SECTION XXV. The primitive state of the church having been sought from credible witnesses of the facts, without regard to their opinions, or hearsays; and the changes marked from the commencement of the second to the termination of the fifth century, and having seen the successive introduction of parochial and diocesan episcopacy, the canonical ordination and human authority of the latter, and the creation of quasi presbyters by Calvin, we are prepared better to understand the New Testament by the rejection of these novelties. But bishops are by some supposed to be the successors of the evangelists, and Timothy is made bishop of Ephesus.-How Timothy received authority and for what purpose. An evangelist before he came to Ephesus. He was left by Paul at Ephesus, the last time Paul was there, Timothy having returned thither after Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. Timothy left Ephesus after ordaining presbyters there, and came to Paul in Macedonia, before his return to Jerusalem and first imprisonment. The first letter to Timothy was before he left Ephesus to go to Paul in Macedonia, and instructed him in choosing and ordaining the presbyters. He accompanied Paul to Jerusalem and The second Rome, where he was during the Apostle's first imprisonment. letter to Timothy was written during the second imprisonment, and discovers that Timothy was not then at Ephesus; it calls him to Rome; and it no where appears that Timothy ever returned to Ephesus after ordaining the elders there. THE facts in the history of the church, which might aid us in deciding upon the nature of the offices mentioned in the New Testament, having been investigated; we are prepared to inquire into the written word, on the matters of church government. Although the particular form is but a mean to an end, and of no vital importance; yet it is expedient to defend the cause which God honors, against those exclusive pretensions which have been founded in usurpation. Two things having been established; that episcopacy, whether parochial or diocesan, was not in exis tence at the commencement of the age which next followed the days of the apostles, but arose afterwards step by step; and that lay presbyters were never heard of till necessity drove Calvin to the expedient; they ought to have no place in the interpretation of the New Testament. But it so happens, that the conformity in duties between the diocesan bishop and the apostle and primitive evangelist; and the contrast of the oversight of an individual church by its presbyters, with an episcopate in after ages; are now adopted as arguments to prove, contrary to the verity of facts, that diocesan bishops are actually the successors in office of the apostles and evangelists, and not of the presbyters in the churches. Thus Timothy and Titus are exhibited as scriptural examples of bishops, though never once designated by that name in the sacred records. Titus is described by Paul as his "partner" and "fellow-laborer,"a Of Timothy he also speaks, as his "fellowlaborer," and an "evangelist."b Their work appears to have been to ordain bishops, in the sense of presbyters. Timothy was invested with an office, "by prophecy with the imposition of the hands of the presbytery." And in another epistle, Paul speaks of the "gift of God which was in him by the imposition of his hands." These texts, we have seen, were differently understood in successive ages, according to the progressive advances of episcopacy.. This commission was given him before Paul had visited Ephesus, and without relation to the people of one place more than another. It was in its nature universal, extending alike to the whole church, and con Η Κοινωνος εμος και εις υμας συνεργος. 2 Cor. vii. 23. b Έργον ποίησον ευαγγελισίου. 2 Tim. iv. 5. • Δια προφητείας μετα επιθέσεως των χειρων πρεσβυτερίου. 1 Tim. iv. 14. Η χαρισμα του Θεού, ο εστιν εν σοι δια της επιθέσεως των χειρών 2 Tim. i. 6. μου. e Vide Section xxiii. ferring every power necessary to planting, watering, and governing the churches, wherever he should come, if not superseded by the presence of an apostle. The office was like those of apostle and prophet, extraordinary and unconnected with any particular charge, Ephes. iv. 11. But in whatsoever church he preached, he could as evangelist ordain pastors, or bishops, or there was no propriety in the caution, "lay hands suddenly on no man." This office was superior to that of "pastors even teachers." Evangelists were not personally instructed and commissioned by Christ; nor had they the extraordinary gifts in equal extent, nor the unerring assistance, or inspiration of the apostles, for the writings of Mark and Luke were received upon the authority of Peter and Paul. That Paul and Timothy were together at Ephesus, and that Paul left him there when he went on some occasion into Macedonia, may be plainly inferred from 1 Tim. i. 3. "I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia." The time to which there is here an allusion is the more easily ascertained, because the apostle is recorded to have been twice only at Ephesus; on the first occasion, he merely called on his voyage from Corinth and Jerusalem; on the second, he went from Ephesus into Macedonia, according to the words of the epistle. That Timothy was left at Ephesus, when Paul, expelled by the riot, went into Macedonia, obtains satisfactory proofs. Before he wrote his first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul sent Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia, but he himself remained in Asia for some time. Acts xix. 22. 1 Cor. iv. 17. xvi. 10. In the first letter to the Corinthians, which he wrote at Ephesus, and sent by Titus to Corinth, he mentioned his purpose of coming to them, but not immediately; of which Luke also informs us, Acts xix. 21, and desired them, if Timothy came to them, 1 Cor. xvi. 10, 11, to con duct him forth in peace, that he might come to Paul, then at Ephesus, for he looked for him, with the brethren. When he closed that letter, he was expecting Timothy's return, which that letter might also have hastened. Paul remained at Ephesus, on this visit, the space of three years. Acts xx. 31. There is therefore no reason to suppose, that he was disappointed in his expectation of the arrival of Timothy from Corinth at Ephesus, before he went into Macedonia; and if so, he might have left him there, as he at some period certainly did. 1 Tim. i. 3. He had intended to go by Corinth into Macedonia, 2 Cor. i. 15, 16, but changed his mind and went by Troas thither. 1 Cor. xvi. 5; 2 Cor. ii. 12, 13. Whilst in Macedonia, he wrote his first letter to Timothy, for he proposed to him to remain at Ephesus until he should call there on his way to Jerusalem. 1 Tim. i. 3; iii. 14, 15. The words imply, that Paul might tarry some time; and that he did so before he went into Greece, is fairly implied in the expression, "And when he had gone over those parts, and given them much exhortation, he came into Greece." Acts xx. 2. Timothy was advised, solicited, or besought (apɛxana) to abide still at Ephesus, which gave him liberty to exercise his discretion, but several motives must have influenced him to go to the apostle. The enemies at Ephesus were numerous and violent; Timothy was young; his affection for Paul ardent; the request of Paul that he should abide at Ephesus was not peremptory; and Paul told him he expected to tarry a long time. Also Timothy had been, from their commencement, familiarly acquainted with the churches in Macedonia and Greece. Accordingly we find Timothy in Macedonia when Paul wrote his second epistle to the Corinthians. 1 Cor. i. 1. The apostle went from Macedonia into Greece, Acts xx. 2, as he had promised in that letter, chap. xiii. 1, and abode there three months. Acts xx. 3. Timothy was with him at Corinth, for he sends his salutations to the Romans, Rom. xvi. 21, in that famous epistle written from thence.f That there was sufficient time for Paul to have written from Macedonia to Timothy at Ephesus, and for Timothy to have spent some months at Ephesus, before he came to Paul in Macedonia, appears from the time he waited for Titus at Troas, 2 Cor. ii. 12, 13, his determination not to go to Corinth till he could do it without heaviness, 2 Cor. ii. 1, his distress in Macedonia before Titus arrived, 2 Cor. vii. 5, and his success in raising charities for the saints in Judea, 2 Cor. viii. 2, 3; ix. 4. He had intended to tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost, 1 Cor. xvi, 8, but went sooner, Acts xx. 1. He passed on to Jerusalem at another Pentecost, Acts xx. 16; all which time he was in Macedonia, except three months. Acts xx. 3. That Paul expected to spend so much time in Macedonia, and Greece, may be collected from his intimation 1 Cor. xvi. 6, that he might spend the winter with the Corinthian church. The apostle's purpose of sailing from Corinth was disappointed by the insidiousness of his own countrymen; he therefore went up into Macedonia again, that he might pass over to Troas with his companions. Timothy was among those who crossed first. Acts xx. 3, 5. Paul's disappointment in sailing from Corinth, and his wish to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost, prevented the call he intended at Ephesus, 1 Tim. iii. 14, 15, but he landed at Miletus, and sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus. The directions of the apostle in the third chapter of the first epistle to Timothy, fairly imply that he had left the church at Ephesus, according to his usual practice, without officers; for he gives this evangelist not a new commission, he already had power to ordain, but instructions as to the choice of bishops, that is pres f Compare Acts xviii. 2, with Rom. xvi. 3. Vide Acts 19, xviii. 26.1 Cor. xvi. 19. |