4. The Catholic Epistles.—There are 7 Epistles which from the 4th cent. have gone under this name, viz. Ja, 1 and 2 P, 123 Jn, and Jude. bes were so called in contradistinction to St. Paul's Epistles, which, with the exception of the Pastoral Epp. and Philem, are addressed to indi- vidual Churches, also 7 in number.* In most of the Greek MSS the Cath. Epp. stand next to Acts, although they were accel later than the Pauline Epp. in obtaining general recognition in the Church.
(a) The General Ep. of James.—This is now gener- ally admitted to be a genuine work of ‘James, the Lord’s brother’ (Gal 1%), who for many years presided cver the Church at Jerusalem.
* The symbolism of numbers has an interesting bearing on the Proportions of the NT, not only in the use of 7 in the cases above mentioned (cf. Rev 14) and in the case of the Pauline Epp., which (including He)=7x2, but also in the number of the
Pospels, to which Irenwus and others, under the influence of a tvived Neo-Pythagoreanism, ascribed a mystic virtue. |
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The internal evidence is strongly in its favour, and the rarity of allusions to it in the early Christian writers may be accounted for by its circulation being confined to Jewish Christians, as well as by the narrow sphere of labour in which the writer himself moved, his whole life apparently
having been spent in Jerusalem. It is addressed ‘To the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion,’ and there is no reason to take the words in any other than a literal sense. The tone of the Ep. is eminently practical, the object of the writer being to inculcate Christian morality as essential to salvation. Hence it partakes largely of the ethical character of the Sermon on the Mount, which it resembles not only in its general tone and sentiment, but in many of its expressions. The marked absence of bet oro like develo Christian doctrine, as well as the expectation which it exhibits of Christ’s speedy coming to judge the world (5%), and the application of the term ‘synagogue’ (23) to an assembly of Christian worshippers, seem to require an early date for the Ep. ; and as there is no sign of acquaintance with the sharp controversy regarding the obligations of the Jewish law, which came to a head in the Council of Jerusalem (A.D. 50), there seems a reason to regard this as the oldest book in the NT, dating between A.D. 44 and 49. See, further, JAMES (EPISTLE OF).
(δ) The Ist Ep. of Peter.—There is no reason to doubt that this Ep. was written by the apostle whose name it bears. Hardly ben book of the NT is better supported by external evidence, while internally it bears in many of its features the stamp of St. Peter’s mind and the traces of hia experience, as these are represented to us in the Gospels and the Bk. of Acts. It is addressed ‘ To the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia’; but there is a difference of opinion whether these words are to be taken in a literal sense, as de- rai Jewish Christians merely, or as embracing ‘the Israel of God’ in the widest sense. As it appears, however, from a number of passages that the readers of the Ep. were largely Gentiles, the latter supposition seems to accord best with the facts. Similarly, ‘Babylon’ (513) should probably be understood in a figurative sense as meanin Rome, the writer’s point of view being in full harmony with this supposition. There is also some controversy as to the date of the Epistle. Some would assign it to the period of the Flavian dynasty, but the probability seems to be that it was written shortly after the outbreak of the Neronian persecution, when the Christians in the provinces were beginning to experience the effects of the imperial example at Rome, about 64-65.
The very name of Christian was becoming a term of reproach (41°), and the chief object of the writer is to inculcate patience under trial and persever-
ance in well-doing in a spirit of hope.
(c) The 2nd Ep. of Peter.—The genuineness of this Ae has been more questioned than that of any other book in the NT. The external evidence for it is comparatively meagre; but the chief objection to it both in ancient and in moderr times has arisen from its differing so greatly in tone and substance from the Ist Epistle. his objection is so far obviated by the fact that while the Ist was designed to encourage and support Christians under persecution, this was evidently intended to warn against false teachers, who were spreading corruption in the Church. Moreover,
amid the general difference of style, a close ex- amination of the language and thought in this Epistle brings out many points of resemblance between it and St. Peter’s expressions elsewhere ; and in several respects it does not tally with the
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supposition of forgery. The mention of St. Paul’s Epp., however (3-16), as if they were already known to the Asiatic Churches, and in the same category as ‘the other Scriptures’ (ras λοιπὰς γραφάς, as well as the marked resemblance of this Ep., in style, to the recently discovered * Apocalypse of Peter,’ seem to imply a post-apostolic date ; and there is much to favour the view of Prof. W. M. Ramsay, who regards the Ep. as the work of ‘a disciple who was full of the spirit and words of his teacher, and who believed so thoroughly that he was giving the words of his teacher that he attributed it to that teacher.’ See, further, PETER (EPISTLES OF).