yet shall he live ; and whosoever liveth and be- lieveth in me shall never die.' The communica- tion of natural life is interchanged with that of spiritual life ; in S^', for example, He says, ' As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will ' ; and farther on, at 5^^, it is added, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.' The personal share of Jesus in all this is further indicated in His claim to be the bread of life (G^^- ^'- ^- ^'>- ^i), and to give the water of life (4'"- '■* 7^'^- ^^). In view of such sublime statements, the term ' Messianic ' is frequently used in a way that is a delusion and a snare. What explanation of such pretensions is it to say that He who made them differed from other men and prophets by being the Messiah? The possession of no office whatever is able to make a mortal capable of such functions : there must be something far above the competency of mere man in any one who can be the subject of such pre- dicates. In Cur Deus Homo Anselm develops the argument that, the Person being such as He was, the work must be Divine ; but the logic tells equally in the opposite direction : the work being such, the Person must be Divine.
Some of these works are, however, invisible, because spiritual, and some belong to the distant future. Hence Jesus could not show Himself in the act of doing them. But He did works, which all could see, that A\eie signs and guarantees of these. He healed the blind, in order to prove that He was the organ of revelation ; He raised the dead, in order to prove that He would be the Lord of the resurrection at the Last Day. So He Himself interpreted His miracles ; and He appealed confidently to their evidential power, ' If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not ; but, if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works ; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him' (lO^''-^^; see also 1^8418 ^w
1Q25 114. 15 1411 1'J23. 24. 26v
All the time, however, whilst doing His works on earth. He was in uninterrupted communion with His Father in heaven, actually speaking of Himself once (3^*) as ' in heaven,' if the reading- can be trusted. Such expressions have been used to break down the testimonies to His pre-existence, as if none of these might mean any more than such an ideal presence elsewhere. But this is a distinct aspect of His testimony to Himself, and there is no inconsistency between the two. His doctrine. His words. His works He knew to be all the Father's (T^ 8^6 14io- ^^ 5^^- ^% He could say, ' He that sent me is with me ; the Father hath not left me alone ; for I do always those things that please Him ' (S^*). With the most touching ncdveU He spoke of the Father's love to Him and His own love to the Father (10''^ 1'723. 24. 26)_ jjg strives for language strong enough to express the unity between His Father and Him- self (636 1038 1410 i7Ji)_ At last the climax is reached in the utterance which brought down on His head the charge of blasphemy, ' I and the Father are one' (W).
Though, however, thus united with God on earth. He longs for return to the other world, which is His true home. To this He often refers, not infrequently connecting the thought of going tliither with that of having come from the same place ; and what could be more natural ? Thus, in 8" He says, ' Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true ; for I know whence I came and whither I go ; but ye cannot tell whence I come and whither I go': and in IQ-^ 'I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world ; again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.'
SON OF MAN
SON OF MAN
659
See also 6«- 7^^- ^ 8-' IS^'^ 142- 1- "s igs. 7. lo. le 1711. 13 2017.
Such is a slight sketch of the Christology of Jesus as presented by St. John. Not every state- ment is expressly connected with ' the Son of God ' in so many words ; but this is the i)hrase that embodies all these various elements. The summits of tlie testimony are such verses as 5-^- ^^ 8'^ 10"- ^^ H4. 25 jo-is 1331.32 146.7.9.13.14 Longer passages specially worthy of consideration are S^"'-^ 519-47 6S5-40 g4^-47 15 17^ In Que passage He deals directly and deliberately with the charge that, in calling Himself ' the Son of God,' He was making Himself equal with God. Here was an opportunity of dis- claiming anything of the kind, and explaining, as many are now forward to do for Him, that the question was only of function and character, not of nature. He dfid, indeed, refer to some who, in the OT, were called ' gods ' on account of function alone ; but He set His own claim above theirs as supported by a far higher reason : ' If he called tiiein gods unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God ? ' (10^'-). And He goes on to affirm, 'The Father is in me and I in him ' (v.^^). It is true that it is arguable whether in these w'ords only function is referred to, but the point is that something deeper is not only not excluded but .suggested. Those wiio believe that all such expressions have reference to superiority of function and character, but not of nature, have no difficulty in finding words by which this distinction can be made perfectly intelligible. Why then did Jesus, when thus directly challenged, not find such words ? The numerous sayings quoted in the foregoing paragraphs amply prove that, in speaking of His own origin and the source of His authority. He iiabitually used language of dazzling splendour and magnificence. Was this an exaggerative manner of expressing what M'as ordinary, or was it an effort to body forth in human speech Avhat was too glorious to be expressed ? The halo round the head of ' the Son of God ' is not an invention of primitive Christianity or ecclesiastical councils — for whatever e.xcesses of superstition or dogmatism these may be an.swerable — but is due to the con- sciousness and the testimony of Jesus Himself ; and by the character of Him who was ' meek and lowly in heart,' as well as by the conviction of His power to save wrought by centuries of experi- ence into the mind of Christendom, tiie acknow- ledgment is demanded that it is not an exhalation from beneath, but an emanation from the eternal throne.