pressly included the judgment of the world, c..(/. Jn 5=-) is based not upon His proiihetic office alone, but upon that unity of word and deed which con-
stituted the perfect revelation of tlie will of God Jesus' own Person was not left out of His gospel (cf. Harnack's statement, Wesen des Christentums, p. 91 : ' Nicht der Sohn, sondern allein der Vater gehort in das Evangelium, wie 1- Jr^n^ Mvkiindigt hat, hinein'). Not, indeed, a^ <.nr il..(l 1 iiir .-imong
many, nor as an addition tn iln- ■IcHiiii f the
Father, did Jesus present tin- truth rduierning Himself. But He claimed to be the perfect and unique embodiment and exemplification of the Father's will. Yet He is more tlian mere exanijjle. He does not merely show the way ; He is the \\ ay. At the same time He is the Truth and tlie Life. He gives not only the perfect example but also life-power. In this sense, therefore, Jesus, even according to His own teaching, is more than an element in the gospel : He is the very essence of the gospel.
2. Christ's demand of an unconditional personal following is reproduced in the Aim^fnlir pn-arhing. But after Christ's passion, resiii iv, 1 i,,n, :ni.l exalta- tion, the thought of His exain|rli'^lii|) i^ i'\iianded and heightened. The Christ «li.. .lir^l l,,i the sin of the world is the perfect rcv.lai i..n ni ( io.l's holy love (c. (7. 1 Jn 4"- '"), while His cxrili.ii icni, roupled with the gift of His Spirit, allmJ, a-s, nance that the coveted likeness to Clirist ami tin/ |iroinised sharing of His glory shall lie reaUzed (e.g. Ro 82. 3. 26-3»)_ The thought of Christ as our examjile is so variously and abundantly apiilied by the NT ^vrite^s, that it will suffice here to notice particu- larly only the more characteristic passages. Tlie concreteness of the revelation in a personal life is most frequently and most strikingly set forth by St. John (Jn 1^' "• >», 1 Jn 1» 4-'- •'). Jesus is the perfect example of the life of faitli, even its Author and Perfecter (He 12-). He was tempted like as we are (2'"'* 4"'), and is the perfect jiattern of patient endurance of all temptation, mpii unto death (3'«f- 12»f-, 1 P 1" 22'-=^ 3" 4' ; cf. Cclhsrm.a.ir and Calvary in the Gospels). He is om i\aiii|.Ic of mercy and forgiveness (Eph 4"=, T'ol :;' . ■_' ( 'o _" 1 : in self-tlenial and hunibli' si'rvi<'f (I'h -J'" , ■,_' ( ',, s",
ance (2 Co In', l'..l :>'' \ V.\<\^ I '. I I' ■-' •: )ii Hi- Ln.' that suircrs, lal...in-, aial dn-s Im ,m1i,t. li .In :; ■, 2 Co 4"'5'-'-i^ Eph.V---', <;alb-, I'ii2-"-); in lioii- ness and purity (Eph 4=»"-, 1 P 1'^, 1 Jn 3'"^- 4"). And then, more broadly, believers are exhorted to • put on Christ,' or ' the new man,' renewed after Christ's image (Ro 13>S Eph 4"-«- ^^ Col 3'°- ", Gal 3-') ; and to ' walk ' in, or according to, Christ (Eph .')», Col2«, I Jn 1' 2«). The highest destiny of believers is to be made like Christ (Ro 8=", 1 J'li 3=). In this connexion the sigiiilicance of tli(is(!
passages in which Christ is called the image of God (Col l'^ He P, cf. Jn 1") shotxld not be over- looked ; for God has given us this perfect revela- tion in a Person just in order that we might find in Him our true example and archetype.
In addition to these and all other specific ex- pressions of the thought of Christ's exampleship, there stands the great fact that the whole picture which the Evangelists drew of Jesus was made under the powerful influence of the twofold con- viction that He was the image of the Father, so that by Him we know the ' Christ-like God,' and that He was the Ideal Man — not an ideal creation of human fancy, but the Ideal-Real come from God Himself.
3. It has already been briefly noted that Christ Himself as well as His disciples bore witness that He was to His own muck more than mere cxamjilc. The relation of His followers to Jesus is something more than that of those who are striving to copy a model. Christ is example in a deeper sense. He is not only 'type,' but also 'archetype' (e.(j. 1 Co 15^™- ^-"Ro 8•^^ He 2'^- ''"-■"). An example for personal life must in any case be something better than a mould for the multiplication of its own form. Personality is interested in inward traits and principles, which are to be independently de- veloped ill tlic uriatist variety of forms. But Jesus' relat inn in n- li.-rveu deeper than this. He is the 'arclictx |.c.' thf ' <nijiinal,' of our personal life. Now an original is imt passively there to be copied ; it sustains some sort of active causal relation to the copy. So Christ is our example in this more vital sense : He is at once example and original (admirably expressed in Ger. Vorbild and Urbild). As our 'original,' Christ not only (as in the case of mere examples in personal life) mysteriously im-
gresses us, but also imparts life and power through [is Spirit (Jn li«- " 5a-=«, Ro 8^ Gal ^, Col 3=-*, 1 Jn S"*^', and many more passages). He who, having fulfilled the Law, is henceforth Himself the Law (Ro 10^ Gal 3=^, 1 Co 9='), has engaged to work likeness unto Himself in all who believe. So we may say with Augustine : ' Give what Thou com- mandest, and command what Thou wilt.' If Christ is to us mere example, without renewing power, we are, after all, ' under law,' and not ' under grace.' ' But the Word became not only flesh, but also spirit' (Kahler, Wisscnsch. d. chr. Lehre^, p. 510. See Jn 20='- - 6«' 1'\ 2 Co 3"- '»). Yet the inward opmatinn of tin' Spirit in producing likeness toClirisI has ronslant and express reference to the lii-li.rir Clirisl (.In li;", 1 Jn4--3).