made to our ancestors, and that the Gentiles also may praise 9 God for his mercy. As Scripture says

'Therefore will I make acknowledgement to thee

And sing in honour of thy Name.'

And again it says-

among the Gentiles

'Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with God's People.'

And yet again—

'Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles,
And let all Peoples sing his praises.'

Again, Isaiah says-

'There shall be a Scion of the house of Jesse,
One who is to arise to rule the Gentiles;
On him shall the Gentiles rest their hopes.'

ΙΟ

II

12

May God, who inspires our hope, grant you perfect happiness 13 and peace in your faith, till you are filled with this hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

14

16

I am persuaded, my Brothers--yes, I Paul, with regard to you that you are yourselves full of kindness, furnished with all Christian learning, and well able to give advice to one another. But in parts of this letter I have expressed myself 15 somewhat boldly-by way of refreshing your memoriesbecause of the charge with which God has entrusted me, that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus to go to the Gentiles— that I should act as a priest of God's Good News, so that the offering up of the Gentiles may be an acceptable sacrifice, consecrated by the Holy Spirit. It is, then, through my 17 union with Christ Jesus that I have a proud confidence in my work for God. For I will not dare to speak of anything but what Christ has done through me to win the obedience of the Gentiles-by my words and actions, through the power displayed in signs and marvels, and through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, starting from Jerusalem and its neighbourhood, and going as far as Illyria, I have told in full the Good News of the Christ; yet always with the ambition to tell the Good News where Christ's name had not previously been heard, so as to avoid building upon another man's foundations. But as Scripture says—

'They to whom he had never been proclaimed shall see ;
And they who have never heard shall understand!'

Personal

VI.

CONCLUSION.

That is why I have so often been prevented from Plans. coming to you. But now there are no further openings for me in these parts, and I have for several years been 9 Ps. 18. 49. 10 Deut. 32. 43. 11 Ps. 117. 1. 12 Isa. 11. 10. 21 Isa. 52. 15.

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longing to come to you whenever I may be going to Spain. 24 For my hope is to visit you on my journey, and then to be sent on my way by you, after I have first partly satisfied myself by seeing something of you. Just now, however, 25 I am on my way to Jerusalem, to take help to Christ's People there. For Macedonia and Greece have been glad to 26 make a collection for the poor among Christ's People at Jerusalem. Yes, they were glad to do so; and indeed it 27 is a duty which they owe to them. For the Gentile converts who have shared their spiritual blessings are in duty bound to minister to them in the things of this world. When I have settled this matter, and have secured to the poor at Jerusalem the enjoyment of these benefits, I shall go, by way of you, to Spain. And I know that, when I come to you, it 29 will be with a full measure of blessing from Christ.

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I beg you, then, Brothers, by Jesus Christ, our Lord, and by the love inspired by the Spirit, to join me in earnest prayer to God on my behalf. Pray that I may be rescued from those in 31 Judaea who reject the Faith, and that the help which I am taking to Jerusalem may prove acceptable to Christ's People so that, God willing, I may be able to come to you with a joyful 32 heart, and enjoy some rest among you. May God, the giver of 33 peace, be with you all. Amen.

The Bearer of the Letter.

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2

4

I commend to your care our Sister, Phoebe, who helps in the work of the Church at Cenchreae; and I ask you to give her a Christian welcome-one worthy of Christ's People-and to aid her in any matter in which she may need your assistance. She has proved herself a staunch friend to me and to many others. Personal Give my greeting to Prisca and Aquila, my 3 Greetings. fellow-workers in the Cause of Christ Jesus, who risked their own lives to save mine. It is not I alone who thank them, but all the Churches among the Gentiles thank them also. Give my greeting, also, to the 5 Church that meets at their house, as well as to my dear friend Epaenetus, one of the first in Roman Asia to believe in Christ; to Mary, who worked hard for you; to Andronicus 6,7 and Junias, my countrymen and once my fellow-prisoners, who are men of note among the Apostles, and who became Christians before I did; to my dear Christian friend Ampliatus; 8 to Urban, our fellow-worker in the Cause of Christ, and to my 9 dear friend Stachys; to that proved Christian Apelles; to the IO household of Aristobulus; to my countryman Herodion; to II the Christians in the household of Narcissus; to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who have worked hard for the Master; to my dear friend Persis, for she has done much hard work for the Master; to that eminent Christian, Rufus, and to his mother, who has been a mother to me also; to Asyncritus, Phlegon,

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Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the Brothers with them; also 15 to Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and to all Christ's People who are with them. Greet one another with a sacred kiss. All the Churches of the Christ send you greetings.

18

I urge you, Brothers, to be on your guard against people 17 who, by disregarding the teaching which you received, cause divisions and create difficulties; dissociate yourselves from them. For such persons are not serving Christ, our Master, but are slaves to their own appetites; and, by their smooth words and flattery, they deceive simple-minded people. Every 19 one has heard of your ready obedience. It is true that I am very happy about you, but I want you to be well versed in all that is good, and innocent of all that is bad. And God, the 20 giver of peace, will before long crush Satan under your feet.

May the blessing of Jesus, our Lord, be with you.

Timothy, my fellow-worker, sends you his greeting, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my countrymen, send theirs. Tertius, who am writing this letter, send you my Christian greeting. My host Gaius, who extends his hospitality to the 23 whole Church, sends you his greeting; and Erastus, the City Treasurer, and Quartus, our Brother, add theirs.

I,

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25

Now to him who is able to strengthen you, as Doxology. promised in the Good News entrusted to me and in the proclamation of Jesus Christ, in accordance with the revelation of that hidden purpose, which in past ages was kept secret but now has been revealed and, in obedience to the 26 command of the Immortal God, made known through the writings of the Prophets to all nations, to secure submission to the Faith-to him, I say, the wise and only God, be ascribed, 27 through Jesus Christ, all glory for ever and ever. Amen.

TO THE COLOSSIANS.

COLOSSAE was a town in Roman Asia, which had once been a place of considerable importance, but which, at the time of this Letter, had lost much of its former prosperity. It does not appear that St. Paul had had any close personal connexion with the Church at Colossae, but it is plain from the Letter itself that his authority was recognized over a wide area. The Apostle's attention had been drawn to the Church at Colossae by a visit which he had received from Epaphras, who had been closely associated with the Christians living there, and who had told St. Paul of a dangerous heresy which threatened to undermine the religious life of his fellow-Christians in that place.

This heresy consisted in a teaching, 'drawn from the atmosphere of mystical speculation,' and 'with no foundation in history,' which attempted to bridge the chasm between God and Man by the assumption that there were many angelic mediators. The necessity for this assumption lay in the prevalent error that all matter was evil and, therefore, in direct opposition to God.

Two obvious inferences from this heresy were the duty of the worship of angels, and the need for rigid asceticism.

Against such unsatisfying_mediation, and its consequent dangers, St. Paul sets the Life, Work, and Person of the historical Christ--the one, all-sufficient mediator, the Head of all creation.

The obscurity of this Letter is due partly to the ruggedness and compression of the Apostle's style, and partly to the fact that the Letter combats a form of heretical teaching which is by no means familiar to the reader of to-day.