The word TtXaiw Is sometimes also used In our Epistle to denote the establishment of right relations between man and God, that Is to say, as equivalent to 'justify' In the Pauline vocabu- lary. So in the text : ' By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctilled.' Per- fecting here means giving the worshipper a satis- factory assurance that his sins are forgiven. What the word means in any given ca.se depends entirely on the connexion of thought. In general, it signi- fies to reach the end, and the specific sense depends on the nature of the end in view. Thus perfecting as applied to Christ in 2^' signifies to make Hiiii a fully-equipped Captain of salvation. Applied to the fathers, who died in faith, not having received the promises in ll*', it means getting at length what they had lived and longed for when the company of the saved is complete.
Ciiudition of Halvatiiin. — What Is the condition of salvation in our Epistle ? We know what It is in St. Paul's theology. We are justified by filth. Faith is a great word in the Epistle to the Hebrews also, but its use there Is not quif" the same as in the Pauline letters. In the apostle's system faith has two functions. It accepts as a gift the ' righteousness of God,' and it works through love as a sanctifying power. Of the former function there is no clear trace in Hebrews. Instead of faith we find obedience in the text: ' He became the author of eternal salvation to all them that abet/ him' (o"). We come nearer to the Pauline conception of justifying faith in 10--', where the writer exhorts his reailers to draw near with a true heart In full assurance of faith, where f:iith means confident expectation of welcome for Christ's sake. The function of faith as a force making for personal righteousness or noble con- duct is very prominently set forth in ch. 11, where, in a series of well-chosen instances, it is exhibited as a power helping men to make their lives sublime. But the secret of its power Is peculiarly conceived in Hebrews. In St. Paul's system faith derives its power from Its personal object, the Lord Jesus Christ. It unites us to Him, and from Him flows a transforming influ- ence. In Hebrews the secret of faith's power is its psychological character as a faculty of the human mind, whereby it can m.ake the luture as if it were present, and the unseen as if it were visible. So viewed, faith as a principle making for heroism is not confined to the Christian world. It is as wide as humanity, and can turn out heroes and heroines in every land. Hence even a Kahab finds a place In the roll of those who obtained a good rejiort through faith. #
(2) F.I rilERUoOD OF GOD. — The doctrine of the Fatherhood of God and the sonship of men, cen- tral in our Lord's teaching, and prominent also In the Pauline letters, is not very conspicuously taught in onr Epistle. It makes a formal appear- ance chiefly In the hortatory section. There God Is called 'the Father of spirits' (1'2'), and it is tauzht that His supreme aim in all His dealings with His children is to make tliem partakers of His holiness (12'''). The phrase ' Father of spirits'
HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO
HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO
Bi'i-ms to imply a paternal relaticui of God to men as such, coextensivu with thi; Imiiian family, or, rather, inclusive of the liuman family, embracing It in a larger category, the world of sinrits. in- cluding men living in the flesh but having a spirit, the spirits of just men made perfect, and angels. In the theoretical part of the Epistle the Father- hood of God is referred to, or implied, mainly in reference to the Sonship of (,'lirist. Hut while this is so, it must be ascribed to the exigencies of the apologetic argumenl controlling the train of thought rather than to the peculiarity of the writer's tlieological system, that the doctrine of the Fatherhood is so comparatively in the back- ground. .No man could be insensible to the im- portance of that doctrini^ who had such a vivid sense of the distinction and glory of Christianity as the religion of free access to an intimate fellowship with God. This central concei)tion covers the whole ground. A religion of ume- stricled access is a religi(ni of son.ship. Its spirit is jilidl, not lif/al ; its watchword triiKt, not f<-ar. U brings its votaries to Mount Zion, not to Mount Sinai. At another point the doctrine of sonship is immanent in the Epistle, though not formally named. This is where faithful Christians are called the comrades of Christ. 'We have become fellows of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence stedfa.st unto the end' (;i"). So we render the passagi', taking n^roxot in the sense it bears in 1". The faithful tlie fellows of Christ, Goil's .Son — such is the writer's idea, implying also, of course, that they are sons in the same house and family of God. This is just wh;'.t was to be looked for from one who grasjied the significance of the great principle. Sanctitier and .sanctified all of one. It is but the other side of that great truth. The one side is Christ's oneness with tho.se He undertakes to sanctify, and His readine.ss to accept all the conditions necessary to His complete identification with them. The other side is the unity of the sanctified with Christ, complete equality with Him in privilege. They are noun. therefore, as indeed they are called in 2'", and therefore Christ's brethren. He was not ashamed to call them brethren even when they were in an un-sanctified state (2"); how much less will He be ashamed to call them brethren when they have experienced His sanctifying power ! Tliere- fore we need have no hesitation in taking ii4toxoi in the fullest sen.se of comradeship. In doing so we only assume that the author understands his own system of thought, and it may be added that he is in sympathy with the teaching of our Lord and with the conception of the relation between Christ anil His people that pervades the entire XT. For the religion of the XT is throughout filial, and tiod, whether often or seldom .so named, is always Father. The dialects for the purposes of tluological rellection are various, but the cen- tral religious intuition is one.