THE CENTURY BIBLE HANDBOOKS 
 
 Life and Teaching of Paul 
 
 ALFRED E. GARVIE, M.A., D.D. 
 
Cibrarjp of trhe trheolo^ical ^tmimvy 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 'd^t' 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 The Estate of 
 Philip H, Waddell Smith 
 BS 2505 7G36 1910 
 Garvie, Alfred Ernest, 1861 
 
 1945. 
 Life and teaching of Paul 
 

 ,' \"" ^ V 
 

CENTURY BIBLE HANDBOOKS 
 
 List of the Volumes Issued ajid in Preparation 
 
 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 By Rev. Prof. Owen C. Whitehouse, M.A., D.D. 
 *THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 By Rev. Prof. G. Cukkie Martin, M.A., B.D. 
 
 ♦APOCRYPHAL BOOKS (Old Testament and New 
 . Testament). 
 
 By Rev. Prof. H. T. Andrews, B.A. 
 
 *OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. 
 
 By Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett, M.A., D.D., Litt.D. 
 
 ♦THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL. 
 
 By Prof. Peake, M.A., D.D. 
 ♦LIFE AND TEACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 By Rev. Principal W. B. Selbie, M.A. 
 
 *LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL. 
 
 By Rev. Principal A. E. Garvie, M.A., D.D. 
 
 ST. JOHN AND OTHER NEW TESTAMENT 
 TEACHERS. 
 
 By Rev. Prof. A. L. Humphries, M.A. 
 
 •THE EARLY CHURCH. 
 
 By Rev. R. F. Horton, M.A., D.D. 
 ♦THE NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. 
 
 By Rev. Principal Adenev, M.A., D.D. 
 
 *THE NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINES OF MAN, 
 SIN, AND SALVATION. 
 
 By Rev. Robert S. Franks, M.A., B.Litt. 
 
 ♦CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 
 
 By Rev. Prof. Robert Mackintosh, M.A., D.D. 
 
 Those marked ♦ are issued. 
 
CENTURY BIBLE HANDBOOKS 
 
 General Editor 
 Principal WALTER F. ADENEY, M.A., D.D. 
 
 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
TO 
 
 REV. P. T. FORSYTH, M.A., D.D. 
 
 PRINCIPAL OF HACKNEY COLLEGE 
 
 AS A SMALL TOKEN OF 
 
 GRATITUDE, AFFECTION, AND ESTEEM 
 
 AS A FRIEND AND FELLOW-WORKER 
 
 IN THE TRAINING OF 
 
 THE MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL 
 
LIFE AND TEACHING 
 OF PAUL 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. ALFRED E. GARVIE, M.A., D.D. 
 
 PRINCIPAL OF NEW COLLEGE, LONDON 
 EDITOR OF "ROMANS" IN " THE CENTURY BIBLE " 
 
 AUTHOR OF "the RITSCHLIAN THEOLOGY," "A GUIDE TO PREACHERS, 
 "the INNBR life OF JESUS," ETC. 
 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 1910 
 
5^ 
 
 ASIA MINOR Sc GREECE 
 
 SHOWING THE JOURNEYS OF ST PAUL 
 
 £r^glis/t Miles 
 
 
 E ,A T SEA 
 
 (^iSDJ rEIiRASEAX S EJ) 
 
 lianiioJomeF.E-iJin' 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. PAUL THE SCRIBE 
 
 IL PAUL THE BELIEVER . 
 
 III. PAUL THE MISSIONARY. 
 
 IV. PAUL THE BUILDER 
 V. PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 (1) THE NEED OF SALVATION 
 
 (2) THE NATURE OF SALVATION 
 
 (3) THE WORK OF SALVATION 
 
 (4) THE CLAIM OF SALVATION 
 VI. PAUL THE MORALIST 
 
 VII. PAUL THE MARTYR 
 
 APPENDIX- 
 LOGY 
 INDEX . 
 
 -LITERARY SOURCES AND CHRONO 
 
 23 
 40 
 69 
 89 
 90 
 100 
 123 
 
 166 
 
 179 
 182 
 
 NOTE 
 
 Owing to the limitations of space, it has been necessary to omit 
 much that would otherwise have had a place in this volume. Two 
 important questions, the literary sources and the chronology, have 
 been briefly dealt with in the Appendix. The account of the 
 missionary journeys in Acts is so familiar that the writer, instead 
 of retelling the story, has confined himself to treating questions of 
 special interest or importance. His aim has been mainly so to 
 present the teaching of Paul as to bring out clearly its distinctive 
 features, and to commend its essential content, with the necessary 
 modifications of statement, to Christian thought to-day. In so 
 doing he is but discharging a little of the great debt he himself 
 owes to Paul in Christian living as well as thinking. 
 
LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAUL THE SCRIBE 
 
 (i) Birth and Training as a Scribe. — According to 
 Paul's own testimony, he was born in Tarsus of Cilicia 
 (Acts xxi. 39, xxii. 3), inheriting the Roman citizenship 
 (xvi. 37, xxii. 28, XXV. 12); but he was a thorough Jew, 
 speaking Aramaic, sprung from a Pharisaic stock (Phil, 
 iii. 5; II. Cor. xi. 22; II. Tim. i. 3; Acts xxiii. 6). 
 At an early age he was sent up to Jerusalem to be 
 trained as a Rabbi "at the feet of Gamaliel" (xxii. 3, 
 xxvi. 5) ; but before leaving Tarsus, in accordance with 
 Jewish custom he learned a trade, making tents out 
 of the rough goat's-hair cloth for which the district was 
 famed (xviii. 3). At the time of his arrest he had a 
 sister's son living in Jerusalem (xxiii. 16). Jerome 
 repeats a tradition that he belonged to Gischala in 
 
2 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 Galilee, "from which, when captured by the Romans, 
 he removed with his parents to Tarsus in Cilicia." 
 Thus a Jew in race and religion, he not only spent 
 his early years in a Gentile environment, but was 
 by his Roman citizenship put in wider relations 
 endowed with a larger outlook. Tarsus was not only 
 famed for commerce, but also for its university, which 
 ranked with Athens and Alexandria. The Stoic philo- 
 sophy and Roman law were here taught. By this 
 environment the boy Paul cannot but have been 
 influenced, although there is no proof that he had 
 any extensive or exact Greek culture. His knowledge 
 of Greek literature or philosophy is such as any Jew, 
 living among Greeks, might pick up ; and there was 
 much in Greek culture for which he felt only contempt 
 (I. Cor. i. 20 ; Col. ii. 8). The easy use of the Greek 
 language which he gained was a great help in his work 
 afterwards. To his Roman citizenship he probably 
 owed such familiarity with Roman law as he shows, his 
 recognition of the providential function of the Roman 
 Empire in protecting the preachers of the Gospel, and 
 his aspiration to secure the whole Empire for Christ. 
 But although these influences can be traced in the 
 Christian apostle, they seem for a time at least to 
 
PAUL THE SCRIBE 
 
 have been entirely suppressed in the Jewish scribe. 
 The double aspect of his personality is indicated in 
 his names — Saul^ given to him probably because the 
 first king of Israel belonged to his tribe; and Paul^ 
 possibly suggested by his small stature. Both names 
 were his from childhood; and the second was not 
 adopted as a compliment to the proconsul Sergius 
 Paulus (Acts xiii. 7), although, when he became leader 
 of the mission to the Gentiles, it came to be almost 
 exclusively used. 
 
 His education in Jerusalem probably began when he 
 was twelve or thirteen — the beginning of manhood, 
 according to Jewish opinion. His teacher Gamaliel 
 was " called by his contemporaries the Beauty of the 
 Law, and is still remembered among the Jews as 
 the great Rabbi." He was no enemy of Greek culture, 
 although devoted to the traditions of the Fathers ; and 
 for a time the pupil was less tolerant than his teacher. 
 The training consisted entirely of the study of the 
 Scriptures, with the interpretations given by previous 
 teachers. There was free questioning and keen dis- 
 cussion, so that the scholars had their wits sharpened 
 and their powers of speech developed. Paul's letters 
 abound in proofs of how much he owed to this training. 
 
4 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 His studies influenced his religious disposition and 
 moral character. He was "zealous for God," and 
 "as touching the righteousness which is in the law 
 found blameless" (Phil. iii. 6). For a time, doubtless, 
 he shared the satisfaction with himself as a doer of the 
 law, and the contempt for those not so devoted to God 
 and the law, that characterised Pharisaism. He had 
 " confidence in the flesh." These things were gain to 
 him, although he afterwards learned to count them as 
 loss (vers. 4 and 7). 
 
 (2) His Failure as a Pharisee. — If he was a thorough 
 Pharisee, well pleased with himself, his peace did not 
 last long. His treatment of the law in Galatians and 
 Romans shows how much of a burden and a bondage it 
 became to him. The superficial Pharisee was not con- 
 scious of his failure to fulfil all the demands of the law ; 
 the hypocritical Pharisee only made the pretence of 
 keeping its commands ; but the conscientious Pharisee 
 soon discovered that a task was laid upon him beyond 
 his strength. Paul was sincere, and therefore miserable 
 under the law. Assuming that the passage in Rom. vii. 
 7-25 is autobiographical, it records for us a moral crisis 
 in his life. His conscience discovered that the law for- 
 bade evil desire as well as wrong action ; and in respect 
 
PAUL THE SCRIBE 5 
 
 to coveting or lust he could not find himself blameless. 
 Without committing ourselves to Dr. Bruce's suggestion 
 that he was tempted by sensual desire, although a good 
 deal can be said for it, we are warranted in concluding 
 that Paul found in himself wishes which he knew to be 
 wrong, yet could not suppress. He vainly struggled 
 until he felt helpless and hopeless (ver. 24). 
 
 Possibly his misery drove him to undertake a task 
 which to his disposition, as the letters reveal it, must 
 have been uncongenial — the extinction of the Christian 
 community. He mentions his persecuting the Church as 
 an instance of his zeal (Phil. iii. 6). Probably he believed 
 that he could make up for his failure to keep the law in 
 one respect by showing his zeal for it in persecuting those 
 who seemed to be making it null and void by declaring 
 as Messiah one who had died the death which the law 
 pronounced accursed (Gal. iii. 13). Possibly, too, he was 
 angry at the Christians because, if this assertion were 
 true, he had lost even the hope of relief from his misery 
 which the coming of the Messiah held out to him. 
 When Stephen's boldness in preaching Jesus as the 
 Christ had excited the anger of the multitude in Jeru- 
 salem, Paul came to the front. Though he did not 
 cast a stone at the first martyr, he approved the deed 
 
6 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 (vii. 58). The spirit in which Stephen met death, with 
 trust in God and forgiveness for man, did not at once 
 arrest his fury ; but who can doubt that he already felt 
 the goad against which he kept vainly kicking? He 
 describes his own career as persecutor in Acts xxvi. 
 9-1 1. What might have been a brief outbreak of mob- 
 violence, he seems to have turned into a systematic and 
 extending persecution. As the words, " I gave my vote 
 against them," indicate, his reputation as a scribe had 
 already won him a place in the Sanhedrin, or this 
 honour was one of the rewards of his persecuting zeal. 
 If he had any doubts or scruples in regard to his course 
 of action, he crushed them. But he did not thus find 
 the deliverance from a torturing conscience which he 
 sought. 
 
 Afterwards looking back on his action, though he 
 bitterly regretted it and severely judged it, yet he recog- 
 nised that it had not been in defiance of his conscience 
 (I. Tim. i. 13). His Pharisaism could not secure moral 
 victory, but it could stimulate persecuting zeal. It was 
 a preparation for his conversion, in so far as it taught 
 him that righteousness is not, and cannot be, by works 
 of the law. Before passing to his Christian experience, 
 let us gather up the beliefs which he carried with him. 
 
PAUL THE SCRIBE 
 
 (3) His Beliefs as a Scribe of the Pharisees. — (i.) 
 Josephus tells us that the three sects of Judaism were 
 divided on the question of divine providence and hu??ian 
 freedom. The Pharisees affirmed both ; the Sadducees 
 denied the former, and the Essenes the latter. In his 
 argument in regard to the rejection of the Jews and 
 acceptance of the Gentiles by God in Rom. ix.-xi., Paul 
 maintains the freedom, unbelief, and guilt of man, but 
 also asserts an absolute divine providence. God can do 
 as He will ; men in His hands are as clay in the hands 
 of the potter. While his conclusion that "God hath 
 shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy 
 upon all " (xi. 32) is inspired by his Christian faith, yet 
 it is not the distinctively Christian conception of God 
 that dominates the earlier stage of his argument, in 
 which he asserts an unconditional divine election. 
 
 Again, one cannot but recognise that his representation 
 of '•'the righteousness of God" in Rom. i.-iii. has been 
 affected by the Pharisaic conception of God as Ruler, 
 Lawgiver, Judge. One may admit that the conception 
 of a moral order in the world, which must be main- 
 tained so that God's moral character may not be 
 obscured or man's moral conscience be confused, is 
 not mere.y Pharisaic, but universally and permanently 
 
8 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 valid ; and that in the death of Christ there is such 
 a manifestation of holy love in self-sacrifice as asserts 
 that order, vindicates that character, and satisfies 
 that conscience ; and yet one may be forced to main- 
 tain that it was not only because Paul was meeting 
 the Judaisers on their own ground, but also because 
 he himself had been a Pharisee, that the argument 
 assumes the forensic character, which has been an 
 offence to so many believers. 
 
 That God was conceived by Paul as personal, and 
 even that much of his language is anthropomorphic, 
 can hardly be set down to his Pharisaism, as it is 
 the impulse of religion to think of God as personal 
 and as akin to man. It is doubtful whether we are 
 justified in affirming, as Weinel does, "that Paul 
 seriously conceives God under the image of a man 
 as distinct from a woman " (" St. Paul, the Man and 
 his Work," p. 24), on the strength of the distinctly 
 artificial Rabbinical argument of I. Cor. xi. 7-9, 
 to prove the inferiority of woman as a reason why 
 she should be veiled. 
 
 (ii.) For his cos7nology, the universe consists of three 
 parts — heaven, earth, and the abode of the dead. He 
 means to give a complete account of Creation in 
 
PAUL THE SCRIBE 
 
 the words "things in heaven and things on earth 
 and things under the earth" (Phil. ii. lo). Christ 
 at death "descended into the lower parts of the 
 earth " : in rising again He " ascended far above 
 all the heavens" (Eph. iv. 9). From heaven He 
 will appear at His Second Coming (I. Thess. i. 10). 
 The saints already have their glorified bodies in heaven 
 (II. Cor. V. i). In a trance Paul believed himself to 
 have been caught up into the third heaven, even into 
 Paradise (II. Cor. xii. 2-4). This heavenly world, as 
 eternal, is the object of desire of those who groan undei 
 the bondage of corruption in this earthly life (II. Cor. 
 iv. 18; Rom. viii. 21-22). All this does not belong 
 to the Christian revelation in Paul, but to his Pharisaic 
 inheritance. Probably Weinel forces a meaning un- 
 intended by Paul on the description of the bodies 
 celestial and terrestial in I. Cor. xv. 40, when he 
 represents him as anticipating for the risen in Christ 
 a home in the stars. 
 
 (iii.) A marked distinction between Pharisees and 
 Sadducees is expressed in Acts xxiii. 8 : " The Sadducees 
 say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor 
 spirit ; but the Pharisees confess both." Paul, even 
 as a Christian, felt himself to be in closer agreement 
 
lo LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 with the Pharisees than the Sadducees. While the 
 manner of Christ's death made it for a time impossible 
 for him to believe in His resurrection as the proof 
 of His Messiahship, the possibility of a resurrection 
 was not doubted by him. If the story of the woman 
 who had seven husbands, brought by the Sadducees 
 as an objection to the belief in the Resurrection, is 
 a specimen of the kind of argument they were wont 
 to appeal to in their controversies on this question 
 with the Pharisees (Matt. xxii. 23), the current belief 
 must have been that there would be a literal repro- 
 duction of earthly conditions ; and this other evidence 
 proves it to have been. Whether Paul after his con- 
 version became familiar with Christ's rebuke of this 
 gross conception or not, yet he did not continue 
 to hold the belief in this form; it was one of the 
 things which became new in Christ. "Flesh and 
 blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither 
 doth corruption inherit incorruption " (I. Cor. xv. 50). 
 
 (iv.) The belief in angels and spirits^ on the other 
 hand, he took over with little modification. The 
 Christian faith assured him of Christ's victory over 
 all hostile spiritual powers, and of the security that 
 He offers to all believers. God raised Christ far 
 
PAUL THE SCRIBE ii 
 
 above all these (Eph. i. 21); and His crucifixion was 
 a victory gained over them (Col. ii. 15). The hostility 
 of evil spirits was to Paul a present reality, even when 
 he was assured of their defeat by Christ. He expands 
 the phrase " the wiles of the devil " in the statement : 
 "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but 
 against the principalities, against the powers, against 
 the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual 
 hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places " (Eph. vi. 
 12). It was not only in the Epistles {Colossia?is and 
 Ephesians), concerned with an incipient Greek heresy, 
 that Paul dealt with this belief. He expresses his 
 certainty of the Christian salvation in a challenge 
 to these powers (Rom. viii. 39). For us to-day such 
 language appears poetical, and we treat it as figurative 
 speech; but Paul was expressing a distinct and con- 
 fident behef. 
 
 As is well known, the Old Testament has only the 
 beginnings of a doctrine of Satan, and angels good or 
 bad. The belief in a kingdom of angels of light under 
 God, and a kingdom of angels of darkness under Satan, 
 was borrowed by Judaism from the Persian refigion. 
 While the Sadducees rejected the doctrine as an innova- 
 tion, the Pharisees fully accepted it. It is prominent in the 
 
12 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 Apocryphal books, and still morethe Apocalyptic literature. 
 For Paul, Satan is "the god of this world (or age) who 
 hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light 
 of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image 
 of God, should not dawn upon them " (II. Cor. iv. 4). 
 " The rulers of this world (or age) which are coming to 
 nought " (I. Cor. ii. 6) are evil spirits, whose complete 
 subjection is the triumph of God's kingdom on earth 
 (I. Cor. XV. 24). For Paul these are not abstract terms, 
 as for us, but the titles of orders of spiritual beings. 
 When Christ came to earth. He was not recognised by 
 the rulers of this age ; had He been, even they would have 
 shrunk from the guilt of His death (I. Cor. ii. 8). Not 
 as " manifested in the flesh," but as " justified in the 
 spirit" — that is, only after His Resurrection was He "seen 
 of angels" (I. Tim. iii. 16). 
 
 In Paul's experience Satan was very real. Whether he 
 thought of him as black or not, at least he held that to 
 effect his purposes he must sometimes transform himself 
 (II. Cor. xi. 14). He is the tempter (I. Thess. iii. 5), 
 who may allure from the Christian faith. Undue severity 
 to a Christian brother would be giving Satan an advan- 
 tage, would show ignorance of his wiles (II. Cor. ii. 11). 
 Sensual desire may be one of the means used by him 
 
PAUL THE SCRIBE 13 
 
 (I. Cor. vii. 5). Any hindrance to the work of God, even 
 bodily infirmity, is due to him (I. Thess. ii. 18). Paul's 
 own " stake in the flesh," whatever it may have been, 
 was " a messenger of Satan to buffet " him, and yet he 
 recognises that it served a good end, " that I should not 
 be exalted overmuch," and that its continuance was God's 
 will (II. Cor. xii. 7-9). While showing his enlighten- 
 ment by denying that " an idol is anything," he neverthe- 
 less regards heathen sacrifices as offerings to demons, 
 and participation in the sacrificial feast as a communion 
 with demons just as real as is the communion with 
 Christ in the Lord's Supper (I. Cor. x. 19-22). The 
 beauty of women, if unveiled, may tempt angels present 
 at the Christian worship (I. Cor. xi. 10. No other more 
 probable meaning can be found for the obscure clause 
 " because of the angels "). Paul admits the abstract 
 possibility that " an angel from heaven " might preach 
 another Gospel to the Galatians, and unhesitatingly 
 judges him " let him be anathema " (Gal. i. 8). The 
 angels which fall into sin will be judged by the saints 
 (I. Cor. vi. 3). The angels as well as men are spectators 
 of the sufferings of the apostles (iv. 9). While there are 
 spirits altogether evil, many of the angels are neither 
 good nor bad, liable to present temptation, and subject 
 
14 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 to future judgment. The ministry of good angels is not 
 at all prominent in Paul's letters. Their agency in the 
 mediation of the law is probably regarded by him as an 
 evidence of its inferiority to the Gospel, which is directly 
 given by God (Gal. iii. 19). He was far more conscious 
 of temptation by the evil spirits than of the ministration 
 of the good. His belief as a Pharisee in such hostile 
 spiritual powers undoubtedly cast a shadow over his 
 world, deepened the tragedy of his own moral struggle : 
 the revelation of God in Christ did not free him from 
 the belief, but robbed it of its terror. 
 
 (v.) Paul's doctrine of man is not altogether original, 
 but is derived from the teaching of the Jewish schools. 
 He adopts the Old Testament psychology : for him man 
 is body, soul, and spirit. His doctrine of the flesh 
 is not derived fronif Greek dualism, but is a develop- 
 ment of the Hebrew conception. Creaturely weakness 
 through the entrance and dominion of sin in man, 
 becomes moral perversity. Whether in his view of the 
 flesh we may further detect " the personal equation," 
 will be afterwards discussed; meanwhile we note only 
 that there is a connection with the current beliefs of 
 Judaism. 
 
 The existence in man of a wicked or corrupt heart, of 
 
PAUL THE SCRIBE 15 
 
 wickedness or corruptness, is recognised in the Jewish 
 schools, and is traced back to Adam. This God left 
 in men, even when He gave them the law (H. Esdras 
 iii. 20-22). The multiplication of the one transgression 
 is very vividly pictured, a great harvest from a seed (iv. 
 30). Death is regarded as the result of sin (vii. 48). 
 The absolute universality of sin is not affirmed ; Phari- 
 saism assumed the possibility of man's keeping the law ; 
 but Paul had discovered for himself that the law could 
 not be kept; and therefore, when he reproduces this 
 teaching in Rom. v. 12-21, he affirms confidently 
 "death passed unto all men, for that all sinned." 
 
 In the Old Testament, the story of the Fall in Genesis 
 iii. is nowhere used to explain the existence of sin or 
 death; but in the Apocryphal writings this explanation 
 is found. In Wisdom ii. 23-24, man's creation in God's 
 image, and man's fall into sin and death " by the envy of 
 the devil," are asserted. Woman's share in bringing about 
 the tragedy is clearly stated (Ecclesiasticus xxv. 24). 
 Owing to his keener moral insight and severer moral 
 struggle, Paul had a sense of the world's sin and misery 
 far greater than was at all common in Pharisaism, and 
 it was this difference that prepared him more readily to 
 welcome the Christian salvation. 
 
i6 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 (vi.) As a Christian Paul was delivered from his Jewish 
 exclusiveness. He saw the idolatry and corruption of 
 the Gentiles, and yet recognised, as a Pharisee would 
 not have done, that there was "law written in their 
 hearts" (Rom. ii. 14-16). The arrogance of the Jew, 
 which he describes and then rebukes inverses 17-24, he 
 probably had himself felt and shown, at least as long as 
 he was a satisfied Pharisee. While he laid aside this 
 spirit, yet even at his own conversion he did not 
 abandon his belief that he belonged to a people chosen, 
 called, and fitted by God to be the bearer of divine 
 revelation. "They were entrusted with the oracles of 
 God" (Rom. iii. 2). 
 
 Of these oracles he held the view current in the 
 schools of the scribes. What is written in the law of 
 Moses is said by God (I. Cor. ix. 9, 10). *' Every 
 scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, 
 for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in 
 righteousness " (II. Tim. iii. 16). Paul's use of the Old 
 Testament in support of his arguments assumes the 
 absolute authority. When he infers from the command, 
 " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the 
 corn," that the apostle has a right to support (I. Cor. ix. 
 9, 10), he offers us an instance of the Rabbinic Halacha, 
 
PAUL THE SCRIBE 17 
 
 or interpretation of the law to cover cases not expressly 
 provided for. When he expands the story of the water 
 that flowed from the rock in Horeb (Ex. xvii. 6) in 
 the statement "for they drank of a spiritual rock that 
 followed them " (x. 4), he is reproducing the Haggada^ 
 or elaboration of the history for edification. When he 
 calls attention to the singular in the promise to 
 Abraham, " He saith not, And to seeds, as of many, 
 but as of one, And to thy seed," and infers that Christ 
 is directly referred to (Gal. iii. 16), he allows himself 
 just one of those verbal artificialities of interpretation dear 
 to the scribes. An instance of the allegorical method, 
 so widely used by Philo in order to read Greek philo- 
 sophy into the Hebrew Scriptures, is found in the same 
 epistle, where Abraham's " two sons, one by the handmaid, 
 and one by the freewoman," are treated as an allegory 
 of Judaism and Christianity (iv. 21-31). The passage 
 in I. Cor. x. i-ii, already referred to as containing a bit 
 of Jewish Haggada, is also an example of the method of 
 interpretation, which is akin to the allegorical, but claims 
 even more confidently to understand the divine inten- 
 tion in events. Of the varied experiences of Israel in 
 the wilderness Paul affirms : " In these things they 
 became figures of us " (x. 6). " These things happened 
 
i8 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 to them by way of figure " (v. 1 1 ). The typology which 
 was once so common in the Christian Church, but which 
 modern scholarship has quite discredited, was for Paul 
 a valid method. No distinction was made between the 
 parts of the Old Testament which were expressly pre- 
 dictive and those where there was no such intention. 
 A verbal coincidence, without any regard to the context, 
 was enough to suggest a prophecy and its fulfilment. 
 Hosea's threat to the northern kingdom that God would 
 in judgment disown it as His people, and His promise that 
 afterwards in mercy He would again call it His people 
 (ii. 23), is treated as a prediction of God's call of the 
 Gentiles into the Christian Church (Rom. ix. 25). The 
 words in Malachi, " I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated " 
 (i. 2, 3), which describe the lot of two peoples, are 
 quoted as a proof of God's unconditional election of 
 the one son, and as unconditional rejection of the other 
 son of Rebecca even before birth (Rom. ix. 13). It 
 is to be observed, however, that Paul's use of the 
 Old Testament in the Rabbinic way is almost entirely 
 confined to his controversy with the Judaisers ; in the 
 exposition of his Christian faith he does not need to build 
 on such unsubstantial foundations. It must be added 
 also that his spiritual discernment does restrain him 
 
PAUL THE SCRIBE 19 
 
 from the trivialities and extravagances, in which some 
 scribes indulged. 
 
 (viii.) In the Scriptures, which he so regarded as 
 "the oracles of God," Paul as a Pharisee most highly 
 prized the law. Even when he had learned that Christ 
 was the end of the law, he described it as " holy, righ- 
 teous, and good," as "spiritual" (Rom. vii. 12, 14). 
 After proving his thesis that justification is by faith for 
 Jew and Gentile alike, he vehemently repudiates the 
 suggestion that he is making "the law of none effect 
 through faith," with the affirmation, " God forbid ; nay, 
 we establish the law " (Rom. iii. 31). At one time he 
 did believe that the demands of the law could be kept, 
 and that " he that doeth them shall live in them '' 
 (Gal. iii. 12). Only afterwards did he discover the curse 
 of the law. 
 
 Even before this discovery, however, he probably 
 delighted in the promises of God. Messianic prophecy 
 was cultivated in the schools of the scribes. The 
 Apocalyptic literature shows how eagerly the eyes 
 of the pious were turned towards the future, how 
 fervent were the hopes of God's deliverance of His 
 people, and His judgment of their enemies. As a 
 Christian Paul believed that the Messiah had come, 
 
20 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 but much that he had expected as a Pharisee in 
 Messiah's first coming he now anticipated in regard 
 to Christ's Second Advent. Not a little in Paul's 
 Christology and eschatology can be paralleled in the 
 Messianic prophecy current in Judaism. In the Psalms 
 of Solomon (belonging to the time when Pompey entered 
 Jerusalem, 63 B.C.), especially the seventeenth and 
 eighteenth Psalms, we get a clear and full picture of 
 what the Pharisees expected that the Messiah would 
 be and do. This Pharisaic hope was exclusively 
 national and distinctively legalistic. Paul's Christian 
 faith did make the Messianic hope new in its evan- 
 gelical and universalist character, but some of the 
 older elements were retained. Judaism interpreted 
 the second Psalm in a Messianic sense, and so was 
 prepared to call the Messiah Son of God. In one 
 of the Apocalypses the Messiah appears as the Son 
 of Man, and is endowed with transcendent attributes. 
 The pre-existence of the Messiah in heaven with God, 
 waiting at the appointed time to be sent forth, was 
 also taught in some Jewish circles (compare I. Cor. 
 i. 7, XV. 45-49 ; Gal. iv. 4 ; Rom. viii. 3). If we 
 are to press the literal sense of the words in I. Cor. 
 X. 4, "the rock was Christ," then Paul would seem 
 
PAUL THE SCRIBE 
 
 to have shared the belief, current in his own time, that 
 the pre-existent Messiah had manifested Himself in 
 various forms in the history of Israel. Paul's views 
 of the Resurrection, the judgment of the world, 
 and the triumph of the Kingdom of God, although 
 connected with the Second Coming of Christ, were 
 cast in the mould of the Jewish expectations of the 
 Messiah's coming. 
 
 The frank and full recognition of the debt Paul 
 the Christian theologian owed to the Rabbinic school 
 in which he was trained does not depreciate his origin- 
 ality or authority ; for we are coming to recognise more 
 and more that even the great man owes much to his 
 heredity and environment. Paul had a Gospel, which 
 he did not learn from men, but which was revealed to 
 him by God through His spirit; and we shall be 
 able to apprehend that Gospel more clearly, and con- 
 sequently appreciate it more highly, if we can dis- 
 tinguish from its essential and distinctive features 
 whatever did not belong to it. Whatever opinions 
 and beliefs Paul carried over from his Pharisaism, 
 it could not meet his spirit's deepest needs ; it could 
 only disclose to him his moral impotence ; it drove 
 him, distressed in soul, in a frenzy of ignorant un- 
 
22 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 belief for a time to reject as blasphemy the revelation 
 of God for which his heart and flesh were crying out, 
 and to persecute, even unto death, those who, having 
 for themselves received the divine salvation, desired 
 to impart it to others. "The commandment which 
 was unto life he found to be unto death," until the 
 life of God in the Risen Christ was revealed to him 
 on the way to Damascus. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 PAUL THE BELIEVER 
 
 (i) Paul's Preparation. — Although the conversion of 
 
 Paul is usually regarded as sudden, yet the study of 
 
 the rehgious consciousness to-day by the methods 
 
 of scientific psychology leads us to look for some 
 
 previous preparation; and such is suggested by the 
 
 words "it is hard for thee to kick against the goad" 
 
 (Acts xxvi. 14). He realised his moral impotence to 
 
 keep the law. He desired by his zeal in persecuting 
 
 the Christians to make up for this failure. He hoped 
 
 that Messiah's coming might bring him deliverance 
 
 from sin and relief of his misery. He was maddened 
 
 by the confession of the Christians that the Messiah 
 
 had come, but had been rejected, and had died the 
 
 shameful and accursed death of the Cross. He could 
 
 not bring himself to believe that their testimony that 
 
 this crucified Messiah was risen from the dead was 
 
 23 
 
24 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 true, and so he set himself to stamp out this blasphemy. 
 Did the bearing of the persecuted ever make him 
 doubt whether he was assuredly right and doing God's 
 will ? Did he ask himself whether, after all, their witness 
 might not be true ? If so, he crushed all his scruples 
 and fears and pressed on in the path he had chosen. 
 While, on the one hand, all the evidence we have is 
 opposed to the common assumption that Paul was 
 in such a condition of soul that a subjective illusion 
 of Christ's presence and voice was enough to bring 
 about a thorough change from unbelief to faith, yet, 
 on the other hand, there are indications that, without 
 some such inward process as has been just suggested, 
 he could not have accepted even an objective mani- 
 festation of Christ as a convincing proof that He was 
 risen, and that therefore, though He had been cruci- 
 fied, He was indeed the Messiah. Such an external 
 compulsion of faith would not be at all in accord 
 with the character of the Christian revelation. 
 
 (2) The Records of the Conversion in Acts. — There 
 are three records of the conversion in the Acts (ix. 1-19, 
 xxii. 6-16, xxvi. 12-18). The call to apostleship 
 among the Gentiles is not mentioned in the first 
 account, although it is revealed to Ananias (ix. 15). 
 
PAUL THE BELIEVER 25 
 
 In the second account the call is mentioned only in 
 connection with a subsequent vision during prayer 
 in the temple (xxii. 21). In the third account no 
 mention is made of the part played by Ananias, 
 and the call is immediately connected with his con- 
 version (xxvi. 16-18). The probability is that in the 
 third account a much condensed summary is before 
 us, and so the call appears antedated. It is likely 
 that Paul only gradually, as he meditated on God's 
 dealings with him and came to understand the Gospel 
 entrusted to him, realised the task which God had 
 assigned to him. As we study his work as a missionary 
 we shall see that he was divinely guided step by step. 
 In Isaiah's call (chapter vi.) we seem to have a similar 
 fusing of distinct experiences into one. 
 
 The accounts do not strictly agree, although they 
 do not necessarily contradict one another, as regards 
 what Paul's companions saw or heard. Probably they 
 did see a bright light, but not the form of Christ, as 
 Paul saw; did hear a sound, but not the voice, and 
 the words uttered, as he heard. In all the accounts 
 the first words Paul heard were. "Saul, Saul, why 
 persecutest thou me?" In the third is added the 
 reproach, " It is hard for thee to kick against the goad " 
 
26 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 (xxvi. 14). In all the accounts his question, "Who 
 art thou, Lord ? " secures the same answer, " I am 
 Jesus whom thou persecutest." In xxii. 8 "of 
 Nazareth" is added to "Jesus." Beyond this the 
 close correspondence ceases. In the second account 
 alone Paul asks the question, "What shall I do. 
 Lord?" (xxii. 10), surely a characteristic utterance, 
 indicating his submission. In the first and second 
 accounts he is bidden go to Damascus, and there 
 wait the further divine guidance. He spends three 
 days without sight, neither eating nor drinking (ix. 9). 
 Then Ananias is sent to him to lay his hands upon 
 him, that the Holy Ghost may come upon him, and 
 that his sight may be restored. Ananias' remonstrance 
 that he has come to Damascus as a persecutor is met 
 by the assurance of his calling (as already mentioned). 
 Filled with the Holy Ghost, and restored to sight, 
 Paul arises, is baptized, takes food, and is strengthened. 
 (3) Weiners Explanation of the Conversion. — Weinel, 
 whose appreciative study of the Apostle is vitiated by his 
 bias against the supernatural, considers that " the story 
 in Acts of the healing and directing of Paul by Ananias 
 is hardly tenable, considering the apostle's own solemn 
 assertion that * he conferred not with flesh and blood ' 
 
PAUL THE BELIEVER 27 
 
 (Gal. i. 16)," and this suggests one way in which the 
 account of the temporary blindness may be got rid of. 
 As an alternative explanation, allowing that the blindness 
 was real, he states that "just as hair may whiten in a 
 sudden fright, so the eye may be disorganised by a 
 psychical commotion." Paul's statement in Galatians 
 refers to his relation to the apostles in Jerusalem ; and 
 it is simply exegetical violence to use it for the exclusion 
 of the ministry of Ananias to Paul. The story as it is 
 told in Acts can be suspected only when the miraculous 
 is regarded as incredible. The alternative explanation 
 of the blindness need be considered only if the whole 
 event can be reduced to " a psychical commotion." This 
 is, of course, Weinel's intention. "We must take the 
 inward experience of the apostle, the vision, to be really 
 that which effected the change in his life. Or rather it 
 accompanied, it did not effect that change. Struggles 
 which proceed in our own souls much less vehemently 
 are condensed into visions in the souls of prophets.'* 
 The miracle must be excluded. " However we may 
 imagine the details of the occurrence to ourselves, we 
 shall always recognise in the struggle of Paul's soul, in 
 the mould of his character, his encounters with the 
 Christians, and his personal fanaticism, the moving 
 
28 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 causes which ultimately transformed him in a sudden 
 change " (" St. Paul," pp. 82-84). The one cause to 
 which Paul ascribed the change, the one cause to which a 
 multitude of Christians have assigned a similar change 
 in themselves — the present, living, mighty, gracious 
 Saviour and Lord — is not even mentioned. The fine 
 words which follow about our faith needing no pledge, 
 such as did the faith of the Jews in miracle, are simply, 
 in the literal sense of the word, an impertinence. The 
 Christian believer is here not concerned about any 
 physical miracle, any departure from natural order ; the 
 issue involved is this : Is the object of the Christian 
 faith, Christ Himself, a present reality, supersensible, 
 yet so mighty and gracious that, if need be. He can 
 even sensibly manifest Himself? 
 
 (4) Paul's Account in his Letters. — What does Paul tell 
 us about the change and how it was wrought ? eaxaTov 
 Se TTOLVTiov ixTTT^pa. T^ €KTp(0[xarL c!)cf)Oi] Ka/xot — " and 
 last of all, as to an abortion, he appeared to me also " 
 (I. Cor. XV. 8). The rendering of oionrepel rw eKrpcoixaTi 
 by " as unto one born out of due time " is a delicacy 
 which is nothing else than an infidelity of rendering. 
 If Paul chose to describe his conversion as an abnormal, 
 violent, and forced birth, why should we shrink from 
 
PAUL THE BELIEVER 29 
 
 making his meaning plain ? As an offspring torn from the 
 mother's womb, so was he wrested from his Pharisaism. 
 The appearance by which this change was wrought 
 is, by the use of the same word c^cfidrj, represented as 
 being equally objective with the appearances to the 
 other witnesses of the Resurrection. Paul never treats 
 this manifestation as of the same order as "the visions 
 and revelations of the Lord," of which he does not con- 
 sider it expedient that he should boast {II. Cor. xii. i). 
 In vindicating his apostleship as not a whit behind that 
 of any of the others, he asks, " Have I not seen Jesus 
 our Lord ? " clearly referring to this appearance (I. Cor. 
 ix. i). He is probably thinking of the vision on the 
 way to Damascus, when he compares his own enlighten- 
 ment with the appearance of light at the Creation 
 (II. Cor. iv. 6). " The glory of God in the face of Jesus 
 Christ " — would Paul have so described an inward pro- 
 cess of growing enlightenment? Paul's phrase in Gal. i. 
 15, " to reveal his Son in me," does not, as is sometimes 
 insisted, contradict, or even modify, the impression which 
 the other evidence offers, that the change in Paul was 
 brought about by " seeing Jesus " and hearing His voice. 
 A confirmation of the mode of his conversion, as a 
 thorough and sudden change brought about by the 
 
30 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 mighty grace of Christ Himself, is to be found in his 
 conception of the Christian life as a new creation 
 (II. Cor. V. 17 ; Gal. vi. 15). 
 
 (5) The Recognition of what the Change meant. — But 
 just as we have learned to think of the evolution of 
 nature as the mode of divine creation, so may we recog- 
 nise that it was only slowly Paul learned all his conver- 
 sion meant. He confessed, and sealed his confession 
 by his baptism, that Jesus was Messiah. He was 
 possessed by the same "holy enthusiasm" as charac- 
 terised the primitive community. In the synagogue he 
 proclaimed Jesus " that he is the Son of God," he proved 
 that "this is the Christ" (Acts ix. 20, 22). This testi- 
 mony would doubtless include the common Christian 
 teaching " that Christ died for our sins according to the 
 Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he hath 
 been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures " 
 (I. Cor. XV. 3, 4). The record in Acts would suggest 
 that he taught in the synagogue in Damascus even as the 
 other witnesses, but with a passion and a power which 
 provoked greater antagonism. He had to effect his 
 escape secretly from Damascus, as a plot against his life 
 was formed (ix. 23-25 ; cf. II. Cor. xi. 32-33, where Paul 
 mentions this escape as one of the things that concern 
 
PAUL THE BELIEVER 31 
 
 his weakness). On his arrival in Jerusalem, he was 
 suspected by the Christian community ; but Barnabas, 
 who, either from Paul himself or from others, had learned 
 the story of his conversion and bold preaching in 
 Damascus, secured for him a friendly welcome. His 
 preaching to the Greek-speaking Jews again awoke a 
 hate which threatened his life, and he was sent off to 
 Tarsus by way of Csesarea (26-30). 
 
 If we had only the record in Acts before us we might 
 suppose that Paul simply learned the common tradition 
 about Jesus as the Messiah, although he was able to 
 preach it with greater fervour and force, attracting more 
 attention and exciting warmer opposition. This would 
 explain an obscure statement regarding his knowledge 
 of "Christ after the flesh" (II. Cor. v. 16). The 
 conception of the Messiah in the primitive community 
 was quite consistent with the restriction of its preaching 
 to Jews. Paul himself tells us that he left Jerusalem 
 because Jesus appeared to him in a trance, bidding 
 him depart (i) "because they will not receive of thee 
 testimony concerning me," and (2) "for I will send 
 thee forth far hence unto the Gentiles" (xxii. 18, 21); 
 and indicates that he himself desired to continue 
 bearing witness where his persecuting zeal was best 
 
32 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 known. At this point we might suppose a change in 
 his conception of the Gospel, and consequently in his 
 consciousness of his vocation. 
 
 But when we turn to Paul's account of his actions 
 after his conversion (Gal. i. 15-20), this view seems 
 to fall altogether to the ground. He "conferred not 
 with flesh and blood " ; he did not go to the apostles 
 in Jerusalem, but went away to Arabia; only after 
 three years he spent fifteen days with Cephas in 
 Jerusalem, and then of the other apostles saw only 
 James. Even without the solemn asseveration with 
 which this passage closes, Paul's report as first hand 
 is to be preferred to Luke's, which may not have 
 come to him directly. 
 
 Paul's aim is to vindicate his independence of 
 the other apostles, and he, therefore, lays stress on 
 the circumstances which proved it. Luke's intention 
 is rather to emphasise the essential unity of Paul 
 with the other apostles. It is possible to insert the 
 visit to Arabia, which need not have lasted very much 
 more than a year, in the narrative in Acts ix. between 
 verses 21 and 22, and Luke may have said nothing 
 about it, even if he knew of it, because it belonged 
 to Paul's private life rather than public ministry. 
 
PAUL THE BELIEVER 
 
 His account of Paul's work in Jerusalem, which 
 finds its confirmation in Paul's own allusion in xxii. 
 1 8-2 1, if we may regard the speech as authentic, 
 suggests a publicity which Paul's account of his visit 
 to Cephas, and his meeting with James alone of the 
 other apostles, does not. 
 
 The view of a gradual spiritual development, stimu- 
 lated by intercourse with the other apostles, has greater 
 psychological probability. Such ignorance of, and 
 indifference to, the teaching of the leaders in. the 
 Christian community on the part of the new convert 
 would even suggest a moral problem. Only the unique- 
 ness, certainty, and sufficiency of the revelation by 
 God of His Son in Paul can explain this attitude 
 of independence. It was not because he despised 
 flesh and blood that he sought no conference with 
 it, but because the divine revelation so completely 
 absorbed his interest and attention. In the months 
 of solitude in Arabia, his soul alone with God, he 
 meditated on the revelation made to him, and his 
 distinctive Gospel took its shape. With his Gospel 
 he also found his call to be the apostle to the Gentiles. 
 While, as the record in Acts shows, he waited for 
 the divine guidance in events, yet we do not do 
 
34 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 justice to his self-witness unless we admit that he 
 became aware of his vocation, if not at his conversion, 
 yet as soon as he realised what his conversion meant, 
 what was involved in the divine revelation which in 
 it and its consequences came to him. In a personality 
 like Paul's, we must be prepared for the exceptional 
 rather than the ordinary in experience. 
 
 (6) Paul's Christian Experience. — Without at this 
 stage attempting to formulate his theology, we may 
 consider the essential elements of his Christian ex- 
 perience, as he describes them himself in Phil. iii. 7-1 1. 
 He abandoned the desire and the effort, which had 
 marked his life as a Pharisee, for a righteousness of 
 his own, a righteousness secured by the performance 
 of the works of the law. He welcomed and accepted 
 the righteousness which God offered in Christ to 
 faith — that is, the forgiveness of his sins, the fellow- 
 ship of the child of God with his Father. He 
 secured this righteousness in Christ, in His death 
 and rising again. It is probable that he reached 
 his view of the Cross at an early stage of his Christian 
 experience. A man like Paul could not have found 
 peace in a pardon which did not satisfy his con- 
 science. Guilt was removed by atonement ; the guilty 
 
PAUL THE BELIEVER 35 
 
 sinner lost himself by being found in the atoning 
 Saviour. 
 
 The divine righteousness in Christ brought a new 
 moral motive and moral power into his life, the 
 constraining love of Christ (IL Cor. v. 14-15), his 
 glorying in the Cross (Gal. vi. 14). There is the 
 gratitude of human self-surrender for the grace of 
 the divine self-sacrifice. The record in Acts tells 
 us that Ananias laid his hands upon him that "he 
 might be filled with the Holy Ghost" (ix. 17). This 
 was not only "a holy enthusiasm" of speaking with 
 tongues, prophesying, &c., but also "a holy energy" 
 of purity and benevolence (Rom. viii. 2). It was by 
 this power that he was delivered out of the body of 
 death (vii. 24). 
 
 Paul connected the righteousness of God, in which 
 he found the pardon of his sins, and the Spirit of God 
 with Jesus Christ. If the righteousness of God is re- 
 vealed in the Cross, the Spirit of God works through 
 the Risen Lord. If reconciliation is through His blood, 
 salvation as the complete deliverance from sin, its guilt, 
 power, doom, is by His life (v. 8-10). Christian life for 
 Paul was life in Christ. To gain Christ, to be found in 
 Him, to know Him, these are the phrases he uses to 
 
36 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 describe the relation. This union and communion with 
 Christ is a reproduction in the Christian of Christ's 
 experience. He is crucified and risen with Christ. 
 His renunciation of sin is crucifixion with Christ ; his 
 consecration to God is resurrection with Christ. By 
 this Paul means more than that Christ is the type of his 
 life ; Christ is also the source. His consecration unto 
 God involved sacrifice, an offering of himself in manifold 
 ways in the ministry of the Gospel ; and this for him is 
 "the fellowship of Christ's sufferings, becoming con- 
 formed unto His death." Yet in the sacrifice he always 
 experiences "the power of His resurrection," sustaining, 
 inspiring, delivering, causing to triumph. 
 
 Christ brought to Paul a new hope. He was one 
 who felt keenly the mystery and the terror of death, 
 but because for him to live was Christ, even death itself 
 came to be for him gain (Phil. i. 21). He was con- 
 fident that in Christ the mortal would be swallowed 
 up of life (II. Cor. v. 4). He shrank from being 
 unclothed (disembodied), and thus it was his fervent 
 aspiration that in Christ he might "attain unto the 
 resurrection from the dead" (Phil, iii, 11). 
 
 The Christian experience thus sketched, the life in 
 Christ, was Paul's in circumstances which tested and 
 
PAUL THE BELIEVER 37 
 
 proved its worth. His life, as we shall see, was one of 
 constant toils, perils, pains, cares, griefs, struggles. He 
 suffered not only in himself, but for others. His love 
 for his converts brought him a double burden of 
 anxiety for them, often disappointment with them, 
 sometimes even ingratitude from them. As in regard 
 to " the stake in the flesh " (H. Cor. xii. 7, 9), so with 
 respect to all these things, he found Christ's grace 
 sufficient, and His strength perfected in his own 
 weakness. What that " stake in the flesh " was, it seems 
 idle for us to inquire, for all endeavours to solve the 
 problem have proved more or less vain. If it was 
 disease, it was a disease which the Apostle himself felt 
 as a humiliation, and which excited the contempt of 
 others (Gal. iv. 13, 14). It is not easy to understand 
 how the Apostle, who bravely suffered so many hard- 
 ships, was so distressed by this suffering, if only bodily 
 pain or weakness was involved. More probable is the 
 suggestion that it was a recurrent violent temptation. 
 To the writer it seems not unlikely that it was the 
 haunting memory of his deeds as persecutor, or the 
 permanent consequence of some of these acts, which 
 brought his soul into such distress; or it may have 
 been the violent hostility to which, in his labours as 
 
38 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 Apostle to the Gentiles, he was exposed, not only from 
 unbelieving Jews, but even Jewish Christians. Some- 
 times he was nigh unto despair, yet God delivered 
 him (II. Cor. i. 8, 9). 
 
 If we consider his circumstances, it must be a 
 surprise to us that his spirit is so joyful and hopeful, 
 and that his letters so abound in praise to God. 
 Almost every epistle begins with thanksgiving. The 
 secret of his life is surely disclosed in the counsel, " Pray 
 without ceasing " ; without this he could not have bidden 
 his converts "rejoice alway" and "in everything give 
 thanks" (I. Thess. v. 16-18). Had he not continued 
 steadfastly in prayer, he could not have rejoiced in hope 
 nor been patient in tribulation (Rom. xii. 12). The 
 point of view from which he regarded his whole life 
 gave it not only a religious sanction, but a divine 
 inspiration. He thought of all his labours and trials 
 as "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God," for 
 him "a reasonable service" (Rom. xii. i), as man's 
 thank-offering for God's atoning sacrifice. Even if 
 death was involved in this sacrifice he was quite willing 
 for it (Phil. ii. 17, 18). 
 
 Although Christ's grace abounded toward him, yet 
 does he speak of himself as chief of sinners (I. Tim. 
 
PAUL THE BELIEVER 39 
 
 i. 15), as "less than the least of all saints" (Eph. iii. 8), 
 as " the least of the apostles, and not meet to be called 
 an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God " 
 (L Cor. XV. 9). He was humble, not only because he 
 could not forget the persecutor, but also because he was 
 conscious that he had not already obtained, nor had 
 already been made perfect (Phil. iii. 13, 14). If at first 
 he was cheered by the expectation to survive until the 
 Second Coming of Christ, burdened by sorrows, cares, 
 sufferings, he came, towards the end, to long for death, 
 that, absent from the body, he might be at home with 
 the Lord (11. Cor. v. 8). Yet he was willing to abide in 
 the flesh for the sake of his converts (Phil. i. 25), for, 
 living or dying, he was always and only the Lord's. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 PAUL THE MISSIONARY 
 
 (i) Paul in Antioch with Barnabas. — When Paul left 
 Jerusalem for Tarsus (Acts ix. 30), it was with the 
 consciousness that he was to carry the Gospel to the 
 Gentiles (21, 22). He was not idle, but laboured in 
 " the regions of Syria and Cilicia" (Gal. i. 21) probably 
 for seven or eight years. Meanwhile the Church was 
 being prepared to undertake a wider missionary enter- 
 prise. Stephen's speech (vii.) was the first declaration 
 that religion was independent of temple and law alike ; 
 and possibly, if he had been allowed to finish, he would 
 have claimed that the Gentiles would be chosen instead 
 of the Je>vs. One result of the persecution his boldness 
 provoked was Philip's mission to Samaria (viii. 1-13), 
 and the confirmation of his work there by the visit of 
 Peter and John (14-25). Peter's visit to and baptism 
 of Cornelius (x.) was found fault with in Jerusalem, and 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 41 
 
 he had to justify his action by giving an account of the 
 vision that had overcome his own scruples (xi. 1-18). 
 His case was regarded as exceptional, and there was, 
 therefore, not a little surprise in Jerusalem when it was 
 reported that some of the Hellenist Jews from Cyprus 
 and Cyrene, who had been driven to Antioch from 
 Jerusalem by the persecution, had ventured to preach 
 to the Greeks, and that a number of them had believed. 
 Barnabas was sent down to inquire and report. He 
 was quite satisfied with what had been done, and in 
 order to strengthen and widen the work, not only 
 remained himself, but brought Paul from Tarsus to be 
 his fellow-worker (xi. 19-26). If we may venture to 
 read between the lines, Paul had during these years in 
 Tarsus felt keenly his isolation from the Church in 
 Jerusalem, and its failure to give any encouragement 
 to the work among the Gentiles, to which he felt him- 
 self called. Only such a feeling of disappointment 
 can explain the tone of his references to his relations to 
 the apostles (Gal. i. 11-24). His call t© Antioch he 
 welcomed as the opportunity for which he had been 
 waiting. Such a mood of exaltation would account for 
 the vision to which he refers in II. Cor. xii. 1-4. 
 
 For a year Paul laboured with Barnabas in Antioch, 
 
42 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 and such was the success of the Gospel that the Church 
 attracted the attention of the heathen populace, and 
 that a nickname for the new society was devised. 
 " The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch " 
 (xi. 26). Warned by the prophet Agabus of a great 
 famine, which, according to Josephus, was at its worst 
 in A.D. 45 or 46, the Church in Antioch, to show its 
 brotherly love, and thus to win over the narrow Jewish 
 section in Jerusalem still hostile to the work among 
 the Gentiles, sent its most distinguished men, Barnabas 
 and Paul, with a generous gift to relieve the need of 
 the saints in Jerusalem. Regarding the visit (Acts 
 xi. 27-30, xii. 25) there is a serious difficulty. Paul 
 describes a visit to Jerusalem, fourteen years after 
 either his first visit or his conversion (Gal. ii. i-io). 
 This has usually been identified with that reported 
 in Acts XV. But if so, why is Paul altogether silent 
 about this visit with Barnabas to bear these gifts from 
 Antioch ? and why is his account so different from 
 that of Luke ? It is suggested that Paul did not 
 mention this visit because it had no bearing on the 
 question he was discussing, his relation to the other 
 apostles ; but to pass over the visit in silence was to lay 
 himself open to the charge, which his enemies would 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 43 
 
 have been only too ready to make, that he was hiding 
 some facts. Again, it is said that Paul is alone con- 
 cerned about his private conferences with the other 
 apostles, while Luke cares only for the public action of 
 the Church. But would Paul have been quite straight- 
 forward if he had kept silence about the public action 
 which followed these private conferences, for in that 
 public action there was some exercise of authority on 
 the part of the Church in Jerusalem? To the writer 
 a simpler solution seems to be that Paul did take 
 advantage of his presence in Jerusalem with Barnabas, 
 on the second visit, to secure as soon as possible a 
 recognition of his independent apostolate to the 
 Gentiles. As the bearer of a gift from a church 
 consisting largely of uncircumcised members, he would 
 be able to insist on the rights of the Gentiles to be 
 exempt from the burden of the Jewish law. The case 
 of Titus, probably a convert from Antioch, was a test 
 case ; and Paul firmly held his ground against the 
 Judaisers. Freedom of the Gentiles from circumcision 
 was conceded on one side ; the obligation to help the 
 Church in Jerusalem in its need was accepted on the 
 other. The writer is quite aware that there are 
 difficulties about this, as every other solution of this 
 
44 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 problem ; but there is one general consideration he 
 'desires to urge. It seems to him probable that the 
 difficulty about circumcision would emerge not first of 
 all after the first missionary tour, but as soon as the 
 Gospel was preached to the Gentiles and they were 
 admitted as members of the Church. 
 
 If we may, then, identify the visit described in Acts 
 HI. 27-30 with that referred to in Gal. ii. i-io, we 
 may also assume that Paul's encounter with Cephas 
 in Antioch (Gal. ii. 11-21) took place soon after the 
 return of Paul and Barnabas. As entrusted with the 
 gospel of the circumcision, Peter may not only have 
 felt himself at liberty, but even under an obligation to go 
 to Antioch to look after the Jews in the congregation 
 there. If he was sent by the Church at Jerusalem to 
 see that the compact was strictly observed, he at first 
 did not prove himself the proper tool of Jewish 
 exclusiveness. He was so far carried away by the 
 spirit of Christian brotherhood in the Church that he 
 freely associated and even " did eat with the Gentiles." 
 Did reports come to Jerusalem which led James to 
 send some representatives of the stricter Jewish 
 tendency ? These messengers from Jerusalem had 
 influence enough to lead not only Peter, but even 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 45 
 
 Barnabas, with other Jews, to change their practice. 
 The Church was divided, the Jews holding aloof from 
 the Gentiles. Paul boldly rebuked Peter. He asserted 
 that as salvation was not by works of the law but by- 
 faith in Christ, even the Christian Jew must not so 
 insist on the observance of the law as, by withholding 
 his Christian fellowship from his Gentile fellow-believer, 
 to bring pressure upon him to conform thereto. Peter 
 thoroughly learned the lesson ; for surely his speech at. 
 the assembly in Jerusalem, recorded in Acts xv., is art 
 echo of Paul's confession. " We believe that we shall 
 be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in like; 
 manner as they " (ver. 11). 
 
 There are two objections which maybe advanced against 
 placing this incident at so early a date. It may be argued 
 that the doctrine here stated is too advanced, as it is 
 akin to that expounded in Romans. But the difference 
 of date is not so great as to allow for any marked theo- 
 logical development. Further, the writer holds that Paul's . 
 experience of the life in Christ began with his conversion, 
 that the theological interpretation of that experience 
 was far advanced in his meditations during his retire- 
 ment in Arabia ; and that here no conviction is asserted 
 which Paul had not already reached at the date assigned.^ 
 
46 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 A second objection is that we must assign an early 
 date to the Epistle to the Galatians, prior to the Council 
 in Jerusalem (Acts xv.); and scholars generally, owing 
 to the resemblance, place it about the same time as 
 Romatis, or more than five years later than that event. 
 But if Romans is an exposition of the Gospel Paul held 
 right through his work as an apostle, and does not 
 represent a merely temporary phase of his thinking, the 
 resemblance is due not to nearness in time but to oneness 
 of faith. Such an interval of time would explain satis- 
 factorily the difference of tone between the two Epistles 
 in dealing with the same doctrines. To place Galatians 
 soon after Paul's return from his first missionary journey 
 to Antioch, and prior to his going up to Jerusalem for 
 the discussion of the problem, disposes satisfactorily of 
 the difficulty which a later date involves — Paul's entire 
 silence regarding the requirements imposed by the Church 
 in Jerusalem on the Gentiles. If the question thus settled 
 concerned only the Church at Antioch, as the record in 
 Acts XV. I, 2 would suggest, why did Paul, in passing 
 through Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium, deliver *' the decrees 
 for to keep " (xvi. 4) ? These churches had already been 
 reached by the Judaisers ; and the Epistle was a bold 
 endeavour to avert the danger Paul saw in this movement. 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 47 
 
 Surely the tone of the letter accords well with the time 
 "when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissensions and 
 questionings with" the Judaisers in Antioch (Actsxv. 2). 
 The early dating of the letter assumes the truth of the 
 South-Galatian theory, which maintains that the churches 
 addressed were founded on Paul's first missionary jour- 
 ney in the southern part of the Roman province of 
 Galatia ; and not on his second journey, when he 
 passed through the northern part of the province, which 
 was also racially, as well as politically, Galatian (the 
 North-Galatian theory). 
 
 (2) The First Missionary Journey (Acts xiii. and 
 xiv.). — The account of Paul's travels in Acts need not 
 be reproduced in this sketch of his missionary labours ; 
 and only the points which require special explanation 
 will be mentioned. When, under divine guidance, the 
 Church at Antioch resolved on a missionary enterprise, 
 Barnabas as the older disciple, and at this time the 
 more influential servant of Christ in His Church, assumed 
 the leadership, and it was probably he who decided that 
 his own native Cyprus should be the first scene of 
 labour. Before long Paul's greater ability and courage 
 secured for him this leadership. It was at Paphos that 
 Saul's Hebrew name was superseded by his Greek name 
 
48 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 Paul, and that he came to the front. Whether it was 
 this change or the new leader's decision to pass inland 
 from Perga to Pamphylia that offended Mark or not, 
 we cannot tell, but he withdrew from the enterprise. 
 It has been conjectured that the first plan had been 
 to visit the coast towns, but that an attack of malarial 
 fever drove Paul from the low-lying coast-lands into the 
 highlands of the interior, even although the journey 
 across Mount Taurus into Southern Galatia was one full 
 of perils "from rivers and from robbers" (11. Cor. 
 xi. 26). The cities visited, Antioch, Iconium, Derbe, 
 and Lystra, were not in the old country of Galatia, but 
 they were in the Roman province so named, and it is 
 coming now to be generally agreed by scholars that it 
 was to these churches that Paul's letter to the Galatians 
 was addressed. He was in ill-health when he first 
 visited them (Gal. iv. 13-14). 
 
 The method of the missionaries in the cities visited 
 was the same. The synagogue of the Jews was visited 
 on the Sabbath ; the invitation of the rulers of the 
 synagogue, who saw in the strangers Jewish scribes, to 
 speak a word of exhortation was accepted. A proof of 
 the Messiahship of Jesus was then oifered. The devout 
 Gentiles who were present at the service were usually 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 49 
 
 more impressed than the Jews themselves. The eager- 
 ness of the Gentiles to hear excited the jealousy of the 
 unbelieving Jews, who used their influence to secure 
 the expulsion of the missionaries from the city by mob- 
 violence or the action of the city government. The 
 sermon preached by Paul at Antioch in Pisidia may 
 be taken as typical of the synagogue addresses. The 
 speech of Paul at Lystra is an example of his mode of 
 address to the Gentiles. Here a miracle so excited the 
 superstitious populace that Paul and Barnabas were 
 hailed as " gods in the likeness of men," and prepara- 
 tions were made for their worship. A rebuke of idolatry, 
 and an appeal to recognise the one God who revealed 
 Himself in His good gifts in nature, soon restrained this 
 act. Persecuted in every city, they nevertheless suc- 
 ceeded in gathering together a Christian community, 
 consisting mainly of Gentile believers; as after each 
 failure to win the Jews they turned to the Gentiles, and 
 preached to them as long as Jewish hostility would 
 allow. Instead of passing out of Galatia into Cilicia, and 
 so returning to Antioch, they revisited these churches, to 
 strengthen and encourage the believers, and gave them 
 a simple organisation under *' elders," a title which does 
 not prove that the synagogue was imitated, as this office 
 
50 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 was not unknown in the political and social institutions of 
 Asia Minor. On their return to Antioch they reported 
 how " God had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles." 
 (3) The Council at Jerusalem (xv. 1-35). — Soon after 
 the return of the missionaries they were faced by the 
 demand of "certain men from Judaea" that even the 
 Gentiles must be circumcised to secure salvation in 
 Christ. The Church had acquiesced in the admission 
 of the Gentiles so far, but probably it had been ex- 
 pected that these cases would remain exceptional, and 
 that the Church would still be predominantly Jewish. 
 The success of the mission of Paul and Barnabas 
 excited the suspicion of the narrow Jewish section ; 
 and it was decided that even if the Gentiles came in 
 in large numbers, the Church must retain its Jewish 
 character. It has already been suggested that the 
 Jewish propaganda was not confined to Antioch, but 
 was carried to Galatia, and that it was in the heat of 
 the controversy in Antioch that Paul wrote his letter 
 to the Galatians to ward off the peril from his converts 
 by asserting his independent authority as an apostle, 
 and proving that submission to circumcision was an 
 abandonment of the Gospel of justification by faith 
 alone. Had the letter been written after the Council 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 51 
 
 at Jerusalem, at which the apostles recognised the 
 freedom of the Gentiles, it would have been ungracious 
 in Paul so to assert his independence. If the letter 
 indicates Paul's mood at the time, we may conjecture 
 that it was with reluctance, and only to preserve the 
 Church from a disastrous schism, that he agreed to 
 discuss the question with the apostles in Jerusalem. 
 For, on the one hand, he was not prepared to recognise 
 their superior authority ; and on the other, he was too 
 confident of the truth of his Gospel to acquiesce in 
 any contradiction of it. Possibly his having been able 
 on a previous visit to come to an understanding with 
 some of the apostles (Gal. ii. i-io) encouraged him to 
 hope that the difficulty would be removed. Both Peter 
 and James, though from different standpoints, asserted 
 their influence to get a settlement of the difficulty. The 
 demand for circumcision was repudiated, the mission 
 of Barnabas and Paul commended, and only a few 
 requirements were made of the Gentiles. 
 
 As regards these prohibitions, a few words of explana- 
 tion are necessary. The phrase " from the pollutions 
 of idols " is equivalent to " from things sacrificed to 
 idols" (ver. 29). Paul's discussion of the question in 
 I. Cor. viii. 1-13 and x. 23-33 shows that he did not 
 
52 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 regard this decision of the Church at Jerusalem as 
 binding on Corinth, but felt himself free to discuss it 
 on the basis of the first principles of Christian liberty 
 and charity. The association of the sin o{ fornicatton 
 with these ceremonial restrictions may at first sight sur- 
 prise ; but we have only to remind ourselves that, with 
 certain pagan worships, such as of Aphrodite and Cybele, 
 immoral practices were closely connected, and that 
 laxity in sexual relations was characteristic of heathen 
 society, to see how necessary it was. Paul in his letters 
 is also led to give the same exhortation. As the decision 
 was intended to facilitate intercourse between Jews and 
 Gentiles, the Jewish abstention " from things strangled 
 and from blood," based on the belief that " the blood 
 is the seat of life," is imposed on the Gentiles, so that 
 a Jew may feel free to eat with a Gentile brother, 
 without having his conscience wounded by the food 
 that may be set before him. 
 
 Judas and Silas were sent with Barnabas and Paul to 
 Antioch as the bearers of a letter conveying this decision ; 
 and the decrees were delivered to the churches in South 
 Galatia (xvi. 4) as well as in Syria and Cilicia (xv. 23). 
 The missionary enterprise was thus delivered from a 
 destructive dangler. 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 53 
 
 (4) The Second Missionary Journey (Acts xv. 36- 
 xviii. 22). — A difference of opinion about the fitness and 
 trustworthiness of Mark as a companion separated the 
 fellow-workers Barnabas and Paul in the next effort to 
 preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Barnabas with Mark 
 went to Cyprus ; Paul w^ith Silas passed through Syria 
 and Cilicia to Galatia. Mark's place was soon taken 
 by Timothy, one of Paul's converts during his first visit 
 to Lystra (I. Cor. iv. 17), a disciple very dear to the 
 heart of his master. It was no concession to the 
 Judaisers that Timothy was circumcised, as, though his 
 father was a Greek, his mother was a Jewess, and he 
 had been brought up in the Jewish faith (II. Tim. i. 5, 
 iii. 15); and it was never Paul's intention to claim for 
 the Jews exemption from the rite. Prophecy had pointed 
 him out as fit for the task (I. Tim. i. 18), and at his 
 ordination a special gift came to him for his calling 
 (iv. 14), probably the "holy enthusiasm" so often men- 
 tioned in Acts. 
 
 It is probable that Paul meant to travel due west 
 along the great road of commerce to the great city of 
 Ephesus ; but he was hindered by outward circumstances 
 or inward impulse, which he regarded as the guidance 
 of the Spirit. The meaning of Acts xvi. 6 has been 
 
54 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 much disputed ; without discussing the question, which 
 the limits of this volume forbid, the writer must briefly 
 state his own opinion, that one district is described in 
 the phrase " the region of Phrygia and Galatia " (R.V.), 
 and that Paul did not on this journey visit Galatia 
 proper. Hedged in by the divine hand on the south 
 and the north alike, the missionaries found their way to 
 Troas, "an important seaport and Roman colony in 
 Mysia," from which the coast of Macedonia was visible. 
 Here Paul had a vision of " a man of Macedonia, stand- 
 ing, beseeching him, and saying, Come over into 
 Macedonia, and help us," and this Paul accepted as 
 an intimation of the divine will (xvi. 9, 10). Can we 
 explain this vision ? The thoughts of the day give shape 
 to the dreams of the night. In Tarsus, Paul had been 
 brought into contact with Hellenic culture. Greece 
 would be more than a name to him. Had his heart 
 yearned, when he saw the other shore, to carry the Gospel 
 hither also ? As in the narrative in Acts at this point 
 the first person " we " takes the place of the third person 
 *' they," a proof that the writer now became Paul's com- 
 panion, Sir W. Ramsay suggests that Paul had met Luke 
 the previous day, and that the vision was the result of the 
 encounter, and possibly an entreaty Luke had addressed. 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 55 
 
 In Philippi, where there was no synagogue, but only 
 a meeting- place by the river-side, where a few women 
 gathered, public notice was called to the work of the 
 missionaries by the cure of the possessed slave maid, and 
 the charge brought by her masters against them before 
 the magistrates of the city. Here for the first time we 
 find Paul's appeal to his Roman citizenship against 
 their illegal action. Although Paul and his companions 
 complied with the request of the magistrates to leave the 
 city so as to avoid further disturbances, a Christian 
 community was left behind, a church afterwards very 
 dear to Paul. Luke 'remained in Philippi, as " we " 
 again becomes " they." 
 
 At Thessalonica the method and the result were the 
 same as in the cities of South Galatia : an appeal to the 
 Jews in the synagogue is met w^ith unbelief; a ministry 
 is exercised among the Gentiles until persecution is 
 stirred up by the unbelieving Jews. I. Thessalonians 
 assumes that a much longer time for work among the 
 Gentiles was enjoyed than the narrative in Acts indi- 
 cates. The converts were exposed to manifold severe 
 persecutions, but remained steadfast (ii. 14). Paul had 
 to support himself by his trade, "working night and 
 day" while preaching the Gospel (ver. 9). Driven by 
 
56 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 the Jewish hostiUty to Bercea^ Paul had but entered 
 on a more promising ministry there, when the Jews of 
 Thessalonica sent their messengers to stir up disorder. 
 As the object of more vehement hostility than his com- 
 panions, Paul alone was led to the seashore, probably 
 quite undecided as to where he would go next, while 
 they remained behind to continue the work. The fact 
 that there was a boat available decided him to go to 
 Athens ; and it is proof of his affectionate disposition 
 that he felt his need of companions, and desired Silas 
 and Timothy to join him there. While he w^as thus 
 waiting for them he could not undertake any work, for 
 his heart was too full of tender care for the Church in 
 Thessalonica for him to give his labours to any other 
 place (I. Thess. ii. 7 ; cf. II. Cor. ii. 12, 13). He robbed 
 himself of the much - longed - for companionship of 
 Timothy to send him to Thessalonica (iii. i, 2). How 
 genuine a Jew Paul was is shown by the impression 
 Athens made on him. His surroundings, instead of 
 awakening the glorious memories of the past, roused his 
 anger against the prevailing idolatry. He could not 
 refrain from discussions in the market-place, in which 
 he encountered representatives of the two dominant 
 philosophical schools, the Stoic and the Epicurean. 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 57 
 
 Although he excited their scorn, and was mocked with 
 the epithet " a picker up of trifles " (what we should 
 now call a quack), he was asked to make a fuller state- 
 ment in a quieter place. It is uncertain whether he 
 went to Mars Hill (the Areopagus), or was summoned 
 before the court so named to prove his fitness to discuss 
 such matters. His speech is an example of his endeavour 
 to be " all things to all men." He tried to appeal to a 
 cultured audience by allusions to literature and philo- 
 sophy ; but in vain. The mere mention of so unfamiliar 
 an idea as the resurrection was enough to break the 
 attention and to provoke the contempt of most of his 
 hearers, only a few having their curiosity aroused. 
 While the reference to the resurrection would provoke 
 the Epicureans, the recognition of the truth of Stoic views 
 failed to secure their support. Paul seems to have felt 
 the failure ; and to have resolved that, instead of seek- 
 ing to wan the reason by argument, he would henceforth 
 move the conscience by preaching Christ Crucified 
 (I. Cor. ii. 1-5). 
 
 The city in which he carried out this resolve — Corinth 
 — was one of the most important and also infamous cities 
 of the ancient world. Although Luke tells us very little 
 about the ministry, lasting eighteen months, Paul's two 
 
58 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 letters to the Church here show how much his work 
 now meant to him and cost him. He supported himself 
 with the labours of his hands, having as his fellow- 
 worker Aquila, a Jew of Pontus, who had been ex- 
 pelled from Rome under a decree of Claudius, issued, 
 according to Suetonius, as a punishment for the riotous 
 conduct of the Jews under the instigation of Chrestus. 
 (This is supposed to be a mistake on the part of the 
 Roman historian ; the disputes were whether Jesus was 
 the Christ or not.) Aquila's wife Priscilla is by Dr. 
 Hort regarded as " a member of a distinguished Roman 
 family," who lost caste because of her marriage to a Jew, 
 but afterwards gained a high position in the Roman 
 Church. Dr. Harnack assigns to her the authorship of 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews. Both husband and wife 
 were among Paul's most valued friends and helpers 
 (Rom. xvi. 3, 4). 
 
 Until Silas and Timothy joined him, Paul was tor- 
 mented by his fears regarding the Church at Thessalonica, 
 but he was relieved when Timothy assured him of the con- 
 stancy of the converts (I. Thess. iii. 7, 8). /. Thessalonians 
 was written not long after to give the persecuted Church 
 the comfort and assurance which it needed, and he had 
 desired to give in person (ii 7. 8). Here Paul teaches 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 59 
 
 that the believers who die before the Second Advent will 
 not be at any disadvantage, as they will be raised first, 
 and, along with the living, be caught up to meet the Lord 
 in the air (iv. 16, 17). The prominence of the subject of 
 the Second Advent in this letter, and the absence of the 
 more distinctive Pauline Gospel found in Galatians and 
 Romans, are probably due to the special condition and 
 temporary necessities of the Church. Not many months 
 later // Thessalonians was written to remove difficulties 
 caused by the first Epistle, and to correct teaching which 
 was being given with a claim to possess the Apostle's 
 authority (II. Thess. ii. 2). He here expresses the view 
 that the Second Advent cannot be immediate, but must be 
 preceded by a certain course of events : till the restraint 
 of the Roman Empire is removed, Judaism cannot reach 
 its full apostasy. 
 
 In Corinth, as elsewhere, Paul had to turn from the 
 Jews to the Gentiles. He won many converts among 
 the lower classes (I. Cor. i. 26). So keen was the hate 
 of the Jews that Paul nearly lost heart, and needed the 
 encouragement given him in a vision of the night. An 
 attempt on the part of the Jews to invoke the Roman 
 law against Paul failed, owing to the fairness of the 
 Roman official Gallio ; and was followed by an outbreak 
 
6o LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 of violence by the Greeks against the Jews, which Gallio 
 viewed with contemptuous indifference. Paul was able 
 to stay a little longer; when he left, it was to hasten 
 to Jerusalem to be present at one of the feasts. At 
 Cenchrese, the port of Corinth, he had his head shorn, 
 for " he had a vow." Why did Paul follow this Jewish 
 custom ? and. What reason had he for so doing ? Luke 
 gives us no word of explanation. 
 
 (5) The Third Missionary Journey (Acts xviii. 23- 
 xxi. 16). — Paul began his third missionary journey by 
 revisiting the churches in South Galatia; but pushed 
 westward to keep his promise to revisit Ephesus, where 
 his coming had been prepared for not only by the 
 labours of Priscilla and Aquila, but also by the elo- 
 quent, learned, and persuasive preaching of Apollos, a 
 Jew from Alexandria, who may have been a disciple of 
 Philo, the greatest Jewish teacher of that age, who had 
 accepted the testimony of John regarding Jesus, and 
 had confessed his faith in baptism, but who had not 
 yet entered into the fuller experience of the Christian 
 Church in the presence of the Risen Lord and the 
 working of His Holy Spirit. This Priscilla and Aquila 
 now imparted to him ; and departing to Corinth, he there 
 powerfully showed Christ's Messiahship. In somewhat 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 6i 
 
 similar a position were the disciples whom Paul found 
 in Ephesus, who had not experienced the gift of the 
 Holy Spirit, and did not even know it had been given. 
 After an explanation of the difference between the 
 baptism of John and baptism in the name of Jesus, 
 they were baptized, and on Paul's laying his hands 
 upon them, showed the new inspiration. 
 
 After three months in the synagogue, Paul entered on 
 a ministry among the Gentiles which lasted two years. 
 As Ephesus was the most important city in the province 
 of Asia, in active and constant intercourse with all 
 the inland towns, it became a centre of widespread 
 Christian preaching. Probably at this time the churches 
 at Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodicea, of which we 
 afterwards hear, and others also were founded (I. Cor. 
 xvi. 19). 
 
 Paul's exercise of his power of healing to a wider 
 extent than seems to have been his usual custom {cf. 
 Rom. XV. 19 and II. Cor. xii. 12) attracted general 
 attention to his Gospel ; but we must surely regard the 
 statement in Acts xix. 12 as reflecting the popular 
 credulity, as it is difficult to believe that Paul would 
 encourage such magical practices. An attempt of 
 Jewish exorcists to use the name of Jesus resulted in 
 
62 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 their discomfiture; and so deep an impression was 
 made by this event, that many books containing magical 
 formulae were publicly burned (the value, Luke is careful 
 to note, was ^^1980). In this way, too, the influence 
 of the Gospel was increased ; and so great were the re- 
 sults of Paul's ministry that the trades which prospered 
 by the abounding idolatry of the city began to feel 
 themselves hard hit. Demetrius stirred up his fellow- 
 tradesmen, the makers of silver images of Diana, which 
 the worshippers at her temple bought as a remembrance 
 of their visit. Business interest was skilfully disguised 
 as religious zeal, and an outbreak of popular fanaticism 
 was provoked, which the secretary of the municipal 
 council of Ephesus required all his skill in argument 
 and warning to restrain. Paul wanted to face the mob, 
 but was dissuaded by the Asiarchs, "the officials ap- 
 pointed by the different cities of the province of Asia 
 to superintend the temples erected in honour of the 
 Roman Emperor, and the Imperial games." Probably 
 this is only one instance of the persecutions he endured 
 in Ephesus (I. Cor. iv. 11-13, xv. 32). But on this 
 occasion the peril seems to have been so great that 
 he delayed no longer, and started on his journey into 
 Macedonia. 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 63 
 
 Luke gives us a brief indication of Paul's plans while 
 in Ephesus. He intended to travel through Macedonia 
 and Achaia, and then go up again to Jerusalem. In 
 his next journey he looked forward to reaching Rome. 
 He sent Timothy and Erastus to prepare for his coming, 
 but himself remained a little longer in Asia. We must 
 turn to the two Epistles to the Corinthians to supple- 
 ment the story in Acts. The reconstruction of the 
 history must be admitted to be conjectural ; but to the 
 writer it seems fully sustained by the available evidence. 
 Paul in I. Cor. v. 9 refers to a previous epistle. A 
 fragment of this epistle is probably preserved in II. Cor. 
 vi. 14-vii. I, a passage which interrupts the context in 
 which Paul is dealing with his personal relations to his 
 converts, by a stern warning against association with 
 unbelievers and their idolatry and immorality. His 
 warning had been regarded as unpractical, and so Paul 
 modifies it in so far as to admit that the Christians need 
 not judge those without as regards their morals, but 
 should preserve a high standard within the Church. 
 Receiving unfavourable reports, but unable at once to 
 visit Corinth himself, he sent Timothy (I. Cor. iv. 17-19) 
 to put them in remembrance of his ways in Christ. A 
 letter reached him from Corinth, containing a number 
 
64 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 of questions regarding the moral practices and the social 
 relations of the converts, in regard to which there was 
 acute difference of opinion ; and from the bearers of 
 the letter he heard with grief and anger of party spirit, 
 moral laxity, disorders in worship. The letter which 
 is generally known as /. Corinthians^ although it is not 
 Paul's first letter, contains a full answer to the questions, 
 and a bold treatment of the situation in Corinth. He 
 here expresses his intention to pass through Macedonia 
 to Corinth in order to receive the collection which the 
 Gentile churches were making for the poor in Jerusalem, 
 to remain some time in Corinth, it may be even to winter 
 there ; but this journey he cannot undertake till Pente- 
 cost, for in Ephesus " a great door and effectual is 
 opened unto me, and there are many adversaries " 
 (xvi. 8, 9). He commends Timothy, who has already 
 started for Corinth, to their respect. The letter was 
 possibly sent by the hand of Titus. Further news from 
 Corinth was of so grave a character, however, that Paul 
 paid a brief visit to it, probably taking the shorter sea- 
 voyage. In II. Cor. xii. 14, and xiii. i, he speaks of 
 his approaching visit, which on the common view was 
 only his second, as " the third time." During this visit 
 he promised them two further visits (II. Cor. i. 15, 16). 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 65 
 
 Either he was insulted while in Corinth by one of the 
 members of the Church, with the acquiescence of the 
 other members, or more probably an insult was re- 
 ported to him after his departure. The passage in 
 11. Cor. ii. 5-1 1 cannot possibly refer to the moral 
 offender denounced in I. Cor. v. 1-8, for Paul could 
 write as he does there only of some personal injury. 
 He was by his grief brought nigh unto death (II. Cor. 
 i. 8-9). He wrote a letter to the Church "out of much 
 affliction and anguish of heart," "with many tears " (ii. 4), 
 and despatched it by Titus, who seems to have been a 
 stronger personality than Timothy, and better able to 
 handle a difficult situation. Some scholars maintain 
 that part of this letter is preserved in II. Cor. xii.-xiii. 
 10, as the tone of these chapters is far more severe than 
 that of the rest of the letter, and altogether corresponds 
 with the description Paul himself gave of the letter he 
 had sent. The other explanation, that Paul here turns 
 from the now friendly majority to the still hostile 
 minority is not so satisfactory. He also changed his 
 mind about going by sea to Corinth on his way to 
 Macedonia, and decided to travel by the longer route 
 through Macedonia, so that he might hear the results 
 of the letter and Titus' action. The tide of feeling 
 
66 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 in Corinth was thoroughly turned. Although Paul left 
 Ephesus in great distress of mind, and could not avail 
 himself of the opportunity of preaching the Gospel in 
 Troas, because he had not then met Titus, and so there 
 was no relief for his spirit, yet when Titus at last met him 
 in Macedonia the report was so favourable that he at 
 once wrote //. Corinthiafis to express his gratitude, and 
 to complete his reconciliation with the Church (ii. 12- 
 14, vii. 14-16, ix. 15). This letter is one of the most 
 touching " human documents " ; for in it Paul lays bare 
 his heart. 
 
 After passing through Macedonia and Achaia, Paul 
 came to Corinth, where he spent three months. There 
 he wrote the Epistle to the Romans^ in which he has 
 more clearly, fully, and calmly set forth his Gospel 
 than in any other writing. It was not composed as 
 a theological treatise, but as a genuine letter. His 
 friends Priscilla and Aquila were in Rome; and pro- 
 bably he was answering their questions to enable them 
 to deal effectively with difficulties advanced against 
 his Gospel in Rome. As his aspiration was still to 
 carry the Gospel to Rome, he wrote to secure for 
 himself a welcome there; for in Rome he would not 
 be the pioneer missionary founding the church, but 
 
PAUL THE MISSIONARY 67 
 
 one, hitherto a stranger, offering a spiritual gift to 
 a church already founded. 
 
 A plot of the Jews to kill him forced him to give 
 up his plan to leave Corinth by sea; and travelling 
 northward to Macedonia, he secured the collection 
 which he had been so zealous in commending for 
 the poor in Jerusalem; but, to disarm suspicion, he 
 insisted on a delegate from each church accompanying 
 him to Jerusalem. At Troas, Luke rejoined Paul, 
 and the "we" passages begin again. It is probable 
 that the youth Eutychus, whom Luke represents as 
 restored to life, had only fallen into a swoon, and 
 that Paul's words, "Make ye no ado, for his life 
 is in him," are a simple recognition of the fact. Paul's 
 farewell address to the elders of the Church of 
 Ephesus at Miletus may be taken as an example 
 of his relations to the leaders of the churches he 
 had founded. His own foreboding that he would 
 never see these elders again was confirmed by the 
 warning "through the Spirit'' given by the disciples 
 at Tyre, and the symbolic action of Agabus the pro- 
 phet at Csesarea. But the sorrowing entreaties of 
 the brethren could not turn Paul from his purpose; 
 for he was prepared "not to be bound only, but 
 
68 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord 
 Jesus." With the entry into Jerusalem, Paul the 
 missionary begins to be Paul the martyr. 
 
 Why did Paul insist on going to Jerusalem? As 
 his letters show, in Galatia and in Corinth, and later 
 in Philippi, his Gospel was being attacked, and his 
 apostolate was being challenged by Judaisers, who 
 could with some reason pretend that their standpoint 
 had the sympathy of the Church in Jerusalem. No 
 purpose was so dear to Paul's heart as the unity 
 of the Christian Church, the reconciliation of Jew and 
 Gentile. He attached a sacrificial significance to the 
 offerings of the Gentile churches which he was taking 
 up to Jerusalem. Although he knew full well how 
 great was the risk he ran from Jewish hate, yet, 
 as the Apostle of the Gentiles, he felt bound to 
 present this offering in person. He was ready, if 
 need be, to seal with his blood the covenant of 
 brotherly love between Jew and Gentile. His plans 
 as a missionary were not yet accomplished, for he 
 hoped to visit Rome, and then Spain (Rom. xv. 28); 
 but as he drew nearer and nearer to Jerusalem, one thing 
 alone seemed to be left for him to do — to die for the 
 unity of Christ's Church and the glory of His Name. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 PAUL THE BUILDER 
 
 By his preaching Paul sought not only to win individual 
 converts, but to found Christian communities. Fellow- 
 ship was essential for the life and labours of the 
 converts, and to secure that fellowship some organisa- 
 tion was necessary. Paul was not only a fervent 
 preacher and deep thinker, he was also a skilful 
 organiser; and in his organisation he was guided by 
 large and lofty principles. He was a wise master- 
 builder on the one foundation, Jesus Christ, of the 
 temple of God, the habitation of His Spirit. 
 
 (i) Paul's Conception of the Church. — We must 
 first of all understand his conception of the Church. 
 Wherever a number of converts were united for their 
 common worship, witness, and work, there Paul saw 
 the Church of God. The Church in Corinth is de- 
 scribed as a body, complete, because possessed, 
 
 69 
 
70 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 controlled, and endowed with diverse gifts by " the 
 same Spirit" (I. Cor. xii.). Thus he regarded each 
 local congregation as a complete Church. But he did 
 not think of these churches as isolated from or in- 
 dependent of one another. The whole body of believers 
 on earth is thought of as one church in such passages 
 as I. Cor. xii. 28, in which are mentioned ministers 
 who did not confine their labours to the local congre- 
 gation, but travelled from church to church ; and xv. 9, 
 " I persecuted the church of God " (no local limita- 
 tion is mentioned; cf. Gal. i. 13). There seems to 
 be a third sense in which Paul uses the term church. 
 In the later Epistles of Colossians and Ephesians it is 
 not the empirical reality he is thinking of, but rather 
 the spiritual ideal, for he speaks of the Church as the 
 body of Christ, the fulfilment or complement of Him 
 that filleth all in all (Col. i. 18, 24 ; Eph. i. 23). In 
 building on earth Paul had before him the pattern 
 laid up in heaven. 
 
 (2) The Local Organisations. — In the South Galatian 
 churches Paul appointed " elders in every church " (Acts 
 xiv. 23), and when Timothy was set apart as Paul's 
 companion, it was by *'the laying on of the hands of the 
 presbytery" (I. Tim. iv. 14). In Ephesus there were 
 
PAUL THE BUILDER 71 
 
 elders (Acts xx. 17), and their work of oversight is de- 
 scribed in Paul's exhortation (ver. 28). In Philippi there 
 were bishops and deacons (Phil. i. i). It is generally 
 held that the terms elder and bishop are synonymous, 
 and that the elders or bishops taught and administered 
 the affairs of the church generally, while the deacons 
 looked after the alms. The Thessalonians are exhorted 
 " to know them that labour among you and are over you 
 in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them 
 exceeding highly in love for their work's sake " (I. Thess. 
 V. 12, 13). In I. and II. Cor. there is no allusion to 
 any officers in the church, and the whole body of 
 believers is addressed in the demand for the exercises 
 of discipline (I. Cor. v. 4). The Pastoral Epistles in- 
 dicate a firmer organisation under bishops or elders 
 and deacons (I. Tim. iii. 1-13; Titus i. 5-9). 
 
 But we should quite misunderstand Paul if we sup- 
 posed that he had in view an external official authority. 
 His standpoint is indicated in I. Cor. xii. and Rom. 
 xii. The Church is endowed by the same Spirit with 
 diversities of gifts, which include not only wisdom, 
 knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, workings of miracles, 
 discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, the 
 interpretation of tongues (I. Cor. xii. 8, 9), but also 
 
72 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 helps and governments (ver. 28). All these gifts .are to 
 be exercised for the common good in the more excellent 
 way of love (ver. 31). Prophecy, ministry, teaching, 
 exhorting, ruling, are a grace to be used even as giving 
 or showing mercy ; and in the exercise of each love is 
 to be without hypocrisy (Rom. xii. 6-9). While local 
 conditions may have determined the simple form of 
 organisation, it is on the inspiration of each member, and 
 his use of the gift so given by the Spirit for the benefit 
 of the whole body, that the witness, worship, and work 
 of each church depend. 
 
 (3) The Ministers of the Whole Church. — Some 
 of these gifts were not exercised in one church only. 
 The apostles, prophets, teachers, belonged to all the 
 churches, and travelled from one to the other. Paul 
 attached very great importance to his apostleship. The 
 Judaisers sought to get rid of his Gospel of free grace 
 without the works of the law by challenging his authority, 
 and undermining his influence as an apostle. He claimed 
 to be an apostle " not from man, neither through man, 
 but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who 
 raised him from the dead " (Gal. i. i). His Gospel he 
 had not received from man, nor had he been taught 
 it, but " through revelation of Jesus Christ," God's Son 
 
PAUL THE BUILDER 73 
 
 in him (ver. 12). He sought no conference with 
 flesh and blood, not even with the apostles that were 
 before him (16, 17). When he did meet the apostles, 
 they imparted nothing to him ; but recognised that as 
 Peter had been entrusted with the Gospel of the cir- 
 cumcision, so he with the Gospel of the uncircumcision 
 (ii. 6, 7). He was called to preach to the Gentiles. 
 When his apostleship is challenged, he appeals to three 
 evidences of it. He has seen Jesus, and so can be 
 a witness of the resurrection (L Cor. ix. i ; cf. xv. 8, 9). 
 God has given the seals of his apostleship in his 
 converts. " Are not ye my work in the Lord ? " (ix. 
 I ; cf. II. Cor. iii. 1-4). All the signs of an apostle 
 were wrought in him in '* all patience, by signs and 
 wonders and mighty works" (xii. 12). His sorrows, 
 hardships, perils, and persecutions are proof also that he 
 is more than any other the minister of Christ (xi. 23-29). 
 His claim, above all, is that he is one with Christ in 
 suffering for the Church. " From henceforth let no 
 man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the 
 marks of Jesus" (Gal. vi. 17). The authority of the 
 apostle is not official; it is personal, relation to God 
 in Christ. 
 
 (4) The Unity of the Church. — Paul insisted on his 
 
74 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 independence as an apostle, his authority as such in the 
 Gentile churches ; but while he did this for the sake 
 of his Gospel, he did not desire to endanger the unity 
 of the Christian Church. Hence he consented to the 
 conference with the Church in Jerusalem regarding the 
 demand of the Judaisers, that even Gentiles must be 
 circumcised (Acts xv.). Had the decision been other 
 than it was, we may venture to believe that Paul would 
 have acted firmly and boldly as he did in the case of 
 Titus. He would have given place "in the way of 
 subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the 
 Gospel might continue" (Gal. ii. 5). As the principle 
 of the liberty of the Gentiles was conceded, he accepted 
 the restriction on that liberty in the interests of the 
 unity of Jew and Gentile in the Church, even as he 
 advised the "strong" in the Church in Corinth and 
 Rome to respect the scruples of the " weak " (I. Cor. 
 viii., Rom. xiv.). He delivered " the decrees for to keep 
 which had been ordained of the apostles and elders that 
 were at Jerusalem" in the churches of Syria, Cilicia, 
 and Galatia ; but, as the passages just referred to show, 
 he felt himself at liberty in other churches to discuss 
 the question of food afresh, without any reference to 
 these decrees. Not by the submission to the Church in 
 
PAUL THE BUILDER 75 
 
 Jerusalem of the churches of the Gentiles did he seek 
 unity. The collection for the saints in Jerusalem, 
 which he appointed in all the Gentile churches, was 
 the gift of love by which he aimed and hoped to over- 
 come estrangement, and keep peace. It was not a 
 tribute which could be exacted in compensation for 
 a concession made. But in this giving and receiving, 
 Paul hoped to keep unbroken the Christian fellowship 
 of Jew and Gentile. 
 
 (5) Paul's Service to the Unity. — In the Gentile 
 churches which Paul himself founded, the unity was 
 maintained first and most of all by the Apostle's own 
 visits, by the letters that he wrote, and by the mes- 
 sengers, his younger companions in travel, such as 
 Titus and Timothy, whom he entrusted with special 
 tasks according to the needs and dangers of the 
 churches. How much Paul himself meant to these 
 churches ! In his busy brain and loving heart these 
 churches had a unity of thought and life such as no 
 creed or polity could have conferred. He lived for his 
 converts, and he lived in them. Anxiety for all the 
 churches daily pressed on him. " Who is weak, and I am 
 not weak ? Who is made to stumble, and I burn not ? " 
 (II. Cor. xi. 28, 29). Was a Church threatened by 
 
76 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 error? He was ready to expound the corrective truth. 
 Was it endangered by moral laxity ? He could admin- 
 ister the necessary rebuke. Were problems of moral 
 conduct and social relations in dispute? He could 
 bring to bear on them a conscience enlightened by the 
 Spirit of God. If we consider, on the one hand, the 
 religious superstition and moral depravity from which 
 many of the members of these churches had been 
 delivered at their conversion, and, on the other, the 
 spiritual liberty to which in Christ they were called, we 
 can realise how hard the task, and heavy the trust, 
 of the man who sought, without the bondage of the 
 letter in the freedom of the Spirit, to guide and guard 
 their steps along the path of Christian progress in truth 
 and grace. Doubtless there were other labourers in the 
 field of the Lord, living bonds between the Christian 
 churches ; but it can be said confidently that not only 
 did Paul conceive the ideal of the Christian Church 
 more clearly, but he did far more than any other 
 to make that ideal a reality. As he thought of each 
 local congregation as a body, the members of which 
 had varied gifts and duties corresponding to the gifts, 
 so did he think of all the churches as one body, 
 through frequent, sympathetic, and helpful intercourse 
 
PAUL THE BUILDER 77 
 
 by persons, letters, and gifts, nourishing a common 
 life. 
 
 (6) The Ideal of the Church. — In the Captivity 
 Epistles^ when he was a prisoner in bonds, because, for 
 the reconciliation of Jew and Gentile, he had risked 
 even life itself to bring the offerings of the Gentiles to 
 Jerusalem, the thought of the Church which dominates 
 him is that of a society in which the antagonism of 
 Jew and Gentile has been reconciled in the reconciha- 
 tion of both to God (Eph. ii. 11-22). The foundation 
 is the apostles and the prophets, Christ is "the chief 
 corner stone, in whom each several building, fitly framed 
 together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord, for a 
 habitation of God in the Spirit." If, as contemporary 
 literature enables us to do, we realise the exclusiveness 
 of the Jew on the one hand, and the contempt for and 
 aversion to him felt by the Gentiles on the other hand, 
 we shall more fully recognise the greatness of the man 
 who, himself born a Jew, trained a Pharisee, could rise to 
 so large and lofty a conception of a reconciled humanity 
 in Christ. It is the conception of the Church in these 
 Epistles which influences the conception of Christ. A 
 society in which all the old enmities of man and man 
 are reconciled in one " access in one Spirit unto the 
 
78 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 Father," cannot be less or other than the goal of the 
 Creation itself; and He in whom that society has its 
 Head, of whom it is the complement, is the end of 
 God's will in this world (i. 9, 10). While this con- 
 ception is made explicit in these letters, it was present 
 and effective in the thought and feeling of Paul in all 
 his labours and sorrows. 
 
 (7) Worship, Discipline, and Government of the 
 Church. — In regard to the worship of the Church, Paul 
 does not lay down any hard and fast rules. He assumes 
 that the gifts with which the members are endowed 
 will be exercised by them in the public assembly. The 
 principle of heavenly wisdom which he suggests is that 
 all shall be used in the more excellent way of love. 
 The principle of earthly prudence he lays down is, *' Let 
 all things be done decently and in order" (I. Cor. 
 xii. 31, xiv. 40). The gifts are to be exercised, not to 
 gratify individual vanity, but to edify the whole body. 
 Accordingly, prophecy (inspired instruction), exhortation, 
 reproof, are to be preferred to speaking in tongues 
 (ecstatic utterances), as the former can be understood of 
 all, and can do good to all, while the latter benefits 
 only one. No ritual is presented ; no officials are en- 
 trusted with control ; the liberty of the Spirit is limited 
 
PAUL THE BUILDER 79 
 
 only by the claims of love. He assumes that the Church 
 will exercise discipline, where necessary, on its mem- 
 bers. Regarding the man guilty of "fornication as is 
 not even among the Gentiles," he gives his decision 
 with authority. The Church, gathered together with 
 the power of our Lord Jesus, is to " deliver such a one 
 unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the 
 spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus " 
 (L Cor. V. 3-5). Paul believed that the solemn con- 
 demnation of the Church would be divinely ratified by 
 the death of the offender; and that such judgment 
 would be more merciful to his soul than his continuance, 
 unpunished, in his sin. As regards the man who has 
 insulted him, and for whose punishment he has made 
 a demand in the letter sent with Titus, he pleads for 
 mercy, now his authority in the Church has been re- 
 estabHshed (H. Cor. ii. 6-7). Church discipHne is not 
 to be retributive justice, it is to be reformatory solicitude. 
 Paul recognises the risk of zeal for purity becoming 
 loveless severity, an advantage gained by Satan (ver. 11). 
 The Church must be guarded against error as well as 
 sin. In his speech to the elders of Ephesus he foretold 
 the entering into the church of grievous wolves, and the 
 arising in the church of men " speaking perverse things," 
 
8o LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 and urged them " to feed the church of God " (Acts xx. 
 28-30). They are to admonish, but it is to be in 
 tender love, even as he admonished " with tears " 
 (ver. 31). His controversy with the Judaisers shows 
 that the tolerance of error, which is often due to ignor- 
 ance of or indifference to the truth, was impossible to 
 him; and that he held the conviction that there is a 
 truth the Church must maintain and defend as well as 
 commend. 
 
 In the Pastoral Epistles^ in which the danger foreseen 
 was already present, great importance is attached to the 
 fitness of the officers of the Church — bishops or elders 
 and deacons — for their task. In Christian experience, in 
 moral character, in family relations, in social reputation, 
 each must be fully qualified (I. Tim. iii. 1-13; Titus i. 
 7-9). In the church of Ephesus, where Timothy was set- 
 ting things in order when the first letter was addressed to 
 him, there seems to have been an order of widows, who, 
 supported by the church, were expected to render some 
 service to the church ; and great care in the selection 
 of these is insisted on by Paul (I. Tim. v. 3-16). 
 
 Paul maintained the right of the ministers of the 
 Church to support (v. 17). For himself he made the 
 same claim (I. Cor. ix. 4-6). The arguments with 
 
PAUL THE BUILDER 8i 
 
 which this claim is enforced may not all appeal to us as 
 equally relevant ; but Paul does make out a case. In 
 practice, however, he did not insist on his rights. In 
 Thessalonia he worked night and day that he might not 
 be a burden (I. Thess. ii. 9). Of the church in Corinth 
 he seeks pardon for not being a burden (II. Cor. xii. 13). 
 In Ephesus he worked not only for himself, but also for 
 his companions, and he commended his own example to 
 the elders (Acts xx. 33-35). When he was sure that 
 what was given for his support was a token of affection 
 he was ready to receive it with abounding gratitude 
 (Phil. iv. 10-19). H^ would not allow the support of 
 the preachers of the Gospel to be a hindrance to its 
 spread. To disarm suspicion of greed, to give proof of 
 disinterestedness, he was prepared to spend himself even 
 in hard manual toil. 
 
 (8) The Sacraments of the Church. — The preaching 
 of the Gospel as the revelation of God to man was the 
 essential function of the Church for Paul, as it was his 
 personal vocation. The Church responded to the divine 
 approach and appeal in its worship of praise and 
 prayer. The sacrifice it brought was the personal con- 
 secration of its members to purity and service (Rom. xii.). 
 The surrender of his own life he represented as the 
 
82 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 pouring out of the drink-offering which accompanied 
 the sacrifice of the Church's service (Phil. ii. 17). 
 
 But besides this sacrifice the Church had two ordi- 
 nances, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, the significance 
 of which for Paul we must be careful fully to recognise. 
 In one passage he seems to speak with depreciation of 
 Baptism. " Christ"sent me not to baptize, but to preach 
 the Gospel'* (I. Cor. i. 17). But, on the other hand, he 
 refers to the ordinance in such a way as to show that it 
 was full of meaning for him. Baptism was "into the 
 name of Christ" {cf. ver. 13, Acts xix. 5), or "into 
 Christ " (Rom. vi. 3). To be " baptized into Christ " 
 was to be "baptized into his death." And this means 
 such a union of the believer with Christ as identifies 
 his with Christ's experience in all essential features 
 (ver. 4). In this the believer is not merely passive, 
 but active ; he wills this oneness with Christ. He " puts 
 on Christ" (Gal. iii. 27). To put on Christ is to die 
 unto sin, and to live unto God (Rom. vi. 10- 11). We 
 need not suppose that Paul thought of the ordinance itself 
 as mysteriously or magically bringing about this identi- 
 fication, as sacramentarians do ; nor, on the contrary, 
 are we entitled to assume that for Paul the experience is 
 altogether independent of the ordinance. In his state- 
 
PAUL THE BUILDER 83 
 
 ment there is personal remembrance. It was when he 
 was baptized that he was filled with the Holy Ghost 
 (Acts ix. 17-19). He distinguished the baptism to re- 
 pentance of John from the baptism "into the name 
 of the Lord Jesus," and required the twelve men in 
 Ephesus who knew the former to receive the latter. 
 When they were baptized "Paul laid his hands upon 
 them, and the Holy Ghost came on them " (xix. 1-7). 
 We may explain it by the Oriental love of symbolism 
 if we will ; but it is certain that for Paul, as for the whole 
 Apostolic Church, baptism was not merely a symbol, but 
 even a vehicle of divine grace separating from sin and 
 consecrating unto God. The probability is that the 
 subjectivism of evangelical Protestantism to-day is likely 
 to do less than justice to the objectivity of Paul's think- 
 ing. In baptism God did something in and for man's 
 renewal. That this change was not, and could not be, 
 wrought apart from the preaching of the Gospel on the 
 one hand and the faith of man on the other, Paul's 
 work and teaching fully prove. 
 
 Paul alludes, without either sanction or objection, to 
 one custom — the baptizing of the living on behalf of (vircp) 
 those who had died without baptism (I. Cor. xv. 29, 30) — 
 which does involve, if it was really meant to secure for 
 
84 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 the dead their union with Christ, what we cannot but 
 consider superstitious belief in regard to the efficacy 
 of the ordinance. Possibly, however, in this case the 
 ordinance was declaratory of the faith of the living that 
 their dead had fallen asleep in Christ, even although 
 they had not yet submitted to the ordinance which 
 expressed this union. If the dead were altogether without 
 faith, it seems incredible that any saving efficacy on their 
 behalf could have been ascribed to this ordinance by the 
 Apostolic Church ; but if they died in faith without the 
 full confession of faith which baptism indicated, we can 
 understand how the belief would arise that the process 
 of union with Christ so begun could be completed for 
 them by this vicarious act. We cannot say confidently 
 what view of the custom Paul held. 
 
 That Paul regarded the form of baptism as a significant 
 representation of the death, the burial, and the resurrection 
 of Christ, and that therefore immersion is more ex- 
 pressive of the meaning of the ordinance than aspersion, 
 is a view which is not warranted by his words. In how- 
 figurative a way Paul uses the symbol is borne out by 
 I. Cor. X. 2 : " All were baptized unto Moses in the cloud 
 and in the sea." The Christian Church grew by the 
 admission of households as well as individuals (Acts xi. 
 
PAUL THE BUILDER 85 
 
 14, xvii. 5, xvi. ^;^, xviii. 8). We have no evidence that 
 children were included in the numbers baptized, nor have 
 we proof that each person so baptized clearly and fully 
 recognised all the ordinance signified. The faith of the 
 head of the household doubtless potently influenced all 
 the members, although in many cases their faith must have 
 been little more than a promise. As regards the children 
 born of Christian parents, and bred in Christian homes, 
 Paul did teach that they are " holy " (ayia, I. Cor. vii. 1 4). 
 By this he must have meant at least that they were set 
 apart for God, the grace of God being mediated to them by 
 Christian heredity and environment. A Christian husband 
 or a Christian wife can in the same way sanctify — that is, 
 be a means of grace to — a heathen partner. Paul's coun- 
 sel to Christian fathers (Eph. vi. 4) assumes that the 
 children were in a relation of grace to Christ. So also 
 his counsel to children takes for granted that their desire 
 is to please Christ (Col. iii. 20). He recognises that the 
 family has a function in the kingdom of God ; and that 
 in the Christian home the Christian Church exercises its 
 purifying and sanctifying influence. There is no evidence, 
 however, that this led him to face the question whether 
 the ordinance of baptism should be administered in 
 infancy to those who, by their heredity and environment 
 
86 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 alike, were being thus influenced by and attached to 
 Christ, as well as to those who turned from sin unto God. 
 In I. Cor. xi. 23-25 we have the earliest account 
 of the institution of the Lord's Supper. From this 
 it is clear that Paul did not identify the bread and 
 the wine with the body and the blood of Christ. 
 The form of words even forbids the conclusion. The 
 cup is not said to be the blood of Christ, but "the 
 new covenant in His blood." Further, this is done, 
 not to partake of Christ, but "in remembrance of Him," 
 and to proclaim His death. The ordinance is com- 
 memoration and testimony. But in this remembrance 
 and declaration Paul does hold that the communicant 
 does enter into very intimate relation with Christ Him- 
 self (x. 16). That we must not take the words literally 
 as identifying the elements with Christ is shown by 
 the use of the same imagery to express the unity of 
 believers (ver. 17). As real as is this communion with 
 Christ, so real, in Paul's belief, is the communion with 
 devils of those who take part in sacrifices to idols 
 (ver. 21). This communion with Christ is also com- 
 munion with fellow-believers; for they in Christ are 
 " one bread, and one body." To partake of the Supper, 
 as the Church in Corinth did, each man caring for 
 
PAUL THE BUILDER 87 
 
 his own wants, heedless of the needs of others, some 
 gratifying their greed, others even indulging in drunken- 
 ness, was to do dishonour to Christ, to be "guilty of 
 the body and blood of the Lord," to fail to discern 
 His body in His Church. Paul held that this must 
 bring judgment; and there seems to be little doubt 
 that in xi. 30 he intends to connect disease and death 
 in the Church with this offence as the divine punish- 
 ment on it. We need not assume that Paul was so 
 superstitious as to hold that the elements themselves 
 had in them a magical efficacy; nevertheless his view 
 proves how great was the sanctity that he assigned to 
 the ordinance, when its unworthy observance might 
 involve so serious consequences. It may be added 
 that it is possible, as some scholars hold, that our 
 interpretation of Paul's view of the sacraments in- 
 sensibly tends to modernise them; that, trained as 
 he had been, there was an efficacy for him in sacra- 
 ments such as it is difficult for us now to conceive. 
 There may have been an element of what we to-day 
 regard as superstition in his belief; but on the whole 
 it is better for us to credit him with the most spiritual 
 and moral view that the words he uses allow. It is 
 not likely that the man who said of the most sacred 
 
88 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 rite of the religion in which he had been brought up, 
 that "in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth 
 anything, nor uncircumcision ; but faith working through 
 love " (Gal. v. 6) ; who, recognising the gifts as the work- 
 ing of God's Holy Spirit, yet dared to show the more 
 excellent way of love (I. Cor. xii. 31), would give to 
 any outward ordinance, apart from its moral and reli- 
 gious influence, any significance or value. The sacra- 
 ments for Paul had importance and efficacy only as 
 the symbols, and probably also the vehicles, of divine 
 grace, bringing the believer into closer communion 
 with Christ, and so serving as the signs and seals 
 of the unity of the Christian Church, the body of 
 Christ, the habitation of God's Spirit, the tilled land, 
 the building of God (I. Cor. iii. 9). 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 
 
 In dealing with Paul the theologian, we must distinguish 
 what he brought with him from his Pharisaic Judaism 
 (Chapter I.), and what he drew from his own Christian 
 experience (Chapter H.); also the changes in belief 
 due to his own personal development, and the modi- 
 fications in the statements of his doctrine due to the 
 errors against which he was contending, or to the 
 needs of the converts to whom he was writing. Some 
 interpreters find in Paul a progress in theological thought, 
 and arrange his Epistles accordingly ; but the writer 
 does not share this opinion. While the expression 
 and the emphasis of his beliefs was modified from 
 time to time, he had thought out his Gospel soon after 
 his conversion. A man over thirty years of age, as 
 he was at his conversion, who had passed through severe 
 moral struggles and deep religious experiences, who 
 
 had at his command the intellectual resources of a 
 
 89 
 
90 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 learned Jewish scribe, could not and would not rest 
 long till he had adjusted his theological knowledge to 
 the new point of view. The account of his experience 
 in Gal. i. 11-17 shows him as a man who knew him- 
 self to be in possession of his distinctive Gospel from 
 the beginning of his mission among the Gentiles ; and 
 it was because he had such a Gospel to preach that he 
 felt his call so insistent. To take one instance, we 
 have no proof that Paul abandoned his early belief 
 in Christ's Second Coming, although he wavered in 
 his hope of living till that time. Paul's confession in 
 Rom. i. 16, 17 gives us the standpoint from which to 
 treat his theology. It is salvation from God for man 
 about which he is concerned. The questions we must 
 try to answer are : Why does man need salvation ? 
 What is the salvation he needs? How does God 
 bestow it? and How does man claim it? In answer- 
 ing these we shall fully state Paul's Gospel. 
 
 I. THE NEED OF SALVATION 
 
 What Christ did for Paul was to save him from 
 sin, and that is what Paul declared Jew and Greek 
 alike needed. But we may think of sin as it affects 
 the man himself, or as it affects his relation to God. 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 91 
 
 For the moralist the first point of view is more im- 
 portant ; for the theologian the second ; the word sin 
 as it is used in the Holy Scriptures and in Christian 
 theology implies this reference to God. Man feels in 
 himself sin's power; in his relation to God he feels 
 sin's guilt. In the one case there is a bondage to be 
 broken ; in the other a judgment to be met, a penalty 
 to be endured. 
 
 (i) The Wrath of God. — Paul believed that in the 
 conscience of mankind there was a witness to the reality 
 of guilt. Even among the heathens there was a sense 
 of right and wrong, a fear of judgment, a self-accusing 
 or self-excusing (Rom. i. 28, 32, ii. 14-16). The Jew's 
 pride in the law was the condemnation of his breaches 
 of the law (20-23). He held that there was a revelation 
 of the wrath of God against sin (i. 18). The subjective 
 sense of guilt in man corresponded to the objective fact 
 of wrath in God. As all sinful, all men are under God's 
 judgment (iii. 19), as sinful men are the enemies of 
 God (Rom. V. 10, xi, 28); and this means not only that 
 men oppose themselves to God, but that there is an 
 antagonism in God to their sins. "The sons of dis- 
 obedience" are necessarily "children of wrath" (Eph. 
 ii. 2-3). Human disobedience incurs, and cannot but 
 
92 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 incur, divine displeasure. While we must avoid thinking 
 of the wrath of God as a passion, such as it is in man, 
 we must take care not to empty the antagonism of 
 the holiness of God to its contradiction and opposi- 
 tion of all personal emotional content. God feels His 
 condemnation of evil. That there is divine judgment 
 on sin, penalty falling on the guilty, Jesus Himself 
 clearly taught ; and this is confirmed both by the re- 
 morse felt by the sinner and by the consequences which, 
 as human history shows, ^ follow transgression. Paul's 
 statement, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he 
 also reap" (Gal. vi. 7), in which the modern conception 
 of cause and effect is applied to the relation between 
 actions and their penalty or reward, is a representation 
 more congenial to our mood ; but Paul does not here 
 think of an impersonal process, but of a personal action. 
 " God is not mocked." If there is a retributive order in 
 man's own nature and in human society, God wills it, 
 and He wills as He thinks and feels, and so we get 
 back to God's wrath as a reality. 
 
 (2) The Flesh. — As regards the power of sin, the 
 classical passage for Paul's teaching is his confession of 
 his own experience in Rom. vii. 7-25. Although after 
 his conversion he was still tempted, and had to struggle 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 93 
 
 against evil (L Cor. ix. 27), yet it was before his con- 
 version that he experienced the inward division and 
 conflict which in this passage he so vividly describes. 
 He was a man divided against himself, and in conflict 
 with himself. The lower self, the flesh, the sin in him, 
 the law in his members, withstood, strove against, made 
 helpless, the higher self, the mind, the inward man. In 
 modern language, conscience and reason were opposed 
 by appetite and passion. Although the law of God 
 was approved, it was not obeyed. Paul's experience is 
 typical; all serious, earnest men share it in greater or 
 less degree. What is peculiar in his statement, and re- 
 quires some explanation, is his use of the v^ord flesh. 
 
 It is urged by some expositors that this is an in- 
 stance of Greek dualism, that Paul thought the flesh 
 as material substance inherently evil. But unless the 
 evidence is conclusive, we should not ascribe to Paul 
 any borrowing from Greek thought, if an idea can be 
 explained either from his Rabbinic training or his 
 Christian experience. Now in the Old Testament the 
 term flesh is used of man as a creature, especially to 
 emphasise his weakness apart from the Spirit of God 
 conceived as power. The contrast between man as 
 flesh and God as Spirit can easily pass over into a moral 
 
94 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 contradiction between man's wilfulness and God's law. 
 Distinction by an easy transition of thought becomes 
 opposition. Thus Paul uses the term flesh to describe 
 human nature in so far as that nature, disowning 
 dependence on and refusing submission to God, has 
 become "the seat and the vehicle of sin." Paul does 
 not think of sinful acts as isolated from and indepen- 
 dent of one another, but as the expression and exercise 
 of a nature which has become in itself sinful (how, 
 we shall afterwards inquire). The temptations from 
 without find within man appetites, passions, desires, 
 tempers, ambitions, that readily respond to them, and 
 strongly reinforce them. As a serious Pharisee, and 
 still more as a devout Christian, Paul was so intensely 
 conscious of this indwelling and inworking sin, not 
 as occasional but as permanent, that he invested the 
 word flesh with this distinct meaning to interpret his 
 experience. There are several positive considerations 
 against the view that Paul regarded the flesh as material 
 substance necessarily evil. On the one hand, the works 
 of the flesh include " idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, 
 jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies, envy- 
 ings," as well as "fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 
 drunkenness, and revellings" (Gal. v. 19-21). On the 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 95 
 
 other hand, the body may be consecrated unto God 
 (L Thess. V. 23; Rom. xii. i ; II. Cor. vii. i). 
 
 (3) Adam's Transgression. — Paul's view of the flesh 
 does not^necessarily involve the doctrines of original sin 
 and total depravity as these have been commonly under- 
 stood in evangelical Protestantism. It is quite recon- 
 cilable with a scientific view of the development of the 
 individual moral life, in which appetites and passions, 
 contrary to conscience, get a start of it, and so have a 
 hold before conscience seeks through the will to exercise 
 control. In what Paul says about the guilt and the 
 power of sin, he is not contradicting, but interpreting, 
 human experience, even as, amid changed opinions, it is 
 to-day. But the same claim cannot be put forward for 
 Paul's view of the origin of sin in the human race. In 
 the second chapter it was shown that the belief in the 
 entrance of sin and its penalty — death — into the world 
 through the transgression of Adam was common in the 
 Jewish schools, and that Paul as a Pharisee held it 
 before his conversion. It does not spring out of his 
 personal experience, or belong to his distinctive Gospel. 
 In dealing with the passage in which he states it (Rom. 
 V. 12-21), we must avoid two mistakes. We must not 
 suppose that Paul left unrelated his view of the flesh as 
 
96 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 the seat and vehicle of sin, and his belief in Adam's fall. 
 He had not two, but only one explanation of the begin- 
 ning of sin. The flesh in each man is due to the sin 
 of Adam. The tendency to sin is inherited. But we 
 must avoid, on the other hand, the assumption that the 
 explanation he offers of the entrance of sin into the 
 world is the reason for his affirming the guilt and power 
 of sin. He knew in himself both the guilt and power 
 of sin; he saw both in men around him. We may 
 reject his explanation without at all affecting our esti- 
 mate of his Gospel. It is important to note the place 
 that the passage has in the argument. Paul has already 
 empirically, by an appeal to facts, proved the univer- 
 sality of sin (iii. 19, 20). He is not seeking even to 
 explain the origin of sin ; that is not necessary to his 
 argument ; and he could take the belief in the fall for 
 granted. What he aims at proving is the efficacy of 
 the reconciUation in Christ for all mankind; and the 
 argument is this : if the sin of Adam had such efficacy as 
 to bring sin and death on all men, much more, and by as 
 much more as Christ is greater than Adam, will the grace of 
 Christ have efficacy to bring righteousness and life to all. 
 His emphasis is on the disobedience of Adam in contrast 
 with the obedience of Christ. This excludes an explana- 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 97 
 
 tion which has sometimes been offered of the other 
 passage in which a contrast is also made between Adam 
 and Christ (I. Cor. xv. 45-47). The description of 
 Adam as living soul and earthy in contrast with Christ 
 as life-giving spirit and heavenly^ is not intended to be 
 an explanation or extenuation of his offence, as though 
 it were due to some defect of nature that he fell, for 
 Paul desired to emphasise to the full his freedom and 
 responsibility. But, further, the contrast here is not 
 between Adam before his fall and Christ, but between 
 Adam as head of the sinful, dying race, and Christ as 
 risen, " the firstborn among many brethren." We have 
 no ground for supposing Paul to have been so in 
 advance of his age as to have thought of the primitive 
 man as modern anthropology has taught us to think 
 of him. Nor are we entitled to assign to him the ex- 
 travagances of later dogmatists, who regarded Adam as 
 dowered with every human excellence. Paul's explana- 
 tion leaves the problem unsolved for us. 
 
 In this passage Paul regards death as the penalty of 
 sin ; now science teaches us to regard death as a natural 
 necessity. Even as physical dissolution Paul would 
 probably have explained death in the same way ; but he 
 is thinking of death as more than physical dissolution. 
 
98 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 as having a moral and religious content. He thought 
 of death as ending life's moral probation and ushering 
 in God's judgment. Here science has no contradiction 
 to offer. It is probable that in the life hereafter the 
 moral consequences of this life, and these are God's 
 judgment, will be experienced. It is probable that 
 man will become more fully conscious of his relation to 
 God, for his joy or to his shame. The dread and dark 
 ness with which a guilty conscience may invest death 
 is a consequence of sin. So far we may recognise the 
 truth of Paul's view. 
 
 There seems to be no doubt that Paul means to derive 
 from Adam's sin not only the death but also the sin of all 
 men ; yet by a change in the striK^ture of one of his 
 sentences he makes his meaning doubtful. " So death 
 passed unto all men, for that all sinned'''' (Rom. v. 12). 
 This would seem to make the death of each man the 
 penalty of his own sin; but Paul argues expressly 
 that " sin is not imputed when there is no law," and 
 that the generations until Moses "had not sinned after 
 the likeness of Adam's transgression" (verses 13 and 14). 
 It is as related to Adam that all are said to have sinned. 
 It is held by some theologians that it was as included 
 physically in Adam, by others that it was as represented 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 99 
 
 morally by him, that the race may be said to have 
 sinned in its head. The more probable explanation 
 is that Paul thought of Adam's sin as the cause of 
 human sinfulness ; and the facts of heredity, even on a 
 moderate estimate of the influence of this factor in human 
 history, do give support to the view that descent from 
 a sinful race does affect the individual life adversely, 
 although Christian theologians on these themes of origi- 
 nal sin and total depravity have gone much farther than 
 the facts warrant. 
 
 There is one statement of Paul's regarding the 
 sinfulness of the heathen world which at once seems 
 to challenge contradiction, that is, his derivation of 
 the moral corruption of heathenism from its idolatry 
 (Rom. i. 23, 24, 28). He describes the connection as 
 the divine punishment ; but this is his Hebrew mode of 
 speech. Putting it in our ways of thought, can we think 
 of moral depravity as the necessary consequence of 
 idolatry ? We cannot regard all idolatry as a deliberate 
 choice of the lower course in religion when a higher was 
 possible, but must regard it as a stage in the evolution 
 of rehgion. Nevertheless, the evolution need not be re- 
 garded as always progressive ; it was sometimes retarded, 
 sometimes misdirected by error and sin. There were 
 
loo LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 forms of polytheism morally pernicious. The mytho- 
 logy of Greece and Rome (Plato and Lucretius being 
 witnesses) was often so immoral as to do moral injury. 
 So far Paul may be justified in his view. 
 
 II. THE NATURE OF SALVATION 
 
 The salvation in Christ fully meets the need of man ; 
 the guilt of sin \^r&c^ovQd,\i^ the righteousness o/God, and 
 the power of sin is broken by the sanctification of man. 
 This deliverance involves two further consequences, as 
 sinful man is under the yoke of the law, and the fear of 
 death ; and the Christian salvation brings the end of the 
 law, and the victory over death. The Christian salvation 
 is one ; for the forgiveness of sin is also the motive, the 
 promise, and the power of holiness. In the cancelling of 
 the guilt of sin there is also the breaking of its power, for 
 a distressed conscience means an impotent will ; and a 
 conscience loosed from its burden means a will freed 
 from its bondage. 
 
 (i) The Righteousness of God. — What is meant by 
 " the righteousness of God " in which the guilt of sin is 
 removed? Without examining any of the definitions 
 given by theologians, let us try to gather from Paul's 
 use of the phrase what he meant by it. As "the 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN loi 
 
 righteousness which is of faith " it is contrasted with 
 "the righteousness which is of the law"; it is a gift 
 received, not a payment earned (Rom. x. 5, 6). The 
 Jews, " being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking 
 to establish their own, did not subject themselves to the 
 righteousness of God " (x. 3). Man does not achieve it 
 for himself ; he accepts it in submitting himself to God. 
 Paul confesses of himself " not having a righteousness of 
 mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is 
 through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God 
 by faith " (Phil. iii. 9). God is the source ; Christ is the 
 medium ; faith, and not doing the works of the law, is the 
 condition of receiving it in man. According to Rom. v. 
 17, the source is "the abundance of grace " in God, and 
 the end " eternal life." This " righteousness of God " is 
 revealed in contrast with, and for the removal of, the 
 wrath of God. It is grace, conditioned by the wrath 
 of God ; saving man, not in contradiction to, but in con- 
 formity with, God's judgment on sin. While it is a gift, 
 the relation which God Himself establishes with mankind 
 in forgiving sin, it must not be disconnected from the 
 Giver. Righteousness is an attribute of God (Rom. iii. 
 5) \ and the Old Testament so far anticipates the teaching 
 of the New as to represent God's salvation of the people 
 
I02 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 as an exercise of His attribute of righteousness. " The 
 Lord hath made known his salvation, his righteousness 
 hath he openly showed in the sight of the nations " (Psalm 
 xcviii. 2). Not in spite of the righteousness, but because 
 of it, does God save. The moral perfection of God 
 cannot but seek to restore man to moral perfection. 
 
 In this righteousness there is a judicial and even penal 
 element. In order to display " his righteousness at this 
 present season," God set forth Christ "to be a propitia- 
 tion (or propitiatory) through faith, by his blood " (Rom. 
 iii. 25). The reason why it was necessary that God's 
 righteousness should be so revealed was twofold — (i) 
 " because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime 
 in the forbearance of God," and (2) " that he might 
 himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith 
 in Jesus." God had not in the past judged and punished 
 sin, as it deserved, as His own character required it should 
 be. God in the present must forgive sin in such a way 
 as to put beyond doubt or question His attitude to sin. 
 Christ in His Sacrifice shows God's judgment on, punish- 
 ment of sin, even in forgiving the sin of those who have 
 faith in Him. If God's generous dealings with men 
 had left any ambiguity about God's character or purpose, 
 that is now altogether removed. The word propitiatory 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 103 
 
 combines the grace and the wrath of God. We must 
 beware of pressing the word, so as to think of God 
 as propitiated with blood as the gods of the heathen 
 were sometimes believed to be ; but we do not do 
 justice to Paul's meaning unless we understand that 
 the judgment or punishment of sin is included in the 
 redemption from sin in Christ. 
 
 This righteousness of God, penal or judicial as well 
 as redemptive, is revealed in the Cross, which was the 
 centre of Paul's thought (L Cor. i. 18, ii. 2 ; Gal. vi. 14). 
 He connects the Cross closely with man's sin. Christ 
 "died for our sins" (L Cor. xv. 3). He "died for 
 all" (H. Cor. v. 15). He "gave himself for our sins" 
 (Gal. i. 4). He was sent "y^r sin " (R.V., as an offeri7ig 
 for sin, Rom. viii. 3). He "was delivered up for our 
 trespasses" (iv. 25). God "delivered him up for us 
 all" (viii. 32). If we cannot find in Paul the statement 
 that Christ died instead of us, but on account of our sins, 
 or on behalf of us, yet he does think of Christ as taking 
 our lot as His own. He was sent in the likeness of 
 sinful flesh (Rom. viii. 3), born under the law (Gal. 
 iv. 4), made sin, that is, treated as a sinner (II. Cor. 
 v. 21), and became a curse (Gal. iii. 13). (These 
 passages will be more fully discussed in dealing with 
 
I04 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 the work of Christ.) While there was no quantitative 
 equivalence between what He suffered and what we as 
 sinners should suffer, while we may not regard His suffer- 
 ing as qualitatively the same, for the sinless cannot be 
 held guilty, repent, or be punished as the sinful, yet 
 Christ took on Himself by a voluntary identification of 
 Himself with sinful mankind, not by any legal substitu- 
 tion, all the consequences of sin, which for the sinful 
 are penal, but which He made redemptive. 
 
 If we ask, What purpose did Christ's passion serve ? 
 there can be no doubt of Paul's answer. In effecting 
 man's salvation, Christ's sacrifice fulfilled, and more 
 exceedingly fulfilled, the same end in God's moral 
 order as the punishment of sinners would do. This 
 conclusion may be justified by a closer examination of 
 three words used by Paul, propitiation or propitiatory 
 (Rom. iii. 25), redemption (Col. i. 14; I. Cor. i. 30), re- 
 conciliation (Rom. v. 10, 11; 11. Cor. v. 18-20). As 
 regards the first of these terms, it is doubtful whether 
 the Greek word is a noun or an adjective ; but it is 
 more probably the latter. An allusion to the lid of 
 the ark, as some scholars suppose, would have been too 
 obscure; a reference to the sacrificial victim, even a 
 human sacrifice, such as paganism was familiar with, is 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 105 
 
 not impossible ; but this does not help our interpreta- 
 tion. The widest sense, such as the adjective allows, 
 is to be preferred. It has already been indicated that 
 the word implies a judicial or penal as well as a redemp- 
 tive element in God's righteousness. If we press the 
 question, how does Christ's passion reveal this element, 
 God's judgment or punishment on sin, as well as His 
 grace in forgiveness ? Paul gives us no distinct answer. 
 He was sure sin ought to be punished ; he was sure 
 that in Christ sin is forgiven ; the punishment must be 
 included in the forgiveness of sin in Christ. The effi- 
 cacy of the Cross for God and man alike lies in the 
 obedience of Christ, which has a value greater far than 
 is necessary to compensate for the sin of Adam and the 
 race. " Where sin abounded, grace did abound more 
 exceedingly" (v. 20). His obedience was shown in 
 His acceptance of all the consequences of sin. In this 
 obedience in accepting the consequences of sin Christ 
 approved, and asserted God's moral order in the world, 
 which expresses His moral perfection, more fully and 
 clearly than all the penalties mankind might endure. 
 May we add that it does belong to moral perfection to 
 assert itself in opposition to moral evil, and to demon- 
 strate its inherent character in that opposition ? 
 
io6 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 What further light does Paul's use of the word redemp- 
 tion give us ? In Col. i. 14 it is explained as " the for- 
 giveness of our sins." Redemption in I. Cor. i. 30 seems 
 to combine the idea of " righteousness and sanctification." 
 Christ redeems from "the law" (Gal, iv. 4), and from 
 "the curse of the law" (iii. 13). The idea of a ransom 
 is implied, as I. Cor. vi. 20, vii. 23 shows. "Ye were 
 bought with a price." The word itself is used in I. Tim. 
 ii. 6. An idea which is prominent in this connection 
 must be noticed. What Christ thus bought belongs to 
 Him (Titus ii. 14). To whom the ransom was paid 
 Paul does not ask. He would never have answered, as 
 one of the earliest theories of the Atonement did, to 
 the devil. If on the Cross God sets forth Christ as pro- 
 pitiatory, then we may infer that somehow Paul would 
 have thought of the ransom as rendered to God. 
 
 The reconciliation between God and man is for Paul 
 mutual ; the enmity of God to man, the wrath of God 
 revealed against sin, is removed, as well as man's estrange- 
 ment from God ended (Rom. v. 10, 11). Because God 
 in Christ is reconciled, men are to become reconciled to 
 God (II. Cor. V. 18-20). God's grace claims man's faith, 
 so that the loving fellowship of God and man may be 
 restored. 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 107 
 
 We can now briefly answer a question which has been 
 much debated. Does justification mean reckoning righ- 
 teous or making righteous ? Scholars are agreed that the 
 word means reckoning righteous. In Rom. iv. 5 this 
 sense is clearly stated : " But to him that worketh not, 
 but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith 
 is reckoned for righteousness." His teaching is this : 
 God reckons as righteous, that is, treats as righteous, 
 the ungodly (by His forgiveness he welcomes them to 
 loving fellowship with Himself), because He counts as 
 their righteousness their faith in Christ, especially His 
 propitiatory death. But we cannot stop there without 
 opening the door to many misconceptions. The way in 
 which God reckons righteous also makes righteous. On 
 the one hand, the object of faith, Christ in His death, 
 so condemns sin and commends holiness, that personal 
 relation to Him cannot but issue in repentance and 
 consecration, renunciation of evil and dedication to God. 
 On the other hand, the faith which is a personal relation 
 to Christ becomes an ever closer union with Him, 
 so that the believer is crucified and risen with Him, 
 dies unto sin, and lives unto God. It is only if we 
 forget the object and the nature of faith that the possi- 
 bility of a reckoning righteous which does not necessarily 
 
io8 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 issue in a making righteous can be conceived. What is 
 important in the distinction for which theologians have 
 so warmly contended is this. God in free grace forgives 
 men, not because they are good, or even because they 
 will become good, but that He may make them good. 
 Men do not earn their relationship to God in Christ ; 
 He bestows it, and in bestowing it He makes them 
 worthy of it, as they never could make themselves. 
 Forgiveness is the motive of holiness ; justification leads 
 on to sanctification. 
 
 (2) The Sanctification of Man. — The forgiveness of 
 sin brings with it the assurance of deliverance from sin. 
 He who knows himself reconciled to God by the death 
 of His Son is sure that He will be saved by His life 
 (Rom. v. 10). The sense of sonship (Gal. iii. 26, iv. 6) 
 removes the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness 
 which sin brings (Rom. vii. 24). This relief of con- 
 science means recovery of will. But the way in which 
 the forgiveness has come — the grace of Christ in His 
 Cross — brings into the life a new motive. As has already 
 been mentioned, the redeemed are bought with a price 
 to be the possession of Him who gave Himself a ran- 
 som for them. This argument is most fully stated in 
 n. Cor. v. 14-15: "The love of Christ constraineth 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 109 
 
 us ; because we thus judge, that one died for all, there- 
 fore all died ; and he died for all, that they which live 
 should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him 
 who for their sakes died and rose again." This does 
 not mean bondage to a new law, but the freedom of 
 service inspired by love, gratitude for grace. This new 
 motive proved its efficacy in Paul, and is efficient wher- 
 ever the grace is truly experienced and the gratitude is 
 fully rendered. 
 
 This, however, is not the distinctive feature of Paul's 
 experiences. Not his thankfulness only for what Christ 
 had done for him made him a new man ; but his 
 abiding fellowship with the living Saviour and Lord. 
 He not only says " the love of Christ constraineth me,'^ 
 but also " Christ liveth in me " (Gal. ii. 20), and what 
 he claims for himself he takes for granted in all 
 believers. He assumes that no baptized believer can 
 continue in sin that grace may abound, "because all 
 were buried with him through baptism unto death," so 
 that they " should be dead unto sin, but alive unto God 
 in Christ Jesus" (Rom. vi. i-ii). This personal union 
 with Christ involves the constant exercise of Christ's 
 personal influence on the believer, so that he comes to 
 be more and more conformed to Christ, crucified to- 
 
no LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 sin and risen to God with Him. As for Paul, it was not 
 the earthly life of Jesus which was of primary signifi- 
 cance and value (we may say this without maintaining 
 that he was either ignorant of or indifferent to the facts 
 of that life), but the death and rising again (I. Cor. 
 XV. 3, 4), so the content of his communion with Christ 
 is the Crucifixion and Resurrection. The meaning 
 these events had was this. As Christ had so identified 
 Himself with sinners as to suffer on His Cross the 
 consequences of their sin, thus must believers so identify 
 themselves with Christ as to feel toward sin as He did, 
 to condemn and execute it in themselves. As Christ 
 had risen from the dead to live henceforth to God, so 
 must believers living one life with Him " walk in new- 
 ness of life unto God." Man makes his own by an 
 appropriating affection, by an identifying submission, 
 both Christ's condemnation of sin and consecration 
 to God. It is faith, receptive and responsive, to what 
 Christ has done and now is, to His grace, that con- 
 forms the believer to Christ. 
 
 What appears at first sight an alternative explanation 
 of man's sanctification, but on closer scrutiny is but a 
 complementary, is found. Sanctification is ascribed to 
 the Spirit (II. Thess. ii. 13). All the graces and virtues 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN iii 
 
 of the Christian life are " fruits of the Spirit " (Gal. v. 
 19-23). The Christian walks, and is led, because he 
 lives by the Spirit (v. 16, 18, 25), and this is the same as 
 being " of Christ Jesus " and having "crucified the flesh 
 with the passions and the lusts thereof." For the 
 Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, and having the Spirit is the 
 test of being Christ's (Rom. viii. 9). If in one passage 
 Paul appears to identify the Lord and the Spirit 
 (XL Cor. iii. 17, 18), yet he generally clearly dis- 
 tinguishes the one from the other (11. Cor. xiii. 14 ; 
 I. Cor. xii. 4-6 ; Eph. iv. 4-6). The work of Christ 
 and of the Spirit is one work, however ; and the two 
 ways of describing that one work may perhaps be 
 thus explained. When Paul was fully conscious of 
 a personal presence and a personal communion, he 
 thought and spoke of the Lord ; when this conscious- 
 ness was less distinct, and yet he knew that whatever 
 was good in him he owed to God, he thought and 
 spoke of the Spirit. 
 
 (3) The End of the Law. — The righteousness of God 
 by faith is opposed by Paul to the righteousness by the 
 works of the law. As a Pharisee he had sought the 
 latter ; as a Christian he found the former. His vain 
 pursuit of the one had hindered his ready acceptance of 
 
112 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 the other. In his own experience there was an oppo- 
 sition of grace and law, faith and works. A peril 
 threatening the Church compelled him to assert and to 
 prove that Christ was the end of the law, that grace 
 superseded works. In Antioch and in the churches in 
 Syria and Cilicia the attempt was made to impose the 
 law, especially circumcision, as a condition of salvation 
 on the Gentiles (Acts xv. i). Although the Church 
 in Jerusalem granted the freedom of the Gentiles, yet 
 the Judaisers busied themselves in Galatia, Philippi, 
 Corinth, even Rome itself ; and it was necessary for Paul 
 to make clear the abolition of the Law by the Gospel. 
 
 Concerned with this concrete issue, Paul has the 
 Mosaic Law in view even when he is dealing with the 
 law generally ; but his contention applies to law in the 
 wider as well as in the narrower sense. It is the Jewish 
 law he is thinking of when he speaks of the Gentiles as 
 having no law (Rom. ii. 14), or of the non-imputation 
 of sin in the absence of law (v. 1 3), or of the result of 
 the law in his own experience (vii. 7). He recognises a 
 moral law among the Gentiles (ii. 15). While what was 
 immediately in dispute was part of the ceremonial law, 
 yet Paul in his treatment no more distinguishes moral 
 from ceremonial law than the Mosaic from any other law. 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 113 
 
 It is law as law that is superseded by Christ. Christian 
 morality is not legal, but something far better. 
 
 As a Christian he kept his reverence for the law; 
 even when he is proving that it has no longer any claim 
 on the Christian, he recognises its divine origin and 
 authority. As it comes from God, it is " spiritual," and 
 all its demands are " holy, just, and good " (Rom. vii. 
 12-14). He warmly rejects the inference from his 
 argument that the law is sin (ver. 7), and maintains that 
 faith does not make the law of none effect, but estab- 
 lishes it (iii. 31). The law is not against the promises 
 of God (Gal. iii. 21). Nevertheless his Pharisaic bond- 
 age to the law made it impossible for him to delight 
 in the law, as some of the psalmists did, or to recog- 
 nise fully its providential purpose in the history of the 
 Hebrew nation, as we can to-day. 
 
 The place of the law is between the promise and its 
 fulfilment ; and it was given " because of transgressions," 
 that is, either to restrain them or to provoke them. 
 That the historical function was the former, who can 
 doubt? That the result was the latter, Paul not only 
 held but also that it was a result intended, as God 
 desired that all things might be shut up under sin when 
 the promise was fulfilled (Gal. iii. 19-22). "The law 
 
114 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 came in beside" (Rom. v. 20) as an afterthought; it 
 was a temporary and provisional, not permanent and 
 final, revelation of God. 
 
 The promise, which is superior to the law, was given 
 to Abraham, not for works of the law, but because his 
 faith was reckoned to him for righteousness (Gal. iii. 
 5-8) ; it was given when he was still in uncircumcision 
 (Rom. iv.). This promise " the law which came four 
 hundred and thirty years after" (Gal. iii. 17) could not 
 annul. However Rabbinic this argument is in form, 
 its essential idea is that the legal relation between God 
 and man is not so essential and permanent as that of 
 grace. God is Father by His nature rather than Law- 
 giver and Judge. 
 
 Between the legal relation and the gracious there 
 was for Paul a necessary opposition. *'If righteous- 
 ness is through the law, then Christ died for nought " 
 (Gal. ii. 21). To choose the one way is to turn from 
 the other. Those who seek justification by the law are 
 "severed from Christ, fallen away from grace" (v. 4). 
 Because Paul had found Christ sufficient for holiness 
 as well as forgiveness, he could not tolerate the authority 
 of the law beside that of Christ. 
 
 But the law had proved itself ineffective both for 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 115 
 
 forgiveness and holiness. While the law brings "the 
 knowledge of sin" (Rom. iii. 20), makes wrong known 
 as such, it has no power to restrain, but rather provokes 
 sin, for the commandment is like a challenge which sin 
 is ever ready to accept (vii. 8, 9). This result shows 
 the internal opposition of the law and sin ; it exposes 
 sin in its real character (ver. 13). The reason why this 
 aggravation of sin is necessary is that a man, by dis- 
 covering fully his need, may be ready to welcome the 
 saving grace of God. " God hath shut up all unto 
 disobedience that he might have mercy upon all " 
 (Rom. xi. 32). The cause of this moral impotence of 
 the law is that it is outer command and not inner 
 constraint, letter and not spirit (H. Cor. iii. 3-6). The 
 religious condition of the Jews showed that it could 
 not secure the obedience even of those who most 
 boasted its possession (Rom. ii. 23, 28, 29). The 
 flesh was too strong an antagonist for the law to over- 
 come ; that was possible only to the grace of God in 
 Christ (viii. 3-4). 
 
 There is much in this argument due on the one hand 
 to Paul's peculiar experience in trying to keep the law 
 as a Pharisee, and on the other to the special contention 
 of the Judaisers; and all this must appear to us as 
 
ii6 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 remote from our moral life. But there is here an inter- 
 pretation of moral facts. When conscience awakens in 
 the child, some of his wishes and acts are first recog- 
 nised as wrong. Restraint does often provoke rebeUion, 
 unless there be adequate motive for obedience. A man 
 is sometimes brought to a sense of his moral corruption 
 by a fall into some gross form of sin ; and self-discovery 
 is the first step to self-recovery. Generally law does 
 not come without some motive to obedience in addition 
 to its rewards and punishments ; and we must admit 
 Paul's point of view is here altogether too abstract. 
 
 What the law had done was to make the transgres- 
 sor so miserable as to make him desire deliverance 
 (Rom. vii. 24), and to make him despair of finding that 
 deliverance in the law (Gal. ii. 19). Paul here con- 
 fidently generalises his own experience; but had the 
 Galatians indeed found " the law hath been our tutor to 
 bring us unto Christ " (iii. 24) ? May not legal discipline 
 at a particular stage of moral development be necessary 
 as a preparation for evangelical freedom ? This never 
 presented itself as a possibility to Paul. As a son of 
 God, baptized unto Christ (Gal. iii. 26, 27), crucified and 
 risen with Christ (ii. 20), he was dead to the law, as 
 were all Christians (Rom. vii. 4). This death to the 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 117 
 
 law was not moral licence, because in Christ the be- 
 liever is first dead to sin. In his freedom he is under 
 law to Christ (I. Cor. ix. 21), and as substituting this 
 inward and effective authority and influence, making 
 holy, " Christ is the end of the law " (Rom. x. 4), for 
 He accomplishes the moral deliverance from the flesh 
 which the law had failed to secure (Rom. viii. 3). This 
 is not libertinism, but liberation. Paul was absolutely 
 right in claiming the freedom of the Gentiles from 
 the ceremonial law of Judaism (Col. ii. 16). Al- 
 though in his polemic he may appear to be refusing 
 the moral guidance the law could give to the individual 
 conscience of the Gentile converts, really he does not. 
 All standards of conduct that are good, true, worthy, 
 Paul commends (Phil. iv. 8). His own letters are full 
 of such moral guidance, and it is certain most of the 
 churches were in such moral immaturity that without 
 such guidance the liberty in the Spirit would have proved 
 a danger. The absolute liberty Paul in his polemic 
 claims is possible only to those who have made as 
 absolute submission to Christ, as Paul assumes that 
 the confession of Christ in baptism involved. Till 
 such maturity is reached, the counsel and even 
 command of those more advanced in the Christian life 
 
ii8 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 will be not an infringement, but a protection of liberty in 
 Christ, " the end of the law." 
 
 (4) The Victory over Death. — This element in the 
 Christian salvation is much less prominent in Christian 
 thought to-day than it was in the mind of Paul. The 
 Christian view of death is commonly taken for granted, 
 without a distinct recognition of its source in the grace 
 of Christ. For Paul, and for the apostolic age generally, 
 death was still too much of a darkness and a dread for 
 the great debt to Christ, in bringing immortality and life 
 to light in His Gospel, to be forgotten. Paul clothes this 
 hope, as did all Christians of his age, in the eschatological 
 beliefs of contemporary Judaism. Paul himself shrank 
 from death (II. Cor. v. 1-4), and regarded it as the 
 penalty of sin (Rom. v. 12), as its wages (vi. 23), or its 
 harvest (Gal. vi. 7, 8). The deliverance he desired and 
 hoped for was by resurrection — that is, the restoration 
 of his whole personality, body, soul, and spirit; for he 
 was a Hebrew, who regarded man as a living soul 
 because God had breathed into the dust His spirit, 
 and not a Greek, who thought of the body as the prison 
 of the soul, and immortality as the soul's release from 
 bondage. 
 
 Regarding the Resurrection two questions arise: 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 119 
 
 when and what it would be. According to the common 
 belief of the Apostolic Church, shared by Paul, the 
 Resurrection would at once follow the Second Advent, 
 which was eagerly and almost instantly expected (I. 
 Thess. V. 2). When some believers in Thessalonica 
 died, Paul had to comfort their mourning friends with 
 the assurance that the dead would not be at a disad- 
 vantage as compared with the living (iv. 15-17). He 
 himself expected to be alive (L Cor. xv. 51, 52) and 
 to undergo the necessary change. Although he gave up 
 this hope of survival (H. Cor. v. 6-8; Phil. i. 21-24), 
 yet to the end the belief in the speedy Second Coming 
 remained (Col. iii. 4 ; Phil. iv. 5). It was qualified by 
 the recognition that a certain historical process must 
 be previously completed. According to the " Pauline 
 Apocalypse" (II. Thess. ii. 1-12), the full manifestation 
 of the godlessness and wickedness of Judaism is being 
 delayed by the restraint imposed by the Roman Empire ; 
 but at last " the man of sin, the son of perdition," pro- 
 bably a false Messiah, will appear, only to be destroyed 
 by the true Messiah. This is an interpretation of con- 
 temporary events ; Judaism was the persecutor, the 
 Roman Empire the protector of the Christian Church ', 
 we need not look for a literal fulfilment of the prophecy. 
 
I20 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 We may think that the fall of Jerusalem was the judg- 
 ment of Judaism, or we may admit that " the mills of 
 God grind more slowly" than Paul expected, and that 
 Christ's triumph over all opposition is not yet. That it 
 will come is the essential Christian hope. 
 
 As regards the nature of the Resurrection, Paul does 
 not teach the identity of the two bodies, but their 
 contrast (I. Cor. xv. 42-44); they are related as crop 
 and seed. God gives the new body as it pleases Him 
 (ver. 38) ; it is not a body of flesh and blood (ver. 50) ; 
 the living must be changed (ver. 52). Personal identity 
 does not depend on the sameness of the body. In this 
 speculation we need not assert Paul's infallibility ; what 
 belongs to Christian faith is that through death we enter 
 on fuller life. 
 
 As some Christians died before the Second Advent, 
 we should have expected Paul to face the question as to 
 their condition until the Resurrection. He describes 
 death as a sleep (I. Thess. iv. 14; I. Cor. xv. 6, 18, 20), 
 but this figurative language justifies no theory of un- 
 consciousness or semi-consciousness. When Paul was 
 looking for his own death, he hoped for an immediate 
 entrance on a better life with Christ (II. Cor. v. 6-8 ; 
 Phil. i. 23). As at the Resurrection he expected the 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 121 
 
 vision of and communion with Christ to bring about 
 a transformation into His likeness (L Cor. xv. 49 ; 
 Phil. iii. 21 ; IL Cor. iii. 18), so, had he thought out the 
 question, he might perhaps have come to the conclusion 
 that the saints who at death are with Christ are already 
 risen with Him. He, however, left the question un- 
 answered. Such is the answer Christian faith to-day 
 might give. 
 
 After the Resurrection would come the judgment of 
 all men by Christ (IL Cor. v. 9-10; Rom. xiv. 10). 
 This is vividly described in the figure of buildings set on 
 fire, in which wood, hay, stubble are consumed, but 
 gold, silver, precious stones are preserved (I. Cor. iii. 
 12-15). Another image used is that of sowing and 
 reaping (Gal. vi. 7, 8). These two images would suggest 
 that the results of sin are God's judgment on it. Carry- 
 ing this thought further, as Paul himself did not, we 
 may set aside the pictural representation of a judgment- 
 day, and regard the future life, in which the consequences 
 of this life are realised, as God's judgment of approval 
 or condemnation. This would also rid us of a contra- 
 diction in Paul's teaching. If men are justified now by 
 faith, how are they afterwards to be judged by works ? 
 What men will reap hereafter is the harvest in their 
 
122 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 lives of their faith or their unbelief. What seems to 
 remain to us of this eschatological teaching of Paul, in 
 which he was very largely indebted to Jewish Apocalyptic 
 literature, as of permanent validity for Christian thought, 
 is that on the one hand, as regards the individual, there 
 is continuity of character and dispositions between this 
 life and the life hereafter, that the condition of the 
 future life will be determined by our relation to Christ, 
 and that it will be our full personality, with its appro- 
 priate organ of expression and action, which will be 
 preserved for us ; and that on the other hand, as regards 
 the race, God's purpose on earth will be fulfilled in the 
 triumph of Christ over all that has delayed and opposed 
 His work as Saviour and Lord. This hope is an essen- 
 tial element in the Christian salvation. 
 
 One question remains : Is this hope for all men ? 
 will the Christian salvation at last embrace the whole 
 race? In his exposition Paul is concerned with the 
 Christian hope; but it appears that he held that the 
 wicked would be raised to be judged and punished. 
 Luke, in Acts xxiv. 15, represents Paul as declaring "a 
 resurrection both of the just and the unjust." "The 
 saints shall judge the world " (I. Cor. vi. 2), but they 
 "will not be condemned with the world" (xi. 32). 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 123 
 
 How the wicked are raised Paul does not state; the 
 resurrection of the righteous is due to their relation to 
 Christ, the life-giving Spirit ; and the wicked have no 
 such relation. Our Christian hope need not answer the 
 question. It has been held, however, that Paul believed 
 that all men would be saved. All things will be subject 
 to the Son (I. Cor. xv. 24-28); God through Christ is 
 reconciling all things unto Himself (Col. i. 19, 20) ; in 
 the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every 
 tongue confess (Phil. ii. lo-ii). Even if we could 
 press the terms, it is doubtful whether Paul was at all 
 thinking of the fate of the wicked, as he was absorbed 
 in the greatness of Christ. 
 
 III. THE WORK OF SALVATION 
 
 It is God and God alone who saves ; and salvation is 
 His work, which man receives in faith. Such is man's 
 need of salvation that he cannot save himself; such is 
 the nature of salvation that God alone can save. In this 
 work of salvation God is revealed as Father, Son, and 
 Holy Spirit. The love of God, manifested in the grace 
 of Christy is possessed in the fellowship of the Spirit. 
 
 (i) The Love of G-od. — The Christian salvation is the 
 fulfilment of the absolute and perfect will of God as 
 
124 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 Love, and therefore it cannot fail. Hence the cer- 
 tainty, confidence, and courage characteristic of Paul's 
 spirit (Rom. viii. 28-30 ; Phil. ii. 12, 13). In speaking of 
 God, Paul takes for granted the " ethical monotheism " 
 of the Hebrew prophets ; and it is not at all necessary 
 here to discuss this doctrine. What is new is the con- 
 ception of God as Father. This revelation came to him 
 in Jesus Christ, and, apart from Christ, he could not 
 have thought of God as Father. As Father, God is 
 love (Rom. v. 8), from which the believer cannot be 
 severed (viii. 38, 39), mercy in relation to sinners (Eph. 
 ii. 4), and to all sinners (Rom. xi. 32), and grace as 
 saving sinners (Eph. ii. 5) fully through the redemption 
 which is in Christ Jesus (Rom. iii. 24). Although in 
 the apostolic benediction the grace of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ is represented as the manifestation of the love of 
 God, Christ is so identified in the work of salvation with 
 God, that God may be thought of as grace. If mercy is 
 the disposition, grace is the action of God as. love in 
 relation to sinners. The reason why the grace of God 
 comes in the redemption in Christ Jesus is in the 
 divine wrath. In the sacrifice of Christ God's judg- 
 ment on sin is finally and completely expressed, as well 
 as His forgiveness of sin offered. Paul's phrases, the 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 125 
 
 righteousness of God and the wrath of God^ are easily 
 misunderstood, and the truth might be expressed in 
 the phrase holy love of God. 
 
 The revelation of God's Fatherhood we to-day con- 
 ceive as the highest stage of a progressive revelation, of 
 which the Law was a lower stage ; but Paul, as we have 
 seen, thought of them as opposed, and as the Judaisers 
 sought to impose the lower stage on the highest, Paul 
 could not but think of an antagonism. Nevertheless 
 Paul maintains the consistency of the divine purpose 
 by (i) regarding the Gospel as the fulfilment of the 
 promise made to Abraham, which was prior to, and 
 therefore could not be set aside by the Law (Gal. iii. 17), 
 and which Abraham received on the same condition of 
 faith as the Gospel requires (Rom. iv. 3) ; and (2) repre- 
 senting the law as itself a preparation for the Gospel by 
 the sense of sin and need of God's grace it awakened 
 (vii. 7-25). 
 
 This revelation had a wider scope than the former; 
 God's grace was now offered to all mankind. This ex- 
 tension Paul justified by the argument that it was not 
 as circumcised that Abraham received the promise, and 
 that its fulfilment, therefore, need not be confined to 
 the circumcised (Rom. iv. 9-12). Translated out of its 
 
126 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PA^UL 
 
 Rabbinic form, what this means is, that all men can 
 exercise the faith which is the Gospel's sole requirement. 
 The objection that the Gentiles had not passed through 
 the preparation by the law which, according to his 
 argument, had been necessary for Israel, Paul does by 
 implication meet, even although the objection was not 
 explicitly present to his mind, in his assumption of a 
 universal revelation of God in nature (Acts xiv. 15, 17 ; 
 Rom. i. 19, 20), man's religious disposition (Acts xvii. 
 27, 28) and conscience (Rom. ii. 14, 15). Even the reli- 
 gious beliefs and rites of the Gentiles might be a tutor 
 to Christ, as the law was to the Jew (Gal. iv. 1-3 ; 
 iii. 24). While the study of comparative religions does 
 not entirely support Paul's estimate of heathenism, yet 
 the results of foreign missions do prove the capacity of 
 all men to welcome the Gospel. 
 
 As a pious and patriotic Jew, Paul claims a special 
 revelation of God to his own nation (Rom. iii. i, 2 ; 
 ix. 3-5) ; and although we may think of that revelation 
 differently from Paul, who, as we have seen, used the 
 Holy Scriptures as a Jewish Rabbi would, yet no con- 
 clusion of modern scholarship forbids our recognising 
 in the Hebrew nation a progressive revelation culminat- 
 ing in the perfect Revealer, Christ. The admission 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 127 
 
 which Paul could not but make, of a divine election of 
 Israel to such high privilege, suggested one of the most 
 formidable objections to his Gospel. If your Gospel is 
 true, how has the elect nation rejected it ? If God has 
 allowed His elect nation to reject the true Gospel, how is 
 He faithful to His promises ? Should not the fulfilment 
 of His promises be such as would lead the people to whom 
 these promises were made to accept it ? Paul's answer 
 has three parts : (i) he asserts God's unconditional liberty 
 to do as He will regarding individuals as well as nations 
 (Rom. ix. 1-29); (2) he discovers the reason for God's 
 rejection in the unbelief of the Jewish people (ix. 30- 
 X. 21) ; (3) he anticipates that God means at last to 
 save both Jew and Gentile (xi.). Into the details of the 
 argument it is impossible to enter, except to point out 
 that Paul's own conception of God as Father forbids so 
 arbitrary a use of freedom as, for argument's sake, he 
 claims as God's right, and that he corrects his own argu- 
 ment by admitting that human unbelief has resulted in 
 divine rejection, and by expecting that God will yet have 
 mercy on all. The first and second parts of the argu- 
 ment belong to a local and temporary polemic; the 
 third has a more general and permanent interest. Can 
 we with Paul hope that, when the fulness of the Gentiles 
 
128 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 has come in, all Israel shall be saved (xi. 25, 26)? As 
 Judaism is to-day, the fulfilment does not seem pro- 
 bable ; but a world thoroughly evangelised, and a 
 Christendom, which to the Jew has often misrepresented 
 Christ, thoroughly Christian in disposition and action, 
 would surely offer an argument which would at last 
 overcome Jewish unbelief. To the writer the redemp- 
 tion of humanity in Christ would appear incomplete if 
 in it were not included the people from whom, accord- 
 ing to the flesh. He came. 
 
 While Paul conceives of all mankind as included 
 in God's purpose of grace, yet the realisation of that 
 grace, rejected by the Jewish people, is within the 
 Christian Church, and each believer. The eternity of 
 the divine love Paul represents, in accordance with 
 ancient Jewish modes of thought, as a choice of the 
 objects of it from the beginning (II. Thess. ii. 13), as 
 a foreknowledge and foreordination (Rom. viii. 29), 
 election (ver. ^^), and call " according to God's pur- 
 pose" (ver. 28). This purpose in Christ is eternal 
 (Eph. iii. 11) "before the foundation of the world" 
 (i. 4) ; God's love in mercy and grace is His eternal 
 will. The inference, however logical, that election of 
 some involves reprobation of others is not drawn by 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 129 
 
 Paul, who, on the contrary, affirms that God's purpose 
 is to save all (L Tim. iv. 10, ii. 4; Rom. xi. 32). 
 Whether sin and unbelief will, for any, at last hinder 
 the fulfilment of that purpose, Paul does not distinctly 
 answer. He leaves us with fears and with hopes. The 
 fulfilment of God's will for mankind will, in his view, 
 involve for nature, even with its " bondage of corrup- 
 tion," its pain, change, death, a glorious transformation 
 (viii. 21). Meanwhile, we are saved by hope (ver. 24). 
 (2) The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ. — It is through 
 Christ and in Christ that God's love saves. The object 
 of Paul's faith was Christ, and we must now try to form 
 as complete a conception of Christ as He was known to 
 Paul in his experience, and as He was thought of by 
 him to answer his mind's questions. For in Paul's 
 doctrine speculation is joined to experience, and we 
 must try to distinguish them. Paul knew Christ as a 
 •personal reality, and not merely as a theological idea. 
 That knowledge began with the appearance of Christ to 
 him on the way to Damascus. What Paul says of the 
 change of the natural to the spiritual body in the Re- 
 surrection (I. Cor. XV. 51, 52) was probably sug- 
 gested by the appearance of Christ, " the firstfruits of 
 them that are asleep" (20). He appeared as "the 
 
I30 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 second man from heaven," whose image believers 
 will bear (46-49), and as the " Hfe-giving spirit " in 
 contrast with Adam as "the living soul." But he 
 appeared bodily (Col. ii. 9; Phil. iii. 21). Whai Paul 
 saw was "the glory of the Lord" (II. Cor. iii. 18). In 
 the body of His glory Christ is " the image of the in- 
 visible God" (Col. i. 15). This glory is perceived as 
 light of dazzling brightness (Acts xxii. 11). 
 
 As life-giving spirit Christ is conceived by Paul, in 
 accordance with the Old Testament conception of spirit^ 
 as the divine energy by which he had been completely 
 renewed, made a new creation. Christ as the power 
 as well as wisdom of God (I. Cor. i. 24) enables Paul to 
 do all things (Phil. iv. 13), and His strength is perfected 
 in weakness (II. Cor. xii. 9). The Resurrection of 
 Christ was an act of divine omnipotence, and that 
 power of God resides in and is transmitted by the 
 Risen One (Eph. i. 19-20), and this divine power, ex- 
 perienced by believers, is the evidence of Christ's divine 
 dignity. 
 
 This investiture with divine dignity and power took 
 place at the Resurrection. The exaltation after humilia- 
 tion was not merely to the previous state, but to 
 something more, as a reward of the humiliation. God 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 131 
 
 gave Him the name above every other name, that is, 
 Zord (PhAl. ii. 5-1 1), and He was declared (marked off, 
 set apart) Son of God with power (Rom. i. 3-4). The 
 confession of Christ's Lordship was the earliest creed 
 of Christendom (H. Cor. iv. 5). In Rom. x. 13 Paul 
 quotes the words of Joel ii. 32, which refer to Jehovah 
 {cf. 1. Cor. X. 22, from Deut. xxxii. 21) in regard to 
 Christ ; and this transference to Christ of words written 
 of God in the Old Testament is characteristic of the 
 New Testament writers. Not only did Paul pray to 
 Christ as Lord (II. Cor. xii. 8), but he describes be- 
 lievers as those " that call upon the name of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ" (I. Cor. i. 2). All things are subjected 
 by God to Christ (xv. 27). Most significant is the 
 solemn and deliberate confession Paul opposes to 
 polytheism : " To us there is one God, the Father, of 
 whom are all things, and we unto him ; and one Lord, 
 Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we 
 through him " (viii. 6). 
 
 Is this Lordship of Christ consistent with monotheism ? 
 There is a subordination of Christ to the Father. While 
 the Father is first cause and last end, Christ is the agent 
 or medium. The Son is dependent on the Father, for 
 the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, be- 
 
132 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 cause it so seemed good (Col. i. 19). The Lordship 
 is given by God's grace (Phil. ii. 9). God raised 
 Him by His power (I. Cor. vi. 14). Christ is 
 God's, as the Christian is Christ's (I. Cor. iii. 23). In 
 the end even Christ will be subject of God, that 
 " God may be all in all " (I. Cor. xv. 28). A passage 
 so doubtful in its interpretation as Rom. ix. 5 (see 
 R.V., margin) cannot modify this emphatic teaching 
 on subordination. 
 
 This view of Christ's person was Paul's from the 
 beginning. In the Captivity Epistles (Colossians, 
 Ephesians, Philippians) we have, not a development 
 of his belief, but, in opposition to heresy, a more ex- 
 pHcit statement of it. In Col. i. 13-17 Christ is de- 
 scribed in three phrases — "the Son of His Love," " the 
 image of the invisible God," and " the firstborn of all 
 creation." Christ's absolute superiority to all angels is 
 shown in the first phrase, which represents Christ as 
 first the object and then the agent of the love, which 
 is the very nature of God. The second phrase asserts 
 that as Christ perfectly possesses so He perfectly reveals 
 the Being of God, otherwise unknown. His relation to 
 God determines His place in the universe — " the first- 
 born of all creation." This phrase does not include 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 133 
 
 Him among creatures ; as His relation to the Creation 
 is defined in the phrases, " in Him, through Him, unto 
 Him"; in the widest sense He is God's agent and 
 representative in the world. " He is before all things ; 
 and in Him all things consist." This is theological 
 speculation, not religious experience ; but its truth for 
 us will depend on the worth we assign to Christ. If 
 He is all that God is to us, we may assign Him such 
 a function in God's world. 
 
 Although for a practical purpose, to enforce the lesson 
 of humility and unselfishness, Paul essays an even bolder 
 flight of speculation in Phil. ii. 6-8, a passage regarding 
 the interpretation of which there has been much discus- 
 sion. The writer can but briefly give his own conclu- 
 sions. The phrase, the form of God, assigns to Christ 
 divine nature, and not merely divine functions or privi- 
 leges. The equality with God is not in the possession 
 of the form of God, but in the name above every other 
 name. The prize, this equality with God, was not already 
 possessed, as the form of God was. It was a thing 
 which might have been grasped, but was received as a 
 gift in reward for the self-emptying. This self-emptying 
 was not the surrender of divine nature, but of divine 
 functions and privileges. Although the divine nature 
 
134 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 was possessed by Christ, He did not claim, as a right, 
 the equality with God, but received it as a reward for 
 His voluntary surrender of divine functions and privi- 
 leges. It must be admitted that this speculation of 
 Paul's offers many difficulties to our thought ; but it is 
 impossible here to attempt any solution of the problem. 
 This must be insisted on, that Paul was doubtless less 
 concerned about the adequacy of this explanation than 
 about the moral significance of the Incarnation as divine 
 self-sacrifice. The same appeal to this divine exam.ple 
 is made in II. Cor. vili. 9. 
 
 These two passages teach the pre-existence of Christ, 
 as also those in which His being sent by the Father is 
 mentioned (Gal. iv. 4 ; Rom. viii. 3). While it is likely 
 that Paul shared the current Jewish belief in the pre- 
 existence of whatever has worth, as the Temple, the 
 Messiah, his ascription of pre-existence would be quite 
 explicable apart from that belief. He thought of Christ 
 as so divine that it would have been incredible to him 
 that He could have begun to be in time. The pre- 
 existence is involved in the divinity of Christ in any 
 proper sense of the term ; to affirm the one is to infer 
 the other. 
 
 In contrast to the pre-existence in the form of God, 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 135 
 
 and the exaltation to equality with God at the Resurrec- 
 tion, the earthly life of Jesus was for Paul a humiliation. 
 He was not ignorant of the record of that life, as his 
 appeals to the teaching and example of Jesus for prac- 
 tical ends show, yet his interest was so centred on the 
 Crucified Saviour and Risen Lord that he was compara- 
 tively indifferent to the grace and truth the Fourth 
 Evangelist saw in it. The human birth is mentioned to 
 call attention to the subjection to the law (Gal. iv. 4) 
 and the Davidic descent (Rom. i. 3). In the first 
 passage the phrase, " born of a woman," has been some- 
 times held to be a covert allusion to the virgin-birth ; 
 but this view cannot be pressed. In the second passage 
 the Davidic descent describes Christ '* according to the 
 flesh," while the higher side of His being is " according 
 to the spirit of holiness." That Christ was " born under 
 the law " was for Paul of primary importance ; for it was 
 one application of the principle of redemption that 
 Christ must assume all from which He came to deliver 
 man. To redeem them that were under the law. He 
 must Himself be subject to the law. He must Himself 
 feel the pressure of the yoke which He was to take off 
 from others. 
 
 The same principle is illustrated in Rom. viii. 3 in 
 
136 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 regard to another element of Christ's humiUation. In 
 order to condemn the sin in the flesh, which the law 
 was too weak to condemn, Christ was sent in the likeness 
 of flesh of sin and for sin. The first phrase does not 
 mean that flesh and sin are identical, but that in man 
 commonly the flesh is " the seat and vehicle of sin " ; 
 nor does it mean that Christ did not possess a real body, 
 but only that His flesh was not a flesh of sin. The 
 second phrase, "for sin," is in the R.V. rendered "as 
 an offering for sin," in accordance with the usage of the 
 Septuagint. Paul does teach that Christ's death was 
 such an offering (iii. 25), but probably in this passage 
 the phrase has a wuder reference. In every respect 
 Christ deals with sin as the law had failed to do. His 
 conquest of sin under the same conditions of moral 
 struggle is the condemnation of sin. 
 
 Although Christ thus conquered sin, yet for the sal- 
 vation of men from sin God treated Him as a sinner, 
 for that is the meaning of II. Cor. v. 21 : "Him, who 
 knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf, that we 
 might become the righteousness of God in Him." The 
 sinless was made to endure all the consequences of sin, 
 that the sinful might be forgiven. The extreme conse- 
 quence of sin which Christ endured is stated in Gal. iii. 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 137 
 
 13: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, 
 having become a curse for us ; for it is written, Cursed 
 is every one that hangeth upon a tree." The saying in 
 Deut. xxi. 23 gave for Paul a special significance to the 
 mode of Christ's death ; but the curse Jesus endured 
 has also the wider reference of Deut. xxvii. 26 : " Cursed 
 is every one which continueth not in all things that are 
 written in the book of the law to do them." In using 
 this term in reference to the death of Christ, Paul pro- 
 bably wished to lay emphasis on the exceptional terror, 
 darkness, and desolation of Christ's experience on the 
 Cross ; and the record of Gethsemane and Calvary in 
 the Gospels justifies its use. 
 
 While in death Christ suffered to the uttermost for 
 sin, it was by death that He was delivered from all 
 further relation to sin (Rom. vi. 10). He willed His 
 death as such separation from sin, for in this He is 
 presented as an example of being dead to sin and alive 
 to God (ver. 11). His death and rising again were both 
 moral acts — renunciation of sin and consecration unto 
 God. This aspect of Christ's death is more fully dis- 
 cussed in Rom. v. 12-21. The greater efficacy of 
 Christ's grace in comparison with Adam's sin lies in 
 His obedience, in contrast to Adam's transgression. 
 
138 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 Not merely the endurance of the consequences of sin, 
 but the voluntary acceptance of them in obedience to 
 God, gives moral value to the Cross. Probably only 
 the need of meeting the Judaisers on their own ground 
 led Paul to give greater prominence to the legal aspect 
 of the death of Christ. The moral aspect which appeals 
 to us to-day so much more convincingly must have been 
 altogether congenial to Paul himself, although he does 
 not treat it so fully. The act of obedience was also an 
 act of grace (II. Cor. viii. 9), and Paul's total impression 
 of the life and work of Christ is surely expressed in the 
 phrase, "the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ." Of this 
 grace as a constant, satisfying, personal communion 
 Paul himself made abundant proof (Gal. ii. 20). It 
 enabled him to sever himself from sin and give himself 
 to God (II. Cor. V. 14). It sustained him in all his 
 trials, for he was sure Christ shared his sorrows (II. Cor. 
 i. 5 ; Col. i. 24). It inspired his hope either to survive 
 to the Second Coming, or, even in death, "to be at 
 home with the Lord " (II. Cor. v. 6-8). 
 
 This idea of grace we may apply, as Paul did not, to 
 answer the question he has left unanswered. We can 
 understand Christ's moral experience "under the law" 
 and "in the likeness of sinful flesh," but it is not so 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 139 
 
 easy to give a definite content to Paul's statement that 
 the sinless was made sin, and that He became a curse. 
 The pain of bodily death alone does not give full 
 meaning to the words. In His " inner life " Christ 
 must have endured the consequences of sin. How was 
 it possible for One who knew Himself sinless, the 
 beloved Son of God, to suffer sorrow and shame, death 
 and darkness ? Is not grace the explanation ? As Paul 
 felt that Christ was one with him, and he with Christ, so 
 may we think of Christ as making Himself so completely 
 one with sinful mankind as to make His own — not in a 
 legal substitution, but in the identification of love — all 
 the consequences of sin, not only as these are for the 
 sinful, but with the clearer vision and the keener con- 
 viction of holy love. Paul's experience may here be 
 used by us to complete his theology. 
 
 (3) The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit.— The doctrine 
 of the Holy Spirit in the Apostolic Church was a develop- 
 ment of teaching already found in the Old Testament, 
 as well as an interpretation of the distinctive Christian 
 experience. In the Old Testament the presence and 
 power of God in nature and in man, especially in any 
 exceptional endowment of strength, skill, courage, wis- 
 dom, or character, is described by the phrase the 
 
140 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 Spirit of God (Gen. i. 2 ; Ps. civ. 30 ; Judg. xiv. 6 ; 
 Exod. xxxi. 3, 4; II. Sam. xxiii. 2; I. Sam. x. 10; 
 Ps. li. II ; Isa. Ixiii. 10). The inspiration of the prophet, 
 especially, is the Spirit's working in him ; the purifica- 
 tion of the saint is also His work. This moral and 
 religious reference, though not absent altogether, is far 
 less prominent than the connection of the Spirit with 
 the unusual in human endowments. The common 
 teaching of the Christian Church in the apostolic age 
 attaches itself to this view. The experience at Pentecost 
 of a " holy enthusiasm," a religious revival accompanied, 
 as this has often been, by unusual states of conscious- 
 ness and modes of activity, such as ecstatic utterances 
 (speaking with tongues), confirmed this conception. 
 After baptism, usually by laying on of the hands of the 
 apostles, the same experience was elsewhere shared (Acts 
 viii. 17, ix. 17, 18, xix. 5, 6). The baptism of Cor- 
 nehus followed the falling of the Holy Spirit on those 
 who heard the word of Peter, and was regarded by Peter 
 as the legitimate result of the divine gift to the Gentiles 
 (x. 44). In the Book of Acts the phrase " Holy Spirit" 
 does not merely signify the divine agent, but in many 
 cases the human condition of spiritual exaltation ; 
 wherever the phrase occurs without the article, it has 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 141 
 
 been suggested by one scholar that we should best ex- 
 press the sense by the phrase " holy enthusiasm." Paul 
 himself shared this holy enthusiasm ; he possessed the 
 unusual gifts which often went with it in a pre-eminent 
 degree (I. Cor. xiv. 18; II. Cor. xii. i); he regarded 
 every one of these gifts as wrought by the Spirit of God 
 (I. Cor. xii. 4) : he would never have thought of seeking 
 the psychological explanation which, in regard to some 
 of them at least, we take for granted. But, on the 
 other hand, his moral insight and spiritual discernment 
 prevented his over-estimating their value, as many of 
 the converts did. In Corinth especially, with a lax 
 moral standard and a bitter partisanship, these gifts 
 abounded, were made a boast of, and were exercised 
 without any regard to the common good. This led 
 Paul to discuss the question fully. He describes the 
 Church as a body with many members ; the gift each 
 member possesses is a function to be exercised only for 
 the common good. Among the gifts he includes the 
 less showy qualities of wisdom, knowledge, faith, as well 
 as the unusual workings of miracles, speaking with 
 tongues, &c. He subordinates the exercise of these 
 gifts, even for the common good, to the more excellent 
 way of love, emphasising the temporary character of 
 
142 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 these gifts in contrast with the permanence of faith, hope, 
 love. He expresses a preference for prophecy, which 
 can edify all, rather than speaking with tongues, which 
 brings satisfaction only to the possessor of the gift 
 (I. Cor. xii., xiii., xiv.). Thus he assigns a subordinate 
 place to what was regarded generally as the distinctive 
 evidence of the presence and power of the Spirit in the 
 Church. It is elsewhere he looks for the Spirit's power, 
 even in spiritual enlightenment and moral transforma- 
 tion. " The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long- 
 suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, 
 temperance" (Gal. v. 22, 23). As the power of holiness 
 in man, the Spirit is opposed to the flesh as " the seat 
 and the vehicle of sin" (ver. 17). As an z>2Z£;^r^ power, 
 the Spirit is contrasted with the law as outward letter. 
 Against the fruit of the Spirit " there is no law " (ver. 
 23). The new covenant, to be a minister of which is 
 Paul's joy, is " not of the letter, but of the spirit ; for 
 the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life " (II. Cor. iii. 6). 
 The life of the Christian is "an epistle of Christ, written 
 not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God ; not 
 in tables of stone, but in tables that are hearts of flesh " 
 (ver. 3). This inwardness is suggested by the phrases 
 in which the behever's relation to the Spirit is expressed. 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 143 
 
 He lives, is led, and walks by the Spirit (Gal. v. 16, 18, 
 25). The " spiritual man " is capable of a moral judg- 
 ment which gives him moral independence (L Cor. ii. 
 15); but he also shows a helpful sympathy with others, 
 which makes him a succourer of those who have fallen 
 (Gal. vi. i). He who has the Spirit has Hberty, because 
 he clearly sees the glory of Christ, and is being surely 
 changed into His likeness (H. Cor. iii. 17, 18). He is 
 also marked by humility, as he will not over-estimate 
 his gifts (Gal. vi, 3). The sanctification by the Spirit 
 (H. Thess. ii. 13) extends even to the body, which is 
 "a temple of the Holy Ghost" (L Cor. vi. 19). Thus 
 the sensuous sins, which paganism so lightly regarded, 
 are a destruction of the temple of God, a defilement of 
 the holy (iii. 16, 17). Not only is the individual be- 
 liever a temple of the Spirit, but the Church as a body 
 with many members is " builded together for a habita- 
 tion of God in the Spirit" (Eph. ii. 22). To live in 
 the Spirit is a joy, which is the evidence of belonging 
 to the Kingdom of God (Rom. xiv. 17). The possession 
 of the Spirit is the assurance of sonship (Rom. viii. 14 ; 
 Gal. iv. 6) ; and this Spirit is not "a spirit of bondage, 
 but a spirit of adoption" (Rom. viii. 15). This assures 
 the believer not only of his present sonship, but of his 
 
J 
 
 144 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 joint-heirship with Christ, " if so be that we suffer with 
 him, that we may be also glorified with him " (ver. 1 7). 
 The Spirit dwelling in, leading, and inwardly renewing the 
 believer is the pledge of the Resurrection, for thereby 
 God will quicken the mortal bodies (ver. 11). The 
 Spirit is the firstfruits of the divine harvest, which shall 
 be completed in the redemption of the body (ver. 23). 
 The communion of the children of God with the Father 
 is even mediated by the Spirit. The indwelling and 
 inworking Spirit, knowing as the believer cannot the 
 purpose of God concerning him, inspires aspirations 
 which he cannot express in words, but which God Him- 
 self, whose Spirit in man inspires these, will fulfil. God 
 by His Spirit awakens yearnings and longings, in order 
 to meet them, which the believer unaided could not 
 himself feel (vers. 26, 27). 
 
 What is the relation of the Spirit of God to the Father 
 and the Son, and how are we to think of Him or it ? 
 It is to impose a meaning Paul never intended in 
 I. Cor. ii. 10 to assert that the Spirit is God's self- 
 consciousness in a philosophical sense. Here we have 
 not a definition, but an analogy ; as a man knows his 
 own inner life better than can any other, so the Spirit of 
 God knows best the deep things of God. That the 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 145 
 
 Spirit is not to be identified with the Risen Christ has 
 already been shown in the previous section. Paul 
 ascribes personal activity to the Spirit. He works (I. 
 Cor. xii. 11), teaches (ii. 13), wills, dwells, leads, bears 
 witness, helps (Rom. viii. 9, 14, 16, 26). The Holy 
 Spirit is co-ordinated with the Father and Son in IL 
 Cor. xiii. 14 ; L Cor. xii. 4-6 ; and Eph. iv. 4-6. It is 
 impossible to regard the Spirit as merely a personification, 
 such as sin and death, or a common consciousness of 
 the Church. He is God personally present and active 
 in the inmost life of man, the complete expression of 
 divine immanence. 
 
 IV. THE CLAIM OF SALVATION 
 
 It is God, and God alone, who, as Father, Son, and 
 Spirit, saves man from sin ; but in being saved man is 
 not the puppet of divine omnipotence ; he makes his 
 own what God bestows ; just because it is God who 
 worketh in him to will and to do of his good pleasure, 
 he must work out his own salvation with fear and 
 trembling (Phil. ii. 12). Human liberty and responsi- 
 bility are not superseded by divine grace. Much as 
 Paul insists that salvation is God's free gift, and that to 
 seek to establish one's own righteousness is to be igno- 
 
146 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 rant of, or disobedient to, God's righteousness (Rom. x. 
 3), yet he fully recognises, in his numerous and urgent 
 exhortations, that man helps or hinders God in His 
 work of salvation. It is unnecessary to quote many 
 passages in illustration of this statement. Let two 
 suffice: "Rejoice alway; pray without ceasing; in 
 everything give thanks ; for this is the will of God in 
 Christ Jesus to you-ward. Quench not the Spirit ; 
 despise not prophesyings ; prove all things ; hold fast 
 that which is good ; abstain from every form of evil " 
 (I. Thess. V. 16-21). "In diligence not slothful; fer- 
 vent in spirit ; serving the Lord ; rejoicing in hope ; 
 patient in tribulation'; continuing stedfastly in prayer" 
 (Rom. xii. 11-12). The exhortation in Eph. vi. 10-20 
 to "put on the whole armour of God" makes clear 
 Paul's conception of the Christian life as an appropria- 
 tion by man of the sufficient and effective resources of 
 God for his salvation. While Paul insists on mutual 
 helpfulness in this precept, " Bear ye one another's 
 burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ," he no less 
 asserts individual responsibility. " Each man shall 
 bear his own burden" (Gal. vi. 2, 5). His repeated 
 reference to the divine judgment points in the same 
 direction. 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 147 
 
 Man claims the salvation God bestows in the three 
 graces of faith, hope, love. Although Paul declares 
 love to be the greatest of the three (L Cor. xiii. 13), in 
 his treatment of the Christian life much more is said 
 of faith, and this is explicable by the conditions under 
 which he had to expound and defend his Gospel. In a 
 previous section we have already discussed what is meant 
 by " the righteousness of God " in opposition to the 
 righteousness of the law ; the former is by faith, the 
 latter by works. This antithesis runs through Paul's 
 doctrine. To be justified is not to be made righteous, 
 but to be reckoned righteous, not by the performance 
 of the works of the law, but by the exercise of faith in 
 the righteousness of God. To misconceive faith is to 
 misrepresent the whole theological system of Paul, and 
 many of the caricatures of it which we have seen are 
 entirely due to a misunderstanding of what he means by 
 faith. It is the whole inner life of man which is exer- 
 cised in faith. "With the heart man believeth unto 
 righteousness " (Rom. x. 10). It is an activity. ^' Faith 
 energises in love " (Gal. v. 6) as its motive and power. 
 It is described as "the work of faith" along with "the 
 labour of love " and " the endurance of hope " (I. Thess. 
 i. 3). It is morally conditioned. Those who "believed 
 
148 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 not the truth had pleasure in unrighteousness " (II. Thess. 
 ii. 12). It is a submission to God (Rom. x. 3). It is 
 the belief of the mind, the trust of the heart, and the 
 surrender of the will. It is not a productive, but a 
 receptive activity. Man does not make truth, grace, 
 holiness, nor does he earn them ; God gives — man wel- 
 comes and uses. 
 
 This general conception is made much more definite 
 by the object of faith. It is the righteousness of God, 
 the propitiation, redemption, reconciliation God offers 
 in Christ. But to avoid mistake and error we must 
 emphasise the phrase in Christ. Apart from the per- 
 sonal Saviour and Lord, the abstract terms may easily 
 be defined in such a way as to make faith something 
 less and other than Paul means. Faith is a personal 
 relation, as extensive and comprehensive as a personal 
 relation can be. It is confidence in, affection for, de- 
 votion to Jesus Christ ; and thus is man's claim of 
 all Christ can be to the soul. Christian faith is faith 
 into Jesus Christ (Gal. ii. 16), in Him (Eph. i. 13), or of 
 Him (Rom. iii. 22, R.V., marg.). Christ dwells in the 
 heart (II. Cor. xiii. 5). The believer no longer lives, 
 but Christ lives in Him, because he has been crucified 
 with Christ (Gal. ii. 20). All who were on confession 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 149 
 
 of their faith baptized into Christ were buried with Him 
 into death to sin, and raised with Him to "walk in 
 newness of life" (Rom. vi. 4). Henceforth they reckon 
 themselves dead unto sin, but alive unto God (ver. 11). 
 So complete is this change that it may be said " there 
 is a new creation " (H. Cor. v. 17, R.V., marg.). Christ 
 becomes for the believer the world in which he lives, 
 moves, and has his being. He finds himself, and so is 
 found both of God and man, in Christ (Phil. iii. 9) ; to 
 him to live is Christ (i. 21). As Christ's he has Christ's 
 spirit (Rom. viii. 9), and so is being sanctified as well 
 as has been justified. Faith, then, in claiming Christ, 
 claims holiness as well as forgiveness. Although in his 
 exposition in Romans Paul seems to separate justifica- 
 tion from sanctification, and is led even to recognise 
 that, separated from sanctification, justification may 
 appear as an encouragement to moral laxity (Rom. vi. i), 
 yet for his experience there was an indissoluble unity. 
 The object of faith is the same, and the exercise of faith 
 is the same ; a personal relation of trust, fellowship, 
 obedience with Christ who died for us, and lives in us. 
 
 Closely related to faith are two characteristics of 
 Christian life which claim mention ; the believer is on 
 the one hand humble, and on the other bold. He says, 
 
I50 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 *' We are not sufficient of ourselves to account anything 
 as from ourselves," and " Our sufficiency is from God " 
 (11. Cor. ,iii. 5). Paul is an instance of both qualities 
 when he acknowledges, " I am the least of the apostles, 
 that am not meet to be called an apostle," and yet 
 claims, " By the grace of God I am what I am ; and His 
 grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain " 
 (I. Cor. XV. 9, 10). The contrast is probably most 
 vividly presented when we compare I. Cor. ix. 27, "lest 
 I myself should be rejected," and Rom. viii. 38, 39, 
 nothing " shall be able to separate us from the love of 
 God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Faith is self- 
 emptying to be filled with God. 
 
 The exercises of faith, accordingly, are prayer and 
 praise. In the examples of Paul's exhortations already 
 quoted there is the call to constant prayer and praise. 
 Thrice Paul definitely prayed that the stake in the flesh 
 might be removed (II. Cor. xii. 8), and was assured of 
 the sufficiency of God's grace. Again and again in his 
 letters does he assure his converts of his constant inter- 
 cession on their behalf, blended with his fervent thanks- 
 giving for them. Unceasingly he makes mention of the 
 believers in Rome, that he might by God's will come to 
 them with a spiritual gift (Rom. i. 9). These exercises 
 of faith bring joy to the soul (I. Thess. v. 16, 17, 18). 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 151 
 
 If faith be this intimate relationship to Christ as the 
 Saviour and the Lord, it follows inevitably that faith 
 will be exercised in constant communion with Him ; 
 when in need, or sorrow, or fear, faith w^ll bring its 
 petitions ; when the grace of God is abundantly en- 
 joyed, its tribute of gratitude. 
 
 The Christian good includes not only present justifi- 
 cation and sanctification, appropriated by faith, but also 
 future glorification, a blessed and glorious resurrection, 
 a kingdom of God coming in power and glory, to which 
 hope reaches out. There is salvation by hope as well 
 as faith. " By hope were we saved ; but hope that is 
 seen is not hope ; for who hopeth for that which he 
 seeth ? But if we hope for that which we see not, then 
 do we with patience wait for it" (Rom. viii. 24-25). 
 Endurance of the afflictions and persecutions of the 
 present time is inspired and sustained by this lively and 
 sure expectation of the completed redemption. As the 
 letters to the Thessalonians show, in Paul's teaching the 
 object of hope was clearly and often presented, for they 
 did not need that he should write to them " concern- 
 ing the times and the seasons" (I. Thess. v. i). How 
 speedily the fulfilment of their hope was expected is 
 shown by the fact that the death of some of the be- 
 lievers before the Second Coming was a problem for 
 
152 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 which Paul must needs offer a solution (iv. 13-18). 
 The expectation was so intense as to lead 'to a neglect 
 of daily duty, to an unhealthy excitement, which Paul 
 sought to correct by insisting that a certain historical 
 process must be completed before the Second Coming 
 could take place (11. Thess. ii. 1-12). 
 
 How great importance Paul attached to the Christian 
 hope of the Resurrection is seen in the care with which 
 he states the argument for in opposition to the denial 
 of it in I. Cor. xv. : " If in this life only we have 
 hoped in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable " (ver. 
 19). With the content of the hope we have already been 
 concerned in a previous section ; what is to be noticed 
 here is how much Paul makes to depend upon it. 
 Preaching and faith alike are vain ; sins are unforgiven ; 
 those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished 
 (vers. 14, 17, 18). Baptism for the dead is profitless, 
 so is the risking of life in the Christian warfare (vers. 
 29, 32). We cannot to-day understand how much the 
 Christians of the Apostolic Age looked forward to the 
 deliverance from present dangers, trials, and afflictions, 
 and from the shadow of death that this hope offered. 
 
 We cannot tell whether many in the Church besides 
 the Apostle himself cherished the hope which he ex- 
 presses in Rom. xi. of a restoration to the divine favour 
 
PAUL THE THEOLOGIAN 153 
 
 and blessing of the chosen people. If he had "great 
 sorrow and unceasing pain in his heart, and could wish 
 himself anathema from Christ for his brethren's sake, 
 his kinsmen according to the flesh " (ix. 2, 3), doubtless 
 there were Christian Jews on whom the same burden 
 rested, and who would eagerly welcome the hope which 
 he dared to cherish. Surely the Christian salvation 
 itself could be fully possessed only by those who dared 
 to hope that its universality would be proved fact. 
 
 While the expectation of survival to the Resurrection 
 was common, yet other Christians must with Paul have 
 recognised the possibility of death coming to them 
 before their hope was realised. Were they content with 
 the vague assurance that they would fall asleep in Jesus, 
 or did Paul comfort them as well as himself with the 
 confident expectation that to be with Christ was far 
 better? (Phil. i. 23). Whatever form the expectation 
 might assume, this was characteristic of the Christian 
 life, that full satisfaction was not found in present ex- 
 perience, but was partly anticipated by hope. 
 
 The greatest of the graces, love, may not appear as 
 belonging to the appropriation of the Christian salva- 
 tion ; but if God is love, then the life of God in man is 
 not complete until love dwells and rules in the heart. 
 The dependence on God's grace of faith, and the anti- 
 
154 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 cipation of God's good by hope, are not perfect unless 
 in the union with God in love. It is true that the 
 phrase, " the love of Christ " in II. Cor. v. 14, means 
 Christ's love for His own, not their love for Him ; yet 
 the potency of that love as motive depends on the 
 response of love it awakens. Paul's fervent confessions 
 of the identity of his life with Christ's can mean nothing 
 less than an intense affection he felt for Christ, and as 
 he assumes that all Christians are so united to Christ, 
 we may take for granted without his explicit statement 
 that for him life in Christ, the Christian salvation, was 
 fully possessed only in love for Christ. 
 
 He is very explicit in his teaching about love of the 
 brethren and of all men. He has no such argument as 
 is found in the First Epistle of John to show the neces- 
 sity of human love as evidence of love to God ; but he 
 does make the greatest of the three graces of religion 
 not only the more excellent way of Christian service, 
 but even the supreme principle of all morality. " Love 
 worketh no ill to his neighbour, love therefore is the ful- 
 filment of the law" (Rom. xiii. iq). The application of 
 this principle to the details of daily duty belongs, how- 
 ever, to Paul's ethics and not his theology ; and we 
 therefore now pass from Paul the theologian to Paul 
 the moralist. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 PAUL THE MORALIST 
 
 In applying the principle of Christian morality in details, 
 Paul had to encounter two difficulties. On the one 
 hand, against the Judaisers he had to maintain the 
 Christian's liberty from the law in the Spirit; on the 
 other, against some of the Gentile converts, who claimed 
 a high degree of enlightenment, he had to oppose moral 
 laxity. The moral life then as always had to be guided 
 between the Scylla and the Charybdis of legalism and 
 libertinism. Paul held that the man who had become 
 a new creature in Christ Jesus would be so led and 
 would so walk by the Spirit as to be dead to sin and 
 alive to God. He found that many who made the 
 Christian confession were still held in bondage to the 
 habits and the standards of the heathen society around 
 them. He must so give his counsel and wield his in- 
 fluence as not to deny the Hberty and yet prevent the 
 
 155 
 
156 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 licence. It is not necessary to mention all the duties 
 Paul enforces ; attention must be confined to the prob- 
 lems of ethics for which he had to find solutions. 
 
 In paganism the sins of the flesh, especially in sexual 
 relations, were very lightly regarded, and it was necessary 
 for him to be very insistent on the duty of purity and 
 temperance. God's will in sanctification forbids forni- 
 cation (I. Thess. iv. 3), for the body even is for the 
 Lord (I. Cor. vi. 14). It may be a temple of the Holy 
 Ghost (ver. 19). It ought to be presented as a living 
 sacrifice unto God (Rom. xii. i). On account of not 
 only laxity in practice, but even diversity of opinion in 
 regard to the relation of the sexes in the Church in 
 Corinth, Paul is led in the First Epistle to discuss the 
 question fully. He without argument assumes mono- 
 gamy (I. Cor. vii. 2). He recalls Christ's prohibition of 
 divorce (ver. 10), and is careful to distinguish his counsel 
 from the Lord's command (ver. 25), although in his advice 
 he believes himself to be guided by the Spirit (ver. 40). 
 Under the existing circumstances of persecution, and 
 with the expectation of a speedy return of the Lord, 
 he recommends abstinence from marriage, but always 
 insists on its legitimacy (ver. 2). The unmarried can in 
 his judgment give to the Lord a less distracted mind 
 
PAUL THE MORALIST 157 
 
 and less divided service than those who bear the cares 
 of a household. He failed to realise, however, the 
 development of character and spirit that the home is 
 fitted to bring about. The existence of the small Chris- 
 tian community in the midst of a pagan society pre- 
 sented a special difficulty in the marriage relation. 
 Husband and wife did not always share the same faith ; 
 did this difference in the highest interests of life justify 
 a divorce? Paul answers that the Christian partner 
 should not seek separation, but might acquiesce in it 
 if desired by the other (vers. 12-16). And the reason 
 he gives for each course is significant. If the heathen 
 partner desires the continuance of the relationship, this 
 is to be welcomed as an opportunity for the exercise of 
 Christian influence ; if separation is desired, this shows 
 that the influence might not be effective. It is in the 
 interests of domestic peace Paul counsels the separation ; 
 whether he allowed re-marriage or not is uncertain. 
 His counsels regarding the veiling and the silence of 
 women (xi. 1-16, xiv. 34-36) in the public assemblies of 
 the Church, although supported by Rabbinic arguments 
 which have for us no validity whatever, and which are 
 opposed to Paul's own assertion of the spiritual equality 
 of all in Christ Jesus (Gal. iii. 28), were prudent The 
 
158 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 Christian women, by disregarding the restrictions which 
 modesty was held to impose on a virtuous woman, would 
 have risked their moral reputation. Alike in his counsel 
 and his reasons for it Paul shows himself to be entirely 
 a man of his own time. While on the one hand Paul 
 seems to think of marriage as merely a protection against 
 sexual licence (I. Cor. vii. 9), on the other he does 
 present an ideal of the relationship in comparing to 
 it the relation of Christ to His Church (Eph. v. 22-33). 
 The exhortations to husbands and wives, parents and 
 children (v. 22-vi. 4; Col. iii. 18-21), indicate a stan- 
 dard for the Christian home in advance of the customs 
 of the environment. While there are problems of the 
 home to-day for which Paul's teaching offers no direct 
 solution, yet in his insistence on purity and maintenance 
 of monogamy he asserts the Christian moral principle 
 for this relation. 
 
 The economic order of society to-day is entirely dif- 
 ferent from that of the ancient world — now free labour, 
 then slavery. Paul assumes the existence of this insti- 
 tution ; he does not challenge its moral right or social 
 expediency, even although he insists that in Christ Jesus 
 there can be " neither bond nor free " (Gal. iii. 28). On 
 this relation, as on that of the sexes, he asserts a revolu- 
 
PAUL THE MORALIST 159 
 
 tionary principle, but accepts existing conditions, while 
 seeking to purify and elevate them. Masters and slaves 
 owe a duty to each other (Col. iii. 22-iv. i ; Eph. 
 vi. 5-9) : the masters should " render unto their slaves 
 that which is just and equal, knowing that they also 
 have a Master in heaven " (Col. iv. i) ; and the slaves 
 should obey " in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord " 
 (iii. 22). In the letter to Philemon the question is 
 forced even more closely home ; but Paul does not 
 seem to recognise that the relation itself is a problem. 
 He recognises the master's rights over his slave, and 
 therefore sends him back, even although he would have 
 liked to keep him for service (vers. 12-14). He pleads 
 for his forgiveness, and his welcome, "no longer as a 
 slave, but more than a slave, a brother beloved " (ver. 16). 
 This does not mean a request for his emancipation, but 
 for his kind treatment in the old relation. The Chris- 
 tian slave is advised to " abide in that calling wherein 
 he was called " (I. Cor. vii. 20). He is not to distress 
 himself because of his condition, and even if he can 
 secure his freedom, he is not to seek it, but to make 
 the best of his place as a slave (the meaning of verse 2 1 
 is ambiguous, but this is probably the sense more con- 
 sistent with the whole context). We must not import 
 our modern point of view, and suppose that Paul was 
 
i6o LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 here guided by expediency ; that he recognised the social 
 disorder which would result from a declaration of human 
 equality in condemnation of the institution; and that 
 he anticipated the gradual transformation of theory and 
 then practice which the Christian principle involved. 
 On the one hand, he was so absorbed in the life in God 
 and its hopes of the coming of God's kingdom that, in 
 comparison with this good, all else was insignificant; 
 and on the other, we must recognise that, as the citizen 
 of an empire in which citizenship did not carry with it 
 any ability or responsibility to guide the course of public 
 affairs, he never thought of any change in the exist- 
 ing order until at Christ's Second Coming it would 
 altogether pass away. 
 
 Paul, as we have already seen, was proud of his 
 Roman citizenship, and ready to make use of the privi- 
 lege it conferred. In his missionary labours he had 
 experienced the protection that the Roman government 
 afforded against the persecution of the unbelieving Jews. 
 As the plan of his work shows, he did recognise and 
 avail himself of the opportunity for the spread of the 
 Gospel which the Roman empire offered. His judg- 
 ment differed both from that of his Jewish countrymen 
 and that which prevailed in the Christian Church soon 
 after. Although he must have known something of the 
 
PAUL THE MORALIST i6i 
 
 defects which went along with the excellences of the 
 Roman Government, he does not discuss these. He 
 asserts that the State is of divine appointment, and has, 
 therefore, a claim for human submission, as resistance 
 of it is disobedience to God (Rom. xiii. 1-7). As its 
 end is to be a terror, not to the good, but only the evil, 
 it has a right both to inflict punishment and to require 
 tribute. Paul's teaching is in accord with Christ's on 
 this matter (Mark xii. 17). While advising subjection to 
 the State, Paul is indignant that members of the Church 
 in Corinth take their quarrels before the Roman tri- 
 bunals. If any differences arise, although they should 
 not arise, let them be settled by those who are endowed 
 with wisdom to deal with such matters (I. Cor. vi. i-ii). 
 Christian brethren should not appeal to the unrighteous, 
 but to the saints, for the settlement of their disputes. 
 Paul would thus, in its inner life, detach the Church 
 as much as possible from the State. Recognising a 
 temporary function of the Roman Empire in restrain- 
 ing human wickedness, especially that of persecuting 
 Judaism, he yet expects that this will be taken out of 
 the way, and the outbreak of lawlessness which will 
 result will be ended only by the overthrow of the powers 
 of evil by Christ at His Second Coming. It is clear 
 that Paul had no conception, such as we have to-day, 
 
i62 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 of the increasing value of the activities of the State in 
 securing the conditions of human progress. 
 
 Paul had no occasion to discuss the institution of 
 property as he had of marriage, slavery, and govern- 
 ment ; but in all his exhortations he assumes the rights 
 of private property. He not only requires every man to 
 work for his own living (I. Thess. iv. ii, 12), but him- 
 self gives the example (I. Thess. ii. 9 ; II. Cor. xii. 13). 
 As regards the persons who, carried away by the excite- 
 ment which the hope of Christ's speedy return awakened, 
 were disorderly, did not work, and were busybodies, he 
 lays down the hard rule : " If any man will not work, 
 neither let him eat" (II. Thess. iii. 10, 11). If he does 
 not dwell on the dignity of labour, he recognises its 
 social necessity. Assuming that a man is entitled to the 
 results of his own labours as his own, he attaches great 
 value to the grace of hberality. The taught is to " com- 
 municate unto him that teacheth in all good things," 
 and it is in this connection he lays down the general 
 principle which is commonly otherwise applied : " What- 
 soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap " (Gal. vi. 
 6, 7). As there is opportunity, good is to be done to 
 " all men, especially toward them that are of the house- 
 hold of faith" (ver. 10). In the relief of the poor in 
 Jerusalem he took great pains to arrange collections in 
 
PAUL THE MORALIST 163 
 
 the Gentile churches. The giving was to be regular 
 and proportionate. " Upon the first day of the week 
 let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may 
 prosper" (L Cor. xvi. 2). It is to be voluntary and 
 cheerful (II. Cor. ix. 7), also disinterested (Rom. xii. 8), 
 for it is valueless unless expressive of love (I. Cor. 
 xiii. 3). In view of the Lord's speedy coming, the 
 believer will not attach any importance to his posses- 
 sions (I. Cor. vii. 30). In this as in all else he will be 
 loosely attached to the world which is passing away 
 (ver. 31). 
 
 Although the Council in Jerusalem decided that the 
 Gentiles should abstain from "the pollutions of idols, 
 and from what is strangled, and from blood " (Acts xv. 
 20), yet Paul seems to have considered its decrees as 
 applicable only to the churches of Syria, Cilicia, and 
 Galatia ; and thus, when the question of " clean " and 
 "unclean" meats emerged in Corinth and Rome, he 
 discussed it in relation to first principles. He agreed 
 with the brethren who knew that the idol was nothing, 
 and that the meat offered to the idol could not be 
 polluted thereby, and who, therefore, had no scruples 
 about eating. He, however, recognised that for the 
 brethren who had not this knowledge, partaking of such 
 food would be a defilement of their conscience. The 
 
i64 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 liberty of the "strong" might become "a stumbUng- 
 block to the weak," for the practice of the strong might 
 embolden the weak to act in this matter against his 
 conscience. The strong is advised not to use his liberty, 
 lest in causing to perish the weak brother for whom 
 Christ died, he sin against Christ (I. Cor. viii.). The 
 question in Romans is discussed on wider grounds. The 
 scruples about meats seem not to have been confined 
 to food offered to idols, for the " strong eat all things, 
 and the weak eat only herbs" (Rom. xiv. 1-23). Paul 
 forbids all mutual judgment of one another, as God 
 alone is Judge, and to Him alone each is responsible ; 
 and claims individual liberty. But he insists that this 
 liberty must never be used to the moral injury of 
 another. " Destroy not with thy meat him for whom 
 Christ died." He sums up the discussion in the startling 
 statement, " Whatsoever is not of faith is sin," by which 
 he means that in all action a man must follow his con- 
 science, and submit that conscience to the rule of Christ. 
 In his treatment of these moral problems Paul shows 
 the sanity of his judgment. He himself had his life hid 
 with Christ in God, he gloried only in Christ's Cross ; 
 he waited for the manifestation of the Son of God from 
 Heaven. If this " other- worldliness " leads him to appre- 
 ciate at less than their full value the family and the State 
 
PAUL THE MORALIST 165 
 
 as factors of moral progress, and to attach less import- 
 ance than we do to-day to social reform, the application 
 consistently and courageously to human institutions of 
 Christian principles, so that in regard to the status of 
 woman in society and the condition of the slave he 
 does disappoint us, yet he was not carried away by 
 fanaticism, as were some of the converts in Thessalonica ; 
 he did not advocate asceticism, as many who have been 
 absorbed in the spiritual have done ; he recognised the 
 present claims of all social relationships, and desired 
 their fulfilment in the spirit of Christ. His was neither 
 an unpractical mysticism nor an unspiritual utilitarianism. 
 He took full account of the realities which condition and 
 circumscribe the realisation of the ideal. If here and 
 there we do detect the limitations of the Jew trained in 
 the school of the scribes, yet what is general is a clear 
 perception of the great moral principle of Christianity, 
 the love which can combine liberty and service, and a 
 prudent application of it to the varying conditions of 
 life. If we think, and are justified in thinking, primarily 
 of Paul the theologian, yet we must not overlook his 
 merits as the moralist ; for in his thought and life there 
 was no separation of belief and duty ; the faith toward 
 God he insisted on was a faith which energised in a 
 love which was the fulfilment of the moral law. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 PAUL THE MARTYR (Acts xxi. 17-xxviii.) 
 
 Although kindly welcomed by James and the elders, 
 Paul was advised to try and allay the bitter feeling 
 against him by conforming to Jewish custom by taking 
 part in, and bearing the cost of the fulfilment of, a vow 
 which four men had taken upon themselves. Whether 
 Paul agreed to this with conviction, or only as a com- 
 promise, we cannot now judge ; but whatever the 
 motive, the effort at conciliation proved vain. The 
 fury of the Jewish mob was aroused by the charge that 
 he had defiled the temple by taking a Gentile into it. 
 Saved from its violence by the captain of the Roman 
 garrison in Fort Antonia, his attempt to defend himself 
 in the mother-tongue failed to allay the excitement. 
 Once more he appealed to his Roman citizenship when 
 arrangements were being made to examine him by 
 
 scourging. Warned by his sister's son of a plot to kill 
 
 166 
 
PAUL THE MARTYR 167 
 
 Paul, the Roman captain was ready to be relieved of a 
 difficulty by sending him to the governor in Cassarea. 
 Although Felix was convinced, after the trial, that there 
 was no case against Paul, he kept him in prison for two 
 years, hoping to get a bribe for his release, and, hear- 
 ing him speak occasionally, was moved to fear, but not 
 brought to repentance. 
 
 On Felix's recall in disgrace, Festus, his successor, 
 anxious to conciliate the Jews, suggested the trial of the 
 case in Jerusalem ; but Paul, knowing that his enemies 
 would probably discover some means of taking his life, 
 and hopeless of getting justice in the provincial court, 
 made his appeal to Caesar. Although the case had 
 thus been taken out of his hands, the governor availed 
 himself of the opportunity of consultation with King 
 Agrippa II., who was more familiar with Jewish affairs, 
 in order to find out some definite accusation which 
 could be made against the prisoner. The facts ad- 
 vanced by Paul in his defence seemed so strange to the 
 governor that he charged him with madness through 
 much learning ; an earnest appeal to King Agrippa for 
 understanding was met with the sneer : " With but 
 little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Chris- 
 tian." Although Agrippa expressed the conviction of 
 
i68 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 his innocence, the appeal to Caesar could not be set 
 aside. On the voyage to Rome, Paul showed his com- 
 manding personality. Warmly welcomed by the Chris- 
 tians there, he made one more attempt to win his 
 countrymen. But their unbelief again made him turn 
 to the Gentiles, among whom for two years he laboured. 
 Although a prisoner, chained by the wrist to a Roman 
 soldier, who was one of his guard, he was allowed to 
 live in his own lodgings, and his friends were suffered 
 freely to visit him. Sir Wm. Ramsay has conjectured 
 that Paul had at this time come into his inheritance, so 
 that he was no longer in the straitened financial cir- 
 cumstances which, during his missionary journeys, had 
 often compelled him to toil hard for his Hving. 
 
 During the two years in Cassarea, or more probably 
 after his arrival in Rome, Paul wrote the letter to 
 Philemon^ and the letter to the Church at Colossse, 
 dealing with a heresy which subordinated Christ to 
 other angelic beings, and advocated asceticism. Some 
 of the contents of this letter he transferred with modifi- 
 cations to a circular letter to the churches in Asia ; and 
 this is known to us as the Epistle to the Ephesians. 
 Probably near the end of those two years in Rome, 
 Paul wrote the Epistle to the Philippians, in which, to 
 
PAUL THE MARTYR 169 
 
 a Church that had given him much joy, he opens out 
 his heart. In this intensely personal writing we get 
 glimpses of his circumstances and moods. His influence 
 has spread "throughout the whole praetorian guard," 
 and his boldness encourages others to preach the Gospel 
 freely. Enemies there are who so preach as to grieve 
 him. But he is confident that, whatever happens, all 
 will be for the best, but he knows not whether to live 
 or to die were better (i. 12-30). This is the last sight 
 we have of Paul in the framework of the history in 
 Acts, the abrupt termination of which is one of the 
 unsolved problems of criticism, with which, however, we 
 cannot now deal. 
 
 If the Pastoral Epistles are authentic letters of Paul, 
 the allusions they contain to the movements of Paul 
 and his companions give us materials for continuing 
 the story. The wTiter must admit that the vocabulary 
 seems to him so different from that of the other Pauline 
 letters, and that the characteristics of Paul's genius are so 
 little evident in the teaching, that he finds it very diffi- 
 cult to recognise Paul's authorship. The considerations 
 on the other side are, however, so weighty that he feels 
 bound at least to sketch the story of Paul's last years as 
 these letters present it to us. Paul either escaped or 
 
lyo LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 was released from his imprisonment at the end of the 
 two years, and travelled about in the East till he was 
 rearrested, taken back to Rome, tried, and condemned 
 to death. /. Timothy was apparently written somewhere 
 in Macedonia to Timothy, whom Paul had left behind 
 him in Ephesus (i. 3) to set the church there in order, 
 but whom he hoped soon to rejoin (iii. 14). Titus 
 seems to have been sent from Corinth to Titus, whom 
 Paul had left in Crete (i. 5) for the same purpose as 
 Timothy in Ephesus. Possibly Crete had been visited 
 on the way to Ephesus. Paul does not intend now to 
 journey eastward again, but desires Titus to join him 
 at Nicopolis, where he intends to winter (iii. 12). There 
 possibly he was rearrested, for II. Timothy is written 
 from prison in the expectation of death after one trial 
 in which he had stood alone (iv. 9-21). Brethren who 
 had been with him had left him ; Luke was faithful ; but 
 he desired the presence of Timothy and Mark, now 
 commended as " useful for ministering." In his prison 
 he feels his need of the cloak he left behind in Troas, 
 and the books, especially the parchments. But he looks 
 backward thankfully, and forward hopefully. "I have 
 fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I 
 have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for 
 
PAUL THE MARTYR 
 
 me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
 righteous judge, shall give to me at that day" (iv. 7-8). 
 
 Paul hoped to visit Spain after he had been in Rome 
 (Rom. XV. 28). According to Clement of Rome, this 
 intention was fulfilled (I. Epistle, 5). He was " a herald 
 both in the east and in the west," and before his 
 departure " had come to the //>«// of the JVesf." The 
 last phrase, it is held, can, for one writing from Rome, 
 mean nothing else than Spain. This tradition has other 
 support, but it must be admitted that it may be an 
 inference from Rom. xv. 28. If it is trustworthy, this 
 visit must have taken place before the visit to Crete 
 alluded to in Ti/us i. 5. According to a credible 
 Roman tradition, Paul was beheaded at a spot three 
 miles from Rome on the Ostian way, the name of which 
 then was Aqius Sahn'ce, but which is now called l^e 
 Fo7itane. Here Constantine erected the Basilica Pauli. 
 
 Although Paul described himself as "chief of sinners," 
 as " least of saints," as " not meet to be called an 
 apostle," yet the Christian Church accords to him the 
 highest place in its gratitude, affection, and reverence. 
 There are some dark spots in this sun, reminding us 
 that only One has shone with the undimmed radiance of 
 sinless perfection. He felt and uttered the hate of hate, 
 
172 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 and the scorn of scorn. He could blaze out into 
 passionate indignation. He could pronounce anathema 
 any who loved not the Lord (I. Cor. xvi. 22), call down 
 a curse on those who preached another Gospel (Gal. i. 8), 
 describe the Judaisers as dogs (Phil. iii. 2), wish that 
 they would mutilate themselves (Gal. v. 12), desire the 
 fornicator in Corinth to be handed over to Satan for 
 the destruction of the flesh (I. Cor. v. 5), threaten with 
 divine vengeance, and address in terms of contempt, the 
 high-priest (Acts xxiii. 3), In his self-defence he was 
 driven to indulge in boasting, which in his calmer 
 moments he himself felt to be "not after the Lord, but 
 as in foolishness" (II. Cor. xi. 17). He recognised his 
 own peril to "be exalted overmuch" (xii. 7), and 
 accepted his stake in the flesh as keeping him in remem- 
 brance of his weakness, so that the power of Christ 
 might rest upon him (ver. 9). Although it may be 
 objected that to maintain his Gospel he had to assert him- 
 self, we cannot surely appeal from his own self- judgment. 
 In the defence of his Gospel against the Judaisers, he 
 is not as scrupulously fair in his methods of controversy 
 as we might desire. He does not appreciate the diffi- 
 culties of his opponents, nor allow sufficiently for the 
 revolution which his own conversion had brought about 
 
PAUL THE MARTYR 173 
 
 in himself, but others had not experienced. Right as 
 was his contention, necessary as was his victory to the 
 progress of the Church, his advocacy of the Gospel of 
 grace was not always gracious. If the interpretation of 
 11. Cor. ii. 5-1 1 is correct, Paul had in a personal dispute 
 demanded a severer penalty than he afterwards regarded 
 as right, and confessed that Satan had nearly got the 
 advantage over him. His Rabbinic training leads him 
 to use proofs, such as in the passage about the veiling 
 of women (I. Cor. xi. 1-16), which his enlightened reason 
 and conscience cannot have fully approved. His assent 
 to the proposal to bear the expense of the purifying rites 
 (Acts xxi. 23-26), and his use to his own advantage of 
 the divided opinion of the Council (xxiii. 6), seem scarcely 
 worthy of his courage as a man or his faith in God. 
 
 But when we have said this, it is all that need be said ; 
 and it does not lessen our appreciation of the greatness 
 of the man, the saint, the apostle. His was a great 
 personality; how keen, subtle, and searching an intel- 
 lect, how sensitive and yet illumined a conscience, how- 
 tender and passionate a heart, how strong and masterly 
 a wil', how firmly compacted a character, how persistent 
 a purpose, unfailing an industry, dauntless a courage, 
 abundant a service. Luke's record shows how deep 
 
174 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 was the impression he made, and how great the influence 
 he wielded. The more vehement hostiHty of his enemies 
 towards him than to any other Christian preacher is a 
 tribute to the force of his personality, as the intensity 
 of the affection he inspired to the wealth of his soul. 
 Wherever he is, even on the ship that conveys him as a 
 prisoner to Rome, his greater manhood gives him the 
 leadership. 
 
 But his natural endowments, great as these were, 
 were purified and elevated and invigorated by his faith, 
 his confidence in God, his personal communion with 
 Christ, his possession in full measure of the "holy 
 enthusiasm" which was characteristic of the Christian 
 fellowship. This life hid with Christ in God explains 
 alike his humihty and his assurance in regard to his own 
 salvation, mission, message. He was so sure because 
 Christ held him fast. What endears him most to us is 
 that the love wherewith he knew himself loved of God 
 in Christ Jesus so subdued his strong, proud, vehement 
 nature, that in his character he deserves as well as John 
 to be called the apostle of love. How he loved his 
 countrymen, that he was willing to be anathema from 
 Christ for their salvation (Rom. ix. 3) ; how he loved his 
 converts, that he never ceased to pray and praise God 
 
PAUL THE MARTYR 175 
 
 for them, to suffer or rejoice with them (II. Cor. i. 3-1 1) ; 
 how he loved all men, that he was willing to be offered 
 as a sacrifice for the reconciliation of Jew and Gentile in 
 one Church (Phil. ii. 17). All his letters, whether he 
 is praising or blaming, counselling or w^arning, show a 
 heart tender, gentle, forbearing, and forgiving. How 
 tactful and courteous he is ! Quotations could not 
 adequately illustrate these traits. The letters must be 
 read through. 
 
 What was the service that this heroic, loving man 
 rendered to the Church of Christ ? We may put it in 
 three easily remembered phrases : his experience of Christy 
 his exposition of the Cross, and his expansion of the 
 Church. In no other apostolic writings is the life hid 
 with Christ in God so fully presented to us ; nowhere 
 else does the fellowship of the living Christ gain so 
 clear expression. That Christ is not a posthumous in- 
 fluence or example, but that He is a present, living, 
 mighty, gracious reality, Paul's record of his experience 
 testifies. The intensity of that experience, the thorough- 
 ness of the change wrought at his conversion, the variety 
 of the crises of the soul through which he passed, give 
 to his life-story a meaning and a worth such as we do 
 not elsewhere find. Sometimes this experience is said 
 
176 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 to be exceptional ; but this is to be noted, that it is the 
 type which has been reproduced in the men who have 
 most powerfully affected the course of Christian history. 
 
 Paul's previous experience as a Pharisee made the 
 supreme question of life for him : How can sinful man 
 be righteous before holy God ? He found the answer 
 for himself in the Cross of Christ, in which there is 
 revealed the righteousness of God by faith, not works. 
 After Christ had risen from the dead, the Apostolic 
 Church did recognise the divine necessity of the Cross ; 
 here Paul was on common ground with the other 
 apostles, but no other worked out so fully in thought, 
 or stated so clearly in speech, what the death meant. 
 His exposition has been foolishness and an offence to 
 not a few in the Christian Church ; but, on the other 
 hand, for many seers and saints his doctrine has so 
 presented the reaUty of the sacrifice as to make Christ 
 Crucified to them the power and the wisdom of God. 
 We must not identify the reality that saves man with his 
 or any other man's exposition ; but the writer is free to 
 confess that both his reason and his conscience find a 
 satisfaction in Paul's teaching on this theme that he can 
 find nowhere else. 
 
 As has been already shown, Paul's conception of the 
 
PAUL THE MARTYR 177 
 
 Gospel necessarily involved its universality, bore in 
 itself the impulse to preach it to Jew and Gentile alike. 
 The writer himself believes that, while the ministry of 
 Jesus was necessarily confined to Jews, yet in His 
 teaching there is already a wider outlook ; yet the early 
 community of believers was bound by the Jewish exclu- 
 siveness. As Philip's work in Samaria, Peter's visit to 
 Cornelius, the founding of the Church in Antioch, show, 
 the growing life must burst these bonds. But it was 
 due to Paul that the Church was so detached from 
 Judaism as to be able to appeal universally to the 
 Gentiles. He not only secured the freedom of the 
 Gentiles from the Jewish law, but, on the one hand, he 
 preached a Gospel that could not be less than for all 
 men, and, on the other, he had a vision, and did much 
 to realise it, of a Church in which Jew and Gentile would 
 be one man in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Such being his function in the history of the Church, 
 he is not to be described as either the founder of the 
 Christian Church or the perverter of the Gospel of 
 Jesus. The Jesus of an extreme modem criticism, who 
 was but a Jewish prophet calling men to repentance 
 and faith in view of the near coming of the kingdom of 
 God, can be found in the Gospels only by violent muti- 
 
178 LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 lations of their contents, and is not great enough in 
 character, spirit, influence, to give even a start to the 
 Christian faith. We may believe that He was great 
 enough in His earthly life to know what He would come 
 to be for the life in God of man ; and in calling His 
 disciples to Him, and inspiring them with the faith of 
 which they were afterwards the witnesses. He Himself 
 was the founder of the Christian Church. The Gospel 
 which He preached even in the days of His flesh had 
 already intimations regarding His person and His work 
 which fully justified the Apostolic Gospel; nay, even the 
 more comprehensive and definite exposition of it found 
 in Paul's theology. In the preceding pages the need 
 of severing the Christian kernel from the Jewish husk 
 in that theology has been fully recognised ; but when 
 we have conceded all that can be demanded, there 
 remains in Paul's experience and interpretation of 
 Christ's person and work no contradiction of the mission 
 and message of Jesus, as He Himself conceived them. 
 Paul described himself as the bond-slave of Jesus Christ ; 
 it was Christ only he loved, Christ's Gospel he preached, 
 and Christ's Church into which he gathered the Gentile 
 as well as the Jew. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 (i) Literary Sources. — The Book of Acts gives us the 
 record of the missionary labours of Paul ; his own Letters 
 not only contain his teaching, but abound in allusions 
 which enable us to become familiar with his personality, 
 his relation to the churches he founded, and the circum- 
 stances in which he did his work. The critical judgment 
 of Luke's trustworthiness as a historian has recently 
 become much more favourable. Sir Wm. Ramsay has 
 shown how well informed he was at all points where he 
 can be tested by contemporary authorities. Dr. Har- 
 nack, while distrustful of his readiness to belief in the 
 supernatural, has after exhaustive inquiry reached the 
 conclusion that Luke, the beloved physician, was the 
 author not only of the "we sections" but of the whole 
 book. It is a companion of Paul's who describes his 
 work for us. In regard to the authenticity of the letters 
 
 of Paul, criticism is more closely approaching the tradi- 
 
 179 
 
i8o LIFE AND TEACHING OF PAUL 
 
 tions of the Christian Church. With some suspense of 
 judgment regarding the Pastoral Epistles, the writer has 
 freely used all the other letters in dealing with Paul's 
 life and teaching. As these writings are genuine letters, 
 not treatises which for literary effect are clothed in that 
 form, they have the highest value as autobiography. 
 While with this material at our command, we may not 
 be able to construct a complete and certain record, yet 
 Paul's experience, character, activity, influence, theology, 
 and service can be known from his own self-testimony, 
 so as to make him live again for us. 
 
 (2) Chronology. — The data are the following : (i) the 
 death of Herod Agrippa I. took place at Cjesarea (Acts 
 xii. 20-23) i^ •^•^- 44- (2) The famine in the days of 
 Claudius (xi. 27-30, xii. 25) lasted some years, but was 
 partly at the same time. (3) Felix was recalled (xxiv. 
 27) in A.D. 55 according to Harnack, but a.d. 60 accord- 
 ing to other chronologists. (4) As Paul left Troas on 
 the Monday morning after the Passover, it is held 
 possible to fix that date also, but Lewin gives 58 and 
 Ramsay 57 as the year. (5) Stephen's martyrdom (vii.) 
 cannot have taken place, it is argued, in Pilate's pro- 
 curatorship, that is, before a.d. 36. (6) Aretas was 
 probably not in possession of Damascus (II. Cor. xi. 32) 
 
APPENDIX i8i 
 
 till after a.d. 37. The data (5) and (6) would forbid our 
 placing the conversion before a.d. 36; but Ramsay, 
 identifying the visit at the time of the famine (Acts xi. 
 27-30) with that mentioned by Paul as fourteen years 
 after his conversion (Gal. ii. i), an opinion with which 
 the writer agrees, gives 32 or 33 as the date of the con- 
 version. Harnack, reckoning back from a.d, 55 as the 
 date of Felix's recall, places the conversion in a.d. 30. 
 The matter cannot be fully discussed here, but the 
 following table, slightly modified, from Hastings' Bible 
 Dictionary gives the views of four scholars : — 
 
 Crucifixion 
 St. Paul's Conversion 
 St. Paul's First Visit to \ 
 Jerusalem . . / 
 Second Visit to Jerusalem . 
 First Missionary Journey . 
 Second I\rissionary Journey 
 Arrival at Corinth . 
 Third Missionary Journey . 
 Departure from Ephesus . 
 Final Visit to Jerusalem . 
 Arrival at Rome 
 Close of Acts . 
 
 Paul's death, if he was released at the end of the two 
 years, can be placed between a.d. 65 and 67. 
 
 Harnack 
 
 Turner 
 
 Ramsay 
 
 LiGHTFOOT 
 
 29 or 30 
 
 2Q 
 
 30 
 
 [30] 
 
 30 
 
 35-36 
 
 33 
 
 34 
 
 33 
 
 38 
 
 35-36 
 
 37 
 
 [44] 
 
 46 
 
 46 
 
 45 
 
 45 
 
 47 
 
 47 
 
 48 
 
 47 
 
 49 
 
 50 
 
 51 
 
 48 
 
 50 
 
 51 
 
 52 
 
 50 
 
 52 
 
 53 
 
 54 
 
 53 
 
 55 
 
 56 
 
 57 
 
 54 
 
 56 
 
 57 
 
 =^8 
 
 57 
 
 59 
 
 60 
 
 61 
 
 59 
 
 61 
 
 62 
 
 63 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abraham, 114, 125 
 Acts, 179 
 Adam, 15, 95, 137 
 Advent (Second), 20, 120 
 Agabus, 42, 67 
 Allegory, 17 
 Ananias, 24 
 Angels, ID 
 Apocalypses, 12, 19 
 Apocrypha, 12, 15 
 Apostle, 72 
 Arabia, 32, 33 
 Areopagus, 57 
 Asiarchs, 62 
 Baptism, 82 
 Barnabas, 31, 41, 50 
 Bishop, 71 
 Bruce, 5 
 
 Captivity Epistles, 77, 132 
 Chris tology, 132 
 Chronology, 180 
 Church, 69 
 Clement, 171 
 Colossians, 70 
 Controversy, 172 
 Conversion, 24 
 Corinthians I.. 63, 64 
 //., 63, 65 
 Cosmolog}', 8 
 Council at Jerusalem, 50 
 Cross, 103 
 Curse, 137 
 Deacon, 71 
 Death, 97, 118, 153 
 Demons, 13 
 Dualism, 93 
 Elder, 71 
 Election, 127 
 Ephesians, 70, 168 
 Epicureans, 56 
 Essenes, 7 
 Faith, 147 
 Resh, 14, 92, 136 
 
 Freedom, 7, 155 
 Galatians, 46, 50 
 Gamahel, i, 3 
 Grace, 129 
 Greek cultiu-e, 2 
 Haggada, 17 
 Halacha, 16 
 
 Hamack, 58, 179, 180, 181 
 Hebreiz's, 58 
 Hope, 151 
 Hort, 58 
 Idolatry, 99 
 James, 32, 44, 51 
 Jerome, i 
 Josephus, 7 
 Judaisers, 8, 50, 112 
 Judgment, 121 
 Justification, 107 
 Law, 19, III 
 Lewin, 180 
 Lightfoot, 181 
 Lord's Supper, 86 
 Love (of God), 123 
 „ (of Man), 153 
 Mark, 48, 53 
 Marriage, 156 
 Meats, 163 
 
 Messiah, 5, 10, 19, 23 
 Monotheism, 131 
 Pastoral Epistles, 71, 80, 
 
 169, 180 
 Peter, 32, 40, 44. 51 
 Pharisees, 4, 7, 9, 11. 21 
 Philemon, 159, 168 
 Philip, 40 
 Philippians, 168 
 Prayer, 150 
 Pre-existence, 20, 134 
 PrisciUa, 58 
 
 Progress (Theology), 89 
 Promise, 19 
 Property, 162 
 Propitiation, 104 
 
 Providence, 7 
 Psychology, 14 
 Ramsay, 54, 168, 179, 180, 
 
 181 _ 
 Reconciliation, 106 
 Redemption, 106 
 Resurrection, 10, 118, 130, 
 
 152 
 Righteousness (of God), 
 
 7, 100 
 Roman Citizenship, 2, 55, 
 
 160, 166 
 Romans, 46, 66 
 Sacraments, 81 
 Sadducees, 7, 9, 11 
 Salvation, 90, 100, 123. 145 
 Sanctification, loS 
 Sanhedrin, 6 
 Satan, 11 
 Sergius Paulus, 3 
 Sin, 91, 136 
 Slavery, 158 
 Soteriology, 136 
 Sources, 179 
 Spirit, no, 139 
 Stake (in Flesh), 37 
 State, 161 
 Stephen, 5, 40 
 Stoics, 56 
 Suetonius, 58 
 Tarsus, 2 
 Thessaloniansl., 55, 58 
 
 //., 59 
 Timothy, 53, 64, 70 
 Timothy /., 170 
 
 „ ' //•, 170 
 Titus, 65 
 Titus, 170 
 Turner, 181 
 Typology, 18 
 Weinel, 8, 9, 26 
 Woman, 157 
 Wrath (of God). 91 
 
 Printed by Ballantvnk, Hanson ct" Co. 
 Edinburgh d^ London 
 
mi^fr^. i 
 

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