(3) The Pastoral Epistles add one or two points. The dogmatic conception of abstract immortality — what Friedrich von Hiigel {Eternal Life) calls ' quantitative immortality ' — perhaps appears in 1 Ti 6^® : 6 fxdvos ^'xwi' ddavaaiav. In 4^ a sharp dis- tinction is drawn between ' the life that now is and that which is to come,' a sign of the passing of the eschatological form of the distinction between 'the present age' and 'the coming age.' The rich are charged to lay hold on what is truly life
In 2 Ti P we have the Pauline conception, 'the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus'; 2", 'if we sutler with him we shall reign with him ' ; 4^ li-vdng and dead are to be judged by Christ at His appearing ; 4'^ ' shall save me unto his heavenly kingdom.' But the two most characteristic pas- sages in this Epistle are 1^", where our Saviour Jesus Christ has annulled death and brought life and immortality (dtpdapaLav) to light, through the gospel ; and 2'", where speaking of ' the elect ' the writer says ' that they too may obtain the salva- tion that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.' Tit 1^-^ echoes the phrase of 2 Ti P, the hope of eternal life, still reflecting the eschatological colouring. In Tit 2^2-i3 « ^y^q present age ' is con-
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trasted with ' the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Christ Jesus,' also spoken of as ' the blessed liope' ; in 3^^- tlie bath of regeneration {TraXivyeveaia) and the renewing of the Holy Ghost are connected with righteousness and the hope of eternal life after the Pauline manner.
3. Johannine. — The three groups of Johannine literature are here treated separately.
(1) The Apocab/pse. — The phrase Avhich is so characteristic of the Fourth Gospel, ' eternal life,' does not occur in the Apocalypse. For our subject we have the following passages : 2^^, the overcomer 'siiall not be hurt of the second death'; 3^ the overcomer's name will not be blotted out of tlie book of life. In 4^ the ' elders' (who may possibly represent those who have attained — the ' elders ' of He 11) are seen in the symbolic garb of victors. In G'' the souls of the martyrs are seen under the altar, cr^'ing for vengeance. In yi^-i? there is a description of those who have come out of great tribulation and who enjoy perpeiual bliss before the throne of God. In 20'* those who are slain daring the great tribulation are raised for the millennial kingdom, and reign with Christ for a thousand years. 2U^ adds ' the rest of the dead lived not again until the tliousand years were ended.' Then in 2U^^"'* ' the dead small and great,' i.e. apparently ' the rest of the dead,' are raised and judged according to their works, and all not found written in the Book of Life are cast into the Lake of Fire.
Here again the eschatological interest is para- mount. The future existence of individuals is not a question of psychological or philosophical interest, but is determined by the view of the future King- dom of God. Hence 'quantitative immortality' does not appear. The righteous receive the reward of their works and patience, and enter on a blessing which appears to extend beyond the millennial kingdom, and at any rate reaches its climax there. The writer is not so interested in anything after that. But the future fate of the wicked is indeter- minate. The view taken as to this depends upon our interpretation of the writer's symbolism. The fire may be destructive, purgative, or penal. The torment of the beast and the false prophet is spoken of, but the final end of the wicked is not ex- idicitly stated. They are cast into the Lake of P'ire.
(2) The Epistles. — In the Johannine Epistles the Parousia still forms the background of Christian hope, but the precise form of the hope is vague, and shows signs of transformation into a purely spiritual expectation. The contribution of the Epistles belongs rather to the subject of the Parousia iq.v.). The term 'eternal life 'occurs frequently, but never with the eschatological sense in which it is used in St. Paul's Epistles and the Pastorals. But the profound ethical implication of likeness to God and to Christ tills the term with a new mean- ing. 'The life of the coming age,' the original sense of the term d^-j ';n, has become the life of God, expi-essed in Christ, imparted to the believer, working itself out in moral likeness to God, and perfected when Christ appears. He who dwells in God and God in him can never die, and he who loves dwells in God, and partakes of God's eternal life. Immortality is 'qualitative' wholly here, with no thought of duration.
(3) The Fourth Gospel. — Here the transformation of the eschatological background is practically complete. Subsequent developments really con- sisted, not in a deeper and richer spiritualization of the eschatological view-point, with all its stimulus and insistent pressure of the real world surrounding and penetrating the phenomenal world, 'lut in the total abandonment of eschatology and consequent impoverishment of the Church's life. But in the Fourth Gospel the intensity and reality