The idea set forth by Christ of the union of his people with himself, and with one another in one joint body (John x. 16; xv. 1, ff.), was kept alive by the apostles (oua rov Xplorov, Romans xii. 5; 1 Cor. x. 17; xii. 13; Ephes. ii. 16; iv. 4; xii.; xvi.; Col. iii. 15: EKKληnoía, Acts ix. 31; xx. 28; 1 Cor. x. 32; xii. 28; Ephes. iii. 10).10 This unity did not, indeed, obtain, for a long time, the corresponding external form; but it had an external opposition in the unbelieving, and an external center-point in the apostles,11 who exercised a general survey over all the churches (2 Cor. xi. 28), and were co-overseers in every single church (ovμпрeoßúтepot, 1 Peter v. 1). As they had themselves divided the large sphere of their activity by the separation into apostles of the Jews and of the Gentiles (Gal. ii. 7-9); so, again, did each one find in the churches he had himself founded, his narrower field of labor (Romans xv. 20), without, however, being prevented by this circumstance from being zealous for Christianity in other churches also. The first arrangement in the newly planted churches, even the appointment of elders in them, was made by the apostles themselves (Acts xiv. 23). Afterward, the officers belonging to societies of Christians were appointed by elders with the consent of the churches.12 In the newly established churches, Paul was accustomed to transfer the first arrangement and superintendence to one of his assistants (Acts xvii. 14; 1 Tim. i. 3, ff.; Titus i. 5, ff.), who then had a routine of duties similar to those of the later bishops, though not bound to any particular church.13 They belonged rather to the class of teachers who, without being confined in one place, preached the gospel as opportunity offered (evayyɛdıoraí, 2 Tim. iv. 5). James, the Lord's brother, occupied a peculiar position. He stood in Jerusalem, where he continued to reside, at the head of the church, in equal esteem with the apostles, and with extensive influence and reputation, quite in the relation of a later bishop, but without the appellation.14

10 Rothe, i. 282.

11 Rothe, i. 302.

12 Clement of Rome, Epist. i. 44, says, that the presbyters were at first appointed (κατασταθέντες) by the apostles, afterward ύφ' ἑτέρων ἐλλογίμων ἀνδρῶν, συνευδοκησάons tñs ékkλnoiaç núσnç, as according to Cyprian, Epist. 52, the bishop was chosen de clericorum testimonio, de plebis suffragio.

13 Rothe, i. 305.

14 Gal. i. 19, ii. 12; Acts xii. 17, xv. 13, xxi. 18. (Comp. § 25, note 2. § 26, 6, note 4.) Rothe, S. 264

§ 31.

TIME OF THE JEWISH DISTURBANCES.

The Jewish expectations of the Messiah had constantly been most lively under the oppression of foreign rulers, and had expressed themselves among the Palestinian Jews in an Apocalyptic literature, shaped after the old Hebrew prophecies, but far surpassing these in definiteness and richness in imagery, viz.: the book of Danieľ1 (under Antiochus Epiphanes); the book of Enoch2 (under Herod the Great). The times of oppression, in like manner, before and after the destruction of Jerusalem, furnished new nourishment to such expectations (4th book of Ezra). Alexandrian Jews,

3

1 Bleek über Verf. u. Zweck des B. Daniel, a review of the inquiries made into these points in the theol. Zeitschrift v. Schleiermacher, De Wette und Lücke, iii. 171. Against Hengstenberg (die Authentie des Daniel u. die Integrität des Sacharjah. Berlin. 1831) and Hävernick (Comm. über d. B. Daniel. Hamburg. 1832) comp. C. v. Lengerke d. B. Daniel. Königsberg. 1835, Redepenning in the theol. Studien u. Krit. 1833, iii. 831, 1835, i. 163.

2 Preserved in an Ethiopic version first translated into English by R. Laurence. Oxford, 3d edition, 1838. A. G. Hoffmann's Buch Henoch in vollständiger (translated from the English as far as the 55th chapter, the remainder from the Ethiopic) Uebersetzung, mit Commentar, Einleitung und Excursen. 2 Abth. Jena. 1833, 38. 8vo. According to Laurence, Hoffmann, i. 23, Gfrörer (Jahrhundert des Heils, i. 96) and Wieseler (die 70 Wochen und die 63 Jahrwochen des Proph. Daniel. Göttingen. 1839, S. 163), it belongs to the first year of the reign of Herod the Great; according to Hoffmann's later opinion (ii. Vorr. S. 11), to the conclusion of the Maccabean period. Lücke (Einl. in die Offenbar. Johannis, S. 60) places it in the time of the Jewish war, probably after the destruction of Jerusalem. So, in like manner, Credner (Einl. in d. N. T. i. ii. 712), in the time about which the Apocalypse was written. Unquestionably, Christian elements have been pointed out by Lücke (S. 75) in the book, which, however, came into it by means of a later revision. [Kitto's Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature, book of Enoch.]

3 The Greek original is lost. There are preserved an old Latin translation (in J. A. Fabricii codex pseudepigraphus V. T. iii. 173), an Ethiopic (Primi Ezrae libri, qui apud Vulgatum appellatur quartus, versio aethiopica, nunc primo in medium prolata, et latine angliceque reddita a R. Laurence. Oxon. 1820. 8), and a paraphrasing Arabic one (translated into English in Whiston's Primitive Christianity, iv.; its variations are also found in Fabricus, 1. c. On the book comp. Corodi's Krit. Gesch. des Chiliasmus, i. 179; Lücke a. a. O. S. 78; Gfröfer a. a. O. i. 69; Wieseler a. a. O. S. 206. Ch. J. van der Vlis disp. crit. de Ezrae libro apocrypho, vulgo quarto dicto. Amstelod. 1839. 8. Laurence fixes the time of its writing between 28 and 25 B.C. Mick. Merkel (Vermischte Anmerkungen aus d. Philologie, Kritik, und Theologie, Erste Samm. Leipz. 1772, S. 75, ff.) places it in the time of Vespasian. On the other hand, Corodi, Lücke, Gfröfer, and Wieseler, in the end of the first century. It was written by a Jew, but interpolated by a Christian hand. From the latter proceed cap. i. ii. xv. and xvi. entirely.

4

on the other hand, made use of the widely spread form of the sybilline oracles, in order to oppose idolatry, and to procure respect among the heathen for their people and their destiny. The more the Christians were inclined to see the beginning of the end in the oppressions of that time, the easier access to them did such writings obtain, and the more readily were they imitated (first Christian sybillines.)5

When Jewish fanaticism pressed severely on the Christians of Jerusalem immediately before its destruction, and even James, the Lord's brother (69 A.D.), fell a sacrifice to it; the most of

4 After the genuine sybillines had been burnt along with the capitol, 74 B.C., and persons began to collect new sybillines, they sprang up in so great numbers that the loss in the capitol was not only replaced very soon, but Augustus could even cause such writings to be deposited in the temple of Apollo on the Palatine (Sueton. Aug. c. 31). Although at that time the possession of all soothsaying books was forbidden, yet numerous sybilline predictions were constantly circulated among the people (Tacit. Ann. vi. 12). The first certain trace of Jewish sybillines is to be found in Joseph. Ant. i. 4, 3 (cf. orac. Sybill. iii. 35). The sybillines now extant (Sybillinorum oraculorum lib. viii. ed. Jo. Opsopoeus. Paris. 1589, ed. 3, 1607, gr. 8vo. Servatius Gallaeus. Amst. 1689. 4. Gallandius in his Bibl. pp. i. 133: to these have been lately added, lib. xi.-xiv. in Ang Maji scriptorum vett. nova collectio, t. iii. p. 3. Romae. 1828. 4) were usually before this time assigned to the second century, and to the Montanists; by many (Casaubon, Scaliger, Blondel) to Montanus himself. Huet conjectured their authors to be the Gnostics; Cave, Alexandrian Christians; Semler, Tertullian. Grotius regarded them as Jewish productions, afterward interpolated by Christians. G. J. Vossius, however, perceived that they proceeded from several authors at different times. Birger Thorlacius (libri Sybillistarum veteris ecclesiae crisi, quatenus monumenta christiana sunt, subjecti, Hann. 1815. 8, and Conspectus "doctr. christ. qualis in Sibyllistarum libris continentur, 1816, also in F. Münter Miscellanea Hafniensia 1, i. 113) assumed that they had been for the greater part composed between 100 and 170 A.D., in Phrygia-some of them, too, by Alexandrians. According to Bleek (über die Entstehung u. Zusammensetzung d. sib. Or. in Schleiermacher's, De Wette's u. Lücke's theol. Zeitschrift, i. 120, and ii. 172) the oldest of them are Jewish oracles belonging to the second century before Christ; the youngest, Christian oracles of the fifth century after Christ. The greatest part of the third book, and several sections in the fifth (1. c. i. 198, ii. 182, 194), proceed from Alexandrian Jews. Gfrörer (Philo. ii. 121) agrees with him in this opinion, and points out Jewish-Alexandrian dogmas in these sections.

5 According to Bleek (1. c. i. 240, ii. 232), the fourth book was composed by a Christian, about 80 A.D., probably in Asia Minor.

6 Josephus Antiq. xx. 9, 1 (also in Eusebius, ii. 23), relates: "The high-priest Ananus, a Sadducee, a severe and cruel man, made use of the time in which, after the death of Festus, the procurator, his successor Albinus had not yet entered on office (63 A.D.): καθίζει συνέδριον κριτῶν· καὶ παραγαγὼν εἰς αὐτὸ [τὸν αδελφὸν Ἰησοῦ τοῦ λεγομένου Χριστοῦ, Ιάκωβος ὄνομα αὐτῷ, καὶ] τινας [ετέρους], ὡς παρανομησάντων κατηγορίαν ποιησάμενος, παρέδωκε λευσθησομένους. Many pious and zealous Jews were much displeased with this proceeding, and accused Ananus before King Agrippa and Albinus. Agrippa, therefore, deposed him from the office of high-priest." Le Clerc, however, Art. crit. ii. 223, Lardner Suppl. vol. iii. cap. 16, sect. 5, and Credner (Einl. u. d. N. T. i. ii. 581) regard, on important grounds, the bracketed words as spurious. On the other hand, Hegesippus, in Euseb. ii. 23, according to the passage given in a preceding note (4, § 26), narrates the death of James in this manner: "By his preaching he had gained over many

the members of the church fled to Pella." About this time also John repaired to Asia Minor, and there, full of the impressions which he had taken along with him from Palestine, and perceiving in these oppressions the beginning of the last events, wrote the Apocalypse (69 A.D.). This was the commencing point of a rich apocalyptic literature among the Christians.

8

7

שׁיר

of the people to Christ, and stood generally in the highest repute as the righteous one. Hence the scribes and Pharisees demanded of him a solemn denial of Christ: "EornoAV οὖν τὸν Ἰάκωβον ἐπὶ τὸ πτερύγιον τοῦ ναοῦ, καὶ ἔκραξαν αὐτῷ καὶ εἶπον· δίκαιε, ᾧ πάντες πείθεσθαι ὀφείλομεν, ἐπεὶ ὁ λαὸς πλανᾶται ὀπίσω Ἰησοῦ τοῦ σταυρωθέντος, ἀπάγγειλον ἡμῖν, τίς ἡ θύρα Ἰησοῦ τοῦ σταυρωθέντος. (θύρα as in Rabbinic estimate, value. See Credner in the new Jena A. L. Z. August, 1843, S. 795. "What is the disclosure, the truth of Christ ?") Καὶ ἀπεκρίνατο φωνῇ μεγάλῃ· τί με ἐπερωτᾶτε περὶ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου; καὶ αὐτὸς κάθηται ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἐκ δεξιῶν τῆς μεγάλης δυνάμεως, καὶ μέλλει ἔρχεσθαι ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. Since now many agreed with him, the scribes and Pharisees resolved to put him to death. 'Avaßúvtes οὖν κατέβαλον τὸν δίκαιον—καὶ ἤρξαντο λιθάζειν αυτόν. He was not, however, killed instantaneously, but still prayed for his murderers: Καὶ λαβών τις ἀπ' αὐτῶν εἰς τῶν κναφέων τὸ ξύλον, ἐν ᾧ ἀπεπίεζε τὰ ἱμάτια, ἤνεγκε κατὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς τοῦ δικαίου. καὶ οὕτως ἐμαρτύρησεν. Καὶ ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῷ τόπῳ παρὰ τῷ ναῷ, καὶ ἔτι αὐτοῦ ἡ στήλη μένει παρὰ τῷ ναῷ. Καὶ εὐθὺς Οὐεσπασιανὸς πολιορκεῖ αὐτούς. In opposition to Josephus, who places the death of James in the year 63, there agree with the designation of time by Hegesippus, agreeably to which the siege of Jerusalem took place immediately after James's death, Eusebius, iii. 11 (Symeon was chosen successor to James, μετὰ τὴν Ἰακώβου μαρτυρίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτίκα γενομένην ἅλωσιν τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ), although in his chronicle he places the death of James and the inauguration of Symeon, after Josephus, in the seventh of Nero; the Clementines (so far the Ep. Clemen. Rom. ad Jacob, c1, in Cotelerii Patres ap. i. 611, and Clementina Epitome de gestis S. Petri, c. 147, 1. c. p. 798, announce that Peter died before James), and the Paschal Chronicle, which (ed. Bonn. i. 460) places the death of James in the first year of Vespasian's reign. Comp. Credner Einleit. in d. N. T. i. ii. 580. Rothe Anfänge d. christl. Kirche, i. 275.

7 Euseb. H. E. iii. 5. Epiphanius Haer. xxix. 7, de mensuris et ponderibus, c. 15. 8 This time is specified by Ewald Comm. in Apoc. p. 48, and Lücke Einleit in d. Offenbar. Joh. S. 244. I can not, however, bring myself to refuse to the apostle John the authorship of the book. The author designates himself as the apostle; the oldest witnesses declare him to be so. Had the book been forged in his name thirty years before his death, he would certainly have contradicted it, and this contradiction would have reached us through Irenaeus from the school of John's disciples. On the contrary, the later contradictions of the apostolic origin proceed from doctrinal prepossession alone. The internal difference in language and mode of thought between the Apocalypse, which John, whose education was essentially Hebrew, and his Christianity Jewish-Christian of the Palestinian character, wrote, and the gospel and epistles which he had composed after an abode of from twenty to thirty years among the Greeks, is a necessary consequence of the different relations in which the writer was placed, so that the opposite would excite suspicion. There is much at the same time that is cognate, proving continuousness of cultivation in the same author. Comp. F. Lücke Versuch einer vollständigen Einleitung in die Offenbarung Johannis, und in die gesammte apokalyptische Literatur. Bonn. 1832. 8vo.

VOL. I.—7

THIRD CHAPTER.

AGE OF JOHN: FROM 70-117.

$ 32.

FATE OF THE JEWISH CHRISTIANS IN PALESTINE.

Although a Jewish Christian church soon formed itself among the ruins of Jerusalem,1 and again selected a relative of Jesus, Symeon,2 to be its head, yet, after the judgment which had befallen Judaism, this church could no longer continue to be a model mother-church, and the center of Christendom. We have a proof that these Christians were continually hated by the Jews, in the composition of the work called 'n na, the crucifixion of Symeon at the age of 1205 (107).

4

and in After the

1 Epiphanius de mensuris et ponderibus, c. 15. According to c. 14, the small Christian church on Mount Zion was among the few buildings that were spared.

2 Euseb. iii. 11. See § 31, note 6. Hegesippus apud Euseb. iv. 22: Kaì μɛTÀ TÙ μαρτυρῆσαι Ἰάκωβον τον δίκαιον-πάλιν ὁ ἐκ θείου αὐτοῦ Συμεών ὁ τοῦ Κλωπά καθίσ ταται ἐπίσκοπος· ὃν προέθεντο πάντες, ὄντα ἀνεψιόν τοῦ Κυρίου, δεύτερον. Clopas, the father of Symeon, was, according to Hegesippus in Euseb. iii. 11, a brother of Joseph. (Sophron. in app. ad Hieronymi Catal. § 6, represents this Symeon as Judas, the brother of James, and moreover the apostle Simon Zelotes. In opposition to this, see Sam. Basnage Annales politico-ecclesiastici ad ann. 31, no. 72.) These Jewish Christians generally preferred to choose relatives of our Lord as presidents of their churches. So Hegesippus relates (in Euseb. iii. 20) that the grandchildren of Judas, a brother of Christ, after they had been set free by Domitian, ἡγήσασθαι τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν, ὡς ἂν δὴ μάρτυρας ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ γένους ὄντας τοῦ Κυρίου.

3 The feeling of this is plainly expressed in the writings of this period. Barnabae Epist. c. 9 : ἡ περιτομὴ, ἐφ' ᾗ πεποίθασι, κατήργηται even for the Jews. The law of Moses had only a typical meaning, particularly the laws regarding meats (c. 10); the Jews are not heirs of the promises, but the Christians (c. 13, 14); the Jewish Sabbaths are not agreeable to the Lord, but Sundays are (c. 15); in place of the destroyed Jewish temple appears a spiritual temple (c. 16).

4 Samuel, the Little, is said to have composed it at the instigation of R. Gamaliel in Jafne, where the Sanhedrim met after the destruction of Jerusalem (Talmud. Hierosol. et Babylon. in tract. Berachoth). Hence this Gamaliel can not be the elder Gamaliel, but his grandson. Cf. Vitringa de Synagog. vet. p. 1047. Respecting the name 'p, see Fulleri Miscellan. theologic. lib. ii. c. 3. G. E. Edzardus in not. ad Avoda Sara, p. 253, ss. Hieronym. Ep. 89, ad Augustin.: Usque hodie per totas Orientis synagogas inter Judaeos haeresis est, quae dicitur Minaeorum et a Pharisaeis nunc usque damnatur, quos vulgo Nazaraeos nuncupant, qui credunt in Christum, filium Dei, natum de virgine Maria, et eum dicunt esse, qui sub Pontio Pilato passus est et resurrexit: in quem et nos credimus, sed dum volunt et Judaei esse et Christiani, nec Judaei sunt nec Christiani.

5 Hegesippus in Eusebii H. E. iii. 32: ̓Απὸ τούτων τῶν αἱρετικῶν κατηγοροῦσί τινες