We have spoken of faith in Christ ; it is a further question how far this faith is related to detailed knowledge of Christ's life and teaching. We shall have to estimate the extent of this presently. For the moment we need only note that, whether in greater or less degree, St. Paul must have had some such knowledge, and that knoAvledge must have played some part in the construction of his theology.
4. Palestinian traditions. — Nearly all his know- ledge of Christ must have come to St. Paul mediately, and not immediately. It seems a natural inference from 2 Co 5^^ that the Apostle had at least had sight of Jesus during His lifetime ; but it can hardly have been more than this, or his self-accusations would have been even more bitter than they were. We are coming very soon to the question of the information about Christ which St. Paul derived from others. But, besides this, there must have been in any case those simple formulse to which we have already referred, in M'hich the first disciples summed up their funda- mental beliefs. We shall see later how St. Paul dealt with these ; but they must at least have formed the starting-point of his own more adventurous and developed thinking.
III. Genesis of St. Paul's theology. — We have seen what Avere the materials that St. Paul had to work upon. The other leading factor that gave shape to his tlioughts Avas the subjective habit and attitude that he brought to bear upon these materials. On this head, too, there are some remarks to be made.
1. St. Paid not an immediate disciple of Christ. — No doubt it is an important fact, and from one point of view a defect and loss, that St. Paul had not been a personal companion of Christ. And yet, Avhen Ave look a little further, Ave can see a certain api^ropriateness that he should liaA'e come upon the stage as he did, and at the point Avhere he did. Christianity consists not only in a particular body of teaching, but also in the Avork- ing of great spiritual forces that floAv from the incarnation of Jesus Christ. That is to say, it includes not only the teaching of Christ, but an estimate, or apprehension, of His Person and Avork.
From this side it Avas not altogether a disquali- fication that the Apostle's outlook should be directed forAvards ratiier than backwards. The principle of Tennyson's Avell-knoAvn lines holds good, that the past does not present itself in a complete and rounded form to those Avho are actually moving in it. So Ave may Avell believe tiiat the first disciples Avere for a time immersed in the details of their oAvn recollections, and that their grasp on the Avhole as a Avhole Avas Aveaker in consequence. In proportion as St. Paul Avas less involA-ed in such concrete details, his grasp on the central idea of his faith seems to have been all the stronger. This may seem at first sight paradoxical ; but there are paradoxes in the use Avhich (iod makes of Tlis instruments. There Avas a sense in Avhich tlie knowledge of Christ after the flesh iiindered rather tlian helped the apprehension of Him according to the spirit.
2. His tcniperame7it and training. — St. Paul was not one of those Avho need for their mental sus-
tenance a great wealth of concrete details. He had the gift of religious imagination, to fill out an idea or an impression and convert it into a powerful motive. So the vision on the road to Damascus held his fascinated gaze throughout his career. It worked ceaselessly within, and domi- nated all his thinking.
And then we have to remember that according to tlie standards of his time St. Paul was highly educated. His bent was intellectual, and it was encouraged by his training. Wlien he sat at the feet of Gamaliel, he must have heard problems discussed like the faith of Abraham, to which we have already referred, or the origin of evil desire in connexion with the Fall of man. These active discussions took with him the place that books do with us. St. Paul was learned as his age counted learning, and he could not help treating tlie questions that arose after the manner of the learned.
3. Spiritual experience. — But a deeper influence than learning was his own spiritual experience. Continually we see this living experience reflected in what comes to us as doctrine. St. Paul taught what he had first felt, and he verified his teaching by experience. We shall naturally illustrate this when we come to speak of his theology more in detail.
4. The teaching of historxj. — At the same time St. Paul was not a mere student, but an active missionary, who soon came to be burdened with 'the care of all the churches.' He had something else to do besides following the logic of his own thought. The controversy with the Judaizers was one important episode in his life : and this had a great influence upon the form Avhich his teaching took while it Avas going on.
Later on, when the victory was won, when tlie free admission of the Gentiles was secured and Jewish churches and Gentile churches stood over against each other on an equal footing, the Apostle is able to see the Divine purpose running through the alternate acceptance and rejection, and to map out the periods of history as the balance swayed now to one side and now to the other. The letters of St. Paul all bear traces, more or less distinct, of the occasions which called them forth. If, as we believe, the Pastoral Epistles are his, their different tone and style can only be accounted for by the special object with which they were written.