• 2 P 318. t Jn 117.
t Ro 117 104, 1 Co 130, 2 Co 521, Ph $9, etc.
§ Cf. Jn 19 319 1236, 1 Jn 15. 7 23 56, Rev 225. 6, etc.
II We take St. Paul's mind to be little influenced, the Johannine writings to be much influenced, by Greek thought.
■1 Jn 146 1125, 1 Co Ib*^- 17, 2 Co 317, 1 Jn li-3.
•» 1 Co 1515. ft 1 Co 1547.
n 1 Co 28, Ja 21. §§ Ac 3I6.
III! Ro 5I8, 2 Co 521, Ph 111, 2 P 11, 1 Jn 227 520.
itil Christ is its bearer and bringer, having the pleroma ; see esp. Col 1.
*** The Spirit of grace.
fit Jn 37 520, Ro 117 517 822, 2 Co 521, Ph 39.
{jjThe Pauline anthropology is an intricate subject. For a
remarkably interesting and clear statement see H. Wheeler
Robinson, Christian Doctrine of Man, 1911, pp. 104-136. St.
Paul teaches that in the natural Trveviia of man lies the ground
i of affinity with the Divine irvevixa.
510
GEACE
GRACE
porated through the mystical fellowship * of believers with Christ, who are translated from darkness into light, from death to life, fi'om sin and unrighteousness to love.t (6) In the Epistle to the Hebrews (of the Pauline type) the life of grace is seen at work in Christ's Personal Life, making it clear that the faith in Him that is receptive of grace is the faith of Him ; so that what He did and won for men He did and won for Himself as a work of spiritual and moral power exerted in Him, and not simply upon Him. • The grace-enabling faith and the faith enabled by grace to overcome sin and destroy death, the Divine and human conspiring to produce and con- stitute the new righteousness of God in man and man in God, were so met in Jesus that He Himself Avas the revelation because He was the thing re- vealed.'J (7) The appearance of this Life and its blessings of grace are traced to the spontaneous and unmerited beneficence and initiative of God,§ who in Christ deals with sinful mankind not on the ground of merit or after the mode of Law, as though they were servants or subjects, but solely from His own natural instinct of Holy Love, as a father towards his sons. Hence the gracious will of God is distinctive in the incomparable fullness and excellency of the motives which it comprehends.il (8) Divine grace consequently underlies every part of the redemptive process, in an imposing array of objective forces.lT What are its parts ? Here the schemes of saving grace in the two types widely diverge in their most conspicuous features. St. Paul conceives of the subject of grace thus — the sinner is a criminal whom the Righteous Judge will of His clemency save ; and his thought moves in a circle of juristic terms. St. John's conception, on the other hand, is of the world ( = human life) as marred by sin in opposition to God, and his notion moves in a series of antitheses reconciled finally by the manifesta- tion of that pre-existent Logos who is the world's fundamental principle. Under these leading con- cepts let us classify the respective terms.
(a) The Pcmline scheme. — 'Justification' is the point of stress in the Pauline list, and with it go ' redemption ' and ' righteousness ' ; ' adoption ' and ' reconciliation ' go together ; sanctification is their result. The source of the Avhole is in the Divine predestination, and the goal is man's glorification. The briefest definitions must suffice. Predestina- tion determines on God's part His purpose of grace. Election expresses the soul's experience and certainty of saving grace. Justification is the grace which acquits and accepts the sinner as righteous. By justification the redemption pur- chased by Christ is made ett'ective. Adoption is the grace that removes the obstacles debarring the sinner fi'om fellowship with God, and inspires him with filial trust, freedom, and inheritance. By adoption reconciliation with God is made effective. Sanctification is the issue of these already men- tioned in the renewal of the whole man — spirit, soul, body — a renewal leading eventually to resurrection, life, glory. Though the parts may thus be separated in thought, it is to Be remem- bered that they are in-separable in the actual process. The prescience and prevenience of God are not otiose ; they are the active origin and basal ground of man's salvation. Justification in its attitude of faith implies the implicit energy of sanctification. Sanctification is but a ' continuous
* Cf. the diflcoarses in the Upper Boom, Parable of the Vine, etc.
t St. John's three great antitheses.
t W. P. DuBose, The Gospel according to Saint Paul, 1907, pp. 85-86.
S Jn 112 637. 40, Ro 58- 10, Eph I* 28, Col 18, 1 Jn 818 410.
I 2 Co 98, Ph 419, 1 p 410 1 Jn 81.
UEoSSO.
justification.' • Imputed righteousness is vital and is imparted. The ' peace with God ' which these secure is, through a real remission of sins and rescue from God's wrath, fitted to partake in the ineffable nature of the Spirit of righteousness and truth, Avho ettects salvation, and the bliss of the Eternal Life, of which it is the foretaste and first- fruit, t