I. The Dynamic Power on its divine side. Christian ethics, and in particular Pauline ethics, is distinguished from philosophical ethics not so much by the uniqueness of its ideal as by the recognition of a single definite force which lies at the root of the new life, and forms a fresh spring of ethical activity. We cannot, however, agree with Wrede when he says that "the ethic of St. Paul exhibits in the contents of its demands few original traits." 1 Nor can we accept the somewhat rash statement of Prof. M'Giffert, when he affirms that "there was comparatively little difference between the ethical principles of the Christians and the principles of the best men in the pagan world." Without dwelling upon that point with which the previous chapter dealt, it may be sufficient here to state that what in the first place differentiated Christian from pre-Christian ethics was the fact that its ideal was historically embodied and actually realized in the life of Jesus Christ. The object of the New Testament writers was to bring His example to bear upon the conduct of their fellow-men. Here was no imaginative picture such as the ancients drew, but the historical record of an actual life. Christianity claims that its ideal has been realized. That fact of itself is sufficient to give uniqueness to the New Testament morality. It is no philosopher's dream. It is matter of history. The Christian ideal has been embodied, the ideal life has been lived. At first sight it might seem as if this were the only difference between classical and Pauline ethics-that in the one case the ideal was imaginary, a poetic vision merely, while in the other the ideal was a realized fact. 1 Paulus, p. 69. 2 The Apostolic Age, p. 506. But if the visionary ideal of the ancients failed to change men's lives largely because it was external to the will, the Christian ideal would not be likely to be more successful simply by being historical.1 The actual portrayal of perfection by Christ did indeed give a definiteness and reality to the moral ideal which the dreams of Greek philosophy did not possess. But on the other hand, the very loftiness of this holy life would be more likely to condemn as hopeless every unaided attempt to achieve it and so would even tend to paralyse all moral effort. It would be felt that it was as much beyond the ability of man to attain to the perfection of a holy life as to perform the requirements of a holy law. Hence the urgent problem which confronted the apostle. How can man achieve that good which has been embodied in the life and example of Jesus Christ? how can he, or any common man attain to the righteousness of the one harmonious Son, and stand justified before His Father God? Not the mere vision of the good as it floated before the minds of the Greeks, not the mere knowledge of the law as promulgated by Hebrew moralists, not even the embodiment of the ideal in the historical Person of Christ was sufficient to make the moral life available for common men and women. Not to dream of good, but to be good-that is man's greatest need. To tap the sources of power, to link his weakness with an all-conquering strength-nothing short of that is necessary if man is ever to attain to holiness of life. From the depth of his moral struggle man lifts that despairing cry, never more powerfully expressed than by Paul himself; "to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find 1Strong, Christian Ethics, p. 52. not. For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin."1 But though Paul recognizes the conflict between the ideal and the fulfilment he does not admit that the antithesis is irreconcilable. His whole argument is designed to show that the Christian ideal is not a dream, an aspiration only, but a fact at once realized and realizable. He claims that the Gospel not only reveals the good, but discloses a power which makes the good possible. The originality of this position lies not only in the moral conception of the new life in Christ, but also in the hitherto unattempted derivation of the life from a new birth under the influence of the Spirit of God. If faith, hope, charity, and all the other manifestations of the moral life are anything more than mere abstractions of the mind, if they are actual facts of the Christian experience, then they demand a distinctive force behind. them which gives to them reality. Their existence in the world as realized graces of character, as virtues that have been actually manifested, bears witness to a life behind, to a power to which they owe their being. That there is such a moral life Paul never doubts. What he calls, now, "the life of faith," now, "the life of the Spirit," and now "the new life," is one which he believes to be actually existent. Though Paul cannot be accused of boasting, he does not hesitate to adduce his own case as an example of one who has entered upon such a life. And the state to which he himself has attained, he desires that others may share. He recognizes the existence of Christian virtue in the world. 1 Rom. vii. 18 ff. He sees a decisive contrast between the lives of those who acknowledge the authority of Christ and those of the surrounding pagan people. His epistles are written not to heathen men and women untouched by higher influences, but to communities in which a certain measure of Christian virtue is not only recognized but practised. He is convinced of the growing and expanding influence of this life, and before his mind there arises the vision of a redeemed world, a transformed humanity, when, not here and there in isolated localities of the earth only, but everywhere, men shall be combined in one perfect society and all unitedly shall attain unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of Christ. What was for Paul a prophecy, a thing of prevision and faith, has become for us to-day largely a reality. "Rising out of the silence and solitude, coming with no carnal weapons, appearing with no gorgeous accompaniments, this power may be said to have filled the habitable world. It has touched every department of life, and everything it has touched has been transformed. It has given a new turn to ethics. It has given a new department to politics. . . . It has developed the institutions of modern charity. It has released the bonds of despotism. It has tightened the bonds of family and home. All this, and a hundred things more, Christianity we do not say has claimed to do, but has actually done.” 1 Now, the question Paul sought to answer, and which is fundamental to Christian ethics is this-what was, and whence came, the power which could effect such changes in the individual man and in the social life of the community? There must be a cause proportionate to the effect, a power adequate to explain such mighty transformations. 1 Geo. Matheson, Landmarks of New Testament Morality, p. 139. L First of all, Paul does not for a moment hesitate in affirming that the power to achieve the moral life does not lie in the natural man. The mere development of the natural powers, or the education of the human faculties, will not effect the change. No readjustment of circumstances, no state-compulsion, no spread of knowledge or progress of civilization, is of itself equal to the task of creating that entirely new phenomenon in the world-the Christian character. This new life, which Paul himself was conscious of possessing, and which he recognized in others, was quite beyond the power of man to realize. The apostle leaves us in no manner of doubt that some renewing and transforming energy must act upon man before such a life is possible. "Nothing," he says, "availeth but a new creature." The new ethical state can only come about by a complete renewal of man's inner nature, in virtue of which he becomes conscious that the divine anger is averted, that he is a pardoned child of God, that he is no more under the power of sin, but is translated from the domain of the flesh into the kingdom of the spirit. The revelation of the divine morality is one which flesh and blood could not give, but which owes its origin to a cause commensurate with itself. The claim which Paul makes for Christianity is that it is a communicated life. He declares that the gospel has brought a new force into the world, and that with the coming of Christ men have received not only new ideals and aspirations, but a new power by which these ideals and aspirations may be, and have been, realized. In the life of Christ moral excellence reaches its height. An instance of true human obedience is before the world. All that Greek sages dreamt of and Hebrew prophets sighed after has been 1 Rom. vi. 6. |