Page:Jesus and the Gospel.djvu/41

Rh which burns inextinguishable in his testimony to Christ. Hence, quite apart from any question as to its justification or otherwise, nothing can be of more consequence than to ascertain the place which Christ actually filled in the faith and life of the apostle. Was He to him what we have seen Him to be in the faith of the primitive Church?

In one respect at least, the answer cannot be doubtful. Paul's Christian life began with the appearance to him of the Risen Saviour; to him, as to Peter, in virtue of His exaltation the crucified Jesus was both Lord and Christ. With the splendour of that appearance present to his mind Paul calls Jesus the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 28); to acknowledge Him in this character is to make the fundamental Christian confession in which all believers are united (1 Cor. 123; Rom. 109). It is often said that whatever doctrinal differences may be detected in the New Testament, there is no trace of Christological disputes. It is not quite clear that this is the case, nor is it clear that it must be so. It may quite fairly be argued from such a passage as 2 Cor. 119 — Now God^s Son — 'God's' has a strong emphasis — who was preached among you by us, I mean by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay — that Paul was acquainted with preachers of another stamp than himself and his friends, whose Jesus was not in his sense God's Son, but perhaps only the son of David. There is something, too, to support this in 2 Cor. 114 where we hear of 'another Jesus,' which means a 'different spirit' and a 'different gospel.' But, however this may be, it is certain that the Risen Jesus fills the same place in the religion of Paul as in that of Peter. To both apostles He is Lord and Christ. To both He is exalted at God's right hand. In the faith of both He comes again to judge the living and the dead, It is of Him that both say, with that great and