As a whole it displays this perplexing combina- tion— the presence of linguistic echoes of Pauline phraseology, and the absence of everything that is specifically Pauline in thought. AVe look in vain for any reference to justification or reconciliation, to the mystical participation in Christ's death and resurrection or the union between Christ and the believer, to Christ as the Son of God or as ' sent into the world from a pre-existent state.' There are lines of connexion with the Epistle to the Hebrews, e.g. the superiority of Christ to angels (3^; cf. Bacon, op. cit. p. 91), the conception of faith approximating to hope, the reference to 'sprinkling' (1-), and the description of Christ as ' Shepherd' {^^). But the Epistle, especially in its Christology, stands distinctly nearer to the common primitive basis than to Paulinisra in its present form.
'The writer is by no means a Paulinist. His attitude is rather that of the common practical consciousness pervading the churches — a consciousness which was prior to Paul, and in which Paulinisra, for the most part, operated merely as a ferment. The proper appreciation of this central popular Christianity in the apostolic age is vital to the proper focus for viewing the early Christian literature ' (Moffatt, LST, 1911, p. 330 f.).
5. The Epistle to the Hebrews.— This Epistle contributes a very original development of the primitive conception of Christ in closest connexion with a special view of the character of His redeem- ing work. The address of the Epistle ' to Hebrews ' is probably as misleading as its traditional ascrip- tion to St. Paul as its author was mistaken. And it is a great gain to NT theology that it is now examined apart from any of the former pre-sup- positions as to either authorship or address. The phenomena of the Epistle ' converge on the conclu- sion that Paul had nothing to do with it ; the style and religious characteristics put his direct authorship out of the question, and even the medi- ating hypotheses which associate ApoUos or Philip or Luke with him are shattered upon the non- Pauline cast of speculation which determines tlie theology ' (Moftatt, LNT, p. 428). Compared with the letters of St. Paul it runs far more on the lines of a rhetorical address, and may have been intended in the first place for a quite small and homo- geneous community of Christians, not specially dis- tinguished by either Jewish or Gentile origin and proclivities. In its fundamental purpose it is 'a word of exhortation' (IS--), and its key-note is struck in 2^"', especially 2^, 'how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?' The Christian salvation is seen to be 'so great,' because after an exhaustive comparison between it and the salvation oflered under the OT covenant, it is seen to be superior at every point, and this most conspicu- ously in the Person of Him through whom it has been mediated (g^^ ; cf. V^ 12--»).
What is most characteristic in the Christology of Hebrews is that each of the two normative elements in the primitive conception of Christ; — the reality of His human nature and experiences, and the glorious efficacy of His Divine Sonship — is reiterated and developed with a new emphasis and with new detail. Tiiis is specially true of the Divine Sonship, which, even more than the High- Priesthood, expresses for the writer the higliest
claim for Christ. This is the subject into which he bursts witliout any preface, in the opening sentences of liis letter. God, the same who spoke to the fathers by the prophets, has spoken to us by 'the Son,' whom He has 'made the heir of all things,' 'by whom also he made the worlds.' The description which follows, of the Son as ' the efful- gence of his glory, the expression of his essence,' makes clear at once that the Sonship is conceived in the absolute sense, and this is the case throughout (P 2^ 5^- ^ 7^^), probably even where the full phrase (o w6j ToxJ deov) is employed (4'^ 6^ 7^ lO^"). As Son He is already Kpe'iTTiov y€v6/j.evos tQv dyy^Xuv (!■*), and as Son, who through the Resurrection has become irpwTOTOKos, i.e. Kepresentative and Head of tlie whole family of God, He is to be again brought into the world (P), when His eternal glory and sovereignty will be yet more conspicuously dis- played. It would not be safe to infer, however, that the author intended all the language of the OT passages which he proceeds to quote to apply literally and specifically to Christ ; and in particu- lar the quotation from Ps 45 (' Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever,' 1* RV ; see marg. ) is of such uncertain interpretation, both in the LXX and here, that it cannot be claimed as proof that the writer addressed Christ as debs (see Westcott, ad loc). Nevertheless, the successive clauses of the opening paragraph point to One who belongs to the eternal order, and holds at once a unique and a universal relation to all created things. The timeless char- acter of the Son's existence is indirectly brought out by the analogy of Melchizedek, who ' having neither beginning nor end of days,' is therein ' made like unto the Son of God ' (7^).
In all this there is both likeness and unlikeness to the Christology of St. Paul — likeness in the con- ception of Sonship as involving radiant revelation (cf. elKuiv rod deov) of Christ as connected with the creation and sustaining of all created being (1 Co 8", Col P") ; unlikeness, if not in substance, yet in the greater sweep and definiteness of the conception and in the probable extension of meaning here given to to. -n-avra. While in both cases the passage in Wis. (7"^*) has unmistakably left its mark on the language, in the case of Heb. we must probably allow also for the influence of Philo's elaboration of the same nexus of ideas.