power, it still maintained its Greek char acter. SUNDAY, July 3. Rom: 3:1-9. The Mission of tne Jews. The Jews were noted for religion. They worshipped the one true God and had the sacred books of the Old Testa ment. They were found everywhere throughout the Roman Empire. Wher ever they went they carried their sacred books with them and built synagogues. The dispersion of the Jews prepared the way for Christianity. The simple cere mony of the synagogue attracted many Gentiles who were not satisfied with the idolatrous worship of the heathen, tem ples. The Greek version of the Old Test ament was accessible to Greeks and Ro mans • alike. For some time the only members of the Christian church were converted Jews. The first Christian mis sionaries were Jews who always sought the synagogue first when they came to a city in their missionary journeys, where they found a congregation assem bled as fertile soil for the Gospel seed. Thus they preached the Gospel to the Jew first and incidentally to such Gen tiles also as were favorably disposed to the worship of the true God. MONDAY, July 4. Matt. 23:13-33. The Religious Leaders of Paul’s Day. While the chief mission of Israel was to teach religion to the world, they be came proud of the Divine favor shown them and looked down with contempt upon their heathen neighbors. They were disobedient and unfaithful to God. They were warned by the prophets and punished by being carried into captivity. After the return from captivity the Jews became even more narrow and exclusive. In the time of Christ the religious life of the nation was at the lowest ebb. The supreme duty seemed to them to keep the oral law based upon the law of Moses. The religious leaders were the scribes and Pharisees who were severely rebuked by Jesus for neglecting works of justice and mercy while insisting on the observance of petty and childish rules. The perils of ecclesiasticism are
FRIDAY, July.1. Rom. 1:1-7.
The WorM in Paul's Time. There- were three nations in Paul’s time of world-wide influence, the Ro mans, the Greeks and the Jews. The Romans ruled the world. They were great organizers with the gift of govern ment. They extended their laws and government among the nations which they conquered. They built great mili tary roads to every part of their vast empire which were useful to the early missionaries as they traveled from place to place with the Gospel. A Roman cit izen was everywhere entitled to the full est privilege and protection. Paul was a Roman citizen by birth, Acts 22:28. This means that his father was one also, though a -Jew. Roman citizenship in cluded three especial privileges: the right of trial by Roman courts, freedom from scourging, crucifixion and other de grading punishments and the right of appeal to the Roman emperor. The hand of God ordered and arranged that Paul’s Roman citizenship should protect him in his missionary journeys and be a means of furthering his purpose to evangelize the Roman Empire. SATURDAY, July 2. 1 Cor. 1:19-25. The Contribution of the Greek. In the time of Paul the Greeks led the world in intellectual matters. They had produced a perfect language that was well-nigh universal. It was capable of expressing the finest shades of thought and therefore peculiarly fitted to became the repository of the saving truths of redemption. In 250 B. C. the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek by seventy rabbis and on that account called the Septuagint. It became the popular Bible and was that version from which Paul usually made his quotations. Paul spoke Greek and all his writings are in that language. The entire New Testament was written in Greek by nine different men all of whom were Jews. About 350 B. C. Alexander conquered the world and made it so thoroughly Greek by planting cities everywhere that long after the world passed under the Roman
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