translators preface he author of these leétnres, hermann … · rwick biblico-theological lexicon...

CO NT ENT S

T RANSLAT OR'

S PRE FACE

AUT HOR ’

S P RE FACE

I .

I I .

I I I .

IV .

VI .

VI I .

VI I I .

I ! .

! I .

! I I .

Wh ich Chri s t ian i ty ?

T he Apo s to l ic Me s sage

T he Re co rd o f Ch ri s t Acco rd ing to the Syno pt i c

Accou nt

T he Jo hann e an Accou n t

Cri t i ca l Co ns id e rat ion s

Ant i -Cri t iqu e

Fa i th and H i s to ry

T he Pe rso n o f Ch ri s t

Appe aran ce of Je su s and R e ce pt io n in Is rae l

T he Mi rac l e -Min is t ry o f Je su s

T he Wo rk o f Je su s o r , H i s Suffe ring and

De ath , H i s Re su rre c t io n and A s ce ns io n

T he Es s e nce o f Chris tian i ty

TRANSLATOR’

S PREFACE

HE author of these le étnres , Hermann Cremer(born is well known to theologicalstudents by his B ibl isch-TheologischesWiirte rbnch der neutestamentlichen Gra

c itat (Gotha , 1 866 ; oth edition , 1 902 ; Englishtranslation by W. Urw ick Biblico-TheologicalLexicon ofNew Testament Greek , Edinburgh , 1 872 ;3d edition , His theological standpoint isexpressed in the dedication of these leétures to PastorF . von Bodelschwingh , D .D . ,

in Bethel,near Biele

feld,the promoter and founder of many institutions

conneéted With the Inner Mission : To thee,my

dear brother,this work is dedicated to attest that one

can only minister unto the poor and the wretched,

unto the children and the aged , unto the sick anddying

,and therefore only unto those that are whole

,

by representing before their eyes the Christ of theBible

,the Christ of the apostolic preaching

,the Christ

Who came down from heaven and took upon H im ourflesh and blood to die for us and to live for and Withus . May one better understand the ‘ other Christ

,

’

bu t one can only believe in that Christ in Whom thechildren also believe .

Strange to say , Cremer’s leétures have the sametitle as H arnack ’s , but here it is true “ Duo cumfaciunt idem non est idem ,

” and the faét that Cremer ’sleétures were issued within four months in three

v i i

TRANSLATOR ’S PREFACE

editions shows that not all are prepared to acceptHarnack ’s definition of Christianity with his “ otherChrist . ”

At the end ofthese lectures Cremer refers to a sen

tence ofHarnack which is characteristic of the presentsituation How often in history is theology only themeans to se t aside religion . At the end of the eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth ,

rationalism had full sway in Germany . The high seats of

Protestant theology were occupied by rationalists,

whose aim was to unfit the theological students for theministry . What did rationalism accomplish ? Let ushear one ofthese teachers , Chr . F . Ammon , ofGottingen(died In a sermon which he delivered on January1,1 80 1 , he said Not enough that the temples are

deserted ; not enough that the Divine usages and rites ,with which men as sensual beings will never be whollyable to dispense , have more than ever been lost out ofthe general interest not enough

,finally ,

that thechurchly public spirit of the Christians

,which once

opposed hosts and overcame the forces of the mostpowerful states

,have almost disappeared even the

belief in the most essential truths of religion has lostfor very many its certainty and power ; skepticism andindifference have taken its place ; the spirit ofdevotionand ofprayer

,yea

,even the idea of God and a future

world,have become strange to whole families and to

whole societies,and the present sensual disposition of

mind need only to last yet a decade in order to turnover the entire future generation to the namelessmisery which is inseparable from a ruling unbelief inreligion .

”

v i i i

TRANSLATOR ’S PREFACE

The man who thus spoke was no pietist and no advocate of orthodoxy . H e i s afraid

!

of the sevenother spirits more wicked than the one which rationalism has cast out . Experience teaches that man cannot l ive by negations ; he wants something positive .

Inqu ie tum e st cor nostrum donec restat in te suchwas the experience ofSt . Augustine . Where this restis found the Gospel plainly teaches . The question ,What think y e ofChrist ? is the old

,old question

,and

yet ever new . The contribution of the nineteenthcentury to the solution of this old question may beseen from my paper on the Life -of-Jesus Literaturein the Nineteenth Century

,published in the H omi le i z

’

c

R evi ew (New York ,1 902 , pp . 407

—4 1 2 , 504 and

it is doubtful whether the present century , with its destruct ive tendency , will be able to bring anything new ,

when German , French ,Dutch

,and English writers

have already exhausted their ingenuity . That whichseemed to have satisfied one generation

,another re

j ected ; yea , the very authors of this or that theorychanged their own systems , thus again verifying thesaying

O ur l i t t le sy s tems h av e th e ir da y ,

T he y hav e th e i r day and ce as e to b e .

And,as in the case of the life of Jesus , so i t will be

when the Gospels are reconstructed according to theconceptions of modern writers . It stands to reasonthat i f the old Gospels

,which stood the test of centu

ries and conquered the world,can not satisfy— other

wise they would need no reconstruction— the reconstructed Gospels will be less sat isfactory . Will they

ix

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

lead to the confession of a Thomas My Lord andmy God PIn translating these lectures the aim has been to be

faithfu l to the original text . Owing to the great subj ect which is here treated , a subj ect which concerns thesalvation of man , the author has evidently avoidedthat elegance of diction which may captivate the mindbut sat isfie s not the cravings of the soul and sends theheart empty away ; and , tho he spoke to students ofthe different faculties of the university

,yet he spoke

as a man to man,not in rhetorical flight

,but with

’

thecourage of convict ion culminating in the sentiment ,terse but full of meaning : Tkeolog z

’

a crucz’

s,Tlzeolog z

’

a

lua'

s .

B. P .

Ma r c/z , 1 903

* A confe ss ion of wh ich Profe ssor Chase , of Camb ridge , in his paper ,The Supe rnatural E lement in the Lo rd’

s Earthly Life in R e lat ion to

H isto rica l Me thods of Study (London ,remark s “

I t i s the lastw ord w e ne ed ,

b u t w e ne e d i t a ll. My Lord w ill no t do . We may callH im Lord

,Lord , and y e t do no t the th ings w h ich H e say s . Many w ill

say to me in that day ,Lo rd , L o rd and the n w ill I profe ss unto

them , I nev e r knew y ou .

‘ ‘ Lord give s right , b u t God give s pow e r.

"

AUTHOR’

S PREFACE

N the year 1 799 appeared Schleiermacher ’sDiscourses on Religion CulturedAmong its Despisers , whom the rationalismof the eighteenth century had made What

they were . In the W i nter of 1 899— 1 900 Dr . Harnack

delivered his lectures on the essence of Christianity,

in which he practically leads back to the v 1ews_

of theeighteenth centnry . Schleiermacher had to deal Withan estrangement from the Gospel through the fau l t ofrationalism ; Harnack ,

with an estrangement fromChristianity through the fau lt of the attestation of theg ospel itself— the Gospel , in short , of the Bible andthe Reformation . For not only the doctrines developed by theology with more or less skill , but the mostessential traits of the New Testament Gospel

,are the

causes he assigns _

for unbelief among the cultured .

Oh this account he presents another Gospel,nomi

nally obtained by way of historical criticism,which

neither rests upon historical criticism nor is a Gospelfor sinners . His supposition is not an historical but adogmatical proposition— namely

,that a person like the

Christ of the New Testament preaching is an impossibility . From this proposition he construes

,again from

dogmatical reasons,what in the New Testament his

tory , and equally in the New Testament predict ion ,respect ively , should be correct or admissible , and thushe brings about a dogmatic conception which he ca lls

x i

AUTHOR ’S PREFACE

historical , and from which he now also estimates theNew Testament history in doctrine and life of theChurch . That this estimate as well as his criticism of

the New Testament account wou ld prove otherwise ifthe first propos ition read differently is indeed obviousto him .

Accordingly,i t was my task to examine how the

N ew Testament knowledge of Jesus Christ originated,

to delineate its contents,and thus to prove the truth

as,according to my conviction

,it can only be proved .

I have avoided,after the example of others

,entering

into the defect of the general religious suppositions ofHarnack . The things old and new about the LordChrist

,His relation to us and our relation to Him ,

of

which I have spoken,Christendom must j udge

,for I

desire to have nothing to myself in my belief. Asidefrom changes made necessary in the verbal order andsome eliminations and additions

,due to a regard for

the difference between the written and spoken word ,the lectures remain as they were delivered .

H . C.

GRE I FSWALD , September 6 , 1 901

x i i

AUTHOR’

S PREFACE TO THE

ENGLISH EDITION

N the controversy with Harnack the questionis

,whether the Christianity of the apostolic

message is right,or whether i t must be re

placed by a Christianity ofmodern reflectionand still more modern enthusiasm . The Christianityof the apostolic message applies to the lost sinner ,to whom it offers salvation through the wondrousgrace ofGod , who became our brother in Christ Jesus .Harnack ’s Christianity applies to the modern manwho feels himself vexed

,not by the moral but by the

intellectual problem ,because the moral problem

,How

is the sinner saved ? does not exist for him . For himChristianity is also a paradox

,unexpected

,i t is true ,

but thoroughly rational ; for us it is an actual paradox

,a contradict ion to all logical and moral sequence

,

and yet the truth . It follows that we must choosebetween the two . To assist in this choice i t is hopedthat

,with the help ofGod . this book will contribute .

H . CREMER

GRE IFSWALD , May 26 , 1 903

A RE P LY T O HARNACK

The Essence of Christianity

WH ICH CHRISTIANITY

HAT is Christianity ? What does it want ?What does it ofl

'

er ? What does it require ?What does it accomplish ? How find answersto these questions ? We do not care to know

what this one or that one thinks of Christianity , noryet what this one or that one passes off as Christianity ,but what Christianity really is , what it really gives tous

,what claims it actually makes . How are we to

find this out ? One might almost despair when, with

this question in the heart,he looks at Christendom

divided into opposite camps . The Greek Catholic,

Roman Catholic,and the Protestant Church with all

its denominations,say to us : Here is Christ ! here is

Christianity They all call themselves Christians,

after the One man,for whom His attributive name

,

Christ the Anointed,the King— has become

a proper name . They all lay claim to us and ask us

to j oin them , but they all are against each other , andaccuse each other not only of error

,but even of apos

tasy,of falsehood . How and whereby are we , then , to

know who is right ?The question is not important merely to every onewho in order to formulate an independent opinion

THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY

wishes to get information concerning this force whichmoves the world ; i t is necessary (for this they allassert) because , without an exception , we all needChristianity , and Christianity itself comes everywhereand in every form with the claim to exist for everyone

,to be necessary to every one

,that his l ife may

have something ofvalue for time and eternity .

We on our part rej ect from the start every tendencywhich will release us from the duty

,and therefore

also from the right , of free investigation of the tru thand free decision for the tru th

,and which demands

only an obedient attachment to the communion thatstands before and above the individual

,the Church

,

as having decided long ago what the truth is . As if inspite of the conviction living in the Church or in anycommunion

,the individual had not to come first to the

same conviction of truth in order to belong inwardlyto the communion or be able to work in reforming i t !In this protest we formally stand on the ground of

the Reformation and of Protestantism . But in thiswe are not yet materially one with the churches ofthe Reformation and with that which is regarded inthem as the essence ofChristianity . By the same waythe same result must first be obtained

,i f it can be ob

ta ined at all . Have the churches of the Reformationobtained this result ? Have they perceived the essenceofChristianity Do they represent i t ? Do they declare it Or have they and their members only opinions abou t Christianity— one this opinion

,another that

,

but none of them the reality ?Aside from the consideration that these churchesnot only in common oppose Catholicism and papacy

,

2

WHICH CHRISTIANITY ?

but among themselves have also opposed each othermost vehemently

,and in part still oppose

,i t is more to

the point to consider that we stand at present in themidst of a hotter and more serious battle . With the !exception

,perhaps

,of the conflicts of the early Chris !

tian centuries and ofthe Reformation,the present con

trove rsy is the severest that has ever been waged . Webattle for the person and importance ofJesus Christ“Himself. Indeed , we fight a battle in which no truce _fis possible . Victory for either side necessarily means

i

the destruction of the other . It is the battle of one .

religion with another religion . The one regards Christas a natural phenomenon of history

,appearing in the

normal course ofhistory,who worked and still works

l ike every other important man,only that H e sur

passe s all others in power ; who in a singular and perfect fide li ty to His trust has put His gifts and theknowledge of God acquired in connection with themand the understanding of the world obtained by Himinto such relations with motives and obj ects that H e

alone solves the mysteries ofour life and ofthe existenceof the world , and shows a blessed goal for them both .

We are to se e in Christ the man in whom the good hasbecome a reality in the world

,and this realization of

the good is to keep us from despair as we attempt suchrealization also . In looking to Divine Providence ]which has called such a man into existence

,we are to

be assured of the forgiveness or pardon ofour e rrors , iour sins shown thereby we are to enj oy this knowledge of God which we thus acquire

,and by faith in

'

this deed of God to strive after the like realization of

the good.


Thus the one . The other religion regards Christ 'as an entirely irregular appearance in history

,as a

man indeed like ourselves , partaking of our flesh andblood

,who became our life ’s comrade

,our brother

,

whose complete identification with our race is amat te r .

’

of certainty , and who by this membership in our race ,for our benefit first became every thing that H e was

no,not was , but is . The meaning of His life and

nature is unique,not merely because it belongs to no

other individual man,but because it does not apper

tain to the race ofman as such . I t does not belong toHim because H e is man come out from our race

,but

because H e became man,eni erea

'info our race H e ex

isted before H e became man , H e was and is God ineternal manner

,and forever H e united Himselfwith

us and our race , as only H e can do i t , who is God andLord over all

,and thus became our brother

,who

shares everything with u s,our misery

,our j udgment

,

that everything that H e is may redound to ourbenefit .

According to the religion first named,Christ is a

man l ike ourselves,fully and completely and only a

man,nothing else

,only distinguished by His very

prominent,spiritually moral gifts , whereby H e worked

Himselfup to a perfect communion with God , showedHimself to be in full and blessed independence of theworld

,and proved His religious and moral highness

in a unique domination of the world , so that the suffering also which was inflicted upon Him could not destroy the peace of His religious and moral attitudetoward God and the brethren . Thus H e was a manwithout an equal

,inviting us to an indefatigable emu

4

WHICH CHRISTIANITY

lat ion,but a man whom

,without deceiving ourselves

,

we can not even follow in the initial steps . For weall have to deal with sin

,and

,indeed

,with our sin

,with

the sin in us , as H e did not,and on this account our

task compared to His is not realizable . But on theother hypothesis H e is the God-man

,whose incarna

tion and humanity is a humiliation continuing itselfunto death and down into the realm of the dead , thatin the deepest depths of our misery we should not bedeprived of the sympathizing Man of Pity and Savior .Of these two contrasted faiths , which , then , is right ?It is felt more and more

,tho not always clearly per

ce ived,that we can not avoid this question nor super

c iliously postpone its answer , as that Roman once didwho was to pass the sentence on Christ . The j estingattitude that it is impossible to know and to say whatis truth

,what in the last analysis can alone claim to

be reality and authority,is no longer possible . Our

life not only loses in value when the so -called religiousinterest expressing itself in the search for truth is notand can not be sat isfied; but we have lived , cared ,worked

,fought

,suffered entirely in vain if we are

obliged to walk our way without an answer to thisquestion . We are then nothing but an incomprehensible play of the waves rushing onward in the vastsea . Rather not to be at all than to live to nopurpose and without aim , to live a life which for

itself is hardly worth the while to be lived,except in

View of something beyond i t,for which we are here

and whither we hope through Christ to come ! Beforewe resign ourselves to that ‘

v iew , let us endeavor byall means to find the truth . We have the truth by

5


having Christ . We have Christ only when we haveHim as H e actually is ; otherwise we have Him not , inSpite of all our opinions about Him . On this accountthe question concerning the truth is very closely connected with the question concerning Christ , concerning the Messiah , concerning Christianity and its essence .Let the decision be what it may , here it must be made .But how are we to make the inquiry in order toreach the decision , to discover the truth concerningChrist

,to find truth itself? Whence are we to find out

what,on the whole

,is real

,true Christianity ? One

says Believe in Christ . ” Yes,what shall I believe

of Him ? Or shall I believe nothing of Him ,only

believe in Him ? Or only believe Him ? What is itto believe ? What did Christ intend ? What has H e

done ? One says This is an historical question , atleast this last question as to what H e intended anddid

,and as an historical question it can only be solved

by way and with the means of historical inqu iry i’

iThat it is from one aspect an historical question istru e

,but it is questionable whether it is merely an his

torical question , and whether it is to be answered bythe ordinary means of other historical inquiry . Forthe question concerning that which Christ did andwhereby H e worked is closely connected with thequestion whether we now live in and by the aftereffects which are called forth by His person and Hisact ivity , or whether H e works even now and will cont inue to work ? It is right to distingu ish between thepresent appearance ofChristianity and its first appearance in history . It is also right to be referred to this

'

very first appearance,to the form in which Christian

6

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His walk in the law of God , that which the Gospelsrecord as the principal thing about Jesus is not this

,

but tha t which H e does for us and whereby H e l ivesand suffers for men . Our sources are actually theoldest attestations o i Christianity

,of the Christian

message , which we have . This is a generally ac

knowledged fact with regard to our New Testamentwritings wholly aside from the question as to thecredibility of their contents . But now these verywritings show in Chri st any thing but a founder ofreligion . When Christianity is called after Him

,i t is

not because— according to these sources— H e has pract ised and announced this religion first . H e proclaimsthe Father

,before whom H e walks Himself

,and on

whom H e Himselfbelieves,and H e also opens the access

unto the Father,not by His teaching

,not by His ex

ample,but by His death , by the forgiveness of our

sins,which H e effects . Thus , altho H e is what we

are,yet H e stands in a different relation to the Father

than w e . H e is our brother , who works for us , to whomwe owe everything not the brother who has nothingelse for H imselfbut His brethren . What H e has weare to have

,what we have H e will share ; H e shares

our sin and guilt without having guilt we are to havethe forgiveness which H e has purchased for us . H e

i s not,like ou rselves

,a su bj ecz

‘

qfrelzlgz’

on on til e confrmjy ,

H e i s the obj ect qf l/ze religion ,the obj ect of

H e is not— again according to our sources— a man of

history , a man who once was like others, Whose

importance is to be u nderstood from that which theyhave been for their time and from their after-eflects .

We hear nothing of after- efieéts of Jesus,only of

8


effects,and indeed of effects which after His earthly

history H e exerts from his present place,from the

place ofGod beyond this world— from heaven . Thisis not the point ofview from which that is regardedwhich is otherwise called after-efieéts , in speaking of

Socrates , of Plato , ofLuther , of Goethe . It is a realact ivity of Christ from heaven such as is not possibleto any of the blessed

,to the righteous made perfect .

What is recorded of Christ ’s earthly activity is onlythe beginning , the actual tenor and aim of his activity ;H e now only unfolds . As to this

,something is indeed

said of Him which has not and can not have its equalin all history . Are we to eliminate i t

,on this account

,

from the very start as unhistorical,and treat every

thing which is reported to us of this act ivity of Jesusin accordance with the canon that

,correctly t e nsid

ered,there can not be present effects but only after

efieéts— historical effects of Jesus ?To this must be further added the deeds which Jesusdid on earth

,which otherwise do not and can not

take place on historical soil , in accordance with thenatural construct ion of things— His miracles

,and

also the miracles which were wrought on Him : Hisbirth

,His endowment with the Spirit ofGod beyond

measure,His transfigurat ion ,

His resurrect ion andascens ion . H ow are we to know the authenticityof the writings or of the testimonies which we haveconcerning Him and H is history and importance ?Are we to eliminate all this miracu lous element asincredible ? The New Testament writings are thedocuments of the first annunciation of ChristianityWhich we have . Shall we say that already when

9


these documents appeared , Christ was no more understood ; that through the first apostolic proclamationa garland of legends had been wound around His headwhich we must resolutely tear away in order thatonly the historical may remain ? And what

,then

,is

really hi storical in each of these unique phenomena ?Or shall we take everything for granted that is saidof Him ,

and with it acknowledge a record and a charaéter that stand absolutely alone in history ? Everycriticism of our sources , be it of this or that kind , isnot only an historical but a dogmatical criticismHarnack criticizes these sources j ust as dogmaticallyas others who do not ‘ share his standpoint

,only that

he,protected by the authority of his great name

,

designates his dogmatical critique historical .Ifwe are to begin by distinguishing and eliminatingeverything which goes beyond the measure of thehuman

,let us also understand that Christianity will

then have an entirely different face from that which itactually has in our New Testament writings , and thatthe religion in which the Christ of the New Testamentis the obj ect of faith is entirely different from thereligion whose first , most prominent , and most effect ivesubj ect is Jesus considered merely as a man . We have ,then

,to deal with different religions —with the religion

of the New Testament and with the religion thatresults from the foregoing kind of criticism .

To this there is to be added yet another faet . Thereis really a difference

,tho no opposition and no dispute

,

between the Gospel which Jesus has proclaimed andthe Gospel concerning Jesus as the disciples haveproclaimed it and by means of which they overcame

10


the world . I t was not Jesus ’ proclamation thatfounded Christianity in the world

,but the proclama

tion of the disciples about Jesus . Jesus Himself ac

complished nothing until His death . Never , perhaps ,has a life ended so unsuccessful as the life of Jesus .Even His disciples

,who had been with Him and about

Him all the time,and had retained their hope in Him

till the night in which H e was betrayed,finally aban

doned belief in Him . Only H is resurrect ion couldbring back their belief

,now become a faith ofa difierent

kind— firmer,more j oyous , more unswerving , more

certain ofVictory ; bu t how small are even these effectsthat immediately followed the re surrect ion comparedwith those which the disciples later proclaimed Let usonly be reminded how the apostle ( I . Corinthians xv)enumerates the appearances of the risen Savior , andhow an entirely new and different result is attained byPeter ’s pentecostal preaching (Acts ii ) . Only theGospel of Jesus , as the disciples have preached i t

,

had,as we should say , an effect . To their preaching

Christianity owes its existence as a world-historicalphenomenon .

To this proclamation,however , we owe entirely

our knowledge about Jesus,His appearance

,His

activity , His fate , so that we can say that all documents which we have concerning Him reduce themselves to the preaching of the disciples . All NewTestament writings are documentary vouchers of thefirst fundamental preaching of Christ . They mediateto us the knowledge of His history by declaring theunderstanding of that history and of its importance .This also holds good of the Epistle to the Hebrews

,

11


which,according to chapter i i 3 , was written by a

disciple of the apostles , and thereby testifies untou s of the belief in the importance of the person andhistory of Jesu s which lived in the congregationsfounded by the apostles . Now this apostolic or NewTestament preaching contains for every historian

,

whose obj ect is the investigation and exhibition of

the spiritual life-movement ofhumanity,a series of the

most critical,most exceptional moments . The whole

history ofJesus is a history without comparison,going

far beyond everything which legend , the mythologyof nations

,has shaped . On the one hand , i t is the

history of a man who l ived , felt , suffered humanlyas only one could humanly live

,feel

,and suffer

,who

has entered into the fate of the noblest of all t imesnamely

,to be rej ected and killed . So only can one con

c e ive i t . And , on the other hand , i t is a history commenc ing with a miracle not having its equal , interblended with miracles such as none of the servants ofGod have ever performed

,and in its earthly course

closing again with amiracle not having its equal . Sucha history

, so completely difierent from any other partofknown history , stands , so far , unhinged from the historical life of humanity . The events or happenings

,

however,which make it a history beyond comparison

are so insolubly connected with Christianity— at least,

with that Christianity to which in our query we mustfirst of all go back— that either must stand or fallwith the other . Shall we now say that this union ofhistory and religion is only the product of the conception which Jesu s found among his disciples ? Havethe disciples , as children of their time , by means of the

12

WHICH CHRISTIANITY

ideas received by them from the age they l ived in,made

from the Gospel of Jesus a Gospel concern ing Jesus ?And should i t

, therefore , be necessary to go back tothe Gospel proclaimed by Jesus Himself in order tofind what real Christianity is according to that ? Butwhere have we this Gospel proclaimed by Jesus ?After what critical standard are we to reconstruct itFor only by a reconstruction could we restore i t . Andafter we had reconstruct ed i t , would we not also haveto distinguish in the preaching of Jesus between thetransient and lasting

,between the form ofhis thoughts

belonging to His people and His time and the eve rlasting tenor expressed in contemporaneous form ? Are ,for instance , the discourses and say ings of Jesuswhich refer to His second coming genuine or spurious ?And when genuine

,have they still the same value to

day or not ? Jesus speaks of angels as of somethingreal

,of their interest in our destiny

,of their ministry

at the end oftime , when the wicked shall be separatedfrom the righteous . I s H e right ?In the T iibingen school the apostle Paul was regardedas the actual creator ofChristianity as a world-religion .

Now he is regarded as the one who,in spite of his

great success , yes , perhaps because of the same,is

said to have tempered the Christian preaching in thestrongest manner with thoughts and ideas of Jewishreligious speculation

, so that he no more distinguishedbetween religion and theology . Christ alone is thereal author of Christianity ; from His preaching onlycan be seen what Christianity act ually should be andefieét according to it we can estimate what it becameand what it can b e , when i t is clearly se t forth . I t

13


depends on this pure comprehension ofHis preaching,

what H e actually said , what H e meant to say ,and

not that which tradition makes Him say ,nor that

in which there is mere adaptation to the ideas of

His people . Thus we could only come to theknowledge of true Christianity by an energeticcritical labor . Such labor can , of course

,only be

undertaken by science . To the labor and results of

science we are thus directed with our desire for knowledge and understanding of what Christianity is .Science only is to give us the real and true religion .

And yet every one , even the commonest man , has notonly the most urgent interest to find out what Christ iani ty is he has also the faculty to decide for himself,without the help ofscience

,whether or not in that which

ofie rs itself to him as religi on he finds God and God’sgrace ; if the religion which Jesus pract ised , proclaimedand demanded comes forth so effectively in the GospelofJesus , and is so clearly recognizable that , in spiteof all veilings , obscurations , and pollutions , i t yetexercises its power to this day

, so that , a s far as ourquestion is concerned , it only depends on a proper se tting forth of this , its power , free from all accessory ap

pearance s and additions . H arne ck has distinguishedbetween “ powers ” and “ props in this matter ofcomprehending truth . The distinct ion is especiallyflattering to the semiculture of our times . We

,the

cultured ones , have the powers ” ; the remainder ofmankind reach up to it only by means of the props . ”

Is the Gospel to be understood only by the cultured ?We need to have this contrast only uttered to feel it asthe frivolous boasting ofa so-called aristocracy of cul

14


Jesus to us . The N ew Testament writings are bydifferent authors and show many differences— whetherexplicable or not

,we have here not to investigate .

The synoptic account of the appearance of Jesusdifie rs from the Johannean account

,the one being

a record of the teachings,deeds

,and destinies of

the miraculously born man Jesus,who died on

the cross , and rose again after three days , and theother a history of one who was primarily the shadowing forth of the Logos

,the Word made flesh.

Think also of the Jewish Christianity of James’sepistle and of the Apocalypse on the one hand

,the

Jewish Christianity of the Epistle to the Hebrewson the other hand , and add to these the Gentile Christian Gospel as Paul proclaimed and represented it .

But in spite of every supposed or real difference , all theNew Testament writings agree in that which they sayof the mystery of the Christ ’s person , ofthe importanceofHis destiny for us , and of the everlasting significanceofHis person , the matters which decide our eternal destiny

,and that ofthe whole world ’s . Had there existed a

difference in this respect— e .g . between Paul and James— it were out-and-out inconceivable , especially inconce ivab le in the Jewish Christian James , that it is noteven mentioned

,let alone that it should not have come

into the foreground . The oldest appellation of theChristians

,which is evidently ofJewish origin , reads

They that call upon the name of the Lord Jesus .They are thus people who pray to Jesus . They consider ,therefore

,Jesus

,and

,indeed

,the Crucified and Risen

One,as one who is God and Lord . The Christians on

their part accept this designation in spite of the accen

16


tuation of the unity ofGod , in which they fully agreewith Israel . Thus they are called in the Acts of theApostles and also by Paul . Could it be conceivablethat a Jewish Christian

,like the author of James ’s

Epistle,should not have opposed

,in the name of the

Jews and in the name of Israelitish monotheism,such

a de ification of man if it had been the s ign of theoriginal Jewish Christianity not to regard Jesus asGod and not to pray to him ? No the difference

,

which for a time really existed in the apostolic circle,

until it was determined and overcome,did not at all

concern the person ofChrist , nor the importance ofHiswork

,His suffering

,death

,and resurrect ion for us .

It concerned merely a question of missionary pract ise,

which might indeed be a fundamental question,ulti

mately connected with the importance ofChrist and Hiswork for a s

,but which was first ofall a question ofmis

sionary pract ise . It was the question whether the members ofthe Gentile world could have part in the Gospelwithout first becoming members of Israel ’s communionwhether the Divine election which Israel enj oyed hadnow turned to the Gentiles after Israel had shownitself unbelieving . It was firmly settled that wecan only partake of the salvation by the free Divineelect ion , that there exists no natural right to salvationor redemption . But it was not yet clearly known thatIsrael ’s elect ion had actually come to naught until thetime when the Gentiles should be converted . (Thelaw was still regarded as the condition under whichthe believers became partakers ofthe grace of redemption

,without understanding that the law without ex

cept ion denied the salvation to every Israelite . ) Bu t

17


q/a j ew z'

sfi wfiieb tfiefundamem’a l gu es

lions concerning Z/z e person and z'

mporz‘ance of j esus

Cfirz’

si lzaa’dzjfierea

’

from t/ze apostolicpredz'

fi z'

on,we Izea r

nothing du ring tile afi u al apostolic time . This only b elongs to a much later time .

In thus obtaining a unitary aspect of the New Testament authors with regard to the person and importanceofJesus , we must place before ourselves the consensusoftheir afii rmation in connect ion with the View ofChristHimself as stated by them . We must then considerthe diffi cu lties which stand in our way in acknowl

edging this as an actual Gospel , and we must answerthe question as to what picture of Christ and HisViews is now se t over against it to demand acknowl

edgment , and then decide the question accordinglyWhat is really the eternal Gospel ? Only in this wayshall we se e whether we have the true Gospel in theapostolic representation and in the representation oftheevangelists

,or whether we are obliged to look away

from these,and attempt to discriminate the eternal

content of the Gospels by minute critical processes .

18

I I

THE APOSTOL IC MESSAGE

ET 11s begin with the apostolic message ofChrist .God has charged us ( says Peter , in the

house of the Roman centurion Cornelius) topreach unto the people , and to testify that

this Jesus,whom His people betrayed

,whom the Gen

tiles cruc ified,and whom God raised up the third day ,

is ordained ofGod to be the Judge of quick and dead .

To Him bear all the prophets witness,that through

His name every one that believeth in Him shall rece ive remission of sins (Acts x 42 ,

That H e iscruc ified is the sin of Israel

,who became the traitor

and murderer of Jesus and yet did this happen afterGod ’s premeditated counsel and will . For this , till thenthe greatest of all sins

,the rej ection of the Messiah

bringing grace and salvation,God allowed

,and H e

reckoned not unto the world its trespass— this sin and allsin that was done before and is connected with i t— thatwe should have in Him who was cruc ified the forgiveness of all sins . Redemption ,

forgiveness of sins,and

with it deliverance from j udgment and perdition areoffered to us in Him . Till then the sin of the wholeworld had remained under Divine patience . Nowcomes the day when it is fin ished,

andmust,therefore

,

be visited upon the sinner . It is finished,indeed

,but

— i t is not Visited . No hand withereth which waslifted up against the Holy One of God ; no mouth

19


groweth dumb which has derided Him . Jesus diesunder the hands of His enemies

,and not even one of

his disciples steps in for Him . They are all ofiendedin H im,

as H e prophesied to them . It must needs bethat Jesus should die , H e would rather die than j udgethe world

,and H e must die— die that the world

should not be condemned .

From that hour there is forgiveness of all sins . On

this account Paul saith that he knew nothing,and is

determined not to know anything,save Jesus

,and Him

cruc ified ; that in Jesus Christ we have forgiveness ofsins through His blood that we are redeemed throughHis blood . John saith that the blood of Jesus Christ

,

the Son of God,cleanseth u s from all sin ,

and thusfrees u s from all guilt that Jesus Christ , the righte ous

,is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours

only,but also for the sins of the whole world . Paul

and John both say that in this Jesus who was crucihed for us , whom God raised up , the love of God hasbeen manifested toward u s so greatly and wondrouslythat God even commends and praises i t . Peter , however

,saith Know that y e were redeemed from your

vain, superfic ialmanner ofl ife handed down from your

fathers,not with corruptible things

,with silver or

gold,but with the precious blood of Christ

,as of a

lamb without blemish and without spot . ” But ofHisresurrection he saith B lessed be the God and Fatherof our Lord Jesus Christ , who , according to His greatmercy

,begat us again unto a living hope by the resur

rection of Jesus Christ from the dead .

”

Thus Jesus,who was betrayed , rej ected , deserted ,

and given up even by His disciples , is praised by

20

THE APOSTOLIC MESSAGE

them as Christ . H e is , indeed , the Christ throughHis snfie rings , death , and resurrec

’

tion . In this powerto remit s in l ies His importance as Christ . By thishas H e redeemed us . H e has supplied us with theforgiveness of sin

,so that we may now actually expe

rience i i . Not only a ccording to but z‘firougk that forgiv eness is H e the Christ

,the King of the Kingdom of

God , appointed and instituted by God as the redeemerand helper of all those who hope in Him . Ou Himwho was cruc ified,

whom God has raised up ,but who

forever has on Him the marks of that which H e hasexperienced from us

,as H e is forever the same , whom

God has j ust ified by the resurrection from death— ou

Him we are to believe,Him we are to know and ac

knowledge as the Lord and Judge,Redeemer and

Savior,given to us by God , and ourselves as His re

deemed ones . Through the blood of the cross H e

made peace,on the cross H e blotted out the hand

writing which test ified and test ifie s against u s . Notthe life which Jesus l ived saves us

,but the death

which H e sufiered and toward which His whole lifepressed . How Was this possible ? How is this to beknown ?In the case of other friends who served us and were

of profit to us throughout their l ives , through whoseservice we derived something of our own life

,and

were in turn built up to be something to others— theyseem to be torn from us by death . We ever feel theblank which the death of our beloved leaves in ourlife . The death ofour parents

,teachers

,friends never

enriches us . We most keenly feel this effect of deathat the departure of the great —statesmen , poets , and

21


thinkers— to whom we looked up ,to whose words we

listened,whose thoughts guided us

,whose instruct ions

we followed . I t happens , indeed , that after their departure that part of them wanes which belongs to theperishing flesh that that is forgotten which one likesto forget in order not to darken the picture , and whichrancorous j ealousy or selfish uncharitableness

,which

can not endure a great man,alone preserves . Un

troubled by all which belongs to his limitations,yes

,

even to his sinfulness,the picture of him whom we

have gratefully known and still revere comes before us .

We rej oice when his importance is perceived in everwider circles

,and the after-effects of his activity and

the work of his life take ever more comprehensiveshapes . But always it is only the memorial picture ofour departed friend which abides with us and whichwe enj oy .

Bu t wz’

ffi j esus i t i s oZ/zerwz'

se . In the case of otherfriends

,death is always felt as the hard blow which we

must accept without being able to prevent i t . We aredeprived of our best friends

,and we reflect that all

the glory of men,our own not excepted

,must sink

into the grave,which gives nothing back . But it was

otherwise with Christ . For a short time , indeed , tillthe third day

,the disciples thought that everything

was lost . They had precious recollect ions of Him ,

but recollect ions which transfigured not to them Hispicture

,but only filled them w ith the deepest sorrow

over their lost master— not only lost,but one whom

they themselves had given up . But then a day camewhich no one had expected

,a day beginning with

terror,but which turned all their fear into unspe ak

22


greater even than that of the rulers of the people whohad j udged him . They had known Jesus as none of

the others,and yet they had given him up ! None

remained faithful to him none had confessed : H e isnevertheless the Messiah Tho H e is cruc ified

,H e is

the Messiah still How , then , should they arrive atthe thought that not only is the sin of the world forg iven

,but all l/zez

'

r sin ? True that Jesus said on theevening before His death

,when H e instituted the

Lord ’s Supper : This is my body , my blood , givenand shed for y ou for the remission of sin but didthis also include that sin which was the crown andclimax ofall the sins that otherwise they had sinnedagainst Jesus ? Merely their thoughts could not gi vethem the remission ofsin . There must be the reality

,

the actu al remission,the very taking away of their

real guilt,the real not-reckoning of their actual sin .

How was it possible to obtain the conviction of theblotting out of all their guilt through Christ’s deathon the cross

,through the blood of the cross —a fact

which we afterward hear test ified, nevertheless , fromtheir own months .There can be but one answer : They had e xpe

rienced the forgiveness , this incredible thing , asreality . Wonderful it must indeed be , yet is i t reallyand actually forgiveness of their sins . For the firsttime something had taken place which had never thusbefore taken place since the foundation of the world .

Christ Jesus,cruc ified,

dead , and buried , had risen .

Not like the dead whom H e once raised and gave backto their own ; H e was raised from the dead throughthe glory of the Father . Not by His erea lz

’

ve word by

24


which H e called the world into existence, but by Hisredeeming word . Unto the deepest depth of miseryand death Christ had become l ike us , and weak andhelpless H e descended into the world of the dead .

There it turned out that the cords of death could nothold Him . The condition of death was removed bythe power ofGod

,who is mightier than the power and

might ofall men . It is precisely through the death of

His Son that God proves Himself the living God,not

to be prevented by all the devices ofmen from exe cu t

ing His will— above all , His will of love towardmen . H e who was buried left H is grave for the sakeofHis brethren

,for their benefit . This was the Divine

just ification which fell to His lot . H e was right,the

whole world was wrong . I t could not even accom

plish what it otherwise does to every one whom it cannot tolerate— deliver Him to death once for all . Itspower reached to the cross and the sepulcher

,but no

further . Jesus rose from death,and went to His

brethren to salute them with His salutation of peace .

The first impression that His appearance made wasterror and fright . I t could not have been otherwise .

The women that had come to anoint His body— thiswas indeed the only thing which they could do

,and

was at the same time a sign that they too had losttheirfa z

’

l/z— fled from the grave . They felt as if thegreat day ofGod’s j udgment had come over the world .

The disciples that walked with Him down to Emmaussaid Certain women of our company amazed us

,

having been early at the tomb,and when they found

not H is body they came , saying that they had alsoseen a vision of angels which said that H e was

25


alive . ’ But when Jesus Himselfappears unto them,

when H e comes to them unimpeded through closeddoors

,a Lord full of power and glory

,everything

changes .That the dead should rise up was a common beliefin Israel . It is thus expressed in the book of theprophet Daniel Many of them that sleep in thedust of the earth shall awake

,some to everlasting life ,

and some to shame and everlasting contempt Thepicture which Isaiah used of the deliverance of Israel“ Thy dead shall l ive ; awake and sing , y e that dwellin the dust

, was taken from the language of thefuture reality in which one hoped . Ezekiel ’s Visionof the fie ld full of bones which became alive againthrough the spirit of the Lord , treated of the samedeliverance

,but was nevertheless only possible to a

people to whom a future resurrect ion was so selfevident that only supercilious persons like the eminentSadducees could despise i t . Now Jesus is said tohave risen from the dead . Has the day of j udgment

,

then— the last day— really come ? They should not besurprised

,for the sense of their guilt and of their

being involved in the sin of the whole world is toopowerful . But the Lord was said to have risen andto have appeared unto Simon . But not this alone ; H e

was with the disciples,had appeared unto them

,while

the doors were shut . I t is not the last day whichdawned on the Easter morning

,but a day of grace

,

first for the disciples , who had Him with them againand with Him everything which they ever had believed and hoped for , and still more . But Thomas isstill doubting

,for he can not believe that Jesus should

26

“


have returned again from death to those who had denied and forsaken Him . Resurrect ion of the dead

,

yes,this he believes— also that one can actually rise

from the dead,for he himself had lately seen the re

suscitation of Lazarus . But a resurrect ion of Jesus,

which is not the sign of j udgment,is too much for

him . But Jesus , who was cruc ified,dead

,buried

,

and yet risen again , appears to him also , and asks himto se e and to feel that it is really H e

,and to say unto

himself Now we have Jesus again now all is forgiven For blessed are they that have not seen andyet have believed ”— believed as the disciples havehitherto believed

,and as Peter has confessed it for the

disciples,and as Jesus always desired it not the mere

fact ofHis resurrect ion , but this faé’c in and with itsmeaning . Otherwise one may indeed perish with andwithout acknowledgment of this fac’t , or may try topersuade himself ofthe importance of the forgivenesswithout the fact of the resurrect ion— an impossiblething

,j ust as impossible as the indwelling of Christ in

our hearts,except the word had become flesh and

dwelt among u s . I t means to believe that now

as never before it has become manifest that God sentnot His Son into the world to j udge the world , butthat the world should be saved through Him .

” Thusthe disciples experience and learn the actual forgiveness of sins procured through Christ ’s innocent andpatient suffering and death , brought to light by theresurrection , appropriated to them or effectuated inthem through the peace salutation of the risen One .

Then was confirmed on the day of Pentecost the pardoning of the world through the Holy Ghost

,who

27


ever since confirms everywhere the word concerningChrist

,and of our redemption through Him ,

as Paul,

Peter,and John unanimously testify . They have not

lost the Savior,the Redeemer

,as they first thought ,

but have Him back and now have Him forever . Inthis nothing is changed by His ascension

,for this de

parture only means that Jesus must occupy heavenand wait at the right hand ofGod till the Gospel concerning Him is preached in the whole world . Nothing and no one can deprive the disciples of their Savior .It is God ’s wondrous grace which gave Him backagain to them— not too wondrous to him who is readyto believe the most wondrous of all : the forgiveness ofhis Sins . But to believe this is entirely impossible tohim whose thinking and imagining and believing isutterly bound to the connection of the things in natureand history . One can only believe it as a deedwhich God did in connect ion with another historyas it happens otherwise , that very history in which thesentence becomes actually operative where sinabounded

,grace did abound more exceedingly .

” Godpardons

,Jesus pardons ; all s in ,

all unfaithfulness isforgiven . Jesus is risen not only to inform the disc iple s of i t , but the forgiveness is thus effectuated inmen

,for whom H e died . As Paul says Christ was

delivered up for our trespasses,and was raised for our

just ification .

Thus it follows that Christ suffered and died in orderthat the world should not be condemned

,which had

deserved to be condemned for what i t had wrought onHim

,and ever and ever deserves to be condemned .

Instead,because the worldwas condemned, He sufi

'

ered

28

death . This was the Father ’s premeditated counseland will

,as Peter expresses i t . Jesus

,rej ected by the

world,has not forever departed from the world . H e is

rather g iven back by the Father to our human life andthus to the world . In this living Jesus , belonging tous , we have the forgiveness of sins for the sake of

His snfiering and death . His suffering and death,

His cruc ifix ion by the hands of men , took place afterthe foreordained counsel and will of God

,and c leanses

us from all sins , covers all our guilt . For our sakeit came about

,that we might no t be condemned . This

was the price for our deliverance from j udgment .Thus we are children of God , or acceptable with God ,and this

!

concerns us,the whole race . Herein was

the love of God manifested in us , that God hath sentHis only begotten Son into the world , that we mightlive through Him

,

” saith John . Paul saith : “ Godcommendeth H is own love toward u s , in that , whilewe were yet sinners

,Christ died for us . Much more

,

then,being now justified by His blood , shall we

be saved from the wrath through Him . For if,while

we were enemies , we were reconciled to God throughthe death of H is Son , much more , being reconciled ,shall we be saved by His life .

”I t is of great signifi

cance that we hear and believe the truth of the wondrous message , that we know and receive the fact ,apply it to ourselves

,and say : We are redeemed

, 1

am redeemed ; we are pardoned , am pardoned ! Whoever hears this message hears God ’s words

,God ’s

voice,which calls him to Jesus . Whoever believes i t

,

believes in God and believes in Jesus , who is nowsomething to us that no other man can be , so

‘

ine thing,

29


indeed,which no brother could be to his brother . For

H e is our redeemer , our deliverer from j udgment .This no one can b e , not even a mother for

‘

b er child .

Tho,in fact

,H e is our brother , fully like li s , member

ofour communion , yet is H e our Lord,the only One

in whom we can trust before the face ofGod . H e suf

fered because of us,but not only because of us but at

the same t ime wi ll; us , and not only w i ll; u s but foru s in our stead , when j udgment was to come upon us .

What our sin and gu ilt has imposed upon us to sufferH e bore ; i t was imposed upon Him , and thereby H e

redeemed us from the curse . There shall come a day,

however,when H e will visibly also manifest before all

the world that H e is the Lord over all , over the destiny of the who le world , unto whom the Father hasdelivered all things . For as H e has ascended toheaven and gone back to God (who is not only inthis world

,but also beyond it and above i t ) , thus

Jesus shall some day also return and appear in thisworld as one who is above i t , and yet will still be asH e has ever been , our comrade and brother . This ,however

,will take place only when H is command has

been executed after God ’s will and H is Gospel,the

Gospel ofHis cross and resurrection for us , the Gospelofits redemption , has been preached to the whole world .

There is a forgiveness of sins,there is a deliverance

from j udgment and punishment , there is a redemptiononly in Christ ’s sufferings

,death

,and resurrection

,

only in the cruc ified and risen Jesus . H e is theChrist

,the Anointed and Messenger of God

,to our

whole race .

Thus it happens that those who believe in H im30

.THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY

we should walk . We stand in communion with Himas we stand in communion with God

,the Father of

our Lord Jesus Christ , and this has not become lessbecause it is a communion of love transcending allconceivable measure in that H e partook of our fleshand blood

,but rather greater and more significant .

H e,our brother , stands before us as the Son

of God , whom the Father has chosen as the redeemerof the world

,with whom the Father shares everything

and who shares everything with the Father . H e isthe eternal Son of God , who belongs to God , as theson to the father . God and man at the same time ;whether we apprehend it or not , H e is both . Wecan not think of Him as H e lies before us in themanger

,hangs before us on the cross

,stands before

us as the risen One , otherwise than of One who,

on the other hand , is God and Lord over all , towhom we pray and in whom we hope . H e iswith the Father now

, sitting at the right hand of

the Maj esty,exalted

,j ust as H e was with the Father

in glory before H e came into the world to sufferand to die for us and because of u s . This is the purport ofHis own words : I came forth from the Father

,

and am come into the world ; again , I leave the world ,and go to the Father .

” What H e came to do andmust do was done and finished when H e sufferedand died for us . Now H e is raised and lives forever

,

lives for us,and makes intercession for us . That we

do not se e Him since H e ascended is because H e haspatience with the world , which knows Him not yet ,and which is to know Him through the brethren whomH e has won . Only when the whole world knows of

32


Him and has the offer in Him of redemption throughHis blood , will H e come again in His glory and in theglory of the Father to unite unto Himself the congregation of those who believe in Him and to uniteas well Himself unto them . Then only shall we se e

what we have believed .

Thus the apostles proclaim Christ,who is our God

and Lord,and yet our brother

,or who is our brother

and yet at the same time time our God and Lord . O i

Him Paul says not only For y e know the grace of

our Lord Jesus Christ,that

,tho he was rich

,yet for

your sakes H e became poor , that y e through Hispoverty might be rich he speaks still moreplainly : Who

,being in the form of God

,counted it

not a prize to be on an equality with God , but emptiedHimself

,taking the form of a servant , being made in

the likeness ofmen ; and being found in fashion as aman

,H e humbled Himself, becoming obedient even

unto death,yea

,the death of the cross . Wherefore

also God highly exalted Him , and gave unto Him thename which is above every name , that in the name of

Jesus every knee should bow , of things in heaven andthings on earth and things under the earth , and thatevery tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord ,to the glory ofGod the Father . ” This is the Christ ,whose are the fathers , and of whom H e is , as concerning the flesh ,

who is over all , God blessed forever .This Christ was indeed born l ike ourselves , and carriedthe potency of death in H is mortal flesh ; nevertheless ,H e was not born subj ect to death by necessity as weare

,but H e was born into the flesh that H e might of

H is own will die , and , dying , bring to naught by His33


death him who had the power of death . In thisChrist everything has been manifested to us whichGod has to say to us

,or ever is or will be for us .

God ’s word and the Christ : God’s eternal word ,p z we r , and law of our existence

,and H e

,the eternal

Son,can not be separated from each other . When I

think of Him I think of all that God has to say tome

,and when I think of God ’s word I think of

Jesus,the Savior

,the Messiah

,the Redeemer . H e is

the same yesterday,to—day

,and forever . H e upholds

all things by the word of His power . H e was erethe world was , which from the beginning is dependenton Him

,can only be and exist through Him . At

length H e came the word became flesh and dweltamong us .

” In the light which arose to the apostleJohn concerning Him

,the days ofHis earthly life now

stand before our eyes . What H e did and spoke arethe deeds and words of Him who was chosen frometernity to be the Savior of the world . This divinityshines through the lowliness of the Son of Man , andtherefore he saith : We beheld His glory

,glory as of

the only begotten from the Father,full of grace and

truth .

” For neither John nor any one else has everperceived how deeply God has humbled Himself

,to

take forever and fully an interest in us and to belongto us .

True , it was only by looking backward from theresurrect ion that the apostles were able to se e veryclearly into this mystery of Christ . Ever and everthey had waited until H e should accomplish His greatredeeming deed

,and they had not understood why

(as they thought) H e did not do i t , bu t rather suffe red34


Himselfto be misappreciated , wronged , and oppressed .

Now they knew a little why His whole life was a cont inned humiliation and what was meant by the words ,“ I am meek and lowly in heart . ” Now His humility

,His modesty

,His lowliness

,His patience in His

innocent suffering and death were to them the proofofHis everlasting love as their Savior . H e

,the great K ing

and Lord ofheaven and earth,the risen Prince ofVic

tory,having the keys of death and hell

,would not

use this His eternal power and Godhead against us .

H e would not be God against us , but for us . H e

would be all that H e i s for us,and share with us all

things . Oh this account His suffering and death , theend ofH is entire life full of suffering , necessarily b elong to His vocation as a Savior . H e only could fulfilthis His calling

,the obj ect for which H e came

,till

,

according to the will of His Father,H e suffered all

that the world with its sin could do to the Holy Oneof God . There it was not only proved but visiblydemonstrated that the sin of the world is no longerimputed unto i t . God stepped in for Him and j ustified Him by raising Him from the dead

,not for con

demnat ion upon the world , but that H e should dealwith i t as the everlasting , almighty Savior . For H e

who is to deliver us from death and j udgment,and

not let us perish eternally , must be almighty . ButH e is almighty ; the disciples have learned and nowthey know that what they did not have in Him before

,

they have now , and have forever .This is the testimony ofthe apostles concerning Him .

This is what they believed who became pioneers ln

Christianity and in the faith of Christ,and in the

35


possession ofthe Spirit ofChrist . How it was possibleto believe such things

,for this they cared not

,because

the most unconceivable fact which can be imaginedhad been offere d and experienced in this announcement forgiveness of sins

,life and blessedness .

Whether this is conceivable , whether it can be attainedby a power of our thoughts or is to be received onlyas a gift ofgrace — of these questions we shall treat laterou . Here we are concerned only to state this sequenceof faith : forgiveness of our sins through the eternalSon ofGod , the man Jesus , who for our sakes and forour pardon became flesh .

36

THE RECORD OF CHRIST ACCORD ING TO THESYNOPTIC ACCOUNT

LL that we know of Christ rests on the testimony of the apostles . They speak andtestify of the things which they saw andheard

,that “ we may have fellowship with

them,and that our fellowship be with the

Father and with His Son Jesus Christ . ” Theyattest i t not as disinterested witnesses

,but as wit

nesses who also understand the importance of allwhich they had experienced

,and who wish to help

us to a like understanding and possession . We haveno other testimonies concerning Jesus

,His earthly

life,His work

,and His suffering . The non-Biblical

literature of Israel contains no mention of His name ,but speaks of Him as the One who was hanged

,

”

whose “ name and memory should be blotted out .Thus we have only the testimonies ofbelieving Israelites

,who

,with the whole first community

,proved

their Christianity by remaining in the teaching of theapostles . Therefore

,our Gospels

,in so far as the apos

tles themselves had no direct part in their composition,

are only records of the apostolic testimony to Christ .We detect in them also the work of the entire b e lieving community

,in which the same witness concerning

Him was always present . We shall not,therefore

,

expect that the picture contained in the Gospel of the

37


earthly life,work

,and sufiering of Christ should

essentially difie r from that which we have drawn fromthe apostolic epistles . It is possible that this pictu re

,

or both pictures,may suggest a number of considera

tions which we may have to explain . Before this ,however

,we must endeavor accurately to picture to

ourselves what is recorded of Christ .The whole appearance and work of Jesus standclearly before the eyes of the disciples . They knowwhat has attracted them to Him

,and what has united

them to Him,and they know it now the better

,since

in consequence ofthe resurrection not only many thingsthat had been riddles have become clear to them

,but

also many a word which they had forgotten,or whose

depth and power they had hitherto not yet grasped,

now appears to them in its entire blessed importance .Everything came vividly before their minds again .

Their reminiscences enriched themselves the more theyspoke of Him ,

who was their one and all,and thus

was fulfilled in them the word which Jesus had spokenof the Spirit whom H e was to send to them :

“ Thesame shall bring to your remembrance all that I saidunto y ou . The more they became absorbed thereinthe clearer became in them the picture ofHim to whomthey were united

,whom they had lost and now had

fourd again forever , even tho they were on earth andH e at the right hand of God , exalted to participationin God ’s power and maj esty .

The ir reminiscences,however

,reach further back

than to the appearance of Jesus . In all Israel thereare those who are awakened by the appearance of aprophet

,the sign that God had some special message

38


ciled the people was the union,in John ’s message

,of

j udgment and grace , the call to repentance foundedupon the nearness of God and the fulfilment of Hispromises . The prophet was right with his call and inthe promise that supplied to the b earer a sufii c ient

motive for accepting i t . The promise,however

,with

which he reinforced his call to repentance,and which

he symbolized in baptism,he had by revelation from

God , for the word ofGod came unto John,the son of

Z acharias,in the wilderness .

In the power of this word of God,as a command

which had been given to Him,as a revelation which

H e had received, H e appeared . The law had not ful

filled its purpose ; i t had not been kept , nor was itnow kept

,not even by those who made it their calling

to study and to fulfil i t . On this account it couldneither actually , nor even yet symbolically , give whatit promised . The entire temple service , that servicefor which the Psalmist so heartily longed when hedesired “ to behold the beauty of the Lord and toinquire in His temple

,

” had become useless . Therewas only one thing which thus far had been Israel ’sconsolation : the grace of God

,by which Israel had

been chosen,and on which alone Israel ’s right rested

to come to God in repentance and to ask for forgiveness . Was this still valid ? God was not obliged tokeep His promises after Israel had shown in its longhistory that it did not fulfil the conditions under whichthe promise of the fu ture had been made . Then Israelhad been the chosen people . Many a time has alltheir hope in the future seemed to be at an end

,but

God’s faithfu lness had always been greater than the40

THE SYNOPTIC ACCOUNT

s in of the people,in accordance with the word

“ Where sin abounded,grace did

'

abound more exceedingly This and this alone explained the pasthistory of Israel , the only people upon earth whoknew the living God to whom H e had made Himselfspecially known . But would the promise still abidewith them ? During the four hundred years since theold inclination toward idolatry had been exterminated

,

the incongruity between the high,special

,religious

privileges of Israel,and the lack of seriousness which

it should naturally have practised,had become con

stantly more glaring . Now the time of the last finalsettlement seemed to have come .

Then resounded the message of the Baptist . It readnot The end has come

,the wrath ofGod is kindled

,

and will eat His people as the tongue offire devoureththe stubble

,but

,on the contrary

,

“ The Kingdom,

the kingly rule ofGod,the Kingdom of Heaven is at

hand For this Israel had waited and hoped a longtime . How beautiful upon the mountains are thefeet ofHim that bringeth good tidings

,that publish

eth peace,that bringeth good tidings of good

,that

publisheth salvation,that saith unto Z ion

,Thy God

reigneth Thus Isaiah had prophesied,for God is

Israel ’s King,and therefore his Savior . When His

hour has come H e will prove Himself King byj udging the nations

,as H e did when H e led Israel

up out of Egypt,and brought it to the place of

His habitation . The nations which oppress Israelexperience God ’s superiority

,for Israel ’s K ing has

the mastery over all the world ; H e subdues thenations and gives liberty and peace to Israel . Z ion

41


shall be the center of the world , whither all nationsshall flow together , to receive there their law . Jerusalem is the city of a great King

,the seat ofGod ’

s

glory .

“ Say among the nations,the Lord reigneth

H e cometh , H e cometh to j udge the earth . H e shallj udge the world with righteousness

,and the people

with His truth . Light is sown for the righteous , andgladness for the upright in heart

,we read in the

Psalms . This was the Kingship and Kingdom of Godwhich appeared in Nebuchadnezzar ’s dream as a stone

,

cut out of the mountain without hands,which smote

the image of the monarchies upon the feet and brokethem in pieces . Then was the iron , the clay , thebrass

,the silver

,and the gold broken in pieces

together,and became like the chafi of the summer

threshing-fioors ; and the wind carried them away ,that no place was found for them ; and the stonethat smote the image became a great mountain

,and

filled the whole earth . This was the people ’s hope,

in this John hoped . That it should come now,that

all promises of God,the promises of redemption

, of

liberty and peace,shou ld now be fulfilled,

this heknew through God ’s revelation . In no place in thehistory of Israel does it become so clear and evidentas here that there has been vouchsafed a specia l revelation . That which was neither indicated by thesocial conditions of the time

,nor to be read in

the closed orbits of the stars,that which not even

the most penetrating knowledge of God had been ableto disclose to man

,that which was contrary to all the

expectations of the godly and the ungodly,the j ust

and unj ust— namely,that now

,now

,in the time

42


appo inted by God , the day of salvation had come! this was made known to John . The contraryof all that one could expect has come to pass , andthe appearance of the Messiah just ified the word ,j ust ified therewith also the deed of the Baptist . To allIsrael , John was the prophet of God , the voice of thepreacher in the wilderness

,and the wilderness in

which he appeared characterized him as this prophet .All Israel went out unto him ,

to hear his word,to act

according to his word in confessing its sins and re

ce iv ing baptism ,and to look for the fulfilment of his

prophecy . For the chief significance ofJohn ’s message was the promise of deliverance from sin andguilt

,to attest which was the Baptist ’s ofii ce .

Thither came Jesus also . John knew Him not,but

by necessity he must recognize Him ,since as prophet

of God and forerunner of the Messiah he had receivedthe Divine vocation of testifying of Him and for H im.

His relationship to Jesus had afforded him knowledgeneither of His person nor of His calling . Jesus hadgrown up in Galilee unknown and unrecognized ; John ,in Judea

,as the son of a priest and heir of the paternal

ofii ce . When Jesus appeared , John perceived throughthe spirit of prophecy which was in him that this wasthe Messiah to proclaim whom he exists

,and in whom

and through whom the word ofprophecy will becometrue . Jesus is theman who is actually to bring forgiveness to Israel , which he , the Baptist , can only symbolize . Jesus Himself, in His person , actually z s forgiveness . Where Jesu5 1s , there 1s the forgiveness . Ou thisaccount John refuses to baptize Him

,since rather he

(John) ought to be baptized of Him . But Jesus con

43


strained him,say ing For thus it becometh u s to

fulfil all righteousness For is the sinners ’ brotherappointed to save the sinners ? The Baptist perceivesthat H e has not to confess sin , sinceH e came to take itaway

,to forgive i t . But precisely because

,tho with

out sin,H e is the brother of sinners

,H e is able to be

more than any one of His human brothers in Hispower for the forgiveness of sins— for which

,indeed

,

H e came . H e feels as His whole race feels,or should

feel H e longs after that for which all Israel longs ; H e

prays for that which all Israel prays or should pray for,and John baptizes Him with the baptism which symboliz es the granting of His petition that all righteousness be fulfilled. But now is added to the symbol ofbaptism the Divine reality . The Holy Ghost descendsupon Jesus

,the Father makes Himself known to this

His Son,with whom H e stands and will stand united

as with no one else,who is to do His work upon earth

in the power of the Spirit , through whom God isunited to Him and His work in abiding union . Thevoice of the Father sounds forth , and John hears itThis is my beloved Son , in whom I amwell pleased .

With this began the way ofJesus . John had designated Him as the mightier One who was to come afterhim . The fan is in His hand , and H e will thoroughlycleanse His threshing-floor the ax is already laidunto the root of the tree , and only waits to be liftedup . For among those who had come to Him weremany to whom His baptism was displeasing , and whocritically opposed His preaching , because their wholetendency referred to the pretended fulfilment of thelaw . John , however , had put himself outside of the

44


law . Would he not thereby destroy Israel ’s hope ?Could he be a prophet ofGod ? The others , however ,the Sadducees

,cared nothing for the fulfilment of the

promise,but everything for the preservation of their

position and its priestly privileges ; they believed not ina working of the living God . To both the Baptisthad said Think not to say within yourself

,We have

Abraham to our Father for I say unto you that Godis able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham .

” The promise is fulfilled which is given toAbraham and his seed , tho the entire posterity of

Abraham is not fit to inherit i t . But where was thej udgment ? Jesus the Messiah , Jesus the mightierOne

,Jesus the Judge , who should j udge His people

where was the j udgment ? Jesus has not abandoned Hisright of j udgment . H e will hold it over all nations

,

and that H e is able to execute it H e proves,as we shall

se e ; but the time for its execution has not y e t come .The way ofthe Messiah , the Son ofGod , who had b ecome like unto sinners , and the way to the seat ofj udgment were very different , not understood even bythe Baptist . The first step in this way was a renunc iation without its equal , and yet i t was only the firststep

,the beginning . The end was yet a much greater

renunciation . Moved by the Spirit of God,which

filled H im,H e goes into the wilderness , not to the peo

ple for whom H e had come into the world . Whatmeans this ? He i s baptized ; in holy , most seriousmeditation

,and in clear perception of His special call

ing,H e bowed under the hand of the Baptist

,and ob

tained that which H e needed to accomplish in thepower and name of the Father , the work of His call

45


ing . Why does H e not now go to the people to showHimself to them as the Messiah sent by God ?H e can not and may not begin His work without

first fight ing with him who has been from the beginning the opponent ofGod and ofHis purposes ofgracewith men

,and who has his work here on earth

Satan . Only after having fought this fight , and having conquered in it

,can H e come down among men .

H e is summoned by Satan to u se His power for Hisown b enefit , or to be bought ofhim by obtaining without any toil the government of the world , which heprofesses to give to whomsoever he pleases . But H e isnot endowed by God to make use of His power forHimself, for His own b enefit . It is not God ’s way thatH e should obtain recognition for Himself by meansthat were worthy only of condemnation . God ’s wayis that of humble , perfect faith and obedience to theFather

,who will show Him not only what he must do

,

but also what he must suffer . The degrading assumption that H e will sell Himself, as if, as a matter of

course,every man has his price for which he will give

up God and God ’s truth and the salvation of his soulthat he may obtain the world and what it offers

, H e

must take like a blow in the face . H e can only refuseit with words . The sign ificance of it is that H e is tosave

,not to destroy

,the world. Then Satan leaves

Him,and Jesus returns to John

,who meanwhile had

become ever sadder and more lonesome .John the Baptist sees Jesus walking , and bears witness ofHim

,as John the Evangelist records Behold

,

the Lamb of God , which taketh away the sin of theworld —a word offaith in which

,in one comprehen

46


in order to se e His power and glory , was the very thingwhich John had te st ified unto them . John had spokenof their sin

,had demanded repentance and confession

of sins . Jesus makes them understand His deep ins ight into their s in

,and to know that it is because

of their s in H e has come into the world . H e fel t thegroaning of Simon under the power of his sin ,

and

gave him a name which promised to him a future,

entirely difle rent from that which he could expect,con

side ring the kind of man he was by nature . H e had

noted Nathanael ’s prayer and confession ofsin ,the like

ofwhich no one had ever seen or heard from Peter .Thus Jesus announced to them the grace ofGod

,while

he showed them also fully and unreservedly the sig

nificance of their sin . They believed , moreover , althoevery appearance was against i t

,that H e was the royal

deliverer and peace-bringer of Israel . They believedH e would prove Himself such by His power

,and so

they followed Him,and waited for still greater things

they wished and expect ed to se e . That Jesus was

righteous,and

,indeed

,H e alone

,they had now ex

pe rienced for themselves . Sin and grace have neverbefore become manifest as they are now shown . In

the way which H e went they experienced so much of

His Messiahship that they attached themse lves to H imconfidently ,

altho this way was provisionally only oneof humble renunciation . Jesus indeed could not comebefore the people with the claim “

1 am the MessiahEither none would have believed i t

,or they would

have hailed Him,l ifted Him on the shield , and made

Him king,without even thinking in the least that not

the sin and Violence of others but our own sin is our

48


reproach . In any case,nothing else would have been

left for Jesus but to assert Himselfand speak God ’struth with all His might against His people . Ou Hisown account H e had to leave it to the holiness of thecause which H e represented

,and to the activity which

H e should unfold , to make H imself rightly known .

The cause which H e represented was nothing elsethan that which John had announced as being a t hand

,

a wondrous gift ofgrace— the K ingdom ofGod . Thisis the tenor of all Divine promises and all gifts of salvation which God prepared for men from eternity .

It is the Kingdom in which God rules,and men

under the protection of His might and love havepeace

,and in peace enj oy freedom from all misery and

distress . In this K ingdom the word concerning Israel ’sredemption and Jerusalem ’s deliverance is fulfilledThe inhabitant shall not say , I am sick the people

that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity .

”

I t is the Kingdom of the Father , for which Israel haslonged in its deepest distress , in the most grievoussighing after deliverance

,in its darkest n ights . This

name Jesus takes up when repeating the sermon oftheBaptist . H e calls God Father , as the Baptist has nevercalled H im. But H e did not thereby proclaim new

knowledge of God which had come to Him,or had

been discovered by H im, or had been exclusively givento Him

,in opposition to the Israelitish Old Testament

knowledge ofGod . It has been said that in its narrowness and limitation the Old Testament idea is falseand can not satisfy Israel , because i t requires of us tothink of God as an austere , inexorable j udge . Thecontrast has been drawn between the Old Testament

49


use of this name Fa l/zer and the sense in which Jesusused it (compare Isaiah lxiii : 1 6 ; Jeremiah i ii : 4 ,1 9 ; xxxi : 9 ; Malachi i 6 ; i i : 1 0 ; Deuteronomyxxxii : but there is not a single passage in thediscourses of Jesus to warrant the theory current inour day that such a contrast exists . Jesus called GodFather because H e did the deed of redemption forwhich Israel waited . H e is the Father of Jesus b ecause Jesus is His Son

,whom H e has chosen to exe

cute H is redemption ; H e is Israel ’s Father becauseIsrael is the obj ect of redemption promised , and H e isthe Father of all those to whom H e sends the redemption . With the redemption H e proves that H e hasnot forgotten His people , but interests Himself inthem

,shows H is power and establishes His Kingdom

among them . God ’s K ingdom and God’s name of

Fa lfier belong together . God ’s Kingdom takes itsname not from the obedience of the citizens of a kingdom

,but from God ’s deed of redemption . God’s

name of Father reveals the ground of compassionatelove

,and shows u s why God interests Himself in those

whom H e has chosen for His children . H e made thismeaning known to Pharaoh through Moses

,when H e

said Israel is my first -born son .

In this connect ion of God ’s name of Father withthe proclamation of God ’s Kingdom , we se e the firstdifference between the proclamation of Jesus and thatof the Baptist . This at first tells us nothing essent ially new . It emphasizes the fac’t that the promise toIsrael is about to be fulfilled— indeed , is now alreadyin process offulfilment . Neverthe less , one can but feelthat there is a peculiar meaning in which Jesus says

50


Father in addressing God or in speaking of God .

H e speaks of Him as Father,who has called Him

selfI sra el ’s Father , and who has called Israel His son ,

His first -born , and whom Israel also addresses asFather in its devoutest prayers . Jesus says theFather

,

” your Father,

” My Father,

” but neverour Father , ” except where he tells the disciples howto pray . The actual fulfilment of the promise is conneéted with Jesus ; where Jesus is and only where H e

is there is God ’s K ingdom therefore H e says Father asno one else can say i t . But this changes nothing in theidea ofthe Kingdom ofGod

,except that this is

,as now

,

in the process offinal fulfilment of all the promises ofGod . The present does not look like the fulfilment ofthe promise

,and yet it would be seen in the final end

ofHis m ission on earth that something more gloriousthan the promise has come . In the mouth of Jesusalso the K ingdom ofGod means that condition of Israelrelative to the world in which all promises are or havebeen fulfilled. In this Kingdom Israel enj oys forgiveness of sins , suspension of j udgment , and relief fromdistress under which it groans

,and thence eternal

peace . Ou this account the K ingdom of God or theestablishment of God ’s government is brought aboutby a great redemptive deed , by the pract ical proof of

the power and love of God for the redemption of Hispeople .But where is , where remains , this redemptive

!

deed ?Is i t

,perhaps , to consist only in new and difierent

thoughts and aspects , through which Jesus taught Hisdisciples to look upon life and the course of events inthe world ? But aspects are not powers

,thoughts

51


bring no liberty and peace , and do not take away theheavy and painful reality of God ’s j udgment restingupon Israel . Jesus had appeared , and Jesus then rathercalls attention to H imself, tells them that H e will someday come to j udge the earth and to save His own

,and

that whoever comes to Him and abides by Him is notonly sure of his future

,but shall also have peace in

the present . We have but to recall the parable of thewidow and the unrighteous j udge

,and the discourses

of the Lord concerning His coming . These H e sealsand endorses in the last evening ofHis ministry at theinstitution of the sacraments . These are words thatH e spoke at the end of His career . H e had

,indeed

,

many occasions to speak otherwise ifH e had , throughHis experience

,come to an idea of the Kingdom ofGod

difierent from that which H e had originally— the ideapreached by John the Baptist . But there has been nochange . The Kingdom of God

,for which H e came

,

is the same at the end of H is career as in the beginning . I t represents in His earlier as in His laterteaching a world-condition brought about by the righte ous j udgment of God the Father , in which His ownhave peace and freedom from all distress through theforgiveness of their sins . Jesus proclaims this K ingdom

,H e brings in this Kingdom ; w/zere H e is , {here i s

lll z'

s Kingdom. It is appointed for the poor , who in theinmost depths of their being suffer under their poverty ,and are oppressed and pained by those who have thepower in the world . For the sufferers , for the mourners

,for those who can only tell God their sorrow and

wait for God ’s righteous j udgment on their own behalf

,for such is this Kingdom appointed , for such it

52


exists . But where is it ? The Baptist is in prison , andwaits in vain to be the first to whom the Messiah shouldreveal His full power . Jesus points him to the signs ofHis Messiahship : the miracles which H e performs ,the poor who are evangelized , that the fulfilment ofthe promise is preached to the poor— but where isthe fulfilment ? Jesus adds And blessed is he ,whosoever shall find no occasion of stumbling in me .

”

It is as ifH e bade him sufier and die , looking for thesalvation of God

,l ike Jacob . It is as ifH e had said

I am the Messiah , of this you can be certain , and inthis certainty you can suffer and die . Has H e therewith

,then

,transferred the K ingdom ofGod

,the K ing

dom ofHeaven,from this world to the other ? Hardly ,

for H e teaches His disciples to say :“ Thy Kingdom

come and deliver us from evil . ” To the Kingdomof God belongs

,indeed

,the future

,the new world

,

the new heaven,the new earth ; but the present also

belongs to it . But in the present the Kingdom is stillin distress . H e , the Messiah himself, sufiers underthe misconception of men who turn away from allDivine things . Ou this account the conditions thenpresent did not look like God ’s K ingdom becausemen opposed the government of God

,and therefore

opposed Jesus .Here and there were a few who knew Him as theGod-sent Messiah

,and followed Him or believed in Him .

Not only did a vast contrast appear between the claimwhich H e makes or which is made for Him and theactual appearance of the world , between the hopedfor and desired Kingdom ofGod and the poor realityWhich men saw ,

but even H is word that H e speaks:

53


is too serious,the salvation -message which H e brings

does not suit those who after their own imaginationhave made a picture of the future— the scribes ,Pharisees

,priests

,and elders of the people . The mes

sage indeed appears to confirm their hopes in promisingfreedom from all afflict ion and evil

,but these hopes

are to be confirmed through the forgiveness of theirsins . Tb is forgiveness

,as Jesus brings it and prac

tises i t , they do not want . That we need forgivenessmay be admitted . But they thought themselves tohave a claim to forgiveness th ough their descent fromAbraham and as belonging to the chosen people of

God . As it is among us to -day,they relied upon

their good works,fastings

,alms

,as merits which

they believed they had acquired and would acquire .

Ou this account Jesus remains alone,and lonely walks

His way ; the cities of Chora z im,Bethsaida , and

Capernaum H e must rebuke,because

,exalted unto

heaven by His presence,they would not believe . N0

one has known Him,no one knows the Father

,who

speaks through Him and in Him,and is present with

Him . This is the lonely condition of Him who cameto fulfil all promises ofGod . Nevertheless

,H e per

s ists in His invitation to all that labor and are heavyladen

,that H e may quicken them and give rest unto

their souls . H e sends H is disciples into all cities andmarkets of the land to proclaim the message of theKingdom of God— in vain ! H e performs miraclesmore abundantly than ahy one had ever done beforeHim— not merely for the sake of men , tho they weremiracles ofDivine compassion . Through them is re

vealed besides that H e is the master over the mighty ,54


even His disciples are firm and clear in their belief inHim

,and have been so convinced ofHis Messiahship that

they will stand firmly for Him in the face of the wholepeople . They have to acknowledge to themselvesthat everywhere indeed great things

,yea

,wonderful

things,are spoken ofHim . The main thing

,however

,

is no t mentioned . It is not y e t known , they do notunderstand

,that H e is the Messiah

,chosen of God to

be the K ing of His Kingdom . This expected One iscalledMessiah or Anoz

’

nlea’

, K ing by the grace ofGod .

And y e ? Jesus asks them . Who say y e that Iam ? Men call me the Son ofMan

,because they can

not know the Son ofMan as the Messiah,the Son of

God,the K ing anointed of God .

” Thereupon Petermakes the confession in the name of all disciplesThou art the Messiah of God

,

” or Thou art theChrist

,the Son ofthe Living God . Hearing this

,Jesus

promises that upon this,the foundation of this con

fe ssion ,H e will build His Church , the Church of the

redeemed,that congregation which H e had already in

view when H e said to His disciples Fear not,little

flock ; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you

the Kingdom . Nothing can be said against theauthenticity of this word that prophecies the buildingofHis Church ,

against which the gates ofHades shallnot prevail . Israel was accustomed to call itself theChurch of God , and had waited until the K ingdomshould be appointed to it .

After the belief of the disciples had thus been expressed over against the disbelief of the whole people

,Jesus now clearly and unequivocally points onward

to His end . As the records show ,H e had from the

56


beginning His death before Him . In the face of deathH e has preached not only the kingdom of God , as thefulfilment of all prophecies , but H e has also attested itas both present and future . How this was possible ,what connection there is between the two facts , is amatter for consideration by itself. But the fact thatJesus

,according to our records

,from the beginning

saw both these facts together must be acknowledged .

Rej ection and deliverance to death awaited Him whohad challenged the confession that H e is the Messiah ,

the K ing of the Kingdom of God . From the beginning H e had hinted at and pointed to i t— now H e expressed i t openly and without disguise . The disc iples do not comprehend i t . Again it is Peter whotakes the Lord apart and asks Him to spare Himself

,

that this thing may not happen to him . For thisPeter is rebuked by Jesus : Get thee behind Me ,Satan , for thou mindest not the things ofGod , but thethings of men .

” Two of the disciples,the sons of

Z ebedee,believe in His Messiahship

,and are ready

,

as they think ,and in the sense in which they under-a

stand i t , to drink the cup that H e was about todrink

,and be baptized with the baptism that H e is

baptized with . They know thatH e must suffer and bedeeply baptized into the floods of hatred

,but they can

and will sufier with Him , because the Kingdom nevertheless shall come ; they wish , when i t is established , tobe nearest to H im. Jesus refuses their request

,and

at the same time addresses Himself to the other disc iples , of whom , finally , each wished to be the first ,

and says unto them The rulers of the Gentileslord it over them , and the ir great ones exercise au

57


thori ty over them . Not so shall it be among you .

Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministeredunto

,but to minister

,and to give His life a ransom for

many .

” They understand Him not . H e also speaksof the future , say ing that the Gospel of the Kingdommust be preached in the whole world for a testimonyunto all nations

,and when this is done H e shall come

in the glory of the Father , who has chosen and re

deemed H is people , and all holy angels with Him .

This the disciples readily believe but that deathshould intervene

,thi s they did not understand . H e had

said to Israel The Kingdom of God shall be takenaway from you

,and shall be given to a nation bringing

forth the fruits thereof. ” Israel thinks this impossible . Finally comes the last evening on which oncemore H e celebrates with the disciples and they withHim in one and the same ceremony— the Passover atJerusalem

,the memorial Supper of the redemption

from Egypt , and the promised , long-desired Messianicredemption through the revelation of the Kingdom of

God . The disciples expect at this time the revelationof His glory , the great Messiah-deed of Israel ’s re

demption . Jesus is prepared for death . H e givesthem bread and wine at the Passover meal

,and says

This is My body , My blood , given and shed for youfor the remission of sins . ” They understand Him not .But this they understand

,that H e will appoint unto

them a Kingdom,even as His Father appointed unto

Him . But they did not comprehend His word Allshall be offended in Me this night

,and they assure

Him,Peter first of all

,of their unshaken fide lity .

But— they keep not the faith . Judas betrays H im,

58


Peter denies Him,all the others forsake Him and run

away,and thus rej ected by the people , sentenced by

the authorities , given up by the Gentiles , forsaken byHis own ,

goes on His way to the cross .No man expected anything more of Him . There

is but one here who understands the wrong that isbeing perpetrated

,a being belonging to the refuse of

the world , who had seen the wrongs that men can doin cold blood . H e is himself unrighteous

,yet had he

the right he would arrange the whole world beforeGod ’s tribunal . But he is not right himself. H e is athief

,himself condemed. Jesus alone is right

,the only

righteous one of all . H e is the only One who hasauthority before God

,and whoever will be saved from

condemnation must take refuge with Him . Knowingthis

,this man confesses that he was receiving the due

reward ofhis deeds , and prays : Lord remember mewhen Thou comest into Thy K ingdom . Jesus

,how

ever,accepts this petition , and promises him that he

shall be with Him that very day in Paradise . Thus,

dying,H e endorses still the Gospel which H e has

preached . But when H e knew that all things werefinished,

that the Scripture might be accomplished,H e

said,I thirst

,

” and one of the soldiers filled a sponge

with vinegar and put it to His month . When H e

therefore had received the vinegar , H e said : I t isfinished ! and H e bowed the head and gave up H isspirit . ”

Is this all Jesus had proclaimed great things,the

Kingdom of God— not merely a Kingdom in whichthose meet who intend to do the will ofGod

,and who

suffer God to be their Lord whose motives and obj ects

59


should also be the chief motives and obj ects of theirlife

,but still more significantly a Kingdom which has

its name from the faet that God establishes i t . It isGod who shows in it His power— the power in verydeed to redeem H is own . It is God who through thisKingdom , in the omnipotence of His love

,fulfils His

promises , not for and on the righteous , not for thosewho are whole

,but for and on sinners

,for and on such

s inners as she was ofwhom it is recorded that H e knewnot who and what manner of woman this is whichtoucheth Him .

” For them Jesus was sent from God,

for them H e brings the grace of God , which theyneed ; such as these will H e comfort and revive . ToHim should they come

,in Him should they believe .

H e i s 7201 subj efi'

, bu t obj eé? of religion .

Has H e the right ? Are these statements of Himstill true Or must we first purge the accounts ofHimfrom every accessory of Jewish particularism ,

ofJewish theology

,of Jewish presumption and elements of

narrowness in their knowledge of nature ? H e saidgreat things about the inestimable worth of a humansoul

,indeed

,not merely in the figurative discourses

upon the birds of the heaven , the lilies of the held ,the hairs on ‘our head

,but even more pointedly in the

parables of the lost sheep , the lost p iece of s ilver , andthe prodigal son . These were sinners ’ souls , in whomJesus had an interest

,as H e shows when H e interests

Himself in the paralytic and the publican . It was not,

asWe llhausen says , that His predilection for sinnerssometimes seems to go too far, but as to this one mustalways take into account His opposition to the Pharisees . Rather what Paul attests later is true Where

60


sin abounded , grace did abound more exceedingly .

Jesus has proved this,and thus made Himself the

center of attraction to sinners to assure the most miserable of the miserable that the Kingdom of God is athand

,and that H e is the King of this Kingdom ,

chosenof God .

Now H e had gone . Where now abides and remainsthe K ingdom of God ? Does it not seem as i fwe wereobliged to distinguish at least the transient and the enduring in the accounts concerning Jesus ? But beforewe proceed to that we must take into considerationanother record of Jesus ’ career— the Gospel accordingto John , whose narrative is or seems to be so extremelydifferent from that of the synoptic Gospels that we areobliged to give it our attent ion .

61

THE JOHANNEAN ACCOUNT

are now to consider the relation of the ao

counts ofChrist in John with the synoptists .In the first place

,i t must be admitted that

an essential part of the difierence arisesfrom the different purpose of the Gospel . The lgh'annean Gospel is intended for the congregation of be

lievers , who already know and follow Christ , and ismeant to strengthen

,confirm

,and enrich them

,and

to develop their faith more fully . The synoptic Gospels

,on the otherhand , giveu s that record of Jesus’

career and history as it was again and again reportedin connection with the m issionary preaching

,and as i t

very soon took,as to the main parts

,a relatively fixed

form . Matthew gives the apology of Jesus ’ Messiahship over against Judaism Luke a record of the history of Jesus , and the preaching of the Gospel se tdown for the enlightenment of a prominent heatheninterested in Christianity ; while Mark has put together what he heard again and again in the missionary preaching . We may thus understand how it isthat we meet a difference between the Johannean ac

count and that of the synoptists , which is similar to thedifference that appears between the apostolic accountand that of Christ Himself. Only incidentally do theapostles speak of the Kingdom of God , with the idea62


does John mean to give a full survey of the career of

Jesus ? Let u s re colleét that there are presented to usonly single

,isolated extracts from that which has been

called the didaétic life ofJesus . In the second chapterwe have the miracle at the marriage in Cana , the cleansing of the temple , and the short mention of the faithwhich Jesus found in Jerusalem

,on which

,however

,

H e did not much rely ; in the third chapter there isthe conversation with Nicodemus ; in the fourth themotive for Jesus ’ j ourney to Galilee , the conversationwith the Samaritan woman , the healing of the ruler’sson ,

but nothing farther ofJesus ’ act ivity in Galilee .

And yet John knows of this , for, after he narrated in the fifth chapter the healing of the sick bythe pool of Bethesda , and the discourse with the Jewsfollowing the same , he speaks in the sixth chapter ofthe feeding ofthe five thousand near the sea ofGennesaret

,which was the cause for the great discourse on

the eating and drinking of the flesh and blood of theSon ofMan— a sermon recorded by John only . In theseventh chapter Jesus speaks at the feast oftabernacles

,

and in the eighth chapter calls Himself the light ofthe world . To this should be j oined the discourse of

Jesus upon discipleship , and the account in which theunbelieving Jews accuse Him of having a devil . Inthe ninth chapter we have the healing ofthe man bornblind in the tenth Jesus speaks of Himself as thegood shepherd ; in the eleventh occurs the raising of

Lazarus in the twelfth the anointing in Bethany andthe entrance into Jerusalem in the thirteenth theb eginning of the last days , the washing ofthe disciples

’

feet,the betrayal ofJudas , and from that on the pe cul

64


iar discourses of Jesus with H is disciples,the high

priestly prayer , and the history of the passion . Thusto the twelfth chapter we have only isolated e x traé’ts

from Jesus’ career , which are not even intended tomake the impression of a report of His whole life andteaching . For John , as we derive from a number of

individual features of his Gospel,presupposes among

his readers an acquaintance not only with the historyof Jesus , but with the synoptic narrative of the same ,and his purpose is not to supplement this

,bu t to

record that which in his very intimate relation to Jesushad become important to him as the main questionand report its decision— the question

,namely : Is

Jesus the Messiah ? And why would the Jews notbelieve this ? Ou this account John records only thediscourses bearing upon a decision of these questions .

Beside this , he gives us some of the familiar discourses of Jesus with His disciples , as the farewelldiscourses . H e shows in this that he has retained theear and heart of the disciple whom Jesus loved

,and

would not keep from the Church his recollect ions connected with the most serious , and , at the same time ,most intimate hours with the Master .We thus see in the discourses of Jesus that John ’sGospel concerns not the Kingdom of God

,but Christ

Himselfas the Messiah or the Son of God . This isexactly the difference which distinguishes the apostolicaccounts from the sayings of Jesus Himself, while atthe same time we note that there is perfect agreement with the synoptists in that Jesus is called inthe same sense as in the synoptics the Son of God

,

and God is called in the same sense the Father , your

65


Father,my Father . Since Jesus spoke of the King

dom of God , the question as to His relation to thisKingdom

,the question as to His Messiahship , had to

arise . Is H e the Messiah ? I s H e l/ze Son of God

For the question as to the Messiahship was the question as to the Sonship ofGod . If it could be provedto Jesus that in this very relation H e is not the Sonof God

,that H e i s in opposition to the Father

,the

question as to His Messiahship was decided . Thensay what H e pleased

,do miracles as many and as

grea t as H e pleased,H e was not the Messiah . With

this decisive question alone the Johannean Gospelis concerned . Ou this account the evangelist recordsevents and discourses which refer only to this

,and

which to this point are most exactly charaéi eristic .

Such are Jesus ’ discourses with Nicodemus and withthe Samaritan woman .

To John the designation Son of God in the synoptics is nothing else than the designation of the Messiah expressing the unique relation to Him of God

,

who had chosen Him to be His Anointed,the King of

His Kingdom . God ’s Son was to be Israel ’s King .

This H e had never completely been . Since the destruotion of the Jewish kingdom Israel has waited for

Him , who forever was to be the royal Son of God ,who should establish forever the Kingdom of God

,

forever be the salvation ofHis people,and thereby of

the whole world . True , God had once said Israelis my son , my first -born out of Egypt did I call myson ,

” and in its darkest hour,in its most fervent

prayers for the promised deliverance,Israel had

addressed God as its Father , as may be seen from the

66


well-known passage in the Book ofWisdom ( II . ,1 0 17.

V . ,1 But they were not used to speak ofGod as

the Father , but only to pray to Him thus , and Israelcalled not itselfSon of God , still less lice Son of God .

This predicate they uttered only to the Messiah , whoserelation to God was to transcend every human measure .

Now Jesus came and spoke not only of God as theFather— this they had before understood and let itpass . The Jews said of themselves , in one of thesecontroversial discourses with Jesus We were not

born offornication we have one Father , even God .

”

Jesus,however , spoke ofGod as H is Father , as no one

otherwise did ; H e referred His work to His FatherMy Father worketh even until now

,and I work .

Was this not blasphemy ? H e, a man of man

,a son

ofman , made Himself equal with God , and gave tothe name of Father and to the name ofSon a meaning which no one could understand or acknowledgewithout acknowledging , at the same time , the Messiahship of Jesus . For only an understanding of thereal ity ofthe Messiah could unfold the whole meaningand purport of the designation : “ The Son of God .

”

Shall this Jesus,the son of Joseph and Mary

,be the

Son ofGod ? A son ofman the Son ofGod ? NeverAnd since H e is not this , H e is also not the MessiahH e is also not the light of the world , the bread of life ,which came down out of heaven and gives life to theworldThis , however , is ex aétly the same meaning inwhich the record of the synoptic Gospels speaks

,not

only of the fathership of God,but also of the unique

Divine sonship ofChrist . Jesus says I thank Thee,

67


0 Father , Lord ofheaven and earth , that Thou didsthide these things from the wise and understanding

,

and didst reveal them unto babes ; yea , Father , for soi t was well -pleasing in Thy sight . All things havebeen delivered unto me of my Father ; and no oneknoweth the Son , save the Father ; neither doth anyknow the Father , save the Son , and he to whomsoeverthe Son willeth to reveal Him .

” In the same senseJesus thinks ofHis Divine sonship

,where H e expeéts

and receives from His disciples the confession : Thou( the Son ofMan , whom men regard as their equal andconsequently not as the Messiah) , Thou art the Messiah , the Son of the Living God . In the same senseH e says 011 this occasion to Peter Flesh and bloodhath not revealed it unto thee

,but my Father which

is in heaven It is the same idea of the Son ofGod ,the beloved or chosen Son , that is meant at the bapt ism and at the transfigurat ion ofJesus

,at His temp

tat ion and condemnation , and this is also conveyed inthe idea of the fathership of God in its conneétion

with the Kingdom of God and the relation of Jesusto it .

Then remains for the Gospel of John the peculiarity of representing Jesus as in an eternalmanner

,was God and became man, John ’

s history isthe shadowing forth of Him ln whom from eternityeverything unites what God has to tell to the world .

On this account H e is called the_ as this

Word,H e 1s God . For everything which God is and

w ill befor u s H e 1s , and everything is comprised andterminated in Him . In this designation there is to befound no trace whatever ofPhilonian and Alexandrian

(38


religious philosophy,and the later discussions ofGreek

theology on the Logos only wrongfully start fromthis assumption . H e ,

the Word,which God has

spoken to us and given unto us,the Word which was

with God,and was and is God Himself— H e became

flesh, became what we are and like unto us ( the very

reverse of that what H e was and is from the beginning) , and dwelt among us . And as God in Himmade Himself aétually present with u s

,we beheld His

glory— glory as of the only begotten from the Father ,full of grace and truth . It is His history which cameto pass

,and from which the Evangelist brings out the

very traits in which this,His Divine sonship

,is pre

served,tho misj udged

,opposed , and re j eéted. H e

,

the Messiah,who saved us from all sins , is , indeed ,

apprehended by His disciples and by a few lost people ,l ike the Samaritan woman ; but , from the beginning ,H e is not received by His people . H e emphasizes thatH e is sent by the Father , not to j udge and to punishthe world

,but to save it

,and that faith in Him i s the

salvation of men . This way they will not like , b ecause they can not bear the light , which through thismercy ofGod falls from Jesus upon their way . Hencethe steady opposition to Jesus . It is this oppositionchiefly that raises the question whether H e is the Sonof God , the Messiah . I t is this test to which H e

Himself appeals . H e who hears and knows theFather

,and then sees when

,where , and how Jesus

speaks and works,must perceive also that Jesus is the

Son of the Father , because H e does and speaksnothing except that which H e sees the Father do , orwhich the Father shows unto Him and inspires Him

69


to do and to say . Whoever is concerned to do God ’swill , where Jesus stands before Him and lays Hisclaim to Him , shall know of the teaching whether itbe of God , whether it brings the lost to God , whetherit unites the soul with God or not . Because this isthe suffic ient test that Jesus seeks

,H e j udges not

will only j udge when the final day has come . Tillthen H e bears and suffers whatever disbelief causesHim to bear . H e plainly declares what kind of faithH e seeks , a faith which unreservedly reconciles itselfto His humble appearance

,and in this very aspect of

His lowliness finds the Spirit of redemption . But Hisway becomes lonely and ever lonelier . H e speaks of

eternal life which H e gives,and which those who be

lieve in Him may find and have— the same gift which thesynoptists name as the gift of salvation

,for the sake

of which the Kingdom of God is to be desired . But ,as H e is not understood and finds no faith when H e

speaks of the Father , so H e also gains no credence forthis promise of eternal life . H e presents Himself tothe people as the good shepherd

,ofwhom the promise

has spoken , yet it is as the shepherd who lays down Hisown life in order to save the flock . This does not fitwith the piéture which men cherished of a Messiahcoming in power , who with His power , as at one stroke ,makes an end to all oppression . Therefore

,this

figure also is not understood and the representation isnot believed . None abides with Him except the fewdisciples whom H e has found . To them H e nowpromises the fruit of His life and sufle ring— the HolyGhost— as in that promise of prayer recorded in thesynoptics . The day is to come on which they shall

70


lar movement and progress of the narrative belong tothe author or to Jesus Himself will hardly be ascer

tained with certainty . But that the tenor is authentic ,and contains no contradiét ion to the synoptic record ,ought to be clear as soon as one has apprehended thepurpose of this record and these performances , and , bythe side of i t , the purpose and intent of the synoptic narrative . We understand that John from his recolleét ions brings before his readers those Very thingsin which the controversy about the person of Jesuscomes to a crisis and a decision . We also understandthat from the beginning he put everything under theaspeét that regards Him as the eternal Son of God ,incarnated for our sakes , about whom they contended . From this point ofView H e i t is who sufie redeverything that was done against Him , was repudiatedand re j eeted in order not to j udge but to save . Johndiscloses the deepest ground ofhistory which his readers can comprehend . H e presents Jesus as one towhom he had united himself with the other disciplesfrom the beginning , on the ground of their beliefin theBaptist ’s word that H e is the Lamb ofGod . His wordand work have se t before John and the disciples greatmysteries from the beginning which were to be solvedonly through the resurreétion . This mystery cons istedon the one hand in the irreconcilable contrast betweenHis miraculous power and oneness with the Father

,

and,on the other hand

,His lowliness

,suffering

,and

patience . It involves the paradox that H e, the Son of

Man , was also the Son of God while H e yet remainedthe Son of Man . When H e has risen again , however ,everything is clear . Every opposition to Him is re

72


sistance against One who,from eternity and to eternity ,

is God and Lord,and the Savior ofsinful men .

According to the established ve rdiét of the Church( to which only in the most recent time has obj ect ionbeen made

,as i f the obj eét ion had established itself as

self—evident ) both accounts , that of the synoptists andthat ofJohn

,are right . They do not preclude each

other ; the Johannean account was not given in orderto supplement that of the synoptists

,altho it does .

In neither of these accounts does Jesus appear as afounder of religion

,as a man who

,through the ful

ness and accuracy of His knowledge of God,His nu

shaken faithfulness and sincerity , and the plenitude ofH is religio -ethical doétrine ,

had become the author ofthat religion that consists of true union with God

,

which alone is true religion . H e does not figu re inthese accounts as a man who , as Harnack says , doesnot belong to the narration . According to all theextant accounts — according to all

,that is

,which

we learn about Him from the mouth and from theservice of His disciples and His first believers— H e

is not the suéj eé? but the obj efl of relig1on . H e

teaches us to know the Father , H e shows u s the

way to the Father— yes , H e i s the way,and also

the truth,which one can trust forever

,and H e i s the

l ife . H e who has Him and holds to Him is free fromdeath

, j udgment , and perdition . H e is the center ofthe Gospel . H e brings in the Kingdom of God

,and

H e brings that K ingdom to us . H e not only proclaims the forgiveness of sin ,

H e aétually forgivessin .

“ As many as received Him,to them gave H e

the right to become children of God,even to them

73


that believe in His name . His word It is I isthe really new thing which H e has brought

,the ful

filment ofall the promises of God . The proofof Hislove — not of love in general— shows the aétual fa lhlment of the old commandment which till then hadnever yet been fulfilled. Fear not

,only believe , ”

says H e . H e will die , and , indeed , H e must die , inorder to prove Himself to the full the Savior andhelper of the world which killed Him .

But is all this correét now ,and how are we to under

stand i t ? Shall we accept it j ust as it is here de line ated to us , and say that H e is our Savior ? Have wehere the piéture of the real Jesus

,or was H e a man

misunderstood by His disciples and His believingcongregation

,but who , through this very misunder

standing,had nevertheless become one who exercised

the greatest influence upon humanity ? Is the piéturewhich we receive ofHim only the product of an b istorical construétion which , in spite of the contrast betweenJesus and the Jews

,has nevertheless originated under

the influence ofJewish theology or which,on the other

hand,in spite of the faet that themission to the heathen

was first prohibited by Jesus H imself,and in spite of

His severe words concerning the‘dogs

,has originated

under the influence ofheathenish ideas ? Is the starting-point

,even the faét of the resurreétion of Jesus

,

not historic reality ? Is it rather a produé’c of Jewisheschatology , an epitome of the belief in an eternall ife which one may represent to himself in this narrative form ? Does it belong , as Harnack thinks , to thefabrication of elements of the system of salvation onthe part of the Christian congregations who could not

74


otherwise represent to themselves the conv iétion thatChrist was not immersed in death , but had passed to ahigher life in glory

,power

,and honors ?

We must now piéture to ourselves the whole seriesofobj ections and doubts urged against the primitiveChristian accounts of Christ and against the apostolicpreaching concerning Him .

CRITICAL CONS IDERATIONS

HE question whether the historical real ity doesor does not correspond to the picture whichthe apostolic narrative sketches of the careerof Jesus and His purpose or purposes is

beset with considerable difficulties . These difficultiesare so great that one can not aétually attempt , still lessaccomplish sc ient ifically ,

a correct and perfeét critiqueof Jesus without taking them into consideration . I

say sc ient ifically ,.but in reality the question at issue

can not be answered by sc ient ific processes . The dec ision for or against will come about differently ineach case . The argument is only supported and sustained by sc ient ific discussions , which , after all , are onlyof an inte lleétual kind , whereas the question itself,according to its nature

,is a religio -ethical one .

To begin with , we are concerned with that faet onwhich primarily depend the entire apostolic teachingas to the importance ofJesus for us , the whole delineation and exhibition ofHis l ife and aét iv ity and all themysteries which we meet in i t . This faet is the resurre61 i0n of Jesus . Is it a faet ? Harnack denies this ,because

,aside from the question whether these accounts

are trustworthy,it stands entirely out ofanalogy with

all that otherwise takes place in conneé‘cion with humanhistory— yes , even out ofanalogy with those resuscitations of the dead which Jesus H imself, according to

76

CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS

our present records , has undertaken . Shall we beable to acknowledge such a faét , which is opposed toall conditions of our existence

,to the conditions of all

other occurrences ? True,I believe in a resurrec’tion

ofthe dead but is there really such a re surreétion atthe end of days , when the earth and the sea ,

hell andHades

,give back their dead ; when all that are in the

tombs shall hear the voice of the Son ofGod Thisis

,indeed

,the e xpeétation and representation of the

resurreétion but can it hold its ground in the face of

the sober and sc ient ific observation ofthe faéts ofdeathand corruption ? Shall we ,

therefore,not be obliged

perhaps to accep t the newest conception of Harnack

,expressed by him in his History of Dogma

,

”

according to which the Christian community itselfproduced this as well as other faéts of salvation

,

as they are called , by clothing their hope of thefuture eternal life in the thought of a resurreétion

of the dead ? Did they,as Harnack thinks

,make

Him to whom they owed eternal life not only apartaker in this fabricated dogma of the resurre c

tion,but the first who has in Himself experienced

this great salvation,this everlasting deliverance ?

To be sure,according to all accounts before us ( in

which Harnack perceives,perhaps , eleven or more

contributing hands) , the tomb was empty . But if i treally was empty— we know not whence comes thisobservation— this and the faet of a resurre ét ion arestill far apart , since Jesus , as Peter says , showed Himself as the risen One to none other than those whomGod had chosen before as witnesses . A resurreétion

which , when i t had j ust taken place , required faith

77


to be believed— how can i t be a faet ? For faét s , saysHarnack elsewhere ( in his History ofDogma cannot be believed and need not to be believed— a proposition which indeed is not true

,since there are many

facts which one knows as very certain , altho one knowsthem only through belief. Besides

,no one has seen

the risen One in the mortal body,as it was when laid

into the tomb . Then all had only “ appearances,

”

from the women who went to the tomb to anoint thebody of Jesus down to Paul . Among the womentheir experience is looked upon already as a vision

,

because they imagined they saw an angel . As toMary Magdalene , she knew not the risen One . Andwhat else a re apparitions , ” “ Visages , ” “ visions

,

”

than the gathering up of inner imaginings or experiences into a piéture , in which that which we inwardlycarry with us externalizes itself to us to be seen assomething which existed outside us ? For example(not taking into account other narrations which canhardly be considered accounts of eye-witnesses) , Paulenumerates a number ofsuch appearances . H e writes(I . Corinthians xv : 3—8 ) For I delivered unto youfirst of all that which also I received , how that Christdied for our s ins according to the Scriptures and thatH e was buried and that H e hath been raised on thethird day according to the Scriptures ; and that H e

appeared to Cephas ; then to the twelve ; then H e

appeared to above five hundred brethren at once , ofwhom the greater part remain till now

,but somcare

faller asleep then H e appeared to James then to allthe apostles ; and last of all , as unto one born out ofdue time , He appeared to me also .” In connect ing

78


the midst of them,and said

,Peace be unto

you they were te rrified and afi'

righted,and supposed

that they beheld a spirit . In all cases,however

,

trembling and astonishment had turned into j oy,espe

c ially ,as the Gospel of Mark adds

,after Jesus had

upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of

heart,because they believed not them which had seen

Him after H e was risen .

” How this change couldhave taken place inwardly unless the risen One hadaétually brought it about remains inexplicable , espec ially when we refieét that as yet they knew not theScripture

,that H e must rise again from the dead .

”

Such a theory would make the case of the apostle Paulon the way to Damascus the most remarkable of all .In his case any connect ing points

,with movements of

His inner life,are the more out of question

,since these

movements,at the most , had perhaps declared to him

that Jesus was right,and that he was forever wrong

,

forever lost . Such a state ofmind was the opposite ofthat which could have suggested the resurreét ion .

How are we to understand the quick , sudden change ofthe women , of the disciples , of the brethren ? H ow

explain the power of this newly acquired conv iét ion

of a resurreé‘

t ion so great that it called forth everywhere the same “ appearance — an appe arance

,how

ever,which never afterward repea led z

’

lself whichcertainly

,in the missionary preaching as well as

in the attestation of the Church of the first centuries,

never was act ed upon ? We know , indeed , the infeétiou s strength of hypnosis or suggestion ; but doesany one seriously believe he can explain the appearanc es of the risen One after the analogy of the ap

80


pe arance s of Mary of Lourdes and others ? The faetthat the incipient disbeliefwas changed into belief, andthat the missionary preaching from the beginning demanded only faith

,and plainly enj oined upon the

Christians'

bEIier in Him whom they have not seen( I . Peter i : 8 ) bear so decidedly against the explanation of the appearances which would makethem the produéts merely of the inner life , that this canno more remain the real question . The theory that inthese appearances we have merely piétures of thepresent condition of Jesus which God produces in theinner consciousness

,implies an interference with our life

processes that we are not prepared to believe . Suchinner conceptions would be far more likely to dishearten us than to enlighten us as to the present stateof Jesus . One needs only to know the psychology of

the inner life as it is related to the living God , of thereal inner life not merely imagined in the study

,in

order from the very start to re j eét such explanationsof the faith in the resurreétion as absolutely impossible .

That the resurre ét ion of Jesus , however , is conce ived as something till then never experienced

,

that it should be different from the awakening of

Jairus’ daughter,or of the young man at Nain

,and

also from the rising of Lazarus from the grave , is notinconceivable . Jesus did not rise as these , to dieagain

,but H e rose to triumph over every hostile power ,

even over hell and death . God has just ified Him inthe power of His spirit , and thus H e became the firstborn of the redeemed

,whose redemption is for all

who believe in Him , the surety for the coming

81


liberty of the glory of the children of God . It isHis calling to be the Messiah

,and as Messiah the

powerfu l Savior and helper ; therefore , H e rose , H e whowas laid in the grave , and yet is a different One ; afl iétedwith the scars of His cross

,and yet living forever ;

whom even closed doors keep not from His own .

Through Him has first been revealed It is sown indishonor

,i t is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness ,

i t is raised in power it is sown in corruption,it is

raised in incorruption .

To this now is added the testimony of the apostlePaul

,which confirms as decisively as possible the ac

counts of the bodily re surre étion of the cruc ified ,dead

,

and buried Christ . How Paul was convinced of theresurreétion of Christ we have heard already . Thathe did not conceive the resurre étion as a figurative expression for transition into a better existence , for thelifting up to a more complete and higher form of existence , we learn from the fifte enth chapter of the firstepistle to the Corinthians . H e puts it completely on apar with the future re surrea ion for which we wait .This future re surre étion h e describes as the completionof the redemption in u s through a final complete abolition ofdeath by means of the renewing or spiritualizing of our corporeality , which , when it has been renewed

,stands related to the present body as the fruit to

the seed,while that which is earthly falls away with

all weakness,sickness

,and misery . So , according

to Paul,did Jesus rise

,and in His corporeality H e ap

pe ared as the same who was laid into the grave , and yetdifferent . This testimony ofPaul rests upon his e xperi ence on the way to Damascus . It is consequently

82


much older than any of the evangelical accounts , andconfirms the theory , therefore , that since the beginningof the Christian preaching there has been no otherpreaching than that of the cruc ified,

dead,buried

,and

risen Christ . What remains of differences in theseaccounts concerns not the faet of the resurreétion ,

northe faé’t of the different appearances of the risen One

,

but only their order , the communication of them inthe circles of the male and female disciples of Jesus .Even concerning the reception which the news of theresurre étion found

,the fear and the terror which it

excited,the disbel ief which at first i t met

,and which

found its most decided and most prominent repre

senta tive finally in Thomas , that disciple who foresaw the death of Jesus the most clearly and painfu lly .

The accounts are j ust as accordant as they are concerning the change which the resurrec

’

tion finally broughtabout .How will we now decide in view of such attestation ?

The resurreé’tion is , indeed , an unheard of event in

the course of nature and history,and it only remains

to acknowledge the fact in opposition to this naturalcourse of things or to deny it resolutely . Acceptingthe attestation , we will have to renounce the explanation that has been ofiered for the faet that so soonafter the death of Jesus men had come to the thoughtof the re surreétion and to belief in the same . For theassertion that the inner thought of and faith in the exaltat ion of the dead Christ to a higher

,better existence

have clothed themselves in this historic form opposesthe testimony of Paul and the testimony of the evangelists . But if we are to deny the historic resurre c

83


tion , what remains , then ? Can it indeed be possiblethat the entire world -historical appearance of Christ iani ty has , after all , drawn its world- overcomingpower from imagined apparitions

,visions

,phantoms

,

such as we meet with so often,even in the legends

of modern history , and to which we never ascribereality ? I f the re surre ét ion is not a faet , no matterhow one attempt its explanation

,with the delusion

concerning it is conneét ed also the delusion concerning its importance . Paul especially expressed himselfto this effe ét

,that there is therefore only forgiveness

of sins because Jesus has risen . Through the suffering and death ofJesus this remission is acquired forus ; by His return into our life it is fulfilled or to befu lfilled on all those who believe in this Jesus . But i fthe resurre ét ion i s no return into life , what then ?Where is the forgiveness ? Or can a serious consideration of the suffering and death ofJesus lead to thisremission

, so that His meekness , remaining the sameunto death

,His pardoning love of enemies

,His cling

ing to God and His faith in the Viétory of His love ,shall assure u s that we have not fallen under thevengeance of God

,and may gratefully trust in His

forgiveness ? Yes , but who , then , is lost ? The disciples

,who knew Jesus ’ meekness and love and faithful

ness,and yet forsook Him

,or those who knew not

Jesus and the wisdom of God ? Our sins forg iven !whoever will believe this

,what does he need

Starting from this conception ofHis death and resurreét ion

,and going backward step by step

,the entire

evangelical account of the advent , work ,and destiny of

Jesus is depiéted. Had H e not been raised , then H e

84


could not have appeared as Messiah,as chosen by God

,

endowed with powers of the upper world,and finally

as King,appointed by God Himself; H e could not have

applied to Himself the fulfilment of all the Divinepromises

,and thereby the realization of the hope of

Israel . Then the whole Messianic picture of the Gospels is wrong , and at the most an accommodation tothe familiar ideas of Israel , in so far as such accom

modation was at all possible . The demand of thepeople did not call forth a sharp opposition

,as at the

feeding of the five thousand . The new heart-cheeringmessage which Jesus brought , which was to work andreally did work , tho under diverse veilings , can thenhave consisted only in the knowledge (which had

come to Him,or had been discovered by Him

,or

,if

one wishes,had fallen to His lot ) of the true essence

of God as a Father loving H is creatures,in place of

the severe and inexorable j udge represented by olderlaws of Israel . With this , we may say ,

had come toHim also the idea of the infini te worth of our soul

,

of each individual human soul , which nowhere elsecan find rest and peace , and can not otherwise growstrong for an energetic life , and love , and m inistry ,save by giving itself to and being seized by this knowledge ofGod which had first come to Jesus , and whichwas preached by Him and retained in spite of all theopposition of the world . It was also clear to Jesusthat one can not serve God merely by fix ed

“ statutory

,

” required performances,but only by giving the

whole life, the whole person , to the service of the

brethren . For we see the brethren . They arecreatures of God like ourselves . God we se e not .

85


Therefore to serve the brethren , that they have something of this better life , means to serve God throughthem .

I f this be the whole account of the mission ofJesus,

only that can be historical which is communicated tous ofHis teaching about the Kingdom of God and of

His doétrine about the Father . Everything else butthis must be deduéted — the influence under whichthe informants communicated their views and narrat ives , the traditions of the community

,the notions

current in the community that have proceeded,for

the most part,from Israel and from Israelitish the

ology . It is,indeed , not easy to separate in the

accounts that which is genuine from that which isspurious

,s ince in the accounts of Jesus many things

are contained which are derived from contemporarynotions in the so -called eschatological discoursesabout His return

,that which H e says of the devil

,of

demons and of angels,who are not ex aétly figure s of

speech with Him,but are represented in parables under

other images and are interpreted by Him .

But the knowledge of God ’s fathership,of which

mention has been made,and which , as we must think ,

has an entirely different meaning from that whichwe derive from the statements of Scripture ; theknowledge H e is said to have acquired of the infinite worth of a human soul , and with it of thetreasures called “ heavenly ” His alleged knowledgeoflove and service— these must give way to that othermeaning of the expression Kingdom of God ” or“ Kingdom of Heaven ” which we hnd in the firstparable of the sower . It is purely a spiritual king

86


among all the rubbish already heaped up at the verybeginning , and increased throughout the centuries ,His truth is still cognizable . It is discerned , to besure

,only by the experienced

,whose task it is now

publicly to defend and propagate this newly acquiredknowledge in confident trust in the power of truth .

For , in faét , Jesus is , or was , not t he ob j eét but thesub j e ét of religion

,and there follows from this the

critical axiom j esus does not belong lo the narra tive .

To this view another consideration should be expressed . In trying to trace back the piéture of Christand ofHis career to features which are alone historically possible

,we are not allowed to acknowledge Him

as miracle worker . Not as ifH e had done nothing of

that which is recorded of Him as miracle . As an historian

,one must inquire the reason and the motive

lying behind ideas as he finds them extant in the aocounts of the miracle . But these accounts are , on theother hand

,apparently so mixed with absolute im

possibilities (for example , the stilling of the storm onthe Sea of Gennesaret ) that we are hardly able to undertake

,in all details

,a clear and correét separation of

that which aétually took place from the legendary additions . It is to be acknowledged that every personalfree aétion is a miracle

,but our thinking is so domi

nated by the constant relation between essential thingsand their phenomena that it is a paradox ,

inexplica

ble if considered as a produét of a natural course ofthings

,when we conceive personal act ion interfering

to make use ofnature outside the ordinary limits ofthisconneét ion . It is , nevertheless , to be acknowledgedthat a personality so unitary

,and , therefore , so spirit

88


nally powerful as that of Jesus , is also capable of

entirely different performances from those that wecan do— performances which so far appear to u s asmiracles , as we are not able , or not yet able , to performthem ourselves . To this class belong the proofs of

His healing strength and power on those whose lifewas disturbed in consequence of the environment ofnature in which they stood . But these are

,after all

,

not miracles . They do not l ie beyond the measure ofthe humanly possible . Tho we may not be able to referto similar events in the history ofhumanity within ourreach

,and must acknowledge that such cures

,in which

recovery takes place as soon as the word is spoken,are

,

for us,outside of our possibilities , yet such a power of

the human mind is at least conceivable,in which one may

not merely triumph over one ’s own suffering,but also

helps others . To be sure,it would doubtless be ne ces

sary to excite in those who are to be helped lifesimilar to that in the healer

,in order to accomplish

this effeét , and j ust this is the thing wanting in mostmiracle accounts . This seems evident in the cures ofmost of those whose minds were snfle ring,

or who werementally deranged . Here we are not obliged to confine ourselves to the conception held by the people

,by

the evangelists,and probably also by Jesus Himself

,

that the origin of those sicknesses is through demoniacal possession . Operation of Spirits belonging toanother world we know nothing about . Demoniacalpossession

,therefore

,does not exist

,but a spiritual

bondage,which

,tho not in all , yet in many cases ,

yields to a powerfully working , sound will . Then ,to be sure

,such necessary accounts as these H e

89


healed them all and As many as touched weremade whole

,

”fall to the ground ; and it remains

strange that not one case is mentioned in which Jesus’

power failed , whereas a case is mentioned in which thedisciples could not help . But these affirmat ions b e longrto the coloring of the account we are cons idering . Weare hardly prohibited from also supposing instances inwhich Jesus could not help . In such cases we maysuppose that in His wisdom and love H e would havedireéted the desire of the sick , or of their relatives , tosomething else than to healing . As soon as we haveclearly settled it that the greatest of all miracles

,the

resurre ét ion of Jesus,has no historical ground

,all the

elements in the miracle accounts that transcend themeasure of the human , or of that which is humanlyposs ible

,disappear . For the historical inquirer canwell

concede that miracu lous things that cause astonishment

,and are

,for the time being

,inexplicable

,have

taken place somewhere and anyhow,and that these only

become intelligible at a later stage of the developmentof the human intelligence and upon a more completedomination of nature , i f we attain to such ; but realmiracles he can never and nowhere acknowledge . H e

knows mz’

mbz’

lz’

a but not mz’

m eu la . It is no dogma,

but faet,that there are not and can be no miracles .

Miracles drop out completely not merely from theorderly constitution of nature

,but also out of every

historical conne étion,and anything that falls ou t of

this connect ion can only be a produét of legend orfiét ion

,never of aétuality . A

To this category also belongs what is reported of

Christ ’s struggle with Satan immediately after the

90


a way that it proves itself to be united not only withthe life of all times , but with the formative e lementsof its environment . Thus in the case ofJesus ; H e isa born Jew

,as Luther has emphasized it in his masterly

writing : “ That Jesus Christ is born a Jew,

” but aJew who received into Himself the entire religious im

pe tus of l ife accumulated in all time , kept Himselffreefrom all aberrations and perversions

,grasped with all

seriousness and all fidelity His religio-ethical task asHis life’s calling

,realized it and shaped i t . Perhaps ,

withal,under great influence , but perhaps independ

ently of i t , H e deepened His knowledge of God andstrengthened H is hold upon God , so that H e grewinto complete harmony with i t

,and thus matured to

the estate of that religious genius which H e remainsto this day

,unique in our human history .

Thus,and thus only , is to be explained Christianity ,

this unique phenomenon in the history ofhumanitya religion which was able , without support of the civilpowers

,to become in a short time authoritative for the

ancient world,and which to-day still wins the nations

by awakening and satisfying interests that can notbe estimated and measured in the l ight of any earthlyproportions . Christianity is religion . It offers conneét ion with God , but neither for an earthly prize nor

for earthly ob j eéts . Tho many sins have been committed and are still being committed in the name ofChristianity

,it always has appeared to be the purest

and the most efi'

e ét ive where its devotees have sacrificed worldly utility and have sought it only on accountof the craving of the soul for God . For Thou hastcreated us for Thee , and our heart is restless in us

92


till it rests in Thee This resting in God , that wemay receive power for eve rything which it is incumbent upon us to do and to suffer in our earthly l ife ,bound to the clod , is the interest which Christianitysat isfie s . It sat isfies i t through Christ ’s preaching :

( 1 ) the fatherhood of God ; ( 2 ) the endless worth of

a human soul ; and ( 3 ) love and service as our life’s

task . Everything else is accessory,not belonging

to the case,e .g . , the supposed miracle-working of

Christ with which His fame invested itself, and whichthereby may have contributed to the first propagationof Christianity . But that whereby H e actually operated and still operates are these three great truths

,the

everlastingly established p illars of l ife conformed tothe image ofGod

,and— i i the expression be allowed

existing in paradisaic blessedness .To be sure , Christianity , so far as our knowledge

reaches back , has from the beginning been preachednot so much as 3 Gospel of Jesus as a Gospel aboutJesus

,and in the Gospel of Jesus , Jesus had the same

position and importance as in the Gospel concerningJesus . But this faét , essential as i t is in its bearingupon the world-historical appearance of Christianityas the religion of the Church

,belongs

,after all

,only to

the mythology of the Christian preaching . The realand lasting substance of the Gospels which forms theunderground and background of this mythology is this :the knowledge of the eternal essence of God as theFather of His human children

,and the knowledge

of the ever unchanging and unchangeable relationbetween God and the world

,with which to familiarize

ourselves , and into which to grow , must be our task ,93


since now i t has been made known by Jesus . Everyadvance is made by way of the inte lleét . From itreally proceed the determination of the will

,tho per

haps only after long and serious vacillations . In thisinfluenc ing of the will by the aétion of the intellect isexplained the temporary authorization of the rec eptionof such mythological elements into the Christian ac

counts as the efiectuat ion of the forgiveness of oursins through Christ ’s death

,its accomplishment by His

re surreétion ,and His lasting intercess ion for us by His

exaltation at the right hand ofGod,whither he went

to intercede Himself for u s as a priest before God .

For now H e is able to save to the uttermost themthat draw near unto God through Him

,seeing H e

ever liveth to make intercession for them .

” In allthis the main thing is that which is efieéted and accomplished by such preaching— namely

,a knowledge

of God and of the Divine life. When both thesethings are accomplished

,the adventitious aid by which

one has come to this degree of development must andwill fall . They must be tolerated as props

,

”for the

time being necessary to many , but they are no longernecessary to the strong

,accomplished minds which

have found or received the powers,

” and are therefore able to do without the props . ” It is somethingof this kind that Harnack means to express when hesays that the powers and props come from thesame necessity

,and have the same ob j e ét as long as

there are those,and there may always be such , who

need the props,

” these props ” will remain . Butthe cultured man can not use them because they giveoffense to his so -called sc ientific conv iétions of the

94


called Him,with His motives and His obj ec‘ts

,to live

the life of God on earth . Thus men may not onlyknow in Him and His conduét of life what a God theyhave

,but they also have in His conduét the very con

duct ofGod Himself. God through Him and in Himstands related to us— through Him because God com

ple te ly fills Him ; in Him because Jesus has completelyentered into the l ife of God . Thus

,God found in

Jesus the man in whom and through whom H e standsrelated to the others , and through whom and in whomthe others also have their right relation to God . T hatJesus has lived the life of God on earth

,that H e was

not only united with God in His thoughts and aims,and

in His relation toward the others,but was

,in faet

,as one

with God,this is

,indeed

,a conception not easy to enter

tain,especially so long as one still adheres to individu

ality,absoluteness

,and freedom of the personal God .

Harnack himselfwould perhaps not so express himself,

but rather would prefer the rationalistic Views,tho

not perhaps the language of the eighteenth century .

But we take up this View,tho differing from that of

Harnack,because it does more j ustice to the advancing

importance of Jesus even for the later generations .Christ l ived the life ofGod on earth .

” This idea iscertainly hard to conceive when we regard God notonly as the unapproachable background of the life of

Jesus,but as the true power which moved and person

ally filled Him and made the man Jesus to be theabode ofGod ’s self-revelation for u s . But is the difficulty of this conception greater than the difii cultieswhich the other idea ofGod

,as the power ruling the

world in absolute freedom ofH is love , involves ? Are

96


not the diffi culties which lie in the idea of reconciliation still greater ? Does the thought of reconciliation

,

if i t means something else than the change of our disposition toward God

,harmonize any better with the

thought of a God exalted above space and time,there

fore also independent of change— yes,even of the in

fluence of our conduét ? And is not that adorationwhich springs from the revelation in Christ of thelife of God in Him far better

,more worthy of man

and God , than the prayer in the name of Jesus,

through which we seek the Father ’s faceWe have brought before u s the picture of Christ as

it is formed on the basis of the critical processes nowgoing on . Every one will concede that in essentials itis correét ly drawn . I t is particularly the piéture of

Him which Harnack has drawn before his hearers . Weask Is this drawing sc ientifically authorized ? Harnack says that his intention has been to obtain this

piéture by way of historical criticism of the sources .Does his criticism really comprise a historical critique?H e does not examine the sources and their value according to a historical method . H e decides on thecontents of his authorities neither from their difference s among themselves , nor from their differenceswith ulterior authentications and communications

,nor

does he let pass their agreement . Of course , actuallywe have no ex aétly contemporaneous sources , but somethat are nearly contemporaneous

,which

,according

to the declarations of some of their authors , go back atleast to the testimonies of eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses . Could we do away also with these sources asbeing

,after all

,afi

'

eéted by the standpoint and attitude

97


of their authors thirty , fifty , or sixty years after theevents

,we have still to dispose of the testimony of

the apostle Paul , whose declarations coincide in themost essential points wi th the accounts of those latersources . These sources , however , and also the Paulinedeclarations

,yield a different piéture from that drawn

by the modern critic,whose traits are not even shaded

through Jewish sources . Now the piéture of Christto be derived from the sources agrees in no wise withany event otherwise known from history , or that b elongs to history

,or is possible from the ordinary

courses of history . Ou this account Harnack says,

and many with him,that this piéture is unhistorical .

The sign ificance of the question may,therefore

,be

stated thus : Is that what Jesus was , did , and still doesto be accounted antecedently incredible because thehistorical analogies are wanting for it ? It is admittedthat Jesu s stands absolutely unique in history . Noone is l ike Him

,either in His department of religion

or in any other respeét . So much the more it is nowrequired that His aftiv i ty shall completely conformto laws of our existence , and be put in close harmonywith nature and history , if it is to be of importance tous . A being who is above this harmony and systemof nature and history can not influence u s

,who always

live and think in the terms of this system . So arguesthe critic . But even if . i t should be admitted thatJesus in all respect s must be regarded as belonging tothe system of nature and history whose produét andproducer we ourselves are

,still the question would re

main whether the founder of Christianity,as H e is

called,has not differently regarded and differently

98


Meanwhile,in refusing Harnack ’s critiqu e as dog

mat ically _b iased,

we do not thereby mean‘ m ' u ‘ l “v!

l fiw '

that it is a mistake to approach our sources with dogmatic criticism. On the contrary ,a

’

sm am dea'

q’e

,

l/ge and all historical criticismreceives its power and the direétion of its process fromdogmatic critici sm , not , to be sure ,

fi

from the pr’

éslipf

‘

position of a certain dogma,but from criticism whose

first and most serious question is whether the view andestimation of the person and history of Jesus that isexpressed in the sources is authorized or not . Thisquestion

,however

,can only be answered as an e thico

religious question .

Historical criticism can the less decide , since thequestion is whether or not the history with which weare here concerned stands aétually outside of all otherhistory

,and thus differs from all other history . The

Christ whom the apostolic account describes has forHis ob j eét to save

,not humanity in general

,least of

all the wise,the noble

,the mighty of earth

,but the

sinners and the whole world of sinners . Has Jesussolved this problem ? Has H e solved it for me and inme ? Could H e and can H e solve it This questioncan not at all be historically decided

,tho i t concerns a

faet which is either real or an illusion . But in orderto decide this question i t requires not a sc ientific

”

disinterestedness , but it is to be put and treated , asHarnack also treats it

,as a question of the most burn

ing personal interest . One must enter into a personalrelation to Jesus

,and that not a relation in which , by

certain claims which he makes or repudiates,one re

striéts from the very beginning the influence of Jesus100


on men but where one examines the records to ascertain whether the eflefi which proceeds from that influence is a redeeming one or not

,and whether or not

this Jesus,as H e is here described before our eyes , ”

has redeemed us,and still redeems from the ban of

sin ,ofguilt , of death , and the j udgment .Harnack has omitted this task . H e has not evenmentioned it to his readers . From the very start hehas regarded it as the self—evident standpoint ofhistorical criticism that all essential features by whichthe Christ-piéture ofthe apostolic prediét ion charac‘terist ically detaches itself from every other historical picture are not only unessential , but for the most partincorreét . Only those features are essential and correet in which His figure ,

aside from its superiorendowment

,its faithfulness

,its vocation

,the fulfilment

of i t , appears as not at all difl‘

e rent from our own . Butbefore we prosecute on our part this task omitted byHarnack

,and examine the credibil ity of the apostolic

or New Testament conception of the person , history ,and work of Christ , let us examine and estimate themerit ofthe piéture ofChrist drawn by Harnack .

101

ANT l-CRITI ! UE

OES this figure of the non-risen Christ,whose

body was left to decay while His spirit went toGod

,satisfy u s ? The figure of the perfeétly

pure One,of the inspired

,loving

,patient

teacher,of the faithful leader of the mighty Lord and

Master,who indeed has not proved Himselfby actual

miracles,but continually proves Himself by what is

more than miracles,by His power to attraét us to

Himself— does this satisfy us ? It must indeed be agreat influ ence which H e exercises

,a powerful effect

proceeding from Him , when H e urges us to believewhat H e has believed in the way H e believed i t

,when

H e animates us to love as H e loved , when H e strengthens u s to triumph over all opposition of the world asH e triumphed— namely

,through a quiet

,patient snfier

ing , in reliance on the final Viétory of truth over allmeanness , envy , and obstinacy of the world ! Is thisnot suffic ient for a reformation of the world— morenecessary to-day

,perhaps

,than ever ? Is it not

suffic ient for a world which , as it seems , is to-day moresusceptible to the truth than ever

,even tho not to the

truth of the church -preaching ?We ask not whether this Christ-piéture satisfies ourclaims . Human claims are often very small andtrifling, and the ideas by which we are moved areoften very poor . This is well illustrated in most of the102


the greatness or smallness,the force or weakness

, of

the claim . We ask ,therefore

,more correétly : Does

l/za l C/zrz'

sl-pz'

elure liza l cri ticism draws sa lz'

sj y our

wan is ?

First of all we must consider the wants withwhose satisfac‘tion we are concerned . What are they ?Are they spiritually intelleétual, or are they estheticwants ? These are comparatively easy to be satisfied. A figure like the Biblical and ecclesiasticalChrist gives the greatest stimulus to our intelleé’t .

From such a consideration the sketch or construétionhas been undertaken in which every superhuman andevery extra human feature is erased

,and only a perfeét ,

all-comprising human being is left,tho this is en

hanced in the highest degree . Paul not only knewbut openly declared that the preaching of Christ hasunendurable severities for those who seek after wisdom

,

but who are not able to comprehend the Divine wisdomsurpassing in its heights all human wisdom

,and there

fore regard it as foolishness . Nevertheless , and j uston this account

,H e demanded faith forHis preaching ;

not a faith relying on the authori ty of the apostle(how should he demand of the Gentiles the acknowl

edgment of His but a faith which itselfconvinced of the truth ofHis preaching in spite of allgainsaying arguments

,a faith which silenced all

counter-arguments by overwhelming considerations ,and accepted the word of the apostle . It is evidentthat the tenor of the apostolic preaching is in thestrongest opposition to the movement of our thoughts

,

and that our experience re j e éts this preach ing as unnecessary or in the most favorable case as impossible .

ANTI—CRITI ! UE

Nevertheless,i t shows itself to be wisdom , tho not a

wisdom se t in comparison with a wisdom expressingitselfdifierently and coming to other results , but onlya wisdom by which our spiritually intellectual wantsare fully sat isfied. But such sat isfaétion depends onthe satisfaét ion of other wants

,which everywhere pre

cede the inte lleétual wants . These are our moralwants and , closely conneéted therewith

,our relig

ious .But our moral wants are different . Some say thatthey need the B iblical , or , as they express i t , theecclesiastical Christ

,for their peace and for the

living of a blessed,Vigorous life . Others deny this ,

and say ,i f they need a Christ at all

,they want such

a one as we endeavored to delineate after the model ofHarnack and others

,as distinguished from the B ib lical

Christ . Who decides ? The former , as it appears ,are v igorous natures not knowing at all the feeling of

weakness , ofinfirmity ,ofmoral disability to work

,to

say nothing of the sense of the greatness of their guilt .Never , indeed , have

'

they come to utter the sighWhither shall I go because I am oppressed withmany and great sins ? ” Such men admit that thereare men who have put themselves outside of the peaceofhuman society

,be it through the fault of their edu

cation,or through the circumstances in which they are

,

or through the nature of their environment,tho in all

cases through some guilt of their own . What becomesof them

,what future awaits them after this life

,no

one knows . As long as one is not molested or hurt bythem , one is inclined to be indulgent , provided onlythey are made harmless in a permissible manner . One

105


claims for himself indulgence , for man errs as longas he strives

,

” and we all stumble .

”

But we only need a degree of indulgence,which is

offered to every serious and honest endeavor,offered

to fini te man in his circumscribed finite limitation ,ofi

‘

e red over against his capacity to err,as a pardon

not only for his belated conditions,but also for his

positive errors,i f he only tries to amend them and

himself. I fthe representatives ofthis much-propagatedView can get on with a Christ who is nothing essent ially difierent from themselves , except , possibly , moreperteet , more ideal , more pious ; if with the BiblicalChrist

,the Christ of the New Testament accounts

,they

will have nothing to do,bu t are in the most decided

conflict,not only from inte lleétual but also moral rea

sons,who proves to them that they are wrong ? Who

proves to them that,in their j udgment ofthemselves and

their verdiét about Christ , they are wrong ? Who provesthat those deeply afflié

’ted

,deeply humbled natures

,

conscious of their guilt , seeking only mercy and forgivene ss , l ike the publican , are right in their j udgment of themselves and in seeking after mercy

,with

their faith in the mercy of Christ and the love ofGodalone ?And yet it must be possible to convince everyone of moral or e thico -religious truth

,tho it is not

meant thereby that every one will be convinced .

For moral and religious truth reckons with freedom .

Whether a man will acknowledge moral and religioustruth which concerns him is a matter of his will . If

he will not,he puts himself indeed in opposition to the

truth which has been attested to him,but he sees him

106


claim to credibility not only j ust as great as the claimof the law

,but even greater , or, more correétly speak

ing,still more powerful . Whether it is believed is

another matter . We therefore put the question thusDoes the Christ , as we have endeavored to portrayHim

,according to the old rationalistic and according

to the most recent views,satisfy the moral wants ?

In the outset i t seems as ifH e did satisfy them . H e

shows u s a harmoniously perfeét , moral life sat isfied initself

,whose ideality and idealism attraét us irresist

ibly and with powerful , yes , with too powerful , forcedireét u s into the same paths in which Jesus went .Who could and wou ld not follow where such a predecessor tells and shows u s the way ? With the mostcareful observance of the so -called statutory law

,

one by no means satisfie s the absolutely cogent demands of moral truth on the whole life by free obedience or by a life burning with love . Tho it may bedifficult for us to follow Jesus i n this way

,we try it

,

and we derive ever new courage from looking at Himand from His example . To be sure

,H e never fell

,

and he alone has fully lived the truth and praétised i tfaithfully . We fall again and again

,but this is indeed

the lasting diflerence between Him and us : His totality and our incompleteness

,His faithfulness and our

unfaithfulness,His constancy and our ever- repeated

falling,His stability and our continual vacillations . But

on j ust this very account we need Him,in order to be

influenced by H im again and again , and to go againand again to be shown the path where looking backward only detains and hinders

,along which one only

advances by continually looking upward and forward .

108

ANTI—CRITI ! UE

Jesus shows us what man can be and do,and

,tho we

can not be what H e was,or do what H e did

,and shall

never accomplish it as long as we live,we nevertheless

can follow Him . For this reason H e was man,wholly

man . H e shows us a Kingdom ofpurely spiritual ohj eéts H e calls it the Kingdom ofGod , a realm in whichwe do God’s will or the whole truth

,and serve in love

in which we are loved of God and are the beloved of

God . H e is a power that freely displays!Himself

in men who have risen from the dark,natural ground

of their existence , and have suffered themselves to belifted up to this luminous height . To live by thispower and to live for this life raises us above all themisery of daily existence . Thus one becomes inwardlylord over the world . Tho we belong to the world

,yet

we rise above i t . Thus one learns to endure what hesufiers from the world , as Jesus bore i t , without beingturned away from the truth ofhis motives and ob j eéts .

For from this inner height of our freedom from theworld

,and in our dominion over the power of its

bondage,nothing and no one can throw us down as

long as we will not yield . Thus Jesus teaches,thus

His example helps us to live and sufier,and to be and

remain free . H e teaches us tof

lov e our fellow combatants as well as our opponents , who are our opponents only because the glory of Christ and ofHis wayhas not yet risen to them . H e convinces u s that to liveand to love belong together , that to love means onlyto live

,that only that life is worth anything which is

a life in love , and that only a life in love has in itselfthe promise and the surety of eternity . For we haveour life only from each other and only with each

109


other,and therefore we have it only by loving . All

other life is only semblance , and becomes a lie andmust perish . Only this life in love is real life , onlythis is sa tisfied,

eternally sa tisfied, and therefore haseverlasting existence . This life is a blessed life

,in

which one so l ives for the other that each thinks nolonger ofhimself

,bu t only ofothers . Whether eternity

is an everlasting continuation of this life , or whetherit is only the freedom , sat isfaé

’tion

,and an independ

ence from the world , and the change and misery thatis to be expressed through i t

,is of no consequence .

For in this consists the sat isfaét ion and blessednessthat one needs nothing more and thinks no more ofhimself

,but only of others .

Thus J esus lived , one with God and one with us .

H e is on this account not only our Father but thepower which to—day still carries u s along and drawsmen to Him

,and will so long as the world shall exist

,

altho H e was but a man . But these , His after-efieéts ,are perfeétly unique , corresponding to the uniquenessof His person and of His calling— after-efieéts whichcan not be found again and can not repeat themselves

,tho they are only after-efi

'

eéts of His historicalappearance . For this was His call ing , to stand as thefirst and unique witness of God in history as a per

pe tual reminder of God,and as the everlasting

leader— yes,more than leader— for us . H e showed

u s by His l ife what it means to be man , and thus , andonly thus

,how the individual and the individual soul

has endless worth .

Incessantly Jesus draws us with Him into the pathwhere H e walked , and which H e opened and showed

1 10


through sin ,fin itude and limitedness became first s in

ful through sin . But sm itself is a direct oppositionto the will of God , is that which God does not will ,which H e denies , which H e opposes

,wherever and

however it may assert itself. For a time , perhaps , onemay resign himself to the dream that this Christ-piéturesat isfie s ; but in truth it only sat isfie s him who , inthe first place , remembers not

.

the l iving God,who

needs not God and prays not to Him . It satisfies onlysuch fundamental ethical views as we meet with in largecircles

,Views which make all morality come out after

the law ofdevelopment from primitive conditions,which

teach that man becomes man by lifting himselffrom thedark

,material ground from which H e is said to have

ascended . In short , this Christ-piéture , this reverse ofall development

,this revolution in place of evolution

,

sat isfies only Views which know not a fall . But whereone is in earnest to follow that which this piéture is toshow us

,and where one is in earnest to reckon with

consciousness— nay , with the belief that we finallyhave

,nevertheless

,to deal with the living God

,before

whom we must give an account for our deeds,our

thoughts and our desires— there this pié’ture

'

comesupon painful experiences . The experience recurswhich one of the greatest of our race once expressedin words that to this day

,excepting in some small

variation,are yet recognized as sad— yes , as most

sad truth . It is experience which we can not doaway with by the remark that it can not claim universal validity because it is conne éi ed with specialaberrations— namely

,with the aberrations of Pharisa

ism . I mean that experience of the apostle Paul,

1 12

ANTI—CRITI ! UE

which he describes in Romans v i i For to will ispresent with me , but to do that which is good is not .I find

,then , the law that , to me who would do good ,

evil is present , bringing me into captivity underthe law of sin , which is in my members .” God isnever and nowhere satisfied with the good will

,and

God ’s law had and has the special task to urge uponthe whole people the knowledge of s in . But what isto take place when , as Paul says again , every monthis stopped

,and all the world is brought under the

j udgment of God and is obliged to undergo the punishment ? Do w e

, then , still believe we are able to riseto the level of this Christ-piét ure , and forget what isbehind

,in order to go forward with ever new resolu

tion and zeal ? Is guilt merely a thought which onecan give up ,

or a ban which presses us down and keepsus down , even tho we should like to forget it a thousand times ?We have a remarkable document from the writings ofPharisaic Judaism

,coming from the years immediately

after the destruétion ofJerusalem— the so -called fourthbook ofEsdras . The author frankly acknowledges thej udgment of God upon Israel in the destruétion of

Jerusalem,altho he wrongly ascribes the motive . H e

also acknowledges the irrefragable moral duty of Israelto realize the law of God , tho he does assert i t in relation to himself and to Israel . Still

,more zealously

more zealous than ever before— the people must followafter the fu lfilment of the law . Then will they know

,

what every wise and prudent man knows already of

himself, that we sin under compulsion . Sin dwellsfor once in us . This is Adam ’s fault , through whom

1 13


sin came into the world . 0 thou Adam,what hast

thou done P was the complaint of the righteous . On

account of the existing sin ,God has made known the

law for the legislation is regarded as the promulgationof righteousness , not the putting of i t into efl

‘

efi ) , thatthe children of Israel should live as closely as possiblein accordance with the law . If they do this they cometo j udgment with a treasure of good works

,which are

balanced against their sins,and have the prospe ét that

God will pardon them . To be sure,they have no cer

tainty ofpardon , because they do not live on a forgiveness already realized

,but only in the hope of forgive

ness . Whoever receives this forgiveness will wonderat the greatness of God ’s mercy . But God is stillmerciful

,and to whom should H e be merciful if not

to those who,by obedience to His will , have labored

formercy ? For H e is the merciful Judge For ifH e

did not pardon them that were created by His word ,there would

,peradventure , be very few left in an

innumerable multitude (4 Esdras , vi i : 1 39 ,Do y ou think this solution of the question

,which

must necessarily engage every honest , aspiring man , tobe correét ? And do you think the answer has beengiven to our question

,whether the new and newest

Christ -picture satisfies those needs whose sat isfaétionwe seek ? Certainly not But it only expresses in uncolored form that which is thought by those who dreama forgiveness of sins or of failings on the basis of anendeavor to follow Jesus . For whether the law or themodern Christ-piéture , they amount to the same , andthe modern Christ-piéture would at the most make themoral demand appear deeper

,more comprehensive ,

1 14

FAITH AND H ISTORY

s SOON as we approach more closely to thequestion of the credibility of the evangelicalhistory the very important considerationarises : Of what use is a belief in past his

tory,since

,as far as Christian efli c iency is concerned ,

if it is to have security and authority , i t depends onpresent truth existing and prevailing from eternityand for eternity . At the most we could only have todeal with the after-efieéts of a past history , j ust as weenj oy and seek to exhaust our entire civilization life asan after-efieét of the victory of the Greeks at Marathonand Salamis over Asiatic tyranny ; of the v ié’tory of theRomans over the Carthaginians , and by it over African civilization

,or of our !German] viétories over

the French . But if we have to deal only with afterefieéts it would be still possible that this Christ-piéturedoes not represent wholly the reality of Christ

,and

our task would not be in any case to try to understand the reality of Christ . This task would be of

great historical interest,but for our moral-religious

l ife we would have the task of ascertaining and assenting to those eternal truths which constitute

,or should

constitute,the possession of the truly educated . H is

torical inquiry might perhaps be able to make somethings clear

,but we are not dependent on our relation

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FAITH AND HISTORY

to the historical inquiry and to the evangelical historybelonging to the past . The ever- recurring question

,

How much in the evangelical accounts is truth andwhat is fic’tion ? need not trouble us .

But if that Christ -piéture obtained through thework of criticism does not satisfy , is there quite another conception

,namely

,the New Testament Christ

picture,that will better satisfy our wants

,because it

displays to us historical phenomena and events whoseafter- efieél s promise more and do more for us than theformer conception ? For Christ is , as they say ,

aperson of history and persons of history

,as well as

events,only continue to work by their after-efi

'

eéts

and in them . This is , indeed , true for persons , and forhistorical events which are nothing else . Luther cont inues to operate aét ively and powerfully through theword of faith

,which he rediscovered

,experienced

,and

preached with original force . But there is only anafter-efieét of his appearance when we believe as hebelieved

,when by his word we are awakened and edi

fied,strengthened and comforted , even in our last dis

tress,and with him can say :

And tho i t tarry the n igh t ,And rou nd aga in to mom

My h e art sh a l l n e ’

e r mi s tru s t T hy migh t ,Nor cou n t i tse l f forlorn .

Bu t Christ is more than a person of hz’

slory ,and j ust

on this very account H e alone satisfie s our needs . Letus look at the matter more closely !The path which the disciples walked with Jesus ,the history which they experienced with H im and in

1 17


Him,were full of mysteries . But when from the end

they looked back,everything dark became clear . From

the end— bu t what point was that ? From His death ?There

,nothing was clear to them

,but everything was

dark— not only dark , like an unsolved mystery , butdark as the hell in Dante

,whose gate bears the in

scription : Abandon all hope .

” What Jesus did tothem at the end

,in the washing offeet and the distri

bu t ion of the supper,with the words

,This is my

body,my blood

,for the remission of sins

,

” theyhad indeed received reverently

,but they understood

it not . The enem ies,Pharisees

,scribes

,priests— yes

,

the whole people,incited by them— had delivered Him

to the Gentiles as one who no more belonged to thepeople ofGod

,and upon whom the highest spiritual tri

bunal of Israel had pronounced the sentence ofdeath .

But the disciples lost all faith when they saw ,as it ap

pe ared to them ,that Jesus had yielded to the superior

force and was taken captive . What they ever had inHim and hoped ofHim was now gone . H e was merelya man . To be sure , they were not wrong with theirbelief and hope in Him . On the contrary , if anyone

,H e alone was able to save the world from sin

,

distress,and death

,and they were therefore obliged

to follow Him . With their beliefthey were still rightover against their own people , who had re j eéted Him .

But one thing they had not considered,which to-day

still constitutes the relation of the world to H im thepower ofsin . Men loved the darkness rather thanthe light

,

” death rather than life , destruétion ratherthan salvation . Therefore , they brought Him to death .

This conv iétion of sin they had not expect ed . Until

1 18


had foretold them everything , but they had comprehended nothing , wished not to comprehend i t , andbelieved not .This faet , the disbelief of the disciples

,is of essen

tial and primary importance in the question as tothe veracity or credibility— not of the truth

,but of

the account . Without exception it is confirmed tous by all the evangelists

,and it shows the complete

impossibility of such a sudden general change of

feeling in the circle of the disciples,from perplex

ity , fright , despair , into a j oy and blessed faith whichnever again left them unless a special event had takenplace which took away the impression ofJesus’ death .

It is impossible that this change should have beenbrought about

,in the few days which they had at their

command,by some

‘

spontaneous resolution of thedisciples to plunge

,with ever greater longing and more

grateful love,into the piéture of that Man of whom

they had expeéted not only still more but everything

,nevertheless of whom they believed that they

could now expeét nothing more , and from whom , asthey had to think

,their guilt separated them forever .

It might be a different matter i f Jesus’ death had nottaken place prematurely

,and ifit had not been brought

about by hostile force ; if the disciples had been looking forward to the gradual development and formationin time of the Messianic work of Jesus

,and had now

been convinced that H e still lived , tho in anotherworld

,in a higher existence

,indeed

,and therefore also

lived more efii cac iously than before . Even then i t wasinconceivable how this conv ié’cion could so quickly andgenerally give rise to the inner experience of appear120

FAITH AND HISTORY

ances , not as ofOne dead from the other world , butof One risen from the dead . That the appearanceswere of a risen One is warranted to us by the testimonyofthe apostle Paul , which points back to the earliesttime— perhaps into the year of Jesus ’ death— whichagain confirms the testimonies ofthe evangelists . Buteven supposing that the appearance of theheavenly , spiritual , glorified Jesus , quite sub j eét ive lyoriginated and efieéted

,had immediately been sub st i

tuted in place of the appearance of the earthly,bodily ,

now supposedly forever risen Jesus,released from His

hitherto existing limitations— the suddenness of thischange in the disposition ofthe disciples remains neverthe less inconceivable . For again and again we are toldofthe unbeliefofthe male and female disciples ofJesus

,

whom Jesus had to reprove and admonish with thegreatest seriousness . Eight days after the resurreétionwe firid Thomas not at all inclined to be influenced byhis codisciples , but opposing their account with allresistance . To him who contradié’ts his codisc iples

Jesus appears . Thomas must convince himself,and at

the same t ime he must hear the words : Be not faithless but believing .

”

That Thomas would not believe i t , after all theother disciples had already seen the Lord

,was not

because he altogether regarded a resurrect ion as impossible before the last day . Only a few days beforehe had himselfwitnessed the resuscitation of Lazarus .But that Jesus , whom one of His d isciples betrayed ,whom the people re j eéted,

whom Peter denied,whom

all disciples deserted,should have risen again ; that

they,the disciples

,who so ignominiously had deserted

121


Him,shou ld have Him back again that all their sin ,

even their disbelief and the ofiense which they hadtaken at Him , should no more be remembered ; thatall should rather be forgiven that everything shouldbe well again , and all hopes should now be really fulfilled— thi s he could not believe . This he now expe ri

ences through the great mercies of Christ,and with

the other disciples he can go now and proclaim to theworld

,in the name of this Jesus

,the forgiveness of sin

and the everlasting redemption . To Him bear allthe prophets witness

,that through His name every one

that believeth on Him shall receive remission of sins . ”

We ask not for the credibility of the accounts . Theaccounts can be credible— so far their authors arethoroughly credible persons and credible reportersand yet what they have experienced they may havewrongly understood . There were no eye -witnesses of

the re surreé‘t ion in this all our accounts agree . Onlythe empty sepulchre is authenticated : by the expe ri

ence of the women who came on the Easter -morningto anoint the body of Jesus by the experience of thedisciples who on their part afterward went there toView the grave and also did not hnd Him ; and by thetestimony to which the bribery of the keepers and thepurchase of their silence bears witness in behalf of i t .

But does the faet of the resurreétion now follow fromthisBut we are not inquiring after the credibility ofthis

faet itself for would the knowledge of its credibilityconvince us , anyhow ,

that we would be forced to bel ieve i t ? Beliefwould , all the same , still depend on theconneétion in rational sequence between the re surrec

122


more and we hope no more ; our sin and the world’ssin is so great that even Jesus could not save u s .

Nothing is left but God ’s j udgmentEverything would indeed have been and remained asa memory of the past

,provided the disciples had been

right,provided Jesus had not aétually returned from

death had not risen . They were indeed right withtheir 1dea of a j udgment on their sin and the world ’s .They knew themselves to be under the weight oftheir guilt

, of their sinful personal life that was socompletely estranged from the love ofGod and Jesus

,

and under this weight they could not bend deepenough . But now Jesus has returned from death , andnot this alone . It m ight have been indeed so as theyfeared when they received through the angels thefirst news of Jesus’ re surreétion : H e might havecome back to execute j udgment over the world . Butnot for j udgment had Jesus been sent by the Fatherinto the world

,not for j udgment had H e now been

raised by the Father . Here is the unity,the b armo

nions relations of the resurreét ion of Jesus with Hislife and work . This was the great thing which thedisciples experienced : Jesus’ return to His own whohad forsaken Him

,His return into the world which

had re j eét ed Him . This they had not imagined,and

yet they could and should have imagined it had theyconsidered all their sin ,

and the great pardoning loveand patience and m iracles ofJesus and the words whichH e had spoken with them of His suffering and death .

I t was not necessary to commit the sin with which theycrowned all s in . It was done

,and Jesus had borne it

also . Now the disciples experienced how great a

124

FAITH AND HISTORY

sin the love and the love-power of the Father and of

Jesus covered now they understood that they couldhave be lieved when they had abandoned belief

,and

that they now , all the same , can believe in Him and beforever right in their belief. They understood thatthey were sent ou t into all the world to preach and tobring to it the forgiveness of sins and thus the everlasting redemption . The whole greatness ofthem iraclethat had taken place arose to them with their insightinto their redempt ion , which fell to their lot when , asthey believed

,they had incurred everlasting perdition .

We understand that they could not abandon their faithwhile they lived , and , as Paul writes in the beginningofthe Epistle to the Romans , they preached the Gospel as the Gospel of the Son of God

,

“ who was declared to be the Son of God with power , according tothe spirit ofholiness by the resurreétion of the dead .

”

But this is not all . There is yet a mystery whichrequires explanation

,and whose solution only dis

closes to us the whole importance of the resurrec

tion . The disciples had sinned by their unbelief asIsrael had not sinned . Had the rulers of this worldknown the hidden wisdom of God they would nothave cruc ified the Lord of glory

,says Paul ; and

Peter,who in the strongest manner called the Jews

traitors and murderers of the Holy One of God,

adds : And now,brethren

,I wot that in ignorance y e

did it Israel ’s s in was not so great and heavy asthat of the disciples , whom Jesus had so long

, so

earnestly, so lovingly , so powerfully united to Himself.

On this account the disciples , to whom the risen Onehad brought forgiveness

,could preach this forgiveness

125


also to Israel— yes , to the whole world . They did this ,and se t forth the forgiveness , not as merely possiblebut as an aétual forgiveness , procured through Christ ’ssuffering and death , and accomplished by His resusc itat ion , now offered by the word ofpreaching or by theGospel . It is true , many refused and declined . Theyhave not kept back the fae

'

t that God raised Jesus fromthe dead and gave Him to be made manifest not toall the people but unto witnesses that were chosen b efore of God, even to us , who did eat and drink withHim after H e rose from the dead .

” As we alreadysaid

,they never proclaimed that those who might be

come and intended to become believers should alsosee Him

,as they

,the apostles

,had seen Him . Still

less did they think it necessary thus to se e H im,in

order to se e Him in a spiritual reality and become abeliever . Of those who became believers , none desiredto se e the risen One and to have an experience likeSaul on the way to Damascus . To those who believed ,it was certain that Jesus had risen from the dead

,

and that H e did not merely pass over into eternal life ,like those who die happily

,but that H e had returned

forever into our life , into our communion , and nowbelongs to us through His re surre ét ion and for alleternity . With them it was a matter of faet . Theydid not understand that we should believe H im aswe believe concerning parents

,teachers

,the prophets ,

the apostles,who had passed away long ago , and whose

words only we now have ; but that we can believe inHim

,can build our hope and trust on Him

,can speak

with Him,can pray to Him as to a living One . They

proclaimed H im as the risen One , who did not go to

126


expression for the blessed change which took placewith Jesus , a change for which another expression ,tho

,after all

,also figurative , is even better— the word

exaltation . But Paul as little thought ofour futureresurreétion as an exaltation as he thought thus ofthe resurreétion of Jesus . H e regarded the body thatJesus received as being j ust as little mortal as thefuture body we shall receive again in the resurrec

tion . It is sown in corruption,it is raised in

incorruption,and this mortal must put on immor

tality .

” The resuscitations of the dead which Jesusaccomplished were only s igns and testimonies of abetter resurre étion

,of a future complete abolishing of

death through Him,and this complete abolishing of

death H e first experienced in Himself. H e went forthfrom the grave as the Vietor whom death could nothold

,still less could subdue a second time— yet H e was

the same who was put into the grave,for H e showed

to Thomas H is wounds and the print of the nails toconvince him that i t was Himself. H e came to Hisown to convince them of the truth

,greatness

,and

completeness ofH is love,which covers the whole great

multitude of the sins of all . H e again belonged tothem . But H e did not belong to a world in which thesame fight and struggle arises ever and ever again , andwhere ever anew is kindled the fires of i t . H e hasfought out this fight , which among us shall endure tillthe Gospel is preached to the last soul . Then onlywill the time come for Him to appear again , to comein His entire glory . Now H e still has patience , and,

therefore , waits for those who shall learn to believe .

Have we learned ? This is now the question . Have

128

FAITH AND HISTORY

we learned to believe as the disciples ought to havebelieved , even before Jesus rose ? No ; for our beliefis only efiea ed through the power of God

,who raised

Jesus from the dead ; yes , for as the disciples learnedthat they could have believed

, so we learn that we canbelieve . We may come to the conv iétion that Jesusis risen , and risen for our salvation , and for His j ustificat ion by the Father

,through the account in which

this faet is communicated , and even more throughthe consistency of the entire testimony about Jesus .

Everything which is said to us about Him,of His

baptism and temptation , of His preaching and teaching and miracles

,of H is transfiguration and of His

suffering and death,all stands together with His resur

reétion as one unitary whole , so that we can not dootherwise than believe in this Jesus as One who isliving

,and who lives for us . Therefore , we believe

in Him as the risen One . Either H e is the risen One,

or we ge t an entirely different piéture of Him— that

pié’ture whose entire insufii c iency we have already

represented to ourselves .But

,granting that the faith ofiered to us , and worked

in us by the Gospel , is a faith in the risen One , a question remains which

,as we said before , is not yet se t

tled. I t is this : Why did no t the apostles,why has

not any one in Christendom , demanded as necessaryto a belief in Jesus that one must se e the risen Oneas these witnesses did ? We have already said thatJesus is more

,much more , than a personage of his

tory . H e is,as it is called , a superhistorical phenom

enon . H e entered into history , into our history , butH e has not left us again

,and referred us to His after

129


effeéts . H e still lives , not merely has lived ; H e died ,H e revived again , and ascended into heaven but H e

lives,and wherever His Gospel is preached H e is

afi u ally known and experienced as lz'

m'

ng— a faet

which,as may be supposed

,is only admitted by those

who believe , and is naturally opposed and denied bythose who do not . H e is preached unto u s : all thatH e did , spoke , sufiered ; all that happened to Him .

All this concerns us i t is for u s the Gospel . Hearing it , we have , after all , to deal with Himself. Wedo not have merely a lively realization of His person and His words which is dependent on the artof presentation , or the warmth or the faithfulnessby which the narrator succeeds in allowing the Lordto speak for Himself. The art may be insignifi

cant,but the Lord speaks and treats with us Himself.

The art may be great and may attraét us,while Jesus

still remains far from us . It is not that we transferourselves into the time of His earthly life

,but rather

that we are transferred , not only into that distantt ime

,but into aé’tual proximity to Him— into His very

presence . That is a wonderful efleét which proceedsfrom the preaching a bou t Jesus (not merely from thewords of Jesus) , an effeét which no other word has

,

not even that which is said to us of everlasting,un

changeable truths and laws . Let the words of ourpoets and thinkers touch us again and again let themopen to u s depths of thought and feeling which otherwise we would not guess— yes , let them cause us toperceive , in many cases , the very great abyss of oursinful corruption— still is this by no means like thewords about Jesus that come even from simple l ips .130


really having anything . That period which they hadspent with H im had been the most beautiful time oftheir life

,in spite of the earnest words which they

had been obliged to hear so often . They had seengreat things , heard great things , and learned to hopeand to expeét still greater things . Then the hourcame in which everything collapsed ; when they lowered Jesus into the grave they sunk with Him in thegrave all their hopes . They remembered the Sermonon the Mount , they recalled H is words : I am

the light of the world , ” I am the bread of life,

”

Ifany man thirst , let him come untoMe and drink,

Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out .All this was now of no use

,everything was gone .

But after H e was risen all these words became aliveagain

,for H e Himself was living who had spoken

them and about whom they were spoken . H e wasalive

,never to die again ; alive for them ,

the disciples,

to whom He had returned , not to destroy them ,but

to forgive and save them . H e was alive for the wholeworld , to which H e belongs forever

,and H e sent

His disciples out to preach to it the Gospel . Now theyknew only what they had learned from—Jesus Himself.

His words had again authority . H e stood by them .

H e had said and H e said it again,and it was and is

of good effect : “ I am — not “ I wa s” “ The

Bread of Life , ” “ The Light of the World,

” TheGood Shepherd . H e had said , and i t had au

thori ty again , and is authority unto e ternity Himthat cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out

,

” Comeunto Me , all y e that labor and are heavy laden , and Iwill give you rest . ” H e said— and it was and is eter

132

FAITH AND HISTORY

nal truth and reality Lo ,I am with you alway

,

even unto the end of the world,

” I am the vine,

y e a re the branches , Apart from Me y e can donothing

,with Me everything

,

” Whatsoever y e shallask in My name , that will I do . Now only the disc iples experienced the whole full power of these words ,because H e who had spoken them wa s risen . JesusChrist

,the same yesterday and tod ay and forever

,

”

who keeps His word now and in eternity,fu lfils His

promises, ofi

‘e rs Himself to those who hear such words

,

gives Himselfto those who believe such promises,treats

with those also to whom the disciples bring His name .This is the power not only of the words ofJesus

,but

of the words about Jesus . The risen One,over whom

death has now no more power , and for whom existsno more any bounds of space and time

,stands since

then by His Wora’

,and the Wora

’a bou t H im

,and on

this account it is a living Word in the proper and fullestsense of the term . With His presence H e covers theWord by which His own testify ofHim . It is indeeda wondrous

,a paradoxicalWord through and through

,

an incredible Word,the Word ofour , the sinners ’ , re

demption,of our pardon , of our eternal life . It is the

contrary of all self-demonstrative truth . How is itpossible to believe it ? It is a Word that expresses notruth which the more serious and deeper mind of manwould perceive as proved in the natural constitutionof things , but rather the truth which stands in opposit ion to the natural constitution of things , the contrary of all that which logical and morally consistentthinking can tell us . H ow shall it be possible to knowand acknowledge it as truth

,to believe i t ?

133


The fatal mistake which has been committed,and

which Harnack committed in the extremest form ,is

the supposition that by such criticism as his thetenor of the Gospel is purged of its paradoxicalcharaéte r, which obliges its followers to put themselves in opposition to all logical and moral consistency while they yet retain the paradox

,not

always perceived to be such,that is found in the

relation of freedom to the constraint of the law of

nature . We have not , however , to deal with thisparadox of the Divine freedom ,

which in all respeétsfollows the same line of possibility as that by whichour freedom proves itself over against the constitutionof nature . The paradox we have to consider is thatof free grace over against our sin and sinfulness ,

From Harnack ’s standpoint one must estimate s in asan unavoidable produc’t ofour finitude . Guilt is heavyonly accordingly as the offense is heavy

,and guilt and

the excuse for i t are again and again placed together .For the same reason

,from Harnack ’s standpoint

,one

must regard the doings of God only as a consistentconsequence of the rightly perceived essence of God

,

as the loving Father , the provider and leader of Hiscreatures . Jesu s , in their view ,

is to be regarded asone who made u s free from the error of those concep

tions of God hitherto existing , and mediated a knowledge of the kindness and love of God which we nowknow and believe

,and upon which we now live . As

Harnack expresses it Only the Father,not Jesus

,

belongs in the Gospel .It is true

,indeed , that Jesus does not belong in that

to which H arnack has reduced the Gospel . Yet that

134


presence protec'

ts His Word . As the living One,and

therefore as one who is present,H e tells us the Word

of severity and also the Word ofHis wondrous,incom

prehensible love . When the question is of His love,

ofthe works and the miracles and the power of love,

and of the mercy and patience which H e has shown tosinners

,to the paralytic

,the great sinner

,the pub

lican,and even to a Peter , we know by an inward ex

perience not that this was H e , but that this z'

s

'

H e !

When we hear of the paradox ofHis incomprehensiblelove which will even save the prodigal son

,we

should be afraid of the sin of saying : Jesus receivedsinners we must say Jesus rece ives sinners .

”

Everything which is recorded of Him, of His work

and sayings, of His patience and snfiering,

of Hisdeath and resurrection

,of His entire history

,is not

history merely,i t is an immanent

,real

,l iving presence

,

and not merely —a realization of His past . H e i s to

day what H e was then,the same whom men not

only resisted then,but still resist , and to -day H e still

endures the resistance , our resistance , and rewards itwith pardoning grace . The like of this we do not hndelsewhere in the whole world

,in the entire conne é’cion

of things . Of course we do not , for there is only oneJesus

,who once appeared in the ongoing of history to

take away the sins of many , and that which H e didfor u s and does on us H e and only H e does ; and it isnot to be wondered at

,therefore , that this , His work ,

and with it His existence, go beyond the measure of

the human for,no one can redeem besides H im;

such redemption is far beyond all the abilities of man .

That the fabrication ofHis history , as some phrase it ,136

FAITH AND HISTORY

and His marvelous Gospel did not originate from suchrefleét ion over that which is possible or impossible

,b ut

that this refleétion is rather only an efl’

eét of H is

wondrous redemption,is a statement needing 110 proof.

Jesus is present where His Word is preached,H is

name is acknowledged,H is love is praised . This we

feel , and with it we feel that H e i smore than a personag e of hz

'

stmjy . H e is , indeed , a personage ofhistory , o four history . But H e is more than this H e is superhistorica l. H e enlerea

’into history

,and was des

tined to be separated again from the ordinary courseofhumanity and its history . For this H e was killed

,

suffered the death which was inflicted on Him . ButHe endured it as the One who was to attain therebyHis ohj et

'

t . H e attained it by dying for u s,for our

benefit and not to our inj ury ,and by rising agai nfrom

the dead and by belonging to us forever— the helperwhom the two greatest world-powers

,s in and death

,can

not separate from us . H e not only became alive then,

bu t has lived ever since , and everything that H e was,

as H e l ived before,l ives again with H im. This ex

plains not only the peculiar impression which we havefrom the uniqueness of the Word about Him , but theunique efie ét which the Word about Him still ex ercises . It brings the Gentiles to that point to whichit brought the first Christians— namely

,of becoming

people who call upon the name ofJesus,who do and

speak the highest deeds and words which a man canpossibly do and speak , and wherein the whole being ,soul

,and heart express themselves . Or was this pray

ing,this calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus

,only

superstition,the aberration , excusable or inexcusable , of

137


those who believed in Jesus and thought that faith inJesus and prayer to Jesus belonged together ? Whoeverdislikes the designation ofJesus as of the supe rhistor

ical can give it up as soon as he has found a betterone but Jesus difie rs from all persons of historyin that H e is not a man who merely once existed , butis living

,who to-day still l ives and aéts this fact re

mains,and in this consists the mystery of the effi

c iency of the Gospel . To be sure,j ust this is denied

by those who make Jesus only a man of history who,

as they admit,certainly has done more and is of more

importance to-day to humanity than any of those towhom humanity owes its best . But that His superhistorical nature is denied is

,in accordance w ith what

we have said before,not only comprehensible

,but to

be expeé’ted. Nor is i t strange that the contest is

made not only with vehemence and haughty pre sumption

,as by Hackel , but with an array of sc ient ific

skill,and with the whole weight of the appeal to the

laws of the firmly established constitution of natureand history in which we live . It is conceded that thisworld-order does not rule out

,as by brute force

,every

thing which goes beyond physical necessity,but it is

not conceded that a man like ourselves can influ encethis fix ed order by his freedom

,nor that God can work

differently than by a wise governing of this constitution of things to prove His providence . Over againstthis we can again and again only refer to the greatproblem Oh , wretched man that I am who shalldeliver me out of the body of this death ? ” which isnot solved by the supposed paradox ofour freedom

,but

only by the great paradox ofDivine freedom,the free

138


But what Christianity demands of us and ofi'

e rs u s is ,that we conne ét with this faith , at the same time , thefaith in its contrary : with the belief in our sin ,

ourguilt

,and our j udicial imprisonment , the belief in our

pardon and our redemption ; with the belief in God ’seternal order of j ustice , the belief in His equally eternal love . This is not the demand that we now seekan adj ustment between these apparently contrary facts

,

nor that we must know how both are authorized andcan exist side by side with each other

,nor that we

should understand that that only is the right and deepe st thinking and the only correét knowledge whichhas apprehended the necessary unity of both . Hereno necessary unity obtains at all . No premise

,no

antecedent requires i t . God is free , absolutely free .

H e condemns,and therein aéts j ustly . H e pardons

and j ustifie s the impious , and no one can s ay that H e

aéts unjustlyThe difierence between that faith which Christianitypresupposes ( tho it often becomes Vital only whereChristianity has already acquired a footing) and thefaith which Christianity ofiers to us is this In Christ ianity we have to deal with an historical attitude ofGod . We not only believe that we are sinners andthat we are lost , as Christianity presupposes , but weare also to believe that God loved and loves us

,and

did and does everything that we might not perish .

We are to believe in a God who historically aéted forus and aéts with us

,after we have historically departed

from His ways , from the everlasting right and law ,and

have put ourselves in opposition to Him. Our historical conduct is the presupposed occasion for the his140

FAITH AND HISTORY

torical conduét of God , which stands before our eyesin Christ , which became reality in Christ and sincethen is and has superhistorical reality . True , God ’sthoughts are everlasting thoughts they are frometernity for eternity . But His thoughts toward ourredemption have their presupposed occasion— our conduet , our sin— and God

’s conduét in the sending ofHis Son is not to serve for the furtherance and thesecuring of our development , but is to redeem u s fromour false development , our sin and guilt , and counteract its consequences . Besides , we can believe in thehistorical conduét ofGod only when it has entered intohistory

,and then has become for us as present con

duét . The significant faet is that we are released fromthe ban under which eternal law and right and truthhave placed us on account of our historical conduét .

We can not lift this weight merely by the knowledgethat the eternal love of God is still higher and thatthis is equally eternal truth . By that supposition thewhole seriousness and the entire truth and power ofour knowledge of s in would be abolished . It is a faetthat in the same degree inwhich my sin loses its meaning for me , in the same measure or in a still highermeasure also vanishes my interest in the grace ofGod ,and so in the condué’t ofGod , and with it my interestin faith . Only the interest of opposition to the Gospel ,then

,keeps the discussion alive , and preserves an ap

pearance of interest in the matter . Only that Gospelexercises real power whi ch makes known to us a conductofGod , which in absolute freedom had mercy upon us ,

which entered into our history , interfered with i t , andhas now become a lasting presence . Upon this view

141


nothing is denied which should be affirmed. The ihviolableness of the eternal truth and the law ofGod

,

the whole greatness of our s in and guilt,the faet of

our being lost— everything is acknowledged unreservedly so acknowledged that our s in appears everclearer

,ever greater , ever heavier That thou never

open thy mouth any more because of thy shame,when

I have forgiven thee all (Ezekiel xvi At thesame time

,our faith becomes ever more gratefu l and

fervent , more inward , quiet , and deep .

This is , in reality , the harmony between faith andhistory . We can not be quite deprived ofhistory , b ecause we need historical and

,at the same time

,lasting

reality . The redemption being at hand and offered tous

,we se e and know its nature , and can understand

that this is the only way by which we could or can behelped . And this Divine grace , which is at the sametime history and eternity , stands before us in the resurreétion of Jesus . By that everything that concernsHim— His humility for our sake— became a present

,

enduring reality . H e could not by force lay claim toacknowledgment without destroying u s and the wholeworld . H is patience , with which H e endu red the hardness of the human heart , and again and again showed tothem nothing but love

,tho he had to chide them and

did chide them ; His innocent and patient sufferingand death

,tho H e had the power to defend Himselfby

one word against the whole world and to destroy i t— allthis is now enduring , present reality in Him who offersHimself to us as the One who was cruc ified androse again . Every word still has authority

,and is

to -day His word to our hearts . This is not because142


everything is lost , and all efforts and all hopes aredreams— nothing but dreams . That H e is risen is notmade certain to u s by any account

,tho it were ever

so carefully received and. preserved . But as the disc iples had no need to experience the resurreétion first ,or

,rather , to see the risen One , so w e

,too

,ought to be

certain ofthe resurrec'

tion by that which we experienceofHim ,

by His life , which we perceive . We are notto believe in Jesus on account of His resurreétion ,

butwe believe His re surre ét ion because we believe inJesus and we believe in Jesus because we experienceHim in His word and in the Word about Him . Weexperience that H e speaks to our troubled soulBe ofgood cheer

,I have bought thee with a price i

We experience that H e is the only One— H e in whomwe can trust for time and eternity . Let one call thismysticism

,nevertheless the experience exists . We ex

pe rience His word Blessed are they that have notseen and yet have believed and we learn to lay holdofHim whom we see not as ifwe saw Him . Lookingbackward from His resurre étion ,

as did the disciples,

we obtain the understanding of all mysteries of Hisperson and history . It is with this understandingthat His person and history ought to be exhibited inplace of the many so - called historical Lives ofJesuswhich have appeared since 1 83 5 .

To be sure,the one thing that it is necessary for u s

to know and understand is that Jesus will save sinners . Our faith is mora lly condi tioned. H e whodenies the knowledge and acknowledgment of His sinas Jesus demands and efie éts i t— and one can deny it— will never come to a belief in the risen One . First144

FAITH AND HISTORY

of all , there can be and there are other reasons whichrender this belief difficult . For it must

,indeed

,be

acknowledged by us that this faith stands in keenopposition to all which is otherwise possible in theorderly ongoing ofhistory

,that the proposition of the

resurrect ion of Jesus is the most incredible thingimaginable , or at all events a proposition than whichthere can be only one that is a more incredible fa&— thefaet of our redemption . But all these reasons against itfinally recede before one final consideration— namely ,our s in and its consequences , our guilt , death , and perdition . It must be determined by us whether we willknow and acknowledge the living and consequentlythe risen Christ or not . In the first place , i t is ourintellect which renders the believing more difii cu lt tous ; finally ,

however,the decision is determined by our

will . It is not as i f our will conditioned and efi'

e éted

our faith ; our volition efi'

eéts the disbel ief, whereasJesus by H is presence efi

'

eé’cs the faith . One can beunbel ieving

,and blameless

,tho unhappy

,l ike Thomas ,

but one can rema in unbelieving only with a bad conscience .

145

VI I I

THE PERSON OF CHRIST

T now hath Christ been raised from the deadthe first-fruits of them that are asleep

,a

we also shall some day rise . But H e is nomerely the first by the resurre ét ion of th

dead,as Paul expresses himself at another time

,bu

H e is The Author ofour Redemption , The PrincofLife , ” The Author of our Salvation .

” For it wa

the Savior chosen and given by God who had beecrucified, the Messiah . That H e really was and ithe Messiah became manifest to the disciples

,and H

became a power for them through His resurre ét ionand that power is now to be manifested to the wholworld through the risen One , who confirms the wordsofH is disciples by His presence in the power of theHoly Spirit . The re surreétion is the Divine j ust ification of Jesus , the installation hitherto opposed into therank of His Messiahship , into His position of authority . As Peter says Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God hath made Him bothLord and Christ

,this Jesus whom y e cruc ified

”

(A&s i i : The Lord is Christ , because H e has tospeak and command as Messianic King , into whosehand the Father hath given all things , to whom allpower is given in heaven and on earth . H e is theLord

,not because by His influence H e unites us to

Himself,and thus is the first -fruits and the center of

146


emperors,yes

,even their teachers

,their philosophers

,

D eus aoDomina s noster This no Jew and no Christian— at the least , a disciple of Jesus

,like Paul and

John— could ever bring to their lips . Jesus , however ,stands before us wholly as our equal

,and yet more

than our equal,who , however , will be no more than

w e,but will forever belong to us

,to share with us

everything that H e is and has . All His goods , Hiswhole being , is to be ours .That such is the case follows from the already con

sidered faet that H e enters into our life not as thedeparted but as the living— speaks with us , deals withus

,produces faith in us . It is H e who ofie rs Himself

to us that we should have in Him redemption,the

forgiveness of our sins . H e gives Himself to us ,

God gives Him to us , that H e,and through and with

Him,God ’s full grace and God ’s whole kingdom

may belong to us . This we may indeed deny , butonly as we can deny all moral powers interfering withour life . As real as our sins , which are indeed nomere fancy ; as real as our sense ofguilt , which is j ustas little fancy ; as real as death and j udgment

,these

startling realities that are already felt by us beforehand

,because they are al ready present reality— so real

is the forgiveness of sins through Christ . In no otherman do we have this ; in Jesus , and , indeed , in Jesuswho died and rose again

,we have it because H e is

man and therefore our brother . The child in themanger at Bethlehem

,the man on the cross on Cal

vary,both a re ours

,not merely were ours . They a re

ours because H e rose,and in consequence of that

there is forgiveness of sins in Him and the full grace

148


of God is ours . But this H e is,therefore

,and this

we have,therefore

,in Him

,because it is our God and

our Lord who became our brother,wholly our brother .

Thus,none other belongs to us as H e belongs to u s

,

who has so condescended to us . From the mangerH e is everything that H e is for u s . H e does not become the Savior , H e i s a Savior from the beginning

,

and what happens to Him and what H e experiencesand suffers is not that H e may become the Savior

,bu t

beca u se H e i s the Sa vior .

That we pray to One who was,is

,and shall be God

,

and therefore never ceased and shall never cease to beGod

,and yet who humbled Himself to be like us

,who

became man in order to sufier because of us,His

brethren,and at the same time to suffer for u s

,yes

,to

suffer unto death,became man because H e was not to

j udge but to save —all this is called mythology bysome . Bu t no matter who may call it mythology , it isnot mythology . It is rather the absolutely free act ionof the ever- living God , who will live with u s and forus , will share with u s His whole being , will exist forus in free , unconstrained love . Being free

,H e does

not aet merely as some laws of the orderly sequence ofnature and history aet

,or as the difierenc e between

God and His creatures conditions the latter ’s aé‘

tions .

H e aéts in response to the need of us whom H e hasunited not only to nature and history , but , in aregion transcending these

,to H imself. And thus

H e acts as H e will , not only without ever ceasingto be God

,but in a way to prove by His absolute

freedom His Deity . This , His very freedom and power ,H e proves when H e becomes man , and yet as man be

149


comes our God and our Lord . We are esteemed of

Him so highly , so near are we to Him ,the nearest to

His throne in the rank of His creation,that God can

unite with us wholly and forever , even tho we havenot remained in fellowship with Him and have notwalked the path of communion with H im. H e b e

comes man not to exhibit H is power , as in the legendthe gods become men assume only the form of

men to display their power . Nor does H e becomeman to exercise as a warrior god H is aéts of power

,

as the heroes of pagan legend . Still less does the manJesus become a god or a demigod

,like H ercules and

Theseus . H e becomes man to be wholly man,power

less,weak

,and poor

,to sufler and to die , and thus to

belong to us in our sins , that H e may deliver andredeem us .

The wondrous counter-efieét of God against our sinis indeed a miracle

,the absolutely inconceivable con

trary of that which elsewhere or otherwise takes placeor can take place . It is a miracle that H e becameman— became man forever

,not mere ly assumed human

form for a time . I t is a miracle that H e died and rose ,which is not to be explained from certain presuppositionslying in the established order of nature and history

,or

following from the orderly unity of rational thinking .

It is all grace , nothing but grace , the freedom of

the Divine love,which could thus accomplish the

greatest miracle of all— our redemption and salvation .

To understand this one must only clearly admit thatour being lost is a faet

,and eternal Divine j ustice a

necessity to which we have to yield,hard as it may be

for us . Only grace can save us , but i t must be in such

150


brother,and on the ground that H e is an irregular

appearance in history,only on this account

,and pre

c ise ly on that account , we have in Him our redemption and can believe in Him . E ven our sin is an

i rregu larphenomenoh in histmy ,

” however regularlyit now occurs . For it has interrupted the harmoniousorder of the work ofGod , and still interrupts it . I t isthe great perturbation on whose account the regularcourse ofnature and history is our irresistible destruction . For this phenomenon , the world , with its harmonious constitution , is not intended , in order thatall should perish . But sin destroys everything , andwere it not for the forbearance ofGod the world wouldalready be destroyed from the beginning

,and every

thing would be lost past recovery . In the law of

development,the law of our existence (not by that

self—direétion,according to which we should govern

ourselves,but in the law which rules over us) , we had

nothing but the document and seal of our destruction .

God,however

,with the word of H is power , and ac

cording to the decree of His love,has preserved the

world,while H e allowed s in to become powerful and

ever more powerful that H e might save it throughJesus . H e hath shut up all unto disobedience thatH e might have mercy upon all — this is a word whichmust be understood that one may not make a merephantom out of sin and guilt , but may understand thatonly through the incarnation ofGod a redeemer couldcome .

But now arises a whole series of quest ions— amongthem some of such a nature that we can not answerthem , as , for instance , How is it possible that one can152


be God and yet other than God,and still the unity o f

God remain ? etc .

— questions that can not be answeredby reference to the union of the will ofJesus with thatof the Father . But is the acknowledgment of a faétdependent on the answering of all the questions whichare conne é’ted with i t ? Is the acknowledgment of thefaé’t of our sin dependent on the answer which we areto give to the question how Satan

,to whom our s in is

referred,became sinful ? Is the acknowledgment ofthe

fact of creation dependent on the question how spaceand time detach themselves from the omnipresence andeternity of God ? In all such questions we pass j udgment upon the faet whose aétuality we acknowledgefrom predominant reasons

,tho we do not wholly com

prehend i t . We do not comprehend the faet ofour cont inuat ion after death , and yet we are certain of it wedo not comprehend the existence of God , and yet weare certain ofit we do not comprehend God ’s j udgmentand its execution

,and yet we are certain of i t . The

denial would have,moreover , quite different incompre

hensib ilities that would follow . In like manner it iswith the question as to the unity of God , which cannot be abrogated because of the difference ofGod fromChrist

,of the Father from the Son . We only answer

God was in Christ reconciling the world unto -H -imself H im who knew no sin H e made to b e 5 111 on ourbehalf.” The proposition adduced against the incarnation that the fin ite can not contain and include initself the infin ite—fim

’

tam 72072 est capax infini ti— isunsound

,for this is not the question here at all . The

question is the contrary— namely , whether the infiniteis capable of the finite , and can include in itself

153


infini tum est capax fim’

ti . But it is,nevertheless

,cor

rect to afli rm that the finite may contain the infinite .

There is only One who is infinite— God ; and H e

once only entered into this union with the finite bythe incarnation in Christ . I t is entirely wrong tothink ofGod’s capacity as restriéted by a logical law ,

because there also exists a superrational,tho not irra

t ional, working of God . God ’s counsel is superrational for the redemption of those who , tho not lostaccording to the law of reason

, still are lost . Thewisdom of God

,which has chosen not the wise

,the

noble,the strong

,but the foolish things

,the weak

things,the things that are not , is superrational . Super

rational,not irrational

,is our redemption through the

Cross . Superrational , not irrational , is our redemptionthrough the incarnation ofGod .

If this be so , we are not to say that the divinity ofChrist man ifests itself only in His ability

,in His moral

purity,in His miracles

,in His power to suffer and to

die,and yet to rise again . His miracles H e performed

by reason of His extraordinary endowment from thenFather

,as Moses and Elias did before Him . .H e walked

without sin ,and overcame every temptation

,as we

should,but as we do not ; H e suffered and died

, b e

cause H e was like us , our brother , and by the resusc itation that occurred to H im,

through the power of theFather

,H e became the first -fruits of them that are

asleep . But if all this is to have something ofs ignifi

cance not only for Him but for us , if all this is toinure to our b enefit

,i t is because H e is theMessiah

who does it and to whom it happens . And tha t H e isand can be the Messiah follows from the fact that H e

154


otherwise than express in this apostolic word themiracle which we believe . I t is no speculation of theapostle

, se t forth as his own , and not to be acknowl

edged by u s . It is the fact of our redemption,pur

posed of God , proclaimed by Jesus , and thereforepurchased with His death . H e describes

,indeed

,a

faet which is so wondrous that none would believe itunless the presence ofJesus proved it— the presence ofHim who is both our brother and yet our God andLord . To a similar effect he also says at another time( 11 . Corinthians vii i 9) For y e know the grace ofour Lord Jesus Christ that

,tho he was rich

,yet for

your sakes he became poor , that y e through his pove rty might become rich .

”

John,of course , seems to speak differently of the in

carnation . H e calls Jesus the Word , in whom frometernity

,already before the foundation ofthe world

,all

is appointed that God has to say unto u s . ThroughJesus ’ mediation

,therefore

,the world is created

,which

from the beginning to this day was and is referred toH im

,the light of l ife

,the source of all peace for every

one ofus . It is H e ofwhom we need only to think inorder to have before u s everything which God has tosay to u s . But that which God has to say to us

,that

which in the deepest ground ofHis being H e has left forus

,this in His love H e is Himself. H e has left Himself

for us,H imselfH e will give to us and does give to us by

giving u s His Son . Therefore , H e in whom all thisstands before us as present and forever is from eternity as God— the Word i s God . And of this Word

,

which was before the world was,God in God or to

God,i t is said that it became what we are . The Word

156


became flesh, not merely dwelt in the flesh , but it he

came flesh— the greatest imaginable contrast,and one

which w e , who are fle sh, sub j eét to death ,

wouldhardly dare to express if i t were not Jesus of whomthis is predicated . But H e who was God

,and to

whom we are referred from the beginning,through

whom alone we have and can have the life everlasting,

thus deeply humbled Himself even unto death,and

went into the realm of the dead,yes

,and beyond i t

,

that H e may fully belong to us . This is the wonderfu l faet that fle sh ,

our flesh,the material appearance of

our being,became to Him the means of belonging to

u s and ofproving Himselfours by suffering and death .

Therefore,it is said in the first e spistle of John

( I . John iv 2 , 3 ) Every spirit which confesseththat Jesus Chris t ( the Son of the Father , with whomwe are to have communion with the Father) is comein the flesh (so that the fle sh became the means of

proving Himselfas the Messiah,as Savior) is ofGod

,

and every spirit which confesseth no t that Jesus Christcame into the fle sh is not of God .

” This he says of

that Jesus of whom he‘writes at the end of this

epistle !“ This is the true God and eternal life

,as

Paul (Romans ix 4 , 5 ) says when he praises the prerogat ives of Israel Ofwhom is Christ as concerningthe flesh ,

who is over all , God , blessed forever .”

But how does it appear that this is not , after all , theopposite conception from that of the apostle Paul ?Paul speaks of the humiliation , John of the maj estyand glory of the Word which became fle sh. But afterhe has said

,The Word became flesh ,

” he continuesAnd dwelt among us , and we beheld His glory , glory

157


as of the only begotten from the Father , full of grac eand truth .

” Is it not for him the principal thing thathe saw ,

not the hesh , but the glory of God in Christ ,in the Word which became hesh ? No man hathseen God at any time the only begotten Son (whois the true Son of the Father in distinét ion from us

,the

children adopted by grace) , H e hath declared him .

”

Upon this phrase I pause to remark that,according to

the conneét ion ,as far as I se e , the reading , The

only begotten Son , can alone be genuine,and not

The only begotten God,

” nor God only begotten,

”

in spite of the English authorities,and afterward the

German,who adopted the latter phrase . The text that

follows Which is in the bosom of the Fatherrefers to the truth and aé’tuali ty of the Sonship , madeknown as genuine by the “ bosom position ” that isassigned to Him . But this is only by the way .

Does not John mean to say that out of the flesh of

Jesus has unmistakably shone upon Him the DivineBeing who is distinét therefrom ? For what does heunderstand by the glory of Jesus , which Jesus manifested at Cana in Galilee , so that His disciples believedon Him ? What does Jesus understand by the gloryofGod when H e says to Martha I f thou b elievedst

,

thou shouldst se e the glory ofGod Is,perchance

,

the wondrous power of Jesus an emanation of Hisotherwise hidden glory ? But Jesus performs no miracles in the power of that which he ‘ is eternally

,but

in the power of a special Divine investiture for HisMessianic call

,which H e received because H e declined

to prove H is Divinity otherwise than by suffering .

This glory to which John testifies was the glory of

158


to the Messiah who aétually should prove to be Mess iah . This is also expressed in the adj uring questionofthe high priest Art Thou Christ

,the Son ofthe

living God ? But j ust in what manner H e was theSon of God , what this Divine Sonship signified,

thisthey could only perceive when the whole blessed reality of all that His Messiahship comprehended andmeant for them was laid before them . Till then theystill waited for the revelation ofHisMessiahship ,

'

altho

and because they believed in i t ; bu t they knew notthat all this which they could not yet harmonize withHis Messiahship was

,in faet , the proof of His Mes

s iahship . It was proof that H e had come not to j udgethe world

,but to redeem it not to destroy the lives of

men,but to save them . What H e told them on the last

night I came out from the Father and am come intothe world ; again I leave the world , and go unto theFather and what H e prayed in this last night 0

Father,glorify Thou Me with Thine own self

,with the

glory which I had with Thee before the world was— were most important and mysterious utteranceswhose significance was soon to become intelligible tothe disciples

,but was not y e t clear , because they

could not yet understand His way .

No,H e could not tell

,H e could not communicate to

the disciples the mystery of His birth . H e thoughtofHis Father and of all that which H e had given up ,

not as a sacrifice , but as One who would be nothingother than we are . On this account H e speaks of itj ust as little as of His Messiahship . From His aétsand His experience they should know Him

,and did

know Him finally so well that they learned to pray to

160


Him and had to pray to Him . From now on they knewthat H e was God from eternity

,and understood what

,

properly speaking , many cou ld now communicate onlyto those who were convinced ofHis Divine Mess iahship .

What the evangelists Matthew and Luke recorddoes not have for its purpose to make c lear to us theincarnation ofHim who was God

,b u t it is not there

fore merely a produét of legend and poetry whichcould only have originated in the Christian congregation . It rather traces the birth of the child of Mary

,

appointed as Messiah,and thus as King of the King

dom ofGod,and as Sav ior of the world , to the work

ing of the Spirit of God,by which all workings of

God,especially all workings of grace , consummate

themselves . God ’s Spirit brings it about that Mary,

Joseph ’s betrothed,should bear the child in the line

ofDavid ’s house , and thus it becomes heir to David ’sthrone . God ’s Spirit brings i t about that this childshall be born in order to die

,that thereby the reverse

be prepared for u s , even eternal life . God ’s Spiritbrings it about that Simeon comes to the temple

,sees

the little child which is brought there by the parents ,and breaks out into the words o f his song of

praise : Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart inpeace

,0 Lord , according to Thy word ; for mine eyes

have seen Thy salvation,which Thou hast prepared

before the face of all peoples ; a light for revelation tothe Gentiles

,and the glory ofThy people Israel . ” And

the same Spirit of God brings it about that Simeonprophesied : This is set for the falling and rising upof many in Israel , and for a sign which is spoken

161


against . We perceive that this child , so wondrouslyborn in the power of the Spirit ofGod

,is yet born in

order to die we perceive that in both evangelists thischild ’s history is a history misunderstood of men

,a

history of sufiering ,such as no other man ever e xpe ri

e nced i t . But this child and this man had to e xpe ri

ence it if H e is to be one come,not to j udge the

world,which had indeed ripened them for j udgment

,

but one who should save i t . Conceived of the HolyGhost

,

” but born of the Virgin Mary,saluted and

praised by God ’s angels,bu t suffered under Pontius

Pilate,was cruc ified

,dead , and buried , descended to

the dead — this was His lot . That His birth already,

altho so wondrou sly brought about,belongs to the

history of suffering is easily seen when we considerthat

,according to both evangelists

,Joseph

,the b e

trothed ofMary,only learned later what honor awaited

her and what task was also intended for him . Therewas no man who had believed Mary when she narratedwhat happened to her— Joseph , indeed , the least . Shehad to keep silent and commit to God her way . Therefore

,she humbled herself, and said to the angel Be

hold the handmaid of the Lord ; be it unto me accordingto Thy word - the deepest humiliation which till thena human being could take upon herself

,and which

could bring to her the fate of being repudiated byJoseph and being despised by every one as an unmar

ried woman who was about to bring forth . And Josephcould j ust as little speak about it to any one

, b e

cause there was none who would have believed him .

Thus nothing was left them but to keep the secret andsay nothing about it till Mary ’s mouth was opened

162


knows also that H e must needs rise , that this was thejust ification which H e must needs experience

,even

tho no one had attested it to us . But it was impossible that we should fail of a suffic ient attestation of

this,for i t must be experienced that H e is a Savior

,

and this experience with Him as the Savior by therealization of His presence is

,in fact , the experience

that H e aétually has risen , has aétually returned fromdeath and the realm of the dead to His own

,has re

turned forever,in order to be experienced forever as

the Messiah . But to be the Messiah,and allow as

one beyond space and time to be experienced as apresent Messiah by lost s inners was not human— it wasDivine . The Messiah

,the anointed ofGod

,the chosen

and appointed King of His Kingdom ,is God and

Lord . H e did not become God,for this no one can do

,

but H e i s God yet became man in order to be whollyand forever with us

,and to be everything that H e is

for our b enefit . This is the miracle of all miraclesincomprehensible

,inconceivable

,but real and true .

The resurreétion is a miracle— it is the decisive miracleon it depends all that concerns Jesus . The incarnation

,however

,is the greater miracle and the greatest

of all miracles to which the re surre étion leads us .

The acknowledgment,h owever

,of the miracle of

the re surreétion,and thereby of the greater miracle of

the incarnation , is the acknowledgment of the faetof our pardon , of our redemption . Our pardon

,our

redemption,is no less wondrous than the faet of the

incarnation of Him who is God . One is as certainlya paradox as the other

,the reverse of all that is self

evident and consistent,the one no less than the other .

164


Can I believe the one,my pardon

,I can also believe

the other , His incarnation ; y e s , I must believe i t , forthese two are inseparably united . Pardon with theincarnation of God is a true pardon

,by which I

,the

sinner , have the living God . W ithout the incarnationit may only be a pardon given in gentle pity for myerrors , the mistakes of my wrong development . Bu t

the greater these appear to me the more impossible itis to regard them as pardonab le through such a s l ighting of them . For the hou r comes certainly in which Imust confess what the Psalmist has already confessedthousands of years before For mine iniquities aregone over mine head

,as an heavy burden they are too

heavy for me . For day and night Thy hand was heavyupon me : my moisture was changed as with the droughtof summer Well for me

,then

,if I still have time

and strength to betake myself for refuge to the whole,

wondrous,unsearchably great mercy of our God

The re surreéi ion of the man Jesus,the Messiah of

God,and the incarnation belong together

,as also the

incarnation ofGod and our resurrection , or our redemption t ill its completion in the resurrec

'

tion . I t is not,

however,as if now

, ‘afte r the faéls stand before our

eyes,a priori

,the one can be seen as a resu l t of the

other,or as if the one cou ld be developed from the

other by some rational necessity . On the contrary ,we perceive how everything hts in and harmonizes with every other thing , how ev erything lockstogether

,and how everything is a free Divine deed .

Free aétion is the cause of our redemption ,ofChrist ’s

resuscitation,of His Messiahship , His incarnation .

Everything is by free aétion . Everything is rational ,16 5


but nothing is necessary for reason , rather everythingis superrational . Only thus do we understand theway of the Messiah , the way of Jesus to the cross

,

which H e went indeed voluntarily,and yet was

,as it

were,compelled to die . H e gave Himself unto death

and was obedient even unto death .

”H e gave His

life as a ransom for many,and yet H e was delivered

up into the hands of men who treated Him as theypleased . For as the Father hath life in Himself

,

even so gave H e to the Son also to have life in Himself and yet As Moses lifted up the serpent in thewilderness

,even so must the Son ofMan be lifted up .

”

H e had to die that we should have life . No one,

said H e,taketh My life from Me

,but I lay it down

ofmyself and again :“ This is your hour and the

power of darkness .Thu s this Jesus

,this Messiah

,aétually belongs in

the Gospel in spite of Harnack ’s contradic’t ion . H e is

the Gospel of God for the lost world . H e proclaimsthe K ingdom of God

,His disciples proclaim Him the

King of the Kingdom,because from the King it fol

lows that the Kingdom exists . Christ is the King ;as such H e can be known and experienced

,and is

known and experienced,tho H e does not look as if

H e were a K ing . In like manner is the Kingdom of

God experienced in righteousness,peace

,and j oy in

the Holy Spirit,altho it does not look as if it existed

in reality as a fu lfilment of all Divine promises,as the

tenor of all happiness only known and felt by thosewho were unhappy and lost . The Gospel which Jesusproclaimed was the Gospel of the Kingdom of God ,and therefore the Gospel about Himself. Therefore

166


Gospel,one must

,in faet , reduce the entire Gospe l to the

two commandments o f love of God and love of neighbor

,which

,however

,are already Old Testament com

mandments,and appear in the Old Testament

,more

over,as comprehension ofthe whole law . Onemust not

,

as is affirmed,deepen but rather empty of its complete

fu lness of love God ’s Father’s name,which is al

ready known in the O ld Testament . One must finallyreduce to lower terms

,from its infinite value and emi

nence over all the glory of the world,our knowledge

of the infinite worth of the soul of man,tho yet a

lost soul— also an Old Testament idea . Reduétion !

Redu é’t ion of the grace of God

, redu étion of our sin ,

reduétion of our lost estate , reduét ion of the redeeminglove of God

,reduétion ofGod ’s freedom— nothing but

reduc'

tion is the real Gospel to snfie r. To this end weare to eliminate everything which does not fit in orderto get a Christ who neither is more than we are

,nor

can do more than every other man,who is only gifted

for His calling But separation requires only art,not

science . Jesus not only belongs in the Gospel , H e i s

the Gospel . Gospel is the correlate,the corresponding

word for that what the Old Testament promise has inView . I t is the message of the fulfilled promise

,and

there is no Gospel which gives up the fu lfilment ofthepromise . Jesus is the fulfille r ; therefore H e says : Icame not to destroy

,but to fulfil. ” As the faet ofthe

promise is a free gift of God’s grace and not a se

qu ence ofhistory ( the promise is not , in the phrase ofSophocles , a child ofhope

,

” but,vice versa

,in Israel

the hope is a child of the promise) , then its fu lfilmentis still more appropriately a free gift of God ’s grace .168

THE PERSON OF JESUS

But this gift i s Jesus , the Son ,whom the Fa ther sent

not that H e shou ld j udge the world b u t that H e shouldsave the world . It fo l lows from this that H e thatbelieveth on the Son hath eterna l life , b u t he thatobeyeth not the 8 011 shall no t se e life

,but the wrath

of God abideth 0 11 him. That such is the case everyone must confess , even tho he wou ld not have it so .

169

APPEARANCE 0 1“ JESUS AND RECEPT ION INISRAEL

HE Son of God in the world,the Messiah sent

to us by the grace ofGod,l auded by angels

and declared to men,but a human being

l ike other human beings,who did not look

as if he were the Son ofGod— such was the Messiah atHis advent . How and whereby should H e be known ?Since H e rose from the dead and came into our experience as the Messiah

,through the realization of His

self-humiliating love which is stronger than death andhell

,all mysteries are now solved and banished

,but

they are removed only in such a manner that we knowthe mystery of His appearance no more as a mystery ,

but as the necessary proofofHis Messiahship .

H e is born like us , the son of a woman ; ly ing therebedded

,indeed

,as other men are not bedded ; not more

glorious andmagnificent , but poorer , in a manger , in atrough appointed for the cattle and ordinarily used bycattle . With pains and tears Mary waited for herhour . Now she rej oices that a man is born into theworld

,but she can tell nobody what has happened to

her . She must keep quiet and Joseph must keepquiet , for no one could and would believe them theywould spoil everything from the very start . A visionofangels announces to the shepherds what had takenplace : Christ the Lord , the Messiah , is born in the

170


the artisan ’s house , which H e leaves only once, wh

twelve years of age,to go with the parents to Jer

salem . There H e finds and feels Himself at homethe temple

,in the house of the Father

,of His Pathe

H e associates with the priests and scribes , qu e st iothem and is questioned of them

,as teacher and pu

usually ask and answer each other,and every 0

wonders at His most promising g ifts . But Mary aJoseph feel only pain at His stay ; they seek Him f

three days,and hnd Him finally in the temple . Wh

Mary upbraids Him,H e does not understand he

but she also does not understand Him ,and apprehen

not that it was unnecessary for her to seek the chicommitted to her , because at Jeru salem H e could habeen in no other place than in the house ofHim whoH e inwardly called Father in a more pe rfeét sen

than that in which any other could address Go

Jesus understands her not , but H e goes with His parento Nazareth and is sub j eét unto them ,

as the lawthe Father demanded i t . Thus H e reaches thiry ears of age , Himself a carpenter , l ike Joseph hbeen . Thirty years of obscurity of the Son of G

in the world ! What a humiliation was this for tmother

,whose husband had died long ago

,and w

now,with the other children

,turned to Him

,the firs

born,for guidance ! What a humiliating path w

this for Jesus to tread ! But Mary walked it aH e walked i t

,and tho Mary had to conquer hersel

H e had not to conquer Himself,but at the most on

such temptations as come to H im from the world,

later on,when His brethren tempted Him (Jo

v i i

172

APPEARANCE OF JESUS IN ISRAEL

Then came John ( a Judean , related to Jesus but unacquainted with Him , who had grown up in heathenishGalilee) , the precursor and preparer of the way of theMessiah . H e had received the Divine message of thetime which was now to begin and of the Messiah whowas to come . John received the instru éi ion for H isappearance through the Word of God

,which came to

him as once to the prophets . Not so was it withJesus . Jesus must needs go the ways only which thewhole people

,which every other had to go ,

when aprophet of God appeared and announced what was tohappen . For The Lord God will do nothing

,bu t H e

revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets,

”

and the people must needs hear what Jehovah hadrevealed . John preached and baptized with the bapt ism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins

,as we

have already stated . Jesus went to him ,now more

deeply moved by the hour which was now come thanany ofHis brothers ofthe children of Israel , forwhomand with whom H e felt

,believed , hoped , and longed .

H e had indeed nothing to confess , like the others , thatburdened Him as guilt

,and therefore

,as it seemed

,

nothing to seek of the Baptist . But that which burdened Him was the guilt which H e had to share withH is brothers , was the j udgment under which theygroaned

,were the sins which they had committed .

The blessing and guilt of the whole people were Hisblessing and His guilt

,the people ’s faith and hope

His faith and His hope , for H e thought not of Himselfbut of His brothers , to whom H e belonged , intowhose communion H e was born , and for whom H e

had now to carry their sins . John , the prophet of the173

THE E SSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY

Messiah,knows Him for whom he was sent and

whom he had hitherto not known . H e knows not Hisname ; bu t he knows His offi ce , and knows , therefore ,Him

,the bearer of this office . Through Divine illu

mination it becomes clear to John that this is the manfor whom with Israel and for Israel he has waited . On

this account he refuses to baptize Him with the bapt ism which could only symbolize and warrant theforgiveness of sins

,the forgiveness which this Very

Messiah was to bring in the power ofGod,in the power

of the Spirit and therefore in truth he said Ihave need to be baptized ofThee , and comest Thou tome ? We understand this refusal . But do we alsounderstand the answer ofJesus For thus it b e cometh us to fulfil all righteousness How for Him andfor the Baptist could this belong to righteousness

,to

that which has God ’s v erdiét in its favor , that Jesusshould suffer Himself to be baptized

,and that John

should baptize Him ? And yet that Jesus snfiered

Himself to be baptized is a faet that issues as a cousequence of the same human necessity whereby H e hadbecome a member of Israel

,and therefore for the Bap

t ist it appears as a consequence of his calling that heshould baptize this j ust One for whom he existed .

The desire of Jesus was to do the duty and the deedsofOne who had humbled Himself to live and to sufferwith His brethren , to humble Himselfbefore the livingGod

,and to hope in His goodness . Upon Him rested

the burden of the sin and guilt of His people,the

chosen people,and still more , that of the other human

race . H e thought not ofHimself, but ofus . H e suf

fe red under this pressure of the world ’s guilt,but H e

174


has until now lacked the grace of God and the helpofGod and ofHis Spirit but now H e is prepared forthe way which lies before Him .

In the power of the Spirit , in the power of the consc iousness that the Father is with Him in all thingswhich H e will do ,

H e can now accomplish everything which belongs to His calling

,and can re

c e ive everything that H e asks or needs . H e is ledonly by the spirit of His vocation

,only by the

Father . H e sees and hears whatever H e is to doand say ,

because H e attends to nothing else but tofulfil His calling for His brethren . H e needs no revelations

,for H e knows at every hour what to do

and speak when H e looks at His brethren and at theFather

,when H e sees their disbel ief and when H e sees

their belief,for H e knows their hearts and needs not

to be told anything . H e receives revelations onlywhere H e needs the grace ofGod , God’s comfort andstrengthening , as at those funétions where H e had notto deal with us

,His brethren

,e .g .

,the mount of the

transfiguration and in the garden of Gethsemane .

Having been baptized,what has H e now to do ? H e

who in all His surroundings had suffic iently perceivedthat sin corrupts all men and everything was preparedfor H is task . The way to the Baptist had been seriousenough

,and the word by which H e forced the Baptist

to baptize Him affords to us a profound insight intothe depths of the workings of His will toward the resolve to l ive and to die wholly for the will ofthe Fatherand for the salvation of the brethren . H e knew Hislife -problem . That H e was called to stand on the sideof God and to live for God ’s purposes among sinners

176


could not have remained hidden from H im in thethirty years ’

s i l ence at Nazareth . Now,as it seemed

,

the moment had come to present Himself to the worldas a helper and Savior . The moment seemed favorable . Thu s far nothing more had taken place than thedeclaration of the Baptist . This

,however

,had pre

pared the people to receive the Mess iah exu ltantly ifH e Only came . Forgiveness of sins

,and in its power

freedom from all distress ; deliverance from their enemies

,the Romans ; liberty from all misery— who is

there that has not desired all this ? That Jesus did no t

share the so -called Messianic ideal,or the Messian ic

ideas o f the people,was a matter of course for Him

who suffered more under the pressure of s in thanthose who committed i t . Bu t there were others , part icularly among those who had come to John , who a lsodid not share this View . According to them ,

the Me s

s ianic help was to consist in the abolition of all oppression . They wanted forgiveness only because theywere in oppression . Neither was Jesus nor were theyof the opinion that their oppressed condition is to beblamed for all sins . Oh the contrary , Jesus was nosocial democrat

,nor were these Israelites such . Yet

it made a difference whether the grace ofGod is soughtfor the forgiveness it brings or for deliverance . Jesusis here in behalf ofpeople who feel and think as H e

feels and thinks . Was not now the time to appear b efore them and to manifest Himself to the people , inorder to cure them at the same time from the error oftheir thoughts and from their false Messianic ideas ?But the spirit of His calling dire éted Him not tomen

,but into the desert far away from men . I t was

177


not an unconscious,obscure impulse which H e followed ;

but with a clear consciousness , filledwith the conv iétionof the task H e was to do , H e saw that first and nearestto Him

’

a hard struggle impended . It was not a struggle with His own wish and will

,with His own heart ;

H e was and remained at one with the Father ’s will,

and never resigned Himself to illusions concerningHis task and duty . Still less had H e to struggle inwardly with the thoughts and notions of men aboutthis H e was clear , even when H e bowed under thehand of the Baptist . It was the struggle with Satanwhich was before Him

,and which had to be fought

out first before H e could teach the people . It was astruggle with the enemy of God and men

,whose

world - dominion had to be broken . Fasting and praying H e spends His time

,for it is only in the unbroken

communionwith the Father,maintained with all earnest

ness,that Satan can be overcome . At last the strug

gle begins . H e was hungry now Satan has found anopportunity to approach Him temptingly : “

I f Thouart the Son of God

,in the grace of God as the chosen

Messiah,at whose command everything is

,then com

mand that these stones become bread Of the stonesGod was to raise up children unto Abraham— whyshould the Son ofGod not be able to supply Himselfwith bread out of the stones ? And whom should H e

wrong thereby ? Not those who afterward mockedHim on the cross H e saved others

,HimselfH e can

not save . But not thus can H e fulfil His calling.

With a few loaves H e could miraculously feed thousands

,as H e afterward repeatedly showed . Here , how

ever,H e would have used His wondrous power

,not for

178


H is sufle rings , Peter meant to defend H im with thesword : Thinkest thou that I can not beseech myFather

,and H e shall even now send Me more than

twelve legions of angels ? But neither now northen is the time which shall afterward come when H e

shall appear in His glory,and all the angels with Him .

I t is not the Father who shows Him this way . TheFather was silent , and Jesus knew that H e had notcome to use force , were it even to be manifested as thepower of the sight of His Divine Maj esty . H e knewthat His way was a different one

,that H e had to

sufi'

e r and endure whatever the renunciation of Hisheavenly glory demanded . H e refused the temptationwith the Word Again it is written

,thou shalt not

tempt the Lord thy God .

” Beyond thatWord,let the

way be ever so difficult , H e can not go .

Now,Satan shows Him from an exceedingly high

mountain all the kingdoms of the world and the gloryof them . This world Jesus seeks to win— for it andin it H e will l ive , H e will work ,

H e will show Hispower ; i t is to be His that

“i t may have peace .

Jesus is to have i t,provided H e falls down and

worships him (Satan) . Every man has his price ;the higher he stands , the greater is the price forwhich he can be had . Jesus— thus thinks Satan- isto be had for the price of the whole world

, since hereis a simple

,safe way to obtain it . One needs only to

renounce God and give the honor to him who has thedominion in the world . One needs only to leave b ehind him God

,the fear ofGod

,and faith in God . On

the other hand,one mu st resolutely resign himself to

persecution to the utmost,even unto death . To be

180


sure , Jesus w as already decided . Rather renounceeverything and blindly trust in the Father and go God

’

s

ways— this was the answer which H e had thus fargiven . For Satan nothing more was left than to stepforth openly

,to demand and offer

,even tho in the real

i z at ion of his defeat . But for Jesus nothing else was

left for Him but to put up also with this most revoltingof all demands

,this bufie t in the face

,for the sake of

men who a thousand times follow such demands,

whom H e meant not to destroy b u t to save . Theywou ld not understand Him . But what would happenif

,in His wrath

,H e should trample Satan under His

feet ? His wrath would reach farther,and devou r

every one who,for the sake of gaining the world

,has

abandoned the living God . H e dare not aft,H e dare

not rebel,H e dare not rely upon His Divine endow

ment of power . H e can only rely upon H is presenttask

,and this is prescribed to Him Thou shalt wor

ship the Lord thy God,and Him only shalt thou

serve . Faith and obedience : these are the onlyweapons which are at the command of Him who became man— a sign again that the incarnation is thehumiliation of Him to whom as God and Lord everything belongs

,and who as God and Lord can do every

thing . It will and must come to this , that the kingdoms of the world are become the Kingdom of ourLord and of His Christ . They already are His , andH e would destroy them if H e had only come to aet

consistently with the world . But for this H e had notcome . H e came to save the sinful and , therefore , lostworld— His world . The way to this goal can only bea way of suffering . Jesus will and must suffer all , as

181


H e Himself also says at the end of His way Thisis your hour

,and the power ofdarkness . ”

The Viétory is obtained . Jesus has not had to battlewith images of His own heart , or even merely of Hisimagination— as if m ind-

piétures did not come out ofthe heart ! Still less has H e had to fight with theimagination of that which the world offered to Himand pressed upon Him for H e was in the wilderness

,

and what H e was to do in the world H e had agreed uponlong ago with the Father . The Father had acceptedHis v ow and had given Him a promise , whi ch wentfar beyond all the power of the world . Jesus had tofight with the power which stands invisibly but reallybehind the world

,and keeps fast hold upon i t

,and drives

it from s in to sin . Jesus has conquered,and now re

turns from the wilderness to the world , of which H e

now knows qu ite certainly what reception it will prepare for Him —not with the j oy of Viétory ,

but withthe seriousness of death .

H e can not come with a great show of power,H e

can not lay claim with force and might to His rightto sit upon the throne of David and to rule overIsrael

,and thence over the kingdom of the world

, be

cause with force and might sin can not be overcome,

it can only be condemned . The time should come ,indeed

,as symbolically it had often already occurred

in Israel ’s history,that j udgment will begin at the

house of God . But this will only be when i t hasbeendetermined whether the world will be helped by Jesus .But for the time being it remains , as Jesus often declared

,that the Father has sent the Son , not to j udge

the world,but to save it that H e did not come to

182


our enemies,should serve Him without fear all our

days . ” The closing words of this song show thatforgiveness of sins is the main condition of everyamelioration of the outward condition

,and that in

this consists the knowledge of salvation . Jesus knowsthat H e has to deal with sin , and not only indeed withthe s in which oppresses , but first with the sin of theoppressed themselves . It is this idea to which H e

unreservedly gives expression in the Sermon on theMount

,and in the light of this idea we se e why H e

closes with the woe upon those who only say to HimLord

,Lord

,

” but do not the will ofHis Father . Inthis struggle certainly H e dreams not of speedy Vic

tories . This H e can not do , because as no other H e

knows the power of s in . Because H e never experi

enced it in Himself, H e has seen the more plainly howit destroys everything . This one must keep in View ifhe wishes to understand Christ’s way . Savior of sinners H e is to be and must b e— i t is this certainty thatshowed Him His way , and prepared for Him Hisdestiny

,and therefore H e was clear from the beginning

about that which awaited Him .

As we have already stated,H e proclaimed the Gos

pel of the Kingdom ofGod and spoke of the Father,

to whom the people so often and so ardently prayedfor deliverance . How could H e depend upon inspiring faith in His words about this Kingdom havingcome near

,and about the mercy of the Father who

has risen to deliver His people For where was theK ingdom of God’s dominion when the rule of themighty

,ofthe men in seats ofpower

,ofthe oppressors

,

had not been broken,when everything remained as it

184


was ? By what means cou ld the truth of His prediction be known ? That H e was right in every wordwhich H e spoke against s in and against sinnersnot only against the s in of the oppressors

,but also

against the sin of the oppressed— this every one mightconcede if he would . That H e rigidly re j e éted s in ;

that H e struck at and condemned it in its innermost,

fine st form , was , first of all , the warrant for H is ap

pearance as a successor of the Baptist . Bu t that w iththis rigid j udgment H e announced

,nevertheless

,the

fulfilment of all promises ofGod , and se t forth the inscrutable mercy of God— this legitimated the Wordthrough a wondrous union of j udgment and mercywhich first of all appeared like a promise . 8 0 had italways been in Israel . The promise had always beenlegitimated by the j udgment . Whoever believed thepromise only did so by sub j eéting himself at the sametime to the j udgment which was exercised by the sameGod in whom the people put its hope . To this was nowadded a third faét : that Jesus spoke no more of anotherone

,of a mightier , who was to come after Him ,

but ofHimself

,whose office it was to bring everything

,to

give everything , and to realize the whole plan ofGod .

His m ission no more concerned the promise and thefuture . It concerned the present , and the future onlyso far as H e , the presence which H e brought

,had in

Himself the promise of the future . And that this was

truth could be perceived from the very seriousnesswith which H e spoke of j udgment , and forced everyone who believed H im to execute j udgment onhimself ere the great hour of j udgment came overthe whole world . That H is miraculous aétivity was

185


to support this belief, but that it remained fruitless ,we shall se e afterward .

It was nothing new what Jesus demanded whenwith His words and His silences H e urged the hearersto use all seriousness in betaking themselves to theirself- j udgment . It was also nothing new which H e

demanded when H e deepened the requirements of thelaw

,as some one has said . This deepening was not

new,indeed

,but only inconvenient to the ex aét per

formers of religion . Nor was the Father ’s name ofGod new

,tho it has never been so strongly , so ener

ge tically used as now . That which was new was thefulfilment of the promise , the presence of God,

whonow exercises His dominion

,the presence of Jesus

,

the words about Himself— the word “I t is I .

”

This was,indeed , the greatest word which could be

said,which no one but Jesus ever could dare to say

a word which H e to-day yet repeats and confirms

when H e speaks to u s . Therefore said Peter,at the

close of the address in which Jesus had presented andoffered Himself as the bread of life Lord

,to whom

shall we go ? Thou hast the word of eternal life .

”

Everything which men can otherwise devise and contrive is , l ike all the works of their strength and artonly for the dust and for death . What Jesus speaksis for eternity , for H e is present and stands forever byHis word . The grace of God , which lasts from eternity to eternity , has in Him entered into time , hasacquired the potency of the present

,and remains for

ever as present . H e speaks of H imself and ofiers

H imself to men H e i s the Gospel.

True , His words made a deep impression not only on

186


and healing and restoration— they love death morethan l ife . This would be inconceivable if it were notstill the same to-day . Ou this account the people donot make their decision for Him . Jesus has to takefrom them the benefit of H is free speech about theKingdom of God , the goal ofall their hope . H e speaksclearly only to the disciples of the manner in whichthe K ingdom ofGod exists in secrecy

,and is sought by

some and found by others . It is truly the KingdomofGod which shall some day fill the world when j udgment has been held and from this Kingdom all offenders and all evil-doers must be cast out . We can understand how to the disciples this prophecy could becomeclear because of that which they had in Jesus andwhich no one else believed , while at the same timethese speeches made the darkness still darker for others .It is true

,then

,that there is a j udgment which even

the most faithful love can not avertTo the end the people remained in their indecision .

Jesus had enemies . H e was hated as fierce ly as thosewho as God ’s servants were His types in the Old Testament . H e was hated as never a man was hated beforeor since

,and this by the leaders of the people

,the

au thorities of Israel , the representatives of the lawthe Pharisees

,scribes

,and priests . They were called

to be the first witnesses of the Messiah,but this they

were not . Jesus , indeed , did not seek them , altho H e

especially gave the priests the honor due them when,

in directing to them the lepers whom H e had healed,

H e instruéted these to show themselves to the priestsfor a testimony unto them .

” Jesus did not needthe witness of the priests , for ifH e was really theMes

188


siah H e would be known as such by every one whowished to know . But H e had come in a guise entirelydifierent from what the priests expe éted ,

not at all likeone who comes from heaven and whom one knows

,as

the astronomers perceive a phenomenon in the sky andknow how to estimate i t . I fHis claim was unauthorized

,

then H e was a misfortune to Israel through the powerH e had ofmisleading them . IfHis claim was authori z ed,

His j udgment established,His demands j ust ified,

if H e was the gift of God for His people , that wasthe end of them and their authority which they hadacquired— a n end of the position of the nobility of thenation and the privileges which they enj oyed

,the

rights of the priesthood , the domination of the highpriests . But this they could not bear . They had decided long ago to kill Him . H e shou la

’ not b e . theMessiah

,H e coa la

’ not be of this they were persuaded. Bu t the opportunity had not yet been found

,

for even unto the week of passion they were afraid ofthe people. At last , at last , the opportunity came .

As already stated , Jesus had never given Himselfupto illusions . H e never needed to exchange His socalled Messianic ideal for another more correspondent to the lower reality . H e had a truer reality . H e

were not at all the helper given by God Himself to theworld had H e given Himself to illusions

,had H e not

completely understood sin,had H e not fully estimated

the cost from the beginning , had H e confided too muchin Himself. From the beg inn ing H e ha a

’reckoned w i th

the thought qfa’ea th at the cleansing of the temple

,

which John narrates,as well as in the Sermon on the

Mount and the sending of the twelve , as Matthew

189


narrates . True , H e spoke openly and unreservedlyonly to the disciples at Caesarea Philippi

,and

,from

that time onward,of the necessity that H e must die

,

yet even then they d id not understand how i t couldcome to this ; much less had they understood theearlier intimations . John the evangelist spec ificallytells us that the saying , Destroy this temple

,and in

three days I will raise it up ,

” which had reference tothe temple of His body , and thus to death and resurreét ion ,

was understood neither by the disciples nor bythe Jews . ” H ow cou ld they then understand whatJesus said in the Sermon on the Mount

, of being reviled and persecuted for the sake of His name

,or in

the address in Matthew , when sending out His disciples

, of being hated for the sake ofHis name ? Howcould they understand what H e said of the cross

,

under which one should follow Him ? That thisword is not a later interpolation is a matter of courseto the reader who knows how the Jews

,in Biblical

language,used to speak of the cross

,which since the

Roman rule began had stared at them on all roads .

They said,e .g .

,ofIsaac , when he carried the wood for

the sacrifice on the mount : Isaac was loaded withthe wood , like one who carried his own cross on hisshoulder . Thus it is not at all necessary to supposethat Jesus intended by His words to signify beforehandthe manner of His death

,but H e expresses thus the

faet that the world,Jews and Gentiles

,will cast Him

out and deliver Him to death . Why should this nothave been evident to Him ? We can understand thatthe disciples did not comprehend i t , did not , indeed ,comprehend it at all before it had come about

,did not

190

THE MlRACLE -MINISTRY OF JESUS

ESUs Spoke and testified of the Kingdom of

God which had come and was at hand,the

sum of all blessedness,and the eternal good

which God promised before to His own,pre

pared for them from the beginning of the world , andnow at length ofie red. I t does not , indeed , look asif all who were in this Kingdom had peace . Theyhad still to endure the world-sorrow which othershave also to bear— y es , perhaps they feel it still more .Bu t they can bear it . The Kingdom which they had

,or

for which they still waited,makes them strong to bear

i t . H ow could H e prove this ? Jesus and the Kingdom belonged together what did H e give of the goodof His Kingdom ? Thy sins are forgiven .

”H e

spoke to the man sick of the palsy,and to the great

sinner . T0 bring forg iveness— on this depended andtoward this was aimed all His work . But j ust this wasnot acknowledged . H e blasphemeth ; who can forgive sins but one

,even God ? ” said they who were

there in the presence of the man sick of the palsy,

the scribes and Pharisees . By what means did Jesusprove that H e can do this ? For H e had to prove itH e was not yet cruc ified and risen .

All that Jesus spoke,His whole manifest career ,

was accompanied by miracles,and

,indeed

,by such

miracles as had never been in Israel . Israel was the

THE M IRACLE-MINISTRY OF JESUS

people who had , as no other people , a distinc‘t andclear conception of the closed

,orderly sequence of l ife

and experience in nature and history from which se

quence , by his own strength , no man can escape , eventho one means to master i t

,and to a certain point really

does master i t . I t is flatly wrong to afli rm that Israelwas accustomed at every stage of its history to expe rience miracles . The contrary rather is correc't . Onlyat decisive points of Israel ’s history have miracleshappened , as at the deliverance from Egypt ’s bondagethrough Moses

,at the appearance of the two prophets

Elij ah and Elisha in the time of Israel ’s apostasy,and

in conneé’tion with some individual prophets

Isaiah at the time of Hezekiah ’s sickness . It was b ecause miracles belonged to the great critical times thatthey expeéted miracles of the Messiah— yes

,a mir

acle above all miracles— and were not sat isfied withwhat H e had already done , but sought of H im asign from heaven . It was not

,by the very supposi

tion,something normal which they sought

,and which

they believed they could find everywhere , but , on thecontrary

,something very extraordinary . This miracle ,

however,Jesus will not perform

,bu t instead

,in the

most severe manner , he sends back the sign-seekingPharisees and Sadducees An evil and adulterousgeneration seeketh after a sign ; and there shall 110sign be given unto i t

,but the sign of the prophet Jonas .

And H e left them ,and departed , ” we read in Matthew

xvi 4 . And this is characteristic of the supposed primitive View ofour evangelists . Jesus refuses this miraclewith the same gravity with which H e had spoken tothe nobleman who asked help for his son at the point

193


of death : Except y e see signs and wonders , y e willin no wise believe

,

” and for the same reason which ledHim to forego a miracle at Nazareth , His home : heeausethey beli eved not in H im. Otherwise

,however

,H e did

miracles not only where they believed in Him,but

even where they did not yet believe in Him,and where

no decision against Him had yet been made or wasexpected , so that , in case men would not beli eve Hiswords

,they could nevertheless believe on account of

the works which H e did .

These works,His miracles , were all , however , of

a special kind,l ike and yet again unlike all the

miracles which had previously been done in Israel .H e performed no miracle to proteét Himself againstHis enemies

,as did Moses and Elij ah . Once only

did Jesus perform a j udgment -miracle,and then only

to typify how Israel will fare‘

by continuing in disbelief. This was the cursing of the fig

- tree,which

against its nature had leaves but no fruit,and which

immediately withered away at Jesus ’ word . Once itmight seem as ifJesus had used His wondrous powerfor Himself, for His own b enefit— namely , when H e

rebuked the wind and the raging of the water,and

there was a calm . But H e did this not for Himself.In the midst of the raging of the storm and se a H e

was in the stern,asleep on the cushion ; and only when

the disciples awoke Him,and said unto Him

,Master

,

carest Thou not that we perish ? did H e rebuke thewind and the se a— yet H e also rebuked the disciples fortheir little faith . For as people who believed in Jesusthey shou ld have known and considered that nothingevil could befall them as long as Jesus was with them .

194


adds,Blessed is he whosoever shall hnd no occasion

of stumbling in Me — certainly a singular prophecy .

The Kingdom of God is at hand : But if I , by thefinger ofGod , or by the Spirit ofGod , cast out devils ,then

,without you knowing i t , is the Kingdom ofGod

come upon you .

” The Kingdom of God is at hand,

and those who should enj oy it first profit nothing andgain nothing by i t . How is that H ow issues and whatmeans this double form of miracles

,and what is their

difference from all former miracles which have beenwrought ? Miracles are wonderful works

,events pro

duced by mediate causes undiscernible by us or notexisting for us -thus they have been defined. Arethese of Jesus really different from the Old TestamentmiraclesWhat are miracles ? This is the first question . Isit really enough to say , according to the time-worn obj eé

’t ion to miracles , as well as the newest explanation

ofHarnack ,that they are phenomena or efiects which

are not to be explained from the known , unbroken orderof nature and history ? This only means According to the unbroken order known to us the

unbroken order known at the time when the phenomena took place . Certain m iracles which are abso

lute ly not to be explained— as the still ing of the stormon the se a— are roundly and emphatically denied .

That a storm on the sea has been stilled by a word,

says Harnack we do not believe and will neveragain believe . But the healing miracles , so far astheir historicity is conceded , are regarded as miraclesi . e . ,as influences of a firm will and a convinced faith

even upon the bodily life which interest us like mira

196

THE MIRACLE -MINISTRY OF JESUS

cles . Harnack says : Surely miracles do not happen,

but there is mu ch that is miraculous and inexplicable . We are not locked up in a blind and brutalcourse ofnature

,but nature serves higher pur

poses,and one may so come up against it by an inner

Divine power that all things shall work together forgood This coming up against nature ” yieldsus experiences” which are ever felt as miracles

,

”

and these experiences are inseparable from everyhigher religion

,

” and,indeed , are experiences for

the life of the individual as well as the great course ofthe history of humanity . H ow clean and clear

,

”

Harnack ironically continues , must be the thinking of a religious man who , while he himself is ableto adhere to the knowledge of the inviolability of thelimited course ofevents , nevertheless can be surprisedthat even great minds are not able clearly to separatethese realms .”

But all this would only or chiefly cover efleéts of

faith or of the firm will upon events that happen toone ’s own person . It is remarkable , however , thatall

'

the Biblical m iracle accounts , and more especiallythose of the N ew Testament , refer , not to efieé’ts of

miracle-workers on their own persons , but to efieéts

on others . From beginning to end Christ refusesto perform m iracles for H is own benefit , especially forthe preservation of His own life . As related inthe Epistle to the Philippians , Paul waits not for amiracle by which he should be helped ; and when atMelitta he is bitten by a Viper without being hurt ,the miracle happens not for his sake , b u t for thosewho saw i t . Christ does not provide for His own food

197


by a miracle,as God once cared for EhJah through

the ravens,and as Elij ah himself provided the oil in

the cruse and the meal in the barrel ofthe widow atZ arephath . Christ’s miracles are throughout efl

'

e éts

on others and for others . Are these to be explainedby the phrase The influence of a firm will and conv inced faith ,

” even upon the bodily life ? Perhapsthey might be explained as instances of hypnosis orsuggestion ? Then they would at once cease to bereal miracles

,and from that hour on they could no

more claim religious importance where their natureshould be known . They appear , then , in the light ofdelusion from religious motives and for reli gious ob

j ects . I f this imposture should no t be ascribed tothe apostles and evangelists , in so far as they havebe en themselves deceived , should i t be charged ; nevertheless , upon Jesus ? Or ifthesemifacles have not beenproduced by hypnosis or suggestion

,but by a real in

fluence of strong will and convict ion , has the historianelsewhere in history perceived such influences , savein the tales and legends of the middle ages ? Butwhenwith Harnack one still allows something impene trab le in the accounts of the miracles , which maypossibly become comprehensible to future generations

,

and the paradox of which is entirely to disappear,one

will be obliged to say that a weaker argument againstthe miracles has hardly ever come to light .

‘

I t Wouldhave been more intelligible to acknowledge the im

penetrability of all the accounts and to deny theirtruth than to make this unhappy effort at an explanation of thei r origi n , for this comes to the same thing .

Neither is this effort to acknowledge miracles with

198


cause and efieét in nature and history . For this veryreason the pious clung to the God who had chosen them

,

that they should not be ground by this inexorable order ;and they were heard when they prayed

,or thought

they were heard . What they then experienced in thismanner in connection with their life ofprayer

,dire éted

to God and drawing from God , was in the narrativedeveloped by their shaping fancy into miracle . Is thisso ? No , not if there i s hearing ofprayer ! If thereis not

,then indeed we shall have still less miracle

,for

it would follow that there is no God at all who ae’csfreely and demands free faith on the part of men

,

and what we call faith would remain either merely acompliance with God ’s hidden ways , or a contentedand happy confidence in God ’s wisdom which hasordered everything from eternity , with a conv iétion

that not the brutal world-order but God ’s wisdomtriumphs . For a free aét ion of God

,and especially

for an aétion of that God whom we can induce withour prayers

,there is no room . But so long as prayer

is an indispensable expression of our religious life,and

daily hearing of prayer is believed and experienced byus

, so long do we also distinguish between hearing of

prayer and miracle . It is not that hearing of prayeris a miracle which has happened in consequence of ourpray ing . The true miracle originates from Divineinitiative . For miracles , too , and especially the miracles ofJesus , are a hearing ofprayer . But tho , indeed ,miracles are hearings ofprayer , still i t is not the natureof the hearing of prayer to be a miracleg at least

, so

long as we do not , with Harnack ,decide to regard every

influence offreedom upon the forced order of nature200


and history as a paradox and therefore as a mirac le .

The Lord refers His believers to the hearing ofprayer,

which they are to experience daily,but not to miracles .

Hearing of prayer is the dai ly orderly experience of

His children ; miracles are not daily , are also something extraordinary for the children of the house ofGod . The hearing of pray er belongs to that government of God in history of which it is said that H e

fashions the hearts of men,and even cares for the

birds of the heaven,the flowe rs of the fie ld,

the sparrows on the roof

,that not one of them fall to the

ground without His will . This His disciples shallremember , and when they are brought before kingsand princes for j udgment they shall not be anxioushow or what they shall speak

,for i t shall be given

them in that hou r . But such giving is no miracle ,tho

it is known and felt as a gift , as an effeét ofGod ’s grace .

Miracles are,indeed

,hearing ofprayer

,but hearing of

that prayer which is formiracles . But we do not prayfor miracles unless we have to pray for them , becausethe distress of the congregation and ofGod ’s witnessesagainst the s in of the world impels us to i t . Jesusprayed for them

,His disciples have prayed for them

,

but not arbitrarily ; for a miracle is something verySpecial . The m iracle takes place through the Wordand at the Word . When the Word is spoken it comesto pass . Recovery from sickness which graduallytakes place

,not at once and completely , at the

Word,can be God ’s gift

,a hearing of prayer , bu t it

is no miracle . Neither do miracles happen by wayof accelerating a process of nature . This they neverare

,not even in the turning of water into wine at the

201


marriage in Cana,nor still less in the feeding of the

five thousand , and of the four thousand in the wilderness . Where a miracle takes place the conneétion b etween the Word and the event is always manifest

,tho

not to them to whom the Word is impotent . Savethat the greater part of these beholders may feel theneed to inquire more seriously into the relation of effeétand cause

,all miracles appear to them to belong only

in the mass of things and events not understood orconceivable

,of whi ch the course of the world is at all

times full . On this account Jesus’ miracles are miracles only for those who followed Him either for a timeor always . To such they are indeed real . For theothers they mean nothing

,and thus we understand

why Jesus pe rforms no miracles where H e finds nofaith at all .But what are miracles

,and what do they denote ?

They only happen in Israel,among the people chosen

for redemption . They thus stand in conne é’tion with

this destiny of Israel,with redemption they are deeds

of that God who will show to His people by goodness and severity that H e alone is the God of redemption

,who will not expose His people to the law of

sin and guilt , which is to say to the law of development

,but will deliver them from perdition . Whether

they are miracles of j udgment or miracles of grace,

they are always the ex aét contrary of what one wouldexpeét to occur in accordance with the natural orderof things , in the expeéted place , and at the expeéted time . They are intentiona lly counter—efett saga inst this na tura l order of things , and ,

therefore,de

c idedly against the orderly sequence of nature not in


calling . H e does not in the whole country and withone stroke turn all lamentation and all sorrow into j oy .

H e lets His forerunner , John , suffer H e does nothelp him

,who

,humanly speaking

,had the first claim

that the Messiah should show in him H is wondrous power the might of His Messiahship . ButJesus says Blessed is he whosoever shall find nooccasion of stumbling in Me therefore , suffer , die ,and believe In other cases

,however

,H e helps

,and

,

indeed,not only where H e is asked

,but also unso

lic ited,as at the marriage feast in Cana

,in the feeding

of t he hy e thousand and four thousand , in the healingof the sick by the pool Bethesda , and in the healing ofthe man born blind . For His people are to have asign of the arrival ofHim who has the power to helpthe whole world . This power is the sign of theMessiah . On this account , moreover , the people thathad witnessed the wondrous feeding of the multitudewanted to seize Him and make H im King

,as if men

had to make Him Kingwhom God has chosen as such .

On this account H e groaned in Himselfat the tomb ofLazarus

,because the death of Lazarus at the hand of

Satan is an attempt to prove that Jesus can not be theMessiah

,since H e is not able to prote ét even His near

est friends . Therefore , praying , H e says Father,

I thank Thee that Thou hearest Me always,and calls

Lazarus back into life,tho he has already been four

days in the grave and decay has already begun .

Thus,Jesus’ miracles are testimonies ofHis vocation,

and,indeed

,the healing and helping miracles are wit

nesses that H e came not to condemn but to save.Thus it is that H e combines m the answer which He

204


sends to the Baptist in H is tempt ation,H is mirac les

,

and the preaching of the Gospel ; thus i t is that theuniversality of the miracles is j ust as tru ly emphasizedin this manner as in the apocalyptic vision o f the new

heaven and the new earth : Neither shal l there beany more mourning

,nor cry ing

,nor pain and H e

shall wipe away every tear from their eyes . Thus,

also , the miracles of Jesus are not merely signs bu tprophecies

,not for our time

,and in general neither

for the time of the history of the world,nor for that

of the history of the Church,b u t for the great wonder

of the final term,the completion of the work of salva

tion .

Just at this point the question as to the possibilityand reality of miracles comes ih . Whoever once hassuffered misery and distress knows very well that allthis sorrow comes from the unbroken order in natureand history

,within which we are shut up as sinners

and as accessories . Our longing is a longing after redemption . No t that we could become lords over thisworld order . The longing after the liberty of theglory of the children ofGod

,as Paul calls i t , is some

thing else . The Christian is not to despair , least ofall is he to be put out of humor and be alienated fromfaith through his sufie ring,

whether merited or unme r

ited. H e is to have and retain peace in God ’s grace ,and even in weakness he is to experience , l ike Paul ,the power of grace , which helps him not only to b elieve

,but also to bear witness of the wondrous undi

minishing of the grace of God . And he is to hope ,hope in a deed ofGod our Savior , in the deed of thegreat renewing of the world according to His Word

205


Behold,I make all things new This renewing is

not the result of development , but the contrary . Theresult of development would be perdition . The restora t ion of the world is the end of God ’s ways forour redemption and renewing , and these ways arefrom beginning to end the very opposite of all selfevident truth . The method here is not developmentbut transformation

,as the individual can not develop

himself into a child of God , into a new creature , soneither can the world into a new world . In the waysofGod

,which

,step by step

,are to bring the world to

be a new world,the experience repeats itself Where

sin abounded , grace did abound more exceedingly .

”

If we are convinced of what Jesus shall sometime dowe are also convinced of what H e once did . Thecertainty of the miracle of the final renewal of theworld carries with it and works out the certaintyof faith with regard to the miracles which H e did .

We can not have and we do not need a Savior whocan not do miracles and who has not really donethem .

The working forces of Jesus , the power with whichH e

,the man of low estate

,was endowed for His ofii ce

,

wrought in Him to such effeét that H e was able Himself to suffer and to die solely to help others . The helpwhich H e brought to u s is wondrous help . It is prov ided in the faet that H e can do what none else cando— neither father

,nor mother

,nor the most powerful

on earth : take away sins . H e Himself unites thisability with His miracle - aétiv ity when H e asks themurmuring scribes : Whether it is easier to say ,

Thysins are forgiven

,or to say ,

Arise,and walk ? The

206


done ? Thus it becomes evident , further , that wecan not at all dispense with the miracles in the historyofGod’s self- attestation for our redemption or in thehistory of revelation , and especially in the history ofJesus and the accomplishment of our redemption .

This is not to say that we can not dispense with them .

Not because we could believe in Jesus only throughthem and by their assistance ; this could not be trueof u s , because we se e them not , but must be informedof them . We can not dispense with them because weknow Him and believe in Him as the Lord of allthings to whom all is given by His Father . The miracles show us bound up with that which we believeand in which we hope . We believe not in j esus for the

sake of the mi ra cles , bu t we helieve the mira clesfor j esus’

sahe . The history ofJesus were not the history of theMessiah

,and therewith the history ofthe efieétuat ion of

our redemption,i f it were not at the same time a history

full of wonders . They belong to the history , and cannot be separated from it . H e who gives them up mustgive up the Mess iahship ofJesus— must state

,l ike Har

nack,that Jesus does not belong to the Gospel . They

are necessary,but they are necessary not primarily

but secondarily .

Finally,we may now the better understand the Zach

qf mira cles in the Chu rch in la ter historica l times , in ourown time . Vi

e know and have the greater miracle,

the miracle of our pardon In Christ we have ourredemption through His blood , the forgiveness of ourtrespasses .

” Therefore,we should now wait for the

greatest miracle : the completion of the redemption .

We have the Savior,and in Him the eternal super

208

THE MIRACLE-MINISTRY OF JESUS

mundane life,something which no one knows or

has except he who has also the Lord Christ . We canand needs must testify of Christ

,so that from man to

man not only the news but the possession also of thissa lvation

,faith in Jesus and faith in the redemption

,

shall be transmitted . And where we testify of H im byword or example there H e Himself works upon thosewho se e and hear i t , and attests to them His Word ,and thereby Himself. This is the wondrous presencewhich belongs to Him and to no one else

,a presence

in which H e proves Himselfcompletely for all that H e

is— an entirely difierent reality from what we shouldhave if H e were only to give u s miracles or the signsofwhat H e is and wills . H e does no sign

,but attests

and proves Himself a s Lord,as Redeemer . H e par

dons this is His true work,His real work

,as a

Sayior. Ou this account , when H e e xpe éts u s to denyourselves and to suffer and bear what the cou rse ofthe world enj oins us to sacrifice

,suffer , and bear , we

can do i t . Jesus never promised to make an end tothis before the end of all comes . H e has only said

,

and thus far in every case has kept His word Andevery one that has left house

,or brethren

,or s isters

,

or father,or mother

,or children , or lands for My

name ’s sake,and for the Gospel ’s sake , shall receive a

hundredfold now in this time with persecu tions , andin the world to come life everlasting .

” We can bewithout the miracles

,the less

,the merely temporal

sign,since we have the greater— namely , the presence

of the Lord Himself, ofour Redeemer , ifwe only wishto know Him . To that great day which impends overus we can forego the miracles and can snfie r , hard as

209


it often may be for u s , even as Paul did forego , tho itwas hard for him

,when the Lord , at his three times

reiterated prayer for the removal of the thorn in theflesh

,gave only the answer (Paul would have afterward

said,the glorious answer) : My grace is suffic ient

for thee ; for My power is made pe rfeét in weakness .On the other hand , the Lord promised to His dis

c iples H e that believeth in Me,the works that I

do , shall he do also ; and greater works than theseshall he do

,because I go unto the Father .

” Thisword

,too

, i s fulfilled,and is daily fulfilled. The

greater works are not works as the Pharisees and Sadduce es meant them

,who

,dissat isfied with all which

Jesus had thus far done,asked a sign from heaven

,

which Jesus denied unto them . The greater worksare the appropriation of salvation

,the forgiveness of

sins,and thereby of power and strength from above

,

and for the higher life , which we need , and the communicat ion of the Spirit to those who hear the Wordand wish to believe . For men are to learn to believethrough men

,receive mercy , obtain the assurance of

the forgiveness of their sins ; they are , indeed , to rec e ive forgiveness through men , which shall hold goodin heaven . Whoever receives the spirit of faith ,

orhas learned by the Spirit to believe in his own redemption

,has received here below the greatest thing possi

ble to be received by men . Yet , tho Paul ’s word hassaid to him

,

“Ye

,too

,were bought with a price

,

”

or Luther has repeated to him that which,as is re

ported,the friar had said to him

,I believe in the

forgiveness of sins , ” or some living brother has said ,210

THE WORK OF JESUS ; OR , HIS SUFFERING ANDDEATH . HIS RESURRECTION AND ASCENS ION

VEN the miracles did not make Jesus known bythem as the Messiah whom God sent as theSon of God . Individuals

,as one of the ten

lepers,might return and give God the honor ;

the total impression , the real success was everywhereonly a fle e t ing one , a passing surprise at the mightyman

,an ephemeral fascination for the great deed of

God which happened through Him . So the wondering thousands who crowded upon Him to hear theWord of God afterward went their way . They eitherforgot the Word of the Kingdom , their greatest hopesand their greatest good , or they received it with j oytill the time of temptation , when they fell away , orthey wished to combine both Kingdom of Heaven andkingdom of the earth , everlasting and temporal good ,care for the Kingdom of God and its righteousnessand care for the earthly interests , and the Word waschoked in them . Jesus felt himself obliged to speakin parables of the Kingdom ofHeaven and its form inthis world and time , because this form which it tookand had to take on account of Israel ’s unbelief was

with difficu lty perceived even by the disciples themselves

,but could not be perceived at all by unbe

liev ers . The opposition to Jesus became greater andgreater— so great that even the faith of the disciples212

THE WORK OF JESUS

would seem to have been endangered by i t . When,

therefore , the time came that w as to bring all things toa crisis

,and Jesu s had se t H is face steadfastly to go fo r

the Last Supper from Gal ilee to Jerusalem by the wayof Samaria

,while in the neighborhood of the city o f

Caesarea Philippi H e asked His disciples ' Who domen say that I (or the Son ofMan ) am Jesus knewthat they did not acknowledge Him as the Mess iah

,

the Son ofGod ; that they denied to Him the predicate ,Son of God .

” Knowing this,H e put the question

,

in considering which it makes naturally 110 differencewhether H e said : What am I ?

” or What is theSon of Man ? The disciples were to make up theirminds upon what the people say and think of Him .

They must know and recognize Him as some thingmorethan this j udgment of the popu lace . It was now to bemadeclear whether they had enough courage and faithand firmness to abide by that which they themselves haveknown . None , say the disciples , knows and confessesthe Messiah

,the Son of God . Jesus is something

great,greater than all men whom God ever raised up

in Israel one of the ancient prophets one who,after

many,many years

,had returned not from the grave

this 110 one could do any longer— but from the realmof death ; a revenant

,therefore he also can do such

signs . Now Jesu s asks But who say y e that Iam ? The question is

,whether the disciples

,in the

face of this semi - acknowledgment and yet completerefusal

,will abide by that which they have known .

They are,forsooth

,children of their people will they

endure to realize themselves in oppos ition to all theirbrethren ? Then Peter answers for all of them

213


Thou art Christ,the Messiah

,the Son of the living

God Thou art the Son ofMan,who should be noth

ing more than any other,a man born ofmen

,to whose

Messiahship every one ob j e éts ! Thou art , nevertheless

,the Messiah ; Thou art truly the Son of God .

”

And what is signified and included in this faet thatthe Messiah is the Son ofGod is only to be said andto be known in the light of the reality itself.Thus Peter expressed his confession and that of his

codisc iple s over against the refusal of the whole people . Jesus replies that this knowledge and confessionis the foun-dation - rock upon which H e will build HisChurch . H e will gather around Him the people of

God,the people of the future , no more the whole seed

of Abraham after the flesh ,which has refused this

acknowledgment , but the people who confess Hisname and retain Him over against the whole people asthe Mess iah . W ith this confession to Him who isthe foundation -stone Peter and his codisc iples are fellow faétors of this foundation which shall bear up theentire building of the congregation of God

, a founda

t ion of the temple of God , which also the gates of

Hades,which devours and retains everything

,shall not

overcome . But in order to gather together this con

gregat ion ,something in particular will and must take

place . And so Jesus commences now to tell Hisdisciples— clearly

,dist inétly , unmistakably— what is

to come . TheMessiah ma st a’ie— God ’s Son must go

into death ! The Son of Man must sufier manythings

,and be re j eéted by the elders and the chief

priests and the scribes and be killed , and after threedays H e shall rise again . H e is the Messiah and

214


and has never been obliged to exchange at any timethe illusion of a v ié

’torious Messiah quickly gaining

the people for the pié’ture of a dy ing Messiah

,for

whom H e then only recovered the traits ofMessiah byHis reference to the resurre é

’tion . There is no surer

way to death than to become a helper,a savior ofsin

ners,a savior in the name ofGod and after God’s will .

Jesus inspeéts the grounds of the people’s opinion

,

which His disciples report to Him . The meaning ofthis general lack of understanding for His callingwhich exists to this day Jesus understands . Thatwhich the voice ofthe people denies to Him the Fatherallows to fall to His lot . I t is God who glorifies andprofesses Him , saying to the disciples present on themount of transfigurat ion : This is my beloved Son

,

hear y e Him .

” And this declaration assures Him andHis disciples that this reality remains . But this alsoremains H e must go into death Jesus says asecond time to His disciples The Son of Man mustsnfie r many things and be se t at naught

,as it is

written .

”H e refers them to the Scripture and to the

fate of all servants of God,to John the Baptist

,the

second Elij ah,unto whom men did what they wished .

From this shall follow that which awaits Him : The

Son ofMan is delivered up into the hands ofmen,and

they shall kill Him ; and when H e is killed,after three

days H e shall rise again .

” Once more,therefore

,

H e is the Messiah , and remains the Messiah but H e

must go into death without contradiétion , and only thenwill H e be able to prove that H e is not merely theMess iah .

The disciples understood not what H e meant . They

216

THE WORK OF JESUS

heard the words , they sensed what H e said,b u t they

did not apprehend i t . Does H e speak figu rative ly?

What does H e mean when H e speaks of death andresurreét ion ? They were afraid to ask Him . ThatH e could mean literally what H e said they regardedas entirely prec luded . H e repeated the announcement of the sufiering a third time , and spoke morein detail ! Behold

,we go up to Jerusalem ; and the

Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief priestsand scribes ; and they shall condemn Him to death ,

and shall del iver Him unto the Gentiles to mock,and

to scourge,and to crucify ; and the third day H e shal l

be raised up Consider now what that means . Thehigh priests and scribes

,the chiefmen

,the authorities

,

the leaders of God ’s people,w ill condenm Him

,and

the Gentiles shall be enabled through them to mockHim and to kill Him ; and only thus , a ctua lly thus , isH e to be the Messiah

,and so is to come again and

prove it Could an Israelite believe this ? No Theanswer is found in the request of the sons of Z ebedee ,through their mother Salome

,that H e m ight grant

them to s it on His right and on His left in His glory .

The other disciples are indignant at this request of

James and John,who lay in Jesus ’ bosom

,and later

became the first and the last martyrs re speétiv e ly of

the twelve,and at the prerogative which these des ired .

They are reminded by Jesus that the Son of Man , theMessiah

,whom no one will acknowledge , had not come

to seek ministry and honor,but to minister and to

give H is life a ransom for many . This too they didnot understand . How should that be poss ible ? Jesusgoes clearly and consciously on His way to death . H e

217


enters into Jerusalem ex aétly according to the prophe cy of Z echariah and Isaiah . N0 one suspeé

’ts this ,

no one understands Him . They understand , indeed ,that H e speaks very seriously with the people

,but

they did not know that with this and with the deed atthe tomb of Lazarus H e has brought to maturity thedecis ion of the leaders to kill Him . When , in conse

quence of the resuscitation ofLazarus,all people came

unto Him,the Sanhedrin asks no more what it means .

At the proposal of Caiaphas they rather decide to killHim ,

for— thus old Caiaphas confirms his proposalit is expedient for u s that one man should die forthe people

,and that the whole nation perish not . ”

Thu s God compels the high priest to do unwillinglythat which belongs to his priestly office and to giveexpress ion to the will of God

,even while he allows

only the hatred ofhis heart to speak .

Jesus celebrates with His disciples,who understand

nothing yet,the Passover feast

,the redemption-meal

of the O ld Testament in remembrance of the past deliverance from Egypt

,and now of the greater deliver

ance through the Messiah guaranteed thereby andever since desired .

“With desire I have desired toeat this Passover with you before I suffer

,

” saithJesus . I t is the last Passover of the Old Covenant .Now it can guarantee nothing more

,and has nothing

more to prophesy,for the redemption itself is now ao

complished . Jesus then institutes for His disciples aredemption -meal

,the Lord ’s evening-meal

,with bread

and wine— the Lord ’s Supper,as we call it— and says :

“ This is My body,My blood

,given . for you and

poured out for you for the remission of sins .” Did


people,the people of promise , should kill Him ,

thepromised One

,the first -born brother— who can con

ce iv e it Is Israel now to add that sin to all its sins,

and to its unbelief Has the measure of s ins becomeso full that nothing more is left except for Him tosuffer and to drink the cup which men ofie r to Him ?

Has the Father irrevocably decided that H e mustdrink i t ? Can H e not hinder this outbreak of sin ?

Jesus is ready to submit unreservedly to the Father’swill

,but must it come to pass that His brothers are to

bring Him,their brother , to death ? Is there no other

way of salvation ? God has , indeed , power over everything— can H e not prevent that Jesus shall suffer thisand die ? Yes , H e has the power , H e can hinder i t

,

but only through j udgment . Then every month mustgrow dumb which opens against Jesus

,each hand

wither which is extended against Him but where remains

,then

,the forgiveness and the mercy ? Then

the end of Israel,the end of the world

,the great j udg

ment-day of God will have come . No ! by this sufie ring alone can there come grace

,forgiveness

,and de

liverance . H e must suffer , H e must go through thisdepth , in order that , with this sin ,

all other sins maynot be imputed to the people . H e must fight alonethis struggle , for His most intimate disciples are notable even to look upon Jesus ’ struggle of the soul

,

still less to watch with Him , were it only for one hour .To the end Jesus remains true to His calling

,to be the

Savior who saves His people from all their sins . H e

says not Father,it is too hard I can bear no more

H e received the strengthening which H e needed inorder to be able to die

,as having no will of His own

220

THE WORK OF JESUS

and yet with a will obedient to the will of the Father,

H e rose up from prayer,and said to His discipl es :

Behold,the hour is at hand

,and the Son o f Man is

betrayed into the hands of sinners . Arise,let u s be

going behold he is at hand that betrayeth me . Andthus H e went to meet death

,the death of the cross

at once a device for infliéting capital punishment , apillory

,and an instrument of torture .

The traitor comes , and with him a great mu ltitudewith swords and staves

,sent by the chief priests and

elders of Israel . Judas,aéting as i fhe were the truest

friend of Jesus,salutes and kisses Him . But Jesus

can not be deceived . By Virtue of His calling, H e

needed not to ask any one,for H e Himselfknew what

was in man,and already long ago

,yes

,from the very

beginning,H e had seen through Judas . But H e had

borne with him,and had shown him all love— the

greatest love which a man can experience . Even atthe Last Supper Jesus had said to Judas That thoudoest

,do quickly ”— thus giving him a sign that H e

knew him,in order that he might repent yet in the

last hour ifhe so desired . Judas had not repented,but

went out,night about him and night in him . With

pain Jesus had remembered him , the lost child in Hishigh priestly prayer ; had spoken of the lost child withsorrow to the disciples when H e said Good were itfor that man if he had not been born . Now as hecomes as leader ofan armed multitude , Judas must hearthat he can not deceive Jesus . For years Judas hadnever applied to himself the word concerning the onedisciple who is a devil . Now he is to know why Jesushas suffered him so long . Judas , betrayest thou

221


the Son of Man with a kiss ? ” The servants comeupon Jesus to seize Him . Whom seek y e ? Jesusasked them and when they say ,

Jesu s ofNazareth,

”

H e saith ,I am H e

, and the power of this wordshows to them the power of this Nazarene , who as aNazarene

,as they thought , could on no account be

the Messiah . H e throws them to the ground as asign that , ifH e is not willing , the whole world can donothing against Him . As with this multitude , so allarmies sent out against Him would fall to the ground .

But will he exercise this power ? No ' This is yourhour

,and the power of darkness , ” says Jesus , and

gives Himself voluntarily into the hands of His enemies . For H e would rather die than destroy even oneof them . Peter , who had drawn the sword— perhaps tomake good his word— had already been reproved ; thewound inflic ted by him had been healed

,and he had

been told Thinkest thou that I can not beseech MyFather , and H e shall even now send Me more thantwelve legions ofangels ? How then should the Scriptures be fu lfilled ? which prophesied ofthe redemptionand whose word is authoritative even for the fate ofthe Messiah . In them we read not merely

,

“ Thouhast made Me to serve with thy sins , thou hast weariedMe with thine iniquities , but they also speak of thesufie ring of all servants ofGod

,and therefore also of

the suffering of the servant ofGod whose ofii ce i t is tosuffer and to die , that the world perish not— as it iswritten “ Surely H e hath borne our griefs

,and car

ried our sorrows : yet we did esteem Him stricken,

smitten of God,and afiliéted. But H e was wounded

for our transgressions , H e was bruised for our iniqui

222


H e claims to be and is the Messiah . To this H e

swears,for this H e receives His sentence . There is

still time for His j udges to see what wrong they areabout to do . But high priests and elders

,chosen for

the very purpose of seeing to it that the people donot forfeit their future

,and that they should expe

rience the salvation of God,put themselves into the

most complete opposition imaginable to their officialduty

,and condemn Him who , if Divine right were

to decide,was alone worthy of life among a whole

people deserving of death,and who alone was able

to save the life of sinners . The earthly high priestcondemns the eternal high priest ; this is the re

sult of the history of a people which existed only forthis eternal high priest , the Messiah chosen by God .

The history of men , among whom nominally andfinally reason always dominates , never brings it totruth and salvation

,but to something quite the con

trary . Here reason was only on the side of God andJesus ; the world passed its sentence against them .

Does it not do the same to-day , think you ?Disgrace and mockery follow the sentence of death

,

and the merciless brutality of the j udges and theguard

,the hatred intensified through their conscious

ness of the greatness of their offense , outrages theHoly One ofGod . Mockingly the soldiers ask Jesusto prove Himself a prophet by telling the names ofHis tormentors . Jesus , however , mentioned no names ;no one should ever think that H e could not forgiveand forget

,and every one who afterward might think

ofthe incident would be able to say H e knew me,

indeed,but mentioned not my name , and would not

224

THE WORK OF JESUS

mention it out of pure mercy Jesus has anothertrouble resting heavily 011 H is heart . Peter ’s fall hasin the meantime taken place

,as Jesus prediél ed i t . H e

does what H e is stil l able to do to save him now fromeverlasting perdition . It is , indeed ,

only a look of sor

row , of severity , and of love which H e fixe s uponhim . But it is suffic ient to fill Peter with the deepestsadness .The ve rdiét is given H e is worthy o f death .

We do not recoil with terror here as from a tumu ltuary proceeding

,like that which occurred at the ston

ing of Stephen . It is the cold hatred that we feelwhich does not lack in decorum because of its intensity . Everything must take place regularly toshow how fully considerate and convinced ofduty andright were those by whom Jesus was condemned andled to death . The representative of Rome alone canefleét the j udgment or arrange the execution . Everysemblance of haste , hatred , and zeal is avoided .

Pilate,however

,needs not to confirm the sentence

indeed,he dares not do i t . H e must prohibit the exe

cution ,the performance , for he knows what is right ,

and is the arbitrator of j ustice in a subj e ét country .

H e sees through the tricks which led to death ,and he

will not confirm the sentence . No but neither will heprohibit the execution , because he is afraid— he ,

aRoman j udge

,who should fear nothing and nobody

except to do wrong . But he is afraid , and tries toremove the decision from himselfand leave it to Herod .

Meanwhile,Herod finds no guilt in Jesus

,and will

neither interfere with the right of the Roman j udgenor take away from him his duty . A conversation

225


with Jesus makes i t clear to Pilate that neither rightnor law au thorizes him ,

still less obliges him,to deliver

Jesus to death . Even the pretext that Jesus intendedto make Himself king fails to impress the man of

sovereign power and energy who would suppressevery such efi

'

ort without scruple,but who can hnd

nothing in Jesus by which he can verify such accusation . On the contrary , the Kingdom whose King theman before him professes Himself to be is j ust asinnocuous as the fruitless seeking after truth , whichthis educated Roman had given up long ago . Indeed ,this accusation against Jesus serves him

,on the other

hand,harshly and mockingly to throw his rope around

the accusers . H e forces them to bind themselves unreservedly to the Roman emperor and to forego all theirMessianic hope . We have no king but Caesar ! expresses their decision .

Pilate was obliged to confirm his opinion that hehuds not the least guilt in Jesus , and that there isnothing against Him except this : that H e means tobe the Messiah

,the Savior of the world

,the friend and

helper ofpublicans and sinners , who intends anythingrather than the overthrow of all existing conditions .The Jews say : We have a law, and by tha t law H e

ought to die . For this Pilate cares nothing . ButHim whom neither God ’s Word and law , nor the graceruling Israel for ages , have proteé

’ted,the independence

of the Roman j udge , the real man in power in theJewish land

,does not now proteét . Not a legal error

,

but fear of men and a courting of the favor of menbring abou t this

,the greatest infringement of j ustice

which ever happened , for by it Divine and human

226


clearly and undoubtedly , it was here . I f ever asentence was a lie

,i t was this . Jesus , however , bears

it in silence . H e is silent,God Himself is silent ;

nothing and nobody speaks for Him against whom allhave conspired

,whom God and the world forsook and

gave up . All we like sheep have gone astray,and

the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of u s all . Asa lamb that is led to the slaughter

,and as a sheep that

before her shearers is dumb ; yea , H e opened not Hismouth .

”Or should now take place the only thing

upon which one could yet depend— the j udgment ? ForGod speaks not

,but H e j udges

,

”say our people .

But God ’s hand did not stretch out from the clouds .It was God ’s counsel that Jesus should empty the cupof unrighteousness and death to the last drop

,that

j udgment may not intervene .

The sentence must be quickly executed this religion demands

,which has now completely sunk down to

the pale “ semblance of a godly nature .

” It is thePassover . The Jews can not become ceremonially nu !

clean,and they wou ld like to celebrate the Passover

in remembrance of the past and promised del iverance .

The servile , supremum,erua

’elissimum teterrimumgue

suppli eiam,appointed for outlawed slaves

,highway

robbers,counterfeiters

,seditious persons

,those guilty

ofhigh treason , the most cruel and most disgracefulsentence ofdeath by the cross

,was demanded for Him

and decreed for Him . For a sign that H e was e steemed nothing better than a common criminal

,for

whom there should be no more room on earth,H e

was,as the prophecy had predié

’

ted,reckoned with

transgressors,and with two robbers H e was led to the

228

THE WORK OF JESUS

p lace ofexecution , forced to carry H is cross Himself,as H e once had indicated to His disciples and to thosewho should become such . Only when H e sunk underthe burden a free Israelite who j ust came along theway was forced to carry the cross for Him— a sign of

what the chosen people ofGod had to e xpe ét from theworld-power into whose hands they have irrevocablysurrendered themselves with the re j eét ion of the Me s

siah .

I f the inconstancy of the multitude,that in its

hatred of the truth has a heart for everything but forthe goodness and severity of God , has brought aboutthe sentence ofdeath , now the Lord meets , in the weeping women who stand by the way and bewail Him

,

with that undecided sentimentality which is full ofthe tears of feeling but not of penitence , and whichdelights in the horrible . I t became an occas ion forJesus to reveal to Jerusalem the future

,not so much

by threatening the incessantly impending j udgment,

but by expressing His grief over this j udgment . Foron the way to death Jesus thinks not of Himself

,but

of His people and His people ’s guilt .The rude compass ion of the executioner ’s servantsoffers to Him a stupefying drink at the place ofex ecution

,which Jesus

,however

,refuses

,for the uncon

sc iousne ss of stupefact ion is not that surrender of thewill in love through which H e was to suffer according to the will of the Father , and was not the obedience which H e would and needs must render . Evennow ,

even there also,as H e indeed hung on the cross ,

H e would have been able to help Himself if H e onlywanted

,and so could have triumphed over those who

229


mocked Him as the cru c ified One , the powerless , theMan forsaken ofGod , who had meant to be the Messiah . But no ; H e wished to feel the pain and distress and mockery which went to His soul

,and suffer

and endure it with a full,clear consciousness . No

one,however

,understood the mystery of His weak

ness .In fu ll perception of the wrong which was done toHim

,and in the new pain of His wounds

, H e givesexpression at the very beginning of His sufierings onthe cross to that which His soul desires for the worldwhich did this to Him . Or shall we , with BernhardWeiss

,regard the seven words on the cross as a fic

tion ofthe evangelists , sincerely conceived and aétuallyfelt to be true

,which no language of Jesus had really

warranted ? But the reasons which he assigns for i tcontain such little proof and are so purely re asona

ble that only a critique which is at a loss for reasonscan acknowledge them . For whence doesWeiss knowthat

,as in our time

,so then also the place had

been shu t 011 by the executioners,and that no

one of His adherents among the multitude,to which

every access had to be refused , could by any meanshave been an ear-witness of the outbreathed prayerwhich came from His lips What does it mean whenit is said that that “ which took place in the soul ofJesus amidst these tortures can

,upon the whole

,hardly

be put into words,and that it certainly was not the

method of Jesus,who had enj oined upon His follow

ers that they should pray in the inner chamber,to show

to His executioners that in praying to His Fa ther H e

has now overcome the severest trial,and that not

230


chief offenders,that they had not known the secret

hidden wisdom ofGod,for if they had known i t

,they

would not have cru c ified the Lord of glory .

” But itwas sin ,

great sin , and it put upon them a guilt whichthey could not bear

,j ust as afterward

,in reference to

his persecution of the congregation,Sau l could say

that he did it in ignorance,but nevertheless

,because

he did i t,calls himself a chief among sinners . With

His words,Father

,forgive them

,for they know not

what they do,

” the cruc ified One,immediately H e

is cruc ified,interposes that this greatest of all capital

crimes be not visited upon the race and the j udgment not take place which

,according to Divine

right and moral necessity,ought now to come upon

the world . For thus was the radical contrast now exposed : On the one side , the side of Jesus

,there

was right,not only the right which the sinner also

has when he suffers wrong , but right absolute , nothing but right , the highest , the everlasting right. Ou

the other side , however , the people’s side , and wecan say it of the whole world now as well as then ,there was and is nothing but wrong ; for over againstJesus we are all nothing but wrong , and it availsnothing to turn away from such a confession for thesake of the pretended sc ient ific method and so -calledob j e ét iv i ty of t he inquiry . The inquiry can be condueted satisfaétorily ,

the real importance of Christcan be known and acknowledged , only by throwinginto the scale our own share in the matter . Butso great and terrible was and is this wrong that onlya step remains into the horrid , bottomless depth of

eternal sin and eternal perdition— the sin of re j eéting

232

THE WORK OF JESUS

this love with which the cruc ified has obtained an <

efieéted for u s not only respite bu t mercy . That s inhowever

,to preserve the world from which was th

desire ofJesus,could and can only be committed afte

the mystery ofHis suffering has become manifest .After Jesus has acknow ledged

o

us fully with thiprayer and put himselfwholly on our s ide

,one pe rsm

only has the courage to profess Him,and he is incite <

to it through his misery . This one,however

,is an ou t

cast of our race,one of the robbers who were cru c ifie

with Him . The representatives of godliness,author

ity,and law

,and the other thief

,who had trample

the law under foot,unite to mock the cruc ified Jesus

whose weakness they regard as being at last unmaskedand think not what it means . Even now Jesus coul <have helped Himself

,but— at the price of a lost world

This nobody divines . Then one of the malefaétor

bears witness to Him,te stifies of His innocence

,an

acknowledges His Messiahship . Whence does hknow both ? H e knows the world ; he knows hocold-b loodedly it can do wrong , and how it does itthousand times ; 110 one knows it better than one whonit rightly j udges . H e knows men

,and believes an

trusts them once more,and thinks them all invariab l

like himself,tho in their deeds they may still b

difierent . But Jesus who , in this moment , has nocursed the world and His murderers

,bu t prayed to

them— Jesus is not like them . In such a distress a .

that in which the malefac'tor is , who receives the dureward of his deeds , Jesus alone can help H e is thMessiah

,and the malefaétor i s convinced that Jesu

will yet some day be manifest in glory . In Him alon

233


he believes,and he ventures the petition for a merci

ful remembering on the day of the future when H e

shall come with H is Kingdom . H e is wholly un

concerned as to whether any of the scribes will blamehim for that . No one had any compassion for himanyhow

,and he desired none . Jesus , however , exerts

on him His Savior- love above all that he asked orthought

,forgives him all his sins and all his guilt

,

pardons him,and promises him that on that very

day when they both were suffering they should tastethe blessedness and glory of restored innocence in theparadise of God . H e is the Savior

,the deliverer and

pitier of those who are lost and perish . This H e willbe and continue to be also in death— y e s , in the veryhour of death . Or , should this word of the dy ingJesus have been invented

,be an “ ingenious

,deeply

felt ” fiétion which is yet truth , who haa’ ventured to

think i t ou t

While Jesus exercises His indestruét ible seigniorialright in unfathomable mercy

,the servants disposed of

the only thing which H e possessed in this worldHis clothes

,and cast lots forHis coat . Tho still alive

,

H e is treated like one dead . H e was , indeed , irrevocably lost and thus they fulfil , without having an ideaof what they do

,in terrible literalness

,what the Scrip

ture says of the suffering of a servant of God persecuted and smitten like Jesus . This Scripture hasdeemed it worthy to record such a suffering of aservant of God who , tho living , is treated as dead , andwho must look helplessly upon that which is done withHis belongings .To be sure

,as to the life which H e has hitherto

234


world,is now also hidden from Jesus Jesus is forsaken

ofGod . Is this truth ? Can one say this ? Yes , forJesus Himself attests it . It is truth and reality . H e

is forsaken of God but H e forsakes not God , therefore is H is sorrow so great . H e who can not give upthe world can as little give up the Father . ThusJesus tastes and empties the whole cup of suffering tothe dregs as never a than before has so drunk i t .

What is otherwise the misery of the lost,that which

is suffered by them with inmost revolt,H e bears

,

and yet remains true at once to the world and theFather . This forces to His lips the words of thetwenty-second Psalm

,which so truly became a Psalm

ofHis suffering : My God,My God

,why hast Thou

forsaken Me ? It is not as if H e despaired of Godand God ’s government and rule

,not as if H e could

not bear more than H e now has to bear ; H e bears itindeed . H e knows that it is God’s government andrule which put this suffering upon Him . H e knowsthat His prayer in Gethsemane is heard by the Father

,

altho H e could not grant it . Now H e prays as onewhom even this suffering ofHis deeply distressed soul

,

even this complete separation from God can not induceto discard God to do as of old Job 5 wife advisedher husband Bless God and die Thou art

,nev

e rthe le ss , my God — to this H e adheres . H e knowsthe answer to such lamentation

,and the confidence

with which the singer of the twenty-second Psalmcloses is also His confidence ,

and H e will die in i t .

For the time being,however

,H e must struggle in

order to hold fast the confidence of His faith . ThatH e is forsaken of God is a fact . The question of

236

THE WORK OF JESUS

Jesus seeks the answer , and is the prayer of One whohas no one else but j ust this Father to whom H e cancommend Himself and H is cause

,and on whom H e

must wait till H e speaks or aéts .

Elsewhere even rudeness keeps quiet when it meetsone marked with Cain ’s sign . Here at the s ight ofthe cru c ified Jesus it keeps not quiet . It mocks Himwho moans , ofwhose agony it has 110 idea , and speaksas i fJesus had turned away from God

,had surrendered

Himselfand His Messiah-consciousness,and only ad

hered to it so far as to summon the prophet Elij ah tobe His helper in need . Yes

,they deride their own

Messiah-faith,according to which Elij ah was to come

before the Messiah to settle all disputes and restorepeace in Israel . Jesus , however , through the sufler

ing of the cross , despaired neither of Himself nor ofHis Father . Ou the contrary , H e knows that theScripture is now fulfilled and the salvation -counsel ofGod has arrived at its goal . Unconfounded

,H e yet

humbles Himselfso far as to ask these men who guardHis cross and heartlessly look at His sufie ring for

a refreshing drink H e leaves i t,however

,to them to

decide if they shall l isten to His cry ,I thirst ! H e

receives the refreshment,not

,however , from compas

sion,but from mockery . Now

,however

,H e attests

with a loud voice that which His soul did desire , andfor what H e l ived His whole life . The counsel ofGod

,the Word of Scripture , the work of God , the

work of redemption , it is fin ished His task is done ,for in H is death the j udgment is averted from Hispeople and the world . Now H e commends Himselfto the Father

,to the God

,who resolved and promised

237


the redemption and sent the Redeemer . H e gives upHis sou l thereby to free many from j udgment andde struétion . His blood , the blood of the Son ofGod

,

is shed for many , for all , for H e died that they mightbe spared and forgiven . God was in Christ reconc i ling the world unto Himself, not reckoning untothem their trespasses .Darkness already for hours had covered the wholecountry

,altho it was bright day

,and the sun and the

moon stood in the heavens , as it shall happen onceagain

,according to the prophecy ofJoel

,when God

comes for j udgment . Jesu s gave up the ghost,and

the earth did quake,the rocks were rent

,and the

tombs were opened , as i f the last day , the resurreétionday of all the dead had come . But it was only thelatest or the last day of the Old Covenant . Instead ofj udging and destroying the world , as it deserved , Godcaused Jesus

,His Son

,to die , and reckoned not unto

the world its sin .

Thus Jesus finished His work . Sufie ring was fromthe beginning His life

,His way through this world

,

fallen into sin and death . His business was the settingforth of the Word , which was only received and ac

cepted by few , and was again given up by these fewin the hour of crisis . H e had known how to speaka kindly word at the right time to the murderer

,H e

had invited the weary and heavy laden to Himselfin order to quicken them

,and H e had shown every

where,and again and again

,that H e came to seek and

to save that which was lost . H e wrought miracles,

unmistakable signs,to show that at the proper time

in the power of God H e would change and transform

238


clearly, so completely se t over against each other . On

the one side,a man who wholly and entirely l ived for

the ob j e ét of God ’s great love , and wished nothingbut to save men from that which ruins the highestand the humblest of their attainments

,the best works

of their art and the rudest monuments of their des ire-from s in ,

and with sin death . This one was and isJesus— Jesus

,the eternal Savior . I t is not His own

holy life,not the complete realization of the moral

ideal,not the indescribable and unfathomable fide lity

and humility of His faith,nor the confidence of His

trust in God,in which H e stands before us and ofie rs

Himself to us,but it is His saving love . God Him

self offers to us m this dying Jesus the saving hand .

Over against H im stands the multitude , the peopleof God , Israel as well as the Gentile world , all one inthis : we will not that this Man reign over us . Thedisciples who once believed are intimidated and indespair . Jesus would help , but so great are sin andguilt that H e can not help . Now we are lost Thiswas their thought . Jesus is not the Savior , and Godcan not have mercy ! If ever a critical point existedin history it is now . Can God help

,or can H e only

j udge and punish ? Why did H e permit the dying ofJesus ? Why has H e not interfered ? It was so

entirely different from every ordinary situation . Muchblood— an almost infinite ou tpoor

— has been unj ustlyshed since the blood of Abel

,and the martyrs before

and after Jesus have patiently sufie red ; but all wasdifferent

,nevertheless , in the case of Jesus . Here

was,as we said

,all right and nothing but right on

Jesus ’ part,the right which His calling gave Him to

240

THE WORK OF JESUS

love , to snfie r, and to save , and the power , ne v e rthe

less,to be able to have it otherwise without wronging

any one . Jesus could help Himself and j udge the world,

but did it not . The martyrs also cou ld have helpedthemselves , but only through s in ,

only by deny ing thetruth . When they denied not

,but patiently suffered

and died,not with a curse and an imprecation agains t

their enemies on their lips and in their hearts,b u t with

a supplication for them,it was for the good of their

enemies, ye t only in so far as God

’s patience still delayed j udgment upon them till the last day . To interpose really

,to suffer so that the others might not

be j udged,this neither they could do nor any one else

of all those who must finally die as heirs of sinnersand also for their own sin . For themselves and fortheir enemies they could only hope in a Redeemerand wait until H e came . But Jesus— why had H e todie ? Why did God allow Him to die to whom H e

had professed Himself at H is baptism and a few daysafterward , and before His suffering , at the transfiguration ? Was everything over now

,every hope of men

in a Savior and Redeemer cut 011 ? Or did it need ,perhaps

,only the re colleétion of His word concerning

the Kingdom and the love of God the Father for theinfin ite worth of a human soul and the praetise of

love,in order that we do not despair

,but rather be

strengthened by the courage of Jesus and by His fate,

which has led Him into a higher,better

,tho

,to us

,ih

conceivable existence ? I fear that no one would be ableto have the courage to believe for himself that whichhe must believe of Jesus Whither shall I fle e b ecause I am burdened with many and great sins ? ”

241


Whoever must pray thus is not helped by such refle c

tions And,fu rther , to what end then

, w as Hisdying necessary ? Did the “ must in the words of

Jesus spring on ly from human limitation or from aperception ofDivine necessity ? And if the latter wasthe case

,what was this necessity ? Was it such a

necessity as we have shown— either His death,His

dy ing,or our j udgment , our destruét ion ?

It is impossible really to be assu red of God’s grace,

except in the thought of Jesus ’ blessed faith and ac

complished life . We are lost if j esus’ death means

merely a v iétory of evil,or merely the still greater

v iétory of the only good One permitting Himself notto be alienated from His God

,whom H e serves

,from

the peace ofGodwhich is for Him a counter-weight tothe sorrow of the world

,and from the effort to pave a

way for God among men— ih which , as a matter of

faet,he has failed . Jesus ’ dying must mean some

thing far different , must mean what we already stated .

But whereby wa s thi s to he known

If ever the decisive j udgment of God over the un

righteousness of the world , and all blood unrighteouslyshed in i t , was to be expeéted, now was the time .

According to all that one may se e or hear of what H e

did and spoke,the only One from whom help could

be expe éted for a world which had lapsed into sin anddeath had not fallen a v iétim to a j udicial error or toa misunderstanding or a thoughtlessness

,be it con

ce ivab le or inconce ivable . H e was a Vié’

t imofconsciousopposition to the Divine verdict

,which H e pronounced ;

to the Divine love,which H e declared and praétised;

and to the Divine demand,which H e made . H e could

242


all times had been the hope of the oppressed,and

which in their hard , inward struggle they had neverabandoned

,which the Psalms testify and which the

prophets had proclaimed as the final triumph of God’scause and ofGod’s servants . A Divine cris is was unavoidable . The death of Jesus without any fu rtherresults than His translation into an upper

,better

,

peaceful world beyond the grave , was a giving up of

the world to its sin and to death . That Jesus,being

without s in ,shall live on in a higher

,better world is

unquestioned . That is not to say ,however

,that this

world is now opened also to them who would never belike Jesus . It speaks for the great historical faithfulness of our records that

,according to them , no t one of

the disciples,after the death of Jesus

,conceived the

idea that H e and they would continue to live afterdeath . They waited for a Divine crisis— nay , theywaited not ; they knew ,

indeed , that everything waslost

,and themselves also . They only waited to be

lost . That this would be the decision was not doubtful to them . What Jesu s had said of the day of Hiscoming again from heaven— the only thing

,perhaps

,

which partly,at least

,still remained in their memory

gave them the less comfort,since on their part they

had not executed the truth toward H im.

Then happened that which no eye has seen,which

is nevertheless irrefragably true : Jesus was raised upfrom the dead rose

,through the glory of the Father

,

through the fulness of the power and love of God , inwhich H e is to be all that H e is for us— for our sake

,

for our welfare . Jesus returned into life , not to dieagain and then forever , bu t as One who H e has always

244

THE WORK OF JESUS

been,the Messiah

,now triumphant over death

,and

therefore no more to be touched by i t . Now existedfor Him no more any bounds , since H e has overcomedeath ; now H e could a&ive ly assert for u s His eternalDivine essence as our brother

,for H e belonged and

belongs to us and has returned in order to be ours forever

,to share everything with u s

,whose misery and

distress and j udgment H e has taken upon Himself andhas overcome . The resurreét ion was His j ustificat ion .

God attested it to Him and to His own,and attests it

to all who experience that the living Jesus deals withthem and

,through the Holy Ghost

,Himselfpleads H is

cause with u s , and shows u s that H e is really and forever the Messiah

,the King

,the Savior

,and Helper .

To the women and disciples who came to the tombthe faet was made known through God ’s messengers

,

through angels,whose appearance leg itimated them as

messengers ofGod from the upper world , and whosewords must needs be made known as words of truththrough their agreement with that which Jesus hassaid and through their efie&

,in which j udgment and

mercy united again in a supermundane , God -wroughtunion . Nevertheless , the

‘

first efiec'

t was only fear andterror among those who first heard the message

,as

well as among those also to whom they communicated it . That the hour of crisis had come over theworld was now a matter of course , and that i t was notto bring

,that it has not brought , destruétion was in

conceivable to them . That on account of this expectat ion the faithfulness of the report is attested to themshows how human they were , tho mistaken . Onlythe appearance of Jesus Himself loosened the b an

245


which rested on them,and confirmed to them His old

,

often repeated word , now , however , more wondrouslyand glorious]y revealed than they ever had conceived

,

that H e did not come to j udge the world but to save i t .

Everything remained in the world as it was, sin and

death ruled,and yet all was different . They , the dis

c iples , all those who were conscious of the resurreétionof Jesus

,were redeemed . They rej oiced in the re

demption,the pardon which had now fallen to their

lot,and from now on they could wait in God ’s peace

and with confidence for the redemption of their body,

for the forthcoming liberty of the glory of the childrenofGod .

Now it was clear to them that Jesus had no need atall to die if death could have no power over Him

,

that H e could have been left to death only by the premeditated counsel and will of God

,and that on this

account His life,as also

,according to this premedi

tated counsel and will , His death , should now be forour welfare . With His life the disciples had theirown life again as those delivered from perdition . WithHis death the j udgment over them

,over the world

,

over us,had come to an end . H e had died that we

might not die and perish . This was the wondrousgrace of God which now concerns the whole world .

Death and what follows upon it was God ’s j udgment ;it weighed on the whole world as God ’s wrath

,who

refuses the salvation , not as a punishment measuredafter God ’s wisdom , equ ivalent to sin , but as the selfunderstood sequence for man

,who would not lead

the life that has been given to him by God in andaccording to God ’s will . God ’s wrath is

,however

,

246


the disciples now perceived , since they had againthe cruc ified One , was the great importance of Hiscross : that on it all depended for them

,that in it

was completed everything that Christ is for us,and

that this was the true goal,moving toward which

H e had become ours H e was obedient even untodeath— yea , the death of the cross . Wherefore alsoGod highly exalted Him .

”So it is said of the

cruc ified One who rose again God was in Christreconciling the world unto Himself

,not reckoning

unto them their trespasses . The suffering anddeath of Christ

,the cruc ified One

,who rose again

,

have acquired for us the forgiveness of sins,the grace

of God , communion with God . The patience andmercy of God

,through which since Adam ’s fall men

have life,and through which again and again the

believers of the Old Covenant have received forgiveness

,they are bound from the beginning to this Christ

,

who suffered,died

,and rose again . Everything came

to pass for the sake of the forgiveness of sins . Christ,

the living Christ,who belongs to u s and therefore is

ours,who died

,was cruc ified by the world , by us , H e

i s the propi tia tion for our sins ,and notfor ours only ,

bu t a lsofor the whole worla’

,a h a

1

here in i s looe— h ot tha t

we loved Goa’

,ha t tha t H e loved a s , a nd sent H is Son to

he the prop i tia tion for our sins . Who,therefore

,will

overcome the world ’s sin and the world ’s sorrow canonly overcome through the hlooa

7of the L amb.

Thus was solved for the disciples the mystery ofthehistory of Jesus , the most mysterious of all historieswhich have ever happened

,and one which to -day no

historian can pass by , unless for him all mysteries are

248

THE WORK OF JESUS

comprehended in the reign of reason over nature, so

that he sees them solv ed by the reason in history,

”

but ignores the God in history . The expeétations andhopes till then unfu lfilled— they knew that— would nowbe fulfilled . A participant in glory through the pathof His sufie ring,

from glory H e now shall act 011 theworld and for the world . Now commences a new timeof waiting

,but different from the former waiting .

Not as in the former manner did Jesus associate withHis own

,altho H e ate and drank with them . Bu t H e

needed not to do this . As one who had death behindhim

,who had overcome i t , H e now had as a praétical

proof of His Messiahship a completely unhamperedand unlimited personality . H e did not resume Hisformer aétiv ity ,

He wandered no more about with Hisdisciples to ofier Himself to Israel , but confined Hiscompanionship first of all to those who believed inHim

,that H e might so endow them that they might

learn to take into their hands the preaching of theGospel about Him

,and of the promise fulfilled in

themselves . They were to vouch to the whole worldthat in Him

,the cruc ified and risen Jesus

,all the

promises of God are , as Paul says , yea and amen,

”

that all who believe in Him should , as Peter says ,have forgiveness ofsins , and that H e is the MessianicKing

,the peace-bringer of His pe ople . For from

man to man unto the ends of the earth shou ld thenews spread ofHim ,

the Vietor over death,the Prince

of Life,who has the keys of hell and death ; from

man to man the possession of grace and of our re

demption through belief in H im should be propagated .

This,indeed

,was possible , and in this the disciple s

249


whom H e had chosen could now go forward ; for wherethe name of Jesus is named there no more is mademention ofone dead

,ofa man who once existed . Jesus

Himself is present,and declares Himself

,in the power

oftheHoly Ghost , to all who hear His testimony . Theyperceive the risen One

,who waits only that the Gospel

may be brought to the lost people,that in the cou rse

of our history H e might also return to the lost people ,to declare IH imse lf and to transform the world . Therefore

,those who believe in Him are lacking nothing as

compared with those who saw Him with bodily eyes .Forty days lasted the association of Jesus with the

disciples,during which H e spoke to them of the

Kingdom of God,which was now in the world

,altho

the world was not yet a Kingdom of God,and still re

sisted becoming such . Whether these were preciselyforty days , or whether this is the round expression forsix weeks , is wholly unimportant . Corresponding tothe duration ofother times in the history of the peopleofGod— to the forty days which Moses Spent on Sinai ,to the forty days which Elij ah needed till he reachedHoreb , the mountain of God— this time was spent byJesus in intercourse with His disciples . H e stands nomore merely as one among them ,

but is declared theSavior of the world . On this account , also , H e is nomore a natural denizen of the earth

,but appears from

time to time,yet always

,indeed

,only to His own , who

were to carry His name into all the world . But , then ,the day comes when H e goes from them ,

to be fromthence with His Word wherever they proclaim i t

, tomanifest Himself as God and Lord from heaven , andas a deliverer and Savior . H e goes from them with

250

THE ESSENCE 01“ CHRISTIANITY

E can now understand the meaning of what wesaid at the beginning of the leétures— thatChrist appears in the N ew Testament not assub j eét but aW h

’

gi on , of ourreligion . Christianity is not the religion which JesusHimself has taught

,believed

, praétised,but is the

religion which consists of a personal relation of thebeliever to Jesus

,communion with Jesus

,and as with

Him so also communion with the Father . Not aChristianity of Christ but the Christhood of Christ iswhat the New Testament gives us . Christ is offeredto the world in the apostolic preaching

,Christ offers

Himself in His own preaching . We are to believe inChrist

,and in Him

,moreover

,as the crucified and risen

Messiah,and we are to have peace with God

,forgive

ness of s ins,strength for a godly life and conversa

tion,and life eternal through our union with Him ,

through faith by believing in H im, not by appropriat

ing to ourselves His thoughts,His knowledge , His

faith . Christ is preached , and in His person, One who ,instead of j udging the world , rather Himself sufieredand died

,and thus suffered and died for the world that

it might be spared from God ’s j udgment . Christ isproclaimed whom God has raised up from death

,and

thus has j ust ified ; Christ who , through the mercy of

God toward us,returned from a death which men

252


wreaked on Him,and thereby proved their whole un

godly and ant igodly nature . Christ retu rned not toj udge and to punish , but to forgive . To the who leworld all its sins are forgiven

,and shall be forgiven

,

because all sins of the world are c011neét ed witheach other

,and one produces the other

,and finally

meet in the one great sin of resistance to the ChristofGod . Christ , the cruc ified and risen One , in Divinepower sends out His disciples into all the world topreach repentance and forgiveness ofsins to all nations .Christ

,the cruc ified and risen

,who died and became

alive again,who died the same death which we die

,who

was raised Up from this death as we shall be raised,

now,however

,becomes manifest as the Savior . H e

was and is God,and yet becomes and remains man

,

entirely man,wholly our brother . H e will only have

and use His deity as our brother . H e i s the tenor ofthe Gospel. This is Gospel , fulfilled promise— tulhl

ment nevertheless which,in accordance with the pe cu

liarity of all prophecies , far su rpasses in brightnessthe promise itself

,as the prophecy of His sufi

’

ering

remains far behind the reality .

It is well that Harnack has said,in a sentence so

clear,so definite ,

so simple that the statement couldnot be bettered

,that Christ does not belong to the

gospel the gospel according to Harnack,for

the Gospel ofJesus re construét ed by him differs mostdis t incftly and most completely from the Gospel of theN ew Testament . The N ew Testament knows noother Gospel than that whose tenor is Christ , and itmatters not whether Christ or the apostles proclaimit . Between these alternatives we mus t make ou r de


c ision . The position of the whole New Testament issimple : Jesus Christ , yesterday , to-day , and in etern ity the same Christ not a man who wa s

,but who

became alive again , who now lives forever , no t as wecontinue to live after death , and as the saints , theSpirits of the righteous made pe rfeét live , but whonow l ives as we shall some day live , only that H e livesas our brother

,the first -born from the dead

,Savior

and Lord over all . H e lives and shall l ive,reigns and

shall reign,as King of kings and Lord of all lords .

W i th this Jesus who came to life again,a higher

,

supramundane power entered into the closed order ofhistory

,and commenced to interfere and shape it .

History is no longer merely the story of that whichmen do with each other and against each other

, of

what they accomplish or do not accomplish . This isstill

,indeed

,the main tenor of history

,and the

clearer and plainer historical inquiry knows how toshow this and bring it to light , and describe its deve laopment from the beginning , the more will such inquiryin that dire étion fu lfil its own purpose and serve tofurther this development . But we must not and shallnot conceal from ourselves that all development strivesfor its goal and its end ; What wisdom of this worldcan say what will be the end of development as itworks in the hearts and heads of men— o i thinkersand wise men

,of poets and artists , of technologists

and peasants ! Yet this is known to one— the Chris

tian I The end of all i s dust ! But in this development

,surrounded and opposed by it and opposing i t

,

since the Gospel is preached , a new power has entered— the Gospel that is Chri st . Christ and the world ;254


God , experience of His terrible severity . We knowthat there is a living God

,we feel Him

,it is truth .

But where this experience comes— i t comes not toevery one— i t is only the first step of experience of

Christ . This is qu ite different . We hear ofHim,we

perceive His Word,we know His deeds

,His history

w e hear H im H e stands living before our eyes,not

as a re colleétion from childhood,but as One with

whom we have to deal , man against man . It is notthat H e wa s one who concerns us

,H e i s one— nearer

than father and mother and brother and friend . SinceH e is risen H e lives before u s

,for u s

,with u s

,as

soon as the Word concerning Him comes to u s anddemands our faith

,our acknowledgment ofHis truth .

Each declaration of His Word,or of God ’s Word

,is

at the same time an attestation of His person . H e

speaks not merely everlastingly binding words aboutGod

,about the Father

,about the Kingdom of God

,

abou t the infini te worth of our soul,about loving and

ministering ; His words have rather a very peculiarpower and a special importance , because they arewords of a living One who speaks with us . Yes , H e

speaks ofGod , but H e conne éts the knowledge ofGodwith the knowledge of His person ; H e speaks of theFather

,but this is His Father , and we can become

children of God only by believing in the Son . H e

speaks Of the K ingdom of God,but in H im it is

present,and only in Him have we the blessings of the

Kingdom : righteousness , peace , and j oy in the HolySpirit. H e speaks of loving and ministering , but onlythrough faith in Him who died for us , His enemies ,do we learn to love

,and can love and serve . Every

256


thing that H e says is conne éted with Him . H e doesnot merely invite u s to plunge into the reoollettion of

Him,and thus through a vivid presentation of His

person and the place and time,have an after-experience

ofwhat H e meant when H e said Come unto Me,all

y e that labor and are heavy laden , and I will give yourest ” or, Him that cometh to me I will in no wisecast out or, I am the light of the world

,the bread

of l ife , the good shepherd , the way , the truth , and thelife ; no one cometh unto the Father but by Me ; hethat beholdeth Me beholdeth Him that sent Me .

”

H e l ives,and H is Word , which H e once spoke

,H e

still speaks to us to -day . Therefore , therefore only itstill stands to -day ; therefore we must decide either foror against Him ; we must and shall not merely bel ieveHim

,but believe in Him . H e is our Judge

,and again

H e Himself is our Redeemer . Nothing humbles u s solow and nothing revives us so certainly and gives ussuch peace as H e

,not merely with His words

,but by

His giving H imself to us . By having Him we havein Him

,as Paul says , the redemption through His

blood,the forgiveness of our trespasses . Ifwe do not

have Him neither do we have the forgiveness .H e is not like one of the great ones of our race , noteven the greatest of the great ; H e is something different . Since H e came , the fate of every one turns onHim

,and the fate of the whole world will finally be

decided by its relation to Him . H e rouses all our ant ipathy ,

all our indignation,and H e stills all our

misery and all anxiety,and the unrest of our bad

conscience,which rightly accuses us

,yet which

,how

ever,H e purges . As H e l ived and suffered by the

257


hands of men,so now H e l ives and suffers by our

hands . Our s in ,the s in of the world

,which forms

one great whole , H e bore our s ins H e forgave andforgives . H e reconciled us with God

,and obtained

the forgiveness ofGod , and calls it into our heart , sothat we have it in a reality ex aétly as actual as oursin and guilt , so that we may say , This i s— not thiswa s— my sin ,

my guilt,but it is forgiven le g

This is what Paul calls the grace of our Lord JesusChrist— not the grace merely which H e declares

,but

the grace which H e administers . In this grace wehave

,at the same time , the Father , who adopted us

as His children for Christ ’s sake . H e is present tou s with the Father in His spirit , the Holy Spirit ,through whom H e test ifies to us that we are childrenof God , and who works in u s the faith

,and teaches

u s to pray in faith , so that we need never despair , butshall remain in God ’s peace even in persecution . H e

keeps u s in faith ,H e helps us , so that we always have

our j oy in Him,and thus can overcome our sinful

lust . We can finish the course , fight out the goodfight , and keep the faith and exercise love , and ad

here to o ur hope even unto the end— all because andwhen we hold fast to Christ . If we have Him whomthe fathomless compassion of God has for us giveninto death and for us raised from the dead

,we are

born again to a living hope through this very mercyofGod which gave Him back to us . W ithout Him

,

hopeless— this was our l ife ! All our thinking andspeaking and knowledge of the life after death

,or of

that which is more and , indeed , different from thiseternal life

,of the glory of the new world -help us

258


righteousness ! Or can this so -called deepeningof the law facilitate its fulfilment ? The Lord thinksotherwise . And then as to the trust in God ’s providence . which is enj oined : “ Behold the birds of theheaven

,the lilies of the fie ld

,yes

,Be not afraid of

them which kill the body but are not able to kill thesoul — who can accomplish this ? Any one who hasbeen given to laudations ofPaul Gerhardt’s Committhou thy ways and “

I f God be on my side ”

should reasonably also know the conneétion betweenthese and his songs of the passion : “ A Lamb goesuncomplaining forth

,the Seven hymns to the mem

bers of the Lord Jesus , ” from the Latin of SaintBernard

,or the hymn

, 0 world , see , here thy life !Or is there a conneétion only in the notion of PaulGerhardt ? Only he can trust in God , be sure of Hisprovidence and His guidance’ and His care

,even in

the hardest ways and in the darkest hours,who is

reconciled with God,has God ’s mercy

,has forgiveness

of sins . Who has forgiveness ? Forgiveness is a deedofGod . Where , when did this deed of God happen ?Only in Christ ’s death and resurreét ion ? But this

,

says one,is too speétacular ; the relation ofGod to the

world is not efiectuated in a drama,and it is no drama .

Why not ? If the natural relation of the world to Godis a drama with a tragic ending

,why may no t the

supernatural relation of God to the world be a dramawith the glorious finale of the re surre étion of JesusChrist and of eternal life ? IfGod , the timeless andspaceless One

,should rule the world only in accord

ance with the eternal law,eternally established by Him ,

and according to this law once for all provide for its

260


ongoing , would not the brute forces of the world -orderofnature and history crush u s ? Can God not aet ? Andis not this the greatness ofHis manifestation

,His self

attestation in favor of u s sinners,that according to

His own eternal counsel H e draws near in time to us,

who were not created as sinners bu t became sinners intime

,and aé

'

ts for u s and redeems us ? Let us by nomeans through any pale fear ofa drama brought aboutin time

,but intended for eternity

,lose the faé‘t of the

reconciliation and redemption performed through Christwith a love that is timeless , eternal , forever the same ,everlastingly transcendent ! Or ought Christ to havecome only to reveal to the world that the God whomit seeks in all religions and does not find is a God whoforever evinces Himself to it with purely pardoningforbearance

,friendliness

,patience

,and love

,and whose

love it knew not till Chris t came, b u t now , as revealed

in Him , it must recognize as the solution of the mystery

— o i the problem of its existence ? Then the testimony of our conscience

,our consciousness of guilt

under God’s j udgment,were a false testimony

,and the

man who in the New Testament still admonishes hisreaders that our God is a consuming fire waswrong .

No,there is nothing more wondrous

,nothing less self

understood,nothing more paradoxical

,more Opposed

to all which is logically and morally consistent thanthe reconciliation

,redemption

,forgiveness of all our

sins,the aél ual , Divine forgiveness , impu ta tion of sins

and y etforgiveness ! Here are two entirely differentreligions

,opposed to one another and mutually ex clud

ing each other . One , as with Christ Himself, conneéts

261


forgiveness with His death and resurrect ion ; in theother one

, ffimselfforgives the sin . There are religions excluding each other

, of which the one is trulyreligion

,the other only religion so -called . The one

mentions the most urgent and permanent interest in theperson and work of Christ , in whom it believes and towhom it prays the other roundly declares

,with Har

nack,that Jesus does not belong to the Gospel .

But how is it possible that our pardon,the forgive

ness of our sins , depends on one deed , on one event ,one happening of the past

,in which

,as it is said

,we

were not participants ourselves ? That it depends onthis deed of the past is evident to every one who forthe sake of the suffering and dying of Christ hassought and found forg iveness

,to every one who

, be

cause of his sins,for the sake of their forgiveness ,

bel ieves in Jesus,and whom his sins have brought to

the feet of Jesus . One does not understand i t , butone has i t ; one would lose everything if i t were nottrue yes

,one would in v ery fact lose everything ifwe

had no need to seek the forgiveness of the cruc ifiedOne on account ofour sins for the easier the forgiveness the less heavy our s in and guilt , the less alsoour interest in Christ

,our interest in God . There

is left,indeed

,an interest in polemics against the

Christianity through which we seek and find forgiveness by Jesus

,but this interest , too , at length will dis

appear . On the other hand , as soon as we have foundforgiveness in the blood of Christ and with it Christthe Savior

,the foregoing questions come up again and

demand answers , without , indeed , making the faetdependent on the necessity

,or absolute correctness , or

262


even if the death of Christ had concerned the entirerace belonging to that time

,how is it that it also con

cerns u s and every man who comes into the world ?I t was God who in Christ reconciled the world toHimself. God— not the thought ofGod but God Himself— entered

,in Christ

,into the ordered course ofhis

tory after H e had allowed the world till then to gofor centuries and millenniums its own way

,and only

endured it that it might not perish before the time .I t was God who

,in pardoning grace

,established Him

self in the world,who in His eternal Son became pres

ent to the wo rld,and since then has remained present .

God in Christ has endured that the world should re j eétHim

,and endured it in order to forg ive and thus H e

showed that His love covers also a multitude of sins .But what God did by uniting Himself with u s in HisSon

,H e did to the end that this union and communion

might remain forever . This is the one s ide . Theother

,however , is this that humanity , with all its

sinful nature , aimed at nothing else than to be aga instGod and w i thou t God

,its own God and Lord . All

this reached its climax in the re j eét ion of Christ,and

thus Christ took upon Himself the s ins of all theworld which till then had existed . But by livingnow and on and on

,attesting and proving H imself as

our Redeemer and Savior,H e has to deal ever and

ever with the same sinful world , whose sins H e sufi'

ered

and bore . Our sin is not only a similar sin , i t is a cont inu at ion of the same sin . Whether we make ourselves guilty of the same consciously or unconsciously ,we can not get rid nor be released from the conneétionmade necessary by the very nature of sin ,

so that

264


Christ bore our sin and our guilt also— the s in andguilt of the entire humanity . And so H e

,the living

One,who died through our s in and was raised up

through and for the forgiving grace,comes to us and

attests to us that our s in— my sin— has brought Himinto death

,and was borne by Him

,and that H e brings

forgiveness of our sins , ofmy sins , and that H e is ourreconciliation

,and says to us

“ You are ! not y oushall b e] redeemed . Ye were bought with a priceThus H e forgave our sins of to-day when H e askedthe Father to forgive the sins of His murderers :Father

,forg ive them

,for they know not what they

do .

” As our sin of to -day weighed on Him with thesin of them and with the sin of the whole past world

,

so from the Cross the stream of forgiveness runsthrough the world

,and one brother may tell i t and so

attest it to the other, so that he also can believe ifhe

only will,that in Christ we have the redemption

through His blood,even the forgiveness of sins . God

forgave our sins when Christ sufi'

ered and died androse again

,and therefore H e forgives them to-day to

every one who believes in the cruc ified and risen One ,acknowledges H im as the Messiah of God

,and there

fore as our Redeemer . H e feeds upon this salvationand lives in it

,and says Now , that which Thou , O

Lord,didst bear is all my burden Thou takest upon

Thy back the burdens which press me down , Thoubeares t my guilt ; Thou become st a curse , in returnThou givest me Thy blessing and place st me intoGod ’s fatherly kindnessNo one

,as yet to this day

,and least of all Dr .

’

Harnack

,has more clearly expressed the essence of Chris

265


t ianity than it is expressed in the prayers and hymnsof the Church

,and more especially in the passion

hymns . Christianity , which God consents to oti e r tothe world

,is the forgiveness of sins in the blood of

Christ,the j ustification of the sinner in the power of

the death and resurre étion of Christ,the redemption

of the world through Christ ’s death and r e surre ét ion ,

the everlasting grace ofGod in the g iving of His Son ,of which Jesus says : For God so loved the worldthat H e gave His only begotten Son

,that whosoever

believeth in Him should not perish,but have eternal

life .

”Of this says John “ Herein was the love of

God manifested in u s , that God hath sent His onlybegotten Son into the world to be the propitiation forour s ins and Pau l “ God commendeth His ownlove toward us

,in that

,while we were yet sinners

,

Christ died for u s and Peter Knowing that y ewere redeemed

,not with corruptible things

,with sil

ver or gold , from your vain manner of l ife handeddown from your fathers , but with precious blood , asof a lamb without blemish and without spot , even theblood ofChrist , who was foreknown indeed before thefoundation of the world

,but was manifested at the

end of the times . ” This unanimous testimony ofJesusand of His apostles the historian and dogmaticianmay indeed re j e ét as far as the contents are concerned ,but he can not contest the faet that it is the testimonyofJesus and ofHis disciples , and still less that it stillworks to -day what it worked when it commenced tobe proclaimed .

On this account the Christianity which we have andshould praét ise can only consist in the grateful accept

266


therefore,historically and dogmatically

,ifwe must call

it so , go back to the beginning— not , however , makehistory a j udge between the transient and the lasting ,as Strauss in his time endeavored to do

,and as Har

nack in his manner has now also endeavored .

It would be profitable to enter into Harnack’s his

torical piéture and to estimate and correét i t . But forthe present we must postpone this task

,and shall now

only present to ourselves two things . One is , that theknowledge of Christianity

,the understanding of the

Gospel as the ofiering of the real,present

,existing

gift ofGod,was lost in conne étion with the mi ssionary

problem of the Church and the education of thenations

,altho the longing for it remained alive here

and there,and the faith

,tho troubled

, sought foritself a place and sometimes found it

,till God

,in the

hour of greatest need,raised up His servant Luther ,

who declared unto us again the Gospel of a presentgrace experienced by him of the Son ofGod who diedand rose for us . The other is a word coming fromHarnack himself How often in history is theologyonly the means to set as ide relig ion Of Jesus ,however

,i t is true that H e alone and truly has made

religion possible to us,for in Him we have a free , open

access unto the Father through His blood , throughthe forgiveness of s ins

268

translators preface he author of these leétnres, hermann … · rwick biblico-theological lexicon...

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