his work was designed and adapted to produce the strongest possi- ble impression on the minds of all intelligent ci'eatures of the evil of sin, and thus restrain them from the commission of it, but nei- ther the one nor the other was its primary design. It has this moral impression on the sinner and upon the intelligent universe, because it was a satisfaction to the justice of God, and the strongest of all proofs that sin cannot be pardoned without an expiation, or adequate atonement.
§ 5. The Mystical Theory.
The fifth theory on this subject is the mystical. This agrees with the moral view (under which it might be included), in that it represents the design of Christ's work to be the production of a subjective effect in the sinner. It produces a change in him. It overcomes the evil of his nature and restores him to a state of holi- ness. The two systems differ, however, as to the means by which this inward change is accomplished. According to the one it is by moral power operating according to the laws of mind by the ex- hibition of truth and the exercise of moral influence. According to the other it is by the mysterious union of God and man, of the divine with the human nature, i. e., of divinity with humanity, brought about by the incarnation.
This general idea is presented in various forms. Sometimes the writers quoted in favour of this mystical view teach nothing more than what has ever been held in the Church, and what is clearly taught in the Scriptures. It is true that there is a moral and spiritual union between God and man effected by the incarnation of the Son of God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He and his people are one. Our Lord prays to the Fatlier, John xvii. 22, 23, that those given to Him " may be one, even as we are one : I in them, and thou in me." And the Apostle Peter does not hesitate to say that we are made " partakers of the divine na- ture." This, and no more than this, is necessarily implied in the oft-quoted language of Athanasius in reference to Christ, avros ivr]v6pmTTr)cr€v, Iva rjiJiCL-i 9eoTroir]6(afji.ev. But besides this Scriptural doc- trine there has prevailed a mystical view of the union of God and man to which the redemption of our race is ascribed, and in which, by some of its advocates, it is made exclusively to consist. So far as the fathers are concerned, a clear distinction was made between redemption and reconciliation ; between the objective work of Christ in delivering us from the curse of the law and from the power of Satan, and the subjective application of that work.
/>82 PART m. ch. IX. — theories of the atonement.
Both were ascribed to Christ. The former (our redemption), was effected by his bearing our sins, by his being made a curse for us, by his giving Himself as a ransom, and by his obedience being taken as a substitute for the obedience which we had failed to ren- der. Our reconciliation with God, including restoration to his image and fellowship, was effected, not, as the Church has ever taught, by the work of the Holy Spirit, but according to the mys- tical theory, by the union of the divine nature with our fallen nature, brought about by the incarnation. In all ages of the Church there have been minds disinclined to rest in the simple statements of the Bible, and disposed to strive after something more philosophical and profound. Among the early fathers, Miin- scher says, there was an obscure and peculiar notion that in some way the coming of Christ had produced a physical effect upon our race to ennoble it and render it immortal.^ At times this idea is advanced in general terms and without any attempt to explain philosophically how this effect was produced. As Adam was the cause of the seeds of death and corruption being introduced into human nature, so Christ was the means of introducing a principle of life and immortality which operates as leaven in a mass of dough. Or, as any affection of one member of the body, especially of the head, affects the whole system, so the resurrection of Christ and his life has a physical effect upon the whole mass of mankind. They regarded the human race as one mass which, inasmuch as Christ had united Himself with it by his incarnation, was restored to its original perfection and made immortal.''^ This idea was more perfectly worked out by the realists. They held humanity to be a generic substance and life, of which individual men are the modes of existence ; and they also held that it was this generic humanity, and not merely a true body and a reasonable soul that Christ assumed into personal union with his divine nature ; thus an element of divinity was introduced into humanity, by which it is restored and ennobled, and according to some, finally deified.
Among the Platonizing fathers, however, the mystical operation of the incarnation was connected with their doctrine of the Logos, What the real doctrine of the fathers and of Philo their predeces- sor and master in this matter concerning the Logos was, has ever been a matter of dispute among the learned. It is not at all even yet a settled matter whether Philo regarded the Logos as a person
1 Dogmengeschichte, ii., vi. ^ 122, 2d edit. Marburg, 1818, vol. iv. p. 285.
2 Gieseler's Kirchengesckickte iv. iii. ii. 6, § 97, edit. Bonn, 1855; vol. vi. p. 384. Miin tcher's Dogmengeschichte, vol. iv. p. 286.