r as conclusive ; and Lk 4is is a quotation.
GOD
reveals Himself to the spirit of man [c.tf. Is 42' 63"). See Unpardonable Sin.
The teaching of the Fourth Go.spel (Jn 14-16) regarding the Spirit marks an advance on that of the Synoptics, both in quantity and in character ; but this teaching, as it now stands, like the other discourses of John, cannot be attributed directly to Jesus. It appears to represent a stage of thought fully as late as that which we find in Mt 281". \\^e need not, therefore, discuss it in this connexion, where we are concerned with the teaching of Jesus. And we conclude this para- graph with the statement that there is nothing in the narrative of the genuine teaching of Jesus which suggests a modification of the old prophetic conception of a pure monotheism. *
2. God is holy. — The conception which Jesus had of the holiness of God is implied rather than ex- pressed in His teaching ; yet though not directly stated, it is fundamental, and marks an advance on the teaching of the OT. How fundamental this conception was in the teaching of Jesus may be illustrated from the Sermon on the Mount. According to this, the standard of the Kingdom of God called for a righteousness that exceeded the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (Mt5-"). The Law declared that a man should not kill, but Jesus taught that anger exposed one to the same danger of judgment (v.="-). The Law declared against adultery, but He declared against the lust- ful desire (v.-''-). Now this profounder conception of sin, this attaching of the gravest penalties to the secret feeling of anger and to the unclean desire, implies a clearer and more ethical conception of the holiness of God.
Again, Jesus' sense of the holiness of God is reflected when He says that it is the aim of His mission to call sinners (Mt 9", Mk S'^ [Lk S^^ adds, ' to repentance ']) ; and His feeling is still more significantly seen in the Beatitude for the pure in heart (Mt 5'). Finally, the intensity of His ap- preciation of God's holiness may be measured by the severity of His judgment on impenitent sinners. One of such tenderness of heart as Jesus showed in all His relations to others — a tenderness which He believed was an attribute of God — could not have uttered such words of judgment as Mk ??^ 12' and Mt 25**, unless He hail had an open vision of the Divine purity.
It is obvious from this brief survey that, to the thought of Jesus, the holiness of God was a funda- mental fact, and it is equally plain that His con- ception of this Divine attribute was profoundly ethical. Its demands could not be satisfied, as the scribes taught, by the performance of any number of statutes. Ni)thing liut a righteous .state of the heart cduM satisfy them. Jesus taught His disciples tu ask for the jiardon of their sins, not on the ground of any fulfilment of the Law, any good works of any sort, l)ut simply on the ground, as far as the human side of the pardon is concerned, that they themselves have a forgiv- ing spirit (Mt 6'=, Mk \l-'). The ethical character of Jesus' conception of the holiness of God is seen also in His own relation to sinners ; for it is clcai that His thought of God's relation to sinners w as illustrated by His own attitude toward them. Now we are told that He came into personal con- tact even with the worst of men. He ate with publicans and received liarlots, having no fear of defilement from them. He represented God under the figure of a father embracing a son who had wasted his substance in riotous living (Lk 15).
In the thought of Jesus, therefore, the holiness
* The story of the experience of Jesus at His baptism ia pro- bably to be traced back to Himself. This speaks of a descent of the Spirit and a voice from God. It recalls Is 611, and pre- supposes the same conception^of the Spirit.
of God did not imply, as with the scribes, that He was far removed from sinful men, being Himself subject to defilement. His holiness is not ritual, but purely ethical. It is that quality or side of His being which makes it incumbent on all men to ' hallo\y " His name (Mt 6»). It is that whicli defines His character with reference to sin. It is that attribute of God which renders it impossible to trace the origin of evil up to Him. Jesus every- where assumes that evil originates either in the freewill of man (Mk 3^- -"), or with a power called the ' devil ' (Mt 13»') or ' Satan ' (Lk 13i«). It cannot come from God, for He is the one absolutely good Being (Mk 10'«).
The conception of the holiness of God involved in the teaching of Jesus, and perfectly illustrated in His character, is thus seen to have been funda- mental in importance and ethical in nature. It has parallels in the OT, as, for example, in Ps 51" and Hab l'^ ; but the clearness and intensity with which it is exjjressed in the Gospels are unique.
3. God is near. — There is a third feature of Jesus' thought of God which, though wholly incidental and subordinate when compared with His revela- tion of the Divine character, is nevertheless so conspicuous that it helps to mark oft' the Gospel from the writings of the Old Covenant, and tar more noticeably from the views of contemporary- Judaism. This is the conception of the nearness or presence of God. To a certain extent Jesus shared the thought of His countrymen, and used the current phraseology regarding God's habita- tion. Thus He spoke of heaven as the throne of God, and the earth as His footstool (Mt 5« 23^). The idea of a Divine revelation clothed itself to His mind in the imagery of an open sky, the descent of the Spirit, and a voice out of heaven (Mk l'"- "). But there is no special emphasis in the teaching of Jesus on the thought that heaven is the dwelling-place of God in a peculiar sense. The emphasis is laid on another point, viz. the practical thought of God's nearness. Though His throne is said to be in heaven. He is no ' absentee ' God. On the contrary. He is personally present with men. One may meet Hini in the inner chamber (Mt 6"). He reveals the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven unto ' babes ' (11^). He worked in and through Jesus (12^), and Jesus said that God would speak in His disciples (10™). This statement niay well be taken as suggesting the way in which Jesus generally conceived of God's presence with men. It is an inner spiritual near- ness, a fact of which the soul takes cognizance, and which is manifested to the world only through the life of the man who realizes it.