But it is the Passion of Christ, the 'precious blood,' that fills this letter with its peculiar glow. By that blood, ' as of a lamb without blemLsh and without spot,' we were ' redeemed ' (1^*- ^*). It is a moral redem])tion, changing a former ' manner of life' into a better type of conduct. His action involved a patient endurance which it is the Chris- tian's duty to imitate (22141 3i7- 1^). But it is, nevertheless, an objective external fact before it becomes subjective and inward. Christians are ' elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedi- ence and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ ' (1-). The life of obedience involves sprinkling with the blood. As the Israelites were received into a unique relation with God at Sinai by being sprinkled with sacrificial blood, so by the blood shed on Cal- vary, a new elect race is dedicated to God. It is this blood that has an abiding power to cancel sin. What Christ did in His Passion is clearly stated, ' His own self bore our sms in his own body upon the tree ' (2-*). The word ' bear ' means both 'endure,' and 'carry' a sacrifice to the altar. So Christ both endured the consequences of our sins, and carried tliem to the cross as- if they were His own. He suffered for sins which were not His own, and He did it that we might be 'healed.' Again, St. Peter says that Christ ' suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God' (3'^). He is urging his readers to be prepared to suffer for righteousness' sake ; he hopes tliat their conduct may silence opposition, perhaps that it may bring others to God. But all the power to suffer rightly rests on an event now past. It is the solitary death of Christ ' for sins ' that enables us to go to God and sets us right with God. Like St. Paul and like the author of Hebrews, St. Peter regards the death of Christ as the supreme event which established for mankind a free commiinion with the Father.
(c) The Epistle of St. Jude and the Second of St. Peter do not add to the doctrine of Christ's mediation. The lascivious sect against which the former is directed seems to have denied the reality of the Incarnation and of the Lordship of Christ (v.'*), which the writer regards as essential. He mentions the Holy Spirit, God, and our Lord Jesus Christ together (v.^'), and ascribes glory to ' God our Saviour ' through Jesus Christ. 2 Peter
MEDIATOR
MEDIATOK
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also simply assumes the Divinity and mediatorial work of Christ. The writer describes himself as 'the hond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ' (1'), describes Jesus as 'Lord and Saviour' (2-"), speaks of growing ' in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ' (3"*), and of entrance into His 'eternal kingdom' (I'l).
(d) In the Epistle of St. Jdincs little is said, yet much is implied, respecting the Person of Christ. He is ' Lord ' and ' the Lord of glory ' (2M. His is the ' honourable name' (2') which was named over Christians in baptism. He is unquestionably re- garded a.s the Mediator of salvation. For the 'word of truth,' 'the implanted word' (P'*--'), which the Christians have received, has come to them through Christ, and He is called ' the judge' who 'standeth before the doors' (5^- **). More- over, the opposition manifested by St. -lames to- wards a misuse of Christian freedom is of a kind which implies that he, like the people whom he desired to refute, believed that faith gains bless- ings from God through Christ. He illustrates the necessity of good works by instances in which 'works' can hardly be distingTiished from faith, but are its necessary expression. He insists that (iod requires a good life ; but, no less trulj' than St. Paul, he insists that a living faith is requisite for salvation. There is no developed Christology, but the writer who calls himself a ' bond-servant of God and of Jesus Christ,' and is so faithful both to the letter and to the spirit of Christ's moral teaching, must necessarily have believed that He is the Mediator between God and man.
3. The Pauline Epistles. — (a) St. Paul's doctrine of the Person of Christ is fundamentallj' the .same in all his Epistles. And his whole teaching con- cerning the work of Christ is inseparable from the doctrine of His Person. Jesus is the Son of God, who, as such, possesses a superhuman and Divine nature. God is 'the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ' (2 Co P), and the Son shares in the spiritual immaterial nature of the Father. In his earliest Epistles, those to the Thessalonians, Jesus is called ' the Lord Jesus,' and each letter closes with the jirayer that His 'grace 'or unmerited kindness may be with His people. It is assumed that Jesus is exalted to heaven, is the Lord ruling the Church, and that He will return to judge the world. In the second group of Epistles — I and 2 Cor., Gal., Rom. — there is much teaching about our Lord's Person. He is God's ' own Son ' (Ro S'*), and to Him alone belongs the privilege of being ' the image of God ' (2 Co 4^). St. Paul applies to Christ passages which in the OT refer to Jehovah (Ro W\ 1 Co 2'^ 10"), and in Ro 9* says that He is 'overall, God blessed for ever.' The Son of God is more ancient than all creation, and ' through him all things were made' (1 Co 8*). He existed in heaven before He was ' sent forth ' on earth, and this coming to earth was for Him the humiliation of exciianging riches for poverty (2 Co 8"'). The last two facts are fundamental in the next gi'oup of EpLstles (Col l'5-i", Ph 25"").