This is the self- witness of Jesus. He is a Di\-ine Being. His life in time under the conditions of humanity is not His whole life. He has come from a sphere wherein He dwelt with God, a conscious Person in equality with God. He entered into this world to execute a purpose which involved His com- plete oneness with humanity, and a .sympathetic appropriation of a complete human experience ; He had before Him, thronghout His experience as a man. His return to the abode which He had left. His regaining the jrlnry wliich, for purposes of infinite love. He h.id j:n.l '.im.Ii'. He knew 'that
he came forth fr (h"1, .iimI j;r)cth unto God'
(Jn 13^). These were fan ^ « hii h, in the nature of
INCAENATION
INCARNATION
805
the case, could not be proved by any external evidence. Sympathetic nearts and open minds would be prepared for them. Narrow-minded, unspiritual, and prejudiced persons would reject them. The truth regarding His Personality stands or falls by His own self-witness : ' Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true ; for I know whence 1 came, and whither I go.' Or, if another witness is wanted, there is Another who witnesses along with Him, even the Father in whom He abides (Jn S'--'"). Of a mode of being which He had with God antecedent to His earthly life He could not speak freely. Necessarily, He could not but observe the utmost reticence regarding it. Nevertheless, His recollection of it was con- tinually with Him, and occasionally, in great moments, for example in conflict with His critics, or in communion with His Father (Jn 6"-
858 175.24).
It will be said that this highest reach of the self-witness of Jesus opens out into sheer mystery ; and attempts are continu- ally being made to bring down the teaching of Jesus regarding Himself to the terms of mere humanity, with the view of making the record more intelligible, and making Jesus Himself more accessible to our imaginations. Such attempts wreck themselves througli over-strenuousness of criticism and over-ingenuity of exegesis. Moreover, tliey defeat their own end. If Jesus is no more than man, the Gospel narrative is for ever unintelligible ; and Jesus Himself remains behind in the past, at best a pathetic memory, at worst a mere enigma. The faith which regards Jesus as 'the only-begotten Son,' or 'God only-begotten' (Jn 1^8), is a just deduction from the narrative of His life and from His own self-witness. It supplies, moreover, the explanation which is wanted for the whole representation as it is given not merely in the Fourth Gospel, but in the Synoptic Gospels as well. The humanity of Jesus, with its completeness and univer- sality, could belong only to One who was Son of God as well as Son of Man. The Jlessianic redemptive work of Jesus, in its efficacy, as sealing the new covenant, could be undertaken and discharged only by One who was, and knew Himself to be, the Son of God.
C. The witness of the Apostles.— The dis- ciples of Jesus, even when He was with them as their Master and Teacher, were not a mere school. They were a community, enjoying the unexampled privilege of fellowship wii\i the most wonderful Personality which ever ini]ivpssed itself on human souls. For a brief spare, ^\\d^■\\ must liave seemed an eternity of pain, tli'N- tli'>n.L'li( lie had left them. Tlien He astouiKli'.l, rel.iik,'.!, and blessed jirew'iirr. Tims the disciples IS a community, the secret of .ilitywas fellow.ship with the M(l. This is their experience : lallucination, dream, or vision. If as they had begun to know Him as they could ne-\-er have known Him liad He tarried througli lapse of years in flesh among them. Now tliat He is risen they are less than ever a scheol : ll;ev .'ire an Ecclesia, His Ecclesia, as He ha<l sai.l Ilim-ell (Mt \&^), a fellowship of luiman Inaii-s, tin- liidden source of whose pri\-ileges and .uifls is fellowship with tlie ever present Saviour and Head. To Him they owed that ' loosing ' from sin which the elaborate institutes of the OT li.ad failed to ac<^omplish (Rev \% From Him they derived that life which was the choicest privilege of the OT, but which could not be perfectly possessed till God was fully known (Jn 17'). Christianity as it is presented in the NT is life in fellowship with Jesus Christ. Such an experience cannot be stationary. It must be a growth in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The NT throbs and thrills with life, ex- ultant, buoyant, hopeful ; expanding, deepening, increasing in energy ; not without weaknesses, re- lapses, defects ; but ever correcting its faults, cleansing its stains, renewing its vitality through fellowship with Christ, who is its unfailing source. It is important to remind ourselves that the primary fact in the NT is an experience living and increasing ; lest we be tempted to go to it as
them by His ri
were reeonstihii whose nuil \- ;iii unseen yel li\ ii Christ is risen ; but the Lord H Him, and now kn
to a volume of philosophy, or a systematic state- ment of theology, demanding from it intellectual completeness, and feel proportionately disappointed if it provide not an answer to every question which may rise in our minds. Such a doctrinaire view, whether held by the destructive critic or the con- structive theologian, is erroneous and misleading. The NT is experimental to its core, and is funda- mentally a witness borne to Him with whom be- lievers are united in an ever-increasing fellowship. ' That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us : ^c.i, and . lur fellowship IS with the Father, and with his Si.u .lowus Christ' (1 Jn P). When, according;!) , «e apiiroach the records of this testi- mony, we antiiipate that the notes of experience will be fouiul in it, viz. (a) variety, created by differences in the spiritual history of the individual writers, as well as by differences in the occasion and circumstances of their writing ; (b) develop- ment throughout the whole period covered by the NT literature, the earlier stages being marked by attention mainly to the conspicuous activities of the risen Saviour, the later being characterized by a deeper iusiijlit into the personal relations of Christ til (e>il ,111.1 to man and to the world ; (c) unity, fuiKlaiiieiitally the same view of Christ being present in all the writings, earlier and later, inas- much as all Christian experience, in its origin as well as in its progress, is rooted and grounded in the same almignty Saviour, the same exalted Lord. The witness may be briefly summarized as fol- lows.