It would be beyond our purpose to dwell further on these theological points. We have said thus much about them in order to call attention to ths fact that the Christian ethic as it appears in the NT, rests upon certain convictions as to the nature and acts of Christ. The whole bearing and range of morality depends upon these.
We must now return to the other matter remain- ing for discussion, viz. the attitude of the Church in its endeavour to spread the Christian view of life through the world, and in this connexion we shall consider two points — (1) the general attitude of the Church towards practical life ; (2) the system of virtues and vices which flowed from the use of the Christian ideal.
(1) We notice, first of all, that the Church dis- plays an attitude of unflinching hostility to all that is characteristically worldly. The world, to the eyes of St. Paul, presents a spectacle of varied and widespread wickedness. The heathen have lost the light that might once have lielonged to them, and, as they have lost the knowledge of God, have fallen into idolatry, and so into gross sin. They have concentrated their attention and in- terests upon the material side of life, and find their satisfaction in the created world (Ko 1""'). The same point appears in connexion with the moral use of^the term ' the flesh. ' St. Paul does not mean by this that the flesh, as such, is the seat of evil ; but it is the material and transient side of man's nature, which has no right to stand as the oViject of his life. The works of the flesh (Gal 5'") are all those acts and states of whicli the real explanation lies in man's choice of the matt-rial and transient, his desire for selfish satisfaction. Though there are still higher ideas and signs of moral asjiiration amoiifj the heathen, yet the pre- dominant note of their life is degradation and sensuality.*
• It l« always hard to reod St. Paul's dcHcriptlons, ewp. lo Ro t, without woruk-riiiK wht'lluT he haa exn4;i;cnit<'ti. ami. If io, to whiit exttnt. It nitlHl, however, ho remembered tliot we derive ovir vieWH of the ancient world rather from the hi(;ne»t minds of the norticulur perio<l« we amHider, than from men on ordinary levels. It was these lower, more ordinary strata of society wit ii which St. Paul wai* chiefly wxiuainted. And, further, there run he no quei^tion that the etitry of Christianity ha8attiTe<l the tiu-o of thiii)s'S in many more directions than wo ortlinarily think ; so that, in all prohahility, the tone of ancient •ociety is much farther from us than we are wont to supi>ose. St. i*oul repre- sentj* the cjiHe of a person with sentiments very like our own actinjrnnd thinking; mirier the old conditions. And. lastly, it iiiust alwoys he rememhereil that St. I'aul's iiiethofi rif (iresenting ills ideas is to insist stronfrly on one aspect of a matter at one time, modtfyinif it or insisting oa the coiuplemeutory truth io
786
ETHICS
ETHICS
In liks manner, St. John speaks of the world as lying in the evil one (xeiTai iv n^ jroxijpcji, 1 Jn 5"), an<i uses the word K6<Tt>.o$ somewhat in the same way as St. Paul uses the word ffdp|, lor the material creation considered, first as apart from, and then as hostile to God. The world is guided by prin- cii)les of self-will and self-indulgence, and is doomed lo pass away witli all the objects of its desire. As Christ had anticipated persecution and hatred for those who followed Him, so St. Paul and St. John recognize an endless hostility between the world and those bom of God — between the flesh and the Spirit. There is no compromise and no cessation in the strife.
Hence the first thing which strikes us in the general attitude of the Church towards the world IS its uncompromising hostility. But in large measure these phrases, the flesh and the world, stand for tendencies or principles rather than for individuals. These tendencies appear in indi- viduals ; but there is quite another aspect in which the indi\-iduals arrest the attention of the Church. Tlie world from this point of view is capable of being saved ; and this fact determines trie character of the warfare. There is no limit to the sacrifices which must be expected of the Christian : he must, as Christ said, hate his father and mother if he is worthy of his calling. But he will not retire into himself, and live an isolated withdrawn life in wliich mankind in general has no part. He will live quietly in the state in which his lot is cast, fulfilling ordinary duties of citizen- sliip (Ro 13, cf. 1 P 4''), accepting even such an institution as slavery (1 Co 7", PhUem), without strife or cry. At the same time, he will not con- ceal his way of life, nor evade inquiry into its motive ; the power of example, the mere presence of the new principles of action, will tell. The world will know by this the disciples of Christ — by the fact that they love one another. And the love to the brethren, which is the sign that they have passed from death to life (1 Jn 3"), is extended to the neighbour, and in this is the fulfilling of the law (Ro 13'°). As God loved the world, even when men were in a state of rebellion against Him, so those who are called by the name of Christ will endeavour, so far as in them lies, to fulfil God's desire to save it. Thus the Christian's attitude towards the world is partly hostile and partly friendly — hostile so far as the world tries to con- vert him, but friendly in so far as he endeavours to convert the world. We must now consider certain special conditions of muid which, owing to the peculiar views of life characteristic of the Church, are now brought witliin the ethical sphere.