For a detailed description of the Epistles the reader is referred to the special articles upon each. But it belongs to the history of Paul to notice the personal characteristics wliich appear in them. AVe must not omit to observe therefore, in this Epistle, how loyally the a]iostlo represents Jesus Christ the Crucified as the Lord of men, the Head of the l)ody with many members, the Centre of Unity, the Bond of men to the Father. We should mark at the same time how in- variably he connects the Power of the Spirit with the name of the Lord Jesus. lie meets all the evils of the Corinthian Church — the intellectual pride, the party spirit, the loose morality, the disregard of de- cency and order, the false belief about the resurrec-
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tion — by recalling their thoughts to the person of Christ and to the Spirit of God as the Breath of a com- mon life to the whole body.
We observe also here, more than elsewhere, the tact, universally recognised and admired, with which the apostle discusses the practical problems brought before him. The various questions relating to mar- riage (ch. vii), the difficulty about meats oftered to idols (ch. viii, x), the behavior proper for women (ch. xi, xiv), the use of the gifts of prophesj'ing and speaking with tongues (ch. xiv), are made examples of a treat- ment which may be applied to all such questions. We see them all discussed with reference to lirst prin- ciples ; the object, in every practical conclusion, be- ing to guard and assert some permanent principle. We see Paul no less a lover of order and subordina- tion than of freedom. We see him claiming for him- self, and prescribing to others, great variety of con- duct in var3'ing circumstances, but under the strict obligation of being always true to Christ, and always seeking the highest good of men. Such a character, so steadfast in motive and aim, so vei'satile in action, it would be difficult indeed to find elsewhere in history.
What Paul here tells us of his own doings and move- ments refers chiefly to the nature of his preaching at Corintli (ch. i; ii) ; to the hardships and dangers of the apostolic life (iv, 9-13) ; to his cherished custom of worlving for his own living (ch. ix) ; to the direct revelations he had received (xi, 23 ; xv, 8) ; and to his present plans (ch. xvi). He bids the Corinthians raise a collection for the Church at Jerusalem by lay- ing by something on the first day of the week, as he had directed the churches in Galatia to do. He saj's that he shall iaxry at Ephesus till Pentecost, and then set out on a journey towards Corinth through iMace- donia, so as perhaps to spend the winter with them. He expresses his joy at the coming of Stephanas and his companions, and commends them to the respect of the Church. See Corinthians, First Epistle to.
Having despatched this Epistle, he stayed on at Eph- esus, where " a great door and effectual was opened to him, and there were many adversaries." The affairs of the Church at Corinth continued to be an object of the gravest anxiety to him, and to give him occupa- tion at Ephesus : but it may be most convenient to put off the further notice of these till we come to the time when the Second Epistle was written. We have now no information as to the work of Paul at Ephesus until that tumult occurred which is described in Acts xix, 2-1-41. The whole narrative maj^ be read there. We learn that "this Paul" had been so successful, not only in Ephesus, but "almost throughout all Asia," in turning people from the worship of gods made with hands, that the craft of silversmiths, who made little shrines for Artemis, were alarmed for their manufacture. They raised a great tumult, and not being able, apparentlj-, to find Paul, laid hands on two of his companions and dragged them into the theatre. Paul himself, not willing that his friends should suffer in his place, wished to go in among the people ; but the disciples, supported by the urgent request of cer- tain magistrates called Asiarchs, dissuaded him from his purpose. The account of the proceedings of the mob is highly graphic, and the address with which the town-clerk finally quiets the people is worthy of a discreet and experienced magistrate. His statement that "these men are neither robbers of churches nor yet blasphemers of j'our goddess" is an incidental testimony to the temperance of the apostle and his friends in their attacks on the popular idolatrj'. But Paul is only personal!}' concerned in this tumult in so far as it i)rovcs the deep impression which his teach- ing had made at Ephesus, and the daily danger in which he lived.
Paul had been anxious to depart from Ephesus, and this interruption of the work which had kept him there determined him to stay no longer. He set out there-
fore for Macedonia, and proceeded first to Troas (2 Cor. ii, 12), where he might have preached the Gospel with good hope of success. But a restless anxiety to obtain tidings concerning the Church at Corinth urged Inm on, and he advanced into Macedonia, where he met Ti- tus, who brought him the news for which he was thirsting. The receipt of this intelligence drew from him a letter, the Second to the Corinthians, which re- veals to us what manner of man Paul was when the fountains of his heart were stirred to their inmost depths. How the agitation which expresses itself in every sentence of this letter was excited is one of the most interesting questions we have to consider. Every reader may perceive that, on passing from the First Epistle to the Second, the scene is almost entirely changed. In the First, the faults and difficulties of the Corinthian Church are before us. The apostle writes of these, with spirit indeed and emotion, as he alwaj's does, but without passion or disturbance. He calmly asserts his own authority over the Church, and threatens to deal severely with offenders. In the Second, he writes as one whose personal relations with those whom he addresses have undergone a most pain- ful shock. The acute pain given by former tidings, the comfort yielded by the account which Titus brought, the vexation of a sensitive mind at the ne- cessit}- of self-assertion, contend together for utterance. What had occasioned this excitement ?