Father who is in heaven." The popularity and esteem which Jesus won and the favourable impressions made by his character, teaching, and miracles, were all parts of his propagandist work for the Kingdom. He thus appears to have countenanced, both by precept and example, a definite publicity of righteous conduct and the acquirement of a good reputation with men, for the purpose of prompting them to glorify God. It is worth while to notice in passing what is implied in this desire to conciliate the favour of others: it implies that the righteousness of the Kingdom does not in its essence contradict the world's ideal of righteousness, but fulfils it. At the same time, inasmuch as the world is shortsighted, inconsistent, and untrue even to its own ideal, it is inevitable that cases must arise where popularity can be purchased only by the reverse of righteousness. For this reason, if for no other, the attempt to acquire favour with men is one that must be kept strictly subordinate to higher laws. Of those who publicly perform acts of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, with the primary object of being "seen by men," Jesus speaks in terms of scathing censure. So strongly does he deprecate selfish ostentation, that his injunction that acts of righteousness should be performed in secret seems almost to contradict his command to let one's light shine before men. But further than this-apart from the duty of avoiding ostentation—there is a place in Jesus' propagandist work for privacy and retirement, a method of concealment, if one may so say, parallel and complementary to the method of publicity. It appears in various forms: in his withdrawal in the face of danger or marked disfavour or even coldness, in his injunction of secrecy on those whom he cured 10 and occasionally on the disciples,11 in his concealment of his movements,12 7 1 Mt v. 16. Jesus did not share the monastic exclusiveness of the Essenes, who, as Holtzmann (Th. i. 168) says, "ihr Licht unter den Scheffel des Klosterlebens stellten." 2 Mc i. 22, ii. 12||s, vii. 37, xi. 18||, xii. 12||s, xiv. 1f||s; Mt vii. 28f; Lc ii. 52, iv. 15, 22, 32, vii. 16f, ix. 43: cf. the impressions made on Pilatus' wife, Mt xxvii. 19, and on the thief, the centurion, and the bystanders at the crucifixion, Lc xxiii. 40-43, 47, 48. 3 In one of his table-sayings (Lc xiv. 7-11), he holds out to his hearers the esteem of others as a reward for their obedience to his teaching of humility. ♦ Hence the words "Woe (unto you), when all men speak well of you," Lc vi. 26, cf. 22f=Mt v. 10-12; Lc xvi. 15. 5 Mt vi. 1-6, 16-18, xxiii. 5. 7 Mc iii. 6f: cf. Mt x. 23. • Mc vi. 5f||s. 11 Mc ix. 9. That Jesus' secret rarily so appears from Mt x. 26f. 12 Mc ix. 30f. Mt vi. 1-6, 16–18. Mc v. 15-18||s; Lc ix. 51-56. 10 Mc i. 44f||s, etc. teachings were meant to be only tempo in his special reticence as to his Messianic claims,1 in his thanksgiving to the Father for hiding certain things from the wise and learned and revealing them to babes,2 in his use of parables and his own (?) explanation of the parabolic method,3 in his total or partial refusal of the request for a sign,4 in his warning against giving that which is holy to dogs and casting pearls before swine,5 in his willingness to let the offended Pharisees alone, and in his refusal to answer the question of the priests, scribes, and elders as to his authority." Consequent upon the nature of the Gospel message and of the medium-often inert or hostile-in which it has to spread, the growth of the Kingdom is naturally a gradual and secret process. The prayer for the coming of the Kingdom is to be one of the daily and permanent prayers of its members.8 Its advance is compared to such natural processes as the growth of corn and mustard from tiny seeds and the leavening of a lump of dough.9 "The Kingdom of God comes not in such a way that it can be watched for, nor will they say, 'See, here (it is) !' or 'There (it is)!'; for see, the Kingdom of God is within you." 10 Another result of the unfavourable reception often accorded to the Gospel of the Kingdom is that its preachers are conscious of being faced with immense and apparently insurmountable obstacles which faith alone can enable them to overcome. Jesus strove to foster in his disciples a confident assurance of success in the face of overwhelming difficulties. Both he and they looked upon the conflict very largely as one that had to be waged against the power of the evil spirits, who were ultimately responsible alike for disease and sin. Lack of faith accounted for the disciples' failure to cure the epileptic boy: faith in God, on the other hand, 2 Mt xi. 25f||. 1 Mc i. 34, iii. 11f, viii. 30||s. Mc iv. 10-12, 25; Mt xiii. 10-17; Lc viii. 9f, 18, x. 23f. The meaning of these sayings seems to be that part of the punishment of moral carelessness is a certain mental obtuseness which makes the acceptance of truth in its pure state impossible. Pauline determinism is suspected by many to be the origin of these sayings attributed to Jesus. 4 Mc viii. 11-13; Mt. xii. 38f, 41, xvi. 1-4; Lc xi. 16, 29 (cf. xii. 54-56). 5 Mt vii. 6. 6 Mt xv. 12, 14. 7 Mc xi. 27-33||s. 8 Mt vi. 10||. Mc iv. 26-29; Mt xiii. 31-33||s. Cf. also the parables of the Sower and the Tares (Mt xiii. 3-9, 18-23, 24-30, 36-43). These parables do not exclude the idea of the growth of the Kingdom culminating in a cataclysm: some indeed seem rather to imply it. Nor are they definite as to the rate of growth: the seed-parables suggest slowness, the leaven-parable rapidity. The point of them is that the process of advancement is for the present a process of growth, i.e. of mysterious increase by tiny increments. 10 Lc xvii. 20f. so Jesus picturesquely assured them, would enable them to transplant a tree or remove a mountain by a simple word of command, and to obtain from God whatever they should ask for in prayer.1 CHAPTER II THE LAWS OF REWARD AND PUNISHMENT 'PURE' AND 'APPLIED' ESCHATOLOGY.-I cannot venture here upon the labyrinthine task of describing the expectations of Jesus in regard to the future history of the human race. That task would involve, as has already been mentioned, the solution of the as yet unsolved eschatological problem. I have already briefly indicated 2 the attitude taken up in these pages in regard to that problem. It may be granted that Jesus spoke sometimes of the cataclysmic coming of the Kingdom, of his own return in triumph, of the future judgment, of the punishment of the wicked, of the resurrection, and of the future life but in seeking for his meaning in such passages, due weight has to be given to his own pictorial and parabolic habit of speech, to the materialistic outlook of his contemporaries and early followers-the sole witnesses through whom his words reach us-and their frequent failure to understand him, and lastly to Jesus' interest in spiritual laws, as well as to the concrete occasions on which they may be seen at work among men. This last point is of some importance; for it was only likely in the nature of things that sayings referring to rewards and punishments in the abstract- pure eschatology,' if we may call them sowere interpreted by his hearers as concrete announcements of something destined to take place on a certain date in the future. 'Applied eschatology' is indeed to be found in his teaching his sayings about the life after death 3 show how he applied his beliefs about rewards and punishments to the case of the individual, and his words bearing on the downfall of the Jewish state and the destruction of the Temple show how he applied them to the case of his fellow-countrymen as a national entity; but in both cases the sphere of applied eschatology has probably encroached somewhat on that of the pure.4 1 Mt xvii. 19f, xxi. 21f; Mc xi. 22-24; Lc xvii. 5f. THE REWARD.-In many passages Jesus either speaks of "the reward" (ò μobós) quite generally, or briefly qualifies it by adding "in heaven" or "from your Father." In some cases it is represented, implicity or explicitly, as present,1 in others as future.2 The content of the bare idea of reward is filled out in various ways. Thus it is sometimes described as the possession of, or entrance into, the Kingdom of God, again both a present and a future 5 experience, or as the present or future possession of eternal life, or as present or future salvation." The conceptions of salvation and its contrary, loss, drive us back upon the idea, which they both imply, of the Will of God for human life, salvation meaning the fulfilment of that Will, and loss its non-fulfilment.8 Salvation is thus both the reward itself and the attainment of the reward. It is both the 2 Mt vi. 4, 6, 18, x. 41f||; Lc vi. 35. 1 Mt v. 11f||, vi. 1: cf. Lc x. 20. 3 The allusions to the Messianic feast (Mt viii. 11, xxii. 2-10, XXV. I-10; Mc xiv. 25||s; Lc xiv. 16-24, xxii. 29-30) are parabolic utterances couched in the style of contemporary Jewish apocalyptic. At the same time, the distinction between the parable and what it is meant to teach is often less clearly marked in Scripture than in the mind of a modern reader. Mc ix. 47, x. 25||s; Mt v. 3, 10; Lc vi. 20, xii. 32. 5 Mc x. 23||s; Mt v. 20. That the entrance into eternal life is synonymous with entrance into the Kingdom appears from Mc ix. 43, 45, 47, x. 17; cf. 23, 25||s. For life as present Mc ix. 43, 45 Mt xviii. 8f; Mt iv. 4|| (the idea is present, though the verb is actually future); Lc xii. 15: as future, Mc x. 17, 30||s; Mt (?vii. 14), xxv. 46; Lc x. 25, 28. 'The root-idea of salvation was deliverance from peril: hence in the OT the word often stood for victory, e.g. I Sam xiv. 45. It was one of the standard terms of Jewish nomenclature; see, e.g., Lc i. 47, 69, 71, 77, ii. II, 30, iii. 6; Mt i. 21. Jesus himself made large use of the idea-as well as of its antithesis: he said that he had come to seek and to save that which was lost, Lc (ix. 56), xix. 10, (Mt xviii. 11). That salvation was with him synonymous with entrance into the Kingdom appears from Mc x. 23-26||s; that it was also synonymous with life appears not only from the identity of eternal life with entrance into the Kingdom, but also from such passages as Mc v. 23, Lc xv. 24, 32 (where being found' is obviously synonymous with being saved,' which is the more usual antithesis to being lost '). The term ' salvation' and its antithesis 'loss' express respectively the fulfilment and nonfulfilment of the purpose for which the owner or maker of a thing intends or wishes to use it. This becomes clear from the frequent use of the verb ' to save' in connection with the removal of bodily disease or danger or even death (Mc iii. 4||, v. 23, 28, 34||s, vi. 56||, x. 52||, xv. 30f||s; Mt viii. 25, xiv. 30, xxvii. 49, [cf. Mc xv. 36]; Lc viii. 36, 50, xvii. 19), and still more so from the use of the word åπúλeiα and various parts of the verb ảяóλλνμ to describe the state of things or creatures to which something happens other than that for which they were-or ought to have been-intended (Mc ii. 22||s, xiv. 4f||; Lc xv. 4, 6, 8, 9, 24, 32; J vi. 12). Salvation in the religious sense, therefore, really means the fulfilment of God's purpose for one's life. For salvation as present, either as an accomplished fact or as a process, see Lc vii. 50, xiii. 23, xix. 9 as future, Mc viii. 35||s, xiii. 13, 20||s. 8 See last note. The connection of salvation with the Will of God is most explicit in Mt xviii. 14: cf. Lc i. 47; Mc x. 26f||s. It also comes out in the connection between the Will of God and the Kingdom (Mt vi. 10||, vii. 21, xxi. 31). 1 task of fitting oneself for use by God, and the privilege of being used by Him. Its first step is repentance and the remission of sins: 1 but it involves permanent changes in the practical life of the sinner.2 Many promises of future reward centre round this idea of the moral improvement implied in salvation. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are assured that they will be satisfied.3 In the parable of the Sower, those who understand and keep the Word bring forth fruit abundantly. The disciple that is perfectly trained will be like his master.5 Knowledge and insight go hand-in-hand with moral growth: the pure in heart will see God. The doing of God's Will makes the doer resemble God, makes him a 'son of God,' a true kinsman of Jesus: 7 the peacemakers will be called "sons of God." 8 The reward of him who loves his enemies is that he becomes a son of Him who gives sunshine and rain to good and bad alike.9 The idea of happiness fills an important place in Jesus' conception of the Divine reward. As with other leading features of the reward-with one or other of which happiness is usually connected -it is something that is enjoyed in the present, as well as in the future.10 Most significant, however, for the purpose of our present inquiry is the form, sometimes given to the reward, of exaltation, authority, and influence over men. The elevation of the lowly was part of the currently accepted Messianic programme; 11 and Jesus appears to have re-echoed this sentiment on more than one occasion, when speaking of the Kingdom of God.12 It is however chiefly in the parables and parabolic passages that the idea is most clearly expressed. In highly pictorial terms, Jesus promises his disciples that they shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.13 The faithful and prudent slave is given control of the whole of his master's property.14 In both the parables of the slaves entrusted with money, those who had traded diligently are rewarded 1 Mt i. 21; Lc i. 77, vii. 48, 50, xv. 4-10. As in the case of Zacchæus, Lc xix. 1-10. In the parable of the Two Houses (Mt vii. 24-27||), though the word 'salvation' is not used, safety is represented as depending upon hearing and doing the words of Jesus. 3 Mt v. 6. Mc iv. 20||s. Lc vi. 40: cf. Mt x. 24f. 7 Mc iii. 35||s. • Mt v. 44-48||. 16, and Lucan parallels; Future, Lc xiv. 14; probably 10 Present happiness, Mt v. 3-12, xi. 6, xiii. Mt xvi. 17; Lc x. 20, probably also Lc xi. 28. Mt xxiv. 46f; Lc xii. 37f, 43. 11 Lc. i. 52. 12 Mt xviii. 4, xxiii. 12; Lc xiv. 11, xviii. 14. 13 Mt xix. 28; Lc xxii. 29f: cf. Dan vii. 22; Wisdom of Solomon iii. 8. 14 Mt xxiv. 46f||. |