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INCARNATION, Till-:
INCARNATION, THE
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this fact, the real occurrence of whicli alone ex- plains their spiritual transformation and the steil- lastness of their belief in face of hostile opinion. The apostles seem to have recognized, some more quickly than others, but all sooner or later, that the resurrection was in fact inevitable, Christ being what He claimed to be. It allorded a key to the entire life ; it was the ground of a final assurance that under the veil of mortal fic.sh the eternal Son of God Uimself had 'tabernacled' amonp men (.In 1"). It was the supreme revelation to the apostles of the glory of the Divine AVord, w ho, as man, h.ad lived and conversed with them on earth. It was the starting-point of a new and higher life, and of a more exalted faith. The resurrection followed by the ascension 'declared,' determined, or proved Jesus Christ (Ho P) to be, not merely the promised Messiah and 'the Lord' to whom all power was
ven in heaven and earth (Mt'28"), but a heavenly eing wlio had been manifested in a human form, and had returned into the divine glory whence He originally came. Thenceforth Jesus Christ became an object of worship, and the gospel of redemption preached by tlie apostles had His person for its central theme (Ac '28*').
Such, then, seems to have been the conception of Christ to whicli the apostles were led by their long intercourse with Him. When, however, we turn to the apostolic teaching in regard to Christ's higher nature, we cannot fail to recognize a striking diversity of treatment. All the writers are at one in their general conception of the I. as a supreme self-manifestation of God ; but we seem to trace, not only a certain advance in clearness of percep- tion, corresponding to differences of pliraseology {e.g. contrast the OT Messianic title irais in Ac 4-'' with X670S in St. John's Gospel), but to a certain extent distinct aspects of Christ's person.* These must be recognized even though they form no suHicient basis for the idea of radically dill'erent and mutually exclusive types of NT Christology — 'adoptianist,' 'pneumatic,' etc. Thus (1) thesiniple objective view of Christ as fulfilling in His person and life the OT Messianic e.xpectations is charac- teristic of St. James and St. Peter ; (2) the earlier Epistles of St. Paul estimate Christ's person from the side of anthropology : man's yearning for re- conciliation and union with God finds its satisfac- tion in Clirist j (3) a more transcendental treatment of Christ's person marks the later Pauline and Johannine WTitings ; they deal with cosmological and mystical aspects of the Incarnation. And it must be remembered that ' between the clear-sigh ted apostle of the Gentiles and the straitestof [Jewish or Kbionite] zealots there lay every conceivable gradation of intermediate positions.'t But the apostles themselves seem to have a fundamental bond of union in their belief about Christ as one who may be worshipped, J and whose name may be co-ordinated with that of God. It cannot be shown that St. Paul taught anything about Christ that ■was not iinplied in the belief of his fellow-apostles ; but we must remember that ' what to tliem was the result of their belief in Christ, was to him the starting-point from which logical conclusions were Been to follow, practical applications made, in every direction.'
What, then, was the earliest conception of Christ's higher nature current in the Churdi ? We turn to Ac, and find that the earliest preaching of Christ is naturally conditioned by conceptions of God
• Loofs, Dogmtngegchich'^, 5 11. S, rightly remarks, ' Wesent- liche Verschiedenheiten in der religiosen Schatzunp Christi . . . aint iiberhaupt nicht zu konstatieren . . . verschieden tber hat man diese Einzi^rtipkeit Jesu zu erklaren versucht.'
t Robertson, Athanasxus [Nicene and post-Nicene Fathers, ■er. ii.]. Id trod. p. xxii.
t Loofs, /.c, * Anrufunp Christi . . . ist . . . nicht andres als du praktische Korrelat des Pradikat« xCfitte.*
already current among those to whom the gospel message was proclaimed. St. Peter is a Jew speaking to Jews, to whom any unqualified declara- tion of Christ's Deity or pre-existenoe would have appeared perplexing, and even blasphemous. Wa notice in his preaching an avoidance of tlie phrase i;16s 8eov (contrast Mt 10'°) ; his starting-point is the well-known historical figure, the facts of whose life, ministry, and recent p.ossion were notorious in Jerus. (Ac 2- 3>» 4'" 5^ \V^'). St. Peter dwells repeatedly on the exaltation of One who had been known as man. This man, ' approved of God ' (2--), bearing all the marks of God's commi.ssioned 'servant' (irais, 3", cf. Is 52"), manifesting clear tokens of divine unction, was 'made' by God ' both Lord and Christ ' (2**). The main iioints in St. Peter's preaching which would naturally strike a Jewish audience would be (1) his references to the fulfilment of Messianic prophecy in Christ (2^'- 3-- 4"), for we must remember that to Jewisli ears the very title ' Messiah ' would imply a sujier- huiuan being; (2) his insistence on the resurrection as at once the seal of Christ's divine unction and mission (2*- 3'° 4'° 5'', cf. 1.3^), and a decisive mani- festation of the glory of His person. The resur- rection had proclaimed Him 'prince of life' (3"), source of spiritual blessing and power (3-°), ' prince and saviour' (5"'), 'judge of quick and dead' (lU'-j. Speaking generally, the same point of view is characteristic of St. Peter's 1st Epistle. He regards Christ as the exalted man, enthroned at God's right hand, and bestowing the gift of the regene- rating Spirit (1 P 1^). Christ is One whose human acts and suflerings have preternatural Wrtue ; who is destined to judge mankind (4'') ; who is the author of Messianic salvation, 'both in its negative aspect as a rescuing from the wrath under which the whole world is lying, and in its positive aspect as the imparting of eternal life.* On the other hand, it is doubtful wliether the two passages 1" and '■"' necessarily imply the doctrine of Christ's pre-existence.t With St. Peter we may couple St. James and St. Jude, each of whom calls himself ' slave of Christ.' St. James even speaks of Christ as 'Lord of glory' (2'), and looks for His appear- ance in judgment (5* ') ; he also uses language (I"--') implying that in Christ is revealed a prin- ciple of supernatural power which the law was unable to bestow (cf. Ro 8').