III. Theological results.— i. The first result is an extraordinary emphasis upon the unique- ness of our Lord's personality. In the psycholo- gical sjihere the consciousness of Jesus Christ is as miraculous as His resurrection is in the physical. There is this ditterence, however, that His con- sciousness is a fact which comes in all its freshness before everyone who reads with clear eyes the story of His life. It is the most truly living ele- ment in the Gospels, and it is the same in them all. It is a concrete fact, not an abstract doctrine. To attribute its unity and concreteness to the sudden development of a dramatic instinct among certain religiously-minded Jews of the 1st cent., is as impossible as to derive its amazing spiritual elevation from an idealizing tendency among those who believed in God and His promises, and were looking for the Messiah and His Kingdom. Every attempt at explanation of thi.s kind has proved, and must ever prove, a failure. The truth and vividness of the Gospels flow from the reality of the Christ whom they portray, and the conscious- ness of Jesus is the soul of that reality.
ii. The study of the consciousness of our Lord is the most convincing proof of His Divinity. When such passages as Jn S''-^" »--^<' Vf"-^ W'^" are com- pared with such as these from the Synoptics— Mt 1125-30 253i-«_ Mk 8=^-28 10=8-2" 1.23S--7 147^ Lk 9=2-"- "■"•- 1021-24.42 128-10 1940 20"'5_and both series are discerned to Ije the inevitable and consistent utterances of the mind of Him who called Him- .self the Son of God and the Son of Man, the con- clusion is irresistible, unless, indeed, preconceived views of the nature of the Universe forbid the inference, that the traditional doctrine of Chris- tianity is the only adequate interpretation of the facts of the life of Jesus.
366 COXSECEATE, CONSECRATION
CONSECRATE, CONSECRATION
and Bampton Lectures ; Liddon, Difiiiiti/ of Our Lord ; Balden- sper^er, Das Selbstbewusstsein Jesu ; Beyschlag, Leben Jesu ; Adamson, Studies of the Mind in Christ ; Fairbairii, Place of Christ in Modem Theology ; Godet, Xew Testament Studies ; Row, Jesus of the Evangelists; Keim, Jesu von A'azara; Harnack, Dos Wesen des Christentums [Eng. tr. What is Chris- tianity?}; Seeley, Bcce Homo ; R. Mackintosh, articles on 'The Dawn of the Messianic Consciousness ■ in Expos. Times, 1905.
In some of these, and in many other works which mi^^ht be named, will be found a great deal of rather free speculation based up. Ill i^yrholr.u'i.al considerations, and often but loosely conner-r.-' - '-i- '''■- •-'.^ments of the Gospels. The present writt-r 1, ; ■> keep .as closely as possible to the
hist.ir; > lount of the peculiarnature of the
proMt 1 1 that psychology affords
1 state
t by .
the Kwu._ci,-i_' .L^ r.id^iire of higher quality than a priori arguments ol any dL-.SLription. Yet he has not forgotten the views of modern critics, and has been careful to show, by an array of references to texts, that the principal contents of our Lord's consciousness are witnessed to by all the original authori- ties. Charles F. D'Arcy.
CONSECRATE, CONSECRATION.-In the AV of
NT ' consecrated ' occurs twice. In both places the reference is to the \vork of Christ, but to two different aspects of that >vork, neither of wliicli is suggested by the rendering 'consecrated.' (1) In He 7^ the word used is Tere\eiwp.ii'oi'=^KV 'per- fected.' Our Lord, as 'a Son perfected for ever- more,' is contrasted with human high priests ' Ittiving infirmity.' The connexion of thought, obscured in the AV, is with 2'" 5" etc. The per- fection of Him wlio 'abideth for ever,' and wliose priesthood is inviolable, is the result of the liuman experience of the Divine Son. By His life in the flesh, His lowly obedience, and His sufterings. He has gained that abiding sympathy with men wliich fits Him to be 'the author of eternal salvation.' (2) In He 1(P the word used is €>eKoiVi<7f;/ = RV 'dedicated,' lit. 'made new.' Jesus 'dedicated for us a new and living way' into the Holy Place. The thought is that by means of His own blood our High Priest passed into the Divine presence, inaugurating a way for us. Because He passed through our human life, and out of it by the rending of ' the veil, that is to say, his flesh,' He is not only our representative, but also our forerunner ; in full assurance of faith we also may draw near and follow Him into that heavenly sanctuary.
In the RVm 'consecrate' is found three times, \'iz., Jn 1(P IT''-'*, ayii^eif, of which 'conse- crate' is an alternative rendering, is usually translated 'sanctify.' The exception in the EV is the first petition of the Lord's Prayer (Mt6' = Lk IP)— 'Hallowed be thy name.' Here the Rheims version has ' sanctified be thy name ' ; on the other hand, Wyclif has 'halowe,' ' halowid ' in Jn 10^ IT'"- '».
The distinction between ' consecrate ' and ' sanc- tify ' turns rather ui)on usage than upon etymologj-. Both words mean 'to make holy.' But a person or a thin" may be made holy in two dinerent ways: (1) By solemn setting apart for holy uses, as when in the LXX 0710^611' designates the con- secration of a prophet ( Jer 1', cf. Sir 45'' 49') j (2) by imparting fitness for holy uses, as when St. Paul speaks (Ro 15", cf. 1 Th 5^) of his offermg as ' made acceptable ' because it has been ' sanctified by the Holy Spirit.' On these lines it now seems possible and desirable to distinguish the two English words which mean 'to make holy.' Ideally, consecration implies sanctification. But in modern English ' consecrate ' suggests the thought of setting apart for holy uses, %\liilst ' sanctify ' has come rather to imply making fit I for holy uses.