• Cf. Sanday-Headlam on Romantty ad toe
t Gore, DU&ertatioiuf, n. G6.
i Tht Jeutith and the Christian ileuiak, p. S7« t.
for belief in this, as in all the other miraculous occur- rences recorded in the Gospel, is faith in the highei nature of .le.sus Christ. What Augustine says of the Gospel miracles strictly ajiplics to the super- natural oirth of Christ : Miruin nun esse i/rbct a Deu factum mirriculiim . . . Miiijis gaudrre et admirari debemus quia Dominus noster et sidmtor Jesus Christus homo /actus est, quam quod dirina inter homines fecit.* The accounts of miracles, it must be remembered, were written for tho.ve who were already Christians, i.e. who already beliuvcd in Christ as a superhuman person. The Gospels were not primarily intended to create such a belief; they rather presuppose it.
(h) The sinlessness of Christ appears at first sight to conflict with the possibility of His being tempted. We have, however, already noticed that NT describes Christ as liable to temptation (Mt 4, Lk 4, esp. He 4'", Lk 22^) ; but it never allows us to suppose that He suH'ered from any disordered all'ections, any inward proiiensity to sin. He had no Ulieit desires, no discord between the flesh and the spirit ;t sin could have no enticing or illusive power in His case (.la 1") ; He had no allinity for sin, no experimental knowledge of it (1 Jn 3°, 2 Co 5-'). On the other hand. He possessed in their perfection and integrity all those human faculties and senses to which moral temptation appeals, — ail necessary and innocent afl'ections and instincts to which some things appear naturally desirable, others naturally repugnant. Accordingly, lie was capable of being tempted : for ' if the highest virtue does not exclude that instinct inseparable from humanity, to which pain is an object of dread, and pleasure of desire, which prefers ease and quiet to tumult and vexation, the regard and esteem of others to their scorn and aversion ; to which ill-requited toil or experienced unkindness are sources of corroding anguish and depression : then every conjuncture which presents but one of these objects of dread as the concomitant of doing God's will, or associates one of their desirable opposites with neglect or disobedience, — every such conjuncture must produce a conflict between duty and these necessary instincts of humanity suthcient to constitute temptation in the strictest sen.se. 'J Christ, then, could be really tempted ; He felt the pressure of moral evil ; He ex]ierienced the pain of resistance to it, and He endured, He remained stedfast even under the full weight of manifold diHiculties. There is nothing in the Gospels to warrant the idea suggested by John Damascene that ' He repelled the assaults of the enemy like smoke.' They rather suggest that the strength conferred on His human nature by the Divine Spirit was ' infallibly sufficient, but not more than sufficient, to sustain Him in His conflict, and bear Him through the fearful strife.' § He verily 'suffered being tempted'; He was made morally ' perfect through .suflerings' (He 2'<'- '« 5"). In tlie power of the Divine Spirit (Lk 4'- ", Mk 1'-) He was enabled to prevail over the tempter, but it was by a process of moral struggle ending in victory ; indeed the writer of Rev seems to summarily describe the human life of Christ as a continuous victory over evil (Rev 5^ 6-' 19", cf. Jn 16=^).
With the above significant exception NT depicts Jesus Christ as one who shared m all points the nature of man. He was (to use a later tlieological term) ' consubstantial ' with men. Accordingly, the general conditions of His human life enable Him
* In Joh. Tract, xvii.
t Au|j'. Op. imperf. c. Jul. iv. c. 57: * Christua ergo nulla illicita concupivit, quia discordiara camis et sj^iritus qu» in hominia naturam ex pnevaricatione prinii honiiiiia vertit, proreus ille non habuit, qui de Bpiritu et virgine non per concupisceniian carnis est natus.'
1 Mill, Five Sermons on the Temptation, p. 86.
I Bruce, Humiliation of Christ, p. 2C9.
INCARNATION, THE
INCARNATION. TUE
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to be the perfect pattern of human goodness (see below, p. 4G6*). And indeed there are facts re- corded in the Gospels which plainly indicate that Christ underwent a real human develoiiment, moral and mental, and that He was even subject to some necessary human limitations in respect of know- ledge. At this point it is neces-sary to touch on these points only so far as they concern the per- fection of Christ's humanity. Morally, then, Christ is said to have developed; He grew in wisdom (Lk 2°-) ; He was 'made perfect ' ; ' He learned obedience by the things which he sull'ered ' (He '2'" 5"). There were some iiualilications necessary for the discharge of His high-priestly functions which He acquired through tiie moral discipline of actual human experience, esp. the graces of sympathy (He 2" 4'° 5'), jjatience, faith (cf. Westcott on He 12-). He was perfected in the sense that He was pro- gressively educated by His human experience ; He Became a consummate 'leader of salvation' (He 2'"), a perfect high priest {ib. vii. 28). Further, Christ 13 represented as subject, at least in some degree, to ordinary laws of mental growth anil development. ' He advanced (irpoiKoirTev) in wis- dom ' as well as in stature (Lk 2'-). Occasions are mentioned on which Ho expresses surprise (Mt 8'°, Mk 6") ; and He also appears at times to desire information as to matters of fact (Mk 9-', Jn 11", cf. Mt 21", Mk ll'»). Finally, in regard to one special point He professes ignorance (Mk 13^-). I'rom these phenomena it may be inferred that Christ's human faculties, supernatural ly exalted and illuminated though thej* were by the operation of the Holy Spirit, were yet subject to limitation ; and so far the impression produced 1)3' the records, that Christ lived as very man among men, is further strengthened. The Synop. Gospels especi- ally portray a real human life and character ; they present to faith as its immediate object the ligure 01 a true man, ' the man Christ Jesus ' (1 Ti 2^, cf. Jn 8").