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diff --git a/9492-8.txt b/9492-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aaa5c37 --- /dev/null +++ b/9492-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2734 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Understanding the Scriptures, by Francis McConnell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Understanding the Scriptures + +Author: Francis McConnell + +Posting Date: March 16, 2014 [EBook #9492] +Release Date: December, 2005 +First Posted: October 5, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, Bob McKillip +and PG Distributed Proofreaders. HTML version by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +THE MENDENHALL LECTURES, THIRD SERIES DELIVERED AT DEPAUW UNIVERSITY + + +UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES + +BY + +FRANCIS J. McCONNELL + +Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church + + + + +CONTENTS + + FOREWORD + I. PRELIMINARY + II. THE BOOK OF LIFE + III. THE BOOK OF HUMANITY + IV. THE BOOK OF GOD + V. THE BOOK OF CHRIST + VI. THE BOOK OF THE CROSS + + + + +FOREWORD + +The Mendenhall Lectures, founded by Rev. Marmaduke H. Mendenhall, D.D., +of the North Indiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, are +delivered annually in De Pauw University to the public without any +charge for admission. The object of the donor was "to found a perpetual +lectureship on the evidences of the Divine Origin of Christianity and +the inspiration and authority of the Holy Scriptures. The lecturers +must be persons of high and wide repute, of broad and varied +scholarship, who firmly adhere to the evangelical system of Christian +faith. The selection of lecturers may be made from the world of +Christian scholarship, without regard to denominational divisions. Each +course of lectures is to be published in book form by an eminent +publishing house and sold at cost to the faculty and students of the +University." + +Lectures previously published: 1913, The Bible and Life, Edwin Holt +Hughes; 1914, The Literary Primacy of the Bible, George Peck Eckman. + +GEORGE R. GROSE, + +President De Pauw University. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +PRELIMINARY + +The problem as to the understanding of the Scriptures is with some no +problem at all. All we have to do is to take the narratives at their +face meaning. The Book is written in plain English, and all that is +necessary for its comprehension is a knowledge of what the words mean. +If we have any doubts, we can consult the dictionary. The plain man +ought to have no difficulty in understanding the Bible. + +Nobody can deny the clearness of the English of the Scriptures. +Nevertheless, the plain man does have trouble. How far would the +ordinary intelligence have to read from the first chapter of Genesis +before finding itself in difficulties? There are accounts of events +utterly unlike anything which we see happening in the life around us, +events which seem to us to contradict the course of nature's procedure. +There are points of view foreign to our way of looking at things. More +than that, there seem to be actual contradictions between various +portions of the books. And, above all, the way of life marked out in +the Book seems to lead off toward mystery. To save our lives we have to +lose them. All the precepts of common sense seem set at defiance by +some passages of the Book. How can we explain the hold of such a book +on the world's life? + +When once the problem of the understanding of the Scriptures is raised, +various solutions are offered, all of which contribute a measure of +help, but most of which do not greatly get us ahead. For example, we +are told that the Book is translated literature, and that if we could +get back to the original narratives in the original languages, we would +find our perplexities vanishing. There is no question that a knowledge +of Greek and Hebrew does aid us in an understanding of the Scriptures, +but this aid commonly extends only to the meaning of particular words. +One who knows enough of Greek or Hebrew to enter sympathetically into +the life of which those languages were the expression is prepared to +sense the scriptural atmosphere better than one who has not such +equipment. Very few Scripture readers, however, are thus qualified to +understand Greek and Hebrew. Very few ministers of the gospel are so +trained as to be able to pass upon shades of meaning of Greek or Hebrew +words against the judgment of those who teach these languages in the +schools. With graduation from theological school most ministers put +Hebrew to one side; and many pay no further attention to Greek. Even a +trained biblical student is very careful not to question the authority +of the professional linguistic experts. Apart from sidelights upon the +meaning of this or that passage, there is very little that the biblical +student can get from Greek or Hebrew which is not available in +important translations. We cannot solve the greater difficulties in +biblical study by carrying our investigations back to the study of the +original languages as such. The fact is that emphasis upon the +importance of mastery of Greek and Hebrew for an insight into +scriptural meanings rests largely upon a theory of literal inspiration +of the biblical narratives. It requires only a cursory reading to see +that the narratives in English cannot claim to be strictly inerrant, so +that the upholder of inerrancy is driven to the position that the +inerrancy is in the documents as originally written. No doctrine of +inerrancy, however, can explain away the puzzles which confront us, for +example, in the accounts of the creation as given us in the early +chapters of Genesis, or throw light upon the possibility of a soul's +passing from moral death to life. + +Great help is promised us by those who maintain that the modern methods +of critical biblical study give us the key to scriptural meanings. +There is no doubt that many doors have been opened by critical methods. +Now that the flurries of misunderstanding which attended the first +application of such methods to biblical study have passed on, we see +that some solid results have been gained. In so far as our difficulties +arise from questions of authorship and date of writing, the critical +methods have brought much relief. Even very orthodox biblicists no +longer insist that it is necessary to oppose the teaching that the +first five books of the Bible were written at different times and by +different men. In fact, there is no reason to quarrel with the theory +that many parts of these books are not merely anonymous, but are +documents produced by the united effort of narrators and correlators +reaching through generations--the narratives often being transmitted +orally from fathers to sons. There is no reason for longer arguing +against the claim that the book of Isaiah as it stands in our +Scriptures is composed of documents written at widely separated +periods. It is permissible even from the standpoint of orthodoxy to +assign a late date to the book of Daniel. No harm is wrought when we +insist that the book of Mark must have priority in date among the +Gospels, and that Matthew and Luke are built in part from Mark as a +foundation. It is not dangerous to face the facts which cause the +prolonged debate over the authorship of the fourth Gospel. It is not +heresy to teach that the dates of the epistles must be rearranged +through the findings of modern scholarship. There is not only no danger +in a hospitable attitude toward modern scholarship, but many +difficulties disappear through adjusting ourselves to present-day +methods. If contradictions appear in a document hitherto considered a +unit, the contradictions are at least measurably done away with when +the document is seen to be a composite report from the points of view +of different authors. The critical method has been of immense value in +enforcing upon us that the scriptural books were written each with a +distinctive intention, apart from the purpose to represent the facts in +the method of a newspaper reporter or of a scientific investigator. In +a sense many of the more important scriptural documents were of the +nature of pamphlets or tracts for the times in which they were written. +The author was combating a heresy, or supplementing a previous +statement which seemed to him to be inadequate, or seeking to adjust a +religious conception to enlarging demands. The biblical writers are +commentators on or interpreters of the truth which they conceive to be +essential. + +Making most generous allowances, however, for the advantages of the +critical methods, we must use them with considerable care. Results like +those suggested above seem to be well established, but there is always +possibility of the critic's becoming a mere specialist with the purely +technical point of view. Suppose the critic holds so to the passion for +analysis that for him analysis becomes everything. We may then have a +single verse cut into three or four pieces, each assigned to a +different author, the authors separated by long periods. Even if the +older narratives are composite, the process of welding or compression +was so thorough that detailed analyses are now out of the question. +Apart from its broader contentions, the method of the critical school +must be used tentatively and without dogmatism. Moreover, we must +always remember that the critical student comes to his task with +assumptions which are oftentimes more potent with him from his very +blindness to their existence. Assumption in scientific investigation is +inevitable. Suppose a critic to be markedly under the influence of some +evolutionary hypothesis. Suppose him to believe that the formula which +makes progress a movement from the simple to the complex can be traced +in detail in the advance of society. He is prepared to believe that in +practically every case the simple has preceded the complex. He will +forthwith untangle the biblical narrative to get at the ideal +evolutionary arrangement, ignoring the truth that except in the most +general fashion progress cannot thus be traced. In the actual life of +societies the progress, especially of ideas, is often from the complex +to the simple. Many evolutionists maintain that movement is now +forward, now backward, now diagonal, and now by a "short cut"; but if +the evolutionary critic sticks closely to his preconceived formula +about progress as always from the simple to the complex, he can lead us +astray. Again, almost all great prophetic announcements are ahead of +their time. They seem out of place at the date of their first +utterance--interruptions, interjections hard to fit into an orderly +historic scheme. Or suppose the critic to be a student of the +scientific school which will not allow for the play of any forces +excepting as they openly reveal themselves, the school that will not +allow for backgrounds of thought or for atmospheres which surround +conceptions. Such a student is very apt to maintain, for example, that +Paul knew only so much of the life of Jesus as he mentions in the +epistles. Such a student cannot assume that Paul ever took anything for +granted. We can see at once that a method so professedly exact as this +may be dangerously out of touch with the human processes of the life of +individuals and of societies. Or suppose still further that the +biblical student holds a set of scientific assumptions which are +extremely naturalistic; that is to say, suppose that he assumes that +nothing has ever happened which in any way departs from the natural +order. We have only to remind ourselves that the natural order of a +particular time is the order as that time conceives it; but it is +manifestly hazardous to limit events in the world of matter to the +scientific conceptions of any one day. To take a single illustration, +the radical student of the life of Jesus of a generation ago cast out +forthwith from the Gospel accounts everything which suggested the +miraculous. The conceptions of the order of nature which obtained a +generation ago did not allow even for works of healing of the sort +recorded in the Gospels. At the present time radical biblical criticism +makes considerable allowance for such works. Discovery of the power of +mental suggestion and of the influence of mind over body has opened the +door to the return of some of the wonders wrought by Jesus to a place +among historic facts. This does not mean that the radical student is +any more friendly to miracles than before. We are not here raising the +question of miracles as such, but we do insist that an assumption as to +what the natural order may or may not allow can be fraught with peril +in the hands of critical students of the Scriptures. We say again that +while, in general, the larger contentions of the biblical school can be +looked upon as established beyond reasonable doubt; and while, in +general, the methods of the school are productive of good, yet, because +of the part that assumption plays in the fashioning of all critical +tools, the assumptions must be scrutinized with all possible care. A +good practical rule is to read widely from the critics, to accept what +they generally agree upon, to hold very loosely anything that seems +"striking" or "brilliant." This is a field in which originality must be +discounted. There is so little check upon the imagination. + +It is but a step from the consideration of the critical methods in +biblical study to that of the historical methods in the broader sense. +Many students who are out of patience with the more narrowly critical +processes maintain that the broader historical methods are of vast +value in biblical discussion. Here, again, we must admit the large +measure of justice in the claim. We can see at once that the same +reservations must be made as in the case of the critical methods. The +assumptions play a determining part. If we are on our guard against any +tricks that assumptions may play, we can eagerly expect the historical +methods to aid us greatly. + +We have come to see that any revelation to be really a revelation must +speak in the language of a particular time. But speaking in the +language of a particular time implies at the outset very decided +limitations. The prophets who arise to proclaim any kind of truth must +clothe their ideas in the thought terms of a particular day and can +accomplish their aims only as they succeed in leading the spiritual +life of their day onward and upward. Such a prophet will accommodate +himself to the mental and moral and religious limitations of the time +in which he speaks. Only thus can he get a start. It is inevitable, +then, that along with the higher truth of his message there will appear +the marks of the limitations of the mold in which the message is cast. +The prophet must take what materials he finds at hand, and with these +materials direct the people to something higher and better. +Furthermore, in the successive stages through which the idea grows we +must expect to find it affected by all the important factors which in +any degree determine its unfolding. The first stage in understanding +the Scriptures is to learn what a writer intended to say, what he meant +for the people of his day. To do this we must rely upon the methods +which we use in any historical investigation. The Christian student of +the Scriptures believes that the Bible contains eternal truths for all +time, truths which are above time in their spiritual values. Even so, +however, the truth must first be written for a particular time and that +time the period in which the prophet lived. When the Christian speaks +of the Scriptures as containing a revelation for all time, he refers to +their essential spiritual value. The best way to make that essential +spiritual value effective for the after times is to sink it deep into +the consciousness of a particular time. This gives it leverage, or +focus for the outworking of its forces. No matter how limited the +conceptions in which the spiritual richness first took form, those +conceptions can be understood by the students who look back through the +ages, while the spiritual value itself shines out with perennial +freshness. Paradoxical as it may sound, the truths which are of most +value for all time are those which first get themselves most thoroughly +into the thought and feeling of some one particular time. Let us look +at the opening chapters of Genesis for illustration. The historical +student points out to us that the science of the first chapters of +Genesis is not peculiar to the Hebrew people, that substantially +similar views of the stages through which creation moved are to be +found in the literatures of surrounding peoples. A well-known type of +student would therefore seek at one stroke to bring the first chapters +of Genesis down to the level of the scriptures of the neighbors of the +Hebrews. He would then discount all these narratives alike by reference +to modern astronomy, geology, and biology. But the difference between +the Hebrew account and the other accounts lies in this, that in the +Hebrew statement the science of a particular time is made the vehicle +of eternally superb moral and spiritual conceptions concerning man and +concerning man's relation to the Power that brought him into being. The +worth of these conceptions even in that early statement few of us would +be inclined to question. Assuming that any man or set of men became in +the old days alive to the value of such religious ideas, how could they +speak them forth except in the language of their own day? They had to +speak in their own tongue, and speaking in that tongue they had to use +the thought terms expressed by that tongue. They accepted the science +of their day as true, and they utilized that science for the sake of +bodying forth the moral and spiritual insights to which they had +attained. The inadequacy of early Hebrew science and its likeness to +Babylonian and Chaldean science do not invalidate the worth of the +spiritual conceptions of Genesis. This ought to be apparent even to the +proverbial wayfaring man. The loftiest spiritual utterances are often +clad in the poorest scientific draperies. Who would dare deny the worth +of the great moral insights of Dante? And who, on the other hand, would +insist upon the lasting value of the science in which his deep +penetrations are uttered? And so with Milton. Dr. W. F. Warren has +shown the nature of the material universe as pictured in Milton's +"Paradise Lost." In passing from heaven to hell one would descend from +an upper to a lower region of a sphere, passing through openings at the +centers of other concentric spheres on the way down. Nothing more +foreign to modern science can be imagined; yet we do not cast aside +"Paradise Lost" because of the crudity of its view of the physical +system. + +Assuming that the biblical prophets were to have any effect whatever, +in what language could they speak except that of their own time? Their +position was very similar to that of the modern preacher who uses +present-day ideas of the physical universe as instruments to proclaim +moral and spiritual values. Nobody can claim that modern scientific +theories are ultimate, and nobody can deny, on the other hand, that +vast good is done in the utilization of these conceptions for high +religious purposes. + +A minister once sought in a sermon on the marvels of man's constitution +to enforce his conceptions by speaking of the instantaneousness with +which a message flashed to the brain through the nervous system is +heeded and acted upon. He said that the touch of red-hot iron upon a +finger-tip makes a disturbance which is instantly reported to the brain +for action. A scientific hearer was infinitely disgusted. He said that +all such disturbances are acted upon in the spinal cord. He could see +no value, therefore, even in the main point of the minister's sermon +because of the minister's mistaken conception of nervous processes. I +suppose very few of us know whether this scientific objection was well +taken or not. Very few of us, however, would reject the entire sermon +because of an erroneous illustration; and yet sometimes all the +essentials of the Scriptures are discounted because of flaws no more +consequential than that suggested in this illustration. The Scriptures +aim to declare a certain idea of God, a certain idea of man, and a +certain idea of the relations between God and man. Those ideas are +clothed in the garments of successive ages. The change in the fashions +and adequacy of the garments does not make worthless the living truth +which the garments clothe. Jesus himself lived deeply in his own time +and spoke his own language and worked through the thought terms which +were part of the life of his time. Some biblical readers have been +greatly disturbed in recent years by the discovery of the part which +so-called apocalyptic thought-forms play in the teaching of Jesus. The +fact is that these conceptions were the commonest element in all later +Jewish thinking. Jesus could not have lived when he did without making +apocalyptic terms the vehicle for his doctrines. We have come to see +that the manner of the coming of the kingdom of Jesus is not so +important as the character of that kingdom. + +Not only must a prophet speak in the language of a definite time, but +he must speak to men as he finds them. This being so, we must expect +that revelations will in a sense be accommodated to the apprehension of +the day of their utterance. The minds of men are in constant movement. +If the prophet were to have before him minds altogether at a +standstill, he might well despair of accomplishing great results by his +message. He would be forced to think of the intelligence of this day as +a sort of vessel which he could fill with so much and no more. But +whether the prophets have through the ages had any theoretic +understanding of human intelligence as an organism or not, they have +acted upon the assumption that they were dealing with such organisms. +So they have conceived of their truth as a seed cast into the ground, +passing through successive stages. Jesus himself spoke of the kingdom +of God as moving out of the stage of the blade into that of the ear and +finally into that of the full corn in the ear. This illustration is our +warrant for insisting that in the enforcing of truth all manner of +factors come into play and that the truth passes through successive +epochs, some of which may seem to later believers very unpromising and +unworthy. The test of the worth of an idea is not so much any opinion +as to the unseemliness of the stages through which it has passed as it +is the value of the idea when once it has come to ripeness. The test of +the grain is its final value for food. The scriptural truths are to be +judged by no other test than that of their worth for life. + +In the light of the teaching of Jesus himself there is no reason why we +should shrink from stating that the revelation of biblical truth is +influenced by even the moral limitations of men. Jesus said that an +important revelation to man was halted at an imperfect stage because of +the hardness of men's hearts. The Mosaic law of divorce was looked upon +by Jesus as inadequate. The law represented the best that could be done +with hardened hearts. The author of the Practice of Christianity, a +book published anonymously some years ago, has shown conclusively how +the hardness of men's hearts limits any sort of moral and spiritual +revelation. It will be remembered that William James in discussing the +openness of minds to truth divided men into the "tough-minded" and the +"tender-minded." James was not thinking of moral distinctions: he was +merely emphasizing the fact that tough-minded men require a different +order of intellectual approach than do the tender-minded. If we put +into tough-mindedness the element of moral hardness and +unresponsiveness which the prophet must meet, we can see how such an +element would condition and limit the prophet. + +Again, Jesus said to his disciples that he had many things to say to +them, but that they could not bear them at the time at which he spoke. +Some revelations must wait for moral strength on the part of the people +to whom they are to come. Suppose, for example, in this year of our +Lord 1917, some scientist should discover a method of touching off +explosives from a great distance by wireless telegraphy without the +need of a specially prepared receiver at the end where the explosion is +desired. Suppose it were possible for him simply to press a button and +blow up all the ships of the British Navy, or all the stores of +munitions in Germany. What would be the first duty of such an inventor? +Very likely it would be his immediate duty to keep the secret closely +locked in his own mind. If such a discovery were made known to European +combatants in their present temper, it is a question what would be left +on earth at the end of the next twenty-four hours. With European minds +in their present moral and spiritual plight it would not be safe to +trust them with any such revelation. And this illustration has +significance for more than the physical order of revelation. There are +principles for individual and social conduct that may well be put into +effect one hundred years from now. Men are not now morally fit to +receive some revelations. All of which means that any revealing +movement is a progressive movement in that it depends upon not merely +the utterances of the revealing mind, but upon the response of the +receiving mind. In the play back and forth between giver and receiver +all sorts of factors come into power. The study of the interplay of +these factors is entirely worthy as an object of Christian research. We +may well be thankful for any advance thus far made in such study and we +may look for greater advances in the future. For example, the historic +students thus far have put in most of their effort laying stress upon +similarities between the biblical conceptions and the conceptions of +the peoples outside the current of biblical revelation. The work has +been of great value. Nevertheless it would seem to be about time for +larger emphasis on the differences between the biblical revelations and +the conceptions outside. + +Still when all is said the mastery of historical methods of study is +but preliminary to the real understanding of the Scriptures. If we come +close to the revealing movement itself, we find that before we get far +into the stream there must be sympathetic responsiveness to biblical +teaching. The difficulties in understanding the Scriptures are, as of +old, not so much of the intellect as they are of conscience and +will--the difficulties, in a word, that arise from the hardness of +men's hearts. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BOOK OF LIFE + +The approaches to an understanding of the Scriptures which we suggested +in the first chapter are those which have to do merely with +intellectual investigation. Any student with normal intelligence can +appreciate the methods and results of the critical scrutiny of the +biblical documents, but will require something more for an adequate +mastery of the scriptural revelations. There is need of sympathetic +realization that the Book itself did not in any large degree come out +of the exercise of the merely intellectual faculties. In the scriptural +revelation we are dealing with a current of life which flowed for +centuries through the minds of masses of people. To be sure of insight +into the meanings of this revelation there must be an approach to the +Bible as a Book of Life in the sense that its teachings came out of +life and that they were perennially used to play back into life. Its +hold on life to-day can be explained only by the fact that it was thus +born out of life, and has its chief significance for the experiences of +actual life. + +Even the most superficial perusal of the Scriptures shows that they +came of practical contact with men and things. There is comparatively +little in the entire content of our Sacred Book to suggest the +speculations of abstract philosophy. The writers deal with the +concrete. They tell of men and of peoples who had to face facts and who +achieved comprehensions and convictions through grappling with facts. +There is about the Scriptures what some one has called a sort of +"out-of-doors-ness." There is very little hint of withdrawal from the +push and pressure of daily living. If the prophets ever withdrew to +solitude, they did not retire to closets, but rather to deserts or to +mountains. We must not allow our modern familiarity with bookmaking as +an affair of library research and tranquil meditation in seclusion to +mislead us into thinking that the Christian Bible was wrought out in +similar fashion. The Book is full of the tingle and even the roar of +the life out of which it was born. Jesus gathered up in a single +sentence the process by which the scriptural revelation can be +apprehended by man when he said, "He that doeth the will shall know of +the truth." The entire scriptural unfolding is one vast commentary on +this utterance of Jesus. + +It is impossible for us in this series of studies to attempt any +detailed survey of the revealing movement of which our Scriptures are +the outcome. It is important, however, that we should see clearly that +the revelation came to those who opened themselves to the light in an +obedient spirit. While it is not in accord with our modern knowledge of +psychology to assort and divide human activities too sharply, it is +nevertheless permissible to insist that the biblical revelation was in +a sense primarily to the will. As Frederick W. Robertson used to say, +obedience is the organ of spiritual knowledge. The first men to whom +illuminations came evidently received these gifts out of some purity of +intention and moral excellence. These early leaders gathered others +around them and set them on the path of determined striving toward a +definite goal. As the idea of the seer or the prophet found general +acceptance it gradually hardened into law, law meant for scrupulous +observance. If a singer felt stirred to write a psalm, he voiced his +experiences or his aspirations in the midst of a throbbing world. If a +statesman drew a wide survey of God's dealings with the nations of the +earth, he did so at some mighty crisis in Israel's relations to Egypt +or Assyria or Babylon. When we reach New Testament times we find that +even the Gospels seem to have been books struck out of immediate +practical urgencies rather than composed tranquilly with a scholar's +interest merely in doing a fine piece of professional work. The early +Christians were anxious to hold the believers to the strait and narrow +way. To do this they repeated often the words of the Lord Jesus. When, +however, the older members of the first circles began to fall away, the +words were written down, not because some scholar felt moved thus to +improve his leisure, but because it was absolutely necessary to +preserve the words. Moreover, conflicts were arising between the +growing church and the forces of the world round about. Some scriptures +were written to supply instruments with which to carry on the warfare. +Always the fundamental aim was to keep the people acting according to +the teachings which lay at the heart of the Christian system. The +object of the biblical revelation was from the beginning just what it +is to-day in the hands of Christian believers--the object of using the +Scriptures as an instrument for practicing the Christian spirit into +all the phases of life. + +We would by no means deny that there are imposing philosophies or, +rather, hints toward such philosophies, in the Scriptures, but we +insist that these did not come out of a purely philosophizing temper. +They came as men tried to put into some form or order the +understandings at which they had arrived as they wrestled with the +tough facts of a world which they were trying to subject to the rule of +their religion. As we have said in the previous chapter, the Scriptures +bear scars of all such conflicts. The revelation was knocked into its +shape in the rough-and-tumble of an attempt to convert the world. And +this is not to claim for the Bible any difference in method of creation +from that which obtains in the shaping of any vitally effective piece +of literature. The world-shaking conceptions have always been won in +profound experience. This chapter is not written with the principles of +the modern school of pragmatism as a guide, and yet pragmatism can be +so stated as to phrase an essentially Christian doctrine that spiritual +ideas result from spiritual practices and are of worth as they prove +themselves aids in further experience. Take some of the expressions of +Paul. The fundamental fact in Paul's experience was his vision on the +Damascus road and his determination to be obedient to that vision. To +make his own view of the Christian religion attractive to those whom he +was trying to win, it became necessary for him to speak in terms of the +Judaism of his time. In fact, he could not have spoken in any other +terms, though some of his reasonings seem to us to be remote from +actual life. But when he left argument and came back to experience he +was most effective. His terribly compelling utterances are those which +were born of driving necessity. The theology started with the vision +and unfolded in obedience to the vision, "What wilt thou have me to +do?" Everywhere upon Paul's epistles there are the marks of practical +compulsion. A letter was dispatched to convince stubborn Jews in +Galatia or to persuade questioning Gentiles in Rome. Some of the +profoundest phrasings of Pauline belief were uttered first as appeals +for generous collections to starving saints. + +The example of Paul as a receiver and giver of spiritual light is very +significant. Even if we should make the largest allowances to the +biblical critics who would cut down the number of epistles known to be +genuinely Pauline, we would have enough left to make on our minds the +impression of enormous personal activity. One passage does, indeed, +tell us of a period of months of withdrawal for reflection in Arabia. +For the most part, however, Paul's life was spent in ceaselessly going +to and fro throughout the Roman empire; even in the days of +imprisonment he seems to have been burdened with the administration of +churches. It was out of such multifarious activities that the theology +of Paul was born, and therein lies its value. No interpretation is +likely to bring the separate deliverances into anything like formal, +logical consistency. Very likely Paul was of a markedly logical frame +of mind, but he did not attempt to rid his message of contradictions in +detail. The unity and consistency are found in the fundamental life +purpose to get men to accept Jesus Christ as the Chosen of God. If Paul +had ever heard that much of his theology might be out-dated with the +passage of the years, he would probably have responded that he was +perfectly willing that the instrument should be cast aside if it had +served its spiritual purpose of bringing men to obedience to the law of +God. + +It is not intended to make this a book of sermons or exhortations. We +must say, however, that in a series of studies on how to understand the +Scriptures stress must be laid upon the maxim that the Scriptures can +be understood only by those who seek to recognize and obey the spirit +of life breathing from the Scriptures. Nothing could be more hopeless +than to attempt to get to the heart of Christian truth without +attempting to build that truth into life. The formal reasonings of the +theologian are no doubt of value, but they throw little light upon the +essentials of Christianity except as they deal with data which have +been supplied by Christian experience. It would, indeed, be well for +any study of the Bible to begin with a recognition of the part played +by distinctly scholarly research. We cannot go far, however, until we +recognize that sympathy with Christian truth is necessary before we can +come upon vital knowledge. And this, after all, is but the way we learn +to understand any piece of life-literature. A vast amount of material +is at hand in the form of commentaries upon the work of Shakespeare. We +know much about the circumstances under which the plays of Shakespeare +were written; we know somewhat of the sources from which Shakespeare +drew his historical materials; we are familiar with the chronology of +the plays; but all this is knowledge about Shakespeare. To know +Shakespeare there must be something of a deliberate attempt to +surrender sympathetically to the Shakespearean point of view. We get +"inside of" any classic work of literature only by this spirit of +surrender. The aim of Shakespeare is simply to picture life as he sees +it, but even to appreciate the picture men must enter into sympathy +with the painter. The Scriptures aim not merely to paint life, but to +quicken and reproduce life. How much more, then, is needed a surrender +of the will before there can be adequate appreciation of the +Scriptures? If the Scriptures are the results primarily of +will-activities, how can they finally be mastered except by minds +quickened by doing the will revealed in the Scriptures? The book of +Christianity must be interpreted by the disciples of Christianity. +Judged merely by bookish standards, there is no satisfactory +explanation of the power of the Bible. But lift the whole problem out +of the realm of books as such! The glimpses into any high truth that +are worth while--how do they come? They come out of experience. Even +when they are repeated from one mind to another they become the +property of that second mind only as they reproduce themselves in +experience. Otherwise the whole transaction is of words, words, words. +The Scriptures have to do with deeds, not words. + +All this is offensive to the dogmatic reasoner. For him the intellect +as such is the organ of religious truth. He insists on speaking of the +Scriptures in formally theological terms. That the Scripture writers +employed theological terms there can be no doubt, but they did not +speak as systematic theologians. And always they brought their theology +to the test of actual life. The writer of these lines once knew a +student who had read enough of psychology to enable him to reason +himself into a belief that he was the only person in existence; that is +to say, he declared that he himself was the only one of whose existence +he was infallibly certain. Does not all knowledge of an external world +come as a report through a sensation aroused by stimulus? If the +appropriate stimulus could be kept up an external world might fall away +and I would still think it was there. The bell might ring at the door +and might be nobody there. And so on and on, through steps familiar +enough to the student of philosophy. When a friend made a quick appeal +to life with the question: "If you are the only one alive, why do you +bring your troubles to me?" the amateur philosopher came to earth with +a sense of jar. But the jar is no greater than that when we pass from +the plane of dogmatic theology to that of reading the Scriptures for +their own sake. The old scholastics said that in God there are three +substances, one essence, and two processions. How does this sound as +compared with the statement of Jesus that he and his Father are one, +and that he would send the Comforter? This is not to decry theology; +but is nevertheless to discriminate between theology and scripture. + +Some one will object, however, that the scriptural truths take their +start in large part from the visions of mystics--of men who brood long +and patiently until they behold realities not otherwise discernible. +Some students will urge upon us that such mystic revelations are +granted peculiarly to the mystic temperament as such, and they often +come regardless of the quality of life that the seers themselves may be +living. + +There have, indeed, been in all ages of the world temperaments of +supernormal or abnormal responsiveness to influences which seem to make +little or no impression upon the ordinary mind. In all periods natures +of this type have been looked upon as organs of religious revelation. +So valuable have abnormal experiences seemed that all manner of +expedients have been utilized to beget unusual mental states. A certain +tribe of Indians, for example, in the southwest of our country are +accustomed at set times to send their religious leaders into the desert +to find and partake of a peculiar plant which has an opiate or narcotic +effect. In the belief of the Indians this plant opens the door to +visions. The visions, as reported by those who have recovered from the +influence of the narcotic, are not of any considerable value. Similar +attempts have been made by hypnotic experimenters among other peoples, +the hypnosis sometimes being self-induced. From some Old Testament +passages especially we may well believe that this sort of extraordinary +mental condition was sought for in the so-called schools of the +prophets in the olden days of Israel. The astonishing peculiarity about +the Scriptures, however, is not that there is so much reliance on this +trance experience as that there is so little. The Hebrew Scriptures +were the expression of a people living in the midst of heathen +surroundings; and heathenism always has laid stress upon the virtue of +these abnormal experiences. Granting all allowances for mental states +induced by eating an opiate, or by whirling like the dervish, or by +fasting like the Hindu, the fact remains that in the main, the visions +of the writers of our Scriptures came out of attempts to realize in +conduct the moral will of God. When we think of the surroundings even +of the early church; when we reflect upon the force of suggestion for +uncritical minds; when we consider the sway of superstition at all +periods during the Hebrew revealing movement, the wonder is that the +Scriptures lay such stress as they do upon the type of vision which +arises from faithfulness in doing the revealed will. + +If we may characterize scriptural mysticism, it seems very much akin to +mental abilities which we meet frequently in our ordinary intercourse. +Take, for example, the prescience of a skilled business man. Nothing is +more inadequate than the rules for success laid down by many a man who +has himself succeeded in business. Mastery of his rules will not help +another to win business success. The reason is that there comes out of +prolonged business practice a keen sense of what is likely to happen in +the industrial or financial world. The sharpened wits foresee without +being able to assign reasons or grounds for the prophecies. So it is +with intellects trained to any superior skill. The Duke of Wellington +once remarked that he had spent all his life wondering what was on the +other side of the hills in front of him, yet the Duke himself came to +marvelous skill in guessing what was on the other side. There is also a +variety of scientific mysticism, if such an expression may be +permitted. The man long trained to the reading of scientific processes +develops a quick insight which runs far ahead of reason or proof. The +transcendent scientific discoveries have been glimpsed or, rather, +sensed before they so reported themselves that they could be seized by +formal proof. Now it is a far cry from business men, generals, and +scientists to the mysticism of the Scriptures, but when we see the +emphasis which the Scriptures place upon constancy in keeping the law +and in acting according to divine commandments, we cannot help feeling +that biblical mysticism was and is an awareness developed as the life +becomes practiced to the doing of religious duty. Think too of the +emphasis placed in the Scriptures upon the consecration of the whole +life to the truth as cleansing the heart from evil. All this makes for +a power to seize truth beyond that possible to formal and systematic +reason. Mysticism of this sort is the very height of spiritual power. +The Master's word: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see +God," does not refer to merely negative virtue. It means also the power +of soul accumulated in the positive doing of good. It means entrance +into the life of quick spiritual awareness through the adjustment of +the whole nature to the single moral purpose. + +In all promise of revelation the Scriptures insist upon the importance +of keeping upon the basis of solid obedience. The finer the instrument +is to be, the more massive must be the foundation. Professor Hocking, +of Harvard University, has used a remarkable illustration to enforce +this very conception. The scientific instrument, he says, which must be +kept freest from distracting influences so that it may make the finest +registries must rest upon a foundation broad and deep. So the soul that +is to catch the finest stirrings of the divine must rest upon the +solidest stones of hard work for the moral purposes of the scriptural +Kingdom. + +Still some one will insist that the Bible is a book built around great +crises in human experience; that it is a record of these crises; that +the people in whose history the crises occurred were a peculiar people, +apparently arbitrarily chosen as a medium for religious +world-instruction; that the crises cast sudden bursts of intense light +upon the meaning of human life, but that they themselves are far apart +from ordinary experience. Here, again, we must insist that the +scriptural stress is always upon obedience to what is conceived of as +revealed truth. We have already said that Jesus regarded revelation as +organic. In everything organic we find instances of quick crisis +following long and slow periods of growth. The crisis or the climax of +the sudden flowering-out would never be possible were it not for the +antecedent growth. The Hebrew nation, developed through workaday +righteousness, manifested wonderful power in sudden crises. The inner +forces of moral purpose which at times seemed hidden or dead because of +the riot of wickedness suddenly blossomed forth in mighty bursts of +prophecy; but the all-essential was the long-continued practice of +righteousness which made possible the sudden crisis; and this is in +keeping with the teachings of most commonplace human experience. The +daily struggle prepares for the sharp, quick strain or for the swift +unfolding of a new moral purpose. There is nothing more arbitrary in +the crises in the scriptural movement than in the ordinary ongoings of +our lives. The student who has long been wrestling with a problem finds +the solution instantaneously bursting upon him in the midst of untoward +circumstances. The most insignificant trifle may finally turn the lock +which opens to the glorious revelation after prolonged brooding. The +daily practice may make men ready for the shock which leaps upon them +altogether unexpected. + +We summarize by saying that the essentials of biblical truth came in +progressive revelations to men who were putting forth their energies to +live up to the largest ideals they could reach; and that they sought +these larger ideals for use in their lives. It must be understood in +all that we have said about acting the revelation out into life that we +do not mean merely the more matter-of-fact activities. It should be +noticed that whenever men speak of will-activities they are apt to give +the impression that they mean some putting forth of bodily energy. The +will to do scriptural righteousness did not manifest itself merely in +outside actions. It manifested itself just as thoroughly in bearings +and attitudes of the inner spirit; and the appeal was always to the +will to hold itself fast in the direction of the highest life, whatever +the form of the activity. + +After this emphasis upon obedience as the organ of spiritual knowledge +some one may ask what provision we are making for infallibility and for +inspiration. We can only say that we are dealing with a Book which has +come out of concrete life, and that in concrete life not much +consideration is given to abstract infallibility. In daily experience +the righteous soul becomes increasingly sure of itself. To return for +the moment to Paul, we may think of the certainty with which he grasped +the thought of the reward which would be his. The time of his +departure, or, of his unmooring, was at hand. He was perfectly +confident that he was to go on longer voyages of spiritual discovery +and exploration. Can we say that this splendid outburst came from +devotion to an abstract formula? Did it not, rather, spring from the +sources of life within him-sources opened and developed by the +experiences through which he passed? The biblical heroes wrought and +suffered through living confidence in the forces which were bearing +them on and up. They would have answered questions about abstract +infallibility with emphatic avowals as to the firmness of their own +belief. In other words, they could have relied upon their life itself +as its own best witness to itself. They felt alive and ready to go +whithersoever life might lead. + +And so with inspiration. It is the merest commonplace to repeat that +the inspiration of the Scriptures must show itself in their power to +inspire those who partake of their life. Does a fresh moral and +spiritual air blow through them? Is there in them anything that men can +breathe? Anything upon which men can build themselves into moral +strength? This is the final test of inspiration. Physical breathing is +in itself a mystery, but we know when the air invigorates us. Abstract +doctrine of inspiration apart from life and experience is a very +stifling affair compared with inspiration conceived of as a breath of +life. The scriptural doctrine is that the man who does the will finds +himself able to breathe more deeply of the truth of God; and that the +very breath itself will satisfy him, and by satisfying him convince him +that it is the breath of life. + +There is an old story of a student who decided to learn the meaning of +a strange religion which was taught and practiced by priests in a +far-away corner of India. The student thought to disguise himself, to +go close to the doors of the temple and to listen there for what he +might overhear of the principles taught by the priests. One day he was +detected and captured by the priests and made their slave. He was set +to work performing to the utmost the duties for which the temple +called. His response was at first rebellious. In the long years that +followed the spell of the strange religion was cast upon him. He began +to learn not as an outsider, not as one merely studying writings and +rituals, but as one enthralled by the system itself. In this old story, +inadequate as it is, we have a suggestion of the way in which the +biblical revelation lays its spell upon man. The outside study is, +indeed, worth much, but the true understanding comes inside the temple +to him who carries forward the work of the temple. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE BOOK OF HUMANITY + +We have seen that the understanding of the Scriptures presupposes at +least a sympathy with the rule of life contained in the Scriptures, and +implies for its largest results a practical surrender to that rule of +life. He that doeth the will revealed in the Scriptures cometh to a +knowledge of the truth revealed in the Scriptures. We must next note +that an understanding of the Bible cannot advance far until it realizes +the emphasis on the human values set before us in the scriptural books. +We are to approach the distinctively religious teachings of the Bible +somewhat later. It is now in order to call attention to the truth that +the biblical movement is throughout the ages in the direction of +increasing regard for the distinctively human. The human ideal is not +so much absolutely stated as imposed in laws, in prophecies, in the +policies of statesmen, in the types of ideal erected on high before the +chosen people as worthy of supreme regard. And the place of the human +ideal in the Bible helps determine the place of the Bible in human +life. Mankind makes much of the Book because the Book makes much of +mankind. + +There is much obscurity about the beginnings of the laws of the +Hebrews. One characteristic of those laws, however, is evident from a +very early date--the regard for human life as such and the aim to make +human existence increasingly worth while. It is a common quality of +primitive religions that they are apt to lay stress on merely +ceremonial cleansings, for example. The ceremony is gone through for +the sake of pleasing a deity. There are abundant indications of this +same purpose in the ceremonies of the early Hebrews, but there is even +more abundant indication that the ceremonies were aimed at a good +result for the worshiper himself. It is impossible to read through the +Mosaic requirements concerning bodily cleanliness, the sanitary +arrangements of the camps, the regulations for cooking the food, and +the instructions for dealing with disease without feeling that there is +a wide difference between such requirements and merely formal +ceremonials. The Mosaic sanitary law aimed at the good of the people. +It sought to make men clean and decent and human. So it was also in +many of the rules governing the daily work, the regulations as to the +use of land, the prohibitions of usury, the relations of servants and +masters--all these had back of them the driving force of an enlarging +human ideal. The trend was away from everything unhuman and inhuman. It +is not necessary for us to remark upon the outbursts of the prophets +against those who would put property interests above human interests. +It is a matter of commonplace that the call of the prophets was for +larger devotion to a genuinely human ideal: that the fires of their +wrath burned most fiercely against old-time monopolists who joined land +to land till there was "no place," and against old-time corrupters of +the law who sold the needy for a pair of shoes. + +Not only did the emphasis on the human ideal show in laws, but in the +training up of types of life which should in themselves embody and +illustrate the conceptions of the biblical leaders. At the heart of the +Christian religion is incarnation, or divine revelation through the +human organism. We are told that this incarnation came in the fullness +of time. The passage seems to refer not merely to the rounding out of +historic periods, but also to the fashioning of an ideal of human +character, and at least a partial realization of that ideal in Hebrew +heroes. If the final ideal was to stand incarnate before men, there +must be approximations to that ideal before the crowning incarnation +could be appreciated. We look upon the character of Jesus as the +complete embodiment of human excellencies. Such a revelation, however, +would have been futile if there had not previously been glimpses of and +anticipations of the ideal in the lives of those who were forerunners +of Jesus. The Scriptures teach, or at least imply, that the life of a +good man is in itself a transcendent value. + +And yet it is perfectly clear that while the Scriptures exalt the +individual, they do not mean to wall individuals off in impenetrable +circles by themselves. It is true that the individual is the end toward +which the scriptural redemption and glorification aims, but individuals +find their own best selves not in isolation but in union with their +fellows--a union of mutual cooperation and service, a union so close +that the persons thus related come to be looked upon as a veritable +Body of Christ, making together by their impact upon the world the same +sort of revelation that the living Christ made in the days of his early +life. The ideals as to the supremacy of human values are realized, +according to the Scriptures, not in any separateness of individual +existence, but in a closeness of social interdependence. So true is +this that it is hardly possible to see how one can make much of the +scriptural movement without immersing himself in the stream of human +life with highest regard for the values of that life. + +It has been insisted from the beginning that the Christian +consciousness is the only adequate interpretation of the Scriptures. By +Christian consciousness is meant not the consciousness of the body of +believers who are together trying to serve Christ. The interpretation +of the individual becomes final only as it is accepted by the mass of +the believers. Something of worth-while thought is conceived of as +going out from the life of every believer. The utterance of the seer is +not conceived of as complete until even he who sits in the seat of the +unlearned has said "Amen." The pronouncements which do not evoke this +wide human response fall by the wayside. For example, how was the canon +of the New Testament shaped? Was there a determination on the part of +individual leaders that such and such books should be included in the +volume of Scriptures? Very likely there was at the last such deliberate +selection, but before the final decision there must have been the +practice of the congregations which amounted in the end to the choice +or rejection of sacred books. Very likely the New Testament Scriptures +were collected by a process of trying out the reading of Epistles and +Gospels and exhortations before the congregations. As passages met or +failed to meet the human needs, there was call for the repeated reading +of some works and no call for the rereading of others. In use some +documents proved their sacredness and other documents fell aside into +disuse. Before the concluding deliberate choice was this selection in +use by the believers themselves; and the selection turned round the +question as to whether or not the documents helped people. If each +member of the body of believers is entitled to interpret biblical +literature, interpretation becomes a composite and diversified +activity. There is little warrant in the Scriptures for the notion that +the biblical revelation is to level men to any sort of sameness. There +are diversities of endowments and varieties of expression; but the +united judgment of the body of believers is the supreme authority in +interpreting the scriptural revelation. This is what we mean by saying +that the church is to interpret the Scriptures. We mean that no matter +how brilliant or interesting the utterances of any individual may be, +they are not of great value until they have received in some fashion +the sanction of the main mass of believers. It is the function of the +spokesmen of the church to gather up into distinct expression what may +have been vaguely, but nevertheless really, in the thought or +half-thought of the people. Gladstone once said that it is the business +of the orator to send back upon his audience in showers what comes up +to him from the audience in mist or clouds; so it is with the voice of +a biblical truth through any medium of interpretation. The spokesman +compresses or condenses into speech what has been dimly in the +consciousness of the people. Even in days less democratic than ours +this was abundantly true. It is the fashion to denounce some of the +councils of the old church which shaped the creeds. It is often said +that these creedal councils were moved by considerations of low-grade +expediency. The councils, however, knew what the people were thinking +of, and managed to get the popular thought into expression measurably +satisfactory to the people themselves. + +In this doctrine of the church as interpreter of scriptural truth we +can be sure that the emphasis will remain on the elements which make +for enlarging human life if the church keeps true to the spirit of the +Bible itself. The aspirations of humanity, the longings of masses of +men, find utterance in the great popular spiritual demands all the more +effectively because such demands override and nullify the insistence of +an individualistic point of view which might easily become selfish. We +have said that this democratic interpretation is final so long as it +keeps itself in line with the biblical purpose. There are some dangers, +however, against which we must be on our guard. First is the danger of +identifying the church with those who actually belong to an +organization. When we think of the church we have in mind not merely +formal organizations, but all men who are really working in the spirit +of the biblical ideals. There are many persons who really act according +to the biblical revelation without technically uniting with a church. +It may be that such persons do not accept the intellectual puttings of +biblical doctrine, but that they nevertheless live in the spirit of +that doctrine. It might be conceivably possible that a church +organization would stand for an interpretation of truth which would be +rejected by the general good sense of a larger community. In such a +case the larger community would be the interpreter. Another danger in +an interpreting body is that of traditionalism. The native conservatism +of many minds stands against innovation. If, however, the innovation is +in the direction of enlarging human life, it will in the end win its +way. A third danger is that of institutionalism, where the organization +as such becomes an end in itself without regard to the human interests +involved. The Master's fiercest condemnations were for those who put +any institution before the fulfillment of the human ideals. In the +parable of the good Samaritan it is noteworthy that it was the priest +and the Levite who passed by on the other side. It is hard to resist +the feeling that the Master implied that the priest and Levite had been +institutionalized into a lack of humanity. Making allowance now for all +these dangers against which believers must guard, the chances are that +interpretation of a book so human as the Scriptures is not final until +it has received the real, though not necessarily formal, sanction of +the body of believers. + +So thoroughly does the biblical revelation turn around the supremacy of +the distinctively human values that we must insist that anything which +would run counter to these values is alien to the spirit of the +revelation, and, therefore, to comprehension of that revelation. We do +not wish to be extreme, but it is hard to see how, in our day, for +example, any who fail to put human rights in the first place can really +master the scriptural revelation. We have spoken of the Master's +rebukes of any form of institutionalism which stands in the way of +human rights. Institutions at best are instruments; they exist merely +for the purpose of bringing men to larger life; but these institutions +sometimes get petrified into custom and become glorified by long +practice, and even made sacred by adherents who look upon them as ends +in themselves. Then there is no recourse except to break the +institutions in the name of larger human life. If we could put +ourselves back in the times of Jesus and feel something of the +sacredness with which the Jews regarded the Sabbath, we would know the +tremendous force of the Master's daring when he declared that the +Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. The Master was +also insistent upon the priority of human rights as over against +property rights. It is perfectly true that Jesus did not encourage any +propaganda for social reform. It is a mistake to try to read any form +of modern Socialism into his teaching. Socialism is the theory of a +particular time. Many of its outstanding features will no doubt one day +be adopted; and the world will then move forward toward something else. +Very likely three centuries from the present date the well-advanced +communities of the world will be living under systems which will make +Socialism itself look like the most hopeless and reactionary +conservatism. The scriptural revelation, however, has not to do with +the details of any particular scheme. It aims, rather, at the setting +on high of the human ideal, an ideal which will, if given a chance, +work itself out into the concrete forms best suited to each age, and +which will not have exhausted its vitality when all that is good in the +programs of our particular day shall have been incorporated into social +practice. + +But let us linger for a moment around the blighting effect of placing +property rights in front of human rights. If anyone at this juncture +becomes nervous and insists that we are likely to introduce the +new-fangled notions of the present day into a discussion where they are +out of place, let us remind such a one that the danger of putting the +material before the spiritual has always been the chief stumbling stone +in the path of the biblical revelation. It may be too much to say with +the old version that the love of money is the root of all evil, but the +Scriptures place the sin of greed in the forefront among the evils that +block the revealing process. Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to +go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the +kingdom of God." With God a morally miraculous redemption is entirely +possible; but Jesus declares that there is no need of our trying to +minimize the power of the present world to blind us to visions of the +spiritual world. For many forms of wrongdoing the Master had a +willingness to make allowances; for the sin of placing material desires +above human welfare he had unsparing condemnation. In the day of Jesus +the world had an opportunity such as it never had before confronted to +learn spiritual truth. What manner of opposition was it which prevented +that truth from running its full course? Largely the opposition of +money interests. The Pharisees had need to keep alliance with the +temporal powers. It is not without significance that Jesus was betrayed +for money. It is not without significance too that Jesus's picture of +the Judgment Scene concerns itself largely with the rewards for those +who discharge the tasks of simple human kindness. It means much to find +Jesus hinting at an unpardonable sin on the part of those who call +deeds of human relief works of Beelzebub. It is certainly food for +reflection that the fiercest condemnations in his parables are for +those who miss the human duties in their regard for the possessions of +this world. We repeat that we would not be extreme, but when we see the +disregard of human life in modern industrialism; when we behold the +attempts of property interests to get control of all channels for the +shaping of public opinion; when we see rent, interest, and dividends +more highly rated than men, women, and children, we cannot help feeling +that the deeper penetration into the Scriptures cannot arrive except +through an emphasis upon fundamental human rights so mighty that all +institutional creations of industrialism or ecclesiasticism shall be +put into the secondary place and strictly kept there. This is not +railing against wealth. It is simply calling attention to the fact that +the man who possesses the wealth-tool cannot be allowed to use it or +even to brandish it in such fashion as to endanger the unfolding of +human ideals. It is only through the enforcing of these ideals that the +Scriptures can be adequately apprehended. Until a social kingdom of God +comes on earth the light of revelation cannot shine in its full +brightness. Any social preacher of larger human rights is working for +the dawn of a new day of biblical understanding. + +Some one will ask, however, why we single out one type of evil as +especially thwarting the understanding of a biblical revelation. Why +not speak of the evils of appetite and of envy and jealousy? The answer +is that such evils, devastating as they are toward the spiritual +faculties, are so definitely personalized in individuals that their +nature is quickly recognized. The difference is that under present +organization the evils of materialism are preeminently social. There is +everywhere the heartiest condemnation for the man who personally is +conspicuously greedy. A social evil can manifest itself in outstanding +startlingness in a single person, but the plain fact is that under +modern industrial organization we are all caught in the same snare. We +are all tarred with the same stick. Great as is the improvement of our +present system over anything that has preceded it, nevertheless the +distribution of this world's goods is so unequal that we walk in the +presence of injustice on every hand. The poor man often does not +receive the product of his own work. Large material prizes go to men +who toil not. Now no one in particular is to blame for this social +plight. Nobody has yet arisen to show us the way out. We cannot act +except as we all act together; and it is doubtful even if one nation +could act alone. If, however, we should all recognize the evils of the +present system, if we should condemn the wrongs of that system instead +of trying to justify them, we would be on much better spiritual ground, +for the attempts to justify the system lead to uneasy consciences, and +to the searing of those consciences, and to the softening down of harsh +truths, and finally to an inability to see things as they are. Though +we have come far along the path toward industrial justice, there is +still very much in the system under which we live that makes for an +inability to understand some of the most elementary phrasings of +Christian truth. The only way out is to see the system as it is and to +take such steps forward as can be taken now. Only thus can we keep our +souls saved, and only thus also can we follow the flashes from above. + +Jesus preached the highest ideal for individual righteousness. Men are +to strive to be perfect even as the Father in heaven is perfect. But +the perfection is to show itself in social impartiality in the use of +material opportunities. God sendeth the rain to fall and the sun to +shine on the evil and the good. How many Christians of the present day +could be safely intrusted with the distribution of rainfall and +sunshine? Those of us who dwell in lands that must be irrigated know +that the type of Christianity that can be trusted to deal fairly with +our irrigation system is somewhat unusual. + +We take the injustices of the present social order too much as a matter +of course. We ought to see them as making against humanity, and +therefore against the scriptural revelation. When these injustices +culminate in a war like the present, the only safety is thought that +deals honestly with the inhumanity of the war. Granted that war in +self-defense is justifiable, we keep ourselves open to divine +revelations only as we refuse to glorify the inhuman. Only that nation +can succeed in war and remain open to revelation from above which +recognizes the inhumanity of war and refuses to glorify it. + +Closely related to the blight of the spirit of this present world is +the failure to perceive the need of missionary spirit for a full grasp +of scriptural truth. Though the Bible was given to a peculiar people, +self-centered and exclusive, it nevertheless abounds in suggestions +that its content can be appreciated the full only by those whose +sympathies run out to men at the very ends of the earth. In the eyes of +the Scriptures a human being is a human being anywhere. The differences +between men are as nothing compared to the likenesses. Every revelation +must begin somewhere and must attack its problems in proper sequence, +one after the other; but mere priority of approach does not mean that +one problem is inherently more important than another. Leaders among +the Jews early tried to impress this upon the Jewish mind. Considered +in its historical setting, the book of Jonah is one of the most +spiritually daring books ever written. Jonah stands as a type of Jew +who would not admit anything of worth in human beings outside of +Judaism. Rather than carry the word of the Lord to Nineveh he would +leave his country and go to Tarshish; rather than turn back and resume +the journey to Nineveh, he would consent to be cast overboard in a +storm. Forced at last to deliver his message, he announced it with the +grim satisfaction of expecting to see Nineveh destroyed. And the final +text of the book is that Jonah must learn not merely to proclaim his +message to the Ninevites, but to proclaim his message with sympathy and +genuine human interest. The Jews were a long time learning the lesson, +but not longer than other peoples have been. Just because of the human +interest involved, the missionary impulse is necessary to a spiritual +seizure of the biblical revelation. + +It is important that we keep the missionary motive on the right basis. +It is true that the Scriptures will never be adequately appropriated +until all kindreds and peoples and tongues bring their contributions. +Some phases of the truth the Oriental mind must seize before the +Occidental mind can be brought to appreciate them. When the final +revelation comes it will be adapted to the understanding of any kindred +under heaven. It is worth while to spread the Christian revelation for +the sake of the return which the Christianized peoples will one day +bring to our studies of the truth. But the better motive is deeper than +this--the passion for human beings as human beings. Any human being is +entitled to any truth which another human being can reveal to him. + +The approach must be the human approach. We must speedily get away from +the Jonah-like conceptions of the biblical revelation as intended +particularly for any one nation. One great danger from the present war +is the loss by the religious nations involved of the ordinary New +Testament point of view. Many of the fighting nations have lapsed back +into the pre-Jonah era. But the present war aside, the thought of +supreme truth as intended chiefly for a particular race or nation, +leads to a patronizing, condescending bearing toward other peoples +which thwarts the finer spiritual achievements. The contacts between +the so-called higher and so-called lower nations in military, +diplomatic, and commercial relations have thus far for the most part +been abominable. Too often missionary effort itself has based itself on +these same assumptions of racial superiority. A people may indeed +receive blessings from the Scriptures in whatever spirit they are +bestowed, but damage is wrought in the souls of the bestowers by the +attitude of superiority. The only genuinely biblical approach is one of +respect--respect for the peoples as peoples, respect which will have +regard for their growing independence in spiritual development, respect +which will not force upon them particularistic interpretations of the +universal Scriptures. + +Now, all of this may seem like a long distance from a treatment of +understanding of the Scriptures in the ordinary sense. It would not +have been worth while, however, to discuss this problem merely from the +point of view of exegesis or professional commentary. The essentials +about the Scriptures are their relations to life, their views of human +beings and teachings concerning the forces of the spiritual kingdom. We +shall proceed in the other chapters to speak of God, of the revelation +of God in Christ, and of the spirit of Christ as revealed in his cross. +Before we enter upon that study we must again remind ourselves that +only life in harmony with the point of view of the Scriptures and only +an interest in the same human problems that engross the attention of +spiritual writers can avail us for vital interpretation of the +teachings concerning the Divine, or make intelligible to us the hold of +the Scriptures on the life of the world. The Bible is conceived in a +spirit of respect for men. Only those who enter into that same spirit +can hope to make much of the biblical revelation. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE BOOK OF GOD + +We have remarked upon some points of view from which the student must +start in order to reach a sound understanding of the Scriptures. It is +time for us to ask ourselves, however, as to the dominant notes of the +Scriptures which make the Book so dynamic. The purpose of this chapter +is to show that the essentials of the Book are, after all, its +teachings about God. The Bible is the Book of God. Due chiefly to the +ideas about God are its uniqueness and its force. + +Before advancing to the consideration of the Bible as a book about God +it will be well for us to glance for a moment at other grounds on which +supremacy for the Scriptures is sometimes claimed. There are those who +maintain that the value of the Bible lies in the wealth of information +which it gives us concerning the first days of the world's life. The +Bible helps us to regard sympathetically the view of the universe by +the ancient Hebrews. It is a repository of knowledge as to early +science and philosophy. Now, all this is true, but relatively +unimportant. Had it not been for the religious teachings of which the +old-time view of the world was the vehicle, that vehicle itself would +long since have been forgotten. Only archaeologists are to-day greatly +interested in ancient theories of the world as such. + +There are, again, those who avow that the Bible deserves all praise +because of the literary excellence of its style. There are, indeed, +sublime passages to be forever cherished as entitled by their very +sublimity of expression to permanent place in the world's literature. +All this we most gladly admit. Oratory like that of the book of Isaiah, +some of the sentences of the patriarchs, passages from the Psalms or +from the Sermon on the Mount, the parables, the thirteenth chapter of +Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, are sure of permanency in +literature no matter what may be anyone's opinion of their religious +content. Nobility of conception is very apt to tend toward nobility of +phrase. The expression may be admired for its own apart from the +substance; but to say that the Bible holds its throne as the Book of +books simply because of the superiority of its artistic form is +woefully aside from the mark. Lamentable as it may be, masses of men do +not rank artistic literary skill as highly as they ought. While a lofty +idea is not likely to make its full impression until wrought into lofty +beauty by a master of style, the worth must nevertheless inhere in the +substance rather than in the form if the statement is to make lasting +effect upon the passing generations. Moreover, it is very easy to +overemphasize the literary excellence of the Scriptures. There are +scores of passages which, as we say, "go through one," but this +marvelous effectiveness is quite as likely to belodged in the idea +itself and in the associations which that idea arouses as in the form +of the passage. In some instances the literary mold in the Authorized +Version is such as to hinder rather than to help; so that the prophet +who seeks to add to the force of the idea breaks the mold for literary +recasting. + +Still another may declare that the Scriptures are valuable because they +abound in hints which make for practical success--shrewd moral maxims +which aid all classes of men in avoiding pitfalls, axioms for daily +conduct which ought to be accepted by everybody, even by those who care +not for the religion of the Bible. All this, again, is true, but hardly +sufficient to explain the grip of the Bible on mankind. So far as the +more conventional morality goes, men are likely to be ruled by the +sentiment of the community in which they move. They adapt themselves to +the demands of the situation at a particular time rather than to a set +of precepts. + +Still others maintain that the human ideal itself which we sketched in +a previous chapter is the determining factor in giving the Bible power. +The greatest study of mankind is man. The erection of such an ideal as +that of the Scriptures for man cannot fail to secure for the Book +mighty power through all the ages. And yet it must be replied that if +we take the Bible merely as portraying a human ideal without reference +to the idea of God involved in the same process of revelation, we cut +asunder two things which properly belong together. We must not forget +that in the history of Israel the prophets grasped at every new insight +concerning human character as at the same time a new insight concerning +the character of God. Attributing a profoundly moral trait to God made +it of more consequence forthwith for man, and thus the conceptions of +man and God went along together reenforcing each the other. To separate +the ideal of God from the ideal of man leaves everything at loose ends +for the human ideal. It is true that there are individuals here and +there of intense intelligence and of immense wealth of moral endowment +who do not seem to require any ideal of God to sustain and strengthen +their ideal of man; but for the most of us the ideal of man cannot grow +to any considerable size without growth of our notion as to the +character of God. What man is now depends somewhat on our thought of +where man came from, and what his place in the universe essentially is. +One of our deepest yearnings is to know whether our exalted belief +about man has any validity before the larger ranges of the activity of +the universe itself. It is very common, for example, for those who go +forth to social tasks with a passion for humanity to lose that passion +if they do not keep alive a passion for God. Disappointment with some +phases of human nature itself and despair over the failures of men are +apt to be so trying that the passion for humanity dies down unless +familiarity with actual human life is reenforced by communion with an +ideal which reaches up toward the Divine. We would ourselves insist +that the loftiest human ideal in all literature is that of the +Scriptures, but we must insist also that this ideal lacks driving force +if it does not keep back of it the biblical doctrine of God. + +From the very outset the Hebrew Scriptures deal with God. "In the +beginning God," at the end God, and God at every step of the journey +from the beginning to the end. There are other scriptures besides the +Hebrew Scriptures that deal with God, but the kind of God set before us +in the Hebrew revelation gives the Bible its supreme merit. + +Since we often hear that there are other sources for the idea of God +than the Scriptures, it may be well for us to appraise the +contributions from some of those sources before we look at the kind of +God drawn for us in the biblical writings. After allowing as high +excellence as is possible to the theologies obtained outside the +Scriptures, the moral and spiritual superiority of the scriptural ideal +shines forth unmistakably. + +Many a scientist tells us that we do not further need the biblical idea +of God in view of the vast suggestions concerning the Divine which +science places before us. The world in which we live has broadened +immeasurably since the days of the Hebrew prophets and seers. The idea +of God, broadening to correspond, has to expand so overwhelmingly that +we ought no longer pay heed to the imaginations of the biblical +writers. Large numbers of scientists to-day avow themselves devout +theists. Materialism is decidedly out of fashion, and agnosticism is +less in vogue than a decade or two ago. The reverent scientist affirms +that he believes in a God whose omniscience keeps track of every +particle of matter in a universe whose spaces are measured by billions +of miles, a God whose omnipresence implies the interlacing of forces +whose sweep and fineness seen through the telescope and microscope +astonish us. Moreover, the modern doctrine of evolution shows us that +the entire material system is moving on and up from lower to higher +forms. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be," but we shall clearly +be something great and glorious. + +Now, far be it from us to belittle the splendor of this scientific +vision. Modern scientific searchers are, indeed, finding innumerable +illustrations of the greatness of God. There is every reason why the +scientific investigator should rejoice in a calling which enables him +to think God's thoughts after him; but when a scientist will have it +that his belief in God arises only from his technical investigations, +we must declare our suspicion that he is employing his findings to +confirm a faith already held, though that faith may be part of his +unconscious spiritual possessions. Many times the scientist is +determined that the scientific discoveries shall look in theistic +directions just to satisfy the imperious though unconscious demands of +his own soul. Some scientists are theists just because they are bound +to be so, for the close contemplation of the entire situation in the +material realm does not make for any adequate theistic verdict. It is +hard indeed to believe that the nice adjustments of matter and force +occur without the governance of a supervising intelligence. There are +too many facts which suggest skill to make it easy to believe that the +natural world is just the outcome of a fortuitous concourse of atoms. +Science itself very likely establishes a presumption in favor of a +governing mind, _but the deeper question is as to the character of that +mind_. Is it a moral mind? At this point the hopeful evolutionist will +break out that the progress is so definitely from lower to higher that +no one ought to doubt the benevolence of the Power moving upward +through all things. Evolution is, indeed, full of promises to one who +already trusts in the goodness of God; but the progress from lower to +higher is not always unmistakable. Often the survival of the fittest is +just a survival of those fittest to survive, and not the survival of +those who ought to survive. There are too many things which survive +which ought to be killed off. Simple good can give way to complex evil +without at all violating the requirements of the evolutionistic +formula. But even if we concede all that the scientist claims for his +conception of God; if we grant that terms like "omnipresence" and +"omniscience" and "progress" clothe themselves with new force in the +Copernican and Newtonian and Darwinian terminology, we must +nevertheless insist that none of this rises to the moral height of the +biblical teaching. Nor are we willing to admit that the biblical +doctrine is to be discounted because it grew up amid small theories of +the material universe. The old Hebrew views of the physical system, +outdated as they are now, are nevertheless full of sublimity on their +own account. But even if they were infinitesimal as compared with the +vast stretches of modern scientific measurements, the moral grandeur of +the idea of God of which they were the framework stands forth +unmistakably. We must not permit the quantitative bigness of modern +scientific notions to obscure the qualitative fineness of the biblical +ideal of God. Modern philosophy comes also and announces that it has a +better God than that of the Scriptures. The most imposing modern +philosophical systems are those which proclaim some form of idealism. +The gist of the idealistic argument always is that the world itself is +nothing apart from thought; that thought-relationships rule in and +through all things; that there are no things-in-themselves; that there +can be no hard-and-fast stuff standing apart from God. Things must come +within the range of thought or go out of existence. There is no +alternative. Now, thought implies a thinker, and this implication +carries us at once to God. Here, again, we have no desire to question +the cogency of the argument. We are ready to admit that this is the +strongest theistic argument that has thus far been built. To be sure, +there are some questions that inevitably suggest themselves: What is +the thinker? Is it impersonal thought, as some have maintained? Is it +just the sum of all forms of consciousness--our consciousnesses being +organs or phases of the Supreme Consciousness? Or is the thinker +strictly personal, carrying on a thought-world by the power of his will +and calling into existence finite thinkers in his own image? Assuming +that the world is the expression of the thought of a Personal Thinker +who acts in the forces of nature and creates men in his own image, the +further question arises as to the character of that Thinker. While +returning the heartiest thanks to the idealist for his argument--full +as it is of aid for the Christian system--we have to protest that the +argument does not lift us to the full height of the ideal of God +inculcated in the Scriptures. And if this is true of the majestic +systems of idealism, how much more is it true of the other and less +convincing systems which are just now having their day! We have already +spoken of pragmatism as possessing validity as a method, but pragmatism +can hardly cherish pretension of being itself a system of religious +philosophy. + +Some very strenuous searchers after divine treasures have professed to +discover value in various non-Christian religions. They have patiently +studied the great Indian world-views, for example, which are admittedly +the most important religious creations outside of Christianity. These +students come back to us with fragments of doctrines, gems of ethical +wisdom, traces of sublimity from the Indian sacred books. It would be +foolhardy not to receive any genuine treasures, no matter what the mine +from which they have been quarried. We are all eager to admit the +immeasurable possibilities of the Oriental type of thinking for the +development of Christianity, but Oriental systems thus far have been +chiefly significant as indicating what stupendous religious powers can +do when they are off the track. The Indian systems of religion have run +loose in India. As a result, nowhere in the world has religion been +taken more seriously and more sincerely than by the Indian peoples. It +is simply impossible to bring the charge against the Indian races that +they have not made the most of their religion. The final indictment to +be passed upon the Indian systems is that while the Indian peoples have +made the most of those systems, the systems have made least of the +Indian peoples; and this because of the defects in the conception of +the Divine itself. It is doubtful whether the Indian could call his +highest gods personal. If he declares them personal, he can hardly make +them moral in the full sense; that is to say, in the sense of exerting +their force on the world in favor of justice and righteousness and love. + +Now, it is just in the quality of moral force that the God of the +Scriptures shows his superiority. The entire revealing process can be +looked upon as one long story of the moralization of the idea of God. +Let it be granted that the biblical idea was at the beginning marked by +the naïve and the crude. Personally, we have never been able to see the +pertinency of the reasonings which make the Hebrew Jehovah as imperfect +as some students would have us believe. Nevertheless, for the sake of +the argument we will admit limitations in the early Hebrew conception +of God. Even with such concession, however, the outstanding +characteristics of that God were from the beginning moral. Suppose that +Jehovah was at the beginning just a tribal Deity. The difference +between Jehovah and other tribal deities was that the commandments +which were conceived of as coming from him looked in the direction of +increasing moral life for the people, and these moral demands upon the +chosen people were conceived of as arising out of the nature of Jehovah +himself. To be sure, the early narratives employ expressions like "the +jealousy of God," but even a slightly sympathetic reading of the +Scriptures indicates that the jealousy was directed against whatever +would harm human life. In the mighty pictures of the patriarchs the +heroes speak to their God as if the same moral obligations rested upon +God as upon themselves. There is nothing finer in the Old Testament +than Abraham's challenge, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do +right?" + +We are not specially interested in the growth of the ideas as to the +power of God, though we repeat that it is difficult for us to believe +that the early Hebrews thought of their Deity as so narrowly limited in +power as some modern students seek to prove. The conception of the +might of Jehovah grew through the centuries and followed upon the +extension of the knowledge of the Hebrews about the world in which they +lived. If tomorrow morning some revolutionary astronomical discovery +should convince us that the solar system is much vaster than we have +ever imagined, the theist would, of course, extend the thought of the +sway of God to all that solar system. If there were some method of +becoming aware that the bodies of the entire astronomical system are +millions of times more numerous than scientists ever have dreamed, the +theist would, of course, maintain that the righteous purpose of his God +reaches to all of these bodies. The growth of the Hebrew idea was +somewhat parallel to this. Even when the Hebrew thought of the outside +peoples as having gods of their own; he believed that as soon as his +God came into conflict with the other gods, he would shatter them with +his might. By the time the first chapters of Genesis were written the +Hebrew conceived of God as creator of all things, and thereafter the +growth of the belief in the power of God kept pace with the enlarging +view of the world. + +We repeat that we are not much concerned with the growth of the idea of +the power of God. We are, however, interested in the manifest teaching +or direct implication of the Scriptures that from the beginning the +Hebrews thought of God as under obligation to use his power for moral +ends. What the moral ends were depended upon the growth of the moral +ideal. At the very beginning it was believed that since God had chosen +the people of Israel to be his people, he must fight their battles for +them. It is from this point of view that we must deal with the early +idea of God as a God of battles. God was wielding his force for a moral +purpose. Moreover, if God had chosen a people to be the channel through +which he was to reveal himself to the world, he must be very patient +with that people. How sublime is the Old Testament belief in the +patience of God toward Israel! To use the phrase of our later days, God +accommodated himself to the progress which the people could make. When +the prophets called upon the people to walk with God, they implied a +willingness on God's part to walk with the people. If they must +lengthen their stride, he must shorten his; he must bear with them in +their inadequate notions; he must judge their efforts by the direction +in which they were tending rather than by any achievement in itself. + +It is from the point of view of their growing apprehension of God as +moral that we can best understand the ferocity of the Israelite toward +the so-called heathen peoples. The boasting of the Israelites over the +slaughter of outsiders must be understood from the faith in the moral +destiny which the prophets conceived the God of Israel to hold in store +for his people. The reason assigned for cruelties and warfares upon +heathen peoples was the abominations practiced by those peoples. Of +course it is possible for a student obsessed with the modern doctrine +of the economic determinism of history to say that we have in the story +of the Hebrew development just the play of economic forces with moral +aims assigned as their formal justification. Assuming that the +narratives of the conquest of Canaan are true, what the Hebrews +desired--these economists tell us--was the milk and the honey. They +made their so-called advance in obedience to God an excuse for taking +possession of the milk and the honey. Now, he would be blind indeed who +would deny that economic values do play their part in wars of conquest; +he would be foolish who would deny that wars always do justify +themselves by appealing to lofty religious motives, but nevertheless +the impact of the Hebrew history upon the life of the world has been a +moral impact, due to the belief of the Hebrews that they were +instruments in the hands of a moral God. If we could behold the +abominations in heathenism upon which the old prophets looked, we would +sympathize quite readily with an impulse which might seem to call for +outright destruction. A friend of mine, a man of the most sensitive +Christian feeling, once stood on the banks of the Ganges and watched +people by the hundreds and thousands going through religious +ceremonials, some of which were defiling and others silly. In the midst +of the reeking vileness of one scene in particular he said that he felt +for the moment an impulse like that of the old prophets to cry out for +the destruction of the entire mass. The situation seemed so dreadful +and so hopeless! All this passed in an instant to the loftier feeling +of compassion, but the stirring of the more primitive impulse was +really moral in its foundation. In any case, the old Hebrew notion was +of a God who would put a growing moral ideal in the first place. + +It is not necessary for us to attempt to trace the steps of the growth +of the moral ideal for God. As we have said, that ideal kept pace with +the growth of the ideal for man. We must call attention, however, to +the fact that the growth of the ideal was in the direction of +increasing emphasis upon the responsibilities that go with power. The +Hebrew may not have definitely phrased the responsibility, but he +nevertheless shows his increasing realization of the obligations +resting upon God. When we reach the later prophets we discern that his +moral obligation upon God himself becomes more and more a determining +factor. There appear glimpses of belief that God must not only fight +for his people, but that he must suffer in their sufferings. It is of +little consequence for our present purpose whether the suffering +servant of Jehovah of the later Israelitish Scriptures is a group of +persons or an individual. The implication is that the suffering is a +revelation of Jehovah himself. Moreover, there appears a widening +stream of emphasis on the tenderness of God's care for his people. The +Hebrew writers comparatively early broke away from the thought of God +as merely philanthropically inclined toward Israel. They did not think +of him as bestowing gifts which were without cost to himself. They show +him as deeply involved in the life of the nation and as caring for his +people with an infinite compassion. This enlarging revelation was made +clear to the people through the utterances of prophets, the decrees of +lawgivers, the songs of psalmists, the interpretations of historians, +and the warnings of statesmen. Slowly and surely, moreover, the people +attained grasp on the doctrine that the greatest revelation of God is +the revelation in human character itself. They began to look forward to +the coming of one who would in himself embody the noblest and best in +the divine life, who would gather up in himself all the ideals and +purposes toward which the law and the prophets had looked. New +Testament revelation as such we leave to the later chapters, but we +have come far enough, we think, to warrant us in saying that only he +can understand the Scriptures who sees that the chief fact about the +Scriptures is the emphasis on the moral nature of God. Other Scriptures +besides that of the Hebrews--we might say scientific, philosophical, +extra-Christian Scriptures--have stood for the existence of God; but +none have stood for the existence of such a God as the God of the +Bible. The salient feature of the Bible is its thought of God. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE BOOK OF CHRIST + +It is of course the merest commonplace to say that the revelation of +God in the Scriptures comes to its climax in Christ. The revelation in +Christ gathers up all that is loftiest in the utterances of the Old +Testament and gives it embodiment in a human life. It is legitimate to +declare that there is little either in the teaching of Christ or in his +character that is not at least foreshadowed in the Old Testament. The +uniqueness of the Christ revelation consists in the manner in which the +separate streams of truth of the law and the prophets and the seers and +the poets are merged together in the Christ teaching, and in the fine +balance with which the ideal characteristics seen from afar by the +saints of the older day were realized in the living Christ. We might +justly say that a devout reader of the Old Testament could find rich +elements of the Christ revelation even if he should never see a page of +the New Testament. The virtue of the New Testament, however, is that +all the elements revealed throughout the course of the historic periods +of Israel's career are bound together in the life and character of +Christ. It is no mere epigram to say that if the greatest fact about +the Scriptures is God, the greatest fact about God is Christ. Any +thorough study of the Scriptures must revolve around Christ as its +center. If the Scriptures mean anything, they mean that in Christ we +see God. Of course it is open to the skeptic to reply that in all this +the Scriptures are completely mistaken; but he cannot maintain that +this is not what the Scriptures mean. The Book comes to its climax with +an honest conviction that Christ is the consummate revelation of God. +The day when men could charge any sort of manipulation of the material +by Scripture writers for unworthy doctrinal purposes is past. We have +in another connection said that each of the New Testament books was, +indeed, written with a definite aim, but this does not mean that facts +and teachings were twisted out of their legitimate significance. That +Christ is the supreme gift of God to men is so thoroughly built into +the biblical revelation that there is no digging that idea out without +wrecking the entire revelation itself. To maintain anything else would +be to do violence to the entire scriptural teaching. The burden of the +entire New Testament is that God is like Christ. + +This may seem to some to be a reversal of present-day approach to the +study of the Christ. We may appear to be attacking the problem from the +divine angle rather than from the human. Why not ask what Christ was +rather than what God is? It is indeed far from our purpose to minimize +the rich significance of the humanity of Jesus, but we are trying now +to get the scriptural focus. We do not believe that we can secure that +focus by looking upon the character of Christ as a merely human ideal. +The might of the scriptural emphasis is that Christ is the revelation +of God. We are well aware that ordinary theological debate has centered +on the question as to the extent to which Christ is like God. The Bible +is colored with the belief that God is like Christ. This may seem at +first glimpse to be a very fine discrimination, but the importance of +that discrimination appears when we reflect that mankind is more eager +to learn the character of God than to learn how far a man can climb +toward divinity. In all such discussions as this we proceed at peril of +being misunderstood, but we must repeatedly affirm that important as is +the problem as to the human ideal set forth in Christ, the divine ideal +set forth in him is more significant as explaining the hold of the +Bible on men. Is it not sufficient for us to behold a lofty human ideal +in the portrait of Christ without such emphasis on this ideal as also a +revelation of the divine character? The answer depends upon what we are +most interested in. If we care most for a perfect and symmetrical human +life, we reply that we find that perfection and symmetry in Christ. In +our second chapter we laid such stress upon the importance of the +enlarging human ideal that we have committed ourselves to the +importance of the Christ ideal as a revelation of the possibilities of +human life. But if we take that ideal in itself without any reference +to the character of God, how much enlargement does it bring us? As +members of the human race we can indeed be proud that a human being has +climbed to such moral stature as did Jesus, but what promise does that +give that any other human being can attain to his stature? As a member +of the human race I can be profoundly thankful for a philosopher like +Kant. I can, indeed, dedicate myself to the study of the Kantian +philosophy with some hope of mastering it. I can seek to reproduce in +my life all the conditions that surrounded the life of the great +metaphysician, but I cannot hope to make myself a Kant. Strive as I +may, such transformation is out of the question. I may attain great +merit by my struggle, but I cannot make myself a Kant. The more +intensely I might struggle, the more convinced I would become of the +futility of my quest, and the genius of the philosopher might tower up +at the end as itself a grim mockery of my ambition. So it is with the +Christ if he is not a revelation of the God life at the same time that +he is an idealization of the human life. Viewed as a revelation of +God's character the Christ life is the hope of all the ages. Viewed +only as a masterpiece of human life it might well be the despair of +mankind. + +Of course there are those who believe that it is impossible for Christ +to be a revelation of the human without also being a revelation of the +Divine. We have no desire to quarrel with this position, though we find +it more optimistic than convincing. Incredible as it may seem at first +thought, the universe might theoretically be regarded as a system ruled +over by a Deity who had brought forth a character like that of Christ +just for the sake of seeing what he could achieve in the way of a +masterpiece, without being himself fundamentally involved in +self-revelation. Christ might conceivably be a sort of poetic dream of +the Almighty rather than a laying bare of the Almighty's own life. We +find that human authors by an effort of great imagination fashion +creations in a sense completely different from themselves. It might be +theoretically urged that the character of Christ is different from the +character of God. If this seems very far-fetched, let us remind +ourselves then that there are those in the present world who conceive +of Christ as the very highest peak of human existence and yet deny that +he has any sort of significance as a revelation of the forces back of +the world. Such thinkers maintain that Christ is the best the race has +to show, and yet affirm that the race is but an insignificant item in +the total massiveness of the universe. The Bible establishes the faith +of men against skepticism like this by making the Christ-ideal for God +himself so attractive and appealing. + +There are those who proclaim that we do not need any revelations of God +to make then human ideal fully significant--the human ideal stands by +itself. Some such thinkers go consistently the full length of saying +that they are willing to keep their eyes open to the hopelessness of +the universe. They can see nothing beyond this life but total oblivion. +Nevertheless, with their eyes open they will fight on manfully to the +end and take the final leap into the dark without flinching. They are +very apt to add that their philosophy is the only unselfish one; that +the desire of men for any sort of help from conceptions about the +Divine is selfishness where it is not sentimentalism. It is fair to say +that such doctrines seldom meet large response. The reason is not that +men selfishly seek out a God for the sake of material reward that may +come to them, but that they seek him for the sake of finding a resting +place for their minds and souls, for the sake of cherishing an end +which seems in itself worth while, for the sake of laying hold on a +universe in which they can feel at home. If this is selfishness, then +the activities of the human soul in its highest ranges are selfish. If +it is selfish to long for a universe in which the heart can trust, it +is selfish also to enjoy the self-satisfaction with which some of these +thinkers profess to be ready to take their leap into the night. As we +scan the history of Christianity since the day of the Founder we are +impressed that religious organizations as such which arise within +Christianity tend to survive in proportion as they make central the +significance of Christ as the revealer of the character of God. We +would not for a moment underestimate the importance of those groups of +Christians who take Christ merely as a prophet who lived the noblest +life and exalted his truth by the noblest death. Many such believers +manifest the very purest devotion to Christ. They are his disciples. +But the historic fact is that organizations founded on such doctrines +alone do not win sweeping triumphs. On their own statement the most +they hope to do is to spread the leaven of their doctrine into the +thinking of other groups of Christians. Their service in this respect +is not to be disparaged, for at all times the more orthodox opinion of +Christ, so called, needs the leavening of emphasis on the humanity of +Christ. But after all these allowances it is just to affirm that +theology which sees only the human in Christ does not come to vast +power, and that clearly because the world is chiefly interested in the +question with which the entire biblical revealing movement deals, +namely, what is the nature of God? With that question answered we can +best understand the nature of man and the possibility of communion +between man and God. + +We may be permitted to pick up the thread of the argument in the last +chapter and ask again what moral purposes rule the forces of this +world. It must indeed be an odd type of mind that does not at least +occasionally ask what this world is for, and what all this cosmic +commotion is about. It is well for all of us to do the best we can +without asking too many hard questions, but the queries will at times +come up and with the normal human being they are not likely easily to +down. We are in the midst of powers which defy our intellects. We do +not go far in the attempt to read the secrets of nature around us +without discovering that all we can hope to spell out is the stages by +which things come to pass, and the mechanisms by which they fit +themselves together. Why they come to pass is beyond us, except in a +most limited sense. The purposes for which events occur in this world +are not self-evidently clear. Explanations of purposes only make +matters worse; and at any moment this problem of the mystery of the +universe may take personal significance in the form of a blow upon the +individual which seems to mock all hope of anything worth while in +human life. There is nothing more futile than the attempts even of +ministers to divine the meanings of afflictions or of those +inequalities of lot which attend the natural order. The preachers can +encourage us to make the most of a bad lot, but their guesses as to why +these things are ordinarily add to our burdens. No, the mind of itself +just by contemplation of the things as they are cannot find much light. +This enigma has always been before the philosophers in the form of the +question as to physical suffering. A number of plausible answers have +been made as to the reasons for pain in the present order. Leibnitz +said that even the Almighty creating the finite world had to adjust +himself to some limitations for the good of the whole; that if some +forces are to run in one direction, there must be mutual concession and +compromise in the adjustment of manifold other activities; and that all +this involves at least apparent stress and injustice at particular +points. This sounds well enough, but why the afflictions of the +individual who happens to be one of the particular points should be +just what they are is a mystery. The upshot is that the ordinary +man--the plain man, as we call him--must either give up the whole +problem by seeking to forget it, or must rebel against it, or he must +find relief in a God whom he can trust without being able to fathom his +plans. + +The tragedy of physical affliction is light as compared to the +tragedies which arise in any conscience which seeks to take moral +duties seriously. To be sure, we live at present in a rather complacent +age so far as the struggles of conscience are concerned. The advice of +the world is to do the best we can and let the rest go. We are not to +take ourselves too seriously. But the long moral advances of the race +have come through those who have taken the voices of conscience +seriously. Now, what can a sensitive conscience make of moral duty? +Assume that we have before us the exalted Christ ideal, and accept this +as the guide of our lives--assume that we even have hope of some day +attaining to that ideal--the distracting question is bound to jump at +us: Are we doing enough? Have we sacrificed enough for those in worse +plight than ourselves? And what about our past mistakes? Shall we go +back and try to undo these? At the very best that might be like +unraveling through the night what we have spun through the day. It will +not do to dismiss this as unhealthiness or morbidness of mind. William +James has shown pretty conclusively that the so-called normal or +healthy-minded moral life is apt to be shallow. The great moral tragedy +of the race is the distance between the ideal and any possible +attainment. We can console ourselves by saying that noble discontent is +the glory of man; but that does not get us far. There is only one way +out, and that is to trust that we are dealing with a Christlike God, +that his attitude toward us is the attitude of Jesus toward men. It is +impossible to feel that in discipleship with Jesus men were complacent +about their own moral perfections on the one hand, or harassed with +self-reproaches on the other. They were advancing toward the +realization of an ideal in companionship with One who not only in +himself realized the human ideal, but who taught them that all the +forces of the world would work together with them in their climb toward +perfection, and that God would be patient with their blunders. + +The question as to the character of God becomes more vital the longer +we reflect. The growing conscience of our time demands that two +conceptions be kept together--that of power and that of moral +responsibility. We cannot hold a person responsible unless he has +power; we cannot give a person power unless he is willing to act under +responsibility. This realization is fast modifying all our relations to +politics, to finance, to industry, even to private duties. We are +swiftly moving toward the day when society will insist that any measure +of power which has an outreach beyond the circle of the holder's +personal affairs shall be acquiesced in by society only on condition +that the holder of that power be willing definitely to assume +responsibility to society. What we demand of men we demand also of God, +and we have the scriptural warrant for believing that these human +demands are themselves hints concerning the nature of God. Now, no one +doubts the power of God. All scientific and philosophic trends are +toward the centralization of power in some unitary source. All our +study of nature and of society convinces us that there is a unity of +power somewhere. If this be true, there must be raised with increasing +persistence the question as to whether the World-Power is acting under +a sense of moral responsibility. There were days when this problem was +not raised as it is now. Men assumed for centuries that the king could +do no wrong; that he could order his people about in the most arbitrary +fashion. In our own time we have seen advocacy of the doctrine that the +man of wealth is a law unto himself in the handling of the power that +comes with wealth. Such mistakes never were really a part of the +biblical idea. In shaping the threefold notion of priest and prophet +and king to make the people familiar with the functions of God-sent +leadership the strokes of emphasis always fell on the responsibility of +the prophet to proclaim his message at whatever cost to himself, of the +priest to keep in mind the sacredness of his office, and of the king to +rule in righteousness. These demands were inevitably carried up to God: +and in Christ the supreme effort is made to convince us that we can +trust in the God of Christ, though we may not be able to understand +him. This is not the place for an attempt at determining the essentials +of the Christ career. Some features of that life, however, as +illustrating responsibility in the use of power can be hinted at here. +Take the story of the temptation. We are not concerned now with the +historic form in which the temptation occurred. After the historians +have made all the changes in the drapery of the story they choose, the +fact remains that the temptation narrative deals with the essential +problems of any leader confronted with a task like that of Christ. The +Messianic consciousness was a consciousness of power. How should the +power be used? Should it be used to minister to human needs like those +of hunger? That would promise a quick solution of a sort. The peoples +would eagerly rally around the new deliverer. Should there be an +attempt to utilize the political machinery of the time? There could be +no doubt of the effectiveness of this plan. Should the exalted lofty +spiritual state of the Master be relied upon to carry him through +spectacular displays of extraordinary might that would capture the +popular mind? Each of these suggestions presented its advantages. Each +might have been rightfully followed by some one with less power than +Jesus had; but for him any one of them would have involved a misuse of +power, and hence he cast them all aside. + +The miracles reported of Christ have this for their peculiarity, that +they show a power conceived of as divine used for a righteous purpose. +It is significant that practically all the miracles described are those +of healing or of relief. The kind of miracle that an irresponsible +leader would have wrought is suggested by the advice of James and John +to Jesus to call down fire on an inhospitable Samaritan village. The +reported reply of Jesus, "Ye know not what spirit you are of," is the +final comment on such use of power. Now, after we have made the most of +the miracles recorded of Jesus, after we have made them seem just as +extraordinary in themselves as possible, their most extraordinary +feature is this use to which the power was put; and on the other hand, +if we strip the miracles of everything that suggests breach of natural +law and make them just revelations of super-normal control over nature +through laws like those whose existence and significance we are +beginning to glimpse to-day, still we cannot empty these narratives of +their significance as revealing a morally responsible use of force. Let +us be just as orthodox as we can, the purpose of the use of the forces +is the supreme miracle; let us be just as destructively radical as we +please, we cannot eliminate from the Scriptures this impression of +Christ as one who used power with a sense of responsibility. This +revelation is one which the ages have always desired. + +We must be careful to keep in mind the connection of the Christ life +with what came before it and what has proceeded from it. Here we have +the advantage which comes of regarding the Bible as the result of a +process running through the centuries. If the Bible were not a library, +but only a single book, written at a particular time, we might well be +attracted by the nobility of its teachings, but might despair of ever +making the teachings effective. There is no proving in syllogistic +fashion that Jesus was what he claimed to be, or that he was what his +disciples thought of him as being; but when we see a massive revealing +movement centering on the idea of God as revealed in Christ, when we +see the acceptance of the spirit of Christ opening the path to +communion with the Divine, and when we find increasing hosts of persons +finding larger life in that approach to the Divine, we begin to discern +the vast significance of the scriptural doctrine that in Christ we have +the revelation of the Christlike God. + +In this discussion we have been careful to avoid the terms of formal +and creedal orthodoxy. This is not because the present writer is out of +sympathy with these terms, but because he is trying to keep to the main +impression produced by the New Testament. The fundamental scriptural +fact is that in Jesus the early believers saw God; they came to rest in +God as revealed in Christ. This is true of the picture of Christ in the +earliest New Testament writings. Modern scholarship has not been able +to find any documents of a time when the disciples did not think of +Jesus as the revealer of God. If the disciples had not thought of Jesus +thus, they would have found little reason to write of him. Now the +scriptural authors employ various terms to declare the unique intimacy +of Christ with God. In these expositions Jewish and Greek and even +Roman thought terms play their part. Passages like the opening +sentences of the fourth Gospel, or like the great chapter in the +Philippians, are always profoundly satisfying and suggestive in their +interpretation of the fundamental fact, but that fundamental fact +itself is the all-essential--that in Christ the New Testament writers +thought of themselves as having seen God, and as having gazed into the +very depths of the spirit of the Father in heaven. Believing as we do, +moreover, in the helpfulness of the creedal statements of the church, +we must nevertheless avow that such statements are secondary to the +impression made upon the biblical writers by actual contact with the +Christ. We must not lose sight of the primacy of that impression as we +study our Scriptures. We must not limit the glory of the impression +itself by the limitations of some of the explanations which we +undertake. Much harm has been done the understanding the Scriptures by +speaking as if some of our creedal statements concerning Christ are +themselves Scriptures! The scriptural Christ is greater than any +creedal characterization of Christ thus far undertaken. + +Of recent years an attempt has been made to prove that no such person +as Jesus ever existed. The attempt has proved futile, but it has had a +significance altogether different from what the propounders of the +theory intended. The original aim was to show the contradictions of the +testimony concerning Jesus and the inadequacies of the testimony to his +existence as an historical Person. The result has been to show that the +real significance of the Christ life is not to be found in any +particular utterance, or in any specific deed, but in the total impact +that he made upon the consciousness of man as suggesting the immediate +presence of the Divine. The quality of the Christ life satisfies us in +the inner depths as bearing witness to the quality of the God life. We +have no sympathy with the views of the critics just mentioned; but we +must say that no matter how the thought of God in Christ got abroad, no +matter how mistaken our thought of the historical facts at the +beginning of the Christian era, the belief in the Christlike God +nevertheless did get abroad. There is no effacing that conception from +the New Testament. No matter what detailed changes in the narrative +itself radical criticism may think itself capable of making, the door +was opened wide enough in the Christ for the divine light to stream +through. We said in the last chapter that the most important feature of +the biblical revelation is God himself. We must now say that the +supreme fact about God is Christ. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BOOK OF THE CROSS + +If the central feature of the Scriptures is their idea of God, and if +the climax of the biblical revelation is Christ, the greatest fact +about Christ from the point of view of the Bible is his cross. We say +_fact_ advisedly, for we are not dealing with the theories that have +sprung up to interpret the meaning of the cross. We are trying to deal +solely with the direct impressions which seem to have been made upon +the scriptural writers as to the place of the cross in the revealing +movement. + +We said in the last chapter that the Scriptures reach their climax in +the doctrine that God is in Christ. The cross of Christ carries to most +effective revelation the Christlike character of God. While we are not +treating now the various creedal dogmas as to the person of Christ, we +must not forget that those dogmas have essayed as part of their task +the bringing of God close to men. The truth embodied in the text that +the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world is essential to +knowing the Scriptures. We have seen that even as a warrior Jehovah was +thought of as willing to bear his part of the burdens of the chosen +people. We have seen growing the idea that Jehovah was under moral +obligation to carry through the uplifting work which he had begun. We +have seen prophets attain to glimpses of the meaning of suffering for +the divine life, and we have beheld the culmination in the suffering of +Christ. In those perplexing phrases of the creeds like, "Very God of +very God," the aim of the church has been perfectly clear--to guard the +scriptural idea that God was so truly in Christ that the sufferings of +Christ were the sufferings of God. Even when least intelligible the +pain of men becomes more easily borne if men can believe that in some +real sense their pain is also the pain of God. That God is Christlike +in capacity to suffer is in itself a revelation of no small consequence. + +In the cross of Christ we see exalted with surpassing power the belief +that God acts out of righteousness in his relation to the universe and +to men. It must needs be that Christ suffer. The writers seem unable to +escape the conviction that they are beholding the working of divinely +inevitable moral necessities. These moral obligations are not to be +conceived of as external to God or imposed on him from outside of +himself. In the Scriptures they seem, rather, to be expressions of his +own nature. When the writers of theories about the cross lay stress on +those profound obligations of God toward moral law which must be +discharged in the work of redemption, the Scriptural basis underneath +such theories is the implication that God, by the very fact of what he +is, must act righteously. His power is not his own in such sense that +he can act from arbitrary or self-centered motives. The Judge of all +the earth must do right, at whatever cost to himself. The Scriptures +keep close to the thought of God as a supremely powerful Being under +supreme responsibility in the use of his power. If we can believe the +Scripture that in Christ we see God, and that the bearing, of Christ +during his suffering reveals really and uniquely the bearing of God +himself, we have a revelation of the grasp with which moral +responsibility holds the Almighty against even any momentary slip into +arbitrariness. Sometimes we hear the sufferings of Christ preached as a +pattern of nonresistance for men. It is permissible thus to interpret +the cross within limitations; but this is not the essential aspect of +the cross, as explaining its hold on men. The all-important doctrine as +to the use of power is hinted at in the Master's word that he had but +to call for legions of angels if he so chose. Under most extreme +provocation the forces of the Almighty held to their appointed task. If +the Almighty had been conceived of as a Despot or an Egotist, he would +have been expected to resort at once to revengeful violence in the +presence of such insults as those of the persecutors of the Son of God. +The Source of all activity can hardly be conceived of as passive; but +the passivity of the Christ of the cross suggests that no outrage by +men can divert the almighty power from its moral purpose. This is +really a gathering together and lifting on high of the doctrine of the +Sermon on the Mount, that God maketh the sun to shine upon the just and +the unjust, and causeth his rain to fall on the evil and the good. That +is to say, while the Bible thinks of the cross as laying bare the +Almighty's reaction against evil, it also thinks of that cross as +showing a God who will not be disturbed by any merely "personal" +considerations. We behold the Almighty's use of power for the advance +of a moral kingdom. The Almighty is set before us as exerting all his +power for the relief of men. The cross makes the profoundest revelation +of the moral fixedness and self-control of God so long as we hold to +the scriptural representation. It is to be regretted that many +theological theories break away from the Scripture basis and build upon +assumptions which are artificial, not to say unmoral: or, rather, in +their striving after system they get away from the atmosphere of moral +suggestiveness with which the Gospels and Epistles surround the cross. +That God will do his part in the redemption of men is set before us in +the cross. That part can be nothing short of making men yearn to be +like Christ and of aiding them in their struggle for the Christlike +character. It will be remembered that in the last chapter we called +attention to the hopelessness of the Christian ideal viewed as an ideal +in itself without a dynamic to help men to realize the ideal. If Christ +is only to reveal to us the character toward which men are to strive, +we are in despair. That one man has reached such perfection is in +itself no promise that other men may reach that perfection. Moreover, +the excellence of Christ is not only a moral excellence; or if it is +moral excellence, that excellence involves a balance of intellectual +attributes which is for us practically out of reach. Now, Christ is the +ideal, but the ideal is one toward which we not only labor in our own +strength, but one whose attainment by us is an object of solicitude for +God himself. And so we see in the cross a patience which will bear with +men to the utmost, and which will reenforce them as they press toward +the goal. The glory of Christianity is largely hi the paradox that it +sets before men an unattainable ideal and then commands them to attain +the ideal. If the cross is nothing but a revelation of an ideal for +men, this paradox is insoluble and intolerable. In the scriptural light +of the cross, however, we catch the glory not of an abstract ideal, but +of a Father's love for his children--not of the commands of conscience +in the abstract, but of the desires of a personal Friend who will lift +men as they stumble and fall. The ground for this patience seems as we +read to be in the very nature of God himself. God has brought men into +this world without consulting them, he has dowered them with the +terrific boon of freedom, he has set them in hard places; but he has +done this out of a moral and loving purpose. He therefore makes more +allowances for men than exacting men ever can make for themselves. He +puts at the service of men so much of his power as they can appropriate +by their moral effort. The Christ of the cross is taught as the truth +about God--the God who is at once the supremely real and the supremely +ideal places his powers at the service of men who would make their +Christ-ideal progressively real in themselves. + +The power of the Bible over men centers around the teaching that the +cross not only reveals God as morally bound to redeem men, but that it +also shows us the divine aim in redemption. Men are to be redeemed by +seeking for forgiveness in the name of the moral life set on high by +the cross, but the repentant soul is to show its sincerity by devotion +to the task and spirit of cross-bearing. The aim of the cross is to +bring men together into a fellowship of the cross, in a fellowship of +suffering for the sake of the moral triumph to be won at the end. We +are accustomed to think of suffering as implying the possibility of +joy. The man who can feel keen sorrow can feel keen joy; they who have +the power to weep have also the power to laugh. In the final kingdom +the weeping shall be turned into joy. But, according to the Scriptures, +it is not necessary for the disciples to wait until the consummation +before entering into the joy of their Lord. There is an entrance to the +divine mind through bearing the cross. Those who desired to learn of +Christ as true disciples were expected to take up the cross and carry +it daily. The Master also declared that the disciples were to think of +themselves as blessed when they endured persecution for righteousness' +sake, for men had persecuted the prophets in all ages. The implication +is that knowledge of and sympathy with the prophets came out of +cross-bearing like that of the prophets. To use a simple illustration: +a student of the careers of the leaders of any reform might gather a +mass of information about the reformers in an outside kind of fashion, +as by the study of books, or by visits to the scenes of their +struggles. Such a student, however, could not master the inner spirit +of a reformer's life until he himself had battled for some cause at +risk to himself. So the man who seeks to bear the cross of Christ is on +the path to sympathetic inner knowledge of the spirit of Christ. In our +second chapter we called attention to the truth that approach to +knowledge of God is through the doing of the will of God. Doing of the +will, according to Jesus, means much more than just a round of good +deeds. It means carrying the burdens which are inevitable in +cross-bearing. There is good reason for believing that the very highest +step in spiritual learning is taken only through the willingness to +bear the cross. In our modern educational systems we lay varying +degrees of stress upon the importance of different methods of acquiring +knowledge. There is at the bottom of the scale the method of mastering +the instruction of the teacher by attention and reflection. There is, +next, the method of learning through one's own experiment--through +using microscope or telescope or textbook for oneself. There are, +further, the social aids to the quickening of the mind as groups of +students study and discuss together. But the deepest knowledge comes as +the student feels his sympathy and feeling involved. If he must pay +himself out for the acquisition of the truth, or if he must defend his +conclusions at great cost to himself, this experience which involves +the feeling involves also the sharpening of the intellect. The eyes of +the soul are opened to the subtler intuitions. Thus it is in the +revelations of the divine purpose in the Scriptures. It is hard to make +out how anybody can hope to master a revelation of a cross-bearing God +without himself being a cross-bearer. In the New Testament narratives +of Passion Week the Master is reported as winning his surest +convictions of the presence of God and of the victory of his truth at +the very instant when he entered into the extreme depths of suffering. +In the after days it was when the saints faced stoning that they saw +the heavens opening; it was the apostle who had suffered hardships +almost too numerous to mention who got the most positive conviction of +the reward which awaited him. In the school of Christ the very heaviest +stress must fall upon the indispensability of cross-bearing as a means +to understanding. + +Not only does the biblical revelation see in the cross of Christ the +culminating manifestation of the character of God, and of the purpose +of God in redemption, but it also shows to us the divine method in +helping men. We have spoken of those who dwell upon the Master's +nonresistance as a model of passivity in the presence of evil. The +example of Christ when thus treated is in danger of being +misinterpreted. The Christ of the cross was passive so far as physical +force was concerned; but he was never more intensely active in the +higher ranges of his faculties--in self-control and in alertness to the +finer whisperings of the spirit. The Christ's non-resistance to the +physical might of evil is not to be interpreted as acquiescence on the +part of the Divine toward the ravages of evil, but, rather, as the +divine method of thwarting evil by allowing it to reveal itself. No +amount of preaching about the nature of evil can equal in eloquence the +self-revelations of that nature as it works itself out into expression. +While in a degree the self-revelation of evil put forth against Christ +was unique, yet we must remember that the sins which put Christ to +death are just those commonest in all time. Judas was disappointed. He +carried spite no more tenaciously than the ordinary heart is capable of +treasuring it. Caiaphas desired simply to hold his own position and +preserve the peace of his nation. Very likely the type of opinion in +the midst of which Caiaphas moved would have pronounced that he +rendered a disagreeable, but nevertheless necessary patriotic service +in his condemnation of Christ. Pilate too meant well, but was afraid of +the crowd. His friends may have commended his administrative wisdom in +allowing the people to have their own way. It was the play of just such +ordinary forces of sin against an extraordinary holiness that made it +impossible for the mightiest revelation ever vouchsafed to man to work +through the earthly activity of Jesus for more than a few months. The +Scripture does not have much to do with abstract sins; with concrete +sins of men as we actually find them, it has much to do. + +The Scriptures make it very clear that there is something which +satisfies God himself in the work of redemption. God acts out of moral +obligation, out of self-respect, out of love. But he acts always in +respect for men as free moral beings. The cross appeals to the free +spirit of men to behold the nature of evil, and to flee from that evil +toward their redeeming God. If the redemption is to be a moral +redemption, the last detail of the method must be moral. The power of +the Almighty must not be used to break down freedom of men. It would be +theoretically possible for an almighty power to bring to bear such +pressures upon human wills as to crush them, but the strongest +representation of the power of God in the New Testament does not go to +the length of hinting at interference with the freedom of men. Men are +to be saved as free men or not at all. We might conceivably imagine the +Almighty as granting such indubitable vision of the material rewards of +righteousness and the material loss of unrighteousness as would +irresistibly draw masses of a certain grade of men into the Kingdom +without a morally free consent to righteousness. Or we might conceive +of the Almighty as so weighing this or that factor of environment as to +diminish almost to the vanishing point the free choice of men. This +kind of compulsion would not be moral. The only compulsions of the +cross are those of a moral God splendidly attractive on his own account. + +It will have occurred to some readers by this time that we have said +very little about the love of God in our discussion of the Scriptures, +whereas that love is the outstanding feature of the biblical +revelation. Our reply is that we have been trying to be true to the +impression made by the Scriptures as to the kind of love which we must +think of as expressing the deepest fact in God's life. We would not in +the least minimize the truth that love is the last word of the +scriptural revelation; but in our modern life we are apt to get away +from the quality of the love revealed in the Bible. The love of the +cross is built upon the righteousness which runs through the Sacred +Book from the beginning to the end. A god of indifferent moral quality +might love. The old Greek gods had favorites upon whom they lavished +their affections. A god might be conceived of as an amiable and +well-wishing father, foolishly indulgent toward his children. The love +of the New Testament, however, is the love of a Father who dares to +appeal to the children to make heroic response; and who shows his own +love for them in the lengths to which he will go for them. Moral love +will go the full length of heroic self-sacrifice. We cannot help +believing that it is the quality of God's love, rather than the mere +fact of that love, which is the explanation of the power of the +biblical teaching. + +A friend of mine many years ago wrote a book which he called The Hero +God. The publishers objected to the title because they saw in it a +touch of sensationalism. No title, however, could have more adequately +set forth the biblical God. God is the hero of the Bible. His heroism +appears in growing revelation from the beginning. It shows itself +superbly in his willingness to bear the burdens of mankind and in the +appeals which he makes for response from men. The picture is of a God +who dares to believe in men and who dares to call on them for the +extremes of self-sacrificing devotion, not to himself as an arbitrary +Person, but to himself as the center of the moral life which is above +all other life worth while. It is open to anyone to object that this +biblical picture does not necessarily hold good for God; but it is +hardly possible to object that the picture is not biblical. The picture +stands in its own right and makes its own appeal. The only way to test +it in life is to yield to its appeal. + +If we are asked to account for the power of the Bible, we are at a loss +for any one single statement. The most compendious reply is the +magnetism of the love of God as revealed in Christ. This is so broad, +however, that it may not make a direct and vivid impression. We may +say, then, that one element of the magnetism of the biblical revelation +is the magnetism of the appeal to the heroic. Whatever else the Bible +may or may not be, it is not a book of soft and easy things. Breaths of +the most rigorous life blow across every page. It is made for man in +that it calls men to the service of the highest and best. The religious +systems which make the fewest and least demands upon their followers +most speedily fall away; those that call for the utmost are most likely +to meet the enthusiastic response. There is a frank honesty about the +biblical appeal which holds a charm for all men in whom there are any +sparks of real manhood. The severities of the Christian life are +nowhere disguised. Men are never lured on by false pretenses. The path +is the path of cross-bearing, and the reward is the comradeship between +God and man as they together work toward the highest goal, a +comradeship which of itself brings relief to men burdened with the +mystery of the universe and agonized by remorse over sin. This essay +is quite as significant for what it has not said as for what it has +said. In our omissions we have tried to keep clear the main outlines of +scriptural revelation. We have sought to hold fast to principles rather +than to discuss details. We have done this because we have believed +that there is more value for religious understanding in pointing out +the loftier biblical peaks which give the direction of the whole range +than in tracing out pathways through detailed passages. Moreover, we +have been afraid to employ many theoretical terms lest we blur the +quick moral impressions made by the Scripture phrasings. For example, +it may be objected that our treatment of the character of God is +altogether inadequate. We have not thus far said a word about the +Trinity, for example, or about atonement. The reason is that we believe +that any theories about God must base themselves upon the moral +suggestions of the Scriptures; and our business is with these rather +than with the theories. The received revelation concerning God would +warrant us in fashioning any theory as to the richness of his inner +constitution which might even measurably satisfy our minds. The +scriptural atmosphere as to the moral life in God must, however, be +kept in the chief place in all of our theological theories. Atonement +must be interpreted chiefly in terms of ethical steadiness if it is to +build on a biblical foundation. But the instant we use formal terms +like "Trinity" and "atonement" we have taken at least one step away +from the Scriptures. Again, we have said nothing about Divine +Providence. The Bible is full of instances of providences, but here +also we have preferred to let the fundamental moral character of the +biblical God speak for itself. We may have our own belief that there is +no scriptural warrant for that separation which obtains in much +theology between the processes of God and the processes of nature. We +may admit that the Hebrew had no very systematically framed theory of +the processes of nature, but he deemed God to be in such close touch +with nature as easily to control its forces for a good end. In two +accounts of the crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites we have an +apparent contradiction which is at bottom not a contradiction. In one +account God seems to cause the waters to wall up on both sides of the +Israelites in defiance of the laws of nature. In another God +accomplishes the drying of the path through the blowing of a strong +east wind. The Hebrew would not have troubled himself much with the +apparent contradiction, for he would have conceived of God as the chief +factor in either event, and of his purpose as having the right of way. +There is thus no great value in discussing specific instances as long +as the care of God for his children is the animating purpose of the +entire biblical content. So with answers to prayer--the God who is +willing to go for men to the lengths revealed in the cross will surely +answer any prayer worth answering. The essential is to lift prayer up +into harmony with the entire revealing and redeeming movement, and to +conceive of it as a fitting of the whole life into the purposes of a +moral God. Certain general requirements would always have to be met. +Prayer would have really to deal with what is best for the individual, +best for those around him, and most in harmony with the character of +God himself. So, again, with the progress of the kingdom of God on +earth--the God of whose nature the cross is the final revelation can be +trusted to do the best possible for the Kingdom here and now. Much +debate about the second coming of Christ misses the great moral +principles which are the heart of the Christian revelation and loses +itself in the incidental forms in which those principles were declared. +The best preparation for the coming of the kingdom of Christ is +absorption in the principles of Christ and in the spirit of Christ. To +get away from these in our search for external and material conditions +which are the mere vehicle of the biblical thought is not only to +pursue a will-o'-the-wisp, but to injure true spiritual progress. Jesus +has given us the spiritual principles which must control the destiny of +any society here and now. In the light of the Christ-faith revealed in +the cross we must not despair of the redemption of men by the city-full +and by the nation-full, for the greatest confidence ever placed in men +is the implied trust of the cross of Christ. The Almighty at the +beginning paid an immense tribute to the human race when he flung it +out into the gale of this existence. In the light of the cross we +cannot believe that He expected the race to sink. In the cross the +Christ who revealed God's own mind showed the length he was willing to +go in confidence that men would finally turn to him with all the powers +of their lives. To throw up our hands and say that the world is getting +worse and we can do nothing without a speedy physical return of the +Christ is to overlook the spiritual forces of the cross. + +We have said nothing about immortality. What the Scriptures themselves +say is largely incidental. The Master did not allow himself to be drawn +into any extended conversation about the details of a future life, but +he did give us the God of the cross. In the presence of that cross we +can profess the utmost confidence in the eternal life of the sons of +God, while at the same time acknowledging the utmost ignorance as to +any of the material conditions of the future life. It is commonly +assumed that the resurrection of Christ proves that we shall likewise +rise, but the rising of Christ does not of itself prove that others +shall rise. The cross, however--showing the extent to which the Divine +is willing to go for men--is the ground of our hope. God will not leave +his loved ones to see corruption. In a word, the cross of Christ +gathers up all the biblical truth. It is a revelation of God's own +character, of his hope for men, of the methods by which he seeks to win +men, and of the ground of our faith in a right outcome for men and for +society. + +We may be permitted to summarize by saying that scientific and +historical biblical study is a preparation for the knowledge of the +Scriptures; that it is exceedingly important that the student approach +with the correct preliminary point of view. The revelation of the inner +significance, however, does not dawn until there is recognition of the +need of obedience to the principles laid down in the Scriptures. And +this obedience must be broad enough to include zeal for the uplift of +our fellow men in all phases of their lives. Out of righteous living +the devoted life, we believe, will see that the greatest fact of the +Bible is God; that the greatest fact of God is Christ; that the +greatest fact of Christ is the cross. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Understanding the Scriptures, by Francis McConnell + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES *** + +***** This file should be named 9492-8.txt or 9492-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/4/9/9492/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, Bob McKillip +and PG Distributed Proofreaders. 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