As to the human life of Christ he has no doubt. ' He was crucified through weakness ' (2 Co 13^). His Cross and Passion are the centre of the gospel message. There is probably no Epistle in which it is made so clear that St. Paul regards the Cross as the centre of the Christian Creed, ' We preach Christ crucified ' (1 Co 1^). 'The story of the Cross is to them that are perishing foolishness, but to us that are being saved it is the power of God ' (ps). There is very little in the way of an expla- nation of the significance of the Cross. ' God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.' ' Him who knew no sin he made to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him' (2 Co 5^^'^^). But here again it is a mistake to suppose that St. Paul had in mind any detailed theory of Atonement. There was a sense in which the death of Christ was a sacrifice (1 Co 5'') ; but there is no theory of the Atonement either stated or implied.
There is, however, a great deal of explicit teach- ing about the relation between Christ and Chris- tians. Christians are in Christ, and Christ is in them. This relationship is brought about by the action of God (1 Co 1^). And on this mystical union of the Christian with Christ his spiritual status entirely depends. It is Christ with whom he is united that is his wisdom. He is justified, sanctified, and redeemed because of this union. The Christian calling can be described as a calling into fellowship with Jesus Christ (P). And this union makes a complete change in a man's whole position. ' If anyone is in Christ, it is a new creation : old things have passed away ; behold they have become new ' (2 Co 5'''). It is impossible to exaggerate the stress which is laid by St. Paul on this experience of union with Christ.
{b) The Church and the Christian ministry. — The ruling thought of St. Paul about the Christian Cliurch is expressed by the metaphor of the Bod^ and the members (1 Co 12). The gifts of the Spirit are most diverse in kind ; but it is One Spirit who is the giver of them all. Just as in the human body the members are diverse, and for all their diversity of function are closely inter-related, and
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all of them necessary, so it is wnth the Church, which is indeed the Body of Christ. Every indi- vidual member of the Church has a necessary part to play. Being a member of the Church, he is neces- sarily a member of Christ. He does not give a list of ecclesiastical officials. To suppose that he does so is to misunderstand his argument. He merely gives specimens of the diverse spiritual gifts which God has bestowed upon the Church, and the lesson which he desires to teach is the lesson of unity — the same lesson as he tries to inculcate when he rebukes the Corinthians for their factions (1 Co l''*-) — diversity in unity, a unity which is secured by the fact that the whole body is the Body of Christ, and that the Spirit from whom the diverse gifts descend is One. The Church is also compared to the Temple of God (1 Co 3^8) built upon the One Foundation, Jesus Christ (3"). Here the lesson is the same. The Christian teachers are indeed difierent from one another, but all of them build upon that One Foundation.
This brings us to the consideration of the position which he assigns to the Christian ministry, about which there is a good deal in the Epistles. While deprecating strongly any usurpation by Christian teachers of what should belong to Christ alone, and asserting that they exist only for the beneht of the Church, he claims for them an independence of the Church which they serve. They are re- sponsible to Christ, and to Him alone (1 Co 4^- ■*). They are slaves of men, but they are ambassadors of Christ. And their authority can be put to the test. St. Paul always claims that if he exerts his authority he will be able to reduce his opponents to subjection (4i»-2i, 2 Co 10" IS^). He seems to have been prepared to allow that the authority of the Christian minister should be tested by his spiritual power, which would on occasion manifest itself by producing physical or natural results. An instance of this is to be found in 1 Co 5', where he speaks of delivering a man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. He seems to mean that the carrying out of the sentence passed by himself, and confirmed by the Corinthian Church, Avould result in the death of the ofl'ender, and that this would ultimately be for the salvation of his soul. The passage may be paralleled by the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Ac 5^'"). As a rule, however, spiritual power produced results which were themselves spiritual ; and the main proof of his own authority as a Christian minister was the existence of the Corinthian Church.