(G) The awful isolation of the cry of Jesus on the cross, 'My God, my God, why hast thou for- saken me ? ' (iVIk 15^"*) cannot easily be separated in the experience of the sinless Son of God from some mysterious connexion with the sin He clearly came to deal with by His death. It is at least capable of the suggestion that for a time His con- sciousness had lost the sense of God's presence, whose unbroken continuity had hitherto been the ethical and spiritual certainty of His spirit.
To complete the material provided for the apos- tolic doctrine in the Synoptics there should be added to the points already mentioned the minute- ness and wealth of detail — quite without parallel in the presentation of other important features of His life — with which the death of Jesus is recorded, and also the extent to which the writers insist upon the event as a fulfilment of the OT Scriptures. We have, therefore, in the Synoptics, whatever view may be taken of the position largely held, that they were the issue of ' the productive activity ' of the early Church under the stimulating influence of redemptive experiences attributed to the death of Christ, at least the starting-point of the ethical and juridical views of the atonement subsequently developed in the primitive community ; they lack doctrinal definitcness, and distinctly favour the ethical more than the legal view of the process of redemption ; they are also accompanied by evi- dences that the disciples hstcned unintelligently or with reluctant acquiescence to the words of Jesus concerning His death. This last feature indicates the dei)endence of the apostolic doctrine upon another source.
2. The apostolic experience. — The doctrine of atonement arose out of the Cliristian experience ; it was the issue of a new religious feeling rather than a condition of faitii. The sprint^s of this new spiritual emotion must be sought, if the doctrine which is its result in the Apostolic Church is to be rightly appreciated. In this way also we shall provide a statement of the transition from the desolation wrought by the death of Jesus in the hopes of His followers to the triumphant temper
* Ril. Sen,.-', London, 1S94, n. 319 f. t IIDU. art. •propitiation,' iv. 132. j Dennoy, Deiitk of Christ, .53.
and abounding joy of the primitive faith and pi-eaching. The elements of this experience are :
(1) The Resurrection. — This is the starting-point of the new experience: the ultimate root of the apostolic doctrine of atonement was the presence of the Risen Christ in the consciousness of the primitive Christian community ; for it was the secret of the restoration and enrichment of per- sonal faith, the re-creation of the corporate con- fidence of the community, which 'was begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead' (1 P 1^). It was also the revealing light that brought meaning into the mystery of His death. Now and for always these two — death and resurrection — stood together. When the apostles stated the one, they implied the other ; the Resurrection was the great theme of the apostolic preaching because it interpreted the significance of the Death. Both were closely and instinctively connected with the forgiveness of sins : ' The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him upon a tree. Him did God exalt with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins' (Ac 5^°^). The redeeming virtue issues from the Death and Resurrection as from a common source, though the cross ultimately be- came its chosen symbol. Beginning to search the Scriptures to discover whether death had a place in the prophetic presentation of the Messiah, the disciples were surprised into the apprehension of the meaning of the words of Jesus spoken whilst He was yet with them ; they thus came to see that the Death was only the shadow side of an experience by which He passed to the exaltation and authority of His redeeming work ; the catas- trophe was seen to have a place in the moral order of God, and the scandal of the cross was transfigured into the glory of the Divine purpose of redemption. This experience was followed by —
(2) The Great Commission. — The terms of this are influential for discerning the apostolic doctrine. As they appear in Mt. (28^^^) and in Mk. (le^^f) associated with baptism, which in the primitive Church was always connected with remission of sins, they are suggestive, but not free from criti- cal diflHiculties. As they appear in Lk. (24*^*^ ), from an excellent source, they have their chief significance ; they are there bound up with ' my words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you ' ; with the fulfilling of the Scriptures concerning the necessity that 'the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day ; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name ' ; and especially with the opening of the minds of those who were to be 'witnesses of these things' that they might under- stand them. The historicity of this as conveying the experience and convictions of the Apostolic Church is strong, and it affords exactly the link needed to unite what we find in the Sjmoptics with what appears as preaching and teaching in the primitive society. The illumination of the apostolic mind for its construction of a doctrine of atonement resulting from the Resurrection and the Great Commission was perfected by the experi- ences of —