the divinest compositions of man,” embracing “every doctrine of Christianity—first those doctrines peculiar to Christianity, and then those precepts common to it with natural religion” (Table Talk).
What gives it its peculiar majesty is the way in which it carries everything back to God Himself, His will, His eternal purpose and counsel. It is a distinctively theological Epistle, in the sense in which the Epistle to the Romans is distinctively anthropological or psycho- logical, and that to the Colossians Christological, The great subjects of predestination and the Divine plan, eternal in the mind of God, centring in Christ and fulfilled in Him, have a larger and more definite place in this Epistle than in any other, excepting Rom. viii.- xi. It has at the same time, however, a rich Christology. Christ is set forth as the Son of God (i. 3, iv. 13) ; the Beloved of the Father (i. 6); pre-existent (i. 4); raised from the dead and exalted to supreme sovereignty over all things—King of the universe and Head of the Church (i. 20-23, ii. 6, iv. 9, 12, ν. 23); the Giver of all spiritual gifts (iv. 7, 8); the Treasury of all knowledge and riches (iii. 8-10) ; having the place given in the OT to Jehovah (iv. 8).
Its Soteriology also i8 of wide compass. It speaks of Christ as the medium of God’s forgiveness of sinners (iv. 32); of redemption as coming to us by Him (i. 7); of the offering and the sacrifice made to God in Christ’s giving of Himself (ν. 2); of the reconciliation of Jew and Gentile as accomplished by Him; of the gracious results of His work as being effected by His blood and His cross (i. 7, ii. 16). The doctrine of the Church also reaches its highest point in this Epistle. Not only is the Church the Bride of Christ (v. 25-27) and His Body and the fulness of His gifts, but it is the Church ideal—one great, catholic, spiritual body including all the chosen, redeemed and sanctified. And among other doctrines which have a place in it is that of the Holy Spirit as active in the prophets (iii. 5), and as the believer’s seal and earnest (i. 13, 14, iv. 30); that of regeneration as the operation of God (ii. 25); and that of the existence and power of evil spirits (ii. 2, vi. 12). The deep foundations of the confessional doctrine of original sin are also found by many in ii. 3, and the great Reformation doctrine of the priority of grace has its roots in ii. 5-8,
9. THe LITERATURE OF THE ΕΡΙΘΤΙΕ. The literature is copious. Not to mention the well-known books on New Testament Introduction, the various works on the Biblical Theology of the New Testament, and the articles in the great Bible Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, there are many treatises of importance in addition to the formal commentaries. Among these may be mentioned C. F. Baur’s Paulus der Apostel Fesu Christi ; H. J. Holtzmann’s Kritik der