CONTENTS. ORDER of the EPISTLES of ST. PAUL, as arranged in this Edition COMPARATIVE TABLE of Order of the Epistles in this Edition and in other Editions CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE of the Life and Epistles of St. Paul ANCIENT UNCIAL GREEK MANUSCRIPTS of St. Paul's Epistles Introduction to St. Paul's First Epistle to the Thessalonians FIRST EFISTLE to the THESSALONIANS ORDER OF THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL IN THIS EDITION AND IN OTHER The Text of these Epistles, arranged in chronological order, and printed in the same large type and size as the present Volume, may be had separately. PREFACE. SOME explanation may be required of the reasons which have led to the adoption of the order in which the Epistles of St. Paul are arranged in the present Edition. That order is designed to be chronological; in other words, the Epistles are placed according to the time in which they appear to have been written. Let it be premised, however, that this arrangement does not imply any disparagement of the order in which they are usually disposed in other editions of the Original, and in the English Authorized Version of the Holy Bible. That order has its appropriate uses. It has been received for many centuries in our own and other countries. The Calendar of our Liturgy is conformed to it. It could not therefore be disturbed without much consequent embarrassment. But the question may properly be entertained,-whether, in addition to that common order, another arrangement may not also be provided for private use? The order commonly received, it is well known, is not chronological. The Epistle to the Romans, which there stands first, was written after the Epistles to the Galatians and to the Corinthians; and it is generally acknowledged, that the two Epistles to the Thessalonians, which are placed in the common order among the last, were the first Epistles written by St. Paul. Various opinions have been given concerning the reasons which produced the common arrangement. Some ancient writers supposed, that it was caused by considerations of the comparative proficiency of those persons to whom the Epistles were addressed'. Others conjectured that it arose from regard to the importance of the Cities to which the Epistles were respectively sent, or to the length and copiousness of the Epistles themselves 2. The last opinion seems to be most probable 3. The order commonly received is not, however, precisely that in which the Epistles are found in the most ancient Manuscripts. In very early copies of collections of St. Paul's Epistles, the Epistle to the Hebrews was placed between the Epistles to the 1 So Primasius, Præfat. in Epistolas Pauli (p. 416 of vol. 68 of Migne's Patrologia), "Movet quosdam, quare Romanorum Epistola in primo sit posita, cùm eam posteà scriptam ratio manifestet. Unde intelligendum est, ita omnes Epistolas ordinatas, ut prima poneretur, quæ ad inferiores (qu. infirmiores ?) fuerat destinata, et per singulas Epistolas gradatim ad perfectiores veniretur." See Theodoret, Præfat. in Epist. S. Paul., p. 8, vol. iii. ed. Hal. 1771. 'And has been adopted by Dr. Mill, Prolog. N. T. num. 287; and by Dr. Lardner, History, vol. iii. p. 457, ed. Lond. 1815. Galatians and the Ephesians'. And in most ancient Manuscripts now extant 2, the Epistle to the Hebrews is placed before the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, and not after them, as in the majority of modern Editions. It is also worthy of remark, that in some of the earliest Manuscripts which have been preserved to us, the Epistles of St. Paul are placed after the General Epistles of St. James, St. Peter, St. John, and St. Jude, and not before them, as in the common order. In addition to such considerations as these, the following reflections presented themselves to the Editor of this volume. The present Edition of the Greek Testament is designed mainly for the use of younger students of Theology. What therefore is the order, in which the Epistles of St. Paul may be read most profitably by them? There seemed to be only one answer to this inquiry,—The order of time. In confirmation of this opinion, the following reasons may be adduced; It has pleased Almighty God to bestow upon His Church an Apostolic History, as well as Apostolic Epistles. The Apostolic History, written by St. Paul's faithful companion the Evangelist St. Luke, illustrates the Apostolic Epistles, and is illustrated by them. But the benefit of this mutual illustration is much impaired, if the Apostolic Epistles are not studied in connexion with, and in the order of, the Apostolic History. On the other hand, if the Epistles of St. Paul are read according to the sequence of time, the student has at hand an inspired running comment upon them, in the Acts of the Apostles. Again; if the theological student does not read St. Paul's Epistles in chronological order, but approaches them in that order in which they are commonly presented to his view, he will commence his task with the most difficult of all the Epistles of St. Paul,— the Epistle to the Romans. He will enter upon his arduous undertaking without due previous preparation, and will find himself perplexed, and perhaps discouraged; and he may even be betrayed into distressing doubts, or dangerous errors, from which he would have been preserved, if he had come to the study of that Epistle in the natural order of time, when he would have been familiarized with the thoughts, the diction, and the teaching of the great Apostle; and would thus have been prepared and qualified for the study of the Epistle to the Romans by the previous discipline and training, which would have been afforded him by a careful perusal of those other Epistles which were written by St. Paul before the date of that Epistle. Another reflection suggests itself here. All who believe the Gospel, regard the Apostle St. Paul with religious reverence, as a chosen vessel of God to bear His Name before the Gentiles, and acknowledge him to have been a wise master-builder of the 'See Cardinal Mai's note in his edition of the Codex Vaticanus, vol. v. p. 429, Rom. 1858. In the Alexandrine MS., the Codex Sinaiticus (N), the Vatican MS., the Codex Ephrem, and the Coislinian MS. As it is in Lachmann's Edition, Berolini, 1850. As they are in the editions of Lachmann, Berolini, 1850, and Tischendorf, Lipsiæ, 1859. 5 Acts ix. 15. |