beginning before the creation, and looks out into the farthest future beyond death and the resurrection.
He writes with the authority of a commissioned apostle and inspired teacher, yet, on questions of
expediency, he distinguishes between the command of the Lord and his private judgment. He seems
to have written rapidly and under great pressure, without correcting his first draft. If we find, with
Peter, in his letters, "some things hard to be understood," even in this nineteenth century, we must
remember that Paul himself bowed in reverence before the boundless ocean of God’s truth, and
humbly professed to know only in part, and to see through a mirror darkly. All knowledge in this
world "ends in mystery."^1132 Our best systems of theology are but dim reflections of the sunlight of
revelation. Infinite truths transcend our finite minds, and cannot be compressed into the pigeon-holes
of logical formulas. But every good commentary adds to the understanding and strengthens the
estimate of the paramount value of these Epistles.
The Chronological Order.
Paul’s Epistles were written within a period of about twelve years, between a.d. 52 or 53
and 64 or 67, when he stood at the height of his power and influence. None was composed before
the Council of Jerusalem. From the date of his conversion to his second missionary journey (a.d.
37 to 52) we have no documents of his pen. The chronology of his letters can be better ascertained
than that of the Gospels or Catholic Epistles, by combining internal indications with the Acts and
contemporary events, such as the dates of the proconsulship of Gallio in Achaia, and the
procuratorship of Felix and Festus in Judaea. As to the Romans, we can determine the place, the
year, and the season of composition: he sends greetings from persons in Corinth (Rom. 16:23),
commends Phoebe, a deaconess of Kenchreae, the port of Corinth, and the bearer of the letter (16:1);
he had not yet been in Rome (1:13), but hoped to get there after another visit to Jerusalem, on which
he was about to enter, with collections from Macedonia and Achaia for the poor brethren in Judaea
(15:22–29; comp. 2 Cor. 8:1–3); and from Acts we learn that on his last visit to Achaia he abode
three months in Corinth, and returned to Syria between the Passover and Pentecost (Acts 20:3, 6,
16). This was his fifth and last journey to Jerusalem, where he was taken prisoner and sent to Felix
in Caesarea, two years before he was followed by Festus. All these indications lead us to the spring
of a.d. 58.
The chronological order is this: Thessalonians were written first, a.d. 52 or 53; then Galatians,
Corinthians, and Romans, between 56 and 58; then the Epistles of the captivity: Colossians,
Ephesians, Philemon, Philippians, between 61 and 63; last, the Pastoral Epistles, but their date is
uncertain, except that the second Epistle to Timothy is his farewell letter on the eve of his martyrdom.
It is instructive to study the Epistles in their chronological order with the aid of the Acts,
and so to accompany the apostle in his missionary career from Damascus to Rome, and to trace the
growth of his doctrinal system from the documentary truths in Thessalonians to the height of
maturity in Romans; then through the ramifications of particular topics in Colossians, Ephesians,
Philippians, and the farewell counsels in the Pastoral Epistles.
Doctrinal Arrangement.
More important than the chronological order is the topical order, according to the prevailing
object and central idea. This gives us the following groups:- Anthropological and Soteriological: Galatians and Romans.
- Ethical and Ecclesiastical: First and Second Corinthians.
(^1132) "Das ist das Ende der Philosophie: zu wissen, dass wir glauben müssen." -(Geibel.)
A.D. 1-100.