The four Epistles of the second group (Gal. Kom., 1 and 2 Cor.) in the first place give greater definiteness to the ' Lordship ' of Christ as the central fact to be grasped and acknowledged by men. The necessary but sufficient condition for being reckoned a Christian was the sincere ac- knowledgment of the religious relation to Christ involved in confessing Him as 'Lord.' 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved ' had been St. Paul's word to the jailer of Philippi ; and in Ro lO^*^- tlie same principle is laid down and expanded. The 'word,' which in the mouth of Moses (Dt 30''') stood for the Mosaic Law, is now represented by the gospel, the word of faith proclaimed by the apostles. And as accepted and openly acknowledged by those Avho believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, it takes this form, ' Jesus is Lord ' ; and this acknowledgment is the external condition of salvation. In the same con- text St. Paul shows why this is so all-important. He appeals to two passages of the OT, in each of which the original reference is to Jahweh ('who- soever believeth on him shall not be ashamed,' from Is 28'", and ' whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,' from Jl 2^-) ; but he predicates them of the Lord Jesus. Nothing could show more simply or more completely the place which the Risen Jesus had taken in the religious consciousness of the Church. The hom- age, the prayer, the dependence which were due to God were due to Him ; and the protection, the security, the salvation which were to be looked for from God might be claimed at His hand. In like manner, according to 1 Co 12-' ('no one is able to say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit'), this acknowledgment is traced to the Spirit's in- spiration and is offered as a test whereby the in- si^iration of a speaker may be ascertained. And
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in Ph 2^- " in all probability it is this name of * Lord ' which the Apostle describes as the ' name above every name, the bestowal of which upon Jesus at His Exaltation involved His right to the homage of all created beings. St. Paul here ex-
Eresses his consciousness of the wonder of what e believes to be the fact — that God has bestowed on Jesus His own glorious name, that whereby He had so long been known and addressed by the Jews, who shrank from pronouncing ' Jahweh ' (cf. Ac 2^* ; and W. Lueken ad loc. in Schriften des NT, ii. [1908] 379).
(a) Son of God. — If St. Paul thns connects our Lord's entry on the title and dignity of Ki^ptos with His Resurrection and Exaltation, does he do the same in reference to His status as Son of God? The governing passage is in Ro 1* rod bptadivTos vlov $€0v iv 5vvd/j.€i Kara vvevfia ayiuffOvTjs i^ dvaffrdaews vcKpQv — 'declared {or installed) Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness in virtue of resurrection from the dead.' The emphasis is probably on the words ' with power.' As yevd/xevos €K (TTripixaros Aa^io, Jesus had been XpKxrbs Kara crdpKa and vlbs deov in the Messianic sense, and was crucified i^ dadevelas (2 Co 13'*). But after and in consequence of the Resurrection, He has entered on the status of Son of God in an exalted form, set free from 'the likeness of (weak and) sinful llesh,' He has been promulgated as ' in power.' This open acknowledgment of His true character was ' in ac- cordance with his spirit of lioliness.'
'The Eesurrection was to Paul the disclosure of the nature of Christ. It was not. only the crowning staire in the development of the Life that had been lived on earth, its natural consumma- tion, but as such it was also the revelation of the inner nature of Christ and of the forces of His personal life that were con- cealed, as well as hindered in their proper exercise on others, as lon<f as He was in the flesh ' (Somerville, op, cit. p. 17 ; see, further, below).
In three other passages St. Paul refers to Christ as ' the Son of God ' (Gal 2-«, 2 Co P", Eph 4'^). In others again he speaks of Christ as ' the Son ' (1 Co 15'^) or 'his Son' (Ro l^-s S'", 1 Co P, Gal 4'*). Some of these passages may still refer to the Messianic Sonship ; but others more probably belong to another class, of which Ro 8^* ^- (rov iavTov vlbv Trifixj/as — roO Idiod vioO ovk i(pei(raro) and Col V^ (rov viov rijs dydinis avroO) furnish the clearest examples. In these passages the conception of Christ's Sonship has passed over into a conception other and deeper than the official Messianic one ; and it seems to involve a ' community of nature between the Father and the Son' (Sanday-Headlam, rtd loc), and a relationship independent of any historical experience. At this point, therefore, St. Paul does advance beyond any position which is attested for the primitive community. It is useless as well as needless to raise any question as to whether he conceived the relation metaphysically or otherwise. St. Paul is content to recognize it as intimate, personal, unique. ' It is clear that in the scale of being the son is the one who in origin and nature is nearest to God' (J. Weiss, Christ, p. 66).