Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech: Preface and Introductions | Page 7

and although his perfect ingenuousness ceaselessly connects his
narrative with history, in no case has he been proved to be in error. The
intricacy of the connexions between this record and the Pauline Letters
will be best estimated from a study of Paley's Horae Paulinae. We
know nothing definite as to the place where the Acts was written, nor
the sources whence the information for the earlier portion of the
narrative was obtained. But it may be truthfully affirmed that from the
modern critical ordeal the work emerges as a definite whole, and rather
confirmed than weakened in regard to its general authenticity.

Paul's Letter to the Romans
The four books of the New Testament known as the Letters to the
Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians, are allowed by practically all
critics, including some of the most "destructive," to be genuine
productions of the Apostle Paul. Opinions vary as to the order of their
composition. The latest research tends to put 'Galatians' first, and
'Romans' last, in the period between 53 and 58 A. D. The date generally
assigned to the Roman Letter is 58 A.D., but recently Harnack,
McGiffert, Clemen and others have shown cause for putting it some
four years earlier. The chronology of the period is necessarily very
complicated. It must suffice, therefore, to regard this Letter as having
been written, at either of these dates, from Corinth, where Paul was
staying in the course of his third missionary tour. He was hoping to go
to Rome, by way of Jerusalem, and then proceed to Spain (15:24; Ac
24:21).
The object of this Letter was to prepare the Christians in Rome for his
visit, and make a clear statement of the new doctrines which he taught.
It is probable that the crisis in Galatia, to which the Letter sent thither
bears witness, had driven the Apostle's thoughts in the direction of the
subject of Justification, and he was apparently much troubled by the
persistence of Jewish unbelief. Hence the present Letter has been well
termed "the Gospel according to Paul."
We know really nothing about the Christians then in Rome beyond
what we find here. It is, however, fairly certain that reports concerning
the Saviour would be taken to that city by proselytes, both before and
after the events described in Acts 2, and we know that there was a large
Jewish population there amongst whom the seed would be sown. Some
critics have thought "that a note addressed to Ephesus lies embedded in
the 16th chapter," because, they say, it is "inconceivable that Paul could
have intimately known so many individuals in a Church like that in
Rome to which he was personally a stranger." But this is by no means
demonstrated, nor is there evidence that the Church there was founded
by any other Apostle.
Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians

The genuineness of the two Letters to the Corinthians has never been
seriously disputed. The first was written by the Apostle Paul, probably
in the early spring of 56 A.D., just before he left Ephesus for Troas in
the course of his third missionary tour (Ac 19). The Church in Corinth
had been founded by him during his previous tour (Ac 18). After some
hesitation he had been induced to preach in Corinth, and in spite of the
opposition of the Jews such great success attended his efforts that he
remained there for more than eighteen months. The furious attack upon
him which was frustrated by Gallio gave impetus to the new cause, so
that when the Apostle left, there was a comparatively strong Church
there, consisting mostly of Greeks, but including not a few Jews also.
The dangers, however, arising out of the temperament and
circumstances of the Corinthians soon manifested themselves. The city
was the capital of Roman Greece, a wealthy commercial centre, and the
home of a restless, superficial intellectualism. Exuberant verbosity,
selfish display, excesses at the Lord's table, unseemly behaviour of
women at meetings for worship, and also abuse of spiritual gifts, were
complicated by heathen influences and the corrupting customs of
idolatry. Hence the Apostle's pleas, rebukes, and exhortations. Most
noteworthy of all is his forceful treatment of the subject of the
Resurrection of Christ; and this only a quarter of a century after the
event. Of the Letter mentioned in 5:9 we know nothing.
Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians
The second Letter to the Corinthians was probably written in the
autumn of 56 A.D., the first Letter to them having been sent in the
spring of that year. But there are other letters of which we have no clear
account. One, lost to us, evidently preceded the first Letter (1Co 5:9).
In our "second" Letter we find mention (2:2,4) of a severe
communication which could not but give pain. Can