St. Paul S Conception of Christianity - Alexander Balmain PDF

\ STUDIA
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From the library of the late

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Very Rev. Dr. George
WORKS
PROFESSOR
PAUL
BRUCE.
B.
CONCEPTION OF CHKisTiAxnr.
1.
ST.
2.
APOLOGETICS
3.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
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SON S.
IiEPOSITORY.
ST.
PAUL S CONCEPTION
OF CHRISTIANITY
ALEXANDER BALMAIN BRUCE,
D.D.
PROFESSOR OF
NEW TESTAMENT
EXEGESIS IN THE FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW
AUTHOR OF
"
Al-OLOOETICS
"THE
OR, CHRISTIANITY DEFENSIVELY
TRAINING OF THE
TWEI.VK"
"THE
STATED"
"THE
KINGDOM OF
HCMILIATION OF
GOD"
CHRIST"
ETC. ETC.
T.
&
T.
EDINBURGH
CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET
1896
424o2
tn
PREFATORY NOTE
Tins book on
St.
companion volume
published
similar
can
five
Paul s Conception of Christianity

to
The note
work on The Kingdom

I
have
in
view
of God,
issue
Epistle to the Hebrews as soon as
years ago.
work on The
command
my
is
to
the necessary leisure.
at
p.
184 on
the book recently published
by Professor Everett of Boston, entitled The Gospel of

Paul,
is
the substance of a review which appeared in the
pages of The Christian World.
It is
reproduced here by
the kind permission of the publishers.

A. B. BliUCK.
GLASGOW
1st
September 1894
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
THE SOURCES
.......
......4
.......
...
......
PAGE
Chief Sources
Epistles
to
Galatian,
Corinthian,
Churches
These the controversial group
Contain all the leading ideas of Paulinisin
2
4
Even of the Christological
Was
Epistles
there a growth in St. Paul s theology
A priori
No
possible
proof of the fact
and Roman
These the Primer-Epistles
17
CHAPTER
ST.
PAUL
......
......
Important bearing on his theology
seems
IT
RKLIGIOUS HISTORY
Autobiographical hints
Conversion of Saul of Tarsus
it
10
.15
Analysis of their teaching
so sudden as
Epistles to the Thessalonians no proof
Not
Significance of the conversion

Confirmatory notices in Galatians
i.
.26
27
.31
32
.35
37
.45
.46
.47
....
.
His universalism dates from his conversion
Religious intuitions and theological formulations

Apologetic elements the latest growth
.
CONTENTS
v jii
CHAPTER
THE
Kl ISTI.K
III
TO TiJE GALATIANS
AOE
with the Judaists

Origin of the controver.-y
.
Phases of the controversy
with first phase perpetual obligation of the
Epistle deals
The earliest of the four
4<J
Law
Occasion of the writing

Analysis of the Epistle
Main body of the
Epistle
Postscript
CHAPTER
IV
THE EPISTLES TO THE COUINTHIANS

Second phase of the controversy
attack on St. Paul
standing
Little about it in the First Epistle
Yet leading points of St. Paul s apology indicated
apostolic
-I
These worked out in the Second Epistle

He has seen the Lord
First line of defence
Second line
Third line
The
He
success of his
work
has suffered in the cause
Last four chapters
CHAPTER V
THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
ITS
AIM
An occasional writing, not a theological treatise

Deals with the last phase of the Judaistic controversy, the prero
gative of Israel
Temper of the Judaists to be dealt with

Baur s view of the Epistle
...
.
Who
were the
Was
the
foe
Roman Church mainly
Jewish or mainly Ontile
Influence of missionary plans

And of the letter being addressed to
Rome
CHAPTER
Theme of the first

The sin section
Gentile sins
Jewish sins
105
VI
THE TRAIN OF THOUGHT
.....
eight chapters, salvation through faith
107
.111
CONTENTS
....
....
.US
.....
....
Paganism and Judaism both

"
A righteousness of God
"
failures
112
11;,
The historical argument

The argument from experience
The Adam-Christ section
.
Apologetic train of thought
\\Q
117
Hy
Triumphant conclusion
The problem of the election (chapters
ix.-xi.)
CHAPTER
1-22
123
VII
....
Embraces four particulars
DOCTRINE OF SIN
T1IK
(2)
114
Support to the doctrine
(1)
ix
General prevalence of sin

Connection with Adam
Adam
Doctrine of the
s sin
Talmud
(3) Sinful proclivity of
the flesh
Source of this proclivity

(4) The Law s action on the flesh
CHAPTER
I2f>
125
.127
Universal prevalence of death
Imputation of
128
130
134
137
141
143
VIII
.....
THK RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
righteousness given to faith

Essential significance of the doctrine
Specific aspects of the doctrine
Conflicting theological types
What St. Paul meant to teach
Justification
Theory of
and Christ
MiWgoz
resurrection
117
.147
.......
...
.
Functions of faith
151
152
155
157
160
.161
CHAPTER
IX
.....
......
.....
...
THE DEATH OF CHRIST
Christ
Pauline
doctrine and St. Paul

loijia
(Xaff riffle*
The
on the subject
principle of redemption
fiomaiis viii. 3.
Objective and subjective
165
.166
167
171
CONTENTS
PACK
Subjective identity
Brother
Vicar, Representative,
Professor Everett s theory
CHAPTER X
ADOPTION
formal doctrine of the Fatherhood of God
of Christ and St. Paul
Sonship in the teaching
Adoption as St. Paul understood it
No
Objective aspect
The
filial
spirit
Privileges of the
Liberty
The
Ql
filial
state
19
f
Spirit of His
Son
Heirship
CHAPTER XI
WITHOUT AND WITHIN
involved
apologetic, topics
aspects of his soteriology
Connection between them, various theories
The Pauline
Two
True view of the matter

The mystic element in St. Paul,
Subjective
its
source
own
and
righteousness in Romans
The faith-mysticism
his
CHAPTER
Galatian*
XII
THE MORAL ENERGY OF FAITH

Faith a guarantee for holiness
Faith good for all purposes
.
Faith energetic in all spheres of life

tested by religious history
Faith alone
Faith establishing fellowship between the believer and Christ
"
"
Weiss view as
to faith
Function of baptism
^35
CHAPTER
237
XIII
THE HOLY SPIRIT

defended
Apologetic setting of the theme
Church
in
the
primitive
Spirit
Holy
.
His influence chiefly charismatic
245
CONTENTS
XI
...
Charisms and grace divorced

St. Paul s view of the Spirit s influence ethical
Transcendent action of the Spirit intermittent
Immanent
action constant
PAGE
247
248
....
.251
253
Acts through our rational powers and idea of Christ

St. Paul did not neglect the history of Christ
.
254
256
CHAPTER XIV
......
.....
THE FLESH AS A HINDRANCE TO HOLINESS

"Body
St.
"and
"Flesh"
Paul experienced the hindrance
What is meant by
Hellenistic theory
Not held by
St.
"
Flesh
"?
267
.268
Paul
Pauline anthropology
ethical dualism taught by the apostle
Difficulties of
An
....
....
the
263
264
269
273
276
CHAPTER XV
.......
....
.......
.......
THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH
Romans
viii. 3.
Different views as to the
Does
meaning
of
St. Paul decide the question as to Christ s ilesh being the

same as ours ?
Theory of Atonement associated with doctrine of identity of Christ s
flesh with ours
.
Criticism of the theory
Sacramentarianism involved in the theory
279
280
283
286
288
290
CHAPTER XVI
II
THE LAW
The Law
St.
Paul
in Galatians
s
view of the
...
and Romans
Law
293
.295
Three questions as to St. Paul s view of the Law

Is it in accordance with the view of the Law in the Old Testament?
Are the functions St. Paul ascribes to the Law real ?
Is St. Paul s view of the Law exhaustive ?
St. Paul s view and that of the Epistle to the Hebrews compared
.
295
295
302
305
307
CONTENTS
xii
CHAPTER XVII
THE ELECTION OF ISRAEL
PAGE
Third topic in the Pauline apologetic

The problem dealt with in two ways (Romans
.
St.
the election really cancelled
Paul
idea of election
ix., x.. xi.)
Figurative expression of it
Relativity ofl liblical utterances
Last word on the subject
CHAPTER
....
taken up at so advanced a stage
.....
.......
......
....
.....
...
Doctrine of Christ and doctrine of Redemption
Redemption by self-humiliation
Involves a step out of time into the Eternal

Pre-existence
Raises three questions

Christ s relation to man
relation to the universe
Christ
Christ
s relation to
Has
St.
God
Paul called Christ God
311
:512
317
321
322
324
325
XVIII
CHRIST
Why
310
......
.....
....
Hypothesis of a cancelled election
Was
329
329
330
331
331
335
336
.339
327
328
CHAPTER XIX
...
... ....
THE CHRISTIAN
Beginning of Christian
A new creation
life
Paul s view compared with our Lord s

Does St. Paul recognise the idea of growth
Hints of it in earlier letters
St.
Result
.........
....
<
.......
.
Salient features of the Christian
Place of love
I.TFK
life
344
346
349
350
353
357
358
359
CHAPTER XX
THE CHURCH
......
Church and Kingdom in Gospels and Pauline Epistles

The Church idealised by St. Paul
Church fellowship
At first all on a level
.
Differentiation ensues
362
366
353
370
:?7l
CONTEXTS
Xlii
.....
......
......
Rulers
Teachers
The Christian ministry
learned ministry
"
PAGE
371
372
373
"
377
CHAPTER XXI
....
....
.....
....
THE LAST THINGS
Modern views and ancient contrasted

Salvation eschatologically conceived
St. Paul expected the vixpovtr ux, soon
Change of mind
Does
St.
Paul teach a universal resurrection
<
Physical and ethical resurrection
Mr. Matthew Arnold on

Kabisch on the same
The
idea of the resurrection
.....
resurrection
Chiliasm
1
Paul
St.
body
Corinthians xv.
its
value religious not theological
379
380
381
383
385
387
388
391
392
394
395
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE
THE TEACHING OF ST. PAUL COMPARED WITH THE TEACHING OF OUR
LORD IN THE SYNOPTICAL C.OSPELS
Summary
of results
.......
......
Views of Dr. Wendt stated
Chief point of contrast refers to Atonement
The question
raised vital
and salvation by another

Adjustment of Atonement to the natural order
Faith in the teaching of our Lord and St. Paul
Self-salvation
397
.398
400
402
403
403
404
ST.
PAUL
CONCEPTION
OF CHRISTIANITY
S
CHAPTER
Two
Paul
important questions
s
Christian
Whence do we
the latter
of
materials
asked concerning St.

did he get it ? and,
may be
Where
obtain our knowledge of
it ?
we
are
these questions that
By
occupied.
theology
"
"
sources
available
for
great Gentile apostle
is
It is with
now
meant the
here
becoming
way
we wanted
to
know, as far as
is
the
of thinking
the leading themes connected with the Christian

If
literary
acquainted with
characteristic
be
to
on
faith.
possible, all
that
St. Paul thought on any topic relating to the faith, we

should have to regard all his extant Epistles as our
sources, and our first task would be to ascertain to the
best of our ability
ascribed to
If,
him
how many
in the
New
on the other hand, our aim
of
the separate writings
Testament
be, as
it
is,
are authentic.
to determine
the nature of the distinctively Pauline type of Christianity.
PAUL S CONCEPTION OF CHRISTIANITY
ST.
to
make
ourselves acquainted with
gospel,
is
it
what
St.
Paul called
his
modern phrase, we call Paulinism,

not necessary to do more than study care
or what, in
really
fully four of the reputedly Pauline Epistles, those, viz.,
to the Galatian, Corinthian,
and Eoman Churches respec
This limitation of the
tively.
field to
be studied, while
reducing the subject to manageable dimensions,
may
be
by other considerations possessing more weight

than can attach to reasons of personal convenience.
Among these considerations a foremost place is due to
justified
the fact that the four Epistles referred to are generally
recognised by biblical critics of all schools as indubitably

2
genuine.
Apart altogether from personal convictions,

may have little or no doubt as to the
even though one
3
authenticity of any one of the thirteen letters,
it is
due
to the actual state of critical opinion that in a scientific
attempt to ascertain the nature of St. Paul s Christian

teaching, primary importance should be attached to the
1
Rom. xvi. 25.

There is a school
of critics possessing hardihood enough to call

in question the genuineness of even these Epistles.
Its best-known
representative is Rudolf Steck, who has expounded his views in a
work recently published on the Epistle

nach seiner
brief
to the Galatians (Der Galater-
Eclitheit untersiicht, 1888).
underlies his criticism
The assumption which
that the sharp opposition to Judaistic

Christianity revealed in the Epistle did not really exist in St. Paul s
time, but came much later, as the result of a gradual development
which reached
is,
culminating point about the time of Marcion.

which I cannot bring myself to take
seriously, see some remarks of Lipsius in the introduction to his
On
this
new
its
criticism,
Commentary on
Galatians,
etc.,
in the
Hand-Commentar zum Neuen
This school of New Testament criticism corresponds in

character to that of Vernes and Havet in the Old Testament, who
Testament.
make
3
the prophets post-exilian.

to the Hebrews
Of course the Epistle
is left
out of account.
THE SOUKCES
Epistles which
command
consensus
critical
of
legitimately be cited
a general,
approval.
not quite universal,
if
Other
may
Epistles
by any writer on Paulinism who
has no doubt as to their genuineness, but even in that

case, if he is to pursue a strictly scientific method, only
in the second place, and by way of parallels.
It will be
understood, of course, that in a homiletic use of Scripture
this
distinction
between primary and secondary
may
be
disregarded.
The four
Epistles in question have the advantage of
being more or less controversial in their nature. This is,

A
it must be owned, not advantageous in all respects.
in
is
some
to
the
ways prejudicial
polemical origin
quality
leads
to
and value
of
a writing.
the placing of an
Controversy readily
undue emphasis on
aspects of truth to the neglect of others not in
some
themselves
It involves an unwelcome descent from

unimportant.
the serene region of intuition to the lower and stormier
region of argumentation.
The
rdle of
the prophet or seer
On both
replaced by that of the theological doctor.
the
of
accounts
quality
temporariness is apt, in some
is
measure, to characterise
the occasion
rise
time
ceases
when
is
to
all
When
controversial writings.
past the one-sidedness to which

satisfy.
Arguments which
the controversy
raged
lose
it
gave
told at the
their
cogency,
though the truths they were employed to defend possess

Yet, on the other hand, the
perennial importance.
literature of a great debate,
which formed a
religious history of the world,
and imperishable worth.
crisis
in the
must possess an exceptional
The thoughts
of
men
at such a
time are clear, for they define themselves against those
ST.
PAUL
We
of opponents.
ing
own
their
whom
CONCEPTION OF CHRISTIANITY
have a twofold clue to their mean
words, and the views of those against

Then the deepest thoughts of men s
they contend.
minds are brought

sets their hearts on
to light at
fire,
such a
Conflict
crisis.
and stimulates
to the uttermost
powers
they say, therefore, what is
dear to them as life, and they say all in the most
energetic manner.
their intellectual
These remarks have their
full
application to the four
Epistles which we may conveniently distinguish as the

controversial group among the Pauline writings.
The
issue involved
what were
is
clear
we have no
views
the
of
difficulty in
knowing
whose
evil
against
those
influence the apostle sought to fortify the churches to
which he wrote.
Colossians,
In other Epistles, such as that to the
we can only guess what were
some tendencies the writer desired

issue
less
to
the unwhole
counteract.
The
The controversy concerns nothing

than the nature and destination of Christianity.
also vital.
is
Here
therefore,
w hat
St.
Paul
Christian faith
if
anywhere, we
may
deemed central and

to get to
expect to learn
essential in the
the very bottom of his mind
and heart as a believer in Jesus, all the more that the

foes he fights are not only the men of his own house, but
the very impersonation of his former
what he once
which
self.
They advocate
held, they represent religious
formerly made
him a determined
tendencies
enemy
of
Christianity, and a relentless persecutor of all who bore

the Christian name.
With what passion, yes and witli
what pathos, he must throw himself into such a quarrel
We may expect
to find in
what he writes bearing thereon
THE SOURCES
merely much fresh
expressed, but here and
not
original
there
It will be
thought
trenchantly
autobiographical
man
involuntary self-revelations, the

of the theologian.
our
hints,
unveiled alongside
fault if in our
own
hands these writings become dry scholastic productions.
Even
in reference to
later Epistles,
Paul
we may
what
is
specific
view in the controversial group.
in the case of
or peculiar in
find a sufficient indication of St.
what are
So, for
example,
called the Prison Epistles,
whose
is
the prominence
given to
on
which
account
are
sometimes
distin
Christology,
they
1
as
the
There is quite
Christological group.
guished
characteristic
special
enough
Christology
Epistles
to
the great Object of
The
the
statements
four
great
controversial
Paul thought concerning

the Christian s faith and reverence.
St.
Epistles
Christological
valuable
in
show us what
contain
interesting
and
concerning the Lord Jesus which
repay earnest study, but the Christ-idea of these Epistles
embraces
little, if
anything, essential in advance of what
can be gathered from the relative texts in the contro
The person of Christ is more pro

minently the theme of the former as compared with
versial Epistles.
the latter, but the doctrine taught
is
not pronouncedly
it is applied in new directions.

Besides these two groups of Epistles, there are other
two containing respectively the earliest and the latest of
higher, though
St.
1
Paul s reputed writings, preserved in the
New
Testa-
This group includes the Epistles to the Ephesian, Philippian, and

also the Epistle to Philemon, which, however,
Colossian Churches
possesses
no doctrinal
significance.
the authenticity of Philippians

most.
is
Of the Christological Epistles

least doubted, that of Epliesians
ST.
ment, the one consisting of the two Epistles to the church

of Thessalonica, the other of the two to Timothy and the
one to Titus, called from their leading subject-matter the

Neither of these groups yields a
Pastoral Epistles.
contribution of importance to Paulinism,
term
to denote not
what
St.
if
we
use that
Paul wrote casually on any
subject whatever connected with the Christian faith, but

the distinctively Pauline system of thought on essential
In the former are to be found no
aspects of the faith.
specific formulations of belief, but only general

and elementary statements of truth while the latter, in
definite
so
far
as
they
familiar Pauline
refer
ideas
to matters
as
of
faith,
but
repeat
commonplaces, their
proper
occasion and specialty being to supply directions with
reference to ecclesiastical organisation.
These four groups of letters, written at different times,

the earliest separated from the latest by a period of some
sixteen years, naturally suggest a question which may
here be briefly touched on.
St.
Paul
mind
Was
there any growth in
in relation to Christianity, or
must we
conceive of his system of Christian thought as the same

at all stages of his history, poured out at the first in
one gush, so to speak, and setting thereafter into an

On this question opinion is
unchangeable rigid form ?
divided.
Sabatier,
greatly
e.g.,
earnestly contends for
growth, and makes
it
his business to prove
and exhibit
of the different groups of Epistles, begin

with
the
ning
Epistles to the Thessalonians, called the
it
by analysis
mission group, and supposed to
show the
apostle s
way
of
thinking before the great controversy arose, and passing

in succession through the controversial and the Christo-
THE SOURCES
logical
1
groups to the pastoral.
Pfleiderer,
hand, inclines to the other alternative.
on the other
The
difference
between these two authors, however, does not consist in

this, that the one affirms and the other denies the
existence of traces of advance, development, or modifica
tion of view within the range of the Epistles ascribed to
The point of difference is, that the one holds

that the growth was in St. Paul s own views and teaching,
St.
Paul.
and the other that the growth was not in

in Paulinism, that
which took
its
is
in the conception
origin from
St.
of
St. Paul,
but
Christianity
Paul, and in
its
main
features was adopted by a section of the Church, and

in the hands of his followers underwent expansion and
The
modification.
of the
two
facts
founded on in the maintenance
rival hypotheses are
much
the same.
They
are such as these, that in the Epistle to the Colossians,

for example, a
somewhat higher view
of the
Person of
presented than in the four undisputed Epistles,

that Christ s work is there regarded from a somewhat
Christ
is
novel point of view, that a less purely negative attitude

towards the law is therein assumed than that which
characterises
the
whole subject
of Christianity is
physical
way
controversial
sub specie
Epistles,
and that the
contemplated in a meta
ceternitatis, rather than in the
L Aptitre
Paul, translated into English, and published

a most suggestive and helpful
book, whatever one may think of his theory as to the development
of doctrine in the mind of the apostle.
1
Vide his
by Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton
2
Vide his Der Paulinismus. Menegoz (Le Pe che et La Redemption
dapres Saint Paul, 1882) speaks of these two works by Sabatier and
Ptteiderer as best indicating the present state of thought on
Paulinism.
ST.
historical
manner
the facts
is
The use made
of the earlier Epistles.
One
very different.
of
"
says
me
Having regard
s mind
that St. Paul
to such facts, it is evident
to
underwent a process
growth as years passed, and
new
of vital
circumstances arose
powerful intellect to fresh
which engrossed
to stimulate that ever active
thought on the great theme
The other says
its attention."
have
these phenomena, I
regard to
no
"
Having
hesitation
affirming that this Epistle to the Colossians
is
in
not of
Pauline authorship, though I am sure it proceeded from

the Pauline school, for the affinities between it and the
undoubted writings of St. Paul are very marked."

In presence of such contrariety of opinion, and consider
ing the importance of the issues involved,
to
come
to
some
Now,
growth.
hypothesis
of
it is
necessary
sort of conclusion as to this question of
no & priori objection to the

development as applied to St. Paul s
there
is
personal apprehension of the significance of Christianity.
Growth
knowledge as in grace is the law of ordinary

life, and there is no stringent reason why we
should regard an apostle as an exception.
Inspiration is
in
Christian
no such reason.
Inspiration
was compatible with
its
and prophesying in part, for

knowing
Paul predicates such partiality of himself. 1
But if
be
with
in
compatible
inspiration
part at the
knowing
in part
possessor
St.
compatible with knowing less at one time

We know, moreover, that it was not
than at another.
best, it is also
God s way
of
to reveal all truth at
revelation.
modes by
He
spoke in
one time to the agents
many
parts and in
the prophets to the fathers.

1
1 Cor. xiii. 2.
Why
many
should
He
THE SOURCES
not
same method
follow the
communicating
them
to
with
the
apostles
not
at once a full understanding of
the Christian faith in all
bearings, but simply provid
its
ing that their insight should keep pace with events, so

that they should always be able to give the
guidance as
one of
St.
was required
Paul
any subject in
Pauline
Epistle
is
Thus
is
not also
far as
Church such
fact, therefore,
that
not of
itself
Pauline.
any proof that that
Questions of genuineness
on independent grounds. 1
settled
But how now
The mere
reputed Epistles contains teaching on

advance of that found in admittedly
Epistles
must be
to
the a priori aspect of the question.
as to the matter of fact
reason to believe,
e.g.,
that St. Paul had a
Is there
much
any
clearer
and deeper insight into the nature and destination

Christianity
when he wrote
of
the controversial Epistles,
than at the time of his conversion some twenty years

before, or at least during the earlier years of his mis
sionary activity
and
credible,
The supposition
and the burden
is
may seem
Much depends on the way
who deny it.

we conceive the conversion and what it
those
in itself reasonable
of proof
that event signifies very
little,
involved.
for others it
in
on
which
For some
means almost
everything characteristic in Pauline Christianity.

1
to lie
I shall
Menegoz admits not only the possibility but the reality of a

development in St. Paul s thought. But he holds that whatever
development there was took place before the writing of the Epistle
to the Galatians, which, he thinks, came next in the order of time
to the Epistles to the Thessalonians.
In the other Epistles, from
It cannot be
Galatians onwards, he finds 110 advance in thought.
proved, he thinks, that the Christology of Romans is behind that of
Colossians, though Christology is not Ks specialty, as it is of the
latter.
Lo Peche et la Redemption, pp. 7, 9.
10
ST.
my own
have occasion to state
view in the following

I have to say
chapter, and must not anticipate what
Leaving over the psychological aspect of the

question till then, I can now only refer to what may be
there.
supposed to make for the hypothesis of growth in the

extant Pauline literature.
The two Epistles
to the Thessalonians
have been sup
posed to furnish indisputable evidence that, previous to

the great controversy, St. Paul s way of thinking was of
a simpler, less developed type than is found in the con
Along with the reports of Pauline

Book of Acts, they have been regarded
troversial group.
courses in the
source of knowledge concerning what
is
dis
as a
called Primitive
Paulinism, understood to signify not merely what St.

Paul thought it fitting to teach to infant churches,
founded in the course of his missionary journeys, but his
own way
great
of conceiving the
anti
Judaistic
gospel antecedently to the
do present to our view w hat

r
Epistles
rudimentary gospel,
hereafter
interesting
appear, justifying an
to
that
Now,
controversy.
we may
note,
these
call
and, as
will
important inference,
is
by no means follows that that

rudimentary gospel represents all the apostle then knew,
and that all the great deep thoughts found in the four
beyond doubt.
controversial
horizon.
reflect
To
when
But
Epistles
it
lay
as
satisfy ourselves
yet
beneath
his
mental
we have only
of this
to
the Epistles in question were written, and
what had happened before they were penned.
It is not
necessary to inquire into exact dates it is enough to

say that the Thessalonian letters presuppose a Thessalonian Church, and could not have been written before
;
THE SOURCES
Church was founded, and
that
11
until
it
had had some
experiences calling for such instruction and counsel as

the letters contain.
Turning now to the memoirs of
Paul
St.
That
missionary activity in Acts, what do we find ?

Paul s visit to Thessalonica is placed after the
St.
Council in Jerusalem, at which the critical question of

circumcision was discussed and provisionally settled.
That
the
to
is
the
say,
who appeared
Gentiles
enthusiastic
cleavage
champion
between the Apostle

at
that
Gentile
of
issue,
as
and
liberties,
who took a narrow, conservative view

had taken place at
Council
of
the
those
of the question at
least a year or
two before the
letters to the Thessalonian Church could possibly have
How keenly alive to the issues at stake

Paul was at the time when the Council met, we learn
been written.
St.
from his own memoranda preserved in his Epistle to the

Galatians, where in language thrilling with passion he
"
refers to
in
false
to
privily
brethren unawares brought

spy out our liberty, which
in,
who came
\ve
have in
If the apostle had not thought out his

here
was a crisis to set him thinking, and
gospel before,
It
to stimulate a very rapid theological development.
may be taken for granted that by the time he wrote his
Christ
Jesus."
Epistles to the Thessalonians, during his long sojourn in
Corinth,
all his
most characteristic ideas had taken
place in his system of religious thought.
every reason
is
to
believe
already given expression

1
Gal.
Such
Timothy
ii.
to
their
Indeed, there
he had by that time

them, if not in writing, at
that
4.
is
are
the general opinion of critics.

Paul, Silvanus, and
Vide Acts xviii. 5.
together in the salutations.
named
PAUL
12
ST.
least in
vigorous, incisive speech.
Peter
at
Galatians
Antioch
referred
to
The encounter with
in
the
Epistle
the
to
not recorded in the Book of Acts, but
is
its
proper historical place, doubtless, falls within the period

of St. Paul s stay in Antioch before setting out on the
long mission tour, which had for
its
eventful result the
1
In
Christianity from Asia into Europe.
that memorable interview, the apostle for the first time,
so far as we know, gave utterance to his distinctive con
extension
of
ception of the Christian faith.
we have
In Galatians
the Pauline gospel in nuce
ii.
14-21
not the supposed

primitive Paulinism of a yet undeveloped Christian con
sciousness, but the fully formulated Paulinism of the
;
controversial letters, which contain nothing clearer,

definite, or
more
characteristic than
that remarkable utterance.
uttered
is
to
But that speech
more
be found in
to Peter
was
many months before the Thessalonian Epistles
were written. 2
we are to find in these Epistles the faint

a rudimentary Pauline gospel, forming the
Christian creed of the apostle before he understood the
If,
therefore,
outlines
of
implications of the faith,
we must
disregard the historical
of Ads, and relegate their composition to a

antecedent
to the rise of the dispute about circum
period
cision and the meeting of the Jerusalem Conference. 3
notices
Vide Acts xv.
The bearing
35, 30.
of the above-mentioned facts
on the question of a
primitive Paulinism, supposed to be exhibited in the Epistles to the
Vide Das
Thessalonians, is very forcibly brought out by Holsten.
Evangelium des Paulas, Vorwort, p. viii.
8
So Menc goz, who thinks the Epistles to the Thessalonians
the most doubtful of all Paul s reputed
writings, and that ex-
THE SOURCES
The hypothesis
of a primitive
13
Paulinism escapes in that
case from the control of fact and the hazard of authori
Not altogether
tative contradiction.
gratuitous supposition
makes
in his Epistle
meet with any

conversion,
it
for,
St.
till
three years after his
very reasonably be argued that, even
at that early period, his conception of Christianity
well
aim
was
Such an inference harmonises with the
defined.
of the statement.
So
Paul
to the Galatians, that he did not
of the apostles
may
indeed, even on that
from the statement
But
of this
far, then, as the earliest
more
letters
hereafter.
of
St.
Paul are
concerned, there is no evidence to support the theory of

a slow, gradual growth of his system of Christian thought.
The phenomena they exhibit can neither prove, nor be
But how, then, are they to be

Accounted for in some way they must
explained by, that theory.
accounted for
be, for their existence
cannot be denied.
It is evident
every attentive reader that the statements in these

early letters concerning the Christian faith are of the most
to
elementary character. The most likely suggestion is, that

the Epistles to the Thessalonian church show us the form
pressly on the ground that the views of the gospel they present
His idea is, that
are so unlike what we find in the other Epistles.
they must have been written long before

s particular tendency was not yet
accentuated, and his system not yet in course of formation. Vide
On the historical
Lc, P&hd et la Redemption d apres Saint Paul, p. 4.
if
they were really Paul
the others, at a time
s,
when Paul
value of the narrative in Acts xv., and
its
true place in the course
of events, vide Spitta, Die Apostelgcschichte, 1891,
and Weizsacker s
Both these writers are of opinion that

Apostolic Age, pp. 200-216.
the author of Acts has antedated the decree of the Jerusalem
Council, and that it belongs to a later time, later than the encounter
between Peter and Paul at Antioch.
14
ST.
St.
Paul judged it fitting to present the gospel

communities when he had in view
which
in
to nascent Christian
merely their immediate religious needs and capacities,

and had no occasion to guard them against errors and
This view sets the apostle s character
misconceptions.
in
an interesting
so
It
light.
speak, against his
to
that which
makes him appear a
He
will.
Paulinist,
preached Paulinism.
was most distinctive
in his way of apprehend

under
faith,
compulsion when free from the
ing
constraint of false and mischievous opinions, he taught
the
the
common
faith
Christians in simple, untechnical
of
worth emphasising at the com

study, as helping us at once to
This point
language.
mencement
of
appreciate the
this
is
wisdom
of
the apostle, and to
put the
proper value on the developed system of thought con

tained in his controversial Epistles.
Why is it that
the earliest Epistles are not to be reckoned
sources
what we
of
was
Paulinism
call
Paulinism
unborn,
yet
but
among the
Not because
because
author
its
its
St. Paul distinguished
kept it
proper place.
between religion and theology, between faith and know
and while he spoke wisdom to them that were
ledge
in
perfect,
and theology
make a good use
to
them that needed
it
and could
he practised reserve or selfit,

restraint in speaking to babes in Christ, and in teaching
them carefully avoided the use of abstruse ideas and
of
technical terms.
This
the
is
important
inference
referred
to
on
previous page as deducible from the rudimentary gospel
And
contained in the earliest Epistles.

inference
it
becomes important
to
in
view of that
inform ourselves as
THE SOUKCES
the
to
character
precise
It
missionary gospel.
of
Paul
St.
rudimentary or
what he deemed
is
salvation, though not to a

tianity.
15
One cannot but
full
sufficient
to
comprehension of Chris
know what so great
and as his early letters
desire to
a master reckoned essential
are not available for the study of his developed theology,

one may well be excused for lingering at the threshold
to glance over
their pages before entering
text-book, but let
us look
for
little at
childlike Epistles to the Thessalonian
Christian
of
on the more
The controversial Epistles are
arduous task.
We
primer.
shall
those simple,
Church
be
to be our
none
as a kind
the worse
mastering the text-book, and understanding

qualified
its true meaning, that we carry the lessons of the primer
for
1
along with us.
The use of these Epistles as a primer is justified by
the writer s own way of expressing himself as to the
purpose
his
of
Careful
writing.
readers
must have
noticed the frequent recurrence of such phrases as

"
remember,"
ye
know."
Baur
"
recent occurrence
ye
utilises this feature as
argument against the genuineness, asking in effect

what purpose this repetition of matters admitted
familiar to the readers,
"
and not
of old date,
The obvious reply
is,
"
an
To
to be
but of quite
that the writer
wished to impress upon his readers the importance of

the things alluded to, his aim in writing being not to
1
The two
Epistles do not stand on a level critically, as many

accept the first who dispute the authenticity of the second.
But the characteristics commented on here are common to both,
critics
and may be used in the present connection without discrimination

of source.
2
Vide his Paulus dcr
A pastel
Jesu
Chriati,
ii.
95.
16
ST.
give
new
instruction, but to
make
a fresh impression by
recapitulating old instructions, and by recalling to
Thus when he
facts of didactic significance.

ing,
brethren, beloved of God, your
his purpose
by reminding them
is,
says,
mind
"Know
election of
1
God,"
of their election
salvation, to suggest a valuable source
of
to
comfort and
It is as if he
strengthening amid present tribulation.
had said, Think of your election, and what it implies
"
a sovereign love of
God which
will not forsake you, a
divine purpose which shall surely be fulfilled."

Again,
when he says, Yourselves know our entrance in unto
"
you, that
it
was not in vain
but even after that we had
and were shamefully entreated, as ye

we were bold in our God to speak
unto you the gospel of God amid much opposition," 2 he
As we did not allow our purpose in
manifestly means
suffered
before,
know, at Philippi,
"
coming
but
to Thessalonica to be frustrated
by
opposition,
to be
preached
gospel, refusing
intimidated, so do ye resolve that persecution shall not
the
resolutely
make your
reception of the gospel vain, and persevere
in faith in spite of all that evil
men may
once more he reminds them of his
way
When
do."
of life
among
them, alluding to his engaging in manual labour for his
own
support, to his nurse-like gentleness, to his perfect
the purity and exemplariness of his whole
sincerity, to
known to them all, 3

they should make his conduct,
behaviour, as things perfectly well
he means to suggest that

of which a vivid image
remained
in
their
minds, a
In a word, the apostle treats the

Christians of Thessalonica as children who need to hear
pattern for their
1 HICSA.
i.
4.
own.
Ibid. ill.
3 Ibid,
ii.
5-12.
THE SOURCES
17
the same things over and over again, not so much that
they may know them, as that they may duly lay them
And
to heart.
and that
to
his
all
assume that he does so throughout,

O
statements, and in particular those
the Christian
to
referring
as he evidently does so in the instances
fair
is
cited, it
and
faith
are
life,
remini
scences and repetitions of what he had been accustomed

to teach persons
Let us then
whom
he regarded as spiritual children.

summary, the elements of
collect, in brief
gospel truth contained in the few pages of this Christian

primer.
The name
1.
Himself,
more
yospcl,
employed
denote
to
the
Paul, as
St.
by
message
of
Jesus
by
salvation
the
is
an expression
definitely the gospel of God,
used repeatedly in the First Epistle, 1 but occasionally

our gospel," 2
the gospel
replaced by such phrases as
"
of
the word of
"
Christ,"
2.
The
substance
the
named,
the wrath
is
"
God."
the
of
proclamation
to
come."
"
thus
message
of
of
way
Salvation,
that
variously
escape from
is
to
say,
is
regarded chiefly from the eschatoloyical point of view.

Judging from the manner of expression pervading these
Epistles, the apostle, in addressing heathen audiences,
was wont
to speak of a
coming day
of
judgment, when
the Lord Jesus would be revealed from heaven to
inflict
punishment on them that know not God, and to tell

them that by believing on Jesus they should escape the
doom of the impenitent, and become partakers of all the
1
3
5
Thess.
ii.
Thess.
iii.
Ibid.
i.
10.
2, 8, 9.
2 Thess.
i.
8.
Ibid.
1
i.
Thess.
ii.
2 Thess.
13.
ii.
14.
18
ST.
joys of the
kingdom
passing that
is
which
in
instances
Mars
on
book
the
in
represented
Athenians
It
be noticed in
may
just after this fashion that
is
it
God. 1
of
Hill.
the
of Acts as addressing the
This
one
is
accounts
of
3.
As
from
an
of these
eschatological
author of salvation,
The great
is
preaching
it
suggested
early letters.
the gospel
substance of
the
several
of
his
given in Acts correspond with the idea of
by the language
Paul
St.
point
is
contemplated
view, so
of
Christ,
the
regarded under the same aspect.

trust appears not so much
object of Christian
as Jesus the crucified, but rather as Jesus exalted into
heaven, and about to come thence again for the destruc

tion
sinners
of
purchase
and
salvation
of
the
salvation
background, and prominence
plishment of salvation
teristic
comes out
in
of
is
The
believers.
by Christ s death
falls
given to the
into
final
the
accom
This charac
by Christ glorified.
the description of the Thessalonian
who have turned from idols to the

wait for His Son from
God, and who now
Christians as persons
"
living
heaven."
Their
Only once
ancy.
means
"
For,"
of salvation,
relation
is
to
Christ s
and that
Christ
is
one of expect
death referred
in the
to
as
most general terms.
writes the apostle in the text referred
"
to,
God
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation

by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether
we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him." 4

Here it is plainly implied that Christ s death took place
for our salvation, salvation
1
2 Thess.
i.
.1-9.
Thess.
i.
10.
being here, as always in the

4
Acts xvii. 30, 31.

II id. v. 10.
THE SOURCES
two
regarded from the eschatological view

but there is no indication how Christ s death
Epistles,
point
contributed to that end.
means
we
by
19
If
we were
left
with no other
determining that question than these Epistles

might conclude that Christ s death was saving, not
of
itself,
but because
This
tion.
it
might not
was followed by His resurrec

unnaturally appear
to
be
the
import of another text referring to the death of Jesus

"
If
we
them
Him."
which sleep in Jesus will God bring with

It would not be right, even on the
primer-
also
l
hypothesis, to infer that St. Paul had never
more
believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
definite statements
made any
than these to the Thessalonian
Church, seeing that they both manifestly owe their foim

to the connection of thought in which they occur.
The
purpose in both cases
Church
is
to comfort the
members
of
the
in reference to deceased friends, also believers,
by assuring them that death before the coming of the

Lord would not, as they seem to have imagined, cut
them
off
from
share in
the
joys of
the kingdom.
The comfort given is Christ Himself died, and after

wards rose and Christians who have died will also rise
:
and partake
in
who
the bliss of those
with the Lord.
shall
be for ever
Furthermore, Christ died in our behalf,
purpose that we might obtain salvation

does not matter whether we sleep with the
for the very
therefore
dead, or
it
wake with the
end in His Son
living at His coming.
death will not
fail
we
God s
shall all live
It may be assumed that, over and

together with Him.
above this, the apostle in his missionary preaching
1
1 Thess. iv. 14.
20
ST.
indicated at least in a general
had reference
tion in
the
summary
how
Christ
that
Scriptures
our
for
He was
and that
that which
first of all
died
Corinthian Church
the
been accustomed to teach

delivered unto you
that Christ s death
way
This assumption lias good founda

which he gives of what he had
to sin.
sins,
buried,
again the third day, according to the
may be taken
for
other apostles
for
I also
"
received,
according
and that
to
the
He
rose
1
Scriptures."
It
granted that St. Paul, like all the

he gives it as the common gospel 2
kept in view the points indicated in this summary,

only in Corinth, but wherever he went on his
not
evangelising
mission.
Still
these two letters to a
express
mention
summary
is
especially
rehearse the leading
remarkable
young Christian
made
if
is
it
the
of
first
that in
community no
article
in
the
the design of the writer was to
points of instruction, to recall to
the recollection of the readers what he had taught them
when he was present
witli
them.
It implies
this,
at
that the apostle was not accustomed in his mission-
least,
addresses
statement
death.
to
enter
with
much
fulness or
exactness of
into the doctrine of
And
here,
again,
redemption by Christ s
there is a correspondence
between what we infer from the Epistles, and what we

learn from the book of Acts.
The reports of St. Paul s
mission-addresses in that book correspond closely to the
summary of his preaching given by himself in his Epistle
to the Corinthians.
1
is,
in
were
the
first
place, careful
Cur. xv. 3, 4.
Ibid. xv. 11
BO ye
There
believed."
"Whether it
or they, so
we
preach, and
THE SOURCES
21
detailed proof from Scripture of the truth of his

leading
Then the points chiefly insisted on are just
positions.
those indicated
Christ s death for sin, and His resurrec
:
The former, however, curiously enough,
tion.
less
prominent,
first
and longest
reported
therefore,
being
The words
expressed.
rather
than
implied
to
referring
this
Ads are these

men and brethren,
:
"
Be
it
the
plainly
in
topic
of the missionary speeches
in
is
the
St.
Paul
known unto
you,
by
Man is
and by Him
that through this
preached unto you the forgiveness of sins

that believe are justified from all things from which
;
all
l
ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."
2
4. In the sentence just quoted, the word
justified
Xo such word occurs in our two Epistles. But
occurs.
"
"
two other words are found, suggestive of cognate ideas,

and sufficient to show that St. Paul s way of presenting
the gospel in mission sermons was the same in CSSCTICC
as
it
in
appears
the
controversial
difference being that in
the one
Epistles,
we have
kernel, in the other the theological form.
are Faith and Grace
trite
the only
the religious
These words
words now, but great words
then, and profoundly significant as to the character of
the religion of which they were the watchwords.
The
Hausrath thinks that the type of St. Paul s

found in the Epistle to the Romans that the
he
apostle writes to that Church, which he had never visited as
Vide Neutest.
preached to the Churches he himself founded.
This opinion is based on prejudice
Zeitgeschichte, ii. 514, 515.
1
Ads
xiii. 38, 39.
preaching
is
to be
Paul s
against Acts as a non-reliable source of information as to St.
preaching, not on a just view of the Epistle to the Romans, which,
we
as
shall see,
was a
purpose.
2
Qt>titit>6ijveu
otitettbUTOti,
special
writing meant to serve a special
22
ST.
terms
are
not used in
sense, but in
sented as
"
the
you who
object
of
works, but
to
opposed
Christians are
practical popular way.
believers
called
any sharply defined dogmatic

believe."
faith.
is
God
Faith
a
itself
is
work. 3
is
repre
not sharply
The word
occurs less frequently, and chiefly in connec

grace
In the superscriptions the
with sanctification.
"
"
tion
apostle wishes for his
and peace, and
readers, already believers, grace
the
in
superscription
of
the
Second
Epistle these are represented as having their source in
God
the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The grace
thence emanating is viewed as the means by which
believers are enabled to glorify the name they bear, and
are themselves fitted for future glory. 4
he begins, with the prayer that

if that were
the writer closes as

Christ s grace
all
In both Epistles
be with his readers, as
may
that was needful both for holiness and for happiness.
It looks as
knew something of the earthly

dwelt among men full of grace," whose
words of grace," whose gracious love drew
the writer
if
Him who
life of
sermons were
"
"
Him, and sent them away
the sinful and sorrowful to

into purity
5.
and peace.
By what
titles
primer-Epistles
He
The former
Lord.
does
St.
Him
Son of God, and the

occurs in the text where the
calls
title
Paul name Jesus in these

the
Thessalonians are described as having turned to the true

6
a con
God, and as waiting for His Son from heaven
;
nection of thought which gives to the designation

1
1 Tliess.
Ibid.
1
i.
Thess.
ii.
i.
13.
2
10.
Tliess.
i.
11.
Ibid.
i.
8.
Ibid.
i.
12.
much
THE SOURCES
The honour and prerogative
significance.
true
to
God
are jealously guarded
them by
Son
of
virtually done Jesus
is
of the living
the only
against the injury done
worship, and yet in
idolatrous
sentence in which this

of as a
23
the
is
same
spoken
and true God, and as one whose
is in
heaven.
What impression could
such language produce on men who had been worshippers
of gods many but that Jesus was divine ?
The other
present abode
"
title,
points
Lord,"
in
same direction
the
doctrine respecting the author of the faith.
Paul s
favourite
and
Christ
for
title
in
his
of a
It
high
is
St.
controversial
be regarded as a result of this fact

that the same title is frequently used in the Gospel of Luke
(eminently Pauline in spirit) in places where the other
Epistles,
it
may
Synoptists use the
name
sometimes with the
effect of identifying
God
tian consciousness with

"
"
ing the day
as,
e.g.,
Jesus in the Chris

in the expression,
the day of the

the day of
The designation occurs
Jesus.
two Epistles now under consideration,
repeatedly in the
Lord,"
Jehovah,"
corresponding to the expression,

in the Old Testament, and mean
when the TrapovaLa
of the
Lord Jesus Christ
shall take place.

6.
Holy
Mention
Spirit,
is
made
and in the
in these primer-Epistles of the

specifically Pauline sense as the
Opportunity will occur hereafter for con

and
sidering at length St. Paul s doctrine of the Spirit,
Sanctifier.
in connection therewith for adverting to the distinction
between the Spirit as transcendent, and the Spirit as
immanent;
as
preternatural
the
gifts,
1
the
former,
source
of
charisms or
as the latter, the source of Christian
1 Thess. v.
2 Thess.
ii.
2.
24
ST.
simply remark here that
sanctity.
ethical
immanent,
these
in
regarded
point
of
Epistles,
view
at
least
from the
is
it
the
that
Spirit
chiefly,
is
not
if
2
gives His Holy Spirit to Christians,
exclusively.
and for the purpose of sanctification? For while salva
God
tion, as
regarded from an eschatological
is
already stated,
point of view, present sanctification is strongly insisted

on as a necessary preparation for the future salvation.
Chosen unto salvation in or by sanctification," is the
"
The apostle reminds his readers that when

programme.
he was with them he had charged them to walk worthily
of the God who had called them to His kingdom and
He now
glory.
tells
them that God s
God had not
sanctification, that
will
them
called
their
is
to unclean-
5
ness, but to holiness, and that he who practically forgets
this is guilty of despising

6
this very end.
the
He
sanctification
7
of
They must
body.
so as to be free
God, who gave the Spirit for

before
them
the whole
man
sets
cultivate purity
from
all
as their great
spirit, soul,
aim
and
also unworldliness,
suspicion of covetousness, taking
They must
their teacher as their example.
resolutely
drunkenness, impurity,
fight against every form of evil
greed, revenge, and all other sins of flesh and spirit, as
Christian soldiers fully armed for the conflict, with faith
and love
helmet. 8
1
"
The
The other
not the
2
for breastplate,
interest
aspect
Spirit,"
may
and the hope
of the writer
be implied in the exhortation,
Thess. v. 19.
2 Thess.
Ibid. iv. 8.
1
Thess.
ii.
Ibid, iv. 8.
Ibid. v. 8.
of salvation for
in real Christian
ii.
Ibid. iv. 7.
12.
7
Ibid,
v 23.
13.
"
Quench
THE SOURCES
25
goodness is intense and unmistakable and

with confidence that whatever Paulinism
it
will not be found to
and
inspires us
may mean,
it
imply indifference to ethical ideals,
We
embodiment in right conduct.

may
discover in the literature of Paulinism any
rather than a divorce between religion and
their
expect to
thing
morality
of
conception
ethical
fault,
any
author
the
point
may seem to compromise

he will be sure to manifest a most
Christianity
interests,
delicate sensitiveness
fatal
at
perchance,
if,
the slightest appearance of so
to
and great
misunder
solicitude to obviate
standing.
Of
that
literature,
to
Epistles
Churches,
the
consisting
Galatian,
we must next
before doing this,
it
definite
conception
import
of
the writer
as
s
the
rapid
four
survey.
advantageous
possible
of
great
Roman
and
Corinthian,
take
will be
of
the
religious experience.
to
But,
form as
nature
and
CHAPTER
STUDY
very
ST.
PAUI/S RELIGIOUS HISTORY
St.
Paul
begin
fitly
history,
is
of
for
II
with
conception of Christianity
an
two reasons.
inquiry
First,
into
his
because his
may
religious
theology
an unusual extent the outgrowth of his experience.

is as remote as possible in his whole way of think
to
He
ing
from
the
scholastic
theologian,
being
eminently
subjective, psychological, autobiographical in spirit
method.
In this he resembles Luther, and indeed
and
all
the chief actors in epochs of fresh religious intuition.

Next, because acquaintance with the apostle s spiritual
history helps
us
to
assume a sympathetic appreciative
attitude towards a theology which, though utterly nonscholastic in spirit, yet,
owing
its
existence to controversy,
deals to a considerable extent in forms of thought and
expression belonging to the period, which, to modern

How
readers, are apt to wear an aspect of foreiguness.
many words occur in St. Paul s letters bearing apparently
a peculiar technical
meaning
words the
signification of
which cannot easily be ascertained, remaining still, after

all the theological discussion
they have provoked, of
doubtful import.
tion,
ilesh,
spirit
Law, righteousness, justification, adop

words these eminently Pauline, and
20
ST.
PAUL S RELIGIOUS HISTORY
27
a high degree original, therefore interesting, as used

by him, yet at the same time presenting a somewhat
in
appearance, and withal belonging to the region

of theology rather than to the region of religious intuition.
artificial
needed to help one to overcome the pre

judice thence arising, and it may be found in the intense
tragic moral struggle lying behind St. Paul s theology,
Something
is
and possessing the undying

crises.
interest of all great spiritual
In the case of our Lord, we need no such aid to
His mind moved
sympathetic study of His teaching.
in the region of pure spiritual intuition,
and His words
They
possess perennial lucidity and value.
are indeed, in form as well as in substance, words of
therefore
eternal
life.
We
spiritual history,
have no information as to His inner
and we do not
want
feel the
of
it,
for
the lapse of time has no antiquating effect on His pro
found yet simple utterances.
The autobiographical hints contained in the Epistles

which are to form the basis of our study, though com
The passages which
paratively few, are valuable.
exhibit
most conspicuously the autobiographical character occur

in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians, and
in
the
From
seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.

former we learn that St. Paul, before he
the
became a
Christian, belonged to the class
which
in
the
Gospels appears in constant and irreconcilable antagonism

to Jesus.
His religion was Judaism in the practice of
;
that religion he was exceptionally strict
most
of
he was beyond
of his contemporaries a zealot for the legal traditions
the fathers. 1
In other words, he was a Pharisee, and

1
Gal
i.
13, 14.
28
ST.
His great aim in life was to

be legally righteous, and his ambition was to excel in
a virtuoso in Pharisaism.
How much
that line.
man
that this
life
through
will
this implies
means
It
either
never become a Christian, but remain
the deadly foe of the
new
means
faith, or it
that the very intensity of his Pharisaism will cure

of Pharisaism,
and make him a Christian
of
him
Christians,
as he had been before a Pharisee of Pharisees, possessing
exceptional insight into the genius of the new religion,

and a wholly unexampled enthusiasm in its propagation.
Which of the two ways is it to be ?
The auto
hints
biographical
the seventh
in
enable us partly to foresee.
Judaism,
lie
noticed for the
As
made one day a

first
of
chapter
St.
Romans
Paul advanced
in
He
great discovery.
time that one of the commandments
that is to
Decalogue, the tenth, forbade coveting ;
a
mere
that
a
state
of
the
heart
not
say,
feeling,
falling
under the observation of others, was condemned as sin.
in the
This was a revelation to the Pharisaic zealot as instruc

tive for us as
it
was momentous
that revelation shows us.
One
Two
for him.
is
things
how completely
the
system had deadened the conscience to any

moral evil not on the surface.
For the average Pharisee
Pharisaic
there was unrighteousness within in countless forms

evil appetites, desires, passions, yet totally
unobserved as
states of feeling requiring to be corrected, giving
trouble or distress, because, forsooth, all

fair
without.
him no
was clean and
Jesus often declared this to be the case,
nothing can more con

vincingly prove than the fact that for Saul of Tarsus, a
and that His judgment was

1
Gal.
i.
14,
7?pciix.Q7TTOi>
ii>
just,
tu Iwoctiouu.
"
Horn. vii.
7.
ST.
of
disciple
as
truth
29
the liabbis, insight into so commonplace a

that coveting is sinful, was an important
The other thought suggested by the great

revelation is that Saul, even while a Pharisee, was an
The ordinary man is a complete
extraordinary man.
discovery.
He
slave to the moral fashions of his time.
which passes
evil
only
If it
thinks that
for evil in his social environment.
be the fashion to disregard evil within, so long as

is in accordance with rule, there is no
external conduct
chance of his discovering that covetousness or any other
He will go
plague of the heart is morally wrong.
serenely on his way, unobservant of the inner world,
a
as
peasant
stupid
picturesque scenery.
might pass heedless through

But Saul of Tarsus cannot per
manently
do
that,
therefore,
he
discovers
he
for
that while one precept says,

forbids
belongs
what may lead
to
Thou
all
individuality
He
miss.
shalt not
kill,
notes
another
desire to have
killing
Not
another.
to
moral
has
what others
what
at once, indeed, for the
system under which he has been reared has great power

over him.
But,
character of
eventually,
insight
God s law must come
his conscience
is
not conventional
and can see what to dimmer vision
new moral
truth
once
seen
it
into
it
is
will
take lightly, merely because for other
has discovered
is of
the searching
man.
to such a
has
For
sharp eyes,
unobservable, and
not
men
be
able
the truth
to
it
no account.
The momentousness
of the discovery for St.
Paul him
it is impossible to exaggerate.
It is very easy to
under-estimate its importance.
That to covet is sin is
so axiomatic to the Christian mind, that it is very
self
30
ST.
difficult
to
could
be
imagine a state of conscience for whicli it

And familiarity
a great moral revelation.
deadens the power to realise the significance of the new

We can
truth for one to whom it was a revelation.
trace the effect of this influence in the recent literature
Interpreters forget that
of Paulinism.
what
is
common
place
now was once very uncommon, and
when
first revealed, produces very different results
those
which accompany traditionary
instance before us the
new
that
may
from
In
belief.
revelation
truth,
the
be said to
From the day

have been the beginning of the end.
that the eye of Saul s conscience lighted on the words,
"
Thou
might
shalt not
last a
fanatical zeal
out of
it.
covet,"
while, so
Judaism was doomed.
It
outward habit and even
were concerned, but the heart was taken
That
is
came, sin revived
the import of
Rom.
graphical hint in
zealot
his
far as
and
"
vii.
l
died."
When
the other autobio
commandment
the
Hope
died, because the
saw that there was a whole world
of sin within,
which he had not dreamed, with which it was hard to

cope, and which made righteousness by conformity with the
of
law appear unattainable.

This was a great step onwards
All
towards Christianity.
along the youthful enthusiast,
according to his
his
own testimony
in after years,2
had been
fellow-religionists in pious attainments.
outrunning
His advance hitherto had been within Judaism.
But
now, without being aware of
it, he advances away from

Judaism, the outward movement being the natural con
sequence of the previous rapid movement within.

had been trying to satisfy the innate hunger of his
1
Rom.
vii. 9.
Gal
i.
14.
He
spirit
ST.
31
came first to
him some time
righteousness with the food that
for
hand
ordinances.
legal
discover that
but
took
It
his
to
what he had been eating was not wheat
That
discovery once made, the imperious

appetite of the soul will compel him to go elsewhere in
chaff.
It will not surprise us if he

quest of true nourishment.
forsake the school of the Rabbis and go to the school of
Jesus.
This
we know was what
of Tarsus
became a convert
letters give
Saul
eventually happened.
The Pauline
to Christianity.
no detailed account of the memorable event
similar to the narratives contained in the book of Acts.
But the main feature in the
the First Epistle to the Corinthians, at the place
in
to
story, as there told, is referred
where the apostle enumerates the

the risen Christ.
of
great
diverse
means
Last of
Modern students
also."
this
"
turning-point
bias.
to
all
Naturalistic
He was
seen of
sacred history
of
in
different appearances
St.
Paul
life
me
approach
with very
desire
by all
resolve the objective appearance into a sub
jective experience,
and
theologians
to see in the self-manifestation of
Jesus to the persecutor not a real Christophany, but a

vision due to the convert s excited state of mind.
Others,
dealing with the subject in an apologetic interest,
make
it
their business to vindicate the objectivity of the Christo
phany, and
1
its
Cor. xv. 8.
2
independence of subjective conditions.
Vide Ads
ix.
1-9
xxii.
6-11
Our
xxvi. 12-18 for
the detailed accounts.

2
So Weiss, Introduction to the New Testament, vol. i. p. 152 also
Dr. Stevens work is a valuable
Stevens, The Pauline Theology, p. 15.
contribution to the study of Paulinism, though traces of a disciple s
;
reverence towards Dr. Weiss are not wanting.
In one very iinpor-
32
ST.
present concern
naturalistic
we can
we may
it
is
not to refute, and
still less
theories of the conversion, but
as to the inner history
to advocate,
to learn
which led up
to
it,
the better understand the event itself and
all
that
what
involved.
the comments above
If
hint in Horn,
made on
be correct,
vii.
the autobiographical
follows that the conver
it
however marvellous, was not so sudden

There was that in the
and unprepared as it seems.
sion of St. Paul,
previous experience of the convert that pointed towards,

though it did not necessarily insure, his becoming a
Christian.
Nothing
And
fact.
this
head
of
is
there
preparation
gained
is
more
than
by denying or ignoring
under the
to be included
yet been
has
While the objective character of Christ

St.
to
pointed out.
appearance to
Paul is by all means to be maintained, it is legitimate

assume that there was a subjective state answering to
the objective phenomenon.
This
may
be laid
down
as a
principle in reference to all such supernatural manifesta

tions.
Thus the
visions
and the voices seen and heard
by Jesus at His baptism, and
at
the
transfiguration,
corresponded to and interpreted His own

the
moment.
principle
the
way
Applied
to
the
case
of
thoughts at
St.
means that before Christ appeared

to
Damascus,
He had
Paul, the
to
him on
been revealed in him,1 not
yet as an object of faith, but as an object of earnest

The Christ who appeared to him was not an
thought.
utterly
unknown
personality.
He had
heard of
Him
tant point, however, as will appear, he dissents from his master

teaching.
1
Vide Gal
i.
1C.
ST.
he knew that His followers believed
before,
again from
risen
as
reflections
the
to
the
information, but
dead had been
to
it
As
to
we have no
make probable
these reflections
of
not
is
have
had serious
what such an event implied.
He who
conjectures.
Him
and he had
dead,
character
precise
33
to
difficult
was said
to
have risen from the
mainly by the instrumentality

of the Pharisaic party to which Saul belonged.
By the
if
resurrection,
crucified,
it
occurred, the stigma of crucifixion had
been removed, and the claims
But
the crucified one to be
of
Jesus was the Christ,

what view was to be taken of His death ? Men thought
O
the
Christ vindicated.
He had
that
He
suffered for
had really suffered

"
men who
it
was written
in ancient
He
for our transgressions,
And what
"
iniquities
the
if
one were a new way of salvation

like himself had begun to despair of
reaching salvation
legalism
if
and risen
crucified
for
What
offences.
for the sins of others, like the
He was wounded
prophecy
was bruised for our
:
His own
whom
servant of Jehovah of
if
by the
old
time
honoured way
of
That such thoughts had passed through St. Paul s

mind is rendered probable by the fact, vouched for by
his o\vn confession, that before his conversion he perse
cuted the disciples of Jesus with passionate
zeal.
His
ardour in this bad work was partly due to the energy of

a
man who
put his soul into everything.
But
it
was due
what he knew about the object of his fanatical

The new religion interested him very much.
animosity.
also to
It
seems to have fascinated him.

1
Gal.
i.
13
"Beyond
He
hated
measure I persecuted the
it,
yet he
church."
34
PAUL
ST.
was drawn towards

was under a
its
and could not
it,
He
let it alone.
which compelled him to inquire into
spell
nature, and strive to penetrate into the secret of
In consequence, he understood
growing power.
as was possible
regarded
it
an unfriendly
for
He
outsider.
its
as well
it
evidently
as a rival to Judaism, antagonistic thereto in
and tendency, as otherwise
its
whole
to
comprehend
spirit
fiercely hostile attitude
his
difficult
is
it
towards
it.
he did not get this view of the new religion from

Stephen, as the accounts in Acts would lead us to infer, it
If
must have come

insight.
him from
to
A man
his
own keenly
Saul of Tarsus
like
surface of things, and can detect there
penetrating
below the
sees
what
is
completely
hidden to the ordinary eye.
In this respect he may
have divined the genius of the new faith better than its
own
adherents,
who
for the
comprehended what was
most part very imperfectly
grow out of the apparently

seed
contained
in the confession that Jesus
insignificant
was the
Christ.
by no means
He
to
perceived that that confession was
insignificant.
What, a
crucified
Messiah, shown to be
man
the
such by resurrection
That, if
meant
shame
and
confusion
to
the
Pharisees
who
true,
had put him to death
yea,
and something more
serious,
death to Pharisaism, condemnation of legalism.

How,
might not be immediately apparent, but the fact must be
It cannot be
so.
that a crucified risen Christ should
remain an isolated barren portent.

It must have been
God s purpose from the first, though men knew it not,
and
it
must bear consequences proportioned
to its
own
astounding character.
Only on the assumption that some such thoughts had
PAUL
ST.
been working in Saul

hostility to Christians
35
RELIGIOUS HISTORY
mind does his furious hyperbolical l

become intelligible. These thoughts
combined with those ever-deepening doubts as to the

attainability of righteousness on the basis of legalism
fully account for his
us for what
taken the
A man
coming.
at
is
work cannot be
crisis
in
They also prepare

whose soul such
far
from a
spiritual
Damascus expedition was under
the time the
By
crisis.
behaviour.
is
perilous stuff
mad
was due.
Is it asked,
"
How
could one
on the eve of a religious revolution undertake such a

The answer must be that men of heroic temper
task ?
and resolute will do not easily abandon cherished ideals,
"
and never are

crisis
less like surrendering
than just before the
In the expressive phrase put into Christ
comes.
mouth by the
historian of
Ads
"
they
kick against the
3
pricks."
"
Who
Not the
When
type,
it
was the
lights the faggot
full faith
a spiritual
no, but the lurking
crisis
doubt."
does come to a
man
of
fact certainly in
Gal.
The above account
13,
x.etff
the case of Saul.
this
Such
possesses deep, inexhaustible significance.
i.
In the view
i/
of the preparation for the conversion
is,
not
in intention, but in result, a combination to a certain extent of the

views of Beyschlag on the one hand and of Pfleiderer on the other.
Beyschlag lays the emphasis exclusively on the fruitless struggle

PHeiderer insists with equal onesidedness on
the familiarity with the Christian beliefs about Jesus and the pro
It seems
cesses of thoughts these originated in Saul s mind.
For the views of
perfectly feasible to take both into account.
after righteousness
Beyschlag, vide Neutestamentliche Theolof/ie (1892), vol.

Pfleiderer s, his Paulinismus: Einleitung.
3
Ads xx vi.
14.
ii.
p.
for
36
of
ST.
some writers the
man
markable
took
development of this re
mainly in the period sub
spiritual
place
sequent to his conversion to the Christian faith.

They
find in the period antecedent to the conversion little or
no struggle, and in the conversion itself they see nothing

more than the case of one who, previously an unbeliever
had at length been brought

to acknowledge that Jesus was the Christ, through a
1
miraculous demonstration that He was still alive.
It
in the Messiahship of Jesus,
would, however, be nearer the truth to say that, on the

day Saul of Tarsus was converted, his spiritual develop
ment
For him to
to a large extent lay behind him.
become a Christian meant everything.
meant be
It
coming a Paulinist Christian in the sense which the

famous controversial Epistles enable us to put upon that
The preparation for the great change had
expression.
been so thorough, that the convert leaped at a bound
into a large cosmopolitan idea of Christianity, its nature
and
The
destination.
associate with the

his conversion.
of
growth
name
It
after
universalism,
e.g.,
which
of the Apostle Paul, dates
was
some imagine, a
as
not,
years, due
to
the
accident
of
we
from
late
some
persons of Gentile birth showing a readiness to receive

Such a view is contrary at once to the
the gospel. 2
apostle s
own
statements,
and
to
intrinsic
probability.
So Dr. Matheson in his very suggestive and ingenious work on The

In his treatment of the
St. Paul, pp. 39, 65.
the
rather
to St. Paul sviews
has
reference
subject
alleged development
1
Spiritual Development of
of the Christian ethical ideal than to his theological conceptions.

2
So Weiss, Introduction, vol. i. pp. 154, 104 ; also Stevens, The
Pauline Theology,
3
Gal.
i.
15."
p. 21.
ST.
The truth
PAUL
EELIGIOUS HISTORY
that a whole group of religious intuitions,
is,
the universal destination
of
flashed simultaneously
them,
37
Christianity being one of

into
the convert s
mind,
on the day of his conversion.
As soon as he had recovered from the stunning effect
like a constellation of stars,
the
of
strange
things that befell
him on the way
to
Damascus, and emerged into clear, tranquil, Christian

consciousness, he saw that it was all over with Judaism
and
its legal
as a
man
righteousness, all over with the law itself
to
way
salvation
that
must come
salvation
through the grace of God, and that
it
to
might come
through that channel to all men alike, to Gentiles not

less than to Jews, and on equal terms, and that therefore
The eye of his soul
Jewish prerogative was at an end.
was opened
to the light of this constellation of spiritual
truths almost as soon, I believe, as the eye of his body
had recovered
its
power
of vision.
For thought
is
quick
and feeling is quicker still, and

we can faintly imagine with what tremendous force
reaction would set in, away from all that belonged to
at such creative epochs,
a past
now
for ever
dead
from Pharisaic formalism, pride
and pretension, and from Judaistic narrowness, and from

intolerance, fanaticism, and wicked, persecuting tempers,
towards
all
that was opposed to these in religion and
morals.
The foregoing view of St. Paul s conversion, as usher

ing him at once into a new world of anti-Judaistic
thought,
is
borne out
by the autobiographical notices
period contained in the first chapter of

Four points deserve attention here.
of that eventful
Galatians.
1.
The term employed by the apostle
to describe his
38
old
ST.
of
way

life
He
invites remark.
calls
Judaism. 1
it
He was
not shut up to the use of that term he might

He
have employed instead, Pharisaism or Kabbinism.
;
obviously has present controversies in view, and wishes

to make his references to past experiences tell against
those whose great aim was to get Gentile Christians to
Judaise. 2
It
is
as
if
he had said
Judaising and Judaism.
"
know
all
about
It was my very life element

There never was such a zealot
in long
bygone years.
was for national customs on grounds at once of
I was a perfect devotee
patriotism and of conscience.
as
to the
Jewish way of serving God.
that I ever escaped from
no ordinary means that I was set

method of catechetical instruction,
God
apostles or
any others.
could and He
But He
It
is
a miracle
was certainly by
It
its thrall.
free
not by the
whether
through
alone could deliver me.
and once
did, effectually
for
all.
To His sovereign grace I owe my conversion to Chris

tianity, which meant breaking away completely and for
If this
ever from Judaism and all that belonged to
it."
be indeed a true
apostle
interpretation
mind, we can
see with
of
what was
in
the
what perfect truth he
could protest that he did not get his Christianity from
men in general, or from any of the apostles in particular.

Which of the apostles could have taught him a Chris
tianity like that, radically
Judaism
2.
gospel
The
all
points opposed to
apostle virtually asserts the identity of
throughout
the
had been a Christian.

1
and at
Vide vers. 13 and 14.
his
whole period during which he

It is the same gospel which he
Gal.
ii.
14
lovou tft*.
ST.
"
"
received
by revelation
had preached
now
to defend against
it
It
it.
addressed
call
it
apostolic
is
obliged
in question,
as,
standing
and
e.g.,
by deny
of
him who
a gospel which from the
is
first
has
Gentiles not less than to Jews, and
to
itself
men who
by every means,
the independent
preaches
which he
at his conversion,
the Galatians,2 and which he
to
seek to frustrate
ing
39
which has treated circumcision and the Jewish law, as a

whole, as possessing no religious value for Christianity.
indeed appear as if the assertion that St. Paul
preached such a gospel to the Galatians at the time of
It
his
may
first
were irreconcilable with what has been
visit
stated in the
of presenting
chapter concerning the apostle s mode

Christian truth to infant churches.
But
first
is only on the surface.

Paulinism was
in
s
involved
St.
Paul
mission-gospel, though
implicitly
the implications were not explicitly stated and commented
the contrariety
Universalism and denial of the religious significance

Universalism was
of the Jewish law were latent in it.
on.
involved in the simple fact that the preacher addressed

himself to a Gentile audience, and the abrogation of the
Jewish law was quietly taken

fact that the
rite of
by the simple
circumcision was never mentioned.
The preacher held up

broadly sketched
means
crucified
to the eye
of salvation,
and
for granted
left
and
Christ
risen
of faith as the all-sufficient

it
to
work
its
own
effect.
soon appeared that his Galatian hearers
Unfortunately it
did not understand the
stood
it
Gal.
Ibid.
i.
his gospel as he
12.
iii. 1
drift of
They saw no inconsistency
himself.
K ?(,
Ibid.
i.
8.
under
in
be-
40
ST.
ginning with faith in a crucified Jesus and ending with

but for him these two things then
Jewish legalism
;
The posi
and always appeared utterly incompatible.
in
his
interview
with
Peter at
tion he laid down
"
If
Antioch,
died in
vain,"
time
the
of
onwards.
conversion
his
meant
Christ
in
believer
by the law righteousness, then Christ

had appeared to him self-evident from
Becoming
him renouncing
for
legal
righteousness.
The apostle connects
3.
to be
his conversion with his call
an apostle to the Gentiles, representing the one

When it pleased
to the other as an end.
as a
means
God
to reveal
among
the
"
His Son in me, that
Gentiles."
to
According
might preach Him

Weiss he is simply
reading the divine purpose of his conversion in the light

of long subsequent events,
which
for the first time
made
called in God s pro

vidence to a specifically Gentile mission. 3
Now it need
not be denied that such a procedure would be quite in
him conscious that he was being
keeping with
St.
Paul
habits of religious thought, but
gravely be doubted whether
suited the position
it
may
in
which he was placed when he wrote the Epistle to the
What
Galatians.
it
the circumstances required was, that
lie should make it clear

beyond all dispute that he was
an apostle, and an apostle to the Gentiles, by immediate
divine authority and equipment
that both his gospel
;
and
his call
came
to
Gal.
Vide his Introduction
Here
ii.
him
direct
-
21.
New
from the hand
Hid.
i.
of God.
15.
1G4.
Testament, vol i. pp
also Dr. Stevens follows Weiss, vide The Pauline Theoloyy, pp.
21, 22.
to
the
lf>4,
ST.
In presence
men
of
41
lying in wait for his halting, and
even ready to charge him with falsehood, if they got the

chance, could he have so spoken of a call which came to
him
late in the day,
from the fact
of
Gentiles giving an
unexpected welcome to a gospel, which, so far as the

preacher s intention was concerned, had not really been
meant
for
them
that was
If
how
the call came,
why
should he regard himself as an apostle to the Gentiles

more than any of the eleven apostles, who in like
manner saw
in events
God
will that Gentiles should
be admitted to the fellowship of the Christian faith ?

his opponents have recognised him as the Gentile
Would
known the facts to be as supposed ?

Would he have dared to state the case as he does in
apostle had they
his
letter to the
that he
was not
with solemn protestations

had his heathen mission been a
Galatians,
1
lying,
What could give him the cour

tardy afterthought ?
age to make the statement but a distinct recollection
that the change which
made him a
Christian gave
him
also the presentiment that the destiny of the converted
Pharisee was
be
missionary to the pagan

world ?
It is scarcely necessary to add that the view
advocated by Weiss totally fails to do justice to the
strength of St. Paul s feeling as the Gentile apostle, to
the
way
in
to
Christ
which he habitually magnified
his office, to
his fervent devotion to the

for
the
world.
grand programme, Christianity

an enthusiasm could not be
Such
the product of external
circumstances.
It
must have
Just here lay

been the birth of a great religious crisis.
Their
the difference between St. Paul and the Eleven.
1
Gal.
i.
20.
42
ST
be so-called, consisted in bowing

his was a profound
will revealed in events
universalism,
God s
to
if
conviction rooted
I
may
it
in
He was
experience.
never-to-be-forgotten personal
and born ayain, to be the
born,
(Gentile apostle, gifted both by nature and by regenera

for his high calling
tion
and only one
could be said could have undertaken
and endured
its
severe
whom
this
arduous tusks,
trials.
Finally, not without
4.
its
of
bearing on
the question at
mentioned by the apostle as to

The
Jerusalem after his conversion.
issue are the particulars

his first visit to
precise
purpose of this
visit is
probably not fully in
The apostle deems it sufficient to say that

he went up to make the acquaintance of Peter, one of
dicated.
the leading apostles. 1
But two points are noteworthy

the careful specification of the date and duration of the
visit,
and the not
careful
less
apostles from participation in
be
Peter alone, in
St.
Paul wishes
strictly accurate,
s
as to suggest that the meeting
no
to
he admits that he did see James,
the Lord
of
it
it
manner
and
the other
was a private friendly visit to

which the other apostles had no concern.
understood that
To be
it.
exclusion of
brother, but he alludes to the fact in such a
significance.
was accidental
There could thus be no question
Gal. i. 18, icTopwxi

The verb is used in connection with
going to see important places, great cities, etc. Bengel remarks
St. Paul wishes to suggest that he
(jrave verbum, ut de re mar/na.
went to visit the great man of the Christian community not sneerHis
ingly, but possibly not without a slight touch of humour.
1
K.Y>ip/xi>.
opponents laid great
stress
upon important
personalities.
He
too
recognised Peter s importance, but only as an equal, after he had

kept three years aloof, and he no\v went to see him as a man who
sought neither patronage nor advice.
ST.
PAUL
RELIGIOUS HISTORY
43
him on
of apostolic authority brought to bear on
occasion,
the
at
as
conference held
the
visit
it
three years after
took place, says the apostle in
my
conversion, and
Very suggestive
days.
reflected
it
specifications,
on in relation to each
and meant
to be
Three
years
other.
And what
tunity of learning from them.

life,
how much
effect,
lasted just fifteen
passed before he saw any of the apostles, or
in his
the same city
Then, as to the date and duration
fourteen years later.

of
in
this
had any oppor

eventful years
those immediately succeeding his conversion
he lived through in
the Arabian desert
Not
of his spiritual experience
that time, in the solitude of
till those memorable

years of intense meditation are over
does he go up to Jerusalem to see Peter and he goes
then, not as a man still at sea and needing counsel, but
;
as one
He
whose mind
clear
remains with Peter
period he
it
is
still
and whose purpose
fifteen
days.
is fixed.
After so long a
remembers the exact number
of days, for
was a happy time, and one remarkable man does not
readily forget the time he has spent in another remarkable
man s company. And what passed between them
Much
on both sides doubtless, Paul relating to Peter his

personal history and present views, Peter communicat
talk
ing in turn copious reminiscences of his beloved Master.
The writer
of the Epistle to the Galatians can
desire to under- estimate the value of these

tions,
otherwise he would not have stated
was with Peter, but would rather
have no
communica
how
long he
have indicated that
his stay lasted only for a short while.
Very much could
be said in a fortnight, and it is quite likely that in

the course of that time, Peter told Paul all he remembered
44
ST.
of Jesus. 1
Yet
days are a short period compared
fifteen
with three years
quite sufficient for a full rehearsal of the
but hardly enough for a vital

Paul might learn then
process of spiritual development.
the contents of our Gospels, such facts as we read of in
Evangelic memorabilia,
the Gospel of Mark, but
it
was not then that he learned,

own gospel. That he had got
or could possibly learn, his

by heart before he made his visit to Peter.
All this the apostle means to hint, by his brief, rapid

jottings relating to this early period.
"
After
my
He
conversion I took no counsel with
would
men
say,
in the
church who might be supposed able to advise me, in

particular I did not put myself in communication with
of
any
the apostles.
retired
into
desert
the
lengthened period, that there I might be alone with
for
God
when thought and prayer had borne their

an enlightened mind and a firm purpose, and the
2
time for action had come, after three full years, I felt
At
length,
fruit in
a craving to meet one of the

Jesus, that one
spokesman
the earthly
secrated
who had
men who had been with

man and
ever been the foremost
of the Twelve, that I

life of
my
might hear him talk
of
the Lord to whose service I had con
life.
went
to see Peter
in Jerusalem,
desiring from him neither recognition nor counsel, but

1
apostle quotes very few of our Lord s sayings, yet

not to be doubted that he took pains to make himself acquainted
with the Evangelic tradition. This may be inferred from the fact
Though the
it is
that he recognised Christ

from 1 Cor. vii. 10, 12,
2f>
word
;
as authoritative, as can be gathered

Vide on this "Weizsiicker, Das
ix. 14.
apostolische Zeitalter, p. 595.

"
The expression pard
<V
rpiet
does not necessarily
mean three
full
but the purpose of the apostle in making the statement

justifies the assumption that he is speaking exactly.
years,
ST.
PAUL S EELIGIOUS HISTORY
45
simply to enjoy friendly intercourse on perfectly equal

terms with one for whom I entertained sincere respect.
was a time
It
remember
forget.
and the
topics
discord.
my
all
of
still
our
the very
which I can never
number
conversation
of the days,
each
day.
The
unmarred by any lingering recollections

opened my heart to Peter and told him
of it is
memory
of
of delightful fellowship
past experiences and
He showed
purposes.
my
no sign
present thoughts and
of dissent,
other apostles, not even excepting James,
and as
whom
for the
I did see
few moments, they had no part in our intercourse.

I thought and said then, was just what I think
what
Yet,
and say now." 1
for a
From
the foregoing interpretation of
the
apostle
statement regarding his
first visit to
that his universalistic
antinomian gospel goes back,
Jerusalem,
it
follows
if
not to the very hour of his conversion, at least to the

years immediately following that event and preceding
the
visit.
This period might be included within the
1
Vide on this visit to Peter, Weizsiicker, The Apostolic Aye,-pp. 95-98.
Weizsacker thinks that St. Paul avoided Jerusalem after his con ver
sion, because he knew that the spirit prevailing there was alien to
his own, and that he went up at the end of three years because he
felt he could now afford to do so, that is, because he had established
his independence, adopted a definite attitude, and opened his

From the fact that the visit lasted fifteen days,
apostolic career.
he infers that Peter and he did not quarrel but came to an under
standing.
2
Such
is
the view of Holsten
vide his
Evangelium
also of Beyschlag in his Neutcstamentliche Theolorjie

lines of his (Paul s) system" (remarks the latter writer),
p.
in his interview with Peter at Antioch before
any
des Pautus,
"
The main
"as
were written, go back, without doubt, to his retirement in

Vol.
ii.
p. 8.
sketched
of his Epistles
Arabia."
40
PAUL
ST.
time
the
as
conversion,
which
during
the
convert
attained to a full conception of the significance of the

great event.
The view advocated

imply that St. Paul
in the foregoing pages does not
system of Christian thought under
went no expansion
any direction after the initial
We
must
carefully distinguish here between his
period.
in
rdifjious intuitions
former
and
The
his theological formulations.
within the early years or even days of his

career, the latter may have been the slow
fall
Christian
growth of time though even they may to a large extent

have been worked out during the period of retirement in
;
The
Arabia.
instance.
distinction
Among
the
"
may
be illustrated by a single
may be reckoned the
"
intuitions
perception that righteousness and salvation are not attain

able by legal performances, but only by the grace of
as exhibited in a crucified Christ.
Paul as seeing from the
St.
first.
This
we
God
are to conceive
But he may have had
go through a lengthened process of reflection before he

reached a compact theoretic statement of the truth such
to
we
made
as
find in
the words
"
Him who knew
not
sin,
He
on our behalf, that we might become the

That pithy, pregnant
righteousness of God in Him."
sin
sentence has
of
much
all
the appearance of being the ripe fruit
thought.
Another distinction has
to be taken into account in dis
cussing the question as to the development of Paulinism.

must distinguish between the positive doctrines of
We
the Pauline system and

points, St.
Paul
and open
to
its apologetic elements.
At
certain
conception of Christianity appears
weak
attack, or, to say the least, as standing in
ST.
47
need of further explanation.

He teaches that righteous
ness comes not by the law, but by faith in Christ, and
that
comes on equal terms
it
to
between Jew and Gentile.

raised
mediately
righteousness
law serve
all,
Three
questions
benefits
Christ are
his
It
under the religious
faith
Lastly,
of
the
all men on
absolutely
the Jewish election and
to these questions
is
if
to
open
the Pauline apologetic.
first
by
righteousness
equal terms, what comes

The answers
prerogative ?
ideas of
im
doctrine.
by
First, if
come not by the law, what end does the
Next, what guarantee is there for ethical
of
of
are
threefold
this
interests, for real personal goodness,
programme
without distinction
constitute
probable that the apologetic
system came to the apostle
latest of all
the intuitions, next the positive dogmatic formulae,
lastly
the
apologetic
buttresses.
It
need not be sup

till some
posed that he never thought of the defences

antagonistic critics arose to point out the
his
theory.
We may
severest critic,
be sure
and that answers
that
he
weak
was
side of
his
own
to the three questions
were imperiously demanded by his own reason and con

But even on that view the apologetic would
science.
In logical order, a theory must be
naturally come last.
formed before objections can be taken to it.
It must
comes by faith in
first be affirmed that righteousness
Christ before the question can be raised, But what about
personal righteousness on that hypothesis? The apostle s
is his doctrine of the mystic
solution of the difficulty

solidarity
It was pro
of
one
the most
certainly
between the believer and
bably one of the
latest, as
it is
Christ.
beautiful developments in his system of Christian thinking.
CHAPTER
ITT
THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATTANS

LIKE most
of the great agents of divine providence, St.
He had to wait
Paul had large experience of waiting.
a considerable time before an opportunity occurred for
entering on the mission to the Gentiles to which from
the
first
he had
felt
himself called.
according to
He
got the
"
wink
of
the narrative in Ads,
when,
Barnabas went down to Tarsus to seek Saul, and brought
him to Antioch, to take part in the movement that had
opportunity,"
He had to wait still longer before he

could utter his deepest thoughts concerning the Christian
The Gentile mission did not of itself bring the
faith.
begun
there. 1
fitting occasion, for, as
we have
seen, he did not judge
needful or desirable to say all that
it
to infant
churches, whether
origin.
He
tions, in
which
for
of
was
Jewish or
in his
of
mind
Gentile
gave them the benefit of his Christian intui

all
was involved
for himself
though not
them, and kept in reserve the deeper ideas
of his
21-23 shows that St. Paul had not

His first mission was in the
regions of Syria and Cilicia, and there is no reason to suppose that
But those
his efforts were confined to Jews, at least on principle.
were the days of small things. Weiss thinks that St. Paul simply
passed through Syria and Cilicia on his way home.
1
Acts
xi.
25.
Galatians
been altogether idle up
till
i.
this time.
48
THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS

theology, content to find in these rest for his
and reason.
conscience,
the hour for speaking.

raised the inevitable
submit to Jewish
and
salvation
extraction
Gentile liberties,
it
Must heathen
question,
converts
with Christians of Hebrew
Paul became the earnest champion of

but, as was to be expected, many took
hence came bitter
conflict,
for unfolding the latent implications of the
faith
was
Of
Jesus.
in
to
heart,
length controversy brought

His success as a Gentile apostle
rites in order to obtain the benefits of
the opposite view
need
own
At
of fellowship
St.
49
this conflict,
and the
common
on the issue of which
depend whether Christianity was
to
have a
future, the four great Epistles to the Galatian, Corinthian,
and Eoman Churches are the
literary
monument.
The trouble began at the conference at Jerusalem,

Must Gentile Christians
the question was debated
when
be circumcised
The settlement then arrived
not radical nor
final.
It
assumed that in the case
seems to have been

of
at
was
tacitly
Jewish Christians circum
remained as obligatory as ever, and, while it was

agreed that the rite was not to be imposed on heathen
cision
converts, the delicate question connected with the social

relations
between the two sections
of the
Church appears
There
a vague indeterminate state.
was room for misunderstandings and the development of
to
have been
left in
opposite tendencies, in the direction either of reducing
minimum by
attaching disabilities to
the position of an uncircumcised Christian, on the one
hand, or, on the other hand, of treating the exemption
the agreement to a
from subjection to Jewish rites as

the
involving
principle that circumcision was no longer
4
of Gentile converts
50
of
ST.
importance either for Jewish or for

The collision between the two
Christians. 1
any
religious
Gentile
leading apostles at Antioch revealed the existence of the

two tendencies. 2 The cause of that collision was Peter s
refusal, at
the instance of
men from
Jerusalem, to eat
with Gentile Christians, after having previously done so

The position taken up by these men
without scruple.
have been:
seems to
may become
Gentiles
Christians
without being circumcised, but they may not eat with us

Jews so long as they are uncircumcised they must pay
the penalty of their freedom by being treated by us as
;
This was in effect to adhere to the Jerusalem
unclean.
in the letter,
compact
St. Paul
felt this,
to set
aside in the spirit.
it
to state
brother apostle his view of
his
to
and
and took occasion
which
in
speech
definitely
"
public,
Paulinism
formulated.
before
all,"
very plainly
the situation
was
for
the
first
in
time
The speech was delivered in

produced momentous conse
and
The conservatives became a party bitterly

quences.
St. Paul, and bent on counteracting his
to
opposed
influence,
regular
apparently
anti-Pauline
organising
for
propagandism,
that
purpose
following
in
the
Holsten too strongly characterises the Jerusalem compact as a

separation union (Sonderungs-ciniguny), based on an inner con
1
tradiction of views.
Vide Das Evangelium
des Paulus, p. 24.
writers place this collision between the second and third

missionary journeys, during the visit of St. Paul to Antioch, referred
2
Some
two or three years after the Jerusalem Con

the agreement come to was diversely understood as
above indicated, the misunderstanding would not take years to show
Men like the
itself.
It would appear on the earliest opportunity.
to in Acts xviii. 22,
ference,
But
if
4 would be on the outlook
false
brethren referred to in Galatians
for a
chance of making the compact null and void.
ii.
51
wherever he went, not to convert

pagans to Christianity, but to pervert converts to their
own Judaistic views of the Christian faith.
apostle
footsteps
Though the controversy between
St.
Paul and the
Judaists originally and immediately referred to the rite

of circumcision, it involved wide issues and raised more
than one question of grave import.
went
on, three topics
greatest prominence
assumed
As
the
conflict
in succession the place of
the perpetual obligation of the law,
the qualifications for apostleship, and the prerogatives of
To set aside circumcision was

an elect people.
to
annul
the
whole
law, argued St. Paul s
virtually
opponents, and he admitted the accuracy of their logic,
Israel as
and
drew the seemingly impious inference that the
gospel of salvation through faith in Christ involved the

entire abrogation of the law as a
God.
is
the
way
to acceptance with
Thereupon the Judaists raised a new question
man who
against
Who
dares to teach so blasphemous a doctrine
the divinely -given
authority does he take
it
Moses
law of
upon him
tianity in this revolutionary sense
By what
to interpret Chris
He
calls
himself
an apostle what right has he to the name ? He is not

one of the Twelve who had been with Jesus, and none
:
but they can authoritatively bear witness to, or interpret,

the mind of the Lord, nor can anyone be a true teacher,
not to say an apostle, whose doctrine is not in accordance
It is easy to see how the logic of
with their testimony.
their position led the Judaists to make such an assault
claim to be an apostle, and how he in
turn could not shirk the question thus raised, but was
upon
St.
Paul
that
equally bound by the logic of his position to show
7
52
ST.
in calling himself the apostle of the Gentiles
was neither one
guilty of usurpation, though he

)
under
Twelve nor acting

disposed
question
of,
their
still
he was not
authority.
another
remained
of the
But that
On
St.
Paul s view of Christianity in relation to the law, what

She had long been God s
about the election of Israel ?
could that
chosen people, enjoying valuable privileges
be a true conception of Christianity which involved the
virtual denial or cancelling of Israel s election
the
of
Gentiles
the
Here
was
put upon his

defence, and summoned to the solution of a hard problem
again
apostle
the reconciliation of his gospel with the past history

of the
Jewish nation.
These three questions respecting the law, the apostolate, and the election, were all essentially involved in the
great controversy, and they were probably all from the
outset present,
more
both parties.
Yet one may be said to have been more

and another at another, so that
prominent
or less distinctly, to the thoughts of
at one time
the three topics
may
be regarded as denoting distinct
The three
stages in the controversy.
recognisable in the relative literature.
stages are easily
For while one or
may contain passages bearing

the three topics, more or less clearly, yet they
be classified according as this or that topic is the
other of the four Epistles
on
all
may
one chiefly discussed.

occupied
predominantly
The Epistle
with
two Epistles
to the Galatians
the
the
first
the
Corinthians
of
is
three
(to
be
regarded in this connection as one) with the second,
and
themes,
the
to
the Epistle to the Eomans, in the matter peculiar to
with the third.
In Galatians
St.
it,
Paul defends the hide-
53
pendence of Christianity against those who would make

Christendom subject to Jewish law and custom in 1
;
and 2 Corinthians he defends his own independence and

authority as a God-commissioned apostle of the Gentiles
against those
Eleven
who
asserted the exclusive authority of the

in Romans, while giving a comprehensive state
ment
of
truth
that
views on the gospel, he addresses himself

very specially to the solution of the problem how to
reconcile his idea of Christianity with the admitted
his
Israel
had
for
been God
centuries
many
elect people.
In
our references to the four Epistles, it has been

assumed that their proper order is that in which they
have been named in the foregoing paragraph. That they
all
were actually written in this order is the opinion of the

Some English scholars, how
majority of commentators.
ever,
favour a
the Corinthians
Romans.
different order, placing

first,
the Epistles
to
and Galatians between them and
In his valuable
commentary on
Galatians,
Bishop Lightfoot has carefully discussed the question,
and given weighty reasons in support of this arrange

ment. 1
His two main arguments are based on the great
and expression between Galatians

and Romans, and on the manner in which the apostle
speaks in these two Epistles and 2 Corinthians respec
similarity in thought
with copious details in

the last-mentioned Epistle, with one pointed reference in
In
Galatians^ very mildly and but seldom in Romans.
tively concerning his tribulations
both cases the facts are as stated

to
dispute
1
is
the only point open
whether the inference be
Vide the Introduction, pp. 36-56.
irresistible.
2
The
Gal. vi. 17.
54
ST.
PAUL
between Galatians and liomans
similarity
is
explninecl
by the supposition that the latter Epistle was written

shortly after the former, while the echoes of its utter
ances
still
lingered in the writer s mind.
the only possible explanation
of
the
But
this is not
phenomenon.
It
be accounted for by the hypothesis that the apostle

both Epistles w as drawing upon a stock of Christian
thought which in its essential positions, in the arguments
may
in
on which these rested, and even in verbal expression,

was to a large extent stereotyped, and thoroughly
familiar to himself, though
case letters touching on the
new
to his readers.
same
topics,
In that
no matter what
time separated them, would exhibit such

resemblances as have been shown to exist in the two
of
interval
The other
Epistles in question.
another
of
explanation
His theory
Lightfoot.
besides
set of facts also
that given
admits
by Bishop
that the Epistle which says
is
most about apostolic tribulations must have been nearest

them in the date of its composition. But the truth is
that the prominence given to that topic in 2 Corinthians
not due to the recentness of the experiences, but to

their appositeness to the purpose on hand.
As will
is
hereafter appear, the trials he endured formed an
portant part of
St.
Paul
argument
im
in support of his
apostleship.
1
In a recent article in the Expositor (April 1894), the Rev. F.

Rendall, M.A., discussing the two topics as to the locality of the
Galatian Churches, and the date of the Epistle to them, comes to the
conclusion that this Epistle is not only earlier than the other three
of the same group, but "the earliest now extant of St. Paul s
Epistles,"
calls
"a
dealing with the agitation created in Gulatia, by what he

the Judaising party in 51." On Bishop Light-
last effort of

I adhere
55
therefore to the order previously indicated,
which, apart from
all historical
questions as to dates of
composition, best suits the logic of the controversy,
take
proceed to
and
a rapid survey of the Epistle to the
Galatians.
The very
occurred
title
sentence
on the other hand, he not only
here,
an apostle, but takes

apostolic standing he
subordinately to
alone. 1
shows that something has
the spirit of the writer.

In his
the Thessalonians St. Paul gives himself no
disturb
to
to
letters
first
pains
is
any man
to
indicate
calls himself
that
for
his
indebted neither primarily nor

or body of men, but to God
The same thing may be
said
every true
of
apostle and prophet, but why so peremptory an assertion

of independence ?
Because there are those who assail
independence, and desire to make out that he is

either no apostle at all, or one subordinate to the Eleven,
his
and therefore bound

their authority
influence
as
conform in opinion and action to

and all this in order to undermine his
to
a teacher of views which
the
assailants
Fully aware how closely belief in

his authority as a teacher is connected with continued
adherence to his doctrine, the apostle commences with
regard with aversion.
and sets himself in a very thorough, earnest

demonstrate
the originality of his gospel, and his
way
entire freedom as the apostle of the Gentiles from all
this topic,
to
A man may
argument from similarity of style lie remarks
well repeat the same thoughts and the same expressions at consider
able intervals if the intervening tenor of his life and his environ
"
foot s
ment continue
1
oi>x,
dv
constant."
dvQpa-Tray,
ovos
8/
Eleven), as ultimate source, nor
dvOpuKov
not from men

as instrument.
by any man
(e.g.
the
56
ST.
This, however, is not

dependence on the other apostles.
the leading aim of the Epistle, though it forms the topic
The main purpose is revealed
of the first two chapters.
the sentence following the
in
in
"
salutation
and doxology,
which the apostle suddenly and indignantly exclaims

am surprised that ye have so soon turned away from
him who
you in the grace of Christ unto another

The unhappy change alluded to is from a
called
gospel."
gospel of salvation by grace to
gospel
of
salvation
by circumcision, and the leading aim of the apostle

is to check the perverse movement, and to
bring back
the Galatians to their first faith.
The section bearing
on the apostleship from chap. i. 11 to the end of chap.
ii.
may be viewed as a long parenthesis, after which the
main theme
resumed, and the Galatians are again

directly addressed and remonstrated with for allowing
themselves to be led away.
is
This section, though parenthetical, is very important

on the main design of the Epistle.
It
in its bearing
consists of three parts, of
show that
for
which the
first is
intended to
Paul was not indebted to the other apostles

his knowledge of Christ and of the gospel (i. 11-24)
St.
the second, that he was in no wise controlled by them in

regard to his preaching of the gospel (ii. 110); the
from any of the apostles prescribing to

should preach, the fact was that he, on the
third, that so far
him what
lie
contrary, had occasion
to
remonstrate with one of the
The expression OVTU; Tct%iu; is founded on by most

Gal. i. 6.
interpreters as proving that Galatians must have been written before
1 and 2 Corinthians, shortly after St. Paul s second visit to (Jalatia,
1
at the
beginning of his three years residence in Ephesua.
THE EPISTLE TO THE OALATIANS

St.
pillar-apostles,
Peter,
in
f>7
regard to unstable, incon
sistent conduct, fitted to
the gospel
of
compromise the great principles

What he says on the first
11-21).
(ii.
head amounts to
this,
that he had neither the inclination
nor the opportunity to learn much about Christianity

from the apostles.
In the second part, he gives an
extremely interesting account of important occurrences
in connection with the Jerusalem Conference,
much
fortunately has given rise to
among
critics
and
The
is clear.
ference,
nothing to
additional
instructions
as
whom
that
him,"
to
is
apostle most distinctly
states that the pillar-apostles with

"added
diversity of opinion
But amid much that
interpreters.
doubtful one thing
which un
he held con
is,
gave him no
what he should preach,
found no fault with his gospel as frankly explained to

them, were content that he should continue preaching as
he had preached.
They reverently recognised the hand
God
of
in the
whole career
of this
man
sion, in his conception of the nature
Christianity,
Gentiles.
as
cision
in
his
success
They acquiesced
at
wished him
least
all
suitable
as
in his conver
and destination
missionary
of
the
to
in his gospel of uncircuinfor
converts, and
heathen
success in preaching
it
in heathen parts,
while they confined their own ministry to the Jewish

world, being humbly conscious of unfitness for work in
any other sphere.

1
Gal.
it
i.
"
G.
oi/osv
KpoexvidatTO.
on an additional burden.
The verb
In
in classic Greek
Greek
means
the
means
impart
either to give or to get advice, instruction, or injunction.
Here
later
it
means that the apostles gave no additional instructions.

16 the same word is employed in the other sense ov
:
of
to
to lay
to,
ii.
Such being the attitude
did not consult in order to get
advice."
In chap.
58
ST.
Eleven, their authority could not truthfully be appealed

to in support of a reactionary movement which strove to
reduce the Jerusalem compact to a minimum, or even to

make it a nullity by endeavouring to induce Gentile
Christians
submit
to
seem
sectaries
The third
to
to
circumcision, as the
Judaist
have done in Galatia.
division of the long parenthesis respecting
the apostleship
is
the most important of
all.
It exhibits
Paul as teaching one of the pillar-apostles, instead of

being taught by them, the true nature of the gospel
St.
yet not teaching a
from that
different
showing
new
of
gospel, as
the other
to St. Peter the true
if
his gospel
apostles,
were
but rather
import of his own gospel
the scope, tendency, and logical consequence of his own

The doctrinal statement it contains
professed principles.
Paulinism, given in a few rapid, im

passioned sentences, charged at once with the thorough
going logic of a powerful intellect, and the intense
is
an epitome
of
There is nothing more

emotion of a great manly heart.
Pauline literature,
of
the
in
the
whole
range
stirring
nothing more convincing, than this swift, eloquent sketch
brought in incidentally,
in the course of a historical narrative intended to vindi
of the gospel of uncircumcision,
cate the apostle s independence, but serving a far higher

purpose also, viz., to vindicate the independence of the
gospel itself as a gospel of free grace, meant for the

salvation of all sinners alike, and able to save all in the
most
efficient
manner without
the aid of legal ordinances.
against Peter the memorable utterance makes good

three serious charges: that he has been guilty (1) of
As
virtually
excommunicating the
Gentile
Christians
by
59
on their complying with Jewish custom as a
insisting
condition of fellowship, 1 (2) of self-stultification in build
ing again the things he had destroyed, (3) of frustrating

the grace of God by in effect declaring that it is insufficient
for
man s
salvation,
and needs
performances.
the passage briefly indicates
Pauline
sinners
on a
the same
Jews by
Eomans.
the
to
"
"
supplemented by legal
order as in
and Gentile
birth
less
than Gentiles,
though proudly applying the epithet to the latter as
had no reference to themselves

for
justification
the
level, as unable to save themselves by
Jews being sinners not
their works,
didactically,
the leading ideas of the
all
much
theology in
Epistle
to be
Viewed not polemically but
faith
both,
and
in
the sole
faith
if it
way
to
Jesus Christ crucified
by the law mutually

the
law
exclusive
faith,
therefore,
abolished, so that
by
the believer in Jesus is no longer bound by it
finally,
justification
by
faith
justification
mystic union and communion

with Christ, and of devoted love to Christ in response to
the Christian
life
life of
He
the love wherewith
loved us, in giving Himself to

It is obviously not solely for
death for our salvation.
historic reasons that the
markable confession
of his
apostle repeats here this re
He
faith.
has in view the
present instruction of the Church to which he writes,

and means, though he does not put it down on paper,
"
this is
what
I said to Peter then,
and
this I say to
you
now."
We
come now
iii.-v).
1
Gal.
to the
The contents
ii.
14
-,- T
lay in Peter s example.
idvn
main part
of this
of the Epistle (chaps,
part
yy*a/;
may
l6vlxtni>.
be
summed up
The compulsion
60
PAUL
ST.
by three phrases:
1.
Lcyalism condemned, chap.
Christian liberty asserted, chap,
1-6
v.
iii.
2.
Abuse of
3.
1326.
liberty censured, chap. v.
Full of enthusiasm for the creed which he has just
1.
expounded, the
natural
iv.
passes
apostle
feeling
on to
surprise and
of
defence with
its
vexation
that
so
He
cannot
understand how a church to which a crucified
Christ
unwelcome a duty should

had been broadly proclaimed
be
necessary.
should lapse into legalism.

to him, why should
meant everything
He not be everything to them ?
crucified Christ
bewitched them
Who
seemed as
for it
if
have
could
the result could
be accounted for only by the fascinating spell of some

Alas
the unhappy change is not so
malign power.
!
difficult to
There
is
understand as
St.
Paul seems to have imagined.
nothing so natural as this lapse in the case
the average Christian, nothing so

life
habitually maintained
up
common
of
Christian
in the pure Alpine region
of the Pauline faith is the exception rather
For few are so consistent in their
than the
rule.
logic as St. Paul, so
thorough in the application of first principles, so possessed
by the love
of Christ,
other servitude.
St.
and therefore
Paul s doctrine
so jealous of every
is,
after
all,
a heroic
doctrine, and it needs spiritual heroes to appreciate it

and do it justice.
Besides, it has to be remembered that
while the apostle had his experience of legalism before

his conversion, for
most men
it
comes
Few
after.
escape
taking the spiritual disease at some time or other.
The Galatian Church caught the
evil infection
the Judaist propagandists, and so their

1
Gal.
iii.
1, ^coi-ypxifYi
first
from
teacher must
well rendered by Ligbtfoot,
"
placarded."

argue the matter with them.
lie
How
before us.
know
told
it
to ourselves it
01
The heads of his argument

on the Galatians we do not
may appear
of
varying value, and
occasionally such as to remind us that the writer was
The
once a disciple of the Rabbis.

convincing, being a
least
asks the apostle,
"
How,"
wrought
in
first
is
proof
not the
direct appeal to experience.

did ye receive the Spirit who
"
you and through you so mightily
by doing
legal works, or by believing the good tidings ye heard
from
my
lips
And
forsake
why
why should
began,
first,
it
Listen not to the
it
if
in
now
this
way your
If faith
was
Christian
life
so powerful at
not be equally powerful all through ?

\vould enslave you to the
men who
God, who gave you His Spirit and

wrought miracles among you, before ever you heard a
word of circumcision or the Jewish law, thereby showing
law
listen rather to
that these things are no wise necessary or conducive to

salvation."
To be noted
way
in
in this first line of reasoning
which law
is
opposed to faith,
and
is
the pointed
flesh to spirit.
Received ye the Spirit from the works of the law, or

from the hearing of faith ?
Having begun in the
"
"
"
ye now being perfected in the flesh

have here two of the great Pauline antitheses.
Spirit, are
"
We
The apostle s next appeal is to the history of

1
Abraham, obviously an important topic in an argu
ment with men enamoured of Judaism. If he could
make
it
appear that history was on his
side,
a great
To what extent is he suc

point would be gained.
To this extent, at least, that in the patriarch s
cessful ?
1
Gal.
iii.
6-9.
62
ST.
God
acceptableness to
history
associated with faith,
is
and the promise embraces in its scope the Gentiles.

The story makes the broad impression that men please
God not by doing this or that, but by believing in Him,
and that whoever believes in God, whether Jew or
Gentile,
His grace.
to share in
may hope
a modern student of Scripture
Paul
ing to find St.
may
This length
go, without pretend
doctrine of justification by faith, in
the technical theological sense, in the
Book
of Genesis.
The next point the apostle makes is this while by

you share the blessing of Abraham, what you get
:
faith
from the law
is
not blessing but cursing. 1
Is
not
it
written,
every one that continueth not in all
things which are written in the book of the law to do
"
them
Cursed
is
The most notable thing
"
argument
is
the saying concerning the function of Christ

Christ hath redeemed us
law s curse.
in relation to the
from
in this section of the
"
the curse of the lavi, being
made a
curse for us
"
the
a curse being that He suffered

This is doubtless one
death in the form of crucifixion. 2
proof that
He was made
of the great Pauline logia
new
utterance but an old
thought, dating even in its expression from early years.

It is more than the simple statement of a religious faith,
it
contains the
in
it is
share
germ
of a
theological theory
the principle that the Eedeemer of
their
privilege,
lot
in
order
of
principle
for latent
men must
that
they
may
share
which
we
shall
find
His
other
exemplifications in the Pauline Epistles.
The
apostle proceeds
mere date
1
Gal.
iii.
to
base an argument on
of the Sinaitic legislation.

10-14.
Ibid.
iii.
13.
the
Given above four

3
Ibid.
iii.
15-18.

hundred years
after the promise,
the purpose of setting
and
63
of course
not for
the law must have been
it aside,
intended to perform some function in subordination to

This at once raises the question, What was
the promise.
that function
answer
for it
"
What
then the law
St.
to the question is not given here
till
we come
to his Epistle to the
he does say in the present Epistle
owing
"
the
to
rapid
movement
of
rushes on like a mountain torrent.
s full
we must
little
wait
What
Eomans.
a
is
Paul
obscure,
thought,
which
Had we no
other
his
information as to his doctrine concerning the law, we

might readily take his meaning to be that it was added
to restrain
transgression.
It
would be nearer the truth
to say that he means to suggest that the law was given

in favour of transgression,2 to provoke resistance to its
This
behests.
none the
less
certainly a very bold idea, but
is
likely
whole doctrine
of
to
be
the law
Pauline.
is
The
it
is
apostle s
one of the most start-
features in
his
apologetic system of
we
be
which
tempted to regard as an
might
thought,
extravagance into which he was driven by the exigencies
of controversy.
This, however, would be a very mistaken
lingly
original
sure, no hastily extemporised

is, we may be
but
the
theory,
carefully thought-out solution of a
problem which pressed heavily on the apostle s mind,
from the day he arrived at the conclusion that the law,
idea.
It
whatever
to the
1
it
might be good
for,
was certainly not the way
attainment of righteousness.
Gal iii. 19.

So Lipsius, Die Paulinische
Mcnegoz, and
many
others.
Bechtfertigungskhre, p.
75 (1853),
64
ST.
While

to give a full statement of
failing
the solution
makes some very
in this Epistle, the apostle
instructive
For this pur

suggestions respecting the law s function.
pose he employs three comparisons, likening the law
a gaoler, who, after provoking
first to
sion,
men
to transgres
throws them into prison, and keeps them there

to a pccdagogus, entrusted
under lock and key l next

with the moral supervision
;
of a
child
to the
lastly
guardians and stewards who have charge of the person

and property of the heir to an estate during the time of
his minority. 3
All three comparisons have one general
object in view, to
show how the law might have a
real
only a temporary one issuing in release

The gaoler s function is real and
power.
function, yet
from
its
necessary, but the time comes
when
the prisoner must
The pcedagogus in a Greek or Eoman family

served a useful if humble purpose in the moral nurture
be set
free.
due course the child
of a child of tender years, but in
outgrew
his
stewards
is
most necessary
and the preservation

a matter of course,
all
The care
influence.
of
guardians
to the well-being of
and
an heir
of his inheritance, but it ceases, as
when he comes
of age.
The
figures
serve further to convey a hint as to the comparatively
to exhibit it as
ungenial nature of the law s function
such, that the subject of it will be glad to escape from
;
when
it
the time of release arrives.
worst under the figure of a gaoler

1
is
less
It appears at its
repulsive under
Gal. in. 23.

Ibid.
iii.
24.
Kxilsf/a /o;
unknown among
is
untranslatable because the function
us.
3
Ibid. iv. 2.
ivirpoffov^ having charge of the person
having charge of the property.
65
the guise of the pcedagogus, because the subject
is
now
conceived not as a criminal but as a child, though even

his mode of treatment is harsh compared with that of a
l
least irksome under the final figure, for now
parent
the child is grown to be a youth, and the guardians and
;
stewards do not forget what he will be ere long, yet
becoming increasingly unwelcome as the future heir

advances towards maturity, and longs with growing
eagerness for escape from authority into self-control.
Under
law
is
three aspects, even the mildest, the reign of

bearable only for a time, creating in the subject
all
an irrepressible desire
2.
came with Jesus
Liberty
theme
genial
introduces
for liberty.
the
the
goes
apostle
subject
in
Of
Christ.
on
to
this
speak.
con
He
connection with the last of
the above-mentioned comparisons, which he regards as
the most important of the three, as appears from the

formal manner in which he brings it in
Now I say,"
2
etc.
He has hinted already at the truth that with
"
Christ the era of liberty or true sonship began,3 but he

is
now
fact,
of
make
a more adequate statement of the

in connection with the figure of the heir in a state
able
to
pupilage,
which gives
it
an
effective
setting,
and
brings out the epoch-making significance of the advent of

Jestis
in the general religious history of the
world.
In
terms of that figure he represents the advent as marking

1
This
is
the point emphasised by Lipsius, Die Paulinische Eecht
The pcedagoyiis acts with rigour, not with

fertiyunyslehre, p. 80.
love.
On the other hand, Menogoz thinks that the temporariness of
the
office is
the one thing to be insisted on, Le Pechtf
But there is a reference to

p. 115.
2
Gal. iv. 1 : îyu og
5
et
both aspect?.
Ibid.
iii.
20.
la
Redemption,
66
ST.
the point at which mankind, the son of God, arrived at

Then commenced the era of grace, of
its majority.
neither
but
Jew nor Greek,

one of
thought,
the
And
Paulinism.
great change
is
a truly magnificent
the whole range of
but
with
feel
what
agency in bringing about the

with this grand
of in association
spoken
But when
"
the
is
is
in
cannot
philosophic idea.
God
It
greatest
one
powerful effect Christ
which
in
slave nor free, male nor female,
one in Christ. 1
are
all
new humanity
the
sonship, of
of
liberty,
the fulness of
tlie
time came,
His Son, made of a woman, made under

He mvjld redeem, tJiem that were under tlie
sent forth
law, that
law, that
we might
receive the
adoption of
sons"
Here
is another great Pauline logion, a fresh contribution to

the theology of the cross, applying tlie principle of
between Kedeemer and redeemed in a new
solidarity
The subject of redemption being under law,

came under law, that by this act
direction.
the Eedeemer also

of grace
He might
bondage.
refers not only
legal
His
is
is
that
noteworthy
Christ
to
Why
birth.
put an end for ever to the state of
It
this
subjection to
the
apostle
law,
but to
Perhaps we should avoid
explanations, and
adopt the simple sug

gestion that the form of subjection to law which he
has in his mind is circumcision, the bone of contention
too
recondite
between himself and the Judaists.

thus be paraphrased
In that case
Gal
Ibid. iv. 4, 5.
iii.
his
Jesus came to be
thought may
born of a woman, and then, being a Jew, to be
:
cir-
28.
at a later stage.
The
idea of adoption will
come up
for discussion
67
cumcised, and so to deliver us from bondage to that rite

and all that goes along with it.
Thus viewed, this great
text ascribes redemptive power, not merely to Christ s
death, but to His whole state of gracious humiliation.
The objective
being that
it
ideal
new
inaugurated the
doors opened, children
prison
heir no longer a minor,
it
the
of
new
as
It
manhood, the
see what duty is
to
is
coming
freedom
filial
to
easy to
which
era in
he
understand the
to
lives,
enter
and subjectively to realise

lies
on him to be free indeed,
ideal.
Obligation
lofty
a son of God arrived at his majority.
That accord-
sympathetically into
its
era of
grown
is
incumbent on the Christian.

nature
Christ
of
significance
its spirit,
what the apostle next proceeds to insist on.

Appealing once more to the experience of his readers in
dingly
is
confirmation
"
presented,
thing
in
came
to
of
the view
Did you
your own
not,"
of
Christianity
he asks in
hearts which
was God sending the
find
some
you that Jesus
Was
there not
God Father ? It
His own well-beloved Son
made you
Spirit of
"
effect,
told
introduce the era of sonship
a spirit in you which
he has just
call
you might be sons

Be faithful, then,
standing.
into your breasts, that
in feeling as
well as in legal
to that spirit
whose promptings ye once obeyed. Eeturn not again

to bondage to the weak and beggarly elements, whether
Jewish legalism or
of
of
was the very purpose

1
Such is the drift
you."
it
points of
1
of
superstition,
Christ
from which
coming
of chapter iv.
to
redeem
6-20, omitting
minor importance.
The words
preted as
Pagan
having
ccadevq
x.ctl
-TUX*
this double reference,
arot^la, are generally inter
^rot^la,
means
literally the
68
ST.
With this pathetic appeal the apostle might well

But his active mind is
have concluded his argument.
full of ideas, and he has yet another train of thought
in reserve by which he hopes to commend his doctrine
freedom from the law to the acceptance of
Abraham having done service in establish
of Christian
his readers.
ing the doctrine, his family
is
now made
to
perform
part by the allegory of Sarah and
Here
the
again
its
1
Hagar and their sons.

Christian apostle and prophet may
appear to be clad in the robe of a Eabbi, but let not

that be to his prejudice.
Take the allegory for what
it
worth
is
much
as poetry rather than

convince the reason as
to
If it served
imagination.
world
in the
even
it
if
to
meant not
captivate
so
the
that purpose at a great crisis
religious history,
should be of
logic,
was
it
not worth while,
value to us
little
At
the very
has autobiographical interest, for the prose poem

It comes to us from
obviously bears a date upon it.
least, it
the period of
the retirement in Arabia, and
the keen air of the desert as
and
we read
we
scent
Let us read
it.
from the stupidity of a
silently enjoy, abstaining
prosaic detailed interpretation.
One can understand the

which
this
man
passionate earnestness with
of prophetic, poetic soul, true son of the
Jerusalem above, once more appeals to the Galatians to

alphabet ranged in rows, and the idea suggested is that
the Jewish and Pagan religions were fit only for the childhood of
the world, when men were, as it were, only learning their letters.
letters of the
Chap.
iv.
21-31.
Vide on this Professor Findlay
spirit of the passage
story."
by
most
felicitous
He hits off the

(Expositor s Bible).
the remark
He will tell his children
commentary on the Epistle
"

stand fast in
their
Christ-bought
liberty,
69
and
not to
become re-entangled in a yoke of bondage, and warns

them that that must be the inevitable effect of their
to
submitting
the
And how
circumcision. 1
of
rite
welcome, after the subtle argumentation of the previous

chapter, the brief sententious statement of the healthy
normal Christian attitude on
We
"
in debate.
in the Spirit
all
such questions as were
who know where they are)

wait
faith
for the hope of righteous
(Christians
from
For in Christ neither circumcision availcth anything
ness.
nor
hut
uncirciimcision,
faith
energetic
through
love."
another of the great Pauline words, having for

circumcision et hoc genus omne, good for
import
This
its
is
nothing, faith good for everything
and not
to
less
end with
good
as to justify, because
it
is
good to begin with,
good to sanctify as well
powerful practical force
2
operating through the highest motive, love.
3.
On
the
apostle s warning
against
the
abuse of
1326) little need be said, beyond

on
this score he exhibits here, as always,
remarking that
He traces the source of
a most becoming sensitiveness.
liberty
abuse to the
the Spirit.
to
v.
(chap.
flesh,
and
He makes no
the
relation
the antidote in walking by
licence
attempt here, as in Eomans,

is excluded by a right view
subsisting
between the Christian and
show how moral
of
finds
Christ, but he compensates for that lack by drawing up
two
lists
of
the works of the flesh and of the Spirit
respectively, that the one

1
Chap.
More
Chap.
may
repel by its hideousness,
v. 1-4.
will be said on this text in a future chapter.

v. 16.
70
ST.
and the other draw by
human
that the facts of

so
tremendous a contrast
its
winsomeness.
How
strange
should supply material for
Stranger still that it should
life
!
be possible to find materials for the contrast within the

For the fruit of the Spirit love, joy,
religious world
:
peace,
set
etc., is
nected with the
than
less
sensualist.
generation
"
over against the spiritual vices con

carnality of religious contention," not
the coarser vices of
against
It
is
the
irreligious
easy to be a religious partisan, re
is
not necessary for that
the difficulty
is
to
be a true Christian.
The
must not be passed over in silence.

After the speech to Peter, it is the most characteristic
The letter has been written at
thing in the Epistle.
postscript
white heat, dictated more rapidly than the amanuensis

can write it down.
The author reads it over, finds he
has
something to say, writes it down himself, in

bold, inelegant characters, unmistakable by any
still
large,
who
has seen his handwriting before.

The senti
ments are as unmistakably Pauline as the penmanship.
Here is no elaborate reasoning, whether of the ex-rabbi
one
the theological doctor, but abrupt, impassioned,

prophetic utterances of deepest convictions the zealots
or
of
for Judaism, hollow hypocrites

sole
the
worthy ground
new
of
the cross of Christ the
glorying;
circumcision nothing,
Christian creation in the individual and in the
community everything
the
men who
their motto, the true Israel of God, on
peace ever
rest.
1
Chap.
vi.
11-17.
adopt this
for
whom may God s
CHAPTEE IV
THE EPISTLES TO THE CORINTHIANS
IN these Epistles the controversy between St. Paul and
opponents takes the form of an attack and a defence
his
of his apostolic standing,
and
in connection therewith.
The advocates
Christianity do not
seem
to
direct attempt to induce the
submit to the
of
his personal character

of a Judaistic
have made, in Corinth, any

members of the Church to
rite of circumcision, or
any other part
of
the Jewish law, probably for the simple reason that such
an attempt in that centre of Greek life would have been

futile.
They appear to have confined their efforts in
temper to questions of detail, such as

Amid the Greeks
meats offered to idols.
fostering a legal
the eating of
of Corinth,
with their liberal instincts, the anti-Paulinists
would be obliged to pursue their end, the destruction of

a free independent Christianity, by a circuitous course.
They could not, with hope of success, teach their own
doctrines, but
they might assail the man who taught

an opposite nature, might blacken his
doctrines
of
character,
and plausibly deny, or cunningly undermine,

The spirit of the people gave
his apostolic standing.
them a good chance

for
of success in this
bad
line of action,
the Greeks in general, and the Corinthians in parti71
72
ST.
cular,
and
were
volatile, opinionative, addicted to
the
to
party
spirit,
and heartlessness which that
faithlessness
spirit usually engenders.
to
is very little bearing on the great controversy

be found in the First Epistle, which treats mainly
of
the
There
multifarious disorders and
the
irregularities of
Corinthian Church, the various
questions
therein
meats, marriage,
women, etc., and an
the
casuistry
debated, relating to sacrificial
and
dress
eccentric opinion
resurrection.
there
of
the
of
deportment
Only a few
presence
of
of
by some concerning
the
slight hints occur here
and
entertained
hostile
element
on
bent
undermining the apostle s influence and authority, such

the parties into which the Church
as the reference to
was divided, 1 the allusion
to
some who were puffed up
because they thought the apostle was frightened to visit

2
Corinth, and the abrupt manner in which, in the ninth
chapter, the writer, in
apostolic dignity and
interrogative
3
privileges.
form, asserts
Were
it
his
not for the
prominence given to the element of self-defence in the

Second Epistle, one might even legitimately doubt
whether these stray hints did really imply the existence

in the Corinthian Church of a mischief-making Judaistic
section
but in view of the peculiar contents of the

seems proper to attach more significance
later Epistle, it
to
them than we should otherwise have
course, quite conceivable
that between
done.
It
is,
of
the writing of
Epistle and the date of the Second a new

situation had emerged, that a party of legalists had in
the First
the
1
interval
1 Cor.
i.
arrived on
11, 12.
the
scene
Ibid. iv. 18.
and created other

3
Ibid, ix. 1-6.
THE EPISTLES TO THE COlilMTIHANS
work
for the apostle
73
than that of correcting Corinthian
Thus we might explain why there is so little

in the First Epistle of that which constitutes the
pecu
of
the
Second.
But
the
fact
be
otherwise
liarity
might
abuses.
be due in part to the circum

stance that in his First Epistle the apostle had so many
accounted
It
for.
may
urgent matters to write about, that the personal question

was crowded out in part to his adversaries not having
;
as yet found their opportunity, so that their presence in
the Church might meantime be disregarded, or alluded to
only in a distant manner.

However it is to be explained, the fact certainly is,
that the allusions to a hostile party in the First Epistle
and vague.
What is said concerning
in the Church is far from clear.
How
are
very slight
the
divisions
many
parties were there,
characteristics
and what were
Baur reduces them
to
their respective
two, a Petrine
and a Pauline, the other two being varieties of these, or

the Petrine
the same party under a different name
;
party,
e.g.,
calling
itself
now
now
after
after Peter, the chief of the
Christ, to imply that in

Jesus was an indispen
with
companionship
sable qualification for apostleship. 1
According to Hol-
original
apostles,
their view
sten,
those
distinct
into
the
who
called
themselves after Christ were a
party, consisting of
Church,
strangers
men who had
who had come
personally
followed
Jesus, belonging indeed to the Seventy, therefore claim

2
It is assumed .by both these
ing the title of apostles.
1
Vide Paulus dcr Apostd, i. 291-8.

Vide Das Evangelium, des Paulus, pp. 196-232, where there
very able discussion of the question,
Who
is
Avere the Christ party
a
?
74
ST.
writers
that the divisions rested on a doctrinal
PAUL
basis,
denied by others, who think that

amounted
to
little
more than personal preferences. 1
they
The whole subject is enveloped in obscurity, but the
is
which, however,
probability
is
that there was a Judaistic leaven in the
Corinthian
Church
written, as
it
even when
certain
is
there
the
First
Epistle
was
must have been at the
date of the Second.
On
this
though
view we can best understand 1 Cor.
that the apostle
is
on his defence
is
self-evident even in this passage, especially as

in
"
the
Am
correct
I not free
an apostle
text,
"
comes before the question,
According
and
to the apostleship
illustration of the
its
maxim
16,
from
it
stands
which the question,
according to
"
ix.
far
"
Am
I not
to this reading, the reference
rights
comes in simply as an
previously laid down, that a
must sometimes deny himself the use of an

undoubted liberty.
The only thing that makes us
Christian
something more in his

mind is the abruptness with which the reference to the
apostleship comes in, and the strange emphasis with
suspect that the apostle
has
which the theme, once introduced,
is
insisted on.
While
ostensibly only illustrating a general doctrine concerning

Christian liberty, he drags the apostleship into the dis
cussion as
if
desirous to speak of
and he makes
it
for its
own
sake,
seem
regarding
irrelevant to the previous connection of thought, in a
Have I
tone that nothing going before accounts for.
statements
it
which
"
Holsten finds the proof of his view above stated, in 2 Cor. x.-xiii.,
the whole of which he regards as a polemic against this party.
1
So Sabatier.

not seen the Lord Jesus
Lord
I
am
If
I be not
Are not ye
an apostle to
my
75
work
in the
others, yet at least
to you, for the seal of
Why
Lord."
my apostleship are ye in the

such questions and assertions, unless some
were calling in question
his claim to be
an apostle
Statements introduced in this indirect, passing manner

could not satisfactorily dispose of the subject to which
Nevertheless, in the light of the ampler
they referred.
treatment in the Second Epistle, one can discover in the
ninth chapter of the First the
Paul
an
leading
points
apology for his assailed apostolic standing.
he says in
(2) I have
apostle,"
the Lord, 1
2
preaching,
"
effect,
been
of
"I
St.
am
because (1) I have seen
signally successful in
(3) I have endured hardship in the
my
cause."
The hardship he has in view is the obligation imposed

on him by the state of feeling in the Church to refuse
support, and
when we
to
work
for
his
own
pass to the Second Epistle,
livelihood. 3
we
find
Now,
that what
Paul there says on the same topic amounts simply

to an expansion of these three arguments.
St.
In proceeding to consider the eloquent and triumph

ant apologetic of that Epistle, I begin by remarking that
the whole defence rests on the general axiom that the
Christian apostleship are spiritual,
qualifications for the
not technical.
blance
between
In this respect there is a close resem

St. Paul s argument in defence of his
standing and the argument of the author of

the Epistle to the Hebrews, in defence of the priesthood
of Christ.
In both cases the presumption from a legal
apostolic
point of view was against the position defended.

1
1 Cor. ix. 1.
Ibid. ix. 2.
Christ
Ibid. ix. 7-12.
76
ST.
possessed none of the legal qualifications for the priest
In like manner
hood.
Paul
St.
qualification for the
He had
might well appear questionable.
not been one of the companions of Jesus.
On a primd
for not
facie view, that was a grave defect in his title
apostleship
to Judaistic prejudice alone,
but to right reason,
could
it
not but appear important that the authoritative teachers

of Christianity should be able to say from their own
"
knowledge
Thus spake and acted the Lord
Jesus."
indeed obvious that, as eye-witnesses of Christ
is
It
per
sonal ministry, the Eleven were authorities in a sense in
which
Paul could not pretend to be authoritative.

But how then does he vindicate his claim to rank with
St.
the Eleven as an apostle

1.
"
His
Have
first line of
Let us
defence
I not seen Jesus our
is
see.
that he has seen the Lord.
Lord
"
asks he in the First
Epistle, alluding primarily to the vision
on the way to
Damascus, but not to that alone, or perhaps even chiefly,

as we can gather from various texts in the Second
He
Epistle.
lays chief stress, in reality, on the vision
Jesus with the eye of the spirit, the insight he has

gained into the true meaning of Christ s whole earthly
Sufficient vouchers for this statement may be
history.
of
found in 2 Corinthians
iii.
18 and
iv.
6,
which
tell of
unveiled view of the glory of the Lord, and

of an inward illumination granted to him worthy to be
the writer
compared
uttered
to
the
the illumination of the world

creative
contention, virtually,
"
fiat
is
Let there be
when God
His
light."
that the vision of the spirit is

that
vision of the bodily eye
more important than the
indeed the latter without the former possesses no value.

His
77
assumption is, that the vision of the spirit is

possible without the vision of the eye, and that there
may be a vision of the eye unaccompanied by the vision
tacit
If these positions
of the spirit.
be admitted, then there
no reason why a Paul should be behind the chiefest

In matters of fact pertaining to the life
the apostles.
is
of
of
Jesus, their testimony, of course, possessed unique author
But were they
ity.
necessarily entitled to speak with
exclusive or even superior authority as to the religious

significance of the facts
Their claim to be heard there
would depend on the measure of their spiritual illumination.

But the question between St. Paul and his opponents was
precisely this
Who
is
the most authoritative and reliable
mind
interpreter of Christ s
likely to
facts
know
And
the facts
St.
It
but,
was
Who
not,
Who
is
most
best understands the
Paul s claim was that he possessed an
understanding of the facts at least equal to that of the

And to that claim it would have been an utter
Eleven.
irrelevance to have objected
a companion
of
"
the Lord like
Ah, but you never were

It would have
Cephas."
been an irrelevance of the same kind as

say to a
man
of genius
"
great poet, for your father was not a

of
rank."
It
would have been
was at best a matter

worldliness
man
would be
to
you can be a
of wealth or
to lay stress
on what
prestige, in a spirit of vulgar
of
in St. Paul s
it
It is impossible
own
words, to
make knowledge
the one thing needful. It would

of Jesus after the flesh
have been, in short, to make the definition of apostleship
turn upon something outward, in which case St. Paul

could only make his opponents welcome to the name,
1
2 Cor.
v. 16.
78
ST.
and claim
for himself the substance
come before the world
the right,
to
viz.,
as an independent interpreter of
the Christian religion.
But does
Paul s argument not prove too
St.
On
naturalistic principles
of
his
it
certainly
much
The scope
does.
man
argument, interpreted by naturalism is

Every
an apostle who has spiritual insight, a Luther not
less
than
"
in
matters of
but each
his
man
light."
No man
Paul.
an
absolute
authority
not Paul any more than Luther,
authoritative according to the measure of
faith,
Paul did not mean to go
St.
this length.
He
regarded the apostles as exceptional characters, not

merely in view of the measure of their inspiration, but
because they were eye-witnesses of the resurrection.
Hence the stress which he lays on the fact of having
himself seen Jesus, not only in
Corinthians
same
in the fifteenth chapter of the
ix.
but also
where he
Epistle,
enumerates the appearances of the risen Christ.
was not wrong
in attaching importance to
He
that fact in
For
connection with the vindication of his apostleship.
no one who believed that the alleged appearance of
Jesus to the persecutor on the way to Damascus was a
reality, would be disposed to deny that its final cause
was
to convert a bitter
commissioned preacher
his
opponents
they did deny
to
it,
of
it.
of the faith into a divinely
Of course
it
was open
deny the reality of his vision
to
probably
resolving the event into a purely sub
jective impression, as
intensely
enemy
was done in
anti-Pauline bias like
later days in writings of
the Clementines.
But
they could not well admit the objectivity of the Christophany, and deny the inference to apostolic vocation.
The second
2.
line of defence is success in the
St.
the apostleship.
Paul says much
stating
consciously and
self-defence
upon
as
seriously in the
"
to say,
if
my ministry."
of
in a spirit of idle
boasting, but
less
still
work of
an
of his success as
and that not merely by way
apostle to the Gentiles,

facts,
79
He
way
of
argument and
Providence has set
its seal
hints at this part of his apology
when he says to the Corinthians

not an apostle, yet at least I am to
in the First Epistle, as

"
am
If to others I
you, for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord

and again, when he writes
By the grace of God I am
"
"
am
and His grace which was bestowed upon me

was not found vain, but I laboured more abundantly
what
than they
But
all."
it is
in the Second Epistle that he
It is
develops the argument so as to do it full justice.
the main theme of the remarkable passage beginning at
chapter ii. verse 14, and extending to the end of the
third chapter. 2
words
"
Now
The argument
\vorthily opens with the
thanks be to God who causeth us ever to
and maketh manifest by us the savour

triumph
3
His
of
knowledge in every place."
They are in the
in Christ,
1 Cor. ix.
We
2 Cor.
xv. 10.
might even include in

ii.
14.
to interpreters.
this section chap. iv. 1-6.
dpiuufisvovri has caused much trouble

I retain the rendering of the A.V. as best suited to
The word
the connection of thought, though recent writers, while admitting

its
suitableness, reject
it
as contrary
to
usage.
Vide,
however,
Schmiedel in Hand-Commentar, who also adheres to the old view.

That similar verbs are sometimes used in a factitive sense is not
denied (e.g. ftxai^si/eiv, 1 Sam. viii. 22, and ftttfarivaciTs in Matt, xxviii.
but it is contended
19, the neuter form occurs in Matt, xxvii. 57)
that Opiapfevtiv is never used in this sense, but only in the sense of
;
triumphing over one, as in

use in the
New
Col.
Testament.
ii.
15, the
But the
only other instance of its

is narrow,
basis of induction
80
ST.
heroic
style,
and suggest the idea
general receiving a
honour
triumphal entry into the
city,
in
victories, followed by a train of captives
of his
marching towards their

It looks
some to death.
in self-defence
owning that he
lie
of a great victorious
fate,
therefore,
is
some
to
deliverance
like boasting, but
it is
and
boasting
though conscious, and frankly
using language of self -commendation,
yet boldly employs
it
and
to
make
the argument
from success more telling he gives

appealing to the effect of his
"
themselves.
it a personal turn by
work among the Corinthians
Are we beginning again
to
commend
ourselves, or need we, as do certain persons, epistles of

commendation to you or from you ? Ye are our epistle,
written
The
in our
hearts,
known and
certain persons referred to
opponents, whose manner
of
are
read by
of
action St.
opportunity of contrasting with his own.

of introduction
from influential
letters
all
course
men."
legalist
Paul loses no
They brought
men, coming
preach
gospel, but to neutralise his in
fluence.
He needed no such letters, at least among the
not to
Corinthians
the
the success
of
his
labours,
as
evidenced
whether the connection does not justify us

in finding an instance of the factitive use here. In any case we must
think of St. Paul as sharing the triumph of God, not as triumphed
.and the question is just
over, as at least an incense-bearer, not as a captive (vide the transla

tion of the passage in The Scripture for Young Readers, 1892).
I
cannot close this note without referring to Professor Findlay s
on the word in The Expositor for December 1879, in which

he ably contends for the Greek sense as distinct from the Roman,
according to which the reference is not to a military triumph, but to
article
a sacred procession of enthusiastic worshippers led by the inspiring

The stress, on this view, lies on the apostle s enthusiasm, not
god.
on his
1
success.
2 Cor. Hi.
1, 2.

renewed
their
by
hearts,
was
all
81
commendation he
the
required.
The apostle would have the Corinthians carefully

consider what this success meant, and takes pains in the
sequel to
make them understand
he
them, a proof of sufficiency or fitness for the
tells
For when he asked, Who is

such a ministry ? l he did not mean
"
work.
sufficient or
"
He himself claimed
He disclaimed only a
one was.
aptitude.
It was,
its significance.
for
fit
to suggest that
to possess
no
the necessary
sufficiency self-originated.
He
devoutly ascribed his sufficiency to God and just on

that account he assigned to it very great significance, as
When God fits a man for
revealing a divine purpose.
;
a work
He
calls
him
to the work, such
is
his argument.
out in full his logic is to this effect It is not an

accident that a man succeeds in the work I have on
Drawn
Success proves fitness, and fitness in turn proves
hand.
divine vocation.
One would
like
He
sufficiency.
full satisfactory
answer
is,
to
know how
Paul
St.
defined
has anticipated our wish and given a
The
answer to our question.
gist of his
that sufficiency or fitness for Christian apostle-
and thorough sympathy with,

Thus the second
the Christian religion.
ship consists in insight into,
the genius of
line of defence
runs up into the
springing out of clear vision.
the
apostle
gives
practical
first
brilliant success
The sentences
of
proof
his
in
which
insight
and
utterances of this
appreciation form one of the golden
2
It is the one passage in the two Epistles to
Epistle.
the Corinthian Church kindred in

1
2 Cor.
ii.
16.
its
2
doctrinal
Ibid.
iii.
6-11.
drift
to
82
ST.
PAUL
Eoman
the teaching of the Epistles to the Galatian and
It is a two-edged sword,
Churches concerning the law.
which may be used either for defence of St. Paul s
apostleship, or
defence of his conception of Chris

be admitted, then we have here
in
If his apostleship
tianity.
an authoritative exposition of the nature
of Christianity.
the correctness of the exposition be conceded, then
If
makes
for St.
qualities
Paul
apostleship, for he certainly possessed
him
fitting
it
a peculiar degree
in
to
be
the
The apostle s own mind

propagator of such a religion.
seems to oscillate between the two lines of inference.
At
first
dant
the apologetic interest seems to be in the ascen
but
when he has once entered on
a description of
economy whereof he claims to be a fit

forgets himself, and launches out into an
the
New
eulogium
of
spirit, of
life,
minister, he
enthusiastic
Testament religion, as the religion of the
and
of righteousness, as
opposed to legalism,
the religion of the letter, of death, and of condemnation,

so giving us an utterance not merely serving a temporary
purpose,
apologetic
but
Whatever impression
it
minds
leaves no doubt in our
fitness to
fit
it
permanent didactic value.

made on the Corinthian Church,
of
as to St. Paul s peculiar
be an apostle of the Christian
justification
by
faith, as
the
Who
faith.
to propagate the religion of the spirit, of
life,
man who had by
and
so
of
bitter
experience proved legalism to be indeed a religion of

condemnation and death, and to whom Christianity had
come
to
as a veritable year of jubilee, proclaiming liberty
the
captives
and
them that are bound
the
Of
opening of
prison
doors
to
this experience, however, the
apostle says nothing here, though doubtless he thinks of
THE EPISTLES TO THE COKINTHIANS
83
It suits his purpose rather to refer to

it as he writes.
another element of sufficiency, straightforward sincerity,
standing in contrast as it does to the double dealing of
His argument now takes this turn

The
1
spirit and life, eternal because perfect, has
"
his opponents.
religion of
hide
to
nothing
rules,
cover
its
the
be
it will
acceptable
and
legal
better
it
it
known
is
the
more
only the religion of written

fear, that needs a veil to
is
bondage, and
inherent defects.
therefore
am
congenially
outspoken, as becomes the servant of a religion, not of

I
mystery, but of light, bright and glorious as the sun.
am not one of your huckstering merchants who adulterate
their wares. 2
convey the truth in Jesus, in its simplicity

and purity, from land to land in this differing from my
opponents, who mix gospel and law to the injury of their
I
Not only am
customers.
the truth, but I
frank, speaking the whole truth, herein
this point the apostle
rabbinical
way
ness
am
its
for a time, I
clear,
authority.
am
face."
into a
appear
but the thought wrapped up
could not afford to do
it
reserve to uphold
I
is
on his
to lapse
and as precious as
The law did not announce
is clear.
veil
may
of thinking,
in his allegory of the veil
"
I sincere, speaking nothing but
even from Moses, who put a
differing
At
am
so.
its
It
If it
own
had
to
had said
but a means to an
it
transitori-
end,"
practise
plainly,
it
would
There
have encouraged disrespect for its requirements.
fore, just because it was a defective religion it had to be
a religion of mystery.
1
2 Cor.
Ibid.
words in
iii.
ii.
Christianity, on the other hand,
11.
17
xa^yjAetWfj, another of St. Paul s strong graphic

found here only in the New Testament.
this context,
84
ST.
PAUL S CONCEPTION OF CHKISTIANITY
needs no such veil

the
the more plainly
The frank man
better.
successful, the God-appointed.

3.
But the treasure
may seem
that
is
is
the
its
ministers speak
fit
man, the most
in a fragile earthen vessel,
to detract
from the
and
Far from
fitness.
admitting that it does, however, St. Paul rather insists

on the fact as a third argument in support of his claim
I have," he says in effect,
to be an apostle.
earned
"
"
the right to be regarded as the apostle of the Gentiles
by manifold
sufferings,
endured in connection with
my
He
has already used this argument in his Epistle

to the Galatians, expressing it in these pathetic terms
work."
"
Henceforth
let
no
man
trouble me, for I bear branded

2
of Jesus."
The words, as
body
the
Hausrath finely remarks, suggest
picture of an old
on
the
my
general,
who
marks
bares his breast before his rebellious legions,
and shows them the wound-prints which prove that he

3
The
is not unworthy to be called their commander.
apostle resumes the plea
and urges
dignity and grandeur of
the greatest utterances to be
with great force

and with much iteration, in the Epistle now under con
sideration, the passages in which it recurs rising to the
found within
the
whole
range
it
of
tragic
poetry,
and
constituting together what might not unfitly be called

The first of these impassioned out
the Pauline Iliad."
"
bursts begins at chap.
iv. ver.
7, and,
running through a
paradoxes, ends by comparing the life of

the writer to a slow, cruel crucifixion, or to a continual
series of bold
2 Cor.
Neutestameniliche Zeitycschiclite, vol.
iv. 7.
ii.
Gal
vi. 17.
p. 584.

descent from the cross. 1
The
85
returns
apostle
the
to
theme again in the sixth chapter, this time entering

much more into detail. Appealing to the Corinthians to
see to
that they receive not in vain the message of
it
reconciliation so earnestly delivered
by
his lips, he backs
up the appeal by a reference to those manifold sufferings

which at once gave him a claim on their consideration,
and commended him as a true
In a third
apostle.
3
passage of similar character, in the eleventh chapter,
the
reaches
climax of his argument
from
he
tribulation,
taking occasion there to mention some particulars in his

history not
elsewhere alluded
to,
one being
that
five
times he had received from the Jews forty stripes save
He
one. 4
facts
not ashamed to mention such ignominious

he rather glories in them, because they all tend
is
to vindicate his claim to be the divinely-commissioned

It is even possible that in en
apostle of the Gentiles.
during such evil treatment at the hands of the Jews, he

was glad to have an opportunity of bearing for Christ s
sake what he had
ment
made
others bear, as a sort of atone
for past sin.
The chapter from which the last citation is made is one

from the
xiii.), which are distinguished
The
rest of the Epistle by a bitterly controversial tone.
of four (chaps, x.
difference is so
marked
as to have suggested the idea that
they originally formed a distinct letter, the very letter

indeed referred to in 2 Cor. vii. 8, which is there
So Stanley (St. Paul s Epistle to the Corinthians), who takes
It is
mean, not dying nor death," but deadness."
It is a continual Descent
as if he had said, We are living corpses.
from the Cross.
1
"
vixpuai-j to
"
"
"
"
"
2 Gar.
vi.
5-10.
a Ibid. xi.
23-33.
* Ibid. xi. 24.
86
ST.
of as
spoken
feelings
of

having by its severity deeply wounded the
The suggestion,
the Corinthian Church.
not hastily to be
The diversity between the two parts of the
adopted.
the
can
Epistle
easily be reconciled with its unity by
not without
though
plausibility,
is
in
supposition that in the earlier part the apostle had
view mainly the faithful majority in the Corinthian
his
Church who had supported his authority in the case of

that
discipline, and were generally friendly to him, and
in
a
them
to
he
had
to
after he had written what
say
tone of gentleness, he turned his thoughts to the minority
and the men by whose malign influence they had been

misled, and dealt with them as they deserved, with a rod
rather than in a spirit of meekness. 1
on
These four chapters contain copious materials bearing

all the three branches of St. Paul s argument in
defence
of
his
argument from
To the
apostleship.
insight, belongs chap.
boasts of the visions
xii.
first
head,
the
1-6, where he
and revelations he had enjoyed more
than fourteen years previous to the date of the Epistle,

To the second
that is about the time of his conversion.
argument from success, belongs chapter x.

where
the apostle refers to the wide area over
12-18,
It is notice
which his missionary labours had extended.
head,
the
able that he emphasises the pioneering character of his
work not
less
than
its
extent
here again, as in so
many
Henrici (Das zweite Sendschreiben des Apostel Paulus an die

Korinthier, 1887) points out that if the Epistle had ended with the
details about the collection for the poor in chap, ix., it would have
1
been a fragment, and that chaps, x.-xiii. were necessary to explain

and justify the hard judgments incidentally pronounced in the
earlier chapters on the character of the Judaists.
87
other connections, with an eye to the contrasted conduct

his opponents.
They could point to no Churches
of
founded by their efforts, but only to Churches already

established which they had sought to disturb and corrupt
He,
by their sectarian animosities and legalist doctrines.
on the other hand, had never entered on another
man s
province, taking up work already begun, either to further

or to mar it, but had always broken new ground.
Which
of the two modes of action was most worthy of an apostle
To the third head, the

he would leave them to judge.
argument from suffering, belong, over and above the
passages already cited containing the long catalogues of
woes, all the places in which Paul alludes to his refusal
to receive
from the Church
towards his maintenance.
Corinth any contributions
of
His adversaries appear
to
have
put a sinister construction on this refusal, suggesting that

it sprang from his not feeling quite sure of his ground.
"
He
calls
"
argued
apostle,
so they seem to have

he
not
use his privilege as an
then does
himself an
why
apostle,"
and claim maintenance from
his converts like the
because he
is afraid lest
Evidently
his pretensions should not be recognised."
Thoroughly
selfish themselves, these base-minded men could not so
other apostles
it
is
imagine the generous motives by which the

was
They took for granted
apostle
really actuated.
that he would be glad to get money from all the Churches
much
if
of
as
he could.
insinuating
way
They even seem

that
he
did
have gone the length

get it in a roundabout
to
that in fact that collection for the poor in Pales
which he was always making such a fuss about, was

merely a scheme for getting money into his own pocket
tine,
88
ST.

Such seems
while pretending to be very independent.

to
be the plain sense
of
chap.
1618,
xii.
the
first
sentence giving the substance of what St. Paul s enemies

said of him, and some members of the Corinthian Church
were base enough to believe.

He does not burden us
with his maintenance no, not directly but he is crafty,
catches us with guile, in connection with that collection."
"
keenly the humiliation of being obliged to

Did I make
answer such a charge, the apostle replies
I
of
of
them
whom
I
sent
unto
you by any
gain
you ?
Feeling
"
asked Titus to go, and I sent with him the brother. Did
Walked we not in the same spirit,
Titus overreach you ?
in the
same
The apostle s true motive in the

support was a noble spirit of self-
"
steps
whole matter of his

sacrifice,
which,
itself
divine,
The suggestion
mission was from God.

that
if
he were sure
of
was a sure mark that
of his enemies,
his apostolic standing
he would
demand a maintenance, resembled Satan s suggestion

Jesus
"
stones be
If
thou be the Son of God,
made
"
bread."
children of Satan,
"
God
command
thou be an
to
that these
apostle,"
said these
command the Churches to support
But the reasoning was

as in the other.
If
his
thee."
as inconclusive in the one case
Jesus showed Himself to be the Son of
by refusing to turn his Sonship to His own

Paul showed himself to be an apostle of
advantage.
just
God by
refusing with
equal
steadfastness
to
set
his
personal interests above the public interests of the divine

kingdom.
Though he was an apostle he was willing to
every way, and by that will to suffer for God s

glory and man s good, he gave the most convincing
not one who
evidence that he was a true apostle
suffer in

arrogated
the
dignity to
but
himself,
89
called
of
God
thereunto.
In the foregoing statement we have been occupied

exclusively with those parts of the two Epistles which
bear on the question of the apostleship, and have met
with little that throws light on St. Paul s conception
of
Christianity.
The
element
doctrinal
is
indeed not
It is,
abundant, even for one who is in quest of it.
Besides the important
however, not altogether wanting.
passage already referred to, exhibiting a contrast between
the legal
and the Christian dispensations, the Second
Epistle contains two striking logia bearing on the signi

ficance
all,
then
made
These
of Christ s death.
sin
all
died,"
"
and,
"
are,
on our behalf, that we

of
righteousness
God
"
in
If
Him who knew
Him."
one died for

not
sin,
He
might become the

These great Pauline
words show two complementary aspects of the apostle s

The First Epistle contains,
doctrine of the atonement.
in the eighth
and
fifteenth chapters, important contribu
tions to the doctrine of Christ s Person.

1
2 Cor. v. 14.
Ibid. v. 21.
CHAPTEE V
THIS Epistle
is
ITS
AIM
distinguished from those already considered
same group by broadly marked character

If
In the first place, it is more placid in tone.
belonging to the
istics.
it
be indeed a contribution to the vindication of Paul
Gentile gospel
against Judaism,
it
contains few traces
passes into calm

while
the present
didactic statement.
Then, secondly,
Epistle contains much in common with the Epistle to
of the
controversial
the Galatians,
we
Polemic
spirit.
find that the
same truths are
set forth
In the
here in a more expanded and elaborate form.
third place, to the old materials amplified, the Epistle
adds a new phase of Pauline thought, in the important
section in which an endeavour
is
made
to reconcile the
apostle s views of Christianity with the prerogatives of

This section, consisting of
Israel as an elect people.
chapters
ix.
xi., if
not the most important,
is
at least the
most distinctive part of the Epistle, presenting what has

not inappropriately been called St. Paul s philosophy of
history.
It
due
is
natural to assume that these characteristics are
to the circumstances
written.
The
historical
amidst which the Epistle was

spirit of
00
modern exegesis does
ITS
AIM
91
not readily acquiesce in the view which, up till the time

of Baur, had been almost universally accepted, that the
Epistle
to
the
Eomans, unlike
the
Galatian and Corinthian Churches,

treatise
on
Christian
the
a purely didactic
is
which
for
theology,
to
Epistles
no
other
occasion need be sought than the desire of the writer

to give a full connected statement of
the faith as he
More and more it has been felt that such

a production is hardly what we expect from an apostle,
conceived
and
it.
however didactic or systematic it may appear,

the Epistle in question must have been, not less than its
that,
companion Epistles, an occasional writing.

There are indeed still those who lean
to
the
old
and seek the
initiative, not in any

outward circumstances, whether of the Church at Eome,
traditional opinion,
or of the Church generally, but solely in the apostle
mind, and in
his
wish to draw up an adequate statement
of the Christian faith.
Among
these
is
Godet, certainly
a most worthy representative of the class, in
all
whose
commentaries one discovers that faculty of psychological

divination which is the sure mark of exegetical genius,
and whose exposition
of
Eomans cannot be charged with

"
the
"
oppressive monotony
of as
that has been complained
characterising expository treatises on this Epistle
written in the interest of dogmatic theology.

idea
is,
that St.
Godet s
Paul was in the habit of giving such
developed teaching as we find in Eomans to all the

Churches he had founded, and that he wrote an Epistle
1
of
Mangold speaks
commentaries.
Vide
Homischen Gemcinde,
p.
the
his
driicJcende
Monotonie of the dogmatic
Der Rinnerbrief und
20 (18G6).
die
Anftinge
der
92
ST.
to the
in Borne simply in order to give, in a
Church
written form, to an important body of Christians with
which
had
he
come
not
into
contact,
personal
the
which he had given vivd wee to the churches

1
This is an
Ephesus, Thessalonica, Corinth, etc.
instruction
in
assumption which readily suggests itself to minds familiar

with theological systems, and accustomed to regard all
the doctrines of an elaborate creed as essential elements
But the
of the faith.
assume than
to
to
position
prove.
one which
is
Godet
offers
it is
easier
no proof, but
contents himself with referring to a work by Thiersch,
published nearly
having very solidly demonstrated the

2
The asser
practice to have been as alleged.
represents
apostle s
years ago, which, by mistake, he
fifty
as
tion that the Epistle to the Bomans is only a sample of

the writer s ordinary teaching stands very much in need
The presumption is all the other way. The

two Epistles to the Thessalonians, we have seen, supply
evidence to the contrary, and the occasional character of
of proof.
the Epistles to the Galatians and the Corinthians, which

contain more advanced
that the
to
Epistle
the
teaching, justifies the inference
Bomans
also
is
an occasional
by ex
must be
writing containing special instruction called for

ceptional and urgent circumstances.
To
this it
added, that the whole notion of Godet and those
agree with
1
him
Commentaire sur
is
who
not easily reconcilable with a just
pitre
aux Remains,
vol.
i.
pp. 122, 123.
Commentaire, vol. i. p. 120. The work of Thiersch. referred to is

Vcrsuch zur Herstellung ties historischen Standpunkts fur die Kritik der
Thiersch distinctly states that

neutestamentlichen Schriften (1845).
the Epistle to the Romans was called forth by the controversy with
the Judaists.
Vide
p.
235 of the above-named work.
AIM
ITS
93
An
conception of the apostolic vocation and temper.
in
is
and
mental
habit
a
different
spirit
apostle
very
man from
a systematic theologian.
He deals in inspira
tions rather than in laborious theological reflection.
He
has neither the time nor the patience for system
building.
He may
have in his mind
keeps them
till
many deep
He
He
they are wanted.
under constraint of urgent need.
utters his thoughts

speaks rather than
more spontaneous than writ

and when he writes it is currente calamo, and under
writes, because speaking
ing
thoughts, but he
is
pressure of emergent demands.
What
which
the
may
Epistle,
it
mine.
But
assured,
situation,
precise
apostle had
the
of
viz.,
be
in
all
its
was,
details,
when he wrote
view,
this
or even impossible, to deter
difficult,
one thing
in
does seem possible to be
it
that the Epistle belongs to the literature,
and deals with a phase, of the Judaistic controversy.

One could even tell a priori what phase it must be with
which the
occupied.
the controversial group of Epistles is

Already, the apostle has discussed two
last of
aspects of the great quarrel, those relating to the per
petual obligation of the Jewish law, and the qualifications
The one
for the apostleship.
up
is
doubt
topic remaining to be taken
the prerogative or primacy of

it
must have
its
turn.
It
place in the dialectics of the debate,

for granted that a dispute so
will not stop
will
burn
ment
till
till it
has run
the fuel
is
question
should
arise,
had
and
its
it
own proper
may
be taken
keen about matters so
its
natural course.
exhausted.
of Gentile Christianity
Without
Israel.
made
What
it
does
vital
The
fire
The rapid develop

inevitable that the
the
existing
state
94
ST.
mean
of matters
numbers
Gentiles
Church.
the
into
are pouring in increasing
Jews, with
comparatively
few exceptions, are holding aloof in sullen unbelief

these facts
election
to
or, if
involve the illegitimacy of Gentile Christianity
question
may have
reflecting
the
at
movement, and
suggested
some
to
itself
very commencement
Paul especially
to St.
along clear that it
all
are
be construed as a cancelling of Israel s

the election stands, does it not necessarily
must come
of
of the
the
The
more
Gentile
may have been
it
to the front ere long,
could not become a burning question till conver

from heathendom had taken place on a great scale.
The first effort of the Judaist would naturally be to nip
but
it
sions
new departure
the bud, by compelling Gentile

with
Jewish customs.
converts to comply
The next
would be to cripple a movement which could not be
the
in
crushed, by disputing the apostolic standing and assailing
the character of
been rendered
its
futile,
When both attempts had

the
triumphant progress of the
by
leader.
movement
in spite of all opposition, the only course
would be
to
enter a protest in the
name
and pronounce the evangelisation

a wrong done to Israel.
people,
It is to the
or to
addresses
of the Gentiles
temper which would enter such a
any extent sympathise with

himself
in
the
ninth,
it,
open
of the elect
protest,
that the apostle
tenth,
and
eleventh
That this part

chapters of the Epistle to the Komans.
of the Epistle at least has to do with the final phase of
the Judaistic opposition to a free independent Chris
The only thing that
tianity I take to be self-evident.
may seem open
to doubt
is,
whether
it
was worth while
mood
taking any notice of the sullen
were
disaffected,
and out
AIM
ITS
the
of
95
men who
sympathy with the cause St.

at heart.
Could he not have afforded
of
Paul had so
much
to
with contempt as utterly impotent ?

For
do
what
would
be
at ?
protesters
they
treat
it
what could the
They had no
programme to propose. Could

wish the work of Gentile evangelisation to
practicable
they seriously
be stopped till the bulk of the Jewish people had been
converted to the faith, insisting on the principle the Jew
not merely in the sense that the Jew should get the
offer, but in the sense that all the world must wait
first,
first
the Jews en masse accepted the offer
till
they had
If
not the hardihood to make so absurd a demand, there

was no course open to them but to accept the situation
and reconcile themselves with the best grace possible

accomplished facts.
Had St. Paul been a
man
of the world,
to
he might have
But being a
adopted the attitude of silent contempt.
of truly Christlike spirit, he could not so treat any
man
class of
men
name.
He knew
bearing however unworthily the Christian

well that a disaffected party was none
the less formidable that
had no outlook
for
it
was conscious
the future
that
of defeat,
in
and
such a case
chronic alienation and ultimate separation were to be
apprehended.
a disaster.
He would do his
And it is obvious
utmost
to prevent
such
what
spirit such a
have
be
about
to
delicate task must
any chance
gone
of success.
An irenical generous tone was indispensable.
No
bitter irritating
in
words must be indulged
but only
tended to
in,
and language employed as

The Epistle
enlighten, soothe, and conciliate.
such
thoughts
to
the
96
ST.
Eomans
fully
meets these requirements by an entire

absence of the controversial style.
It has been custom
ary to explain this feature of the Epistle by the fact of
its having been written to a Church with which Paul
had no personal relations, and this may count for some

But there is a deeper and a worthier reason for
thing.
tone between this Epistle and those
written to the Galatian and Corinthian Churches.
The
the contrast in
whole situation
is
Then Paul was
changed.
now he
existence with his back to the wall,
fighting for
writes as one
conscious that the cause of Gentile Christianity
is
safe
Therefore, while careful to do justice to his convictions,
he expresses himself throughout as one who can afford

to be generous.
Thus in chapters ix. xi., while main
taining that
God had
the right to disinherit Israel
(ix.),
fully deserved such a doom (x.), he

the disinheritance to be only temporary and
and that she had

declares
remedial, and anticipates a tune

shall be united
by a
common
when Jew and
faith in Christ
(xi.).
Gentile
Then
he not only abstains personally from a tone of triumph

in speaking of
unbelieving Israel, but he earnestly
warns the Gentile members
of
Eoman Church from

And the ironical tone,
the
1
indulging in a boastful spirit.
conspicuous in these three chapters, pervades the whole

In the first eight chapters stern things are
Epistle.
said about Jewish moral shortcomings, and Judaism
judged by its results is pronounced not less a failure

than heathenism. 2
At the same time it is admitted
that the Jewish people possessed eminent and valuable
3
religious distinctions.
1
Rom.
xi.
16-21.
Similar
2
Ibid.
is
ii.
the treatment of the

3 Ibid. iii.
1, 2.
THE EPISTLE TO THE ItOMANS
While
Jewish law.
it is
AIM
ITS
97
declared to be of no value for
the attainment
righteousness, not less peremptorily
than in the Epistle to the Galatians, its ethical worth is
recognised with a frankness which we miss in the earlier
of
Epistle.
The
situation as above described explains not only the

calm, irenical, didactic tone of the Epistle, but also its
At
broad comprehensive method.

if it
were top-heavy.
new
first
aim be
If the writer s
seems as
it
sight
to deal with
Judaistic objection to Gentile Christianity, based
on the prerogative
with making the
of
why
Israel,
not content himself
statement in chapters
ix.
xi. ?
To
what purpose that elaborate argumentative exposition

of
the gospel as he understood
chapters
to this question
chapters are
of
first
eight
in effect that these

to
the next three,
the Epistle. 2
own
that
I do not
would rather regard the three
as the kernel, than relegate
chapters
ordinate position assigned

of interpreters, that of a
is,
the
statement as altogether satisfactory, though
accept this
frankly
was
an introduction
which form the proper kernel

I
in
Baur s answer
eight
it
them
to
the sub
them by the dogmatic school

mere appendix. But the truth
famous chapters are neither kernel nor

but an integral part of one great whole.
that these
appendix,
They deal with a question

there
is
a previous
of
national privilege.
But
question involved, that as to the

For the position taken up by
claims of Christianity.
opponents
rights of
1
virtually
is,
the rights of Israel versus the
universal Christianity.
Rom.
vii. 12.
The proper
Paulus der Apostel,
i.
antithesis
351,
98
ST.
to that
is,
the rights of
Christianity
and
tirst,
Israel s
and as far as compatible

The
with the supreme interests of the true religion.
rights only in the second place,
Romans
devoted to the advocacy of this

eight chapters dealing with the larger,
more general claims of Christianity, the next three deal
ing with the less important narrower question as to the
Epistle to the
position, the
is
first
Obviously both sections of

And
the Epistle are essential to the purpose in hand.
that purpose guides the course of the apostle s thought
real value of
Israel s claim.
In brief what he says is this

Christianity
It is needed by the
is in its nature a universal religion.
For both
world at large, by Gentiles and by Jews alike.
"
throughout.
heathenism
and
results, are
failures.
Judaism, judged
solves the problem
Christianity
aimed at by
is
their
not a
all religion
into blessed relations with God,
practical
failure.
It
brings
men
and makes them
Christianity, therefore,
righteous.
by
must have
really
free course
no prescriptive rights can be allowed to stand in its way.

As for the Jewish people I am heartily sorry for them.
They are
But their
forfeit
it.
doomed
and
countrymen, they are also God s people.

right is not absolute, and they deserve to
my
Yet
do not believe they are permanently
God will continue to love them,

His beneficent providence will give
their claims in a way compatible with Christian
to forfeiture.
in the course of
effect to
universalism and with Gentile
Thus by a
the
gist,
interests."
train of thought of
which the foregoing
is
does the apostle storm the last stronghold of

ever mentioning their name.
The
Judaists without
absence of any allusion to Juduistic opponents in the
has been adduced as a reason
Epistle
AIM
ITS
for
99
calling
in
connection with the Judaistic

question
controversy
The writer, we are told, betrays preoccupation in the
its
treatment of his subject, but

Christiaiis, or to Judaisers,
As
incredulity.
The only
effective
if
but to the Jews and to Jewish
meet Judaistic antagonism to

phase, was to form a just
to
way
its final
the true
of
not relative to Judeo-
the one reference excluded the other!
Gentile Christianity in
estimate
it is
value
the
of
pretensions of the
Jewish people based on their national religion and their

covenanted relation to God.
It is in harmony with the
irenical spirit of our Epistle that this is
done withou-t
making the controversial reference manifest.

But
if
hidden
foe,
were
tendencies
Judaistic
where were they
Church
to
the
be
real
found
though
Within
of Koine
or without, and threatening to
invade that Church, and work mischief there as else
the
where
or merely in
Paul
St.
till it
and found solutions
own mind, prompt
of all religious
the Pauline conception
of
to
new
possible forms of antagonism, and restless

had seen its way to intellectual victory over these,
conceive
of
problems arising out
Christianity
views have found influential advocates, and
means
easy to decide confidently
All three
it is
between them.
by no
As
to
the last of the three, which has been adopted by Weiss,

there
is
no objection
to
As
be taken to
it
on theoretical or
have already stated in the

second chapter, I believe that St. Paul was his own
& priori grounds.
vol.
2
So Oltramare, Commentaire sur

i.
Vepitre
aux Romains
p. 48.
Vide his Introduction
to the
New
Testament, vol.
i.
p. 306.
(1881),
100
ST.
severest
and that
critic,
to indicate
antagonism
or to
theory,
religious
he
to
need
not
did
external
him the weak points

the
suggest
relative
of his
apologetic
problems, and that when once these presented them

selves, both his reason and his conscience would im
demand
periously
to
last
Jewish
suggest
prerogative,
extensive
it
is
well
might
as
development
not
Of these
solutions.
itself
it
of
inconceivable
be
arose
naturally
Gentile
that,
the
problems
that relating
out of
Christianity.
when the
apostle
to
the
And
had
thought himself clear on this final apologetic topic, he
might feel an impulse to reduce his thoughts to writing,

and in doing so to work out in literary form his whole
religious philosophy from that point of view, and so
"
bring as
to his
it
own
were the spiritual product
consciousness."
Nor does
of the last years
it
seem incredible
that he might send such a writing in epistolary form to
Roman Church without any
urgent external occasion,

because
he
deemed
it
simply
fitting that a church pre
for
Gentile
the
most
sumably
part in its membership,
the
and situated
in the metropolis of the world, should be
the recipient
of
work containing a statement and
defence of Christianity as a universal religion from the
pen
of its apostle.
While recognising the legitimacy
the theory pro
of
pounded by Weiss, I can hardly regard
it
as probable,
or as justified by any supposed impossibility of giving
any other account

place,
so
if
new
of the
matter.
doubt, in the
first
the question discussed in chapters ix. xi. was

to the apostle s mind as the theory implies.
I
1
Weiss, Introduction, vol.
i.
p.
306.

incline
rather
think
to
that
ITS
the
all
101
AIM
possible
issues
involved in the Judaistic controversy were clear to his
view from an early period, and also the answers to

possible
to
objections
his
of
conception
all
Christianity.
Then, on the other hand, I think that he would keep

these answers to himself, till a need arose for com
One fails to see why he

municating them to others.
should trouble others with his thoughts on the compara
tively speculative topic of the prerogatives of Israel,
nobody was
difficult
regarded
it
At
that, not vital
the very
least
it.
Church
the
to
if
deal with a
to faith, before it
St.
Paul must have
as possible that the question
ere long in
treating
stirring
problem like
had arisen
Why
the question.
would be raised
which he sent the
letter
was not only

with
Weiss, and the
Assuming
writers on the Epistle, that the
That
would happen
this
possible but probable.

of
majority
membership
Gentile
recent
Eoman
the
of
how
extraction,
Church was
that
natural
envy and chagrin

in
the
their
capital
mind
spiritual life
these
empire
increasing
was cutting out
regard
with
Christian
nourishing
the
of
men
should
with the Judaistic propagandism
mainly of
connected
How
signs
that
for itself a
community
unwelcome to
the stream
new
of
channel,
and leaving Palestine, formerly the centre of religious

What more likely than that
influence, high and dry
!
the impulse should arise in their hearts to

effort to recover
power, and
lost
their side a church which,
be decidedly Pauline
desperate,
if
make a
last
possible win over
to
though Gentile, might not yet

attempt of this kind, however
An
was by no means improbable.
It
might even
102
ST.
have been in contemplation when the apostle wrote his

to
Epistle, and as Weizsacker suggests, the fact coming
his knowledge may have been what determined him to
take that step as a means of frustrating by anticipation
the sinister scheme. 1
the membership of the Eoman Church was mainly

of Jewish birth, the mischief would not need to be im
If
What
ported.
the
actual fact was
nationality has since the days of Dr.
vexata for
advocate
the
Baur been a
qucestio
Baur himself was a strenuous
theologians.
of
matter of
in the
Jewish
hypothesis,
and through his

it became for a
influence, reinforced by that of Mangold,
But the weighty interposition

time the prevailing view.
on behalf of the opposite hypothesis
"Weizsacker
changed the current of opinion, and now it may be said
of
be the generally accepted theory that the Church of

Rome, at the time our Epistle was written, was pre
to
dominantly Gentile.
In
absence of
from
information
other sources as to the origin and composition of the
Church, disputants are obliged to rely on the general

impression which the Epistle makes on their minds, and
The advocates of
on individual texts and phrases.
either hypothesis are able to explain
"
the opposite hypothesis.
whom
are
ye,"
Thus,
all
the nations
seems beyond dispute
Gentile constituency.
opinion contends that
to their
own
founded on by the champions of
satisfaction the passages
away
But the supporter

it
among
make
to
of
for a
the rival
suited the apostle s purpose in
the connection of thought to include the Jews among the

In like
peoples to which his commission extended.
1
Vide Das
apostolische Zcitalter, p. 441.
Rom.
i.
5, C.
manner the
"
103
AIM
ITS
you that are

is disposed of
Gentiles,"
by the remark that, if the
of
the
Church
had been mainly Gentile, it
membership
expression,
speak
to
would not have been necessary

himself to such.
allusions are
On
the
of
hand,
by
patrons
hypothesis with at least equal
facility.
father
"
disposed
finds its
he addressed
to state that
other
the
"
parallel in the phrase
pro-Jewish
Gentile
the
of
Abraham our
"
our fathers
"
3
occurring in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and
ye are become dead to the law through the body of

4
Christ,"
might be said to Gentile believers in Eome with
"
as
much
propriety as that
God
sent His Son
them that were under the law

in Galatia. 5
balance
is
I do not
mean
to Gentile
redeem
my own mind
Christians
however, that the
The weight
parties.
inclines to the Gentile side.
argument
I must acknowledge that
to
"
to suggest,
even between the two
"
While
is
of
I say this
influenced not
much by
particular texts, but rather by the general

consideration that the hypothesis of a Gentile constitu
so
ency best fits in to the situation required by the Epistle.

In that case the Eoman Church becomes the proof and
symbol of that triumph of Gentile Christianity which ex
hypothesi is the occasion of the complaint wherewith the
apostle feels called on to deal.

It is important to observe that the determination of
the question as to the nationality of Eoman Christians is

in no way necessary to the understanding of the Epistle
to the
Eoman
Church.
to grasp firmly the fact

1
Rom.
Rom.
xi. 13.
vii. 4.
The one thing indispensable

that the Epistle was meant
Ibid. iv.
Gal. iv. 4, 5.
1.
8 1 Cor. x. 1.
is
to
104
ST.
deal with the final manifestation of Judaistic sentiment,
the jealousy
awakened by the progress of Gentile evan

is far more certain than either of the
That
gelisation.
views as to the composition of the Church, as is shown

by the fact that the advocates of both are at one as to
the aim
were
of
Eoman
the
remain doubtful
for ever
may
Who
the Epistle.
for the prerogative of Israel existed
Christians
but that jealousy

St. Paul wrote
when
to the Eomans may be regarded as beyond

and
that the Eoman Church was somehow con
doubt,
nected with it may be inferred from the simple fact
his Epistle
of the Epistle
to
which handles the topic being addressed
it.
aim
Epistle
the
apostle might have other subordinate ends in view,
and
Besides
among
his
chief
in
writing the
new
these one arising out of his
doubtless had
He
22-33.
chap. xv.
mission
a place.
history by
He was
mission plans
To these plans he refers

had wound up one chapter of
the
settlement
about to
the
of
in
his
Corinthian
Jerusalem, carrying the

of
the
Gentile
founded
Churches
gifts
by himself to the
That done, he will be
poor saints of the holy city.
troubles.
visit
ready and eager to break new ground, and to visit the

regions of Western Europe, bearing to the nations the
gospel
of
peace.
For
form the natural base of

acquaintance of
and
new campaign Eome

He must make
operations.
this
will
the
the Church there, and get her goodwill
cordial support in his
new
as a pioneer, or preparer of the
In view
enterprise.
this great missionary project, our Epistle
way
may
first
of
be regarded
step towards
the execution of the contemplated operations.
In the
THE EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS

circumstances
was almost a matter
it
ITS
105
ADI
of course that the
apostle should write a letter of some sort to the Church
Eome. But something more than mission-schemes is

needed to account for the actual character and contents
in
of the letter
he did write.
standing due to
Possibilities of
misunder
sinister influences, threatening to
or actually at work,
must have been
appear
in his view.
an altogether idle fancy that in composing

remarkable letter the apostle s mind was influenced
by the thought that he was writing to a church having
His religious inspiration came from
its seat in Eome.
It is not
this
above, but
it is
permissible to suppose that his theological
genius was stimulated by the image
Epistle
is
his
to
presenting itself
categories
its
entire
It deals in large
Jew and
barbarians, wise and unwise.

of
survey the whole
range
of
spirit of a truly
its
imagination.
susceptible
truly imperial in style.
prehensive
of the imperial city
Gentile,
human
throughout the
race,
It
history.
breathes
The writer
imperial ambition.
to the conquest of the world,
and
draws within the scope
It
religious
Greeks
The
com
the
aspires
and holds himself bound
to preach the gospel to all nations for the obedience of

faith,
what
that Christ
was
Csesar
may become
in the political.
in
the spiritual sphere
And
he
is
animated by
a magnanimity becoming the ambassador of One whom

he regards as by divine right and destiny the universal
Lord.
He
believes in no unconquerable enmities or final
men
alienations.
He
reconciled to
God and to one another Jew and Gentile,

common brotherhood, and living peaceably
united in a
will
have
all
of
together under the benign rule
be saved,
all
peoples
King
Jesus.
The leading
106
aim
ST.
PAUL
of the Epistle, as
so to write,
we have
seen, required the apostle
and apart altogether from the exigencies of

came natural
the situation, the grand style of thinking

to him.
to
But the consciousness that
Rome made
it
all
his letter
the easier for a
man
was going
of his kingly
Before the majesty of the greatest city in the

temper.
But St. Paul
world meaner natures might feel abashed.
was not ashamed or afraid either to preach there or to
send a letter thither.
He
could rise to the occasion,
witness this magnificent Epistle
CHAPTEE VI
THE EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS
THE theme
of the first eight chapters
for the
God,"
for all
who
thoroughly
THE TRAIN OF THOUGHT
whole world, needed by
will receive
the gospel of
men, available
in the obedience of faith, and
it
efficient in the case
a gospel which the
"
is
of all
apostle
who
so receive
not ashamed to
is
anywhere, because he believes

unto salvation.
all
it
to be the
power
it
preach
God
of
The writer enters at once on the explanation of the

nature of this gospel.
Therein is revealed a righteous
ness of God from faith to faith." l
These words contain
"
only a preliminary hint of St. Paul s doctrine concerning

the gospel.
He does not expect his readers to under
He
stand at once what he means by BiKaioavvij deov.
simply introduces the topic to provoke curiosity, and

create a desire for a further unfolding, to be given in
due
season.
Therefore
Version, to translate
"
it
means,
for
the
better,
a righteousness
the Authorised Version,
the idea the words
is
"
of
God,"
the righteousness of
are intended to
first
with the Eevised
readers,
express
familiar
than with
God
is
"
for
by no
theological
commonplace, but a peculiar Pauline conception standing

1
Rom.
nvr
i.
17.
108
in
ST.
PAUL
Two
need of careful explanation.
things, however, are
indicated in this preliminary announcement

the gospel, as St. Paul understands it, is saving
a power
through faith, and that it is a universal gospel
clearly
that
"
of God unto salvation to every one

Jew first, and also to the Greek."
thus
Having
salvation
all
sin.
is
men up
1
The
argument
that
to faith
by demonstrating the universality
of
section of the Epistle devoted to this purpose
this
unpleasant
truth
cardinal
through faith, the apostle proceeds to shut
account
excursus
is
in
depravity,
having for its

But this dark
writing
of divine grace.
and necessary
relevant
What more
in hand.
human
appear a most unwelcome
may
it
and uncongenial feature

express theme the praise
mend
the
proclaimed
a grim, repulsive picture of
presents
and on
that believeth, to the
directly fitted
to
to
the
com
the Pauline doctrine both as to the gracious nature
and the universal destination
than a proof
sin be universal,
of the gospel
of the universal prevalence of sin
If
God s
grace seems the only open way to salvation,

and no ground can be found in man why the way should
then
not be equally open to
There
all.
is
no moral difference
worth mentioning, all distinctions disappear

of the one all-embracing category, sinners.
disagreeable, therefore,
it
be to have
may
proved that that category does embrace

pleasant reading the proof
may
be,
it
all,
in presence
However
elaborately
however un
however hideous and
humiliating the picture held up to our view, we cannot

quarrel with the apostle s logic, but must be content to
take the bitter with the sweet, the dark with the bright.
1
Rom.
i.
18
ii.
24.
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
TRAIN OF THOUGHT
Far from being a blot on the
we may
call
it, is
one of
its
109
Epistle, this sin-section, as
when regarded
merits,
as
an
attempt at a fuller statement of St. Paul s

the
of
conception
than any supplied in previous Epistles.
gospel
We
miss such a section in the Epistle to the Galatians.

Hints of a doctrine of sin are indeed not wanting in that
1
but
Epistle,
ment
comparison with the elaborate state
in
in the Epistle to the
Eomans they
are very scanty,
and give hardly an idea of what might be said on the

For what we have here is not vague gentle
subject.
but a tremendous exhaustive indictment which
allusions,
overwhelms us with shame, and crushes our pride into

the dust, the one effect being produced by the descrip
tion
of
Gentile sinfulness in chap.
i.
vers.
18-32, the
other by the description of Jewish sinfulness in the two

following chapters.
Remarkable in the former
two delineations
of these
the exact knowledge displayed by the apostle of the

hideous depravity of Pagan morals, and also the un
is
shrinking
way
which he speaks
in
out of false delicacy to allude

of Gentile vices,
and
to call
of
it,
not hesitating
the most abominable
to
them by
their true names.
All who know the Greek and Eoman
literature of the
of con
period are aware that the picture here given
of
both
in
religion and
respect
temporary Paganism,
Never perhaps
is
absolutely faithful to fact.
the history of the world did mankind sink so low
in superstition and immorality as in the apostolic age
morals,
in
and
it
was
fitting
that
the
apostle
should say what he thought of

1
Gal.
ii.
15, 16
it
iii.
of
the
Gentiles
in an Epistle to the
10, 19,
110
ST.
Komans,
for in
ness of
mankind reached
PAUL
the city of Home, the folly and wicked

their
maximum.
"
The
first
of our era has an infernal stamp

writes Kenan,
which belongs to it alone the age of Borgia alone can
"
age,"
be compared to
in
it
point of
could not be difficult for

of senile
pit
wickedness."
men immersed
superstition
and
Surely
it
in such a foul
unblushing profligacy to
attain such a sense of guilt as should
make them
feel
that their only hope of salvation lay in the
God
But, alas,
apt to regard
men
all as
get accustomed to
right that
is
mercy of
evil, and are
in fashion.
tonic is needed to invigorate conscience,
moral
and produce a
healthy reaction of the moral sense against prevalent

evil.
This the apostle understood well, hence the
abrupt reference to the wrath of God immediately after

the initial statement of the nature of the gospel. 2
Here, as
first
in
reference
impression
is
to
the whole
sin-section,
one
how ungenial, what a

apt to be
in such unwelcome thoughts
:
lack of tact in thrusting
in connection with the good tidings of salvation
the writer
knows what he
is
about, and his usual
But
tact
not likely to have deserted him at the very outset of
is
He knows that
by those to whom
so carefully considered a writing.
his
gospel will be welcomed only

prevalent life of the age appears
the
utterly black and

The first thing therefore to be done is, to
abominable.
call forth the slumbering conscience into vigorous action.
For
this
purpose he prefaces his description of Pagan
Melanges, p. 167.
Rom.
i.
18.
at a later stage.
The
idea of a revelation of wrath will be discussed
EPISTLE TO THE
ROMANS
TRAIN OF THOUGHT
111
manners by a blunt downright expression of his own

moral judgment upon them, pronouncing them to be the
legitimate object of divine wrath.
In his indictment against the Gentile world, St. Paul
has no difficulty in making out a case, his only difficulty

is in making the picture black enough.
But when he
passes from Gentiles to Jews, his task
He
delicate.
now
has
becomes more
to deal with a people
accustomed
and to think of
sinners,"
speak of Gentiles as
themselves by comparison as righteous, and who could
read such a description of Pagan morals as he has just
"
to
given with
makes
self-complacent
this
very
addressing himself
demonstration
of
state
to
in
starting-point
countrymen, and begins his

by a statement
his
Jewish
of
his
he
Therefore
satisfaction.
mind
sinfulness
amounting to a charge of hypocrisy. In effect he says

I know what you are thinking,
ye Jews, as ye read
"
these
them.
But,
tell
add
you
yourselves."
the
you
are
like
are not
like
in
the
them,
not in special details, and to
if
sin
of
all
censoriousness,
hypocritical
while you ought rather to be judging

It is noticeable that, though plainly alluded
others
judging
to,
the
thank God, we
you,
essentials of conduct
this
Oh, think ye,
damning sentences about Pagans.
these wicked Gentiles
Jew
is
The reason may be that
not named.
the apostle wishes absolutely to deny the right of any
man
to judge others
are bad, but where

stones
at
his
as
is
brother
if
he would say
"
"
where the men who claim such a right are
He
does
not at
first
The heathen
man who has a right to

man
He knows very
the
say where, but
it
cast
well
to be found.
goes without
112
ST.
being said, every Jew reading the Epistle would know,

for he would be conscious that he had just been doing
the thing condemned.
Having denounced the Jewish
on by a series of interroga
charge Jews with the same sins previously
These implied
the charge of the Gentiles. 1
vice of judging, Paul goes

tions
laid
to
to
assertions
may seem
a libel on a people proud of their
doubtless the apostle was well

God-given
informed as to the state of Jewish morality, and spoke
as one conscious that he had no reason to fear con
law
but
tradiction.
It is important to notice that St. Paul s purpose in

this sin-section is
not simply to prove that both Pagans

sinners, but to show that they are
and Jews are great
such sinners in spite of all in their respective religions

He pro
that tended to keep them in the right way.
nounces a verdict not merely on men but on systems,
and means
are
to suggest that both
He
failures.
some elements
the
credits
God and
Paganism and Judaism
holds that even Paganism contained
making for right conduct. Ho

some natural knowledge of
His charge against them is, that
of truth
Gentiles with
of
duty.
3
they held or held down the truth in unrighteousness,
and were unwilling to retain God in their knowledge.
It may be thought that this judgment of the Pagan
world
is
too pessimistic, and that there was a brighter
which
not sufficiently taken into

account.
But
any case it is to be observed that
the pessimism of the author does not take the form of
side to the picture
is
in
Rom.
Ibid.
ii.
i.
21-23.
18, K
Ibid.
i.
19-21
ii.
14, 15.
TRAIN OF THOUGHT
denying that the Pagans had any
light,
113
but rather that of
accusing them of not being faithful to the light they had.

To the Jew the apostle concedes a still higher
measure
of light, representing
advantage over the Pagan

But he
oracles of God. 1
fact the
him
as having the great
of
being in possession of the
is
far
from thinking that in
Jew has any ground
for assuming airs of

with
the
Gentile.
He alludes
compared
no
intention
of
to the privilege with
playing the part
this
superiority as
On
2
of a special pleader for his race.
holds
the
that
people
who were
in
the contrary, he
possession of the
law and the promises and the Scriptures were just on

that account the more to be blamed for their mis
For
conduct.
the
benefit
of
such
as
made
these
self-complacency, he points out

that the very Scriptures of which they were so proud
brought against the favoured race charges not less
severe than he had just brought against the Pagan
privileges a ground of
world. 3
The apostle concludes his sombre survey of the moral

condition of the world with a solemn statement, declar
4
ing justification by works of law impossible.
It is the
negative side of his doctrine of justification based on

It applies in the first place and
his doctrine of sin.
directly to Jews, but
by implication and h
fortiori to
Gentiles.
1
Rom.
Ibid.
iii. 1, 2.
iii.
we making
the
"hoyta,
9.
Such seems
to
be the meaning of vpoexopii)*,
for the people

Vide the elaborate discussion on this
excuses for ourselves

TQV deov.
Morison s monograph on Romans

3
Ibid.
iii.
10-18.
"
that
is,
iii.
Ibid.
iii.
20.
"are
who had
word in
114
ST.
Having reached the negative conclusion, the
apostle
proceeds to state his positive doctrine of salvation in

one of the great passages of the Epistle, chap. iii.
2126, which must occupy our attention hereafter.
Here
let
we
be remarked, that
it
get from this great
Pauline text more light on the expression we met with

at the commencement
a righteousness of God."
now begin to understand what this righteousness is,
"
"We
which the apostle regards as the burthen
He
meaning he attaches
necessarily convey the
he
sooner has
used
God,"
faitli
of
"
effect,
unto
Christ,
righteousness,
to
it,
for
no
than he hastens to add words
it
By a righteousness of
mean a righteousness through
believers in Christ."
God s
"
explanatory of his meaning.
he says in
of his gospel.
that the expression in itself does not
evidently feels
all
Paul
does not appear to

righteousness, or our personal
in St.
God s
sense,
personal
conceived
of as well pleasing to God, but
righteousness
a righteousness which God gives to those who believe
signify
in Jesus
an
in us, but as
righteousness
were hovering over
we may
It
us.
has
original
the
apostle
to express
his
thought about
something
labours
objective
it
of phrases
saying,
e.g.,
that
it
is
in
call
mind,
it
it,
not
seems to be
for
he
by a variety
a righteousness apart
from law, and yet a righteousness witnessed to both by

law and by prophets, how or where, he does not here
state.
Faith
its
he
as
to
faith.
sole condition, therefore it is given
to all
Further,
is
represents
it
given
who believe, Jew and Gentile alike. Again he speaks

of men as made partakers of God s righteousness, SiKatovHis grace, which is as much
pevoi,
justified," freely, by
"

as
to
TRAIN OF THOUGHT
say that the righteousness in question
who
of divine love offered freely to all
is
llo
a gift
believe in Jesus.
Apart from law

according
this righteousness of God is revealed,

the apostle, who lays great stress on the
to
doctrine, as he feels
God and
that otherwise
salvation
would be a monopoly of the Jews. 1

Yet one cannot
but note that he is very careful in this Epistle to
avoid creating the impression that he undervalues law.
Significant in this connection
sion
"
"
the obedience of
faith,"
the curious phrase
also
faith,"
by which boasting is said to be
also the earnestness with which the apostle
the law of
excluded
the twice-used expres
is
protests that by his doctrine he does not
law through
proof of the
faith,
be noticed
any
prejudicial
is
also the proof of the thesis
the knowledge of
the apostle
is
The
held over for a more advanced
is
stage of the argument, as

is
void the
but rather establishes the law. 4
statement
that by the law
make
sin.
The point
to
anxiety to prevent the rise of

It
misunderstanding.
part by the irenical policy
is
explained
demanded by the
in
situation in
view of the writer, in part possibly by his recollecting

that he writes to men who as Eomans had an inbred
reverence for law.
What
follows in chapters
iv.
and
v.
may
be summarised
under the general heading of support to the doctrine of

justification
1
Bom.
Ibid.
by
faith.
in. 29.
The support
2
Ibid.
i.
is
threefold, being
xvi. 26.
Compare the expression vopo; rov irntvftetTOg rye

These various expressions seem to indicate a
(chap. viii. 2).
desire to dissociate the idea of law from legalism, and to invest it
iii.
27.
<aj}j
with evangelic associations.

*
Rom. iii. 31.
Ibid.
iii.
20.
116
ST.
drawn (1) from the history
Abraham
of
(chap, iv.)
from the experience of the justified (chap.

(3) from the history of the human race (chap.
The
first
(chap.
two
iii.
1 Cor. xv., concerning
111);
v.
12-21).
the third
Adam
new, though texts in

and Christ, show that such
is
sweeping generalisations do not occur here for the

time to the apostle s mind.
"
What
(2)
thought are anticipated in Galatians
lines of
69, 35)
v.
Abraham our forefather ?

new section. Is he no exception
first
"
of
abruptly the
that no man
is
justified
by works
so
begins
to the rule,
The Jews thought
he was, and the apostle seems willing to
concede the
point out of respect to the patriarch, but not in a sense

2
Abraham as compared
incompatible with his thesis.
with other men might have in his works a ground of
boasting, but not before God, not so as to exclude need
of divine grace, not in the sense of a full
He was
tion.
and
so he
legal justifica
justified before circumcision, and by faith;
was not merely the
the spiritual father of all
fleshly father of Israel, but
who
believe, circumcised
and
In the discussion of these points, there

comes out in a remarkable degree a feature of St. Paul s
imcircumcised.
on which
have commented, viz., the tendency

to repeat a word that has taken a strong hold of his
A word," says Kenan, haunts him, he uses it
mind.
style
critics
"
again
and
"
again
in
the same
page.
It
is
not from
Rom. iv. 1. evpnxiveti is omitted by Westcott and Hort.

So Lipsius, Die Paul, llechtfertiyunyslehre, p. 35, with wliich cf.
the same author in Hand-commentar.
According to Weber, Die
Lehre des Talmuds, p. 224, the Jews of the Talmudic period thought
2
that all the patriarchs passed through life without sin, also other
great saints, such as Elijah.
from the eagerness
is
sterility, it
indifference
complete
as
his
spirit,
mind here
his
form or another
one
in
of
the correction
to
The word which haunts

which
TRAIN OF THOUGHT
and
his
l
of
is
occurs
117
style."
Xoyifrpai,
eleven
times.
The
repetition implies emphasis, implies that the word

the symbol of an important idea in the Pauline system
is
thought, that
of
God
of
righteousness
it
denotes
certain
given to faith.
feature
righteousness, though strictly speaking St.
that faith
case of
is
imputed for
Abraham,
Abraham s
was in the
it
according to the Scriptures
so in like
be in the case of
it
For he regards the

respects typical, even in respect
spiritual children.
patriarch s case as in all

of the
So
righteousness.
manner, the apostle teaches, shall

all
the
of
an imputed
Paul s idea is
It is
nature and manifestations of the faith exercised,
when he believed in God s power to quicken the dead,

even as we do when we believe in the resurrection of
as
Jesus.
"
Who,"
"
sentences,
Who
adds the apostle, in one of his pregnant

ivas delivered up for our trespasses, and
was raised again for our justificatio7i."
The way
of justification
Abraham is, the

commended by its
history of
further
The
experience.
by
as one
state of
fear,
1
4
viii.
faith exemplified in the
apostle goes on to show,

results in a believing
peace, hope,
Paul,
p. 233.
Ibid. iv. 25.
man s
The writer expresses him
who has known what

and
joy,
it is
to enter into a
from a miserable state
doubt, uncertainty, and depression, the sad
St.
still
style at this point passes out of the
didactic into the emotional.

self
Rom.
iv. 24.
of
inherit-
Ibid. iv. 24.
This text will come under our notice in chapter
118
ST.
ance
of
begins
insisting that
God,"
never was or could
it
in
Justification being
1
with
So
legalism.
"
cheerful
by
it is
buoyant tone he
us have peace
faith, let
now
be for the
and easy as
possible
And
legalist.
continues in triumphant strain to exhibit the

the
believer
exultation.
he
mood
of
Jesus as one of constant many-sided

The keynote of this noble outpouring of an
in
emancipated heart is /cai^&>/ncu, occurring first in ver. 2,

and recurring in vers. 3 and 11, and presenting in its
growing intensity of meaning a veritable Jacob s ladder

We exult in
of joy reaching from earth to heaven.
"
future glory
of
hope
tribulations
ours, the
is
ours
all
present
this
not only
not only
so,
is
because
we
so,
we
exult in present
exult in God.
The future
ours, all is ours because
we have abandoned
works and entered on the way
of
faith."
the
Such
God
way
is
is
of
the
skeleton of thought in this choice passage, well hidden
by a massive body of superadded ideas crowding into the

mind and craving utterance.
writer s
The famous
parallel
between
Adam and
Christ comes
an afterthought by way of an additional

contribution to the doctrine of sin, and therefore to the
in partly as
argument in support of the doctrine of justification.

But it may also be viewed as a continuation of the
foregoing strain, in which Christian optimism finds for
It is well not
itself new pabulum in a larger field.
"
only for the individual believer that salvation comes

Christ
through faith in Christ, but for the human race.
is
the hope of
1
Rom.
v. 1
all
generations of mankind.
Through one
txufttv suits the emotional character of the passage.

it conies to the same thing as fxof
In didactic meaning
man
at the
commencement
enhancing
it
came
119
Man came
and death,
righteousness and
to help sin
and death-stricken
of history
and through this second

life.
The law did nothing
humanity
TRAIN OF THOUGHT
sin
rather entered that sin might abound, so
rather
than
mitigating
But that was merely a temporary
its
malign
power.
the abounding
of sin only called forth a superabundant manifestation of
grace.
Thus
Adam
evil, for
and Moses, each in
own way,
his
ministered to the glory of Christ as the Kedeemer from

Such is the gist of the passage.
sin."
The apostle s thought

like all bold
standing.
of
God given
it
thought
What
if
is
grand, bold, and
brings
its
own
risks of
true,
but
misunder
eulogium on the righteousness

or on the grace of God the more
this
to faith,
liberally bestowed the more it is needed, should be turned

into an excuse for moral licence ?
Why then Christianity
would prove to be a failure not less than Paganism and

Judaism nay, the greatest, most tragic failure of all.
;
Paul has judged Paganism and Judaism by their

same test
practical fruits, and he cannot object to the
St.
being applied to the

their place.
new
religion
it
he proposes to put in
of life and
must be a matter
Obviously
death for him to show that the gospel he preaches will
stand the test.
That, accordingly, is the task he next
undertakes, with what success the contents of chapters
vi.-viii.
enable us to judge.
Chapters
vi.
and
vii.
deal
successively
with
three
train of
questions naturally arising out of the previous
that
to
not
It is
they had
suppose
necessary
thought.
ever been put by any actual objector

those of the writer s own eager intellect
the dialectics are

;
but conceived as
120
PAUL
ST.
emanating from an unsympathetic reader they may be

thus
stated
abound
that
The great matter,
it
may have
grace
make
all
*
free
play
Adam s
part
The law too was
scope
that grace
is
seems,
had we not better then
abound, and having rendered that

questionable service retired from the stage and gave
Are we then at
place to the genial reign of grace.
given to
now
liberty
sin
to do deeds contrary to the
law
2
?
Finally,
the function of the law was to increase sin,
if
inference
natural
the
that
law
itself
sin
is
apostle s reply to the first of these questions
not the
is
The
is
in effect
Continue in sin that grace may abound the idea

is abhorrent to the Christian mind
the case supposed
absurd and impossible.
Ideally viewed, a Christian is
this
"
man dead
this
is
ideal
so,
and
to sin
baptism
signifies.
is
eternal
They deem
their
Paul
And
life.
and
main
life
That
in
crises
its
;
in
in its resurrection to
the ideal becomes a law to
all believers.
their duty to strive to realise the ideal in
it
At
life."
sin,
Christ.
The Christian
a repetition of Christ s life in its
death for sin and to
its
and with
alive in
point in the development of St.
this
we make
thoughts
"
"faith-mysticism
which
is
the acquaintance of that

a not less conspicuous feature
Paulinism than the doctrine of objective righteousness,
of
or justification
by
We
faith.
met
it
before for a
moment
in the Antioch remonstrance, in those stirring words,
am
a
crucified along with
passing
died for
1
Rom.
Gal.
moment,
all,
vi. 1.
ii.
20.
then
all
"
Christ
and
again, just
"
for
If one
pregnant saying,
s
But here
died along with Him."
in
the
Ibid. vi.
"
]">.
2 Cor. v. 15.
3 Ibid. vii. 7.
we are brought
face
TRAIN OF THOUGHT
face with
to
it
so that
121
we cannot
and are compelled to recognise

escape noting
it as an organic and essential element in the Pauline
its features,
conception of Christianity.
The second suggestion, that
we may
sin
we
because
under law, the apostle boldly
not
meets by the
assertion, that just because we are not under law but
under grace, therefore sin shall not have dominion over
are
The announcement
us.
this to a
of
Jew
startling,
but
to a Christian self-evident, truth conducts the apostle at
length
his
to
the function of the law
doctrine as to
which he has once and again hinted at in the course

his argument.
He
of
uses for his purpose the figure of a
The law was once our husband, but he is

dead and we are married to another, even Christ, through
marriage.
whom we
bring forth fruit to
God
very different fruit
from that brought forth under the law s influence, which

was simply fruit of sin unto death. 1 In so characterising
the fruit of marriage to the law, the apostle is simply
repeating his doctrine that the law entered that sin
This doctrine, therefore, he must now

might abound.
explain and defend, which he does in one of the most
remarkable
passages
in
all
his
describes the conflict between
and the function

in itself, through
St.
Paul
of the
the
writings,
wherein
he
the flesh and the spirit

sin, while holy
law in provoking
2
flesh.
It
the locus dassicus of
is
doctrine of the flesh as also of his doctrine of
must engage our attention

altogether a very sombre and depressing
the law, and as such
hereafter.
It is
utterance,
Bom.
vii.
1-6.
Ibid. vii. 7-24.
122
PAUL
ST.
ending with the cry of despair
me
shall deliver
exclamation
of
"
to
confess
to
let
The
failure.
God through Jesus

starting-point of a new strain,
Thanks
must be made the
To
the gospel cannot so end.
word were
last
:
Wretched man, who
The exposition
that be the
"
"
"
Christ
in
which
despair shall give place to hope, and struggle to victory,

This is what happens in chapter viii.
The apostle here
returns to the happy mood of chapter v. 111.
"There
now no condemnation is an echo of Being justified

by faith, we have peace," and the subsequent series of
"
"
is
reflections is
an expansion
hope, rejoicing
in
of the three ideas, rejoicing in
tribulation,
God.
in
rejoicing
Yet
along with similarity goes notable difference, due to the

influence of the intervening train of thought.
In the
earlier place the
ground
righteousness of
God given
by
is objective,
it
is
the
imputed
subjective,
for
union to
faith, being in Christ, having Christ s Spirit
dwelling in us.
immanent
and hope
to faith, faith
In the latter
righteousness.
Christ
of joy
The great Pauline doctrine
in believers as the source of a
of the Spirit
new
Christlike
expression, after having been
life here finds
adequate
1
hinted in the Epistle to the Galatians, and also in an
2
Here the indwell
earlier place of this present Epistle.
ing Spirit
is
set forth as the source of several
important
(1) victory over sin, power to do the

3
will of God, to fulfil the righteousness of the law (the
spiritual benefits
law
(2)
is
made void
not to be
filial
confidence towards
Gal. iv. 6
Ibid. viii. 4-10.
v. 5.
after
all,
but established
God;* (3) the sure hope

2
Pom.
v. 5.
* Ibid. viii.
14-10.
!)
of

future glory as
God s
TEAIN OF THOUGHT
sons and heirs
l
;
123
(4) comfort under
present tribulation, the Spirit helping us in our infirmi

2
ties.
Along with this doctrine of the immanent Spirit
goes a magnificent doctrine of Christian optimism, which
proclaims the approach of an era of emancipation for the
whole creation, and the present reign

dence which makes
Here
St.
Paul
all
spirit
of a paternal
things work together
the
to
rises
Provi
for good. 3
highest
pitch
of
jubilant utterance, illustrating
what he meant when he
spoke of glorying in God (chap.

who can be against us ?
v.
"
11):
I
If
God be
for us,
am
persuaded that
nor
nor
life,
angels,
principalities, nor
nor
things present,
things to come, nor
.
neither death, nor
powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor

to separate us
Christ our
any other
from the love
of
creature, shall be able
God which
is
in Jesus
Lord."
Thus, on eagle wing, does the apostle soar away

towards heaven, whence he looks down with contempt
on time and sense, and
all
the troubles of this
such lofty flights of faith and hope seldom
But
life.
long in
this world.
Something ever occurs to bring the spirit
down from heaven to earth, back from the glorious
future to the sad present.
experience
in
thoughts down
writing
this
Even such was
chanting realities of the present,

1
Horn.
viii. 17.
What
letter.
the earth, and
to
last
Ibid. viii. 26.
is
St.
Paul s
brings
his
back to the disen
the prevailing unbelief

3
Ibid. viii. 18-25, 31-39.
In this brief analysis of chapter viii. no

31,
reference has been made to a very important Pauline word in vers.
God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
3, 4
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh."
Other opportunities will occur
Ibid.
viii.
39.
"
for discussing this passage.
124
ST.
PAUL
In the peace-giving faith and in

spiring hope of Christians few of them had a share.
The sad fact not only grieved his spirit, but raised an
of his
countrymen.
The nature of the pro

important apologetic problem.
blem has been indicated in a previous chapter, as also
the gist of the apostle s solution as given in
ix.
xi.,
the further exposition of which
another place.
is
Romans
reserved for
CHAPTER VI
THE DOCTRINE OF STN
THE
topical consideration of Paulinism on
enter
may
fitly
begin with
St.
Paul
which we now
negative doctrine
not attainable by
concerning
the method of legalism. The proof of this position resolves
itself practically into the Pauline doctrine of sin, which
that
justification, viz.,
embraces four particulars.
it
is
These are (1) the statement
sin
concerning the general prevalence of sin in the
section
of the Epistle to the Eomans
the
state
(2)
"
"
ment respecting the effect of the first man s sin in

Eomans v. 1221 (3) the statement concerning the
sinful proclivity of the flesh in Romans vii.
(4) the
;
statement concerning the action of the law on the sinful

proclivity of the flesh in the
these taken
works
1.
of
it
together
the law
The apostle
is
same chapter.
follows
that
all
absolutely impossible.
first
argument
doctrine of justification on
its
in
support
of
his
negative side is that, as
a matter of fact and observation,

1
From
salvation by the
Menegoz truly remarks that
sin,
even in intense
to understand St. Paul s notion of

not his purpose to give a systematic
course of instruction on sin, but simply to speak of it in its bearing
on his doctrine of justification. Le Pe
et la Redemption, p. 23.
sin
we must remember
that
it is
che"
125
126
ST.
widely prevalent in the world, both among

It may be called the popular
Pagans and among Jews.
use
is
to
its
produce a primd facie im
argument, and
is
virulence,
presumption in favour of the doctrine in

which the appeal to experience is made.
with
connection
or
pression
It
cannot be regarded as a
works
is
impossible
at
strict proof that justification
most
amounts
it
by
to a proof that
To that it
by that method is very unlikely.
in
case of
the
does
amount, very conspicuously
certainly
the Jews.
If, as is alleged, the people to whom had
salvation
been given the law were as sinful as the rest

world, the obvious inference
viewed as a means
proved
picture
of
Jew
or
signal
is
of attaining
failure.
the
of
that the legal dispensation,
And
unto righteousness, had

in view of the dark
the world generally, without distinction of

Gentile, it is clear that, whatever might be
possible for the exceptional few, the
eousness could never be the

million.
way
way
of legal right
of salvation for the
But the empirical argument does not exclude
the possibility of that
way being open
for the
few
for
though gross sin be very generally prevalent, it does not

that such sin, or even sin in any degree, is
There may be some exceptionally
absolutely universal.
follow
men
capable of perfectly satisfying the law s re

The apostle makes it quite evident that
quirements.
good
he does not believe in any exceptions, for he winds up

the account of the moral condition of the world in the
early chapters of
Romans with
the unqualified statement:
Therefore by the works of the law shall no flesh be

l
But that he does not rest the inference
justified."
"
Horn.
iii.
20.
THE DOCTRINE OF SIN
127
on the foregoing statement concerning the ex

tensive prevalence of sin appears from the appended
solely
"
remark,
which
may
For
by the law
the
is
of
knowledge
sin,"
new
reason for the assertion just made.

It
be doubted whether the apostle rests his doctrine
is
as to the absolute universality of sin even on the texts
he has previously
of Scripture
seem
cited,
to teach the doctrine,
which on the surface

as they stand in the
though
Old Testament they are not intended to state an abstract
doctrine concerning
terise in strong
of
human
depravity, but simply charac
terms the moral depravity of a particular

That he put on these texts a
men.
generation
universal construction
is
not questioned, but he
may
done so not so much as a mere interpreter of

Scripture, but rather as one who believed in the universal
have
diffusion of sin
on other grounds.
exceptions was present to

from his reference to the case
of
That the
his
thoughts
of
Abraham. 2
possibility
evident
is
We may
expect, therefore, to find that he has in reserve
more cogent reasons
deeper,
an appeal
to
for his
some
thesis than either
observation or citations from the
Hebrew
Psalter.
2.
The necessary supplement
to the popular
argument
be found in the famous passage concerning Adam

and Christ, and in the not less notable statement con
is to
former, I
the sinful proclivity of the flesh.

remark that this section of Romans
contains
much more than
cerning
As
(v.
to the
12-21)
a contribution to the Pauline
doctrine of sin, or to the proof of the negative doctrine

of justification.
1
Bom.
iii.
It serves the
10-18.
comprehensive purpose of
-
Ibid. iv. 1.
128
ST.
vindicating the apostle s whole doctrine of justification,
both on
it
negative and on
its
its
positive side,
by
fitting
into a grand philosophic generalisation respecting the
history
religious
of
That history
the world.
summed up under two
representative men, the
there
is
first
man
and the second, Adam and Christ.

Between these two
men St. Paul draws a parallel in so far as both by their
But beginning with
action influenced their whole race.
a parallel, he forthwith glides into a contrast.

Apology
For the writer, at the com
passes over into eulogy.
mencement
has been extolling the benefits

connected with the era of grace, and he is in the mood
to
of the chapter,
continue
in
the
same
suggested the thought

as both representative
duces the
free gift
new theme
strain,
and so having once
Adam and Christ like each other

men to opposite effects, he intro
"
but not as the offence
sin abounds, but grace superabounds."
What we
are
now concerned
is
the
is
the
with, however,
bearing of this passage on the doctrine of sin, and so on

That
the negative side of the doctrine of justification.
was meant to have a bearing on these topics we need

not doubt, though the direct purpose in view is more
It may be said that the
general and comprehensive.
it
supplementary proof of the

impossibility of attaining unto salvation by personal
righteousness, a proof which converts his first statement
concerning the general prevalence of sin into an absolutely
apostle
here
supplies
universal doctrine as to the sinfulness of man.
And what
then
is
the
new
proof
the universal prevalence of death.

1
Rom. v. 15.
It
starts
from
Indubitably death
THE DOCTRINE OF SIN

reigns over
of sin
But death,
all.
it
is
there had been no death
been no sin
therefore all
129
assumed,
the wages
is
among men had
must be
there
some sense and
in
some extent sinners simply because all die. Not

improbably this was the original germ of the train of
to
thought
this
It
contained in
the Adam-Christ
section.
But
germinal thought would inevitably suggest others.

first place start a difficulty to be over
would in the
come, in grappling with which the apostle at last reached

the magnificent generalisation contained in the antithesis
Death has swept
between the two representative men.
away
in
all
all
the generations of mankind, therefore
generations have sinned.
But
if
so,
have sinned before the giving of the law.

could that be if where there is no law there
gression, and
all
men
men must
But how
is
no trans
by the law comes the knowledge of sin
if
This difficulty might be met by saying there was a law

before the lawgiving, a law written on the hearts or
:
consciences of men, and sufficiently

responsible.
But
apostle meets the
this
is
known
not the
way
difficulty, though, as
to
make them
in
which the
we know from
other places in his Epistles, such a line of thought was

He is willing to make the concession
familiar to him.
that there was no law before the Sinaitic lawgiving, and
that therefore
men
could not have
could not legally be treated as sinners,

sin imputed to them as a ground of
condemnation and
infliction
of penalty, because he has
showing that in all the ages men

were under the reign of sin, and therefore subject to
death.
That way he finds in the great principle of
in view another
solidarity,
9
way
of
or the moral unity of
mankind.
The
first
130
ST.
enough. By one man sin entered

into the world, and death followed in its track legiti
man
and that
sinned,
is
mately, righteously, because
when
man
the one
sinned
all sinned.
Such
Eomans
v.
take to be the meaning of the famous text

12, and in particular of the last clause
e<
c5
The rendering of the Vulgate, in quo

Trdvres tf/jLaprov.
omnes peccaverunt, is grammatically wrong, for
does
in whom," but
not mean
because,"
yet essentially
u>
e(f>
"
"
It requires
right
some courage
or indeed any opinion,
to express this opinion,
when one
thinks of the intermin
able controversies to which these four Greek words have
given
rise,
and considers how much
interpretation
we
adopt.
depends
The sense
would be altogether crushing
of
on
the
responsibility
the matter in dispute,
if
instead of being a statement connected with a theological
theorem, were a vital article of the Christian
faith.
Of
the possible meanings of the words in question, the one
with something like fear and trembling,

vote, is, it must be admitted, & priori the least
which
for
give
my
I,
Who
likely.
would ever think
saying himself, or
Adam sinned all man
of
expect another to say, that when

kind sinned ?
But we know that
habit
sin,
St.
Paul
e.g.,
and therefore we cannot make
pretation,
in
course
Romans
men
it
in
the
One made
a rule of inter
dealing with his writings, that the most
obvious and ordinary meaning
is
to
be preferred.
Of
the most obvious meaning of the second half of

r.
12
is,
that death passed upon all
personally sinned, which accordingly

pretation favoured by an imposing array
all
is
of saying startling things, the sinless
men
is
because
the inter
of
modern
TITE
to this view, not the least

St.
Paul say what
meant
131
the objections that might be stated
Among
expositors.
DOCTRINE OF SIN
is
weighty
is this,
not true to the
that
it
makes
he really
If
fact.
to say that all died because all

personally sinned,
he must have forgotten the very large number of human

beings who die in infancy, an act of forgetfulness
humane
so
in
unlikely
The
theologian.
man and
very
a
so
considerate
infants would not be left out of account
we adopted the interpretation which has on its side

the great name of Calvin all died, because all, even the
if
infants, inherited a depraved nature, and so were tainted
with the vice of original

transgression.
But
sin,
if
not guilty of actual
this is not exegesis, but rather read
ing into the word jj/j,apTov a theological hypothesis.
We
thrown back, in spite of ourselves,

on the thought, however strange it may seem, that when
Adam sinned all mankind sinned, as that which the
seem, therefore, to be
apostle really intended to utter.
The
aorist, râp-rov, as
pointing to a single act performed at a definite fane,
fits
do not compel, this interpretation.

into,
Writing
some years ago, one would have been able to cite in
if
it
support of
it
the authority of Pfleiderer.
Romans
v.
12 two
for
the entrance
sin,
and
made
to
it
first
work on Paulinism he remarks, that

different reasons seem to be given
edition of his able

in
In the
of
death
Adam s
sin
and men s own
may seem strange that no attempt should be

reconcile the two.
But he goes on to say
:
Just in this hard and completely unreconciled juxta

position of the two reasons lies without doubt the hint
"
that in the apostle
view they are not two, but one, that
therefore the sinful deed of
Adam
is
at the
same time
132
ST.
and as such the

"
deed of
sinful
naturally must mean, that
"
all."
This,"
in the deed of
he continues,
Adam,
as the
representative head of the race, the race in virtue of a

1
But in
certain moral or mystic identity took part."
the second edition of this work, published in 1890, the
author has, with an implicit faith which is almost pathetic,

adopted as his guide in the interpretation of Paulinism
Weber s account
doing
of
the theology of
the Talmud.
theological
In
makes two great assumptions that the

opinions of the Jews in the time of St. Paul
so he
were the same as in the period, centuries later, when the

Talmud was compiled, and that St. Paul s theology was
a large extent
to
Jewish synagogue.
hazardous.
simply a reflection
of
that of
the
Both assumptions seem to me very

to reason that Jewish theological
It stands
thought underwent development in the centuries that

elapsed between the apostolic age and the Talmudic era.
And
by no means a matter of course that every

theological theorem current in the synagogue, and as
it
is
such familiar to Saul the Pharisee, was adopted into his

That
system of Christian thought by Paul the apostle.
Eabbinism exercised a certain influence

need not be questioned.
his
method
of interpreting
The influence
Scripture and
on
is
his
mind
traceable in
in his style of
argumentation, and it is not at all unlikely that it may

here and there be discernible also in the thought-forms
and phraseology of his Christian theology. 2 But of one
1
Der Faulinismus, pp. 39, 40.

Lipsius (Hand-commentar on Rom. v. 12) points out that the idea
of death entering into the world through the sin of the first man
was generally current among the Jews before and during Paul s
time, citing in proof Sirach xxv. 24, Wisdom of Solomon ii. 23, and
2
133
THE DOCTRINE OF SIN
we may
thing
be sure,
viz.,
slave of Eabbinical theology,
allow
it
to
that St. Paul was not the
and that he would never
dominate over his mind to the prejudice
He
his Christianity.
might use
it
of
as far as it served his
purpose, but beyond that he would not suffer
The view he expresses in Romans iv.

to Abraham, as no exception to the
13
in
to go.
it
reference
men
thesis that
cannot be justified by works, illustrates the freedom of

Jewish opinion.
his attitude towards
The
Talmudic theology as a key to the

which makes the new edition
servile use of
interpretation of Paulinism,
of Pfleiderer s
work
on
in
some respects the reverse
of
an
reflection
first, suggests another
improvement
which may here find a place.
It is a mistake to be
the
constantly on the outlook for sources of Pauline thought

in previous or
contemporary
Pfleiderer
literature.
is
According to him one part of St.

comes
from Alexandria, and the other
theology
from the Jewish synagogue, and the original element, if
great offender here.
Paul
it
exist
at
all,
is
reduced to a minimum.
He
cannot
even credit the apostle with the power to describe the

vices of Paganism as he does in Romans i. without
I may find
borrowing from the Book of Wisdom}another opportunity of expressing an opinion as to the
with
alleged Hellenism; meantime I content myself
cordially endorsing a sentiment occurring in a book
a
in
young German theologian,

most appreciative terms.
of
whom
It is that
by
Pfleiderer speaks
"
the theology of
bsdras vii. 18--20. What St. Paul did was not to invent the idea,
but to apply it in exposition and defence of the Christian faith.
1
Der Paulinismus, 2te Aufl. pp. 83, 84.
iv.
134
ST.
the great apostle
The remark
reading."
much more
Testament,
works
of
the expression of his experience, not
is
of his
Philo,
or
applies even to the Old
the
to
Apocrypha, or
the
to
the dreary lucubrations of the
to
scribes.
The doctrine
Talmud on the connection between
of the
and death, as stated by Weber,
sin
Adam s sin is
man dies for
has
its
last
to
is
this
own, not the sin of the race.

his own sin.
Yet the death of
his
ground in the
sin
of
Adam,
effect.
Every
all
men
partly because
the death sentence was pronounced on the race in con

nection with
Adam s
sin,
Adam s
partly because through
sin the evil proclivity latent in the flesh not only first
found expression, but was started on a sinister career of
Assuming that the apostle
increasingly corrupt influence.
meant
echo the Talmudic theory in the text under

consideration, the resulting interpretation would be some
to
thing like a combination of two of the three interpretations
which divide the suffrages
Summarily these are
all
of Christian
die
because
commentators.
of personal
sin,
because of inherited depravity, all die because

involved in the personal sin of Adam the representative
all
die
The Talmudic hypothesis
of the race.
of the first
and second
is
a combination
of these three views.
In the famous comparison between
Adam and
Christ,
the terms apapTia and Si/caioavvr) appear both to be
used
objectively.
Sin and righteousness are conceived of as
two great antagonistic forces fighting against each other,

not so
much
in
man
supremacy; the one

1
as
over
him, each striving
manifesting
Gunkel, Die IVirkungen des heiligen
its
malign
Geistes, p.
sway
86 (1888).
for
in
THE DOCTRINE OF SIN

death, the other in the
life
135
communicated
The one power began
believe in Jesus.
who
to those
reign with
its
the day that Adam sinned,

had
dominion
over
the human race, and showed
dpapria
the reality of its power by the death which overtook
Adam.
the sin of
successive
From
mankind.
generations of
The existence
this objective sin necessitated the
of
into existence
coming
an objective righteousness as the only means by which
the reign of sin and death could be brought to an end.
The existence of an Adam through whom the race was
of
brought into a state of condemnation, made it necessary

that there should appear a Second Adam in whom the
make a new
race might
beginning, and in whose righteous
As by the disobedience of
ness it might be righteous.
the one man the many were constituted (Karea-Tddâav,
19) sinners, so also it was necessary that by the obedi
ence of the One the many should be constituted righteous.
v.
Such seems
scruples
in
to
be the apostle
the
Some may think
view.
It
may
mind on various
modern
that
St.
Paul
has
read
raise
grounds.
far
more
theology into the story of the Fall than can be taken
out of
sin
it
by legitimate
of objective
;
it
reasonable than that one
man s
The idea
appear objectionable on ethical grounds for

may be asked, can be more unjust or un
may
what,
exegesis.
sins
man
should suffer for another
Yet modern science
will
teach even the
freest theological thinker to be cautious in pressing this
for by its doctrine of heredity it has made it

more manifest than ever that the solidarity of mankind
is a great fact, and not merely a theological theory, and
objection
that the only question
is
as to the best
way
of stating
136
it
ST.

moral
so as to conserve all
It
interests.
be admitted that a better statement
may
readily
conceivable than
is
that furnished by Augustinian theology.
The question
may very legitimately be raised To what effect or extent

does objective sin reign ? in other words, What is meant
:
by death
in this connection
death passed upon
all
When
men,"
death to be taken
so
com
temporal, spiritual,
my
conjecture as to the
train of thought be correct,
the restricted sense. 1
we must understand Odvaros
in
In any case there
for ascribing to
no ground
is
"
says,
once
If
Adam- Christ
genesis of the
is
at
including
and eternal consequences
Paul
does he allude to the familiar
fact of physical dissolution, or
prehensively as
St.
St.
Paul
men depends on
the dogma, that the eternal destiny of
zum N. T. maintains that 6xvee.ro;

Paul s writings means spiritual death, but physical
death without hope of resurrection.
Vide his notes on Romans v. 12
and vii. 10. Similarly Kabisch, Die Eschatologie des Paulus (1893).
The views of Menegoz will be stated in the next chapter. In
1
Lipsius in Hand-commentar
nowhere in
St.
referring to the work of Kabisch, I must acknowledge that the

weight of his authority is much lessened by what I cannot but
regard as the extravagant manner in which he fathers upon St. Paul

all the grossly materialistic conceptions of the Apocalyptic writings
and the Talmud. Nothing but perusal of the work will give one
of the extent to
any idea
which
this
his account of the Fall in its origin,
is
and
carried.
its effects
Take as a sample
on human nature
and on physical nature

The Satanic substance through the
medium of Eve (through sexual intercourse) entered into the flesh
"
of the first
man
blazed up, kindled by the divine com

commit the first sin as a poison it seized
duQcax-o; which has nothing to do with these
there
it
mand, and excited him
to
his body, not the tau
physical events, and changed

aupot,
made
made
ioi>
dotytzTov,
of the
it
and
as
same material
home
him
<pdpfta,xoi>
into a au^tt
rvi;
pup-riot,;
or a
ohtdpov has penetrated into all
as himself, into the whole X&V.MOJ and

aud death," p. 168. The apostle is
of corruption
represented as regarding all sins, even
"spiritual"
sins, as
purely
THE DOCTRINE OF SIN

the
of
sin
the race apart
That through the sin

takes
of
from
Adam
137
personal transgression.^
eternal perdition over
children
dying in infancy (unless averted by

The idea
baptism !) formed no part of his theology.
is utterly irreconcilable with his
of
doctrine
optimistic
It
is
excluded
superabounding grace.
by his conception
objective sin and objective righteousness as forming
two aspects of one system.
He did not think of the
former as reigning unconditionally.
He thought rather
of
of the Fall
the
and
its
consequences as counterworked from
by the reign
first
of
grace,
Adam
nowhere where
Christ was not also in more or less potency
the curse
therefore in all spheres, physical and ethical, to a large
extent
an
unchecked
unrealised
by
infant salvation
reigns
a
;
unchecked
redemptive
for
if
and
convicted of impotence.
3.
ideal,
never
because
operative
This covers
economy.
common
sin
righteousness
is
infants perish, the
the
common
Something more than the theorem
objective sin
of
physical functions of the material body, p. 151. The influences of

the Holy Spirit or of Christ are conceived of in the same materialistic
manner. The book altogether is an extreme example of the rigour
"
and vigour of German theorists.

1
To understand Paulinism we must carefully note the distinction
between apap-Tiot, and âpocftotaig. a.u.a.piia, is objective and com
mon Kxpiifiix. ri; is subjective and personal, apx^rtx entails
some evil effects, but fxpxfiaai; is necessary to guilt and final
"
condemnation.
2
Vide on this Christ in Modern Theology, by Principal Fairbairn,
There is no
also Godet, who on Bom. v. 12 remarks
pp. 460-2
question here about the eternal lot of individuals. Paul is speaking
here above all of physical death. Nothing of all that passes in the
domain in which we have Adam for our father can be decisive for
our eternal lot. The solidarity of individuals with the head of the
"
first
humanity does not extend beyond the domain
of natural
life."
138
in
ST.
the sense explained is needed to produce the con

that sin is a universal reality.
It must be
viction
shown that
above
power at work in man as well as
sin is a
character
his
him, influencing
well
as
as
his
Till this is shown, men may remain unpersuaded that righteousness is unattainable by the way
destiny.
deeming objective sin either an unreality or

most something external, affecting man s physical life,
but not his moral being or his standing before God.
To
of legalism,
at
men up
to
demonstration
of
shut
nature.
the
way
the
demonstration
This
faith
of
inherent
there
the
needed a
is
sinfulness
apostle
of
human
supplies
in
statement as to the sinful proclivity of the flesh.

The relative section of the Epistle to the Eomans is
his
not indeed a formal contribution to the doctrine as to

the universality of sin it rather deals with the flesh
as a hindrance to Christian holiness, under which aspect
;
it
be considered hereafter.
will fall to
It
may seem
unsatisfactory that so important a part of the doctrine
should be brought in as a sort of afterthought.

But we must once for all reconcile ourselves to the fact
of sin
not a scholastic theologian, and be con

tent to take his teaching as he chooses to give it.
that St. Paul
is
The demonstration takes the form

fession.
In the
first
part
of
of a personal con
his doctrine
of
sin
the
apostle has described in dark colours the sins of other
men
in this part he details his
graphic terms.
I do I know not
I hate, this
do
"
l
I."
am
carnal, sold
for not
And
1
own
Rom.
what
experience in most
under
I wish do
sin, for
I,
what
but what
he assumes that in this respect

vii. 14, 15.
THE DOCTKINE OF SIN

he
is
not exceptional.
139
Personal in form, the confession
really the confession of humanity, of every man who

1
is crdprcivos, living in the flesh.
The ego that speaks is
not the individual ego of St. Paul, but the ego of the
is
human
It is idle therefore to inquire
race.
whether he
refers to the period antecedent to his conversion or to
the post-conversion period.
The question proceeds upon
a too literal and prosaic view of the passage, as if it

were a piece of exact biography instead of being a
idealised
highly
representation of
human weakness
In so far as the
the moral sphere.
artist
in
draws from
own
experience the reference must be held to be

chiefly to the pre-con version period, for it is clear from
the next chapter that the apostle is far from regarding
his
the moral condition of the Christian as one of weakness
and misery like that depicted in chap. vii. though it

need not therefore be denied that the conflict between
;
flesh
who
reappear even in the life of one

But we miss the didactic
walks in the Spirit.
and
may
spirit
of
significance
this
if
passage
biographical, instead of viewing
That
sentative.
it
is
meant
from the abstract manner

It is not St.
Paul
sin.
What
question
is
flesh is
at fault,
it
merely
and repre
be typical
to
is
as
it
as typical
which the
that
s flesh
the flesh which all
in
we take
it
is
manifest
spoken
of.
the flesh,
men
precisely
for future
wear, the flesh in which dwells

the apostle means by crdp!* is a
consideration
meantime the point
1
This is the approved reading. Adjectives terminating in vog
Vide 2 Cor. iii. 3,
indicate the material of which anything is made.
uxooicet^ aocpx.lv oti f.

2
Rom.
vii.
25
viii. 3.
140
ST.
to be noted
is,
word does not denote something

The
an abstract idea.
that the
It represents
merely personal.
term may not signify the mere physical organisation, but
we may safely assume that it has some reference thereto,
and
so find in this notable passage the doctrine that in
man s
much
their
material part resides a bias to sin which causes
plying with
"
my
not good but
sin.
know
good."
"
Paul proclaims
St.
that in
What
flesh) dwelleth not
flesh is
God from
of
This doctrine
its behests.
in the pathetic confession

in
who with
actually com
trouble to the spirit, and prevents those
mind approve the law
me
(that
is,
dwells in the
says the apostle,
know,"
man who
has any sympathy with good

expecting every
If he be right in this
to echo the acknowledgment.
expectation, then
it
is
all
over with the hope of attain
ing to righteousness by personal

sequel
"
such a confession
of
Wretched human
being,
there be any hope for us,
who
the groan
shall deliver
must be
it
The appropriate
effort.
is
standing ground must be grace not
in
law.
of
despair
me
"
Another
our
"
But,"
If
may
it
may be wrong in his judgment he may

be taking too morbid a view of the moral disability
of man."
Well, it is a jury question but, inspiration
be said,
"
St.
Paul
apart, I
had rather take the testimony
this question
complacent
fact that the noblest
have accepted his verdict, and

capable of
St.
Paul on
than that of a morally commonplace, selfperson like the Pharisee of our Lord s
It is a
parable.
of
Rom.
Ibid. vii. 24.
vii. 18.
Tcthct nrapo;
iyu
in all ages
this consensus of those
judging must be held
men
most
to settle the matter.
Ibid. vii. 20.
THE DOCTRINE OF SIN
the matter of fact to be as asserted, viz.,

in the flesh a bias towards evil, what is its
Granting
that there
141
is
the
bias inherent in the flesh, inseparable
from the nature
of a material organism, or is it a vice
cause
Is
which has been accidentally introduced into

the sin of
Adam
On
this speculative
it,
problem
say by
Paul
St.
has nowhere in his Epistles pronounced a definite opinion.

He declares the fact of an antagonism between flesh
and
but he gives no account of
spirit,
its
origin.
It
indeed seem possible to arrive at a solution of the

problem which may reasonably be held to be Pauline by
may
combining the statement in the Adam-Christ section

with that of the section concerning the flesh, and draw
ing the inference that
human
nature, and in particular
the bodily organism, underwent a change for the worse

in consequence of the sin of the first man.
This is the
Church doctrine
of
original sin.
question has been
raised as to the legitimacy of the combination on
This question very naturally leads

does the combination go to the root of
From the sin of the first man came the
this doctrine rests.
up
to another
the matter
corruption of
which
human
nature, but
whence came
his sin
1
In the first edition of Der Paulinismus Pfleiderer pronounced the
combination inadmissible, and maintained that St. Paul gives two
wholly different accounts of the origin of moral evil in Bom. v.
and vii., that in the latter chapter being that sin has its origin in a
Vide p. 62. In the second
flesh conceived to be inherently evil.
edition he regards it as possible that the Augustinian theory that

the sinful bias of the flesh originated in Adam s fall was held by St.
Paul, but thinks it

Jewish schools, viz.,
was only provoked
Vide p. 71 ; and for
more likely that he accepted the view of the

that the evil bias was there from the first, and
and increased through the temptation
the Jewish view, Weber,
sects. 46, 48.
to sin.
142
ST.
Was
his
flesh
entirely
free
from
evil
and containing no elements

Or had it too that in it
neutral,
spirit
PAUL
of
bias, morally
danger to the
desire,
passion
If
which might very readily tempt to transgression ?
the Pauline literature contains any hints of an answer to
this question, they are to be
in 1 Cor. xv. the first
man
found in the terms in which

is
described as in contrast
to the second, only a living soul, psychical as distinct
from
and
spiritual,
expressions seem
to
of
the
earth,
These
earthy.
point in the direction of a nature
not very different from our own, and altogether suggest

an idea of the primitive state of man not quite answer
ing to the theological conception of original righteous
The same remark applies to the account of that
ness.
the Book
in
state
of
Genesis, wherein
the
first
man
appears in such a condition of unstable moral equil

ibrium as to fall before the slightest temptation, more
an innocent inexperienced child than a full-grown

true holiness."
man, godlike in
righteousness and
like
"
Should a revision of the Church

initial
moral condition of
progress of
modern
man
science, it
doctrine concerning the

be necessitated by the
may be found that it is
not the sacred historian or the Christian apostle that

at
fault,
but the dogmatically -biassed exegesis of
is
the
system-builders.
1
1 Cor.
F.
xv. 46, 47.
W.
Robertson says that popular ideas of the paradise state

Vide Lectures
are without the warrant of one syllable of Scripture.
on the Epistles to the Corinthians, apud 1 Cor. xv. 46, 47. Godet
also
on the same text remarks, that
St.
Paul does not share the

and
traditional orthodox idea of the primitive state as one of moral
physical perfection.
THE DOCTRINE OF SIN

4.
is
The
last particular in
148
the Pauline doctrine of sin
the statement concerning the effect of the law s action
on the
sinful
the
proclivity of
On
flesh.
this
point
the apostle teaches that in consequence of the evil bias
of the flesh, the law, so far from
being the way to
ledge of sin
chiefly in
and an
Romans
the question
sin
rather simply a source of the
is
righteousness,
God
"
The topic
irritant to sin.
What
"
forbid
introduced at ver. 7 by
Is the law
say, then ?
It is
vii.
shall
we
which
know
handled
is
is
followed
up
the
by
explanatory statement that the law, though not sin, is

the source of the knowledge of sin.
This is explained in
turn by the doctrine of the sinful bias of the
consequence
in
of
which
it
commanding the good,
comes
as
to
pass
that
flesh, in
the law,
it
always does, being itself

comes
into
collision
with contrary inclina
holy, simply
tion, and so awakes the consciousness of a law in the
members warring
the
against the law in the mind.
law I simply know myself
morally impotent, to
is
be a slave.
So by
to be a sinner, to be
To make one righteous
because of the flesh impossible for the law, a truth
which the apostle
states very forcibly in
where he represents the fulfilment

of the law in men as the impossible
sequence of its weakness by reason
Rom.
viii.
3,
of the righteousness
for the
law in con
of the flesh.
Such
being the fact, made known to him by bitter experience,

he argued that the law could never have been intended
It
could not have been
make men righteous.
to
instituted to accomplish the impossible.
been
instituted with reference
which should be able to
realise
to
an
It
must have
ulterior
system
the legally impossible
144
ST.
when
a means to an end destined to be superseded
had served
its
of sinful flesh,
purpose
ancillary
God s
the advent of
it
for
preparation
Son, who, coming in the likeness
and with reference
sin in the flesh,
and help
to sin, should
Him
believers in
to
condemn
be indeed
sons of God, walking not after the flesh but after the
Spirit.
We
have seen with what
preparatory
the Galatians, and
to
in the Epistle
fertile
ingenuity the
function
apostle describes the
we
the law
of
shall
have a
future opportunity of considering his whole doctrine as

to the legal economy from an apologetic point of view.
Meantime what we have

under which
that
to note is
doctrine
the sombre aspect
presents
the
sinfulness of
Human sinfulness is such as to make the question

not an impertinence, whether the very law of God which
reveals it and provokes it into activity be not itself
man.
sinful.
law
Yet there
more
does
In
depravity.
man aware
a bright side to the picture.
is
than
that there
bring
that
doing
it
more
is
at the
same time makes
him than
in
The
human
consciousness
to
sin
a mind
sympathy with the moral ideal embodied in the law,

an inner man in a state of protest against the deeds
The action of the law on the flesh
of the outer man.
in
on the one hand, and on the conscience on the other,

makes me feel that I am two, not one, and this duality
at once my misery and my hope
wretched to be drawn two ways
is
feel
my
that
myself.
This
flesh
and
feeling
my
all
sin,
may
my misery, for
my hope, for I
for the race.
is
ever
though mine, are not
On
share.
hopeful side, as well as on the darker,
spokesman
it
St.
His raXaiTrwpos
the bright
is the
Paul
THE DOCTUINE OF SIN

voices not only the universal need
It is the
desire for, redemption.
oppressed humanity.
flattering, but neither
of,
145
but the universal
de profundis of
The apostle s doctrine

is it
indiscriminate.
doctrine of total unrelieved depravity.
of sin
is
sin-
not
It is not a
It recognises a
As described,
good element in average human nature.
But the
that element appears weak and ineffectual.
important thing to note
10
is
that
it
is
there.
CHAPTER
VIII
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
THE
God
idea expressed
"
by the phrase
"
the righteousness
occupies the central place in St. Paul
and contains his answer
to the question,
of:
theology,
What was
the
great boon which came into the world by Jesus Christ?

That the Christian summum lonum should assume this
mind was
aspect to his
who even
to be expected in the case of one
in the pre-Christian period of his life
had been
animated by an intense though misguided passion for

Righteousness had always appeared the
righteousness.
man
he had sought it long in vain,

and when at length he found it he gave to it a name
the
expressive of its infinite worth to his heart
chief good to this
righteousness
of
God.
deliberately chosen
using
It
and
to
is
name which he has
which he steadfastly adheres,
in all his Epistles
it
when opportunity
more noteworthy that he
fact all the
is
occurs,
not, like the
scholastic theologian, the slave of a phrase, or unable or
He speaks
unwilling to vary the mode of expression.
2
now of the righteousness of faith, anon of being justified
3
by
1
faith,
at another time
Eom.
i.
17
Phil.
iii. 0.
iii.
21, 22
x.
Rom.
of
;
faith
2 Cor.
v. 1.
146
v.
being
21
Phil.
imputed
iii.
9.
for

1
righteousness,
and
147
in all these cases the idea he wishes
to express is essentially the same.
The righteousness
is
of
God, as the apostle conceives

something which belongs to the Christian man, yet
not his personal righteousness.

and to which a man submits. 3
yet
is
It
to
men.
bestowed on a
It also belongs to
It is a
observed,
believes in, or trusts, God.
reckons his faith for righteousness.

puts the matter in Romans iv.
the Pauline doctrine in
undeveloped
elementary,
"
gift
believes in His grace righteous
He
is
God,
"
It is divine credit for being righteous
man when he
God accounts one who
This
is
a thing revealed, 2
is
not His personal righteousness.
from God
it,
form.
It
So the apostle
its
simplest,
it
gives,
most
be
will
prominence and importance to faith.

appear on further inquiry, but meantime it
great
Why may
be worth while to lay to heart the fact, and to

weigh the significance of St. Paul s doctrine in its most
may
general and fundamental aspect.
The doctrine
1.
"
works,"
new
is
in the first place the very antithesis of
The watchword
Judaism.
of Judaistic righteousness
individual acts of conformity to law
evangelistic righteousness
loving God.
2.
"Do"
is faith,
said the one,
was
that of the
trust in the living,
"believe"
says the other.
Obviously the change in the watchword implies an

For Saul the legalist, God was an
altered idea of God.
exacting taskmaster; for Paul the Christian, God has

of Jesus, a benignant gracious giver.
become the God
What
a revolution
No wonder
of frequent occurrence
is
1
Rom.
iv. 24.
Hid.
i.
17.
the term
in St. Paul
3
Ibid. x. 3.
"
grace,"
pages,
4
%apt9,
and
also
Ibid. v. 17.
148
ST.
faith, TT/OTI?, its
counterpart
is
man
the doctrine that
for to grace in
And
man.
faith, recipiency, in
is justified
works, and that
God
faith is possible
and alone possible
Christian
its
and uncertainty
all
time: of emancipation from
from laborious
We may
self-salvation,
whether
by orthodox opinions, or by
the magic power of sacraments.

3.
It is the charter of
treadmill service, and fear and gloom
religious ceremonial, or
by
by faith and not by
such a being that justification by
is
for
liberty
legalism with
God answers
what perennial value
of
be sure that for Paul the ex-legalist, the
intense hungerer after righteousness,
who had abandoned
Judaism because he had discovered
its righteousness to be
the
new-found righteous
spirit,
Faith imputed for
a great reality.
a vanity and vexation of

ness of
God
"
is
"
may sound
reflection, What men need is
artificial,
righteousness
and provoke the
not to be reckoned righteous,

but we may be sure
but to be made actually righteous
that something real and valuable lurks under the phrase.

This
For one thing pardon of sin is covered by it.
appears from Rom.
iv.
6, 7,
where the non-imputation
of
sin is represented as the equivalent of the imputation of
righteousness without works.
notable text, 2 Cor.
was made
ness of
21, where
v.
sin for us, that
God
in
It also appears
Him.
it
is
said that Christ
we might become
This
is
from the
the righteous
one of a group of texts
through which the principle runs, that sanctifier and

sanctified are all of one Christ becoming what we are and
;
we becoming what He
1
On
this vide J.
translated into their
is.
Freeman
He comes
under a curse, that
Clarke s The Ideas of
Modern Equivalents (1884) chap.
the Apostle
v.
Paul
149
we may become exempt from the curse He comes under

On the same
law, that we may be set free from law.
Christ
the
sinless
becomes
or
is
made
principle
sin, that
we the sinful may become sinless. That is to say, the
;
"
righteousness of
equivalent to the pardon or

Surely a solid boon to all who
is
God"
non-imputation of sin.
know what an
It
4.
is
accusing conscience is.

not likely that for St. Paul the ex-legalist the
imputation of faith for righteousness will bear a sense

which implies any notion of merit in faith, or turn faith
into a
new form
work.
of
On
the contrary, he takes
pains to inform us that he has no sympathy with such a

"
thought.
is
Where
By what
excluded.
he asks,
then,"
sort of a
l
but by the law of
faith."
"
is
law
That
is
the boasting
of
to
works
It
Nay,
say, the spirit
self-complacency and that on which it feeds, selfrighteousness, are incompatible with the very nature of
of
faith.
tain
This
it, it is
sound wholesome teaching, but to main

not necessary to hold that faith has no moral
is
The contrary
contents or value.
To believe
in God, to trust in
is
undoubtedly the
His grace,
is
fact.
emphatically
do justice to God, to His

to think right thoughts about
character, to His spirit
and
a
to
cherish
Him,
becoming attitude and feeling
the
fundamental act of true right
Him.
It
is
towards
a righteous
act.
It
is
to
eousness.
for sinners
form of righteousness possible

a form of righteousness possible for the
nay, which is not only possible for him,
It is the only
;
it is
greatest sinner
but which he of
men
can best exhibit, for the greater

the sinner the greater the honour done to God by trust in
all
Rom.
iii.
27.
150
ST.
He who
His grace.
is
there
is
having sinned
much
trusts in divine
strong in faith giving glory to
"
grace
no ground for boasting in that
fact.
excluded by the nature of the case.

trusting in God s grace is simply one
is
But
God."
Boasting
great sinner
who humbly
trustfully confesses his deep need of forgiveness.
yet
Such
an one may, as Jesus taught, be exalted by God, but he

cannot
possibly
exalt
The denizens
himself.
the
of
slums do not think themselves very virtuous in accepting

the
to
invitation
free
breakfast;
they simply eat
ravenously and thankfully.

The foregoing observations help us to see that the
crude elementary form of the Pauline doctrine of Justifi
cation
by no means
is
to be despised or neglected as
It is indeed as little to be despised as the
unimportant.
foundation of a house.
and
all
beyond
is
For
it is
the religious foundation,
theological superstructure, though
we
in our familiarity with developed doctrines are very apt

to
the
forget
fact.
On
this
foundation
the
rested
many who lived before the Christian era,

Abraham included.
Abraham believed God, and it
was accounted unto him for righteousness, but he knew
salvation of
nothing of
St.
Paul s developed doctrine
of Justification.
Similar was the case of devout souls even in the days of

The faith of the publican in the parable is
our Lord.
of the
still
Old Testament type, expressing
itself
in a
God be merciful
prayer which echoes the 130th Psalm
Yet he went down to his house
to me the sinner."
"
2
"justified."
men who
1
Rom.
Even now,
feel
iv. 20.
in the Christian era, there are
compelled to
fall
2
Luke
back on the ultimate

xviii. 14, oiottutaîvoi.

religious truth, that a sinner s
in the
is
hope
151
mercy and
grace of God, as the only thing they are able to grasp.

It is not for us to say that such men cannot go down to
their house justified.
The words of Jesus, He that
"
humbleth himself
shall be
law in the moral order
exalted,"
express a universal
of the world.
noted that even when taken in
It will be
its
most
general form, the Pauline conception of evangelic right

eousness, while possessing important affinities with the
doctrine of Christ concerning the righteousness of the

in its religious presuppositions, yet is distinct
kingdom
from anything we find in the synoptical presentation of

our Lord s teaching.
There is a righteousness of God in
the doctrine of the kingdom, but
ethical, not
and
objective
it
is
theological.
subjective and
The
nearest
approach to the righteousness of God in the Pauline sense

in the teaching of Christ
To pardon
now
careful
he teaches
An
what then
to treat as righteous.
it may be gained
statements concerning the
Insight into
his
study of
nature and functions of
is
to consider the apostle s specific
doctrine of justification.
1.
the pardoning grace of God.
in Pauline phraseology
Let us proceed
by a
is
We
faith.
is
important light
are justified by faith,
the faith that justifies
thrown on
is
this question
by
one aspect be viewed as a

There faith
definition or description of justifying faith.
its
to
in
defined
with
reference
is
the first place
personal
Rom.
iii.
2126,
which may
in
object as the faith of Christ,

1
Luke
On
which means not the
faith
xviii. 14.
Christ
of God, p. 207.
The
positive doctrine of righteousness, vide
Kingdom
152
ST.
that Jesus
is
embodiment

the Christ, but rather faith in Christ as the
of
divine grace.
It is
further indicated
that that in Christ on which the eye of faith

fixed is the
the grace of
is
chiefly
redemption achieved by His death, wherein

God to the sinful manifests itself. Accord
ing to this passage, therefore, the faith that justifies is

not simply faith in God, or faith in God s grace, or faith
in the truth that Jesus is the Christ, but faith in Jesus
who gave Himself to death for man s redemption,

and so became the channel through which God s grace
as one
Following out this idea of
flows to sinners.
faith, justifi
cation might be defined as a judicial act, whereby
regards as righteous those
who
trust in
fested in the atoning death of Christ.
matter might serve

ferable to
for the
all practical
more highly
purpose
God
His grace as mani

This account of the
purposes, and even be pre
differentiated definitions, especially
of catechetical instruction in the
elements
of the Christian religion.
Paul has more to say concerning faith.

In certain texts he seems to conceive of faith as grasping
2.
But
St.
and appropriating
to
itself
the ideal righteousness as
realised in the conduct of Christ.
words
"
As by one man s
So for example in the

disobedience many were made
sinners, so by the obedience of one shall

l
righteous."
Sinful in
Adam,
many
be
made
righteous in Christ, such
seems to be the apostle s thought.

mentioned in this place, but it
Faith
may
is
be
indeed not
held to be
implied as the condition of
What
ducing
faith
this
becoming righteous in Christ.

can appropriate, God may impute.
Intro
new
idea
1
of
Rom.
the
v. 19.
imputation of
Christ
we
righteousness
justification,
get
more
153
definition
developed
of
such as that in the Westminster Assembly
Shorter Catechism, according to which
an act
"
it
is
of
God s free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our sins,

and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the
righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by
faith
This definition
alone."
may
be regarded as a
fair
inference from Pauline texts, such as that above cited,1
though it must be admitted that it lacks support in ex

The apostle nowhere speaks
press Pauline phraseology.
of the righteousness of Christ being imputed, nor does he
anywhere identify the righteousness

with the righteousness
faith
of
God given
of
to
even in places
Christ,
where he might have been expected to do so, assuming

that his way of thinking on the subject was similar to
that
of
the
Catechism,
theologians
e.g.
who
in Philippians
compiled
iii.
9.
On
the
this
Shorter
ground so
conservative a theologian as Weiss maintains that the

that
God imputes
men
Christ does not belong to the Pauline system of thought. 3
idea
to
The apostle conceives
3.
of faith as
another function in reference to Christ

1
To which may be added 1

Where instead of ryv %id
$ix.ettoai>vYiv
xptorov,
more
Cor.
i.
26 and 2
performing yet
righteousness,
Cor. v. 21.
xptarov might have stood TW

as
faith is mentioned in the
especially
TTI IJTIU;
next clause.
3
Vide his Lehrbucb der Biblischen Tlieologie des N.T., sect. 82, b,
note 2 Pfleiderer in his Urchristenthum, p. 250, and in the second
:
edition of his Paulinismus (1890), p. 184, inclines to the same view.

He remarks that the non-use by St. Paul of the expression the
"
imputation of
Christ s
righteousness" is
the more remarkable, as
the imputation of the merits of the fathers and of saints was a

feature in the theology of the Jewish synagogue.
154
ST.
as not only appropriating

as
it as a ground of
pardon, but
such
a
relation
between
Christ
and a
establishing
believer as guarantees that the ideal objective righteous
ness without shall eventually become a real righteous

ness within.
So in these words, forming a part of the

I am crucified with Christ,
and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me,
famous Antioch remonstrance:
"
yet I live
and the life which I
;
in the
for
Son
of
now live in the flesh I live by faith

God who loved me, and gave Himself up
Is this function of faith included in the faith
me."
that justifies
If
so,
our formula will be
then
Gfod
regards as righteous all whose faith in Christ not only lays
claim
to
His righteousness as
its
own, but contains in
itself
for the ultimate reproduction of a kindred

in
the character of the believer.
But here the
righteousness
the guarantee
theological
ways
There have always
part.
been two
tendencies at work in the Church, one to restrict and
minimise the function of faith in

to
make
it
justification, the other
as comprehensive as possible.
follow the former tendency, faith
is
For those who
simply a hand laying
hold of an external benefit, a garment of righteousness

for the patrons of the
to cover spiritual nakedness
latter, faith is the fruitful germ of all true righteous
;
potency of a new
Both parties are animated by a genuine
Chris tlike life.
the one by a desire to exclude a new
interest,
religious
and
ness,
containing
the
form
of legalism
coming in under the wing
other by a desire to
promise
make
of faith, the
sure that the righteousness of
something real and Godworthy, not something shadowy, formal and artificial.
God given
to faith shall be
Gal
ii.
20.
Yet
possible that in their antagonism to each other
it is
these two parties
As
155
both err in opposite directions.

well known, the Protestant theological tradition
is
may
has very decidedly leant to the side of minimising faith
The
function.
great
doctors
the
of
Eeformed Confessions emptied faith

tents, that no pretext might remain
of
Lutheran
all
and
moral con
for ascribing to
it
and assigned to it simply the humble

of claiming an interest in the foreign righteous
Christ.
They even went the length of setting
justifying virtue,
service
ness of
aside the scriptural idea of the imputation of faith, and
substituting for
it
the idea of the imputation of Christ
righteousness, keeping themselves right with
the ingenious device of taking faith,

said
is
be imputed,
to
meaning that not the

believed
in,
the
objectively,
act of
Paul by
in the texts where it
so
St.
bringing out the
believing, but the object
righteousness
of
Christ,
is
imputed.
This manner of handling the locus of justification is very

In the first place, it is unfortunate
open to criticism.
that the Protestant doctors, in their laudable zeal against
it necessary to become
un-Pauline in their terminology, banishing from their
theological vocabulary the imputation of faith as not
neo-legalism, should have found
1
only inexact but even heretical, and employing ex
clusively a phrase which, however legitimate as an
inference from Scripture texts, has no express scriptural
an index that somehow they had

got upon the wrong track, and had fallen into one-sidedThis fact
warrant.
Tins attitude
is
where among the

faith itself
reflected in the Westminster Confession, chap xi.,

ways of justification that "by imputing
false
"
is
is
specified.
156
ST.
ness in
their
place,
way
of
the justifying
Then, in the second
thinking.
of
faith
this
very controversial,
A
extremely anti-Romish, theology, is an abstraction.
faith which is no more than a mere hand to lay hold of
an external righteousness has no existence except in the
brain of a scholastic theologian.
name,
is
Faith,
if it
deserve the
The more
always very much more than this.
Faith cannot have too much moral contents
the better.
the more
it
has, the better
it
serve us from the
will
At
beginning to the end of our Christian career.
very least, true faith
is
humble
always a
the
trust in the
grace of God, and that is a thing of real moral value.

Then it lies in the very nature of true faith to open the
soul to the influence of Christ, so that from the day
believe in
Him He
becomes a renovating power in our
we
life.
Lastly, the scrupulous anxiety to shut out legalism in
the form of the imputation of faith, as the

Christian
personal
itself
guise.
logical
righteousness,
may
germ
readily
of a
defeat
by introducing unawares legalism under another

We do not get rid of legalism by careful theo
definitions
designed
to
exclude
it.
We may
introduce thereby a dogmatic legalism as blighting in its

influence on the Christian life as the Judaism of the
apostolic age or
the Sacramentarianism of Eome.
It
cannot be good for the health of our piety that we

should be constantly taking care that our faith in the
God of all grace shall be as destitute as possible of
moral contents,
finding in
lest
perchance we
an ethically rich
But on the other hand

of Christian piety that
faith a
fall
into the mistake of
ground
of boasting.
be well for the health
may
we should think
it
of
God
as imput-
157
ing faith for righteousness only in respect of

function.
point
It
perfectly true
is
objective
from the
that
view the distinctions we make
of
its
divine
between
the
different stages in the process of salvation are evanescent.
To the divine
ceternitatis,
acts
eye, contemplating all
things sub specie
drama
in its
whole
the
salvation
of
five
foreknowledge, foreordination, calling, justification,

l
is one.
Yet from the human point of
sanctification
view,
it
be important to
may
distinguish between the
It may
stages, especially between the two last named.
be advantageous even in order to the consummation
to
devoutly
that
Christ
be
wished
we should
the
conformity to
conceive of
God
image
of
as justifying us
on purely objective grounds, without reference to the
work
He
of grace
to accomplish in us.
is
It
may
give
us a powerful initial impetus onwards towards the goal

to be told that
God pardons our
righteous, on account
of the
the object of our trust.
sins,
and accepts us as
moral ideal realised in Christ,

It may start us on our way
with a peace, joy, and hope impossible to one who

constantly thinking of the uncertainties of the
So Jesus dealt with penitents.
He
inspiring tone
With
said unconditionally,
saved thee, go into
peace,"
is
future.
cheerful, hope"
Thy
faith
hath
while perfectly aware that
there were risks ahead, and that peace could not last
unless sin were finally forsaken.
Is
it
not thus that
dealing with
answering
much
men
this
stress
in
St.
Paul also conceives God as
the matter of
justification
In
question in the affirmative, I do not lay
on the verbal interpretation

1
Rom.
viii. 29, 30.
of the Pauline
158
ST.
words SiKaiovv and

of these
meaning
admitted on
all
is
now
Dr.
that justification
Newman
in
as to the
as good as ended.
hands by theologians
schools, that in the apostle
forensic sense.
The controversy
St/caiwcrt?.
words
of the
It is
most diverse
use they bear a judicial or

in England, in
the abstract, and as
1838, taught
such, is an
1
imputation and a counting righteous, and Dr. Lipsius in
Germany, in 1853, taught that Sticaiovv never means
justum
facere,
but
But both
habere.
always justum
strenuously opposed the purely forensic conception of

Dr. Newman held that while in the
justification.
abstract
a counting righteous, in the concrete
it is
it is
making righteous, and Dr. Lipsius maintained that

far as it
is
mencement
a judicial sentence pronounced at the

of the
announcement
of
Christian
life, it
is
make
position taken up by both
He intends to sanctify.
Was that the apostle s
that
position
in saying so I do not for a
In
forthcoming.
is,
God
com
simply the pre-
a real inward righteousness which
intends by His grace to
in so
effect the
justifies
because
I think not,
moment doubt
that
God
though
what the
apostle desired for himself and for all Christians,
was a
inward righteousness, and that he would

think nothing had been gained unless that were gained.
real personal
Neither do I doubt that in his view God aimed at this

result,
even that believers should be conformed to the
image
of
His Son.
But two considerations lead me
to
believe that St. Paul did not conceive of future sanctifi-
cation as the ground of initial justification.

1
Vide his Lectures on Justification, p. 70.
Vide Die Paul. Rechtfertiyunyslchre
The
p. 17.
first is
what he says
in
19
Cor. v.
about
159
"God
in
Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their

trespasses unto
them."
a general justification of
imputation of
God s
satisfaction
Individual
mean
entering
it
on
by
for
Christ
view
that
the
into
faith
sake
is
will
state
of
pleased
to
naturally
grace
is
place the
is
Paul, had tried to reach salvation by the legal
was not
likely
to it
priates
in
but the beginning of salvation,

a momentous beginning, which one who, like
Doubtless this
world.
St.
on the purely objective ground of

with the merits of Jesus Christ.
justification
which God
but
sins,
These words suggest the idea of

mankind, in the form of a non-
to
the
No wonder
undervalue.
method
he appro
title, the righteousness of God, as if it
were the principal thing or even everything.

not mean that he undervalues what follows.
This does
It
means
that he has a due sense of the infinite importance of being

at last on the right road.
his desire to give
It indicates
prominence
a great, public, world-wide fact

to
Himself in Christ.
of
honour
to
probably,
also,
to objective justification as
:
Finally,
God
it
reconciling the world
means giving the place
that feature in the Pauline conception of
which the antagonism between it and

most
The quest of personal
legalism
conspicuous.
righteousness was common to the two systems in their
Christianity, at
is
attitude
towards the righteousness
of
God, they were
diametrically opposed.
The other consideration
is this
St.
refer to
power
that weighs much with me

Paul in his Epistle to the Romans does not
faith
as a renewing
he has finished his exposition
of the doctrine
the subjective aspect of
till
160
ST.
He
of justification.
lishing a vital
takes up faith
function
in,
estab
union with Christ in the sixth chapter,
But
continuing the theme to the end of chapter viii.
in
exultant tone :
Being justified by
already he has said
"
faith,
we have peace with God, and joy

and in God Himself."
in tribulation,
amount
from
to the exclusion of
the
grounds
of
in
hope of glory,
Does not this
faith s sanctifying function
justification
To the end
of
the apostle seems to be treating of an objective

righteousness, and from that point onwards to the end
chap.
v.
of chap.
viii.
a righteousness that
of
the two aspects
is
subjective.
How
were related in his mind will be a
subject of inquiry
matter
is
meantime the important

in our own minds that there are
hereafter
to be satisfied
two aspects to be frankly recognised.

4. There remain to be noticed two other statements
the Pauline Epistles respecting faith
functions
in
which
appear to have a bearing on the subject of justification.

I refer to Romans iv. 25 and x. 9, in both of which faith
seems to be viewed as having for

rection of Christ,
and
its
proper object the resur
faith in Christ s resurrection
seems to
be regarded as the ground of justification. How are these

The suggestion that when St.
texts to be understood ?
Paul represents Christ as raised Bta rrjv Sifcaiwo-iv ^pav he

uses the term St/cattuo-i? in the sense of sanctification, is
justly put aside on the
ground that
this interpretation is not
in accordance with Pauline usage, or in keeping with the
connection of thought in which the word here occurs.

More acceptable is the explanation offered by the majority
of commentators, that the apostle in these passages means
to represent Christ s resurrection as the
ground not
of our
THE KlGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

justification
"
death.
161
but of our faith in the atoniny character of His
The resurrection
quired to produce in
of the sacrificed
One was
men the faith through which
re
alone the
objective fact of the atoning offering of Jesus could have
the effect of SiKatwo-is
subjectively."
But M. Menegoz has
new
propounded a
theory, which, because of the ability,

and
real
value
of his contribution to the elucida
freshness,
tion of the Pauline system of thought, claims respectful
consideration.
Briefly
it is
Christ was necessary in the

tion, and that through
partakers of Christ
this
place for His
first
own justifica
we become
faith in that resurrection
The author
s justification.
finds in Phil.
et la
that the resurrection of
810
Le Peche
of
the most precise
Redemption
statement of the Pauline doctrine of justification by faith,
which he thinks no theologian has perfectly understood.
"
The key
of the
system,"
iii.
in his view,
"is
on the one hand
the notion of the justification of Christ by death and resur

rection,
and on the other hand the notion
of the identifica
tion of the individual with the person of Christ

"
That which
is
identification of
by
2
faith."
peculiar to Paul
is the mystic notion of the

with Jesus Christ by faith, and the
man
3
appropriation by that means of the justification of Christ."
The idea of Christ needing to be justified by resurrection
may appear
strange, but the author quoted
earnest in broaching
quite in
is
Its presuppositions in the Pauline
it.
Death is the pun

system, as he understands it, are these
ishment of sin he that has paid the penalty of transgres
:
sion has satisfied justice

thief
when
his
term
of
Meyer
Ibid. etc. p. 271.
in
loc.
and
is
entitled to go free.
imprisonment
2
is
at an end
Le PecM,
etc. p.
The
must be
270.
162
PAUL
ST.
set at liberty.
In like manner Christ, who died for our
sins,
had by death squared accounts with justice and was entitled

to return to life. If it be asked, Would it not have sufficed
that the crucified
One should continue
to live
on in the
spirit
without a physical resurrection ? our author replies that,

according to the Pauline system, death is the destruction of
life,
and death in that
pain,
is
the penalty of
sense, not the
endurance of eternal
Paul was a monist, a
sin.
him was an animated body, and the destruction
man
for
of the
body
by death was the destruction of life. Therefore it is not by
accident that nowhere in his writings can we find a trace of
Hence
a resurrection for the wicked.
had Jesus not risen
it
also
it
follows that
would have meant that
He had
perished with the wicked.

Space will not admit of a detailed criticism of this theory
on all sides, and especially in connection with its anthro
and
pological
presuppositions.
eschatological
remarks only can be offered here.
few
It certainly has the
merit of assigning a strong reason for the resurrection of

Christ, in viewing it as what was due to One who had borne
the full penalty of sin.
that
leaves no
it
Nor can we
room
for
object to the theory
an objective
justification
of
inasmuch
as, while the author certainly seems to

lay chief stress on subjective justification by the mystic
power of faith, he might quite legitimately regard the resur
sinners
rection of Christ as a general justification of the world.
But
this novel
doctrine
under
it
is
and ingenious explanation
at fault in other directions.
justification bears
to Christ
two
of
the apostle
In the
first place,
different senses, in reference
on the one hand, and to believers on the other.

it means either, according to one school,
In reference to us,

accounting those righteous
making them
or
to a different
who
are not yet really righteous,

righteous by a gradual process, according
understanding of the apostle
reference to Christ it
means neither
acknowledging that the Just

full
He
163
penalty of sin so that sin
In
meaning.
of these things, but
One had
vicariously paid the
had no more right over him
1
from sin. Then, secondly, a double mean
under the word death also, as applied to Christ
v?a,8 justified
ing lurks
and
to sinners.
If
death be the wages of sin, and Christ

why should He rise any
died in the capacity of a sinner,
more than any other man who
dies as a criminal
one
If
by death can be justified from sin so as to be entitled to rise

Obviously in the case of Christ death
again, why not all ?
not taken in the sense of destruction, which
is
it is
held to
bear in reference to the wicked, but simply in the sense of
death
pain.
The propounder
of the theory
now under
consideration admits that this double sense of death

involved, but he charges
system
of thought,
it
is
as a fault against the apostle s
not against his
own
Finally, it is strange that this view,
if
interpretation of
really held
Paul, has left so little trace in his vocabulary.
He
is
by
it.
St.
rich in
words expressing co-partnership between the believer and

There is a co-crucifixion, a co-dying, a co-burial, a
Christ.
co-rising, a co-living, a co-suffering, a co-glorification.
The
diapason would be complete if a co-justification found its

But it is not forth
place among these joint-experiences.
If the apostle
coming.
Me negoz
meant
to teach the doctrine
ascribes to him, he has not been
happy
M.
in his
language.
1
Horn.
In the new edition of Der Paulinismus, Pfleiderer, while not adopt-
vi. 7.
164
ST.
PAUL
CONCEPTION or CIIKTSTTANITY
ing the theory of Menegoz, speaks very favourably of it, as reasonable

in itself and consistent with Pauline texts. Vide p. 160. I have read
what my esteemed colleague Dr. Candlish says in the Expositor

for December 1893, on the theory of Christ s justification by resur
He cites several authors as holding this view, and remarks
rection.
that instead of being a novelty it might rather be regarded as a
It is hardly that surely, but rather a
of theology.
commonplace
curious opinion of certain theologians, concerning which Pfleiderer,

Everett, and myself, might excusably be ignorant. In some respects,
certainly, the view of
in the case of Christ
no
life
Mene"goz
is
peculiar,
e.g.,
that the alternatives
were resurrection or annihilation
hereafter for the wicked.
there being
CHAPTER IX
THE DEATH OF CHRIST
OF the
four lessons which Jesus taught His disciples con
cerning the significance of His death, the first was that, in

enduring a violent death at the hands of men, He should be
1
suffering for righteousness sake.
In this earliest lesson the
Master presented His approaching end under a purely

ethical aspect, and consistently therewith He spoke of it
not as an isolated event, but as a fact falling under a
general law, acording to which all who are faithful to the
must endure
divine interest in an evil world
From
this point of
deatli of
it is
obvious that
Christ alone that a rationale,
may
question
view
legitimately be raised,
it is
is
suffering.
not for the
The
wanted.
What
is
the final
cause of the sufferings of the righteous generally ? a ques

tion on which the thoughts of Old Testament prophets,
and sages had been much exercised. There is

Does the same
a theodicy along the whole lino.
psalmists,
need
of
theodicy suffice for the case of Jesus and for that of all His
fellow-sufferers ?
May we reason about the latter as St.
Paul reasoned about the former, and say: If death

1
Vide The Kingdom
of God, chap. x.
the
vide also
tlie
St.
105
the
supplementary
Paul compared, with the Teaching

Synoptical Gospels, at the end of this volume.
note on the Teaching of
Lord in
lie
of our
166
ST.
penalty of
who
sin,
there are only two alternatives
own
suffer, suffer for their
friends
or
some who
chapter
the theory of Job
suffer, suffer redemptively, for the
Isaiah interpreted historically as referring to
the afflictions of
The
either all
the theory hinted at in the fifty-third
sins of others
of
sins
God s
faithful ones in Israel
ethical aspect of Christ s death
is
hardly touched on
in the Pauline literature.

What the apostle might have
done had he written copiously and systematically on the
subject one cannot guess, but it is certain that in the
Epistles which form the basis of the present study he con
and exclusively
and theological view-point. His whole aim
templates the death of Jesus by
from a religious
itself apart,
"
in all his statements regarding that event
is,
to point out
the significance for faith of a unique experience befalling

One believed to be personally sinless, who could not there
fore be conceived of as in
own
What we have
sin.
to ascertain the
His passion suffering

do
to
now
is,
for
His
as far as possible,
meaning and estimate the value
of these
statements.
In our rapid survey of the four principal Epistles we

lighted on certain texts bearing all the appearance of being
forms of language into which the brooding thought of
the writer on the death of Jesus had finally crystallised.
Among
the great Pauline loyia relating to that theme,
fall
of Christ being made a

we might become curse-free and
1
sinless.
To these, as not less important, must be added
the word in Romans iii. 25, in which God is represented as
to be classed those
which speak
curse and sin for us that
publicly exhibiting Jesus in His death in a propitiatory

1
Gal.
iii.
13
2 Cor.v. 21.
THE DEATH OF CHRIST
167
Having already used the passage
capacity.
in
which that
text occurs for the purpose of throwing light on the right

eousness of God, and the faith which justifies, we may begin
our study
of St.
Paul
of Christ s death
tion
which
it
teaching concerning the significance

by returning to it to consider the instruc
s
contains on the latter topic.
The word iXaanjpiov has given almost
as
much
trouble to
commentators as Ovîar^piov in Hebrews ix. 4, though not

In the latter case there would be
for the same reason.
little
doubt as to the meaning were

"
rendering,
the altar of
incense,"
it
not that the true
seems to involve the
writer in an inaccuracy as to the location of that piece of

furniture in the tabernacle.
difficulty arises
In the case of the former, the
from the paucity
of material
of
kindred
character in the Pauline literature to guide us in interpre

tation.
On
first
thoughts one
is
inclined to assume that
the term iXao-T^ptov is employed to represent Christ in His

death as a propitiatory sacrifice or sin-offering. But then
it is noticeable, and has indeed been insisted on by exposi
tors of weight,1 that St. Paul
where
makes very
little
use else
system in the formulation

and there is force in the remark
of the Levitical sacrificial
of his doctrine of the cross,
that that system would be far less congenial to his mind as

a vehicle of thought than prophetic utterances concerning
the suffering servant of Jehovah such as those contained in

Isaiah liii.
Then, further, it has to be considered that in
the Septuagint the term in question is not employed to
It is rather used as the Greek
denote the sin offering.
or the
equivalent for the Kapporeth, the lid of the ark,
assumed
Accordingly, the older interpreters
mercy-seat.
1
So Weiss and
Pileiderer.
168
ST.
that the apostle followed the Septuagint usage, and found

in the text the, in
Christ
many
God had provided
respects attractive, idea that in
for a sinful
world the mercy-seat of
T
the new dispensation, a mercy-seat sprinkled with Christ
precious blood, like the lid of the ark with the blood of
the victim on the great day of atonement. Those who, like
most recent interpreters, reject this sense as fanciful, and

not suitable in an Epistle written to Komans, have to
choose between two other alternatives, either taking i\aarijpiov as a noun signifying definitely a propitiatory victim,
means
or as a neuter adjective signifying generally a
of
propitiation.
In our perplexity it may be well to see if we cannot

to a greater extent than has been thought possible make
-"
St.
Paul his own interpreter.
For
Romans iii.
Romans
At
17, 18.
Romans iii. 21 resumes
portant to observe that in

the thought of
certain
that
Romans
i.
purpose it is im
2126, he resumes
this
i.
least
the
it
is
quite
thought
of
In the latter text the apostle had spoken

prelusively of a righteousness of God which he had not
17.
at that point the opportunity of further explaining, his
mind going off immediately on the topic of the world s

sin.
The sin-section ended, he returns to the theme at
Romans
1
iii.
"Wendt
21, and
tells his
readers
what the righteous-
favours the old interpretation, vide hid essay on
"Die
Lehre
des Paulus verglichen mit der Lehre Jesu," in Zeitschriftfur TJieoloyie

Indem Gott den Tod Christi zur
und Kirche, 1894. He says, p. 53
"
Enveisung seiner den Siinder gnadenmassig gerechtsprechenden
Gnade
veranstaltet hat, ist Christus in seinem Blute, d. h. in seinem

Kreuzestode, zu einer offentlich dargestellton Kapporet, zn einer
allgemein anschaulichen OfFenbarung des Gnaden-willena Gottes
geworden."
THE DEATH OF CHRIST
God
ness of
169
which he had alluded really
to
Now,
is.
with regard to the topic of the

of
God, is it not every way likely that
righteousness
being the
this
fact
the same thing holds true regarding the other topic,

mentioned in Romans i. 18, and that the apostle has in
his
mind the wrath
of
God when he speaks
of
God
as
His blood
publicly setting forth Christ as iXacmjpiov in
The suggestion
commend
itself
found in
needs only to be made to

but confirmation, if needful, may be
Romans
blood
v.
9,
where we
associated
in
the
find
God s wrath and
apostle
Christ
But
thought.
if
at
Romans iii. 25 the apostle reverts to what he had said

in Romans i. 18, then it is natural to suppose that in
the death of Jesus he sees two things
divine wrath, and a means of averting

in the direction of a sacrificial victim
after the analogy of
Levitical
a revelation of
Both point
not necessarily
for the apostle
it.
sacrifices,
may have had in view the human sacrifices with which

Greek and Eoman story makes us familiar. That would
be indeed a bold collocation but boldness is what we
;
expect from
St.
Paul, not to mention that what he says
in
Romans
to
show that he would
heathen
v.
7,
man
dying for another, tends

not have regarded the use of
about one
the gospel as im
in illustration of
instances
proper or inadmissible.
His appeal
is
to general
human
history.
The
fact-basis of the idea that Christ suffered death
as a sacrificial victim
is
His
eavTov
al fjiari).
looking
away from
apostle
sees in
it
that His blood was shed (eV
death
subordinate,
human
rw
one,
and
causality,
the
was a violent
only the hand of God;
it
was God
170
ST.
that put Jesus to death as a lamb slain for the siii of

And by this act God in the first place, as
the world.
Paul views the matter, demonstrated, revealed His

For this I take to be the revelation
wrath against sin.
St.
of
wrath whereof the apostle speaks in Romans
Commentators have been

consisted
revelation
in,
a loss to
at
or
how
perplexity have taken
their
vices of the
It
of sin.
18.
the
was made, and in
it
refuge
in the
unnatural
pagans as the divinely-appointed penalty

seems to me that we should find both the
revelations spoken
righteousness and of wrath, in

By that death, according to the
of, of
the death of Jesus.

apostle,
i.
know what
God shows what He
really thinks of sin.
men might
be inclined to ask
from that death,
Apart
:
If
God
be so angry at the wickedness of the world, why does

He not make some signal display of His indignation ?
To judge from appearances, one would say He did not
Men
care.
makes no
there
He
is
go on sinning, from bad to worse, and He

Look to Calvary
St. Paul replies
sign.
:
the sign.
inflicts
that
God s wrath
against sin is
bloody, cruel death on His
such that
own
Son,
-occupying the position of a propitiatory victim.

While assigning to Christ s death the double function
and averting divine wrath, like the thunder

storm which at once reveals and heals electric trouble
of revealing
the apostle has in view chiefly the latter

His aim is not to proclaim the fact that Christ
aspect.
was slain as a sacrifice, but rather to emphasise the
in
the
gracious
air,
purpose
iXaanipiov
is
to
for
which
He
suffered.
Therefore
be taken as an adjective rather than
as a noun, because, so understood, the
word makes the
THE DEATH OF CHRIST
171
gracious purpose more prominent.
The apostle leaves

the revelation of wrath in the background, and brings
to the front the revelation of love, providing a
way of
He
from wrath.
escape
says further on
His own love
in
terms
express
towards
us,
sinners Christ died for us
here in effect what he
says
"
God commendeth
we were yet
in
that while
He means
"
to accentuate
the love of God, not His wrath, or even His righteousO

He does indeed speak of God s righteousness
ness.
*
that
of
is,
His
moral
for
regard
interests,
but
not
dogmatically by way
teaching the necessity for the
manifestation or satisfaction of divine justice in con
of
"
"
nection with
human
salvation, but rather apologetically
by way of pointing out that the actual method of salva

tion is such that God cannot rightfully be charged with
moral
indifference
the death of Christ showing that,
whatever facts in the world
matter in God
might seem
history
point in a contrary direction, sin
is
not really a
to
trivial
s sight.
finding in the
word
l\aa-Tijpiov a real
though tacit
reference to the wrath of God, we bring this Pauline
text into line with the two referred to on a previous
By
page,
and
also with the logion in
Galatians
iv.
In
4.
these three passages one principle is involved, viz., that

His earthly experience Christ was subjected to all
in
that
is
unblessed in
result of
man
man s unredeemed
being delivered
principle of redemption.
tion
was
the
airo\vTpw<Ti<s.
Christ
\vrpov, the
Rom.
it.
state,
with the
This
is
the
whole stale of humilia
resulting
He was made
1
from
benefit
for
us
is
under the law, by circumv. 8.
172
ST.
and otherwise, and we are redeemed from sub

He was made a curse, and
jection to law into sonship.
cision
we
He
are redeemed from the law s curse.
and we are made
sin,
to
sinless.
Adding
Romans
instances the fourth suggested in
became
that
in lot
men
an object
guilty of sins
was made
these three
iii.
25, Christ
of divine wrath, with the
provocative of
effect
God s
indignation
This principle, or law,
well established by these examples, may be used as a clue
to the meaning of a text which has given much trouble
fco
commentators
Romans viii. 3.
It has commonly
are shielded and saved from wrath.
been assumed that the condemnation of sin in the
flesh
referred to in the last clause took place in Christ s death,
being taken in the sense of a sin offering.

God sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
as an offering for sin, in His sacrificial death condemned
frepl d/juipTias
sin in the flesh
such
is
the traditional interpretation.
Is it quite certain that this is
us
It
see.
may
the true meaning
be assumed that
St.
Let
Paul here points to
an experience of Christ that meets a need of man which

has been the subject of remark in the preceding context.
But
of
need
Our
what need has the apostle been speaking ?
in
law
of
sin
to
resist
and
overcome
the
help
of
the members, the preponderant and domineering influence

of
the
flesh.
But what
is
there
in
Christ s earthly
One would say,

experience that can give us help here ?
not His death, but rather His holy life in the flesh,
demonstrating that bondage to the (rapt; is not inevit
embodying in a successful experiment of resistance
God s condemnation of sin in the flesh, as a thing that
able,
ought not to be and that need not
be, Christ s life in the
THE DEATH OF CHRIST

Spirit being, not less than
ment
man s
for
in
exemplified
would
lead
good.
His death, a divine appoint
The application
the other four

the
to
texts
us in any given
to
this
fifth
one
That principle
Christ which is to benefit
way must correspond
The
of the principle
same conclusion.
requires that the experience of
the benefit.
173
to the nature of
benefit in the present instance

being
hopelessness as to the possibility of
emancipation from
walking in the Spirit in spite of the flesh, the redemptive
experience of Christ ought to be the proof supplied in
His
life
that to walk in the Spirit
indeed be asked,
may
Where
is
flesh
He was
in other words, that
not impossible.
It
the element of humilia
tion in that experience of Christ
In the fact that
is
The reply must
be,
sent in the likeness of sinful
His
life
on earth was enacted,
under conditions involving temptation to sin.

whole aim in sending His Son into the world was
like ours,
God s
with reference to sin
(irepi
a/j.apria<;),
that by every part
of His earthly experience He might work in one way or

another towards the destruction of sin. Christ s personal
struggle with
temptation arising out of
make
the flesh was
and it
designed
does so not merely by way of example, but by way of a
divine proclamation that the malign dominion of the
to
flesh
is
at
enabled to
its
contribution to this end
an end, and that henceforth men shall be

walk in the Spirit, even while living in the
the reign of law was doomed by the mere

fact that Christ was made under the law, so the reign
of the flesh is doomed by the mere fact that Christ was
flesh.
As
1
sent in the likeness of sinful flesh.
1
This
is
in substance the view of this text taken
by Godet and
174
PAUL
ST.
It is important to note that, in all
these instances of
the principle or law of redemption, the apostle gives us
what he conceives
to be the religious
significance of the
When
he says, c.y.,
that Christ was made under law, he has in view mainly
In like manner he
the fact that He was circumcised.
obvious facts of Christ s experience.
conceives of Christ
made a
l
fixion
in a
of
made
as
appointed and
death, the
sin
by enduring physical
historic
penalty of
curse by enduring death in the
made under God
as
manner which
sacrificial
form
sin
as
of cruci
wrath by enduring death
involved blood-shedding, as in the case
victims
and as made in the likeness
of
sinful flesh, because subject to temptation arising out of the

affections of the flesh, as in
in
the case of the
first
temptation
To a dogmatically trained
the wilderness.
intellect,
the fact-basis for the corresponding theological categories
may
appear
slight,
and the temptation
for the doctrinal superstructure, either
history or from
strong to supply
is
from the evangelic
imagination, a broader,
more adequate
The procedure may be very natural, but it

We must remember that St. Paul s
not exegesis.
foundation.
is
problem was not the same as that of the scholastic

When he became a believer, the imperative
theologian.
task for him was to read in a new light the plain surface
The question he had to

What meaning
best he could was
facts of Christ s earthly history.
ask and answer as
am
Weiss.
to
put upon
the
facts
that
Vide Godet s Commentary, and
Theologie des N.T., p. 308.

1
See note at the end of this chapter
Gospel of Paul.
One whom
"VVeiss
Lehrbuch der
on Professor Everett
now
Bill.
TJw
THE DEATH OF CHRIST
175
believe to be the Messiah and the Holy One of God

was circumcised, and endured death by crucifixion and
by blood-shedding
the systematic
On
theologian
is
verify and justify the
to
supplied
theological categories
answer
the other hand, the problem of
to
him
in the apostle s
by an exhaustive statement of
In doing this he is in danger of
stepping out of the region of history into the realm of
imagination, a danger which has been proved to be very
to that question
the relative
facts.
real in connection with Christ s endurance of the
God, and of death as the penalty of
of
wrath
represen
sin,
tatives of Protestant scholastic orthodoxy not hesitating

to say that Christ
endured the essence
and was the object
God s extreme
of
of
eternal death,
hatred. 1
In so
doing they might be very consistent and thoroughgoing

theorists, but the doctrine they thus taught is at
as
once unscriptural and incredible.

Let not
made responsible for such extravagances.
Under the Pauline law

resulting to
place to
men from
of
Christ s
St.
Paul be
redemption, the benefit

mediation is in the first
be conceived objectively.
Thus, Christ having
been made under law, redemption from legalism forth

with
ensues
the
objective
privilege
That, in the view of
God and
in the religious history
of the
significance of Christ s
to
as
world,
legal
is
the
ordinances.
The
era
of
of
legalism
humanity.
subjection
therewith
ended, and the era of liberty began.

Very different
was the construction the Judaist would be inclined to
put on the
1
fact.
For examples,
Note B.
Christ was circumcised, therefore the

vide
my
Humiliation of
Christ,
Lecture
vii.
17G
ST.
law must be perpetual, for has not the Lord of the

Church given it the sanction of His example ? so lie
On the contrary, replied St. Paul, the
would reason.
circumcision of Jesus was the death-knell of
He
underwent the humiliation
of
subjection
the law
law
to
for
the very purpose of putting an end to legal bondage

His experience in that respect was the ransom He paid
for our emancipation.
Similarly with all the other
;
Thus, because Christ was
applications of the principle.
made
sin for us
facto,
God was
by subjection
Christ
in
Himself, not imputing
to death, therefore, ipso
reconciling
unto
men
the
world unto
their trespasses.
So
again, because Christ was made subject to temptation

arising from the flesh, God condemned sin in the flesh,
declared that the dominion of the flesh, as of the law
must take end, and be replaced by the benign dispensa

tion of the Spirit.
In a word, at whatever point in our
low estate Christ comes in contact with

in
death, His
touch exercises a magical
influence, beneficently
altering in relation
us, in
life
or
emancipating
to
God
the
situation of the world.
But
this is not the
whole truth.
The
objective change
takes place with a view to a corresponding subjective one,
without which the former would remain an abstract ideal
and a barren
benefit.
The
objective privilege
must be
The position of sonship must be

with
the
accompanied
spirit of sonship, otherwise I shall
be a slave of legalism, though living in the era of grace.
subjectively realised.
The general amnesty which ensued from Christ having

been made sin must be realised individually as a divine
forgiveness of personal sin.
So the apostle views the
THE DEATH OF CHRIST
177
matter, hence the stress which he everywhere lays on

For it is faith s function to transmute the objec
faith.
state of privilege into a subjective experience

to
turn an ideal redemption into an actual one all along
Thus it is to be noted that the apostle is
the line.
tive
careful
represent Christ
to
pitiatory through faith.
sacrificial
Codex
death
as
pro
omits the words, but
there can be no reasonable doubt as to their genuine

The idea they express is so essential to the
ness.
Pauline system of thought that even if they were not

would have to be understood.
It is
in the text they
through faith, and only for the believer, that Christ s

death becomes effectively propitiatory, a real shield
against
the
divine
whole range
faith
if
And so throughout the

There must be appropriating
wrath.
of benefit.
God s
goodwill to
men
for Christ s sake is not to
remain comparatively barren and inoperative.

But not even yet have we got to the bottom
Paul
mind.
of
St.
have not hitherto attempted to translate
the principle of redemption obtained inductively from

It
Pauline texts into the technical terms of theology.
is
not imperative on an interpreter to undertake the
task of translation, and he might excusably feel some
measure
of
perplexity
in
an
endeavour
"
non-scriptural terms as
"
substitute
"
tive
into his exegetical results.
far off the
mark
and
to
fit
such
"
representa
it is not
But perhaps
to say, that while the idea of
Christ
fits into the conception of His death as

the idea of representation best accords with
as a substitute
sacrificial,
the whole group of texts from which I have gathered by

In these texts
induction the Pauline law of redemption.

12
178
ST.
Christ appears as a central person in

race
and one
common, even
think
the
human
collected into a moral unity, having one responsi
is
bility
whom
interest,
all
things as far as
possible
and righteousness, which one would

from personality, being treated as
sin
inseparable
separable entities passing freely from one side to the

other, sin to
righteous.
the sinless One, righteousness to the un
It is a
case of objective identity.
make now
point I wish to
does not content
St.
is,
And
the
that this objective identity
Paul, not to speak of substitution
which expresses too external a relation to have any

chance of satisfying his mind.
He cannot rest con
tent with anything short of
subjective
identity
between
Redeemer and redeemed, implying that Christ is not

only by divine appointment and in outward lot, but in
men, and on the other
hand that they are one with Him in the same manner,
making His experience their own. The former aspect
conscious sympathy, one with
is not at all so prominent in

Paul as in the Epistle to the Hebrews,
in which the sympathy of Christ is one of the great out
of
this
subjective identity
the Epistles of
St.
standing ideas, the whole earthly career of the Captain

of salvation, not excluding His passion, being regarded as
a curriculum of
Him
in
trial
and
suffering designed to develop
the spirit of compassion essential to the priestly

But there are significant hints of the truth,
vocation.
when the
as
apostle adduces as a motive for Christian
consideration of others the fact that Christ pleased not

1
Himself, urges the duty of mutual burden-bearing as a
1
Rom.
Christ
is proved not by
history, but by a quotation from a psalm.
xv. 3, which, however,
facts
taken from
THE DEATH OF CHRIST

fulfilment of the law of Christ, 1
179
and represents the Lord
Jesus as becoming poor for our sakes. 2

There can be
no doubt that he would include in the self-impoverish
ment of Jesus the whole state of humiliation as volun
endured out
tarily
mentioning the
sympathy with men, though
of
details
Christ as
experience of
that
of
The other
of
sympathy
minent in
aspect
the
of
believers with
Paul
St.
He was
something to which
He
subjected rather than as something

curred.
voluntarily in
subjective
Christ,
all
is
action of faith, which, as he conceives
identity,
the
made very pro
is
It
teaching.
in
he presents the
state
due
to
the
cannot be re
it,
the act of appropriating a benefit, but, like
stricted to
ivy clinging to a wall, lays hold of everything in the

experience of Christ that is capable of being turned into
a source of spiritual
own every
As
life.
the exercise of
Christ in love
unredeemed
detail in our
native clinging power
its
made His
state, so faith in
makes
its
own
death, burial,
redeeming experience, His

resurrection, and ascension, and compels
the redeemed
man
every
critical stage in Christ s
to re-enact these crises in his

"
spiritual history.
One
died,
then
all
viewed the matter
am
4
died."
crucified with
So
St.
"
Christ
own
"
if
Paul judged; so he
so judge all like-minded.
To put
it
appear to be making it a matter of opinion, a

And there
personal moral idiosyncrasy.
for
believers
who
do
can be no question that many
pass
so
may
mere
affair of
not so judge, at least with anything like the earnestness

1
Gal. vi.
Gal.
2
-2.
ii. -2(J.
2 Co,:
4
-2
viii.
1).
Cor. v. 14.
180
ST.
and the fact gives urgency to the inquiry as

the guarantees for ethical interests in the Pauline
This will come up for consideration hereafter;
system.
of St. Paul,
to
meantime our business
own way
And
the Redeemer.
view the function
his
to
is
of a purchased
whether after
benefit,
all
aspect of Christ
it
man s
the thing to be noted

of
seems.
relation to
is,
that in
to lay hold
faith is not
merely
but to impose a serious ethical
The
task, that of dying to live.
surface
understand the apostle
of conceiving the believing
fact suggests the query,
he so entirely overlooked the ethical

own death as I said, and as on the
If for
us being crucified with Christ
is
an ethical process, must not crucifixion for Him also

have had an ethical motive and end ?
So it naturally
appears to us, but it does not follow that that view of
the matter was much or at all present to the apostle s
mind.
We must take his ideas as they stand, and the
fact is that
he does not present the death of Christ and
the co-dying of Christians under the same categories of
Death
thought.
of the
one case
is
moral.
the
Christian
of
all
On
is
p.
physical, in the case

for
dying in the
this account the dying-to-live to
summoned
the
loses
which
impetus arising
being presented as the ideal and universal law

true life, and is based on the weaker though
its
not lower ground of a believer

1
honour.
In
is
The reason
a transcendent theological one, in the other
it is
from
in Christ s case
believer mystical.
St.
sense of congruity and
Paul s own case the new
Vide the late Professor Green
"
230, where a purely ethical view
life
Witness of
of Christ
nothing on
lost
God,"
death
IForks, vol.
is
presented.
iii.
THE DEATH OF CUEIST
181
that account, partly because the moral ideal was opera

tive in his reason and conscience under disguise, but
the religious fervour and energy of his

faith and the grateful devotion of his love were of them
chiefly because
selves all-powerful motives
love of Christ
Him
die with
with
who
and
to
Christlike
him
died for
"
"
constrained
Then
Him.
to live unto
The
living.
him
to
his faith,
power of vivid imaginative apprehension, laid

Christ under contribution as a source of inspiration in
its
every conceivable
For
way.
Christ was
it
once
at
Vicar, representative, and Brother blended together in

indissoluble unity.
There was therefore no risk in his
case of justification taking place without sanctification,
through faith laying hold of a certain

righteousness, procured by Christ
nothing
but
its
own
private
contemplated Christ that
benefit, objective
death, and looking to
His
interest.
He became
at once
faith
so
and with
equal certainty unto him believing, the ground of pardon

of a new life, Christ for him and Christ
and the source

in
And
him.
view in
all
it
was such
his discussions
yielding of the
faith
on
own he had
as his
It
justification.
heart to the love of
God and
and as such not merely the reception
of
of
in
was a
Christ,
the gift of
salvation, but the entering into a mystic unity of

and of love with the source of salvation.
life
be well for the interests both of theology and

religion that we earnestly endeavour to make this
It will
of
The consequence
Pauline conception of faith our own.

of
losing
organism
sight
of
collection of
of
it
in
theology
is,
that the
Paulinism becomes resolved into a

scholastic
dogmas standing
side
by
living
dead
side
182
ST.
and in
system, but having no vital affinities
is
the
that
presented, in
unseemly spectacle
religion
a
in
the case of
Christ
devotion
professed believers, of
many
Him
to
the
as
men
looking to
from guilt and wrath without
deliverance
for
Lord, or
any
trace
of
that
all-pervading moral sensitiveness one expects to see in

a Christian.
These dangers are by no means imaginary.
They
beset us both as Protestants and as Evangelic Christians.
As
Protestants, because our bias in that capacity
empty
is
to
moral contents on which a doctrine
faith of all
of merit might be based

and, as controversy with
Komanist theology leads the Protestant dogmatist to
;
give a very exceptional
may
readily
come
to
prominence to justification, it
pass that he shall hardly find
leisure
or opportunity, to say nothing of inclination, to
regard
faith
Christians,
under any other aspect.
because
in
much
that
in
interest
ourselves
the
and having them
lost,
emphasis
of
in
character
those
whom
As Evangelic
we naturally
Jesus
Christ as the Sin-bearer, inviting
lay their sins on
Him
pitied,
view speak often and with
faith that they
them
to
have peace
by
may
with God, and probably endeavouring to make the act of
faith as easy as possible by use of such phrases as,
Only
"
believe that Jesus died on the cross in your stead and
you are saved." A natural and yet a serious mistake.

For it is a short-sighted evangelism which looks only to
the beginning of Christian life and makes no provision
for its continuance
fication
and
and progress
forgets sanctification
which thinks
of justi
which cares not about
the quality of faith, provided only faith of some kind of
THE DEATH OF CHRIST

which Christ
183
the object be awakened, with as
is
delay as possible
which deems
it
little
the one thing needful
bring every sinner into a state of conscious peace,

instead of aiming at rousing the conscience of the sinful
to
into energetic activity
may,
in
God s
hands.
and leaving them, as we so safely

The true, healthy evangelism is
that which offers Christ to

in the
New
men s
Testament, in Christ
and in the apostolic

character and work.
faith as
own
He
is
offered
teaching and
life,
Epistles, in all the aspects of His
That cannot be done in a day or

But
in a single address, still less in a single sentence.

it
can be done by giving prominence
truth,
now
to
that,
always
aiming
now
at
to this side of
the
exhibiting
The result
many-sided wisdom of God in the gospel.
will be a faith to which Christ is wisdom by being at
once righteousness, sanctification, and redemption
a
;
a Christ for us and a

Prophet, a Priest, and a King
a Christ who died in our stead, and a
Christ in us
;
Christ with
whom w e
T
die daily
a faith which will work
through fellowship with Christ in His sufferings to the

effect of making us Christlike as surely as it will rest
upon Christ as the Saviour from
sin.
1
On. tlie principle of learning from a foe, evangelical ministers
would do well to read the last lecture in Newman s Lectures on
Justification, on "Preaching the Gospel," which contains a very search
ing criticism of evangelical preaching. Newman brings against it a
countercharge of legalism in the form of trust in states and feelings.
The true preaching of the gospel is to preach Christ,
He remarks
but the fashion of the day has been instead of this to attempt to
convert by insisting on conversion," p. 373.
"
184
ST.
PAUL
NOTE ON PROFESSOR EVERETT S
THE GOSPEL OF PA UL.

THE new work
entirely
of
new reading
Professor Everett on St. Paul
gospel
is
of the apostle s doctrine as to the import
effect of Christ s passion.
that Christ redeemed
The author
man from
sin
an
and
discards the received doctrine
by enduring
without support, either in the practice of
sacrifice
its
penalty, as
among the
Pagans,
New
Testament properly inter

preted.
Having made this position good to his own satisfaction, by
a preliminary inquiry, he proceeds to expound his own theory,
which is to the following effect. So far was Christ from suffering
the penalty of sin that the primary reference of His death was not
to sin at all.
Its immediate aim and effect was to abrogate the law,
and only in the second place, and as the result of the primary effect,
to bring about remission of sins.
But how did it abrogate the law ?
Thus Christ died by crucifixion. But a crucified man, by the Jewish
And all who
law, was "accursed" that is, ceremonially unclean.
believed in the crucified Jesus as their Messiah become participators
in the Levitical ritual, or in the
in his ceremonial uncleanness, and, as such, objects of abhorrence to
orthodox Jews, deserving excommunication from synagogue and

They were "crucified" with their Christ, and, as such,
temple.
what claim had the law

on outlawed, excommunicated men ? And, of course, the law being
cancelled for them, the pardon of sin followed, for sin is not im
This theory rests mainly on two
puted where there is no law.
freed from obligation to keep the law, for
texts in the Epistle to the Galatians,
iii.
13
ii.
19-20.
From
the
former the author draws the conclusion that, according to St. Paul,
Christ was accursed because He was crucified, not crucified because
He was
accursed from the latter, that every believer in Christ is

the
law dead to the law, inasmuch as he is crucified with
through
The law says, every crucified man is ceremonially unclean.
Christ.
;
I am crucified with Christ, therefore,

it, replies the Christian
with Him, ceremonially unclean therefore, free from legal claims,
dead to the law by the law s own act.
This is very ingenious, but critical doubts suggest themselves.
My quarrel with the gifted author s interpretation chiefly concerns
the second of the two proof texts. Against his interpretation of the
first I have little to object.
It is the fact that St. Paul affixes to the
Saviour the epithet "accursed" simply because He suffered death
in the form of crucifixion.
Professor Everett states that he has
So be
THE DEATH OF CHRIST
185
nowhere found
this view recognised by

I have myself
theologians.
without being aware that he, as I suppose, had antici
pated me. Thus far, therefore, I am happy to agree with him but
in his exegesis of the second text I think he errs by taking what
St. Paul says of himself (I am crucified with Christ) as true of all
Christians, and by holding ceremonial uncleanness to have been a
indicated
it
If this had been so, then all

necessary result of Christian faith.
believers in Jesus would have been forthwith cast out of the syna
Were they ? On the contrary, the author of

the Epistle to the Hebrews exhorts those to whom he writes to go
forth without the camp bearing Christ s reproach, an exhortation
which implies that they were still within, still clinging to synagogue
gogue and temple.
and temple, and
to
companionship with unbelieving Jews.
If the theory in question were true, and the interpretation of

All Christians
Gal. ii. 20 valid, another inference would follow.
would have understood their position as outlawed or excommuni

There would have been no Judaistic party, no contro
cated men.
about
the
versy
perpetual obligation of the law. They would have
"
"
been compelled to understand their position by the treatment they

received from unbelieving Jews.
Professor Everett thinks that
St. Paul before his conversion persecuted Christians, "because the
pollution that came from the cross rested also iipon them." For
the same reason all non-Christian Jews ought to have been perse
cutors, at least to the extent of shunning with abhorrence all
so educating the latter to understand thoroughly that
Christians
to be a believer in Jesus was to be outside the commonwealth of
How carne it,
Israel, dead to the law and free from its claims.
then, that so few understood this, and that St. Paul had to fight a
hard battle to gain for such ideas currency or even toleration within
;
the Church
The
ideas expressed in Gal. ii. 19-20 are those of St. Paul the
Christian theologian, not of Saul the Pharisee. They are, further,
not ideas which St. Paul holds in common with Judaists, but which he
cherishes as the advocate of a universal independent gospel, and
employs in his controversy with Judaists, in opposition to their
The Judaists were not crucified with Christ
legalist propensities.
in St. Paul s sense if they had been, the controversy would have been
;
at
an end.
They
also,
through the law, had been dead
to the law.
The
basis of Professor Everett s theory is too narrow.

is only one of several texts of co-ordinate importance.
is Galatians iv. 4, where it is
from the law by coming under the law.
these
Gal.
iii.
13
Another of
stated that Christ redeemed men
The
principle
is,
that at
186
ST.
PAUL
His
whatever point Christ touched man in His state of humiliation,
but
at
at
not
touched
he
And
effect.
one,
us,
touch had redemptive
under the law, was circumcised, e.g. He
came
He
many points.
on the cross,
endured death and so became in lot a sinner He died
and so tasted the curse in death His blood was shed, and so His death
;
assumed the aspect of a sacrifice. All these points, and others not
to
referred to, have to be taken into account in a scientific attempt
in
of
his
and
of
atonement
thinking
ways
get at Paul s theory
makes
general. This new contribution, while clever and interesting,
the matter altogether too simple.
CHAPTER X
THE
idea of adoption, vioOea-ta,1 can hardly be said to
occupy, in the Pauline system of thought, a place of im

portance co-ordinate with that of justification. It denotes
a phase in the blessedness of the Justified, rather
than
an independent benefit of God s grace.

It were, how
ever, a mistake on this account to overlook the idea in
an exposition
The
"
of
St.
adoption of sons
Paul
conception of Christianity.
conferred on believers demands
"
prominent recognition were it only because of its connec

tion with the justified man s felicity.
For that topic,
with
all
bulked largely in the mind

descants thereon with evident delight
that belonged to
of the apostle.
He
it,
in various places in his Epistles, especially in

v.
1-11, where he describes the
Romans
justified state as one of
triumphant joy, invincible buoyancy, and hopefulness

an anticipated future glory, in a present full of
of joy in
tribulation,
that
but fruitful in spiritual discipline through

tribulation, in God Himself the summum
very
bomcm.
One cannot but note here
istic
of
the apostle is;
the
Christian
how
life.
1
truly joy
"Rejoicing
Gal. iv. 4
Rom.
187
how
is for
in
viii. 15.
radically optim
him
the. keynote
hope, patient in
188
PAUL
ST.
"
so he pithily
tribulation, continuing instant in prayer
defines the Christian temper in
the Eomans, 1 and with this definition the
his Epistle to
whole strain of
And
it
is
well,
that St. Paul
the hortatory part of
his religious teaching is in
sympathy.
on so important a matter, to point out
here not only consistent with himself,

even greater moment, in thorough
but, what is of
accord with the doctrine of Jesus, as when in a memor
is
He
able utterance
2
likened the disciple-circle to a bridal
The harmony between
party.
this respect points to
rests
apostle and Master in
on a deeper harmony, an
agreement in their respective conceptions

between God and man.
essential
relations
Paul
St.
and
letters
of the
being occasional and fragmentary,

on urgent topics not necessarily
brief rapid utterances
or even probably revealing the full-orbed circle of his
need not surprise us that we find

nowhere in them a formal doctrine concerning God and
religious thought, it
man and
hints,
word
their
mutual
is
can only expect
His
sons.
say.
God
as Father,
Familiarity with Christ
Fatherhood, and more or
less
and
which Jesus made current.

need not be conceived of
think
to the apostles to
1
Rom.
xii.
Matt.
ix. 15.
12
it
of
men
doctrine of the
complete insight into and

to be presumed in all New
sympathy with its import, is

Testament writers, who all use the new name
Such a
It has for its presupposition Christ s
vio0e<ria.
characteristic conception of
as
We
relations.
words which imply more than they
for
God
insight and sympathy

it is no reproach
as complete
The
possible that in
with which compare
their insight
1 Thess. v. 16, 17.
ADOPTION
189
into the spiritual essence of God, they

1
only-begotten Son.
That
came behind the
Paul did so this very word

vlodecria may seem to prove.
In Christ s doctrine God
is always a Father, a Father even to the unthankful and
evil,
as
St.
even to un filial prodigals.
commonly understood,
In the apostle
doctrine,
God becomes Father by an
act
adoption graciously exercised towards persons pre

viously occupying a lower position than that of sons.
of
The
difference
is
and
to a certain extent real,
be confessed that sonship in
St.
Paul
way
of
must
it
putting
it
appears an external and artificial thing compared to the

aspect it assumes in the genial presentation of Jesus.
Yet the divergence must not be exaggerated. For what

ever may be said as to the form under which he con
ceives
the
it,
there can be no question that, for the apostle,
filial
of
standing
precious thing.
It
is
a believer
as
real as
is
a very real
if
it
and
were based on
And
nature, and not on an arbitrary act of adoption.
it
by no means self-evident that the apostle thought of

men as, antecedent to that act, in no sense sons of God.
is
For we must note the connection

the idea.
in
antithesis
to
the
consists in one being

slave.
but a
"
which he introduces
state
of
legalism.
The
privilege
made a son who was formerly
Wherefore thou art no more a slave (SoOXo?)

2
But the two states are not absolutely
son."
The slave might be a son who had not yet
exclusive.
in
In both the texts the state of adoption stands
Vide Dr. Fairbairn in Christ in Modern Theology,
point.
2
Gal. iv.
7.
to the spirit of
In Romans
bondage
viii. 15,
(bout-itx;).
p. 293,
the Spirit of sonship
is
on
this
opposed
190
ST.
So
Paul actually conceived

the matter when he wrote the Epistle in which the idea
attained to his rights.
St.
Those who through the

adoption is first broached.
mission of Christ attain to the position of sons had been
sons all along, only differing nothing from slaves because
of
1
of their subjection to
legalism.
chiefly
gospel
God s
son from the
first,
but subjected to legal
came and brought
Christ
till
But may not
embrace the whole

sons,
apostle had in view
the religious condition of Israel under law and
ordinances,
grace.
The
in the era of
his thought be generalised so as to
of
mankind
Are not
reduced to a state of slavery under
ing consciously or unconsciously
for the
men God s
all
sin,
and wait
hour of their
emancipation out of servitude into sonship by

of their heavenly Father ?
the^
grace
when we view the Pauline idea of adoption

connection with the antithesis between sonship and
servitude that we can properly appreciate either its
It is only
in
Looked at
import or its religious value.
apart therefrom, as an abstract theological term, the
theological
word may very readily

the Christian
aspect to his
denied,
that,
foster inadequate conceptions of
privilege of sonship,
and even give a
whole
God.
to
relation
certain
to
extent,
such
It
legal
cannot
results
be
have
actually followed the permanent use in theology of an
which, as originally employed, was charged

St. Paul s authority has
with a strong anti-legal bias.
expression
gained currency in theology for a word which, as

understood by theologians, has proved in no small
1
Gal. iv. 1
Horn. ix. 4
wosv
înctpip
"Israelites
whose
is
the
adoption"
191
ADOPTION
measure antagonistic to his religious spirit.

The fact
raises the question, whether it would not be wise to allow
"
adoption to fall into desuetude, and to

the
truth
about the relation of man to God in
express
terms drawn from our Lord s own teaching.
Words
the category of
"
used with a controversial reference do not easily retain

their original connotation when the conflict to which
they owe their origin has passed away.
antithesis is
The primary
and new antitheses take
lost sight of,
its
In the apostle s
place.
mind the antithesis was between a son indeed, and a son
So
who
in
the
case of
vloOeaia.
nothing better than a servant; in the mind of

theologian it becomes sonship of a sort
is
the systematic
versus creaturehood, or subjecthood, the original relation

of man to God as Creator and Sovereign.
are in a
We
wholly different world of thought, while using the same

phrases.
Adoption, in
tion,
St.
Paul
view,
an objective transaction.
into a
new
is,
not less than justifica

entrance
It denotes the
relation, being constituted sons.
Adoption as
a divine act must be distinguished from
the spirit of
the subjective state of mind answering

to the objective relation.
The two things are not only
All who are justified, all
but
separable.
distinguishable,
adoption which
is
who
believe in Jesus,
the
Pauline
adoption.
sense
But not
Spirit of sonship.
however weak
sons
all
On
of
who
God,
their faith, are in
have
received
the
believe in Christ have the
the contrary, the fewest have
it,
the fewest realise their privilege, and live up to it; the

greater number of Christians are more or less under the
influence
of
a legal, fear-stricken spirit, which prevents
192
ST.
them from regarding God
The
as indeed their Father.
Spirit of sonship is therefore not identical with sonship
rather one of the benefits to which sonship gives

right, and which, in a normal healthy state of the
it
is
Christian
The
to
follow in
life,
its train.
really important contribution
the doctrine of
does not
God s Fatherhood
made by
or
St.
man s
Paul
sonship
in his formal idea of adoption, but in the
lie
emphasis with which he insists on the filial spirit as that

In this whole
which becomes the believer in Jesus.
matter of sonship we have to do, not with theological
metaphysics, but with vital, ethical, and religious interests.
What
God
do we mean when we
Not
to
phrases, or to
essential identity
mean
tell
men
they are sons of
them or amuse them with idle

teach them a pantheistic doctrine of the
flatter
awaken
of
the
human and
the divine.
We
them an exacting sense of obligation,

and a blessed sense of privilege.
That was what Christ
to
meant when He
in effect
Ye
in
said to publicans
are
God s
sons.
and
sinners, as
The statement
He
did
signified
may not live as ye have been

Because ye are
sons must be Godlike.
Because ye are sons ye
God s
living.
sons ye
tion.
He
cherish high hopes in spite of your degrada

in penitence to your Father s house,
return
ye
may
If
if ye had never
with
a
warmer
welcome, because ye
nay,
St. Paul deprived himself
are erring children returned.
will receive
done wrong
you with open arms, as
enforcing the doctrine of sonship

on the side of duty by failing to use the relation as one
of the opportunity of
applicable to
without
men
though this cannot be said

we accept the discourse on
in general
qualification,
if
ADOPTION
Mars
men
193
Hill as indicating the gist of what he said to the

of Athens.
"
Forasmuch
God, we ought not
as
we
are the offspring of
to think that the
Godhead
like
is
unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man s

l
device."
That is, it does not become God s sons to be
grovelling idolaters
argument.
oblige
assigned to the
an excellent example
But whatever
Mars Hill
of the noblesse
historic value
incident, it
is
may
be
certain at least
that St. Paul did most vigorously enforce the
filial
dignity
and privilege of Christians, and in connection therewith

the duty incumbent on all believers to take out of their
filial
standing
fitted to yield.
comfort and inspiration it was

Nothing is more fundamental in Pauline
all
the
hortatory ethics than the exhortation
Stand
fast in son-
ship and its liberties and privileges.
What
then, according
privileges of the
at least these
law
(2)
to
right
filial
the apostle
to
state
the
The catalogue embraces
(1) freedom from the
three particulars
endowment with the

future
Paul, are the
Spirit of sonship
inheritance,
heirship.
(3) a
All these
benefits are specified in the place in the Epistle to the
Galatians which contains the apostle
earliest
statement
on the subject.
That the privilege of sonship involves
emancipation from the law is plainly taught in the
To redeem them that were under the law, that

we might receive the adoption of sons." The second
words
"
benefit
is
mentioned
because ye are sons,
in
God
the
sent
following
the
Spirit of
"
And
His Son
The mission
your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."
and
a
natural
the Spirit of sonship was
necessary
into
of
verse
13
Acts xvii. 29.
194
ST.
Of what avail were it to

sequel to the act of adoption.
make one a son in standing unless he could be made to
home
?
In order that sonship may
be
a
be real, there must
spirit answering to the state,
that the adopted one may be no longer a slave in feeling,
feel at
but
son
in the house
The
indeed.
third
benefit,
patrimonial estate, is pointed at in the words,

son, then an heir, through God."
With regard
1.
sonship,
Paul
St.
believer in Jesus
asserts.
No
to
right
But
"
the
if
to the first of these three privileges of

is
is
much
very
free
in
earnest.
That the
from the law he again and again

the
better indication of
strength of his
conviction on this point could be desired than the fact of
constructing no fewer than three allegorical argu

ments to establish or exhibit pictorially his view, those,
his
of
viz.,
the
bondwoman
and
freewoman,
husbands, and the veil of Moses.

show at once what need there was
point,
how thoroughly
so as to be fertile
tion,
These
the
two
allegories
for labouring the
mind had grasped it,

and inventive in modes of presenta
the apostle
and how much he had the subject at
heart, so as to
be proof against the weariness of iteration.

In his doctrine of emancipation from the law,
St.
Paul
had in view the whole Mosaic law without exception.

The whole law as a code of statutes written on stone or in
a book, put in the form of an imperative, Thou shalt do
Thou shalt not do that," with penalties annexed,
this,"
"
"
is,
he
holds,
abolished
for
the
Christian.
Whatever
remains after the formal act of abrogation, remains for

some other reason than because it is in the statute-book.
Some
parts of the law
may remain
true for all time as
ADOPTION
revelation
195
some precepts may commend themselves to

conscience in perpetuity as holy, just, and
the
human
good
but these precepts will come to the Christian in a

form, not as laws written on stone slabs, but as laws
new
written on the heart, as laws of the spirit of a
Summed up
in love, they will be kept not
new
life.
by constraint,
but freely not out of regard to threatened penalties,

but because the love commanded is the very spirit which
rules in the heart.
;
One who dared
to represent the state of the believer
in Jesus as one of freedom from the Mosaic law,
was not
have much hesitation in representing Christians

commandments of men. This is rather
likely to
as free from the
Of course all
taken for granted than expressly asserted.
those passages in which St. Paul teaches that Christians
are not bound
in
by scruples
direction.
this
And
as to
meats and drinks point
the general principle
adequately stated in the words
"
Ye
is
very
are bought with

!
For
become not ye the servants of men."
Eabbinical traditions, to which Saul the Pharisee had
a price
been a slave, Paul the Christian had no respect what

ever.
Even the Levitical law which appointed the
sacred seasons and their appropriate ritual he charac
as
terised
which
it
"
were as foolish in Christians
would be
it
infant s
weak and poverty-stricken

for
school
to
a full-grown
learn
the
man
elements,"
to turn again, as
to go
2
alphabet.
to
back to an
But
for
the
1 Cor. vii. 23.
There has recently been a tendency among interpreters to revive

the patristic view of arotî ix, and to find in the word a reference to
the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and stars, conceived of as living
196
ST.

the law
Babbinical additions to
he employed a much
more contemptuous term. He called them a-Kv/3a\a, 1

mere ruhbish, never of any use save to puff up with
empty pride, and now rejected by him, as a Christian,
with loathing.
St. Paul found great difficulty in getting Christians to
understand this doctrine of the liberty of a believer in
comprehensiveness, and to sympathise with his
He found
passionate earnestness in maintaining it.
all
its
men everywhere
ready to relapse into legalism, and had
thus occasion to address to
not again to the yoke of
many
the warning,
bondage."
"
The history
return
of the
Church abundantly proves that there is no part of the

apostle s teaching which the average Christian finds
harder to understand.
In every age, except at creative
the ^Reformation, the legal spirit
exercises
epochs
extensive sway even over those who imagine themselves
to be earnest supporters of Pauline doctrine, and em
phatically evangelical in their piety, causing them to be
like
afraid of
but the
new spiritual movements, though these may be

new wine of the kingdom, and obstinately and
indiscriminately conservative of old customs and tradi
though these may have lost all life and meaning.

Such timidity and blind clinging to the past are not
tions,
they bear the unmistakable brand of legalism.

the Spirit of the Lord is in any signal measure,
evangelic
Where
beings,
by which the dates
of holy seasons
were
fixed.
Devotees
who
scrupulously observed holy times might very appropriately be

represented as enslaved to the heavenly luminaries by whose
positions these times were determined.
Lipsius in Hand-commentar.
1
Phil.
iii.
This view
is
favoured by
ADOPTION
there will be liberty from
from fear
of
new
things
and
evil, and courage

quarter it may come
to
197
between good
receive the good from whatever
power
to discern
there, in short,
old things, and
to
bondage
is
not the servile
but the manly spirit of power and of love

and of a sound mind.
Such was the spirit of St. Paul,
spirit of fear,
and
may
much
to be
desired that his religious temper

ever be associated with profession of faith in his
it is
The divorce
theological doctrine.
of Pauline
theology
be deplored as tending to
create a prejudice not only against Paulinism, but even
from the Pauline
against
what
St.
spirit is to
Paul loved
even against the word

Church really needs is not
more
evangelic
piety
Yet what the
"
evangelical."
but a great
deal more, with all the breadth, strength, freedom, and
less evangelic life,
creative energy that are the true signs of the presence in
her midst of the spirit of sonship. 1

2. This spirit is the
second benefit
accompany, and naturally springs out

It is defined
adoption.
be taken as the marks of

it first,
of Jesus Christ.
is,
its
presence.
summary
St.
should
Paul describes
God s own
Because ye are sons,
He
Son, that
hath sent
This might be
reference to the history of Jesus as
the Spirit of His Son into your
taken as a
which
the true state of
by certain attributes which may
generically, as the Spirit of

"
of,
hearts."
the source of the most authentic and reliable information

1
Harnack (Dogmengeschichte,
i.
129, 3te Aufl.) says
"
Paulinism
has acted as a ferment in the history of dogma, a basis it has never

been."
But if it has not been a basis in theology, still less has it in
its religious spirit exercised a steady ascendency, to the great loss of
the Church.
2
Gal. iv.
6.
198
PAUL
ST.
We may
as to the true nature of the spirit of sonship.
conceive the apostle here saying in effect

to
know how
look at
itself,
towards
us
all
the
filial
Christ,
His
God.
what he had
really
spirit
and see how
personal
ontological proposition he
who
Spirit
the Son
offers
dwells in those
consciousness
Christ
piety
mind
in his
is
Spirit
behaves
He
is
go to His school and learu from
If you want
and manifests
"
Or
bore Himself
model
the
Him."
for
Is this
merely an
is it
us, to this effect
The
who have a genuine filial

God and owned by
sent by
the Spirit that proceedeth from the Father and

I
cannot believe
it.
The apostle s thought
dominated here throughout by the ethical
is
He
interest.
thinks of the Spirit in the believer as a Spirit whose

characteristic
cry
is
Father, expressive
of
trust,
love,
and childlike repose.

And when he
calls that Spirit Christ s, he does not mean merely that
He is Christ s property, but that He is Christ s own
loyal submission,
God s Son whom God sends

into Christian hearts, and who reveals His presence by
the child s cry, Father," is the Spirit who in Him ever
The
spiritual self.
Spirit of
"
uttered that cry in
clearest tone
and with the
ideal
fulness of import.
We
of
the Spirit
may, therefore, find in the expression,
His Son," an appeal to the evangelic history, and the
"
recognition of Christ s personal relation to
norm
of all Christian piety.
the earthly
mined.
It
aware that
name
life of
may
"
as the
knowledge
of
Jesus this presupposes cannot be deter

be taken for granted that St. Paul was
Father
for God.
How much
God
It
"
was Christ s chosen and habitual
may
be regarded as equally certain
ADOPTION
that
199
he knew the characteristics
model Son, the pattern
What
to be.
of
Christ
personal
Him
as the
of filial consciousness as it
ought
be such as justified reference to
religion to
historical vouchers for these characteristics
were known to him we cannot
We
say.
are not entitled
assume that he was acquainted with the prayer which

1
I thank Thee,
wherein the filial
Father,"
begins,
to
"
consciousness of Jesus found classic expression.

But we
certainly are entitled to affirm that there is no ground
for the hypothesis
this
recently put forth by Pfleiderer that

a composition of the Evangelists, made up
is
prayer
elements drawn from
of
St.
Paul
Epistles, or suggested
2
That such an utterance
by Paul s missionary career.
should fall from the lips of Jesus is intrinsically probable
the two inferences drawn from
if
allowed.
Paul
St.
Jesus ever called God
If
statement be
Father and
bore
Himself towards God so as to give the ideal expression

to the
filial
how
consciousness,
natural that
say in words on a suitable occasion

said in deed
Pfleiderer s scepticism
assumption that
St.
St.
life
based on the
is
contradicted
Paul s own testimony in the place before
us,
where
the Spirit of sonship the Spirit of Christ the Son.

Paul being witness, it was Jesus who first introduced
calls
St.
cry
God wards
It
1
is
The assumption
into the world the religious spirit
should
Paul, not Jesus, was the originator of
the religion of sonship.
by
he
He
what His whole
my
present task as the inter-
xi. 25-27
Luke x. 21, 23.
Vide his Urchristenthum, pp. 445, 446
view, vide
characteristic
Father."
does not belong to
Matt.
whose
"
is
my
Apologetics, p. 454.
aiid for a criticism of his
200
ST.
PAUL
preter of Paulinism to offer an exposition, however brief,

1
classic filial utterance of Jesus.
of the
petent to point out that the

literature of the
is
in
com
it is
in its practical manifestations
filial spirit
sympathy with the mind
full
But
account given in the Pauline
of
The
Christ.
apostle sets forth the Spirit of sonship as a spirit of trust

in
Romans
viii.
15, where
it
put in contrast with the

In other places
is
spirit of fear characteristic of legalism.
he gives prominence to
nection
2 Corinthians
is
the Lord
truth,
17:"
Where
shall make you

most com
and susceptible of wide and varying
there
a mere external
the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of

liberty even from the law of God, as
is
commandment, with
"
free,"
Where
application.
shalt not
the Spirit of
"
that
prehensive in scope,
is,
the
a great word worthy to be

of Jesus
Ye shall know the
and the truth
sonship,
of
striking text in this con
It is
liberty."
with
associated
iii.
an attribute
as
liberty
The most
Spirit of sonship.
there
is
liberty from
all
Thou
commandments of
its
ominous
"
men, whether written statutes or unwritten customs;

there is liberty from the dead letter of truth which
conceals from view the eternal spiritual meaning
is
from
liberty
itself
in
the
new forms and
legal
ever
temper
striving to bring
there
embodying
human
souls
there is liberty from the bondage

which
has wrought such havoc as the
religious fear,
parent of superstition and will worship there, finally, is
under
its
thraldom
of
liberty from fear with regard to the ills of life, and the
for to one who knows God
uncertainties of to-morrow
:
as a Father,
what can there be

1
to be afraid of
Vide The Kingdom of God, chap. viL
"
If
God
201
ADOPTION
be for us,
who
antly asks
St.
(or what) shall be against us
triumph
Fear
Paul, echoing the thought of Jesus
"
your Father s good pleasure to give
not, little flock, it is
you the
Here
x
?"
kingdom."
is an ample
liberty, though the description is
no
means exhaustive. But is it not too ample ? men
by
anxious for the interests of morality or of ecclesiastical

may be inclined to ask. The tendency has
institutions
always been to be jealous of Christian
liberties as
broadly
asserted by our Lord and St. Paul, and to subject
them
to
severe restrictions lest they should become revolutionary
and latitudinarian.
Though not
straitened
Christ or in Paul, the Church has been

in her
own
That
liberty
either
much
in
straitened
This jealousy of liberty has been to

spirit.
a large extent uncalled for, and has simply prevented
the Church from enjoying to the full her privilege.
degenerate into licence is true.

Spirit of the Lord is, no such abuse can
For the Spirit of the Lord is a Holy Spirit
may
But where the
take place.
as well as a free Spirit, and
He
will lead
assert their liberty only for holy ends.
there
is
to
the
antinomianism
in
hand
"
saying,
of holiness in
interests
The law
Do
God
of
"
this
Christians to
What
risk,
stands no more whip
no, but the
law
of
on the heart, and the commandment

because it no longer is grievous by reason of the
written
ing
thunder
and
that
the
is,
irksome.
Christ s yoke
Heavy
is
threatened
obedience
difference
the burden
1
is
easy,
when we
Rom.
is
e.g.,
the Pauline
penalty.
made
easy
God
is
is
kept
terrify
The only
instead of
and His burden
is light.
carry the sense of duty
viii. 31.
202
like
ST.
the slabs on which the Decalogue was written on
our back, but light
muted
into love,
is
and
Father in heaven.
the burden
when law
duty consists in
What
is
becoming
trans
like our
risk to the interests of religion
in the Pauline disregard of ritual, in his doctrine that
circumcision and everything of like nature is nothing ?

It is but getting rid of dead works in order the better to
serve the living God, with a truly reasonable, spiritual
in
service,
which
all
the
the
of
powers
inner
man
What risk, finally, to the peace

earnestly take part.
of the sacred commonwealth in the decided assertion of
the liberty of the Christian conscience from the bondage
of petty scrupulosity, when the Spirit of Jesus, who
dwells in all the sons of
God,
is
not only a Spirit
of
freedom, but not less emphatically a Spirit of charity,

disposing all
who
are under
consider their neighbour for
and
also
guidance in all things to

their good unto edification,
its
a Spirit of wisdom which can discern where
concession and forbearance are for the good and edifica

tion of the whole
body
of Christ
This reference to the body of Christ recalls to mind an

important result flowing, according to Pauline teaching,
tendency to remove
barriers to Christian fellowship arising out of small matters
to which the legal spirit attaches undue value. How closely
from the Spirit
of sonship.
It is its
sonship and brotherhood were connected in the apostle s

mind appears from the fact that, on the first mention of
the sonship of Christians in Galatuuis
iii.
26, he proceeds
immediately after to speak of the new society based on

the Christian faith as one wherein is neither Jew nor
Greek, neither bond nor
free, neither
male nor female,
203
ADOPTION
but
all
are one in Christ Jesus.
missing link which connects the two topics.
we know,
view, as
sonship
the
is
great
the
first
fundamental
between Jews
In
Paul
St.
of
privilege
But the law was
emancipation from the law.

barrier
the
It is easy to find
and
Gentiles
that
removed, there was nothing to prevent them from being

united in a Christian brotherhood on equal terms.
The
down, the two separated

sections of humanity could become one in a new society,
Christ all and in
The
having for its motto,
accomplishment of this grand union, in which St. Paul
partition
wall
being
taken
"
all."
took
the
leading
part,
was
the
first
great historical
exemplification of the connection between the Spirit of
sonship and the Spirit
of
It is
catholicity.
The tendency
not the only possible one.
obviously
of the legal
times is to multiply causes of separation,

in the
both in religious faith and in religious practice
former, increasing needlessly the number of funda
spirit at all
mentals
in the latter, erecting every petty scruple about
meats and drinks, and
social
customs, and
worship, to the dignity of a principle dividing
whose practice
is
nonconformist.
essentially anti-catholic
and
The
separatist,
legal
forms
of
from
all
spirit
and manifests
is
itself
such in a thousand different ways.

On the other
hand, the filial spirit is not less essentially catholic it
as
craves for fellowship with all

in Jesus Christ,
manifold
who
and has the impulse to

barriers which dogmatic, pragmatic,
artificial
self-asserting legalism has set
who
God by faith
sweep away the
are sons of
are one in Christ.
the face of Christendom
up
to the dividing of those
What a change would come

if
over
the Spirit of adoption were
204
ST.
poured out in abundant measure on
name
Christian
3.
"
If
The
who
all
bear the
third benefit accruing from sonship
a son, then an heir
"
"
if
is
heirship.
children, then heirs
What
2
God, and joint heirs with Christ."
ance, and when do the sons enter on
of
it ?
is
heirs
the inherit
Are they ex
pectants only, or are they in possession already ? Looking

to the connection of thought in the Epistle to the Galatians,
the sons, according to

in part.
differed nothing
St.
came
in childhood
from a servant, becomes a son indeed at
the time appointed.

Christ
Paul, are in possession, at least
St.
The adoption means that a son who
Objectively, that time arrived
subjectively,
it
when
arrived then for all who, like
Paul, understoood the significance of the Christian era.
In natural
life
father s death.
the heir enters on his inheritance at his
God
does not
wait on that account.
die,
and there
is
no need
to
Rather Christians enter on their
inheritance when they begin truly to live.

The inherit
ance consists in autonomy, spiritual freedom in spiritual;
mindedness, which
is life
victorious over all the
and peace
ills
of
life,
in spiritual buoyancy,
fearing nothing, rejoic
ing even in tribulation because of the healthful discipline

and confirmation of character it brings.
Truly no
of
the
soul
treasures
imaginary possessions, genuine
!
Yet, here, according to St. Paul, as
we gather from
place in Romans, the Christian inherits only in part

is
largely an expectant,
"saved
by
3
hope."
the
;
he
For the present
a scene of suffering.
Doubtless the tribulations of the
afford
the
son
of
God opportunity for showing his
present
is
temper, and verifying the reality of his sonship.

2
3 Ibid. viii. 24.
Gal iv. 7.
Rom. viii. 17.
heroic
1
205
ADOPTION
But on the most optimistic view

admitted that groaning
The Christian
is
is
of the present it
a large element in
often obliged to say to himself,
Even
the Divine Spirit

weary
1
sympathetically shares in his groaning.
world."
There
is
is
wrong
wrong
in the
it
still
is
"
immanent
What
is
2
within, defective spiritual vitality.
body
must be
human
life.
It is a
in
him
wrong
There
even for the redeemed
man
a body of death, and he will not be an effectively,

man till his body has shared in the
-redeemed
fully
3
There is wrong, finally, in the
redemptive process.
ontside world, in the very inanimate, or lower animate
creation, needing
and travailing
and crying
redemption from vanity,

which shall issue in the
for
birth pangs
in
4
appearance of the new heavens and of the new earth.
In view of all these things, St. Paul seems half inclined
to cancel his earlier doctrine of the era of sonship dating
from the birth of Christ, and, regarding Christians as

still sons who differ nothing from a slave, to project the
vioQeala forward to the era of consummation.
applies the term,
tion of the
we note,
body
is
to that era whereof the
redemp
the most outstanding feature and
Waiting for the adoption, the redemption

5
In some codices the word vioQeaiav
body."
"
symbol.
the
For he
of
is
omitted, why, we can only conjecture. The copyists may

have thought it strange that there should be two adoptions,
or that a term denoting an imperfect kind of sonship
should be applied to the

1
Eom.
Ibid. viii. 23.
final perfect state,
wherein sonship
viii. 26.
T /JV d7rap% /iv TOV
The
believer has only the first-fruits of the Spirit
TT jivpictTo;.
Ibid, viii. 23.
Ibid. viii. 23, last clause.
Ibid. viii. 19-22.

I),
F, G, omit
it.
206
ST.
shall be raised to its highest power, its
in fellowship with Christ in
stumbled at the expression.
word by the apostle
filial
in imagining that,
when
they
consumma
when he speaks
of the
he has the Greek or the Eornan

That
practice of adoption in view.

if,
No wonder
whether we have not been on the
vlodeo-ia in his Epistles,
shows that
glory.
For, in truth, the use of the
in reference to the future
tion raises the doubt
wrong track
very ideal realised
first
it
use, at all events,
entered into his
mind
to
he was thinking of adoption as

the two classic nations, he was
avail himself of the term,
practised by either of
constrained by his Christian convictions to employ it in a

manner which invested it with a new. nobler sense than
had ever before borne.
it
Adoption in
Roman law
denoted the investment of persons formerly not sons with

viodecria in St. Paul s
some measure of filial status
;
vocabulary means the solemn investment
of
persons
an imperfect degree with a sonship
formerly sons
worthy of the name, realising the highest possibilities of
in
filial
honour and
privilege.
Usteri (Paulinischer Lehrleyriff) thinks that as St. Paul uses the

of adoption is not to be pressed. Vide note on
word the idea
at p. 194 of the
work
referred
to.
CHAPTER XI
WITHOUT AND WITHIN
WE
have now gained a tolerably
Paul
way
of conceiving the
definite
good that
came
view
of
to the
world
St.
through Jesus Christ, that is to say, of his soteriological

Our next task, in order, must be to
system of ideas.
make
of
ourselves acquainted with the apologetic buttresses
that
system.
The Pauline
apologetic,
already learned, relates to three topics
as
we have
ethical interests,
the true function of the law, and the prerogatives of

Israel.
have now, therefore, to consider in detail
We
what the apostle had to say on each of these topics in

succession, and the value of his teaching as a defence
against possible attacks in any of these directions.
The
first
highest degree important.

it is
wide theme, and in the

In reference to every religion
of the three is a
a pertinent and fundamentally important question
guarantees does it provide for right conduct ? No

religion has a right to take offence at such a question, or
What
to
claim exemption from interrogation on that score.

for, while Christianity
Least of all Pauline Christianity

as taught
by Christ
is
conspicuously ethical in
its drift,
the same faith as presented by St. Paul seems on the

face of it to be religious or even theological rather than
207
208
ST.
ethical, so that the
this case far
from
question as to moral tendency
idle or impertinent.
The point
is
in
raised,
will be observed, does not
concern the personal rela

tion of the teacher to morality, about which there is no
it
room
for doubt, but the provision he has
made
in his
doctrinal system for an interest which he obviously feels
Theoretic failure
to be vital.
the
in
case
of
is
one who has a
quite conceivable even

for
burning passion
righteousness.
Paulinism
Christian
two guarantees for holiness in the

moral dynamic of faith, and the influence
offers
the
of the Holy Ghost.
These, therefore,
we
shall consider,
each in a separate chapter, with a view to ascertain their

efficiency, and how they arise out of the system.
Despite the most circumspect theoretic provision,
it is
a familiar experience that the reality of conduct falls far

below the ideal.
The Christian religion is no exception
to this observation,
moved
to ask,
and the devout soul may well be
Why, with
such guarantees as the above
The question did not escape

named, should it be so ?
St. Paul s attention, and his thoughts about it shall be
gathered together under the head of the Flesh as a
hindrance
It
to holiness.
will help
us to understand the doctrine of the
apostle on these three themes if in a preliminary chapter

we endeavour to ascertain what was the precise relation
mind between the two sides of his soteriology

in Romans i. v. on the one hand, and
set
Eomans vi.-viiL on the other. It is a question as
in his
forth
as
in
to
the apostle s thought between the

objective and the subjective, the ideal and the real, the
the
connection in
WITHOUT AND WITHIN

religious
and the moral.
209
This topic forms the subject of
the present chapter.
On
views
question, then, various
this
may
be and
have been entertained.
The crudest
1.
possible solution of the
problem would
be to find in the two sections of the Epistle to the

Romans two incompatible theories of salvation, the
forensic
and
the
the
mystical,
latter
cancelling
or
modifying the former as found, on second thoughts, to

be unsatisfactory and inadequate.
This hypothesis,
without
not
though
on sober
itself
advocates,
can
That
reflection.
hardly
commend
St Paul, like other
might
modify his views, and
even to retract opinions discovered to be ill founded, is
But we should hardly look for retractations
conceivable.
find it needful to
thinkers,
same
in the
the day.
It
writing, especially in one
may
was done with
coming
so late in
be taken for granted that the apostle
his experimental or apprentice thinking
in theology before he indited the Epistle to the
and that when he took
in
his
hand
Eomans,
to write that
pen
he was not as one feeling blindly his way, but
He had
knew at the outset what he meant to say.
letter,
thought out by that time the whole matter of objective

and subjective righteousness
and if he keep the two
;
apart
in his treatment,
visionally,
but
as
it
is
believing
not tentatively and pro

that
each
represents
an
important aspect of truth.

1
Ritschl s treatment of St. Paul s view in Die Entstehung der Altvide pp. 87-90.
;
Jcatholischen Kirche, 2te AuflL, looks in this direction
Vide also his

Rechtfertigung
14
more recent work, Die

und Versohnung, ii. p. 224.
Christliche
Lehre von der
210
ST.
We may
2.
go to the opposite extreme, and find in

sections not two incompatible theories, one
two
the
superseding the other, not even two distinct while com

patible aspects, but one train and type of thought running
And as the two parts of the Epistle
through the whole.
seem to speak in different dialects, it comes to

be a question of interpreting either in terms of the other
Which of the two apparently
by ingenious exegesis.
certainly
thought is to be resolved into the other

on
the
One
depend
interpreter s theological bias.
would gladly find in St. Paul s writings everywhere, and
different types of
will
only, objective righteousness
another welcomes not less
eagerly whatever tends to prove that subjective righteous
ness
is
natural
the
reaction
against
the former,
modern
theology.
read the doctrine of
Romans
prominent
and
in
The
apostle s great theme.
is
latter bias, a
the
Those under
vi.-viii.
into
its
one most
influence
Eomans
i.-v.,
find in the Epistle one uniform doctrine of justifica
the promise and potency of personal

righteousness, and one doctrine of atonement, not by
substitute but by sample, Christ becoming a redeeming
tion
by
faith as
power in us through our mystic fellowship with Him in

His life, death, and resurrection.
Seasons have already
been given why this view cannot be accepted. 1
In the two foregoing hypotheses an earlier type of
thought is sacrificed for a later, either by St. Paul him
3.
self
or by his
modern
third conceivable
is that of
sturdily refusing
interpreter.
attitude towards the problem
assent to either of these
modes
of dealing
with
it,
and
insisting that the two aspects of the apostle s teaching

1
Vide
p.
157
f.
WITHOUT AND WITHIN
211
shall be allowed to stand side by side, both valid, yet

neither capable of explaining, any more than of being
One occupying this attitude
explained into, the other.
says in effect
"
I find in the Epistle to the
Eomans a
God
doctrine of gratuitous justification, to the effect that
pardons
man s
and regards him as righteous, out
sin,
Christ
respect to
of
I find also, further
atoning death.
on in the same Epistle, a doctrine of regeneration or

the effect that a
spiritual renewal, to
in Christ,
of sin,
and
and
is
man who
believes
baptized into Him, dies to the old
rises to
new
life of
personal
life
righteousness."
These two things, justification and regeneration, are two

acts of divine grace, sovereign
and independent.
The
There is
one does not explain or guarantee the other.
no nexus between them other than God s gracious will.
Whom He
justifies
He
regenerates,
can be said on the matter.
There
and that
is
is all
that
no psychological
bond insuring, or even tending to insure, that the justified

man shall become a regenerate or righteous man. Faith
is
Faith
not such a bond.
action
is
confined to justifica
here
tion
it has no proper function in regeneration
baptism takes the place which faith has in justification.
4. So purely external a view of the relation between
;
justification
and regeneration, as handled in the Pauline
not likely to be accepted as the last word,

though spoken by a master of biblical theology, even by
the most admiring of disciples.
Accordingly, a fourth
literature, is
that recently taken up
his excellent
work on The Pauline
attitude falls to be discriminated
by Dr. Stevens, in
Theology,
who
in
many
respects
is
follower
of
Dr^
Weiss, the chief exponent of the theory stated in the
212
ST.
The
view espoused by
the distinction bet\veen form and essence in
foregoing paragraph.
this writer is
He
Pauline thought.
holds that in form St. Paul s con
ception of justification
to eliminate this aspect
as
an exegetical
basis of the
and that any attempt

system must be regarded
is forensic,
from
his
As
violence.
a mere matter of historical
beyond doubt, in his judgment, that the

apostle taught the doctrine of an objective righteousness.
But this does not preclude the question, What is the
exegesis, it is
Jewish shell
eternal kernel of truth enclosed in this
The kernel the author referred

doctrine of the
chap.
iv.
he
to finds in the mystic
more advanced portion
(Paul)
which
salvation,
is
of
Romans.
the formal
develops
by
justification
faith,
"
In
principle
of
treated in
forensic manner, in accord with prevailing Jewish con
ceptions
in
principle
of
chaps,
v., vi.,
salvation,
and
which
viii.
is
he unfolds the
real
moral renewal through
The first argument is designed to

a
false
and
meets that theory on its own
parry
theory,
union with Christ.
the second exposition is

plane of thought
to
the
edification
and
instruction of believers,
adapted
and, mounting up into the spiritual realm, deals with
juristic
the
moral
and
religious
which are involved in

these sentences,
imputing to
St.
truths,
processes,
and
forces
The writer
justification."
of
seems to me, makes the mistake of

Paul a distinction which exists only for
it
the modern consciousness.
It is one thing to insist on

the need, and claim the right, to interpret Pauline forms
of
thought into eternally valid truth
ascribe to St. Paul our view of

1
what
The Pauline Theology,
quite another to
is
p. 275.
form and what
WITHOUT AND WITHIN
213
For the apostle, objective righteousness was

it was a
great essential reality, pardon
essence.
more than a form,
not a mere symbol of a higher

but
an
truth,
important member of the organism of
Christian truth
not a mere controversial weapon, but a
of sin for Christ s sake
own
doctrine in which his
None
heart found satisfaction.
of the foregoing
hypotheses can be accepted as

account
of
the way in which the two
satisfactory
of
salvation
were
connected in the apostle s mind.
aspects
a
How,
we
then, are
to conceive the
matter
Perhaps we
the truth by trying to imagine the

psychological history of the apostle s thought on these
shall
best get at
The
themes.
great stage in the process would be
first
connected with his
never-to-be-forgotten escape
a religion of faith in God s grace.
legalism to
would be the attitude
am
"
have
righteous in
at that crisis
One
failed,
but
He
has succeeded, and
That thought would undoubtedly

rest for a season.
But only for a
Him."
give his eager spirit
For the
season.
mind
his
the ideal of righteousness as realised
of blissful rest in
in Christ
of
from
What
is
imperious
still
hunger of the soul for

and no mere pardon, or
there,
righteousness
acceptance as righteous through faith, can satisfy per
And as soon as the convert
manently its longings.
discovers
awake
that he
and desire
wretched
is
not yet attained, the cry will
has
in his conscience,
to be
man
"
How
that I
It is
am
not, like
become
all I
ought
"
the old cry,
"
a despairing exclamation. It
the voice of Christian aspiration uttered in good hope,
!
grounded on the consciousness

at
shall I
"
work within the
soul.
of spiritual forces actually
What
are these
There
is
214
ST.
faith incessantly active about Christ, constantly thinking
Him
and
winding itself about Him,

and extracting nourishment from every known fact in
And there is the Holy Ghost,
His earthly history.
of
as crucified
risen,
about whose mighty working in believers one living in

How He revealed
those days could not fail to hear.
Himself in
St.
Paul
consciousness as a factor making
for Christian holiness, distinct
from
that need not here be considered.
faith, is
a question
Suffice it to say that,
judging from his writings, the Spirit of Jesus did not

leave Himself without a witness in his religious ex
These were two potent forces at work within

But, alas, not they
him, filling him with high hope.
alone
along with them worked a sinister influence,
perience.
seeming to have
its
seat in the flesh, possessing potency
sufficient to disturb spiritual serenity, cloud hope, and

introduce a tragic element of sadness into the new life.
Here were
conflicting
tion
the
of
faith,
correlated
till it
spirit,
consciousness
Christian
the
powers supplying food for reflec

the flesh.
How were those facts
The
apostle s
had got a way
to
be
formulated
mind would not be
of thinking
and
at rest
on these matters, and
the results of his meditations, more or less protracted,

lie before us in Romans vi. viii., and in some other places
in his Epistles.
They
consist of his doctrine of faith as
a spiritual force, his doctrine of the Holy Spirit as the

immanent source of Christian holiness, and his doctrine
of the flesh as the great obstructive to holiness.
From
Paul
the foregoing ideal history, it follows that St.

doctrine of subjective righteousness, its causes and
hindrances, was of
later
growth than his doctrine
of
WITHOUT AND WITHIN
This was only what was to be
objective righteousness.
God
expected.
truth-seeking
as they need
does not reveal
He
spirits.
it.
System
come piecemeal,
Inspirations
many modes, to
builders may throw
"
divinity
light
reward
is little
scheme
of patient waiting.
So
St.
dawn
righteousness met the
conversion crisis
came
in
day, the
of
Paul got his doctrine
The doctrine
sive vistas answering to pressing exigencies.
ness
of
body
thought so
of
complete at a stroke, but in succes
of righteousness, not
of objective
many
The true divine
of the divine.
upon the soul like the
steals
whole
off
in
as to prophets.
apostles
at a sitting, but in a
originating there
things at once to
all
sends forth light to them just
parts and in
"
215
spiritual need of the
the doctrine of subjective righteous
due season
to solve
problems arising out
of
Christian experience.
The two
doctrines,
when they had both been
lived together peaceably in St.
did not
come
Paul
mind.
revealed,
The
latter
put the Christian
to cancel the earlier, or to
He
disciple out of conceit with his primitive intuitions.
conserved old views while gratefully welcoming the new.
Why
should he do otherwise
The two
revelations
served different purposes.

They were not two incom
the
same
to
answers
question, but compatible
patible
answers to two distinct questions.

Saul, a despairing
"
God, crying,
Jesus Christ
God
of
be merciful to me, the sinner, for
sake,"
of
his conversion,
man, threw himself on the grace
and in
reflection this experience
the doctrine
At
so
shaped
justification
by
doing found
itself
rest.
On
intellectually into
faith:
God
righteous any man, be he the greatest sinner,
regards as
who
trusts
210
ST.
At a later period,
His grace through Jesus Christ.
Paul, the believing man, on examining himself, discovered
in
what he had utterly failed to accomplish on the

method of legalism, he was now able approximately to
that
achieve, the realisation of the moral ideal even as inter
preted by the Christian conscience, an ideal infinitely

The righteousness of the
higher than the Pharisaic.
law, spiritualised
being
fulfilled in
and summed up
him.
was actually
whence
in love,
marvellous contrast
The
striking moral change in the same man ?
earlier question had been, How can I get peace of con
came the
science in spite of failure

is it
that I no longer
fail
The question now is, Why

how comes it that, notwith
standing my greatly increased insight into the exacting

character of the divine law, I have a buoyant sense of
moral ability and victory ?

St. Paul sought and found
the answer through observation of the forces which he
perceived to be actually at work within him.
In making
statement I have answered by antici

pation the question, Whence did St. Paul get the mystic
element which formed the later phase in his composite
of
conception
fulness
this
salvation
as
unfolded
the Epistle to the
in
some he was indebted
for
with
Romans
exceptional
According
to
this, directly or indirectly, to
the Alexandrian
Jewish philosophy.
Certain modern
while
to
the
theologians,
ascribing
apostle a preponderant
influence in determining the character of Christianity,
seem disposed
They
will
have
to
reduce his originality to a minimum.
it
that in no part of his system was he
much more than

doctrine
of
imputed
borrower.
He
got
his
forensic
righteousness from the Pharisaic
WITHOUT AND WITHIN

schools,
and
ness from
his mystic doctrine of
Philo
in
his
imparted righteous
more probably from the
possibly, or
Hellenistic Book of Wisdom.
So Pfleiderer, for example,
new
Urchristenthum, and in the
Men
Paulinismus.
217
of sober
judgment
edition
of
his
will be very slow
take up with such plausible generalisations.

They
rest upon an extremely slender basis of fact, and they
to
are & priori improbable.
That
Paul, after he became
St.
a Christian, wholly escaped from Eabbinical influence, I
by no means assert
wholesale
importation
of the stock
thought
Jewish synagogue.
Beyschlag, that
am
but I
his
ideas
of
There
little
power
of the Christian spirit in St.
on the points
of
hypothesis
Even
the
in
Still less justifiable is
in
dependence
Neutestamentliche
reference
Theologie, vol.
J.
to
ii.
Epistles of
Paul,"
was not
not that the
Interesting in this
23.
p.
is
the
Hellenism.
Montefiore in a recent article in
the Jewish Quarterly Review (April 1894), on

"The
of
to the creative
Pfleiderer admits that possibly St. Paul
connection are the remarks of C.
Paul."
remark
the
Paul to lay so much
acquainted with Philo, and his contention

1
of
resemblance between his views
and the Pharisaic theology. 1

of
theology
honour
stress
Christian
of
system
the
truth
is
does too
it
very sceptical as to the
into
he
"
First Impressions of
a newcomer with
"fill
says,
immense astonishment.
They are so imique. They are so wholly

unlike anything else he ever read. When I read the Synoptical
But Paul even if,
Gospels I do not feel this utter unlikeness.
.
he is a mixture of Greek and Hebrew

still why should any such mixture produce him ?
His conception
of the law, his theory of Christ, his view about Israel, his doctrine
of justification, seem all not only original, but utterly strange and
unexpected. His break with the past is violent. Jesus seems to
Paul in some senses turns it
expand and spiritualise Judaism.
as Pfleiderer so ably argues,
upside
down."
218
ST.
drew from the great Alexandrian philosopher,

but that he derived some of his characteristic doctrines
apostle
from the Book of Wisdom, which

the same Greek
by
and
for
book
myself I
to test the value of the assertion,

it
put
generally, I distrust this
at
and
to
figure.
to the Pauline
Speaking
of accounting for
It attaches far too
contemporary intellectual
far too little to the creative
The true key
low
whole method
Paulinism by eclectic patchwork.
importance
the power of anyone
It is in
spirit.
perusal of the
a literary product of
is
much
environment,
personality or the man.
theology
is
that personality
as revealed in a remarkable religious experience.
And
we are to go outside that experience in order to

account for the system of thought, I should think it less
likely to turn out a wild goose chase to have recourse to
if
the
Hebrew
Scriptures,
and especially
to
the
Apostolic
Church, than to the Jewish synagogue or the literature of
Hellenism.
For, while the originality of St. Paul in his doctrines

of faith
and
insisted on,
of
it is
he did not need
the Holy Spirit

at the
to
same time
is
by
to be
all
means
to be
remembered that
be original in order to recognise the
Holy Spirit as real and potent

the Christian life.
One could not live within
existence of faith and the

factors in
the Church of the

of faith
first
generation without hearing much

force from the men who
as a great spiritual
were acquainted with the tradition

1
of Christ s
teaching,
On the dependence of St. Paul on the Hellenistic Book of Wisdom,

Edmund Pfleiderer, Die Philosophic des Heraklit von Ephesus
vide Dr.
where it is contended that 2 Corinthians v. 1-9 bears

unmistakable traces of intimate acquaintance with that book.
(1886), p. 296,
WITHOUT AND WITHIN
219
and without witnessing remarkable phenomena which

believers were in the habit of tracing to the mighty
Faith and the Divine Spirit
power of the Holy Ghost.
were universally regarded in the primitive Church as
causce within the spiritual sphere.
This common
conviction was a part of the inheritance on which St.
verce
Paul entered on becoming a Christian.

His originality
into play in the development which the common
came
conviction underwent in his mind.
In his conception
the subtle, penetrating nature of faith and
power he distanced
vital
faith-mysticism
elsewhere
in
comes nearest
is
the
New
to it
own
his
all
his
all
the
suffering for
men
in the flesh.
for
nothing like it
is
The
apostle Peter
when he exhorts Christians to arm

mind exemplified by Christ in
with
is
The
contemporaries.
there
Testament.
themselves
view
of
its irresistible
comparatively external.
him simply exemplary
"
But
The
St.
Peter
point of
suffering Christ
is
Christ also suffered for us,

2
leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps."

There is no co-dying and co-rising here, as in the Pauline
Epistles.
So peculiar
is this
to the Gentile apostle that
might be made the test of genuineness in reputedly

Pauline literature.
On this ground alone there is a
it
strong presumption in favour of the Pauline authorship

of the Epistle to the Colossians, wherein we find an
who have
exhortation to Christians
risen with Christ to
complete the process of mystic identification by ascend

3
If some unknown disciple of
ing with Him to heaven.
the Pauline school wrote the letter, he had caught the
master s style very well, and had noted the faith1
1 Peter iv. 1.
Ibid.
ii.
21.
Col,
iii.
1.
220
PAUL
ST.
mysticism as specially characteristic.

doubtful
if
indeed very
It is
any imitation, conscious or unconscious, would
have reproduced that
It
trait.
much the creation

The ordinary man would be
poetic, too
and inclined
leave
to
it
was too
peculiar, too
of individual idiosyncrasy.
afraid to
alone, or
to
meddle with
translate
it
it,
into
more prosaic and generally intelligible phraseology, like

that in which St. Peter held up Jesus for imitation as
the great exemplar.
For a similar reason
it
may
be regarded as certain
that St. Paul did not borrow the faith-mysticism from
The mind which could not produce

any foreign source.
The presence of that element in
it would not borrow it.
No
St. Paul s letters is due to his religious genius.
other psychological explanation need be sought of his
great superiority to his fellow- writers of the New Testa
ment
as
an assertor
of
faith s powers.
He was
a far
greater man, incomparably richer in natural endowment,
than
St.
Epistle
latter
Peter or
to
St.
James, or even than the author of the
Hebrews, though in some respects the

He was gifted at once with an
the
him.
excelled
original intellect,
an extraordinary moral intensity, and
a profoundly mystical
religious
temperament.
united action of these characteristics

of
the believer
we owe
fellowship with Christ.
To the
his doctrine
As he
states
the doctrine, that fellowship was a source of ethical in

spiration, and so doubtless it was ; but it is equally true
that
it
moral
was an
vitality.
not less than a cause, of exceptional

Paul s whole way of thinking on the
effect,
St.
subject took its colour from his spiritual individuality.

This statement does not mean that his views are purely
WITHOUT AND WITHIN

subjective and personal, and of no
221
permanent objective
value to Christians generally.

But it does imply that
the Pauline mysticism demands moral affinity with its
author for due appreciation, and that there must always

be many Christians to whom it does not powerfully
appeal.
One point more remains to be

mode in which the two aspects of
considered,
viz.,
the apostle
the
double
doctrine of righteousness are presented in his Epistles in

relation to each other.
There is no trace of the gradual
development implied in the psychological history pre

viously sketched
beyond the
that
fact
the subjective
aspect, the later, according to that history, in the order
development, conies second in the order of treatment,

both in Romans, where it is handled at length, and in
of
Galatians,
where
it is
but slightly touched on.
In both
Epistles the doctrine of subjective righteousness

duced with a polemical reference.
In Romans
in
to
opposition
indifference
exhibited
God
of
righteousness
to
by
"
futile.
abound
"
Shall
is
method
true
is
of
"
set
the
witli
Galatians
declared to
the question to which the doctrine

"
Shall
we supplement
by circumcision and kindred

question to which it is an answer
patchwork programme
legal
works
may
is
Judaistic
an
faith in
"
in the other. 2
of
is
personal
attaining
is
it
in sin that grace
Christ
the
is
of
compatible
in
method which
we continue
answer in the one case
against
it
reception
faith
holiness
holiness as against a false
be
that
"
personal
the
as
notion
the
intro
is
is
the
Over
Chris
tianity the apostle sets the thorough-going self-consistent

1
Rom.
vi. 1.
Gal
v. 2-6.
222
ST.
programme
of a Christianity
in the Spirit
from
where,
ness,"
righteousness
is
be taken
to
hope
more
see
shall
name
of the
faith wait for the
we
as
worthy
We
of righteous
fully
subjectively,
"
hereafter,
and the two
great guarantees for the ultimate attainment of personal

righteousness, faith and the Spirit, are carefully specified.
His whole doctrine of sanctification, as fully unfolded in

the Epistle to the Eomans, is contained in germ in this
brief
text in his
As
the G-alatians.
to
earlier Epistle
here stated, the Pauline programme is sanctification by

faith not less than justification
faith good for all pur
poses, able to
meet
needs of the
all
soul.
In some respects the earlier formulation

ferred to the later.
less the
is
to be pre
If briefer, it is also simpler, gives
impression of abstruseness
and elaboration, wears
more the aspect of a really practicable programme.

It
makes Paulinism appear one uniform self consistent
doctrine of righteousness by faith, not as in Boinans, on
superficial
righteousness
view
at
imputed
least,
to
doctrine
of
objective
supplemented
faith,
by
doctrine of subjective righteousness wrought out in us by
the joint operation of faith and the

addresses itself to a nobler state of
It
Holy Spirit.
mind, and moves on
St. Paul s ideal

a loftier plane of religious feeling.
in
Galatians
is
a
man
who
earnestly desires to
opponent
be righteous in heart and life, and

reach that goal along the line of
the other hand, he
is
man who
fails to see
faith.
conceives
how he can
In Romans, on
it
possible to
combine reception of God s grace with continuance in sin,

and even to magnify grace by multiplying sin. Against
the latter, the apostle has to plead that his gospel
is
WITHOUT AND WITHIN
way
way
to holiness
does not dispute

bring
against the former, that
That
holiness.
to
men
223
it
tends
he only doubts
that
it
way
the only
is
the legalist
by itself to
Such an one an apostle
to the desired end.
its
ability
But how
may, without loss of dignity, seek to instruct.
humiliating to argue with one who cares nothing for
but only for pardon and how vain
What
chance of such an one understanding, or sympathising
Is it
with, the mystic fellowship of faith with Christ ?
holiness,
not casting pearls before swine to expound the doctrine

to so incapable a scholar ?
Perhaps, but St. Paul s excuse
that
he
cannot
must be
bring himself to despair of any
who bear the

the
school
He
Christian name.
of
Jesus
all
wishes to lead into
who have
believed
in
Him,
whether they be honest but ill-instructed legalists, or

low-minded sensualists.
Therefore, to the one class, he
ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you
and to the other
Let not sin reign in your
nothing
mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts
"
says
If
"
"
2
thereof."
Gal. v. 2
E<m.
vi. 12.
CHAPTEK
XII
EARNESTLY bent on reconciling
his gospel
with
all
the
three interests covered by his apologetic, the apostle was

specially anxious to
to
show that
on the score
objection
was not open

It was
moral tendency.
his doctrine
of
quite natural that he should be exceptionally sensitive on

this subject, not only because
he was himself a morally
earnest man, keenly alive to the supreme importance of

right conduct
theories,
and
as the ultimate test of the truth of all

of
the worth
especially because it
was
of
all
religions,
but
more
at this point that his system
might plausibly be represented as weakest. How easy to

caricature his antinomianism as a licentious thing which
cancelled all moral demands, and set the believer in Jesus
free to do as
he liked, to sin
if
he pleased, without fear,

not improbable that such
It is
because grace abounded
misconstruction was actually put by disaffected persons
on the Pauline gospel it is only too likely that some
!
members
churches founded by the apostle s

preaching, by the unholiness of their lives, supplied a
In any case both
plausible excuse for misrepresentation.
of the various
phenomena were a priori to be expected. On all

grounds, therefore, it was most needful that the doctrine
these
221

of justification
by
faith in
God s
225
free grace
should be
cleared of all suspicion in reference to its practical ten
dency.
As
two
already pointed out, the Pauline apologetic offers

the one based on
lines of defence for this purpose
the moral energy of faith, the other on the sanctifying

influence of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
The first line of
defence
falls
now
to be considered.
Faith, as St. Paul conceives
it, is
a mighty principle,
possessing a plurality of virtues, and capable of doing more

things than one. For him, as for the author of the Epistle
to the
Hebrews,
it is
the mother of heroic achievements,
and can not only please God, but enable men

their lives morally sublime.
It
is,
for sanctification as for justification.
gramme,
as formulated in Gal.
all purposes, for the
obtainment
v.
to
make
in his view, as good
Therefore, his pro
5, is
faith alone
for
of righteousness in every
merely righteousness objective, or God s

pardoning grace, but righteousness subjective, or personal
In this notable text Sitcaioavvr)? is an objective
holiness.
sense
not
"
genitive
the hope whose object
"
is
righteousness
and
the righteousness hoped for is subjective, an inward per

That the
sonal righteousness realising the moral ideal.
in a
apostle does sometimes use the term Bt,Kat,oo-uvr]
We
subjective sense
is unquestionable.
in Rom. viii. 10:
use
stances of such
you, the body
is
have clear in
Christ be in
"If
indeed dead on account of

"
spirit is life
on account of righteousness
sin,
but the
and Rom.
vi.
16-20, especially ver. 18: "Being freed from sin, ye

On inquiry it
became the servants of righteousness."
will be found that the
15
subjective sense prevails chiefly,
226
as
ST.
we might
is
apostle
some
expect, in apologetic passages,
where the
concerned to vindicate for his doctrine a whole
On
ethical tendency.
this principle Gal. v. 5
must
be regarded as one of the texts in which BiKai,o<rvvrj bears

For in the context the writer is
a subjective meaning.
engaged in combating a religious theory of life on which

the Galatian churches seem to have been, perhaps half
unconsciously, acting,
that while faith might be good
viz.,
for the initial stage of the Christian
more advanced
or no avail for the
life, it
was
of little
stages, the needs of
which must be met by a methodised system

observances.
we expect
say
the champion of anti-legalist Christianity to
This
Against
"
Faith
middle, and end
good for
is
equally
which
ritual,
accordingly
Gal. v.
5,
is
6,
avail is the
we
holiness
make
us holy, as
the only thing that

for nothing,
is
is
and
good
whole elaborate system of
upon
you."
This
in the text
take righteousness in a subjective

"
We,
right-minded, right-
the spirit, from faith, expect the
thinking Christians, in
of
is
what the apostle does say
just
sense as equivalent to holiness
hope
stages, beginning,
doctors inculcate
legal
if
it
Circumcision
good for holiness.

little
all
for all purposes, to
well as to obtain pardon
of
of legal
patchwork theory what should
this
in
for
Christ
neither
circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working
by
love."
It tends to confirm
righteousness
is
is
reach from faith, that

their
guide
that
here represented as an object of hope.

set forth as the goal of Christian hope,
Eighteousness
which the apostle and
as
this interpretation
all
all
is
who
agree with
on the footing
through.
him expect
of faith,
to
with faith
Obviously this
goal
of

righteousness
is
conformity to the
with
synonymous
moral
One
ideal.
227
Christian
holiness,
other fact support
ing the foregoing interpretation is, the description of faith

in the last clause of ver. 6, as energising through low
(&i ajdiTTj^ evepyovpevr)}.
How
a question to be considered
is
far the description is true
the point
that such an account of faith
is,
is
now
insisted
relevant only
be viewed as a sanctifying influence, as
on
faith
if
conducive
to
subjective righteousness.
Pauline programme
from
righteousness in the objective sense
This, then, is
justification,
i.e.
faith also the
the
faith
of holiness,
from
righteousness in the
hope
But by what right does the apostle
such
unbounded
confidence in faith as the prin
repose
a
He gives two
of
new
life
of
Christian
ciple
sanctity ?
i.e.
subjective sense.
answers to this question at least formally distinct

in the text just quoted, wherein faith
energetic through love
is
one
described as
the other in that earlier text in
Galatians, wherein faith is also described as making the

believer one with Christ,2 a line of thought which is
resumed and expanded in Rom. vi.

The former of these two views of
faith exhibits it as a
powerful, practical force, which works mightily, and in
The attri
the best way, from the highest motive, love.
bute denoted by evepyovpevr), guarantees the requisite life
motive denoted by the expression Si
insures the pure quality of the action produced thereby.
force, the
ayd7rr)<>
Holsten (Das Evangelium, des Paulus) endorses this view. He

says "that here Sixa/oo-yj/*) refers not to objective righteousness but to
1
subjective righteousness of life is shown by the connection,

grounding of ei/xa/o^v*? on the spirit," p. 173.
2
Gal.
ii.
20.
and the
228
ST.
allegations are obviously
The
For
ment.
if it
faith be really
if
most relevant to the argu

an energetic principle, and
do indeed work from love as
expect from
its
Out
highest order.
its
motive, then
we may
presence in the soul right conduct of the
sorts of right works,
of the
energy of faith will spring all

will not be vitiated
and those works
by base motives, as in religions of fear, in connection

with which superstitious dread of God proves itself not
mighty than faith, but mighty to malign effects,
making men even give of the very fruit of their body for
less
the sin
is
remaining
faith true
love as
of
their
of
its
is
The only question
soul.
therefore
Are the apostle s statements concerning

an energetic force ? does it work from
faith
motive
There should be no hesitation in admitting the truth

That faith is an energetic principle
both statements.
human
Faith, no matter what its

experience attests.
itself
ever
shows
mighty as a propeller to action.
object,
If a man believes a certain enterprise to be possible and
all
worthy, his faith will stir him up to persistent effort for

The eleventh chapter of the Epistle to
its achievement.
the Hebrews settles the question as to the might inherent
In this might all faith shares, therefore the

But why should the faith
faith of Christians in God.
in faith.
of
Christians
work by
love
not by some other
Why
motive, say fear, which has been such a potent factor in

the religious history of
mankind
Is there
any intrinsic
necessary connection between Christian faith and love ?
All
There is, and it is due to the Christian idea of God.
turns on that.
He
is
The God
of
our faith
is
God
of grace.
our Father in heaven, and we, however unworthy,
229
are His children.
by
Therefore our faith inevitably works

First and obviously by the love of gratitude
love.
for
received.
mercy
religion of fear
Lord that
this wise
is
"
whereas the question of a

Wherewithal shall I come before the
For.
appease His
may
What
wrath,"
faith speaketh in
shall I render unto the
But not through the love
"
benefits
"
Lord
for all
His
of gratitude alone
also through the love of adoration for the highest con
God
ceivable ethical ideal realised in the divine nature.

is
To
love,
benignant,
believe
self
such a
in
communicating,
God
make
to
is
spirit if limited in capacity, the
law
of
self-sacrificing.
love, similar in
life.
Hence the
necessity for taking care that our developed theologies
and our theories

faith in such a
which have
of
God
atonement do not make whole-hearted

difficult or impossible.
this result are suicidal,
All theologies
and secure a barren
orthodoxy at the expense of Christlike heroic character

and noble conduct.
The
apostle s conception of the Christian faith, as ener
getic through love,
is
thus in harmony at once with the
general nature of faith as a principle in the human mind,

and with the specific nature of the Christian religion.
But the boldness with which he gave utterance

conception really sprang out of his
own
own
to this
experience.
His
hence his unbounded
confidence in the power of faith to
work out the problem
faith
was
of this description
of salvation
from
justification
of his
sin.
And
his life as a Christian is the
confidence
for
if
we may judge
of
in the
sufficiency for the task assigned to it
Pauline system by the character and career of the apostle
to the Gentiles, then we may, without hesitation, give in
faith s
230
ST.
our adherence to the watchword, FAITH ALONE.

the formula by the
common phenomena
Testing
of religious
life,
we might very excusably pause before adopting it. Two

classes of phenomena are of frequent occurrence.
One is,
the combination of
standing-ground of faith with

various forms of legalism.
The other is, the more incon
combination
of
gruous
evangelic faith with vulgar morality
or,
worse
still,
the
with immorality.
The former combination,
exhibited in one form or another in
and
in every branch of the Church,
every generation,
may seem
to prove
Faith
alone
for
all
programme,
purposes, is
found
devout
souls
unworkable.
From the
generally
by
latter combination it may plausibly be inferred that the
the
that
proclamation from the housetop of the Pauline programme
dangerous to morals.
Now, as to the combination of faith and legalism, it
must be sorrowfully admitted that it always has been,
is
and
very prevalent.
History attests that it has
ever been found a hard thing to remain standing on the
still
is,
Downcome from that high level

platform of free grace.
a
from
to
to
lower,
law, from faith to technical
grace
good works," from liberty to bondage, seems to be a
"
matter of course in religious experience, individual and

What happened in Galatia repeats itself from
collective.
Legalism in some form
age to age, and in all churches.
The. fact
recurs with the regularity of a law of nature.
preliminary presumption against the Pauline
programme which must be faced. How, then, are we to
raises
reconcile the fact with the all-sufficiency of faith
We
do this by taking into account the law of

growth in the kingdom of God, enunciated by our Lord
shall best
THE MOKAL ENERGY OF FAITH
231
the parable of the blade, the ear, and the

ripe corn.
is
a
characteristic of the stage of the green ear,
Legalism
in
in the spiritual life of the individual
The blossom and the
munity.
and the end
of a
and
of the
com
ripe fruit, the beginning
normal Christian experience, exhibit
The green
the beauty of pure evangelic faith.
fruit is a
lapse from the simplicity of the beginning, a lapse which

is at the same time a
step in advance, as it prepares the
way
which evangelic
for a higher stage, in
faith shall
reappear victorious over the legal spirit of fear, distrust,
and
self-reliance.
this
If
be true, and
it
verified at
is
once by church history and by religious biography, then

the apostle s programme is vindicated
for we must test
;
by the end of Christian growth, and by the

which
is a foreshadowing of the end, not
beginning,
by
the intermediate stage, in which morbid elements appear,
his principle
the only value of which
which makes
simplicity of
by
the
that they supply a discipline
is
heart glad
to
return again to the
Judge Paulinism by
trust.
his degenerate successors
its
author, not
by the Eeformers, not by the
scholastic theologians of the seventeenth century
men
in
whom
by the
the spirit of the Eeformation reappeared
at the close of the dreary period of Protestant scholasti
by men like Bengel

in
Chalmers
and
whose faith was
Scotland,
Germany,
not a mere tradition from the fathers, and, as such, a
cism, terminating in universal doubt
in
feeble
degenerate
thing, but
heaven to their own

be a tradition
passes
for
souls.
fresh
in the very act of
evangelic
faith
which brings the way
revelation
True evangelic
from
faith cannot
becoming such, what
degenerates into a legalisrn
of faith
into discredit.
232
ST.
now
Passing
to the other
of evangelic faith, so-called,
shall
we say
real
risk
of it
Does
phenomenon, the combination

with a low moral tone, what
it
the Pauline
of
not prove that there
is
doctrine not only failing to
promote sanctification, but even becoming perverted into

a corrupting, demoralising influence ?
It certainly does
show that there is serious risk of abuse, through the
thing that
is
men guard
on
to
men who
turn the grace of God into

is not the only good
And in other matters
liable to be abused.
unworthiness of
licentiousness.
But divine grace
against abuse as best they can,
the legitimate
Even
use.
so
still
holding
must we act
in
reference to the matter of salvation by faith in divine

grace.
that
We
way
to
must refuse
spiritual
to be put out of conceit with
life
and health by a counterfeit,

We must reckon
hypocritical, immoral evangelicism.
the principle of the Pauline gospel a thing so good as to

be worth running risks for, and continue to adhere to it
in spite of all drawbacks.
must not be ashamed of
We
the motto on our banner because a rascally
mob
follows
watchword, and shouting, We

will rejoice in Thy salvation."
Think of the men who
in the rear repeating our
"
constitute the real body of
the army, the people

themselves
to
the
noble fight against
give
willingly
clothed in the beauties of holiness from the
womb
who
evil,
of the
morning men of the stamp of Luther, Knox, Wishart,

who were as the dew of Christ s youth in the morning
;
of
the Reformation.
May we
not bear with equanimity
the presence in the Church of some worthless counter

feits, orthodox worldlings, selfish
saints, hypocritical
schemers, and the
like, for
the sake of such a noble race
men
233
May we
not patiently see some using Christian

liberty for an occasion to the flesh, when we recognise
in such simply the abuse of a principle whose native
of
tendency
is
men
to produce
like-minded with
St.
Paul
men
taking their stand resolutely on grace, not because

they desire to evade moral responsibilities, but because
they hope to get the hunger of their spirit for righteous
ness
filled,
and
to be enabled to rise to heights of
attainment otherwise inaccessible
on being freed from every species

bondage,
specially jealous
of
men
passionately bent
of degrading,
all
moral
religious
hampering
yet
fetters,
desiring freedom only for holy ends

ridding themselves
of
dead works
that they may serve God in a new,
Such, beyond doubt, is the kind
living, devoted way ?
;
"
"
of
men
duce
thoroughgoing faith in divine grace tends to pro

and if there are fewer such men in the Church
than one could wish,
because the faith professed is

not earnestly held, or held in its purity, but is mingled
with some subtle element of legalism which prevents it
it is
from having its full effect.

After what has been said in a former chapter, 1 it will
not be necessary to expatiate on the other source of
faith s sanctifying power, the fellowship
lishes
between the believer and
and transcendental
minds,
it
this fellowship
it
estab
may
appear to some
will not be denied that in proportion as
realised in
any Christian experience
powerful stimulus to
like
which
However mystic
Christ.
Christlike
it
living.
it is
must prove a
No man
can,
the apostle, think of himself as dying, rising, and
ascending
with
Christ
1
without
Vide chap.
ix.
being
stirred
up
to
234
PAUL S CONCEPTION OF CHPJSTIANITY
ST.
strenuous
after
effort
"
The
heroism.
"
faith-
the stuff out of which saints, confessors,
is
mysticism
moral
and martyrs are made.

The only point on which there
is room for doubt is whether, under this form of its
activity, faith
be a sanctifying power to any considerable
extent for
or only for persons of a particular religious
all,
Under the aspect already
temperament.
is
No man, be
a universal moral force.
what
considered, faith
his
temperament
may, can understand and believe in the lovingkindness of God, as proclaimed in the gospel, without
it
being put under constraint of conscience by his faith.

The man who earnestly believes himself to be a son of
God must needs
try to be Godlike.
Even
in spiritual
if
character he be of the unimaginative, unpoetic, matter-
he will
of-fact type,
will
feel his obligation
appear to him a plain question
none the
of sincerity,
less
it
common
In comparison with
honesty, and practical consistency.
the mystic, he may have to plod on his way without
aid of the eagle wings of a fervid religious imagination
nevertheless observe him, and you shall see

persistently without fainting.
raptures
St.
and co-rising
to criticise
Paul s way
is
it,
He knows
little of
devotee
of thinking concerning co-dying
He
too high for him.
does not presume
or depreciate its characteristic utterances
as the extravagant language of an inflated enthusiasm
he simply leaves
thought of
him
it
flying, is
movement.
him walk on
on one
side,
and, renouncing
all
content with the pedestrian rate of
But the steadiness
of his
advance approves
also to be a true son of faith.
The wings
of the mystic are essentially
feet of the plain Christian
man.
one with the
Fellowship with Christ

is
235
only a form which the moral energy of faith takes in
certain types of spiritual experience.
known
it is
to
all,
In a low degree
but in signal measure it is exhibited

St. Bernard and Samuel
only in the lives of saints like

Eutherford.
Translated
into
ethical precepts directed

against fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness, to rise
with Christ
is
a universal Christian duty
x
;
but to clothe
duty in that imaginative garb, and to realise it emotion

ally under that aspect, is, at the best, a counsel of per
fection.
From
that precedes, it will be apparent that I

Paul
as teaching that sanctifying power is
regard
inherent in faith.
It is not an accident that it works
all
St.
that way,
sanctity
view,
if
between
is
it
cannot but so work.
insured as
Given
faith, Christian
or natural evolution.
its fruit
This
well founded, supplies a satisfactory connection

justification
and
between religion
the sure nexus between the two.
sanctification,
and morality.
Faith is
But some writers on Paulinism demur
to such prominence
One can
being given to the moral energy of faith.
understand how Protestant orthodoxy, in its jealousy of
llomish views, should be tempted to minimise faith s
ethical virtue, with the result of failing to insure a close,
genetic connection
between
justification
and
sanctifica
but modern commentators might have been expected

above such one-sidedness.
Yet so weighty a
writer as Weiss, under what influences one can only
tion
to
rise
conjecture, completely disappoints
us on this score.
maintains that such a view of faith
endeavoured
He
function as I have
to present is un-Pauline.
The true account
Col
iii.
1-5.
236
ST.
apostle s doctrine, he thinks,
of the
and the communication

divine
of
new
that justification
are
two
distinct
independent of each other, and connected
acts,
together only in so far as faith
is
required in receiving
Far from producing the new
both.
energy, faith, according to this author

ism,
is,
life
life
by
its
moral
reading of Paulin-
hardly even the main condition of our receiving

life
from God.
In this connection, baptism is
is
that
supposed to come to the front as a second great prin

ciple of salvation, not less indispensable for regeneration,
or the reception of
the Holy Spirit, than faith
for
is
justification.
Is this really
to
believe
Paulinism
should be slow and sorry

s function is
This minimising of faith
it.
He was more likely

hardly in the great apostle s line.
to exaggerate than to under-estimate the extent and
intensity of its influence.
from him any doctrine
We
of
should not, indeed, expect
faith
which ascribed
conceived as a purely natural faculty of the
human
it,
soul,
renew character apart altogether from the

God.
But he nowhere conceives of faith after
to
power
grace of
this
to
He
manner.
regards
it
as
due to the action
of the
Divine Spirit in us that we know, have the power to

1
appreciate, the things that are freely given to us of God.
And no
even in
Spirit s
other view of the matter

its
How much
justifying function,
influence.
is
sense of sin
trust
in
It
is
is
the act
is
reasonable.
Faith,
a fruit of the Divine

of
a regenerate
soul.
implied even in the faith that justifies

and of the need of salvation, self-distrust,
!
God, victory over the fear engendered by an

1
1 Cor. ii. 12.
237
and courage to believe in God s goodwill

the
towards
instinctive insight into the
even
guilty
magnanimity of God, in virtue of which He most readily
evil conscience,
gives His grace to the lowest, with resulting boldness to
conceive and utter the prayer,

it is
He
achievements
And
will, as it
equal to
the
all
both
because
iniquity, for
in this initial
birth
its
is
of
capable
and
such
grows and gains strength, prove
demands
these
of
things
the spiritual
life
true, the
whole
are
from beginning to end, must be conceived

as an organic unity, with faith for its inspiring soul.
Christian
of
is
be anywhere in our religious experience
surely the faith which at
itself
Pardon mine
Surely the Divine Spirit
great"
faith, if
"
life,
The rupture
of that unity, by the dissection of experi

ence into two independent experiences, justification and
renewal, is a fatal mistake on the part of anyone who
undertakes to expound the Pauline theology. The result
is
ing presentation
not Paulinism as
it
lives
and breathes
in the glowing pages of the four great Epistles, but the
dead carcase
Paulinism as anatomised by scholastic
of
interpreters.
And what
is
to be said of the theory
new
baptism, in reference to the

parallel in
man, a function
in
reference to justification
why
given
authority of
it
St.
strong texts to
life
It
importance to that of faith

Many reasons can be
as
resting
would require very
of
the
no
and
overcome the antecedent unlikelihood of
man who
avail,"
on the
clear
any such theory receiving countenance from him.

of
to
Christian
cannot be accepted
Paul.
which gives
of the
so peremptorily said,
"
Think
Circumcision
is
assigning to baptism not merely symbolical,
238
ST.
but essential significance in reference to regeneration.
Then how weak

his
"
view
What
cision,
his position
How
easy for Judaistic opponents to retort
we
better are you than
and you put
You
on the antithesis between letter and
and
But here
spirit.
not less than circumcision,

body.
We
You
is
no
fail to
insist
spirit, or
antithesis.
grandly
Baptism,
the
rite affecting
You charge us with beginning
in the spirit
faith, and ending in the flesh.

yourself against the same charge ?
with
do you defend
It
not likely that
the apostle would teach a doctrine that
him
in so
and
How
"
for foes to put
see
between
simply a
is
circum
set aside
in its place baptism.
the great advantage of the change.
flesh
was
this
if
controversially,
is
made
narrow a corner.
it
possible
But consider
further his position as an apologist for his gospel, as not
unfavourable to ethical interests.
It is in this apologetic
connection that he refers to baptism in Romans vi., and,

on the hypothesis as to the significance of that rite now
under consideration, what we must hold him

effect this
"
No
my
fear of
to say
is
in
doctrine of justification by
compromising ethical interests

every believer is
and
insures
a
new
life of holiness."
baptism
baptized,
faith
This defence
on the score
it
is
open to criticism in two directions.
of logic.
First
Opponents might bring against
the charge of ignoratio elencki, saying
"
We
questioned
the moral tendency of your doctrine of justification by
and we expected to hear from you something going

show that the faith that makes a man pass for
faith,
to
righteous
can,
moreover,
make him
really
righteous.
you bring in as deus ex machind this baptism

which you never mentioned before.
Is this not really
But
lo

an admission that your doctrine
239
of justification is morally
On
"
the other hand, the hostile critic might

assail the supposed Pauline apologetic on the ground of
defective
"
fact,
by enquiring,
Is,
producing holiness
for
then, baptism an infallible specific
persons live saintly lives
have been so severe a
Do you
It is
critic of
find that all baptized
incumbent on you, who
heathenism and Judaism,
and truthful in your
to be scrupulously candid
answer."
Who
does not feel that the very conception of this ideal

situation is a redudio ad absurdum of the sacrament-
arian
theory
Judaism
After
pronouncing
failures, as tested
heathenism
and
by morality, the apostle Paul,
in the face of the world, in a letter addressed to the

of
metropolis
universal
Christianity as a
moral
rite of
tests,
empire,
his
faith in
religion that will stand the severest
and the ground
baptism
declares
of
his confidence is
the
l
!
1
The view has lately been propounded that the Lord s Supper
owed its origin to St. Paul. It was revealed to him, such is the
hypothesis, in one of those visions he was constitutionally liable to

have, after he had seen or heard of the celebration of the Mysteries
of
Demeter
city.
at Eleusis near Corinth, during his stay at the latter

was the result of a desire to turn the pagan
The vision he turned into a history of
to Christian use.
The
vision
ceremony
something Jesus had actually done, and from him the story passed
The institution at least of the Lord s Supper as a
into the Gospels.
sacrament, if not the whole transaction as recorded in the Gospels,
originated in this way. Vide The Origin of the Lord s Supper, by
Piercy Gardner, Litt.D. (Macmillan & Co. 1893). Apart from other
considerations the theory appears to me improbable in view of St.
Paul s whole religious attitude. A vision presupposes a mood to
which it corresponds. The apostle s anti-Judaistic bias would dis
He was
incline him from attaching importance to religious ritual.
the last man to create sacraments, and he would accept either Baptism
or the Lord s Supper only because he believed Christ had instituted it
240
ST.
It is
The theory is without exegetical foundation.
not necessary, in order to do full justice to the apostle s
argument in Romans vi., to assign to baptism more than
We
symbolical significance.
to
the
passage,
ingeniously
we
if
can,
to the rite essential significance,
choose, ascribe
and bringing that view

in
it
interpret
harmony
cannot be shown that baptism is for

the apostle more than a familiar Christian institution,
which he uses in transit u to state his view of the Chris
therewith.
But
it
which appeal
tian life in vivid, concrete terms,
He
religious imagination.
way
it
employs
to the
in his free, poetic
as an aid to thought, just as elsewhere he employs
the veil of Moses, and the allegory of Sarah and Hagar.

But, alas what with him was a spirited mystic concep
!
tion has
become a very prosaic dogma.
attending
"
say,
all
We were
be held to
symbolism.
religious
baptized into Christ
mean
causes death to
to
apostle cannot
death,"
but he must
that the rite not only symbolises, but

sin
and resurrection
Christ Himself cannot say,
must be held
It is a fatality
An
mean
"
This
This bread
is
is
to righteousness.
but
He
changed into
My
My
body,"
Yet, in the case of the apostle, the very manner

in which he expresses himself as to the prevalence of
body.
the rite might put us on our guard against ascribing to
him a theory
of
sacramental grace.
"
So
many
of us as
He leaves it
were baptized
(oaot
â-nrlaOrjêv).
doubtful whether all bearing the Christian name were
"
Bengel appends to the word oaot, the remark

Christianorum jam turn non baptizatus erat."
have been so as a matter of fact, but it cannot
baptized.
"
Nemo
It
may
be inferred from the apostle
language that every Chris-
241
tian, without exception, was baptized.

There may have
been some who remained
for
unbaptized,
anything he
says to the contrary; just as the statement of the
evangelist, that
l
fectly
to
whole,"
touch
gratifying
"as
many
leaves
the
their
mentarian, he
hem
it
of
wish.
as touched were
doubtful whether
Christ
If
St.
all
made per
who desired
garment succeeded in
Paul had been a sacra-
would have taken care
to
exclude the
2
possibility of doubt.
Matt. xiv. 36.
A slight tinge of Bengel s dogmatism is discernible in the Revised
Version, which substitutes at this point for the words of the A.V.
quoted above,
"
All
we who were
baptized."
CHAPTER
XIII
THE HOLY SPIRIT

IN no subject connected with Paulinism is it more neces
sary to be on our guard against a purely speculative or
On
theoretic treatment than in that of the Holy Spirit.
this
solemn theme, above
all,
the apostle
utterances are
the echoes of a living experience, not the lucubrations of

a scholastic theologian.
The great question for him was
not, what the Holy Spirit is, but what He does in the
soul of a believing
man
and, to be faithful interpreters
mind, we must follow the guidance of the same

In the light of this consideration one
religious interest.
of his
can see the objection which
lies
against allowing the
discussion of the present topic to be dominated, as
it is
in
some recent monographs, by the antithesis between spirit

and flesh. It is true that this is a very prominent Pauline
antithesis,
the
Holy
and
it is
away from the

presented in
Holy
also true that handling the locus of
Spirit in connection therewith
Spirit is
practical,
need not lead us
inasmuch as the
antithesis, as
Pauline literature, signifies that the

the antagonist and conqueror of the flesh
the
as the seat of sin.
But
all
antitheses tend to provoke
the intellectual impulse to abstract definition, and this

one in particular readily raises questions as to what spirit
242
243
THE HOLY SPIRIT

is
and what
sions as to
flesh
what
what theory
is,
and draws us into abstruse discus
ideas are represented
by the terms, and
of the universe underlies their use.
No
such objection can be taken to the place here

assigned to the doctrine of the Spirit as a topic coming
under the general head of the Pauline apologetic, and

more particularly under that part of it which has for its
aim the reconciliation
of
the Pauline gospel with ethical
For this setting of the doctrine not only allows

but compels us to give prominence to that which forms
interests.
the
distinctive
contribution
Testament teaching on the
of
Paul
St.
to
the
New
subject, the great and fruitful
though^ that the Holy Spirit
is
the ground and source
a commonplace now, but by no

Christian sanctity
means a commonplace when he wrote his Epistles. Only
The position of the
one drawback is to be dreaded.
of
doctrine of the Spirit
work
the Pauline gospel might

erroneous impression
rather than in the heart of

create
in
ill-informed
minds an
as to its importance, as
meet a
in the Pauline apologetic
if
it
were an afterthought
difficulty, instead of being, as
it is,
to
a central truth
of the system.
That the Divine Spirit was present in the community

His mighty power, was no
of believers, revealing there
s.
The fact was patent to
accounts the primitive Church was the scene
discovery of the apostle Paul

all.
of
By
all
remarkable phenomena which arrested general attention,
and bore witness to the operation of a cause of a very

unusual character to which beholders gave the name of the
The Pauline
Holy Ghost.
1
Vide especially
Epistles,
1 Cor. xii.
the Epistle to the
and
xiv.
244
ST.
1
Hebrews, and the Acts of the Apostles, all refer to these
phenomena in terms which show what a large place they
held in the consciousness of believers.
the
most striking appears
The nature
tongues.
of
to
this
subject of discussion, chiefly
the mani
Among
festations of the Spirit s influence, the
most common and
have been speaking with

phenomenon has been a
on account
of reconciling the narrative in Acts
ii.
of the difficulty
with the statements
Paul in his First Epistle to the Corinthians.

But
following him, our most reliable authority, we arrive at
of St.
the conclusion that the gift consisted in ecstatic utterance,
not necessarily in the words of any recognised language,

He that
and not usually intelligible to hearers.
"
speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men but unto

The speaker was not master of himself he
God."
;
was carried headlong, as if driven by a mighty wind he

was subject to strong emotion which must find vent
;
somehow, but which could not be made to run in any

To the onlooker the state would
accustomed channel.
the aspect
present
reason and the
of
overmastering
possession
the
will.
was in phenomena of this sort, preternatural effects

some great power, that the first Christians saw the
hand of God. The miraculousness of the phenomena was
It
of
what they
laid stress on.
the ordinary course,
The more unusual and out
the more divine.
with this view, the Spirit
of
In accordance
work was conceived
of as
The power
transcendent, miraculous, and charismatic.
of the Holy Ghost was a power coming from without,
producing extraordinary
1
Vide
Hel). vi. 4, 5.
effects
that
2
could
1 Cor.
arrest
xiv. 2.
the
THE HOLY SPIRIT

attention even of a profane eye
1
Magus,
245
perceptible to a
Simon
communicating charisms, technically called
e.y.,
"
but not ethical in nature
rather consisting
in the power to do
things marvellous and create astonish
spiritual,"
ment
The
in vulgar minds.
fact that so
crude an idea
prevailed in the apostolic Church bears convincing testi

mony to the prominence of the preternatural element in
the experience of that early time.
prominence had
one-sided view
for its natural

of the
office
And,
of course, that
consequence a very partial

the Holy Spirit.
His
of
renewing, sanctifying function seems to have been
very much
in the background.
He was
left
of as
thought
we understand the
the author not of grace (%apt?) as
term, but of charisms (papierfiara), and spiritual in the

vocabulary of the period was an attribute ascribed to the
"
"
effects of a
Spirit of power, not to those of a Spirit of
This statement
holiness.
is
warranted by some narratives
church history in the Book of Acts, in which

the communication of the Holy Ghost is represented as
following, not preceding, the believing reception of the
of apostolic
So,
gospel.
ment
in
received
e.g.,
in the account of the evangelistic
Samaria.
It
the word of
was
God
after the
Samaritans
had
com
Jerusalem, went down and
that Peter and John,
missioned by the apostles in
prayed for
move
them that they might
receive
the
Holy
It is indeed expressly stated, as a reason for the
Ghost.
as yet He was fallen upon none of them

had
been baptized into the name of the Lord
only they
Jesus."
And to what effect they received the Holy Ghost
in answer to prayer may be inferred from the fact that
prayer, that
Acts
"
viii. 18.
Acts
viii.
14-24.
246
ST.
the result was immediately obvious to Simon the sorcerer.
They must have begun

phesy, as
happened
who had
St.
to
speak with tongues and to pro
in the case of the disciples at Ephesus,
lived in ignorance of the gift of the Spirit
Paul came and
laid
hands on them. 1
his
till
In these
naive records, which have every appearance of being a

faithful reflection of the spirit of the early
Jewish Church,
not thought of as a work of the Spirit,

but rather as the precursor to His peculiar operations,
which in turn are regarded as a seal set by God upon
faith, conversion, is
We
that anyone meant

from the properly
Ghost
Holy
spiritual sphere, and to confine His agency to the charis
That the author of Acts had no such
matic region.
faith.
not
are
to
suppose
deliberately to exclude the
be gathered from the fact that he ascribed

2
Lydia openness of mind to the gospel to divine influence.
Possibly, if the matter had been plainly put before them,
thought
may
all
members
the
of
the apostolic Church
would
have
acknowledged that the Holy Spirit was the source of

faith, hope, and love, as well as of tongues, and prophesy
ings, and miraculous healings. Only the latter phenomena
appeared the more remarkable, and the former appeared
a matter of course whence it resulted that the gift of the
;
came
in ordinary dialect to
Holy
Spirit
power
to believe, hope,
ecstatically,
and
to
and
mean, not the
love, but the power to speak
prophesy enthusiastically, and to heal
the sick by a word of prayer.
Very natural then and always

exists
now
to think
to prefer the charismatic to
more highly
.
1-7.
of the
same tendency
the spiritual, and
for the
occasional stormy wind of

2
Ibid. xvi. 14.
THE HOLY SPIRIT

preternatural might than of the
still,
247
constant air of divine
But the tendency has its dangers. What if

these marvellous gifts become divorced from reason and
influence.
conscience,
thing very
and the inspired one degenerate
madman
like a
or, still
into
some
worse, present the
of high religious excitement combined

with sensual impulses and low morality ?
Why, then,
there will be urgent need for revision of the doctrine of
unseemly spectacle
the Holy Spirit, and for considering whether
much
to lay so
in our estimate of
of the
it
be wise
on charisms, as distinct from graces,

His influence.
This was probably one
stress
causes which led St. Paul to study carefully the
whole subject.
were not long
For the
of
possibilities
presenting
above pointed out
themselves
as
sorrowful
the
Ananiases and Sapphiras and Simons,
whole fraternity of people who can be religious and at
the same time false, greedy, sensual, bending like reeds
before the swollen stream in a time of enthusiasm without
realities.
radical change of heart,
soon began to swarm.

They
of
the
the
wheat
among
tares
appeared
everywhere,
they were unusually abundant in the Corinthian
Church, where everybody could speak in one way or
kingdom
another, and virtue was at a discount
a Church mostly
gone to tongue. Phenomena of this sort, familiar

from the beginning of his Christian career, would
to
him
set the
apostle on musing, with the result of a deepened insight

into the nature, scope, and great aim of the Spirit s function
among
those
who
believed in Jesus.
These phenomena would give a thoughtful
very clearly
man
food for
They showed
that Christian sanctity was by no means so
reflection in a direction not yet indicated.
248
much
ST.
a matter of course as antecedent to experience
many
At first it was thought

might be inclined to suppose.
that the great thing was to get the charisms, and that
the graces might be left to look after themselves.
But
when men arose who could prophesy

Christ s name,
and by His name cast out devils, and do many other
wonderful works, and yet remain bad in heart and in life, 1
in
then the wise would begin to see that Christian goodness

was the important thing, and also the most difficult,
and that the Holy Ghost s influence was more urgently

needed as an aid against the baser nature of
a source of showy gifts of doubtful
man than
as
utility.
In some such way we may conceive the apostle Paul to

have arrived at his distinctive view of the Holy Spirit,
according to which the Spirit s function is before all things
At all events, however
to help the Christian to be holy.
he reached
this undoubtedly is his view.

By this
not intended to suggest that the apostle
broke entirely away from the earlier charismatic theory.
He not only did not doubt or deny, he earnestly believed
statement
in
the
it,
it is
reality
of
the miraculous
charisms.
He
even
sympathised with the view that in their miraculousness

He
lay the proof that the power of God was at work.
probably carried this supernaturalism into the ethical
sphere, and saw in Christian holiness a work of the
Divine
Spirit,
because for him
This
may
it
was the greatest
of all
man was
enabled to be holy.
have been the link of connection between his
miracles that a poor sinful
theory of the Spirit s influence and that of the primitive

Jewish Church the common element in both theories
;
Matt.
vii. 22.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
249
axiom that the supernatural is divine, the

peculiar to his that the moral miracle of a
being the
element
renewed man
is
the greatest and most important of
But while giving the moral miracle the
first
all.
place,
did not altogether despise the charismatic miracle.
he
He
phenomena, as one aware that they

were in danger of running wild, and that they very much
needed to be brought under the control of the great law
criticised the relative
of edification. 1
But he
an ethical
criticised in
interest,
not with any aversion to the supernatural. His criticism

doubtless tended to throw the charisms into the shade, and
even to bring about their ultimate disappearance.

there
is
But
nothing in his letters to justify the assertion that
he desired their discontinuance, or deliberately worked for

2
it.
Even his supreme concern for edification would not
lead
him
to adopt
such a policy.
For the charisms were
not necessarily or invariably non-edifying. The power to

heal 3 could not be exercised without contributing to the
common
Even speaking with tongues might

be
occasionally
edifying, as when one here and there in
an assembly cried out ecstatically,
Abba, Father," or
benefit.
"
uttered groans expressive of feelings that could not be
embodied in articulate language. 4

1
On
The one phenomenon,
26 Kcnu-to. ^po;
the two conceptions of tlie Spirit s influence, as transcendent
and immanent, vide Harnack, Dogmengeschichte, 3rd Aufl. vol. i. p.
49, Note 1, where St. Paul is represented as vibrating between the
;
Harnack
two.
3
Cur. xiv.
1 Cor. xii.
refers to
;
oiMû
Gunkel and
Its
reflects his
point of view.
%etpfaftetTot la.ua.ruy.
Gunkel (Die Wirkungen des heiligen Geistes, p. 67) suggests that

It
Glossolalie."
both these phenomena belong to the category of
is one of many fruitful fresh suggestions to be found in this book, to
"
which
gladly acknowledge
my
obligations.
250
ST.
even
it
if
stood alone without any added prayer, was a
witness of the Divine Spirit to the sonship of the believer.

It was but a child s cry, uttered in helpless weakness, but
the
greater
witness
for
the helplessness
who
the more conclusive
the
could teach the spiritual babe to utter
exclamation but the
such an
Spirit of its Heavenly

The other phenomenon was but a speechless
sound, a groan de profundis, but then it was a groan of
the Holy Ghost, and as such revealed His unspeakably
Father
comforting sympathy with the sighing of the whole

creation, and of the body of believers in Jesus for the
advent of the new redeemed world.

Yet, withal, the apostle believed that there were better
things than charisms, and a better way than to covet
them
to
and
summum
as the
than
love
bonum.
to prophesy
man
to help a
It
was
all
the charisms.
Epistle
the
of
the divine activity,
to the Galatians,
catalogue
where
the fruit of
of
immense step onwards
in
For in
he did recognise
as we learn from the
the charity extolled in 1 Corinthians

effect
to love, a more worthy function of the
Spirit than to bestow on him
an
he held,
better,
speak with tongues
or to
xiii.
aydirr]
the
heads the
1
Spirit.
list
in
What an
the moral education
of the
world this doctrine, that love and kindred graces are the
best evidence that a man is under the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost, and that only they who love deserve

called spiritual
to
be
In the Epistle to the Galatians love,
peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

meekness, and self-control are set in antithesis to the
joy,
works
of the flesh, as the

1
proper fruit of the
Gal. v. 22.
Spirit.
It
THE HOLY SPIKIT

is
an instructive contrast
251
but even more significant,
because more unexpected,

effect
is it to find the apostle in

these
in contrast to the charisms,
virtues
setting
and saying
Church
to the
fruit of the
not the
is
Spirit
time
of his
The true proper

work
"
gift of healing, or of
ing miracles, or of speaking with tongues, or of inter

it is love that suffereth
preting tongues
long and is
that
envieth
and
boasteth
not
that
beareth
kind,
not,
;
all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth

l
No
one possessing ordinary moral discern

ment can mistake the works of the flesh for the fruit of
all
things."
the Spirit, though here also mistakes are possible, even

in the case of
religious
men who confound
resentments with zeal for
private
their
the glory
of
own
God.
But how easy to imagine oneself a spiritual, Spiritpossessed man, because one has prophesied, and cast
out devils in Christ s name and how hard on such a
;
self-deceived one the stern repudiation of the Lord,
know you
the words
to
be
not,"
of
and the withering contempt expressed

his apostle,
"
something, when he
himself."
"
If a
is
man
in
thinketh himself
nothing,
he deceiveth
Divine action, when transcendent and miraculous,

intermittent.
The
is
speaker in a tongue does not always
speak ecstatically, but only when the power from on

In the case of the charisms it
high lays hold on him.
But in the case of the graces

does not greatly matter.
Here intermittent action of the Spirit
matters much.
it
means
failure, for
man
cannot be said to be sanctified
unless there be formed in

1
1 Cor. xiii.
4-7.
him
fixed habitudes of grace,

2
Gal. vi. 3.
252
PAUL
ST.
manifesting themselves with something like the regularity

But where the action of the Spirit
of a law of nature.
can
there
intermittent
is
no
be
or
habits
abiding
the third
only
heaven of devout thought and holy emotion, followed by
lapses to the lower levels in which unassisted human
states, but
nature
the
to
moods, Abba,
case
in their hearts
involved by
is
cried
While they were
filial
when
who
those
God was
But the
sons.
into
can see what
of
irarrjp.
they realised that
His
We
at home.
is
reference
elevations
occasional
in
ecstatic
in the
mood
their Father, that they were
consciousness was not established
the transcendent influence out of
which they spoke for the moment passed away, they

sank down from the filial spirit to the legal, from trust
to fear.
To eliminate
spiritual
character,
this
fitfulness,
and secure stable
transcendency must
give
place
to
immanence, and preternatural action to action in accord

The Divine Spirit must cease
ance with spiritual law.
be above and outside, and take up His abode in our
hearts, and His influence, from being purely mysterious
to
and magical, must be exerted through the powers, and in

accordance with the nature, of the human soul. Without
pretending
that
the
anticipated
apostle
doctrine of divine immanence,
indwelling
of
the
Holy
man
as a temple in
abode. 1
in
Spirit
He
recognition in his pages.
under that august figure
of a
;
as
man
the
Spirit
of
modern
said that
finds
represents the
which the
Even the body
must be
it
an
distinct
Christian
God has His
believer he conceives of
if
the Divine Spirit had
entered into as intimate a connection with his material

1
1 Cor. iii. 1C.
253
THE HOLY SPIKIT
1
organism as that which the soul sustains to the body.
And from that indwelling he expects not only the
sanctification of the inner spiritual nature, but the
endowment of the mortal body with unending life. 2

The idea of the believing man as the temple of the
by the apostle as a motive
Spirit is introduced
sanctification, as
if
for self-
out of respect for our august tenant.

to teach by implication
But the same idea may be held
the unintermitting, sanctifying influence of the immanent

Spirit,
whose constant concern
it
chosen abode worthy of Himself.
must be
to keep His
His honour
is
no wise
compromised by withholding for a season, or permanently,

The withdrawal
from any believer charismatic power.
may even be an index of spiritual advance from the
crudity of an incipient religious enthusiasm to the calm
But the temple of God cannot be defiled

without
by
injury to His good name, therefore for
His own sake He is concerned to be constantly active in
of self-control.
sin
keeping the sanctuary holy.
The immanency
along with
it,
sanctifier is
of
the
Holy
further
carries
Spirit
as has been stated, that His influence as a
exerted in accordance with the laws of a
His instrument must be truth,
rational nature.
fitted,
upon the conscience and the heart.

This fact also finds occasional, though not very elabo
if
believed, to tell
rate recognition, in the Pauline Epistles.
indicated in the text in
Thessalonians that
which
this
text
1 Cor. vi. 15.
It
is
the
fair
2
and
inference
Rom.
viii. 11.
broadly
the
tells
apostle
God had chosen them unto
in sanctification of the Spirit
From
the
salvation,
3
belief of the truth.
that
is,
3
the Spirit
2 Thess.
ii.
13.
254
ST.
We natur
through Christian truth believed.
find
on
to
useful
hints
this
topic in the
ally expect
Epistles written to the church in which the charismatic
sanctifies
was specially conspicuous, and

which at the same time there was a great need
action of the
And we
sanctification.
is
we do
with
closely
l
"
Sanctified
Jesus,"
"
in
it
find connect sancti
Sanctified
name
the
made unto us
Christ
Christ,"
"
Christ.
for
And
are not disappointed.
noteworthy that the hints
fication
in
Spirit
of
Christ
in
the Lord
sanctification."
idea suggested in the second of these phrases
Jesus
The
may
be,
by the very name he bears the Christian is con

But this ideal sanctification is of
to God.
that
secrated
value only on account of the real sanctification of which

And the other two phrases teach
it is the earnest.
that the material conditions
such sanctification are
of
provided in Christ as an object of knowledge and faith.

Christ fully taken advantage of in these ways will com
The Spirit dwelling in
pletely insure our sanctification.
the heart sanctifies through Christ dwelling in the heart
by faith, and by thought in order to faith. Hence it
comes that the
Spirit
as in the sentence,
"
expression,
distinguished
The Lord the

the
to
is
Spirit,"
consciousness
and the
As a matter
Spirit."
two
identified,
4
the
indwellings
they
are
cannot
of
be
The
one.
the alter ego of the Lord.
is
The truth
Spirit s
and Christ are sometimes
The Lord
experience
subjective
Spirit
"
as
it
is
in Jesus, the idea of Christ,
instrument in sanctification.
1 Cor.
i.
2 Cor.
iii.
2.
17.
Ibid. vi. 11.
Ibid.
iii.
18.
And whence
3
Ibid.
i.
30.
is
the
do
we
THE HOLY SPIRIT
255
get our idea of Christ
?
Surely from the earthly history
has been supposed that the apostle
means to cast a slight on that history as of little value
Lord
of our
when he
to faith
Christ
more."
It
after
l
Even though we have known

yet now we know Him so no
"
says
the
flesh,
But what he here
principal Epistles,
much
says, like
must be looked
else in his
at in the light of his
controversy with the Judaists.

great importance to
Jesus,
the
His opponents attached

mere external companionship with
and because he had
privilege
of
such
not, like
the Eleven, enjoyed
companionship,
question his right to be an apostle.
they
called
His reply to
in
this
in effect was, that not outside acquaintance, but insight
was what
The reply implies
qualified for apostleship.
that the former
may
exist without the latter,
which from
we know to be true. How ignorant

man s own relations of his inmost spirit
familiar experience
oftentimes are a
What
the value of any knowledge which is lacking

in this respect ?
Knowledge of a man does not mean
is
knowing
his
clothes,
his
features,
his
social
position.
know a man because I know him to be a man

wealth, who resides in a spacious dwelling, and is
I do not
of
surrounded with
honours.
whom
Some
comforts, and adorned with
many
are very ambitious to
know
many
a person of
these things are true, and they would cease to
know him if he were deprived of these advantages.

This is to know a man after the flesh, in Pauline phrase
and if the man so known be a man of moral discern
ment, as well as of means and position, he will heartily

despise such snobbish acquaintances who are friends of
J
2 Cor.
v. 10.
256
ST.
PAUL
than
good fortune rather
his
of
Somewhat
himself.
laid
was the apostle s feelings in regard to the stress

by the Judaists on acquaintance with Jesus after
the
manner
similar
of those
who were with Him during
the
His public ministry.

To cast a slight on the
w ords and acts spoken and done in that ministry, and
on the revelation of a character made thereby, was not,
years of
r
I imagine, in all his thoughts.
Of systematic absolute neglect
of the history of Jesus
the apostle cannot be charged, in view of the importance
he attaches to one event therein, the crucifixion, and

that in connection with the work of the Holy Spirit.
The
Spirit he represents as shedding abroad in our hearts

the love of God, as manifested in the death of Christ,1
overwhelming us, as it were, with a sense of its grandeur

and graciousness, and so materially contributing to our
sanctification through the strong
consciousness of obligation
why
it
hope
it
inspires
One
creates.
every other event and aspect of Christ
made
and the
fails to
see
earthly
life
quota towards the

same great end, and the whole evangelic story turned
It is quite true
into motive power for sanctification.
should not be
to
contribute
its
that St. Paul has not done this, and that he has restricted
his attention very
But that
is
much
no reason
to the death
why we
and resurrection.
should draw our idea of
the Christ, by whose indwelling
we
exclusively from these two events.
are to be sanctified,
The
fuller
and more
many-sided our idea the better, the more healthy the

resulting type
story
is
of
needed and
Christian
Rom.
v.
The
entire
To those who believe
useful.
1
piety.
cf. v. 8.
gospel
in
an
THE HOLY SPIKIT
257
New
Testament no further proof

ment should be necessary than the simple
inspired
Gospels are
The Gospels say
there.
of this state
fact that the
about the
little
Spirit, at least the Synoptical Gospels, but they supply
the
which the
data with
Epistles say
much about
comparatively
little
The Pauline
works.
Spirit
the Spirit and His work, but
His
about
tools.
and
Gospels
Epistles must be taken together if we wish to construct

a full wholesome doctrine of sanctification.
No Ogood
can
ultimately come
the
evangelic history as
removed after the
to
from treating
scaffolding which may be
faith in a risen Lord has
Christian piety
edifice of
been completed.
Antseus-like faith retains its strength
The
by keeping in touch with the ground of history.
s
reliance
on
immediate
influence
from
mystic
emanating
the ascended
Christ,
or
from the Holy
behest, without reference to the
exposes to
Palestine,
all
the
His
Spirit at
Jesus that lived

connected
dangers
in
with
and
lawless
fancies,
spiritual
pride.
vague raptures,
That the divine Logos, or the eternal Spirit of truth
and goodness, can and does work on the human mind
outside Christendom
But that
not be
most certainly
no valid reason
it
endeavours should
among the heathen
may
an influence
Word,"
of a
on
there need have
propagate.
it
may
transcendental
Christians
without
the
In like
be possible
way
exert
to
aid
of
the
the results of such action are not likely to be
kind to compensate for the

17
why
to
be affirmed that, while
for the Divine Spirit in a
"
be believed.
why
by missionary agencies, still less

been no historical Christianity
manner
to
to propagate Christianity
fact is
made
is
loss of
knowledge
of the
258
ST.

It is true, indeed, that the historicity
historical Christ.
the Gospels
of
be more or less open to question.
may
In so far as that
the case,
is
our
it is
The cloud
loss.
uncertainty enveloping the life of Jesus is matter

not a thing to be taken with philosophical
of
of regret,
indifference as
An
if it
is
apology
were
no practical consequence.
of
needed for making these observations,
men of sober judgment will appear selfbut

some present-day tendencies must be my
evident,
excuse.
And it is not irrelevant to offer such remarks
which
to
in connection with the Pauline doctrine of the Spirit
the
circumstances
There can be
which
amidst
was
it
and
formulated.
doubt that the religious enthusiasm

of the apostolic age tended to breed indifference to the
historical Christ.
What need of history to men who
were bearers
revelations
apostle
little
of the
should
sympathised
Certain
is,
did.
it
had not the
in spite of
it
the
to
sorry
this
believe
of
that the
tendency, though some

Be that as it may, what
that the tendency
was well that
and that
be
witli
have supposed that he

is
and were in daily receipt
Spirit,
was unwholesome.
field
memory
altogether to
of Jesus
It
itself,
was lovingly
That memory saved Christianity. 2

To rescue the name of St. Paul from being used as an
preserved.
authority for contempt of the historical, it may be well

to cite another text, in which he connects the work of
1
far
On
this point Gloel (Der Heilige Geist, 173)
remarks:
"Paul
removed from an enthusiastic subjectivism which consoles
is
itself
with personal experiences, but loses out of sight the historical

foundations of the faith."
2
Not a pneumatic speculation like that of St.
Gunkel says
"
Paul, which
offered
no security that Christianity should keep
in the
THE HOLY
the Spirit with the example of

vi.
he exhorts
i.e.
Trvev/jLarifcol,
to be specially filled
with the
In
Christ.
Galatians
treatment of such
to considerate, gentle
as have been overtaken in a fault.
addressed to the
259
SPIRIT
The exhortation
those
who
Spirit, as if
is
are supposed
they were in
danger
assuming a tone of severity, and so of reviving
in the Church, under a new Christian guise, the Pharisaic
of
Forbearing conduct towards offenders

by the consideration, that it is in
type of character.
enforced
is then
accordance with
"
the
law
of
Christ."
No
specified to justify the title, but the reference
to a
it
manner
facts
is
are
evidently
action on the part of Jesus with which
of
was possible
for
the
Galatians to
make themselves
through available sources of information.

endurance of death on the Cross was the most
acquainted
Christ
signal
instance of His bearing the
but there
is
no reason
burdens
of
others
for limiting the reference
The apostle doubtless writes

fact that Jesus detested the
as
to
it.
one familiar with the
inhumanity
of the Pharisees,
as represented in the behaviour of the elder brother of
the parable, and in
sheep and prodigal
contrast
sons.
In
to
them
effect
pitied
straying
he sets before the
Galatians as their model the Jesus of the Gospels, at
His sympathies with the sinful, and in His

antipathies towards the character of spurious saints, who,
once in
while boasting
many
virtues, lacked the cardinal grace of
tracks of the historically given gospel, but the infinitely imposing

impression of the historical Christ has brought about that Christianity
has not lost its historical character. The memory of Jesus has in
this respect paralysed the pneumatic phenomena of the apostolic age,
and survived them for more than a millennium." Die Wirkungen
des heiligen Geistes, p. 61.
260
ST.
The true
charity.
man
the

TrvevpariKos, therefore, in his view,
is
before whose conscience the enlightening Spirit
truth keeps the Christlike ethical ideal as an object
of
of ardent admiration
indeed the
holy, then
way
it
and earnest
the Spirit takes to
If
pursuit.
make
be
this
the Christian
cannot be doubted that His influence makes
may seem
His power
for real sanctity.
small, its very
existence as something distinct from our personal effort
may
all immanent divine action is

appear questionable
doubt
but at all events it works in the
liable to this
gracious
and
welfare
should
spirit
Jesus
of
we have
the Holy Ghost
all
sides in our time,
difficulty in believing that the
as mighty as
is
the
has grown in the community,

sense of responsibility for the
the deepened
of others visible on
of
the extent to which
In view of
right direction.
it is
beneficent
why
power
At
of
last
the Spirit of truth has come to show us what Jesus was,

and what true religion is to teach us that orthodox
:
faith
by
itself
nothing, and that Christlike love
is
is
all in all.
It
stress
cannot be said that the apostle has laid undue
on the work
of
the Spirit in his apologetic, as
taking refuge in a supernatural power, in absence of
if
any
other adequate guarantee in his system for holy living.

It
may
be asked,
available for the
should the
Divine Spirit be
enlightenment or renewal of Christians
exclusively, or even
The reply must
Why
more than
for that of
other
men
be, in the first place, that neither in the
Pauline Epistles, nor anywhere else in the New Testa

ment, is it said or assumed that the Holy Spirit s
presence
is
confined to Christendom.
The underlying
THE HOLY SPIRIT

postulate rather
Himself,
working
is,
that
the
261
Spirit of God,
God
like
everywhere, even in the inanimate creation,

towards the birth of a new world wherein
is
He is the atmosphere of the

dwelleth righteousness.
moral world, ready to enter into every human heart
wherever He finds an opening.
If, therefore, He is in
the Christian world more than in other
parts of
humanity, it must
abundant entrance.
intrinsic
The
be because
And
that, again,
and superior excellence
Spirit of
God
is
He
must be due
of the
there has at
best material for His purpose.
The question how
finds there a
more
to the
Christian faith.
a sanctifier in Christendom more
than elsewhere, because
He
far St.
command
the
Paul recognised a law
sanctification will be considered in another connection.
of
growth in
CHAPTEE XIV
THE
title
of this chapter indicates correctly the point of
view from which the

It
Epistles.
flesh
is
regarded in the Pauline
not with an abstract doctrine or theory

we have to do, but with an unhappy,
is
the flesh that
of
untoward
fact
Christian
of
experience
stubborn
by a power residing in the flesh to the

that entire holiness after which every
resistance offered
attainment of
is
The point
Christian earnestly aspires.
sincere
of
view
clearly indicated in this exhortation to the Galatian
Church
"
Walk
lusts of the
Spirit,
in the
and do not
flesh
and the Spirit against the
contrary to each other

that ye
Spirit,
For the
flesh.
would."
so that ye
That the
fulfil
the
lusteth against
the
flesh
may
flesh is
for these are
not do the things
an obstructive in the
be more distinctly stated.

way
And yet in the Epistle to the Romans the same truth is
proclaimed, if not with greater plainness, at least with
of
could not
holiness
more marked emphasis.

the apostle,
"
after the flesh.
die
but
if
we
"
Therefore,
are debtors,
For
by the
if
ye
brethren,"
not to the
flesh,
live after the flesh,
writes
to
live
ye must
Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the

1
Gal. v. 1C, 17.

262

l
body, ye shall
live."
Here
to fight
263
with the flesh
We
are
debtors
represented as a positive duty.
And the fight is urgent, a matter of
this intent.
The state of the case is that we must
and death.
the
or
flesh,
We,
made
on
have
to
this
wage
is
kill
we value our
Romans mention
war
as
In the seventh chapter of

with the flesh, which might,
exegetical
grounds, be
when one has become a

effectively to
But the
It is to believing
fight is not
believing man,
walk in the
carried on with better hope
difference.
the pre-
relegated to
regenerate or pre-Christian state.
begun
to
life
of a tragic struggle
fair
over
is
"
will kill us.
it
Christians,
salvation.
is
"
and has
Thenceforth
Spirit.
it
of success, that is all the
men, Christians, regenerate
persons, that the apostle addresses himself in the aboveAnd he speaks to them in so serious a tone,
cited texts.
because he knows the formidable nature of the foe from

present, chronic, personal experience.
that
1
extremely
Corinthians
autobiographical
significant
"
buffet
we know from
This
my
hint
body, and bring
it
in
into
by any means, after having preached to

bondage;
2
others, I myself should become a rejected one."
Depend
lest
upon
St.
this buffeting
it,
or bruising of the
Paul a serious business.
spiritual
safety
to
He
found
body was
it
for
necessary for
be in effect an ascetic, not in any
superstitious sense, or on a rigid system, but in the plain,

of taking special pains to prevent the
clamorous passions, from getting the upper
practical sense
body, with
hand.
its
One thing we may note here by

1
Rom.
viii. 12, 13.
the way.
2
Comparing
Cor. ix. 27.
264
PAUL S CONCEPTION or CHRISTIANITY
ST.
we gather
these three texts one with another,
and flesh,
that body
so far as obstructing holiness is concerned, are
for the apostle
synonymous terms. It is against the flesh

warns fellow-Christians
the body is the foe he
himself fears.
Those who are familiar with the recent
he
literature of Paulinism will understand the bearing of this
Some
remark.
writers will have
it
that the two terms
bear widely different senses in the Pauline letters. 2dpi;,

they say, is a Sulstanzbegriff, and awpa a Forrribegriff:
"
the word
body
"
the
consists,
material
points to the material of which the
flesh
word
The
organism.
"
"
to
body
distinction
the form of
our
made
the
is
interest of a theory to the effect that St.
Greek view
inherently
of
evil.
flesh
suppose
of
all
matter
that
it
is
This theory will come up for considera
tion at a later stage.
that so far as
and
in
Paul shared the
Meantime we have
to
we have gone we have found no
that the conceptions
of
"
"
flesh
and
remark,
reason to
"
"
body
lay so far apart in the Pauline system of thought as
is
alleged.
It
may
man
surprise
Surprising or
and saintly a
much of a hindrance to
not, we may take it for
the spiritual
life.
certain that such
In spite of his passion for holiness, the

was constantly and obstinately obstructive. Nay,
we not say that it was obstructive not merely in
was the
may
so good
as the apostle Paul should have found in the body
or the flesh so
flesh
some that
fact.
but in
consequence of his passion for holiness ?

None knows better than the saint what mischief the flesh
spite,
Let the tragedies which have been enacted

in the cells of holy monks bear witness.
There is a
can work.
THE FLESH AS A HINDEANCE TO HOLINESS

subtle,
mysterious,
between
connection
psychological
265
spiritual and sensual excitements, which some of the

noblest men have detected and confessed.
Hence it
comes
to pass, paradoxical as it
may
seem, that most
earnest and successful endeavours to walk in the Spirit,

or even to fly under His buoyant inspiration, may develop,
by way
of reaction, powerful
grossest lusts of the flesh.
authors,
know
that this
is
temptations to
Eloquent
no libel.
fulfil
the
preachers, brilliant
Times
of
wide
spread religious enthusiasm make their contribution to

the illustration of this same law.
Powerful breezes of
the Spirit are followed by outbreaks of epidemic
sin, in
which the works of the flesh are deplorably manifest.
Whatever
surprise or disappointment
it
may awaken
in us that the flesh should give trouble to such

St.
we
Paul,
traces
of
an one
as
are quite prepared to discover in his writings
the nature and varied
a subtle insight into
manifestations of
its evil influence.
an essential feature
Such insight formed

It was what
of his spiritual vitality.
from one who, even before he became

a Christian, and in spite of a Pharisaic training, which
taught him to regard the outward act as alone important,
was
to be expected
made the
great
discovery that coveting was a
sin.
It
would be only an extension of that discovery if Paul, the

Christian and the apostle, found in himself much of the
working of the flesh when there was nothing in his
outward conduct on which the most unfriendly critic
evil
could fasten.
"
Thou shalt not commit
adultery,"
that
is
But
a commandment forbidding a definite outward act.
Whosoever looketh on a
Jesus, on the Mount, had said,
"
woman
to lust after her, hath
committed adultery with
266
ST.
l
and Paul s Christian con
her already in his heart,"
science endorsed the sentiment as, however severe and
And who can tell what

saintly man passed through
searching, nothing but the truth.
painful inner experiences this

in this direction
specially,
That the
meant
flesh
for
him very
though not exclusively, sexual impulse,
may
inferred from the prominent position given to sins of
be
im
2
purity in his catalogues of the works of the flesh.
voluntary abstainer from marriage relations that he might
the better perform the duties of his apostolic calling, a

"
veritable
eunuch
for the
rightly appears to
kingdom
of
heaven
3
sake,"
he
the spectator of his great career a
devoted, saintly, heroic man.
But what, just because
of
the loftiness of his moral ideal, and the keenness of his

insight,
may he sometimes have
Less than the least of
but a poor,
all
saints
appeared to himself
;
nay, no saint at
self-humiliated sinner, actually within
vile,
measurable distance of being a

language shock pious readers ?
"
castaway."
It
Does
forces himself to do so, because he believes that it
we
this
certainly costs this
writer an effort to put such words on paper.
this road
all,
But he
is
along
most readily arrive at an understand

Paul means by his many strong words
shall
ing of what St.

concerning the flesh, rather than through learned lucubra
meaning of the Hebrew word for

Old Testament Scriptures, or as to the pro
tions concerning the

flesh
in the
having got his doctrine of the

or
Philo
some
other representative of Hellen
from
o-ap|
That one statement, I buffet my body,"
istic philosophy.
bability of the apostle
"
is of
1
more value
Matt. v. 28.
to
me
as a guide to his thought than all

2
Gal. v. 19.
Matt. xix. 12.
267
the monographs on the subject.

It tells me that Saint
while
a
true
was
also
a
man of like passions
Paul,
saint,
with ourselves, that he had his desperate struggles with

the flesh under very common forms of temptation, and
that his sanctity was a victory achieved in that fell
war
by one who was prepared to sacrifice an offending member

that the whole body might not be cast into hell.
For
the comfort
of those
appears to themselves,
ing the same battle,
who are manfully, though, as it

with very indifferent success, fight
it is
well to
make
this plain.
In the foregoing remarks I have virtually forestalled

the question, What is meant by the flesh in the Pauline
letters,
and on what ground
very seat of sin

his
attention
to
following
there represented as the
An unsophisticated reader, confining

these Epistles, would probably gather
from them an answer

effect.
is it
to
The
question somewhat to the
this
flesh
means, of course, primarily
the material substance of the body, and
its ethical signifi
cance in the Pauline Epistles, as representing the sinful

element in general, is due to the fact of its being the seat
of appetites
and passions
of a
very obtrusive character,
which, though neither in themselves nor in their effects

the whole of
human
sin,
yet constitute
its
part, especially in the case of a Christian.
most prominent
Take the case
Paul himself, once more, as our example.

He is
conscious that with his mind and heart he approves,
of St.
and pursues the good that he is a devoted follower

the Lord Jesus Christ, and a single-minded servant of
loves,
of
the kingdom of God.
But he
is
conscious of distractions,
temptations, hindrances, and on reflection these appear to

him to arise out of his body. He sees still, as of old, a
268
PAUL
ST.
law in his members warring against the law of his mind.

This body of death, therefore, this flesh, becomes to him
the symbol of sin generally
he speaks of
the one fountain of sin, tracing to
merely sensual
its
it
as
if it
were
evil influence not
though these are

in enumerations, but sins of the
sins, properly so called,

first
generally placed
This primd
spirit likewise, such as pride, envy, hatred.
But it
facie answer is, I believe, not far from the truth.
raises
How
so
other questions not to be disposed of so easily.

it come to pass that the flesh causes the saint
does
much
trouble
why
does
in the path of sanctification
it
lag so far behind the
We
know what
mind
Philo and
the author of the Book of Wisdom, and the Greeks from
whom they drew
their inspiration, thought on that subject.
They deemed matter

part of
human
generally,
and especially the fleshly

and incurably evil.
nature, to be inherently
The animated matter which we
call
our bodies was in
their view necessarily, inevitably, universally a source of

evil
its
impulse
the problem of the spirit being to trample
unworthy companion under
finally rid of it
Was
this St.
foot,
and
its
hope to get
death.
by
Paul s view
was, and that on
Many modern
theologians
important subject he
was a disciple of the Alexandrian or Judaeo-Greek philo
On this question it is needful to speak with care
sophy.
think that
it
and discrimination.
without getting
it
this
Paul might hold the Greek view

from the Greeks or from any external
St.
Again, he might go a considerable way with the

Greeks in his thoughts concerning the flesh, without
source.
having any cut and dried theory regarding it, such as

As a matter of
speculative minds loved to elaborate.
269

fact, I
believe the latter supposition to be pretty nearly
reader of the Pauline Epistles gets the im

pression that the writer thought as badly of the flesh,
correct.
man, as did Philo, who

beyond doubt was in entire sympathy with the Greek
view of matter.
And I apprehend that Paul and Philo
that
is
of the material part of
thought so badly of the flesh for very much the same

not to begin with at least on a priori grounds
of theory, but on practical grounds
of
experience.
reason
Philo
writings, just like those of St. Paul, are full of
allusions to the temptations
which
arising out of the appetites
and passions that have their

difference between the two
But the
seat in the flesh.
men
assail the saint or sage
Philo, with his leaning towards
Greek
philosophy, theorised on the subject of the flesh and
its evil
lay here.
proclivities, to the effect already indicated.
the other hand, did not theorise.
He
St.
Paul, on
contented himself
with stating facts as they presented themselves to him

in experience.
to
him
not.
is
Whether the Greek theory was known
quite uncertain
But, even
if
it
the probability
had been,
it is
not at
it
was
all likely
that
is
that
would have had any attractions for him, as his interest

in the matter involved was nowise speculative but
it
wholly ethical and religious.

Nay, the probability is
and
that, on ethical
religious grounds, he would have
Some
regarded the theory with aversion and disfavour.
solid reasons can be given for this statement.
The theory that matter or flesh is essentially evil is

The dualistic conception of man
decidedly un-Hebrew.
as composed of two natures, flesh and spirit, standing in
1.
necessary and permanent antagonism to each other,
is
not
270
PAUL
ST.
to be
found in the Old Testament Scriptures.
indeed, that between the close of the
the
New
Testament era the leaven
It is true,
Hebrew canon and

Hellenistic philo
of
sophy was at work in Hebrew thought, producing in

course of time a considerable modification in Jewish ideas
on various subjects
and
mate hypothesis that
it is
a perfectly fair and legiti
traces of such influence are recog
nisable in the Pauline doctrine of the
certainly not in favour of this hypothesis.
is
presumption
But the
<Tdp%.
writings St.
the other way; for throughout his

Paul appears a Hebrew of the Hebrews. His
intellectual
and
It
is
rather
all
spiritual affinities are
with the psalmists
and prophets, not with Alexandrian philosophers

there be any
new
leaven in his culture
it
is
and
if
Rabbinical
rather than Hellenistic.

2.
second consideration bearing on the question at

Greek view the
issue is that, whereas, according to the
ought to be unsanctifiable, it is not so regarded in

the Pauline Epistles.
Sometimes, indeed, it might seem
as if the apostle did look on the flesh, or the body, as in
flesh
curably evil
as when, in a text already quoted, he speaks
of killing the deeds
such a phrase as
the body as
"
"
of the
body,
the body of this
dead on account
of
or
when he employs
2
death,"
or represents
But, in other
sin."
represented as the subject of sanctification not less than the soul or spirit.
Not to mention
places, the
body
is
1 Thcssaloniansv. 23,
spirit, soul,
where the apostle prays that the whole
and body
of
his brethren
may
be preserved
blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, there

is the important text in 1 Corinthians vi. 19, 20, where
1
Rom.
viii. 13.
Ibid. vii. 24.
Ibid. viii. 10.

the body
is
and
set forth as a
it is
271
represented as the temple of the Holy Ghost,

duty arising directly out of the
consciousness of redemption to glorify God in the body,1

in the special sense of keeping clear of sexual impurity.
Another very important text in this connection is 2 Corin

thians vii. 1, where it is inculcated as a Christian duty to
cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and spirit
of the flesh as well as the spirit, of
the
spirit,
need
of
not more than
flesh
there being the same possibility and the same
sanctification in both.
It is true, indeed, that
the genuineness of this text has been called in question
by Holsten, one of the strongest advocates of the Hellen

2
istic character and source of the Pauline idea of the flesh.
One can very
upholders of this view

should desire to get the text in question out of the way.
It teaches too plainly what their theory of necessity
well understand
why
They have no
negatives, the sanctifiableness of the flesh.
objection to the sanctification of the lody taught in 1 Cor

inthians
vi.
19, because
"body"
sanctification of the flesh

St.
Paul held the
And
so,
for it
as that
is
a mere Formbegrijf; but
impossible,
if,
with the Greeks,
flesh, like all matter, to be inherently evil.
is
held to be demonstrable, there
but to pronounce 2 Corinthians
spurious insertion.
vi.
is
14
nothing
vii.
1,
It is a violent critical procedure, but
serves the one good purpose of amounting to a frank

admission that the exhortation to purify the flesh is not
compatible with the theory advocated by the critic.
it
Before passing on to another point,

1
The point
tion in T.R.
2
Zum
of the exhortation is
X.X.I t J
TU
Evangelium
very
it
may
much blunted by
TTViVftXTI.
des Petrus
und
des Paulus, p. 387.
be well
the addi
272
PAUL
ST.
moment on
here to reflect for a

the
distinction
taken between
reference to the topic of

are told
affair of
is
"
"
in
flesh
The body we
sanctification.
We
substance.
and
"
body
sanctifiable, because it is
is
the flesh, on the contrary,
an
the unsatisfactoriness of
"
an
form
affair of
unsanctifiable because
it
is
are to conceive of St. Paul
solemnly exhorting the churches to which he wrote to

this effect
By all means take pains to sanctify the
"
organic form called the body, but as for the
past
sanctifying."
the
apostle
flesh,
wherein
must be given up as
Can we imagine an earnest man like
the seat and power of
lies
trifling
with
sin, it
his
readers in so
serious a
matter, by giving them an advice at once frivolous and

absurd ?
Sanctify what does not need sanctifying hope
;
not to sanctify what most urgently needs sanctification

There is nothing wrong with the bodily form it is
!
graceful and beautiful
what
is
wanted
is
power
to curb
the fleshly desire which its beauty awakens, or the carnal
wish to use that beauty as a stimulus to concupiscence. 1

3.
doctrine teaching a dualistic opposition between
flesh
and
spirit,
and implying that
flesh as distinct
from
be accompanied by a
ought
that
is
to
Pagan eschatology,
say, by the doctrine that the
life after death will be a purely disembodied one.
If all
spirit is
sin
essentially evil,
spring from the
spring from
1
it,
body, or
to
if
nothing but evil can
then the sooner we get rid of
it
the
Vide on this point Wendt, Die Begriffe Fleisch und Geist, p. 108.
his inability to conceive how a man can begin to
form, apart from the matter of the body, the object
Wendt professes
make his bodily
of an ethical and religious sauctification, and protests against ascrib

ing to the apostle a counsel amounting to nothing more than empty
words.

better,
and once
273
us be rid for ever, such
rid of it let
Not
riddance being a necessary condition of our felicity.

such, however, was the outlook of the apostle.
object of his
of
hope
the naked, unclothed soul,
man, body and
The
was not the immortality

but the immortal life of
for the future

1
The fulfilment
soul.
of
his
hope de
the resurrection of the body

only when that
event had taken place would the redemption of man in
2
his view be complete.
To one holding this view, a
theory involving that the soul in the future state should
manded
be unclothed could not
fail
to be repulsive.
It is true
indeed that the body of the eternal state, as the apostle

conceives it, is not the corruptible, mortal, gross body of
the present state, but a
incorruptibility,
"
"
spiritual
body
bodies radiant with light rather than this

of
3
decay."
endowed with
and apparently resembling the heavenly
The point
to
"
muddy
be emphasised, however,
vesture
is
that
the apostle demands that there shall be a body of some

sort in the eternal state, even
though conscious
of the
difficulty of satisfying all the conditions of the problem.
You may say
if
you please that the problem
and that the expression

spiritual body
combination of words which cancel each
is
insoluble,
is
simply a
"
"
other.
It
is
enough to remark, by way of reply, that that was not

St. Paul s view, and the fact sufficiently proves that
he lived in a different thought-world from that
of the
Greeks.
While I say
this,
am
perfectly aware
that the
is by no means free from difficulties

The phrase
a spiritual body is of
Pauline anthropology
and
"
obscurities.
1
Vide 2 Cor.
18
v. 4.
"
Rom.
viii. 23.
3 Cor.
xv. 45-50.
274
ST.
itself
sufficient
PAUL
spiritual
directions,
to
and
show the contrary. The two words

seem to point in opposite
body
"
and
"
"
"
to
suppositions.
imply incompatible speculative pre

lack
similar
coherence
theoretic
of
seems to confront us in other utterances on the same
Thus
the
resurrection body is
from our present mortal
The first
body but even from that of the first man.
man is of the earth earthy." l These words not un
topic.
in
xv.
Cor.
represented as differing not only
"
naturally suggest the view that
the kingdom
flesh
and our
the same, both alike unfit for
flesh are in all respects

of
Adam s
God and
the eternal state, both alike
mortal, corruptible, and even
This accordingly
sinful.
the construction put upon the words by the advocates

of the theory now under discussion.
But, on the other
is
hand,
it is
not
to cite texts
difficult
literature which seem
from the Pauline
imply that mortality and sinful-
to
ness were not natural and original attributes of

nature, but
Adam s
accidents
befalling
transgression.
Rom.
so also does
this direction;
v.
Rom.
human
in
consequence of
12 seems to point in
it
viii.
2123, where
the
corruptibility of the creation generally is called a bondage,

and the body of man is represented as sharing in the
general bondage and looking forward to redemption from

it.
The whole
train of thought in this passage seems to
imply that the present condition of things is something

abnormal, something not belonging to the original state
of
creation,
therefore
something
Christ as the
Eedeemer
which
to remove.
it
suggested even by the statement in Rom.

1
Ver. 47.
belongs
The same idea

vii.
to
is
14, one
THE FLESH AS A HINDKANCE TO HOLINESS

of the texts
on which chief reliance
275
placed for proof
is
of the thesis that the Pauline anthropology is based
Greek dualism.
under
"
am made
of
flesh
(o-dpKivos), sold
that the writer speaks here not
Assuming
sin."
on
merely for himself, but as the spokesman of the race,

we get from these words the doctrine that wherever
there
is
human
flesh there is sin,
which seems
to be the
very doctrine imputed to the apostle by such theologians

and Baur.
Yet the very terms in which he
as Holsten
expresses the fact of universal human sinfulness suggest

Sold under
another theory as to its source.
The
words convey the notion that the sinful proclivity of
"
sin."
man, while universal, is accidental, a departure from the

normal and original state of things, therefore not irre
mediable.
Were
were vain to
or
angel
cry,
could
matter of natural necessity
it
"
Who
shall deliver
deliver.
Only
me ?
death,
unhappy union between vovs and
<rdpt;,
"
it
No man
the
dissolving
could come to
the rescue.
On these grounds it may be confidently affirmed that

the metaphysical dualism of the Greeks could not possibly
have commended
to the
itself
mind
of St.
An
Paul.
ethical dualism he does teach, but he never goes
beyond
open to anyone to say that the
metaphysical dualism really lies behind the ethical one,
though St. Paul himself was not conscious of the fact,
that.
It is of course
and that therefore radical

only following
out
his
disciples
principles
like
to
Marcion were
their
final
con
sequences when they set spirit and matter, God and the
But
world, over against each other as hostile kingdoms.
even those who take
up
this
position
are
forced
in
276
ST.
candour to admit that such gnostic or Manichsean doctrine
was not
An
in all the apostle
ethical dualism,
Paul does teach.
thoughts.
however, of a decided character
If
St.
agree with those who

metaphysics, as little can we
we cannot
him Greek
to
impute
sympathise with those who in a reactionary mood go to

the opposite extreme, and endeavour, as far as possible,
in his Epistles the innocent
to assign to the word
<rdp%
sense
of
weakness, as
creaturely
divine
to
opposed
This
power, without any necessary connotation of sin.
the view of Wendt, as expounded in his able tractate
is
on the notions Flesh and
Hebrew word
the
He
Spirit.
tries to
show that
"
"
for
bears this
flesh
sense in
all
passages in the Old Testament in which the term is

charged with a religious significance, and this result he
brings as a key to the study of Pauline texts in hope
that
it
will
open
One cannot but admire
all doors.
his
ingenuity in the attempt, but as little can one resist the

feeling that
he
is
those whose theory
he
guilty of exaggeration not less than

it
is
his
aim
Of course
to refute.
not so blinded by bias as to be unable to see

Paul does frequently ascribe to the creaturely
weakness of man both intellectual and moral aberration.
is
that
St.
But then he
the flesh are
tells
us that these adverse judgments on

"
"
synthetic
something
concerning
notion
it.
of
"
am
not
"
"
analytic
the flesh
of
not
flesh, sold
that
is,
involved
in
under sin
state
the
"
is
synthetic proposition which proclaims not the origin of

sin out of an essentially evil flesh, but the tyrannic
power, somehow acquired, of sin in an originally innocent

1
Vide Hausrath, Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte,
ii.
468.

It
flesh.
may
be so
277
we cannot but note
nevertheless
that for the writer the synthesis seems to have become

so firmly established that to say
"
am
one with saying, I am sold under

formation of the synthetic into the
"
omen
no longer
it
"
Consider
word
of the
meaning
of evil
liable.
is
the
all
To such trans
sin."
speech
is
crdpKi.vos
"
human
analytic,
etymological
original
what a word
Jesu-it(e), then reflect
now, and what damnatory judgments,

indeed,
synthetic," but grown very
analytic
is
it
"
"
suggests to the average Protestant
mind
Flesh
"
"
seems to have become for the apostle Paul a term of

not less similar import than Jesuit is for us. Whence
"
"
this transmutation of the creaturely
Testament into the wicked

Epistles
does
If
weakness
carnality
Hellenism does not explain
Hebrewism
as interpreted
of the
the
of
it,
Old
Pauline
as
little
The Pauline
by Wendt.
conception of the flesh seems to be a tertium quid, some

thing intermediate between Hellenism and Hebrewism,
the creation of a very intense religious experience, and
1
pronounced moral individuality.
Thoughts having such a genesis are not wont to be
of a very
expressed in the colourless measured terms of scholastic

theology and if a certain element of exaggeration, one;
sidedness, morbidity, enter into the language in
which
Can
no cause for surprise.
any such element be discerned in St. Paul s statements
Those who are disposed to find a
concerning the flesh ?
they are
Such
is
clothed, there
is
the view taken by Harnack of St. Paul
doctrine as to
pre-existence, and it involves a similar view of the apostle s

Vide his Dogmengeschichte, vol. i.
doctrine as to the "flesh."
Christ
pp. 755-764, 3d
Ann.
278
ST.
pessimism in this part of his teaching might

proof, not merely to the peculiarity of his
religious history, but to the high-strung enthusiasm of
tinge
of
refer
in
his Christian
life,
to
the
artificial
condition of enforced
celibacy under which he prosecuted his apostolic vocation,
and
to his expressed preference for the
single state as
the best not only for himself but for all, especially in
It is
view of the near approach of the world s end. 1
certainly
not
judgment
in
easy to maintain a perfect balance of

such circumstances, and perhaps at this
point the great apostle falls short of the calm, tranquil
wisdom
of
But
the greater Master.
it
were a serious
mistake to set aside his stern utterances as mere rhetorical

extravagances not worthy of our earnest attention.
however
as elsewhere, his statements,
contact with reality.

to
It
would be well
heart the humbling word
"
Here,
startling, are
for us
In me, that
all
is,
in
to lay
in
my
dwelleth no good thing," not by way of extracting

comfort from the thought that it is only in the flesh the
evil lies, but rather of realising that the flesh is ours,
flesh,
and
of
which
making ourselves
it
prompts.
right to express
fully responsible for the evil to
No man who
fails to
do this has any
an opinion on the question how
Paul in his doctrine
of the flesh
is
far St.
true to fact and to
right Christian feeling.
we must consider a
much controversy in its
Before passing from this subject,

text which has given rise
bearing thereon,
Romans
to
viii.
3.
This, however,
reserved for another chapter.

1
1 Cor. vii.
29-31.
must be
CHAPTEE XV
THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH.
THE
Romans
text,
connection
with
has already been considered in

the Pauline doctrine concerning the
viii.
3,
We
then found reasons
significance of
Christ
for
the conclusion that the text does not, as
is
coming
to
death.
usually supposed, properly refer to Christ
death, but
rather alludes to the redeeming virtue of Christ

life
in
the
the flesh
to
power
"
holy
showing, as it does, that subjection to
no inevitable doom, and giving promise of

believers living in the flesh to walk after the
is
Such
Spirit.
words
flesh,
hold to be the true import of the
still
God, sending His own Son in the likeness of

and with reference to sin, condemned sin in
sinful flesh
the
flesh."
But
it
is
obvious that these
words raise
questions on which we have not yet touched

questions
having an important bearing on the Pauline doctrine of
the
flesh.
God
sent His Son in the flesh.
flesh, in the apostle
ours
Would he have
Was
view, in all respects the
Christ
same
as
"
applied to
as he does to the flesh of ordinary

"
it
the epithet
men
"
sinful
in the expression
flesh of sin
There have always
(crap/co? aâp-ria^) ?
been theologians ready to answer these questions in the
affirmative.
And along with this view of what St. Paul
"
279
280
PAUL
ST.
believed concerning the flesh of Christ goes usually,
if
not by any logical necessity, a certain theory as to wb.at

he meant to teach in reference to the atoning function
the Eedeemer.
of
In discussing the apostle
concerning Christ
death, I judged
it
doctrine
best to
make no
theory, and to confine myself to a

positive statement of what seemed to me to be the gist
of his teaching on that subject.
But an opportunity
reference
now
that
to
making some remarks on the theory
offers itself of
in question,
arrived
apostle
at,
s
which may help to confirm results already

and throw some additional light on the
whole way
conceiving Christ
of
perience in relation to the
The answer
quality of our
to
the
to
Lord
problem
earthly ex
of redemption.
concerning the moral

depends, or has been thought
question
flesh
depend, on the interpretation of the expression
"
in
"
the
likeness
of
sinful
Opinion
ayttapTtas).
flesh
much
is
two debatable questions
word
an
6/iOito/zcm
implied
o/ioiw/zari
(eV
divided here.
trap/co?
There are
the emphasis in the

on the likeness, or on
(2) Do the words aaptco?
(1) Is
to be placed
unlikeness
a/jLapTias constitute a single idea, implying that sin
an
essential
property
the
of
o-apj;,
or
are
the
is
two
a/zaprm? expresses only an

be
all but universal property
accidental, though
may
of the flesh 1
Either of the alternatives may be taken
words
separate,
so
that
it
in
either
case,
The second
first
different
alternative under (1)
under (2) by Baur,
resulting interpretation
sin as
four
yielding
Zeller,
is
an essential property
is
interpretations.
combined with the
and Hilgenfeld, and the

St. Paul regarded
as follows
of the flesh,
but he hesitated
281

to
to
Christ
sent
Him
ascribe
sinful flesh, therefore
that
God
Him
in the likeness of sinful flesh,
respects, sin excepted.
all
specially
he said not
in sinful flesh, but that
Others,
God
sent
meaning likeness
in
among whom may
be
mentioned Liidemann, 1 combine the two
first
and, while agreeing with the fore-mentioned

writers in taking sinful flesh as one idea, differ from
alternatives
them by holding that it is the apostle s purpose to

teach that God furnished His Son with a flesh made
exactly like ours, like in this respect that
of
flesh
Not that the
sin.
it
too
was a
apostle meant thereby to

For though apapria was
deny the sinlessness of Jesus.

immanent in the flesh of Christ
as in that of other men,
was only objective sin, not subjective it never came

it was prevented from doing so by the
7rapa/3a<m
Holy Spirit, who guided all Christ s conduct, and kept
it
to
the flesh in perfect subjection.
third class of inter
Hofmann, Weiss, etc., combine the two

second alternatives, treating aapj; and afMapria as separate
preters, such as
ideas,
and taking
ness
in
human
respect
nature.
ofioitafw, as
of
the
implying limitation of like
sinfulness
Wendt
Finally,
of
ordinary
combines
the
fallen
first
alternative under (1) with the second alternative under

(2),
and takes out
nature was
creaturely
which
of
the
words the sense
exactly
the
sin adheres only per accidens,
our flesh
was
of
like us,
None
is
same
as
Christ
ours,
to
and the sinfulness
referred to not to indicate wherein Christ
but wherefore
He was made
of these diverse interpretations
exegetically self-evident.
1
They are
like us.
can be considered
all,
from the point
Die Anthropologie des Apostels Paulus, 1872.
282
ST.
PAUL
view of verbal exegesis, legitimate, and our decision

The view sup
of
must depend on other considerations.

ported by Baur has a good deal of primd
facie plausibility
but assuming his interpretation of eV oyuot&yiaTt to be

correct, it appears to me to be an argument in favour
For
of the separability of the ideas of flesh and sin.
should
why
limitation
is
it
be supposed
mere shrinking
a principle to Christ which

a
as
necessary
where o-apf
if
is
truth
is,
also
who was
flesh
from applying
so thoroughgoing
to ascribe it to Christ
rather have done what,
ing to Liidemann, he really has done,

Christ
the
be, sin, a//,a/ma at least,
have hesitated
Would he not
in reverence
of
is
must
not 7rapd(3aais, would he
in all his thinking
motive
the
firmly held by the writer

If the apostle believed that
there
that
viz.
accord
ascribed to
dfiapria, and then sought to guard His
personal sinlessness by emphasising the indwelling of the
Divine Spirit as the means of preventing objective sin,

Surely
dfiapria, from breaking out into Trapdfiacris ?
he was much more likely to do this

the
weak expedient
of
than to adopt
a
over
difficulty with
covering
a word.
The
first
alternative under (1)
is
therefore decidedly
to be preferred.
The emphasis lies on the likeness, not
on an implied unlikeness.
This conclusion is confirmed
by the construction I have put on the didactic signifi
cance of the whole passage.

If the apostle s aim was
to insist on the redemptive value of Christ s successful
transit through a curriculum of temptation, then he
had
a manifest
the
interest
in
making
the similarity
of
conditions under which Christ was tempted to those in

which we are placed as great as
283
The
possible.
battle
with sin must be very real for Christ as well as for us

not a sham fight. If in order to that it was necessary
that Christ s flesh should be the same as ours in all
respects,
why then
necessary or not
may
is
Was
differ.
mind, and
so
must
it
Whether
be.
it
was
a difficult question, on which opinion

that question present to St. Paul s
was did he mean
pronounce an
It is commonly assumed that the
opinion upon it ?
in
was
his
view, and that we here have his
problem
if
it
Is this really so
solution.
to
That so deep a thinker had asked himself the question

about our Lord s flesh, was it wholly like ours ? is
But that he was prepared to dogmatise on
probable.
What
the
not so
is
question
state of uncertainty about
question, and
What
likely.
he was in
if
feeling the delicacy of the
it,
two contrary religious

on the one hand, the
interests, each vitally important
on the
of
the
sinlessness
of Jesus
necessity
guarding
His
curriculum
of
the
of
other,
equal necessity
making
the
of
pressure
I do
temptation most thoroughly, even grimly, real ?
not think it matters much for the ascertainment of the
apostle
mind on
pression
sinful
synthetic,
with
"
ideas
"
flesh
coherent in
"
whether we take the ex
this point
"
"
analytic, with
as
flesh
Wendt.
Synthetic
or
Baur, or as
not,
the
two
had become, as we saw, very

For all practical purposes
his thought.
had assumed for him the character of a
and
"
"
sin
"
sinful flesh
single
indissoluble
ordinary men.
well get past
idea,
at
least
with
reference
to
And
just on that account he could not
the
question
Was
Christ
flesh
an
284
ST.
was there
exception
in His case
no law in the
mem
But it
warring against the law of the mind ?
does riot follow that he was ready with his answer.
The question is a puzzle to us, why should it not be
bers
him
to
"
And
came
Christ
it
if
to
very real temptation

"
this
involve
may
context
is
he do but say,
in the likeness of sinful flesh, to the extent
of being subject
that
was, what could
That
is
what,
to
sin
and
when the
taken into account, he in
effect
all
that
previous
does say in
much
contested passage.
so it results that the true interpretation of the
And
text,
Romans
viii.
3,
after
does
all
not enable us to
answer the question propounded, but leaves

question for
theologians.
representative
treated
As
theologians
an open
such, however, the most
the
of
The decided tendency
it.
it
Church
have
not
of orthodox theology
has ever been to regard the question as closed, to the

effect
of
of
holding that Christ
ordinary
men
in
being
flesh
free
differed
from that
from that law in the
members warring against the law of the mind, whereof

1
the apostle complains.
But there have never been
lacking some Christian thinkers who have been unable
1
In an
article
on the phrase
oftotu/xotti
vctpx.o;
a/xupTiet; in
fur Wissenschaftliche Theologie (1869), Overbeck remarks

that from Marcion to Baur interpreters have assigned to o/xo iu/xat
Zeitschrift
a negative sense, similarity as opposed to likeness, in relation to

He characterises the history of the interpretation of this
e*/**pTii*.
word as that of the almost uncontested reign of an exegetical
monstrum of patristic controversial theology. The question has

recently been discussed, What is the precise lexical meaning of
Holsten makes it signify the visible image. With this
opoiapa, 1
view Overbeck generally agrees, dissenting only from the notion
He makes
that visibility is an essential part of the meaning.
of/to ie*f<,oc,
= essential
identity.
Cremer, Biblisch
theologisches
Worter-

to
in
acquiesce
this
The grounds
decision.
have been such as these
If Christ s
285
of dissent
personal sinlessness
be loyally maintained, the interests of faith are sufficiently

The more difficult it was for Christ to be
safeguarded.
more
sinless, the
holiness
difficult
by
That
temptation.
in
sin."
objective
"
calls
apostle
any case
flesh as
in
of
sin
such
is
between
apostle
of
It
and
is
and
to the nature.
the inversion
2
spirit that is sin.
inherit
it
made
perfect
be necessary for Christ the

to have a flesh uniquely endowed.
But the
view
is
not
walking in the Spirit,

exhorts church
Christ
guarantee for
all
it
that
is
members
themselves from
treats
Sin
sinful.
and not
flesh
we
case the flesh as
One
not
is
in no case bad.
holiness impossible, would

sinless
sources
is
"
flesh
of the right relation
Only
makes
it
meant by the expres

Properly speaking, what the
that
sinlessness belong to the person
The
that
is,
powerful
supplying
all
is
"
sion,
The utmost that can be
meritorious.
the flesh
said against
perfect
holiness,
blameless
He
impossible for Christians.

to perfect holiness
by cleansing
3
spirit, and
defilement of flesh and
moral
triumph
over
as
temptation
the fulfilment of the righteousness of the
buck, 7th Aufl. (1893), gives as the radical sense das Gleichgemachte,
Testament use, lie remarks
With reference to
Bild, Abbild.
New
that abstractly considered ofioi upet might signify the same thing as
opo uat;, similarity, but in none of the texts where it occurs does he
think this sense called for. The meaning which suits them all is
The word
Gestalt, form, not in the abstract but in the concrete.
occurs four times in the Epistle to the Romans, i. 2, 3 v. 14 vi. 5
;
viii. 3.
1
So Porcher du Bose, The
Soteriology of the
New
Testament (1892),
p. 202.
2
So Beyschlag, Neutestamentliche Theoloyie
2 Cor.
vii. 1.
(1892), vol.
ii.
p. 41.
286
ST.
men walking
law in Christian
1
after
the Spirit.
flesh
as
we have
even
in
a flesh in
that be possible in us, with the
If
was possible d
it, it
all
By
The function
mere
made
be
the power of the Holy Ghost
cannot
effects
"
flesh
fortiori in Christ,
like ours.
respects
what means could Christ s

ours
not after the flesh but
by
from
But moral
produced by mere physical power.

Holy Ghost is influence and never
of the
2
power,"
be
Finally,
different
and
its
proper sphere
to
make some
the will, not the
is
material frame. 3
I
"
atonement which
of
theory
this
now
proceed
heterodox
"
call
on the
observations
with
usually associated
view as to the
have been accustomed to
demption by
is
flesh
the
it
of
Christ.
theory
of
"
Ke-
The name, though not accepted
sample."
by the advocates of the theory, sufficiently indicates the

That principle is, that Christ did for Himself
principle.
first of
all
living a
what needs
to be
perfectly holy
respects like ours.
nature which
He
He
life
done
in a
for us,
human
sanctified the
assumed, and so
and did
it
nature in
sample
of
by
all
human
laid a sure foundation
Christ on
humanity at large.
view was at once the thing to be redeemed, its
5
redemption, and the thing redeemed, and His work was
for the sanctitication of
this
"
through His own self-perfection to perfect
6
us."
Du Bose, Soteriology, p. 208.

Among the theologians belonging to this school fall to be classed
His views are set forth in Profound
Dr. Jamieson of Aberdeen.
1
Rom.
viii. 4.
Problems in Theology and Philosophy (1884)

ment,
is it
vicarious
(1887)
Vide The Humiliation of
Du
and
Christ, pp. 47,
Bose, Soteriology. p. 227.
Discussions on the Atone
Revised Theology (1891).
253
ff.
Ibid. p. 286.

peculiar significance
by some exponents
attached to the death of Christ
is
What
the theory.
of
287
the crucifixion was, that sin in Christ
took place in
own
was
condemned and executed, and so the power of
the flesh in principle overcome and abolished for
s
flesh
judicially
sin in
all Christians.
Before making critical remarks on this theory, it may

be proper here to point out the precise relation in which
it
stands to the view of Christ
associated.
The
state of
of
atonement
The theory
Christ
Eedemption
a
by
case I
in
with which
take to be
proceed
on
Redeemer s
the
it is
this.
demands that
question
respects like ours, but holding
all
sample
of
sample
But Christ s
of
flesh,
view does not necessitate adoption
this
be
be in
flesh
the
requires
corrupt
of
that
mass
to
the theory.
Christ
be
flesh
redeemed.
might be that, and yet redemption

another principle.
The identity of the
flesh
flesh
redemption
with ours would
fit
in to the theory
by self-humiliation quite as well as to

It would
the theory of redemption by self-redemption.
mean simply
that Christ s temptations would be
fully assimilated to ours, and so
very
become a very strong
Possibly Christ s experience of tempta

ground of hope.
ours without such
tion would
sufficiently resemble
identity.
In that
case,
the
theory of redemption by
self-humiliation could afford to leave the question as to
Christ
flesh
open.
On
the other hand, the theory of
redemption by self-redemption cannot allow the question

Hence the relevancy of a criticism on
to be open.
that theory in this place.
excludes
our view as
to
We
the
criticise a
vagueness
theory which
of
St.
Paul
288
ST.
God
statement that
His Son in the likeness
sent
of
sinful flesh.
This theory, then, seems very open to criticism in the

In the first
construction it puts on the crucifixion.
place,
if
the aâpria in Christ
was a thing which
s flesh
could be completely kept under by the holy will of

Christ (as is admitted on all hands), was it not morally
a thing calling for judicial
insignificant, and therefore not
condemnation and execution
there not something
Is
pouring out of the vials of divine

wrath on the flesh of Christ for the objective sin latent
in
theatrical
in it
on
tions
e.g.,
this
It is impossible to read
the eloquent declama
topic, in the
Edward
this
without
feeling
unreal, without
writings of
the whole
that
affair
is
Irving,
utterly
fact-basis, a
pure theological fig

ment.
Then, on the other hand, one fails to see how
the judicial condemnation on the cross of potential sin
in Christ s flesh
the vicious
any
transgression.
flesh in Christ s
to benefit us in the
is
bias
in our
For
flesh
though
How,
demnation
of preventing
the
objective
sin
of
case happily proved innocuous,
enough from being harmless in our

then, are
way
from breaking out into
we
to be benefited
of Christ s
flesh
in
the
it is far
case, teste St. Paul.
How
will the con
His death deliver us from
In that
Shall we say to ourselves
our body of death ?
Alas
the
?
death my flesh was crucified
faith-mysticism
The faith-mysticism may act on
will not help us here.
:
the imagination and the heart, but hardly on the

1
flesh.
Vide The Doctrine of the Incarnation Opened (Collected Writings,

and the account of his view in The Humiliation of Christ,
vol. v.),
p. 254.
289
remain as obstinately as ever opposed to all good,

anything the condemnation of Christ s flesh on Cal
It will
for
Instead
effected.
vary
of
faith-mysticism, then,
must
we have
recourse to sacramental magic, and say that in

the Lord s Supper the Lord s resurrection-body, purged
from potential sin by the fire of the cross, passes into

our bodies and becomes there a transforming influence,
spiritualising,
sublimating
our
frames into the
carnal
of
That certainly
humanity ?
was the way Irving s adventurous spirit took in carrying
It seems the only course open, and
out his pet theory.
likeness
Christ
risen
the reductio ad absurdum of the theory.

work be placed, as perhaps on
this theory it ought to be, on the life rather than on
it is
If the stress of Christ s
the death of the Eedeemer, then the redemptive value
our Lord s experience lies in His heroic struggle to

maintain perfect holiness in spite of the sinful flesh.
Now here at least we are in contact with a fact. The
of
condemnation
of Christ s
of
flesh
on the cross has
being a pure figment, but Christ
appearance
with temptation was an
indubitable, stern
all
the
s battle
reality, to
which value must be assigned in every true theory of

The only question is, How can it be made
redemption.
The apostle
to tell for our advantage
question, so far as I can
make
life
in the flesh
bondage to sin
out, is this:
shows that for

is
answer
men
Christ
to this
s
holy
living in the flesh
not the natural and inevitable state
judgment on the actual condition of bondage as

what ought not to be and need not be.
Further, as the
it is
whole
of Christ s earthly experience
the apostle an appointment

19
of
was
God
in
for a
the view of
redemptive
290
ST.
purpose, that sinless life is a promise and guarantee of

divine aid to holy living for all who believe in Jesus.
walked in the Spirit while in the flesh, and to

those who believe in Him, God will communicate His
Jesus
Spirit
to
them
enable
culmination of Christ
resurrection
do the same.
to
Finally, the
victorious life in the Spirit, in a
pneumatic manhood from which
into
all
gross fleshliness has disappeared, gives us a sure ground

of
hope
for the ultimate
redemption of our body out
the natural into the spiritual, out of
An
the incorruptible.
on
of
objective sentence of illegitimacy
the reign of sin in the flesh,
sive emancipation
of
the corruptible into
an incipient and progres
therefrom through the strengthening
the spiritual powers, with the prospect of completed
surely these together constitute

emancipation hereafter,
It is difficult to see what
a not inconsiderable boon
!
more we could have on any theory, unless

physical process of transformation carried
it
were some
on in the
flesh
even now.
Just this the advocates of the theory of redemption by
Their way
sample seem to think their theory secures.
of
thought
so
is
up
is
different
from mine that
it
is
with
attempt
expound it, but the position taken
Christ is not now in process
something like this.
to
diffidence I
redemption the process is complete so far as He is

concerned, and the fact must tell for our advantage.
of
Christ and
we
are organically one.
and we are one with
Him
one with
He is
Him
one with
us,
risen, not in
The
hope only, but somehow even at the present time.
risen Christ has it in His power to make us now what
He
Himself
is.
And by what means
By
sacraments,
291
Once more the

by the sacrament of baptism.
sacramental Deus ex machind.
The links of thought
especially
here are not easily traceable.

It may be due in part to
the fact that the prominent exponents of the theory are
connected with churches deeply tinged with sacramenmuch stress is laid on ritual in con
tarianism that so
nection with the process
of
Be that
salvation.
may, the logic of sacramentarianism
is
as it
too subtle for me.
That the completely self-redeemed Christ should be able

in the case of
Christians to hasten the process of re
demption through the exceptional powers

is
to the apostle,
conceivable.
He has attained
He is eventually
According
change our vile body into the likeness of His glorious
body, and for anything we know the process might con
to
ceivably begin before death, or at the
man becomes by faith a new

But why should baptism be
moment when
creature in Christ Jesus.
instrument
the
in
How comes it that a mere

miraculous process ?
such
tremendous
significance as to be
possesses
integral part of the divine act or process of
whereby the individual incarnation
of
this
rite
"
an
1
incarnation,"
Christ
becomes
gradually the collective incarnation of redeemed humanity?

cannot tell it is enough for us
The reply may be
:
that such
is
We
the fact as declared in Pauline texts, like
Romans VL
3, 4, and still more remarkably in the Lord s

commission
to His apostles before His ascension
great
All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth.
"
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them."

What is this but an intimation from the risen One, that
He
is
at
length
1
Du
in
possession
Bose, tioteriology,
of
etc.,
power
p. 358.
to
raise
292
ST.
humanity up to God, to impart His own risen humanity

to men, and that the instrument by which He is to effect
that great result through the agency of His disciples
is
We are
not here concerned with the exegesis

baptism
of supposed proof-texts, but simply with the point of
view in support of which they are adduced.
Practically
?
the outcome
redemption
in.
salvation
is
of
men by
This
by sacraments.
is
what
the self -redemption of Christ ends
Christ fought a battle with the flesh, unaided save
by the Holy Spirit who dwelt in Him in all possible

His victory makes the struggle easier for us,
fulness.
not merely by ensuring for us the aid of the Divine

Spirit through whom He conquered, but by introducing
into the very flesh, which is the seat of our foe, the
mysterious powers of His heavenly humanity through

the use of consecrated spiritualised matter in the forms
of water, bread,
grace
and wine.
as the mainstay
failure.
It is the
a ridiculous birth.
ad dbsurdum
of
is,
This recourse to sacramental

in
my
view, a
confession of
mountain labouring and bringing forth

It is more and worse.
The reductio
a certain theory of redemption,
it is
at
the same time a melancholy perversion and caricature of

Christianity.
1
Vide
Du
Bose, Soteriology,
etc., p.
354.
CHAPTEE XVI
THE LAW
THE negative
was, we have
side of St.
Paul
doctrine of justification
seen, that a God-pleasing righteousness is
not attainable through the keeping of the law.

Apart
*
from law, a righteousness of God has been manifested."
"
The negative
thesis is not less startling
one, that righteousness

faith.
than the positive
comes through the imputation
One who breaks
so completely with tradition
of
is
danger of going to extremes.

temper of indis
criminate depreciation is apt to be engendered, under the
in
influence of which the innovator, not content with setting

existing institutions in their
them any
to refuse
a superficial view
this
own proper
place, is
it
earliest
The tone
Galatians.
On
might appear that some traces of
temper are discernible in the Pauline
especially in the
tempted
legitimate place and function.
of
Epistles,
and
them, the Epistle to the
in which the law
is
spoken
of in
that Epistle
is certainly depreciatory, in comparison with

that which pervades the Epistle to the Eomans.
The
"
expression
weak and beggarly
elements,"
whatever
its
precise reference, applies at least generally to the Jewish
law, and conveys the opposite of an exalted conception

1
Rom.
Hi. 21.
293
Gal. iv. 9.
294
ST.
and
In the later Epistle, on the other

hand, the law appears as embodying the moral ideal, as
holy, just, good, spiritual, as only realised, not tran
of its use
value.
scended, by the highest attainments of the Christian
The
difference
to
Epistle
due in part
is
Eomans
the
controversial, irenical
to
the apostle writes
spirit,
life.
the fact, that in the

in
a non-
while in the Epistle to the
Galatians his attitude and tone are vehemently polemical.
But besides that
it
has to be noted, that in Galatians he
has chiefly in view the ritual aspect of the law, while in

Eomans it is the ethical aspect as embodied in the
And, as
mainly before his mind.
showing that the contrast between the two Epistles in
this connection is only on the surface, it must further be
Decalogue that
is
pointed out, that when in the earlier Epistle the writer

has occasion to refer to the ethical side of the law, his
manner
tial
of expressing himself is not a
than in the
"
later.
one word, even in

as
this,
whit
The whole law
Thou
less
is
reveren
fulfilled
in
shalt love thy neighbour
l
thyself."
was indeed not possible for a man of St. Paul s mental

calibre to become under any provocation a
reckless critic of so venerable and valuable an institution
It
and moral
as the Jewish law.
clever but comparatively super
flippant man, like Marcion, might play that role,

but hardly the great apostle of Gentile Christianity,
with his religious earnestness, moral depth, and intel
ficial,
lectual affinity for great, comprehensive views of history.
However
spiritual
the reaction brought about by the

he passed through when he became a
decisive
crisis
Gal. v. 14.
THE LAW
he must continue to believe in the divine
Christian,
origin of the law of Moses,
as a factor
importance
world.
That
remained
for
had a
it
and therefore
We
law
in its
immense
in the moral education of the

vitally significant function
real,
him a matter
of course
requiring reconsideration was,

of the
295
What
is
the only question

the true function
know what
the converted Pharisee
The
that question was.
bring the knowledge of
law, said St. Paul,
answer
to
was given
to
sin, to provoke latent sin into
manifestation, to breed despair of salvation through selfrighteousness,
and
so
to
prepare
the
for
despairing
welcoming Christ as the Eedeemer from the dominion

It was a grave, serious answer to a weighty
of sin.
It cannot be said that in giving such an
question.
answer the apostle trifled with the subject, or assigned
to the Jewish law a function unworthy of its alleged
divine
origin.
But three questions may legitimately
be asked with reference to this part of the Pauline

(1) Is the Pauline view of the law in
apologetic
:
accordance
Hebrew
with
Scriptures
ascribes to
the
?
function
(2)
recognised
Testament?
(3) Is the account
functions
the four Epistles
need supplementing
1.
To the
first
in
exhaustive,
apostle
the
of the
or
Old
law
does
it
of
these three questions, Dr. Baur s
reply was a decided negative.

is
he gives
in
the
in
it
Are the functions the
the law real, and
in
to
assigned
substance as follows
His view
of
the matter
In the great controversy
between Judaists and himself the apostle was naturally

led to make the antithesis between law and faith as
296
ST.
Hence the
broad and distinct as possible.

the law
"
in his anti-Judaistic dialectics
"
works
of
mean works
of
a purely external character into which right motive and

disposition do not enter,
is
and the position
of the Judaist
by such external works a man

make himself just before God. Faith, on the other
supposed to be that
may
emptied of all ethical contents, in so far as it is

viewed as the instrument of justification, a mere empty
hand,
is
form, in itself nothing and receiving any contents
from
its
But the
object.
legal
works and the
mere
the Pauline polemics are both alike
controversial exaggerations, to which
not
fearing
faith of
abstractions, or
is nothing
Old Testament
true of the works of the
this
which as they appear in the
law,
are
is
Especially
has
there
answering in the world of realities or in

Scriptures.
it
Hebrew
Scriptures
purely external, but the fruit of pious, God

dispositions, and as such acceptable to God.
Moreover, as the works of Old Testament saints are

not pharisaical in character, neither are they pharisaical
in spirit.
They are not wrought by men who imagine
that they stand in no need of divine forgiveness.
Old Testament saint knows

of
perfection,
that
believes that there

this
he
full well that
needs
divine
The
he comes short
mercy
and
he
forgiveness with God, and believing
is
he serves God hopefully and gratefully, striving to

s will in all
things with a pure heart, and
do God
trusting
thereby
to
these
Scriptures
pious
man can do
by the law, and

his deed, pleases
please
is
it
possible
so
substantially
he
that
And
God.
doeth
according
to please God.
to
the things prescribed
them
is
God, and wins His favour.
blessed
And
in
the
THE LAW
297
law was given for that end, that

that so
it might be
kept, and
attain unto the blessedness of the
men might
righteous.
Dr. Baur further maintained that even
seemed
to regard
law and faith as a mere
and
when not
about
the
just
cited
1
the
Galatians
and speaks
Cori?ithians
works
of
judgment on
might have done.
substantiate this statement are
to
vi.
dialectics,
the proof of this
divine
any ordinary Jew
as
texts
ii.
ground
of
it
actually engaged in polemics, he
forgets his hair-spun distinctions,

as
Paul himself
affair of controversial
to be only half in earnest
being that,
St.
the antithesis between works of the
13
iii.
men,
The
Romans
Corinthians
v.
10;
7.
The account given by Dr. Baur, of the Old Testament

the law and legal righteousness, is not
attitude toward
entirely baseless.
saints confessed sin
no thought
It
is
the
fact
that Old
and trusted in God
of being able to
do without
Testament
mercy, and had
it.
It
further
is
true that they practised works of righteousness in ac
cordance with the law, and hoped by these to please
God,
and are
thereby.
It
is
represented as actually pleasing God

furthermore true that these works, pro
ceeding from the love of God and a genuine passion for

righteousness, were not merely externally good works of
the Pharisaic order, but works such as
God who looketh
on the heart could regard with complacency.
All this
broadly true of the piety depicted in the Hebrew

sacred books, even though a certain deduction may
is
have to be made from the estimate on account

influence of
of the
the incipient legalism traceable in some of
298
ST.
the later additions to the collection.
knew
apostle
as
well as we, and
But
all this
the
quarrel was not

or with the Old Testament
his
with Old Testament piety,

He was in accord with the prophetic spirit, out
of accord only with the Judaistic spirit.
He believed
itself.
that the truly representative
Abraham, David,
position
etc.
that his gospel
is,
that which
best
men
interprets
of
Old Testament
of the
were on his
justification
the
His very
side.
Hebrew
by
faith is
Scriptures,
is
their deepest spirit, and that the men who

him
do not understand these sacred books, but
oppose
read them with a veil upon their faces.
He believes
true
to
himself
be
to
in
close
touch with
the spirit of
the
ancient worthies, and doubts not that had they lived in

his time they would have been in cordial sympathy with
him.
Was
51st,
103rd, 116th, 130th Psalms, the Judaistic con
Is it going too
assuming too much ?
far to say, that had all the Christians of the apostolic
generation been like-minded with the authors of the
this
troversy would never have arisen

in
Christ
and reverence
for
In that case faith
the law in
essential
its
elements might have co-existed peaceably in the con

sciousness of the Church as a whole, as of St. Paul
But unhappily the righteousness

time was not a righteousness like that of prophets
and psalmists, but rather a righteousness like that of
himself in particular.
of the
scribes
exilian
and Pharisees, the sinister growth

The apostle knew it well,
time.
been tainted with the disease himself.

of that kind,
1
It
of
the post-
for
he had
was a leaven
combined with a nominal Christianity, that
Vide on tins
my
Apologetics, pp. 321-336.
THE LAW
gave
proves
which the apostle speaks
in
The
the great controversy about the law.
rise to
manner
299
this.
of
his
opponents
in the four Epistles, not as
They appear
men whose
general moral and religious character com

respect, but rather as men who have their own
mands
make
ends to serve, and
Of course
self-seeking.
this
is
But the
medium
the distorting
fact
distortion, but
probably
is
of
that
demand
is
merely genuine character,
when
or
little
no
shown with
the interests at
the suspension of the conventional rules
Such men having found their way

of the most determined
of courteous speech.
into
polemical prejudice.
there
the unreserve of a time of war,
stake
law a cloak for
a plausible suggestion that
character not in truth, but only as seen
their
through
zeal for the
it is
the Church, controversy
kind was
inevitable.
The
apostle
will
have
to fight
over again with them the battle he has already fought

with himself, and to formulate for the guidance of the
Church the principles

clear to his
his
own
there the dialectic began, and

best be understood.
was a mirror
religious
mind many years
of his
it
was
in that region it
may
previously.
it is
made
experience
For
The individual man, Saul of Tarsus,

time, and the process of his religious
consciousness was but the rehearsal on a small scale of

the conflict through which
the Church attained to an
Thence we understand
understanding of its own faith.
the
works
of
the
law, spoken of in the Judaistic
why
controversy, are not works like those of Old Testament
but either ritual performances, or works of any

sort done from impure motives.
The reason is, that it
saints,
was only with such works Saul the Pharisee had been
300
ST.
By
occupied.
on the same experience, we
reflection
whence came the doctrine that the
further understand
was not given
for the attainment of righteous

Saul
When
the Pharisee began to see into the
ness.
spiritual inwardness of the law, through the contact of
law
itself
his
conscience with such a precept
"
as,
Thou
shalt not
he knew that there was no hope for him save

mercy of God, and he drew the conclusion By
covet,"
in the
the law at
its best,
as a spiritual code of duty,
comes
not righteousness as I have hitherto been seeking it, i.e.

as a righteousness with which I can go into the presence
a merely just God, and demand a verdict of approval.

By the law comes rather the consciousness of sin, and
of
through that a clear perception that the only attitude it

becomes me to take up is that of one who prays, God
"
be merciful to
me."
The apostle
the law must be read in the
doctrine concerning
light of
this experience.
When
he says, righteousness comes not by the law, he

means, righteousness such as I sought when a Pharisee,
the approval of
as
was an axiom
doctrine
But
130.
God
it
pharisaically conceived.
man who
to the
was not an axiom
This
wrote Psalm
to Saul of Tarsus, nor
There
opponents of Paul the apostle.
needed to be affirmed with emphasis, as in the
to the Judaistic
fore
it
controversial Epistles.
It is
not a
new
doctrine.
It
is
a commonplace, proclaimed with vehemence by one who

discovered its truth only after a momentous struggle to
men who
or to a great extent ignored it.

on two propositions which the truly
altogether
The doctrine
rests
good have believed in

that
God
is
gracious.
all
ages
No man,
that
man
therefore,
is
sinful
who has
and
self-
THE LAW
301
knowledge, and who cherishes a Christian idea of God,

will have much quarrel with the doctrine, or fall into
the mistake of imagining that Paulinism at this point
in conflict with the general
of
is
the Old
spirit
Testament.
As
the
to
the
of
inconsistency
alleged
apostle s
concerning the law, two things must be

borne in mind.
First, his whole doctrine as to faith s
utterances
function.
the
Faith in the Pauline Epistles
empty form
it
by no means
is
sometimes represented to
is
be.
It
not only an attitude of receptivity to God s forgiving

grace, but an energetic, ethical principle working towards
is
personal holiness.
Secondly,
has to be remembered
it
that, according to the apostle s
The good works
love.
filial
spirit,
doctrine, faith
of his justified
spring out of
the
man
works by
are done in
consciousness of re
demption, and as such are acceptable to
God
here and
hereafter, as truly good in quality, though not necessarily

free
from
all defect.
the final
Hence the apostle s conception of

not the same with that of the
is
judgment
The two conceptions
make judgment proceed on the
Pharisee.
agree, in so far as both

basis of works.
They
differ as to the character of the judge, and of the works
judged.
mere
The judge
justice
of grace, for
underlies
the
of the Pharisaic creed is the
the judge of
St.
Paul
the gracious character
work
of
judgment.
creed
s
is
is
God of
God
the
indefeasible,
and
Then the works
judged, as conceived by Pharisaism, are works done not

in the consciousness of redemption and the spirit of
sonship, but in the mercenary spirit of a hireling, or in
the fear-stricken spirit of a slave.
The
apostle s con-
302
ST.
ception of the judgment

It is the
test
of
judgment
is
of the
in affinity with that of Christ.
God
of love,
character the presence
spirit of charity.
we may
This
making the great
or absence of His
say in
all fairness,
freely acknowledging that the judgment
Matthew xxv.
Christianised
3146
ethics,
the Pauline Epistles.
reaches
while
programme
high-water mark
not touched by any
Here, as in
own
many
the disciple comes behind the Master.
in
of
utterance in
other respects,
It is not easy
from the system under which one

Some traces of Eabbinism may cling
altogether to escape
has been reared.

to
one
who has made
the most radical
revolt
from
Eabbinism.
Our second question is Are the functions St. Paul

and are they recognised in the
Old Testament ? Now, there can be no question that
2.
ascribes to the law real,
the functions ascribed to the law in the Pauline letters,
enumerated on a previous page, were based on actual

results of the law s action in the apostle s own case.
as
And on
careful consideration it appears that the
same
from the discipline of law in the history

By the law came to that people
a deepened consciousness of sin, an intensified keenvisioned moral sense.
There came, also, an enhanced
result followed
of the
Jewish people.
The Jewish people not only knew them

selves to be sinners better than other men, but they
For the law,
were greater sinners than other men.
sinfulness.
though it showed them their duty, did not incline them

do it, rather provoked reaction, and made their sin
to
more criminal by putting them in the position of shining

Despair and longing for redemption
against the light.
THE LAW
were the natural results
of those
303
two
effects
on
all
the
apparent from the utterances

very specially from Jeremiah s oracle of
The only point, therefore, on which
the new covenant.
minds in
better
Israel, as is
of the prophets,
there
is
room
for
doubt
is
Whether
the results of the
law s action, as unfolded in Israel s history, were those

contemplated from the first as the design of the lawgiving, or whether they were not rather the proof that
the law had failed of its end.
Now, here a distinction
may
the
be taken between the divine end of the law, and
end which was consciously present to the instru
ments
of
revelation,
Moses.
e.g.,
From
the view-point
of theistic teleology, as conceived by the Hebrew mind,

The
the apostle s doctrine of the law is unassailable.
ultimate result reveals the initial divine aim.

principle
it
is
true, as
had in view from the

law entered
On
this
Paul taught, that what God
St.
first
was the promise, and that the
to prepare for the reception of the promise,
to be a pedagogue, a gaoler, a tutor to
make
Christ and
In philo
the era of grace, liberty, and love welcome.
law
was
a
the
lower
sophical language,
stage in the
humanity preparing for a higher, in

presence of which it lost its rights, though the good
that was in it was taken up into the higher, and united
development
of
to the initial stage of the promise to
which
it
stood in
As to the view taken of the end of the law

opposition.
who
lived in the early time, without doubt it
by those
1
This principle must be applied with caution, else it will lead to
some unwelcome conclusions e.g., that God created man that he
might fall, and the lost that they might be condemned and that
Christ taught in parables expressly in order to make His insus
:
ceptible hearers spiritually blind.
304
ST.
was very different from that of St. Paul.

They looked
on
an
institution
which
was
destined
to end
with hope
The commandment which the apostle found
in failure.
be unto death, they regarded as ordained unto life.

They did not see to the end of that which was to be
to
There was a
abolished.
ference to the law.
upon their faces in re

time went on the veil began
veil
But
as
to be taken
men
away by sorrowful experience. Spirit-taught

began to see that the law was given, not so much
and blessedness, as for the knowledge of sin and

misery, and that if any good was to come to Israel
it must be through the
supersession of the Sinaitic
for life
covenant by a new covenant of grace.

That by the
law is the knowledge of sin he understood who asked
"
Who
can understand his errors
"
That the law was
an irritant to transgression, Jeremiah understood when

he said in God s name
Which my covenant they
"
brake, and
of
loathed
new covenant
them."
is
And
a witness to the despair of any
good coming out of the old one.

of the apostle s cry of anguish
:
shall deliver
We
me
the very prophecy
It is
"
an anticipation
Wretched man, who
"
the question, How far are the

functions assigned to the law in the Pauline theology
There is not a little
recognised in the Old Testament ?
in the Hebrew Scriptures which might lead one to think
can
now answer
s functions, as conceived by men of the older

were
time,
very different from those assigned to it in
that theology in the light of history.
In the initial
that the law
was naturally
From the law they expected life and blessing,
period, antecedent to experience, the tone
hopeful.
THE LAW
But there were thoughts
death and cursing.
riot
God s
305
heart which men at
first
in
did not understand, and
At
that could be revealed only in the course of ages.
did
these
dawn
devout
deeper thoughts
length
upon
minds and
men
find utterance in prophetic oracles,
another
the
in
though
"
temper living
night of
The prophets were on
they remained hidden.
legalism
Paul s side, if Moses and Ezra seemed to be on the side
to
of
"
of
his opponents.
as
to
The dispute between him and them
the purpose of the law
one which might be

any epoch-making event or institu
was the purpose of the American civil
is
raised in reference to
What,
tion.
war
e.g.,
the question be regarded as referring to the

aims of men, the answer might be, It was a fight on one
?
If
side for independence,
the
be taken
question
Providence, the
designed
bondsmen.
on the other for unity.
to
as
referring
answer might
issue
How
in
the
many,
be,
the
to
It
went
as the struggle
sympathy
Providence
of
oppressed
on,
who had
Even
on
of
of
emancipation
either with north or with south
side
design
if
was a struggle
earnestly
the
But
were
little
so in
the case of the great debate regarding the Jewish law.
Our sympathies go with Providence and with

though we admit that the prosaic Judaistic
tionalist might be right
Moses the legislator and
St.
Paul,
constitu
in his views as to the aims of

of
Ezra the
scribe.
One question more remains to be considered. Is

account of the law s function given in the antiJudaistic Epistles exhaustive, or does it admit of supple
3.
the
Our reply must be that that account, while

menting ?
true and valuable so far as it goes, stands in need of
306
ST.
supplement in order to a complete view of the subject.

On the
The remark of course applies to the ritual law.
ethical side the apostle s doctrine leaves nothing to be
The law summed up in love, and truly kept

only when the outward commandment is transformed
desired.
into an inward spirit of life
this is teaching thoroughly
sympathy with the mind of Christ, to which nothing

It is otherwise with the repre
needs to be added.
in
sentations of the law s functions and value in which the

ritual
Here the apostle s

mainly in view.
Yet
even
for apologetic
chiefly negative.
aspect
attitude
is
is
purposes in connection with the Judaistic controversy,

a positive conception of the law s function might use
have been presented

that, viz., according to which
was a sort of rudimentary gospel during the pre-
fully
it
Christian time, setting forth spiritual truths in emblems,

as
are employed in the training of children.

the view actually set forth at length in the Epistle
pictures
This
is
The
Hebrews, and epitomised in the motto
On this view,
law a shadow of good things to come.
and
the
tabernacle
its furni
priests, sacrifices, festivals,
to
the
"
"
ture were
emblems
of
the spiritual verities which
with Christ and Christianity, the
By
final
came
eternal religion.
the adequate exposition of this idea, the author of
that Epistle rendered an important apologetic aid to the

Christian faith in a transition time.
One naturally
wonders
why
St.
Paul did not employ
it
for
purpose in his conflict with the legalist party,
the same
and that
the more that even in the letters provoked by that

controversy there are not wanting indications that the
all
Heb.
x. 1.
THE LAW
307
point of view was not altogether foreign to his system of

1
been suggested that he was prevented
It has
thought.
from doing so by the fact of the allegorical or symbolic

of interpreting the Levitical ritual having been
method
But
previously employed in a conservative interest.
it
not easy to see why such a reason should have weighed

with him any more than with the author of Hebrews.
is
The true reason why

method
assigning to
and
Paul did not adopt the typical
St.
of justifying the
it
abrogation of
the law, while
an important function in its own time

is, that he had not himself arrived at
place, doubtless
the revolutionary conclusion along that road.

of
it
His manner
viewing the law was determined for him by the part

in his religious history.
It may be assumed
had played
that a similar explanation
is
view adopted in the Epistle
to be given of the point of

to the
Hebrews, and that
its
author gained insight into the transient character of the
and the glory of the New Testament

not
religion,
through a fruitless attempt at keeping the
law with Pharisaic scrupulosity, but through a mental
Levitical religion,
discipline
which
symbol and
enabled
him
spiritual reality,
to
distinguish
between
shadow and substance.
In
Paul was a moralist, he was a

while
for St. Paul the organ of
religious philosopher;
spiritual knowledge was the conscience, for him it was
other words, while
devout reason.
St.
With
this difference
between the two
men was
associated a corresponding difference in temper

the apostle, impetuous, passionate, vehement; the unknown
author of Hebrews calm, contemplative, leisurely.

diversity of spirit
is
1
so
markedly
The
reflected in their re-
Vide Note at the end.
308
ST.
spective styles as writers, that to accept Hebrews as a
Pauline writing is out of the question.

Yet the apostle was not disqualified for writing that
any radical contrariety
Epistle by
of view.
As already
hinted, there are indications of the idea that the law had
symbolical
function
in
anti-Judaistic
his
writings,
although he did not think fit to make use of it for contro

versial purposes.
Such an indication might be discovered
even in the depreciatory phrase, weak and poor elements."
"
It suggests an educational view of the law, and specially of

the ritual portion of it, which is in advance of the merely
It likens the Levitical
negative view of its function.
ritual to the alphabet arranged in
children
were taught when they
The comparison
be found
rows (o-ro/êta) which

first
went
to school.
implies, that in the ancient ritual
might
the elements of the Christian religion, as in

This educational
the alphabet all the elements of speech.
all
view of the ritual law
is
applied to the whole Mosaic
law, by the figure of the heir under tutors and governors.
The work
of a
not merely negative it is not

merely to make the ward acquainted with his faults, or
to dispose him to rebel against irksome restraints, or to
tutor
is
him by a discovery of his ignorance, and by

effects to awaken in his breast a hearty desire
of an unwelcome yoke.
It is also to train him
discourage
all
these
to be rid
in moral habits, from
which he
will reap benefits all the
taught that Israel

derived a similar benefit from the discipline of law.
In
days
of his
life.
this
great
apologetic
By
implication
it is
word concerning the
heir, it is
recognised that the discipline of external law forms a

necessary stage in the education of mankind, good while
THE LAW
it
lasts,
and
fitting
for a higher stage,
309
when the
heir,
arrived at length at maturity, can be trusted to himself,
because he has within him the eternal law of duty, the

reason firm, and temperate will, the self-regulating spirit
of a
manly
life.
1
particular instance of the typical mode of viewing the
Levitical ritual may be found in 1 Cor. v. 7, where Christ is called,
The idea in general form finds

"our Passover"
(TO yi-xa^x ^wv).
expression in one of the later Christological Epistles, that to the
Colossians (ii. 17), in the identical terms used in Hebrews
:
shadow
of things to
come."
"a
CHAPTER XVII
WE
have now to consider
Pauline apologetic in
the
relation to the last of the three topics on
The materials
the Election of Israel.
purpose are contained
which
it
bears
available for our
in the ninth, tenth,
and eleventh
chapters of the Epistle to the Romans.
The subject
There
very abruptly introduced.
appears to be no connection between the close of chapter
is
eighth and the beginning of chapter ninth.

is
indeed no
logical connection,
emotional one.
The subject
is
but there
is
And
there
a very close
suggested to the writer s
He has been expa

principle of contrast.
with
on
the peace-giving
tiating
impassioned eloquence
mind on the
and inspiring hope of believers in Christ.

when he has ended his song of triumph and paused
But
faith
moment
to recover breath, the bitter
suggests itself
reflection
for a
suddenly
and joy of faith and

no share.
have
It is a
countrymen
in all this peace
hope most of my
reflection most painful to his feelings as a Jew who loves
his race, and takes pride in their national prerogatives
and
privileges.
unbelieving
is
Paul the Jew;
But the
fact that Israel is prevalently
more than a source

it
is
serious
810
of personal grief
to
him
to
difficulty
for
311
grapple with as the apostle of the Gentiles, and the

advocate of a universal gospel independent of Judaism,
and as one whose mission among the Gentiles had been

For did not the unbelief of Israel,
greatly successful.
taken along with the extensive reception of the gospel
by Gentiles,
signify the
cancelling of Israel
election,
the rejection of the Jews and the substitution of the

Gentiles in their place as the objects of divine favour ?
Or,
if
it
did not signify this, was
against his gospel to this
effect
not an argument
The Pauline gospel
it
cannot be true, for it is rejected by the mass of the elect

Thus does the apostle appear placed in a
people ?
dilemma, on neither horn of which he will care to be
How
does he get out of the dilemma ?

He deals with the hard problem in two ways, in
both of which he successfully escapes the dreaded in
impaled.
ference that his gospel
is
First he reckons
illegitimate.
with the facts on the assumption that they signify an

absolute final cancelling of Israel s election, striving to
show that even in that case there
The argument
against his gospel.
is
no presumption
of his
opponents being
If you are right in your view of Christianity, then God
but such a rejection is
has rejected His chosen people
"
you are wrong

Such a rejection
impossible, therefore
first
instance
This
is
tenth
"
is
the line
chapters.
"
is
his reply in the
not
impossible."
defence pursued in the ninth and

But the apostle is not content with
of
He
proceeds next to consider more

carefully whether the facts do necessarily amount to a
final absolute rejection of Israel, and comes to the con
this line of defence.
clusion that they do not, so, of course, again evading the
312
PAUL
ST.
unwelcome inference
This
of the falsity of his Gentile
gospel.
the train of thought in the eleventh chapter.
is
This two-sided
argument we have now
apologetic
to
consider in detail.
I.
The argument as adjusted
the hypothesis of a
to
cancelled election.
The apostle guards against unfavourable inferences

from
construction
this
The
the
of
first of
is,
arguments.
an election within the election
God
election
the third,
by three distinct
that there was always
facts
these
the
that
second,
in
sovereign and not under law to the elect

that if Israel was rejected it was her own
is
she had brought
upon herself by a habit of dis

obedience and unbelief for which she had had a bad
fault
it
reputation all through her history.

1. There was always an election within
This
is
the gist of
is
ix.
in substance this
speak
seem
Israel s
of
amount
to
the
as
thing to
cancelled, for that
that
saying
election.
the apostle says here
It is certainly a serious
election
to
What
6-9.
His peculiar treasure

But we must distinguish between election and
Israel to be
There
is
an election that
is
that cannot be cancelled,

effaced,
and an inner
cancellable,
an outer
circle
that
would
God s word declaring

had been made void.
is
election.
and an election
circle
that
may
ineffaceable.
be
There
always have been these two elections, the outer and the
inner, an Israel of God within the Israel after the flesh,
a seed of Jacob the child of promise within the seed of
Abraham.
The two elements can be traced
along
they are very recognisable
an Israel after the flesh, and an Israel
the course of Israel
now.
There
is
all
history
313
And it is of the
after the promise at this hour.
former only that cancelling of election can be predicated.
The election within the election stands, for this inner
circle is to
It can
be found within the Christian Church.
not, therefore, be said
now
that the
word
of
God
calling
been rendered void, except

in a sense in which the same thing could have been said
Israel to be a chosen race has
any time in Israel s history, e.g., in the time of Elijah.

This is the import of
2. In election God is sovereign.
The leading thought in this section is, that
ix. 10-24.
at
in electing acts
God
is
free
that as no people has a
claim to be elected, so no people has a claim to the
continuance of
begins
He may
reasons
its
election
that what
sovereignly end.
God
There
sovereignly
may
be good
why God should not end what He has solemnly
begun, but they are to be found in God, not in man.

The apostle, having in view to beat down Jewish pride,
which thought that the elect race had a claim to a

monopoly and to the perpetual enjoyment of divine
favour, asserts the sovereignty of
God
in the business of
in a very absolute and peremptory manner.

back
to the commencement of Israel s history, he
Going
shows how conspicuously God s sovereignty asserted
election
even there, inasmuch as it determined which of the

two sons about to be borne by Eebecca was to be the
heir of the promise before the children were born, there
itself
anything in the conduct of the two sons had

emerged to make the election turn on personal merit.
fore before
The
elder, it
was announced beforehand, was
to serve the
younger, so excluding not merely personal character, but

civil law and custom as a ground of choice.
This might
314
ST.
seem arbitrary and even unrighteous, but the apostle is

The point he insists
not careful to repel such a charge.
on
the matter of fact
is
And he
history.
arbitrary or not, so stands the
goes on
to
show that
was not a
it
solitary instance of sovereign action, pointing out that

God claimed the right of so acting in all cases in the
"
words,
and
have mercy on
I will
whom
I will
have mercy,
have compassion on whom I will have com

then citing the case of Pharaoh in proof that
I will
passion,"
God
acts on
that principle not merely to the
effect of sovereignly exercising
mercy but
positive
also to the
nega
unto
destruction.
An
extreme
hardening
What
position which naturally suggests the objection
room under this doctrine for the imputation of guilt, for
tive effect of
who hath
stated
resisted
His
by a devout
equilibrium
between
responsibility,
will
Had
this difficulty
inquirer, anxious
divine
sovereignty
the apostle would
pains to soften, modify,
to
doubtless
and adjust
been
maintain an
and
human
have taken
his statements.
Of
they certainly stand in need, for the assertion that
this
God hardens men
to their destruction
is
unquestionably
capable of most mischievous perversion, to the detriment
Had St. Paul been in the
of both piety and morality.
mood
pursue an apologetic line of thought, with a

view to reconciling divine sovereignty with divine love
to
on the one hand, and with human responsibility on the

other, he could easily have found materials for the
king of Egypt.
the
signs
God s
dealings with the

natural
For what was the
tendency of
purpose even in the history of
and wonders wrought in the land

Pharaoh s heart, to the effect
Surely to soften
of
Ham
of letting
315

Israel
fitted
God hardened Pharaoh
go.
and intended
the fact
apostle
mood
The means
so in all cases.
is
ever means
naturally
knew
fitted
to
of
by means
effect.
And
hardening are
and win.
soften
The
he was not in the
this as well as we, but
to indulge
heart
have the opposite
to
such a strain of explanatory, con

He was dealing with proud men who
in
ciliatory remark.
thought the election of their fathers gave them a pre

scriptive right to divine favour.
softening
down hard statements he
harder statements
and men as
vessels as
another
Therefore, instead of
to
still
representing
out of which God
clay,
He
goes on to
pleases, one to
be
make
God
as a potter
can
make such
a vessel
of mercy,
be a vessel of destruction, to be dashed to
maker s will. As against human arrogance

a legitimate representation, but as an exact com
plete statement of the relation between God and man it
So viewed, it would be
cannot of course be regarded.
pieces at the
it
is
simple fatalism.
3. How far the apostle was from intending to teach
fatalism appears from his third argument under the first
which
is to throw the blame of

This
herself.
argument forms the
He here brings against
leading contents of chapter x.
Israel the grave charge of not submitting to the right
alternative, the object of
on
Israels rejection
eousness of God.
Fully recognising the good side of the
national character, zeal for righteousness

conceived,
sponsible
he
for
nevertheless
the
great
holds
his
miscarriage
as popularly
countrymen re
of
their election,
finding in their passion for righteousness not only a lack

of
knowledge or
spiritual
insight, for
which they might
316
ST.
be pitied, but a culpable spirit of self-will.

He ascribes
to
a
the
ambition
establish
them
to
righteousness which
they can regard as their own achievement. They are too
proud to be debtors to God.

They desire to be able to
say: "God, I thank Thee, I am not as other men." Hence
the gospel of pardon to the sinful has no attraction for
them.
Its very simplicity is
an offence to their
pride.
are unbelievers, not because they have not heard
They
the gospel, or have not understood
its
meaning.
They
have heard enough, and they have understood too well.
And the present unbelief is but the reproduction of a
standing feature in the character of the race in all its
generations, which provoked the remonstrances of God s
messengers from Moses to Isaiah.
provoke you
"
said,
I will
by a no-nation, by an unwise
to jealousy
nation will I anger
Moses
you,"
thereby hinting a threat of
Isaiah
degradation from the position of the elect race.
still more outspokenly revealed such a divine purpose of
disinheritance by signalising on the one
God had
received
other hand
the
among
hand the honour
the outside peoples, and on the
indifference
and
even
with
hostility
which His messages by the prophets had been treated by

the chosen nation.
belief
The
drift
of
the citations
and disobedience have been features
is
of the
Un
Jewish
all through her history, provoking

His choice, and to threaten disinherit
national character
God
to repent of
The same
ance.
tion, in
Jesus
features reappear in the living genera
exaggerated form, in reference to the mission of

now at length the divine patience is all but
till
exhausted, and the oft-repeated threat
becoming an accomplished
fact.
is
on the point of
317
THE ELECTION OF ISKAEL
But
II.
new
at this point the thought of the apostle takes
He
turn.
from the idea
recoils
final disinheritance
nay, as
in the prophetic oracles
we
of
an absolute and
he finds even
shall see,
which threaten such a disaster
a bit of solid ground whereon patriotic hope can plant its

foot.
Looked at broadly, the relative oracles do seem to
at
point
complete
inevitably
arises
intended and
rejection
whether
what
now
is
is
question
what was
really
The
happening.
actually
He
apostle does not shirk the question.

it,
the
therefore,
that
plainly asks
and as plainly answers it, and that in the negative.

I say, then, hath God thrust away His people ?
God
"
He
"
forbid
right.
of
speaks vehemently, and he has a good

For he too is an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham,
And he
the tribe of Benjamin.
speaks confidently,
For he remembers his own
good right.
history, that of one who also had been unbelieving and
disobedient, and he cannot but hope that God, who had
again with
mercy on him, has grace

notwithstanding
all
in store for his countrymen,
Moved
their provocations.
by patriotism, and by the hope inspired by

conversion, he sets
himself
to
put
construction on the facts as possible.
his
own
encouraging a
In the first place,
as
he lays stress on the mere fact of the

hath not thrust away His people whom
He
at once
election.
He
"
God
foreknew."
has indeed already combated the idea that the act of
election gives the elected a claim to perpetual enjoyment

of
the
position,
But quite compatibly with that

privilege.
he holds that an act of election may bring God
under obligation to Himself, that an act

1
Rom.
xi. 2.
of
that kind
318
ST.
solemnly performed cannot lightly be recalled

without loss of dignity.
It is therefore, in his view, a
strong point in favour of any people that God hath fore
known or chosen it to any signal position in history. The
once
dignity of the divine character

tinuance.
From
that
gifts
"the
this point of
and
the
Next the
repentance."
is
on the side
view
calling
of
of
con
be affirmed
may
God are without
it
apostle extracts comfort from
the consideration that now, as in Elijah s time, there are

doubtless more faithful ones than at first appears
that
;
the remnant, the inner circle of the elect,
means
one
is
so inconsiderable a
apt to suppose.
Elijah thought he stood alone
in a faithless, apostate time, there
men who had
not by any
in hours of depression
body as
When
is
were seven thousand
not bowed the knee to Baal,
a small
number
compared with the whole nation, but a great number

compared with one man. So now the sad-hearted apostle
would bear
in
in
Israelites
mind that there were not a few believing

all
the churches.
present time there

of
is
"
So then also in the
a remnant according to the election
2
grace."
the sad fact remained, that the great majority of

the Jewish nation were unbelievers. What is to be said
Still
of
them
In the
first
place, it
must be sorrowfully
acknowledged that they have been blinded by inveterate

prejudice, in accordance with
The
Scripture representations.
picture of a blind, decrepit old man,
bowed down
with age and infirmity, suggested by the concluding words

the quotation from the Psalter, is a very pathetic
of
representation of a people in a state of religious senility.

1
Rom.
xi. 29.
Ibid. xi. 5.
Ibid. xi. 7-10.
319
When
its
a people gets to this senile condition in religion,
inevitable fate, one would say,
and
to stumble
is
fall
for blind, feeble old age can neither see obstacles in the
way, nor recover
when
balance
its
strikes its foot
it
against a stone.
What
and
Israel s
Is
doom
man when
the question the apostle has to face.
fall (finally
might
can he
He
believe.
energetic
believe it
this
^
?
yevoiro.
"
"
an
fail
That
I say then,
faith)
that they
Not
this either
with
idea
the
repels
But
another
that he simply will not
is it
any shadow of a reason for taking

It must
be confessed that the
or has he
position
Christian
and irretrievably)
fall
of the earth, like
the powers of physical nature
did they stumble (over the
up
stumble and
to
and disappear from the face
die,
aged
is
then
prospect of discovering such a reason is at first sight not

encouraging for what can befall blind, tottering old age
;
but death and burial

apostle
is
It
is
conscious of having a
easy
stiff
His
"I
s,"
heart can discern a
"
"
bit of blue
that
the
piece of argument on
and his
say then
are the sure index of laborious effort.
hand.
see
to
sky
"God
But a
forbid
s,"
patriotic
where other eyes
The apostle finds the

can see nothing but dark clouds.
bit of blue sky even in the threatening words quoted
from the song
of
"
Moses,
I will
provoke you to jealousy

and backs up his py
by them that are no people

But by their
lyevoiro by the remark
"
"
salvation to
fall
the Gentiles, unto the provoking of jealousy in
them."
The facts do
Paraphrased, his reasoning is to this effect
not mean final, irretrievable rejection the construction I,
"
Horn,
xi. 11.
IbicL
xi<
320
PAUL
ST.
taking encouragement from the words of Moses, put on

the facts
this
is
stumbling
to
That which has been the occasion
unbelieving
to the
Gentiles
salvation
brought
Christ
Jews,
of
has
crucified,
and salvation has
to the Gentiles to make unbelieving Jews feel

envious at the loss of privileges that have fallen to the
come
lot of others,
and desirous
to
recover
It is
them."
an
ingenious turn of thought but, for St. Paul, it is more

than that
a deep conviction firmly rooted in his mind,
;
and influencing
is
in
For even when he
whole conduct.
his
busy evangelising the Gentiles, he has his countrymen

view, hoping to reach them in a roundabout way
through the conversion of heathens
When we
faith.
see
him turning
his
the
to
Christian
back on the Jewish
synagogue, and addressing himself to Pagans, we might

think he is abandoning the Jews to their fate in a huff,
and that he
about them.
tactics.
not going to trouble himself any more

He is only changing his
But it is not so.
is
win Jews
failed to
Having
preaching of the gospel, he

"
faith.
Inasmuch as
magnify mine
"
do
is
am
trying to spite
an apostle
by any means
and may save some
office, if
emulation
is,
my flesh,
my utmost
jealous,
accept the grace of

despised."
Such
into
may provoke
them."
to
That
the apostle
gospel
s
and
it
at length
has hitherto
modus opcrandi, and
and he expects his Gentile readers

sympathise with him both in method and in motive.
such his motive

to
is
of
them
the Gentiles,
of
by direct
to convert the non-elect peoples that
may be made
God in the
the elect people
to Christ
They
will lose nothing,

1
he assures them, by such generous

Rom.
xi. 14, 15.
321
THE ELECTION OF ISKAEL

conduct.
If
they have benefited by the
the Jews,
fall of
more by their rising again. The

Jew and Gentile in one commonwealth
they will benefit still

ultimate union of
of religious faith will be as life
from the dead
long cursed with alienations between
and
to a
world
man and man,
race
race.
The foregoing thought, that the rejection of the Jews in

favour of the Gentiles was not an absolute rejection, but
only a new way of working beneficially on the Jewish
mind, possesses genuine biographic interest as the utter
ance of a noble man animated by the invincible optimism of
But
Christian patriotism.
light
it is
also of value as throwing
thinking on the subject of

These chapters of the Epistle to the Eomans
upon
election.
St.
Paul
way
of
have been, by scholastic theology, put to uses for which

They are not a contribution
they were never intended.
to the doctrine of the eternal predestination of individuals
to
everlasting
life
death.
or
Their theme
election of individuals, but of a people.

of
view from which the principle
plated
is
historical.
The writer
of
not the
is
And
election
the point
is
contem
treats of divine choices
as they reveal themselves in this world in the career
destiny of nations.
But
still
more important
that in these chapters election
is
is it to
and
note
not conceived of as an
arbitrary choice to the enjoyment of benefits from which

all
others are excluded.
as
to
favour,
is
to function as well
and the function has the good
besides the elect in view.
Hebrew
Election
As
of
others
the Jews, according to the
Scriptures, were chosen to be a blessing eventually
to the Gentiles, so, according to the apostle, the Gentile
no-nations were chosen in turn to be
God s
people, for
322
ST.
their
own good

doubtless, but also for the spiritual benefit
of the temporarily disinherited Jews.

to
point out that
this
view
is
It is unnecessary
in accordance with the
uniform teaching of Scripture, and very specially with

the teaching of Christ, in which the elect appear as the
the
light,
truth
salt,
and the leaven
strangely
have room for
to
enough
overlooked
It is a vital
of the world.
elaborate
in
many
creeds
doctrines
much
large
less
important, and far from sufficiently recognised, as yet,

even in the living faith of the Church, though the
missionary spirit of modern Christianity may be regarded

as an unconscious homage to its importance.
Before passing from this topic it may be worth while
employed by the apostle to denote the
function of the elect in reference to the world. Whereas
to note the figures
our Lord employed for this purpose the emblems of light,

salt, and leaven, St, Paul uses the analogies of the firstharvest presented as an offering to God and
so sanctifying the whole crop, and of the roots of a tree
fruits of a
as determining the character of the tree
duce.
The former analogy
Sodom whose presence
They are the ten men
in society.
sap, to
in
saves the whole guilty community.
analogy ascribes to the elect a vital influence
latter
which
of its pro
assigns by implication to the
elect a representative character.
The
and
They are the
roots of the social tree, from
up through trunk and branches a spiritual

be ultimately transmuted into Christian deeds and
rises
virtues.
The apostle expresses
his belief that Israel
will
at
length be provoked to jealousy in other words, that the

1
Rom. xi. 16.
;
323
now
unbelieving elect race will one day be converted to

This cheering hope occupies the principal
Christianity.
place in his thoughts throughout the remainder of the

1
eleventh
chapter.
metaphor
to aid
Here
him
he
again
has
recourse
to
in the expression of his views with
regard both to the present and to the future. His figure

What
this time is taken from the process of grafting.
has happened
been broken
is,
off,
that some branches of an olive tree have
and a wild
olive slip, the Gentile Church,
The branches were

has been grafted in their place.
broken off for unbelief, but it is hoped that their unbelief
not
will
be
final,
on the contrary the
that
branches will be engrafted on the

in
some respects
defective.
The
tree. 2
severed
The parable
disciple here
comes
is
far
behind the Master, whose parabolic utterances were so

true to nature.
The process of grafting a wild slip
on a good olive
is
in the natural sphere useless,
and
the process of regrafting broken-off branches impossible.
But
St.
when Jew
He
He expects a time
be
united in one Church.
and Gentile shall
Paul
idea
is
clear enough.
cannot believe in the
final
unbelief of Israel.
As
can he believe in the utter rejection of Israel. The

character of God, as he conceives it, forbids the thought.
God must be consistent with Himself, stable in His ways
little
of
action, therefore it
must be held firmly
as
a great
principle that His gifts and calling are without repent
ance
always, of course, without prejudice to the divine
independence and freedom, which must ever be strenuously

asserted against pretensions to perpetuity of privilege on
the part either of
1
Rom,
xi.
Jew
23-36.
or of Gentile.
2
For while God
Horn. xi. 17-23.
324
ST.
man He owes something
owes nothing to
It
is
God-worthy
to
to
Himself.
be unchanging, and on this firm
foundation rests the great word

TOV 0eov.
fjLara /cat 97
aêTape^ra ra
%api<r-
/eX}crt<?
It is well to note here the relativity of biblical utter
and
ances,
against
the
another.
balancing one statement

In a sentence going before the one
necessity of
just quoted, the apostle ascribes airoropia
the Authorised Version rendered
to
"
severity,"
God, in
the literal
In this
prune or lop off.
on
the
other
he
ascribes
to
God
hand,
sentence,
just the
opposite quality, a propensity to continue privileges once
meaning being propensity
conferred.
It is
to
an antinomy, but not one of the kind
which some have found in the apostle s writings, antinomies

which he makes no attempt to reconcile, nay, does not
even seem to be conscious
antinomy in
is
this case,
and
of.
offers
He
is
conscious of the
His solution
a solution.
to treat the pruning, the cutting
off,
or, to revert to a
previous form of expression, the blinding or hardening, as

partial
and temporary.
"
All Israel shall be
saved,"
he
boldly avers, taking courage from Old Testament texts
which seem to point that way.

The mystery of the past
be
shall
matched by a mystery to be revealed in the future.
The mystery
from
men
till
of the past, hid in
God, not from Him, only
the time of manifestation, was the admission
of the outside nations to
That mystery,
participation in the Messianic

of old a secret
known
only to
the initiated few, inspired prophets and poets, is now a
The
fact patent to all the world, a mystery no longer.
salvation.
other mystery, the mystery of the future,

1
Rom. xi. 26.
is
the ultimate

softening of Israel
shall be willing
325
hard, impenitent heart, so that she
to be united with converted

pagans in
one grand fellowship of faith and hope and worship.

St.
Paul expects this, because Israel, though hostile to Chris
tianity,
is
yet
beloved of Providence for the sake of
devout forefathers, who trusted God, served Him faithfully,

and received from Him promises of eternal friendship. 1
He
even expects
it
on the ground
As
call poetic justice.
may
equity, or
of
what we
Gentiles have benefited from
Jewish unbelief, receiving the
what
of
offer
Israel
had
highway were invited to

the supper which well-to-do people had politely declined,
so it was meet and fair that Jews should benefit from
refused, as the beggars in the
the mercy shown to Gentiles and at length share it with

2
So the final issue will be all alike guilty in
them.
:
and
their turn of unbelief,
mercy
"
no room
for envy,
God hath shut up
might have mercy upon
all alike
and
all
to
Providence.
suggests more than
all."
Like
all
the glory. 3
unto disobedience, that
Such
this magnificent apology at once
divine
partakers of divine
God
all
for
great
is
He
the last word of
Paulinism and for

generalisations,
it
expressly teaches, fascinating the
it
imagination by its vagueness and provoking questions

It breathes the spirit of
which it does not answer.
optimism, and encourages the larger and even the largest

hope, yet one knows not how far he may with certainty
infer therefrom the final salvation of all
men
conversion of the Jews.
St.
It looks as
if
or even the
Paul himself
had been led on by the resistless logic of his great argument,

and by the inspiration of the Divine Spirit, to pen a
1
Bom.
xi. 28.
Ibid. xi. 30, 31.
Ibid. xi. 32.
326
ST.
sentence whose depths he
And
so
felt
himself unable to fathom.
argument gives place
to worship, apologetic to
admiration of the inscrutable wisdom of God, to
Amen. 1
be the glory for ever.

1
Rom.
xi. 33, 3G.
whom
CHAPTEE XVIIT
CHRIST
IT may appear a grave defect in our treatment of
Paulinism that so important a theme as this should be
taken up at so advanced a stage.
Its postponement may
be deemed the more reprehensible that there
is
nothing
us
to
a
in
order
the
binding
particular
arrangement of
topics, and that one might begin the presentation of the
Pauline conception of Christianity with any of the great

cardinal categories of the system, and therefore with the
person of Christ.
by
But there are advantages to be gained

theme a position near the end
assigning to this august
discussions.
For one thing, we thereby raise the
out
of
the
topic
region of controversy into the serener
of our
The formulation of
atmosphere of calm contemplation.
Pauline theology had, as we now know, a polemical origin,
and from
first to last
under the shadow

length
we come
we have been pursuing our
of Judaistic antagonism.
into the sunshine,
the Lord of the Church as
He
studies
But now at
and can contemplate
appears in the pages of
Weizsacker remarks that, in endeavouring to present in a con

nected view the doctrinal utterances in St. Paul s Epistles, we can
"
start just as well from his doctrine of Christ as from that of the
means of salvation, or, to go a step further back, from that of sin."
-
The Apostolic Age of
the Christian Church, vol.

327
i.
p. 141.
328
ST.
the apostle, not as the subject of a theological debate,
but as the object of tranquil religious reverence. Another

advantage resulting from taking up the present theme at
this late stage
that
is,
light to be obtained
system
we bring
to the study of it all the
from acquaintance with the Pauline

and in particular with his
thought in general,
of
doctrine of redemption}-
For
it
Christ
is
beyond doubt that, St. Paul s conception of

was closely connected with his faith in
s -dignity
Jesus was for
Christ as the Eedeemer.
because
He was
The
the Saviour,
Him
the Lord
Lord frequently
title
occurring in the Pauline Epistles means the One who by

His death has earned the place of sovereign in my heart,
"
and
whom
my
all
I feel constrained to
heart and
tion
it
is
the
The
mind."
Person in these Epistles
worship and serve with

doctrine
of
Christ
no mere theological specula
is
of
outgrowth
religious
experience, the
offspring of the consciousness of personal redemption.
But the connection between the two
topics of Christ s
and work in the apostle s mind is not merely

His whole manner of conceiving Christ s re
aesthetic.
Person
demptive work rendered certain conceptions concerning

To see this we have
the Eedeemer s Person inevitable.
only to recall the lessons we have learned in our past
studies on the former of these topics.
/ By
1
the vision on the
way
Damascus, Saul
to
of Tarsus
R. Schmidt in his Die Paulinische Ghristologie (1870) strongly

The question as to the connec
on this order of treatment.
"
insists
tion of the doctrine of Christ
doctrine of salvation
2
Such
and Rom.
is
Person with the apostle
distinctive
"
is
indispensable (p. 4).

the connection of thought in such texts as Gal.
v. 1.
vL 14
329
CHRIST
became convinced that Jesus was the
Christ.
From
this
conviction the inference immediately followed, that Jesus
must have
suffered
on the cross not
of the connection
between
sin
The
these two alternatives.
for
His own sin but
on the convert
for the sin of the world, the choice,
view
and death, lying between
crucified Christ for the con
verted Pharisee became a vicarious Sufferer.
But
this
character of vicariousness could not be confined to the

Passion.
must be extended
It
the whole
to
earthly
That experience was full of in

with
the circumcision of the Child,
dignities, beginning
if not before, and
ending with the bitter pains of the
experience
Jesus.
of
These indignities one and all must be conceived

of as vicarious, and therefore redemptive collectively and
cross.
Eedeemer by subjection to
humiliation, and each element in His humiliation made
Christ became a
separately.
own
its
benefit
men
contribution to redemption, procuring for

to
corresponding
e.g., by the Eedeemer
legalism,
redemption from
nature
its
subjection to law.
Christ s
was an appointment by God.

own act. He humbled Himself
experience of humiliation
But
it
was
also Christ s
His whole earthly experience was a long course of selfhumiliation, and the redemption he achieved was a
redemption ly self-humiliation.
Paul
theory of re
a
demption, then it inevitably involved one other step
out
of
time
into
the
eternal.
The
whole
step
earthly
If
this be, as I believe it
life
of Christ
did
it
begin
sent His
is,
St.
was a self-humiliation
?
own
in detail.
In a divine mission
Son.
But
to
make
But how
Doubtless
the
God
conception
Christ s earthly experience as a humiliation complete,
of
is
330
ST.
not necessary to view it as a whole, and regard it as

resulting from a foregoing resolve on the part of Christ
it
to
enter into such a state
?
If so, then the necessary
the Pauline doctrine of redemption is
of
presupposition
the pre-existence of Christ, not merely in the foreknow
ledge of God, as the Jews conceived
all
important persons
and things to pre-exist, or in the form of an ideal in

heaven answering to an imperfect earthly reality, in
accordance
a
moral
with
Greek
the
personality
capable
of
thinking, but as
of
way
forming
conscious
purpose.
X
This
Epistle
which
thought finds classic expression
great
to
little
inquirers.
the
Philippians,
as
to
great Epistles for traces of the idea.
Christ, that
for in
"
though
3
poor."
Ye know
He was
It
is
rich, yet for
lowly and gracious in
saying.
your sakes
Nothing more than a hint
is
He
needed,
of redemption, the
conception of a great Personality, high
in
dignity
but
spirit, freely resolving to enter into
humiliation on
It is
plainly hinted
the grace of the Lord Jesus
view of the apostle s doctrine
a state of
the
doubt exists even among the freest critical

But we do not need to go outside the four
at in the words
became
in
the authenticity of
what we
earth, almost
expect, and
it
goes without
does not require
1
On the difference between the Pauline idea of pre-existence
and the notions entertained by Jews and Greeks, vide Harnack s
Dogmengeschichte, vol. i. pp. 755-764, 3te Aufl., consisting of an
appendix on the idea of pre-existence. For the religious value of
St. Paul s view on this point vide Weizsacker s Apostolic Age, p. 146.
Neither of these writers has any doubt that St. Paul believed in and
taught the pre-existence of Christ.

2
Chap. ii. 5-9.
2 Cor.
viii. 9.
331
CHRIST
a multitude of very explicit texts to overcome scepticism

and convince us that it really entered into the Pauline
of thought.
system
This conception of the pre-existent Christ immediately

In what relation does this Being
raises other questions.
who humbled Himself stand to man,

and to God ? Materials bearing on all
to
the universe,
these topics
may
be found in the letters which form the chief basis of our

study.
The apostle says that Christ was made of a woman, 1

and that He was sent into the world in the likeness of
1
sinful flesh.
That
He came into the world

He bore to the eye the
is,
by
birth,
men, and
aspect of
man.
But
Christ
came
in
the like
any ordinary
though
ness of the flesh of sin, He was not, according to the
like other
3
He knew no
The mind that
Him before He came ruled His life after He
He walked in the Spirit while on this earth, the
apostle, a sinner.
was in
came.
Son
of
"
sin."
God according
Paul conceived
important
He was
of
crisis
Yet
to the Spirit of holiness.
the resurrection as
constituting
in the experience of Christ.
St.
an
Thereby
declared to be, or constituted, the Son of
God
with power.
Thereafter He became altogether spiritual,
even in His humanity the Man from Heaven.**
The
expression suggests that Christ, as
Paul
St.
conceived
Him, was human even in the pre-existent state, so that

while on earth He was the Man who had been in heaven,
and whose destination it was to return thither again.
This view would
seem
Gal. iv.
2 Gor. v. 21.
4.
to
imperil
the
reality
Rom.
1 Cor. xv. 47.
viii. 3.
of
the
332
ST.
earthly state as something inadequate, phantasmal, tran

sitory,
and a mere incident in the eternal
not of this world
a Being
life of
not a true man, though made in the

l
and
found in fashion as a man."
"
"
likeness
of
But the
soteriological doctrine of the apostle
men,"
demanded
that Christ should be a real man, and that His
should be in
experience
Even
possible.
all
as
respects
human
ours as
like
in respect to the flesh of sin, the like
ness must be close enough to insure that Christ should

have an experience of temptation sufficiently thorough to
qualify Him for helping us to walk in the Spirit.
Among
the realistic elements in the Pauline concep
humanity may be reckoned the references

Jewish nationality and Davidic descent of our Lord.
2
These occur in the Epistle to the Romans, which is
tion of Christ s
to the
irenical in aim,
and might therefore not unnaturally be
regarded
indicating the desire to conciliate rather
than the religious value they possessed for the writer s
own mind. Such references are indeed not what we
as
expect
from
the
apostle.
His
was
interest
race rather than in any one nation, even
if it
the
in
universal rather than in the particular, in the
human
were the
privileged people to which he himself belonged.
Then
im
not easy to conceive of him
portance to Davidic descent, in the strictly physical sense,
as an indispensable condition of Jesus being the Christ
as attaching vital
it is
and the Saviour
of
the
He
world.
rested
his
own
be an apostle on spiritual rather than on

technical grounds, and we can imagine him holding that
Jesus might be the Messiah though not of the seed of
claims
to
Phil.
ii.
7-8.
Rom.
i.
ix. 5.
333
CHRIST
David, just as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews

maintained that Jesus was a priest of the highest order
Instead of
though not belonging to the tribe of Levi.
reasoning from Davidic descent to Messiahship, St. Paul
Because Christ,
might invert the argument and say
"
therefore
Christ
David s seed
"
If
"
seed
"
seed
"
be
ye
"
just as he said of believers in
Christ
s,
ideal not in a literal sense.
that account,
ye Abraham s
in an
understood
being
But, all the more just on
then
are
in both cases
was
while to state that Jesus

according to the
he does think
significant that
it is
It
flesh."
"
of the
it
worth
seed of David
be taken as indicating^
may
two things that St. Paul believed in Christ s descent

from David as a matter of fact, and that he regarded
:
it
as a fact of
some
a passage at the
The statement occurs
interest.
commencement
of his
in
most important
which he carefully indicates hisjChristological

and it may therefore legitimately be regarded
Epistle, in
position,
as counting for something in that position.
Obviously
the divine Sonship is for him the main concern, but it

does not follow that the other side is for him a thing
of
no moment.
a
And
Jew and
wherein
value
lies its
say
stating a truth
when
them apparently
He is the Son of God ?
a son of David
Christ
is
which
eclipses these facts and reduces
to utter insignificance, viz., that
Because
he
desires
affirm
to
Why
the
reality
of
Christ
humanity, not in an abstract form, but as a concrete,

Jesus a real Man a Jew with
definitely-qualified thing
:
Hebrew blood
in
His
idiosyncracies, physical
1
veins,
and
and mental
Gal
iii.
29.
possessing
;
Hebrew
descendant
of
334
ST.
David with hereditary
from a long
line of ancestors running back to the hero-king.
Such
seems to have been St. Paul s idea, and it is worth
qualities inherited
noting as a thing to be set over against any traces of

apparent docetism in his Epistles, and against the notion
that
he
regarded Christ
life
earthly
in the flesh
as
a mere transitoryV
1
that might with advantage be forgotten. ^,-4)
possessing no permanent significance
phenomenon
Yet nationality and
definite
individuality, while not
irrelevant trivialities, were far from being everything or
the main
thing for
St.
For
Paul.
apostle of Gentile Christianity, the
mankind was
Christ to
of
his particular relation to
was
to be expected,
much more importance than
And, as
he had a name for the wider relation
The Son
him, moreover and more emphatically,
The
analogous
significance
merely
"
title
of
to
that
honour,
but
of
David was
Adam.
title
It points out Christ as one
vocation
of
the second
for
Man."
assigns to Christ a universal, representative
title
function.
enthusiastic
Israel or to David.
as well as for the narrower.

>
the
universal relation of
to
It
is
indicative
who has
for
not
of
His
undo the mischief wrought by the trans

man.
Hence He is called in sharp
gression of the first

antithesis
to
the
Adam who
caused the Fall the last
1
There is nothing decisive in the Pauline Epistles concerning the
miraculous birth of Christ. The expression tx, avfpftccTos Aat/<5
might even be held to exclude it, except on the assump

Mary, as well as Joseph, was of the line of David. If
connection with David depended on Joseph only, Jesus might be
more exactly described as Son of David x.ot,r* i/6 uov than KMTOC
The expression ytvoptvov in f/vvetiKos fits into, but does not
axpnot.
prove, birth from a virgin.
x.a.7ci
axpnot,
tion that
1 Cor.
xv. 47.
335
CHRIST
Adam made
As the one brought

death into the world, so the other brings life.
As in
Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." 2
into a quickening spirit.
"
That in a system
2.
of
thought in which Christ stands
human
in a vital relation to the whole

also be conceived as occupying
relation to the universe

is
known
well
it is
He might
race
an important position in
not
difficult to believe.
It
that in the Christological Epistles ascribed
to St. Paul, especially in the Epistle to the Colossians, a
very high cosmic place
He
assigned to Christ.
is
is
there
"
represented as the First-born of all creation, nay, as the

all
originator of the creation, as well as its final cause
;
heaven and on earth,
things
in
angels
included,
This
and
visible
made by Him and
being
beyond anything
But even
leading Epistles.
be found
to
goes
we
in these
invisible,
for
in
Him.
the four
find rudiments
cosmic relations of Christ which
of a doctrine as to the
might
under
easily develop into the full-blown Colossian thesis
Jesus,
it
aim
in
For
conditions.
appropriate
St.
was an axiom that the universe had

the kingdom
or
of
in
as
Paul,
Christ
for
its final
God,
King.
This truth finds expression in several familiar texts, as
All things work together for good to
when it is said
its
"
them
that love
God
"
or again
and ye are Christ s, and Christ

of the creation in
redeemed world
is
"
All things are yours,
God
The groaning
s."
labour for the bringing forth of a
new
a graphic pictorial representation of

6
It is only the complement of
the same great thought.
this doctrine that Christ should be represented as having
1
Cor. xv. 45.
Bom.
viii. 28.
is
2
6
Ibid. xv. 22.

1
Cor.
iii.
22, 23.
3
6
Col.
i.
Rom.
15, 16.
viii. 22.
336
ST.
the control of
God
God s
providence, or as the Mediator of
This
activity in the world.
is
done when
stated
it is
"
and
things under His feet
in
still more
another
text
from
the
same
explicitly
Epistle, where Jesus Christ is described as the one Lord
that
"
hath put
all
by whom, or on account
reading varies here.
correct
whom, are
of
If it
a mediatorial
of
all
find
in
this
The
things.
were certain that
we might
reading,
doctrine
ov
&t
is
the
the
passage
action of Christ in creation,
and not merely in providence, while from the reading

But indeed, in
Bi ov the latter only can be inferred.
any
from providential power
case,
creates.
and
is
And
creative
to
is
only
He who directs providence in some sense

He furnishes the divine reason for creation,
one step.
the Logos,
if
not the physical cause, of the universe.
in this point of view, the doctrine of Christ s creative
thoroughly congruous to the Christian faith, and

altogether such as we might expect a man like St. Paul
activity
to
is
The
teach.
rationale of that doctrine is not the idea
of divine transcendency, which, in
majesty,
demands that
all
of
things
shall
It is rather
universe, which
the
exist
God s
His action on and in the
world be through intermediaries.

conception
the interest of
an ethical
demands that
and be maintained in being
for
all
God-worthy purpose.
In passing to the question as to the relation of
Christ to God as set forth in the Pauline Epistles, I
3.
remark that the
titles
most commonly applied
to Christ
by the apostle in his other Epistles are just those we

the Son of God
found in use in the Primer Epistles
:
Cor. xv. 27.
8 1 Ibid. viii. 6.
and
the
We
Lord
CHRIST
337
find both
combined in the Chris-
introduction
tological
where we have reason
the
to
Epistle
the
to
himself with the utmost care and deliberation
Jesus Christ our
Bomans,
to believe the writer is expressing
His Son,
we inquire in what sense
If
Lord."
the former of the two titles
is
"
to be understood, another
phrase occurring in the same place might lead us to

conclude that the sonship of Jesus is ethical in its
The apostle represents Christ
nature.
as
from or after j^
the resurrection declared or constituted the Son of

in
of holiness, as
God
to
Spirit
power, according
suggest that Jesus was always worthy to be called the
Son of God because of the measure in which the Holy
to
the,
if
God dwelt in Him, and that His claim to the

became doubly manifest after the resurrection,
whereby God set His seal upon Him as the Holy One,
and made such doubts about His character as had existed
Spirit of
title
His death for ever impossible.
previous to
questionably this
in
St.
Paul
is
at least nn ft Jrnist important. p.lmnftnJL,
conception of
ChrM &.-.s.Qn ship
based on community of spirit.

nature he JiaS i"^Jgj? w__wfr pn
which
sonship
ia_a sonship of thisfm-t.hfir nn in f.hp.
the _objects
conformed, and
as
of
God s
HL
he represents Christ, God
Epistle
And un
Son, as a type to
electing love are to. be
s
occupying among those who have
been assimilated to the type the position of first-born

a position of pre-eminence
2
on a basis of generic identity.
Yet that there was
in
Christ
s
something unique
sonship, as St. Paul con
among many
ceived
it,
1
brethren, that
we might
Vide Chap.
I.
infer
is
from the expression,

2
Rom.
"
His own
viii. 29.
338
Son
ST.
occurring at the beginning of the same section of
"
the Epistle in which the brotherhood of

of
His own
not merely the
Son,"
of
aspect
or
solitariness
the
in
strongly suggested
in
spoken
And
sense.
even more
is
uniqueness
text
is
begotten in a
some
large family, but the only begotten in

this
sons
first
Thessalonians, in
which Christians are described as waiting for God s Son

2
There is indeed no eawrov there to lend
from heaven.
emphasis to the
The emphasis comes from the

with words in which conversion
title.
juxtaposition of the title

to Christianity
God from
Jesus, in such
Finally
made
is
to consist in turning to the true
How
idols.
significant
the
a connection, of the
we may
application
title
the statement in 2 Corinthians
Son
same
note, as pointing in the
God
of
direction,
that Christ
iv. 4,
to
the
is
God, taken along with that in Romans viii 29,

image
that the destiny of believers is to be conformed to the
of
of
image
God s
The
Son.
the image of Christ
distinction of being the

reflection of that in
God s
essence (âpafcrrjp
is
reserved the
We are but the

image of God.
which is the direct radiance of
Him
constitutes
Himself
Hun
glory (aTravyaa/jia
which
ideal for Christians is to bear
for Christ
the
So^),
rrj<;
the
copy of
image
express
of
that
God s
rijs vTrocrTdcrews).
In an important passage in 1 Corinthians viii. the

Lord gains equal significance to that which Son
title
bears
in
Thessalonians
In some
similar context.
title
i.
10, from
its
position in a
cases, as already hinted, the
might be regarded as the generous ascription

1
Rom.
viii. 3.
Ibid.
i.
10.
2
*
1 Thess.
of
ianv
i.
9.
tlttuv
iw
Qsov.
of
339
CHRIST
religious
honour to Christ as Eedeemer, proceeding from
warm
a heart too
to be exact in its
But in
1 Corinthians
feeling,
and he
problem,
Paul
viii. St.
use of language.
thinking as well as
is
is thinking on a difficult and delicate

the place to be assigned to Christ in view
viz.,
In that connection he makes this

pagan polytheism.
statement
For though there be that are called gods,
of
"
whether in heaven or in earth

lords
many,
whom
are all
there
whom
and we through
0eo<?
Him."
over against the
The
many
whom
or for
are all things,
apostle here sets one real
Oeol \ey6fjievot of Paganism,
real lord over against its icvpioi TTO\\OL.
one cannot
fail to feel
seems as
Christ into
if
the
And
that the title Lord ascribed to Jesus
in such a connection
It
many and
is
Jesus Christ, through
and one
as there are gods
one God, the Father, of

unto
Him and one Lord
and
we
things,
yet to us
is
charged with great significance.
the apostle meant thereby to introduce
sphere of the
truly divine, urged on
thereto by the imperious exigencies of his religious faith,
and against his prejudices as a Jew in favour of a

abstract monotheism inherited from his forefathers.
the
title
Father attached to the name
suggest that
under the
He
finds
room
And
God seems
to
for Christ within the divine,
title Son.
From what we have now

way
of
strict
ascertained as to St. Paul
of thinking concerning Christ, it
might seem
to follow
that he would have no hesitation in calling Christ God.
Has he then done

especially in those
There
is
any of his Epistles, more

which are most certainly authentic 1
this
in
one passage in the Epistle to the Eomans which,

1
1 Cor. viii.
5 and
6.
340
ST.
in the
judgment
many, supplies a
of
the ascription to Christ of the

known text, Romans ix. 5 wv
clear instance of
It is the well-
0eo9.
title
KCU
ol Trarepe?
wv
6^X077770?
Xpio-Tos TO Kara adpica, 6 wv eVt Trdvrwv
The construction of this
alwvas.
et? TGI/?
A\ir]v.
0eo<?
sentence which most readily suggests itself, at least to

minds familiar with the doctrine of Christ s divinity, is
that which places a
comma
after erupted,
and takes the
following clause as a declaration concerning Christ that
He
is
God over
Another arrange
blessed for ever.
all,
ment and interpretation, however, are possible, viz., to

put a full stop after a-dpica, and to regard the last clause
as a doxology, or ascription of praise to
Euler
Thus
May God who
"
is
over
all
read, the text contains no
Christ.
Here,
it
instance showing
God
be blessed for
ascription of
ever."
deity to
may be observed in passing, we have an

how much may depend on punctuation,
and what a serious defect from the point

mechanical
the supreme
of
theory
inspiration
punctuation from the autograph
is
text.
of
the
In
view of a
absence
of
connection
with so important a subject as the Person of Christ it

would certainly have been a great advantage to have
had from the apostle s own hands a carefully punctuated
text.
Had
this existed,
a sign of the value of a

left little
room
for
Christ as
God
over
to
and had
comma
doubt that
all.
As
it
been found to contain
after a-dptca, it
St.
would have
Paul meant to speak
the case stands
we
of
are left
determine the question whether this was indeed his

we can
intention by other considerations, and at most
arrive only at a probable conclusion on either side of the

question.
As was
to be expected the passage has given
341
CHRIST
an immense amount
to
rise
course,
been
has
exegesis
of
to
attempt
cannot
state
to
in
here
detail
considerable
enter;
that
urged in support
God
to
Let
it
of
even
suffice to
the considerations which have
among
Christ are these
cannot
the grounds on which the
decision of the point at issue turns.

state
extent
Into the history of the
influenced by dogmatic bias.

interpretation
discussion, in which, of
been
the view that the claim refers to
that whenever an ascription of blessing
occurs in the
Hebrew
yrjTos precedes 0eo9, that
if
Greek Scriptures euXothe clause in question were

or
a doxology referring to
God
wv would be
and that such a doxology coming

frigid and senseless.
superfluous,
as distinct from Christ the
where the clause stands would be
in
These
and other arguments, however, have not been

and, on the whole, in spite of
deemed unanswerable
personal predilection, one

of learned
famous
constrained, after perusal
is
monographs, to admit that the bearing of this
text
on
the deity of Christ
so certain as at one time he
is
by no means
may have been
disposed to
think. 1
1
Amongst the most thorough
discussions of the passage may be

on the Construction of Romans ix. 5, in
Critical Essays, by Ezra Abbot (George H. Ellis, 1888), pp. 332-438,
which gives a very full account of the literature of the topic. Prof.
Abbot distinguishes no fewer than seven different ways in which
the text may be and has been punctuated and interpreted. Among
the orthodox theologians who have pronounced against the reference
to Christ may be named Dr. Agar Beet.
Vide his Commentary on
mentioned the
the
Epistle
Zeitalter,
p.
to
article
the
Romans,
580, refers to
p.
Weizsacker, Das Apostolische

25, 2 Corinthians xi. 31, as
271.
Romans
i.
instances of interjectional doxologies interrupting the train of

thought similar to the one in Romans ix. 5, assuming that the
reference
is
to God.
342
ST.
One
Christ
other text of great importance in

relation to
God may here be
its
noticed.
bearing on
It is the
benediction at the close of the Second Epistle
Corinthians
rov
Oeov,
ical
We
rrdvrwv.
to the
%apj? rov Kvpiov Irjaov, KOI rj ayaTrrj

KOLVwvia rov djiov Trvevparos, per a
rj
have here a Trinity, not, however, to be
forthwith identified with that of the formula framed by the

Council of Nice.
The apostolic benediction does not run
as a dogmatic theologian, having in view the interests of
Trinitarianism,
suggest at least
first
two
might desire.
two changes
clauses,
bias
Dogmatic
:
would
the transposition of the
and the addition
of
the word Trarpos
0eoO, lest the use of the latter term absolutely

should seem to imply that Christ while Lord was not
after
God.
Yet, notwithstanding these peculiarities
defects
they might be called from the dogmatic point of view

this benediction of St. Paul implies surely a very high
One would
conception of Christ s person and position.
say that he could hardly have used such a collocation of
phrases as the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, unless Christ had
been for him a divine being
God. All the three Beings
named
nature.
in the sentence
must possess
The second and third
in
common
certainly do.
divine
It has
been
Paul the Holy Spirit was a

divine Person, or merely a divine Power, but He was
The Holy Spirit,
certainly either the one or the other.
questioned whether
if
for St.
not a distinct Person in the Godhead, was at least
God s
God.
God s
What,
Jesus, being
energy, therefore practically a

then, are
named
we
to
synonym
for
think but that the Lord
together with
God and
the energy of
343
CHRIST
God
as a source of blessing,
is
also
God, and that
all
the
three august Beings here spoken of are bound together
by the tie of a common divine nature ?

While this appears to be the just interpretation
apostolic benediction, it
must be owned that
of the
in
the
Pauline Epistles a certain position of subordination seems

to be assigned to Christ in relation to God.
The most
outstanding text in this connection
that in 1 Cor. xv.
is
28, where the winding up of the drama of redemption
is
made
of
to consist in the resignation
by the Son of
God
His mediatorial power into the hands of His Father, that

God may be all in all. This is one of those grand
comprehensive statements with which the apostle is wont
to conclude important trains of thought.
statements
sublime
of
the same type,
but while inspiring awe
The spoken word makes us
We
feel
to
rises
it
it
Like
all
other
the oratorical
leaves us in doubt.
how much
is
unspoken.
are taken in spirit to the outermost circle of revela
tion,
whence we descry
darkness.
all
around an
infinite
extent of
CHAPTEE XIX
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
THE
title of
somewhat vague, but what
this chapter is
is to consider such questions as these

How
does the apostle conceive the Christian life in reference
have in view
to its beginning
of
growth
of
that
mind
as
life
How
the
place
What
life ?
features
prominence in his
of
The leading Pauline Epistles contain various forms
1.
of representation, bearing
One
that
to
applicable
occupied
he recognise the idea
far does
on the
first of
these questions.
the most important and striking occurs in the

earliest of the four. I refer to the statement in Galatians
vi.
of
15:
cision,
"
Neither circumcision
but a new creation
controversial colouring
importance
of
against those
the
who
is
new
set
is
anything, nor uncircum-
"
(icaivr)
KTLCTIS ).
discernible here.
spiritual
value on
creation
rites.
As
certain
The supreme
is
asserted
against these,
Paul says in effect

The one thing needful is the new
creation
without a share in it the rite of circumcision
"
St.
do you no good, and if you possess it the want of

circumcision will do you no harm."
It is easy to see that
the antithesis gives much sharpness and point to the
will
thought expressed by the phrase

844
Kcuvrj
KTICTK;.
The
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

apostle conceives of Christianity as a
into being
old world
345
new world ushered
by the divine fiat, and taking the place of an

worn out and doomed to dissolution. To his
opponents he says in
world in Christ which
"
effect
God has
created a
new
entitled to assert to the full its
is
Speak to me no more of circumcision

and uncircumcision, Jew and Gentile these distinctions
belong to the old world which, by the very advent of the
right of existence.
new, has received notice to pass away." Thus viewed the

creation refers not so much, at least directly, to the
new
religious life of the individual Christian, as
whole
to the
phenomenon denoted by the term

comprehensive
But there is little room for doubt that the
Christianity.
social
individual reference
was
also present to the apostle s mind.
For the very antithesis between the new creation and

implies that the former
it
consists
is
of
The new
ritual
creation
is
such for the Church collectively,

such for each member of the Church.
It
a moral creation, and
because
is ethical.
it is
community
men who have become
of
partakers of a new life through faith in Christ, and it is

because it is so constituted that the Kaivtj /cr/crt? is the
marvellous thing
we
it
is
represented to be.
Accordingly
immediately
mentioning this new
creation, St. Paul goes on to speak of individual members
of the Christian commonwealth in these terms
As
find
after
that,
"
many
as
walk by
this
rule,
peace be upon them and
The members of
mercy, even upon the Israel of God."
the mystic Israel are thus represented as persons who
walk by the rule, or have for their watchword
circum
cision nothing, uncircumcision nothing, the
everything
and the adoption
of this
new
motto
is
creation
possible
ST.
who
only for those

within them.
are conscious of a
new
spiritual life
not surprising, therefore, to find the apostle in a

later Epistle expressly stating what in the earlier he
It
is
rather hints than says,

in Christ
is
new
viz.,
any one
is
in Christ, a
new
conviction.
It
believes
The important text con

v.
17:" Wherefore if
creation.
taining the statement
man who
that every
2 Cor.
creation
the old things passed
behold
have
new
come
into being."
The
away,
things
sentence is characterised by laconic energy, and reveals
intense
"
oracle
Eemember ye
is
an echo of the prophetic
not the former things, neither
consider the things of old.
and
Behold I do new
l
things,"
who were enamoured

Christianity is the new
directed against the Judaists
is
of the
For the apostle
old.
thing spoken
only what
by the prophet, and he claims for it as

due to its importance that in its interest
of
is
all old things,
not excepting even Christ after the
flesh,
But
by him for his part.
mind than this controversial
shall be forgotten, as they are
there
is
much more
in his
When
he speaks of a fcaivrj
he has in
meaning.
view a marvellous moral phenomenon that has made its
KTI<TI<S,
every man who has truly believed in

Christ.
The
great transformation has taken place.
believer has become in thought, feeling, aim, a new man
appearance
in
old characteristics have disappeared, and
new
ones have
If we inquire what the old things

taken their place.
vanishing, and the new things replacing the old are, the
context helps us to an answer.

cant hint in these words of v.
We
find a very signifi
15:"
1 Isa. xliii.
18, 19.
He
died for
all,
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
347
that the living might no longer live to themselves, but

to
Him who
for
them died and
who
those
that
rose
again."
The
did
believe
py/cert,
for
formerly
themselves, and the change that has come over them
consists in their resolving to do so no longer.
The new
implies
live
creation then, for one thing, signifies selfishness giving
place to self-sacrifice for Christ
s sake.
Passing from the Epistle to the Corinthians to the

Epistle to the Romans, we find the idea of a new creation
recurring under slightly altered forms of expression.
the
sixth
the apostle
chapter
of
speaks
(iraXaios avdpwiro^\ implying, of course, a
an
new
In
man
old
;
and he
1
represents Christians as called to walk in newness of
life.
The same chapter gives us additional information as to

what the newness consists in. In the sequel Christians
Let not sin therefore reign in your
mortal body that ye should obey its desires." 2
The new
is
or
at
least
that
is
one
who
strives
to
man,
free,
is,
are exhorted thus
"
assert his freedom
and who seeks
from the dominion
of fleshly desire,
make all his members instruments of

At the commencement of chapter xii.,
to
righteousness.
where begins the hortatory part
of the Epistle, the
same
suggested by the exhortation to Christians to

present their bodies a living sacrifice characterised as a
truth
is
rational service (\oyiKrj \arpeia), in tacit contrast to the

ritual service of the Levitical
beasts
were offered
virtually a
that the
he
is
summons
life
in the
new man who

1
Rom.
vi.
4-6.
in
system under which brute
sacrifice.
The exhortation
is
to mortify the lusts of the flesh, so
body may be pure and holy.

so puts to death unholy desire
2
Ibid. vi. 12.
And
and
348
ST.
lives a
Romans
The same exhortation recurs
life.
temperate
in
accompanied with some details as to the
xiii.,
1
things to be shunned.
Here the doctrine
of the
new
represented as a
on
Christ
Christ
Jesus,
putting
of
being conceived as a
new garment to be worn by the Christian in place of an
stated in altered terms, being
life
is
old
one.
which
The
figure suits a connection of
exhorted
are
believers
habits; for habits are a
to
garment
thought in
a change of bodily
of the soul.
It also
supplies us with a link of thought wherewith to connect
new
the two characteristics of the
come under our
notice
creation which have
self-sacrifice
and self-control in
reference to personal habits (eyKpareia). 2
Christ
Christ.
motive to
by
self-sacrifice
His
purity of
His
life,
He
redeeming
by the same
That link
love
supplies
love,
is
the
and by the
furnishes the motive to temperance.
put on Christ, the apostle
It is true that, in exhorting to
makes no express allusion either to Christ s love or to

His holiness.
But the exhortation plainly implies that
Christ
the
is
Christ s
habits,
that Christ
moral habit
power
is
;
to
3
body."
Rom.
3 1
the answer
with
Christlike.
may
Ye
"
to
have
implies
price
in the
not your own, for ye are
are
therefore
Note the
body
is
consciousness of redemption.
glorify
God
in
your
that temperance, Christian
is
xiii. 13.
God
is
further
be found in another place, where
The implied truth
Cor. vi. 20.
glorify
be
It
a power within which generates a new

and if it be asked, Whence has He this
the apostle says
bought
To put on Christ
model.
Gal. v. 23.
It implies that to
3&|a<7aTe.
the self-evident duty arising out of the
Boj
after
349
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
sobriety and purity, not less than self-sacrifice, naturally
spring out of the sense of redemption.

of
They are a debt
honour we owe to Christ, the Saviour of men.

Comparing the teaching of St. Paul with that
Lord on the present
topic,
we
of our
find in both the doctrine
begins with a decisive change, but

In the Synoptical Gospels,
expressed in different terms.
Jesus speaks of repentance and conversion, and in the
that the Christian
life
mind denoted by the words,

fj,erdvoia, kiricnpo^r], is figuratively described as a new
The apostle s name for the same experience is,
birth.
Fourth Gospel the change
as
we have
seen, a
new
of
The name
creation.
is
well
chosen to convey an idea of the greatness of the change,

and on that account it commended itself to the mind of
one whose experience amounted to nothing short of a
mighty
religious revolution.
The phrase is the reflection

It was further wel
history.
of a
momentous
come
to the apostle as applicable not only to individual
spiritual
experience,
but to the collective
which owed
their existence to the gospel.
new
of
body
phenomena
Conscious of
saw a new creation
creation in himself, he also
all
around him, and he applied to it a title which was at

once a claim and an argument for the recognition of a
Finally, we cannot doubt
great and startling novelty.
name
to
revolution
it
that another recommendation of this
the
of
the
him was
denoted,
implied ascription
in
individual
or
in
the
the
whether
community, to God
It was meant to suggest that He who at
as its author.
the beginning
end
of the
made the heavens and the
world uttered the
and the new earth
be."
An
"
fiat
earth had in the
Let the new heavens
express recognition of the
350
ST.
own
creative causality of God, in the apostle s
occurs in the remarkable words of 2 Cor.

the
God who
experience,
6
iv.
was
"It
who
out of darkness let light shine,
said,
shined in our hearts, giving the illumination consisting

in the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Christ."
It is obvious
that while well fitted
new
aspect of the
phenomenal
life,
express the
to
as presenting to dis
cerning eyes a great startling change, the figure of the

new creation, much less aptly than the figure of the new
and
birth, expresses the
nature of that
what went
The latter figure conveys the thought

not a creation out of nothing, having
that the
before.
new
life is
life
its relation to
no relation to antecedent conditions, but rather a manifes

tation in
power
of
divine element in
relation, so far
what was there before
human
nature
in germ, the
made dominant.
This
from being suggested, might rather seem
to be negatived
The
by the Pauline phrase.
apostle,
however, did not mean to deny the existence of a divine

element in what theologians call the
man.
natural
"
"
On
the contrary, he expressly recognises
under the name,

2.
We
pass
the
now
law of
the
in
it
Eom.
vii.
mind.
to the second topic, viz.,
how
far the
is recognised in the Pauline literature in

In the synoptical
connection with the Christian life.
idea of growth
representation of Christ
the
kingdom
of
God
is
teaching, the idea of growth in
very strikingly and adequately
stated in the parable of the blade, the green ear,

1
ripe corn.
kingdom
of
The thought therein suggested

God, as in the natural world,
1
Mark iv. 26-29.
is,
and the
that in the
life is
subject
351
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

to the
law
of gradual
the ultimate state

stages,
development, proceeding towards
maturity by regular well-defined

which must be gone through successively.
It
of
must be admitted, perhaps not without a
feeling of dis
we
search in vain for a similarly clear

In none of these,
conception in the Pauline Epistles.
appointment, that
not even in the later Christological Epistles, can we

discover any such distinct and significant recognition of
a law of growth
and
four leading Epistles,
the assertion that
if
we
confine our attention to the
we can
St.
find no sufficient ground

Paul represents the Christian
for
life
an organic process of growth.

On the other hand, it
would be going too far to say that, in the Pauline mode
as
of conceiving the matter, the Christian life springs into
existence complete from the
first,
undergoing no sub
sequent change, and needing none because fully answering

This view might indeed be held compatibly
to the ideal. 1
with the admission that there are texts which suggest

another mode of regarding the matter.
The theory of a
new
complete from the first, is not justified by

experience it was not justified by St. Paul s experience
He found no perfect Christians
any more than by ours.
life,
in the churches to which he wrote letters, very
the reverse.
containing
Hence the frequent occurrence

exhortations,
encouragements,
threatenings, suggesting the

at
first
idea
that
the
of
much
texts
reproaches,
new
life
is
a rudimentary imperfect thing requiring improve-
So Eeuss in his Tlieology of the Apostolic Age. Pfleiderer takes

the opposite view, at least in the first edition of Paulinismus. I
have not noticed any modification of his opinion in the second
edition.
352
ST.
tendency rather than an attainment, a struggle

rather than a victory achieved.
Notwithstanding such
it
been
maintained that the
has
however,
passages,
merit, a
notion of a
new
complete from the
life
first
involved
is
some Pauline utterances, and a protest has been taken

against attempts at harmonising the two sets of texts by
in
the construction of a
according to
of
dogma
gradual sanctification,
which regeneration should be merely the
new life, to be followed by a

an
increasing power over the
progressive amelioration,
point of departure for the
The Pauline
flesh.
ideal, it is
Christ, perfect from
the
is
contended,
first,
a death
to
new
sin
life
in
and
resurrection to holiness, accomplished not gradually but

If the reality fall short, the ideal is not to
per saltum.
be sacrificed or lowered the reality is rather to be re
;
garded as a fault to be corrected, the ideal being kept

constantly before the eye in
and unearthly beauty
its
uncompromising grandeur
as a stimulus
to the task
of
self-
correction.
The one thing
I seriously object to in this repre

the assumption that St. Paul regarded the
Christian ideal as realisable at the outset.
That he
sentation
is
might invest the beginning
of the Christian life
with an
ideal significance, representing it as a death to sin
resurrection to a
time),
is
believe.
new
But that
where did he
find
significance of faith
1
life
very conceivable
it
(ideas both excluding lapse of

;
that
he did this in fact I
was a surprise
to
young Christians in
was
and a
fully realised,
him that no
whom
is
the ideal
not so easy to
Vide Reuss whole chapter on Regeneration in his account of the

Pauline theology, TJieologie Chretienne, vol. ii. p. 135.
353
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
It might have been a surprise to him when he

believe.
was himself a young Christian, as it is apt to be to all
For in the blossom of the new life, Christians
beginners.
being were already complete,

and the advent of the green fruit is a surprise and a
feel as
their spiritual
if
disappointment to them, and hence
it is
commonly con
But twenty
strued wrongly as a lapse or declension.
experience must surely have helped to correct

crude ideas, and taught the apostle to cherish
moderate sober expectations in reference to beginners,
years
such
and
to recognise,
not with
full
understanding of its
rationale, at least virtually, that the divine life is not
a momentary product, but a process, a problem to be
worked
out,
if
an organic growth.
Such a conception accordingly we do find, though

The exhortation, Work
mainly in the later Epistles.
"
out your
salvation,"
solved. 1
suggests the idea of a problem to be
The comparison
of
the Church to the
human
body, growing up to the stature of manhood, suggests the

idea of organic growth.
"
rooted in
3
love,"
The metaphorical
a tree planted in a good
life to
expression,
suggests a comparison of the Christian

soil,
and growing from a
small plant to the dimensions

Eudimentary hints of a doctrine of growth are not
The idea of
wanting even in the four leading Epistles.
of a forest tree.
large,
clearly recognised in regard to humanity at

not in reference to the individual, in the com
is
growth
if
parison of the law to tutors
charge
23
of
and governors who have

of his minority. 4
The
an heir during the time
Phil.
ii.
Ibid.
iii.
12.
17.
2
*
Eph.
iv.
Gal. iv.
11-15.
1, 2.
354
ST.
word
icap-ros, in

the text where the apostle sets the fruit
1
of the Spirit over against the works of the flesh, readily
we
suggests to us the idea of gradual growth, knowing as
do that ripe fruit
is
Yet
the slow product of tune.
it is
thought was present to the apostle s

mind.
Equally doubtful is it whether we are entitled to
stress
on the word soweth in the text
He that
lay
doubtful
if
this
"
"
"
soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life ever

2
as it is probable that the whole earthly life is
lasting,"
here regarded as the seed time, the harvest falling in the
life hereafter.
The surest indication of a doctrine of
growth in grace to be found
the
is
Assuming that the righteousness referred

taken subjectively,
personal holiness
The
pectation.
we
is
text
find in this
an object
of
We
not at once realised.
tion of the ideal in a
is
is
to be
idea that
hope and patient ex
mature
to fret because
it
are to wait for the realisa
manhood, with the

the harvest, who knows
spiritual
patience of a farmer waiting for

that growth
to
the
ideal is thus projected into the future,
and we are by implication taught not

is
to
Epistle
contained in chap. v. 5, where the Christian

represented as waiting for the hope of righteousness.
Galatians
is
the
in
gradual, there being
first
the blade, then
the green ear, and only then the full corn in the ear.
Among
the hints of a doctrine of growth in the other
Epistles belonging to the
the following
In
main group may be mentioned
1 Corinthians the apostle describes the
members
whom
of
he could give only milk, 3

while he claims to be in possession of a wisdom which
the Church as
Gal
VIJTTIOI
v. 22.
to
Hid.
vi. 8.
3 1
Cor.
iii. 2.
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

he could teach
to the
355
more advanced, denominated
re Xetoi.
But as showing that the full significance of the doctrine

was not present to his mind, it has to be noted that he
speaks of the infantile state of the Corinthian Church
as
"
something blameworthy, associating with the epithet

2
the attributes of unspirituality and carnality.
babes
"
The tone here is markedly different from that of the

words put into the mouth of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot
:
"
bear them
3
now,"
which
tacitly recognise that spiritual
children cannot be expected to have the understanding of

spiritual
men.
It resembles rather the tone of the writer
of the Epistle to the
Hebrews when he complains
readers as being destitute of
manly
intelligence,
of his
and
like
having need of milk.

Only there was this
difference between the Corinthian and the Hebrew Chris
children
were in their second childhood, and

they had become as children, while the Corinthians were
in their first childhood, and had only recently become
tians, that the latter
Blame
converts to Christianity.
childhood, spiritual
in the case of second
dotage, was certainly called
for,
but
ought not much allowance to be made for beginners ?

In 2 Corinthians iii. 18, the apostle represents Chris
tians as undergoing transformation through contemplation
of the glory of the
Lord
"
Christ.
We
are being changed
The present
The ex
tense suggests a process continually going on.
a
from
to
also
to
steady
point
glory
glory may
pression
into the same image from glory
to
glory."
"
"
gradual advance, though
it
may mean from
glory in
Him
to glory in us.
1
1 Cor.
ii. 6.
Ibid.
iii.
1.
John
xvi. 12.
356
ST.
In Romans
14, the apostle remarks
vi.
"
Sin shall not
you, for ye are not under law, but under

This statement does not teach a doctrine of
reign over
grace."
gradual sanctification, but
dethroned
may
it
and we know that when a change

in a country there
room
leaves
for
Sin
it.
attempt to regain its lost sovereignty,
still
of
dynasty takes place

generally a more or less protracted
is
members
period of trouble, during which
of the
degraded
family endeavour to get themselves restored to
Sin dethroned, therefore, may continue to give
power.
royal
trouble
In the 12th chapter
a pretender.
as
of
the
same Epistle occurs this exhortation

Be ye not con
formed to this world, but be ye transformed in the
"
renewal
of
what
the
is
and
this
the
of
proving
done
thing
divine
by
bit,
mind
in
and bringing our
life
formity
with
of
will, so
it.
to
progressive
verify
its
of time,
experience
knowledge of God s
more and more into con
of
process
attestation,
and
character
as
the
implied in the text, chap. v. 3

tion, knowing that tribulation
and patience
your proving
and acceptable,
good,
transformation
the
bit
the
enlightening
will,
God,
of
effect
the
imply a gradual process, lapse
characteristics,
of
This
perfect."
the
mind, to
will
"
is
growth
We
equally
glory in tribula
worketh out patience,
and attestation
hope."
The
working out of patience is a process involving time, and,

what is still more to our present purpose, the result of
the
process, patience,
tested
and
assurance,
attested,
is
and the consciousness
whence come
self-reliance
of
being
and calm
something we could not possess antecedent

That is to say, these are Christian virtues
to experience.
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

developed by the discipline of
can possess.
The
trial
result of our inquiry, on
357
which no beginner
the whole,
is
this.
In
the Pauline letters, and especially the controversial group,

there is no formulated doctrine of growth enunciated
with
full
But there
consciousness and deliberate didactic purpose.
a doctrine of growth latent in these letters

there are germs which we may use in the construction of
is
such a doctrine.
Moreover, there are facts in the life of

the Churches alluded to in these letters which we may
though not so used

For example, there is the lapse of
the Galatian Church into legalism, and of the Corinthian
employ in
verification of the doctrine,
by the apostle himself.
Church into various
sorts of errors in opinion,
and the
contentions prevailing therein, and there
is the scrupu
about
and
of
in
the Epistle to
meats
drinks
losity
spoken
the Eomans.
We may use the phenomena as helping us
to form a vivid idea of the characteristics of the green ear,
or let us call
life,
the stage of the crude fruit in the divine

between the blossom and the ripe fruit.
St. Paul
dealt with
faults
it
them
But are they not more than
as faults.
accidentally
occurring; are they not phenomena
which reappear regularly with all the certainty of a fixed

law? As sure as after the blossom comes the green
crude
fruit,
tians, after
come there not

the time of
in the experiences of Chris
first
enthusiasm
is
past,
such
features as these joylessness, a religion of legal temper

and mechanical routine, scrupulosity, opinionativeness,
censoriousness, quarrelsomeness, doubt ?
Then, on the
:
other hand, what
is
that spirit of adoption whose presence
and influence within the Churches
to
which he writes the
358
ST.
apostle misses
and
so greatly desiderates but one of the
most outstanding characteristics
of Christian maturity, of
the stage of the ripe fruit in Christian growth,
man
believing
when a
have some conception of

the new life and some practical
at last begins to
the true character of
acquaintance with
blessedness
its
The advent
of that
Paul viewed as the sign that the world at large,

humanity, had arrived at its majority, and it is an equally
spirit St.
sure sign of the arrival of the same important epoch in
the spiritual
life of
the individual.
Thus might we
find
valuable material for the construction of a doctrine of

gradual sanctification, advancing through well marked
stages, not merely or even chiefly in the didactic state
ments
of the apostle, but
very specially in his complaints

against and exhortations to the Churches to w hich he
addressed his Epistles.
T
3.
The
we proposed
last point
to
consider refers to
the salient features of the Christian character as con

ceived by St. Paul.
to Christ,
Two
of these, sobriety
and devotion
have already been mentioned as among the
moral phenomena of the new creation.

To these has
now to be added charity, dyaTrr}, which makes the list of
the cardinal virtues in the Pauline ethical system toler
ably complete.
given to
fourth
it
It
might seem due to the prominence
in the First Epistle to the Corinthians that a
should be added to the number,
knowledge or insight.
viz.,
spiritual
The apostle there claims
for the
knowledge and
1
Such
appreciation of the things of the Spirit of God.
mark
as
an
of
he
evidently regarded
knowledge
outstanding
pneumatical man,
as against the psychical,
1 Cor. ii.
14-15.
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

between the two
distinction
new
creation
new
knows the mind
outside this creation
man
men, one
classes of
of the
prominent phenomena
the
359
God
the
whole
Of
the Spirit.
of
Yet
spirit of his
nature of
even
gnosis,
this
St.
Paul was
doubtless
would be contrary
to
mention anything
teaching
strongly convinced.
to
it
though
be
it
the same Epistle
spiritual
gnosis,
expressly
In
represents
as of no account in comparison with charity.
knowledge
know
charity, I
on he
further
the
of the
alongside of charity, as if of co-ordinate importance.
If I
is
has the five senses of the soul, but not the sixth
sense
"
of
man who
The psychical
not able to know.
is
The man
creation.
of
of the
all
am
mysteries and
all knowledge and have not

In another place he remarks
nothing."
The knowledge
"
Knowledge
inflates, charity
edifies."
thus depreciated relates to divine things, but that does

not prevent the apostle from assigning to it a place of
Gnosis, theological gnosis especi
secondary importance.
ally, is
man
very good in its
own
make
place, but it tends to
think more highly of himself than he ought.
fear of that in the case of love
it
builds
up
No
solid
structure of real, not imaginary Christian worth.
Very
occupied
significant of the sovereign place
in
St.
Paul
enumeration of the
esteem
which
aydirij
the fact that in his
is
fruit of the Spirit
he names
it first,
the religious
not without a controversial reference
to
contentions which vexed the Churches
of Galatia.
Yet
charity, in the sense of love to the brethren, is not the
absolute
cedence.
1
Devotion to Christ takes pre

If any one love not
Witness the stern word
first
for him.
"
Cor. xiii. 2.
Hid.
viii. 1.
Gal. v. 22.
360
ST.
him be
the Lord, let
St.
anathema."
Paul s charity
is
great; he loves weak brethren, and out of regard to

their
scruples denies himself
He
liberty.
even those in the Churches who
loves
regard him with
the use of his Christian
distrust as a dangerous revolutionary,
setting aside the divine law, changing venerable customs,

as is
shown by
his diligence in
making
collections for
though fully aware what

hard thoughts they cherish regarding him there.
His
rises
to
and
embraces
party divisions,
superior
charity
the poor disciples in Jerusalem,
who belong
Jew or Gentile,
all
to the Israel of God, strong
friendly or hostile to himself.
or
weak,
He
loves,
them good as he
has opportunity, especially to bring to them the good
But there is one
tidings, that they also may believe.
moreover,
all
without, and yearns to do
men whom he can regard only with

who have had opportunity of knowing
class of
those
abhorrence
Jesus Christ
and grace, yet love Him not, but

That for St. Paul was
of Him.
in His goodness, wisdom,
think and speak evil

the unpardonable
sin.
knowing what they
He
can love
proof that devotion to Jesus
him,
it
may
is
He
but those who,
And
in further
the supreme virtue for
be added that he loves
for Christ s sake.
all
do, dislike Jesus.
all
men, but
these,
considers the scruples of the weak,
He loves the poor in

because Christ died for them.
Jerusalem because, though they distrust him, they are
disciples of Jesus,
though very imperfectly understanding

He loves the honest-minded among his
His teaching.
opponents, because they are fighting for what they con
He loves the whole
sider to be the truth in Jesus.
1
1 Cor. viii. 11, 13.
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

world, because he believes all
Saviour sympathies.
statements to insinuate that
Christ
361
mankind have a place in

not meant by these
It is
Paul exercised charity by

calculation, and after deliberate reflection on motives.
His Christianity was too vigorous and healthy for that.
I
mean
become
that
the
Christ had
inspiration
of
St.
so
possessed his soul as
his
whole
life,
the
to
latent
source of all his impulses, the supreme end of all his

actions.
CHAPTER XX
THE CHURCH
IT
know what
natural that one should desire to
is
the
taught in
Pauline
and
letters,
especially
in
controversial group, on the subject of the Church,

in
what
the
God,
so
teaching of Christ as reported in
the
and
Church stands
relation the Pauline idea of the
the idea of the kingdom of
to
is
prominent in
the Synoptical
Gospels.
As
to the latter topic, for
we may begin with
to be noted that both ideas
it, it is
Church and Kingdom, and
the terms corresponding

occur both in Synoptic Gospels
and in Pauline Epistles, but in an inverse order of pro
minence.
The Kingdom is the leading idea in our
Lord s teaching; the Church is named only twice in the

evangelic narratives, and the question has been discussed
whether Jesus ever used the word at all, or even con
templated the thing.
is
the
leading
kingdom
four
"
of
The Church, on the other hand,
category
God
in
St.
Paul
Epistles
"
great
Churches
"
the
mentioned only five times in the

Church
and
Epistles, while the terms
is
occur
many
From
times.
natural inference might seem

both of Jesus and of Paul, the
362
to
"
these facts the
be that in the view
Kingdom and the Church
THE CHUECH
363
were practically equivalent, the Church being the ideal

of the Kingdom realised
from Christ s point of view
;
the ideal to be realised in the future, therefore rarely

mentioned, from St. Paul s point of view the ideal already
most frequently spoken of.

Broadly
the truth.
Yet the statement must be
realised, therefore
viewed this
is
taken with qualification, for neither in the teaching of

our Lord, nor in that of St. Paul, do the two conceptions
For both the Kingdom pos
exactly cover each other.
sesses a certain transcendental character not belonging
This amounts to saying that it is a pure

the reality, or in advance of it, a
over
hovering
goal which the Church seeks to approximate but never
overtakes. Along with this transcendental character goes
to the Church.
ideal
an apocalyptic aspect, revealing

Pauline representations of
the
itself
in evangelic
Kingdom.
and
These two
transcendency and futurity are very re

in
the
cognisable
passages referring to the Kingdom in
the Pauline letters.
The eschatological aspect is ap
attributes
of
1 Corinthians vi.
parent in the texts, Galatians v. 21
in
1
the
two
former of which
10
Corinthians
xv.
50
9,
;
men
guilty of certain specified

shall
not
inherit
the Kingdom, while in
that
sins,
they
it is
declared, concerning
the latter the same declaration
and Mood
is
made concerning flesh
is, our present mortal corruptible bodies.

The transcendent character of the Kingdom is plainly
that
implied in the remaining two texts in which

and Eomans
tioned, 1 Corinthians iv. 20
"
"
Not
the
in
word,"
kingdom
for the
it is
xiv.
men
17.
says the apostle in the former place (is)

It is clear that
God, but in power."
of
writer of such a sentence, at the moment, the
364
Kingdom
rising
ST.
is
far
not identical with the Church, but something

above it in ideal purity and beauty and
For
dignity.
the statement
could
quoted
not
have
been made concerning the Church as represented by the

Christian
community
the truth as regarded
word not
in power.
The very opposite was

The Church at Corinth was in
in Corinth.
it.
It
was a society wholly given up
to
talk, to oratory, to prophesying, to speaking with tongues.
The one phenomenon
visible
diffused talent for speech
that tends to give a religious

of
wisdom and
there
was a universally
there was a sad dearth of all
community
charity, or even
spiritual power,
common
morality.
would compel one to distinguish

between Church and Kingdom, and to think of the latter
as exalted above the former as far as heaven is above
state of things like that
Similar observations apply to the other text
the earth.
The kingdom of God is not meat and

drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
The obvious meaning is, that in the Kingdom
Spirit."
which runs
ritual
"
cleanness
of
is
and uncleanness are
value there
that
of
no
account,
is
nothing
merely ceremonial,
nothing but the moral and spiritual the qualification
for citizenship is not eating or abstaining from eating a
;
given sort of food, but possessing a righteous, loving,

The men to whom belongs the Kingdom
sunny spirit.
who have a passion for righteousness, who are

peacemakers, and who can rejoice even in tribulation,
because they have chosen God for their summum bonum.
are those
The very
make
fact that the
apostle thought
it
needful to
the observation just
commented on proves that the
Eome was
enough from realising the idea
Church
of
far
THE CHURCH
365
which questions about meats and

drinks were nothing, and righteousness, peace, and
joy in
the Spirit everything.
There were in it, on the one
hand, many whose consciences were enslaved by petty
of
community
in
on
scruples, and,
the
scruples with contempt
great forgetfulness
of
things
of
state
matters
spectacle wherever
man
away
in
the law
treated
such
consequently, there prevailed a
the great
opposite directions of
mercy, and
justice,
is
many who
other,
faith.
and
disappointing
and the soul
exhibited,
Such a
depressing
a good
of
naturally takes to itself wings of a dove and flies

in quest of a refuge from despair and scepticism to
the fair kingdom of heaven where nought but what

noble and benignant and bright finds entrance.
It
well
for
who
one
in
lives
is
is
times to be able thus
evil
commonwealth.
mentally to see the transcendent
It is
from unbelief, his quietive amid disgusts,

amid disappointments and disenchant-
his salvation
his consolation
ments
a temple wherein he
the Lord,
to look
when
upon
there
is
else
anything beautiful
a pavilion in which he can hide himself
in the time of trouble.
There
is
no other refuge than
However disappointing any
Church transcendent.
the
behold the beauty of
may
nowhere
particular religious society
may
not worth while
be, it is
The Church
at Corinth was
any
bad, but the Church at Eome was also far from perfect.
In the one was licentious liberty, in the other religious
to leave
it
for
other.
narrowness and petty scrupulosity.

Christlike man, whose lot
"
say
was
ills
know not
St.
of."
might well
have than fly to
cast in either,
had rather bear the
others that I
Therefore, a truly
Paul
comfort in
re-
366
ST.
to both was to lift up his thoughts to the

transcendent kingdom of God.
It thus appears that in the mind of the apostle the
ference
Kingdom was by no means immediately
divine
Yet while
with the Christian Church.

the same
at
time
true
also
that
in
identical
this is true, it is
his
we
writings
observe a constant effort to contemplate the Church in

the bright light of the ideal, and not merely in the
dim
He desired ever
disenchanting light of vulgar reality.
to invest the Church with the attributes of the divine
Kingdom, and loved
to think of it as a glorious
Church,
without spot of defilement, or wrinkle of age, holy, free

1
from blemish as became the bride of Christ.
Various
traces of this idealising tendency are discoverable in the
First
leading Epistles.
conception of
we may note
the Church as a unity.
the
generalising
Sometimes the
apostle speaks of Churches in the plural, as in Galatians

i.
2,
where he salutes
"
the Churches of
Galatia,"
and
in
22, where he states that he was unknown to "the

Churches of Judea."
The Churches in these texts are
i.
little
communities
of Christians
in different
associated together as believers in Jesus,
place
for
uses
the
divine
word
worship.
"
Church
towns who
and met in one
In other texts
the
collectively, to
denote
"
apostle
the
whole body of believers, as in Galatians i. 13, where

he penitently refers to the time when he persecuted
"the
Church of God," and in 1 Corinthians x. 32,
where he counsels the Christians

occasion of stumbling to
1
Eph.
v.
27
the Epistle,
Jews
-\vlietlier
here genuinely Pauline sentiment.
in Corinth to give
no
or to Greeks, or to the
one of
St.
Paul
or not, utters
THE CHURCH
Church
of
God, where
it
367
from the reference
clear
is
Jews and Greeks that he has a wide public
in view
to
the
whole world in fact divided into three classes the Jews, the
Gentiles represented by the Greeks (these two embracing
:
and the Church embracing
all unbelievers),
Another indication
Church with the
may
the
tendency to invest the
attributes of the divine
Kingdom
be found in the representation of the Church as a
society in
and
of
ideal
all believers.
which
outward distinctions are cancelled,
all
the
sole qualification for membership is purely

union
to Christ by faith.
The conception of
spiritual
the new humanity in which Christ is all and in all
occurs chiefly in the later Epistles, especially in that to

the Ephesians, but it is found also in the earlier, very
distinctly in
Galatians
27, 28.
iii.
"As
as
were baptized into Christ put on
(in
Him)
Jew nor Greek,
neither
nor freeman, there

all
one in Christ
is
there
Jesus."
Here
is
is
personal relation of each
member
of
faith.
is
neither slave
neither male nor female
society in which nothing
While the
of you
There is
many
Christ.
for
ye are
sketched a spiritual
taken into account but the
attribute
to the
of
common
spirituality
object
ac
is
centuated the kindred attribute of universality is plainly
There
implied.
female, because
of the apostle
is
all
s,
neither Jew, Greek, bond, free, male,
are there together.
like
This
the kingdom of Jesus,
new
society
open to
distinctions, and
is
comers, just because it negates all

insists only on the one condition of faith, possible for
all
alike.
here be noted that the expression
It
may
God used in the
Galatians shows how closely
"
Israel of
close
of
"
all
the
the Epistle to the
the ideas of the Church and
368
the
ST.
Kingdom were connected
new
was
in the writer s mind.
The
creation presented to view in the Christian Church
him the
for
cratic
commonwealth, whereof the theo

was an adumbration.
ideal
of Israel
kingdom
One other indication
of
this
idealising tendency
is
to
be found in the high moral attributes ascribed by St. Paul

to the members of the Church.
Though not unaware of
the prevalent shortcoming in faith and
less
speaks of the
"
saints,"
sanctified,
are saluted as
"
"
saints
is
"
life,
he neverthe
members of the various churches as

holy. Even the Corinthian Christians
sanctified in Christ
extended
to all
1
Jesus,"
and the
title
Christians in the province of
Achaia. 2
This might seem to be a mere matter of

did
we not find in the body of the First Epistle
courtesy
to
the Corinthians a deliberate statement to the effect
members
Church were a body of sanctified

men, a statement rendered all the more emphatic by the
plainness with which the apostle indicates that the
that the
of the
Corinthians had been the reverse of holy before they

to the Christian religion.
Such were
became converts
some
"
but ye were washed, but ye were

the foregoing discussion we have
of you,
From
sanctified."
sufficiently clear general idea of the Christian
conceived by
St.
It is a society of
Paul.
common faith in Jesus Christ

common devotion to Him as their
from
all classes, conditions,
as the
obtained a
Church as
men
united by
Saviour, and a
Lord, gathered together

of men.
It does
and races
not need to be said that the members of such a society

would have very close fellowship with each other.
There
is
no brotherhood so intimate and precious as one based

1
1 Cor.
i.
2.
2 Cor.
i.
1.
1 Cor. vi. 11.
369
THE CHURCH
on a pure religion sincerely professed.
for granted that those
themselves of
avail
will
together for
meeting
affection in
common
the
other
all
It
may
be taken
to such a brotherhood
opportunities
possible
the interchange
of
of
thought and
mutual converse, and for united worship of

object of faith, and for ministering to each
wants and comforts.
s
"
says
who belong
The Westminster Confession
Saints by profession are
lound to maintain an
holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God,

and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to
mutual
their
edification
as also in relieving each other
outward things, according to their several abilities and

l
In the initial period of fresh enthusiasm
would
do all this instinctively without needing
Christians
in
necessities."
be told
to
it
was
their duty.
Accordingly, we
are not surprised to find in the letters
Paul to the Churches he had planted traces
of St.
of a
very lively fellowship in worship, religious intercourse,
and mutual benefit prevalent among those bearing the
They met together
Christian name.
how
often does not appear, but certainly at least once a
week, and on the
met
first
of the
week
portion
s
the
of
death,
thoughts
of
mutual love
and when they

edification.
and while doing so they set apart

bread and wine to be memorials of
and partook
Him who
to
of these with reverent, grateful
died for them, and in token of
each other as His
Chapter xxvi.
The question has been

s
mutual
also ate together,
Christ
Lord
day
they prayed, sang, prophesied for
They
a
in public assembly,
disciples.
At
first,
sect. 2.
discussed, whether the celebration of the

or at a
Supper took place at the meeting for general worship
24
370
ST.
apparently,
members
all
of the
community took part
in
Everyone had
or his still more
discriminately in the religious exercises.

his psalm, his doctrine, his revelation,
or his in
mysterious utterance called a tongue
All were on a level,
terpretation of a brother s tongue.
(<y\a)<T(ra),
was
there
perfect
of
equality
speech for the
liberty of
common
that in a city like Corinth,
privilege,
good.
among an
unrestricted
It is easy to see
excitable race like the
Greeks, a religious meeting conducted in this manner would

be more lively than orderly. It would not be long before a
and organisation would

be felt, a need for dividing the Church into two classes
those on the one hand who would best serve the brother
need
for
some
little
measure
of order
hood by
silence,
business
it
and those on the other whose
should be to contribute to the
common
special
benefit
The question who were to be silent and who

by speech.
were to speak would settle itself by a process of natural
selection.
to profit
for
would be seen by degrees who could speak

and who could not, and means would be found
It
silencing
those
who
teachers.
the
unprofitable
speaker,
and
for
giving
could speak profitably the position of recognised
In a similar way spontaneous differentiation
would take place in reference

persons would gradually come
to other gifts,
and certain
to be recognised as possess
ing the charism of healing, of succouring the needy, of
government, and so on.

perimental proof
honour
of
of recognition
Eecognition would follow ex

The
possession of the function.
would be the reward
of service
Vide on this Weizsacker, Das Apostolische Zeitalter,

pp. 546-583, where the second of these alternatives is on strong
grounds advocated.
separate meeting.
THE CHUECH
actually rendered.
371
For in the primitive Church the law
enunciated by Christ, distinction to be reached through

was thoroughly understood and acted on.
The
service,
law
is
clearly
in
proclaimed
He
Paul s Epistles.
St.
represents the Church as an organism like the
human
body, wherein each part has a function to perform for the

good of the whole, and in which if one part has more
honour than another,
How
it is
because of
its serviceableness. 1
far the process of differentiation into distinctive-
ness of function, and of corresponding recognition of fit

ness for distinct functions, had been carried at the time
the four great Epistles were written
it
is
not easy to
seems pretty certain that by that time an

determine.
order of teachers had arisen, but it is not so clear that
It
all
communities were furnished with an order
the
rulers.
No
certain trace of such an order can be dis
information
covered in the sources of
Churches
of
of
Galatia and
concerning the
One might indeed
Corinth.
suppose that 1 Cor. xvi. 15, 16, contained a reference to
something
know
of
the kind.
"
I beseech you, brethren (ye
the house of Stephanas, that
it is
the
first fruits of
Achaia, and that they gave themselves for service to the

saints), that ye also be in subjection to such and to every
fellow-worker and
labourer."
But
this is
too vague an
exhortation to serve as a proof -text, especially
remembered that
when
in connection with the case of
it is
immoral
conduct in the Corinthian Church the apostle does not

anywhere summon church rulers to exercise needful
but simply appeals to the congregation to purge
A more reliable
themselves of complicity with the sin.
discipline,
1 Cor. xii.
12-26.
372
ST.
indication of the existence of a ruling function in rudi
mentary form
is to
be found in what we have reason to
regard as the earliest of the Pauline Epistles, the
In that Epistle
the Thessalonians.
(v.
laboured
among them and were
(Trpo ia-Tafievovs)
is
an
those
that
over them in the
Lord
and admonished them.
doubtless here pointed
of it as of
official
at,
only
12) the apostle
know
exhorts the Thessalonian Church to
first to
we
real authority
are not to conceive
character originating in ecclesiastical
It arose naturally and spontaneously, probably

out of priority in faith, or from the fact that the Trpolardfievoi held the meetings of the congregation in their own
houses and with the expenditure of their own means. 1
ordination.
As
regards teachers on the other hand, distinct allusions
such an order occur in the leading Epistles.

The
him
thus
exhorts
the
Galatians
Let
that
is
apostle
to
"
taught in the word

him that teacheth
KarôvvTi)
(ro>
The exhortation seems

1
communicate with
the catechumen
to
in all good
things."
imply not only the existence
Vide on this "Weizsacker s Apostolic Age, p. 291
of
The reader may also
consult two articles by Heinrici in the Zeitschrift fiir irissenschaftliche

Tlifologie, 1876, 1877, on "Die Christengemeinde Korinths und die
Greichen," and "Zur Geschichte der
Anfange Paulinischen Gemeinde." Heinrici s view is that the Gentile
Churches founded by St. Paul were not modelled on the Jewish syna
gogue, but assumed the characteristics of the religious associations of
religibsen Genossenschaften der
the Pagan world. These, as they existed in Greece, according to

Heinrici, bore a purely republican character. All members possessed
the same rights, all were expected to show equal zeal.

sovereign and alike responsible.
The
collective
body
All were alike

ruled, resolved,
rewarded, punished (Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Theologic, p. 501).

The irpowTct/ufvo; mentioned in 1 Tliess. v. 12 and in Romans xii. 8,
Heinrici compares to the Patronus of an association, who, as a
person of influence, guarded
its legal rights.
THE CHURCH
373
who gave their whole time to the

needed to be supported by the
In Corinth the position of teacher was occupied
teachers, but of teachers
work,
and
Church.
therefore
by Apollos, to whom reference is made in 1 Cor. iii. 4.

That Apollos was more than an occasional speaker, even
a regular instructor, is evident from the terms in which
the apostle speaks of
him.
Claiming for himself the
function of planter, he assigns to Apollos the function of

watering, a task which, in its nature, requires to be per
formed systematically.
In 1 Cor. iv. he describes both
and
himself
as
of Christ and stewards of
servants
Apollos
the mysteries of God, phrases implying that both exer
cised functions of great importance, the one as a founder
of churches,
moving about from land
to land, the other as
a stationary instructor in a particular church.
But the passage which beyond all others shows that

an importance and dignity belonged to the teaching
ministry in
St.
Paul
esteem
where he describes himself

Testament. 1
be a
fit
It
is
is
as a
implied that
that in
fit
it is
Corinthians
servant of the
New
no small matter to
minister of the Christian religion.
That
this is
the thought in the apostle s mind is proved by the fact

that, having claimed for himself to be such a minister, he
goes on to pronounce an eulogium on the Christian dis
pensation in impassioned language, describing it as the
religion of the Spirit, the dispensation of
tration of righteousness,
as
the
abiding
and
perennial
religion,
transient religion of the old
2 Cor.
as
covenant.
himself fitness for the service of this

1
life,
the minis
in virtue of these attributes
iii. 6.
new
opposed to
He
the
claims for
order of things,
374
ST.
basing his claim on his ability to appreciate the distinctive

excellence and glory of the
which he
for
indebted
is
And
experience.
New
Testament, an ability
whole past religious
his
to
the service which he has in view
just the preaching of the gospel
for in
is
the foregoing
context he repudiates all complicity in the acts of those

who huckster the word of God, and in the following he
protests that if his gospel be hid it is hid from them
that are
So, then, it is the
lost.
concerned
in
New
this
preaching of the gospel in
But
it
word
Testament
of
God
service,
which the service
that
it
consists.
New
be thought that this eulogy of the
may
Testament, and, by implication, of
its
is
the
is
ministry, affects
only the preaching of an apostle, and cannot legitimately
extended
be
an
to
inference, however,
is
ordinary
gospel
This
ministry.
contrary to the spirit, I
may
say
For
even to the language, of the passage in question.
it
observable that the apostle employs the plural pronoun
is
while asserting his own importance

against assailants, with express intent to include others,
throughout, as
if,
1
and Timothy, in his eulogy.

Then it
be noted that at the end of the chapter the ex
like Apollos, Titus,
to
is
"
pression
we
"
is
replaced by
certainly has in view
who
"we
more than
all,"
himself.
in
which the writer
But indeed no one
enters into the drift of the argument throughout can
thinking merely of his own

apostleship when he speaks of the ministry of the New
The kind of argument he uses to define his
Testament.
possibly imagine that St. Paul
For the bearing
of the
is
whole passage on the defence of
apostolic standing against the Judaists, vide Chap.

2
2 Cor.
iii.
18.
IV
St.
Paul
THE CHUECH
375
such as to serve a wider purpose, viz., to

legitimise the ministry of all who, with unveiled face, see
the glory of Christ and of Christianity.
For him the
is
apostleship
ultimate ground of a right to preach is insight into the

That carries
genius of the New Testament religion.
with
it
the
right
of
who has
everyone
Whoever has the open eye and
the
insight.
the unveiled face
may
take part in the ministry.

The tools to him that can
use them" was a principle for St. Paul as well as for
"
He
had
that
the
open eye was, in his

judgment, not only entitled but bound to take part in
the New Testament ministry.
God made the sun in
Napoleon.
might shine, and
order that
it
knowledge
of the glory of
tian
men
There
God
that they in turn
He
gives the light of the
in the face of Jesus to Chris
may
be lights to the world.
another thing in this great passage which

clearly shows that, in the writer s view, a teaching or
is
preaching ministry was a

feature of the
New
most congenial and
Testament dispensation.
remark about irappâia,
"
Seeing then that
fitting
It is the
we have such
we
The frankness
use great plainness of speech."
hope,
with which the apostle is wont to utter himself as a
preacher he here connects with the hopeful character of
the faith he preaches, which is a feature naturally rising
out of
all
The
the others previously mentioned.
of the Spirit, of life,
and
a religion of good hope.
of righteousness,
But a
religion of good
sure to be a religion of free speech.
good
spirits
them
feel that
it
them heart
gives
For
2 Cor.
iii.
12.
it
puts
to speak
they have good news to

1
religion
cannot but be
tell.
hope
is
men
in
it
Who
makes
would
376
ST.
preaching minister of a religion of con
be a
care to
demnation and despair and death

be the
to
tidings
messenger
How
mercy, the publisher of good
of
beautiful are the feet of
a gospel of peace
and
But how pleasant
them that preach
beautiful because they
move but
gracefully, as no feet can
move
so
nimbly
him
those of
that
It may be taken for granted that

goes on a glad errand.
under a religion of good hope great will be the company
of preachers characterised
by
The more the better
ness.
Trapprjaia, boldness, frank
Paul would have
St.
said,
provided they be of the right kind, men in sympathy

with the new era of grace and the genius of the New
Testament
can be
who
another
have
hopeful, outspoken, eloquent, as only those
"
You
are not
fit
for this ministry
of
would
prudential, he
spirit, gloomy, reserved,
said,
To men
are at once sincere and happy.
you are
fit
who put a veil on

new era but in the
only for a ministry like that of Moses,

his face.
You
are living not in the
old one, which I for
Go and
of
my
part
am
glad to be done with.
take service under the Levitical system
no use in the Christian
The upshot
of
you are
Church."
what has been
said is that evangelism
frank, fervent speech about the
common
faith
may
be
expected as a prominent feature of organised Christianity

in proportion as the organisation
of
St.
Paul and
of
the
is filled
apostolic
age.
with the
spirit
Whether a
systematically trained class of professional preachers be
a legitimate development out of such evangelism is a

question of grave concern for all the Churches in the
present time.
Preaching
in our church
life,
and
is
all
a very outstanding feature

the modern Churches have
THE CHURCH
with more or
learned
less
ministry."
decision
377
adopted as their ideal
Is the ideal justified
reply I have to say that
by results
"
In
my
sympathies are very strongly

with the advocates of a learned ministry.
In my view,
what we have
to complain of is, not that the Churches

have adopted this as their ideal, but that the ministry
turned out of their theological seminaries can only by
What we need is not
courtesy be described as learned.
but a great deal more and of the right sort.

At the same time, it has to be acknowledged that the pro
less learning,
gramme
involves dangers.
Learning
and transform the prophet into a
may
rabbi.
kill
enthusiasm,
That will mean
This
decay of the evangelic spirit, lapse into legalism.
is the form in which the legal temper is apt to invade
Churches which magnify the importance of the preacher.

The bane of other Churches is sacramentarianism and
under which prophetic Trappier ia disappears,

The bane to be dreaded by
and mystery takes its place.
Churches not sacramentarian in tendency, is a rabbinised
priestcraft,
pulpit, offering the people scholastic
ideas in place of the gospel.
dogmas or philosophic
Eeligious teachers ought to
know theology, and to be deep, earnest thinkers but in

the concio ad populum the prophet should be more
prominent than the theologian, and the poet than the
;
philosopher.
One other
topic remains to be noticed briefly, the view
presented in the Pauline Epistles of the Church s relation

to Christ.
In the Christological Epistles the Church is
conceived as the body of Christ, He being the Head.
This idea is found also in the controversial letters, more
especially in 1 Corinthians.
It
is
stated with great dis-
378
ST.
tinctness in the words,
"
and members individually
But ye are the body

l
"
(e/c
/ie/3ou<?);
of Christ
well paraphrased
You, the Christian society, as distinct

by Stanley
from the bodily organisation, of which I have just been
"
speaking, you
are,
you are His
made
this idea is the use
the
body
The value
speaking,
collectively
Christ, as individually
limbs."
of
of
of it in assigning a rationale for
In order to a com
the diversity of gifts in the Church.
plete Church, such is the apostle s thought, there must

be a great variety of gifts, just as there is a great variety
of
members
if all
in the
had the same
were an eye or an
function
human
gifts,
ear.
any more than if the whole body

There must be differentiation of
finds
services,
it
unity in
alas, to
are
splendid
conscientiously
function
is
disorder.
It
diversities
of
ideal, if
worked
is
wanted a
only
But
out.
spirit
and magnanimity such as animated the
We
Paul.
apostle
and
There
Lord."
create
carry out the programme, there
of self-abnegation
is
Christ.
and the same
were wisely and
"
healing,
speaking with
of
power
The diversity need not
its
of
apostles, prophets, teachers, gifts
talent for administration, the
tongues.
would not be well
It
body.
are
so
apt
to
imagine
that
our
the only important or even legitimate one,
to regard
men
of other gifts as aliens
so hard to realise our
own
and
and
limits,
rebels.
It
to see in our
and to
brethren the complement of our own defects
all
the
that
it
takes
Christians
grasp
thought
together,
with all their diverse talents and graces, to shadow forth,
;
even imperfectly, the fulness of wisdom and goodness

that
is
in Christ.
1
1 Cor. xii. 27.
Ibid. xii. 5.
CHAPTEE XXI
THE LAST THINGS
ON no
was St. Paul, in his way

more
a
man
of
his time than on that
thinking,
And
on
no
eschatology.
subject is it more difficult
subject, perhaps,
of
of
for
one influenced by the modern spirit to sympathise with,

or even to understand, the apostle.
For modern modes
of
thought
of the
in this
Jews
connection are very diverse from those

Not only our secular
in the apostolic age.
but even our religious interest centres largely in the

theirs looked to the future.
We desire to
present
;
possess the
be,
summum
here and
now
coming in the end

in a final
for
them
it
And
of the days.
consummation,
it is
we can
a goal so distant that
as
ought to
was something that was
bonujn, salvation,
life
if
we
it
still
believe
for us indefinitely remote,
leave
it
practically out of
account, and conceive of the present order of things as
going on,
of ages.
if
not quite for ever, at least for a long series
For the Jew,
for St. Paul, the
end was nigh,
might come any day probably would come within his

own lifetime. The last time, indeed, had already come
;
coming, was an eschatoadvent could not be

His
second
and
logical phenomenon,
than a generation.
much
more
separated from His first by
Christ Himself, even at His
first
379
380
ST.
now seems
All this
eschatology of the
so strange that the subject of the
New
Testament in general, and
Paul in particular,
is
Pauline
thought,
the
of St.
reverse
of
appear
inviting, a theme to be passed over in respectful silence.
But, in connection with an attempt to expound the
system of
apt
The prominence
admissible.
view in the Pauline
of
to
simply because
such a procedure
point
letters forbids evasion of the topic,
may happen
it
in
is
of the eschatological
be
to
difficult or distaste
For eschatology in these letters does not mean

merely the discussion of some curious, obscure, and more
ful.
or less unimportant questions respecting the end of this
world and the incoming of the next.

It covers the
whole ground of Christian hope.
Salvation itself is
eschatologically conceived.
this fact in connection
Epistles, in
had occasion
to observe
which Christians are described as waiting for

l
but the remark applies more or
Christ from heaven

less to all
We
with the earliest of the Pauline
the Epistles.
Those who wait
for a
good greatly desired are naturally
Hence the second advent,

The
was expected very soon.
impatient of delay.
apostolic
age,
Paul expected
it
To us now
in his lifetime.
appear surprising, not so
much on account
plete ignorance as to the future course
of
in the
apostle
this
of the
things
may
com
the
explanation implied, as by reason of the indifference it

to show to the working out of the end for which
seemed
Jesus Christ came into the world.

to ask, could a
1
1 Thess.
Vide
oil
i.
man who,
like
How, we
St.
are inclined
Paul, regarded the
10.
this Kabisch,
Die
EscJiatologie des l aulus, pp. 12-70.
381
THE LAST THINGS

gospel as good news
termination
for
the whole world, desire
the
of
order
the
of
present
speedy
things ?
Why not rather long and pray for ample time wherein
In cherishing a
to carry on missionary operations ?
contrary wish, was he not preferring personal interests

to the great public interest of the kingdom of God ?
Surely
was desirable that
it
all
men
should hear the
That end was not accomplished by

the
gospel in a few of the principal centres of
preaching
True, the faith might
population in Asia and Europe.
good
tidings
spread from town to country, and the evangelisation of

Corinth might be regarded as in germ the ChristianisaBut that meant a process of gradual
tion of Greece.
And if time was not to be

growth demanding
o tune.
o
allowed for that process, was it really worth while con
tending so zealously for the cause of Gentile Christianity ?
Why not let the Judaists have their way if the end was
programme, a gospel of grace un

by legalism for the whole human race, was
to be so soon
fettered
If the
worth fighting for, surely its champion ought in con

sistency to wish for time to work it thoroughly out
The Jewish day of grace had lasted for millenniums was
of a single generation all
the pittance
thrown
to Gentile dogs
the bias of
alism,
St.
ought
lengthened
To us
it
that was to be
certainly seems as
if
Paul, as the advocate of Christian universto
have
Christian
been
era,
decidedly in favour
and an
indefinitely
of
delayed
meant Christ coming

Trapovaia unless by the latter he
not to judge the world, but to resume the gracious work
;
He had
of
carried on in Palestine, adopting the larger world
heathenism as His sphere, and to quicken by His
382
ST.
PAUL
presence the energies of His servants, so that the process

of converting the nations might go on at a tenfold
speed.
A
era
"
trace of the conception of a protracted Christian
may
To
unto
be discovered in the words of Epliesians iii. 21

be glory in the Church, and in Christ Jesus,
:
Him
all
the generations of the age of the
But
ages."
might simply be an additional

Turn
argument against the authenticity of the Epistle.
for
fact
this
critics
ing to the Epistles more certainly Pauline,

of
them
we
indications of a change of view to
find in
two
some extent
In Philippians the
in
a
strait
between two
himself
as
apostle represents
alternatives, one being to live on in this present world,
in reference to the second coming.
in
spite
of
all
the
discomfort, for
benefit
Christians, the other to die (dva\vaai)

1
We
and
of
fellow-
to be with
generous heart
But
leaning to the side of postponement of the end.
the event to be postponed is not the second coming of
Christ.
see
the
here
apostle
And the
departure from this life.
change in his mind does not consist in thinking that the
advent will not happen so soon as he had once expected,
Christ, but his
own
but rather in thinking that death will overtake himself

He had hoped that Jesus
before the great event arrives.
He cherishes that hope

would come during his lifetime.
no longer, because the prospect before him is that his
life will be cut short by an unfavourable judicial sentence.
In 2 Corinthians
v.,
a different reason.
if
mood
the same
"
We
know,"
prevails, possibly for
writes the apostle,
"
that
the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved,

1
Phil.
1.
23.
we
383
THE LAST THINGS
have a building from God, a house not made with hands,

eternal in the
heavens."
from those words

"
Behold, I
tell
but we shall
This
is
in a
in the first Epistle to the
you a mystery
we
different
key
same Church
shall not all sleep,
In the earlier Epistle,

written not long before, the apostle seems to hope to be
alive when the Lord comes in the later, he writes like a
be
all
changed."
man who
expects to die, and
who comforts
him beyond
thoughts of the felicity awaiting
Whence
mood within
this altered
so brief
himself by
the grave.
an interval
may be due to failure of the physical powers, through

sickness and hard conditions of existence, premonitory of
It
The preceding chapter

such a breaking down.
The phrases
the outward man wasting
earthen vessels
(iv. 7),
of
our
the
lightness
present affliction" (iv. 17),
(iv. 16),
dissolution at no distant date.

is full
of hints at
"
"
"
"
"
are significant, implying bodily affliction by no means

light, but made light by the buoyant spirit of the writer,
and by the hope

life s
tragic
drama
the glory which awaits him
of
when
ended.
is
This change in the apostle s personal expectation was

It might lead him to
likely to have one consequence.
reflect
more than he had previously done on the
state of
the dead, intermediate between the hour of death and the
As
long as the second advent was expected

within his lifetime, the intermediate state would not be
resurrection.
a pressing question for him, and as far as appears he

The
does not seem to have thought much about it.
phrase he uses in 1 Thessalonians to denote the dead

"
those
1
who
2 Cor.
3
sleep,"
v. 1.
a vague
1 Cor. xv. 51.
expression
3
is
conveying no
Tliess.
iv 13, 14.
384
ST.
suggesting an idea analogous to that

entertained by the ancient Hebrews, according to which
the life of the departed was a shadowy, unreal thing,
definite idea, or
compared with the

2
Corinthians
more
to
this
life
vague phrase
frail
on
living
is
In
earth.
by much
replaced
The apostle expects
definite language.
exchange the
those
of
at death
tabernacle of his mortal body for a
permanent dwelling-place in heaven, and by this house

from heaven he seems to mean a body not liable to cor
It is to
ruption.
be put on as a garment (eirev&vcracrdai)
The word
fitting close to the soul.
ver.
points
shrunk from
is
in
"
naked
the same direction.
that of a disembodied
"
(jvfivol) in
The nakedness
The
spirit.
apostle
does not wish to enter the world beyond as a bodiless

that seems to his
ghost
prospect
mortal for
endless
life.
If this
How
is
imagination a cold, cheerless
he simply desires to exchange the body that is

a body that is endowed with the power of an
meaning, the question arises
body in heaven to be put on at
be the apostle
this idea of a
death to be reconciled with the doctrine of the resurrec

tion
To what end a resurrection body,
if
there
is
be put on immediately
body awaiting the deceased
Or if the resurrec
after the corruptible one is put off?
the soul puts
is
which
held
this
be
tion is to
fast,
body
to
on as a
new garment
at
death to
be viewed as a
temporary body, not an olKtjrijpiov, or house after all,

but a tabernacle also, like the mortal body, only per
chance
of
finer
mould
This
curious
notion
of
temporary body, to be worn in the intermediate state,

has actually been resorted to by some interpreters, as a
THE LAST THINGS

wherewith
hypothesis
statements
to
reconcile
385
St.
Paul
various
life.
But it is a very
out
of
a
It is
getting
difficulty.
better to hold that the apostle had no clear light on the
subject of the intermediate state, no dogma to teach, but
about
questionable
way
the
future
of
was simply groping his way like the rest of us, and that
what we are to find in 2 Corinthians v. is not the expression
of a definite opinion, far less the revelation of a truth to
be received as an item in the creed, as to the
life beyond,
but the utterance of a wish or hope.
One cannot but
note the contrast between the confident language of the
first two verses and the hesitating tone of the next two.
"
We
we
says the apostle in ver. 1
know,"
shall not be found
clothed, but clothed

in
and
vers.
4.
"
naked,"
upon,"
It
we
being clothed
wish not to be un
"if
are the phrases he employs
would seem as
if
in the first
sentence of the chapter the writer s mind contemplated

the future state as a whole, without distinction between
the pre-resurrection and the post-resurrection states, and
that then the intermediate state occurring to his
mind
led to a change of tone.
Passing from this obscure topic to the more important

subject of the resurrection, several grave questions present
themselves for consideration, such as these, Whom does
the resurrection concern
resurrection
life
and
What
is
the nature of the
of the resurrection body,
and what
the relation between the second advent, the resurrection,
and the
1.
final
As
of the
end
to the first of these questions,
to take for
and
consummation
we
are accustomed
granted that in the New Testament generally,

Paul in particular, the resurrec-
in the Epistles of St.
386
ST.
To one whose mind
rection of course concerns all men.
preoccupied with the belief in a general resurrection,

both of the just and the unjust, of believers and unbelievers
is
alike,
it
seems easy to find traces

The words as in
of
so in Christ shall all be
made
"
alive
the doctrine in
Adam
"
1 Corinthians xv.
seem
all die,
even
to express
it
plainly, and the end spoken of in ver. 24 is naturally

taken to mean the end of the resurrection process, accom
plished in three stages
who belong
Christ the first-fruits, then those
to Christ rising at
His second coming, then
an interval, the resurrection of all the rest

But an imposing array of interpreters dis
of the dead.
finally, after
pute this view of the apostle s meaning, restricting the

who are to be made alive in Christ to those who
all
"
"
before death were in living fellowship with
ing in the
"
end
"
of the resurrection,
mediatorial work,
to
the Father.
Him, and
see
not a reference to the concluding stage
but rather to the
when He
It is
final stage of Christ s
shall deliver
of
conceivable,
up His kingdom
course, that the
of the
apostle might have nothing to say on the subject
general resurrection in a particular

believing in
writings.
passage, while yet
in other parts of his

it, and even teaching it
But there are those who would have us
believe that St. Paul
knew nothing
of a general resurrec
ungodly and the

unbelieving, and that his programme for the future was
tion,
or
of
life
beyond
for
the
all the rest

perpetual for all who believe in Jesus, for
It is
of mankind total extinction of being after death.
life
even contended that the precise object of the Christian

in
hope, according to St. Paul, was continuance of life,
1
1 Cor. xv. 22.
THE LAST THINGS
387
the literal physical sense, after death, and the privilege

of the Christian as compared with other men, that in his
case this hope will be realised. 1
To those accustomed
to
other ways of thinking, these
views are startling and disconcerting

and, apart alto
from
the
discomfort
connected
with
the unsettling
gether
;
of preconceived opinions, it is disappointing to
so
much
whose meaning had previously appeared

is
idle
course
meet with
diversity of view as to the interpretation of texts
to indulge in querulous
to adjust
is
ourselves
But
so plain.
it
The wise
reflections.
the situation, and to
to
recognise once for all that the eschatological teaching of

St.
Paul
is
neither so simple nor so plain as
imagined, and that
we had
the whole subject demands careful
result of a new study may, not

convict
such a discussion as that of
be
to
improbably,
Kabisch of the vigour and rigour characteristic of so
The
reconsideration.
"
"
many German
theories.
But
were well that that
it
should appear as the conclusion of a serious inquiry,

rather than be assumed at the outset as an excuse for
neglecting further
examination.
factory to find there is a large
Meantime,
measure
of
it
is
satis
agreement in
that St. Paul did
regard to one fundamental point, viz.,

earnestly believe and teach a resurrection of Christians to
eternal
2.
life.
And
yet there are those
who seem not
disinclined
even this in question, or at least to rob the fact of

abiding value for the Christian faith, by insisting on the
to call
ethical aspect of
logical.
The
1
resurrection as opposed to the eschato
basis of this
view
is
So Kabisch, in Eschatologie
the
manner
des Paulus.
in
which
388
St.
ST.
Paul seems in various places to blend together the
two aspects
the resurrection
instances of this
read
now experienced
"
may
be
If the Spirit of
the dead dwell in you,
In Romans
cited.
new
Two
11, we
in the
the Spirit with the resurrection of the dead.
life in
viii.
Him that raised up Jesus from

He that raised up Christ from the
dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit

that dwelleth in you
and in 2 Corinthians v. 5
"
"
Now He
God
that hath wrought us for this very thing
"
(the thing referred to

"
heavenly body),
of
the
found,
a
new
future
Spirit."
on
the
divine
physical
who
is
the investiture with the
is
hath given unto us the earnest

In these texts the apostle seems to
also
resurrection
spiritual
life,
an
argument
resurrection
to
the
of
eternal
soul
to
of
favour
in
It
life.
is
argument with which we are perfectly familiar,

and of which all Christians feel the force in propor
line of
tion
to
the vigour of
But writers such
own
their
as Pfleiderer
spiritual experience.
and the
late
Mr. Matthew
Arnold, acting as the mouthpieces of the modern spirit,

find in these and kindred texts much more than this,
even a new ethical way of thinking really incompatible

with the old Jewish eschatological theory of the universe
co-existing indeed in St. Paul s
mind with the
destined eventually to supersede
terms of Pauline theology are
Paul and Protestantism,
"
"
it.
not,"
latter,
The three
but
essential
writes Mr. Arnold, in
calling, justification, sanctifica-
tion.
They are rather dying with Christ, resurrection
from the dead, growing into Christ.
The order in which
these terms are placed indicates the true Pauline sense of
the expression,
resurrection from the dead.
In
St.
Paul
THE LAST THINGS

ideas
no essential connection with
the expression has
physical death.
389
true popular theology connects
It is
it
with this almost exclusively, and regards any other use of

it
as purely figurative and secondary.
has carefully followed
Paul
St.
have endeavoured to trace
it,
theology, as the Epistle to the
But whoever
line of thought, as
will see that in his
Eomans
exhibits
we
mature
it, it
can
not be this physical and miraculous aspect of the resurrec

tion which holds the first place in his mind, for under
this aspect the resurrection does not
he
is developing."
fit
in with the ideas
Mr. Arnold does not mean
to
deny
that St. Paul held the doctrine of a physical resurrec

tion
and a future
life.
He
admits that
if
the apostle
had been asked at any time of his life whether he held

that doctrine, he would have replied with entire con
viction that he did.
Nevertheless, he thinks that that
Jewish doctrine was only an outer skin which the new
ethical system of thought was sooner or later to slough
off .
the surface stream, shallow and light,

Of what we say we feel, below the stream,
As light, of what we think we feel, there flows,
With noiseless current, strong, obscure, and deep,
The central stream of what we feel indeed."
"Below
The question thus raised is a momentous one, the full

It is
drift of which it is important to understand.
of
nothing less than whether the eschatological point
view in general be really compatible with the ethical.
If the question be decided in the negative, then all the
eschatological ideas
resurrection, judgment, a future

1
p. 260.
life,
390
ST.
with
its
alternative states
into ethical equivalents

life
must be given up, or resolved

the resurrection into the new
in the Spirit, the final
judgment into the incessant

and the Eternal
action of the moral order of the world,
beyond into the Eternal here which underlies the phe

On this theory the eschatological
nomenal life of men.
categories will have to be regarded as products of the
religious imagination, just as the blue
product
of our visual organs.
sky
is
The Judgment
the illusory
will
become
the perpetually active moral order of the world projected
forward in time by conscience, as the blue sky
is
the
environing atmosphere projected by the eye to an in

definite distance in space.
Heaven and hell will be pro
future
of
the
rewards and punishments
into
the
jections
inseparable from right and
wrong action falling within

and
present
experience,
brought about by the
natural operation of the law of cause and effect.
human
To these modern conceptions, we may concede cogency

admit that eschatological ideas require to
a
process of purification, in order to bring them
undergo
into harmony with ethical views of human life and
so far as to
destiny.
But
it is
an unfounded assertion that eschato
any form are incompatible with the ethical

view-point, to such an extent, e.g., as to involve the denial
of the future life altogether, which is by far the most
logical ideas in
important interest at stake.
The hope
of a life
beyond
in which the ideal to which the good devoted their lives
here shall be realised, seems to be a natural element in

the creed of
all theists.
Nor does
it
appear incapable of
being reconciled with the doctrine of evolution in the
moral world, as even Bishop Butler seems to have dimly
THE LAST THINGS
391
perceived, for he endeavoured to remove from the future
the aspect of arbitrariness, and to make it the

natural outcome of the present life, in accordance with
state
the analogy of seedtime and harvest.
How
time brings
its
Arnold told us that
St.
Some years ago Mr.

revenges
Paul, without being aware of it,
!
substituted an ethical for a physical resurrection, and an

eternal life in the spirit here for an everlasting
Now
after.
knows nothing
German
of a
theologian
here
St.
Paul
"
"
ethical in quality,
life
figurative
life
us that
tells
but only of a physical life that prolongation of physical

life after death is the object of his hope
that even the
;
Spirit, in his system of thought,
physical and finely
is
material, and communicates itself by physical means, by

baptism and even by generation through a Christian
parent
that the
germ
of
the resurrection body
spiritual, yet physical body, existing
carcase of the old body of sin
now
is
within the dead
and that the essence
of
the resurrection will consist in the manifestation of this
body by the sloughing off of its gross carnal

Such are the two extremes.
Surely the
envelope.
truth lies somewhere between
spiritual
In comparison with the reality of the

the nature of the resurrection body and of
3.
the mortal body laid in the grave,
is
interest,
but a few sentences on
place.
The
apostle
life
hereafter,
relation to
its
a topic of subordinate
may
it
not be out of
and blood
boldly states that flesh

of God.
From
cannot inherit the kingdom

be inferred that the resurrection body must
this it
Kabisch, Eschatologie des Pauhis, Zweiter Abschnitt,
1 Cor.
xv. 50.
may
differ in
sees. 1
and
5.
392
ST.
from that worn
nature
in
this
we
If
life.
present
inquire as to the positive character of that body, the only

suggestion we can gather from the apostle s statements is
that
it
will be
composed
will shine like the
it
certain
perfectly
1 Corinthians xv.
of a light-like substance, so that
heavenly bodies
the
that
40, 41,
allusion
meant
is
it
though
the
to
not
is
in
latter
to serve
any purpose
beyond illustrating the difference between the natural
Yet it would not be sur
body and the spiritual body.
Paul conceived of the spiritual body as a
luminous substance, for it seems to have been a current
prising
if St.
among
opinion
the Jews that in the
righteous would have shining bodies.
life
to
come the
Too much
stress,
however, must not be laid on this, especially in view of the

fact that more than one way of thinking seems to have
in
prevailed
According to Weber
rabbinical circles.
there was a spiritualistic conception of

a
as
world,
present
life
life
lacking
eating,
all
life
in the future
the characteristics
the
of
drinking, generation, trade
and
consisting in an eternal enjoyment of the glory of the
and there was also a materialistic conception,

according to which eating and generation would continue,
only the food would be exceptionally good, and the
Shekinah
children
all righteous.
It
is difficult
to decide
how
far
The Jewish
such statements are to be taken seriously.
and
in
sensuous
its way of thinking.
mind was realistic
Spirit
the
of
was conceived
properties
of
of grossly,
matter.
matter, an ether endowed

1
and invested with some

It
was a kind
of
thin
with the properties of per-
Vide Langen, Judenfhum in Palastina zur

Weber, Die Lehren des Talmud, p. 383.
Zeit Christi, p. 507.
THE LAST THINGS
393
manence, luminousness, and power to penetrate all things.

So at least inquirers into these obscure regions tell us. 1
If these
views are to be taken
literally,
to be regarded as sharing them, the
expression a spiritual body

a body, and a spiritual body
"
and
word
if St.
is
is
body
in the
spirit is
"
is
Paul
"
"
superfluous.
just a spirit.
What
connection can a body of this kind have with

the body which dies and is buried in the tomb ?
None
at all, replies such a writer as Holsten, who goes the
length of maintaining that even in the case of Christ, the
post-resurrection body stood in no relation to the crucified
body, in the view of St. Paul in other words, that the
apostle did not think of the crucified body as rising again.
;
This hypothesis hangs together with the dualistic inter

pretation of the Pauline doctrine of the flesh, according
to which the flesh is radically sinful, Christ s flesh not
excepted,
and the atonement
really
consisted
in
the
punishment of sin in Christ s body which, as a

criminal, was not worthy of the honour of being raised
judicial
On this view the body in which Christ appeared

Paul on the way to Damascus must have been an
The construction thus put on the
entirely new creation.
again.
to St.
resurrection of Jesus, and on the resurrection generally,

is
not the one which an unbiassed consideration of the
texts naturally suggests.
The very words
e<yetpa)
and
avdaraa-Ls imply the contrary view, suggesting the idea of

the resurrection body springing out of the mortal body,
as grain springs
out of the seed sown in the ground.
The analogy must not be pressed

this hint at least, that the
1
new
too far, but
it
conveys
will be related to the old
Vide Kabisch, Die Eschatologie des Paulus, pp. 188-228.
394
ST.
form
so as to insure identity of
grain on
the
stalk
is
if
not of substance, as the
the same
in
though not
kind,
numerically the same, or composed of the same particles,

as the seed out of
4.
Our
which
it
last question is
springs.
Is there
any trace
of chiliasm
in the Pauline eschatology,
any recognition of a period of

time intervening between the second coming and the end
when
Christ shall resign the
answer may plausibly be

interpreting 1
kingdom
2228.
three stages in the resurrection process

Christians, then the rest of mankind.
the
affirmative
justified by a particular
Corinthians xv.
final stage coincides
An
mode
of
Thus, there are

:
first Christ,
With
then
the third
But between the second
"
end."
and third stages there is an appreciable interval.

This
is implied in the term rdy/ia involving the notion of
and
succession,
which
also in the
words
a.7rap^rj
eTreira, elra,
natural to regard as indicative each of a

distinct epoch.
know that the first two stages are
it
is
We
separated by a considerable interval, and

ferred that the second
it
may be
and third are likewise conceived
in
of
Another considera
by a long space of time.
tion in favour of this view is that, on the contrary
as divided
Christ s reign over His kingdom in glory

The argument
to a vanishing-point.
be
reduced
would
has some show of reason, but the subject is obscure, and
hypothesis,
a modest interpreter must step cautiously and timidly as

one carrying but a glimmering torchlight to show him
the way.
thoughts were as repre

perhaps, like the prophets, he had
Perhaps the apostle
sented, perhaps not
himself but a dim, vague, shadowy conception of the

The
future, very different from the future that is to be.
395
THE LAST THINGS
chapter on the resurrection in 1 Corinthians xv. is a

sublime one, full of great thoughts and inspiring hopes.
But beyond one or two leading statements, such as that
affirming the certainty of the future
to
I
summarise
its
should be slow
contents in definite theological formulse.
had rather read
religious
life,
this chapter as a Christian
edification
man
seeking
as a
and moral inspiration, than
The
theologian in quest of positive dogmatic teaching.
is
but
the
letter
is
life-giving,
spirit of the whole
SvaepfMJvevrov, and while
some interpreters
feel
able on
the basis of it to tell us all about the millennium,

others find therein a universal aTrorcarda-Tacris,
shall be all in
confess
my
all,
and
to every
human
ignorance and remain
and
when God
spirit, I prefer
silent.
to
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE
ON
THE TEACHING OF
ST.
PAUL COMPARED WITH THE TEACHING
OF OUR LORD IN THE SYNOPTICAL GOSPELS.
IN the course
Christianity
sented
of
our study of
we have taken
it is
2
;
of
Gospels.
of
the apostle with
set forth in the first three
life.
We
topics
the significance of Christ
the doctrine of Sonship
in the Christian
tion
conception of
The comparison touches mainly four
the idea of righteousness
death
occasion, as opportunity pre
compare the views
itself, to
the teaching of Christ as

Gospels.
Paul
St.
3
;
and the law
found that
The righteousness
St.
Paul
of
s
growth
concep
God does not occur in the

of God spoken of there is
not, as in the Pauline Epistles, a righteousness God-given,
but a righteousness of which

nearest equivalent to St. Paul
the teaching of our Lord
free
pardon
Christ
1
of
s gospel.
sin,
is,
God
s
is
the centre. 5
righteousness
of
as has been pointed
The
God
in
out, the
which occupied a prominent place
in
In reference to the death of Christ, we
Vide Chap. VII.

Vide Chap. XVIII
2
a
3
Vide Chap. X.
Vide Chap. VIII.
Vide The Kingdom of God, chap. ix.
397
398
ST.
had occasion
to
remark that the
event set forth in the

cross
is
first
overlooked by
St.
ethical
view
that
Paul, his interest being con
On
centrated on the religious or theological aspect.

subject of Sonship,
of
lesson on the doctrine of the
we found
the
that in representing sonship
by adoption, the apostle seems to give it

an aspect of artificiality or unreality, contrasting unfav
ourably with the sonship presented to view in the Gospels,
as constituted
of
on an essential identity between the nature

God and the nature of man. In so far as this contrast
is
real, it
which
rests
points
conceiving God.
a deeper difference in the way of

But it was pointed out that there is
to
reason to believe that the theology of the schools has not

in this connection done full justice to the thought of St.
gradual sanctification we
were forced to the conclusion that the Pauline Epistles
Paul.
Finally,
on the subject
of
contain nothing parallel to the firm grasp and felicitous
statement of the great law of growth in the kingdom of

God, exhibited in the parable of the blade, the green ear,
and the ripe
corn.
somewhat elaborate study on the contrast between

the two types of doctrine has recently appeared from the
2
pen of Wendt, the well-known author of the work, Die
Lehrc Jesu, of which a portion has been translated into
3
Among the points of comparison are these
English.
the essence of the Messianic salvation, the righteousness
of the saved
fiir
3
man, the condition
man, the
of the natural
Vide The Kingdom of God, chap. x.

Die Lehre des Paulus verglichen mil der Lehre Jesu, in
Theologie
und
Zeitschrift
Kirche, 1894, pp. 1-78.
Wendt, The Teaching
of Jesus, 2 vol?,
by Messrs
T.
&
T. Clark.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE
399
Person of the Messiah, the significance of Christ as the

Mediator of salvation, and the conditions of participation
in salvation.
1.
In reference
the
to
first
topic, the
author finds a
general agreement between the Master and the

in
so
far
as
came with Jesus, and consisted not

gracious relation of
that
is
the fulfilment of
of
The point
fected hereafter.
in
an earthly kingdom, but in a

sonship to God, begun here and per
Old Testament hopes
Wendt,
apostle,
both taught that the Messianic salvation
the
in
of difference, according to
teaching
of Jesus
there
no
is
developed doctrine as to the possession by believers of

the Holy Spirit, such as
On the second
man, Wendt finds in
2.
we
find in the Pauline letters.
topic, the righteousness of the saved
both types of doctrine, as a
common
element, recognition of the truth that only the ethical
has real value in
God s
intrinsic importance.
sight,
The
made
and that
ritual possesses
no
difference lies in the ground
In the teaching of
Christ it is the purely ethical and spiritual nature of
God, and the certainty thence flowing that the only
acceptable righteousness is that which is kindred to God s
on which
this truth is
to rest.
In the teaching of St. Paul the

worthlessness of ritual is a deduction from the redeeming
work of Christ.
Christ, by being made under law, has
own moral
nature.
But this redemp

redeemed us from subjection to law.
tion covers the whole law, as law, without distinction
between the ethical and the
essential difference
Insight into
ritual.
between the two
is
the
not so markedly
characteristic of the apostle.

3.
In connection with the third
topic, the condition of
400
ST.
the natural man, Wendt finds a considerable difference

Christ s view of
between the two types of doctrine.
average human nature is, he thinks, less sombre than
The natural man, as he appears in the

not doomed by the flesh to sin.
Then the
that of St. Paul.
Gospels,
is
Gospels contain no such speculations as to the malign

influence of
Adam s
transgression on the character and
destinies of the race, as

4.
in the
As
we
find in
two types
v. 1221.
common element
Romans
to the person of the Messiah, a
of doctrine is the idea that the
ship of Jesus rested exclusively
on his
filial
Messiah-
relation to
God.
Neither Christ nor Paul, according to Wendt,
attached any real importance to the Davidic descent.
The point of contrast under this head is found in the
idea of pre-existence, propounded by the apostle, but not,
according to our author, to be found in the authentic

utterances of Jesus.
The point at which the greatest difference between

the two types of doctrine reveals itself is the significance
5.
of Christ as
the Mediator of salvation.
There
is
first,
according to our author, the great general contrast, that

whereas Christ Himself gave special, not to say exclusive,
His revealing, or prophetic, or teaching

function, the apostle left that very much in the back
ground, and made all turn on the redemptive significance
prominence
of
Christ
to
death.
Then there
is
the specific contrast
between the manner in which that death
is
viewed
in
The apostle, according to Wendt, assigned

death the significance of a vicarious penal
suffering, on the part of the innocent One on behalf of the
He finds no such doctrine in the words of our
guilty.
the two types.
to
Christ
SUPPLEMENTARY XOTE
401
Lord, not even in the saying concerning the ransom in

Mark x. 45, nor in the words spoken at the institution
He
of the Supper.
holds that Jesus taught the doctrine
of a free forgiveness to all penitent sinners
unmediated
by any atonement, and that this doctrine set forth in the

parable of the prodigal, and elsewhere, He did not cancel
or limit towards the end of His life.
The words spoken
at the institution of the Supper offer no justification for
It
such a supposition.
he says, only a prejudice
of
out
our
arising
dogmatic tradition, that the thought of
"
"
is,"
the saving significance of Christ
must include
tion,
presuppose
I believe
expiation.
mean
or
death for His followers
the idea
of
vicarious
that Jesus, in the words of institu
had no such thought
He
His mind, although
in
did
to express the other idea of a saving significance
It was a conception
attaching to His death.
naturally
of
out
His
certainty as to the overwhelming love
arising
and grace
of
God, that God would reward the loyal

blessings, affecting nob
obedience of His Son with rich
Himself only, but also those who belong to Him, even as,
in the Old Testament, we find God promising to reward
the truth of those
to thousands
who keep His covenant with
(Exodus xx.
the greatness of
divine
6).
But
grace
this
did
benefits
certainty as to
not lead
Jesus to
to be able to forgive penitent

imagine that,
sinners, God demanded the vicarious sufferings of His
in
obedient Son.
order
As Jesus
in general simply as evil,
did not regard earthly suffering
and as penalty
no means a self-evident truth to

suffering
must have a penal
He
men.
26
Him
of sin, it
was by
that His innocent
relation to the sin of other
did not regard His death as vicarious penal
402
ST.
suffering,
but only as a proof of obedience, which God in
His grace would not
fail to
reward."
The question here raised is very important. And

with regard to the answer given to it by "VVendt, who
holds that Christ and Paul here offer two entirely differ
be frankly admitted that the two
types of doctrine are certainly not coincident at this
ent gospels,
There
point.
may
it
is, e.g.,
a difference as to the view to be
For the apostle it is an axiom

that all suffering is on account of sin.
And, as we have
elsewhere pointed out, this axiom raises a question to
taken of suffering.
which the Pauline
literature
about the sufferings
offers
no answer.
What
the righteous, the prophets, for
of
example ? Did they suffer for their own sins ? Then they
must have been exceptionally great sinners, as Job s friends
said he was.
Or did they suffer for the sins of others
redemptively
alternative
In Christ
is
If neither
view
is
adopted, what other
there which goes to the root of the matter
teaching the penal meaning of suffering is

He spoke not merely of a suffering for
not accentuated.
sin,
whether
emphatically
or
personal
of
relative,
but
also
and very
a suffering for righteousness, and
He
undoubtedly looked on His own suffering as belonging to
But
the latter category.

sufferings
of
unrighteous.
the
He
also recognised that the
righteous might bring benefit to the
This
is
admitted in
the
passage
above
Even in Wendt s own statement, as there given,

quoted.
there is room for a theory of redemptive value attaching
to Christ s death.
men
for
1
God,
Christ s sake.
admitted, gives blessings to

This general truth is of more
it is
Zeitschrift fur Theologie
und
Kirche, 1894, pp. 55, 56.
403
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE
importance than any special theological formulation of it.

It may be possible to formulate the fundamental truth
in this matter better than theologians have formulated
or even to improve on St. Paul s statement.
main point
to notice
formulated
that there
is,
God
that
confers
is
it,
But the
a fact or truth to be
blessings
spiritual
and
This
temporal on some men for the sake of other men.
in
our
contained
the
of
as
well
is
Lord,
teaching
thought
And in view of this fact it
as in the letters of St. Paul.
cannot be truly affirmed that the doctrine of Jesus was

1
Selfauto-sotcric, while that of St. Paul was kctero-sotcric.
salvation, salvation
Master and the
the
the difference between
by another
is
apostle,
not so great as that.
Both teach essentially the same doctrine, that God

Christ
How
for
sake blesses the world.

this
doctrine
is
be adjusted to the natural

problem requiring more con
to
order of the universe is a
than
sideration
righteous
men
has
it
save
yet
Sodom
received.
What
How
can
ten
does such a supposi
How
mean, translated into terms of natural law ?
do prayers count, how pains, sorrows, tears, crucifixions ?
Theology teaches that God has a regard to these things,
tion
and because
of
them imputes, and
What
does,
good to the
the equivalent of this

divine procedure, in the world of which science takes
I do not know, but I believe that the
cognisance ?
sacrificial lives of the saintly were eternally in God s
unthankful and the
view, that
1
evil.
is
they are the things of value in His sight;
Vide Macintosh, The Natural History of the Christian Religion

where the difference between Jesus and Paul is thus put.
(1894),
Vide especially chap. xv.
404
that
ST.
the
PAUL
world
exists for
them and
is
preserved by
them.
6.
ing to
On
the last topic,
little
needs to be
Accord
said.
Wendt, our Lord and the apostle were
at one in
attaching great importance to faith as a condition of par

salvation.
But they differed in this, that
while Jesus insisted also on repentance as a joint con
ticipation in
dition, St.
But, on
Paul gave prominence to faith only.
close inspection, it will be found that in
our Lord, not
less
great watchword.
than in that of
Difference
at
St.
this
the teaching of
Paul, faith
point
surface only. 1
1
Vide The Kingdom
of God, chap.
THE END,
iii.
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Professor
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Professor Paterson has executed the translation with as much skill as care.
Headers may rely on his having given the meaning of the original with the utmost
From the Author s Preface to the Translation.
accuracy.
The book will be read with pleasure, and, it need not be said, with profit, not only
by professional students, but by all intelligent persons who have an interest in the Old
Testament.
Though externally popular and of singular literary finish, the author s
work within is a laborious and able study of the whole subject. Professor A. B.
.
DAVIDSON, D.D.
standard work on this subject
may
be said to be indispensable to every theologian
and minister. The book to get, beyond all doubt, is this one by Schultz, which Messrs.
Clark have just given to us in English. It is one of the most interesting and readable
Professor A. B. BRUCE, D.D.
books we have had in our hands for a long time.
KAFTAN S TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
The Truth
the Christian Religion.
of
JULIUS KAFTAN, Berlin.
By
Professor
Translated from the German, under the
Author s supervision, by G. FERRIES, D.D. With a Prefatory Note

by Professor FLINT, D.D. In Two Volumes, 8vo, price 16s. net.
SUMMARY OF CONTENTS Division I. Ecclesiastical Dogma The Origin of Dogma
:
Development of Theology
Orthodox Dogmatics
Breaking-up of Ecclesias
The Proof of Christianity

Judgment of History. Division II.
Traditional
Knowledge The Primacy of Practical Reason Criticism of the
Conclusion.
Speculative Method The Proof of Christianity
welcomed by all
Eminently a work which the times require, and will be cordially
tical
Dogma
Scotsman.
students of theology.
Eitschlian
Quite apart from the immediate question of obtaining a knowledge of the
For Kaftan is no imitator, but a
theology at first hand, these volumes are welcome.
In the near future his view of theology, its essence and its
fertile and able writer.
The Expository Times.
accidents, will exercise a deep influence in our land.
One of the most important productions of the Eitschlian School of Theology, and of
it treats the proof of Christianity as a something
special interest for the way in which
faith and
"connected in the closest manner with the whole organisation of Christian
life at a given time."
The Apostolic and
Post- Apostolic
and Doctrine.
Times
Their Diversity
:
Professor G. V. LECHLER,
and Unity
By
Third Edition, thoroughly Revised and Ee written.
D.D.
Two Volumes, crown 8vo, price 16s.
in Life
In
It contains a vast amount of historical information, and is replete with judicious

remarks. ... By bringing under the notice of English readers a work so favourably
Athenceum.
a benefit on theology.
thought of in Germany, the translator has conferred
&
T.
T.
The Christian Doctrine of Immortality. By

F.
Rev. S. D.
SALMOND, D.D., Professor of Systematic Theology, Free Church
Just published,
College, Aberdeen.
demy
8vo, price 14s.
For convenience sake the subject of the booh is described as the Christian Doctrine of Immor
tality. But it will be seen that the word "Immortality" is used in the large sense which Paul
Life, eternal life, the
gives it when he speaks of "this mortal" putting on "immortality."
immortality of the man, not the immortality of the soul, is the message of the Bible, alike in Old
The questions with
Testament and in New, in Christ and in apostle, in John and in Paul.
which this booh deals are not questions to be taken up lightly or disposed of easily. No one who
The studies which its pre
understands their seriousness will be in haste to write of them.
paration have occasioned have been at times an anxious discipline. The result has been to confirm
me in the conviction, that the teaching of Christ and the whole burden of the Christian Revelation
make the present life decisive for the future. From the AUTHOR S PREFACE.
.
SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
THE ETHNIC PREPARATION.
Introductory Ideas of
Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, and Greek
THE OLD TESTAMENT PREPARATION. Negative and Positive Aspects
Beliefs.
of Old Testament Preparation
The Notes of Old Testament Preparation
The Contribution of the Poetical Books, the Prophets and Ecclesiastes.
Doctrine of the Return
CHRIST S TEACHING. General Considerations
Doctrine of Judgment Doctrine of the Resurrection Intermediate State
Doctrine of Final Destinies. THE GENERAL APOSTOLIC DOCTRINE.
Apostolic
Doctrine and Non-Canonical Literature Teaching of James, Jiuie, Hebrews,
and the Apocalypse Doctrine of Peter and John. THE PAULINE DOCTRINE.
General Statement Particulars of Paul s Doctrine Paul s Doctrine of the
Resurrection.
CONCLUSIONS. The Contribution of Christianity to the Hope of
Immortality Doctrines of Annihilation and Conditional Immortality Restorationism and Allied Doctrines The Alternative Doctrine.
APPENDICES.
INDICES.
Lower Races
Indian, Egyptian,
This is beyond all doubt the one book on the transcendent subject of which it treats.
There is none like it sound, frank, fearless, and yet modest in every page.
The
Methodist Times.
Professor Salmond Las rendered a service which merits the amplest recognition.
Worthy of recognition are the courage which chose a subject bristling with difficulties,
the patience and resolution which have weighed, sifted, and disposed of these difficulties,
the method and scholarship which fit him to be a safe pioneer, the fairness of mind
which inspires confidence, the lucidity and completeness of treatment which tell of a
thorough digestion ot the entire, multifarious material connected with the subject.
The volume presents one of the very finest specimens of biblical theology that we
have.
Professor MAKCCS Dons, D.D., in The Bookman.
of Mankind : A Study towards a Christian

By Rev. J. HOWARD CRAWFORD, M.A.,
Philosophy of History.
Abercorn. Just published, in post 8vo, price 5s.
The Brotherhood
**
The object of this booh is to show that the end towards which mankind are progressing
a united brotherhood.
This goal of mankind is the key to human history, which unfolds
a steady progress towards its realisation.
is
CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION. Development of Christianity in Human Thought

Time the Interpreter Ethical Purpose of Development. THE BROTHERHOOD
OF MANKIND.
Brotherhood before Christ Unity of Man Jesus the Carpenter
Ethical Principle of Jesus Authority of Jesus
Brother
Individualism The Family Sacraments Entrance into
the Life of Brotherhood Christian Personality Brotherhood in Early Church
In Middle Ages Since Reformation Social and Political Progress Service of
Literature and Art Natural Growth of Altruism Christianity and Patriotism
Opposition of Scepticism Other opposing Forces The Kingdom of God and
the Church The Future.
Theology of Jesus
hood in the Epistles
A remarkable
that a book
book.
The Church
marked by such a
of Scotland has reason to congratulate herself

truly catholic spirit, such a cultured tone, and full of
such courageous criticism, should have issued from one of

Glasgow Herald.
its
country manses.
T.
&
CLARK
T.
Morality and Religion.

In demy 8vo, price
We
PUBLICATIONS.
By Rev. JAMES KIDD,
D.D., Glasgow.
10s. 6d.
are not acquainted with any other book that has so clearly shown the vital unity
It is a strong book by a strong man.
Methodist
between religion and morality. ...

Times.
We
know
of
no original writer in English who, with such mastery
of the points at
and such philosophical method in their handling, has united a devout evangelical
and orthodox view of Christian doctrine. ... It is the work of a master of psychological
The Record.
analysis.
issue,
Dr. Kidd has written a remarkable volume, able, learned, closely reasoned,
had not read much before
thoughtful, and clearly and eloquently expressed.
we found ourselves in the grasp of a man who can think and can vividly express his
thoughts. The old, old theme on which a hundred generations have thought and
written, became new in his hands, and we found ourselves taking part in a fresh and
Professor J. IVEKACH, D.D., in The Thinker.
vigorous discussion.
.
The
We
Ethics of the Old Testament.
M.A., Banff.
In crown 8vo, price
SUMMAKY OF CONTENTS
Revelation
First
"W.
S.
BRUCE,
Introductory Ethical Character of the Old Testament

Determinative Principle of Morality in the Old Testament Israel,
the People of
The
By Rev.
4s.
Law of the Ten Words

Israel s Code of Duty
The Second Table Old Testament Legislation Mosaic
Old Testament View of a Future Life Advance and Development
God
Possession
Table
Legislation
Ethics of Later Judaism
Moral
Old Testament.
Difficulties of
excellent work. ... I have found it most interesting and instructive. I hope
Professor E. FLINT,
that the book may have the success which it well deserves.
1
An
D.D., LL.D.
We have
read this book with a great deal of pleasure. ...

Free Church Monthly.
United Presbyterian Magazine.
welcome and able book.
It is really a
work
of
practical value.
The
Bible
Doctrine of Man;
Psychology of Scripture.
of Systematic Theology,
By
New
Rev.
or,
J.
The Anthropology and
LAIDLAW, D.D., Professor
College, Edinburgh.
In post 8vo, price
Revised and Re-arranged.
New
Edition,
7s. 6d.
The standard work in English on the Anthropology and Psychology of the Bible.
... A volume worthy of its subject, and likely to hold the first place in it for many
to come.
Expository Times.
Dr. Laidlaw s excellent treatise on
days
E.
"
The
Bible Doctrine of
Man."
The
late
Eev.
W. DALE, D.D.
The Resurrection
MILLIGAN, D.D.
of the Dead.
By
Second Edition, in crown
the late Professor
W.
8vo, price 4s. 6d.
In the treatment of such passages as these, Dr. Milligan s thoughtfulness, judgment,

can but lament that this is the last
.and scholarship reach their highest expression.
The Record.
volume for which we shall be indebted to him.
We
There
that
is
the touch of the exact scholar on every page, and it brings out beauty
The Expository
and truth that is beauty to our continual enjoyment.
is truth,
Times.
This book is a most valuable one, and enables us to

lost by the death of such a scholar and thinker.
Church
realise
how much
Glasgow Herald.
the Christian
T.
&
T.
WORKS BY PA JON
J.
GLOAG, P.P.
Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels.

Just published,
GLOAG, D.D., Edinburgh.

7s.
in
By Rev. PATON J.
demy 8vo, price
6<1.
Dr. Gloag has kept his mind open to the light, and has produced a volume which
the student of theology will find most helpful to him in his professional work.
Scotsman.
A volume of sterling value learned, clear, candid, cautious, thoroughly well
considered; it should be a welcome addition to the library of the biblical student.
;
Introduction to the Catholic Epistles.
In
demy
8vo,
price 10s. 6d.

Dr. Gloag, whilst courteous to men of erudition who differ from him, is firm and
fearless in his criticism, and meets the erudition of others with an equal erudition of
his own.
He has displayed all the attributes of a singularly accomplished divine in
this volume, which ought to be eagerly welcomed as a solid contribution to theological
literature ; it is a work of masterly strength and uncommon merit.
Evangelical
Magazine.
4
We have here a great mass
to the subject, presented with
and arguments relevant in the strictest senseand sound judgment, and calculated to be of very
Literary Churchman.
great service to the student.
of facts
skill
Exegetical Studies.
In crown 8vo, price
Careful and valuable pieces of work.
A very interesting volume.
5s.
Spectator.
Literary Churchman.
Dr. Gloag handles his subjects very ably, displaying everywhere accurate and
extensive scholarship, and a fine appreciation of the lines of thought in those passageswit h which he deals.
Baptist.
The Messianic Prophecies

crown 8vo, price
(one of the Baird Lectures).
In
7s. 6d.
has seldom fallen to our lot to read a book which we think is entitled to such
now before us. Dr. Gloag has displayed consummate
ability.
We regard Dr. Gloag s work as a valuable contribution to theological literature.
have not space to give the extended notice which its intrinsic excellence demands, and
must content ourselves with cordially recommending it to our readers.
Spectator.
It
unqualified praise as the one
We
Introduction to the Pauline Epistles.
In
demy
8vo,
price 12s.
work
of uncommon merit.
He must be a singularly
this book is not a welcome and valuable addition.
whose library
Critical
Watchman.
and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts
of the Apostles.
In
Two Volumes,
The Primeval World A Treatise

:
Theology.
accomplished divine to
Crown
8vo, 3s.
8vo, price 21s.

[At present out of print.
on the Relations of Geology to
&
T.
How
to
CLARK
T.
Read the Prophets
Chronologically
in
their
Maps, and Glossary.
PUBLICATIONS.
Being the Prophecies arranged
Setting, with Explanations,
Historical
By Rev. BUCHAXAX BLAKE, B.D.
Now
complete, in Five Volumes, crown 8vo.

PART I. THE PRE-EXILIAN MINOR PROPHETS (with JOEL). Second Edition.
Price 4s. PART II. ISAIAH (Chapters i.-xxxix.). Second Edition. Price 2s. 6d.
PAKT III. JEREMIAH. Price 4s. PART IV. EZEKIEL. Price 4s. PART V.
ISAIAH (Chapters xl.-lxvi.) and THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS. Price 4s.
The
Series being
now
complete, Messrs. Clark offer the Set of Five
Volumes
FIFTKKX SHILLINGS.
for
It has often been found a difficulty to profit fully from the reading,
especially of the smaller
prophecies of the Old Testament. To make these prophecies intelligible to the plainest reader, it
seems desirable that a chronological arrangement of the prophetic boohs should be attempted.
Alongside of the several prophecies should be placed those portions of the Old Testament historical
boohs which deal with the same period. The aim of these manuals is consequently in this direction :
to bring within the reach of the many a clear and succinct presentation of these prophets in their
historical environment.
From the AUTHOR S INTRODUCTION.
Mr. Blake seems to have hit upon the right thing, and he has proved himself com
petent to do it rightly. While these books are the very best introductions to the study
of the prophets, even the accomplished scholar will find them indispensable.
The
Expository Times.
BY THE REV. JAMES STALKER,
P.P.
A Xew Edition, in larger type, and

crown
8vo, price 3s. 6d.
handsomely bound,
No work since Ecce Homo" has at all approached this in succinct, clear-cut, and
incisive criticism on Christ as He appeared to those who believed on Him.
Literary
The
Life of Jesus Christ.

"
World.
Even with all our modern works on the exhaustless theme, from Neander to Farrar
We question
and Geikie, there is none which occupies the ground of Mr. Stalker s.
whether any one popular work so impressively and adequately represents Jesus to the
Christian.
mind. ... It may be despised because it is small, but its light must shiue.
.
The
Life of St. Paul.

and
size
Uniform with the
Life of Christ
in
price.
Even to those who know by heart the details of the great apostle s life, this glowing
sketch will be a revelation. Written with a fine sympathy for the more tender and
personal aspects of his theme, Mr. Stalker has portrayed the outer and the inner life of
Paul with a mingled power and beauty which is as rare as it is needed in evangelical
Christian.
writing.
A gem
in
which
%*
of sacred biography.
Well does
it
deserve the new and handsome dress
now
Christian Leader.
appears.
Small type Editions of both Volumes in the
it
price
The Kingdom
By Prof.
J. S.
of God,
BIBLE-CLASS HANDBOOK
Series,
\s. (id. each.
Biblically
and Historically considered.
CANDLISH, D.D., Glasgow.
In demy 8vo, price
10s. 6d.
Dr. J. S. Candlish, of Glasgow, perhaps the most learned of living dogmatic

British Weekly.
theologians.
As to the ability of this volume there can be no question it is of profound interest,
touches on time-present subjects, is free from all rhetorical display, is in no sense
superficial, but scholarly and able, and is worthy of the reputation and position of its
auth or.
Evangelical Magazine.
Dr. Candlish treats his subject with an admirable combination of scholarly com
:
prehensiveness, historical candour, and regard to the practical demands of mankind.

Christian World.
&
T.
CLARK
T.
Nature and the Bible

Creation
in
PUBLICATIONS.
Lectures
Relation
its
to
Xatural
on the Mosaic History of

Science.
By Dr. FR. H.
Revised and Corrected by the Author.

Translated by
In Two Volumes, 8vo, price 21s.
champions much more competent and learned than myself might have been
REUSCH.
KATHLEEN LYTTELTON.
Oilier
placed in the
"Nature
field
and the
I will
Bible."
only name one of the most recent,

The Right Hon. W. E. GLADSTONE.
Dr. Reusch, author of
The work, we need hardly say, is of profound and perennial interest, and it can
scarcely be too highly commended as, in many respects, a very successful attempt to settle
one of the most perplexing questions of the day. It is impossible to read it without
obtaining larger views of theology, and more accurate opinions respecting its relations
to science, and no one will rise from its perusal without feeling a deep sense of gratitude
to its author.
Scottish Rei iew.
We
owe to Dr. Reusch, a Catholic theologian, one of the most valuable treatises on
the relation of Religion and Natural Science that has appeared for many years.
Literary World.
Pre-Organic Evolution and the Biblical Idea of God

An Exposition and a Criticism. By Principal C. CHAPMAN, M.A.,
LL.D., Plymouth.
A volume which
In crown 8vo, price
6s.
take an important position among Theistic, not to say

Christian apologetics, and which, in the present growth of scepticism, we may well be
thankful for.
Literary Churchman.
will
Darwinianism
AVorkmen and Work.
F.R.C.S., and LL.D. Edinburgh.
By
J.
HUTCHISON STIRLING,
In post 8vo, price 10s. 6d.
Undoubtedly the most trenchant criticism of Darwinianism that has yet appeared.
The book is a work of art. Professor M KKXimiCK in The Critical Reriew.
To say that these chapters abound in acute reasoning, telling examples, sharp
criticisms, and brilliant flashes of wit, is only to give a very modest impression of their
Dr. Stirling has produced an amazingly clever book.
argumentative power.
Scotsman.
He has set forth all this in such a graphic and humorous way that we read on and
There is no dulness here. He is
on, and cannot stop till we have read it through.
Dr. Stirling has most effectively done a piece
.
alert, and we are kept on the strain.
of work which will remain. It is done once, and once for all.
Professor IVEKACH, D.D.,
in The British Weekly.
.
Philosophy and Theology,

Gifford
Lectures.
LL.D. Pxlinburgh.
By
the
In post 8vo, price
This volume will make for
First
HUTCHISON
J.
Edinburgh University
F.R.C.S., and
STIRLING,
9s.
friends.
There is a bracing, stimulating
masterfulness about the lectures, which, on a careful perusal of them, will be found to
lead to many rich veins of thought.
Professor STEWART in The Critical Review.
Apologetics;
or,
The
itself
many
Scientific
Vindication of Christianity.
Professor J. H. A. EBRARD, Ph.D., D.D., Erlangen.
By
In Three
Volumes, demy 8vo, price 31s. 6d.

The author
of this work has a reputation which renders it unnecessary to speak in

of genenil commendation of his
Apologetics." . . . Dr. Ebrard takes nothing
for granted.
He begins at the beginning, laying his foundations deep and strong,
4
words
"
and building upon them patiently and laboriously, leaving no gaps, no loose work
but adjusting each stone to its place and use.
Church Bells.
&
T.
T.
BY THE REV. JOHN HUTCHISON,
Our Lord
Signs in
St.
EDINBURGH.
P.P.,
John s Gospel
Discussions, chiefly
in the Fourth
Exegetical and Doctrinal, on the Eight Miracles

Gospel.
In demy 8vo, price
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and delicate study
of the Miracles of the Fourth Gospel.

Bookman.
We have read it with thorough enjoyment. The subject is one of intrinsic
importance, and in this volume are presented the ripe fruits of most careful, accurate,
and sympathetic study.
learned, thoughtful,
Lectures on Paul
Epistle to the Philippians.
In
Svo, price 7s. 6d.

This book has one great merit which separates it from the mass of commentaries
and expository lectures it is not only instructive, but it is also delightfully inter
The author s moral and spiritual tone is lofty, and these sermons are
esting.
characterised by a sweet and sunny grace, which cannot but charm and make better
demy
.
those
who
read them.
Literary World.
Lectures on Paul
s Epistles to the Thessalonians. In

demy Svo, price 9s.
We have not at least amongst modern works many commentaries on these epistles
in which the text is at once treated with scholarly ability, and turned to popular and
Such is the character of Dr. Hutchison s work his exegesis of
practical account.
crucial passages strikes us at once as eminently clear.
Baptist.
Certainly one of the ablest and best commentaries that we have ever read. The
and
the
no
sense of a superficial or pretentious
scholarship is in
style is crisp and clear,
i
Eva nyelical Magazine.
>rder.
Voices of the Prophets.
By EDWIN H. GIFFORD, D.D., Arch

deacon of London, and Canon of St. Paul s. Cr. Svo, price 3s. 6d.
The author has long ago attained high position as a scholar, a man of science, and a
some
theologian, and in th volume before us he offers his readers

Standard.
these varied accomplishments.
Principles of
New
of the best fruits of
Testament Quotation. By
In terse and well-ordered style the author deals with a subject too
Record.
less understood.
The Truth
tion,
of Scripture,
By J.
and the Canon.
The Doctrine
Rev. JAMES
In crown Svo, Second Edition, price
SCOTT, M.A., D.D.
little
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studied and
in connection with Revelation, Inspira

J.
GIVEN, Ph.D.
Svo, price 6s.
of the Apocalypse, and
its
Relation to the
Gospel and Epistles of St. John. By Pastor

HERMANN GEBHARDT. In One Volume, Svo, price 10s. 6d.
Doctrine of the
The Doctrine
of the Holy Spirit.
By
the late Rev.
GEORGE
Xew
College,
Professor of Exegetical Theology,
SMEATON, D.D.,
In demy Svo, Second Edition, price
Edinburgh.
1
valuable monograph.
lectures has been
common
ir.asterly exposition of doctrine given in these

value by the wise references to current needs and
British and Foreign Evangelical Review.
.
augmented
misconceptions.
The
9s.
in
T.
&
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ANDREWS LIFE OF CHRIST.

The Life of our Lord upon the Earth
:
**
Considered in
its
and Geographical Relations.

By the
ANDREWS. A Xew and Revised Edition (the only
Historical,
Chronological,
Rev. SAMUEL J.
Authorised Edition in this Country).
In
demy
8vo, price 9s.
This booh has long been an acknowledged authority with scholars and with the general
In order to retain for it the ranh it has gained, the author has undertaken a complete
oublic.
revision, having almost entirely rewritten the work in the light of recent researches.
As a teacher s apparatus, I would recommend (1) Andrews Life of our Lord, an

unpretentious but excellent boek, in which the apologetic difficulties in the details of
Rev. J. STALKER, D.D.
the life are treated with much candour and success.
The Lord s Supper:
Its
Origin,
Rev. J. P. LILLEY, M.A., Arbroath.
Nature, and Use.

In crown 8vo, price
By
the
5s.
.
Mr. Lilley supplies us with an excellent and much-ueeded book.
Altogether
the volume can be cordially recommended to all who seek clear and reasonable views
on the Sacrament. Professor MARCUS DODS, D.D., in The Expositor.
There is an
This is a seasonable piece of work, well and thoroughly done. . .
underlying glow of genuine devotional feeling which adds to the attractiveness of the
Critical Review.
book.
.
Words
to Young Christians : Being Addresses to Young

On antique
Communicants. By GEORGE ELMSLIE TROUP, M.A.
laid paper, and in handsome binding, crown 8vo, price 4s. 6d.
CONTENTS: Habits. Keeping the Soul. Holiness. Growing. Half-Hearted. Power,

Love, and a Sound Mind. Three Pictures. The Christian Walk. Earnest Living.
A Good Man. The Friendship of Jesus. Looking unto Jesus. Order of Service.
A beautiful little volume, both in its form and in its contents.
We trust it will
be largely circulated.
These addresses have a most fascinating charm. Full of literary grace, spiritual
Review of the Churches.
insight, and moral elevation.
.
The Lord s Supper and the Passover Ritual

Translation of the Substance of Professor Bickell
By WILLIAM
Messe und Pascha.
F.
Work
SKENE, D.C.L.
Being a
termed
With an
Introduction by the Translator on The Connection of the Early

Crown 8vo, price 5s.
Christian Church with the Jewish Church.
Dr. Skene s introduction
study of the subject.
is
a valuable guide to the intelligent and comprehensive
Freeman.
Scenes from the Life of Jesus.

LEHMANX. In crown 8vo,
No one can read these lectures
Lectures by Pastor E.
price 3s. 6d.

without gathering from them many holy and
devotional thoughts.
Ecclesiastical Gazette.
There is in these lectures a tender sympathy, and a spiritual devoutness and
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The World
Religion.
One
of Prayer; or, Prayer in Relation to Personal

By Bishop MOXRAD. In crown 8vo, price 4s. 6d.
of the richest devotional
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Primitive Methodist
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So Great Salvation.
London.
With
By
Rev. G. H. C. MACGREGOR, M.A.,
Introduction by Principal MOULE, Ridley Hall.
Xeatly bound in cloth, price Is.

The truth rings from the very first page, and
The Expository Times.
its
note
is
very clear and convincing.
T.
The Gospel
&
T.
of a Risen Saviour.
ex-Moderator
EDGAR, D.D.,
Presbyterian Church in
of
Ireland.
By
M CHEYNE
the Rev. R.
General Assembly of
the
In post 8vo, price
the
7s. 6d.
Let me thank you for a most instructive and stimulat

Principal FAIRBAIRN writes
I am struck with its careful workmanship and the way in which it has
ing book.
grouped its material round its central idea. I am sure every evangelical theologian
must feel that you have made a most helpful contribution to a great subject.
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\ STUDIA

From the library of the late

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Post Svo, 10s. 6d.

Teaching according to the

or, Exposition of Passages in the

THE TRAINING OF THE TWELVE

THE HUMILIATION OF CHRIST

Bruce has won

PHYSICAL, ETHICAL, AND

Svo, 10s. 6d.

for himself the foremost place

LONDON: BIMPKIN, MARSIIAU., HAMILTON, KENT, AND

THE WILLARD TRACT

ALEXANDER BALMAIN BRUCE,

EXEGESIS IN THE FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW

OR, CHRISTIANITY DEFENSIVELY

Paul s Conception of Christianity

work on The Kingdom

Epistle to the Hebrews as soon as

the necessary leisure.

the book recently published

by Professor Everett of Boston, entitled The Gospel of

the substance of a review which appeared in the

pages of The Christian World.

the kind permission of the publishers.

Even of the Christological

These the Primer-Epistles

Important bearing on his theology

Analysis of their teaching

Epistles to the Thessalonians no proof

Significance of the conversion

His universalism dates from his conversion

Religious intuitions and theological formulations

with the Judaists

Occasion of the writing

Main body of the

THE EPISTLES TO THE COUINTHIANS

attack on St. Paul

These worked out in the Second Epistle

has suffered in the cause

Last four chapters

An occasional writing, not a theological treatise

Temper of the Judaists to be dealt with

Roman Church mainly

Jewish or mainly Ontile

Influence of missionary plans

Theme of the first

THE TRAIN OF THOUGHT

eight chapters, salvation through faith

Paganism and Judaism both

The historical argument

Apologetic train of thought

Embraces four particulars

Support to the doctrine

General prevalence of sin

(3) Sinful proclivity of

Source of this proclivity

Universal prevalence of death

THK RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

righteousness given to faith

doctrine and St. Paul