(c) Chrisfs rigJdeousness. — If we may rightly speak of the absolute righteousness of God in the Synoptic accounts, we have no less reason for speaking of the absolute righteousness of Christ. A close examination of His words may even seem explicitly to sanction this. In Mt 5'" He pi'onounces a blessing on those who are persecuted for right- eousness' sake ; and in the next verse He goes on, ' Blessed are ye when men shall . . . persecute you . . .for my sake.' We may compare Mk8^^ 'Who- soever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's shall save it ' (also Mk 10^^). Throughout his Gospel St. Matthew makes diKaLoawrj the char- acter of the citizens of the Kingdom of heaven. But Jesus Christ is the inaugurator of that king- dom (Mt 11" 1228). It is He, as the Son of Man, who sows the good seed of the Kingdom (13^^) ; He, again, who can give ' the keys of the kingdom ' (16'^). He has authoi'ity over the angels in His kingdom, which is the kingdom of the Father (IS"*'- ■*^). He not only gives to men a unique revela- tion— the only revelation — of the Father {IV || — a passage which implies His sinlessness), but He is the giver of the Holy Ghost (3" ||). This teaching is confirmed by the order of words in Mt 24^^ and Mk 13^2 (men— the angels— the Son— the Father). So He claims to be the Son of God (Lk 22™ ||), and suffers condemnation for blasphemy ; as such, He is transfigured, before three of His Apostles, with the Divine glory (Mt 17^'® li). And so again He assents to the statement that He is quite difierent from one of the prophets (Mt 16""'") ; they were righteous, but He is the. righteous Man, and more also. The whole teaching of the Synoptic Gospels is implicitly the same ; nowhere does our Lord show any conscioxisness of sin ; again and again He emphasizes the sinfulness of all men and their need of repentance. Tlierefore He is to be the judge of mankind, in tlie consummation of God's kingdom (Mt V^<- 13*i IG^' 253iff).
{d) The contents of righteousness. — What, in brief, was tlie ideal of which Christ was the perfect example, and which He sets before His followers ? Obviously an adequate answer to this question is far beyond the limits of this article. But we must try to apprehend a few leading principles. This is the easier, because Christ sougiit to ' educate ' His disciples by giving them principles rather than
precepts ; His service was to be a free develop- ment, not a slavish system. St. Matthew has collected for us, in the Sermon on the Mount, much of our Lord's teaching on tlie Kingdom of heaven and the dLKaLoavvrj which marks its citizens. They are to seek above all else ' the kingdom of God and his righteousness' (Mt 6"^) ; they are to ' hunger and thirst ' after it (5^). The Kingdom onl}' reflects the eternal character of the King (5'*^). Thus SiKCiioaivq, which is very close in meaning to our modern word ' morality,' is throughout based on religion, and treated as inseparable from it. Mt 6 opens with a A\arning against ostentation in diKMoavvT] (if, indeed, that is the right reading) ; and the examples given are tliose of almsgiving (v.2), prayer (v.^), and fasting (v.^'') — the second of which, at least, is often treated by us as outside morality. Now the central principle of God's being is, as we said, represented to be love. Con- sequently love is the unfailing measure of human SiKaioavvr}. The first commandment is ' Love God ' ; the second, ' Love thy neighbour as thyself (Mk 12-9-31 II) ; and, according to St. Matthew (22*), Christ adds the words, ' on these two command- ments hang all the law and the prophets ' (words almost repeated in Mt V^ and presupposed in Gal 5" and Ro 138).
Here, then, is the principle by which we may test all our actions. God judges men by what they are rather than by what they do ; we, being human, and unable to read the heart, are to judge by their deeds what men are (Mt 7'®), though with much caution against rash and censorious judg- ments (7M- But the final judgment is God's, who takes account of motive as well as act. He who nurses wrath against a brother, or treats him with bitter contempt, is guilty before God as well as the man who proceeds to murder (S^^- ^2) ; and ' every one that looketh on a Avoman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart ' (5^8). It has been well said that 'inwardness' is the guiding principle of the Sermon on the Mount. The hard sayings of Mt S'^'^-^'^ must clearly be inter- preted on the same principle of love towards our neighbour, resting on love towards God ; they do not forbid all resistance of evil (such as resistance to a thief or one of overbearing temper), but they prohibit resistance which springs from personal resentment ; they do not inculcate indiscriminate charity, but command us to do, without thought of self, whatever is best for those in need. On the same principle, Christ tells us that it is quality, not quantity, that matters. In prayer we are not to 'use vain repetitions,' as if we should be heard for our 'much speaking' (Mt 6') ; yet it is to be observed that Christ Himself sometimes spent the whole or the major part of the night in prayer (Lk 6'2, Mk 6^"-*8). Men may ' cast out devils ' and do 'many mighty works' in Christ's name, and yet be no true followers of His (Mt V-- ^s). The widow who cast a farthing into the treasury was doing a greater thing than those who brought rich offerings (Mk 12«-''4||).