Page:Jesus and the Gospel.djvu/47

Rh treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden away; in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Once more it may be repeated that we are not dealing with the truth or falsehood of these views, with the possibility or impossibility of justifying them, but only with the fact. This is how Paul unquestionably thought of Jesus: this is indubitably the place which Jesus filled in his religious life. It is not putting it too strongly to say that He had for Paul the religious value of God. To suppose that Paul could have classified Him, and put Him in a series along with other great men who have contributed to the spiritual elevation of the race, is to deride his sincerity and passion. In the religion of the apostle, Jesus held a place which no human being could share. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the First and the Last.

Although we are not concerned with the Christology of the apostle, in the strict sense of the term, but only with the significance which Christ had for his faith, it will exhibit that significance more clearly, and so contribute to our purpose, if we look at the principal ways in which he seems to have conceived Christ. In a sense, this is entering the region of doctrine rather than of faith, but it is not with a doctrinal purpose; what we wish is to see through the doctrine what Christ was in the life of Paul. There are three distinguishable forms in which Christ is present to the mind of the apostle, and in different ways the same religious conclusion can be drawn from all.

(I) The simplest way to conceive Christ is that which regards Him as an individual historical person, practically contemporary with Paul himself; one who had lived and died in Palestine, and been familiarly known to many who were yet alive. No doubt Paul often thought of Him in this light; it would be impossible for any one