PAUL. 



151 



lonica drove Paul away from Beroea also, and in Athens 

 he came into public contact with philosophic heathen- 

 ism, delivering in the Areopagus the well-known dis- 

 course (Acts xvii.), in regard to which Dr. Hatch raises 

 needless difficulties. 



In Corinth, the next city visited, the labors of Paul 

 assumed a more settled character. In this important 

 commercial centre he remained eighteen months. 

 Thence he wrote two letters to the Thessalonians, and 

 despite the obstacles to the gospel he founded an im- 

 portant church in Corinth, in regard to which we learn 

 much from the two letters afterwards written to the 

 Corinthians. In the spring of A. D. 54 Paul left 

 Corinth, touching at Epnesus and Caesarea on the way 

 to Jerusalem, whence he returned to Antioch, remain- 

 ing there some time (Acts xviii. 1-23), probably until 

 the close of the year. 



The third missionary journey began with a visit to 

 the Christian communities in Galatia and Phrygia 

 (Acts xviii. 23). Paul then came to Ephesus (Acts 

 xix. 1), where he remained for some time. [Dr. Hatch 

 objects to the division into "missionary journeys," in- 

 timating that Paul determined about this time " to 

 change the centre of his activity from Corinth to 

 Ephesus. ' But the narrative in Acts gives no war- 

 rant for this assertion.} Some incidents of Paul's life 

 at Ephesus are given in Acts xix., and others may be 

 inferred from the letters written during this journey 

 (linliitians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Romans). The 

 first was probably written from Ephesus, though some 

 place it later, at Corinth. The first Epistle to the 

 Corinthians was undoubtedly penned at Ephesus, and 

 the second from Macedonia, during the journey spoken 

 of in Acts xx. 1, 2. The Epistle to the Romans was 

 written from Corinth, where Paul remained three 



months (Acts xx. 3 ; comp. Rom. xvi. IV The record 



in Acts is very brief at this point, but the pi 



cidents in the letters are numerous. We see from 



these the opposition which pursued the apostle, partly 

 from Jewish prejudices (as in Galatia) and partly from 

 factions and immoraj usages, etc. (as in Corinth). Dur- 

 ing this period, beginning in Ephesus, Paul instituted 

 a system of collections for the poor saints in Judaea, as 

 all the accounts indicate. To carry this contribution to 

 Jcni>alem he made a fifth visit, which proved to be 

 the last. A plot laid by the Jews at Corinth led him 

 to alter his route, and we find in Acts xx. 3 to xxi. 14 

 an account of the journey written by an eye-witness. 

 The route was through Philippi, Troas, and Miletus 

 (where Paul met the elders of -the Ephesian church) ; 

 thence to Tyre and Caesarea. 



The apostle arrived in Jerusalem before Pentecost 

 (A. D. 58), when the city was crowded with Jews from 

 all regions. [Dr. Hatch takes pains to cast doubt 

 upon the narrative in the Acts respecting Paul's con- 

 duct at Jerusalem, and indeed seeks to prevent "any 

 certain light" emerging from any of the N. T. docu- 

 ments that belong to the later years of Paul's life.] 

 Meeting the elders of the church, it was suggested to 

 Paul, as a matter of prudence, that he appear in the 

 temple with certain Nazirites, thus to prove that he 

 had not taught the Hellenistic Jews to forsake the law 

 of Moses, as had been charged (Acts xxi. 17-25). 

 While carrying out this suggestion, Paul was set upon 

 by some_ fanatical Jews from Asia (the Roman prov- 

 inces, of which Ephesus was the capital), who charged 

 him with profaning the temple. Dragging him out of 

 the sacred enclosure, lest his blood might defile it, they 

 attempted to kill him, but he was rescued by Cjaudius 

 Lysias, the^ Roman tribune, who appeared with his 

 soldiers. This officer, after giving Paul an opportunity 

 to address the people, and discovering that he was a 

 Roman citizen, sent him to the Sanhedrin, where the 

 Pharisees and Saddncees were divided in opinion re- 

 specting him. The discovery of a plot led the tribune 

 to send his prisoner to the procurator Felix at Caesarea, 

 where he was kept in mild custody for two years, await- 

 ing a trial which never came. The story is tojd in 



Acts xxiv. (Some assign the Epistles to the Colos- 

 sians, Ephesians, and to Philemon to this period, but 

 all were probably written at Rome.) When a new pro- 

 curator came in the place of Felix, Paul appealed to 

 the tribunal of the emperor, exercising his right as a 

 Roman citizen. Thus the way was to be opened for 

 fulfilling his desire to preach at Rome (comp. also Acts 

 xxiii. 11). Having made a masterly defence before the 

 new governor (Festus) and Agrippa (Herod Agrippa 

 II.), Paul was sent, with other prisoners, to Rome, in 

 the autumn of A. D. 60. A vivid account of the voyage 

 and shipwreck occurs in Acts xxvii., xxviii. [It is 

 impossible to avoid noticing the doubts cast upon this 

 account by Dr. Hatch in the ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITAN- 

 NICA. If these _ chapters cannot be trusted, then no 

 record of antiquity can be termed historical.] 



Rome was reached in the spring of the following 

 year. Here two years were spent in mild imprison- 

 ment, which did not prevent the apostle from active 

 labor. He preached to the soldiers, wrote four of his 

 Epistles (Colossians, Ephesians, and Philemon ; these 

 three about the same time, and, probably afterwards, 

 Philippians). 



The Acts of the Apostles tells us nothing more. 

 This is strange, if Paul was beheaded at the close of 

 this imprisonment. Furthermore, the pastoral epis- 

 tles cannot well be placed at any point before this. 

 Accordingly it seems safe to accept as fact the state- 

 ment of some early Fathers that Paul was released, 

 and then, after a second imprisonment at Rome, be- 

 headed at some time between A. D. 66 and 68. (For 

 details of these later years, see PASTORAL EPISTLES.) 



2. The Chronology of Paul s Life. Two dates can 

 be fixed with reasonable certainty : (1) The death of 

 Herod Agrippa I. took place in A. D. 44, and the sec- 

 ond visit to Jerusalem occurred about the same time 

 (Acts xi. 30andxii.). (2) The governorship of Festus 

 began in A. D. 60, and the voyage to Rome occurred 

 shortly after. Starting from these dates we can ap- 

 proximately determine the time of the leading events 

 of the apostle's life ; but the Jewish mode of count- 

 ing parts of years as full years prevents accuracy, and 

 has led to the great variety in the chronological tables. 

 In some cases there are incidental reasons tending to 

 confirm the assigned dates. 



A. D. 



Date of conversion 37 



First visit to Jerusalem 40 



Second visit to Jerusalem 44 



First missionary journey 45 



Third visit to Jerusalem (council) 50 



Second missionary journey 51-54 



Fourth visit to Jerusalem 54 



Third missionary journey 54-58 



Last visit to Jerusalem (spring) 58 



Imprisonment at Csesarea 58-60 



Voyage to Rome 60-61 



First imprisonment at Borne 61-63 



[Release , 63 



[Reimprisonment and martyrdom 66or68 



There are various theories which would modify the 

 above list of dates, but it presents a working theory 

 and preserves the events in their relations, so far as re- 

 corded. (See Schaff, and many others.) 



3. The Writings of Paul The epistles may be di- 

 vided into three groups, according to the time of com- 

 position: (1) The earlier epistles, 1 and 2 Thessalonians 

 (A. D. 53), Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Ro- 

 mans (57 and 58). Some place Galatians immediately 

 before Romans. (2) The epistles of the captivity: 

 Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon, and Philippians 

 (A. D. 61-63). Some place Philippians first in this 

 group. (3) The pastoral epistles, written after the 

 first Roman imprisonment. In connection with the 

 last group there is the uncertainty, to which reference 

 has already been made, respecting the closing events 

 in the life of Paul. The Epistle to the Hebrews is 

 anonymous, and the question of authorship has been 



