92. 22. 29 1528_ Mk I*. 41 25 4''0 53-1. 36 fiS. 6 729 §12. 17-21 1052
W-\ Lk 5>-- "■ =" 7»-™ 8^5.48. 50 1042 1719 1842 1939.40, In the Gospel of St. John, faitli of this kind is pre- sented everywhere as the spiritual condition which enables man to become receptive of the highest blessing. See Jn V--'^ 2"-25 316. is. 36 441. 42. w 524
629. 36. 40 812 936-38 109.16.27 1125.26 1246.46 149. 12 etc.
In these pa.ssages and throughout the Fourth Gospel, Christ Himself, in His relation to God the Father on the one hand, and to those who believe
water, the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, etc. All these images imply .some attitude or act of reception on the part of those who benefit. Therefore we read of the New Birth, the drinking of the Living Water, the eating of the Bread of Life, the following of the Light, etc. And whatever else may be in- volved, there is, in all these, the teaching that faith on the part of the human recipient corresponds to the gifts which are bestowed in Christ. See, further, art. Faith.
Our Lord's first teaching as to preparation for the Kingdom was a call to repentance (Mk l"*). To this we must now add faith, as tlie subjective means by which the Kingdom is realized, a faith which, when developed, becomes faith in Jesus Christ.
4. The Coming of the Kingdom.— Our Lord came to found a kingdom, a great spiritual and social order of things, based on the principle of love, under the Fatherhood of God, and creating a Brotherhood among men. Its members were to enter into this new life through repentance and faith, and in it to realize a righteousness of heart and life far exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. The possibility of such a thing in a world like this would have been incred- ible, but for the way in which our Lord presented and manifested Himself to men. In Him resided the power which would realize the Kingdom. By His dr.'itli lie overcame tli<' f.ir.'cs which opposed the Kin-.lui,,, by His life He ,-l,il,lished it.
r.ut tliMUL^li the Kin:.;<hiin was :, present fact from the moment th:it Christ hrcjiieht liuiiian souls into ari.uht relation I, , Cod, we are taught by Him to tliiiik of tile Kineilom as yet to come. In the Lord s I'r.iyer «e liave the petition, 'Thy kingdom come.' And (liere are iiiany passages w'liieli sliuw that these woi.l i-eler lo a ureal, fiilnre I'ealizatioii : Mt 8" 13*' •-':.', Ml, s ^ I I ■', l.k L'l'' i-J"', .\r !'■■■ etc. ButehMrri ..i nil :,o. Ihe | ki ra 1 .1.-- of .jrowtli : the Tares, tlie.Miistanl Seed, die Leaven, the 1 )raN\ -
net, tlie Seed Growing in Secret. These parables deal with the development of the Kingdom in history and its relation to the world at large. They connect the conception of the Kingdom as a spiritual fact here and now with that conception which is distinctively eschatological and regards the King- dom as a perfected state of things in the future. It is plain that our Lord never lost sight of the great final realization of the Ideal. He constantly looked at the present in the light of the future, and taught His followers to live and work with the great end in view (Lk 12''"'''-).
S. The Paraclete."Iii the Fourth Gospel we find recorded a \eiy .listlnet and detailed promise of a special gift liywhiili the disciples of our Lord were to be fitted to do their Master's work after His departure. It occurs in the solemn address of the night bef(n-e the Passion (Jn 14-16). 'I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another (Jom- forter (Paraclete), that he may be with you for ever ; even the Spirit of truth ' (14i^- "). Again and again in this great discourse our Lord returns to this promise, and ilwells upon various aspects of the Spirit's work (1418=8 15=" IG'-i"). The presence of
also a mission to the world ( 16*). It is good for the disciples that our Lord should leave them, because the Spirit's coming is dependent on His going. It is plain that the meaning is that the Spirit was to be given as a source of illumination and spiritual power for the people of Christ during the develop- ment of the Kingctora in the world. Thus the Spirit carries on the work of Christ.
In the Synoptic Gospels there is nothing- as clear in regard to the office of the Holy Spirit. Yet there are passages which, though much less definite, a^ree perfectly witli the teaching in Jn 14-16. Tiius the connexion of the Spirit's work with the future of the Church is implied in Mt IQP>, Lk I212. See also Lk i^\ Mt 12'-«i-, Mk S^", Lk 11", l\It 28'». See, further, artt. Holy Spirit and Paraclete.
In Ac 14 we find an important oorroboration by St. Luke o!
In Lk 2
The work of the Holy Ghost is therefore con- nected with the extension anil develojiment of the Kingdom. He is the inner regenerating [xiwer in the individual and the eomninnity. He is the Master of the movements of tlem'^ht , i^niding into all truth. The movements of tliouulit are governed by ruling ideas, — ideas which present certain great ends as supremely desirable, and so become, in the true sense, ideals. Chief among all such is the idea of the Kingdom. It is the great ideal which is to be realized in and through the love of the Father, by the submission of human hearts to the Son, and under the superintending influence of the Holy Ghost. Tims the aims of men are to be sub- ordinated to the one .supreme end, that at la-st the Kingdom may come in its fulness.