Paul The Missionary Preacher
Nor ever murmur nor repine— Content, whatever lot I see, Since 't is my God that leadeth me."
"And when my task on earth is done, When, by Thy grace, the victory's won.
E'en death's cold wave I will not flee, Since God through Jordan leadeth me."
PAUL THE MISSIONARY PREACHER
There is to-day a wide-spread conviction in evangelical circles that the pulpit is deteriorating, and is no more the living force that it was, when the mighty voices of Luther and Zwingli, of Calvin and Knox, of Wesley and Whitefield, of Jonathan Edwards and Thomas Chalmers were heard. Many a preacher of the present time forgets to deliver the message that was entrusted to him by his King. Instead of the heavenly manna, in place of the water of life, the God-given nourishment for hungry and thirsty souls, he offers a substitute wich he considers just as good, a substitute of human invention. Instead of bread he offers stones that terribly derange the digestive organs of the spiritual man. Guided by works in which the results of higher
criticism are set forth in popular form, such as George Adam Smith's Modern Criticism and the Preaching of the Old Testament, and many others like it, he brings the "assured results" of the most recent historical investigation of the Bible to the hungry flock that is waiting for spiritual food.
The Darwinian doctrine of evolution is often proclaimed from the pulpit as the embodiment of the highest wisdom. There is no fall and no redemption, no sin and no conversion in the traditional sense.
From the state of the brute and from that of the innocent simplicity of Adam, who was still devoid of all moral character at the beginning of his earthly career, man has ever been ascending, of course with many slips and failures, and is ascending still. As he rises in the scale of development, his imperfections naturally disappear.—Again many of the pulpits of the present time have been transformed into chairs of Sociology. Social betterment is the way to salvation. Place a man in a congenial environment, let him have a good sanitary dwelling, provide him with good clothes, give him plenty to eat and to drink, furnish the proper amusements etc., and he will uaturally turn to the right;—a good moral, yea even spiritual life will be the outcome.—
Many scientific man of the present day, conscious of their wonderful achievements in the realm of nature, have become intoxicated with a sense of their own greatness, and the cult of humanity is the natural result. Says Babbit in his Literature and the American College, p. 34.
"Men have always dreamed of the Golden Age, but it is only with the triumphs of modern science that they have begun to put the Golden
Age in the future instead of in the past. The great line that separated the new era from the old is, as Renan remarks, the idea of humanity and the cult of its collective achievements. With the decay of the traditional faith this cult of humanity is coming more and more to be our real religion." Similarly Leuba comes to the conclusion that the "religion of Humanity" is the religion of the future, A Psychological
Study of Religion, p. 314 ff. The gospel of humanity is now heard from several pulpits; it is a gospel that is man-centered, that has man as its startingpoint and man as its goal, a gospel that must lead in the end to the adoration, not of God, but of man.
This deterioration of the pulpit is a fact of solemn significance.
Principal Forsyth says in the opening sentence of his work on Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind: "It is perhaps an overbold beginning, but I will venture to say that with its preaching
Christianity stands or falls. This is surely so at least in those sections of Christendom which rest less upon the Church than upon the Bible.
Wherever the Bible has the primacy which is given it in Protestantism, there preaching is the most distinctive feature of worship." As we have seen in the preceding lecture Christianity aims at conquest. But her warfare is not carnal but spiritual. Hence the great means to the end it has in view is not the sword, but the preaching of the Word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit. The moment the Church forgets this important truth she will go down before the victorious forces of darkness, and to the prince of this world will be the spoils.
A decline in the unadulterated preaching of the Word of God would be doubly injurious in gentile lands. If the trumpet of those that are in the vanguard give an uncertain sound, who will prepare for the battle?—And if none prepare for it, how can any victory be won for Christ?—When I attented the Student Volunteer in Rochester, N. Y. in December 1909 and Januari 1910 the subject of the opening address by Mr. George Sherwood Eddy was: "Is our Christianity worth propagating?" This question, he said, needed not to be asked regarding Christianity in general, but was not superfluous in regard to our Christianity. That question asked at a large missionary gathering is one of the signs of the times. It is an earnest call to every
missionary to examine closely the message he brings to a perishing world. It was not necessary to ask that question with respect to the Christianity of Paul. He was one of the greatest and most faithful heralds of the cross. And the seed he bore and scattered in gentile lands, we feel sure, was well worth sowing, was pregnant with promise for the future. His Christianity was indeed worth propagating! All the world has been filled with the fruit of his labors, and therefore has reason to be grateful to that undaunted hero who through good and bad report and in spite of almost insuperable difficulties spread the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ. Hence it is certainly well worth while that we study Paul the missionary preacher and profit by his noble example. What sort of man was this great herald of the cross? What were the main characteristics of his preaching? What was the great central theme of his message? Such questions demand consideration in this lecture.
* * * The better we are acquainted with Paul himself, the better we shall understand his method of preaching. Therefore we need not apologize for taking a brief glance at Paul the man. Little can be said regarding the personal appearance of the great apostle to the gentiles. In the Acts of Paul and Thekla, written in the third century
A. D. he is represented as "short, bald, bow-legged, with meeting eyebrows, hooked nose, full of grace." John of Antioch, writing in the sixth century, preserved the tradition that he was in person "roundshouldered, with a sprinkling of grey in his head and beard, with an acquiline nose, greyish eyes, meeting eye-brows, with a mixture of pale and red in his complexion and an ample beard. With a genial expression of countenance, he was sensible, easily accessible, sweet and inspired with the Holy Spirit." His opponents at Corinth said of him, 2 Cor. 10:10: "Hes letters are weighty and powerful, but his
bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. He himself writes to the Corinthians: "I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling," 1 Cor. 2:3. And in both the second epistle to the Corinthians and that to the Galatians he refers to some physical infirmity that was a source of suffering to him and that might even make him despicable, 2 Cor. 12:7–9; Gal. 4:13–15. If besides this we take in consideration that the people of Lystra took Barnabas for Jupiter, the great god, and Paul for Hermes, the messenger of the supreme God, it seems reasonable to infer that he was of inferior stature, even though the main reason, why they relegated him to that inferior position was found in the fact that he was the chief speaker.
The old tradition that Paul was not a man of magnificent physique may very well be true. This makes it all the more marvelous, however, that his labors had such great results. Paul himself, we know, saw in his bodily weakness a sign of divine wisdom. This follows from his statement in 2 Cor. 4:7: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." And in the twelfth chapter of that same epistle he tells us that God had given him a thorn in the flesh that he should not be exalted above measure. The Lord spoke unto him: "My grace is sufficient for thee; and my strength is made perfect in weakness," 2
Cor. 12:9. And Paul realized that, though weak in himself, he was mighty in the Lord his God.
As to his character and temperament Paul was a man of great contrasts. Yet these contrasts do not involve contradictions. Man's life is always a complex that has its unity in his personality. The traits that we discover in Paul find their explanation partly in his natural endowments and partly in what he became through the grace of God; partly in his personal inclinations and partly in his profound sense of duty.—In the first place Paul was strong in weakness. It sounds paradoxical indeed, yet it is true. He bore with him wherever he went
a weak, an ailing body; at the same time he had an almost unlimited capacity for work in the Kingdom of God. Deissmann says in his St.
Paul that one now going over the routes of Paul in present day conveyances, witnessing the difficulties with which the peasant has to contend, as he plods on over the old beaten ways; and visiting some of the ancient inns that are to-day very much what they were nineteen centuries ago, offering small and questionable comforts to the weary travellers,—does not understand, how Paul endured all the hardships of his travels, coupled with persecutions, and still did so much for the advancement of God's Kingdom, p. 65. We understand this only, when we bear in mind that Paul received strength in weakness. When he ceased to place any reliance on his own strength, then the power of Christ became manifest in him, and bore him as on the wings of an eagle over rivers and seas, over mountains and valleys.
Paul was a man of great humility, who at the same time did not hesitate to utter expressions that testified to the greatest selfconfidence. It is Paul that says with a sense of his own insignificance and utter unworthiness: "I am the least of the apostles", 1 Cor. 15:9; and who speaks of himself as the chiefest of sinners, 1 Tim. 1:15, 16.
But it is also Paul that makes the statement: "For I suppose I am not a with behind the very chiefest apostles, 2 Cor. 11:5; and who says: I labored more abundantly than they all", 1 Cor. 15:9. How is it possible that a man should utter sich seemingly contradictory statements? Is it not unlawful pride that he places himself on a line with the other apostles? We think not; it is simply a recognition of the great love of God that had been manifested in him who had persecuted the Church. When Paul looked back on his past life, he had a deep sense of his guilt and realized that he was really unworthy to be an apostle. But as he thought of his later career, he understood that the love of God towards him, the greatest of sinners, had been so
great that it had made him the equal of the other apostles; and that the grace of God had operated through him in such an abundant measure that his work surpassed that of his co-laborers. Notice how the one expression quoted above is modified by thougths of the grace of God: "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Again Paul was very tender-hearted, but at the same time he often uses expressions that seem rather harsh. Tenderness! the expressions of it are manifold in the epistles of the great apostle. Wo does not discern the great sympathetic affection, the well-nigh inexpressible benevolence, the tenderness almost past understanding that finds expression in the words: I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy
Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever, Amen." But it is that same tender-hearted apostle who in the heat of his indignation and under a sense of duty cries out: "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth?—This only would I learn of you: Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish! having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Gal. 3:1–3. And again: "I would they were even cut off which trouble you", Gal. 5:12. Paul was a man greatly loved and passionately hated, a great organizer, an infatigable
worker, possessed of rare insight into human nature,—in a word, a great instrument for the important work in the Kingdom of God.
* * * In speaking of Paul as a preacher we cannot build our conclusions simply on the few speeches that are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. We must also take account of his epistles in which the apostle is really preaching to the congregations entrusted to his care.
Let us first glance at the formal side of his preaching!
In the first place we wish to emphasize the fact that Paul was not a mere theorizer, but a very practical preacher. There are some to whose minds the name of Paul is associated with the idea of abstract thought. They have a special liking for the concrete representations of our Lord, who to a very great extent taught the multitude in parables; but they do not delight in following Paul through thesis and antithesis, through labored arguments and rather wide digressions to his conclusions, however important these may be. Now it goes without saying that Paul's mode of treating a subject is often more or less dialectical. Yet his was not the dialectic of the philosophical schools or of the rabbi's. His was less abstruse, more spontaneous and directly touching the realities of life. There is a great deal of truth in the remark of Deissmann that Paul's treatment of the truth is often more intuitive and contemplative than speculative. But whatever his method may be in presenting the theoretical side of the truth, he never loses sight of the practical bearings of what he teaches. His congregations are never listening to mere theories.
Every speech of the great apostle in the Acts of the Apostles bears witness to this fact. And in nearly all of his epistles, which are interspersed with practical remarks and exhortations, we find after the doctrinal presentation of the truth, one or more chapters relating
to the practical bearing of that particular truth on life. One who listens to Paul with an earnest and prayerful heart will not only find that he is enriched intellectually, but will also experience increased zeal in the Kingdom of God. The truth is brought home to the congregations and results in a life of consecration to God and of constant and faithful service.
This first characteristic of Paul's preaching is necessarily closely related to another, viz. that he in his preaching always adapted himself to the needs of his hearers. This is saying that it was practical, not only in a general way, but in a particular sense. The question has often been hotly debated, whether we find any accommodation in the teachings of the Lord and in those of Paul. To this question we may answer both no and yes. There is no accommodation such as Semler assumed. Neither Jesus nor Paul accommodated himself to the false notions of their comtemporaries.
But we notice in both a certain ethical and negative accommodation.
Says Cellerier in his Hermeneutics, p. 275: "The use of parables, proverbs and allegories was a prudent adaptation to the state of knowledge among the people, just as every wise instructor suits his lessons to the capacities of his hearers, by giving milk to babes and meat to full-grown men. This discreet method of instruction was observed by Christ and his apostles." Listen to what Paul himself says respecting this point in 1 Cor. 9:19–22: "For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without the law, as without law (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."—In
diagnosing the diseases of his hearers Paul does not generalize, does not simply describe the alarming character of sin in general, but that of the particular sins most prevalent in a certain community. He tells the Corinthians that there are among them sinful divisions, incest, lack of brotherly love etc. He reminds the Galatians that by their deflection they are making void the work of Christ. He reproves the idleness, the disorderliness and the vain babblings of the Thessalonians. And then to cure the evil, he does not prescribe some patent medicine that is supposed to be good for a great variety of diseases, but some specific for each individual case. His presentation of the truth is always in harmony with local conditions; so are the practical exhortations that follow it. A comparison of the three missionary speeches of Paul recorded in the Acts of the Apostles is fruitful in this respect, viz. those to the people of Antioch in Pisidia, to the idolatrous worshippers at Lystra, and to the inquisitive and philosophical Athenians. At Antioch Paul spoke to an assembly consisting primarily of Jews; in Lystra to a gathering of simple superstitious people that were strangers to the true religion; and at Athens to a multitude that had come under the influence of the Stoic and of the Epicurean philosophies. Carefully adjusting his words to his hearers and to the condition in which he finds them, the apostle addresses the synagogue at Antioch very much as Stephen spoke to the indignant multitude at Jerusalem, reminding the Jews in a historical way of their invaluable privileges, of their great guilt in crucifying God's annointed One, and of the fulfilment of the promises in Christ; and offering them salvation through faith, instead of through the works of the law. At Lystra his method of approach is different. He there encounters a people that is not acquainted with the Old Testament, a comparatively simple folk, steeped in idolatry, and about to bring sacrifices to the missionaries that wrought a miracle among them. Paul takes this fact as his startingpoint and, barring every reminiscence of Old Testament
history, exhorts them to turn from idolatry to the living God, Who created heaven and earth, Who in times past, it is true, left the gentiles to walk in their own ways, yet always elearly evincing His goodness in giving rain and fruitful seasons. He thus presents God to them as the beneficent One to Whom they owe everything, and Who is therefore the only worthy object of adoration. In Athens Paul's point of contact is in general the same, viz. superstition and idolatry.
The first part of his address is quite similar to that at Lystra. There is no reference to Old Testament history, but all the more to God, the Creator of all life. But over against the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers he points out that God is also the sustainer of life, that He is not an empty God, Who has need of man, that He directs the life of mankind—which He created as an unity—and that therefore man finds the purpose of his existence not in sensual pleasure, nor in Stoical indifference, but in seeking God and living in His communion. There is accommodation, most assuredly, but it is a wise and legitimate accommodation, an accommodation that should characterize the work of every missionary that bears the precious seed of the gospel into the gentile world. If we desire a fruitful ministry, we must find the proper point of contact in the life of those among whom we labor, should regulate our teaching according to their capacity, and adjust the presentation of the truth to their various needs. When Paul writes to the Corinthians he first combats the divisions and the other sins that had arisen among them, and then gives careful answers to the questions that had arisen in their midst. In preparing his epistle to the Galatians he does not mince words in reproving them for their deflection. And in the second epistle to the Thessalonians he presents very definite arguments against the speedy coming of Christ, the expectation of which had caused many to lead idle lives.
When we study the epistles of Paul, it soon becomes evident to us in the third place that he proves his statements primarily from Scripture. And it is perfectly natural that this should be so, for, although he was the apostle of the gentiles, there were several Jews and proselytes in every congregation he addressed. It is indeed very likely that the majority of his converts were more or less acquainted with the Old Testament. And for the Jews there could be no stronger evidence than the proof from Scripture. If they could be convinced that the prophets were fulfilled in Christ, in his life and in his suffering and death,—then they would be quite prepared to accept the doctrine of the cross. Another favorite method of Paul to prove his doctrines is the analogical. "Analogies from nature," says
Deissmann, "are used to illustrate the relation of the earthly to the heavenly body, 1 Cor. 15:35 ff., analogies from agricultural and military life to illustrate the right of the apostles to the means of subsistence, 1 Cor. 9:7. Analogies from legal life, in which St. Paul as a city resident was strongly interested, are special favourites with him, e.g., an outsider cannot add a clause to a testament, Gal. 3:15; the heir who is not yet of age is under the authority of the guardian and the steward for as long as the father hath appointed, Gal. 4:1 etc."
We notice from Paul's preaching fourthly that he was a bold and fearless preacher. He was in no sense what we call a temporizer.
There are to-day many so-called preachers of the gospel who are continually anxiously asking themselves, whether what they say will not offend their hearers, and who carefully avoid whatever might give offence, even if the truth must suffer for it. They are menservants rather than servants of God. They bend every effort to give the people what they want, and rarely think of supplying what they need. But in doing this they forget that their position is a responsible one, that they are placed as watchmen over the house of God, to urge
men on in the way of righteousness and to rebuke them for their sins.
Behold Paul, as he stands over against Elymas and utters those scathing words: "O full of all subtility and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right way of the Lord! And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season." Notice him, as he rebukes even Peter: "If thou, being a Jew, lives after the manner of gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the gentiles to live as do the Jews?" Listen to him, as he addresses the Corinthians: "Fot ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as man? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?"—And again: "Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you."—And once more:
"Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law with one another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded. Nay, ye do wrong and defraud, and that your brethren." 1 Cor. 3:3, 4; 4:18; 6:7, 8. These examples might easily be multiplied from the other writings of Paul.
He was decidedly no man-servant. Neiter did he allow outward circumstances to intimidate him. Whether laboring in the presence of hostile Jews, as at Iconium, Thessalonica and Corinth; or in the midst of fanatic idolators, as at Ephesus; whether he stands before the furious mob at Jerusalem, or before the Jewish Sanhedrin; whether he is called upon to give an account of himself before Felix,
Festus and Agrippa at Cesarea or before Ceasar himself in imperial Rome,—he is undaunted in his course, and speaks the word with boldness.
Finally we call your attention to the fact that the apostle always spoke with great conviction. Paul's trumpet never gave an uncertain sound. Its note was full and clear. There were no anxious
questionings on his part, whether his preaching was at variance or in harmony with the dicta of science; nor whether his utterances could bear the test of higher criticism. He was fully, absolutely convinced that what he said was the truth, and that any deviation from it was the work of satan. Having this conviction he says to the Galatians:
"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." Gal. 1:9, 10. The same chapter also indicates the source of that positive assurance that characterizes his speaking. He believed with all his heart that the word he spoke was received of Christ himself. He says in Gal. 1:11, 12: "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." Paul felt sure that the Spirit of God was speaking in him and through him to the churches. Hence he was no uncertain guide, leading now in one direction and then in another; he followed a straight course, and thereby gained the confidence of all that entrusted themselves to his care. And now it is true that we do not share all the privileges that Paul, the apostle, enjoyed; yet even we to-day can speak with the same conviction, and thus be a power of God for the salvation of many, if we but feel that the Spirit of God is stirring the very depths of our heart, and feel certain that what we bring is the Word of God. Doubt in this respect will introduce an element of uncertainty into our preaching, an element that will make it powerless for the conversion of men.
Now the question arises: What were in the main the contents of Paul's preaching? In the first place we desire to remark in a sort of preliminary way that his preaching was very full. He proclaimed indeed the full council of God. No other Scriptural author offers us
such an all-sided, such a comprehensive, so complete a representation of the truth. It is well nigh impossible to mention any doctrine that is not found in Paul in some form or other. He speaks of God as the Creator and Ruler of the world, and of man's relation to Him. Heaven and hell and earth, angels and devils and men, yea even the brute creation falls within his horizon. He touches on the origin of man, his fall in sin, his redemption by Christ, his life in the Spirit and his eternal destiny. He treats of predestination and election, regeneration and calling, faith and conversion, justification and sanctification, the preseverance of saints and everlasting glory.
Of course, Paul dealt with his congregations in an educational way.
He did not immediately present to them all the fulness of the truth there is in Christ. He began by preaching the gospel after a simple fashion, first feeding then with milk and not with meat, since they were not yet able to bear it. At the same time he did not rest satisfied at that point. It was his continual endeavor to lead them on to perfection, that they might all come "in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, who is the head, even Christ",
Eph. 4:13–15. And in this respect also he is certainly an example worthy of imitation for all those that labor in the work of the Lord.
We cannot delay to discuss all the elements in Paul's preaching. It seems preferable to direct our attention to the central and controlling element in it, because there are many in the present day who are shifting the emphasis, in our opinion, greatly to the detriment of the gospel cause. When we compare the preaching of Paul with that ot our Lord, we notice a striking difference in the central theme. At
Jerusalem in the long discourses preserved in the fourth gospel the Lord speaks primarily of Himself as the source of salvation for sinners. He is the manna of heaven, the fountain of spiritual water, the light of the world, the good shepherd, the true liberator, the vine in which believers have life etc. But in the Galilean ministry, the record of which we find especially in the Synoptics, the central theme in the discourses of Christ is the Kingdom of God. In his parables aud otherwise he describes the nature of that Kingdom, pictures the character of its subjects, points out the conditions on which one can enter into it, defines the righteousness that prevails in it, and describes the enemies that are seeking to stay its course. Now if we turn from Christ to Paul, we find that the idea of the kingdom of God has retired into the background. It does not occupy so large a place in the preaching of Paul as it did in that Christ. The emphasis is differently placed. And this is so not only in the preaching of Paul, but also in that of the other apostles. However the change that took place was not brought about in an arbitrary way; it resulted very naturally from the new dispensation of the Spirit.
When the Lord and His disciples proceeded to the Mount of Olives, he said unto them: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy
Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." Acts 1:8. In what sense the apostles understood this commission is evident from the fact that Peter, emphasized the necessity of appointing one in the place of Judas to be with them a witness of the resurrection of Christ, Acts 1:21, 22. And if we study the speeches of Peter and Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, we notice that the element of the resurrection is made specially prominent.
Notice particularly the following passages: Acts 2:32: "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses." 3:15: "And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we
are witnesses:" 10:40, 41: "Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before God, even to us, who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead;" etc. Cf. also 13:30 and 17:31. It seems to us that the facts in the case warrant the conclusion that the resurrection of Christ is the great central theme of the preaching of the apostles. For Paul this fact was specially prominent, since it was the starting-point of his spiritual development. The other disciples knew Jesus intimately in the days of his flesh. They saw, first of all, Jesus of Nazareth in his weakness and humanity, and were only gradually led up to the point, where they saw in him Christ in His power, the very
Son of God. But the first real vision that Paul had of Him was that of Christ in his majesty, seated at the right hand of God, the risen
Christ, enthroned on high. Christ risen from the dead, this was the stage which the earlier apostles finally reached in their vision of Christ; that was the point from which Paul started, and from which he looked back on the facts that gradually led up to it, and forward to the issues in which it would result.
Now the question awaits a further answer, how this change of emphasis came about. Was it something arbitrary on the part of the apostles? Many at the present time seem to think so, because they are beginning to accentuate ever more the idea of the Kingdom of God, and would even make it the central theme in the message of salvation. Or did this change necessarily result from the nature of the new economy of redemption, and from the progress of God's revelation? We may confidently assert that this change was not brought about in an arbitrary way, but necessarily resulted from the new dispensation, ushered in by the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the preaching, of Christ himself we already have the transition to the characteristic preaching of the apostles. In harmony with the final phase of the revelation of God under the old
dispensation, he placed special emphasis on the coming and near approach of the Kingdom of God. At the same time he advanced beyond the previous preaching of the Kingdom by laying more stress on its spiritual character and on the moral requirements for entering into it; and in connecting participation in that Kingdom with a belief in Him as the Messiah sent from God. One's relation to Jesus the Christ would determine one's relation to the Kingdom. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John
3:36. At Jerusalem especially, in the midst of Scribes and Pharisees, who had a more intimate acquaintance with the Old Testament
Scriptures, He directed attention to himself. Yet He merely intimated that He was the Messiah, though He gradually led his disciples up to a belief in Him as the Promised One. Many things, however, remained obscure even to them, and their questionings increased, as they saw their beloved Master descend along the path of humiliation and suffering into the very abode of death. The sign of Jonah had not yet been given; the supreme proof that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, still remained hidden in the darkness of death. It was furnished when Christ arose. Hence the jubilant note of Paul regarding Christ in Rom. 1:4: "Who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Hence also the confession of every saint of God:
"Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared, Unworthy though I be, For me a blood-bought free reward, A golden harp for me:"
"'T is strung and tuned for endless years, And formed by power divine, To sound in God the Father's ears, No other name but Thine."
From the time of the resurrection, that found its complement in the ascension, it was understood that the Kingdom of God was to be world-wide in its scope, would come by a spiritual process that had its determining principle in Christ, and would only reach its perfection in the day of Christ's return. Hence it was natural that all thought should now center on Christ and his resurrection from the dead, in connection with His final coming. The following passage shows how important the resurrection of Christ was to the apostle's mind: "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, Whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." 1 Cor. 15:14–18.
The resurrection of Christ was the central element of Paul's preaching, but it was not the whole of it. Yet it had a determining influence. Standing on the high point of vantage offered by the resurrection, Paul looked back on the past and also surveyed the future. Looking back his eye fell on the cross, that had been an offence to him and an unsolved mystery to the other apostles, and he beheld it transfigured, radiant with glory. That death on the cross, he realized now, had not been an ordinary death, nor the death of a criminal. It was the death of one higher than man, of a sinless one, of
one who had in no way deserved death. And in pondering on this fact, it dawned on the apostle, that the death of Christ had been vicarious, and that it contained the secret of man's redemption from sin. Says Ropes in his work on The Apostolic Age p. 144: "Thus from the conviction, Jesus is the Messiah, which we may suppose, flashed upon him in his vision before the walls of Damascus with selfevidencing certainty, Paul was enabled by his own experience to proceed, first, to the further proposition that through the death of Jesus Christ the salvation of the world is accomplished, and secondly, to the proposition that if men believe that Jesus is Christ and Lord, God forgives their sins and they are saved." From that time on the cross became the special glory of the apostle. He saw in it the divine means to save the world. We get an idea of Paul's vieuw of the cross from some of the most celebrated passages in his epistles, viz. 1
Cor. 1:17, 18: "For Christ sent me, not to baptize, but to preach the gospel; not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God;" 23, 24: "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God; Gal. 6:14: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Jesus Christ and He crucified is the only way that leads to God. From Sinai, where the law of God was promulgated, over Calvary, the Mount of crucifixion, to Sion, the perfection of beauty,—is the way to everlasting bliss.
"When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride."
"Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ, my God; All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood."
Paul also looked forward from the resurrection of Christ. He saw in it the living principle of a new creation, the principle of the Kingdom to come. The resurrection of Christ is, according to Paul, the foundation of our Christian life. Christ was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification. As believers die with Christ, they also arise with him in newness of life. And the resurrection of Christ assures us not only of the principle of that new life that is in Christ, but also of that life in its perfection. "For ye died", says the apostle,
"and your life is hid with Christ in God." Col. 3:3. Even more than that, God who raised us up with Christ has even now made us to sit with him in heavenly places, Eph. 2:6. The resurrection of Christ is also the earnest of our bodily resurrection. It warrants not only the deliverance of our souls—which would be but a partial redemption— but also that of our bodies. Would it be possible, now that Christ is risen from the dead, that our mortal frames should remain a prey of death? Impossible! "But now Christ is risen from the dead", says
Paul, "and become the first-fruits of them that slept; for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead; for as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Cor. 15:20–22.
Cf. also Rom. 8:11. And the life-bringing Spirit of God that quickens our souls and bodies shall in that way bring in the Kingdom of God.