798
INCARNATION
INCARNATION
self alone, will suffice, (c) The goal of the religion of Israel, accordingly, is the indwellinj; of God in man. The coming of Jehovah in His fulness is the end to which the prophets of Israel look. "When He comes, Israel ^^^^ he restored, and the universe, sharing the hlessing, will itself be renovated. They conceived this coming of the Lord without perspective, and in the forms belonging to the world of their own day. In this way alone could the hope of the coming of the Lord have .sustained and comforted their o\\'n spirits ; only in such forms could they have proclaimed it to others who, like themselves, waited for the consolation of Israel. The spiritual history of the devout in Israel, accord- ingly, is one of continual disillusionment. Form after form broke like mist; and still the perfect form in which the presence of Jehovah would Ije fully realized did not come. It is little wonder, therefore, that the hope of Israel did not retain its purity and spirituality, save in the hearts of an inner circle of whom the theologians and politicians of the time took no account, — the iJOor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the pure in heart. Com- parison between the two lines of development, that of Greek philosophy and that of the religion of Israel, shows that the ruling idea of both was union \rith God, and, tlirough this, the unifying of all the elements of the life of man and of nature. On neither line had the goal been reached. In the one there was at best an occasional and intermittent experience of ecstasy. In the other there was, in the deepest natures, a hoping against hope, that God would yet visit His people.
Into such a world, Jewish and Hellenic, Chris- tianity entered, \vith the declaration that what men had been seekin" had come to pass, that union ■with God was no longer a mere dream or a -nistful hope, but an accomplished fact. God, so the announcement runs, has united Himself with one Man, so that all men may, in this Man, who is both Christ and Logos, become one with God. The reconciliation of God and man is effected not merely in idea, but in a liistoric Person. He is both God and man, through Him men have access to God, in Him man and the universe are gathered into unity, and are perfected in their being. He is, with respect to the Divine purpose, at once apxn and tAos, the active cause of its fulfil- ment, and the goal of its accomplisliment. It is plain that the heart of this announcement is the Person of Christ. Do the facts regarding Him warrant the transcendent claim made on His behalf ? Is this man Divine as well as human ? Does He indeed meet the demand for union v,-\t\\ God? Tliese questions must not be approached with any dogmatic presuppositions. The answer to them must be sought in the portraiture of the historic Christ, and in the impression which His personality made on those who came under its influence.
A. The character of Christ.— it is remark- able that all study of Christ necessarily begins \nt\^ His character. It is not so with other great men, even the founders of religions. What pri- marily drew adlierents to them was not the good- ness of their characters, but some gift or power which they possessed. Believers in the greatness of these heroes have teen able to retain their faith, even while admitting the moral defects of tliose to whom they prostrated both intellect and will. It is not so with Jesus Christ. He rules the minds of men by the impression of His personality, and in this impression His character forms an integral part. Prove Him guilty of .sin, and at once the spell is l)roken. He has achieved nothing, if He can he classed among otlier frail, failing, sinful mortals. All Christology, therefore, must begin with a character study of Jesus. An attempt at
such a study has been made in the article Ch.\k- ACTER OF Christ, the details of which need not be repeated here. We may, however, restate the results of that article — the results, as we believe, to which the study of His character must neces- sarily lead. Contemplating Him as He is presented to us in the Gospels, two features of His character stand out .supreme and unmistakable.
1. The first is positive. His perfect goodticss. This quality is to be sought, and is found, in all the relations in which Jesus stood to His fellow- men and to God. (1) Between Him and God the relations were .such as never existed in the case of any otlier man. They include : («) perfect know- ledge, (b) perfect love. Jesus knew God directly and fully, with the complete intimacy of a Son, nay, of one who, in comparison with all otlier men. Is 'the Son (Mt 11-''). He beheld Divine realities with immediate vision, and reported what He had seen and heard ( Jn P* 6^'^ S'* 15'^). We see in Jesus one whose vision of God was absolutely undimmed, whose intercourse with God was unhindered by any incapacity on His part to receive, or to re- spond to, the communications of God to Him. Jesus, moreover, loved God with the strength of a nature which had never been injui'ed by any breach vnXh God. In His love for God there is no trace of the compunctions, the heart-breaking memories, which make the love of the redeemed a tiling com- pounded of tears and pain, as well as of adoration and gladness. It shows itself in serene and un- broken trust, wliich continually depends on the Father's gifts (Jn S-* » 7'" 14"- «), and in perfect and comprehensive obedience, which o^vned no other >vill than the Father's (Lk ^, Jn 4« G^). Thus loving God, He wa-s aware that God loved Him, and did continually pour upon Him the fulness of a Divine love wliich found no limitations in the spiritual recepti^■ity of its object. The Divine love, which returns from every other object restrained by incapacity or wounded by misunder- standing, is concentrated upon Christ, abides and has free course in Him, and returns to its source in God completely satisfied and rejoicing ^\ith eternal joy. Nothing less than complete mutual indwell- ing and perfect mutual joy of fellowship are un- veiled to us in the communings between .Jesus and God, to which the naiTatives reverently admit us.