It is certain, however, that if the true spirit of the Christian religion is to be rightly displayed generation after generation, and its work rightly done in the world, there must be a constant ' return to Christ ' on the part of His Church. The phrase, of course, must be adequately inter- preted. Much has been said concerning the ' recovery of the historical Christ ' as characteristic of our time, and the expression represents an important truth. Christ is seen more and more clearly to be 'the end of critical and historical inquiry' and 'the starting-place of constructive thought.' But it is the whole Christ of the NT who is the norm in Christian theology, the object of Cliristian worship, the guide of Christian practice. The Christ of the Epistles cannot be separated from the Christ of the Gospels. The modern attempt, fashionable in some quarters, to distinguish between the Synoptic Gospels on the one hand as historic, and the Fourth Gospel and the Epistles on the other as dogmatic, cannot be consistently maintained, and does not adequately cover the facts of the case. The Sermon on the Mount does not reveal to us the entire Christ, nor
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CHURCH
the first chapter of St. John, nor the Epistle to the Romans ; but there is no inconsistency between these representations of the Christians' Lord. There is no contradiction between the Christ of the Synoptic Gospels and the Christ of Apostolic experience and the Christ of historical Christianity, except for those who reject the element of the supernatural, which, as a matter of fact, pervades the whole. The Christ of the NT is the object of Christian faith, as well as the Founder of the Christian religion in its historical continuity. To Him it is necessary for His Church — compassed with ignorance and intirniity and not yet fully imrged from its sins— continually to ' return,' t,'eneration after generation, if His religion is to be preserved in its purity and transmitted in its ix>wer. The vitality of Christianity in the indi- vidual heart and in the life of the community depends upon the closeness of personal communion with Christ maintained through His indwelling Spirit. 'To steep ourselves in Him is still the chief matter,' says Hamack in one place. ' Abide in me and I in you,' was His own word to His first disciples, and it must ever be obeyed, if the char- acteristic fruit of that Vine is to be seen in abund- ance on its dependent branches.
What the Christianity of the future might be and would be, if this command were adequately fulfilled, none can say ; the capacities of the religion have been as yet only partially tested. In Christ, as St. Paul taught, are ' all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge' — the treasures of all- .subduing love, of assimilating and transmuting power, of uplifting and purifying grace for the nations — ' hidden ' (Col 2*). And the treasure is still hidden, because His followers, its custodians and stewards, do not adequately make it known — have not, indeed, adequately discovered it for themselves. But if in every generation there be, as there should be, a renewal of the very springs of Christian life by fresh recourse to the tountain- head, then new claims, new needs, new problems, will only afford occasion for new triumphs of Christ and His Cross— the message of Divine self- sacrifice to the uttermost in redemption, as the one means of salvation for a sinning and suffering world.
LrrEKATUBE.— From amongst the vast number of books which bear on the subject of this article, a very few recent volumes and articles may be mentioned here : — R. S. Rt-.rr^, The Dirtite
Origin o/ Christianity, 1883; A. Hn-- ■'- "■ If ■.. ,les
CAn'seent«m«, 1900 [tr. by T. B.Saun.i.i - ' ' ',,,'tii/
1901), and Die Mission und Ausbr.i ,,x In
den ersten drei Jahrhunderten, 1902 Ex-
pansion 0/ Christianity, 1905] ; A. .M. i / n, ,_,/
Christ in Modem Theology, 1893, ..i... ,„,,-..,,;„ / the
Christian Religion, 1902; \V. Adams lirouii. The E.-^nnce of Christianity, 1903 ; see also the article on ' Christian, The Name of," by P. W. Schmiedel in the Bncyc. Bihl. i. 752 IT., and that on ' Christianity' by T. M. Lindsay in the Encyc. Brit.*-*
AV. T. Davison. CHRISTMAS.— See Calendar, and Date.s, § 1.
CHRISTOLOGY — See Per.son of Christ.
CHRONOLOGY.— See Dates.
CHDRCH.— It Ls proposed in this article to deal with the references to the Church in the Gospels, particularly as they bear upon Christ's relation to the Church. The other books of the NT, and the beliefs and practices of the early ages of Christi- anity, ^vill be referred to only as far as they appear to tlirow light upon the teaching and actions of Christ a.s recorded in the Gospels. It will be i assumed that the accounts of the life and teaching of Christ contained in the four Gospels as well as the narrative of the Acts are substantially historical, and that the thirteen Epistles usually a,scribed to St. Paul are "enuine. Without this limitation the < inquiry would be of quite a ditt'erent character. I
The historical .society known as the Church has never claimed to have come into complete exist- ence until the day of Pentecost, and its growth and organization were a gradual process. SVe shall not, therefore, on any theory, expect to find in the Gospels a complete and explicit account of the foundation and characteristics of the Church, and it wOl be a convenient method of procedure to take the chief elements of the conception of the Church which was generally accepted at a later date, when the community was fully constituted, and to in- quire how far these can be traced back to the teaching of Christ Himself, and how far they may be regarded as later accretions, or the natural but not necessai-y development of ideas which existed before, if at all, only in germ. Now our know- ledge of the first days of Christianity derived from the NT is but fragmentary, and the period immedi- ately following is one of great obscurity ; but from the middle of the 2nd cent, there is no doubt about the prevalent and almost universal belief of Christians with regard to the Church. It was believed that the Church, as it then existed, was a society founded by Christ as an integral part of HLs work for mankind. It was further believed that the Church possessed characteristics which were summed up under the words. One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. And while it was believed that the Church stood in the most intimate spiritual relation to Christ, it was also held that its outward unity and continuity were secured by a definite organization and form of government, the essential features of which had been imposed upon the Church by the Apostles, acting under a commission "iven them by Christ Himself. The Church was further regarcled as the instrument appointed by Christ for the completion of His work for mankind. The fact that these beliefs were generally held, at all events from the middle of the 2nd cent, on- wards, suggests the following division of the subject. First, it will be asked whether the belief that it was Christ's intention to found a visible society is borne out (1) by what we know of His own actions and teaching, and (2) by the records of the earliest days of Christian life. Secondly, the character- istics ascribed to the Church in the Christian creeds will be examined in the light of the NT writings.