It is true that Jesus does not explain AowHis death WTOught the Atonement, and that we must turn to the Epistles for this knowledge ; but we may with confidence assume that the early Church derived its light on the matter from Jesus Himself ; for St. Luke (24^^) teDs us that among the truths taught the dis- ciples by Jesus during the forty days were those regarding His ' death' and 'repentance and remission of sins.' Therefore the developed doctrine of the Atonement, as found in the writings of the early Church, are not mere subjective theorizings, but are based on the teaching of the risen Lord.
3. Jesus in His teaching taught the absolute value of the individual. The prophets of Israel felt the majesty of their nation as the chosen people of God, and dwelt upon Jehovah's Fatherly care of the Jewish race ; but not until the preacli- ing of Jeremiah was the Fatherhood of God over the individual brought into prominence. It was Jesus who first full}- revealed the infinite value of the single soul. He insisted frequentlj- on the madness of risking its loss, even if thereby the gain should be ' the whole world ' ; and He warned men that it were better that they should miser- ably perish than that they should cause to stumble even one of Gods ' little ones ' (Mk 8^^ 9^^).
4. But His teaching was also social. The in- dividual who was so precious in liis Father's sight was not to be left unsu])ported in isolation. Wide and manifold as are the meanings of ' Kingdom of God ' as establisheil by Jesus, it is certain that underlying all else is the thought of its member.-^ united in love by a common life. This is essential to the very idea of a kingdom. And in it is ideally presented the thought of a spiritual nation com- posed of spiritual individuals.
The Kingdom of heaven from its spiritual nature, and as a Kingdom of ideas and principles, rather than of codified laws, is necessarily invisible, save as to its results. But man ever wants the outward or concrete ; and Jesus therefore not onlv founded the Kingdom of God, but established a Chvrch (Mt ieis ISiV) ; the latter being an embodiment of the idea of the former, visibli/ presenting to the world its truths. The Kingdom is thus, in the teaching of Jesus, much wider and more funda- mental than the Chitrch.
5. Wlien we pass from the ethical to the spiritual side of the didactic prophecies of Jesus, we enter upon an tinparalleled field of revelation. As we have seen. He alone among men — and that because He was more than man — could disclose ' the heavenly things' (Jn 3'-) to the world. When, therefore, He sjieaks of the nature and acts of God, our attitude is that of reverent humble reception ; and our activities are to be exercised rather in the devout investigation of the meaning of His words than in the questioning of their trutii.
Wlien we turn to the teaching itself, Ave find little regarding the essential nature of God. It was His method rather to describe hoAV God acts than to define what God is. Indeed, the only
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statement approaching to an abstract definition of His Being is found in His words to the woman of .Samaria, ' God is Spirit ' ( Jn 4^-').
The titles chiefly used bv Jesus to describe the character of God are ' King' (Mt 5^' 18-* 22-) and ' Father.' God is Fnthe-r -. in a unique sense in relation to Himself (Mt 10^^ 11^, Jn 5'' 10*" etc.) ; in a special sense of His disciples (Mt 5^^, Lk 12^^ etc.) ; a:!d in a general sense of mankind (Mt 5^', Lk 15"'T-).
Furtlier, His teaching concerning God reveals the doctrine of the Trinity. His own Deitj-, and the Deitj" and Personality of the Holj- Spirit are plainly taught by Him ; and the three Persons of t'.ie Godhead are with equal emphasis combined in the formula for baptism (Mt 28''').
There seems no reason sufficiently weighty to cause us to regard this latter verse as an amplification of the actual words of .Jesus, after the Church had grasped fulh- the theological fioctrine of the Trinity. Rather it appears necessary to assume that some such statement must have been made by Him in order that this belief, which is found so distinctly stated in the earliest Epistles of St. Paul, mav be accounted for (see Sanday in Hastings' DB, vol. ii. p. 624). "
6. Christ as Prophet chiefly rei-eahd God hy revealing Himself. It is customaiy to emphasize as His prime revelation of Gad, His teaching re- garding the Fatherliood of the Almightj' ; but rather would we emphasize His revelation. of Him- self as His chief prophetic work. He stood before men, and said not, ' I will teach you about God,' but, ' I will teach you alx>ut Mvself, and then you will know God.' Throughout the Gospel of St. John this self-manife.station of Jesus is the one central subject. His ministry, in that Gospel, commences with His convincing self-revelation to i'eter and John, Andrew and Philip, and Nath- anael (ch. 1) ; His hrst miracle ' manifested forth his glory' (2"); He clo.ses His interview with Xicodemus by declaring His mission as a l>earer from heaven of spiritual truths (3'-- '') ; the highest point in ch. 4 is the declaration to the woman of Samaria, ' I that speak unto thee am he ' (v.^) ; in ch. 5 He declares His oneness in power with the Father by saying, ' "NT hat things soever the Father doeth, these also doetli the Son likewise' (v.i^) ; the teaching of ch. 6 centres round the self-revelation of ' I am the bread of life' (v.*) ; at the Feast of fabernacles He cried concerning Himself, ' If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink ' 1 7*'') ; in ch. 8 He asserts His own pre-exLstence, saj-ing, 'Before Abraham was, I am' (v.*-); wliile the length J' account of the cure of the blind man reaches its climax in the declaration. ' TIiou hast both seen him, and it is he tiiat talketh with tliee' (9^). Everj^ section of the Gospel up to this lioint culminates and finds its reason in a self- revelation of .Jesus made to an individual or to a few chosen ones (2-) who were capable, by reason of their sincerity, of receiving it ; while the .succeed- ing chapters record a .similar revelation granted to groups of listeners and disciples. He is ' the Good Shejiherd ' ; ' the Door ' ; ' one with the Father'; 'the Resurrection' . . . (IO'-"-^ll^ . . .). Clearer and clearer grows the revelation of Him- self, until at last the real fulness and power, liumility and truth of His self -disclosure are seen in the words, ' He that hath seen me, hath seen the rather ' (I4« 12-'5) ; that is to .say, ' I have revealed God while I revealed My.self.' It is this that m.ikes Him in Himself, as also in His deeds and words, tiie Supreme Prophet, as forthteller of the truth of God.