But it may be asked. Was Jesus then nothing more than this to the earliest disciples, was He not to them the Messiah ? In a certain sense— yes, and in another sense — no. Certainly He had received the kingly anointing (10^) ; but, as David was anointed long before lie received the kingdom, so Jesus was from the time of His baptism a king, indeed, but a secret one with an invisible crown. The primitive Jewish-Christian Church was far from saying : Jesus of Nazareth, as He journeyed through the land teaching and healing, was the Messiah ; no, He was then merely the One destined for lordship. It was only at a later period that He received the crown, namely at His resurrection and exaltation. Here conies into view the saying of St. Peter in Ac 2"'', which is a gem to the his- torian of primitive Christianity : ' This Jesus hath God made both Lord and Christ,' namely by exalt- in" Him to His right hand (v.^^) and thereby ful- lilling the words of Ps 110' 'Sit thou at my right hand.' The exaltation of Jesus marks His ascen- sion of the throne ; now He has become in reality what since His baptism He was in claim and anticipation— ' the Anointed.' Now for the first time the name ' Lord ' is fully appropriate to Him. This is the principal extant proof passage for the earliest Christolo(jy. It reveals to us the concep- tions of the primitive Church, which, as a matter of fact, still underlie the teaching even of St. Paul. For, in spite of his advanced speculations on the subject of Christ, in spite of his doctrine of pre- existence and his cosmological Christology, the Apostle holds fast in Ro 1^ and Ph 2" to the notion that Jesus became ' Son of God in power' through His resurrection from the dead, and was invested with the title 'Lord' at His exaltation. To the
same effect St. Paul in Ac \2P applies the words of Ps 2' ('Thou art my Son, this clnii have I begotten thee') not to the birth nor to the baptism of Jesus, but to the day of His resurrection and exalta- tion. With this fundamental passage corresponds another. When in Ac 3""-, speaking of the future, it is said ' that there may come the times of refresh- ing from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus,' this assumes that Jesus has not yet made His appearance as Messiah ; in that capacity He belongs to the future ; there is not a word of coming again or of a second sending. Such is the earliest primitive Christian conception, and it is this alone which is in harmony with the preaching and the self-estimate of Jesus when these are rightly understood.
But what now are the contents and the signifi- cance of the life-work of Jesus? Thorouglily in harmony with important words of Jesus, Ac 10™ replies : ' He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. ' Just as the Tliird Gospel delights to represent the work of Jesus as a conflict with the devil, the brief formula we have quoted reproduces accurately the contents of His life work. Along with this, indeed, should be taken also S"" ' God sent him to bless you in turn- ing away every one of you from your iniquities.' He was 'the Holy and Righteous One' (3"), or, absolutely, 'the Righteous One' (7"). The latter expression is chosen no doubt in order to emphasize His innocence in His sufi'erings and deatli, but it is certainly not contrary to the spirit of the Acts to find in it the testimony that it was He that was called to break the sway of sin in the world. Less clear is Ac 10^, according to which God caused 'peace to be preached by Jesus to the children of Israel,' a form of expression which recalls Eph 2", and in its abrupt conciseness no doubt reflects the conceptions of the author more than those of the early Church.
This brings us to the question. What view, judging from the evidence of the Acts, did the early Church take of the death of Christ? Repeatedly in the addresses of St. Peter it is urged upon opponents that this Jesus, tlie Holy and Righteous One, was put to death by the Jews (2=3 3'^ iw.^«. S^«. 752 10^" 13=»), by the hands of wicked men (2'^), although Pilate was prepared to acquit Him (3"). In all these instances, as was fitting in addresses meant to lead the hearers to conviction and repentance, the innocence of Jesus is emphasised as a point to awaken conscience, not as an element in a doctrine of the atoning death of Christ. Such an element is entirely lacking in these chapters, for in the passage from Is 53 about the Suffering Servant, which Philip expounded to the Ethiopian eunuch, it is precisely the expressions about bearing our sins that are wanting. The early theology of the death of Christ confines itself entirely to the point that this event was in no way contrary to God's saving purpose ; on the contrary, it had long been foreseen (2^ 3" 4=' 13-"). Hence the copious Scrip- ture proofs, which, however, deal more with the resurrection than with the sutl'erings and death