while the Christian now acknowledges that marriage is a mystery, which points to the relation of Christ and His Church (ver. 32; comp. § 105, a, footnote 2), Christ is the pattern of the love the man owes to the wife (vv. 25, 29), the Church in her subjection to Christ the pattern of the duty of the wife (ver. 24). It is hence clear that this subjection of the wife in marriage is the will of Christ, that she obey her own Christian husband (ver. 22). In the relation of children to their father, the same absolute obedience continues in the Christian state (Col. iii. 29; Eph. vi. 1: ὑπακούετε . . . ἐν κυρίῳ) which the divine commandment required in the Old Testament (ver. 2). If, on the other hand, the parental duty is therein defined, not to provoke children to resistance, there is to this, in the first place, a caution added, that the trustfulness which forms the basis of the natural relation of children is not to be endangered by discouragement (Col. iii. 21); but reference is here, Eph. vi. 4, expressly made to this, that it contradicts the nature of Christian nurture, in which the Lord would lead and instruct children. It follows further, that the father is to conduct the education after his own mind, but that the child must obey in him the Lord Himself. Finally, a very full discussion by the apostle as to the relation of slaves is only an illustration of 1 Cor. vii. 22 (§ 94, b). The Christian slave remains a slave, but he serves his earthly master no longer from fear and compulsion, but without eye-service and men-pleasing, with hearty goodwill, because in him he sees his heavenly Master, who has bidden him serve, and calls him to account for it (Col. iii. 22-25; Eph. vi. 5-8). The relationship of slavery has thereby lost its sting, because it can demand nothing from the slave but what he does of himself from his own free impulse, for Christ's sake. Just so the master is to give to his slave what is right and fair, to forbear threatening for the sake of the higher Master (Col. iv. 1; Eph. vi. 9). All arbitrary lordship has ceased, because the master ventures to demand nothing and to do nothing to his slave but what he is able to answer for before Christ."

11 It is self-evident, accordingly, how Paul sends back to his master the runaway slave Onesimus, whom he had converted (Philem. 11), and asks for him a reception as of a Christian brother, and pardon (vv. 16-18). He yet remains a

SECTION IV.

THE DOCTRINAL METHOD IN THE PASTORAL EPISTLES.

CHAPTER XIII

CHRISTIANITY AS DOCTRINE.

§ 107. The Wholesome Doctrine.

In the Pastoral Epistles, Christianity is regarded as essentially the doctrine of the truth, on a believing knowledge of which salvation depends (a). There had sprung up at that time an unhealthy striving after knowledge, which, because it led away from the truth, and originated divisions, required a special emphasizing of wholesome doctrine (b). But this striving must everywhere be dangerous, where faith itself in its deepest roots was no longer healthy (c). As, therefore, wholesome doctrine stands in closest connection with pure piety, the doctrinal errors of the present are characterized as themselves symptoms of an unhealthy corruption of the religious life (d).

(a) That in the Epistles to Timothy (indicated in what follows by I., II.) and to Titus Christianity is regarded as essentially doctrine, is clear from this, that on the moral conduct of Christians it depends whether the doctrine ( Sidaσkania) is exposed to reviling (I. vi. 1), or is honoured (Tit. ii. 10). The contents of this saving doctrine, which comes from God our Deliverer, is, however, according to ver. 5, just as in the earlier Epistles (§ 89, a), the word of God (II. ii. 9; comp. iv. 2: ó óyos simply), the gospel (i. 8, 10), slave (ver. 16; comp. ver. 11), and it springs simply from his personal relation to Onesimus as his spiritual son (ver. 10; comp. 1 Cor. iv. 15) when Paul, ver. 21 (comp. vv. 12-14), asks indirectly that Philemon would perhaps hand over the slave to him for his own service. Paul is not here thinking of any raising of the position of slaves, as the fulfilment of Christian duty on the part of those interested must without that completely transform that position in its essence.

or the word of truth (ii. 15). If Christianity is regarded objectively as the doctrine of the truth, it can be regarded subjectively only as the knowledge of the truth (II. ii. 25, iii. 7), and this, therefore, here along with faith, is mentioned as the distinguishing mark of the Christian (I. iv. 3; Tit. i. 1). On the other hand, also, the true children, i.e. the disciples of the apostle, are characterized by the faith they have in common with him (Tit. i. 4; I. i. 2; comp. oi Toтoi: I. iv. 10, 12, v. 16, vi. 2), and every bond of friendship with him, which he will acknowledge, must have its root in this faith (Tit. iii. 15). For there can be no attaining a knowledge of the truth without the confident persuasion of the truth it proclaims (I. ii. 7, iv. 6), and only the word corresponding to that doctrine is a word of faith (Tit. i. 9).2 Even there, when the apostolic

1 The word didarxaλía means, Rom. xii. 7, the work of teaching, as here, I. iv. 13, 16; II. iii. 10; Tit. ii. 7; so also, Rom. xv. 4, it means the becoming instructed, as also here, II. iii. 16; and, finally, Eph. iv. 14, Col. ii. 22, it is used of the doctrine as to its contents, as here mostly. Here also the apostle is put in trust with the gospel (I. i. 11; comp. II. ii. 8) as its xńpuž (II. i. 11; I. ii. 7), and hence also the gospel is called xńpuyμa (Tit. i. 3; II. iv. 17; comp. iv. 2; I. iii. 16). The designation of the gospel as the word of truth is not unknown either to the earlier Epistles or to those of the imprisonment, these latter also putting a special emphasis upon knowledge (§ 102, c). Here, however, the truth is regarded exclusively as the truth of doctrine, and no longer, as is the case preponderatingly in earlier Paulinism, as a practical principle. On the other hand, the λόγοι τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (I. vi. 3), on account of the addition ¿yızívovres, are assuredly not the doctrines which come from Christ, but the expression designates in true Pauline fashion Christ as the object of wholesome doctrine, as II. i. 8 (rò μaprúpov roỡ xvpíov åμwv; comp. I. ii. 7).

2 The formula so common in our Epistles: rròs ó λóyos (I. iii. 1; II. ii. 11; Tit. iii. 8), shows that it is peculiar to true doctrine to deserve faith, and I. i. 15, iv. 9, it is expressly declared that it is worthy a most trustful acceptation. rioris does not occur in the objective sense of a content of truths, which are regarded as established doctrines, as Baur, p. 342, supposes; it is rather the form in which the truth (as the contents of right doctrine) is in the first place subjectively apprehended. Thus certainly, I. iv. 6, τῆς πίστεως and τῆς καλῆς διδασκαλίας cannot be understood as identical ; ἐν πίστει καὶ ἀληθείᾳ, II. 17, are no v dia dvory, as Pfleiderer, p. 468 [E. T. ii. 201], supposes; and faith, iii. 9, is not the contents, but the possessor of the μvorńpiov (comp. ver. 16). But compare § 108, b, with i. 4. If the formation of the conception of faith had with Paul started from a reference to the truth of the gospel proclamation (comp. iorTIS àλnésías: 2 Thess. ii. 12, 13, and therewith § 61, c), and if this moment had been always kept firm hold of along with the transformation of the idea in the doctrine of justification (comp. § 82, d, 100, d), then that idea must have here again proportionately come into the foreground, when Christianity is mainly regarded as right doctrine.

proclamation is designated the gospel, it is said of it that Christ has brought immortal life to light by it, so that it appears as the means of instruction (II. i. 10: Pwriσavтos διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγ.; comp. 2 Cor. iv. 4, 6: φωτισμὸς τοῦ εὐαγ yeλlov). Every inspired Scripture also, to be sure (ypapǹ DeóπVEVσTOS), of the Old Testament, which, according to I. iv. 13, was read in the church, is profitable for teaching and moral instruction (II. iii. 6); but the Holy Scriptures (iepà yрáμμатa) are yet only able to make wise in a really saving way (oopioa eis owτnpíav) by means of faith in Christ (ver. 15), which therefore teaches to understand the right significance of the Scriptures, and is presupposed for their right use.3

(b) The reason why our Epistles regard Christianity mainly as doctrine lies in the circumstances of the time. Many had turned away from the truth (Tit. i. 14; comp. I. vi. 5; II. ii. 18), and it was to be feared that this would be the case in the future in yet greater numbers (iv. 4). There had arisen a gnosis, falsely so called (I. vi. 20), which, to be sure, did not appear as an error uprooting the foundations, but as an unhealthy tendency (ver. 4), a being occupied with empty, unprofitable, foolish, even profane questions of controversy (ματαιολογία : I. i. 6 ; Tit. i. 10; μωραὶ ζητήσεις: II. ii. 23; -Tit. iii. 9; ßéßŋλoi revoþwvía: II. ii. 16; I. vi. 20), which gendered only contention and discord (I. i. 4, vi. 4; II. ii. 14, 23; Tit. iii. 9). In opposition to it, right doctrine

3 That faith in Christ is anywhere implied in the Old Testament (Pfleiderer, p. 480 [E. T. ii. 213]), by no means follows from this; II. i. 5 speaks of Christian faith, and ver. 3 refers to Old Testament piety generally (comp. Acts xxiv. 14), and it has nothing to do with the dogmatic opposition between Judaism and Christianity. Even in the earlier Epistles the Scriptures of the Old Testament are spoken of as intended for teaching and instruction (Rom. xv. 4; 1 Cor. x. 11; comp. § 87, d), just as also, I. v. 18, the same passage from the law (Deut. xxv. 4) is turned to account in the same way as, 1 Cor. ix. 9 and II. 4, 6, the shedding of blood in the death of martyrs is regarded as a drinkoffering, as Phil. ii. 17. The law in particular is good (xaλós, comp. Rom. vii. 16), but only if it is used vouíuws, i.e. conformably to the end involved in it (I. i. 8). And this end points in this direction, that it is abrogated for the Christian, as he is already díxaios (comp. § 87, a), and has its significance only for the un-Christian sinners (vv. 9, 10). And this has no doubt to be understood in the sense of § 72, b, as ver. 11 expressly refers to the Pauline Gospel, a matter which Pfleiderer, p. 481 [E. T. ii. 213], overlooks.

• The aipirixòs äv@paros (Tit. iii. 10) is not a heretic in the later sense of the word, but one who produces divisions (aipirus, in the sense of 1 Cor. xi. 19; Gal.

appears (kan didaσkaλía: I. iv. 6) as sound doctrine (i. 10; Tit. i. 9, ii. 1), as λóyoi vyιaívovтES (I. vi. 3; II. i. 13; comp. Tit. ii. 8), and the contents of this sound doctrine is the truth (II. iv. 3; comp. ver. 4). But with sound doctrine faith also, conformably to its nature, seems to be threatened (I. iv. 1, vi. 10); those who have missed the goal of the truth mislead the faith of others (II. ii. 18). Whoever yields to a striving after false knowledge, misses the end of faith (I. vi. 21: πeρì tǹv πίστιν ἠστόχησαν), which naturally consists of an ever frmer conviction of the truth and the perfect sufficiency of sound doctrine; and whoever has come to be unstable in faith, has turned aside to paraιoλoyía (I. i. 6).

(c) It is not every faith which is endangered by these errors of doctrine; where faith is healthy (Tit. i. 13, ii. 2), it will maintain its ground; for those only who have swerved from unfeigned faith turn aside to μaraiλoyía (I. i. 5, 6). Healthy faith rests on a good conscience (ἀγαθή or καθαρὰ ovveídnois: II. 1, 3), from purity of heart, which really cares for the truth, and only for the truth. A pure conscience is similarly the vessel in which the mystery of the faith is preserved (I. iii. 9). Whoever allows it frivolously and indifferently to be lost, and thus as it were puts it away from him (ŷv... åтwσáμevoi), has made shipwreck of faith (i. 19). When the good conscience fails in purity in its strivings after truth, then faith is no longer unfeigned (II. i. 5); and when the conviction is no longer upright, then naturally it is easy to turn away the interest from the truth to other things."

v. 20). There is no special mildness expressed towards these false teachers (Baur, p. 343), but a mildness which lies in the nature of the case. There are false teachers which are here branded as of the devil (I. iv. 1), but these are to be dreaded only in the future: the existing error is an irepodidæoxæλsīr (i. 3, vi. 3), a teaching strange things, which one had best simply turn away from (iv. 7; Tit. iii. 9; II. ii. 16), without even entering on a discussion about them (ii. 23, 24). For this activity only becomes dangerous if there is a hardening towards the truth (Tit. i. 9; II. iii. 8), when one has then, to be sure, simply to stop the mouths of talkers (Tit. i. 10, 11).

"There is therefore also a faith which one persuades oneself and others of, as there is a hypocrisy of deceitful teachers who do not believe even their own doctrines; and it results in this, that such bear a brand on their conscience (I. iv. 2), so far as it is stained with the consciousness of hypocrisy and insincerity (comp. Tit. i. 15). Just so must the calling upon the Lord, i.e. the specific expression of faith, proceed from a clean, i.e. sincere motive of a free heart (II. ii. 22). And thus, naturally, it is all one whether the impurity by which the good