• Cf. \\'endland, Die heUeniatisch-riimische KuHur^, pp. 16.5, 168, 184 t.
Moreover, the Jew of the Dispersion had fallen under the influence of the peripatetic schools of Hellenism and of the Greek lecturer, who played a huge part in tlie Hellenistic world, speculating with cmjity verbal ilialectic and setting forth pre- tentious moral theories about the simjile antl ascetic life. They freely used mjtlis, ronuinccs, and love- stories for decking out traditions and historical personages, applying them even to the gods. In such ' myths ' and ' genealogies,' profane and gossi|)y legends couched in rhetorical phrases (di'TiW<rfis) with immoral tendencies, there was no reality {Kifo^puiuia). Borrowing the use of alle- gory from the Greek, perhaps also his frivolous literary methods, the Jew, even the Pharisaic Jew of Palestine, had long before this set to work upon the OT with such an aptitude that in his Haggadic Midrash, full of sen.seless stories and supposed genealogies of Hebrew heroes, and in the Jiuo/c of Jubilees, which sets forth mythical lines of descent of the families of the Patriarchs, he easily rivalled his master in riotous imagination and subtlety * (Wendland, op. cit., pp. 199-202). This method did away with tlie reality of the fact ; history was turned into phantasy. As applied to the Law, especially by the Hellenized Jew of Asia Minor, and to the facts of gospel history, it would produce similar results — that is to say, a false spiritualiza- tion, followed by indillerence to the facts of morality ; and so these triflers with silly tales may have undermined the rev(!reiice for the moral order of the Law which had been the bulwark of the Jew against the pa"an world. This evil tendency would be further aided by the widespread influence in Asia Minor of pre-Christian Gnosticism and the mysterj'-religions, from which even the Jew could not escape ; and, though he may not have adopted the pessimistic philosophy that lay at their roots, he often glided insensibly into asceticism or licence.
There are still traces in these Ejiistles of ojiposi- tion to Paul on the score of the Law, tliough it is diflerent from tliat of the earlier Epistles (1 Ti 1', Tit 1'" 3"). Here it comes from teachers who by their interpretation and method take all the moral meaning out of the Law. These errorists are a piratical crew, who have seized the good ship and kept her in a pestilential harbour till her timbers are befouled and worm-eaten.
It may be that in the emph.asis placed upon the conception of God as One and the Saviimr of all, and of Christ as the only Mediator (1 Ti 2'"', Tit 010-14)^ there is an allusion to contemporary Gnostic tenets, but it is more justiliable to see in it a veile<l protest against the tendency to ascribe divine iionours to heroes or local dj'nasts, to whom, as possessing the manifest power of the Divine pres- ence, the word ' Saviour was often ajiplied (fVtp->j)s iTntpdveia. [Wendland, op. cat., pp. 126, 127]). Quite probably Christians were often tempted to secure fav(mr from their rulers by this homage and to cloke the profession of tlieir faith. When 2 Timothy was written, the confession of Christi- anity, or at least the preaching of it, seems to have been dangerous (2 Ti 1" 2""'^), and Timothy is warned not to refrain on this account from de- livering Paul's message. In 1 Tim. the skies are clearer, and the Christians are bi<lden to pray for kings and rulers in order that under their governance the Church may have frceilom in wor- ship (1 Ti 2'"'). If her testimony is open and unmolested, the gospel will have freer course. Possibly the words may mean that by this time Christianity had penetrated to circles near the
" O. Wohlcnl-erg (p. .11 n.) quotes two rolev.int passflpes — Polyb. IX. ii. 1, who says Hint he will not follow t)ie method of many who deal with Ta Trepl rfm yfi'^aXoyia^; Kai tivdov^, (fat Trepl Tac airoiKt'af tri £e Kai <7vyy«i'«taf Ka\ KrCaeiv ', and Pllilo, Vlt. Mos. ii, 8, TO ytv€a>^oyiie{n' ftrpo^ Toi> I'o^ou, deals with the history of the human race until the giving of the Law.
588 TIMOTHY AND TITUS, EPISTLES TIMOTHY AND TITUS, EPISTLES
throne, and the Church may have been looking for permanent relief. The Cretans, who are urged to obey rulers (Tit 3'), seem to have led a secure life unless they provoked reprisals by violence or a harsh spirit, which mi;;ht have given them the reputation of being haters of their kind (3'-'- ■'). There is not sullicient evidence in any of the Pastorals to assume the existence of systematic persecution arising from an Imperial policy.
5. Organization and worship of the Church. — The Church is the household of God, the successor of the old theocracy, to wliich the living God had at all times committed His Word (1 Ti 3", 2 Ti 2'» 3'^-" ; cf. Eph 2'^). As the warden of Divine truth, which has been fully revealed in Christ, it must be pure in life, sound in doctrine, and firmly organized. Apostasy from or injury to its fellowship incurs the worst consequences (1 Ti 1"" 3«- ', 2 Ti 218 38- », Tit 3'»- "). (It is to be observed, however, that, though the Church is to be kept pure by the removal of unclean elements, the excommunication of Hymenjeus and Alex- ander, who were delivered over unto Satan [1 Ti 1-°], was intended to have a reforming eti'ect upon them, whereas in other Christian communities, on occasion at least, a similar act had a severer issue [Ac 5'-", 1 Co 5=].)