HE who values the New Testament as a revelation from God finds rich quarries open to research in every department of it. As every science connected with God's marvelous works in creation branches out into so many directions that most men are obliged to limit themselves to one or two only of its known departments, so it is with the word of God. If “the heavens declare the glory of God,” “the law of the Lord is also perfect.” One is richly repaid in studying it. One branch of inquiry connects itself with another, and thus we find our hearts interested in examining further and further into His truth; and the more we know, the more we love Him who has manifested Himself in it.
The order (not necessarily the dates) of the Pauline writings is one of these branches, on which we may profitably spend a little time. Let no one think the subject trivial. We shall find in the study of it some remarkable traits in the apostle's character, and be assisted in tracing the progress and development of truth in His own mind.
The views to be given out are quite open to criticism, for they present only the method of research, without insisting that the steps by which conclusions are reached are strictly to be relied on. One can say however on this subject what cannot be said on all Biblical ones, that a mistake can do but little harm, whilst the very detecting of it is sure to lead into new fields of thought.
The writer would only mention as an encouragement to those who may succeed better, that he has never read any human writing on the subject.
To begin: in reading 2 Timothy one finds these passages: “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course” (2 Tim. 4:6, 76For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: (2 Timothy 4:6‑7)), conclusive evidence that this was the last of all his epistles. It was doubtless written from Rome. (2 Tim. 1:1717But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. (2 Timothy 1:17).) We may take it then as the starting point of our inquiries and reason upwards. The next which arrest the attention are those to the Colossians and Philemon, which we may assuredly bracket together. They were written at the same time and certainly before 2 Timothy, for in the latter Demas had forsaken him. In Colossians he had not. Mark and Aristarchus too were with him in Colossians; in 2 Timothy they were not. (Philem. 1:1, 241Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlaborer, (Philemon 1)
24Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlaborers. (Philemon 24); Col. 4; 2 Tim. 4:1111Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry. (2 Timothy 4:11).) We must then undoubtedly place Colossians and Philemon prior to 2 Timothy, but with a reasonable gap, in order to give time for the desertion of Demas, and also for the journey of Mark, who, not having left Paul when he wrote to the Colossians (comp. Col. 4:1010Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;) (Colossians 4:10)), was to be brought back from his mission when he wrote to Timothy. (2 Tim. 4:1111Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry. (2 Timothy 4:11).) These are sufficient reasons for thinking that the two which next precede were Colossians and Philemon, Timothy being at the time with Paul, his name being conjoined in the address.
There is a temptation to consider Ephesians as of the same date, from the remarkable similarity in truth between that and the Colossians, as if, on that account they may have been written at the same time, and because of Tychicus being, as with that to the Colossians, apparently the bearer. But I think we may regard the visit of Tychicus to Ephesus as an independent one, at a time when Timothy was not with the apostle at Rome, inasmuch as he is not conjoined in the address as he probably would have been, had it been written at the same time with the Colossians. Moreover, in writing at the last to Timothy (2 Tim. 4:1, 21I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (2 Timothy 4:1‑2)), he mentions having sent Tychicus to Ephesus. He might, therefore, have sent him at the last with this epistle to a circle of churches of which Ephesus was the center. It becomes therefore a delicate question to know where to place it—a question of internal evidence. We can isolate it for the present. The letter to the Philippians was certainly from the metropolis (Timothy being with him: chap. i. 1); for it sends salutations from persons in Caesar's household, and mentions his bonds, but hopes for deliverance, and consequently to see them again (chap. i. 24-26), which he does not in 2 Timothy. We must place the epistle still earlier than that to Colosse, before any terrible burst of persecution; but, as I judge, after the close of the Acts, and when declension in the churches began to be apparent. (Phil. 2:2121For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. (Philippians 2:21).) Be it remembered we are only for the present offering standing-ground for the feet.
The Epistle to the Hebrews next claims our attention. The words, “They of Italy salute you” (chap. xiii. 24), give the impression that it was sent from Italy immediately after his landing there, perhaps before he reached Rome itself. May we not suppose that it was meditated upon after that singular disclosure (Acts 21:18-2118And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present. 19And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. 20And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law: 21And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. (Acts 21:18‑21)) made to him by James and the elders of the condition of the Jewish believers at Jerusalem, got ready during some part of the journey, and sent immediately on his landing, with a postscript added (Heb. 13:2222And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words. (Hebrews 13:22) to end), before he knew anything or much of the state of things in Italy, except to say, “They of Italy salute you?” One remark is well here—Timothy, who had sailed with him out of Asia (Acts 20:44And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus. (Acts 20:4)), was not with him. (Heb. 13:2323Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you. (Hebrews 13:23).) He had been put in prison somewhere not in Rome, had been released and was shortly expected. This shows that we are sure of none of those who embarked with Paul having reached Rome with him, except Luke and Aristarchus. (Acts 17:22And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, (Acts 17:2), compare Philem. 1:1, 241Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlaborer, (Philemon 1)
24Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlaborers. (Philemon 24)) I say Luke, because in the Acts “we” and “us” (Acts 25; 27:2) always include Luke the writer. The others may have been left at the various places they touched at.
Let me now recapitulate the order of these letters, but in the simpler form of earlier to later. 1. Hebrews, during his journey to or immediately on his arrival in Italy. 2. Philippians, when his bondage was not very severe. 3. Colossians and Philemon (bracketed), Paul an aged man in prison. 4. Ephesians, (?) Paul in prison. 5. 2 Timothy, Paul expecting to be offered, having been before the judgment, no man standing by him.
We have now got some few landmarks, although discrepancies could be easily pointed out, which might in some measure be met by supposing the apostle to have had a release, to have made a journey coming back by Asia, and to have been again and finally imprisoned. Tradition seems to have embalmed this opinion (which has certainly a show of reason) by the subscription in our English New Testament that 2 Timothy was written from Rome when Paul was brought before Nero the second time. The other epistles, the ground of which is, in some instances, still more difficult and uncertain, have now to be considered.
These are the two to the Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, Titus, the two to the Corinthians, Romans, and Galatians.
It is best to begin with those to the Corinthians, whence we shall more easily come to the others.
The First Epistle to the Corinthians may have been written from Ephesus somewhere in the time taken up between Acts 19:2121After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. (Acts 19:21) and 20:1, for the following reasons: Paul, in his first European journey, comes from Philippi through the country to Thessalonica, thence (by sea?) to Athens, and thence to Corinth (Acts 18:11After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; (Acts 18:1)) for the first time, and in that chapter we find also mention of Sosthenes, the same person who is joined with him (unless good reasons be shown to the contrary) in the first letter. Paul continued there eighteen months (chap. 18:11), Silas and Timotheus being with him. (Ver. 5. Compare 2 Cor. 1:1919For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. (2 Corinthians 1:19).) Thence he went to Ephesus and Syria, but Apollos came to Corinth. (Acts 19:1.) Now, as in his first epistle, continued mention is made of this brother (who was with him at the time, 1 Cor. 16:1212As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time. (1 Corinthians 16:12)), it is evident it could not have been written before Acts 19, when Paul was at Ephesus (1 Cor. 16:88But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. (1 Corinthians 16:8)), for at that time “he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.” (Acts 19:2222So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season. (Acts 19:22).) Now as in 1 Cor. 16:1010Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do. (1 Corinthians 16:10) Timothy is mentioned as likely to come, it is probable that he was to go there from Macedonia, but, although probable, there is no strict necessity for supposing that he bore the letter, which could hardly have been written until after the uproar about Diana the goddess of the Ephesians. (1 Cor. 15:3232If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. (1 Corinthians 15:32); Acts 19:2323And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. (Acts 19:23).) Notice particularly 1 Cor. 16:55Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia. (1 Corinthians 16:5), “Now I will come unto you when I shall pass through Macedonia, for I do pass through Macedonia,” compared with Acts 19:2121After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. (Acts 19:21), his anxiety in both instances being about a collection for Jerusalem, which he was to carry. This occupation of the apostle's mind about the poor Jews is not a bad mark for showing us that they could not have been written before he had determined to go to Jerusalem with a collection, and that hardly more than a year could have elapsed between the two epistles.
Before, however, I touch upon 2 Corinthians, it is better to consider the date, or rather order of Titus, who occupies such a place in that second epistle. The letter is addressed to him in Crete, where he had been left by the apostle on one of his numerous voyages. When written, Apollos was also in the island; indeed, I judge that he may have carried the letter, and by this fact, whether he was the bearer or not, we may be assured that it was written after 1 Corinthians, at which time, as we have seen, Apollos was with Paul. (1 Cor. 16:1212As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time. (1 Corinthians 16:12)) Titus is desired to meet the apostle at Nicopolis, a city not far from Philippi, where he had determined to winter. Is it not then next to certain that he (Titus) did all the work among the Corinthians (as sent from that city), which is narrated in 2 Cor. 2:12, 13; 7:6; 8:16, &c? Was he not the intervening messenger between that church and the apostle, pending the latter's hesitancy as to going there himself? I place it then between the two epistles. In like manner, I judge that 1 Timothy was written between the two same Epistles to the Corinthians. In Acts 19:2222So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season. (Acts 19:22) Paul sends Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia, whilst he remains in Asia. In Acts 20:1, 21And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia. 2And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece, (Acts 20:1‑2) he goes into Macedonia and, as I would suggest this to be the time alluded to, leaves Timothy at Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:33As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, (1 Timothy 1:3)); after which time then he writes 1 Timothy, “Hoping to come to him shortly.” (1 Tim. 3:14, 1514These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: 15But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:14‑15).) They had met before 2 Corinthians was written, because Timothy is conjoined with him in the address. I can only bracket Titus and 1 Timothy, inclining to the opinion that Titus was the later. Very briefly would I advert to the contents of these two letters, as moral evidence that they cannot come much out of the order in which I have placed them. Thus, they are full of directions as to the government of churches, and as to the character of mischief which these two agents of the apostle would be sure to fall in with, whether from fallen human nature itself, or from the bad education it had received; but there is little or no supposition either in the way of prophecy declension or from individual experience of the rapid declension into which the churches would fall, as is exhibited in 2 Timothy. There is in Titus a direction how to deal with a single heretic, otherwise there are only warnings, as to what everyone, who is in the habit of dealing with his own heart or with those of others, is liable to meet. I cannot assign, then, a later date to either of these epistles, and I think it would be difficult to put that to Titus earlier on account of Apollos.
We now come to 2 Corinthians. From the Epistle to the Romans (chap. 15:26) it is easy to show, that he cleared up all his questions with the Corinthians, through the mediation of Titus and eventually left Corinth by land for Philippi, and thence by Troas to Jerusalem, and through an imprisonment of more than two years at Cesarea to Rome thus reaching that city in a way, and by a journey far longer and far different than he had expected. (Comp. Rom. 15:23, 2423But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you; 24Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. (Romans 15:23‑24).) This 2 Corinthians was, in my judgment, written from Philippi by Titus and Luke, “The brother whom we have often proved diligent in many things.” The two names are attached to the end, and it is a question upon which such a thing as tradition may have its weight. Timothy was with him, and, after sending it, I believe Paul followed in person to Corinth, whence, as just mentioned, he left for Rome by the route just mentioned.
Our task now becomes much easier. The letter to the Romans was written from Cenchrea by Phebe in the full belief of himself making a visit to Rome. I judge it was the very last be wrote before quitting Greece and Corinth (Acts 20:2, 32And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece, 3And there abode three months. And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia. (Acts 20:2‑3)) to return by Macedonia to Jerusalem. (Compare chap. xv. 25.) “But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints.” “For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.” This and the salutation of Gains and Erastus (compare 1 Cor. 1:1414I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; (1 Corinthians 1:14)) leave no doubt on my own mind that it was written from Corinth, and that all differences with the Corinthians had happily terminated. Three more epistles have only now to engage our attention, Galatians, and the two to Thessalonians. Tracing upwards from Corinthians, the Thessalonians came next. In each Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy are joined with Paul in the address. Now as we only know of these two being in company together with Paul from Acts 17 down to Acts 18:55And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. (Acts 18:5), we must suppose they were both written from Corinth, the one soon after the other, Timothy, be it observed (1 Thess. 3:22And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlaborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith: (1 Thessalonians 3:2)), having made a journey there between whiles.
The Epistle to the Galatians requires a little more consideration. As there is not a salutation in it, we must judge of its date entirely from internal evidence. I should put it early, and I think it possible from chapter 2:1, that the Galatians were acquainted with Titus and Barnabas before the quarrel, and that it may have been written even before Paul first left Asia for Europe; but one cannot speak with any certainty. The same line of internal evidence may be applied here as to Titus and 1 Timothy. It is a concise and logical discourse on the difference between Christianity and Judaism (Paul's own life, doctrinally considered, being the illustration), in respect to justification and sonship; as the Epistle to the Hebrews is on the difference between Christian and Jewish worship. But all particulars as to his own practical experience so largely detailed in 2 Corinthians are wanting, although he was bearing in his body the stigmata of the Lord Jesus. (Compare 2 Cor. 11:2424Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. (2 Corinthians 11:24).)
He was at least twice in Galatia (Acts 16:6; 18:236Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, (Acts 16:6)
23And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples. (Acts 18:23)), and the churches appear to have been organized there before he writes at all to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 16:11Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. (1 Corinthians 16:1)); and the internal evidence is strong, that it must have been sent when he had been feeling the positive mischief which had resulted from the attempt to mix up law and grace, in other words Christianity with Judaism. He had now taken a thoroughly independent position, but the strife was only as yet between the two: corruption from within had not yet appeared. If not earliest of all, it would come after 2 Thessalonians; but where all is conjecture, tradition may have preserved the truth that it came from Borne, though there is no mention of any imprisonment.
How often has the writer, in thus briefly reviewing the subject, been tempted to break out into disquisitions, which might have carried him away from his direct object. Certainly, he has found that not to be a barren occupation by which he has got an insight into the various phases which Christianity has assumed, and which were, so to speak, gone through beforehand in the apostle's experience.
A tabular view is appended. But before closing, I would devote a few lines to the probability of 2 Timothy having been written a considerable time after the others, and apparently after a recent journey from Asia Minor.
The reader will remember that I have suggested the isolation of Ephesians from Colossians and Philemon, notwithstanding the similarity of the truths in the two epistles, which would make us think they were written almost at the same moment. Upon this supposition Tychicus accompanied Onesimus with the Colossian epistle, and went another time to Ephesus, whether with or without the Ephesian epistle; Timothy being with the apostle when Tychicus went to Colosse, but not when he went to Ephesus.
Supposing the order to be as I have indicated, we want a considerable time between Colossians and 2 Timothy (still isolating Ephesians) to allow for the apostasy of Demas, the release of Aristarchus, the bringing back of Marcus, who had not as yet reached Colosse, where that letter was written (compare Col. 4:1010Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;) (Colossians 4:10); 2 Tim. 4:1111Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry. (2 Timothy 4:11)), and for the general isolatedness in which we find the apostle at the last. We must find time for all this, and either do it by allowing a gap between Colossians and 2 Timothy, during the whole of which time he was in prison, and had been brought before Nero, his circumstances having become gradually worse; or else we must send him on another journey. I now give briefly the proofs of this, although still allowing difficulties, which perhaps I see better than my reader. Are not the very solemn and final warnings to Timothy inconsistent with the simple doctrinal statements in Colossians? The apostle's mind appears in the interim to have undergone a great revolution. But, space enough being given, all this is compatible with his not having left Rome. Does not, however, verse 13, “The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus.... bring with thee.” “Erastus abode at Corinth; but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick,” look as if he had just come from Troas? And does not “Erastus abode at Corinth,” seem as if his route had been the ordinary one, that is, from Corinth to Macedon, then to Troas and Miletus? Now we know that on his last recorded journey Trophimus (Acts 20:44And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus. (Acts 20:4)) had accompanied and had gone on with him past Miletus even to Jerusalem, and was (Acts 21:2929(For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.) (Acts 21:29)) partly cause of the disturbance there. If even we could get over this difficulty, and make this account serve for an account of himself when he first reached Rome, it carries on the face of it so many discrepancies that it will not stand: for the account of his earlier detention at Rome makes one suppose that it was a very mild one (Acts 28:17, 3117And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. (Acts 28:17)
31Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him. (Acts 28:31)); whereas this letter to Timothy describes himself as in prison, and as having once stood before the emperor, all men having forsaken him.
For these reasons it seems best to suppose that Paul did get a release from Rome (his history in the Acts of the Apostles not going down nearly so far); that on this release he made a journey, which took in Corinth, Troas, and Miletum.
By supposing such a journey, we can account for his desiring Philemon to prepare him a lodging (ver. 27), trusting that through his prayers be (Paul) should be given unto him.
If then he was released, his journey could hardly have occupied two years, time would have been given for the forsaking of Demas, for his sad discovery that “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:1515This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. (2 Timothy 1:15)), and for the general tone of despondency regarding the falling away of his friends from himself and from the truth, which had come about during his long imprisonment.
As in the table I have put a query after Galatians and Ephesians, it may be worth while to point out some marks by which my reader may exercise an independent judgment as to their place. I have little to add about Galatians. In point of evidence it might have been written at any time, and its general curtness and absence of names and salutations may be accounted for by the irritation, if I may so speak, under which it was penned. Only we must remember that the failure so largely depicted is rather ignorant than willful on their part, and has reached them from a well-understood Jewish inroad, rather than from deliberate attacks on the part of the enemy within, and the apostle was hoping, as it would seem for a general recovery, even although those who brought in the error were cut off. Now as we find him in great conflict with the Jews throughout Acts 18, in which chapter he goes into Galatia for the second time, I think it likely it may have been written after that visit, this constant opposition having forced him into the mastery of the whole subject of law and grace. It is not unlikely that his breach with Barnabas was an epoch in his life, and may have delivered him from trammels, the power of which until then he had felt. If my surmise of its being written after this second visit to Galatia be correct, my reader will see that it must be placed after the two Epistles to the Thessalonians.
Now with regard to Ephesians, a question or two must be asked. First, what bearing will the omission of “at Ephesus” have as to forming an opinion of its historical order? Secondly, what relation do Colossians and Ephesians bear to one another, and which is the more general? Answering these questions, the omission of “at Ephesus” would leave us at liberty to look upon the epistle as a general one—so general as to be considered a circular whether as a last legacy or not to faithful Gentiles in the mass, and an anchor to which they might hold in the midst of an incoming apostasy. In answer to the second question, Ephesians is the more general writing, and Colossians a special example of the use of it, or an enlargement of a particular part of it. But the two Epistles are correlative, or one might say, complementary, the Ephesians being a treatise on the body, the Church, whilst that to the Colossians is on the Head, and therefore they must be read together, whilst still each had its own salient points. But this is quite compatible with Ephesians being more general and Colossians more particular; for the apostle, fearing the Colossians were falling into the state of “not holding the Head,” writes a particular treatise of what the Head, Christ, is and ought to be to them. Afterward he writes a more general treatise or last legacy to the whole Gentile church or churches. I am constrained to say “afterward” (however much in the general one would prefer the general statement to precede the particular example), because in feeling one's way along this intricate path two only kind of landmarks have directed us: first, the names of persons mentioned in the epistles themselves; secondly, the character of these writings. Now it appears to me that the first kind of landmark is plainer than the other; that is, Paul in writing his very last letter, namely, 2 Timothy, especially mentions his having sent Tychicus to Ephesus, and in the letter itself he says that Tychicus “shall make known to you all things.” He therefore, as I judge, bore this general letter to a circle of churches, of which the principal was Ephesus. In this way too, that is, by omitting “in Ephesus,” we account for such expressions as “after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus.” “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you ward” —unaccountable language if addressed to a church, among whom he had labored personally for years; but which passages admit of a solution when one allows that the letter may have been a general one.
But on such points, and indeed on the whole inquiry, this paper is only tentative, and glad should I be, if it elicited the criticism of those more versed in the subject. W.