ing, disputes about words, strifes about the law, fables, end- less genealogies, and profane babblings. This is quite unlike the controversial method of Paul, who defines what he assails, demonstrates its unsoundness, and shows the bearing of the gospel upon it.
IX. CuurcH Po.rtry. — The church polity of the Pastor- als is of a later date than Paul. Within the circle of the Pauline Epistles there is no trace of formally constituted church officers. The greeting to Bishops and Deacons in Philippians is unique, but it does not imply a polity differing substantially from that exhibited in 1st Corinthians and 1st Thessalonians. The greeting is to the church first, and the special mention of Bishops and Deacons by way of appendage is explained by the fact that the letter was called out by the pecuniary contribution of the Philippian church to Paul, of the collection and sending of which these functionaries would naturally have charge. The names Bishop and Deacon des- ignate functions and not official titles. In the formal list, in Eph. iv. 11, of those whom God has set in the church, neither Bishops, Elders, nor Deacons occur; and yet that Epistle was written within a short time of the writing of the Philip- pian letter. The offices in the Pauline church were charis- matic. The warrant of leadership was a divine, spiritual endowment. Paul recognises certain functions as of divine institution; and those functions are assumed in virtue of a special, divine gift in prophecy, speaking with tongues, teach- ing, healing, or helping, as the case may be (see 1 Cor. xii). There is no recognition of official distinctions, or of formal appointment to definite offices, in the Pauline Epistles. A pos- tles, prophets, teachers, powers, helps, healings, kinds of tongues, do not represent offices resting on the appointment of the church. ‘The Pastorals recognise Bishops, Deacons, and Presbyters. The recognition of three distinct orders is not as sharp and clear as in the Ignatian Epistles (100-118 A.D.), but the polity is in advance of that of the Pauline churches as set forth in the Epistles of Paul. The Pastorals seem to mark a transition point between the earlier republican