The Messiah of the apostles

Front matter

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PRINCETON, N. J.

Preface

THIS is the third of a series of volumes begun with MESSIANIC PROPHECY in 1886, and continued in THE MESSIAH OF THE GOSPELS in 1894. It is my plan to continue the series with THE MESSIAH OF THE CHURCH, and to complete it with THE MESSIAH OF THE THEO- LOGIANS, if life and health shall be given me. But it is necessary to postpone these volumes in order that other important, literary and professional engagements may be fulfilled which have been already delayed too long by ecclesiastical controversies in which I have been compelled to engage.

The substance of this volume was cast into form for publication several years ago and it has been revised from year to year in several courses of lectures which have been given in the department of Biblical Theology in the Union Theological Seminary. But the whole has been rewritten during the past year. So much more has been learned about the Christ of the apostles during these months that it seems to me that I knew very little before. This experience makes it altogether probable that there is still more to be learned by myself and by others. I shall be happy to contribute to such a further advance and to be corrected and improved upon by other Christian scholars.

The literature of Christology is exceedingly rich and extensive. In order to avoid too great technicality it seemed best to discard for the most part references to the earlier literature, which were copious in the original (vii)

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draft of my work, and to refer chiefly to the later and fresher contributions of recent scholars. This is not to say that the labors of the older theologians on whom we build are undervalued,—because to value them is to estimate them aright and not undervalue or overvalue them. No one who has studied through the literature of Christology can do any other than say that the researches of recent scholars have put the whole subject in such new lights that the writings of the older scholars have become for the most part antiquated. There are doubtless many still living who are unwilling to accept any theological opinions which have not been stamped with the approval of the antiquarians. For such the author does not write. The readers he desires are the open-minded and the truth-loving, who would see the Christ as the apostles saw him, and who will not be restrained from the heavenly vision by the pretended perils of the Higher Criticism and of Biblical Theology, or by the supposed safer paths of traditional and ecclesiastical theology.

The study of the Messiah of the apostles is a study in the department of Biblical Theology. The Higher Criticism is presupposed. The author has frankly stated his views in the Higher Criticism of the Literature of the New Testament whenever it has been necessary to do so; but he has avoided going into its difficult questions so far as possible. The Book of Revelation is an exception. It was necessary to go somewhat at length into the Higher Criticism of this book in order to get a basis for the development of its Christology and an explanation of its manifold phases. This cost the author a great amount of severe and extended labor, which he would not have undertaken if it could have been avoided. In the revision of his lectures on the Apocalypse, he was

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PREFACE ie converted to the documentary hypothesis, and in all honesty could not do otherwise than endeavor to solve the problem. He cannot flatter himself that he has succeeded in all respects. But he feels assured that he has made a contribution towards the solution of the most difficult problem in the New Testament. Those who may not be prepared to accept the documentary theory of the composition of the book will yet find something of value in the fresh light cast by the arrangement of its material, on many difficult questions.

The study of the Messiah of the apostles has been to the author a great source of comfort and happiness in troublous times. The Christ of the New Testament appears in fresh lines of grace, beauty, and grandeur, with every fresh glance at him. ‘The author has done his best to turn away from the Christ of the theologians and of the Creeds and of the Church, and to see the Messiah as he is set forth in the writings of the apostles. He has made every effort to see the Messiah as he appeared to each writer in each separate writing. The diversity is great. It is not always possible to combine the diverse representations in a higher unity. It would have been. easy to construct what some call a logical system. But it would not have been possible to constrain all the material into such a system of deductive logic. Such a method involves the sacrifice of material which is essential to the portraiture of the Messiah. It is owing to just such a craze for logical systems of Christology that we have so many different, unsatisfying Christologies in the Literature of the Church. The only logical system the author has aimed at, is such a system as results from inductive logic, which goes so far in generalization as the facts enable us to go and not a step further.

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The summary statement in the concluding chapter gives the Christology of the apostles in quite different proportions to those familiar in the dogmatic systems. But these proportions are the proportions of the truth and facts of the apostolic writings. If I were writing the Christology of the Church, or the Christology of the Dogmatic System, other proportions would doubtless appear. Some day both of these may be written. In the meanwhile the author will be faithful to his work as a student of Biblical Theology and not transcend the Christology of this discipline.

This third volume of the series is now given to those who have read and studied the previous volumes, in confidence that they will see in it the crown of the Biblical Messianic idea. It is a birth from many years of severe study and discipline. It expresses my matured convictions. It may be regarded as a confession of my faith.