Teaching. you. I 3 2 all wickedness, and to purify for himself a People who should be peculiarly his own and eager to do good. Directions as Speak of all this, and encourage and rebuke 15 to his with all authority. Do not let any one despise Remind your hearers to respect and obey the Powers that be, to be ready for every kind of good work, to speak ill of no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be forbearing, and under all circumstances to show a gentle spirit in dealing with others, whoever they may be. There was, you 3 remember, a time when we ourselves were foolish, disobedient, misled, slaves to all kinds of passions and vices, living in a spirit of malice and envy, detested ourselves and hating one another. But, when the kindness of God our Saviour and his 4 love for man were revealed, he saved us, not as the result of 5 any righteous actions that we had done, but in fulfilment of his merciful purposes. He saved us by that Washing which was a New Birth to us, and by the renewing power of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us abundantly through 6 Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, having been pronounced 7 righteous through his loving-kindness, we might enter on our inheritance with the hope of Immortal Life. How true 8 that saying is! And it is on these subjects that I desire you to lay especial stress, so that those who have learnt to trust in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing good. Such subjects are excellent in themselves, and of real use to mankind. But have nothing to do with foolish discussions, or 9 with genealogies, or with controversy, or disputes about the Law. They are useless and futile. If a man is causing divisions among you, after warning him once or twice, have nothing more to say to him. You may be sure that such a man has forsaken the Truth and is in the wrong; he stands self-condemned. ΙΟ II Farewell III. CONCLUSION. Do 13 As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, Messages and join me as quickly as possible at Nicopolis, for I Blessing. have arranged to spend the winter there. your best to help Zenas, the Teacher of the Law, and Apollos, on their way, and see that they want for nothing. Let 14 all our People learn to devote themselves to doing good, so as to meet the most pressing needs, and that their lives may not be unfruitful. All who are with me here send you their greeting. my greeting to our friends in the Faith. Give 15 God bless you all. A LETTER TO JEWISH CHRISTIANS. [DATE AND PLACE OF WRITING UNCERTAIN.] THE Traditions_concerning the authorship of this Letter are unreliable. From the Letter itself it may be safely inferred that the writer was a man of intellectual power, that he was familiar with the modes of thought prevalent in Alexandria, that his home and work lay among Jewish Christians, and that he was in some way connected with those teachers who looked to St. Paul as their leader. It is certain that the Apostle Paul was not the author. The Letter has been attributed with some show of probability to several writers, in particular to Barnabas (Acts 11. 22-24; 13. 1—5) and to Apollos (Acts 18. 24-28). The Jewish Christians to whom the Letter is addressed were a community living, possibly, in Palestine, but more probably in Alexandria or in Rome; and the primary object of the Letter was to explain, to those who were well acquainted with the ritual of the old Covenant, the fulfilment of its types in the heavenly realities of the Christian Faith. From certain passages in the Letter it has been inferred that, at the time when it was written, the worship of the Temple had not been entirely swept away, as it was by the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. ΤΟ HEBREWS. I. THE PARAMOUNT POSITION OF THE CHRIST AS THE His God, who, of old, at many times and in many I 1 Superiority Ways, spoke to our ancestors, by the Prophets, to Angels. has in these latter days spoken to us by the Son, 2 whom he appointed the heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. For he is the radiance of the Glory of 3 God and the very expression of his Being, upholding all creation by the power of his word; and, when he had made an expiation for the sins of men, he took his seat at the right hand' of God's Majesty on high, having shown himself as much greater than the angels as the Name that he has inherited surpasses theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say- 'Thou art my Son; this day I have become thy Father'? or again 4 5 'I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son'? And again, when God brought the First-born into the world, 6 he said Speaking of the angels, he said— 'Let all the angels of God bow down before him.' 7 'He makes the winds his angels And the fiery flames his servants'; while of the Son he said 8 'God is thy throne for ever and ever ; The sceptre of his Kingdom is the sceptre of Justice ; Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity; 9 Therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the festal oil more abundantly than thy peers.' 3 Ps. 110. I. 5 Ps. 2. 7; 2 Sam. 7. 14. 6 Deut. 32. 43 (Septuagint); Ps. 97. 7. 7 Ps. 104. 4. 8-9 Ps. 45. 6-7. |