tone of the polemic against the Jews which is put into our Lord's mouth in this Gospel. Christ is the revelation of the Father, and the revelation is a revelation of love. The Fourth Evangelist is here at one with St. Paul. To know Christ is to know the love of God which passeth knowledge. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." "Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." In these sentences from the Epistle the Evangelist sums up the substance of the Gospel: for him as for St. Paul the kernel of the whole matter is love, and we may match with St. Paul's great praise of Charity the hymn of mystic love in the Johannine First Epistle. "God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." 'This is the true God, and eternal life." St. John's writings close the Canon; the development of Christology in the New Testament has run its course.1 It has been the aim of this essay to exhibit it in the rich variety of its manifestations as the product of a single process, determined throughout by a living experience which amid all diversities remains essentially the same. "All these worketh the one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as He will." Certainly it has not been the verdict of Christian experience that the writings which are latest in date are furthest removed from the Spirit of the Master. We have recognized frankly a development, 1 The Epistles of St. James and St. Jude and the First Epistle of St. Peter have been omitted from our survey, not because they are not important, but because they add little that is new to Christological development. They are all, probably, earlier in date than the Fourth Gospel. The Second Epistle ascribed to St. Peter may be later. Р a shifting of emphasis, a modification of values. We have seen the clear-cut, realistic expectation of the Lord's immediate Coming, which marks the earliest Christian writings, pass half a century later into the quiet mysticism of St. John-"Beloved, now are we sons of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is." It is probable that the language of St. Paul in Thessalonians is closer to the letter of our Lord's own words shall we say that it is closer to their spirit, or represents more truly that which essentially He meant? V THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST BY WILLIAM TEMPLE HEADMASTER OF REPTON CHAPLAIN TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY FORMERLY FELLOW AND LECTURER IN PHILOSOPHY, QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD SYNOPSIS PAGE I. THE FACT AND THE PROBLEM The doctrine of the Incarnation primarily a doctrine about 213-223 Men's experience of Christ has forced them to regard Him as the revelation of God; but this can only be justified if it is rationally defensible and even rationally necessary ; i.e. if it makes sense . Certain implications of the doctrine made clear If Christ reveals the actual Life of God, He thereby also 213 215 218 219 222 II. THE CLASSICAL ATTEMPTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 223-242 The intellectual apparatus at the disposal of the Greek The significance of the controversies down to 451 A.D. 223 226 230 The gain and loss of the Western method of treatment 233 Augustine and Anselm 235 Merits and defects of Abelard's treatment 240 242-263 242 III. AN ATTEMPT TO RESTATE THE FACT St. John our natural starting-point . Christ's Divinity only credible if His Humanity is in some Our statement aims at gathering together the merits of previous attempts 255 Yet it is inadequate, as from the nature of the case all such statements must be; we must make successive attempts to formulate, expecting progress but not finality. "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" 258 260 V THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST "Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." I. THE FACT AND THE PROBLEM THE central doctrine of Christianity has been made unduly difficult by the way in which believers inevitably tend to state it. It is really a doctrine about God; but it is made to appear as if it were primarily a doctrine about a historic Person, who lived at the beginning of our era. We are presented with the story of a historic life, and we are asked whether or not we regard the Man who lived it as divine. It is thus assumed that we know already what is meant by the word "Divine"; and to some extent no doubt we do; the religious experience of mankind and the labours of philosophy have to some extent determined its meaning. But two difficulties arise at once. The "logical attributes" of God do not seem applicable to the historic Christ; and the "moral attributes," which are conspicuous in Christ, are not obviously characteristic of the Ruler of the Universe. Thus, for example, the word "Divine" suggests Omniscience; then where is the evidence that Jesus of Nazareth was omniscient? He suffered surprise and disappointment and openly stated that He did not know the hour of the Judgment. The word suggests Omnipresence; what can be meant |