Part 4

The question of the _Pastoral Epistles_ must be considered as still one meeting with doubtful answers. Many scholars who accept all the ten epistles of St. Paul to the Churches agree with Marcion of the second century in not admitting these three works. Still they are defended by most British and American New Testament[49] scholars, and some who do not allow that in their present form they can be attributed to the Apostle still admit that they contain fragments of the Apostle's genuine writings.[50]

[49] Not by Davidson, however, nor more recently by Bacon or Moffatt. Dr. Horton (_Century Bible_) balances the arguments _pro_ and _con_ and refuses to decide either way.

[50] This is Harnach's view. On the other hand so independent a scholar and drastic a critic as Mr. Conybeare told the present writer that he had no doubt of their genuineness.

The _Epistle to the Hebrews_ is now universally admitted not to be a work of St. Paul. The book itself makes no claim to be such, and it is unfortunate that the English Revisers retained the misleading title ascribing it to "Paul the Apostle," a late superscription of no historical value. Happily the American Revisers have struck this out. Claims for Barnabas and for Apollos as its author have their advocates; and lately Prof. Harnach has hit on the happy guess, backed up by considerations of some amount of probability, that its author was a woman--Priscilla. But most scholars feel it necessary to abide by Origen's negative conclusion: "Who wrote the epistle God only knows." That it is a most valuable work of high inspiration well worthy of a place in the canon in spite of its anonymity cannot be doubted. It has recently received special attention from scholars in the form of fresh and luminous exposition.[51]

[51] Especially by Menégoz, Bruce, and Milligan.

_I Peter_ has been somewhat severely handled in recent times, Harnach regarding it as the work of some unknown disciple of St. Paul. But the growing perception of a _rapprochement_ between the two great Apostles, which is seen in recent scholarship, points to the conclusion that St. Peter, who was evidently a man of a most impressionable nature, may not have felt himself above receiving influences from the great Apostle of the Gentiles; and it is not to be denied that there are features of the epistle which link it more closely with St. Peter's speeches in Acts than with the writings of St. Paul. On the other hand _2 Peter_ is the one book of the New Testament now almost universally treated as not genuine; it was the latest to be accepted in the primitive church.[52]

[52] Still it is vindicated by Dr. Bigg, _International Commentary_.

_James_ is regarded as a genuine work of the head of the Church at Jerusalem by its chief English commentator,[53] although most German and American scholars who have written about it recently assign it to a very late date.[54]

[53] J. B. Mayor, _The Epistle of St. James_.

[54] _E. g._, Pfleiderer, Holtzmann, Jülicher, Harnach, the last regarding it as a collection of sermon notes put together by some unknown James in the second century. But are not its very archaic features against this view?

The _Epistles of John_ are now almost universally admitted to be the work of the author of the fourth gospel. Little can be said as to the _Epistle of Jude_ except that its free use of Apocryphal books has been clearly demonstrated. But, lastly, a flood of light has been thrown on the _Revelation_ by recent studies in Jewish Apocalyptic literature, and even in Babylonian mythology.[55] It has been shown that this mysterious book, which many had regarded as unique in literature, may be associated with a school of Jewish and Christian Apocalyptic writings from some of the former of which it draws its materials. Then, as the inquiry is pushed further back, some of the most remarkable imagery is traced through these Jewish writings to Babylonian legends. While this interesting process may help to account for the form of the book, it does not touch its essence and that marvelous inspiration by virtue of which it soars above all possible rivals and it is to us _the_ Apocalypt, the one book in which the Spirit of God unveils the springs and purposes of the providence of history.

[55] As expounded by Gunkel, Bousset, and Charles.

IV.--EXEGESIS

During recent years the methods of the commentator have undergone almost as great a revolution as those of the critic. New dictionaries and grammars[56] have helped to a more accurate understanding of words and phrases. But the most remarkable contribution to this form of study comes from a wholly new region, the region of contemporary records. Inscriptions in Greece and Asia Minor and _Papyri_ discovered in Egypt, dating from the very time when the New Testament was written, are found to contain phrases identical with what we had been accustomed to regard as peculiarly characteristic of Hellenistic or New Testament Greek. The conclusion to be drawn from these remarkable discoveries is that the books of the New Testament were written in the ordinary spoken Greek of their day, the very same form of language in which leases were drawn up and private letters were written by people at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, in which inscriptions were chiseled by sculptors in Cos among the isles of Greece. From this we are led to see the mistake of the old commentators in interpreting the New Testament by means of their knowledge of the classics. The consequence is that the Revised Version must be regarded as already partially out of date, since its committees were dominated by English university classical scholarship, as represented by Dr. Ellicott, the chairman of the English committee.

[56] _E. g._, Grim-Thayer, _Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament_, and Grammars of New Testament Greek by Winer, Schmiedel and by Blass.

Another modern movement of research also carries us away from the old classicism. While the New Testament writers used the colloquial language of the cosmopolitan Greek-speaking people of their day, they were all, or nearly all, brought up in Jewish schools and taught to think in Jewish modes of thought. This indicates that some of their expressions can best be interpreted by a knowledge of Aramaic, the language of Palestine in the time of Christ. And now Aramaic studies have been brought in to assist in the interpretation of the New Testament with luminous results.[57]

[57] See Deissmann, _Bible Studies_; Dalman, _The Words of Jesus_.

Two further characteristics may be observed in the new modern commentaries.[58] One is a vigorous effort to arrive at the original meaning of the books, rather than to the exclusion of any reference to theological systems of later date; in other words, honest exegesis, rather than polemical discussion. The other characteristic is a broader method of treatment in seeking for the ideas of the sacred writings as more important than the minute study of words which characterized the scholarship of the last generation of commentators. The older commentaries were mainly grammatical; the newer commentaries are chiefly historical, theological or philosophical.[59] In harmony with this later method of exegesis the Expositor's Bible may be regarded as a great commentary on the Holy Scriptures, as well as a work of exposition.

[58] On the whole the best English and American series of commentaries is that known as the _International Critical Commentary_; the most recent work of smaller dimensions is _The Century Bible_.

[59] _E. g._, Ramsay on Galatians, Wellhausen on the _Synoptic Gospels_, the Abbé Loisy on _St. John_.

V.--CONTEMPORANEOUS HISTORY AND THOUGHT

It is no longer possible for the fully equipped scribe who is to bring out of his treasury things new and old to be "a man of one book." While the center of his studies must be the Scriptures, he has undertaken to explain, his very explanation of them is largely dependent on his gleanings from other fields of learning. Formerly the Bible was regarded by itself in dazzling isolation, like a statue set on a pedestal. Now we discover that we can see it much better when it stands in its place, which is not a mere niche in the wall of the temple of humanity, but the central shrine of all history. The life and thought of the world in which the New Testament first appeared must not be treated as the mere frame of the picture, although even that would be something, for a suitable frame helps to show its contents to the best advantage. But we should rather think of the circumstances and setting of the gospel and apostolic stories as background and even in part foreground to the Christian revelation. It must be confessed that sometimes these accessories are painted with so much Pre-raffaelite force and color that there is a danger of missing the message of the picture owing to the distraction of the accessories. A knowledge of the geography of Palestine, Eastern manners and customs, the state of the Roman world at the time of Christ, contemporary Greek philosophy, and a host of other matters more or less remote from the central theme of the New Testament, must not be allowed to overshadow that central theme. The picturesqueness of modern writing threatens this danger; and modern writing is nothing if it is not picturesque. But true illustration, such as is aimed at in the Expositor's Bible, goes deeper. It does not detract from the interest of the New Testament itself by the meretricious charms of the surroundings, a materializing and secularizing of the sacred and spiritual of which some of the most popular modern Lives of Christ are guilty. On the contrary, it seeks to throw light on the New Testament itself, explaining obscurities, vivifying what had not been fully realized before, setting the whole picture before us in warm colors of life. Used in this way the fruits of the _Palestine Exploration Fund_ prove to be of great value. Then scholars of contemporary Jewish life and thought have enabled us to see more clearly the actual condition of the people among whom Jesus lived,[60] and those who have been investigating the history and archæology of the Roman Empire of this period have enabled us to see much more clearly, how the Apostles carried out their wider mission, how the first churches were founded in the larger world, and how the primitive Christian life was lived in the midst of pagan surroundings.[61]

[60] See especially Schürer, _The Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ_; Edersheim, _Jesus the Messiah_; Bousset, _Die Religion Des Judentums_; Volz, _Judische Eschatolagie_.

[61] See Mommsen, _Provinces of the Roman Empire_; Ramsay, _The Church in the Roman Empire_, &c.

VI.--LIFE AND HISTORY OF THE EARLY CHURCH

Making use of such materials as have been indicated above, several scholars have been attempting the difficult task of writing the Life of Christ,[62] and several also the more manageable work of giving an account of the history of Apostolic times. Here we see that the destructive criticism which made havoc of history under the hands of the famous "Tübingen school" has been almost entirely superseded by constructive efforts which have brought out the circumstances of primitive times with remarkable clearness. The learned, sober studies of Hort in England,[63], as well as the writings of Prof. Ramsay already referred to; the brilliant work of Weizsäcker[64] in Germany; the histories of McGiffert,[65] of the school of Harnach, and of Prof. Bartlet, a singularly judicious and discerning writer,[66] are among the most prominent contributions to a right understanding of the events of the Apostolic times. Indeed, it is not too much to say that the research and criticism of recent days have brought us face to face with the primitive age of Christianity in a manner never attainable during any of the intermediate ages. It is as though we of the twentieth century had gained a height from which we could look across the intervening centuries, many of which lie wrapped in mist, and see clear and sharp against the horizon the blue hills of the wonderful first century.

[62] _E. g._, Geikie, Farrar, Edersheim, Stalker, Didon, &c., in popular works; Keim, Weiss, Sanday (_Dictionary of the Bible_), Bruce (_Encyclopædia Biblica_), Oscar Holtzmann, &c., in critical studies.

[63] See _The Christian Ecclesia_ and _Judaistic Christianity_.

[64] See _Apostolic Times_.

[65] _Christianity in the Apostolic Age._

[66] _The Apostolic Age._

VII.--NEW TESTAMENT THEOLOGY

Of all the contributions to the study of the Scriptures with which research, scholarship and thought have enriched our age, none are more fruitful than those which belong to the province of Biblical Theology. Strange as it may appear, while the Bible has been the final authority appealed to in the teaching of dogmatic Theology all down the ages, Biblical Theology is a new science, undreamed of by all but comparatively recent scholars. The old method was to start with a proposition, a thesis, a dogma, and then hunt through the Bible for proof texts. This was the method of the one supremely great work in Systematic Theology which Protestantism has produced--Calvin's _Institutes_. The great reformer first states his dogma and then proceeds to marshal texts in proof of it, following this process by a refutation of objections and an explaining away of apparently adverse texts. You can prove anything in that way. This vicious method accounts for the fact that all the wildest heresies and extravagances of fanaticism, as well as all the great mutually opposed systems of Divinity that have appeared in Christendom, have been able to appeal triumphantly to Scripture in proof of their contentions. Such a confusion of results should have been accepted as the _reductio ad absurdum_ of the method.

But now the new process of the study of Biblical Theology follows a more modest but more scientific method. It does not start with any dogma which it seeks to prove; it even dispenses with the "working hypothesis" which science admits to be legitimate. It is wholly inductive. Its aim is simply to discover what the Scriptures teach, no matter whether this should turn out to be favorable to preconceived notions or the reverse. In pursuit of this object it seeks to divest the mind of a mass of irrelevant and distracting notions, the accumulation of ages of Christian thinking and controversy, and work its way back to the times in which the several books were written, viewing them in the atmosphere of their origin. It approaches each book rather from what went before than from what came after, seeing that a thing is usually conditioned by its antecedents, but never by its sequels. Then it segregates the writings of each school or class of teachers, and further the specific teaching of each writer. Lastly, it endeavors to discover the teaching of each book in its entirety and also in its individuality. These points were touched upon in the opening of this section of the Introduction; they need to be treated rather more explicitly before we close because they enter into the more valuable characteristics of the Expositor's Bible.

The application of this new method of Biblical Theology to the New Testament has been delightfully fruitful in results. First and foremost come the studies in the teachings of Jesus with which the Christian thought of our age has been revivified. The now familiar phrase "back to Christ" has been nowhere better illustrated than in the course of these studies. It has now become possible to know to a considerable extent what was the actual teaching of the Master detached from the subsequent teaching of the disciples; and such knowledge must be welcomed as of supreme importance even if we allow that the disciples were authorized and inspired teachers commissioned by Christ Himself to carry on the revelation of Christian truth by means of the illumination of the Holy Spirit with which they were endowed. Every loyal servant of Christ must attach primary importance to the position, the action, the sufferings and the very words of his Lord and Master. The teachings of Jesus form the most valuable part of every book that deals at all adequately with New Testament Theology as a whole;[67] but they are also discussed in works wholly devoted to this great subject.[68] One interesting report which has been brought out with peculiar force both by Beyschlag and by Wendt is the essential harmony between our Lord's teaching in the synoptic gospels and that in John. Special attention has lately been given the teaching of Christ about Himself, and in particular to the meaning of the title, "the Son of Man."[69] There has also been much discussion about the teaching of Jesus in the gospels concerning the last things, and Dr. Charles, the greatest authority on this subject, has set forth the view that Jewish eschatological notions are here blended with the original teachings of Jesus, while others think that our Lord's teachings about the Destruction of Jerusalem have been confused with His teachings about the end of the world and the final judgment.[70]

[67] See especially works on this subject by Weiss, Stevens, Beyschlag, Bovon (French), Holtzmann (German); Wernle, _Beginnings of Christianity_.

[68] See Wendt, Horton, on _The Teachings of Jesus_; John Watson, _The Mind of the Master_; Bruce, _The Kingdom of God_, and _The Training of the Twelve_.

[69] See Driver, Hastings' _Dictionary of the Bible_, article, "Son of Man."

[70] See Charles, _Jewish and Christian Eschatology_; and for the latter view, Muirhead, _The Eschatology of Jesus_.

The teachings of St. Paul, the greatest theologian of the primitive church, and indeed of all ages, have received searching investigation during recent years. They are discussed with much fullness in the books on New Testament Theology as a whole that have been already referred to; and valuable works have been devoted to the exclusive study of them. The prejudiced views of Baur having been to a great extent demolished, Pfleiderer, also of "the left wing" of criticism, produced a powerful work,[71] in which the ideas of the Apostle were subjected to a keen but not very sympathetic analysis. August Sabatier[72] contributed a brilliant study to the development of the ideas of the Apostle in the course of his writings which were taken in historical order; and he was followed by the more cautious exposition of Prof. Stevens. Other extremely useful writings on this most fruitful theme have appeared from time to time, as well as special monographs of Johannine Theology.[73]

[71] _Paulinism._

[72] _Saint Paul._

[73] See Stevens on this subject, and the teachings of St. James.

The result of all these studies is that we have now a storehouse of collected information concerning the specific teachings of the several parts of the New Testament, such as no scholarship of previous ages had attempted, because the historical method on which it is all based was not practised until recently. Much of this storehouse was at the disposal of the writers of the Expositor's Bible, and many of its treasures will be found in their volumes, while perhaps it is not too much to hope that these volumes themselves will be welcomed as valuable original contributions to the same supremely important study--the study of the mind of Christ and the thought of His Apostles.

WALTER F. ADENEY.

COMPLETE INDEX

TO THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE PREFATORY NOTE

The value of work like that which follows requires no argument to prove its worth. An unindexed book is like an unexplored continent. It may contain streams of thought which might be sources of power if known. Diamonds and gold may there be hidden away. The index is the explorer's chart to the undiscovered country. The great stores of a work like The Expositor's Bible are not realized until they are tabulated in an index. The chemistry of thought has produced many a gem for this great work. This index will show where they are. The compiler has endeavored to make a complete, comprehensive, and practical index to this series. The index is by subjects, texts, and authors quoted.

It has given me great pleasure to know in this intimate way what The Expositor's Bible contains. If this work shall help others to the same knowledge, the labor involved is worth while.

S. G. AYRES.

HOW TO USE THE INDEX

As an illustration of the method by which to use the subject index, take the first topic, Aaron. The reference to Aaron and his sons will be found in the volume "Numbers" of The Expositor's Bible, page 32.

A good illustration of the way to use the textual part of the index is found in John XVII, 19. Of course the main treatment will be found in its proper place in Vol. II of the Gospel of John by Dr. Dods; but we find a reference in the volume on Leviticus, page 57; in that containing Ephesians, page 369; in that on the Epistles of Peter, page 151. The reader will find that these will aid in acquiring a more complete understanding of the text studied. The inter-relation of the Old and New Testaments will be the better noted. It has been thought that less trouble will be caused the reader by having the texts included with the subjects under one index.

Where a book of the Bible is contained in more than one volume, although possibly bound, the two volumes in one, the reference, for example, under Acts VII, verse 49, to Isaiah II, 287, would be found on page 287 of the second volume of Isaiah.

INDEX TO THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE

A

AARON and his sons, Numbers, 32. ---- and Moses meet, Exodus, 87. ---- begins the Tabernacle service, Leviticus, 219. ---- Character of, Numbers, 29. ---- Close of his life, Numbers, 235. ---- complains of the marriage of Moses, Numbers, 137. ---- Consecration of, Leviticus, 181. ---- Consecration of, Hebrews, 185. ---- Intercession of, Numbers, 207. ---- Priesthood of, Hebrews, 79, 128. ---- Rod of, Numbers, 198, 207. ---- suggested as Moses' Helper, Exodus, 74.

AARONITES, Support of the, Numbers, 25.

ABBA, Genesis, 165; Galatians, 254.

ABBOTT, Dr. Ezra, _Biblical Essays_, Acts II., 12, 43.

ABECEDARIANS, Pastoral Epistles, 70.

ABEL, Genesis, 28-41. ---- compared with Christ, Genesis, 40, 41. ---- Faith of, Genesis, 35, 36; Hebrews, 223-225.

ABERCIUS, St., Acts I., VI.

ABGAR, King, Acts II., 53.

ABIATHAR deposed, Kings, 110, 111.

ABIEZER, Conversion of, Judges 159.

ABIGAIL, wife of Nabal, I. Samuel, 384; II. Samuel, 39. ---- marries David, I. Samuel, 388.

ABIHU, Strange fire of Nadaband, Leviticus, 237-255; Numbers, 29.

ABIJAH, son of Jeroboam. ---- Sickness and death of, I. Kings, 302-308.

ABIJAH, king of Judah, I. Kings, 318-321; Chronicles, 325-337.

ABIMELECH, Judges, 210-223.

ABIRAM, Dathan and, Numbers, 195, 205.

ABISHAG, the Shunemite, I. Kings, 62, 106; Songs of Solomon, 4.

ABISHAI, II. Samuel, 245, 345.

ABOMINABLE, Altogether become, Peter, 313-324.

ABNER assassinated by Joab, II. Samuel, 52. ---- sets up Ishbosheth, II. Samuel, 23. ---- wars against David, II. Samuel, 26-49.

ABRAHAM and the "cities of the plain," Genesis, 186-197. ---- and Ishmael, Genesis, 147-158, 212-225. ---- and Melchizedek, Hebrews, 118. ---- Blessings of, Galatians, 180-188. ---- The call of, Genesis, 81-95. ---- Change of name, Genesis, 165. ---- Faith of, Job, 27; Hebrews, 223. ---- Friend of God, James, 160, 162. ---- God's covenant with, Genesis, 134-146. ---- God's oath to, Hebrews, 101. ---- in Egypt, Genesis, 96-107. ---- intercedes for Sodom, Genesis, 172-185. ---- Justification of, Romans, 103-109, 117-127. ---- Legend of, Daniel, 44. ---- Lot's separation from, Genesis, 108-120. ---- Promise to, Hebrews, 9. ---- purchases Macphelah, Genesis, 226-239. ---- rescues Lot, Genesis, 121-133. ---- sacrifices Isaac, Genesis, 198-211. ---- Seed of, Hebrews, 45.