[283] 1. THE SECOND EUROPEAN JOURNEY. (XX 1) AND AFTER THE RIOT CEASED, PAUL, HAVING SENT FOR THE DISCIPLES AND EXHORTED THEM, BADE THEM FAREWELL, AND DEPARTED TO MAKE HIS WAY INTO MACEDONIA. (2) AND HAVING MADE A PROGRESS THROUGH THOSE QUARTERS, AND EXHORTED THEM WITH MUCH PREACHING, HE WENT INTO GREECE. (3) AND HE SPENT THREE MONTHS there.

Paul took a coasting vessel from Ephesus, we may be sure; and, as was often the case, he had to transship in Troas. Here "a door was opened to him"(II Cor. II 12). Doubtless he had to wait some time for a passage to Macedonia; for, though in January a passage could be easily obtained along the safe Asian coast, it was more difficult to find opportunity for the longer voyage over the open sea to Macedonia; perhaps none was found till general navigation began, March 5. It is probable that already in the voyages between Ephesus and Macedonia, the new teaching had effected a lodging in Troas (XIX 10);and in the delay there, Paul had a good opening. In Troas Paul had expected to meet Titus; and was much disappointed that he was not there. At the same time he was greatly dispirited by the strong opposition which had driven him prematurely [284] from Ephesus (II Cor. I 8 f.); and was in a depressed frame of mind owing to ill-health (ib. IV 7 f.).

Titus is the most enigmatic figure in early Christian history. His omission from Acts has been alluded to (P. 59). He enters on the stage of history for a short time in A.D. 45-6, and then we hear nothing of him, until we learn that Paul expected to find him in Troas in January or February 56. He was now on his way from Corinth to Macedonia; and he joined Paul after he had arrived at Philippi in February or March, bringing a detailed report of the state of the Corinthian Church. Now in II Cor. Titus is prominent to a degree unique in Paul's letters; he is named nine times, and always with marked affection and distinction. Why, then, is he never mentioned in I Cor.? There is one satisfactory reason, and only one, so far as I can judge: he was the bearer of the first letter. 1 His special interest in Corinth is mentioned, VII 15, VIII 16. He was eager to return on a second mission to Corinth, VIII 17, and along with him Paul sent the Brother whose praise in the delivery of the good tidings was spread over all the Churches (Luke, according to an early tradition), and another, who was selected on account of the confidence that he felt in the Corinthians. It may be safely assumed that the Titus of II l Cor. is the same Titus that is mentioned in Gal II 1.

Titus, then, had been sent on his first mission to Corinth in autumn 55, probably by direct ship. He could not come back across the open sea during the winter (Nov. 10 to March 5), and must take a coasting [285]voyage by Macedonia. Paul expected to find him in Troas; but he was detained too long, and met Paul in Philippi in February or early March 56; and he returned thence on a second mission to Corinth.

As Titus was at hand in Ephesus about October 55, it is hardly open to doubt that he had been in Paul's company on the whole of the third journey. It is equally clear that he had not been with Paul on the first or the second journey, for he is mentioned in Gal. II 1as a stranger to the Galatians, whose Greek birth had to be explained to them. Probably it was his Greek origin that had prevented Paul from taking him as a companion on earlier journeys. We have seen how careful Paul was to conciliate the Jews on his second journey; and we may fairly consider that the grumbling of the Jews in Jerusalem in 46 (even when Titus was bringing food to them) had warned Paul that it was not expedient to have Titus with him when he entered the synagogues of strange cities. For his companions on the second journey he selected Silas, a Jewish Roman, and Timothy, half-Greek, half-Jew. Finally, on his third journey, when he was putting down the Judaising tendency in Galatia, he took Titus with him by a carefully-planned stroke of policy: one of the arguments by which the Judaisers proved that Judaic Christianity was the higher stage was that Paul had circumcised Timothy before promoting him to an office of trust. He replied by taking Titus with him to Galatia; and from II Cor. we gather that Titus proved one of the most congenial and useful of his assistants. The space which he fills in II Cor. 2 is a unique fact in Paul's letters; and in the [286] loving and tender sympathy of Paul's language about him we may read a wish to compensate for the neglect that had during many years sacrificed him to the thankless policy of conciliating the Jews.

The importance of Titus in subsequent years confirms the impression derived from II Cor. He seems to have remained in Europe when Paul went to Jerusalem in March 57. At a later time he was sent to Dalmatia, II Tim. IV 10; and near the end of Paul's career he was entrusted with the general oversight of the Churches in Crete, Tit. I 5.

Paul spent the summer and autumn of 56 in Macedonia. He found Timothy waiting him either in Thessalonica or in Bercea; and they joined in addressing the second letter to the Corinthians, enforcing in a more personal way the instructions already sent through the three envoys who had come from Philippi. The common view (which is as old as the subscription added in some MSS. to the letter), that the envoys carried with them II Cor., seems improbable. In winter Paul went on to Hellas (the Greek term for the country forming the main part of the Roman province), and spent December, January. and February in Corinth.

FOOTNOTES:

1 Suggested as possible by Dr Plumptre in Intro. to II Cor., p. 359.

2 II 13, VII 6 f., 13 f., VIII 6 f., 16 - 24, XII 18.