M. 4 56. A. D. 52 of Roine, 05 well doing. 14 And if any man obey not you peace always by all means. The Lord be our word by this epistle, note that man, and with you all. 17 The salutation of Paul chave no company with him, that he may with mine own hand, which is the token be ashamed. 15 Yet count him not as an in every epistle: so I write. 18 The grace enemy, but adinonish him as a brother. of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. 16 Now the Lord of peace himself give Amen. Or, signify that man by an epistle. - Matt. 18. 17; 1 Cor. 5. 9, 11; verse 6.- d Lev. 19. 17; 1 Thess. 5. 14.-e Tit. in the New Testament with special reference to works of beneficence.] While ye stretch out no hand of relief to the indolent and lazy, do not for get the real poor-the genuine representatives of an impoverished Christ. 14. If any man obey not-They had disobeyed his word in the first epistle, and the Church still continued to bear with them; now he tells the Church, if they still continue to disregard what is said to them, and particularly his word by this second epistle, they are to mark them as being totally incorrigible, and have no fellowship with them. Some construe the words dià The έRIOTOS with TOUTOV σnueLovatte, give me information of that man by a letter-let me hear of his continued obstinacy, and send me his name. The words of the original will bear either construction, that in the text, or that given above. 15. Count him not as an enemy-Consider him still more an 66 'enemy' to himself than to you; and admonish him as a brother, though you have ceased to hold religious communion with him. His soul is still of infinite value; labour that it may be saved. 16. The Lord of peace-Jesus Christ, who is called our peace, (Eph. ii, 14;) and the Prince of peace, (Isa. ix, 6.) May he give you peace, for he is the Fountain and Dispenser of it. Always-Both in your own consciences and among yourselves. By all means—'Ev navτì tрóño, by all means, methods, occasions, instruments, and occurrences; peace or prosperity in every form and shape. Instead of ¿v πaνrì Tрóño, some read ¿v navrì Tóñ↔, in every place: May God grant you prosperity always, and everywhere. The Lord be with you all-This is agreeable to the promise of our Lord: Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matt. xxviii, 20.) Christians are the temple of God, and the temple of God has the divine presence in it. May you ever continue to be his Church, that the Lord God may dwell among you! [The words of St. Paul, in 1 Thess. iv, 13-18, and again in 2 Thess. ii, 1-5, as they seem to have perplexed those to whom they were at first addressed, have continued to be scarcely less perplexing during all the subsequent ages of the Church. It is well known that the expectation of Christ's coming again to reveal himself to his disciples, and either to dwell among them or to take them away with himself to heaven, was widely prevalent during the early Christian times. In the first of the passages cited above, and also in 1 Cor. xv, the apostle seems to be combatting a prevalent notion that to die before Christ's second coming would be the greatest of calamities, since those so dying could have no part in the Messianic kingdom. To this false notion Paul opposes the doctrine of the resurrection-that is, of the future life-the abiding of all the saints, even though they die, with Christ in his eternal kingdom in heaven. The attendant circumstances of Christ's coming to receive his own, as presented in 1 Thess. iv, 13-18, evidently served to confirm them in the expectation of his speedy coming, which was not, indeed, a very far-fetched inference; and the partial correction of that impression, in the second epistle, still leaves the subject somewhat in doubt; and the Church has been perplexed with it from the apostolic age to our own times. The language of the apostles-both Paul and othersis strongly suggestive of the inference that they themselves lived in the constant expectation of the not distant outward revelation of Christ to set up his kingdom in the world, and the practical exhortations based on that expectation, assumed, not only that he would assuredly come, but also that the event would occur during the then present generation. That certainly is the first and natural implication of what is said in verse 17. And as that is the first written of Paul's epistles, and as the speedy coming of Christ is not afterward so clearly assumed, and as the delay is accepted as a fact which called for the modification of the early too hasty expectation, (of which a marked example is seen in 2 Peter iv, 4. 5,) to a merely critical 18. The grace-The favour, blessing, and in- reader of the apostolic epistles the evidence that fluence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be with you their writers were at first themselves expecting the all-Be your constant companion. May you ever speedy coming of Christ is pretty certain. feel his presence, and enjoy his benediction! that that expectation was gradually moderated by Amen-So let it be! God grant it! This word in the non-occurrence of the event as expected is this place has more evidence in favour of its gen-clearly obvious. But some resist the force of this uineness than it has in most other places: and was probably added here by the apostle himself, or by the Church of the Thessalonians. 17. The salutation of Paul with mine own hand-It is very likely that Paul employed an amanuensis generally, either to write what he dietated, or to make a fair copy of what he wrote. In either case the apostle always subscribed it, and wrote the salutation and benediction with his own hand; and this was what authenticated all his epistles. A measure of this kind would be very necessary if forged epistles were carried about in those times. (See 1 Cor. xvi, 21, and Col. iv, 18.) I have often had occasion to observe that the subscriptions at the end of the sacred books are But evidence, because, since, the event did not justify their expectation, and since eighteen hundred years have come and gone without its fulfilment, to grant that the apostles so believed is to concede that they were in error, which, it is assumed, is A. M. 4056. A. D. 52. incompatible with their inspiration in the composi- as a whole, though not necessarily including every tion of their epistles. Commentators are accordingly individual-are still alive. Beyond a question," divided into two classes: one following the plain he continues, "he (Paul) himself expected to be teaching of criticism, and conceding that the apos- alive, together with the majority of those to whom tles were mistaken, and that some things that they he was writing, at the Lord's coming. For we canwrote were the results of their misapprehensions, not for a moment accept the evasion of Theodoret, the other preferring to save the credit of the and of many modern commentators, including Bensacred writers, even at the sacrifice of the apparent gel, who, warped by their subjectivities, would meaning of their own words. make the "we who are alive " include, not we ourselves, but the men of that (undefined) time. Nor (can we accept) the ungrammatical rendering of Lucretius and Pelt, "we, if we live and remain; nor yet the idea, (that has been suggested,) that the living (we who are alive) are the souls whose bodies are "those that are asleep." We must take the words in their only plain grammatical meaning: oi CPTES (the living) are a class distinguished from oi koŋŋfévτeç, (those sleeping,) by being yet in the flesh when Christ comes, in which class, by prefixing is, (we,) he includes his readers and himself. That this was his expectation we know from other passages, especially 2 Cor. v, 10. It does not (however) seem to have been so strong toward the end of his course. (See Phil. i, 20-26) Nor need it surprise any Christian that the apostle should, in this matter of detail, have found his personal expectations liable to disappointment respecting a day of which it is solemnly said that no man knoweth its appointed time-not the angels in heaven, nor the Son-but the Father only." [Among the former class, in the last century, were such eminent Christian scholars as Grotius and Locke, and others, who concluded that the apostles believed that the end of the world was to happen in their time, and that they declared that belief in various passages in their epistles. Others, perhaps not their inferiors, among whom Dr. Macknight may be named, object to this opinion; not, however, from critical, but from dogmatic, reasons; for it is assumed that if the apostles erred in so important a matter, they may have been mistaken in other matters also, where their inspiration is not more strongly asserted by them than in this instance. He therefore concludes: "Seeing the apostles certainly knew that the coming of Christ to judgment was at a great distance, (as is shown in all their epistles,) every impartial person must be sensible that they have been placed in a false position, not only by the enemies of revelation, but by some of its friends, who have misunderstood some of their expressions. All these (misapprehended) expressions may be applied to other events, and therefore they ought to be so applied; because candour requires that sense to be put upon an author's words which renders him most consistent with himself." This solution would be very acceptable were it tenable; but the difficulty lies deeper, for not only is the statement that "the Lord is at hand" so made as to seem to imply the immanence of his coming, but that fact is used as an argument in favour of regulating present and temporary relations and interests in view of that fact. [Among later scholars and critics, the former view has been pretty generally accepted by those of Germany-of both the Rationalistic and the Evangelistic schools-while both sides find support among English-speaking Christians. [Among these a foremost place must be conceded to Alford, who, in his commentary on the passage 1 Thess. iv, 13-18, remarks: "It would certainly seem as if the preaching of the kingdom of Jesus at Thessalonica had been partially misunderstood, and been perverted into a cause why they should not quietly follow active life, and why they should be uneasy about those who fell asleep before that kingdom was brought in, imagining they would have no part in its glory." Respecting the likeness, or identity, of Christ's resurrection and that assured to "them that fall asleep," that is, die, he says: "The two clauses (Christ rose and God will bring with him [Christ] them that are asleep in him) do not accurately correspond. Still, obroç kai (thus also) betokens identity of lot of the two parties concerned, namely, death and resurrection. In this they resemble, but in the expressed particulars here they differ: Christ was simply raised, theirs shall be a resurrection through him at his coming." He further contends that the expression (ağɛ) means more than simply the accompanying of those spoken of with the risen Christ; but rather, that it implies that they shall be brought back to us "that are alive," so necessarily assuming that Christ's coming is to occur while we, the people now living [In his further defence of his position, as already given, Dr. Macknight presents some valuable suggestions respecting several classes of passages of Scripture, all of which are commonly used as alike pointing to one and the same event-Christ's second coming. The phrase "coming of Christ," has several acceptations in the sacred writings, and therefore it is necessary in each case to clearly determine the sense in which it is there used. There are more than a single “coming of Christ" spoken of in the New Testament, and neither the phrase nor its equivalents can be safely assumed to uniformly refer to the same great event. [1. In the Old Testament any signal display of God's power, whether for the salvation of his people or the overthrow of his enemies, is called the coming, or the appearance, or the presence, of the Lord. So the apostle would naturally designate any signal interposition of Christ in the Church or among men as his coming, or his day, the "day of the Lord," or the "day of the Son of man," his rapovoia, appearing. [2. A special coming of the Lord, rapovoía, is spoken of in 2 Thess. ii, 8-his interposition, by his Spirit and providence, to resist and discomfit the great adversary in respect to his evil designs against the preaching of the Gospel. Such interpositions in favour of the welfare of the Church and the honour of God are among the results of that perpetual presence of Christ, and his oversight of the affairs of the Church and the world, which his promises assure us that he exercises. When these become specially manifest they are termed the coming of the Lord. [3. It is quite certain that death, its time and the event, is sometimes designated the coming of the Lord. And although the release of Christ's servants from their present state of trial is not usually attended by any outward displays of God's power, yet it may be fitly styled his coming or appearance, as then the emancipated spirit enters into Christ's manifest presence. note [The term is also used to designate the end of the that he distinguishes aióv as 'abiding," from present dispensation of the Church, or the incom-xpóvoc as its "mutable image," very much in the ing of the millennium, or the day of judgment, spirit of St. Augustine. (Confess., xi, 11-13.) 3) For events only dimly shadowed in the word of God, Hebrew and LXX.-Man everywhere struggles with but which figure very largely in the legends and insuperable difficulties in finding words to enunciate poetry of the Church. The "end of all things," in his conception of eternity. This is, indeed, from the respect to both its time and what shall then fol- necessary conditions of thought, an effort to express low, appears to be purposely left in the deepest that which is inexpressible. Contradictory lines obscurity, lest men's minds should be diverted, by are thus inwoven into the very texture of language. contemplating it, from the practical duties of the So it was certainly with the Hebrews. Four words present time. Christ comings, in the three several are chiefly employed in Hebrew for eternity. forms named above, are clearly within the range of (a) Eternity is looked upon, in St. Augustine's our faith, and it is our duty and privilege to live way, as "semper stans," and therefore as someconstantly in view of these as great and certain thing in which we may trust. The word ), converities; and, having these, we may safely trust all fidence, also means eternity, as we may confide in else to Him who has reserved the subject of the those things which endure. (b) A second term final consummation within his own unsearchable- (p) denotes locally "what is before,' "the ness. (Matt. xxiv, 26; John xxi, 22; Acts i, 7.)] East;" hence temporally, "aforetime," indefinite antiquity. In Micah v, 2, it answers in thoughtrhyme to "the eternal days" (y, is qμɛpāv αιώνος, LXX, and is translated by ἀπ' ἀρχῆς.) In Psa. lv, [liv] 20, [19,] God's eternity is spoken of "His being enthroned of old," (7p,) translated pò Tv aivov by the LXX. (No less than twenty different Greek words are employed to render it by the LXX. See Fuerst. Concord., p. 972.) (c) The term most frequently used, however, to designate eternity is by. The word is derived from hy, to ADDITIONAL NOTE, 2 Thess. i, 9. [Such as shall suffer as penalty everlasting destruction (δίκην τίσουσιν ὄλεθρον αιώνιον.) The first oecurrence chronologically of the word aiúvios in the Epistles of St. Paul appears to be the proper place for an examination of its meaning. as [1) The etymology of the word air perhaps throws some light upon the question. Aristotle saw that aióv was in some way connected with aɛí, and sup-hide or veil, and denotes that whose extremes are posed that the connexion was that of direct derivation. That is, at least, an indication of the meaning which alov had for him, (aò rov àɛí ɛivai ei?nφῶς τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν. De Calo, i, 9.) In Professor Max Müller's opinion, "Aevum is from the same root as aiúv and the Sanskrit ayus; the root is i, and means to go.' 'Aɛí, too, comes from the same source." (Quoted by Rev. J. Riddell, Note A on Dr. Pusey's sermon, Everlasting Punishment, p. 32. The curiously analogous derivation of the Hebrew will be seen below.) 2) The meaning of the word alov in classical Greek, especially as used by Aristotle, and in proportion as speculation advanced in definiteness, is unlimited prospective duration, eternity at least à parte post. Aristotle's language is very remarkable. "There is neither place, nor space, nor time, external to the heaven; whence the things there being unchangeable, and having the best and most self-sufficing existence without passion, fulfil in their course the whole eternity, (diaTekɛi Tòv äñavτα aióva.) And in fact this name was divinely uttered by them of old time. For the sum total (réoc) which comprises the time of the life of each, out of which nothing can be conceived according to the regular order of nature, is called the aiv of each thing. And, analogously, the sum total also of the entire heaven, and the sum total comprising all time and infinitude, is absolutely eternity, (air) a name derived from ever-existing." (De Calo, i, 9; see Mr. Riddell's note ut supra, pp. 32-35, who also shows that in Plato, especially Legg., 904 A, aiúvioç is used "unequivocally and intentionally of retrospective and prospective eternity." A reference to Timæus (x, 37, e) will show 326 unknown and undefinable as regards the past or PREFACE TO THE FIRST EPISTLE ΤΟ TIMOTHY. TIMOTHY'S HISTORY AND HIS RELATIONS TO ST. PAUL. AUL and Barnabas, in the course of their first apostolic journey among the Gentiles, came to Lystra, a city of Lycaonia, where they preached the Gospel with considerable success. (See Acts xiv, 5, 6.) Here they found a Jewess named Lois, and also her daughter Eunice, both of whom became converted to the Christian faith. Eunice had married a Gentile, by whom she had Timothy, whose father was probably at this time dead, the grandmother, daughter, and son living together. (Compare Acts xvi, 1-3, with 2 Tim. i, 5.) Timothy, it appears, had been brought up in the fear of God, and carefully instructed in the Jewish religion by means of the Holy Scriptures. (Compare 2 Tim. i, 5, with 2 Tim. iii, 15.) This young man also became a thorough convert to the Christian faith, and a very tender intimacy grew up between him and St. Paul. When the apostle came the second time to Lystra from Antioch, in Syria, he found Timothy a member of the Church, and so highly reputed and warmly recommended by the Church in that place, that Paul took him to be his companion in his travels. (Acts xvi, 1-3.) It appears, also, that although Timothy had been educated in the Jewish faith he had not been circumcised, for his father was a Gentile. When the apostle had determined to take him with him, he found it necessary to have him circumcised, because the Jews would neither have heard him nor the apostle had not this been done. (Acts xvi, 3.) Timothy seems to have had a special call of God to the work of an evangelist, and to this the elders of the Church at Lystra solemnly set him apart by the imposition of hands, (1 Tim. iv, 14,) led also to this by certain prophetic declarations relative to him. (See 1 Tim. i, 18; iii, 14.) Some think, that after this appointment by the elders the apostle himself laid his hands on him, not for the purpose of his evangelical designation, but that he might receive those extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit so necessary in those primitive times to demonstrate the truth of the Gospel. (See 2 Tim. i, 6, 7.) Yet there is no satisfactory proof that Timothy had two ordinations-one by the elders of Lystra and another by the apostle; and it is most probable that Paul acted with the eldership. (1 Tim. iv, 14.) Timothy accompanied Paul and Silas when they visited the Churches of Phrygia, and delivered to them the decisions of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, freeing the Gentiles from the law of Moses as a term of salvation. Having gone through these countries they at length came to Troas, where Luke joined them. (Acts xvi, 10, 11, etc.) In Troas, Paul had a vision, directing them to go into Macedonia. Accordingly they all passed over to Neapolis; and thence they went to Philippi, where many were converted, and a Christian Church was planted. From Philippi they went to Thessalonica, probably leaving Luke at Philippi to care for the Church in that place. (Verse 40.) In Thessalonica they were opposed by the unbelieving Jews, and obliged to flee to Berea, whither the Jews from Thessalonica followed them. Το elude their rage, Paul, who was most obnoxious to them, departed from Berea by night to go to Athens, leaving Silas and Timothy at Berea. At Athens, Timothy came to the apostle and gave him such an account of the afflicted state of the Thessalonian brethren, as induced him to send Timothy back to comfort them. After that Paul preached at Athens, but with so little success that he judged it proper to leave Athens and go forward to Corinth, where Silas and Timothy came to him, and assisted him in his work among the Corinthians. And when he left Corinth they accompanied him, first to Ephesus, then to Jerusalem, and after that to Antioch in Syria. Having spent some time in Antioch, Paul set out with Timothy on his third apostolical journey; in which, after visiting all the Churches of Galatia and Phrygia, in the order in which they had been planted, they came to Ephesus the second time, and there abode for a considerable time. It thus appears that from the time Timothy first joined the apostle as his assistant, he never left him except when sent by him on some special errand. By his affection, fidelity, and zeal, he so recommended himself to all the disciples, and acquired such authority over them, that Paul inserted his name in the inscription of several of the letters which he wrote to the Churches. His esteem and affection for Timothy was expressed still more conspicuously, by writing to him those excellent letters in the canon which bear his name. TIME AND PLACE OF THE EPISTLE'S COMPOSITION. These can be ascertained only from the epistle itself and from some brief references in the Acts of the Apostles. According to chapter i, 3, it appears to have been written soon after the apostle had departed from Ephesus, where he had left Timothy, and had gone into Macedonia, intending, however, soon to return again, (see chapter iii, 14,) though perhaps some delay might intervene. To this stay at Ephesus there is probably no reference in the Acts. His first residence there was but for a short season, (Acts xviii, 19,) the second time extended to nearly ' three years. (Acts xx, 31.) It is very evident, however, that the journey from Ephesus to Macedonia (Acts xx, 1) is not the same with that of which the apostle speaks at the beginning of this epistle, (1 Tim. i, 3;) for on the former occasion Timothy was not left behind as bishop of the Church at Ephesus, but he accompanied Paul for three months in Macedonia and Achaia. (Acts xx, 3.) Nor does it appear that, when entering upon that journey, it was the purpose to return so soon as he did; and when on his way to Jerusalem he expressed to the elders of the Ephesian Church his forebodings that he should never visit them again. (Acts xx, 16, 25.) It seems almost certain that Paul's journey from Ephesus to Macedonia, referred to at the opening of this epistle, took place at a later period, and after his release from his first imprisonment at Rome, but how long after that event can be only approximately determined. Probably, very soon after his release, he hastened to Ephesus to confront and discomfit the false teachers in that his favourite Church, and from thence, leaving Timothy in charge, he journeyed to Macedonia and Greece. If, then, the (first) imprisonment at Rome was during the years 61-63, the date of this epistle should probably be near the |