It is here especially that He stands pre-eminent. Throughout the Avhole course of His utterances there can be found no hesitation due to a possible conflict betAveen His OAvn judgment and His Father's Avill, but rather a claim in unmistakable language to absolute infallibility as a Teacher. In truth. His consciousness told Him that He could not be
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wrong, lor He knew ivhcrc He had received that which He taught. The words which He spake were not His own, but tlie Fathers who sent Him. He spake tliat which He had seen with the Father. — that Father who was ever with Him (Jn 1-4--'- '^' 8^). He knew, as none else could know, the truth regarding 'the heavenly things,' for He was 'the Son of ^lan, who had come down from heaven ' (Jn 31'-- "). He is the one infallible Teacher of our race.
Jesus, in His interview %vith Xicodemus, draws a distinction between 'earthly things' (ra irr.yuoc) and 'heavenly things' (ri iTO'jpana). The former are spiritual truths within the range of human spiritual knowledge ; the latter, spiritual truths which man can learn onlj- by a revelation granted from God. Of these latter, Jesus is the one infallible revealer(see Adamson, Mind in Christ, p. 77 ff.).
i. His revelation is final. If the message of Jesus is thus complete and infallible, it is neces- sarily final. No doubt, the prophetic office of Christ is still an activity in the love of God for us ; and the Church has ever the presence of the Holy Spirit leading her into fuller truth ; never- theless, the message that Jesus brought was com- plete in itself, and therefore final. For the office of the Holy Spirit is not to teach men something new, something outside that message, but rather to disclose truths which, though hitherto unrecog- nized, were implicit in His teaching. The Apos- tolic Church was furnished with jjrophets, and in a true sense prophets have appeared at intervals throughout the Christian era, and doubtless will yet appear ; but, no matter how new their message may seem to the men of their own day, they are, unless they are false prophets, in reality only 'taking of the things of Christ, and declaring them ' to His people ( Jn 14=« 16'^- ^^).
IV. Christ's prophetic utterances. — When con- sidering the prophetic utterances of Je.sus, we must not confine ourselves to His predictions alone. If, as we have seen, foretelling is an essential element of prophecy, it is evident that forthtelling is no less so. The OT prophets not only foretold coming events, but also were the religious teachers of their own age ; each in turn adding to the moral and religious knowledge of the nation. So Jesus, speaking as the world's Prophet, not only revealed the future, but once and for ever delivered poten- tially all truth to the world. Tiie prophetic utter- ances of Jesus, therefore, include not only His predictions but all His teachings, and, as such, come within the scope of this article. As, however, His teaching is dealt with in a separate article, it is sufficient to refer the reader to the latter, and only to add some general remarks on the subject.
A. Didactic ctteraxces. ~i. The moral teaching of Christ concerned itself with general prinriplrs; rather than with precepts. The Sermon on the Mount, which contains the chief elements of His etliical teaching, is not a code of injunctions, but a declaration of the fundamental principles that underlie His Kingdom ; and the particular instances of right conduct mentioned in that discourse are not commandments, but illustrations of these principles. When He teaches His disciples regarding right- eousness and sin, He avoids laying doMTi laws re- garding special acts, but goes at once to the very heart of moral distinctions, revealing the general principles which rule all special cases. Thus He solved all questions of meat by a sinde sentence, which 'made all meats clean ''(Mk ■J'^ RV) ; and He answered all questions of casuistry regarding Sabbath observance by pointing out the beneficent principle which led to its institution. In a word. He reduced all right action, whetiier towards God or towards man, to a fulfilling, and all wrong action to an outraging, of the one all-embracing command- ment of Love. And thus His teaching finds its application in every act in every age.
There is but one exception recorded in our Gospels, — that in reference to divorce (Mk luH- 12, cf. Mt 5-'2 19&). in this case He gives a concise and direct precept ; but a precept, obedience to whicli purifies the human race at its source.
2. But Jesus not only revealed the true principles underlying all sin and righteousness, He also taught that in Himself, and particularly in Himself dyinfj, Avas to be found the true atonement for sin. As soon as He was able to teach His disciples, even if it were in dark words, regarding His coming death, He connected that death with the world's salvation. Comparatively early in His ministrj- He announced that He would give His body ' for the life of the world ' (Jn Qp^) ; later, He told them that, as the Good Shepherd, He would ' laj- down his life for the sheep ' ( Jn 10'-') ; and as the fatal result of His ministrj- drew nearer. He declared, with still greater clearness, that He would give ' liis life a ransom for many' (^Ik 10^). It is clear, then, that Jesus explicitly taught that His death was in the highest sense saerijicial ; that there was a necessary connexion between that death and man's salvation.