* See J. Armitage Robinson, Ephesians, 1903, p. 83 f- t See W. M. Ramsay, Historical Commentary on the Galatians, p. 337 n.
image of his Son, that he might be the first-born amongst many brethren' (v.^'*). Cf. such pass- ages as 2 Co 3^^ 'we all . . . are being changed into the same image.' At the unveiling or apoca- lypse of Christ there will also be an unveiling, or manifestation, of the sons of God (Ro 8^^), in which in some sense the whole created universe will share (v. 21). Lastly, adoption involves fellowship with the Son of God (1 Co 1^) and joint participation with Him in present suffering, and in future glorv (Ro8^«.). ^ °' ^ ^
2. Johannine writings.— In this literature the terms ' the Father,' ' the Son ' are most character- istically used to express the relationship between God and the Word of God incarnate in Jesus Christ. Whether God is spoken of as the Father of all men is doubtful. The same question arises here as in the Synoptic Gospels. There Christ speaks repeatedly to His disciples of God as ' your Father' : in Mt., commonly, e.g. 5i6-«-48. {^ Mk., twice, 11-5- 26 ; in Lk., thrice, G^^ 123o- 82. They are to address Him in prayer as 'our Father' (Mt 6") or ' Father' (Lk IP). They are so to imitate Him that they may be His sons (Mt 5^% Lk 6^^). In tlie Fourth Gospel we find for 'your Father' the simple ' the Father.' Of course we may read into these phrases the idea of the universal Father- hood of God ; and the general tenoiir of Christ's teaching, interpreted in the light of history, makes it certain that He meant to imply this. But we must remember that He was speaking to Jews, who had long been accustomed to think of God's Fatherhood as a term specially applicable to the pious Jew, or to the Jewish nation. His hearers would not, therefore, necessarily have read a universalistic sense into His words, and He no- where explicitly speaks of God as Father of all men outside His own disciples (members of the Jewish nation). The nearest approximation to this would be His use of ' the Father ' in speaking to the Samaritan woman (42^* ^). For the term ' Father' as applied to God in the OT and in the later Jewish pre-Christian literature, where it is generally used to denote the relationship between God and the individual pious Jew, see W. Bousset, Eel. des Jud., Berlin, 1903, p. 355 ff. ; G. Dalman, The Words of Jestis, Eng. tr. , Edinburgh, 1902, p. 184 ff". The phrase, ' the children of God who were scattered abroad ' ( Jn 1 P-), probably refers to the members of the Gentile churches of the writer's own period. These became ' children of God ' Avhen they became Christians. In connexion with son- ship as used of the relation between God and the disciple of Christ the most characteristic feature of the Johannine writings is the use of the metaphor of re-birth. In Jn P^f. jt is said that those who receive the incarnate Word, or who be- lieve on His name, are given authority to become children of God. (It is just possible that we have here an allusion to the Pauline conception of son- ship by adoption.) Then follows a description of the process by which this position of ' children ' was reached. They were begotten, not along the lines of physical birth, but ' of God.' There is a very interesting variant reading (Western) which makes these words descriptive not of the spiritual birth of the Christian disciple, but of the birth in a supernatural manner ('not of a husband') of the Word, who thus became flesh. And even if that be not the original reading, it Avould seem that the writer in choosing terms in which to describe the spiritual birth of the disciple has selected terms which presuppose acquaintance with the tradition of the birth from a virgin. The disciple, like the Lord Himself, was born, not by physical genera- tion, nor of fleshly passion, nor at the impulse of a human husband, but of God. In 3^ the necessity of thus being bom from above, or anew, is once
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more emphasized. In 3' the birth is described as a begetting of the Spirit which takes place at bap- tism ('of water,' unless these words are an early gloss). In the First Epistle the idea recurs. The communication of the Divine life from God in this spiritual birth is connected, as in St. Paul, with 'faith.' ' Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God,' 1 Jn 5' (cf. Gal 3^^ ' sons through faith '). But ' love,' and ' doing righteousness ' are also the external signs of spiritual birth (cf. 4^ ' Every one that loveth is born of God,' and 2^* ' Every one that doeth righteousness is begotten of Him '). And just as in St. Paul adoption to sonship involved an increas- ing conformity to the likeness of the Son of God, so in St. John the birth from God involves the idea of freedom from sin. ' Every one that is begotten of God does not commit sin' (3** ; cf. 5'^). It carries with it also the certain tj^ of victory over *the \vorId.' 'Whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world ' (5'^). Just as it is character- istic of St. Paul, with his metaphor of adoption, to speak of Christians as ' sons,' so it naturally follows from St. John's pi'eference for the idea of re-birth to speak of them as ' children.' And lastly, just as St. Paul seems to look forward to the resur- rection as the moment when adoption to sonship shall be consummated, so St. John looks forward to the manifestation of Christ as the moment when likeness to Him, which is involved in sonship, will be perfected (cf. 1 Jn 3^ ' Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it is not yet made mani- fest what we shall be. But we know that if he [or it] shall be manifested we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is').