1 Cor. vi.8. There are also some other links connecting the “ Painful Letter’? with 1 Corinthians which should not be overlooked. In 2 Cor. ii. 4 St. Paul is careful to explain that the letter which was written with tears was written οὐχ iva λυπηθῆτε, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀγάπην ἵνα γνῶτε ἣν ἔχω περισσοτέρως eis ὑμᾶς. It might be expected therefore that the Painful Letter should exhibit some trace of this overflowing ἀγάπη. And such a trace is conspicuously present in the last words of 1 Corinthians, ἡ ἀγάπη pou μετὰ πάντων ὑμῶν ἐν Χριστῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ (1 Cor. xvi. 24). No other letter of St. Paul’s has so affectionate a farewell. It was plainly added for some special reason. But if we identify this letter with the “ Painful Letter,” 2 Cor. ii. 4 gives an excellent reason for its addition. And, once more, the reference in 2 Cor. iii. 1 Ε, to a former self-commendation which the Apostle had indited finds its best and simplest explanation if we bring it into connexion with 1 Cor. ix. 18
16. Something must now be said about other schemes of re- construction of the history which have been proposed by recent writers. It is unnecessary to rehearse them all,' but the discussion of one or two of the most plausible may serve to bring the difficulties of the problem into clearer relief, and to supply tests by which the adequacy of the solution that has been adopted may be estimated. In England, the editor of 1 Corinthians in this Commentary, Pro- fessor Findlay,? and Professor Sanday*® (not to speak of German writers) interpolate a second lost letter from St. Paul to the Corin- thians between the First and Second Canonical Epistles. They hold it probable that the embassy of Timothy to Corinth vid Macedonia (Acts xix. 22, 1 Cor. iv. 17, xvi. 10) succeeded so far as this, that Timothy reached Corinth, but that his mission was not a success as regards the healing of disorders there. In consequence of the bad report brought back by Timothy, St. Paul wrote a second lost letter and sent it by the more capable hands of Titus.‘ It is the return of Titus from this mission which St. Paul awaited with such anxiety at Troas (2 Cor. i. 13), and the missive which Titus bore was the Painful Letter to which the Apostle alludes in 2 Cor. ii. 4, vii. 8.
1An elaborate account of the various theories which have been propounded will be found in an article by Hilgenfeld in his Zeitschrift fir wissenschaftliche Theologie (1899), and a comparative table is given by Schmiedel in the Hand Kommentar, pp. viii, ix. Cf. also Jilicher’s Einleitung for a good discussion.
2See vol. ii., p. 736 f., and Hastings’ Bible Dictionary, vol. iii., p. 711 ff., 3.0. * Paul”.
5 Encycl, Biblica, νο]. i., p. gor {.
‘On this hypothesis Titus was not the bearer of 1 Corinthians,