Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/biblefre/topics09/t09150

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 Les Thèmes de B.W. Johnson sont en cours de traduction
 et seront disponibles en Septembre. Un module en anglais
 - People NT Notes & Topics - est désormais disponible.
 Il s'agit de brefs commentaires sur chaque verset du Nouveau
 Testament, commentaires qui peuvent être consultés à partir du
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 aux Editions Clé pour plus de renseignements.

 INDEX to Introductions by B. W. Johnson
   Matthew                                9152
   Mark                                   9153
   Luke                                   9154
   John                                   9155
   Acts                                   9156
      Outline                             9157
      Chronology                          9158
   Life of Paul                           9159
      Chronology                          9160
      Order of the Epistles               9161
   Romans                                 9201
   1 Corinthians                          9202
   2 Corinthians                          9203
   Galatians                              9204
   Ephesians                              9205
   Philippians                            9206
   Colossians                             9207
   1 Thessalonians                        9208
   2 Thessalonians                        9209
   1 Timothy                              9251
   2 Timothy                              9252
   Titus                                  9253
   Philemon                               9254
   Hebrews                                9255
   James                                  9256
   1 Peter                                9257
   2 Peter                                9258
   1 John                                 9259
   2 John                                 9260
   3 John                                 9261
   Jude                                   9262
   Revelation                             9301

 INDEX to Notes on Revelation             9651
 INDEX to Additional Notes for TPNT       9851
09152
            INTRODUCTION TO MATTHEW by B. W. Johnson

    The first of the Gospels has been assigned by the Church,
 from the earliest times, to Matthew, one of the Twelve Apostles,
 and in all ages has been given the first place in the NT. He
 was the son of Alphaeus, as we learn from Luke, who also calls
 him Levi.
 # Lu 5:27-29
 He calls himself "Matthew the tax collector,"
 # Mt 10:3
 refusing to conceal in his own history the despised calling that
 had engaged him before he entered the service of Christ. He was
 a Jew, but had so far lost the national feeling that he was a
 collector of the hateful Roman tribute at Capernaum, and was
 sitting at the receipt of custom when called by our Lord to
 leave all and to follow him. His history of the Saviour shows,
 however, that he was more dominated by Jewish ideas than the
 writers of the other three gospels. Of the life of Matthew,
 after the death of the Saviour, we have no information, for no
 reliance can be placed upon the traditions concerning his later
 history.

    The Gospel of Matthew shows the methodical habits of a
 business man, for of all the writers he is most systematic in
 his arrangement. He gives by far the fullest accounts of the
 Sermon on the Mount, the charge to the Apostles (Mt 10), the
 Discourse on Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the Arraignment
 of the Scribes and Pharisees, of the Parables, and of the
 Prophecies concerning the Overthrow of the Jewish State. It has
 always been held that Matthew wrote before the other NT writers,
 and wrote especially for Jewish Christians. It is therefore
 supposed that he wrote first either in the common language of
 Judea at that time, the Aramaic, which was spoken by the Saviour
 and his Apostles, or else in the pure Hebrew, which was then
 generally understood. This, however, is an unsettled question,
 and the Greek which we now possess, was, it is almost certain,
 written in Matthew's lifetime. There are no data for determining
 the exact time and place where it was written, but it was
 probably composed about the middle of the first century, within
 twenty years of the crucifixion.

    Whether written originally in Hebrew or not, it can hardly be
 doubted that Matthew wrote for Jewish readers. He takes for
 granted a familiarity with Jewish customs, laws, and localities,
 to a far greater extent than the other writers. Dean Alford
 says: "The whole narrative proceeds more upon a Jewish view of
 matters, and is concerned more to establish that point, which to
 a Jewish convert would be most important, namely, that Jesus is
 the Messiah prophesied in the OT. Hence the commencement of his
 genealogy from Abraham and David; hence the frequent notice of
 the necessity of this or that event happening, because it was
 foretold by the prophets; hence the constant opposition of our
 Lord's spiritually ethical teaching to the carnal formalistic
 ethics of the Scribes and Pharisees."

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (p. 17)
09153
             INTRODUCTION TO MARK by B. W. Johnson

    The Second Gospel was written by Mark, the kinsman of
 Barnabas, and the companion of Paul in his first missionary
 journey. When and where it was written is uncertain. Of its
 author the following facts are gathered from the NT: He is first
 named in
 # Ac 12:12
 His mother's name was Mary, and we learn from
 # Col 4:10
 that she was a sister of Barnabas. She dwelt in Jerusalem, and
 this city was probably Mark's early home. He was converted by
 Peter,
 # 1Pe 5:13
 it has been supposed, at the great ingathering on the day of
 Pentecost. He became a minister,
 # Ac 12:25
 attended Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey,
 did not prove satisfactory to Paul,
 # Ac 15:38
 and as Barnabas insisted on taking him, he and Paul parted
 company on the second missionary journey. That Paul and Mark
 were afterwards intimate is shown by the subsequent history. We
 find him by Paul's side during his first imprisonment at Rome,
 A.D. 61-63; and he is acknowledged by him as one of his few
 fellow-labourers who had been a "comfort" to him during the weary
 hours of his imprisonment.
 # Col 4:10,11 Phm 1:24
 We next have traces of him in
 # 1Pe 5:13
 "The [church that is] at Babylon . . . greeteth you; and so
 [doth] Mark my son." From this we infer that he joined the
 spiritual father, the friend of his mother, at Babylon, then and
 for some hundred years afterwards returned one of the chief
 seats of Jewish culture. From Babylon he would seem to have
 returned to Asia Minor; for during his second imprisonment, A.D.
 68, Paul, writing to Timothy, charges him to bring Mark with him
 to Rome, on the ground that he was "profitable to me for the
 ministry."
 # 2Ti 4:11

    From this point we gain no further information from the NT
 respecting the Evangelist. It is most probable, however, that he
 did join the Apostle at Rome, whither also Peter would seem to
 have proceeded, and suffered martyrdom along with Paul. After
 the death of these two great pillars of the Church,
 ecclesiastical tradition affirms that Mark visited Egypt,
 founded the Church of Alexandria, and died by martyrdom. This
 tradition is, however, very uncertain.

    Mark was not one of the twelve, and there is no reason to
 believe that he was an eye and ear witness of the events which
 he has recorded; but an almost unanimous testimony of the early
 fathers indicates Peter as the source of his information. The
 most important of these testimonies is that of Papias, who says,
 "He, the presbyter (John) said: Mark, being the interpreter of
 Peter, wrote exactly whatever he remembered; but he did not
 write in order the things which were spoken or done by Christ.
 For he was neither a hearer nor a follower of the Lord, but, as
 I said, afterward followed Peter, who made his discourses to
 suit what was required, without the view of giving a connected
 digest of the discourses of our Lord. Mark, therefore, made no
 mistakes when he wrote down the circumstances as he recollected
 them; for he was very careful of one thing, to omit nothing of
 what he heard, and to say nothing false in what he related."
 Thus Papias writes of Mark. This testimony is confirmed by other
 witnesses.

    Tradition affirms that Mark wrote for the benefit of Gentile
 Christians, and this view is confirmed by the fact that he often
 explains Jewish customs, where Matthew, writing for Jews, omits
 the explanation as if well understood. In the comments on Mark
 references will be found to the parallel passages in Matthew,
 where full explanatory notes will be found.

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (p. 163)
09154
            INTRODUCTION TO LUKE by B. W. Johnson

    The Third Gospel is assigned by the common voice of the
 primitive Church to Luke, "the beloved physician," and companion
 of Paul. Of his earlier history nothing is recorded. There is no
 proof that he ever saw the Lord or that he became a believer
 until some time after his death. He was not a Jew, his name is
 Greek, his style and modes of thought point to Greek training,
 and it has been generally believed that he was one of "the
 Grecians who turned to the Lord" in the great commercial city of
 Antioch, where the first Gentile church beyond Palestine was
 founded. From the incidental references to himself in the Acts
 we learn that he was the constant companion of the later
 ministry of the great apostle to the Gentiles, and this
 confirmed by the allusions to him in the Epistles. We learn that
 he was a Gentile, a physician, that he remained with Paul in his
 imprisonment at Caesarea and attended him to Rome, where he was
 his companion during his long sufferings.
 # Col 4:14 Phm 1:24 2Ti 4:11

    The Gospel of Luke differs from the other three in its
 sources of information. Matthew wrote as an eye witness; Mark
 probably recalled the recollections of Peter; John recalled his
 own personal memories of the life and words of the Lord, but
 Luke draws from the authentic sources of information then
 accessible, and he carefully presents the results in an orderly
 narrative. There are reasons for believing that during the
 period when Paul was a prisoner at Caesarea, Luke, under his
 direction, set in order the facts of the Life of Christ in order
 to furnish an account fitted for the use of Gentile converts,
 and Gentiles who desired to learn of the Lord. "As Paul was the
 apostle, so in a faint degree Gentile Luke was the evangelist,
 of the Gentiles. He traces the genealogy up, not merely to
 Abraham, but Adam, the son of God. He makes Christ's first
 teachings at Nazareth commemorate the extension of God's mercy
 beyond the limits of Israel.
 # Lu 4:16-30
 He shows how the sinner is forgiven upon condition of obedient
 faith.
 # Lu 7:36-50
 The publican is, in Paul's favourite term, 'justified.' Evidently
 their narrative of the Lord's supper is the same tradition."
 # Lu 24:34 1Co 15:5

    Luke's two books, his Gospels and the Acts, are properly two
 successive parts of one Christian history; and as the latter
 terminates at the point where Paul has lived two years at Rome,
 in the year 64, so the Gospel must have been written before that
 period, namely during the 27 years after Christ's death. For as
 Luke terminates his Acts abruptly with the close of Paul's two
 years' imprisonment, without adding a syllable of that apostle's
 later history, it is very certain that the Acts was published at
 that time. Yet, we know from the preface to Acts that the Gospel
 had been already written. Thus, it is evident, that it was
 written 27 years after the crucifixion.

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (p. 221)
09155
        INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN by B. W. Johnson

    THE AUTHOR of the Fourth Gospel was John, the son of Zebedee
 and Salome, the brother of James, in early life a Galilean
 fisherman, but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ. In less
 than a hundred years after his death Christian writers living in
 different quarters of the world, whose writings are still
 extant, show us that this was the universal belief of the
 church. Indeed, the testimony to the authorship is stronger than
 can be furnished that Josephus wrote his Jewish history, that
 Caesar wrote his Commentaries, or in behalf of any uninspired
 writing of antiquity, and would never had been questioned had
 not a class of rationalistic critics arisen who wished to set
 aside the lofty views of the personality and mission of the
 Saviour which are so prominent a feature of the Fourth Gospel. We
 know that it was written by an eye-witness and by a beloved
 disciple.
 # Joh 21:24

 There were only three disciples who were admitted to the most
 intimate relations with Jesus--Peter, James and John. As it was
 not written by either of the first two, John must be the author.
 So the early church unanimously testifies. Irenaeus, who learned
 of one who had been intimate with John and who wrote near the
 middle of the second century, affirms that he was the author. It
 is credited to John in the canon of Muratori, the first
 catalogue of the NT writings, written A.D. 175. It is also
 spoken of by Theophilus of Antioch A.D. 175, and by Clement of
 Alexandria, near the same time, and in the latter part of the
 second century it was translated into the Syriac and Latin
 versions of the NT. Besides these direct recognitions there are
 evident allusions to it and quotations from it in a number of
 epistles and treatises of Ignatius, Hermas, Polycarp, Papias,
 and others, which belong to the first half of the second
 century. Indeed, it is quoted within twenty years of John's
 death.

    PLACE AND TIME. We do not know certainly when or where the
 Fourth Gospel was written. Irenaeus, who lived in the second
 century, and who was the religious pupil of Polycarp, the martyr
 who was educated at the feet of John, declares that it was
 written at Ephesus, after the other three had been written. Its
 internal character indicates that it was written outside of
 Judea, after the fall of the temple, and after certain heresies
 began to be developed. John was still at Jerusalem A.D. 50;
 # Ga 2:9
 it is almost certain that he did not go to Ephesus until after
 the death of Paul, about A.D. 67, and it is probable that he did
 not leave the city of Jerusalem, permanently, until the storm of
 destruction began to gather, which broke in A.D. 70. As the
 testimony of the early church is unanimous that his later years
 were passed at Ephesus and in that region, he probably went
 there about this date. After this, and before his death, which
 took place near the close of the century, the Gospel was
 written.

    JOHN, the author, was brought up to his father's calling, and
 even followed it after he was first pointed to Christ. While he
 was an "unlearned man,"
 # Ac 4:13
 in the sense that he never attended the rabbinical schools, he
 had such an education in Hebrew and in the Scriptures as all
 respectable Jewish families were wont to give their children. In
 connection with every synagogue was a school in which children
 were taught reading, writing, and the rudiments of science. The
 children of Jewish common people were better educated than those
 of any other country in the world. Jesus found John among the
 disciples of John the Baptist, who at once pointed him and his
 companions to Christ. We next meet him at the sea of Galilee,
 fishing, and there Jesus gave him a permanent call. From this
 time onward he steadfastly followed the Master, and with James
 and Peter, formed an inner circle nearer the Lord. These three,
 only, witness the resurrection of Jairus' daughter, see the
 glory of the transfiguration, and the agony of he garden. John
 and Peter follow Christ, after his arrest, and the first goes
 openly into the house of Caiaphas, to the trial before Pilate,
 and to the cross, till all was over. When the news of the
 resurrection came he and Peter were the first to reach the
 sepulchre. To him Jesus committed the care of his own mother,
 while dying on the cross, and it is probable that he remained in
 Judea to attend to this sacred charge while she lived. From
 about the time of the overthrow of Jerusalem he changed his
 residence to Ephesus, where he probably lived until he died,
 near the close of the first century. The testimony of the early
 church would place his death after A.D. 98. It was during this
 later period that he wrote his Gospel, his Epistles, was exiled
 to Patmos, and there wrote his Revelation.

    THE CHARACTER of John's Gospel, written after his fellow
 apostles had gone to rest, differs in some respects from the
 others. It alone follows the chronological order of events,
 gives an account of the Judean ministry of our Lord, shows that
 his ministry lasted for over three years, gives the account of
 the resurrection of Lazarus and of the wonderful discourse to
 the disciples the night that he was betrayed. It omits much with
 which the church was already familiar through the other Gospels,
 presents much that they had not recorded, and recognizes certain
 false doctrines which had begun to be taught. It is the gospel
 of the Incarnation, of Love, and the most Spiritual of the
 Gospels. It alone unfolds fully the great doctrine of the
 Comforter. The great end, however, that the writer had before
 him in all he wrote is given in his own words: "These are
 written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
 of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name."
 # Joh 20:31

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (pp. 322-323)
09156
    INTRODUCTION TO THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES by B. W. Johnson

    THE OBJECT.--The fifth book of the NT begins where the first
 four end. These have recorded the life, words and acts of our
 Saviour from his birth to the Cross, the tomb, the resurrection,
 and the Great Commission. They leave the apostles and the
 nucleus of the apostolic church waiting in Jerusalem for the
 promise of the Father which they must receive in order to endue
 them with power from on high needed for the work of preaching
 the Gospel of the Risen Lord. The historian of Acts begins with
 the Ascension, then portrays to us the waiting and praying
 disciples, ready to begin the great work as soon as they shall
 receive the promised baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then when the
 signal was given that all things were ready by the descent of
 the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, he enters upon the
 record of how the apostles and apostolic men preached the gospel
 under the Saviour's commission, how sinners were made saints, how
 the church was founded, and how it was built up, nurtured and
 trained by the apostles. Acts is the history of apostolic
 evangelization, the book of conversions, the first book of
 ecclesiastical history.

    It has been forcibly stated by Dean Howson that Luke
 declares in his preface that he had in his former treatise (the
 Gospel) given account "of all that Jesus began both to do and to
 teach, until the day in which he was taken up," while in Acts,
 he "reveals to the world what the same Jesus, having ascended
 into heaven, and being exalted to the right hand of God,
 continues 'to do and to teach,' not any longer within the narrow
 confines of Palestine, or during the few years of an earthly
 ministry, but from his royal throne in his imperial city, the
 heavenly Jerusalem; and what, there sitting in glory, he does
 and teaches, by the instrumentality of apostles, apostolic men,
 and apostolic churches, in all ages of the world; and what he
 will ever continue to do and to teach from heaven, by the power
 of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven after his ascension,
 even till he comes again in glory to judge both quick and dead."

    This view of the purpose of Acts is not to exalted, as will
 be seen, when we bear in mind that the apostles were forbidden
 to begin their work until endowed by the Holy Spirit which was
 "shed forth" by the Lord from his throne on high, and then,
 "spake as the Spirit gave them utterance," acting in all things
 under the immediate guidance of the Spirit. Thus, they became
 simply the agents of the Lord, led, directed, preaching and
 speaking as they were directed from on high. All that the Lord
 continued "to do and to teach" thus through them has been
 recorded as examples to his followers in all times, from which
 they cannot lightly depart without disloyalty to the King.

    THE AUTHOR.--The preface shows that it was written by the
 same author as the third Gospel, which has been ascribed by the
 church in all ages to Luke, and in the first canon of the NT
 Scriptures he is named as the author. Eusebius places it as
 Luke's among those books that were NEVER disputed in the church,
 and it is quoted by the earliest Christian writers, such as
 Polycarp, who was a companion of the apostle John. It is also
 attributed to Luke by Irenaeus in the second century, a hearer
 of Polycarp, who was a hearer of John. We learn from Acts itself
 that it was written by a companion of Paul, and one who attended
 him to Rome. His Epistles inform us that Luke was an attendant
 upon his imprisonment in that city.

    TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING.--Acts could not have been
 completed before the year A.D. 63, as it is continued at the
 time at which Paul had closed his second year of imprisonment at
 Rome, which is placed in that year, and it must have been
 completed before the year 68, as it makes no mention of his
 death, which did not occur later than that year. The closing
 chapters were no doubt written in Rome, as Luke was there in
 attendance upon Paul,
 # Col 4:14
 but it is probable that the greater portion might have been
 written during the two years' imprisonment of Paul in Caesarea
 under the immediate direction of the great apostle. While the
 two years of Paul at Rome were busied with epistles to the
 churches, and preaching the gospel in Rome, the records are
 silent how his time was occupied while confined at Caesarea. It
 would be impossible for such a man as Paul to be idle, and as
 his friend had full access to him, there is strong reason to
 believe that at this period Luke, his constant companion, under
 his direction, not only prepared his Gospel, but by the aid of
 such men as Philip the Evangelist, who had his home in Caesarea,
 and Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, aided by the records
 preserved in the church at Jerusalem, prepared the history of
 Acts to the period of the departure to Rome. From the apostles
 themselves, no doubt, were obtained the accounts of the
 ascension, the preaching and founding of the church on the day
 of Pentecost, the acts of Peter, the dispute between the
 Hellenists and the Hebrews, the martyrdom of Stephen and of the
 Apostle James. And there was also the information which he could
 obtain from the Church of Caesarea; in that city he met with
 Philip the Evangelist,
 # Ac 21:8
 and perhaps also with Cornelius, the devout centurion. From
 this source he would derive his information concerning the
 evangelistic labours in Samaria, the conversion of the Ethiopian
 eunuch, the visions made to Peter and Cornelius, and the
 particulars connected with the death of Herod Agrippa. That
 portion of the history in which Paul is the principal figure
 would require no other source of information than the great
 apostle could furnish himself.

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (pp. 413-414)
09157
              THE OUTLINE OF ACTS by B. W. Johnson

    I. Preaching the Gospel "in Jerusalem" and Judea
       1. Preparation for the work
          # Ac 1:1-26
       2. Events of Pentecost
          # Ac 2:1-47
       3. The Church unfolding in miracle and endurance of
          persecution
          # Ac 3:1-4:37
       4. The Church unfolding in penal power
          # Ac 5:1-16
       5. The Church in the second persecution
          # Ac 5:17-42
       6. The Church forming its economy
          # Ac 6:1-8
       7. The Church in last struggle and dispersion
          # Ac 6:8-8:4
   II. Preaching the Gospel "in Samaria" and about Palestine
       1. The deacon Philip evangelizes Samaria
          # Ac 8:5-25
       2. The new Apostle of the Gentiles called
          # Ac 9:1-30
       3. Gentile induction; new Christian centre, Gentile
          Antioch
          # Ac 10:1-11:30
       4. Desolation of Jerusalem Church by Herod; its avenging
          # Ac 12:1-25
  III. Preaching the Gospel "in the Uttermost Parts of the Earth"
       1. Paul's first mission from Antioch
          # Ac 13:1-14:28
       2. Jerusalem Council on Circumcision
          # Ac 15:1-34
       3. Paul's second mission from Antioch
          # Ac 15:35-18:23
       4. Paul's third mission from Antioch
          # Ac 18:23-21:17
       5. Paul in council with James--Arrest--Sent to Caesarea
          # Ac 21:18-23:35
       6. Paul's two years at Caesarea
          # Ac 24:1-26:32
       7. Paul en route for Rome; at Rome
          # Ac 27:1-28:31

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (p. 414)
09158
            THE CHRONOLOGY OF ACTS by B. W. Johnson

    In the main I have followed that of Dean Howson. The dates
 for the period after Paul's labours began are reasonably certain,
 and most critics are substantially agreed. Those of the period
 from the Ascension to the time when Paul began his labours at
 Antioch are somewhat uncertain. The Ascension and the founding
 of the Church on Pentecost must, I think he placed as early as
 A.D. 30, and this gives a longer interval for the events
 recorded in the first eleven chapters of Acts. As modified
 the following are outlines:

    A.D. 30. The Resurrection, the Ascension, the Gospel First
             Preached on Pentecost, Holy Spirit Sent, the Church
             Founded, and the Events Embraced from Acts 1 to 6:8.
    A.D. 37. Conversion of Paul of Tarsus. Acts 9:1-19.
    A.D. 38-40. Period of Paul's Retirement in Arabia
    A.D. 41-43. The Labours of Peter and the Conversion of the
             Gentiles Recorded in Chapters 9-11.
    A.D. 44. Martyrdom of James, and Death of Herod. Acts 12.
    A.D. 45-47. Paul's First Missionary Journey. Acts 13-14.
    A.D. 49 or 50. Council at Jerusalem. Acts 15.
    A.D. 51-53. Paul on His Second Missionary Journey. Acts
             15-18.
    A.D. 54-56. Paul at Ephesus, nearly three years. Acts 19.
    A.D. 57. Paul a Second Time at Corinth.
    A.D. 58. Paul Goes to Jerusalem, is seized, Imprisoned. Acts
             20-23.
    A.D. 59-60. Paul Imprisoned at Caesarea. His Defense before
             Festus and Agrippa. Acts 23-26.
    A.D. 61. Paul sent to Rome. Shipwrecked. Acts 27-28.
    A.D. 62. Imprisoned at Rome. The End of Acts.

    To this I may add that there is reason to believe that Paul
 was acquitted and released in A.D. 63, preached in Spain, Greece
 and Asia, until A.D. 67 or 68, was again seized in Nicopolis in
 Epirus, taken to Rome a second time, and put to death in A.D.
 68.

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (pp. 415)
09159
                A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF PAUL
                         by B. W. Johnson

    Much more than half of the Scriptural text in this volume is
 from the pen of Paul the Apostle, the great Evangelist of the
 Gentile world, and it is fitting that a brief view of the life
 and work of one who fills so large a space in the sacred record
 should be given as a general introduction to the thirteen
 Pauline Epistles.

    The diligent student of Acts of the Apostles is already
 acquainted with the sources of most of his public history. The
 statements in the Epistles from his own pen furnish almost all
 the remaining data which we possess. Had the great men of God,
 who set to work the forces which wrought the religious
 revolution of the world, suspected how great a place they were
 to fill in history, and how eager future ages would be to learn
 the details of their lives and the trials of their work, perhaps
 they would have left on record something more than the meagre
 hints which are all that we possess.

    We are informed concerning the place of the birth of Saul of
 Tarsus, and of his tribe and religious training, but we do not
 know the date of his birth. As he was a "young man" at the time
 of the death of Stephen, but old enough to have an official
 position, he must have been between thirty and forty years old.
 Hence, it is held that he could not have been born earlier than
 A.D. 7. Tarsus, the place of his birth, is situated a short
 distance from the bay of Cilicia, on the river Cyndus, within
 plain view of the snow-covered heights of the Cilician Towers.
 The city was capital of a province, a "free city," a centre of
 Greek culture only less renowned at that period than Athens and
 Alexandria, was the seat of a considerable Jewish colony and of
 a synagogue. The father of Saul had in some unexplained way,
 either by purchase, inheritance, or by his services, secured
 the Roman citizenship, so that Paul was a Roman, "free born."
 The family belonged to the Tribe of Benjamin, which probably
 explains why the son received the name of the Benjaminite king,
 were Pharisees of the strictest type, and the son was trained in
 the rigid notions and practices of that sect.

    His education was completed, as the son of orthodox and
 prosperous Hebrews should have been, at Jerusalem. At what time
 the young Saul went to the Holy City of his race, whether he had
 returned a second time when we first meet with him on the death
 of Stephen, or whether he had in Tarsus taken a course in
 Grecian literature, are matters of pure conjecture. The facts
 known are that he had a thorough knowledge of the Greek, that he
 quoted the Greek poets with the familiarity and correctness of a
 cultured Greek, that he showed an intimate acquaintance with
 Greek philosophy, and that he entered the school of the renowned
 Gamaliel, the grandson of Hillel, and was "brought up at his
 feet." This language, compared with what he know of the custom
 of the Rabbinical schools, implies that he must have spent three
 or four years, at least, under the great Master of the Law in
 Jerusalem.

    It is in the persecution which began with the death of
 Stephen that he first appears in history. In some respects there
 is a complete contrast between Saul of Tarsus and Paul the
 Apostle. One is the unconverted Jew, the other is the
 consecrated Christian. The first is a deadly enemy of Christ and
 of Christianity, a pitiless and tireless persecutor, but at the
 same time a devout, conscientious, but mistaken man. His hatred
 of Christians was due to the fact that he believed them enemies
 of God and of religion. Blinded by his unquestioning zeal for
 Judaism, for the time a bigot filled with rage, he spread havoc
 among the saints and became the terror of the church.
 "Consenting to the death of Stephen," whatever that may mean,
 acting as the accomplice of those who stoned him, seizing and
 imprisoning others, at last he was sent with the commission of
 the Sanhedrin to stop the progress of the new faith in the great
 city of Damascus. On the way, near the city, the persecutor
 underwent a wonderful transformation.

    Three accounts have been given of this remarkable change; two
 by Paul himself, and one by the historian of Acts. The essential
 facts are that the Lord himself appeared to the conscientious
 but mistaken zealot, that the honest persecutor surrendered as
 soon as he saw his mistake, that the Lord appeared to him that
 he might be a WITNESS, and at once called him to an apostleship
 as the missionary to the Gentile world. He was led blind into
 Damascus, received his sight after three days, and was baptized
 by a disciple, and shortly after began his work. After spending
 a considerable period in Arabia,
 # Ga 1:17
 possibly in study and preparation for his great mission, he
 returned to Damascus, where he at once experienced the
 bitterness of persecution,
 # 2Co 11:32
 but escaped to Jerusalem, where he found himself an object of
 suspicion to the church on account of his former persecuting
 fame. Vouched for by Barnabas, he met Peter,
 # Ga 1:18
 but tarried only fifteen days, and then departed to Tarsus to
 escape the plots of the infuriated Jews. There is silence
 concerning several years of his history, but he was evidently
 not idle, and the "churches of Cilicia," spoken of soon after,
 were, no doubt, planted at this time. After this interval, at
 the request of his old friend Barnabas, he returned to Antioch,
 to enter upon the career of missionary activity which
 distinguished the rest of his life.

    The historian Luke names three great missionary tours in
 which he was engaged. About A.D. 45, he and Barnabas were set
 apart by the church at Antioch, under the direction of the Holy
 Spirit, and at once set out. During this tour he travelled the
 island of Cyprus its entire length, planting churches, and then
 landed at Perga on the mainland, a city of Asia Minor, where
 they were deserted by John Mark, who had hitherto accompanied
 them. Labouring at Antioch in Pisidia, Lystra, Derbe, Iconium,
 with great success, they stirred up the enmity of the Jews, and
 these tireless enemies stirred up the populace at Lystra, so
 that Paul was stoned until supposed to be dead. Returning, they
 visited the churches planted, and finally returned to Antioch.

    Next, about A.D. 50, Paul and Barnabas attended the council
 at Jerusalem, brought about by the efforts of Judaizing teachers
 to compel Gentile converts to accept Judaism. Of this conflict
 we fill find many traces in the Epistles of Paul. The next year,
 without Barnabas, attended by Silas, and a part of the time by
 other companions, he started on his second missionary journey,
 visiting churches previously founded in Syria and Cilicia, and
 planting new ones in Phrygia and Galatia. At Troas, on the coast
 of the Aegean Sea, at the call of a heavenly vision, the
 missionaries crossed over into Europe, and planted their first
 church on European soil at Philippi, "a chief city of
 Macedonia," where they also were scourged and imprisoned, but
 honourably discharged when the magistrates found out they were
 Roman citizens. Then churches were planted at Thessalonica,
 Berea, Athens, and at the great commercial metropolis of
 Corinth, where Paul remained at this time for a year and a half.
 In the year 54, probably, Paul returned to Antioch, by way of
 Ephesus, Caesarea and Jerusalem.

    The same year the great Apostle began his third missionary
 journey. Starting from Antioch he went to Ephesus, which he had
 before visited. He now remained about three years and planted a
 great church in the metropolis of western Asia. At last, on
 account of the disturbance caused by Demetrius and his fellow-
 craftsmen, he left and continued his journey to Macedonia and to
 Corinth. From thence he started in the following spring to
 Jerusalem, meeting the elders of the Ephesian church at Miletus.
 Arriving in Jerusalem, he was assaulted in the temple by a mob,
 rescued by a Roman officer, removed to Caesarea, where he was
 imprisoned for two years, and where he appealed to Caesar, as a
 Roman had a right to do. It was on the way to Rome that he was
 shipwrecked on the Island of Malta and remained three months. In
 the spring of A.D. 61, he landed at Puteoli, in Italy, and from
 thence proceeded to Rome. Here we have a view of him for two
 years as a military prisoner, in his own hired house, engaged in
 teaching, and there the history of Acts leaves him. There is
 good reason for believing that he was released in A.D. 63,
 visited Antioch, Ephesus, Nicopolis, and possibly Philippi,
 Corinth and Spain. It was after this release that the Pastoral
 Epistles were written, the last, Second Timothy, being written
 after he had again been confined at Rome and shortly before his
 death. It was somewhere about A.D. 66-68 that his busy career
 ended, and that he received the crown of martyrdom in Rome.

    The details I have given are enough to show how laborious,
 and how full of suffering was his eventful life. Yet we know
 that the history of Acts only touches upon his hardships,
 sufferings and sacrifices. Compelled, in his Second Letter to
 the church at Corinth, in self-defense, he speaks of his labours.
 # 2Co 11:23-27

    The world had never before seen an example of one who gave up
 so much, voluntarily accepted such trials and sorrows, and so
 consecrated himself to a work in behalf of mankind. The
 transformation of Saul of Tarsus the Persecutor, into Paul the
 Apostle, is a miracle not less wonderful than the resurrection
 of the Lord. Dr. Baur, the most learned of German rationalists,
 confessed at the end of his life, that no rational explanation
 can be given of the transformation of Paul from "a most vehement
 adversary into the most resolute herald of Christianity," and
 that he felt constrained to call it a miracle.

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (pp. 7-9)
09160
                   CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF PAUL
                         by B. W. Johnson

    Some of the dates in the life of Paul can be fixed with
 certainty, and others are only approximate. The following are
 accepted by the best authorities.

 Conversion  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 37
 First visit to Jerusalem after conversion . . . . A.D. 40
 Second visit to Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 44
 Beginning of first missionary journey . . . . . . A.D. 45
 Council at Jerusalem (third visit)  . . . . . . . A.D. 50
 Second missionary journey begun . . . . . . . . . A.D. 51
 Fourth visit to Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 54
 Third missionary journey begun  . . . . . . . . . A.D. 54
 Fifth and last visit to Jerusalem . . . . . . . . A.D. 58
 Imprisonment at Caesarea  . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 58-60
 Voyage to Rome  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 60-61
 First imprisonment in Rome  . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 61-63
 Release from imprisonment . . . . . . . . . . . . A.D. 63
 Second imprisonment. Date uncertain, from . . . . A.D. 65 to 67
 Martyrdom. Date uncertain, from . . . . . . . . . A.D. 65 to 68

 from B. W. Johnson. \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. Pp. 9-10.
09161
                   ORDER OF THE PAULINE EPISTLES
                         by B. W. Johnson

    The Epistles of Paul are not arranged in the NT in the order
 in which they were written. The following table gives their
 chronological order, and the approximate date at which each was
 written. I give the general results reached by scholars, but
 omit the reasons from lack of space:

 1 Thessalonians   Written at Corinth . .  Between A.D. 52 and 54
 2 Thessalonians   Written at Corinth . .  Between A.D. 52 and 54
 Galatians         Written probably at Ephesus,
                      or in Macedonia              A.D. 56 or 57
 1 Corinthians     Written probably at Ephesus     A.D. 57
 2 Corinthians     Written in Macedonia            A.D. 57
 Romans            Written at Corinth              A.D. 58
 Colossians        Written at Rome                 A.D. 62
 Ephesians         Written at Rome                 A.D. 62
 Philemon          Written at Rome                 A.D. 62
 Philippians       Written at Rome                 A.D. 62
 Hebrews           Written in Italy, probably Rome A.D. 65
 1 Timothy         Written probably in Macedonia   A.D. 66-67
 Titus             Written probably in Macedonia   A.D. 66-67
 2 Timothy         Written in his prison at Rome   A.D. 66-68

    These were all written in the Greek language, the common
 language of the educated world in the first century, and indeed
 the language of church literature for three centuries. Its
 general diffusion all over the East enables Christians
 everywhere to read and understand writings in that tongue. Paul
 was no doubt acquainted with it from childhood, preached in it
 everywhere, and wrote it with the force and fluency of a native
 Greek.

 from B. W. Johnson. \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. Pp. 10.
09162
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