Equally removed is their conception from a philo- sophic dualism like that of Plato, which would erect matter into a principle of being co-eternal with God the supreme Spirit, and serving, as the source of evil, to oppose an insurmountable limit to His omnipotence and infinitude.
Yet in the apostolic doctrine of the eternal Word, or the preexi.stent Christ, and the way in which this is thought of in relation to God on the one hand, and to the material created world on the other, there are elements of affinity both with the dualistic and with the pantheistic view. Thus, in relation to God, the eternal Word is one with Him, yet there is plurality or distinctness (Jn 1'). There is therefore an element of plurality or ' dualism ' which is eternal, though not such as to be incom- patible with the Divine oneness, or to thwart eternally the Divine sovereignty, for Son and Father are one.
Again, the eternal Word or pre-existent Christ is at once the active agent in creation, the under- lying ground and teleological goal of the created universe, and the principle of coherence which gives meaning and system to the whole (Jn 1^, ' All things were made by him ; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life ; and the life was the light of men ' ; Col I'*- ", ' All things have been created through him, and unto him ; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist' [i.e. 'hold together']).
Thus the created world is not something entirely external to or apart from God, but is in intimate union with God, through the Logos, in whom it has its source, and ground, and principle of sub- sistence or coherence.
Yet this union of the material world with God, through the Logos, is not incompatible with its having a distinct existence for God as the product of His creative will and the instrument of His all- controlling power (He IP). The union of the material world with God through the Logos, as thus presented, is metaphysical rather than moral or spiritual, and cannot be realized except through ethical and spiritual process. Yet the further thought seems to be expressed in the Pauline writings that, through the influx of sin, the created world as a whole has in some way become alienated from God, and ' made subject to vanity ' (Ro 8-"), and that the is.sue of Christ's redemptive mission to the world is to be the reconciliation, not of humanity only, but of the whole created world, to God, in a moral and spiritual union which is at present lacking. The completed redemption of mankind will be accompanied by a renewed world fitted to be the home of the redeemed sons of God (Ro 8^^-^, 'We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we
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ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redeniptiou of our lioily'; Col 1'9- -■», ' It pleased the Kuthcr that in liiiii should all fulness dwell ; and, having made iioace through the lilooil of his oross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; li}' him, I say, whether they lie things in earth, or things in heaven'; Hev '21', *And t saw a nrw heaven and a new earth').
3. Union of man with God. — The apostolic con- ception of the J.ogos as an essential principle in the nature of (iod, and also the underlying jjrinciple and teleological goal of creation, which comlitions the apostolic conception of the material world and its relation to Uod, conditions also in a sjiccial waj' the apostolic conception of man and his relation to God.
As the highest of the creatures, the crown of creation, nnm stands in a relation of special near- ness to the Divine Logos, who, while immanent in •all created existence, is immanent with special fullness in man. Thus man is described as ' the image and glory of tiod' (1 Co 11') and as ' living and moving and having his being' in Cod (Ac 17'-'). This furnishes the basis for allirming a certain metaphysical union between man and God, in virtue of creation, which is yet not incompatible with plurality and personal distinctness. Further, the union between man and t iod which is due to crea- tion, or to the fact that man's being is rooted and grounded in the Divine Logos, is not yet a complete ethical and spiritu.al union, but only furnishes the potential basis for such union, which awaits real- ization through ethical and spiritual jiroitess. Man as man is 'made in the image of tiod' (tin 1-") and predestined ' to lie conformed to the image of his Son' (Ko 8-') and to partici|)ate in the Divine eternal life. But this can be realized only through ethical process, involving the e.\ercise of freedom of will by man as a moral personality distinct from, though intimately related to and grounded in, God. The intiu.v of sin, through man's perverse misuse of his free will, is represented as hindering and preventing this intended spiritual union be- tween man and God, which is the true goal of creation.