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INTRODUCTION

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THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.

HAVING gone through the historical books of the New Testament, what remain (except the last, which is of a peculiar character) are Epistolary; and by far the larger part of these were written by the Apostles to the Gentiles. They are of two kinds, either to Churches, or to individuals who were fellow-labourers in the Gospel. The Epistles, especially Paul's, being addressed to persons or societies already initiated into the principles of Christianity, enter more deeply into the distinguishing doctrines of the Gospel, and the controversies which in that early age were raised thereon, and particularly by Jewish converts, who were extremely loth to relax their prejudices in favour of the Jewish institutions.

Much has been said for and against St. Paul's style. Dr. Macknight, who objects to some of the strong language of the learned Beza, still admits that it contains beauties of the highest character, and passages to which it would be difficult to find any of superior merit among the most admired classical writers of Greece and Rome. He refers to "The greatest part of his Epistle to the Ephesians, concerning which Grotius had said, that it expresses the grand matters of which it treats in words more sublime than are to be found in any human tongue :-His speech to the inhabitants of Lystra (Acts xiv.), in which the justest sentiments concerning the Deity are expressed in such a beautiful simplicity of language as must strike every reader of taste ver. 15-17) :-His oration to the Athenian magistrates and philosophers assembled in the Areopagus, wherein he describes the character of the true God, and the worship that is due to him, in the most elegant language, and with the most exquisite address (ch. xvii.) :-His charge to the elders of Ephesus, which is tender and pathetic in the highest degree (chap. xx.):—His different defences before the Roman governors, Felix and Festus, King Agrippa and Bernice, the tribunes and great ladies of Cesarea, who were all struck with admiration at the Apostle's eloquence (ch. xxv. and xxvi.) :—His description of the engagement between the flesh and the spirit, with the issue of that conflict (Rom. vii.) :-The whole of the eighth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, in which both the sentiments and the language, especially towards the close, are transcendently sublime :-The 15th chapter of his First Epistle to the Corinthians, where he treats of the resurrection of the dead, in a discourse of considerable length, adorned with the greatest variety of rhetorical figures, expressed in words aptly chosen and beautifully placed; so that in no language is there to be found a passage of equal length more lively, more harmonious, or more sublime :-The last four chapters of his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, which are full of the most delicate ironies on the false teacher, who had set himself up at Corinth as the Apostle's rival, and on the faction who doated on that impostor:-1 Tim. vi. 6-12; a passage admirable both for the grandeur of the sentiment and for the elegance of the language:-The whole 11th

Paul suffered to preach]

THE ACTS.

closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.

[in his own hired

words, the Jews departed, a great reasoning among thems 30 And Paul dwelt two w in his own hired house, an all that came in unto him,

31 Preaching the kinge and teaching those thing cern the Lord Jesus Chris

29 And when he had said these fidence, no man forbidd

EXPOSITION-Chap. XXVIII. Continued.

(F) Ver. 17-31. Paul appeals to the Jews, and afterwards to the Gentiles.Paul's object was one only, wherever he might go. It was to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour of the world, both to Jews and Gentiles. Accordingly, he no sooner arrives at Rome, than he calls together his countrymen, tells them the reason of his coming thither, and the true ground of his being persecuted by his brethren-" For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain!" exhibiting the chain which bound him to a Roman soldier. This expression, "the hope of Israel," may be applied both to the person of the Messiah, who was truly "the hope of Israel," and to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and especially of Christ, which was the hope for which he had repeatedly been "called in question."

His brethren expressed a readiness to hear him; and accordingly, on an appointed day, came to him at his lodging, when he testified to them the kingdom 66 - perof God," that is, of the Messiah ; suading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning until evening." And the consequence was, as generally has been found, some believed, and others believed not. To the latter he applied the same Scripture (Isaiah vi. 9) that our

Lord had applied to th about thirty years befor this people is waxed gr xiii. 14, 15); and in c his chief attention to Paul dwelt two year house, preaching wi man forbidding him

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INTRODUCTION

chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews, and the first six verses of the 12th chapter of the same Epistle with many other passages which might be mentioned, in which we find an eloquence superior to any thing exhibited in profane authors."

The same learned writer, however, would not be understood to mean that he (Paul) ought, upon the whole, to be considered either as an elegant or as an eloquent writer," which, to harmonize with what he had before said, we can only understand of his neglect of the artificial rules and high polish of language which those studied whe rested their reputation on such accomplishments: accomplishments which Paul, indeed, professes to reject and to despise, as "the words which man's wisdom teacheth." (1 Cor. ii. 13.) "Paul (says Mr. Locke) is full of the matter he treats; and writes with warmth, which usually neglects method, and those partitions and pauses which men, educated in the schools of rhetoricians, usually observe." It must be remembered that Paul's object was not to advance his own fame as a writer, but the glory of his Saviour: that classical writers did not always furnish words or phrases sufficient to explain the mysteries of the Gospel: that the connexion between the New and Old Testaments often led him necessarily to adopt Hebrew allusions, terms, and phrases, which, though they may be considered as blemishes in Greek composition, form some of his chief beauties as a Christian teacher; and woe be to them who hang the perishing garlands of human eloquence on the cross of Christ, thereby in any degree to hide him from our view.

It might be added, in apology for Paul's apparent neglect of method, that epistolary correspondence should rather exhibit the heart of the writer than his literary skill, and neither requires nor admits the strictness of method necessary in a logical or scientific treatise. It is true that his style is frequently obscure and involved in parentheses, the natural consequence of the warmth and eagerness with which he writes; but, after all, our chief difficulty in understanding him, arises from our imperfect acquaiutauce with the deep and mysterious subjects on which he treats.

We shall go through the Epistles in the order in which they are placed by our translators; but it may not be amiss to remark, cursorily, on the order in which the most learned critics and commentators consider them to have been written. The first written are believed to have been the two Epistles to the Thessalonians and that to the Galatians, all written at Corinth in the years A.D. 52 and 53. That to the Romans also at Corinth, and the 1st and 2nd to the Corinthians from Ephesus and Macedonia, five or six years after the preceding. The Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and to Philemon, are supposed to be written from Rome from A.D. 61 to 63; and those to Timothy and Titus two or three years later. Of these Epistles, with their respective dates, we have subjoined a Table at the end of this Introduction, for the sake of more convenient reference; and where the places at which they are here said to be written do not agree with the Notes at the end of each Epistle in our translation, we shall give the reason in our comment.

The Epistle to the Hebrews, though it does not bear the author's name, is now universally ascribed to St. Paul, and was written from Italy, and probably from Rome, in the years 62 or 63. This, with the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians, are perhaps the most difficult to explain, as referring frequently to the prophetic writings and to

Jewish literature.

* Macknight on the Epistles, Prelim. Essay iii.

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TO ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES:

We shall only here add, that in addition to Dr. Doddridge and other Expositors of the New Testament, we shall, throughout the Apostolical Epistles, carefully compare them with the popular versions ("New Translations and Commentaries") of Dr. Macknight and Dr. Boothroyd, and pay a particular attention to those writers who have devoted their attention to single Epistles only.

And, to come home to the Epistle now before us, we acknowledge the pleasure with which we have read the Horæ Romanæ of the Rev. Rob. Cox, M.A.: being "An Attempt to elucidate St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, by an original Translation, Explanatory Notes," &c. (London, 1823.); to which we shall frequently refer, though we cannot pledge ourselves to adopt all his opinions and explications.

The name of Doddridge, so often occurring in the Gospel, we have sometimes abridged it thus, "Doddr." In like manner, Macknight and Boothroyd, being long names, and often occurring in the Epistles, we haye abridged them in a similar manner, as Mackn, and Boothr.

TABLE OF ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES.

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