PERSON
OF
CHRIST
the
work
of
reconciliation,
now
finds
its
organic
centre.
His
function
as
Creator
is
proleptically
viewed
as
con-ditioned
by
His
subsequent
worli
as
Redeemer;
but
the
expression
of
the
thought
is
rendered
well
nigh
impossible
by
the
mysterious
relations
of
eternity
and
time.
Just
as
even
in
his
conception
of
the
pre-existent
One,
St.
Paul
never
loses
sight
of
the
crucified
and
risen
Saviour,
neither
can
he
think
of
Christ
as
Creator
and
Sustainer
of
the
world
except
as
he
mediates
the
idea
to
his
own
mind
through
the
present
certainty
of
Christ
the
Re-deemer.
In
a
word,
the
Creatorship
of
Christ
is
never
dwelt
upon
for
its
own
sake,
but
always
in
relation
to
His
Saviourhood.
It
is
strikingly
so
in
a
verse
which
in
various
ways
forms
a
parallel
to
the
verses
just
com-mented
on,
1
Co
8=,
'
To
us
there
is
one
God,
the
Father,
of
whom
are
all
things,
and
we
unto
him;
and
one
Lord,
Jesus
Christ,
through
whom
are
all
things,
and
we
through
him.'
Here
the
ideas
of
creation
and
redemption
are
held
and
envisaged
together,
redemption
being
the
experimental
idea
from
which
the
mind
starts,
as
it
also
is
the
exalted
Lord
who
is
the
subject
of
pred-ication.
It
is
a
noteworthy
fact
that
the
risen
Christ
should
thus
be
bracketed
with
God
the
Father
in
a
verse
which
actually
insists
on
monotheism.
On
the
other
hand,
one
of
the
most
bafHing
problems
of
NT
theology
is
just
the
fact
that
St.
Paul
should
combine
with
these
plain
assertions
of
Christ's
Divinity
a
number
of
statements
of
a
different
complexion.
No
candid
exegete
will
deny
that
over
and
over
again
Christ
is
somehow
given
a
place
inferior
to
God,
His
entire
redeeming
Work
and
position
being
traced
back
directly
to
the
Father.
We
have
such
expressions
as
'God
sent
forth
his
Son'
(Gal
4<),
'He
that
spared
not
his
own
Son'
(Ro
8'^),
'God
hath
highly
exalted
him'
(Ph
2');
in
which
either
the
gift
of
Christ
to
the
world,
or
the
bestowal
of
exalted
glory
on
Christ
Himself,
is
declared
to
be
God's
act.
All
is
accepted,
en-dured,
achieved
'to
the
glory
of
God
the
Father.'
Still
more
explicit
is
1
Co
11'
'The
head
of
the
woman
is
the
man,
and
the
head
of
Christ
is
God';
and
in
1
Co
15^'
—
a
passage
which
strangely
touched
the
imagination
of
the
Greek
and
Latin
Fathers
—
Christ
is
portrayed
as
delivering
up
the
Kingdom
to
God,
and
as
finally
sub-mitting
even
Himself
to
a
higher,
'that
God
may
be
all
in
all.'
These
statements,
as
we
have
seen,
are
to
be
found
on
the
same
pages
which
unambiguously
aflirra
Christ's
real
Deity.
It
may
be
that
St.
Paul
nowhere
names
Christ
'God,'
and
that
2
Th
1",
Tit
2",
and
Ro
G'
must
all
be
otherwise
explained;
yet
a
verse
like
Col
2'
'
in
Him
dweUeth
all
the
fulness
of
the
Godhead
bodily,'
asserting
that
in
Christ
there
is
given
as
a
unity,
or
in
organic
oneness,
the
whole
sum
of
qualities
and
attributes
which
make
God
to
be
God,
Is
quite
decisive
as
to
the
Apostle's
real
belief.
St.
Paul
does
not
give
us
much
help,
perhaps,
in
solving
this
antinomy.
Ques-tions
as
to
the
origin
of
Christ's
being
in
God,
or
the
relation
of
the
personal
energies
of
the
Son
to
those
of
the
Father,
did
not,
apparently,
come
before
him.
It
is
possibly
a
true
exegesis
which
holds
that
in
verses
of
a
subordinationist
tendency
the
subject
of
predication
is
Christ
viewed
as
a
historic
person,
the
Incarnate
Mediator,
One
who
has
fulfilled
on
earth
a
certain
vocation
for
humanity,
and,
from
the
nature
of
the
case,
has
submitted
Himself
to
God
in
the
fulfilment
of
it.
But
there
is
at
least
as
much
help
for
the
intelli-gence
in
the
view
that
while
a
certain
subordination
of
Christ
indubitably
forms
part
of
NT
teaching,
we
may
still
think
of
Him
as
being
one
in
nature
with
God,
in
the
light
of
certain
human
analogies
which
are
our
only
guide.
Father
and
son,
or
ruler
and
subject,
may
still
be
of
one
nature,
although
there
exist
between
them
relations
of
higher
and
lower.
It
has
beenargued
that
for
St.
Paul
the
risen
Christ
and
the
Holy
Spirit
are
really
one
and
the
same.
This
ia
a
hasty
deduction
f
rem
the
firat
clause
of
2
Co
3''
'
Now
the
Lord
is
the
Spirit':
but
it
is
at
once
refuted
by
the
second
clause,
PERSON
OF
CHRIST
—
which
speaks
of
'the
Spirit
of
the
Lord,"
so
making
a
distinction
between
the
two,
—
as
well
as
by
the
threefold
blessing
of
2
Co
13".
What
the
Apostle
means
by
his
form
of
verbal
identification
is
rather
the
reUgious
certainty
that
Jesus
Christ,
In
whom
God
redeems
.men,
and
the
Spirit,
in
whom
He
-communicates
Himself
to
men,
are
so
indissolubly
bound
up
in
one,
act
so
absolutely
for
the
same
end
through
the
same
means,
that
from
the
stand-point
of
the
practical
issue
they
are
seen
as
merged
m
each
other
'They
are
one
as
the
fountain
and
the
stream
are
one.
'Christ
in
you,
or
the
Spirit
of
Christ
in
you;
thrae
are
not
different
realities;
but
the
one
is
the
method
of
the
other'
(Moberly).
5.
The
Christology
of
St.
Paul,
it
ought
to
be
said
with
emphasis,
is
built
firmly
on
the
foundation
of
the
primitive
doctrine.
After
all,
his
view
of
Christ,
as
the
incarnate
Son
of
God,
was
never,
so
far
as
our
knowledge
goes,
the
subject
of
denial
or
controversy
in
the
early
Church;
if
it
was
an
advance,
therefore,
on
the
first
beliefs,
it
was
such
an
advance
as
no
one
felt
to
be
out
of
line
with
what
they
already
held.
But
of
course
his
conception
of
the
Lord
does
go
beyond
the
primitive
Christology.
Instances
are
his
view
of
Christ
in
relation
to
the
uni-verse,
alike
in
its
creation
and
in
its
maintenance;
also,,
perhaps,
his
permanent
conjunction,
not
to
say
identifi-cation,
of
the
Spirit
of
God
with
the
principle
of
life
and
energy
that
constitutes
the
personality
of
Christ.
Further,
we
must
allow
for
the
influence
of
the
intellectual
categories
of
his
time,
even
upon
his
doctrine
of
Christ's
Person.
Ideas
borrowed
from
Jewish
apocalyptic
come
out
in
certain
pictures
of
the
Lord's
return;
and
in
the
statement
that
the
rock
which
followed
the
Israelites
in
the
desert
was
Christ,
we
may
see
a
vestige
of
Alexandrian
typology.
'The
last
Adam'
is
possibly
a
Rabbinical
conception.
But
at
most
these
things
form
part
of
the
setting
for
his
purely
Christian
thinking;
they
were
a
mode
in
which
St.
Paul's
mind
naturally
expressed
itself;
they
were
essential
if
the
truth
he
had
grasped
was
to
be
passed
on
to
his
con-temporaries;
and
in
this
lies
their
abundant
historical
justification.
It
is
vastly
more
important
to
note
that
the
Apostle's
profoundest
afiirmations
regarding
the
Lord
Jesus
Christ,
so
far
from
having
faded
into
obsolescence,
still
elude
us
by
their
very
greatness.
They
are
still
beyond
us;
we
can
but
throw
out
our
minds
at
an
infinite
reality;
and
the
believing
intelli-gence
will
for
ever
strive
in
vain
adequately
to
discern
and
express
all
that
St.
Paul
saw
in
Christ
when
he
was
moved
to
say:
'In
him
were
all
things
created,
in
the
heavens
and
upon
the
earth.'
IV.
The
Chhistology
of
the
Epistle
to
the
Hebrews.
—
The
writer
of
this
Epistle
develops
his
view
of
the
Person
of
Christ
as
an
implied
presupposition
of
His
priestly
vocation.
Christ
is
the
Mediator
of
the
new
and
better
covenant
(12"
9"
8=);
and
its
superiority
to
the
old
covenant
rests
upon
the
incomparable
dignity
of
the
Eternal
High
Priest.
1.
The
picture
which
is
drawn
of
the
historical
Jesus
is
full
and
intimate;
indeed,
no
NT
book
sets
forth
the
real
humanity
of
our
Lord
with
more
moving
power.
Particular
incidents
of
His
life
are
referred
to
(He
2=-
«
5'
12'
13'*);
and
the
name
'Jesus'
occurs
10
times.
He
passed
through
the
normal
development
of
human
life,
and
learned
by
suffering
(5').
The
infirmities
and
temptations
common
to
man
were
His
also
(4",
a
verse
which
'means
not
only
that
He
conquered
the
temptation,
but
also
that
He
was
moved
by
no
sinful
impulses
of
His
own'
(Weiss)).
Elsewhere
His
sinlessness
is
affirmed
categorically,
in
its
bearing
on
His
redeeming
work
(7^).
The
human
virtues
of
Jesus
are
brought
out
in
a
fashion
unique
in
the
NT:
His
fidelity
(2"
3'),
His
trust
(2's),
His
piety
(5').
By
this
course
of
experience
He
was
finally
'made
perfect'
(5');
not
that
at
any
time
evil
really
touched
Him,
but
that
the
potencies
of
absolute
good-ness
that
were
in
Him
were
completely
evoked
by
a
moral
discipline
which
rendered
Hira
the
great
High
