Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 3.djvu/101

 that in Christ God is revealed together with the unity of the Divine and human natures. Christ’s death is accordingly the touchstone, so to speak, by means of which Faith verifies its belief, since it is essentially here that its way of understanding the appearance of Christ makes itself manifest. Christ’s death primarily means that Christ was the God-Man, the God who had at the same time human nature, even unto death. It is the lot of finite humanity to die; death is the most complete proof of humanity, of absolute finitude, and Christ in fact died the aggravated death of the evil-doer; He did not only die a natural death, but a death even of shame and dishonour on the cross; in Him humanity was carried to its furthest point.

In connection with this death we have to notice first of all what is one of its special characteristics, namely, its polemical attitude towards outward things. Not only is the act whereby the natural will yields itself up here represented in a sensible form, but all that is peculiar to the individual, all those interests and personal ends with which the natural will can occupy itself, all that is great and counted as of value in the world, is at the same time buried in the grave of the Spirit. This is the revolutionary element by means of which the world is given a totally new form. And yet in this yielding up of the natural will, the finite, the Other-Being or otherness, is at the same time transfigured. Other-Being or otherness has in fact besides its immediate natural being a more extended sphere of existence and a further determination. It belongs essentially to the definite existence of the subject that it should exist for others; the subject exists not only on its own account or for itself, but exists also in the idea formed of it by others, it exists, has value, and is objective to the extent to which it is able to assert its claim to exist amongst others and has a valid existence. Its validity is the idea formed of it by others, and is based on a comparison with what they hold to be of value