ed order.

The con- posing the letters to the Corinthians between those to the tinuity broken in Galatians and Romans, the dislocation is felt at once. It then the receiv- becomes difficult to explain how the same thoughts, argued out in the same way and expressed in similar language, should appear in the Galatian and reappear in the Roman Epistle, while in two letters written in the interval they have no place at all, or at least do not lie on the surface. I cannot but think that the truths which were so deeply impressed on the Apostle's mind, and on which he dwelt with such characteristic energy on two different occasions, must have forced themselves into prominence in any letter written meanwhile.

The order here adopted accords

best with

(i) St Paul's personal history.

4 Again, if it is found that the order here maintained accords best with the history of St Paul's personal sufferings at this period, so far as we can decipher it, as well as with the progress of his controversy with the Judaizers, such an accordance will not be without its value. I shall take these two points in order.

(i) In the First Epistle to the Corinthians he alludes to his sufferings for the Gospel more than once. He refers to them in one passage at some length', to point a contrast between the humiliation of the teacher and the exaltation of the taught. He speaks of himself as suffering every privation, as treated with every kind of contempt. And he alludes once and again to these afflictions, as witnesses to the immortality of man. 'If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable".' 'Why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest I die daily. If I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not?' But the mention of them is only occasional; it does not colour the whole epistle. In the Second Epistle the case is very different. Here it is the one topic from beginning to end. His physical sufferings have increased meanwhile: and to them have been added mental

agonies far more severe. Tribulation and comfort-strength and weakness-glorying and humiliation-alternate throughout

the epistle'. But though the whole letter is one outpouring of affliction, yet we feel that the worst is already past. The first ray of sunshine has pierced the gloom. The penitence of the Corinthian Church has made him 'exceeding joyful in all his tribulation.' We are not surprised therefore, when, after the lapse of a few months, we find the Apostle writing in a strain of less impassioned sorrow. In the Epistle to the Romans persecution is sometimes mentioned, but in the more tranquil tone of one recalling past experiences, when the conflict is already over and the victory won.

to his suf

In the Epistle to the Galatians again he says but little of Reference his own sufferings. He is too absorbed in the momentous ferings in question at issue to speak much of himself. Yet once or twice Galatians. the subject is introduced. A sentence at the close of the letter especially shows how it occupies his thoughts, even when all mention of it is repressed. After adding in his own handwriting a few sentences of earnest remonstrance, he sums up with these words, 'From henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.' It is his final appeal, before which all opposition and controversy must give way. Does not this seem like the language of one, who has lately passed through a fiery trial, and who, looking back upon it in the first moment of abatement, while the recollection is still fresh upon him, sees in his late struggles a new consecration to a life of self-denial, and an additional seal set upon his Apostolic authority? In other words, does it not seem to follow naturally after the tumult of affliction, which bursts out in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians?

Perhaps this passage too, in connexion with the events of the year preceding, may serve to throw light on one or two otherwise obscure hints in this epistle. 'If I still preach circumcision, why am I then persecuted'?' 'If I were still pleasing men, I should not have been a servant of Christ'.'

(ii) The

of

May we not connect these expressions with the words, 'Henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus"? These sufferings marked a crisis in his spiritual life, an epoch to date from. In the permanent injuries then inflicted upon him, he delighted to see the tokens of his service to his Lord, the signs of ownership, as it were, branded on him. Henceforth Jesus was his Master, henceforth he was the slave of Christ, in a fuller sense than he had been hitherto3. It is at least remarkable, that in the epistle which follows next upon this, he designates himself a slave of Jesus Christ',' a title there adopted for the first time.

(ii) The same result which is thus obtained from an exprogress of amination of St Paul's personal history, seems to follow also opposi- from the progress of his controversy with his Judaizing

the Judaic

tion.

opponents.

In the Epistle to the Corinthians the controversy has not yet assumed a very definite shape. He scarcely once meets his opponents on doctrinal ground. He is occupied in maintaining his personal authority against those who strove to undermine it, resting their claims, in some cases at least, on a more intimate connexion with the Lord. Doubtless doctrinal error would be the next step, and this the Apostle foresaw. But hitherto he speaks with some reserve on this point, not knowing the exact position which his antagonist would take up. The heresy combated in the Galatian Epistle is much more matured. The personal antagonism remains as before, while the doctrinal opposition has assumed a distinct and threatening form.

For how different is St Paul's language in the two cases. He tells both Churches indeed in almost the same words, that

1 Gal. vi. 17.

2 It is related of George Herbert that when he was inducted into the cure of Bemerton he said to a friend, 'I beseech God that my humble and charitable life may so win upon others as to bring glory to my Jesus, whom I have this day taken to be my Master and Governor; and I am so proud of His

service, that I will always call Him Jesus my Master,' etc. 'And,' adds his biographer, 'he seems to rejoice in that word Jesus, and say that the adding these words my Master to it, and the often repetition of them, seemed to perfume his mind,' etc. I. Walton's Life of Herbert.

8 Rom. i. 1.

'circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing',' but then his practical comment in the two cases presents a striking contrast. To the Corinthians he says; 'Is any man called being circumcised? let him not be uncircumcised; Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised": to the Galatians; 'Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing; and again I testify, etc." In the one epistle he is dealing with a hypothetical case; he speaks as if to guard against future error. In the other he is wrestling with an actual evil present in its most virulent form. If circumcision is but one point, it at least contains all implicitly: 'Every man that is circumcised is a debtor to do the whole law.'

progress in

ment of

Corresponding to this advance on the part of his antagonists Corresponding we find a growing fulness in St Paul's exposition of those doctrines with which the errors of the Judaizers were in direct the stateconflict. Such is the case with his account of the temporary doctrine. purpose of the law, especially in its negative effect as 'multiplying sin.' In the Corinthian Epistles the subject is dismissed with a casual sentence, pregnant with meaning indeed, but standing quite alone. 'The strength of sin is the law'.' In the Galatian letter it is the one prominent topic. So again with its correlative, the doctrine of justification by faith. This doctrine is incidentally alluded to more than once in the letter to Corinth. In one passage especially it appears prominently; 'God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them: for He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness (Sixaιoovvn) of God". Here the doctrine is stated clearly enough, but there is no approach to the fulness with which it is set forth in the Galatian Epistle. The illustration, the antithesis, the aphorism, the scriptural sanction, are missing.

allusions.

It is not the language which St Paul would have used, had the doctrines been as virtually denied in the Corinthian as they were in the Galatian Church.

Incidental 5. Lastly, the chronology adopted explains one or two allusions in the Epistle to the Galatians which otherwise it is difficult to account for.

of offend

ers.

(i) The sixth chapter commences with the exhortation, Treatment Brethren, though a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.' There is something peculiarly earnest in the abruptness with which this command is introduced. There is a marked tenderness in the appeal to their brotherhood which prefaces it. An undercurrent of deep feeling is evident here. It is as though some care weighed on the Apostle's mind. Now if we suppose the Galatian Epistle to have been written after the Second to the Corinthians, we have at once an adequate explanation of this. A grievous offence had been committed in the Christian community at Corinth. In his first Epistle to the Church there, St Paul had appealed to the brotherhood to punish the guilty person. The appeal had not only been answered, but answered with so much promptness, that it was necessary to intercede for the offender. He commended their indignation, their zeal, their revenge; they had approved themselves clear in the matter'; and now they must forgive and comfort their erring brother, lest he be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. It was the recollection of this circumstance that dictated the injunction in the Galatian Epistle. The Galatians were proverbially passionate and fickle. If a reaction came, it might be attended, as at Corinth, with undue severity towards the delinquents. The epistle therefore was probably written while the event at Corinth was fresh on St Paul's mind-perhaps immediately after he had despatched Titus and the Second Epistle, and was still in suspense as to the issue-perhaps after he had himself arrived at Corinth, and witnessed too evident signs of over-severity.