It is further not even quite clear that the opponents laid stress upon a personal acquaintance with the earthly Jesus, and so played the original apostles off against Paul. The expression "chiefest apostles," ch. 11:5, is clearly nothing more than an ironical designation of the false teachers themselves. It is true, the false teachers claimed to belong in a special sense to Christ, ch 10:7, and to be in a special sense "ministers of Christ." Ch. 11:23. But it is not at all clear—despite ch. 5:16—that the connection which they claimed to have with Christ was that of personal acquaintance, either directly or through their authorities, with the earthly Jesus. Finally, these false teachers cannot with any certainty be connected with the Christ-party of First Corinthians.
The chief value of the last four chapters of the epistle is the wealth of autobiographical material which they contain. Against the insidious personal attacks of the opponents, Paul was obliged to speak of certain personal matters about which he might otherwise have been silent. Had he been silent, the Church would have been the loser. To know the inner life of the apostle Paul is to know Christ; for Paul was in Christ and Christ was in Paul. What could compensate us for the loss of II Cor. 12:7-10? Through these words the bodily weakness of Paul has forever been made profitable for the strength of the Church.
In the Library.—Purves, "Christianity in the Apostolic Age," pp. 221-225. Davis, "Dictionary of the Bible": Purves and Davis, article on "Corinthians, Epistles to the." Hastings, "Dictionary of the Bible": Robertson, article on "Corinthians, Second Epistle to the." M'Clymont, "The New Testament and Its Writers," pp. 65-69. Beet, "A Commentary on St. Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians," seventh edition, pp. 1-20, 317-542. Ellicott, "A New Testament Commentary for English Readers," vol. ii, pp. 357-417: Plumptre, "The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians." "The Cambridge Bible for Schools": Lias, "The Second Epistle to the Corinthians." Zahn, "Introduction to the New Testament," vol. i, pp. 307-351. The last-named work presupposes a knowledge of Greek.
LESSON XXI
THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION
The Epistle to the Romans, though it is not merely a systematic treatise, is more systematic than any other of the Pauline Epistles. Unlike the epistles that preceded it, it was written in a period of comparative quiet between two great stages in the apostle's work. Not unnaturally, therefore, it contains something like a summary of Paul's teaching. The summary, however, does not embrace the whole of the Pauline theology, but only one important department of it. The nature of God, for example, and the person of Christ, are not discussed in the Epistle to the Romans. Of course Paul held very definite views upon these subjects, and these views are presupposed on every page of the epistle—especially the loftiest possible conception of the person of Christ lies at the background of this entire account of Christ's work—but such presuppositions do not in this epistle receive an elaborate exposition. The real subject of the first eight chapters of Romans is not theology in general, but simply the way of salvation. How can man be saved—that is the question which Paul answers in this epistle.
Obviously the question is of the utmost practical importance. The Epistle to the Romans is absolutely fundamental for the establishment of Christian faith. This estimate, which was formerly a matter of course, has in recent years unfortunately fallen into disrepute. The Epistle to the Romans, after all, it is said, is concerned with theology, whereas what we need is simple faith. We must return from Romans to the Gospels, from Paul to Christ. The words of Jesus, recorded in the Gospels, are thus emphasized to the prejudice of the teaching of the apostle.