After his death, he went to the departed spirits who had not believed in the time of Noah. Jo is now gono to heaven, and is on the right hand of God. Angels, and authorities, and powers are subject to him (iii. 22).

The Second Epistle attributed to Peter, and that to Jude, are without any peculiar Christological significance for the present purpose.

In the Apocalypse, Christ is the "first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the world" (i. 5); he is the " beginning of the creation of God” (ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς κτίσεως τοῦ Ocov, iii. 14). He has the same functions as in the Epistles mentioned above,-he redeems the Christians by his blood.

Here the new matter added to the previous Christology is this: His spirit had previously existed; he was preappointed before the foundation of the world, was the beginning of creation, redeems man by his blood, is the first-born of the dead, ruler of the kings of the world, and has preached to the souls of mon who lived before the flood.

IV. In the four Epistles ascribed to Paul, whose genuineness, we think, has not been questioned,-those to the Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians, we find a Christology unknown to the three Gospels and the other writings wo have referred to above. As tho Paulino Christology becomes moro complicated than its predecessors, it is necessary to consider its clements separately; so we will speak first of the nature, and then of the function of Jesus.

In these Epistles, as in those Gospels, Jesus is the Christ of the Hebrew Scriptures-crucified, and risen from the dead. This is the point of generic agreement between the Christology of these four Epistles and those three Gospels. But in the Epistles there appear these peculiarities: The Christ had a pre-existence before he appeared in the personal form of Jesus; he was with tho Israelites in the wilderness, a spiritual rock that followed the people in their wanderings, and from which they all drank the same spiritual drink-meaning, we take it, the same spiritual drink which the Christians drank in Paul's time, contradictory as it may seem; but the Christ could not change. This pre-existence is taught by the common text in Galatians iii. 17, which says that the covenant of God with Abraham, more than four hundred years before Moses, was made by God, through the mediation of Christ (vπÒ TOV

Θεοῦ εἰς Χριστόν) ; but as the best copies omit the reference to Christ, this passage cannot be fairly used at the present timo, as an authority. However, a single genuine passage, if clear and distinct, is as good as many.

In 2 Cor. viii. 9, it is said that Christ had been rich, but had impoverished himself (πrúxevσev) for mankind. Of course, he could only have been rich in a state of existence before he took the personal form of Jesus.

Thus he was not merely a man and Messiah-having had a pre-existence in the latter capacity, at least-but God is immanent with him in a peculiar sense; for it is said (2 Cor. v. 19), "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself." By the text of the common editions, he is once called "God over all, blessed for ever" (¿ àv ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, Rom. ix. 5) ; but as the word God is of doubtful authority, the text ought not to be pressed into the sorvice of any opinion as if it reprosontod tho undisputed sonso of Paul. Howovor, in passages beyond disputo, ho is called God's power, and God's wisdom (Oeoû dúvaμiv kaì Oeov σopíav, 1 Cor. i. 24), and is once called absolutely the Spirit (rò Tveûμa, 2 Cor. iii. 17).

His resurrection is distinctly declared, but no allusion is made to his miraculous birth, or miraculous deeds.

Such is Panl's opinion of the nature of Christ, but he says more of the office and function of Christ than of his nature. He was the final cause, the scope or object aimed at in the law of Moses (τέλος νόμου, Rom. x. 4, and τέλος τοῦ [νόμου] καταργουμένου, 2 Cor. ii. 13). The Jews did not understand this, and so there is a veil on their understanding while they read the Old Testament, but it will be removed when they are converted to Christianity.

He is the instrument by which God is to judge the world; all are to appear before his tribunal; he is to rulo the living and the dead (Rom. ii. 16; 2 Cor. v. 10).

Christ intercedes (évrvyxável) for men with God (Rom. viii. 34), he is the paschal sacrifice for the Christians (1 Cor. v. 7), men who were not just before and are not just now, aro to be accounted just before God, on account of their faith in Christ, and by means of the ransom he has paid (Rom. v. 22-24; v. 18, et seq., et al.). This ransom is paid for all men, and not merely for the Jews; he is tho new Adam, who brings life to such as are dead (1 Cor. xv.

21, 22). Once, Paul had been ignorant of this fact, and know Christ aftor the flesh, as tho Saviour of the Jows alone, but now not aftor the flesh, but tho Christ and Saviour of all (2 Cor. v. 16).

He is the proximate and efficient cause of all things, as God is the ultimato cause thereof (δὲ οὗ [Χριστοῦ] τὰ πάντα, 1 Cor. viii. 6), though elsewhere God is the ultimate, the efficient, and the possessory cause of all things.*

In these four Epistles, following their undisputed text, and neglecting the passages where the text is doubtful, Paul goes no higher in his description of the nature and function of Christ. He is a man, born of a woman; the first-born among many brethren; he had a pre-existence, distinct, and apparently self-conscious. He is the proximate cause of all things. His coming is the fulfilment of the law, which is now repealed, null, and void. He is the Saviour of all men, through a sacrifice on his part, and faith on their part.

The peculiar addition which Paul makes to the Christology of his predecessors, is this: A more distinct statement of his personal pre-existence and function as minister of the Abrahamic covenant, and as sustainer of the Israelites in the wilderness; a generalization of his function to that of a universal Christ and Saviour, and the destruction of the Mosaic law.

V. In some of the other Epistles ascribed to Paul, though with a disputed certainty, we find the personality of Christ goes still higher. Passing over the passages in the Epistle to the Ephesians, which are vague in their character or uncertain in their text, we come to the Philippians, and find there more remarkable expressions. Thus it is said that Jesus was in the form of God, though not equal to God, as we understand it (èv poppy coû, ii. 6, 9-11). He descends from this eminence and receives the form of a sorvant (μoppùv dovλov), but has since received "the name above every name;" all beings, subterranean, earthly, and super-celestial, are to do homage to him.

In Colossians, Christ is "an image of God, the invisible" (εlkwv TOû CEOû Toû άopárov), “the first-born of all creatures,

* Εξ αὐτοῦ, καὶ δι αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα, Rom. xi. 36. These words seem to denote respectively the ultimate cause (or ground) of all things; the proximate or efficient (instrumental) cause thereof; and the owner of all things, whose purpose they were to serve.

for in him (èv auT@) were made all things in heaven and upon the earth-the seen and the unseen; all are made by him and for him" (dì avтoû kaì els avτón), by him, as instrument, and for him, as possessor. "He is before all, and all things continue to subsist by him." "He is the beginning, that in all respects he might be the first, for in him it has pleased [God] that all the fulness [of the Deity] should dwell (i. 15-20). "All the fulness of the Deity resides corporeally in him ” (Πάντα πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωparik@s, ii. 9), and he is "all in all" (iii. 11), the absolute.

The same Christology appears substantially in the Epistle to the Ephesians, which is, indeed, little more than an expansion of that to the Colossians, only the doctrine is not quite so clearly set forth, and there is some discrepancy in the readings of the manuscripts in important passages.

The other minor Epistles ascribed to Paul are not important in respect to their Christology, and so we pass them by. But, in the important Epistle to the Hebrows, remarkable additions are made to the Christology of the carly age. Here, the Christ is "appointed heir of all things;" the agent by whom God made the acons (alovas), "a reflected image of his [God's] glory and stamp of his substance” (απαύγασμα τῆς δόξης και χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάrews); and sustains all things by the word of his power. Ho sits "at the right hand of the majesty above." He is the "word of God” (¡îμa Ocov), he is the "first-born;" is superior to the angels, and, in the Old Testament, has been called "God's Son;" the angels serve him; the Old Testament is referred to as calling him by the title of the true God (ó cós), and his authority is eternal (i. 8, 9). It is Christ who, " in the beginning, established the earth;" the heavens are the work of his hands. The universe will perish, but Christ will remain the same for ever, and his years will have no end. The angels are to worship him, for they exist only for the sake of mankind, while Christ is the ultimate object and final cause of all creation. Yet, notwithstanding this exaltation of nature, he was made a little lower than the angels, so that he might suffer death for the sake of all mankind. In his human form, he became perfect by temptation and suffering.

Such is his nature; his function is commensurate with it. Ile is a priest for ever; by his own blood has obtained

eternal redemption and superseded all sacrifices. He has appeared once to remove sin, and will come again to bring such as wait for him to salvation. He took the form of flesh and blood that he might by death destroy the devil, who had the power of death (ii. 14), and deliver mankind, who were subject to fear thereof. He is the " cause of eternal salvation to all that obey him," and in all his achievement is the preserver of mankind (v. 9). He is a priest, not according to a temporary enactment, but in virtue of the power of indissoluble life (vii. 16). The old law is set aside, and its priesthood at an end; for there has come a high priest, holy, free from evil in his nature, blameless in his life, thereby separated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens. He is tho modiator of an everlasting covenant, in which the law will be that written eternally on the heart of man.

In these Epistles, it is plain a much higher dignity is claimed for the nature and function of Christ. All the fulness of God resides in him; he is even called God, the God; still, he is man also, wholly a creature, and dependent on God for existence.

VI. There still remain the Johannic writings, so-called, Epistles and Gospels. The Second and Third Epistles ascribed to John have no Christological value, and requiro no examination. The First Epistle and the fourth Gospel represent another addition made to the Christological strata already deposited, not wholly, we fear, in tranquil scas. Here we find the continuation and development of ideas found in the doubtful works attributed to Paul..

But before we speak of the Johannic Christology, we must say a few words by way of preface. The Christians and Jews had, amongst others, this point of ideal agreement: a common roverence for tho Messiah, the Christ; but this point of ideal agreement became a point of practical disagreement and quarrel; for the Christians affirmed that Jesus of Nazareth was that Christ, while the Jews declared that he was only a malefactor. The attempt was made by Paul to bring the Jews to attach their reverence for the ideal Christ to the concrete person, Jesus of Nazareth; then discord between the Christians and Jews would end.

Plato had taught, in well-known passages, that God