runaway slave.^1192 But since the Reformation full justice has been done to it. Erasmus says: "Cicero
never wrote with greater elegance." Luther and Calvin speak of it in high terms, especially Luther,
who fully appreciated its noble, Christ-like sentiments. Bengel: "mireἀστεῖος." Ewald: "Nowhere
can the sensibility and warmth of a tender friendship blend more beautifully with the loftier feeling
of a commanding spirit than in this letter, at once so brief, and yet so surpassingly full and
significant." Meyer: "A precious relic of a great character, and, viewed merely as a specimen of
Attic elegance and urbanity, it takes rank among the epistolary masterpieces of antiquity." Baur
rejects it with trifling arguments as post-apostolic, but confesses that it "makes an agreeable
impression by its attractive form," and breathes "the noblest Christian spirit."^1193 Holtzmann calls
it "a model of tact, refinement, and amiability." Reuss: "a model of tact and humanity, and an
expression of a fine appreciation of Christian duty, and genial, amiable humor." Renan, with his
keen eye on the literary and aesthetic merits or defects, praises it as "a veritable little f-d’oeuvre,
of the art of letter-writing." And Lightfoot, while estimating still higher its moral significance on
the question of slavery, remarks of its literary excellency: "As an expression of simple dignity, of
refined courtesy, of large sympathy, of warm personal affection, the Epistle to Philemon stands
unrivalled. And its pre-eminence is the more remarkable because in style it is exceptionally loose.
It owes nothing to the graces of rhetoric; its effect is due solely to the spirit of the writer."§ 99. The Pastoral Epistles.
Comp. § 33, pp. 327–329.
Contents.
The three Pastoral Epistles, two to Timothy and one to Titus, form a group by themselves, and
represent the last stage of the apostle’s life and labors, with his parting counsels to his beloved
disciples and fellow-workers. They show us the transition of the apostolic church from primitive
simplicity to a more definite system of doctrine and form of government. This is just what we might
expect from the probable time of their composition after the first Roman captivity of Paul, and
before the composition of the Apocalypse.
They are addressed not to congregations, but to individuals, and hence more personal and
confidential in their character. This fact helps us to understand many peculiarities. Timothy, the
son of a heathen father and a Jewish mother, and Titus, a converted Greek) were among the dearest
of Paul’s pupils.^1194 They were, at the same time, his delegates and commissioners on special
occasions, and appear under this official character in the Epistles, which, for this reason, bear the
name "Pastoral."
The Epistles contain Paul’s pastoral theology and his theory of church government. They
give directions for founding, training, and governing churches, and for the proper treatment of(^1192) See Lightfoot, p. 383, and the Speaker’s Com. New Test., III. 829.
(^1193) "Es wird hier,"he says (Paulus, II. 88, second ed.), "im Christenthum die schöne Idee aufgefasst, dass die durch dasselbe
mit einander Verbundenen in einer wahren Wesensgemeinschaft mit einander stehen, so dass der Eine in dem Anderen sein
eigenes Selbst erkennt, sich mit ihm völlig Eins weiss und einer für alle Ewigkeit dauernden Vereinigung angehört."Hilgenfeld
admits the genuineness, saying (p. 331): "Der ganze Brief trägt das Gepräge der einfachen Wahrheit an sich und verräth auch
in den Wortspielen, Philem. 11, 20, die Schreibart des Paulus."
(^1194) For biographical details see the Bible Dictionaries and Commentaries.
A.D. 1-100.