PAUL 421 filled a larger place in his thoughts than the " perils " of either the past or the present was the " care of all the churches." He was the centre round which a system of communities revolved ; and partly by letters, partly by sending his companions, and partly by personal visits, he kept himself informed of their varied concerns, and en deavoured to give a direction to their life. [ re- His most important relations were those with the communities tins of Asia Minor and of Corinth. > i the (A) It is probable that from Ephesus he went to the churches of li jhes Galatia. Before writing to the Galatians he had paid them at least e two visits (Gal. i. 9, iv. 13), and, although it is conceivable that oided. both visits may belong to his earlier journeys, yet the tone of his letter implies that no great interval had elapsed since his last visit (Gal. i. 6). The Acts mention that soon after his arrival at Ephesus he went to Syria, and returned " through the region of Phrygia and Galatia in order, stablishing all the disciples " (xviii. 23) ; and, although the motive which is assigned for that journey has been called in question, the journey itself is not inconsistent with the statements of his epistles. 1 He appears to have been followed by vigorous opponents, who denied his authority as a Christian teacher, and who taught "another gospel" (Gal. i. 6, 7). He consequently wrote a letter, the Epistle to the Galatians, which, from its marked antithetical character, throws greater light upon the essential points of his preaching than any other which has come down to us. It is mainly directed to three points : first, to assert that what he preached had its origin in a direct revelation to himself, and was consequently of divine authority ; secondly, to show that the bless ings of the gospel were not limited to the seed of Abraham, but were given to all that believe ; thirdly, to maintain that submis sion to the requirements of the law was not merely unnecessary, but an abandonment of the gospel. To this he adds the practical exhortation that they should not " use their freedom for an occa sion to the flesh," but " walk by the Spirit," from whom their new life came. It is also probable that during his stay at Ephesus several com munities were formed in the western corner of Phrygia, in the valley of the Lycus, at Laodicea, Colossre, and Hierapolis. If the testimony of the Epistle to the Colossians be accepted, they were formed, not by Paul himself, but by Epaphroditus (Col. i. 7, ii. 1, iv. 12, 13). (B) His relations at this time with the community at Corinth may for the most part be clearly inferred from his epistles, but, since they are ignored in the Acts and since the words of the epistles are in some cases ambiguous, there are some points of comparative uncertainty. The following is the most probable account of them. (1) Corinth, soon after Paul left it, was visited by Apollos, who is described in the Acts as an Alexandrian Jew, "a learned man" and "mighty in the Scriptures " (xviii. 24). Paul had "planted," and Apollos "watered" (1 Cor. iii. 6); to the unrhetorical and unphilosophical gospel of the one was added the rhetorical and philosophical preaching of the other ; they both preached in effect the same gospel, but between their followers there soon came to be a rivalry ; and it is probably in contrast to Apollos that Paul sub sequently protests that his own preaching was " not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1 Cor. ii. 4). (2) It is probable that Paul then went to Corinth a second time ; since his next visit was his third (2 Cor. xiii. 1, which, however, has sometimes been understood of an unfulfilled intention). (3) The Corinthians afterwards wrote to ask his advice on several points, viz., on marriage, on virgins, on things sacrificed to idols, on spiritual gifts, on the collection for the poor, and on his relations with Apollos (it is probable that the sections of Paul s letter which begin with the preposition irepi, "concerning," are the direct answers to the letter of the Corinthians). He also received news of the state of affairs at Corinth from the slaves of Chloe, who told him of the divisions in the community (1 Cor. i. 11), and from Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, who not only gave him better news, but probably also brought him material help (1 Cor. xvi. 17). He probably also learnt something from Apollos, who 1 It has been customary to give this visit to Syria a factitious im portance by representing it as constituting the point of division be tween the second and the third missionary journeys. But the arrange ment of Paul s active life into " missionary journeys " is artificial and unsatisfactory. The so-called " first missionary journey " is, as has been pointed out above, only a single episode in at least eleven years of work ; and, even if it be allowed that the conference at Jerusalem constitutes a sufficiently important epoch in his life to warrant a break in his biography, there is no solid reason whatever for fixing upon this particular visit to Syria as constituting such an epoch. If the latter part of his biography be broken up into chapters at all, it would be much more useful to divide it according to the centres at which he settled from time to time, and from which his activity radiated, Corinth, Ephesus, C;csarea (probably), and Rome. had come to him (1 Cor. xvi. 12). (4) He then sent Timothy to them (1 Cor. iv. 17, xvi. 10, 11), possibly by way of Macedonia, and with Erastus (Acts xix. 22). It has been thought that Timothy never reached Corinth (Neander, De Wette, Hausrath, partly on the ground that he would have been mentioned in 2 Cor. xii. 17) ; but, on the other hand, since his intended visit was mentioned in the first letter, his non-arrival would probably have been expressly accounted for in the second (Heinrici, Holtzmann). (5) Before Timothy reached Corinth Paul addressed to the Corinthians the first of the two letters which have come down to us. (6) Afterwards, possibly in consequence of the news which Timothy brought to him at Ephesus, he sent a second letter, which has not been pre served ; this is an inference from 2 Cor. ii. 3, 4, vii. 8-12, where the description of a letter written "with many tears," which made the Corinthians "sorry," does not seem applicable to the existing 1 Cor. (Hausrath thinks that this intermediate letter is to be recognized in 2 Cor. x.-xiii. ; but his hypothesis is rejected by Hilgenfeld, Beyschlag, Klopper, "Weizsacker, Holtzmaun, and others). (7) Then he sent Titus, probably with a view to the col lection of alms for the poor Christians in Palestine (2 Cor. viii. 6, xii. 17, 18; 1 Cor. xvi. 1-3). (8) After this, without waiting for the return of Titus, he resolved to carry out the intention which he had for some time entertained, but which he had abandoned or postponed, of going again himself (1 Cor. xvi. 5, 6 ; 2 Cor. i. 15, 23 ; it may be noted that, while in the first epistle his intention was that which he actually carried out, viz. , to go first to Mace donia and then to Corinth, in the second epistle the order of his intended route is altered). An emeute which took place at Ephesus was, according to the Acts, the occasion if not the cause of his leaving that city ; " a great door and effectual had been opened unto him" there (1 Cor. xvi. 9), and the growth of the new religion had caused an appreciable diminution in the trade of those who profited by the zeal of the worshippers at the temple (Acts xix. 23 to xx. 1). He went overland to Troas, where, as at Ephesus, "a door was opened unto him in the Lord" (2 Cor. ii. 12); but the thought of Corinth was stronger than the wish to make a new com munity. He was eager to meet Titus, and to hear of the effect of his now lost letter ; and he went on into Mace- In Mace donia. It is at this point of his life more than at any donia other that he reveals to us his inner history. At Ephesus lg he had been hunted almost to death ; he had carried his life in his hand ; and, " even when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no relief, but we were afflicted on every side ; without were fightings, within were fears " (2 Cor. vii. 5). But, though the "outward man was decaying, yet the inward man was renewed day by day " ; and the climax of splendid paradoxes which he wrote soon afterwards to the Corinthians (2 Cor. vi. 3-10) was not a rhetorical ideal, but the story of his actual life. But after a time Titus came with news which gladdened Paul s Titus heart (2 Cor. vii. 7). He had been well received at comes Corinth. The letter had made a deep impression. The p 0111 ,, admonitions had been listened to. The Corinthians had repented of their conduct. They had rid themselves of "him that did the wrong," and Paul was "of good courage concerning them " (2 Cor. vii. 8-16). He then wrote the second of his extant letters to them, which was sent by Titus and the unknown " brother whose praise in the gospel is spread through all the churches," and who had been elected by the churches to travel with Paul and his company (2 Cor. viii. 18, 19). It was probably in the course of this journey that he went beyond the borders of Macedonia into the neighbouring province of Illyricum (Rom. xv. 19); but his real goal was Corinth. For the At third time he went there, and, overcoming the scruples of Corinth his earlier visits, he Avas the guest of Gaius, in whose house a the meetings of the community took place (Rom. xvi. 23). Of the incidents of his visit no record remains ; the Acts do not even mention it. But it was the culminating point of his intellectual activity ; for in the course of it he wrote the greatest of all his letters, the Epistle to the Romans. And, as the body of that epistle throws an invaluable light upon the tenor of his preaching at this
