2. Christ in His relation to mankind. — (1) Pre- incanuite. — The Being who thus existed fiom eternity as God has affinities in His very nature with men. Had He been a demi-god, a tertium quid, the passage from Him to us and from us to Him wonlil liave been impossible. It may seem an iimeiuo\i^ plan to eft'ect the union of God and man l.y in>.itiii- between them a being who is neither (iucl ii'u nian. Really, it makes the problem insoluble. St. (Paul knows nothing of the snp- posed dilierences between the Divine and the huni;i n natures which make a tertium quid apjjear nen ~ sary to bring them together. God and mjii resemble one anotiier in tln-ii .v.ii fitiifi'm as personal beings. The problem :. > n < . liijiun and of philosophy is to bring ('" / : -^'tlier,
not to force two disparate nature-, iiiin .m unreal unity. This problem, the problem ot tiie human spirit, is solved in the Person of Christ. The heart of His eternal being is Sonship. He lives in a filial relation toward (iod, and upon the model of that relati. . I, -!;;,, -,,,,. ,- K-nned (Gal 4^-", Ro S^^).
Our very exi-i< ■ n Ilim (1 Co8^). What
we are to hr i : ■ i : ! liv what He is (Eph l-* 2'"). Thedei'iirM i< Ln i,,ii- ..i man to man find their guarantee in the relations in which He stands to God and to man (I Co IP, Eph 5"-'"). Even before the fulness of time He was not utterly unconnected with the problem of redemption. So, at least, we may interpret the mystic utterance of 1 Co 10'' •^ tr^Tpa Si fiv 6 Xpurris. This Rock, the fountain of life for the Church of the wilderness, was the Christ, not as an idea but as a person. Thus St. Paul conceives of Christ .is existing in these past centuries, fulfiUin" the functions for the Church which then was, wiiich He now fulfils for the new Ecclesia (cf. .Jn 1^).
(2) Incarnate. — The Son is a real person, wlio conceives, purposes, acts. ' Before the foundation of the world ' He bad assumed the vocation of Re- deemer, constrained tlun-tn by the love which is the essence of tin- ni\ inc n.iluie. When the time
comes, in Gods .li-ci]ilii f the raee, He takes up
His task, whieh reiinires tor its fulfilment incarna- tion, the complete identification of Himself with men in life and in death. In two jnegnant pas- sages St. Paul sets forth this deed of wonder, in whose depths thought and feeling' lose themselves, Ph 2=-", 2Co_8». Three sta.yes ,,f il,.. ],i,tory of Christ are indicated, so far .as lnini:in im nination can frame to itself a record - > ii /n. (i.) A person. Divine in His being, enjoviu;^ iIr lunn and circumstance of Godhead, rich in the glory which is the manifestation of tlie Divine nature ; cf. Jn 17^ He P. (ii.) This Divine Being surrendering that form and that wealth, assuming a form the most opposite conceivable, that of a servant, revealing Himself to men in their likeness, so that His humanity is no phantom, while yet it is not His by mere accident of birth, but is acquired in an act of will which extends to the assumption of man's condition as a sinner, exposed to sin's sign and seal, even death, (iii.) This same person raised from the dead, and receiving as a gift from the Father what He had not grasped at, namely, equality with God in form and circumstance, and the name which corresponds to that rank and honour, so that to this Being, known now tlirough His huma^iity as Jesus, there should be rendered the worship of all intelligent creatures throughout the universe of God.
sta^'e of Christ's career
Ui.ir •! ' yi' '''I'-iti r>f Ihf' '^'^n-:fittition of His Person presses most .-11 111 ■; I. ■II- 1-1- -1,-1 111-- ri-lation of His Divinity to His
111- 1 , 1 I ,ij l<) His personality as a human
li-iii-, --1 111- ..- iiMiii- 111 111-- i1l-s1i to His contemporaneous acu\ ua-» in Uic Lui-in-j^ aiiU in Uie circle of the Godhead. It is nutt-u urLhy ihuL JSi. I'aul does not discuss these questions, seems, indeed, to be scarcely conscious of them. He wonders and adores as he thinks of the love which led Christ to that stupendous sacrifice. He contemplates with delight and woi-ship the Person of his glorified Lord, and throws his being open to the gracious influences of His Spirit. He has no other ambition on earth save to know Christ ; but when he speaks of knowing, he means such spiritual intimacy as person has with person, and in particular a growing appreciation of, and entrance into, the power of Christ's resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, and con- formitv to His death (Ph 31"). Kut to dissect the Person of Christ, to lay out the Divinity on one side and the humanity on the other, and to discuss a coynminncntio idiomatuin, does not lie within the four corners of Pauline thought. This fact may Mi-;;-i-st tlie d-iulit whcthor qnt-stions such as the above are ri-.']itly con'-i-i\ed. Th'-\- e\idi-ntly proceed from the point of
i.Mlh iiii.-t!i- 1- : \\li'i-. lis l'anl'> \ie\\s of God and of man and of the (;...(t-man. are all sMiliieti--. Personal unitv, and not logical .inalism, is tile key to the thought of .St. P,iul. Between God and man, there is the unity of moral likeness ; between the Father and the Son. the unity of being and fellowship ; between the pre-incarnate and the incarnate periods of Christ's experience and action, the unity of one continuous life ; between Christ and those whom He saves, the unity of reciprocal indwelling.