And with the consciousness of a new binding fellowship created by Christ, there came a new conscience. The new relations involved new re- sponsibilities, the possibility of new ofJences, new sins. The earliest case of sin which is recorded within the new community was in fact sin against the community itself and the principle of brother- hood ; and it was recognized and dealt with as sin against the Holy Ghost.
These ethical consequences of the bestowal of the Spirit which was traced to the action of the Risen Christ had far-reaching results not only in the life but in the thought of the Church. Par- ticipation in the Spirit was the privilege, as it was the mark, of every true Christian. The act of believing on Jesus, the surrender to Him which found symbolic expression in baptism, was followed
by a great religious experience, the effect of which was manifold. Incorporated in a community which had died to earthly ambition, whether personal or national, and which was permeated with a holy enthusiasm towards Him who was felt to be the source of its life, and with genuine love to ' all the brethren,' the individual became conscious of a new 'life,' ethical and religious; and he saw in Jesus the Christ, the Founder and Pioneer of that life. Conscious that it was as moved by the proclama- tion of that Messiah crucified but risen that he, repenting and turning to God, had found peace of conscience, deliverance from fear of the wrath, he hailed in Christ a cr&m?/?, and connected Him with the great experience of dcpean tuv afxapTLQv. The connexions and implications of these experiences and convictions were still undeveloped. But the motive power and the material for the development were tliere. The influence of the Spirit realized from day to day alike in the individual and in the corporate life, and in the inter-action of the two, meant that not only were the disciples secure of salvation in the future ; they had it now. The Kingdom was theirs in both senses. It belonged to them as an inheritance ; it was already in their possession. They were on the way to St. Paul's great discovery, ' The kingdom of heaven consists in . . , righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost' (Ro 14"). And to Him, to whom they traced the bestowal of the best they had ever been led to hope for from God, and also the revela- tion and bestowal of gifts such as ' had not entered into the heart of man to conceive,' they lifted their hearts as hitherto they had done only to God Himself.
II. The Christology of the sub-primitive COMMUNITY. — The records, scanty though they are, thus provide sufficient evidence to show that most, if not all, of the chief elements in later Christology were already present, at least in germ, v/ithin the consciousness of the primitive com- munity. From the year A.D. 50 or thereabouts we are able to trace the development of these elements in Epistles from various hands. But the lines of development are not continuous. Although there are doubtless lines of cross-connexion, e.g. between St. Paul and St. Peter, between St. Paul and the Epistle to the Hebrews, it is more in ac- cordance with the historical situation to regard them as radiating from the common centre of primitive thought. Arranging these lines in the order of James, the Apocalypse, Peter, Paul, Hebrews, John, we find an increasing m asure, not of divergence from the primitive type, but of originality and penetration in the analysis of the convictions which were common to them all. Some at least of these lines appear to be focused again in the Fourth Gospel, along with some which turn back independently to the original base.
A broad comparison between these various types of Christian thought which may be described as sub-primitive shows that the characteristic which distinguishes the Pauline from all the other types is not primarily a distinction in respect of doctrine in general or of Christology in particular. It is a distinction in the aspects of religious experience which are respectively emphasized. In neither case is the emphasis an exclusive one ; that is to say, it must not be taken as excluding the aspect which is not emphasized. But, while for St. Paul the dominating interest in Christological reflexion lies in the explanation of, and jjreparation for, the ethical union between believers and their Lord, for St. Peter and the others Christological reflexion runs on more concrete lines, developing the thought of Christ as external to men, as Preacher of Righteousness, as Example, as Priest, as Authority. Ultimately the distinction dependf
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upon the place assigned by St. Paul to the irvev/iia and to the category of irvevpLaTLKos. This subtle but indubitable difference of atmosphere has to be steadily borne in mind. To it may be due not a few apparent divergences of expression, while on the other hand apparent correspondences of lan- guage may represent real distinction of thought.
1. The Epistle of James. — It is hardly possible to speak of the Christology of an Epistle in which the word Xpiaros occurs only twice (1^2^). But it is to be noted that in both places the writer gives the full title rod Kvpiov ri/j.wi' 'IrjaoO XpicrTou, that in P he presents himself as in the same sense doDXos of God and of Christ, and that in 2^ he adds to the title the striking appellation rijs 56^r]9 (so Mayor, adloc, following Bengel). To this there may be a parallel in 2 P P" (cf. also Col P^, Ro 9^ Jn 1") ; and in view of the prevailingljr Judaic tone of the Epistle there may be an allusion to Christ as the Shekinah (cf. 1 S 4-, Ps 78«i). In 2^ (^Xaacp-qixovciv TO KoXbv 'ovofjio, rb iinK\r]dkv i(f> vfji.a.s) there is probably a reference to the name of Christ as used in bap- tism (cf. Ac 2^8), and in S'"*, whether rod Kvplov shoiald stand in the text or not, a reference to the same name as the secret of prevailing prayer. If we add 5^, ' The Parousia of the Lord is at hand,' and couple with it the phrase in the following verse, ' Behold, the Judge is at the door,' we have probably exhausted the references to Christ. But the fact that the writer in the same context and frequently elsewhere puts K!;joios = 6e(5s must be allowed due weight, and similarly it is to be noted how in 5^ the ' Second Coming ' is equated with the old object of expectation, the Kingdom of God.