It is frequently repeated that the Epistles of St. Paul were just ordinary letters, Deissmann going furthest of late in this direction. But this is not the case. Ordinary letters are addressed to in- dividuals, and much of their charm consists in the intimacies which they disclose. But the majority of St. Paul's Epistles were composed for churches. Inevitably, therefore, they had edification in view ; and some of them are little ditterent from sermons. Indeed, some of them obviously reproduce the essence of his preaching, while the rhythmic and periodic flow of the more eloquent passages may be ascribed with confidence to the frequent repetitions of the wandering evangelist. As at all periods of I
his life their author was not only the pro]>agandist of a definite faith but an opponent of contrary doctrines, a doi-trinal or dogmatic character could not help ajipearing in what he wrote. The one bearing most resemblance to an ordinary letter is the brief Ejiistle to Philemon ; but Philemon was not a very intimate friend, and this letter, though confidential, keeps a certain distance, as of one addressing a social superior. With Timothy and Titus St. P.iul w.as on terms of much closer in- timacy ; but, in writing to them as youthful pastors, he could not liclj) thinking of the churches over which they presided, and much of what he wrote was obviously intended for the general bene- fit. Still it remains true that St. Paul's Epistles are neither sermons nor theological treatises, but are written with the freedom and realism of actual correspondence. They afford occasion for display- ing the height and the variety of their author's per.sonality ; for in them he is alw.ays himself — aflectionate, irascible, passionate, radiant, and op- timistic as long as his converts are faithful .and his churches expanding, but ready to perish with vexation and foreboding should they be the reverse. His style adapts itself without constraint to the mood he is in and the situation to which he is addressing himself. It can be abrupt, headlong, abounding with interrogations and anacolutha, or it can follow closely the windings of an intricate argument and break out into a rapture of doxology at the close. It is always copious, filling the channel from bank to bank, yet only at rare intervals strikingly sublime or beautiful. Evi- dently the author is not straining after ell'ect or aiming at excellency ; yet here and there, through the sheer quality of the matter, his speech becomes a cascade, breaking in foam over the rocks, or it Avidens into a lake where plants of everj- hue dip into the water and birds of every note sing among the branches.
Much attention has of late been devoted to the Language of St. Paul. It had long been known that it dift'ered materially from the Greek of the classical age, and that it had been modified largely bj' the ideas of the Hebrew Scriptures and the language of the LXX. But through the unearth- ing of the remains of the literature and correspond- ence of the time, in the rubbish-heaps of ancient cities or in the recesses of Eg'yptian tombs, it has been demonstrated that there prevailed over all the Greek-speaking world a development of Greek speech, common to all peoples and therefore now known as Koine, and that to this the language of the NT in general, and of St. Paul in particular, is so closely related that a knowledge of tlie one is the key to the other ; .and St. Paul takes his place as a master of this language. ' He thinks in Greek, and it is the vernacular of a brilliant and well- educated man in touch with the Greek culture of his time, though remaining thoroughly Jewish in his mental fibre' (A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of NT Gi-nck in the Light of Historical Research, 1914, p. 2). See, in addition, Weiss, op. cit. cli. 13 ; also T. Nageli, Der Wortschatz des Apostels Paulus, 1905.
(a) Galatians. — The Epistle to the Galatians, both in subject and treatment, bears so strong a resemblance to the Epistle to the Romans that it used to be assumed tliat the composition of both must be assigned to .about the same time ; and, as the latter indubitably belongs to the residence in Corinth at the close of the third missionary journey, it was taken for granted that Galatians must be placed there too. But, if its recipients were the churches of Antioch-in-Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, evangelized during the first missionaiy journey, and if the visit to Jerusalem mentioned in Gal 2 be identified with a visit to Jerusalem
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precedinf; the Council held there — these two being the conclusions of what is calleil the South (lahitian theory (see below) — it seems a natural inference that the Epistle was written before tlie conuncnce- raent of the second missionary journey and before the Council of Jerusalem. Tliis inference was not, indceil, drawn by Kanisay himself, when lie was (li'veliipinf; the South Galatian theory: he still held to the old view that Galatians must be Jilaced side by side with Homans. But it was perceived to be inevitable by others who had accepted the South Galatian theory (J. V. Bartlet, The Apos- tolic A(je, 1900, p. 84 f., and Garvie, Studies of Paul and his Gospel, p. 23) ; and Ramsay, in his latest publications, has come round to it {c.rj. The Teach- mg of Paul, 1913, p. 372 fl'.), holding Galatians to be the earliest of all the Epistles. The brevity of the introduction and the absence therein of the courtesies which abound in the later Epistles used to be attributed to the excitement in which the Epistle was written; but, if this was the earliest of the Epistles, it may be that the complimentary style of address bait not yet been developed. Certainly the author was writing in haste and in indignation; and there is more of what may be called the natural man, as well as of the Eabbi, in this than in any other of his writings. This was the commencement of the most heated and painful of all his controversies, and he enters the fray without the gloves. Tlie Judaists had captured his churches, denied his apostolic authority, and overturned his gospel ; and it is with the passion of a mother bereaved of her young that be throws himself at the feet of his converts, entreating them not to render his labour vain or allow themselves to be robbed of salvation ; while he turns on the enemy to defy and to blast. The theme is the contrast between law and gospel. In the strongest language he can find, be repeats, in every variety of expression, that the former is abortive and abolished, but that the latter is the glorious re- velation which is the end of all the ways of God with men. It is not difhcult 'to find in l'-2^i 3^-4" 4'--6"' three successive arguments upon (a) the divine origin of PauFs gospel, (b) the com- plete right of Gentile Christians to the messianic inheritance, and (c) the vital connection between the Christian Spirit and the moral life' (MofFatt, LNT, p. 88, quoting Holsten, etc.).