• Eph 210. t 1 P 13^.
t ' The Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us now ' (1 P 4W). § The believer who has the Spirit thus has Him as ' a seal ' (2 Co 123, Eph 113 430).
II The Greek Fathers teach that the Greek philosophers are I under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
of grace. In both St. John and St. Paul the con- ception of sin is iinraeasurablj^ deepened^ts opposi- tion, even enmity, to God and grace starkly ex- pressed.
(6) Grace and merit. — The doctrine of merit in its full technical sense belongs to later days. It is fully developed in niediteval scholasticism, where it occupies a large place. It was seriously assaulted by the Reformers. It was prepared for by a long anterior development from small beginnings as early as the sub-apostolic teaching.* Many factors entered in the course of history to enhance its tlieo- logical interest. From tlie sub-apostoJic age there begins the emphasis on ivorks. Again, increasingly, Christianity tends to become a new Law, the Chris- tian life its submissive acceptance. Still more, as the Church - consciousness grew, there grew the ecclesiastical idea of redemption as a great system beginning in baptism and ending in resurrection ; grace working not spiritually but mechanically in its mode.t The Latin Fathers gave a strong im- petus to the idea of merit in the doctrine and dis- cipline of penance. In the Pauline anthropology the idea is present and is opposed in its most rudi- mentary form. It has a natural basis, which the Apostle takes up, and, dissociating it from the pojjular view, makes serve as the foundation of his doctrine of faith as the human factor in the renewal of the believing heart. It is not quite true that in Pauline theology man 'can do nothing' and 'needs to do nothing.' Grace requires maivs co-operation in faith, which is not simply an initial act, but a constant attitude. Faith, or the recep- tive heart, implicit, humble trust in God, may be all the sinner has to exercise — but it is a vast deal, and has a distinct moral worth.J Its worth, how- ever, is not extended to the good qualities or good works of which it is the precursor ; these are credited solely to the grace whose reception faith renders possible.! The Pharisaic doctrine of merit is before the Apostle's mind ; and his arguments emphasize the gospel of absolute grace in reaction from the conception of Law as conditional reward. He labours to prove that the Law by its very nature cannot unite the sinner to Christ or God, union with whom is the proper idea of grace. The true relation is reversed when character and conduct are made pre-conditions of our obtaining Divine grace instead of the joyous result of our having accepted it. Besides, even faith is the gift of God. The Spirit implants. For that express purpose Christ is exalted. II These principles reappear in the Reformers' polemic against the Catliolic dogma. 'Faith unites the soul to Christ.' That primary fact it is that outcasts all merit, and faith is ' the gift of God.'
(c) Grace avd freedom,. — In the life of grace as a human experience God of His own motion takes part. Another problem is : What is the part God takes, and what is man's? The problem is one of the most difficult. It is continually emerging in the course of human tiiought, and, like all of these OTace problems, has continuously divided Christian loyalty. Two great answers have been given which in their extreme statement are directlj' contradic- tory of one another, but modifications of which are continually proposed. The first is known as Peiagi- anism, according to which the spiritual life of a man is the direct result of his own choice. The second is known as Augustinianism, according to which the spiritual life is necessitated by God's will. The best-known modification is Semi-pelagianism, which
• In ' Hermas' we have the idea of supererogatory merit ; and also of some works better pleasing to God than others.
t Not the same as the mafjical working of the impersonal ' infusion ' of later scholasticism.
t He 116.
} This is all more fully considered under art. JnsTiFiOATiON.
II Ac 61.
finds prevailing favour in the Roman Catholic teach- ing, as Augustinianism does in Reformation doc- trine. It is a form of Synergism, according to which Divine grace is insufficient till human effort con- joins with it. The three may be thus defined — in the Pelagian view, grace precedes and assists the natural (unregenerate) will ; in the Augustinian, grace prepares and assists the regenerate will ; in the Semi-pelagian, grace is not operative at all till man's will (indifferent) brings it into play. The answer to the problem depends on the philosophy of personality adopted.* What is here relevant is the fact that the apostolic doctrine has nothing of all this in view, however much it may suggest it. These eternal values are carried up to the eternal purpose of God and at the same time the ethical basis of moral responsibility in human freedom ia recognized. The Divine control of human life in the whole of its activities is one of the great con- ceptions of the OT. It is power animated by a gracious and righteous purpose and conditioned by the recognition of human freedom. The OT idea of providence culminates in the NT idea of salva- tion. The assertion of human freedom runs through both OT and NT, Divine control and human free- dom accompanying each other, in harmonious in- timacy, regarded in a purely practical manner. Whatever invasion of ' freedom ' there is, is due to sin ; but the evil tendency is never pressed into determinism. The apostles, as later the Fathers, think in this ancestral descent. Religious depend- ence has for necessary concomitant moral inde- pendence ; the deeper the dependence (religious) the richer the independence (morality). It is this independence that St. Paul emphasizes in the bless- ing which he terms ' the glorious liberty of the sons of God,' ' the freedom wherewith Christ sets us free't — a primary feature of the new life. Grace is the personal relation to our moral self by which that self attains emancipation. Modern moral theory approves.