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49") Till then salvation is incomplete: our redemption is exposed to hazard ; our sonship re- mains half realized (Ro 85). The Holy Spirit is the ‘seal’ of the future, as He is the witness of the past and the energy of our present life in God—a seal broken by relapse into sin (Eph 4”, 2Co 13). See, further, art. HOLY SPIRIT.
5. Doctrine of the Church.—The Church is the witness and counterpart of the Spirit of God on earth (1 Co 317 129, Eph 2”); it is the specific organ for the continu manifestation of God through Christ to the world (1 Th 15,1 Co 193. 5, 2 Co 8", Eph 851, Ph 2158. 1 Ti 315). see
(a) The Body of Christ.—As the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ amongst men, the Church is, correspondingly, His body. It is constituted by the common presence of the Spirit in many souls, and is animated by His power (Eph 2 4* 4, 1 Co 12%), It is ‘the church’ (OT ‘congregation ’)—or ‘churches’ in 1 Th 2 and 2 Th 1‘—‘ of God,’ and, as consisting of His children, the ‘ house,’ also the ‘habitation, of God,’ tenanted by. His Spirit, —‘a holy temple in the Lord’ (Ac 20%, Eph 2*, 1) Ti 3% 2, 1 Co 3'*- 17). Paul’s idea of the ecclesia grew with the growth of his work (see Hort, Hcc?. 107 ff.). In 1 and 2 Th the word denotes the local ‘assem- bly,’ or ‘ assemblies,’ of believers— ‘the Church of Thessalonians in God,’ ete. ; the readers of 1 and 2 Co are ‘the Church of God that is in Corinth’— the one Christian society existing in many places. In the letters of the third group the conception of the Church Universal, as the spiritual union of all who ‘hold the Head,’ is completely formed. In Col and Eph the fuller doctrine of the Church and of the Person of Christ are unfolded pari passu. The Chureh is the body of which He is Head (Eph 1™ 5%, Col 1 2"), new significance thus accruing to the figure previously employed in 1 Co 12. The body is the organic complement of the Head, supplying Him with limbs and instru- ments, while the ead gives to it unity, impulse, and direction. The reciprocal duties of the two, and the fundamental nature of their union, are shown in the analogy of Eph 5°“. The Church is the bride of Christ, who ‘loved her and gave himself up for her,’ who labours to ‘present her to himself’ at last in perfect spiritual beauty. The Church is not a temporal institution sub- serving mere present necessities. The collective fellowship of believers with their Head will subsist eternally ; and in Eph 3* ‘the Church and Christ Jesus’—Bride and Bridegroom—are seen together rendering praise to God, ‘ unto all generations of the age of the ages’ (cf. Mt 1618, Rev 21. 22).
(δ) The Brotherhood.—T he first note of the Church is brother-love (φιλαδελφία, 1 Th 4%!2, Ro 129-19, ete.). Brethren is the name by which Paul oftenest speaks to and of his fellow-believers,—or beloved. The compellation ‘ brothers,’ of Jewish kinship, is = ah ered by the larger household of faith. In the family of , Love is to have its home and hearth, from which its influence radiates to those without (1 Th 5", Gal δ᾽ 6!°, Ro 12!2-2), Since it is God’s love and grace in Christ that call forth our faith, faith in turn ‘ works through love’ ; all its activities pass along this channel and take this colour (Gal 5°). The Church ‘builds up itself in love’ (Eph 415. No faith, no gift or power or qualification of any kind, avails without love,— which finds in the brethren its chief object, in Christ its pattern, and in the Holy Spirit its sus- taining power. Loveis greater than faith or hope, as the Divine surpasses the human and auxiliary, as the fruit the seed (1 Co 13). In all this Paul shows himself the ne of Jesus.
The ‘good works’ of the Pastoral Epp. are definite forins of ‘the work of faith and toil of
ove’ commended in 1 Th,—e.g. the care of the
PAUL THE APOSTLE
widows and the poor, and hospitality to strangers ; the Church charities regulated in the latest Epp. flow from the brotherly love conspicuous in the earliest.
(c) The Charismata.—The Pauline Churches— eminently that of Corinth—were endowed by the Spirit with a rich variety of gifts for edification (χαρίσματα). All social talents, natural or super- natural, from apostleship down to the washing of feet, the apostle regards from this practical stand- point. Everything must subserve the building u of the Church after the measure of Christ (Eph 47:15, 1 Co 1274 14, 2 Co 137°). Hence ‘prophecy’ is rated amongst ‘the greater charisms,’ while the
ift of ‘tongues,’ though more admired, is really inferior. ‘The word of wisdom’ and of ‘know- ledge’ mark the ordinary ‘teachers’ (in Eph 44 associated with the ‘ pastors’), in distinction from the prophets and speakers with tongues, whose utterances come by an incalculable inspiration, and may need restraint where such gifts are widely dis- tributed (1 Co 14”-“), The earliest Church meet- ings, as described in 1 Co, were little bound by any stated order, those present praying, prophesying, singing, teaching in turn as the Spirit prompted utterance. But this unchartered freedom bred disorder ; it was only possible in the first sim- plicity of Christian fervour: Paul writes expressly to chasten it, intending to take measures to this effect (114); he declares that, along with the other charisms, ‘God appointed in the Church governments’ (1238), In the interests of edification Church proceedings were gradually reduced to rule and precedent ; by the time of the Pastoral Epp. signs appear of a fixed gradation of office and an established usage in Divine service. It is assumed, by way of fundamental principle, in Ro 12. 8 and