Davidic birth of Jesus (Ro 18 9°, 2 Ti 2°),—not as a mere title to the Messianic throne, but as a link between the past and present of revelation and a symbol of the right of those who are ‘in Christ to serve themselves heirs of the spiritual wealth of Israel.
1. St. Paul’s Doctrine of God.—In systemat- izing the Pauline teaching, we therefore ask first, What was St. Paul’s earlier belief in God? and how was that belief enlarged and recast by his conversion? When he speaks of ‘ the righteousness of God,’ of ‘ holiness’ and ‘sin,’ when he repeats the watchword ‘God is one,’ when he exclaims ‘O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and aoe of God!’ we are sensible how large and powerfully developed a doctrine of the Godhead the apostle brought with him from the Synagogue. Such terms as ‘the grace of God,’ ‘the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,’ as ‘the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ indicate the immense change that supervened.
(a) The Fatherhood of God.—St. Paul’s theology, like that of Jesus, is a doctrine of the Fatherhood of God ; this principle is its tacit presupposition and basis throughout. <A true disciple, Paul has assimi- lated in this fundamental article the essential teach- ing of our Lord. ᾿Αββὰ ὁ Πατήρ is the distinctive ery of the new life, taken from the lips of Jesus (Ro 8, Gal 45:1, Mk 14%), which marks the transition from Judaism to Christianity. St. Paul’s careful discrimination between ‘the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’ and ‘God our Father,’ with the ex- pression ‘firstborn amongst many brethren’ (Ro 839) that links the two, reflects the personal atti- tude of Jesus towards God and men respectively. To the character of Father Bere attributes of love, mercy, compassion, grace, the gifts of peace, consolation, hope, and Joy of which Saul the Judaist had known so little. The forensic term adoption must not be so understood as though Paul by its use implicitly denied man’s original sonship to- wards God: see to the contrary Ac 1738: 9, also ἵνα τὴν υἱοθεσίαν ἀπολάβωμεν, Gal 4° (Lightf. ad loc. ; ‘nec dixit accipiamus sed recipiamus,’ Aug.), and the ἀπο of ἀποκαταλλάσσω (Col 17+, Eph 2"), ‘The love of God,’ which precedes and determines our redemption (Ro 57-8, Eph 28"), is love toward those kindred to Himself and destined from their creation to be His sons (Eph 1* 5),
Grace is the regnant word of Paul’s theology. In this aspect he habitually sees God’s face. The entire contents of the new revelation are included in the phrase τὰ ὑπὸ τ. θεοῦ χαρισθέντα ἡμῖν (1 Co 213). ‘Grace’ signifies God’s favour to undeserving men shown in Christ, His love at work for their salva- tion. ‘The grace of God’ had made His Son’s
ersecutor His apostle (Ro 1°, 1Co 152%); its ight illuminated his whole course of action and of thought ; his life and his theology were devoted to ‘the praise of the glory of God’s grace.’ The all- controlling Divine power and providence, exercised over men and nations, the apostle saw to be directed to ends determined by God’s fatherly love, even in dispensations the most severe (Ac 17%, Ro 415 1115. 8, Gal 3347, Eph 141 9:7. 18-18 37-12) _in a word, ‘to the end that grace may reign through righteousness unto life eternal’ (Ro 5”). See, further, under art. GRACE.
(6) The Righteousness of God is the special theme of the Ep. to the Romans. St. Paul’s doctrine of God’s righteousness shows the new faith rooting itself in and transforming the old. The δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ of Ro 1&8 should not be resolved into a ‘righteousness from God’ (Paul can write ἡ ἐκ θεου δικαιοσύνη when he chooses, Ph 3°). Righteousness is God’s property (see art. GoD, vol. ii. pp. 209-212), the principle of His moral sovereignty, the ethical ground and norm of His dealings with men, and
PAUL THE APOSTLE
therefore of the gospel in which those dealings culminate. The Divine righteousness is now ‘re- vealed’ on a side hitherto veiled, as redeeming, communicative (2 Co 5”),—a righteousness that elicits and appeals to human trust instead of fear ; in this disclosure there resides ‘God’s power (an instrument of sovereign moral efficacy) unto salva- tion for every believer.’ The gospel righteousness is that of ‘God our Father,’ the ‘ one God of Jews and Gentiles’ (Ro 147 331-80 4% and 6* 5°", 2 Co 518-6}, ete.) ; not the abstract impersonal justice ofa Supreme Ruler, but that of the essential Father, into whose relations with men there enter funda- mentally the considerations attaching to father- hood,—who is accordingly ‘just himself’ (cf. 1 Jn 1°) when He ‘ justifies him that is of faith in Jesus’ —a ‘just God and a saviour’ (Is 45%), just because He is a saviour and a saviour use He is just. The gospel is ually ‘the overflow of grace, and of righteousness’ (Ro5'7; omit ‘the gift’). Love and law, however distinct, are not contradictory in God, any more than in man (Ro 13”), Righteousness takes grace into alliance; it wins from the heart ‘the obedience of faith,’ where before it wrought by mere command and in the ways of constraint. It is seen at length in its fulness and majesty, a ‘stern lawgiver,’ yet wearing ‘the Godhead’s most benignant grace.’ ‘The law’ that breeds trans- gression and ‘ worketh wrath,’ made righteousness the accuser of a world of hapless criminals ; under the gospel righteousness becomes the arbiter and reconciler of the moral universe, giving its due to the sin of men but also to the love of :