FROM-THE- LIBRARY-OF TRINITYCOLLEGETORONTO

PRESENTED

nev. Canon F.H. Mason

APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

NOTES AND INFERENCES MAINLY

BASED ON S. PAUL'S EPISTLES

TO THE CORINTHIANS

BY

H. HENSLEY HENSON, B.D

FELLOW OF ALL SOULS* COLLEGE, OXFORD

INCUMBENT OF S. MARY'S HOSPITAL, 1LFORD

CHAPLAIN TO THE LORD BISHOP OF S. ALBAN's

RURAL DEAN OF SOUTH BARKING

METHUEN & CO.

36 ESSEX STREET, STRAND

LONDON

1898

JUN

fe?

1968

TO

ARTHUR L. STRIDE, ESQ., J.P.

THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED

IN TOKEN

OF SINCERE RESPECT AND AFFECTION

AND IN REMEMBRANCE OF MANY

PERSONAL KINDNESSES

PREFACE

charm of Apostolic Christianity is unique, -1 and its importance supreme. Partly, it may not be questioned, the natural but irrational dis position to exalt the past at the expense of the present explains the lofty estimate of the earliest Church which most modern Christians have formed, and an actual study of the extant memorials of the first century will, to this extent, chasten and modify that estimate. Chiefly, however, the interest of thoughtful men in the first beginnings of the Divine Society arises from a just conviction of the solemn importance of the subject. It is felt on all hands that the Christianity of history, and especially the Christianity of contemporary history, is a very dif ferent thing from the Christianity of the Apostles : there is an uncomfortable suspicion in many minds that the proportions of the Faith have been deranged, that the intrinsically greater things have fallen into the background, and the intrinsically lesser things have usurped their prominence. The Church, the Ministry, the Sacraments, the Creeds — these have, in many minds, seemed to crowd out of view more ultimate and august realities ; and so powerful is the vague, almost unconscious, resentment of the human conscience, that a wide and ever-widening breach has silently discovered itself between religious

viii APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

men and organized religion. On all hands it is observable that Christian men are quietly with drawing themselves from all formal religious observances. They neither attend public worship nor receive the Blessed Sacrament, nor outwardly concern themselves with religious affairs. It would be a grave error to suppose that these people are in any definite way opposed to Christianity. Most of them have a real respect and admiration for Jesus Christ, and a vague but confident belief that if only religion were what He intended it to be, if only the Church were again what it was in the Apostles' times, they would eagerly profess themselves disciples. During the years that I have lived in East London and " London over the Border " I have often heard vehement denunciations of the Church, of the clergy, of the Sacraments, and of the Bible, but I can only recall a single instance in which the stream of invective was directed against the Founder of Christianity, and then it provoked very manifest repugnance. Largely, it must be admitted, this attitude is reflected and, by an inevitable reaction, stimulated by the so-called religious romance of the day. Scarcely anybody reads the New Testament : the current notions about the Gospel and the Apostolic age are largely based on the productions of Marie Corelli, Mr. Hall Caine, and writers of that type. Religious sentiment and emotion are developed by a thousand devices, while the prevail ing conception of contemporary Christianity is often a strange and various product of ignorance, prejudice, and delusion. Yet I cannot escape the conviction

PREFACE ix

that there is a more legitimate foundation for the deliberate and sustained alienation of so vast a multitude than mere sentiment on the one hand and mere mistake on the other.

The causes of this quiet repudiation of definite external religious observance are not altogether obscure. Probably few realize the gravity of the fact that, through the rapid growth of the cities, the main stream of the national life is now running, with an ever increasing volume, in urban channels. Life in a great city affects powerfully and distinctively the development of character. I am far, indeed, from suggesting that the urban influence is necessarily or even generally bad ; but I am very sure that in certain directions that influence is hostile to religion. The passion for amusement pathetically testifies to the deep weariness of routine, which the city-worker chained from day to day to his office-stool, or penned behind his counter, feels so acutely. Even the religiously-minded men feel this revulsion against restraint : the mass, consciously or unconsciously, are swept along by it. The services of Religion are found too long and too dull. Only on the condition that they become "bright," "popular," above all, short, will they be attended. The result is disastrous on the public worship and on the preaching. I am convinced that an unconscious effort to match the tastes of the giddy and emotional urban folk, far more than any real religious conviction or any innate bent towards anarchy, lies at the root of the ritual eccentricity which now distresses many sober-minded Churchmen, and perplexes the Bishops. It is melan-

A 2

x APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

choly to observe that Religion, which should grapple with and bring under discipline that frivolity which is the inevitable effect of urban life, rather aspires to conciliate and use it.

The Decline of the Pulpit is not less serious. Here, no doubt, special causes have contributed. The Oxford Movement was very largely a reaction against the arid and tyrannous Evangelicalism which oppressed the national conscience at the beginning of this century. As the Pulpit had been unduly magnified by the earlier movement, so it was unduly minimized in the later. More over, the Tractarians widened the area of clerical interests. Church History was no longer eschewed, though its study was severely conditioned by eccle siastical presuppositions. Ritualism opened a new and delightful world to the weaker members of the Anglo-Catholic party. The Sermon was habitually depreciated. It was made to symbolize human self- assertion as against Divine Grace : it stood' for "Protestantism" as against the "Catholic Church." It is still the fashion in '''High Church" circles to affect a great contempt for preaching : and commonly the Sermon in " advanced " Churches faithfully re flects the humble theory which may be supposed to have governed its composition. It may be held for certain that an excessive care for religious cere mony is incompatible with a high standard of preaching. The human mind cannot with impunity multiply its interests. A close and affectionate study of Ritual will leave little margin of time or mental power for those critical, historical, and theo-

PREFACE xi

logical studies which are the indispensable conditions of serviceable preaching to modern congregations. A worthier obstacle to the Pulpit has been the immense increase of parochial duties. Whether this increase is wholly satisfactory may be doubted : whether the time and energy bestowed on the raising of money for a thousand objects, in the organizing of amusements, not always of the highest kind, could not be better employed, may well be questioned : yet, at least, it must be conceded that the motives which have led to that distracting multiplicity of parochial engagements, which threatens to make pastoral charge wholly incompatible with intellectual self-respect, are high and unselfish motives. Here I refer to the subject merely in its bearings on the lamentable Decline of the Pulpit, to which I have adverted. Of late years there has been a consider able increase of " Home Missions." Almost every parish of any size is subjected every few years to the Ordeal of a " Mission." The enormous demand for preachers has induced many of the more earnest and eloquent clergy to cultivate an emotional and declamatory type of preaching, which, though im mediately effective and generally popular, is not free from very obvious and considerable perils. I think there are signs that the standard of Pulpit perform ance has been appreciably lowered by the develop ment of " Mission preaching." Finally, the Sermon may have suffered by the competition of the religious newspaper and the religious book, though it may be doubted whether the readers of such are not generally the most assiduous auditors of Sermons.

xii APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

Personally I think the influence of the press has been indirect. The best work is now rarely put into Sermons : it is reserved for publication. This is a natural, but a highly undesirable practice.

It has often occurred to me that there is a con nection between the facts just stated and the grave difficulty which is now felt in obtaining suitable candidates for the Christian Ministry. No doubt the serious decline in clerical incomes has influenced parents in choosing careers for their sons ; but there is compensation in the thought that poverty, though it may hinder some from entering Holy Orders, will purify the motives of many who, with the full knowledge of the distresses that await them, yet put their hand to the plough of the Divine Service. A more serious loss is inflicted on the Church when young men of intellectual gifts and high character turn away from Ordination because, under existing circumstances, they cannot hope for an adequate sphere for the exercise of their best powers.. As matters stand now a musical voice is a better recommendation than academic distinction, a know ledge of athletics and theatricals outweighs habits of intellectual industry, and a solemn sense of the awfulness of religion. If indeed it be the case that the Church has no use for the higher gifts of mind and character, then it is nothing astonishing that her Ministry has little attraction for the gifted and devout. The higher the standard of Ministerial Duty the more attractive will the Ministerial Life be found : but no thoughtful and earnest man can readily accept a career, of which the principal tasks will be purely mechanical.

PREFACE xiii

However this may be, the broad fact now stares the clergyman in the face that his principal instru ment of teaching is breaking in his hands ; the Pulpit seems to be discredited in the general mind, it is certainly ignored in the general practice. Therefore since teaching has always been and must remain the chiefest function of the Christian Ministry, the clergyman is driven to adopt various expedients by which to recover some opportunities for fulfilling his duty. Informal lectures, books written in a sufficiently popular style to secure the interest of average men, private conferences of one sort or another — these and similar methods are resorted to as substitutes for the Sermon.

These pages represent one modest attempt to bring before laymen in their homes subjects which had been better treated in Sermons, but which, since they will neither listen to Sermons nor read them, must be treated otherwise or not at all.

Urban life not only stimulates a passion for amusement, it also directly ministers to the cynical, sceptical disposition, which, not less than frivolity, obstructs the way of Religion. English people of the middle and lower classes, so far as I have observed, are not as a general rule well disposed towards definite infidelity ; but they seem to be falling into a vague unbelief, which does not care enough about spiritual things to positively contradict, but which tacitly rejects the teachings of the Gospel. There is a widely-extended distrust of the good faith of the clergy in matters of Religion. It is thought that language is used in the pulpit which does not

xiv APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

correspond with any actual convictions. The de structive aspects of Biblical criticism are becoming generally known, and something like contempt is not rarely expressed at the unrelaxed hold on the least defensible views which the clergy, in too many cases, display. With this contempt it is difficult not to feel a measure of sympathy. The timidity of the clergy scarcely respects the boundaries of Christian principle when it insists on ignoring the conclusions of Biblical Science. The manly attitude of S. Paul condemns such nervous dishonesty : — " Therefore seeing we have this Ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not ; but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."*

The most urgent necessity of the present juncture seems to be the recovery of public confidence in- the clergy. As one step, and a considerable one towards that end, I have urged, as well by example as by precept, the general adoption of the Revised Version in the public services of the Church. Without deny ing or minimizing the faults of that Version, I submit as an absolutely incontrovertible proposition, that for all the purposes which a Version of the Bible exists to serve, it is the best Version in existence. To go on using an inferior Version, when a superior is accessible, is not in my deliberate judgment to be reconciled with pastoral integrity. I need say no * 2 Cor. iv. r, 2.

PREFACE xv

more to explain my use of the Revised Version in this volume.

Urban life, it must be added, tends always towards sensuality. In the first century this was certainly the case ; by many melancholy and scandalous tokens we know that in this respect the nineteenth century can claim no exemption from the same burden. Personally I am convinced that the most formidable obstacle to Christianity at this moment is the wasting and furtive viciousness which, in many forms, corrupts our city population. Drunkenness is a lesser evil than sensuality ; it is neither so degrading to the character, nor so deadening to the soul. Weizacker speaks of " the gigantic war which Christendom in general, and Paul in particular, had to wage with immorality." The same formula might be employed to express the duty of the modern Church. Unhappily it does not express the actual procedure of the Church as a whole.

Frivolity, cynical scepticism, sensuality — these notes of urban life are always recognizable. Two millenniums of Christianity have not altered the inveterate characteristics of great cities. Apostolic Christianity — as Professor Ramsay has reminded us — was almost exclusively urban. Hence the study at every point suggests parallels to contemporary ex perience, and it is literally true to say that the least archaic period of ecclesiastical history is the most remote.

The Apostolic Age has been of late years made known to us by the labours of many brilliant and indefatigable students, The effect of their work is

xvi APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

a new revelation. The first beginnings of Christianity are now understood, as they have never been under stood before. The conflict of the critics over the documents has incidentally brought together a mass of information about the first century, which enables the English student at the end of the nineteenth century to appreciate the standpoints and sympathize with the difficulties of the Christians of Jerusalem and Corinth, to whom the Apostles preached. Unhappily the rank and file of English Churchmen are still suspicious and fearful of the new knowledge. They read their New Testament, or neglect to read it, with the paramount conviction that it is all a solemn and blessed miracle, which has no real con nection with actual, normal human experience. To such I respectfully address this volume. The history of its origin is briefly this. I read the Corinthian Epistles with classes of men both in Barking and in Ilford, and found it serviceable to put together into separate addresses the leading subjects dealt with by the Apostle. These were found helpful, and I was urged by many, both laymen and clergy (to whom my notes were submitted), to bring the whole into connected form and publish it. This account of the origin of this book will, perhaps, go some way towards explaining some sufficiently obvious faults of arrangement and style.

This volume, it is hardly necessary to explain, is not addressed to scholars, nor does it attempt an exact or continuous interpretation of the Corin thian Epistles, on which, nevertheless, it may be called in some sense a commentary. I have through-

PREFACE xvil

out endeavoured to be honest and clear, not greatly regarding a certain looseness of arrangement if only the broad outlines of the subject could be plainly marked. I have not scrupled to draw practical inferences ; and though I have tried not to read into the first century the ideas of the nineteenth, yet I have everywhere assumed the continuity of eccle siastical life.

I fear that repetition has not been as successfully avoided as I could wish. Partly this arises from the circumstance that the first four chapters were originally composed as a thesis independently of the rest of the book, which, as I have said, was in the first instance designed for public delivery. This also may explain a certain difference of style.

References have only been given when it seemed to me desirable to indicate to the reader either the authority for an opinion which might seem novel, or the direction in which fuller information might be obtained. I have given the Greek text of quota tions from the New Testament wherever it seemed to me that anything turned upon an exact rendering of the original. Histories of the Apostolic Age abound, and there are numerous commentaries on the Epistles to the Corinthians. Many of these I have used.

It will be manifest on every page how much I owe to the works of Re*nan, Weizacker, Godet, Ramsay, Hort, and Bishop Lightfoot. Perhaps I may be permitted to make special mention of two authors — the one a great preacher of the fourth century, the other a great preacher of the nineteenth — S. Chry-

xviii APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

sostom and F. W. Robertson. Both have taught me much; both considered the Corinthian Epistles of S. Paul from the standpoint of men set to teach civilized people under urban conditions ; and both, therefore, enter into the Apostle's mind more deeply than more learned exegetes.

If this little book shall induce in anyone a desire to know something more about the great subject of which it treats, my labour will not have been thrown away. To me it has been a labour of love, from which I rise with the conviction that in the Apostolic Age the latest Christian century must find its guidance. In reverting to first principles the Church must recover that Christian allegiance which she has now so largely forfeited. We are haunted and burdened by the idiosyncrasies of the later history. We are slaves to the fourth century, or to the Ages of Faith, or to the Reformation, or to the Zeitgeist of our own generation. Hence our impossible demands, our obdurate divisions, Our desperate rivalries. Behind all that long apostasy we call Church History is the Age of the Apostles, when the mind of the Spirit was reflected in the life of the Society with a fidelity which has never since been witnessed. There we may discover the original principles of Christianity, return to which is the supreme spiritual necessity of our time.

CONTENTS

PART I. THE APOSTOLIC ECCLESIA, OR LOCAL CHURCH

PAGE

I. INFLUENCE OF THE SYNAGOGUE ON THE ORGANIZATION

OF THE ECCLESIA . . ... 3

II. LIMITS TO AUTONOMY OF THE LOCAL ECCLESIA . 7

III. DISCIPLINE OF THE RELIGIOUS ASSEMBLIES . . 16

IV. MORAL DISCIPLINE OF THE LOCAL ECCLESIA . . 34

PART II. PRELIMINARY DATA

CHAP.

I. THE EPISTLES OF S. PAUL . . 41

II. THE FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH IN CORINTH . . 54

III. THE LETTER FROM CORINTH 66

PART III. DOCTRINE AND THE SACRAMENTS

I. THE HISTORIC CHRIST . . 81

II. THE RESURRECTION . . ... 94

III. THE CORINTHIAN HERETICS . . . . 107

IV. THE APOSTOLIC CREED . . . . 120 V. BAPTISM . . . ... 134

VI. THE HOLY COMMUNION . . . 150

xx APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

PART IV.

ORGANIZATION AND PRACTICE

CHAP. PAGK

I. THE CHURCH . . • *73

II. THE MINISTRY . . . 187

III. PUBLIC WORSHIP . • 201

IV. THE GIFT op TONGUES • • 214 V. MIRACLES . . . 227

VI. THE CHRISTIAN PROPHETS . . • 239

VII. WOMEN IN THE CHURCH . . 252

VIII. APOSTOLIC FINANCE . . . 266

IX. CONCLUSIONS . . ... 282

APPENDICES

I. S. PAUL'S TEACHING IN CORINTH . . 297

II. APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION . . . 3°°

III. CONFESSION . . . 306

IV. CELIBACY . . ... 312

TWO DISCOURSES

I. THE ADMINISTRATION OF HOLY BAPTISM IN LARGE

URBAN PARISHES . . ... 319

II. THE SOCIAL INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY . . 336

PART I.

THE APOSTOLIC ECCLESIA OR LOCAL CHURCH

I. INFLUENCE OF THE SYNAGOGUE ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ECCLESIA

II. LIMITS TO THE AUTONOMY OF THE LOCAL ECCLESIA

III. DISCIPLINE OF THE RELIGIOUS ASSEMBLIES

IV. INTERNAL DISCIPLINE OF THE LOCAL ECCLESIA

B

THE APOSTOLIC ECCLESIA OR LOCAL CHURCH

I. INFLUENCE OF THE SYNAGOGUE ON THE ECCLESIA.

Church of Christ received from the Divine -L Founder no rigid and detailed constitution. Neither the faith, nor the government, nor the discipline of the Christian society were defined in advance. The Apostles, to whom the task of founding the Church was given, were assured the presence of the guiding ''Spirit of Truth," and sent out into the world to learn by experiment and failure the right methods of organization. The conditions under which they went about their work were difficult and various. In Palestine they acted under the over mastering influence of ancestral Judaism : when the Gospel had spread beyond the limits of Palestine it advanced still on Jewish lines. The synagogues of the Hellenistic Diaspora became the first preaching centres of the Christian Faith in Gentile lands, and the earliest models of Church organization. More over, the fact that without exception the Apostles were Jews, and particularly that the most active missionary of them all, Paul of Tarsus, was a Rabbinist of distinction, tended to strengthen the

3

4 APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

influence of the old system upon the development of the new. The Christian Church was literally the off-spring of the synagogue. In Jerusalem we learn from the Epistle of S. James* that the name "syna gogue" was actually applied to the Christian assembly. Probably this was customary throughout the Jewish congregations. The record of the Acts suggests that the Apostles hoped and even expected to win over to Christianity entire synagogues. They were frankly admitted as co - religionists by the synagogue authorities, and allowed in the ordinary course of the worship to advocate the Messianic claims of Jesus Christ. Thus S. Luke records of Paul and his company that at Antioch, in Pisidia, " they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of tJie synagogue sent unto them, saying, Brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on."\ The synagogue was, indeed, the common starting-point of evangelistic , work. At Iconium, at Thessalonica, at Bercea, at Corinth, at Ephesus we read that S. Paul began his preaching of the Gospel in the local synagogue. The authorities were extremely long - suffering ; in no case does it appear that the Apostle was refused permission to preach, or promptly ejected after the nature of his preaching had become evident. Even at Thessalonica, J where the Jews showed themselves very hostile, we read that the Chris tian preaching was tolerated for three successive

* S. James ii. 2. f Acts xiii. 14, 15.

± Acts xvii. 2.

THE APOSTOLIC ECCLESIA 5

Sabbaths. At Corinth* the narrative suggests that a considerable time elapsed before the violent breach with the synagogue, and at Ephesusf it is on record that S. Paul continued his preaching in the syna gogue for no less than three months. It would be no extravagant assumption that in many instances the Apostles succeeded in carrying with them the entire synagogue, which passed without difficulty from Judaism to Christianity.! But where this was not so, and the Christian synagogue came into existence as a Schismatic congregation, it is certain that the general system of the parent synagogue would be maintained in the separated body.§ At Corinth and at Ephesus the transition was abrupt and violent. S. Paul made his final departure from the Corinthian synagogue with every demonstration of anger. The violence of the Jews was met by an outburst of righteous resentment. " When they opposed themselves and blasphemed he shook out his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be on your own heads : I am clean : from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles" This indignant language was immediately followed by decisive action. The Apostle organized a Christian synagogue in the house of a Corinthian proselyte who dwelt hard by the synagogue of the Jews. The real meaning of his conduct was evident when Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue (6 apxi(njvaywyo<i)y professed himself a believer, and joined the new society. Much the same course was followed at Ephesus : there the

* Acts xviii. 4. f Acts xix. 8.

£ v. B. L. HATCH, p. 60. § B. L. HATCH, p. 60 62.

6 APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

schoolroom of Tyrannus served to shelter the new Christian community which organized itself as a rival synagogue outside the limits of Israel. These conspicuous examples were undoubtedly typical of the common procedure. Everywhere outside the Jewish synagogue was formed a rival, organized on the same lines and preserving unaltered the same aspect. The influx of Gentile converts must have quickly affected the organization of these Christian synagogues. New conditions of existence involved new problems, and the solution of those problems necessitated extensive modification of the original Jewish model. The history of the Church in Corinth enables us to follow the course of development. The conditions under which that Church took shape were thoroughly representative. Originating in a secession from the Jewish synagogue, it rapidly attracted the Gentiles, until it became predominantly non-Jewish. The society to which the Pauline Epistles are addressed is clearly composed mostly of converts from heathenism. Apostolic discipline represents a compromise between the tradition of the Jewish synagogue and the needs of the Gentile disciples. The compromise was gradually reached, for the needs to which it was adapted only revealed them selves gradually, but throughout this was its character — an adaptation of the original Hebrew system to the changed circumstances and wider functions of a Christian Ecclesia.

THE APOSTOLIC ECCLESIA

II. LIMITS TO AUTONOMY OF THE ECCLESIA.

The original Christian Ecclesia, as it is pictured in the Corinthian Epistles, was by no means destitute of the machinery of government. Whether there existed a ministry in the traditional Christian sense may be fairly questioned. The idea of a free republic rather than that of a society governed by an ordained ministry is suggested by the Apostle's language : yet this freedom was neither absolute nor unrestricted. Large, indeed, were the powers of the Corinthian Ecclesia, but they were subjected to four important authorities. These must be carefully considered.

I. Laws of Christ.

The supreme and ultimate authority was the commandment of Christ. It is certain that at the time when the Corinthian Epistles were written (probably in A.D. 57) the Evangelic tradition had not been committed to writing. The oral Gospel, agreeing, we may believe, in the main with the can onical narratives, varied considerably in detail. Yet wherever it could be adduced, the Authority of the Divine Founder was final. Thus in the discussion on the right of the Christian ministry to maintenance by the Church. S. Paul, after advancing arguments drawn from the practice of the older Apostles, from the analogy of common life, from the practice of contemporary Judaism, reaches the climax of his reasoning in the words, "Even so did the Lord ordain

8 APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

that they which proclaim the Gospel should live of the Gospeir *

Whether we understand these words as a free rendering of Christ's language addressed to the Twelve, according to the first Synoptic, f to the Seventy according to the third,J or as a separate " logion " which has no place in the Canonical Gospels, it makes no matter. The Apostle evi dently adduces the authority of our Lord as closing the question. Similarly, when dealing with the difficult subject of domestic ties, which had been submitted to his judgment by the Corinthians, S. Paul sharply distinguishes his own authority from that of Christ. " Unto the married I give charge, yea not /, but the Lord, . . . but to the rest say 7, not the Lord"§ At that early stage, when the memory of the Life of the Founder was yet fresh in Christian minds, the authority of Christ, the Lord, as He was emphatically styled, was conceived as immediate as well as final. Discipleship resolved itself into the frank and affectionate recognition of that supreme and operative Lordship. While the tra dition of the Founder was recent and powerful, the lesser authority of the Christian society played but little part in the history ; but manifestly, as the years passed, that tradition tended to grow weaker, and as it waned the ecclesiastical power, properly so called, continuously waxed.

* i Cor. ix. 14. t S. Matt. x. 10.

J S. Luke x. 7, 8. § I Cor. vii. 10-12.

THE APOSTOLIC ECCLESIA 9

2. Mosaic Law and Old Testament.

S. Paul certainly regarded the Christian Ecclesia to be subject to the Jewish law so far as it dealt with morals. He assumes among his converts a complete acceptance of the Jewish Scriptures. His quotations from the Old Testament presuppose in his readers a familiarity with the sacred writings. Undoubtedly the Greek Version of the Canon was generally known throughout the sphere of the synagogue, and its acceptance was naturally transferred from the syna gogue to the society, which found in the synagogue its origin and its model. Examples of an appeal to the Scripture are numerous in the Corinthian Epistles. Fornication is condemned by a reference to the Book of Genesis. " The twain, saith he, shall become one flesh"* The Mosaic rule, " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn" is applied to the case of the Christian minister claiming mainte nance from the Ecclesia which he serves.! The history of Israel supplies precedents of warning or encouragement. Indeed, the Apostle ascribes to the Corinthian Church the character of sacred distinc tion which belonged to the chosen people. To his thinking the Ecclesia succeeded to the position which the synagogue had forfeited.! The ex periences of ancient Israel are the heritage of the spiritual Israel of Christian believers. " For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, how that our fathers

* I Cor. vi. 16 = Genesis ii. 24. f i Cor. ix. 9.

t cf. Gal. vi. 16, where S. Paul calls the Church "the Israel of God."

io APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

were all under the cloud, and passed through the sea. . . . Now these things were our examples . . . now these things happened unto them by way of example : and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come"* The silence of women in the religious assemblies is based on the Mosaic law, by which we must understand the Rab binic tradition in which S. Paul had been trained. " Let the women keep silence in the churches : for it is not permitted tmto them to speak ; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law!' f

These direct references to the Jewish law by no means adequately express the extent of the restric tion on Christian liberty involved in the Apostle's assumption that the Church was the true successor of the synagogue, and as such subject to the moral rules, not only of Scripture but also of the established Rabbinic tradition.

3. Apostolic Authority.

Moreover, the Church was subject to the Apostolic Authority, and in S. Paul's hands that authority was neither narrow in range nor feeble in exercise. It is evident that the Apostle claimed for himself over the Churches which he founded an authority supreme within the limits of his apostolic com mission, divine in essence, independent, therefore, of external control, and unaffected by human judg ment, which could be exercised either in person, or by letter, or by a duly accredited envoy. S. Paul

* I Cor. x. i, 6, II. t i Cor. xiv. 34.

THE APOSTOLIC ECCLESIA 11

dwells much on his own authority, and resents, almost passionately, the attacks upon it, which were both frequent and vigorous.

He planted the Church [eyo> e<f>vrev<Ta, in. 6] ; in so doing he was indeed a fellow-worker with God. [Qeov yap eV/xei/ crvvepyol, Hi. 9.] He is the wise master-builder [<ro<£o? apxtrcKrcov, in. 10], who has laid the one foundation [Oe/meXiov] on which all the rest must build, either well or ill. He repudiates human judgment as indifferent, and indeed irrelevant, in the case of one who holds a Divine Commission to be the servant of Christ and steward of the mysteries of God. [ovrws rj/mas Xoyife<r0a> avOpwTros, to? VTrrjperas XpiarTOv KOI oiKov6fj.ov<s jmvtTTtjplcov Qeov, iv. I.] This, indeed, might be said of all Christian ministers, but he was the spiritual father of the Corinthians, and as such could claim over them an unique authority. He addressed them not merely as a tutor [Trcu^aycoyoY], but as the father who " in Christ Jesus had begotten them through the Gospel" (iv. 14, 15.) This authority he would exert in gentleness, but if necessary with severity, [ri OeXere ; ev pd/SSco e\6o) TT/OO? v/ma<? ; // ev ayaTnj 7rvev/J.ctTi re TrpcwTrjTOS ; iv. 21.] His relation of Founder authorized him to claim from the Corinthians a provision for his maintenance [^ OVK eyofj.ev e^ovcriav (frayetv Kal TTietv, ix. 4], but this right he had not exercised, preferring not to associate his preaching with any personal claims, however legitimate, (ix. 15-17.) The " traditions " [Trapadoa-ei?] which he had delivered to the Corinthians were binding upon them. (xi. 2.) In case of doubt as to their application the reference

12 APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

lay to him, and from his decision there was no appeal. He was the channel through which the Evangelic History had reached them, and he neces sarily determined its practical bearings. He speaks by way of command rather than of exhortation or advice, and though he is careful to separate his personal opinion from his inspired decision, it does not appear that he would tolerate any disregard of the less authoritative utterance. In the second epistle, which has much the appearance of a personal "Apologia," S. Paul dwells at length* on his position towards the Churches of his own foundation. He evidently considers himself exclusively charged with their spiritual oversight, and pathetically declares that besides his normal sufferings at the hands of persecutors and opponents, "there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the Churches" t As the Churches grew more numerous, and were scattered over a wider area, the Apostle found himself compelled to exercise his episcopal functions by means of messengers and of letters. To this necessity the Church owes those incom parable compositions, the Epistles of S. Paul, which, originally called forth by special emergencies, were made the vehicles of eternal truth, and rapidly secured among Christians the supreme position which they merited, and which in the next century caused them to take rank as inspired Scripture. M, Renan has pointed out that the idea of utilizing epistles t as instruments of government was not

* Especially 2 Cor. x. 7-16. t 2 Cor. xi. 28.

J R£NAN, S. Paul, p. 228.

THE APOSTOLIC ECCLESIA. 13

original, but borrowed, in common with so much else, from the practice of the synagogue. In S. Paul's hands, however, the Epistle became, as we have said, not merely a means of ruling congregations, but also of teaching religion. Finally, in the administration of discipline within the local Churches S. Paul held himself to be supreme. He issued his sentence from a distance, and determined both the character and the duration of punishment. But to this point we shall recur at a later stage of our inquiry.

4. General Custom of Ecclesia.

The local Churches were self-governing, but not independent. The general custom of the Christian society was held to be binding on particular con gregations. This recognition of the unity of the Church was seriously threatened at Corinth, where tendencies to ecclesiastical individualism were un usually strong. The behaviour of women in the religious assemblies was a case in point. It appears that some of the Corinthian women ventured to appear unveiled in the congregation, and actually usurped a share in the conduct of service. S. Paul's Rabbinic training rendered such licence particularly abhorrent to him ; his good sense warned him that the gravest offence, possibly leading to a rupture of Communion, would be given to the Churches of Judaea. Moreover, he had but too good reason for suspecting the moral effect of such perilous liberty upon the Corinthian community. He con demns the conduct of the women as an unwarrantable

14 APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

departure from the general practice of the Christian society. He concludes the discussion about veiling with this brusque observation : " But if any man seemeth to be contentious [<f>i\6v€iKO$], we have no such custom [aruwjOetav], neither the Churches of God" * and he closes his prohibition of the public prophesy ing of the women still more peremptorily. " What ? was it from you that the Word of God went forth ? or came it unto you alone ? " t The Apostolic Church [ was assuredly not "congregational" in the modern sense, any more than it was " presbyterian " or "episcopal " : the notion of an external unityj superior to local particularism and restraining it,] Jdid certainly exist ; and in the autocracy of the [Apostles over the Churches which they planted was the principle of the later episcopal regime. In face of the evidence of the Acts and the Pastoral Epistles kt seems difficult to deny that the notion of trans mitting ministerial authority by a formal act_of prdination was established in the earliest Church. [From these premisses the conclusion of episcopacy kvould seem to be as logically irresistible as it has been historically evident.

Official Ministry. Thus the local Churches in the Apostolic period were held together in a loose, but not ineffective union. The task of maintaining order within those little communities must have devolved upon officials. The synagogue, upon which the Christian Ecclesia was modelled, had its duly ordained officials ; it is barely conceivable that these could have been dispensed with in the new societies.

* I Cor. xi. 16. t I Cor. xiv. 36.

THE APOSTOLIC ECCLESIA 15

It is not, indeed, necessary to assume that in those early days there existed the sharply defined " orders " of a later age, but that some ministry existed, how soever designated or regarded, seems to be proved by the Pauline Epistles. Possibly, as Weizacker suggests, the earliest converts became the first ministers.* In their houses would the little con gregation of converts ordinarily come together, and their claim to the submission of their brethren would be largely based on the substantial services which they rendered to the common cause.

It must, however, be conceded that the regular ordained ministry was, in Apostolic times, dwarfed by the exceptional ministries which then principally engaged the attention of the Church. The diffusion of extraordinary gifts rendered the maintenance of order extremely difficult. At Corinth it is probable that the circumstances were exceptional, but every where in the Apostolic age the " deacon," the " presbyter," and the " episcopos " count for little beside the " apostle," the " prophet," the " speaker in a tongue." It is remarkable that neither when rebuking the disorders which disgraced the Agape, and even the Eucharist, nor when regulating the procedure of the normal religious assemblies at Corinth, does S. Paul address himself to those who, on the hypothesis that an ordained ministry existed in that Church, must have been primarily responsible for the disorders and the natural agents of reform ation.

* Vide Apostolic Age, vol. ii. p. 320; cf. also HORT, Christian Ecclesia, p. 117.

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III. DISCIPLINE OF THE RELIGIOUS ASSEMBLIES, i. Domestic.

The religious assemblies were either domestic or public. To the former none but the baptized had access; the latter appear to have been open to the entrance of the heathen [a-jna-roij I Cor. xiv. 22], and perhaps were designed with a view to their conversion. The domestic assemblies were the Agapae or Love-feasts, and the Lord's Supper.* At this early time these were united, the Agape forming a preliminary to the more solemn rite.t Later, probably as a consequence of the persecutions, the Agape was wholly discontinued, and the Holy Communion transferred to the early morning. This arrangement, originating under the pressure of calamity, speedily commended itself as convenient, and from the second century until the nineteenth the practice of