6. A brief space must be given to the con:sidera- tion of tlie gospel in the rest of NT in so far as it is connected \«th Christ. In one sense this would involve an exposition of many chapters of Acts and of all the tnistles, for He is ' the head-stone of the corner,' ana the gospel is only ' complete in Him.' But all that can he attempted is an indi- cation of the place occupied by ClirLst in the gospel as preached by the Apostolii, Church.
When we pass from the Gospels to ihe Acts and the Epistles, we are conscious at once of a change of standpoint. In the Gospels, Clrrist's disciples are a group of learners. They stand beside their Master at the veiy centre of truth, and they try to follow His gaze as it sweeps the horizon of the love and the kingdom of God. In the Epistles the relative positions are altered. The disciples have become teachers ; but they do not stand by their Master's side at the centre. Christ alone is at the centre ; the disciples are on the circum- ference of the circle and are gazing at Him. Their ettbrts are directed towards the Lord, whom they would persuade everybody to know (Ac 2^, 1 Co 2^). The Lamb is in the midst of the tlirone, and those who have been gathered into the Kingdom of God worship Him (Rev 5"). The Apostles are seeking to obey their Lord's injunction to preach the gospel to every creature (Mk 16"). But their interpretation of this command was to urge their hearers to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (A.- lij").
This i.lL-ntilication of 'the gospel' with Christ Hiuiself may be accounted for partly by the ex- perience of the Apostles. They went forth as witnesses (Lk 24*), not as philosophers. They had to tell what great things God had done for their souls. They could do this only by talking of Jesus. For He had become to them the mediator of God's redeeming love (Mk 8^, Jn l-""). They could not be witnesses concerning repentance and remission of sins -without tilling their lips with the one ' name given among men wherein we must be saved' (Ac 4'2).
But another point must be considered. The Apostles were commanded to ' preach the gospel.' The instruction had a definite meaning because of their Master's use of the words. Jesus Christ preached the gospel of the fatherly love of God, establishing a Kingdom into which all men might be admitted, and He offered Himself as the authori- tative proof of that love (cf. Mk 1'2« || Jn 8*^). The presence in the world of the Son of man, the Messiah of prophecy, demonstrated God's love in providing for men's deepest needs. Now it is evident tliat the crucifixion of Jesus .shook such a gospel to its foundations. If the life of the Me anic Son of man ended with tlie cross, His speech about God's fatherly love and a heavenly Kingdom seemed worse than idle talk. How could the gospel preached by Jesus survive His death ? Only if He Himself survived His deatli. To rehabilitate
His gospel. His authority must be rehabilitated. This result was .secured by the resurrection of Jesus and by HLs ascension. When they had seen Him ' alive after his passion,' His disciples were prepared to go and ' preach the gospel to every creature ' (Ac P).
But it is evident also that these events them- selves had profound importance. They did more than rehabilitate the authority of Jesus : they brought His own significance for the gospel into clear relief. Such unique events set the person- ality of Jesus in the heart of the gospel, investing Him with peculiar importance (Ac 2*^-* S""'-* 5'S
1 Jn l'-5, Ko l^ 1 P 13-8). Although they could not realize at once all that was involved in such events, the Apostles were compelled to take a new attitude to Jesus, and to adopt a fiesh theory of His person. He had been their Master : now He becomes ' the Lord.' Tlie primitive Christian commtinity used the term before it was able to construct an adequate Clrristology. But it ' called Jesus "the Lord" because He had sacrificed His life for it, and because its members were convinced that He had been raised from the dead and was then sitting on the right hand of God ' (Harnack). The significance of Jesus was decided religiously, though not metaphysically, at once. From the first, Jesus Christ had the religious value of God. Men were exhorted to believe in Him (Ac "2^). The final expression of the Apostolic meditation upon the person of the Lord was given by John (Jn I'-'*). But in Apostolic thought the gospel could never be preached apart from Jesus Clinst, nor could the significance of Jesus Christ be under- stood apart from the gospel. In Him God's re- demptive purposes and the sinner's acceptance of them may meet. Thus He is the central figure in history (Col 1'*"''). He is at once the Saviour appointed by the Father (Ac 2^''; Ro P S^, Gal 4-') and the Heatl of the redeemed race (1 Co 15— ■■", Gal 3^, Eph 1-'=).
But this conception of the person of Jesus gave a deeper meaning to the great events in His ex- perience which had so affected His disciples. It may be said that the events and the person reacted upon one another. Such events "lorified the person ; the glorified person deepened the signifi- cance of the events. At the first the Crucifixion of Jesus was looked upon as the wicked act of the Jews, which God had frustrated and even turned to His own glory by raising Jesus from the deati (Ac 2^-^ 3«" 4'" 5^"). The Resurrection was accepted at once as a proof of Divine Sonship [I.e.). The Ascension not only sealed this proof of Jfesus Christ's Messianic dignity, btit also exalted Hini to a place of sovereignty over the world (Ac 2*^ 316. 21 412 531) But further reflexion upon them invested these unique events with profounder significance. His Death is the means whereby all men may be forgiven and may be reconciled to God — a sacrifice for the sins of the world (Ro 3^,