All the three planes of Fatherhood and Sonsliip reappear in the teaching of the apostles. The (irst is, as with our Lord Himself, the least prominent. Still it is not absent (Ac IT'*), and it must always be remembered that if the Fatherhood of God is in the first instance and in the fullest sense for Cliris- tian« (Uo S'"-", Gal 4«, 1 P 1"), they hold their
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privileges in trust for the rest of the world. The luluess of the Gentiles, and after it the fulness of Lsrael, is some day to be brought in (Uo ll""-). The peculiar Sonship of Christ is very prominent in the apostolic writings. It is clear that the apostles too, and we may say the whole Chinch, regarded the relation indicated by it as unii|ue. It is the full recognition of this by virtue of which Christians are Christians (see below, p. 214'', and art. CiiiusTOLOGV).
(ii.) Love.— One of the points included under the F'atherhood of God is the extension of a Father's love to all who stand to Him in the relation of children. There had been a school of Prophets and Psalmists, of which Jeremiah seems to have been a leader, who laid especial stress on the ' loving-kindness ' of J", i.e. the feeling of kindness and compassion which grows out of the covenant relation, the love of God for Israel as the covenant peonle. In the NT the horizon widens : God is a Father, not to Israel alone, but to all who claim their sonship. Towards them He turns, not liatemal severity, but paternal love. The writers of NT generalize this love, so that one of them says in set terms ' God is love' (1 Jn 4'). Here is another salient characteristic of Christianity. As it insists far more than every other known religion that God is Feather, so also is it the one religion which lays down in this emphatic way that ' God is love.'
There are two distinguishing features in this proposition that 'God is love.' (a) The argument on which it is mainly based is that supplied by the death of Christ. St. John lays down this in his Gospel : 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever bclieveth on him should not perish, but have eternal life ' (Jn 3'*, an enlargement by the evangelist of the iliscourse with Nicodemus). In the F"irst Ep. when he returns to the idea he draws the same inference from the .same premises a little more widely stated; ' Heroin was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his Only-begotten into the world, that we might live through hira' (1 Jn 4'-'). And it is a noticeable fact that St. Paul, to whom this attribute of the Godhead is no less prominent, grounds it also upon the stupendous sacrifice of the death of Christ : ' God comniendeth his own love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us' (Ro 5«, cf. vv." and 8"-'»).
(b) The unwavering confidence of the biblical writers in the love of God may indeed be set down to revelation. The philosopher who sought to infer the char.icter of the Author of Nature inductively from His works would not be able to adopt this tone. The waste which attends the processes of nature is accompanied by too much sull'ering. He might on the whole, and upon a balance of 'for' and 'against,' decide that the evidence for a benevolent purpose preponderates, and he might also see reason to think that that purpose became clearer in the progressive evolution of things ; but further than tiiis lie could not go. Ho could not speak of benevolence as absolute ; he could no'i, say ' God is love.' The belief expressed in these words is not the product of an induction. None the less, when once it is entertained, and enter- tained on such grounds as those which the NT writers as>i^ii for it, the phenomena of the world may then be found compatible with it. The Christian may still cling to his belief, and trust that what is at present dark to him will be made clear in (iod's good time.
(iii.) Right tousntM. — There can be no mLstako ai to the meaning and implicAtionsof the Fatherhood and Ixive of tiod. The ca.se is dilfcrent as to Ui« Uighteousne.ss. Kighteousncjis is a word of such varied signification that the exact sense in which
it is used in any particular passage may really l>e iloublful ; and there are certain places in NT wliere its meaning, as applied to t!od {SiKaioawr) deoO), lias been a subject oi much discussion.
We may say that there are really four leading senses winch the phrase Sik. OeoO w-ill bear. It may mean {«) 'rightncss' or 'goodness' in general, including all moral excellence ; or (i) in a narrower sense 'judicial righteousness,' the strict application of the standard of right by the judge ; or (c) an application of that standafd which is not strict but leans to the side of mercy towards the ollonder, and takes especial care of the weak and defence- less. Lastl,\ , (d) there are a number of pass.nges in the writings of St. Paul whore it has been thought that SiK. 0eoC ceases to be strictly an attri- bute of God at all, and comes to moan rather a state of man in the sight of God. This use we must consider. But it will be best to make our way upwards from the easier senses to the more difficult.