and Mary, as we understand, and one of them was called James. He gathered round Him twelve apostles (I Cor. xv. 5), chief among whom were Cephas and John, 'who seemed to be pillars.' He lived a life which was at once sinless (2 Cor. v. 21), and yet deeply marked by poverty and suffering (2 Cor. i. 5, viii. 9). At the close of His ministry He was betrayed at night, after instituting the sacrament of the Supper (1 Cor. xi. 23 ff.), evidently at the season of the Passover (1 Cor. v. 7). He died by crucifixion (as we learn from numerous passages), and that at the hands of 'the rulers of this world' (1 Cor. ii. 8). He was buried, He rose again the third day, and appeared to Cephas and to James, twice to the twelve, and to more than five hundred brethren at once (1 Cor. xv. 3-7). The apostle refers also to the fact of our Lord's ascension: 'It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us' (Rom. viii. 34, x. 6). Indeed, the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ are everywhere interwoven with the texture of the Epistles. We may also safely agree with Baur with all assurance when he says, 'He who could speak so definitely and in such detail about matters of fact in the gospel history as the apostle does, could not have been unacquainted with the rest of its chief incidents.'1

1 Paul, vol. i. p. 94.

The views of the apostle in regard to the person of Christ obviously imply both a human and a divine element. No proof is needed that the former is the case, and accordingly our attention must be directed to the latter. With our unbelieving critics, the person of our Lord is next to nothing; He is only a man, dead for eighteen centuries, and we may hold the absolute religion without any reference to the person of Jesus at all. But with the Apostle Paul the person of Jesus is everything. 'Christ Jesus was made unto us from God, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption' (I Cor. i. 30). Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ' (1 Cor. iii. 11). He says, 'I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified' (I Cor. ii. 2), and he speaks of his gospel as the 'gospel of the glory of Christ' (2 Cor. iv. 4). He everywhere makes salvation depend on our relation to the personal Saviour: There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. viii. 1); and 'If any man be in Christ, [he is] a new creature' (2 Cor. v. 17). Such a person as this implies must be more than human, and accordingly Baur admits it to be clear that we cannot believe Paul to have regarded Christ's personality as originating only at His human birth. The apostle speaks of Christ as the Son of God, God's own Son (Rom. viii. 32), in a way

He con

which evidently implies His exalted nature. trasts his human nature with the 'Spirit of holiness' (Rom. i. 4), in which His Sonship had its basis. He speaks of God as sending His Son in such a way as clearly to imply His pre-existence (Gal. iv. 4), and he calls Him, as distinguished from 'the first man,' 'the second man [the Lord] from heaven' (1 Cor. xv. 47). In Rom. ix. 5, he speaks of Him as 'over all, God blessed for ever;' and again in 2 Cor. iv. 4 as the 'image of God,' in whose face the glory of God is seen (ver. 6). He is the 'Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him' (1 Cor. viii. 6). The apostle names Him in the Trinity of the apostolic benediction even before the Father (2 Cor. xiii. 14), and distinctly regards Him as an object of worship and prayer, invoking grace and peace, and other spiritual blessings from Him equally with God the Father (Gal. i. 3, etc.). He describes Christians as those who call upon the name

Cor. i. 2); and again, he

of Jesus Christ our Lord' (1 says, 'Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord (Heb. Jehovah) shall be saved' (Rom. x. 13, quoted from Joel ii. 32, LXX.), a verse in which he clearly refers to Christ, and practically applies to Him the name Jehovah. Christ is also reigning Mediator (1 Cor. xv. 24 ff.), and is to be the final Judge (Rom. xiv. 10; 2 Cor. v. 10). But the fact is that no reference to a few selected texts can possibly convey any idea of the importance and

dignity of Christ's person in the eyes of Paul. He plainly looks upon our Lord's divinity as an axiomatic gospel truth, and we have only to read the four Epistles with the purpose of discovering his views in regard to this question, in order to have this fact borne in overwhelmingly on the mind.

When we come to the grand doctrines of Christianity, we find them all laid down in our Epistles in the clearest language. We find there the doctrine of the Fall: By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin' (Rom. v. 12). We find the universal sinfulness of man clearly taught: 'for all have sinned' (Rom. iii. 23). Our Lord's death is sacrificial and substitutionary: 'Him who knew no sin, God made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him' (2 Cor. v. 21). He died for all, so that all died in Him (2 Cor. v. 14). He is the propitiation (Rom. iii. 25), our Passover Lamb who is sacrificed for us (1 Cor. v. 7); and He 'redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us' (Gal. iii. 13). The salvation wrought out by Christ becomes ours by faith: 'A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ' (Gal. ii. 16). The doctrine of the sovereignty of God is clearly taught (Rom. ix. and xi.), and the need of the Holy Spirit to quicken the merely natural soul (1 Cor. ii. 14). The apostle inculcates the necessity of sanctification (Rom. vi.), and clearly teaches the doctrines

of the resurrection, the final judgment, and everlasting life in heaven (1 Cor. xv.). It is obvious also that he regards his gospel as a finality, as the ultimate revelation, so that there is no room for change in regard to its substance: 'Even though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed' (Gal. i. 8).

While we find in the four Epistles a full statement of the system of Christian doctrine, we find a no less complete statement of the system of Christian ethics or morality. We do not need to enter into this at length, for it is beyond the possibility of doubt. The root of Christian morality, according to the apostle, is 'faith working by love' (Gal. v. 6). He inculcates perfect holiness of body and spirit towards God (2 Cor. vii. 1), and a complete surrender of ourselves to His service (Rom. xii. 1; 1 Cor. vi. 20). Towards our fellow-men 'love is the fulfilling of the law' (Rom. xiii. 8 ff., xiv. 10; I Cor. xiii.); and he teaches us to carry it out into all the relations of life, not forgetting the conscientious discharge of our duties as citizens (Rom. xiii.). In short, while the true root of Christian morality is love, the perfect pattern of it is Christ (I Cor. xi. I; 2 Cor. iii. 18).

We also find in these Epistles tolerably distinct teaching in regard to the Church, its sacraments, and officebearers. The apostle recognises the existence of a