Biblical commentary on the New Testament - The Christian ...

THE PAULINE EPISTLES. lix
lian, and Clement of Alexandria, who were all acquainted witb and
used it, this collection contained thirteen Epistles, viz. the Epistle
to the Eomans, two to the Corinthians, those to the Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, two to the Thessalonians,
two to Timothy, and those to Titus and Philemon. The Epistle to
the Hebrews was not inserted in this collection, because opinions
were not united as to its origin. (See Chap. vi. below). Half a
century before the time of the fathers just mentioned, we find a col-
lection of Pauline Epistles in the hands of Marcion. that extrava-
gant reverer of the Apostle Paul. He was born in Asia Minor,
where, as is well known, the Apostle Paul had long lived and
laboured, and was highly reverenced. Thence Marcion went to
Rome, carrying with him the collection of Pauline Epistles which he
had made use of in Asia. This, however, contained but ten
Epistles ;
there were wanting the three commonly termed pastoral
letters, viz., the two to Timothy and that to Titus ;
called ^as^ora^
letters, because in them Paul gives directions to spiritual pastors in
regard to the suitable performance of their official duties. The
small Epistle to Philemon was known to him, because it stood in
close connexion with the Epistle to the Colossians ; but the three
pastoral letters seem to have been diffused but slowly, as indepen-
dent private productions, and hence, also, not to have been inserted
in the original collection. How the collection of the Pauline
Epistles, in the form in which we now have it, originated, is unknown,
and has not yet been satisfactorily accounted for by any
conjecture.* For the supposition that, Kke the collection of the
Gospels, it originated in different places at once, merely by the
gradual transmission thither of the Epistles of Paul as fast as they
were composed, is forbidden by the circumstance that, as can be
proved, they are not arranged in the order of their composition.
The collection cannot, however, have been accidentally formed ;
it is clear that a certain plan has been followed. At the beginning
are placed the Epistles to the Romans and Corinthians, distinguish-
then follows a letter to
ed for their length and internal importance ;
several churches in a whole province, the Epistle to the Galatians ;
then the smaller Epistles to churches in particular cities, to the
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians ; lastly, come
the Epistles to private persons. Moreover, had the collection of
them been left to accident, sometimes one arrangement would have
been adopted and sometimes another, which is not the case, the
order having been the same that we now observe, as far back as the
' "We find very few traces of a different arrangement of the Epistles of Paul: a dif-
ferent one, however, is followed in an old catalogue of the books of the New Testament,
probably pertaifling to the church at Rome. It is called Muratori's Catalogue, from an
Italian abbot of that name who discovered the MSS. which contained it.
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