PAET  III

THE  PRIMITIVE  APOSTOLIC  TEACHINO

CHAPTER  I

INTRODUCTOBY

It  will  be  our  aim  in  this  part  of  our  work  to  present  a
brief  sketch  of  the  earlier  and  simpler  forms  of  teaching
which  obtained  in  the  Church  of  the  apostolic  age. But
no  sooner  is  this  task  undertaken  than  we  find  ourselves
in  the  midst  of  the  most  divergent  views  respecting  the
materials  to  be  employed. The  questions  at  issue  chiefly
concern  the  epistles  which  bear  the  names  of  James  and
Peter. It  is  well  known  that,  even  in  the  early  Church,
the  genuineness  of  2  Peter  was  widely  doubted,  and  this
doubt  has  been  shared,  in  modern  times,  by  many  critics
of  all  schools. The  Epistle  of  James  and  1  Peter,  on  the
contrary,  have,  until  recent  times,  been  regarded  by  most
scholars  as  genuine. The  Tubingen  school  denied  the
genuineness  of  both  these  writings,  and  referred  them  to
the  second  century. The  former  was  regarded  as  an  illus-
tration of  a  spiritualized  Judaism,  which  aimed  to  avoid
certain  practical  consequences  of  Paul's  doctrine  of  jus-
tification by  faith;  the  latter,  as  the  work  of  a  Pauline
Christian  who  was  seeking  to  compromise  the  Gentile  and
the  Jewish  tendencies  of  thought  in  the  Church. Although
these  views  have  been  largely  modified  by  the  successors
of  this  school,  these  scholars  still  regard  both  these  epistles
as  spurious,  and  as  illustrating  the  later,  rather  than  the
primitive,  teaching  of  the  early  Church. Hamack  regards
the  Epistle  of  James  as  a  compilation  made  about  ISO  a.d.|

846


246  THB  PBIMiriVB  APOSTOLIC  TBACHING

and  refers  1  Peter  to  the  reign  of  Domitian  (81-96),
although  he  admits  that  it  may  have  been  written  a  decade
or  two  earlier. He  believes  that  it  was  written  either  by
Paol  or  by  one  who  had  been  strongly  influenced  by  him.^

Scholars  who  maintain  the  genuineness  of  both  these
writings  are  divided  in  opinion  with  respect  to  their  rela-
tion to  the  Pauline  epistles. In  regard  to  James  the
principal  question  is,  whether  his  discussion  of  faith  and
works  presupposes  Paul's  teaching  on  those  subjects  or
is  independent  of  it. Certain  coincidences  are  observable
between  1  Peter  and  Paul's  doctrinal  letters. 