The Expositor's Bible: The Pastoral Epistles Part 20

"Salute Prisca and Aquila." A forger with the Apostle's indisputable writings before him, would hardly have inserted this; for he would have concluded from Rom. xvi. 3, 4, that these two well-known helpers of St.

Paul were in Rome at this very time. Aquila was a Jew of Pontus who had migrated from Pontus to Rome, but had had to leave the capital again when Claudius expelled the Jews from the city (Acts xviii. 2). He and his wife Prisca or Priscilla then settled in Corinth, where St. Paul took up his abode with them, because they were Jews and tent-makers, like himself. And in their workshop the foundations of the Corinthian Church were laid. Thenceforward they became his helpers in preaching the Gospel, and went with him to Ephesus, where they helped forward the conversion of the eloquent Alexandrian Jew Apollos. After much service to the Church they returned once more to Rome, and were there when St.

Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans. Either the persecution under Nero, or possibly missionary enterprise, induced them once more to leave Rome and return to Asia. The Apostle naturally puts such faithful friends, "who for his life laid down their necks" (Rom. xvi. 3), in the very first place in sending his personal greetings; and they are equally naturally coupled with the household of Onesiphorus, who had done similar service in courageously visiting St. Paul in his imprisonment (ver. 16). The double mention of "the _household_ of Onesiphorus" (not of Onesiphorus himself) has been commented upon in a former exposition (see No. XXVIII.).

Of the statements, "Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus I left at Miletus sick," no more need be said than to point out how lifelike and natural they are in a real letter from one friend to another who knows the persons mentioned; how unlikely they are to have occurred to a writer who was inventing a letter in order to advocate his own doctrinal views. That Trophimus is the same person as the Ephesian, who with Tychicus accompanied St. Paul on his third missionary journey (Acts xx.

4; xxi. 29), may be safely a.s.sumed. Whether Erastus is identical with the treasurer of Corinth (Rom. xvi. 23), or with the Erastus who was sent by Paul with Timothy to Macedonia (Acts xix. 22), must remain uncertain.

"Eubulus saluteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia." With this group of names our acc.u.mulation of arguments for the genuineness of this portion of the letter, and therefore of the whole letter, and therefore of all three Pastoral Epistles, comes to an end. The argument is a c.u.mulative one, and this last item of the internal evidence is by no means the least important or least convincing. About Eubulus, Pudens, and Claudia we know nothing beyond what this pa.s.sage implies, viz., that they were members of the Christian Church in Rome; for the very bare possibility that Pudens and Claudia may be the persons of that name who are mentioned by Martial, is not worth more than a pa.s.sing reference.

But Linus is a person about whom something is known. It is unlikely that in the Apostolic age there were two Christians of this name in the Roman Church; and therefore we may safely conclude that the Linus who here sends greeting is identical with the Linus, who, according to very early testimony preserved by Irenaeus (_Haer._, III. iii. 3), was first among the earliest bishops of the Church of Rome. Irenaeus himself expressly identifies the first Bishop of Rome with the Linus mentioned in the Epistles to Timothy, and that in a pa.s.sage in which (thanks to Eusebius) we have the original Greek of Irenaeus as well as the Latin translation.

From his time (c. A.D. 180) to the present day, Linus, Anencletus or Anacletus or Cletus (all three forms of the name are used), and Clement have been commemorated as the three first Bishops of Rome. They must all of them have been contemporaries of the Apostle. Of these three far the most famous was Clement; and a writer at the end of the first century, or beginning of the second, inventing a letter for St. Paul, would be much more likely to put Clement into it than Linus. Again, such a writer would know that Linus, after the Apostle's death, became the presiding presbyter of the Church of Rome, and would place him before Eubulus and Pudens. But here Linus is placed after the other two. The obvious inference is, that, at the time when this letter was written, Linus was not yet in any position of authority. Like the other persons here named, he was a leading member of the Church in Rome, otherwise he would hardly have been mentioned at all; but he has not yet been promoted to the chief place, otherwise he would at least have been mentioned first, and probably with some epithet or t.i.tle. Once more one asks, what writer of fiction would have thought of these niceties? And what writer who thought of them, and elaborated them thus skilfully, would have abstained from all attempt to prevent their being overlooked and unappreciated?

The result of this investigation is greatly to increase our confidence in the genuineness of this letter and of all three Pastoral Epistles. We began by treating them as veritable writings of the great Apostle, and a closer acquaintance with them has justified this treatment. Doubts may be raised about everything; but reasonable doubts have their limits. To dispute the authenticity of the Epistles to the Corinthians, Romans, and Galatians is now considered to be a sure proof that the doubter cannot estimate evidence; and we may look forward to the time when the Second Epistle to Timothy will be ranked with those four great Epistles as indisputable. Meanwhile let no student of this letter doubt that in it he is reading the touching words in which the Apostle of the Gentiles gave his last charge to his beloved disciple, and through him to the Christian Church.

FOOTNOTES:

[97] Salmon's _Historical Introduction to the New Testament_, p. 426, 3rd ed., to which the writer of this exposition is under great obligations. The book should be in the hands of every student of the N.

T.

[98] The striking parallel to this request afforded by that of William Tyndale is pointed out in Farrar's _St. Paul_, ii. p. 571. Tyndale writes from his prison in the Castle of Vilvorden to ask, "idque per Dominum Jesum," for warmer clothing, and above all for his Hebrew Bible, grammar, and dictionary.

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

_THE APOSTLE FORSAKEN BY MEN BUT STRENGTHENED BY THE LORD.--THE MISSION TO THE GENTILES COMPLETED.--THE SURE HOPE, AND THE FINAL HYMN OF PRAISE._

"At my first defence no man took my part, but all forsook me: may it not be laid to their account. But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me; that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. The Lord will deliver me from evil work, and will save me unto His heavenly kingdom: to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen."--2 TIM. iv. 16-18.

There is a general agreement at the present time that Eusebius is in error, when, in a well-known pa.s.sage in his Ecclesiastical History (II.

xxii. 2-7), he refers this "first defence" and the "deliverance out of the lion's mouth" to the first Roman imprisonment and the release which put an end to it, probably A.D. 63. The deliverance does not mean release from prison following upon acquittal, but temporary rescue from imminent danger. Eusebius makes a second mistake in this chapter which is the result of the first error; but an avoidance of the second would have preserved him from the first. He says that the Apostle shows in the Second Epistle to Timothy that only Luke was with him when he wrote, but at his former defence not even he. Now during the first Roman imprisonment St. Paul was not alone, and one of the persons who was with him was Timothy himself, as we see from the opening of the letter to the Philippians. It is, therefore, highly improbable that the Apostle would think it worth while to tell Timothy what took place at the trial which ended the first imprisonment, seeing that Timothy was then in Rome. And even if Timothy had left Rome before the trial came on, which is not very likely, he would long since have heard what took place, both from others and from the Apostle himself. It is obvious that in the present pa.s.sage St. Paul is giving his disciple information respecting something which has recently taken place, of which Timothy is not likely to have heard.

The value of the witness of Eusebius is not, however, seriously diminished by this twofold mistake. It is clear that he was fully convinced that there were two Roman imprisonments; one early in Nero's reign, when the Emperor was more disposed to be merciful, and one later; and that he was convinced of this on independent grounds, and not because he considered that the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles would be untenable without the hypothesis of a second imprisonment.

Another confirmation of the view of Eusebius is found in the statement respecting Trophimus, that Paul had left him sick at Miletus. It is impossible to place the Apostle at Miletus with Trophimus prior to the first imprisonment. Consequently some who deny the second imprisonment, and yet maintain the genuineness of this letter, resort to the desperate method of making the verb to be third person plural instead of first person singular (ap??e?p?? or ap???p??), and translating "Trophimus _they_ left at Miletus sick."

"At my first defence no man took my part, but all forsook me." He had no _patronus_, no _advocatus_, no _clientela_. Among all the Christians in Rome there was not one who would stand at his side in court either to speak on his behalf, or to advise him in the conduct of his case, or to support him by a demonstration of sympathy. The expression for "no one took my part" (??de?? ?? pa?e???et?) literally means "no one came to my side," or "became present on my behalf." The verb is specially frequent in the writings of St. Luke. And the word which is rendered "forsook"

(e??at???p??) is still more graphic. It signifies "leaving a person _in_ a position," and especially in a _bad_ position; leaving him in straits.

It is almost the exact counterpart of our colloquial phrase "to leave in the lurch." St. Paul uses it elsewhere of those who with him are "pursued, but not _forsaken_" (2 Cor. iv. 9). And both St. Mark and St.

Luke, following the LXX., use it in translating Christ's cry upon the cross: "Why hast thou _forsaken_ Me?" Hence it signifies not merely desertion (?ata?e?pe??), but desertion at a time when help and support are needed.

What is the meaning of the "all"? "_All_ forsook me." Does it include Luke, whom he has just mentioned as being the only person with him? And, if so, is it meant as an indirect reproach? Some would have it that we have here an indication of the spurious character of the letter. The forger is unable consistently to maintain the part which he has a.s.sumed.

In writing "all forsook me" he has already forgotten what he has just written about Luke: and he forgets both statements when a few lines further on he represents Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and others as sending greetings.

But, like so many of these objections, this criticism turns out, when reasonably examined, to be an argument for the genuineness of the letter. These apparent inconsistencies are just the things which a forger could and would have avoided. Even a very blundering forger would have avoided three glaring contradictions in about thirty lines: and they _are_ glaring contradictions, if they are interpreted as they must be interpreted for the purposes of this criticism. "Only Luke is with me." "Every one has forsaken me." "All the brethren salute thee." Any one of these statements, if forced to apply to the same set of circ.u.mstances, contradicts the other two. But then this meaning is forced upon them, and is not their natural meaning: and these are just the apparent inconsistencies which the writer of a real letter takes no pains to avoid, because there is not the smallest danger of his being misunderstood.

"All forsook me" is exactly a parallel to "all that are in Asia turned away from me" (see pp. 321, 322.) The "all" in both cases means "all who might have been expected to help." It refers to those who could have been of service, who in many cases had been asked to render service, by being witnesses in Paul's favour and the like, and who abstained from doing anything for him. The Apostle's "first defence" probably took place some weeks, or even months, before the writing of this letter.

From our knowledge of the delays which often took place in Roman legal proceedings, there would be nothing surprising if a whole year had elapsed since the first opening of the case. It is quite possible, therefore, that at the time when it began St. Luke was not yet in Rome, and consequently had no opportunity of aiding his friend. And it is also possible that he was not in a position to render any a.s.sistance, however anxious he may have been to do so. There is no reason whatever for supposing that the Apostle includes him among those for whom he prays that G.o.d will forgive them their desertion of him, even as he himself forgives it.

Nor is there any contradiction between "Only Luke is with me," and the salutations sent by Eubulus and others. There were various members of the Church in Rome who occasionally visited St. Paul in his imprisonment, or at least kept up a certain amount of communication with him. But Luke was the only _outsider_ who was with him, the only one who had come to him from a distance and been both able and willing to _remain_ with him. Others both in Rome and from other Churches had paid visits to the prisoner; but they had been unable or unwilling to stay with him. Luke was the only person who had done that. Therefore the fact that various Roman Christians were ready to send greetings to Timothy is in no way inconsistent with the special commendation bestowed upon St.

Luke for being his friend's sole companion in prison.

For the cowardly or unkind abstention of the rest the Apostle has no stronger word of condemnation than "may it not be laid to their account." No one knew better than himself how weak-hearted many of these disciples were, and how great were the dangers of his own position and of all those who ventured to a.s.sociate themselves with him. It was otherwise in his first imprisonment. Then Nero was not quite the monster that he had since become. At that time the burning of Rome had not yet taken place, nor had the cruel outcry against the Christians, of which the conflagration was made the occasion, as yet been raised. It was quite otherwise now. To be known as a Christian might be dangerous; and to avow oneself as the a.s.sociate of so notorious a leader as Paul could not fail to be so. Therefore, "May it not be laid to their account" (?

a?t??? ????s?e??). This is the very spirit which the Apostle himself years before had declared to be a characteristic of Christian charity; "it taketh not account of evil" (?? ?????eta? t? ?a???): and of G.o.d Himself, Who in dealing with mankind, "lays not to their account their trespa.s.ses" (? ??????e??? a?t??? t? pa?apt?ata a?t??).[99]

"But," in contrast to these timid friends, "_the Lord_ stood by me and strengthened me." Christ did not desert His faithful servant in the hour of need, but gave him courage and strength to speak out bravely before the court all that it was right that he should say. The contrast which the Apostle here makes between the many who forsook him and the One who stood by him reminds us of a similar contrast made by the Lord Himself.

"Behold, the hour cometh, yea is come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me" (John xvi. 32). In this respect also the saying remains true "A servant is not greater than his lord" (John xv.

20); and Apostles must expect no better treatment than their Master received. If they are deserted by their disciples and friends in the hour of danger, so also was He. But in each case those who are deserted are not alone, because, although human help fails, Divine support is always present.

"The Lord" in this pa.s.sage, both here and a few lines further on, means Christ rather than the Father. This is in accordance with St. Paul's usage. "Lord" here has the article (? ??????): and when that is the case it commonly means Jesus Christ (comp. ii. 7, 14, 22; iii. 11; iv.

14, 22; 1 Tim. i. 2, 12, 14; vi. 3, 14; 1 Cor. iv. 5; vi. 13; vii. 10, 12, 34; etc., etc. In t.i.tus the word does not occur). Where "Lord" has no article in the Greek (??????) St. Paul usually means G.o.d and not Christ. Some would a.s.sert that, excepting where he quotes from the Old Testament (_e.g._, 1 Cor. x. 26), this usage is invariable; but that is probably too sweeping an a.s.sertion. Nevertheless, there is no reason for doubting that in this pa.s.sage "the Lord" means Jesus Christ. We may compare our own usage, according to which "our Lord" almost invariably means Christ, whereas "the Lord" more commonly means G.o.d the Father.

The word for "strengthen" (??d??a???) means literally "to infuse power into" a person. It is one of which the Apostle is rather fond; and outside his writings it occurs in the New Testament only in the Acts and in Hebrews, once in each (Rom. iv. 20; Eph. vi. 10; Phil. iv. 13; 1 Tim.

i. 12; 2 Tim. ii. 1). It is worth while to compare the pa.s.sage in which he speaks to Timothy of Christ having given him power to turn to Him and become His servant; and still more the pa.s.sage in which, during his first Roman imprisonment, he tells the Philippians "I can do all things in Him that strengthened me." The same thing was true in the second imprisonment.

The special purpose for which Christ stood by His Apostle and put strength and power into him is stated. "That through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear." Those who follow Eusebius in the mistake of supposing that the "first defence"

refers to the trial which ended in St. Paul's release after the first imprisonment, understand this proclamation of the message to the Gentiles as referring to the missionary work which St. Paul was enabled to do during the few years of interval (c. A.D. 63-66) before he was again arrested. But if the proclamation of the message took place in consequence of the Apostle's release, then it would have been placed after, and not before, the mention of deliverance out of the mouth of the lion. It is not said that he was _delivered_ in order that through him the message might be proclaimed, but that he was _strengthened_ in order that it might be proclaimed. And the special strengthening by Christ took place in reference to the first hearing of the case in court, when all human friends forsook him, while Christ stood by him. It was in court, therefore, that the proclamation of the message was made, and that through the instrumentality of the Apostle the preaching of the Gospel reached its culmination (t? ?????a p????f?????). This was the climax;--that in the metropolis of the world, in open court, before the imperial tribunal, the Gospel proclamation should be made with all solemnity and power. It is quite possible that this event, which the Apostle of the Gentiles regards as the completing act of his own mission and ministry, took place in the forum itself. Here Tiberius had caused a tribunal to be erected for causes which he had to hear as Emperor. But Claudius sometimes heard such cases elsewhere; and his successors probably followed his example. So that in the reign of Nero we cannot be certain that such a case as St. Paul's would be heard in the forum. But at any rate it would be held in a court to which the public had access; and the Roman public at this time was the most representative in the world. The Apostle is fully justified, therefore, in the language which he uses. This opportunity and power were granted "in order that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and _that all the Gentiles might hear_." In that representative city and before that representative audience he preached Christ; and through those who were present and heard him the fact would be made known throughout the civilized world that in the imperial city and before the imperial bench the Apostle of Christ had proclaimed the coming of His Kingdom.

And the result of it was that he was "delivered out of the mouth of the lion." This was a second consequence of the Lord's standing by him and strengthening him. He was enabled to speak with such effect, that the sentence of condemnation, which had been feared, was for the present averted. He was neither acquitted nor convicted; but the court, being unable to arrive at a satisfactory decision, granted an extension of time (_ampliatio_); that is an adjournment. In technical phraseology the _actio prima_ ended in a verdict of _non liquet_, and an _actio secunda_ became necessary; and as this second trial might have a similar result, the amount of delay that was possible was almost boundless.

To ask who is meant by the lion is a futile question. Whom did the Psalmist mean by the lion, when he prayed "Save me from the lion's mouth"? (Ps. xxii. 21.) He meant no one by the lion; but by the lion's mouth he meant some great and imminent danger. And that is what we must understand here. All kinds of gratuitous conjectures have been made by those who have insisted on identifying the lion;--the lion of the amphitheatre, to whom the Apostle might have been thrown, had he been condemned; the Emperor Nero, or, as he was possibly in Greece at this time, his prefect and representative Helius; or, the chief accuser; or again, Satan, whom St. Peter describes as "a roaring lion." All these are answers to a question which does not arise out of the text. The question is not, "Who is the lion?" but, "What is the meaning of the lion's mouth?" And the answer to that is, "a terrible danger," and especially "peril of death."

The goodness of the Lord does not end with this welcome, but temporary deliverance. "The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me unto His heavenly kingdom." Paul's enemies are not likely to be idle during the extension of time granted by the court. They will do their utmost to secure a sentence of condemnation at the second hearing of the case, and thus get the man whom they detest removed from the earth. Whether they will succeed in this or not, the Apostle does not know. But one thing he knows;--that whatever is really evil in their works against him will be powerless to harm him. The Lord will turn their evil into good. They may succeed in compa.s.sing his death. But, even if they do so, the Lord will make their work of death a work of salvation; and by the severing of the thread which still binds Paul to this life "will save him unto," that is, will translate him safe into, "His heavenly kingdom."

It is utterly improbable that by "every evil work," St. Paul means any weakness or sin into which he himself might be betrayed through want of courage and steadfastness. Even if the lion's mouth could mean Satan, this would not be probable; for it would be Satan's attacks from without, by means of opposition and persecution, and not his attempts from within by means of grievous temptations, that would be meant. What is said above about Alexander the coppersmith shows what kind of "evil"

and what kind of "works" is intended in "every evil work." The expression evidently refers to the machinations of Paul's enemies.

It is also highly improbable that "will save me unto His heavenly kingdom" means "will keep me alive until He returns in glory." There was a time when the Apostle expected, like most other Christians of that day, to live to behold the second coming of Christ. But what we have already seen in this Epistle shows that in St. Paul's mind that expectation is extinct. He no longer thinks that he will be one of those "that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord" (1 Thess.

iv. 15, 17); that he will be among the living, who "shall be changed,"

rather than among the dead, who "shall be raised" at the sounding of the last trump (1 Cor. xv. 53). He does not repeat, what seems almost to have been a familiar watchword among the Christians of that day,--"Maran atha"; "the Lord is at hand" (1 Cor. xvi. 22; Phil. iv. 5). On the contrary, it is his own hour that is at hand: "I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is come." He is fully persuaded now that he will not live to see Christ's return in glory; and he does not expect that return to come speedily; for, as we have seen, one of his chief anxieties is that there should be a permanently organized ministry in the Churches, and that provision should be made for handing on the faith intact from generation to generation (t.i.t. i, 5; 2 Tim. ii.

2). There can be little doubt, therefore, that when the Apostle expresses a conviction that the Lord will save him unto His heavenly kingdom, he is not expecting to reach that kingdom without first pa.s.sing through the gate of death. What he is sure of is this,--that the evil works of his adversaries will never be allowed to prevent him from reaching that blessed resting place. Christ's kingdom is twofold; He has a kingdom on earth and a kingdom in heaven. The saints who are in the kingdom on earth are still exposed to many kinds of evil works; and the Apostle is persuaded that in his case such works will be overruled by the Lord to further his progress from the earthly to the heavenly kingdom.

"To whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen."

If what was said above about "the Lord" is correct, then here we have a doxology which manifestly is addressed to Christ. It is possible that in Rom. ix. 5 and xvi. 27 we have other examples, as also in Heb. xiii. 21; but in all these three cases the construction is open to question. Here, however, there can be no doubt that "the glory for ever and ever" is ascribed to the Lord Who stood by Paul at his trial and will deliver him from all evil works hereafter; and the Lord is Jesus Christ. As Chrysostom pointedly remarks without further comment: "Lo, here is a doxology to the Son." And it is word for word the same as that which in Gal. i. 5 is addressed to the Father.

With these words of praise on his lips we take our leave of the Apostle.

He is a wearied worker, a forlorn and all but deserted teacher, a despised and all but condemned prisoner; but he knows that he has made no mistake. The Master, Who seems to have requited His servant so ill, is a royal Master, Who has royal gifts in store. He has never failed His servant in this life, in which His presence, though but dimly reflected, has always brightened suffering; and He will not fail in His promises respecting the life which is to come. The Apostle has had to sustain him, not merely Divine truth wherewith to enlighten his soul, and Divine rules, wherewith to direct his conduct; he has had also a Divine Person, wherewith to share his life. He has kept the faith in the Divine truth; he has finished his course according to the Divine rules; yet these things he has done, not in his own strength, but in Christ Who lives in him. It is this gracious indwelling which made the victory that has been won possible; and it is this which gives it its value. The faith which has been kept is faith in Him Who is the Truth. The course which has been finished is according to Him Who is the Way. And the life which has been shared has been united with Him Who is the Life. That union will never end. It began here; and it will be continued throughout eternity in "the life which is life indeed." And therefore, with a heart full of thankfulness to the Master Who has shared his sufferings and will share his bliss, he leaves us as his last address to Christ, "To Him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen."

FOOTNOTES:

[99] 1 Cor. xiii. 5; 2 Cor. v. 19.