THE CHURCHALEXADER BALMAI BRUCE, D.D.,It is natural that one should desire to know what istaught in the Pauline letters, and especially in thecontroversial group, on the subject of the Church, andin what relation the Pauline idea of the Church standsto the idea of the kingdom of God, so prominent inthe teaching of Christ as reported in the SynopticalGospels.As to the latter topic, for we may begin with it, it isto be noted that both ideas — Church and Kingdom, andthe terms corresponding, occur both in Synoptic Gospelsand in Pauline Epistles, but in an inverse order of prominence. The Kingdom is the leading idea in ourLord's teaching; the Church is named only twice in theevangelic narratives, and the question has been discussedwhether Jesus ever used the word at all, or even con-templated the thing. The Church, on the other hand,is the leading category in St. Paul's Epistles; thekingdom of God is mentioned only five times in thefour great Epistles, while the terms " Church" and" Churches " occur many times. From these facts thenatural inference might seem to be that in the viewboth of Jesus and of Paul, the Kingdom and the ChurchDigitized byGoogleTHE CHTXKCH 863were practically equivalent, the Church being the idealof the Kingdom realised; from Christ's point of viewthe ideal to be realised in the future, therefore rarelymentioned, fromJSt. Paul's point of view the ideal alreadyrealised, therefore most frequently spoken of. Broadly
viewed this is the truth. Yet the statement must betaken with qualification, for neither in the teaching of our Lord, nor in that of St. Paul, do the two concep-tions exactly cover each other. For both the Kingdompossesses a certain transcendental character not belong-ing to the Church. This amounts to saying that it is apure ideal hovering over the reality, or in advance of it, agoal which the Church seeks to approximate but neverovertakes. Along with this transcendental character goesan apocalyptic aspect, revealing itself in evangelic andPauline representations of the Kingdom. These twoattributes of transcendency and futurity are very rec-ognisable in the passages referring to the Kingdom inthe Pauline letters. The eschatological aspect is appar-ent in the texts, Galatians v. 21; 1 Corinthians vi.9, 10; 1 Corinthians xv. 50, in the two former of whichit is declared, concerning men guilty of certain specifiedsins, that they shall not inherit the Kingdom, while inthe latter the same declaration is made concerning fleshand blood — that is, our present mortal corruptible bodies.The transcendent character of the Kingdom is plainlyimplied in the remaining two texts in which it is men-tioned, 1 Corinthians iv. 20 and Romans .xiv. 17.44 ot in word," says the apostle in the former place (is)44 the kingdom of God, but in power." It is clear thatfor the writer of such a sentence, at the moment, theDigitized byGoogle864 ST. PAUL'S COCEPTIO OF CHBI8TIAITYKingdom is not identical with the Church, but some-thing rising far above it in ideal purity and beauty anddignity. For the statement quoted could not havebeen made concerning the Church as represented by theChristian community in Corinth. The very opposite wasthe truth as regarded it. The Church at Corinth was inword not in power. It was a society wholly given up totalk, to oratory, to prophesying, to speaking with tongues.
The one phenomenon visible there was a universallydiffused talent for speech; there was a sad dearth of allthat tends to give a religious community spiritual power,of wisdom and charity, or even common morality. Astate of things like that would compel one to distinguishbetween Church and Kingdom, and to think of the latteras exalted above the former as far as heaven is abovethe earth. Similar observations apply to the other textwhich runs: "The kingdom of God is not meat anddrink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the HolySpirit." The obvious meaning is that in the Kingdomritual cleanness and uncleanness are of no account,nothing is of value there that is merely ceremonial,nothing but the moral and spiritual; the qualificationfor citizenship is not eating or abstaining from eating agiven sort of food, but possessing a righteous, loving,sunny spirit. The men to whom belongs the Kingdomare those who have a passion for righteousness, who arepeacemakers, and who can rejoice even in tribulation,because they have chosen God for their mmmum bonum.The very fact that the apostle thought it needful tomake the observation just commented on proves that theChurch of Rome was far enough from realising the ideaDigitized byGoogleTHE CHUBOH 865of a community in which questions about meats anddrinks were nothing, and righteousness, peace, and joyin the Spirit everything. There were in it, on the onehand, many whose consciences were enslaved by pettyscruples, and, on the other, many who treated suchscruples with contempt; consequently, there prevailed agreat f orgetf ulness in opposite directions of the greatthings of the law — justice, mercy, and faith. Sucha state of matters is a disappointing and depressingspectacle wherever exhibited, and the soul of a goodman naturally takes to itself wings of a dove and flies
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It is natural that one should desire to know what is
taught in the Pauline letters, and especially in the
controversial group, on the subject of the Church, and
in what relation the Pauline idea of… (More)
taught in the Pauline letters, and especially in the
controversial group, on the subject of the Church, and
in what relation the Pauline idea of… (More)
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