./.rjviaTt TTEQIOXT/
have no
sufficient
dtKaioavvrj}."
reason at
all
this description,
style
On
from
trary,
we otherwise know
all
incontrovertible, that he
1
was by
far the
much
the con
at any rate
most conservative of
all
the
is
more
By
264 sqq.
In Eusebius: Hist. Eccl.
tung, vol.
4
of James, thus
Et f
I.
TU.
p.
ayta,
II. 23.
Comp. my tract above mentioned, p.
which sometimes stands for ru uyia TUV uyiuv, Num. 4
61 sqq.
:
19.
Kl.
8:6.
2 Chron. 4
(rd TtETa/.ov
22.
="!"!"("!
5:7.
"f^i
Holi
is
The
380
95.
BX>K
[T.
prominent apostles, and the least removed from legal Judaism. Hia
piety lived altogether in the hallowed forms of the old covenant, and in
probability to the day of his death he kept not Dnly the Sabbath, but
the whole ceremonial law.
Hence he was the head and supreme autho
all
rity
among
while Peter
"
In the apostolic council it was James, who spoke the decisive word,
when, in common with Peter and Paul, and against the pharisaically dis
same time
at the
laid
restrictions,
Antioch to withdraw
brethren (Gal. 2
/
for a while
12, 13),
13 sqq.
Gal. 2
(comp. Acts 15
9), as the Pauline party in
Corinth went beyond Paul, and the Petrine beyond Peter. But still
their conduct shows, that the strict Judaizers, the antagonists of Paul,
far
would
fain
Peter.
James
At
and
calling, that
more
we
find
him not
continuing
till
his
death
in
Jerusalem, the
them, this James figures as the supreme bishop of all Christendom, to whom eveu
the apostle Peter and the Roman bishop are subject.
The historical writings of the
Ebionites in general are
(Haer.
XXX.
Ebion.
MISSIONS.
381
Yet the influence of James, too, was altogether necessary. He, if any
God placed such a
could gain the ancient chosen nation in a body.
form
of
Old
Testament
of
the
in the midst of
purest
piety
representative
make
the Jews, to
Messiah as easy as
last
fearful,
Shortly before it, according to Hegesiphaving borne powerful testimony to the Messiahship of Jesus and pointed to his second coming in the clouds of hea
ven, he was thrown down from the pinnacle of the temple and stoned by
His
Pharisees.
words were
"
the
last
"
ness, that
dom
(eitfvc)
and
ii;
"This fell
Josephus expressly says
upon the Jewa
in punishment for what they had done to James the Just, a brother of
For him had the Jews slain, though he
Jesus, who was called Christ.
agreement with
this
In Eusebius
No
H. E.
2
men."
II. 23.
in this
form
is
to be found
anywhere
in Josephus, but
simply the statement, Jlrchaeol. XX. 9, 1, that the violent high- priest Ananias, in the
interval between the death of the Roman governor, Festus, and the arrival of Albinus,
therefore in the year 62, accused
James by name,
and some others/ before the Sanhedrim as transgressors of the law wf Tra(>avo/j.Tiadvwith which procedure, however, the better
~uv), and sentenced them to be stoned
i
part of the
dissatified.
The words
relative to
James
TUV
ai<r<I>,
nal
.,
known
comp. Gieseler
testimonium de Christo
Kirchengesch.
I.
1,
"
in the
24, p. 81 sqq.)
Arch. XVIII. 3,
3,
on which
would say
nothing at
genuine,
all
we
still
tr
382
96.
When
tine,
BOOK
[l.
tradition preserved
Symeon, a cousin of Jesus (a son of Clopas, who according to Hegesippus was a brother of Joseph), successor to James. This Symeon pre
sided over the church of Jerusalem as bishop till the time of the emperoi
Trajan, and at the age of a hundred and twenty years suffered martyr
dom.
He had
of
Hebrew
descent,
who
ruled,
2
however, but a short time, and are known to us only by name. Through
out this period the church of Jerusalem maintained its strictly Israelitish
"
it
Christ,"
and
in
96.
From James
the Just
The, Epistle
of James.
we have preserved
in
which
It
cil.
and,
being a Pharisee, might feel inclined to put the blame of the murder on the Sadducee,
Ananias. Then as to the chronology; the date given by Hegesippus is supported from
other quarters.
According to the Epist. dementis Rom. ad Jacobum, c. 1 (Patres Jlpost.
and according
apostle Peter,
paschale, vol.
who
I. p.
of Vespasian s
to the
460
reign.
(ed.
Eusebius varies.
In
at the
earliest.
So the Chronicon
martyrdom of James
his
H. E.
(II.
23.
III.
in the first
11),
year
following
Hegesippus, he gives the year 69 while in his Chronicon (p. 205, ed. Scalig.), he puts
the martyrdom of James in the year 63, no doubt on the authority of the above pas
sage from Josephus.
;
Euseb. H. E.
III.
32.
U,
5.
1. c.
Sulpicius Severus, Hist. Sacra, II. 31, says of these Jewish Christians
believed in Christ as God. while yet observing the law."
Eus.,
They
*
On
this,
see the
modern
MISSIONS.]
and James
96.
||
of labor.
field
permanent
abroad"
were the
Its readers
that
(1:1);
383
the
is,
lived in
Jewish Christians
"
twelve
Jews,
wno
or rather
the Old Testament designation, yet without drawing the line between
the two economies, between the disciples of Moses and the disciples of
Christ, so clearly as is done in the system of Paul, and as it was after
wards drawn
The communities
in fact
2), consisted
in Palestine
regions, they had not yet become incorporated with the Jewish converts,
and were not regarded by James as belonging to his charge.
The design of the letter is not doctrinal, but ethical and altogether
and to combat a
practical.
it
out in the
14 sqq.).
Paul has a similar tendency in view in Rom. 2
17
(2
3
-24 (comp. also Jno. 5 39), while he elsewhere commonly contends
life
addressed, other
of
way
evils, all
thinking
the rich,
;
gance
less
charity, censoriousness,
pride
and arro
While
quarrelsomeness, worldly-mindedness, &c.
these sins, and threatens them with the impending
in
James rebukes
more or
want of
all
judgment, he comforts and cheers the poor, who are oppressed by the
hard-hearted rich, and the brethren, who are persecuted by tbeir un
believing kinsmen.
This of
itself indicates
correspond with
all
servative position of
New
the
Kern
in
the
we otherwise know
its
There
author.
his
Commentary (where he
Com|. Matt. 19
As
6. 7.
28.
1
who
Rom.
sqq.
28
Gal.
sq.
Comp. Heb.
Zcitaltcr,
former doubts of
10
p.
6:16.
106 sqq.).
Pet.
its
Comp.
genuine
also
my
1.
31.
of Jews,
Jas. 2
is
ness),
tract
which perfectly
and con
96.
084:
And
epistle.
T-
BOOK
jf the
so far does
even a Luther
in
sidered the two as irreconcilably opposed, and did not hesitate to call
James a
"
intends to combat,
sqq.)
"
chaffy epistle
not,
indeed, Paul
James
doctrine
(c.
14
of justification
itself as rightly
2 Peter 3
upon Gnostic and Antinomian tendencies, for these did not develope
but upon the dead intellectual orthodoxy
themselves till after his time,
of Judaism, a self-righteous, stiffened Pharisaism
and he meets
it
with
For, closely as
it
but
and proverbial
books of the Old Testament, yet the earnest, impressive moral admo
its exhortations to patience under suffer
nitions, of which it consists,
prayer, to humility, to true wisdom, to meekness, to peace, to
the observance of the royal law of love, to a life corresponding to the
its warnings against vain self-reliance,
confession of the mouth
against
ing, to
tongue, against fickleness, envy, hatred, and uncharitableall are thoroughly pervaded by the spirit of Christian
ness in genera],
morality, especially as presented in the Saviour s Sermon on the Mount.
sins
of the
The name
it
but
is
is
Therefore
In the preface to his edition of the New Testament of 1524, p. 105
St. James is a real chaffy epistle compared with them (the writings of
He excesses himself
John. Paul, and Peter) for it has no evangelical cast at
1
the epistle of
all."
more
remarkable preface to the epistles of St. James and St. Jude, 1522
Walch. XIV. p. 148 sq.), at the close of which he thus sums up his
fully in
his
( Werke, ed.
In a word, he (James) has aimed to refute those who relied on faith with
opinion
out works, and is too weak for his task in mind, understanding, and words, mutilates
"
the Scriptures, and thus contradicts Paul and all Scripture, seeking to accomplish by
what the apostles successfully effect by love. Therefore I will not
in the
removal of the
epistle of
the
German
Protestant editions,
(even by Guericke
Einl. in
is
not at
N. T.
p.
all
James from
where
demonstrable, though
499, without
any proof)
it still
it is
its
original
stands in
all
often asserte*
97.
MISSIONS.]
385
faith.
James calls Christ
the
Lord of glory" (2:1), and humbly styles himself
servant of God
and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (1
and he addresses his readers as
1)
"
"a
It
life.
is
it
in
The
this letter.
Herder has
genial
"
What
a noble
man
Great
Deep, unbroken patience in suffering
ness in poverty
Joy in sorrow
Simplicity, sincerity, firm, direct
confidence in prayer
To nothing is he more opposed, than to unbelief,
speaks
in,
this epistle
God
He
miraculous
But what
certain,
unfailing
thing,
well he
minds of men
origin of true
and
false
wisdom
in
the
He
wants action
free action,
Action
intellectual) faith,
but
perfect,
noble
action
!"
97.
Traditions respecting
the.
other Apostles.
efficient
full
and
reliable accounts,
passed off the stage (A. D. 44) as the first apostolic martyr, and that
other James, who from the year 50, or perhaps even 44, to his death
Of the activity of the
labored as head of the church in Jerusalem.
other apostles, on the contrary, the Now Testament itself contains no
trace ; and the many reports respecting them in the writings of the
church fathers, and in the pseudo-apostolic acts, are in some cases so
strange and so full of contradictions, that they can lay very little claim
to credit, and that even the acutest criticism would be unable thoroughly
to separate the truth from the error.
This silence of Holy Writ and of authentic history respecting
life
25
is
the
an enigma, which
Lemgo. 1775
386
97.
historians have
for
first,
made
T-
BOOB.
It may be accounted
various attempts to solve.
disciples of Jesus, whose object wai not
instruments
of their
Then
monuments
Master,
in
again,
originality
tion of Jerusalem
time of Nero onward seriously impeded the recording of their acts and
fortunes,
or destroyed
written.
all
is
parts of the
That these
Roman
empire,
even where we have no sure and special information respecting the mode
of
introduction
its
out of Rome.
as in Egypt,
and labor,
in books of
Down
still
history.
with the exception of Paul, not to have gone far beyond Palestine.
Thenceforth we find none but James in the Jewish capital (Acts 21
The story (first found
18), the rest having scattered to different lands.
:
in
by
lot,
this
among themselves
But
literally
understood
is
a manifest error.
More
plausible
is
the
down
have
1
We
Protest.
1.
monly
com
97.
MISSIONS.]
87
spirit of
in
and India,
Syria, Persia,
in
Egypt and Ethiopia, exhibit in early antiquity, and even to this day, so
remarkable a mixture of Jewish practices with Christian orthodoxy
(which, however, in those countries has now become almost a perfect
from it with tolerable certainty their
petrifaction), that we may infer
Jewish-Christian origin.
Respecting these apostles individually
ments
1.
we
ANDREW,
in
preached (according to
Eusebius)
Origen
Scythia
Minor, Thrace, and Achaia. After working many miracles he is sup
posed to have suffered martyrdom at Patrae (Patras) in Achaia, at the
order of the Roman proconsul, Aegcas, whose wife and brother he had
converted
PHILIP of
Andrew
"
Bethsaida,"
^), which
Cross."
evangelist of the
his
performed
3.
Jno. 21
2),
is
presented to us
John 6 as a man of
the Gospel of
in
who would
My
put
Lord and
my God
to
wounds
He
who are
The old
he preached the gospel in the Par
fidelity.
moment he
might be taken
and
!"
those,
find
it.
labors and
1
Matt- 4
Matt. 10
10
18.
Acts 6:5.
13
2.
3 and parall.
8:5
Eusebius: H. E.
III. 31.
C. 11
5.
16.
14
20
is
India,"
Jno.
3.
Jno.
21
sqq.
East
in
martyrdom
35 sqq.
44 sqq.
5 sqq.
12
8.
12
wh<
22.
21 sqq.
14
8 sq.
8.
V. 24.
24-29.
confusion here.
At any
rate
T heodoist
(Haer. fab.
I.
26}
388
97.
1I
have been found there from time immemorial, regard him as the fouLdei
of their church and hence are called Thomas-Christians.
BARTHOLOMEW, or
4.
who appears
game,
"son
of
is
Ptolemaeus,"-
unquestionably the
Gospel under his proper name, 2s ATHANthe first name being a sur
45 sqq. 21 2)
in the fourth
He sprang
surname, Barjona.
from Cana in Galilee (Jno. 21
2), and was introduced to the Saviour
Behold an
by Philip. As soon as the Lord saw him, He said of him
like
Simon
"
Israelite
no
He
guile."
Matt. 10
Jno.
Mk.
3.
Luke
18.
is
to
Jicta
is
represents the
1
whom
indeed, in
Acts
14.
origin.
1
13.
commonly taken
as a general description
Thou art in
of the moral and religious character of Nathanael, and explained thus
an Israelite, who answers the idea; such as all should
truth one of the people of God
1
47.
is
"
he,
man
him
to his face.
to decline the
nation, or at
any
rate of Jacob, in
whom
ser
German
pent predominated, as his conduct with Esau and Laban sufficiently shows.
Jewish honesty." The prophets very often rebuke
is proverbial, but not
fidelity"
"
"
(Is. 29
13, 15.
Zeph. 1:11. Ps. 50
Because this explanation does not suit the connection at all. especially
the immediately following words of the Lord, v. 48, which are evidently to be taken
as
more
(4)
The
whole paragraph Jno. 1 4551, can be fully explained only from the history of Jacob,
That r. 51 refers to
to which Jesus here makes au exceedingly significant allusion.
:
dream
at
Why
life,
[aqari-
with his
covenant God, when he received the honorary title of Israel, Wrestler with God (Gen.
32 28. Comp. Hos- 12 4), in place of his former name, and in token of his having
Nathanael, a disciple of John,
put off the old man? We conceive the matter thus
:
Saviour,
to the
when Philip approached him with the joyful tidings of the Messiah, whom he
The Lord had looked into his heart had read there his hopes and prayers
had found.
for the
Messiah
(v. 48)
and
nection with
what preceded,
simply
Behold a man,
who
;"
97.
383
he
tc
(5)
and
4,
New
parall.),
Testament only
and there are
in the lists of
different stories
his labors.
who
Clopas.
in
3, &c.),
(7) JUDAS, also called LEBBAEUS and THAnDAEus (Matt. 10
as
has
in
and
there
the
western
tradition
it,
Persia,
through
preached,
:
contrary,
in Palestine, Syria,
Nicephorus, on the
die a
who on
Iscariot (Acts 1
dom
in
Ethiopia
in Judea.
is
15-26),
said to
Jews
(9) JAMES THE LESS, or JAMES the son of Alphaeus* labored, according
the tradition of the Greek church, which distinguishes him from
to
Egypt.
Thou art no
God
(Israel)
hast wrestled with God, that he would send the Saviour of the world and
thee
is
The Messiah
heard.
stands before
thee."
That
for
thou
show him
all
to
the ensu
ing circumstances, the question of the astonished Nathanael, the Lord s reply, the con
fession of faith, and the reference to the new ladder from heaven, of which Jacob s was
enough.
1
Nicephor.
II. 40.
27.
10
Matt. 10
3.
27
56.
3.
&c.
Acts. 1
13
is
plaia
390
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.
98.
A. D.
Destruction of Jerusalem.
98.
The forbearance
their own Saviour,
[l.
3OOK
70.
God
in the usual
was
if
fitted,
religion, had been stoned by his hardened brethren, for whom he daily
interceded in the temple
and with him the Christian community in
;
Jerusalem had
judgment drew
lost its
The prophecy
near.
of the
The hour
city.
Lord approached
of fearful
its
literal
fulfillment.
Not long
"
cried
four winds
voice
!"
"
brought before the procurator, Albinus, he was scourged till his bones
could be seen, but interposed not a word for himself uttered no curse
;
on
his
Woe, woe
"
enemies
!"
!"
Under
corruption and the dissolution of all social ties, but at the same time the
After the
oppressiveness of the Roman yoke, increased every year.
Sicarians"
accession of Felix, assassins, the
(from sica, a dagger)
"
armed with daggers and purchasable for any crime, endangering safety
Besides this, the party
city and country, roamed over Palestine.
their
themselves
and
hatred
of their heathen
the
Jews
spirit amongst
in
oppressors rose to the most insolent political and religious fanaticism, and
was continually inflamed by false prophets and Messiahs, one of whom,
for example, according to Josephus,
1
Matt. 24
1, 2.
drew
after
Luke
19
him
43, 44.
thirty
thousand meu
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.
98.
ISSIONS.j
391
war
also
hangman over
evil-doers, there
bega
salem and
fled to
with
in the
of the flight.
campaign
and against a stout resistance overran Galilee with an army of sixty
thousand men. But events in Rome hindered him from completing the
His
son, Titus,
who
ly distinguished himself
the prosecution of the Jewish war, and became the instrument in the
hand of God of destroying the holy city and the temple. In April, A.
D. 70, immediately after Easter, when Jerusalem was filled with stran
and sweep away thousands daily, the cries of mothers and babes, the
most pitiable and continually increasing misery around them, could not
fanatics.
obstinate resistance,
their
state
whole history
of horrible
its
significance,
In Eusebius
which even
in this
At
art, the
H. E.
III. 5.
last in
to grace his
392
98.
triumph
child
BOOK
severe, that
own
[l-
Titus finally
save the venerable sanctuary.
But its destruction was determined by a
In a fresh assault, a soldier unbidden hurled a firebrand
higher decree.
through the golden door. When the flame arose, the Jews raised a
hideous yell and tried to put out the fire
while others, clinging with a
;
But in vain.
made the un-
happpy people feel the whole weight of their unchained rage. At first
the vast stream of blood from the bodies heaped up before the altar of
burnt-offering restrained the fire
It
"
"
conceive of a louder, more terrible shriek, than arose from all sides dur
The shout of victory and the jubilee of
ing the burning of the temple.
the legions sounded through the wailings of the people upon the moun
and throughout the city. The echo from all the mountains around,
tain
even to Perea, increased the deafening roar. Yet the sight was equally
The mountain seemed as if enveloped to its base in one sheet
terrible.
of flame.
On the top the earth was nowhere visible. All was covered
with corpses
over these heaps the soldiers pursued the fugitives." The
same author gives the number of Jews slain at the siege of Jerusalem as
one million one hundred thousand
and the number sold into slavery
;
Jew, Josephus, a learned priest and Pharisee, who has described the
whole Jewish war at length in seven books, and who went through it
himself from beginning to end, at first as governor of Galilee, then as a
prisoner of Vespasian, finally as a companion of Titus and mediator
between the Romans and Jews, recognized in this tragical event a
divine
his
in sincere love
"I
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.
98.
with
from heaven.
fire
393
in
it,
was
far
whom
By
the truth of the word, and the divinity of the mission, of Jesus Christ,
the rejection of whom brought all this and the subsequent misfortune
"
royal
priesthood."
Judaism,
it,
can
of which were
to faith,
It
is
Judaism, and had more than once religiously visited the temple.
He wished not to appear as a revolutionist, nor to anticipate the natural
18 sqq.).
But
course of history, the ways of Providence (1 Cor. 7
self to
now
had thus
far
dwelt
rejected
doing cut the cords which had hitherto bound, and according
to the law of organic development necessarily bound, the infant church,
but
in so
covenant, and
to
Jerusalem as
it,
its
to the
centre.
at
crisis,
which the
as
Comp.
thevnd
II. p.
the excellent remarks of Dr. Richard Rothe (Die Anfange der Christ!. Kir
I. p.
394
ing
98.
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.
its
religious
[1.
forms,
BOOJi,
however,
The
It
now
all-sufficient prin
dency in a permanent organism to set forth alike the unity of the two
Testaments in diversity, and their diversity in unity and in this way to
;
99.
MISSIONS.]
CHAPTER
LIFE
99.
THE
V.
suc<
is
period
The apostle and evangelist, JOIIX, was the son of Zebedee, a Gali
His
lean fisherman, and Salome, and a brother of the elder James
was probably that of Peter, Andrew, and Philip, the fishing
3
His parents seem to have been not altogether
birth-place
town of Bethsaida.
without means.
His
20).
mother was one of the women who supported Jesus with their property 3
4
and purchased spices to embalm him.
John himself owned a house in
Jerusalem, into which he received the mother of the Lord after the
The seeds of piety were no doubt planted
crucifixion (Jno. 19
27).
:
sqq.).
when he hung on
1
From
Matt. 4:21.
Matt. 27
*Mk.
16
56.
1.
(Mk. 15
the cross
e
Mk.
Lu. 23
Mk.
10:2.
15
:
40
Like
"
40).
all
him even
19.
3:17.
Lu. 8
sq.
10:35.
Lu. 5
10.
Acts 12
2.
3.
55. 56.
According to the new interpretation of Jno. 19 25, presented with acuteness and
Studien und Kritiken," 1840, No. 3, p. 643 sqq., Salome
learning by Wieseler in the
:
"
would be the
"
his
mothers
Mary
sister of the
sifter"
Wieseler understands,
it
is
two
sister*
woulJ
396
99.
[l-
BOOK
more wholesome
far
it
exercise,
was with
all sorts
of dangerous
maxims.
In his youth he became a disciple of John the Baptist. For he is
undoubtedly the one not named of the two disciples of John, of whom
he himself speaks
the
ing for
in his
Hope
Gospel, 1
His susceptible
35 sqq.
soul,
long
of Israel,
God
in the earnest
dawn
preacher of repentance,
this
day
Andrew
to his
was part
of the
Thus
pation by Jesus to be one of his constant followers and apostles.
John is the representative of those disciples, who are gradually drawn
into fellowship with the Redeemer without any violent inward struggles
while the apostle Paul furnishes the most
or unusual outward changes
a
sudden
conversion.
The first mode of conversion
of
striking example
;
is
as
the other,
Mk.
own
mother,
who
is
known from
Matt. 27
56.
15
40. to
whom
Jesus
loved").
difficulties,
o-nd
#,
1
however, in the
way
of this
explanation.
p. 1 sqq.
Matt. 4
18 uqq.
Mk.
16 sqq.
Lu. 4
1-11.
99.
MISSIONS.]
39T
John, whose soul was formed for deep friendship aud ardent kve, waa
oue of the most confidential disciples of the Lord.
He, his brother
the
James, aud Simon Peter, were the chosen from among the chosen
They alone
holy triad, upon whom the Saviour bestowed special favor.
;
must be looked
this preference
partly in the
Lord
s sovereign choice,
Of James we
partly in the peculiar character of the three disciples.
know very little. He seems to have been of a quiet, earnest, meditative
turn,
and
in
for,
tolic
martyrs.
and
influence,
ardent, impetuous
deep, affectionate nature, which gave him his peculiar religious genius,
placed him above the two others, and made him the dearest of the
Saviour
privilege of leaning
nates himself as
whom
the disciple
Jesus
significant
his
grp.titude,
This
he desig
probably a
proper name, in which
loved."
is
John showed
his
to
fidelity
the
Lord
in the
hour of
his
suffering,
following him with Peter into the palace of the high-priest (Jno. 18
He was the only one of all the disciples, who attended the cru
19).
cifixion
and to him, as best fitted to take the place of her child,
Jesus committed His mother (19
He took Mary to his house
26).
till her death, which is said
and
her
tradition
to
(v. 27),
according
kept
;
by Nioephorus
1
Hence he
bosom, or as
is
styled
we would
John
"
He
lathers,
of Jesus.
Very
Augus
which he had
beautifully says
life,
For not without reason is it related of him in his own Gospel, that he lay on
bobom of the Lord at the supper also. From this bosom he quietly drank and
what he thus enjoyed in secret, he has given to the world to paitake
(Tract. 36, i
AMU.).
drunk
the
of"
13 :23.
Comp.
19
Jr.o.
26.
12
20
2.
41 with
Is.
21
6
7,20.
1.
308
100.
[I-
BOOK.
rection,
found
he
is
it
The former
remarkable.
in
and all-absorbed
in
ticularly restless
thinking of
it
;
his anxiety
pardon, plunges into the waves and swims to the feet of
2 sqq.).
So the con
Jesus on the shore, to reach him first (Jno. 21
for explicit
templative
busy
sister,
Mary
in
In the Acts of the Apostles John appears, next to Peter, as the most
important personage in the
tolic church.
By reason of
first
sqq.)
is
Sama
to confirm
consult with the elder apostles on the authority of the law of Moses.
Paul speaks of him and James and Peter as apostles of the circumcision,
and as
pillars
of the
church (Gal. 2
1-9).
Thus
far,
then,
John
Yet he
in
Paul nade
longer there, or
18)
and
for his
Jerusalem
Luke would
left
to his
was no
him (Acts 21
own
writings and
John afterwards
fixed the
permanent seat of
renowned
100.
MISSIONS.]
399
lation (1
11.
c.
&
it
Minor
The time
in general.
of his removal to
Grecian
that
3)
it
soil
For
Paul
Paul.
in
by himself (Acts 20
and build
post,
Where
ascertained.
own
led
structure
The vigorous
John
his
life
influence, clearly
purification,
the church
was
all
On
to overcome.
the one
On
tian churches.
hand the
false Gnosis, a
in
epistles
to
and
spirit of Pharisaical
in
in
Mv.
a-us
(;-ie
disciple of Polycaip.
Clemens Alex.,
in
esc.,
his
ami his
letter to
homily: quis
dives sulvetur,
c.
>
-1
of Ephesus at the close of the second century (in Euscb. V. 18.24, and III. 31) Origen,
Eusebius. &c.
Nothing but the crazy skepticism of the deist. Liitzelberger, could in
;
the face of
*
The
all this
1i<l
ed. p.
M sqq.
-rraptftVoc
anciently given
Comment,
s. d.
Br. Joh.
400
101.
BOOK
1.
1
of the
dangerous
errors,
in a
simply negative way, but positively also, by meeting with truth the real
wants from which they sprang. As a native of Palestine and formerly
one of the apostles of the Jews, he had the confidence of the Jewish
Christians
and
and
plasticity enabled
him
readily to
Paul
forms
of
Christianity,
apostolical
so far as
different
aspects of one and the same truth, he secured to the whole church of
Asia Minor that compact and well-fortified unity so needful to maintain
In
this
Banishment of John
to
Patmos.
in his
Gospel and
Epistles,
Domitian, to
the mysteries of the future.
Domitian succeeded
his
made a happy
He
assassination in 96.
his
pretexts,
when they
under
fell
phemy.
name
God
his
of God.
"
Suetonius
Domit.
c.
13
u
:
11
Dominus
fieri
jubet.
Pliny
Panegyr.
c.
52,
cf.
33.
Unde
aliter."
insti-
MISSIONS.]
401
Under his
his own
Christians suffered
reign
many
cousin, the
whom
he had nothing to
apprehend."
Under
this
Rev.
Jesus
"I
and
John,
And
Christ."
who
also
in the
that
it
was
in
The pagan
Dio Cassius
is
the almost
historian,
by Xiphilinus, 67, 14), says
same year Domitian put to death, besides many others, Flavius Clemens, of
consular dignity, though he was his cousin and married to Domitilla, who was likewise
"
In the
Both were charged with atheism. On this ground many others, who
away to the customs of the Jews (i. e. converts to Christianity), were
Some had to die others were deprived of their property. Domitilla
related to him.
had strayed
condemned.
By
atheism here
is
deities, the
Comp.
u
(
ubi
i.
e.
at
insulam
Rome
apost. Joh.,
posteaquam
in
nihil passus
by no
means improbable, considering the unnatural cruelties said by Tacitus and Juvenal to
have been inflicted on the Christians in the Neronian persecution. But as Tertullian is
est, in
relegatur)."
way
indeed, in itself
is,
is
made
by no one
else save
gerated stories.
3
At
on the Lord
me
is still
day
"
Morgenland,
II. p.
257
"
sq.
little
in the
aim;
it is
his sanctuary.
26
Its
lives."
403
101.
book
tents of the
The
itself,
oldest witness
ivith
by no means
BOOK
inconsistent.
who
who
Polyearp,
Jl.
is
great confidence, that the revelation was received not long before,
almost within the limits of his generation ; that is, towards the
tn fact
end of Domitian
With him
reign.
passages of his
apostle
Two
others.
So Jerome 3 and
earlier witnesses,
"
the
Both
Romans."
Nero
Roman
emperors Domi
Tacitus says of him, that he
labored
not only at intervals, by paroxysms, but systematically, to demolish the
6
To him Eusebius also referred the
commonwealth as at one blow."
"
the expression
tyrant
tian was the most arrant despot.
The
passage of Clement.
1
JLdv. hacr. V. 30
c%6ov
Guericke
Ov6e
uncritical
UQ
TT/JO
TT
p o c rai
which contrary
hypothesis,
"
to all
(TJ
is
the
first
uTTO
A o /a er tav ov d
rules of grammar would make Aoperiavov
T
e /.e
rrj c
advocated the true view), is utterly untenable in view even of the immediately pre
ceding context, which does not at all suit the time of Nero, who lived a full century
The absence of the article is
before Irenaeus wrote his work against the Gnostics.
not in the least against the word being a substantive since Eusebius. where he con
METU. rrjv
fessedly uses it for Domitian, likewise leaves out the article, H. E. III. 23
;
AoftETiavov
2
H. E.
So Philostratus
Te?.vr>
/v.
III.
18
"
to tradition, the
then surviving
14 Domitiani.
De vins
illustr. c. 9
"Johannes
Neronem
per-
mony comp.
Veil.
Joh.
1. p.
sq.,
who
against the
modern
the book
*
bellua,"
Paneg.
c.
48
MISSIONS.]
He
cf Claudius.
4:03
in
the reign
/On the other hand, the authority of Ewald, Liicke, and Neander in
modern times has given considerable popularity to the view, that the
is
Nero."
is the
Syriac translator of
appeal to tradition at all, and probably founds his statement merely on
In either case his authority bears no
his own view of the contents.
And in fact the
comparison with that of the much older Irenaeus.
account,
modern
They seem
of
Rome,
We
lation of the
o far as
it
opinions,
The
On
"vacil
"
Ver-
1
This was the opinion already of Herder (Maranatha, p. 207), who held the Apo
calypse to be genuine, but erroneously referred its contents to the destruction of Jeru
Of English theologians I see that Dr. Davidson, in his learned article on
salem.
"Revelation"
in Kitto s Cyrlopa-dia
ment
of
when
John
he says
The tradition of the early church in regard to the banish
neither consistent nor valuable; it will not stand the test of modern
"
is
criticism.
ch.
exceedingly
9, is
In the
title
"
that
it
was manufactured
solely from
probable."
Revelatio.
in
quam
N. T. I.
according to a Florentine MS. from the year 622 (comp. Hug s Einleit.
and De Wette s JEinl. ins N. T
11. o.)
and its isolated statement res
p. 353 sqq
;
pecting the date of the Apocalypse has, therefore, in reality no critical value at all.
Still less regard is due in this matter to Theophylact of the twelfth century.
He evi
dently confounds
two
In his
Commentary on John
Gospel,
he takes the Gospel of John (not the Apocalypse) to have been composed in the island
of Patmos thirty-two years after the ascension of Christ, therefore under Nero, whom
this
I
p.
How
Guericke then,
in
"
discriminating
critic,"
104
ously apply the
But
BOOK
101.
number 666)
is
[I-
infer
sect of the Nicolaitans, that the revelation could not have been written
local
occasion
Christians
the setting
fire
century
and
it
least there
upon the
is
we come
not the
in parti
no account, since he
his testimony is of
At
Finally,
we know nothing
in
of
other mat
Xero
hav
ing punished the Christians with banishment ; while Dio Cassius says
expressly, that Domitiau banished to Pandateria his relative, Flavia
of the above named Clemens (Eusebius says his
we suppose two women of this name\ on account of athe
unless
only
wrongs
itself
by thus
slighting the
and
the Close
of
his Life.
With the death of the tyrant, A. D. 96, the apostle, after perhaps a
year or more of exile, recovered his freedom. The successor of Domitian, the just and humane Nerva, the first of a series of good emperors,
recalled the exiles, according to Dio Cassius, and put an end to the mean
1
Against this comp. Dr. J. Chr. K. Hofmann s Weissagung und Erfi dlung (1841)
301 sqq.. and, for a detailed discussion, the Commentary of Hengstenberg and
the introduction to it, I. p. 21 sqq.
II. p.
"
tt fugat" ( Vit.
dgr.
c.
44).
JOHN
102.
MISSIONS.]
RETURN TO EPHESUS.
405
business of informers
To
life
to Ephesus,
Asia
in
till
One
is
faithfulness of the
esus, as
Clement
aged pastor.
3
John
to
Eph-
relates,
bloodthirsty violence.
to that
"
With
congregation."
the church, he
now
With
mountain."
loud cry the apostle rent his clothes, smote on his head, and exclaimed :
what a guardian I placed over the soul of my brother
Taking a
"
!"
Seized by
horse and a guide, he hurried to the retreat of the robbers.
the guard he made no attempt to escape, but begged to be brought to
the leader, who, on recognizing John, fled for shame.
The apostle, for
getting his age, pursued him with might and main, crying
child
child
Be
not afraid
will
Clemens Alex.
1.
c.,
Why
Thou
I will
Stop
and Euseb.
still
gladly,
if
hast hope of
To
life.
fleest
man
Pity me,
account to Christ for thee.
!
"
me."
church
Minor may no doubt refer the strange remark of Polycrates in Eusebius (v.
that John wore the petalon, the diadem of the Jewish high priest.
Perhaps he
of Asia
24),
was regarded
stance, that
that
tine s Soliloqttiit)
This
Quit dives
into a
talv. c. 42,
may
rest
and in Eus.
the
by Papias
on Mk. 16
title
III. 23:
Der
18,
(in
II. 42);
*irst
in
and
Augus
and Matt. 20
23.
gerettete J angling.
JOHN
102.
i06
These words were
like
down
stopped, threw
RETURN TO EPHESUS
[i.
BOOK.
He
it were,
The apostle
baptized himself a second time
that
had
assured him,
he
obtained forgiveness for him from the Saviour,
of repentance, as
fell
upon
his knees,
and kissed
He
his hand.
congregation, and there prayed earnestly with him and labored with him
in fasting, and exhorted him, till he was able to return him to the church
as an example of thorough conversion.
Another
is
Jerome
related by
in the course
"
if
one
love, love to
Him
and
command
the
is
command be
so.
Assuredly
obeyed."
and enough
For
as
God
is
done
himself
is
sum of religion
the law and the prophets, the bond of per-
to the brethren
fulfilling of
of the Lord,
is
fectness.
All the old accounts agree in the statement, that John lived down into
the reign of the emperor Trajan, who ascended the throne A. D. 98 ;
and that he died a natural death in Ephesus at the advanced age of
1
fell
asleep on the
bosom
of love.
what
22
misunderstanding of the
If I will that he tarry
"
I come,
is
that to thee
?"
was not
So Irenaeus, Eusebius, Jerome, and others. The latter (De vir. ill. c. 9) says of
Sub Nerva principe redit Ephesum, ibique usque ad Trajanum principem perseverans tolas Asiae fundavit rexitque ecclesias, et confectus senio anno sexagesimo oca*
1
John
(i.
e.
D. 100, as
When
est."
the Ephesian bishop, Polycrates. in Euseb. H. E. III. 31. V. 24, calls John
u
martyr,"
mediately follow
.,
to his
to
Patmos.
To
reconcile the
<5i6u
oil,
in
which the
apostle
showed the
John
im
7/caAof
above tradition
banishment
23.
harmless immer
disposition of a martyr,
and drank
it
in Tract.
MISSIONS.]
407
HIS LIFE.
certainly perpetuate his life and influence eternally, and the perfect
understanding of them seems to have a special connection with the
future,
as they
enly bridegroom
and prayer (Rev. 22 20)
;
come, Lord
"
103.
Character of John.
all
character.
Even so
Amen.
Jesus."
The
theoretical
and practical
his genius
talents,
and
history,
and
religioua
man
gives
vice of
heart.
trait of character,
however, is accompanied by
and
tendency,
corresponding
exposed to a particular abuse.
The apostle s contemplative turn, in a bad school, might easily have led
sinful
its
him
theistic
God s
heart,
and
his
purposes of love
to our
towards mankind.
course with the personal Truth, John became the corypheus of Christian
pre-emi
philosophers, a representative of divinely-inspired knowledge
He knew how to communicate in the most
nently the "Theologos."
;
simple, childlike dress the profoundest truths, which furnish the maturest
heights of heaven.
By
this significant
emblem would
him
the
flight,
the
into
bold
According to another legend (in Photius, Myriobibl. cod. 229, and in Pseudo-Hippolytus
DC consurnmatione mundi. comp. Lampe s Comment, in Evang. Jo. t. I. p. 98) John
:
was immediately raised again from the grave, translated like Enoch
and Elias. and with these saints of the old Testament will appear as the herald of tho
the
1
way
Ezek.
10),
Joannem
"
Quarta aquilae
(facies,
comp.
ad aJtiora festinaas d
i08
103.
In
his
/noble virtues,
/souls are
I
commonly
vanity.
Luke
inclined
like his
and
49, 50,
ML
colleagues, in
BO(K
(Mk. 10
CHAKACTEK OF JOHN.
itself in
38-40
post as
and
it
his
conduct recorded
his
prayer to the
Lord
in
for
Particularly impor
the incident related by Luke, c. 9
51-56. When the inhabi
tants of a Samaritan village refused to receive Jesus, the brothers, John
and James, broke forth in the angry words
Lord, wilt thou that we com
tant
is
"
mand
did
fire
?"
to
Here
is
revenge, which confounded the New Testament position with the Old,
and forgot that the Son of Man had come, not to destroy men s lives,
but to save them. From this, however, we see, that John by no means
had, as
is
always deep and strong, and might, therefore, easily turn into equally
for hatred is inverted love.
violent hatred
Probably the surname
"sons of thunder," which Jesus gave the sons of Zebedee
(Mk. 3 17),
;
it
inconsiderate zeal and carnal passion, and gave him a significant hint to
curb his natural disposition, and purge his ardor of all sinful admixtures.
But subjected
to
temper might,
like
"
one time destroys, at another purifies the air, and with its accompanying
All that was true and good, therefore, in
fructifies the earth.
1
showers
verbo Dei
disputat."
utra Joannes
v
;
"
"More
Quo nee
Evolavit
Numquam vidit
Purus
1
Tlc Greek
homo
tot secreta
purius."
w*
103.
MISSIONS.]
CHARACTER OF JOHN.
4:0$
Btance,
natural disposition was cleansed from all sinful passion, softened, and
In the Apocalypse the thunder
subservient to the will of God.
made
loud and mighty against the enemies of the Lord and his bride.
In the Gospel and Epistles, it is true, the gentle, quiet breexe prevails
rolls
Man
horror does the apostle speak of the traitor, and of the rising rage of
He represents the Lord as call
the Pharisees against their Messiah
murderous
the
who
had
Jews,
designs upon him, children of the
ing
!
every one
who
wilfully sins,
8).
How
earnestly
epistle, v.
all improbable in the narrative of Irenseus/ that when the aged apostle
once met the Gnostic errorist, Cerinthus, in a public bath, he immedi
ately left the place, saying, he feared the building might fall to pieces,
difficulty
reconciling these
It
both cases,
at one time embracing the divine, at another
only in opposite directions
as the same sun gives light and
repelling the ungodly and antichrist ian
itself in
warmth
to the living,
Mv.
We
Haer. III.
3.
Comp. Euseb.
III. 28.
and IV.
14.
who
is
and lenity towards different and even decidedly erroneous views of Christi
yet, against certain phenomena of our age, particularly the philosophy of
Hegel and his followers, he showed a repulsive severity and bitterness, and in hi
mvate intercourse with his pupils took every opportunity to warn them agai;.st tha
liberality
anity.
"
And
Moloch
of
modern
pantheism."
HO
CHARACTER OF JOHN.
103.
BOO
"
mistakes
towards
faults,
true
its
whom
his
may grow more and more lovely. The more glowing and
man s love to God, the more decided and inflexible will be
that he
unreserved a
If
of faith
Peter
made
is
for
is
find,
that with
glorified image of
their unity
all
God
in
very dif
meditative turn,
we
Peter,
ferent aspects.
izing
wickedness.
all
organ
John, with his pensive, profoundly
fitted for
we
find
above John
in
It
commanding energy.
is
apostles.
The
disciple
of love, in
for
As
his Gospel,
both
in
its
Ill
a
severing and reliable, because determined by momentary impressions
man of the present, ready for immediate speech and action. John is
melancholic, therefore not so quickly but all the more deeply moved,
;
little
con
cerned about the world without, lingering musingly in the past, a mas
Both disciples loved the Lord with all the
ter in knowledge and love.
heart, but, as Grotius finely remarks, Peter
(<t>i%6x?ioTof) ,
John
of Jesus
(fitonjaovf)
was more a
that
is,
friend of Christ
the other
loved the Saviour chiefly in his official, Messianic character
and
his
most
of
all
to
was attached
was, therefore, personally
person,
;
Then again,
nearer to him, being, so to speak, his bosom friend.
that
of
the latter
and
active
the
was
more
the love of
former
masculine,
still
virgin-like.
Lord
in the
John,
whom
in acting
in
Jesus loved.
Among
WRITINGS OF JOHN.
104.
MISSIONS.]
4:13
New
of the
plete
Lord
New
life.
John and Paul have depth of knowledge in common. They are the
two apostles who have left us the most complete systems of doctrine.
But they know in different ways. Paul, educated in the schools of the
an exceedingly acute thinker and an accomplished dialec
forth the doctrines of Christianity in a
tician.
systematic
scheme, proceeding from cause to effect, from the general to the par
ticular, from premise to conclusion, with logical clearness and precision.
Pharisees,
is
He
He
is
term.
sets
gazes with his whole soul upon the object before him, surveys all as in
one picture, and thus presents the profoundest truths as an eye-witness,
not by a course of logical demonstration, but immediately as they lie in
His knowledge of divine things is the deep insight
reality before him
of love, which ever fixes
points of the
itself at
the centre
He
circumference at once.
Both these
true mysticism.
speculative
analyzed
intuition.
eternal foundations of
is
in
is
thus
true theology
all
all
demands of
reason,
;
all
ings,
sentative
of Catholicism
the third, of
itself into
perfect harmony.
104.
The.
Writings of John.
more or
less to
"
104.
4:12
WRITINGS OF JOHN.
[I.
BOOK
heaven
was near
yet, like a
shut
departed
spirit,
ate and drank with his disciples, yet no longer needed earthly
The Johannean
food.
able to enter a
period, which
the death of
the two other leading apostles, that is, from the Neronian persecution,
A. D. 64, presupposes the activity of Peter and Paul, brings together
the results of their labors in a higher unity, and forms the transition to
the next age, in which the church is left more to herself to develop the
contents of revelation according to the laws of human nature.
The
theology of the second and third centuries does not work much with
Paul
The
fathers,
on the contrary, and the Catholic church, except the school of Augus
tine, leave
Reformation.
starts rather
from John
Logos and the divine human nature of the Redeemer, using them as its
weapons against the Gnostic errors, which afterwards grew into formal
systems and overspread all Christendom. Irenaeus and other church fathers
supposed, that John himself wrote against the Judaiziug Gnostics and
Docetists, particularly Cerinthus and the Nicolaitans (comp. Rev. 2
6,
:
20 20, 27,
polemical design, such passages, for instance, as 19 34.
may be satisfactorily explained otherwise. Unquestionably, however, is
:
all
JHSSIONS.
105.
or heathenism
for
it
life
418
and the cbjectiva
truth
In John
of Jesus Christ.
epistles
we
the Incarnation,
the
abiding
real,
humanity
in
in
By
this theory,
he virtually
tle
many
But
question.
105.
This most vivid and profound picture of the incarnate Son of God and
beamed from the servant form, full of grace and
is,
stop.
to fix the
date rnoi^
24.
8
Jno. 2
Iren.
4:3. 2 Jno. 7
Clemens Alex,
sqq.
in
Eus. VI.
14.
Eusebius himself,
III
was
still
remained some ruins of the gate, the use of the present tense
lufficiently accounted for
by the
may
in historical nairative is
representation.
Still
prophecy of the martyrdom of Peter, 21 19, imply that this apostle was still living;
while the succeeding verses, 20-23, point rather to a later time. On the other hand,
from such passages as 11
1.
19 41, where the evangelist speaks of .ocali18.
18
:
lies
((?v)
that he wrote
414
105.
The design
[l.
by the
BOOK
is
author,
to
John
tion
however, he alludes in
and transfiguration
c.
the mount, and the popular parables respecting the kingdom of God ;
the institution of baptism, the idea of which, however, is for the first
time set forth in the conversation with Nicodemus on regeneration by
is
Spirit, 3
merely
1 sqq.
touched (13
1 sqq.),
though
c.
Supper,
the only
15, as well as of the
affords
it
mystic language respecting the eating and drinking of the flesh and
51-58 ; and the ascension (comp. 20
blood of Christ, c. 6
11).
In place of these John gives us the two greatest miracles, the turning
:
of water into wine and the raising of Lazarus, along with the most pro
found discourses of the Saviour, especially his parting address *and
mediatorial prayer (c. 13-17), not to be found in the three preceding
We
This idea
at once contradicted
is
with them
by
though
his
serves as a valuable
complete whole in
His work
is
all
in
common
itself.
John wrought on a
In the
first
place, the
ia
very clear
this
book
all
after the
thing no longer
is.
year 70
The
but such a
latest limit
"was"
seems
Apocalypse (95
not indeed because, as almost all expositors down to Bengel suppose, the Apoca
whole economy of the
2, refers to the written Gospel, but because the
lypse, c. 1
Holy Scriptures seems to require, that the Revelation, the seal of the apostolic litera
or 96)
ture,
eh mid be composed
last.
mentioned
in all
be intended
12
dedication (10
(i
e.
22)
41
13.
1) four passovers (2
one feast of tabernacles (7
in
13:1),
1.
105.
MISSIONS.]
5:1.
:
2),
6:4.
Purim
11
55.
his
disciples.
Espe
may we
Jews
down
cially
tingly
and to accomplish
ciple of all
revelation, of all
may be
itself
part of what
is
in
and
light
or, if
life
in
The history
make a separate
humanity.
we choose
to
(a)
salem, the
5-10
woman
of Samaria,
of the
chapters
unbelieving
c. 11 records
Jews
(oi
lovtiaioi]
to Jesus,
till
it
44-50).
1 sqq.
(c)
Jesus
This
mediatorial intercession, and his inward glorification (c. 13-17;.
the
inmost
and
fourth
the
of
section is the peculiar ornament
Gospel,
the holy sorrow of eternal
sanctuary of the history of Jesus, where
the
to
Love as it addresses itself
great sacrifice, and the silent breath
from
the laud
of peace,
so
indescribably
charm
us.
(d}
The A*
106.
416
[l-
BOOK
of
as the
his
the.
appearances
sin,
Thomas
of
"
My
!"
ID
(c. 18-20).
he gives his disciples a pledge
In the enthusiastic exclamation
is
106.
The
epistles of
The
"
little children."
cation.
churches of Asia Minor (comp. Rev. 2 and 3), which were already well
versed in the faith, built on the golden foundation of Paul s doctrine
of grace, and therefore not exposed, indeed, to the gross, sensuous errors
of Judaism and heathenism, but perhaps, instead of these, to a refined
who denied
humanity
"antichrists
in Jesus Christ
it,
106.
417
He
Judaizers.
profound discernment
Christian principle.
forth the
positive truth.
is
faith in the
the love of
God and of
the
brethren,
founded on living
Jesus Christ (unio mystica), and the union of believers with one another
(communio sanctorum). The latter is rooted in the former, and is its
the two are the marks of regeneration and adoption,
necessary product
and are inseparable from the keeping of the commandments of God,
;
from a holy walk in the light after the example of Christ, as well as
from true joy and the possession of the eternal life, which the incarnate
Logos has brought into the world, and which he alone can give. These
few thoughts, clothed in the simplest words, contain the sum of Christian
In striking accord
morality and describe the inmost essence of piety.
ance with this is the above-mention^ narrative of Jerome about the
flowing along with the easiest words, but the most profound
third
meaning."
Paul
epistle
all
earnestly against
1 Jno.
2:18
brevity,
his
sqq.
4:3;
expectation of
soon
visiting
her.
errorists
close, in
The
attacked in
apology for
third
his
epistle
is
us, for
his
am-
This word denotes the inward, eternal nature of the church, of the iKK/.rjaia,
The temporal form,
latter term John uses only in the third epistle, v. 6, 9, 10.
which
27
418
bitious
THE APOCALYPSE.
107.
and uncharitable
disposition.
recommendation
letter of
for
BOO*,
|l
after
v.
6 were
In these two epistles the author calls himself neither an apostle nof
but
nor, indeed, does he so style himself anywhere,
an evangelist,
(1 Pet. 5
what
1), or
(like KQa(3vTi]s,
more
is
Philem.
Peter
calls
v. 9).
himself
At any
rate
it
great age
is
in
man
very possible
Asia Minor.
1
"
presbyter
in years
"co-presbyter"
distinct
John,"
in
10, 11,
is
of
John (comp.
is
v,potition,
107.
The Apocalypse.
trolling
till
That
this
is
indicated by its position at the close, and as the seal of the canon ; by
the whole character of its contents, which have to do with the future
1
At
John
u the
old
man"
called
is
(6 yepwv)
I.
Yet Irenaeus
13,
first
and
epistle of
Comp.
*
On
cites the
III. 16);
2nd
epistle, v. 11, as a
work
John
"
the
greater"
this question
(Strom.
Jno. 2
comp. Lucke
7, 8.
II. 15)
known
it,
2, 3.
p.
(Mv.
fiaer
329 qq.
THE APOCALYPSE.
107.
4ISSIONS.J
all
things
419
reliab.e tradition,
which places the banishment to Patmos and the seeing of this vision at
the close of the reign of Domitian (f A. D. 96), therefore in the last
vears of John
s life
"
(comp.
101).
composition was undoubtedly Patmos.
I was in the isle that is called Patmos," 1
The place of
expression
indeed, have inferred, that John,
:
From
its
when he wrote
the book,
the
9, many,
was no longer
:
is
2,
So
critical.
far,
ia
concerned, this book fares as well as any other, and better than most of
the New Testament writings.
The tradition in favor of its being the
work of the beloved disciple reaches back to Justin Martyr, who wrote
in
Ephe
sus.
By
because
prophetical,"
who
"his
it
who would
proof, for
is
it
who
;"
at the
"
From
"
itself to
the Apocalypse
it;"
we
by Zwingle,
will derive no
pel as incontrovertible.
just the reverse.
gether
of
it
second
"
site results,
should
which
make
its
ia
it,
and
420
THE APOCALYPSE.
107.
[*
"
to favor,
sympathy whatever.
Then again, we have an
explicit
which leaves us no other alternative but to take the book as the work
But
While
against the latter all sound, moral and religious feeling revolts.
in the fourth Gospel the author speaks of himself only in the third per
son and by circumlocution, in the Apocalypse he more than once calls
22 8), because he here ap
himself expressly "John" (1:1, 4, 9.
in
a
and
the
Old
as
Testament
no anonymous prophecies
prophet
pears
:
occur
8:1.
9:2.
True, he does
10:2).
place,
his
write in such a tone and with such earnestness and severity of rebuke
Any other John, thus writing, would have come into evident conflict
jidv. Haer.
dition on the
V. 30.
Euseb. V.
point in hand
may
(1851)
"
In the
ifj.a.Q-v<)riae
2,
many
"
also be referred, as
borne
record," may
by Bengel and Hengstenberg (Comment. I
word of God/
p. 69), to the time of reading (comp. lyycipa, Philem. v. 19), and the
fcc., in view of tb
explanatory uaa d&c. to the succeeding visions of the book.
;
it is
*IS8 O.VS.J
THE APOCALYPSE.
107.
421
enter more minutely into the proof of his divine mission, if iuch he
really had, before he could obtain a hearing or secure himsel. from ridi
cule, since
John (3 Jno.
By
On these grounds we must affirm, that the hypothesis first hinted at by Dionysim
of Alexandria, the spiritualistic and anti-chiliastic disciple of the great Origen, and
even by such distinguished scholars as Bleek, De Wette (in the
Einleitung in a N. T.), Credner, and Neander (who, however,
latterly advocated
does not give a definite decision) making the Ephesian presbyter, John (afterwards con
founded with the apostle), the probable author of the Apocalypse, contradicts the
clearest exegetical evidence
as also Dr. Lacke concedes (1. c. p. 239 sqq.), and De
,
Wette
wise
EM.
in his
Commcntar
i tber
John
p. 20G, in
rests not
p.
Indeed, there
die jJpok.).
is
presbyter and
obscure
room even
to inquire,
whe
s N. T., I. p.
notwithstanding what Lucke (1. c. p. 396 sqq.l and Credner (Einleit.
694 sqq.) have said in its favor, this man s existence seems very doubtful. The only
proper, original testimony for it is, as is well known, an obscure passage of Papias in
Euseb.
III.
39
"When
(wc),
Peter had
said, or
met any
who
one,
(7rpe<7/3iirt
what
Philip, or
would certainly
But
Credner, and others, that there were two Johns, both personal disciples of Jesus.
it is very possible, that a man like Papias, whom the mild Eusebius calls, in spite of
i;
his venerabieness, a
repeated his
in
Irensciis. at least,
apostle
The arguments
the following
(1) The
but denotes age, including the
idea of venerabieness. as also Credner supposes (697), and as may be inferred from
2 Jno- 1 and 3 Jno. 1, and from the usage of Irenaeus. who applies the same term to
(jldv.haer. V. 33).
term
is
presbyter
"
This being
we
so,
cannot conceive
official
and to the
how
title,
Roman
name, should be distinguished from the apostle by this standing title, since the apostle
himself had attained an unusual age. and was probably even sixty when he came to
\sia Minor. (2) Papias in the same passage styles the other apostles also
presby"
..ers,"
(personal)
elder"
disciples of the
(2 Jno.
named by
his
and 3 Jno-
1
li
1)
and on
Lord."
which
little children," as
it
John
"the
(3)
The
he Jikes to
call his
he was frequently so
first epistle.
For
readers in his
would have been altogether unsuitable and could only have created
by this title another John, who lived with the apostle and under
confusion, to denote
him
in
Ephesus.
Credner supposes, indeed, that these two epistles came not from the
But it it
fiom the
presbyter John" in question.
evident at
first sight,
that
more
akin, even
in their language,
107.
THE APOCALYPSE.
[l.
BO1K
the
sessions.
critical difficulties,
which modern
has also in
it
many
ence in matter and form, and seems to leave no alternative but to deny
either the Apocalypse or the Gospel and epistles to this apostle.
Here,
if
anywhere
doubt may
The
difference
may be reduced
to three
is
much
purer,
style; the
in
lovely tranquillity.
(2)
The
The writer
psychological temper and the whole tone of the author.
of the Apocalypse shows an exceedingly vivid imagination, moving along
down
calling
fire
54-56).
The
the
first epistle,
3.
2 Jno. 9 with
ing
them genuine.
modated himself
to the apostle s
arbitrary assumption,
apostle
"altogether
way
Jno. 2
on the
7, 8.
4:2,
unnatural and
evangelist,
in
inadmissible" (p.
makes an
entirely
(4)
The Ephesian
bishop,
Polycrates, of the second century, in his letter to Victor, bishop of Rome, on the
Paschal controversy (in Euseb V. 24) mentions but one John, though he there enume
,
a~oi%ia of the Asian church. Philip with his pious daughters, Polycarp. Thraseas, Sagaris, Papirius, Melito, most of whom were not so important as the
presbyter John must have been, if he were a personal disciple of the Lord and the
rates the yueva?i.a
was
We
many
it
"
which again makes this whole story doubtful, and destroys its character
as a historic*! testimony in favor of this obscure
presbyter.
vh.
ill. c.
9)
THE APOCALYPSE.
107.
MISSIONS.]
423
peace
disciple
who
bosom of the
the other, starting from the most profound and sublime view of the in
carnate Word, he sets forth Christianity in its specific character as an
independent, new creation, though at the same time the fulfillment and
climax of all previous revelations.
Many scholars think this difference sufficiently explained by the sim
of
is
manifestly
at that time
(A. D. 69) at least the age of sixty, and after that period style, tem
perament, and religious views do not usually undergo any material
Nor can it be conceived why he should have learned his Greek
change.
Asia Minor, while this language was so universally known, and
used
was
by James, for instance, with much skill and comparative
was never out of Palestine. In fact, the
purity, though he perhaps
first in
Hebraisms and
irregularities are
in
We have, however, already observed, 103, that the apostle John shows also ex
treme severity in his judgment of everything ungodly, and that this hatred of Anti
1
christ
is
2:4,9,18,22.
8, IT).
comp. especially
Jno.
the Greeks,
if it
Dialogns de Oratoribus and the Annales of Tacitus; between the Leges and the earlier
&c. This catalogue may be
dialogues of Plato; the sermons and the satires of Swift,
easily increased from
the history of
modern
Hegel
the
first
literature.
Reden
Faust
Carlyle
L.
c. D.
This
is
p. 4-18 sqq.,
2nd
ed.
1:4:
ATTC)
6 Jv *oi 6
fjv
KO)
torical
THE APOCALYPSE.
107.
4:24
and poetical
Testament idiom
in
1.
1
BOOH
New
Gospel of John far more than even in Paul s epistles, on the basis of
Hebrew, as the New Covenant itself rests on the Old.
the
We
ferent mental state of the writer, who, in producing the Apocalypse, was
not under the influence of the ordinary, reflecting, self-controlling con
1
sciousness (iwoi), but in a spiritual ecstasy (tv irvevpari), and was, far
more than the author of any other Xew Testament book, a mere passive
and, on the
organ, an amanuensis, so to speak, of the Holy Ghost
other hand, in the peculiarity of his subject, for which the figurative lan
guage of Old Testament prophecy, especially of Ezekiel, Daniel, and
:
Zechariah, was
alone
fitted
for
this
of literature
sort
The task
was wholly
of the prophet
is
very different, both in matter and form, from that of the historian and
letter-writer.
full-toned, strong
he
and universally
simple, precise,
for instance,
expressions
Thus the
intelligible.
in
mere
style
of Isaiah,
historical narrative,
and when
We
have examples,
almost
in fact, of versatile
cultivated nations.
all
case,
The
difference be
tween the book of Revelation and the other writings of John, has been
With it all, there appears a striking affinity
manifoldly exaggerated.
single expres
this,
we have
but to refer the attentive reader particularly to the lyric parts of the
for
this is
no doubt a circumlocution
name Jehovah
(comp. Ex. 3
14),
The
Hebrew
1
He
prophets.
Comp.
Cor. 14
author
soul
241
often industriously
it.
made
to deviate
he breaks with
:
The
p.
is
10.
it.
He
struggle!
THE APOCALYPSE.
107.
MISSIONS.]
42
the sphere
into
17, 20.
Truly
in
of
the
elevation
the
John-like, too,
Christianity
Apocalypse above
all Jewish exclusiveness, and the conception of it as a living power,
determining and controlling the history of the world from beginning to
:
is
end
and, above
all,
whom
the
divine worship on the part of angels and the whole creation, the Ruler
2
atoning blood.
(Rev. 19
13.
New
1:17.
8 sqq.
8 sqq.
9 sqq.
14
sqq.
15
3 sqq.
of a Johannean type of doctrine, as the epistle to the Hebrews, while it cannot have
come from the apostle Paul, betrays the hand of a man who proceeded from the com
pany of
this
spiritualization (?)
II. p.
apostle."
373 sq.)
"It
all
difference,
the
not a few points of resemblance, in language, style and matter, so as to make one
think that the author of the Gospel had read the Apocalypse, and, to give his pro
duction a Johannean coloring, had purposely copied from it many expressions and
Different as the Gospel certainly is from the Apocalypse, yet it is related
ideas.
to it, on the other hand, as the fruit to the root, as the close of a process of develop
.
ment
to its
beginning."
latter s
life-time,
by the hypothesis,
that a friend
book from the oral communications of the apostle himself respecting the visions re
vealed to him, adhering as much as possible to h-s style of language and thought, and
putting them into his mouth as by mimicry, so as to have the apostle appear as the
author, while he
lit ed.).
was
But this
artificial
hypothesis
is
only a
(1. c. p.
390 sqq:
embarrassment
426
THE APOCALYPSE.
10T.
tolical authors,
evangelist
BOOK.
[I-
not even
tl 9
hint
less
Still
most learned, and the ingenuity of the most ingenious, could certainly
not have remained utterly unknown he must have been a very promi
nent actor in history.
;
Finally,
as the Apocalypse
demands John
John seems
to
so,
con
revelation
dom
of
God by
infallible organs, as
certainly as this
kingdom has
its
into
who
fall
who
testimony to support
it, it
fact,
moment be thought
cannot for a
that John,
draws an impassable
line
between truth and falsehood, would have let such a pious fraud, perpetrated at his side,
go uncensured, and would have perfectly concealed his true relation to these most im
Gieseler, on the contrary, a rationalistic scholar indeed, but impartial
portant visions.
him some
to
and
thirty years
this disclaimer
insurmountable
1
For
3),
him
to be
Note
8)
"I
cannot bring
my
to us
from the
circle of his
it.
disciples
through Irenaeus
And
I. 1,
The
difficulties,
its way.
which might be cited here, is not parallel.
book does not name himself at all; wherea*
author of that
the author of the Revelation designates himself explicitly as John, and appears as
known
to us. as
And
who may
men
of Paul
school,
epistle.
2
This point has been more fully discussed with poetical freshness and great inge
Ueber den unaufioslichcn
nuity by Dr. John I eter Lange, in the attractive article
Zutammenhang zwischen der Individualitat des jlpostels Johannes und der Individuality,
:
"
Vermisckte
Schriften,"
p.
173-231
108.
KISSIOXS.]
42
certainly as
life.
And now
that disciple
favored in a peculiar degree with the gift of intuition and profound con
templation who drank in adoring reverence and love at the fountain
;
of the theanthropic
the
Head
life,
of the church
special confidence of
Redeemer
the dying
as the
guardian of his bereaved mother, and thus, in some sense, His represen
tative
most of
was best
sacred records.
was by his
and experience, pre
apostle of completion,
his position
life
rejuvenated apostle simply placed the majestic dome upon the wonder
ful structure of his Gospel, with the golden inscription of holy
longing
"
Even
so come,
!"
108.
"We
Lord Jesus
churches
The theatre
of
Christian
life
John
Seat of Christianity
westward,
later
was Jerusalem
The seven
epistles in the
At
then Antioch
second century
ecclesiastical
first
the principal
thence
it
moved
movements
first
through
much
it
alike
century
primarily
of the
church
their
plan,
of
These
Asia Minor,
but
108.
i28
what was
was said
said to them,
at the
[l.
BOOK
This
.:hes.
may be
(J) an
"
an
ear, let
3:5
29.
the
first
12
sq.,
21
three epistles (2
churches" (2
26the same in the reverse order as in
sq.), or
11, 17).
7,
seven churches into two groups, one comprising the first three, the other
the remaining four, just as the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the
The
an
ear,"
&c.,
ever-recurring admonition
consists of ten
This
words.
is
"
He
that hath
of course no unmeaning
play,
four (as also twelve, their product), the symbol of the indissoluble cove
nant between
fall,
we
Smyrna, or Izmir, as the Turks call it, has at present some 130,000 inhabitants, of
more than 20,000 are Greek and Armenian Christians. It is also the centre of
whom
the
3.
MISSIONS.]
429
and
tribulations
spiritually flourishing
and
hostility it
heaven.
2.
in
we
and
evil
(3
15).
Here accord
severe
find
a predominantly
repentance.
the time of Croesus, the flourishing capital of
the Lydian empire, but now a miserable hamlet of shepherds, had indeed
the name and outward form of Christianity, but not its inward power
ingly
The church
at Sardis,
and
of faith
life.
the epistle, 3
till
Hence
sq.,
it
Yet
spiritual death.
which had kept their walk undefiled, without, however, breaking away
from the congregation as separatists, and in modern style setting up an
opposition
will
ing.)
in
my
mouth."
love,
sq.).
3.
Those of a mixed character, viz., the churches of Ephesus (2:2Pergamus (13-15), and Thyatira (v. 19). In these cases com
4, 6),
had
lost
the
ardor of
its
first
love,
and
it
is,
therefore, earnestly ex
horted to repent.
and other old witnesses, he was appointed bishop of this church by the apostles par
ticularlj by John.
i30
108.
Ephesus
is
The
epistle
[i.
BOOK
to
discipline, she
also
is
called on
flourishing manufacturing
The church
to repent.
and commercial
city in Lydia,
of Thyatira, a
on the
site of
which now stands a considerable town called Ak-Hissar, was very favor
ably distinguished for self-denying, active love and patience, but was
likewise too indulgent towards errors which corrupted Christianity with
heathen principles and practices. The last two churches, especially that
of Thyatira, form thus the exact counterpart to that of Ephesus, and
are
the representatives
theoretical
of a
latitudinarianism.
truly sound
and
and
zealous
As
is
flourishing, in
love, theoretical
practical
piety
in
union
with
"
There
is
do not present a sample, and for which they do not give suitable
and wholesome direction." Here, as everywhere, the word of God and
epistles
the history of the apostolic church evince their applicability to all times
and circumstances, and their inexhaustible fullness of instruction, warn
ing,
and encouragement
and stages of
religious
life.
SECOND BOOK
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
CHAPTEK
I.
we apply
IF
New
The
to Christianity
the
Creation.
maxim
"
By
their fruits ye
shall
know them," if we judge of its origin and character by its moral effects,
we find it not only the purest and best of all religions, but absolutely
and perfect
It
religion.
whom we
by
essence
of
human
all
We
passions.
discover, indeed,
in
Confucius,
single
They
day.
ness,
1
of
and
They
vital energy.
Action
is
make
where he
Life
aspects, as the
Roman
character
is
qualis futurus
which
himself by suffering,
trast
whom
sit. si
(Jdi/cof), Politia,
While the
28
E.
t<:
109.
i-34
["
BOOK.
life.
On far higher ground stands Judaism, which is
not the offspring of unaided, erratic fancy and speculation, but a divine
revelation, and has constantly in view the glory of God and the holiness
Yet
of man.
Him who
for
it is
has
fulfilled
the ideal of holy love, reconciled man with God, and thereby opened the
The law demands the gospel gives.
only pure fountain of true virtue.
;
is
a mirror of
is
God
its
promises
commands, which
is
duty
s
with
possible only
in
by the
remedy for the disease of sin, and brings us into living communion
God and into the element of disinterested love to God and man, in
ration by the
consists.
reality,
Without regene
nothing more than
less
selfish
Christianity, therefore,
is
literally a
bondage of
pearance
new moral
its
creation, not,
however,
sin
through all its pains and moral conflicts. He must perfectly overcome,
without once for a moment giving way, the temptation to evil from
as ^Eschylus says, to be good, rather than to appear good
rtjf fj.e-ylcTr]f
be shaken by
Rtant until death
to
he
is
ill
having endured
all, this
that he
may
a man.
who
"
without doing
just."
crucified,
<16iKiaf).
all
description, in the
first
place,
never
rises
post"
(p. 361.
E. ed. Bip.).
But
after
world.
1
CoL
17.
Heb. 10
1.
109.
-IPS.]
without, which, as
the
assailed
it
NEW
THE
Adam,
first
so
must
aiso
He had
for
435
CREATION.
assail him,
to maintain, in the
hickening conflict with the earthly and hellish kingdom of darkness, hia
obedience to God and his love to man, even to the sacrifice of his owu
In this
life.
and
realize in his
are conscious that that influence proceeds not from their own nature,
nor from another man, but from the person of Christ.
His sublime
His life, as por
moral teaching is but the reflection of his character.
has since
it
lain, as
all
realities, at
the
to
and satisfying
divine
in
a word,
it
is
one
devotion to
sions of the
same inward
purest love to
The
Christology of the
its
suscepti
principle
church
natures in the
Redeemer
the theological
way
as
its
result
in
its
at the
its
its
development, as a
necessary complement.
These two processes
deification of man.
perpetually growing incarnation of God
condition each other, and are simultaneously completed, since they are one (not iden
progress,
<ni/l
Just so far as the divine forms itself in the various stages and conditions of
tical).
human
is
deified,
and
vice versa.
The
through the Holy Ghost into the womb of the virgin, in whom the religious suscep
the exal
its maturity, is the beginning,
tibility of the whole human family reached
tation of the human nature, thus forever, yet without confusion, united with the Logos
to the right
is
world,
has become
ne be
!Ieb. 5
the end,
what he
by a moral and
religious process,
8.
we
Adam.
government
Only
by the activity of
are to follow.
of ttie
so far as
He
Comp. Lu. 2
52
136
Where
ness,
in
the universe
is
BOOR
fn.
hatred of
sin
so
and harmonious
BO symmetrical
CREATION.
NEW
THE
109.
so
starry heavens above us and the moral law within us, which filled even
the prosaic philosopher, Kant, with ever-growing admiration and awe.
Here is the
holy of holies" of history, which infidelity itself, if it
"
Here
venture to violate.
is
of our race have bathed and purified themselves, have renewed their
youth and been inspired for every great and good work.
Here
the
is
man, nay, all certitude itself. Here is the only sure refuge of the
weary and heavy-laden and such are all who know themselves where
they find rest and refreshment, and soon learn to exclaim with Peter :
"
whom
Lord, to
shall
we go
Thou hast
life
!"
to be branded and
the childlike Claudius,
bear," says
broken on the wheel for the mere idea" (how much more for the living,
"
One could
"
bodily reality?), "and he must be crazy who can think of mocking and
laughing at it. He, who has his heart in the right place, lies in the
dust, exults,
By
His
and
adores."
sinless life,
by His
on the cross
in
our stead and for our good, and by His triumph over death and the
atonement and redemption for
grave, Christ has wrought out a complete
the head of a new moral and
and
founder
the
and
has
become
humanity,
kingdom
is
perfection.
If,
still
imperfection,
sin,
and error
in
is
nature.
Every believer
perversity of human
cleaves to him, it is purely his own fault.
far as he lives in Christ, he is a new creature ; old things have
kingdom, but
must admit, that,
So
in
in the
if evil
all
still
has become
n:w
(2 Cor. 5
17).
Again,
this
THE APOSTLES
110.
..IFE.J
work of Christ
is
43"
As
extent.
its
it
tou ,hea
resting not
till it
till
all sciences, arts, states, and social
freedom
serve
the Lord
till even the
happy
body is
nature regenerated and transformed into the theatre of the
institutions, in
all
glorified,
made
in
all
For Christ
all.
is
1
king,"
of
and
run through
third
and
all
centuries
on the one
is,
and
nations,
influences, which,
ever-present energy of
and
will
its
creation.
last
it
all
the natural
We
the
are
now
to
observe
how
life.
110.
The Apostles.
When we
upon
their
own
age, but
we are irresistibly
succeeding history of the church and the world,
overwhelmed witli the impression of a power, a purity, and a sublimity,
which far transcend the sphere of mere natural
the
greatest
heroes of heathendom
vanish
will,
like
shadows.
Here we
Words
of Dr. R. Rothe in
Kihik. 184f
"
Comp.
p. xiii.
6 above.
the preface
to the
first
volume of
his
TheologiKh*
HO.
J:38
L- BOOK
TE E APOSTLES.
sinless
life
live ;
say with Paul
the flesh, a slave of sin and of the
They can
of the Redeemer.
all
Their piety
20).
is
"I
thus a real
souls by the
individual peculiarities.
No
But
personal distinction.
neither
was
this union,
feeling,
and aim,
like that,
of life, which extended to the whole man, beginning in the inmost soul
and ending with the resurrection of the body (2 Cor. 3 18. Phil. 3
a communion of life, which, according to the sublime represen
24)
:
the relation of body and soul, members and head, wife and husband,
Christ is not only the progenitor of the life of
Adam
"quickening
spirit"
Comp. Jno.
Gal. 2
20
sq.
moment
51-58.
Eph.
22
15
sq.
life.
On him
Rom. 8
15 sq.
9-11.
22-23-
Cor. 6
Col.
17.
18, 24.
12
2
14-27.
19.
3 sq., and many other passages, especially Paul s perpetually recurring phrases,
the Lord,"
in Christ," where the lv should not be taken instrumental!} and con
"in
"
founded with 6iu. but as denoting the sphere of life, the element, in which believers
move, and in which all their moral relations, their duties as parents and children, bus-
band and wife, masters and servants, rulers and subjects, &c., have their foundation mid
their significance.
THE APOSTLES.
110.
439
from him they are perpetually inspired anew for word and deed.
Without me ye can do nothing."
5
15
14
19.
Jno.
"
tles
on Him, yet at the same time truly free. In relation to the church,
however, it was original, welling up in uncommon freshness and purity,
the most vigorous and unadulterated continuation of the earthly human
a life of love, of unconditional devotion to God
life of Jesus himself
;
specific
distinction
for
faith, the
Ghost, through
to the
Redeemer.
But
is
fathers, or reformers.
The mode
life
for to
varied in the apostles according to their individual peculiarities
these God condescends to accommodate himself in His revelations.
;
in
calculations,
and
its
yet, at the
human
But we may
legitimately extend
the comparison
and rapidity with which the Spirit
one time blows a hurricane amidst light
operates.
For
as the wind at
trees,
He
proud,
child.
pectedly, like a
dew
Upon
a Paul
thunder-storm
He
upon a John
He
Yet even
falls
like
the gentle
the
;
1
life.
in
way not
clearly discernible
Comp. Neander
Qekthmng,
in his
s fine article
gifts, faculties,
Klcinen Gtlegenheitt$chriften.
Werkeda
110.
440
THE APOSTLES.
[n.
constituent
element
human
of
attracts,
is
nature, as
it
originally
was,
BOOK
not a
but an
by
always
denial of
man
Pelagiauism
extreme of
their peculiar
Accordingly we find in the apostles, in point of fact,
but raised
after
and
conversion,
capacities remaining
temperaments
from the sphere of nature into that of Spirit, from the service of self
how
church
may
How much
among them!
his Christ.
the diversity
alike
The
great
yet
well be compared to a garden variegated with flowers of
particular
grace
the
and falsehood, the Spirit of Christ and the spirit of the world,
But the inconsiderate
children of God and the children of the devil.
vehemence of passion, in which he once rashly proposed to call down
conformed
fire from heaven, he had laid aside, and had become wholly
In his character there was a rare blending,
of his Master.
to the
spirit
of the
by no means unaccountable, however, on psychological principles,
tender
most ardent love with the holiest severity, an almost maidenly
2
this apostl*
Of
441
THE APOSTLES.
110.
LIF.]
representation
it hii
in fact, this
apostle
numerous epistles and in
In him the trans10).
labored more than all the others (1 Cor. 15
was most abrupt, and therefore most
ition from the old life to the new
;
striking.
Indeed he
the
8), to denote
calls himself
violent, irregular
mode
of his conversion.
Cor. 15
Yet
his
energy
rene.
persecutes
fied,
full
How entirely
sect.
to root out there also,
possible, the dangerous
the
transformed
which
event
wonderful
the
different his conduct after
most
the
into
cruel
the
persecutor
cursing Saul into the praying Paul,
All those gifts of
laborious and efficient advocate of Christianity
in the service of a
destruction
been
dealing
nature, which have hitherto
are consecrated
and
the
of
Holy Ghost,
blind fanaticism, become gifts
he thenceforth
whom
Christ
of
crucified,
to the most faithful service
true Saviour
the
as
but
the
of
Messiahship,
regards not as an usurper
The
and
wisdom
his
strength.
only
of the world, and as his highest,
if
rigor, not,
of a
Rabbin
of Gamaliel
school, no longer
from
his
THE APOSTLES.
110.
14-2
["
BOOK
and
and
thirst, chains
God
of
is
magnified
in his
all his
weakness, in
in
;
tfl
Indeed
it
seems inconceiv
such a
thoroughly studying
life,
can for a
moment doubt
it is
For Paul, though he was once caught up into the third heaven and
heard unutterable words, was anything rather than a dreamer and a
He
visionary.
and
self-control in all
the
circumstances of his
life.
In general, we
observe in
all
fullness of heart
The
and
discretion, vivacity
and calmness.
many been
characterized according
to
predominantly
coincide
legal,
their
Yet
the
two
common
anthropological starting-point,
remarkably
1
as also in their spiritualized conception of the law and of righteousness.
Ullman (Die Sundlosigkeit Jesu, p. 46, 5th ed.) justly observes, that in Jesus we
can speak of no temperament at all as this always denotes a certain disproportion in
In
the combination of mental faculties, the preponderance of one class of talents.
1
"
Him we
only the purest temperamentum in the old sense of the word, a mixture
harmonious throughout, the proper, healthy proportion of all faculties and talents."
The same is true of the apostles, only in a less degree, so far as they approach this
find
piittern.
"
As Ncander
shown
in his article
Dii
Peter
443
THE FAMILY.
111.
LIFB.J
is
wardly active
ual, while
James preaches
the latter shows equal zeal for a holy walk.
Peter, the confessing
Paul, the justifying ;
faith
chiefly the acting
It
is
same
James makes
love the
sist in fulfilling
the
pens from experience the most beautiful and sublime eulogy, and in
it Peter faithfully followed the Lord, even to the death of the cross.
And
the Messianic promises, while all the other apostles, John among the
rest, who most anticipates the ideal future, agree with him, that we are
here
"
it
"
saved
in
that
hope,"
"
we walk by
faith,
not by
sight,"
and that
be."
instruction, encouragement,
and
them
all,
edification of the
in the
The Fa**Xy.
111.
(Gen. 2
18).
But under
nity
and
Our
significance.
p.
1
1
es
religion places
it
marmge
to
sqq.
Der
Und welch
Wie
viele
"in
rmche Feuer
sind
entglommen
Ist
s,
Ein Satz
Vom
ist s
ersten
der in Variationen
Anl ang
forttont durcK
its
in the
proper dig
most exalted
"
K!e.->tf*
Gdegin-
HI-
444
it
by representing
light
it
as
THE FAMILY.
JH.
BOOK
a truly holy,
By
all
an<?
demned, and monogamy made the rule. This form of the conjugal
was presented in the creation of the first human pair as the
relation
normal one
condition of a
true
man must
wife are
one
flesh
3-9.
1 Cor. 7
10).
facili
tating of divorce.
woman
among
It
is
woman was
and
if
Even
state
he
knew nothing
of the sacrecmess of
allows promiscuous
concubinage.
virtues,
Plato, with
monogamy.
And
in
all
his
In his
the ethical
pil
tunes,
reaches
Antigone
is
out prophetically
way
the
domain of heathenism.
beyond
an ideal creation of poetic fancy, realized only
in Christian
nations.
by
fidelity
and these
traits
domestic
life,
woman
which she instinctively shrinks but places her in a religious and moral
of view by the side of man, as a joint-heir of the same heavenly
;
THE FAMILY.
111
tJFE.J
3:7); and by
inheritance (1 Pet.
in
in
way
for the
all their
forms.
Finally, from that fruitful analogy may be derived all the duties of
husband and wife to one another and to their children, as Paul himself
them
presents
above.
The
1.
in
is
in
the passage
citefl
is even
by virtue of
whole physical and intellectual constitution the head of the wife, her
lord and ruler (Eph. 5
He is not, however, to lord it over her
22).
his
ambitiously and
her spiritual welfare, and sacriflcing himself for her, even to his last
breath, as Christ has given His life for the church, is continually purify
ing and sanctifying her with his blood, and raising her, as a spotless,
all
richly
adorned bride, to
This, then,
makes the
full
sauctification
ter
a view,
propagation of the race, must be subordinate and subservient,
which heathendom never dreamed. Of course, however, the devotion
of the husband and wife to each other, as well as to tire children, ought
"A
When
command
there
life.
Ou
the contrary
is
the
is
of force
"
But
1
this
Eph. 5
25-31.
Col.
3:19.
Pet. 3
7.
"Only
riage relation be a
he,
by
sqq.
his se!f
146
1
It should
nity.
It should be free
trembling.
Lord
BOOK
[n.
(cornp. Col.
So the churdi
3:18).
and freedom
woman, except
finds
in
so far as
it
husband and
relates to her
children, in
whom
ma
life,
she has occasion to exhibit her silent moral elevation, to unfold the noble
virtues of modesty, meekness, patience, fidelity, and self-denial, and
The
3.
is
of course unneces
womb
manhood
in Christ.
So
but
this she is to
is
supported by the authority, of the father, who is king and priest in the
Both parents are to treat their children not
sanctuary of his own house.
witli severity,
self-sacrificing love,
and
to train
them
up not only for useful members of the body politic, but above all for citi
zens of the kingdom of heaven.
They are to train them by instruction,
and
more by the
still
ness of
power of example
and by the
living
their lives,
Christianity in
God
Eph.
a
6:4:
Gal. 3
Eph. 6
28.
4.
them up
"Bring;
1
Pet, 3
Col. 3
7.
21.
in
HI.
.!]
1
that
Lord;"
THE FAMILY.
44?
is,
properly
speaking, the Lord himself, by the free agency of the parents, with
earnestness and gentleness trains the children for himself, as his
fidel
Timothy."
The
4.
is
may and
not a believer,
is
ish,
love.
first
towards
God and
we
love, nay,
hend
Him
AVhere
commandment
this
course,
point out,
first
is
or children, accomplish
pation,
will
ju>t
the
It
is
worthy
ence
"
in
the
Lord;"
and at the same time duly restricting it. For as parental authority is
derived from Christ and is to be exercised for Him, it can only claim
obedience where
commands what
and destroys
1
Not
answers His
it
wrong,
itself.
the
"to
it
is
Then
Lord,"
zum
and
spirit
will.
When,
therefore,
applies our
Herrn, as
Lord
its
author,
language, Matt. 10
Luther translates
it;
which
it
37
materially.
*
2 Tim.
5.
Comp.
Tim. 2
\5.
10.
14,
children,
in the
Lord and
Human
life
should be propagate
educated for the great end^of mankind, for virtue and religion.
Eph. 6
1-3.
Col. 3
only to be
448
112.
He that
When the
"
[ll-
BOOK
New
may
daily offer
We
prayer at table.
are not
to
it
but
"
hard to maintain
is
great watchfulness
is
necessary, lest
it
this
family worship
properly, without
On
itself,
or asserting that
we
it is
made super
the contrary,
shall
and thus
in the
is
Christianity, then, as
we meet
it
in the
New
Lu. 2
49.
Jno. 2
4.
Matt. 12
46-50.
1, 2.
Col.
Testament, recognizes in
character fully deve-
human
3:16.
3-5.
There is no doubt that the regular and general attendance upon piblic worship, by
which the English. Scotch, and Americans are so distinguished above other nations, a
especially
owing
worship
112.
LIFE.j
449
and answers
.opes itself
its
great end,
higher moral and religious significance, contradicts the spirit of the gos
In fact, the apostle numbers
and is, in reality, of heathen origin.
1
pel,
among
it
the
doctrines of the
idolatry (1 Tim. 4
sects
evil
spirits,
ot
1 sqq.),
did,
for the
wants,
whom
for
no suitable consort at
all,
of regenerate
The defective, sensual conception of marriage among the heathen could produce
both great unchastity. polygamy, concubinage, &c., on the one side, and the ascetic con
For wherever moral earnestness was once
tempt of the relation, on the other.
awakened, instead of sanctifying
ideal of a priest, therefore,
this relation,
it
usually includes in
it
in the
Volker,
In
it.
its
celibacy.
I.
mouth, his arm, his leg, and his foot, the four patriarchs of the four castes, and had
given wives to all except the eldest. Brahman, the progenitor of the priests, the latter
complained of his solitude
distracted (marriage
"
He
should not be
is
was
forbidden
marry after assuming the office, and, if he already had a wife, he must abstain from
commerce with her. In the Roman religion the virgin priestesses of Vesta are fami
to
The Gnostic and Manichean contempt of marriage springs from pagan views,
and rests on a fundamentally wrong conception of matter and body.
With the Jews
liar.
(except the sect of Essenes, whose asceticism, however, was affected by foreign,
elements) a fruitful marriage stood, as is well known, in high esteem, and
passed for a special divine blessing; while celibacy or barrenness was considered a
oriental
19:30-36.
9
14.
Lu.
Sam.
1
1
25, 36).
women,
6-11.
The
Ps.
127
priests
3-f).
128:3-6.
Is.
1.
47:8.9.
2-14.
Hos.
all
married, yet during their term of service in the temple they were required to abstain
from cohabitation. The high estimate of virginity, which came to prevail so early in
the Christian church, cannot be derived from Jewish ideas, and
certainly as little from
It arose, no doubt, from ardent enthusiasm for the
kingdom of (iod,
which could very easily take up mimy vitiating elements and influences from the low
heathenism.
29
112.
4:50
individual soul),
his bride
is
and
this relation
is
[ll.
BOOK
assuredly, as already
if
Yet ancient
it.
tradition
2,
12.
Tit. 1
6, it
Matt. 8:14.
Lu. 4
Have we
power
not
38,
is
where
mother-in-law
his
?"
begat children
is
p.
(comp. Jlcta Sanct. 30th May); and Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, in the second cen
Roman bishop, Victor (in Euseb. H. E. III. 31, and V. 24),
mentions three daughters of the apostle Philip, of whom the first two died virgins in
7?(>aKl>Z<n
E0e<Tcj
uvan
At
literal.
same place
the
(III.
authority of Proculus.
.in
"four
Hierapolis.
according to Acts 21
marks on
Cor. Jl
2:
Omnet
"
apostoli, exceptis
Joanne
runt."
4
Hence some, though certainly without reason (comp. 1 Cor. 7 7, 8), held that
Paul also was a husband or a widower. So Ignatius, Jld Philad. c. 4, according to the
:
nQOfOfju^rjauvTuv.
rut
flf Ilerpov KOL Havtov, nal rdiv uAAwv utroaroZur,
So Clement of Alexandria, Strom. III. 7, ed. Potter.
:
Hence he bears the standing title, Traptftvoc, ira^&iviof, virgo. Augustine (De bono
Christo Joannem
mentions with respect as the view of many:
-apostolum propterea plus atnatum, quod neque uxorem duxerit, et ab ineunte pueritia
"A
canjugali, 21)
castissimus
the
Hence
vixerit."
Roman church:
also
Diligebat
it is
eum
Jesus,
quoniam
specialis
John
in
praerogativa castitatii
112.
LIFE.]
451
the being
Tim. 3
holds,
portant duties of
But
4, 5, 11, 12.
Tit. 1
6,
life.
man
kingdom of God, we cannot say, indeed, above the married state, yet
very high, and attributes to it in several places a peculiar value.
1
city
some
who
and bound to
feel called
in the
as the capa
others again,
life,
fault,
ditions
for conjugal
disciples
heaven
life.
in
1 Cor. 7
10-12.
7 sqq.
25 sqq. Rev. 14 4. As to the latter pasa question, indeed, whether by the hundred and forty-four thousand
xaydevot, which were not defiled with women, and which follow the Lamb whithersoever
Matt. 19
he
it is
sage
goeth,"
lienkritik, p. 185,
free
from
The
first
against
it
all
whoredom and
interpretation answers
tLe vast
fact,
that
many
God
under both dispensations, from Abraham to Feter, who certainly belong also among
the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb, were not iraydcvoi in the strict sense.
"
*52
in
112.
may and
should be preserved.
[H- BOOK.
To
all
Paul,
who
possible pri
vations, hardships, and persecutions, the married state, with its temporal
cares and all sorts of personal matters of attention, must have seemed
rather a hindrance to the fulfillment of his
apostolic calling, and the
the
tavrdv
did
more favor
single state,
evvovxt&iv
TTJV paaiheiav TUV
oiigavuv,
Redeemer
(v.
With
32-35).
him celibacy was actually an elevation above all earthly cares, an entire
devotion to the purest love and the holiest interests, an
anticipation
of the vita angelica.
And who will deny that such cases repeatedly
1
occur
Who
a curse
own
it
can transform
ends.
it
for its
and
He manifestly
chapter before us Paul goes yet further.
the
that
it
enables
a man better
gives celibacy
preference, believing
to serve the Lord
and he wishes that all might be in this point like
But
in the
and might share with him the happiness of freedom from all
cares
and undivided devotion to the highest objects and duties
earthly
of life.
His words are too clear to admit of any other interpretation
himself,
"
to great
I.
Lu. 20
30.
p 404.
scientific investigations in
34-36.
Not seldom
is
field.
We
here refer only to two very different men, Dr. Neander the historian, and Alex
cannot help observing here, that the work
ander von Humboldt the naturalist.
of home and foreign missions would be in many respects greatly facilitated, and much
may
We
expense spared,
if
among
around for a wife, as though they had nothing more important to do, is absolutely irre
concilable at least with the seventh chapter of 1 Corinthians and with the example
of Paul.
The excellent Swiss divine, A. Vinet, expresses similar opinions on the
as a voluntary service to the kingdom of God. in his Pat
relative value of
celibacy,
toral Theology..trans! by
Dr. Skinner,
p.
156 sqq.
112.
UFE.]
453
unmarried careth
"I
Yet we cannot
1.
Btate
its
refining influ
He
ideal sketched
by himself
which stands
in
Eph. 5
in
the
32.
of prayer
in
2, 5,
ij
account of
and poetry.
The
tion,
considerations.
"
of
"
;"
;"
"
ffise
Schriften
t\ 1
Cor.
und
jluftatte,
7-
The
I.
p.
approaching end.
6 sq.
(Getammelte
Tit.
for the
apnetite,"
dvu.jK.rjv, v. 26,
and refers
he translates
"
on account of the
VII
H3.
454
AND SLAVERY.
CHRISTIANITY
[ll.
the
of
BOOS
Lord
(as
The advice
denied.
force
and
it
certain
of the
by no means
lost its
applicability.
3.
(yvufij)),
given him no
The
point
is
prohibition of marriage
to assume
is
among
Our
3)."
may
not, must rest neither on the person s own will nor on another s, but on
a consideration of the person s peculiar gift, and the plain indications
The great work of the man remains in both cases the
of Providence.
same,
is
to serve the
alone.
To do
this, in
whatever way,
at
Christianity
and Slavery.
To
the family in the wide sense belong also servants or domestics, ren
dered necessary by the distinction of rich and poor, and by wants
civilization,
where uvdyKT) denotes the impetus ad Venerem. But even admitting the philological
consideration (the passage adduced, by the way, is not about men, but about dogs !) ,
this interpretation gives
avoidance of
1
it
is
own
advice,
Comp.
also
we must
p. 219.
UfE
CHRISTIANITY
113.
AND SLAVERY.
455
Here Christi
unable or unwilling themselves to meet.
family alone are
it entered into the world, had to encounter a deeply-rooted
when
anity,
social evil, which in consequence of the fall had gradually spread over
the most cultivated nations of heathendom, and,
human
we may
degradation.
Slavery
is
of his existence.
trary, the
between the ruling and the serving classes. The Hindoos believed, that
the menial caste of Sudra, upon which the other three castes looked
down with contempt, had been guilty before its earthly life of some
which this degraded condition was a just
peculiarly heavy crime, for
punishment ; or, according to a somewhat higher view, that it had
sprung from the feet of Brahma, while the Brahmins sprang from his
head, the soldiers from his shoulders, aiid the tradesmen from his thighs.
"
"destined
for
servitude,"
of
of half their
;"
for
Attica alone, in the time of Demetrius Phalereus (309 B. C.), according to the
statement of Ktesicles. contained 400,000 slaves with only 21,000 citizens and 10,000
Die Staatshaushaltung der Jlthener, I. p. 39 (p. 35 sq.
See Bikkh
foreign residents.
London.
The slaves
of the English translation by Geo. C. Lewis, 2nd ed.
1842)
:
we
to
have been
at
slaves.
*
In
Rome
it
was
still
questioned.
De
Republica,
I.
c. 1-7.
it is
which
Ritter appeals
may
113.
AND SLAVERY.
the rule.
jected
CHRISTIANITY
them
in
n BOOK
.
down
to the time of
Emperor Hadrian,
was
current.
It
was
in
perfect consistency
with such principles, that the slaves were used and abused like beasts,
and not seldom even worse. The Spartans had the abominable custom
to intoxicate their helots, in order to teach their youth sobriety by such
revolting spectacles of drunkenness
gerous from their increasing number, they were hunted in the Crypteia,
as the chase was called.
The celebrated Cato Censorius, in whose time
the distinction between the two classes had not yet become so strongly
marked in Rome as afterwards, worked, indeed, with his slaves, and ate
they became
for the
most
services
trifling
Half-naked the poor wretches had to stand before their mistress, who
was armed with an iron rod to beat them for every mistake. Even for
innocent noises, as sneezing or coughing, they were often unmercifully
3
whipped.
memory
Heathendom
when
It had
there was no sin nor slavery.
age,
of this age, such as the Saturnalia, in which freemen
lection of a golden
were refuges, of
religion,
further gain
;
as if equity
other animals
men
is
to be
for
justice
till
they died, though
they were free from all further labor."
2
Com p. on this Bottiger s Sabina oder Morgenscenen indem Putszimmer finer reithen
Rdmerin (1806), Part I. p. 40 sqq., where the proof is given.
WB.]
AND SLAVERY.
CHRISTIANITY
113.
457
returned from an eight years exile in Corsica, he laid down the rule in
almost the same terms as those of our Lord, Matt. 7
12
"So
live
:
inferior, as
from principle and fear of God, but accidentally only, or from constitu
good nature ? They could at best but mitigate the evil in indivi
tional
They could
dual cases.
tirely different
no radical cure.
effect
This demanded an en
Here also
among them
those
in the
"born
12, 13),
there
is
who
and those
house"
"bought
with
(Gen. 17:
money"
no
case
did not abolish servitude, but regulated and in various respects mitigated
it by forbidding ill-treatment, by
admitting the slaves into the cove
its
religious privileges,
from their regular labors every Sabbath, at the three annual festivals,
also on the new moons, the feast of trumpets and the day of atonement.
If they were themselves Jews, they should after six years service (with
out wife or children, however,) receive freedom if they chose, and a small
be a jubilee unto you, and ye shall return every man unto his
This was a practical de
possession, and every man unto his family."
shall
it
is
God and
equally free in
Him.
Epp.
47, ad Lucil.
in
Plato,
Comp. on
30
35.
29
43.
10-12.
article
Sic
cum
inferiore
vivas,
quemadmodum
tecutn superiorem
"
velles vivere.
word
for vrord)
this subject
Ex. 20
Jer. 34
"
Sklaven"
in
10.
in
Mohler,
1.
c. p.
75 sqq.
14
Michaelis, Mosaisches
8 sq.
Winer
Realworterbuch,
I.
p.
Recht,
475 sqq.
14.
41-46.
II. p.
17
12, 13.
Deut. 15
358 sqq.
24
12 sqq.
and
tb
the heathen in
many
AND SLAVERY.
CHRISTIANITY
113.
4:58
cases
fell
The
into bondage.
m Home
BOOK
L"-
cornLju iity of
Jews
thousand were taken captive by the Romans, some of whom were sold
at auction and others transported to the Egyptian mines.
"What
posture now did Christianity assume towards this horrible
here have
degradation of a great, nay, the greater, part of mankind ?
to admire alike the reformatory principle of Christianity, and her wisdom
We
in
applying
and
The
it.
social abolition,
apostles
For, in the
effect.
place, the
first
imme
diate abolition of slavery could never have been effected without a revo
lution,
in
confusion, a radical
life,
teaches him to look at them from a higher point of view, and to infuse
into them a new spirit, until in time a suitable change work its own
within.
On
emancipate their slaves, but for the present only to treat them with
Christian love (Eph. 6: 9); and he himself sends back from Rome the
beloved brother"
Onesimus, now regenerate, and thus a
to his rightful master, Philemon, in Colosse, with the touch
"
runaway,
in Christ,
rage slaves to burst their bonds, but checks all impatient desire for
freedom, and exhorts to reverential, single-hearted obedience to masters,
be they hard or
gentle."
man from
1
means
sin,
for delivering
the bitter root of
See Bockh
&c.
5
the
Cor.
turd
7:21,
Eph. 6
5-7.
Col. 3
in
Jl.
:
cncr, I. p. 40.
2 t.
Pet.
2-18.
9.
Tim.
(whet
113.
-IFB-J
CHRISTIANITY
AND SLAVERY.
459
wrong social relations, slavery and despotism among the rest, and for
the radical cure, therefore, of the evil in question.
It confirms, in the
first place, the Old Testament doctrine of the
original unity of the
all
human
and
race
its
from a single
descent
men
in
the highest,
Then
pair.
spiritual
asserts
it
view,
in
their
all,
with his blood, and called them to the same glory and blessedIn Christ all earthly distinctions are inwardly abolished.
uess.
In
Him there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female; all
est,
form one ideal person in Him, the common Head (Gal. 3: 28.
Col. 3:
On the one hand, therefore, the Christian master is a servant of
11).
whom
Christ, with
there
is
On
(Eph. 6:9).
God, and
Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal;
that
ye also have a Master in heaven."
Servants, obey in all
knowing
in
course
not
to
the
divine
commands, for
things (of
things contrary
"
Lord.
"
do,
do
heartily, as to the
it
Lord, and
not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of
the (heavenly) inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ."
1
By
this
Christianity
all
so spiritual
its sting,
and
even where
universal, that
it
is
at once inwardly
outwardly remains.
can exert its power in
it
even
the hut of
who comes
as
ihould
1
make
Acts 17
Col. 3
if
way
to
is
28.
22-4
22, 47.
But
60
114.
BOOK
|n.
is not
All that is inward, must in the end
enough.
out and fully establish itself as an outward fact in actual
work
itself
life.
made
use
free,
to the
slave:
(1 Cor. 7: 21)
it rather"
1
.
thou mayest be
if
"But
Hence
ages, without
even yet everywhere succeeded in the freest land in the world, in most
glaring inconsistency with its fundamental political principles, there are
still more than three millions of
negro slaves ! yet it will not rest, till
by the power of redemption all the chains which sin has forged shall be
broken; till the personal and eternal dignity of man shall be universally
acknowledged, and the idea of evangelical freedom and fraternal fellow
ship perfectly realized.
114.
The grand
mark of true
feature of the
was that
The
nourishment.
God
by the same blood, born again of the same seed, sanctified by the same
Spirit, destined for the same end.
They felt themselves to be members
of one body, children of one Father in heaven, partakers of one salva
tion, heirs of
"
In the interpretation of this passage I agree with Calvin, Grotius, and Neander
aaL supply the words rq
a, most naturally sug
427) who to fiu?Jj>v
(I. p.
/lfi>$ep<
x^>l
by what immediately
gested
The supplying
precedes.
of
dovheia, preferred
rfj
by
Chrysostom, Theodoret and others, reversing the sense and making the apostle give the
pieference to servitude, does not suit the verb at all and is by no means required by the
EL
/c<u,
as
erroneously assert.
The
is
Civil
bondage is perfectly consistent with Christian freedom, and thy condition should give
thee no trouble on this score but if, besides the inward freedom of faith, thou mayest
also attain the outward, as an additional (KOI) good
of course, by proper legal means
;
it.
Acts 1:16.
ee Matt.
Rom
1.
12.
4:7.
8.
Lu. 22
10, 13,
15,21.
23
14
Eph.6:10,21.
4
20, 21.
Ja.
Phil.
1
16.
quently
Christians."
15.
Paul
"disciples"
Comp.
23.
Cor.
Jno. 21
32.
11,
s epistles.
(of Jesus),
61 above.
and
many
6.
1
17.
16
11.
16
Col.
Jno. 2:9-11.
40.
1
3:
114.
1
by the holy
feasts in connect!
fastly,"
by acts
kiss,
>n
Luke
as
mutual
of
service,
Supper.
"They
briefly
42,
"in
continued stead
social life of the
and
461
"
in
The multitude
of
Of
4: 32.
soul,"
course this inward unity and equality of the Christians was not incon
sistent with, but included, the greatest diversity of gifts and powers.
in Christ" (Gal. 3
"one
28); but the unity was
could
his
no
one
that
such,
accomplish
destiny separate from the rest.
and
one
another.
There was in the whole
completed
They required
body a perpetual
harmony
in the congregations
condemn them.
their exhortations
Among
distinction
of
first
to one
love,
rich
its
common
of the
in
community
establish
community
and his
treasury of Jesus
fulfillment
Jerusalem,
it
went
command, Lu. 12
property,
Matt. 19
33.
21,
of goods,
disciples.
in
literal
and
laid
the proceeds at the feet of the apostles as the treasurers of the common
4 34-37).
fund (Acts 2 45.
Luke commends particularly the self:
denial of the future companion of Paul, the Cyprian Levite, Joses, dis
Rom. 16:16.
Comp.
Ja. 2
3
sqq.
Acts 4
37.
2 Cor. 13:12.
20.
10 sqq.
13 sqq.
From n^ r -:
KAj?cr(f,
Cor. 16
Cor.
3
1
3 sqq.
sqq.
He was
in all
Gal. 5
Jno. 2
1
:
Thess. 5
9 sqq.
26.
Pet. 5
same
:
Phil. 2
probability the
14.
:
1-3.
Trapu-
the
Rom. 14-16.
3:11 sqq., &c.
15.
and
Levites only tithes, not real estate, except the forty-ei^ht cities with their suburb?
But this instit ition was probably not revived afte:
2 sqq.
issigned them in Nu. 3C
:
i62
114.
[ll.
BOCK.
field,
disposed of the
as he chose.
money
And
might have
Acts 12 12,
it,
according to
Mary, the mother of the evangelist John Mark, and a member of the
The distribution of alms to
church, owned a house in Jerusalem.
widows, spoken of
in
Acts
6,
between poor and rich was not altogether done away. It is most pro
bable, however, that at this time most of the believers gave up their
property, and that the enthusiasm of their first love did more than the
strictest law could have accomplished.
In this childlike economy of the
Christian community we may see a prophetic anticipation, of
the state of things in the perfected kingdom of God, where the civil dis
tinction of poverty and wealth will entirely disappear, and all be
kings
and priests. It is worthy of remark, however, that community of goods,
primitive
show.
How
On
But
in
them
root of
it,
rich
which takes the sting from all other forms of aristocracy, such as the
dominion of talent over mental weakness, of culture over
inevitable
&C.
is
7).
mostly a carnal,
in
some
finds
some
justification.
we
am the
Yet
heartless
money
aristocracy of
modern society
115.
AND NATIONAL
CIVIL
463
LIFE.
conecions of their riches and strength in the Lord, and thus raises them
"Let
in that
rich,
he
is
made low
be
cause as the flower of the grass he shall pass away" (Ja. 1: 9, 10).
Works of mercy, of self-denying care and consolation for the needy and
the troubled, were from the first a main ornament of the Christian life
1
The example of the female disciple, Tabitha, who with
27).
own hands made clothing for widows and orphans (Acts 9 36), was
(James
her
certainly not alone in the apostolic church, though the history does not
"Let
not thy
left
silence,
expressions of Christian
115.
Civil
exhorta
doeth."
The same
political affairs.
Roman
is
They
left
untouched
civil institutions, in
rulers.
But
Christianity
is
On
hostile to politics.
administration of eternal
the
evil
moral society resting on law; the church, the same resting on the
The one is necessarily limited and national the other, catholic
gospel.
is
and
universal.
eternal.
measure
As
law
is
other.
The
state in a
a schoolmaster to bring to
in all
become
1
neelless.
Compare Matt. 22
:
36, 37.
15-22.
Lu. 12
13, 14.
22
25. 26.
Jno. 6
15.
11
164
115.
As
to the particular
As
no directions.
all
AND NATIONAL
CIVIL
LIFE.
[ll.
BOOK
power of the
the
civil
under all forms of civil government, and will always favor that which
most corresponds to the historical relations and wants of a nation, and
which is, therefore, relatively the best. Of course, however, in this
point also,
it
perfection; to the
and
institutions
and the
monwealth best preserved, and the moral ends of the race most effi
The spirit of the gospel
ciently promoted and most surely attained.
can, therefore, permanently tolerate neither absolute despotism,
which
checks
security,
and ends at
last
in
Between these
two extremes there are various forms of government, under which the
church may, and actually does, thrive. Nay, even oppression and per
secution on the part of the reigning secular power
her in a moral point of view, as the history of the
may be
first
favorable to
three centuries,
But this is
the classical age of Christian martyrdom, sufficiently shows.
The least that the church
certainly not the normal state of things.
of the state,
to be tolerated
is
and
but
in the
his
God (Rom.
of
despotically,
13
4),
can they be
demagogues
of subjects
1
Jeoi>
is
obedience.
Rom. 13:1.
Oi>
is
TerajfiKven. elaiv.
lesting on usurpation,
This
is
The duty
rule.
enjoined with special emphasis by Paul
el
/J.T)
and
i?eow, ai
tie
justice, v. 3, 4.
and
6.
115.
LIFK.]
and Peter
an
tyrannical
465
LIFE.
spirit of the
Jews,
which might
communicate
easily
AND NATIONAL
CIVIL
itself to
men
are very likely to confound the person with the office, and sum
to
repudiate the latter with the former; whereas the oflice remains
marily
cases
and sacred,
opposite of what it
divine
But
do the
it
requires.
to any
Lord
the
temporary holder of
and unworthy
of a free
King
Fawning
for
unchristian
is
subjection
sake."
With what
man.
"
They enjoined
"
and Paul,
is
is,
ruler
the magistrate
to
an
earthly
to the heavenly;
is
(Matt. 22
what
when
When,
21).
therefore,
the divine
contrary to
is
irreligious,
will,
commands
it
and
allegiance.
God s
It ceases to be
minister,
It
is
"
forbidden
Roman
and death,
confess the
to
faith
Yet
conscience."
in
rebellion,
which are under any circumstances morally wrong, but to the spiritual
weapons of the word, faith, prayer (comp. 1 Tim. 2:2), and patience.
"Though we walk in the flesh," says Paul (2 Cor. 10: 3 sq.), "we do
1
Rom. 13
Who, on
Neander
3
1
1.
Tit.
Pet. 2
3:1.
this account,
Jlpost. Getch.
Acts 4
2 Tim. 4
p.
Pet. 2
13-17.
Rome
Rom.
under
13
Claudius.
Comp.
(p. 647).
Rom. 13:5.
13.
20.
I.
18,
20 sqq., 28 sqq.
17.
30
2 sqq.
16
22.
17
6 sqq.
c.
22-26.
466
115.
AND NATIONAL
CIVIL
LIFE.
[n. BOOK.
sometimes revolutions, in
which truly pious men engage as members of the body politic, from
3
motives of patriotism and religion, and which may be justified, at least
lasting
are
Undoubtedly, :here
victory.
to
ment
lies
itself
has
first
and necessary
evils.
They
to avoid
and
spiritual
means of
resistance,
which
in
days of a Tiberius, a
Caligula, a Claudius, a Nero, and a Donritian, explicitly enjoined obedi
ence; and that a bad administration may be also the rod of divine
his
apostles,
in the
is
made
to
comprehend many
acts,
which have
in reality
nothing rebellious about them as, for instance, the involuntary withdrawal of a people,
under general indignation, from a worthless administration, which has made itself ille
;
gitimate by
for
which
it
were
was
at the
name
same time
a political revo
lution; the struggle for freedom in the Netherlands; the Puritanic revolution under
Cromwell, and the North American under Washington, The Reformed theologians,
are much more liberal than the Lutheran in their
particularly in England and America,
views. The good and pious Dr. Thomas
opinion of revolutions, and in all their political
Arnold vindicates even the July revolution in France as a blessed revolution, without
stain,
without
Its parallel
in history,
and extols
it
as the
ol
the quick and powerful suppression of a royal insurrection against society, which
See his letter to Cornish, August, 1830. Yet the revolution
the world ever saw.
of February, 1848, and the dethronement of Louis Philippe would probably have
him
to
let.
115.
UrE.|
CIVIL
AND NATIONAL
467
LIFE.
for a
may be duty
statesman or
"
tempt the Greeks and Romans looked down upon barbarians. By the
power of the Holy Ghost these insurmountable partition-walls were
demolished as by a thunder-bolt. What had never before entered into
f
that Jews and Gentiles should meet as brethren
,he heart of man,
without the Gentiles passing through the door of circumcision and the
whole ceremonial law, was through faith actually accomplished in
Paul s churches, at a time when the Roman eagle was mercilessly tread
its sacred tilings
ing under foot the hardened Jewish nation and laying
n dust and ashes.
Antiquity had not the remotest idea of a universal
not
apostolic age began mightily to carry out
nations
obliterating national distinctions, but recognizing and indulging
in their rights
yet at the same time truly drawing them together in a
spiritual
Xor
is
this unity
of the former.
perfectly appear
that
tended towards perfect manifestation in real life, and in spite of all hin
drances was rapidly growing towards full r.ianhood in Christ (Eph. 2
Whatever modern critics may say of the dispute be
4
21.
13).
tween Peter and Paul, between Jewish and Gentile Christians, all the
main principles. They were the per
apostles perfectly agreed in their
sonal representatives of the unity of the whole church, and all wrought,
each with his peculiar gift and in his own way, towards the same end.
Of this we have testimony in their writings in their harmonious action
;
in
13.
"Ev
aufia
/cat
Iv irvev/ia
19-22
at
particularly
Cor
115.
4:68
crviL
AND NATIONAL
[n. BOOK.
LIFE.
in
made by
in
himself,
in
one body to
God
(Eph. 2
to pieces
Rome, with
14-22).
all
unshaken, and
shall
have wrought
1
Gd.
10,
all
1
Cor. 16
3, 4.
2 Cor.
12-15.
its walls.
Rom
15
25-27.
THE CHARISMS
116
ur.l
CHAPTER
II.
SPIRITUAL GIFTS.
116. Nature and Classification of the Chdrisms
THIS power of the Apostolic church to transform and sanctify all the
moral relations of life had its ground in special gifts of divine grace,
with which that church was endowed. These wrought together in
organic harmony for the inward edification of the body of Christ and
for the conversion of the
sparkling bridal
world without.
ornament of
this
as
They formed,
in the twelfth
it
were, the
epoch of Christianity.
creative
first
By
the apostle
common good
;"
is,
believer
life,
for the
edifi
an organic member,
function, as
promote
its
growth.
It
in the vital
therefore, as the
is,
name
itself implies,
and
some
natural basis prepared for it in the native intellectual and moral capa
cities of the man, which are in fact themselves
These
gifts of God.
natural qualities it baptizes with the
rouses to higher and freer activity.
ponding to the various faculties of the soul and the needs of the body
of Christ
and in this very abundance and diversity of gifts are revealed
;
tfeoiJ,
1 Pet. 4
Cor. 12
npdf
10).
TJ)V
As, howoUo6o/u)v
rijf
H6.
i70
II.
,
BOOK.
they all flow from the same source, are wrought by ;he Hoi)
so they all subserve the same end,
Ghost, and are gifts of free grace
over,
administrations, or
proper
no
ministry*
doubt
gift,"
refers.
"his
his
whose
apostles,
and
included
all
It
2).
is
true they
all
other spiritual
Acts 4
equal measure.
gifts in
offices
35, 37.
John
14
12
18)
excelling
at
home among
visions
and
all
12).
is
is
spiritual
gift
(1 Cor.
8:1).
The
to
gift
abuse.
Every
sition to
The value
Rom. 12
biaKoviai,
1
Cor.
and make
gifts,
4-6.
1
7:7.
Cor. 12
Cor. 12
12
11.
5,
12 sqq.
comp. Eph. 4
Rom. 12
6.
12.
Pet. 4
Pet.
:
10.
10.
OF THE CHAEIfeMS.
IF-]
471
practical
14
it
will,
healing, should
Holy Ghost
fell
them (Acts 10
44, 46).
the prevailing view, that the charisms, some of them at least, as
those of miracles and tongues, belong not essentially and permanently to
the church, but were merely a temporary adventitious efflorescence of the
It
is
the wedding-dress of a
Some
of these
gifts, as
the Old Testament; and before the resurrection of Christ we find the disciples healing
But the permanent pos
the sick and casting out devils (Matt. 10 8. Mk. 6
13).
:
session of the
exaltation to
8
to his glorification
and
So among the ancients, Chrysostom, who begins his twenty-ninth homily on the
oiinthians with these words: Tovro UTTOV ~o xuyiw crpc/dpa iarh
epistle to the
I /. As i ip if Trotei,
ov yivo/UKvuv. Among moderns compare,
for example, Olshausen (Comment. III. p. 683), who makes the charismatic form of
With special distinctness this
the Spirit s operation cease with the third century.
<7a^>f,
rf/v
ruv TOTE
view
is
dadtyeiav
<5
TJ
uv
ovufiaivovruv, v iiv 6t
fj.lv
"As
marriage the festivity of the wedding-day can not always last, any more
than the inspiration of the first love when the seriousness and steady activity of the
common pilgrimage just begun comes on as, according to the universal order of nature,
in the case of
must
is to thrive
though, on the other hand, the
so that gush of heavenly
does not appear without the preceding blossom
powers on the day of Pentecost could not, must not continue in the church. It could
the blossom
>uit
fall
away,
if
the fruit
116.
BOOK.
["
of the church
They appeal
Cor. 12
31.
14
them
12
27-31.
and to
"
till
the apostolate.
Eph. 4
Thess.
;"
11-13,
20.
5:19,
1,
on
laid
is
charisms and
fire
of the
Spirit,
His miraculous
In these
charisms
form.
out at times sporadically, though not with the same strength and purity
In the nature of the rase, the Holy Ghost,
as in the apostolic period.
when
first
ousness,
and freshness
life
sphere of the
As
it
Accordingly we
earthly human nature is
same operation.
because the
not,
conditions
into the
its
principle,
find,
it
that as fast as
the
reigning
bliss of ecstasy
and such mighty streams of power from above, as is shown by the example of the
three chosen disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration.
It must not,
because the
continuance of the blossom would have hindered the development of the fruit. The
splendor of these higher powers would unavoidably have fixed the eye and the heart
too
muth on
Vorlesungen
fiber
work
neglected."
Katholicitmus
und
Protestantismus,
I.
80 (2nd ed.)
in his
community,
;
comp.
my
articles
on Irvingiiin and the church question in the "Deutsche Kirchenfreund," Vol. III.. Nos.
The Mormons too, or Church of Jesus Christ
5 and 6, particularly p. 223 sqq.
"
2, 3.
of Latter-Day Saints/
whose
rise
(April
6,
the
believe in the
same organization
that
We
"
articles of faith
2nd
ed.).
.ongues,"
&c.
(Hist,
of
ail
tht
473
OF THE CHARISMS.
-IFI.J
most of
power of heathenism is broken, those charisms, which exhibited
and
after
the
fourth
less
the miraculous, become
century almost
frequent
This is not owing to a fault of Christianity ; for at
the
church
that very time
produced some of her greatest teachers, her
and
her
Athanasius
Ambrose, her Chrysostom and her Augustine. It is
entirely disappear.
rather a result of
the church,
of the
first
and
illustrate the
phenomena
In judging of them,
Roman church,
moreover, particularly
which still lays claim to the perpetual possession of the gift of miracles,
we must proceed with the greatest caution and critical discrimination.
of the
In view of the over-valuation of charisms by the Montanists and Irvingites, we must never forget, that Paul puts those which most shun free
inspection,
beneath
the others, which pertain to the regular vital action of the church,
are at
all
and
all
They have
often been
mind over body, of will over matter), and, on the other, they are all
St. Paul derives them all from one and the same Spirit,
supernatural.
and it is only their supernatural, divine element, that makes them
charisms.
Nor, according to what has been already said, can the divi
those which belong to the church at all times,
carried out.
We,
therefore,
apostolic
period,
propose a psychological
be
classifi
.I
By
Neander,
ondon, 1853),
1.
With
also
p.
this
459.
the Life
and
Epistles of St.
Paui
117.
GIFTS OF FEELING.
BOOK
1*1.
To
gifts of intellect,
bringing
His
all
influence
and
117.
The
Gifts of Feeling.
This
complete expression,
other"
control.
"speaking
is
with
"tongues"
new"
(i.
e.
(divinely suggested) or
languages), comp.
"with
Mk. 16
17.
object,
first
able
become
at all a
power
must
first
in history.
and
in the
of
all
To
it,
Greek
language, the most beautiful in the world, they composed all their writ
ings, even when they wrote, like James, in Palestine and for Jewish
Christians, or, like
Paul, to the
Romans
or at
Rome.
(1} It
is
the
^F *
GIFTS OF FEELING.
117.
to
difficulties
ties as perpetual
means of moral
difficul
And
denial,
4:75
in
fact, in
self-
in
the
first
if
He
We
stand
all
languages.
have been
to
;
they discovered the idolatrous
intentions of the inhabitants of Lystra, not from their conversation, but
for
to
Mark
(d)
interpreter with reference perhaps also to the Latin.
In general, it is impossible to prove, that the speaking with tongues had
any close connection with the missionary work. Otherwise, to what
as his
purpose would Cornelius have spoken with tongues before Peter (Acts
10
46), the disciples of John before Paul (19 6), and the Corinthians
in their congregational meetings, and not rather before the unconverted I
:
(e)
guage of the
understanding
Hebrew,
(voff)
Xor, had
Greek, or Latin.
and of every-day
it
been a speaking
life,
whether
in foreign lau
some
barian
t(
and original phrase, as used by our Lord himself (Mk. 16
to
IT)
with
new
not
to
dialects
seems
of
to
itself
point
speak
tongues,"
foreign
:
for these
in use, a
If
now, after
all,
Papias, in Euseb. H. E.
Tertullian
kacr. III.
III.
all dialects
new
language of the
Euseb. V. 8)
v.
39
Mup/cof
"Cujus
Map*oc
fj.lv
fyitijvevTfc
(Petri) interpres
<>
f*adt]T?/C
KOI
ntrpov yevopevof,
Marcus."
Irenaeus
tpprjvevTf/f Tltryov,
etc.
etc.
.idv.
Sc
476
BOOK
GIFTS OF FEELING.
117.
[_"
of this gift on the birth-day of the church, not as the rule, but as a
and to explain the apostles mysterious (atd certainly but
exception
temporary) grasping of the languages of the assembled multitude
;
(which were, however, almost all dialects of the Hebrew and Greek),
to have been in such a psychological state, that
they, in the
drunken.
In
all
spoken
nothing requires us to understand by it a miraculous
communication and use of the languages of foreign nations.
Speaking with tongues, as described from life by Paul, himself a mas
is
gift
ter in
of;"
it,
is
state
more or
the deepest
less passive
and becomes a
it
were,
He
upon which
to the speaker
precisely the
Spirit,
by the
or
mently borne along by the Spirit, forgetting the world and himself,
enraptured in the immediate enjoyment of the Deity, the speaker with
tongues broke forth in a communication of divine mysteries, or a song
of praise for the wonderful works of
1
The
Luke
great condensation of
it
of
But instead
eternal Love.*
s narrative
itself
haps the interpretation of them and the prophetic discourses of the apostles, which took
For according to
place in the various (Hebrew and Greek) dialects of those present
Paul
initiated,
and even
Acts 10
Hence the
46.
was
without an interpreter.
and in the 12th and 14th chaps, of 1 Corinthians.
to the congregation,
19
6,
Cor. 14
4-16.
r<f>
10
46.
47
GIFTS OK FEELING.
117.
<
ing, as
it
God
versed with
To
guage was at best a dumb sign (v. 22, elf ajj^eiov}, suggesting to him the
presence of a supernatural power and leading him to serious reflection.
But the main object was the edification of the speaker himself
(oi>K
th>i9p(J7TOic
^.a/lfi,
a/l/la
r<p
$,
the
and
V.
gift
intelligibly to the
tavrov
oiKodojiel,
V.
4).
of prophecy, which
congregation
UenCC Paul
addressed
itself
to a
refined egoism
and indulgence
To prevent abuse
intoxication of feeling.
as
much
as
in
a spiritual
possible,
the
apostle directs that the congregation should not all speak with tongues
confusedly together, but at most three on one occasion, and they one
after another in proper order,
God
(v. 27,
28).
From
this
it
speaker with tongues, though he had not absolute control of his gift,
could yet check the impulse of the Spirit, or at least refrain from audi
3
or of the Spirit
Cor. 12
(irvevfia),
is
:
out oracles,
which
(rove),
ordinary conscious
it down to the
and bringing
Pythia
in
giving
The
with tongues.
Te Deum), spiritual
some measure a compensation
might be regarded as
in
evangelist"
B6hm
etc.
Berlin.
1848.
iTS
GIFTS OF FEELING.
117.
BOOK.
the
of
comprehension
10
(^ T
6i>
yhaaauv, u
yivi]
own
his
interpreter.
2, 4, 16,
?.
Au
<5e
is
-y?Maauv} t
ipfj.r]Vta
The
while 12
rather against
it.
pret,
3.
allied
Closely
TTfotoTeias, 1
18.
Cor. 12
It
14).
10, 29.
14
1 sqq.
commonly appeared
is
at the
Thess. 5
20.
6).
Tim.
in
imme
This too
is
to
from calmly-working thought and more from intuition and deeplyagitated feeling, addresses the affections, and tends more to excite and
less
As
"prophet,"
Agabus,
in
famine of the year 44, that the Antiochian Christians might make timely
So, as Paul was
28).
provision for their suffering brethren (Acts 11
was
his
arrest
repeatedly predicted
going for the last time to Jerusalem,
:
him on
to
1
sist
his
way, and
finally in
According to the popular view of glossolaly, the gift of interpretation would con
rather in the ability to translate from foreign languages into the mother tongue.
just as the
altogether natural
way
(and
to constitute
a charism
"
Theol. Studien
tmd
Kritiken,"
of Philip, and
21
479
in
23.
So, again, prophets foretold the rise of dangerous errorthe second coming el
the appearance of Antichrist and his work
4, 11).
ists
GIFT6 OF FEELING.
117.
LIFB.J
the Lord
whom
he
Here belongs,
Thus the
less
New.
in the
It
duty to
unveil, not only the future, but also the present ; the counsels of God,
the deep meaning of the Holy Scriptures, the secret states of the
human
heart,
the
abyss
of
sin,
to the representation of
According
therefore, for
pel,
evangelists or itinerant
missionaries,
this gift
was
specially important.
But along with the true prophets there were also false. Together
with genuine, divine inspiration appeared also a mock inspiration, merely
This called for the gift of discerning
natural or perhaps diabolical.
which we are soon to speak. To prevent disorder and abuse,
the apostle directs, as in the case of speaking with tongues, that the
prophets should prophesy not all at once, but one after another, that
spirits, of
He also
31).
of
the
be
to
the
that
the
subject
prophets
requires
spirits
prophets (v.
that is, that the prophetical excitement and inspiration be con
32)
trolled and regulated by reason and regard for the wauts of the
all
may
The prophets,
church.
therefore, were
2 Thess. 2
1-12.
Tim. 4
sqq.
not so
much
like
mere passive
Jno. 2
18 sqq.
2 Pet. 3
3,
and the
whole Apocalypse.
*
18.
4
14.
Acts 16 2 compared with 1 Tim. 1
Powerful evangelists and revival-preachers, as, for instance, St. Bernard and per
haps John Wesley and Whitefield, whose words struck like lightning and everywhere
:
kindled
we might call prophets in this more general sense. To profound churchwho bring out the hidden treasures of the holy Scriptures, and with
inspiration break new paths for theology and the church, this term may be
life,
teachers, also,
creative
amc time
more
prophecy belongs
at
th
480
118.
KNOWLEDGE.
GIFTS OF
[ll.
POOK
hence were responsible for the exercise and application of their gift.
Still less can an ordinary preacher excuse any extravagances and
irregu
larities in his discourses or
118.
The
by
referring
them
The
gifts of
12
1 Cor.
to the
Gifts of Knowledge.
his hearers
among
irresistible
8; comp.
and the
Eph.
aojtaf,
(Tioyof CTO^/CC
and
^6yoc yvwcr^f,
17).
evidently
general a deep insight? into the nature and
structure of the divine plan of redemption and the whole system of sav
But as the apostle gives us no more particular infor
ing doctrine.
closely allied,
m>ei>na
and denote
in
mation,
to theory,
more
is
intuitive
haps knowledge
form while the latter takes
;
ment and
Apollos.
which
brilliant
artistic,
tc<
discourse,
for example, in
as,
develop
the case of
ao<t>ia
The
2.
Bengel)
sides.
wisdom and
11.
(as
Per
and immediate, without regard
style (1
28
1 sqq.)
7, 6i6daica).oi, Eph. 4
(ttdaaKahia, Rom. 12
The current view makes the gift of teaching
gift of teaching
Cor. 12
18 sqq.
sq.).
aofr.af
It
is
12
7-10, where the several charisms are enumerated, 6i6acKa/nu is not sepa
But the gifts of helps and governments (uvn^ipeif
rately mentioned.
and
Kvfinpi Tjaeis, v.
fore,
incomplete
The
of communication.
power
little
In
Cor.
1:17
15
sqq.,
9. acxjtia
and 8
in
Yet
in 1 Cor. 8
find
sqq.
1 it
is
also said of
So Paul,
Tim. 6
knowledge, that
:
20,
what
it
puffeth up
"
I.
are termed
that
;"
is, if
jvuaeuf and
481
GIFTS OF WILL.
119.
LIFE.]
is
ad
church, in the
work of
missions,
and
in
Yet
for
every minister.
3.
The
Cornp. 14
gift of discerning
:
29.
Thess.
spirits
human
10
Cor. 12
is
of a critical
or perhaps Satanic.
powers of light are specially active, there also, according to the law of
antagonisms, the powers of darkness also most bestir themselves.
"
Where God
same
wider sense
denotes
in
its
So
side."
general the
corrective
effectual
by
of spirits in the
Ghost dwelling
the apostles
in
(5:1
sqq.)-
is,
therefore,
for Paul
Nay, every Christian should exercise it in a certain degree
enjoins upon the congregation without distinction: "Prove all things;
;
is
good"
(1 Thess. 5
119.
The
21).
Gifts of Will.
life
31
GIFTS OF WILL.
119.
4-S2
[ll.
BO(K.
ail
the care of the poor and the sick, the silent and unassuming, but none
the less necessary and honorable, work of self-denying love, which de
what
is
all
more,
The
tiones,
Rom. 12
government and care of souls (Kvpe^aeif, gubernaThis charism is needful for all rulers (7rp<wra//evot
28).
gift of church
Cor. 12
use their
8) and pastors
Pet. 5
who had
apostles,
But
2).
(iroijievee,
official
it
or,
tc
it is
tc
is
In the use of
erning.
hierarchical arrogance,
Chief Shepherd,
sheep (1 Pet. 5
3.
V.
The
28,
gift
KAfyuv),
who
in self-sacrificing
love laid
his
Rom. 15
down
life
for the
1-4).
2 Cor. 12
6vva/j.tf
9,
28;
Kal
arj/ieiuv
This embraces
those super
12).
Comp.
natural healings of bodily infirmities and demoniacal states, all those
miraculous signs, which the apostles and apostolic men, like Stephen
:
19.
all
What
is
the magical.
In the
it
At any
power
of Peter
in
of
shadow (Acts
borders on
12),
first
lain in these
and
things, but only in the condescending grace of God,
must have been mediated somehow by the will of the worker of the
mere outward
This
is
doubtless
what we
are to understand
by
iriorif, 1
Cor. 12
9,
where
it is
cated
in
which
nature.
It is
463
CHARITY.
120.
UFE.J
We
apostles,
wrought by them or
as
for them,
we may observe a
certain
Elymas (13 8 sqq.); the raising of Tabitha from the dead at Joppa
9 sqq.); finally,
(9 40) and the restoration of Eutychus at Troas (20
:
19.
12
7 sqq.)
and that of
23 sqq.).
Miracles were outward credentials of the divine mission of the apostles
and their doctrine in a time and among a people, which could be
Paul (16
awakened to
faith only
20.
(1 Tim. 5
Comp.
more
Heathenism presented
Epicurean and Stoic hearers,
itself
Phil. 2
in
26
sq.).
At
Athens, where
in their skepticism,
Charity.
Valuable and splendid as are all these gifts, they are still surpassed
by charity, which alone puts on them the crown of perfection (1 Cor.
12
31
13
13).
By
this
we
mere
inclina
tion
"
cymbal."
Without
this,
120.
4-84
service of ambition,
CHAKITT.
BOCK
[n-
Without
this,
common
their
soul
of
all gifts,
and
makes
where
love
transcends
all
like the
the other
all
ceases.
gifts
will
understand them.
gifts.
It never
disappear, at least in
will cease in
the land,
merge
changes not.
It
sphere.
fuller,
more
lively,
and more
blissful
who were
the Corinthians,
inclined to place au
undue estimate on the more striking and showy charisms, to strive after
all, as the greatest and most precious gift, the cardinal
charity above
And
of which
virtue,
he commends
it
in the
of
description
"
religions.
And now
is charity."
"Charity,
says Bishop Warburton somewhere, "regulates and perfects
other virtues, and is in itself in no want of a reformer."
a
"
Heathenism,"
tpwf.
It
knew
the
all
"
698),
Eros, even in its purest, noblest form, is but the result of want, the
longing for love, springing from the consciousness, that we have not what is worth
But the Christian dyaV?? is the streaming forth of positive love, God himself
loving.
stern 6iKrj reigns.
dwelling in the believer, so that streams of living water flow out of him (Jno. 4
14).
>>F*.1
121.
CHAPTER
CHURCH
485
III.
DISCIPLINE.
POWERFTJL and pure as was the operation of the Holy Ghost in the
Christian communities, the ideal of the chnrch was by no me ana
To the church and her individual members holiness
perfectly realized.
first
The church
is,
body and the bride of the Redeemer, who has washed her
with His blood; the temple and organ of the Holy Ghost, who never
in fact, the
is,
But
church
It is growing, progressive
as are also her
not complete at once.
and will be perfected only at
other attributes of unity and catholicity
This is unequivocally implied in such
the second coming of Christ.
And this continual process
26, 27.
passages as Eph. 4 12-16 and 5
is
is
We
abstractly separating
the
two,
observe
still
its
its
real manifestation
4 and 5.)
?"
"
In
many
things
we
offend
all,"
and declares only those to be perfect, who offend not in a single word
(3: 2); which certainly can hardly be said of any man this side the
1
from
error, is
shown by
Ullnr.ann
p.
64 sqq.
merely freedom
(5th ed.)
486
121.
[lI.BOOR.
Paul confesses, that he is not yet perfect, and has not yet
grave.
attained the goal, but follows after it, forgetting what is behind, ane
reaching forth towards what lies before him (Phil. 3
12-14); that
:
mortifies his
it
in
we must
which
tribulation,
(Acts 14
For
enter the
kingdom
27).
of
He
down
lays
is
we
22); that
having preached to
subjection, lest,
in his struggle
against the
him
was
a
there
given
painful malady,
temptation
spiritual pride,
thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor. 12 7). John
further unknown to us,
his personal humiliation,
to
"a
rebukes
falsehood.
the truth
"If
is
we say
not in
forgive us our
1
all
If
us.
sins,
that
we have no
we
man
we deceive
sin,
as self-deception
is
and
ourselves and
faithful
and just
all unrighteousness"
to
Jno.
8, 9).
as
Testament
"We
Christian
humility,
or at any rate
1
On
the
much
Commentary on
:"
Galatians,
makes
the follow
more worthy of admiration and harder to imitate, than the one who corrected him.
For it is easier to see what may be improved in others, than for each to see what
still
whether
needs improvement in himself, and cheerfully to receive correction therein,
as a grand example
serves
This
another.
from
is
still
what
from himself, or,
harder,
of humility
of morals; for
by humility
love
is
is
preserved"
of Peter is especially
generosity and forgiving disposition
doctrines
the
he
endorses
where
by Paul, and aftei
preached
his
from
manifest
epistles
of our Lord," and of the prospect of sinless haphaving spoken of the long suffering
alludes (2 Pet. 3 15, 16) to those very epistles in one o
piness in the world to come,
brother !
which his own censure is recorded, and calls their author his beloved
18.
keittschriften, p.
The
"
121.
.fFE.]
Of
4S|
to greater fidelity
and watchfulness.
distinction, in fact,
between the regenerate and the unregenerate is, not that the former are
altogether free from sin, but that, if in unguarded moments they stumble
they humble themselves before God, and if necessary before men;
they go out and weep bitterly, and find no peace, till they
obtain forgiveness from the Lord.
or
fall,
like Peter,
If,
therefore, even the apostles did not rise to the ideal of moral per
fection,
of the
much
less did
This
churches.
their
is
New
it
to break
away from a
certain religious
mechanism, from the bondage of the law and of ceremonies, and to rise
from harrow particularism into the sphere of evangelical freedom.
Of
this
And
ample testimony.
all
Paul
epistles give
of the
of the heavy
and benefactors,
"
fallen
from
grace,"
and returned to
"
the
weak and
God and
the love of
self.
And when
Ephesus had
left
her
first
love and
to repent,
*88
122.
DISCIPLINE.
[ll.
BOO!
comin- of Christ
exist in the
earthly and unfolding state of the church
the grievous sin of real
John (1 Ep. 2 :
hypocrisy.
19) expressly dis
an inward, and a
merely outward fellowship with the church
house," says Paul with reference to
two pernicious errorists
Hymeneus and Philetus, "there are not
only vessels of gold and silver
but a so.of wood and of
earth; and some to honor, and some to dis^
languishes
In a great
A^
2
(
tbe L rd al ne Can
tothgu* with
I
,
7,n -r
1
absolute
infallibility the true and the false, the
living and the dead
members
the outward
organism of his kingdom. He "knoweth
hem that are his" (v.
19); and to separate entirely the tares from the
wheat, is a work he has reserved for himself at the
harvest (Matt,
lo : 30).
:
)<
holmess,
holiness
is
design
the necessity
well-ordered society of
any kind can
By the exercise of admonition and discipline the church exher abhorrence of all
evil, and is continually
purging herself of
ungodly elements which war against her nature, from
all filthithe flesh and spirit"
25-27. 2 Cor.
(Eph. 5
7:1). By this
also, she formally expels from her communion
;
of discipline,
stand.
presses
all
the
ness of
without which no
"
means,
dangerous errorists
soon as they are known as
such, and when repeated admonition, first private, then public, has
proved of no avail ;
and thus she restores her violated
dignity, her proper character as the
8
body of the Lord.
she would
Neglecting
and gross
sinners, so
discipline,
necessarily come
to a stand, implicate herself in the sins of
her
unworthy members, give
free scope to the
poison in her own organism, and thus procure her own
dissolution.
Relaxation of discipline is
always a suspicious symptom ;
while the strict and
energetic administration of it bespeaks moral
earnestness and zeal for
One
can feel no
purification.
repugnance,
therefore, to the stern precepts of the apostles on this
John for
point.
bids even
saluting a willful and incorrigible Gnostic heretic
(2 Jno. 10
.-
3.
1
Tit. 3
Cor. a
2,
10.
6-1?
2 Cor. 6
14-7
Epb
122.
IFE.]
483
DISCIPLINE.
an id)la .or, a
11), Paul prohibits eating with a fornicator, a glutton,
a brother,
himself
railer, a drunkard, or an extortioner, who still calls
Church
it
This
is
is
Lord
of the
in the
Jesus"
(1 Cor.
God
may be saved
in
the day
5:5).
"
in
So
in
his salvation
in the
death sometimes appear as direct visitations from God for certain sins
30.
Jas. 5
(1 Cor. 11
14-16). In precisely the same way the
with
apostle proceeds
Hymeneus and Philetus, who by their false teach
:
ings
he
shall
unto
These also
they might
According to the same view
doubtless have to understand the anathema which he utters
"delivered
learn not to
we
by excommunication,
Satan"
blaspheme"
(1 Tim. 1
"that
20).
Deut. 17
7, 12.
19
19.
21
21.
The admonition
nearly to the
nication, to
first
stage of the
pos
discipline, in
if
1 Pet.
in the
excommu
19 20, and 4
8
ai
i90
EXAMPLES.
123.
IT -
B0 *
regard to
its subject, is
always the rescue of his soul by means of the
heavy punishment of temporary exclusion from all the benefits of sal
vation
as in fact, generally speaking, it is the office of the
church,
not to destroy but to edify and save (2 Cor. 10
8.
13
If this
10).
end is gained, as it was in the case of the Corinthian offender, the sin
;
was united
in spirit
For
in the
mem
upon the body itself, and the restoration of the moral dignity
of the whole requires, therefore, such an act of the whole body.
ber
falls
123. Examples.
The
it
first
case
we meet with
in the
1-10).
This
who dwelt
hypocrisy on the Christian community and the Holy Ghost,
Ananias sold his piece of ground, but in concert with his wife
in it.
secretly kept
we must
6,
on
all
which follows
soul
by the believing
"
Cw<n
tffdv
Trveiyzart,"
irvf.vp.a
oudri,
Protettantismus,
which
Cor. 5
I.
p.
Iva rd
perfectly harmonizes with the elf o/letfpov rfc aapKdc,
5.
Comp. also Thiersch : Vorletungen &ber Katlolici*mu$ und
89 sq.
EXAMPLES.
123.
LIFE.]
feet in the
common
491
spirits
(comp.
God and
to the
Holy Ghost.
man
medium
fell
upon
her,
nor
until,
Had
husband, she had aggravated her hypocrisy by a deliberate lie
confessed the deed, she would undoubtedly have been
she
penitently
spared.
stances.
place, the
first
again,
apostles.
of the
deeper experiences of the power
than
Simon
more
Magus
guilty
Holy Ghost, so as to have been far
had merely come into outward contact
who
or
13),
(c.
Elymas
8)
(c.
season of
this fair
first
love,
with the gospel, and were, therefore, more mildly dealt with.
The second example occurred at Corinth and has been already several
member of the church
1 sqq.).
times touched upon (1 Cor. 5
of even among the
unheard
almost
there -had committed a scandal
He
heathen.
had
spirit
and
1
thus,
in the
"sit
"
comp. 18
8.
Deut. 22
30.
in
doctrina multorum.
11
92
EXAMPLES.
123.
[n.
BOOK
the
great
effectual.
probably Gnostic
errorists,
the
Greeting
uffTrdar/a^e, Matt. 5
is
:
which one professes his fellowship of spirit with the one he salutes and
makes himself partaker of his works (v. 11, comp. 1 Tim. 5 22). This
severity is by no means inconsistent with the mild character of John,
but is in perfect harmony with his holy earnestness, which acknowledged
only a love rooted in the divine truth, and with what Irenaeus relates of
:
remembered, that he
is
It must be
Gnostic, Cerinthus (comp.
103).
here speaking not of Jews or Gentiles, but of
church (comp.
Jno. 2
18 sqq.
:
2.
4:3).
1:8.
Gal.
We
1 Cor.
16
22.
ex
Without
the most rigid separation of truth from falsehood, the church, especially
in that day, when she had scarcely gained firm footing and was an
object of violent persecution, would soon have become a medley of
Christian and unchristian elements, and in the end the sure prey of the
world.
1
Tim.
Hymeneus.
20.
Comp. 2 Tim.
2:7,
where Philetus
is
BOOK THIRD.
GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH,
GOVERNMENT
OF THE CHURCH,
CHAPTER
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
Origin and Design of
124.
H GOVERNMENT has
which
is
its
I.
IN GENERAL.
foundation
the
in
Christian Ministry,
was
instituted, not
in person.
When
our Lord was about to leave the earth, he gave his disciples, whom he
had gathered around him since his public appearance as the Messiah
name
send I
you."
For
by an outward
this
act,
his authority to
"
The
Jno. 20
21-23.
Comp. Matt. 16
19.
18
community of
15.
28
18-20.
believers,
496
124. ORIGIN
to
18
the
discipline
is
18
18-20.
Hence Paul
ment.
says of
it,
in
The design
is
much
kingdom
ledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4
11-13). The spiritual office,
:
is
and gradually transforms it into the kingdom of God. This office has
various names, according to its different aspects and functions.
It is
termed the "ministry of the word" (diaKovia TOV Aoyov, Acts 6 4),
:
because the preaching of the gospel is its first business, according to the
19 sq. Mk. 16
final commission of the Saviour, Matt. 28
15.
It is
:
which gives
the
letter,
which
diKaioavvrjf, v. 9),
God,
in distinction
life,
in contrast
"
kills
the
TrvEv/j.aToe,
2 Cor.
3:8),
ministration of
faith in the
righteous-utss"
Redeemer and
( f5m/c.
-fa
avails with
ministry of
reconciliation"
(dtaic.
1% KaraMayr/f, 2 Cor. 5
men and a holy God.
From
and
this
we
responsibility of the
ministerial
calling.
This
office
is
the
main
instrument for carrying out the divine plan of salvation, and from it
proceed almost all motion and progress in the church. The apostles,
and
in a
wider view
all
"the
salt of the
here to be taken in
assigned to each
member
Stier in his
g 124. ORIGIN
UOVERNJf.J
497
OFFICE.
"
human
tions of
ther
with
existence (Matt. 5
God"
(1 Cor. 3
They are
13-16).
and
9),
"laborers
toge
of the mysteries
"stewards
of
which they should faithfully dispense, and of which they must one
day give an account (1 Cor. 4:1. Tit. 1:7. 1 Pet. 4
10).
They
God,"
Christ"
who, as though
God
!"
is
office,
which
to believers a savor of
is
life
unto
worthiness
"
?"
life,
own
un-
as
in
As
away
faithful shepherds,
in
5:3),
(1 Cor. 9
lest,
27).
the most
self-
Whosoever will be great among you," says our Lord to his disciples,
him be your minister and whosoever will be chief among you, let
him be your servant" (Matt. 20: 2G-28.
Comp. Luke 22: 26-30).
For their office is in fact a service, as the original Greek term, AtaKovia,
"
"let
implies.
Preachers
are, primarily
and
in
Cor.
very reason also properly servants of the congregation, for its eternal
Thus Paul writes to the Corinthians
welfare.
preach not our
"
selves,
Jesus
1
but
sake"
Matt.
10
(2 Cor. 4
40
sqq.. v. 15.
95:40.
32
5.
Lord
Comp.
Col. 1
Jno. 13:20.
We
for
25).
Comp
Jno. ]2
26.
17:23.
Matt
498
125.
of
BOOK.
D*I
Officers
the
We
all
way
In
and
its
The Lord
duties.
hiin-
turned
first
till
In fixing the number and division of the church offices we must keep
11 sq.
"And he (Christ) gave
especially in view the passage Eph. 4
and some,
and
and
some, evangelists
some, apostles
some, prophets
:
Acts 13
5,
46.
By Campegius
14
18
1.
19
4-8.
8-10.
who
first
work: De synagoga
28
17-29.
1696.
and fully
in his celebrated
Mosheim
Compare
primitive church
of
1.
This
is
undoubtedly
constitution
of the
and, in spite of
peimanent value.
work
its
c<
t>
OVERNM.J
499
passage, 1 Cor. 12
workers of miracles and several spiritual gifts are mentioned along with
In these passages, at least the latter,
apostles, prophets, and teachers.
:
Paul
is
charisms
and
divine qualification
outfit for
whose existence
Adding
is
these to the
and understanding
list,
pastors and teachers to be identical with one another and with those
elsewhere commonly styled presbyters or even bishops, we have five
of officers
Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists,
Presbyter-bishops
These
(uniting the functions of teaching and governing), and Deacons.
offices are so related to one another, that the higher include in them
classes
He
is
6:14.
7:40.
Lu.
16.
24:19.
vant (Lu. 22
And
all
27.
Comp. Matt. 20
Jno. 13
28.
of the spiritual
Phil. 2
14.
office
are
7).
the organs,
is
this
difference
among
these
offices,
that the
first
three have reference to the whole church, while those of presbyter and
deacon relate only to single congregations. This gives us the distinction
of church
1
In
Cor. 12
spiritual gift
*
As may
rot)f 6
**
answering
fact,
Non enim
ait.
Jerome well
et
So Bengel, ad loc.
Pastores et doctores
junguntur. nam pascunt docendo maxime, turn admonendo, corripiendo." etc
magister."
magistros, ut qui
hie
500
126.
[ni. bOCK.
especially brings out, though he wrongly puts the latter before tne
The whole system of government has formed itself from above
former.
downwards, from the general to the particular, and not the contrary.
Even under
oi
any
was made up of all in every nation, who were separated from the world
by divine grace and called to eternal life (the IK^EKTOI, Ktyrol deov) and
this society of the elect (iKKtyaia TOV &eov} was distinguished from the
;
ungodly world (the Koa/tos}, as were the chosen people of the ancient
covenant from the t^ia, the i&vq, the nations by which they were sur
The
rounded."
dom
and
all
stock.
king
of Christ on earth,
term, in which
first,
common
grow out
named
it
of Corinth or of
is
Rome,
passage, where the term tKK?ujaia first occurs, and that too in the mouth
of our Lord himself.
When Christ says of his church, the gates of
"
hell
against
(Matt. 16
it"
we
18),
are obliged to
In
inwardly dead or overrun by a false religion, like Mohammedanism.
the first stage of Christianity the two conceptions properly coincided, the
Yet
to the
nations (Matt. 28
all
19
The inward call to the spiritual office, and the necessary furniture of
Paul reminds the Ephesian
gifts, can come only from the Holy Ghost.
Rom. 2:28 sq.
Col. 3:11.
11:1-7.
24 sq.
sq.,
Gal- 3
7,
26-29.
4:26.
s
Comp. Acts 2
2.
Tit.
1,
47.
22 sq.
10.
13
48.
Pet.
1, 2.
Jude
1.
Rom.
6, 7.
Cor.
&c.
20.
4:11.
Comp. such passages
Eph. 2
4
Cor. 12
as Matt.
this. p.
28
16:18.
1
Tim. 3
285.
20
:
15.
28.
Cor. 10
32.
12
28.
Eph.
g 126.
OOVEBNM.]
eliers (Acts 20
28), that the Holy
the church of
to
feed
office,
pastoral
:
501
But
God.
this
done without
its
active participation.
filling
15
the vacant place of the traitor, after our Lord s ascension (Acts 1
Peter here lays before the whole congregation of about a hun
-26).
dred and twenty souls the necessity of an election, to complete the
:
the
congregational
ordinary
When
officers.
the
in
first
own
choice (tf.eavTo,
Luke
appointed them to
office in
But even
in a
10
it
41),
but
confirmation,
5,
in
diately preceding),
bishops,
v.
latter fall
As
TO
TTA^O^
make
imme
to
the presbyter-
(like npoxeiporoveiv,
19).
for the
concurrence of the
in
Either
this
dice, or
more probably small tablets, which were inscribed with the name
some vessel. By this mode of choice, which, as is
well known, the Moravians imitate even in their marriages (though not so generally
of
late), it
was sought
to preclude all
human
will and
From x e
Comp. Rothe,
1. c.
p. 150,
I. p.
268
502
126.
BO
[ni.
IK.
The formal
blameless reputation should be chosen to these dignities.
in
all its affairs cannot be
to
an
concern
the
active
of
congregation
right
questioned, though the actual exercise of this right is conditioned by the
All authority and power comes,
degree of their spiritual maturity.
indeed, from God, the only Sovereign, and from the Holy Ghost, the
Ruler and Soul of the church but the conveyance of it to a particular
individual must be mediated, even for the sake of order, by some sor.
;
of
and aristocracy
to
and
"
with the
church."
into office
it
Tit. 1
ordaining any one (#eipaf ra^ewf pqdevi imri-Qei}, lest he should become a
From 1 Tim. 4 14, however, it appears,
partaker of other men s sins.
that the presbyter-bishops also might ordain, or at least assist in the
:
For Paul there exhorts his disciple not to neglect the gift,
ceremony.
which was given him in consequence of the prophetic utterances of the
1
Tim. 3
2, 7, 10.
rulers of synagogues,
Tit.
6, 7.
Similar to this
into office
of choosing the
till
tha
Owev6oKijadffJ]f
T%
iKK7(,i)aiaf Truatjf,
who
is
known
to
Epist. ad
Corinth.
mark an epoch
in the
I. c.
44.
Even Cyprian,
development of hierarchy
ed. Tauchn.)
Benec
I.
p.
118
Tim.
congregation (comp.
503
127.
aOVERNM.J
18 and Acts 16
2),
by the laying on
From
2 Tim. 1
it
rf/f
we adopt the
unless
But at all
untenable hypothesis that these were two different cases.
events the part taken by the presbyters can have been no mere empty
ceremony, any more than the participation of the congregation in the
1
choice of
its
officers,
laying on of hands on
tioned Acts 9
in
The
men
"
13:3
tioned Acts
was a
"prophets
and
teachers"
special inauguration of
(v. 1) of
Gentiles,
for
his followers,
:
God, and exhorts men to seek first of all the everlasting blessings of the
kingdom of heaven. The same principle is laid down by Paul and illus
trated by several apt similitudes
the soldier drawing his pay, the vine
dresser reaping the fruit of his vineyard, the shepherd living on the milk
;
ye not
and eternal
"Do
(v. 11).
continues he, enforcing from another quarter this selfdo ye not know, that they which
evident, but often-neglected duty,
know,"
"
the
"
13 sq.).
live of
When
the
gospel"
(v.
As Rothe
does.
1. c.
p. 161. note.
This passage
Matt. 10
and Order of
10.
Lu. 10
is
7 sq.
some
discussed at
Comp. Lev. 19
2nd
Philad. 1830.
:
13.
Deut. 24
length, with
Letter t concerning
14.
ed. p. 31
sqq
504
127.
idea of remuneration
at least included
is
as
is
[HI.
BOOR
"
show thyself
applied),
The passage
art served.
also, Gal.
6:6:
"
in
corn,"
all
good
things,"
con
tains according
is
apostle
in
to contentment, hospitality,
is
peculiarly
He
and
disinterestedness."
He
unbecoming
exhorts them
himself exhibited
own support by
trade of tent-making, often working day and night, that he might
not be burdensome to the churches, which doubtless consisted mostly of
in his life
an exalted model
in this respect
earning his
his
persons without property; that he might procure the readier access for
the gospel; and might stop the mouths of his Jewish adversaries, who
impeached his motives.* Paul could say without exaggeration, that
Yet
11-13).
in
tion,
8).
of his
own
living,
none"
(Acts
too, with
how
self-
Many
it r
ward.
*
Tit.
1:11.
Thess.
4-18.
9.
1
:
PKI. 4
Tim.
5-10.
:
15.
6:6-10.
sq.
2 Thess. 3
Acts 18
3.
7-9.
20
Acts 20
1
Cor 9
34 sqq.
34
sq.
12, 15.
2 Cor. 11
7-10-
12
127.
OOVERNM.J
501
It
is
At
all
who had
events, those,
the right
So long
spirit, contented themselves with the simple necessaries of life.
as Christianity was not recognized by the state, the churches, as such,
held no property.
Many
among
the Jews,
might have adhered to the old custom of paying tithes (decimae) and
But there was as yet no law about it.
first-fruits (primitiae).
All
1
contributions
for
or
ecclesiastical
11
and need.
in Palestine
quent
16:1
the
poor churches
in
Rom. 15
Palestine,
26.
tem, where
tary
it
donations
name
(for
many
are,
is
calls
whereas the
in
forth
church
affairs
support of the
it
some method
for
Legal enactments
in regard to the
payment of
was
if
recommend some
this
Irenaeus
(Mv-
met with
in the
churcn
of opinion, that the Christians should pay tithes like the Jews, so as not to be
I.
p.
1
!
(Apolog.
c.
39).
"Nem
506
128.
in BOOK
-
means and
resources.
Such was the simple yet most judicious regu
which
Paul
with
made
reference to the collections for the poor in
lation,
that every one for himself, on the
the churches of Galatia and Greece
his
day of the week, the holy day of the Christians (comp. Acts 20 7
Rev. 1 10), should lay by a part of his earnings, and so keep a sepa
first
Lord
dictated (1 Cor. 16
as his
his
conscience
2
:
2).
1,
to
Officers
the
The
Congregations.
Universal
Priesthood.
the people
This
is
indeed,
not,
Holy Ghost
is
and the corner-stone, binding together the several parts and repre
3
But so soon as the gospel had taken root and pro
senting the whole.
tect
tion
it in the
spirit of brotherly love, and
with the consciousness, that the members of the flock stood essentially in
the same relation with themselves to the common Head and chief Shep
an equal share
in all
11
6, TI
as he
"
evo6uTai<
may
"
be
prospered,"
as far as his
Tif.
fuit,
"
multum
quam
quis semel
Eph. 2
Acts 9
4:21,22.
26
32.
13
Tit.
S.
"is
Consilium
29
gaining,"
01
a$aif rjinroyiiro
facile.
Semel,
r:on
tam
dedisset."
Comp
20.
2 Cor. 1:1.
domin
datur.
Acts 11
10.
13.
14.
18.
Matt. 16
18.
Rom. 1:7.
Eph. 1:1. 2
1 Pet. 2
9, 10.
:
Rev. 2j
19.
27.
14,
i2
5:3.
Heb. 13
13.
6
:
and
24.
16
18.
90 above.
15.
Rev. 13
Cor.
Col. 3
:
10,
12.
&c.
1:2.
Phil.
6
1
aOVERNM.J
(Heb. 13
affectionate obedience
their part,
latter
officers
The
507
Xew
it
applies
it is
Testament,
true,
Christ by faith, and should daily offer Him the sacrifices of praise and
In virtue of their union with Christ (-p6f bv
intercession.
"
(1 Pet. 2
up
Comp. Rom. 12
4, 5.
exclaims to them
Ye
"
Christ"
(Ex. 19
pose
in the
"Ye
6);
But
nation."
who has
"
shall
in the
Xew,
me
be unto
Old Testament
it
is
sins in his
God and
his
own
Father"
made us
The Xew
(Rev.
5, 6).
clergy
in
Hebrews (comp.
which
c.
13
7-10.
The term
(/c/lypof),
order
rial
the
to
epistle
in ecclesiastical
peculiar people
The
men
Christ,
the
Jno 17
It
is
9,
by
make
upon
intercession
his readers, in
for himself
and
10, 11.
20).
this universal
priesthood, that
we
The general
liberty to teach
was a
Others take
tiona distributed
riJv /cA^pwv,
which
in
any case
lot
or election.
mean congrega
508
128.
BOOK
[in.
all flesh,
upon
God.
the requisite charisrn, might speak with tongues, pray, teach, and pro
phesy in the assembly. For spiritual gifts were by no means confined
to official station.
we may
infer,
But here
restriction at once
Paul rebukes
in general all
the Corinthians,
They
all
and always with due regard to the edification of the assembly. 3 James
also chides the mania, with which many in his Jewish-Christian con
gregations (where acting was so often lost sight of in talking), set them
selves
for teachers
up
call
an&
regular
gifts
office,
responsibility.
Then
Cor.
11:5:
;"
Joel 2
28 sq.
Thess. 4:9.
Is.
54
Jno. 2
Jer. 31
13.
Acts 2
34.
Jno. 6
17 sq.
45.
Comp.
1
This primitive freedom was still understood by an ecclesiastical writer at the close
of the fourth century, the author of the Commentary on Paul s epistles, found among the
works of St. Ambrose (probably the Roman deacon, Hilary). Thus he says, on Eph.
4 11
In episcopo omnes ordines sunt, quia primus sacerdos est, hoc est princeps est
"
officia ecclesiae in
minis-
terio fidelium.
ordinata.
Ut ergo
cresceret
Cor. 14
Cor. 14
mitted to speak
5, 12,
34
;
sq.
&c.
23-33.
1
comp. Wetstein on
Cor. 14
34,
also
and Vitringa
women were
:
not per
Synag. p. 725.
SOVEBNM.]
509
Quakers, and other sects appeal in support of their piact^e. But tht
apostle is here simply citing the fact, which undoubtedly occurred (comp.
Acts 21
9), without
approving or disapproving
for in
c.
all
though
outward
differ
6i6aoKEiv,
Tim. 2
which were more the expression of elevated feeling. For, not to men
1
tion, that the apostle places prophets above teachers (Eph. 4:11.
Cor. 12
that
28), his injunction is altogether general, 1 Cor. 14
34,
:
women
should keep
silence (oiyuruaav)
is
cacy.
in
But
it
has not, in so doing, abolished the divine order of nature, which places
16.
her in subjection to man (Gen. 3
Eph. 5: 22), and restricts her
to the sphere of private life.
Here, in the quiet circle of the family,
:
woman has the freest scope for the display of the fairest virtues. Here
And here she is bound, not only to
too she has a certain right to rule.
but
also
to
teach
her children to pray, and to
herself,
pray diligently
lead
them early
With
to the
Saviour."
worship corresponded to a
The presbyters
great extent the conduct of the church government.
were, indeed, the regular pastors and managers of the affairs of the
congregation but they shared both their power and their responsibility
;
and
the people.
In the
first
18, 19.
Acts
2), were taken from the midst of the congregation, and were chosen
by the people themselves or at least with their consent, as we have
15
On
Gal. 3
28
i-petf c?f
iare iv Xpior
the contrary even Aristotle says unequivocally,: xeiqov q ywrj TOV uvJpoc,
^Irjaov.
Magn.
Etl.ic. I, 34.
9) occurred in family
worship
unless
we sjppose
p.
Philip
in
257).
For Luk*
510
128.
1.111
BOOK.
own
free conviction
1
(comp.
Pet. 5
and
Almost
themselves.
to
1-5).
of this in the council at Jerusalem for settling the great question about
the binding authority of the Mosaic law, and the terms on which the
1
Here
Gentiles were to be admitted to the privileges of the Gospel.
and
brethren
the
elders
the
with
assemble
deliberations
the apostles
"
;"
are held in the presence of the whole congregation Peter urges his clear
divine vision respecting the baptism of the Gentiles, not is a command,
;
17 sqq.
final
2 sqq.)
the
comp. 11
and the written
:
resolution
decree of the council goes forth, not in the name of the apostles only,
but also in the name of the brethren generally, and is addressed to the
8
body of the Gentile Christians in Syria and Cilicia.
and
the
officers
their
between
to
which
the term
This relation
churches,
collective
democratic
1
is
V. 23
By Dr. R. Rothe,
feignation,
because
it is
roZr
monarchy
roif
ddetyolc, etc.
We
avv 5Xy ry
iroeafivTEoois
for
came
dirocTolioif Kal
oi uTToaro/loi
misunderstood.
rolg
all is
service
(iicutovitt)
The Saviour
himsell
into the world, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his
ransom
for
many (Matt
20
28.
Lu. 22
27.
Jno. 13
14, 15 sq.
Phil. 2
life a
:
6-8).
of the apostolic age soon after the destruction of Jerusalem, particularly through the in
511
connection with the extraordinary effusion of the Holy Ghost 111 the apos
tolic period, and was thereby secured against the abuses to which such
a form of government is liable, where the mass of the people are uuder
see mirrored in it, to
the dominion of ignorance and wild passion.
We
when
which
absolutely
We
shall
upon
come
to pass,
be
fulfilled.
offices
of the
apostolic church, beginning with those that look towards the church as a
since this idea is anterior to that of a single congregation,
whole
;
to extent, in the
mother church
at
Jerusalem.
On
example, he says
(p.
the
first
point,
"
a mere magistratus of the people, whose authority fenced from no other source
of society,
than the will of the congregation
this
officers;
to
3-33.
their
election."
Against
and in part the work of the Rev. Charles Rothe (since gone over to th
Die icahren Grundlagen der chri$tlicken Kirchenvtrfcuswtf,
1844.
Irvingites). entitled
p.
itself,
512
THE APOSTOLATE.
129.
CHAPTER
CHURCH
To be an
1
22.
Comp.
life
Cor. 9
II.
(Note on
the Irvingites.)
apostle, the
above
of Jesus,
:
all
1),
BOOK
OFFICES.
The Apostolatf.
129.
fni.
without
in person,
filled,
Holy Ghost.
with
Paul, on
but to com
the contrary, had not known Jesus according to the flesh
pensate for this, the glorified Saviour appeared to him in visible form on
;
the
way
to
Damascus
(1 Cor.
9:1.
15
8),
human
had received
1,
11 sqq.).
If now, however,
twelve,
From 2
we
are
number
it
Cor. 5
16
an enthusiast or an impostor.
a
The number twelve was so
ow<5e/ca
whn
(Matt. 26
t .io
College
always clung
wus
.vo
fixed, that
Jno. 6
14, 47.
67.
.ot.per full
to this original
number
(1
20
24, etc.);
Cor. 15
5).
even
.
he
simply
ol
Las, in
The
general,
Apostolical
but refer
THE APOSTOLATE.
129.
OOVERVM.]
513
it
yet hasty and invalid act, and to substitute Paul for him, as the legi
timate apostle.
On the other side there are reasons for assigning to the
free
of the
apostle
He
pendent.
rather to distinguish himself from them as one born out of due time,
occupying a similar relation to the Gentile world, as the older apostles
did to the Jewish.
number
At
events
all
it
is
beyond Paul
to
apostles (cie/carpetf
(1.
VIII.
46) of thirteen
c.
They
also distinguish
James of Jerusalem, the brother of the Lord, from the younger apostle of this name,
him as a man of apostolical standing. Eusebius, in his commentary on Is
but regard
17
5 sq. (in Montfaucon, Coll. nova pair. II. p. 422), assumes fourteen apostles, adding
twelve Paul and the James just mentioned Ae/ta nal Teaaaqac, Troti/aei rovf
to the
eliroi<;
63 above.
Comp
^rson who
in
his
first
first
whose name
is
modern divines
to the
(e. g.
Hebrews.
speaking not only of the apostles, but also of the brethren of the Lord, and in the
superscriptions of several of his epistles he honors Timothy also with the same
In Acts Barnabas
position.
is
at first
though the reverse order appears previously, 13 43, 46, 50) and twice, 14 4,
14, he shares with Paul the title a~6a-o?.oi, though he is never called d-daro/.of sepa
The Greek and Roman churches designate him as apostle in iheir martyrorately.
15
12
In other places,
logies.
apostles,
it is
to be taken in
its
is
sent.
In Phil. 2
25
When
it
is
otherwise
accus.
said
unknown
of lovvia,
ercio-rj^oi iv
(Rom. 16
rolf
to
7)
of the
us (some, as
7ro<7r6?.o<c,
tarirs.
33
it
is
missionaries.
and understand by
Roman
the
THE AFOSTOLATIJ.
129.
514:
its
[ill.
BOOB.
are
They
"
means proves that the apostles were merely presbyters, and therefore
congregational officers, any more than the address of the Roman general
to his soldiers as
The
rank.
also
"
commilitones"
much more.
Their
and
office
in discipline, to all
still
After the
Christendom.
Lord withdrew
day
and
tive purity
So
freshness,
remain the
teaching
is
it is
not at
in fact
owed
the
first
to
in
an
infallible
them
in
instance,
to particular
indeed,
Christians in
all
all
ages.
As
to church govern
Who is
Who
the churches.
common
calls
interest)?
weak, and
is
am
me
all
the churches,
those
"Beside
offended,
he implies
himself co-presbyter,
ment and
manner
all
in
and practice.
far as doctrine
also, that,
?"
though absent
in the
body, he
still
different
13-16); and according to the agreement made at the aposcouncil, A. D. 50, he and Barnabas gave themselves chiefly to
2 Cor. 10
itolic
the Gentiles
1
13.
cvfiirpeafivTeQOf,
"Matt.
Gal. 2
10
:
19 sq.
7-9.
as Matt. 16
2 Cor. 5
Pet.
5:1.
Mk.
13
This
fact
Com p.
11.
18:18.
18, sq.
20.
Eph. 2
2 Jno.
Lu. 12
perhaps gave
John went
"20.
rise
to
Jno. 20:22sq.
Gal. 2
and 3 Jno.
11 sq.
to the Jews.
9.
14:26-
Rev. 21
But
16
14.
1.
21:15
the old story, that the apostles
ai
this
For
THE ATOSTOLATE.
129.
OYKRNM.]
515
destroyed not the rightful official relation of each to the entire field.
in every city Pau-1 addressed himself first to the Jews
Peter wrote
;
after their
In virtue of this universal vocation, the apostles were not only evan
for the whole unconverted world (Matt. 28
20), but at the
gelists
living
ward exhibition of the unity of the apostolic church, and at the same
time a sanction by primitive Christianity of the synodicnl form of govern
in which all orders of the church are represented, to transact
business and discuss questions of general concern, and to give final
ment,
decisions.
With all this comprehensive authority, however, with all their personal
independence in their respective spheres, by virtue of which Paul, for
example, once even rebuked the distinguished apostle, Peter, much his
the apostles still regarded themselves always as a colle
body, and exercised their power as organic members of such a
body and under a sense of responsibility to it. They did not stand
apart, but blended their several gifts and peculiarities into a complete,
senior in office,
giate
And
harmonious whole.
were they united also with the church, whose unity they personally
We have already seen ( 128), that, with all the
represented.
authority committed to them immediately by Christ, they never forced
any measure upon the churches, but administered the government in
no obedience to their orders, which did not spring from the actual experi
ence of the power of divine truth in the hearts of the people themselves.
From all tyranny over conscience, from all arbitrary hierarchical despoJerusalem divided themselves among tbe different countries of the earth.
Socrates
Hist. Eccl. I. 19.
H. E. I. 9, and Theodoret, ad Ps. 116.
Rufinus
:
Comp. 91 above.
Comp. Rom. 16 16
:
Comp.
Comji.
70 above.
"The
you."
V. 20
"
you."
you."
Cor. 16
19
Heb. 13
"Th
24, etc
516
THE APOSTOLATE.
129.
BCOR
j_m.
under the common Head, the Redeemer of the whole body (Eph.
Cor. 12).
In feeding the flock they had the highest regard to
the rights, freedom, and dignity of the humblest soul committed to their
of
all
1
4.
care.
nized a
5, 9).
connected
is
know
of him,
made
aud
for this
this does not require us to place him precisely in the same category with
the proper bishops of a later day.
He stood in the mother church as
3
the representative of the apostolic college, and acted in its name.
On
him devolved,
of
all
countries
and
his
accordingly,
epistle,
addressed to
is
all
believing
Israelites.
NOTE. The discussion of the interesting question lately renewed by the modern
Montanists, the English sect of Irvingites (which has recently spread also in Ger
many and the United States) concerning the continuance or revival of the apostoli1
Comp. Acts
12
15
17.
13-21.
21
18.
1.
c. p.
264 sqq.
position of James, in contrast with the missionary life of the apostles generally, is
one of the arguments against his identity with the younger apostle of this name, and
in favor of considering
Comp.
3
him merely an
on his
own
apostolical
man
(like Barnabas),
whose great
See Rothe,
II. 23, at
the
it
is
said
of
"
in Euseb.
i it i
an o
IV. 22
TT
JJ.ETU.
2o//(jj>
/catfi araro
129.
GOVERN*.]
cal oflBce, does
not properly
fall
Tll
APOSTOLATE.
517
We
respects a position altogether peculiar, in which none can rival or supplant them,
as called by Christ in person, without human intervention ; secondly, as the
first
inspired and infallible bearers of the Christian revelation thirdly, as the found
ers of the church
and fourthly, as the representatives not only of the Jews, or of
As the Lord himself called only
the church of their day, but of all Christendom.
;
twelve, and promised them, that they should hereafter sit upon twelve thrones,
so also the last book of the
judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19 28)
Bible knows of but twelve apostles of the Lamb." whose names are written on
:
"
intransmissible.
Accordingly we
1,
the
office is
replenished after
and during
tbj death of any one (as the elder James, for instance, Acts 11
2)
the last ten years of the first century John was the only surviving member of the
On the other hand, however, we may very properly speak of an
original college.
:
unbroken continuation of the apostolate. For, in the first place, the apostle
originally appointed by our Lord still live and work, not only personally in the
church above, which stands in mystical union with the church below, but also
through their normative word and their spirit, in the church militant itself, every
;
day and every hour teaching, encouraging, exhorting, strengthening, and comfort
ing.
Then
secondly, every regularly called minister (and not the bishops alone,
and Anglican doctrine) is, as to the essential charac
in the
since he also
wide sense a successor of the apostles
name and as his organ
;
administers to penitent sinners all the benefits of redemption through the word
and sacraments, which are to this day a savor of life unto life or of death unto
For though much that is human and worldly has crept into the whole
administration of the church, yet, in the language of the pious Rieger, the blessed
God is still as earnest in upholding the gospel of his Son at this day, as he was when
death.
"
it
was
first in
first
preached
still
;
rejoice as
in the call to
much
it,
as they might at
the qualifications for
it,
great
persons
dlmost
all
if
movements
whom
We
may
in history proceed
from highly
gifted,
influential individuals, in
flesh
518
THE PKOPEETS.
130.
it
now
2COK
[ill.
stal ds,
act to prepare the way for the second coming of Christ, and thus to introduce
the church of the future, we are firmly convinced
and we hold it to be the duty
of Christians to pray, that the Lord would raise up such instruments, and fit them
But that they have already appeared in the so-called Irvingite
for the work.
;
we must be allowed, with all respect for the honesty and earnestness
apostles"
of their efforts, to hold in great doubt, even after perusing the apostle Carlyle a
"
H. Thiersch has
translated into
German.
without a witness in
it.
Just so far as one gives up the reasonableness of history, he denies also the pre
cious fundamental truths of the universal providence of God and of the perpetual
and
that
filleth all in
130.
The second
Eph. 2
20.
which
him
"
is
all."
class of officers,
4:11.
3:5.
Prophets.
named immediately
Cor. 12
28
sq.,
By
but appeared
and encour
moved by
by directing attention
whom
to those persons,
God.
Among the
who meets
us
first
at Antioch (11
(13
(15
Tr^o<j>r)Tuv) ,
For the
Comp. above,
Acts 13
To make
1 sq.
it
117,
16
Comp.
5,
gift of
prophecy.
refer to the
and 3
2.
where the
<i>f
is
I.,
p.
384 sqq.
518
131. EVANGELISTS.
OOVERNM.J
words and
And
in this
view
Old
131.
The
third rank
Evangelists.
assigned by Paul (Eph. 4
is
The name
or itinerant missionaries.
itself indicates,
This easily gave rise to the later application of the term to the
tion.
We
and
Paul
"helpers"
"fellow-laborers."
in his
To
church
officers
then baptizing the Ethiopian on the way from Jerusalem to Gaza, and
6
finally laboring in Caesarea
Timothy (comp. 2 Tim 4:5: t^yov noiricov
;
etay-jTAtaTov),
whom Paul
specially loves,
whom
and
;"
who accompanied
22, 32),
Comp. Rom.
16
SoTheodoret:
On Eph. 4:11
2 Pet. 1:19.
26.
15, 16,
and Stier
remarks,
also Neander.
Comp.
the apos
and appears
finally in
c.
1.
I.
p.
389
258.
sq.
The
too limited.
is
"
maximi moment!
instructus,
pastores et
quam
doctures."
Zwepyo/, avv6ovtoi, KOIVUVOI, Phil. 4: 3. Col. 1:7. 2 Cor. 8 23. Hence Calvin
(Intt. IV., 3.
4) describes the evangelists as those, "qui quum dignitate essent apos:
tolis
fuerant
Lucas, Timotheus, Titus et reliqui similes, ac fortassis etiam septuaginta discipuli, quos
secundo ab apostolisloco Christus designavit (Luc. 19 : 1).".
*
Acts 8
Gal.
he
5 sqq., 26 sqq. 21
8, where he
7
12
2 Cor. 8 23.
6, 14.
2:1.
Acts 15:40.
is
16:19,25.
17:4.
18:5.
is
:
called
18.
1
"
evangelist."
Tit.
Thess.
5.
1.
2 Thess.
1,
where
131. EVANGELISTS.
520
12)
name
person plural),
who was
BOOK
[ill.
most
faithful
with Paul, and finally (perhaps also at times before) with Peter, to whom
he probably owed his conversion, and whom he served as interpreter
Clement (Phil. 4:3); Epaphras, founder of the Colossian and other
;
whom we meet
churches in Phrygia,
in
Rome
4:1 2,
1:7.
(Col.
Philippians,
as Epaphras (Phil. 2
25)
(Tit.
12)
Tro-
2
phimus, Demas, Apollos, and other co-laborers of the apostles.
These examples suffice to show that the evangelists also were not con
3
gregational officers, nor stationed like the presbyters and later bishops
at particular posts, but that they travelled about freely wherever their
The
apostles employed
them as messengers
4
for
now for
now to
Acts 12
Pet. 5
*
13
25.
Several of these
signed, as a diocese,
H. E.
5, 13.
15
Col. 4
39.
10.
2 Tim. 4:11.
Philem. 24.
13.
III. 4,
men
Ephesus;
Jerome,
catal.
made
bishops.
To Timothy
and 2
25,
Tit.,
and others)
on account of the
is
as
by Euseb.
to Epaphroditus, Philippi
title
uTroorro/lof), to
Apollos
Caesarea (Mcnolog. Graec. II. p- 17) to Tychicus, Chalcedon and Paul s avvspyos Cle
ment, is generally held to be the same as the well-known Roman bishop of that name.
But, the last case out of view, some of these traditions can with great difficulty be re
;
conciled with
New
Testament
facts.
for example,
and after Paul s death
Timothy,
fixed residence
down
it
According to the distinction made above ( 125) between these and church officers.
This distinction is entirely overlooked by the author of the articles The apistleship a
for 1849 and 50, which make
temporary office, in the "Princeton Review
Timothy
:
"
Hence Rothe
however, the
title
common
presbyters.
(p.
We
prefei
| 131.
GOVERNS!.]
EVANGELISTS.
521
apostles,
3 sqq.)
then at Ephesus, to
complete the organization of the church and repress the growth of errors /
3
4
After
14, 15.
during the absence of Paul (1 Tim. 1:3.
13).
.
wards he
16
is
10)
falls in
in
22.
1.
Macedonia (2 Cor.
4:17 sqq.
1:1); accom
Cor.
1:1);
inquire into
wrote
he
is
its
state
(Phil.
19-23)
his
summoned by
(2 Tim. 4
9,
(Tit.
1:5),
Tim. 4
10).
15), and
finally in
Dalmatia (2
522
PRESBYTER-BISHOPS
132.
CHAPTER
II. BOOK
IIL
CONGREGATIONAL OFFICES.
132.
Presbyter-Bishops.
AFTER
these three
offices,
is
The name
another.
origin,
presbyter, or eider,
is
Hebrew
a translation of the
no doubt of Jewish-Christian
title
whom
religious affairs.
ap
it
same
office,
roi)f
(5e,
tine,
how
we
Their
ever,
Beza and
De Wette
dissenting),
125).
There
KU/J.TJV dtyuqicinivovt;.
doctorate lor the whole church; but this belongs to the apostles, who, as before ob
served, united all offices in themselves.
(The distinction of pastors and teachers as twc
separate officers,
in the
Book
which
is
11, as
Uoipaiveiv, Acts 20
It
would seem
"the elder,"
made
in several Calvinistic
was
first
28, so also
Pet. 2
2- ),
to be in this sense,
or presbyter, 2 Jno.
1,
church constitutions,
however good
it
may
be in
for instance
itself,
cannot
done by Calvin.)
Pet. 5
Comp. also the Jose collocation
1, 2.
where both terms are applied to Christ.
and not in the official, that John styles himself
:
and 3 Jno.
1.
Even
in the second
The term
ence.
PRESBYTER-BISHOPS.
132.
OOVERNM.J
tishcp, or overseer,
in all probability,
is,
Hence
and made
use,
Christians
as in fact
Paul and
ings of
his
New
Luke
disciple,
came
it
borrowed from
first
its
occurs in the
it
52S
It
Testament, only
term
refers, as the
Gentile
the writ
in
itself sig
But
the two
of the
bishops
This
this
same
who had
called
in
Again,
presbyters."
Philippians (1
"with
the bishops
and deacons
ters
officers.
(m)v
identical with
And
the bishops.
is,
as
"
presbyters"
third proof
In Titus
name
7rqt:a3vTEQQi
John, as an honorary
is still
met with
in
title
in
The
Comp.
in
official titles
of magis
civilibus
Roman
jurist,
lib.
reieratur;"
and
in
somewhat different
De ntune-
where
it
is
said:
"
Kpiscopi, qui
praesunt pani et caeteris venalibus rebus, quae civitatum populis ad quotidianum victum usui sunt." The terms
and ciriaKOirr, moreover, occur several times
(Digest,
4,
k-ianoT:(><;
in the
"
LXX.,
28.
as the translation of
2 Kings 11
Substantially the
Apud
16.
same
Neh. 11
TpQ
:
~T,p5
9/14.
distinction
Is
mpD
an ^
60
7.
nomen
31:14.
Jud.
properly, on Tit.
Nu. 4:16.
17.
officii) est,
hoc
attuti*."
132.
524:
name
"
PKESBYTEK-BISHOPS.
while, as
bishop,"
shown
is
at once
[.HI.
by the causative
BOO*
particle
"
(v. 7, 6ei
for"
he
ya<>
is still
those
to
the
for
Yet
it
is
to instruct
qualifications
the
all
nection,
"
and describes
co-presbyter,"
God"
and
it
as their business to
the oversight of
"take
"
con
this
elder,"
it"
also
grounds, even after the Catholic episcopal system (which was supposed
2
to have originated in the apostolate} had become completely established.
J
The same form of expression we find in the apostolic father, Clement of Roma.
when he says in his first epistle to the Corinthians, c. 42, that the apostles ordained
the first fruits (ruf d~ap^-uf) of the Christian faith in new congregations as ETuaaoTtovf
tat dianovovf, without mentioning irocafivTEpoi at all. He chose the other term, which
is
where
LXX.
the
translate
aov kv dtKaioawy.
*
See Rothe, 1.
c.
p.
KO.I
in his
kv elyqvy,
rouf e
KO.I
TT
Is.
60
17,
la no irovf
Ad.
Tit.
1:7:
"
Idem
Then he adduces
communi presbyterorum
(in
ad Oceanum
Jerome
diaboli in-
ad Eoangelum)
later copies
83)
authorities.
antequam
(al.
some English
first
(quamquam apud
digriitatis est,
hoc
et
to
Nam quum
etc.
episcopos,"
Timothy and
apos-
aetatis)
eligi."
KOI diaKovoif.
7rpCT(3nrtpoi;f
ovruf eKaheoe
7u ffK07rof eAeyero,
.
TOVTO
rl
^TUOXOTOVC
<5
Ov(5a//wc
aA/ld
TOI){
<5iuK.ovof
;c.
r. A.
Still
plainer
is
So ad Tim. 3
132.
60VERNM-1
As
to the time
(Acts
since,
The demand
6).
official
we have,
this office
confined to
525
PRESBYTER-BISHOPS.
station,
gifts,
The
instruction
historical
in
the
Thence the
Rome.
of
later
Hos siquidem
ct presbyteralum.
solum praeceptum
habemusapostoli."
super his
expositors,
Mack (Commentar iiber die Pastoralbriefe des Jlp. Pan/us, Tiib. 1836. p. 60 sqq.) fully
concedes the identity of the New Testament presbyters and bishops he sees in them
the later presbyters, and takes the later bishops, on the contrary, as the successors of
;
Fathers do, with one consent, declare, that Bishops were called Presbyters, and I res
Also, to quote a
byters Bishops, in apostolic times, the names being then common.
recent critical authority, Dr. Bloomfield, on Acts 20
I. p.
"
same thing
though he adds immediately,
was set over the rest as a bishop in the
;
modern
Paul,
I.
sense.
p. 465.
When some
by no means
Cor.
c.
42.
526
132.
TRESBYTER-BISHOrS.
BOOK
["I.
appear everywhere
30.
lem, Acts 11
in
at Philippi, Phil. 1
where mention
15
made
among you
is
him
let
call
him,"
for
the presbyters
The same
&c.
and
more
church
to Titus (Tit. 1
still
of Crete.
Some
the.
of
is
were several churches, with only one presbyter or bishop to each that,
consequently, the government of congregations was from the first in
;
but monarchical.
But
this
of Christians from
life
the
association,
beginning.
(kKKhriclai
iKov], frequently mentioned and greeted, indicate merely
the fact, that the Christians, where they had become very numerous and
/cai-
Rome
KaraaTijaTif Karti
v Trpea/Jurep o v
f.
(in his
work
against the genuineness of Paul s Pastoral Epistles, Stuttg. and Tubingen. 1835, p. 81),
takes the plural to refer to the collective idea implied in Kara TTO^.IV, so that Titus was
to place
KOTU no
or TrpeapvTep o
equivalent to oppidatim, by
Rothe,
9
in
1.
c. p.
So Baur,
1.
v.
But
in this case
cities.
is
So with na-f
we
Acts 14
collective
23.
Comp
181 sqq.
c.
Low
article
Rom.
16
4, 5, 14, 15.
Ccr- 16
19.
Col. 4
15.
Philem.
2.
527
rEESBYTER-Bisnors.
132.
OOVKENM.]
Rome,
moral person.
Whether
IIOTV
among
or one,
or,
;
say the oldest, constantly presided over the rest
one
followed
another in the presidency, as primus inter pares, by
finally,
some kind of rotation, the New Testament gives us no information,
ters
we
nnless
find
in
it
particularly hereafter.
an
presidency,
office of
on the contrary, we know, that in the senates of the cities out of Italy
one of the decuriones, the eldest, acted as president under the title
3
Some sort of presidency is certainly indispensable in a
principal is.
well-organized government and in the regular transaction of business,
and thus must be presumed to have existed in these primitive presby
But
teries.
catholic
Thess. 1:1.
Col 4:16.
sqq.
us
give
epistles,
Comp.
1
as
1:1.
2 Thess.
Phil.
Cor. 1:2.
5:1
have no
2 Cor.
sqq.
1,
23
&c.
1.
uor the
s,
I.
p.
so
This unity presents itself not as something; yet to arise, but as sr icthing original
grounded from the first in the very nature of the Christian consi Aisness and the
"
which threaten
divisions,
to destroy
it.
munity may have been formed in the pmate houses of those who had a suitable room
for them, or were specially qualified to edify them by their discourses, this itself was
enlargement of the church, which was already regularly organized;
formed such meetings, did not thereby separate themselves from the
great whole of the church under its ruling sei.ate."
Comp. also Neauder s Gesch. d.
Pflanzttng. etc., p. 55 and p. 2o3, Note.
of the
a result
and those,
As
who
Vitringa, for
550), suppose.
1
-X"
("rC!"
s I- 1
13
1-1.
H may
11,
is
directly
II.
in
u(>x
avva-/ujw
while
is
in
dpxicwayuyuv.
6
Mark
appear
in
15.
18
elf
TUV
as well as
Mk-
him
22, describes
8, 17,
as
See Savjgny
im
Mittelalter,
I.
r\
80-83.
523
133.
BOOK
[ni.
among
an<t
confusion.
133.
Office
now we inquire as to
we cannot make them
If
the.
of
Episcopal Presbyters.
the proper
official
and
The idea
&c.
their
of episcopacy too,
the usual
in
is
sense,
essentially
Their
munity.
tendence of the
to
applied
office
1 Pet.
28.
&c.);
them and
who
3:4,
their duties;
Hebrew Q^c^Q
are to
5:2);
"rulers"
Tim.
congregation.
answering to the
also called),
pertains to the
the flock of
"feed"
"overseers"
(tmaKoxot.
(^QoiaTu^svoi, iryoaTf/vai,
12, ir^oeaTu-e^
5,
Eph. 4
(TCOLHEV^,
"pastors"
11,
synagogue were
Acts 20
(noi,/Liaivsiv
God
and
Thess. 5
Tr<)t:a(3vTepoi,
1 Pet. 5
Rom. 12
<h-CT/co7m>,
12.
Tim. 5
COmp.
17,
2,
8.
KvftEQ-
church
tion of the
their
brethren in Judea
was
30.
delivered to the presbytery at Jerusalem, Acts 11
But then again, the presbyters were at the same time the regular
teachers of the congregation, and can therefore not be put in the same
:
On them
devolved
officially
and
and
teachers,"
Eph. 4
11,
of
re-
Dr. Rothe, 1. c. p. 24t and 528, thinks, indeed, that the presbyteries of those days
needed no particular president from among themselves, because the apostles and their
But these could not be present in all the con
delegates were their proper presidents.
1
| 133.
GOVERNM.J
we
ing
you
find
"
(fiyovpevoi),
Qeov)
comp.
conversation;"
association
of their
The same
same person.
in Heb. 13:7:
ferred to the
whose
the
529
v. 17.
,"
"
hath been taught (uvre^uevoi TOV Kara TTJV Si6axijv iriarov Aoyov), that he
may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the
ffainsayers."
it cannot be
proved
Testament or church antiquity, and presupposes also
an opposition of clergy and laity, which did not exist under the same
form in the apostolic period. The only passage appealed to in support
tical policy,
and
from the
at
all
of
it is 1
is,
New
Tim. 5
17
"Let
ol
KOTTIUVT^
A6;v Kal
who
Si6aoKa?>.i?).
This
and
doctrine
"
especially,"
we
11
are
But
standing.
1
Comp.
this conclusion is
qui censurae
Comp.
morum
8:
"
so sure, as
may
at first
et exercendae disciplinae
praeessent."
2nd
by no means
125 above.
ed.
But
and Order
of
many
note.
Ziegler: comp. Rothe, p. 222,
for example (quoted by Dr. Miller, 1. c. p. 28),
Bohmer and
34
if it
This would be
530
133.
For
sight appear.
BOOK.
[ill.
in the
fall
making the
elders,
In
this
teaching
in
the same
office.
tell
that traces of lay eldership were to be found in the old African church, and
from these has been inferred its existence in the apostolic age. But
when the relevant documents of the time of the Donatist controversies
rations.
Nor,
finally,
of the gift
tion
(6i6aaKafoa)
bishops in
general had, at
tend with.
On
the
first,
nothing at
to
all
do with instruction ex
proposal of this text, that the Elders who rule well are worthy of
who labor in word and doctrine, a rational man, who is un
first
prejudiced, who never heard of the controversy of ruling Elders, can hardly avoid an
apprehension that there are two sorts of Elders, some that labor in the word and doc
The truth is. it was interest and prejudice that first
trine, and some who do not do so.
by
testimony
them."
On
men
of an earlier day, especially Vitringa (De synag. vet. 1. II. c 2 and 3, p. 490-500) who
have denied this passage any force in favor of lay elders. Comp. also Mosheim
:
Comm.
1
So the passage
is
M.
p.
more
126 sqq.
1.
c.
who are
p. 224
u
:
The
apostle
would commend
teaching."
The
latest
Wiesinger (1850) also deny that the passage proves the existence of ruling lay-elden
iistinct from ministers.
*
to
and
is
presented
by Rothe,
1.
c. p.
227-239.
133.
531
not
till
found
it
to require
of
the apostle
them
there are clear indications, that this union was an original one.
The
therefore have
their office.
whom
be expected.
The conclusion from all this
officers,
of
this could
is,
apostolic period were the regular teachers and pastors, preachers and
leaders of the congregations
that it was their office, to conduct all
;
man
endowments,
taste,
and
among
themselves,
This, however,
necessity.
was
jipott. Gesch. p.
Comp. on
this point f
I.
p.
320
iq.
134.
5,32
[in BOOK
DEACONS.
134. Deacons.
Of the
account
in the sixth
office
chapter of Acts.
were born
we have a graphic
specially, the
help,
of goods adopted
institution
tians
of
of
its
by the Chris
complaint of the
their
in
in
ing between the proper Hebrews and their brethren from other lauds.
At first the apostles, who had charge also of the common fund (Acts 4
35, 37.
6,
10)
and these
agents had given cause for the complaint in question. As the church
grew, however, it became more and more impracticable for the apostles
to attend to these outward concerns without wrong to their proper
spiritual work.
"It
is
not
reason,"
2),
"that
we
should leave the word of God, and serve tables," i. e. personally super
intend the daily love-feasts and the distribution of alms.
In order,
to
themselves
to
and
the
therefore,
give
wholly
prayer
preaching of the
gospel,
mentioned by a
dissatisfaction just
of the
good repute,
and these
being chosen by the people, the apostles solemnly set them apart by
In the Acts, indeed, these officers
prayer and the laying on of hands.
with absolute certainty, that they were of Grecian descent. The reason
for choosing Hellenists would be simply, that the complaint had come
in impartial love, was disposed to
the election.
Nothing here obliges us to
all
advantage
in
suppose, with some scholars, that Luke in this chapter records only the
appointment of deacons for the Hellenistic part of the church, and that
1
The
ancient church even considered itself bound in this case to the sacred
number
seven; and at Rome, for example, as late as the third century, there were only seve
Jeacons, though the number of presbyters amounted to forty.
134.
WER.NM.]
533
DEACONS.
first, in
Hebrew
the
portion.
Acts 14
23 (comp.
Tit.
rrj
Rome
and Corinth
1),
;*
but
(Horn. 12
for the
(Rom. 16 1) certainly
us to infer that there were deacons there also, and the gift of
leads
(uvTtMrfEif, 1 Cor.
"helps"
12
The business of these deacons consisted primarily and mainly, accordIng to the account of their institution, in the care, of the poor and the
This is not inconsistent with the statement in Acts 11 : 30, that
sick.
the
money
collected at Antioch
We
was delivered
to
haps collected the alms. This external charge, however, naturally came
for poverty and sickness
to associate with itself a sort of pastoral care
for
best
the
offer
instruction, exhortation, and conso
opportunities
very
;
lation,
1
Mosheim (Comm.
briefe, p.
spirit of Christianity
Mack (Commentar
Howson
beare and
6 and 6
iibcrdie T afforal-
1),
young
men"
comp. Lu. 22 26, where 6 veureyof is used as equivalent to 6 diaKovtiv). who attended
But this is not
to the removal and burial of the bodies of Ananias and Sapphira.
:
enough
to
"young
men"
officers,
who.
in distinc
(7rpc(T>3t
7epot),
this
name.
8, 23.
in
20
wide
47
p.
sqq.,
8,
17.
diaKovovvrec.
deacons, and
making
it
the
less
163 sq.
p.
and Rothe,
3 and 21
common
reason
latter
title
for
term
of the
refer.-ing
[ni. BOOK.
DEACONS.
134.
534:
of the far
(uv-i?i7Jipeif}
(1 Cor. 12
deacons,
3,
in the faith.
pastoral
teaching.
when properly
128); and
(comp.
gifted, follows
is
those,
who
distinguished
that of presbyter.
From
ministers" of the
a far higher and more spiritual vocation, than the
Jewish synagogues, the b^tn as they were called (v^pirai in Lu. 4
"
them
clean,
32),
Jewish
office.
it
sometimes
is,
mere
as a
will certainly
admit
some comparison inasmuch as, even from an early time, there might
have been added, as it were spontaneously, to the proper duties of the
of
proved
and from
services,
fell
only
or principal business.
they must not be regarded as their only
Thus these officers were living bonds of union between the congre
taken from the bosom of the community
gation and its presbyters
;
135.
OOVERNH.]
535
DEACONESSES.
an"d
135.
we
official
duties
Deaconesses.
tury.
commonly regarded as having originated among the Gentilewhere the women lived in greater seclusion, and their inter
is
Christians,
course with
restricted than
among
the Jews.
But
aside
from any rules of propriety, the general need required, that for special
pastoral service and the care of the poor and the sick among the female
Here
part of the congregation there should be a corresponding office.
to women, to whom the apostle forbade any active part in
the public assemblies (comp.
126), a noble field for the unfolding of
their peculiar gifts, for the exercise of their love and devotion, without
was opened
these
Among
we reckon
The
Roman
&IUKOVOV
"
In
is :it
Cen-
all
Ke^pfoff ).
proba
Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis, who are praised (v. 12) for their
labor in the Lord, served the Roman church in the same capacity.
On
(<>iaav
bility
it
is still
poterant
erat
yvvaiKuviTic.
etc.
*
enim
ibi
li
;"
quam
in
mulieribus ministrare
Comp. Rothe. p.
As is pre-supposed
habuere."
246.
in the Cod.
2,
Lex. 27
>l
Nulla
nisi err.en-
larly
by Rothe,
p.
Zeitalters, p.
309
sq.
53G
135.
DEACONESSES.
BOCk
[HI-
exercised a
tcclesiasticae), like those, who in the age after the apostle
certain oversight over the female part of the congregation,
particularly
over widows and orphans
or finally, according to Neander s view,
merely such widows as were supported by the church, and, though with
<
out official -character, were expected to set before the rest of their sex
the example of a walk and conversation wholly devoted to God.
The
first
interpretation
we hold
titute
charity in
first,
class of persons,
if
possible,
"
10;.
Respecting
this
3 sqq.).
He
(1 Tim. 5
first
"
widows
indeed,"
i.
e.
truly
xv<?a,
im
on, or
who by
(v.
Then
3-8).
in v. 9
and 10 he
distin
guishes in the circle of these pious widows a still smaller class of those
who were matriculated or enrolled, and demands in them certain quali
fications,
which
it
most natural
is
refer to
to
the
office
of deaconess
tation of this benefit to such as were over sixty years of age and had
been but once married, is repugnant to reason and Christian charity
Bince younger widows and those of a second marriage might be equally;
destitute and
text
for
prospect of help
too leaves
it
in
off
from
inexplicable,
why
in the
This interpretation
he should speak of a special vow, to
words
on
T/JV
v.
The
12.
to
falls
difficulty
Timothy,
Contt.
M.,
referred
Wiesinger, ad
1
the
passage
to
the
deaconesses), Heidenreich,
loc.
Jlpost. Getch. p.
265
sq.
De
Epiitli
chr. a.
Wette. anl
136.
30VERNM.J
5.T<
For, in addition to ad
vanced age, securing general respect and constancy in service, and besides
monogamy, which was also required of bishops and deacons (1 Tim. 3
2, 12), the apostle demands of such a widow, that she should have an
unspotted reputation, experience in the training of children, and some
for
though
many
of
its
The Angels of
136.
the.
Apocalypse.
of officers,
class
whom
addressed, and
who mark
We
1.
churches."
legati
*n"""r
mere
ecc/esiae}.
in
churches
nor
to stars,
compared
have we elsewhere any trace of the
transfer of that
Jewish
office
2.
!Nor,
*
cil
3:11
for deaconesses.
connection gives
it
much
The
jSpoc.
20
to
(p.
Ewald
How
2:1.
Part
"No
a sense
?"
(7:1.
II.
p.
Tim
whole
p.
104.
who,
~-iir; rp;uf
Against
interpretation can be
who
9:11.
simply the
is
tare in so
Synagogen."
"
with a reference
is
ad
The conn
of Chalcedon reduced the age of service for deaconesses to the fortieth year.
*
Many expositors, following Chrysostom, take also the women mentioned in 1
this.
"
De Wette
more opposed
to
16
I \
lje
538
136.
[ni.
BOOK
For
angel.
fidelity,
3. More probable
the view, that the angels here are nothing but a figurative personi
fication of the churches themselves/
In favor of this hypothesis art
out of view
left entirely
Spirit writes to
them, is
But it is decisive against this
intended for the whole congregation.
20 they are explicitly distinguished from the golden
view, that in c. 1
;
candlesticks or churches
a figure,
it
in
received,
Matt. 18
whom
on
churches,
:
Acts 12
10.
Acts 20
This term
-.28).
is
chosen, there
remind the rulers of their divine mission, their high vocation, and
their heavy responsibility.
So in Mai. 2 7 the priest is called the "mes
fore, to
;"
as
(angel);
"
also
in
Matt.
11
10,
where
this
prophecy,
with
its
honorary
title, is
people."
But
Is.
42
fixed on
44
19.
26).
room
for
two
different views.
Either
the angels are concrete individuals ; and then they must be regarded as
actual bishops, though with very small dioceses, not exceeding the bounds
of a moderate pastoral charge, with the only exception perhaps of Ephe-
This
sus.
1
is
and
De
new
The
to God, as
it in
ed. 1850)
"
novERNK.J
539
officers,
Testament, where the name angel is applied to the whole priestly and
prophetical order as also the fact, that certainly not the bishops alone,
but all the officers were responsible for the moral state of their churches,
;
of elders inEphesus, to
God
of
also 1 Pet. 5
whom
it
colkdicdy
belonged to
"feed
the church
1-5.
;"
But even
in
the latter case the impartial inquirer must allow, that this
of
bishop),
1
own
disciple, himself a
Tertullian," Eusebius,"
Dr. Thiersch also favors this interpretation in his Gesch. der apost. Kirche, p. 278,
What are the angels of the seven churches, but superior pastors, each
says,
where he
at the
Among
ometimes occurs
word uyye/oc,
like its
who
The
ancients
as in Socrates,
i.
e.
Dei nuntii
et
comp. Bingham s Orig. I. 83 and Rothe, 1. c. p. 003. Such use of these terms,
however, no doubt arose from the above interpretation of the Apocalypse, and hence
ministri,
So.
153
pians
of
He
sq.
Polycarp
s epistle to
h.
Joh.
I.
the Philip-
Polycarp and the elders with him (nal ol avv avru irpefffivTepoi) to the church
at Philippi," and to the superscription of the epistle of Ignatius to the
Cod dwelling
they are one with the bishop, and with the presbyters
It must be admitted, however, that here, par
ticularly in the epistles of Ignatius, even in the smaller recension, the bishop plainly
rises above the presbyters as the chief leader and responsible head of the church.
"
Philadelphians
and the deacons,
;
Adv. haer.
Especially
who
Depraescr. haer.
locatum refert."
re
pus
him."
III. 3.
Catal
if
are with
c.
32
"
Sicut
Polyc.
ordinatus,"
etc.
ecclesia
6
"
a.
Smyrnaeorum
Polycarpus,
Polycarpum ab Joannf-con.
E.
III. 36.
Smyrnae
epis
540
136.
B0i
[ni.
;"
and
in
in a regular hier
archy, although without the least trace yet of a primacy and, finally,
the fact, that Asia Minor was the very region where the rapid growth
of heresies and the pressure of outward dangers urged towards the estab
;
lishment
of
consolidated
firmly
have much
system of government
and we
in favor of the
But even
a similar result.
in this case
we must
still
very limited extent of their charges, as compared with the large terri
tory of most Greek, Roman Catholic and Anglican bishops, these angels
stood below the apostles and their legates, and were not yet invested
with the great power (particularly the right to confirm and ordain),
which
fell
For
apostles.
all
in
Jerusalem, where
all
directly styled,
ancient documents
first
Indeed almost
all
Comp. above,
c.
95.
42.
and
:he close of
129.
fact, in
thi
136.
OOVERNM.]
TIIE
ArocALTpnc ANGELS.
541
can hardly escape the conclusion, that this form of government naturall)
grew out of the circumstances and wants of the church at the end of
the apostolic period, and could not have been so
quickly and so gene
without the sanction, or at least acquiescence, of the
rally introduced
who labored on
At
ciples.
events
all
it
number
and wit
nesses, to
us the clearer data for the rise and character of the episcopal system all
lie outside of the New Testament, the more detailed examination of
to
apostolic church.
1
We
The high
is
all,
episcopal form of government in the times before the Reformation does not necessarily
it of force for all
succeeding ages. For we have no passage in the N. T. which
make
ministry
tolic
life
church under a particular traditional view as the absolute standard, too little re
many important facts of the New Testament, and either entirely reject
garding even
ing or distorting the weighty testimony of church antiquity; the latter likewise
attribute an undue importance to their opposite system of government, and make the
question of outward ecclesiastical organization, what it evidently is net, the great cen
practices,
which
are far
by the
views on the primacy, on
on the meritoriousness of good works, on the
symbol,
differs
degree, and in
from the other churches of the Reformation, not in kind, but only in
Hence the
principle stands or falls with Protestantism as a whole.
its
Roman church
treats
who come
much
BOOK FOURTH.
CHRISTIAN WORSHIP.
CHRISTIAN WORSHIP,
137. Import of the Christian Worship, and
life,
to God,
is
designed,
first,
especially
It
significance.
its
to
awaken
secondly,
to
life
This also
Bridegroom.
is
ticipation
lievers
it is
of the eternal
bliss,
of svhich
it is
is
on earth a foretaste.
Public adoration
Christ, indeed,
in
wor
in every
20)
from which
it
Pentecost appeared also the Christian cultus in both its forms, as design
ed for the edification of the disciples, and for the conversion of unbe
lievers
God
and
Acts 2
in
are stated as
1
(
)
this social
worship of
Comp. 1
Matt 28
by Christ
Pet. 2
:
5.
19, 20.
35
and
their
Lu. 2 2
19.
15.
1
Cor.
24-26.
no
546
137.
is,
for the
Lord
poor
Supper
hi
formed
some measure
in
BOOK.
[iV.
was con
synagogue
and were thus spiritualized and transformed. The apostles felt the need
to maintain, as long as was at all possible, their connection with the
;
They used to
feasts.
Acts 3
prayer
that
;
and 2
great
visit
46, where
it is
:-
gen
eral,
"they
"
Supper and
love-feasts
its
renounce the cultus of the Old Testament theocracy till the destruc
In favor of this view are Paul s
tion of Jerusalem in the year 70.
controversy with the Judaizing Galatians, whom he opposes, not be
cause they kept the Jewish feasts, but because they set up this
observance as a condition of salvation, and wished to lay the yoke
of the law even on the Gentile Christians, who were not bound to
3
it
;
the 14th and 15th chapters of Romans, where the apostle requires
Paul
elders gave to
25)
the term
in reference to the
"synagogue,"
James
to
have daily
Nazarite
which James (2
;
finally,
vow (Acts 21
2) applies to the
20wor
and prayed on
his
knees for
Comp. Rom. 15
*
Kar"
v, Tit.
1
*
Gal. 4
5. in
10.
Comp. above.
translate
4.
95
sqq.
"
the
4
Just."
9:13.
2 Cor. 8
26.
we must
OIKOV
title of
Cornp. Col. 2
16.
AND
WOBSHIP.f
Not
ITS
547
>stle
them Christians
while, on the
On
whom
into
To
communion,
by obdurate unbe
this course
ascetic
able
Jews
of the
discipline
to
"
his
keep
body
under,"
and
is
18-21
comp.
82).
asserted, indeed,
irreconcilable
in the
effort
Christians.
But
all
that
is
true in this
that
to the
and Gentile
Luke
And
spirit.
was
entitled
to
regard.
He
explicitly
enjoined
positiou
charity towards
the
weak, who had not yet been able fully to comprehend the freedom of th
and, in general, he had no desire to do away the national aut
gospel
;
Rom. 14:1-6
Cor. 8
6-13.
548
137.
BOOK
[N
gonism between Jews and Gentiles (which entered also into matters
by any
religion)
When
destroyed the temple, the centre of the theocratic cultus, then also
forth the Christian worship in full independence from behind the
indeed, in
of
veil.
service, but divesting them of their narrow legal character and regene
The Jewish Sabbath
rating them by the peculiar spirit of the gospel.
lost in the Christian Sunday.
The ancient pa&sover and pentecost
were exchanged for the feasts of the death and resurrection of Christ
and of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, to which they had typically
was
a particular
24).
his footstool
localities
apart particular
deserts
in
is his
and
in
throne
caves,
earth
may
his
Heaven
his temple.
is
for
exclusively
religious
purposes.
we have
prayer
population of a city went over to the true faith, the synagogue of itself
1
Cor. 7
18-20.
said
on former occasions
67, 71,
76 82)
respecting the conduct of this truly free apostle towards his brethren of the circvratision.
1
Lu. 24
53.
Acts 2
Matt. 4
23.
Acts 13
5, 14.
35.
3:1.
46.
Mk.
14:1.
39.
17:10,17.
42.
18:19.
19
Jno. 18
:
S.
20
138.
WORSHIP.]
548
or at
mutual
edification
the
in
houses of their
private
more prominent
and congregations there were several such places of meeting, and the
assemblies of Christians, which held their regular devotional exercises in
11
them, were for this reason called the churches of such and such a house.
That separate church edifices were erected during this period, is of
because the Christians were too poor, but
course not to be supposed
;
Roman
had as yet no
legal existence as a
in the
body
teachers
With
place.
the time of divine worship the case was the same as with the
The absolute spirituality of God, which the Saviour opposes to
the narrow, sensuous notions of the Samaritan woman (Jno. 4 2*1 sqq.),
implies, that God may and should be worshiped not only everywhere,
:
but also at
all times.
Christianity has, therefore, in reality abolished
distinction
of sacred and secular seasons, as well as
abstract
the former
the distinction of clean and unclean beasts and nations (Comp. Acts 10
11 sqq.).
redeems man
It
in
But
as the
lives, will
saints,
which
its
full
solution in the
is
God
!"
life
Rabbi, but, as
this
is
two
years, a philosophical
lecture-room.
a
>.
Comp. { 13Q.
Com. Heb. 4
articles
1-11.
Rom.
Rev. 14
16
4, 5, 14, 15.
13.
This
(in
Cor. 16:19.
ideal point of
the
"
Col. 4
15.
Philem
in hia
550
138.
f lv
*OOK
nature of our avocations demand, even for the sake of order, the sepa
ration of certain hours and days for exclusively religious purposes.
as well as
spiritual
pagan
Old Testa
cultus, stood
latter,
do
so, till
So
in fact
course with
in
We
with prayer.
should be always
life should be an unbroken inter
Our whole
spirit of prayer.
censures
it in
}f carnal
trie
elementary religion
cost,
new moons
and the
and the
year of jubilee (iviavrovc) to be imposed upon them by Judaizing errorBut we have to remember, that Paul here has in view a slavish,
ists.
,
all,
and
Gal. 4
"Acts
8-11.
18: 21.
Comp.
20:16.
Col.
2:16.
Comp.
Cor. 16
2. 8.
is,
138.
WORSHIP.]
551
on the one hand, the end of the law and the prophets, so on the other,
He himself is the supreme lawgiver and prophet, and His life and Spirit
are the absolute rule and guide of the new, regenerate existence.
From
this point
the
and gratitude,
rises
enjoyment of a
even to
this
man may
day
in their
hours of prayer, and then, so to speak, clear his account with God for a
whole week, that he may during the week devote himself the more
uninterruptedly to the world.
They are a means for the gradual attain
ment of the power to
without
and for bringing about
pray
ceasing,"
that state of things, in which all distinction of times shall disappear,
"
and we
God, serving
Him day
15).
first
As
we might
infer,
indeed, from the universal practice of the second century, that already
in the first century Wednesday, and especially Friday, the day of Christ s
death, were
for
such customs
its
impor
1
Comp. Rom. 3: 27, where the apostle speaks of a "law of faith;" Gal. 6 2
and Rom. 8 2, where he speaks of a "law
law of Christ
where he speaks of a
:
"
;"
of the Spirit of
1
life."
3:1. 10 9. 30.
Comp. Matt. 15 39. Jno. 6
Acts 2
If).
1-4
11.
Acts 27
35.
Cor. 10
30 sq.
Tim
552
139.
139.
[iV.
BOOK
meet every day for social edification and the celebration of the Lord s
Supper. The book of Acts expressly tells us (2
46), that they con
:
tinued
"daily"
"
from the
first
worship of
uniformly kept up, they devoted at least the seventh part of their life
time exclusively to the interest of the immortal soul.
The Jewish
Christians, as already remarked, adhered to the
especially in
week
the
in
Palestine
memory
but with
would appear, from the very day of the resurrection onward (comp. Jno.
19, 26), which they looked upon as sanctioned for such purpose by
20
that
the
rance of the Jewish converts to the traditional forms of piety, and their
jealousy of any innovation, especially those which originated with the
Gentiles.
The Gentile
Christians, for
whom
only the
authority, distinguished in
this
1
church, and gradually supplanted the observance of the Jewish sabbath.
The apostolical origin of the Christian sabbath may be inferred with
certainty
if
we add
from
to
In
some
single Jewish-Christian
communities
in the East,
sabbath WES retained for a long time together with the Christian Sunday. Euseb. III. 27
9
See the Epistle of Barnabas, c. 15; Ignatius, Ep. adMagnes.c. 9: ("The Christians
Celebrate no longer the Sabbath, but the Lori s day. on
which
them
139.
WORSHIP.]
Sunday we meet
Acts 20
in
assembled on the
From
1.
we
this
553
for the
till
this
particular day, that he might enjoy a long aiid cordial talk with them
"
midnight"
1 Cor.
the
first
day
name, but
after the
is
sabbath," it
"
is
appears
Lord
the
John
first
Rev.
in
10 already under
"
day
KV^IOKT) tfuoa)
(i,
refers everything.
styled in 1 Cor. 11
20
the Lord
"
that
is,
This
supper."
therefore, in
devoted, to
Him
The
ing of the new creation and the triumph over sin, death, and hell.
resurrection of Christ is the centre of our faith and the ground of our
hope
He
to suppose, that
himself intended
to consecrate the
of II?s
resurrection in the
on
it
Christian church.
In these facts
is
to be
by
time, and supplanted the Jewish sabbath enjoined by the Mosaic Decalogue, without
the sanction of the apostles.
8
in this
*
2.
Lu. 24
strict
sense,
1).
This phrase
whereas
it
means
Weitzel, Die christiiche Passajeier der drei rrsten Jahrhunderte. p. 170, justly ob:
Why did the prophet receive his visions on this particular day ? Because
eerves
"
the KVQianri
is
the day of unusually absorbing intercourse with the Lord, the day of un-
commonly deep
intuition
with revelations of
Christ-"
men even
ir.
55i
139.
From them
Sunday.
the
IV BOOK.
-
obsertance
And
of his church,
itself.
is
first
creation (Ex. 20
31
11.
17),
holy and blissful life, and of the perfect redemption through Christ, the
Prince of life and peace. The former is only a type and prophecy of the
the latter is at once the anti-type and fulfillment of the former,
a
and
precious pledge of the promised eternal rest of God in man and
3
in
man
God, the unbroken spiritual feast of the heavenly Canaan.
By
latter
the humiliation of Christ in the tomb, by the rejection of the Saviour of the
3
world, the Jewish Sabbath was desecrated, and made a day of mourning.
But from
its
Righteousness
spiritual
freedom,
new
"joy
in
the
Holy
which
Ghost,"
bondage.
in its
right to rest in
people
"
little
refreshing paradise on
1
It is worthy of remark, that this Exodus took place in the night of the fourteenth,
upon the fifteenth, of Nisan therefore not on the seventh, but on the first day ot the
week, on Sunday, as appears from a comparison of Ex. 12 1-6 with Ex. 16 1 and
;
5sqq.
1
*
ihe
Comp. Heb.
1-11.
Rev. 14
13.
same
sense, in
THE CHRISTIAN
139.
WORSHIP.]
the cursed
stitution
of the
soil
is
555
SUNDAY".
world."
especially manifest in
in
the
commandment
sabbath with the original Eden of innocence, as well as with the future
Eden of redemption, when the groaning creation shall be freed from snb-
iection to vanity,
God
Hence He
Christ.
bath (Matt. 12
For
8), as conversely Sunday is called His day.
Christ has become the end of the law by fulfilling it.
He is our peace
14), our rest from all the anxious works of the law, the re
(Eph. 2
:
freshment of
all
day
of the
week a
28)
real
and as the
He makes
its
the
first
planets, the
days of labor.
This direct derivation of the church festival of Sunday from the living
centre of the gospel, Jesus Christ, the risen Prince of life, is certainly
the primitive Christian view of it, and the one which best answers par
ticularly to
ment, in the
first
first
New
Testament.
For our Lord more than once condemns the carnal, narrow-minded scru
1-8,
pulousness of the Jews in regard to the sabbath, as in Matt. 12
:
Mk.
9-14.
Gal. 4
8-11.
Old Testament
Christ,
27.
Col. 2
Jno. 7
:
22, 23
There
is
Paul
in
festivals
In our view,
abode
in
the tomb,
the seventh
was not
at
all
day,
suitable
only one passage in the New Testament, which seems to favor the legal
viz. Matt. 24
20
Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter,
In the first place, however, the reference here is not to
sabbath-day."
Jewish view,
neither on the
"
view
16, 17,
Kirchenzeitung,"
18")1.
p.
47).
556
139.
for
And
this.
it
BOOK
[iV.
resurrection
is
the
thanksgiving for the gift of divine grace, with the solemn commemora
tion of redeeming love, to which we owe every thing
and on this to
;
own work.
build our
"
We
love
He
Him, because
loved
first
It
us."
remembered
to be
complete creation, a holy day, which they spent under the smiles of
before beginning their daily labor in the garden.
commandment
The
God
essential point in
in the sight of
God
is
all
celebration also of yearly festivals and the offering of daily morning and
The separation so often made be
evening sacrifices (Xum. 28
3-8).
:
tween the ceremonial law and the moral has very little support from the
The former appears, on the contrary, as simply the expan
Scriptures.
sabbath.
On
and
in fact far
rious extreme
more decidedly,
maintains
also,
inju
we must
its full
provided only
it
it
on mere
utilitarian
profanation of it.
exclude not the evangelical,
less
and
commands
of
God.
deca
There
is
mistakes the import and the perpetual necessity of the divine law, and
The law is still a schoolmaster to bring
degenerates into licentiousness.
the unconverted to Christ, and for believers themselves
1
Comp. on
720
this point
Evar.g.
it is
the expres-
Kirchenzeitung,"
1850
140.
WOESHiP.j
557
the observance of
is
all
joined upon
the
and church.
is
Thus, therefore,
140.
New
of the
But
Testament.
sabbath,
of these
viz.,
national,
in their
in their
temporary,
for others
facts
the
of weeks, or
feast
pentecost,
and
are likewise,
festivals,
the
of tabernacles,
feast
passover,"
4
and the
well
is
it
The yearly
the
it
is
way and Paul in fact looks upon nil festival seasons as alike,
where he comes out against the Judaistic, self-righteous, and super
8
stitious observance of them.
Besides, the Jewish feasts had a typical
abstract
This
is
legal-
ism certainly have their claims over against the German idealism and Lutheran evan
gelicalism.
Though the former cannot be pronounced wholly free from the danger ol
Pharisaism, the
Sadducism
wsuredly
"
less
Ex. 12
latter,
dangerous, and far more beneficial to public morals than indue laxneaa.
23:15. Lev. 23 4-8. Deut. 16 1-3.
1-28.
Ex. 34:22.
Ex. 23
34-42.
Deut. 16
Ex. 23
26-30.
Lev. 16
Gl. 4
10.
Col.
15,
Lev. 23
2:16.
6.
Deut. 16
12-1
10.
).
1-34.
C: mp.
Rom. 14
5, 6.
140. THE
558
YEARLY
FESTIVALS.
death
[IV.
Lamb
BOOK
and the
Re
and Pentecost,
spiritual bondage of sin
to the founding of the Christian church and the gathering of the first-
These two
feasts,
It is asserted,
evidence of their existence in the apostolic age.
indeed (by Neander for instance), that in the New Testament, at least
tive
Paul
in
writings,
no Christian yearly
come to view.
festivals
But we
by the primitive
in
connection
in
\vith reliable
could not but be expected, that, with the sabbath and circumcision
it
and the whole ceremonial law, they should also, after the example of the
Lord, who was accustomed particularly to keep the passover in Jerusa
1
observe
lem,
all
The
God through
Moses,
distinction of days
Rom.
5,
general.
crucified
and
risen Saviour so
much
the centre
of his whole
life, that he must undoubtedly have attached
the
annual commemoration of this great fact.
to
peculiar importance
2
in knowing nothing but Jesus Christ and
He glories," says Weitzel,
faith
and
"
"
Him
vain
If Christ be
crucified.
;
the
adoption,
sins.
of a joyful
the
resurrection,
living
bond of
Jno. 2
12
5:1. 6:4. 11 55
John makes the Jewish
13.
remarkable that
minent
St.
1.
13
1.
2.
10
22.
ft
is
He
very
pro
140.
WORfmiP.J
559
anniversaries of those
the
should they not have been important commemorative occasions also for
Paul, who indeed was most solicitous to maintain fellowship with the
older apostles and with the primitive church
It
?"
is
true, there
where Paul
7, 8,
is
dis
"
us,"
and by a
existence of which he
Christian, the
the
thus implies.
them
(txtueru
<K
Trci
r7/f
it
-fKOdr/ f)
own
It
is
certainly
Gentile-Christian
privilege to spend
with
it
as also he tarried in
Troas
till
and even
Jerusalem (Acts 18
But
of
all
finally,
till
sailed
21.
by Ephesns,
20
6, 16).
in
iu
attention.
In the well
known paschal
(for as to this
time,
of
sured the
Roman
bishop
in
in
personal
disciple
and
friend, as
with
agreed
its custom (afterwards universally adopted) of celebrating Easter not on
a particular day of the month, but on a certain day of the week,
the
death of Christ always on a Friday, and his resurrection on a Sunday,
560
had
its
F1
and
oldest bishops
These controversies
to-
the order
in all probability
Sunday.
Easter and Pentecost, however, are the only feasts, which can be
traced back to the apostolic age.
Of the observance of other festivals,
Christmas for instance, we find not the least hint in the New Testament.
was only at a later period that the church went back from the centre
It
of his theanthropic
thf incarnation.
141.
The regular
To
and adminis
prayer.
1. The sermon appears in the apostolic church mainly in the shape of
a missionary discourse, designed to kindle life, and raise up churches ; a
simple historical testimony respecting Christ, the crucified and risen
It
was altogether
practical,
religious
life
It
This
is
especially
we
On this whole controversy about Easter, which we shall have occasion to discusi
more minutely in the second volume, compare the thoroughly learned and valuable
work of Weitzel just quoted.
1
"
Comp. above.
117 sqq.
141.
WOKSHIT.]
561
is
Some planted
among them.
both with
Acts and by
their epistles,
revival preachers
while
others watered
3:6).
ward churches already established, the latter having also the gift of
Yet Paul also was equally endowed for watering
rhetorical elegance.
and building up churches, as his epistles, which may be called sermons to
believers, sufficiently show.
2.
The rending
was connected a
gogue (comp. Acts 13: 15. 15:21), which the Christians certainly
appropriated from the first, as we find it universally prevalent in the
Paul declared all the Scriptures of the Old Testament
second century.
to be t/ieopneusfic, i. e. pervaded by the Holy Spirit, and therefore always
fitted for the spiritual instruction and correction of the church (2 Tim.
8
The
16, 17).
ment
added
Xew
Testa
to the
of the Gospels and the apostolic epistles, or substituted the latter for the
the Evangelium, according to the oldest division of the Xew
former
27
gregation or to several congregations, as appears from 1 Thess. 5
and Col. 4:16, and were originally designed to be used in public wor
:
They took the place of the oral preaching of the apostles, and
became of course doubly important, when their authors passed off the
ship.
stage.
of individual piety, but also of the rol jrirmc lifo of tlio congregation
and its direct intercourse with the God of all grace and mercy. It ex
presses itself partly
in
all
classes
persecutors
and
finally in
36
who
first
for fel
thanksgiving for
all
141.
f>63
[iV
for
altogether unexpected and in fact much better, is its being offered in the
of Jesus, that is, in perfect submission to the holy will of the Lord,
and in the spirit of childlike, unconditional, and unwavering confidence
name
(Jno. 16
Matt. 21
24.
The
22).
in
him"
(12
at parting, as
5),
of the elders of
after the
Ephesus (20
36),
it
though
devotion,
is
nowhere
the
in
New
Testament
strictly enjoined
15).
3
In general the pastors prayed in the name of all, and the congrega
tion testified its concurrence and priestly co-operation after the Jewish
sions
of the
is
ment, but is probable from the analogy of Jewish usage and from the
At all events, it was
most natural view of Matt. 6 9. Lu. 11
1, 2.
:
the opinion of the oldest church fathers, that Christ intended to give his
disciples in the Lord s Prayer, not only an idea of the true spirit of
prayer, but at the same time a general form, like the baptisma formula
1
Rom. 12 12. Phil. 4 6. 1 Tim. 2 1,
Comp. Acts 2 42. 6:4. 16:16.
where lour kinds of prayer are enumerated (Jw/creif, petitions particularly for the avert
ivrev&if, intercessions
ing of evil
Trqoaevxai, petitions for favors from God
Rev. 5:8. 8:3.
12.
1 Pet. 4:8.
3
5
15
Ja.
sq.
evxatjicTiai, thanksgiving)
Acts 13
5.
2,3.
2 Cor. 6
In Acts 4
Matt. 17
5.
24
it
is
Cor.
21.
-eomp. Acts 3
13, 26.
Matt. 28
in
That
19, 20.
contents,
141.
WORSHIP.]
no one
will
deny,
model prayer
who can
few words
in
embracing
this
563
is
appreciate
the whole
inexhaustible
its
of
compass
religious
wants.
Lord s agony
cases of our
in
In the
Paul and the Ephesian elders (20 36), kneeling is mentioned. And
this is best suited to express that, which here of course has chief pro
minence, viz. the humble submission and reverence of the heart before
ot
erect posture
Lord
The song
4.
is
in the ancient
s resurrection.
in reality distinguished
its
thanksgiving, only by
its
form,
its
elevated
language of
festival enthusiasm,
as in fact all
music and poetry, consecrated to religion
destined ultimately to become worship, and to minister to the
praise of God, from whom it proceeds, and to the delight of his people.
The song passed immediately from the temple and synagogue into the
spiritual arts
art
is
Christian
church
along
with
Psalms
the
as
the
doxologies,
tiquity show.
anti-
Western an
lujah
The
testimonies of Tertullian, Cyprian, and Origen place the universal use of the
Prayer by the church, at least in the second and third centuries, beyond all
doubt. Comp. on this point August!
Handbuch dcrchristl. jlrcfi"ol. Vol. II. p. 62 sqq.
*
Calvin on the tff TU yovara, Acts 20 345. finely observes respecting these forms
Lord
u Primus
quidem in precibus obtinet interior
capitis retectio.
manuum
ejcerceamus in Dei gloriam et cultum deiude ut hoc quasi adminiculo exorcitetur nostra
Accedit in solemn et publica precatione tertius tisus, quia pietafem suam hoc
pigritia.
;
modo
profiientur
an torn
manuum
filii
Dei, et
alii
alios
symbolum
est. ita
Sicul
humilitatis tea
141.
564:
[iT.
BOOK
ployed song also privately and in small circles, as appears from ticadvice of James (5
Is any among you afflicted? let him
13)
pray
Is any merry? let him sing psalms
and from the fact (Acts 16 25),
that Paul and Silas at midnight, in the dark dungeon, joined in a
hymc
"
;"
to the Lord,
The Psalms of
ment in the New
and
their troubles
and pain.
the Old Testament, which in the light of their fulfillare even to this day an inexhaustible source of edifica
spiritual refreshment,
the
so-called
"
dimittis"),
two chapters
its first
songs
first
Gos
is
first
14, the
and Zacharias (1
68 sqq., the
The short thanks
Benedictus").
in
4
24-30
has
a
Acts
character
giving
psalmodic
(comp. Ps. 2), and
"
is
In
all
as
is
we
here read
<5c
is
most natu
hymn, which,
in
six
parallel stanzas in
2 Tim.
christology in mice}
2:11
(where the
a hexameter).
and
we have already
of doxologies
speaking with
full
is
seen,
Perhaps these Christian songs are intended by the "hymns and spiritual songs."
Eph. 5 19, in distinction from the "psalms."
1
On this quotation Stier well remarks (Comment. I. p. 285), after refuting the erro
:
neous reference* of
much honor
words of a
it
liturgical song,
phetic Spirit,
hymn-book then
which Mowed from the
as ^cripture. from a
which reigned
in the
"
The
church."
it
the pro
as the opinioi
|t
142.
WORSHIP.]
565
BAFflSM.
dons of faith.
Bay at baptism
special confession
section, in
which we
(Note on Immersion.)
142. Baptism.
6.
acts,
is
the ad
by which, on the
ground of an
visible grace
is
types, circumcision
and
The
is to be
repeated
baptism is not.
his departure from the earth,*
which
our
Lord
instituted
at
Baptism,
meets us in the Christian form on the first peutecost in intimate connec
supper, therefore,
As
of the gospel.
to
its
the
38).
It
is
communion
it
its
Head.
Hence
on of Christ (Gal. 3
11), a union into one body
a
one
12
of
Cor.
by
Spirit (1
13),
regeneration and renewing
washing
of the Holy Ghost (Tit. 3
3
Jno.
5, comp.
5), a being buried with
Paul
calls it a putting
In
1
its idea,
new and
holy
life
(Rom. 6
4).
A TTiivati xecr&ai, or \lid/.Aeiv T$ 7rvev/j.a.Ti, 1 Cor. 14 15, 16; comp. above, 117.
The term sacrament, by which the Vulgate frequently translates the Greek
:
Eph. 3
3. 9.
Kev.
32.
20.
17
7),
was received
tocramentum
datum
express
3
command
Matt. 28
19
ot
view a man.
Comp. Mk. 16
16.
Jno. 3
5.
566
142.
L lv
300K
It
tion.
who
BAPTISM.
is
And
change.
is
in
man cannot
ness of
is
excep
The communica
minister,
latter condition
ment
is
is
believers, but to
Cor. 11
In Acts 8
29).
on the other hand, Cornelius and his company received the Holy Spirit
in the midst of Peter s sermon before they were baptized (10
44 sqq.).
^Nevertheless, in this last case the outward act was added, and that not
:
as an
Though God
it
and divine
seal of
principle,
that not the defect of the sacrament (which may be the result of un
avoidable circumstances, as in the case of the penitent thief on the cross,
or of a conversion in an unwatered desert), but the conscious contempt
of
Both these
condemns.
it,
Lord s ex
He
5,
where
shall
be
The
is
and
baptized, shall
be saved
"
He
that be-
not
damned."
full
in the
is
damned
19),
formula of baptism, as prescribed by Christ (Matt. 28
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost
signifying a
:
name
sinking of the subject into the revealed being of the triune God, a
coming into living communion with Him, so as thenceforth to be conse
Him and
serve
567
BAPTISM.
g 142.
WORSHIP.]
"
"
Of
Christ."
The
main
act of baptism
He
Christ,
Holy
was preceded by
hac
Ghost."
facts of the
faith in
But the more thorough indoctrination in the apostolic truth came after.
Subsequently, when the reception of proselytes demanded great caution,
the time of instruction and probation was extended.
was probably the custom even
It
in
Of
Acts 8
"
Philip
we have
this
hints in
question
Christ
in 1 Pet.
the
flesh (like
God
the Son of
is
common
"
it
is
"*
not the
Acts 2
10:45.
38.
God
and
finally in 1
Rom
19:5.
Tim. 6
Gal. 3
3.
12,
27.
Others think, that these passages do not contain the baptismal formula at all, but
only thus briefly designate the Christian baptism in distinction from the baptism of
John, and perhaps from the baptism administered to Jewish proselytes (i e. if this is
as old as the Christian era
exists for
it
e. g.
which
is
well
known
This
suits
to
Acts 19
;1
very well. It is certain that
time of the apostles the formula given by Christ was in general
after the
immediately
use (comp
Justin
Gemara").
I.
Jlpol.
80)
above given, was acknowledged valid as far down as the third century (comp. Neander Kirchengesch. I. 535, and especially Horling Das Sacrament der Taufe, etc. I. p.
:
37 sqq.
*
4
Comp. Acts 2
It
here)
41, 42.
12,
36 sqq.
in
is
19.
10
34-48.
Heb.
sq
ABC
(D has a chasm
wanting, and has hence been suspected as
a later interpolation.
6
ua.
E7rep<j77/ /
properly question,
may by metonymy
(like the
Latin interrogatio in
Seneca, De benef. III. 15) signify either sponsio. prominsio, as this was called tbrth by
the question of the minister, or both together, the whole catechetical process and solemn
Winer explains
engagement.
we
telgetch.
I.
p.
277.
tne high-priest
himself, he
went
it
t-KfydiTriait;.
It is possible,
inquiring of
into
after
tc
washing
God
568
142.
BAPTISM.
witnesses,"
[.V. 300K.
"
The
vow
first
is
the
life
the
in
this
day
everlasting,
most
is
in
sublime
beautiful order,
common bond
the
simplicity,
and with
of Greek,
unsurpassable brevity,
and to
solemnity
liturgical
tendom.
persons had received only the baptism of John, which could not impart
the Holy Ghost (comp. v. 2), and after the first Christian Pentecost lost
!Nor on the other hand can it be in
provisional significance.
also were re-baptized
that
ostles
the aj
for in their
ferred from this fact,
even
its
case the outward act was compensated for by the miraculous baptism
with the Holy Ghost and with fire on the day of Pentecost (comp. Acts
1:5).
The
earlier
the glorification of Christ, and therefore before the Holy Ghost was
39), was not essentially different from John s baptism ol
given (Jno. 7
The
repentance.
peculiarly
rite.
Then
was performed
again,
by the analogy
in the Jordan
(iv,
Matt.
v lopddvTjv, Mk. 1
Furthermore by
9).
compare 16 also ?
the New Testament comparisons of baptism with the passage through
the Red Sea (1 Cor. 10
21), with a
2), with the flood (1 Pet. 3
6,
bath (Eph. 5
26.
Tit.
3:5), with
and
also
BAPTISM
142.
WORSHIP.]
substituted
in
only
approaching death.
569
necessity, such
cases of urgent
as
and
sickness
to color
"
"
less
it is
applied
but always an entire or partial immcrsio. Compare on this point the classical
lexicons and especially the full exhibition of this philological argument by the
learned Baptist divine, Dr. Alex. Carson
ch. 2, p.
Baptism in
The advocates
ed. 1850).
its
of the
Dr. Robinson
in the
new
"
wash,
"to
to
T.,
(So also
In sup
118.)
cleanse."
this, v. 3, vi-retv
rf ^efpaf),
Mk.
which
in the
East
which speaks of
11)
10, where the
Ban-iafwi, i. e. cleansing of cups, pitchers, and tables; Heb. 9
diuipopoi fian-iapoi must be taken to include all sorts of religious purifications
2 Ki. 3
4, 8,
among
Mk. 7
/3a7rr. iv
1
33.
as the
9.
8),
Acts
14,
l/BaTTTi&To iv
11
5.
Holy Ghost
as 2 Ki. 5
(a<
(Lev. 14
is
10
Iti.
Num.
19
Num
19
11.
washing (Num. 19
7),
19)
Lu. 3
(where ila-r.
is
finally, several
synonymous with
~vyw
T v Marof)
Mk.
10.
is
of
Juo.
The improbability
8.
must be conceded,
however, that
2.
hardly admissible,
7.
is
feast of Pentecost
intended,
(Acts 2
Jerusa
41), and soon after 5000 (4
4), having been baptized by immersion at
lem in one day, since there is no water in the neighborhood of the city in summer
:
Indeed some would not allow even this baptismus clinicorum, as it was called, to
in the third century ventured to detend the
aspersio only in case of a necessitas cogens and with reference to a special indulgentia
tical
laws,
it
death, and hence might not have been so thoroughly prepared for
it
as others.
Not
the end of the thirteenth century did sprinkling become the rule and immersion
the exception; partly from the gradual decrease in the number of adult baptisms,
till
be treated as infirmi.
all
children having
now com*
570
142.
BAPTISM.
[IV.
BOOK
but the springs and the brook Siloam, and the houses are
supplied from cisterns
reservoirs, so that there, as in all Palestine, private baths in
dwellings
In these cases we must give up the idea at least of a total im
are very rare.
and public
adduced
prevailing usage ol
the Oriental churches, puts it beyond all doubt, that entire or partial immersion
was the general rule in Christian antiquity, from which certainly nothing hut
urgent outward circumstances caused a deviation. Respecting the form of baptism,
therefore
difference respecting
143), the impartial historian is
compelled by exegesis and history substantially to yield the point to the Baptists,
as is done in fact (perhaps somewhat too decidedly and without due regard to the
arguments just stated for the other practice) by most German scholars, e. g.
Neauder
Knapp
Apostelgesch. I. p. 276
Vorlesungen uber die christlic/te
:
46 sqq.
also by the Anglican
453; Hofling
is needless to add
Conybeare and Howson, Life of St. Paul, I. 471
that baptism was (unless in exceptional cases) administered by immersion, the
convert being plunged beneath the surface of the water to represent his death to
Glaubensle/ire, II. p.
c. 1. p.
1.
divines,
the
life
rection to the
life
of righteousness.
"It
It
well
Baptists go too far in making immersion, after the fashion of Jewish legalism,
The application of water is necessary to this
the only valid form of baptism.
sacrament but the quantity of it, as also the quality (whether sea, spring, or
;
warm),
is
Otherwise we
should in fact bind the efficacy of the Holy Ghost to what is material and acci
dental Here difference of climate, state of health, and other circumstances, may
certainly claim
some regard
water bj sprinkling.
them the
INFANT BAPTISM.
143.
WORSHIP.]
571
in
ponding to
arch
its
Abraham
first
to the patri
nant for
all
his
in
This question we
we
here encounter
though
10 sqq.)?
the affirmative,
not only the Baptists, but also the authority of many celebrated pedobaptist divines, and among them the venerable Dr. Meander, who denies
1
It is very
the apostolic church.
often asserted, indeed, even by friends of infant baptism, that no direct
authority for
passages
c. 10
2,
:
it
can be shown
in
in the
New
in
is
:
spoken
16
16.
as
of,
:
15.
we may
readily infer
supposed adult sons and daughters in these five cases so quickly deter
mined on going over with their parents to a despised and persecuted
whereas, if we suppose the children to have been still
religious society
;
We
insist
on any particular
we must do with
so many
passage.
other articles of faith, even the doctrine of the Trinity, mainly on the
1
dposteigesch.
I.
278 sqq.
Here, however,
genuine
we must
spirit of Christianity,
though not
till
it
unscriptural and un
143.
572
whole tone and
spirit of
letter
the
INFANT BAPTISM.
Holy
Scriptures,
And
directly declares.
of apostolical Christianity,
we may
utter
L IV
which involve
BOOK
infinitely
with toler
this
it
to provide for
28)
the
capability of redemption.
Christ, able
and
presents.
Rom. 5:12
particularism.
sqq., the apostle earnestly presses the point, that the reign
of righteousness and life is in its divine intent and intrinsic efficacy fully
as comprehensive as the reign of sin and death, to which children
among the rest are subject nay, far more comprehensive and availing
;
and that the blessing and gain by the second Adam far outweigh the
curse and the loss by the first.
Hence he emphatically repeats the
1
tist
its
And
yet this is the inevitable consequence, nay, in fact the principle, of the Bap
Dr. Alex. Carson, its most learned advocate, openly declares (Baptism in
and Sub/eels, p. 173). that children cannot be saved by the gospel nor by
theory.
Mode
The Gospel has nothing to do with infants, nor have Gospel ordinances any
The Gospel has to do with those who hear it. It is good news;
but to infants it is no news at all. They know nothing of it. The salvation of the
Gospel is as much confined to believers, as the baptism of the Gospel is. None car
faith
respect to them.
c.. "must
Him
"
Infants
who
enter
Infants
heaven,"
must be
is
no
says Carson,
sanctified foi
heaven but not through the truth as revealed to man." (Is there then another truth
Besides the revealed
and could this be anything else than an untruth and can such
"We
know nothing of the means by
an extra and anti-evangelical truth save?)
F ne consolation foi
which God receives infants nor have we any business with
;
it."
"much
sex, or
in
(noHy nuM.av }
more"
The
the second clause (v. 15, IT).
all limitations of nation, language,
above
is
The parable
573
INFANT BAPTISM.
143.
WORSHIP.]
33) penetrating
expressly intended to illustrate tho
to work in, and diffuse itself through aU
life
age.
declaring, that
mands
all
power
his apostles to
make
Name and by
least reason
that hath
"
breath,"
With
this
by baptism
His doctrine, there is not the
to those of maturer age.
Or do nations
is
According
is
com
in earth,
instruction in
all nations,"
and sucklings,
after solemnly
in the triune
to Ps. 117
given to
is
is
"everything
2 and Matt. 21
beautiful idea,
16.
already
clearly
the
became
for children
a child,
for
youth a
men
an end without willing at the same time the way which leads to it and
we must therefore either deny baptism as a means of saving grace, or
grant it to all whom Christ would save, if the proper conditions are at
;
hand.
"
Omnes
enim,
says Irenaeus.
"per
Mv.
cmnem
et justitiae et subjectionis. in
sanctificans
Domino."
mind baptism
God.
as the
juvenibus
That Irenaeus,
in the
jtivenis.
words
is
"
all
Thus from
illis
exemplum juvenibus
rei
ascuntur in
Deum"
conceded by Neandcr
expression of the church father
to
Ideo per
vulus, sanctificans
>ffectus
mys
I.
p. 537.
is
pietatis
fiens
et
has in
consecrated
baptism."
574
**
B K)K
requires the gospel to have been preached to the sibject, and the snbjeci
and faith but infants can neither under
stand a sermon, nor repent and believe; therefore neither can they be bap
The major premise is in the main correct the minor is, in such a
tized.
;
broad application,
to the ground.
The
connection of baptism with preaching and with faith is placed beyond dis
19, and
pute by the words of the institution of this sacrament, Matt. 28
false
falls
especially
Mk. 16
"
He
that
(first)
saved
shall be
16
;"
is
baptized,
to consider
struction,
brief
which preceded
in
all
was very
and
The primitive Christian baptism was neither a forced act, like the bap
tism of the Saxons, for instance, at the order of Charlemagne, nor a
in the usual Baptist sense, which imparts nothing new at all,
but merely seals the faith already possessed. The apostles never de
manded full and formal regeneration before baptism, but simply an hones*
ceremony
"
three thousand,
name
"
and ye
thus placing these two bless
ings, the negative and the positive, the remission of sins and the bestowment of the Spirit, as the effect, not the condition, of baptism. This
one of you
in the
view
Holy Ghost
;"
is
"
make
in the
name
Or more
j;ate
2
"
accurately
Qui
all
them
(/3a7mbi>rer)
erit,"
as the
Vul
Acts 2
37 sqq.
5 sqq., 35-38.
made
9:17sq.
10:42-48.
18:8.
16:15,33.
19:5
The Scripturt
of these passages in the Baptist sense by R. 1 engilly
Guide to Baptism, p 27 sqq. ed. of Philadelphia, 1849 (also translated into German)
Full use
is
143.
WORSHIP.]
commanded
more general
plainly the
"
"
is
of baptism,
first
575
you."
true Christians)
means,
Here
INFANT BAPTISM.
Were
it
possible to be a
of the saved.
and regards
demand
Besides the
in
it
an
reality merely as a
community
Even a
Philip
Magus.
But now,
tism
this
is
turning of the
tion, in
ratifies his
For
God.
self to
lieving,
this
in
reality
unmeaning, or
is,
the
the conception
Holy Ghost,
is
of faith in general,
limited to,
Luther
translation of this
fjv&riTtVEtv also by
2
lie
Not without
"
lehren,
is
all
in
and
in
faith itself
not at
we must observe
to teach.
So also the
common
English version.
Martensen (Dit
Tanfc imd
die
Laptistische
"
Disciples of
Christ,"
or
"C
ampbellites,"
who
identify
570
INFANT BAPTISM.
143.
different stages,
TlV.
BOOK
fruit.
speak of a little and weak faith, of a growing, a strong, and a firmly root
2
5
ed faith, of a struggling and overcoming faith,- and of a perfected faith."
Faith begins with religious susceptibility, with an unconscious longing
for the divine, and a childlike trust in a higher power.
It is not a pro
Faith does not produce the blessings of salvation, but simply receives
in this aspect, as a receptive, not a productive organ, is
saving
Xow
form and
slumbering germ, may be found in the child, even purer than in the
In virtue of its religious constitution and endowments, the child
adult.
is
man deny
If a
may be
actually regenerated.
this,
children
all
without exception to perdition. For they, like all men, are conceived in
sin (Ps. 51
5), flesh born of flesh (Juo. 3
6), and by nature children
:
comp. Rom. 3
22-24); and except a man be
born again of water and of the Spirit, according to our Lord s unequi
vocal declaration, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (Jno. 3:5)
of wrath (Eph.
2:3;
He
tist,
unknown, nay,
There are
also,
how
Not
to
men
womb was
filled
Matt. 18
2-5.
19
14, 15.
Mk. 10
Lu. 18
14, 15.
the Saviour himself took children into his arms, blessed them, and ad
nay, He required all
adults to become children again, to cultivate the simple, unassuming,
"
Matt. 17
3
1
20.
2 Thess. 1:3.
Tim.
2 Tim. 4
12.
Lu. 22
1
31 sq.
Cor. 16
Eph. 6:10.
13.
1
Col. 2
Jno. 5
4.
7 sq.
3.
29.
Gal.
5:5.
Jno. 3
8.
Cor. 12
3,
9.
CM
577
INFANT BAPTISM.
143.
WORSHIP.]
Lord himself pressed to his loving heart ? Should she hold off from her
communion as incapable and unworthy the infants, whom the Head of
the church presented even as models to all who would be His disciples ?
Rather must we conclude from
this,
strange as
is
renlly
it
may
an infant baptism
because
in general, as
the sacrament of
regeneration,
sinful life in
made
his former
in faith.
on the eighth day. For this was not an unmeaning ceremony, but a
sacred sign and seal of the covenant, admitting the circumcised person
its
privileges
(comp. Gal.
(Gen. 17
and
Lev. 12
12.
blessings,
5:3),
3),
For the
latter has in
an
some sense
circumcision of
taken the place of the former, and hence is called the
Christ" (Col. 2
11); with the grand difference, indeed, that the old
"
covenant with
its
all
If the
favor.
institutions
covenant of grace
:
17).
which
is
is
in
all
our
in fact distinguished
its
the
very largeness,
doubtedly taken the command of the Lord to baptize all nations ; and
had Christ intended to exclude children, he would have somehow signi
In fact Peter, on the day of Pentecost, in calling upon his
hearers to be baptized, explicitly announces this extension of the bless
fied
it.
Bins
all
that
(Acts 2
are
:
afar
off,
"
is
39).
and
If
we
take this
in
37
still
in the
we
in no
578
INFANT BAPTISM.
143.
apostle Paul.
He
[iV.
BOOK
is
on the ground
union with the church, the body of the Lord, and this
formed by baptism. In 1 Cor. 7
14 the apostle makes an
distinction
between
the
children
of
heathen
important
parents and those
of Christian, calling the former unclean (ckutfapra), but the latter
holy
of their
union
vital
is
of the
divine
in the Christian
life
parent
is
its
is
walk
in
God and
the fear of
Paul
does not here mean, of course, to deny the natural corruption of the
but he does unequivocally teach, that the
children of Christian parents
;
is
consecrated to
authorizat on of
it is
For
if,
by virtue of
their
birth from
which puts the divine seal on this covenant and alone makes it, so to
This passage, however, at the same
speak, valid and available in law ?
time restricts the right to and the qualification for baptism to those
because it
children, whose parents, at least on one side, are believers
;
mariner Paul savs of the relation of the patriarchs to the Jewish nation,
"For if the first-fruit be
It
16)
holy, the lump
is
branches."
This Neander also virtually concedes, when he says of the above passage (jQpos"The
view here taken by Paul, though it goes against the
telgesch. I. p. 282 sq.)
1
idea,
.actual existence of infant baptism at that time ( ? ), yet includes the fundamenta
:
from which infant baptism was afterwards necessarily developed, and by which
would be justified in the mind of Paul, viz.. the idea of a pre-eminence belonging
children born in a Christian
communion
it
to
kingdom of God
With good
John
57
INFANT BAPTISM.
143.
WORSHIP.]
also, like
Christian church.
of the
life,
latter
fathers
(v. 15),
sister
truth,
and the
life.
according to what has now been said, authority for infant baptism
to be found in the universal import of Christ s person and redeeming
If,
is
office, in
of grace, in the
and
spiritual
it is
alto
is
And
Corinth
especially since
these, as before
in
as
It
is
true, a
tively
tulli ni, in
his well
We
infant baptism.
is
placed even by such distinguished
and other pedobaptist historians, in a
distorted posture and made to furnish unwarrantable inferences, proves
most decidedly the existence of infant baptism, at that time, as well as
of the
Nay
sores).
church
is
reformer.
tism
K. r.
DC
TU.
?..
is
vp-uv KOI
yap
more, Tertullian
Mk.
baptismo, c
VTj^ia,
10
18.
!4.
tv
Traidtia
BaTTTtfere
6i
580
143.
INFANT BAPTISM.
[iV.
BOOK
of this position.
Of an assertion of the
propriety and legality.
and the necessity for a repetition of tht
sacrament, there is not the slightest trace either in Tertullian or in any
other ancient Christian writer.
Tertullian s objections relate solely tc
its
its
and
arise partly
from
own baptism
their
the death-bed
had he
in
church.
tism excludes forever from the communion of the church, and probably
On this ground he advises not only children,
also,
who
on
false
vow
of
by the church.
It conies
Non minore
left to
"
de causa," says he, 1. c., innupti quoque procrastinandi, in quibus tenpraeparata est tarn virginibus per maturitatem, quam viduis per vacationem,
So Tertullian would limit baptism
donee aut nubant aut continentiae corroborentur
"
tatio
"
to decrepit
"
Nee
aliter
quam
in
aqua permanendo salvi sumus." The vast difference of Tertuiwhole controversy from that of the Baptists of our days must be
who
some great German historians, especially Neander, who although a pedowas yet too latitudinarian on this, as on some ether points, and suffered
baptist himself,
his
latitudinarianism
unconsciously to influence
his historic
representation of
th<
THE LORD
144.
WORSHIP.]
58i
SUPPEE.
principles,
This
had no
is
influence whatever.
It
fell,
incontestibly
without an echo.
age.
cision,
birth
after
So
Origen of Alexandria, who was himself baptized soon after his birth
(A. D. 185), and was at the death of Tertullian (about 220) some
in the most unequivocal terms of infant
baptism as an apostolical tradition, and the universal practice of the
kind from this age, and are left wholly in the dark on many othei
and in the second place, that at that time the great missionary
points
zeal and the rapid spread of the church made the baptism of proselytes
;
still
the most frequent and, in the nature of the case, most thought of.
Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, and Justin Martyr,
Finally, even in
there
is
no lack of
hints,
in
"
or
supper
1
Epitt. 59,
2
supper, or, as
"breaking
it
we
the
shall
Lord
The.
it is
Svpper.
called in the
4
bread,"
New Testament,
the
"Lord
ad Fidurn.
Horn, in Levit. 8;
reived
of
less certainty
144.
The holy
we
from the
Ad Rum.
baptism to
("The
little
ones"),
and other
passages.
42.
comp. 20
7, 1].
Cor. 10
16.
$ 144.
THE LORD
SUPPEK.
[17.
BOOR
life.
It, therefore, pre-snpposes faitl and rege
the solemn festival for the thankful commea oration of
It
is
the atoning death of Jesus, for the believing appropriation and sealing
of the fruits of this death, and for renewing and strengthening the vital
communio sanctorum
of the
it
upon
resting
In
it.*
it
is
In
with thanksgiving and prayer, celebrates and enjoys the highest and
closest union, she can ever enjoy on earth, with her heavenly Head,
who, though sitting at the right hand of God, and thus partaking of
his almighty and omnipresent power, is still, and in fact for this very
reason, invisibly
in the Spirit.
Hence
this
ages.
least
of
its institution
it
in the
communion took place in the morning and the love-feast in the evening.
Then the profanation of the latter in the Corinthian congregation, of
which we are about to speak, can be better explained whereas, on the
of the immediate union of the two, it would be doubly
;
supposition
strange.
We
tians,
find
who
custom of breaking the bread and asking a blessing before the meal by the head of
the family (Matt. 14 19.
Lu. 24 30, 35
Acts 27 35), partly from the symbolical
reference of the breaking of the bread to the crucifixion of Christ.
ish
Lu. 22
19
"This
do in remembrance of
me."
Cor. 11
24-26.
Comp.
tha
name ei^ap/tm a.
1
Matt. 26
Acts 2
The
as one
26 s^q.
46,
KC.\}
Cor. 10
jj/ifyav, etc.
11:27.29,
16, 17.
Comp.
Jno. 6
47-58-
1.
two
acts cc.iisidere
145.
WORSHIP.]
583
were to
all
But here
feel
gross abuse made its appearance, arising probably from the influence of
an old Grecian custom of having sacrificial feasts and public entertain
adopted.
by Christian
all inequalities
love,
in
is
love-feasts
first)
it
the
28)
145.
Besides baptism and the Lord s supper, mention is made in the apos
tolic literature of other sacred usages, which come at least very near to
sacraments, and may, therefore, be designated as in a certain sense
sacramental acts.
1.
The washing of
swer
fully the
feet, as
conception
described in Juo. 13
of a
sacrament,
4-16, seems to an
combining
all
the
three
an outward
elements
"
Cor. 11
teachers, v. 12:
17 sqq.
III. 14.
"These
feast
mann
authorities,
we
fear."
So 2 Pet. 2
13,
if,
falsa
when they
with Lach-
584
115.
done to
(v. 15).
you"
[iV.
BOOK
how
ever, evidently was, in the first place, to set forth the necessity of daily
repentance and purification from the pollution, which still cleaves to the
and secondly, not so much to impart to the
baptized and regenerate
a
of
disciples
special gift
grace, as to enforce upon them an important
;
Hence
much
also the
ments, though
Testament
8
appendage to the administration of baptism.
mostly as an
New
In the
(Gen. 48
in
a.
On
all
baptized persons,
being, as
it
baptism (as would naturally be the case in infant baptism). The evan
gelist Philip had baptized the Samaritans (v. 12), and afterwards the
apostles Peter and John, who were commissioned for the purpose by the
church at Jerusalem, laid their hands on them, and thereby imparted to
them the Holy Ghost. Commentators generally regard this as the be-
Kritiken,"
No.
1850.
4. p.
820 sqq.
It is so
to
some
Comp. Bohmer,
1. c.
839,
p.
eccl.
in
Reinigkeit"
*
23.
Acts 8
17.
Deut. 34
9.
2.
Comp.
the article
Comp. Num. 27
1$
145.
VORSIIIP.]
585
19
6.
comp. Acts 10 46.
These, however, dc
propftesying, &c
by no means exclude, but rather presuppose, the communication of the
ordinary spiritual gifts, which every Christian is to possess. This apostoli(
practice
is
sense required
by
For
is
in
a certain
and solemn
hi it
ratifica
(according to the
voluntarily, before
himself up
to
the
service of
full
church membership.
port, must be only the crowning act, the practical completion of the
whole course of catechetical instruction and religious education at home
and
in the church,
alone
in
it
ordination, of
c.
28
12, 17.
recorded of the disciples of Jesus, that they (no doubt at the direction
of their Master,
ed with
oil
epistle, 5
who had
many
just given
them
"
instructions, v. 1 sqq.)
and healed
"
anoint
And James
them."
in his
Is
and
prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up
if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him."
Here again all
Yet in Mark bodily heal
three requisites for a sacrament seem to meet.
;
ing
:
is
Whereas
in the
in
the great thing, and bodily recovery something accessory, which may not,
this sacrament being administered only on the apparent ap
and rarely does, follow
of the Greek church comes nearer the original rite as
The
of
death.
EV^K/MLOV
proach
ing sins
is
145.
586
siiis,
as
ment.
[iv.
BOOK.
to the miraculous healing of diseases, with which gift the apostolic church
For
was endowed.
iliary
as iu fact
oil,
it is
well
Hence
in
and aux
East frequently
the Old Testament it is
is
in the
aboul the high antiquity of the anointing with oil in connection with
And though we leave out of view the power of miraculous heal
prayer.
no longer present in the church, and the use of oil as peculiar to
the East, there still remains of James direction thus much applicable to
ing, as
all ages and countries, that members of the church in sickness should
send for the ministers, to impart the exhortation and consolation of the
gospel,
and
to
"
Com p.
"
Is.
61
Beata simplicitas
Sa?n. 10
summa
1 sq.
dirtariav."
14
Cor. 5
BOOK
F T H.
CHAPTER
I.
CHRISTIANITY
entered
New
and we beheld
"
And
the
written
Testament Literature.
world not as
the
IN GENERAL.
Son
of
God
It
is
primarily
in
the
letter, like
flesh,
as,
medium
then committed to writing by the apostles and their disciples for the
preservation of pure Christianity, and for the instruction and edification
of
all
succeeding ages.
form the volume of the
New
Testament.
of God, however,
sudden
act.
into the
He
had
something far more important to do. It was his great object to perform
The
acts, as matter for writing, yet never to be fully written or sung.
1
of
The pretended
letter of Jesus to
has undertaken
I.
is
Manu
at F.dessa in
Mesopotamia,
is a mere compilation
of passages from the Gospels and it is not presumable, that a genuine letter of the
Redeemer could have remained in obscurity till the fourth century. Still less can the
pretended work of Jesus on the observance of Sunday, said to have fallen from heaver
Moses of Chorene
(t
470)
It
(vid.
Thilo
Ada
moment
590
146.
RISE OI
|v.
BOOK,
religions
the dead, ascending into heaven, sitting and reigning at the right hand
of God
though assuredly such a Saviour is at the same time the inex
;
their Master.
They preached
in
the fullness of the Spirit and of life, as the bearers and interpreters
of the divine revelation
and with their words the new life itself
;
listened.
they use,
"tradition,"
&c.,
"preaching,"
"gospel,"
mouth.
"word,
written before the year 50, or some twenty years after the founding of
church."
The New Testament, therefore, as a book or written
the
volume,
the substance of the Scriptures, the saving truth, the word of God, was
present at the beginning, and was, as the living utterance of the per
sonal Word, Jesus Christ and His Spirit, the seed of the church (1 Pet.
It is one and the same word of God, which was
23.
Ja. 1 : 18).
:
For us the
leard on the day of Pentecost, and which is read to-day.
written word with the Spirit, which reigns in it, holds the place of the
1
personal presence and oral preaching of the apostles, and is at the same
time the only infallible guide to their pure and original doctrine ; while
the church tradition, as a source of knowledge, derives all its value from
its
is,
therefore,
subordinate to
them.
(1)
The
historical
evayyi/uov,
iraqudoffis,
fiagrvQia,
Aoyoc, Aoyoc
Tr/f
UKO?/,
Trapa6t66rai, naprvpElafiai,
The
oldest written
is
Luke from
first.
H7.
DOCTRINE.]
HISTORICAL BOOKS.
591
John.
The Gospeh.
The demand
it
(1)
all
gospel even during the life-time of the apostles, as the warnings in the
epistles of Paul and John and the many apocryphal gospels afterwards
circulated abundantly prove.
though
likewise,
intended
to
be
complete
biographies of Jesus,
The
but
only
object was to
life
awaken
faith in
Jesus as the
promised Messiah, the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world, and
to lead the readers by this faith to true, eternal, divine life (comp. Jno.
20
30).
As
some
in
pared
life
Lord
as future, but
nigh at hand.
Single por
This
we must
from Luke
infer
Whereas
accurately translated, reads thus
preface,
many have undertaken to compose a narrative of the ihings accom
from the beginning eye-witnesses
plished among us, as those, who were
"
1-4, which,
and ministers of the word (that is the apostles), have delivered them
it seemed good to me also, having closely followed everything
to us
from the first, to write it out in order for thee, most excellent Theo;
philus, that
things
in
instructed."
all
for
if
592
HISTORICAL BOOKS.
147.
[v.
BOOK
evidently pre-supposes the others, and exhibits the highest position and
matures! development of the apostolical theology (comp.
105).
The
tant,
evangelical history.
most general
outlines.
ing hypotheses of
modern
hypercritics
the
less, since
by
their wild
responds to that of
The
its
author, of
its circle
of readers, and of
its
design.
delineation of
full
it.
Luke the ox, to John the eagle." The apparent contradictions in the
whole conception and in the narratives of single events, when carefully
examined by the unprejudiced, truth-loving reader, resolve themselves, v.t
to
show the
and
impartiality, honesty,
The
to the
harmony, and go to
If
all
New
Testament.
literature
Leben Jesu
"
on
of Strauss,
is
so extensive, that
and
it is
up a whole mountain of hypotheses respecting the origin and mutual relations of the
we should have to mourn over deeply as labor lost, had we not the consoling
Gospels,
it
1847
(in
life
He
of Christ.
We
vidence over the preservation of the Scriptures, that, of tiie fifty thousand various read
ings or more hitherto discovered in the New Testament, by far the majority have not
the slightest influence on the sense or doctrinal import; and where thev touch an im-
U7.
DOCTRINE.]
The
553
THE GOSPELS.
and
first
for
Luke, the
disciple
tile-Christian readers
s spirit
The Gospel
Theophilus.
of
"
Latinisms
Roman
stance for
readers.
strictly Jewish-Christian
dition traces
In fact tra
it
fidential
"
(I Pet. 5
the
It
Mark was
thesis, that
Luke, important
is. the
oldest
first
and
third.
sacred history in
its
Jru>.
~>
7,
which
is
unequivocally
So in the case just referred to. the
taught in many other decidedly genuine passages.
doctrine of the Trinity, not only by the baptismal formula and the apostolical benedic
tion, but by all that the New Testament teaches of the divinity of Christ and the Holy
is
Ghost,
The
historical
mere
fully
12;
as
firivdpiov
denarius. 6
37.
To
<t>paye~A/.ou
5;
in
Eusebius
III. 39.
KEvrvpiuv centurio, 15
39,
44, 45;
much
(in
flagello.
want of
this
Mark
14
uses in his
sf
?.eyfoj>
27
/.6;.m in the
Such
Kjjvaof census, 12
Hebrew
collection
from the
5
more
lost
strict
15
15.
rti^si,
which
Pe.pias
Eusebius.
38
11.
R.
III. 39).
148.
,VJ-i-
in the
"
36-42).
first
apostle,
would be by
Mark
|v.
Thus
BOOK
\v,
uld
and Peter,
in
But
Christ."
in this case
we must
who
The
first
John and
the.
Synoptical Evangelists.
called in distinction from John, with all their individual peculiarities, are
strikingly similar.
cles in Galilee,
last
resurrection.
Then
His
of the history in
common.
The
fourth Gospel
distinguishes
it
from
stamped with a
is
all
the rest.
peculiarity,
It stands alone in
kind.
The
dif
ferences between the synoptical evangelists and John are, indeed, among
the most remarkable phenomena of the New Testament, were remarked
also
assailants
and
willfully
misrepresented
by the
versal.
Thiersch (DieKirche im
seeks
!o
:emove
this difficulty
while the works of Matthew and Luke, though later composed, were earlier pub
lished.
148.
DOCTRINE.]
505
in a certain sense in
in Galilee,
(6:1
and he expressly
sqq.),
book (20
other signs,
many
One
25).
brings us so often into the theocratical capital, un
that there the conflict, which he wishes to describe, between
in
this
Comp. 21
30.
why John
doubtedly
is,
5 sqq.)
comes to view
in
3.
cles
among them
miracles, and
us
It
more of Christ
is
true,
ilie
s acfs
latter
and mira-
relates
six
But
ho
The wonderful
importance.
deeds are the practical, sensible demonstrations, the wonderful words are
the theoretical and more inward proof, of the divine glory of Christ.
Jesus, which are with him of paramount
The two
as
the
first
John records
life,
ing power.
This
is
his
natural
emanations from
and heat
all
it
596
148.
necessary product of
fruit as the
its
inward
[V. BOOK.
Hence John
life.
.alls
1
"
the
Heal
works."
ing the sick and raising the dead are only steps by which to lead men
gradually from a lower level to the adoration of Him, who is himself the
resurrection and the life, and in whom dwells all the fullness of the God
head bodily.
me
"
Believe
or else believe
me
me
am
that I
in
works
sake."
record for the most part those speeches which relate to the regulation of
the conduct, and to the idea of the kingdom of God
and these they
;
and sententious.
Redeemer
which the
in
generally in a manner so mystical and profound, that not only the unsus
ceptible Jews, but even his own disciples, at that stage of their know
ledge, alfflost uniformly put a fleshly misconstruction on his words, or, at
had but a
This difference
meaning.
is closely connected with that already observed in the design, the theatre
of events, and the circle of readers.
Yet we find occasionally in the
least,
mens of
master
his
(c.
12
c.
Modern
of instruction,
mode
parabolical
(c.
viz.,
the parables
7-26, 33-38.
32 sqq.
13
16,
39.
Lord
wisdom
in teaching.
But
it
Ch. 5
Jesus
14,
Jno. 14
may
Amer.
7:21.
36.
:
11.
be found in
ed.).
Many
Comp. the
criticism of this
work
<5
35, 36.
33, 57.
are Jno. 2
:
12, 13.
20-22.
14
5, 8, 9.
4, 9, 10.
16
17, 18.
11, 15
13
148. JOHN
UOCTBINK.J
597
cross
may understand
and does
at least so
understand
in fact
it
much
as
is
necessary
many
them
excite
to farther reflection.
every-day style
down
and
is
level,
by presenting something
Finally,
mind that the Saviour of the world spoke words of eternal life, not only
and that
for his contemporaries, but for all future ages and generations
;
their
dwells
all
Another
John
meaning, therefore,
Godhead
in
whom
bodily.
to
But
the
in
on, as
depend
first
we
bosom, have been able to retain His discourses, especially as these were
not merely some of many things equally important to be remembered,
but the apostle s most precious treasure, his priceless jewel, the centre of
by the negative
Think,
for
style
is
when
is,
their
adapta
offered to be taught him, wished rather to learn the art of forgetting; of Mithridates,
who knew by
heart
all
the
names of
his
many
mother tongue; of modern scholars, as Lipsius, Leibnitz, Joh. von Miiller, who
knew almost whole authors word for word of the cardinal, Mezzofanti, who, if I am
rightly informed, was acquainted with near forty languages and dialects; finally, of
in his
who were
half, if at all,
able to repeat
understood.
598
148.
resemble the
strikingly
first
epistle
of
John
in
[v.
BCKE
viz.,
s.
But this pro
the entire sinking of
the beloved disciple s personality into that of his divine Master, so that
thenceforth he could not think, speak, or write otherwise than in the
Saviour
from
He
way.
his school.
He
his spirit
first
went into
Lord s bosom
that was
Christ,
and consciousness.
dent and original authors may so completely live themselves into anothei
genius, that their productions become strikingly similar in thought and
This, considering all we know from the other evangelists, from
style.
1
his
own
writings,
and from
rendering nature, and his intimate friendship with Jesus, must have been
Rather must we, therefore, reverse the
particularly the case with John.
matter, and say, that the epistles of John are a sequel, an echo, of the
discourses of Jesus in the fourth Gospel, and not the latter an arbitrary
From the affinity in question an inference un
imitation of the former.
favorable
other Gospels.
prove.
to the accuracy of
There
is
aspect, which
prehend.
5.
The whole
its
conception
of the person of Jesus Christ, of which the discourses are the immediate
expression.
This difference
may be
The synoptical
"
God, is first perfectly realized here, as the true Son of God," who
was one with the Father before the creation of the world, and who
"
everywhere reveals through the veil of the flesh His eternal glory, full of
Matthew portrays him as the last and greatest prograce and truth.
Compare, for example, the Odyssey with the Iliad, which can hardly have come
from the same author; Horace with his Grecian models; the epistle to the Hebrews
and that of Clement to the Corinthians with Paul s epistles; Joh. Ton Mailer with
1
JOHN AND
148.
OOCTRINB.J
prophets
Mark,
59 (J
SYNOPTICAL EVANGELISTS.
King
in brief,
TIIE
poor
Philanthropist, the
his
life,
repose
of a virgin,
and
fol
and priva
death of the cross and the
the
in
mighty
womb
his
Logos
depths of eternity
accompanies Him, the Source of all light and life in the world, through the
creation and preservation of all things, and through the successive steps
of the genera! revelation to all men and the special revelation to the Jews
down
to the incarnation
forth in all
will
gleam
after the
miration and astonishment, faith and love, the divine Son of Man, in the
Gospel of John we are rapt in adoration of the human Son of God, and
Thomas
exclaim with
Hence
"My
encouraged by
Gospel."
To
"
somatic
"
or bodily.
"
"
pneumatic
Thus Clement
all
!"
his friends,
this
in
moved
"
Last
John
person
is
chiefly
due
others.
1
The
for the
Xot seldom
As
it is,
for
example,
in the school of
Schleiermaeber.
Against this
th>>
criticism ol
600
149.
do they
lift
Cy
of Nazareth.
of the Saviour
meaning.
that Christ, though one with the Father, is yet at the same time truly
man, flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone, whom the disciples saw
with their own eyes, heard with their ears, and handled with their
hands.
each other
natures
in the indissoluble
Mediator between
is
thus constituted
heaven and earth, the immovable foundation of the Christian church and
the eternal source of her life and peace.
149.
The
Ads
of
the Apostles.
Last among the historical books, though belonging not to the Evanbut according to the old division to the
Apostolos," is the Acts
gelion,"
"
"
distinguished
Roman, and
is
evidently, as
may be
Luke,
style,"
having been for many years an attendant and faithful friend of Paul
and his
(comp. 2 Tim. 4
11), was best qualified to be his biographer
:
own
of Paul, finished
ment
As
in
it
confine
That
is,
in the parts
zourses bear a
marked resemblance
to the doctrinal
For
Acts
old
it
title
60
150.
DOCTRINE.]
life
and invaluable history of the planting of the Christian church, first among
the Jews by the labors chiefly of Peter, and then among the Gentiles in
Syria, Asia Minor, Greece,
throne and the commencement of his mediatorial reign) and the outpour
ing of the Holy Ghost for the founding of the church, and closes with
the joyful preaching of the great apostle of the Gentiles in the world s
which virtually decided the victory of the Gospel. Of the
metropolis
;
unknown
150.
The
doctrinal
epistles of Paul,
of Jude, and the
The,
portion of the
it.
Didactic Books.
New
anonymous
epistle to the
Romans, and the epistle of James, were composed before the Gospels
and the Acts, between the years 50 and 60, as has been shown in detail
iu
to the
Hebrews and
Jude, belong
in
the
two
epistles of Peter,
of
6-4.
John s epistles with the fourth Gospel bear all the internal
marks of having been written after the destruction of Jerusalem and to
wards the end of the first century.
and
churches at once, and yet necessary that they should oversee them and
lead them forward in the Christian faith and life, they had no other
way, but to compensate for their persoaal presence bj sending delegate?
150.
601?
this
[v. BOOH.
it
dangers of theoreti
division,
Paul
for
epistles,
part of
and
it,
single
Philemon.
But God
in
all
intended
and
all
the principal wants and occasions, which should arise in the church
so
that those epistles answer for all ages, and cover the whole province of
;
is,
What
not that
is
it
and effectual as
forcible, fresh,
in the first
subjective
is
individual
is
absolutely universal.
of God, that it "was
written
word
We
made
flesh
"
also of the
Logos, and subjected to all the conditions and laws of natural, human
development, but that its servant-form was radiant with eternal glory,
"full of
grace and truth." The Bible is throughout truly divine, yet
throughout truly human, and thus alone adapted to men.
As to their design the didactic books are all addressed to baptized
;
The
first in
order,
though composed
in
some cases
its
later.
historical,
also
of
a didactic
intuition.
But now
rests
upon the
go
band
the other
oil
Dew
in
151.
DOCTRINE.]
life
and new
it is
acts.
N.
003
and
151.
this
The Revelation of
ture,
St.
the
Revelation.
(Comp.
and the most appropriate and sublime conclusion, the divine seal
of
the whole.
The mode
of
its
Testament books.
passive
communicated
reflection
But the
tool.
the
tuition (Trvfvpd), in
was not
revelation,
It
(rotf)
was that
which the
agency of
all
his
that
of
ordinary
per
and
intellectual
finite
infinite-
All
the
t
is
closely allied to
the prophetic
iterature of the
Dining its
But with the poetical, symbolical style it unites also the epistolary in the
It intersperses its visions with lyric songs
etters to the seven churches.
)f
praise,
ng crowd of events.
sublimity of
bols,
And
it
surpasses
its
progress of
action, and
its
he reference of
Prophecy
all
alike
finally
in
all
its
its
of
finish
composition, the
now
its
and
in
the
glorified
new
is
God-mau.
founded on
he idea of the divine government of the world, unavoidably presuppo-that history is not a proiuct of chance, but an unfolding of the
Dg,
.honirhts
and
plajis
of eternal
and must,
151.
604
ihat
coming,
BOOR
prophecy is the
second coming of
I.V.
Xew
of
Testament prophecy
ttol
the preparatory
the Jews, bttl
as
did
a
not
and attendant events.
Messiah,
expect
the reappearing of the Lord to judge the quick and the dead, and
/he
all
We
Hence hope
Hence too
tant.
the
New
is
Testament, though
it
We
Among
Epistles.
these
may
it.
our Lord himself respecting the destruction of Jerusalem and His fina
22 sqq. 18 8. 21
Lu. 17
6-36;
advent, Matt. 24. Mk. 13.
:
and
2 Thess. 2
1-42.
16 sqq.
1-5.
1 Tim. 4
2 Tim. 3
1-3.
:
2 Jno.
7.
2 Pet. 2
1 sqq.
Rom. 11
4
Gospel
3, 4.
3 sqq.
25.
1
Jude
Cor. 15
Jno. 2
18, 22.
51
sqq,
3.
18, 19.
His
is
this
The
ral, is,
is
seven churchef
future and the hidden present the seer would incite the
in its various form*
of Asia Minor, which represent the whole church
ir
and tendencies, to watchfulness, patience, fidelity and perseverance
anc
would comfort
their struggles and hardships, and at the same time
of Chrisl
animate them by the divine assurance of the infallible victory
over all His enemies, and of the eternal triumph of His bride.
hope,,
cution.
and
is
is
This purpose
of
This is remarked by the venerable Bengel, whose merits as an expositor
of the beast to
Reve.ation are very great, even though his historical application
1
tbi
thi
151.
IWCTBINB.]
histor
the very various and sometimes altogether contradictory
theo
of
hands
the
at
truly
pious
even
has met
lical expositions, which it
may
I lo<nans, who in other more important points perfectly agreeto
all attempts yet made
of
character
the unsatisfactory
llfolly concede
foroui
and
Liicke
to
Hengstenberg,-and
I explain it, from Irenaeus down
altc
that none of the many commentaries are
must
we
confess,
part
throw on the details,
much
landing
We
|Un
to doubt
been found
Of the
Old Testament
appearance of Christ
clear
altn-.st forgotten,
In seasons of quiet security it was
endurei
and
those
subsequently
under the persecutions by the heathen emperors,
&c.. it has been turned to good account,
Walden<es. the Bohemian brethren,
refuses to r-ceive it.
one too may soon be glad of the book, who now
men have done; Luther,
As sometimes, it is to be regretted, even great and pious
the Apocalypse
irreverent
and
judgment of
for example, in his honest, but very hasty
which he would consider neill
of
also
and
1534),
D.
A
of
1522,
(Vorrede
derstood and
appreciated.
in
it
though he employed
it,
when
Novum Testamentum
of Augustine
According to the striking expression
1
or "V. T. est occnltatio Novi. N.
latet, Vetus in Novo patet
:
in
Vetere
Veteris."
This
is
remarked
also
by
we must
consider
it
as on the
whole
entirely
erroneous, since
it
refers
,"
consolation, are
which
is
manna
an abstract of almost
all
151.
beloved abc,
of
[v. BOOR
le, in
m :ra cles,
ecu-
,
soar.ng yet
more on eagle s
wings to behold th,
ternal
tnnmph of h, S divine Master and the
glory of th. bride
adornher husband" on the
sanctified
he
"
earth,
bequeathed to th,
church mHitant these
precious visions under the seal of
Ghost
to
IpocTlypt
oG
G"d
ateTd
durmg
nt
s,ol s
"
T r
I Hoi,
emPtati011 a d
"
the
nc5; at the
dmt
Roman power
iu
f tiie
""
""""*
"
"*|
""7""
He
HCnCC
a
e o d T!
Scr
tevrvh
ctar h
t
AS
"
""*"
nd
ttffliCti0
1"
tS S
"
t
Ca
CatllCmSnl
I"
"
M did
(lca
an
>
d PerSe
re
"
^d
T sta
Testament
prophcc.es s( o,, with the events of Jewish
history, to which
hey pr.manly refer. The age of the Xerouiau
and Domitian c
persecu-
ons
,s
a ypse,
its
starting-point, of the
As
interpretation.
the
and
Apo
false
conflict of the
Apocalypse
what
its
may
to
many
a plain Christian as to
comfort for
all
its scientific
cC
prophecy in
two
general laws, and form a new and
ever
kingdom of
interpretation)
walks."
is
a book of
instructional
g 152.
DOCTRINE.;
607
till
Lord
the
shall
come
to take
bride.
152.
Organism of
the.
Apostolic Literature.
observe
in it
gether
in
itself,
Or, to use
another figure, the first are the root, the second the branches, the third
The three classes bear the same relation as conversion,
the ripe fruit.
sanctification,
and
glorification,
or as
the
invisible,
less
real
existence, in
tlje
In the
Holy Ghost.
the
a] ostles,
make room
omnipresence
but only to
"
all."
the
full
and
stars,
all
;
ideal
glorified in spirit
pains banished
holiness
is
all
one
lire
The
mysteries solved.
perfectly realized
the city of
body
God
is
is
all
finish
come
"
God."
We
Purely
tolic doctrine, as it
first,
quickly.
Even
so come,
Lord Jesus
!"
down
to ns.
153.
Langunge and
Style of the
New
Testament.
we must
distinguish three
specifically Christian.
is
The
608
153.
Xew
Testament an
e
[
BOOK
i.ltoge .hei
of literature,
Uieir
it
in Plato,
,3
we
but
It meets us in the
his successors.
woiUa of Aris
totle,
authors
in
who
Libanius,
is
hence sometimes
This idiom was employed by almost all the Jews of the dispersion,
thus came to be called Hellenists (Acts 6:1. 9 22), to distinguish
who
them from the Hellenes or proper Greeks on the one hand, and on the
other from the Hebrews or Palestinian Jews, who spoke the Aramaic.
The Greek, moreover, was at that time quite prevalent in Palestine.
There were regular Hellenistic synagogues there, and
it is very probable
that the Saviour himself sometimes, as in conversation with proselytes and
xevrvgiuv, KI/VOOQ,
Kop6<ivT7]f
II. p.
204
sq.
are written
20.
If it
genial
way.
Brief e (Part
k7J^viari {>u/j.aia~i
/3poi
be true, that they were put forth in the
<m,
Jewish land, under dominion of the Romans, by people who were no literati of their
the writers,
age. the character of their style is the most authentic evidence respecting
the place, and the time of these books."
with special reference to this remark, Dr. H.
investigated the language and style of the
From
W.
New
and
Jud.
II. 20, 3,
who
Romans
in
are
the Jewish war.
Comp. TT/MTUV&IV and other such expressions). E^ijviarai
therefore primarily Jews who speak Greek and these also were mostly less stifl an-.
,
153.
DOCTRINE.]
7
And on the other hand
and before Pilate, used the Greek.
there were also in the Greek provinces Jewish families, which rigidly
1
heathens,
"a
Hebrew
is,
Baby
tercourse.
ment, but also in the Septuagint translation of the Old, in the apocry
phal books of the Jews, in the works of the theological philosopher
Philo, and to some extent in the historian Josephus, who, however, cer
tainly not without affectation,
in the apostolic
It does
the contents.
literature
The
for this
tincture
is
in the first
We
observe
it
the author gives sacred traditions just as they stood, above all in the
46-55 and 68-79), which bear
Bongs of Mary and Zacharias (1
:
is
and most
sources
of
The
12
As with
:
the yvvi)
El./.Tjri?
of Phenicia,
Mk.
26,
E/./.rjvsf, Jno.
20.
in Palestine
we
IF.
Also to Thiersch,
48 sq who gives it as his opinion that Christ was master of the Greek lan
guage, that he could use it. but in his intercourse with his disciples and with the peonle he preferred the vernacular (Aramaic), so nearly akin to the sacred Hebrew
1. c.
p.
"
39
610
153.
was
so decidedly
Palestine
Hebrew
in sentiment,
[v. BC.OK
express on,
chapter) rises
the
rhetorical
first
His
full
Greek
Paul
elegance.
sidering his
Greek.
real
in
in
Hebrews, who
epistle to the
however, con
too,
skill in
in perfect
accordance with
On
culture.
and
fifth
chap
show
ing that the preponderance of one or the other linguistic element varied
in the same author with the character of his subject
The style of John
in his
but
hi
He
ariu
violations of the
the Romanic languages, and the many Latin and French elements of the
The Hebraisms form,
English be condemned as corruptions and errors.
as,
especially,
in
The Hebrew
New
the
grammar.
parable
of the two
unity
testaments,
old
the
of God.
But
to the
Greek
basis
The
spirit
of
use
a place of its
own
of old
ones.
all
new
it
is
itself, in
the province of
in
DOCTRINE.]
153.
or continued to express
afterwards
heathen authors.
in
Even
the
To a
is
New Testament,
in the
and
practice, as
light,
life,
love,
faith,
humility, blessedness,
dark
unbelief,
death,
sin,
In this
agreeable to the natural import and the etymology of the word.
view it may be said, that, as Christianity is the perfection of humanity,
so the Christian language
is
the
full
the
makes them
vehicles of
is
Hence
spirit,
which
fills
the.
words and
profound ideas.
In this use of the Hellenistic idiom for conveying the Christian revela
its
we must admire
that
is,
of
iu
spirit
breaks away from the trammels of ordinary rules, and often rises
It is well known that the heathen rhetori
Longinus.
placed
and the
;
"
Quid usaccomplished
In fact, this passage, as well as
Cicero dixit grandiloquentius
that seraphic hymn on love, 1 Cor. 13, is, even on merely esthetic and
critic,
quam
1
!"
in
the
preface to the
new
edition of his
New
Testament
"The
153.
6*12
BOOK
rhetorical principles,
sublime things in
manly and noble, fresh and vigorous, clear and exact, terse and concise,
3
fascinating and suggestive, sometimes plying the lash of irony and sar
4
casm, but also melting into the tenderest strains, or ingeniously and
5
He delights in colossal antithesis and the
winningly playing on words.
massive, dialectic progressions of the Greek periods.
Even his
many
anacolutha are usually only the excess of a virtue, the result of his ardent
temperament and overflowing fullness of soul ; emotion
crowding upon
"
E.
Cor.
g. 1
Phil.
3:2;
4:8.
Acts 26
Phil. v. 10 sq.,
29.
2 Cor. 11
KEpiTOftTJ
18 sq.
and /cararo^ .
2 Cor. 2
5, 7,
10.
where he touchingly
i.
e.
6
useful;
Tholuck
in the
for
Paul," says an able writer
Edinburgh Review
January, 1853, "while every matter relating to the faith is determined dnce for all with
demonstrations of the spirit and power, and every circumstance requiring counsel at
the time so handled as t j furnish precepts for all time, the whole heart of this wonder
ful
"
man
in the
is
"
"
poured out and laid open- Sometimes he pleads, and reminds, and conjures,
strain of fatherly love
sometimes playfully rallies his converts on
most earnest
calm and steady advance, the plunging and foaming rapids, and
By turns fervid and calm, argumentative and
impassionate, he wields familiarly and irresistibly the varied weapons of which ProWith the Jew he reasons by Scripture citation, wit .:
idence had taught him the use.
.he Gentile
justice
by natural analogies
Were
of inspired writings, they would long ago have been ranked as the most wonderful
uninspired."
ot
153.
OOOTRIXK.]
NW TESTAMENT.
with
the
awful
613
power
ol
its
calypse, according as
th tinder.
To sum up
all
of the
servant, like
power of the Holy Ghost and divine grace, and all the
more wonderful in its effects. The weak and the despised has God
freer scope to the
chosen to confound the great and the brilliant, that the glory may be the
Lord s and not man s. Were the New Testament written with the Attic
elegance of a Plato or a Xenophon or a Sophocles or a Demosthenes, it
would be perhaps a book for philosophers, for the educated few, but not,
as
it is
this
day and ever will be, a book for the people, the bread of
and classes of men.
life
614
AND UNITY OF
ORIGIN
154.
CHAPTEE
fv.
BOOK
II.
CHRISTIANITY
is,
all
its
life,
a supernatural fact
human
soul,
It
will.
came
in
world,
be propagated from
to
Him
to the
entire
human
race,
So
ity.
or the
communion
measure of
of the whole
ure of the
man s
piety
it
not,
human
form of
Christ.
life,
The
of theoretical knowledge, or
separately considered)
is
the meas
is
perfect
Doctrine
The
is
New
Testament everywhere ap
life.
is
life,
in the
1
As Schleiermacher
holds,
whose view on
all
mankind.
religion, identifying
it
Nevertheless
with feeling
(the
feeling of absolute
DOCTRINE.]
The apos
has a systematic structure, though not outwardly marked.
has
biblical
as
from
thiology
a
which,
from
tles start
living principle,
it
far
more
among
The common source of
inward
Holy Ghost,
ing
understand the
tion
is
life
to be regarded as central
in
which
of their being
power on the very essence and centre
transferred not only their knowledge, but their whole personality, with
of
all their intellectual and moral faculties, into a new and higher sphere
thence
which
and
per
existence, into the heart of the Christian truth
creative
r writings,
and
their
all
relations,
their
their actions.
the apostles
subject of the doctrine of
Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, the true God-man
The common
is
the person of
life
Holy
Df salvation
is
;
communicated
works
ope
itself in
and
and
his conversion,
will fully devel-
second coming.
on the living appropriation
articles of faith,
call
John
We
perfectly agree.
New
Testament,
animated by the
either in respect to faith or practice.
They
wonderful
a
form
and
harmony
same spirit, aim at the same end,
truly
are
Jno. 14
26.
15
26.
16
7.
Lu. 24
all
49.
016
155.
DOCTRINE.
[v
BOOB
All the apostles and evangelists teach, that Jesus of Nazareth is the
that He perfectly fulfilled the
highest revelation of the only true God
;
law and the prophets by His death and resurrection reconciled human
ity with God and redeemed it from the curse of sin and death
by the
outpouring of His Spirit has established an indestructible church and
furnished it with all the means for the regeneration and sanctification of
;
the world
Him
that out of
in
there
is
of Christ
and
its
foes
that a
mission
and that
man must
and tribulation
suffering
triumphs
faith,
and through
"
re
in order
life,
in the church,
tion of the
no salvation
all,
"
and
in
you
all"
(Eph. 4
5 sq.).
"
us,"
"
dom
of the
of the church.
And
as,
and
in this respect,
be compared to
a jewel, which at every turn emits a new radiance, yet remains the
same or to the one beam of light, which breaks into diverse colors
;
according to the nature of the substance it falls on, yet always emanates
from the same sun. These peculiar modifications or shapings of the
Christian principle in the New Testament Scriptures we call the differ
617
DOCTBISE.J
-lit
As
the
of
was rooted in
the apostles were Jews, and as their knowledge
new principle
the
Testament, they, very naturally, first brought
their former
with
into connection
them in
was
all
Old
life, which
Christ,
given
religious views,
it
according as they
To them all Christianity appeared
or with Gentiles.
Jews
with
mainly,
and Jesus as the true Messiah,
as the completion of the Old Testament,
Christ himself had declared
fulfiller of the law and the
in different ways,
prophets.
not come to destroy the law or the prophets,
the
"
am
but to
fulfill"
(Matt. 5
17).
religions
God
for the
the other
and the salvation of mankind but the one is preparation,
the
fulfillment
and
this
that is law and prophecy,
gospel
completion
There
former.
the
in
latent
is revealed in the latter, the latter
;
former
God
lievers
heirs.
Judaism
"
is
Christianity
is
the
killeth,"
"spirit,
which
The one is the religion of authorfreedom. That was intended for a single
life,"
is
designed for
all
nations and
all times,
Old
the absolute religion for the world.
conuectioa
into
Testament is taken up by the New, confirmed, brought
The permanent
truth in the
but by this
with the person of Christ, and transformed by His Spirit,
of its restricted national and temporary form.
very process divested
an organic growth out of Judaism, and a new
Christianity is at once
which could never have sprung from the old alone, without a
creation,
creative act of
God.
Now
it is
essential to apostolical
Old,
yet
and of such we
denial of either gives rise to a fundamental heresy
of the dis
denial
The
the
apostolic period.
observe the germs even in
the
denial of
is
Ebionism
and
Christianity
tinction between Judaism
tha
extremes
these
both
From
the unity of the two is Gnosticism.
tion
The
618
156.
New Testament
Cv
BOOK
But
this
which, while they keep, in principle, both the distinction and the unity
of the two revelations, give the chief prominence, one to the unity, the
two positions, therefore, not contradictory,
other to the distinction
;
dominantly
most congenial to the older Jewish apostles of Palestine, and best suited
for the Jewish mission.
Th-e other, which saw in the gospel a new crea
tion, the spirit of absolute freedom,
who was
apostle,
called
in
sudden,
extraordinary
to the Hellenistic
manner by the
the heathen.
among
need
of
their nature
156. Jewish
and
Gentile Christianity
and
their higher
Unity.
and from
The
was represented in
the beginning by all the older apostles, the twelve, who had gradually
come out of the bosom of their ancestral religion, and labored chiefly
and the
Jewish- Christian
the circumcision
among
appeared
called
in
Gentile- Christian.
particularly by Peter
first
and James.
The second
at a
and
later time,
(comp. Gal. 2
8. 9).
in
his
coadjutors,
Barnabas
particularly
Christianity reaches through the whole apostolic age, until at the end of
first century, in the writings of John, it is lost, so to speak, in a third
the
view, which
1
may
Paul. Gal. 2,
lars of the
names John,
But
labors of
John two
was written
in the
ideal.
this relers to
year 56.
We
an earlier time
must distinguish
the pil.
since the
in the life
and
periods, that before and that after his transfer to Paul s sphere of
we
dste during his residence at F.phesus and after the destruction of Jerusalem.
More
over, he
seems
to
first
We
61$
DOCTRINE.]
may
which took up, combined, and completed these two, and had
in
centre
Ephesus.
Christianity naturally addressed itself
of
its
whom
had the
it
first
first
it.
The church
in
s gracious promise,
with
the apostles at
Jerusalem,
its
its faith in
risen
but
wrought
its
in
life
The
of
distinction
lands, or
Hebrews and
Hellenists (Acts 6
sqq.).
It
was brought
spirit, skillful
in
the
who was
its
doom.
converted, as
it
first martyr, in
This first bloody
the idea, for which-he died (Acts 6-8.
Comp.
58).
was
out
the
occasion
of
the
of Judea by the
spreading
gospel
persecution
fugitive Christians,
was
Gentile
Nor
first
firmly established,
is
mission,
it
name
this
620
156.
[V.
OK
26), by which they have since been distinguished as well from Jews tii
About the same time a change, which marks an epoch,
from heathen.
was produced
bul
in the
of Peter,
vision
that the Gentiles need not, as had formerly been thought, become Jews,
before they could have part in the Christian salvation.
Thus they
acknowledged, that the same Holy Ghost, who wrought in them, wrought
the uncircumcised
and with this they gave up the idea of
also in
the absolute nature and design of Judaism, though for their own part,
not in order to justification, but from traditional reverence and for the
cratic
"
only,
2:4),
them from
it.
few disturbers
false
in,"
vance
in Christ
alone.
These bigotr
among
the heathen, and had admitted them into the church without
but
It was fully acknowledged
tian, was not concealed or wiped out.
at the same time the deeper unity, which bound both parties to the same
;
which, while calculated to secure the peace of the church in its present
The Jews it left to
posture, encroached on the rights of neither party.
their national
form of
religion,
law
circumcision
aOCTRIKK.]
difference
and difference
in unity
621
UNITY.
thencefor
Comp. 68 and 69). And so they labored
ward in different spheres and with different gifts, but harmoniously
towards the same great end. For the collision between Paul and Peter
in Antioch sprang not from a conflict of principles, but from a momentary
was merely a passing cloud. The
inconsistency (Gal. 2:11 sqq.), and
ship (Gal. 2
9.
development
All Paul s numerous churches
practice.
others.
But
freedom.
in
it is
He
in
the antagonism
freely
question,
and in
foundation, Christ the only author of salvation
of
kinds
food, observing
subordinate points, such as eating particular
the
common
feasts, etc.,
modation (1
that he might,
love became to the Jews a Jew, to the Greeks a Greek,
was
It
all (1 Cor. 9
only against the "false
19-23).
if
:
possible, gain
brethren"
in
almost
in lifeless
of the circumcision,
his
all
who were
churches, particularly
schism
creating disturbance and
salvation
and
sought
Galatia,
in
in the
ceremonies and mechanical actions instead of living faith
Redeemer, as
also,
sort
of
only against
and rebuke.
occasion in inflexible firmness with refutation, warning,
of most of the
decease
the
at
decade
seventh
the
Thus stood matters in
of
apostles.
exposed
unity,
ism.
The Jewish
were in danger of
Christians, especially in Palestine,
as the Galatiun false teachers and the
carnal
Judaism,
brews
lifted
its
and
in
view of
this
tians,
C22
156.
spiritual licentiousness
its
and
John
day, found
its
BOOK
Jucle,
but espe
Then
necessary to resist as antichrist.
broke the long predicted judgment of God on stiff-necked Judaism.
Jerusalem, and with it the whole temple cultus, was overthrown, and
cially
in his
it
Christian
row legalism
tile
Christians.
Jewish and
At
this third
types of
Christianity,
and
fall into a
compact, organic
survived the leaders of Jewish and Gentile
who
after the
destruction of
Jerusalem combined
in his
This, in brief
logy, as
it lies
development goes hand in hand with the spread of the church, and
some extent also with the shaping of religious life and of the systems
of government and worship.
We have then three leading forms of apostolic doctrine, under which
Its
to
all
tributed
1.
New
dis
Old Testament.
them (Gal.
This
"
2),
"
pillars
is
represented by the
of Jewish Christianity,
the Gentile
Mark and
1
apostle."
Under
this
head
fall
the Gospels of
Matthew and
the representatives of
two
distinct ten
should have four types of apostolic doctrine, which would beautifully cor
respond to the four Gospels, that of James to Matthew, of Peter to Mark, of Paul to
Luke, of John to his own Gospel. We think the triple division best, however, becaus*
dencies,
we
after all
two necessary
DOCTUINE.]
distinction
The GEXTILE-CHRISTIAX theology, or Christianity in its
is the type of doc
This
crcat:on.
a
new
as
viewed
from Judaism, and
2.
3.
son of
it
human mind
in
its
It
is
true, the
all
whole difference
the
in
demand
in
all
the sphere of
we have
seen, in
church.
To
and subjectivity.
ceived and expressed predominantly as go>pel, freedom,
the progress
latter
the
The former represents the conservative element,
ive.
But
as
abso
law and gospel, authority and freedom by no means
aim
ultimate
and
as in their lowest root
each
lutely contradict
other,
so Jewish
progressive
157.
[v.
BOOK
venting stagnation and relapse into religious pupilage and national exclusivcness.
a new proof of
The magical introduction of one fixed, abstract system of ideas into the
heads of the apostles, regardless of their gifts, education, and mission,
would have been unworthy as well of God as of man. Instead of this
eternal Truth becoming flesh, entering into essential con
with
human nature, inwardly and vitally uniting itself with the
junction
we have the
Here
again, therefore,
must we repeat, that in the Bible all is divine and at the same time truly
human, and for this very reason most admirably fitted to meet the deep
est wants of our nature, and to reconcile man with God.
157. (1)
The Jewish- Christian system of doctrine looks upon the New Testa
ment in its closest connection with the Old, as the fulfillment and com
pletion of the old dispensation.
But
ecy,
by the
cultivation of
for the
promised redemption
Hence also the gospel might be set forth
predominantly either in its affinity with the Mosaic law, or in its agree
ment with the prophetic Scriptures. This gives us the two mutually
the first appearing in James,
completive forms !^f Jewish Christianity
;
the prophetic
The
is
Messianic or christological.
work
of Christ
is
is
far less
more anthropo
Hence in James
prominent than
Dr. Corner has the same view of this relation in his Entwicklungsgeschichte der
If James clings more to the lavr,
Lelre von der Person Christi, 2nd ed. I. p. 97
though not to the ceremonial law, but to the eternal moral law embodied in it, whose
"
ideal existence
Christianity above
all
man,
in love
am
Peter sees in
much
in his dis
relation of Peter s
d^-
my
625
LEGAL JEWISH-CHRISTIANITY.
158.
DOCTRINE.]
this,
doctrine and practice, and that Peter, after the conversion of Cornelius,
as his appearance at the apostolic council and his epistles sufficiently
link between James and Paul, between the
forms the
connecting
show,
church of the Jewish, and the church of the Gentile Christians.
two must accordingly be separately considered.
The
95 and 96.)
(Comp.
The sources of our knowledge of this doctrinal type are the epistle of
James to the dispersed Jewish-Christian congregations and his address at
the apostolic council, in connection with what we learn from Acts 21,
Gal. 2, and some later accounts, respecting his position in general in the
apostolic church.
James the Just
removal
we know already
other lands,
to
as a strict legalist,
A. D. 44 (Acts 12
all
who
after Peter s
17), presided
over the
down almost to
mediator between Jews and Christ
Palestinian Christianity,
ians.
ground
above
it
From
this
in
we
Then
of bondage,
On
salvation.
tolic
council in acknowledging
single precept,
With him
11).
ogy of the
New
(]s.
>2)
It is
that of
1
Ja.
James
1
? and to
quite at lar^e.
r
. )
Myoc
u?7?#<"ac,
40
v. 18.
rf;c
Mevtfeptaf,
where v vof
refers to ?.6yof, v
158.
6*26
(a)
LEGAL JEWISH-CHRISTIANITY.
[v. BOOB.
opment of
work
to be the special
of Paul.
is left
God
of the creation (1
much mistaken
of morality
self
am
epistle
beyond
all
doubt.
He
is
contents him
significant
words
"
it."
In harmony with
nence
and often
James,
this,
God
dealings of
to the
men
with
as
promi
Lawgiver and Judge,
and holiness, of which
is
back ground
though it should not here be forgotten, that the epistle is
and
This
short,
presupposes an acquaintance with the Gospel history.
;
consideration
of the
"a
"
;"
both instances mentioning the Saviour with the greatest reverence and
Elsewhere he employs the solemn title
with allusion to his royal dignity.
of honor,
"Lord"
mouth
in the
(5
7,
8,
11, 15),
which
in
Christ
1
atoning death and resurrection are, indeed, passed over in silence, but
iustsad of them his second coming to judgment, which of course presup
poses them,
1
13
Ja. 2
:
8
a
35,
*C.
5
i~>.
Comp.
7,
8).
V. 21
C. 4
is
39.
Jno
12.
5, 17.
13, 17.
11.
13.
ir>.
c. 5 : 11. it is true, thf re/loc Kvyiov ipoken of: but according to the context
would present the LonTsdeath only in its representative aspect, as a model of patience
under suffering. Some commentators refer the words, not to Christ at all, but to the
In
this
issue,
627
159.
DOCTRINE.]
that
view of objective Christianity perfectly corresponds
law
Tin
or
religion.
personal
here presented of subjcclii-e Christianity
ID its
conformed
a
conduct
and
fulfillment,
observance
actual
With
this
requires
Hence James
precepts.
Christianity, and
lifeless
hostility to all
on works, the
intellectual
and nominal
law
is
love, so
fulfilling
lutely Incompatible (4
sqq.
on
is,
Lord
of glory (2
1,
22).
showing
to the threshold of the "holiest of
of the new covenant and
the
narrow
glory
crevice,
them, as through
a desire for the full posses
of the ideal law of liberty, and awakening
exhortation to
on the other, it still comes to us as an earnest
readers, leading
them
all,"
sion
and,
;
as a warning to all who content themselves
holy living, and especially
of Christianity, and seek to
with mere theory and the oral profession
even for
of the law, wholesome and necessary
escape the discipline
as
James is the apostle of the law in its pedagogical import,
bel evers
the Christian
leading to Christ, regulating
life,
earnestness.
Finally
It
must certainly
their soteriology,
especially
the
different joints of view;
system*
beino-
distinct.
quite
Yet
if
are
we shall nd,
the whole mental state of each writer,
taking into account
coincide.
all essential points they ultimately
that
of
in view particularly the relation
have
Paul
and
Both James
thus
and
man
of
;
and to the wants and the moxal destiny
Gospel to the law
while
But
in its anthropological aspect.
both treat of religion mainly
formalism of knowledge without
anto
unproductive
James in opposition
even calls it a
in its union with the law,
works, presents the Gospel
an<l
C.
3-6.
14 sqq.
sqq- 14 sqq.
T.pjov
Comp Matt
rttetov
5:48.
Iva
sqq.
fa
r&etot
a*
WoKA^Oi,
kv
159.
law
BOOR
[v.
letter,
5:1).
which
They
"
killeth
"
(2 Cor.
plainly differ,
3:6)
therefore
Paul, on the other hand, gives no countenance whatever to antinomianHe too speaks of a "law of faith" (Rom. 3 27), a "law of
Christ" (Gal. 6
2), and a "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,"
which makes us free from the "law of sin and death"
thus
ism.
(Rom. 8:2)
approaching from another point of view the same ideal conception of law.
In the same way may be solved the
apparent contradiction between
their respective views of subjective
This conflict, it is well
Christianity.
known, is most violent in the doctrine of justification, as well in the pro
position, as in the argument and the application of the examples of
Abraham 3 and Rahab. 3 We cannot, indeed,
consistently with any un
prejudiced view, compose the difference by considering both apostles as
1
Here
no faith at
all,
Thou
"
believest
"
"
"
on
justification, to
exclude
all
to
(1:5
sqq.
even in the
state
So he acknowledges the
15).
of
grace,
including
himself
prayer
imperfection of man
in
the universal
sin-
fulness
however good
but derives it from the
regenerat
from
the
freewill of God (1
Gospel,
17, 18, 21.
last resort is the mercy of the Lord
(5
11), the Givei
;
and
his
24
21 sqq.
2:5);
1
Ja. 2
28
Ja. 2
Ja.
2:
25.
Rom
Heb.
1.
n.
sqq.
Gal. 3
6.
Com p. Horn
160.
DOCTRINE.]
PROPHETIC JEWISH-CHKIST1ANITY.
(J)
gift,
part,
13 : 1 sq.) ;
a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal (1 Cor.
gonists, vain,
he most
unmerited
grace,
salvation
for
zeal
free,
by
and with all his
of faith.
-.
relation,
ference as their
agreement-may be
thus stated
centre to circumference,
from principle to phenomenon, from
s view is un 4 uest
Paul
fruit.
the
and
blossom
from the root to the
and more fundamental than the other,
ably deeper more philosophical,
method of James
and very far in advance of it yet the empirical
It
may even serve as a
its
necessity.
practical
has its proper office and
the latter by abuse becomes indif
corrective to Paul s view, wherever
outward
als<
ortho
into unproductive theoretical
ent to works, and degenerates either
forms
antinomianism-two diseased
doxy or into licentious practical
than once arisen from an nnperfect
more
fact
in
have
Christianity which
On all pseudofaith.
of
doctrine
s
justification by
understanding of Paul
<
or
(b) Prophetic Jewish-Christianity,
Peter.
The
doctrine of Peter
his
two
(Comp.
we gather from
circular letters
the
Doctrinal
System oj
89-94J
his discourses in the
book of
epistles are
all,
Jews
(530
160.
(J)
PROPHETIC JEWISH-CHRISTIANITY,
BOOR
V.
not by the law, but by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
(Acts 15
In his subsequent labors, too, he did not confine
10, 11).
himself, like
James, to
his
for Gentiles
which he wrote
his epistles,
ward
therefore, as well
position,
also
Minor, to
In his out
s
planting.
as in his views, he
holds, as already
is the
truth, that
the promised Messiah, and
Christianity a fulfillment
of Old Testament
This is necessarily the
prophecy.
primary form of
Jesus of Nazareth
is
The first thing w?s to convince the Jews, who were look
christology.
ing for salvation in the Messiah, that all the prophecies of the Old Tes
tament were fulfilled in the crucified and risen
Jesus, and that in
Him,
This
is
the bur
whereby
"
"
with
power"
ever, in
prevailing
in
the profound
19-21), accord
ing to which the same Spirit of Christ, which afterwards appeared as a
person, was already in the prophets, operating in them from the begin
ning as the principle of revelation, pointing to the future historical
manifestation of the Saviour
the all-controlling principle, which Judaism
:
had to serve
1
I5:7sqq.
I
in
Comp. Acts 2
1
Pet.
18 sqq.
HaZf
&->{;,
Acts
:i
13 26
New
Is.
else in th
Com/
OK,
DOCTRINE]
Petei
Testament in the gospel, however.
This fulfillment of the Old
rath
but
the
of
Lord,
the first appearance
regards not as finished with
calls Christianity a law,
of a si
the
precious earnest
a promise or prophecy,
view.
his
of
element
This is an essential
more
it
As James
s<
glorious future.
Acts 3
-a
n/
closes
exhortation.
and with an appropriate
perfect accordance
Peter represents the Christian
It
in
is
that
with this conception of the gospel
life,
in
as penitent
place, indeed,
time
Saviour/ but at the same
the
first
the only
the revealed Messiah,
consummareturn of the Lord, and the
as lively hope for the glorious
fM
in
m*.
com,,
n^a
"
M.!
,
interpreting
lllh eran
"It
Pe
co Lentators
of
the
-Whom
words 6, to ofipovto
1.
^<",
o, the subject
mak.ng
mus t receive quern
correct, in
the heave,,
&
19
i,
Acts 3
Who
21,
think the
as the Greek
oportet coelocapi,
it is given ,n the
Fngln*
and as
161.
t>32
tion
of salvation
tion
for the
title
thereby
to be
"strangers
accomplished.
and
in
pilgrims"
TV.
Hence
his
predileo
addressing Christians
in
1
3), is a foretaste of the future
inheritance, and for this very reasoii
consoles and refreshes amidst the trials of
the earthly
pilgrimage, Petei
has been called, not
improperly, the apostle of hope.*
:
is
Messiah and
painful,
among
161. Matthew,
New
apostles.
this
might
here,
as
agreeing
in its
Matthew
*
8
Pet.
Pet.
By Beck,
3, 13,
1, 2.
for
2 Pet.
3:9-13.
19.
christlichen
Lehre
245.
*
Cor.
15
12.
Col.
Tit-
1:2.
13.
5, 23.
Cor. 9
3:3,4.
13.
7.
10.
1
13
Thess.
13.
1
2 Tim. 4
161
DOCTRINE.]
liarities.
633
which he pre
fu-filler
5-7),
also furnish a
James
to the doctrine of
complement
in
a Christological
standing phrase
thus to give his
siah
might
Jewish readers proof that Jesus was the promised Mes
;"
But
at the
same time
he, like
coming
Comp.
(c.
1 and
he refers at the very outset to Mai. 3
their
to
heathen descent, and with a view
:
emphatically
and his works of
accredited himself as such by his very appearance
It is for this reason, that Mark gives the gospel
supernatural power.
dramatic form, setting it before the eyes of his
history such a vivacious,
In general, the
readers in a series of detached and complete pictures.
to the historical, Messianic aspect of
first two evangelists are confined
the eternal, divine ground
the Redeemer
though they touch at times
the Johannean Christ
introduce
to
serve
thus
and
His
work of
person,
their existence (comp.
time
same
the
at
presupposes
ology, which
:
"l),
1^8).
short, but earnest
The
superscription
its affinity
contents, however,
it
and
to
comes
forcible epistle of
James both
still
in
matter and
form.
in
m
In
it
its
it
92).
implies (comp.
con,
of the epistle of Jarres to the Gospel of Matthew,
Respecting the relation
are
the
where
given
the
on
parallels
former,
Theile s Commentary
pare, for example,
1
at large.
E.
2fl
56.
g. 1
27
23.
9.
6, 15, 18.
3:3.
14.
17.
12
17.
13
35.
21
162.
?.?.4-
(2)
fv.
OOK
niakes use of the Jewish tradition in his allusion to the dispute between
body of Moses
The
authority.
it
(v.
general or conceding to
in
(v. 9),
is
it
canonical
(v.
21, 25).
Jude
also, like
judgment, which
in
will
"
lypse, to which,
by
its
Gentile- Christian
(Comp.
it
62-88).
From
true, to the
Christ
is,
life
came
so abruptly
birth
regular, bigoted Pharisee, in doctrine and sentiment (though by
a Hellenist), a fanatical zealot for the law of his fathers, the most dan
nve
p.
Comp.
in them by
Slier
Dcr Brief
Jud<i,
81 sqq.
8
As Origen
says of
it,
f Kat diuKTijf
nal
iifipioTTjf,
Tim.
13.
all
Herrn (1850),
p.
51 sqq. and
DOCTRINE.
IN PAUL.
I
excellency
7
13-25).
his life, centres in the great antithe*
Accordingly Paul s doctrine, like
and the supply of snlcation in
Christ
sis of the want of salvfitifM before
he reign of sin
Christ
of
out
is, with him,
Before Christ and
Christ.
and
of
the
in
and
righteousness
reign
Christ,
after Christ
and death
here the lifeletter
the
sees
he
There
killing
12 sqq.).
life (Horn. 5
here, freedom and blessed
There, bondage and curse
giving Spirit.
flesh and spirit and a cry
between
a
:
powerless struggle
here, no condemnation,
There,
sonship.
for
redemption
but
wisdom,
righteousness.
of Christianity
as Paul insists, however, on the absolute newness
but also above
above
Heathenism,
not
only
its infinite elevation,
Much
and
and magical.
gives
it,
man
the natural
school-master
which forms
rio-hteousnos,
7:6.
Rom. 8:2
Gal. 5:1.
Rom.
Rom.
Rom.
Rom.
2 Cor. 3: 6 sqq.
3
3 sqq.
10 sqq.
2 Cor. 3
17
14, 14.
7 sqq., 24.
1
sqq.
19.
;2.
Cor.
Acts 17
3-21.
30.
23. 28
Tit.
2.
and Rcun. 2
2 Cor. 1:20.
636
162.
(2)
and with
more
closely this
The notion
it
We
important conception.
just
of righteousness
For
with true
The
rule
very reason
this
with salvation,
life,
and measure of
this relation
is
inseparably connected
is
it
as
felicity,
its
necessary consequence.*
the will or judgment of God
p"
miserable (Gal. 3
The Saviour
10).
man
also, in his
"
(Matt. 6
righteousness
But he here
33).
"
distinguishes
righteousness shall
two kinds of
Except your
and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the king
The Pharisaic righteousness stands in
20).
(Matt. 5
dom
of
letter
heaven"
The Swiss
the Christian, in
divine, Usteri, to
pass
(1)
spirit.
it
The one
whom we owe
is
the
self-righteousness
first
two
the other,
(2)
com
Christianity;
conception.
whole view
of
Paul
and diKaioavvi)
system, Apost. Gesc/i. II. p. 656, where he says: "The ideas of vo/zoc
The idea of
however,
connect, as well as divide, his earlier and later views."
i>6/zof,
seems
to
me
main
Jewish po
sition.
Comp. Lev. 18
This too
is
Ja.
5.
25.
(<Jif
),
twofold, in
"
two
parts
so that tiiKaiavvj)
would
be the well-proportioned relation between two parts, where each has its dug. It may
then be applied as well to the relation of a man to God, as to his relation toother men.
or even to both at once
his obligations to
tue
.
contained
is
.
;"
kv dinaioavvTj
ovTC/.rifidriv
is
frequently one,
who
fulfills
It
IN PAUL.
DOCTRINE.]
gift
(Lu. 18
ner"
It
is
U).
13,
this distinction,
precisely
hie
and which separates the two great periods of
mac
that
conversion he was with the Jews in the view,
analysis of doctrine,
Before his
life.
can actually
fulfill
Hence
may
justly
ness of faith.
of righteousness
Paul accordingly distinguishes two kinds
own
righteousness,
9
ness of works,
which man
after,
his
by
ground of
The
this
God and
before
is
this
establish
7
12, 14) -but
good, holy, spiritual (Rom.
be regenerated and reneu
must
which
carnal
his
nature,
man, in
the grace of God, before it can perform anything truly good,
which comes
i. e. the
righteousness
righteousness of God or from God,
of
faith, i. e.
or the righteousness
from God and is acceptable to him
the
as
only and allfrom faith in Christ,
the righteousness which springs
:
is
the corruption of
in
sufficient
is
vitally
apprehended by
and
all boasting
acter, necessarily excludes
(Rom. 3
1
Gal.
3.
\6ia tiiKdLoavi n,
AaiOffi v?
4
Rom
1$
3 :20.
Phil. 3
13 sq.
Rom.
10
Phil. 3
3.
LaLoav^s
1
17.
OiK
b.
God
aloue
9.
10:5.
3:2.
ipyuv vouov, Rom.
16, 21.
Gal. 2
the glory to
4 sq.
Gal. 5
4
:
5.
or IK
Phil. 3
f,
21.
/card ^uptv,
or
<5m
Rom. 1:17.
wwf X
10:3.
3:21,22-
P TTO,
Rom.
9.
Gal. 2
.A^Wte.*,Gd.S:ll.
C
yields
27).
Acts 22
faith,
top*
iv,
Rom
2 24
,
30-
10
635
162.
The
(2)
man comes
BOOK
[v.
count for
to
evidently found
appropriated."
fication itself
justi
is
God, in which he
from the curse of the
in other words,
the
sins, pardon
(2) positive,
imputation and actual
communication of the righteousness of Christ to the peuiteut,
believiug
the forgiveness of
10
sinner.
the part of
since,
T% 6iKaioavvT/e, diKaiovv
bmaiucrir, Zoyiafibf
Rom. 2:13.
18.
3:11.
Gal.
20.
(pitjs;-|)>
etc.
K a
ing to its etymology, to make righteous, like the Latin (which, by the way, does not
occur in the profane authors)
jiistificare=jiistum facere (comp calefacere. frigefacere,
vivificarp, etc.).
For
declension, signify
all
to
Greek verbs
make
in
a person or thing
Now
xoietv.
Thus
denotes.
tirjAoiiv,
this
to
pi-rj^-,-;
pri
pronounce righteous,
and the Greek diKai-
4.
Tim. 3: 16
37.
Cor. 4
we must
Matt. 11
But
4.
19.
we would
if
Lu. 10
16:
29.
not involve
God
in
empty
judgment of God; in other words, that God actually makes the penitent sinner
righteous in imputing and imparting to him the righteousness of Christ, renewing him
to the
by the Holy Ghost, and placing him by taith in holy vital communion with Christ.
1
Rom. 3 20. Gal. 3:11. 1 Cor. 4:4. 2 Tim. 4 8.
:
1
4
Col. X
Jno. 2
Tit.
Rom.
B
*A0e<r<c
Comp
14.
Rom. 3:
*
1
19.
:
1.
14.
:
17.
Jno. 5
45.
6
Rom. 2 J5
Comp. Heb. 7 25 sqq. 9 24.
Comp. Matt. 20 28. Mk. 10 45.
:
21.
Phil. 3
9.
10
Rom. 4
3, 6, 7, 11,
24.
6, 7.
30.
Comp. Lu. 18
Gal. 3
6.
13,
14
IN PAtL.
DOCTRIMJ.l
renouncing
all
merit of
its
own,
it
of God
lays vital hold on the grace
the
faith
into itself.
By
man
is
Christ,
and wrought
1
An antinouiian disjunction of
love and good works.
inseparable from
is a radi
of
as
also
its
faith from
justification from sanctification,
fruits,
cal
which he himself
doctrine,
horror.
repelled with
between false self-righteousness,
this
In
comprehensive moral contrast
and
which works death, and the true righteousness of God, which is life
It may, therefore, be best pre
centres.
whole
s
Paul
system
salvation,
The first or negative part treats of the want of
sented in two sections.
This is
the condition of man before and out of Christ.
or
righteousness,
Adam, or the reign of sin and
of the
the reign
first,
natural, earthly
The
larger, positive
religion of liberty
ness as offered in
This plan
is
Gentile apostle,
ical
and systematic
duction, he
to
epistle, that
the
Romans.
by saying, that
first
"it
is
to the
believeth
the power of God unto salvation to every one that
of
God
the
For therein is
righteousness
and also to the Gn-<-k.
Jew
;
first,
as
is
it
The
written,
faith
just shall live by
(Rom.
10, IT;.
This
is
worthy
Gal. 2: 20.
Comp.
Cor. 6
15, 17.
2 Cor. 3
8:3,4.
a
*
and salvation
life
16.
sqq.
18.
Eph. 3
17.
5:30.
Ccl
640
163.
WRITINGS OF LUKE
[v.
BOOK
gives the most troubled conscience peace, and must necessarily reveal it
self in a holy devoted walk of love and gratitude for the grace received.
What the apostle of the Gentiles says of himself with primary reference
no doubt to the missionary work
labored more abundantly thau
yet not I, but the grace of God which wa. vith me" (1 Cor.
they all
15
10), is true also in regard to the investigation and development of
the Christian doctrine of faith and morals.
No other apostle has given
:
"I
us so profound
sin
grace, of the law and the Gospel, of the eternal conception and the
and
tem
Paul has crowded together more genuine spirit, profound thought and
true wisdom, than are to be found in the whole mass of the classical or
even of the post-apostolical Christian literature.
He, who does not see
and
an
of
the
in this
divinity
incomparable glory of
overwhelming proof
his
head
in the wrong place.
must
have
either
his
heart
or
Christianity,
it is
ment of
literature,
from
The,
Romans
New
Hebrew*.
the Pauline type of doctrine, are the third Gospel, the Acts of the
Apostles, and the Epistle to the Hebrews.
That Luke wrote under the influence of Paul, whom he followed as a
5
faithful disciple
Comp.
80 above.
We now
volume of
his Geschichte
fidelity
and ob-
by
Usteri. Dahne,
Neander
and Baur
(in
the second
(in his
work
o:
Paul, p. 505-670).
J
opinion.
1
Einleitung tn
JV.
T.
fathers,
Part
I.
<
were of
60 and 61.
thi!
DOCTRINE.j
jectivity of the
books
many
Jewish-Christian
is to be
a supposition.
elements, contradict such
s selechon
author
their
in
and
in the general object of the books,
su.ti
in the first two Gospels, best
several traits and incidents not given
ana
Gentile
the
of
views
apostle,
the free evangelical and universal
basis for his system of doctrine.
formin" the historical
Paul
influence
<
prodi-al
of Heathenism in contrast
house, presents a most graphic picture
the parabl
vith Judaism represented by the elder brother (15 11-32)
sets forth Paul s
so
which
unequivocally
of the Pharisee and publican,
father
to Pharisaical self-righteousness
doctrine of justification in opposition
for
s predilection, in general,
Luke
17
also
10)
9-14
comp.
:
(18
but
towards
gross,
of the Saviour
depu tin- the condescending mercy
23
2-10.
40-43)
19
36-50.
sinners
anxious
(7
penitent and
of
s account of the institution
Luke
between
finally the close agreement
of Paul
19-20) and the statement
the Lord s supper (22
:
11
23-25).
to
and author of the anonymous epistle
The book might be compared
veil.
t
Over the
origin
to
For, like
life."
ciple of
the apostles
highly
10)
all
as
Luke, however. ? oes further and seeks,
nations
torn
it
to
wherefore he traces His pedigree up
see Credner,
1.
c. p.
41
own
Notes on Matt.
were, to
make
1.
Christ
Wcrte, VII.
common
So already Chryso,
Adam," etc.
143.
uuti.
(in his
people
II. p.
46
The twelve
Redeemer
of the
wor
163
WRITINGS OF LUKK,
[?.
BOOK
to Paul, but
epistle
the editing of
one
to
or
it,
of
his
its
generally
disciples,
Luke or*
On
Paul
to
that one can scarcely help attributing to the apostle of the Gentiles at
sides,
impossible, to decide.
On
this
that
At
whole matter we
all
it
is
difficult, if
extremely
events, thus
much
is
not absolutely
uncommonly thorough
investi
Wieseler
in the
Appendix
479
-520,
with whom, however, \ve cannot agree at all in supposing the readers of the ej istle to
have been Alexandrian Jews. It was no doubt mainly addressed to the Jewish-Chris
tians in Palestine, as the
Even
the
modern
scholars,
who
advocate the Pauline origin of the epistle, cannot deny the differences above
glanced at, and find it necessary, therefore, somehow to modify their view. Thus
Hug,
in
form
to
nabas
ms
.iV.
Luke; Thiersch regards the epistle as the joint production of Paul and Bar
(Z>
epist.
ad Hebraeos commentatio
"
Zeitschrift,"
historica,
main
ideas,
(in Ruclt-i-
"
Evang Review,"
and Luke wrought
sqq.
of Barnabas,
J5ut
then
which
we
falls far
1.
c. p.
shall unavoidably
below that
have
to the
DOCTRINE.]
C-13
9),
Italy,
in
A. D.
of
63, during the imprisonment
Paul
in
Rome.
strate
the infinite
to
demon
as the
angels, as well
discernible
new covenant
established
Him
all
by
whom
of relapse
addressed, of the danger, in their depressed situation,
them to
incite
26 sqq.), and to
10
4 sqq.
into Judaism (comp. 6
the Old
from
drawn
The arguments, however, are mostly
perseverance.
shadow
and
Testament itself, which is to the writer a significant symbol
it
is
of
in
all
its
Paul
in oratorical
1-3)
Hebrew
making Paul, indeed, the author of the supposed
Greek translator, and thus accounting for the resemblance of
no trace is to
between the Acts and the epistle to the Hebrews. As, however,
(in
original, but
style
Luke
the
lust
M well be
the
New
Hebrew
Luke,
Testament, and more nearly related to Paul.
rtiv knovpaviuv, B :*
2/au TUV pelfavTuv d-/aduv, 10 1; vTrooety^a /cat OKid
TUV uty&ivuv, 9 24 irapaJoty elf TOV Kaipdv TOV eveaTtf/cora, 9:9
13.
/cat yj/paa/cov i-yyvc d^avinfiov, 8
Aa a
:
ivriruira
"
original,
T-ahaiovpfvov
164
644
(3)
[V.
BOOK
unbelieving Jews, and with the most earnest and iinprossive exhorta
tions to steadfastness in the Christian faith.
For the more valuable the
blessings of the
are
its
New
Covenant
in
fully rejecting
it.
Like Paul,
this
"
great
so
much
in opposition to the
regard to sub
but sets this forth no;
unknown," in
in its
pro
spective reference, as laying hold on the future and invisible, and thuji
This
intimately connected with hope and perseverance under suffering.
observable particularly in the masterly sketches of the Old Testament
is
therefore,
eye chiefly upon the relation of the gospel to the law, the epistle to the
P2brews has reference more to the system of wonhip, and gives us an
it
it
were the
is
but a
164. (3)
The.
Ideal
disciple
is
99-108,
(Comp.
became
himself, as
He
it
Repos
were,
He
the stages of
its
cradle through
all
among
fi4"
IN JOHN.
DOCTRINE.]
He
penetrated
New
the
of
doctrinal system of this prophet
the
of
kingdom o
the consummation
The
Testament anticipates
down to the new heavens and
struggles and triumphs,
island
was enabled to behold from that lone
his
God whose
new earth,
eagle eye
rock between Asia and Europe
Hence
his
to
frequent reference
Hence
also
v,
that
tories
sabbath-like repose
fection, of the eternal,
his Revelation.
inward revolutions
Paul, through mighty
and views unfo
and stru-les of conscience. His religious experience
under the
the
Redeemer,
with
intercourse
themselves quietly in personal
with him all
Hence
God-man.
the
of
mild rays of the humble glory
of the Saviour, and his whole
radiates from the adoring contemplation
to end Christological in d
faith and morals is from beginning
to pass, like
Bvstein of
Action from
mainly
Messianic
Old Testament economy, his official
the Jewish nation and the
John on
his
of
theme
preaching
the
these
great
character, and makes
of Christ, and goes back t(
fixes his
upon the person
;
eye
of all
as it were, the primal essence
Godhead, which forms,
as
He opens both his Gospel and his first epistle
in
th. C ltrary,
his eternal
history.
revelation
is
is
at the
the fountain of
all
principle
light and
and medium of
life
in
all
in the physical
outward revelation,
and mora universe
Then
in
for
tion
incarnate
the
as
God-man
>Jno.
when-
17
(cornp. Jno.
16:33.
that
"he
Uno.
13.
overcometh"
5).
John
5:4,5.
occurs seven
theref
point of departure,
times, and
:^.. nt
apocalyptic ep.stl*
21
11.
:
new
ew
earth,
5-8.
the
mil
descnpUon
of Christ in the
new heave
song
4
,re,
begmmng
of
3
tl
21.
BOOK
[v.
the divine
to
According
Ike incarnation
sdf-manifestation of
Word for
the.
life,
(Jno.
us"
14).
He ex
Word
world.
the.
of
briefly in
flesh
the
therefore,
of the eternal
most
presses this
was made
John,
the perfect
is
Christianity
"The
in the
"Word,"
the
necessary and
ward thinking)
"
flesh,"
1
that
Jno. 5
10-13, 20.
The Greek
as oratio,
is,
Aoyoc,
We
in
cannot at
s
20
3.
all
much
as
but
it
in the
who
soul,
31.
well
it is
latter sense.
Comp. Jno. 17
connection can be
dria.
John
distinction of
Wisdom (Job 28
Wisdom
22-c.
LXX. commonly
comp. Sirach 43
9)
12 sqq.
Prov.
8 and
c.
translated
(ir/fia,
which makes
9.
Sirach
God
(,-prn
c.
and 24
"Q~>
6.
by the
107
20
God; and
finally,
Jno.
3.
26),
its
Comp.
Co).
27.
1:16.
Jno. 3
1
31.
Cor. 8
8
6.
58.
Heb.
17
1
5, etc,)
2.
and
it
spirit,
his tent,
647
IN JOHN.
DOCfRINK.]
This
God.
tabernacled,
among
without
Word
us
sin,
to
redeem
"
also
dwelt,"
it
and reconcile
or literally
"pitched
in
;"
the abi
alludes to the Old Testament Shckinah (comp. tear****),
in the tabernacle, a faint
of God over the ark of the covenant
the -lory
tabernacle
abode of the Only Begotten in the
ty P e of the eternal
This central idea of
human nature, full of glory, grace, and truth.
not simply a speculative truth, b
incarnation is with John, of course,
He looks upon the sending of the
the deepest practical import.
act of /*, or of Gods free
the world as at the same time the highest
o<
creature.
to the reasonable, susceptible
imputation of himself
"God
words:
the inmost nature of God in the
i
expressed
Jno 4 8
God
of
"In
this
was manifested
Son
into the
through Him."
consis
this
with
view,
subjective Christianity
In accordance
thankful
the
reciprocal
in Christ, or
Wl ,h
rttal union of the bdiecer
This is stated in the form
Redeemer.
the
towards
redeemed
the
hve of
Let us love him, because he hath
of an exhortation to a moral duty
not
This forms the highest expression,
4
19).
first loved us" (1 Jno.
and
inmost
the
perbut also of social religion
only of individual piety,
seldom mentioned by name
of the church, wlik-h
live
world, that \ve might
GW
"
"s
essence
manent
as
in substance very frequently appears
10;, hut
John (3 Jno. 6,
Rethe
ami
redeemed
the
love between
organic communion of life and
<J,
objective
to love one
another"
4
(1 Jno.
II).
in love.
with this apostle all centres ultimately
easy to see, that
it entered his
and
and
faith
morals,
of
This is the life-blood of his system
In fact that holy
the Redeemer himself.
of
bosom
the
from
soul
own
the ueepest
reveals
and
of
heart
God,
name most aptly describes the
is the act of love,
creation
The
meanin- of all His works and ways.
The law and promise
for its future manifestations.
layino- ?he foundation
The in
to Christ.
men
draw
would
which
are the revelation of a love,
love in
of
redeeming
manifestation
carnation is the personal
of Paul, Rom- 8: 3, that God seal
is the expression
1 o precisely the same purport
It
hi.
is
Son
"in
the
//**
of sinlul
flesh,"
iv
impart
aa ?Kof
2
^
annean
Thelhannean
s
system
o exhaustion and
full
satisfaction,
L**^
aTX ^nn^,e und
des
(Der Lehrbegriff
Evan ?
more
at large.though
I"P*
by no
874-914
874-914,
s schoo,
Baur
of
and
Kwt.in,
39),
Gnch.
by Neander (Jpo,t.
Berlin, IS
II. p.
.
64
161.
(3)
man
the
is
sum
of
all
all
Is
Does
it
not
lie
[v.
30O1
God
and
at the bottom oi
it
unity
of union
it
because, being
while
never ceases
tongues and prophecy fail, faith is exchanged for sight, and hope for
In John, the apostle of incarnation and love, this virtue meets
fruition.
as in his life, from the time he
as in the deepest and tenderest form
;
bosom
lay on Jesus
first
draw
of
life
is
to
the
lift
veil
John
theology
logical precision
grand outlines, in few but colossal ideas and antitheses, such as light
and darkness, truth and falsehood, spirit and flesh, love and hatred, life
in
and death, Christ and Antichrist, children of God and children of the
But John usually leaves us to imagine far more than his words
world.
an infinity lying behind, which we can better appre
than grasp and fully measure with the understanding.
especially does he connect everything with that idea of a thean-
directly express
hend by
And
faith,
holiest,
of
it is
to
its
principle
all,
simplicity,
and
is
an anticipation, as
it
into
-pistle of
in his practical
5:1)
Commentary on
tbfl
our
first
165.
DOCTSU?*.]
CHAPTER
649
III.
HERETICAL TENDENCIES
105. Idea
in
though
all
divinely
powers of darkness were leagued against Him, who had come to destroy
One side of an antagonism always calls out the
the works of the devil.
Wherever
other.
tares,
and
"where
God
side."
spirit of falsehood
(Matt. 18
laments the divisions
cometh"
come
7,
Of course
comp. Lu. 17
in the
evil,
"
man by whom
its
by
busier
the
is
It must
the offense
So Paul, much as
1).
he.
this necessity
"that
19).
spirit,
one sows
is
may be made
not absolute
manifest"
(1
Cor. 11
It
is
it is
the reward
of the preceding
165.
G,VJ
[V
<
OA
Sin and error generally go together, though in particular cases there are
errors not immediately the result of sin, just as there are innocent suffer
ings and undeserved misfortunes.
Error
theoretical sin
is
sin
is
is
practi
then party,
choice,
It
sect.
is
commonly used in the bad sense, implying willfulness on the side of the
individual, a spirit of arrogant innovation and party zeal in deviating
from public opinion and historical tradition. Ecclesiastical usage has
gradually limited it to the sphere of theory, to doctrine, so that heresy
has come to mean a willful corruption of the truth, an erroneous view
either of Christianity as a whole or
it
of a single
Near akin
dogma.
to
is
at least
easily leads to
it
far,
Of course
this.
in
diliou, there
Much
sect.
heterodoxy and
Roman Catho-
that
In the N.
term heresy,
F. the
among
Of trie
some bad
sense.
who were
and
It is used, (1)
the
17),
in various connections
harisees (15
5.
26
5)
(2)
for a long
"
i>iui>
Gal. 5
Elvai.
divisions
Cor.
(1
In the
20).
11
10.
12
18
Comp.
There
is
the
duvvfiof,
3.
same reference
Tim. 6
Thus the
new
Of
2:1:
is,
Tit.
to heretical
Tit 1:9.
2 Cor.
11
Tim. 1:3.
(4)
(in antithesis
tyEvticnTuaTo koi,
irepoditiaaKafalv,
"
20
4:3.
Tim. 1:13.
Tim. 6:3);
25).
truth (2 Pet.
o^/o/tora,
1.
also called
13;
fj
/car
Tim.
10.
ijjev-
evaEfciav di(5aavca/Ua,
^ev6o6ii5uaKa7ioi.,
Pet.
2:1; and
6:3.
were
heretics
Roman
tians,
church
where
By
is
seclarianis-m
is
so fully developed.
new church on
Many
consider
it
DOCTRINE.]
1C5.
aud vice
Yet
versa.
demned by
051
Heresies, like
make
spring from
sin, all
the natural
man
suppose
its
as
existence,
the
fall
Adam
of
a previous state
implies
life
of the church.
They
consist essen
compensated
second
so must
;
all evil,
Adam
all
and
in a certain sense
owes
form.
is
logical completeness
and scien
is
is
grounded
in
the nature of the case (the original always going before the adulteration or caricature),
and was clearly brought out already by Tertullian in many passages. Thus he says.
Sed enim in omnibus veritas iinaginem antecedit, post rem
De praescr. haer. c. 29
li
succedit."
this
principle
is
Das nachapostolische
Dr. Schwegler, entitled:
Christianity of the church a product of Kbionism in
"
Zeitalter,"
its
conflict
romance of
into the
Ich bin ein Theil des Theils, der Anfangs Alles war,
Ein Theil der Finsterniss, die sich das Licht gebar,
Das stolze Licht, das nun der Mutter Nacht
ii
th
thi
652
166.
CLASSIFICATION
in
by which the
[v.
BOOR
Christian
knowledge. They
church to defend her views of truth, and to set them forth in complete,
scientific form.
166.
The proper
Classification
the Heresies.
is
suggested by
for the former
bound together
in love,
and
we
so
distinguish
two leading
heretical
the
Judaizing* and
legalistic
separated completely from the catholic church under the name of EbionThe second is the heretical or ultra- and pseudo-Pauline Gentile
ism.
Christianity,
which
among
in
fully
in a suc
themselves,
according to the nature and extent of the heathen element and its rela
tion to the two other religions.
As, however, there arose combinations
of Jewish and pagan ideas, particularly in the sect of the Essenes and
so might these two opposite
under
the Christian name and
way
This syncretistic heresy, which forms in
Philo,"
Comp. above,
reconciliation of Jewish
156.
The
The others
its purity, as a divine revelation leading to Christ.
human
and
of
the
Jewish
combination
include
idea
ot
an
the
degenerate
impure
always
Comp. also Schliemaun : Die Clementine*, etc., p. 371
principle with the Christian.
and refers to Judaism in
sq.
*
Note.
Comp. above.
50 and 51.
OOCTRINB.J
OF THE HKKESiES.
in
John
C53
doctrinal system,
may be
called, ac
or Judaizing Gnosticism.
of this
mixed
in
the
Judaism
New
Testa
sort.
The
flesh.
error
first
antichristian falsehood
reached
its
height
in
when he
appearance of the
Son of God
and human
(1 Jno
its
in Christ,
and hence
calls
it "antichrist"
He
22.
2 Jno. 7).
1-3.
merely
Messiah (in the baptism
human
nature, (3)
by holding a
common Jew,
Jesus, with
the heavenly
denying
union of
in
his
two (at the beginning of the passion). In the first case the heresy
Ebionism in the second, proper Docetism and heathen Gnosticism
;
we have what
is
in
is
In
all,
God-man
not the
is
in
the
full
is
undermined.
For
if
Christ
is
<
>ur
He
hope
is
Christ
tion
is
The
?"
654
107.
JUDAISTIC HEKESIES.
{v. BVIJC
tendency of
bud
human depravity it
influence of
for the
morning
association with
the
with Jewish
it
itself particularly in
tiles
it is
Gen
continually re-appearing, as
To
this
heathen
day man
;
is
in his
we
and
frivolous (theoretically
or
skeptical
The
heathen world.
first
in the
New
branches.
reanism, too
little
ism
we
find in the
"
Comp- above,
We may
if legal
in the
Paul
even
Comp. above,
of thinking corresponding
as from gross
soil.
47.
Judaism
are found, as
3
Yet a way
misconception of
1
church
is
49.
DOCTRINE.]
655
We take
ferred
in
Christianity
it trans
respect to outward forms and usages,
adhering particularly to the principle, which
cision
Of
Jew.
of Christianity,
never dreamed
it
narrow
lines
life,
come out always with the same boldness, and particularly after
apostolic council some of them, at least in the Greek churches,
changed their tactics. But even where they showed themselves some
did not
the
what
LVyeral,
they
still
asserted
the
superiority
of the
circumcised
2:11
sqq.),
As
all
by themselves), so these
errorists, to
gain
tiic stricter
the greater acceptance, referred to the Jewish apostles,
the
more
moderate
to
2
(Gal.
:12
to
James
.,
Cephas, who had
party
But of course
been placed in so !,igh a position by the Lord himself.
to
such
use
of
these
in fact in the
make
who
had
no
light
apostles,
they
the
refused
to
Gentile-Christians
the
burden
of the
50
put upon
year
ceremonial law, owned them as brethren without their being circumcised,
and fully agreed with Pan! in the maxim, that no human work, but only
1
the grace of Jesus Christ and living faith in him can save.
Another characteristic of the Pharisaic Judaizers was an inexorable
hatred of Paul.
as a
legitimate apostle at
all,
Acts
15.
Gal.
2.
Pet 5
12
9,
Pet 3
15
jrDAiSTic HERESIES.
167.
(556
Jews from
of the
and
BOOK
Christianity.
in
[v.
in
success, particularly
the
Galatian
The epistles to
under suspicion, and in every way to embitter his life.
the Galatians and Romans, and the two, especially the second, to the
Corinthians, cannot be at
all
malicious machinations.
These Judaistic
errorists, or
"false,
in"
2:4),
(Gal.
ren
"
the traditional forms of the Mosaic religion, yet at the same time refer
red all salvation to Christ, and recognized the free Gentile-Christians as
19,
14 and 15,
and
conduct during
his
his last
visit in
and pupilary
religion
spread division everywhere in his churches, espe
2
Galatia and Corinth, and even in Philippi
and in all this
sought their own glory far more than Christ s. To this great contro
versy of the Gentile apostle with the Pharasaic Judaizers we owe the
cially in
The
tiles,
and condemned
all
to the skies.
Judaism
at Jerusalem from love to a daughter of the high priest, but apostatized again
consequence of disappointment in the desired marriage, and out of spite wrote
The Pseudoclementine Homilies (comp. par
against circumcision and the Sabbath.
in
ticularly
Horn XVII.
c.
19 with Gal. 2
9-11)
figure
of
The anti-Jewish
Gnostics, on the contrary, hated the elder Jewish apostles, condemned their writings,
and appealed all the more zealously to Paul, whom, however, they of course com
Simon Magus,
a seducer,
as
all
heretics.
pletely caricatured.
2
That the Judaizers gained foothold also in Philippi has been by many, indeed,
seems clear from Phil. 1 15-18 and 3 2 sqq., where the apostle even
denied, but
calls
them
"
dogs.
"
concision
(/cararo//??).
faith
and
168.
DOCTRINE.]
justification,
which
lie
Through the
C57
among
its significance,
and, though
it
the (Jen-
by degrees
perpetuated
first
Asia Minor.
labors and
is
(Gnosis) and greater moral perfection than was attainable in the com
soon, of course, felt themselves attracted to Christianity
mon Judaism,
own
taste.
its
simplicity, they
molded
it
which was more clearly and fully developed in the second century in the
remarkable system of the Pseudoelementine Homilies and in kindred
no
less in the
Comp.
On the
above.
49 and 51.
affinity of these
Jewish
sects
A modern
v
>y
all
Paul, and even those combated by Peter. Jude. and John, as Jndaizers.
this
42
in
heir
work on
St.
Paul,
I.
p.
But against
108.
infallible
mark
in ihe
Jude
8).
(<5#a?
oi>
[v.
Of
of Gnosticism.
New
Testament
BOOK
even
rp^ova^Aaa^ovv-^, comp.
say, that
philosophical
theological
inquiry was guided by the spirit of the divine revelation, or took itsown
course.
In the latter case it
certainly always ran more or less into the
errors of heathen
speculation.
1.
We
chiefly
Col. 2
4,
$m>o-
Ao 7/a),
"
and
men
(in
tion of
God), after the rudiments of the world, 2 and not after Christ." 3
Probably the reference here is to the mystic, symbolical
philosophy
4
which Philo ascribes to the Essenes and
In contrast with
Tlierapeutae.
1
Comp. above.
86, p. 324.
Td
unjustly,
all
philosophy.
Paul
condemnation of
is
The t&oaotfa
StU avuSoAuv.
Perhaps the Colossian errorists already, as afterthe oriental anchorets and
monks, designated their whole mode of life
feu and feWoofejf Bloc, an
anticipation of the vita angelica.
i
659
168.
DOCTRINE.]
this false
2:3)
understanding (1:9.
With
sacred
value oc
their mystic philosophy the Colossian errorists set a high
rites, especially
circumcision of Christ, 2
shadows
laws respecting food and yearly, monthly, and weekly feasts,
Here they
16).
of the true body, which had appeared in Christ (2
:
9,
10).
But
asceti
with these Judaistic views and practices they associated a rigid
which went
2
23),
a mortification of the
a^aroc,
body
cism,
beyond anything
in
(<i<j>ei6ia
(couip.
and
on the contrary, make the clearest distinction between body
the
of
as the work of God, and the temple
representing the former
as the selfish,
good,
principle.
Finally,
these
Colossian
errorists practiced
(tpvoiefeTO dntiUfl
sinful
18), soaring
into
the mystene
to be conversant through visions with
probably pretending
instead of holding to Christ, the Creator
of the upper world of spirits,
with God
the revealed Head of the church, and communing
1
of anirels,
through Him.
Gnostic aeons
To many commentators
thrones,
seems more naturally to refer to the
later Jewish angelology (
the
of
and
powers"
dominions, principalities,
of Paul s pro*
To the necessity of meeting this error we owe some
16)
and relation to the church.
disclosures
ing Christ s person
foundest
2.
reads- a
but
it
respect
also the errorthe head of this Guosticizing Judaism belong-
Under
Mr, Col
lit,
cal authorities,
IS there
Wpawv
is
^jSarrftw,
a good sense, as
omit the rf. Either reading, however, gives
we have
canon of the
are the facts, that still later the 3oth
In support of this interpretation
that there was still standing ,n tb
of
invocation
the
angels
Laodicean council forbids
.act,
of th* archangel Michael and other
mileages in ChonaeCColosse) a temple
crsurh
ftr. p. 31 ), and 1 h.ersch (
AW.
Comment.
adduced DV Wetstein. S.eiger
sacred name,
the Essenes. according to Josephus,
;ur Hcrstcllur,,. etc. p. 272). Among
the note
7.
II. 8.
Comp.
JuJ.
bell.
De
initiated
the
of the .n^l. were revealed to
Philad.
ed.).
Whiston, vol. II. p. 249,
on this by the English translator,
;
ists
KSSENIC
168.
660
so easily shown,
OR GNOSTIC JUDAISM.
l>
"
sound
doctrine."
for
and magic
Miletus,
Paul
here, according to
A.D.
58, were to
prophecy in
his valedictory at
"grievous wolves"
directly,
his church.
We
to place the rise of this Judaizing Gnosis at the end of the sixth or be
ginning of the seventh decade of the first century. From the epistle in
stood the errorists, indeed, but in its zeal for orthodoxy neglected prac
tical Christianity, the active duties of love.
"Tyiaivovca
Tim. 1:3
Acts 19
*
Acts 20
didaaicaMa,
2 Tim.
Tim. 1:10.
1
:
15, 18.
Comp. above.
13 sqq.
We
29, 30.
Tim. 4
1:9.
Tit.
3.
2:1.
19.
76.
this
passage
is>
no.
it
speaks
cannot, therefore, be
even the
still
These are:
Tit.
2 Tim. 2
9-16.
16-18, 23.
9-11.
3
Tim
1-9. 13.
1
.
3,
3. 4.
6. 7, 19.
20.
1-8.
may be
a few passages indirectly opposing errors; though Baur has unquestionably sought far
too many such allusions.
Most investigators of this intricate subject suppose, that
Paul in these epistles contends everywhere against substantially the same unsound
and this is certainly supported by the similarity of the expressions in th
tendency
p.
who
(1)
Common
to
Judaizers,
were, properly speaking, not so much heretical as obstinate and morally perverse
We
named
themselves.
UevMwpos
called"
in
Tim.
few spiritualistic
7
(2) some
made shipwreck concerning faith
:
who had
Hymeneu. and Philetus,
followers
commumcated
by the apostle"
2Tim 2-16-18,25;
2
But
Tim 3-1-9
Lroduces confusion
(3)
Go^tae,
thi. clas.ific.tion
rather
*<
of
not properly meriting the name
yv<jr),
Thus and
to
than
knowle<
Gnostics,
like
and were
yvf,
of the farfdnyior
to the Egyptian magiciana,
be
certainly cannot
clearness
in
applied
the exposition.
throughout and
We may
remark
in
treaUse on h New
the otherwise h.gh.y va.uab.e
that many assertions of
general,
are
Thiench
exaggerated and untenable.
work of
Testament heresies in the above
the historian,
4:3. C omp. Acts 20 29 sq. So also
1
2 Tim 3
to the rather summary
of the second century, says, according
middle
the
of
us
He-esinp
did not show itself with unw
i
-w
that
the
tievtuvvuoc
yvuaif
LI
i
/
inai
r
Ktaternent oi Lusebius. ill. o~,
1
ea
re head
cov
covered
(,^ -- V,
ath of the
aTer the
JIT
Pau
m 4-1
Tim
Baur, in the
p 494
L
(a
presented
t d concea.ed
of
it
^-
>
linger
well as Schwegler
NarkapoU.
Cpistles.
F""?
& *!*-*
,
Zeitalter,
Besides,
in the period
death of
immediately succeed^ the
Lntof
*MV
in secret
previously wrought
No. 3, p. 27, and , h,. work on
Ze.tschrift," 1838,
m.sII. p. 137), has entirely
apostle, but
by
the anUthesU
s and subst.tut.ng for
own antithesis of an ex.stence and no,,
xUtence of the fa.se Gnos.sh.s
IV. 22, places the nse of the
the same Hegesippus, in Euseb.
Gno
of
"i
in
there fore,
The
conclusion,
of the
favor of the Paulina ori g ,n
at
168.
662
all,
resting on
mere arrogant
conceit,
[v.
As parts of this
and vain babblings.
3
endless genealogies."
old wives fables" and
subtleties
"
inti
"
these
By
unprofitable
wisdom are
false
BOOK
cited
we must un
tives.
fessedly existed already in the first century, probably even before the
The correctness
destruction of Jerusalem.
In Tit.
According to
"Jewish."
v.
In 3
9, in conjunction
contentions and strivings about the law"
teachers of the law"
Finally, the name
(fzti/.iaTa ol EK Treptro/w/f).
"
"
(vopodMaKaMt,
optical)
its
acquainted as
heretics.
1
ceremonial part
which we
feature, with
of
characteristic
the Colossiau
Comp.
Cor. 8
where yvuaif
1,
is
Knowledge
1
Aoyo/zajmf,
3
uv yivsraL
pi,
<t>66vof,
Comp. 2 Tim. 4 4.
4
As Dr. Baur does
:
Tim. 1:4;
/3e/J7;/.oi
KOL
1:14. 3:9.
his work on the Pastoral Epistles (1835
4.
ypaudei<;
[ivdoi,
7.
Tit.
in
p.
12 sq.,
where he
much
*
later Valentinian
system
Comp. Dahne
yevea/toyiKov.
Thiersch
(1. c.
p.
"
274). Wiesinger
Studien und
(in
his
Kritiken,"
which
is
certainly
much
Mosaic genealogies
So also
p. 1008.
Jewish sense
1833,
p.
Jewish sources.
tions
from God.
The
At
all
EPISTLES.
ERRORISTS OF THE PASTORAL
OOCTRINE.]
and barren mock wisdom tius Epheat Colosse, seem to have united
Bian false teachers, like those
Testament restrictions re
far
beyond the Old
mode of life, which went
a hylozoistic and
and was probably connected with
specting food,
At least th
an aversion to God s creation.
fatic view of the world and
that there should soon appea
4
1 Tim
With
apostle
predicts
3,
in
find afterwards
extravagances, as we actually
amon-
the rest)
(Mamomte
the Gnostic
of marriage
and Manichean systems,_the prohibition
created
had
animal) which God
He
opposit/,o,.
just the
^ai
makes the
of the school of Mareion; and
o
reminds one of the denvat.on
-which
strivings
He appeal,
a non ucendo.
verily
indeed, to v. 8
immediately fol.ow.ng
O^ev til
law was
onclive
oJ^ and
it
not good.
a closer examination of
v. 9
sense
Paul would say, but not in the
ab^ood.
And Jn these
in
The aw
,0.
which the
is
unquestionassert
false teachers
the
artifices this critic builds
and
in
cone us.on,
cannot have
view the Marcionite Gnos.s, and consequently
prices
and
Hutl
den
hi
Bitten, B5ttger,
We only add.
Wiesin-er
ia^n
I,
the
*ri
that ,he
Tim.
2 0,
of his argument,
most plaus.ble part commentary
with the AntUheses Marcionis men
Led
title
coincidence; the
LwapaOw.
At
east
refutation of heres.es.
in his lately discovered
it is designated by Hippolytus
Comp^I
At any rate the
edition
German
of the
I.
p- 75,
Bunsen
between
Marcion
asserted
by
of the contradictions
f 1 n 6 oo are to be undersJood, not
..
,
of the errorists to the
the law and the gospel, but of the opposition
1
Tim
2
was to preserve (comp.
the pure doctrine, which Timothy
O Timothy, keep that wh.ch u
is simply this:
B0 that the sense of the passage
of the
vain babblings, and the counter asserUons
committed to thy trust, avoiding profane,
dece.ver. are described
1 : 9, where these
Tit.
knowledge ialsely so called." Comp.
jmp.
are said to be dvrtfanti?*.
23, where they
as m7*yovr eff and 2 Tim. 2
,**,
S^yL,
jropa^
"
<
ad loc.
Wieseler (Clironol. p. 305) and Wiesinger,
church is altogether inadmissible, and
Roman
the
to
3
4
Tim.
1
of
The reference
this church does not forbid marriage
For
abandoned.
by modern expositors generally
for
of the prohibition of marnage
And
sacrament.
a
to
it
exalts
as such, but even
No more does the Romar
in the text.
:
>
at all is said
particular nothing
and fast,,
as such, but only requires abstinence
food
of
kind
church forbid any
,t may b
however
wrong
unchristian,
which is nothing in itself
certain days
Our Lord himself and hi. apostles someUmes
scribe it in such legalistic, Jewish style.
Acts 13 : 2 3.
will.
romp. Matt. 4 : 2. 17 21.
fasted out of their own free
that r
it is an ascertained fact,
On the
6 : 5.
priests
in
23
Cor
fl
2 Cor
contrary
169.
(164
trines of
them
(SiSaaitdMai taifioviuv, v. 1)
devils"
in
other words,
v BOO&
-
attributes
lie
the Spirit of
God mentioned
Man, accord
beginning of the verse.
never wholly isolated, but lives continually
in the
is
Hence the
Such asceticism
it
Of
true, a
is
most of the
as
tions.
errorists in
This has
is
resurrection.
ism,
and
source,
is
though we have, to be
1
69.
sure,
The,
And
in
as
the Judaizers were ever ready to appeal to the authority of the Jewish
apostles, particularly
hostility to
Paul
and
we
are ex
16, caricatured
in the
of thorough
ment and
and so the eating of flesh and drinking of wins as such. And even among the Essenes
nd Therapeutae, tor, we find a similar undervaluation of marriage, on the authority ol
Philo and Josephus
1
Comp. 2 Cor.
false teachers
Tim. 3
persmith,"
of Acts 19
Jlntiqu
15.
XVI II.
Jno. 4
tian sorcerers, 2
1
(e. g.
11
James
8, 9.
who
is
1, 5.
1-3.
also, 3
in 2
33.
Others
still
of th
Egyp
Jude
15.
mentioned
Rev. 2
14.
6aifj.ovtudT/g.
speaks of a
the cop
4 14 with the surname
Others identify him with the Alexandei
:
15,
Tim
aocf>ia
169.
DOCTRINE.]
6G5
stress
is
laid
on outward
act,
here the
epistles
to theThessalonians
itself in far
Paul the
"mystery
of
greater strength
lawlessness"
(uvo-r/^ov
r7/c
Thess.
dvopiaf, 2
divine things.
and a presumptuous opposition to God and
also
gives birth to
[t is undeniable that heathenism
This we
tendencies.
tiquity
went
see, as at this
day among
Mpyd*),
in future, is styled
by
2:7)
strictly ascetic
the Hindoos, so in an
among
in their
beyond
in
s later epistles
and
based,
above
sensuality
opposite,
pretense,
all aftect
and antinomian
In tracing the several manifestations of the Gnostic
first of all, even before the
meet
we
in
the
church,
heathenism
apostolic
the magician Rimon, of Samaria, who has been
appearance of Paul,
the tradition of the church fathers, as the patriarch
at least
1.
by
stigmatized,
of all heret ics, especially of the heathen Gnostics.
"
Thus
Irenaeus.
Adv. her.
lib. I. c. 27. 4 4,
says
great
many
fabu-
eis."
AND ANTIXOMTANISM.
|.V.
BOOK
lous stories, no doubt, were very early associated with this name, parti
cularly in the Pseudoclementine writings, which pretend to relate many
and
which the apostle Peter is said to have held with him in Csesarea, AntiHis historical existence, however, and one interview between
och, etc.
him and Peter in Samaria, are put beyond all question by the eighth
1
in
the Ephe-
own
was
"
Magus
heresies,
1
On
books.
third
The
Simon
comp. Bunsen
this point
52 sqq., 96 sqq.
s Hippolytus I. p. 62 sqq.
(Germ. ed.).
comp. among other works that of Schliemann on the Clementines, p.
We have already remarked incidentally. $ 167, that the Pseudocle
mentine Homilies,
Comp. above.
Tim. 3
8.
Comp. Fx.
11, 22.
8:6
sqq.
13 sqq.
inelvov
6
<5/zoAoyoDi>Tef,
Adv.
heer. I.
23.
fj.eyu7.ij,
According
to
Jerome (Comment,
in Matt. 24)
Simon
said ol
sum sermo Dei, ego sum speciosus, ego paracletus. ego omnipotens, ego
omnia Dei/
Of Justin s account (resting, it would eem. on a mistake) respecting the
Some
93.
deification of Simon at Rome we have already spoken at the close of
modern scholars, as Windischmann (Vindlc. Petr. p. 75 sqq.), Gfrorer (Philo wid dit
himself:
"Ego
(1.
c. p.
291 &,
),
SIMON MAGUS.
DOCTRINE.]
he wished to be regarded
appears, that
in the proper sense, a
as an incarnation of the Deity, and was, therefore,
shoul
no
of
course
But
complete system
false Christ and an antichrist.
a
as
fermenting
elements
yet
lay
be attributed to him. The heretical
know
not
was
him
with
interest
Be8ides, the leading
chaotic mass.
From
it
lucre
ledge but filthy
whence the
(simony) to
this
disciple
But
tic
these
nowhere appear
New
the
in
Testament.
The
itself down
sect of the Simonians, which maintained
Simon
from
Magus.
derived its name and origin
dissolute
to the third*
tury
also very easily arise from another
2 Antinomian tendencies might
doctrine respecting the abolition oi
source viz., a misconception of Paul>*
by faith and
the law as a letter, which "killeth," respecting justification
when
in so frivolous a city as Corinth,
especially
evangelical freedom
new doctrine, which they could hope
many eagerly laid hold of every
Paul himself more
dissolute conduct.
former
use as a cloak for their
in
the inference charged upon him,
than once disowns with indignation
us do evil that good may
"Let
the shape of the infamous maxim:
that
may abound."
in
continue
grace
us
sin,
or- "Let
?
come"
some of
practice,
For
in
it
particularly
first
in
to the Corinthians.
epistle
he opposes, among
by intemperance icomp.
aberrations
primarily practical
nected with corrupt principles.
less
the
already appeared
of
rudiments
the
with the party spirit,
Corinthian church, in union
2
Paul even found
to
wisdom-seeking Greece.
so
congenial
proud Gnosis,
resurrection ot
the
of
the public denial
it necessary to come out against
to Saddureferred
be
12 sqq ). This is not to
the body (1 Cor. 15
have
would
he
23 sqq,
Matt. 22
cism-otherwise, like our Lord,
C
with
was connected
refuted it from the Old Testament-but
17
Acts
32) and Gnostic spiritualism,
skepticism (coup.
also in
There
losophical
allied
than
of heretics far greater historical significance,
ascribing to this patriarch
attributed to him since Mosheim.
commonly
Rom. 3:8. 6:1. Gml. 2
18
Cor. 8:1.
Cotnp. 1
>
17.
sqq.
Com,,.
2
Pet. 2
has been
16.
sqq.-Dr. Burton
us,
also (Lecture,,
,,.
8!
668
169.
germ
is
canker
like a
(2 Tim. 2
"
already past
-/d-yypaiva
:
in
Asia Minor
Here
18).
IT-
BOOK
The
And
humanity of Christ.
as
general false spiritualism very frequently runs into gross formalism and
materialism, so this limitation of the resurrection to the purely spiritual,
in
inward
life
"
32).
departure, in the
"
last
already existing
days,"
in
more
fully
in
in
sins,
into heathen, nay, far worse than heathen vice, as the sow, that
is
wash
They
(v. 13).
Cain, the fratricide, and Balaam, the deceiver of
Jude 11).
15.
God s
people (2 Pet.
Hymeneus and
Philetus,
Paul
The
to lascivious
God
Adv.
Hcer.
by it merely thi
with the idea of conversion. Comp
2:
it
I.
27,
XLM.
2.
3; Tertullian
De
Mara
work of
Comp. 2 Tim. 2
1G9.
DOCTRINE.
HKKKTICS OF JOHN
ness,
19.
Jade
for
4).
itself still
C60
S EPISTLES.
in
more boldly
Asia Minor
While Paul
last thirty years of the first century.
activity in the
now
John
said, wit
last
times,"
and Peter had pointed forward to the
Little
children,
unmistakeable reference to these previous prophecies
evec
shall
antichrist
come,
that
and as ye have heard
it is the last time ;
is the last
it
that
we
know,
now are there many antichrists ; whereby
/**
"
"
time"
us,"
of their principles.
epistles
boasted
s
errorists
Christ
in view.
hia
in
darkness.
Hence John,
in his epistles,
with
the .indissoluble connection of sanctificat.on
strenuously insists on
the command
on walking in the light, on obedience to
in
Christ,
faith
ments of
God
as the
mark
of true discipleship,
so far as
In respect to theory, these heretics went
from remaining sin.
which they had been prepared
the incarnation of the Son of God,
to
deny
Very
oWure
is
/3Xr^oW
Aoiaf
and Satan,
between the archangel Michael
J.,de 8-
sufficiently
shows, that
<*,#*
must be un
Whether this
but of angels and higher spirits.
derstood not of divine attributes,
or mean
the
of
doctrine
demiurge,
Gnostic
the
to
nhemin- of dignities, however, refer
the higher world ot spirits, ca
and
on
condemning
in
speculating
in general, insolence
not be certainly determined.
4
23
18 10
2
l
rp
"2
,41) would
make even
seems to
ideas,
i:s
2 Ep. 7-11.
not to
ot his first epistle, to refer
stantial
3.
bias-
Comp.
Ihiersch (p
true incarnation.
too forced.
Comp. Uno.
6.
4,
9,
18 sqq
3:6,8,15.
7, 8, 12, 16,
etc
670
1G9.
to do
the second
coming of Christ
to
[V.
BOOK
and
As
judgment.
mark
of antichristian falsehood.
His language
is
may be
considered,
referred as well to
many
arisen
it is
all
had
1
Ep. 2 22. 4 1-3. This unequivocal description of antichrist makes it simply
an exegetical impossibility to refer the passages in question in their original sense to
:
might raiher be
Ron
Mary
as the
mother of God.
At any
e. g.
it;
the exces
Romanism
lie
"is
<
Christian connmunion, yet had never inwardly belonged to it, 1 Jno. 2 18, 19. Comp(3) He is speaking of things not in the Roman church, but in
:
dressed.
To
which he
these add
(4)
lived and
labored, and to
which
the
We
may.
to be sure,
this
us.
thf>
Piotestant cause,
which
hat
DOCTRINE. J
instead of
confesseth not
separated (w,
aiu
Soon after the death of John his disciples, Ignatius
Jesus Christ."
encountered Docetism, which originated
Polycarp with the same weapons
the passion and death
and
taught, that
in a heathen mode of thinking,
a deceptive appearance
and the whole humanity of Christ were merely
the imaginary theophal.ke
an optical illusion,
(**,,), an airy vision,
3.
spirit
"Every
that
nies of the
5.
heathen mythologies.
in line, on the
few remarks,
mentioned
Mv.
Irenes:
h*r. 1.26
1,
The statements
of Ire-
siarch; though
as
(H.
translator o.
Latin
several Latin fathers and the
while almost all the Greek authorities have//;)
Jesumf
both:
Qui
solvit
Irenaeu,
I
p .?)
M,.
Jesum
haer.
I.
et negat in
20.
carnem
37
(al. c.
very
old.
he Vulgate a so,
"Qui
solvit
Apo^I.
venire."
These
we
in the
consider the strong tendency
Chnstians named
by legends all the
of he
the allegoricul interpretation
our
forbids
adopting
This
the New Testament
"Consis
altogether
his
from
and
position
whTchHengstenberg, strangely
sqq,
work on Ba.aam, p 20ent^r
in h
has
aL
given
Th,, divine cons, ers the
p 171 sq.).
of
term, the Greek translation
not a proper name, but a symbolical
testimonies,
ndsrvaluing these historical
ommentary on Rev. 2 6 (Vol.
:
and his
name Nicols
I.
rupt
and ~~
gical ly
people.
vindicated.
But
in
the
first
derivation cannot be
place, this
even philolo-
which is by no means
For Xicolaus means people-conqueror,
To derive Balaam from ;?? and C?, lord of
vicit.
->2,
would bring
us nearer
an
identity of the
the GreeK
the reference have been intelligible to
ir neither case would
in the second place, thu
And
further
without
explanation.
Revelation
readers of the
the Nicolaitans are evid.
14, 15, where
contradicted by Rev. 2
interpretation is
:
612
169.
[v.
BOOK
20 sqq.).
(2
sect,
idolatry of heathendom.
up idolatry
in Israel.
inspirations from
"
be rightly
master
lusts,
of
it
that
he .should
century, and
particularly
by the Nicolaitans.
Even
the
ex-deacon,
Nicolas,
is
When
Hengstenberg asserts
in doctrine
none but
symbolical names occur in the Apocalypse, he is evidently wrong; for not only the
uame of the author, but also the names of the Jews. 2 9, and of the seven churches
:
are
all to
Peter also (2 Ep. 2 15) and Jude (v. 11) compare the dissolute Gnostics, whom
they attack, with Balaam.
2
E(
This inconsiderate eating of meat offered to idols was even
(payelv.
:
<5&j/.6$i>-a
later considered a
mark
in this practice to
gaged
The false teachers said, that the things they taught were deep
This the Lord concedes, but with the qualification, that they were not divine
hut satanic depths; just as he allows the Jews, v. 9, the name of a synagogue,
bu<
calls
ently.
it
synagogue of
Satan."
Hengstenberg, ad
loc.,
THE NICOLAITANS.
DOCTRINE.]
of the
with his wife, and enjoining severe treatment
ing from intercourse
in the sense of antiwhich was afterwards taken by his disciples
flesh
account is correct, we have here a
nomian licentiousness. If the latter
between unnatural asceticism and unbridled
example of the affinity
so many paralle
the history of monasticism furnishes
suality to which
the
been
have
precisely
Nicolas
to
may
The relation of the Nicolaitans
or of the Cerinthians 1
same as that of the Simonians to Simon Magus,
Cerinthus.
inferences,
of this whole chapter suggests several important
out.
can only briefly point
which, however, we
that the apostolic
1 It is an utterly groundless assumption,
to the
and
or
fully came up
in
practice,
theory
was free from all error
to
little
no
On the contrary,
the kingdom of Christ."
glorious ideal of
conto
had
the church even then
our consolation and encouragement,
and within, as in any succeeding
without
tend with as great difficulties,
can
the
of
sense
word, militant ; and she
full
the
She was, in
period
and reach her perfect unity, universality,
final
A review
accomplish her
and
victory,
holiness, only
It
is
witl
of the fearful power of the corruption,
only in view
under
thus
and
and Heathenism in the form of heresy,
which Judaism
name and
that
personalities
-only
four,
and
among
sin
It
Comp. Neander
c- I.
p. 488.
was a
pleasing
"
Age
the existence of so
as a society
our eyes
bring ourselves to open
to recog.
a higher feeling which bids us thankfully
with God, that He has never supernaturally
of angels; and it is
and behold the reality.
It is painful to
we
But yet it is
is no partiality
there
and heresy
into virtue, nor rendered schism
coerced any generation of mankind
able in
age of the church."
any
43
674
TYPICAL IMPOET
170.
error, as
by name
sin,
but love
[V.
BOOK
we should tate
teaching, that
errorists, as sinners,
and seek to
reclaim them.
The
5.
and truly
massive strokes lay open the real kernel, the deep moral root of the
whole
and this is in all ages the same.
;
in the
church
under a thousand different forms, but from the armory of the apostolic
writings the church may always draw the mightiest weapons for oppos.
ing them,
till
170.
history,
tolic
church
the philosophy of
has been
It
scholars with
many ages
testantism,
more
of the church,
much
us at least,
but as touching
more or
itself,
it.
that
is
own way
We
This opinion was first put forth in the Middle Ages by the prophesying monki
Joachim of Flora, and has been substantially favored in modern limes by eminent
pious theologians, as
approaches this truly liberal and Protestant view. Professor J. Ant. Bernh. Lutterbeck,
in his learned work Die N. Testamentlichen Lehrbegriffe, oder Untersuchungen Other das
Zeitalter der Religionswendc (1852), thus
(II.
166
sq.):
"While
in the
St.
Peter to
St.
Paul
the principle of order, and the independence of Paul, the principle of freedom in the
church, we may conceive of abnormities on both sides, in which the supposed order de
is this a conscious or an unconscious play on the word
(
the supposed freedom into dissolution and evaporation of all the contents
of Christianity; where the former leads to arbitrary tyranny, the latter to rebellion
Peter?
"
),
and revolution.
collision at
should become general in the Roman church, the final reconciliation of Catholicism
and Protestantism would not be such an absolute impossibility as it now appears to be
DOCTRINE.]
fusion
expect
We
to
start
675
and
life, is
iti
and
the times comparatively darkest the Lord has literally kept his precious
promise to be with his church always, even unto the end of the world.
How, otherwise, could that church be described by the inspired apostle
as the
In
body of Jesus
this
of Jesus Christ
umphal
"
period,
Him, that
new
life
tri
the apostolic
procession of the Saviour through humanity
the ceutury of miracles," occupies a position altogether peculiar.
It is not merely one period among others, but the grounding and preformative beginning, the model church, which conditions and governs all
subsequent developments
whose
spirit
new life,
and imparting the power
perpetually breathes
will
be conditioned by a
spirit of
the
are prefigured
church.
all
subsequent periods
6T6
TYPICAL IMPORT
170.
(_V.
BOOK
the apostolk
church history is developed from the apostolic church
church history is its fulfillment.
church was a prophecy
In the specific application of this principle we must, indeed, use great
:
appearance of Christ
for the
"
Prepare ye
triumphant Zlon, and look back upon all its toilsome path of conflict
and controversy from the beginning to the glorious goal. Yet even in
partial knowledge there is great spiritual profit and delight.
The course
and Protestantism
the chro
In these respect
be discerned the essential features of the Jewish
we
ively,
think,
may
and Gentile Christianity, which divided the apostolic period. And thus
a mere chance, that the Roman church, which has
it is by no means
most rigidly carried out the principle of Catholicism, appeals by prefer
ence to Peter as the chief of the apostles and rock of the church, and to
the epistle of
James
in particular as the
justi
legal
and of
Hence
objectivity.
it
is
strictly
conservative,
making great account of consistency with the past, of forms and works,
of outward, visible unity
tive
and conformity.
The
partial justness
And
and
rela
But
as Jewish Christianity
religion in the
was
liable to
misapprehend
degrading
it
into
bondage to law
Judaizing heresy
in manifold respects to the level of carnal Judaism.
;
church
perial
in
the
The Catholi
all
Roman im
bosom
what
it
OOCTRINK.]
67
We
weak
judices of the
sword against
ting the
word
all
As
in
heretics
My
"
"
kingdom
?"
that take the sword shall perish with the sword." Will she ever, like
Peter, in humble consciousness of guilt, go out and weep bitterly, till
she find forgiveness at the foot of the cross
Against
in the Reformation
as formerly
the apostolic council at Jerusalem, in the scene at Antioch, and in his
Besides the whole legal discipline of the Middle Age
masterly epistles.
tended mightily towards this result as the ripe fruit of its conflicts. In
in
manner the Mosaic law and ceremonial worship pointed to the new
and the parental training looks beyond itself
dispensation of the spirit
like
to
conceives
Christianity as
new
So
far as
it
agrees
in this
in its
creation, as evangelical
personal relation
purest forms,
freedom,
as
chinch
Protestantism,
the sanctuary
injustice to tradition
in
will,
was
its
its
Reformation
foi
Thiersch
Versuch.
zur Herste/lung,
and
to Paul.
etc. p.
244.
his apostles, aa
Who,
that con-
678
[ r.
B^OK
Holy Scriptures and the idea of the one, holy, Catholic apos
church, will further venture to justify the extreme individualism,
siders the
tolic
Who,
in
already transcended
but the
22, tarries
age,
is
eternal
till
the
Lord
returns.
And
that,
which
is
to introduce th
Word
mark
8,
13).
The question
person and work of Christ and the church question are at bottom one.
The answer to the latter depends on that given to the former, as cer
animates
tainly as the body on the head, which rules, and the soul, which
it.
For
universe,
In Him, and in
the solution of every enigma of history.
life everlasting.
and
of
of
truth
forth
the
fountain
breaks
alone,
we have
Him
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
Yean
ottmporary Roma*
Emperor*.
after
JhrisC Birth.
A.D. 80
"
8040
gation at Antioch.
Mtes.ons.
Barnabas,
the Outpouring of
TiBHiiirs, A.D.
"
ALIGULA,
the
reparalion
of Gentile
41-M
46-49
60
|>ostles.
62-63
54
Paul
61
(Philippi,
Short stay
His Third Missionary Tour (Autumn).
at Antioch.
57
<
irst Epistle to
First Epistle to tho
6753
68
68-80
is
arrested
Paul
6163
Paul
si
G4
sent to
Cu
aesarea.
at Cie-area,
lit
to Home (Autumn).
Koine (Spring, til).
Shipwreck
at
Malta
Cap ivi-y at lio-ne. Ep f tlos to the Coloasians, Ephems, 1 hiiippians, Philemon. Second Kpistln to Timothy.
s
Home
Neronian Persecution of
(July).
of Paul and Peter.
64
Conflagration at
the Christians.
64
Return to
to Macedonia.
Voyage
Arrival
68
ar>d
Paul s Captivity at
Festus and Agrip|ia.
60
(t).
Kphesus (Summer)
Second Kpistle to the Corinthians.
s
Third sojourn at Corinth (three months), llis
Epistle to the Romans.
Paul s Fif:h and Last Journey to Jerusalem (Spring), where
commenced
u
<
Paul
he
"
Timothy
I-
Ephesus.
Paul s departure from
6T
in<;).
14
tl
Mixed Congre
Paul s
"
87
Gospel in Samaria.
Conversion of Paul.
87
64
1487.
Martyrdom
to
70
Destruction of Jerusalem.
TO-100
John
:).
Martyrdom
The
(circa 100).
NltBO,
ALPHABETICAL INDEX,
sq.
Andrew, 387.
Angels of the Apocalypse, 537
Anointing with
Antioch, church
sqq.
585.
oil,
sqq.
Apollos, 285 sq.
18
Athens, Paul
branches
method
36
Civil
of.
uses
33
of,
life,
19 sources of, 26
ages and periods of,
of,
;
46.
of
influence
of,
273 sqq
283
2b5 sqq.
284
Cramer, 75.
Baronius. 5G.
Crete, 333.
Bartholomew, 388.
Basna<re,
Christianity
upon, 463.
Colossian errorists, 324, 657.
Corinth, congregation
267 sqq.
68.
sqq.
264 and
sq.
Calist, 67.
EASTER, 558.
Ebionism, 653.
Elders, 522 sqq., teaching and ruling
elders, 529.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
682
Engelhardt, 89.
to the, 324
Ephesians, epistle of Paul
of John in the Apocalypse, 429.
Isaiah, 169.
Evagrius, 53.
Evangelical catholic historiography, 92
sqq.
Evangelists, 519 sqq.
JAMES the
240.
James the
his
305, 377 sqq.
epistle, 382 sqq., his doctrinal system,
625 sqq. relation to Paul, 627.
James the Less, the son of Alpheus,
389.
Jarvis, 128.
Jerusalem, congregation of, 208 sqq.
destruction of, 390, sqq.
240, 382
Jewish Christianity, 249 sqq., 288.
sq.,
Felix, 313.
Festivals, 557 sqq.
Festus, 315.
Flacius, 66.
618 sqq.
Jewish religion, 139
Fleury, 58.
164 sqq.
261, 282.
Galatians, epistles to the, 283.
Gentile Christianity, 618 sqq.
Gfrorer, 89.
of,
Gibbon, 83 sqq.
condition, 172.
John the apostle and evangelist, his ed
his apostolic labors,
ucation, 395
398 ; his banishment to Patmos,
400 his return to Ephesus, 404
;
and passim.
Gnosticism and Gnostics, 302,661,664.
Gospels, 591 sqq.
Greek culture and literature in its rela
tion to Christianity, 143 sqq.
Gieseler, 29, 82, 98,
hie
his Epistles, 416
Apocalypse. 418 and 603 his doc
trinal system, 644
his relation to
;
H
107.
Hase, 88, 89, 105.
Haymo, 54.
HAGENBACH,
sq.
Hefele, 60.
Hegel, 91, 108.
Hellenistic dialect, 608.
Hellenists, 181.
Jude, epistle
of,
Justification
by
trine
of,
Herder, 90.
Heresy, 649.
factors of, 2.
faith,
K
KAYE,
633.
636, sq.
Henke, 82.
sq.
sqq.,
G
GALATIA, churches
Hymns, 563
Hurter, 60.
the
the brother of
Just,
Lord, 254
131.
LAODICEA, church
of, 429.
Laureutius Valla, 55.
Law of the 0. T., 166 sq.
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
of, 593, Acts, 600 sq.,
doctrinal system, 640 sq.
Lydia, 263.
Lake, Gospel
MAODEBURG CENTURIES,
66.
Marheineke, 116.
Mark, Gospel of, 593, 632.
Marriage, 448 sqq.
sq.,
Matter, 125.
of,
593, 632.
Milner, 71.
Ministerial
495 aqq
office,
Miracles, 482
Mdhler, 60.
Mosheim,
683
sq.
74.
Mftnscher, 78.
NATALIS ALEXANDER,
58.
Nathanael, 388.
Neander, 29, 95 sqq. and passim.
Neo-Platonism, 154.
Nero, 345 saa.
Neviu, 133.
Newman, 61,129.
New Testament, literature of the, 589
Protestantism, 677.
Pentecost, birthday of the church, 191
sqq., celebration of, 558 sq.
Pergamus, church
of, 430.
Persecution, 20 of Nero, 345 sqq., of
Doniitian, 400 sqq.
Peter, his sermon on the day of Pente
;
204 sqq.
onment and
sqq.
Nicolaitans, 671.
nelius, 220
OLD TKSTAMKNT,
revelation
of,
164 sqq.
Onesimus, 327.
Ordination, 502, 585.
257
his
personal
character,
22G
PAPACY, 374
Patmos, 401.
epistle,
sqq.
Paul, his
556
360
mar
Pfaff, 75.
178 sqq.
22
--
A U U
684
ALPHABETICAL INDEX.
Slavery, 454 sqq.
Smyrna, church of,
Philostorgius, 53.
Planck, 76.
Plato arid Platonism, 150 sqq.
Plutarch, 140, 152.
Pragmatic method, 73, 76, 79.
Prayer, 561 sq.
Sozomenus. 52.
Spiritual gifts, 469 sqq
Spittler, 77.
Priestley, 85.
sqq.,
-428.
374 sqq.
Strauss, 111.
Superstition, 183.
Supper of the Lord, 581 sq.
Support of the ministry, 503.
Proselytes, 177.
Protestant historiography, 63
Puseyisrn, 129.
R
RANKE, 107.
Rationalistic
historiography,
78 sqq.,
109 sqq.
Religion,
its
265
sq.
Thomas, 387.
Romans,
sqq.
Rome,
of,
Rohrbacher, 59.
Roman
Roman
Theodorus, 53.
Therapeutae, 181.
Thessalonica, congregation
its
S
SADDUOEES, 174.
Sardis, church of, 429.
Sarpi, 58.
Saul, see Paul.
Schenkel, 107.
Troas, 262.
U
ULLMANN, 107.
Schmidt. 82.
Schrockh, 75.
Schwegler, 1 09 sqq.
VENEMA,
Semler, 81.
Sermon, 560,
Seven churches of Asia Minor, 427
sqq.
Silas, 260.
78.
w
WADDINGTON,
Walch,
127.
75.
of,
Trophimus, 309.
332
Z
ZELLER, 109 sqq.
-EGE
fl