The life and work of St. Paul

590 THE LIFE AND WORK OF ST. PAUL.
Gnostic tendency on the one hand, and of Church organisation on the other.
In the Second Epistle to Timothy we have the last words and thoughts of
St. Paul before his martyrdom. 1
May we go further, and attempt, in one or two words, a description of
each separate Epistle, necessarily imperfect from its very brevity, and yet, per-
haps, expressive of some one main characteristic p If so, we might perhaps
say that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians is the Epistle of consolation in
the hope of Christ's return ; and the second, of the immediate hindrances to
that return, and our duties with regard to it. The First Epistle to the Corin-
thians is the solution of practical problems in the light of eternal principles ;
the Sec< .nd, an impassioned defence of the Apostle's impugned authority, his
Apologia pro vita sud. The Epistle to the Galatians is the Epistle of freedom
from the bondage of the Law ; that to the Romans, of justification by faith.
The Epistle to the Philippians is the Epistle of Christian gratitude and
Christian joy in sorrow ;
versal Lord ;
that to the Colossians, the Epistle of Christ the uni-
that to the Ephesians, so rich and many-sided, is the Epistle of
"the hoavenlies," the Epistle of grace, the Epistle of ascension with the
ascended Christ, the Epistle of Christ in His One and Universal Church j
that to Philemon, the Hagna Charta of emancipation. The First Epistle to
Timothy, and that to Titus, are the manuals of the Christian pastor ; the
of a Christian 2
ere his death.
Second Epistle to Timothy is the last message
He must doubtless have written others besides these, but intense as would
have been for us the theologic and psychologic interest of even the most
trivial of his writings, we may assume, with absolute certainty, that those
which we still possess have been preserved in accordance with God's special
providence, and were by far the most precious and wrote.
important of all that he
That the four letters which we shall now examine were written at Rome,
and not, as some critics have imagined, at Csesarea, may be regarded as absolutely
certain. Although Rome is not mentioned in any of them, yet the
facts to which they advert, and the allusions in which they abound, are such
as exactly suit the ancient and unanimous tradition that they were penned
during the Roman imprisonment, 8 while they agree far less with the novel and
1 Other classifications have been attempted e.y., thai of Baur, who divides them
Into ofno\oyoviJLeva (four), avrtAeyo/iei'a (si.c), and v&9a (three).
Similarly, M. Kenan classes the Epistles as follows : 1. Incontestable Gal., 1, 2 Cor.,
Rom. 2. Authentic, though disputed 1, 2 Thess., Phil. 3. Probably authentic, though
open to serious objection Col. and Philem, 4. Doubtful Eph. 5. Spurious The
Pastoral Epistles. (St. Paul, v.)
Lange classes the Epistles as 1. Eschatological (1, 2Thess.). 2. Soteriological (Gal.,
Rom). 3. Ecclesiastical (1 Cor., polemically ; 2 Cor., apologetically). 4. Christological
(Col., Eph.). 5. Ethical (Philipp.). 6. Pastoral (Philem., 1, 2 Tim., Tit.). (Introd. to
Romans.)
Olshausen's classification of them under the heads of 1. Dogmatic ; 2. Practical
8. Friendly is unsuccessful.
2 See Excursus y^TT,, " Distinctive Words, Keynotes, and Characteristics of the
Epistles."
* Ohrys. Pram ad Epist. ad Ephct. ; Jerome, ad Eph. ill. 1, IT, 1, yi. 20 ; Theodoret,