YI. Comparison with the teaching of Christ. — We are now in a better position to take a coup d'oeil of the relation of St. Paul's mission and teaching as a whole to that of his Mast»r. It has been rightly observed by more than one of those who have treated of the subject (see Knowling, Testimoni/ of St. Paul to Christ, p. 514), that the Gospel of St. Paul begins where the earthly life of Jesus ends. The dictum needs some qualification (as we have seen) ; but it is in the main true. It means that the elaborate Pauline theology is of the nature of a development, so that what we have to consider is how and in what sense it is a develop- ment.
1. The teaching of Jesus presupposed. — That this was the case, we may see (i. ) from the easy and natural allusions to the character of Christ and of the Christian ideal (§§ iv. 1. (iii.) (iv.) above) ; (ii.) from the general position in the earlier Epp. on the subject of eschatology, which directly con- tinues the attitude described in the Gospels ; (iii. ) and, in particular, from the conception of the ' Kingdom of God.' This last point is so important that we must give it a section to itself.
2. The Kingdom of God in St. Paul. — There is no exposition of the idea of the Kingdom ; it is taken for granted as well known. There are several examples in Epji. of all dates in which the phrase is used in its ordinary future sense : e.g. Gal 5-', 1 Co 69'-, Eph 5«. Similar to these is the use in I Th 2^^. But by the side of these are other passages in which the Kingdom is evidently present. Such would be : 1 Co 4-* ' the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power ' ; in Col 1'^- " it is the sphere of present forgiveness into which the Chris- tian is translated ; in Col 4" it has reference to the work of missions. But most significant of all is Ro 14^" ' the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.' Here the Kingdom is entirely a present idea, and it seems to cover the whole range of the gospel. Nothing could better mark the transition spoken of above.
3. Pauline developments. — So far, the teaching of St. Paul has been just a continuation of the teaching of Christ. But in the outlines of his theology which have been sketched above it Avill have been seen that thei'e is much which goes beyond this. This developed teaching has refer- ence primarily and especially to the conception of the Person of Christ. Another new element is the elaborate psychological analysis of the pro(;ess of belief, and generally of the Christian habit of mind. And lastly, as we have seen, there is certain special teaching that has grown out of the circum- stances of the time.
i. Origin of the developments. — It M'ouid be an utter mistake to suppose that St. Paul's teaching as to the Person of Clirist was a new invention of his own. We have seen tiiat it was really nothing more than a further analysis of tlie meaning con- tained in the simple doctrinal formuhe of tlie primi-
tive Cimrcli : such as that ' Jesus is Lord,' ' Jesus is the Christ,' ' Jesus is the Son of God.' It would be equally an utter mistake to imagine that the primitive Church was going against the will of Jesus Himself. There are indications enough that it was in no sense doing this. The only thing that has given any colour to such an idea is the great reticence and reserve that our Lord showed in putting forward His claims. There is .something of a problem in tliis. But that Jesus knew Himself to be both Messiah and Son, we may regard as quite certain.
It is true that St. Paul reflected upon these titles, and true that in all his teaching his own experience entered as a shaping force ; but it is j ust that fact which gives to his teaching such depth of reality.
YIL Legitimacy of the Pauline construction.— It may be said, not without trutli, by way of dis- counting these Pauline developments : (i. ) that the methods of argument by which they are supported, especially the exegetical methods, are not always what we should consider valid ; (ii. ) that the per- sonal experience on which they rest is exceptional and peculiar; and (iii.) that, in like manner, the conditions of early Christian history by which they were shaped necessarily had about them something relative and transient.
But, on the other hand : (i. ) few propositions are more true than the proverbial one, that conclusions are often more right than the explicit reasoning that leads up to them. Methods of proof are often of the nature of a scaffolding the real purjiose of which is to set up a construction in j^resentable shape, when it verifies itself after the fact by its own inherent properties in the experimental field of life.
(ii.) It is not to be denied that the personal experience of St. Paul has in it much that is excep- tional and peculiar. But that is far more because of its penetrating intensity along lines that are common to lesser men, than because there is in it anything eccentric that disqualifies his experience from representing theirs. In other words, St. Paul was a religious genius of the highest order that human nature has ever produced — in the same category with the writer whom we call Second Isaiah, with Jeremiah, with many of the Psalmists, with St. John, and at a later date with that astonishing genius, St. Augustine. We believe that men like these were specially raised up by God, and endowed by His Spirit with many marvel- lous gifts, for the express purpose of pointing out the way in which the crowcl of religious peo^jle may follow, of setting before them an ideal after the heights and depths of which they may strive. We have only to think of the consummate beauty of the chapter on Charity, which, after all, is but the culmination of other pas.sages that are strewn tliick over the hortatory portions of the Epistles ; and to remember, along with this, that such passages do but translate the theoretic side of theology into the activities of daily life.