the disciples understand by the Messiah? What character, r61e, or function did they assign to Him 1 And the second thus : At what point did they understand Him to have entered on His Messiah- ship ? They identified Jesus with the Messiah of Jewish expectation ; but did that mean that He had been (and was still, and was to return as) Messiah, or that the Messiahship was a dignity conferred on Him after death and at the Resurrec- tion? The answer to these questions follows on the examination of the other elements in the primi- tive conviction.
(ii.) That conviction rested upon, and appealed to, the Resurrection as the conclusive proof of the Messiahship of Jesus. But the Resurrection was uniformly connected with the Exaltation to the right hand of God, or with its equivalent — the par- ticipation of Jesus in the Divine ' glory.' In each of St. Peter's recorded speeches these two factors are significantly combined (232- ss 313 755 iq*"- *2). The Resurrection is thus regarded as the exter- nally visible side of a great transaction which has its true significance in the Exaltation of Jesus to Messianic rank and honour in heaven ; it was a public declaration of His station ; the man Avhom they had seen crucified now occupied the place of dignity and authority which prophecy and apoca- lyptic had assigned to the Messiah. God had now ' made him both Lord and Christ ' (2^^). The word 'Lord' [Kvpio's), like 'Christ,' is probably used as an official title ; but in any case the phrase wit- nesses to the belief that the Resurrection and Exaltation had marked a decisive moment in the Messiahship of Jesus,
(iii.) At the same time, St. Peter is careful to emphasize on more than one occasion the ministry which had preceded the Crucifixion and Resurrec- tion. He marks the limits of that ministry ( pi* 22) in accordance with those set by the Gospels. In his first speech (2-^) he describes its character — 'Jesus the Nazarajan (cf. S^ 41" Q^^ 228 24= and 26"), a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and signs and wonders, which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know.' And specially in the address preceding the baptism of Cornelius (10^^'''*)> St. Peter, having begun with words which make echoes of Messianic passages in Isaiah (52^ ; cf. Nah 1^^), proceeds to remind his hearers of something already familiar to them — the ministry of ' Jesus the one from Nazareth,' which began from Galilee after the baptism proclaimed by John. Him God had anointed with the Holy Spirit, and He had gone about doing deeds of kind- ness and healing all who were tyrannized by the devil. Of all that He had done also in Judaea and Jerusalem (as well as of the Resurrection) St. Peter and his comrades were appointed to bear witness. The only epithets applied to Jesus which might throw light on the impression He had made are ' holy ' and ' righteous ' (3'* 4^^ [cf. 4^"] 7^- [cf. 22^^]). The ascription of the characteristic ' righteous ' is probably due to a reminiscence of a description already traditional for the Messiah (cf. En. 38^ 46' 53*'), and the collocation of ' holy ' and ' servant ' may have a similar origin ; but in 3^'*, where both epithets are applied to the historical Jesus, the contrast drawn in the following para- graph with the 'murderer' for whom the Jews had asked suggests that the words at the same time connote the consciousness that they fitly describe the character of Jesus.
(iv.) This Jesus, whether He be referred to in the days of His flesh or in His present Exaltation at the right hand of God, is consistently repre- sented in terms of humanity. It cannot be said that any special stress is laid on His human nature. The time had not yet come when it was necessary to emphasize His true manhood ovei
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against Docetic or Gnostic tendencies. If some slight empiiasis is to be detected, it is due rather to wonder that One to whom so much honour is assigned, tlirough whom so much is expected, was One with whom the disciples had been on familiar terras. This is suggested by the frequency with which the simple name ' Jesus ' is used (three times as often as the title ' Christ '), by the re- iterated designation ' Jesus the Nazarsean,' and by the emphatic demonstration which occurs more than once — 'This Jesus did God raise up' (2^^; of. 2^^). It is 'Jesus' whom Stephen sees standing at the right hand of God {1^''), and 'Jesus' Avho speaks to Saul from heaven. It was in the fact that St. Peter and St. John had been companions of ' Jesus ' that the members of the Sanhedrin found some explanation of their boldness and powers of speecli (4^^). It was in the name of ' Jesus ' that they taught (4^^), and in the same name that they wrought miracles. The miracles of Jesus Himself were not ascribed to His in- dependent initiative ; they Avere wonders which ' God did by him ' (2--) ; and the explanation of His power which is given elsewhere (10^^) is that God had anointed Him Avith tiie Holy Ghost, and that God 'was with him' (10^^). For God had ' raised him up ' in the sense in which He ' raised up' prophets of old, and 'sent him to bless' His people in turning away every one of them from their iniquities (3*®). In all this we see the tokens of a very early form of Cliristology ; one, moreover, which would be very diJlicult to account for either as tlie invention or as the recollection of a later generation.