Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/447

PAUL 425 become exceeding sinful" (Rom. vii. 13 ; so 1 Cor. xv. 56, "the strength of sin is the law "). It was consequently a jailer and "tutor," keeping men under restraint and discipline, until they were ready for that which God had purposed to give them in due time (Gal. iii. 23, 24). For " in due season, when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son," "in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin," to do that which " the law could not do " (Rom. v. 6, viii. 3 ; Gal. iv. 4). This was a "free gift" of God (Rom. iii. 24, v. 15). The constant expression for it, and for the sum of the blessings which flow from it, is " grace " or " favour " (x<ipts), a term which was already becoming specialized in an analogous sense in Hellen istic Greek (e.g., Wisd. iii. 9, iv. 15, "grace and mercy is to His saints"; Philo, vol. i. p. 102, ed. Mang. , " the beginning of crea tion ... is the goodness and grace of God"). Two corollaries followed from it ; in the first place, the law, having failed, was superseded, and, so far from the performance of its requirements being necessary to ensure peace with God, " if ye receive circum cision, Christ will profit you nothing " (Gal. v. 2) ; in the second place, the distinction between Jew and Gentile was abolished, "for ye are all one in Christ Jesus " (Gal. iii. 28). This was "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts xx. 24), which it was his special mission to preach ; he speaks of it sometimes as " my gospel " (Rom. ii. 16, xvi. 25), or the "gospel of the uncircum- cision " (Gal. ii. 7), as well as in a special sense "the gospel of God" (Rom. i. 1, xv. 16; 2 Cor. xi. 7; 1 Thess. ii. 2, 8, 9), or "the gospel of Christ" (Rom. i. 9, xv. 19 ; 1 Cor. ix. 12, 18 ; 2 Cor. ii. 12, ix. 13. x. 14 ; Gal. i. 7 ; Phil. i. 27 ; 1 Thess. iii. 2 ; 2 Thess. i. 8), or "the gospel of the glory of Christ " (2 Cor. iv. 4) ; and elsewhere he speaks of it as his special " secret " or " mystery " (Rom. xvi. 25 ; 1 Cor. ii. 1 [Codd. N, A, C], and more emphatically in the later epistles, Eph. i. 9, iii. 3-9, vi. 19, Col. i. 26, 27 ; iv. 3). Of this gospel Christ is the beginning and the end : theology and Christology are blended into one. Sometimes He is represented as having been "sent forth" (Rom. viii. 3), or "set forth" (Rom. iii. 25), or "given up" (Rom. viii. 32), by God; sometimes, on the other hand, it is said that He "gave Himself" (Gal. i. 4), or "gave Himself up" (Gal. ii. 20 ; Eph. v. 2), or "made Himself poor " (2 Cor. viii. 9), or "emptied Himself" (Phil. ii. 7-8). The act by which He accomplished what He designed or was designed to do was His death on the cross (Rom. v. 6, 8, vi. 10, viii. 34, xiv. 15 ; 1 Cor. viii. 11, xv. 3 ; 2 Cor. v. 14, 15 ; Gal. ii. 21 ; 1 Thess. v. 10). The "blood" of Christ (Rom. iii. 25, v. 9 ; 1 Cor. xi. 25 ; Eph. i. 7, ii. 13 ; Col. i. [14], 20), the "cross" of Christ (1 Cor. i. 17 ; Gal. v. 11, vi. 12, 14 ; Phil. ii. 8, iii. 18 ; Eph. ii. 16_;_Col. i. 20, ii. 14), "Christ crucified" (1 Cor. i. 23, ii. 2; Gal. iii. 1), are therefore used as concise symbolical expressions for His entire work. 1 The act by which the completion of that work was ratified and made manifest was His resurrection from the dead (Rom. i. 4; cf. Acts xiii. 33, 34, xvii. 31); hence " He was delivered up for our offences and raised again for our justification" (Rom. iv. 25). The resurrection is thus the guarantee of the truth of the gospel ; without it there is no certainty that God has for given us; "if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain" (1 Cor. xv. 14). What quality there was in the death of Christ which gave it efficacy is probably indi cated in Rom. v. 19, Phil. ii. 8, where it is spoken of as an act of "obedience." The precise force of the expressions, "being made a curse for us" (Gal. iii. 13), "He made Him to be sin for us" (2 Cor. v. 21), which probably also refer to the efficacious quality of the death of Christ, is less obvious. The death of Christ was a death on our behalf (vwp ryxwj , Rom. v. 6, 8, viii. 32, xiv. 15 ; 1 Cor. i. 13 [Codd. N, A, C], [v. 7], xi. 24 ; 2 Cor. v. 15 ; Gal. ii. 20, iii. 13 ; 1 Thess. v. 10 [Codd. N, B] ; cf. Eph. v. 25), or on behalf of our sins (1 Cor. xv. 3 ; Gal. i. 4 [Cod. B]), or on our account (irepl TJ/J.UV, 1 Cor. i. 13 [Codd. B, D] ; 1 Thess. v. 10 [Codd. A, D]), or on account of our sins (Gal. i. 4 [Codd. X, A, D]), or of sin in general (Rom. viii. 3), or because of us or our transgressions (5ia ra TrapaTrra^ara, 5i avrbv, Rom. iv. 25 ; 1 Cor. viii. 11 ; cf. 2 Cor. viii. 9). These general expressions are expanded into more explicit statements in various ways ; for the nature of the work which the death of Christ effected was capable of being regarded from several points of view, nor was any one metaphor or form of words adequate to express all its relations either to God or to mankind. (1) The nature of Christ s work is sometimes expressed in lan guage which is relative to the idea of sacrifice ; and it is conceivable that, if the contemporary conception of sacrifice were better known to us, most of the other expressions would be found to be relative to the ideas which were connected by that of sacrifice (1 Cor. v. 7, "Christ our passover is sacrificed " [some MSS. add " for us "] ; the uncertain expression IXaa-Tijpiov, Rom. iii. 25, probably belongs to end in view. the same group of ideas ; the expressions with virtp and irepl, which have been quoted above, are sometimes regarded as being in all cases primarily sacrificial). (2) It is sometimes expressed in language which is relative to the conception of sin as rebellion or enmity against God ; what God effected through Christ was a reconciliation (KctraAXcry?;, Rom. v. 10, 11 ; 2 Cor. v. 18, 19), or peace (Rom. v. 1 ; Eph. ii. 14 ; hence the special force of the salutation " Grace to you and peace from God," which is prefixed to every epistle). (3) It is sometimes expressed in language which is relative to the idea of deliverance or "salvation" (<7c6fe<r0cu, awrrjpia, Rom. i. 16, v. 9, arid in all the epistles; dTroAirrpoxns, 3 Roin. iii. 24; 1 Cor. i. 30 ; Eph. i. 7 ; Col. i. 14). The idea was originally Messianic, and referred to national deliverance from foreign oppres sion ; but it had been raised into a higher sphere of thought, that from which men are saved being conceived to be the "wrath" of God, i.e., His punishment of sin (Rom. v. 9). (4) It is sometimes expressed in language which is relative to the idea of purchasing a slave (1 Cor. vi. 20, vii. 23, and probably Rom. xiv. 8, 9). That to which men were in bondage was the law (Gal. iv. 5), which cursed those who did not fully obey it (Gal. iii. 10, 13), or the "elements of the universe" (Gal. iv. 3, 9), i.e., (Col. ii. 15). Hence, probably, Paul s own "description of himself as the "slave of Jesus Christ" (Horn. i. 1). (5) It is sometimes expressed in language which is relative to the conception of God as the supreme lawgiver and judge. Sin is regarded as affording ground for a charge (2yKi)[j.a, cf. Rom. viii. 33) against the sinner, and, sin being universal, all the world was liable to the judgment of God (Rom. iii. 19). But it was possible for the Judge, for certain reasons which He considered valid, i.e., on account of the sufficient exhibition or declaration of His righteousness in the death of Christ, not to take account of the offences charged, but to acquit (diKaiovv) instead of pronouncing sentence of condemnation ; by this acquittal the person acquitted was placed in the position of one against whom no charge existed (BiKatot Ka.To.ffTa.O-fjffovra.L, Rom. v. 19) ; and, since the acquittal might be regarded in its different relations as a consequence of either the favour of God, or the death of Christ, or the trust in God which made it valid for the individual, men are said in various passages to be acquitted by God s favour (Rom. iii. 24), or by the blood of Christ (Rom. v. 9; cf. Gal. ii. 17), or by faith (Rom. iii. 28, v. 1 ; Gal. iii. 8, 24). 3 (6) It is sometimes expressed in language which is relative to the conception of a mystical union between Christ and the human race, or part of it, of such a kind that when He died men also died, and that when He rose again they also rose with Him (Rom. vi. 3-10 ; Gal. ii. 20 ; and also in the later epistles. Eph. ii. 5, 6 ; Col ii. 12, iii. 3). Some of these expressions are occasionally combined ; for example, the ideas of acquittal and reconciliation (Rom. v. 1 ; 2 Cor. v. 19), those of acquittal and deliverance (Rom. v. 9), and those of sacrifice, in which Christ is conceived as dying on men s behalf, and of mystical union in which they die with Him (2 Cor. v. 14). The facts both of their variety and of their combination afford a strong argument against treating any one mode of expression as though it stood alone and gathered up into a single metaphor the whole of the new relations of God to men. The effect of Christ s work upon mankind is also expressed in Christ s various ways. Sometimes it is expressed under the form of an work, imparted attribute, sometimes under that of a new condition of life or a new relation to God. It is most frequently spoken of as (1) righteousness, or (2) life, or (3) sonship. (1) When spoken of as righteousness, it is sometimes said to have been given to men (Rom. v. 17) ; sometimes it is reckoned to them or placed to their account (Rom. iv. 6, 11 ; Gal. iii. 6) ; sometimes it is a power to which they have become, or ought to become, subject (Rom. vi. 18, x. 3) ; sometimes it is regarded as a quality which men already possess by virtue of Christ s death (Rom. v. 17) ; sometimes it is still to be attained (Rom. iv. 24, vi. 16 ; Gal. v. 5). (2) When spoken of as life, the conception also seems to vary between that of a life which men have already received, or into which they have already entered (Rom. vi. 4, viii. 10), and that of a life which is future (Rom. v. 17 ; Gal. vi. 8 ; cf. Col. iii. 3, 4, where it is conceived as being now 2 This word seems to have lost its etymological sense of "ransoming," and to have connoted only "deliverance," e.g., in the LXX., Dan. iv. 29(31), Nebuchadnezzar speaks of 6 xP<Ws r?}s aTroAirpoio-ecos ftov, " the time of my deliverance " ; in Irenceus, i. 9, 5, it is used of the dismissal of the spectators in a theatre. 3 It is difficult to estimate the mischief which has been caused by the fact that justificare was adopted from early times as the translation of diKaiovv, and the consequent fact that a large part of Western theology has been based upon the etymological signification of justificare rather than upon the mean ing of its Greek original. One of the clearest instances of the meaning of 5i.Ka.Lovv in Biblical Greek is LXX. Exod. xxiii. T, ov diKOucLfffts rbv aaeprj eveKfv oup jiv, "thou shalt not acquit the wicked man for bribes."