We find the same teaching, though in a some- what less explicit form, in tiie Pauline Epistles. Christ is ' the power of God and the wisdom of God. . . made unto us wisdom from God' (1 Co I-'*- 2"^). In Him ' are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden ' (Col 2^). In the new ' dispensa- tion of the fulness of the times' God has 'made known unto us the mystery of his will' (Eph P'-, a passage where ' mystery ' specially convej's the idea of a hidden thm^revealed, rather than one kept secret). To St. Paul personally Jesus made a revelation (Gal 1'^; see above). That our Lord made a new revelation is also stated in the Synop- tics : ' Neitiier doth any know the Father, save the Son, and lie to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal [him]' (Mt 11-''; cf. Lk lO"). So in Acts, Jesus bids the disciples ' wait for the promise of tlie Father, which [said he] ye heard from me' (1^) ; and St. Peter (10*') calls the new revelation 'the word wliich [God] sent unto the children of Israel, 1 (reaching good tidings of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all).' Sanday {IIDB ii. 212) points
out that the passages about our Lord being the ' image ' of God, and ' in the form of God ' (see • below, 6 (c)), express the fact that He brings to men's minds the essential nature of God.
(b) The revelation by the Holy Ghost. — The new revelation of the nature of God by the full out- pouring of the Spirit, in a manner unknown even in the old days of prophetical inspiration, is also, as far as the promise is concerned, a favourite Johannine conception (see especially Jn 14-16). The promise is, however, alluded to by St. Luke (Lk 24^**, Ac 1^), and its fulfilment is dwelt on at great length in Acts, which may be called the 'Gospel of the Holy Spirit,' and in which the action of the Third Person in guiding the disciples into all the truth (Jn 16^^) is described very fully. Jesus gave commandment to the apostles ' through the Holy Ghost' (Ac 1^). The guidance of the Spirit is described, e.gr., in 2"'- S^ 10'» ll^^ WW^ 20-3 2P', though these passages speak rather of the practical leading of the disciples in the conduct of life rather than of the teaching of the truth. St. Paul says that ' the things which eye saw not' (he seems to be paraphrasing Is 64^) have been revealed by God 'unto ms' {riixZv is emphatic here) ' through the Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God ' (1 Co 2«*- ; so v.^% It is the Holy Spirit only who can teach us that ' Jesus is Lord '(123).
3. Attributes of God in the NT. — Before consider- ing the great advance on the OT ideas made by the Christian doctrine of God, we may notice certain Divine attributes which are emphasized in the NT, but which are also found in the OT.
(a) God is Almighty. — The word used in the NT (as in the Eastern creeds) for this attribute is wavro- KpcLTiop, chiefly in the Apocalypse (1^ 4^ 11^^ 15^ 16''- ^'^ 196. IS 2122)^ but also in 2 Co 6^^, as it is used in the LXX, where it renders fbhri'oth and Shaddai. We notice in each instance in Rev. how emphati- cally it stands at the end : 'the Lord God, which is and which was . . . the Almighty,' ' the Lord God, the Almighty' ; not ' Lord God Almighty' as AV (the AV translates the word by ' omnipotent ' in Rev 19^ only). The word omnipotens occurs in the earliest Roman creed. — But what does 'Almighty ' imply ? To the modern reader it is apt to convey the idea of omnipotence, as if it were ■n-avToSivafios, i.e. ' able to do everything,' on account of the Latin translation omnipotens. So Augustine under- stands the word in the Creed [de Symbolo ad Catc- chumenos, 2 [ed. Ben. vi. 547]), exidaining it, ' He does whatever He wills' (Swete, Apostles' Creed, p. 22). Undoubtedly God is omnipotent, though this does not mean that He can act against the conditions which He Himself makes — He cannot sin. He cannot lie (Tit 1^, He G^^ ; so 2 Ti '2'^ of our Lord). As Augustine says (loc. cit.), if He could do these things He would not be omnipotent. But this is not the meaning of ' Almighty.' As we see from the form of the Greek word [wavTOKpdTijjp), and as is suggested by the Hebrew words which it renders, it denotes sovereignty over the world. It is equivalent to the 'Lord of heaven and earth' of Ac 17-'*, Mt 11-^. Everything is under God's sway (see Pearson, Expos, of the Creed, art. i., especially notes 37-43). The Syriac bears out this interpreta- tion by rendering the word ahidh kul, i.e. ' holding (or governing) all.'
(b) God is 'living.' — He has 'life in himself (Jn 5-«). He is 'the living God' (Rev V), 'that liveth for ever and ever' (10''); and therefore is eternal, the 'Alpha and Omega, which is and whicii was and which is to come' (6 ibu Kai 6 rjv Kai 6 ipxifj-evos), 'the beginning and the end' (Rev 1" 21" ; cf. 10^)— these words are here (but not in 22'* ; see below, 6 (e)) rightly ascribed by Swete to the Eternal Father. ' One day is with the Lord as