thus natural that the apostle should look for the strongest protec-
tion against this danger which threatened the church from those
who were set over it. From what other quarter should he have
looked for this ? And wherefore was the office of presbyter insti-
tuted, if such an end was not to be served by it ? It was therefore
the danger arising from errors which threatened the church, that
induced the apostle, in the Acts of the Apostles, as well as in the
Pastoral Epistles, to lay so much stress on church-government. (In
the second Epistle to Timothy we do not find anything of this kind,
which is easily accounted for.) In the Epistle to Titus we find
substantially the same state of things. Here, indeed, we find no
church regularly formed, but nothing more is required than just that
the existing materials be brought together, and united around the
office, in order to foim a Christian, a Pauline-Christian church.
And although the newly-formed church is as yet threatened by no
heresy, in the proper sense of the word, it is in danger from an un-
sound tendency, which those who are to be set over it must oppose



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 519

with sound doctrine, just as heresy must be opposed with the truth.
If, as many commentators think, Christianity in the island of Crete
was, at the time when the epistle was written, exposed to danger
from the influence of Judaism in some such way as we find in the
Epistle to the Galatians, then assuredly the apostle would have
aimed chiefly at destroying this Judaistic tendency, in order to
make those who were infected with such an error Christians, before
he would give them a church government. There is yet another
circumstance, however, to be noticed, to which Dr. Baur has like-
wise referred. The apostle, before quitting the scene of his past
labours, and just because he takes his leave not knowing what is to
befall him, most earnestly charges the elders of the church at Eph-
esus to resist the impending danger. " Can the genuineness of
these epistles, as their ablest advocates suppose, be upheld only on
the supposition that the Apostle Paul was imprisoned a second
time at Rome" (Baur, p. 93), and do they consequently ail of them
belong to the latest period of his labours we have in this circum-
stance an additional light thrown upon the matter in question. As
the apostle, on his departure from the Ephesian church, charges the
presbyters with its protection and defence, so we observe in these,
the last of the apostle's epistles, written just before the period of his
final departure, a concern for the interests of the church, reaching
into the future, and passing from his own person and from personal-
ities generally, to the office and the office-bearers. And it is worthy
of notice that in the Epistle to the Philippians, the last of all, with
the exception of the Pastoral Epistles, the apostle makes special
mention of the bishops and deacons, although his earnest request
with respect to this church, flowing from the tender affection which
he bore to all its members, was not addressed merely to the office-
bearers, but to all without distinction (i. 3, 7, 8 ; iv. 21). Looking
then (if only by way of supposition) at the historical place which
the Epistle to Titus and the first Epistle to Timothy assert for
themselves, I do not see what reason there is to stumble at the
prominent place given to the office-bearers of the church in these
epistles. And if Titus in Crete, and Timothy in Ephesus, were
charged with the conduct and government of the church, it becomes
quite plain why precisely in these epistles so much should be said,
and said so emphatically, on the subject of church government ;
and only then can any objection be reasonably urged against this,
when other epistles of the apostle can be shewn in which he had a
similar inducement to speak of the constitution of the church. Here
then also, by a careful examination of the circumstances, and by a
comparison with what we learn from other sources, the difficulty,
1, finds a satisfactory solution.

3. With respect to the third of the points above-mentioned,



520 PASTORAL EPISTLES.

namely, the date of the epistles, it has already been shewn, 3, that
for the disposal of this, a period will always remain, the historical
reality of which does not need to be postulated merely for the sake
of the Pastoral Epistles for Hug supposes a second imprisonment
at Rome without placing the Pastoral Epistles in the period thus
gained but which is rather confirmed by indications contained in
passages of the New Testament, and by historical testimonies from
the age immediately subsequent to that of the apostles. Again, in
the special introduction to the respective epistles, it will be found,
that neither in regard to the Epistle to Titus nor the other two
epistles, is the supposition of their having been written within
the period embraced by the Acts of the Apostles and the rest of
the epistles, at all tenable. From these two premises it clearly
follows, that the epistles, if they are to be regarded as genuine, can
only be placed in the period between the first and second imprison-
ment at Rome. To the period between the first and second im-
prisonment belong the Epistle to Titus and the first to Timothy ;
while the second to Timothy belongs to the time of the second
imprisonment. We here only give a brief statement of the results
arrived at in the investigation connected with the separate epistles,
because we regard the agreement of the several epistles with each
other in the data which they furnish, as well as with what is other-
wise known, as a testimony in favour of our supposition with respect
to their date, and consequently in favour of their genuineness. The
Epistle to Titus informs us that the apostle, after what we have sup-
posed to be his liberation from the first imprisonment (according to
Hug in the year 64), and before the breaking out of the persecution
by Nero, had been in Crete ; that he had left Titus there, and had
given him instructions to come to him at Nicopolis, where he in-
tended to pass the winter. If then we must at all events suppose
that the apostle's release from imprisonment at Rome took place
during the first half of the year it is all one which year, comp.
Hug. II. p. 276 it follows that Titus' stay in Crete must have ex-
tended to the corresponding period of at least half a year, namely,
till winter .; it being supposed that the apostle went to Crete imme-
diately after his liberation. Without bringing his work there to a
conclusion (Tit. i. 5) he hastened forward ; and we learn nothing
farther of his subsequent progress from the epistle, except that at
the setting of winter he was to be found at Nicopolis (which Nico-
polis is meant the epistle does not inform us). How strikingly now
do the data of the two Epistles to Timothy correspond to this !
Here we meet the apostle, not on his way from west to east, but
from east to west. We find him according to the statements of the
first epistle on his way from Lesser Asia to Macedonia, i. 3 (whether
he was even with Timothy in Ephesus cannot be said with certainty),



GENEKAL INTRODUCTION. 521

with the hope, however, of yet revisiting Ephesus ; from the state-
ments of the second epistle we learn, that he had pursued his jour-
ney (we say nothing at present of Miletus) hy Troas, where he left
some of his effects hehind him, to Macedonia (which fully har-
monizes with the purpose expressed in the first epistle, to go from
Macedonia to Ephesus), from thence to Greece, and we find him
again a prisoner at Rome when this epistle was written. When we
remember that the apostle, according to what is stated in the Epis-
tle to Titus, intended to spend the winter in Nicopolis, we find a
complete harmony in the circumstances connected with this journey,
not merely in regard time for that the apostle hastened forwards in
Lesser Asia, as well as in Crete, we learn from the first Epistle to
Timothy hut also in regard to place, if we may understand the
Nicopolis in Epirus to be the Nicopolis to which the apostle betook
himself on the setting in of winter, in order to pursue his journey
to Rome in the beginning of spring, as soon as the sea might again
be navigated. We are here reminded of 1 Cor. xvi. 6, where the
apostle purposes to spend the winter in Corinth, in order to pursue
his journey by sea (Acts xx. 3), from thence to Jerusalem (Acts xix.
21). The harmony is apparent also in the circumstance that Titus
really was with the apostle in Rome (comp. 2 Tim. iv. 10). We
will not attach so much importance to this harmony as so hold that
of itself it forms a proof; but it is at all events worthy of notice
how easily and naturally all those circumstances correspond to each
other. Not less in favour of our supposition is also the harmony
with statements to be found in other places. We learn from the
Epistle to the Philippians i. 25-27, ii. 24, and from that to Phile-
mon, ver. 22, that the apostle towards the end of his imprisonment
at Rome, which lasted two years, purposed to go both to Macedonia
and to Asia Minor. If the apostle was indeed set at liberty, we
cannot but suppose that he would in the first place visit these dis-
tricts. In our epistles we find him really there ; and it may here
appear to be a circumstance of some importance, that the object of
his stay in Lesser Asia seems to have had reference not merely to
Ephesus (the words of 1 Tim. i. 3, may be perfectly understood
without supposing Paul to have been in Ephesus, and wherefore
otherwise does he commit to Timothy the charge of governing the
church and protecting it from error) ? but also, as may be gathered
from the Epistle to Philemon, to the district of country for which
this epistle was designed. The subscription too of the epistle (from
Laodicea), which appears to rest on tradition, as it is in no way au-
thenticated by the epistle itself, leads to the same conclusion. In
accordance with our supposition, the apostle's visit to Crete may
appear to be explained by his journey to Rome, in the course of
which he touched at Crete (Acts xxvii. 7) and how natural would



522 PASTORAL EPISTLES.

it have been to mention that the apostle had preached the gospel
here before if this had really been the case. And even the haste
with which he pursued this whole journey by Crete, through Asia
Minor, Macedonia, Greece, may be accounted for by the intention
which the apostle so decidedly expresses in Horn. xv. 24, to go to
Spain. With this also agrees the circumstance, that Mark, who,
according to Col. iv. 10, had gone to Lesser Asia, is to come again to
the apostle at Rome (2 Tim. iv. 11), along with Timothy, who is sup-
posed latterly to have gone from Rome to Philippi, and from thence
might easily pass to Ephesus. What remains to be said on these
points will be found in the special introduction to the respective
epistles. We have brought together these particulars, not so much
as separate arguments for our position, but rather with the view of
shewing how well everything corresponds, supposing our position to
be the true one, how the three epistles harmonize with each other in
the representation which they give of the apostle's journey, and how
what we learn from other sources, is implied and presupposed in the
statements of these epistles. Buf, moreover, the peculiar contents, as
well as the form of these epistles, will not easily be accounted for,
on the supposition of any other date than that which we have as-
signed to them. With respect to the former we have already ob-
served how, in various ways, these epistles bear the stamp of a later,
nay of the latest period in the life and labours of the apostle ; how
especially what we find in the Pastoral Epistles with reference to
the heretics, and the ecclesiastical institutions, points to such a
period ; how the statements on both the subjects evidently belong
to a state of things occupying a place between what meets us in the
earlier epistles of the apostle, and the latest epistles of the New
Testament, especially in the Apocalypse. We would only refer here
to what has been said above on this part of our subject. One other
point, however, we must bring forward, to which indeed we attach
the greatest weight in connexion with this question. Not only do
we maintain that these epistles, from the nature of their contents,
belong to a later period than the rest of the epistles of Paul, but
also that from their contents and their form especially the latter
they belong all to the same period. The most recent critics on the
other side have more thoroughly perceived this than has heen done
by the latest advocates for their genuineness. " The same or simi-
lar polemical references in these epistles," observes Do Wette, with
perfect justice, " and their peculiar phraseology, constrain the de-
fender of their genuineness to the supposition that they were all
written about the same time" (p. 118). And to the same effect, Dr.
Baur thinks that the genuineness of the epistles could only be
maintained by presupposing a second imprisonment at Rome (p.
93). If this were founded on the contents of the epistles alone, it



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 523

might be said in reply that it is by no means difficult to conceive
that the same errors which at a later period appeared in Ephesus,
had already shewn themselves in Crete several years before ; that
the apostle had equal occasion, in the epistle which had reference to
Crete, to speak of the presbyters, as afterwards in his Epistle to
Timothy ; and that the same circumstance also would account for
the precepts of a moral kind which occur in connexion with the re-
ference to the teaching of other doctines. All this expressed in so
general a form seems true enough, and sounds well. But let these
epistles be compared first with each other, and then jointly with the
rest of the apostle's epistles. What an agreement in the one case,
what a difference in the other ! And will it then be maintained
that the Epistle to the Komans was written nearly contemporarily
with the Epistle to Titus and the first to Timothy ; and that be-
tween these two and the last to Timothy, the Epistle to the Ephe-
sians, to the Colossians, and Philemon, were indited, as Matthies
supposes ? If, indeed, as Matthies himself has aptly observed (p.
592), the second Epistle to Timothy presuppose an entirely differ-
ent state of things from the first, and shews a different aim, whence
their agreement ? De Wette has performed the praiseworthy task
of drawing out a comprehensive view of the phraseology pecu-
liar to the Pastoral Epistles. Look at this assemblage of peculiar
formulas and words, many of which also express peculiar ideas, and
explain this phenomenon on the supposition that the epistles were
not written at one period, but that other epistles came between
them, in which we find no trace of this peculiarity. And this pecu-
liarity extends not merely to particular expressions, but also to the
style, as De Wette shews (p. 117), and even to the ideas and views
(comp. De Wette, p. 117). We have only to refer to such instances
as the designation of piety by evaH^eia, the expression sound doc-
trine, etc. This close affinity of the Pastoral Epistles to one an-
other, which imparts to them the character of a single epistle as
compared with the others, cannot be accounted for merely by the
fact that they are epistles addressed to private persons, or to fellow-
teachers with the apostle, or that in all of them the same circum-
stances had to be spoken of (this, to say nothing further, does not
hold with reference to the second Epistle to Timothy); it is ex-
plained only by supposing that they were indited at one and the
same time, when the apostle's mind was occupied with the thoughts
therein expressed, and when, so to speak, a certain mould had been
formed in his mind, in which were cast his views and designations,
and indeed his whole treatment of the subjects occurring in the
epistles, and the stamp of which we find even in the second Epistle
to Timothy. We have here then the same phenomenon, as we find
in the Epistle to the Ephesians, compared with that to the Colos-



PASTORAL EPISTLES.

sians. Comp. Harless on the Ephesians, Intro, p. 70. Bottger,
well aware of the importance of this point, and overlooking the
supposition of a second imprisonment, has yet sought to assign a
contemporary date to these epistles ; but the critical process which
he has brought to bear upon the text it is to be hoped will not find
acknowledgment. Every other hypothesis most renounce this con-
temporariness, without which the close affinity that pervades these
epistles cannot be rightly explained. If the apostle's liberation
from imprisonment at Rome is not admitted, then the Epistle to
Titus, and the first to Timothy which represent the apostle as in a
state of freedom, can have been written only before his apprehension
in Jerusalem, whatever be the special date assigned to them ; and
the second Epistle to Timothy (leaving out of sight Bottger's view
that it was written in Caesarea) only during the Roman imprison-
ment, whether at the beginning or at the end of it. And what
an insuperable difficulty does Acts xx. 18, seq., oppose to this view
in its every aspect ! How little do the contents of the first Epistle
to Timothy agree with the farewell address at Miletus, if that
epistle was written before this address was delivered ! Every un-
prejudiced mind will view the matter in entirely the reverse way, and
recognize in the first Epistle to Timothy, the beginning of the ful-
filment of the apostle's prediction in that address. Dr. Baur thinks
it " impossible that the epistles can have been written previous to
that farewell address ;" and in this he is perfectly right. " The
apostle," he continues, "must have been liberated from imprison-
ment in order to his being able to write them, but the parting ad-
dress at Miletus most decidedly contradicts this supposition" (p. 95).
We have already noticed this contradiction, and admitted the diffi-
culty which arises from the fact that the apostle, if the Pastoral
Epistles are genuine, must have again visited these countries, whilst
in that address he seems to take his departure from them never to
return. We will not urge, by way of explaining this, that from the
first Epistle to Timothy, we need not suppose that Paul was in
Ephesus, or farther, that his intention to go from Macedonia to
Ephesus (1 Tim. iii. 1415.) seems not to have been carried into effect
Take rather the most unfavourable view of the case, and suppose
that the apostle was mistaken in this respect in his knowledge of
the future ; shall we on this account reject the Pastoral Epistles as
spurious, if otherwise proved to be genuine ? " Infallible fore-
knowledge," observes Xeander (p. 476), u belongs not to the marks
of a genuine apostle, and from Paul's own words, ver. 22, the oppo-
site rather may be inferred. He himself speaks somewhat uncer-
tainly of his future destiny. Comp. also Acts xvi. 7 ; xx. 3 ; 2 Cor.
i. 15, ii. 12. If the address in question be closely examined, it will
be found that it does not say all that it is held to say by those on



GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 525

the other side. The apostle does not see himself already bound in
the spirit ; the words dedepevog r& Trvevpan cannot be made to imply
this, whatever interpretation we give to r> Trvevjucm, whether,
"bound in the spirit" (Meyer), or " bound by the spirit" (Calvin),
or " bound with respect to my spirit" in every case the tiedensvog
must contain the reason of the Ttopevopai, and, on account of the
following TO, ovvavrTJaovrd \LOI \ir\ eMwf, etc. (in which the apostle ap-
peals not to what he himself knows, but to what is known by another)
cannot be understood as by Baur : " seeing myself in the spirit
already bound, I go to Jerusalem not knowing what will befall me
there, except that the Holy Ghost witnesses by others," etc. How
are ^ et'&o? and Trkrjv to be reconciled with this interpretation ?
Just as little is the apostle " now about to finish his course," ver.
24 ; he only explains, why in spite of all these unfavourable predic-
tions he goes to Jerusalem, following the leadings of the Spirit ; be-
cause, namely, his life, in so far as he himself and his own interests
are concerned, is not so dear to him (comp. on Phil. i. 21) as to pre-
vent him from finishing his course, i. e., as is shewn by the words
that follow, from carrying out and fulfilling the work to which he
has been officially called, that of testifying to the gospel. " The
value which I set on my life does not restrain me from fulfilling my
course, i. e., my ministration" (Meyer on this passage). The apostle,
then, says that he is ready to yield up his life if that should conduce
to the fulfilment of his calling ; but he does not say that he is al-
ready about to die. He does not speak of what he himself knows
till ver. 25 ; in what precedes this it is ^ elduq. These words of
ver. 25 must certainly be understood to mean that the apostle would
never again see any of those who were then present ; for the v/zet?
ndvret; cannot possibly be so explained as to make the apostle say
that all as opposed to some shall not see his face again. The
apostle not merely hears in the predictions of the Spirit that bonds
await him ; but apart from this, his aims are now more directed to-
wards Rome (Acts xix. 21 ; Rom. i. 10, xv. 23), and even towards,
the most distant west (Eom. xv. 24), having no more place in these
parts as he wrote to the Christians at Rome shortly before enter-
ing on this journey, in the course of which we find him at Miletus.
In no case then could he hope soon, if ever, to return to those dis-
tricts, and this thought might be expressed in the words of ver. 25.
Let it also be borne in mind, that the difficulty with which we are
now dealing, affects not the Pastoral Epistles alone, but also the
Epistles to the Philippians, to Philemon (both of which represent the
apostle as having the prospect of returning from Rome to the east),
that to the Colossians (which may be said to be interwoven with the
Epistle to Philemon), and that to the Ephesians. For, if the Epis-
tle to the Philippians was the last that was written during that im-



526 PASTORAL EPISTLES.

prisonment, and was subsequent to the Epistle to Philemon, then
the promise in Phil. ii. 24 stands of course in connexion with the
intention expressed in Philem. ver. 22. Who would reject these epis-
tles as spurious on account of the olda in Acts xx. 25 ? The diffi-
culty is however just the same in reference to the Pastoral Epistles;,
the purpose which the apostle there expresses, we here find carried
into effect. This must restrain all who hold the genuineness of the
Epistle to the Philippians, and that to Philemon as established from
rejecting the Pastoral Epistles on account of this circumstance.

I only add that Olshausen also expresses himsslf to the effect,
that the supposition of a second Roman imprisonment can alone
establish the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles. " This assump-
tion alone can solve the serious difficulties. So much progress has
been made by the critical question. This supposition, however, does
not appear as merely arbitrary, but as a supplement to the history
of the apostle, in confirmation of which not a little may be adduced
from history indicating that such was the fact. For, 1, the Acts of
the Apostles is not complete in its communications ; 2, it ends
without bringing the life of the apostle down to its close : of course
then it needs a supplement ; 3, all that we are informed concerning
the accusation of Paul, seems in no way to imply that he would be
sentenced to death. He has the privilege of moving about, not at
all in strict confinement. As we certainly know that Paul suffered
martyrdom, it is in the highest degree probable, that his capital ac-
cusation was quite a different one from that under which we find
him in his first imprisonment ; 4, we are informed by credible
authorities that Paul also visited Spain ; by Clemens Romanus (dg
rippa rift dvaeus t/lfloji') ; by Jerome on Is. xi. 14, Cyril of Jerusalem,
Katech. 17." Compare Olshausen's observations in the Stud, und
Krit. 138. The most of those who have recently examined the point
have arrived at the same result, comp. above, 3.* Special difficul-
ties that may still attend this historical arrangement of the epistles,
will find consideration in the exposition of the epistles themselves.

4. We now proceed to the fourth of the points noticed above