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09201
           INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLES TO THE ROMANS
                        by B. W. Johnson

    The depth of thought, logical reasoning, and profound
 comprehension of the divine government shown in this Epistle
 have always been recognized. Luther says, "It is the chief part
 of the NT." Meyer, that it is "the grandest, boldest, most
 complete composition of Paul. Godet terms it "the cathedral of
 the Christian faith." That it should be what Coleridge says,
 "the most profound work in existence," is not wonderful when we
 bear in mind that it was written by the greatest of the
 apostles, in the full vigour of his manhood, at the height of his
 activity, and addressed to the church of the great imperial city
 which was the centre of influence and power for the whole world.
 In this mighty capital, under the shadow of the palace of the
 Caesars, in some unknown way, a congregation of believers had
 been gathered. It is certain that long before any apostle had
 set foot in Italy, churches had been formed in Puteoli and in
 Rome.
 # Ac 28:14,15
 Possibly the "strangers of Rome," who listened to Peter on the
 day of Pentecost,
 # Ac 2:10
 had carried back the Gospel, and had formed the nucleus; but it
 is probable that the constant influx of strangers from all
 portions of the empire had carried many of the converts made
 around the Eastern Mediterranean to the great political centre
 of the world. The greetings of the last chapter of this Epistle
 show that Paul had many acquaintances among the number, and the
 names seem to imply that most of them were Greeks. Indeed, while
 there was a Jewish element in the church, it can hardly be
 doubted that the majority of the believers were of Gentile
 origin. Various passages in the Epistles, give indications of a
 Gentile preponderance.
 # Ro 1:5-7 11:13,25,28 14:1 15:15,16

    The OCCASION of writing was the desire of the apostle to
 labour in the great city, a desire which had thus far been
 hindered, and the opportunity was furnished by the departure of
 Phoebe from Corinth to Rome. Still firm in his purpose to see
 and preach in Rome, a letter to the church would tend to prepare
 the way. As they had never been visited by an apostle, and as at
 that time there was no NT in existence to which they could go
 for instruction, it is not strange that there should be an
 imperfect comprehension, on the part of many, of great
 principles of Christian doctrine, and there was doubtless need
 that the relations of Jews and Gentile, and of the Law and the
 Gospel, should be set forth with all possible clearness. The
 great theme of the Epistle is set forth in
 # Ro 1:16,17
 The great doctrine is that salvation is not through the Law by
 works of the Law, but through the Gospel accepted by Faith. The
 righteousness of God, the righteousness which brings
 justification in the sight of God, does not come from legal
 works, but comes from God who gives this righteousness to those
 who believe upon and accept his Son. This great doctrinal theme
 is discussed with many illustrations and in various phases
 through chapters 1-11, and in chapters 12-14 the apostle passes
 to exhortations and practical applications, while the sixteenth
 and last chapter is devoted to salutations of various saints in
 Rome known to the apostle. For a fuller analysis, I must refer
 the reader to the headings which accompany the Notes.

    As to the DATE and PLACE of composition, there is hardly room
 to doubt that it was written at Corinth, during the three
 months' stay in Achaia (Greece), which is mentioned in
 # Ac 20:3
 At the time of writing, he was about to proceed to Jerusalem
 with offerings for the poor saints, made by the churches of
 Macedonia and Achaia.
 # Ro 15:25
 At Corinth, the largest city of Achaia, he directed such
 collections to be made. Phoebe lived at Cenchrea, the eastern
 harbour of Corinth.
 # Ro 16:1
 Four of the seven persons named in
 # Ro 16:21-23
 as being with him, Timothy, Sosipater, Jason and Gaius, can be
 shown from other sources, either to have lived at Corinth, or to
 have been there at that time. From these facts, and other
 circumstances, it seems clear that it was written at Corinth in
 the spring of A.D. 58.

    We have only space to add that even the most radical
 rationalistic criticism has always admitted that this Epistle
 had for its AUTHOR the Apostle Paul. The testimony of the
 ancient church is unanimous; Renan has no doubt of its
 genuineness, and even Dr. Baur, of the Tubingen school of
 critics, admits that it is one of the Epistles which must be
 ascribed to the authorship of the great Apostle to the Gentiles.
 While not the first in order of time, for the two Epistles to
 the Thessalonians, that to the Galatians, and the two of the
 Corinthians, were written before it, it probably has the
 precedence in importance over all the Epistles of the NT.

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (pp. 11-12)
09202
               INTRODUCTION TO FIRST CORINTHIANS
                        by B. W. Johnson

    The Epistles of Paul, like the prophecies of Jeremiah or
 Amos, were often called out by the mistakes, errors, and sins of
 the churches which he had planted, and were intended to correct
 them. The newly planted churches were in the midst of heathens
 and were composed in great part of those who had early heathen
 training. It is not wonderful that converts from such
 populations, unused to Christian morality, knowing little of the
 OT, should sometimes go astray, or become the victims of false
 teachers. Yet the church of all ages has reason to be thankful
 for the circumstances which called out the collection of
 Inspired Letters on practical Christian life so essential to its
 instructions as we find in the Epistles of Paul. In order to
 gain the greatest profit from these it is necessary that the
 reader be informed concerning the conditions which called out
 each letter, what were the circumstances of each church, what
 were the wants the Apostle sought to supply and the sins he
 sought to correct.

    I will endeavour to explain in the case of the church at
 Corinth, what were these conditions. Though letters were written
 to other churches planted by Paul earlier than the one we are
 now considering, the First Epistle to the church of Corinth is
 the first of the letters of this class that we reach in the
 present arrangement of the NT. In the eighteenth chapter of Acts
 the account is found of the planting of this church. At that
 time, about A.D. 54, the Apostle sojourned in that great city
 for the space of a year and six months, preaching at first in
 the synagogue and afterwards in the house of Justus. A large
 congregation was gathered as the result of his labours, composed
 in part of Jews, but with a much larger number of Gentiles.
 After Paul departed to other fields of labour Apollos, an
 eloquent and learned Alexandrian Jew who has been instructed in
 the gospel by Priscilla and Aquila, the companions of Paul,
 visited Corinth and continued the work. Paul "planted, Apollos
 watered."
 # 1Co 3:6

    The congregation which had begun its career so auspiciously
 was in a great commercial centre, with a mixed and dissolute
 population, and could not but meet with many temptations. The
 city, situated on the Isthmus which connected southern Greece
 with the mainland of Europe, with the advantage of two harbours
 on either sea, and of a citadel as impregnable as Gibraltar on
 the lofty Acrocorinthus, had for centuries been influential in
 Grecian history but had in B.C. 146 been taken by the Romans and
 reduced to ruins. One hundred years later Julius Caesar had
 founded it a second time, planting a Roman military colony on
 the old site, and the commanding situation soon restored its
 ancient prosperity and splendour. It was about a century after
 its second founding that it was visited by Paul. It was then the
 great commercial city in Europe with the exception of Rome, and
 no cities of the East surpassed it save Antioch and Alexandria.
 It is estimated to have had a population of about four hundred
 thousand people, as cosmopolitan as is usually found in a great
 commercial centre; Romans, Greeks, Jews, Syrians, Egyptians,
 sailors, traders and slaves.

    It would be strange if there was a high standard of morals in
 the mixed population of a commercial metropolis, nor were morals
 held in high regard anywhere in the heathen world. One fact will
 illustrate the shameless condition of the city. At the date of
 this Epistle there was standing there a vast and renowned temple
 of Venus, called the temple of Aphrodite Pandemos, "the Venus of
 all the people," which had a thousand consecrated priestesses,
 every priestess dedicated to the service of Aphrodite, or in
 other words to harlotry. The temple of worship, consecrated to
 religion, was a gigantic brothel! Indeed, even in that dissolute
 age when immorality was the rule in all the heathen world,
 Corinth had so bad an eminence that the word "to Corinthianize"
 had become a synonym for an impure life. It is not wonderful
 that amid such influences some of the Gentiles who had become
 members of the Corinthian Church showed the influence of their
 old habits, nor that the apostle found it necessary to rebuke
 licentiousness again and again. See chapter 5 and other passages
 here and there.

    But what especially called out this Epistle were the tidings
 of divisions in the church which had been brought to him at
 Ephesus by members of the household of Chloe, one of the
 principal members. Paul had confined himself while at Corinth to
 the simple principles of the gospel and scrupulously abstained
 from the philosophical discussions so dear to the Greek mind.
 # 1Co 1:17-22 2:1-5
 Apollos, schooled in the philosophy of Alexandria, and not yet
 so thoroughly grounded in the gospel as Paul, evidently engaged
 in some philosophical speculations. It is also manifest that
 some of the Judaizing teachers who constantly followed in the
 footsteps of the great Apostle and sought to Judaize the
 churches, had come to Corinth, and by exalting Peter, in order
 to depreciate Paul, had formed another party. Hence there were
 various factions whose discords rent the body of Christ; one
 party claiming to be Pauline; another making Apollos its leader;
 still another claiming to be of Cephas, and still a fourth,
 whatever it may have been, claiming to be of Christ. The four
 chapters of the Epistle, the first in order, are a vigorous and
 indignant arraignment of these schisms.

    Other questions discussed were suggested to him by a letter
 brought to him at Ephesus by Corinthian brethren begging a
 solutions of various difficulties; on marriage, the veiling of
 women in assemblies, on sacrificial feasts, and perhaps on the
 nature of the resurrection from the dead. See
 # 1Co 7:1
 These questions and various irregularities which are rebuked
 will be duly considered in the Notes.

    This Epistle was written at Ephesus while Paul was engaged in
 his ministry of three years in that city.
 # Ac 19:1-41 20:31 1Co 16:8
 The time when it was written can be determined with no little
 certainty to have been the spring of A.D. 57. That this Epistle
 is genuine has been conceded by all respectable critics, both
 ancient and modern.

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (pp. 74-75)
09203
               INTRODUCTION TO SECOND CORINTHIANS
                        by B. W. Johnson

    The second Letter to the Church at Corinth is the supplement
 of the first. It is due to the same circumstances which called
 out the first, and to the effects that were produced in the
 church at Corinth by the receipt of the first letter. We can
 almost be thankful for the disorders which occasioned these two
 letters, not only on account of the rich fund of practical
 instruction which they contain, but on account of the picture
 which they present of a Gentile Church, composed of those who
 had so recently been heathen, in the first century of
 Christianity. They recall us to the immorality which had to be
 overcome, the obstacles in the way of a Christian life, and the
 mighty triumph which the gospel achieved over human nature
 itself in establishing the spiritual reign of Christ where the
 sensuality of heathen worship had before prevailed.

    The first letter was written at Ephesus in the spring of A.D.
 57; the second was written a few months later at some point in
 Macedonia where Paul had journeyed to visit the churches of that
 province before extending his tour to Corinth. We learn from the
 nineteenth and twentieth chapters of Acts that not long after
 the first letter was written, Demetrius and his fellow-craftsman
 aroused the terrible riot at Ephesus in which Paul so nearly
 lost his life,
 # 2Co 1:8-10
 and that immediately after, at the urgency of the brethren, he
 started on his long contemplated journey to visit the churches
 of Europe. He had expected to meet Titus at Troas with word from
 Corinth concerning the effect of his first letter and was
 greatly disappointed when he did not find him there.
 # 2Co 2:13
 Hence, although a fine opening for planting the gospel was
 presented, he pressed on to Macedonia. Here he met Titus, who
 was on his way to him, and was greatly rejoiced when he learned
 that his letter had been well received and his commands obeyed.
 # 2Co 7:5-7
 Still the circumstances required another letter before his
 coming and the second letter was written, not only to express
 his joy over the better state of things in the church, but in
 order to convey further counsels.

    This Epistle naturally divides itself into three parts. In
 the FIRST part, embracing chapters 1-7, the Apostle portrays his
 feelings over the condition of matters in Corinth, his anxiety,
 and his relief after the coming of Titus; in chapters 8, 9, the
 SECOND part, he takes up the great collection of the Gentile
 churches for the poor at Jerusalem on which he had so deeply set
 his heart; in the THIRD part, chapters 10-13, he repels the
 insinuations of Judaizing teachers who were seeking, not only in
 Corinth but everywhere, to destroy Paul's influence so as to
 bring the churches under the bondage of the Jewish law. In this
 section he presents those wonderful details concerning what his
 service of Christ had cost him in earthly sufferings. The whole
 letter is written in the expectation of soon being at Corinth,
 an expectation which we know from Acts, chapter 20, was
 realized.

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (p. 129)
09204
         INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS
                        by B. W. Johnson

    This Epistle differs from most of those written by Paul, in
 that it is not addressed specially to the church in some great
 city, but to the churches throughout a district of the Roman
 Empire. Galatia will be seen on any map of the empire in the
 apostolic period in the interior of the great peninsula called
 Asia Minor, which was the theatre of so large a part of the
 labours of Paul. The people were of the Gallic stock, had marched
 from the Rhine to Greece, and thence into Asia about B.C. 280,
 and had conquered a home in the interior of Asia Minor, which
 henceforth took a new name from the people (Galli, or Gauls) who
 made it their seat. They learned the Greek language, but
 retained in part their old tongue and the traits of their race.
 Caesar describes the Gauls as restless and changeable,
 characteristics still of the French, and this epistle shows that
 the Galatians were not unlike their European kinsmen.

    It was on Paul's second great missionary tour, about A.D. 51,
 that he in company with Silas and Timothy passed through from
 Lycaonia in Phrygia and Galatia, and planted the seeds of the
 Christian faith.
 # Ac 16:6
 On his third missionary journey, about A.D. 54 or 55, he "went
 over [all] the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order,
 strengthening all the disciples."
 # Ac 18:23
 The gospel was received with great readiness; and the apostle
 himself welcomed as "an angel of God."
 # Ga 4:14
 A part of the converts were no doubt Jews of whom, according to
 Josephus, there were many in Galatia, but the greater part were
 Gentiles.

    The Epistles of Paul were mostly called out by evils in the
 churches which he had planted which called for correction. That
 to the Galatians is not an exception. At a period not long after
 his second visit, tidings came to him that excited his alarm and
 indignation. That restless wing of the church which clung to
 Judaism as well as Christianity, which had troubled the church
 at Antioch, which had made necessary the council at Jerusalem,
 # Ac 15:1,5-30
 whose evil work at Corinth we note in both Epistles, but
 especially in the second, whose continual warfare made one of
 Paul's sorest afflictions "perils among false brethren"
 # 2Co 11:26
 had sent its emissaries into Galatia and had taught that it was
 needful that the Gentile Christians be circumcised and submit to
 the law of Moses in order to be saved. In order to carry their
 end they also insisted that Paul was not a true apostle, or was
 at least inferior to the original Twelve who had seen Christ and
 been instructed by him in person. It is true that in the Council
 at Jerusalem they had been defeated, but they kept up their
 work, and it required a life long struggle on the part of Paul
 to emancipate the church from Judaism. These men seemed to
 follow him everywhere, and a considerable part of his epistles
 is devoted to correcting the errors due to their influence.

    The Galatian letter is an indignant protest against and
 refutation of the Judaizing teachers. In the first two chapters
 he shows that his apostleship was not derived from the other
 apostles, but from Christ; that the gospel that he taught was
 not revealed to him by them, but by his Lord; that he had never
 met them as an inferior, but on an equal footing; that it was
 agreed between them that Peter, James and John would devote
 their labours to the Circumcision, while he and Barnabas should
 go to the Uncircumcision, and that on one occasion it was
 needful for him to rebuke and correct Peter on the very question
 of the proper attitude towards Gentile Christians.

    In the Second Part of the Letter, chapters 3 and 4, he
 contrasts the free gospel salvation by a living faith in Christ
 with the slavish legalism of the false teachers who would
 virtually place Moses in the stead of Christ. The Third Part,
 the 5th and 6th chapters, is devoted mainly to practical duties
 which grow out of the gospel.

    The PLACE where written and the DATE of the Epistle can be
 determined only approximately. It must have been written after
 Paul's two visits to Galatia, the last of which was in A.D. 54
 or 55. See note on
 # Ga 4:13
 It must have been written not very long after the second visit.
 See note on
 # Ga 1:6
 There are many points of resemblance between Epistle and that to
 the Romans which indicate that they were written nearly at the
 same time; since this epistle is the less elaborate, it was
 probably written first. There are also points of resemblance to
 Second Corinthians which indicate that they belong to the same
 period. All these facts point to the last year of the Third
 Missionary Journey, or about A.D. 57. As we learn from Acts that
 this period was spent in Ephesus, Macedonia and Corinth, it must
 have been written at one of these places.

    It only remains to say concerning its GENUINENESS, "that the
 internal evidences of the authorship of Paul is so strong that
 no sane divine has ever denied or even doubted it" (Schaff).
 There is no other writer of the early church who could have
 written it. It bears the Pauline stamp in every line.

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (pp. 163-164)
09205
         INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS
                        by B. W. Johnson

    Critical students of the NT are not in agreement concerning
 the Epistle upon the study of which we now enter. Their
 difference is not concerning its right to a place in the sacred
 Scriptures, nor concerning its authorship, but whether it was
 addressed by Paul to the church at Ephesus, or to some other
 church.

    The reasons which have suggested a doubt are briefly as
 follows: One of the three most ancient and trusted manuscripts,
 the Vatican, omits "at Ephesus" in the first verse; the heretic
 Marcion, in the third century, ascribes it to the Laodiceans;
 Basil, in the fourth century, speaks of the absence of the words
 "at Ephesus" in the manuscript; Paul speaks as if his knowledge
 of the Ephesians had been gained by report rather than by
 personal acquaintance in
 # Eph 1:15
 and Paul speaks of an Epistle to the Laodiceans, which has been
 lost unless this be the Epistle of which he speaks in
 # Col 4:16
 These facts had such weight with the authors of Conybeare and
 Howson's "Life of Paul" that they affirm the "one thing certain
 to be that the Epistle was not directed to the Ephesians."

    On the other hand, in the Vatican, as well as in all other
 most valued manuscripts, the heading is "The Epistle of Paul to
 the Ephesians"; in the Vatican the words "at Ephesus," wanting
 in verse 1 in the body of the manuscript, are supplied in the
 margin; no manuscript is in existence which supplies these words
 by any other name; in the second century, at a time when there
 could have been no doubt about the facts, it is spoken of by the
 Fathers as "The Epistle to the Ephesians," as though the matter
 was not under discussion; the remark of Paul in
 # Eph 1:15
 about hearing of their faith, has an exact parallel in Philemon,
 and yet Philemon was his own convert,
 # Phm 1:5,19
 and is entirely natural when we remember that several years had
 passed since he had last seen them; the absence of "at Ephesus"
 in a few manuscripts of the fourth century, and in the Vatican,
 as well as all other difficulties, can be explained without the
 necessity of denying that the Epistle was addressed to the
 Ephesians. Hence the great majority of critics have agreed in
 following the authority of existing manuscripts and of the
 ancient church in the statement that the Epistle was addressed
 to the great congregation founded by its writer in the capital
 of proconsular Asia, which had enjoyed his apostolic labours for
 a longer period than any other of which a record has come down
 to us.

    The city of Ephesus, a Grecian city on the Asiatic coast
 almost exactly east of Athens, was a great commercial metropolis
 in the first century, and the capital of the Roman province
 which was called by the name of Asia. Its greatest distinction
 hitherto had been, not its commercial pre-eminence, but the
 splendid temple of Diana, which was counted one of the Seven
 Wonders of the world. The city lay upon the edge of a plain,
 which extended to the sea, and in its artificial harbour were
 seen the ships from all the ports of the eastern Mediterranean.
 In our times, half-buried ruins are the only relics of its
 former greatness. The only inhabitants I saw upon the site in
 1889 were the occupants of two black tents, who were pasturing
 their flocks upon the alluvial plain. We can still, however, see
 the proofs of its former magnificence in the outlines of the
 great theatre, and in the ruins of the temple of Diana.
 # Ac 19:29,27
 The modern Turkish village of Agasalouk, a wretched hamlet, is
 nearly two miles distant from the site of the Ephesus of the
 times of Paul.

    The Ephesian church was virtually founded by Paul. About the
 close of his second missionary journey he paused at Ephesus on
 his way to Jerusalem and preached in the Jewish synagogue.
 # Ac 18:19-21
 Leaving Priscilla and Aquila to follow up the impression which
 he had made, he went on, but returned on his third missionary
 journey,
 # Ac 19:1
 at which time he spent about three years,
 # Ac 20:31
 preaching the gospel with a success which threatened to effect
 an entire revolution in the city and province,
 # Ac 19:17-20
 and finally stirred up the avaricious fears of certain trades
 which profited by the old superstitions to such an extent that a
 commotion was aroused which caused him to leave the city. Since
 that date he had not seen Ephesus, though he had met the elders
 of the church at Miletus when on his way to Jerusalem.
 # Ac 20:17

    It is not possible to determine the date of this Epistle with
 exactness. It was written at a time when Paul was a prisoner,
 # Eph 6:20
 and hence must have been written either at Caesarea or at Rome.
 Meyer inclines to the first place, but the general consensus of
 opinion is that it belongs to the group of the Epistles which
 were sent forth from his Roman prison. Tychicus was the
 messenger to whom, on the same journey, were entrusted both this
 and the Epistle to Colosse.
 # Eph 6:21 Col 4:7

    It was probably written to meet certain difficulties which
 were arising in the church. It was asked why the imperfections
 of Judaism and the errors of the Gentile religions existed so
 many ages before the Gospel was revealed? Was the Gospel and
 afterthought of God? Probably the leading thought is that, "The
 church of Jesus Christ, in which Jew and Gentile are made one,
 is a creation of the Father, through the Son, in the Holy
 Spirit, decreed from eternity, and destined for eternity." In
 chapters 1-3, he shows the church was foreordained of God, that
 it had been redeemed, and that Jew and Gentile have been made
 one in Christ. In chapters 4-6, the Apostle enters upon a
 practical application, enforcing unity, love, newness of life,
 walking in the strength of the Lord, and the armour of God.

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (pp. 185-186)
09206
        INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS
                        by B. W. Johnson

    The Letter to the Saints at Philippi differs in some respects
 from any of the preceding letters of the Apostle Paul. It
 contains less logic and more of the heart. It is distinguished
 by the absence of didactical reasoning, and by the presence of a
 tender friendship and fatherly affection which is more apparent
 than in other Pauline letters to the churches. The letter to the
 Romans in the profoundest logic; those to the Corinthians were
 designed to rebuke certain prevalent sins and necessarily
 contain more or less censure; that to the Galatians rebukes a
 dangerous heresy which threatened the welfare of the Galatian
 churches; that to the Ephesians is a sublime unfolding of the
 mystery of God in reference to the Gentiles, but this letter is
 the outpouring of the love of the founder of the Philippian
 Church towards one of the most affectionate, faithful and self-
 forgetful of all congregations which he had planted. It has been
 remarked that there is no breath of censure for the Philippian
 saints, except in so far as it is implied in the tender
 exhortation to Euodias and Syntyche found in
 # Php 4:2
 The history of the origin of the church and the memory of the
 loving remembrance of the Philippians help to explain the
 affectionate tenderness of the letter.

    The account of the founding of the church at Philippi, which
 occurred in A.D. 50 or 51, is given in the sixteenth chapter of
 Acts. Led by a vision at Troas the apostle, on his second great
 missionary journey, crossed into Europe, landing at Neapolis,
 and proceeding from thence at once to Philippi, which was "the
 chief city of that part of Macedonia."
 # Ac 16:12
 This city had already some claims to a place in history. It
 received its name from Philip of Macedon, the father of
 Alexander the Great, who added to his dominions the little
 Thracian town which existed there before, rebuilt and fortified
 it, and gave it its new name in the year B.C. 358. In B.C. 42,
 about ninety-two years before Paul visited it, it was the field
 of the decisive battle between Brutus and Cassius, the leaders
 of the Republicans, and the Triumvirate of Imperialists, one of
 whom was subsequently Augustus Caesar. But the place has a
 higher interest to the Christian world from the fact that here
 was planted the first congregation of Christians that ever
 existed on the soil of Europe.

    It was not only the scene of gospel triumphs but of suffering
 for the cross of Christ. Here it was that Paul and Silas were
 beaten, cast into the stocks in the inner prison, by the grace
 of God converted and baptized their jailer and his household
 before the dawn, and were honourably released by the magistrates
 in the morning, as Roman citizens, unjustly beaten and
 imprisoned. When Paul continued his journey westward, the
 recently founded Philippian church followed him with support,
 contributing more than once to his necessities,
 # Php 4:15,16
 and when the tidings came that he was a prisoner in Rome their
 old affection showed itself still again by sending one of their
 members, Epaphroditus, with the offerings of the church as a
 provision for his wants.
 # Php 2:25 4:10-18
 It seems to have been the return of Epaphroditus from this
 ministration of their love, to which we are indebted for this
 letter.

    It was written from the city of Rome, during the first
 imprisonment of Paul, and probably towards its close, perhaps in
 the year A.D. 63. The mention of his bonds,
 # Php 1:12
 of the Praetorian camp (see 1:13 in the ASV, "throughout the
 whole praetorian guard"), of Caesar's household,
 # Php 4:22
 as well as other allusions all show that Paul was in the Roman
 capital at the time of writing.
 # Php 1:25 2:24
 I will not take space to discuss the reasons which seem to point
 to near the close of his first imprisonment as its date.

    Concerning the genuineness of this epistle, there has never
 been any reasonable doubt. It has always been accepted by the
 church, is Pauline in doctrine, and in diction, abounds probably
 to a greater extent than other epistles in personal details, and
 is in full agreement with all the historical facts which can be
 gathered from the history of the times, and from the allusions
 in Acts and the other epistles. It bears every mark of having
 been written by Paul from the scene of his imprisonment to the
 beloved church which he had planted and for which he had
 suffered. It is not only contained in the Canon of Scripture
 dated A.D. 170, but is mentioned definitely by Polycarp, born in
 A.D. 69, in his own Epistle to the Philippians, and is quoted
 from in an Epistle of Ignatius of about A.D. 107.

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (pp. 208-209)
09207
         INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
                        by B. W. Johnson

    At least three Epistles, and probably four, were prepared
 about the same time by the Apostle Paul at his place of
 imprisonment in Rome, and sent by the same messengers to the
 Roman Province of Asia. One was the Epistle to the Ephesians; a
 second, the present letter; a third, the Epistle to Philemon,
 who was a resident of Colosse; and the fourth is alluded to in
 this Epistle as the Epistle to the Laodiceans, but has been
 thought by some to be identical with the Ephesian letter.
 # Col 4:16
 Three cities are named in this Epistle which lay contiguous to
 each other in the bounds of the ancient Kingdom of Phrygia, but
 in the last half of the first century were embraced within the
 proconsular Province of Asia, of which Ephesus was the capital,
 which had Christian congregations, and two of these were honoured
 with Epistles.
 # Col 4:13
 The ruins of these cities have been identified, and the close
 association of Colosse and Laodicea is witnessed by the fact
 that they were only a few miles apart on opposite sides of the
 valley of the Lycus, a short distance above where it enters into
 the larger river Meander.

    Colosse was a city of considerable size more than four
 hundred years before the date of this letter, when visited by
 Xenophon as the Ten Thousand marched up into Central Asia, and
 is mentioned by Herodotus still earlier. At this time, however,
 it was overshadowed in importance by Laodicea, and at the
 present the ruins are less imposing than those of either
 Laodicea or Hierapolis.

    We learn in the sixteenth chapter of Acts that Paul, on his
 second missionary journey, passed from Cilicia through the pass
 in the great Taurus chain of mountains, which has always been
 the highway from the coast to the interior; paused a little
 while in Lydia; took Timothy in his train of attendants, and
 then passed through Phrygia and Galatia. And, a second time,
 after his European tour, he returned and "went over [all] the
 country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the
 disciples"
 # Ac 18:23
 Yet it is probable that he did not personally plant the gospel
 in Colosse, and possibly did not even pass through the valley of
 the Lycus. The words in
 # Col 2:1
 are understood to mean that he had never met with the church in
 person, and indeed there is a marked difference between the tone
 of this letter and the familiar personal appeals of letters
 addressed to churches that he had certainly planted, like those
 of Philippi and Galatia.

    Besides, Epaphras seems to be named as the founder, or at
 least the evangelist, of the church.
 # Col 1:7
 Yet, since Epaphras must have been one of his own converts, and
 was working under his general supervision, Paul held himself
 responsible for its condition, and looked after its welfare, as
 after all the churches planted within the sphere of his labours.

    It is easy to discover from certain portions of the letter
 why it was written. Phrygia was a sort of border land between
 religions. The light, joyous polytheism of the Greeks here met
 the deep, solemn mysticism of the East. In addition, large
 colonies of Jews had been transplanted from Babylon to this
 region by one of the Macedonian monarchs of Syria, and brought
 with them a Judaism which had been greatly modified by the
 doctrines of Zoroaster. The Epistle gives us ample ground for
 concluding that there was danger of these mongrel philosophies
 corrupting the simplicity of the gospel of Christ, and that
 Paul's object was to fortify the church against doctrine which
 would result in evil. In the notes of the passages which refer
 to these doctrines, this will be discussed more at length.

    While there is a marked difference between this Epistle and
 that to the Ephesians, there is in some portions a striking
 similarity. Indeed there is not only a parallelism in the
 thoughts, but often in the language. The most natural way to
 account for this is to bear in mind that the two letters were
 written at the same time; were written to the same part of the
 world to congregations surrounded by conditions which were in
 many respects similar, and whose spiritual needs would be much
 alike. Under such circumstances it would be strange if two
 letters from the same writer did not bear a strong resemblance.
 It would be interesting to call attention to these parallel or
 similar passages, but the limited space the plan of this work
 allows will not permit. One who is curious to follow this
 comparison will find it given in full in Paley's "Horae
 Paulinae."

    Concerning the genuineness of this Epistle, it has always had
 a place in the NT Canon, and has never been questioned except by
 Baur, and some other critics of the Tubingen school who have
 thought that it gave too high an exaltation to Christ. This
 might be answered by replying that it exalts Christ no more than
 Philippians and other Epistles which are conceded to be of
 Pauline origin. Their theories have been overthrown not only by
 historical arguments, but by the internal evidence of the
 Epistle itself. Indeed, as Meyer remarks, "the forging of such
 an Epistle as this would be far more wonderful than its
 genuineness."

    It was written at Rome, during Paul's imprisonment, probably
 in A.D. 62, the same date as Ephesians and Philemon, and was
 sent to the church by the hands of Tychicus and Onesimus.
 # Col 4:7,9

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (pp. 223-224)
09208
     INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
                        by B. W. Johnson

    This epistle bears the distinction of being the first in the
 order of time of the letters written by the Apostle Paul which
 have been preserved. Indeed, it is the earliest of any of the
 epistolary books of the NT, the beginning of that body of
 writing to which the churches are so much indebted. It was
 written at least five or six years before the great doctrinal
 and ecclesiastical treatises known as the Roman, Galatian, and
 the Corinthian Letters, and with the Second Letter to the
 Thessalonians which followed it by only a few months, it shares
 the distinction of being the only epistles that came into
 existence before the beginning of Paul's third great missionary
 journey. These epistles, so long antedating the others, differ
 also from them in character. Written only a short time after the
 church at Thessalonica was founded, and called forth by the
 trials and needs of a young congregation which he felt it in his
 heart to visit again, but was prevented, they illustrate the
 apostolic instruction given to a newly organized church,
 composed of Gentiles, suffering under the persecution of both
 Jewish and heathen adversaries. They are fresh in allusion to
 the experiences of Paul while among them, and reveal his deep
 solicitude when forced away.

    When the apostle, on his third missionary journey, passed
 into Europe, he first planted a church at Philippi, but after a
 little season was driven from there by heathen persecution.
 Then, attended by Silas and Timothy, he went westward along the
 great Egnatian Way, the Roman road which led through Greece to
 Macedonia. He did not pause until he reached Thessalonica,
 nearly a hundred miles westward, the chief city of Macedonia,
 situated around a noble harbour at the head of the Aegean Sea.
 Its situation on the great Roman thoroughfare, its position on
 the extremity of the sea, and the rich country in its rear, had
 contributed to make it a great commercial city, with a mixed
 population of Greeks, Romans and Jews, the first being the most
 numerous. Here, where there was a synagogue, the apostle paused,
 found employment to meet his frugal wants, and began to preach
 among his own countrymen. See
 # Ac 17:4

    But soon after the unbelieving Jews stirred up an uproar
 which made it necessary for Paul and Silas to leave, and the
 brethren sent them away by night. Going from thence to Berea to
 the southwest, they first laboured there, and later the apostolic
 labours were extended to Athens and to Corinth. Shortly after
 Paul's departure from Thessalonica, the persecutions which had
 driven him away turned upon the church,
 # 1Th 2:14 3:3
 a circumstance that made him yearn to return.
 # 1Th 3:5
 Twice he resolved to do so but was prevented.
 # 1Th 2:18
 Finally he sent back Timothy from Athens,
 # 1Th 3:1-2
 and when Timothy returned to him at Corinth, to which he had
 proceeded, the message which he brought was the occasion of this
 epistle, an epistle full of comfort, instruction and
 encouragement, but withal, containing also the instruction in
 righteousness so much needed by a congregation of those so
 recently heathen and addicted to heathen vices.

    It is interesting to know that this church, honoured with the
 first of the apostolic epistles, long continued to enjoy a
 glorious history. It was afterwards visited by the apostle more
 than once; and is often mentioned in the history of the church.
 Though for more than four hundred years under the sway of the
 Turk, the majority of its population has always continued to
 profess the religion of Christ. The city is still great and
 flourishing, in point of commerce the third in the Turkish
 empire, possessing a population estimated all the way from
 75,000 to 100,000. Of these about one-half are Greek Christians,
 and the remainder nearly equally divided between Mohammedans and
 Jews. The excellence of the harbour makes it a constant object of
 eastern diplomacy, and at this time one of the obstacles in the
 way of settling the "Eastern Question" is to determine what
 power shall be awarded Thessalonica.

    As to the date of the epistle, it can be nearly determined.
 About A.D. 52, the church here was planted. From thence the
 apostle went to Berea and Athens. From the latter, probably
 several months after leaving Thessalonica, he sent Timothy back.
 Several months more would intervene before Timothy could return
 at Corinth. It is therefore probable that the letter was written
 in A.D. 53, perhaps at least a year after the planting of the
 church. It was not written at Athens, as an unauthorized
 addition in the Common Version states.

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (pp. 238-239)
09209
     INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
                        by B. W. Johnson

    The circumstances connected with the planting of the Church
 at Thessalonica, the character of the surroundings, and the
 trials of the young Christian brotherhood have all been
 explained in the introduction to the preceding epistle, to which
 I refer the reader. Those circumstances called for a second
 letter, which must have followed the first after an interval of
 only a few months, the only instance save that of the
 Corinthian letters in which the apostle directed two successive
 epistles to the same congregation.

    That the Second Epistle is followed soon after the First is
 indicated by the fact that almost the same state of affairs is
 described in each: There was persecution and trial, there was an
 eager expectation of the speedy Advent of the Lord, excepting
 that in the Second Epistle the excitement had led to greater
 extremes, and in each certain ones are described who were
 neglecting their ordinary employments as unnecessary in view of
 the Lord's coming. Compare
 # 2Th 3:6-14 1Th 4:10-12 2:9
 In the second place both Silas and Timothy were present with
 Paul at the writing of each epistle. Compare the opening
 salutations.
 # 1Th 1:1 2Th 1:1

    The reasons for writing the letter are apparent. The
 conditions that called out the preceding letter still existed,
 and the information brought by the messenger who had carried the
 letter showed the need of further instruction. The principal
 object is to correct the erroneous belief that the day of the
 Lord's coming was very close at hand. This belief had received
 the more currency because some reported that Paul had so
 declared, and had even so state in a letter. Hence he now shows
 that certain great events must precede that day, and that these
 events are yet future. He again enforces the teaching of the
 Lord that the time is unknown, and charges that all follow their
 usual employments.

    This epistle, like the First, was evidently written during
 Paul's long stay at Corinth, and both may be assigned to the
 same year.

 from B. W. Johnson's \\The People's New Testament . . . with
 \\Explanatory Notes.\\ 1889. (pp. 250)
09210
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