8. God the Father. — There are three ways in which St. Paul adds to the doctrine of God the Father : (i. ) By discriminating and correlating the spheres of Him whom we call God the Father and of Him whom we call God the Son. The designa- tions were already current, and the tendency to discriminate or define all grew out of the Incarna- tion. There is not much set teaching, but there are many side allusions which testify to consider- able activity of thought on the subject. — (ii.) By
calling attention to the work of the Son as reveal- ing the character of the Father. The whole scheme (so to speak) of the Incarnation proceeds from the Father, and therefore itself bears witness, more direct and more unmistakable than any other, to the love which underlies the dealings of God with man — to the love not only of the Son who becomes incarnate and who sufl'ers for human sin, but also to that of the Father who sent Him (Ro 5*, 2 Co 513. 14. 17. w Col li9-20)._(iii.) By marking out in a sort of broad chronology the periods of the world's history (Ro 9-11, 1 Co IS^o-^s) j^ ^g^ no doubt, possible to press particular expressions (such as Ro 9''^- ^^) in such a way as to make them conflict both with the free will of man and with the justice of God. That was not at all the Apostle's inten- tion, but only to enforce that strong sense of a providential ordering of successive events which must be felt by every religious mind.
9. The HoU] Spirit.— The belief in the Holy Spirit was just shared by St. Paul with his fellow- Christians. The remarkable phenomena which they saw around them — prophecy, speaking with tongues, exorcisms, and the like — were all in the language of the time naturally referred to His activity. St. Paul did but adopt this language, and then perhaps extend it, more than his neigh- bours were in the habit of doing, to phenomena that were less extraordinary but more deeply related to the moral and religious life (we remember that 1 Co 13 comes in the midst of a long passage deal- ing with gifts of the Spirit). It is noticeable that he — not alone, but in company {e.g.) with Lk. in Ac 16'' (RV) — expressly associates the Spirit, not only with God, but with Christ (Ro 8").
10. The CMirch and the Sacraments. — It was obvious and natural that the blessings brought by Christ must hold good in the first instance for those Avho rallied to the cause of Christ, and ratified their adhesion to Him by confession and baptism. The society so formed could not but start with a position of privilege analogous to that of the Jewish Church under the old dispensation. But neither under the one dispensation nor under the other was that position of privilege given only to be selfishly enjoyed. For the OT see Is 22-* IP" W^-'^^ 421-'' 49", Mic 4^"* etc. It was just an instance of ' the pur- pose of God according to selection.' The recipients of it Avere to be missionaries who Avere to carry the gospel to the end of the world.
This Avas ahvays the ulterior object Avith Avhich Christians were to use and enjoy their privileges (Ro lp8 1012-15). They might enjoy them, but they AA^ere bound to do Avhat in them lay to spread them. Therefore, Avhen St. Paul enlarges upon the felicity of being a Christian {e.g. in Ro S^'H), it is in no spirit of narroAvness or exclusiveness, but rather the contrary (as appears from ch. 11). The exhortations to the Church to organize itself as efficiently as possible, and to prosecute the Christian life to the uttermost, must all be taken Avith this tacit con- dition.
The tAVO Sacraments belong to the internal organization of the Church. They are neither of them due to the initiation of St. Paul. He found them in existence, and he fully accepted them, and from time to time he dwells upon them in such a Avay as to shoAv that he Avas Avell aAvare of their significance and value. St. Paul distinctly recog- nizes tliem as means of grace essential to the life of Christians. We cannot at all accept the vieAv that he Avas the first to introduce repeated acts of com- munion ; 1 Co 1P5. 26 implies that he found it a regular practice.
11. The Last Things. — The Epp. supply an im- portant part of the evidence that the element of eschatology in the teaching of Christ, and in His oAvn conception of Himself, Avas as large as Ave find
it in the Gospels. In proportion as we go back in time to the earliest E2)p., this element is seen at its greatest. In 1 and 2 Tliess. it is the main topic, and in 1 Cor. it is very prominent. It became less so as time went on, but even in the latest period it does not wholly disa^jpear (Ph 4^).
The Pauline Epp. are even more important still from the part that they play in covering the transi- tion from a form of Christianity in which eschato- logy is prominent, to one in which it has fallen into the background. In the later Epp. the basis of Christianity has been silently shifted ; its founda- tions have been ' underpinned ' by doctrines of more permanent applicability — esp. by the stress tliat is laid upon the working of the glorified Christ or the Spirit of Christ.