2. PrimitiYe conception of Christ. — (1) Jesus as the Messiah. — We have now examined the material available for ansAvering the question with which we started — What significance did the primitive community attach to the Messiahship of Jesus, and what led them to recognize Him as Messiah and as a Messiah with this significance ? It would not furtiier our inquiry to enter on an examination of antecedent or contemporary Jewish conceptions of the Messiah and the functions He was to dis- charge. These conceptions were at once so various and so fluid, and the extent to which any one of them prevailed at any particular time is so difficult to estimate, that even when we know all there is to know on the subject, we have only a bewildering variety of possibilities. We must and can find what we want within the NT. We begin by marking the two extremes between which the con- ception of the Messiah moved. The one is pre- sented quite clearly at the opening of Acts, before the experience of Pentecost. The disciples put the question to the Risen Clirist : ' Lord, dost tliou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel ?' (P) — a qiiestion refiecting the same conception as the words of the disciples on tlie way to Emmaus (Lk 242'), viz. that of a Messiah wliose function was I)rimarily and mainly the i)oUtical enfranchisement
of the nation. The other extreme is found in such a saying as ' Christ also sufiered for sins once . . . that he might bring us unto God '(IP 3'*), or in 2 Co 5'* ' God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.'
The way to test any conception of the Messiah is to observe from what He is expected to deliver — from the tyranny of the earthly oppressor or from the tyranny of moral and spiritual evil. Now, when we apply this test to the conception which lies behind the language of the primitive community, we find that, while it has very definitely moved away from the political, it has not yet reached a developed consciousness of the ethical deliverance. We find the reiterated and triumph- ant assertion that Jesus is the Messiah, but no trace subsequent to Pentecost of any idea that He is to restore the kingdom to Israel. On the other hand, the record of the early days furnishes no clear exposition of the character of the deliverance He brings. We learn that in no other than Christ is awT-qpia ; but the nature of the (xwT-qpla remains undefined. This is true in spite of allusions to ' remission of sins ' in connexion with this mani- festation of His death. According to contemporary Jewish thought, 'remission' or 'blotting out' of sin was a condition antecedent to, not part of, the Messianic salvation. There is, therefore, some- thing really new iu the presentation of the Chris- tian Messiah as instrumental in the remission of sins. It was to antedate His traditional activity. ' Unto you first,' says St. Peter (3-'^), ' God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniqui- ties.' That had been a function of Jesus in the days of His flesh ; and the saying indirectly testi- fies to one of the felt consequences of His fellow- ship. But now, says St. Peter, 'repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins ; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost' (2^^). So in 2Q43 ('Through his name every one that believeth on him shall receive remission of sins ') the declara- tion is followed, and so confirmed, by the bestowal of the Holy Ghost. This gift of the Holy Spirit is recognized as the first-fruits of the Messianic salvation and a pledge of its ultimate completion. The condition of receiving it is the remission of sins ; and that follows on ' believing on him,' or, what is synonymous, ' repenting and being bap- tized in the name of Jesus Christ,' which again signifies the solemn confession of belief in Jesus as the Christ. Christ is not described as the One who bestows forgiveness (though the prayer of Stephen shows the near emergence of the idea) or as One for whose sake forgiveness is bestowed ; but He is set in such relation to forgiveness that all is ready for the next step. When His disciples begin to have a deeper conception of sin, and to emphasize the idea of salvation as deliverance from it, a pro- founder explanation of the Messiah's relation to sin and its removal will be demanded. Meanwhile, the conception of His function is plainly transi- tional, cut loose from the Judaic but only approxi- mating to the Pauline.
The burden of the testimony borne by the primi- tive community was to the effect that Jesus is the Christ ; He is also to return as the Christ ; had He been the Christ while yet on earth ? No conclusion to the contrary can be drawn from Ac 2^, seeing that there is no indication of the point of time at which the ' making ' took place ; and even though it appears most natural to connect it with the Resurrection (cf. Ro 1^), the 'making' probably implies the further recognition and promulgation of a status rather than the bestowal of it. On the other hand, there are not wanting indications which seem to carry back the Messianic status