the
other
thought
that
the
children
of
the
One
Father
form
a
community^
a
kingdom
of
God,
and
that
they
can
enjoy
their
imion
with
God
only
when
they
are
thus
united
with
each
other.
According
to
Paul,
the
Spirit
of
God
dwells
in
the
Church
as
the
motive
power
and
principle
of
an
entire
new
inner
life
in
the
sons
of
God
โ
who
have
also
attained
to
their
faith
in
Christ
and
their
sonship
only
through
the
same
Spirit
(I
Cor.
xii.
3).
The
in-
ternal
change
efifected
from
above
is
set
forth
as
a
new
birth
(see
Regeneration).
John
contrasts
this
birth
from
God
T^ith
the
ordinary
human,
physical
birth
(John
i.
12;
I
John
iii.
9,
v.
4).
It
is
especiaUy
John
and
Paul
who
conceive
God's
relation
to
man
under
these
aspects
of
self-revela-
tion,
foundation
of
a
community,
and
self-communi-
cation;
but
I
Peter
also
contains
the
idea
of
our
being
bom
again
of
incorruptible
seed
(i.
23),
and
James
of
our
being
begotten
of
God
with
the
word
of
truth
(i.
18).
The
effect
of
this
fatherhood
is
finally
to
be
the
filling
of
the
children
with
all
the
fulness
of
God
(Eph.
iii.
19,
iv.
6).
This
whole
relation
of
God
to
the
faithful
is
brought
about
through
Christ.
He
is
called
the
Son
absolutely,
the
only-begotten,
just
as
he
calls
God
his
father
with
a
distinction
C'my
father
and
your
father,"
John
xx.
17,
not
"
our
father
").
This
he
is
by
virtue
of
his
primary
origin,
not
through
a
regeneration.
It
is
through
him
that
all
the
others
become
children
of
God;
the
spirit
of
their
adoption
is
his
Spirit
(Gal.
iv.
6;
II
Cor.
iii.
17;
cf.
John
xiv.-xvi.).
The
fulness
of
God
is
communi-
cated
to
the
Church
and
to
the
individual
as
it
is
comprehended
and
revealed
in
him
(Col.
ii.
10;
Eph.
iv.
13,
ii.
22).
And
of
him
who,
as
the
historic
Christ
and
Son,
is
the
partaker
of
the
divine
life
and
the
head
of
the
kingdom,
and
shall
see
all
things
put
under
him,
it
is
asserted
by
Paul,
the
Epistle
to
the
Hebrews,
and
the
Johannine
writings
(including
the
Apocal3rp8e)
that
in
like
manner
all
things
were
created
by
him
and
through
him,
that
in
him
they
have
their
life
and
being,
and
that
all
divine
revelation
is
his
revelation
โ
the
revelation
of
the
Logos.
Thus
the
New
Testament
idea
of
(jod
includes
the
doctrine
that
from
the
very
begin-
ning
the
Word
was
with
God
and
of
divine
character
and
essence.
With
this
relation
of
God
to
the
Logos
the
elements
appear
which
are
treated
at
greater
length
in
the
article
Trinity.
But
this
relation
of
God
to
his
children
must
be
clearly
distinguished
from
God's
relation
to
the
universal
natural
life
of
personal
spirits
and
to
nature
in
general.
The
expression
''
the
Father
of
spirits
"
in
Heb.
xii.
9
(cf.
"
the
God
of
the
spirits
oif
all
flesh,"
Num.
xvi.
22,
xxvii.
16)
refers
not
to
the
regenerate
as
such,
and
not
to
birth
from
God,
but
to
creation
by
him,
in
which
(cf.
Gen.
i.
2)
he
has
imparted
his
image
by
the
breathing
of
his
Spirit.
With
the
same
reference
the
saying
of
the
pagan
poet
'*
We
are
also
his
offspring
"
is
quoted
in
Acts
xvii.
28.
In
this
same
passage
Paul
ex-
presses
the
general
relation
of
God
to
man,
which
subsists
even
in
those
who
have
rejected
him,
by
the
words
"
In
him
we
live,
and
move,
and
have
our
being."
At
the
same
time,
it
is
said
of
the
glorified
Christ,
who
fills
the
Church,
that
he
fills
all
things
(Eph.
i.
23,
iv.
10).
and
this
can
only
mean
the
whole
world,
over
which
he
presides,
his
divine
pow-
ers
first
penetrating
humanity,
and
then
through
it
bringing
all
things
into
harmony
with
his
purposes.
Thus,
as
all
things
proceed
from
God
and
exist
in
him,
so
he,
and
especially
he
as
revealed
in
Christ,
with
his
plan
of
salvation
and
his
kingdom,
is
the
final
goal
of
all
things
(cf.
Rom.
xi.
36).
Both
in
Christian
revelation
and
in
the
idea
of
the
fatherhood
of
God,
love
is
a
fundamental
ele-
ment.
It
is
most
forcibly
expressed
in
the
asser-
tion
that
"
God
is
love
"
(I
John
iv.
8,
16)โ
not
love
in
the
abstract
merely,
still
less
a
loving
God.
This
is,
in
fact,
the
determining
elc-
3.
Attributes
ment
in
God's
nature.
From
it
fol-
of
God.
lows
that
the
perfect,
almighty
One,
who
needs
nothing
(Acts
xvii.
25),
conununicates
himself
to
his
creatures
and
brings
them
into
union
with
him,
in
order
to
make
them
perfect
and
so
eternally
happy.
Its
highest
ex-
pression
is
found
in
the
fact
that
he
gave
his
Son
for
us
while
we
were
yet
sinners,
and
desired
to
make
us
his
sons
(I
John
iv.
10,
iii.
1,
2;
Rom.
v.
8,
viii.
32).
But
God
is
not
only
love;
he
\a
also
light
(I
John
i.
5).
By
this
may
be
understood
his
perfect
purity,
which
repels
and
excludes
all
that
is
unclean;
his
fimction
as
the
source
of
pure
moral
and
religious
truth;
and
his
glorious
majesty.
That
the
supreme,
holy,
and
loving
God,
the
Father
of
spirits,
is
himself
a
spirit
is
taken
for
granted
all
through
the
New
Testament.
In
John
iv.
24,
where
this
is
brought
up
to
enforce
the
lesson
that
he
is
to
be
worshiped
in
spirit,
without
narrow
con-
finement
to
a
special
place
or
to
outward
forms,
it
is
spoken
of
as
not
a
new
truth
but
one
which
Jews
and
Samaritans
were
supposed
already
to
know,
and
for
whose
consequences
they
should
be
pre-
pared.
The
Yahweh-name
of
Ex.
iii.
14
is
further
developed,
in
Rev.
i.
4,
8,
xxi.
6,
xxii.
13,
into
"Alpha
and
Omega,
the
beginning
and
the
ending,
which
is,
and
which
was,
and
which
is
to
come."
The
eternity
of
God
is
thus
placed
in
its
relation
to
the
development
of
the
world
and
to
its
ultimate
conclusion
in
the
completed
revelation
of
God
and
of
his
kingdom.
See
Heathenism,
ยง
4.
nL
The
Doctrine
of
God
in
Christian
Theology:
The
Christian
revelation
and
its
teachings
about
God
supplied
a
distinct
moral
and
religious
need;
but
even
after
it
had
accomplished
the
foundation
of
a
community
based
upon
these
ideas,
there
was
still
room
for
a
clear
definition
of
its
I.
Depend-
different
elements
and
an
invest
iga-
ence
upon
tion
of
their
relations
to
other
depart-
Pre-Chris-
ments
of
the
intellectual
life
โ
in
a
tian
word,
for
a
CJhristian
science
of
the-
Thought
ology.
But
Christian
theology
in
its
earliest
stages
made
use
of
the
results
of
pre-Christian,
especially
Greek,
thought
โ
the
methods
and
forms
of
philosophical
reasoning,
general
logical
and
metaphysical
categories,
and
philosophic
views
of
the
(jrodhead
and
its
relation
to
the
world,
which,
although
they
had
originated
on
pagan
soil
and
were
in
no
way
permeated
by
the
spirit
of
Scriptural
revelation,
were
yet
considered
as
elevated
far
above
the
common
polytheism
of
the
heathen
world,
and
even
as
borrowed
in
part
from
