EPISTLES OF THE N. T. In directing our inquiry first of all towards the relation in which the epistles stand to the other component parts of the N. T., we find that both the O. and N. T. have been arranged by divine wisdom after one and the same plan. All the revelations of God to mankind rest upon history. Therefore in the O., as well as in the N. T., the history of the deeds of God stands FIRST, as being the basis of holy writ ; thereupon follow the books which exhibit the doctrines and internal life of the men of God—in the O. T. the Psalms, the writings of Solomon, etc., and in the N. T. the Epistles of the Apostles; finally, there follow in the O. T. the writings of the prophets, whose vision extends into the times of the N. T.; and at the conclusion of the N. "i stands its only prophetic book, the Revelation of John.
In this also we must thankfully adore divine wisdom, that the epistles, which lay down the doctrines of the Christian religion, originate, not from one apostle alone, but from all the four prin cipal apostles ; so that one and the same divine truth is presented to our eyes in various forms as it were in various mirrors, by which its richness and manifold character are the better displayed.
The epistles of the N. T. divide themselves into two parts—the PAULINE and the so-called CATHOLIC.
The PAULINE epistles are thirteen in number ; or fourteen, if we add to them the Epistle to the Hebrews. Up to our clays their genuineness has almost unanimously been recognised in Germany, with the exception only of the pastoral epistles, and more especially the first letter to Timothy. Eich horn and Bauer have attacked the genuineness of all the three pastoral epistles, and Schleiermacher that of the first epistle to Timothy. Indeed, the very peculiar character of the Pauline epistles is so striking to any one who is not ignorant of the want of ease and originality conspicuous in the counterfeit writings of early times, as to leave not the least doubt of their genuineness. Depth of thought, fire of speech, firmness of cha racter—these manly features, joined withal to the indulgence of feelings of the most devoted love and affection, characterise these epistles. The amiable personal character of the apostle may be most beautifully traced in his Epistles to the Philip pians and to Philemon.
All the epistles, except the one to the Romans, were called forth by circumstances and particular occasions in the affairs of the communities to which they were addressed. Not all, however, were preserved; it is, at least, evident, from Cor. v. 9, that a letter to the Corinthians has been lost; from Col. iv. 16, it has also been con cluded—though probably erroneously, since there perhaps the letter to the Ephesians is referred to— that another letter to the community of Laodicea has likewise been lost. Press of business usually compelled Paul—what was, besides, not uncom mon in those times—to use his companions as amanuenses. He mentions (Gal. vi. 11), as some
thing peculiar, that he had written this letter with his own hand. This circumstance may greatly have favoured the temptation to forge letters in his name, because since the period of Alexandrian literature it was not unusual to indite spurious books, as is evident from Eusebius (Hist. Eccles. p. 23); and even Christian bishops made complaints about the falsification of their letters. Paul alludes to this (2 Thes. iL 2), and therefore writes the greeting (2 Thes. iii. 17) with his own hand. Paul himself exhorted the communities mutually to impart to each other his letters to them, and read them aloud in their assemblies (Col. iv. 16). It is therefore probable that copies of these letters had been early made by the several communities, and deposited in the form of col lections. So long therefore as the various com munities transmitted the manuscripts to each other, no other letters, it is obvious, could come into the collections than those to whose genuineness the communities to whom they were originally ad dressed, bore witness. Even Peter (2 Peter iii. 16) seems to have had before him a number of Paul's letters, as, about forty years later, a number of letters of Ignatius were transmitted by Polycarp to Smyrna, while the church of Philippi forwarded to him those directed to them (Ep. Folic. sub fin.; Euseb. Hist. Eccles. iii. 36). This Pauline collec tion, in contradistinction to the gospels, passed by the name of 6 c7r6o-roXos.
The letters of Paul may be chronologically arranged into those written before his Roman im prisonment, and those written during and after it : thus beginning with his first letter to the Thessa lonians, and concluding with his second to Timo thy, embracing an interval of about ten years (A. D. 54-64). In our Bibles, however, the letters are arranged according to the pre-eminent parts and stations of the communities to whom they were addressed, and conclude with the epistles to the two bishops and a private letter to Philemon.
That the epistles offered great difficulties was already felt in the earliest times (2 Pet. iii. 16). In the Roman Church their true understanding was more particularly lost by the circumstance that it understood by THE LAW, only the opus operation of the ceremonial law ; consequently the Roman Church could not comprehend justifi cation by faith, and taught instead justification by works; as soon, therefore, as the true under standing of the Pauline epistles dawned upon Luther, his breach with the Roman Church was decided.
Among the more ancient interpreters of the Pauline letters, Chrysostom and Calvin deserve particular distinction ; though the former, with all his zeal and psychological penetration, was still deficient in the true hermeneutic method.