CIHM Microfiche Series (l\/lonographs) ICIVIH Collection de microfiches (monographies) Canadian Instituta for Hiitorical Microranroductiona / Inttitut Canadian da microraproductions hittoriqua* 1996 Technical and Bibliographic Notes / Notes technique et bihilographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibllographlcally unique, which may alter any of the images In the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming are checked below. n D D n m D D n D D Coloured covers / Couverture de couleur Covers damaged / Couverture endommag^e Covers restored and/or laminated / Couverture restaur^ et/ou pellicut^ Cover title missing / Le litre de couverture manque Coloured maps / Cartes g^ographiques en couleur Coloured Ink (i.e. other than blue or black) / Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que t}leue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustratk>ns / Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with ottier material / Relii avec d'autres documents Only edition available / Seule 6ditk)n disponible Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin / La reliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distorsion le long de la marge Int^rieure. Blank leaves added during restoiatkxis may appear within the text. Whenever possible, ttiese have been omitted from Nming / II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouttos lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, kxsque cela italt passible, ces pages n'ont pas 616 fflmtes. L'Instltut a microfilm^ le mellleur examplaire qu'il lul a i\i possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exem- plaire qui sont peut-6tre uniques du point de vue bibli- ographlque, qui peuvent modifier une Image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modKications dans la m6th- ode nomnale de fllmage sont indiqu^s cl-dessous. I I Cotoured pages / Pages de couleur I I Pages damaged / Pages endommagees I I Pages restored and/or laminated / ' — ' Pages restaurtes et/ou pellkajlies r^ Pages discoloured, stained or foxed / ' — ' Pages dteolor^ss, tachetfes ou pk;uees I I Pages detached / Pages d^tachtes r^f Showthrough / Transparence □ Quality of print varies / Quality in^gale de I'impiession I I Includes supplementary material / ' — ' Comprend du materiel suppl6mentaire I I Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata ' — ' slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image / Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6te filmies d nouveau de fa^on i obtenir la meilleure Image possible. I I Opposing pages with varying colouration or I — ' discolourations are filmed twice to ensure the best possible image / Les pages s'opposant ayant des colorations variables ou des decol- orations sont tilmdes deux fois afin d'obtenir la meilleur imag? possible. n AddHional comments / Commentalres supptementaires: Thit itain n ffilmtd at th« rMluction ratio diacfctd below/ Ct daciniMfit tit film* lu uux di rMuction indiqui ei-dtnous. 10X 14X 1IX 22X 7 t2X aox Tha copy fllmtd hart hat baan raproducad thanks to tha ganaroaltv of: SUuftar Library *■ Unlvvrslty Tha Imaga* appaaring hara ara tha baat quality ponibla considaring tha condition and logibility of tha original copy and in Haaping with tha filming contract spacificationa. L'axamplaira film4 fut raproduit grlca t It gtntrotit* da: Stniffar Library Ounn'» Unlvaraity Lai Imagas luivantai ont ttt raproduiiai ivac la plus grand toin. eompta tanu da la condition at da la nattata da I'aiamplaira filma, at an eonformlt* avae iaa conditions du contrat da fllmaga. Original capias in printad papar covara ara fllmad baginning with tha front eovar and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illustratad impraa- sion, or tha baeli eovar whan appropriata. All othar original eopiaa ara filmad baginning on tha first paga with a printad or Illustratad impraa- sion, and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or Uluatratad impraaaion. Tha laat racordad frama on aach microficha shall contain tha symbol —^ (moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol ▼ (moaning "END"), whichavar applias. Mspa. platas. charts, ate. may ba filmad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thosa too larga to ba antiraly ineludad in ona axposura ara filmad baginning in tha uppar laft hand cornar. laft to right and top to bottom, as many framas as raquirad. Tha following diagrams illustrata tha mathod: Laa asamplalras originaux dont la couvartura an papiar ast Imprimta sont fllmds an commangant par la pramlar plat at an tarmlnant soit par la darniira paga qui eomporta una amprainta d'Imprassion ou d'illustraiion. soit par la second plat, salon la eas. To"t las autras axamplairas orlginaux sont fllmds an eommancant par la pramiAra paga qui eomporta una amprainta d'lmpraasion ou d'illuatration at an tarmlnant par la darnitra paga qui eomporta una talla amprainta. Un daa symbolos suivanis ipparaitra sur la darnitra imaga da chaqua microficha. salon la cas: la symbols ^ signifia "A SUIVRE ". la symbols ▼ signifia "FIN". Laa cartaa. planchaa. ubiaaux. ate. pauvant lira filmta i daa Uux da rMuction diffOranis. Lorsqua la documant ast trop grand pour ttra raproduit an un saul clicht, il ast film* * partir da I'angla supAriaur gaucha. da gaucha * droits, at da haut an bas. an pranant la nombra d'imagaa ndcasaaira. Las diagrammas suivants illustrant la mdthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 «ie«oeorY nwunioN im omit (ANSI ond ISO TtST CHMT No. 1) 1.0 I.I 1" 12.2 12.0 1.8 ni^iu^i^ y'IPPLIED IM/OE inc ieS3 Eoit Uam Stml :-xhntt. Nta Yoh. 14609 US* {7t6) *82 - 0300 - Phon. (7t6) 2S0-59Bg -Fo. "^"iA^.a.^.^.^. ^«^ . /. 'qoS' . ^/tr c^^^/f/i. ^V.^ THE TRUTH OF THE APOSTOLIC GOSPEL The Truth APOSTOLIC GOSPEL ■r Pr I NCI pal R. A. Falconer, D. Litt. New Yoiik: The rmeniitioinl Committee of Young Men'i Christian Asaociatioiu 190+ COPYHIOHTED, 1904, BY THE I»TEI of this Our human reason is not satisfied Tfu it fi„j ('6;42:i, 2: 116:4-7). our Holy Father. Now the h«rt n h-^-^ . "■-" J" ^^'^ '°'^ "' God the assurance of cternaMife in feltowship wUh m^" 'l ^'-'"^i '%'""' (Matt. „ -.^r-io: John ,4:23; 16:33; S. 83,-"')"" ''''° " "■' ^ruth THt T.UTB 0, TH, A™toUC Gc™. Study ,: Attitude and Sources After Truth ? mmmi .department of life wL'-vTr V,.,'"/'".' ""''•"ion cov- of'f?,H°^'T ™« <"epartment of iif,'" Thi T«UIH or THl AfoBTOLIC GOSPIL Study i: Attitude and Sources FiiTH Day: The Conservative Positjon with Resi'Ect TO THE New Testament ,1^1'. T^M*" "P'"'"* o'.O""' ""di" we are confronted with this oues- ^»„ ,1' """ =ny«"='" ground in the New Testament on whicSwe a1.',^- °r' "^,",'' S "'■''" "o "■""'•'" "" "»'"« ""d validiTy of the Apostolic Gospel? Has not recent criticism wrought such havoc w,h w;;,,^!,,,"' ."''■'*'" J"'™"'' "'"' '" ""' f™-" 'h™ as they a J once? The- if'",*'"', °" """"P'i™ "l"^l> would be challenge/" ^lu .J ' "• " " '""■ '" "'"me school whose scepticism will h»Thi.""k "^ ■""■" "V '""' '" "" ''''»' Testamen- as authentic ^^L til"''?"' 'V° ™t"."d unimportant that it would serve i^onur pose for us to refer to their conclusions. ^ •.,„'i'„,J,v '' """«"»?ry in these studies to make an independent ex- = .,hn, ? °' L'".^'°J'' °' ""^ N'* Testament in ordei to determine he iected in „'fr';'''«"'l' ■*?'£■ ="'' 'he readers; for our results would b^ re ected in part at least by men who. one would fain hope, might agree Z^ZrT" ""'^'"^■o'JS; The writ.-r of these sti'dies i, ofopinion that the conserva ive positions with respect to the i'Jew Testament ire justifying themseves more and more under the scru.Tny o Se mos' S.lM,h^°'"','"''- W'de.'pread early tradition is in general fmind to yield the most satisfactory explanation of the origin of these writings 3. Conservative critxs believe that the books of the New Testament ?hnr™fiil*'""",M ' "■■'' ""'V^' ="<■ P^""" in ">"r pre*ent form a thoroughly creJibe account of the life and gospel of Jesus Christ and Thev hnM V S" ^^'"' =?""« "'^ <""'P'" '" 'he prim live Church neU^=„J ,1^ .' 'l"'.u "PO^'oh': sources are represented in our four gos- pels, and that of these the Gospel of John at least was written by an eye-witness. Acts is regarded as the work of a companion o Paul and «^erefore a reliable history, and the epistles are assisted to t.ie au hors whose names they carry. Of all the epistles 2 Peter is the only one ^^^«IU"'T^^ questioned by scholars who represent the conl^rva! r/4„, pJf'A-' .?""' ™ ".h" °P"i°" i' K'-^'ly divided. Perhaps7he recent Bible Dictionary, edited by Dr. James Hastings, may Ik taSen as a standard for the conservative position with regard ti the New Testa English?pilk?Krs"h^far''s= "" '""""' "' '"' '"^'"'"^ "' '^' '-™" Study ,: Attitude and Sou rces Sixth Day- Tu» r„. Spirit is moiild „I iTi. i '' "'"^^ ""y day and h. I ?■ "''"' '" his " a lovh,/Fa,tr h'^"-'''' " ," •"■ accepts he S"""'" ' ^''"'"'" person of Christ h'l''^ '" fepelled by the anosiSi. ■^" "'"^ "' God n-at,, and is s" Lfc" "i"' ^""^ could nMhav^ conception of the -X -nti.. '^r'^^^;;^^^;-'- -^ont %^ r p-i™ Tm Tkuim cif Till Apostolic Ckwpil Study i: Attitude and Sources Sevinth Day: The Method ano Po- on Adoimwi in TiiESK Studies . Li.„?"' x? '','° ""•'<''f,'>« Phtnomtna of ihc New TcMirncnt ai a whplt. Thtreforc wt shall nnt assume the corrcclness of the o->n. «rva»ve view Bn ,11 that is n,cessary i, to t.iko for granted certain ?ad S 'w'Lom ' ' ''"'"\'T 1,""'"'"''' *>y '"y "cept those extretn" radicals, whom c may safely leave om of consideration at nrcsent thotigh they w,l not be accepted t.y conservative ,cho ar" a, an ad.^' juate account of the New Testament. mi'in ^A '^f.u""«'' '^ Christian life of the period covered by the inain body of the New Testament as a definite Imtorical nianifctatinn the sahetit feattires of which will be brought under review in order to discover If nosjible their essential meaning and motive power: and our nterest wili ho concentrated on the social, moral, and religious cnnd- whhi.lhe'p'.riSd' " " ""'"• "'"" "■"" "" "" O^'-I^J P''k""' ,1,^;. ''?^^'T? P""'eP"'',.«" sh?'! assume, as with good reason we may, that. (I) These Pauline epistles are undnuhteHy genuine— i Thessa- lonians Galatia .,, i and 2 Corinthians, and Romans. They were written not earlier than 45 A. D., nor later than 59 A. D. .1™ Philippians, Colossians, Philemon almost certainly, and Ephc sians very probably, were written by Pu,l not later than 64 A. D , and TZ,rr oTfi°/fi'' !°' ''.'P'"'"? ]}"'"'•: "' "■' Church in the third quarter 0/ the first century. Indeed we mnv in ordinary cases use them as sources for Pauline thouf ht. (.1) At the basis of our synoptic gospels there lie two aoostolic m"J^^:Z'JA"T ""t^-li'd fW'.fly in Nfark and reproduced 'in our to he AnosHeM ',";;'"'' = ^P"""™ °' d scourses of Jesus attributed to the Apostle Matthew. These were written down before MAD Our present synoptic gospels, containing these sources as their chief go AD """ """"""^ independently of one another not later than thilLtl"'! ^°°ii °^;^",5• ""^ Apocalypse, the Epistle to the Hebrews, he pastoral epistles, the Gospel of John, and the Catholic epistles (with A. p. Most of them were probably written before the end of the first century, and first Peter, liite Ephesians, may confidently be used for aposwhc doctrine. (See B. W. Bacon's Introduction to the New Testa- A ^■r^ ^"l"' ''°°'" ^". witness to the existence between 45 and 12; tr «,?L\ ".'tV^' I' character, ideals and belief. It is hoped tha? ^^Lf • . L""" Phf'iomena may serve to show that the apostolic gospel is true, because it is a reasonable and sufficient explanation of the origin and progress of this Christian life and belief PART I. THE PHENOMENA OF THE NEW TESTAMENT The Truth of the Apostolic Gospel Study a: The Rise of a New Brotherhood First Day: Rapid Growth in Jewish and Gentile Worlds r. One of the most striking phenomena in history is the appearance of the community of believers in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah of Israel and Son of God (Acts 2:36), and their rapid extension through the Roman world during the first century of our era. Though the leaven at work in Jerusalem by 30 A. D. was a very small particle, its fermenting activity was marvelous. 2. Owing to the vagueness of early chronology an estimate of the rapidity of growth is necessarily uncertain, but the martyrdom of Stephen and the early life of Paul prove that the new religion soon produced a profound impression on the Jewish world. Would a man of the standing of Saul of Tarsus have spent his energy in making havoc of a sect which might be despised? (Gal. 1:13, 14.) Proof of the anxiety on the part of the hierarchy lest the Nazarenes might pervert the populace is afforded by their summary method with Stephen (Acts 6:1217:54—8:3). 3. Stephen's death brought the new religion to a parting of the ways. Henceforth the Nazarenes cannot remain a mere sect of Judaism. Persecution scatters far and wide the seed of the Word, which springs up in Samaria, the coast region, and Damascus (Acts 8:4; 9:3iff. ; 10: iff). The new churches, however, are still of the same type as the mother church at Jerusalem, Hebraic rather than Hellenistic in spirit, the converts being, it is probable, almost entirely born Jews, though there were also some proselytes. 4. How should we expect the Church to grow? By the initiative of the apostles ? It was not so. (See Acts 11 : 19-21.) The gospel was carried to various parts of the world as God through the circumstances of life might lead. Thus it is probable that brethren of no eminence among the original circle founded the churches of Rome and Alexandria, as they certainly did that of Antioch, which became the mother church of Gentile Christianity (Acts 11 :2o). 5. The immense success of Gentile missions forced a new problem upon the Church, which is the leading motive of the earlier epistles of Paul (see esp. Gal. 2:1-12: cf. Acts 15:1, 22). Were the Gentiles to be received by the Jewish Christians without circumcision as brethren on equal terms? The rapid inflow of Gentile converts made the dif- ficulty acute, for they threatened to deprive Jerusalem and the Jewish Christians of their preeminence. Its solution is a fine tribute to the reality of their brotherly spirit. Tbi Truth Study 3: The R o" TH. Aposiouc Gosm '■^e of a New Brotherhood Second Day • Tn„ /- T«^Chuhch,n THE Roman EmpxheD.», THE First Century ""^"^ Duw,,c worid's life, not the ~m^, '"'"■ »""-^ins the dJ li i" ''°™" citi- 'hortly the bre threS "Tlir^K" '"^s ; aiS^J ,7 '"'' £™'"^ of the of'Acha.a, Macedonia" (^'c^T /"' J*"™" Provinces ""Th"' t"'^'' " ^,^- The outbreak of v , '^"^ '" ="=° ' """ Jfyhnrches ^'elS-trSS/tS^S-f'-ry --"«-« .He that the rapid extension of th J r? ™l'™ ^"d tribe R?v I' '''™'' »"•"' ■mperial authorities to "hre.t/n ^J""''^'' H^d for some H™; ''^' '■* '^ows pro-consul of the laro.. ff*^" ""e empire Pi„X -'""^ seemed to the -■"" uic social Thi Thuth or ihi Apostouc Gospil Study 2: The Rise of a New Brotherhood Third Day: The Blending of Discrepant National Elements into a New Unity was, admitted by the numerous proselytes wh? from one en"^ nf'',h' ,^'^.n i^ ' f'"*^-. ^\''A' """' " have meant for a Jewish ChristiVn to call an uncircumcised Gentile his brother' (Gal 21 =? M„lv S E^ ?.r,1'KsZTr-f^o^n "J-maT "obll^^SLaSerH-'fe wa^s a^mJ^ Tf^ i'° '"l"'' '^'■"''^ '" "-is brotherhood The C, .k was a man for whom the present world meant a verv cre-t n.^l b'^o'.J'ify a°„VS,Sf oT''s.r?v?n'S''ref.l^rs7 ''^/l^lfl ?"" 'f^' SirpofS^kti^c"^o^" ?o7ts''li~f ^^^^^ rr^^t.''L''t^ifSrsSif"Lig"haV€"""°" ™ '^^^^^^ gospel for a world of sin would be the heieht of follv l", r?,, ,",, ' ^ But th,s gospel struck seriousness inro'^many a friv^olous G eek'* i ?i?^ ™/°""' 'J=.8'o'-y of the world as of little value filohn' ^ 15-17). and created in hm a loyalty to Christ ari^ Hi. v;„„j J ::er^x^^a^r3"srs^ck?^SSIi?^^- ThI T.UTH OF THE ApoSTOLIC GoSPEL Study 2: The Rise of a New Brotherhood Fourth Dav: A Qtize^sh.p Worthier than that or Rome dominant emp re, which was in ,-^™2 , '^? ringing note of the pther. I, wL on the wK 1 b neficem uff „Sh"'""«J''u' ""^'O •"- cr-,erved m the midst of diversity and w^i^^"''" ."''•"='' ""''>' "" sa.sl freedom. All the rights of the rifi™ *°"' /"'"'"' "P"" P"- that of appeal to the emocror hlfnr, iL- *"' safeguarded, esprcially death (Acts22:28ff) " ■*'"« «°"'-8=' » a part of the jus flict with the ide^l of the^^ate T,^rn«l?'|« ^hich ^^ "°' ""- matter more of oublic lifp ihan „{ • ". ''oman re igion was a tolerant of what-TpSr'i^%'o''1S tSS S^! '"^ ^''^ *- -" w|o. Js'tlTlrlh^'jJLrilsTve'n 'd1,Jn^ 'r^"='' '=" "■' -P'™^- offered to his image as to a Tod- Here kdireJf "° h Sacrifices were alternative faced the Christian He was L^ITL^"^- "'°'' distressing of power, but in so doing he CMsed to 4 » Vnli -r^'"" ^""^^ '<'o'«fy allegiance to the geni-s of the world wiH, J?^' "',,'"" ^""^ enounced empire of Rome. The unseen KinldZ of Cn/" '^.0^''°''- '«"'ficent ship of Jesus Christ must have anSerf ,„ t-^""* "l' '"P"™' 'ord- power, before he would allow hTmself to be.on,™ ",'?'' °«™astering of "the victorious West in crown and sw^rd^rr'" 3'.'.'"J5? ""^ '"'?'" Jesus with its conditions of emrance into the YL^'J''- Xi' Kospei of would arouse the scorn of the Rnm,„ i5 '""?'^' "^ mt^^:'^!'' «'°- Of '^i^f SutTs/sTn-ir^a i^^ In^he'^SS.yjo^^d ThWoS i«p^Tt?e"aJ^et *?"%""." ""■'"''• h7uXnron''sia^l:lXo-f,<'dS°-'^^^^ fretted by civilizatio^ But ou of all IheT" °^ y"."-'"^ worship and world, whose laws and ideals were baTed n„ ™,^". '^^•9'"^ an inner a comm-n Lord. (See especiany Col 3 l ," T '""" ""'' '"" '° The Truth of the Apostouc Gospel Study 2: The Rise of a New Brotherhood Fifth Day: Recruited from Every Rank in Society 1. Moreover, every rank of society contributed its share to the mem- bership of the new brotherhood. We may assume that the church of Corinth represents the averaRc Pauline community, for it was in a most cosmopolitan city with a promiscuous population attracted thither by trade. A hint of its character is given in i Cor. i :26. Though there may not have been many high-born nor influential Christians, it is im- probable that the majority were drawn from the very poor or the slave class, the largest element belonging, it would appear, to the intelligent middle class engaged in the ordinary business concerns of life. Pro- fessor Ramsay thmks that the standard of intelligence and education would reach a high average. Other epistles pre-suppose similar condi- tions. James 2 : 2-8 shows a church with commingled elements of rich and poor, i Peter 2:18; Eph. 6:svf. address readers many of whom were slaves. 2. But there are examples afforded in the New Testament of con- verts from among the well-to-do and even high-born classes. Colossae had Philemon. At Corinth itself not only the city treasurer (Rom. 16; 23), but other tr>za of standing were leaders in the church (i Cor. 16: 15; I :i4. 15)- For the church at Antioch see Acts 13: i ; and one of the few at Athens was a member of the court of Areopagus (Acts 17:34). It is not unlikely that through the imprisonment of Paul (Phil. 1:13) the gospel reached royal circles, for Mommsen asserts that in the first century Christianity had no firmer hold anywhere than in the imperial court. 3. This is also borne out by the witness of the Catacombs. Many of the earliest were connected with the noblest families in Rome. The Acilii,^. g., whose gardens and villa on the Pincian hill were almost royal in their magnificence, were probably Christians, for "a beautiful hypogaeum of the second century in the very heart of Priscilla's ceme- tery containing the tombstone of Manius Acilius Verus and Acilia Priscilla, son and daughter of Manius Acilius Glabrio, consul A. D. 152, proves that the 'noblest among the noble' had CtTibraced our faith from the first announcement of the gospel in Rome" (Lanciani, "Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome," page 422!). Possibly Pamponia Graecina, wife of the conqueror of Britain, was a Christian, and it seems probable that Flavins Clemens, the consul, cousin of the Emperor Domitian, was put to death, and his wife. Domitilla, Domitian's niece, banished because they had espoused the faith. Surely there were few truer disciples or more obedient to the demands of the gospel than these (Mark 10:22, 25-31). Study 2: The Rise of a New Brotherhood Sixth Day: The A^^^ Z- The world in »,h;„i, n ■ ""k at the world"? Th» Truth of th« Aposiouc Gospil Study 2: The Rise of a New Brotherhood Seventh Day : The King of Love and His City I. "Christianity abhors isolation." Love is its esspn.-p tV,r 1™,. ;. H f'n^.Ir. ■^\'^'''i™^f ' "■ '"Visible, and the proof that we posses" His nature is the .ntiwelhng in us of His Spirit, impcllins us fo Iovp our brethren Love is the antithesis of selfishnes™arX4 ■,,-,/) Such love of the brethren was a new phenomenon in the world 'bLcauie M. M) " "" "''™P"'= '"= of aid's SoT [john "3 : 2. The brotherhood was not merely a new ethical sm-iVtu ^h^.. members practised love to one another True it was th^t thev o^ v could confess that Jesus is the Son of God who did ^"commands Bm h r sTnTT. Pe.:;7frfo",''\''"^h"'"; j!^" ?'l^- '° --"em fr^om aSio'n"l/n'd fo^Yl dis'.fnS'ons 'p"ast ^w^ ^ ToS'lZT JJe' S'sS who first loved them became the Person who welded t'heSt^eeXr g;tfc;,^^K^aftS'\r»^^^^i7iSS!: ^^h^^iplt^iZ,':-!^^^,^ as gat ^n™v «i tfc \' "" ^'" "''T i' ^'"^ l'^'^" accustomed to re«rd a"fhe enemy of the human race; the Roman met the lyinK Greek Sinhi ft Ihl etcrofhnT''?^|^cce"H';^-t"*^^e^.ir" "-" -"" "o Sfd '^Sr.'S T"T.„,„o,„.A«.ToucGo.m Study A Fellowship of Love to Christ A Common Life -"-ere. --"^.i?rr^-?r„7Zl^''Sch'J'l ""'l^P'''" ^ "jy personal intercourse be honerf .„ j ' ^' ■'• '4 9:1-4. 6, ?. 12 iaV t.ons in a common sympathv Th^.^'^^T" Prejudice and unif; all «c The Truth or the Apoitouc Gospel Study 3: A Fellowship of Love to Christ Fourth Day: Brotuers in a \e\v Family: Disciples I. The members of the "Household of Faith" were "brothers." Their head was Jesns Christ, now absent from them in the body, but present in their midst by His Spirit (Heb. 2:11; 3:6; Matt. 38:20). Orphans Jn an evil world these brethren drew together seeking to obey the commands of their unseen Lord by living in love with one another (John 14:15-18; 15:18, 19). They arc brothers by reason of a higher kinship than that of blood, their Master having warned his followers that they might have to sacrifice earthly relationships in order to gain higher privileges, for fellowship in the circle of those early brethren bro'ight a keenness of joy that few if any had ever experienced in earthly homts (Matt. 13:49. 50; Mark 10:38-31). 3. Ill accordance with this Christianity was a house religion. The gatherings of the brethren were held in the homes of the weahhier mem- bers, who probably not only gave the use of their rooms but supplied meals for the poorer among them and the slaves (i Cor. 16: 15: Col. 4: 15; Philem. a). Under cover of night they would come to their lovc- feast — a slave perchance snatching an hour from his harsh owner, or a whilom Jewish family rich in spiritual inheritance but poor in this world's goods, even a Roman centurion, grave but contented in aspect, accompanied by a soldier of his band. To-night perhaps they come with eager interest, for yonder sits a man small of stature but kt-en of eye, though furrowed, and he bears the marks of hardship and is branded even on his face with wounds. Paul it is who presides at the feast. Trouble and the world are left outside. The door swings in on a court of peace. Each was supposed to share his brother's burdens (Gal. 6:2; James 5:16, 19, 20). But was it always so? In i Cor. 6:1-8; James 4 : 1-4 we discover that dashes of dark color would often tone the idyllic brightness of the picture. 3. Another common term in the Gospels and Acts for those who be- lieved in Jesus is "Disciple" (Acts 6:1; 9:38; 11:26; 3i:i6). This suggests the time when Jesus was in Galilee and called upon men to follow Him. ft seems to have been a commoner title among the Jewish Christians, some of whom were His personal disciples, than among Gentiles, to whom He had first been made known as the risen Lord. Yet all were in a sense disciples of Jesus, for He was the living Lord of every Christian, and the old commandment, "follow me," was new with each generation of believers who sought "to walk even as He walked" (i John 2:6^8; i Peter 3:21). Thi T.uth or TMi Antnuc Gem Study 3: A Fellowship of Love to Ch rist "Salnl FithDav: Smnt. Slave, C„r«t,ak. ^!li^SlSyi » J' / ""^^ *nVTii or tmi AnMnuc Gotni. Study 3: A Fellowship of Lo e to Christ Sixth Day: The Body of Christ, th« Chuicm, the New Israel I. Therr were in that brotherhood two complementary tendenciei, titrui'im and individualiim, which when leparated have often done harm. The Chriitian was not a hermit leeliing 10 lave hii own soul apart from hii fellowi, nor was he an insignificant atom lost in the fellowship at Urge. He was a brother among brethren, a saint among the elect, a sub- ject in the kingdom, a member of the body of Christ, a citizen of the true Iirael ( I Peter 3:4-10). a. Several terms were applied to the whole fellowship of believers. Of these Paul often uses "the Body of Christ." (See especially i Cor. ia:l»fr.; cf. Eph. 4:11-16.) Christ is the Head from whom life per- vades the organism, the well-being of the whole depending on the well- being even of the smallest part. Thus the Christian churches were not loosely articulated societies, but spiritual organisms united in common life from the living Christ. 3. This ideal body is often called "the Church." It was no abstract term, but was partially realized all over the Roman Empire in com- munities, whose members were supplied by the Holy Spirit with gifts (l Cor. 12:1-11; I Peter 4:10). Does the New Testament put the primary emphasis on the redemption of the Chv-ch as a whole, or the individual? How is the individual related (o the body? (.M.'.''. 16: 16-19; 18:15-17; Acts 2o:i8; Eph. 4:11-13; 5:35-27.) 4. This new creation did not rise upon the world unheralded and un- related to the past. There has been only one house which God has been building through the ages. Long ago were the patriarchs, Moses and the prophets, who ministered in more primitive and lesser rooms while the national Israel was God's chosen people (Heb. 1:1:3: 1-6). Earthly Israel, however, proved unfaithful : it rejected its Messiah (John i : 11-13) ; wherefore God hath rejected the nation as such (Luke 20: 9-19) ; but a Inly kernel survives, those who accepted Jesus as Messiah, and has now been served heir to the promises. The brotherhood be- comes "the new Israel," the true house of God. The faithful Gentile is the real Son of Abraham, the true Israelite, most glorious of names to a Jew (Gal. 3:7; 6:16; i Peter 2:9, 10). Of what magni- tude and order must those brethren have conceived Christ to be, when He entered like a new planet into their world system, and could com- pel the Jew out of his old national orbit into the sweep of spiritual powers in a new realm? Th£ T.cth of the Apostolic Gospel Study 3: A Fellowship of Lo ve to Christ Seventh Day: The Kingdom OF THE Son OF His Love Thi TliUTH OP THE ApoSTOLIC GoSPEL Study 4: The Hope ' the Brotherhood First Day: A i'. OF Values 1. A ruling conviction of the brotherhood was that the unseen world IS of overwhelming importance as compared with the present. It is the world of realities ; this world is a world of shadows, and with its ambitions and false desires is passing away (Heb. 2:5; 11 13; 2 Cor 5- l; 1 John 2:17). Though believers live on eartn, their true citizenship IS in heaveii (Phil. 3:20, 21; i Thess. 2:12), and that glorious in- heritance IS being kept for them, as they also are being guarded for it in the midst of the temptations and sufferings of the present (t Peter l: 2. In view of this transcendent world to which the believer is heir his present distress may well be endured (Rom. 8: i8ff.) until he reaches the new Jerusalem whose glory even now rises above the shock of con- flict (Kev. 21: If). There was among these brethren a heroic indif- ference to the worst that the world could do. What though they are plundered of their goods? (Heb. 10:34.) Are they the sport of men and of angels, the refuse of the world? (i Cor. 4:9, 11-13.) Nothing can shake their bold confidence in God, for their future is assured (Rom li:i!i). Indeed, trial is a joy, affliction a purifying fire (James 1:2; I feter 1:6, 7)- Tossed though they are on a sea of troubles in this present world they cannot drift, for their hope, an anchor that will not snap, IS plunged into the unseen depths and holds them firm to irremov- able realities (Heb 6: 19, 20). This faith had been verified by the pres- ence m their midst of the powers of the world to come (Heb. 6:5)' 3- Their triumph over death was a proof of the intensity of their hope. I he popular mind was enslaved by terror of death, but Jew or Oentile, philosopher or unlearned, when he had once discovered eternal • iV?*" Christ, cast from him his fear and faced the unseen with joy (Heb. 2:14, 15- I Cor. 15:55; i John 4:17, 18). De.ith is drowned m an ocean of life (2 Cor. 5:4), for the individual will exchange his present mortality for a glorious tenement which is awaiting him even now in heaven (2 Cor. 5:1. 2). 35 The T„;th of the Aposrot.c Gospel Study 4: The Hope of the Brotherhood Second Day : The Risen Christ t„. « "-"R'ST THE Heart of Their Hope take Rev. 1:13 18 as fZ •"■""""""' ^er this world ,nH ^''°"«'' °f "en in eternal^i^ '(Vev^Vf,,'?.' I-"" -^o wi" she'?hefd"ilfe"sS the vision of the ChrisHl,^ I ^""^ '? <^''"« ■'""s ( PeleJ',^,M "''3 immmm 26 The Truth of the Apostolic Gospel Study 4: Th. Hope of the Brotherhood Third Day : The Fullness of Life in the Glorious Company of the Saints ti '■ J The coming kingdom is not a realm like the present, for flesh and blood shall not inherit it (l Cor, 15:50). There shall be ;. new body suited to the .iritual sphere, like unto the glorious body of the risen Christ (I Cor. 15:23, 44, 49). No human tongue can describe the grandeur of that future (l Cor 2:6-9). I- 1eed this salvation engaged the at ention of inspired men of old (I P..^r 1:10-12), and at present the believer has only a foretaste of the final salvation (Eph. I :I4). 2. But in that future, the new Canaan, the Rest of God (Heb. 4:0- 12:22), believers shall be pure and spotless, each possessing his own unique salvation (Jude 24). Will there be growth in that world' It seems to be implied in Matt. 5 : 48 ; 2 Cor. 3 : 18 ; Eph. 4 : 13 ; i John 3 : 2. 3- . Each will be perfect in all. Just as on earth no disciple could cherish the true life apart from fellowship with his brethren (i John 4:1.2, 20, 21), so in the heavenly city the glory of believers is an in- heritance among the saints. It will be fullness of life because there will be perfect fellowship of love between Father, Son and brethren (Heb 12:22-24; f John 1:3, 4; Eph. i:i8V The eternal Church of God will be a magnificent unity compos' 1 nfinite variety, each pe..'-ct life of the organism flashing forth like • ' its ray of light, as a share of the glorious radiance streaming fror .ole Body of Christ to illuminate riJ Jc°„f '.h'^ the oncoming age: .„. a knowledge of the marvelous ♦iu Jt "'?,,^'^<'om of God (tph. 2:7; 3:10; 4:13-16). Moreover, this glory will emancipate all creation, which is straining its eye for the advent of the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom. 8 fig). 3. In the gospels also we find the same hope for the future thoueh many of the aspects of the kingdom which they contain are concerned ,Yn!r,r ,\'"'?^l'." i" '''^P'-esent world. However, the present is lived under the light of the future, and it is diflicult to say whether Jesus lays more stress on one than on the other. The blessedness of the coming kingdom is pictured as a banquet at which there will be a goodly fellowship of patriarchs and prophets (Luke 13:28; 14: 15; 22-18 w) Similar conceptions appear in the fourth gospel, where (14— 16) the believer is promised perfect communion with his Lord in an eternal neaveniy home. 27 Tm TtuTH or TB. Aposiouc Gospil Study 4: The Hope of the Brotherhood FousihDav: The Return of Jesus the most familial is "Parousia " "pUln ' "' ^'li.' ^'tus 2:1?) #„, 23; James 5:7;, Joh„ 2 jS?' Thf. 1 ""' ""^ Coming" (i t or ,c general employment '' ^''" '"' *°ff °t ^^' ^'^ Sp.r.t, which was a confirmation toThemh J r^^'u''" ^/,°' ""= Holy of the coming Messianic agi They Ire Tni^^Z-^^^ "'7 "" P<>*"s fe"- "hereby they have t viv d /xpcrie^ce of Vh' "'"> °' 'V'""' °' f^'b *'5>- S'"^ '"^o bad large evMence of JJ^' ''^^ '""'^ ^y°"'i mg h,s preaching (, Thess. i :f- Gal vO C'"^ '.?'"' a«ompany. dinary display of energy welled forth'' frn„ ''"'' ""= ^™« wtraor- from Jerusalem to Illyricum th, fV^iT °" "'J^ «™"P of believers before writing the 'e.t'er';o";U''5oman's"(RX',']'f,i^';" •'^'' "'^""^ The fe-'"'^?'tbe™venrafa^'dtY/v '^y^^^'' "™""''" ""«"»" a dead, unrelated fact, bufaS ^^^i^^^S!, .^i^^-U' "°' en^d"^th"'s?m'^'•sp'Sfi.'„\1,^r"S■- Church it »'??'<' ^P^'"- was came from God, who granted each »m,n-«". *?"= ^J^^ *"« 'hey all for the common good (7 Co? i/". ^ "'^"■'"'ation of the same spirit might be used, for edificati™ intlieir^ common "'.^'.l''?' ™'^ ^"^h as faith, 'tongues." interpretation of th s «rTX Satherings-prophecv, criminate prophetic utterance h,,f ,hlJ ^' 'P'='=h. ability to di^- m.raculous powers The nr^';„ ^"' ?'.'" w°rks of healing and values. Greek as he was he ?e«3 Corinthian had a wrong s^leof dwelling God. and win" to eS fn 'thusiasm as a token ofThe in- which often degenerated into fren'iM ,^, 1'? "' "" 8"* °' tongues, congregation. Paul discountenance X?'^"'» 'ons, unintelligible to the power (I Cor. 14 -1-2?) AH Tf" "T""'^ °' = «*> spiritual ofthebrolherho'"<' ""ly through internal decay. That world^a. ? . °m ■'"1?""' as tottering ■jore prosperous than it is to-d"? Antoch T"'''' 1='"""= »" 'a? Rome were centers of enormous wealth a^HfiTj""?; ^Phesus, Corinth, of these missionaries was on-- "',a*ched vlheir su^e ".' "' '""""^ primacy not"nf"be°cau*s^e'°th^/ had f^Uer JJ^ ^"S'"'!' """o ""W 'heir apostles in the extend ^^^h'ic^t, fehTf^L'SiE^o-nsTC ^S - u.r.r power in spreading the bosl Iheirs was r.o mere oflirial raSi. xr^* ""'■ ^.'' ' "-or. i-j: i2'i2i apostles in the extend ^^^h'ic^t, fehTf^L'SiE^o-nsTC ^3 Ro'man^T„^tei!;:h'atJd"t""isllfo';%^r'h^' " "« ""?'«« by "uiiun ana ureek, hated by his fellow uZ7. 1. • "'' aespised by Rome with the gospel (Rim VT^n) ihA,^'u'KT/i'''"'^ ^^ '»« of the wise Greet, for he knows ihf; ™=;. ■Vi*? " ^"^ been the scorn of God unto salvation No? do^shrie»L*"" ^ ''""'^'^ *>' ">i> powe? source of his superhuman eners^ As = JL"V!i ^"^ ''<"''>t as to the s ight esteem, so much so Sed that on h' "" ^°^'''>"= '' held in stranjter al but done to death branded with .1/"'"' '" <^»'»"a. » his plight almost revolted those who saw hi^ r'P '"" °' C"-""' Before and since he has been the oTav^in^nf ^^V '••'3' M; 6:17). ?/»'"'" some strait when "/asked himself wKS: ^"'l'^"'- -^K^'" ^-d ? ' b'» heart would answer, Yes 1 (2 Cor , „, |5-"'k^""? ''""' « thin because of his hardships, but thron»h li,. '-i' ft? ^^^^ " wearing ™age of the new man crea ;d in Chr f, /JV"'' "' ■"' ""h » '«" thf 1. 10). The power of the living Thr . ■ ^°'- ^'■''-'^' "■■^^■33: 12- vessel of clav. '"'"« "-hn ,s almost incandescent in this Tui TttTU Of Till Apojiouc GoiriL Study 5: The Sense of Power in the Brotherhood Fourth Day: In Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power I. If Ihc apostles held forth tht word of power like bright lights far off on inhospitable capes or islands on the ocean of hesthenism, there were muUitudes of lesser men flashing out the truth along the shores indeed It is impossible to estimate the power of the unknown missionary. HOW often was the planting of churches done by obscure believers (Acts «:4. 5; n:i9-a4). The church to which Hebrews was written had been evangelized by unknown persons (Hcb. 3:3): that of Rome— the im- perial city— owed its origin to no apostic ; so also the church of Coloss* (Col. 1:4). ur;u-^''l '•'''v"'j'''^' '^^""^^ showed itself in its missionary zeal. Within their borders such a powerful fountain of living water had suddenly burst forth that it streamed down upon the world in every direction And fruits of the Spirit grew luxuriantly along the water courses from the soil that had hitherto been quite barren This active propaganda of the faith is as evident at the end of the century in Johannine circles as at the oeginning (3 John 7, 8). They expected the hatred of the world indeed (l John 3:13), hut when Rome has shown her teeth a Jew dares to defy her in the words of Rev. 18:16 17 jo "?"r"^S.'" nothing thev found their chief joy in the spread of the Bos- pel (2 Thess, 3:1; Phil. 1:12-20). 3- In Ephesus, Athens and Corinth Paul was first regarded as one of a multitude of itinerant rhetoricians who took stock themes from conventional mora ity. These "sophists" were like modern clergymen m whom the professional has absorbed the minister. They made a trade of their eloquence. The "philosopher," often wearing a distinctive garb, would gather a crowd, but he could not handle the problems of life with earnestness (i Cor. 1:20, 21). At first the Athenians thought that Paul was a picker-up of learning's chips," and then th-y politely dismissed him (Acts 17: i8ff.). In contrast with the other lecturers who sought to impart by rhetoric some of the culture which was the training of every gentleman, the Christian prophet or apostle spoke not in ex- cellency of speech, but with divine inspiration (i Cor. 21-s 12 n) Many were subdued into obedience to this word of power, while others stared at such unwonted conviction and passed by. (For this study f" n=tch. Influence of Greek Ideas on Christian Church"; MahaflFy's Greek World under Roman Sway": Gildcrslecve's "Essay on Apollonius of Tyana in Classical Essays"; Zeller's "Philosophic der Griechen " III ^; PP; ■^-■•V; Ramsay's "St. Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen." 35 Tm TiUTH or thi Afottotic Goim. Study 5: The Sense of Power in the Brotherhood Fifth Day: The Defeat of Magic II wilhn the Church is moral LnH„.f.. ""''.",' P""'" "•'''I' were supposed to be ootini Th. ..„.■. 'l'"'"", "hich charmj ?he"new wohAS?^ tSgic' s"oVht''.o*" '''"""1'° havrVened'up triumphant progress thS all*th, r,^?""""'} ""J' '° .''^« ''"' => death 1,ad beinlosmic in i?5 effects I, h?HtL' °' '••^™iverse. His .hither victorious i„'Z na"i'Sr£hrTs.'?L„^^^;r,",:''^r,:''i:?J^ ^S!* new Person. Ts^ee Ra'^\aT"St''^^a^Th'^ T^itl^''^. tf'"" °' ^ T«l TlUTM or THE AroSTOLIC Go^PIL Study 5: The Sense of Power in the Brotherhood Sixth Day : Kept bv the Tower of God Unto Salvation 1. The Christian not only possessed exceptional powers and had con- fidence to go anywhere with his gospel, but he was of this mind because he (elt that he was in the protection of an invincible Power (i John 5: 18). Undoubtedly the odds against him were enormous. To an on- looker his life was little more than a vapor drifting for a day on cur- rents of erratic and irrciiistible force (James 4: 14). Behind this visible world there was. he thought, the world-god. lord of innumerable evil spirits, whose influence was so subtle that hi- breathed it into his life (Eph. 6:12). There was the stream of temptation to case, worldly hopes, and past association in which many were submerged (Heb. 4:1; 10:35-39). Multitudes endured a fearful struggle against apostasy. a. But the average Christian had joyful confidence. This is a favorite term in the New Testament vocabulary (Acts 4:13, 29: Phil. i:ao; Heb. 3:6; I John 3:21; 4-i7) Their God ua^ encamped round about them (t Peter 1:4, 5). It was no slight demand that was made on the Jewish Christians to entrust their life and its fortunes to the ntv, Israel. Nay. they ventured heroically in abandoning their patriotism, the pres- tige of a religion consecrated by the promises of God and the glory of temple and ritus' '^r a religion without visible mediator or offer- ing, with no history oehind it or social rank, almost bare in its spiritual simplicity. (This lies at the basis of much of the argument of H< brews. See 4:14-16; 6:17-20: 7:a6-2fi; 8:1-13; 9:8-10. etc.) Hardly less was required of a Gentile who had to face the scorn of his fellows in joining a fcrclt^n brotherhood. In fact nothing but an overwhelming senst of *n [lo.rtr of Jesus would have made them willing for the sacri- fice 'ohn rii. j7 .jo). If God was for them, who could be against them ' (Rom, 8:28-.i9.) 3. This confidence is often described as "enthusiasm." But the mat- ter does not end there. How was this enthusiasm created? In ordinary life enthusiasm is not always a coefficient of strength. The enthusiastic elements are often the least permanent, being dependent on some excit- ing cause. Enthusiasm is not a proper description of the tide of life that came in irresistibly and covered forever unhealthy marshes, jagged reefs and piteous wreck*;. In the New Testament n is coming to the flood. Never since in Christendom has it fallen to where it was. The Truth of the Apostolic Gospb. Study 5. The Sense of Power in the Brotherhood Seventh Day : III ! The Holv Spirit op Christ the Source of Power "emhufc\^S.le'reL|^'=of1hfKES;" ""'''■ ■"■«>" "= '""■'<• out as Christians gladly abandoned them, i^"" ™" "<" """e'y Aung fef::H^f{y.af;^SilMS?.^-|^'?H= "e'r^^sirn'.'" ~"'-- "' «'-^ -"thfoP;^4i,'S;i«t '^:.ti2,>, wi?h,n"ht7RS°8.Tr 'fist T'rS"^' "" '"« --« of power Testament-the indwell ne of a w;/ "!u"' "so<:i«ed in the New source in Christ who d ed for them'i^H """"" f"' brethren, and it* |4:49; Acts 15:8; 2 Cor , jj, ^rHrt* ^f. fi«=i'" "„»'"' »:»; Luke '!>«".? It .s because the Ught isVn the wo'rldluoTn rs't" 3)*"'°" cait.d'"he"4SS ?jr s: fr^',*''^'".""^ ««'- '-■" j«u» .-s m whom He will return ti them t«in Ari' '?' Advocate or Support wr*" *"* P"t«ost, and ,heoutwurin^n?,h''S H*" "» "pAi^ brethren is regarded by them a^ ? nSS,f .t*.°'.."'f ,H°'y Spirit upon the inaugurated, and that SrhL'^ .?"'"' "" Messianic age has been throned .Lorf (Act, I'^.S 38? rhr=.f"' "> "'™ f™m* thi r en" all-sufficient evidence to them that h!.?™ P°"'/' "* ">' Spirit we?e was fulfilled. Every disolav nf ,n- Promise of visiting rfis oemle the Spirit of God ^i^^a-.tS-'B^uTLt-^f'' °' "■'»""-« of -i%Ier''thel"airont''rin1 't.TZ'" 'Y •'^"■"•■ood, their doubted what its source was *and its resu^fiV"''''""'!?- ^hey never tt^pn' V?h7'lfiSrip?riS"&™^^ preted to tSe world '^ '^ ' "' ^^ ''''O'' ^ture Jesus has inter The T«uth of the Apostolic Gospei. Study 6: The Christian Character a New Creation First Day : The Bad Soil in which the Gospel «as Sown- oflh'/n'"' ? .'="/"{. """y °f the slaves having brought the vilest idels hivoc 2 th" hT'^jfcr'Tt' °^ "'f ^"'"Z- ""^'d, w* ich soon wro„gh AtheS,!C>k J I ">.'"*'' '"°"' '""^ of K°™^ during the Republic Athens, too, had lost her earnestness. The provinces outstritmirf t h, Trmh'edi'?")"'^- f'" ^""^'^ 'history' M"Europ"erTol,'s^^ " '-*'i **!** ''■'■'^' P"?an world disgust And secret loathinff fell. Deep weRrfness and sated lust Made human life a hell." 39 Thi TituTH OT iHi Aposiouc Gosm Study 6: The Christian Character a New Creation SECO.O D.v: A Ye.h.,.o Amo.c the GK^rans k-. Revelation and hpSivJirf^t"?;;!: zT,±S!r """ "° ■«■"? Th« .-, .deal ,t „as sufficient to rouTe in m?ny a L'?'"' " -"""^""^ "''" °" of their great cities. From this da« f„? "' '«'!"" ">e hideousness «rinl ".'"■"'', '"'"''^"''ip in clubs ITnrtr f*^- ^'"''•'•' There was stringent morals. The age was in fL «l'?io.us guilds involvini whfc'if'fl "• ^^"""'"i" 'ho^ugh "hafyiTird "i'^""' ''>"'. ""' "hi"? which for a few was almost a religion ' Practical philosophy |arding^'h/i°r^s^cnT-w'orlS^?d^"'as°'h^iV''}^^^^^ "' PW^'oPl-^- R- Stoic sought to follow nature in a?corrt,n^' °'.."" •"'"''''= sy"ems, the with a glow of emotTon, wh le th^ JZ?'^^"''"^' Stoicism is suffused thai 'tr"^''. °f Epi""" 'o X;Va,uf"",nH",°'.'*f,''-'="' A"rel"s -a, e«el,e„ce never?o„»,H^| n?;''oJ'';5iV?';i Sl^ ^5^ ocfanJS? re^pffiopT/VStFdeltSE'-^- .«" -« ^-^nft on an they hailed every craft from the Ea,, " J "t"'"'' "°'" <^°"'Pass, and .VeT'' p'™u "' """•'" world in which tht?'''"'ii°.^'" 'hem tidings the neo-Pythagorean philosopher d, m J .'^ *'°^'? '"'" Relieve. This apart from its influence on a feu, tT.-Ji ■ "ebrew, and as a system "'•«i.'.''=.,iy=.=^J' burden of Hfl fTnm '2 1" " "" '"effectual, n?ve? lifN wick's "History of Ethics"' Zenl?'="DL^' '"^?^" <=' "t™- (See S de .ii'n'.^i' "J"!."^!;- ■'Infl"en e'ofi'rWk Ideas°»n''H'"fl''" GriecheV"llC|, tian Church." Lecture VI.) "^ ^'"' Usages upon the Chris- The Truth of the Apostolic Gospel Study 6: The Christian Character a New Creation Third Day : The Jew Prepares the World for the Gospel with their desires turlfed.oilrdfraaVseOien.l.lTVif;''' ™"" the way for Christianity ^ """" """^ prepared f.f ^°'^l """"^ ''f^ Judaism done for these proselytes and th- "O^ i'Ai.=lS i'd-i'™: "."sur-a 5i-s-,s The Tkuth of thk Apostolic Gospel Study 6: The Christian Character a New Creatio Fo.«x„ D.v: Thk Gosph. . Wo«o o. Goo to . Dbp«.veo World h;.'-,uI.7or1.Vovef ht cfeSV'ntiteTn' fl^ ^^ -•- regard .o Magic and superstilion accomDanierf hv^,1i' ^'™-'«''^ also abroad, among the Jews of the Wes"?n DiSDersion p"* ,!""!'« STeat inroads Jew in Rom. 2:1-29 is just for hir«Srhw». I'i ' J""'*""'" °n the the Gentile. ' ' "'* »"'" "»» equally deep with thai of bankrJ,!;' 'ft'Ll ioSgTtTritil'el.s'creZ'K" '\'- ""<"' "" ™0""v Iigion or philosophy which nrnlL. "u" ''^ "'^'"8 «oek in any re- ?heV,r 1'^"'^" on'roSg'SrStitf "^l"' 'i'- ?>" '"isVas 'VJWO'-ld ,a.: been exhausted. A new cKi^;^ h,^ ."?'"' --"erve of older relig-,.ns had been immoral pf.rf, ^'"^ '° ''= created. The KOdj. It -."^ the philosoph™^Xh,^""^^^^^^ '" 'heir the hiKhest morality. Philolonhv 1,,^ f.? '.."'" "" »"«•• who preached that virtue is the true^reason t^fnf ■*?' '° »':'>'«• ^"^ with success thing,. Knowledgii? s sa d is v"rfui" h,«"' 'I l"" <^?"=tit,.tion of withm the reach of the wise man m thtV ^, ""^5 knowledge is only h.ghest virtue was at.ainabfl ^^^ ^^ 'ti^st^Zr'u^'^l^^^^Z '"' w4h m™ Same! in'^se'd:;/' awareTo """T,,"' 'f ™ "-^ '-•" "< virtue is not the solution of ?he proWem of 'S"i^""j'i that knowledge of power and. authority. It was an hungered forr,""l-.- ^''^? '«^ "«!, T'V'°";„" "" ■■"<'>■ can be no doubt that the eariy gospel was nin.!-' ^i'"'- '^"'^ 'here manner. There was no tJX„i- " proclaimed m no hesitatinir part of the reason" hy" hlta/ ber^ed^^nH "l' "'•"l''^''"- ™s "a! to his message ' believed, and when the world listened nelded'"''¥he't^p^e™f5'„5" S'ln'?' "^'-''"'"^ *-' -"ere i, was n;ore.pro.(^iga.e^h'an ThVcSry district's" ';!'" ""''f" "."? '' = ™' glorying in her "Daphnic mS? • n Corinfi^ *t' "'"'«' '" Antioch, m a.word denoting vice of the worst sort ^„^ TJ'o' """^ "■" <^"^^e" empire. Certainly the gospel did not reftL^ ! n"""' ""^ ^™'' of the world in his strongholds "'' '° challenge the god of this TBI T«UTH OF THE AfoSTOUC GosFD. Study 6: The Christian Character a New Creation Fifth Day: The Message of Israel as to Righteousness AND Sin wL.^*"^ ^°" I'V'JH- "Salvation is of the Tews"? (John 4:32.) What advantage fcad the Jew in the history of refigion? (Kom. 3- iff ) SI h^3 i'/vf' ^°,i had reveled His character as nowhere elVeThfs pe^ which jriTo,,^ '"^h"' "dowment of spiritual life. So Christianity. ™,i. 1,!^ ^' -P '"A ."■■7, "> completion the best that God had made known concerning Himself, became the true successor to Israel S^'JThjV"" ""= ■■" ',1";?^'^ '^''" ""'>■ J«"= t"" His apostles Recog- nize that He came to fulfill the past, to bring to perfection truths that were adumbrated in the law and the prophets (MawT;,;" Heb i • . ) 2. .What was the message of Israel to the world? (Mark 12:28-11 ) neaven and of earth. His will is absolute, and t is also perfect in fi? mef"TL J"""' "■■",, "'rlTl"'" '^"'?" 'he law of r°ghteous"e s ^Min/f Ti, OW, Testament, and it served as a noble moral dis- «f;n^ J '^""' .**■? '"J"* ""''"■ "■ ^'''^'''"K ''•<'"' 'h' fi""! spirits their fJom^th^r" '?? '? "V''«"ance. This was quite a different position ;2^n I aI ^"a'^^' y''° ««?■■<'«<• virtue as a matter of universal If^^L^"^}'^ gods and men alike. According to the Hebrew ideal of conduct virtue is righteousness, obedience to the will of a holy God. 3- .Further the elaborate ritual of worship served to inspire the t^*?. I-l'fl"". J --"".ence for the inviolate purity of his God, which was ™...! J,'"*?'" ^MV" ■"' "",'■ "'"' P"so"al life- The people of Jehovah T^r, ^Jn^" '2^'''l.'■'• »°"'; and body. Even Isaiah is a man of un- ^-.„™ < ■'"° . ■ .J*"' introduced a conception which was in large h^„ ^„, IS'!'^" r*^',^"!"'}^ °"'!,"'= °' Judaism. There is none goSd fR„ri-iVB^" God. (Mark 10:18), for all have disobeyed God's law sionf^.i,^ ?2,i,.^'"^''i,"lS'ir'"'""? <■ J""!" 3-4). it is a transgres- sion of the limits which God has appointed as right conduct (Rom !• 13. 14). Sin IS not merely shortcoming in reaching forth to an ideal. 3^L,iS!IT '" Ta P^KTf" *hich we shall outgrow, nor a disease, noi^ defective knowledge. All moral evil is sin: it is trespass against a holy Thi Truth or ihi Apo.touc Gosul Study 6: The Christian Character r New Creation Sixth Dav: Love op a Father's Will which ,s Truth Displaces Fear »way before it g<^t down to*he ™i.^^?.'""'""i '■".'•''"'■ '» >« <=i'""i overlaid as it hfS biST by the inst?i«?on'if"Sf °' '!« common people, become so encrusted with traditS^i^^.m the scribes. The law had mg was forgotten, and the w'o svs erJ 1,"?^'^""' "'""Pnal mean- nnder pain of D vine disoTea°ure R?.hf.l'° "* ''"""'''°"»'y ob>«^^ Phar.se. obedience to an o''urr'd%od'l;t"a°?^';jrth:ri.iS?ed't CoTf a." ^iw:'t^i,^^^:'z ''i;:!':!XTJ'"r "^^'^ %!"«'' p"- as gratitude and love, which ouh? .w , A il" "^'«;°'" feelings, such Old Testament, are tot fSly aooarem ?n .K*"' »"?*"*><' '»°"<» of the The Pharisee did not love his God He «JS' "° ' ^'.l-' Pharisee,, ■naster. Ancient ethics general V shared ^^"1 T' t°'.^™ " » '"■<- ception of fear as the ruhne factor if H.,^ ater Judaism this con- to God. (See Wundt's Ethfcs ) """""""'"8 the relation of man Faiher^"'H?iJ^'S"H^s%'hn§?e'n1„:,''Vh ^TSi'V^"" «">' God is a loved the world as "o give Hf;C''.te f""^^ 'pve Him. God so springs from God's nature ft lohn ;.?M 3:»6): indeed all our love external code, lifeless and terrortingft^i, ^^'"^ "?^" 'f >« =" and loving will (, Pjter i i^-iTl ^l, ' k'?- ""^ expression of a holy Divine nature are erS in.^o a standard -Iff '"'' .^°?''!:"5 °' '^' completeness and its power drives f?Sn.the(i,Mii *'"'='' '^"' "" *" Truth IS no longer merely an intellJrT,! '' ■"" 'jonipeting ideals, essence of life; it is The will of a HoirFither '^'^7' "'"' "■' P""'"^^' Ja^'es'^lls)."'" """""^ •"= •™"t^hf EJ,i:Je°r'rjoL"'8:7.' ^4^6': I %h^3^^Ztt%\ '"Thfre "/f" '". ''''«'™ - rtVifs^h' rXonTa's ^" "'['f ^'""nTdals'm'kn'd evir P^o^syiss^'^MSralf "s„*'e"f?oJ"""''"'??."'"'^'' "° o'"" «>"'">- heart y the Snirifyfr^^V-.?"" ' "™ ''*' '^'■"'fd "-''hin man's 45 Thi TlUTH OF THE AposIOlIC G0S«L Study r. The Ethical Ideal of the New Character First Day : How was the Will of God Known ? liever in the way of God (PhiKi: T. %««.".'.'?'',«"'?''' ""= ■«- ties and prophetsVhose teachinl»n^ .^^' "'fV '""'r "'""i" tht apos- brotherhS>d(, Cor 2 l6) Further e="h"'^-'-5"',''j'" """= <=' 'h« or joyous discipline n which he could di.rn "''','>;''"= ,^? ^J" 0™ hard would conform to any o"hlr GtS^hiinl " "" *"i' °' ^""l- No one S6. 2T. James 1 :2; i P«„ i :6, ?) ^ '"'■'"*" '^ '"'" C*™' «■ fo3„d^ierere'r„'''L's''?h:''i;?; 'ofVstrh?fs,-" ^r"'^'- "'' s--' to the Word of God, to the orearhin^ Ha f ' .^^ 8^*" ">oment to the private discipline of each one', fou? He"«oiH°L'^ "P?"'"' ""-i great Exemplar of character Kd T«n,' nff.t u""* "^J"" t'"'" »« ">« unto life? (See Mark Rwf • iSr,,? =° o himself to be a Guide 46 Tai TiuiB or tm Aposiouc Goim. Study 7: The Ethical Ideal of the New Character Second Day: Jesus Christ the Perfect Exemplar di5dpfes of J«u, of Na"a «h" N^ moV o±"«„"i /"^^ J',™"!.'.'' than that so large a part of the New T,..,™! "1 " "3'""i for this of the earthly life of JesuV lhoT»h .h.^?.' 'f ''"""I '" "« --""d th... he most of Ve„i'stlesXv »^ *"''''''■. "'i' '"'"'" o"?'" part of the canon The ? fe of "esus t"7^ "" *".' »"''><'"'>tTve 10 the readers of the epistles I? is'Sable fh« ^i"'T'\ '? ^ '<"''«" Jesus as presented to the avera''« «''''='■ *« general stream of 'hroTuJih life 'ill afer^hi'l?''' TP^" •"'" "« circulated for some years """" '""'' *«'" w'dely co^lSojbi^ESrSte^?? r 47 Thi T«uth or iHi 'VrosTouc Gosru. Study 7: The Ethical Ideal of the New Character Third Day: Obedience to the Will of Goo in Christ Brings True Freedom without a law? (Rom eSe^d ni ?,h«-,'?"""t'"'° ^'""^y embodiment of the D°v"new 11 7 "%f"''S""" " P'""" " the they alUined free'dom when'thV Uami^slave" Tart"'^''"'^' X'^^'^Z\r^.:'Z"r^-^ -^ .Hera,tTo4,?;d'1o a^SoSt Thi Tkltu or iHi Apostolic Cosru. Study 7: The Ethical Ideal of the New Character Fourth Day : Love the N'ew and Best Fruit of the Spirit tJiJlS,!,2"','-.u"n '' ,'" ?'"„°"' ■'" "'"l '■''■ whether the ingrained evil habitude of the Gentiles (i Peter 1 : 18; 4:2, 3). or the accumulatiJ prejudices and vices of the Jews-both of which are in ess™, he iini^ir ?-k' • .T" """"""'he worldly mind (Matt. l6:2j). The iT. of whi.h'' '"'*""■ "»"i'r«» i'«" in ' unique character the i"! tues of which were a new ethical creation of extraordinary richness Though thev are common to all the writings of the New T«fament " is mthe epistfes of Pau that they are most" fully described Thi wl of ^■!^',?'P " P»«'»'ly expressed in what Paul calls "the fruil of the Spirit- (Gal. 5:«, ,3; feph. 5:9). Some of these grace, are a" foHows 3. Love. This is the supreme virtue of Christianity (i Cor. m:m) ,i. l„ r ■ °.\"\ remarkable, the common classical word for the love of passion (1^) is not found in the New Testament Love ; h^f rr*'!' ?' '"'•R^'ing efficacy in the realm of conduc and" in Itself sufficient to distinguish Christian ethics radically from Damn V^r'^A^t"'^- '"U"^'."^!■ 0°'' i» ">e »ource of love (l John 4^7 ^8^6 19), and by His Spirit it is shed upon our hearts (Rom 5 5? It is a ChH«";^^:t.'*""".i:' '5""P 'j""" "« '«• "' redemptbn.'ieve umi' Jei?ec.!;5^:J5 \^ 1^, :!'S!%TS-J -^f t^n^^^-e . . i. Greek virtue- .M.i, regard for the sanctity of the dYvine-which was e,f\ iDlhit if- '" '."?"""« vocabulary of words denoting the qualities of a lovable disposition. It cannot indeed be claimed that gwjdness of JvmoatZ' fL"^r '"""'i '"■■ 'i"? "" " "-is time a risin|TeHng sympathy for those under suffering, and there are intimation, nfl,,, IT^'rH? T." '" ■^'=1^''?' ""••°"' n"' = «'tle human" inj ™ s and a r": gard for the morally heroic. (See Butcher, p. 76.) But the Greeks had n<« much more than a fine instinct, often overborne by elfishness aSd of ,hrZfH/.H"'/,i?'"^> development reached fell %nsideraSly ih^rt filn L 'lu°^^''"';'^" '=.';"''> (Sidgwick, p. 1,0). InThe Chri" llfa-t'iHrFn;! lI'l^rlreVreTsir''' "^ "■' •°" °' '^o" ■"" > ^-^'■"" « Till TiutH or Till AroiTOLic Co»m Study 7: The Ethical Ideal of the New Character Finn Day: Goodness, Beneficence, Loncsupferino, Patience o»'»l,'^Jl"iU?'' ?'"«««!'«• Th«e two txautiful word., ihe liner can .(ford mVlii.h^V" S*""'""" *".' * ''"»"'• «""'»■• 'O"'. "n" IVlrlhl ui. ""'' °J F'XX'n"" 'O othtri btcause of Ihe boundleH f. • H,h A fn'Tl"?""'' r™"- God in Christ (Rom. .3:8; a cSr o d fferin^ forrSJ 1'°'"' ^ ' '«• ">• Thi. goodnes. took on a gr«T ™?» rhoM^h L ..^ ;■ "• P"'""-"- «" open-hearted and open-hindedTnd hough no ascetic, gl.i, , gave his worldly goods to his brethren rs,; the Ideal of the earry Church in Acts 2:ui(>.) Is it correct to ell thi! rrrr erM'd'"S;''or.h'°\'"'v^?^'4^ '°«^^^^^^ heavini;", " (, /h«. !«'»'?''"" <*'*•'•"♦'.). all ions of a .«^e ;, ssii,; ^rtn ^■i^^;^'di^'^^':^fL^^^'^ 19). and 11. compassion" (i Peter .rSlnk 10 : 33 ji • James i ■ ■! VV (Ro'm.°«?"ff,"''- """' '° "" '""O •"<' <'ver».J'e;tTwithV<^ ance The Chri«if n &S f".^"'' "^iV "i'h it the idea of forbear- ancc. ine unnstian shall not return evil for evil and i« •lAt» »« n,-= ^JH^^hr^-iff- .^ye ^ ji^J^g r^d"?; «ni i!.'* *^"^'"'""* *° '^J' **>=* '" t*ie Christian ideal a passive oatiene- and endurance were suJmt tii»*«<'l tn- *i.- ^u ■ f"*"'*5 patience Tm TauTH or tin Akitoiic Goiru Study 7: The Ethical Ideal of the New Character Sixth Day: Gentleness, Mefkness, Humility, Fidelity, Self-restraint I. Gtntlcncu. mccknMi, humiliiv. are gcrmint to lonisufTcrinc J«ui wai meek .ind lowly in hearl .' This is alio a dislinoively Chrii- tun virtue. Ihough the Greeki had a kindred conception in the line word equity («W.) has in it j touch of aristocratic senti- ir„'l,T' {' ".l' "'" '^"'i 'T 'h '""«■' "^*' '" IhVgifled for "he ? M • \^ }"J"°^'l *"" 'I, •'• <»" "' »«<>■"" the disinherited, the Si v."'t''J''''= ".' ■"" "",'' i?"''t!f' P- ")■ The word which in the New Testament is translated humble (r,wi>y6t) meant to the r.r«.k what was abject and servile. ".«»« 3. Jesus made the meek spirit a premier virtue (Matt. 5:5- 11 w) He called the poor and the humble into His kingdom, afi those who in suite of worldly oppression and adverse conditions were cherishine the hope that soine day they would be able to worship God in true riiht eousness and holiness without fear (Luke 1:74. 75). Meekness is no natura^ disposition, but is an inwrought grace of the heart (Rom. ij- 3. I Peter j.-4. 5). It is based in a true knowledge of self as it ao- gejrs when the spotless purity of Christ's life is flashed upon us. Meekness represses the ^ am of personal merit because even in the samt there is a continual s>:nse of imperfection, so that he must rely ut- terly on a strength that is not his own" (Sidgwick. "Ethics," p. 122). 4. Other virtues such as trustworthiness (l Cor. 4-2- Col i-a- Luke ,2:42f!.) and self-restraint (, Peter ,-,3; 4:7; i Tim II' Titus 2:12) were we 1 known to the pagans, but became intensified, the one by Rrowing into loyalty to Christ, the other through the mastew of a new Spirit controlling the Christian against a false freedom in though The Truth of the Apostolic Gospel Study 7: The Ethical Ideal of the New Character Seventh Day : The New Conscienxe of the World I. It is obvious that several of the terms which we have considered M p'L.^rii"' ■".°'«™P°"'-J' language. They may have been famili" S,if„.l^'"«'.''?u""/'''"^"?, '" ^'""^^ °'" 0' ">= «nters of Stoical philosophy. But they do not all owe their introduction to him, for the conceptions occur throughout the New Testament. Chris ianiy how- ever, gathered them up together with the four cardinal Greek virtues fn^?h'S/hv ',?'"' K^i""''!''.""- ""'' i^"i«. "'llowing her., transfom- mg there by the subtle a cheray of faith and love, and made them in- gredients among other ncher virtues of its own creation in the ne™ oS- Z'r.'ivnl','" Z'i'^:^^" "°«"'"8 '""■nPh °f "hical nomencTature, S. R„l uPt" •'"O"'" a conscience to the believer (Acts 24: 16; Rom. 2:15; Heb. 10:22; i Peter 2:19). 2. But not less remarkable is the omission from the New Testament 1J""S\ '5' '""""« '""" °f ^"'^ "hi". The w™d hapSs (riJ^^rf.) does not occur in the New Testament, even in the nSble conception given it.by Aristotle (Eth. Nic. x., 7), hough 1° torw ta ?i?°f^™!,7«T"''' "i^' chief.pursuit of li/e, and "hat not^SSf; S «LJ?T„.°' .?'?{"' f'"'.^'' .?■■ Epicurean pleasure. Selfishness in any aspect, even self-realization" as the aim of the merely natural man is antagonistic to the spirit of the gospel. Seek first the K°ngdSn ?f CM and His righteousness (Rom. 12:1, 2). t,^ T?r' °'1'^°, ',f"'^^J ''J° "!' '"■'"' '<'"' °f "« New Testament (a) The wonderfully rich and varied nomenclature shows that a crratWe power was at work, ramifying far and wide in our complex mo^m- ture, and getting expression from every source for a very full standard of conduct, (b) The catalogues of vices illustrate th"nature of the awful forces the new religion had to face, and how closely the moi4l1 of the world were studied (i Cor. 5:, of.; Gal. S : isiRom I :Sff • I Peter 4:3; James and Revelation pasiim). (c) It was positive includ- in^the ^i^°.5^' yV"/ "A''? '^" ■('T'"" ' ■■ ">• =" "f^ cTpIrte 'bSSSse H»„v,„ nf »>, "L^?^- Ch'-f'^nxy was not ascetism, nor the renun- nnr =^ ?iff' T'^i ''""^--i ^^J '.' ."" "<« » 'y^'"" of sporadic virtues, nor an ineffective dream like Stoicism. It professed to be fruit from a cZr"?'^'".' '■ ^"""■' "i'hin the heSrt by the Spirit of God in Dol^hiiffi '• "rl" 'I' ^"«,"'i". Snjy"-, "Christian Ethics"; E. v tran^ted) Churches of Primitive Christendom"~soon to be Sa The Truth of the Apostolic Gospil Study 8: The Christian Ideal of Domestic Life First Day: The Evil Condition of Home Life Among Romans and Greeks I. Our home and cjur intercourse with immediate friends supply the amplest opportunity for the discipline of character. In our conduct towards those with whom we share the intimacies of life three-fourths of the web of destiny are woven. It is a perversion of judgment against which reason often protests to assign rank to manliood according to public performance alone. The region of the commonplace is the bat- tleneld of character : and of this region the home forms the largest por- tion in most lives. Wherefore we desire to put the Christian ideal, which has just been outlined, to the searching test of how i* was wrought out in simple everyday life. _ 2. The contemporary world seemed to have lost its power of protect- ing human love from imsnrity. In spite of the favorable opinion of Dr. Hatch that "there was .n ancient Rome, as there is in modern Lon- don, a preponderating mass of those who loved their children and their homes, who were good neighbors and ithful friends, who conscien- tiously discharged their civil duties, and were in all the current senses of the word moral'" ("Greek Ideas," etc., 139, 140), there are only too strong grounds for holding that both in the Roman and the Greek world the home life was degraded. There were of course frequent ex- amples of conjugal felicity (how awful must it have been otherwise!), but a flood of immorality from the East and from the provinces swept oyer Italy during the later Republic. Selfishness led to celibacy, many of the finer spirits espoused ascetism, and the emperor introduced legis- lation to encourage marriage, lest the empire should become childless. 3- Greece even in the days of her intellectual preeminence had been in worse case than Rome. The wife was not the equal of her husband, and he, if a man of education, would consort with brilliant courtesans known as hetirra, who were accorded an admiration which it is im- possible for us to conceive. "We must face the fact that the very period which IS renowned in Greek literature and art as that of greatest splen- dor was a time also of moral rottenness." ( Blumner, "Home Life of Ancient Greeks," ch. iv. ; Lecky. "European Morals," ch. v.) Instead of improving as the years went by, the life of Asia Minor and Greece had lost Its restraint, and was quite depraved when the gospel was first preached. The Tsuth of thk Apostolic Gospel Study 8: The Christian Ideal of Domestic Life Second Day : The Purity of the Jewish Home Inherited BY Christianity 1. In contrast to the heathen world the Hebrew had an almost ideal home life. In the Old Testament ascetism has no place, virginity is no virtue, and the family is a token of God's blessing (Ps. 127). Rever- ence of parents by the children is not only enjoined in the Decalogue, but has a blessing attached (Ex. 20:12). On the whole these traits arc preserved in later Judaism, which exalted purity, and encouraged education; and no finer pictures of the gracious and peaceful homes of "the poor" can be found than those in Luke I and 2. Some Jewish doctors of the law, it is true, allowed divorce for trifling cause, but there were equally influential teachers who were strict, and whose judgment would be accepted by the average Jew. (See Matt ig.'Sff.) 2. But Judaism had no great influence in this respect upon the morals of the empire. Indeed the Jew felt that his own safety consisted in avoiding the pollutions of the heathen world, and we cannot be surprised that not only were marriages with unbelievers forbidden, but also that it was a condition that a proselyte to Judaism should on his conversion be separated from the unbelieving partner, lest the heathen influences of the home should prove too much for the purer life of the synagogue. 3. Christianity thus started with a fine tradition concerning mar- riage. Its followers brought with them a noble austerity in regard to personal purity and the sacredness of the home. Indeed it began as a house religion. The brotherhood was a large family which was protected by love against invasion by the spirit of the world. As a rule the or- dinary homes were not broken up, for it was only the few whom Jesus asked to renounce these in order to follow Him (Luke 14:26). Hus- bands and wives, parents and children still loved one another. The husband who returned from the love feast would reverence his wife with a gentler chastity, and cherish his child with a diviner aflfection. It is jirobable indeed that the worth of marriage was affected by the conditions of that age. Since there was need to proclaim the gospel with all haste to a perishing world, many had to forsake their settled homes (Matt. 19:12), and the expectation that Jesus would soon re- turn also had its influence (l Cor. 7:26-35). The Truth of the Apostolic Gospel Study 8: The Christian Ideal of Domestic Life Third Day: The Christian Conception of Marriage 1. In harmony with the teaching of Jesus who invested the marriage relation with religious sanction (Mark 10:6-12), Paul ennobles it by the highest possible comparison. It becomes the type of the union be- tween Christ and the Church. Thus marriage is at once consecrated by religion, and natural affection is thereby enriched as with the mellow- ness and color of ripened fruit (Eph. 5:22-33). Husband and wife are fellow heirs of life. Therefore their home must be pervaded by the spirit of prayer, and their days should be spent in good works and the practice of their faith (i Peter 3:7). 2. Far/ duties are outlined especially for those readers whose Gentile antecedents had provided no strong foundation on which to build a good home. A chaste and reverent love is enjoined on the hus- band towards his wife, because she is a part of himself. His duties are kindly consideration, nay, honor, just because though they are equal in the sight of God she needs his help and protection (Eph. 5:25, 28; I Peter 3:7)- Of the woman respectful submission is required, proba- bly a necessary injunction because through reaction from former re- pression she might be in danger of abusing her liberty (Eph. 5:22, 23; I Peter 3: 1-6). Modesty in mien and attire, a life full of restraint, and graced by good works are becoming in a mother of the true Israel (i Tim. 2:9-12). 3. "In Pauls teaching we have all the elements of the perception that the unigue union of marriage was also the birthplace of an unprece- dented and mcomparable ethical culture, and precisely in the form of a union in the faith was to attain its highest development." (Weizsacker. "Apostolic Age," II., p. 390.) 4. Much difficulty was occasioned by the mixed marriages of Chris- tians and unbelievers. It is dealt with in i Cor. 7:12-14. Here the Christian ideal moves on a higher plane than the Jewish. The Jew said to the proselyte, Leave yonr unbelieving partner and escape pollu- tion. The Christian, secure in the power of the gospel, says. Overcome the world by living with your partner, wherever that is agreeable to both, in order tlut the sanctifying influences of the Divine Spirit work- ing in the Christian life may soften the other's heart. Thus in mar- riage the creative power of the new religion was manifested. Its very sacredness and inviolability makes it a lever for propagating the faith. Christianity was not helpless in the face of the impurity of the world. It proposed to conquer the world even in the home. The Truth of thi Aposiouc Gospei Study 8: The Christian Ideal of Domestic Life Fourth Dav: Thk Child; Purity; Chivalry; Woman's Dignity th^ hir-hJI,"""" ,'a"''.'"- ■ll"'''' P"'"''," ^^^ ^"' ' constant rebuke to the heathen world-its abhorrence of infanticide or the exposure of f™':t ."■ '".'"'c of. strong sentiment against it and severe repressive KnT'.h',^" "'T" ™J",./"«*"f''"y common. Christianit? again deepened the sacredness of life. The child becomes the figure of the i«;,eH','fl^' f ■ '.L'''' Eph. 6:4). From the new religion there Zl\ i 'motherhood of love, who soon organized a system of relief (See Lec'ky, II. ch iv " "^ ' P""ciple*is found in James """ iJ\ .No less characteristic of the Christian ideal is tlie standard of individual purity which is consistently held forth in ivery part of the New Testament. The lax ty of morals made the progresi Sf the new religion particularly difficult, and the .pistles afford abundant evid™c" Jever?rn„.nf ?h ^'T , '"i"f."' '"»'' 2' the brethren was found in the reversions of their fellow believers to Gentile sensuality (i Thess 4i-8- I Cor 5:6, 7; 10:1-13; I Peter aui, 11; 4:1-6; Rev. 2:14, 15, ». ji)' out'i;'"th!s?Chrlstiaf:Ss.^"' ' "^" """ "' '""""^ "" "™'^'^t Plnhl ..,,. T ^^ I "i""!," ''''' 'o"^' '^^ "••■niple of gracious courtesy hv h,".1 if • "''■' '•36-""); 10:38-41), and this was soon displayed by his followers in a fine chivalry towards women. This was all the I^H ,i,"T''^''''r^/""/^"" P°='''°" 0' ^oman in the Greek world ?Sl h^H°^" '■'' °i "icfadation from which many of the Chr s- lans had been rescued, afforded many delicate problems in respect to her function and worth in the life of the Church (i Cor. 7:8; ii- 3-0, 14 :34Tr.). n„th '^?"1 ™""" responded gladly to a gospel which offered her so C^^^ f M *V"''"l''°''''J<' -"l" ""^ church. Not only in the prov han °1'^=«<'™'»' "''■"c the sex had long enjoyed higher privileges Phn > TJT' >■•?. there honorable women not a few (Acts l6:T4; with a h^A,, f fv.l"^'''.;'; ^f""^ t wealthy matron provided the churjh with a home (Col. 4:15). For others see Rom. 16: i, 3, especially that extraordinarjr woman Priscilla, who did not preside over a house-church but was a missionary, and even taught the cultured Apollos (Acts 18-' 2b). Numbers of the most ardent propagandists of the cross and of Its most enduring martyrs were women, and this continued to be the case, very many of them Gentile by birth, often indeed drawn from p 3^r" '°""'' ' """"'''' "Ausbreitung des ChristenthumC Thi Truth or the Apostolic Gospei, Study 8: The Christian Ideal of Domestic Life Fifth Day: Slavery in the Pagan World Deed to their hapless condition, so woe-beitone that a« Mnmm«^ h»«.r- "Tt.ll 11 t P' '^'" """ of matters n the citv was Dobschutz, "Die urchristlichen Gemeinden," Appendix ) ^' ' ^' Thi Truth or ihi Aposiouc Gospil Study 8: The Christian Ideal of Domestic Life Sixth Day : Christianity's Advance Towards the Solution of the Problem of Slavery .. '• The Stoics did much to ameliorate the condition of the slave by dlffusmg kmdher sentiments and in particular by their influence on in- dividual masters; but they were primarily philosophers, their teaching falL^ffh™ f^T^'"=' '"'' "i'"."",? f" intellectual one-sidedness and false pathos for the woes of the time (Heinrici). ,i,^r.fr^'T '''''' '," '"""nparably higher position in this matter. In t'lj T5't""?' ^'^V'S were part of the family, for whom as for his children the head of the house was responsible. They shared the re- ligion of Israel and were treated as human beings. But Judaism had always remained more or less isolated, and it seems to have drawn but few of Its proselytes from the slave ranks. Humane as the Jews were ofThe"oid TestMnenf """■'''""°" '° "" ''"= question after the close 3- Wherein did Christianity make an effective contribution to this awful problem? The apostles introduce no new theory as to slavery w, }l'^ j""? ■" '"*'' *""' "'" '"'" "i« """■W «i"i the Jewish ideal, but they do initiate a marvelously original and bold practice. While philosophers dreamed the Christians accepted slaves as brethren and they became new men Whether or not he was a "person" on earth, the sUve was a citizen of the eternal Kingdom of God, and there and then he was ushered into a fellowship of love, which was no theory but a social fact of tremendous ethical power. The religious basis for this is g ven in Gal 3:28. Where m all literature is there a more charming picture than the letter of Paul to Philemon? The believing slavTbe- comes a member of a Christian home and is treated as children are, while the unbelieving slave rests upon the heart of his master as a life to be won for his Lord. What a change has passed upon that society when master and slave sit round a common table, unite their oravers and greet one another with a kiss of love. Is it possible to discover anywhere a finer delicacy than is attested by the absence of all reference i^„^"!l" i,.t"'^t' T"'""'" °* inscriptions in the Roman cata- combs, though the Church was reproached with having become a refuge for the poor and the slaves? '^'"n': Th£ Truth or tbi Apostolic Gospel Study 8: The Christian Ideal of Domestic Life Seventh Day : Slavery and Work ^eiia^S.^^«^f•Ji;H^^',S;'^i-;|J- ^^ I. was^ less Its dynamic in my own life and in that of the world? ""at is 59 Thi Tduth of TBI ArosTOUc Goim. Study 9: The Christian in Public Life First Day: Christianity Becomes an Illicit Religion 1. We have already seen that the Christian was subjected to much distress because of the fact that as in other ancient religions there was also in that of the Roman Empire a large political factor. No good patriot could abjure the religion of the sute. But the case was oe- cuhaily aggravated for the Christian because the emperors were sup- posed to be incarnations of the spirit of the empire, and divine honors were paid to the hero-genius of imperial Rome during his lifetime, and after his death he was consecrated with celestial dignity. Such a system was bound to demoralize both the subjects who paid and the monarchs who received this homage. Barring this essential demand of worship of the Mnperor, there was an easy-going toleration of any and every superstition or cult that each tribe or petty nation brought with it into the imperial sjjstem. Many thought that the same god was worshiped under these different forms, and therefore that one was as good as an- other. 2. There was, however, one remarkable exception. The alien Jew lived aiiart in his own tribes throughout the cities of the empire, and enjoyed exemption from conformity to state idolatry. For some years the Christian was regarded as a Jew and shared in this exemption. Indeed he was first persecuted by the Jew and looked to the Roman to protect him from men of his own race (Acts 18:12-17). The powers that be are a restraint upon lawlessness (Rom. 13: 1-7; i Peter 2' 13-17) But a .change came ere long, and was accelerated by the fall of Jeru- salem in A. D. 70. It was manifest that the Christians were distinct from the Jews, and that unlike them they were not a nation, but a "new and wicked, and vam superstition." So they received no privileges Un- protected by any national breastwork they were like a dangerous island shoal of hateful human drift exposed to the sweep of the empire's out- raged patriotism. In i Peter 4:16; 5:9, we can feel the ground-swell of the comjng storm, and in Revelation it has broker ''n all its fury Again and again through the early centuries imperial pirsecution thun- dered upoi this island in the ocean of paganism, but it merely cast the beach hifrher, and made a protection which its waves could not pass (See Lecky; Westcott's "Epistles of St. John," Essay, "The Two Em- pires.") 60 Tai Truth or ihi Afostouc Gosm. Study 9: The Christian in Public Life Second Day: Difficulties for the Christian Patriot firit tlm^ ^Hi^lfj' "'-ST "Parated patriotism from religion for the G<^ is another ¥hr«,,'.°.f" """"u" " ?"' """«; homage iaid to had his duties to perform to ordered government Now when J^\.„„ sider the trials to which he was expoJed, U^ w™! aDoea^ that 1 w,.°.n" immense accomplishment that he sRouId hav" rema'ned lova Th.re was much of course that he could admire, especiaTy"?heJo«Jmem cU^,' TVT'' '■"■ " "?' 0" ""= "hoie a stab e power makhTfS the Heifi?«l ""^'f """ "''"i; '? •« " i"«mation of the w"rid spirit ^/rr'J"'^ continued to pray for him in their daily ser?« even while th^ Sjns=r^s-g„l^-HiSf??s^;:n ^SS de^r;s^t;«ii-^}r^^!;:^/Sa7:?«e^'"^hi's^^s Zf'i^ii"' ^'" °' "!^' P?'"°''= "*■• which i^enciuragd by^he profession of arms. It might seem at first sight stranw that the a™v"R,^''°" «°»P'" ""^i" i'' ««"ce love shou d be f?md in the ' Phil , .^^'"i'nS ,f ' °««" and soldiers were Christian (Act" to: I. rnil. 1.13) and they would be peculiar y heroic because their VAn tZw^^'TlS °'"" ^""^ """- '"'<> <'''^" collision with the do atro"; otSwise Yet'Tf ChH^i."" -''"^^""' """^'^ <>" "" standards and arJliT'Thisrs^hi'tl^frS-i^sd^I^^e SS^'vic'Sry'""'"* '""" '"= Thi Truth op thi Apoitolic Gospil Study 9: The Christian in Public Life Third Day: Temptations in Businkss and Social Life I. Many of the hardeit temptations of the average Christian arose from his being called upon not to flee from idolatry, but to face it, for it met him everywhere. He did business as before, but his trade was af- fected by it, several occupations being dependent on temple worship, the practice of magic, or heathen rites. We have early proof of such in- terference in Acts 19:23-41. Various arts of life must have occasioned scruples of conscience to those who when they became Christians had to earn a livelihood at their old trade. Early Christian art in the Cau- combs shows how with the growing years painters and sculptors of no mean order consecrated their brush or chisel to Christian service, the new spirit gradually transforming the old pagan devices, blotting out unworthy forms, and creating fresh designs with Christian symbolism. 3. In the pursuit of ordinary business the Christian was liable to be brought into the law courts. The Jews had been granted special tribunals of their own, before which they could come to terms with a fellow Jew, but no such privilege of course was enjoyed by adherents of an illicit religion. Unbelievers took advantage of the Christian's passivity to drag him into public on false charges, and the spirit in which this is to be endured is given in 1 Peter 4:15. 16. Scandals, however, arose when under the old habit of litigation brother went to law with brother before a heathen judge (i Cor. 6:5-7). Doubtless the words of Jesus (Matt. 5:38ff., 18:15-20) set the standard in such matters. 3. A graver source of danger lay in the social intercourse of the believer with his former associates. The cities of Asia Minor and Greece were full of clubs for every conceivable purpose, religion, com- merce, social enjoyment, and burial. To cut one's self off from club life was to cease to be a citizen of the world, and to the blithe Greek that was a serious matter. There were two perils connected with it. Idola- try was entrenched in this social custom as in a fastness. The club house was often an idol temple and the scene of such revellings as those of I Peter 4:3, 4. Hence Paul forbids Christians to share in these feasts (i Cor. 10:1-22), and enjoins them to find their fellowship in the society of the brethren, where chaste love reigns (cf. Rev. a: i.^. 14). As to eating meat exposed in the markets after it had been offered to idols, Paul says that the law of love must be the standard here also (i Cor. 8:1-13). 63 The Tiura of ihi AroaTOLic GoiriL Study 9: The Christian in Public Life Fourth Day: The Victory over the Passion tor the Gaues I. Nowheredid the n«w religion face heavier odds than when it met tne nerce passion of the populace for games and fladiatorial shows And yet we have hardly a trace of it in the New Testament ; not be- cause the struggle was not keen, for the people of Rome were shouting, panem el circenies. The thirst for blood grew so fast by what it fed upoti. that even in the first century it could be slaked only by an un- ceasing sllam from animals and men. By the thousands they came to their de-ath. while Rome in all her social ranks kept holiday in the great Colosseum, which gave shelter under silken canopies to over fifty thousand spectators. The earth was scoured for the lions, bears and elephants wherewith variety might be added 10 the carnage, for the viler the games, the bloodier and more refinedly shocking the deaths, the greater the zest not only of coarse slaves, but of aristocratic ladies 1 he emperors gave the people what they craved, but they ruined the manhood of the empire, for this horrid cruelty soon spread from Rome to the provinces. Some voices it is true were raisjil m protest against the gladiatorial combats, but they were of no avail, and the fact that edicts of emperors were ineffectual to cope with the evil finally till the reign of Honorius, A. D. 404, shows how the populace were absorbed m this passion. 2. Silently and with immense moral suasion the gospel draws the brethren away from the amphitheatre one by one, and as each turns from a scene which he must quit forever, it protects him with a shield of holler fellowship. Life is worth too much to God to be cruelly shed in order to satisfy a multitude. Christ has died for the slave and the barbarian gladiator. Even the dumb animals are a part of the creation which is to share in the blessings of redemption (Rom. 8; ..3- ."J.h''^' «»'"" display more vividly than any mere philosophical disquisition the abyss of depravity into which it is possible for human nature to sink. They furnish us with striking proofs of the reality of the moral progress we have attained, and they enable us in some degree to estimate the rrgenerating influence that Christianity has exercised m the world. For the destruction of the gladiatorial games is all its work. Philosophers indeed might deplore them, gentle natures might shrink from their contagion, but to the multitude they possessed a fascination which nothing but the new religion could overcome" (Lecky. I,. 282; see also Lanciani's "Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome, 369-374) T» TsvTH or THi ArotTouc Goim. Study 9: The Christian in Public Life Fifth Day: A Trlk and a False Isolation I. Christianity met this craving for amusement by a stern cf.ll to higher work. The gospel has a strenuous ideal (Luke I4:^ff.). Re- ligious enthusiasm, even speaking with tongues, counts for little without the works of love (Matt. 13:30, 3i; Luke 13:23-37; i Cor. 14:13). There was no place for drones in a community whose duty was urgent to preach the gospel (3 Thess. 3:6-15). This heightening of the value of life and of time was an immense moral advance in an empire where only the slave toiled. Christianity allied herself wtih the needy and with unpopular causes, when the road to life lay that way. She showed a heroic indifference to clamor, a "splendid isolation." Like their Mas- ter the disciples refused to bow down and worship Satan in order to win the world. In the long run it is just by this course that true vic- tories over the world are still gained. 3. There were also subtle intellectual tendencies which threatened the ethical standard and endangered the spiritual life of the brethren. That world had its intellectual cliques with initiation into mysteries and esoteric doctrines, and many wished to make the gospel another "myster]-," the more abstruse doctrines being of such a nature that the common man would take no interest in them. In the second century these intellectual aristocrats separated themselves outwardly from the Christian Church and formed the schools of the "Gnostics," some of them pure in their morals, others ascetic, others gravely licentious, but all claiming a superior knowledge of the truth. That these schools de- sired to be called Christian is a high tribute to the impression that the gospel had made upon the world. Fundamentally these systems were corrupt. They left no room for ethical endeavor, for redemption from sin, or the Christian conception of God. They were not truly Christian. If Gnosticism had fastened itself on Christianity it would have destroyed iL It was a parasite and had to be torn oflF. For its beginnings sec £ph, 4:14; Col. 3:8, 18; I John 2:18, 19, 33; 4:3, 3; 5:6. Thi Thuth or thi Apoitolic Goim, Study 9: The Christian in Public Life SixTi! Day: The Failure of the PiiiLosoniER to Appre- ciate ClIRlSTIANITV .ki s.l'. ?■"" "" r"".«'" » '°"y comment on phil. ...phy th,i durin. ht firil iwo centuries its best representatives were a: uch small pan! to learn what this new religion me:inl. and t,, u.-d with conlemit o? worse a body of people in wfiose moni enden.^ , th-y should have dis- cerned some affinity with their own ideals. F..K-.e,„,. Pliny Mar. • Aurelius, Lucian even the physician Galen, mnM synii .li ,-„• 0/ ,1) " " not understand Christianity. If it is not emir.ly i.in.'t,. , , XJ ] "' They cannot deny that there is an irredunU. «..rj ,..,.. '..l.ere nl' ts heart Pliny and Galen testify to the high mo.il qiwliy <,, il.'livJs of the brethren, their self-sacrifice, their purity, ih.i.- Iw'.o .„ "h4 or national God, Christianity is for ihem an unreasonable ailie.sm. Tlicy T.'!^'"^ close enough to understand this "third class," thi, mptrium iH im^eno, which on their own confession was draining away t"e life /^Tn^*'ZiT)'", '""P'"- (Scf Heinrici."Das Urchrist?nS.') The .VTu V^'t'i'^"" *".""' those philosophers did not valu^ hi facts tSL^^^!tr:'yA\Z'l' "",'?">' '" Christianity. Almost every man of .unTr..i,ion,n(^L"^. •""""' """L' "' '"'•'" P"-^'" '" "« mornis and superstitions of the time, since they were in his view part of the neces- sary environment of the life of the common people He knew the r worth and was not led astrav, but either his knowledge was t« s^cculi- mann°/„" hT"' "? '''"!.'? h' '" 'i "" '"'I' P°wc?to refo™ wul.r Sf better th"ng,.""""" '" '^' ^'""'''" ■" "" "'°''<' '""^ »P"n Unci's r-^on"?^'"^'"'''^ "'"' ^" •*'","' ''">" since then only too gnod The ed,?n.ed T"*.^ "?'''/ "-"P'?'"' '«>'"« 'h' intellectual world. The educated inan often tends to look upon life as a curious object for investigation He does not always collect more facts than are necessa?^ fac "of ^i'h/^tW.^l^ doe, he.always put the proper valC^on IK tacts ot lilef Does he give sufficient cred t to the immense latent power on the religious and moral side of human nature? So wc ask the college inan, What is the worth of your ideals? Do they geT down tS and inspire the work-a-day world of common men? «S The Truth op the Apostolic Gospel Study 9: The Christian in Public Life Seventh Day : Review and Problem I. We may review the situation and state our problem. Christianity enters the vvorld at a time when there was a revival of religious in- terest, but little to satisfy that interest, a world that was morally de- praved to an unprecedented degree, and yet a world in which many noble ideals of humanity lay unproductive in many minds. Impotent pathos stood over against ascetism. Suddenly the gospel is preached, and its followers are not unreasonably identified by the Gentile world with Judaism. But Judaism did not supply the ntw energy, for it had been ineflfective itself in moulding the morals of that world to higher ends. Christianity is recruited from the intelligent middle classes, with a large number of slaves and outcasts, and a sprinkling from ihe highest ranks. But it offers no better terms to the rich than to the poor, to the intellectual than to the unlettered. Its ethical demand is frotn the begin- ning utterly stringent. To face a world given over to lust with an inviolable law of purity is even to-day regarded by some as visionary; to fiffht the luxury of that world and its mammonism with such a finely tempered weapon as the gentle Christian spirit might have seemed to court defeat from a coarse and ostentatious age : to dare to resist i>oint blank the passion for lustful amusement and bloody gstr"*^ was in i.he view of common sense the height of folly: to cut right ■ .5 the social strata and establish a brotherhood upon moral and spi. ..ual affinities without -asting everjrday relationships into confusion, and to exalt la- bor to a place of dignity, was to show wonderful powers of organization. And the total result was a stupendous moral creation. Even had the ef- fort been short-lived, what finer flowering of virtue has there ever been? But the dynamic did not spend its force with the passing of the first generation. The second century was no more afraid of spiritual venture than the first, and the Christian ideal spread over the world. Whence came this new standard of conduct and -.ts results in moral heroism? Why were Judaism with its prestige of reliftion and its imperial privi- leges. Stoicism intellectually and socially well advantaged, and all other ritual and religious systems, so ineffective in grappling with their pres- ent distress? The Christians had learned what life is — its worth, its sin, its possibility of renewal. Whence came that knowledge? They said that these things had come home to them when the good news of God in Jesus Christ had been preached to them (Rom. 1:14-17). 66 Thi Tiuth ok THi Apostolic Gospel Study lo: Great Personalities First Day: Impressive Characters Appear in this Brotherhood During a Sterile Age 1. Any religion or society is to be judged by the ureatness nl ih, men whom .t produces. Until these arise to gather up inSselves he with ,1, "l ■"'■'" "" I"' !? «'" emphasis to^the winged words charged t^ ,h,^n •' '""", l*"" "".''"'" ''P '° liP' ^nd '° "nbody the answer iLi T?'"*' "i"" ^°'"/ ?' ""^ ""-Itifde, the movement does not geJ shape They understand the force of its conceptions. In th^ir word, gesture, energy, and character the idea has its clothing Its oower ?s to be measured by the conviction which those into whose iE^Tt is ii wrought can mspire in others as lo its worth. 2. Nothing is more characteristic of the living nower of rhri« t.an.ty than that it has thrown up time and again all down its h^toJv out of the depths of ti.e society, some man onmmenserp"rtual force' who, owing httle or nothing to adventitious conditions sich as bSh ?i^^^ '''"*• ■'■''■"""'"4 J''.' ;'°''<' "'"^ ''P'"'"^' is. and renews its re- ha7h4en smS' wS"S,"' l'"' "■ '^" °' '-«>" "™'^ the"Seavens nas oeen siuaaed with bright stars in every age, though there ari. peculiarly brilliant clusters at different periSds, as n the earlv cen tunes, the reformation epoch, and the century that haslust closed B« It was from the brightest of these clusters fhat the Church started on rulr? "T' T "i- ^° '«' """■•'Is so manv example, of high character and noble endeavor as the apostolic period. ' ditinJo7the' limVf^ "counted for by the historical and moral con- niSLS T- , ■'•"" ^''"P' J"''" "« Baptist, Judaism liad produced no prophet for centuries, and the revival of religious ideals nrnnlf »P°"'« ^"^ l^yo"-) anything evcu in the most classic days of prophecy. And Hebrew prophecy itself has to be explained "In afl the religious history of mankind there is nothing that can li comoa^ed to the prophetic order in Israel" (A. B. Davidson ). Nor warcontem" porary paganism more productive of great characters. Out o a per^^ an Fn^l^S'"'" " ",".""''' ""!? ' ?"" »" "" '^'«' - Plutarch a Senec? an Epic etus, or a Marcus Aurelius; these are the best examples of an ?lbert"s?irri oXp^Lt"""""'- '''^"■™ "'"' "°' '"^ '•"' '-" 67 Thi Truth of tbi Apostolic Gospb. Study lo: Great Personalities Second Day: Jesus Elicits Unshaken Loyalty in Men OF Heroic Mould 1. In the men of the apostolic period there is, as we shall see, a wide range of character, but a common feature it their overwhelmmg energy. They threw themselves into their mission with unflinching courage. It is difficult for us to estimate correctly the moral heroism of the first dis- ciples of Jesus. They may not have had great worldly prospects, but they abandoned all they had (Matt. I9:27ff.). Doubtless thev expected some return (Mark 10:35-37), even in the present, though the fact that they clung to their Master as they saw that they were to be disappomted should relieve them of a suspicion of having followed Him from un- worthy motives. Consider the demands of diacipleship (Luke I4:«). It was sufficiently exacting during the year n{ popularity in Galile^ but a^ter they learned of His coming death sh. - iiopes m«« have suffered collapse. There is something pitiful if it •lere not heroic m the scene m Gethsemane (Luke 22:49-51). Here is a hamdful of mem who have thrown over their patriotism and their religiow traditions fcw the sake of One who they had hoped would be the Me^iah, and He is to die and leave them 10 the hatred of their own people Even at tliu moment they obey Jesus though they still see a chance of cutting their way thnwgh their enemies and escaping among the olive trees. They must have been men of wonderful spiritual penetration, and Christ must have inspired them with supreme love, when their loyalty was tenacious amidst this wreck of their lives. 2. But this devotion to Jesus is no less constant through the re- verses and disappointments of the following decades. And these men were no ordinary characters : they have become the spiritual guides of the world. Yet they glory in calling themselves slaves of Jesus Christ. They were so absorbed in the pursuit of the unseen kingdom which He preached that they flung themselves upon danger. A throbbing love to Christ drives them through every wave of opposition. There is no saving of their own lives, no selfishness, no grudging labor, no careful balancing of accounts, no weariness of the toil, no claim of merit, noth- ing of hireling service. Those first missionaries of the go»p»! are almost prodigal of all they have, for the best they can give is toft little for their Master (2 Cor. 5:14). The nobler the character and the more varied the endowments of these men, the more glorious must have been the Figure who constrained their loyalty. 68 The Txuth or the Apostouc Gospil Study lo: Great Personalities Third Day: Stephen and Barnabas I. We shall consider some of the leading characters of the New Testament. Slephtn. the first martyr, was unquestionably one of the inost powerful factors in the development of primitive Christianity, for, though his influence on Paul has sometimes hetn overestimated, he was the first to see that if the message of the gospel should be confined within old Jewish customs, the new wine would burst the old bottles His greatness is displayed both by his insight (Acts 7) and his readi- ness for heroic measures (Acts 6:8, 11, 13, 14). Jew as he was. he rose above the limitations of his race, and reading as no one vet had done the purpose of God's revelation to the world, he ttlLs his hearers that the work of the Jewish nation as such is done (7ol-5,-il. They must give way to the new Israel. The earthly temple, its ritual, and the legal cus- toms are to be displaced by a wider Temple of God m the hearts of men, Stepheii was the most winsome man of the brotherhood (Acts 6: .1, 8). Conspicuous for wi.sdom and for faith, hi- could adjust delicate issues. Prudent and devout, his courage flowed like a steady stream, never breaking over shallows. His davs were few upon the earth, but his character was one of the choicest fruits of the Spirit, for none per- haps had so much of the mind of Jesus (.*\cts 7:60). 2. Barnabas was also a glory to that early group. Though he he- longed to a priestly family (Acts 4:.i6) he triumphed over his class prejudices, and was one of the first to associate himself with the mission to the Gentiles. A man of substance he was an example of liberality, and did not scorn to work with his (^wn hands for a living (i Cor. g:' 6), Unlike Paul he seems never to have been regarded as a party raani but retained the confidence of the older wing of the Church (Acts 9:27- Gal. 2: iff.). Not less creditable to his character was his willingness to be subordinate to Paul, though he had been an older disciple, and had done much to pave the way for the former persecutor on his entrance "Jto the Church. He had his failings it is true (Acts l5:37-.'i9). but Paul pays him a high tribute in the words. "rfe« Barnabas" (Gal 2:13). 69 The Truth or the ArosTouc Gosm Study lo: Great Personalities F( ' RTH Day: James and Peter 1. James was the head of the conservative element in the Church. and seems to have clung more t<> his Jewish upbringing than any of the early leaders. Living in Jerusalem he was a stranger to the world outside Jewry of the Palestinian order. He was afraid of the Grntiles and of their contaminating customs (Acts ig :i3ff. ; Gal. 2:12), and was suspicious of progress. He seems to have been slow to grasp the full reach of a principle, or even to read character (Mark 3:31 ; John 7:5). but he was devotedly loyal to the past in which God had betn gracious unto him, and was reluctant to move beyond it. He nevertheless al- lowed the facts of God"s grace to lead him. Steadfastly anchored to his old religious life lie was yet more true to God and to Jesus as Messiah, and under the recital of the facts of Paul's missionary success atnong the Gentiles, he swung nmnd to .1 position from which he could reach out to them the right hand of fellowship and wish them Godspeed on their journey. It was a power outside Judaism which led James to do this (Gal aigff.). 2. In Peter we first meet the leader of primitive Christianity. He was a man of action, masterful and impulsive, and became a repre- sentative not only among the Jewish Christians, but also in the G«itile churches (r Peter i.i). Sensitive to hi' ■iurrnundings he seems often 10 have taken steps before he realized the practical consequences of his de- cision, and he hesitated to carry them at once to their logical conclusiems. as Paul with his ruthless logical consistency wou'd do (Gal. 2:ii-H^V He had a buoyant and generous nature, fearless, dictatorial, hot withal against impurity (r Peter 4 and 5). and devoted to his Master in sptt* of lapses (Mnrk 14:^9). He was the first to make open confession atf Jesus as Messiah, and his gospel which underlies Mark gave the type to the preaching of the life of Jesus of Mazarefi (Mark 8:291. Neither profound nor imaginative. Peter became a man of rock-like nature This seems to have been the impression of him that remained in the Church (Matt 16:18; Luke 22:32). no less than that he owed nis strength to Jesus Christ (Acts 3:12). The Tul'th or thi AposToLir Gospel Study I o: 'Great I'crsonaWties Fifth Day : Joii.v : Bijii.t on tiif. Fixndation ok Apostles AND ProPHKTS I. John docs not occupy :i large place in the recorded liisi„ry oi the early Church if we omit the Joha.mm,- wrilings. which for ,ur i>arpo,f we may not assume to 1«- hi>. Bn. h. >vas one of the mo,t intimate circle of Jesus, and along with Pctc-r ,-,inies to the front .iter Pentecos' i^h'„' .v i ^u'-'v "'v'*-'-" , Wl«.ever verdict i, pa««d upon the authorship ol the fourth gospel, we may infer that Jota the apostle presented in his preaching a different s,rte of the character rf Jesus from l-eter s view. He was probably a mysti, intense in his lov-s and liate- Mis nature w-as deep, and we may Mipp.>se tn» he was mor.^ res»^.sivc Maste""'' ° 'l'»<:>Pl<- 1° 'he proioundest truths in the mintl of his 2. None of these men would have iillamed immortal lame ipan from he gospel which thev served. It was their privilege ami ilieir response to their opportunity hat made them what thev liecame Tii.- ap.«tleral footing 1 hey impr^sed the world l)eeaHse v he message they Ijeouoht \ tnarvelous Person behind them i^ th- -mly eyplanation of their influence (Acts 4:1,1). The steel of their chsn-acter had li-en tempered to the finest issues in His presence. They h»d liaihed their swords in heaven. ^. The apostolic age, howe^.■r, presems not only a few super-eminent peaks arising out of the depths, h„t a whole plateau of elevated character and endowment Prophecy, which had heen so long dormant, awoke again to life I Matt, 10:41: A.ls 11:^7: 15:32: i Cor, 12 ■-•8: 14-jQff ■ fcph 2:20:4:11; Rev, 10:7:22:6,9). There were many men richly en- dowed with the Spirit of God. not an oflicial class, who proclaimed to the Church the truth of the gospel. They spoke in the name of Jesus and claimed a divine revelation. Had they really a word fra«i the living (.Kid? If not how are they tn be accounted for' To den» that thev had is simply to deny a fundamental assumption of the New Testament The Truth of the Apostolic Gosm. Study lo: Great Personalities Sixth Dav: Paul; His Training, Work and Character 1. Paul stands by himself. Not only had he transcendent genius, and the best educational advantages, but he had a vision of the risen Jesus which put his apostleship in a different order front that of those who had been with Jesus on earth. His training at Tarsus gave him insight into the Greek mind; he was a favorite pupil of the Pharisees (Gal. 1:13, 14; Acts 9:1-9), and his Roman citizenship made him an imperialist in thought (Rom. 1:14-16). He was thus fitted more than any other individual to put his stamp upon Christianity. He has the breadth of the educated man, and the outlook of a man of the world. 2. His commanding personality is shown by his work, his claim being that his churches are his certificate when he is traduced (2 Cor. 3 : 2, 3), for no man was ever more persistently slandered (Gal. 1:10; 6: 10-17; 2 Cor. 10:11, 12). His authority was acknowledged by the churches in the most important cities of the empire, with which he maintained an extensive correspondence. These letters, often written almost as fugitive instructions, are in the matter of intellectual power among the world's great literature, and his skill in dialectic and dear exposition, as seen. e. g., in Romans, is of the highest order. 3. But he was no less distinguished for his sanity in commonplace affairs. Where is there a better poised judgment than that which de- livered the advice contained in the first epistle to the Corinthians? His principles are of the highest, but he knows character and can make al- lowance for weakness and difference in circumstances (i Cor. 7:8). He puts his finger with candor and remarkable precision on the spot where the ailment is rooted, and as successfully chooses the remedy (i Cor. 11:17-34; 12:30, 31). He is a calm, shrewd man guided by a rigid standard of righteousness (Rom. 3:5-8; 6:12-18). Indeed he has been the teacher of the most virile portion of the Christian Church. Is not this because he is the apostle of freedom, and of faith in Christ and His truth? The creator under God of Gentile Christianity, one who produced a moral reformation, the effects of which reach even to the present, a man in whom vast intellectual power and sane judgment were so eminently combined is surely able to give satisfactory testimony ai to the controlling forces of his life and their source. What is his account of his life? (Gal. i :ii — 2:21.) ?» Thi TiuiH OF rut Apostouc Gospil Study lo: Great Personalities Seventh Day : Paul a Miracle of Divine Grace ,,ii,„'i,°"S""i'''' "^ ''"*'? .'" '," unqutstiontd epistle a bie of autobiog- raphy by Paul on the crisis of his life (Gal. 1:13-17). This passaee nVn'M^'^iA^""- ":?• I""- 'l^ """'" Pi'i" to us thi. Je?us "he risen Messiah appeared to him while he was in the full course of his m!^^"! P"«""'™. convinced him that hitherto his eyes had been ™,1™,"" !'■"'• 'ri"^'t^"i Himself in him as the Son of G^ This event explains all hus subsequent life. Every action and thouiht t^Z'!jlTh"!=T'"^ °' "^= S"" "' ^-'^ toward him? unworfhy 10 be an apostle (i Cor. 15:9. 10: Eph. 3:8). unwunny <.„^.. J'''y''w" t'^stMBoay canaot be invalidated by a theory that the apostje suffered from haiBucination (2 Cor. 12:1-12), for he always dis- tinguishes between these and his first sight of Jesus Th s latTer even nr^Jt" T ''""'' "his career, up towards ihich there were no an nroaches from misgiving lest he might be fighting against G,xl H^s le ters show no thread.s running through his earlier exper^nce in new rlTrWb'n '"'"' '>''"«;"<'>' '" '-^ combined by a visio"imo the TnTk , i^ experience. But were even his visions (2 Cor, 12) noth- ing but subjeaive trances? Tf so k means that his beli.-f thai he re- ceived truth from another world was doe to the physical re:, "t on fr^ Jem^'i^W^r*" """"""■ ^"'i *?*"" •='■"•'" '° >hi« conclusion ™ m™ r^ntroll^.; T ""-""^ ■'"°" '"'"' "^^'c^ t-c brought into plav and controlled. Is spiritual intoxication sufficient to account f,.r thcc un surpassed results in life? If so our best things are based on hSuud^S- 3. Further Paul is not a fanatic swayed by a theory He does not plr^J^' ''"Ar^ '"'' '^'^"'"" '" the abstract, l" f ab^tn a I v"ng fZl ■'rr^'^t'''" "',""* '"'" ""i' '"c on a certain day (Gal I Vei for hi, T^rH J''" 3"°'"' "^' PO'S'^cd by an overmastering pLssion for his Lord. Men do not make mistakes about these ethical crises ih^t ZVr'V" ""/''P<^»"ncc of a person who became a steadfaf lend and by whose influence they have been saved from ruin ..\ over S .h orl' "' '" "•'"'^','■. "l" ''"''"' ^'' '«'""''• And Paul loved Jesus ITth absorbing passion (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 8.15; 2 Cor. 5:14). iJn„.^''"l'.?""'",'5^"P'-"'"C'l I'y hi' education and environment He impresfid the world in sp.le of his Judaism. Indeed he is often said m lewM."/''','"' '°"^¥ ^^'!""' "■= "' '"PPO^d .0 ha ve ou tg ,wn h s /h?jL'' """'■''■ ■?"' ''Jf.Ptecsely m that which is non-Jewfsh *„ hi,^ hat his power resides His enthusiastic witness to the fact hat lesu^ IS the crucified and liv ng Chnst— the vcrv jntith.s. V,( 1,: .-^ ' ^ conceptions-has persuaded the world, for f7om,h,'p aching fl.^^d'a inoral renewal. Patil repudiates glory for himself. His chtfrch™ and The Truth of tri Apostolic Goanl Study II; The Christian Literature The New Testament First Day: Coxtemp»rar\ Jkw isu Writings Lack Creativk Power T. Great literature is ah convictions, and cnthusiasn he outcome of the powerfwl emotions. f life. A sccf^ical age c.»"*not produce books to charm the worlH. fur men are o« ihe wh^ Sealtliv-minded and trust rather than disfc. -^vc. Now the New Testa»hrnt b<:Iongs pre- eminently to an age of fait . It is pervaded by one and liu- ^iime spirit, and is in all its varied ciiaracter and literary forms expressive of a unique and strong life. The New Testament is one book because it deals with phases of the selfsame life. 2. As far .IS literature is concerned thv- epoch was barren. There had been no great ideas stirring to kindk the imagination, and the New Testament stands by itself in the century which it covers. To take the writings which in form most nearly approach the New Testament — the contemporary literature of the Jews, This is somewhat voluminous. Leaving out of account the Old Testament Apocrypha, the best writ- ings belong to the class entitled "pseudepigraphic, ' consisting for the most part of apocalypses bearing the names of Old Testament worthies — the Book of Enoch, the Ascension of Isaiah, the Assumption of Moses, the Aptvalypse of Baruch. They are composed of visions and medleys of Hncy wrought into shafK- as protests against the existing order of things, reflections of national ideals cast upon the clouds of a stormy present. It is a topsy lurvy world in which the sanity of true literature 19 sacrificed to the dreams of the enthusiast. The average Jewish apocalypse is ineffective. In contrast to these our caninical apocal)rpse, tnough often incongruous and full of unintelligible imagery, is instinct with and capable of producing a mighty faith. A passion, a volume of belief, a wave of confidence surges through the book, bearing forward its strange tig\ires. imagery and visions to a crest, but leaving them behind as it rolls on and breaks with magnificence on the shores of the eternal wcvid (Rev. 21 and 22). 3. Tbe Psalms of the Pharisees or Salomon (50 B. C?) are the finest of contemporary Jewish literature, suggestive in many ways of the hsrmn^ of Mary and Zacharias (Luke i :47-SS. 67-79). though they lack tlwr buoyant and prophetic spirit. But of all Jewish writings of that time it may be said that they are devoid of creative or prophetic genius. They smell of the lamp, or have the tone of the ecclesiastic or disap- pOMted nationalist. Hardly any would be read with interest were it n"? »r the light they throw on the world from which the New Testament sprang. 74 Thi Tiuth or thi Aristolic Goim. Study ii: The New Testawnt Second Day: Thrown into RF.LiEr dy Succeeding VVritinrs I. A comparison of the Ntw Testament with contemporary or suc- ceeding Christian writings heightens the impression of its uniqueness Ihese are easily recognized to be derivative, indeed the best of them are frankly so Ariy reader of the apocryphal gospels, acts, or epistles finds himself ushered into a very rarified atmosphere, which could hardly sus- tain high-toned religious life. In them are thrown together things of value and things of trivial character side by side. They suffer from want of power to discriminate between what is congruous and what is singularly inappropriate in persons whose names in the New Testa- ment stand for somethii... of altogether different grade. Thev have small sense of spiritual truth. ' ,t.'' lif'y "' "5" °L ■''"'""ly la/gcr caliber on the borderland of St 11 linger among their successors. But a decline Is manifest even here Su 1, .'i? the prophetic lire of James: Ignatius is fervid and lovable, but his intellectual grip is feebler and his spiritual insight less discerning han that of the New Testament writers; and the Teaching n„/!^ V 't i'!£f"" "L""'.' ""f '"°""' "' ">= PT" teaching of thi perfect law of liberty changing into a legalistic standard. The best explanation of this is that none of these writers came into direct touch with Jesus Christ and the creative agencies which were at work in the circle of His immediate disciples. The personal glow is lessening be- cause the Jesus of history is represented now by but few of those who knew Him. " U ^ ''^* y"' *t '" 'T Rood, more love Through me to men t be nought but ashet here J.,.V "^"P awhile my siemblance. who was John— Stm. when they ncatter, there la left on earth No one alive who knew (consider this.) —Saw with hii eyes and handled with his hands That which was Irom the lirst. the Word of Lite. How will it be when none more saith ' I mw"? " —/t. fir^'wniHf. A Death in the Dttert. The consciousness of the New Testament revelation is expressed in R«. 2J:U'i9 '3-8. »; ■ Thcss. 4:1s; John 1:14: i JoL 1:1-4; f ^- J*" .''"?''"' °' "" P-ristian Fathers of the second, third and bu??1,ev",n"„"1 "r'J° ^ .""r" "■=" 'h« °f th<^ sub-ap^stoli? a^. bu they all profess to be merely interpreters of the New Testament, and rrel?t,,o'"''"''"'^.;™"f5 "' revelation. The canonical Scrip ures fhe™ ,f4; S"l' '" ""= *'4"""5- Suddenly the traveler comes upon eenH,r?e tl,., «'»' *?"<'"«' ■'"■0"«t> t ract s of barrenness, and in the thr ^, V ' fo""". h^ »«" spots of spiritual genius are spread along the water courses which have issued from this spring of life T» TiUTB or nt AroiTOUC Gofim. Study ii: The New Testament Third Day: The Style and Language of the New Testament 1. There ii very little literary grace in the New Teitamcnt. Some of the writer!, notably the author of Hebrewi, were men of culture, but the average style lacks zsthelic distinction, such as belongs to masters of the silver age of Greek like Polybius or Plutarch. Paul, it is true, was a man of the highest education, but he gave small heed to form. In his eagerness he presses forward till he breaks through his language and his thought becomes abrupt (l Cor. 13:1-9; Gal <,'^'- 2:3-10). His message not his style, except in so far as the style is the man, gained the attention of his readers, though the cultured Athenians found his enthusiasm to be excessive, and put him aside as bad form (Acts 17:33). These words are true of the gospel of John— "We must not apply aesthetic standards to religious literature, but from the peculiar charm of the measured wave-like movement of the sentences, which give an impression of the divine character of Jesus, so clear and deep, so simple and exalted, so still and so powerful, so solemn and so smooth, so enigmatical and so self-evident, no one can escape who seeks for Christ in the gospel" (Heinrici). 2. This drives us down to the heart nf tht- matter. The New Testa- ment is a product of the everyday speech nf the people, being composed in what is called "the common dialect." and that as spoken by the com- mon folk rather than as written by the cultured. But this language, though of vulgar origin, moves with dignity, its spirit is hiprh born, and it carries its everyday and simple garb with noble bearing. A few words were coined, but the real change is in the spirit with which the old terms were invested, words once ignoble or pedestrian, f. _^., "cross." "minister." "church," "gospel," being exalted to celestial significance; while, as wc have seen, several nf the Christi.in virtues had to be pro- vided with nomenclature. "The vitality of the New Testament language resides in the spirit that quickens it. It is as pervasive as the atmos- phere, but as intangible as a perfume" (J. H. Thayer). 3. This phenomenon is worth pondering. The instrument for the transmission of divine truth is not the language of the cultured, nor of the subtle philosopher; it is just average speech, commonplace ex- pression, which any one may understand. A grammarian may be shocked at its errors, a rhetor cian at the graceless style, but like the dull carbon when aglow wit! electric light, this New Testament speech illuminated by the Divine Spirit has shed forth truth upon the world. (See Deissmann's "Bible Studies": J. H. Thayer's article, "language of New Testament" in Hastings' "Dictionary of the Bible"; J. H. Motil- ton's articles on "Characteristics of New Testament Greek' in the "Expositor" for 1904.) ;6 Thi TiUTB o» TH« \ro«TOLic Gotm. Study ii: The New Testament loLHTH Day: Jewish Books Become the Reliciou* Classics of the Gentiles 1. ThtK booki are Jewish in ipirit and form. How is it that Jesus has become ihe Teacher of mankind though He couched so much of His discourse in provincial Jewish language? How is ii that sparks of truth shot off in lii-ated controversy with the Pharisees, and expressed in terms of the Jewish theocratic ideal, are the vehicle .>( r .velation to the world? Because that comparatively sequestered nation 'ud sent forth a stream of the noblest teachers in mailers that pertain God and the soul. To the Jew belonged the spiritual intelligence necessary to fathom the gospel and to interpret it to the world, and he alone had a -ufR- ciently endowed character to be a rimpetent missenKvr concerning the Kingdom of Jesus. 2. But the Jewish peopli of that age had been saddled with the Phari- sees, who as self-constituted pedagogues had ridden them into a hard slavery. Iherefore Jesus had first to unseat these pedagogues relieve the Israelite of his burden, and call to his mem. ry the well-nigh for- gotten truths of the prophets on whii h Hebr. v character had been moulded. This is the reason of so much discussion in the gospels Only thus could Jesus bring to light the great hidden truths of the past and show how Ihey wen carried to rompletion in His message. 3. On turning to the epistles or,, might fancy at first sight that they could not be attractive to the Gentiles. Romans might be thought to re- quire a Jewish constituency, and Hebrews even more so. Their long and subtle argum;nts derive their cogency from thrir contrasts with Jewish theology, practice, or ritual. Their authors a|ir» al boldly to the Jewish Scriptures without having recourse to the allegory of Philo in order to adapt them to the cultured Gentile world. Then what of the imagery of the Apocalypse? And yet in spite of their difficulties they have becoine the standard religious literature nf the progressive nations of the world: and not of the Western world it.ne. for the immense and growing work of the Bibh societies proves hit the Scriptures are dis- placing other sacred books where they enter int.. competition with them How IS this to be explained ? MKROCOPT RtSOLUTION TiST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 1.0 ■ 23 11-25 11.4 11.6 I.I J /tPPLIEG IIVMGE Inc ie» Casl Mam Street Roch«»ltr. Nt» Yorli 1*609 US* (716) ♦82 -0»0 - Ptior« <716) 288-5989 -Fa. The Teuth op the Apostouc Gospel Study ii: The New Testament Fifth Day: Jesus '"hrist the Unity of the New Testament 1. The unity of the New Testament is explained by the purpose which traverses it from beginning to end, though it is surprising that that purpose should have been so consistently maintained in a literature which grew as it did. In the case of the gospels it is obvious that they were all written with a definite purpose, which from various points of view is the same — to set forth the historical facts of Christ's life in such a manner as to show that no other foundation can any man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. An actual life, the materials of which two writers claim to have verified (Luke 1:1-4; John i : 14-18; 10:35; 21:24), forms the source of the rest of the New Testament. These gospels were written not as literary biography, but to edify (Mark 1:1; Matt. 1:21-23; Luke 1:4; John 20:31). Each writer be- lieved that Christ, and He alone, was the Gospel. 2. Many of the epistles on the other hand were put forth to meet the current necessities of the Church ( i Cor. ; 2 Cor. ; Gal., see especially 6 : 11-18; and 3 John), and we have only a selection from a large corre- spondence. But they are all an application of the principles of Christ's hfe to the everyday needs of the believer. As a whole the Acts and epistles are an interpretation of the Person of Christ whom His followers were learning to know more deeply through experience. "It was by something more divine than a sure instinct that the interpretation of Christ's Person was made to occupy a larger space in the New Testa- ment than even the words of Jesus. It is the faith which the book em- bodies more than the facts it states that has placed upon its brow the crown of its illuminative history" (Fairbairn). 3. So the unity of the New Testament consists in its picture of Jesus Christ. The writers claim that they can describe this Person. Some assert that they had lived with Him on earth, or had had a vision of the risen Christ, and that they knew His mind. Though His Spirit still lives and works in their midst it must be defined by the character of the historic Jesus (John 16:14; 2 Cor. S'^?)- The purpose, origin, and unity of the New I'cstament are found in the Person of Jesus Christ. It is often a commonplace setting for a wonderful character, much of it having been written to give advice on humble duties, or to counteract mistaken notions of average Christians, but this casual literature has be- come the world's standard because of the marvelous Person it enshrines. Thi TiiuiH OF THi Aposnuc GOSPIL Study ii: The New Testament Sixth Day: The New Testament Answers Man's Hardest Questions 1. But the question still remains, Why do these Jewish books which deal with the life and Person of the Messiah appeal to the heart of the world ? As Coleridge said, the Scriptures "find" HS, the same idea th^t they hare a marvelous self-revealing power being expressed in Heo. 4:12, 13; I John 5:9-12. No honest soul can carefully study the New Testament without being morally quickened, spiritually uplifted and in- spired with a new sense of the worth of life. Through it all there is an unmatched elevation. Much of this breaks forth from simplest words which need no explanation, but can be understood by the unlearned, though like pure and clear mountain lakes their depth is unfathomable. On the other hand many of the truths of the New Testament are so lofty that they_ seem like distant snow-clad ^eaks piercing the blue, whose re- flection lies across these same mountain lakes, but they are inaccessible even to the most experienced climbers. 2. We do not take long to discover that we ourselves are the greatest riddle of life. What am I? Whither am I going? To these the most insistent questions of our nature the New Testament supplies the an- swer. We are made in the image of God and can find no rest but in Him (Matt. 5:48; 11:28, 29: John 14:1-6; 2 Cor. 3:18; Heb. 4:9). The fundamental axiom of the Bible is that there is a God. Its revelation consists in the nature of the God of whom it teaches. Absolutely righteous, self-consistent, free from moods or envy. He is the all-wise, eternal Sovereign, loving mercy and hating iniquity, forgiving sin. The Holy Father is eager to receive the love of all His children. 3. As compared with the Old Testament the New Testament teaches a fuller idea of the Divine Nature. Holiness is no longer expressed in ritual, but in the purest ethical terms, some of the qualities with which Jehovah was thought to be endowed by writers of the Old Testa nent having disappeared in the fuller light of the New. It professes to ful- fill the promise of the new covenant (Jer. 3i;3iflf.). God is no longer the God of the Jews, but the Father of mankind. Salvation is for the world (John 4:21-24). 79 Thc Truth of thk Apostolic Gospil Study II: The New Testament Seventh Day : The Optimism of the New Testament Based on Jesus Christ 1. Our next question is, What is man? Nowhere are the facts of human life faced with such sincerity as in the New Testament. Sin is painted as it really is. Man is dealt with as he is found, due heed being paid to the testimony of conscience and the lessons of remorse. The light of Christ's pure life streaming from the cross deepens the sense of human shame. Where is the hideousness of the sin m whicii the race is sunk depicted in such awful and yet self-restrained and dis- cerning terms as in the New Testament? (Matt. 23; John 3:17-21; Rom. 3:9-20; Eph. 2:1-3: Heb. 2:14, 15; James 4:1-10; i Peter 4: 17-19)- "The human race," as Newman says, "is implicated in some ter- rible aboriginal calamity, and is out of joint with the purposes of its Creator." This has been called Christian pessimism. 2. Along with this there is an unexampled view of the noble inherent dignity of man, and at the same time strong confidence as to his future destiny (i Cor. 15:20-28). Other literature is full of despondency as to human nature, but according to the New Testament the race gets a fresh start in Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:12-21; Eph. 2:10; i John 4:9). From Him flows a stream of pure life for the cleansing of depraved man and restoring him to the righteous Father. To these fundamental questions as to God, man iiid salvation there are no discrepant answers in the New Testamen',. The book is one in its spirit. 3. There is a .endency to-day among some critics to ascribe not only Hebrews, but all our gospels except Mark, and many of the chief epis- tles to unknown authors, or to schools of apostolic foundation. A real appreciation of ti^e spiritual magnitude of these books renders this ^rtma facie very unlikely. Was the turn of the first century so prolific m spiritual genius that the authors of these world classics should, have been lost in the crowd? To point to the anonymity of Jewish literature does not meet the dificulty, for none of it is of first rate order. But it is especially insufficient as an answer because the writers of the New Testament lay such stress en testimony. Their gospel was bound up with the truth of certain facts concerning Jesus Christ. If the New Testament is derived from the apostles or their companions, and is due to the more or less direct inspiration of Jesus Christ whom they knew and loved, there is at least an adequate solution of the problem on its religious side. PART II. THE NEW TESTAMENT EXPLANATION OF THE FOREGOING PHENOMENA— THE APOSTOLIC GOSPEL Thi T»utb or THi Arosiouc Gospil Study 12: The Gospel First Day : The Phenomena and Their Wondrous Explanation 1. To recapitulate, we have been brought face to fare with i mar- veloijs ethical creation, a new type of character and life. Wiihin the widely scattered and variously assorted Christian Brotherhood there arose an ideal transcending in its worth the purest dreams of prophets and sages, and that ideal was wrought out in the everyday life of mul- titudes drawn from everv rank in society, and often from most untoward circumstances. Not only were humble lives beautified, but they were inspired by a conviction of the worth of the unseen which reversed for ttiem the values placed by the ordinary man on the things of the world. 1 heir richest blessings lay in the beyond. Moreover, new powers were at work m their midst, which they believed to come as spiritual gifts from their exalted Lord. It was a brotherhood of priests and prophets all in the enjoyment of the Holy Spirit, but there emerged from it a number of men of supreme endowments whose spiritual eminence gave them leadership. From the circle of the brethren there has also come a hterature which is the classic source for the religious and moral ideals of the Western civilization. ^i\ "v* "-^ '"." "■ »'="";?'. '°r "'i" phenomenon? The explanation of the New Testament itself is that it was due to the Gospel of Tesus thrist. This might be inferred from the position given to the narra- tives ot the life of Jesus and their length, at the opening of the New lestament But it is explicitly stated by Paul almost as a ringing chal- lenge fi a)r. 1:18-25; Gal. 3-J-5). and the epistles to the Hebrews (2:3, 4), of James (ir 18), Peter (l Peter 1 : 23-25), and John(l John i: 7 ; 4 : 14) bear witness to the same effect. All agree that there is one and only one source of moral renewal, that no other gospel can compete with their message (Gal. i:6ff.). 3- That gospel had a vitality which radium-like was not diminished by the moral energy it created. Doubtless its success was an inmien,«e onfirmatory evidence of its universal truth to the first missionaries. But in Itself their message was to them a constant wonder. They felt even more than we do that their words and the phenomena of their circle were a startling contrast to the ordinary happenings of life. They realized to the full the magnitude of the change that had come over the world, and they were prepared to accept responsibility for the stu- pendous explanation they gave of its cause. It is impossible to trace an increasing wonder fed by fancy across a chasm of years, beginning in the earlier bodts and growing as myths grow, till a simple human life IS cast like the Brocken mirage in giant shape upon the clouds of the imagination. They knew that they were living in the midst of wonders transacted m a commonplace world. In its full daylight they gave one and the same self-consistent account of these marvels. But they stood all i«t agnast at the audacity of their explanation (Rom. i : 16, I7 • 11 • 33-?o; Heb. 1:1-4; I Peter 1:10-12; i John 3:1, 2). 83 TBI TiuTB or TUi ArotTouc Goiru. Study 12: The Gospel Seconp Day : The Living Word of Truth 1. The gospel is "the Word of God," which God Himself speaks. There has been but one Word from the beginning, though it.-, meaning has only fully come in Jesus Christ (Heb. i:i). No commot.er figure for the gospel is found than that of the seed (Matt. 13: 3-3,'/ ■ This seed is germinant with the will of God for our salvation (Jam-:' 1:18: I Peter 1:23-25). Carried by preachers to every part of the world the seed bears fruit, and waxing strong enables those who receive it to over- come the evil (Col. 1:6; I John 2:14). 2. It is a living word. As such it is in marked contrast to the writ- ten code of the old covenant, which like all mere systems of precepts grew antiquated (2 Cor. 3:6; Gal. 3:21). Life exists only by adaptation to environment, or, perhaps we should say, by adapting through its in- herent power its environment to its own uses, transmuting dead material into forms of organic existence. In like manner the gospel is not a dead written letter, but is an eternal truth that will fit itself into each indi- vidual's conditions and into the circumstances of every age (John 16:13). 3. As the word of God the gospel is "the truth (i Thess. 2:1^; Eph. 1:13; 2 Tim. 2:15; Heb. 10:26; James 1:18; i John 4:6). This is a wide term, covering all life; it is an ethical or spiritual idea, not primarily intellectual. The gospel is what God has to say on life^m its complete range, and just because it helps men to attain unto the more life and fuller" it is their salvation. It is the truth because God Himselt who speaks it is the Light (l John I :s; Eph. 5:8, 9, I3)- 4. Therefore the gospel is authoritative. Man's word may be a mat- ter of opinion, shifting as the wind or designed by craft after the wiles of error Not so God's word (Eph. 4:14)- Like all truth it searches the conscience and will not allow a man to conceal his sins from the scrutiny of God (Heb. 4:12, 13)- There is such a thing as a duty to believe Words of the truth of life come home to a man speaking with the tones of a rightful master in the inmost rooms of the heart, and they send the evil spirits shuddering out into the dark. Such a power the gospel has always exercised. It is not a few precepts to be exhausted bv literal obedience, nor mere formulas in the shape of a creed to be assented to as theoretically correct. 84 Thi 1 >UTH or TBI Aroimic Goim Study 12: The Gospel Third Day: The Unchanging Gospel Comes from Jesus Christ I- Tht gospel of the living God, the one and unchanging truth, is traced back to the life of Jesus upon earth (i Tim. 6:3). In one of the latest writings of the New Testament we find the conviction that the gospel as preached in the Christian tradition is true to its source ( ' John 1:3:2:7); indeed in this epistle great stress is laid on the truth of the gospel as being guaranteed by persona] testimony (1 John 1:1-3: 4: 14). On turning to one of the earlier and indisputable letters we dis- cover the same sense of continuous tradition, and that, too, in a church over which the apostle had no authority, and to whose foundation and upbuilding he had so far contributed nothing. Paul's words in Rom. 6: 17 imply that the gospel to which his readers owe their salvation is the same as that which he preaches. Moreover, it is truth to be obeyed. 1. The Book of Acts may be taken as representing the common be- lief of the Church during the latter half of the first century. From Acts 2:42 we gather that the brethren were persuaded that one and only one variet- of doctrine had been handed down from the apostles. Paul mentions in Gal. 1:23 the incredulity of the churches of Judaea with regard to himself. Evidently there was only one "faith," or body of truth which evoked faith among the brethren. With intense indig- nation he rejects the half truths of his opponents as being destructive of his gospel (Gal. 1:7: 2:7). This common faith centered in the un- cha' ging Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:7-9). :. The gospel then was regarded as one and the .liame. It had been preached before Paul was converted, in Judaea (1 Thess. 2:14), Rome and other parts, and it was held, they believed, in its ancient purity by the Hebrew Christians, and by the churches of Asia Minor to which the Johannine epistles were written. But though it was the same word of God, some had heard it directly others indirectly. Miny claimed that they had listened to Jesus Himself on earth (John 1:14; I Cor. 15.6). Paul got his gospel from the risen Christ ; most, however, from those who had been disciples 01 Jesus (Heb. 2:3). It was in one and all the (Gospel f f God traced back to its first Preacher, Jesus Himself (Mark 1:14; John 18:37). 8S The T»uih or ihi Akhtolic Gosiil Study 12: The Gospel Fourth Day: The Gospel the Good News of God's Grace I. In iu literal stnie the word "gospel " meanj "good newi. As employed in the New Testament, where it first occurs in the narratives of Christ's life, it implies that a line of promises lies behind it. Jehovah had spoken good tidings through His prophets of a glorious coming kingdom, and of a new covenant when the Spirit of the Lord would be poured forth (Jer. 3i:3lff)- All these things arc fulfilled in Jesus Christ (Matt. 26:28). The new Israel takes the place of tl.^ old (l Peter a:4-l0). 1 The gospel is indeed (he best of all news, for it tells of salvation to a world of sinful men. All are plunged in sin. and under the distress of guilt. God's anger is manifested everywhere in the blunted under- standing, the evil impulses of men, and their works of darkness (Eph. 3 1, 3, la; 4:18). Mankind is in an evil plight, but >o this al -rrani and undeserving world there comes a message of grace. "Grace and "gospel" are almost convertible terms. Grace is the quality of the sov- ereign Father who has not averted His countenance from the children of men in fixed displeasure, but has tuTied it towards them, and is wiHing to enter into fellowship with all His sinful sons who will turn to Him (.Acts 11:23: Rom. l:s: 3:24: Eph. 2:8: James 4:6; i Peter 1:10). Salvation issues from the gracious disposition of God. The gospel is the glad tidings that God has actually drawn near to pardon men. 3. Thus the New Testament idea of salvation puts it far beyond the reach of any mere effort of man by himself. It is not the result of his ethical striving to loosen himself from the coils that his sin has wound about him ; it is not bestowed as a measure of desert ; it does not come in an order of merit to those whose character is less sinful than that of their fellows. Salvation is a free, unstinted gift for all equally, if they will receive it, from the Father of lights whose loving face is shadowed by no edipse (Jame. ::I7). This undeserved blessing is so beyond the devisinga of man, both in its present potency and its promise, that its contemplation awakens the writers of the New Testament to ever-increasing nurvel. History converges upon its announcement : the prophets of the past burdened with such gracious purposes, p.-er into the future to catch a glimpse of its glories, and the angels in heaven cease for a moment in their service to behold the progress of the message on earth (1 Peter 1:10-12: Eph. 1:4. lo). 86 Tai TiOTB or tbe Akstouc Gofrn Study [2: The Gospel Fifth Day: How Can Sinful M/n Approach the Holv God I. The primary fact of the gospel is its message as t j God. He is the l-ather of mercies and God of all comfort (2 Cor. 1 : 3), the Brstower of grace, the Enricher with every blessing (i Cor. 1:4. 5); h; pardons ""•?<' '^"''l" beauty of hohness on all who come within the range of His gifts (Heb. 13:30 ai). But the God of the New Testament is also the Jehovah of the Old Testament, the eternal righteous One in whom IS light and no darkness at all (i John 1:5). Ko shadow from the clouds of our nful world is nst upon His holiness (Job 15:15: neb. 9:aj)., How then can He come into contact with such a world ajours? Sin 13 the neption of the divine rule. God is holy love. Arc not the 1 biects of His love only those who love righteousness and 'late iniquity? '» it not lelf-contradicting for a holy God to have intercourse with a world of sinful men? How is the Chrisiian message of the God of grace possible ? ..': ^^'J''" '*" '•>'' difficulty, and in order not to infringe upon the divine hohiiess he taught that Jehovah dwelt apart from this world. The Jew had become j deist. Bold and hard .is this doctrine was it ex- pressed a fai profounder religious idea than that of the Greeks, who allowed their gods freerjicense than men in their debaucheries. Jehovah was for the Jew at once the source and thi: standard of all moral ex- cellence. PIai>, :.ad put this dilemma. Is holiness holiness because it is loved by the gods? or is it loved by the gods because it is holiness? The Hebrew replied, The will of God is holiness. Holiness is not a law that stands above and outside God. Garbled as was the teaching of ihe later scribes, the message of Israel was always recognizable, that God is an ethical Person from whom comes the unchanging moral order of the world. 3- But here arose the despair of prophecy (Isa. 6:5-7). The highe. ihe id ■ 15-17) Paul also has a passion for righteousness (Rom. 9: ■4-»4 1 3:3-0). C>ne of the leading themes of the Epistle to the Hebrews is the necessity of a more sympathetic and faithful priest (Heb. j: 17: 4: i4-i6). a more real temple and a more efficient sacrifice (7 : 26-28 ; 8:1, ^^ 9J'i' '°- ig-22), in order that we may enjoy fellowship with our heavetily Father. But it is needless to labor at such a plain truth as speaks >t°<"'J''y page of the New Testament. From God the primal light is the highest that hath entered into the mind of man of purity, virtue, holiness. Till TiUTH Of THi AnuToiic Gotnn. Study 13; The Gospel Sevkntu Day : Jesus Ciihisv the Proof tiia. Jod is Uulv Love ,t,'. A^"^ i"?i'"i' """'""'y "' "« N'* Ttsuir. 11 conception of God i> ^ .d« ol H.I love He ■> the Father, .Ibeit , Holy father. Hrre' ^[?hl.? iT" 1 ^ "S ».n ihii possible? It i« tircaujc He ii Holy 1., »e (i John 4:M9). Only the Hoy God could devue ulvat.on, for all lin is rebellion against Hii will Only the God o( Love could effect salvation, for this is the on" Jower that can overcome hate. Holy L; /- is not indiscriminate benevolence a miality less than the highest in ^ orld where moral order is lupreme H ™?^ir s^i !i . >""»"«« of the Kospel i, that God the Father Himself has shown to the world not only His supreme love, hut His supreme wisdom in establishinu such a salvation (John l:»: Ron. i- 30; I Peter I :i8. 19; t John 1:7-9). 3. This is just the message the world needs. But is it true? A prophet might have a vision of such blessed hope rn of his travail in his world of distress and sin, hut what proof co he afford to others Lr™,„ 'l'„»7'."'. *Tt "'°" """S •"' o*" "tral ">' upon the lurid back- ground of hfe? There are other things in life besides ideals. We have lJ^Il'lrF",""'u ^S'n "igns Death, its curse, is part of the crushing natural order to which the proudest must submit. Is there in reality a" the noblest of our race h„ve believed, a realm of eternal truth beyoni' ■ present, so that this world is but a gloomily brilliant drop scene. >, . shall some day rise and disclose the glory that excelleth? 3. In answer to such questionings the unanimous, nay, passionate re- ply of the New Testament writers is that they have proof of these be- iLvil tJ" ^°*'"'^ 'i'"= "her wor d which are beyond the shadow of a cavil. Never since the birth of history has there been such conviction Soil „. I '' °' """"'«" »"'' °<}^' triumph of human nature in that goal of all good, the Kingdom of God All their avenues of sense, thought and heart were crowded with proofs not to be gainsaid that the things most surely believed by them were true. But these proofs were all gathered up for them in the one great fact— Jisus Christ. He was not only the proof of their gospel. He was their gospel. To use the fine old figure. He is the Rock of Ages. Against it waves might dash, men might be swept past it, mists and clouds might gather round its peaks, but He stood as the one great fact that could not be shaken In Him was a wenlth of truth as to the reconciling and triumphant Holy Love ot (jod that was beyond mortal powers to track out (Eph 38) 89 Thi Tktth of TBI Apostouc Gopb. Study 13: The Jesus of the Gospels First Day : Our Gospels the Product of Faith in Jesus Christ as the Risen and Living Son of God the common 1 It is assumed in the New Testament that the foundation of the Christian faith was 'lid when Jesus Christ appeared oti the scene of the world's history. The four gospels stand at its beginnmg as the source from which the new life took its rise. Tnese gospels were written of course by believers, and they present the average Christian opinion of Christ from, at latest, the last quarter of the first century onwards. We have no life of Christ, strange to say not even any significant estiirate of Him or His work, from Jew or pagan. Those who wrote these gos- pels as they now stand were not only sympathetic towards Jesus, but were persuaded that He had a right to those Divine attributes whichin the Old Testament were the prerogatives of Jehovah alone. So every in- cident of His life on earth is recorded by men who were convinced that He was the Son of God. The facts are dyed m the color m which they were immersed. 2 Every gospel was written after the epistles of Paul. They saw lielit first in a world which, we have already seen, accepted a eomi gSspel, and the evident purpose of each narrative is so to. portray the fife of Jesus as to edify a cWch already holding a psffl ■■> »" '^^^. tials the same as that given us in the epistles of Paul. Even the gospel of M*k,^1ch is accepted to-day by scholars as t^e earliest all, _;s in its present form a portraiture of Jesus as the Son of God m very much the same sense as Rom. 1 : 1-4. 1 For our present purpose therefore we may take our gospels as they now stand, postponing any ulterior q«"f™s as to the Jesus of Ins- tory since our aim is to study the Person whom the Church, whose lifV we have already seen, placed at the heart of her gospel. That Church found both h'^r mot'ive and her hope in the Chnst who,, nature was far beyond any human proportions, and believed intensely that this Sil? wis'^also the Jesus 0? hfstory. Unfortunately P,e;ha?s <^e may say, this belief is not so universal m our age, "sicklied <>" "'* 'J^ Pf'5 cast of thought." But what Figure is it that comes forth with such majesty from the pages of our gospels? 90 Th« Ikuih op thi ArosTouc Gospei. Study 13: The Jesus of the Gospels Second Day: Elements in His Perfect Character-Its Equipoise Ideal of perfect beauty into marble • Jesus Christ LiJ>SL<"^ ""!,'"? beauty in human flesh and Wood 'He "iso^ I'iedTnff ^ LZ'l' "■"' ltpl°^'t^ToseTar-pr?;otli"3t,"'^'«''<^^^^^^ from ieaf'rL'i"wrrb°U''thi"l:.h'/"r/^ '«■" °' •>"« ^"^ '"' The Truth or thi Apostolic Gospel Study 13: The Jesus of the Gospels Third Day : His Sinlessness I rh^ There is no trace of self-dissatisfaction in the life of Jesus. It is true that He grew in wisdom (Luke a: 53), and the temptation (Luke 4:1-13) is explicable only on the "'"■"P""".,"'" *5'" <^°i' wUl was revealed to Him in the baptism. He fouiid « a hard strugge To atondon the ideal of the Kingdom of God, which till this time He had cher°fhed as the will of God, for the higher ideal of w.nmug the Wngdom through a life of suffering. But the narrat.ve distinctly sa^s that He was victorious (4:13), and thus far He had evidently attained. (SttfltruggUs cir, nUab?;^he agoni«d fear of Gethsemane (^^^^^^ m744), but they reveal to us the process by which He learn«i obedience nitb \-7. 8), a progress in which He put his foot firmly, if often with infinUe pa n! on t'he step that rose before Him and never wavered nor retrrated Unlike the ordinary man He displays none of the repeated effort to force a reluctant and undisciplined lower self into obedience to His higher nature. Of all men He alone can be said to have at- tained. 2 The distress of Jesus is occasioned by the evils amcmg »*ich He fee s constrained to live. His love impels Him to sacrifice His own "iitJTn order to place Himself alongside of men whose natures and condSon", so anta|onistic to His own in ""■;„ 7'£^^'V7he jep^h caused Him intense suffering. Agamst the purity of His life 'be depth to which hatred can go seems abysmal. No one by life »,"* "°fa tas ever riven even approximately such a relentless exposure of the heart of li^ Tmrt from the interpretation of Gethsemane as the proof that Jesus h^d taken upon HiSself a responsibility for sins, wl"?h were causing Him no sense of personal guilt. He is not so brave in death as many an average man. ■> Tesus looks into the mirror of His own heart to find reflected there the will^f God (Matt. 11 :27; John 5:19). Paul on the ontrary always looks to Christ, and his life is one o? desperate struggle, the odds beTnlofKrso heavy against him that he almost fears fo' the '"y'' (I Cor ■'•J?). Jesus having created a new sense of sin in the word and hiving set an unattainable standard of conduct before men, must surelv bi finless if He is thus free from self-dissatisfaction. He reads ^hearts of others (Mark 2:9) ; could He not read His »*"• »"d s« the slightest taint of sin if there had been any there? Could He in {?mh have uttered the words of Matt. 11:28-30 unless He had been pure in heart? 9» Thi Truth of th« Atostouc Gospel Study 13: The Jesus of the Gospels Fourth Dav: His Svmpathv, and Attitude Towards God harshn«s (Luke 7:47 John 5™! • Mark\' "^s?" ,"> "'"•»='' ""hou; purity He can deal me^cifuUy w th the sinntr^ rq, " ""'' ?/ "'^ o*" sage inserted in John 8:1-1 A In th^ m".rl.l„^ " especially the pas- passes the greatest of H sipos. es wh^for l?r,h~'"'''"''r "« '"" casionally overstepped the mark f Gal? ■„ « '"■ S°"' """'>' «- I. John 2:22 with K.I^S)^Sfel.;'t'-,.•'='• ^^°.'■ "•'"•; =f- tion guilt, how to hold the^ilince between what wa?^. ''hi':''* '? "*■»'- presence. Even J^'-^^'^^^St^SI T^^UZ ^^^^ isi&:SrtSS/^.r^^^ « hun«n sorrows (Mar^k "Ss" Before t^ecrisefnfV^'"''"'''^^?^ '^'"' nourishment (John 4:34) Every turn th»?™™ ° ?" S'" '» "« K"v'^^7^?biSS^---- ^St td la" """ -?i?" '<> "«^n" .W°?feTuf'HirSeTf d:,;\'„"d'^^ti't *5 t'o°w"ij5st?;.;irra''.hi? "-^ «-=' "-">'"- »' "- 93 Thi Truth or thi Apostolic Gospil Study 13: The Jesus of the Gospels Fifth Day: Some Leading Principles in the Teaching OF Jesus 1 (2) The teaching of Jesus contributes largely to the estimate which we form of the character of this Person in whom the brotherhood believed. His doctrine dealt chiefly with eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Its conditions of entrance are given in John 3:3; Matt 18 : 3 . and the quality of its members in Matt. 5.:l-j6-, They "« '"""d °«f «° > most stringent righteousness penetrating below the letter of Gods law w its spirit (Matt. S-'7-x>). There are two foci to the ellipse of the ife of a citizen of the Kingdom of God-love to God and love to man (Mark 12:28-31). Love is thus the fulfillmg of the law. Now for- evermore religion and morali/ are united. It is true that the Old Testament prophets had sought to unite what the ritualists had divorced, ^'nUih comparative unsuccess (Micah 6:8)- J""' J''-™?" ■«° prominence the deepest truths of the old covenant and made them live in the hearts of His disciples. . . , , ... , 2 He distinguishes what is ethical and spiritual from what is merely ceremcTnial or dvil (Matt. 5:21-6:18). . Essentially different as they are in themselves they lay side by side m the Jewish «™0";y " '"- timately as the particles in a heap of iron filings and sulphur, though they were never fused into one, and in that age there was no prophetic power which like the magnet could disengage the true.steel from the fieap. Jewry was ruled more by caste than by true religion. But Jesus swept away the artificial and unethical distinctions of ritual cleanness (Mark 7:1-23). This was to prove a far-reaching revolution, though formally it was only the clear enunciation of the old demand for purity of heart (Prov. 4:23). Instead of the worship of the letter or the form, God must be worshiped in spirit and in truth (John 4:23. 24), and along with this must go genuije service towards man, which is most truly illustrated in the life of tne Son of man (Mark lo:45). 1 The teaching of Jesus does not consist of precepts, nor is it a new codified morality, but it comprehends a few universal principles which cover the life of roan as it relates to God, his fellow, and himself. He teaches further that the Old Testament when rightly understood con- tains the substance, if it be only in bud of what in His words bursts forth into full flower (Matt. 5:17-20; John. 5: 46, 47). But they have a wonderful originality, (a) He gives the old ideas new emphasis, new perspe" ive andrspiritual purity which the Old Testament setting often ibscured. This is most obviously so in His doc rme of God as the holy vet loving Father of each individual who w.l . accept the sa yation kis lov? has provided (John 3:16). . (b) Religion and mo"«y ?« Sdissolubly c<^bined, and the essential. and formal in worshij^, civil ordinances and the ethical life distinguish-' / '^ .f"]^^} P""xifl^ fMatt 12:7; 0:14-17; 6:1-18). (c) Mo.a;.iy is widened to embrace iiankind Whoever is in need is one's neighbor Lfj, >°:^37)^ (For the subject of this study see Bosworth's "Studies m the Teachmg of Jesus," XVI.— xxiii.) 94 Thi T»uth of ihi Apostouc Gosm. Study 13: The Jesus of the Gospels Sixth Day: Jesus as a Worker of Miracles 1. To appreciate the effect of this teaching on the disciples and the S^l'i',"''"^?'.?""."'"""'"^ "-e wonderful character ^Him who taught, and further the power which was disclosed in His life Person words and works are afi combined in our gospel, to produce a fS of extraordinary impressiveness. So we proceed to the niiracilSi! element m the gospels as they stand. miraculous 2. Jesus has great influence over the demons, workint by the finirer of God results that put the Pharisees to shame. Their exorcilmwal as, a rule a bunghng imposition (Mark 3:22-27; cf. Luke uu-^) Hjs^mmistry is filed with the liberation of victims to tWs awfiil te^U i-^Aj*"" "?■ °""'" ""'f*?'' ^■'h > Sreater show of power embedded m these narratives, not only miracles of healing (Matt 4:24712 VV) (MarkT"« ^l'fi",„°'„'-,"'''5r'^'' 7" "^'"« in its mightier aspem UwarK 5. 35-43. 6:30-52). No reader, however, can fail to be struck by the sobriety of. the delineation, for all these migh°y deeds ^elter- S" Th^^'SiStM'o"'"/'', "" ^°"h J«"' " ' marvelous moral char- nr Srint;. J S^i r? • ^'?"'' '" "''"''' °"" »"<■ '" »" ""= spiritual aTili^ftow^ork^miracles.""* "' ^"""'^''' "■™"" "■' -"--O" "' i,.II"'l"<" "o"""8 °' the mythological in this Figure. The mythical hero performs wondrous deeds in order to magnify his own glory in i.fj:,^''' °',,°'t?''' ""■" V ''rtricating himseK from a dilfifulJJ i? astounding by his power, /esus never does this (Matt. 4:1-7) He IS thoroughly human as far as He Himself is concerned. His power is r.«l!!,"^ °A '.t' ^°°i °' "the"- Then His works are sane, self- restrained and ethical So their effect on the people was not to fill them with alarm as though their life were delivered Tp to the caprice of an fh^fT^'i .""«"■ "' «^.Tf .""T '^'"ead a »)"» (Mark 3:28), His service (Luke 10: 10; Mark 10:45), His glorious future (Luke 21;.?; Matt. 26:64) Majesty in humiliation, power through suffering, royal victory by ser- vice—this varied experience falls to the Son oS Man He must be a Person of extraordinary range of character. Who can this Son of Man be? was the question which the people put after He had taught th'ra for some time (John 12:34). 3. There are certain passages in the Old Testament which might sug- gest a great Figure to come, 01 whom some seers caught glimpses though they never saw Him face to face. Ps 8 contains a remarkable prophecy of the coming glory of man as compared with his present trailty. Dan. 7:13, 14 also speaks of an eternal Kingdom of One like unto a Son of man to take the place of those founded on brute force The prophecies of Isaiah also foretell a kingdom to be established in righteousness (6c: I, 18-22), which is to be set up through the agency of the Servant of the Lord (53:61). This is the most magnificent con- ception of prophecy. 4. It cannot be said that these passages as they stand in the Old Testament uive a very coherent picture, nor need we be liurprised that the Jewish ideas as to the person of their coming Deliverer were exceed- ingly vague. Looking back we can read the gist of the .1— man is to be delivered from his present humiliation into an eternal kingdom of right- eousness. The Lord of this kingdom is to be a divinely commissioned One like unto a Son of man with all glorious human dignity ; preceding this final glory there is a process of much suffering on the part of the Servant of the Lord who redeems His brethren. But we read that unity into all fiese passages and ideas because Jesus Christ stands for us in the gospels. Look into His life— the life of the Son of Man on earth, and there come streaming up into its focussed light all those divergent rays from hidden depths of prophecy. 99 Tui Tbutb or thi Akstouc Gofm. Study 14: The Jesus of the Gospels— His Claim Fourth Day : The Method of Christ's Self-Revelation AS Son of Man I, It seems then that Jesus used the term, "Son of M»n, ' as a para- ble, sunestive of these forcsifhts of the Messiah. To have spoken of Himself to the people as Messiah would have been to defeat His pur- pose, for they had one idri of that Figure, and He wished to teach them another. He wished to create in Hit own life a new conception of what Messiah should be, so He iivoided the term itself as current but debased coin. But as He lived, wrought, blessed, forgave sins, called men unto Him, taught words of grace and truth, made the future of men de- pendent on their attitude to Himself (Mark 8:38), people bogan to ask. Who is this Person? Can Messiah be greater than He? Must He not be the Messiah? (John 7:31). Then when the time was ripe, and his followers had received an ineffaceable impression of the charactev of Jesus, He admiit A that He was the One to- whom they were looI regarded by the court as blasphemv. All these incidents ar'^ explicable on the far- reaching claim to Divine nature which He puts forth in Matt. 11:27-30. Two positions are involved here: (a) that nothing tut divine inspira- tion ran enable any one to understand who the Son really is (cf. Matt. 16:17) : (h) none can know the real nature of God the Father except through His Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore the Son alone can call the weary ^ind heavy laden to Him for rest. Equally sovereign claims to ihe divine lature are uttered by Jesus in Matt. 18:20; 38:1^30. His life is a continuous power unimpaired by death and unlimited by time and •pace. 3. In the fourth gospel the divine natur* of Jesus ts the theme of many ut the discourses. As in Matt. 11 :37, sx, in John i : 18 the Son is the only Revcaler of the Father. He is one with ^e Father in knowl- e gc, power and life (John 5: 20. 21, 26). Life radi"*':>g from the Father becomes in the Son a new nucleus of light as it wer^, a fountain of life for nit^n. Being one with the Father in power He has at His control all the divine resources for the estr.blishment of His Kingdom (John 10: 28-30). He is also the object of the Father's love, and their fellowship on earth is but a continuation of an eternal loving intimacy (John 5 : 30; 17:5, 24). He is the King of Truth whose eternal reali.i is above (John 18:36-38). The meaning of all this is that Jesus has come from another world, the home where He has always lived with His Father in closest love, in order to make known here on eart.' His Father's nature, and His will for us, His children. Tmi Tiuth or Tm Aimtouc GMm. Study 14; The Jesus of the GosjhjIs — His Claim Seventh Day : No Man Cometh Unto the Fathei but by Me 1. The wiliuii to the divine lonihip of Jeiui Chriit ii eompleted in the foipeli by their nimiivei of the resurrection. It ii not our purpoie to diKuii in this place their historical worth. Even at His earliest fore- telling of Hit coming death rays of glory flash forth around the disc of His eclipse, for He always prophesied His resurrection (Mark 8:31; 9:3' ; 10:34), and in the fourth gospel the death '.1 regarded as a step towards heavenly dignity (John 17:1). But it was not till the shadow of '.he world with it» agony and death moved by that the full glory of Jelul as the Son of God was revealed to His followers by His appear- tncea in His risen body. He was emancipated from the narrow earthly house to enter upon a wider life, and to go shepherding erring Gentiles in order that they might come with the Jews to form one flock (John 10:16-18). 2. Thui the Jesus of the gospels makes the unhesitating claim that He and He alone can reveal God to the world. His human life is as it were the mi'ror in which we can read the full glory, truth and 'eauty of God, who is a Spirit (John i : 14-18). As the Son He is the living portrait of the Father, His life making the Divine Spirit concrnc for men Fohn 14:6-11). He is Son of God because also the Son of Man. O !^ the Mead of the kingdom of men could reveal God to His britth en. Only in the perfect human nature could we have any adequate reflection of the divine. How is it possible for me to get a higher conception of God than from the .Son of Man, whose nature is so fully the creation of (Luke 1:35), and possessed by. the Holy Spirit (Luke jtM) that He is at the same time the Son of God? Jesus asserts that He is different from other men, because He has an endowment of God's Spirit, and a perfection of manhood which puts Him at the head of the race. During His life Jesus di-tmed, according to the gospels, that He could lead men to the Father, and without doubt the Jesus of the gospels has done this for bc'ievcrs ever since. Do I wish to know what God is? I look to Jesus Christ. His life on earth, as it stands in the gospels, is a well from which the life of God Himself flows into my soul. In Christ I discover the mind of God, His love towards me. His purpose for me and His power to effect that purpose. !03 Thx Truth or thi Afostouc Gospu. Study 15: The Jesus Christ of the Apostles ; ^ First Day: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ; the Pauline Conception of the Living Christ 1. The churches which received the letters of the New Testament were evangelized by missionaries who preached substantially the Jesus C*- .St of our gospels. From this conception there sprang up on every s. even in the hearts of pagans who had never seen Jesus, an enthu- sias...: devotion to His person (A-ts 16:31; 17:2, 3. fi. 7; i Peter 1:8). Novr what is involved in this univerial devotion of the apostolic church to Jesus Christ? What are the essential elements in the conception? 2. (l) That Jesus Christ is a living Person. He is not merely an entrancing memory, nor does He fill up their background as a beautiful , ideal of the past. He is one whose power is felt in the midst of their present world, and with whom they hold intercourse. The apostolic church is based on the belief that Jesus was risen from the dead. The resurrection meant for them a renewal of the life which they had en- joyed with Jesus on earth before His death. He was absent from them in body, but His Spirit was in their midst. With glad assurance the disciples proclaim that their Master has triumphed over death and is now seated at the right hand of God (Acts 2 : 24 ; 3 ; 15 ; 4 : 10 ; 5 : 31 ; 17 : 18). Jesus is thus the Prince of Life. 3. Paul's faith in the living Christ is obvious. He seems to lose his own self in that of Christ (Gal. 2:20). Paul does not move in the realm of ideas but within the influence of a living Person. Language fails him v/heii he tries to express the intimacy of his fellowship with his Lord, his favorite term, "in Christ," denoting that every faculty is absorbed in the life of which Christ is the aim and controlling power (Rom. 8:1; I Cor. 1:2). The old man perishes ,ind the believer becomes a limb of the living Christ (Rom. 6:11; Col. 3:3). "To the Christ within Paul attributed all that he did and experienced as a Christian man. ... It was as if the very personality of Christ had entered into the apostle and used him as the organ of its expression" (Somerville). At a well remem- bered moment in his career Christ a living Person entered into his life and ever since he has had no mind or will of his own. In preaching his gospel he himself puts forward no claim on his own behalf. Christ leads him like a slave, while his message, bringing to all the knowledge of the grace of God is a fragrance of Christ Himself, life-giving to those who will accept it (2 Cor. 2: 14, 15). (See Findlay's article, "St. Paul,' ii., 3; c. in Hastings' Dictionary of Bible, Vol. III.) The Truth of the Akistolic Gospel Study 15: The Jesus Christ of the Apostles Second Day: Apostolic Belief in Christ as a Living Person I. All the other epistles agree in regarcing Jesus Christ as a living Person. According to Hebrews He is the High Priest, who make" continual intercession for His brethren in the heavenly temple where He stands in the sight of God This He does by reason of H^s endless h. i^ Ju^' 'i' T^'-'.'*^-- ?' ■" ".°" ""wned with glory and honor, ?if-.I"'u' P'* brethren to inherit the world to come (Heb. 2:8, o) 1 hither He has taken with Him His human nature enriched by the life on earth, in which He sympathized with the sins and sufferings of men (Heb. a: 17, 18). No epistle surpasses that of Hebrews in its perfect blending of the earthly expe.-ience of Jesus with His present glory in active service to His brethren who are in this world (Heb. 10 ■ 20) Having suffered through His earthly experience He learned obedience and overcame His temptation (Heb. 4.14-16), and is now the personal Imng pledge that God will be true to the new covenant and forgive sins (Heb. 7:22; 12:23) Once on earth, now alive at the right hand of God He guarantees to His brethren the reality of the unseen world (Heb. 2. In I Peter 2:4, 5, Jesus Christ is referred to as the living corner- stone to whom believers come to form with Him a new temple of hu- manity, in w-hich a true service will be offered to God by a universal priesthood of believers. He also engages the affection of those who had once been heathen and who had never seen Him ( i Peter i ■ 8) Yet in this epistle also the human life of Jesus on earth is made the example lor the Christians who have to endure sufferings in His name (2-21 ■ 4:13. 14), so that the object of their love is a living Person with a very real human experience on earth, which gives body and meaning to His f^^k'^j ♦ r"/!^'""/"^'', ^7"t '" ■'■•'"'^'' ">= Christian is exhorted to hold to the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory . c Une who by His resurrection is now enthroned in glory (James 2:1). ' 3. The great error which the author of First John wishes to refute is the teaching of the Gnostics, that Jesus received the Holy Spirit at His baptisni and that the Spirit of the Christ left Him before His passion With the utmost earnestness he repudiates the doctrine that Jesus Christ the now living Person did not live and suffer in a true human life on earth (, John 2:22; 4:2, 3 : 5 :6). Finally, at the opening of the epistles to the .seven churches there stands the figure of Him who guards the life of the brotherhood one mvested with all the dignity of a perfect human life exalted through death to a throne of eternal power (Rev i ■ i; 18) The Truth or tbi Apostolic Gosrai. Study 15: The Jesus Christ of the Apostles Third Day : Jesus Lives in the Hearts of His Followers Through the Holy Spirit I That early Church did not think of Jesus as a prophet who was dead such as Hijah or John the Baptist. In some sense it might be said that they lived on in the lives of their followers.. But this was not the sense in which the Christians interpreted the living Christ. Jesus was not ranked even with the greatest of the prophets. All they «"' dead^ The" was no longer any new th-ight, or quickening.personal power from them. That indefinable influence and essence which we cal p.er- sonllity is limited in human beings by death. Take away the living nrSnce Lid the silent pitiless years soon do their work. .Unless we ?efresh our affection with the kindling eye, and hear the ringing echo of one word more, and have the soliloquy of our meditation on our friend s g"d*e« invaded by a throbbing ray of love from the I'vng heart soon his portrait in our memory loses its color that, gallery so M'- »!»». ° ghostly forms, whose sight touches the fountain of tears as they call Sp "the old, unhappy, far-off things and days of long ago. 2 But it was not so with Christ. He was alive (Acts 16:7) •J"" as i become a reproduction of the character of my stronger and nobler friend wh" lives by my side, those believers felt that their hearts were Kic to the living Spirit of Christ, whiih was shaping their souls into H?rfkenMS (Acts so; 7:55, 59)- In the classic exposition of the na- "re if th?Spi>"of'chri«TJohn ,6:8-3) we are told of a Iwing per^ smal Spirit reproducing the life of Christ m His followers, standing by theirS tXlp them in time of trouble, pPPle™""""* H;^"»!S'"« Sth truth which al the time when Jesus spoke *" '^J'™'' *i'J.8"»S: Tn fact, a living fountain in which the mind of their Lord, was made known to them This Spirit was to bridge the chasm which m a" o*" HvM divides the earth from the unseen world, and enabled them, to recognize in the exalted Christ Him whom they had known in Galilee as the Son of Man (John 20:21-23)- 1 In Paul's epistles also the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ (2 Cor 3J 17) and by the personal influence of this Spirit the believer is trans- aeSinto the?mage of Christ (2 Cor. 3:. 8). But this .sal|o the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9-11, I4-I7;i Cor- 3: i6)- 1"°'%^^ ".!^ ?mrit is associated with Father and Son (2 Cor. 13:14; tph. 4-4-0. , Cor ?2M-6) Ag™in the Spirit seems to have a function of its own fRom R-o 26- I Cor 12:11: Gal. 4:6). So it would appear that just is Je"us re'ie^ed the FaJher When on ea«h. by means «' the Snint which was the es" nee of His person, so the same Spirit of Chnst is a present personal power revealing God to the believer. to6 The Truth or the Apostolic Gospel Study 15: The Jesus Christ of the Apostles Fourth Day: Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God „■• A'l. J""S Christ was tor the Apostolic Church the Son of God. £!°r," '.V's '° ■« t^ksn '" a general sense of being especially devoted to Ood s will, nor as similar to God in character. All the resources of lan- guage are exhausted to express a thought which perhaps transcends dehnition. They believed that Jesus came from a home where He had lived an eternal existence with His Father (Phil. 2:6; 2 Cor. So- fSL'JW- ^ffli ' ■^'' ?''■■ ' ':'■ '3;8; ■ John 4:9). He was also the agent of His Father in the creation of the world (Col. 1:16; Heb. i •2- John 1:3. 4). We must not forget that the world of which they thought was the world of men, a series of ages in which humanity was woven into on- _nterrelated whole. The solidarity of the race constituted the world. ' he external world of matter only had importance in so far as It was the sphere in which men lived. The Christians believed that God was guiding all things towai ds a glorious consummation of His King- dom. Jesus Christ is His Vicegerent in the conduct of the Kingdom to Its issue. Therefore He must have presided over it and been master of the world from the very beginning, for Jesus Christ has been the same Eternal Person from the commencement of time (John 1:4, 9). 2. He also was in the history of Israel directing it by His Spirit (John i:ii; Heb. 3:6; 10:15; i Peter lui; Acts 7:51, 52), A pre- existent Person, He is the full Revealer of the nature of God The Son reveals the Father, He is the image of God otherwise invisible to us (Col. 1:15; 2 Cor. 4:4-6), so that as we look upon the face of Jesus Christ we behold there the glory of the true God who is Light. The great passage, Phil. 2:6-11, brings out the same truth. Jesus indeed laid aside the exercise of His external divine prerogatives which He shared with His Father in the heavenly world, but His essential charac- ter was and remained even on earth the same as that of (3od In Heb. 1:3 a similar conception is expressed under the figure of j ray of hght. The light of the Father's nature becomes as it were a nucleus of light in Jesus Christ, whose personality wears the stamp of essential deity. The same thought is involved in i John I : I ; 4 : 12 ; 5 : 12. 3. Such passages show that the ling epistles of the New Testa- ment attribute to Jesus Christ co; lions which in the Old Testa- ment were the prerogatives of Jehovah alone. According to the Old Testament God created the world and guides its history, and He sent His Word and Spirit to the prophets. These powers are all ascribed in the New Testament to Jesus Christ. In Him the fullness of the Godhead resides bodily (Col. 2:9). They worship Jesus and pray to Him (t Cor, 1:2), they come to the Father through Him. The depths of the Father 3 grace and love are opened to the light in Jesus (2 Cor. 4:61 John 1:14, 16, 18). Only through Him has the Father held contact with the universe of men in the past, only through Him is He now in the world reconciling it to Himself (2 Cor. 5:19), and so through Him alone shall we forever approach the Father (Heb 7- 24-26). 107 Thi Tkuth of ihi Apostouc Gospil Study 15: The Jesus Christ of the Apostles Fifth Day : Tesus Christ the Redeemer from S:n : Paul AND Hebrews 1 (3) Jesus Christ is also the Redeemer from sin. In the earlier days the attempt was made to fit His death into the teachmg of the Old Testament (Acts 3:18, 19), and Paul tells us that it was one of the Jrima^y dements of the gospel (i Cor. 15:3) that the death of Christ had procured forgiveness of sins. The death of Christ was the theme of hii preaching to the Corinthians and Galatians (i Cor. I ■.23; ual. 3. ") instead of being a source of shame (Gal. 3:13) the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is to the Christian the power of God (l Cor. l: 18). It furnishes a motive of supreme efBcacy. 2 It is a sign of God the Father's transcendent love (Rom. 8:32; 2 Cor. s : 20) , and also of that of Christ the Son (2 Cor. 5 : 14, IS ; Gal. 2 : 20) It is also the means of reconciling the love and justice of God so that He may beirue to His own nature in forgiving sins (Kom. 3-2a). for through His loving self-sacrifice Christ has removed the curse of the law (Gal. 3: 13). If it were not for Jesus Christ's death the whole world would be burdened with a load of sin from which there would be no escape (Gal. 3:22). But all this is taken away (Co . 2:13, 14). this divine reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-21) is of such universal sign^cance that it was from the beginning an integral part of the Father s purpose of love toward the world (Eph. 1:6, 7). Pali's writings are saturated with the thought of the redemptive efficacy of Christ s death. ■< The theme is hardly less prominent in the F.p.stle to the Hebrews. The eternal Son of God is i.ow seated in majesty after having made a sufficient offering to remove sin and give man access to God as a true worshiper (Heb 1:4). He is the great High. Priest 'yh" having made the sacrifice with His own blood is now"shering His brethren into the holy of holies. It is because He once for m1 offered Himself that no mofe sacrifices for sin are necessary (Heb. 9:26. ^^■.."'■,'°i,", ' ,^t" offering gets its value because it was made in a spirit of absolute obe- dience to His Father's will. Thus Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself an eternal Spirit without blemish, and thereby men can have their guilt re- n.oved and come boldly unto the throne of grace (Heb. 9:14; 10:9, i". 19-22). Thi Truth or t;ie Apostouc Gospel Study 15: The Jesus Christ of the Apostles Sixth Uav: The Gospel of the Cross IS a part of the eternal purpose of God (Rev nS) tul? .l''""^'""" '° "1'" possessed by the spirit of antichrist who denv that there is sin, and consequently deny slso that ChrU, ,..a„„j t^ Jesus died, the atoning death of Je^sus i7se ?onh „ Fi John as eSn" UJ^bnlT^-X^nol' ^""^ '-■'-'^' '"' " '"■= °"'y -me"drfor"sin 2. Christianity is the religion of the cross. It is the reliuion of sarri fice embodied m the service of the Son of Man, who throulh hI death rhr,« ^iS?*"^ ?' '"■-.'fi^,"- /i'hose early believers reRardfd th^ life of ^^C^'aTt l'''"'■''i^ "■f,,!""'' '' ^" ="'"">« incredible proof of the love ?(. H^ V"^" ■'■'^'- W'J' 5''°"''' such an One as Jesus Christ have left His how. to come down and engage in the awful wrestle whsi^ and deliver sinf.-l men from their bondage to fear of deXthe""rse of sin? (Heb. 2:14, 15.) The death of Christ was not a sacrifice to ci? ex^i^n" Jh Ju^" """" "".f- '!"""'" J""' >™s felt by them to^ the more" exalted the throne to which the Christ had risen, the more acute h^ cauK to them the question. Why did He die? It was nSfor h"s own 22) rZ°:i^J!»V^Pr' "'I' '°L'^' ''"' of ">e whole wirid" John 2.2). That the Holy Christ should die was to be explained oplv arthi supremcst act of vicarious love. His personal disciples nevcrforgoJ he agony of His spotless soul as they saw it on the crofs or in Gethsfmane ZZa.'^^'r "' ™ '^i'^T'^ during His Galilean Ministry to the con-' and Sn^ , ""i""'> 7^' '''='"' °' ^""^ '"^"' "lat the love of Father i,„ ,^th ■'"'"'^ ""'!'' ■?'" ;?;". '° *"«""<= 'h^t 'hey would not leave men to their own ruin, but Christ Himselt took upon Him the awful task of rendering null and void the claims of sin upoS man (Hcb 9:^)' 3. Further, His death stood forth as the preat fact in history which proves forever that God is a righteous God, 01 whose nature sin "he d fferen^fo i?" ^'^^'"k^iS'' '"''>■ When He pardons sin He not in! different to it. Only by the utmost sacrifice He could make is it possi- ble for Him to remain true to His own nature and yet show favor to wSn"!,""'"; /*" ^"A°' ^'■7^' '^ "'e proof that God if a Ho'y God who cannot disregard the moral order of His universe. He cannot com S.il/K"""'"'"« smner, one who loves his sin, to accept pardon, for th^t wS th/ZS°"'' ^Tt'" Siyi"« Christ to die He has furnished sinners Sent Hdy Fa?r" "" '" ='ccepting the pardon of a self-con- TBI TauTH or the Apostduc Gosfil Study 15: The Jesus Christ of the Apostles I Seventh Day : Jesus Christ the Judge of The World and consummator of the kingdom of god I. Jesus Christ was believed to be the Judge of all. This was a part of the earliest gospel (Mark 8:38), and the return of Jesus was preached by Peter during the opening days of the Church's life (Acts 3:20, 21). In Acts 10:42 He is proclaimed as the Judge of V,"™ of right- whose rehgton find, it, full«t expression in Worship ''"°"°">' ^P'"' from the realities of the world of nihtlrnr:." "/" ""f'"' "« moon and cloud" (Heb .TqT .0°, ; fj''i/''j?'"i) '"2;^f ,?"''''<' »".•• their l,ap,i,n, they had received gifts o?he Ho ;^SDiiVrl"f '^'' m'" what IS invo vcd in these fact* * Pirll Ti;,, i ' ^ i V''*' 5)- Now come (2 "4^6 -I. 'If.' """"■ ""■"="■' °f P""-"^ °f 'he world to Tbi T>uth or THi ArotTouc GoiriL Study 1 6: The Manifold Gospel FouHTH Day : First Peter and James 4 I 1. The Firit Epistle of Peter has affinities with the Pauline concep- tions and those oi Hebrews, though the author does not move in the lofty regions of spiritual thought which those writers and the author of the fourth gospel enjoy to traverse. Peter may be called the prophet of the new Israel, a man with a frank nature, open to every generous impulse, and moved by the Spirit of God. His epistle has reminiscences of the human life of Christ, a memory of surpassing loveliness, whose moral beauty has traced on every one who saw Him an ineffaceable im- pression of holiness (i Peter 1:13-19; 3:31-25). Peter thinks of jeaus Christ primarily as the exalted Messiah, whose resurrection has made divine salvation and grace effective, and the Christian's hope secure (i: 3-9). Jesus introduces the believer to God, in whose presence he hence- forth abides (3:9, 10, 35). Peter speaks like an Old Testament prophet who has drunk deeply of the teacning of Jesus. God is the faithful Creator but also the Holy Father of the New Israel (1:17; 4:19). Holi- ness is as essential to the God of Peter as to the Jehovah of Isaiah (Isa. 6). Steeped in prophetic thought Peter teaches that the Church is the new Israel, whicn has been delivered out of the bondage of its Egypt by the sacrifice of its paschal Lamb (i : 18,19). But the exalted Messiah was also the Servant of the Lord whose face was marred by awful blows, albeit with healing for those who follow Him (3:21-34) ; and mat perfect endurance becomes the example for every Christian un- der suffering. Thus the human life of Jesus meant more for Peter than it did for Paul, or even for the author of Hebrews. 2, The epistle of James is the least distinctly evangelical of all the writings of the New Testament, the gospel having come to its author as the fulfilling of the old covenant very much in the sense of Matt. S : I7— 6:18. He seems to have passed from the old life in Judaism to the life in the new Israel without any violent rupture. The law of Christ i^ the perfect law of liberty, but it demands serious moral effort for its fulfillment (1:25; a: 8, 10, 12, 14). In opposition to the old practical Pharisaism which deemed outward service to code morality sufficient, provided there was assent to certain religious propositions, James like his Master demands living faith (2:14-26) which snows itself in works. "Pure religion," i. e., 'truest ritual service," is not religious formalism, but a service of practical love (1:27). This is the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ who is risen to glory, and who will soon return to right all wrongs (2 : 1 ; S : 7. 8). This life of true faith is begotten by the will of God through the preaching of the word of truth (l:i8), and its es- sence is heavenly wisdom (3:13-18). Tm TiuTH o» nu Arottouc Goub. Study 1 6: The Manifold Gospel Fifth Day: M;,bk, Matthew and Lum abruptly, and the cloM ii lo.i h,,/ .i,T "' °' '^' ""«■ '' "P*"* J"U, tJ,; strong Son of God move! \nZ," "" """'^"l its purpo... = 'r^l ^. "Sg&J iF^-"" - hH by what w. hear A.,u» .ay but VwJat w« ,« H?™'!" S.;^""""* ''°' Son of Man, so human In Hi, tendZe,. c "/■"""' ?"'(?' •'ominant w«r, in the gospel oTL'r"l,^,h'eri?rjn7co'„"n,'l-„r„-"of^i'thr?'P''' Di'per^ion'wl' l"1i\"M''cl^r:l,UlZl?'%'l'''' »' "■' Western iected to the taunt, of JewT and Z [n.^ of r^?' 'tT. ',° •« ?"'>• discredited Messiah So Matthew n^«n,. r °""'" 'hat fesu, is a prophecy. He roam, through Z nM T, /""' "J\'. '"" "essiah of that of the suffering Servant: alo Sfi l"d\y°S' in" H^l'lrr"" 1% f■T??;vT.t'ir.h°u'sVh^'^•■ '"1' 4-^^^^ .rue Israel, i?eir,^r.1,Vpromi'e',''of'jehovah""''' '"" "" ^"""""^ '"• orfgin^'-o'f'j^st'HTs home"His\™U°h'H?,^ '"".' '". "■! '^"'" "■' made known Hii PcrfecnLan'n^a C disdoseTTu °,ha, i^- ^'""j' for rnorial man to conceive of God He i, the Son ^( r„V- '. E""'""'' He IS the Flower of humnnitv "H., . °' ""° '"" because heaven." Jesi^iMhe S^vim r „f ,k "iJ'°°/V°^""''- ""•> "Kn to the sinner.-^ No gospel i, rfullof svZ'/h; "/"JJ <^"'"<^. ••« prodigal, the broken in mind and b^dy In th^TrtJ ,1' "" """"• l*" distressed, Jesu, coMinuing in Hi, Snirit a, ,L ,t.n"'T "?' ""1^°' «" '""h disciple, the work wWch He had wL^^ ^l^ '2 do among His .ends over the civili^cTiio^S ti^T, ^■,,?::^- fZ'!: l'!Sf'°"' "' The TiUTM or the ArosTouc GoinL Study 1 6: The Manifold Gospel Sixth Dav: The Johannine Conception of the Gospel 1. The /ohanninf literature had iti home in Asia Minor, where new pruhtcmi faced Christianity. Men were denying that Christ had come in the fleih, claiming that He wai little more than an angelic spirit who had descended upon Jcsui at the baptism and had left Him before the crucifixion. They ignored the necessity of redemption from sin, -nd in- terpreted the resurrection as a purely spiritual or intellectual expei ience Some desired to live a free life of the Spirit in the enjoyment ui their own eca'atic experiences, and did not see any need for gomg back to thc historic Jesus. Others again echoed the common objection of Jew and Gentile, that Jesus could not have been the Messiah, or His own peopl*: would have recognized Him (i John i:8-io; 4:1-3; John 16:13-15; '■ a8. ag: 1:11-13). 2. A gospel was needed for such an environment. The gospel and epistles profess ti be a record of personal experience (John t : 14; i John 1:1). The disciple had discovered that Jesus was nothing less than tho eternal Son of God the Father, and from Him he had got life (John 30:31). That earthly life unfolded a nature one with the Father in lite (5:26), thought (S:t9). will (4:34). power (10:38-30), love (17:24) What others sought concerning the origin and maintenance of the world in the doctrine of the Logos or divine reason, this writer found in a Person. He *o]ved for him all the riddles of life, for as the \Vord of God Incarnaie He uttered God's will to the world, and accounted for it-t source and issue in God's eternal love (John i : t-4, 14, 18; i John 1:1). In Jesus Christ we see the Father's nature. John thus starts with tho historic Jesus. All the growing knowledge that comes through the Spirit of God will simply be an expansion of the divine mind that Hi* disciples found in Him (John 16:13-1^). He also as the propitiation for sin is proof to the world of the Father's love (John • 29- . ■ i'k I John 3:2; 4:10; 5:6). 3. The saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Son of God which brings life is no mere intellectual assent, but is based on love. Christ is a foun- tain of divine love, welling up from the Father's own heart, and only he whose nature responds to this divine love of which His life on earth was the incarnation, can really believe on Him as the Son of God (i John 4:9, 10. 14. 15, 16; 5:1. 4. 5. 10-12). 4. Similar conceptions occur in the Apocalypse. Jesus Christ has conquered the satanic power of the world, the dying throes of which are still manifest in the awful struggle between the Church on the earth and its persecutors (19:20). ^esus by His resurrection has overcome death and Hades (20:14), He is the living One (1:18), the eternal Son of God (3:t8), the Beginning of the creation of God (3:14), the Divine Word (19:13), the Lamb of God slain (29 times in Rev.) who has re- deemed the saints to an inheritance in the new Jerusalem, and the Judge of all (3:5. 12, 14-22). No more triumphant and beautiful conclusion for the gospel could be conceived than the last two chapters of Revela- tion, in which a glorious imagination leads us through the city of God, where mercy and truth are met together; righteousrc«s and peace h^vt kistcd each other. 116 T«« TiiTTH or iii« ArojTdLic Gogrii. Study 1 6: The Mrnifold Gospel Seventh Day: The Gosvel and the Terms on Which It IS Received bfcome poor (Phil 2-6-u) .ornrHinlfi' u I """''' '"!' ™« havm? >o the will n H , F.rhlr in oh7h1/ Ji.";^''"*" " *■'" "'' "Mience for sin (Hcb Vo". . ■ «. ..i *j- " •""""" "«'""• »» a sacrifice sh^wTin Hi'deU 1i'do'?hVwiirof'?i^,'°F.-IS''\'' r' "!? '"""•■" li/e fcr the world (John lo: ; l8) • according .oP^'' 'T"' ""T" "'* • he Chris, suffered in the fliJh o^ourXhSff n^p'^ '' "f? »''V'''li reconciling us to God »nd mnkin/,,, HU sons "^ ^'"^ "*"" '" '" K T""" '£^>v""''' "?' ""derstand (Mark 8 -ji « ; o 2I Luke q 2^ H„ m.nd ,n u.. and do His will which is love to God aS man. "7 PART III. THE CREDIBILITY OF THE APOSTOLIC GOSPEL Thi Tsuth or THE Apostolic Gospel Study 17: The Trustworthiness of the Gospels First Day : The Jesus of History According to Naturalism .heir ^fel-Jha^rhi^",' iSs^JhTn riC",^,'?!?-'--' ■''?= "nd cePved thanXrrYord who was the Wav'.rT.T'"'^ ■5°';'!', ^ '=°"- ?^'?reT.'o^„=S^ri~^T^^^^^^^^ whose SpiH. was inS' S,'a„^d ^Jho-^d^eruT,!, L^.h^SSi' only five or ten sayings and etent, „'f fj""" ""^ °' J""'-" ^"<' ""at and "chnrch" concerns n which Tesufhi^'I^^''' "'t, "i^h^' ^'S<:nds or less mythic cmbroie. , «„H= /"tJ "'f ""'i'. '''<=■ " ^^^ "•"<>■•« rTemptation of Jesu ", .' p ^"ched the' K 3„^'" ^^1^^' ""'^'' me at fir<;t fhaf hJb ;j1, j preacnea the Kingdom of God exoect- ?rlr^^.T- -'""^ "° "«'o^" a"n^d1^^„Srr^7rn'rr^S'S ^„1 Thi Tbuth or the Aposiouc Gospil m Study 17: The Trustworthiness of the Gospels Second Day: The Real Creators of Christianity Ac- cording TO Naturalism f » n I. But the Jesus of history jnst outlined was far too narrowly Jew- ish to become the Lord of the world. Whether He claimed to be the Messiah or not, the gospel preached by the first disciples was national- istic; they had no interest in the outside world, and in fact did not be- lieve that the present age had many years to run (Acts 3:13-26; 5: 30-32). 3. A change first came, thev tell us, with the Apostle Paul, who did not know Jesus in the flesh, but through a vision was persuaded that He was the Messiah and Son of God, Saviour for Jew and Go. ale (2 Cor. 12: i-io; Gal. i : 15-17). The historic Jesus thus disappear ">-om the gospel and instead of His ethical message of the kingdom, .i-' 'he fer\id preaching of His first disciples that the Messiah would i. "■'■: /e- turn to judgment, the Gentiles are taught Jesus Christ, crucified and risen (i Cor. 15:1-4). But this gospel was just what was needed *i ap- peal to the Western mind, especially when reinforced by the imprissive personality of Paul. 3. After Paul's death this interpretation of Christ spread rapidly, till at the close of the first century an unknown author, changing it slightly to suit the requirements of that age. gave it classic expression in the fourth gospel. "The bestowal upon Jesus of the title Son of God, which He did not claim, and probably could not have understood, marked a step forward. When He was lifted up from earth and made a God He drew all men unto Himself It may be (questioned whether without this deification it would have become historically possible for Him to dispense His spiritual gifts through the ages" ("En cyclopedia Biblica," "Son of God, ^ 25). "While we may call the fourth gospel unhis- torical, we must not forget that just through its constructive work did Christianity itself first become a factor in history" (Holtzmann). 4. It is thus clear that according to naturalism Jesus is not the sole, nor perhaps even the most important factor in the Christianity of the New Testament. All that He did seems to have been to give a certain impulse towards a higher and purer conception of God and man. The Christian gospel which converted the world is the gos^-I of Jesus, Paul, and the unknown fourth evangelist. Is it not then one ot the injustices of history that Jesu- of Nazareth has been raised to such an exclusive pinnacle ? ThI TsUTH of TBI APOSIOUC GoSPtt Study 17: The Trustworthiness of the Gospels Third Day : The Testimony of Paul as to the Primitive Gospel I. The New Testament like the rocks carries in itself sure trar... nf of l'''(?h;"t''of"Ve''rh"'"\'J^ "t- " "'" "'' P'™it t^rass'imp io°n Wh.,, t.^l fL'^' ^'"'"^^ *"''°'" sufficient spiritual antecedents When we read the undisputed epistles of Paul we discover that the Jos pel which absorbed his interest had been in existence befo?e hi ^a, converged. What is the meaning of the earnestness of Gal 2% to un ess the most influential section of Christendom felt that lY oWed nothfni to the apostle to the Oentiles? That section carried with i?"he Drestief of primitive faith They were the authorities (Gal. .,"7% 6rcf'?c'o'r ;,„ t 1 "■■™)-, Yet Paul asserts vehement y that there is and S lSer''e^l,^°Ga\r:r'i:7"4)"'" "" ^""^^""^ "°''" '^""^^^ 2. \nd in writing to the Romans, a church with the fonnHinj »nH promotion of which he had nothing to do (Rom iTs-.s) and which was tUtnTtu^ "r°" fatnous throughout Christendom' Paul s^ndstiTem the most elaborate account of his gospel, not as something new but « a gift m which they might rejoice (Rom. 1:15-17). Does not Rom (,- « J„7°^'f """ '^ ^^'P^' ''^<' '»k=n a definite shape, different S' no f™nH?H ? n"; ■"'■" i^U "1" ^^'"^'^ ^'"'^ 'he church of Rome wa? inflSeni of P 'T^P^hably there has been a tendency to overestim^«"he len, w. ni?'- ' "'"'" VV ';■■'>' Cl""-<:h. but this is not becau™ he as whole bro'therTrH"'„'- ^'^'"^"' ''°" ^' """" ««P' »» '""al ?o the ot?i'e t'dy"o'f"ct s? (aSrT.J^^^l.h^'X^tf-B';? TT^- """^ eariy Christian" hel%?f'° I?""''-?™,''"'' '^T. «h«h to take a survey of V, m \ i 1 I' I: The Truth of the Apostolic Gospel Study 17: The Trustworthiness of the Gospels Fourth Day : The Earliest Gospel 1. Have we any traces elsewhere in the New Testament as to the substance of this pre-Pauline gospel ? It is admitted by very radical critics that the discourses of Peter in Acts contain authentic accounts of primitive Christian beliefs ("Encyclopiedia Biblica," article "Acts of the Apostles," g 14). (See especially Acts 2:22-36; 3:13-26; 4:10-12; 5:29-32.) Jesus is the risen Lord, the Prince of Life, the Saviour, the Servant whose death has brought forgiveness, the Messiah who fulfills prophecy, and the Judge of quick and dead (Acts 10:36-43). This con- taitu all the fundamental beliefs that are more fully developed in the epistles. 2. A very great deal lies behind the use of the word "Lord" as ap- plied to Jesus (Acts 2:36), and is implied in the worship of Jesus (Acts 7:59)- The brethren glorify the Man Jesus though in the eyes of the Jew the deification of the creature is the height of blasphemy. But in the New Testament tt is impossible to trace any gradual process from hero worship into deification and finally into the entirely transcendental Person of the epistles. The earliest Christian worship involves funda- mentally the same view of Christ that comes in later teaching. Further, in Acts and Paul and the other epistles this object of divine worship is the Jesus who once lived on earth (Acts 4:10: 10:37, 38; Phil. 2:5-11). 3. These words of one who belongs to the radical wing of critics are important: "It was quite natural that prayers should be offered up to God by Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus, and very little time can have elapsed before prayers were pouted forth to Jesus Himself, if indeed this was not done from the beginning, inasmuch as He was ever present with His own, ready to hear and able to grant their requests. In truth one is at a loss to see how Christianity could have failed to be the worship of Christ, and it is nowise rash to hold that their worship in a certain sense preceded, sustained and inspired the work of Christian thought respecting the person of the Redeemer. The Christian's conversation was with his Lord in heaven; if he distinguished God from his Christ he none the less beheld God in his Christ, so close and indissoluble was the union of the two; he prayed to God in praying to Christ, though the solemn supplications of the congregation were addressed to Ciod through Christ. Jesus was, as it were, the face of God turned towards man. Christian piety went on placing the Saviour at the highest pinnacle of glory, seeking and finding God in Him, adoring Him in heaven and striving to imitate the example He had set it upon earth, and drawing its force from this twofold character of its object, the divine and the human" (Loisy, "L'Evangile et I'Eglise." 251. 252, 3d edition). Is not the most reasonable explanation of this given in Luke 24: 45- ,9; John 20; 26-29? On this subject the reader of German may consult T. Zahn's essay on "Die Anbetung Jesu im Zeitalter der Apostel" in his "Skizz.n aus dem Leben der Alten Kirche." 124 The Tkuth of the Apostolic Gospel Study 17: The Trustworthiness of the Gospels Fifth Dav: Results of Rece.vt Criticism of the SyNopTic Gospels culties of a naturalistic interpretation of ,),,£' "^'^ )""<^»se the diffi- port the apostolic view wShlsZrJj^K''"^" '"''""• ''"• '"P" seem to be agreed upon. '""''' "•«" ''"'i'">- These points wn;ite^''ipostolic''sou^^il!l P«ri?,'e""dirn'""l'- f "«'' ""« "' >w° fully by the Gospel of Mark and a M,„h "'"''^i' «P'"ented most courses of Jesus, from which the »o,n,l. ofili collection of the dis- their words of the Lord. * ' ' Matthew and Luke take cr,ticii,S^rJ';L'",S:l?i^!'':o"^=„o''r;i,7he1h;e'^ """^1' "-^■'-'f 'o ■ngs common to Matthew and Luke N^J L",^*"'"'''' »"<• "-e say- ":J7). These are only the most imnortantnP^^"*' 'V'S--''^ Matt, of common material, but^they c-^vfr 'Srslll^X^lT^.Vc^'^S^, ^^' .otp,ll^>mo<^t"^cS'i^ %°^^ t^'l^tl! Z '"; T''"',"' '"^ '"ree Petnne tradition, which warwi5,.,^r^f^ ■ '^P^ijction of the living embodied also iti our gorpe h of M^hew .n^' f''F^''.,"d which"! shape our second gospel bears the 7,,!^ t "'' f""''^- '" '»' Present ough sympathy with fhe Chrfs, of heTu in-"""."; "'''°, "^^ '" "■""- pel of Jesus the supernatural Person the Sn„ n?'r h' I' '' ">= G"^' man.festation of divine power H°s' knLiX- °°''' "''?'^ "'« " ^ demons worship Him, He forgives siSr^^f ,'■' "S?" '.''^" human, (2:«), and has divine homageTa?dHim\l5?39) "' '^""' as^heJlw'ilTd wa^rrSL^3et"„^3eml!;°o? t'he'nX" °^i'!.'= ^"P^" of Luice can hardly have been acaSted w'^.h „ ?""",• F^e author and it is improbable that either ?osDel£,r^"J our Gospel of Matthew, Mark in its present shape Theifsim larhie, =? 7*'.'° "" <^«P'=' <>' tohc sources. So apart from these they a« in ?Lf ■'° ™T°" »P"- three independent narratives of the ifl of Jes„s Chris!"" """'""" 125 ThR TtUTH OF TH« APOSTOLIC GOSPIL Study 17: The Trustworthiness of Our Gospels Sixth Day : The Character of Jesus is the Greatest Miracle in the Gospels 1. What is the fundamental characteristic of the Person of Jesus Christ? He is One who combines excessive claims as to divine nature with surpassing self-sacrifice in a true human life. His love to the world of men is such as had never before been known, but the marvel of the sacrifice, according to gospels and epistles, arises from the sin- lessness and transcendent dignity of Him who thus gives Himself for men. It is because He is the Son of God that the death of the cross is the heart of the gospel (Phil. 2:5-11; John 10:17. 18; Heb. i:i-3; I Peter 1:19. 20). It is because of the character and majesty of the Son of Man that His service on oarth is so priceless (Mark 10:45). All the details of the synoptic gospels are so handled by their authors as to throw into relief this quality of person in the historic Jesus. 2. But this insuperable difficulty is also presented to naturalism— the character of the Jesus of our present gospels. Admittedly the figure in the gospels is the most perfect Person that has ever been delineated. Yet the picture is painted out of the most commonplace colors, and on the simplest possible background. It is a mere peasant life in the ob- scure province of Palestine. There was nothing in the people, their in- terests, or their political life to catch the imagination cf the world; but out of these surroundings there arises, without the slightest straining after effect, a Person who lives forever in the world's heart. The deepest truths of religion are expressed in the story of the simplest life. His death, the degrading execution of a criminal sentence, becomes in- vested for the world with far more than the sacredness of martyrdom, or pity for a miscarriage of justice. 3. Finally there is not felt to be any moral incongruity on the part of Jesus in asserting divine prerogatives. He remains a marvel of hu- mility even when He calls all men to Himself. He does not appear ab- surd in stepping beyond the limits of mortal humanity. Instead of de- p-ading the conception of God when He claims to be divine, there is nowhere a purer monotheism nor a loftier view of the fatherhood of God than just in those parts of the gospels where the transcendent per- sonality of Jesus is most distinctly portrayed (John 4:10-26; 14:1-24). (On this subject see Fairbairn's "Philosophy of the Christian Religion," Book II., Part i, Chs. 1-3) ia6 Tai TiUTU or im Afostolic Gosru. Study 17: The Trustworthiness of Our Gospels Seventh Dav: The Results of Criticism Make the Naturaustic View of Jesus More DiKricuLx 8 139), his own position is becoming de?nerfte- for hi ?;. °°'P' V how the jejune and disappointed ''rfsusJfna^urSum" ^' '"."P'^'" three wonderful independent portraits o our g^" '^itf aims'"so° d^f' ferent aiid meant for readers so differently circuras an^^rf wt.. • -I entered into the souls of these evanirelist, or^^?^£ ■ -.^ T"' sources, which enabled them to chanfe h^ ecst«ic Pmnl,,","'.'[7-'T?''= .nto the divinely human perfect Ideal ff the world's%So„ ?°' ^"''" Thi Truth or the Apostolic Gospel Study 1 8: The Trustworthiness of the Gospels (Contluued) Pi ii First Day : Naturalism is Really tiif Dema:. of the Apostolic View of the Person of Christ 1. Further, the fourth gospel tnust heighten our wonder at the creative ingenuity of the early Christians. For the verdict of the Church is that the Johannine Christ is not discrepant from the synoptic Christ. He has appealed to the spiritual understanding of the bod^ of believers as the same, though His Person is portrayed by a more mti- mate and discerning interpreter. No single evangelist can daim to be cither the creator or sole delineator of that harmonious Figure, whose divine supremacy and power are incarnate in a life of perfect human love and beauty. 2. It must in fact be admitted that every one of our gospels as they now stand was written by believers in J'sus Christ as the Divine Messiah. The task » * L'^sentangling the Jesus of history from these nar- ratives becomes h-)p( ■ • for each naturalistic critic finds simply as much in these gospels as hij preconceived conception of Jesus will permit him to discover, and the tendency is, as we have seen, to reduce the his- torical elements to a minimum. 3. But he is faced with this formidable difficulty. Long before any of our gospel sources were written down there was the gospel that JPaul preached, and there was the gospel uf the Jewish Christian church which was older than that of Paul, while behind that we have the primitive preaching of Peter outlined in Acts. And through all these we see not the Jesus of the naturalistic critics, but the super- natural Son of God, Saviour and Lord. 4. Naturalism is in reality a denial of the point of view from which the earliest known gospel was preached. It is beside the mark to ap- peal to Paul in order to show how the gospel could become independent of the historic Jesus. This will come up more fully in a later study. Though Paul did think of Jesus as the risen Son of God, there was, as we have seen, in the background of his thought the real human life of Jesus on earth. What has to be explained is how a Person, whose in- most quality and character are the same as those o' the Christ of the Pauline epistles, is given th- splendidly perfect human life of the gos- pels. The actual gospels carrying their detailed environment of Jesus arc far more wonderful than the Pauline epistles. One and the same Person pervades gospels and epistles. The gospels emphasize His earthly career, the epistles consider the risen and eternal Christ. 138 The Tklih ur iiii Aivsioiic Gosiil Study 1 8; The Trustworthiness of the Gospels Second Dav: The Miracuu.ls in the Gosiei.s 1. It is thus the simplosl Miliition of the difficultif whi.-h ...n.r.. mflu.nct ,„ the he.ghtening of the miraculous, theTrraJive, of he bmh and infancy of Jesus and the resurrection, while" hey also believe ^hall-'crid^'th'^ir''^" ■" "" """' "" " '""'"^ "'-" .'n 'Jror;:"\'^e^ cjLpj^,,r^-f^^^^^^ pel, not at al to compel those to believe who would not accent Hi. rjt^ "it" T>'""i'>l<^ '« "Pirate the words from the works „Tje"j' .ui i^.°'. '* "'f" '"^- ''"'or'"' justification for separatinir the mira- tlJTJT f'5"l'' !? ""''I '° "<"'"" "'^' }'"" drove out th^d? »Ta ^u^ ^."'"^ "'J d.seastd, but to deny that He raised he dead stilled the storm, or fed the live thousand. The atteiipt is made to e, plain the nature miracles as embellishments of event, due ?o natural »n.^',?' I' " "" T'""", '''.fi«""'ive speech, parable or a"fegory The gospels know nothing of this distinction. All miracles are eoni^llv thl T'."Ks!\'"^T't ""t' "l' "'P"''»t"ral Person'(Mar?":"^;'5' wonder '^ ^'^ " "" ^"'°'' ""■" "'=" ""' «' ^>"= "c'tes ,r^AiZ^"^'l'^' greatest miracles occur in the oldest part of the gosnel P,,,^ T^"''"!'' '^' •""■' «^''°l"5''iP to-day assigns to the aSi. f^A/.A ^^tt ""^ <^°"^'P"'>P of Christ as Lord over r. .ture becamrem! ."he delth"oUesur"" "' ^" '^'"""""^ -"^'" .w.nty-'five"yTa'rs"Sf them the ^""gy of God Himself. They'Sie^^d thaMhfs fp'," , "^ ^ me„,fT"l,°' """ ^"'' '■'' ?" "■■"' ="<< Of Hi, miracuou? endow! ^TJ- ^f^ > i 35 ; 3 : M ; 10 : 21 ) . Miracles formed an essential element •1 A '?"' "".P'-«"on of the lordship of Jesus, whom they invMted i'!.! Tmi Tiutu or the ArotTOLic Goiru. Study 1 8: The* Trustworthiness of the Gospels Third Day: The Narratives or the Infancy 1. Th€ birth of Jetui by the Holy Spirit from a virgin mother (Matt. l:l^Jo; Luke 1:34. 35) i> incredible In these dayi to many who find in such a narrative not unly a phenumcnon without any precedent, but one which leems to them to rob Jciui of Hii human nature. Of late the criticism of the portions of the gospels in which this event Is embedded has become very acute. But the negative criticism has been more suc- cessful as usual in the destructive process than In its constructive theo- ries to account for the origin of the records. 3. These arc the chief arguments against the virgin birth: (a) It is not referred to In Mark, the earliest gospel, in the gospel of John, nor in any of the epistles, (b) The narratives of Mattnew and Luke are conflicting and full of legendary material, (c) If they are true "we have lost the Christ who can feel with us because He is one with us in physical structure and composition." 3. To these objections answer may be made: (a) The subject matter is nut such as would early become current in the gospel, for it would be known only to the f.imily circle. The fourth evangelist omits it be- cause he writes from his own cxpcriincc of the life of Jesus, (b) Mat- thew and Luke are independent of each other, and so arc two witnesses to the story- In thcnselvcs the narratives which contain the event bear strons evidence of authenticity, for they preserve for us (especially Luke) a wonderfully beautiful and true picture of the 6nest piety of Israel, which had passed away long before they were written down (Luke i'4(>S?' 67-79). In these verses the ancient prophetic ideal is enshrined which disnpprared as it was fulfilled in the gospel. What finer as well as historically more probable picture of the home circle from which the Messiah was to cnme could he drawn? (c) The Christ of the gospels it that from the day of His death on He will be coming in power to judge the hostile world and to encourage His own (Mark 8:38; 9; i ; Matt. 38: 18-30). He also teaches that this world will have a catastrophic ending, for when the earth will have made final trial of the gospel and its judgment is complete, He Himself will with majesty inaugurate the kingdom in a new sphere (Mark 13:24-27, 31; Matt. 25:31; 26:64). But when that will be not even the Son of Man knows (Mark 13:32). 3. Much of the imagery which Jesus employs is drawn from the Old Testament conception of the Day of the Lord (Mark 13:24-27; Isa. 13: 9-13; 24:21-23; 34:4; Jer. 4:23*?-: Dan. 7:9, 10; Joel 2:10, ii)» and it is a wrong method to interpret all His language literally. As He used parables and symbol to convey truths which were beyond the compre- hensiotuof His followers at the stage of their spiritual development in Galilee or Judxa. so He did in re^rd to the future of the kingdom. He took the old prophetic terms which conveyed a tjermantnt truth and made them the vehicle of His deeper fulfillment of it Only experience could teach them all that was wrapped up in them, and to-day we are still learning more of their import than previous generations knew. This was His method in applying to Himself the title, "Son of Man." It was also His pgedagogical principle in foretelling the consummation of His kingdom m the "Day of the Lord." Jesus then was not mistaken about the future. 13a The Truth of thk Apostouc Gospil Study 1 8: The Trustworthiness of the Gospels Sixth Day : Paul's Account of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ livl;«-'r?.rLf,''';°'Y'' *''° T»"°' '""^'"'^ \° ^'"y "'^' J«"s Christ is a living Person to-day in a different sense from the dead who are even now enjoying immortality assert that there is so much legendary ma- tenal woven into the gospel narratives of the resurrection of Jesus as to make the event itself there recorded incredible. Fortunately for us we are able to check and elucidate the gospel stories with a very direct and ample defence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ by Paul in i Cor. 15: I-o, 20, 35-54* in rnrT„'',h ,il".'','r ■' ""■'"" '° ':°""'"act the Greek notion prevalent n Corinth that the resurrection was a spiritual event already past, when tl^rZ '^"./T ^'Vl^ ^l'' '"it'? »•"'<' "> ^'" new life 'in the spirit. The apostle bases all his hope of his own future life on the resur- rection of Jesus (15:12-19). He does not emertain the Pharisaic view of a return from the dead to present earthly conditions, for frail, decay- ing nesh and Wood cannot inherit that eternal kingdom (15:50) But It will be inherited by living persons who have their own former bodies, though flesh has given way to a new material which cannot be described but will by reason of God's infinite power be suitable to the new spiritual sphere (15:35-49). ' 3. The proof of this belief is the fact that Jesus Christ Himself died and was buried and rose (therefore left the grave empty 15:3, 4) His risen body is the first of the great harvest of the resurrection (15:20). But Paul never describes its nature. He simply states that it is the most certain of facts that He returned, and was recognized by His friends as an objective reality, and that He held personal intercourse with himself (15:5-10). No better historical witness could be de- manded by these Corinthians. Whether he knew of the appearances to the women we cannot say, but their testimony would be of small weight with such a church. However, He was seen by the great apostle to whom one wing of this church looked up (i Cor. 1:12), also by the original apostolic body, then by a multitude some of whom were still fi'^l .1" ".u I'''*''' "' t'^.'^^ Christianity, again by the apostles, and lastly, as though ai.er all the other appearances were over, by the apostle to the Ckntiles. What better testimony could that Church, or any church, want? ' '33 Thi Truth of thi Aposiouc GosraL Study i8: The Trustworthiness of the Gospels Seventh Day: The Gospel Narratives of the Resur- rection fmncM^nTdX',?!,!!!.' *»"'' """•"'"" "<= "« f«e A'number of these dfficultfei t-TJ^^ «asonable explanation. But what is to be said of Luke 4' 39-43 when compared with I Cor. 13:50-53? nf^h-^f ^rl 'l™''^ seen reasons why Paul's list of the appearances of the risen Christ may not have been exhaustive, and he also afS^s with all the gospels that the grave was found empty on the relurrecHon morning. Whatever be the differences all agre? upon thaf Fur'h™ to whomsoever or wheresoever appearances came, the na?« ives aiS that they were objective manifestations of Jesus, and that while His ao! E'ff ""1 T'lf' wonderful y changed. His disciplis r«Zi."d Hi" and ?n 1i„i"-.l\°i,"*'' '"'"■ni""' Wlpwship with Him. •ffis is also quUi in line with the revelation which Paul received (l Cor. 15:8)! .,t 't-T^' ** admitted that there are in these narratives many de- tails which we cannot explain. And we can easily see why The event r'oVde,r"?S'. 1?"^ anJ the emotion so intense that the tradition was wnn,.„^; If «°"7,»"">"t l« 'Old .-n the language and thought of the women or first disciples, who in their bewilderment might be unable to recount exactly what happened. It is remarkable that the most self- consistent story IS given in the fourth gospel by one who shows the deepest spiritual comprehension of the meaning of Chrises life 4. But with all their differences there is essential agreement and the ^^7,1°?^"°" " ""."," '" "■? '^""' o' "■= '«n>endous fact with wh ch l^LT^ll i"'," °u ■'"J" f"l"""a«d. What finer harmony could be found with Paul's thought than the beautiful stories of Luke 24 n-,? ■ ,, I'lJ^'''^ ?"« truer explanation of his doctrine in Tcor. 3! 17, 18 than the incidents of Luke 24:32; John 20:21-23? f„'n.^'°*'l'' <''?J"', °^ ""5. "'"■■'■"^''O" of Jesus is required to account ul,n)^ o?!'' rl"" "L "" '"?'=''''"* '!"'■■ "'"=• "« Apostle Paul, and the v™ /L. K i"""^ 'I" """■ ?' " "ot too much to say that whether you judge by adequate human testimony, or by the proof of history, no event has more suflicient external evidence for its objective reality than the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The Tbuth of thi Apostolic Gospel Study 19: The Christ of the Church First Day : The Epistles Demand the Christ of Our Gospels truisms, but aglow %^th a oower ?m, ' ^?" =°"""'";P'«" or ethica historically. The Christian v?7i,'"h?'.he"'chHs, IZl r/"'""^'''' rately narrated in our gospels Himself ,rft,.„ r ' l''^ " '""- tion, wing added to wing sfo.^ ,0 s.ory' Thh^Tjuliy.'",: '""?'''- The Truth of the Apostolic Gospei. Study 19: The Christ of the Church Second Day: Not a Creation of Old Testament Con- ceptions t=in.v^.".^' T '".u°^u- ^^ ."a'^ralism that we cannot now with cer- tainty get to know the historical Jesus, but only "the Christ-fimirf nf ,h- fj>'f""'t" ?.^""''" '"'"■•" "■= ■•"' "^P i^ to account for thi,Teation u! TrL i""' '""?P'!A^' ^''' Testament, contemporary Jewish though, i'i\l"^ even Buddhistic parallels are adduced as materials out of tt'^hfrsl ffX^Sir """'«" ""»"^'" "" "■' JesuT-ofhfsUln^i vital conception of Jehovah is applied to Christ, and all The soinS ours may be the method employed by writers of thrNew Tesament t" prove in detail that the promises of the old covenant are fulfileTin the .^ "IS very evident that they have penetrated to the living stream of ruth which underlies all the history and literature of the O d Testam"' ..nd they prove, that in quality it is the same stream as has ound ts way 10 the surface in such overflowing purity in Jesus Christ ^ l,.i. .1' 'i-J^y. '° ""'oj!; '.^e secrets of the Old Testament when we ^»Ws ^t/^elSLnf^lii- -- -^i Stf),„,i • . . ^" ^^^ '° overloaded the letter of the books with traditional interpretations as to bury the truth beneath their rubWsh eX-n'^LrM" "l' ""JP'' \lost Bible, speaking wi?h amhority as He fh7T„r,4 ^iT" "" eternal truths of prophecy concerning the Sefvant of Lndii,. n-, /T"?"' 5' "■"' ''"''• ""e Kingdom of the Son of Man and the Day of the Lord came to completion in Himself n.J;„i^r!""''5"'..''""!"'^,°" "'« P'" of 'he inspired and prophetic Me S h" "' ";' '"'>' ^^^'^^ "•' conviction that since Jesus wis the Messiah He must surpass in grandeur those great figures of the Old I^IT"/' "°'" ?"■' ?''■=''■ So they decked Him oTin a miraculois equipment surpassing the powers of those men of God. But the o"d Person th^-'l'"';'' 'fP'S^'' <=■) Whence arose the majestic, harmonious feive? 'How H?rfM''™'''i'' 'A"''?' "" """"^ '"'o 'he mind to con- of Ps 2 C ' =„H r"'-''!,?""!.""' '"■'^^' "'"^ disjointed prophecies w„;i, J'm^ " I l,?''l='''.- togethc' with suggestions from the life and not a, »^ iH f fi ^'"^^,- '"'° "''',-^™ 0' ^od whom the Church loved. d«o?ion MH "'"■'■ *""' 'I ' \"-''"^ P"'""' ^"^ ""ost passionate ^=™ 6-J ^^ ".u" '""" " ,*'■« Jews, a people who at this time had mZirn .ir"'^""" '7.,""'? ""' *"^"« between God and man overcame their horror of blasphemy, and invested the Man Jesus with these sovereign attributes of Jehovah? '3* The Truth of th« Apostolic Gospel Study 19: The Christ of the Church Third Day; The Pauline Christ not a Creation of Jewish Thought fliin^in LSi "1™" VM '?'■ *";"'" °' ">« New Testament were in- fluenced by the thought of their time. They used the language of their comemporar.es Along with this went of necessity othe? concept ons' ^^,f,u "?!* Z"' ^"'"'^, '""sniuted into vehicles for ChV °ian thought, while others were almost entirely transfigured when they be- came adjusted to the new religious ideas. The Pharisaic system, for ex- ample, and lh« struMle for a free gospel to the Gentiles accounts largely for the forin into which Paul threw some of his epistles. But the kefnel of his gospel IS not Pharisaic. So also in the Epistle to the Hebrews the Jewish ritual becomes the foil for the universlil Christian truths as to sacrifice and worship. M?;.i?l!" 1° ^^ "■%' "''™ P>"' ",>5 once persuaded that Jesus was the Messiah he drew from the theology in which he was educated the principal strands for the tapestry upon which Jesus Christ stands out as a glorious masterpiece of his own contriving, is to ignore not only his own testimony, but the real nature of current Jewifih conceptions. 3. The contemporary Jewish writings are a bewildering bundle of materials from which some parallel might be brought forward to sup- port almost any .doctrine Their Messianic figure was so indistinct in its outlines that it is difficult to determine what was really essential in it .T.1 .l,*°1I? ■ u J™jsh apocalypses might give ground to the view I^„«., JJ,^-"'!'',."?" '!?'■<"? 3 P"» o'the hope of later Judaism (see Bousset, Die Religion des Judenthums," p. 209). "Of a transcendental conception of His person, of a conception of Him as the bringer of a new revelation, or indeed of a redemptive, sin-removing activity there is seldom a trace in the average Jewish writings" (218). "With perfect truth Dalman asserts that the thought of a preexistent Messiah was quite alien to Judaism, and that we must be very cautious in assuming that there were ideas of preexistence in this conception" (251). 4. Even if the Jewish speculations were richer than they are, thrv could not account for the Christ of Paul, for He was no complex of ideas, but a living Person. Paul does not present his gospel as a learned teacher, but as an impassioned preacher redeemed by grace. His own Me consists of two halves. Once he lived as a Jew ; now he lives in Christ. Is the language of Rom. 5:8:2 Cor. 5:13-19. theory, or con- viction rooted m overwhelming love? Who ever loved a figure in fiction as Paul or any average Christian loved Jesns Christ? 137 Tbi Teuih of iHi Apostolic Gospil Study 19: The Christ of the Church Fourth Day : The Johannine Christ is not the Product OP Speculative Thought. thifn!,'rfh ^licj"!' *■?"'/ D '""f'™?' » construction of the Christ of «w fourth gospel out of Paulinism, Greek mysticism, and th- GriBco- Jewtsh philosophy. Philo of Alexandria was probabywel -known to some of the writers of the New Testament, notably the ruthorofH^ ^Tn'f.'h'n!'''",!^'"!.?' ',■". ^«°' " •}"'" different fr«S whit we «n?,5 hl^vT'"'.^''."' '" ^?''" '■■'■■*■ '" G"'l« philosophy as repre- ?r^™ ,1, '^ /*"',?' '•'" ^°J " > P""'y intellectual conception ariSing from the Greek v.ev of the contrast between matter and spirit. Thf Lmos was the personified divine reason, the concrete thought of God which seemed to serve as a bridge between God and the world. thf; rf^L*'?-' T° i! """'J. different with the fourth evangelist. Unlike iShff^n. ^»°«"? "'^°?'l ''" '"£'/«' '" "<" '» "« external world and the "wirW" fir h ^"H.'li!;""'."- 1^"?' ?"«' i"""'","'" difficulties face him J,I^nr,f nh ™""' *'°''''' °' ""'"' ""="■ What is his view of oXTLiii^»S"4i-?'"' ■'? "• "JS. M-) Is its source in reason S™ .K . * y"' ?'"'° ""'d "ever have written John 1 : 14. More- Sir.;. Tt"" ''°8°V'l°" "o* ,0<:™r i" 'he gospel after the first eighteen rL 1, i' ?™"8elisfs problem is to set forth Christ as the Son of £?hv &. ?r* "JTi'Y"' *°j'd °f ""•• i"'» "hich sin has emered on H^n (John »"3i)' °" "'"" " '° """' '"^° "'" '^''"' 3- The fourth evangelist is a lover not a speculative thinker He ^h Uk'iti' f'""? "'■"J' '?•'.'''? "« Way, the TtSh, and the fonL r„ k j" ''™"'? """■di," ''fe °f iove, and sacrifice, and power, found m abundance m Jesus Christ, who is depicted in a thoroughly /Vf."" ,^ ^d environnent. In the profoundest parts of the gospel (13:31-17). there 15 no trace of cold intellectual.im, but these dis- courses palpitate with the warmest personal emotion. "Tl'i,n^«^^.!?7'??j' ';?1'' ""e simplest solut on that Jesus Himself was what John thought Him to be? that the One whom Joh" Paul ™d ev"" •■rTril. ^fTi^ ^A,"*"!;!. "y 'J'^ '""'■« "' "'«« "■""'s embodied in thi unrist of the Church which meet the permanent needs of men? (See G^V^T^y^^Dr'r'mo^)' ^'"'"" '"" ^""■""'■'■> "' "« F™"" 138 The T«uih or thi Arosnajc Gospo. Study ,9: The Christ of the Church Fifth Day: Jesus Christ Revealed m the Christian Church Thi. J,*,*b!;J'„„"//S.7„g'i'««„d'd no. .xhau., .he life of Chri„. life of Hi, Churchr"r ji"u, fn'Hi/'^.JJj'S'lf' T'' "^ '"^ '".'•'■« tory since the days by the lake Genn.J^? w ""' """ """"t >">- s?^tera^„^j£rS£?af^^^^^^^^^^ f=-.heir^Sl^'' long as i. live, an5 in .hrmelsure of i» i"fe"'*("L?is;) '='' " "" """= " a and 3. In Eph. 3 -,8 .here ?re fh '^ should be plain from s.udies .he saims." fSi kniwled« of the ri,^-7 "S"'"""' ""■■'is. "with all roll of .he saints is complefe and each^on?.,'[!"."°' ?' ■""5!''''= '■" '•>« compose the Church. Ttffo'unda.i'on' i,°SveS"'„''lSar76 • III" ,T" eiJrs l'h^s?^fe"?s' ^! ^ ^^^^ H^^ ^^y of^£=- Father s the great Sheoherd nnrt Ri«I,?f„ „Au 'o;'6 R- V.). God His tangible as graiitati™ but it is an e£^?„,,f "' " """' l^. " '"" Kingdom of God whose foundations" nnTSliaS:*" """"""^ "" Thi Tiuth of iHi ApotTouc Gosrat Study 19: The Christ of the Church Sixth Day: The Mind of Christ is Reproduced in the Believer I. The Christian life and character are a powerful proof of the truth of the apostolic gospel because they issue from devotion to Jesus Christ as He IS set forth m the New Testament. The Christian 01 ic day boasts m the language of I' ul that he is the slave of Christ. What must Christ be if this profession of servitude to Himself which His disciples have acknowledged through our era has not degraded the devotees? fs any mortal man sufficiently perfect, so safe in his judgments and sympathies as to be chosen for the ideal of the race? Why does a man who is wor- shiped or slavishly followed so soon become debased and degrade his admirers ? a. But the slavery of Christ has resulted in the highest freedom (Gal. 5 ; 13), and m the truest and most heroic types of manhood. Frequently in history it is known that men of power have gathered round a hero with boundless admiration of him, but the next generation presents the world with successors who, being out of touch with the living personality, only copy slavishly the vices or the superficial virtues of their heroic '^ .-J • '' 4. '""' ' '•"'"y worship of the letter. But it is not so with Christ. To-day He produces as heroic, original and virile manhood as He did in the first century. 3. The worship of Jesus is not a literal copying of His earthly life, liis surroundings and works in Galilee cannot be reproduced to-day. We live in a different world. Who would profess to work His miracles, or even to apply every saying of His literally to the present? That life of Galilee was not exhausted by its contemporary appreciation. The teach- ing and principles of Christ are simple but profound, and are to be fathomed only by the repeated searchings of every age, just as in tropical seas there are treasures which seem to lie within reach, but are brought to the surface only by great toil in the depths. 4. The Christian character springs from "the mind of Jesus" (i Cor. ^C-J ?*"'■ *'5' '*'''■ '°'9' '"■ ' J"''" 4:12-17). This is discovered chiefly in the gospels, and to-day to the great blessing of Christendom they are being studied more closely than ever. The dew seems to be always upon them as in the morning of a new day. These gospels make the mind of Christ concrete to us. His eternal, loving Spirit becomes more real and human to us, as we listen to His words and read His char- acter in His works and conduct. We follow in His steps by allowing His living Spirit to direct us in the way that Jesus would walk were He now incarnate again on earth (l Peter 2:21). The T«uih or ihi Akutolic Goirn. Study 19: The Christ of the Church Seventh Day: The Qualitv of the Christian Mind tmmmm dom an mtensE conviction of the hideousness of sin And M,il",AU ^vJii .ff„ "^ P™ °?"<' penitence, but a new and hopeful enerw of loving effort to reclaim others. The Christian rhara^.r ;» ,u. a- tingu shed by an inexhaustible dynamic of o«"lIowinTfrom the primal act of love revealed in the self-sacrifice of the Son of God "^ Thk T«uth Of till Apuiiouc Gosm. Study 20: The vVitness of the Works o. the Living Christ First Day : The Gospel is Still the Uvino Wo«d of God «?iHlr S.F' ri?""" -"^^i" ^^: .™«ry .„,crp„« .r. , proo, of ,h. unce„i„7'-?I.iv''.',Sw'ir"„f";l,'e mmmm Tm T»UT« or thi Akwtolic Goiru. Study jo: The Witness of the Works of the Living Christ Second Day: The Birth of Phiijinthiiopv Europ.' (Leclcy). "The", can™ lifHrdL^ti .t,.""* "' '"'"'"•'"■•n' "' Ion. period b..n ,s:^i:r„'5^'l';cLV^•E^^^;.:„x'^'.'fl!'YI"7.Y '" •"' questionably .hi, is to £™Lyd fo °he™fl"eS e'o™.h^ ™~l"1i. """ problenis of human life are still numerous, but progreH is viliWe^n Ihl nta-'a^'d'ii-dusrrfc-iv'iJi^J' '""''''' °' a?bi.Sn"bS*h't 'S^ present, none have been greater than the Christian Chu?ch fndeed^ ?« HrIZ '^°"''"""'."" "' tjere which do not depend for their most un be ;^of the Chr'i«i'a , Ch'?rh7 '?8=i"« di'tortion of ,h* go.p. Xh had iTn •44 Thi T«fiH or nil Abmtoiic Cdsiil Study 30: Fourth Day: Tub Real Though Necessarily Slo« Progress of the Gospel tion.l vices. The MohamZ-dai. win lln^ ^ .l"'- """""'' «"'' """"»• n«., the Orient"! ir.hcTccd "of We«,,n ^^'"1"°"' ?' .""' '''""'«"■ Buddhist at our ni.t.r,aLS"Ev/„^he A„-lS?i5xo'n "er!^,"'''. ""'"«''"''l always uniymMthetic, ii ofttn «a™,r,H k5.i " """^' "V "° '"""'' principle, iS our modern "ifc ""'""^ ^ "■' ™|.otency of the gospel a. Seviral considerations modify this obieciinn Th ri. •■ . , has made proiress and rhri.»™j„-, 1. ' ,' ""^ Christian idea ftHl^'s'sit-" ™" "^^^!:^^X\:::^'^:^T:^,rfi^ f.cV.t'Xi"«Me' c'ondiL'n-r';;,'l'o''d'er';rTi',' "' ^S'-'k"'"" «''" '" proved to be not ineffective On nonT^^ .u ' '^l ""'ir work has rest more heavily ha" on ,h„,r„hose se^e ^'.u^"^!. "' "■"""' '"' This is a powerful motive for u'Sflr^VpKilan^'hr'o'p'i'c' et?!' " """"■ heJ«s^o''n'^!;^h"^^°^%??J"?i„'' ""jJs-uVearnS "^ t ^ "' '"' Se*??div"S'^tst'^i;!;-",'o, i/{7"'r, "'"-'''- °" deeply ingrained habits byl^tter conduct. '''"'''«"•"' "f ""d and vir'uleirspiri.'ofitn*'''Th':ris'evidinfin°Th"™'''^ ?"'"'''"■"<' "^ > hate the gMpel, for its uc«,, mea„, the r »„^"il''?'''.''''^ ''™""' "hich in an infinite vanet- .f shapes Tmonl ri^h . J^''"""" Mammon also the hearts of men. ' And our laPwH ml ^.5.'"'' '^'" T'^' '"""l^ "Pon we are paying for he mistakes of ilT. rl u"' P" °' "« '"I"' P'K' facultie? a^e'atrihied the^r re° ^™,'^Sa[u?ei"„'^ P"';i '^i'" ''"""^^ true weapon of the gospel is its w^H^ of ?ovI , S'ra'y« "" '?■'"'- whatever cause, i, can he bu, 'lowfy'" ™ /dTnV.°hh7'""''''? ^^^ sense requires time to subdue the coarse element. „fM^'''"" sP'^'Kal In some unfortunately there seem stnt!f „!? 'I °' l^^"""™ and self. Did not Jesus Himse^ lo^Vo^^^f'^o^er (Mfrk'j-i^,^'' °' "" '°^- '45 Th» TauTB or ihi Arosnuc Gosm Study 20: Fifth Day : Foreign Missions a Proof of the Vitauty of TBE Gospel faiS ■'"^■nK."" P"t "■""ry. A faith that will mik. Mcrifice" "s rffviM th^rl^V'^"' »', "iMions may be estimated by the reproduction of the Christian type of character even in the most unliltelv ouarterr A r,?f ^V"",? '■'""u"' *"*.'■■ ""«"» f™"> h"them°m whi?h e"pre»se1 itsdf naturally m the words of Scripture, a conscience regulated by the authority of /esus as a living PersoS, and a cha«ct "aporoStSLr in Its virtues to the Christian ideal. Threadbare often eno„Xth?Smei° of the new man may appear it is true, but far oftener itTs surpSriy t"et' Abo« all VhTl'* ""•" '? '\'""' 'V '"'''<'" <" older SS RSe.m^;'nd LorVis r''ep«?eT '"" '° •"'"' "" ""'«" ^"""'- '""' 3- Multitudes of these converts to-day are winning their liv» h. seeming to throw them away in the service of the Son. or th? « Ae''s'ou.?'i'T?"'r (Lu*","^")- There is the Srdevotto," hi inn -K 1 ■ 'l''?"";". Who leave their homes and often are martyred »nH ,h.^ ■ ^J t"i'i"'" °' *' Chinese converts during the late vZ, ^d S"' '^ "" '1^ ""i ?°"'°8 ""= W'"*' °f South Afrira "the natives r^J™. '," "^if" "?"^"?* " ™"°"' <^'""«hes form an almost neSiSb" element m the crimind class." We should not expect the rich fewest fest onT^H™"" *"" *«.'e»l"/h<»«s of Christian charaSerare^f: lest on nearly every mission field. its^fulTil-'lW ™ dispossesses the half-truths of other religions by l-J„ i VV. \'"' v'"??. " '° •>« "■»r'«d not only by dir'ct con- heahe„'l,^H,\,^r' ""*"?''•' TT' """^Ph'" whfch ^t creSes °n -S,J^^i, • f'^™*'' '" India, chiefly as a result of missionary ^ , t.i. '"'"' '"L"' •>" iK^me more shy in professing its shameless ' ;• hology or worship. "Christianity's method is silent, slow, certain mdermines rather than violently overthrows old systems. It deals f ,i;;L It. .•'■.; f-." °''^ ,"i'' "'"''=*' oppress mankind rather by Jj=n L^' '" i" ^H^ '■'' "1' °'..^^,V^' ^y '"b'tituting something highef^ than by directly attacking them" (Stewart, "Dawn in Darkest Afrira") 146 The Thuth or rai Apostouc Gosm Study 20: Sixth Day : Objections to the Proof or the Gospel from Missions wins sr^p:^'Xz xsss- wi^'^^sro?^',"-""-"^ Against Mohammedanisrt, e. g thtto7^1 i,lSS, °' uH'°r «""!'• pervious to the nobler ethicil ideal of ,t,- »„ i"""!' ""=,?' "">« inl- and force with a simple Seirbn o Zd'Z; /PP'"""? '» P^de so much less stringent than Sm, nf .k^r? • ? ''".mora' demands sterilizes the native*m"nd Bu H it bl ^inin^'l^'Tf !""'«"'^^- I»lan. undergoing disintegregation in Persia"^ FeiS T^ nt '/?'•"•'";"" ■"' "^ vancng ,n a far greater ratio .hfn"t'i;?„:t'jill'?nc;'et.?f"r^^„,Si»;l- asfigni't"^ t" P^ch^n|1/'S'c'^^L°'>J-t%«'H"''' "« .^•■™"- to be ascribed to i. ■ prSmss^f ^.«,™ ,S^ .? '*?''?' .?." '" "^^^ are not in a position to Moo?tinn?kr ! .°"'''' 2"'' ""'iration. We civilization and the 80^?,^"'?%.™ dn">;.V. '"««"« °' education* upward trend of life But it m.?V r^nfiXS "nf"''"!' f"""" '" "-e educated only in secular WestMn Wief?1f,iJ '^'"'^ "'" "« "'"du menace to India, because he is "wanHer.W hi, '*''' •"''"""« ,'° ^ » »«!'! the other powerless to^^r„.*'F„"'h?r Yn wt^Tf ';™^'<' V« dead, raerce has really degraded the native race's and ■•In ii^^ ""°<'"" ?™- shows that civilization without ChrisSiv 1,.. i modern «perience Jat^have fallen to the lowest SS^i^SeX.-^l^Iw'.llXSrs! an'd the cha™c7e^Jl^hT■i"diJral'?^^^^^^^ " ™-i"n mission, preaching of the apostolic aw to tS^V, !»'"'«'"= "'n'ts of the first conditions are not sim ar pfom Persia to ,h^w,« "" '°™l'- The moral elements of that world worsh[neH.°„?k-""" °'"" ""« *""' as proselytes, and from Siese a s^Sdv .ll" '"" 'J™5K?S"es as Jews or Church. There was a c'"■■ " soon worsted by the awful praSice of ilf.. '.'' " ".''^'"S *^"'. ■' " heathenism. practice of the unrestrained natural man in TBI Truth or the Atostouc Gospu. Study 20: Sevekth Dav : The Gospel op the M.ss.onarv is the Gospel of the New Testament the death of the Son of God 5„o»ltes for .h^i. ' '"■"•/"'« -notive which of converts. Occasional^ iffin L '" own life and the winning which are crudSr^«icbu,1hereii,rS;2" their belief in term! conviction. The educ^ed ™n with /Tv «°'\^,P">dmom amount of deemed him. The .over'L*^lS7i^rr't/u?h"lf?h;-tisro';?c'gVs,?f sp?ead''o'fnrBTbirgfi'n%si.stv;tr?ha7i™ii '"''"fr '?r "« stands forth dearly enouirh in .hi^.^f . 'J" ^^," "^ J""' Christ cultured Brahmin ^hTchin«entefati''lL''"Afri'''"'"-,i° "'^'"" "«= cannibals of the South Sear TKH,hfr ""« Afncan villager, and the ss^^i'ffl,; Sa= m%T&E .v^ t4S