REV. GEORGE MILLIGAN, D.D., ON THE GREEK PAPYRI. 69 



lines, first regarding your health, secondly regarding that of my 

 brother and sister, thirdly that I may kiss your hand, because you 

 have brought me up well, and on this account I hope to be quickly 

 promoted, if the gods will. Give many greetings to Capito, and to 

 my brother and sister, and to Serenilla, and my friends. I send 

 you a little portrait of myself at the hands of Euctemon. My 

 (military) name is Antonius Maximus. I pray for your good health. 

 The Athenian Company . . . Give this to (the office of the) 

 first cohort of the Apamaeans to Julianus, paymaster from Apion, 

 so that (he may forward it) to Epimachus his father." 



Now, when we leave out of sight the wholly different 

 character of the contents, you will notice that the general plan 

 of his letter-— (1) Address and Greeting, (2) Thanksgiving and 

 Prayer, (3) Special Contents, (4) Closing Salutations and 

 Benediction — is exactly the plan which as a rule St. Paul follows 

 in his Epistles. And the point is of importance, as I have 

 already indicated, as emphasizing that in these epistles we are 

 dealing with living documents, written to meet immediate and 

 pressing needs. And consequently that, in order to understand 

 them, we must do our utmost to picture to ourselves the persons 

 alike of their writers and hrst readers. 



3. This same point comes out again very clearly in the light 

 which our new discoveries throw on the langicage of our New 

 Testament writings. It has now been conclusively established 

 that this language is in the main the ordinary vernacular Greek 

 of the day, and consequently these humble papyrus documents 

 and letters often give a fresh reality and significance to many 

 well-known New Testament words and phrases. A good 

 example is afforded by the word which St. Paul uses to describe 

 the attitude of his Thessalonian converts in view of the 

 Parousia of Christ. He speaks of them, according to our English 

 version, as "behaving themselves disorderly " (ii Thess. iii, 7), 

 and some commentators have thought that he was pointing to 

 serious moral misconduct on their part, but the use of the same 

 verb in a contract of apprenticeship of the year a.d. 66 in the 

 sense of playing truant," shows that what the Apostle has 

 really in view is a neglect of daily work and duty. The 

 Thessalonians were so excited over the thought of the Parousia, 

 which they believed to be close at hand, that they were failing 

 to show that quiet attitude of confidence and work which their 

 Lord would expect of them when He came. And similarly it 

 is interesting to learn that the very word Parousia, which we 

 have come to use as a kind of technical term for that Coming, 



