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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library
https://archive.org/details/expositorsgreektOSnico
monk PRS TAMENT
EDITED BY THE REV. W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D.
BDITOR ον “THE EXPOSITOR,” “THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE,” ETC.
πο. EXPOSITOR'S τς ΤΕ ΥΙΜΕΝΤ
THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER
BY THE REV. |. απ κ πκατ M.A, II
THE SECOND EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER
R. H. STRACHAN, M.A. III THE EPISTLES OF JOHN
DAVID SMITH, Μ.Α., D.D. IV THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JUDE
BY THE REV. J. B. MAYOR, Lrrr:D. V
THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE
HODDER AND STOUGHTON LIMITED LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL «ΟΕ
In the case of this document a question preliminary to the ordinary heads of Introduction arises; the question of the Unity of the Epistle. For it contains two formal and solemn conclusions. The first! is “« That in all things God may be glorified through Fesus Christ to Whom belongs the glory and the victory to the ages of the ages. Amen;” and the second,’ ‘‘ Now the Godof all grace, he who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, himself shall refit you after brief suffering, shall confirm you, shall strengthen you, shall establish you. His is the victory to the ages of the ages. Amen.” The latter conclusion is followed by a postscript which ends with yet another formula of conclusion ὃ “ Peace to you all who are in Christ”’.
The address * at the head of the document stamps it as a circular letter or an encyclical epistle. The three conclusions divide it into three parts. Of these the last and shortest part may fairly be taken as a true postscript. The writer (we may suppose) takes the pen from the secretary, to whom he has been dictating, and appends a greeting in his own handwriting. St. Paul did the same thing in the Epistle to the Galatians.’ In such a case the value of the post- script would be greater than in the case of a circular letter addressed to widely separated churches in different provinces or countries. The Galatian letter would naturally be preserved in the chest of the chief church of the province; and St. Paul’s autograph would be prized as proof of the authenticity of the exemplar, copies of which were doubtless made and supplied as need and demand arose. But in this case also the autograph has a value of its own, inasmuch as it gives the credentials of the bearer, who presumably went from place to place and read it out to the assembled Christians, letting them see the postscript before he travelled on. So the third part of the letter may well be an integral portion of this encyclical.
But this postscript is preceded not by one conclusion but by two; and in this the document bears witness against its own unity. And
Viv, II. ἂν. το f. Ἑν. 14. 41, 1. 5 Gal. vi. ΤΙ-17.