simplicity which a thousand years of subsequent experience have enabled no one to equal, much
less to surpass."^1207
On the other hand, we may well ask the opponents to give a good reason why a forger should
have chosen so many new words when he might have so easily confined himself to the vocabulary
of the other Epistles of Paul; why he should have added "mercy" to the salutation instead of the
usual form; why he should have called Paul "the chief of sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15), and affected a
tone of humility rather than a tone of high apostolic authority?
Other Objections.
The Epistles have been charged with want of logical connection, with abruptness, monotony,
and repetitiousness, unworthy of such an original thinker and writer as Paul. But this feature is only
the easy, familiar, we may say careless, style which forms the charm as well as the defect of personal
correspondence. Moreover, every great author varies more or less at different periods of life, and
under different conditions and moods.
It would be a more serious objection if the theology of these Epistles could be made to
appear in conflict with that of his acknowledged works.^1208 But this is not the case. It is said that
greater stress is laid on sound doctrine and good works. But in Galatians, Paul condemns most
solemnly every departure from the genuine gospel (Gal. 1:8, 9), and in all his Epistles he enjoins
holiness as the indispensable evidence of faith; while salvation is just as clearly traced to divine
grace alone, in the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 3:5), as in Romans.
In conclusion, while we cannot be blind to certain difficulties, and may not be able, from
want of knowledge of the precise situation of the writer, satisfactorily to explain them, we must
insist that the prevailing evidence is in favor of the genuineness of these Epistles. They agree with
Paul’s doctrinal system; they are illuminated with flashes of his genius; they bear the marks of his
intense personality; they contain rare gems of inspired truth, and most wholesome admonition and
advice, which makes them to-day far more valuable than any number of works on pastoral theology
and church government. There are not a few passages in them which, for doctrine or practice, are
equal to the best he ever wrote, and are deeply lodged in the experience and affection of
Christendom.^1209
And what could be a more fitting, as well as more sublime and beautiful, finale of such a
hero of faith than the last words of his last Epistle, written in the very face of martyrdom: "I am
already being offered, and the time of my departure is come. I have fought the good fight, I have
finished the course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day: and not only to me, but also to all
them that have loved his appearing."
Note.(^1207) Farrer, II. 611.
(^1208) Pfleiderer (Protestanten-Bibel. p. 834) says: "Die kirchliche Lehrrichtung der Hirtenbriefe ist eine von der altpaulinischen
sehr weit verschiedene. Von den eigenthümlich paulinischen Lehren über Gesetz und Evangelium, über Werke und Glauben
finden sich in unseren Briefen nur abgeblasste Reste, die fast wie feststehende überliefte Formeln klingen, während das
Glaubensbewusstsein ein anderes geworden ist."In this harsh and unjust judgment the fact is overlooked that the three Epistles
are pastoral and not doctrinal Epistles.
(^1209) Such passages as 1 Tim. 1:15, 17; 2:1, 4-6, 8; 3:2, 16; 4:1, 4, 7, 10, 15; 5:8, 17, 18, 22; 6:6, 9-12; 2 Tim. 1:6; 2:11, 12, 19,
22; 8:12, 16, 17; 4:2, 6-8; Tit. 1:7, 15; 2:11; 8:5, 6.
A.D. 1-100.